“Most of the places I've been, I've been a main piece of the puzzle.”

We walked along the dark hallways of what we had assumed was an underground facility. Several side rooms we had checked yielded nothing more than strange tubes of fluids… sometimes housing the body or skeleton of a long dead colt or filly. The overall atmosphere had really started creeping me out as the only sounds made were the distant dripping of water and our hooves hitting the ground.

Not long after we had passed yet another room full of the strange tubes did I nearly jump to the ceiling as something metal clattered to the ground farther down the hall. “What the fuck was that?” I whispered to Predious, who had taken to hiding behind the mare with the gun...go figure.

“That sounded like a piece of metal hitting the ground.” Predious replied, practically begging me to shoot him in the face again. “I’m surprised living in the wasteland like you do, the sound of it is unfamiliar.”

“Keep that up, and you’ll have me to fear more than whatever is up ahead...if anything.” I took a deep breath and hobbled forward, shaking slightly from my own fear of the unknown. I slightly chuckled to myself at the fact that the mare was acting brave while the stallion cowered behind...granted I had a gun, and am one hell of a shot.

We continued down the hallway as my sense of curiosity drove me to figure out if we were alone down here or not, the deafening silence only amplified the odd beat of my hobbling. I don’t know what kind of rule it was that ruins needed to be creepy as fuck, but all the ruins near Ponyville seemed to be really exceptionally good at following it.

The hallway had a distinctive curve to it as we walked, the open doors to the various darkened rooms begged me to come look into them, promising great treasures, or a grim fate. One of the doors up the way creaked open slowly, causing me to freeze mid step. Even though I had decided to stop, Predious either hadn't noticed, or didn’t care, seeing as he ran right into my flank. As I spun around to berate him, I could have sworn I saw the shape of a pony moving in the room.

“You ever been in a place like this?” I asked slowly, replaying what I thought I saw in my mind, over and over.

“Oh, so now you want to talk about MY past.” He huffed and crossed his forehooves. “Hardly fair if you ask me.”

“What’s fair is that I haven’t left you for dead yet on the off chance you might answer my damn question!” I dropped my voice into a whisper to keep it from echoing down the hall, rocking my foreleg to keep it loose. Just in case I needed my rifle brought up quick.

“No, I haven’t. But...” He spoke louder than a normal pony would, obviously trying my patience. He licked his forehoof and held it into the air, his horn giving off a light glow as he looked around. “Feels like Ponyville. I’d say that the old ones are here as well, so we need not worry.” He stated that last part rather matter-o-factly.

“You mean that foal is here?” I turned my gaze back to the door, looking for any sign of movement, but observing nothing. His response of a light chuckle made me deadpan. “You think it’s funny?”

“That foal probably isn’t here. There were probably enough ponies who died here that they are the ones roaming around. And they are most likely just as harmless as I tried to tell you the ones in Ponyville where.” I looked back at him, unamused before there was a loud crash from further inside the facility. I’m pretty sure my coat flushed white for a moment before I got a hold of myself. “Though…the ghouls were the real danger there. Perhaps it’s not the dead we should be worried about.”

I shook the fear away, deciding to prove to myself that there was nothing to be afraid of. I made my way over to the door with Predious close behind me, pushing the door open as he used his light spell to brighten the room.

That was a terrible decision.

The room was covered in thick swaths of flaking crimson, the dried blood spreading from the single source of a foal sized skeleton laying on a gurney, it’s hollow eye’s looking up to me with a rictus grin. I hooked my hoof around the door and pulled it shut with a slam, shuddering as I took a step back.

“That’s it. We’re getting the hell out of here.” I turned and continued down the hallway. Our only chance to get out of here was to press on, seeing as I’m sure they didn’t just build facilities like this without having some sort of emergency exit. As we turned to head down the next corridor, the flickering lights down the hallway illuminated more nightmare fuel.

The hallway was covered in more blood than the previous room had been, the red smears leading around the corner and into the next hallway. We kept our steps soft as we continued, my mind begging me not to look around the next corner, even though I needed to check if the coast was clear. I peered around the corner with one eye, locking up as the faulty lights let me look into the heart of madness.

The walls were full of bloody drawings and writing, no less than a dozen skeletons scattered about it, and that was just before the hall turned to where I couldn’t see. Depictions of dead bodies and random arcane runes filled in the gaps between hastily painted words.

