We don't go to Sub-Level Five

by RadBunny

Chapter 100: High Clarity

The vines, at last, began to recede as the Thestrals weaved their way through the forest. Unfortunately, it was replaced by something else.

“Sas…something’s wrong about all of this,” Astral muttered, “and I mean more than normal.”

“No, I agree,” the other Thestral replied, walking over and poking the odd wall growth with a knife. “It’s organic, but not entirely a plant, I think. The AI says it has traces of proteins.”

“It’s flesh, isn’t it?”

“Do you want the answer to that?” Sassi’s glance back as she spoke made Astral realize that no, he didn’t want an answer yet.

The greenish-tan material now carpeted the walls, tendrils of the spongy, spiderweb-like substance radiating from the large hallway they had to go. The color shifted to a more maroon tint the farther they went.

Astral stumbled, spitting up some tar as Sassi steadied him.
“A jungle into this place?” he muttered. “Okay, Sas. What does the AI say it is?”

“There are traces of DNA from all sorts of creatures,” she said calmly. “The proteins and organic matter were basically torn apart to create…that.”

“Similar to the Skitters and that hive?”

“Exactly. But this is different. Simpler. It’s like basic building blocks of mush.”

Astral sighed, plodding forward with Sassi at his side.
“Then in we go. Simpler maybe is better. No hive mind, just a similar experiment gone wrong?”

“That’s not a bad guess.”

They hadn’t taken more than five steps in when Sassi stopped.
“There’s no power in this area. Pitch black. Switch to infrared,” she said. “I’ll have the AI set our armor to whatever stealth mode is. Looks like it cuts off exterior lights. Best not attract attention.”

“Sounds good.”

Following her lead, Astral trod carefully over the sponge-like material. Spores wheezed out with every step, and the air quickly became thick with them.

“Do we have to worry about filters?” Astral whispered, the mare at his side shaking her head.

“Thankfully no. We have plenty of spares, and the particles are big enough that the system can backflush a good percentage, even with your older helmet. That’s what the display is telling me at least.”

“Any idea what the spores…” Astral started to ask, but a shape on the wall caught his attention.
Sassi let out a hiss, the mare backing up to scan the long hallway, miniguns spinning.
“The fact it’s empty isn’t a good thing,” she muttered.

Plastered on the wall was a familiar, fungus-like cocoon. The shape of a misshapen pony body was markedly absent from the center.

---

“This one is different,” Sassi growled, examining the empty cocoon. “The others were all fleshy. This is like, solid fungus.”

“I would say burn it, but since we’re standing on…”

“Yeah, let’s not ignite it,” she agreed, walking back to Astral and nudging his shoulder. “You holding up okay?”

He managed a weak smile behind the visor, the infrared casting everything in a sickly-green glow.

“Barely. Still covered in who knows what. I feel better with the reactor…but not totally.”

“Maybe that break didn’t do you much good,” Sassi said with a frown, “let’s get through this section, and then I can give you another dose.”

“Not sure it’d help. The last one only made me feel a bit better.”

The worry twanged at Astral’s mind from their link, and the stallion felt a bit of guilt prick at his heart. He didn’t want her to worry, but he wasn’t about to lie.

“If I had to guess, I just have a baseline of not-so-great that gets progressively lower,” he said.

“Hold on,” Sassi said, directing a question toward the AI. It only took a moment for the mare to then read off the information.

“Well, within another day or so, we can detach the healing crystals from the armor, so you’re definitely still healing. Even once those crystals are off, you’re…yeah. It’s basically telling me a fancy way of what you said,” the mare continued. “Until we can strap you into a healing bed with a relaxed lifestyle for an extended period, you’re going to just get worse. But the healing crystals and reactor can keep you at a baseline of somewhat combat-effective, even if you don’t feel good.”

“G-great.”

Another pang of worry and Sassi slid up to nudge his shoulder with hers. He couldn’t hide his teeth chattering over the radio. There wasn’t a chill, just an abrupt shiver.

“Hang in there, Astral. Let’s get out of this pitch black first.”

He nodded, a tired chuckle leaving his mouth.
“I guess t-there’s a rebound,” the stallion said with a weak smile. “Felt pretty good the past day with you. Best I’ve felt. Now comes the cruddy flip side.”

