//------------------------------// // Twilight and Rarity get "lost" // Story: Sweat and Iron // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// It had been a bit strange, but Twilight and Rarity, after entering their own transportation devices to reach whatever hole Celestia had dug up for them, found that they had awoken in the darkest pits of Secantor island, with lumps on their noggins, and they weren't horns. No. They had fallen into some sort of brass confinement and destroyed mattresses. They were just listening to what the collar wearing mare was saying, then nothing. Not a sound. This place seemed full of pipes going wherever they wanted to, but they didn't seem to want to do anything but belch an immense amount of steam. "Ewww! Where are we?" Rarity whined, her hooves stuck with gunk. "I dunno! Did they knock us out? Why?" "What did we ever do to them?" "That's the thing! Let me see." Twilight looked above their pit to see that it was still as dark as ever, the light somehow not reaching so high. Wherever they were, they were certainly deep in the island. "Rarity." "Yes?" "I think we were thrown really deep in the island." "What? I don't...UGH! The horrid ruffians. Let's try and find the princesses to explain this ordeal." "I agree...but...how are we going to get back up there?" "Well...first...there's an opening right behind you." "Huh? Oh yeah! I didn't see that. Thank you." A giant mattress having seen better days was completely blocking the exit, its springs demanding that it be put out of its misery. At first, the object was too hard to budge, but magic proved its usefulness by shrinking the obstacle. Twilight and Rarity smiled as a shadowy hole presented itself to them. Worry and fear gnawed at their minds. "I prefer to stay here and wait for the others to find us." Rarity nervously smiled as her ears drooped down. "In this gunk?" Twilight grinned as the diva began to stress and squeak."With all this filth that will stick to your coat? I think I saw a rat swimming there." "AHHH! Let's get o...What was that?" "What was what?" "Shhh. Listen." Twilight was awfully confused at Rarity twisting her ears to hear something. She seemed to have better hearing, but it suddenly became apparent to Twilight that something was coming around a corner unseen previously. It sounded like a massive amount of steam was erupting randomly from different spots, their home being some form of rumbled bunch of rusted metal. Finally, some cans were thrown everywhere, and through the filth and trash some form of slouching biped of metal. It was as tall as a minotaur, and it seemed to be in awful shape. Several plates composing its body all had different levels of rust, and its arms were insanely long, nearly reaching the ground. Its hands, feet, and head were all immense and round compared to the rest of the body, while the body looked like a cylinder. Long bars connected every portion of the being's body. It seemed to be searching for something in the garbage as it grabbed a can and looked inside it. This creature had no face, but it did have immense red orbs in its bronze, round head that reminded Twilight of goggles and Rarity of a fashion crisis. "What IS that awful thing?" "Rarity, don't alert it to--" *ka-tank* The bipedal machine was now looking at the two mares, its body beginning to shake like crazy and expelling immense amounts of steam. It kept the can in hand, but it seemed like it was about to move. "Nice job, Rarity." Twilight hissed at her friend quietly. "I didn't know it could hear." "Just try and back away slowly and reach the hole before it mo--" *schhhhlink* Three plates covering the "mouth" of the creation slid down in quick succession, showing that the whole lower half-of the creature's face was one, gigantic, white smile. Before the mares knew, its eyes lit up, and the sound of gears and cogs finally deciding to spin after so long deafened the two. For some reason, some sort of tune was coming from it as it activated and began to give chase. It felt of amusement and mechanical fun. "OUT! OUT!" "I'm trying Twilight!" "Move it!" the unicorn flung her friend through the hole and into an empty hall of cement. More pipes ran through the ceiling, and grates could be seen covering some important coils and heaters. As the two thought it couldn't get through the hole, they sighed in relief, until the thing smashed through the wall and sped towards them, arms outstretched. Every stomp was easily audible, and so was its predictability. The two easily "slid" out of the way as it slammed into the giant canister, creating a violent rising of fire. "I say we get out of here before more of those things show up." Rarity proposed, her heart racing like a grayhound. "Well, I think we can calmly search for--" The music resumed, and the creature pushed itself out of the wall. "RUUUUN!" Both began to gallop like mad through the turns and twists. Some