//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: An Angel and her Soldier // by Midnight Words //------------------------------// Chapter 8 ------------------------------ Headshot fired his rifle at Diamond. The bullet bounced off her hammer. Roland took the Unicorn and the Earthpony to cover. "You can't do much against Pegasi!" He yelled and fired his rifle from cover. "I hate to admit it but... You're right. I'll take care of her." Diamond said and dropped her hammer next to Firecracker. Angel attempted to reload her rifle but the Mind-controlled Headshot was shooting the magazines off her hands. Headshot fired, hitting the shields and caused them to shatter. The force and the shock element made quick work of both the human's shields. Critical flew up to a high cloud and peered through his own scope. "This is quite enjoyable. I love it when things go my way." He said with a smirk and fired at the Earthpony while she ran from cover. Roland came up to a large rock and hid behind it. Angel followed but was grazed in her shoulder. "We can't kill him... What the hell do we do, dammit!" Roland yelled. Angel paused and opened her Skill-tree. She smirked. I knew I saw this earlier. Binary Blast: Melee attacks deals increased damaged to mechanical enemies and deals shock damage in a small radius for each hit. Angel frowned when she noticed that she didn't have any skill points left. "Roland... Get him grounded and I'll handle the rest." Angel said and pulled out from cover. Roland nodded and came followed the Siren out. The soldier felt a slight tingle on his knife-belt. He pulled out the Vault key, it was glowing bright red and seemed to be pointing to Headshot. Headshot fired at Roland and broke through his shields and grazed his arm. Headshot was forcing himself to miss but he was getting weaker. COME ON! Headshot tried to move his forelegs to the side to miss the two humans but only for a few centimeters, making him miss the head. STUPID LEGS! WORK! He internally yelled. A bullet passed through Angel's leg as she fell down behind a large rock. DAMMIT! I gotta... STOP! I gotta help... my FRIENDS! The Storm Sniper rifle forced itself down and only hitting the ground. Loyalty... What the... Is that? I can't believe it... You are the Element of Loyalty... "PRINCESS LUNA!" Headshot regained control of his body and turned to face the two Vault Hunters, both were injured by him but otherwise alright. The two of them were to injured to fight his brother and Diamond couldn't fight at range. Headshot fired his rifle at the white Pegasus on the cloud. "Hey Bitch! I'm back!" Critical dodged the lighting bullet and fired his own. "Now, is that really how you talk with your older brother?" "We can talk all day or I could kick your ass right now." Headshot taunted. "Come on! Unless you're a little chicken!" "We could... Or I could just do this!" Critical fired his rifle at a power box that disabled several gates with a few dozen angry Minotaurs. "Really... Since when have I ever played fair?" "You know... I wouldn't have it any other way." Headshot flew down and tackled a Minotaur and sent it flying. Others fired their weapons and even dragged out an immobile missile launcher. "Bro... You know I wouldn't fall for the same trick twice." Headshot said in mock amusement. Critical smiled. "No, but I believe your friends still haven't seen this 'trick'." Headshot's eyes went wide and quickly fired at the large missile launcher. Each bullet bounced off like it was nothing, not even a scracht was left. The missile launcher fired at a large boulder where the Vault Hunters were taking cover. Roland and Angel pulled out before the missile hit but their dynamite won't break that thing. But... Maybe Angel could... They got their experience fodder and plenty of ammo. Roland injured several Minotaurs as he ran through missile fire. Roland slid under a large Minotaur and dropped his turret. The turret heated up and burned the surrounding Bulls to ash. Angel pulled out a stick of dynamite and threw it at a group of Minotaurs and she followed up with Phase-Shift, stunning the Minotaurs that were inside that blast radius. Large bold words came up to their perpetual view with the words. "LEVEL UP" Angel and Roland ran to opposite sides of the arena and opened their Skill-tree sets. Angel chose the Binary Blast and Roland had more versatile skills for his turret. The Pyro Skill tree specializes in everything fire. The Demo Skill tree specializes in explosives and defensive placements. The Mech Skill tree had something that caught the soldier's eye. Sentry going up: Adds a small and weak automatic gun that makes mid-range possible. Roland chose that skill and placed a turret at the top a giant rock. The turret fired above and caused Critical to lose his balance as incendiary rounds burned through his fur. He screamed a blood curdling scream. Headshot saw his brother's fur and skin burn to a robotic shell. "Really now? Did you really think I would go there myself? No, I chose