When entering the large elevator, the normal way was impressive, but entering from above, had a super spy feel to it. A feeling that didn't last when I saw that the blood from the dead security pony had filled one of the glass boxed with the light bulb in it. 'I say it's %25 spy movie, %75 horror movie.' It gave the elevator a bit of a red light to it.

"Leave her here, if were going to get her back up safely, it's going to be by this elevator." A wight earthpony security stallion looked to be the one in charge. "You there!" he walked up to me. "Why are you even here in the first place?"

"Ahh, I'm uhh.. I'm here as support. Need me to do something, I'll do that something."

The stallion face hoofed. "so your here to be useless. This is fantastic"

"I'll be moving the box." I spoke up. "It's not a difficult job, or one that needs skill. But I bet I'm the only pony here that can do that job without compromising the group." There were three security ponies who needed to stay on guard, and one tech that we could not risk loosing. So the important job of lunging that big box down to were ever it needed to be, fell to me.

The wight security pony snorted. "Fine, but if I tell you to stay put, then stay put, if I tell you to run, run. You got that."

"Of cores." The stallion snorted and walked away from me. I didn't get the feeling that I belonged in this group, nor would we have the time to chat and get to know each other.

The four ponies were the wight stallion who was leading the group, A red unicorn security mare, a green eathpony security stallion, and the gray unicorn Tech stallion. The security ponies were armed with 10mm SMG's, and batons. The tech only had his lab coat.

Every pony checked over their guns. Turning the safety off, and putting a bullet in the chamber. I did the same, looking over the .45 pistol to get a better feel of what Musket Ball gave me. The pistol was mostly a dull gray, with a lighter gray around the mouth peace. Along the side were the barrel was, it had two words engraved onto it. "Chekhov's Promise." Placing it back into it's holster, I rook a deap breth to steady myself.

"It's all clear, so lets move" The wight pony pressed the button to open the door.

The stallion was correct, and there was no pony on the other side, except for half navy pony mare just to the side. Her upper half laid on its side, with her lower half nowhere insight. But for having half a dead pony inside, the lobby was surprising clean of any blood.

"The literal fuck!?" mister green took a step back, as did I.

'That's one we don't have to worry about'

Mister wight took a slow step forward, and then a few more. Walking up to the body He took a close look at the body. "The wound is burnt, and clean..." He shook his head. "No time for this, let's get moving." mister wight trotted to the only other door in the room. The others followed closely behind him.

I decided to take a closer look at the body. The poor mare's face looked like it was frozen in shock, or terror. Something felt familer about this, not that I seen it before but that..

Also, if some pony is even a little out of the safe zone, then zap, half of them is in one stable, and the other in the one they started in.

Emerald Fields description of how a pony could die if only a part of them was teleported didn't to the real thing justice. I can truly understand now to why they were being so careful with just getting the calibrations right. I could only guess that it was Thorn who teleported, she did have those two Unicorns with her.

I could hear the soft hiss of the door opening. "dammit slowpoke, stick with the gr.."

*Crack*

Mister wight was interrupted by a bullet to the head. The blood and gray matter reached all the way to the elevator.

The other two security pones fired back, unloading their SMG's at where the bullet came from. Mister gray jumped out of the line of fire, hiding under a bench.

I was in no danger of being shot at from my position, but I could not risk the gas being damaged so I looked around to find a hiding spot for it. Not far from me was a stack of boxes, and crates. Jumping behind them, I placed the metal box with the gas behind a very large wooden box to keep it safe.

Looking back over into the lobby, miss red and mister green had moved to the side of the door, getting themselves out of the line of fire. The room became mostly quiet, except for a humming and pulsing sound coming from deeper inside Labs D.

"HERE IT COMES!" Mister Green yelled. it wasn't until a few seconds later that the red bar showed up on my E.F.S.

*Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump*

That familiar sound made my hart raise. I pulled out my battle rifle and yelled as I armed the rifle. "IT'S A POWER ARMORED GRIFFIN, GET THE FUCK BACK!"

The two security ponies just looked at me, not moving like I said. They instead, reloaded their guns, looked back at each other, nodded to each other, jumped back into the doorway, and unloaded their SMG's.

