Chapter 6

9-15-13, 1:32 A.M.

After zoning out for a bit, Jeremy achingly got up and looked over at Cadance to find her still puzzling how to get him across. Jeremy looked around – maybe stalactites weren’t the answer. Was he sure there was nothing else to get across? He looked over the edge. A few feet down, there was another ledge which led to a wall, thinning out considerably. Patches were missing entirely, gone from years of friction and gravity taking their toll. Jeremy shuddered – it would be instant death if he were to make one mistake there. He looked elsewhere. Nothing of use. “I have an idea, but it’s risky, and you might get a little hurt,” Cadance said, catching his attention.

“Pain is nothing new for me, at this point. What’s your idea?” Jeremy asked, curious.

“While I can’t fly or teleport you across, it would take significantly less magic to launch you across. However, if I aim wrong… you might end up with a broken bone. …Say, do you even have bones?” Jeremy, taken by surprise, chuckled.

“Yeah, we have an endoskeleton. Pretty similar to yours, I’d wager.” Cadance smiled at this answer.

Jeremy curled up into a ball, evidently ready to be thrown. With some effort, Cadance levitated him into the air, and almost passing out herself, managed to launch him. Unfortunately, she had put a bit more into the spell than she needed – Jeremy would smack into the far wall at this rate. He quickly uncurled and twisted around, so that his padded back would hit the wall rather than his slightly less padded front. Thankfully, human backs had significantly fewer nerve endings than human fronts, and all he felt was a jarring thump. He slid down the wall, and rolled as he got to the bottom. After a moment of shock, he stood up. “Good throw!” he yelled across the chasm. Cadance, seemingly exhausted, picked herself up and weakly smiled. She jumped out into the pit, and spreading her wings, easily flew across. After she landed, they looked for an exit.

Cadance looked over at Jeremy. “Hey, are you okay? You look a bit paler than when I saw you first.” Jeremy, zoned out again, took a moment to respond.

“Yeah… I haven’t eaten in a while…A long while,” he answered. Cadance immediately looked sympathetic.

“I’ll find you something when we get up there,” Cadance asserted. Jeremy grinned weakly in thanks. He could feel a migraine coming on, and the hunger pangs just wouldn’t leave. “Say, what do you eat?” Cadance asked.

“Normally, both plants and animals,” Jeremy said, but when he saw the shocked look on her face he quickly backpedaled. “But I’d be perfectly okay with just plants. Whatever you can find, really – I’m not too picky at the moment.” Cadance agreed, and they went back to searching for an exit.

9-15-13, 1:47 A.M.

“Hey, is that a hole in the ceiling, or a trick of the light?” Jeremy asked, pointing at a shining pinprick among the scattered, smaller stalactites that made up this side of the roof of the cave. Cadance examined it.

“Maybe. But how would we get up there? We had enough trouble getting across a pit, let alone through the ceiling,” she responded.

Jeremy frowned. “What if we piled rubble up to the hole entrance?” Cadance shook her head.

“One slip or misfire of that weapon of yours and we’re both buried alive or worse.” She casted about for other potential solutions. “Hey, there’s an old abandoned mining cart track here,” she called over. Jeremy went over to look at it. He examined the track – it was relatively straight.

“You think we could rip this off the floor?” he asked. Cadance nodded, and used her magic to easily lift a section of it off.

“They just come right off, for maintenance,” she explained.

“How do you know?” Jeremy asked curiously.

“I run an empire made out of crystals – mining’s a big part of our economy,” Cadance answered.

They began piling up pieces of track, Cadance lifting them out of their places and levitating them over to Jeremy, who pieced them together on the floor again. Eventually, they had a ladder that was just a bit longer than they needed. Jeremy used a rocket to blast the hole a little wider, and Cadance propped the impromptu ladder up against one corner of the cave floor and the newly created hole in the ceiling. After checking that it was stable, Jeremy quickly scampered up the ladder, and Cadance flew up to join him in the sunshine.

9-15-13, 2:00 A.M.

They looked around. They were just outside the castle wall, in a rocky area. The castle doors were closed, and changelings were audibly inside. Jeremy nodded at Cadance. “Go find Shining Armor,” he said.

“We still have to get you some food!” Cadance reminded him. Oh yeah, Jeremy thought. He had been sufficiently distracted by the ladder-building to temporarily forget his hunger pangs. Thankfully, the area just outside the castle walls was such prime real estate that it was almost entirely devoted to restaurants and shops, so Cadance and Jeremy wandered into the first one they saw – a bakery.

“Sugar, just what I needed,” Jeremy happily commented as he loaded up on cookies and pastries. Cadance raised an eyebrow.

“You seem to have quite the sweet tooth,” she remarked.

“Oh, yeah – these are better than the ones on Earth,” he replied, lost in chocolate chip heaven.

