Shining Armor stood next to his fiancé, Cadence, as he couldn’t help but notice the lack of an orange, a cyan, and a purple mare. He began to worry, knowing his sister was hardly ever late, especially by an hour. “You don’t think she got lost, do you?” He asked Cadence.
“I’m sure she was just held up by something. Why don’t you go check with Celestia, I’ll keep an eye out in case she shows up.” Cadence smiled to him. He returned the smile and turned, entering the castle. As he neared the throne room though, two familiar voices reached his ears.
“Are you sure this is a wise idea dear sister? I worry about her safety.”
“It must be done. As much as it pains me, this is just another test for her. We need to know she is a strong leader, willing to do what it may take to protect the ones who follow her.” Shining Armor opened the door to the massive room, seeing the princess sisters standing together. They turned to greet him.
“Who were you talking about princess Celestia?” He cut the two off. They lost their false smile.
“Return to us once you have gathered the remaining elements, and brought them back here.” Celestia simply stated.
“Wait, what do you mean?” He grew worried. Princess Celestia was acting strange.
“Go. Bring them back and I will explain.” She sent him away. Shining Armor was now very concerned. He backtracked to the gardens, alerting Cadence to what her witnessed, the proceding to round up his sister’s friends.
* * *
The elevator hummed as it made its way down. Vandal turned to face the three ponies he had only just met. “Ok. It’s safe and calm now. Try to do your spell, and get out of here while you can.”
Twilight nodded and made an attempt, but she grunted and sighed as she failed. “I can’t… It’s as if something’s blocking my magic for a spell that powerful. I can’t take us home.” She had two different hooves wrap around her shoulders.
“Then I guess we fight our way off this place. We have no other choice. If we stick together, we have a greater chance of getting out of here.” Vandal input. “I’m on a mission to seal these creatures over here in the Government and Mining Sectors. Once we do that, we can get to the Public Sector and find a way home for you three.” The others nodded, and the elevator continued on in silence.
* * *
Celestia looked over her subjects and niece as they filed in. The group contained; the remaining three elements, Shining Armor, and Princess Cadence. “I’m sorry, but you must swear under oath that you will not breath a word of what you are about to see.”
“Princess, why would we need to do that?” Shining Armor asked. The others mumbled in agreement.
“Because, this is a secret test, and no pony else must know. The only reason you all are finding out, is because you are all close to Twilight.” Celestia grimly put.
“What? What happened to her? Where is she?” Shining Armor almost couldn’t hold himself down. Only a soft nuzzle from his fiancé calmed him enough.
“First, you all swear under oath.” Celestia told him. After a quick oath was taken, she began. “As you know, Twilight is not here. That is because of me.” She was interrupted by a gasp of shock, but allowed to continue as she raised a hoof. “Luna and myself intercepted her and her friends in mid-teleportation, and rerouted her to a new destination. She is being tested on some certain qualities.”
“But… Why Princess? Isn’t Twilight already good enough? I mean, she is super fantastic with all kinds of magic! And she’s super fun and social! And she has lots of friends! And…” The pink mare was cut off by another hoof raised.
“This is not a test of magic, or friendship, though both may become strengthened. This is a test of her leadership. And how willing she is to protect those who she leads. We have sent Twilight and her friends to a human construct, named The Sprawl. It may seem as if I’m trying to kill her, or maybe I’ve gone mad, but I assure you, it’s all for her sake.” Celestia sighed.
Before any could talk, she began to form a large orb with her magic. It grew, until it was her size, then she let it go. The orb sat blank, until she hit it with a blast of magic again. It blurred, then cleared up as they could see Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Apple Jack, standing in a small closed white room. Their point of view from the orb was taller, obviously through the eyes of one of the humans.
They heard the human say, “I’m on a mission to seal these creatures over here in the Government and Mining Sectors. Once we do that, we can get to the Public Sector and find a way home for you three.” The three ponies nodded, and the room grew silent.
“Princess… What…” Shining Armor was cut off as Celestia stared at him.
“There is nothing to do for her. She only has the help of what is there with her. All we can do now is watch, and see how she fares.” All grew quiet in the great room. Their eyes were fixed on the orb.
* * *
“Now entering Government Sector: Underbelly.” Chimed the elevator. The group quickly came to as their moment of rest was over.
Then a familiar, unwanted voice came over Vandal’s Rig. “Vandal! Are you there? Vandal, come in!”
The ponies looked to Vandal in confusion as her growled, “Tyler? You son of a bitch, you left me for dead!” The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, revealing dark hallways ahead.
