“There isn't much room for planning, so this is going to be simple,” Sweetie Belle looked between her friends, “We're going to fight our way to the security room, activate the bomb, and fight our way to the escape pods.”

“Really? That's it?” Applebloom said incredulously, “That ain't a plan.”

“You got a better one?” countered the unicorn.

“I do,” Scootaloo spoke up, a serious look on her face, “We can't fight them head on. That's what the other ponies did, and look what happened to them.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Sweetie asked.

“Simple,” Scootaloo stood up and stretched out a bit, “I distract them, and activate the bomb while you girls get to the escape pod.”

“What?!” Sweetie shouted, “No way, we're not splitting up. That's suicide, Scoots.”

“Those things can’t sneak up on me, now,” the pegasus defended her plan, “I can see in all around me, and through walls, and I’m more agile than you two.”

“Scootaloo, it's been two years since you did any o' that fancy stuff,” Applebloom pointed out.

“But I've kept in shape. Mom and me work out everyday, and Blue Streak helps me with agility stuff,” Scootaloo shot down the farmer's argument. “Look, I know chances are this is gonna get me killed, but if we all jump out there we're all going to die. If either of you do, you'll get eaten as soon as you step hoof outside. I have a chance to survive, however small.”

“There has to be another way!” Applebloom said with mild hysteria.

“No, Scootaloo,” Sweetie agreed, “We aren't splitting up. We're Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we stick together.”

Scootaloo tried to protest, but was shushed by her friends. She groaned in defeat, “Fine, but let's at least see what we have here that might help.”

“Well, there's nothing in here,” Sweetie Belle pondered, “Maybe in the other room? Let's go look.”

“Alright.”

“Right behind you.”

The three walked into the testing room... well... two did. Scootaloo waited until they were looking at the back shelves before slowly pulling the door shut.

“Sorry, girls, but I won't let anything happen to you,” Scootaloo whispered to herself, “If me dying can save you, it's worth it.”

With that, she crouched low and kicked off, her wings buzzing for added thrust and crashed through the door.

“Come and get it, you ugly crabs! Dinner's served!”

The others Ran as fast as they could, Applebloom bucking the door from its hinges.

“Scootaloo! What are you doing you idiot!” cried the farmer.

She tried to chase after the foolish filly, but was lifted off the ground by a green aura.

“It's no use,” Sweetie said, a tinge of sadness in her voice, “You know we won't be able to catch her. All we can do is hope she makes it. She's tough.”

“But...” Applebloom tried to think of a reason to go after her, but Sweetie was right. The only way to catch up to the pegasus would be if she stopped, and the only reason she'd stop was if she was dead. “A-a-alright.”

The unicorn set her down, “Now come on. We need to get out of here.”

Applebloom could only kick the desk in frustration before taking off after Sweetie.

In the now abandoned laboratory, the paused log came back to life, “It's funny knowing I'm going to die. I always thought I'd be more frightened, but... It doesn't bother me. My death wasn't in vain. Sure the corruption will still be infecting Everfree Valley, but I'm confident Discord will fall.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Scootaloo dodged and weaved through the mass of miniature monsters. They pounced with enough force to take down a stallion as big as Applebloom's brother, but it amounted to absolutely nothing when their target saw them coming a mile away. It didn't take her long to figure out that the sudden buildup of magic in their legs meant they were about to pounce. The only thing that made her nervous was that burst of magic that seemed to be right on her tail. She wasn't sure what it was, but she didn't want to find out.

Two leaped at her from the left and behind. She jumped, twisting to her right and let them collide with each other. A snicker issued from her lips at their stupidity. More and more joined the pursuit, which was fine for her. That just meant less that can follow her friends.

A room came up on her left. She could see a gray mass of something that resembled a pony skeleton and an orange spot on its foreleg. She recalled Sweetie saying a pony with one of those things she has was in the security room, so she barged in as soon as she could. She quickly slammed the door shut and slid the empty cabinet in front.

