//------------------------------//
// Where the Sewers Flow 
// Story: My Little Strife: The Sigil Is Magic 
// by Ichtudirweh 
//------------------------------//


"More missions must be conducted before command feels it's safe to attack. Dash has arranged Applejack to give you new training. Visit Fluttershy for another implant upgrade."



Blackmare transmits to you, as the power station begins to crumble. You stumble onto the towns streets once more. Acolytes from around you storm into the power station. The Order was not aware who assaulted the power station, so you pace your back into town square with a calm stature. A starving, cloaked stallion extends his hoof for some spare gold in a dark alleyway. As you throw a few gold bits into a tin can in front of him, you recieve another transmission from Blackmare.


"The Order thinks that it's secure inside their fortified castle. Boy are they wrong! If you open the gates they'll be easy pickings. After that, we'll have to go down into the sewers. Head along the rivers across the Mayor's mansion."


The sewers? Well, at least your environmental suit that you recieved from the power station will make the trip a little more sanitary. You travel back to Celestia's condemned castle, to gain entryway into the Front's base once more. You spot Rainbow Dash inside headquarters. She was too overwhelmed to talk to you for the time being. As you peered inside headquarters, she laid out the plans for the assault on the Order's main compounds for a few rebel commanders. The Programmer's lair was the main focus of the raid.


Who exactly is the fearsome Programmer? This question boggles your mind, as you descend into the lower levels to visit Fluttershy for the new stamina implant. Fluttershy await's you for a new upgrade.


(No unique dialog in the following parts)


"Oh Um, Hi again. Ready for a tune up I suppose?" Fluttershy questions.

"Yeah. I'm ready to recieve my upgrade." You politely tell her in return.


You lay down on the operation table to follow the same procedures. Fluttershy makes you confortable as possible on the cold table. She holds the anesthesia mask towards your face, as you drift off into darkness. This time, you enter the dream world. You arrive into an ancient temple, decorated with unusual hieroglyphics and alien features. In the dream, you supported your assault rifle close to your chest. You examine the ancient writings on the wall. Suddenly, a shadow of a man's torso appears from the darkness. He heckled as you were talking to yourself over the writings, casting a deeply modified robotic voice.


"You fool! You dare to defy the Order? I await for you in my lair, if you even survive past my guards. You shall perish, unbeliever!"


You swing yourself around, and discharge the assault rifle towards the black figure. The shrouded figure reaches his hands towards the sky. A shower of light crashes down onto you. You felt the sensation of a million volts travel throughout every molecule of your body. You relieve an agonizing scream of pain. Before you knew it, you wake up in a cold sweat on the operation table while heavily breathing. Fluttershy rushes over for your well being.



"Oh my gosh! Are you alright? Oh my, I didn't expect this as a side effect!" She panics while throwing a blanket over your frame. Angel follows behind Fluttershy with a morphine syringe for the pain.

"Fluttershy, It's alright. Just had a nightmare, that's all...." You pick yourself off from the operation table, and regather your belongings. She stands up on her hind legs, and hugs you before you leave the medic room.

"Please....be safe out there Sweetie. l" She says in worry. Fluttershy orders Angel to put back the syringe as you depart.


You skid over to Applejack's arms and training room. Applejack proposes a new project to you behind the counter.


"Howdy, Sugarcube! Say, I gotta new weapon design for the Front. I was eye'n over a Order schematic, and with t'ese fancy required gizmos, Ah figure Ah could make a flamethrower for ya'll!" She grins up to you.

"However, Ah just need the right materials to make your own personal flamethrower. Just give me a list of these things on yer next raid, and I'll make a flamethrower in a jiffy!" She passes over a schematic with the parts you need. You nod to her, and follow her to the range for a few new pointers.


She informs you how to blindfire more accurately with the assault rifle, how to reload your newly aqquired rocket launcher, and shows you a few new tricks with the electronic crossbow.


