Quicktrot cracked her neck as she descended down the stairs. She wasn’t even bothering to trot like the rest of us, but using her magic to levitate off the ground.

“Got to say, it's nice being out and about, but the R&D Stable is not where I expected to return to.” She cheerfully remarked as she looked around the walls. “Though, I do love the new decorations.”

Opening the package, I swallowed down the content of the MRE, barely chewing before forcing it down. “Explain it to me again, and use real words this time.”

The unicorn shrugged. “Why is this world full of simpletons? Right, the pony you know as Slowtrot was just an echo, and was running about only because I was asleep. I'm what you would call an arcano-tech induced anomaly, though some would rather use the word ‘abomination’. Think of me as something similar to a ghoul, but not stuck inside a rotting corpse.”

“And how are you even here?” I don't know why, but something about Quicktrot felt familiar, but in a bad way. She looked like Slowtrot, but her attitude, her mannerisms, and the way she glanced at us... it all made me feel even more on edge.

She put her hooves together, and slowly separated then in an arch like fashion. “Magic.” She then leaned back, like she was relaxing on a couch as she levitated through the air. “Jokes aside, this place is practically oozing with magic, which, in turn allows me to manifest as I am. Luckily it's not the necrotic magic that you can find all over Equestria these days. Let me tell you, that stuff is terrible for my complexion.”

“So, if that was not Slowtrot, where's the real Slowtrot?” Harp asked as she stood by the door. Like before, the stairs further down were blocked off by a mess of chairs, tied together by wire, and filled in by a mess of junk.

“Dead.” Quicktrot responded. “At least, he should be... I doubt anypony can survive getting stuck outside of reality. And don’t ask, it's related to a time traveling spell that went bad. Just believe me that it takes a day and a half just to explain the fundamentals of it all to somepony of your...” She paused as Harp looked away dejected, so I shot her a glare. “Did I say something wrong? He’s a pony from what, over a hundred years ago? Even if he was still around, he’d be some dried up ghoul, or worse, a ‘twitcher’ as you call it.”

“Let's just get going,” I rolled my eyes. “the sooner we can get out of here, sooner we can get this rod out of my neck.” But to be fair to the rod, at least it was being less of a pain in my neck than Quicktrot was...

“Right, the teleportation testing chamber in labs C.” Quicktrot nodded. “Though it might be best to stop by medical here in labs B. There should be a organic-inorganic separation cutter in storage for magical emergencies. Interphasic accidents are a lot more commen than you might think.” We all gave her a confused glance, and she sighed. “You wouldn't believe how many researchers got themselves stuck to their tools. It’s one reason why pink cloud research was banned. Pretty much during the entire year of the Littlehorn attack it was a weekly occurrence that those tools were needed.”

“Whatever, as long as it doesn't waste any more time.” I hit the control on the door, and stepped out into labs B. I was expecting more graffiti, the ramblings of a mad pony stretched along the walls, and of course it was written all over the walls. But where before they seemed randomly scribbled nonsense all over the place, now the graffiti was organized into one long rambling sentence. Literally, it looked to be just one sentence that continued out of sight around the corner.

Also unlike the floor above us, the door to the other stairwell was not blocked by a wall of junk. Instead, the floor around the elevator had been chewed up, and many metal spikes poked out. Hanging above the spike pit was a sign stating “Jump on in, the water’s fine.” Curiously a few of the spikes had rope tied to the base that extended over and down the elevator.

“What was her name again, Spicy Love Fruit?” Quicktrot leveraged to the edge. “If I can recall right, she was one of the Lab D scientists.” She scratched her chin. “Odd, I'm sure she was one of the ponies caught by Thorn.”

I glanced over at Quicktrot. “How much do you know about this place?”

“Enough to paint a less than pretty picture about Stable-Tec.” She stopped levitating, and all four hooves landed on the ground with a clop. “The overmare, Healing Herbs, left quite a bit behind with me when she died. It was mostly useless junk, so it took me awhile to sort through them all.” She waved her hoof over the spike pit. “I don't know what it is, but the magic feels dead there, best if we take the long way around.”

