Author's Note

I'll get it out of the way, yes this chapter is very similar to the Vorkuta mission in the game.

We tried our best to make it stand out from that mission, and we believe the added stakes and unique differences separate the two. This will be it for some time, but stick around. More will come eventually.

Out of One Hell, Into Another

"So this is how you met him..."

"Shut up with this! He saved my flank metaphorically and physically. He's never been a threat to me, or to Equestria! Now let me... AHHHHHHH!"

"That's enough! I already warned you. You both were held captive at Chert Vozmi, one of the largest and most secure camps the Changeling's had active. How did you escape?!"

"Heh....why don't you ask the demon who did it. It was his plan.

Time And date unknown
Viral Velocity and Akula under imprisonment at Chert Vozmi encampment in the Changeling Kingdom

Viral was already on her way to her first shift, though with an extra eye out for whom she was looking for. She had no idea when Akula was going to end up next to her, she wasn't even sure if he was in the same part of the camp, but sure enough he soon came down his own tunnel as his own group mixed in with Viral's all heading to their designated locations.

As the group's merged, Akula intentionally bumped Viral enough to jostle her. In mock retaliation, she kicked him in the side with her back hoof.

"Watch where you're going, cockroach! It’s not like you’re much any better than half these poor bugs!"

Viral gave him another kick for good measure, making it seem like she was irritated with how oblivious he was. Soon enough Akula got seemingly pissed and threw his own punch before grabbing her and putting her on her back.

"You think you're tough huh? HUH?! You will break, little pony!"

He then threw one more punch at her while she was down, enticing a cheer from the other changeling prisoners around them. Distracted by the shouts, Akula did not see Viral's own punch coming which knocked him onto his flank. He chuckled slightly.

"You hit like a hatchling!"

Not soon after, a guard came to investigate the ruckus, attempting to see why there was a fuss. Akula cursed at him in his native language, this infuriated the guard and caused him to start beating on him. Viral regained her composure, grabbing a rock that lay next to her.

She got back on her hooves, pulled the guard off Akula and hit him with the rock, the blow hard enough to shatter the bones in its skull and instantly kill the changeling guard.

The deed done, she put her hoof down to help Akula onto his hooves again.

"Akula,"

He pulled himself back onto all fours with her help before patting her on the shoulder.

"V… every journey begins with a single step. This is STEP ONE!" He shouted to the other prisoners as he claimed the keys he knew the guard would be holding.

"Secure the keys!" They exclaimed triumphantly.

"Now we take our freedom! We take Chert Vozmi! And we burn it to the ground!"

He then gave Viral the Shiv Max had used to attempt to rape her, and the pack race on into the tunnels to start their breakout. The first guard to come down the tunnels and investigate what was going on, ended up with Viral's shiv lodged in its neck as it collapsed into a gurgling heap, blood spewing from the wound.

Old Viral would’ve been horrified by the violence of the kill. But this Viral didn’t care. She was done playing by the rules, she wanted out. This was likely her only chance she would get to escape, and the mare had months worth of venting to do on the guards.

No matter how many guards came down the tunnel to stop them, the massive horde of prisoners duelled their former kin to the death, all in an effort to keep the others moving. Viral constantly saw prisoners struggle with some of the guards, as Akula and the other prisoners began to cry out the steps to freedom.

Step 1 was already accomplished, as the prisoners now had access to the keys. But there were still 9 other steps to go. Those steps were:

Step 2: Ascend From The Dark

Step 3: Bring Down The Forest

Step 4: Take Back What Is Yours

Step 5: Awaken The Swarm

Step 6: Skewer The Alicorn

Step 7: Wield An Iron Hoof

Step 8: KILL THEM ALL

Step 9: Freedom

Viral knew that they had a lot of work to do before they would be free of the camp. But they all knew that with their spirit and determination, victory would be theirs.

As Viral rounded a corner, there came the sounds of struggling. Emerging from another tunnel, was a massive white griffon with an extremely strong build, holding two changeling guards under his strong arms. Despite their struggling, the two guards had their necks snapped by the griffon.

Akula stopped running and pointed to the griffon. “Viral, may I introduce to you – Tank, the Giant of Griffonstone,”

“Glad to have you on our side, Tank!” The mare greeted, as she followed Akula and the rest of the prisoners to a nearby elevator. Akula opened the door to the elevator and the prisoners stepped in, lastly joined by Tank after the griffon had taken a nearby pickaxe for himself.

Akula started up the elevator and the metal box began to climb up the shaft towards the light, completing Step 2. But as the elevator slowly climbed into the light, a fellow changeling spotted Viral and asked Akula about her. “Akula, are you sure we can trust this pony?”