the smart thing and scope out my enemy's abilities." The robotic Critical said. "I was never really here and-wait- Do you feel that?" Headshot didn't listen to his brother and fired the electric round through the robot's skull, causing the body to fall down to the ground. Angel smashed through the large missile launcher and tore it to pieces. The resulting electric shockwave fried the Minotaurs that tried to stop the Siren. An ear-splitting sound broke through the room and caused their ECHO devices to reboot and add an update. Headshot covered his ears as large amounts data flowed into his brain. ECHO update... Initializing... Adding health bar... Adding Ammo counter... Adding compass and map... Adding skill cool-down counter... Error Skill not available... Installing "Razorwing" Skill application. Adding skill cool-down counter... Update successful. Headshot fell down from and landed on the hard ground with a large thud. Roland and Angel ran to the sniper's side and flipped him onto his back. His eyes were glowing red and several warning symbols floated from side to side. Warning! Systems Critical! Critical! CriTiCal! "Hello brother." Critical virus! Warning! Life support failure imminent. Anti-virus update... Loyalty online... "What?" Virus deleted... Installing Element of Loyalty... Roland checked the damage on the sniper's body. A bright light blinded the two Vault Hunters and a necklace that had the symbol of Headshot's Cutie-mark around his neck. "System rebooting..." Headshot said in a robotic voice and shook himself awake. "Ughh... What happened?" He said in his normal voice. Diamond came out of a large steel door, carrying four fillies, including Firecracker, that were fast asleep on her back. "What happened? Are you alright?" She said and ran over the three Vault Hunters. "Yeah, we're fine and... I'm sorry for shooting at you." Headshot said and rubbed the back of his head. "I'll get Firecracker to the hospital in Ponyville." Headshot said and opened his wings. "Not yet... My Vault key is reacting to you." Roland said and held out the knife and it pointed to Headshot. Headshot picked up the knife and it pointed in another direction. Deeper into the cave. Headshot gave back the knife but it then began to point back at the new Element of Loyalty. "Maybe it's pointing to the vault? But..." Headshot said and looked at the other's injuries. "Maybe we should get patched up, first?" Angel looked at her wounded leg and nodded. "Yeah... Maybe going to the doctor is the right idea." Roland pulled Angel up and put her arm around her shoulder. Headshot took the injured unicorn. A loud speaker echoed through the room, the Vault Hunters plus the bandit leader looked around in confusion. "Did you really think I would let you go that easily? I'm a stallion that has backup plans, unlike my brother." Critical boomed through the PA system. Headshot rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just die somewhere? We are really getting tired of hearing your voice." Critical laughed at his younger brother. "I have several backup plans in case Princess Luna decided to interfere. I think you would like to hear it from the horse's mouth." The PA system switched out. "You won't get away with this..." A young female voice said. "Now, now Lulu, you may be an all-powerful Alicorn but against me and my machines, you're worthless." Critical said. "So unless you want the only being that been able to stand up to an all-powerful god of chaos dead. I suggest you, brother go deeper, and don't even think about using your new found 'Element of Harmony against' me, I have plans for that as well. So see you later." The speakers turned off and the warriors shared uneasy glances at each other. Headshot gently dropped the pyromaniac and glanced at the Roland's knife. "Mind if I borrow that for a bit?" He asked the soldier. Roland pulled out the knife and held it by the tip of the blade. "There's no changing your mind, is there?" He asked as Headshot took the knife. "Even if it's most likely a trap, right?" Angel stepped up and offered her own knife. "We could come with you. You don't have to go in alone." She said and Headshot took her knife. Headshot shook his head. "I'm not going to say something like 'This is destiny' or 'I have to do this alone' but I want you to look out for her." He said and looked at Firecracker. "She may not seem like it but she's scared... alone... and I want somepony, someone to look out for her." Roland nodded and picked up the injured unicorn. "But... If you're not out of here within two hours, we are coming in with an army." Headshot nodded and flew through the doors leading deeper into the mountain. Headshot's ECHO buzzed to life as a small picture of Critical came up to his HUD. "So it seems your faith is unshaken. Well, let us test your resolve to save this empty world we live in." Critical said and the call ended. A loud warning siren rang as a large steel door opened and revealed a mutated pony made from different corpses feasting on