They then gathered some vegetables and fruits from the other assorted shops, Cadance promising to pay for them, until Jeremy was satisfied he had made up for the 2 mealtimes (and sleep) he had missed. The whole process took about 5 minutes, as Jeremy was still pretty hungry and both recognized that they were in a hurry. “Thanks for that,” Jeremy said as he finished.

“You’re quite welcome – I have the feeling you’re going to need the energy,” Cadance said as she left. “I’m off to find my husband – best of luck in your future endeavors!” Jeremy nodded in reply and put his plate back on the counter. He took out his rifle, and strode off in the opposite direction, towards the castle wall.

How the hell was he going to get past this? So far he’d been pretty lax with the rocket launcher, and it occurred to him that it was probably difficult to regenerate the ammo – laser tracking circuits were kind of complex. Plus, it was vandalism – so, no on the rocket launcher. He came up to the wall itself, and examined it closely. It was a solid, smooth wall, so climbing was also not an option. He looked back towards the hole he’d crawled out of. The ladder was still visible, a foot or so poking out of the ground. Jeremy walked over to it, and attempted to pull it over. He gave up after a few tries, panting – way too heavy, and he had a terrible vantage point. Plus, the ground here was starting to cave in from his earlier enthusiasm with the rockets – he quickly stepped off the rocks and back onto the much safer grass. He decided to go over to the door. There was a massive stone door here, also unsuitable for climbing. Jeremy reflected on how difficult it was to invade castles.

So now what? He was pretty much out of options – nothing he could do was safe or stood a decent chance of succeeding. He circled around the wall, annoyed. I didn’t come this far to be stopped by a stupid stone wall, he thought angrily. Still circling around, he came across some trebuchets, easily half the size of the wall and looking as though they hadn't seen use in years - in fact, according to the plaque in front of them, they were actually leftovers from Equestrian wars long past. However, somepony had recently attempted to arm them, the ropes taut and the arm of each contraption bent back. He looked at them again. A plan formed in his mind…

Of course, it would have been tempting to launch himself over the wall with the trebuchet – but whether he would survive such an impact, he was inclined to doubt. Instead, he grabbed a jagged stone from nearby and used it to hack at the rope attaching the arm to the body, eventually severing it. The arm quickly slammed forward, stopping at a sharp angle as the mechanism hit a pre-made stopping point - perfect. Grunting with effort, he then pushed the wheels of the trebuchet so that it was right up against the wall. Finally, he pushed the arm so that it touched the very top of the wall, and stopped a moment to sweat. So, that solves getting up, he thought. But how am I to get down? Maybe they have stairs? He got up again and started climbing up the trebuchet.

As Jeremy finally reached the top, he was greeted by two changelings pointing their guns at him and hissing. Jeremy grinned, and gestured for them to go ahead and fire. Without waiting for an answer, he shoved them aside and ran, taking out his rifle. Turning back, he gave them a sarcastic wave before shooting both of them to the ground. He then strode off along the top of the wall.

He didn’t get far before something hit his helmet – this time with enough force to jar it. Jeremy looked around to see a changeling with a long-barreled rifle aiming at him… a sniper! He ducked and wove, seeking cover – it looked like his helmet had a few cracks in it from that last one. A few more rounds came his way, but thankfully didn’t hit him. Finally, there were stairs to the ground, and Jeremy took them three at a time. He sprinted towards the sniper, still weaving and ducking until he was right below them. Taking out his rifle, he greeted the barrel pointing straight down at him with a hail of bullets, causing the sniper to jerk back – and drop his weapon. The sniper rifle clattered down to the floor. Jeremy glanced up at the changeling, who raised his front hooves shakingly in a gesture of surrender. Jeremy neatly picked up the sniper rifle and shot the changeling in the forehead – an easy shot, considering its window was only ten feet up. It slumped halfway out the window, unmoving, and Jeremy shot it again for good measure. He then stashed the sniper rifle in his extradimensional pocket – he wasn’t too good with scoped rifles, but the extra firepower could come in handy – plus, this way the changelings wouldn’t get it back.

Finally, he came to the castle door, a massive decorational piece that was set atop a large flight of stairs. Seeing no doorknob, Jeremy gave a tentative push - the door, being twice as tall as he was, didn't budge in the slightest. He pushed harder, putting his shoulder to the massive construct and grunting with effort. Nothing. Jeremy stepped back and surveyed this, glaring at it in frustration. What next in this parade of constant obstacles...

He walked back around to where the sniper had been, having had an idea. A cart was parked just outside the castle, the label on it endorsing the products inside. Jeremy towed it directly under the window, noting how heavy the cart was - and ponies just lug these things around? - before climbing on top of it. From there, he hoisted himself through the open window, noting and grabbing the modest pile of sniper rifle ammo cartridges the changeling had been carrying. With that done, he wrenched open the door, and finally entered the castle.

