//------------------------------//
// Sludge Factory 
// Story: My Little Strife: The Sigil Is Magic 
// by Ichtudirweh 
//------------------------------//

Your oxygen tank canister connected to your environmental suit, depletes to it's last molecule of air.


Thankfully for you, it didn't matter. You were inside Ponyville once more, but were materialized into an unknown location of the town. You take off the visor of your enviormental suit, to breathe in the freshness of air once again. As you examine your surroundings, the teleporter relocated you into another part of the sewage treatment plant. However, a translucent energy barrier in front of a large metallic door, sealed off any possible entry back into town. You reach out your hand/hoof to touch the green barrier, only to jolt away with a 1st degree burn on your hand/hoof. You pace backwards from the door, and explore the new settings into more detail. You locate and travel down a flight of wooden steps on the outside treatment plant. 


You could hear the clashing of hydralic pumps filter the green sewage as you desend downwards. You locate a stone masonry room, to find a single human technician operating power controls of the plant. The man was worn out from overworking and lack of sleep. He was fed up with the tyrannical rule of the Order, as he grumbles and curses slightly to himself. You tap him on the shoulder, to question him about the location of the reclamation tank inside the plant. 





"Main control? Yeah, There's another way to the sewers control. Throw that switch next to me. Go up and purge the reclamation tank so that I can quit this job. I will be forever in your dept."


After pulling the lever, you thank the human technician and travel towards the outside of the green barrier. You gain access to a value of the lower sewer levels. You release the pressure of the value and land into the uncanny solid goo once more. You swapped out your old oxygen supply for a fresh new canister. You exchange the old belt of micro missiles, for a fresh batch of newly loaded missiles inside your rocket launcher. The raw sewage drains out into a current rush, that swipes you off your feet/hooves to descend into another waterfall of sludge.


You are unintentionally greeted by two mechanical brown spiders at the end of the waterfall. The two spiders were taken out with a trio of well placed rockets. You pick yourself up after doing so, and shake off any glutinous racid sludge from your figure. You jog into a corridor of sludge with a lone sentinel on patrol. While kneeling in the shadows, you aim the rocket launcher and discharge one rocket. The sentinel implodes into a searing molten mass of fragments. You jog down the long corridor, where your feet/hooves make contact with stone masonry at the end of the pathway. Finally, you were out of the green mess once and for all. Or where you?


A linear hallway of concrete and metal bars, are present as you venture further into the sludge factory. You press a switch at a breaking point down the hallway, to only be interrupted by Blackmare. She was losing her sanity due to bordom. 


"That Brick! Didn't we pass that brick? Oh wait.....no....."


You really wished that your Com-Link unit was a two way radio, to beg her to stop sending you useless transmissions. It was already bad enough dealing with the smell of the sewers, which your new canister did little to filter out the smells. On top of that, being caked with grime and raw sewage. You stenched with a smell that could turn the bravest of men into cry babies. A celing turret down the hallway, locates your position and fires off a few rounds abruptly. It forces you to take cover. You turn around behind cover, while carefully aiming the sights of your rocket launcher. You release two rockets down the hall, where one of the rockets misses the ceiling turret. Luckily, the other rocket makes direct contact. The ceiling turret implodes into a white fireball. You charge down the hall, over the pile of smoldering ceiling turret fragments. 


A storage room full of useful items and ammunition, is located inside a room at the end of the hallway.  It was accommodated with a lone hostile Acolyte who overheard the commotion. You lauch a rocket at the startled Acolyte, who had no time to respond to you as a threat. The rocket lodges into his shield, and fails to detonate for a brief moment. The dud forces you to retreat from the room. As the Acolyte raises his assault rifle, the lodged rocket explodes inside of his shield. It creates large shards of shrapnel that penetrate the Acolyte's armor. You reenter the room after the firefight was over. The room contained a fresh pack of oxygen canisters, a box of preloaded assault rifle magazines, and a box of loose micro missles. You gather the supplies in your backpack, and proceed back into the long linear hallway. 


Another hydralic room full of booming machinery, compile sludge into the basin below the floor. The water inside this treatment room was a purified clear blue. You locate a value attached to a pipe, and turn it with unexpecting consenquences. You jog out of the hydralic room, back into the hallway to be interrupted by Blackmare yet again. 