several bodies, both pony and Minotaur. Critical called again. "Now you see, this is one of my failures, I was planning on making an immortal non-alicorn pony and yes, I succeeded but the process turned the test subject feral and needed to consume an ungodly amount of meat." Headshot stepped back and stopped himself from vomiting at the sight. "You sick bastard..." "You can't tell but that pony was a mare with a child, no more than a few months old. You know that was the first one she ate." Headshot backed away and pulled out his rifle. "Remember back when I said I'll kill you? Well I'll FUCKING KILL YOU!" Headshot fired his rifle and the lightning bullet passed through its head but it didn't die, it just ate the meat and turned towards the sniper with large black eyes, it's face was covered in blood and dirt. "Like I said, she's immortal, unkillable and completely without moral like me. I'm immortal, unkillable and not afraid to take that extra step for science!" Critical said and grabbed something that crunched and crackled. "You know, these chips are really bland. I can't fully enjoy watching her rip your flesh limb from limb and pick your bones clean like everything else." The feral pony slowly stepped closer. "I wish this thing had a mute button, I was planning on sleeping at night." Headshot fired another shot but it was useless, as the pony moved slightly faster and broke out to a gallop and slammed the sniper into the wall and bit him in the arm. Headshot kicked the pony off and took out several sticks of dynamite. "That's never going to work. She is blast resistant, fire resistant, bullet resistant and all around unbeata-" Headshot placed the sticks of dynamite on the ceiling above the pony, the pony was lost and simple-minded, it didn't care that hundreds of rocks were falling down on it, it didn't care about the pain or the suffocation, it just wanted to bite into that Pegasus. "Bravo, my brother, bravo. You just blocked the only way out, brilliant indeed." Critical said in mock praise with a slow clap. "But she's not dead and she will claw her way out." "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." Headshot said and dry-heaved the contents of his stomach. "In case you have any more surprises, I don't want to be force to lose my lunch during a fight." "If you really know me, there won't be any surprises." Critical said and munched loudly on his snack. Headshot walked through the cave, the lights seemed to dim as the sniper started to need to feel his way through the cave. "Now this one's a beauty. Blind as a bat and twice as nutty. The Crawler, but not the ones in the wild, more like the ones in old lore. Blood thirsty, angry, chaotic, and would kill anything, even their young. And there is only one Crawler there and I would love it if you would be so kind and feed him for me." Critical said and flipped a switch. "That... just called him towards you. Hope you learned your biology, brother." Headshot waited for the Crawler to appear but it never did. He lowered his rifle and prepared to move again and thats when he felt hot breath on his skin. He turned around and saw a large Crawler, as large as the cave itself, with red glowing eyes. Critical buzzed in the ECHO and took a deep breath. "RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Critical screamed into Headshot's ear, stunning him and even caused the Crawler to cringe. The Crawler roared and slammed his giant claw on Headshot. Headshot took out the two Vault keys and stabbed the giant claw, causing the Crawler to lift up its claw and gave Headshot a few seconds to run away. He flapped his wings as hard as he could, he knew he couldn't fight it in the dark. Of all the gadgets those mechanics put in me... Headshot thought as he flew harder. They forget to put a damned flashlight! Crawlers were fast, really fast. Headshot didn't stand a chance in this large tunnel. He then remembered about his other gadgets he had at his disposal and this new "Razorwing" thing he now had. "BOASTER!" Headshot yelled and the two boasters blasted him forward. The Crawler was still catching up to him. "You know, I want to kill you in the most painful way I can and this... just doesn't cut it, so I'll help you out, just this once." Critical said. "GIANT GLOWING FUCK-ME SPOT! SHOOT THE GIANT GLOWING FUCK-ME SPOT!" Headshot quickly did a 180 degree turn and fired his rifle at the left eye of the Crawler. The Crawler roared in pain and trashed about, slamming the walls and causing cracks through the tunnel. Headshot fired his rifle at the right eye and caused it to pop. He fired again and this time passed its skull and splattered the brain. "That was painful to watch... it took you that long to figure out how to kill it? Man and I thought you were dense before." Critical said. "Shut up." Headshot said softly. "Awww am I finally breaking you down with my insults?" Critical said. "Does baby brother need a diaper change?" "I said SHUT UP, you're giving me a headache." Headshot said and walked