Chapters The gunshots illuminated the horrific surroundings of the decaying metro tunnel as the last few mutants fell into the puddles of irradiated water. The tunnel soon returned to its pitch black state apart from the dim light produced by Corroded Sprocket’s head torch, he returned his bolt action rifle to its strap on his backpack and took a moment to glance at the filter timer on his left hoof.
15 minutes, not nearly enough time to make it to Canterlot Gardens with distractions like this. He began to frantically search the tunnel as the minutes flew by. He kept glancing back at the watch as his time began to run out
5 minutes, the corpses of the mutants had been searched and disposed of and he frantically began to run in the direction of Canterlot Gardens
3 minutes, after briefly stopping to manually recharge his head mounted torch Sprocket began to break into full sprint as the thought of reaching Canterlot Gardens in time became nothing more than an impossible task.
1 minute, in the distance he could see the glint of the spotlights from Canterlot Gardens barricade after taking a shortcut through a different tunnel and encountering a single mutant; seems luck was on his side.
10 seconds, the spotlights had turned out to be farther away than expected and he knew that his oxygen would run out far before he reached the barricade
5 seconds, not a single shred of hope remained in Sprocket’s mind as the final seconds of breathing oxygen passed by, his vision beginning to fade as he started to breathe in the irradiated air from the Metro tunnels and he fell face first into an irradiated puddle.
So this was how it ended for Sprocket. After all that had happened...
******
Several years ago many tests were being performed by a small group of scientists formally belonging to “Neigh Science Laboratories”
The experiments conducted contained not only highly explosive and radioactive chemicals and materials but were conducted in poor, low funded conditions most of the time being in a house, the tests performed usually resulted in no harmful output and therefore the ponies which conducted the experiments thought it safe to continue. But after a few months of testing the tests gave off a result that nopony could have anticipated, the skies turned red as an explosive wave destroyed and irradiated all above ground. Forcing the citizens of Equestria underground, whether that be to places like shelters or basements or the newly constructed metro stations connecting all of Equestria’s largest towns together.
And so life was changed for everypony, fortunes and estates were lost in an instant and families were shattered like a pane of glass. Canterlot was the least effected by radiation and the explosion being lucky enough to be the furthest away from the origin of the explosion. Everypony adapted differently, some instantly changed despite losing everything and the ones with nothing to lose at all became the fastest adapting and usually the leaders of the new colonies spread around the Equestrian metro line.
This however is the story of one ‘Corroded Sprocket’ who was nothing more than a newborn at the time of this and his adventure in the Canterlot Line.
Corroded Sprocket opened his eyes and looked around his room. The tattered furniture and faded posters were a faint reminder that life could never be as it was before his time, he looked at his favourite poster of the Pegasi named ‘The Wonderbolts’ and was reminded of the stories his father had told him before he passed away. Of how The Wonderbolts were a few of the fastest Pegasi in Equestria, and was then reminded of the bitter fact that now Pegasi were used primarily for messaging other towns quickly of events such as rebellions and shortages of supplies, the only time Pegasi were allowed to fly.
Unicorns had their power limited as well; they were to be used as what is best described as a living torch. They were branded the ‘guides of the metro’ but the truth was barely any Unicorns left their home stations and instead stayed there to perform tasks such as the restoration of literature and teaching other ponies how to read and imparting the knowledge of writing to other Unicorns.
And as for Earth Ponies, life remained as it always had. Performing manual labour and the harvesting and growing of crops, despite the fact they were now growing but a few apple trees and usually a large patch of edible mushrooms and irradiated wheat. An apple was considered a luxury in the metro, many bidded against one another in auctions for such a luxury as an apple and a few had been known to give away everything just for a bite of the favoured fruit.
Sighing and taking his sight away from the poster Sprocket trotted towards the small, tattered cupboard in which he kept the food. As the door creaked open he took out a loaf of bread and placed it upon a smashed white plate, it would have been a seemingly normal and boring morning for Sprocket if it wasn’t for the small envelope tucked neatly under the remnants of the plate and surprisingly enough there was a royal seal on the back, why in Equestria would royalty want to communicate with a run of the mill earth pony on the border of the Canterlot line? Shrugging and deciding to find out he tore the envelope open to reveal a tattered piece of parchment and upon it read:
‘Dear Corroded Sprocket,
My pupil, Twilight Sparkle, has pointed out to me that you have an unmatched talent for... put simply, killing things.
And so it is with that I request your presence in the ranks of the Royal Canterlot Guard in Canterlot Gardens station.
Yours faithfully
Princess Celestia’
Reading over the letter a second time Sprocket took a bite from the slightly irradiated bread and thought over this
“Canterlot Gardens is over a fortnights worth of walking” thought Sprocket “But if I could catch rides on the tram systems between cities I might be able to arrive in a week, and I don’t have any way to decline this offer anyway... or any reason to either. I’m stuck in a border station with no job and a lack other ponies to stop me from becoming insane” he took a glance at the duct taped covered bolt action rifle near the door of his room and the, mainly empty, ammunition boxes surrounding it.
“Not nearly enough bullets to keep me alive through a fortnights worth of travel” He continued to think as he took another bite from the bread “And I’d need food and a source of light anyway...” he glanced over to the gas-mask placed on the bookshelf near his bed
“I’d need more filters to even leave the station anyway” He pondered and with that there was a knock on his door, wandering towards it he continued to think over the situation. As the door opened a cyan Pegasus was floating in the doorway with a package on the ground below her
“You’re Corroded Sprocket right?” Inquired the Pegasus
“Yeah...” Replied Sprocket hesitantly “And you ...”
“This package is for you” She replied, cutting Sprocket off mid sentence
“Alright then...” Resumed Sprocket, once again cut off but this time by the Pegasus flying into the tunnels towards the Canterlot line, the package was damp and wrapped in stained brown paper with string holding it down. Sprocket slowly pulled the string and revealed the contents of the package, inside were 2 filters and a box of rifle ammunition. Not exactly enough to reach Canterlot Gardens, but still enough to reach the next market station down the line towards Canterlot, so it was official now. Sprocket was about to leave for the Canterlot Line leaving behind his home and family history for a job working in the royal guard, that was if he even made it to Canterlot Gardens.
As he stepped out of his home stations barricaded doors he received no tearful farewell from anypony, no parting gifts or wishes of a safe journey. He was instead left with the creaking of the creaking gates as they closed behind him, he still had no light and was forced to follow the dimly lit pathway that led to the Canterlot High Estate station where all of the ‘rich ponies’ lived, of course nopony was actually rich in the metro. Mainly because of the fact bits had been forged almost perfectly to the point where anyponies so called fortune could consist of forged bits, of course the sudden burst of bits into the economy caused prices to skyrocket. Small time stalls and family businesses were either shut down or bought out because of bigger, more well known businesses wanting to expand their influence.