“With my life,” Akula replied, “She is not so different to any of us. We are all soldiers without an army. Betrayed… Forgotten… Abandoned. In Chert Vozmi, we are all comrades,”

The changeling beside Akula nodded in agreement for the Demon Lord spoke the truth. Sure, the changelings and ponies were on the opposite sides of the wire, but down in Chert Vozmi, that wire was no longer there for them. They were now all friends and allies, whether pony, changeling or other.

The elevator began to approach the top of the shaft, bright light from outside evident in the distance. Suddenly, there was a gunshot. At the top of the shaft, a group of escapees had cornered a guard against the elevator doors. However, the guard was armed with a PSM handgun, while the prisoners only had their bare hooves. That gunshot heard earlier, was the lone guard killing one of the prisoners that got too close.

However, neither the escapees nor the guard saw the massive crowd in the elevator coming up. The group in the elevator moved aside to let Tank through, as he readied his pickaxe. The moment the doors opened, the griffon moved out, lowered his pick and swung it into the changeling’s abdomen. The blow teared into the guard’s bowels, spilling out a ton of blood and killing the changeling instantly. After killing the changeling, Tank threw the pickaxe and the guard stuck on it aside and rushed to help with the big metal door that led to the courtyard.

As that happened, Viral armed herself with the PSM and three extra mags off the dead changeling. Now that she was armed, she felt ready and rushed over to the group.

“Stay vigilant, my comrades! We have to cross open ground before we reach the guard tower!” Akula exclaimed, working the controls to open the metal door.

Viral rushed up to him, with her PSM in hoof. “Akula, rushing a heavily-armed guard tower with only one pistol among us is suicide!” She exclaimed.

“Victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice, V,” Akula told her, “We changelings know this better than anypony,” He then turned to his comrades and shouted, “Prepare yourselves!!!”

Viral took a deep breath and readied herself for what was about to happen. This was it, the moment she would see the light in months.

Akula pressed a button and the massive metal door slid open. The fellow prisoners rushed out into the light, only to be gunned down by the HMG in the tower that needed to be brought down. Akula, Tank and Viral rushed out into the open, taking cover from the tower behind a coal cart. The tower attempted to gun them down, but the trio was too quick and the heavy metal plating on the cart resisted the bullets that slammed into it.

Some of the prisoners that survived the initial barrage of machine gun fire, rushed over to another cart on the opposite side of the field. Akula and Tank began to push the cart along the tracks, the group on the other side doing the same.

Multiple changeling guards moved out of the nearby buildings in an attempt to stop the escape. But Viral provided covering fire for the groups with her pistol as they used the coal carts to close the gap on the tower. Every single time one showed up, they were given a pistol bullet right between the eyes, courtesy of Double V.

However, once the group had reached the end of the cart rails, the machine gun in the tower had them pinned down. There was no way that V would be able to take down the tower with her pistol and there was plenty of open land between them and the tower.

"That tower's gonna’ rip us to shreds if we don't do something!" Viral exclaimed, as endless rounds bounced off the metal plates of the cart.

"Have a little patience V, step three." Akula responded.

"Bring down the forest." She confirmed.

Akula nodded. "With a little ingenuity, we can turn mere junk into weapons." He pointed towards the other group. Viral looked over there and saw something amazing. The other group with their cart, had assembled some sort of slingshot. Those changelings loaded a Molotov cocktail into the sling and fired the slingshot, sending the cocktail into the tower. But that cocktail was filled with some very powerful high explosive material, as the explosion created by the impact was enough to destroy the supports and topple the tower.

Seeing the tower go down, the prisoners let out a cry of victory. “URA!!!!!! Never lose faith, my friends, NEVER!!!!!” Akula cried out, leading the charge into the area HQ.

“Sweet Celestia!!! What did you put in that bottle to get an explosion that massive?!” Viral asked, shocked that a simple lighted bottle could bring down a tower.

Akula chuckled at Viral's astonishment as he and Tank got off the cart and ran up to the tower. "This took months upon months of planning, Viral! We will not pause; we will not falter! We will be free, or die trying!"

As several prisoners began to climb the fences around the area, Akula led the Griffin and Pegasus into the tower, kicking down the door. Once inside, Akula pointed Tank towards a closed steel door.

"Tank, break open the door to the confiscation room. Viral, with me!" He ordered, as the griffon began to bash the door with all his might. Viral nodded and followed him up a set of stairs. After climbing a single flight, the changeling stopped and turned to the Pegasus.

