Like everything had been from when I first started this cluster fuck of a mission, nothing was ever as easy as it should have been. My fist clue was that the elevator was wrecked. The door panel had been ripped out, and a pipe was jammed into the door. Slowtrot guided me to a stairwell, taking me to labs A. Why not all the way down to Labs C. Well, some asshole pony piled enough junk in the way that we couldn’t go any further then Labs A. Stepping out into the first lab, Slowtrot informed me of another stairwell we could take, but sadly another wall of junk blocked the or path. I had a feeling that it wasn’t Phobetor behind this hogshit, and if this pony was somehow still alive, I was going to shove my power hoof cyber leg up their plot.

More of the black graffiti filled the hallway. Most were just small scribbles rather than the large rants from the atrium. I still could not make heads or tails of it all, all of it was confusing scribbles of nonsense equations that involved depictions of body parts.

Following Slowtrot, I was guided to a door nearby. He knocked on it twice, waiting for a moment before miraculously it opened up. We were bathed in a bright light as the door opened, enough that my eyes needed a few second to adjust. Both Harp and Ummese were standing inside, holding their lathanos rifles pointed at us through the open door. Behind them, Order shined the intensely bright light at us. The two relaxed when they saw it was just Slowtrot and I, putting their rifles to the side.

The room looked like it might have once been a localized small distribution center. Flattened reusable boxes were stacked along the wall, organized by size. The tables in which a pony would have worked on had been flipped on their side, made into a simple barricade. Thrown on the floor were old pens, tape, labels, and stamps that would have been used on the boxes. “It’s looks just like an wrecked version of a Orthrus distribution room I use to work in… they realy haven’t changed the design on over two hundred years at all. I guess if it's not broken, then don’t change it.”

“Miss Vibraphone.” Harp sighed in relief, putting her rifle to the side. “You are not supposed to be the dumb one, you're not!” Tears formed in her eyes, and the princess quickly wiped them away.

Taking a deep breath, I trotted over to her. I was not going to say that she was wrong, or that I was right, that wouldn’t have helped. Nor was I going to explain why I had to go with the pirates, as really any explanation was useless at this point.

As I placed a hoof on her shoulder, I knew there was only one thing I could say. “Ready to get out of here?”

Harp meekly nodded. “I just want this adventure to be over. I’ve seen too much death, just too much.”

“I know, I know.” I gave her a hug, holding her head. “Just hold out a little longer, and when we're back to civilization, we can do something civilized. Like shoe shopping or something.”

She chuckled a little. “I'm sure i’m going to need a new wardrobe.”

Letting her go, I looked down at the lathanos. “How many bolts do you have left?”

Harp open up her decorative saddlebag, the thing still as clean as the day she’d found it. Inside were three bundles of bolts, and a few loose bolts rattling around, a good eighty of them by the looks of it. She also still had the makeup kit she took from the hotel, a box of ammo for her revolver, and the food and drinks she’d received from Slowtrot.

“And here I thought we were almost out. Can I take a few spare bolts?” I asked her. She passed the loose bolts over to me, and I loaded them into my lathanos rifle, putting six extras into my saddle bag.

My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I was feeling absurdly hungry. I even felt a tear forming in my left eye from the sharp pain of my hunger. Wiping away the tear, I found a small smear of blood on my metal hoof.

“You should eat, or that's only going to get worse.” Ummese stepped in, passing me a broken mirror. Looking in it, I saw that my left eye was bloodshot, more than that, it was actually bleeding. “It's the evil eye, striking fear into those who stare into it.” Ummese explained. “I comes with the ability to heal from any wound, but as great as it is, it is cursed. It starts as a hunger, and if not fed, grows into a madness that drives one to consume anything, even one's own body.”

I looked at Ummese, and back at my eye. “I’m going to make Blackspot’s death slow, and painful.”

“Good thing we have food.” Slowtrot spoke up. “And better yet, they should have lots of food on this floor, I even know there's a diner in Labs B.” He then pulled out the can of peaches, and a can opener.

I slurped down the can, and the next one after that even though it tasted mostly like preservatives, sugar, and only a few peaches. But my hunger was too strong for me to complain.

“Anymore?” I asked as I tossed the empty can to the floor.

“There's a fridge in the back that we haven't checked yet.” Harp said before trotting to the back of the room.

