“Can't think about that right now,” I murmured, looking around. “Where to next?”
I thought about it for a moment before choosing to go right, winding my way deeper into the sewer. Thankfully I entered a newer area that had raised sections on either side and large pipes visible overhead. The normal brickwork and primitive concrete were also left behind in favor of far more solid construction complete with small lights every few feet.
I hadn't noticed it before, but my night vision was almost completely perfect as I had seen fine up until now. It only got better in the low light, allowing me to peer into even the deepest crevice with relatively little effort. Crawling up onto the side area I took a moment to clean myself of the worst of it while holding down the urge to vomit.
I wanted nothing more than to shed my skin right then and there but wasn't even sure that's a thing they did in the game. Regardless, I pushed on, staying on the dry walkways, and slithering deeper into the more modern area. I could tell that there was probably some manner of factory or heavy industry nearby as I could hear the distant chug of machines. That and there were pipes bearing a warning label strikingly similar to the OSHA one for high voltage, only it had a magicky-looking sparkle symbol instead.
I tried to recall what I had seen of the city in order to place my position but came up with nothing. I had only seen the gardens and a single street that was filled with fancy shops and three to four-story buildings of some age. I doubted that the show would include references to heavy industry either so that wouldn't be much help for me.
“Do you think it's still down here?” asked a voice suddenly.
I perked up and spun around, glancing back the way I came.
“Celestia seems to think so,” offered another masculine individual just outside of my line of sight. “These sewers are fairly labyrinthian due to how much the city has been overhauled in the last two decades so it's probably lost down here.”
I’m not lost. I thought defiantly. Because I don't know where I was going in the first place.
Spinning around, I quickly found that there was only one way out, and that was to go even deeper. Sticking to the raised section I surged onward, and was surprised to find that the tunnel came to an abrupt halt, with the pipe going straight down. I could see that a ladder would aid me, but I wasn't sure if I should even be going in this direction in the first place.
I didn't have any other options save fight, and I didn't want to hurt them or get hurt myself so that was right out. Lowering myself onto the rungs was a bit weird given my lack of legs, but after a second or two of scrambling, I got it figured out. After that my natural instincts kicked in and I made my way down swiftly and easily, all but slithering downwards somehow.
I wasn't going to question it though, and continued my search the moment I felt my weight settle on something solid. Peering around, I noticed I was on a higher elevated area, with the pipe’s contents splashing loudly a dozen feet below my position. The passage itself went straight, before turning left, the walkway ending abruptly but not before I noticed a door.
Even though the crash of water was nearly deafening, I could hear the thump of hooves above and behind me. They were coming closer, meaning I had little time to think and nowhere else to go. So I went over to the door and grabbed the handle before stopping and looking up to where a small sign sat above it.
Sector Seven Underplate Access. I read.
With a shrug, I tried to open it but found out that it was locked. Thankfully I had gotten a good handle on my newfound strength by then, and with a firm twist, I broke something inside the thing. After that I pulled it, slipped behind the door, and braced myself, keeping one hand on the knob just in case.
Sure enough, I heard the two guards from earlier make their way down to the final catwalk, and finally over to my position. The lead soldier attempted to turn the knob, but after finding that he couldn't do so, stopped abruptly. There was a slight shuffle before his partner tried it as well, but my strength was greater and they gave up as well.
“Still locked. It couldn't have come this way,” I heard someone mutter. “Let's head back to the top of the spout and wait there. We can't let it get through this door and onto the catwalk. It could easily slip out into the city from there.”
Catwalk? Underplate? This just keeps getting more and more confusing. I thought.
I waited there for a moment before the guards left, at which point I released the knob, and turned back around. The room I was in was small, rectangular, and had only a few crates, and a half dozen pipes going from ceiling to floor. There was a door on the other side which I tried and was happy to find was unlocked, the thing swinging open a little too easily.
“Holy shit,” I muttered.