through the cave. "You're nearly there." Critical said. "Just a few more baby steps and you'll actually beat me at something, even though it was just a trap for THIS!" The room Headshot was in began to fill with green gas that floated in the air. Headshot covered his mouth and looked for a way out of the room. There were three doors, red, blue, green. "Now I believe you see the doors and the room is filling quickly with neuro-toxin and the only way out is through one of those doors but all of them are locked. Now this is where things get interesting. There is a key hidden inside that room and the key will break after you use it. One of the doors leads to a bottomless pit filled with magic that makes flying impossible and the other is filled with lava." Critical said. "Oh and one more thing you have five minutes before the toxin kills you." Headshot began to panic and looked around the room. There was a wooden desk with pieces of paper stacked to the right and a spilled drink. Something was recently in this room. There were three beds and bodies were covered with a thick medical blanket with blood splotches on it. Headshot towards the beds and pulled off the blanket. There was a pony in that room, alive with a gag on his mouth and a blindfold to cover his eyes. The pony gave a muffled screamed. "Ahh. You seem to have met my EX-butler. He gave me toast with butter on the left side when I specifically said the right side." Critical sighed. "And he was such a good butler as well, shame that I had to kill him." Headshot began to pull the blindfold off and saw that his eyes were ripped off his head. "Now you see, brother. I seemed to have forgotten where I put the key. It was in one of the good ponies in the beds I believe." Critical said. "But I seem to remember it was near the heart but I also remember I placed an explosive near one of them." "And let me guess I have to rip off their hearts and take the key." Headshot said and went over to the desk and opened the drawer. "I can't perform open heart surgery without equipment." "You have a knife, right?" "I hate you." Headshot pulled out the Vault key and placed the knife near the pony's chest. "Sorry." Headshot said and quickly slashed open the chest cavity and pulled out the heart. A buzzer sounded through his ECHO. "Wrong, try again." Critical said. Headshot tried the next bed and ripped off the blanket. A mare dress in a maid outfit was tied to the bed, her dark green hair was stained with blood. "Ah. Miss Sweep, she spilled coffee on my bed when she brought me breakfast this morning. I think you might be a bit hesita-" Headshot ripped off the maid outfit and her chest and quickly pulled out the heart. A short ticking began and Headshot jumped to the left and the body exploded. "As heartless and efficient as ever, ehh?" Critical said. "Though... You will be hesitant with the next victim." Headshot went over to the next bed and ripped off the blanket. A foal... about the same age as the CMC... "I...hate...you..." "Well hurry up. You have one minute left." Critical said. "The toxin's getting thicker" "I'm sorry... sorry...sorry...sorry...sorry..." Headshot repeated over and over again as he... I don't need to describe this.... I don't want to... Fine... As he ripped the poor child's heart out and pulled off the key, blood sprayed across the room. Headshot was thankful that he emptied his stomach earlier. "Well chose which door." Critical said. "And you should look at face, priceless." He laughed. "Your favorite color is red and mine is blue so..." Headshot placed the key inside the green lock and turned it. The lock clicked open and led to a large hallway with Princess Luna strapped to the far wall. "Well... You're here..." Critical said behind him. "Where the hell..." "Go on... Save the princess... or whatever..." Critical said. Headshot came closer to Princess Luna and tried to remove her bonds but... she just disappeared... "What the hell..." Headshot said as he back away from where the Princess was. Critical began to laugh maniacally. "Did you really think I could capture the Princess? She was just a bait and with the Element of Loyalty trapped in here. My plan will be completed soon!" Headshot rushed to the psychopath and grabbed his neck. "I'll kill you right here, right now." "You can try." Critical laughed and disappeared as well in a bright light. "But that would be hard without me there." Headshot was trapped inside the cave... alone... The two Vault keys began to glow and float up and pointed to a wall that had the same symbol as the Vault. The symbol began to glow along with the two floating keys. The wall broke down and he saw two slots where the keys could fit. Headshot took the two keys and came closer to the key slots. "Wait... The story of the Vault said that there would be a champion inside along with Anarchy's right hand, hoof, claw, paw... Whatever. The champion was said to be the most likely a new Element of Harmony since the Mane six... died and the monster was suppose to guard