His first thought was how incredibly lavish this place was - red carpets, gilded trim on the walls and portraits, and carved statues were abundant. He'd clearly entered into a public section of the castle, but it was devoid of all activity - the only thing that prevented Jeremy from feeling creeped out about the place was the warm sunlight filtering in through the windows.

Turning the corner, he was met by a pair of patrolling changeling guards, guns held loosely in their teeth. Jeremy grinned as he pulled his rifle out and shot them, their startled expressions only serving to amuse him further. His grin slid off his face a moment later as a memory came back to him - a different corridor, just about a week and a half prior, and a very different color of blood coating his clothes. Jeremy viciously shook his head to clear it - the past was dead. He had to keep moving.

A bit further on, he came across something that made him sick to his stomach. A pony corpse was lying in the middle of the hallway, a pool of blood spattered around it. Oh my God, Jeremy felt, trying to quell his rising nausea. He somehow became more aware of his surroundings, as though he'd been wandering through a fantastic dream this whole time and was only just now waking up. He examined the corpse shakingly, trying to find how it had died - to his surprise, he found a spear nearby and a hole through the guard's chest. There were no bullet wounds nor bite marks... Had the guard taken his own life? At any rate, the 'imaginary camera' he had been using was good and properly shattered - he couldn't pretend this was still all a game. Not... not with this in front of him. Jeremy stepped away from the body, shuddering with fear as the full extent of the situation hit him. He was going up against a powerful changeling queen, who had guns, and giant changelings, and airships and God knows what else... Oh, God, he was going to die. That was it, that was all there was to it. He was going to die on an alien planet, probably by evisceration at the hands - no, hooves - of a mad changeling queen. A choked sob made its way to the front of his throat, and he quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard. No... he had to keep going. Others were depending on him, he couldn't afford to feel sorry for himself now...

A particular corridor was deserted entirely, with a piece of paper taped to the wall, the stark white standing out against the beige and maroon of the rest of this wing of the palace. Jeremy read it, frowning as he did so. It read “This way! ~Luna”, and was stamped with her mark, the ink still dripping fresh. He shrugged and walked down the corridor, wondering if it was simply directions to where she was or another cool new weapon. He was therefore actually surprised when changelings swarmed in from all directions – perhaps forty or so were occupying the corridor, from both ends. Without waiting, they immediately unleashed a hailstorm of bullets, and after a moment’s panic, Jeremy returned fire. The bullets quickly started stinging, and the mob of changelings pressed forward. Furious at being ambushed, Jeremy put away his rifle and took out his steel pipe as they pressed closer and closer…

When he was done, he had a pile of beaten changelings almost halfway up the wall. Many were moaning in pain, and he kicked them until they stopped. He was reluctant to keep hurting them, but he was pretty angry that they’d managed to trick him so stupidly. Also, it was important he show them no mercy, as it might make them think they could exploit his sympathy. He had also gone back to being mute, as he had an idea for when he faced Chrysalis.

Unsurprisingly, the long hallway he had picked led to a dead end. Jeremy took out his rifle once more, this time prepared. As he walked back, his eye was caught by a sign saying “Kitchen”. More food? He could always use a bit more. He walked in, and was surprised by the spacious accommodation. Clearly, this was meant to be staffed by a few tens of people – ponies, he mentally corrected. It had also been abandoned before being used, and to his dismay most of the food stores had been ransacked and ruined already.

He discovered a loaf of bread that was untouched, and bit into it, looking around the room. He found a small, cabinet-shaped indentation in the wall, almost like a chimney with a compartment inside of it and no flue vent. What was this? It was something important, he thought. He looked around, and found what appeared to be an order list from yesterday. He read down the list. “Deliver marzipan cake directly up dumbwaiter to throne room.” That was it – it was a dumbwaiter! They used to be used in old-fashioned houses to escort items and food around the house conveniently – and this one was just barely big enough for him to fit inside of. Good thing he was pretty scrawny. Plus, he could reach and use the rope from here… But wait, there was a lever just outside of it. Maybe it was automatic? Jeremy crammed himself into the tight space and began readying himself for the throne room – that had to be where Chrysalis was.

Jeremy took the time to reload all of his weapons with full clips, brush off the dust, dirt and blood from his suit, and arrange himself into a comfortable position – he needed to be able to get out quickly. He fidgeted and shoved, until he was in a very cramped but suitable position, and finished the loaf of bread. For a moment, he was tempted to just go to sleep, but he firmly and angrily reminded himself that he had a job to finish. Jeremy pulled the lever, and the dumbwaiter’s cabinet began slowly rising, silently traversing up the secret chimney. Next Chapter: Chapter 7 Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 3 Minutes