Episode 5

13 Rapture
The Nightmare Chronicles
Chapter XIII
Claws

I shook and quivered in fear, the sharp cutting agony, I couldn't handle it any more. Oh so much pain. I had been on the operating table when bombs hit, the hospital went dark as the hospital staff abandoned me. They would come back wouldn't they? When the bombs stopped falling? They would save us!
I waited, just lying there unmoving, for the rest of the day by pony returned to put me back together. Then the painkillers went out. I screamed out my agony in a wave perching shrieks, each cutting into to the surrounding gloom. Then felt the sound waves resonating across the length of cybernetic wires and joints that made up the length of my spine.
I rolled onto the floor, pulling down several IV's crashing to the ground in the process. Jarring pain shot through my entire body as crumpled to the floor on four trembling legs. I was alive! I could move, I could think, I could do things!
I looked around the operating chamber, spiny multi armed robots were scattered about paralyzed mid task. To my left sporatic flashed of light spilled from the doorway. To my right was q gurney with cybernetic equipment and surgery tools. Beyond that was a work table and the light screen of a computer terminal. In front of me was an eery humming crystal and silver arcane energy matrix orb.
I was terrified out my wits. Paralyzed with fear, alone, in the dark, and powerless I just stared at the matrix and waited for the pain to begin. Whenever one glowed they always made it hurt me and experiment with me, cut me and replace me with metal or sometimes just for fun. Matrices were bad.
I don't know exactly how long I just sat there waiting for the pain to come. Then, I realized it was waiting for me to move first. That thought petrified me in imagined agony. Finally curiosity overcame my fear and I warily approached the glowing, levitating orb. I observed it closely and finally cautiously reached out with a shaking hoof and nervously touched its cool service. Energy crackled along my foreleg followed by a cooling feeling that sent shivers throughout my entire body.
I waited for a moment, nothing had happened?! Just a little shock? Timidly, I took a wavering step backword waiting for something bad to happen, again. Then I heard, no felt, the humming building within my body. I was about to scream in pain and terror when suddenly; everything stopped, the eery humming, my synthetic heart "beating", the flashing red lights in the hallway, everything. Time slowed to a grind, but within seconds my field of vision was flooded by transparent symbols, letters and numbers, data and other information. When time speed up again I fell flat on my face trying to tear the holographic image from in front of my eyes, I waved my hooves over my face and eyes. Embasingly loosing my balance with both forehooves in the air. I slowly shifted back into a state of anxious confusion when nothing happened and I didn't go blind. Then I noticed that my hooves had claws. I let out a startled squeak, for I had ferocious four inch long retractable blades of death on each of my hooves. I think I fainted right then.
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Sapphires decision for Halfgore to stay was almost unanimously countermanded, but she convinced them that his knowledge of the area might be helpful, besides nopony really wanted a coldblooded murder committed. Despite the terrible drain on her magic energy, Octavia insisted on healing everypony and getting the ready to travel. When they set out the entire group was bubbling with life and energy. But not for long.
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I was so weak I could hardly get up. Without the assistance of the exoskeleton, I never would have. Computer matrix? Claws? Exoskeleton? What other tricks did I have up my sleeve? My wings fluttered softly, fanning out in a eligent arch. WINGS! Somehow, even after I had died curled up in the only place I could hide from this six armed monsters, I still had wings. Unlike my legs, which had clearly been victim of severe cell death and frostbite, my wings managed to remain healthy and alive! I could fly!
Carfully I trotted to the computer terminal, connecting to it through the iPip built into my head.

>Welcome user, it has been 137 years since the last log in. How may I help you.

'137 YEARS!! What!?!! It couldn't- I mean- I just watched the hospital staff leave not a hour ago!'
The tinny computer voice spoke again.

> ERROR. Data corruption, Ekleipsa login terminated. Emergency lockdown initiated. Reactivate all security subsystems and protocols.

The robotic medical assistants scattered across the room screeched to life. Servos began to whine, and the robots were coming for me, deadly surgical blades slashing at me. Fear gripped me causing my heart to pump, adrenaline to jet through my system and my senses to sharpen drastically.
Trembling, I slowly took several unsteady steps back. Thumping into the work bench behind me, a power cutter fell from it precarious perch and dinged me on my ceramic head plate. In a moment of genius inspiration I clutched the tool in my teeth and broke off the regulator nozzle on the barrel. I have no clue how I even know to do that, much less how I knew what a power cutter was.
The unregulated cutter beams slammed into the robotic surgeons, melting holes in their unarmored casings.
Instinctively, I rolled to the side with astonishing grace and agility moments before a saw blade sliced through my neck. The cutter fizzled, the unregulated barrel severely over heated. I spit the weapon out moments before it exploded with enough power to take my head off. Only one left, my hoof-claws extended and I leapt headlong into battle. My weapons sliced through the soft metal like a knife through butter. Everything was over in mere seconds.