We both took a step back, and joined up with Harp, Order, and Ummese. Trotting down the hallway, this time there were no obstructions I our way. Instead all the doors were open, and a costed low hum came from everywhere. It was even more unnerving as we passed each room there was a terminal in view, and every terminal had a video of a twitcher looking back at us.

As we trotted, the lines of graffiti seemed to blur, and I found myself wobble. Not just me, but Harp and Ummese looked like they were also having trouble walking. Quicktrot on the other hoof looked fine.

“Is... everypony doing alright?” I asked as I tried to focus on even standing up.

Harp stopped. “Is the floor suppose to feel like jello?”

“Last time I felt like this, I had inbibed enough rum to kill a pony.” Ummese responded.

“Fuck, what's wrong with this place?” closing my eyes helped, but there was no way I was going to walk around here blind. “Quicktrot, can you take point?”

“Right, right. Medical is not far.” She responded, and trotted passed me. I did my best to follow her as I kept my eye on the others, but even only seeing the nauseating graffiti indirectly was still having an effect.

We were practically herded into a room, nearly collapsing onto the floor before all of us got inside. Quicktrot closed the door behind us, and almost immediately I started to feel much better. Fortunately, the room lacked any graffiti. Unfortunately, it did have the creepy terminal with the twitcher looking back at us on it.

“Curse this place, I’d rather hoof fight a shark...” Ummese groaned as she gave in to the nausea and flopped to the ground.

“I want to say I’d rather deal with another paradise dragon, but they're just the worst” I bemoaned. A loud clatter came further in the room. Looking up, Quicktrot was rummaging through a pile of odd looking tools. Feeling a little more balanced on my hooves, I stepped over to her. “Found the device you’d mentioned?”

She levitated what looked like two scoops pinned together with a spring in the middle. “No dice, looks like the bitch took all the arcano tools from here. I can do it the old fashion way, but that's going to hurt, just to warn you.” Quicktrot opens up a box, revealing a bunch of scalpels and other surgical tools.

I shook my head. “No time, let's just get to labs C, and I’ll get professional help.”

Quicktrot looked me up and down, and smirked. “Give me your hoof, the left one with the pipbuck, I need to check something.” I had a bad feeling about this, but still lifted Minerva up to her. “Thanks, this should take but a moment.”

She grasped onto Minerva, and vanished with a green pop. Everything slowed to almost a stop, S.A.T.S. having activated on its own. My hud display came up, but was distorted, the letters and numbers randomly flickering and twitching. Stranger was that my targeting option was focused on something that was not there, listing it as unknown.

“What's this now?” Theremin stepped into view. All four of her legs striped bare, only metal bones and wires could be seen. “It feels like the C.C.N., but not quite...” The albino mare sniffed the air, and then gagged. “I can taste it. Dark and chaotic, with a hint of rot.”

Quicktrot came out from behind Theremin with a smile on her face. “You ponies certainly improved your pipbucks. I say, without all the crazy programs inside it, it can be a really cozy place to rest.”

Theremin took a step back, surprised by Quicktrots sudden appearance. She studied the purple mare, looking here up and down until their eyes met. As she did, Quicktrot’s smile only grew wider.

“An arcano wrath, interesting. Didn't think to meet another one so soon, but then that's the area we live in now, where even our tech can spawn evil spirits.” Quicktrot trotted around Theremin, stuffing her. “Odd, there is a lack of necromantic alchemy involved, instead it’s more a complex arcane weave than a true spirit. Very intriguing.”

Theremin looked as confused as I felt. “What are you babbling about you presumptuous whore.”

“Oh, I like that.” Quicktrot stopped. “You won't mind if I use that insult for later, will you?” She then turned to me, and scratched her chin. “Well, forgetting the snack, let's see if I can fix that issue in your neck.” I tried to glare at her, but my body was still frozen in place. “Right, sadly I don't know any teleportation spells, but I did inherit a quick and dirty surgery technique. I'm just going to borrow your pipbuck for a moment, and it will be over in but a second. Oh, and if you are worried, don't be, this was a trick developed by Fluttershy on critical injured soldiers. Spear-traps may have been primitive mechanisms, but they were a bitch to get out of a pony when they are barbed.”

Time slowly returned to normal. Theremin vanished, but Quicktrot was still in front of me with the scalpels hovering in her magic.

