You know how you work hard for something and when you finally have it, it's not longer the thing you wanted in the first place? For me, this was being a surgeon. Don't take my wrong; I have a lot of respect for the equines that have this kind of job, but not so much for myself. My hooves would just always shake like mad when I was supposed to be doing something important, like a bypass. To make that stress go away, I started taking pills per the maintenence guy's recommendation.
At first, they made me better, but then, they made worse.
How bad exactly? I walked out of a surgery because I couldn't keep my scalpel glued to my hooves. The older surgeon that went in to save the day wasn't very angry, but he wasn't very happy either. Still, after he saw how down I was, he offered me at least one day off. Students were supposed to arrive on the next day and he pretty much told me to buzzer off and not touch anything on my way out. Said he didn't need a wimp in addition to newbs and with just one year of experience, I figured that he was right. I nodded, silently packed my stuff and headed straight home.
I spent the most of the night thinking about what I'll do the following day. One plan was to get the guys together and just jam 'till it sounds like a song, but they loved all-nighters and with their three-day work weeks, they could afford them. Or I could just practice, alone and be mediocre without anything. With at least some simple plans for tomorrow, I feel asleep.
On the next day, I woke up with a headache. By turning on my bedside lamp, I could see the time on my alarm clock. I had to admit, I'd never slept so bad that I woke up at two in morning. The calendar I had on nearby was also a bit strange. Fifteenth of May was blank, even though I remember crossing it out just the night before. Off days were rare and I even remember doing it.
So why was it blank? Tired and slightly confused, I set the alarm clock to wake me up at seven, turned the lamp off and fell asleep. I swear, if I wake up at twelve, I'll hurt someone. Bad.
After waking up for the second time, I wanted to take a bath, but something was wrong with the water. I could hear it running down the pipes, but that was it. Was there an unplanned maintenance? If so, then darn, no one told me. Well, at least I still have stuff in my fridge.
Or not.
I filled it with food, so where'd it go? No salads, no pies, not even one can of beer. What in Celestia's name was going on? Was this supposed to be some sort of prank.
"Very funny! Your parents would be proud of you!" I shouted, pretending that there was someone in my house that sabotaged everything. "Now give me back my water and food! Please?!" There was no response.
What was I thinking? No thief would actually stay in a place they were robbing. That wasn't me talking, it was hunger.
Argh, to Tartarus with it! I'll buy something on the way and angrily eat it on my way to the studio. That'll show 'em. Maybe I'll even send a very strongly-worded letter to the mayor.
After opening the door, I saw a town which had little to no resemblence to Ponyville.
Tall, dark blue, metallic watchtowers were dominating the rooftops and an enormous building could be seen in nearby background. There were also numerous blue lights scattered on the streets, which somehow negated the darkness produced by the sky. It was a monotonous repeating pattern of gray, with little to no changes as far as the eye could see. Did Celestia forget to raise the sun or was this another elaborate joke orchestrated by pegasi with too much time on their hands? No matter which of those two were responsible, it was wrong.
Without any further sightseeing, I went out on the street and saw it blocked on both sides by metallic structures, with some sort of transparent blue walls in the middle. The door behind me closed shut and I had instinctively approached the structure on the left. As far as I remember, this was the right way to the clinic. I approached the transparent blue wall and a small, camera-like device emerged from the structure. It made it a few sounds reminiscent of a normal camera, blinded me with its flash and had its lens lit up. The lens changed color from orange to green and the transparent wall appeared to be even more transparent. Afterwards, I moved closer to and wanted to cross it to get to the other side.
Just moments before I could have done so, an unusual pony walked though it and approached me. It wore a black and white west with dark green pants, black boots and a white mask which completely covered its head.
"Move back, now!" said the pony with an artificially modifed voice and took out out a small, handle-shaped device.
"What, why?" I took a few steps back. "I didn't do anything, I'm just on my way to the clinic."
"This is your first and final warning, move back now!" The pony pushed some sort of button on the device and took aim at me.I figured attempting to push through would be fruitless, as I saw more of them on the other side, along with some unknown vehicle of sort. I took a few steps back and turned around. The masked ponies chuckled at my effort to get to the other side and the one who approached me walked back to them. I wasn't sure what was I supposed to do now, but felt a bit of joy when I found out I'm not the only one on the street. A bald blue mare walked out of the nearby apartment and was heading towards the other mettalic structure.
"Hey!" I approached the mare. "You there!"
"We're not supposed to be seen together, sorry." She uttered and continued on to the structure on the left, going a bit faster after she saw that I followed her. As the structures barred ponies from entering certain areas, I assumed they were barricades or even checkpoints. Whatever they were, they appeared technologically superior beyond anything I've ever seen.
"What do you want from me?" she asked nervously.
"Could you turn around please?" My eyes opened wide when I saw her face.
"Trixie? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me, you fool. Did you forget how to get to the town hall again?"
"Oh, right, the town hall. Yeah, I forgot. Could you help me get there? I can't seem to get through these walls." She sighted and had an annoyed expression on her face. Another way to the clinic was through the street alongside the town hall, though it was much longer than the shortcut I used. Seeing as I couldn't find the right way in this maze-like excuse for a joke, having someone to get me there was nice.
"Fine, but if I get into trouble again for helping you, I'll just leave you there." After she led me through various streets and what I assumed to be security checkpoints, we finally arrived at the town hall. It was no longer the town hall I knew and instead, it was the enormous blue-ish building I saw earlier, with no apparent doors or anything for us to get inside. Then, I saw a large rectangular screen mounted at it's front, held in place by various wires.
It was a good three or meters above us and below it, the town's whole population was bowing. Multiple masked ponies were making sure everyone is respectful and did not hesitate to strike those who were not.
"What the-" I let out in confusion. I've never seen anyone bow for any particular reason and my curiosity advised me not to, for the sole purpose of getting to know what will happen if I don't.
"Bow down" whispered Trixie and bowed.
"Why?" Trixie kicked in one of my hindlegs and after seeing them going my way, I bowed immediately. Without getting an answer, I nervously waited for what would happen next. A loud static was heard and a familiar voice started speaking.
"Good morning City 9." I lifted my head slightly to see who was speaking and was frightened when I found out it was Nightmare Moon, looking exactly the same as she did in the newspapers. She shouldn't even exist, let alone speak!
"Congratulations for reaching the last place for beatings per month. Sadly, you were just two hundred beatings behind City 1, formerly known as Canterlot. But don't worry, all of you will collaborate with the local Civil Protection to raise these numbers until I am satisfied with them, which, depending on whether you like being good or not, may take days or even years. In other news, to further increase loyalty and the amount of coal and metal ore mined, the daily amount of rations will be reduced to three pounds per citizen or two per a registered couple. If caught as a couple illegally, the rations will be further reduced to one pound. Water is permamently cut off for lower class citizens and miners as a motivation to work harder, not smarter. Small bottles of reserve water will be given to each lower class citizen instead. That is all for today. Be safe, be smart, work hard and remember, you're doing this for the greater good and your queen rellies on you." The screen then showed a blue claw with a moon in the middle before being turned off. What was that supposed to mean?
"Back to work!" said one of the masked pones. I and Trixie stood up from the ground and saw one of citizens, a stallion, standing up with with his face red in anger, wielding a pickaxe.
"How long do you want to tolerate her despotical rule?!" shouted the stallion at the crowd. The guards took out their weapons and aimed at him.
"I have a priority 2 anti-citizen in Sector A," said one of them, again as if speaking through a radio transmitter.
"Rise brothers and sisters, rise from the ashes and-" Before he could finish his speech, he was interrupted by a shot in the head and fell to the ground. The others looked in fear as they saw him being killed, yet stood still as if nothing happened. Then they started leaving, one by one. I too, was taken by this act of cruelty.
"Let's get out of here," said Trixie."Before they force us to." I didn't need any more convincing and followed her. I did, however, took a sneak-peak and saw his body being dragged across the street and put into one of the dumpsters, leaving behind a trail of red. Ultimately, we reached an opening in the ground
"Can we talk now?"
"Not yet. This way," she whispered. I followed her into the mines and saw others mining coal with multiple guards and cameras monitoring them. Upon reaching one of the walls in an unguarded area of the mine, she signaled me to stop and looked around to make sure no one saw us. Then, she approached the wall and touched it at some specific parts.
"What are you doing?" She didn't answer me and shortly after, the wall opened.
"Get inside."
"Why?"
"I'll explain later." I went through the opening and appeared in a small dirty room with a wooden door inside. The wall behind me closed and upon further inspection, it had a vault-like mechanism and was fully supporting the rocks which were used as its disguise. A clever contraption indeed.
"Now we can talk."
"Finally I wanted know why-" I stopped when I saw a bunch of cameras scanning us. I tried to make sure they didn't see me, but they did anyway.
"Easy there, Random. Those are on our side. I hacked them myself."
"Our side? Hacked?" So far, this was the most insane, good-looking, early halloween costume party. Even the blood looked real.
"Let me show you something," She let out and opened the old wodden door. Immediately, I went through it. The room I entered was a crude, yet effecient-looking lob, with many contraptions, complete with a geeky scientist with even geekier glasses. Trixie went inside as well and greeted him.
"Well, we're here doc," she said happily, smiling.
"Excellent. Sorry to hear about your punishment, Trixie." Trixie was quite annoyed and sighted after she heard the scientist's remark.
"I didn't mean any disrespect of course," objected the scientist. "You could have gotten yourself killed and I'm glad you're alright."
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" I asked. "Because, she just keeps telling me to ask later."
"I found something very strange while scanning you with my scanner, Random." said the geeky scientist and gawked at me. "Something very unusual." Apparently, I missed out on April Fools. It's called being a 'working-class' pony and not paying attention to silly traditions.
"What exactly did you find?" I asked. "White guy in labcoat?" I wasn't sure about his name and so, I made one up just like that.
"After comparing yesterday's scanned DNA and the one I did a few minutes ago, they aren't a complete match." answered the geek. "Only a small percentage was off, but nevertheless, it was not a complete match."
"Oh come on, doc." objected Trixie, looking at me with a faint smile. "Don't make any conspiracy theories from a few percents missing. This equipment is old."
"It may be old, but it is the most precise scanner, unheard of in any other cities. None of them has a scanner that is so-" I interrupted him, fearing that he would go on about the scanner for hours without end. Scientists and their toys.
"Could you please tell me what's wrong with my DNA instead of boasting about your scanner?"
"Oh, right. Sorry about that, I got a little carried away," he apologises, taking a copy of the scanner log. "So, the thing that's wrong is the very last part of the DNA, a small piece of code if it can be called like that. If broken up into binary, it the final number must be zero. Your DNA ends with one. That's the problem."
"What does this mean?" I asked in confusion. "Numbers jumbled up?"
"Well, according to the few books which weren't burned and are about theoretical science, you're from a parallel universe or an alternate reality." said the scientist, reading through the log and then looking at me through his glasses. "But it could be a faulty scan of the scanner, too."
"Oh please, stop scaring Random with that nonsense. He was always a daydreamer who kept forgetting things. Right, Random ?" said Trixie and looked at me with a smile. "Right?" Well, I suppose I should tell them the truth.
"Well, the truth is... to be perfectly honest, I wasn't lost because I forgot," I answered her question. "I was lost because I didn't recognize Ponyville. Halloween is quite far, but you guys really went over the edge with this one. Dead bodies, blood, weird buildings - just perfect." Both of them gasped and started at me, eyes wide open.
"T-this isn't a halloween decor. This is real! But if you don't recognise any of it that means you're- Oh my," said the scientist, shocked. "I can't believe it!" Trixie was completely petrified, unable to say anything other than 'Oh no', Implying that she probably knew the other Random.
"But you still know who I am, don't you?" she asked, curious about how bad it was. "Don't you?"
"Of course I do," I said in a steadfast attempt to save the situation. "I saw you performing as a showmore in Ponyville, but that's it. We never spoke. Ponyville is much different back where I'm from. All of Equestria, too."
"Alright, let's try to use science. What does your reality not have in common with this one?" asked the scientist and judging by his tone, he was very serious when it came to theoretical sciences. "It's very important."
"Celestia banished Luna, not the other way around. She took her responsibilities and raised both sun and moon. There weren't any of those weird structures, ponies didn't wear masks and kill without reason." The scientist raised one eyebrow, as if he was expecting to hear more. "Also, there weren't any handle-shaped things that could kill."
"Is that all?" he asked with a frown.
"Look, I studied medicine a lot, not theoretical physics. I'm really sorry if you expected to hear more, but that's pretty much everything that describes my universe."
"Those are guns, Random. They propel small pieces of metal at great speed." lectured me Trixie and sighed. "With the regular Random gone, the fact that this is a parellel universe — something we hoped wasn't true — is true after all. And with what you said, it's only logical for Celestia to return."
"The chance of that happening is... extremely unlikely. Less than zero. Pieces from nearly-erased data of her presence show her status as 'evaporized'." said the scientist and walked to some sort of screen, pushing a small button to turn it on. Suddenly, a pony could be soon on the screen, greeting him by waving its hoove. It was monochrome, but at least worked.
"Sorry for the delay," apologized the geeky scientist. "What is it that you wanted Euclid?"
"Express delivery. Need to drop these really quickly." said Euclid quickly and images of worthless blueprints flashed, along with a single frame of a very long mathematical function containing only symbols.
"Replay and stop at frame 33."
"You're welcome. Euclid Vans out." said Euclid and short static was heard before returning back again.
"Oh, and I heard your little conversation." uttered Vans. "She wasn't evaporized but 'suffered a fate worse than torment' which, after the guy in the back's appearence, is confirmed to be banishment."
"True, but let's not forget about the prophecy." Said the scientist and a some sort of poem appeared at the screen.
"What prophecy?" I asked, still full of confusion. "Mare In The Moon?"
"Light faded, yet there is still hope, for when there's darkness in sky, from times inverted, an outsider will wander in this land, alone," said Dot, reciting the poem. "That's what Celestia supposedly said to one of her followers before her defeat by Nightmare Moon."
"And you guys think I'm the one who's involved in the prophecy?" I asked, believing the prophecy is nothing more than just an old pony tale, just like aforementioned Mare In The Moon. Wait a second, isn't that what Twilight read through when all hell broke loose?
"Precisely," said the scientist. "We were starting to think you'd never show up."
"I doubt Celestia alone would be enough to heal the damage Luna has done to Equestria. She needs help," said Trixie and added "our help." Me, a hero? Oh come on, a frozen turtle glued to a table has a bigger chance of completing such feat. I'm just a post-graduate, not any of those fancy engineers.
"Umm... and... uhm... what do you guys... ehm... plan to do?" I asked sheepishly. Perhaps the plan doesn't involve me.
"The Novum Prospectu prison is our best choice if we want someone to help us. It houses many prisoners, rebels like us included. Freeing them could turn the situation in our favor," replied Trixie and a huge map of the coast appeared on the screen, with the prison highlighted. "Here."
"But that's impossible to escape!" said Dot, not believing his own ears. "You can't be serious!"
"Yeah, but it's still easier to sneak in than to break out." She said in a daring tone.
"I'll give word to the other outposts and inform them that you are coming. They don't have much, but they'll help you reach Novum Prospectu. In the meantime, I'm heading for Vans's lab. I wish you good luck." Trixie left the lab through another way and entered a small room. I followed her, curious on what she's actually planning to do.
"Come on, Darek." I said, shooting through the holes in the door. "We don't have much time. They're closing in."
"You guard the front door while I hack this terminal, Terin." Civil Protection units were heard trying to kick open the door, causing the wood to start breaking. Grabbing the nearest table, I set up a barricade but knew it would't last for long as they took out pistols and started shooting through it.
"Darek!" I shouted as one of the bullets almost hit me. "Get a freaking move on, you slowpoke!"
"Got it!" uttered Darek and took his hacking device. I looked on one of the screens and saw a transparent ball being launched across the hallways and killing all the CPs in it's way. Upon touch, it turned them monochrome before making then float and subsequently disappear into nothingness.
"They sent soldiers. Freakin' elite soldiers." I remarked, questioning the Combine's intelligence. "Just because we wanted some info? This is ridiculous." Being againts dumb opponents was more of an advantage than a disadvantage but neverthless, overreactions likes this happened.
"Well, good job infiltrating into one of the Citadel's terminal outposts." said Darek, taking out two pistols and standing on his hind legs, propped againts the wall. "I knew they would identify us and notice we are just wearing a disguise. I would indeed be suprised if they didn't notice."
"Sixth sense, eh? What do you suggest now, smartass?" I asked him, but before I could get an answer, the soldiers destroyed the door by overriding the door control, making Darek flinch.
"Run!" He shouted and jumped through the window into a small alley, followed by me. Luckily, the elite soldiers didn't jump after us, but informed the nearby units that we are close and rushed downstairs into the alley. So either way, there was still a swarm right behind us.
"Warning, Anti-Civil activity reported in this community" said the loudspeaker and a Civil Protection officer approached us around the corner near the end of the alley, armed with a submachine gun.
"I have two level 3 civil privacy violators here." he said. "Subjects confirmed. Diseased units echo seven-twenty-four charlie echo-foxtrot six hundred."
"Level 3? For what? We weren't even on the cameras." I objected. "The 'guises are recycled, so what? You wouldn't want them to decay, right?" Unfortunately, the Combine didn't appreciate eco-friendly things and one-liners.
"Prosecuting anti-citizens." He turned the safety off his weapon, unamused. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another CP unit appeared behind him.
"I'll take it from here." said the other one with a feminine, yet still heavily modified voice. "Lay down the firearm."
"Are you sure? I've been getting reports on them from the whole sector-" he said with a much more relaxed voice, but was cut off by the female officer who stabbed him with hoove-mounted blade, causing him to silently scream through his mask before his radio turned into static, following his death. She then took away her mask and revealed her face.
"Clara?" I asked, gazing at her reddish mane and wonderfully pink coat. Truth be told, we rarely got to see each other without maks.
"Were you expecting someone else? The doc and I had a feeling you two will get into trouble again. Got the thing you needed?" she asked, putting her mask back on. "Hmm?"
"Yes." uttered Darek. "Let's quickly move to the lab before more of them arrive" We quickly rushed through the streets and into a secret part of an abandomed building, the entrance hidden by a not-so-discretely placed hollow wending machine. The first time we got there, Clara joked about getting us a soda and asked us whether we want a diet or regular one. Then, she pressed a couple of buttons and, instead of promised sodas, the vending machine opened. It was mildly amusing and even funny at first, but now, it was just worn out, just like the rest of the lab.
"Ah, you're finally here," welcomed them Euclid Vans. "I was starting to get worried" He offered a friendly hug, but the three of us just declined it in an even friendlier manner. The lab 'belonged' him and was our base of operations of sorts. Unsuprisignly, he was also our leader, an avid chess player and a self-proclaimed waltz dancer. No one knows what this 'waltz' he keeps talking about is, so we just assume it has something to do with dancing when shocked with an electrical current. It happens almost on a daily basis.
"No worries doc," I said. "we got the info. Thanks to Clara, we got here all without any bites." A look of suprise appeared on his face.
"You did? Can I have a look at it?" Darek handed him the hacking tool and he inserted it into his computer. A couple of folders appeared and Vans kept scrolling through them, as if looking for something important.
"The old name for City 7?" he looked at the data, eyebrow raised "I though you were supposed to bring in something valuable." It was no secret that outposts were staches of questionable quality but sometimes, it had a few useful things as well.
"Look again," I pointed my hoove to an encrypted folder. "there's something more than just info that this city was once a town called Ponyville." Vans' eyes opened wide when he opened the folder.