I looked over to Slowtrot, watching as the stallion messed with his pipbuck. “So Slowtrot, I got a bad feeling that were going to be taking the long way to labs C. What can you tell me about the labs?”

“Let's see, from what I can remember,” Slowtrot scratched his head. “lab's A is where they make all their finished stuff, like food and stable barding. Lab's B, I think that's where they finish their research, or improve on what they finish. It's actually where the pipbuck lab was. As for lab's C, it's probably for general research, like teleportation. I know it also has an extra large medlab in it. As for lab's D, can't remember, but I think I did go there at some point.”

I nodded. “So no monster plant ponies, or insane clones running around?”

He shook his head. “As far as I remember, the ponies here would not allow that to happen.”

The sound of clinking glass drew my attention over to Harp. She had pushed a case of glass bottles over to me, and on top of it another box “Good news, that not a fridge, it's a suspended animation box.” She had a wide grin in her face. “Everything inside is still fresh.”

Slowtrot walked over, and inspected the two boxes. “Let's see, MRE’s and Lab’s A cola .” He pulled out a bottle and a square meal packet with a smile. “Right here is a full and healthy meal.”

I didn’t wait, and dug in. The MRE was like a small square of thick hard bread. Almost too hard if you asked me, but once down, it filled me up. It had a flowerlike taste to it, almost like dandelions. Looking over at Harp, she had opened up the belly of the packet, and poured the cola into it. I was a bit confused at first, but then the MRE packet began to expand, and the slight smell of flowers and grass hit my nose.

Harp pointed at the packet. “It has instructions.” She then took a cautious bite before shoving the rest into her mouth. “This is actually really good.”

Looking at the packet, it indeed did. Though it did say it can be eaten raw, but also adding a little bit of water will soften it, and adding Lab's A cola would give it more flavor.

I decided to just chew on the bar, as I had already committed to it. Washing it down with a cola, it hit me hard just how much it tasted like fresh grass. It confused me to why Orthrus didn't have this stuff back in the metro, they’d make a killing off it if the food tasted this good.

“Let's stock up and get moving.” I said as I swallowed the last bit of my hearty meal.

Everypony nodded, and filled their saddlebags with MRE’S and the green cola. The MRE’s thankfully didn’t take up much room.

Slowtrot once again took the lead as he lead us back into the graffiti covered hallway. At first it seemed like a simple detour to the second stairwell, but when we turned the corner, we were met with another wall of junk blocking our path. Disturbingly, a pony’s skull hung from the junk wall like a trophy, with the same black scribbling as on the walls. This, none of us were going to enjoy this.

Slowtrot opened up a door next to the junk wall, and stepped into the dark room. Following him in, lights high above us hummed to life, giving the room a dim orange glow. The first thing I noticed was that this room was full of trees, though a tad spread out compared to the plantations. The trees in here also they looked pretty dead, as there wasn’t a single leaf to be seen on their thin branches. Strangly, the trees did have things hanging off of them.

The light, though slowly, became bright enough for us to see with clarity. The dread I felt before was confirmed by the sight of old bones hanging from the dead trees by thin threads, likely from over a dozen ponies, maybe more. Both the trees and the bones were also covered in the mad graffiti.

No pony said anything, none of us needed too. Quickly, we trotted to the other door, ignoring the large black eyes painted above us. Moreso, we did what we could to ignore the fact that the bones were moving as though wind was blowing, but the stale air in here hadn’t moved for at least a century.

Back into the hallway, the mad scribbling returned to the walls, and not far ahead of us was another junk blockade next to a door.

Wanting to get this insanity over with, we entered the next room. I had expected more of the graffiti, intend we stumbled onto a stage. Set up in the center of it was a mannequin in pink tights, with a little pink skirt. The mannequin was position strangely on one rear hoof, the other rear leg stretched out horizontally, and both forelegs stretched above its head in an arch.

“What kind torture is that?” I asked, out loud.

“Looks like a meditation stance my aunt used to do.” Replied Ummese.

Slowtrot chuckled. “I can't say you're off the mark.”

Harp dropped her saddlebag and got onto two legs before lifting one, and proceeding to copy the mannequin. Lit up by a spotlight by Order, she quite literally stood on the tip of her hoof for a few seconds before braking the pose, and returning to all four.

“It's called ballet you uncultured swine.” She gave out in a light giggle before she trotted ahead of us, leaving the room.