"Right then Partner. No time to waste. Hope ya'll learned a few new tricks. Bring me back those parts Sugarcube, and best of luck on yer next mission out there. If ya excuse me, ah gotta get back to a few rebels in trainin'."


She stands on her hind legs and hugs you for before departure. A line of rebels inside the room wait for handouts, as you leave the arms room once more. You travel back into the streets of Ponyville, to locate the rivers near the Mayor's mansion. You recieve another quick transmission from Blackmare.


"Ok, follow the left opposite side of the river of the Mayor's mansion. The sewage dwellers are horrible beings, but their network of tunnels gives them access to secrets. Hold your nose/snout, were going down."


You locate the sewer overflow gate lever, and give it a hard pull. The stench of the sewer overwhelms the atmosphere, as the gates slowly open a passageway. You take out your environmental suit from your backpack, and gear up just before you descend down. The respirator contained on the head visor of the suit, filtered out any putrid or rancid scent's emitted by the town's waste. You drop down into the thick sludge below.


"Were looking for Trixie. She calls herself 'The great and powerful rat queen'. Ever since Twilight defeated her in a magic duel, I'm sure her description is 'boastful' as well as colorful..." Blackmare silently laughs to herself.


So that's where Trixie lives now? Ever since the arrival of the Order? You always wondered what happen to her ever since the short incident inside Ponyville. A self absorbed mare like herself could not roam freely across the lands of Equestria. The risk of being captured was far to present, and was far more important than her deceiving magic displays. Perhaps her new fan base was down in the sewers...Despite it being a pretty depressing thought.


A sentinel unintentionally greets you at the end of the sewage pathway waterfall. Just before it had the chance to open it's chasis to fire opon you, You leap onto the howering robot and descend downwards. The sentinel goes into a state of confusion and malfunctions. It softens your landing by colliding into the thick sludge below. You step off from the sentinel, and swim onto a nearby floating platform. It lead you to a elevator that traveled upwards to a second floor. A lone Acolyte from the second floor, gazes down into the sludge processing chambers. You withdrawl your punchdagger and stealthily close in behind the Acolyte. You grab the Acolyte by his helmet visor, and lunge him backwards onto your punchdagger. He dies within a few seconds from your punch dagger severing his spinal column. You shove his massive body from out the viewport, where it lands in thick sludge near the malfunctioned floating sentinel. You proceed into the next room.


Another lone red uniformed Acolyte stood on patrol up a right flight of stairs. You lower yourself into a kneeling position, and slowly pace upwards without detection. You block the Acolyte's infrared sensor from behind, and thrust the punch dagger into the right side of his neck. You release his body as it tumbles down the staircase. The Acolyte contained an ID card, which you pocket for later use. You press an electronic switch, that the red uniformed acolyte guarded nearby, and travel back down into the sludge chambers once more.


Armed with your reassembled rocket launcher, you travel down into the left of a newly revealed sewage passageway. You are ambushed by two Sentinels, who emerge from a right indent from the wall. A brown mechanical spider in the sludge, scurries towards your direction. You lauch three rockets aimed at the foes. They implode from the methane gases caused by the sludge. The flame had to die out before you could continue on. An incomming transmission from Blackmare is received by your Com-Unit. 


"Ewww...Yuck! I don't even want to think about what your stepping in..."


Whatever it was, thank Celestia your environmental suit made it bearable. You shift your eyes around to examine your new enviroment. You locate a staircase to the left, and decide to travel it upwards with caution. A lone Acolyte shuffled his feet from within a storage area, with your back pressed up against the staircase's wall for a preplanned assault. You swipe your keycard inside the door lock mechanism, and blindly fire two rockets towards the shuffling. The sounds of him imploding into a bloody mess was quite disturbing. However, the storage room contained many useful items. Personal medkits, micro missles, phosphorous grenades, high fragmentation grenades, and a unusual item of some sort. While you examined the object, you noticed that it contained a fuel tank connected to a gas tube. This had to be one of the missing weapon parts for Applejack's schematic. You place the part inside of your backpack, and continue on your way to the opposite door from the storage room. 