Scootaloo cursed under her breath for forgetting one crucial thing. She had no idea what to do. That thing said the guy that was there had the key, so the filly examined the area around the guy. The lack of detail on anything made finding anything nearly impossible.

“Grr... How am I supposed to start this bomb?” She yelled at nopony in particular.

Seconds after her outburst, an orange square appeared floating over the device on the dead stallion's leg. A voice that wasn't the stallion from the other log spoke.

“If you're seeing this, I failed and likely damned everypony here to death. Heh, who am I kidding. We were already dead. Anyway, I’m guessing you want to activate the bomb and blow these bastards to Tartarus. I hope you do better than I did. It’s simple. You just let this recording play. Oh, you might want to run.”

Scootaloo was quite baffled.

In a clear loud voice, the recording continued, “Security protocol seven-seven-charlie-dash-eight, initiate code: Armageddon.”

“Code: Armageddon; sequence initiated. Identification required,” The computer's voice replied.

Scootaloo's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. He was completing the mission given to him thousands of years ago. This was a pony she could respect.

With that taken care of, she grabbed the shelf and, with a few well-placed kicks, dislodged it. The filly put it on the ground and stomped it a few times, making it concave. Satisfied, she took her new toy and burst through the door, using the bent shelf as a handle-less scooter, her wings propelling her forward. She chuckled as the monsters were immediately in pursuit.

She turned towards the direction she came from, the metal shelf sliding across the smooth floor. As she passed the familiar lab, another problem with her plan came up... She once again had no idea where to go.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! she thought to herself. What am I going to do?

She sped down the hall in a blur, coming to a sign reading, “Emergency Escape,” with an arrow pointing to her left...

She went right.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Another monster was flattened under the powerful hooves of Applebloom as one was sent flying into another by a green bolt of magic. The two of them had to admit, Scootaloo was right. She lured the majority away, but there was still enough to slow down their progress. If they had to face what Scoots lured away as well, they would be standing still. Just as another met its kin at the hooves of Applebloom, red flashing lights flickered everywhere.

“Warning. Self-destruct sequence activated. Please report to emergency escape pods. Repeat. Self-destruct sequence activated. Please report to emergency escape pods.”

“She did it!” Sweetie exclaimed, “See? If she made it that far with all those things after her, then she'll make it out for sure!”

“Ah hope you're right,” Applebloom replied with a tone of worry.

“She'll be fine...” Sweetie's words felt empty. She knew that she likely never see her friend again, but she couldn't give up like that. Even if the chances were slim, she had to keep hope that Scootaloo would be alright. “We're almost there.”

They turned the hall to find themselves in some kind of warehouse/infirmary/waiting room, likely for those waiting to use the escape pods. The room was littered with piles of bones scattered, chewed and broken. Though the most alarming feature was the overall shape of the room. It looked like a battle took place, and considering the circumstances, one likely did. At the far end, a sight that made their hearts sink. A thick, steel security door barred their way.

“No!” Sweetie cried in despair, “What do we do? We'll be overrun if we don't get through.”

Applebloom looked at the door her expression hardened in determination, “You think you can hold 'em off for minute?”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Sweetie asked.

“Plasma caster fully charged,” came Dot's voice as the eyepiece turned red, highlighting threats. A section of the leg piece lifted revealing a gun barrel.

“That works.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

“With everything the self-proclaimed 'spirit of chaos' has done, society as we know it is finished. We'll have to start over. Everything my parents went through with the windigos and unifying the tribes was all for nothing...or was it? Will ponies still stand together? I get society will start over technologically, but what about morally? Will unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony still live in harmony? I wonder... would the expedition that finds this be comprised of all three tribes? I hope so, for united there's nothing that can stop us, but divided... divided, nopony will ever see this.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

It didn't take Scootaloo too long to realize something wasn't right, and when she came to a door that opened to, based on the rough, rounded texture of the walls, a natural cavern, she knew she took a wrong turn.