“Wait…” I whimpered right before the scalpels were lunged at me. My neck erupted in pain, and I collapse to the ground, followed by the sound of a metal rod clanging on the ground next to me.

“Vibraphone!” Harp shouted. She rushed over to me, her hooves making wet splat next to me. “By Celestia, the blood.”

I looked up at her. “This time, it's all mine.”

Harp looked over at Quicktrot, anger in her eyes. “Why would you do this!? She needed surgery, not barbarism!”

Quicktrot rolled her eyes. “She's going to live, just give her a healing potion.”

Frantically pulling a potion from her bag, Harp shoved it into my mouth, and I eagerly drank the potion down. I did start to feel better, but from under my scarf, the burning pain that crept around my neck had returned. It grew slowly but steadily, until it felt like there was some kind of hot coller on me.

It wasn’t agonizing, but it was enough discomfort that I couldn’t just shake it off and forget it was there. Taking a deep breath, I got back up. Stepping in my own blood, I looked down and started feeling hungry again. I glared at Quicktrot, ready to shoot her on the spot.

“You’re lucky that worked.” I had a feeling that I would need more than bullets to kill Quicktrot, maybe even a priest.

“Don't mention it.” Quicktrot smiled back. “You did say we didn’t have time for surgery. Now, how to get through that hallway without you three having a seizure?”

“That mare gives me a real bad feeling,” Ummese stepped up to me, and whispered into my ear. “the ‘burn the heretic with fire’ kind of bad feeling.”

Harp raised an eyebrow, and also whispered. “I’m guessing you mean like treason bad, where the pony is plotting something that can hurt lots of others?”

The Zony nodded. “Heretics turn ponies away from the righteous path, and if left to do their evil, many souls will be lost forever.”

I didn’t much like the religious speak, but I had to admit that Quicktrot had to be up to something. If I ever got the opportunity, I was going to have a word with Charon about not warning me about… whatever it is that she is.

“Found it!” Quicktrot exclaimed, as she pulled out a box. Trotting over to us, she opened the box, and inside were tinted goggles, decorated in blue and yellow. “Stable-Tec figured that prolong time underground would have an effect on the eyes, so these goggles were developed to cope with light sensitivity.”

Harp picked one up, and looked through it. “How are they supposed to help?”

Quicktrot pulled one out, and passed it to me. “Well the mass produced ones were just tinted, but these ones were made for actual medical application. The lenses are polarized crystals, and it has the odd side effect of distorting magic based images. So other than reducing eye strain, it should keep whatever that is out there fuzzy enough to not mess with your own vision.”

I shrugged, and put on the goggles. Everything became darker, but oddly enough, Quicktrot’s form distorted. It was like as if she was a hologram, but every time I shifted my perspective, she would bend and twist. I looked over to Harp, who had to remove her helmet and my hat before putting on the goggles. She tilted her head as she looked at Quicktrot, likely seeing the same distortion as I did.

Looking over at the terminal, the twitcher on the screen was still there, staring at us. I didn’t know what I’d expected to see, but if it had been the ghoul was crawling out of the terminal, I don't think I'd be all that surprised. Right, let’s just get the fuck out of here already.

“Everypony ready to move on?” I asked out loud.

Ummese helped Harp get her helmet on before the two gave me a nod. Quicktrot simply walked past me to the door. She flipped the switch on the control panel and stood back. I sighed and trotted over to the door as it opened, still dreading going back out there even with some sort of magical goggle nonsense to protect us.

We were hit by an ear piercing search, forcing me to cover my ears. Quicktrot on the other hoof fell over onto her back from the sudden noise. On the other side of the door was a non-glowing lurker armed with chitin hammer. I pulled out my lathanos, and quickly charged my magic into it. Before I could properly target it however, the monster was on me.

The lurkers hammer slammed into my side, causing me to stumble in pain. But the attack did give me an opening, and took aim, switching the rifle to full power, and fired. The bolt flew out of the lathanos with a bang, sending pain through my shoulder, and the bolt into the lurker. The quadruped crab exploded in blue blood and chitin chunks, decorating the walls on one side of the medical room.

Checking Minerva, my pipleg indicated that I had the three cracked ribs. “Shit, and right after drinking a healing potion.”

