So, we were two stations in, and frankly I really was starting to hate the Orphic Kingdom. Before I was just ‘meh’ with the place, as when I’d last visited the island a few years ago. Even then it was just as cramped, unfriendly, and lacking anything all that fun to do. Now, I can add being thrown in a cell by a bunch of bigots to the list. Worst, they put each of us in a different cell, so although we could talk, that was about it.

“Aw crap!” Sweet called out.

“What’s wrong?” I called back.

“One of my fucking eyes is drying out, and starting to scrape against my eyelid.” I heard a clunk, likely Sweet kicking the bars to her cell. “They had to take all our shit, couldn’t even leave me with my eyedrops.”

“That sounds lacking of valor.” Mayall attempted to comfort her.

“You shut up.” Sweet snapped as kicked the bars again. “I wouldn’t have this problem if your mother didn’t eat my eyes in the first place.”

“Wait, what!?” I heard Red Steel pipe out, half gasping.

“Oh, mother is all about the rules, and keeping order.” Mayall spoke softly. “It so happeneth that ponies needeth to beest punished if 't be true those gents trespass on our nest. if 't be true mother as queen dose not fallow rules, then t invites the rest of the nest to not followeth rules.”

“Right.” Red said with a sigh. “I’m still getting passed the fact that you’re a mirelurk, but then again, those monsters do come in all shapes and sizes. And I guess it’s fair that you’d eat ponies, as I’ve eaten mirelurk before as well.”

Mayall gasped in horror.

Red chuckled. “Oh don’t be surprised, you haven’t eaten good until you’ve had boiled mirelurk hunter with a side of butter and hot sauce.”

“You’re an odd noble, you know that?” I added. “As far as I know, most of the deep dwellers here wouldn’t even touch, much less put any of the mutant animals in their mouth.”

“Well you can say I’m part of a ‘different’ lineage.” Red said in a boastful tone. “My family has always put strength of body and mind above all. Unlike the other family’s, who’ve inbred themselves into a pitifully sorry state.”

“Uhhh, not so loud.” Merit spoke weakly. “Any pony get the number of the sky chariot that hit me?”

“I think his name was Buck.” Sweet called out.

“Ya, you probably should not headbutt our captors.” I reminded him. “Even if they say they were going to give me a dicking.”

Sweet laughed. “I say more power to him. Broke that stallion’s snout real good.”

“Did I? I don’t remember a damned thing.” Merit said with some strain in his voice.

I sighed. “Well that’s because he kicked you in the head for it.”

“And I’m not dead?” he asked.

“You got a healing potion not long after.” I informed. “Something that they conveniantly forgot to give Sweet.”

“What happened to her?” Merit asked another question.

“Ehh, after you got layed out, I kicked the stallion in his sensitive spot.” Sweet said in an upbeat tone. “I bet his kids will feel that, if he ever has any. But as it turns out, his ass hat friends didn’t like that, and promptly showed me their hospitality.”

“They beat her until she stopped moving.” I added. “You know you both could have gotten shot, right?”

“Sorry, sorry.” The cocky tone in Sweets voice was lost. “It was dumb of me to do that. But that stallion was so asking for it.”

“Personally,” Red spoke up. “I thought your fighting spirit was magnificent. I was waiting to get a good kick in myself, but they were being a lot more gentle with me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ya, as expected of a bunch of anti-mirage pony bigots.”

“So, I wanted to ask,” Merit spoke up. “Why the hate?”

Sweet laughed, “Because they’re a bunch stupid inbred fuckwits, that’s why.”

“What Sweet means,” I sighed, “is that a lot of the deep dwellers hold this idea of purity. They want to keep their kin pureblood ponies, and with us mirage ponies being genetic chimeras, we’re seen as the epitome of impurity. So, given the choice, most deep dwellers would rather bear foals with their own siblings then even touch a mirage pony.”

“You say ‘rather’ like any of them would consider it even a option. They only fuck their own family members.” Sweet corrected. “It’s like part of their culture, where you aren’t considered a mare until you’ve taken your father’s dick.”

I wanted to correct her, but I was not feeling in the mood to defend the deep dwellers. They did lock us up here after all.

“One last question?” merit spoke up. “Where’s Harp?”

“More than likely with her brother.” I answered. “She should be safe with him, so don’t worry. Even if he did lock us up, I do remember him caring about her a little.” The sound of a rusted lock opening preempted the hallway door opening somewhere out of sight from my cell, and I perked my ears to listen.

“Alright you shits,” A gruff, yet stuffy sounding voice of a stallion called out at us. “I want you all to stand in front of the bars, no funny business.” With loud hoof steps, a large stallion came into view. His nose covered in bandages, so it had to be the one Merit headbutted. His eyes landed on me, and he gave out a grunt. “You. The boss wants to talk with you.” He pointed to some ponies behind him, and stepped away from my cell. “Get her out of there.”

My cell door slid open, and I trotted out.

*Crack!*

A baton hit me on the side of the head, hard. I didn’t think it had been hard enough to do any damage, just enough leave a lump. However, the message it was intended to convey was something I’d received clearly.

