//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 6 // Story: Chronicles of an Unknown World - The Awakening // by Blue Blaze {COMET} //------------------------------// {*First-Person View, Main Character*} The chestnut stallion and I rushed up the stairs, preferring to avoid a wet demise with the quickly flooding basement. As we reach the top, the aging planks of the stairs give way behind me, and I find myself turning around to see the doc hanging on to the last stair for his life. If he fell, there was no way he was getting back up. We were a good fifteen feet off of the ground, so I wouldn't be able to jump down and get him. He wasn't a Pegasus or unicorn, so he couldn't fly or magic himself back up to safety. I knew for a fact that ponies that can't swim, unless Equiss's ponies can, but his eyes pleaded otherwise. That was all I needed know, he need say no more. I carefully stepped down to the last step before the drop, bent down and grabbed his front hooves. I pulled with all my might, and managed to scrape his stomach along the broken wood. I prayed silently that none of the wood shards stabbed his underside. Never the less, his back legs reached the last step and he was able to clear the danger he was in. "Come on! We have to move!" I urged, waving my hand towards the exit. He already knew that time was of the essence, I just wanted to restate the obvious peril we were in. We galloped (literally, in his case) up the remaining steps and arrived back at the metal hallway of the bunker. Once I was sure he was through the door, I turned and slammed the steel barrier shut, twisting the wheel on the entrance to lock it in place. Hopefully, with enough luck there was no way that any water was going to leak out of this plug. Well then again, with my luck streak that might not happen. Whatever, it wasn't a big deal. At least I had bought myself some time before the entire place flooded over. With that little event ended, the state of my surroundings suddenly occurred to me. The solid walls of the building were creaking and screeching with an annoying echo that traveled through the halls. Thankfully, they were stable enough that they weren't swaying like the Sugarcube Corner had, but I still had a really bad feeling that the place was falling apart. I whip my head towards my horse companion, who was staring at the basement door as it a monster might leap out of it. He was obviously shaken, and I knew I should comfort him somehow, but at the moment I had much, MUCH bigger worries to think about. "Where's the nearest window?" I abruptly ask. It took him a second to realize that I was addressing him before he silently pointed down the hall behind me to a window that was literally a few meters away. I felt kinda felt stupid for not noticing before. "Uh, yeah, of course" I comment before dashing down the hall to the glass. Immediately placing my forehead on the cool surface of the clear material, I gaze outside to see if I was correct. Unfortunately, I could see the burned remains of houses and pieces of the ruined earth fly upwards at an extreme speed. I couldn't look up at the sky due to the angle of the window, but I had a pretty good idea why objects were being sucked towards the clouds. The black hole seemed to be stronger than ever, pulling up humongous rocks and complete barns in the distance. Nothing was surviving the cosmic anomaly. It seemed determined to extinguish every last piece of life on this planet. With its new pulling strength, it was no wonder why the bunker was trembling in its roots! I bet it was barely holding on to its foundations at it were! I took a few steps away from the window and my back found the opposite wall. This place was going down whether I liked it or not, with at least a hundred of ponies still inside. It was just a matter of how long the bunker could hold out until the black hole did its number. After that it would be game over for sure. It seemed impossible to escape the hell that I found myself in, because no matter where I would flee to, the swirling darkness would follow, inhaling with more and more gusto every time I found one of Twilight's friends. I thought about what the doctor told me about the Elements of Harmony, but we couldn't possibly use them anymore because Twilight lost the bag that contained the jewels at Rarity's house. And besides, two of the six souls were already lost, so that idea was a no-go. We were screwed. I was screwed. Everything was screwed. There was literally nothing I could do to stop the impending doom above us. I didn't know enough about the local lore to determine any kind of magic that could stop it, and I had no way to contact the two goddesses that might get us out of this situation. Speaking of which, why haven't they closed the hole already? I mean, if they're almighty deities, then why haven't they taken control of the situation yet? If they can supposedly move the sun and the moon, then shouldn't they be able to close a hole in space-time? Well, unless, they're occupied with something much, much more important and can't bring themselves to take care of one of the many issues at hand. Maybe their having trouble controlling their kingdom as it is, with it falling apart and all. But still, I think that a black hole that can rip up anything in its path should take top priority. This was it. I was getting no help on this one. There was no Twilight to save me, no pipe for me to hang on to and no way of getting out. This is the end. I was dead. Twilight was dead. Rainbow was dead. Heck, everyone around me was about to die, and I couldn't do anything about it! God damn it, why does it have to end like this? Why do I have to die on some foreign planet with a bunch of pony creatures in a colourful cartoony world that is not my own? Why couldn't have I lived a long, prosperous life, making money, creating my own business and having kids of my own? Why do I have to die here? Is this a dream or something, because the entire situation is completely outlandish! I've already established that I am, in fact, NOT dreaming, but still, I wish with all my being that I was, because I am finished. Dead. Kaput. Hung out to dry. I