“V, I need you on the top of this tower. Our comrades in the south need your help,” He explained.

“What about you?”

“In order to achieve victory, we need every creature to play their part,”

"Step 5… Awaken the Swarm." Viral knowingly said, now getting what she needed to do.

"I will rally them to our cause! Go to the top floor. There are still some guard towers that need to be toppled. Tank should have step 4 taken care of."

With a simple nod, Viral found her way to the final floor where two other prisoners had set up a second slingshot. Three towers in the distance were still laying fire on prisoners emptying out of the mines all over the prison. Viral loaded a cocktail into the sling and pulled back.

As that happened, Akula hijacked the site’s loudspeaker and began to recite his rallying cry, “Brave comrades of Chert Vozmi, the time has come to rise against our oppressors! Today, we show these traitors the heart and spirit of true changelings! We have all given our blood for the Queen. We have answered her calls without question or second thought. We gave our lives, our hearts, our very souls for her protection. As loyal servants to our queen, we fought side by side against the pony tyranny. We crawled through dirt, blood and grass to achieve a glorious victory. Not for medals, or glory ...But for what was our queen’s will. We fought for revenge on the ponies, even after her reign fell to the weak Thorax! When the traitor was dethroned, and we returned home, how did our leader repay us? We returned not to the rapturous welcome... but to suspicion, persecution and distrust! In the eyes of our leader, we were already tainted by the scars we had earnt. Torn from the embrace of our hive, we found ourselves thrown in here... this place... this, this terrible place. Here we have languished, with no hope for release. No hope for justice. No hope for revenge. We have toiled in Drago's mines until the flesh peeled from our bones. We have watched our comrades succumb to sickness, disease and starvation. We have been starved. We have been beaten. But we will not be broken! Today, we will send a message to our corrupt and arrogant leader. Today, my comrades... Chert Vozmi - BURNS!!!”

As Akula encouraged the massive horde to fight on, Viral, with the help of the two holding the slingshot took out the three towers, missing a couple shots before understanding the arc and hitting her marks.

She raced down to meet Akula at the confiscation room, who was already retrieving an AK-47 that suited his needs. The other prisoners were arming themselves with the AKM and AK-74 rifles that lined the room. Over to the corner of the room sat Viral's MP5. With a Red Dot Sight, Laser, Grip, and Collapsed Stock. She also grabbed an AK as well, since she only had so much ammo for her MP5.

"Go, arm yourself, comrades. The reinforcements will soon arrive to defend the main armory," Akula ordered, as he funnelled his troops out of the HQ and towards the main courtyard. However, cutting them off was a locked fence.

"How will we achieve step 6?!" One of the changeling prisoners asked.

"Viral has a weapon for the job. Shoot the lock, V."

Viral shot a quick burst that cut the lock in half, then kicked the gate down with authority as the group joined their fellow prisoners, who were now engaged in a full scale firefight with the guards that remained a stalemate. With the help of Viral, Akula, Tank, and the new prisoners, they flooded the guards positions and pushed them back. Inch by bloody inch, the prisoners began to force their way through the yard, towards the main armory. With Akula and Viral leading the charge, nothing could stop them.

“Forward! We will burn this hellhole to the ground! Spare NO ONE!!!!” Akula commanded, as his troops forced their way forward.

Then, over the horizon the sounds of rotors became distinct. Akula knew what it was immediately.

"The chopper is here, good!"

"How is this good?!" One of the prisoners protested.

"Because, it is as we had planned."

"Step 6!" Viral cried out.

"Skewer that fucking alicorn! Let's get moving,"

Up ahead, Viral was cutting her way into a two-floor building, on top of which was a pair of prisoners readying an improvised harpoon to complete step 6. However, they were spotted on the rooftop and the chopper shredded them into minced meat.

Seeing the threat eliminated, the chopper went back to supporting the guards. Viral seized this moment, climbing the stairs. She was the closest to the harpoon.

As she got to the roof, she dived behind the ventilation shaft and retrieved the harpoon. With a deep breath, she got on her bonds legs using her wings to support the counter weight. Lining up a shot and firing the harpoon just as the chopper turned its attention back to her.

It was a spot-on shot, but as the sharp spear buried itself into the helo’s thin skin, the gunner managed to get off 5 shots. The first two tearing into her left wing, third grazing over her shoulder centimeters from vital arteries in her neck, a fourth going through her right shoulder missing the bones and muscles only barely, and the fifth going through her right wing.

