Chapter Six: Bountiful Brass Bouquets
Astral yawned, hoof reaching over to reflectively smack the alarm-
“Re-evaluating containment levels. Stand by.”
He awoke with a jerk, the stallion wincing at the slight headache.
“I would very much like to wake up to a mare’s voice. But not you!” he growled at the computer.
Unfortunately, he was still very much still underground; but at least he had slept. The clock indicated a good seven hours, and he wasn’t dead.
But ‘re-evaluating’ wasn’t a good thing when that blasted computer was saying it.
Cautiously un-barricading the door, Astral made a quick sweep of the office to confirm he was still alone. No freaky creatures greeted him, so he was able to organize his supplies and get some food. For all he knew it could be his last meal…but a microwaved hayburger and fruit wasn’t what he had in mind for that.
Well, it’d have to do.
A glance over the folders he had previously snagged revealed much less than Astral had hoped. Financial predictions, trade deals, and a lot of blacked-out text. There was one word that kept cropping up which made his stomach church though.
Experiments.
‘Experiments have met our goals and will be delivered on schedule.’
‘Experiments ran into some complications. Batch termination, new delivery schedule mapped out.’
Experiments. Well, that was a solid explanation for whatever the Tartarus-spawned thing that seemed to be chasing him.
With a huff, he set the files aside and began his morning explorations. Investigating the elevators, Astral took a peek inside and abruptly had to do a double-take.
The wall was covered in numbers.
“There’s not just a Sub-Level five…” he muttered, “there are dozens of floors. But what’s this sequential stuff?”
The writing was clear; the meaning, not so much.
‘Each floor is visited sequentially. As per security code, unlocking of the elevators is needed to progress to the next floor.’
Astral wasn’t sure what that meant, but he got a general idea.
“So, this elevator has another forty-six floors,” he said to himself, “sequential unlocking as a security measure; maybe it’s automatic? Does it pass a check on each floor before going on? I guess I’ll find out.”
There was nowhere to go but down, so after making the oxygen tank pile more of an official supply sled, Astral towed it into the elevator and let the doors close.
“Sub-Level six,” he whispered, “here we go.”
The code and ID card was accepted, and a familiar voice echoed in the elevator as it sped downwards. Thankfully, the voice faded rapidly.
“Containment Level Five authorized. Venting Oxygen on SL-5 and commencing detonation. Switching to adaptive containment protocol, minimal warnings will be given…”
“Oh. Fantastic.”
“Welcome, to SL-6.”
The door to SL-6 opened with a matching cheerful *ding*, Astral looking around before exiting.
Another office; but this one had familiar, lab-like cubicles in the back-half of the room. That put him on edge. What made the Thestral’s heart soar, however, was the hallway to his right. In bright, beautiful brass letters, it welcomed him in as he trotted immediately towards it.
‘Armory.’
“Please let this code and card work,” Astral pleaded to whatever twisted deity was watching over him. Most likely Discord, but that was a sobering thought.
The large metal door smoothly opened, Astral tugging his supplies in with a happy bit of prancing.
If he was going to deal with freakish creatures and a homicidal computer, he wasn’t about to use just a crossbow. The Thestral knew he was drooling, but he didn’t care.
Lining the wall behind a locked gate, was an array of weaponry he had no idea how to use, not practically. But oh, did it look amazing.
“I guess I get to learn fast,” he muttered, the code and card letting him in. No muzzle-loading stuff was present; it was the newest brass-cased projectiles that were set neatly on wall-mounts. Pistols meant for unicorn magical grips, side-saddles for Pegasi and Earth ponies.
I’ve only read about this stuff.
Thankfully, how the saddles were mounted made it fairly difficult to hurt one’s self, the barrels extending out at the shoulders. So at least there was that.
Shaking himself out of a daze, Astral noted there was a small firing range attached to the armory; sound-dampening spells activating on his approach. There were even small booklets on each firearm sitting next to the weapons. It certainly wasn’t the safest way to learn, but the bat-pony didn’t have much of a choice.
Well, he was about to learn, and fast.
Even if I fail, at least I have my crossbow.
The hidden cameras in the armory and office were quite active, switching to and fro to get different angles on the Thestral in question. The bat-pony took quite a few minutes to figure out how to even put on the side-saddle firearms, and then another ten minutes of how to reload it and sync them with the helmet aiming system.
Then it was time for the live firing range, at least as soon as Astral figured out where the safety was. He then chomped on the firing bit, and…
“SWEET CELESTIA WHAT IN THE WORLD?!”
The viewer let out a soft giggle at the bat-pony’s screech of surprise, Astral having quickly realized that there was special, upgraded hearing protection provided for bat-ponies on one of the shelves after firing the saddle.
The next half hour was spent watching the stallion slowly get the hang of the revolver-like saddle, Astral practicing loading, reloading, and fixing a stubborn jam.
Clearly there was a reason that there was a small pamphlet provided with the saddles. Astral read through it twice, each time then testing out what he knew.
The viewer let out a soft huff of surprise, fangs showing in a grin as Astral pranced happily in place as he scored his first bulls-eye, and then his second, then his third.
“Maybe you won’t die after all. I hope not at least. I still don’t know what your tag should be. Friend? Or Enemy.”
