"I checked every corner. The place is tight."
Yearling listened to Rainbow's words with a frown. Her eyes did not move from the Animus that was sitting across the room. The memories of the Bearers, the long nights, and the awful headaches flooded her mind. She visibly twitched when she remembered how Fluttershy was chosen by her Element.
"We need to look harder. We are so close to the Elements, I can feel it." Twilight encouraged them.
"Well, darling, we need to get to them first." Rarity reminded her dully.
Yearling rubbed her eyes. "Ya guys need to work harder. I just can't sit here and let Ahuizotl pick my brains apart."
"Ya need to get outta here by force," Rainbow suggested. "A place like this wouldn't have hold me down."
"You were an Assassin."
Rainbow chuckled. "So are you! This place is crawling with weapons. We don't need a gun yet. All ya need is something to kill with."
This made Yearling pause for a moment. Rainbow was right about this. Pencils, plastic cups, coffee machine, parts from the Animus, they could all be made into improvised weapons. All she needed was the jump on a poor fellow, be it a guard or that Raven.
Yearling stood up and began to gather these simple tools to the middle table. She knew that the cameras in the room were watching her, but she didn't care.
"When we're ready, we'll knock the cameras out." Yearling explained. "That'll make those bastards come in after me."
"Oh! This is gonna be a party!" Pinkie cheered.
Yearling played along with it. "Yeah, the kind of party that involves lots of killing..."
"That's what I like to hear!" Rainbow said proudly.
She ripped the leg out of the table, revealing exposed nails. It was essentially a spiked club. She used this club to smash the glass top of the table into jagged pieces. After smashing the table, she took a blanket and ripped it into small bits. She used the small pieces of blanket to wrap around the edge of a large glass piece, giving it a place to hold. Without any tape present, she had to make a knot with the extra blanket.
"That's two weapons. I can't just run at these guys though. They have guns."
"Remember, darling, they need you alive. They can't just shoot you." Rarity said softly.
"They can taser me. I'll need a shield."
Yearling rubbed her temples. What could be used as a shield? All it needed was to stop tasers, nothing else. It needed to be large enough to hide her body and light enough for her to carry. There was nothing that fit that description.
"Well, there's the bed mattress." she said with uncertainty.
"That thing's a little big." Twilight warned. "Maybe the couch's mattress?"
Yearling thought about it. It was old and not as solid as a bed mattress, but it may be thick enough to stop a taser. The thing's meant to shoot through clothes.
"I'll throw it at them, I guess."
Yearling took the mattress and placed it next to the door. She then took her club and knocked the cameras out. It was only moments before the guards would arrive. She rushed over to the bedroom and dragged the mattress off it. She then quickly slid it over the floor to the door. She lifted it up so that it blocked the doorway completely.
"I'll need you guys for this." She told the Bearers.
The four of them quickly entered her body, making her visibly cringe. Her vision blurred and went bluish before returning to normal. Feeling the Assassin abilities in her veins once more, she climbed the wall and to the corner right above the door, where she was able to hide herself. One foot was on the door frame, all other parts were pressed against the walls. Now, it was a matter of waiting.
Through the wall, she felt the footsteps of guards running down the hallway. To her surprise, it did not sound like many. She focused her mind and allowed the Bearers to take control. The guards soon became visible through the wall. Like she thought, they were armed with tasers with pistols holstered at their hips.
Since the door swung to the outside, they did not disturb the mattress when they opened it. Yearling could see them pause in confusion. She felt lucky that these men were no SWAT.
"Yearling, we know you're in there." One shouted. "Quit playin' and we'll be nice."
Upon hearing no response, a guard forcibly kicked the mattress down, making old dust fly from it. Two entered immediately with their tasers raised. They did not even take time to move the mattress and instead walked over it. Yearling could hear their racing heartbeats. They were scared.
"This is your last chance!" Another ordered.
The third one sort of slithered in behind his comrades. While his pals went about with their weapons raised, he held his down at an angle. He stepped over the mattress and stood there, watching the other two. Yearling gripped her shank tightly.
With a silent leap, Yearling jumped out with her knife. The guard never turned around and she fell into him, stabbing him deeply in the neck with the hard piece of glass. Only a low, guttural noise left him as his blood spilled across the wooden floor. She ripped her weapon out and looked up.
The other two went on like nothing happened. She took this opportunity to take the dead guard's pistol and put it in her pocket. She then carefully sneaked over to the closer one (as the other was almost to the back bedroom) and quickly slit his throat. Yearling silently led his corpse to the ground and took his gun as well.
The third guard paused and then turned around to see Yearling hunched over his partner's body. A scream left his lips and he pointed the taser at her. In a quick reflex, Yearling grabbed the table leg and chucked it at him like a throwing ax. Before he could pull the trigger, the two nails went straight into his face, knocking him dead to the floor.
"Efficiency." Twilight remarked.
Yearling did not slow down and took the third guard's gun as well. She kept the large shank in her hand and ran out of the Animus room. Right before she left, however, she took a long look at the memory-simulating device. She pulled one of the pistols out and fired it five times into the Animus. Not knowing how much damage she dealt to it, she cursed and ran out into the hall.