paths were blocked by a wall meant to enforce order in lines, yet it seemed like nopony had gone down there in years. A single door at the end of this dull-beige corridor was in sight, until the remains of the blown-up canister was tossed through a wall, narrowly missing Rarity's horn. Debris and pieces of cement were splashed all over Rarity, stressing her even more. Even though she was angry, she knew that there was something about this machine that prevented her from fighting it. More projectiles began to fly by, ranging from balled-up cans to bars of metal. For some reason, they were all aimed at the unicorns' horns. Luckily for them, a block of cement pounded into the metal door further ahead, revealing a massive worker's elevator waiting to go up. The mare's jumped over the debris and hopped onto the machine, allowing Twilight to pull the lever located on her side. A comforting "vrr" rolled up the walls, allowing the two panicked ponies to see their aggressor stop and look up at them. It quickly walked away, letting exhaustion get to the ponies over their successful fleeing. "I...don't...want to...do that...again." Twilight gasped while she lied strewn across the floor of this elevator. "I'd prefer...to go home right now and get...washed up as quickly...as possible. This sweat is NOT good for my mane." "Stop worrying about...your looks. This is serious. We need to figure out...how to get back to the princess." "You're right...but it's so gross! Wait, where does this lead?" In the urgency, the two mares didn't think of that, and so, when the elevator stopped, they found themselves in some form of night club, music beating loud and colors flashing everywhere. Everypony had stopped to see the wall slide open and to have two embarrassed and puzzled mares slowly walk out of the new hole in the wall amongst what looked like the scum of city. Some mares were wearing rather...special clothes, and many were unicorns. This intrigued Twilight as why there were so many unicorn..."night-shift" workers here, and not anything else. The other stallions here seemed to be part og a higher social class and had only come here for a special. "Eheheh. Sorry for the intrusion everypony."Twilight nervously chuckled."Just...um...keep up with whatever it is you're doing. We'll just be leaving." Rarity remained silent. She knew what these kinds of places were. Trips to cities for inspiration taught one things they'd prefer to be ignorant of. However, as they both took a single step forward, a stallion blocked Twilight with a foreleg. His perverted appearance and the disgusting, sweaty musk emanating from his physique caused the lavender pony's muzzle to scrunch up and cry like a dog. "Well, well. I didn't know they had cute mares here. I didn't even know the new ones would appear that way. What a show! How about we have a drink together, then have some fun?" he smiled, causing Rarity to gag. "What? We don't--" "And they act so innocent too!" "Hey! We were chased by some weird monster down there and--" The stallion slid closer; his yellow grin becoming more apparent by the second. "Yup. You'll be fighting a monster down there soon!" everypony in the place started bellowing out loud. Twilight's horn was crackling as her anger was boiling to its limit. Rarity, on the other hoof, was free to listen to something coming from the wall. When she determined what the sound was, her pupils shrunk, her eyes flopped down, and she began to stutter. "T-T-Twilight!" she whisper-screamed. "What?!" Twilight's yell echoed through the room. "Bahpfsch! Don't snip at me!" "I...I'm sorry, Rarity. What is it?" "Does she hear the fun coming?" the stallion wondered. The two mares whispered to eachother, and both put their ears to the wall. They were in disbelief, and this confused the stallion. "Wh-what are you two doing?" "Everyone, shut up! Listen." a pegasus shouted. Some sort of tune began to creep up through the club as the music from the DJ was turned off. Steam began to come from the pipes above, The tune was becoming louder with every passing second, and the perverted stallion decided to place his ear on the wall as well. This was a grave mistake, as a hand punched through the thick layer of cement that seemed several feet thick. The hand grabbed the stallion by the head and threw him far away into the circular bar right in the middle of the room. The stallion's body simply passed limply into the obstacles, said body being followed by every single gaze in the club. Finally, a machine walked through the wall, throwing pieces into other objects and portions of the club room. Twilight and Rarity had already sneaked towards the bright exit, yet, the silence of the ponies was overcome by the music, and, without warning, one of them screamed: "RUUUN! IT'S A PSYCHONAUT!" The machine just scanned the tumbling ponies trying to flee as fast as they could, its body elevating and lowering as steam left