This is officially, the worst contract. Not out of the ones I’ve had, not of the ones I’ve heard of. But of all time. The sound of something hitting the floor just past the turn perked my ears, the echoing of it drifting off as all the lights blinked out.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, keeping my eyes open and my ears on a swivel. The power returned with a buzzing sound, raising the lights up again just in time for me to see the flank of a dark coated pony dip behind the curve in that hall. "No you don't! Stop right there!"

I pushed myself forward, hobbling at a near canter as I took off down the hallway. Predious shouted something I was forced to ignore as I poured all of my attention into finding that pony. The thick, dried blood of the hallway crunched under my hooves, my heart pounding in my chest as I pushed myself to catch whoever was here. They would have to know a way out! I was sure I was just about to catch up as I felt my hoof slip out from under me, the pelvis I stepped on shooting backwards while my momentum carried me to the floor. A fine cloud of dried blood ploomed out from under me as I tumbled forward with a muffled curse, closing my eyes to avoid getting the one and a half century old filth in them.

"I told you to watch for the bones!" Predious called to me smartly from down the hall. I'll have to remember to shoot him for this whenever we get out of here. My ears perked as the sound of metal doors sliding shut caught my attention. I snapped my eyes open, seeing a set of doors along the wall jostle as they shut together. I pushed myself up as the asshole I'd been babysitting trotted up behind me, the two of us heading toward the door. The partially rotten, slightly ajar office doors directly across the from the metal ones had a badly corroded plaque on it that read 'administrator' on it. The room gave me a slightly creepy feeling from it, as everything that we have see that happened here had most likely been directly their fault.

But surprisingly, it was the double doors that unnerved me more, mostly due to the simple writing painted on it.

There was something behind this, and I knew it was the source of all the noises. I had my gun out, holding it at the ready as Predious reached for the doors. The moment he touched the metal, there was a sharp crackle, and music started playing in the open room behind us. I spun and fired at the dark shape that sat in the darkness, blowing it’s head clear off.

The ringing in my ears faded slowly, being replaced by the soothing tones of the familiar song done up by the mare who made all of the sad, pre-war music. Both Predious and I made our way to the doorway, his horn glowing softly as his levitation flipped up the light switch. The lights came on with a buzz, revealing the dark form to be nothing more than a now headless skeleton.

“If you were trying to kill him,” He spoke up beside me with a snarky tone. “I think you missed the mark by just over a century.” He pushed his way through the doorway, seemingly dancing along with the music. “I always loved this song. She knew just how it would be in the end, there is just enough emotion to it that I can almost lose myself in how it felt when the old world died.” I bet it didn’t feel that great to be burned alive or to die slowly of radiation sickness.

I sighed and hobbled into the room, figuring that if this used to be the administrators office, then there must be something of use in here. Harmony is always telling me about the expensive things she gets from places like this. I got to the desk, pushing the chair over and out of the way, spilling the headless remains to the floor as I hoofed open the drawers. I don’t get it. There’s nothing but administrative papers here.

The metallic doors across the way slid open with a clack, drawing both Predious’s and my gaze. The half crimson colored form of a mechanical minotaur stepped through the doorway, the dull blue glow of it’s eyes was locked onto me as the eerie silence of the facility was almost deafening. Then as had been the case all night, everything went wrong all at once.

The lighting above flickered, making Predious slam the door shut with his magic as he dove for cover behind the desk. I unslung my rifle, working the action to put another round into the chamber just as a heavy mechanical stomp presided a metallic fist punching a hole straight through the rotten wood door. I fired off a shot through the door, unsure if I even hit the monster before Predious levitated the entire desk over.

“That’s not going to stop it!” I yelled as another good punch from the robot split the desk in half. I worked the action again, firing another shot through the rapidly disintegrating door. I heard the loud ping of the round deflect off of it, before the whole damn wall in front of us blew in. The machine let out a puff of steam from it’s muzzle as it stepped through the doorway.

At this point, I didn’t have to try to aim. I fired as fast as I could work the lever, each round striking the beast and deflecting away without leaving so much as a scratch. The second the hammer fell on the empty chamber, it knew it had it’s chance. It crouched down, grabbing the two halves of the desks in it’s grip and swung them in wide arcs. I had the reflexes to drop under one of the swings, but the backswing of it slammed against Predious. He was flung against the wall hard, crumpling to the floor in an unmoving heap.