"The whole plans of Novum Prospectu!" he explaimed. "Don't think they'll be of much since they don't have the plans of the new part of the prison, but still, nice find. They'll be of good use to other groups such as ourselves. I'll put it on the shared rebel network and-" he looked closer at the computer screen "is that the old prophecy we were hoping to find one day?" The whole prophecy appeared on the screen.
"Light faded, yet there is still hope, for when there is darkness in sky, light in soul, from times inverted, when stones crowned and heroes returned, an outsider wanders in this land, alone" Clara recited, readint the prophecy.
"I'm not sure what exactly it means but I'll ask a friend of mine if he knows" he approached the radio and started tuning it to the right frequency. He would turn on the video transmission but unfortunately, it appeared to have broke itself again.
"Antidote? Dot? You there?" he asked.
"Yes Vans, I'm still here." answered Antidote, once again reading the log from the scanner. "I was just about to pay you a visit. My readings show your generators are malfunctioning again and I have plans for scrap-made weapons."
"I'll have a look at them once you get here. Pity that the last fax on this dustball broke." said Vans, still scrolling through the files. "Anyway, one of my fellow colleagues managed to hack one of the Canterlot Citadel's terminal outposts and found some sort of prophecy, along with the former name of City 7."
"You're two days late." answered Dot with a short, nerdy giggle. "Trixie, one of my agents, already found it and we even found the outsider mentioned in it." They had a friendly rivalry that keeps going on for years and to be honest, it was quite amusing to watch them.
"You do?" asked Vans, not believing his ears. "Where is he? Get him here right way! My team will protect him." Antidote went silent for a couple of seconds before replying.
"I'm sorry, but he's already on his way to Novum Prospectu along with Trixie. They plan to release all the prisoners to aid in Celestia's return." he said "We still don't know the exact date she was banished, but it is rumored to be the beginning of the second half of May and it's the fifteenth one already. "
"Why didn't you wait for us? We have complete plans of the old part of the prison." objected Vans, concerned that his friend set up such a large operation all alone. "Not to mention I have three top agents under my command."
"That'll be very useless since they are heading into the new part, but if you want to send your team, I suggest they get to New Little Odessa as soon as possible." Antidote instructed him. "It's the penultimate rebel outpost before the prison and they will probably be there. I'm heading to your lab. Antidote out." The radio turned itself off and Vans turned to his three operatives.
"I can tell the nearby outposts you're coming but be careful out there." he told them. "Don't forget to take one of the Scout Cars once you reach Shorepoint. It's spawning season after all. Need anything else?"
"Well, we might not return and-" Uttered Darek and without warning, the doctor hugged all of them.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind, but okay," said Clara, surprised. "don't worry, we'll be careful, but in case we won't return-"
"We will. Take care doc" I said, took the hacking device and left the lab along with Clara and Darek. I just hope this 'Random' and Trixie won't cause too much problems.
"Can you please stop for a while?" I asked her while we were still in the abandoned building that housed the lab. After all, I still had a few questions that weren't answered yet.
"Yeah, sure." she said and stopped walking. "Just ask way. You must be confused anyway." Well, confused is a rather tame term. Like, why am I here? How did I even get here? What exactly happened?
"What exactly happened in this world? I know Luna is in charge but what about the other things like those transparent gates and the masks." I asked. "None of you explained that to me."
"Well, a thousand years ago, Luna became tired of controlling the night after she found out everyone was sleeping during it, but awake and playing during the day. And so, she refused to lower the moon and allow the sun to rise and bring the day. Celestia tried to reason with her, but her hatred and grumpiness turned her into Nightmare Moon."
"So far, all of this happened in my world as well." I said. "Minus the obvious weird buildings and stuff related to it." It was good to get to know what was going on but still, what makes them think I'm the 'one' ?
"Oh, it gets better. You see after she turned to Nightmare Moon," she took a small pause and added "she banished Celestia first and took over."
"Just like that?" I asked, eyebrow raised. "No one tried to stop her?"
"No one knows how she did it, but mere moments after she banished her sister, a large spaceship appeared in the sky and a smaller one landed on the balcony where the sisters were fighting." lectured me Trixie. "Then, a big, grub-like and levitating entity came out of it and Luna bowed, proclaiming her kingdom as theirs. She stayed as the queen, though, taking it more like a cooperative effort than a coup and capture."
"Any other things I should know about?" I asked. "Anything?"
"Propaganda. If you didn't see or hear any of it on our way here, it's because those streets had their posters removed and it's transmission cut off. Remember the part about rations, and doing the greater good in her speech today?" she asked me.
"Yes, I do. Why are you asking?"
"Well, she gives us less rations for the sole purpose to force us join Civil Protection or CPs for short, who get decent food, water and can enter most of the restricted areas. A very ironic name if you ask me" she lectured me once more. "And, if you're loyal enough to the self-proclaimed Queen, you can sacrifice some or all the things that make you a pony to rise through the ranks. Want to be a soldier? You'll get a small modulator where your vocal cords once were, you'll be castrated and have your memory replaced. You'll also get a free gun."
"Apart from the free gun, that's rather... disturbing. I doubt anyone would sacrifice something like that. But there are others things on my mind. Like, where are all the fillies? They're pretty much everywhere in my universe."
"Even though Equestria is the center of the Combine's power on our planet, they took over the entire planet and set up a suppression field, which, in laymen's terms, is basically some sort of invisible shield around the planet the makes everyone sterile. However, for the sake of not killing everyone by sheer aging, they turn it it off once per fifty years for a year, for mares to have foals. It doesn't affect the growth of them but only they only allow a maximum of one child."
"We have to find a way to stop this once and for all." I proclaimed. "I can't even imagine how many lives were lost thanks to Luna's despotical rule."
"I agree but," she opened the hatch which lead back to the mine "she's not Luna. Maybe somewhere deep in that wretched mind of hers, but right now, she's Nightmare Moon."
"Then why does she want to be called like that?" We went back to the mine, making sure we were unnoticed and closed the hatch.
"Some say that's Luna's way of calling for help, while others say she just likes short names for boasting about her dominance. I'm not sure myself."
"Nevermind then. So, now that we are back in the mine, how do you plan on leaving the city? I'm quite sure that's no easy feat."
"Well, the safest, albeit the longest, way would be going through the old canals and then heading for the coastal highway to reach the prison."
"The coastal highway? What's that?"
"A highway used by CPs and soldiers for travelling via the armored personal carrier or APC. Basically a sort of impenatrable fortress on wheels. Regarding the coast, the Combine drained a huge part of the oceans during their "visit" and thus created many, many coasts. Saddle Arabia is now right next to Equestria, which is four times bigger. Haven't heard what has become of other kingdoms."
"Wouldn't it be easier to just go by train? Trains are always faster than going by foot."
"A train to Novum Prospectu? Have you lost your mind? That's like taking a one-way trip to hell while shouting 'hey, it's me, Rebellio!' to everyone during the ride. Although it does lead straight to the heart of it, there's no way the two of us could shoot our way through so many soldiers and sentries. Not to mention we would be on all the cameras."
"Oh. Right. So how will we get to the canals? I haven't seen any yet."
"Through the old train tracks of course." she said "Some of them have a canal to the right and we'll just have to follow it to get out of the city. Quite easy except... well, not at all."
"That's.... a long journey."
"Of course it is." she said. "Once you start, there's no going back. If you won't do it, who will?"
"Ehm... you?" I said, nervous and doubtful at the same time.
"Me?" My question obviously suprised her. "I'll help you get where you need to be, but the stallion-of-action, the "hero", has to be you and only you. If it weren't for your appearance, we would never know how to get Celestia back and thus, you are our key to making it happen. You are the 'one' mentioned the poem and that makes you unique. Have I made myself clear?"
My heart almost stopped when she finished that sentence. I'm no hero, for Celestia's sake! I'm just a regular stallion who studied medicine, got bored by working at the clinic and went home. One prophecy worked but that doesn't mean this one has to. I sighed, knowing that choosing certain death is better than a hunter-vs-hunted scenario. If I has another chance to make this decision I would say no and regret that but that day is not today. Time to throw away to kiddie gloves and get serious, someone's relying on me and can't fail them.
"Good. I have a plan, but need an extra pair of eyes for surveillance." I gazed at her oddly, curious as to why she needed my vision.
"Sorry, my eyes are not for rent. I need them to see things." She sighted and facehoofed, then looked back at me. I swear she wanted to kill me herself with that stare.
"Just... follow me slowly, shut up and do as I tell you." She led me back to the same alley, trying as hard as she can to brush past any cameras. After eaching it, we went to Sector 1, the same area where Nightmare Moon held her speech. Luckily, lady luck was on our side now and apart from a few patrolling CPs on guard duty, it was empty. Now, it was all about me, Trixie and her skills.
"So, Trixie and Random are trying to make it out of City 7. Since they are going alone, I suggest we help them in any way we can." said Clara.
"Any plans?" I asked.
"Obviously, one does not simply walk out of the city. Only a few members of the Civil Protection are allowed to do that, and no one has yet reached a high enough rank that would allow them to do so." Darek explained. "Well, at least not anyone we know. Soldiers, on the other hand, can go anywhere they're needed. Or to be more precise, where the dropships or their armoured troop carriers, APCs, take them. What we need is a disguise, fully capable of getting through a checkpoint without any questions asked. Medium ranked uniforms will do but only for a short time. After that, we'll have to disappear, literally." I scratched my head, trying to think of something, while Clara looked into the distance.
"Well, we could either go to the train station or the guard tower since both of them are full of CPs" said Clara, sharing her thoughs with us. "Well, which one? It doesn't really matter to me, but I could to you. After all, you aren't assassins."
"I'd take the guard tower since it's closer and not as fortified." I said. "I'm not going to waste my time on the train station and run into every single soldier heading from Novum Prospectu. A newbie once attempted that and boy oh boy, were they pissed. So many holes in him our medic though he was a fence."
"I agree with you on that, but don't forget we are supposed to go to NLO after this, not Novum Prospectu." said Clara. "Well, unless any of the leaders gives us new objectives. I highly doubt we'll just stay there for safekeeping. A little break from the sneaking and reconnaissance would be nice, though.
"I doubt he's stupid enough to board a train there while disguised." said Darek "Not to mention all the checkpoints he would have to pass both here and in Novum Prospectum. Don't even get started on the poor folks who tried that and returned with their brains missing. Stupid, brain-dead bastards."
I sighed and we gathered our gear consisting of ragged uniforms with hidden lambda symbols, some weapons and went to the guard tower. It was a tall blue mettalic building near the ruined, yet never used clinic, full of CPs on all floors. It was also reaching deep into the underground and, with a bit of luck and good orientation, was our best ticket in. Luckily, we found a lone guard and I was able to silently assassinate him and take his clothes.
They were a bit tight, but I shrugged it off, knowing that sooner or later, I'll get used to it. Keeping with the tone of secrey, I dropped his lifeless body down into a shaft, effectively buying me some time until they find and identify the body. Bonus time of they only find a part of it. It didn't really pay attention what the pony looked like but it was most certainly a very unfortunate stallion, which possibly just joined because he wanted more food. I turned on the radio and started the second part of the plan - the lure.
"Sector 47, multiple rank 1 anti-citizens, need immediate assistance." I muttered through the build-in radio, hoping to attract atleast two more CPs.
"En route to sector." They quickly muttered and just as I have predicted, two units were dispacthed and arrived shortly after. I played along and pretended that I was taking Darek and Clara for questioning, but instead went deeper underground, waited until the two CPs let their guard down and then killed both of them in close combat with a pistol. The holes in the helmets didn't matter since we had old, replacament helmets and used only those.
Using the same tactic as me, my partners in crime put on their clothes and got rid of their bodies, dropping each of them into a nearby shaft. With that done, a vital part of out mission was complete and we could safely say the rest will be a piece of cake.
"Think they'll be convicted?" asked Darek. "This is mostly for the looks. All of us were units at one point in time and we all had the lowest rank before being discharged." In the most desparate times, we all swore allegiance just to get some food and water. The ruthless Combine banned us from duty after they caugh us stealing supplies and smuggling them to other citizens, figthing againts the hunger Nightmare Moon had created. We also leaked some information out, but the supplies appeared to be more important.
"Sector 47, cleared of hostiles, dispatch a cleaning unit." I muttered through the built in radio.
"Oh, right. That'll give us some time 'till they ID their bodies. About half a day 'till they find out" said Clara. "It isn't much, but it's more than enough time we need."
"Let's not waste any time then." I said. "We need to find out where Random and Trixie are." Darek nodded and we approached one of terminals on the lowest part of the guard tower, presumably used by the CPs we killed. Darek hacked into it in ten seconds flat and checked all the for Trixie and Random but after finding him, he just sighed loudly and shook his head.
"Why in the bloody hell did they choose to go through the canals?" he uttered. "That's a very dangerous, fortified and much longer route. There's absolutely no chance the two of them can get though. Without our immediate help, they won't make it. Let's go."
"I think I have an idea." proclaimed Clara. "I'll find a sniper nest and provide fire support, while you two go after them and help if you can. Play along, let them though checkpoints, and try to make sure nothing stands in their way. I know Trixie and I know she's capable of bringing down a whole brigade if cornered, but she's also a very potent magnet to trouble. Keep them out of it, and when all hell breaks loose, open fire. I know it's a dangerous, possibly suicidal, plan and you'll lose your disguise rather quickly, but we have no other choice. However, if any of you have another plan, I'll be more than glad to hear it." Both of us scratched our heads, trying to put something better up, but we ultimately just nodded in approval.
"Understood." I said. "But please, be careful Clara. We can't afford to lose you." Clara smiled at us.
"You think I would leave you?" she said. "You're like family to me. See you later." Clara performed a skilled jump and left the room through the ventilation. I had no idea how she did that jump or how she learned it, but it was awesome and it's good to have ponies like her in the team.
"Isn't she like... a big sister to us?" asked Darek. I smiled and shook my head. Obviously, Darek never read the same rebel-written books I did. Big sisters are stalkers were featured in my books, as well as big daddies and little sisters. Frankly, all of them were disturbing in nature and heavily-described looks. Note to self - never build a city underwater.
"What?!" He asked in confusion. "I never had a sister!" I didn't explain it to him and with a sigh, we continued going along the tunels beneath the guard tower, hoping to reach Random and Trixie before it was too late. Thanfully, they were well lit and soon after, we found the right way.
Without a single word, she kept walking through the sector with the former City Hall and I assumed following her would be a smart move. The CPs paid little to no attention to us and the cameras were only present on the gates separating this part of the town from the others. For the first time, I also saw propagantistic posters which featured Civil Protection units in a line with the words 'Join the greater good' underneath. Nearby, one could also see a poster for Luna's Personal Reserve, the one and only brand of water, and numerous graffiti drawn by the Rebellion. The most noticeable one was a mare in a distinctive gas mask holding what looked like a mechanically altered filly. Truly, this town was full of disturbing and questionable sights.
"See the two CPs, one on the right, one on the left?" she stopped, giving me a question. "The right one looks tired, probably his first shift. I'll take him down, you stay here." I nodded silently before giving her an answer.
"Yeah, I do." I said. "Ehm... Good luck, I guess." Trixie didn't look back at me, signalling my speech annoyed her, even though she didn't command me to remain silent. After a few seconds worth of walking, she approached the tired CP and softly poked him, awakening him from his daydream and putting him back in the gruesome reality. If this was the best forces the Combine had, then they didn't seem like a threat at all.
"Huh?" he jumped a bit, shakily trying to concentrate. "T-this is your first warning, back away now!" uttered the CP after finally looking at Trixie, causing her to back away slightly. He took out some sort of stick, pressed a button on it and caused it to power up and crackle with electricity.
"I would like to know why none of my rations were delivered nor reported as missing." The CP unit stood silently for a few seconds and then holstered his weapon. "Do you want us to starve?" He turned on his built-in radio in a shaking movement and spoke hoarsely into it.
"Civil Protection, Sector 1 has ration shortage, additional amount requested." he said, clutching his weapon, as if worrying that Trixie would attack him. "Also requires replacement patrol unit. Yes, take the pricing from my pay, I just need a place to lay my head down to." He yawned loudly and shortly after, the second patrolling unit arrived at his position. They looked all the same, yet held differing ranks.
"Unit offering assistance." said the other unit. "Orders?"
"Going on invidiual short break. Fortify the sector." The unit nodded and let his inferior to have some rest.
"Understood." The CP unit took out a submachine gun and aimed at Trixie. Meanwhile, the tired unit went inside the only outpost in the sector and presumably laid on one of the beds. They were rock hard, but hey, at least they weren't as cold as the ground.
"Class 4 Anti-Citizen. Only by luck were you spared of an armed escort to Novum Prospectu." His voice was much more heavily modified than any other unit I heard so far and this, was probably because of a much higher rank. It was hard to say which one, but he acted much like someone who controls a bunch of units and that could be any rank from captian to general.
"She´s with me." I proclaimed. "Keep your hooves off her." He looked at me with a slight sigh and turned on his built-in radio.
"Class 1 Anti-Citizen. Multiple mine escape attempts." he muttered into the radio. "Civil Protection, I have positive report of an unofficial couple, requesting lowering of rations to a quarter. IDs 8889-Epsilon Yota Gamma and 6578 - Epsilon Tau Beta" He then turned the radio off and gave us a slight giggle. "That's what you get for lying to the Combine. Enjoy your fair share of rations."
"We're not a couple." I said. "We're just friends." He gave off a giggle once more and then turned the safety off his gun, taking aim at us.
"Minor delusional attempt." replied the CP coldly. "Presecution not neccesary." Looks like friendship was an unknown thing to those stupid Combine. They though it was either nothing or a couple, with nothing in between. Very laughable actually, but not funny at all.
"Shut up!" said Trixie.
"Minor Anti-Civil activity in this community." he replied in the same cold manner like he did before. "Starting armed escort and separation." In the meantime, the tired CP unit left the outpost and arrived back at his post.
"It'll take it from here." He said in a relaxed tone. "If you don't mind." He moved fluidly, almost in a mare-esque manner, probably due to his feminine attitude. I wouldn't be suprised at all if drugs were taken daily and by all. No one can stay awake forever, they aren't machines.
"Negative." he turned the safety on and put his weapon into a holster. "Those two are mine."
"Legate, I believe this to be settled long before their arrival and further evidenced by your more than devious death-per-beating ratio." The so-called Legate turned to us. "For the sake of non-violent prosecution, I will escort them myself."
"This is your first and final warning." The legate said coldly in a bossy manner. "Citizens, immediately return back to your homes."
"Settlement required." Said the other CP unit. I had no idea what was going on but I assume whoever killed or beaten more pones had a higher rank, as if that really meant something in this wasteland. I would, however, be very suprised if something like that was the reason a fight would broke out between them. On the other hand, it would be really amusing to watch.
"Granted." Said the other CP unit and both of them went inside the outpost.
"Well, now what?" I asked Trixie. "What are we supposed to do now?" Trixie smiled at me and took a look at the clock above the outpost.
"Now we wait." She said, still gazing the clock, listening to every single click.
"For what?"
"Four days ago I hacked their schedules and placed veteran CPs with newbies. In other words, a little game of highlander." Highlander? I hope she doesn't mean the questionable play in which two immortals had to behead each other with a sword. It had a nice catchphrase, though. 'There can be only one!' could be a way to live one's life, albeit in a very hostile and alien manner.
