Chapter 20: Propter cordis

An extremely nauseous feeling overtook me, starting from deep inside my belly and moving upwards towards my maw. Bile splurted out in the back of my throat and I leaned on the side for support, gasping for air as I clutched my belly. Dark sky looked at me with concern.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

I simply nodded as the nausea slowly faded, beads of sweat forming on my forehead. I glanced down at my belly. *Oh god, I hope it wasn’t…* I thought sadly.

“Ready?” Dark sky pointed at the front window.

I stared nervously at the bunker that was rising in the distance as we got closer, its small but solid cube shape casting shadows in the deepening evening sun.

“The holding cells are underground,” Dark sky explained quickly as the guard drove the rumbling carriage closer. “Its past the command center here, a couple corridors down the left if I remember correctly.”

“When was the last time you were here?” I asked with a nervous smile.

Darksky chuckled, “Back when I was a recruit I think.”

“Greeeeat…” I sighed. I looked up at the imposing bunker that steadily drew closer, just when my pipbuck started popping red lights on its S.A.T.S, indicating the presence of enemies. I nudged Dark sky and pointed at the top. She took out a pair of binoculars and held it to her face. She gave a low whistle.

“.50 cal machine gun turrets, snipers up on the roof and the top of the canyon rock walls. I count at least 15 guards just from the entrance alone.” She grimly said before lowering her binoculars. She patted the driver on the shoulder and pointed at one of the canyon walls that ran perpendicular to the bunker nestled in the rock face. He nodded in acknowledgement.

I laid a hoof on Little Mac, keeping count of the number of rounds I had in my inventory. It’s always a good idea to keep track of your ammunition.

The carriage screeched to a stop alongside a rocky outcrop with jagged spikes. The outcrop was high enough that it shielded us from vision and detection, but there was no possible way to get closer without getting seen by Blackheart’s guards.

“Final stop.” Dark sky grimly said, and nodded at me. “Let’s go.”

I stretched nervously one final time before disembarking the carriage and grouping with the other renegade rangers, sliently in defensive formation with weapons pointing outward.

“Where are we going?” I quietly asked Dark sky as I went into the center of the formation, Little Mac out of my holster and ready.

“If I’m not wrong, there should be a secret tunnel that acts as an escape for the bunker during emergencies. It should be somewhere ahead in these rocky outcrops.” Dark sky whispered back, all the while alertly scanning the environment with her silenced rifle.

She pointed at a cave in one of the outcrops. Just faintly I could see a couple guards in the shade over there flanking what seemed like a metal trapdoor. These poor souls seemed to be dozing off, otherwise they would have spotted us by now.

Dark sky grinned at me. “I’m rarely wrong.”

She gave a hoof signal and the formation moved forward towards the cave.

It took only a moment to eliminate the incompetent guards outside, with silent gurgles of death as they were strangled quickly.

I tried to move silently, but the pounding of my own heartbeat in my ears seemed to be like the rumble of thunder. Dark sky quickly shouldered her rifle and grabbed the handle of the trapdoor. Two soldiers immediately aimed down the sights, ready for anything when the door opened. Dark sky nodded at the pair and yanked. The trapdoor opened with a rusty screech, and for a moment with my heart in my mouth at the noise, I half expected legions of ghouls and raiders to come rushing out of the black abyss.

But nothing happened.

The soldiers turned on their torches and I saw that we were looking down a dark corridor, with concrete walls all cracked and flaking on either side. This place, I surmised, must have been one of the underground bunkers that had the luck to survive the megaspells. Though it obviously didn’t go unscathed.

Darksky pointed a hoof at two of the soldiers. “Firefly, Spiketail. You two stay here. Guard this place and make sure we can get out.” She whispered.

The two ponies nodded in unison and faded into the shadows on either side of the outcrop and took up overwatch positions.

Dark sky looked at me, and I nodded back with grim determination.

“Let’s do this.” I replied.

I descended down a concrete staircase into the dark, holding Little Mac at the ready while Dark sky followed suit. The air was musty down here, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. We moved slowly, with careful hoof steps so as to prevent as much noise as possible. In corridors like these, echoes can disturb and invite unwanted company. I blinked quickly as my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

We have barely gone more than 100 meters before Dark sky grabbed my shoulder urgently, while raising a hoof, signaling her squad to stop. Every pony jerked to a halt. I stayed still, hardly daring to breathe. That was when I noticed it, a faint groaning and hissing sound in the darkness. The corridor was pitch black, and Dark sky took out her torch and attached it onto her silenced rifle. She aimed down the corridor and turned on the beam of light.

What I saw chilled me to my bone.

The floor was littered with the bones of ponies, and lying snug around to the left side of the walls was a humungous dark shadow, but the sight that freezes our blood was the heaving of the shadow’s chest as it slumbered, as well as the claws that were as long and sharp as swords protruding out of its reptilian hands.

Dark sky quickly turned the torchlight down to its minimum, eye’s bulging in her head, as well as the soldier ponies behind her. She looked at me with an urgent expression and slowly raised a hoof to her mouth, signaling us to be ABSOLUTELY quiet and still. Pointless I thought for myself, since I was frozen with such cold fear that it felt like my whole body is rooted to the ground.