“Let me get you another one.” Harp open her bag, but I stopped her.

“Let's check this room for any potions first, I rather not use what little meds we still have.” I directed Harp and Ummese to look around, leaving me to check on Quicktrot. The unicorn mare was knocked out cold, one of her back legs twitching. “We need to get this mare some pants.” I said, shaking my head.

By the time Quicktrot recovered, it was clear that this room had been stripped of anything useful, Leaving me with three cracked ribs and a loudly rumbling stomach. Luckily I still had a few of the MREs to chew on.

Stepping out into the hallway, the graffiti still assaulted my eyes, glitching like a broken terminal screen, but without the head splitting dizziness. Not far from us, a lurker was laying on the ground covering its eyes, and another one further back was hitting its head on the wall. At the very least this floor was going to slow them down, a silver lining in all this madness.

The four of us made our way around labs B. We didn’t want to slow down, but still kept an eye out for any more traps. What we didn't expect to see when we rounded a corner was a mess of twitchers. Each of them had their legs severed and piled up along the walls. The source of this mess stood at the end of the hallway. There, Shamrock stood with her eyes closed and two SMG’s pointed in our direction.

I raised my rifle, taking aim.

“I wouldn't try it, heathen.” Shamrocks voice resonated down the hall. “Luna guides my hooves, as you can see from what was done to these abominations. The good goddess also whisper in my ears, and tells me that the hoard of monsters have made their way here. A gunfight will only draw them in faster.”

“Lucky me, my rifle doesn't make as much noise as yours.” I pointed out with a light shrug.

“That's true.” Shamrock nodded. “So then, why have you not ended me life? Could it be you fear what wrath Luna will bring down.”

I fired.

My bolt sailed true from the end of my gun, but as it reached her, Shamrock vanished.

The feeling of cold metal pressed to the back of my head. “Luna guide my hooves, protecting me from your foul arrows.”

I turned, letting one of the SMG’s rest on my temple. “Then why have you not pulled the trigger?”

She frowned. “I so hate it when blasphemers like you get smart,” Shamrock opens her eyes, they were golden surrounded by a deep crimson red. The blood slowly oozed from her eyes, as she grinned far too wide. “However, I need only you.” Her second SMG fired.

Striking her with my powerhoof, she hit the wall with a crunch. “Harp!” I shouted, hoping no pony was hurt.

“I’m fine” Harp responded. “Order protected me.” In front of her was a bullet riddled drone, it's lights flickering.

“I’m quite alright madam.” Orders voice crackled. “But sending this unit maintenance would be advised.”

I turned back to Shamrock. She looked up at me, the gold gone and almost only blood shot eyes remaining. In the center, like little pin pricks, was a vibrant green that glowed like a evil flame.

I smashed her face in. The power hoof did all the work, but while it seemed almost too easy, it felt good. Each successive strike felt a bit euphoric in a way I couldn’t quite articulate. Breaking her horn, her legs, her ribs, all of it was so damn satisfying. Even if she could heal like Couteau, there was no way she could get up any time soon. When all was said and done, it was strange to see a pony so broken. It… it made me hungry.

“Vibraphone!” Harp shouted, breaking my concentration. “That's enough, just stop.”

I looked down at my power hoof. It was caked in blood and fur, more than I’d expected to see on it for what had been a few simple strikes. I looked back at Harp, and nodded. Maybe I did get a bit carried away, but the bitch deserved it.

We left Shamrock there, broken and bleeding on the ground. I thought about putting her out of her misery, but didn't think she was worth the bullet. Berenice's little army would do the job soon anyways, and we didn’t have time to waste anymore. Harp placed Order on her back, and we let Quicktrot take the lead again. I lagged behind, chewing on my last MRE that just didn’t seem as satisfying as I’d hoped it would be.

We reached the door to the next stairwell, which was set up in much the same pit-like trap as the last one. The other side of the pit was swarming with lurkers, a few tried to throw spears at us, but with their vision compromised the weapons didn't get close.

A few of the Lurkers quickly moved to the wall as the familiar sound of a hovering robot hit my ears. Foreman, the mister helper, hovered through the doorway, and looked around with its three eyes.