A sentinel from this room overheard the commotion of gunfire, and exposed it's internal chassis to scan the perimeters. Your survival instincts click into gear, while stealth was out of the question. You skid backwards on the cold stone floor to avoid it's infrared sensor. You unlease a volley of missles into the chassis on the robot. It implodes into a mass of flame. You pick yourself up from the floor, and travel down an elongated stone corridor, only to stumble onto another lift. An Acolyte from a guard post, spots you on your descent. The rounds strike discharged from his assault rifle strike too close for comfort. You return fire with two blindly fired missiles in the direction of the Acolyte. You press an electronic switch located near the lift, and return onto it once more. As you step inside the vile sludge once again, you recieve a message from Blackmare with more useless insight about the sewers.


"Just what I need! More brown goo...."


Well, at least she's not stepping in it for goodness sakes. The switch that you activated, relieved a value of sludge current. You lose your balance from the sheer force of the current, and travel inside the rapid sludge into a new area. The sludge carries you down into yet another waterfall of more sludge. The contents of your backpack now reek of slime, and many other foul things. You force yourself up from the pit of the waterfall, and trot over to a pathway to dump the contents out. You clear any blockage inside your weaponry. After this was done, you locate a rocky underground pathway. It led into a secluded hideout full of beggars. Blackmare must have been bored out of her mind, to send you another useless transmission.


"I hate to say it, but this reminds me of home. I'm located underground, not that far from here."





She was underground for all this time? It made sense, as she was the highest targeted member of the Front. After all, she was the mysterious guide for Rainbow Dash and yourself. Was she really in control of the resistance movement? You couldn't be sure. The beggars nearly vomit at your new arrival inside the secluded hideout. While trying to cover their snouts/noses, they held out their hands/hooves for spare gold. You throw a bag of bits onto the floor. They scatter around and collect the gold pieces, like a starving animal anticipating for food. They completely trusted your presence inside the hideout afterwards. You question a random beggar for the location of Trixie. She points her hoof to a weathered door, while covering her snout in disgust. You thank the beggar, and wander into the weathered room, to appear inside a deserted room. The room was littered with empty bottles for potions, opened food barrels, shattered glass debris, and large cracked electronic viewboards. Trixie was busy with a magic spell, in which she forcused her efforts while holding a semi-full bottle. Her nose twitches from the rancid smell, and she nearly drops the bottle to the floor. She demands your presence inside the hideout.


"My goodness! What is that hideous smell? Is the great and powerful Trixie greeted with a surface dweller in need of a favor? Trixie does not take requests ever so kindly, but I demand that you rid yourself of that smell first!" She curls up her snout, while her eyes water from the smell. You remove your environmental suit, and place it in a nearby barrel. Trixie levitates a barrel lid and seals the barrel to entrap the smell.


"Much better. Now, in order for me to abide to a request, you must carry out on for me first. My followers are in need of food as you can see, and my magical spells are unsuccessful in food duplication. Fear not, once the great and powerful Trixie formulates the right spell, I will feed all of my pleasing fans! If you would like to assist Trixie, we need the town's entrance from our hideout to be clear. This is so that we can gain access to food ourselves. The Order nuisance is however, blocking the path for my followers. The great and powerful Trixie will conjuring up a plan to bypass this dilemma herself!" 

Was this blue mare out of her mind? The beggars from outside were simply looking for refuge. She made false promises to the starving beggars of Ponyville, just so that she could believe that she still contained a personal fan base. You couldn't believe it.

"What do I need to do? Oh great and powerful one?" You roll your eyes while playing along.

"Trixie demands you to bring back a guard uniform. That way one of my eager followers can wear it to gain access with Ponyville's food markets. No one will dare to shut the door on a Trixie guard again. If not, do not bother the great and powerful Trixie. She needs to focus on other efforts. Your excused from my presence." She trots away back to the semi-full bottle lying on the floor. You take the environmental suit barrel, and exit the barren room.


