Chapters Ace cantered down a corridor, following the arrows indicating the way to the locker room. A pipe covered with labels that read 'CAUTION - LASER' wrapped around corners on the wall.
"Good morning, Ace." A science pony with a lavender coat greeted, though he didn't quite know her, she still seemed familiar.
"Good morning... Do I know you?" Ace asked.
"Probably. Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you. Are you ready for your test today?" She inquired.
"As ready as I will be." Ace answered.
"I hear it's probably going to change Equestria quite a bit. Good luck!" She wished.
"See you at lunch, I guess." He said, though rather unsure if he would.
Ace hesitantly passed her by into the locker room. He trotted over to his locker, the name 'A. SPARKS' in bold at the top.
He cantered over to the capsule and put the suit on, placing the helmet over his head. He race cantered out of the locker room, almost knocking over somepony.
"Doctor Sparks, please come to the Anomalous Materials Lab, immediately." The intercom rang again.
In seemingly no time, he arrived at the airlock to the test chamber. A security stallion was at the door.
"Come on through, looks like they're about to start without you." The stallion stated.
Ace took no heed and trotted into the chamber.
The chamber was gigantic, the walls, floor and ceiling were all an orange. A microphone ringing echoed in the room.
"T-testing..." A worried science pony said as he cleared his throat, "Now that you're both finally here, we can start the test. Gordon, if you would press the button on that platform, we could start the test before the sample arrives." He continued.
As Gordon pushed the button in, three gigantic arms extended out of the ceiling as a green laser shot through an aperture.
"I'm seeing predictable magical rays," A different stallion indicated.
"Phase two emitters, starting... now." The more feeble-sounding one announced.
The laser flashed a brighter color and light, so intense it was almost blinding.
"Ace, we cannot predict how long the system can maintain this, please, work as quickly as possible." The confident one notified.
Ace cantered over to a cage above an elevator, the elevator arriving with a sickly colored green crystal in a cart.
"The delivery system just arrived with the sample, please insert it." The feeble one instructed.
Ace pushed the cart into the light, an eye-searing light shot across all three arms of the room, so intense the walls were white.
"C-celestia! Ace, get away from the beam!" The feeble one shouted.
"Shut it down, get them out of there!" The confident one broke.
"It's not... It's not shutting down!" The feeble one yelled.
Explosions lit up the room as a stray beam shot into the control room, the stallions screamed as their bones parched to ash and their flesh was flung around the room, a mere shack in the midst of the test chamber.
Portals formed out of reality, transporting beings unfathomable to their previous knowledge. A beam hitting Ace's suit sent him to what seemed another world, bipedal creatures walked to him and seemed to pray. He was suddenly taken back to his world. He looked to where Gordon was, the stallion laid on the floor.
Ace galloped for the door when a beam of pure energy destroyed it. Ace jumped through the smoldering remnants of the guard at the door and the door itself.
A strange creature had mounted itself onto the head of a science team pony, the corpse made gurgling noises as if the lungs had filled with blood. It's hooves were gnarled into claws, weapons of the unearthly creature's grasp. The pony's abdomen was completely torn open from the barrel to the flanks, the ribs opened and closed as if they were teeth. The corpse trotted sluggishly toward Ace, Ace struck the creature with his hoof, the corpse swung at him. Ace galloped past the living carcass. Flames danced along the corridors, the upper half of another corpse crawled toward him, burning ablaze, screaming with liquified organs. The body fell onto the floor before it could reach him.
Creatures like the one he saw on the corpse's head roamed the halls, the tubes holding lasers had broken, beams dragged along the walls, a security pony lay on the floor as a laser cut through him, splitting the body in half. Ace darted past the beams. A glass door stood in the way of his escape. Ace bucked it with all his might, the glass shattering on his armor, the one wall of protection against this world of death. He knew the armor would be like a wall of tissue paper against a flood, though he had to take the chance if he was ever going to escape.
He crawled through the broken glass door, another flaming corridor was before him. He galloped through the flames to an elevator door. The elevator had ponies trapped in it.
"Somepony! Help, get us out of here!" A mare screamed.
"For Celestia's sake, somepony open the doors!" A stallion shouted.
The sound of somepony bucking the elevator in the shaft echoed from the doors. Ace broke the glass with his hooves.