Their action worked out as well I thought it was going to. But The griffin didn't shoot back. Instead, the griffin charged into the room. The two security ponies jumped out of its way. The griffin's armor was dented, scored, and it's helmet looked like it took a few very hard hit's to it. Somehow Leo Thunderfeathers had gotten to Lab's D before me.

The two security ponies reloaded their SMG's and fired again. Bullets ricocheted everywhere as the griffin stood there unfazed. Turning his head to Miss red, Leo walked to her. The poor mare backed up as she attempted to reload her SMG in a panic, failing to get the magazine in.

*Tap* *Thump* *Tap* *Thump* *Crack*

The griffin stumbled from a shot to it's back, and quickly turned around to look at me. Smoke rising from the barrel of my battle rife. That armor may be able to shrug off 10mm rounds, but .308 bullets seem to do the trick. Though it was strange, the shot I made seemed to have more of a kick then it had at the firing range.

"YOU!" I didn't know if this griffin had a shit list, but if he did, I would be on it.

*Crack*

A shot to the chest, and I think I only pissed Leo off more. The griffin pulled out his pistol and charged. I entered S.T.A.T.'s.

With time slowed to a crawl, I had time to think of a plan. By plan, I meant not get killed by the pissed off griffin. Hit and run was my best option, so I used my first action to attack. Looking over the Leo Thunderfeathers, his name appearing in my vision, I saw two interesting things that could help me. That was that both his head and left leg were in a real bad shape. The medical scan function may not have been meant to help in combat, but it was giving me two good targets for me to shoot at. Leo's head gave me a %50 chance of a hit, but the leg gave me an %80, so I picked the leg. My second action I chose to dash out of the way, the large and armored griffin started to look like an oncoming train.

*Crack*

I practically jumped out of Leo's path by a hairs breath, the sound of wooden boxes braking under the power armored griffin filled the room.

"YOU FUCKING PONY, I'M GOING TO SHOVE THIS GUN SO FAR UP YOUR ASS THAT YOU WILL KISS THE BARREL!" The griffin struggled to get up, throwing peaces of boxes across the room.

'I bet the Leo can do it, he looks like he could.'

The two security ponies unloaded their SMG's into the griffin again. I joined in, firing three shots at Leo, stopping before I fired the seventh round. The ammo indicator in my E.F.S. clearly showing me that I had two bullet left in the gun.

Leo got up, looked at me, and charged again. This time he was slower as he ran with a limp. I entered S.T.A.T. again, his head now gave a %85 for a hit. I picked it. Twice.

*Crack* *Crack*

The griffin stumbled over, slowing down, but didn't stop. I had made a mistake abandoning the hit and run plan. Grabbing me by the belt of my gun holster, the rifle fell from my hooves. Up close I could see that his helmet had been so shot up now, that one of his eyes were exposed. That eye looked beyond pissed off. I could feel the barrel of his gun placed next to my head, but I didn't dare to look.

"Got a name pony, I'll be sure to etch it onto my armor after I kill you."

The two security ponies jumped onto the griffins back. The gun went off, grazing my cheek, and making my ear ring as though I just used my head to ring a school bell.

The mare flew across the room, and the stallion hit the ground hard. I just flung around like a rag doll in the griffins grasp. In an up close battle, nopony stood a chance.

The brief fight was enough time for my S.T.A.T.'s to recharge. Musket ball knew what he was doing when making this program. "The names Slowtrot." the Leo slowly turned his head back to me, and I entered S.T.A.T.'s. I picked the fist action to draw Chekhov's Promise, and the second to fire it into Leo's eye. It gave me a %20 to hit, but if it said it was possible, I had to take it.

Time quickly returned to normal up, and I saw as my gun levitate up to the Leo's head. "That's a stupid na..."

*BAM*

The pistol flew behind me, and Leo fell to the ground. His vise like grip let me go when we hit the ground. Their was no cures on my name, no last breath, Leo had simply fallen over, like I just turn his power switch off. Now that I think about it, I did just that, I was called killing.

'It must be the helmet, probably makes offing the basters much easier then when you did it to the mare.'

I didn't answer Fragment. If I was going crazy, I didn't want the others to know it.

'Suit yourself, but it's better to be crazy and alive, then sane and dead. Just saying.'