“Take that as a warning, stripe.” The stallion barked at me. “I know your kind can’t help but be shifty. So if you don’t keep your natural urges in check, I’ll be cracking your skull open.”

Two ponies poked me with their batons to get me moving. Not that I was resisting, but poke me all the same they did. As the rusty door closed, I could hear the big stallion start barking again.

“Now who wants to be the first to go in for interrogation?” I really hope they don’t hurt my friends, or I would find a way to make all of these racist literally mother fuckers pay.

________________________________________________________________

The ponies escorting me took me down a few long hallways, around some corners, and passed what was a makeshift mess hall. Golden Rule’s goons sat and staiered at me, many sticking their nose up. It was clear that I was unwanted here, the mirage pony hatred was prakticky palatable, that or there was a sewage leak somewhere.

I eventually came to a door guarded by two ponies. “Open up, Prince Golden want to talk to this brood mother.” I shot the pony a dirty look, and he smiled back at me.

“Opening up.” the pony pulled down on a small lever, and the door slowly opened. “So I heard they got some freak with them, like some sort of monster from an old world movie?”

One of the ponies escorting me nodded. “Ya, it seriously gives me the creeps.”

The door opened, and the guard pushed me through. “Don’t do anything stupid.” the door slowly closed and I could her the same guard seek under his breath. “Fucking whore.”

The first thing came to my attention was the strong smell of perfume, wild flowers from the surface. Highly poisonous plants, but they gave off a present smell, so lots of ponies die every year gathering and processing them for the oils. Looking around, the room was warm and clean, and the floor had an almost mirror-like shine to it. That is, if the cracks on the floor tiles didn’t make it impossible for it to not show its age.

The lights here however didn’t flicker like some parts of the station. Moreover, they were covered in a delicate, decorative glass lantern casings. The slightly milky glass dimmed the bright fluorescent lights enough to me that it felt more pleasant than the normal abrasive metro lighting. The walls were also decorated in ornate tapestries, shared by numerous paintings of unicorn mares. Even for somepony like me who didn’t have any knowledge of the subject, it was easy to see that these were skillfully done, and not some cheap mass produced reproduction.

In the center of the room was a small round table. At it, both Golden Rule, and Harp Melody sat in finely carved and decorated wooden seats. Behind them were the two Pegasus maids I had seen with Golden at Ironshod, both in the same cute outfits as they’d been in before. The table had three tea cups, a tea pot, and a few small ceramic jars of which I could guess was sugar and coconut milk.

“Come sit,” Golden Rule motioned for me to come over. “we’re all civilized ponies here.”

With no reason not to, I took a seat at the table. The pillow provided was considerably comfortable, and the very least, was probably more comfortable than their fancy seats. I looked over at Harp, who looked calm, but I could see that she was struggling to hold onto even the slight smile she had. My eyes shifted back to Golden, who looked considerably more confident than before.

“I’d love to catch up on things,” I muttered in annoyance. “but were considerably busy ponies.”

“As we are all.” Golden spoke, his horn glowing as the tea pot poured tea into the cut in front of me. “So, one cube of sugar or two? And any creamer?”

“One cube, and an only a little creamer.” I answered, watching as he dropped the sugar cube in, and added some creamer. The cream swirled in the tea as it turned the tea from a dark hazel to a light brown. “I’m sure what you have going on here is important, so if you let us be on our way, the we’’ be out of your mane in no time.”

Golden sipped at his tea, but kept one eye trained on me. With a sigh, I took the cup and sipped the drink; It was... alright. Hard to tell how good something like tea was when it was likely way passed its expiration. Moldy was just not my thing, and moldy drinks even less so.

Golden put his cup down, and poured himself some more tea. “You know the saying, cleanliness is next to godliness?” I nodded. “Have you ever wondered why that is?”

“No, not so much.” I responded. “For me, staying clean is all about avoiding getting sick. Even with medicine as good as it is, it can’t cure everything that’s out there.”

“Quite true, miss Echo.” Golden picked his teacup back up to his lips. “Diseases are a sign of one's fondness of trouncing through filth. Sickness and death are sadly too often the end result.” The teacup tilted back a little as he sipped on it again. “So why is cleanness so closely associated with the goddess of old?”

“Golden, I’m not here for a philosophical discussion.” I said as calmly and sternly as possible.

He put his teacup down. “Celestia never got sick, she never got dirty, she never grew old. So, she was our goddess.” A small box levitated onto the table and opened, revealing a photograph. The old and faded photo looked like a family photo, all the ponies looking very similar to each other, all with light colored coats, and dapper clothes on. One pony stood out from the rest, taller, with a bigger horn, and wings. It was Celestia, the goddess of old. The other ponies in the photo were two stallions and a mare. The stallions were standing to the side on their own, where the mare seemed to be trying to be much closer to Celestia.

“So you have a photo of Celestia…” I was trying real hard not to be rude, but I was on a strict timeline. You know, pirate invasion, fate of the islands? I didn’t have time for an hour of scrapbooking.