"Don't worry, I'm going to try to get you out of there!" Ace called.
"Somepony's out there!" The mare said.
The elevator started falling a few inches.
"You need to get here quick!" The stallion warned.
Ace crawled through the elevator doors, trotted to the shaft's ladder and started climbing. The elevator started moving slowly. Ace jumped on top of the elevator, trotting over to the ventilation grill. He smashed the grill with his hoof. Seven science team ponies stood inside. Ace grabbed a mare's hooves, pulling her out of the elevator.
"Thank Celest-" She started.
"Climb up that ladder, quick. The rest of you should follow her. If you can't, follow me." He stated.
The lavender mare he pulled out of the metal box about to plummet into the shaft started climbing. Ace pulled a stallion out through the grill. He started climbing the ladder as the elevator started falling, metal screeched as sparks flew everywhere. Ace jumped onto the elevator, there was no time to save anypony else. The other five screamed as they plummeted to their death, a crash boomed through the shaft as their bones broke, the elevator caving into their bodies.
Gunshots echoed from the top of the shaft. Ace climbed slowly, intending not to startle somepony with a gun. He neared the top of the shaft, just below the stallion. As the stallion trotted into the elevator door, Ace got off the ladder. The muzzle flash of a security pony's pistol lit up the dark corridors, more fire undulated at the walls. The gurgling of more corpses filled the room. The security pony looked over to Ace.
"Ace! What the hay are these things!" The stallion with the pistol shouted.
A carcass reared up on it's hind legs, blood filled it's throat as it seized the security stallion by the latch of his neck, choking him with it's mangled hooves. The stallion dropped his pistol, it skidding to Ace. Ace levitated the gun, firing at the alien on the corpse's head. Gunpowder filled the air as the muzzle flash lit the room, Ace firing at least ten shots of lead into the creature manipulating the body of his colleague. The corpse fell, releasing the security guard. The guard held a hoof at his throat as he regained his breath once again.
"Thank Celestia you were here... You can take the gun." He barely managed to get out with enough air.
"Come with me, you need to get out of here too." Ace advised.
Ace trotted down the flaming corridors, corpses dripped blood from their bodies while slowly trotting toward Ace and the security guard.
"I didn't catch your name, what is it?" Ace asked, at a rather untimely place.
"Barney Ironbuck." He answered.
Ace shot a corpse behind Barney as it was about to swing it's claws. It spat blood as it fell down. The two carried on. The fire started getting less consistent until they ceased all together. A light fixture had broken and was now firing bolts of electricity at the walls and ground. A vent opening stood just out of the way of the arcs.
"You're going to need to stay here, sorry Barney." Ace told.
"I'll stay here and guard." Barney misunderstood.
Ace trotted to the vent and crawled in. The whirring of fan blades rang in the space, getting closer the further in he went. The
A pony in full military uniform wearing a gas mask held a shotgun with magic. The scientist's face lit up.
"Rescued at last! Thank Celestia you're here! You've got to get us out of h-" The stallion was interrupted by the soldier firing a shotgun into his chest.
The science pony's body flew back from the blast. Ace aimed the pistol as the soldier started reloading. He fired the pistol into the eyes of the gas mask. The glass lenses shattered into the soldier's eyes. The soldier shouted and fired his shotgun wildly. Ace kept shooting until the soldier had fallen.
Ace trotted over to the body and picked up the shotgun.
An elevator shaft was at the end of the corridor. The elevator was completely missing from it. A single cable dangled from the shaft. Ace trotted back to the end of the hall, calculating to jump for it. He pressed a button on the chest plate on the suit to recede the helmet. He started galloping toward the elevator, jumping as soon as his front hooves met the edge. He grabbed the cable with his teeth, putting his hooves on the opposite sides of it. He inched up the cable, slowly. five soldiers shot at him from a doorway above. Ace levitated the shotgun and fired while holding on to the wire. One fell. The rest were still standing and levitating their assault rifles. Ace continued up the cable until he was at their level. Once on their level, he swung on the cable, bucking the back wall every time he swung back. The soldiers still fired into his suit. Once he was swinging a few inches away from them, bucking one last time, he let go of the rope, back hooves forward into two of them.