“No! No, I swear, I didn’t know what they were doing! I only just found out myself, I’ve been trying to reach you! They’ve locked the whole place down! Besides, you’d still be locked in that room had I not logged your friends into the Sprawl’s bio-reading systems!” The group cautiously moved from the elevator, keeping peeled eyes out as Vandal led the way, plasma cutter at the ready.
“What? That way you that did that? Never mind, anyway, we’re not quite locked in. The quarantine seal on Crossover Tube A is broken. We can get out, and fix it behind us!”
“You can, maybe. I’m nowhere near your location, I’m sorry. But I can still help you! Make for the Tube, and I’ll be with you every step of the way, I promise. Maybe we can all get out of this.” The group turned the first corner, seeing nothing but more dark hallways.
“Those bastards really screwed us, didn’t they? All right, we’re heading that way now. At least maybe we can stop this thing from spreading.” Vandal cut the radio, and turned to the ponies. “We need to fix this wrong. Or thousands of innocent lives will be taken. Women, children. We can stop this, but I need your full support and commitment.”
“You’ve got it.” Twilight stepped up. “Besides, you’re our only hope off this place anyhow. So we aren’t leaving your side.”
“Good. Then let’s go.” Vandal led the onward. They came to a body that was violently ripped into a vent, but nothing happened. They finally came to a working door as well. Vandal pressed the ring, and the door revealed yet another dark hallway. They went down the hall, passing a locked door and coming to two unlocked ones. Vandal activated the locator, and it pointed to the door on the left.
“Hmm… May be something useful in that one.” He nodded to the door on the right. “Let’s check it out.” They opened the door, and found a clean room with a table, a few cabinets, and a few lockers. Vandal began scavenging the open cases, and the ponies watched from the door. Once Vandal had picked clean what he could, he turned to return to them.
As he passed the table though, the lights flickered. Once they came on, the ponies were lying, disemboweled on the table and in the chairs. “Oh god no!” Vandal yelled.
* * *
The group watched as the human opened the last locker, and picked up its contents. The human then turned and began walking back to the ponies, but the lights went out. When they could see again, all the group saw was their three friends, lying around, torn apart.
Most of those watching had the urge to puke. Celestia sighed, “I hoped she would last longer… Now she is dead on my doing…”
The human spoke, “Tyler?” As it walked to the door, trying to not look at the bodies. But the lights went out again, and came back to reveal a clean room and three, intact, ponies staring at the human. The human looked around in confusion. “What…”
“Vandal? Are you alright? Why were you yelling at the table?” Twilight cocked her head. The human returned it’s view to her.
“I… I had a vision… I saw the three of you dead…” It uttered.
“A premonition?” Twilight gasped.
“No. You three had just appeared as if you died right there in front of me, and your bodies were lying around.” The human shook it’s head. “Forget it. Let’s just get this done with.”
The group gave each other strange looks. They had even seen it, the three were dead, but yet now they were alive. Was the human they were viewing from crazy?
“Hold on.” Celestia quickly said, creating a second orb. She blasted it, and it began showing them through Twilight’s vision as well. “Now we can tell what’s real, and what’s not.”
* * *
Vandal led the three to the left door, and opened it. This room had a few bodies strewn around, and had a desk. Vandal looked at the bodies as the ponies stood by the door once more. Vandal walked to the desk.
* * *
The group watched the human approach the desk with the glowing screen on it. As he got to it, the lights flickered again, and revealed three monsters from nowhere, ready to attack it. The human flinched while the group looked to the second orb to see the human flinch at nothing, the room being clear.
The monsters disappeared as quickly as the appeared when the lights flickered for the human again. Twilight spoke, “Vandal? What’s wrong? Why are you acting so strange all of a sudden?” The human turned to face her.
He ignored her question and spoke, “Tyler? I’m seeing shit… That’s not real…”
“Vision? You’re having visions?” Vandal sighed, having answered Twilight’s question without speaking directly to her. He turned and activated the screen, turning back as a real monster jumped up at him, having been playing dead. Twilight acted quickly to blast the monster apart off the human.
* * *
“Thanks for that…” Vandal told Twilight, brushing some gore off his armor.
“I couldn’t just let that thing kill you. We need you and you need us.” She smiled at him. He opened the door, and led them to the once locked door. As they neared though, a monster jumped from a vent, and the door behind it locked. Vandal quickly shot it, shredding it down.
“This whole place is wired to lockdown if any live foreign biological material is detected.” Tyler informed Vandal of the obvious fact he learned a while ago.
“There creatures are definitely foreign material…” Vandal sighed, walking to the now unlocked door and opening it. The group found themselves in a large room, a few lockers nearby.