Seeing Viral go down, the pilot of the helo began to fly away. But with the harpoon lodged into the rotorcraft and tied to a set of pipes on the roof halted the aircraft in place. The more the chopper struggled against the rope with all of its mechanical might, but the rope held it in place. Eventually, the chopper couldn’t fight the rope any longer and crashed into a building, as V collapsed onto all fours, the harpoon dropping with a solid thud. Akula rushed up the stairs and escorted his pony friend downstairs, but she quickly pushed him off and got on her hooves.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I can walk, I can fight."

"And your wings?"

"Nothing but flesh." She stretched them out to prove her point, and promptly choked on pain. "Misses any muscles or bones. Let's catch up with the others,”

Akula nodded and helped Viral into the building where the main armoury was housed. The pair then arrived at the main hall, where multiple guards were standing their ground against the swarm, using movable cover to counterattack the advance of the rebel prisoners.

But Akula was ready for them to use that cover. “Have no fear, comrades! Flank them!” He cried out, as Viral began to move. She ran towards one of the pillars that held the roof up and took cover behind it. She looked to the ground, noticing one of the dead prisoners had recently left an AK-47 with a GP-25. She mumbled something about excessive force as she picked it up, and loaded the explosive. As the guards used the mobile cover to move forward, she broke her own cover lobbing the explosive round in between the two sets of shields, showering the unfortunate guards in shrapnel.

Dropping the rifle once again to use her SMG, and leading the way up the stairs towards the armory with Akula and half a dozen remaining prisoners right behind her. Another group of prisoners were fighting in the corridor ahead. One called out to Akula.

“They are trying to lock down the armory.”

“Well, stop them.”

They fought their way down the corridor as they began to hear an alarm. Akula quickly reacted.

“They are trying to seal the door.”

The group turned the corner to see the iron door to their next step lowering down, but Tank was able to get a grip under it. He held it up long enough for Viral to slide under and into cover behind a set of control panels before he succumbed to the force. It came down hard, crushing him under its weight.

“Tank!”

“NO!!!!! V, we’re stuck on the other side. Get this door open!”

Not needing to be told twice, she stepped out with suppressive fire and shuffled over to the control room. Once in, she popped the door back open. It was too late to save Tank, but the rest of the prisoners barged in quickly taking out the guards on the upper deck.

They pushed up to the second level and began to spread out, Akula taking point with V not far behind.

“The roof! I hear them on the roof! And they’ve sealed the vault, Akula!”

“It matters little, brother,”

“Step 7,” V began.

“We shall wield an iron hoof, this way.” Akula finished.

With the prisoners holding off the guards from their height advantage, Akula led Viral and some others over to a workshop. As they moved on they spotted more reinforcements arriving in a troop transport. Akula knew they needed to work fast, and quickly found what he was looking for.

“Yes, the blowtorch will suit our needs.” Akula stated, picking it up and rushing back to the vault.

As he picked it up, there was an explosion from the door. Two prisoners watching it opened fire, but they were no match for the armored unit that breached them. They were cut down by buckshot as the armored unit began to move in. Viral suppressed it with 7.62 long enough for Akula to get free of it’s range and quickly retreated to a safe distance as the changeling got to work cutting open the vault. With enough sustained fire, Viral was able to wear down the armored intruder as well as the one that followed him in. She then turned around, taking down three more that were on the roof before regrouping with the others.

She provided close cover as Akula began to cut open the vault, but soon enough more armored troops began to flood in.

“They’ve broken through. Pull back. Pull back!”

They began to slowly pick apart the prisoners as they made their ground towards the vault.

“Akula, you better get that damn thing open! We’re gonna get overrun!” Viral cried out, holding off all the troops that dared to enter her line of sight.

“I’m almost there V.”

With only a fraction of their forces remaining, they held their ground best they could as more and more armored soldiers with shotguns filed in one by one. At this point, Viral was almost certain this was where it would end. The soldiers took far too many shots to take down and by the time it was gone it had taken 2 or 3 prisoners with them.

Just as she was about to jump out and accept her death, Akula got the vault door open. With a little assistance from Viral they made it inside, Viral taking cover by the door.

“V, you might want to get down for this.”

Akula knew exactly what he was looking for, he originally was going to let Tank use it, but that was out of the question. V was too injured to make use of it either. So with little option but himself he grabbed the minigun off the table and turned to face the soldiers that had come to the door.

“Chrysalis sends her regards…”

With a short spin up, he cut through the wave of soldiers. Their armor standing no chance against the large caliber ammunition the minigun carried. When he stopped firing, Viral got back onto her hooves.

“You are absolutely crazy.”