The box closed, and Golden passed it to one of his maids. “It’s a photo of my ancestors, the ponies who ruled Equestria alongside Celestia. They emulated her, and in turn they gained some of her power, our pure and immortal goddess.” He lifted his teacup, and took a long sip before continuing. “They were some of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria back then, and the most powerful of them was our direct ancestor. Majesty.”

I was getting tired of this, so I took a sip of tea, and spitefully joined in. “Oh, and as you know, I’m a direct descendant of the chief of security for the R&D Stable. And, unlike most Mirage Ponies, I have actual zebra heritage. So, you can say having strips is a part of my linage.”

“Oh, I see.” Golden nodded. “I think you aren’t taking this seriously, but I can see that you’re starting to understand.”

“And that is what exactly?” I had a bad feeling to where this was going.

“That one must honor their heritage.” He smiled, “My heritage is that of purity, power, and of nobility. A lineage that goes all the way back to the founding of Equestrian by Princess Platinum, and has held true even today in these dark tunnels. Your lineage is of strength, order, and being a dirty half stripe.” He gazed narrow at me. “So now I ask you, why do you bring chaos and impurity to my kingdom?”

“What?” I was confused for a moment, but my eyes drifted over to Harp, who was trying to hid behind her teacup. “We’re not here to do anything like that.”

“By bringing Harp back here, you are, even if unintentionally.” He put us teacup down with a clank. “Did I not tell you about how dangerous my darling little sister is?”

Harp lowered her teacup “But brother...!”

His horn glowed, and Harps mouth was forced shut. “You’re not given permission to talk yet, sister dearest.” Goldens horn ceased glowing, and Harps mouth remained shut. “As I was saying, it’s not her fault that things are this way. Mother’s moment of weakness after father passed away bore unforeseen fruit. Now, at such a critical time, her returning home only makes things more complicated.”

I sighed. “I know, but we have our reasons, and were trying to keep everything quiet.”

“You have a reason for potentially sending this kingdom into a civil war?” Golden face hoofed. “For what could be more important?”

“An alliance.” I responded. “The Republic is gearing up for war, and Orthrus wants to form an alliance with the Orphic Kingdom to help keep the Republic in line.”

He sat back on his cushion, a hoof on his chin, eyes closed in contemplation. He was still, possibly holding his breath. I know I was, but then again, maybe we all were. The silence was so complete in those moments that I could hear the hum of the lights, betraying the feeling of cleanness and perfection I had been feeling. That humming itself was a giveaway. Stable-tech lights only hummed when too much power flowed through them. They’d been made to last, but even so, minimal power was used to get the most efficient balance of light to longevity. Solaris Stations on the other hoof, overused their power. Because of this, their lights would hum, burning out in less than half the time a Stable-tec light would.

Something else pulled at me, feeling off. The Perfume was so damn strong here, yet it wasn’t strong enough to hide another smell. Sulfur? Yes, that’s it. Behind the pleasant floral perfume, laid the smell of old piss and shit that was present over most of the metro. My eyes looked around, but I couldn’t see the source, and the strong perfume didn’t help locate where it was coming from. But I was sure that this room was adjacent to a leak in the nearby plumbing.

“The Republic.” Golden Rule spoke up finely, Drawing my attention back to him. “I see why Orthrus would want to put a cap on them, those degenerates.” He opened his eyes, and looked at me. No, from the way he looked over his own muzzle, he was looking down at me. “I can see why; you degenerates can do nothing but fight each other.” With his horn glowing, he lifted his teacup, practically pointing it at me. “Why should I care about your impure order? Would it not benefit us real ponies to let you fight, and wipe out whoever is left?”

I glared at him. “Think about what you’re saying, good prince.”

He just chuckled. “I have thought about it every day since my adorable sister was born.” He gestured his hoof over at Harp. “Why would my mother even touch the likes of your kind? Unless… one of your degenerate kind forced himself upon her.” His eyes widened, and I could see the truth through them. It was disgust, he saw me with only a disgust a ‘pure’ pony could hold, leaving room for nothing else in his vision. It was all he needed to feel to say the next words out of his mouth “When I take the throne, I’ll see that your kind will be wiped clean from our world, and the disgrace of your very existence erased from all of history.”

I watched as he lowered his teacup onto the table, regaining his composure. I looked between him and the two maids, both the mares watch me with carefully, making me sure they were armed, and waiting for me to do something, an excuse to execute me here and now.

“So Harp” the words left my mouth “Is this what you want to live with?”

She looked away. “It’s not that bad.” She gulped her words. “Rear Pearl told me that the… that we mirage ponies would do well as a lower caste, slavery would be preferable for us then dying in forgotten tunnels.”

Another chuckle came from Golden. “Our elder sister is too soft, keeping you impure fake ponies around would only invite disaster!” His hoof hit the table with a bang. “Just look at the republic! They let themselves be converted into a bunch of stripes, and to what end? Riots? Revolution? We put our faith in the corporations, but they let a bunch of degenerate take over, all because they wouldn't give out free shit to anypony who asked. The ones who payed for that mistake the most, were the hundreds of pure blood ponies who were slaughtered in the streets. Their deaths only made room for more stripes, and the republic became nothing more than a hoofhold for which to spread their corruption.