"I... I don´t get it. Two CPs fight, one of them kills the other but then what?" I asked, curious if her plan didn't have any loopholes in it. "Won´t that make us still us Anti-Citizens and get arrested anyway?" The least painful thing that could happen was to be punished in the same way as Trixie, such as getting shaved. The worst, most painful way would be getting sent to Novum Prospectu and going through Celestia-knows-what.
"Nope." she replied, sure of herself. "The winner will send a signal for a clean-up crew and that´s where we come in. Cleanup crews don´t wear any clothing and it usually takes two days for a group of pones to be officialy recognized as one. In other words, we'll pretend we got new jobs as a cleanup crew." Cleanup crews? I though the blood and bodies were left to decay and stink, reminding everyone to live by the rules and don't question or break them. Well, at least the Combine have a sense for cleanness.
"I still think this is a way too complicated plan." I remarked, hoping she would come up with another on,e but instead, she just looked at me, eyebrows raised and approached the transparent blue wall which served as the entrance. It became more transparent for a short while and both us went inside, since staying outside would be really pointless. Suddenly, a loud static was heard and the transmitter inside the outpost started broadcasting a message.
"Dispatch... cleaning crew... Sector 1.... Outpost 1...." Between every pause was a gasping for breath and after we went further into the outpost to investigate, we found two, motionless bodies. Trixie was right, both of them fought for the privilege of being able to either punish us or just escort us back to our respective homes. Both of them appeared to have gun wounds that looked fatal but she checked their pulses, just to be sure.
"This one's still alive." said Trixie, kneeling over the dying CP. I removed his mask and saw his beaten and disfigured face, the only thing untouched being his eyes. He was crying, the tears from his green eyes falling down the remains of his face's dark green coat.
"I... killed.... the Legate." he said slowly, gasping for air.
"We know." said Trixie, showing deep sorrow for the dying unit. It was one thing killing them from a distance, knowing they are emotion-less monsters, but this one was different. Even though I knew he would have harmed us if we stayed longer in the Sector, I felt sorry for the him as doctor and as pony. Unfortunately, his wounds were way beyond my skills and even with the proper equipment, he wouldn't have make it. Ruptured lungs and internals are something I can only do in the clinic, with a severe dose of anaesthetics, stitches and morphium. Nevertheless, I still tried to at least help him with his final monets and stopped the bleeding with a piece of cloth I grabbed from the Legate's armor.
"Do... what... must... be done." He stared at me for a few more seconds and then he was gone, drifting into the land of the dead, a world without pain or fear. Trixie gave him the last rites and closed his eyelids, saying farewell. She then stood up and motioned me to do the same, but I couldn't and instead, stared at the dead CP, frozen in place.
"He... he was one of us." she said. "He sacrificed himself to give us a bigger chance and bought us some time." I ignored her words and kept staring at the deceased undercover resistance member. Trixie placed her hoove around my shoulder, wanting me to get over it and continue with our mission.
"I know seeing this is hard for you, but we have to keep moving." She said sadly. "The more time we lose, the more ponies will die." I sobbe, stood up without a word and looted him, taking his clothing and putting on his mask. To achieve a believeable disguise, I also had to use duct tape to cover the holes left by the pistol and submachine gun. Trixie did the same with the Legate's armor, yet done it much quicker than I did.
"I hope it will get easier from here." I said anxiosly. "Please tell it will" If I'm going to see dead rebels all the time, I want to at least be prepared for it, one way or another.
"I wish I could, but we only got our disguises." she replied "We aren't even close to the train tracks nor the canals." I shook my head, wanting all of this to end. Before I could lament my fate as a doctor who couldn't help anyone, Trixie turned on her radio.
"Purged rebellion at Outpost 1, Sector 1." she transmitted "Quickly dispatch a chemical cleaning unit." After finishing the transmission, she turned off the radio and to lower my worries, gave me a friendly hug. Incidentally, I returned it, knowing that it's probably gonna be the last one I'm ever gonna recieve.
"Now we can move relatively freely in the city but," She said. " I still have no idea on how to get past Outpost 23, or in other words, the place where all trains stop." According to Trixie, there were many, many outposts in the city, yet none of them looked or had the same things in them. Very odd, considering that many appeared to be just forcelly lined up.
"And what's so special about that?" I asked, curious as to why should one outpost hinder our progress.
"That's the only outpost with direct access to the canals. All other ways are either fortified by soldiers or filled with all sorts of junk and rubbish." she explained. "It's a tough one, though."
We didn't bothing thinking about whether or not it was possibly and simple made our way to Outpost 17, using our fake identities to their fullest. It was lit by the same lights as on the streets and had transparent blue walls on both ends. Unfortunately, both ends were heavily populated by CPs and and so, our chances of getting past were rather... slim. Trixie peeked out of the entrance to the outpost and took out her submachine gun, turning off the safety. I too, took out a weapon, knowing that whatever she does, she needs me as well. For one reason or another, I had a feeling this would no longer be a dress up party, but a hellish shooting range with moving targets, ducks, bad cover and whatnot. Little to no erros would be tolerated in that situation and to secure a better aim, I gripped my pistols tigher waited for Trixie's commands.
"What can you tell us about this 'Random' ?" asked the Combine spokespony, preffering to get straight to the point, instead of screwing around.
"Grey coated, dark blue mane with dark green tips," described him Nightmare Moon. "He attempted to escape the mine more than seven times and was succesful twice. Pathethic, but very entertaining." The spokespony sighed and instead, looked to be absolutely unamused, even though she couldn't seen him.
"Mistress Luna, this is no place for jokes and comments," he proclaimed. "We have seen him in the company of Beatrice, formally known as Trixie. She was a Civil Protection officer, but after we found out she was working for this so-called 'rebellion', has been proclaimed an anti-citizen. We recommend you to eliminate them as soon as possible, before they cause any problems." Nightmare Moon smiled, seeing it funny for someone to mention such worthless peasants.
"Oh, that won't be neccesary," she said happily. "Can't kill her for providing her beloved citizens a bit of her own pitiful rations, now can I? I've already plucked the wings off of quite a few officers and used them as an example. Instead, I want them to be part of a play played for my own enjoyment and show you that despite obvious flaws in the system, it can handle such individuals without any direct confrontation. A small test, if you want to call it like that." The spokespony went silent but then fully approved of her little, twisted game.
"Very well Mistress Luna, but if anything fails and they manage to slip through, everything we've promised you will be at risk," he gave her a grim reminder, causing her to lose her smile. "Don't fail us."
"Yes, yes," she let in a bored, almost childlike manner, her screen now showing him a secret research facility of unknown fucntions and goals. "I promised you a million of immortal alicorns – loyal, never-tiring slaves – and I will do my best to make sure they're ready at the end of the century. I have already begun first run tests and they proved to be successful, as well the experimental aging device. The embedded motivation modules are a bit of a hassle, but I think they'll make a fine addition to the army." With a click of the button, all of the mentioned information, as well as first trials, were sent directly to him.
"Part of your army?" he asked, with his voice raised. "Why would you put them there?! They weren't supposed to a part of her army and instead, were to be cryogenically frozen and ready for transporting! By this, you broke fourth of the contract we've established so long ago and both of us signed, with honest intentions."
"Have no worries," she said in a friendly, welcoming tone. "That's just a part of the test. They will be prepared at the turn of the century for your convenience. The only thing I want in return, is an everlasting night and full, unquestionable loyatly of all my subjects, who will listen to every command I give them," She stopped for a bit, thinking of what else she wants. "Oh and I also want a few stallions to... fulfill my most intimate dreams and desires. Purely pleasure, to be honest, and personal comfort." The spokespony gave out a sigh, his trust towards Nightmare Moon already stained enough as it is
"Very well, Mistress Luna," he proclaimed. "We will fulfill our promise, when you fulfill yours."
Clara, like the skilled assassin she was, managed to climb up to the sniper's next - an old building with a bell tower. Getting in required some tampering with the security to temporarily get the clearing she wanted but once she got inside, it was child's play. A quiet assassination followed and she become the de facto sniper in Sector 10 to 20. It provided an excellent view of said sectors, though some were more visible than others. Everything went according to our plan but not theirs and we ran into a serious problem.
"Trixie and Conner are two sectors to the north, you guys see them?" Said Clara through the radio, using a very specific frequency not avaitable to regular Civil Protection units. Apparently, even the Combine were afraid of the number of the beast.
"Not yet. How does the situation look on your end?" I asked. "Everything fine and dandy?"
"Not at all, Terin. Trixie looks ready to jump out and start shooting while Random is just standing next to her, as if waiting for her signal. This looks bad. Very bad."
"Agreed. We need to get there, immediately. I hope whoever these uniforms belonged to had clearance for Sector 18." Said Darek and we started running towards a checkpoint leading to Sector 17 and hopefully to 18 as well.
"Guys, if anything screws up, shoot. Shoot your way out. I'll cover you if I can." said Clara, signalling us to improvise if neccesary. We reached the checkpoint when the problems started.
"Clearance not high enough, return to your posts." uttered another CP as we tried to pass through.
"Excuse me? I just got clearance all the way to 18. Please, check again." I said, hoping the one and only CP in the checkpoint would turn around. He did and checked if our clearance was elevated via a security terminal.
"Negative, you still don't have the clearance to-" He was interrupted by Clara who used her Overwatch Sniper Rifle to silence him with a precise and silent shot in the cranium, spraying the terminal with blood.
"Update your clearance and go. We don't have much time left. Trixie and Random started plan b. I repeat, they started plan b."
"Understood. Nice shot by the way" said Darek. We managed to hack the terminal, turn off all the cameras for all Sectors from 10 to 20 and update our clearance. Then we ran, ran as fast we could to reach Sector 18. Thankfully, 17 was just a small, deserted outpost and served as a shortcut to 18. We reached it just in time before any shooting took place.
"Attention, attention! All CP units in Sector 18, let CR890 and FI777-E pass though Sector 18 and 19. We will serve as their escort if problems arise." I announced through the regular Overwatch radio, using Trixie's and Random's stolen uniform tokens. Hopefully, this will be the only thing I'll have to do.
"Understood JP889-X. Dispatch an escort to said units. We detect you have a far greater clearance than anyone else in the area. Report any problems directly to me. Legate Cyral out." Replied a local high-ranking officer. Phew, that was close.
"Clara, did you-" said Darek through a secure frequency.
"Yep, I did. Now keep going. I'll have to reposition to get a better view up to Sector 23. In the meantime, try no to cause any trouble." said Clara and cut the transmission.
"Well, I hope nothing more screws up while we're on our way." I said.
"You think? You didn't see the sectors up front. We'll have to shoot our way through those, no matter how hard we try." said Darek, full of doubt. I didn't reply to his pessimistic remark and walked to Trixie and Random, hoping I'll escort them safely to Sector 23. After that, we ourselves have to think of a way to get out of the city.
Trixie walked out her cover, smg raised when a couple of CPs approached us. She lowered her weapon and carefully listened.
"Officers, we have been tasked with escorting you to Sector 23." said one of them.
"For what reason?" she asked. "Can't we go alone without any of you fools interfering?"
"Certainly not. Your clearance is only up to Sector 17 and you somehow to get to the 18th one. So, for your own safety, we, as senior officers, will escort you to the mentioned sector." said the other one. After I heard this, I walked out of my cover and stood next to Trixie.
"Okay." I said. "We'll be happy if you help us." Trixie kicked me shortly after I said this.
"Hehe. What my partner wanted to say was that while we appreciate your help, we'd rather backtrack and find an alternative way." She said nervously. "You guys probably have better things to do." The officers looked at themselves for a brief momen, probably puzzled and then replied.
"Doubt it. There's no other way to 23 so we'd appreciate if you let us accompany you." Trixie was dumbfooted by this reply and had absolutely no other choice than to allow that.
"Fine. We'd appreciate an escort." she said, annoyed. "But we would also appreciate if this could be performed in the shortest time span possible as we have plans to do."
"Understood. It will be but a minute." said one of them and started escorting us out of the sector. However, instead of heading directly for Sector 19, they took us to an empty interrogation room. And then, just as soon the doors closed, Trixie aimed her smg at one of them and as obviously out of her mood.
"One more step and you'll be reported as dead." Now she was angry.
"Trixie, I recommend you to put your gun down before doing something you'll regret." For some reason, they spoke without the usual voice masking and could be fully understood.
"How... how'd you know it's me?!" Even a blind stallion could say her blood was starting to boil. Instead of reasing their weapons, which were shotguns, the officers removed their masks and revealed their identities.
"So this is how you say thanks to a bunch of guys who managed to save your butt?" Said Terin.
"Terin, Darek?" said Trixie suprised and put down her smg. "How'd you get here? I though you were on an outside mission."
"You though you were alone on this? Vans sent us in to help you because he believes five people have a bigger chance of pulling this off. Still, I do believe you could have taken an easier route than these dreaded canals." said Darek. "Is it really that hard to plan ahead?"
"No, but were had to improvise to get here and even though the canals are dangerous, it's the safest route." she replied. "We'll get to Novum Prospectu, no matter what."
"Who's the fifth?" I asked. "And how will we get to 23?"
"Clara, the best assassin the resistance has. Currently, she's holed up in a sniper nest and will provide us with cover if neccesary." answered Terin. "Due to the amount of security, we'll have to literally shoot our way through to get past five sectors."
"You... you don't expect me to shoot, do you?" I uttered nervously.
"Actually we do. Five pones shooting through a train station is better than four." proclaimed Darek. Well, I didn't plan on shooting anyone on my way to the prison but since this leaves no place for democracy, I'll have to.
"Now, we'll walk out of this room, take out our guns and start shooting on signal." uttered Terin and we nodded. After that we carefully walked into Sector 20, took out our weapons and faced the CPs, which, if I counted right, were numbered at more than ten.
"Halt! This a public transit zone, you are by no means allowed to use-" Clara silenced yet another CP with a precise shot in the head and opened fire. We hid behind a low barricade and occasionally leaned out to shoot.
"We need help in Sector 20, I repeat, we need help at Sector 20. Send in everything we have!" hastily transmitted one of the CPs we were shooting at. After a while of shooting, we managed to get all of them before the reinforcements.
"Gimme a sec, gonna buy you guys some time" transmitted Clara through our frequency. The transparent wall behind became solid and so did every other one except the one leading to 21.
"Alright, go go go!" shouted Terin and sprinted for the checkpoint leading to the next sector. We quickly followed him but the thing we saw was too much for us to handle. A small canal leading to 22 and beyond was barricaded and protected by a mounted plasma machine gun with more than seven units behind it.
"Well, now what?" said Darek. "That thing will tear us to shreds if we try to get past it."
"Hey, anyone seen Random?" asked Trixie and looked up. I was trying to climb a steep wall because it had a hole in it and that could serve as our way past.
"Random, what are you..." said Terin. "Oh, right. Smart boy." I helped Trixie up and we got inside through the hole. Once there, we once again had to shoot our way through, but it was quite easy due to my accuracy and Trixie's near-perfect reflexes. Then the rest of the gang got in and we eventually got inside the machine gun nest which protected by a simple wooden door to the side. I kicked it open and in a brief moment, we managed to end everyone in there. Man, that was fast.
"Everyone okay?" asked Terin before moving on.
"I'm fine." replied Darek.
"Unwoonded so far" answered Trixie.
"Clean" I uttered.
"Hey, what happened to you guys? I lost visual on you. Where'd you go?" asked Clara. "Hello?"
"No worries, Sally, we just cut through a machine gun nest and managed to get past 20 or so CPs." transmitted Darek. "Today was a good day so far."
"Oh, good, good. Keep it up. You're almost there. Clara out." After the transmission was turned off, we continued to Sector 23, our final destination or otherwise known as the place where all trains stop. It was a sector like every other but boasted a feature not many of them had - a rail track. This meant that whoever wanted to get past had to be careful not be hit by a train and to be honest, there's wasn't much space to hide, so it was basically a training ground for snipers. It also housed the entry to the canals, the place we were hoping to find. After our arrival, we saw the tall blue building in the distance and many, many houses. Patrols were regulary seen around here and getting around them would prove quite a challenge.
"Alright guys, this is it. The place we were hoping to find. You ready?" asked Terin.
"I think such a stupid question can only be answered with a yes." replied Darek. With this sortred out, we begun our way to the canals entry, killing anyone foolish enough to stand in our way. And so, in a matter of minutes, we managed to enter the canals and witness a train hit two CPs who were chasing after us.
The canals were flooded and full of all sorts of junk but we managed to swim to a part of the canals which only had wrecks. One particular wreck housed a pone and we had to go through to get further in the canals. We entered it though the top hatch and landed on a matress.
"Hey, you're the guys they're after?" he asked.
"Yeah." I said. "Don't tell anyone you've seen us here."
"Don't worry, I won't. I was kinda hoping you'd show up." He opened the side door of the train and saluted.
"Good luck out there." he said.
"Well, this is where we have to split up again." said Terin. "We've got you to the canals."
"What, why?" asked Trixie. "We're gonna need you."
"I'm quite sure you won't, Beatrice. Besides, the airboat, a vehicle you're going to need, is just two stations up front. I'm sure you can handle that" said Darek. "We have to get to NLO. Sorry."
Trixie was quite sad that they had to leave but was sure we would see them again. They shared hugs and then went through a different way. I was indifferent to this, but felt that this is not the last time we're gonna shoot our way through. Now we just need to get our of the city.
We chose an alternate route through the various tunnels under the city. They were overgrown with various kinds of fungi, plants and had a very strong rotten smell. Nevertheless, they were our only chance of getting out of the city, even though we had absolutely no idea how. Pity we didn't have a map.
"Clara, we went underground and are trying to find a quicker way through." transmitted Darek. " Could you scout a way for us or look for an opening somewhere outside the city?" The radio stayed on a static before responding again.
"I'm afraid I'll have to reposition myself but I'll look it up for you." transmitted Clara. "In the meantime, keep your heads up because I've heard weird CP reports coming from the tunnels."
"Understood." I transmitted and navigated the tunnels with Darek. For some reason, the tunnels were becoming more and more yellow in color, which somehow disturbed me. Gradually, they changed from pony-made, mostly-square tunnels to round, smooth ones. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, we begun finding pony skeletons and torn pieces of both rebel armor and civil protection uniforms. Both of us weren't afraid of dark or creepy tales, but this was just outright creepy.
"What do you think killed them?" asked Darek, stopping to have a look at one of the unfortunate victims. "Some psycho cannibal who leaves nothing behind, just bones and cloth?"
"Maybe. That wouldn't explain the carved tunnels, though. My personal guess is an unicorn." I answered, poking one of the skeletons and causing it to collapse. "They have all sorts of twisted magic, so why not?" Then, out of the yellow, I heard a roar but there was source of it. As both of us turned around, started by the sound, the collapsed skeleton looked exactly the same it did before I poked it. I looked at it, eyebrow raised and shotgun raised. For a split second, it appeared to have move slightly before returning to it's regular position. Darek just shook his head at my little jumpscare, thinking I'm just scared and paranoid.
"I swear, I saw it move." I uttered, poiting my gun at the skeleton. "Really." Darek let out a wholehearted laugh but stopped after he saw the source of the roar.
"Antlions? Here?" said Darek and took out his shotgun. "Surprised these things weren't killed off completely by the combine." From a small hatch at the top, an bug-like creature flew down onto Darek, only to be splattered in mid air with a precisely-aimed shot.
"I though they had them contained." I said, loading my shotgun with shells and waiting for more. "Nice shot by the way." Contrary to superstition believed by a miniscule amount of rebels, finding a single antlion doesn't bring you luck. If being dead makes you lucky, you'll always get all the luck you want by calling a freakin' swarm.
"There's gonna be many more of them so I suggest you keep you eyes opened." uttered Derek as we walked into an unlit part of the tunnels.