was going to die, and I knew it. … … … …Maybe not. A plan steadily formulated in my mind, and I found a glimmer of hope to deftly hang on to. If there was one way out of this, then this was it. Yes! That actually might work! With a little luck and a lot of effort, I might be able to save everyone and get the heck out of here! I sprint over to the brown pony down the hall, who was STILL staring at the basement door! Seriously? "Hey!" I yell while grabbing a hold of his face and forcefully turning it to me. His wide dinner-plate eyes gazed right into mine, a very creepy aspect. Still, a little creepiness won't stop me from getting to my goal! "Hello! Get a hold of yourself! Wake up and smell the roses, because I need you to do a very important job for me!" His pupils dilated and became bigger, which I took as a good sign to continued. "This place is going down." I explained, pointing at the window. "The whole bunker will be sucked into a big black hole in the sky in just a few minutes if we don't do anything about it! Do you understand?" He nodded his head with my palms still slapped onto his cheeks. "Good. Right now, I need you to go around the entire bunker and get every pony out of their rooms and into the hub area, got it?" He confirmed his understanding. "No matter what it takes, whether you shake them silly or knock them out and drag them to the hub yourself, you must get all the ponies to the hub!" "Ok ok, I get it, let go of me now!" he complained, swatting my hands away. I backed up a bit so that we had some distance between each other. Thankfully, he was still tentatively listening to what I had to say. "If you find anyone that can help you, like that orange pony that you were with before, what was her name?" I inquire, scratching my head and realizing that I truly did not know her name. "Carrot Top?" he answers, not completely sure what I'm talking about. "Yeah, her, whatever!" I cry out, waving my hands in defeat. "Look, the point is, the more ponies you can get to help, the faster you can do your job. Once you think that you've got everyone. Go to the hub and make sure no one leaves. I'll meet up with you in ten minutes. Kapeesh?" "O-ok, but where are you going?" he quizzed, his expression full of worry and anxiety. "I'm gonna go get Rainbow Dash." I respond, my feet starting their brisk walk down the hallway. "But you don't even know where she is!" he shouts after me. "I think I have an idea." I mutter under my breath and break into a sprint. ----- It took me a while, but I finally found my way back into the medical ward. It took several flight of stair and a few detours before I finally had an understanding of where I was and where I had to go. Despite all the hallways looking the same, I remembered the route Rainbow Dash took me through when she led me to the basement, and I worked off of that. A few ponies saw me rushing down the corridors and shouted at me, shook their hooves and even tried to pursue me. I didn't care. Instead, I was more focused on where I was going and not what was behind me. Anyone that tried to follow me got lost in the maze that I was navigating in. Entering the familiar white hallway, my sneakers squeaked off the smooth hospital floor as I propelled myself with all my remaining stamina to the ER room. Reaching the door, I slowed down and let the entrance slide open for me. Inside was Rainbow Dash, who was in a panic leaning over Twilight, who was grimacing. The machines in the room were going wild, the TV monitors flashing red and the heart rate monitor beeping sporadically. Rainbow seemed to be flying in place over the bedside, making stressed-out noises and twitching at the warnings of the medical equipment. Meanwhile, Twilight was sweating, groaning and writhing on the mattress. "What's going on?" I yell, getting the Pegasus’s attention while trying to digest the situation. "I-I dunno!" she replies nervously, her hooves performing the seemingly impossible act of gripping the bed sheets and wrinkling them. "One minute she was fine and asleep, the next minute the machines go wild and Twilight's in a lot of pain!" Oh great. Another thing I have to worry about besides the final countdown. "Move it!" I order, shoving Rainbow out of the way to get closer to Twilight and try and see what was wrong with her. The horn perched on her head was emitting a soft purple with sparks shooting out of the end of it periodically. Her moaning coped with limbs slowly shuttering was a sure sign of torture for the poor unicorn. "Twilight! Wake up!" I demand, tapping the sides of her muzzle to get some kind of response from her. No such luck. Apparently she was still asleep, or in a state of so much pain that she couldn't hear me. Regardless, she wasn't getting out of this on her own. All of the sudden, the walls crack and distort while the metal beyond the ER squeals even louder than before. The room seems to stretch in many directions at once, trying to deal with some kind of invisible force massaging the plastered surfaces. "Oh shit!" I swear, knowing what might happen next. Mentally bracing myself for the consequences, I rip out the various tubes stuck in Twilight body and pick her up. The equipment around the room start to spaz out, and for a second I fear that my end would not come as a black hole, but instead a giant explosion caused by electronics. Thinking quickly, I plop twilight in a stretcher near the door and align the device perpendicular to my exit. "What do you think you're doing?" Rainbow screamed, trying to pick up Twilight off of her temporary transport unit. "We need to get out of here ASAP!" I call back. Before she can scoop up Twilight and make a rebuttal, I zoom out of the room, pushing the stretcher forwards from the back. Getting to the hall, I turn a corner and race towards my escape. I knew I had mere seconds before the medical ward got ripped a new one, so I had to make this sprint count! Suddenly, Rainbow comes chasing after me, screaming bloody murder at what I was doing. That was a good stroke of luck, because now I don't have to drag her unconscious body with me to save her sorry ass. Thankfully she was hot on my tail the entire time so, I