I waited for the others to leave before picking up some scattered paper. Balling it up, I tossed it at the mannequin. The paper ball bounced off the mannequin, and it slowly moved until it tipped over and crashed to the ground. The thing was standing just like Harp, no strings, no anchor, no magic, no way that should be possible.

I quickly trotted out the room, rejoining the others. We turned a corner, and surprisingly, nothing was blocking our way. The mad ramblings on the wall were now partnered with pairs of black dots. The oppressive feeling was not lost on anypony as we trotted down the hall, slowing down with each further hoof we stepped.

Slowtrot stopped. “You heard that?”

I perked my ears, scanning around.

*Beep, beep, beep.”

“Ya, some sort of electronics.” I responded, looking about. My eyes fell onto Slowtrot’s hooves, and next to it a pile of trash. “It's under the trash!”

He quickly swiped at the pile, and an old sensor was knocked to the floor. It was connected to a spark battery, and some other small lectronics.

I trotted up to the device, the sound of static bursting out from a recorder taped to it. After a moment the static stopped, replaced by a low and deep hum that only made me more uneasy.

“Hello, hello!” from the recorder was the voice of a mare, it was hard to tell do to the recording being degraded, but she sounded more then just old. It was slightly like a ghouls voice, but somewhat warped. “So you come for me, I knew you would. That stupid council would never just seal away the stable, it's too important. Yesss, you all can't deny the secrets left inside. But I, Spicy Love Fruit, will claim it all!”

The mare in the recording broke out into a coughing fit, and we all gave each other a confused glance. The recording continued. “Not you, nor that black mare can stop me. I have been chosen by it, it looks upon me with great favor. So you must look deep into it, and it will look deep into you. Then you know the one truth, the same as I.” The recording screeched loudly for a moment before cutting out.

Slowtrot looked up at me. “Well that's not ominous at…”

All the doors in the hallway burst open, and slowly twitchers trotted into the hallway from most of them, trapping us. We all backed into each other, and I looked around for a solution.

“There's an empty room, we can hide in there!” Slowtrot called out.

I triggered S.A.T.S. slowing time to a crawl. With more time to think, I began to process our situation. Behind us was five twitchers, they didn’t matter, going that direction would only take us toward Berenices. Ahead of us walked four twitchers, better odds and the direction we needed to head. Problem is that the twitchers don't just go down, and touching them is death, or worse. The lathanos rifles might have the punch to knock them down, but the problem of getting around them.

I looked over at Harp, and down at the energy pistol I gave her, a plan clicked.

“No.” I put my hoof in front of Slowtrot. “We need to push forward.” I turned to Harp, looking her in the eyes. “And we need to do it together.” She nodded. “Alright, Ummese, Slowtrot and I will pin the twitchers down, Harp use the energy pistol to ash them.”

Harp fumbled the meep as she pulled it out. “How do I ash them?”

“When the twitchers are on the ground, just shoot them until they turn to ash.” I explained as I took her lathanos, and hoofed it to Slowtrot. “Right, we just need to shoot them in the legs, they may be able to shrug of getting shots, but they can't walk without legs.”

We readied our rifles. Slowtrot was first to shoot, and his shot flew well over the twitchers.

I glared at him. “Use S.A.T.S.” I told him, and he nodded. Ummese was next to fire, and she hit her target at least. The bolt embedded itself deep into the creature’s chest.

“Guns are not my first choice weapons.” She groaned as she glanced over at me.

I rolled my eyes, and took aim. My first shot landed, kneecapping a Twitcher and sending it to the ground. It didn’t stop moving forward, but at least it was slowed to a crawl.

Another twitcher fell to the ground, followed by Slowtrot raising his hoof into the air in celebration. He had somehow not only hit the twitchers leg, but the bolt had lodged into the ground, pinning the twitcher in place. Unfortunately, the undead ghoul had no problem pulling itself free at the cost of tearing most of its flesh off the pinned leg. Fortunately, it’d still held the twitcher on place long enough for Ummese to get a shot on the same leg, severing it completely.

The last two were soon taken down, and we closed in. Harp followed my instructions, and began firing at the closest twitcher. Powered by her natural magic, the pistol fired a bright pink beem, disintegrating the twitcher on contact.

The next two twitchers were taken out fairly quickly, the second needing two shots to disintegrate, and the third needing four. Looking behind us, the five twitchers had closed in, but not enough to be a problem. “Alright, finish off that last…”

The hair's along my back raised as a twitcher stepped out from an open door, bearing down on an unaware Harp. I didn’t waste time, drawing my revolvers, and firing into the ghoul. It stumbled, but didn't stop, and Harp, taken by surprise, had frozen in place.