“Brother!” Harp spoke up. “Orthrus are not like that, they hold true to their promises.”

Golden through what was left of his tea at Harp. “Silence, you dirty sow!”

Harp shrank back in her seat. She kept her head held low and simply sat in silence, like this was normal. This was appalling. How could anypony be okay with living like this?

“Do something like that again, and I’ll kill you.” I snorted, unsure if the shaking that had come up in my body was from withdraw, or anger, but I know one thing.

Golden paused. “Mind saying that again, miss Echo?” His eyes the only thing that moved, peering over across the table at me with a hateful glare.

Ya, I was done with this shit.

“It’s Dragon Slayer to you.” I growled as I watched the two maids shift, pulling something out from under their dresses. I activated S.A.T.S., thankful that the idiots didn’t take my leg when they easily could have. The tactical readout of the targeting spell filled my vision as I took stock of the now slow-moving ponies. The two pegasus mares were lifting their skirts, and I could see what looked like guns hidden under them. At first they looked like... revolvers? Oh fuck no, those were a variant of pistol sized javelin, or Dart guns. They likely had more than one on them, so I needed to act fast after the first shots. Though smaller, the air pistols would still pack enough punch to incapacitate me, if not outright kill me. Harp was also in danger, so I needed to cover her as well.

My eyes drifted to the table we were sitting at. I wondered about it’s construction for a moment before settling that these rich assholes would never settle for an imitation of fine woodworking. It was thick, and more than likely was made of one solid piece of wood. You know, the kind of something only wealthy pones could afford to drag around with them into dark holes like this. It would also make a fine barrier between me and the arrows the two maids were going to shoot at me.

With one smooth motion, I pushed Harp down out of the way and hooked my forehooves under the table. With a shove, I angled the table up towards the maids, which caused Golden to roll backwards out of his seat. I had just enough time before the raising table broke my line of sight to see the two mares aiming their weapons at me.

*Thunk-Thunk*

Two dart tips burst through the bottom thick table, but stopped just short of cutting through. A testiment to how much power was behind them, surely, but I’d rather not stick around to see if the table could stop another set of bolts. Not wasting time, I entered S.A.T.S. and selected for me throwing the table at one of the maid, the option costing both my actions. With my body moving on it’s own, I turned the edge of the table at one of the maids, and instead of throwing it, I kicked it at her. Figuring it was going to miss, I charged at the other maid, hoping to at least get one out of the fight before they could double team me. The other maid managed to pull another dart gun out, but not before I was on her. My metal forehoof made a fairly distinctive *Crack* as it landed squarely on her jaw, knocking the gun from her mouth before she could use it.

Looking back over, I saw that the first maid had just about recovered, and was in the process of pulling out her own secondary gun. Thinking quickly, I wrapped my forehoof around the mare I’d just clocked in the jaw and pulled her against myself. She probably wouldn’t have the same durability as the table, but she’d be a better shield than nothing.

Either due to the slight twist I’d given as I pulled the mare close, or simply poor aim on the other maid’s part, the second bolt narrowly missed my foreleg. However, blood went everywhere as the second maids neck bust open, her neck shattered by the high velocity arrow. Knowing that staying still again would mean death, I moved to roll myself backwards. As I did, I kicked the fresh corpse at the first maid, who shifted her stance again to dodge. This threw off her balance, and she unexpectedly crashed down onto the floor.

I rushed her, picking up the other, now dead, maids still loaded dart gun in my mouth. The maid picked herself off the ground only to freeze in place, eyes widened in fear. It was a shame, her dress was so cute, but was now covered in blood. My tongue flicked the trigger, and the bolt when into her head. The high pressure dart passed straight through her body, and even had enough velocity to bounce off the wall behind her with a resounding clang.

“Not bad.” Golden spoke in a mocking tone. Looking back, he had had another air pistol aimed at me. this one more decorated than the ones the maids used, but likely just as powerful. “But you die here.”

A teapot smashed on the side of his head, and the gun fired. The shot just missed me as Golden Rule stumbled momentarily. He cast a bewildering look behind him, seeing harp holding the handle of what use to be the teapot in her hooves. With him distracted, I charged Golden as he raised his hoof to strike at Harp. I managed to tackle him first, sending the both of us crashing into the wall.

“You bitch,” Golden spat some blood onto the ground, along with a tooth as I pushed myself off of him. “I should have had you and your friend shot as soon as we had you all in our hooves.” He looked over at Harp. “And you, I’ll make you a real mare before making you a corpse.”

“Kind of hard to do that when you can’t even get your dick up!” I spat at him as I took a step back, ready to fight. My legs snagged on one of the tapestry’s, preventing me from putting the leg down. Giving it a kick didn’t free it, and I grunted as I tried to remove it before Golden tried his next move.

Golden saw that I was stuck, and his eyes narrowed at me. “My dick works just fine. Maybe I should give you a ride before killing you.” He gave a stiff, forced laugh. “Think of it as a gift, few mares get the chance to be with a real stallion”

I laughed back at him. “Some pansy still sucking on his mother’s tit, ya, that’s a real stallion.”