The buck sent them both flying back with broken skulls. Ace landed standing at a slide, with the remaining momentum, he turned and fired both the barrels of his shotgun, sending the other two into the elevator shaft. Blood splattered and dripped off of the back wall.
Ace put his helmet back on.
Ace gripped the shotgun as tight as basic levitation magic could. He trotted down another corridor, broken glass in every window. A torso with one of the aliens on it laid on the ground, dried blood trailed off the severed half. The creature squirmed and pulsated on the ponie's head. He cantered on. The corridor ended at a portion of raised concrete. Hoofrails stood on the elevated platform, a few science team ponies galloped over to a group of six soldiers.
"Wait, don't shoot! We're with the science team!" A mare shouted, galloping ahead of the rest.
A soldier slammed a hoof into her snout, blood trailed with the hit as she spun three hundred sixty degrees and fell over. As she tried to get back up shakily, the soldier shot her in the back of the head. She slumped over. Blood pooled on the ground.
"Nopony cares who you are!" He yelled.
The other scientists, including Twilight started turning the other way when the rest of the soldiers started shooting.
Ace galloped faster than he previously thought anypony could go. He fired buckshot into the head of a soldier, almost blowing it off completely. He picked up the soldier's assault rifle and fired two magazines into the two adjacent, the other three turned to retreat. Ace levitated the shotgun and fired both of the barrels into two, the perfect distance for the bullet's spacing. They flew forward from the blast.
The last soldier galloped away before Ace could get him.
The lavender mare, whom he now recognized as Twilight Sparkle stared at him wide-eyed, the other two had already left.
"Wasn't the Equestrian military supposed to rescue us?" He asked, mostly calm as he retracted the now blood-soaked helmet.
"...Ace!?" She recognized after a second.
"Stay here, I need to make sure you can escape from the facility safely. Take this, I'll come back for you." He instructed as he dropped a pistol in front of her.
She stared at him silently, mostly in shock as he trotted off.
He trotted down the corridor the soldier galloped through.
The soldier looked over to see Ace wielding a shotgun.
"Somepony get me a medic!" The soldier shouted while bleeding out, sitting on the ground. Seemingly hit by the previous shotgun blast, he breathed hard as his neck was filled with holes and gushing blood.
Ace took out the assault rifle and shot him in the head, putting him out of his pain.
More soldiers galloped over from further down the hall. They saw their fallen comrade, blood painted the wall behind his head. They looked over to Ace, his suit covered with it, levitating the bloody assault rifle.
"Mister, you're going down!" One cried out as he galloped forward, firing his gun at him.
The rest followed after his firing. Ace galloped to one and swung a hoof into his snout, he flew backward from the impact.
He fired the shotgun into one of them, each shot hitting it's mark. He shot both barrels into the other, sending him flying back.
Ace trotted back to the area where he had left Doctor Sparkle. A rope of mucus had wrapped around her throat latch and was lifting her into the air.
"Somepony help!" She managed enough breath to scream.
The pistol had fallen on the ground. Ace picked up the gun and fired at the monster pulling her up. The creature vomited body parts onto the floor, letting Twilight fall to the ground. She had fainted from the lack of air. Ace heard soldiers galloping through the hall. Ace levitated his shotgun again and trotted down the hall.
"You're dead, Sparks!" One called.
The PA system started an announcement.
"This sector is now under military control." It continued, "Reinforcements to: Doctor Sparks, Doctor Freemane. Sector E, Sector C."
A grenade sailed in the air from the door, landing directly at Doctor Sparkle's hooves. Ace Galloped over to her, levitating the ordinance and flinging it into the air, it exploding mid-flight. Shrapnel flew every direction, most hitting Ace's suit and helmet. Ace galloped over into the corridor levitating his assault rifle, pulling a secondary trigger. A rifle grenade flew into a crowd of soldiers, hooves and legs scattered in the room. Blood stained the halls. Suddenly, the floor started to shake from the multiple ordinances combusting around the perimeter. The segment of the ground Ace was standing on collapsed, the stallion falling with it.
Ace was suddenly submerged in water, the floor tiles floated above him. Slowly, the water started filling his lungs. He felt his mane rising inside the helmet. His body started pumping his lungs full of water, he started swimming up for air, involuntarily gasping for oxygen, only getting more water. Once he finally surfaced, he smashed the button on the chest plate, retracting the helmet. Ace placed his hooves on a floor tile, working hard to keep himself and the suit surfaced. He rejected water out from his lungs through his mouth and nostrils. What seemed to be caverns were nearly silent. The tiles were drifting in a defined direction, probably a current. Eventually, the last of the water escaped him.