“I’m part demon V, I love spilling blood for my queen[/i].” Akula told her, his tone changing to something more demonic.

Viral just slowly nodded, as Akula carried the heavy minigun through the hole that the armoured Juggernaught guards had blown in the wall. A massive number of troops had gathered out the front and were engaged with what was left of the prisoners.

As Akula stepped out of the building with the minigun in hoof, he cried out to his comrades. “Step 8, comrades!?”

“KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!” Was the thunderous reply of one hundred vengeful unreformed changelings.

The sudden outburst caught the trained soldiers by surprise, but they had more to fear as the Demon Lord spun up his minigun once again. Akula smirked and yelled out, “For honor! For vengeance! FOR THE QUEEN!!!!!”

The moment he opened fire, all hell broke loose. Any guard that was caught in his line of fire was instantly torn to shreds. Trucks that were caught in the firing line exploded in a bright flash, catching all of those standing close to it in the flames. Not even soldiers that had taken the high-ground on walkways and balconies overlooking the field were safe, as the changeling shot at nearby red barrels, causing them to detonate and take out the high points.

More trucks arrived at the battlefield, bringing more troops to hold the line. But these metal machines were instantly turned into coffins, as Akula opened fire on the trucks, causing the to detonate.

Akula then cried out in his native language for his troops to advance, which they complied with. Viral also drew out her AK-74u and pushed forward as well, providing support to the Demon Lord as he continued to spray down any guard that crossed his path.

“Die, all of you!! Disloyal fuckers!!!! This prison will be your grave!!!” Akula cried out, as the group advanced towards a nearby warehouse.

However, as they were nearing the outer walls of the prison the guards made one last desperate attempt to stop them. A large concentration of tear gas was thrown into the swarm, most beginning to choke and momentarily suffocate. Akula figured this would happen, and managed to hold his breath long enough to distant the initial barrage of gas.

But when he saw V beginning to collapse, he dropped the gun and ran to her side, dragging her along into a building out of the gasses reach and shutting the door tight as he waited for the mare to regain her composure.

It took several minutes for Viral to fully come to, by then Akula had found what he wanted.

"The door will not hold them forever V, and with both of our sets of wings of little use we need to figure out a new plan. But, within the confines of this building those unloyal bastards have surrounded us in lies the key to our final step."

With one motion, he pulled the tarps off a motorbike. V slowly got to her hooves to echo his words.

"Freedom."

She grabbed her AK once again, and joined him on the bike as a passenger. With a quick rev of the engine, the Changeling floored it up a makeshift ramp and through the front window as they flew by several guards that had been trying to find a way in. It wasn't long before some began to give chase, along with several trucks and a helicopter.

"They're not letting us go without a fight!"

They began to take fire from the pursuers, Viral returning fire from her seat while Akula focused on his driving, taking a jump and spotting something that caught his eye. A cargo train speeding down the tracks not too far down the dirt path they were on.

V was hitting shots on bikes that were tailing them, but she could do little to the chopper or trucks. Without warning, a flatbed with an DShKM MG pulled out in front of them. With split second reactions, V neutralized the gunner and they pulled alongside. Akula ripped the driver from his seat and tossed him to the ground while Viral got on the gun. It was her turn to wreak havoc.

Her first target was the chopper, which she tore into with the .50 caliber gun and brought it down with no trouble. She then turned her attention to the trucks, and was in the middle of clearing those out when the train pulled along their left side. There was a problem, it was too far away for a jump, but if they missed this chance there was likely not going to be a second.

Akula sped up to match the train, and despite the pain that rocked her body Viral spread her wings to get ready. They got as close to the train as they could before Akula opened his door, but he soon realized he himself could not reach.

"V, I can't make it. You have to jump!"

Pretending she didn't hear that, she pushed herself to hover just enough to keep herself steady. It was agony, but she matched the truck's pace with the train and grabbed onto Akula who was holding the wheel and still accelerating.

"V are you sure about this?!"

"Be free or die trying."

Spotting an open car, she pulled him from the truck in one swift motion and flew them both into the open section. They landed with a thud, Viral rolling over and into the opposite end of the metal wall hitting hard on the back of her head. Akula got up quick and shut the door to keep their escape secret, but by the time he had gotten to Viral she had already blacked out. All of her adrenaline had run out after the action and he needed to rest herself and her wounds.

Akula just gently picked her up and placed her on a nearby sackpile in the corner of the car, before whispering to her. “Sleep well, Angel. You’ll need your energy for tomorrow,” And with that, Akula walked away and sat down himself, keeping watch