Golden charged, and I pulled as hard as I could. With a shearing rip, I ended up pulling the tapestry straight off the wall and down into Goldens path. The stallion ran into the falling tapestry, and collided with me. I rolled back, and kicked with my back cyber legs. With as much momentum as he already had, it was easy to send the pompous stallion flying. With a whimpering grunt, he rolled across the floor, stopping as he hit the wall with a satisfying thud.

Getting up on my hooves, I found where that slight smell of sulfur was coming from. The tapestry had been covering a deep crack in the wall, and that crack was leaking a foul smelling water. It looked like ponies had attempted to cover the crack many times and failed, which is just like the Kingdom. Just cover up the problem to pretend it’s not there, while the sewage underneath seeps right through.

Golden attempted to get up as well, but stumbled back to the ground as the tapestry was wrapped around his head.

“Harp?” I looked back at her, finding that she was shaking. “We need to go, get back to the others.”

She nodded, turning to the door before she froze up. “But, we don’t have any weapons! We’ll get killed the moment we try to escape!”

She wasn’t wrong, but luckily, we had a few guns scattered on the floor. As I picked up the air pistols, Golden got on his feet. Before he could manage to take the tapestry off himself, I bucked him hard in the head. This time he didn’t get back up.

We had five pistols, eight bolts, and two air cartridges. I was not proficient in Orphic weapons, but I’d heard that they used air cartridges over air pressure talismans. Placing the cartridge on a little nozzle of one of the pistols, with a slight ‘piff’, the air pressure dial of the gun went up. A bit inefficient, but it’s not like I had a choice.

I gave Golden’s gun to Harp, pressurizing it for her. The cartridges had a demising return for pressurizing the gins, so I’d have to pick up some more off anypony we run into until I find my own guns. Like it or not, guess it was time to become proficient in Orphic airguns.

Knocking on the door, it slowly swung open. I used one of the guns with lower presser on the guard’s pony. The shot went through his eye, and stopped when it sank into the back of his skull. I used a fully pressurized pistol on the second guard that was there. As expected, the more powerful shot simply zipped straight through her head.

Checking the two guards I found two more cartridges, and used them to fully pressurize two pistols. The guards also had a combat knife each, but no other weapons. Though, full-sized javelin launchers would probably been a bit much here, and more than likely, would’ve been liable to kill us just as easily. I stopped as a heard a soft whimper from behind me. Looking back, I saw that Harp was crying, but doing her best to keep quiet.

“Are you going to be alright?” I wasn’t really sure what to say to the poor mare.

She nodded. “Ya, it’s just Mist Step, and Low Fog.” She bit her lip.

“The Maids?” I asked.

She nodded again. “I know you had to do it, but they were good mares. Mist and I, we had a moment once. If only I was not… not a stripe, maybe we could have been closer. Maybe she wouldn’t have had to die like that.”

I stomped on the ground, making Harp jump a little. “Don’t let Golden’s words bore into your head. Nothing’s wrong with you. No, unlike him, you’re healthy and sane. This Island, it’s slowly killing us all. Your family and the other deep dwellers may have avoided the worst of it, but after two hundred years, there’s no place the toxins have not touched. Purity, the very idea of that existing in the metro is just a joke.”

Harp looked up at me, the fur under her eyes soaked with tears. “Even stable 50?”

I sighed. “Only if it’s been sealed for over two hundred years with little to no contact with the rest of the metro.”

Her head drooped. “But still.”

“Still nothing! There’s no excuse for genocide! Period!” I raised my voice, but tried to not be too loud. Still, I was forceful enough with my words to get my point across. “I may have Zebra heritage, but I’m a hundred percent Mirage Pony, and so are you. The problem your family has with our kind has nothing to do with purity. Their scared of us, scared of you. As they slowly waste away, we’re slowly becoming stronger.” I trotted over to her, and poked her leg. “Just look at you. Four normal legs and no mental disorders. You’re everything that the royal family wants to be, but in the form of a mirage pony. You just need to convince your mother that, form the alliance, and insure that the metro stays free for everypony.”

Harp wiped away her tears. “But, that’s the thing. Mother, I don’t even know if she will even listen to me. I’m just her mistake, that’s all I’ve ever been.”

I scratched my head, feeling annoyed. “What’s your name?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Harp Melody.”

“And what’s Phorminx full name?” I added.

“Phorminx Melody.” She said before covering her hooves with her mouth.

“A real shitty way to cover up a mistake.” I sighed. “She might as well put up a billboard telling everypony who your father really is.” Placing a hoof on her shoulder, I looked into her eyes, making sure I get the point across. “We don’t know what to expect in the future. All we know, is what will happen if we fail. I know that Orthrus is more than willing to put lives on the line to maintain order, with or without the Orphic Kingdoms help. But without the Orphic Kingdom, Orthrus will suffer the enter burden of the Republic’s attack. Far too many good ponies will die if that happens, so I need you to hold it together. When we get out of here, and finally make our way there, you must convince your mother what we know is true.”

Harp nodded slowly, seeming gulping her emotions, and biting her quivering lip.

