Filly Fantasy VII: Evolution

by ChaosknightRB

An Unscheduled Stop

Chapter 3: An Unscheduled Stop

After a long and restless night, the five ponies woke up once again. They all hoped it was just a dream, that they would all wake up in their comfortable homes. Reality was never known for being kind however, which they slowly realized whilst waking up. Each of the ponies had their own rooms on the 26th floor. It was staggering just how many floors this building had. Each with its own function that was of the utmost importance to the company.

One by one the ponies would make their way to the 68th floor, where Angeal and Hojo were waiting patiently. Once all of them had arrived in the laboratory, Angeal began to speak.

"It's good to see you all made it on time. You've got a busy day ahead so I hope you're all prepared." The navy blue pony began to pace back and forth. "There have been reports of dangerous creatures coming out of the sewers in the Sector 7 slums and occasionally attacking the residents of the area. We've sent a few guards to protect them, but they're ill equipped to deal with the front of the situation. Your job is to head to the sewers and find the source of this issue. The train leaving for the sector will be heading off in 1 hour, don't be late." Angeal had stopped pacing by this point and made a gesture towards Hojo. "I believe you mentioned you have something for them."

Hojo had been paying little mind to the briefing. The flax coloured pony didn't care much for the matters of Shinra, he simply wanted to see his test subjects in action. "I have developed a unique device which will surely come of use to my precious specimens. Guard, send it in!" He had called out.

The door on the opposite side of the room opened. Standing in the doorway was a pony in a blue uniform and a small animal. Appearing much like that of a stuffed toy, the animal was a very small light blue cat that stood on its hind legs. Its body was almost humanoid in shape with a patch of white fur covering its stomach area. The eyes were comically large with completely black irises. On its left arm was a small metal device with many buttons.

"This is the Honorary Artificial Persona Invention. Or as it has been nicknamed by the staff, Happy." Hojo began to say, "It will take on the role as a means of active communication between you and Angeal, as well as being able to scout out a given area ahead of time. I'm sure you'll find it quite useful."

The group merely stared at the odd animal as it walked towards them. As it got closer, it was apparent that Happy was only just smaller than Freddie. It approached the small orange pony with a wide smile on its face. "Hi!" It said cheerily. Freddie gave the cat a confused look, unsure how to respond to it.

"Hi? I guess you're with us from now on. So, I'm Freddie." Freddie extended a hoof to greet the small cat. Happy extended his paw in turn and the two shook. In suit, the other four began to introduce themselves one by one. Jackal payed no mind to it however.

Once introductions were over, Angeal noted that the train would be leaving in less than an hour. The station wasn't far, but tardiness was not an option at this point. They all agreed and began to head towards the elevator. The five of them stood in the elevator and saw that Happy had not followed. "Come on Happy, we don't have all day." Marcus said.

The blue cat responding with a resounding "Aye Sir!" as a faint glow showed behind it. A pair of feathery wings appeared from out of nowhere as Happy rose off the ground and flew towards them. The five ponies stood dumbfounded at the spectacle as the steel doors closed.

The six of them headed towards the train station located in Sector 8 where they had, only yesterday, fought a small gang and rescued the pink pony. The station was nothing spectacular. The train itself was made of a very thick steel. Made for the specific purpose of carrying people from one place to another, ascetic quality was lacking since the goal was to be efficient. It was clear that the train was in need of maintenance. Many of the windows had cracks and much of the paint was beginning to peel. Attached were eight cars behind the engine, with a guard standing next to the open doors of each. Only a handful of ponies were waiting for the train.

As the group head towards the fourth car, the guard gave them a suspicious look. He was wearing a red coat and matching hat. "Excuse me, may I ask what your business is?" The guard asked the group.

It was the lime green unicorn, Velis, who stepped forward. "We're on our way to deal with the issue in the Sector 7 slums. My co-workers and I have been authorized by Angeal Hewley."

The guard pony gave a surprised look to the group. "I-I apologize. Please, do continue on." He said nervously as he gestured towards the car.

Inside was far nicer than the outside of the train. The seats were made of a green cloth material with bronze supports. Overhead was a single line of florescent lights that illuminated the inside of the train. No one else had entered the car, however, making it seem very empty. The train sounded a whistle alerting the passengers that the train would be departing shortly. A few minutes passed as the doors on the car were closed by the guard pony. Everyone had seated themselves as a voice came over the intercom. "Second train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 9:33 AM, Midgar standard time..." The train slowly began to move as the station passed by them. It didn't take long for the train to pick up speed, however, making places they passed merely a blur.

The ponies sat in silence for a few minutes, with only the sound of the roaring train engine to fill the air. It did not take long for Marcus and Freddie to become impatient. They began to scan the room in hopes of finding entertainment of some kind when they happened to spot a small monitor near the front of the car. The two stood up and decided to investigate. The monitor was quite small, being only 16" across. A small picture of the city was on the screen as they could see a green dot spiraling from the upper plate to the lower plate.

Freddie quickly recognized it. "This is a map of this trains route. We're the green dot here." He pointed at the dot that was slowly moving downwards. Marcus looked in interest at the device. He wasn't used to being in such a massive city. The small size of the dot in comparison to the city made him realize just how huge Midgar was.