The tunnel ahead seemed fairly quiet and Sprocket could hear his own steps over the sound of everything else. As the sound echoed off of the empty walls the time passed slower than ever, with no music or nopony in a caravan to chat to or sing along with travelling the metro became a morale hurting event for anypony that attempted it, and Sprocket wasn’t an exception. Sprocket wasn’t very sociable because of his home station, nopony stayed for more than five minutes unless they were guards – in which case they would keep entirely to themselves until their shifts ended and they returned home – or farmers (who also kept to themselves). Life on the bordering stations were always boring, but living their gives you a view on what life is like in other far away stations. Refugees had flooded through Sprocket’s home station a few weeks back, a flood at the Manehatten Central station caused thousands of residents to either drown or flee their homes. It was heart breaking to see them walk through the stations, sometimes with families and children and other times just children, trying to grow up fast due to the loss of parents or family. One had really gotten to sprocket, a young filly who he only had a small conversation with
“ My parents died during the floods” the filly had explained “My uncle lives in Canterlot Market so I have to move there so I can live with somepony” the filly wore no expression when explaining his parents deaths but Sprocket could tell that on the inside he was completely devastated.
The dim lightning down the tunnel began to stop as Sprocket reached the half way point between his home station and Canterlot High Estate, he would know when Canterlot High Estate was before him because he would be blinded by the spotlights mounted upon the barricades used to keep the horrors of the dark away. Staying alert as possible as Sprocket wandered into the darkness he became paranoid of every little noise, wind through the tunnels was known to cause mysterious sounds and others had claimed to have seen the ghosts of deceased citizens wandering the tunnels. He began to slow down because there had been rumours of thieves hiding in the darkness waiting for single ponies to wander through the tunnel, although he felt he had an advantage with no light but the fact he still produced noise was enough to give away his position to even the most incompetent of thieves and bandits. The sudden sound of a cart making its way down the track shocked Sprocket into hiding behind what seemed to be a chunk of rubble from the roof of the tunnel, and surely enough the tunnel was full of light as a cart inched its way along the tracks. Inside the cart were 4 bandits with flashlights and rifles at the ready, pulling his rifle from the strap on his rucksack Sprocket took aim at the spotlight attached to the front of the cart ready to run as soon as he did so. He fired the shot and the tunnel was plunged into darkness, Sprocket hopped over the rubble and into a maintenance room near the cart closing the door as the flashlights turned on.
The bandits began to yell to one another as they searched the metro tunnel, pushing the door of the maintenance room open enough to put the barrel of the rifle through Sprocket took aim at one of the bandits, taking a moment to look out for any other bandits he fired sending the bandit to the floor and smashing his torch. The other bandits quickly spotted the rifle pointing from the door
“Over there!” Exclaimed the pony who seemed to be the leader, a few shots being fired as he yelled this, Sprocket was lucky enough to have side stepped to a wall for cover as the shots had been fired. Remaining pressed against the wall in darkness he pointed his gun in the direction of the door waiting for the first to walk through so he could shoot and kill quickly. The door slowly opened and light flooded into the room as a pony walked in and immediately Sprocket fired sending the bandit to the ground. He crawled to the doorway and spotted the leader still in the cart, probably preparing to escape and survive another day at the expense of his men. Aiming directly at his head Sprocket fired and he dropped onto the cold steel floor of the cart. There was no sign of the 4th pony and the tunnel was dark so Sprocket assumed that the last bandit had fled. This was ideal for him, the cart was still useable and there was now an open source of ammunition and filters which would last Sprocket at least 2 stations worth of travel.
Taking the bullets and filters off of the corpses he stepped onto the cart and began to manually operate it, sending him down the track at a satisfying speed.
Sprocket had provided enough power to be able to sit down in the dark on his cart to reload his weapon and allow himself a moment of peace as the warm, irradiated tunnel air blew through his mane. The sound of the tracks underneath the cart was sort of relaxing as well the only downside being that he was in the dark, but at least now he had filters.
Filters, he just remembered to check the filter timing on his watch. 5 minutes, at this speed he would reach the Canterlot High Estate in at least 3 minutes and decided to wait until the timer had only one minute remaining to replace his filter which would be more than enough time to do so.
He faintly recalled packing a lighter as well, which could well be a reliable source of light in the tunnel so reaching into his rucksack he pulled out the small, rusted lighter and lit it. Looking around the cart he found a simple lamp with a candle still in a useable state.
“Brilliant...” Muttered Sprocket, opening the lamp and lighting the candle, everything was a little bit brighter now and he could at least see his hoof in front of his face. Taking a moment to double check the timer he resumed manually operating the cart when he began to hear strange noises from the tunnel. At first he passed them off as just the wind but then he realised that it couldn’t be because it sounded like the heavy breathing of a wary pony. Looking over the edges of the cart he didn’t see anything that could possibly be producing such a noise, could he be hearing things? After all that was a long term effect of living in the metro, paranoia and usually many suffered from a lack of sunlight however the sun was emulated using the high powered metro lights powered by the hard working unicorns of Canterlot Power Station.
So finally Sprocket decided to pass the noises off as nothing more than his mane rubbing against the side of his gas mask, taking a seat back to where he was he pulled his rifle closer to him still suspiciously surveying the scene as noises continued to get louder. Suddenly something dripped onto Sprocket’s head, he sighed and prayed to Celestia it wasn’t what he thought it was.
Hesitantly and slowly looking up hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was Sprocket’s fears became true.
On the roof, following above the cart was a mutant. An utterly disgusting looking creature, a pony which had been completely mutated to the point where they were just simply referred to as ‘Mutant’ and this one looked extremely hungry. Of course the complete mutation had caused them to change their eating habits to that of the flesh of other ponies, calmly reaching for his rifle Sprocket stared the beast in its eyes.
Much to his dismay Sprocket’s rifle was not where he left it, and to be honest with himself he was entirely expecting it considering that mutants never travelled alone. So it looked like he’d have to fight the mutants with his bare hooves, this wasn’t going to end well.
Landing a hit on the mutant after many failed swings Sprocket allowed half a second to realise that this trivial fight would probably be the death of him. The first mutant had gone down easily, but the second seemed to be impossible to lay a hoof on and annoyingly enough this one had his rifle and he prayed to Celestia that there wasn’t a third.
The mutant stumbled into the lantern sending it falling to the rail below and smashing it instantly, now he was in complete darkness. Desperately searching the floor for anything flammable he could use as a torch to fend off the mutant he found what felt to be a flare, picking it up and frantically searching his backpack for the lighter he managed to light the ‘flare’ after what seemed to be an eternity.