*Bang* *Click, click, click, click*

Twelve shots, and the twitcher haven't stopped. Slowtrot jumped in, tackling the twitcher, to both my relief and horror.

We all held our breath, and watched as the stallion held down the ghoul.

And... nothing.

Nothing was happening to Slowtrot. Even he looked surprised when he looked back at us. “Can you please shoot this thing? It's making me feel tingly.” He asked Harp.

With a sigh of relief, Harp dispatched the twitcher, taking two carefully placed shots. We all trotted up to Slowtrot, but he still looked normal, which after what had happened with the pirates, was definitely not normal.

I offered him a hoof, and he took it, helping him off the ground. “Firstly, thank you, secondly, how the fuck?” I asked, forcing a scrunched look across his muzzle.

He shrugged. “I'm just lucky I guess?”

That was likely the best answer I was ever going to get, and we didn’t have time to play twenty questions. “Harp, let's get rid of that last twitcher.” Harp nodded, and turned her energy pistol on the last twitcher. It took four shot to disintegrate it, the thing crawling at us, silently mouthing all the way up until it’s body dissipated into ash.

Once the obstructions were out of our way, we blocked it, as the five twitchers behind us had finally gotten uncomfortably close.

Turning the corner, we immediately came across another trash wall, this one with a big arrow pointing at a closed door. With luck, this would be the last sideshow before getting to the stairwell. Throwing open the door, we all piled through it.

We had trotted into some sort of factory. Large machines filled the even larger room, to the point that it was hard to tell where one ended, and the next started, though different signs did inform us what they did. There was one area that produced basic components for pipbucks, pipbuck tools, and general stable maintenance. Another area was for stable barding, and another was for clothes.

A large sign placed over one of the machines, stating, ‘No more canvas, vinyl fabric is cheaper and easier to produce.’

It would be impressive, if not for all the mannequins everywhere. Each of their heads had been replaced by painted pony skulls. What made it all worse, was that they all looked like they were all staring at us with their dark, empty eye sockets. Shaking it off, I pushed forward, and pushed the others along.

As we quickly trotted out of the factory room, the others stopped, causing me to collide with Slowtrot. Annoyed, I looked passed him, expecting another junk wall.

“I. see. you!” Couteau Dull said slowly, looking at us, no, at me with bleeding eyes. We all drew our weapons, but she vanished in a flash. “Oh no, no, we fight one on one.” Couteau whispered in my ear.

The world fell backwards, and I slammed to the ground. Getting my bearings, I found myself back in the factory room, the mannequins now leaning over as the stared down at me. A hiss from the door caught my attention, Couteau had closed it, and aimed her SMG at the panel.

*Rat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat!”

The control switch sparked, and Couteau turned to me, her eyes glowing gold. “Good, now that the distractions are out of the way, we can have a civil conversation.”

I drew my revolvers, and and pulled the trigger, they only made empty clicking sounds. “Shit, give me a moment to reload.”

Couteau disappeared in a flash and reappeared in front of me, now holding a sword in her magic. The blade came down, and I only just managed to block it with my power hoof leg. “I guess we’re well passed civility. I’ll be taking you now, even if it's only as a bloody pincushion.”

Her eyes shifted from gold to a burning green, the blood now flowing from her eyes. “Oh, there you are, where are you?”

The grip on her blade weakened, so I shoved it out of the way, and gave her a power hoofed punch. The mad mare flew back into a bunch of boxes. I waited for a moment, hoping that she was killed by that hit, a hope that died when she started laughing. Couteau pulled herself out from the pile I knocked her into. Six thin metal rods were stuck through her, five going through her back and out her stomach, the sixth through her neck.

“Did you know pain is a sign that we’re still alive?” Couteau’s eyes were looking in two different directions, vigorously moving around like she was scanning the room. “So many toys to play with, to make you feel alive.” Both eyes stopped, and focused on me. “But let's start with these little sticks you’ve so helpfully given me.”