Placing one of the air pistols in my mouth, my tongue slid across the trigger. I know knew that the weapon had a kick to them, not like that of higher caliber pistols, but similar to my Enforcer. Amazing what compressed air can do. Raising my hoof, I Motioned at Harp to follow me, I retraced my steps, hoping to get to my friends before it’s too late.

A door blocked our path, locked, and forcing us to find a new path. I tried to knock on it, hoping to try the same trick as before, but no pony opened. In hindsight, it was a terrible idea. I had no clue how many ponies would be on the other side, and no matter how many there were, they’d likely all itching to kill a mirage pony. Stupid, far too stupid of me to have even tried it after it worked the first time. I was going to have to sneak around and get my friends and our gear the hard way.

Harp did well to keep quiet, staying close to me. Lucky for us, there was plenty of drainage canals here. This station likely doubled as a crossing point for the island’s sewage system. Like the other islands, after over two hundred years, the pipes had rusted open while maintenance had slowed.

Dropping down, the smell was unmistakable. The waste of the kingdom’s ponies was caked on thick to the sides of the tunnel, left uncleaned for far too long. Harp threw up almost as soon as she entered the tunnel, and even I was struggling to hold back.

We didn’t travel long before Harp stated to complain. “Vibraphone, must we trot through this?” She whispered. I didn’t blame her, wading through waste was not fun, but at least I couldn’t feel it coated on my prosthetic hooves.

I was about to answer her, but some other ponies did for us and hooves stomped above. “Red alert, all the prisoners in holding have escaped!” One pony called out.

“Shit, really!?” Another shouted in surprise. “The prince’s special guest has gone missing as well There was blood everywhere in his chamber, and his maids were murdered!”

“Is he all right?” the first pony asked

“Ya, but fuck is he’s pissed.” the second pony answered. “It’s kill on sight. Golden wants them all dead, even the princess.”

“Fuck yeah!” A chuckle could be heard from the first pony. “Finally he finally dropped that high and mighty ‘noble’ bullshit. We should have purged her like the others in the first place. The whole impure lot of them deserves to be put down.”

The two ponies above us ran in opposite directions, and we pushed forward through the filth. Whatever was going on here, I didn’t like it, but it was good to know my friends had gotten away. Now the problem was finding them, I knew they would be looking for me.

The drainage canal ended in what I could guess was a maintenance area. The big open room had a couple busted up metro train cars, and large concrete doors. Red lights flashed as the deep dwellers patrolled the area aggressively, looking in whatever nook and cranny they came across. Their dim touches flashed over us a few times, but luckily, they were too far away to illuminate us. And that’s why you don’t burn the bulbs out with higher than the recommended voltage in them!

I looked over a Harp, the dark shadows making her hard to see. Her fur was now matted and stained by the muck of the tunnel. While I didn’t check myself, I know I was likely coated as well. Definitely was going to need a long shower after today.

Whispering, I gave the princes instructions. “Listen, I’ll move, and then call you over when it’s safe. Don’t run, or walk, crawl. Just keep moving and stay low to the ground. If anything happens, I’ll take care of it. If the worse comes and one of them sees you, you have a gun. Remember that.” She nodded. “Good. Now stay here. I’ll come back with a way to communicate with you, if we make any sounds, they're likely to hear us.”

I lifted myself up and out of the channel, and quickly scampered behind a pile of crates. The lights in this room left me too exposed, but the dark shadows they cast made good hiding spots. Looking around, this place was definitely a train yard, though most of the train carts had been stripped down, giving me little room to maneuver without being in the open. Looking up, my hopes of getting around above the ponies was dashed, as I spotted a pegasi patrolling from above. Even if I shot her, the noise would alert all the others. Worse yet, her torch illuminated her path from an angle that put me at a distinct disadvantage.

And as if my shit luck hadn’t been bad enough, the pegasus was coming my way. Quickly I crawled over to one of the scrapped train carts, and rolled under it. Light shined from above only a moment after I got under the cart, it barely hiding me in shadow.

I needed to move, the train cart was on a raised rail line, and all it would take was a passing pony to find me. Poking my head out, not far from where I was, happened to be what looked like a control room. I just had to climb a ladder to get to it, no biggie.

Looking back, a pony was coming my way, his torch dangerously close to illuminating me. With little time, I moved as fast as I could, quietly as I could. The ladder was a pain in the ass, every clink my legs made on the ladder threaten to reveal my position. Up onto the railing, only a door was in my way, and in the distance the pegasus was coming back around on her patrol.

I opened the door, which made a quiet, but too loud squeak. “Dammit, I told you dumb lot not to come up here.” I froze, the pony in front of me had his eyes glued to a screen. “I need to concentrate on the cameras. These degenerates cannot be allowed to get away.” Closing the door, I ducked as the pegasus flew by. He grunted and lazily recoiled in his chair. “I wish she didn’t have to shine that light in my eyes, it’s not like the lights are out or anything.” Looking behind him, I saw a fuse box, and on the desk next to him, one of the torches the other ponies were using. “Hay, speak up. Are you fucking mute?”

