“Overlord to all callsigns, how copy?”
“Five by five, Overlord. Hunter-Four, all clear.”
“Solid copy, Overlord. Sigma-Six, all clear.”
Red Delicious frowned, rubbing his chin with the back of his hoof as the voices echoed through the headset. “Gamma-Nine, what’s your status?”
“Ah, eyes on one, Overlord. Standby.”
Red sighed, pulling his headset off of his ears and waiting. Even though it rested around his neck, he could still hear screeching and the satisfying sound of a wrench hitting a body. The screaming stopped after a few seconds, and he pulled the headset back over his ears.
“... great, it’s going to take forever to clean the gunk off,” someone was saying.
“That’s what you get. Overlord, Gamma-Nine, all clear in this sector.”
Red smiled, tapping a hoof on the console. “Copied. All callsigns, return to base. Mission accomplished.” He pulled off the headset again and focused his attention on the map in front of him. His eyes followed the snaking lines of the Equestrian sewage system, chalking up possible routes and hotspots, mentally coordinating the next patrol.
He wasn’t sure where the abyssals had come from. And frankly, he didn’t really care. What he did know was that they were the scum of society and deserved to be put down like the dogs they were. Those creatures felt nothing: not fear, remorse, or regret. And in that sense, that made them the most dangerous enemy in Equestria.
A memory flashed through his mind. For a second, he was standing in knee-deep water, a flashlight in his mouth. The orchard of his parent’s farm surrounded him, and a few steps ahead of him was his sister.
Then, something moved beneath the murky water. There was a flash of lightning and a scream, and the flashlight fell from his maw into the water. The darkness surged in and enveloped him completely, and he was alone.
“Red?”
Red blinked, hearing his name. “Yeah?”
“Ponies here to see you, sir.”
“Alright.” Red grabbed his red safety helmet and put it on his head, heading for the door. As he made his way through the Water and Power building, he mentally purged out the shock and panic triggered by his flashback and replaced it with the burning, bitter rage that made him one of the best plumbers the Plumber Force had to offer.
His anger quickly found another fuel source, though, as he entered the main lobby to see two mares in suitcoats waiting for him. “Agent Sweetie Drops,” he spat. “Come to hang up your shades and join a real agency?”
“SMILE sends their regards, Red,” she replied coolly. “And Sweetie Drops is dead. Call me Bon Bon.”
Red huffed in annoyance. “You seem to forget that SMILE was established after the Plumber Force.”
“And you seem to forget that out of the three of us, you’re the only one who reeks of piss and shit,” replied the other pony with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up, Heartstrings. I outrank you,” Red replied, not even looking at the unicorn.
“Look out, Bon, here comes the Plumber General! The shiniest of all the turds!” Lyra replied.
Red scowled, his teeth grinding together. “What do you want?”
Bon Bon reached into her suit jacket and pulled out a file folder. “SMILE isn’t happy with what you’ve been doing here, Red. Apparently, word around the intelligence committee is that you fellas have been ignoring key pieces of legislation. Namely the Every Species Act, the Agencies Accountability Act, pretty much everything the Special Oversight Committee asked you to do…”
Red held up a hoof, cutting her off. “Well unlike you suits, we have no time to deal in politics.”
“Then find time,” Bon Bon retorted. “Otherwise your funding’s going down the drain. Then you might find your own career in the gutter.”
“Don’t tell me how to run my agency,” Red snapped, snatching the folder from her hooves.
Lyra shrugged. “Hey, if you guys go under, no harm to us. The world could definitely breathe easier knowing that there’s one less gang out there running around and killing everything they see.”
Red raised an eyebrow at that. How the hell did they… Then, something clicked in his head and his scowl deepened. Before he could say anything, a pony in a high visibility vest and safety helmet trotted over to him. “Red, we’ve got a six-six in sector twelve.”
“Trouble in paradise?” asked Bon Bon.
“Shove it up your rear,” Red replied, before turning and following the other pony into the complex. As he left the two agents behind, one name burned itself into his mind: Silverstream.
That bubbly, cheerful, and eager to impress hippogriff had caught his eye the second she passed selection. The Plumber Force needed more creatures like her. Her adaptability and ability to follow orders made her an excellent plumber, and her swimming skills only added to her skillset. She would have gone far if she had stayed.
But no. Of all the creatures in the world to give a moral code to, one had to end up in her. Damn shame, that. But after what Lyra had said, Red got the feeling that Silverstream wasn’t quite done with the Plumber Force yet. But this time, she wouldn’t be on their side.
Red entered the control room, and the unicorn sitting at the console stood up and saluted. “Sir, unauthorized entry detected in sector twelve.”
“How? In all my years on the force, we’ve never had a six-six,” Red said, narrowing his eyes.