The air felt alive with magic, like the buildup is static. Pain jolted through my neck, forcing me to cry out in pain. Couteau had not moved, now sporting a wide grin on her face, and the rod in her neck, it had vanished. I reached up to my neck finding a thin rod piercing through it. “It's not as effective as a gun, no, but so much more satisfying. You don't know what satisfaction is until you placed a bomb into the stomach of a cur, and watch the horror on their face. When you get bored of it all, pull the trigger. The Normal boom is fun, but smoke bombs are beyond amusing.” She snickered to herself as she glared at me with twisted eyes.

Again the air filled with magic, but I knew what was coming, so I dashed out of the area, and behind a large box. The pain in my neck was almost unbearable. I needed to get this rod out before I could fight, and it was going to hurt.

“Minerva, help me get this rod out of my neck.” My pipbucks magic grabbed the rod and tugged. The pain was intense, and it didn't budge. Worse, it pulled my neck with it. My hud faded in, and a message appeared.

“Warning, foreign object has fused to users body. Seek immediate professional medical attention.”

Fuck! Just fuck it all!

“Are you done hiding? Come out and let me give you an everlasting collar.” Couteau mocked.

I reloaded my revolvers and prepared my lathanos. If she wanted me so badly, I was going to give her a piece of my wrath. Standing on my hind legs, I took aim with my lathanos from behind the box. She was in my sight, and I fired.

The bitch teleported, and I could feel the magic building in the air around me. Abandoning my position, I hid behind a vinyl barding production machine.

“You know you’re just an insane whore, right?” I yelled out at her.

Magic built up again, but not as strong as before. A metal rod teleported through the machine near me, fusing to the massive hunk of metal. At least now I was sure that I could sense the spell, I just wished I knew more about magic, and how to beat it.

“Come out, come out, or I will make it all the more painful.” I couldn't pinpoint where Couteau was speaking from, as the room itself echoed unnaturally.

Some junk behind me shifted, I looked up in time to see two glowing green eyes staring down at me, and a sword pointed in my direction. The sword jabbed down, sticking into my shoulder, and scraping against my cybernetic connecter. My nerves flared in pain, blurring my vision for a second.

“Now stay put” she grinned down at me, the magic around me energizing.

I was not going to let it happen, and drew my revolvers, firing wildly. It worked well enough, forcing her to back off, and keeping her from putting another rod in my neck. I bolted from my position, and looked for a position where I could take the offence. If I let her get the drop on me again, I was dead.

*Bam!*

Pain flared across my face as I was hit with a wrench. I entered S.A.T.S. and dashed forward, not letting me stop. A stairway came into view, and I jumped onto it, galloping up a level. Keeping my eyes open, I didn’t stop. Thought the walkways were open, Couteau at least couldn’t hide herself up here.

The lights flared, and the machinery roared to life. Scanning, my eyes fell on what looked like a control booth, inside Couteau waved at me before teleporting away. The sound was deafening, and the lights reflected on polished metal. Worse, the mannequins were everywhere up here, and they looked like they were dancing.

Magic built up around me again, and I dashed out before the rod appeared. It popped into existence, and fell onto the metal grate. It hit the grate soundlessly, mostly because everything was so noisy that it was droned out.

Looking around, I winced in pain, remembering that I still had the fucking sword stuck in my shoulder. Luckily it was much easier for Minerva to remove then the rod in my neck. Looking at it, the parts not covered in my blood had a mirror polish, and in the reflection I could see Couteau sneaking up behind me.

She smiled at me and lunged at me with a wrench. Using the sword to deflect it, Couteau caught the sword in the wrenches teeth, and pulled it out of Minerva’s telekinetic hold. The sword flew around Couteau, and stopped by her side, giving her two melee weapons again.

“What are you trying to prove? Luna has called us, you’ve seen her, but you deny her divinity.” she took a step closer, pointing the wrench at me. Her eyes hadn't stopped bleeding, staining her face, and covering her mouth. As she talked, the blood foamed, making her look like some mad rabid animal. “You will submit. To me. To Blackspot. To the goddesses. So stay the fuck still, and let me drag you down to her!”

I watch her movements, as she watch me. She was too close for me to pull my guns, she'd knock them away before I could get a shot on her. She could use teleportation, but I was sure she caught on that I could sense it. What I needed was to get an opening, one shot on her was all I needed, then I can finish her off.

She stepped closer, glaring at me. I didn’t meet her gaze, not wanting to risk the effect of her evil eye. Still, I was going to have to take a gamble, Couteau had too many advantages. “Minerva, knife!” I shouted as I charged. My pipleg drew my knife out at Couteau, and she countered with the wrench, throwing it over the railing.