But of course with Sprocket’s luck it was a stick of dynamite, with a long fuse though. So it wasn’t entirely bad, giving a deep sigh he turned to the mutant who was just about to land an almost fatal blow on Sprocket he managed grab the bolt action rifle from the mutants hoof. Falling to the floor as this happened the mutant turned and looked at the light source, unknowing that it was a stick of dynamite, within an instant Sprocket had a surge of adrenaline run through him. Smashing the stock of the bolt action rifle into the mutants face he punched the mutant off the back of the cart using the stick of dynamite sending him flying into the tracks below as the fuse began to run out. Cocking his bolt action rifle and taking aim Sprocket decided to use the only one liner he had been taught
“See you in Tartarus” he uttered, pulling the trigger and shooting the dynamite. The tunnel behind him became engulfed in flame as the roof and walls collapsed in onto the mutant. And within that brief moment the entire tunnel lit up and Sprocket spotted a small, almost entirely used up, candle on the front of the cart. So quickly memorising it’s position and walking up with the lighter Sprocket was able to successfully light the small candle and sit back again with his rifle. Which now was in desperate need in some kind of repair, the stock had been dented and the barrel had been partially damaged where the mutant had held it. Besides that though, there was nothing wrong with it and it was in a usable state for now but Sprocket doubted he would be able to get through the entire metro with a weapon such as a broken bolt action. In the distance he saw the lights of the Canterlot High Estate and the polished and decorated barricade doors. Which came as quite the surprise to Sprocket according to the books he had read and what he had learnt the station barricades were usually never decorated to give an intimidation factor to the mutants and any rogue ponies wanting to steal from or kill innocent civilians, as the door approached Sprockets cart came to a forced stop and he stepped out of it.
The guards approached him
“Halt! What does a bandit want with this town?” Demanded the guard
“Bandit? Oh, you must be getting that assumption from the cart I arrived in” Replied Sprocket “I happened to have killed the bandit squad that was in control of that particular cart and decided to commandeer it to arrive here faster”
“How can I believe such a story? I need evidence” Sternly stated the guard, gesturing to the body of the bandit in the cart the guard was taken back
“If that isn’t evidence I don’t know what is” Continued Sprocket “Now may I enter? I only need to pass through, I’m on my way to Canterlot Gardens by request of the princess” that was always a way to get around, flaunting a royal invitation was pretty much immunity to any type of crime or ban in the entire metro. Despite lives being changed, everypony wanted to meet royalty or get word to royalty of their existence and that was why royal invitations and royalty were immunity to such heinous acts.
“Y-you may enter” stuttered the guard, shocked by the dead body and stunned by the royal invitation.
And the station door creaked open and the high powered station lights flooded into the dark and lifeless tunnel which had now been blocked because of Sprockets actions. Thinking back, it probably wasn’t his best idea.
The High Estate station was utterly beautiful, rather than tents and sleeping bags the station had been entirely transformed to almost a perfect representation of pre-explosion architecture, the walls were covered in beautiful apartment buildings and the rails had been bricked over and transformed into a path with street lights around it. Benches and metal bins were a common sight and the roof of the station had been painted over blue and detailed illustrations of clouds were scattered around it. This was truly the place of anyponies dreams, the citizens themselves were very welcoming. Whether that be because word of the invitation or killing had got around or the fact that they may be like this to everypony. Taking a few more moments to believe his eyes Sprocket wandered towards the market area which still looked just like pre-explosion architecture. Decorated stalls with buckets of food and various other items spread along tables and displayed for sale, he wandered towards the ammunition stall which, typically, was built into the wall and a pane of bulletproof glass separated the customer from the products and stall owner.
“I’d like to buy a few rounds for my bolt action rifle” Implied Sprocket
“How many?” replied the shopkeeper, uninterested in anything except what he wanted to buy
“Four boxes” Stated Sprocket trying to keep the conversation formal, the shopkeeper turned away and picked up four boxes of rifle ammunition, placing them on the counter on his side of the glass.
“200 bits” Demanded the shopkeeper, sighing and placing a small bag onto the counter the shopkeeper greedily pulled the bag through to his side and pushed the ammunition onto Sprocket’s side. Turning away without any farewell Sprocket wandered towards what looked like the place to get a drink around this station
“I’m gonna need a drink after travelling through those tunnels...” Stated Sprocket under his breath
Sprocket stepped into the building, it was in fact a club, not exactly ideal for Sprocket as he wanted to think while relaxing with a drink but he could still manage to drink. Taking a seat near the bar the music in the club slowly deafening Sprocket he signalled to the barkeeper
“Get me anything” Yelled Sprocket over the sound of the music which grated on Sprocket’s nerves so much, the barkeeper nodded and passed him a glass full of what seemed to be slightly irradiated vodka.
“5 bits” Stated the barkeeper, Sprocket tossed the bits towards him and took a sip from his drink turning to the DJ of the club. It was a strangely familiar looking pony with a white coat and blue mane wearing a peculiar pair of purple glasses. He thought over the books he had read, of course this was Vinyl Scratch or more known as “DJ-PON3” rolling his eyes and turning back to the bar Sprocket took a larger sip of his drink. He was going to need it if he was to put up with this music which grated on his nerves to an unbelievable extent, he began to gather his wits about him and think where he would have to go next.
The hours had flew past and Sprocket had made his way through 5 glasses of vodka, the music still playing and he still struggled to ponder upon where his next destination would be. Suddenly the club went quiet
“Oh thank Celestia...” thought Sprocket, finishing off his current glass of vodka, maybe now the annoying DJ would change to somepony who wouldn’t use as much volume as DJ-PON3. A new song began to play as the DJ had, as Sprocket though, changed. Sprocket ordered another vodka; he was growing quite fond of the drink but decided this would be the last order from him. Sprocket noticed the seat next to him had a new pony sat on it, turning his head to look who it was he immediately looked back at his drink. It was that annoying DJ, DJ-PON3, that had played that annoying music. One thought rushed through his mind
“Please for the love of all things, don’t breathe a word to me” He thought repeatedly
“Sir?” Inquired the barkeeper “Pay the bits please” reaching quickly into his pocket and producing the bits he grabbed the glass and quickly drank it all. Extremely eager to leave
“You’ve been here all day” said a voice
“Aw crap...” Thought Sprocket “She’s started talking...”
“Is there something wrong?” Inquired the DJ
“Nope, just have a long journey ahead of me.” Stated Sprocket in the most serious tone he could manage, keeping his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him
“Really? You seem to be drinking a lot for somepony that knows that he has a long journey” replied Vinyl “So what’s really up?” at this point the DJ was getting on Sprocket’s nerves more than ever
“I...” began Sprocket, the DJ leaned towards him eager to listen “I...”
“You...?” Asked Vinyl
“I CAN’T THINK WITH THIS CURSED MUSIC!” Yelled Sprocket, the music stopped and he could tell the entire club was looking at him, getting up from his seat Sprocket turned to the exit with his bolt action rifle in his hooves.
Vinyl sat looking at the exit, puzzling over this strange pony who had just showed up and yelled that in the middle of a club, after a few moments the entire club returned to its previous state. Also getting up from her seat Vinyl wandered towards the exit.