“Sir, it looks like someone used an old access code that we didn’t get out of the system,” the unicorn replied, pointing a hoof at the console. “Tech’s been tied up after the system crashed last week, so they didn’t get around to revoking their credentials.”
“Which code?” Red asked, though in his heart he knew already.
“117689,” the unicorn replied.
Red swore under his breath. “Great. I’m suiting up.” He trotted over to his locker, removing his double-sided wrench and slinging it over his shoulder. “Open it up, I’m going in. Have a team meet me there.”
“Sir, yes sir.”
At the far end of the room was the Airlock: a system of two military-grade double doors designed to withstand even the strongest of impacts. Red took a second to admire the complexity of the entire system. From the control booth, one could flood or drain the chamber, open or close the doors, and control the flow of most of the sewers across Equestria.
As the first set of doors opened, Red watched as the first chamber began to drain of water, as red flashing lights danced across his field of view. Soon, the drainage was complete, and the secondary blast door slid open. Red stepped through the doorway, leaving behind the sanctuary of his headquarters and heading off into the deep unknown.
The sewage water lapped around his hooves, and the very familiar stench of death hung heavy in the air. Red pulled his respirator over his face and pushed forwards, activating the light mounted to the side of his helmet.
The smell didn’t bother him as much as it used to. Years on the job could numb anybody to the smell, although the enchantments and spells did help a bit. Still, the pungent scent of trash and garbage hung everywhere. He walked along the catwalks on the side of each canal, his hoofs clinging off the metal and echoing throughout the tunnel.
Red pushed the bangs out of his eyes and sighed, mapping out the path to sector twelve in his head. He knew these tunnels like he knew his own cutie mark. His mind began to wander as he trotted down the tunnels, returning him to that one night years ago.
Flashes of light filled his vision. He heard his sister scream, then the abyssal roar. Red’s face hardened. There would be no mercy. Not from him.
Red paused abruptly. His ear twitched and he held his breath. He heard the dripping of a leaking pipe, and the groaning and hissing that came with age. And then…
There it was again. A gurgle, followed by a splash.
A smile tugged on the edge of Red’s lips as he unslung his wrench from his back. The Plumber General dropped his stance low, letting his helmet-light illuminate the water to his right. It didn’t quite matter if the abyssal saw him coming: their vision was horrible anyways.
He squinted his eyes as he scanned the water’s surface, scrutinizing every single ripple and break. Finally he saw it: a burst of bubbles reaching the surface. Red glanced at the warning signs to judge the water’s estimated depth before nodding. “Let’s dance.”
He lept into the water and swung his wrench. It made contact with something solid, and the abyssal roared as it sprang to the surface. This one seemed to resemble a pegasus pony, judging by the two ‘wings’ flaring out at awkward angles. It surely wasn’t a pony anymore.
The abyssal pounced towards him, hate burning beneath its moss-covered eyes. It was a mess of green and brown hues, water seeping from its skin. Green liquid oozed from its head, where Red had hit him. It let loose a vicious scream that rang through Red’s ears.
He swung his wrench again, knocking it from its path and smashing it into the wall. It screeched in pain, flailing its hooves about as Red climbed back onto the steel walkway, pinning it to the ground with his hoof.
Red locked eyes with the monster. It seemed to realize what was coming and screeched louder, struggling against his weight. Red almost laughed. He swung the wrench again and painted the walls green.
After a few deep breaths, Red swiped his bangs out of his eyes and keyed up his radio. “Alpha-One to Overlord, hostile contact sector four.”
“...Sector Four, sir? They don’t usually go out that far.”
“I know,” Red panted as he caught his breath. “Unless something’s driving them our way. Where’s my backup?”
“Bravo-Two is on the way, they’ll meet you there. Think it’s the six-six, sir?”
“I don’t know yet. Keep in touch, Alpha-One out.” Red adjusted the strap on his wrench and sighed, staring at the carcass of the abyssal beneath him. He tipped his helmet like he saw cousin Braeburn do once and laughed before continuing down the catwalk.
As he descended lower and lower into the sewer depths, it began to grow humid. Red grunted, wiping his brow as he reached a service ladder. He began descending, humming a little song to himself as he did so. About halfway down, however, he paused.
A strange noise reverberated through the tunnel. He swung his head around, throwing a beam of light against the wall, but found nothing. It didn’t sound like the typical noises an abyssal made. In fact, it almost sounded like… laughing.
“Overlord, Alpha-One, is Bravo-Two in sector eight?”
“Uh… no sir, no units are operating in your sector.”
Red raised an eyebrow. “Copy.” He waited a bit longer, but continued when all he heard was silence.