More and more they seemed like caves. Instinctively, both of us lit the under-barrel flashlight and while his turned on in an instant, mine blinked for a few seconds before lighting up a small, cone-shaped area infront of me. As we went further, the concrete was slowly replaced by stone and even more fungi. Eventually, we reached a large, seemingly abandoned mineshaft. Our thoughts of if being abandoned quickly when we heard gunfire. Moving closer, we saw that it was defended by two resistance members while others were inside a small storage room. One of them almost shot us as we moved closer.
"Hey, we got CPs here!" he aimed a mounted, pulse machine gun at us. It wasn't really that accurate but if someone needed to send a storm of pulse-driven bullets at someone else, it was just perfect for the job.
"We're a part of the resistance. Vans' agents. Sigma omicron chi." He looked at me for a few seconds before turning the gun away and greeting us with a salute. Both of us then moved inside the building they were protecting and were greeted by four more members of the resistance.
"Ah, it was just about time we were sent reinforcements." said their leader, wearing a red lambda on his shoulder as proof of his higher status. Yellow and red colours were used for ranking, while the rest was mostly just for looks. The most noteworthy was an orange lambda trapped in a yellow circle, which, despite it's superior look, was mostly used by crowbar-wielding lunatics of questionable sanity.
"Actually, we're here because we're trying to get out of the city." said Darek, pointing his right hoove in the direction of what he believed, was the general direction of the way out. "How does the tunnel to Outpost Helios look like?" There were many plans on creating a tram system for transporting from station to station but due to harsher laws, all were put indefinately on hold. Thus, the only way of transport was walking, which, despite the relative security of the tunnels, was still risky. But, for a
"Not good. Them and us were surprised by this year's spawning season and are trying to deal with the antlions." said the leader, putting a vague list of casualties infront us on a table. "We're good so far, all things considered. Can't say what we'll do if any of the bigger ones punch through. Last time, four of my best fighters fell to a single, big one and this year, there's just a half of us on active defense. The rest either relocated or stayed to help in a supportive way, be it a medic or a tech specialist."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked. "We really need to get to Helios and then for the nearest outside station." The special thing of agents or operatives were not our skills but our diversity. We were and still are, both the first and the last line of defense. Stealth, hacking or an outpost raid, we were always there to lend a hoove.
"We need someone to man the stationary guns at the west and north side." he said, pointing his hooves in approximate location of the defences."Split up and take any supplies you need."
"We'll defend this place no matter what. You can count on that." said Darek and we went our separate ways to said guns. This was a somewhat rare moment as agents were normally not required in direct combat, mostly helping by long-range elimination or by creating a chokepoint by temporarily closing the gate for both the CPs and their reinforcoments. Both of us could gladly say that this was a first, even though it was againts non-sentients.
Two lights lit up on all four sides as we took command of the guns and soon after, the antlions started their assault. It lasted for just thirty seconds, during which more than fifty of them laid waste to our barrage of bullets. Then out of nowhere, something big smashed its way through a cave wall and roared.
"Antlion guard!" shouted one of the resistance members while doing his best to take it down. But it wasn't enough. It sprinted to him, bashed him with its enormous nose-like sprout and sent him flying. Despite the other pones' fear and a bit of our own, we just grabbed the mounted guns and tore them out of their mounts, ignoring a small jolt of electrical current generated by a short-circuit of the gun stand.
With an angered roar of the beast, we begun running on our hind legs and shooting. The antlion was confused by this dualistic movement and stunned itself by ramming into a wall shortly after. We took an advantage in this and opened fire on its abdomen and after a few seconds of sustained fire, it laid dead. The pone wounded by it slowly stood up, unhurt, save for a few cracked ribs. After that, everyone cheered, glad that the antlions were defeated.
After our success, we took a few more supplies and headed through the north tunnel to Helios station, the so-called 'last station.' That, of course, was just a misleading nickname since more deserted underground stations were consider last, or, in relation on when they were built, the first. Despite this, it was the last outpost under Ponyville and a small part of it was even outside of the city borders.
For one reason or another, it was unusually silent and initially, we though they won against the antlions too until we heard a familiar sound of bug wings. Sprinting out of the north tunnel, we saw a pack of antlion attacking the old workers' house along with a fifth, previouly unseen one. It spat greenish, gelatinous blobs of an unknown compound and upon contact with one of the walls, it started to melt. Our shotguns made short work of first four, but the last one was one hell of a badass.
A single, small blob melted my shotgun and it pounced at me afterwards. I kicked it away and to my luck and suprise, Darek once again got a mid-air kill. It disappeared in a greenish cloud, with a rancid smell of rotten lemons and vinegar. Throwing away my now-useless shotgun, I took out my reserve pistol and the two of us went inside to see if our actions were or weren't in vain.
The result? two mangled bodies and one partially melted by the corrosive antlion, three lives gone. We were about to leave when we were apprehended by a female rebel, jumping out of the only closet in the building and threatening us with a .357 magnum revolver.
"Oh, there's gonna be pay!" she exclaimed, turning the safety off on the gun. "Bugs, CPs - all scum!" This was starting to get on my nerves. Desinformation was one thing, but flashing a gun at someone who barely looks like "scum" is just ridiculous. It was perfectly understandble for the previous outpost, which, during it's time, rarely saw a Civil Protection unit, but this was just plain stupid.
"Sigma Omicron Chi..." I recitated. "Task force of Euclid Vans." The flame-headed mare put away her weapon and had a sorry look on her look.
"I'm... I'm just sorry..." she said, looking at us sadly and looking around, not noticing the mangled bodies of her comrades. "Did... did anyone else make it? Reikor, Mahil, Deniamer?" Darek showed her the remains and upon seeing them, she gasped and burst into tears.
"Sorry we're late." I said. "We had to help the Southern Miner outpost with the antlion infestation and when we arrived, there wasn't really much to do. The antlions appeared to be just breaking in and when we got rid of them, there wasn't anything we could do for your friends. Apologies. We weren't fast enough." Darek gave her a friendly hug, trying to soften her sorrow.
"Don't bother with the surface access, there was a cave in." she said, letting go of Darek and wiping away her tears. "Your only chance of reaching the surface is venturing through Haunted Station and then, to Myriad." We looked at each other and nodded in unison.
"Thanks for the information, but we won't leave just yet." I said, taking the mare's hoove. "Not until we get you someplace safe." The mare took a few of the station's tech and documents and together, we brought her back to Helios, which, after our successful defence, seemed to be a relatively-safe place to stay. We took a few replacement batteries for our flashlights and then ventured north of Helius, into the unknown, dimly lit tunnels.
There are many stories, legends and myths about the Haunted station but only one of them is true. It is said that twenty five years ago, it was called Rose station because it was as big as a town and was the only station that had plants, the most prominent being red, glowing roses. But, as all good things in this world of pain, unfairness and hate, it all changed when the Combine sniffed them out.
A near-perfect life for thirty families laid in ruin after several squads were sent and commanded to fire at will, despite the fact that all of the citizens were civilians and had no affiliation to the Rebellion or any of the rebels. They tried defending themselves, donning kitchenware and blunt weapons, but were no match for the pure strengh of the Civil Protection. Everyone was gunned down, dying groesome death. Fillies, adults, elders - everyone who was in their crosshairs. However, instead of keeping the station as captured by the CPs, something drove them off.
A myth tells of the only unicorn in town, Misty Leaves, casting a spell upon the town with her dying breath and her last magical energy. A mere twelve hours, only a small fraction of the squads returned from the station, only speaking in mumbling and suffering from insanity and dementia. Then, a small team of rebels attemped to take it back, only to end up missing. Thus, Rose Station was renamed to Haunted Station and all records of the it's past, have been destroyed by the Combine, leaving the rebels with nothing more than just a handful of conspiracy theories, myths and legends.
Recent reports of ponies who ventured into small parts of the station include disembodied voices, a yellowish fog, and supposedly, ghosts. Nevertheless, none of these reports were confirmed by either CPs or rebels and it attains its status as a creepy tale for both CPs and rebels alike.
It took us a long time, but after nearly an hour, we finally reached Haunted Station. Oddly, it was relatively-well lit but due to a turquoise fog as far as the eye can see, we could barely seen anything. Must have been a raptured valve or something, natural fog can't even exist this deep underground. Probably just a side-effect from the fact that no one has been tending to the lesser known blue roses. They can make quite a mess if not treated correctly.
"Man, this place gives me the creeps." said Darek as we were walking. "Why didn't we just... I dunno... turn around and go all around?" While that was true, time was not at our side and we had to advance as quickly as we could.
"It's supposed to be a shortcut to Myriad station and the quicker we get there," I said, trying to calm him down."the better." I was about to call it a piece of cake when out of nowhere, an unknown voice pierced right through me, causing me to come to a halt.
"Mooooommy....." an eerie voice said behind me.
"M-maybe y-you're right." I proclaimed, genuinely creeped out. "Maybe we should turnback right now and try another way. You game?" I turned back to get his answer but to my dismay, he was gone. I was now completely alone in this spine-chilling mist with Celestia-knows-what hiding behind it. Instinctively, I took out my pistol and turned on its barrel-mounted flashlight. Then, I begun slowly walking through the fog itself, only to be plagued by laugher of fillies and screaming.
Suddenly, after walking what seemed like an eternity, it all stopped and all I could hear was pained breathing from someone behind me. I quickly turned around and saw a decomposting CP with a torn vest, walking towards me in a zombie-esque fashion. Some of his organs were visibly seen, as well as the first three pairs of ribs and it has a sickly grey colour. The helmet on his head was badly damaged and a small partion of his greyish brain was visible too, along with his eyes, which were glowing red and illuminated a small area around them. My flashlight started blinking and with every blink, the CP was closer, even though it was walking at a very slow place. In just a few seconds, it appeared right infront of me.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?!" I exlaimed, taking a few steps back and aiming at the abomination with my pistol. It started transmitting some sort of corrupted signal from its still-functional radio and then once again, started walking toward me in a limping fashion, barely moving it's right hoove.
"Necrotics... inbound..." It uttered in a painful manner, taking a short pause between each word. "evacuate... perimeter" I aimed at it was ready to end its misery, but before I could pull the trigger, someone did that job before me. With the sound of a shotgun, the zombie was blown away, parts of its brain tissue splattering my vest.
"Why did you trail off?" said Darek, stepping out of the fog and cocking his shotgun. "I was starting to get really worried You just... disappeared." I exhaled, glad that I'm not alone anymore. I have seen headcrabs reanimate the dead, but this... This was just... insane.
"Did you see that? That thing just appeared out of nowhere." I said pointng at the now-dead CP unit. "No headcrabs or stuff, it just waltzed around!" Darek tilted his head slightly to the left, as if not believiny my claim and then went closer to the corpse.
"You mean this thing?" he poked the body of the CP with his shotgun. "It was dead when I found you. You were mumbling complete nonsense to yourself. Something about abandoning the perimeter." I'm not crazy, I know what I saw. The freakin' thing moved and talked. I didn't lose my mind or.... did I?
"But I swear I..." I said, quickly abandoning my claim. "D-did you find a way out of here, or at least something vagually pointing to the exit?" Darek walked to me and put a few spare shells into his shotgun.
"Just an old building with lots of dead in it." he answered. "No maps or anything we could use, though. Maybe we should keep moving and stay close." I nodded and followed Darek though the mist, keeping an eye for any paranormal activity. The creepy, random sounds started going on again and I felt it was an neverending circus of screams, laughter and a filly saying "Mommy."
"Damn, my flashlight went out!" I uttered and turned to Darek so that he could fix it. But instead of fixing it, his went down too. Now, we couldn't see anything at all.
"Oh, for the love of- You've got to be kidding me!" he uttered as he tried to replace the battery in complete, yellow-tinted darkness. When both of us lit our flashlights again, we saw a group of five or so zombie CPs heading our way, slowly putting one hoove in front of another, slightly limping.
"Umm... T-t-t-terin." He stuttered, his voice tinted with fear. "W-what are those thing?!" I put a new magazine until my pistol and lit a flare.
"Told you." I told him. "Headcrab-less zombies, they appear to be the work of some magic." Magic was often blamed for many unexplainable things but for once, this was something that fit just under that category.
"So... so it was true. Leaves really did it." said Darek, swallowing his fear and aiming his shotgun at them. "Let's get out of here!." I threw the lit flare at them and we begun shooting like mad, mowing them down two at a time. This took a total of ten minutes worth of our time and after spending nearly all of our ammunition on the walking dead, we finally reached the exit - the old tunnel to Myriad Station.
Using the only grenade we had, we blew up a bunch of rocks and caused a cave, blocking the access from Myriad to Haunted Station for the foreseeable future. For the first in all our years as agents, we were scared and afraid. The Combine perhaps had a few intiming methods but this was just beyong everything we saw. I almost through we wouldn't make but thanks to some deity of the lucky or the outright stupid, we got through in one piece.
After three hours worth of walking through the old Myriad in our now-bloodstained uniforms, we finally reached the small underground town it was named after - Myriad. Due to it's nature of being both underground and on the surface, it was a sizable hub for anyone who navigated through the tunnels under Ponyville. Also, since it was right outside of the former Ponyville, a lot of defences had to be built around it, both to repel Antlions, CPs and soldiers sent by the Combine. When we reached the entrance, two cameras emerged out of a nearby wall and both of them performed a scan and decontamination. For some reason, apart from chemicals they also used water and thus both of our uniforms got cleaned up before we went inside.
It was a simple, yet diverse town. It had a small library, a dining hall, a pub, many rooms to sleep and live in. There also was a stock market with either rare or just plain inferior equipment, some of it breaking shortly after being bough. The leader kept to himself in the central building, tending to reports of the other outposts and sat on his ivory chair. We didn't spend more time than we really needed. A rest would come in good but due to our mission, resting was just something we couldn't afford.
We just needed some food and ammo and thus, we bought the cheepest surplus-grade ammo and upgraded it with the scraps we salvaged. It wasn't factory-quality but it was still good enough to pack a punch. After eating something in the dining hall, we left Myriad and set our hooves on the plains outside of Ponyville. Half-dead grass, small deserts, here and there and a few dusty outposts were the only thing to see there, along with a road used for the transport of units and supplies.We set course to the road and made it our duty to follow it, as it was the only way we could reach NLO on foot. Pity Myriad didn't have any spare vehicles or we would have taken one.
Leaving the wreck, we navigated through a narrow hallway and saw a lot of wrecked vehicles and rubbish, all stacked on top of another. It was quite easy to get around them but when we were halfway through, something sticky grabbed me by the neck and pulled me upwards. Trixoe didn't hesitate and started shooting at the ceiling.
"Hang on!" she shouted. "You'll be fine." Eventually, her pistol freed me from this unknown ceiling creature and I endured the fall with little to no problems. I pulled the sticky, rope-like object and tossed it aside.
"What was that thing?" I asked.
"That was a barnacle." she answered. "A ceiling-embedded plant capable of using itself tongue to pull large things to its mouth and devour them." As she spoke, I saw another one nearby which captured and ate a bird who unintentionally flew into its sticky tongue.
"Thanks for shooting it down." I uttered as we moved further through the rubbish-filled canal. Eventually, we reached its end and almost walked into an area full of CPs. According to Trixie, this was the last outpost before the junkyard and the mini outpost housing the Airboat, the vehicle of choice for getting quickly through the flooded canals. As much as I wasn't keen on shooting, there wasn't much options on what to do and instead of thinking of an alternative, we launched a surprise attack and got all five of them in a very short time span. Unexpectedly, these losers also had a map which Trixie used to show me where we're going next.
"After we get the airboat, we're going to Vans' lab. Vans has a lot of supplies along with a weapon we're probably going to need." she proclaimed and showed me the lab's location on the very top of the map, in the old dam. Just for scale, we were at the very bottom and thus I assumed it'll take is some time to get there.
"Right. But weren't we supposed to go right for the coastal highway?" I asked.
"But stopping at Vans' lab won't hinder our progress." she answered. "It really won't." I didn't ask any further questions and we eventually reached the scrapyard, which had the airboat outpost on the other side. Apart from all the barely-passable junk, there was also a toxic liquid underneath so we had to be very careful.
We reached what appeared to be a small room blocked off by metal grating and as we moved closer we saw something very disturbing. A pony was struggling and moving vividly while some sort of crab creature was on it's head. It gave the fight soon after and fell, the crab creature still latched on it's face.
"What was that thing?" I asked Trixie.
"A headcrab." she answered. "Basically, a crab-like alien that will suck on your face and turn you into a monster."
"A monster? How can a small creature do such a thing?" I uttered.
"It takes over your nervous system and makes you body do all sorts of unusual things. The worst thing of all? It doesn't kill you. You feel every single time someone shoots you and you even attempt to scream through it, much to everyone's ignorance," That was, without doubt, one of the most disturbing things I've ever heard.
"Can you be freed from it?" I asked. Trixie gave me a puzzled look.
"If it doesn't cut into your head, then yes, but if it does, you're a goner." she answered. "Trust me, the best prevention is shooting every one of those as soon as you see them." Both of us took our weapons before proceeding further. The next part of the scrapyard had to crossed through a big metal scrap that served as a bridge.
"I'll go first." She said and safely made it across. "Come on Random." I was halfway through when something rised from the intoxicated water. It had the headcrab on it's head but was bloodied and bones sticking out of it's hooves. It attempted to lunge at me but Trixie quickly responding by shooting off the headcrab, instantly killing it. I hope we don't come across any more of these "suprises."
"You okay?" she asked after I made it across.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little suprised." I answered. We were almost near the airboat when more of those things appeared, along with headcrabs emerging from the ground, in an attempt to ambush. But they were unsuccessful and we fought our way to the airboat outpost. A fellow rebel greeted us.
"Ah, we got word you were coming, Got the airboat all juiced up and ready to go." she said. "You're heading for the lab?"
"Yeah." I said. "Thanks for fueling it up for us." The rebel saluted and we got in the airboat. Trixie was driving, since I had no idea how to. In the meantime, the pony opened a gate for us and we were free to go.
The flooded tunnels were a covered a vast area outside of City 7 and were on of the few places using the airboat was actually needed. Thanks to Trixie's crazy driving skills, which involved near misses with exlosive barrels and several crushed CPs, we advancing quite fast. Or at least we were until they sent some sort of flying vehicle after us.
"Damn it, they sent out a hunter-chopper." uttered Trixie as she noticed the vehicle in the sky.
"How bad is it?" I asked.
"We either find cover or that thing will throw so many bullets at us we'll turn into swiss cheese." answered Trixie, while dodging every bullet with the airboat. I don't know much time she devoted into that, but we eventually managed to find a shielded rebel outpost.
"Ah, more rebels!" said one of them, as a part of greeting.
"Shut up and get this thing working again." said Trixie as the engine was on fire. Soon after we left the vehicle and went into a small building in the outpost. For the first time since my arrival to this universe, I saw an unicorn.
"You've wounded!" shouted the unicorn and I though she was mentioning the small bruises I had. Only then I noticed Trixie was indeed shot by the hunter-chopper. She had a large wound on her left front hoove, which the unicorn almost immediately started tending to.
"It's just a scratch. You should pay more attention to the airboat." The unicorn didn't respond and instead healed her wound perfectly, not leaving a scar behind.
"You're heading to the lab?" asked their leader.
"Yeah." I said. "Or at least we were before that hunter-chopper showed up."
"Getting to Vans' lab with that hunter-chopper is almost impossible but my mechanics are just finishing up some of the magic on the airboat." We looked outside the room and saw them mounting a gun similiar to the one on chopper on the airboat, while the engine was completely replaced with a new one.