“Not much I can do about that now,” she told herself.

The pegasus tore down the cave, the devil crabs, as she lovingly named them, were hot on her tail. The bastards were quick, but she was just a bit quicker. Eventually, she came to a cliff with what she assumed was water flowing down into a hole in the cave floor. The thought of the cool fluid reminded her how incredibly thirsty she was, but the claw raking her flank quickly put her back on track.

She cried out as the thing tore into her flesh, but a quick buck dislodged it. Scootaloo grabbed the board and leaped as high as she could, her wings giving her that little extra boost. She was pretty sure this was the way they came when they first fell through the ground. She laughed a little at the irony she found herself in. The little blind filly seeing clear as day, in a cave that was pitch black.

She touched down on the 'water slide' she and her friends slid down just a few hours prior, and used her wings to propel herself up. The creatures flooded the narrow shaft in their pursuit. Thankfully, this slowed them significantly. She searched around for anything that could be a way out, hoping they just missed it in the dark.

“Come on! Something... anyth-”

Something formed on the edge of her sight, and hope filled the orange filly.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

“Darn it!” Applebloom shouted as she yet again failed to figure out how to get the door open.

“Calm down, Applebloom,” Sweetie encouraged her friend as she blasted away at the charging monsters. 'Devil crab' sounds like a good name for them. Another exploded as the green bolt impacted its carapace. Or 'splatter bugs'.

“Stupid place. Stupid bugs. Stupid door!” Applebloom didn't know what came over her. Just the thought of Sweetie Belle dying because she couldn't figure this out both terrified and infuriated her. She slammed her fore hooves into the thick steel door and pulled with everything she had. If she were thinking logically like she normally would she would have realized how futile that was.

Lucky for them, she wasn't thinking logically.

The groaning of metal filled the chamber as the door strained to hold. Sweetie's eyes widened in shock when she looked back and saw her friend pulling the door with a look of fire in her eyes.

“We...”

Her back hooves cracked the stone floor.

“Ain't...”

One of the hinges popped of with enough force to tear through two of the evil bugs.

“Gonna die...”

The entire six inch steel door buckled under the unnatural strength of the engaged filly as a flash of light from her hip nearly blinded the unicorn.

“HERE!”

With a loud crash, the door was torn from the wall. The rage still burning in the filly's eyes, she swung the warped metal over her head and brought it down with devastating force. The makeshift fly swatter made crab cakes out of any unfortunate enough to have made it that close. The impact shook the entire room as a fissure lanced out from the ruined barrier causing the room to shake.

Sweetie quickly grabbed her friend yelling, “Move!” and pulled her into the room beyond as the roof gave out and collapsed.

The two fillies slowly pulled themselves to their hooves. Tears filled their vision as they looked at the mountain that stood between them and their friend.

“N... n-no...” Applebloom cried, “Scootaloo...”

“Come on,” Sweetie said, her voice breaking from her own sorrow, “She sacrificed herself so we could get out... Don't let her die in vain.”

Applebloom lacked the will to resist as Sweetie pulled her to one of the escape pods. They got in the nearest one as Sweetie hit the launch button.

“You got your cutie mark,” Sweetie said, wiping her eyes as the door shut.

Applebloom gave her friend a sad smile, “So did you.”

The pod lurched forward as the rockets launched it from that nightmarish place

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

“If... if you make it, give my family a message, please. To my wife Cool Mist, I'm sorry I left you with the burden of raising our children alone, but I know if anypony can do it, it's you. I wish I could have left you something that could help. I suppose our old house Canterlot Peak might still be standing, but that might be too cold.

“To my daughters, what else can I say? I'm sorry I couldn't be there to watch you grow. My sweet Celestia... my lovely Luna... Daddy loves you very much.”

“End log.”

Fire spread through the entire facility as the bomb exploded.