Sitting on the bench outside Sprocket sorted out his backpack and throwing the empty ammunition boxes into the trash
“So I see you don’t plan on staying for long” Said the familiar voice of Vinyl Scratch, Sprocket let out a heavy sigh
“I don’t intend to, I was summoned by Celestia to join her royal guard at Canterlot Gardens” Replied Sprocket simply, Vinyl gasped
“That’s so amazing! I’ve always wanted to go to Canterlot Gardens!” Exclaimed Vinyl “Hey! I have an idea!” Sprocket prayed this wasn’t going where he thought it was
“There’s a caravan leaving town soon which go to the Canterlot Power Station, 3 stations away from Canterlot Gardens” Began Vinyl “I don’t suppose you’d let me tag along for a few stations?”
“To dangerous” Replied Sprocket, thinking back to the incident in the tunnels on the way here
“I’ll buy a weapon or something...” Uttered Vinyl, disheartened by Sprocket’s answer. Sprocket thought for a few moments
“I don’t want to get anypony injured or killed on the last stretch to Canterlot Gardens...” began Sprocket “The Canterlot Gardens tunnel is known for a large amount of crime and mutants, that’s why they need new guardponies”
“I can get a cart on the last stretch, I have some friends over near Canterlot Market station which can take me straight there... I just need to get there”
“Canterlot Market... that’s two stations away isn’t it?” Replied Sprocket, was he really considering this?
“Yeah, but there’s caravans from here to Canterlot Central” continued Vinyl “And then the only tunnel left is the one to Canterlot Market and that tunnel... well I haven’t really heard much about that tunnel...” she could be good as an information source about which tunnels they were going through, and if there was a caravan then that meant a cart ride to the next station. But knowing the mutants the ride would be the least relaxing travel he would have in his life
“Fine...” uttered Sprocket finally “Just... no music and no yelling when we’re walking through tunnels...” Vinyl leaped for joy
“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed “I have a friend in Canterlot Gardens that I haven’t seen since this explosion business, I doubt she even remembers me but I’ll hopefully get to see her!”
“Just... go get this weapon you talked about and we can find the caravan leaving for Canterlot Central” Sighed Sprocket as the excited unicorn paced around him
“I’ll meet you at the exit gate!” chirped Vinyl “Just don’t leave without me!”
“Oh... how I wish...” thought Sprocket
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.
PART / ACT 1 FINALE - Getting sidetracked
It had been a good couple of hours travelling through the tunnel and the caravan had decided to make camp in a large supply cupboard, boarding the door and lighting a lantern the leader began to try and light a fire in the centre of the supply room as the others barricaded the door they entered through.
“Sprocket, is this what it’s always like travelling through the tunnels?” Asked Vinyl nervously as she sat near the lantern
“I couldn’t tell you myself, but I can guess that this is a prime example of tunnel travelling” Replied Sprocket as he sat down with his rifle “It should be safe to take off our gas masks in here, the Canterlot power station provides energy to the air filters in these supply rooms so travellers can make camp, at least that’s what I’ve been told”
“And you’ve been told correctly” Replied the caravan leader, removing his gas mask as the other caravan members did.
Everpony looked so different but had many similarities, cuts and scars over the faces of many of the caravan members was not a uncommon sight and didn’t surprise Sprocket at all. He looked at the fire in the centre of the room and moved towards it as did Vinyl. And the festivities of the caravan began, drinking and joking as stories and banter occurred between many of the members, listening keenly to this Sprocket accepted the glass of vodka he was offered. Vinyl seemed to decline all offers of drinks from the caravan members and stuck with the food and drink she had packed in her rucksack.
As time progressed and the fire began to burn out ghost stories and tales of haunted tunnels began to be told by the leader of the caravan, most of the time from personal experience (Which worried Vinyl greatly)
Vinyl had trouble getting to sleep because of the ghost stories, she wasn’t easy to scare but after all she had experienced today the stories told by the leader of the caravan seemed like precise reports with every horrifying detail included. As she finally began to settle down she heard bangs from the barricaded door, nudging Sprocket as violently as she could the other caravan members noticed this to, hurriedly putting on their gas masks. Sprocket rose and he slipped his gas mask on, Vinyl did the same as Sprocket took aim over her shoulder at the door. The wooden barricade slowly giving way, the door collapsed revealing a group of bandits at the door
“Give us that cart” Began the bandit, slowly turning to Vinyl “And her too!” Sprocket stood in front of Vinyl, as much as he disliked her he didn’t want to see anypony else in the caravan die or go missing.
The bandit at the back stepped forth holding what seemed to be a homemade flamethrower being pointed directly at Sprocket
“Easy now...” began Sprocket
“Lower your weapon!” Squeaked a voice behind the gas mask, Sprocket’s mind worked the quickest it ever had trying to figure out a way he could dispatch these bandits quickly so they wouldn’t have a chance to fire off a round to injure, or worse kill, anypony. After a minute Sprocket lowered his weapon
“It’s impossible...” Thought Sprocket “They thought this through... dammit...” one of the caravan members hesitantly pushed Vinyl towards one of the bandits. Sprocket began to shake a little from anger, he felt helpless. How could he, a future royal guard, let a few bandits take somepony without so much as trying to fight back, as they turned their backs he went to pick up his rifle being stopped by the caravan leader.
“They would only kill her if you so much as aimed at them” he whispered to Sprocket “And besides, we’re running off of schedule... I’m sorry but you’ll have to leave her” this made Sprocket even more angry, it was the caravans idea to rest here and now they were telling him not to try and save a pony in danger. However he did admit that perhaps it would be best to tail the bandits to a darker, perhaps more secluded area of the metro, before making his move.
A minute or two after the fiasco the bandits had made their way into the darkness and the caravan began packing to move on despite the loss of the cart.
“I’m sorry I won’t be joining you for the rest of the journey” Uttered Sprocket “I’m going after those bandits...” the caravan leader nodded
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that” Began the leader “I’ll tell you what, if you get that cart back and to the station I’ll give you half a cut of the profit” a business proposal at a time like this?
“Well I guess...” Replied Sprocket, confused about this out of the blue offer
“Well, you’ll need these in that case” Stated the leader passing him a few filters “I heard rumours of a bandit camp along the side tunnels before we left, they may be camped there” Sprocket nodded and turned away from the members of the caravan
“You’ll need this too” Stated the leader throwing a head-mountable torch at Sprocket which he caught in his magic and placed atop his head
“Thanks, I’ll see you at Canterlot Central then” Yelled Sprocket as he walked into the darkness alone once again and in search of the pony he had lost so quickly. His voice echoed off of the empty tunnels as darkness surrounded him.
He was gonna make those bandits pay for making him get sidetracked like this.
Hey!
Glad I could finally publish the first act / part because I've been trying to finish it for a while now.
Hopefully you've enjoyed if you've read this far and I'd expect the next whole ACT / PART to be out in about 2 or 3 weeks, I don't want to give any fixed release dates and that's just an estimate but I still hope to release whole "ACT / PART"s as one bulk upload.
Thanks for reading this far!