He kept his front legs on the tile at the knees in order to keep himself afloat. The water started rippling in lines, the roar of running water echoed through the caves. The tile Ace was on started moving a bit faster, the others had fallen out of view. Ace realized he was coming to a waterfall. He quickly bucked off the tile, it falling just after. He struggled to escape the current, his muscles getting overworked, he stopped, latching his hooves onto a stalagmite sticking out on a thin bank. He pulled himself up onto the bank. The blood had washed off the suit, though now dripping wet. Ace pushed the button for the helmet, placing it back on his head. He shakily got back onto his hooves, trotting around a turn in the caverns. An alien jumped at him, landing on the ground in front of him. Ace crushed it with his hoof, it splattered sickly green blood on the power armor's hoofplates. He continued down the bank to a system of more man-made looking tunnels. A railway was in the middle of the tunnel, stopping at a buffer in front of the cave's river. A florescent light flickered above the rails. The rails came to a T-section at the end of the segment. Ace trotted east of the T-section.
A green arc of electricity flashed and a bipedal creature appeared. It pushed it's hands in front of it towards Ace and a wave of electricity surged through Ace's body, his muscles started to spasm briefly. Ace levitated his shotgun off his back and fired into the creature's body. It flew back into the wall it was next to.
Ace galloped down the railway, around a corner. A rocket flew toward Ace. He dashed back around the corner, the rocket exploded into the wall on the other side of the rails. Another followed, then four more. Then there were hoofsteps. Ace looked around the corner. A soldier galloped toward him. Ace waited until he rounded the corner, then bucked him in the head. The power armor assisted the buck, practically caving the Equestrian marine's skull. The soldier fell on the ground. Ace galloped around the corner, past the rocket launcher. After galloping for what felt like hours, an encampment of marines suddenly opened fire at him, including a mounted gun. Ace galloped back behind the clearing when the ring of multiple silenced pistol shots echoed through the tunnels.
There was silence for a bit, though, short lived. Ace levitated his shotgun and looked around the corner. The shotgun was ripped from his grasp by a silhouette. More figures emerged soon after. Ace swung his hoof at one, the power armor's hydraulic forearm plates activated with the hit, blood spattered from the punch to the throat latch. The figure fell. The muzzle flash of pistols lit up the walls, though the suit protected Ace's body, their caliber was too low to penetrate the armour. Ace levitated his assault rifle and fired into one's head.
"Ammunition depleted." His suit announced.
Ace swung the rifle into the head of a silhouette. The figure fell over. The last one had picked up another's pistol, and was firing both rapidly. Ace dropped his rifle and levitated the shotgun. He fired into the figure's body, it flew backward.
Ace galloped further through the tunnels.
Ace galloped through the tunnels, a bipedal creature shot electricity at him. Ace fired his shotgun at the monster. It flew back, smearing itself on the tunnel's wall. Ace continued. A beam of light shone in the distance. Ace galloped to it, he was finally outside the horrors of the facility, in a forest. Moonlight light scattered through holes in the canopy of the dense woods, glimpses of Luna's night sky. Owls hooted and a stream flowed down a hill.
All this was interrupted by a conversation in earshot.
"So who's this Sparks?"
"Said he was at Ground Zero with Freemane. Everypony else died 'cept those two."
"Sheepherd's missing in action."
Ace readied his shotgun, still listening behind a tree.
"All I know is those two have been killing my friends. They'll pay."
"All units, withdraw. We are cutting out losses and pulling out, forget about Freemane, Sparks, and any other targets. Repeat, we are cutting our losses and withdrawing, any units remaining after take off will be left behind."
"We're far from any landing pads, might as well get a move on. If we see Sparks, we'll get him."
A young owl hopped close to Ace. Ace motioned a hoof at the bird to 'Shoo'. The bird twitched its wings, bobbing it's head to the side. Ace motioned a bit more intense. The bird hooted agressively, then flew off noisily. The soldiers turned their heads to the tree.
"You hear that?" One asked the other.
"Sounds like something's behind that tree there."