Dark sky slowly turned around and signaled to the rest of the squad to move in a single file, around the beast. One by one they moved slowly, sneaking as carefully as possible to the right side of the hallway and trying their damnest to avoid the bones of Celestia knows what, or rather who, on the floor.

I held my breath as I scuttled to the right side wall, giving the deathclaw a wide berth. My heart beat thumped in my chest and I dared not breathe even though my lungs burned with want for air. My heart beat was so loud it sounded like war drums in my ears.

The deathclaw twitched and shifted, prompting all of us to stop, hooves on triggers. But I knew it was futile, we simply do not have the firepower right now to deal with a deathclaw, in close quarters no less. We would be all ripped to shreds!

Thankfully though, the deathclaw rumbled and went back to sleep, content with its meal of some hapless pony unfortunate enough to be thrown in here by Blackheart. None of us showed any signs of relief, however, but did our best to focus on getting out of here in one piece.

It took another 15 minutes of skittering, but soon enough we were all past the devil-beast. We slowly trotted and sneaked to the other end of the corridor, where a metal vault door awaited. It looked really secure, with its number pads and locks that looked just like Stable-tec security.

“FUCK! Now what?!” I hissed under my breath and looked at Darksky. We talked as quietly as we dared, fearing the worst if the demon behind us caught wind. The soldiers took up silent firing positions behind us, aiming down the dark corridor where the deathclaw lay.

“Shut up and come here!” Dark sky hissed back while beckoning at my pipbuck. I understood immediately and trotted over.

“Do you know this lock? I’ve never seen anything like this in my Stable.” I whispered.

“Only once,” Dark sky whispered back. “It’s a double layer security type. The electronics need to be hacked AND the lock picked at the same time. If we don’t unlock both in a window of 3 seconds the alarm will sound and the door will be locked out for an hour, which we can’t afford. That’s the only way to crack it. Impossible for one pony to do. But then there’s us.”

She looked at me. “You still know how to hack? We only have one shot here…”

I gulped in nervousness. “I-its been a while… but I think I still know the basics.”

Dark sky sighed. “That will have to do. Remember, only on my mark, then enter in the proper code.”

I nodded, and quickly plugged in my pipbuck into the maintainence jack on the door as Darksky used her magic to float out her lockpicking tools. She got to work on the lock immediately as my pipbuck’s hacking software came back online. The screen brought up all of the data entered through the lock’s software, with words intermingled within them. It all came flooding back to me now, and I knew what I had to do. I had only 3 tries in this system, but my eyes widened when I saw the impossible number of words scrambled across the screen.

Sweat dripped down my back as I looked at the screen, dumbfounded. Caution, goddesses, convicted, ponykind, principles..etc.

I tried to look for a common denominator, but the words made no sense to me. I gingerly pressed on the word ‘principles’. If I knew blackheart, he was very ideological. It only made sense for him to put deep words first.

But it was wrong. The tries counter ticked to 2 and it showed that only 2 letters was right. I cursed quietly and prayed to Celestia. My hoof hesitated before moving over to ‘Caution’. Blackheart always prized caution. I pressed the button.

Nope, wrong again.

I only had one try left.

“Ready?” Dark sky looked up. Her picks in position at the lock.

“G-give me a sec...” I stammered.

My hoof that had the pipbuck shook in fear, making it hard to see the screen as my sweat also dripped down on it. I hastily rubbed it away.

What would Blackheart put? My mind drifted back to our first meeting together. He was going on and on about how ponies are bad and how they would never change….. but somehow I don’t think he fully believed that himself otherwise I would be in a much worse state….

A groan and rumble behind me shook the corridor. It appears the beast had awoken.

“Hurry up!!” Dark sky urgently hissed.

I stared at my pipboy’s shaking screen, mind hazy in fear… and it suddenly occurred to me.

“Done!” I pressed the answer. Dark sky followed suit and turned the lock. They both clicked.

The door whirred in action and the locks clanged, and it finally swung open.

“Hurry! ALL OF YOU THROUGH THE DOOR!” Dark sky shouted.

Every pony galloped through, just as there was a terrifying roar that shook the place. It seems that he was finally onto us.

Without thinking, once the last soldier ran through, we slammed ourselves against the door heaving it shut on its rusty hinges as the ground shook with greater intensity.

The deathclaw was almost upon us when the door mercifully clanged shut and the locks reactivated.

Our motley crew of renegade ponies sat and tried to catch our breath. I shivered. We were this close to being reptile chow. I sighed in relief and thanks the stars.

Dark sky chuckled out loud. “We could NOT have cut that any closer.” She looked at me, impressed. “Seems you still have some of that luck and skill with you. What’s the answer by the way?”

I smiled back, remembering what Blackheart always chided me on.

“Heart”.

Author's Note

Hi all to anyone still following this debacle! I know I said chapter 20 will be the last but its too big to be put in one chapter. I honestly am lacking the motivation to do it all so I think i'll post what i've done so far. This is part 1 of chapter 20. soooo in a sense it will still end at 20. XD

HAHAHA gotcha!