didn't have to worry about slowing down for her. With no moment to waste, I pumped my legs with all my might and allowed adrenaline to fill my system. An annoying bop to my head gets my attention behind me. Rainbow's shrieking at me, trying to slow me down and demands that I return Twilight to the ER immediately. No can do, sister. In a mere millisecond, the ER several dozen feet behind me explodes in a light show, changing the air pressure drastically. I go deaf for a small moment as I am slightly propelled forwards by the aftershock by a very small amount. The extra speed provided helps calm my nerves despite the fact that the ER is now missing and the black hole is sucking in the entirety of the medical ward. Rainbow Dash shrieks and charges forward, completely passing Twilight and I while heading towards the metal door at the end of the hall. I took a moment out of my sanity to say what the fuck. She has THAT MUCH SPEED and instead of saving her friend she's ditching us both? Ironic, considering she's supposed to be the ELEMENT OF FREAKING LOYALTY. Seriously, who had the hot idea of putting her in charge of such a responsibility? Freaking morons. I was slowing down. The suction of the black hole was getting to me, and I was losing momentum on the stretcher, which, by the way, looked like it was about to collapse due to all the shifting that Twilight was doing on top of it. She looked like she was about to die, but I couldn't worry about that at the moment, because we were ALL going to die if I didn't get to the end of the hall. Regardless of my efforts, I was still losing speed, and fast. The gravitational pull of the lightless circle was just too strong. There was no way in hell that I would be surviving this one, random pipe or not. Suddenly, the stretcher in front of me lost a lot of weight, and I soon felt like I was pushing something that was hovering about the ground. Looking up, I saw Rainbow Dash lifting up the front while flying. I grinned, knowing that she had enough sense in her to realize that she left Twilight behind and went back to get her. Granted, she's probably not here to save me, but if I get saved in the process, that was fine with me. With Rainbow eliminating the weight of Twilight I could accelerate much better and provide the motor power needed. With teamwork, we plough through the rest of the ward, not intending on stopping. I didn't look back, because I could hear the hall behind me crumble and succumb to the black abyss above. The edge of the splitting floor was right at me heels, and if I didn't haul ass then all would be for nothing. We were just mere meters away from the end until I realized that the oval-shaped doorframe of the exit was sticking out like a sore thumb from the floor, and the stretcher would not clear it properly. I guess that's what you get when you design a bunker like, well, a bunker. There was only one solution, with only one chance and a requirement of timing of epic proportions. "LIFT!" I scream with all my might, my lungs tensing up because I forced myself to shout while straining them from all the frantic running. Before I gave her a chance, I lifted the bottom of the stretcher, hoping that she got the memo. Sure enough, Twilight's ride soared right over the doorframe, with me hopping over it and Rainbow Dash narrowly ducking to avoiding the top of the door. Immediately I stopped in my tracks, let go of the stretcher and let it roll, turned around and slammed the solid door shut. In a panic I twisted the metal wheel as fast as I could, hoping that I wasn't too late and it would lock in place in time. After it stopped turning, I waited for death. When it didn't happen, I slumped over on the wall, and gulped in generous amounts of oxygen. That was probably that fastest I have ever ran in my entire life, and now I was paying for it. The edges of my vision were starting to darken and my thoughts felt far away. My mind held on for dear life, because if I fainted from exhaustion now, I wouldn't be waking up. "That. Was. AWESOME!" I heard a certain colourful pony cheer down the hall. Apparently, cheating death was worthy of being 'awesome'. "I can't believe that actually happened! We got Twilight out of there! We survived! Woo hoo!" I saw her do a little loop in mid-air through the corner of my eye. When I turned my head down the hall, Rainbow was with the stretcher not too far away, with Twilight softly sleeping in much calmer slumber than before. Granted, she wasn't completely peaceful, with her horn still glowing and her face still sweating, but compared to her crazed flailing before, it was much better. I guess that means that she's still sick and she needed more time to recover. But what caused her to freak out like that? Was it the black hole? She was having a bad reaction to the suction before, so that has to be it. Twilight was freaking out because her body knew that the darkness was striking again! Sweet, now I have a living, breathing black hole detector to tell me when we are about to be screw over again. "…Great…" was all I could muster. My mind was returning to the conscious world, but that still didn't mean that I was out of breath. The whole event was just one more reminder of how much my cardio sucked. Panting, I gave myself a moment of reprieve before I had to move again. I found Rainbow and got Twilight, so now all I needed was to get to the hub. "Rainbow…" I summon, getting the excited pony's attention. She quickly flew to my being in a blue flash. Her confused expression was kinda cute, seeing as she looked like an actual animal with her ears folded down like that. "We need to get to the main hub as soon as possible. There's a hole in the sky that has been drawing up buildings all night, and I fear that this one is next. I'm getting the doctor to round up the whole place in one room, but for now, we need to work on getting there as fast as possible." "Ok!" she acknowledged, flying back to the table on wheels and leaning on the edge, ready to go. I wearily get to my feet and trudge to her location. In a few more seconds we were off to a brisk pace through the shortest route possible to the room that could save our lives.