He quickly reached the bottom of the ladder and hopped onto another metal walkway. In a few more steps, he had reached sector twelve. A large gate and drainage system lay in front of him, with an access door installed on the right. Red punched in his code and the gate creaked open.
Red crossed the gate, coming across an intersection. He frowned, glancing up and down the tunnel. On the right, a service door was open, meaning that someone had either broken protocol, or this was where the traitor had gone.
He pushed the door open, glancing around. There was a complex series of machines lining the walls, pumping and whirling as they carried out their processes. Red took a second to make sure all of the machines were still functioning before venturing deeper into the pump room.
The uneasy silence of the sewer system was replaced now with the humming and grinding of machines as they pounded and worked away. Red slowed down as he reached the center, hearing some screeching from within.
He pushed open the service door and entered a large room, full of pipes and machines. Red pressed his back against the wall and peeked his head over the corner. His eyes widened as he saw two shadowy creatures standing in the middle, apparently in some sort of conversation.
The second seemed to be an abyssal, but the first was beyond description. Its form shifted and wavered, and though Red could make out their shape, he couldn’t seem to identify any distinctive features. They ‘spoke’ in a series of clicks and screeches. The abyssal pawed at the ground, before letting out a confused series of noises.
The creature growled in response, silencing the abyssal. It let out a series of noises, as if admonishing the other creature. The sounds grinded against Red’s ears, forcing them to fold against his head. He bit his tongue and gripped his wrench tighter. Both creatures then took a step back, and seemed to fade away into the ground, leaving nothing behind but the reek of sewage.
Red waited for a few seconds, heart pounding in his chest. In all his years on the force, he had never seen anything like that before. He reached for his radio. “A-alpha-One to Overlord.”
“...uh, go ahead?”
“Unknown contacts sighted, I… I need additional squadrons in Sector Twelve.”
There was a second of silence. “... uh, copied. I’ll, uh… I’ll see who I can get.”
Red was about to reply when he was interrupted by the slamming of a door. The stallion whirled around. “...Red?”
He swore. “Silverstream! What… what in Celestia’s mane are you doing back here?!”
The hippogriff smiled at him. “Well, I was thinking about some of the stuff you said before I left! You know, about the greater good and what not. So I did some research, and check it out!” She reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out a strange, glowing rock carved with symbols. “I think I figured out where the abyssal are coming from!”
Red scowled, but he cocked his eyebrow. “What in blazes are you talking about?”
“I found some texts that talked about a corrupting stone, controlled by a creature called the Mother” Silverstream said, turning the rock in her claws. “It sounded pretty close to what the abyssal are. So I asked Princess Twilight to do some math stuff, and she told me where the most likely location was! She wanted to come herself, but I told her that--”
Red cut her off, grabbing her and slamming her into the wall. The stone fell to the floor, pulsing with some strange energy that sent a tingle down Red’s back. And underneath the roar of the machines, he almost thought he heard a voice. “You idiot!” he hissed. “Do you have any idea how illegal this is? When we get topside, I’m throwing you into the nearest jail cell and throwing away the key!”
Silverstream’s beak quivered a bit as she winced in pain. “Red, y-you need to stop!”
“Stop? Stop?! Are you going to sleep any better knowing that these things can climb up your fuckingtoilet and eat you alive?”
A headache was beginning to make its way into his brain, and the faint whispering seemed to grow a little louder. Before he could continue his rant, the lights to the machine room suddenly flickered before giving out completely.
Taking advantage of the sudden darkness, Silverstream managed to slide out of Red’s grip. He swung his helmet light about the room, but failed to find her. “Shit me. Overlord, Alpha-One, I need the backup generator on in Sector Twelve,” he said into his radio.
“Sir? The systems say that everything’s fine down there--”
“I don’t give a damn what the system says! Turn on the generators!”
“Generators are on, sir.”
Red waited a few seconds, but the lights stayed off. “Look--” As he turned his head, he froze. The shapeless creatures from earlier was standing in the corner and looking right at him.
It charged towards him with alarming speed. Red dove to his side and barreled towards the exit, darting out of the door. “Overlord, code three! Code three, damnit!”
“Uh, five by five. Any callsigns in the area of sector twelve--”
As Red darted through the doorway, the creature abruptly rose from the ground, slashing out at him. Red dodged to the right, but his radio fumbled out of his hooves and splashed into the sewer water.
Red swung his wrench, but instead of making contact, it merely floated through the creature’s head. It screeched and smacked him, sending him flying into the wall. Then, it lashed out at him. Red tried to roll out of the way, but not before one of the creature’s forelegs phased through his body.
In that second, he was burning and he was freezing. His eyes went wide and he gasped in shock, but surprisingly, there was no pain.
Red scrambled to his hooves and took off down the hallway.
