Containment Is Magic

D-9341 “Follower”

LTF Facility 1a, [REDACTED], Equestria

1 ½ Weeks after Incident 001

B/S

”Retrace your steps, and a new path should be open. The answer to Jitterbug lies there.” Cheerilee’s words echoed in Follower’s head as the orange unicorn trotted through the halls. After making the nervous mare and Warden Sue disappear, Cheerilee had turned to Follower and told him to retrace his steps back to Pinkie Pie’s chamber. He agreed, beginning a rather long trek back across the facility.

Many thoughts ran through Follower’s head as he walked through the empty halls of the facility. What was so interesting about Jitterbug? Where did she go? Why did Warden Sue attack Cheerilee? These were just some of the questions that flowed through his head, and Follower did not have any answers whatsoever.

He arrived in the room where he had initially gotten his Level 2 keycard and radio and stopped to rest. The silence in the facility was soon interrupted, however, when a loud scream broke out, causing Follower to jump a little in surprise. Poor soul, must have had got attacked by one of the subjects, he thought, slowly regaining his composure. He stood still for a few more moments to steel himself, then took a deep breath and opened the door to the tunnel leading back to Pinkie’s chamber.

The corridor had changed dramatically since Follower had passed through it, namely because there was now a large hole in the side of it, revealing another small hallway. Follower cautiously approached the hallway before peeking around the corner. Confirming that it was empty, he entered the new corrld bead of sweat ran down the back of the orange unicorn's neck as he ventured forward, a large feeling of nervousness clouding his thoughts. Something about this hallway creeped him out, but he pressed on, knowing that whatever Cheerilee wanted him to see was this way. The hallway broke into two directions, left and right. The left side was labeled with a sign that said “LTF-2015” on it, and a large picture of a skull and crossbones adorned it. The other door was marked with a sign that said “Lab 20a”. Feeling brave, Follower decided to go left.

The tunnel led to another slightly larger hallway that seemed to be filled with dead bodies. Grimacing, Follower cantered over to a rather interesting-looking body and inspected it.

It was a cream-colored pegasus mare with a brown mane. She was wearing a suit of Kevlar that was labeled “HEAD OF SECURITY.” Sighing deeply to himself, Follower reached down, closed the dead pony’s clouded cinnamon-colored eyes, then reached around her to grab her saddlebag and gently removed it.

Opening the bag, Follower found several files placed neatly inside, as well as a GPS tracking device and a badge. He picked up the badge first. It identified the dead pegasus as Wild Fire, and showed a picture of her staring at the camera, an unamused look on her face.

He frowned, placing the badge back in the bag, and pulled out a small manila envelope. Printed on the top of the file were large red letters saying “O5 Command Only,” and the LTF Agency seal below it.

Chuckling, Follower opened the folder anyway and was greeted by an LTF subject sheet. Large, official letters spelled out the name of a pony whom he recognized, causing his smile to waver slightly. As he read the document, the stallion’s smile slowly faded. His mouth suddenly dropped open. “WHAT!?” he exclaimed, utter disbelief in his voice. However, his train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of a hoof hitting the floor.

Follower froze, fear welling in his chest as he dropped the file folder. Heart pounding in his chest, he turned and faced whoever was behind him.

Standing behind him was the rainbow-maned pegasus, a large grin plastered on her face.

The room was dead silent for a few moments before the pegasus finally spoke, her voice carrying a haunting tone. “Nopony escapes Rainbow Dash.”

The orange unicorns’s eyes became the size of dinner plates, and he took a step back.

Jitterbug only hunched closer to the ground as a different pony's scream echoed down the hallway. She had her eyes squeezed shut, tears swiftly slipping out of them and making tracks down the blood that covered her face as she rocked herself back and forth, whispering mad incoherent phrases to herself.

She made no attempts to calm herself down. She didn't try to pretend nothing had happened. She was in the middle of a room full of blood and pieces of pony. She also didn't know why she was there.

It made no sense. She was convinced there was some vengeful spirit that was exacting revenge on her for some past wrongdoing. She would randomly wake up in rooms splattered in dead pony, and it was driving her insane.

This wasn't what she wanted. This wasn't where she wanted to be. She just wanted to live a normal life, with a normal stallion, doing normal things, and be a normal mare. Some malicious spectre decided to make her pay every time she dared to hope that things would turn out all right.

So, she lay there. She hoped that Follower would come for her, or Warden, wherever they were. She was alone and afraid.

Eventually, her thoughts began to turn darker. Perhaps they would never come to save her. Perhaps it was her lot in life to lay here and die with this pony. She kept finding herself here with no explanation and no reason for her to suffer through this pain.

She would rather be dead.

Jitterbug felt her psyche slowly cracking as she prayed for her friends to save her.