The crimson light glinted off Belle's chestnut eyes like a pair of amber meteors. She peered left, peered right, then trotted slowly into the metal-laced room. In the center of the hidden chamber, surrounded by the ashen dust of dead pegasi, the red flame continued to billow and flicker atop the central dais. As she shuffled by it, she shuddered, as if something had brushed past her. Swiveling around, she squinted into the shadows surrounding the oddly built room.
Despite how much the shadows danced from the otherworldly flame, Belle realized that there was no other pony to be seen. She narrowed her eyes, feeling the weight of the rifles holstered around her flanks. The mare gave Luna's satchel a shake. Nothing happened, and for some reason, that perplexed Belle more than anything.
The pony bit her lips. She glanced into the flames, holding her breath, as if waiting for something to happen. All was silent and still.
Sighing, Belle pressed on, descending the metal staircase into the sequencing room below. Across the circle of seats, beyond the hanging equipment, the pony saw the tell tale signs of a horrendous scuffle in the room beyond. She passed through a series of battered door hinges, glancing around at tattered shreds of instrument paneling lying across the floor. Her heart skipped a beat upon glancing at an obvious streak of dried blood.
Exhaling heavily, she crept through the room and approached the hallway beyond. Before a single limb drifted into the light outside, she shrank back and slapped her back against a wall. Holding her breath, she listened as two bodies trotted briskly by, engulfed in a tense conversation.
“...how many times I try, I can't get through to Madame Nightshade!”
“Keep trying! It's like the Spark itself has forsaken this city! It's just a matter of time before Ledomaritans or Searonese rain this building down onto the streets below!”
“The Searonese are involved?! What in the Queen's name is going on here?!”
“We have enough to worry about! According to Sir Ordo, a zeppelin full of enforcers was seen heading towards the northwest passage.”
“Good heavens. If Madame Nightshade doesn't return her airship in time—”
“That's why you have to get in contact with her immediately! To warn her! The enforcers are out for blood, and with our lower offices having lost communication with Fatch...”
“I'll get right on it. I suggest we evacuate the facility here like we did in Deep Ridge.”
“We can't do that without the Madame's approval. Besides, Deep Ridge has been nothing but a festering scum hole since...” Just then, both ponies froze in place. They spun about, squinting curiously into the shadows. “Funny...”
“Did you hear that just now?”
Belle clenched her eyes shut. She took several deep breath, pressing her stubby horn tightly against a manarifle.
“Is... that a pony?”
“What in Spark's name...?”
“Nnnnn-Gaaah!” Belle dove out, slid into the middle of the hallway, and aimed the rifle at both of them.
The stallions flinched, their eyes wide with fear. They were simply office workers, even clad in neatly pressed suits.
Belle's vision tensed. With a shudder, she seethed, and aimed at the ceiling directly above them. She let loose one shot... two...
Both manablasts flew into the ceiling, sending several panels and beams of reinforcement falling down. The two hapless ponies collapsed, their bodies weighed down by the clumps of dusty bric a brac on top of them. One, however, tried wiggling free, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Belle held her breath, galloped over, and slammed him upside the head with the butt of her rifle.
He fell in a dazed slump while the other pony, far more encumbered by the debris, began shivering in fright. “Oh blessed Spark, no...—Guh!” He found himself staring face to face with a very angry mare.
“Phoenix...” Belle hissed, trying her best to sound menacing. The steaming barrel of the rifle between them was enough to do the task. “The shaved stallion mercenary. Where is he?”
The pony quivered. “H-he was a mercenary?!”
Belle shoved the end of the gun against the stallion's shoulder, smoldering his skin. “Where?! I know he's in here! Tell me where!”
“Gaaaah!” the pony flinched, his nostrils flaring at the smell of his own burnt flesh. “Two hallways d-down! The storage room! We m-moved him there twelve hours ago from the infirmary!”
“Is he alive?!” Belle yanked the stallion by the horn. “If Madame Nightshade hurt him...”
“He's... he's alive,” the stallion hissed. “Alive, but hornless. That's the only way she could have... could have...” His eyes trailed.
Belle blinked. She turned and looked behind the both of them.
Two guards were rounding the corner, sharing a tense conversation. Upon seeing Belle, they froze.
“Ah jeez.” Belle winced.
“Help!” the stallion shouted. “She's crazy! Shoot her! Shoot her!”
Belle grunted and kneed him hard in the chest, forcing the oxygen out of his lungs. The hallway immediately exploded around her from manafire. She wasn't sure how the unicorns unholstered their weapons in such a short span of time, but she wasn't about to dwell on it. In a blink, she dove to her side, ducked the blasts, and returned fire with a half-dozen rounds.
Both stallions parted ways, each ducking behind a door and using the frames for cover. They shot around from where they hid, filling the hall with mana and shrapnel.
Belle scampered up, her hooves skidding across the tile as she bolted suicidally against the fire. She dove forward and slid on her knees, hoisting the rifle up to fire two bold shots.
One frame exploded, forcing the stallion to out of the way of falling debris. His partner threw himself into open view, albeit with a rifle firing wildly.
Two blasts streaked by Belle, but one grazed her right rear leg. “Aaaugh!” she shouted, feeling the trickle of warm blood down her leg. Fuming, her eyes twitched with daredevilish vigor. She reached back, grabbed a spare rifle by its holster, and spun completely around. With an anguished shriek, she flung the weapon like a club down the hallway.
Both stallions stood up, gawking at the flung rifle.
Meanwhile, Belle came around from her swing, falling back and using her forelimbs to fire a well-aimed shot. The blast flew down the hall and impacted the center of the rifle before it touched the ground. As a result, both ends of the weapon ribboned outward, spraying the pair of guards with metal shards.
“Gaaah!” One stumbled forward, his left leg bleeding profusely. His gun was shot of his telekinetic grip by a streak of mana. Gasping, he looked up, only to receive a rifle butt to the face.
Belle tore through him and galloped briskly towards the second guard.
He shot several blasts.
Belle jumped the first two, landed, and flattened her body to squeeze past the rest. When she reached the guard, it was in a sliding buck, knocking his flank out from underneath him. As he landed, she pounced on him, trying to smack him unconscious. He levitated his rifled sideways between them, struggling to shove her off. The two tumbled and rolled, ultimately ending with the guard kicking Belle off him.
She flew across the hallway, landed on her back, and slid into a door frame.
Snarling, he spat loose blood and aimed at her prone figure.
Breathless, Belle kicked her legs up, caught the door handle, and slammed the thing shut with her rear hooves.
The stallion fired madly into the barricade between them, filling it with holes and melting the hinges off. As soon as he did so, Belle kicked the door from her end, sending it flying like an oaken shield into the stallion's face.
“Ooof!” He fell back, wincing in pain. Sitting up, he felt around for his rifle. Suddenly, it lifted up and out of his reach. With a quivering expression, he looked up.
“Nnngh!” Belle uppercutted him fiercely across the jaw, sending his body ragdolling to a stop besides his writhing companion.
All was silent yet again. With a heavy breath, Belle slumped, reaching back to feel the scalding burn wound above her rear leg. She winced, but was no worse for wear. Shaking the kinks out of her sweaty body, she pivoted towards the far end of the hallway and galloped, dauntless, towards her destination.