Metro: Canterlot Line

Sprocket was sat on a bench near the exit gate alongside the caravan members, they all looked like they travelled the tunnels frequently and, like Sprocket, didn’t at all fit in with the inhabitants of this station. The leader of this caravan had a pull cart next to him containing crates of ammunition and racks of weapons.

“I don’t think your friends coming...” Began the leader “We’re running late as it is”

“Just hold on for another minute...” Replied Sprocket as calmly as he could manage and as he said that Vinyl came rushing down the street with a rucksack and floating in front of her was a pistol

“Well...” Thought Sprocket “At least she’ll be able to shoot in the general direction of anything that tries to attack us”

“Right then” Started the leader “We’ll begin our journey down the longest metro tunnel in Equestria” the exit doors creaked open and the darkness ahead seemed like a wall, displaying the existence of rational life. And with that the caravan began their journey with lanterns and head torches for light and in complete silence.

It had been about 5 minutes since they left the station, Vinyl was doing her best to keep up with Sprocket who had insisted he stay near the front of the caravan

“Ponies at the back are more likely to get picked off in the darkness” Sprocket had explained to Vinyl “And ponies at the front are most likely to see any dangers ahead, I’d rather be at the front than the back myself”

There was the faint flicker of a broken metro light, sparks emitting from the bulb as it did so. The hauntingly quiet metro tunnel was overgrown as the ponies navigated their way through the various shrubs that had grown from the dirt under the tracks and from the dirt in the walls. A single brick fell into a puddle and sent water all over the ponies in the middle of the caravan, and everything returned to its eerily quiet state. Navigating the metro seemed like a simple task but it was not, the overgrown tunnels usually were home to some of the most vicious and ruthless ponies and mutants in all of the Equestrian Line as well as the life in the tunnels the plant life usually blocked vision of irradiated water and holes, one misjudgement of the depth of a puddle and it could kill a pony instantly.

The cart creaked as the leader pulled it along the shrubs, the caravan members quiet as ever. This was the opposite of what caravans were supposed to be like

“Why’s everypony so quiet?” Inquired Sprocket checking his filter timer

“This part of the tunnel is known for the amount of bandits and mutants that infest it” Replied a caravan member simply “It’s best to remain quiet for the beginning of the journey” Sprocket simply nodded, not that anypony could see it, and returned to scanning the darkness in front of him. There was a sudden gust of wind causing the entire tunnel to pipe up, creating a sound much like screaming. Vinyl stayed closer to the caravan after this, hoping that the noise wouldn’t occur a second time. She wasn’t used to this; she was a DJ who played music for a club in the most sophisticated station in all of the Canterlot Line. There was a sound of movement from the tunnel, followed by the sound of feet splashing through irradiated puddles. The whole caravan readied their weapons with the exception of Vinyl who edged towards Sprocket, the sounds stopped for a second and most members relaxed and lowered their weapons. However this was short lived and the noise was replaced by the screaming of a pony at the back of the caravan, the other members at the back shot wildly towards the noise making the tunnel flash. Aiming his weapon calmly at the noise Sprocket held his hoof over the trigger ready to fire if anything should leap out towards him or Vinyl

“Everypony get towards me” Stated the leader calmly “And form a circle” Vinyl quickly ran to the centre of the rapidly forming circle as the ponies with the guns looked into the darkness, there was a sound of more movement and something flew out of the darkness towards Sprocket. Hitting it aside with the stock of his weapon and pointing the barrel at it he realised that it wasn’t a mutant and was instead the half eaten corpse of the caravan member that had been dragged into the darkness by the mysterious attacker. Vinyl couldn’t believe her eyes and closed them to block out the sight of the corpse

“We’re one pony down” Declared Sprocket standing back up and taking aim into the darkness “Get ready for the fight of your lives...”

The caravan stood there for what seemed like an eternity, the darkness still surrounding them and the tunnel still as eerie as ever. The attacker had yet to make his next move, and thoughts of resuming their travel took over the minds of most of the members

“The attacker must have fled” Stated the leader “We should be safe to return to travelling” the leader took a step forward and was struck down by a mutant flying out from the darkness. Sprocket quickly shot at the mutant making it collapse onto the leader, offering him a hoof up Vinyl stepped away from Sprocket as he cocked his rifle preparing for a second mutant

The ponies slowly walked towards the cart containing ammunition and began to pull it, everypony but the leader and Vinyl had their weapons readied in case of another attack. All fell silent in the tunnel and there was another broken metro light emitting a flicker. The horrifying image of a Mutant sat next to the light, it flickered again and the mutant was closer. And again, and again until the mutant was in flashlight range, Sprocket aimed his rifle as calmly as he could and sighed.

Why did he leave his home for this?

He pulled the trigger and the tunnel flashed as the mutant fell dead to the floor, the caravan resumed it’s slow advance once again.