Hasn't Twilight Sparkle taught her anything? Speaking of Twilight, you wonder where she was in amist of all of this conflict. You retrace your pathway back into the sewage current rush. You float in the vile goo, down a waterfall back into the right hall, from which you were ambushed earlier by the sentinels. You take the left chute inside the sewage plant into another lift. You were ambushed by two brown metallic spiders, once you reached the top of the lift. You manage to kick off one of the spiders, while the other tries to attack you with it's arcing, pulsating mouth. You grab the spider by it's mechanical legs, and manage to throw it towards an advancing Acolyte. The Acolyte raises it's assault rifle to fire at you, but the spider makes him loose his balance. The arcing current in the spider's mouth makes contact with his metallic armor. His body twitched from high voltage, as the spider short circuits from contact with the metal armor.


You search the new room, to gaze onto a large computer monitor. It displayed information regarding a new prototype war machine from the Order. The monitor broadcasts a horrifying heavily armored bipedal robot, that the Front will be forced to fight in the near future. The robot inside the monitor demonstrates its fiece firepower on a few captured rebels. The robot lifts it's flame thrower module arm in the video, and casts a flaming napalm substance onto the captured blindfolded rebels. The defenseless rebels scream in pain. Their flesh melts right off from their bones. The video was a propaganda film released to the public, to reconsider any normal civilians from joining the Front movement. The other mechanical arm of the robot, contained a internal rocket launcher that fired a trio of rockets all at once. It test fired the rocket launcher onto a group of rebels, who were scurrying like a bunch of frightened animals. The purpose of the propaganda video was to inject more fear for anyone or anypony who opposed the Order. The video abruptly ends with the robots assembly line model : 



ED-209 Crusader






You could only hope that you will never encounter such a monstrosity. Once you travel back down to the sewers lower levels, you place yourself to descend down another lift. You encounter three sentinels after you jogged down the hallway. You launch a barrage of missles at the exposed internals of the metallic robots. They explode into metal fragments. You scurry down a staircase to follow a pathway, which lead you to a lone Acolyte that wore the uniform Trixie requested. You disassemble your rocket launcher, and unsheathe your punch dagger. While the Acolyte blankly stares towards a nearby wall, you grasp the Acolyte from behind and lunge your punch dagger. The Acolyte twiches for a brief moment, before his corpse becomes completely drained of all life. You undress the Acolyte and backpack his uniform. You retrace your pathway back into Trixie's hideout. You open the door to her lair, while disposing your environmental in the same barrel. She raises her right eyebrow in question.





"Has the great and powerful Trixie expected a return with her required garments?" She trots over to you, expecting an immediate answer.

"Will this uniform work?" You offer the guard uniform to her.

"Fantastic! This uniform is exactly what Trixie has expected! Here's something extra for your works. One of my most loyal fans tore this off a fallen Crusader. It's inferior garbage that was offered to me. I have no use of it, so you may have it for your work. Also, to get to the gate mechanism, you have to enter another part of the sewers. Since you reek like something on that behalf, that should be no problem for you. You must enter the castle from a sewer maintenance door, and drain the fluid reclamation tank. At the bottom of the tank is the hidden entrance towards the sewers. Beyond that is the manual gate control. I opened several tunnels for my fans, but you are free to use them at your disposal. Leave Trixie now, for your stench is overwhelming." Trixie holds her hoof over her snout. 


You thank Trixie and leave the secluded hideout. The sludge current drifts you back into the previous area. A series of stone stairs lead you into a new area of the sewers. As you reassembled your rocket launcher, you are interrupted yet again by a incomming transmission from Blackmare.


"Why can't I do a mission in a field of flowers for once?"


You wondered the same thing. A series of sentinels emerge from both sides of a long sewage pathway. You discharge a series of rockets in a linear path. After the threats were eliminated, you travel down the halls to find a teleporter. It led you back into the town's square. Your next objective, find the reclamation tank and destory the gate controls.....