Vinyl wandered along in the middle of the bandit group that had captured her, the pony holding the flamethrower had been revealed to be named “Elemental Fire” a unicorn who was once a great student at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns but had unfortunately lost his mind in the process of losing his family to the explosion. His closest friend, the group’s leader, named “Quick Shot” was an earth pony who once trained the guards archery division but was kicked out after an attempted assault on a co-worker. And the silent bandit with tinted glass on his gas mask was known simply as “Lucky” apparently he had escaped death on multiple occasions through sometimes luck and other times at the cost of others his past was not one he was proud of, so Vinyl was told. The other members had simply been referred to as a collective, all losing their individuality and simply labelled as ‘Grunts’ and it was this group that gave Vinyl her first glimpse at the saddening life in the Equestrian Metro.
The tunnels all looked the same and Vinyl felt extremely isolated and scared, the bandits around her had not spoken to her since they stole her away from the caravan and as her mind went back to the caravan she frowned and remembered Corroded Sprocket, his determination to protect her was met with only the harsh realisation that despite him having a weapon he was no match for a group without the support of the caravan members. She became angry, the other caravan members... she remembered how they stood and watched as Sprocket showed intentions of declining the bandits demands and simply did nothing but encourage giving her to the bandits so they could resume their march to Canterlot Central. The bandit group piped up once more, beginning their agonisingly boring conversations about how much they had stolen and bragging killing other ponies. It made Vinyl sick, but at the same time sorry for the group. They didn’t fit in with the stations and were exiled forcing them into a lifetime of crime and violence gaining their satisfaction from the death of others and stealing from innocent metro travellers, rich and poor.
The sound of the stolen cart creaking as it was pulled echoed off of the empty walls of the tunnel leading Quick Shot to tell a tale
“I remember passing through these tunnels and hearing a sound just like that” Began Shots “You ever heard the tale of the haunted tunnels, prisoner?” Vinyl looked up, oh great they were talking to her.
“I’ve heard tales” Stated Vinyl simply, checking her filter timer “But they’re all just made up”
“That’s what you believe, the tales are true and you’d do well to remember that when travelling through a haunted tunnel such as this” Replied Shots in a matter of fact tone “Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?” Vinyl pondered
“Don’t you feel like somepony is watching you?” Continued Shots without looking at her, Vinyl thought about it and realised that she had been feeling it this entire time she shuddered and shook her head. No, she only felt that way because he just mentioned it... didn’t she?
“As I thought” Sighed Shots “We best keep moving else the thing watching us might appear from the darkness, and we wouldn’t want that would we Lucky?” Lucky remained silent staring ahead of the group, Vinyl swore she saw him shudder a little bit.
As the group proceeded into the darkness the scurrying of small feet along the tunnel floor could be heard, Shots put up his hoof to stop the rest of them from advancing.
“Rodents...” Muttered Shots he stood in silence for a moment glancing over to Elemental “We won’t be using the flamethrower for now. We should advance further, that was only a small pack of them” Vinyl had more questions now, rodents? Packs of rodents?
“Why did we stop for... rodents?” Inquired Vinyl
“The rodents are probably the most horrific creature in the entire metro” Stated Shots simply “They can spread disease quite easily and in large groups have been known to wipe out entire stations within seconds. Guns and explosions do basically nothing whereas fire kills them almost instantly you can never predict rodent invasions, that is why we are so afraid of them”
“The base is up ahead” Muttered one of the grunts to another “Rodents so close to it isn’t a good sign...” Shots turned his head and the grunts cowered at this movement
“Do you have something to say to the group?” Inquired Shots in an eerily calm tone the grunt remained silent “Then be silent” and the group resumed their silent march through the tunnel.
Sprocket was a long way behind the bandits and he began to tire of wandering down a seemingly endless tunnel with nothing to show for it, he clutched his rifle as the feeling of being watched lingered in his mind. It was practically mocking him, something was watching him and he could do nothing about it and he didn’t even know who (or what) it was. The charred walls of the tunnel seemed identical, the floor gave no clues as to where he was and the roof was nowhere to be seen as well as this he had no idea if there were any turns that the bandits may have taken to get to the Lower Estate. He thought over his situation Vinyl had been kidnapped and he was in a dark and gloomy ‘haunted’ tunnel with only the crying pony in front of him, where did he go from here?
Hold on... crying pony?
Sprocket couldn’t believe his eyes, a blue crying pony was ahead of him what was this trickery? One moment he could see barely a few meters in front of him and now he could see a crying pony at the end of the tunnel. He looked around for an explanation but there was nothing but the train behind him.
His mind went back again, a train?
He squinted and sure enough behind him was a large train coming towards him at an alarming speed with a bright light on the front of it. He glanced at the crying pony and running over to her attempted to push her out of the way of the train but as soon as his hooves made contact with her she disappeared leaving only the train moving towards him. Sprocket closed his eyes, ready to accept death at the hands of this train.
Nothing happened, opening his eyes and looking around the darkness he found himself stood a few meters away from where he started. This tunnel... it was playing tricks on him as if he was nothing more than a pawn in a sick and twisted game of chess, deciding to advance regardless Sprocket began back on his journey down the tunnel accompanied by the thoughts that something else like that was going to happen soon.
After a solid 5 minutes of wandering down the tunnel nothing obvious had happened, there had been the odd sound of rodents scurrying along the metro floor but nothing major aside from that. He looked behind him again in paranoia of the tunnel and sure enough there was... something, he couldn’t describe it very well besides it was a circular yellow light that was extremely dim.
The dimness of the light was almost haunting not illuminating anything around it but standing out like a sore hoof. Sprocket hesitantly aimed his rifle at it for whatever reason and focussed on it for a moment... was it getting closer? No it couldn’t be... passing this off as a misjudgement Sprocket began to trot down the tunnel some more beginning to formulate a rescue plan for Vinyl. He was half way through doing so when he decided to look back again.
There it was still, the light... this was odd the light seemed closer. He focussed greatly this time on the eerie yellow light... could it be getting closer?
The light was... it was getting closer, Sprocket stood still as it approached and more details became obvious. The yellow was complimented with a dark orange border and a few red lines coming from the border.
It came closer still, revealing a few more details there was a sign of movement as the red lines disappeared revealing something behind them.
Sprocket stepped back, horrified. This wasn’t a light at all.
It was an eye.
“Remain calm” Thought Sprocket, pulling his rifle out as he placed his hoof on the wall searching for a door to get through “This is just another tunnel trick... it’s not real...” his frantic searching gave a result and he kicked open the door and quickly ran inside as the light began to speed towards him. Taking a turn at the door and running through the small service tunnel he came to a broken catwalk suspended above a large pool of irradiated water. The jump to the other side seemed nearly impossible but with precision and enough speed it could be pulled off. Behind him the light had smashed through the wall, it was no light but nothing more than a worm like mutant. A horrific looking mutant to. It sped towards him. Turning to back to the jump Sprocket broke into full sprint and pushed off the catwalk with all his might forcing it to collapse into the irradiated water below, it was all or nothing.