“You’ll find a disk ripper nearby. Should come in handy.” Tyler told them as the door closed. Vandal approached the locker, sliding the plasma cutter onto a slot on his belt. Vandal picked up the ripper.
“The RC-DS Remote Control Disc Ripper features multiple titanium blades and rotates at up to seventeen thousand RPM, for situations requiring heavy duty cuts and accurate long ranged control in standard mode. An optional secondary mode sacrifices mobility for speed.” Vandal spun up the blades, and chuckled.
“That looks real dangerous…” Twilight commented.
“Yeah, perfect for keeping those things away from us.” Apple Jack concurred her.
“I can just fly away from them… They’ll never match my speed.” Rainbow Dash boasted.
“They don’t need to. They will chase you into a corner, and then rip you apart. You don’t separate from me, unless you wish to die.” Vandal told them grimly. “Now, let’s go.” He led the way to a door, rights as it locked again.
“Initiating quarantine lockdown!” Came the all too familiar voice.
“Fuck…” Growled out Vandal as he spun the blades, turning them loose on the first creature. Twilight began blasting them with her magic, while Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack worked together to distract, and eliminate what they could. Shortly after, they cleared them out, and the lockdown lifted.
Tyler got his input once as well, “That ripper should be real handy! Once you fire it, steer the disc around for some mayhem!”
Twilight stepped over a body, but saw a shiny card on the floor. She picked it up and asked, “What’s this?” Vandal turned.
“That’s a credits card. Keep it, you can use it at the store. Might be able to get something to help you three survive well.” Vandal led the way from the room. He opened the door to find a small room, and quickly unlocked the door with the console. They left, crossed the original room, then left through another door, entering a hallway.
They entered a larger room with a sealed center room. “Find the two security consoles, and tap them to hack them.” Vandal ordered. They did so and vandal walked to the now unlocked door. “Alright. Stay here, this will only take a moment.” With that, Vandal entered the small room, having Twilight stand close enough to the door to keep it open. Vandal activated yet another console, and the door slammed shut, separating the ponies from Vandal. Many growls were heard from outside his room.
“No!” Vandal yelled as monsters jumped out into his room. After dealing with his problems, Vandal rushed to the door, opening it.
“Quarantine lockdown lifted.” Came the voice as the door opened. Vandal saw multiple bodies while gore everywhere. The ponies could obviously handle themselves, but Twilight was bleeding from a cut in her side.
“Twilight.” Vandal knelt to her.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.” She told him, shrugging off his help. She walked to the door and opened it. Vandal sighed and made his way behind Twilight as she led them this time down the halls. She quickly disposed of a monster who played dead. They entered a server room.
“Audio log, Rig number 438642. Oh god… I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing… I place my faith in the Church and trusted them. What an idiot. Now there’s something loose on the Sprawl, and the Church has abandoned me here!” They moved on as Apple Jack smashed the head of one of the smaller monsters.
“Keep going you guys, there’s a tram up ahead.” They opened the door and found the tram car waiting for them. “You should check out the store, se if you can upgrade your Rig. Maybe even get Rigs for your friends. And some tougher armor wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Vandal looked at the store.
“Alright. Let’s get you three outfitted with a Rig.” Vandal told them, activating the store.
“What’s a Rig?” Came the question.
“This.” Vandal pointed to his glowing bar on his back. “It tells how you’re physically doing, and it allows for you to be tracked.” Vandal selected the, ‘Insert Rig’ option. “Now in. One at a time. This may hurt a bit…”
* * *
The group watched in horror as the three ponies weakly stood, blood seeping down the backs from the newly implanted Rigs. Tears streamed down their faces. “I’m sorry. But this is to help me keep a better eye on you.”
“W-what did that do to us?” Twilight sobbed out.
“It attached the Rig to your spinal column via carbon fiber and sensors. It attached to your nervous system as well, and it shows your physical health now. Remember, green is clean, yellow is mellow, red’s almost dead.” The human told them.
Shining Armor growled, “That monster… Look what he’s done to them!” His anger almost got the better of him once more, but he was calmed by Cadence.
“Do not worry. She is strong, and she’ll pull through it.” She reassured him.
* * *
“Alright. You’re new armor shall keep you safe from most attacks. Just get inside and rest, you must be in extreme pain from that. I’ll stay up top and make sure we’ll be safe.” Vandal instructed, climbing the ladder. He activated the radio, “Can you hear me?”
“Yeah.” Came Twilight’s response.
“Activate the tram. I’m all set up here.” The tram was soon moving at full speed to their next destination.