"Is that-" said Trixie.
"The very gun from a chopper? Yeah it is" he answered her. "Though we could add a little irony to the fight."
"That should help us reach the lab." I said. "Thanks for the help." Their leader nodded and we once again jumped into the airboat and headed for the lab, this time armed with. As we left the covered outpost, we appeared in a large area, with many rocks and a big outpost clearly visible in the background.
As soon as the chopper appeared, I started shooting at it while Trixie did the best she could at dodging bullets and bombs it dropped. After ten minutes worth of battling and thousand upon thousands of dodged bullets, the chopper fully caught on fire and crashed into the water.
"Yeah, we got it!" I shouted. "We're a good team, you and I."
"I suppose we really are." she replied. We reached the outpost and parked our airboat near the side entrance before entering. It was, without doubt, a combine-controlled outpost, proven by soldiers, CPs and all sorts of combine tech. I had no idea how many of them were there, but when Trixie opened fire, I did too.
We quickly managed to shoot and kill five of them before the previously unseen sixth one set off an alarm. We tried to shut it off after we found him, but were unsuccessful. Eventually, it stopped and that gave us some time to look around this part of the outpost. It had four rooms, two of them were storages where we stocked up on ammo while the third one served solely as a passage to the other part of the outpost. The fourth room was creepiest of them all as it served as a torture chamber. We initially though it to be empty until we found a motionless unicorn hung up on a wall. I checked it's pulse and was horrified that it was still alive.
I removed it from the wall and did everything I could to help it. I used every kind of medicine I could on a comatose pone and then gave her twenty minutes. I and Trixie agreed we should take off our masks since it was very likely she would wake up. We did that and soon after she woke up, albeit quite slowly.
"Where am I?" she asked. "Who are you?"
"You were probably kidnapped but don't worry, we're rebels and we're here to help." I assured her. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"I was in City 1 or Canterlot if you prefer the ancient names. Then something grabbed me from behind but that was probably whole days ago. I have no memories of what happened to me here, though." she said. Strangely, her horn appeared to be regenerating and the charred parts were slowly replaced by a white horn, same as the color of her coat.
"I'm Trixie and this is Random." said Trixie. "I guess you kinda figured that we're resistance agents."
"I'm Rarity, a magic energy provider. I don't remember a single day which I haven't spent providing power for 2 or more families." she replied. I knew Rarity from my universe and seeing her as a slave wasn't good so I wanted to get her out, despite the airboat only having room for two ponies.
"Nice to meet you." said Trixie. "You're currently in the last outpost before the dam which houses the lab and we're trying to push through it. Do you want to go with us?"
"Yes, yes. I'll gladly go anywhere that isn't here."she quickly replied. We gave her a gun for her own defence, put our masks back on and moved to the second part of the outpost. Without hesitation, we started shooting and cleansed the whole outpost of every and all CPs. Rarity didn't get wounded and we could finally go to the lab.
But then another problem surfaced. The gate that led to the dam was closed shut and the controls themselves were damaged beyond repair. Rarity, who wasn't sure how great her magic was, tried to open it by loosening a few heavy bolts and the effect was more than great. Her sabotage ended in the whole gate collapsing and thus gave us clear entry to the dam. Rarity, who was sitting on a hastily-made chair in the back was quite happy that she could finally escape and to be honest, we were too.
After a couple of minutes of walking, we reached an enormous metallic bridge which was also used by trains. Underneath was a large drop with small puddles of water and apart from the bridge, had no way through. Since we wanted to be certain we were going the right way, we once again contacted Clara.
"Clara, come in." transmitted Darek. "We need you help again."
"Well, did you make it out?" she transmitted.
"Yes, the tunnels gave us the creeps but we managed to get through." I said. "Now, we're near an old bridge and want to know if it's safe to cross it."
"I'm afraid it isn't. You see, the whole thing is a base of operation for the local soldiers and it appears to be blocked by a particle wall." she replied. "You'll have to take the side path and go underneath it, but even then, you won't be able to stay off the crosshairs of the soldiers."
"I never expected this to be easy." responded Darek. "What about you? Did you get out of the city?"
"Not yet. I hitched a train ride and will drop off at the bridge in a couple of minutes." she said and sounds reminescent of a train could be heard in the background. Shortly after, we saw Clara jump out of the train and do a roll. She then got up, dusted off her clothes and walked to us.
"Whoa, now that's what I call a smooth arrival." I said.
"Yeah, thanks." she replied. "I hope the sniper rifle is still in one piece."
"Wait a second," said Darek, puzzled. "you're carrying a sniper rifle?"
"Yep." she answered him and took out the overwatch sniper rifle. It was quite long and heavy but was without doubt the best long range weapon in Equestria.
"About the side path..." I said and walked down. "What exactly did you mean by that?"
"Well, apart from going straight across, you can walk on the bridge's metallic frame and get across that way too." she replied and showed us the way. "Problem isn't getting there but not falling down. Believe me. I've been here before and I don't think it got any safer." We nodded and used a ladder to get up on the catwalk surrounding the bridge's frame.
There were whole groups of soldiers lollygagging about and patrolling the numerous catwalks. There were also smaller rooms scattered along the catwalks, possibly housing ammo and other kinds of supplies, vital to the soldier's duties. But what really caught our attention was another ladder which lead to some sort of stairs up on the bridge. That was, without doubt, our ticket in.
Using advanced tactics, we got all of them, one by one and to make it harder for the Overwatch to find and report their death, we also dropped every one of them off the bridge. We stocked up on supplies and got up on the ladder and onto the stairs. These possibly lead to some sort of command centre since we heard chatter nearby.
"Heard about the things in the tunnels?" A soldier was teasing one of his friends.
"Was there ever a day you didn't talk about that?" replied an annoyed soldier. "No such things as ghosts or other sorts of things."
"E378 and E379. I recommend you to stay focused for the remainder of this day." said their commanding officer. It was quite funny all things considered, since we had to shoot our ways through Haunted Station because of undead CPs and these fools though it were just rumours. Clara told us to split up and attack the E's while she takes down the commander. We did exactly that, but the commander called in reinforcements, despite being shot with a sniper rifle. He later bled out and we had another problem to deal with.
"Guys, look at this." said Darek as he opened a weapon crate. "Is that what I thing it is?"
"Shoulder-mounted missile launcher. Jackpot!" I said and took the weapon.
"Umm... I don't want to sound like someone who panics but they sent two hunter-choppers." proclaimed Clara as she was scouting the catwalks and to keep her away from the choppers, managed to find a place where they couldn't fire at her. I didn't hesitate and went there, dodging a spray of bullets from both of them and then, when they stopped shooting while their weapons were cooling off, I shot missiles. Much to my suprise and pessimism, I took both of them with just one shot each. Truly a wonderful invention it was.
"Yeah!" I shouted as the wrecks of them were falling down into the water. I then victoriesly walked back to the command centre along Clara.
"Impressive." said Darek. "Ehm... I found a switch powering the gates and pressed it. We should now have no problems getting to NLO."
"Agreed" I replied. We returned back to the bridge through the catwalk and walked across. Now, it was just a matter of time until we finally reached New Little Odessa, our designated location where we're needed. Even though I was sure Clara could tap into the APC's interface and even drive it, there wasn't a single one around and thus, we have to walk, again.
"Almost a hundred killed units in under twelve hours?!" shouted Nightmare Moon as she was talking to one of her highest-ranking commanders.
"How is that even possible?! You were given an order, by me and even signed a document to make sure no one escapes the city, let alone shoot their way out!"
"Mistress Nightmare Moon, we had no information about them. They were using disguises and couldn't be tracked. Reports also claim there were at least five of them, two groups made out of two and three equines. They split up and one of them took their chances with the tunnels while the rest continued through the canals. That's all we know." replied the commander.
"Their current location, uniform codes? Markers? Anything?" she furiously replied. "Anything useful?"
"No, my queen." he calmly replied while her nerves were about to break. Instead of that happening however, she just turned off his transmission and allowed Cadence into her chamber, who was waiting a long time.
"Ah, miss Mi Amora Di Cadenza. What brings a councillor to my chamber?" she asked her nicely.
"We need to talk - between four eyes." replied Cadence. Nightmare Moon told her guards to go out and closed the door.
"Yes?" she asked her. "What bothers you?"
"I can't do this anymore." answered Cadence.
"Pardon me?" asked Nightmare Moon, puzzled.
"I can't lie to ponies any longer. I keep telling them that they've relocated to a safer place, even though they had not. Every place has the same dirty rooms, beds and half-rotten rations." replied Cadence.
"Mi Amora, do I have to remind you that you yourself applied for this this job? You agreed to feed them lies."
"But not lies that would break families in half." Nightmare Moon tried to counter her argument but an old memory didn't allow her to. She though she had forgotten but it kept coming back, either in her nightmares or inadvertly mentioned by her subjects.
"Are you... are you crying?" said Cadance as she noticed tears rolling down her face. The memory came back again and she saw Celestia instead of Cadance, slowly being enveloped by a sphere of darkness.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." she said as she saw Celestia fully encased in the darkness but then her vision returned to normal and she saw Cadance infront of her, confused.
"Sorry for what?" asked Cadance. She had never seen her during her flashbacks and assumed that those were Luna's memories and not her own.
"I'm going to have tell you to leave. You're free to go. You don't have to be a councillor anymore." said Nightmare Moon, still crying.
"Umm.. Thanks." Cadance left without a single word and Nightmare Moon turned around and stared at sky through a window. She then wiped away her tears and called her guards back in.
We parked the airboat just outside the dam entrance and had a look around. On first look, the dam was an enormous abandoned building, with a non-working entrance and rusty machinery powering it from the outside. But if you took another look, like Trixie did, you could easily find a side entrance bigger and more fortified then the non-functional one. The blast door closed behind us as walked in and all the lights shut down too. Then, two cameras emerged from the walls and pierced us with their white, luminescent light.
"I'm picking up something." said some unknown voice. "Okay, it's pony. Hello? Don't worry, you're safe now." The voice started to sound more and more familiar the more I heard of it. Soon after, the lights were brought back on, the cameras slided back into the walls and the other blast door opened. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw who was spoke to us. It was Twilight!
"Twilight?" I asked. "Is that really you?"
"Of course it is, Random. Who else did you think it was?" she said and looked at me oddly. Somehow, I felt a fuzzy feeling, because I knew that there was a possibility that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony existed here as well, even if they were scattered all across Equestria.
"Ah, Twilight, good to see you again." said Trixie and they shared a friendly hug, something which I though would never happen after Trixie's failure as a travelling magician. "We found Rarity and revived her thanks to Random."
"Rarity? Wasn't she stuck in Canterlot?" she asked us.
"No, Twilight." Trixie answered. "She was kidnapped and her magic powers were used to power their devious machinery or worse." Rarity, who stood behind us, approached Twilight.
"This way Rarity, I think we still have room and food." Rarity followed her without saying a single word and we walked across the hallway, walking past every door.
"Well, where are we going now?" I asked. "To the lab?"
"Yeah." she uttured and we stepped inside the elevator. Afterwards, she pressed a button labeled as minus one, the lowest possible point the elevator would take us. At first, the elevator produced a chirp and moved very slow but then it moved it moderate speed.
During the elevator ride, I saw the kitchen where all sorts of dishes were prepared. But it mostly appeared they were using roast headcrabs as their main form of food since vegatables and fruit were extremely rare. The next floor appeared to be a huge living room where I saw ponies read books and laugh. It was a rare sight, since the situation outside seemed to take every piece of happiness away. The third floor appeared to be a hallway full of generators which were powered by either flight power provided by the pegasi or short blast of magic provided by numerous unicorns. The last floor before the lab was a hospital wing, in which I saw numerous ponies in beds, healing from their wounds. Then, I saw something that made me stop the train.
"Random, what are you-" said Trixie after I manually stopped the train.
"That's... that's Rainbow Dash." I said and tried to manually separate the railing which served as door for the elevator. Eventually, my stallion strengh opened it and I sprinted to her.
"Sir, you're not supposed to be here. These patients need rest." said the nurse. "You should leave."
"It's okay." said Trixie as she herself approached me from the behind. "He's here with me."
"Dash... " I said as I saw a part of her face and both of her wings covered with bandages.
"She... she tried to escape a hunter-chopper by flight but was shot down. She hasn't woken up yet from the medically-induced coma but she's out of harm's reach... for now." proclaimed the nurse.
"Don't worry, I'm a doctor." I looked at Dash and gave a menacing stare at the nurse, who took a few steps back and then gave me a sample of every medical supply they had. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to improve her health. Using my knowledge and skills as a doctor, even though I was surgeon, I managed to help her more than any other nurse in this world possibly could. She slowly opened her eyes and I knew that what I did was right.
"Did... Did I make it?" she asked. "Where are the others?"
"I'm afraid you're the only one that survived. We're still trying to find the rest of your team." said the nurse. "Thanks to this doctor, we didn't lose you." Dash looked at me.
"Why?" she asked me. "Why did you save me?"
"Because I believe the bearers of the Elements of Harmony should stay alive and well." I answered. "In my world, you're the fastest flier in Equestria."
"Doc... Will I ever fly again?" she asked the nurse. The nurse shook her head. The nurse's eyes widened after I gave her another menacing look and I decided I'll speak to her in private.
"Nurse... what's your name again?" I uttered.
"Mary."
"Mary, I think we should speak in private." We went to the corner of the hospital and I started a doctor-esque conversation.
"What exactly do you think you're doing, ruining the life of a rainbow-colored pegasus?" I uttered with the same menacing look I gave her before.
"Excuse me?" she said.
"How many pegasi have lost wings or hope thanks to your stupidity and pessimism?" I gave her a devious question. "Be honest." But she didn't answer and instead became silent.
"Now, listen very carefully to what I say, Mary. Don't lie to your patients. Health is not just physical but also metnal and with every lie, it gets a hit. I have been a doctor for a long time and I know that the well being of a patient is dictated by both of them. After all this gets through that thick skull of yours, go to Rainbow Dash and tell her that there is still chance that she'll fly and you'll do everything you can to make it happen. Don't take this as a threat, but rather as a tip of how to be a better doctor. I hope I won't have to tell you again." The nurse opened her mouth as if she wanted to counter my lecture but closed it shortly after, realizing I was right.
"Y-yes sir..." she replied. In the meantime, Trixie was talking with Dash and were planning another recon mission just as I returned back to them. Some ponies just don't know where to stop.
"Had a little talk with the nurse. Dash, you're gonna fly again." I said and a smile appeared on her face. "It won't be tomorrow, it won't be the next neek but you will soar the skies once more."
"Thanks." she said. "I... I don't even know your name."
"Random." I replied. Dash smiled at me again and I left the hospital wing together with Trixie. The elevator once again produced a chirp and then went normally. Seconds later, we finally arrived at the lab.
It was an enormous room with three hallways connected to it, as well numerous rooms. It's interior was filled with all sorts of machinery, more advanced and bigger than the one at Dot's lab. Euclid Vans was standing near one of them and greeted us as he turned around. We didn't hesitate and greeted him too as we stepped out of the elevator.
"Trixie, Random!" he said. "How glad am I to see you!"
"The pleasure's all on our side." said Trixie and smiled. I took a small look around, while still listening to their conversation.
"Not that I'm sending you away, but weren't you supposed to be at Novum Prospectu?" he asked, ignoring the fact that I'm messing with one of his computers. Out of complete boredom, I was trying to close every window and look for any games. Unfortunately, there were none and I was forced to listen to their conversation.
"We were supposed to, but Trixie though we should stop here." I uttered. "No idea why."
"Ah, she must of heard of the new invention I'm working on." Euclid went to one of his many contraptions and after writing something into it via a keyboard, a part of it opened, revealing an unknown device with two gauges and two triggers underneath. He pulled it off of its rack and offered it to us.
"The Zero-Point Energy Manipulator or gravity gun for short. It was designed for use in handling hazardous materials but recon teams have also found it handy for clearing minefield. It's all yours now." I wasn't sure who was supposed to take it but it became clear after he looked at me. I have to admit, it was quite heavy but I got used to it's weight rather quickly.
"Heavy, huh? I don't know myself what's made of but I think you should try it out." said Trixie after she noticed me struggling with the device's weight. I tried to press one of the triggers but Trixie interrupted me. "A bit trigger-happy aren't you? I'd go somewhere more remote if I wanted to test that thing. Come on Random , let's have some fun."
Trixie led me through the hallway on the very left and instead of going all the way, she turned right. Unfortunately, I didn't and was staring at a sealed part of the hallway, blocked by a heavy-duty sliding door with a small holes that one could use to see what's on the other side.
"That's the old passage to Ravenholm. We don't go there anymore." said Trixie after catching up on me. Instead of going with her, however, I approached the sliding door and tried to open it but failed.
"Ravenholm used to be a home for escapees from City 7 but now, it's something much worse. Believe me, the way is sealed for a reason."
"What reason?" I asked but got no asnwer. Trixie and I then went back and turned left, to some "remote location". Instead of a normal door or elevator, it was another room with two sets of blast doors. The first one was opened and we went inside.
"Well, it isn't exactly remote. Just used for all sorts of junk." she said and the door behind us closed. Shortly after, the second set of blast doors opened and I saw a large junkyard with all sorts of scrap in it.
"A scrapyard?" I asked. "Whoa. This place is big."
"It sure is." We entered the first area of the scrapyard, full of wooden boxes but no way through. Trixie smiled at me and jumped up, near what appeared to be a one-way drop to a larger part of the junkyard.
"Hey, what about me?" I said. "I don't have ninja moves." Trixie laughed at me.
"See if you can stack some boxes to get up here." she replied. "Come on, it's not that hard." I looked around me and started thinking of a way to stack them. Instead of using the gravity gun, which I conveniently placed on the ground, I attempted to grab one of the boxes and stack them until I could reach Trixie. Unfortunately, I couldn't move with them and got laughed at by Trixie again.
"Hey, this ain't funny." I uttered. "I'm not that strong."
"Obviously not, but you have gravity gun, why didn't you use it?" she asked. "Did you think I was trying to make you compete in a lifting competition.?" I picked the gravity gun from the ground and aimed it at one of boxes.
"The secondary trigger lets you grab things. Then, you can either sent them flying by pressing the primary or gently let go by pressing the secondary again." explained Trixie. I followed her instructions and made stairs to get up using the boxes.
"Alright." Trixie looked at a bunch of barrels held from falling by a single piece of wood. "You can also pull stuff over from a distance. Give it a try." I pulled the wood out and the barrels fell.
"Well, what do you think?" asked Trixie. "Was this thing worth a visit to the lab?"
"This thing is awesome." I said. "I mean, all the stuff it can do and it even shines orange and does cute sounds when I sent something flying."
"Good." replied Trixie. "Now, I'm going to test your reflexes." She entered the bigger area by jumping through the one-way drop and I followed her.
The area we were in now was full of junk but also had a lot of space. Trixie ran to the other side of it and took something from the rubbish. It was some sort of device which she put on her hoove and gave out a faint glow.
"What is that?" I asked her by shouting.
"An early prototype." she shouted. "Only has enough juice for a couple of throws, through."
"Throws?" What do you mean by-" I didn't finish and caught a big wooden crate she threw at me, just a mere second before it would hit me.
"Good lord, you almost hit me!" I shouted.
"You're supposed to catch them." she replied. "You have good reflexes." I put the crate down and she threw another one at me. I caught that one too and she did this s total of five times before stopping.
"Did you hear that?" she said. I heard something crash into the ground and Trixie started running. Instinctively, I did the same and I followe her.
