(AN: This took one hour to write with 200 words... This too 18 hours to revise to what it is now... So please, do enjoy my readers. Next chapter is underway.)
The group entered the room. This was one long room though. A collective sigh passed out. “This is getting tedious…” Twilight complained. The others muttered their agreements. They came to the door, and opened it. What they saw surprised them.
“Zero G room…” Vandal informed them.
“You can jump pretty much anywhere in zero-g. Just aim at where you wanna land and jump.” Tyler told the group. Vandal looked over at the other two ponies who were looking in amazement at the room.
“Hey Twilight, see ya.” Vandal joked as he let go of Twilight. She began to float off to the center of the room.
“AHH! Help!” She cried in surprise. The group shared a laugh at her distress.
“Listen up. We’ll take a break here. Shake off your armor if you want, stretch out. We’ll be here for about an hour. Take a nap if you want.” Vandal told them, hopping off to fetch Twilight who was frantically trying to swim in the air. Rainbow Dash wasted no time following his advice.
Twilight sighed as she removed her helmet, trying to appear angry at Vandal. Rainbow Dash flew around the rather large zero-g room. Apple Jack had stretched out and was floating lazily, sleeping deeply.
* * *
The ponies and human had stopped. They were resting, and seemed cheerful despite their situation. Celestia smiled softly. The others had left her and Luna, beings as they had lives to attend to. The two royal sister watched in mild amusement at their subjects.
* * *
The hour break had passed. Vandal gathered the happy ponies, and led them to the exit door. They sighed, having to return back to hell, and opened the door. A long hall. They worked their way down it. “Hey guys, there’s another little something waiting for you nearby. Check the service chute.”
They picked up the ammo and node left for them. Coming to the end of the hall, they entered a room with a store and bench. Vandal took a quick moment to inspect Twilight’s leg, and redo the bandaging. They left before wasting any more time. After having their nice break, the reencountered their nightmares as a pretend dead body jumped them.
They passed the halls, and came to another very large room, similar to the one they fought the massive creature in. This one was separated by large containers and had an elevator on their side. They made their way up the elevator, and a body at the top got violently yanked into a vent. The group disposed of the monster who tried to jump them.
They began to walk around the top, on one platform, across a catwalk, on the other platform, on another catwalk. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I need a codename too, to go with Vandal. Vandal and ‘The Russian’. What do you think?” Tyler came in from nowhere.
“I think you’re crazy.” Vandal chuckled. “But in a good way.” They got to the second elevator, and activated it, beings as it was at the bottom. Once they did, an exploder, or as the group had begun to call the thin monsters with the orange sac, emerged from a vent across the catwalk. This distracted the group and they attacked.
The elevator got to the top while they were killing the exploder. A growl got the attention of Apple Jack, who was right next to the elevator. She turned right into one of the fat monsters. She yelped in surprise as she launched a mine at point blank. It exploded, and sent the group tumbling. Vandal cursed and looked to the others. “What the fuck was that?”
“S-sorry… That one scared me a bit…” Apple Jack apologized. All four Rigs slowly climbed back to green, and they boarded the elevator. They got to the bottom, and walked to the door, leaving the room. They quickly navigated the halls until they came to a four way split. One way had a locked door, another was the way they came. The other two led off, and looked as if they split at some point as well.
“Twilight, check your locator. See where we need to go.” Vandal ordered. The group was surprised to see it split to three lines. “Oh… What?” Vandal was confused. He picked one line, and followed it down the hall. Opening a door, there waited a power box.
“I see now…” Vandal sighed. He cut the box, and the one line flashed and disappeared, leaving the other two now. They followed them, seeming as they were side by side, and they came to a semi-long room. They split, and each went into one of the two doors. “I got this.” Vandal told them. He set down Twilight, and walked to the first door.
He cut that box, and then went to the second door. Cutting that, the door locked. “Shit!” Vandal yelled as he slammed a fist on the door. He heard the monstrous growls of what they had come to identify as slashers on the other side. The sound of weapon fire and magical blasts were heard shortly after.
Vandal simply banged on the door, trying to get through. He heard an increase in fire as more growls were heard. Suddenly, all grew very, very quiet. “Twilight? Rainbow Dash? Apple Jack?” Vandal called. He tried again on the radio, but got nothing. Suddenly the door opened, and he toppled over.
Vandal leapt to his feet, and saw the three bloody ponies. Twilight was on her feet, or rather, hooves. She was shaking, but she was standing. Vandal picked her up. “Let’s not stress that leg just yet.” He got a nod in agreement. They left the room, and entered the door that had originally been locked.
The passed through some more halls without incident, and came to ANOTHER large room. This one had a few broken elevators, and nothing blocking a straight path to the door. They walked along, and Twilight spoke up. “I got a real bad feeling about this.”
“You and me both…” Vandal replied. The got to the end of the room, and another lockdown commenced. They turned, and realized they were at a great advantage. Not only did they have plenty of space, but they could see everything a while before it got to them. The monsters almost seemed to come in waves.
It began with a lot of exploders. The monsters seemed very intelligent, but they seemed to prove that wrong with the side by side exploders. One shot killed all eight of them. Next came the slashers. They presented a little more of a challenge, but the group could hold their own.
They had killed a number of slashers and a few more exploders when two little baby monsters managed to flank the group. One jumped an unsuspecting Rainbow Dash, and one jumped on Vandal’s face. This caused Vandal to drop Twilight. Her scream distracted Apple Jack, who was then forced to try to grapple with a slasher.
Twilight rolled over and blasted the monster off Vandal’s face. He turned quickly and shot off the raised blades of Apple Jack’s slasher. She reared up and bucked the creature to a wall, where it gurgled and died. They turned to Rainbow Dash as her monster’s tenticles had been raised, and brought down on her fused pack. They passed through it, and a scream of pain sounded.
Rainbow Dash grunted loudly as she rolled over, and shook the monster. She stood back up and stomped the creature into the ground. All the while, blood began to seep from the three holes in her pack. The others fought off the remaining slashers and fat monsters. Once done, they turned back to Rainbow Dash who was still stomping on the dead monster.
They became aware of the sobbing sounds from her. Apple Jack walked up and gently touched her. “Sugarcube?” Rainbow Dash fell down crying. Vandal walked over and helped her onto Apple Jack’s back. The two walking now made their way out of the room. They found a tram station.
Vandal lifted Rainbow Dash onto the bench, and stripped away her armor. A collected gasp erupted once her pack was removed. Her beautiful cyan wings were bloody and twisted. Three puncture wounds were in her back as well. “Fuck. Get me a medkit from the store!” Vandal ordered as he tried to straighten out the mangled wings.
All the while, Rainbow Dash bit her tongue and cried on. Vandal took the newly acquired medkit, and began to bandage the now set wings. He folded them back to normal stance, and tightly wrapped them up. He then patched the puncture wounds in her back. The other two ponies, Twilight leaning on a wall for support, watched pitifully.
“I’m so sorry…” Vandal tried apologizing as he patched her armored pack. He then helped Rainbow Dash back into her armor, and carried her to the tram car. Laying her on a row of seats, he returned for Twilight. Carrying her in, he set her down as well, and started the tram.
T hey knew things would get worse… They could feel it…