Staring out into the open air I found what looked to be a jungle of metal pipes and crisscrossing catwalks. On either side of me, there was flat stone, which quickly became more uneven when I looked down. Something I immediately regretted doing, as it was a very long way down before I saw the ground, only it wasn't ground. It was flat and extended all the way to where the plate right above my head ended.
“There is a second level to the city,” I remarked aloud. “No wonder there are no factories or heavy industry above, it's all down here. I must have been hearing all whatever technology they use to pipe stuff down there.”
My assumption seemed true, as there were numerous smoke stacks, scrap heaps, and junkyards littering the area below me. Factories were common, but I could also tell that there were a few dry docks in the middle of constructing what looked to me like blimps.
“Or was it dirigible… zeppelin?” I asked no one. “Wait, what's even the difference?”
I shrugged and decided to ignore that little problem for the moment, as it wasn't really relevant, even if it did annoy me. Glancing around I saw what seemed to be large circular arrays ringed with bright orange crystals with light coming out of the bottom. Light generators, only they used magical runes and crystals rather than bajillion watt lamps.
“Getting some final fantasy seven vibes,” I murmured to myself.
Continuing my inspection I saw that there were also some houses and slapdash residential areas below. Built mainly out of scrap, or discarded husks of an airship, they were pretty ramshackle even at the best of times. The exception to this was a smaller sub-plate that budded off from the main one and contained a mansion as well as a few other buildings. The entire thing was gated off and seemed to be the home of someone rich and powerful.
There were others like it, including two smaller plates that extended midway from the bottom plate, and the top one. These were military in nature, as they had docks, high walls, and only a single access point, an elevator that connected it to both the top and bottom. Winged ponies could be seen lazily patrolling the airspace around these areas, clearly not on high alert, at least not yet anyway.
“Look for a way down,” I reminded myself.
Looking around, I noticed that there was a single massive pillar that connected the two areas together. At the base, there was what looked like a train station of some kind, while all around it were various caged areas containing moving boxes. There had to be a dozen or more of the things each going either up or down, their passengers sitting on either one of the two rows of seats.
“Wow my vision is amazing,” I stated, only now realizing that I had been staring at something miles away with ease as if my eyes were binoculars or something.
Though this area was caged off, I could see that the openings would be large enough for me to fit through. A pony likely couldn't, but I could, so that's all that mattered.
“Right, sneak over there, ride the thing down, and sneak off into that junkyard nearby,” I declared. “After that, find a bath, or someplace I can shed my skin because wow do I feel gross.”
With that bit of motivation in mind, I slithered off, winding my way through the various catwalks that crisscrossed the area. It was weird and seemed a little over-engineered, but hey I wasn't some kind of city manager or bean counter. If it cost the equivalent of a small country to make it was no skin off my non-existent nose, though it did indicate to me that there was more going on.
Were they intending on constructing something else down here and this was a first step? It wasn't a concern of mine, so I brushed aside such thoughts for the moment and focused purely on my destination. Which I was rapidly approaching after momentarily getting lost amidst the sea of metal pipes, and support beams.
Reaching the end, I paused to marvel briefly at the huge pillar, and the many rising or falling elevators. My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden clunk as something heavy and metal moved only a few feet above my head. I reacted on instinct, clambering up the side of the cage and clinging as close to the metal ceiling as possible.
A new elevator appeared a moment later on the other side of the cage, its passengers not noticing my slim form. After it passed me by, I slipped through the grate, and landed atop the the transportation cube, using my nimble form to make the action completely soundless. I then found that there was a perfectly square box at the very top of the machine, a vent allowing air to pass in and out.
Though it wasn't very large, I could tell that if I squished myself up against it I’d be more or less invisible. So I did just that, compacting myself as much as I could and remaining perfectly still as we traveled down toward the plate below. It was frankly a marvel that I could squeeze down into such a small shape, given just how long I was and how big my venom sacks were.
It also wasn't very comfortable, as you may or may not have guessed, but I was stuck there so complaining wasn't going to help. Complaining also likely would have got me caught, so I did it quietly in my head the whole way down to the bottom. Though colorful, it was mostly me just saying fuck repeatedly, so I’ll spare you my narration.
