You know what ventilation shafts never are in movies?
Dusty.
We’re not talking a thin layer of dust that might cause a mother-in-law to tut disapprovingly after she runs her finger over your kitchen table. We’re talking giant clumps of the stuff forming nearly impenetrable walls along the vent. So far I had been able to just force my way through but if the dust got any thicker then I may have to get my knife and start carving out a path.
Another interesting fact that I had recently learnt about vents? Well, they are very difficult to navigate. Even my thin frame was having trouble fitting along the narrow metal corridor, not to mention that, with the dust clouding my vision, I had almost fallen down the shaft multiple times. That’s another thing about ventilation shafts, they tend to have a lot of sudden drops around the place, since they have to get all over this building and all.
Despite these problems I had still managed to climb down at least two floors now, simply by hanging over one of the sharp vertical drops, placing my hooves on either side and sliding down. I had essentially invented a vertical form of grinding. Tony Hawk would be so proud of me. Skaters were always looking for new ways to test the limits of human endurance after all, an admirable quality that they shared with masochists and people who think a sign saying ‘DANGER! High voltage!’ roughly translates as ‘Hey, I bet you can’t touch this with your penis.’
They are the true heroes.
I forced myself back to reality and looked around, seeing only two identical, dust filled vent corridors going either way. “Where in the world am I?” I wondered aloud, spitting some dust out of my mouth at the same time. “They should really put maps up in here, someone could get lost.”
“Where in the world is Ace?!” Iron shouted as he lashed out at one of his attackers, who managed to leap away from the blow.
Summer gritted her teeth and focused more energy into her own attacks. “How am I supposed to know? We barely know what he’s up to when he’s right next to us. Besides, how exactly would he help in this situation?” With her piece said, Summer released the energy that she had stored in her horn into a large beam of raw electrical power that shot across the room, impacting on the shield that her two unicorn opponents had thrown up around their allies. The bolt, seemingly furious at being denied the ability to scorch some pony flesh, battered the shield with random arcs of energy before it dissipated altogether, its fuel spent before it had accomplished its goals.
Summer growled in suppressed rage as she saw the two unicorns share a smug smirk from behind the safety of their shield. So far the battle had not been going well for the underdog duo. Not only were they outnumbered but they were quickly realising that they may well be outmatched as well, a rare experience for the two experienced fighters. These enemies were no dockyard thugs, unlike the crew Thick Skull had commanded. They were experienced pirates, veterans of many sea battles against other pirates, as well as occasional clashes with the Royal Navy or a particularly stubborn merchant crew, and their familiarity with the art of fighting was definitely showing.
So far Iron had managed to do barely any damage to his opponents. His attacks, whilst powerful, lacked the speed to threaten the nimble ponies who, after managing to dodge one of his blows, would leap in for the chance to deliver a buck to his legs or ribs. The two earth ponies who had adopted this strategy, whilst annoying, paled in comparison to the pegasus who hovered nearby, watching for an opportunity to strike. Whenever Iron got close to taking out one of his opponents with any degree of finality, the pegasus would leap in and deliver a swift kick to his head before buzzing out of range again, grinning and jeering at the enraged minotaur.
Summer, meanwhile, had been attempting to focus her attentions on the leader of the pirates, the scarred pink mare who stood at the back, occasionally shouting an order to her troops. However, her efforts had been almost entirely blocked by the unicorn duo who seemed strangely proficient at shielding magic. To make matters worse, whenever she tried to assist Iron Will with his foes, a shield would appear, surprisingly quickly, to block off her aid. Summer was beginning to wonder if they had perhaps received some Guard training in the past. The possibility that the smirking pirates in front of her were a pair of Guard deserters filled her mind with anger. How dare they desert their oaths! Their country! The ponies they were supposed to be defending!
Most unicorns avoided strong emotions when using their magic, as powerful destructive emotions like hate and anger could cause a spell to do far more damage then it should, often leading to the unicorn accidentally hurting themselves and others. Right now, however, Summer felt like doing a bit of extra damage. Letting her usually carefully controlled emotions have their head, she felt power flowing through her, coalescing into her horn before firing out as another bolt of powerful electricity.
The unicorns quickly lost their smirks and began to grimace, their teeth gritted as the pooled their power into the shared shield, managing to repel the new attack. Summer let out a frustrated scream and stamped her hooves on the floor. Some part of her mind knew that she was letting too much anger fuel her magic, which in turn fed her anger, the magical euphoria leading to massively raised emotions. A larger part of her mind knew that, with enough power, she would be able to reduce the infuriating unicorns to nothing but ashes. This side’s argument, whilst simple, was so well presented that it grabbed the entirety of Summer’s attention. Grinning, she charged more energy into her horn and prepared another salvo.
Meanwhile, Iron Will was not faring much better than Summer in the rationality department. His continued inability to hit the swift opponents he was up against made his blood boil. Every time they dodged an attack and struck at him he felt the red mist descend slightly more, forcing him further and further into the rage that the warriors of his clan were famous for. His attacks became stronger as Iron began to throw his entire body into a single punch, often smashing floorboards and putting holes into everything but his opponents. One of the earth ponies in front of him suddenly leapt forward, sending a strong buck to smash into Iron’s kneecap. The minotaur grunted, stumbling as he felt his leg give out underneath him. The circling pegasus, spotting an opportunity to capitalise on the minotaur’s misfortune, shot forward and slammed into the side of the minotaur’s head. Iron felt his vision blur from the strong attack to his cranium, one of his arms slamming into the floor to prevent him from collapsing fully.