I pulled out the combat knife I took earlier. “Sorry, just a bit worried, those stripes could be anywhere.”

“Pft, don’t be such a scared little shit.” He chuckled. “We’ll find them soon, and when we do, if we don’t kill them then and there, were gonging to have ourselves a little public execution.” He reached back, trying to press a button. “Hay, can you switch the feed, I need to check th…”

I punched the knife into his neck, the industrial clamps of my right forehoof working well to hold the knife, as well as having the power to stick it all the way into him to the hilt. My other hoof covered his mouth, though all he did was gurgle, I still had to keep him quiet. The earth pony struggled as he died. He was a lot stronger then I was, but I was using my hinge legs to anchor myself on the chair which gave me leverage. I managed to hold him in place for the ten seconds before he gave in and simply died. I attempted to pull the knife free, but found it refusing to cooperate. The clamps worked so well that it managed to get stuck in him, so I just let the blade go. In the end, it was for the best, as only a small line of blood came out from where the knife had gone in, and only a bit leaked out from his muzzle. I needed to hide the body, just long enough to get through here before they tighten up security.

An old box provided me with an apt hiding spot, and I shoved the dead pony inside. As I stuffed him in, I also took an air pressure cartage from the holster on his toolbelt, not knowing if I would need it soon or not. Next, I took the torch. The basic flashlight was the same as you could find all across the Kingdom, and came with some color filtered lenses. It wasn’t much, but it did give me an idea. Placing the red filter over the torched lenses, I put it in my vest.

Looking out over the room, I saw the different entrances and exits on the camera feed, and that all of the doors were blocked by ponies. Except for one, that is. The one labeled sewage drainage on the other side of the maintenance area looked largely avoided by the patrols. I couldn’t see it from here, but no torch light could be seen on where I guessed where it was. It was a gamble, but one I had to take.

I only had one last thing to do here, rig the fuse box. Opening it, I pulled at all the tabs, turning out all the lights. Now the only light was from the torches, and the flashing red emergency lighting that came once the fuse box out of action. It wouldn’t take them long until they turn the lights back on, but it’d do for now. In the dark I raced over to the ladder, and noisily slid down it. I hit the ground with a thud and was moving again before the Pegasus could shine a light on the spot.

Luck was on my side, as all the other patrolling ponies were on the other side of the large room, giving me the opportunity to quickly make it to Harp. She gave a whimpering sound as I dropped down. “Right, I have a proper plan now.” I pulled out the torch, and quickly flashed her with the red filtered light. “When I do that, you move to me as quickly and quietly as you can. I think I have a way through here.”

“You think?” she whispered.

I sighed. “It’s the best I got, so trust me.”

“I will.” She said in a hushed tone.

I pushed myself up and out of the canal, and saw the the pegusus was already investigating the control room. “Yo! Where’d your ass go!” She called out. “Get these lights back on already!”

With little time, I hugged the wall, finding a hiding spot further away from the control room. Even if the lights turn on now, it would take them some time to see us her. Flashing the torch, Harp quickly made her way to me. Almost as on que, with a deep clicking sound, the lights turned back on, one by one.

Most of the ponies were looking at the control room, so I used the opportunity to move. A still intact passenger cart obstructed the view of any pony from above, looking at the control room, the others were facing away from me. A pile of trash provided another hiding spot, so I pulled out the torch.

*Crunch*

A pony stepped on some garbage from the chart above. They most likely would see my torch flash. I had to think fast before my window closes, I needed to get rid of the pony. I pulled out one of the lower pressed pistols, holding it in my right hoof. It was strange, as I held a digit over the trigger, it felt more right to hold the gun like this. “Hay, down here.” I whispered, and the pony leaned over to look down at me. With a soft ‘Pish’ noise, the bolt lodged into the pony’s head, and he fell over. Dropping the gun, I broke the now dead pony’s fall with my body. Pushing them off me and onto the ground, I quickly looked around to see if any pony heard the fall. Luck was on my side once more, as they were still looking at the control box. Flashing the torch, Harp quickly came to my side.

“Fuck! Everypony on high alert!” The Pegasus shouted “The fuckin’ stripes killed Cream! They’re in here somewhere!”

Torch lights darted all over, and Harp and I had to crouch as low as possible to avoid getting spotted. Peeking out from our hiding spot, the guard’s ponies were now more frantically looking for us, meaning that if we stayed for to much longer, my luck would finally run out and they would definitely find us. One, two, three, four, five… A search light passed over, illuminating a space between the two train carts we needed to get passed.

“Why do they have a search light in here?” Harp asked in a whisper so quiet that I almost missed it.

I shrugged. “My guess, this place is not well lit, and they happened to have one on hoof to install.”

I waited for the search light to pass over, and bolted. The guard’s ponies were now yelling to each other as they ran about, so my hoof steps were didn’t stand out as much. Jumping under the last cart, I’d managed to avoid getting spotted by just a hair. Which meant that if this wasn’t done absolutely perfectly, Harp was not going to make it across without getting spotted.