its bizarre interiors. One unicorn mare was unlucky and dumb enough to run near the thing and get caught. It grabbed her by the throat and shortened the gap between its "yes" and her horn. As the mare began to struggle and choke, the creature put its other hand on the horn, then snapped it off. This wouldn't seem like much to any observer, but for a unicorn, the pain is incomparable, especially as the magic funneled every and any way out of its prison any way it could. The mare was dropped on the floor as she began to have a seizure. The machine just watched her squirm then detected another running towards the stairs. One swift swing of its arm, and the broken horn lopped off another. Two victims in barely a minute. The two mares had already escaped from this pace and found that they were actually in the slums of Secantor. Several layers of buildings intertwined and overlapped above. Some bridges existed, but there were still weird vehicles sliding along the strings. The roads were crowded and dirty, and the majority of those here, the two noticed, were unicorns. They seemed to be in worse shape than the rest...and they had strange collars placed around their horns. They begged the richer ponies who passed by in the slums for some "out-of-bounds" dealings, but were huffed at without any remorse. Many were starving, and it showed by the bones and skin. Some had even perished on the streets, but nopony cared. Who would care for rotten vegetables? You just toss them to rot on the ground. It was no major loss. The only thing preventing both ponies from destroying everything in sight was the psychonaut trailing behind them. Everywhere it went, it destroyed walls and buildings, thusly shown by all the holes it had already made everywhere. Rarity pulled on her friend, gesturing to a cable cart just about to leave. To any, this was a great idea to ride the clear, blue sky one could see through the creases above. Unfortunately, the second they approached it, a cut piece of metal flew and sliced the cable in two, letting the transport plummet to its doom along with its screaming passengers. "What a horrid monstrosity! It's doing all this just to get to us? Talk about a persistent date." Rarity mused. "This isn't time for jokes. Come on." A barrel came crashing down as the being began to stomp after the galloping ponies. It was definitely persistent for something so damaged. Every direction the mares went to flee, their path was destroyed by something the psychonaut would throw. It wasn't going to let them get out that easily...until the two were swung in the air by rope and placed on the edge of a "building", which was, like the rest, just extensions of metallic towers made to house several hundred ponies at once. The pony who saved them was completely covered in clothing. He or she was also completely coweled with a snot-green scarf covering his mouth. Rarity was about to barf at this dark, industrial colored fashion. She had dealt with more than she could handle. The two couldn't say anything before "he" whistled, allowing two more ropes to drop down and toss the mares ever higher into the air, the same actions repeating with hanging nets in the air. A brief relief couldn't be had as the machine stared directly at them and began to climb the different pieces of wall in an effort to reach them before they could get out of range. Some of the cowled ponies tossed a green substance from buckets at it. This only showed a partial impairment as the psychonaut remained glued against the wall it was climbing. That infernal music just wouldn't stop coming from it as it inched ever closer. It would be preferable not to mention the extended damage caused below by falling pipes and plates of metal. The already panicking crowds being smashed to a pulp as well wasn't going to solve any problems that this machine had. After a few dozen more hops, the two ponies were tossed right in front of a stressed Princess Celestia, the crazed pony from before, and Pinkie Pie. This platform was actually a beige-colored bridge with several portions widening into circles. Both sides of this bridge were accompanied by the rising towers of Secantor island. "Twilight? Rarity?!" Pinkie Pie smiled happily. The crazed mare from before didn't look all too happy. After all, Pinkie Pie was the only one who she felt a comfort with. She would need to explain herself afterwards, but, for now, she had volunteered to find Pinkie's friends, as the pink mare was the crazed one's friend as well. The danger of the pink party pony's approach of the dirty unicorns was not ignored, and both tackled her away from the edge yelling "Pinkie, No!" in unison. "Twilight Sparkle, what is happening?" Celestia's stress was reaching critical levels. "Yeah. We aren't playing Mustangian football, are we? I'm tired, and I want to throw a relax party instead. We can play then! Oooh! I wonder what kinds of recipes they have