More pain engulfed my body as Couteau’s sword was trusted into my gut, the bitch smiling at me with blood stand teeth. I smiled back as I slammed my power hoof leg into her side, it jolting on contact, making my shoulder screen in pain.

Couteau stumbled back, puking up blood. I didn’t let up, and jumped at her, the power hoof landing in her leg, making a wet crack. She screamed in pain.

“Good, scream louder!” I shouted, bringing the power hoof down on the same leg. “Sing for me!”

Another wet crack, but Couteau didn’t scream, she laughed. Pain erupted from my gut as she twisted the sword, forcing me off her. “You feel it, don't you, don't you?” She sounded far too amused for a mare with a shattered back leg. “The hunger calls, and so blood must flow. From that river, we drink, we chew, we eat.”

I tugged the sword out of me, and got back up. “I'm done with this,Minerva, draw my…”

I fell, my back hitting cold metal. Couteau was holding onto my leg, so I kicked her in the face until she let go. With a flash, she teleported back, landing on three legs, her forth simply dangled as a bloody pulp. We were on top of one of the machines, I could feel it vibrating through my legs.

“You can't win, I have Luna on my side” she bosted.

“Sorry to break it to you, the princess are dead, and there are gods looking out for you.” I spat back at her.

That wiped the smirk off her face, and I felt magic gather around me. Rolling back, several metal rods, her sword, and the wrench had fused the top of the machine, she went after my legs. Looking back up, she vanished as she teleported yet again.

I spun around just in time to catch a hoof strike to the face. After the hits I had taken before, this was not as bad. Of course, it still stung though. I countered by tackling her, and we rolled off the machine.

Falling on my back, Couteau straddled me, and began repeatedly hitting me in the face. I blocked with my pipleg, and struck back with the power hoof. It was enough to knock her off of me, but I was seeing double now. Getting up, I struggled to stay on all four hooves, lucky, Couteau look like she was struggling to stay on all four hooves too.

The fuck?

Her forth leg was still a bloody pulp, but not as much as before, the bones healed enough to stand on. Stranger, her clothes no longer tightly fit her, now dangling off her as she looked much thinner. Blood dripped from her mouth like drool, and she stared at me like a hungry animal.

“What the fuck are you?” I took a step back, ready for another attack.

Her eyes wondered for a moment before focusing back on me. “I’m… I’m so hungry.” She licked her lips. “The others won't mind if I have a nibble.”

She lunged at me, mouth wide open, like a savage animal. I stumbled to the side, and she missed me, colliding with the machine. Looking passed her, the machine was a small industrial grinder, the kind Orthrus used to turn junk into small bits before recycling. This one lacked a safety bar at the input slot.

“Still hungry you mad whore!?” I baited her, and Couteau took it, lunging at me. Every step hurt, but not enough to stop me. I made it to the input end of the grinder just in time as Couteau charged in behind me. Stepping out of the way, though clumsily, she slammed into the grinder. It was now or never, and I jumped her, my power hoof cracking her side, making her howl in pain.

Before she could concentrate, I shoved her head in the grinder, she resisted, pushing back. At first she pulled back, strength of madness I'd guess, but with a small crack, she began falling into the grinder. Flecks of blood stand the inside of the grinder as it sheared off Couteau’s jaw bit by bit. She bellowed a pained moan, doing her best to resist, not that I'd let her.

I fell back, finding myself a good twenty hoof steps from the grinder. Quickly getting up, I got ready for another attack from my blind spot. Turning frantickly, I came face to face with a jaw less Couteau. She giving me a death glare as her bloody and mutilated tong dangled. Then… her head fell to the ground, leaving a bloody smear on a concrete wall. The stump of her neck was mixed into what looked like the wall itself, and now knowing the risks, I didn’t feel so bad not knowing how to teleport myself.

I waited for a moment, taking deep breaths to calm down. Trotting over to Couteau’s head, I had to hold back a laugh, not that I found it funny, yet I felt like laughing. Raising up my powerhoof, I brought it down into her head, it smashing like coconut, and insuring the she could never come back.

“You do know she's not like me, right.” Theremin dragged herself from behind a box, her legs nothing but cables.

I rolled my eyes. “Can’t be sure these days.”

Theremin shrugged. “You got a point there, at least she didn't take you into the wall with you.” She then pointed to her neck. “You know, if you’d become a reaver, that won't be a problem.”

