The Deadline

by Smileyface1010

Prologue

A light grey stallion cautiously walked down the steps into the tunnel. It was dim in there, but that was to be expected. Construction of the Everfree Express had only begun a few days ago, after all. He was just here to check up on things. The unicorn flipped his blue mane out of his face and walked down the tunnel. He quickly found the pony he was looking for. "Hey, Rusty!" he called, waving his hoof in the air to get the pony's attention.

A reddish-brown colored stallion with a black mane spun around, half smiling when he noticed the pony. "Hey there, Boss," he said, walking over. "Checkin' up on things, I'm guessing?"

The grey pony rolled his eyes. "I've already told you, just call me Silver Coin. Or better yet, just call me Silver."

"Alrighty then, Boss... um, I mean Silver," replied Rusty, chuckling. "Anyways, things are going along pretty well. Heck, we're ahead of schedule!"

Silver smiled. "Good, good. You're doing a great job as the lead worker, then. Keep up the good work," he said as he levitated a clipboard out of his bag and in front of his face. "Mind if I take a quick look around then?"

Rusty opened his mouth to speak when a loud metallic clang was heard. The two stallions jumped in surprise as it echoed throughout the tunnel.

"What in the hay was that?" said Rusty.

A tan colored pegasus mare with a long brown mane suddenly came skidding around the corner, stopping right in front of the stallions. She took a moment to catch her breath, but stood up a little straighter as soon as she saw Silver. "Hello, Boss," she said, giving him a quick nod before turning to the earth pony. "Rusty, we have a problem."

Silver and Rusty looked at each other, concerned. "What seems to be the problem, Copper?" asked Silver.

Copperheart looked down, as if she was ashamed. "I, uh... accidentally burst a pipe."

Rusty and Silver exchanged another glance. Silver opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Rusty, who burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's it? Just bust a pipe? Oh, don't you worry about that Copper. I've busted plenty of those before. A little duct tape should do the trick, no problem. C'mon, let's have a look." The rust-colored pony began walking in the direction Copper came from, motioning for her to follow. Silver shrugged and decided to follow as well.

Copper led the two stallions over to where the pipe was. There were several ponies working in the general area, chipping away at the rock and dirt. But no one seemed to notice the pipe. "Here," said Copper, gesturing to it.

Rusty looked puzzled. "You know, I know you're a fairly new worker and all, but I thought you could handle a situation like this yourself. There's not even anything leaking out of it!" He shook his head. "Meh, whatever, I'll go find the duct tape." Rusty turned to walk away. Copper looked down at the floor, ashamed, as if she wanted to say something else.

Silver stared at the pipe for a long moment before his eyes widened. He put a hoof on Rusty's shoulder. "Wait," he said firmly.

Rusty groaned. "Ugh, what now? Uh, I mean... yes Boss?"

Silver rolled his eyes. "You don't get it, do you? We're directly underneath a forest, Rusty. Forests don't have pipes running underneath them. Don't you find it a little odd that there's a pipe down here? It seems like a pretty old one too..."

Rusty hesitated, realizing this. "Oh... well, then that's more reason for me to get the darn-"

"H-Here you go, Boss!" called Copper's voice from behind the two stallions. They turned around to see her waving a hoof in the air, a roll of duct tape around it.

Rusty smiled. "One step ahead of us, huh? I like it. Anyway, let's get this thing patched up."

Copper nodded and was about to hand him the tape when a sudden hissing sound startled the three ponies. They all turned simultaneously to see a whitish gas coming from the pipe.

"Is that... steam?" said Copper quietly.

"Oh, what do you know, there is something in there," said Rusty. The three stared at the pipe for a long moment, mesmerized. A couple other ponies had also stopped at he hissing sound, and were watching the pipe. As more of the gas came out, it began to grow thicker, like a cloud.

Silver suddenly cleared his throat. "Um, something tells me that's not just steam..."

Rusty shrugged. "I'll go check it out, and then patch up that hole." He snatched the duct tape from Copper and walked directly into the cloud.

"Wait!" shouted Silver. "That's dangerous! You could-"

Silver was cut off as the stallion jumped back out, in a coughing fit.

He caught his breath after a moment, but hesitated before speaking. "Ugh! That's definitely not steam! Dang, that stuff smells awful!" His right eye was twitching.

Silver opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when he found himself backing away from the pipe. The cloud was getting bigger and bigger. It almost filled up half of the room.

"We... should get out of here," said Copper, who was also backing away. In fact, all the workers were.

No one had to say anything. All the workers turned toward the tunnel leading to the exit. But it was too late. The thick cloud was blocking it.

"What do we do?" shouted Copper over the terrified shouts of the workers.

"I dunno about you, but I'm getting the hell outta here!" Rusty hadn't moved from the spot where he was laying earlier. But he ignored the looks from the other ponies and stood up. His right eye was twitching even more, and his body was shaking slightly. The gas had obviously done something to him. Rusty shot one last look at Silver before running into the cloud once more.

"He's... he's going to die in there..." Silver muttered to himself. The gas was getting thicker by the second, and the unicorn could hardly see around him. The other workers were gone, probably running the opposite direction, deeper into the tunnel. Running deeper is pointless, Silver thought. They would reach a dead end, and by the speed that this stuff is spreading, they'll get infected. Silver froze at that word. Infected. The gas was some type of poison.

"Silver?"

The unicorn jumped a little, but calmed down as he saw Copper standing a couple feet in front of her. The gas was so thick, he could barely see her. "Y-yeah?"

"What do we do?" By the sound of it, she was probably crying.

"I... I don't know," he said. Right then, the stench of the gas hit him. Rusty was right, it was awful. The gas was completely surrounding him now. There was nowhere to run.

Right then, a thought struck Silver. Immediately, he levitated a scrap of paper and a pen out of his bag, and began furiously writing. He tried his best to ignore the horrible scent, but it was still there. He tired holding his breath, but there wasn't much breath to hold.

"What... are... you doing?" he heard Copper ask between breaths.

Silver didn't reply. His vision was going fuzzy, but he kept writing. Finally, his horn glowed brightly, and the paper disappeared with a flash. He looked at Copper one last time, but all he saw was blur and black spots in his vision. Then, he blacked out.