I wish I had the time to express my outrage against my contract getting clobbered to death, but survival was more important. I flung myself forward as it dropped the desk down to where I had just been standing, hoping to repeat the process through the door. Unfortunately, my broken leg got caught on the chair I had knocked over, twisting it and making me fall to the floor with a scream. Before I could reorient myself, I felt the mechanical bull pick me up by the collar of my jacket, and toss me against the back wall like it was taking out the trash. In doing so, it was understandable that my body wanted to follow Predious's example, just making everything go black.

“Remember, you need to compensate for the wind when shooting at this distance.” I was trying my hardest to make him proud, but I was failing. “Now line it up, and try it again. You’ll get it this time for sure.” He was the kindest stallion I’ve ever met, and I couldn’t give up, not if he said I could do it.

I nodded and took the gun in my hooves again, taking aim once more at the bottle before adjusting my sight to compensate for the breeze that blew across the flat wastes before us. I took a deep breath and fired again, the round pinging off outside of the rock next to the bottle.

“I’m never going to get this…” I looked to the dirt and clenched my eyes. I’ve been trying so hard to do well, and I hated how I was nothing but a disappointment.

“Don’t worry, Storm, it’ll come to you eventually. Just remember that giving up is the worst thing you can do and…” He paused for a moment as somepony yelled something from behind us. “Fuck. Stay here a moment honey. I’ll be right back.” He got up and trotted off toward the large stallion who was swearing up a storm as he approached. The angry stallion who called out for him spun and bucked Dad hard, before keeping him down with a flurry of kicks.

“Daddy!” I screamed, looking around for mother, or maybe somepony else who could help us. When I found that there was no one around, I did what any filly in the position would. I cried. I cried because I was helpless to stop the onslaught against my father, too small and weak to make a difference in a fight.

The stallion beating on Dad stopped as I cried, shouting out with a smile as he heard my cries. “I see you brought your fucking daughter with you. How about I teach her what it means for her pop to piss off the wrong pony!” He grinned angrily at me, stepping over the bloodied body of my father as I could do nothing but cry. Dad groaned and reached up, holding onto the rear leg of the massive stallion.

“You stay the fuck away from her!” He screamed, receiving a few more bucks from the aggressors free hoof, knocking dads grip away. I took a step back as the stallion started to walk over again, bumping back into the gun. In that moment, I knew that I couldn’t miss this time, I had to save my father. I gripped the heavy rifle in my forehooves, standing on my hind legs and resting back against the log behind me for support. His magnified face gave me a sharp grimace through the scope, I held my breath as my forelegs burned, but kept the gun steady.

I fired.

As the loud report bled off into the distance, the stallion slumped forward with a far off gaze, the hole in the front of his skull showing the light of the clouds on the horizon off through the empty back of his head. I dropped the gun and ran past him, tears flowing down my cheeks as I came up to the bruised and bloody form of my father. I pressed into him, hugging him tightly as he wheezed in the dirt.

“I did it Daddy...I shot him…” The words were muffled as I buried my face in his neck, feeling as he softly put a hoof around me.

“I know.” He spoke softly, brushing my mane as he held me close. “I’m so… proud of you.” His words came out in the strong voice he always used, ignoring the pain from the wounds he had. Pushing me away, he got to his hooves, smiling as he looked at me. “Goddesses Storm, would you look at that!” He laughed as he pointed to me. I looked myself over, stopping as I noticed that a small picture had appeared on my flank depicting a crosshair under two rifles criss crossed over one another like an X. “Come on, honey. Let’s go home and show Mom how well you did today.”

I groaned as I opened my eyes. My whole body ached and a feeling as if my hind leg had a blade being slowly driven into it was causing me to slightly whimper. I could feel the warm tears dripping from my eyes as the pain seemed to only get worse and worse with each passing second I was conscious. I was hanging against the wall by my forehooves, wishing that I had still been numb from the snow outside. Predious was letting off groans beside me, probably in the same predicament as I was, but at least he wasn’t dead. Though, I don’t know how long that would last.

“Oh, good! You are both awake.” The bright voice of a filly chimed up. “It’s been so long since we’ve had new guests here. The ponies you met on the way in are so dreadfully boring.”