The mutant continued to give chase to Sprocket as he landed on the other side of the catwalk and resumed his fleeing, the hall ahead was covered in bullet holes which he noted as he ran past them. Ahead was the rotting corpse of a pony wearing similar attire to that of the station guards and Sprocket began to conjure grave ideas of what the bandits had done to the Lower Estate. The mutant continued to give chase smashing the walls behind him and joining the hallway into the metro tunnel as it did so. It was a horrific sight to behold, such destruction and power in an irrational being would scare anypony. Ahead Sprocket could see more ghosts and turned back to the mutant to see that it’s eye was now glowing, so this monster was responsible for the appearance of all the ghosts in this tunnel by using its eye like a unicorn’s horn to create illusions. The metro tunnel rushed past Sprocket as he sped up his running when a surge of adrenaline shot through him cocking his rifle he decided to end this chase once and for all. He jumped and spun around to look behind him and aim at the eye, as he flew backwards through the air he knew this one shot would decide his fate. Taking aim directly at the centre of the mutants eye he prepared to fire, the entire room slowed down as he took aim and the sound of his parent’s voices echoed through his head. Memories of his past also made their way into his head. And with that he slowly, very slowly, applied pressure to the trigger and fired the bullet which would decide his fate.
A Number and a new friend
Vinyl looked around the ‘base’ as the grunts had called it which was a basic wall constructed from scrap metal with a large spotlight attached to the top of it piercing through the darkness of the tunnels. As well of this there were a few gas canisters attached to the wall to provide the ability to fire the wall-mounted flamethrowers near the spotlight, ideal for fighting off the rodents. Shots led Vinyl to the centre of the base which was a large courtyard poorly lit by lanterns suspended above the pathway and decorated with a few dead shrubs.
“You will be living here alongside the other captives” Stated Shots “You will act as a nurse to our injured, a friend to our downtrodden and a trainer to the recruits”
“But... I can’t do any of that...” Replied Vinyl nervously
“You will do that or be killed” Resumed Shots “From now on you are not allowed to speak or communicate with any other captives unless asked a question by a bandit. And your name from now on will be ‘28’ which means you’re the 28th captive to be brought here. If and when you die your number will be passed along to another living captive, this is your life now. Appease us and you will have the chance of joining us, disappoint us and you will be given no other reward than death.” Vinyl said nothing, her mind on Sprocket and what he was doing right now. So much for going to Canterlot Gardens to find her friend now she was without anypony she knew and was not allowed to speak
“You begin duties tomorrow, you may sit in your quarters until then” finished Shots pointing a hoof at a poorly constructed workers shed built into the back wall of the base, the furthest point from the entrance. She simply nodded and trotted into the hut where she sat and stared at the wall entering a state of denial and depression wishing for her freedom again. And slowly she could feel it, her individuality being drained from her slowly as with the grunts.
She was a number now, nothing more.
The bullet flew straight into the mutant’s eye and all the way through it killing it almost instantly although it did spew a peculiar cloud of gas which Sprocket breathed in as he gasped for air, as Sprocket fell rolling onto the ground halting the mutants movement to a halt with eye closed slowly fading into the darkness of the metro. Unlike normal pony deaths mutants tended to fade into the darkness of the metro and as rumour has it they became born again elsewhere. Ahead he could see something, the figure of a pony. Was it another hallucination? No... it couldn’t be, it seemed to real to be a hallucination, taking this time to cock his weapon Sprocket advanced towards the figure.
“Hello there!” Exclaimed the figure rushing towards Sprocket “Lost in these parts of the tunnel are we?! No matter! I’ll guide you to the Lower Estate! Follow me!” and with that the figure rushed off in a direction.
What in Equestria had just happened? He decided to follow the figure, as foolish as it seemed, maybe he could give him some guidance to the bandits encampment or he could even find a market at this Lower Estate station. He set off after the figure as it dashed through the metro until eventually the entire tunnel was filled with the light of a station’s spotlight. The door was rusted and covered in blood and bullet holes, it creaked open as the figure began talking
“I’M BACK! AND I’VE BROUGHT A FRIEND!” The figure bellowed there were two armoured guards pointing guns at Sprocket, placing his rifle back on his rucksack they beckoned him inside the station
“Welcome to the Lower Estate” Greeted the guard “We’ve got the best Vodka in the entire metro” Sprockets eyes widened with glee at the uttering of this, removing his gas mask Sprocket was lead into the main body of the station. Immediately the sight of market stalls scattered all around was a welcoming sight to Sprocket, the traders were bartering and advertising stock while others were too busy to even talk whilst handing out the large wooden mugs of vodka. Could this day get any better?
Sprocket wandered up to the stalls and began to buy the items he needed: Ammo, food, filters and first aid kits.
The bustling crowd came as quite a surprise to Sprocket as the tunnel outside seemed lifeless and empty. A sudden burst of pain went through Sprocket’s head and the area around him changed for a split second back to the gloomy and destroyed metro stations he was used to. He began to cough violently and slowly he began to cough out blood
“You’ve been poisoned” Remarked a familiar voice, the voice of the one who led him here “I knew you would have been after fighting a mutant like that, allow me to help you” there was a slight stinging pain in his shoulder as a needle was jabbed into it and an antidote was introduced into his body. The surroundings turned from bright and happy to dark, gloomy and empty. The stalls were turned over and dead bodies littered the station.
“You’ve been hallucinating” Stated the voice simply “This station has been dead ever since the bandits down the tunnel attacked us a few weeks ago”
“Bandits?” Inquired Sprocket “That’s what I’m looking for...”
“You’re in no state to hunt bandits, you just effectively killed a mutant that has more power than an army of rodents” Remarked the voice “But now I should really introduce myself, I seem to have lost all of my manners in the time my friends and family were ruthlessly slaughtered. The name’s Shattered Cog” he offered a hoof to Sprocket
“Corroded Sprocket” Replied Sprocket simply shaking hooves with Cog who sat down next to Sprocket
“I may regret asking this question after, but why in the metro would you want to look for bandits?” Inquired Cog nonchalantly
“A friend of mine” Began Sprocket “She was captured, I need to get her back”
“Well that’s the bravest pile of manure I’ve ever heard” began Cog “Taking on a base full of bandits isn’t the greatest idea all alone, you’ll need help. And for that matter, you’ll need somepony to attend to the attention from all the mutants you’ll attract by pulling the trigger of that noisy pile of scrap you’ve got” looking at his rifle in an offended manner Sprocket looked at Cog
“Is that an offer?” Sprocket finally said
“It’s an offer that you’ll likely decline” Replied Cog all knowingly
“You’re too smart for your own good”
“I’m told that often”
“Do you meet many ponies often?”
“Used to”
“How many have been killed?”
“Too many”
“And you want revenge?”