"What's happening?" I asked her, as we both reached a one-way gate that led to the first area of the junkyard.
"They found us!" I saw something tripedal emerge from the now-destroyed side wall of the scrapyad as Trixie answered my question. I had no idea what it was, but it started to shoot at us and this, we ran back to the entrance. The doors closed shut but instead of the other ones opening, the lights went out and an alarm started. Moments later, the room was lit up by a reddish light, quite possibly the backup lights. Trixie, instead of standing in place like I did, approached a console on a wall near the doors and started typing something into it.
"Trixie? Where are you? Is Random still with you?" A small screen lit up and Euclid Vans was on it. Restistance members could be seen fighting CPs behind him.
"We're in the scrapyard, stuck in a full auto cycle." she said. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Get out of there anyway you can! But don't go through Raven-" he was cut off as the power went off for a couple of seconds and then went back on.
"...and then go to Novum Prospect. Did you get all of that?"
"Yes we did, Vans. We'll meet up with you soon." Trixie grabbed the gravity gun from me and started hitting the door with small jolts of energy. Afte minutes worth of spamming, the door was bent enough for us to get through. Then she gave me the gravity gun back and we started running across the hallway to get back to the lab. We were just about to get to the lab, but more problems surfaced. The ceiling collapsed near the door to it, separating me from Trixie.
"Random!" she shouted and tried to move away the debris. After managing to move a small part of it away, she looked through it at me.
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked her. "There's no way around."
"You'll... You'll have to go through Ravenholm. I'm sorry, but there isn't another way." I chill went down my spine as she finished that sentance but I knew wasting time trying to find another way wouldn't help.
"I'll return, I promise." I said and went to the sealed hallway which led to Ravenholm. The sliding doors were half-broken by the impact and a few hits by the gravity gun were enough the knock the damaged parts away and get me across. I felt fear after getting to the other side, as if something told me I wouldn't survive. But instead of doubting myself, I continued along the hallway, ready to face any threats.
Much to our suprise, we reached NLO without any sorts of problems and were kindly greeted by it's residents, but most notably Winchester, the town's blue-maned leader. We found him just when as he was instructing newest rocketeers to the use of the missile launcher. They reminded me more of fillies than real resistance members but since their numbers were decreasing by hour, I guessed they needed all the help they could get.
"This, my pegasi recruits, is a VX-54 Anti-Aircraft Missile Launcher or RPG for short. Half original design and half design stolen from a late engineer, this is our best way of taking out a gunship or any of those pesky hunter-choppers. If you dodge their attacks and land a few direct hits, you'll be sure to produce a fiery wreckage of varying size. Ah, I couldn't ask for finer volunteers!" he said as he saw us.
"Actually, we already have one of those." I said and took out the missile launcher. "Stole it from the Combine at Bridge Point."
"Ah, splendid!" he exclaimed. "At least I won't have to give you this one." He gave it to one of rocketeer recruits and then introduced himself.
"I'm Colonel Wartlesby Winchester." He bowed. " At your service."
"I'm Darek, he's Terin and that mare in the back is Clara." said Darek, pointing his hoove at said ponies.
"Ah, you must the team Vans' sent! Truly this day keeps getting better and better!" He said and smiled.
"So, now that we're here, what are our intructions?" asked Clara. "Have you contacted Vans or Dot?"
"One of my fellow engineers are fixing the radio tower mounted on the nearby lighthouse. Since we lost contact, we stayed up all the day to watch out if any gunships or chopper plans to-" he was interrupted when a rotor and gunfire was heard.
"Gunship! Gunship!" shouted someone from the outside. Wartlesby started panicking and started calling for help via the radio while we ran out the building he was holed in. As soon as we did, the gunship shot relentlessly at it and we knew that Wartlesby was now either wounded, dead or lucky as hell.
There wasn't much place to hide since the town only had four buildings but we instinctively chose the biggest one and got a nice view of the gunship via the hole-ridden rooftop. Despite that, it still provided the much needed cover while allowing us to shoot through it. Darek took aim, shot out a missile and it went right after the gunship. Shortly after, however, the missile was shot down, exploding in mid-air. Then, the gunship aimed at the roof and started shooting. The the so-called rocketeers were nowhere to been and we saw no way out of this situation. A whole minute worth of shooting later they finally showed up, flying out of cover and armed with RPGs.
"To protect the world from devastation!" said one of them after landing a direct hit at the gunship, which caused it to flinch and produce a high-pitched sound. Moments later, the gunship started steering at a much-higher speed as well as shooting, forcing the rocketeers to fly faster to dodge them.
"To unite all rebels within our nation!" said the other one after landing yet another direct hit, this time damaging the gunship's engine and causing it to have problems keeping altitude. For some reason, I though the things they were saying were silly and unneeded.
"Rocketeers, blast off at the speed of light!" they said and turned on their laser-targeting for a final shot. "Surrender now or prepare to fight!" They uttured and shot a missile each, causing the gunship to break into pieces and shower the area beneath with scrap metal.
"Whoa, those guys really like to show off." I said. "I mean, who needs a freaking motto?" Cheering was heard as they landed and we though it would be polite if we cheered for them too.
"What's with the fancy words around?" asked Darek, "You could have just keep shooting at it."
"What's wrong with a little morale boost?" said Reek, the male pegasus. "Sure, silence is cool but where's silence when they're shooting at you?"
"Since when does uttering complete nonsense make you a resistance member?" asked Clara. "Did your parents approve of this?"
"Clara, leave him al-" said Darek but was interrupted by Clara, who was turning this friendly conversation into a fiery opinion exchange.
"You think we do this for fun?" uttered Clara. "The Combine are out there, killing hundreds per month and there's nothing keeping them from doing that over and over again until they get more food. And then there's us, the Rebels, standing at the other side doing our best to save civilians while resorting to complete discretion." The rocketeers were completely speechless and all of the cheering had died down as everyone listened to Clara.
"Now, tell me how good are two fillies, armed with RPGs, singing a silly song while taking down one of the many Gunships." proclaimed Clara.
"Ehm... Well, we're..." said Tether, the female pegasi, in an attempt to break her monologue.
"...quite good? I'll show you what's quite good." Clara took out her sniper rifle, tore out Reek's badge and instructed Tether to threw it up as high as she can. After the badge was in mid-air and barely seen, Clara took aim with the sniper rifle and shot it, causing it to split into more than seven pieces.
"Whoa..." said Reek, amazed by her skills.
"I don't care who told you to join but go home while you still can. I've seen brave and experienced ponies die and a few more dead fillies wouldn't make it better." Sadness was heard in her voice as she remembered the old days of having a whole team under her command.
"But... the resistance. They need us. Reek's sis and my father are rebels too. We really want to help them." said Tether. "We want to... make them proud."
"Signing up for a war to make someone proud won't make them proud." said Clara and kneeled a bit so that she could look into their red and yellow eyes. "You have a family - something I don't - and the best you can do for them is to give them a reason to come back home." Wartlesby, the not-so-brave local leader of the rebels appeared behind us, glad that we helped him.
"Ah, that gunship went down as a fly!" he said. "I couldn't have done it better myself!" I rolled my eyes, sorry for the rebels to have such a coward for their leader.
"Your sorry ass wouldn't even dare to walk up to an unarmed soldier." said Clara and turned to him. "Only a coward recruits fillies as his recruits."
"Clara, I think you've said-" Darek tried to calm her down.
"Enough? I don't think I did." she replied. "There is much more to be said." Wartlesby was not impressed and instead motioned them to get back into the house. Even though Clara was right in every way, I don't think it was right to call him a coward. Without a leader, the locals would turn into a herd of cows, not knowing what to do and an easy target for the Combine. Thus, Winchester, as leader, did what was right as a leader and tried to stay alive.
"While you were fighting the gunship, I've established connection with Shorepoint and the news they brough me was quite... troubling." he said. "Well, better hear for yourself." Darek turned set the transmitter to output sound via the speakers.
"Leon?" he said. "You there?"
"Darek?" replied the pony on other side. "Yes, it's me. We've got very bad news for you."
"On with it." I said. "What's worse than being almost killed by a gunship?"
"The Dam was raided. Vans was reported to be missing and only a few ponies along with Trixie escaped. Her companion Random was unable to escape with her due to a cave in and had to go through Ravenholm. We're getting some escapees from the Dam right now but no signs of Trixie or Random."
"Damn it!" said Clara. "How did they sniffed them out?"
"No idea. But most of us 'round these parts thinks it was someone from the inside."
"A double-agent?" I said, "Who would betray us because of the combine?"
"We have no tips so far, but a team's working on it." he said with a short pause. "Before the raid happened, Vans gave out instructions to various teams, yours included."
"And?" I asked. "What does he want us to do."
"He... he wants you to go to Novum Prospectum and lead a small team through it, freeing anyone you can along the way."
"What about Random and Trixie?" asked Clara. "What are they supposed to do in Novum Prospectum?" Leon stayed silent for a moment and then his voice was replaced by female one.
"Trixie here, I just arrived from the Dam." she said. "They got Vans."
"We've been assigned a team to infiltrate and free the prisoners in Novum Prospectum." said Darek. "Maybe you should join."
"Sorry Darek, I can't. I have to wait for Random to arrive." she said, "I hope he will."
"Very well." I said. "NLO out." We turned the transmitter off and said goodbye to Wartlesby, along with an apology by Clara. The lighthouse's engineers showed us a secret cliffside passage accessible by a hidden door in the lighthouse and we were now at the right track to reach the prison. But problems surfaced when we reached the end of the it and were warned by a sign telling us not to step on the sand. It was antlion mating season after all and so, we had to be very careful when moving forward. Jumping across via boulders, we saw a pair of rebels nearby, desperately trying to get across...
I was greeted by broken cameras protruding from the walls, which, despite their shattered lens, were always pointing at me. Infront of me was a ladder which led to though some shaft protected by grating with a lock clearly visble. Since I didn't have the key, I blew the lock off using the gravity gun and much to my suprise, the whole grating collapsed. Without hesitation, I put the gravity on my back and climbed the ladder.
It led to a small, unlit wooden shack which was separated into two smaller rooms. The second room's doors were missing and I could see some sort of town, even darker than the shack itself. Since I had no flashlight, I was hesitant to go there but since I haven't seen any other ways, I reluctantly entered the town. A faint scream and crying was heard in the background. The street I was currently at had all but one building locked up - an old barn with several wooden boards nailed in instead of a door. It also had a tree nearby which had something hanging from it but I was unable to see what it was. My curiosity got the best of me and I stepped closer to get a better look.
I saw the upper half of a pony hung by a rope in an advanced state of rot. Turning my attention from this disturbing sight, I went closer to the barn, removed the wooden boards with the gravity gun and then went inside. As odd as it may seem, it was quite well lit and had all sorts of tools but one thing that caught my attention was the presence of propane canisters and saw blades. Why would anyone leave things like these lying around? A sudden shiver went down my spine as I heard a moan from somewhere nearby and I immediately took out my pistol and turned around.
There was no one there, just me, my weapons and my fear of random sounds in a well lit building. But then, something grabbed me from the side. It was a zombie, the same abomination I saw when I was on my way to the airboat. Trixie killed most of them since I was no good at shooting but now, I was alone. I broke out of the zombie's grasp and shot it's head a bunch of times. The thing on it's head blew off and the zombie was dead. Suddenly, I heard more moans and instictively reached for a pistol magazine in my pocket. Since they were empty, I tried to think of a way to defend myself and then it hit me. Why can't I take a sawblade and hurl it at them? If it won't kill them it's atleast slow them down. I tossed aside my pistol, took out the gravity gun and pickup up a sawblade with it. Upon aiming it at a zombie, I pressed the primary trigger and saw the zombie being split in half by it as it flew and embedded itself in a wall. More zombies shambled at me from the second room of the barn and since there were many more sawblades then zombies, I had no problems defending myself.
Upon clearing both rooms of zombies, I advanced through the barn and saw a hallway which led to another part it. I dispatched the zombies which resided in that part as well and then kicked open the only doors in the barn. I saw yet another street, but this one had an odd, bladed contraption just a few meters away from me. It also had numerous alleys and buildings, which, upon closer look, weren't lockup up like the previous ones were. As I entered the street, I heard zombies moaning but since there wasn't anything I could throw at them, I ran to the contraption.
It had a large. circular blade attached to a motor with a lever to start it up. I laid down, pulled the lever and waited. Like expected, zombies started shambling towards me but the contraption proven to be quite useful at keeping them at bay. After seeing no more of them, I pulled the lever up, waited for the motor to come to a complete halt and then got up.
After looking around the street for a while, I saw a catwalk with conveniently placed wooden boards, providing me partial access to upper parts of the Ravenholm. As I followed them, I eventually got the rooftop of some building. Then, I saw something that concerned me. A zombie, unlike any I have ever seen before, climbing up a pipe that led straight to the rooftop. Then, I saw even more of them and since I once again had nothing to throw at them, with no ammunition for my pistol, I started panicking. Then, I heard someone scream at the top of their lungs.
"WHO WANTS THE FIRST SLICE?!?" I wasn't sure if the scream was made by a mare or a stallion but it turned their attention away from me and to whoever taunted them. I looked around and saw a small elevator leading downtown, which was possible the only way to get out of this hellhole. And so, I pressed the button and waited. Suddenly, the all I could hear was something going up by the up, but wasn't quite able to see what it was. I was about to smack it with a stunbaton when I saw it was none other than Pinkie Pie, wearing black clothing, having a staight mane and armed with a fire axe with numerous plates of metal added to it.
"P..Pinkie?" I said. She looked at me, puzzled, as if she haven't seen a pony never before. I put down my Civil Protection mask and continued speaking. "I'm... I'm with the resistance. The dam was attacked."
"No... no no no..." she uttered. "You aren't real. YOU. AREN'T. REAL. I'M NOT CRAZY!" She was threatening me with her fire axe and I took a few steps back.
"Dead... everyone is dead... deaaaaaaad." she said in a saddened tone. "Everyone...."
"Pinkie, I'm here to help." I tried to calm her down. "Wouldn't it be better if we, you and me, escaped together?" The elevator arrived and it's doors have opened. The small "ding" caught Pinkie's attention and she immediately jumped down from the rooftop. Since she was still Pinkie Pie, the rules of gravity didn't apply to her and she didn't break any of her bones.
I stepped into the elevator, pressed a button to go down and once again waited. Its transparent grating showed me that down on the street, Pinkie was fighting the zombies with her axe, chopping them in two or more pieces. I wasn't sure where exactly she learned how to do this, but I assumed desperate times ask for desperate solutions.
After the elevator reached the street, I saw her running to some sort of hallway, having cleared the whole street of every single zombie. When the elevator's doors opened, I tried to follow her but the hallway just led to a dead end, with small, wooden indents on a nearby wall. They had axe marks and I assumed she used them to get up on the catwalk which led around the dead end. I looked for another way up on it and saw cars, held up near the level of the catwalk by pulleys and a motor. It had a small lever and I pulled it. The car crashed down and was then pulled up. Frankly, I didn't climb up on it the first time and had to repeat a couple of times before I finally got up. Then, I jumped from the car to the catwalk and continued on.
It led me into the interior of a large, concrete building and most importantly, its storage. Apart from having ammo for my pistol, it also had a certain gem which I knew would be of great use againts the zombies - a shotgun and a great number of shells scattered around. I fully loaded it, blew off the lock off the storage doors and continued on with my journey. I was on a hallways, zombies coming at me from both sides. My trusty shotgun made short work of them and continued along the right path, which led to a staircase. Instinctively, I chose to go up, knowing that it won't be filled with so many zombies. My sixth sense proved useful as I was now once again at roof of a building.
I looked around and saw a monastery, protecting by high fence with a small cable car leading to the very rooftop I was at. Pinkie was waiting for me on the other side and used her modified party cannon to kill any zombies who were trying to get to me.
"Pull the lever!" she shouted. "Pull it!" I looked to the right and saw it. It was quite rusty but since Pinkie told me to pull it, I did. Shortly after, the small cable car started up and was heading for the rooftop. Ten minutes later, I jumped inside, and waited for Pinkie to start it up again. She didn't.
"Pull that lever!" she shouted once more. "This one doesn't work!" I pulled it again and the cable car started back up. Another ten minutes later, I was at Pinkie's encampment, full of the contraptions I've seen on the streets, along with propane canisters, sawblades and cannonballs.
"So... you wanna get out?" she asked and helped me out of the cable car. "Piece of cake!" I noticed a change in her behavior as she was probably very happy to have someone to talk with.
"Thanks Pinkie." I said and hugged me. For some reason, she started crying.
"Now, now, everything's okay..." I said. "It's okay."
"They killed everyone..." she uttered. "Everyone." I hugged her back and tried to calm her down.
"Are... are you real?" she asked me.
"Of course I am, Pinkie." I asnwered. "They sent me here to rescue you." she let go of me and wiped away her tears. Maybe it was wrong to lie to her, but I knew happy ponies, like Pinkie Pie, always got more sad than the rest. She showed me the way out of city, but it led through a large cemetary, without doubt filled with an impossible ammount of zombies and headcrabs.
It took us more than twenty minutes world of shooting to get near the final gate but then, something happened. Instead of going with me, Pinkie held the gate open, unaware that a whole horde was just behind her.
"Go.." she said. "GO!"
"No mare left behind." I placed a barrel underneath the open gate and went back, helping her fight her way out of the city. Thanfully, the barrel was able to withstand the pressure of the gate and collapsed just as we finally got to the other side.
"You... you didn't leave me." she said, "You. didn't. leave. me!"
"You think I would leave without Pinkie? Ain't no party like a Pinkie Pie party!" I said and her mane turned back t normal. She once again hugged me and I knew she was very happy because of me.
"You're the best!" she said. "No, you're not the best. You're the bestest ever!" I smiled.
"Alright, we had our laughs, now, what was the way out again?" I asked.
"Through the mines, silly." she said and we continued walking until we got into an abandoned mine.
It was pretty straightforward with the only things to worry about being a couple headcrabs. I was actually suprised when I saw a light in one of the tunnels.
"Is that the way out?" I asked again.
"Yep."
We continued along and found ourselves in a small junkyard with many factories around. Pinkie told me to go to the nearest building and I had no reason to not listen to her since it was marked with a lambda, a symbol of the rebels.
It looked like an aftermath of an assualt by either CPs and soldiers and one of the resistance members was laying on the ground, wounded.
"Winston's been hit!" said a female rebel and sprinted to him.
"Patch him up and put him next to the rest once he's stable." said an unknown male rebel and motioned us to go deeper inside the building.
"Ah, Random and Pinkie!" said their leader. "Good to see you. My name's Leon."
"Any idea where Trixie might be?" I asked.
"Right here." Trixie appeared round the corner.
"You got me a little worried back there." she said, "And you brought back Pinkie too? I was about to go there myself."
"It's good to have our best radio operator back." said Leon.
"Radio operator?" I asked. "Pinkie's a radio operator?"
"Yeah, The best one we have." replied Leon. Pinkie almost immediately found a place near a radio and started toying with it, pressing random buttons.
"You ready to go to Novum Propectum?" asked Trixie. "Or would like to rest a bit?" Truth be told, I was quite weary from Ravenholm, but sooner started meant sooner done.
"Well, the sooner we go, the sooner we'll release those rebels." I said. "I don't want to waste any time lollygagging around."
"Hey, you there!" said one of them. "Stay off the rocks, it makes the antlions crazy!" The one rebel was wounded by a previous encounter with antlions and was laying on the floor, covering a wound with one of his hooves. Before we could jump to another rock and help them, the ground shook violently and a bunch of antlions climbed out of it.