They trotted toward the trunk, Ace hearing them, without thinking, he galloped away from the tree.
"We got Sparks!" One shouted.
Ace galloped for what looked like a building. More and more marines gathered in behind as he galloped past them.
"Squad, neutralize Sparks!"
They started opening fire. Ace galloped behind a tree.
"What have we here? We've got a certain somepony who's been doing some killing." One mocked as they approached.
A whale-like noise echoed through the woods, followed by the flapping of giant wings. Crows and other various birds fled at the sound.
"The hay was that!?" A soldier shouted.
The ground shook. A crow squawked, but was then suddenly silenced.
"I don't like the sound of that..." One remarked.
Ace looked up to see something of a giant manta ray floating in the air. An orange beam formed on the bottom of it.
Ace started to gallop.
The orange beam screeched as it shot down into the grouping of soldiers, they didn't have time to scream before they disappeared completely.
Ace galloped at a dash, jumping over logs and stones, the ray still above him, charging a beam. The beam fired as he had got to the building. Ace broke through the building's doors. A large mass of soldiers waited for him, several dead science team ponies piled on one another. A mounted gun behind sand bags stood in front of a doorway. The gun fired at Ace, Ace dashed past it, jumping over the sandbags. Assault rifle bullets wedged themselves into his visor. Ace dashed through the doorway. The ray fired another beam through the skylight of the entrance, the soldiers disintegrated within an instant.
Ace hurried over to the station as the tram slowed to a stop on the rail. The door opened and he trotted in. It was his first day and he was already late. A stallion wearing the uniform the science team was required to wear stood in the tram. A pair of glasses rested on his snout. His nametag read 'G. Freemane'.
"Good morning. Looks like we're both thirty minutes late." Ace tried to start a conversation.
The stallion said nothing, only stared at him.
"...Okay then, not much of a talker, I guess." Ace remarked as he turned away awkwardly.
The tram dragged on in the quiet, colossal complex. Ace frequently glanced at his pasternwatch, checking the time. As the tram went, it droned on about warnings and procedures. The tram approached a gigantic door, motors sounded in the door as the six foot thick sheets of steel opened sluggishly. Ace was taken by surprise at the size of the doors.
"What could they possibly be for?" Ace thought to himself.
A rail lowered itself over the gap from the doors. The tram carried on the rail moved over the path of the metal.
Below the two in their dwarfed box of cheap metal on an electrified rail was a giant puddle of green glowing toxic waste. A large, bulky robot used for heavy lifting walked through it as if it were but a small puddle of rain. Science team ponies sat across from the rail at a fast food outlet labelled 'SOLAR SALADS'. The facility was so large that it actually needed restaurants, else the ponies working there would probably starve. The tram stopped a second time as a few science team members and a security guard trotted over a receding bridge for crossing the rail system. Ace heard some conversation about the outlet from overhead. They finally passed by, the bridge receded into a slot in the concrete and the tram moved on.
After a few minutes, the tram slowed to a stop, at their destination. A security guard trotted over and opened the door of the tram.
"You two are running late, thirty-five minutes to be exact. You should hurry up there." He remarked.
"Doctor Freemane, Doctor Sparks, report to the Sector C Anomalous materials lab." The PA system announced.
Ace galloped through the white corridors, adrenaline overtaking his thoughts. Suddenly, an alarm sounded outside. Red lights pulsated through the halls. An eye-searing white light blinded Ace. He dashed for a window at the end of the hall. A mushroom cloud towered in the distance. A shockwave was racing it's way toward the building. Ace closed his eyes and shielded his face with his hoof as the shockwave overtook the building, ripping walls off the foundation. Ace opened his eyes. He wasn't dead. In fact, he wasn't in the building, either. He was somehow back in the tram he was on many hours ago, though nothing was around it. He was not in the HEMV suit anymore, and nopony was around, aside from a strange pony in a suit.
"Well, Mister Sparks... I see you've... Made it as well. I will give you a choice... Either you... Trot into the portal and work for me, or... You can stay and fight a fight you can never win... It's time to choose."
Ace stared at him.
"Choose now, time... is running out." He smiled, motioning a hoof over to the portal just outside the tram's door.
Ace walked into the portal hesitantly. He was suddenly surrounded by darkness, floating in nothingness.