“Not at all, though it would be nice to settle the score a little”
“Why are you bothering to help me?”
“You seem good willed”
“And?”
“And you’re the only pony I’ve met who could take down a mutant of that size and power with as little effort as you put in”
The conversation halted there, both ponies thinking about what had been said, picking up his rifle and cocking it Sprocket boldly walked towards the stations exit to resume his rescue mission
“I’d wait a moment” Resumed Cog “There’s good ammo and filters to be had from the bodies” hesitantly Sprocket wandered over to the corpse of a pony which appeared to have once run the general supply stall for the station. The two ponies spent around 10 minutes searching dead bodies in the station, small snippets of conversation occurring at some points between the two as they slowly discovered more about one another
“So you come from the bordering station? Long way to be travelling, and a dangerous route as well” Chattered Cog as he searched the body of the deceased guard hanging over the sandbag wall near the stations barricaded door
“I’ve been invited to join the royal guard at Canterlot Gardens” Stated Sprocket as he stood up from searching the body of a traveller “So what exactly happened here? And I’d prefer detail rather than a brief explanation”
“As I mentioned bandits attacked, that’s all there is to it” Replied Cog avoiding the subject
“There has to be more, like a reason or something” Argued Sprocket opening a safe built into the wall
“Some of the bandits just felt like they needed a sort of recognition, so they attacked a barely known station for fame” Elaborated Cog “They then took the survivors as captives and left the injured to bleed out and grieve over their dead families...”
“And you?” Inquired Sprocket
“I was one of the few they left to bleed out, but unlike the others I had a slight knowledge of first aid and managed to patch the wound while I searched for medical supplies. To no avail of course, the bandits had taken everything that wasn’t on the bodies with them, and that is why we’re searching the bodies” Resumed Cog “I had to shoot my own father to save him the pain of slowly bleeding to death in a disease ridden metro station because they took the medical supplies” Sprocket felt sympathy for Cog but continued the searching
“I’m sorry for your loss... it must have been hard doing that” Stated Sprocket “Maybe you could join me and my friend on the way to Canterlot Gardens, you never know you could meet some new friends over there”
“I might do” Hesitantly replied Cog “And perhaps I’ll join you if you succeed in the suicide mission of assaulting the bandits main base”
“Is that all the bodies checked?” asked Sprocket as he stood up from searching the last of the bodies
“That’s all of them” Replied Cog simply “The bandits set up a few meters down the tunnel and then down a side tunnel”
“Then what are we waiting for” Smiled Sprocket cocking his rifle with the newly attached broken scope atop it “We’ve got some bandits to get even with”
Vinyl had been allowed to wander the small courtyard in her spare time allowing her to maintain what little sanity she had before she began her work tomorrow. Her mind raced back to Sprocket which had become an unexplainable habit of hers lately she always got the slightest bit exited anytime the bandits announced an unknown presence in the tunnels only to get her hopes crushed immediately afterwards by them yelling that it was either a mutant or a bandit returning from patrol. Shots suddenly wandered past Vinyl with an expression of frustration on his face
“Where in Equestria is the patrol we sent out an hour ago?” he yelled to the men atop the barricade
“There’s been no sign of them since they left” Replied the leader of the barricade, turning away from the tunnels to engage in the conversation with Shots.
“This isn’t good...” Sighed Shots kicking the dirt in a frustrated manner “What could have happened to them...”
“Sprocket...” thought Vinyl “Could Sprocket have got the patrol?”
Down in the tunnels shrouded by the darkness of the tunnels lay Cog and Sprocket next to each other aiming down the barrels of their guns surveying the bandit encampment, the spotlight was out and the gas tanks on the wall were just beginning to be shot
“Those tanks” Muttered Sprocket to Cog
“I know what you’re thinking...” Replied Cog with a grin larger than any other “As soon as we do that the entire base is gonna go on red alert, that means you gotta grab your friend and be out before they can do anything to harm her or take her as a hostage and before the mutants show themselves”
“Got it...” Replied Sprocket “Shoot first and ask questions later...”
“Exactly” Grinned Cog as Sprocket pulled the trigger
Vinyl saw it all happen in slow motion, Shots was arguing with the barricades leader as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the base followed by the canisters on the walls exploding sending scrap metal and bricks everywhere. A brick flew past Vinyl just barely missing her, she felt the air from it blow through her mane as she could make out two figures emerging from the darkness of the tunnels, she squinted to see if it was who she thought it was and much to her delight it was. Sprocket and an unfamiliar face emerged both with weapons drawn as the scene continued to play in slow motion. Sprocket cocked his rifle and took aim towards something behind Vinyl, she spun around and saw the figure of Elemental emerge from near the cabins at the back with the flamethrower. Another gunshot could be heard as a bullet pierced the flamethrowers gas canisters causing another explosion and sending a wave of grunts flying into walls and generally everywhere. Shots showed himself from under a sheet of scrap metal with a large gash on his forehead and Vinyl felt a hoof on her shoulder, quickly spinning around she saw it was Lucky who she hit away from her as the unfamiliar face she had seen with Sprocket threw a hatchet which barely missed Lucky, taking a strap of his gasmask off and making it tilt. He pushed Vinyl to the ground as violently as he could manage and trotted over to Shots as the embers fell from the top of the tunnel.
“I’m sorry” Exclaimed Sprocket “I’ll be taking my friend back now” the sound of a bolt action being cocked echoed throughout the tunnel as he pointed it directly at Shots who responded by drawing a weapon of his own and sliding into cover and Sprocket fired a round which barely missed him in his slide for cover. Lucky also responded to Sprocket raising his weapon by drawing a large, shining silver revolver with engravings it was a beautiful sight but also it seemed like it would be incredibly powerful he aimed in the general direction of Sprocket and fired.
Sprocket rolled behind a large chunk of brick which had fallen from the roof as the unfamiliar face did the same with a large chunk of metal from the barricaded door.
And all was silent and tense in the tunnel
“You didn’t think this through” taunted Shots “Your friend, 28, will die now” Shots turned to where Vinyl once was to find that she had disappeared, Lucky also turned around to assist in the search for ‘28’ as Sprocket and Cog were unaware of this they remained ducked behind the pieces of cover they had found.
Vinyl had hid inside the ruins of the house which Elemental Fire had been killed outside of, she crawled along the floor searching for something to use to help Sprocket in his fight with Shots and Lucky as she inched towards a sealed cabinet she found a barely hidden key beneath the remains of a table, picking it up she noticed that it may assist in her search for a weapon. As she reached the cabinet she couldn’t find a place for the key and it was able to be opened with out so she simply put the key down while she searched the cabinet for a weapon. There was ammo and scrap metal, empty boxes and old music records which she was sure to observe before deeming them completely useless, after all a DJ like her did love to listen to music in her spare time.
All was seeming hopeless as she began to search the cabinet more thoroughly until she eventually found a hidden lock at the back of the cabinet which the key fitted into perfectly turning it and swinging open the hidden door her eyes widened like a filly in a candy store.