Looking about, I found the entrance to an other drainage channel like I had guessed, my gamble paying off. If anything, Stable-Teck was predictable in their design. But getting Harp here was going to be a problem. Peeking out, I could shoot the spotlight, but that would bring the ponies over here. Because they were mostly silent, shooting one of the guns at the other side of the room could do the trick. Actually, No. Most ponies knew of that trick, and it was likely to put them more on alert. Unless…

I positioned myself on my back legs, my grappling leg holding the over pressurized air pistol. Waiting for the search light to swing my way, with my whole body, I threw the gun. My cyberlegs hopped me into the air as the gun left my grip. The pony on the searchlight was looking in the wrong direction, and the gun flew over harp, and over one of the scraped box carts.

*Bamph, pifff, clang!*

The pistol had gone off as soon as it hit something, drawing all attention to it. I quickly flashed the torch, and Harp darted to me as the guard’s ponies frantically ran over toward the noise. Not waiting any time, I pulled Harp into the sewage canal, leaving the overly guarded room behind us.

Unbelievably, the smell was worse in this tunnel then in the last. I could hardly stomach it this time around, and it was almost too overwhelming for Harp. She and I did our best not to gag as we slowly traveled down it step by step. The smell of sulfur was there, but now more pungent, and accompanied by the smell of rot. If we had any viable option to, I would have taken any other path. But this tunnel only offered one direction, and the further we progressed, the worse the smell got.

“The fuck is this?” I said under my breath, futilely trying to cover my nose. The smell was so strong here, and if it got much worse, I was afraid we might not even be able to breathe at all...

Finally, an end was in sight. The sewage tunnel came to an end, the trickle of water falling into a dark room, making the sound of pitter patter of water hitting water. Looking over the edge, I couldn’t see the bottom, only a shimmer from the light of my pipleg revealing the water below. In the distance below, a red service light illuminated a door and some stairs near it. I could just barely make out the sound of water lapping at some stairs, giving me a clue to what our next move was.

Some trash became a helpful tool, as I kicked it over the edge, it making a splash, and not much more. To my best guess, we had come to a water reservoir, and drange, a place for tropical rain to run into during the raining season, so to keep the station from flooding.

“What is it, why’d we stop?” Harp asked.

I looked back at her, her face illuminated by the green glow of my pipleg. “Sorry to tell you this, but we might need to jump into some sewage water, but at least it looks like there's a way out.”

She looked away for a moment. “If we must...”

“I’ll go first. So, sit tight.” I didn’t like the idea at all, but it was better than going back and getting shot. “One… Two… Three.” I leaned forward to go, but instead, I froze in place as my legs strained to keep me still.

“Vibraphone?” Harp asked after a few moments of me just standing there. “Are you okay? You’re shaking?”

“F-fine.. I’m fine.” I was lying, I was telling my legs to move, but they just wouldn’t. The sound of the water down there, how deep was it, deep enough for me to drown most likely. No, no…. I have to jump. I have to go forward, everypony was counting on me to get Harp through this. If I go back... yeah, we could always double back and find another way around. You know, at some place without a drop into black murky water.

“Miss Vibraphone, you're starting to scare me.” Harp spoke up.

Scare her? Why should she be afraid? “Ya… change of plans, we don’t need to dive, were going around this.” On second thought, the dark water below probably might not give just me pause. Nopony should ever go into that.

“But... what about the other ponies?” Harps voice was shaky, her own fear was audible. “They’ll kill us if we don’t get to my family.”

“Then we’ll kill them all first.” Good plan, the best plan. “They’re trying to kill us anyways, so fuck them. They made their choice.”

“But...” Harp whimpered.

“But nothing!” I shouted as I turned around in the narrow tunnel. As I did, my back hoof slipped, and I felt it go over the edge. I tried to get a hoof hold with my other back leg, but the tunnel was too caked in sewage, and it slipped as well. I felt my body slide, my heart pounding in my chest. I was going in, and I was going to die.

Then, almost impossibly, I stopped.

“Got you!” Harp called, her hooves holding onto my grappling leg. By reflex the mechanical digits extended and latched onto her, forcing Harp to cry out and wince. “Miss Vibraphone, that… that hurts!”

“Sorry, sorry.” My eyes welled up. “Please don’t let me fall.” My heart pounded like a jackhammer. “I don’t want to die.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry miss Vibraphone. I’ll pull you up, and we will find another way around.” She tugged, and I slowly was dragged back into the tunnel. A soft creaking came from my leg, and I froze up again.

*Click*

My stomach lurched at the momentary feeling of weightlessness. I only had a moment realize that my grappling leg had been detached before I hit the murky water. I struggled to swim, my legs flailing, but each time I tried, I would hit something, something soft and hard. As I sunk down, I opened up my eyes, only to see the face of a pony in a red haze.

Surprised, I lost my breath. I couldn’t move, not with what I was seeing. Ponies, dead ponies, dead mirage ponies. They were all around me, staring at me. I felt a tugging at me, the corpses had grabbed my tail, dragging me deeper, making me one of them.

I was going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die.

I’m going to die.

________________________________________________________

Footnote:

System Error:

Users condition - Critical.

-Status Effect: Chill Addiction (Withdraw) -1 to charisma and Luck.