“What's this now? Such disorder is unbecoming of Sparkle-Cola employees, it’s truely disgraceful! What would the president say if she saw this.” Forman pointed at us sharply with its mechanical claw. “And the no good rapscallions are over there, you are all going the wrong way.” One of the lurkers pointed at the pit, and the robot looked at it. “Well that's a safety violation if I have ever seen one, I guess we must take the long way. Now, every/ERROR/, get in two single file lines. We must do this efficiently, and most of all, safely.”

I grabbed my rifle, but Harp stopped me, pushing the barrel down. “It's not his fault, we just need to get out of here. Maybe if we can find Mayall, we can organize a way to stop Berenice.”

I let out a long sigh, so much stress still building up. “Let's hope your right.”

“Never a dull moment.” Quicktrot laughed. “And here I thought angler ponies were an abomination to witness. But two conga lines of pony shaped crabs, that's enough to get me to quit drinking, even if I could get drunk.” She looked back with a smirk. “You know, that green unicorn reminded me of this other green mare I've met before.”

“Don't care.” I responded.

She ignored me. “Actually, she also had a red mane, but two crude cyber legs instead of bleeding eyes.” Quicktrot frowned and rubbed at her cheek with a grumble. “The bitch actually shot me in the face.”

I smirked “Sounds like my kind of mare, maybe you can introduce us.”

Quicktrot smirked back. “And maybe you can bond over how your special some ponies like to get plowed by stallions.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hay, at least I’ve got a stallion. You would be surprised what some mares have done to just get a stallions attention. There are also a lot of horror stories too.”

She chuckled a little. “What, are the mares so thirsty that they’re killing each other?”

“Sometimes.” I shrugged. “I’ve heard things use to be a lot worse, and I've met a few mares who've needed medical attention.”

“Wow, you mirage ponies got issues.” Quicktrot said in a mocking tone.

“It’s how the metro is, and why being able to leave is so important.” I informed her. “Anyways, let's get out of here, we’ve wasted enough time.”

Turning to the open door, I saw that there was more magical distortion than before. It was strange, like the shadows themselves danced along the wall, as though they were tendrils.

“That can't be good.” Quicktrot flatly stated the obvious.

I looked at her to ask what exactly she meant, but felt a tug on my shoulder. Before I could turn to see what it was, I was thrown back onto the floor. I drew my revolvers ready to kill this fucker, but nopony was there, only a mass of moving shadows, distorted by the goggles.

“Well fuck.” I mumbled as I looked around.

The shadow tendrils peeled off the wall and lashed out at me, knocking the revolvers out of Minerva's hold. I turned to run, but one of my back legs was grappled and pulled back, preventing me from moving. I looked up at Quicktrot, who looked far more amused than concerned over my situation. She actually waved me goodbye right as I slowly started to get dragged back, and in a moment things became a blur. I slammed into a wall as my metal hooves grinded along the floor.

Everything became dark, and the hiss of a stable door clued me into that I had been dragged into a room. There was a static hum from a nearby terminal, and the sound of pained wheezing hitting my ears. Slowly getting up, I lifted up my goggles and turned on my pipleg lamp.

Before me was a twisted and emaciated Shamrock sitting on a knocked over and broken terminal. Her ribs showed through her coat, some of them broken and poking out of her bloodied skin. One of her back hooves was bent in the wrong way, and the skin on a fore hoof was split and bleeding. Her eyes were still all red, but now with sparks of green flame would creep from around the edges. Strangely yet, her horn was still broken, but two more horns had grown out in front of her ears.

“Let's try this again you vile heretic.” Shamrock wheezed, and as she spoke I saw that her teeth were now jagged, like a monster.

I had to collect myself for a quick moment, the sight of her unnerving me. “R… Right, probably should have wasted the bullet on you.”

Shamrock gave a pained laugh. “You spared me because you lack the conviction of faith, ya whore. If ya just embraced Luna's love, and accepted the teachings of Thorn, maybe you would find the strength to follow through with your convictions.”

I pulled out my lathanos rifle, but it was flung out of my hooves, and a shadow tendril grabbed me by the neck, forcing me to lower my head to the ground. The shadows were coming from Shamrock, creeping out of her wounds like some dark bile.