We started shooting and dispacthed a group of them rather quickly, but one of them killed the wounded rebel. The one that survived kneeled to him and looked rather taken by his death.
"Poor Lazslo!" he said. "Finest mind of his generation."
"We tried to-" said Clara.
"I know you tried to help but there's nothing you can do now." he said. "We tried to get to the outpost to get some bugbait so these would leave us alone, but it doesn't matter now."
"How far is it?" asked Darek. "We're running out of ammunition fairly quickly."
"Just keep heading north, you can't miss it." he said.
"Are you coming with us as well?" I asked.
"No." he replied. "There's... something I have to do." We continued on, trying not to stand on the sand. My luck ran out after I accidentally placed half of a hoof on a small patch of it and spawned a whole horde of antlions. We gunned them down quickly, but they didn't stop coming, not even after we jumped on some rocks. Sure, we could hold our ground forever, but all of our guns ran on bullets and those little buggers started running out.
"Move!" I said, ignoring that I once again stepped into sand. We ran through it and dealt with any and all antlions in our way, eventually reaching a mountain pass with a lot of junk laying around. Good news was that the antlions weren't going crazy anymore since sand was everywhere. Unfortunately, as we passed through, a massive antlion appeared out of seemingly knowhere, charging at me and the others.
I didn't react fast enough, though and was sent flying onto the mountain walls. It gave me quite a beating but I didn't give up just yet. I took advantage of it's non-existant eyes and pretended that I was dead by not producing a single sound. Needless to say, it worked and I bough myself some time for an ambush. After it turned around, my plan started going just as I planned.
"Terin!" shouted Darek, trying to outgun the antlion. It only took a few rounds to take one down but their sheer numbers were starting to really get to us. Suddenly, I heard their weapons click, unable to fire a single round. Darek tossed his weapon aside and ran like a maniac but Clara kept her cool and instead, started attacking the beast with the small knife she had strapped to her hoove.
I fired the rest of my ammunition into it but to no success and soon after, all of us were down on the ground, knocked away by the antlion's sheer strengh. As the beast was preparing for a final attack, a unicorn appeared out of seemingly nowhere and stunned the monster with it's magic. Vinyl Scratch was full of suprised when it came to sawblades but taking down an antlion this size was the biggest one so far. Clara made use of the beast's immobility and stabbed its neck, instantly killing it. It let out a deafening, painful shriek and then collapsed.
"Thanks Vinyl." I said and the rest of the group helped me up. "I dunno what would we do if you hadn't come to help." Suddenly, I felt a sudden jolt of pain coming from my hind legs, as if the antlion managed to break some of their bones.
"Yeah, that's what I though too." She kneeled to the slain antlion and started focusing her magic on it's abdomen."You here for the bugbait, right?"
"Yes." answered Darek, curious about what she was doing. "It could potentially increase our chances of successfuly infiltrating Novum Prospectum and that's why it's so important for us to acquire one or more. The question is, do you have them?"
The antlion's abdomen suddenly burst open and sprayed us with what can only be described as greenish goo. Vinyl giggled and pulled something the abdomen's remains and handed it to us.
"Here." She said, holding a organic ball of unknown purpose. "This is bugbait."
I raised an eyebrow and looked puzzled. "I expected something... bigger." I said, looking at the 'bugbait' oddly.
"It's a pheropod, Terin." said Darek and took the bugbait for his safekeeping. "Those things are small." I wanted to object that it's still small than most pheropods I read about but instead, they followed Vinyl into the outpost and I was visibly lagging behind them.
The entrance consisted of a single piece of metal with a door stolen from a ship in the middle and a rebel sitting at the top, armed with a stationary gun. At first, he aimed at us, thinking we're regular Civil Protection units but after Vinyl told him some sort of cryptic sentence, he let us in. Something along the lines of 'the birds are in the nest' or 'whiskey tango foxtrot.' I dunno, I wasn't listening because it wasn't important.
The outpost was pretty much like every other one. Some food, some supplies, some jokes, a campfire, many wounded. Yeah, nothing new. Oh and Fluttershy, the good-for-nothing antlion lover. For some reason, she was supposed to teach us how to use the bugbait. After grabbing some supplies and getting my hind legs checked and bandaged, we headed to a large cave that was stupidly called 'Fluttershy's Antlion Farm.' In it were many holes full of sand and dummy combine soldier strapped to a pole to serve as a target.
"Ummm... hi." she said. "So... y-you got the... bugbait?" Why does she always speak like that? It's not like any of us are gonna bite her or something. Not on purpose anyway.
"Yes Fluttershy." said Clara. "We have it. Can you please show us how to use it?" Fluttershy gulped and Clara raised an eyebrow. She was the best when it came to the extremely rare use of diplomacy but Flutters seemed to be a hard one. Instead of answering her question or showing her the 'device' works, she did a few chirping noises and coiled into a ball, covering her head with her hooves. We looked at ourselves in confusion and then it hit us - the masks. They must have frightened her and so, we put them down, one by one. It was a rare sight indeed since our mission required us to be in disguise or at least, be hard to identify.
Clara, with her reddish mane and pink coat, slowly approached Fluttershy and tried to get her back to her senses. "Hey, it's okay." she said. "We're friends." Fluttershy turned away and with this, Clara was sure she failed.
Darek, with his orange mane and dark blue coat, switched places with Clara and he too, tried to get Fluttershy back to her senses. "It's all gonna change soon, really." he said. "We just need little bit of your help." Fluttershy shook her head.
"That's what they said last time." said Fluttershy. "And then they took Dashie!" It appeared the team placed all their confidence in me to resolve this situation. Thanks team!
Instead of telling her something, I instructed my partners-in-crime to leave let her be. "Then our journey was pointless and so was Dash's sacrifice." I said as we were walking out of the cave and into the beach surrounding Novum Prospectum. "More pegasi like Dash will die and they will remember us and you being the key factors why the situation persisted. Farewell Fluttershy."
Something inside of Fluttershy's trainwreck of a mind turned off and instead of letting us go, she jumped infront of us and shouted "WAAAAAAAAIT."
"Dashie didn't die for nothing!" she said, boiling with anger. "YOU GET YOUR ASSES BACK THERE AND TRAIN HOW TO USE THE FREAKING BUG BAIT!!!" Oh, so this was this 'you wouldn't like me when I'm angry' personality they told me about. Actually, I like her more when she's angry. At least she gets stuff done.
Without complaining, we walked back the dummy and waited what she'll want us to do. This is why I'm the... whatever of this team. Best rank ever.
"Gently push the pheropod with your hooves to call antlions." she said and Darek did exactly that. Four antlions climbed out of the nearby sand but didn't attack us.
"Now, throw it at the dummy to command the antlions attack it." she instructed us.
"Throw it?" asked Clara. "We only got one. I'm not sure we should just throw it." Fluttershy gave her a look that can only be described as 'do it or I'll cut you'.
"Heh." said Darek nervously. "Here goes." Darek threw the bugbait at the dummy and an antlion pounced at it. For reasons unexplained, the bugbait reappeared in his hooves, not a single piece missing.
"Wait just a tiny, little second." He said and threw the bugbait again, only to have it reappear once more in his hooves. "Ugh... guys? My brain is broken. I see things that shouldn't be here." We burst into a laugh.
"Nah, that's just how it works." I said. "Don't try to find any logic behind it." And so, with our logic and laws of physics challenged, we bravely stepped into the beaches of Novum Prospecum, hoping to infiltrate it and hopefully, free a few rebels along the way.
Leon, the gray-maned leader of the outpost near Ravenholm, lent us one of his scout carriages. Or, at least, I though it was a carriage. Both him and Trixie called it a 'car' and showed me some sort of oil-fed contraption that controlled its movement. Since I had no idea how it worked, let alone drive it, Trixie told me she'd do it. Then, we got into the car, drove up to the pier and waited for further instructions. A loudspeaker started broadcasting and the nearby crane started using its magnet on the car.
"I'll lower you down to the beach, okay?" Said a soft, feminine voice. Unfortunately, the magnet failed and the crane dropped us upside down on the beach. I am not a racist or someone who preffers stereotypes, but mares and machinery should never cooperate. Never. If they do, bad stuff happens. That, or I'm on a streak of bad luck.
Trixie kept her cool and instead of giving blame to someone, she crawled out of the car, grabbed my gravity gun and pressed the first trigger whilst aiming at the at it. The car did a flip, became upright again and Trixie went back in. She handed me the gravity gun back and before I could congratulate her on her impressive feat, large bugs appeared. out of nowhere. Apparently, they were called antlions, since that was the first thing Trixie shouted after seeing them. Frankly, she was the last thing they saw and instead of driving around them, she ran over the abominations.
"Haha!" she laughed. "This will never get old." She drove up a hill and to my terror, was driving straight ahead of a gap between a high road, possibly created by some explosives. Needless to say, we weren't going fast enough.
"Are you crazy?!" I shouted. "We're not gonna make it!" She didn't listen and instead turned some lever, causing the car to speed up. It then flew swiftly over the gap and onto the high road. Afterwards, she stopped for a few seconds to let me catch my breath and then continued driving.
"You think I don't know what I'm doing?" she asked. "Just because you didn't see that in any of your geeky books, doesn't mean it can't work. That's physics. You should have become a physicist instead." I opened my mouth but then closed it again, since I had no smart counter-argument to use in my defence. Trixie giggled.
"Just kidding," she said. "You were just afraid, right?" Afraid? I would scream my lungs out if we fell! Some ponies are just insane.
"Yeah, let's leave it at that," I answered, hoping she would keep my answer to herself."This thing looks as if it's gonna break if you bump into something." The last thing the rebels needed to know was that the guy who's prophetized to have some part in saving the world, is scared of heights.
Following the highway that made up most of the high road, we reached an old, metallic bridge. A dense fog was settling in and for the sake of safety, Trixie slowed down.
"See anything out of the ordinary?" Asked Trixie. In the midst of the fog, I looked behind me, but saw nothing 'out of the ordinary'. Before I set my sight back on the road, Trixie violently stopped the car. I soon saw why — a massive wreckage was in our way. Not only it didn't look natural, it appeared to be arranged to serve as a barricade. To prove that I'm of some use, I got out of the car and tried pushing it out of the way. Unfortunately, I lacked the muscle to and my plan didn't work.
"Umm... got any ideas?" I asked her, scratching my head.
"Hop on back, I'll try to go around," she said. "This bridge is not the only way to NLO." I got back in the car, Trixie turned reverse on but much to our suprise, something blocked our car from leaving the bridge.
"Damn it!" she said. "Their vehicle sensors must have set up a forcefield." Both of us got out of the car and started thinking of a way to get past it. Suddenly, Trixie gave me a crazy, mischievous look.
"I got a plan but you're not gonna like it."
"Another one?" I asked, hoping her plan to be absolutely within the boundaries of safe and sane. Trixie proved me wrong when she took a grappling hook out of the toolbox and an excessively lengthy rope attached to it.
"This bridge is a combine-controlled outpost, but thanks to the fog, we got an advantage." She explained and tied the grappling hook to the car. Afterwards, she took out a simple harness, put it on and connected it to the rope.
"The advantage being?" I asked, still not catching on what was she on about.
"The element of suprise." She tossed me a harness and I hesitantly put it on, connecting it to the rope. Even though I've put my life in her hooves multiple times throughout our 'adventure', I was still hoping she knew what she was doing.
"My plan consists of us grappling onto the bridge's metallic frame, shooting our way to the command centre and clearing away the rubble." Well, as far as my aim goes, I'd say that sounds easy as long as she does the shooting. I reluctantly nodded in approval and then walked to the edge of the bridge. Upon seeing the rocks and water below, I gulped.
"I dunno Trixie," I said worringly. "You sure this is the only way to get the rubble out of the way?"
"Of course not," she responded, laughing. "We could have gone the upward path, but I'm a lousy grappling hook thrower. Besides, doesn't this sound more fun and unexpected?" I sighed, wondering how can she even think of 'fun' in times like these. There's nothing fun about it, at all.
"If I die, you're gonna get a very annoying, stalking ghost." I threatened her, only causing her to smile. Afterwards, she nodded, signalling that's she ready to jump. I sighed once and then nodded slowly, portions of my life flashing before my eyes.
"On three, okay?" she said. "One, two, three!" Both of us jumped down the from the bridge, our only breaker being the barely-working car at the top of it. By what could be only described as blind luck, we were slinged into a small room on the bridge's frame, unharmed. I exhaled and the both of us discarded our harnesses.
The frame was quiet, too quiet. It almost seemed as if someone was here before us and did the house cleaning. Then, we saw a small number of soldiers guarding the remains of the various catwalks. Even though we could barely see them, their visibility of us was far worse, since we had a height advantage and the fog was slightly thinner. I noticed a few crates laying around and decided to put them to good use to conserve ammo. Poor sods didn't even know what hit 'em and they all fell down to their doom. With the soldiers out of the way, we carefuly walked along the catwalks and into some sort of building built into the bridge itself.
The few ponies who were guarding it were quickly dispatched by Trixie and soon later, we reached the command centre. Judging by the blood, it was now more than obvious that someone was here recently and did an impressive job clearing it out for us. Yet as if wanting other rebels off their track, they forgot to shut down the security systems. Trixie promply turned them off and used the radio to call someone to clear the way.
"Overwatch Sector 17, Identification symbol E380."
"Commander?" A raspy voice responded. "We're getting all sorts of reports from the bridge. Is everthing in order?"
"Almost alright." responded Trixie, mimicking a stallion's voice. "Two drunken pilots played chicken with their hunter-choppers and their debris is blocking the bridge. Can you please do something about it?"
"They crashed and played chicken?!" responded the voice, confused. "Dispatching a high-profile cleaner right away. Don't tell anyone about what happened or we'll get into trouble. Luna's already angered as we speak."
"You have my promise." The radio went silent and we waited for this 'high-profile cleaner'. Minutes later, a large, fish-like creature, interwoven with machine parts, appeared in the sky above the debris and channeled some sort of beam from it's abdomen. Seconds later, the area around the beam exploded, creating a way big enough for our car. Then, the creature flied away.
Subsequently, we silently returned to the top of the bridge via the comm centre's stairs, got back in our car and continued along the highway. A few kilometers later, we finally reached New Little Odessa — a small, rebel-controlled town — with it's most prominent feature being the lighhouse.
"I expected it to be... bigger." I said.
"We all did," she replied. "Not all plans can get realized, you know." The rebels welcomed us with open arms and told us about those three heroic agents who made their way here before and protected their town from destruction. They appeared to be ahead of us by two hours and since it would be good to catch up with them, we didn't stay too long and followed the same route they took.
It wasn't a very difficult path. Jumping from one rock to another while avoiding stepping on a rock may sound hard but in practice, was one of the easiest things so far in my journey with Trixie. We found two unfortunate victims of the antlions but instead of mourning their loss, we continued on. Suddenly, I saw a large mountain pass with no rocks to stand on.
"Well, now what?" I asked. "I doubt any of us have enough bullets to deal with those... antlions." Nevertheless, we risked it and stepped on the sand, awakeing a whole horde of bloodthirsty bugs. I punted one of them with my gravity just to see what would happen and much to my suprise, it turned them upside down, their weak abdomens exposed. Using this technique, we navigated though much of the mountain pass and near the end of it, the antlions ran from us.
"Heh, I think we showed them a lesson," said Trixie. "Don't think it'll stop them from attacking other rebels, but hey, it's a start." Before I could say I agree, a massive bug appeared out of seemingly nowhere and charged at me. Trixie pushed me aside and got hit by it instead of me. The beast knocked her inconscious and wanted to finish her off but then, something snapped. Not caring about my safety, I grabbed a rock and threw it at the beast.
"Hey, you ugly tree-licker!" I shouted. "Why don't you pick a fight with someone your own size?" The beast turned to me and roared. The mountain suddenly quaked and a single, rock fell on it's head. The beast flinched but still wasn't keen on giving up. It charged at me but I dodged, causing it to become desoriented after hitting the mountain pass wall. Using this short window of oppurtunity, I grabbed the rock with my gravity gun and sent it to the beast. It let out a deafening, painful shriek and collapsed, defeated.
Trixie slowly got up, worrying that the worst has happened but instead, was surpised when she saw me single-handedly take down the bug. She approached the slain beast, not believing her own eyes.
"How did you-?" she asked.
"To be honest?" I said. "I have absolutely no idea. A rock fell down after it roared and it used that to kill it." Instead of hearing her say the cliche-y 'My hero!' she just smiled and took out a knife, cutting at the beast's abdomen. Seconds later, she took an odd, organic ball out of it.
"We're gonna need this," She took the organic ball for safekeeping. "I'll show you what it does along the way." We followed the mountain pass and eventually reached yet another outpost, the final one before the prison. Not intending to lose any more time, we stocked up on supplies and continued to the beaches surrounding Novum Prospectum...
"Your little 'test' is getting out of control," let out the Combine spokespony. "If you think this is all a game, you are not fit for rule." The Combine were starting to get less tolerant towards Nightmare Moon's actions, further proved by the anger in the spokespony's voice.
"But I assure you that I am. The test is going exactly as planned," She said in a child-like manner. "Would-be rebels are prosecuted and their petty hideouts are being burned to the ground."
"Well then, how do you explain this?" The Combine spokespony started playing a recording.
"Overwatch Sector 1, Identification symbol E380."
"Commander. We're getting all sorts of reports from the bridge. Is everthing alright?"
"Almost alright. Two drunken pilots played chicken with their hunter-choppers and their debris is blocking the bridge. Can you please do something about it?"
"They crashed and played chicken?! Dispatching a high-profile cleaner right away. Don't tell anyone about what happened or we'll get into trouble for it..."
"You have my promise."
Nightmare Moon was speechless, not believing that her own soldiers were so dumb. "Impossible!" she proclaimed angrily. "There's no way my trained profesionals would be capable of something like that!"
"The voice was identified as Beatrice, the very mare we told you was nothing more than trouble." Nightmare Moon shook her head, not admitting her stupidity. The Combine spokespony sighed.
"If we overlook all the issues caused by your naivety, how can you explain this?" The spokespony showed her raw footage of the sky and oddly, there were cracks in it. Through these cracks, the sunlight could be seen shining.
"No... that cannot be," she said, not believing her very eyes. "There's just no way..."
"We're rallying troops from other kingdoms regardless of whether or not you agree with it. We hope you'll finally solve this little problem with your new army and end up giving us what we want. Don't fail us again."
With night just around the corner, we saw a Combine-controlled bunker on the hill. Sprinting to the nearest big rock on the beach, we caught brief sight of one soldier-mounted machine gun, ready to turn anything into coloured sand. It aimed briefly at our cover and then returned back to it's patrolling state. This wasn't the first time we saw a pulse machine gun, but it was the first time we were so close to it.
"Umm... Ideas?" asked Darek nervously, reloading his submachine gun. "One antlion is good for support, but to get past that thing? There's no way!" I took out my bugbait and looked at my colleagues, juggling it for a few seconds. Afterwards, I peeked out on the right side of our cover and much to my supprise, there was a thumper there. It was a Combine machine that created small quakes and for whatever reason, the antions were really scared of it. To its side was a small ladder, probably used for maintenance.
"Clara, I think I've got an idea." Clara turned to me, having have used her rifle scope to inspect the nearby bunker.
"Yes?" she asked, loading a new clip into her weapon."What do you have in mind?" I had a brief look at both of them, making sure they're listening.
