I stagger to my feet, ears ringing and I pry my eyes open. “Masq! You okay?” The shout of the other pony in the room is nothing more than a whisper in my ear. I look around slowly, and try to shake the blurriness from my vision. The room that had once been a plain old mailroom was in shambles. The package that Haly had been processing had exploded suddenly. Haly had been right next to me, and now she was all over me. I try to take a step forward but stumble and land in a heap on top of my now ruined desk. In the hall on the far side of the room I heard shouts and loud repetitive pops. Firecrackers? I listen closer, and find myself more annoyed at the ringing. I hear the pops again, and screaming this time.
“For the N...”. An explosion blocks out the rest and I realize what was going on. An attack. The pops were gunfire and the package must have been the signal. I look over to Haly’s desk as I stand, gathering myself before I try to move again. Where her desk used to be was just a hole in the floor, leading to the lower level of the complex I was in. My complex was a 6 floor building on the Lunar Station. I worked on the second floor.
Ideas run through my head, and I glance at the doorway. The other pony in the room... Dare? I can’t think straight after the blast. Well, Dare ran over to the doorway and peeked his head out. There was another cacophony of pops and Dare wasn’t among the living anymore. I blink, trying to process what was happening. Haly was dead. Dare was dead. That left just me. Me, Masquerade. The blank flank stallion with stark white hair, that has a violent streak of red right down the middle. I always wore it shaggy and felt that it looked best that way. Staring at the doorway actually provided useful information though. The marksman that did Dare in was coming through.
I couldn’t hear anything through the ringing still, but I saw his shadow. A shadow? But... there wasn’t any light from the mailroom. Nevermind that, I have more important things to deal with. Without thinking, I hop, skip, and jump through the hole in the floor and land heavily on a coat rack.
“Over here! I heard one!” I hear a radio-altered voice call out. The ringing had subsided and I could hear the hoofbeats of the approaching. Pony? Ponies? I couldn’t tell. I turned toward where I desperately hoped the door was, and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. With the speed of Rainbow Dash! The old prayer to The Six echo’s through my mind. Still galloping at full speed, I take a corner and slam face first into a giant metal pony. I fall back and look up at him.
The behemoth had a large glass visor for eyes and looked down at me. It leveled a large barreled weapon at me, and a high pitched humming emanates from the machine. It stops suddenly and the pony groans, with the same radio-voice as before, and slumps over to the side. It had a knife protruding from its neck, right between two plates of metal.
“RUN, WHITE PONY, RUN!” A new voice comes from where the door was, and I run for it. I barrel through the doors, and am met by a deep blue alicorn, with a stunning blue mane. I recognized her instantly.
“Princess Luna.” I mutter, and bow to her. I feel a force pulling my head up, forcing me to look directly into the princess’s eyes.
“Never bow. To anyone. Now follow me, we aren’t safe here.” She takes off and I do my best to keep up. I can tell that she was slowing her pace to meet mine. We run into one of the buildings across the street and Luna stops and looks around. It was a simple one room shop, boasting only a counter for decoration. There were glass displays in the counter and on the wall holding keys and locks. Padlocks, some had safes. They looked really heavy.
“Ummm, Princess?” I ask, my gaze drifting back to the complex.
“Calm down, White Pony, I just need to find the key.”. I sigh, and look over my shoulder at her.
“Key? This is locksmith’s shop. There are keys everywhere!” I can’t hide the irritation in my voice. Maybe its the deadly situation we’re in. Either way, I’m not a happy pony. I glance back at the doorway and yelp. There was another metal pony on its way across the street. “There’s another one coming Princess.... Like right now!” The princess throws me an irritated glance, then looks at the door.
“Come here, White Pony, hide behind me.” I look at her, and tilt my head.
“You should be behind me though. You’re important, and I’m just a mail pony.” She sighs,
“We don’t have time for this, you deal with him,” She lowers her voice, “Now where is that button...?” I look at the door, and cringe. The metal pony was walking slowly through the doorway. I pull the princess behind the counter and hold her head down.
“Shhhh. Hes right there.” I whisper to her. She nods, and I peek above the counter. The metal pony was standing, looking around the shop, right next to a large display of safes. “The Protecktatron 3000!” the sign declared. How conveinient. I duck down behind the counter again and gather my strength. Being a unicorn, I had some magical power. I hadn’t found any field of magic that I was really good in, but I was passable at everything. That included levitation. I stand and look at the intruder.
“Hey!” I yell at him. He turns and I hear the humming again. It was too late for him, though. I pulled one of the supports of the display and the safes fell on top of Mr. Tin can. After a few seconds of metal on metal grinding and a few odd sounding crunches, it was silent again. I hear a chuckle behind me, and turn just in time to see the princess getting up.
“Not one for subtlety, are you White?” I smile, and shrug.
“It worked, didn’t it?” She laughs and nods, then turns back to looking for the key.
"Now we need to hurry. His allies will be coming. Aha! Over here White!" I trot next to the alicorn. She picked her hoof up and pulled down on a small shelf. There were a few loud clunks, then we began descending.
I look to the door to see the lack of intruders. I mutter a quick prayer to the Six as a sheet of metal covers the top of the shaft we were being lowered into. It was dark, yet soothing. Where, I wondered to myself, will I take my life now?