"We must go down a couple of floors." Twilight informed. "The Elements are close by, I can feel it."
"Well, I'm taking the stairs this time!" Yearling yelled.
The vision of the Bearers made a faint blue trail in front of her, guiding her through the maze of hallways and stairs. She hardly stepped on the floor and rather ran along the walls or jumping from one flight of stairs to another. Once they reached the emergency exit, the traveling became easier.
"They will be coming in boatloads after me now." Yearling complained.
"Let them come! I'll take 'em all out." Rainbow boasted.
Yearling kicked open a door and ran inside. Her whole body was telling her that the Elements were on this level. It was odd though, as all she could see were rows of cubicles. It appeared no different than most of Ahuizotl Industries.
"There she is!"
Yearling turned to see a squad of guards running at her. Without hesitation, she climbed onto a cubicle and began running from one to another. The guards pulled their guns out and began to fire at her, making the simple workers duck under their desks in fear.
"Why are they shooting now?" Rarity asked in shock.
"They rather have us die then get the Elements." Twilight concluded.
Bullets rang through the office, tearing up computers, stacks of papers, and general office equipment. More and more guards came from the various exits to the giant room and added their firepower to the rain of bullets.
As Yearling ran through the office, her mind started to become convoluted. The Bearers in her mind seemed to expand, giving her a headache. She started to feel two other spirits in her mind, they all seemed to be fighting.
"You guys still up there?" She asked her mind.
There was no response. Her feet were now moving on their own. She was running faster than she ever was before. She was not only running, but also being drawn, like a piece of metal to a strong magnet. She felt it in her organs too, as if they wanted to be thrown out of her body. The most affected though, was her heart, which felt like it was trying to rip her ribs open.
Two guards stood in her way and held rifles in their arms. Without thinking, Yearling shot them both down with her pistol. The two men were guarding a glass room where cowering men and women in lab coats were hiding beneath their tables. She fired at the glass, shattering it and opening a path right in front of her.
She leaped through the new entrance and ran by the supposed scientists. Her mind was so cluttered, but she could see who these people were. They all were a red symbol on their coats. It was like a cross, but more in the shape of an "A." A mixture between the past and the present.
She was drawn to the very end of the room where she had to shoot down another two guards. There was a large door locked by a code before her. the Ahuizotl guards behind had no care for all the people between her and them. they kept firing at her and so she grabbed a man and used him as a human shield.
While the unfortunate man took the bullets for her, she inspected the keyboard where one would enter the number password. Her finger twitched and she tried to focus. The world became blue once more and the password became clear on the keyboard. She quickly punched in the numbers "122112" and the door opened.
She dropped the now dead man and ran inside the long tunnel the door revealed. On the other side was a red button that closed the door behind her. This was the first time she could relax and took a deep, relieving sigh. Her mind was still fuzzy and she could barely think at all.
Her body guided her down the tunnel. Each step was harder, yet easier, than the last. Her steps became heavy, but she did not need to will herself on. Her hands twitched mildly and her lip quivered. Her eyes could never stay at a single focus and her legs would kick out randomly.
She could already see the Elements of Harmony at the end of the tunnel. They were in a large glass container with tubes and wires flying from them and into the high ceiling. This was no doubt some chamber where the Element's magic could be harvested. It was almost a depressing sight.
Suddenly, she fell to her knees. Her mind was becoming clear again as the spirits left her. She looked up to see, not ghosts, but solid forms of Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
"Thank you, Yearling." Twilight said sincerely. "With the Elements so close, we are able to materialize. We don't have to be in your mind anymore."
"Ya did good, lass." Rainbow leaned down and touched her shoulder. "You'd make a good privateer."
"That's good." Yearling barely uttered. "But we still need to get them to the Tree of Harmony."
Twilight was about to answer, but her words were interrupted by another. A voice of a Ponyvillian accent and full of hate.
"Like that's what really gonna happen. Sugarcube, ya jus' too dumb to understand."
They all turned to the Elements. There, before the glass container, was a large woman in armor. A long blonde ponytail was stretched over her breastplate. Her large arms were crossed and her feet far apart. Beside her was a tall and thin woman in a green cloak. Long pink hair was all of her head and her eyes drooped with perpetual sadness.
"Applejack! Fluttershy!" Twilight gleamed. "It's been so long."
"Shut it, liar!" Applejack silenced her. "Once again, ya up to her ol' tricks. I see ya got this poor gal to do your errands now."
Rainbow jumped forward. "What gives, AJ?"
"It's Twi of course." Applejack replied. "Do you really think she wants the Elements to go back to where they belong?"
"Why yes!" Rarity interjected.
"Then she's fooled ya too, Rares. After 500 years, she still hasn't given up on her plans. She just wants the Elements for herself."
"That's not true!" Twilight defended herself. "I've changed.
"No proof of it, sugar. Ya lied to us so easily back then, why not now?"
"No proof to the contrary either!" Twilight insisted. "I only want peace, Applejack."
Applejack chuckled. "Ha, that's what ya said back then too." She pointed a thick finger at Yearling. "You, you've been the butt of all this trouble. Who do you believe?"
Yearling's eyes widened as all the Bearers' eyes went straight to her.
"I don't know..."
~