Looking around, The gray tech pony came out of his hiding spot. "wh.. wh.. where..."

"The griffin?" I looked back at the dead navy pony, giving me a simple and very troubling answer. "Thorn must have teleported him in." I was expecting Thorn and a hoof full of navy ponies to deal with. That alone was a realy bad situation to deal with. But Thorn could teleport ponies in, which meant she had an army at her hoof tips, right in the stable.

Looking for my pistol, it hadn't gone far from me after it flew off. The fall hadn't don anything to scratch it, but blood had gotten on it. I didn't know if it was from the griffin, or from the wight stallion, but I quickly wiped it off and placed the gun in my bag, pushing it to the bottom.

The Tech backed up, shook his head, and bolted to the elevator. I just watched, panic was a natural reaction, so how was I going to calm him down. "I'll go get help, we can't.."

*Crack*

The tech slumped over, the top of his head splattered on the elevator button.

*Ding*

The door to the elevator closed, and I could hear it leave me behind.

Six Navy ponies rushed in, six battle rifles pointed at me. "Oh! Did you all see that! I activated the elevator with a bullet, and right through that traitors head!" It was the cold, and sadistic voice of a mare. I immediately felt a deep pit in the bottom of my stomach.

Thorn stepped into the lobby with a swagger and a grin. Her eyes scanned the room, stopping at me, and raised an eyebrow. "Now who might you be?" her eyes moved from me to Leo's dead body. "if you did that, then good, that griffin was charging way to much." her eyes moved back to me. "now answer me."

"Slowtrot, my name's Slowtrot." Killing the griffin was luck, something I was not going to have with her.

"Slowtrot... yes, yes, I remember now... You sould be dead, twice over now if I'm correct." she turned around and waved a hoof "Take him. If there are other, shoot them."

A stallion much bigger then me steeped over to me. Within a second, his hoof met my head, and everything faded to darkness.

I was sitting at a long wooden table. To my left everything was bright and sunny, through the windows I could see the trees swaying in the wind. Two my right, the wood of the table looked worn, the windows were shattered, and the trees were bare and black.

I looked up to see Fragment at the other end of the table. In her hooves was Chekhov's Promise. "you know how to use this right?" I nodded. "tell me." I shook my head. "Were not going to play this game again Slowtrot. We don't have time for it." she slid Chekhov's Promise, the gun scratched at the wood as it made it's way to me. "Now tell me."

I sighed. "Fine, but it don't change anything Fragment." picking up the gun in my hooves, and looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were now my eyes, a dusty gray. "You kill with it"

Fragment smiled. "That's right, you kill, and you kill, and you kill." her grin was so wide that it reached ear to ear. "You don't stop killing until you are killed yourself."

I could hear gunshot in the distance to my right, it was faint, but echoed. To my left was a rumbling, and a slight flash of bright green just beyond the trees. "Or I can simply stop, I don't have to kill. Not if I don't want to." the glass to my left shatter inwards, shards imbedding into the table. "This world is not about killing."

Fragment didn't loos her grin as she tilted her head. "Then the jokes on you Slowtrot. That gun right there is proof of it; Chekhov's Promise. It means that If you pull that gun out, you are making a promising to shoot it. Now on that note, you sould go and wake yourself up. A promise is a promise."

The room caught on fire, the green flames melted the glass, and turned the table to ash. Placing the barrel of the gun in my mouth, I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.

My eyes shot open, and I found myself wishing that everything was all a nightmare. Of coarse the dream before was the nightmare, and this was reality. My head head pounding from being knocked unconscious was a good indicator that I was awake.

Thorn was sitting behind a desk in front of me. Flipping through some papers, I didn't know of what, but I bet they were important. My gun; Chekhov's Promise, was on the desk being used as a paperweight. I could only hope that having it out meant I would end up shooting Thorn with it, but with my luck, it meant that she'd shoot me with it.

To my side was her lieutenants, both holding some nasty looking batons in their magic.

"Not drowning puppy's, I'm shocked."

She placed the papers down, and smiled. "Funny that. A lover of mine gave me a puppy once. It shit and pissed all over the floor, and one day it wonder off the ship. We happened to be at sea at the time." She pulled a folder in front of her, and opened it. "Now pleasantry's aside, I'm going to ask you a questions, your going to give me answers."