Sprocket and Cog sat in silence unknowing that Shots and Lucky weren’t actually looking their way and were completely vulnerable for an attack, they began to grow nervous as the silence became almost mocking to them. Cog nodded at Sprocket and they both glanced over the top of their cover to discover their backs to them but also noticed the glint of something atop the ruined house where Elemental Fire had been killed within that second there was a loud bang and Lucky collapsed to the floor with a large amount of blood escaping from the wound he had attained from being shot through the stomach. Sprocket began to rack his brains, could that have been Vinyl that shot him? Shots quickly dove onto the opposite side of his cover and left himself wide open to an attack from Sprocket and Cog who both vaulted their cover and began to walk cautiously towards him with their weapons pointed at his head
“Weapon down” Stated Sprocket “Or we’ll shoot” Shots took a moment, he refused to admit he had been defeated and tried to find a way out of this situation
“Damn it...” He mumbled as Sprocket had a grin form on his face
“I know that feeling, just like when you took Vinyl from me” Began Sprocket “Now where is she?”
“I’m right here Sprocket” Chirped Vinyl, wandering out of the destroyed house which elemental was once in and from where she had shot Lucky. Around her neck was the strap of a high pressurised sniper rifle as she approached Shots
“You...” Shots managed with sheer anger in his voice “You’ve caused all of this... my friends... my life...”
“Pathetic” Snorted Cog “I coped better than this when you wiped out my entire station, this is just vengeance and Karma my dear friend” Shots sat in silence, looking at the corpse of Lucky which was laying close to Cog
“Now that I have Vinyl back” Resumed Sprocket “Where are the members of Cog’s home station?” Shots looked up and looked directly into Cog’s eyes
“I killed them.” He stated coldly “They were all useless, the few that survived would have perished in the explosion you caused” Cog also stood in silence a look of anger spreading across his face as he pushed the gun closer to Shot’s head
“Then you deserve nothing more than this” Replied Cog in an extremely angry tone, Sprocket forced Vinyl to look away as Cog pulled the trigger and shot Shot’s head clean off of his shoulders. And all fell silent in the tunnel.
The sound of hoofsteps echoed through the tunnel as Vinyl was allowed to look at where Shots once was
“That’ll be the mutants” Began Cog “There’s another route out of this tunnel but it’s far more treacherous than actually following a tunnel and you run the danger of getting lost” Sprocket pondered upon it for a moment
“Vinyl, do you have your rucksack?” Inquired Sprocket
“I haven’t... but I can get it” Replied Vinyl
“Hurry” Replied Sprocket simply to which Vinyl ran into the remains of the small room she had been allocated “We’re taking this route that Cog’s suggested, and with that I’d assume you’re travelling with us now?”
“I have nowhere to go to, so travelling with you two seems like a reasonable idea. At least until I can find a nice station to settle in” Answered Cog as Vinyl returned with her rucksack. Sprocket nodded and glanced into the dark metro tunnel as the sound of the hoofsteps got closer
“Let’s get moving then” Replied Sprocket “You lead the way” Cog didn’t reply and simply began to run into the tunnel with Vinyl and Sprocket following closely behind
PART / ACT 2 - Haunted Tunnel
Sprocket trotted down the tunnel his headlamp barely illuminating the path ahead of him, he noticed a hand-painted metal sign nailed to a wall. In very messy and scrawled hoofwriting a simple message had been placed upon it:
“Now entering:
Canterlot Lower Estate Tunnel
‘Beware the Ghosts”
Sprocket had heard rumours of ‘haunted’ tunnels in his lifetime many spoke of the eerie and supernatural feeling they developed upon entering them accompanied by the feeling of being watched. Now Sprocket had never been one to believe in the bizarre tales of other ponies that he barely knew, but the ghost stories he had been told were made more realistic by the facial expressions of the ponies telling them. Looks of pain, confusion and sorrow were the most common while other, more adventurous ponies, spoke with a look of ambition and excitement on their faces strangely happy they had encountered such an eerie setting on their travels. Now that Sprocket had actually been confronted with a sign stating there were ghosts in the tunnel he began to lose any trace of doubt that ghosts didn’t exist, if somepony put up a warning sign surely it must be for a valid reason.
Shaking his head and clearing his trail of thought he returned to thinking of the matter at hand, that obnoxious DJ that in such a short space of time had had grown to like as the closest friend he had ever had. He stared blankly into the dark tunnel ahead and thought over his plan, hesitantly taking out a hoof-held torch charger he powered his torch to its fullest extent allowing him to see but a few meters in front of him. Not enough to hold his own in a fire-fight with bandits who knew the layout of these tunnels but enough to stop any impending danger or spot any traps set which by no doubt the bandits would have set to protect what they considered their own territory. Sighing and replacing his air filter Sprocket trotted into the irradiated darkness of the Lower Estate Tunnel and as he did so he immediately understood the feeling of being watched. A feeling he would never forget.
PART / ACT 2 FINALE - Escape to the Surface
They had arrived at Cog’s home station
“Why are we here?” Inquired Sprocket curiously as he surveyed his similar surroundings
“There’s an exit to the surface in this station” Replied Cog as he approached a large steel door “We had to barricade it up after... well you’ll see” Vinyl was intrigued, the surface was not a place that was recommended to go to with all things considered especially since rumours of ‘Demons’ had spread around the metro.
“What about the... the demons?” Asked Vinyl nervously
“Some call them Demons” Replied Cog “I call them bitches” he cocked his rifle and opened the door as Vinyl became satisfied with that answer. The light of the outside world flooded into the dark metro station
“It’s eternal daylight out there” Added Sprocket “I read about it, since the Princesses no longer raise the sun or lower the moon the sun has remained in the sky ever since we were all forced underground” Cog nodded and sealed the door to the station once they had all passed through
“It’s common knowledge to most” Cog replied as they climbed the flight of stairs “The information about the world above is usually brought back by the insane ponies which decide they can make a living from scavenging from the surface”
“I’ve heard about them, they usually come back with the irradiated luxury items that the Higher Estate get stocked with” Explained Vinyl
“That’s correct” Confirmed Cog “But anyway, now we’re out here there’s no stopping until Canterlot Central” they reached the top of the stairs to be displayed with the destroyed remains of the beautifully built metro station. Stained glass was scattered across the floor and the walls had gaping holes in them where the bricks had given way but the sky was darker than they had expected and the sun was barely visible behind the thick clouds above.
“Welcome home everypony” Stated Cog “But don’t get to used to it”
And with that they began to trot to the exit of the metro station
Quick Notice:
There are probably a few grammar/spelling mistakes and issues dotted around the chapters, also I am sorry I released a few chapters that were very short.
Also I just had to put in the 'Demons' reference from the actual book/game :3
I'm away on holiday for the next two weeks but when I'm back I hope to put out another ACT / PART. Thanks for all the positive support so far guys!