The creature screeched again, but a quick look behind him told Red that it wasn’t following them. Yet, anyways. “Fuck,” he swore. He looked up and down the tunnel, but failed to locate a sign of either an abyssal or Silverstream.
“Must have been the mother thing she was rambling about,” he said to himself. The sewer was silent now, save for the dripping of water.
Red continued down the sewers, unable to take his mind off of the rogue plumber that was causing him so much grief. Her curiosity and innocence reminded him of Apple Fritter. His sister always seemed to stick her nose in anything and everything… and in the end she paid the price for it.
He shook off the memories as he reached the ladder. Red hoisted himself up and began the climb.
About halfway up the ladder, Red’s headache took a turn for the worst. He suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain and had to stop and catch his breath. “Do you believe we’re the enemy?”
Red froze as a voice harsher than winter spat in his ear. He looked around him but was greeted with nothing. But as he raised his hoof to the next rung, he paused. Why was it green? He wiped his hoof against his vest, wondering if it was abyssal blood or some other liquid, but it didn’t come off.
Before he could figure out what to do next, there was a screech behind him. He glanced down to see the Mother rushing towards him, empty white sockets where their eyes should have been. Red’s eyes widened and he scrambled up the ladder. “Fuckfuckfuck!”
Red scrambled up the ladder and pulled himself over the side. He scooted backwards as quickly as he could, before the Mother rose up over the top of the ledge.
“FUCK!” Red spun around and charged down the tunnel, his helmet light throwing beams against the wall. As he rounded the corner, Red’s eyes widened as he saw four abyssals staring back at him. He whipped out his wrench and dropped into a defensive position.
As much as he would have liked to finish off each one individually, he knew that he couldn’t risk it with the Mother nearby. He clocked the closest one in the face and jumped over the second one as the Mother screeched again behind him.
“Shit!” Another wrench smash disabled the third abyssal, but Red had to lunge to the right to avoid getting scratched to pieces. “Do you believe we’re the enemy?”
The voice made him stumble and broke him from his rhythm. He screamed in pain as one of the griffon abyssals scratched at his back, tearing through his high-vis vest and into his skin. He swung his wrench and smashed the griffon’s head in before falling back.
Groaning in agony, Red held his hoof up to the light only to find that it had somehow gotten greener. Red’s throat tightened and his ear twitched nervously. The sewer felt warmer than normal. What did they do to me? “Keep moving, Red. Keep fucking moving.”
He took a deep, pained breath and made his way back into the main chamber, But as they entered, they were greeted by the sound of a blaring alarm and water gushing into the system. “Fuck!” swore Red, “Why the hell are they flooding it? Hey! HEY! STOP!”
Red began running across the chamber, trying not to wince as his back screamed in pain. He gasped for breath, a sudden pain ramming into his head. And for a second, Red felt nothing but anger. Anger at Silverstream, at Bon Bon and Lyra, and at the abyssals. His vision flashed red as he glared at the exit, where Silverstream was talking with two ponies.
He narrowed his eyebrows as he realized that the ponies standing the Airlock weren’t wearing high visibility vests and safety helmets, but suit coats and sunglasses. Silverstream herself was standing next to them. He snarled, watching as Silverstream passed the bag to Bon Bon. Then, the airlock began closing.
The water came down fast and hard around him, to the point where it was at his knees now. It would only take a few seconds before the entire room would be flooded.
Red pounded on the airlock door, not realizing how deformed and green his hooves had become. “OPEN THE DOOR!” he snarled.
Silverstream gave Red a sad smile and shook her head. “... he lost himself to them,” she said to Bon Bon.
Bon Bon sighed and nodded. “Looks like it.” She put a hoof on Silverstream’s shoulder. “Hey, you made the right call bringing us in.”
With that, she began to lead Silverstream away from the door. Blood roared through his ears as Red suddenly realized how betrayed he was. The realization crashed down on him and the pieces clicked together: Bon Bon and Lyra’s visit, the doubt in Overlord’s voice, why his backup never came...
It was all a ploy. And he was the victim.
“Do you believe we’re the enemy?”
Red snarled, unslinging his wrench and smashing it against the door. It barely budged, but he raised it and swung again. And again. And again.
“Do you believe we’re the enemy?”
With each blow his body felt like it was burning, but he kept going. He wasn’t going to die like this. He couldn’t.
“Do you believe we’re the enemy?”
The water was up to his neck now. As he raised his wrench again it slipped out of his hooves. “SILVERSTREAM!”
“Do you believe in the enemy?”
Five seconds later, Red Delicious disappeared beneath the water. Ten seconds later, Red Delicious disappeared from the face of Equestria, and another abyssal blinked, coughed, then swam away from the Airlock.