"I'm going to use an antlion as a bait for the soldier to gun down," I explained, still juggling the fragile, yet virtually indestructible ball of pheromones. "During that small time frame, one of us will run to that thumper over there and shut it down." Clara nodded and switched places with me, moving to the right side of rock, with me moving left. I was about to throw the bugbait, but then Darek objected again.
"Wait!" he let out. "Wouldn't it be easier to... I dunno... throw a 'nade in?" In any another other bunker-busting scenario, this would be a viable option, but now, it just simply wasn't. Barriers ruin everything.
"No," I uttered. "This bunker has a forcefield on its front that repels large objects, so unless you somehow waltzed inside it and kindly told the soldiers to shut it down before throwing a tossed one in, then no. A 'nade won't solve our problem, not this time at least." Darek went silent afterwards, leaning against the rock. With this out of the way, we were able to continue with my plan. By extension, this was also our plan, since the other two had no plans of their own to speak of.
First, I peaked out and with the help with the bugbait, provided a bait for the bunker. The antlion spawned right infront of the bunker and during that, I ran to the thumper, climbing the ladder. Just as the soldiers were finally able to take the antlion down, I pressed a small button and the structure stopped to function completely. In turn, however, it set off an alarm. Suprisingly, they immediately started shooting at the structure, fully ignoring that it was made out of solid metal and provided even better cover than the rock.
Then, out of nowhere, a pack of antlions rose up from the sand, immediately charging at the bunker. At first, the soldier manning the turret tried to maintain them, but when he killed three and six more spawned, the shooting stopped and rifles were used instead. Seeing our opputurnity, we charged alongside the antlions, as the soldiers seemed rather occupied. Just like during our bugbait training, the antlions didn't attack us.
The soldiers alone had little to no problem gunning even such quantities of the bugs, but once we got to them, they were finished. Clara used her profficiency and reflexes, managing to score a clean headshot on one of them just as we got inside. He screamed briefly, his radio reporting his death, following by his comrades calling reinforcements to Hardpoint Nomad. Clara morbidly remarked how is it possible to 'scream without a head' and then chambered in another bullet into her rifle.
With all three of them dead, Darek mounted the machine gun and waited. A few mere moments after, a dropship arrived, dropping in more soldiers to fortity the next bunker and sent some of them our way. The machine gun made quick work of them, but the main problem surfaced after a brief period of silence, like a calm before the storm. The door on the path near the bunker suddenly burst open and we could see squads of soldiers rushing to our position.
I threw the bugbait a few times on the ground and, to my suprise, the antlions managed to punch through the path's concrete floor and attacked the squads, killing each soldier in just one or two pounces. Depite this, the Combine were still swarming the place and weren't very happy that we were here. Luck was on our side, though, as they only sent cannon fodder and none of their heavier or more trained units. As we went deeper into the bunker pathways, we acted as support for charging antlions. The bugs gave them quite a pounding.
"Perhaps we should have taken a stealthier approach," murmured Darek. "I doubt there's a single of them that doesn't know we're here." Clara let out a laugh.
"We could, but we didn't," she let out. "I dunno about you, but sneaking into this place is pretty much impossible. What we're doing may be crazy, but hey, it works." I merely listened to their conversation, but didn't respond to it, mainly due to having no idea what to say.
Eventually, we reached the prison itself via the the tunnels connected to the bunker's pathways. The antlions were very helpful to us, but soon after, we ran into even bigger problems. The moment we opened the doors to the courtyards of the prison itself, we saw at least four towers, each equipped with a blinding blue spotlight and a squad of soldiers guarding it. All in all, our infiltration just got a lot more complicated. As Gunships arrived, all three of us got a very risky idea.
"Guys, if those are still the old models who have the belly lasers, we may be able to trick them," let out Darek. "What do you think about that?" Me and Clara thought for a while if the plan was good, but ultimately, we came to a sound solution.
"Yes, I think they are," responded Clara. "We can trick them into using their targettting systems to destroy the towers. If we're lucky, they'll crash into Novum Prospectum's main building and open up a way inside." I nodded in agreedment with the plan and reloaded my assault rifle, which I had looted from a Combine soldier. We waited for the Gunship to turn and then sprinted out to one of the towers, literally running for our very lives and putting faith in quite possibly the silliest plan we ever came up with.
As silly as it was, it worked. The Gunship targeted us with its laser when we were right underneath it, yet missed, hitting the tower instead. Then, as planned, the tower collapsed right into the main building of the prison, causing the soldiers to stop shooting and just stare at us with disbelief and awe. However, as we started climbing, they snapped out of it and the shooting resumed.
Clara, being the most acrobatic member of the team, helped us reach the room atop the tower in just a matter of seconds. Instead of continuing however, she just leaned to the side of the room for cover, examining a wound and pressing it to stop the bleeding.
"See that hole the tower made when it fell?" she let out, trying as best as she could to ignore the pain. "It's the most exposed thing in there, with no cover whatsoever. I would jump around there swiftly and at least give you some covering fire, but I'm out of options here." Derek and I patched the wound up with a hefty bandage. It wasn't the whole proper treatment, but since we were short on time, it had to do.
"Better?" I asked her and helped her stand up.
"Yeah, for now," she responded. "Thanks..."
"Don't worry," I assured her. "We'll find some medical supplies and get you back to speed." Darek checked his backpack only to find it full of flies and empty. He was more than sure he took the right backpack, but then again, the rebels don't really have a variety of them and so, he assumed they were swapped. He probably made someone really, really lucky.
"Guys, I think we need ammo and stuff as well," Darek informed them. "Not to mention food. I'm so goddamn hungry." We had a puzzled look at him as we meant medical supplies and ammo, not food. As a matter of fact, food was the last thing we needed to worry about. After waiting a few brief moments after our chat, the shooting stopped, followed by reloading. Seizing the oppurturnity, we climbed to the top of the tower and into the prison.
As we climbed inside, confusion hit all three of us. Much to our bad luck, the interior was just a repeated pattern of prison blocks and stairs, with no rooms for supplies. The Combine inside were so numerous, Darek joked that they were 'breeding just around the corner'. Despite our dwindling ammunition and Clara's dwindling health, we reached a security checkpoint of sorts, stocked with ammo, rifles and most importantly, medical supplies.
Being the tech geek of the group, Darek fiddled around with the computers looking for anything that resembled a map or access codes to other sides of the prison. In the meantime, I patched up Clara with the medical supplies we found. Soon after, a file was uncovered that most certainly played in our cards.
"Guys? There's an outbreak of antlions in the prison. Levels 10 to 7 are just reinforced with more soldiers, but lower ones have forcefields and turrets. I won't even dare to say what's beyond that," let out Darek. "I'm so gonna regret we didn't take the stealthy way." I approached Darek and gave him one of the rifles, which looked unlike any we've ever seen before.
"Well, neither turrets or forcefields are gonna stop us, that's for damn sure," I said, smiling. "We're made it this far already. Trixie and her 'friend' are counting on us to clear the way out for them. The Combine like quitters and I sure as hell won't give that to them!" Darek was reassured this was not a suicide mission but still had the uncanny feeling that something bad would happen.
Suddenly, for no explainable reason, all doors except the ones to the security checkpoint closed. With a sigh, we walked out of the checkpoint and started looking for another way around. It would have been a relatively peaceful search amidst corpses of Combine and antlions, but the sounds of many, many footsteps proved us wrong. Instinctively, we just reloaded all of their weapons and waited for the force to arrive, each of us hiding in a different ambush spot around the tenth level of the prison. With the arrival of the night, we all had to rely on light, but so did the Combine.
And so, to even the odds, Darek turned the lights off. As the soldier's eyes glowed in the darness, it wasn't all that hard to aim for the head...
It was already night when the two of us arrived at the beach surrounding the prison. I saw multiple dome-like buildings up on the hill as we moved into cover behind a large rock. The air smelled of dead antlions, gunpowder and blood. I was already used to feeling all of those, especially the last, but the combination of all three was a bit overwhelming.
"When I get my hooves on whoever came up with this plan," she let out, juggling the bugbait with one hoof. "I'm gonna show them real pain!" Afterwards, she peeked her head out of cover, only to quickly hide it just a few moments later. "Recon group my flank!" A large whale-like creature flew overhead, carrying some sort of container on its belly. It came to a stop near one of the buildings up on the hill and soldiers started crawling out of it.
Well, now we were screwed.
Antlions weren't able to provide us with a path into the prison and Trixie's awkward silence even further proved that there's no way out. Or at least, no way out from my point of view. In a fit of desperation, I grabbed the bugbait and just randomly threw it into the air. Only when I saw it in the air did realize the mistake I have made. That squishy, alien thing was the only thing that kept us from being antlion food. I quickly took out the gravity gun to grab it, but I was too slow. Just like lady bad luck would have it, a stray bullet managed to hit the damn thing in mid-air, scattering the soft innards all around.
That gave out our position almost immediately as until now, the combine were too occupied with the antlions. As parts of the rock were blown off by continuous fire and the two of us were forced to get closer to each other, I would have sworn I could see balls of fire in Trixie's eyes. Guy mentioned in prophecy or not, she had the look of a tiger about to pounce a gazelle. She even growled like one.
But then, something happened. The ground shook violently and up on the hill, the ground burst open. Soldiers were already onto this unwanted guest, but they were no match for it. Both of us only stared in awe as one by one, they were send flying by an enormous, glowing antlion. It roared after it left a bunker it had cleared and charged towards another one almost instantly.
"Well, that's convenient," she let out nonchalantly. "Come on, this thing I'll buy us a lot of time." After peeking out once more and waiting for just the right moment, she ran for the hill, with me closely behind.
"I just wasted our only antlion repellent," I let out. "How is that convenient?" I figured she would slap me now, as this was probably the sixth or seventh stupid question in a row that she had to endure. A regular pony would probably snap by now, but she didn't. Instead, she just silently followed the dead bodies the antlion left in its wake. Within minutes, we reached the prison in all its antlion-ridden glory.
Oddly enough, one of the towers was already destroyed and collapsed right on top of the prison's main building. Despite a rather bittersweet relationship with us and the shadow group, I had to admit that they knew how to make an entrance. An inconvenient, but impressive one nonetheless. "Tactical geniuses," let out Trixie. "Each and every one of them." Seeing as the combine were occupied by the antlions, the two of us hid behind the collapsed tower and had a brief pause.
"Are we going to use this to get in?" I asked, tapping the tower's metallic frame with my hoof. "I don't see any other way in." Trixie merely shook her head.
"They probably got through like that," she explained. "But I'm not risking it. Not to mention they probably have a forcefield up there." Without saying anything else, she peaked out of cover and looked both sides. Combines were seen fighting on both of them, but one of the sides' defences were starting to crumble, with the occasional antlion getting through, only to be gunned down within seconds. The defences consisted solely of shotgun-wielding soldiers, with the assault rifle ones covering them while they reloaded. Their tactic, however, was starting to fail and Trixie saw a chance to capture the tower they protected, a tower very likely to have all the power flowing through it.
"See that tower over there?" she asked me, pointing her hoof to said tower. "With all the wires leading to it, I'm fairly certain it's the main power source for outside defences." I had a peak and she was probably right. The base of the tower was heavily reinforced and as the big antlion attacked it and caused the metal to bend, I could see something glowing inside. "We're gonna destroy it." Upon hearing that, I just nodded and reloaded my pistol.
After waiting for a couple of seconds, the defence finally crumbled and we charged at it, killing any antlions that stood between us and the power outlet. I was about to use the gravity gun to tear the bent metal out, but the glowing antlion came back for more. Trixie immediately started gunning it down to have it target her instead of me, wanting to buy me some time.
I aimed and pressed the second trigger, but nothing happened. The metal just shook a little and stayed in place. Eventually, whatever was keeping it in place finally snapped and I promptly tossed the piece of metal aside. The power source was unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was a shining ball of light, bouncing up and down whilst surrounded by a transparent blue forcefield in the shape of a cylinder. How it kept bouncing like that without damaging the forcefield was a question for another day.
"I'm empty!" shouted Trixie, her weapon clicking as the antlion roared at her. "Grab the power source and zap this thing!" Without hesitation, I grabbed the ball of light and flung it at the antlion.
It deflected it.
The antlion flinched, nonetheless, but that thing barely did any harm to it. The fact that the deflected power source managed to kill a few soldiers was even more mind-blowing. To worsen the already bad situation, the antlion was now after me. I dropped the gravity gun on the ground and took out my pistol, unloading the entire magazine into the antlion in a matter of seconds. While it did cause profuse bleeding, the antlion still brushed it off with just a flinch.
I immediately started running away, but to no avail. Just like last time, it outran me and sent me flying. The aftermath, however, was different. In addition to scraped ribs, I was unable to stand up and my vision was slowly turning yellow. In the corner of my eye, I could see the antlion coming round for another attack. Out of panic, I hopelessly tried moving despite the paralysis, but it was pointless. As it got close, I could see all the important events in my life being shown to me like some sort of montage. I've heard about ponies who, when facing imminent death, saw their who lives flash before their very eyes, but to see it for myself. Even if it didn't kill me right away, I was sure whatever toxin I had would.
Then, I heard a loud hum, a whoosh and a loud thud. The antlion let out a deafening shriek, fell before me and I passed out. When I woke up, I found myself inside a building, with Trixie injecting me with something green.
"W-what happened?" I asked her. "Where are we?"
"The toxin knocked you out," she explained, discarding the needle after she was done. "Then, I had to drag you somewhere safe and give you an antidote." I let out a sigh of relief. I was sure I would die there. We've already went through a few moments like this one, but none of them were as death-defying as this one. She was a very capable fighter and I was starting to question whether I was really needed for this whole ordeal.
However, because I knew how futile it would be to voice my doubts again, I just stood up and gathered my surroundings. The shadow group left such a mess that one could easily mistake them for an army.
"Hey, I think you dropped this," Trixie let out as I was examining the carnage. "Try to use it next time." After turning my attention to her, she tossed me the gravity gun. I caught it, dusted it off a little and checked if both triggers worked. They did.
Afterwards, the two of us followed the trail of bodies left behind by the shadow team...
What followed was a bloodbath. After no more than five minutes had passed, whole squads were mowed down almost effortlessly, in part due to the darkness and the fact that they had nowhere to hide. Deeming the losses too great, the remaining ones fled, but left the wounded behind. When Darek turned the lights back on, before them were piles of motionless, dead bodies. Peppered here and there were the wounded, flailing about, bleeding out and screaming. All three had seen what the Combine were capable of, but even despite that, they couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
A dillemma downed on all three – should they leave them to suffer a slow, agonizing death or end it with one, well-aimed bullet? Both of them were bad options. They had already been defeated and disarmed. If they weren't, at least one of them would have taken the opportunity to retaliate.
But none of even tried.
Eventually, Clara took it upon herself to make the decision. "We'll leave them here," she proclaimed. "And continue on with our mission." The two of us nodded without any questions, but I knew she wouldn't have done it if there was any other way. Maybe if we had a medic, we could at least stabilise the ones that weren't dying.
With the locked doors now open, we ventured forth.
We were lucky – instead of fleeing to the surface, the Combine instead retreated into the lower levels and by doing that, opened a few gates along the way. Following their tracks, we came upon a horrible, rancid stench in one of the hallways and just this once, we complimented the soldiers for having filters akin to those of gas masks built into their helmets. If it was true that the prison barely had any kind of ventilation or the one it had was broken or rusted away, then it would explain why the smell was so strong.
It didn't take long for us to reach the source, but once we saw it, it burned a vision into our brains. A unicorn was tied to a chair and impaled by multiple long tubes that protruded from the ceiling, with some sort of metallic ring around its horn. Additionally, the whole chair and the surrounding white and black checkered floor was covered in dried blood. Whoever it was, he or she was probably slowly tortured to death and then left to rot.
"Who do you think it was?" Darek asked. "A rebel or a civilian?" Clara approached the corpse. A small piece of blue cloth around the shoulders gave her the answer.
"C-22, B-17, P-24," she read the label aloud. "That's the city name, block and assigned number. Definitely a civilian." Every once in a while, there would be a raid where they would take away citizens for no reason. Then, to make it seem like everything was okay, the official number of citizens in that particular block, both past and present, would change and each and every one of the remaining citizens would be kindly persuaded that the household always had fifty one occupants, not fifty two and that the mistake was nothing more than a sabotage by the Rebellion or just plain bad memory.
Then again, this unlucky individual was also a unicorn and just like pegasi, his kind were hunted relentlessly, the Combine justifying it by saying that they were purging what they deemed undesirable traits. Whether they were actually killed or used as lab rats, exploited for the sake of science, was a mystery, but one thing was sure – there were only a handful of them left.
A sudden, sharp pain in her side broke her line of thought. The cauterized wound opened as she walked about and, through her clothes, blood started dripping. If she had her helmet off, they could see how horribly pale she was, to say of nothing of how weak she felt. Sitting down at the ground and leaning against a wall, she pressured the wound with her hoof, to no avail.
Of all places, it had to be a dirty, underground room. Her idea of dying was almost always connected with tired, yet satisfied eyes of a victorious warrior and senility so severe, she couldn't care about anything even if she tried. Then, when one of her many children would approach her on her deathbed, preferably the oldest, she would tell him, with the last bit of her sanity, where she had buried all the treasure so many years ago and with her last breath, mutter that she regrets nothing.
No, no yet. Death and its tendency to always wait around the corner had to wait. She had business to attend to, Combines to kill and younger colleagues to protect, even if it meant defying cosmic laws and angering a few deities.
Checking the terminals and deeming them worthless, Darek turned around.
"Clara!" He shouted, kneeling down to help her the moment he was what was happening, but did very little to actually make her feel better. "Listen, listen to me! Don't go into the light!" It was almost unbelievable how little he actually knew about medicine and pretty much everything that didn't concern technology. Those were words one would say to someone who was dying. She wasn't, she was merely bleeding out.
Big difference.
I tore out one of my sleeves and cut it open with a knife, revealing several firm, yet elastic strings. Using a bit of water, I cleaned the wound and then, using a small, sharp piece of metal from a broken down radio, I started sewing the wound shut. The pain was unbearable and she was smart to ask for a piece of wood to bite into before I started. Many tears, minutes and amateur stiches later, the bleeding finally stopped and all three of us let out a sigh of relief. I wish I could have done this sooner, but there's only so much one can do when he's being shot at. Cauterization via gun barrel seemed like a good idea at the time.
"You didn't tell me," she wheezed. "That Trixie trained you."
"She was worried one of us would get hurt."
"Clever girl." We slowly helped her up. She was able to walk on her own, but her steps were heavy and slow – she lost way too many red in a very short time span. She probably held on to her consciousness by her nothing more than sheer willpower. If me or Darek were in her place, we would have already fainted.
Breezing through the floors the same way we did just a while ago was out of the question. We had to take it slow and look for medical supplies or at least food. We searched the surrounding rooms, but found nothing. Not even a bottle of aspirin or a painkiller, not that we would be expect them, given what the room was used for.
"I'm slowing you down," she exclaimed. "Just, go on without me." We disagreed and took her with us anyway, not minding that she had to rest frequently. If this happened to any of us, she would have done the same. Probably.
The zeroth level was suprisingly tame. Holes were present on the ceiling, the walls and even the floor. Every once in a while, an antlion would pop out, but ignore us and instead go straight through a hallway, take a turn and then by promptly shot and killed. Soon after, another antlion ventured in and then, another. Deeming them too preoccupied with what we assumed we soldiers, we scouted the block and found what were looking for.
It wasn't much, but it was still better than nothing. Taking refuge in one of the cells, we agreed that this was a good place to get some rest...