“Just wait until there isn’t a cruddy flip side. Smoothies and cuddling every day. I promise there’ll be plenty of that.”

“I’d like that,” Astral said softly, the tenderness in his voice making Sassi glance his way.

“You certainly deserve it. I’d be attached at your hip if not for our current situation.”

“Munching it or hugging it?”

“Both.”

Her immediate reply made Astral laugh softly, his spirits buoyed a bit as they walked. While they didn’t meet any living creatures, the air began to become thicker with spores.

“Yuck. Should have expected it with all this organic matter,” Sassi muttered. “The stuff on the floor is getting squishier, thicker.”

Astral pulled his hoof out of the fleshy, sponge-like material to take another step. It was like a lasagna in the worse possible way.

“Contact.”

He froze, Sassi’s guns slowly spinning. The dot on their motion detection steadily marched towards them, growing larger as the sensors adjusted. Sassi backed up, pushing Astral into what must have been a supply closet before being overgrown. The ceiling had been shredded by something; opening up into a large air duct.

The two waited, their guns trained on the opening. The remnants of the door were currently piled against a wall. Whatever was in here had ripped the metal slab off its hinges.

There was barely any sound, only the soft squishing of a creature making its way down the hall.

Astral promptly bit his cheek to stop himself from taking a surprised breath as two gangly limbs entered their view. One of them gripped the doorframe with blood-stained claws. The boney, ghost-white appendages shone with a menacing light in the infrared.

The long limbs were joined to a thicker torso; similar to that of the Skitters. Instead of emaciated flesh, however, armored, fungus-like plates covered the barrel-like segment. The neck was squat, a bumpy oval head looking this way and that. Strange fungus sprouted from its entire body and face; no eyes were visible.

An ear-piercing clicking made Astral wince, the two Thestrals remaining frozen in place as the creature looked this way and that.

Echo-location. Or something like it.

It turned to look directly at the ponies. It let out another series of clicks, head tilting to the side. Apparently satisfied, it pulled back and began its journey down the fleshy hallway again.

It was only after the contact faded from their motion detection screen that Astral let himself breathe audibly.

“What?” he whispered, abruptly sitting on his hind limbs to catch his breath. Between the freaky plants, the goo, and now this pitch-black horror, the stallion was quickly burning up his mental reserves.

“The armor must have disguised us. It may have thought we were just metal rubble,” Sassi mussed, reaching over to lay a hoof on Astral’s shoulder. “We need to go.”

“I know, just give me a second.”

As the motion detection let out a blip, Sassi pulled him to the side, the two of them pressing next to the pile of debris.

“Just breath, Astral.”

Astral realized why his nerves were fraying. He had fought hundreds of monsters. But in this pitch-black area, where there wasn’t anywhere to go…

It’s like the ocean. A black abyss. But this time something is waiting for me.

He tried not to think about it- but that wasn’t terribly effective.

The creature moseyed on by again, clicking this way and that. It barely even glanced at the supply room, casually climbing onto the ceiling as it sent out more pulses of sound.

It faded, and the two Thestrals breathed again.

“We can try killing it, but we should probably sneak by,” Sassi said. “The guns would be loud. And considering the traces of organic plastic around us, I’d say that armor around its torso will be problematic.”

“I’ll follow your lead, Sassi.”

It was all the Thestral could muster, and he was rather grateful Sassi simply nodded. She was in soldier mode- it helped keep him focused.

“Alright. When it passes by again, whenever that is, we’ll slip past it. Assuming there aren’t two. If there’s two, we’ll blast ‘em and run, then hide. If they use sound to find us, if we stay still and throw something, we could lead them off.”

“Sounds good. So, we wait?”

“We wait. We’ll want to make sure there’s only one.”

Sassi’s question was abruptly answered in the worst way possible. Their motion detectors lit up as a fungus-encrusted head poked itself out of the air duct above them, looking down at the Thestrals with an ear-piercing series of clicks.

Author's Note:

Ohboy

Comments

[Celestial Petrichor]

Ah, who doesn't love squishy, flesh-covered spaces with creepy monsters that have echolocation? Thanks for the chapter; I don't think I've ever read a story with this type of fluffy/horror mix before and I've been enjoying it!