As Marcus and Freddie stood talking near the monitor, so too had Velis and Trenton began to talk. Leaving only Jackal and Happy unoccupied. Jackal simply decided he would listen in on the conversations. Happy became bored quickly as he decided to stretch out his wings rather than sit in silence. With a flash of light the feathery wings appeared once more on the back of the small blue cat. Jackal wasn't very fond of the odd creature, but it would be wrong to say he didn't take an interest in how it managed to perform such a feat.

Jackal looked over to Happy before he could fly off. "How do you do that?" Happy gave a surprised look at the usually silent pony. Other than the one time Jackal had told Happy his name, not once did the small cat hear him speak.

Happy folded his wings back as they dissipated into nothingness. "I don't know really. I think it's magic!" He said quite happily.

Jackal gave the cat a skeptical look. "Magic you say? Why do I have a hard time believing that?" The chestnut pony began. "Surely Hojo installed some kind of device that allows for it. I've just never seen it before." Happy gave Jackal a very confused look. Jackal noticed this. "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Happy shook his head. "...this is going to be a long day isn't it?" Jackal whispered to himself.

Without warning the train suddenly began to screech to a halt, causing Freddie to lose his balance and fall over. A blinking red light filled the room as an alarm sounded. The sound of a crashing noise could be heard in the cars ahead of them followed by screams. The five ponies quickly drew their weapons and rushed to investigate.

Inside the car was practically destroyed. A group of four ponies were backed up into the opposite end as six reptile-like creatures surrounded them. The creatures resembled that of a large turtle wielding a spear as they hissed at the cowering ponies. Velis quickly recognized the creatures as Sahagins. Using his knowledge of them, he quickly instructed Trenton to follow his lead as the green unicorns horn began to glow. A bolt of powerful lightning flew forward striking one of the reptilian monsters, causing it to hiss violently as it and the others turned their attention to the group.

Marcus, however, heard something he was not expecting. While the sahagin was turning around, rather than hissing he heard it shout "They have poniesss behind usss. Get them!" The six sahagin readied themselves for a fight with the five ponies as four of them charged with their spears forward. With a surprising amount of coordination, the four spears were heading straight for Velis. Trenton made sure to follow Velis' lead and shot a bolt of lighting at the attackers. One instantly fell to the ground with with a sizzling sound coming from the scaled beast, but the other three continued on their path at the green unicorn. As the spears thrust forward Velis was able to dodge two, but the third found its mark in his side. Velis let out a cry in pain as blood began to rush out of the wound. Velis took a step back to recover from the blow, but the sahagin were out for blood. They attempted to rush forward again, but this time Marcus seized the opportunity, striking one with as much force as possible sending it hurdling backwards towards the two still at the other end of the car. The front of its shell was scorched by the intense flames that emitted from Marcus' hoof. It began to stand back up until a crossbow bolt was shot through its head. The sahagin fell back to the ground devoid of life. Freddie had already begun to make his way towards the two sahagin on the other side of the car when they both spotted him sneaking alongside the seats. Without warning the sahagin both fired a jet of water at Freddie. Both had missed, but tore the seats around him apart. Freddie realized just how dangerous that water attack could be.

The two spear users still attempted to lash out at Velis. As the spears neared Velis, a surge of energy began to flow through him. His focus was directed at the two attacker as the pain on his side faded to nothingness. With this new found energy, Velis unleashed a wave of ice the froze them both solid. Motionless, the two sahagin that were attacking him were now frozen with their spears inches away from the unicorns face. The ice slowly began to crack at they exploded into countless shards that fired off in all directions. The two sahagin that witnessed this took action. One withdrew into its shell as the other wedged its spear underneath it. The shell was suddenly lifted into the air as the standing sahagin shot a jet of water at it, sending the shell flying towards the group at tremendous speed. Standing next to each other, Trenton and Marcus saw this unusual opportunity to play a more violent version of beach volleyball. Trenton’s horn began to glow as his sword was suddenly enveloped in lightning. When the shell was by him he swung upwards with all his might, sending the shell into the roof of the car as its shell became encased in lightning just as the sword had. As it began to fall, Marcus bucked it with all his might as the shell, now engulfed in both flames and lightning, was send flying at the remaining sahagin. The sahagin gave a hiss that Marcus heard as a resounding "Oh sssssshi-" as the shell exploded is a mass of fire and lightning. The six sahagin now lie in their various states of dead throughout the car. Just as the fight was over, a powerful roar and an explosion sounded from the next car over. They knew their work was not done yet.

The five ponies ran over to the next car expecting to see more sahagin attacking passengers. What they witnessed however, was far from such a notion. The five stood by the entrance of the car dumbfounded as they looked upon eight slaughtered sahagin. The shells had been practically torn apart by what seemed like the claws of a powerful beast, and many had been scorched from intense flames. Standing in the center of the car was a lone pony. Completely unharmed, his coat was a deep crimson with a jet black mane. The stallion turned to look at the group with eyes equally as crimson as his coat. Holstered on his side was a pistol. "Who are you?" The mysterious pony asked the group.

Comments

[the one guy on the left]

MUST READ MORE.
MUST DO SCIENCE.
HOJO IS COOL.