whatever is in that door..." Headshot said and looked at the two keys in his hooves. "Question is... What would happen if whatever is in there is released?" The two keys began to glow as the sniper stepped closer. "Looks like I have no choice." Headshot placed the two knives in the slots and both of them fell out as the door began to open. Headshot picked up the two keys and walked through a large marble hallway with a velvet carpet. High columes decorated the sides of the hallway and at the end was a golden chest. Headshot walked closer to the chest and opened it. A crossbow with the old Element of Loyalty's symbol on it. Headshot grabbed the Crossbow and it began to transform to a beautiful sniper rifle, it's smooth barrel, it's leather grip, it's easy quick semi-automatic fire, it's scope that can magnify to three times, and it had Headshot's Cutie-mark as a motif on the side. The white marble hallway quickly turned black and the walls were littered with blood and bodies of small children, of all species. "LoYaLtY..." A very distorted voice said. "Finally! The new Element of Loyalty! I knew I could never be the Element, but you, I can see it in your eyes. That burning desire to protect those you are loyal to, like mine actually but more! Stronger, better, brighter." Another voice said. A dark swirling pool of blackness opened up in the center of the hallway. A pony with a black suit and a very short black mane floated up. "Hello! I'm part of Luna's personal guard, Name's Slendermane." The pony said. Another pool of darkness came up and a similar suit but it had no face or mane. "And this... is my father... Slenderpony." "LoYaLtY Is DeAd..." Slenderpony said and fired a dark tentacle at Headshot. Headshot dodged the tentacle but it was quick and it grabbed the sniper by the throat. Slendermane tackled his father and took out his own tentacles and stabbed his father in the neck. "WeAk..." Slenderpony said and pushed off his son attack with his own tentacles. Headshot fell to the ground and coughed up some blood, the sniper rifle landed to his side. "Yeah, no time for intros..." Slendermane said and dodged a tentacle that collided with the wall. "But you should really close the door, if you know what I mean." Headshot limply got up and took his new rifle and aimed at the Slenderpony. Large dead trees began to grow from the ground and blocked the sniper's shot. "Just in case you didn't get me the first time, CLOSE THE VAULT! YOU IDOIT!" Slendermane said and was caught in the side with a tentacle. Headshot was tackled by a white blur. The pegasus with a mask and a scrachy red "X" and a circle for a Cutie-mark. "Really? Maskies? I thought you would send something better than a Masky to beat an Element of Harmony." Slendermane said and knocked off the Masky. "Or did you forget the time when those six fillies kicked your sorry flank?" Slenderpony just calmly stared...though... he looked like he just twitched at what Slendermane just said. Headshot flew to the end of the hall and tried to escape and lock the door, but a black tentacle stabbed him in the side and sent him plummiting down to the ground. Slenderpony came up and stood over him, his son loosely hanging from one of the dead trees. "Well... now's a good a time as any..." Headshot said and quickly flew up and landed on a branch. "Razorwing!" He yelled and sharp blades from his wings flew out and stabbed Slenderpony repeatedly. The necklace around his neck began to glow, as well as the knives. "Well... this is new..." Slendermane quietly said. "... You can't use the Elements... without the others... I guess... you are the real Element of Loyalty..." Slendermane said and jumped down from the trees. "... maybe... your loyalty is stronger than mine... and that's why it chose you..." Slenderpony howled in pain and saw his escape from the barrage of knives. He ran out the Vault and teleported in a black swirling cloud. Slendermane fell to the ground... he was stabbed to many times and he won't be able to regenerate his broken limbs. He never took the pact his father did, he never became immortal, he just survived longer than the others. Headshot flew down and wounded champion. "Hey! Stay with me. You're gonna be alright." Headshot said. "Nah... just go... I was already dead when I figured out who I really was... There's this tunnel that led back to Canterlotthrough an abandoned mineshaft." Slendermane said. "Don't let them win... This is the start... The fall of Anarchy..." Slendermane closed his eyes and Headshot noticed a small necklace, like his own, around the pony's neck. He took the necklace and saw that there was a note stuck under it. "A loyalty of a soldier and the kindness of a brute, the magic of the cursed girl and the generosity of a youth, the laughter of the deranged and the honesty of the liar, the Element of these are those that you desire, find the first and then the last, 'cause everything will come to past, burning down the tyrant's gates, will bring the fall of Anarchy to wake."