here. Hey, did you know that minotaurs--" The approaching music stopped Pinkie but made her bob her head to the beat. "What is that?!" Celestia yelled. "The ponies here called it a psychonaut. It snaps off unicorn horns!" Twilight exclamated. "WHAT?!" Celestia's eyes glowed red as the being smashed through the side which the two unicorns had come from and slammed onto the still intact portions of the bridge. "That's it! That's the awful beast that made us all dirty and sweaty. It even...k-k-killed other ponies." Rarity began to hiccup as tears welled up inside of her. "I won't let such a monstrosity get away with kidnapping my subjects." The princess lowered her head, and as she did so, showed her teeth in a scowl while releasing a white-hot beam of magic at the machine, who, surprisingly, ducked, allowing the spell to pass unhindered through many buildings until it cooled off and dissipated. With a swift strike, the psychonaut aimed for Celestia's neck, but she was expecting such an attack and struck upwards with her forehooves, knocking the machine's head upwards. It stood like a zombie there for a few seconds until its head clicked, expelled a bit of steam from the slots and replaced its noggin' correctly atop its shoulders. It was too slow to react, as the princess had already prepared another spell that sent curved blades of magic into its body. It was over, or was it? The machine was not cut in half. Rather, the music continued and it perpetuated its attack until a minotaur came by and shouted: "Deactivate! Procedure twenty-nine-seven." The machine did not obey, but its body began to slow down into a final stomp of stopping gears. Its left hand was about to grab Celestia's snout. The music didn't stop, until a massive amount of steam left every portion of its body before said machine simply fell down, harmlessly, to the ground. All the ponies were panting and exhausted. "What...is the meaning...of this creation?" "I have no idea." it was the minotaur from the platform previously."That there is a decommissioned robot. They were used to hunt unicorns not wearing the special bracelets on their horns. They were decommissioned and deactivated because, instead of taking the unicorns to justice, they killed them or destroyed their horns." "It did just that down there." Rarity cried slightly. "Oh no! Rosy galloped away." "Rosy?" the group looked at the pink pony with confusion. "Yeah. That's what I called my friend. She didn't say anything, so I think it's alright with her." Pinkie added before bolting away herself. "We still need to talk about her, but as for you two, how did you get down there?" Celestia asked, worry painted on her face. "We...we don't know. We were there, sitting in the transport, when suddenly, we found ourselves in that hole full of trash and--" Twilight was interrupted by the minotaur. "Most likely, you were knocked out by one of my own. Was there a minotaur with you?" "Yes." "Hmm." the guard scratched his hear with his left hand while he held a spear reaching his height in another. "Must be one of those who refuse to conform to what they have been told. He certainly knocked you out and randomly tossed you down the gaps in the city. It's a miracle you survived at all, and that you found a still functioning psychonaut. How did you get up here so quickly?" "It's been only three hours since you were reported missing." Celestia added. "Some strange ponies disguised in wretched outfits helped us up." Rarity tried to flick away some muck still stuck to her hoof. "I see..." the minotaurs eyes began to trail off, and he took a more serious expression."I'll see to these matters myself. In the meantime, find your friend and escort these ponies to their new quarters. Alert the others that these two were found. I will do the same with my comrades, although I believe they won't care anyways." The guard grabbed the machine and tossed it onto his shoulder as he began to leave, yet Twilight interrupted him with one last question: "What are these collars for?" "To prevent the use of magic by unicorns or any other magic-using species or sub-species. They only allow a telekinetic control of minor machinery. It's not enough for the use of massive ones." "What happens if they take them off?" "I dunno. We never found anything besides red dust against the floors and walls. Well, see you later." Twilight and Rarity both gulped as they rubbed their horns. Celestia simply glared at the minotaur while he casually walked away. "Let's go, girls. I am truly grateful of your unexpected safe return, but I must inform you all of the dangers here. Luna is currently sleeping along with a few other over-exhausted ponies in our new quarters. No. Twilight. I don't know why anypony would do such a thing to unicorns." "We...saw things with unicorns down there...Why--" "I'll tell you after. Please, I am also exhausted." "Alright, Princess. Lead the way." "Thank you."