The Secrets of Caduceus

The train shakes as we zoom through this underground tube. The four mares sit scattered around the train. Aside from the shaking and humming from the train, everypony is completely silent.

Then suddenly, Dove trots over to me and breaks the silence, "Hey. If worse comes to worse, we'll need to shoot and even maybe kill. You're okay with that, right?"

I sit silently, thinking critically. What happens when I'm faced with that scenario?

"It's kill or be killed. This is Caduceus, ponies are constantly at war there. Whether it's on the streets, or between politicians, somepony is always trying to kill somepony." She says, calmly.

"I don't know, I've killed a dragon. But that's only a little different."

She sits down on the seat next to me, "I see. Well, I'd rather you not die on us. So I'll help you out with that gun of yours."

My gun? What's wrong with it? There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

"That's gonna get you killed in battle." She points to the hoof adapter that is attached to my revolver.

It is? Black Blizzard said it's the only way an earth pony like me can shoot guns.

"It was. To him anyways. You see his brother, the same pony that designed this train, took the concept and perfected another version of it. He created a simpler and more efficient method for earth ponies to shoot firearms."

Black Blizzard has a brother? And on top of that, his brother designed this train? There's a lot that I don't know about these ponies. Can I really trust their motives and instincts?

"Presenting... The Bullet Biter! This attachment frees up the one hoof that you would otherwise use with Black Blizzard's hoof-adapter. Put this end into your mouth, then bite down, and then... BANG!" The mint green pegasus explains the new device.

After explaining, Dove tears Black Blizzard's hoof adapter off the revolver and then retreats to train car behind us.

"That's Dove for you. Always taking things into her own hooves, not considering others most of the time."

I turn my head to the driver's seat, the voice belongs to Ace.

"Do you not get along?" I curiously ask.

Ace suddenly shuts off her voice, she obviously didn't want to continue on the subject. So I decide to change it.

"So what's the plan when we get into the city again?"

That got Ace talking again, "First we find a flashy ride to show up in. Then we drive that around town until we find a clothing store. Then we use the cash we got to buy some fancy attire. And if we don't have enough, we'll use our gunpowder discounts."

I'm trapped on a train full of psychopaths headed to a city full of killers. Fantastic.

"After that we'll drive to the Diamond Glass and proceed with the plan... Well, here we are."

The train begins to make an ear-wrenching screeching noise as it comes to a halt.

Dove flies through the train's car door my revolver sitting on her back.

"Perfect timing. I just finished installing the Bullet Biter on your Viper."

The Viper? I ask why she had just called my revolver that.

"Well, it kind of fits don't you think? I mean, with the snake on it and all." She chuckles, as she tosses the gun off of her back and onto mine.

"Also, here's an automatic holster. It's mechanical, so you don't have to worry about pulling the gun out. This baby moves the Viper from your back to your front so all you have to do is blow into the Bullet Biter. It's just easier, and I don't want you fumbling with your gun in the middle of a fight."

They're really putting all their faith in me. I mean, they just met me a few hours ago. And now they're slapping all sorts of gadgets on me so that I can help them kidnap a poor, sickly, defenseless filly.

The mechanical holster is now wrapped around my stomach. It feels like a girdle, except there's gun attached to the small lever on the side of it.

"We'll have to pick up an extra large tuxedo for you, if you're gonna walk into the restaurant looking like that." Ace says, looking at me with a smug look on her face.

"What about you? You'll need an extra large dress too if you're gonna start shooting." I reply with a somewhat witty comeback.

She trots out of the currently docked train, but I can hear her making a side comment to herself, "Smartass."

I shrug, then follow the other mares out of the train. At first, I believed I was in an actual metro station. But then I realized  this was not the case. The glass ceiling above us keeps the sand from collapsing on us. I guess this entire subway was here before the sand engulfed it. The boarding platform is similar to the one we had just departed from, except for the one thing that has changed. There's no exit.

But before I can ask about a way out, Strings trots over to the linoleum wall in front of us. Her horn glows, and then the wall beings to... Move? I shouldn't be very surprised by a secret passage, I've seen weirder today.

Can't see anything in this darkness, but then a ray of light slowly appears from above us. Don't tell me, we're coming out of...

Ace answers me before I can ask, "Yup. A sewer. Get used to it, we'll be using this to get in and out of Caduceus."

I had a feeling we were treading through something like that when a foul stench began to fill my nostrils. The one word I could use at this time to describe the experience would be nasty.

But wait, if we're in a sewer... There should be a ladder leading up to the manhole. But the ray of light seems to be coming from the three holes in the manhole cover, it's certainly not enough to navigate towards the ladder or even see it for that matter.

Then, in the middle of my complaining, something beeps from my hoof.

That's right, I still have that watch-like contraption Blizzard gave me. And I still don't know what it does.