"Don't ask me our location inside the treatment place. I'm lost, too. Sorry......" She whines in regret at the end of the transmission.


With the linear paths that you have been following, her help and guidance wasn't a necessity inside the sludge factory. At least she expressed remorse and sympathy for your headaches. You wonder back down the linear hallway, to come across an electronic switch that you press against the wall. The wall reveals to be a platform for the lower levels. It lowers and rises briefly. You step onto the flat platform, to be greeted only again by the familiar green sludge. One hell of a treatment plant for raw sewage. You drag your feet/hooves back into the green mess, to reveal a room off from the left that you failed to locate earlier. 


You enter the room, to witness another lone technician. He who was too busy troubleshooting a computer terminal to notice your presence. Large machinery equipment lag and jolt. It was due to a malfunction lodged in the middle of the machinery. A pressure switch to the right of the entryway, was located and pressed by you. This reveal an entryway into the ventilation shaft. A sentinel screeches a eletronic pitch from your presence inside the large vent. You silence the robot by discharging two rockets inside the enclosure. The miniature shockwave from the rockets short circuit the drone. A large, slow moving hydralic lift lowers down to your stature inside the vent. You step onto the lift and ascend upwards. After the hydraulic lift finally ceases to rise, you are presented with your mission objective.





A single emergency pull lever is located inside a narrow pathway inside the upper level. You throw down the switch, to reveal the tubular reclamation tanks internals. You swap out your assault rifle in place of your rocket launcher. The risk of the shrapnel and the shockwave presented a hazard, due to the tight enclosure of the room. You flip on the full auto settings on your assault rifle, and pull the trigger to expend an entire magazine. The rounds penetrate the internal wiring  and tubular frames, which in result causes a small explosion inside the values of the reclamation tank. 


"Command, do you copy? He's done it! The gates are now open to the Programmer's lair! Send in the shock troops ASAP! Get back to headquarters. Tell Rainbow Dash were comming in!"


Your heart felt like it was leaping out of your chest. It was due to the motivating, adrenaline pumping transmission. The first major assault conducted by the Front, was about to break out and unfold on the world. You swap your assault rifle back into your backpack, and re-arm yourself with the rocket launcher. You rush outside of the room, back into the thick sludge to retrace your pathway out of the facilities. At the opposite end of the corridor, a small army of eight sentinels open their chasis and fire their lasers upon you. You dive into the sludge and return fire, unleashing a full belt of chain linked rockets. A chain reaction of explosions rattle the bricks inside the sludge corridor. You press an electronic switch, to gain access to the rising/lowering platform of the stone masonry. The stamina module was on overdrive, while your heart pumps blood vigorously throughout your veins. 


While retracing your steps, you stumble onto a isolated teleportation device. It leads you back into the same monitor with the ED-209 Crusader first witnessed. From there, you travel to a series of elevators, while dodging sentinels and small brown mechanical spiders back along the way. You finally step into the town square of Ponyville once more. In a secluded alleyway, you undress from your sewage engulfed enviromental suit, and redress into your old body armor and tunic. The atmosphere of the town square was tense. Everybody and everypony knew what was about to unfold. You step out of the shadows, and pace yourself back into Celestia's castle. The royal guard nods after you speak the hidden pass phase, and activates the wall to reveal the hidden chambers down to base. HQ was full of life like you never witnessed it before. Rebel human and pony comrades jog by you in a hurry. Along them was their commander, Pinkie Pie. She was heavily armored and geared up for battle. She prances by you, armed with two micro missle launchers and a mile-wide grin. 


Rainbow Dash awaits you inside HQ, with intel for the first direct planned attack on the Programmer's lair. The base eagerily preplanned and anticipated this assault for quite a long time. She lowers her electronic holographic clipboard, to speak to you on your next mission.


"Hey! Tough guy! Over here! I got a new set of assignments for you to carry out. This is extremely critical to this mission. There is no room for error, so don't even think about backing out now. When I'm done with you, meet up with Applejack for her new flamethrower, and Fluttershy for another stamina upgrade. Also, don't forget to visit Twilight Sparkle on the lower floor. Yeah, I know what your thinking. She will give you the 401 on the latest technological updates on the Order. Her knowledge could be a valuable asset for you...."