Also, just a quick note about a grammar thing that's been bugging me a tiny li'l bit: generally when using the word 'okay' you should have it as either 'okay' or 'OK' (though the former is what I personally prefer); putting it in lowercase as 'Ok' or 'ok' doesn't quite look right and a bit of a pet peeve of mine!

[RadBunny]

11491348
The creepiness returns! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

And thank you for the tip! Duly noted- I thought I usually didn't, but must have slipped into that habit.

[Jahbraz]

Oh shit, something similar to the Flood from Halo's going to be found here, isn't there?

That's the only reason I can think of the chapter title reference (High Clarity; High Charity)

[RadBunny]

11491405
Well, they do have to finish the fight...

[Tempest_Flare]

Inspired by the recent Last of Us haven't you been?

[RadBunny]

11491436
I actually haven't seen it yet. Buuuuuuuuut it's a nice type of villain!

[Mahazkei]

That comment I made about the Fonies being similar to Flood and SCP-610 gave you this idea, huh.

Welp. That and The Last of Us (I can't claim credit for that), because of the clicker. Fuck this stuff. Burn it all. I'd go ask my friends to borrow all their flaming weaponry. Heavy Incinerator for ranged combat (napalm fireball launcher), any number of flamethrowers for close range, any number, make or models of incendiary grenades, preferably white phosphorus, and a specific kind of close range rifle with an extendable bayonet sword lit on fire for melee combat (Gunsword SP ftw).

[RadBunny]

11491454
Among many things. There's a general vibe I was going for.

And yes. Fire. All the fire. Or just nuke it from orbit.

[Changeling404]

High... Clarity...
...
*Legendary Solo "High Charity" flashbacks intensifies.*

[RadBunny]

11491492

[Changeling404]

11491447
Don't know about the LoU TV show, I don't watch TV/cartoons/anime much anymore... but I wasn't fond of many of the story choices they made in the second game. Especially the ending.

[RadBunny]

11491538
I learned the story/what the characters did in the 2nd game, and just wrote it off altogether. I didn't play the first- but enjoyed watching various play-through and styles (I'm more of a loremaster than anything.)

The 2nd game, and its writing, sits in the dumpster along with Rings of Power.

Apparently the show is good. If it follows the first game, it has a good chance of being solid cinema. I'm going to give it a shot as I love all things zombie related.

[Shadowshame]

Sooo fonies are a last of us reference got it

[RadBunny]

11491785
Well, it's an interesting villain type. Already had the fungus being a thing; may as well add in some freaky echo-locating monsters!

[Screw]

I am not sure where the duo are heading to. It was briefly mentioned, I think, that there could be an escape in this silo by Arcane.

Plus, both are heading towards a supposedly powered medical bay. I have doubts there is any remaining power but the struggling backups. Afterall, you vaguely mentioned that these both have been in here for more than a month and it sounded like the the silo 3 outbreak happened on day one.

[RadBunny]

11492050
Arcane said there's an old shaft that was used to bring in heavy equipment back when Silo 3 was constructed- likely filled in, but weapons could cut through. So somewhere in/past Silo 3.

And the brown-matter hit the fan across all the Silo's in a single day. Silo 3 is one of the oldest....

[ArcherStern]

11491454
Interesting.

Can I interest you, and possibly your pyro friends, in our volunteer militia? We are gathering for the common cause of preserving this nice couple's happy ending.
You may have seen our poster around?
img.ifunny.co/images/0fe4dfe900400582ece30264ecd875df766b68b2b77ff553cd594765dae570ea_1.jpg

[Mahazkei]

11492327
Mayhaps. I don't tend to stick around for long, though, once I know they're in safe hands. Move on to other things, find new protectorates.

And I reserve flame for the abominable, and those who do not deserve a sky burial. It is not my weapon of choice, save the Gunsword SP, for its cauterization of wounds while dismembering opponents. They die of shock, rather than blood loss.

[ArcherStern]

11492478
Perfect. This milita was, after all, formed with the idea to protect the little remaining wholesomeness in the Silo's.

Once a happy ending is achieved, those who volunteered in the milita will disband and go our separate ways, for our shared goal was completed.

[Amos Anon]

“Just wait until there isn’t a cruddy flip side. Smoothies and cuddling every day. I promise they’ll be plenty of that.”

I think you meant there'll.

[RadBunny]

11493692
DOH! (Fixed, thank you)