Upon nearing the bottom I realized that I was about to have a new problem, namely that I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do next. The elevators fit neatly into the compartment below, creating a smooth top that didn't allow me to actually enter the plaza. Sure I could rip off the air exchanger, and slip in that way, but why would I want to do that? I wanted to get away without attracting attention so I had to plan an alternate plan across the roof of the plaza.
“Aha,” I murmured.
I had spotted a large pipe that rose up from the ground a dozen feet from the roof, which went nearly the entire way to the junkyard I had spotted from above. It also conveniently bypassed the security checkpoints, and walls that I saw surrounding the station and the immediate area. It was perfect, and thankfully it wasn't long before the elevator began to slow down before finally docking.
Narrowing my body, I slid out through the small gap, and onto the roof, slithering my way as silently as possible to the other side. The tin roof was uncomfortably warm and was starting to burn me by the time I reached the edge but I dare not utter a hiss in pain. I could hear dozens, maybe hundreds of creatures below me, each one milling about as I moved amongst them, unseen.
Upon getting as close as possible without being seen, I squeezed down real tight and coiled my body as much as I could. I then waited a few seconds, and heaved with all my strength, leaping across the narrow way and landing atop the large pipe. Immediately I began to move, not trusting my luck at this point, especially not with pegasi flying just below the level of the pipe. Few bothered to ascend higher than that, which was my only saving grace, however, I didn't want to see how far I could push it so I moved as quickly as I could. Though I heard the flap of wings occasionally become rather close, no one bothered to fly high enough to reveal me.
It was then when I was staring at the junkyard entrance did I realize just how big the place really was. Skeletal husks of dozens of airships lay strewn about the area, intermingled with what looked like primitive cars, and early airplanes. Clearly, they were in the midst of industrializing, in contrast with the very medieval upper Canterlot that seemed to be from another era.
I wondered if Celestia had foreseen some manner of conflict, and was beefing up her technology just in case. It made sense that the aliens might not see equestrian magic coming, but psionics was kinda magical and the invaders were patient observers. I didn't know what to think, so I put that thought aside with the growing mountain of concerns and worries building up at the back of my mind.
Slithering down the pipe, I quickly slid across the ground, through a hole in the fence, and into the junkyard proper. Here I navigated toward the back of the heap towards one of the older airships mostly obscured by a trio of wrecked cars. It didn't take me long to locate a hatch about eight feet off the ground, which I opened with a bit of elbow grease before slipping inside.
A firm tug put the hatch back into its place, allowing me to relax and look around. Sure enough, it was a large, semi open area that wasn't quite as big as I hoped, due to how the back half had collapsed. A wall of junk obscured any light, and there didn't seem to be any other exits that I could see so I assumed I was safe.
Settling down on a long, flat piece of metal I started to wipe my scales clean of any lingering residue from the sewer. While I did so, I couldn't help but wonder how exactly I could complete the task in the most optimal manner.
The most obvious solution was to simply corner Celestia again, and convince her but that would be hard for obvious reasons. I lacked any substantial physical evidence besides my own person, but even that wasn't exactly foolproof. I would need to find a thin man, or whatever hybridized equivalent was already here on Equestria.
With one of them captured I could force Celestia to see what was coming but that still left a lot of steps in my plan that had question marks right now. A thin man was likely to be infiltrating the government in some capacity, or seeking places of learning in order to gather intel. If there were nobles then chances are thin men were likely watching them closely, eager to figure out a weakness or use a sectoid to mind control one of them.
Regardless of what the thin men were currently up to, I would need contacts, a team, and some serious manpower, or ponypower in this case. While I gathered this group, I would seek out more information on Equestria, its history, its players, and who, if any, have been acting suspiciously. It was a massive task, and it nearly overwhelmed me with its enormity, but I ignored it, focusing instead on the more present issue.
“I need a shower.”