"Can I get a glass of water first?" I screamed and spasm as one of the lieutenants struck me with the baton. It turned out to be a stun baton, and it hurt almost as bad is it felt to be shot.

"You only get questions, and you only give answers. First off I want to know how you are even alive. My 2600 was set to kill a pony, so then, how are you here?"

"Well I think my parents had too much cider one..."

A stun baton stun baton hit me again, replacing my attempt at snark with screams and spasms. Thorn didn't say anything, just stared at me.

"June saved me, she tracked me down not long after I put it on, and somehow shut down the pipbuck before it killed me."

Thorn smiled. "Now was that so hard. Next question. They made alterations to the pipbuck, and you had it on for a time. What do you know about the alterations."

What did she want, if she was teleporting ponies here, that she could take the stable already. But she wanted to know about the pipbuck 2600? The stun baton stabled my thoughts, my face slammed into the desk in the spasm. "uhh... they gave the pipbuck levitation, and a VI."

"Is that all?"

What the fuck did she want? "yes, that's it." Thorn waved a hoof, and I felt the stun baton again.

"Now I've done this for a long time now, and I know when some pony is lying to me, or not telling me everything I want to know. It's annoying realy, sometimes I just can't get them to give me what I want." She waved her hoof again, and the stun baton hit me again. "Do you know how much torture a pony can take until they tell me everything I want to know?" I shook my head. "well they will tell me what I want to here with only a little bit of it, but will die with the truth just to spite me." The stun baton hit me again. "But I know one reliable way around that. So do your best to not think about the pipbucks modifications. It just makes it more fun to see you squirm."

My head slammed on the desk as the two unicorns held me down. I could feel a slight tingling in my head that became a burning sensation which burrowed into my skull. Something was in my head, reaching out and feeling everything. I wanted to get them off, to scream, to pull whatever was in my head out, but I was paralyzed.

Images flashed in my head, all clear as day. Collapsing on my floor when the pipbuck was killing me. Fist meeting June, the pipbuck research team, and that creepy video made by Scootaloo. Accidentally hitting Emerald with the coffee cup after the levitation spell was installed. Naming it Iron Buck in front of the Foals. The plan to connect the all the stables with teleportation spells, and the later teleportation tests. Even when I handed it over to Healing Herb.

The violation finally stopped, and the feeling in my head retracted. "Teleportation mam." one of the lieutenants spoke out loud. The other fell to the floor. 'Play with the minotaur, and get the horns.'

"that's it?"

"Yes mam!"

There was a pause, a very uncomfortably pause. The humming and puling of Labs D seamed to consume everything, as I waited for the inevitable.

"Lift his head."

I felt magic hold me up, and some pole placed under my chin. I had a strong feeling it was the stun baton.

"Now Slowtrot, It seams that I over estimated how much you know. Do you know what that means right,?"

"You will let me go?" She was going to kill me, so out of fear I tried to smile, but smile hurt.

"No, no, I can't do that. You did work with these traitors, and killed my mercenary." She lend back in her chair.

"So your going to kill me then?"

"No, no, something better. You are not a member of Stable-Tec, which means you can still be saved." She leaned foreword, and grinned. "If you do a little favor for me, Then I'll do a big favor for you."

I didn't like this, I pulled what little straight I still had, and sat up in the chair. "What favor?" okay, talking hurt right now.

She sat back. "I'll see that you will be taken into custody, as a civilian, you will be seen as a victim in all this. Saved by my actions, and be given compensation for your trauma. Stable-Tec is a wealthy company, so don't be surprised when you get a few million bits."

So I get out alive, and get paid a ton. It would be a tempting offer If I didn't know who Thorn was, or who she had killed. "and... I do what?"

She pushed Chekhov's Promise over to me. "Bring me Healing Herbs."

I had to ask, I could not help myself. "And what would stop me from helping Healing Herbs?"

A heavy collar was placed around my neck, and it beeped.

"Oh, I think this will be enough to convince toy to help me over her. That is if you can survive being decapitated."

May Luna fuck me thru from ass to mouth with her hoof. I was working for Thorn if I liked it or not. 'At least you got to keep the gun.' Ya maybe I could shoot myself just to spite her.

Footnote:

%50 to level up.