After a moment of thought, the viewer sighed.
“Well, if I don’t help you, you’ll probably die. Then again, we might both die as it is.”
His ears still ringing, Astral decided to call his practice quits. The Pegasus saddle fit him nicely, the odd contraption looking like two long-barreled revolvers nestled on his sides, just behind his shoulders. The bullets themselves were big, easily thrice the size of a baby carrot. Then again, it was called the ‘Cloudsdale Repeating Cannon- Mark 5’.
‘Cannon’ indeed.
The recoil took some getting used to, but the fact that each saddle-gun had twelve shots was a lot more comforting than his four-shot crossbow.
Astral took a moment, the adrenalin wearing off as he made himself breathe a bit slower. He had supplies, and now a significant amount of firepower. On exploring the armory, there were even armored vests; that immediately got strapped on underneath the SCBA tank.
It even had shoulder armor. Quite snazzy. The cannon’s linked helmet also sported a flashlight; a fancy contribution to the saddle-mounted one in case the lights failed.
Which, of course, Astral had a feeling they would. That’s why he packed extra batteries. Aiming without the visor’s crosshair was possible but stupidly hard to do. He’d rather not rely on that unless necessary.
It felt like he was gearing for war, but Astral didn’t even know what he was fighting. He didn’t even know if these bullets could stop whatever had been stalking him. That thought was a sobering one. If this was a taste of the firepower the facility had…it certainly hadn’t been enough.
However, there was a large box that caught Astral’s eye.
“Ooooh. Explosive rounds.”
After securing his supplies, Astral began to tow his sled to the other side of the floor. While it was comforting to have military hardware strapped to his side, it didn’t assuage all of his fear. There was so much he didn’t know. Until yesterday, this had just been some facility. Now? Dozens of basement levels, military-grade weapons, and a thing chasing him?
He just didn’t know. It was almost too much, the stallion’s mind running on overdrive trying to process it all.
“Attention. Containment breach on SL-6. Venting atmosphere and detonating in t-minus five minutes.”
Astral barely had time to shove his supplies into the elevator before the entire floor shook, something impacting near the elevators at the other end of the room.
That was when he saw it.
Two clawed hands levered an ovaloid body up, two skeletal arms and legs moving the creature in a Skitter-like fashion along the floor. Easily the size of a large gryphon, the grey creature looked at him and smiled, five red eyes widening above a mouth full of countless fangs.
He froze.
As the creature tore through the office on a bee-line towards Astral, the bat-pony struggled to run. To move. To do anything!
Whenever it’s my life…I always freeze. The stallion thought to himself, an internal commentary running as the pony was trapped in his own body. The creature lunged through some desks, batting them aside as if they were made of paper-mâché.
As it crossed the halfway mark, Astral was finally able to do a single action.
He bit down.
The cannon on his right roared, the round speeding towards the creature, red eyes widening in surprise-and blew a dinner-plate-sized hole in the cubical next to the creature’s head.
It grinned, bunching up its legs as if to jump. But that delay was long enough for Astral to adjust his aim, snapping out of his horror-induced daze. The next round blew the creature’s left arm off, dark-purple blood spraying across the room as it let out a horrified shriek.
HAH! So, it can be hurt!
As the creature dove out of the way of a few more shots, Astral backpedaled into the elevator and keyed the next floor.
That was when he heard it. The voice was somehow soft yet deafening, a slimy, angry tone that spoke of endless rage. It was all hidden behind a cajoling bit of laughter, warped and out of place. The Thestral wasn’t sure if it was saying anything coherent, but it was definitely speaking.
Astral only caught a glimpse of the creature as the doors shut. Its left arm, previously destroyed, was now visibly regrowing, red eyes widening as a large, barbed tongue licked out from blood-stained lips. Clearly visible on its right arm, however, was a large, tattooed bar code.
Rocketing downwards, the elevator sent Astral zipping away from the creature. The shaft then shook, explosives collapsing the previously-vacated floor above Astral’s head. As the elevator slowed down, it *dinged* with the ever-pleasant announcement;
“Welcome, to SL-7.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,073 users online
1,688,444 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Company wouldn't happen to be named Umbrella Corp. by any chance?
Excellent taste in ammunition choice Astral! 20mm HE sure packs a punch, but will it be enough dakka?
Princess Twilight's going to be extremely displeased when she finds out what's been going on.
Now taking bets on fate of those responsible: Statue, Tartarus, Vaporized, or something Creative?
There can never be enough Dakka.
I think 'displeased' is an understatement. Fear the angry book-horse.
I think I'm sensing a theme with the chapters. If I'm guessing right, we have another 45 to go.
10967508
I was actually toying around to have it be 1 chapter per level. Buuuuut things took a few twists and turns. That isn't to say there won't be 45 chapters though!.
Or more.
shaft
11165343
Dangit. Thank you!
SCP-682 is that you?
10967286
Then is it the scp foundation?
11165663
Brilliant call-back!
11204224
Agent 047?
HE rounds are always fun to play with :P
Now I'm wondering if the computer system is sensing Astral's presence and viewing him as a threat that must be neutralized, especially since apparently, all the essential employees were saved and contained.
Hmm, perhaps not. Though where'd those other employees go and is one of them watching him?
11678133