I opened my watering eyes, struggling against the chains as I tried to wipe them. Sitting between us a few feet away was the source of the voice, a small pink pony sat on a pedestal between banks of terminals. As I stared at it, it leaned to the side quickly. No, not leaned, warped.

“I know you have so many questions, but I’ve just gotta say… It is an honor to meet you!” The filly bounced on her hooves, her form warping again as my eyes cleared up. Her translucent form made my mind jump to the ghost of the foal for a moment, but as her imaged flickered and bent, I realized that she wasn’t a pony at all, just a projection of one. “Can I get your autograph?”

“Fuck you. You scare the shit out of us on the way in, and have a giant robotic monster toss us about like playthings?” I spoke without thinking, watching as the pink form flickered to a red one for a moment. “let us go, NOW.” Why didn’t I see it coming that it was a bad idea to insult the thing that was holding us captive? Oh, right, because this is the worst night of all time.

“I’m not good enough for you then?” She snarled as her voice thundered through the halls. “Maybe we should just play hide and seek like we did with the others?” The thought of ending up as a skeleton in the hallways as a warning to other ponies would be just a shitty way to end my night. The projection flickered blue for a moment. “But… then we’d be all alone again. Why can’t you just stay with us?”

“I believe what she meant to say, was that we are terribly sorry, but we have a previous engagement that we must make.” Predious spoke up with more sense that I had at the moment. Fucking show off.

The filly flashed to green as she talked. “I wish I could leave.” a quick flicker to blue as she looked up at him. “Why can’t you help me leave?” The pain in my leg spiked, making me groan. The filly changed back to pink again. “If you help me, I can help you!”

“I thought it was an honor to meet me. Now you won’t help until I do something for you? Make up your mind.” There I go again, speaking without thinking. I waited for her to get angry again, but all she did was stare at me.

“If I help you, you’ll just leave. This way, I know you will stay.” She swapped colors to yellow. “This way, I can spend more time with another project! Maybe we’ll become friends and spend all of our time together!” She changed back to pink.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘another project’, if I may ask?” Predious winced as he spoke, the hit he had taken earlier must have messed him up inside or something. Though, he wasn’t even bruised from the hit… did he have healing magic? If so, I’m going to kick his ass when we get out of here.

“Oh, Storm here is…” She covered her mouth with her hooves, giving off a small gasp before looking at us slyly, shifting pallets to yellow. “Oh, you’re good. I almost gave away the secret! But you can’t have it, not yet.” She shifted to pink again and smiled. “No, first you need to fix me!”

“So, we get nothing at all from you until we fix you.” I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore my leg.

“Pretty much!” She bounced up and down again. “Just hang out here one sec while I slip into something… more comfortable!” She stopped and giggled. “Heh, HANG OUT! That’s funny, right?” Okay, this time I can just smile and nod. No need for the computer… thing to kill us.

“Pah-leese. That was an abysmal joke.” Yup, Predious is a dead pony the second we walk out of this place.

“Finally! Somepony with the guts to tell me how lame that joke is!” Or not. The pink filly facehoofed. “They wrote this horrible sense of humor into me…” Her color snapped to red. “So I beat the funny out of them.” She shifted back to pink. “It was quite the punchline, if you know what I’m saying.” She disappeared as the mechanical minotaur stepped forward from the wall just down the way from us.

It walked up to us, quickly undoing the bindings on our forehooves and setting us onto the floor. “Out of curiosity, can you at least tell me what your robot friend is made out of?” There should have been at least some sort of damage on this thing, but it was spotless! With the two of us freed, the machine turned around and stepped back to where it had come from. It pressed itself back against a hole in the wall shaped like it, before going ridged.

The pink filly reappeared on the pedestal. “Steel silly, what else?”

“That’s Bullshit.” Now that I was free, I felt like getting into her projected face about it. “Bullets should have at least left a mark on him!”

She shifted to red and leaned towards me angrily. “I AM NOT A LIAR!” She huffed for a moment, fading back to pink. “Besides, you were shooting rubber bullets at him! Those don’t really even leave marks on ponies!”

“I… wait, did I?” I facehooved as I felt like beating my head against the wall for forgetting to change them out. How the fuck did I forget something as simple as that?

“It was a simple mistake that anypony could have made.” Predious walked up and pat me with his hoof. “There there, don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“Let us do it for you!” The annoying pink thing was getting on my nerves, but unfortunately it was our best chance at getting out of here.