The enemies did not let up as Iron stumbled, continuing to rain as many blows as they could on the huge warrior, pushing their advantage. The groundbound ponies took the chance to bash at Iron’s upper body, landing several crushing blows on his ribs and chest. The pegasus, apparently content with his strategy so far, simply continued to swoop around and take swipes at the minotaur’s head.
As suddenly as he had stumbled, Iron was back up again, one huge arm swiping out at one attacker who had, in his eagerness, overextended himself. The pony was sent flying by the powerful strike, slamming into his own teammates barrier and sliding down it, completely out of the fight.
The two other attackers, shocked at seeing their comrade taken out so swiftly, opted to fall back a bit. Unlike most ameatuer fighters, they did not get angry and try to avenge their fallen friend. Instead they got more careful, making sure to dodge well out of the way of Iron’s blows. Despite his success at taking one out, Iron still felt his blood boiling as the two remaining ponies simply took more care not to get caught out again.
Just as Iron was about to launch another attack, hoping to knock the smug pegasus out of the air, he heard a sound coming from above him. The sound echoed throughout the room, managing to draw the ear of every combatant, who all slowly took their eyes from their respective opponents and looked up at the ceiling. The sound came again, a dull clanging noise, like the sound of hooves scraping across metal, followed by several loud thumps.
“Alright, that’s another floor down,” A worryingly familiar voice said, “Now then, where am I?”
The occupants of the room lowered their eyes and looked at each other, all rage and battle fury lost as an awkward silence filled the room, cut into only by the voice’s vent-echoed narration.
“Am I above pediatrics? I swear if I’ve somehow ended up above pediatrics I’m going to be so pissed off. I could get arrested on pedophile charges for that. That would look terrible on my criminal record, I can see it now: ‘Theft, theft, theft, theft, super-theft, perving on kiddies, more theft.’” The sound of a melancholy sigh was heard. “Maybe I should branch out a bit, start doing crimes other than just theft. I wonder how the bribery game is this time of year.”
Back in the room, Iron and Summer had locked eyes with the leader of the enemy, that vicious-looking scarred mare. Their eyes screamed their request, begging her not to do what they knew she was about to do. Slowly, a grin stretched across her face, the large scar twisting up even more of her features as it seemed to try to escape from her bloodthirsty smile.
“Fire.” She ordered her unicorn duo, who happily obliged.
Their horns were quickly charged with arcane energy and pointed directly at the area of the roof that the voice had come from. Summer lashed out at their shield in desperation, but they were too powerful, her efforts doing no more than slightly annoying them as their pooled energy easily surpassed hers. She then tried to raise a shield in front of their target, dredging up all the power she could and pouring it into the spell matrix, desperately hoping to protect the strange thief that she had come to call her friend.
Iron, too, attempted to stop the spellcasters. He lowered his head and charged past the foes that had kept him at bay, ignoring the multitude of blows that they landed on his frame as he passed. He slammed hard into the shield, causing it to flicker for a moment before instantly reasserting itself, blocking him off from the unicorns. He bashed and pummelled at the force field, drawing more grimaces from the unicorns but doing little to detract from their concentration.
Summer and Iron could do little more than watch as the unicorns released their attack, a brilliant salvo of arcane shots flying from their horns, looking for all the world like rain in reverse. They struck Summer’s shield hard, slamming into it relentlessly before, with a disturbing crack, it shattered, sending a wave of magical backlash through Summer’s head, who fell to the ground in pain.
The shots, which had broken through Summer’s empowered barrier with ease, tore through the ceiling as though it were made of paper. Initially, they simply pierced through the obstacle however as the barrage increased in intensity, large chunks of the ceiling were blown out by the sheer number of shots. Iron and Summer watched in horror as blood began to drip down through the cracks, falling down to form a slow crimson rain over a portion of the floor. The unicorns, seeing the effects of their barrage, relented in their assault, looking with satisfaction upon their bloody work.
The ceiling was riddled with cracks and holes, dark red blood leaking down between them. A ponderous groan echoed through the room as the ceiling attempted to hold itself together, an effort that turned out to be in vain as, a couple of seconds later, a large portion the the roof collapsed in, releasing a figure which tumbled to the ground below.
Iron, still watching the bloody body of his friend with morbid horror, was taken completely by surprise by a solid blow to the back of his head, which caused him to fall to the ground. His vision began to darken as, with desperation, he looked over at Summer, hoping that she had managed to somehow escape, only to be met with disappointment.
With the last of her magical reserves expended trying to hold together the futile force field, Summer was easy pickings for the two unicorns who had bested her as they approached, horns glowing as they weaved one last spell. She attempted to struggle against them but the effects of the magical backlash was too much for her and she was unable to stop them as they leaned down and touched their horns to her head, instantly sending her off into a magical sleep.
Iron’s eyes slowly closed as he slipped slowly into unconsciousness, the last vestiges of his sight locked on the blood covered body of one of his friends and the unconscious body of another. The last thing he heard before everything went black was the triumphant laughter of the scarred mare, a harsh cackle that was sure to fill his dreams.