A light green light begins to flicker on and off from the watch, did I turn it on? I must have, but what do these symbols on the screen mean? Confused, I decide to proceed with what seems like the only logical option; push all the buttons until something happens. But as soon as my hoof makes contact with the screen, the watch begins to glow and shine. I look up, and I see something that I've never seen before.

Tiny little symbols hovering over the watch and rotate around it. I come to the conclusion that these are projections of some sort, I'm not sure if this is science or magic or a mixture of both! One of the tiny, green, projected boxes has a symbol on it that looks almost like a lantern. My hoof is drawn to it, and I try to touch it. The symbol disappears as my hoof goes through it, the other symbols follow.

What did that accomplish?

*BEEP*

Then, suddenly, a bright ray of light beings to protrude from the watch forward.

"Hey, thanks for showing us the ladder kid." Ace says, as she reaches the top of the ladder.

Embarrassed, I slowly trot to the ladder and follow everypony. The light intensifies, and soon engulfs everypony on the red ladder. My eyes adjust easily, but that's because the light isn't that bright at all. In fact, the light seems to be coming from a dying... Street lamp?

I emerge from the manhole, and place the cover back on the sewer entrance. And to my surprise, I find myself standing in a dark alley under the moon.

"It's already night?" I ask.

Nopony replies. And I follow them out of the alleyway awkwardly. As we exit the dark space between buildings, we come out into an empty street similar to that of the city I woke up in. The only difference is, the streets are smooth with no cracks and vegetation doesn't completely engulf the buildings.

I look around the street. All around me I see ponies smoking and drinking, and the ones that weren't were either fighting or lying on the cement.

The beautiful outer view of the city seems to have lied to me. I imagined a peaceful metropolis filled with bustling business ponies in suits and dresses. Not... Drug addicts, alcoholics, and gang members.

"We need to move fast. I don't want to get caught up with any fights before we even get to the hotel." Ace says, as she gallops down the empty street.

After following for about five (5) minutes, Ace stops near a stationary vehicle. A black limousine parked outside a worn-down apartment building.

I speak, "We're not going to--"

*SMASH*

Of course we are. The skin coloured mare has just broken the driver's seat window of the limousine.

"Don't you ever think about what could go wrong with anything you do?" I sigh, with my face in my hoof.

As she unlocks the doors from the inside, Ace replies, "Of course I do. There's nothing wrong with just keeping the window down the whole time."

Sarcastically I ask, "So you just planned on finding this exact thing in front of this exact building?"

"Of course not. But I was sure that we would find one eventually."

There's no use, I give up on trying to argue with this pony.

As each member of the team climbs into the limousine, I hear loud shouts come from the apartment building in front of us.

"Hey! They're stealing your limousine!" A male voice shouts from above.

I look up, and see a young teenage pony in a tuxedo pointing at us. Two (2) other ponies, a filly and a colt, stand near the window and gasp at us.

"Thief! Stop them!" One of them shouts.

Dove pops her head out of the limousine's sunroof and shouts, "Get in the car idiot!"

Before I can open the door, Ace begins to drive the limousine off without me.

"Wait!" I shout for help, but I'm soon scooped up by a soft feathery wing onto the roof of the car.

Before I thank the pegasus who saved me, I stick my head down into the sunroof and face the driver's seat, "What was that?! Were you trying to leave me behind?!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Anyways, it's not like I wouldn't come back for you."

I'm starting to lose more and more hope in this girl.

But before I can get into another heated debate with her, another voice begins to quietly speak to me, "U-Uh... Do you mind... Moving?"

I realize that I had stuck my entire body in sunroof with Dove still in it! I pull myself out and back onto the roof, and the pegasus has her back pressed against the rim of the opening. An awkwardly uncomfortable smile creeps onto her face as she tries not to look directly at me.

Blushing, she slowly lowers herself back into the limousine. And I follow soon afterwards.

The inside of the limousine is slick and clean. Chrome black material lines the walls and floors. Two (2) rows of velvet seats run along the sides. It's extremely spacious, so spacious that there's enough room in here to fit a cooler! In fact, I spy one in the far corner of the vehicle.

"From the looks of things, it probably belonged to some students who were on their way to a dance of some sort. Maybe a prom?" Strings says, as she calmly raids the beverage cooler.

Her horn glows, as bottles and cans begin to pile up on the seats, "They won't be missing these." She says, "Or maybe they will. No matter, that's what they get for leaving the keys in the ignition for anypony in Caduceus to take."

A dance huh, well I guess that's-- Aggh!

My head suddenly begins to hurt. What is this?! So many thoughts swirling in my head, I feel like I'm having an earthquake in my brain!

"H-Hey! What's wrong?!" Dove asks, as she kneels down to check on me.

My eyes shoot open, I must look like someone who's overdosed on some kind of drug. Everything's going out of focus, now it's fading... Is death approaching me? I can't die now... I need to find...

SHIZUKA...!