14 Rapture
The Nightmare Chronicles
Chapter XIV
Lockdown

How did I do that? On my knees staring at the torn robot that had tried to kill me moments before, I began to shake, shock taking hold of what was left of my flesh. I didn't know how to fight, I didn't even know my own name.
As my body recovered, pain throbbed across my flanks and forelegs, shallow cuts and bruises doted my exposed hide. I remained slumped on the floor, battling against the tears welling up in my eyes. There was nopony here, I was so lonely! Alone, scared and confused. All I could do was sit there as hot salty droplets ran down my cheeks, softly splashing as they landed on my out stretched forehooves.
I stumbled to my hooves, the cybernetic exoskeleton feeling alien to my on the tiled floor. After wiping a hoof across my tear streaked cheeks, I headed out towards the hall. I needed to find somepony to tell me what in Celestia's name was going on. Or for that matter, who was Celestia anyways?
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A chill ran down Sapphires spine, she felt as if hidden eyes were constantly watching her. Even though the shadowy followers had disappeared, Sapphire felt as if something was still following them. Her inner sense failed to pick up any trace of another nearby, which just made her even more nervous.
Dash convinced the group to head towards Skylarks shack. Although the shack was only accessible to pegesii, there was a radio and a rich supply of supplies that she and Ditzy Do could mull over.
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Flickering lights briefly revealing flashing glimpses of the cluttered decrepit hallway. The whitewashed walls of which were cracked and discolored with age. A crumbling copy of the hallway I had just watched the entire hospital race down. Something seriously strange was going on here. I was too nervous to contemplate the strange, fear driving me toward the nearest exit.
Or more accurately my iPip's automap function located the nearest exit and plotted a route towards it. I was so busy dodging beam fire from the security drones on my tail that I slammed headlong into a sealed bulkhead.
Ouch! If I lacked one particular ceramic head plate... Lets just say that I really need to watch where Im flying. But man Could I FLY! I thought all the metal and ceramic in my cybernetics and exoskeleton would slow me down but judging from the glowing levitation icon floating holographically in my field of vision, my repaired body had a few tricks of its own. Wait, I was flying!?!! Im just a foal, I shouldn't be... Oh never mind, me flying was no where near the strangest thing going on at the moment.
My hoofclaws extended while my targeting reticule locked onto one of the hovering assassins, glowing red with target lock. Time began to drag as I entered combat mode, it's holographic Icon glowing blue. A flashing command prompt asked me If I wanted to engage as a blue bar a the bottom of my holographic control screen drained into red.

>auto-combat activated, preparing to engage

A sweet but emotionless child's voice spoke inside my head. As time returned to normal my body exoskeleton began to move on their own, remorselessly tearing the security drones into scrap metal. Then, still under automatic control mind you, I began eating parts of the scrap. It softened with magic in my mouth before swallowing. What the Hell!?!! Ok, Im a foal and what is that word?
/)(\
Rarity reached up and touched her newly reattached horn. The two halves stuck together with copious quantities of superglue. Now all that anypony could do was hope there was still some life in the broken tip and the two halves would grow back together.
Besides medical supplies and superglue, the "raid" on Skylarks trailer provided the group with a plethora of weapons. Mostly bladed melee weapons, but Sapphire was able to restring a yew bow and collect nearly twenty undamaged arrows for it. The stealth weapon complimented her silent hunting skills nicely.
While the group practiced under Octavia's expert guidance Sapphire disappeared into the forest to practice her own weapon on the wildlife and possibly their remaining stalker.
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The automap zoomed out revealing the half circle of the hallway before redirecting me to the bulkhead at opposite end. I began ducking every unlocked hospital room, searching for something to eat. In the first room to the left I discovered that the faucets were only willing to divulge nasty smelling greenish brown sludge. I added stasis sealed IV bags to my needs list. Which the iPip matrix in my head actually recorded, I had a list of objects I wanted or needed, a growing list of objectives I needed to fulfill in order to escape and even a list of requirements I needed to improve to upgrade or repair either my exoskeleton or cybernetics. My iPip even Organized the items on all the lists into ANOTHER list that organized then in order of importance. Food, water and energy crystals were the most important and my iPip displayed them in my command prompt screen. Too many lists and way too much information, like how long it would take to heal or repair every single injury and every damaged component, and how much it was reducing my overall abilites. Or even stuff like when I would need to use the bathroom next, seriously TMI!