I turned from the digital ghost, and trotted to the door out of here. I could hear scratching from the other side, as well some banging. Examining the door, and the panel next to it, I concluded that it was messed up, but could still open it. Digging through my saddlebag, I quickly located my old tool set, which was just a screwdriver and pliers.

Pulling back the panel, I quickly found the hydraulic controls for the door, and used the pliers to pull out a cable, and twisted the flow switch. With a hiss, the door opened, and a panicked Harp charged through. She skidded to a stop, looking around until her eyes fell onto me.

Harp took a step back, clearly shocked. “By princess Platinum, all that blood!”

I forced a smiled. “Don't worry, not all of it is mine, and Couteau is dead.”

She trotted over to me, putting a hoof on the rod in my neck. “And this?”

As gently as I could, I pushed her hoof away. “Not going to lie, it's fused in there, and I’m going to need surgery to get it out.”

“Ship jumpers, they never use their magic gently.” Ummese stepped in, and I gave her a half confused look. The Zony sighed, and pointed to the top of her head. “There are unicorns who are taught teleportation magic. Useful when moving others from ship to ship discreetly. Also useful for scaring the goddesses faith into a creature.” She looked around, her eyes stopping on the smashed head. “Also very dangerous without a partner to perform the spell with.”

I checked my guns, reloading them. “ya, I saw first hoof. Now let's get going, I'm sure more troubles down stairs, and I know troubles coming down from upstairs.”

“There's a medical room in Labs B, maybe there we can get that pole out.” Slowtrot stood from the other side of the door, and he was not looking well. He was cracking, like glass under stress, each line had a faint glow to it.

“Slowtrot, are you feeling well, because you’re not looking well.” I informed him. It was amazing he’d lasted this long after touching that twitcher, but it didn’t mean his luck would hold out forever.

“Now that you mentioned it, that tingling never did go away.” He laughed and a small chunk of him fell off and shattered on the ground.

I dove into my saddlebag, pulling out one of the few healing potions I had. “You need to drink this, right now!” I shoved one in his face, but he pushed it away.

“I have a feeling you’ll need it more than I do. Anyways, I'm a ghost after all, I doubt it will work on me.” The cracks s[read, now forming all over his body. They glowed with a jade green light that was soft and warm, but still more distressing than anything the more it spread. “And who knows, this might just be a temporary thing.”

“Vanishing away just as strangely as you appeared?” I chuckled a little, feeling a little too use to ponies dying on me. But this was different to me somehow. “So, see you later?” It didn’t feel like he was dying, just going away until the next time I saw him. If that was a good or a bad thing, I still wasn’t quite sure of.

“I guess?” He shrugged. “Just take care of yourself.” With a fearless smile, his body shattered, turning into dust that faded into nothing at all.

I took a deep breath, and steeled myself. “Alright, to the next floor.”

“Labs B it is, I’ll see if I can get that rod out of you neck!” A mare spoke up from behind me. Turning around I saw a purple unicorn mare sitting on box of spare parts, she had a dull light blue mane, and tail with a jade streak in them. She had the same clothes on as Slowtrot did, and even her pipbuck was the same. Actually, the more that I looked at her, the more she looked just like Slowtrot, except being a mare and her cutie-mark was an exclamation mark through a hoof print, instead of a question mark.

“Who, wa… Slowtrot?”

“Yes and no.” The mare rolled her eyes. “The name's Quicktrot. Quicktrot Fragment to be quite specific actually. Now, what do you say we get going before those crabs catch up to us?”

Footnote:

Companion error: Slowtrots signal replaced by Quicktrot (Who wants a dorky wartime pony anyways, lets rule 63 this, it makes everything better. It’s not like your company is some sort of arcotech abomination who’s totally going to stab you in the back now. That be silly, you're silly, and this is definitely not written by Quicktrot, and also, fuck you Pinky Pie!!!)

Author's Notes:

So I want to thank both nocarix and Gamma Deekay for helping to clean up the chapters, without them, a lot of this would be much harder for everyone to read.

Also, thanks to Kkat for making this wonderfully horrifying world for us to make our own story's in.

For reference, Quicktrot is the doppelganger who appears at the end of "Stable-Tec R&D" I originally had her being more involve in this story, but like with most ideas, things had to change. Any-who, thanks for reading, I got more on the way, so check back in 14 days, if I can keep this up.