“How?” I managed to gasp out as the tendril around me wrapped tighter.

“Luna’s love.” I was pulled closer, Shamrock smiling with her jagged teeth on display. “So strong is my faith that even death feeds me. And she whispers to me such sweet secrets. Magic forgotten by time, truths long buried. Luna will be free, and I shall be her bishop.”

“You do know that you’re being tricked by a nightmare, right?” I struggled to get up, but the shadow around my neck only tightens its grip until I stopped resisting. “I can’t blame you, they are convincing. Though, how easily you were tricked into thinking that Thorn is a prophet, that is not at all surprising.”

I was hoisted up by my neck, the shadow holding me off the ground. I struggled to breath as Shamrock hatefully glared at me, the sparks of green flames around her eyes now fully ignited.

“Heresy, heresy you whore. I will carve the goddesses love into you, make you know the greatness of Thorn Rowland.” Her sharp toothed grin almost glowed in the dark room. I desperately hoofed at my neck, but nothing I did helped loosen her grip. “Without Thorn’s guidance, pony kind would have been consumed by heresy, and set on the path of destruction. Even now, so many souls are lost to evil because they reject Thorns wisdom. A fate that will befall every heathen like you unless they repent and accept the light of the goddesses.”

“I would not call Thorn wise.” The voice of Quicktrot spoke up. “Viciously conniving would be a better description of her.” I was dropped, my body hitting the ground with a thud as I gasped for air. Slowly getting up, my revolvers slid over to me, looking over at Quicktrot, she gave me a wink.

“Who are you to blaspheme about the prophet!” Shamrock shouted as she took her attention off of me for once.

Quicktrot rolled her eyes and sighed. “A pony who knows her very personally. Now, whatever you are doing, miss mutant pony thing, can you give it a rest?”

A shadow tendril thrusted at Quicktrot, piercing her in the chest. “I only need to bring one pony to Luna.” Quicktrot smiled right before fading from view. “What! A decoy?”

The sound of terminals turning on clicked all around us, and the soft light of the terminals began to iluminat the room. It was crazy, this room was stuffed wall to wall with terminals and terminal screens. The humming all the terminals gave off was like a low roar, mixed with the a grinding noise now and then. Among the terminals were pipbucks, wires connecting them to the terminals and to other pipbucks.

“Almost feels like home” Quicktrots voice came from all the terminals speakers with a static reverberation. Her face appeared on all the screens, smiling a cocky grin. She began hoofing at something off screen before pulling up a sheet of paper. “Ohh, lots of little improvements. Advanced VI’s, stronger spell intagration, even a wireless pipbucks synchronization program. So many ponies would kill to get their hooves on this tech.”

“Heresy...” Shamrock lashed one of her Shadow tendrils at one of the terminals. “What… what are you?”

All the terminals went blank for a moment before each one showed a different pony. Stallions, mares, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasus, and even a zebra, I only recognized one. That of Slowtrot.

“I'm a lot of things, and a lot of ponies.” Quicktrot’s voice filled the room. “Though I am of two things you may very much know well.” All the terminal screens switched to one mare, who looked a lot like Victoria, just much older. “I was once part of Thorn Roseland, admiral of the equestrian navy. Its where I get my more devious side from.”

“Lies from a magical abomination!” Shamrock growled.

The image of Thorn shrugged. “Not that I care much of what you think.” My HUD display switched on, and small holographic window opens up in the corner of my vision, it displaying a small pixelated avatar of Quicktrot winking at me. “I'm just surprised that her trickery has lived on for so long.”

Shamrock was completely distracted, giving me the opportunity to take my revolvers. I took aim, but something stopped Minerva from firing the shot. The avatar of Quicktrot flashed with a read X.

“Funny thing, the Thorn Roseland you praise, that's not the name she was born with.” Quicktrot was mocking the mutated pirate, which only aggravated me. We didn't fucking have time for this. “Her true name, which explains the cutie-mark, is Conniver Redrum. A name given to her by her father, one of the most wanted criminals in old Equestria, Blackhoof Redrum.” The terminals screens switched back to the form of Quicktrot, who was now laughing. “Conniver lied and murdered her way to the top, simple as that. And now so many years later, you see as a prophet as you follow in her hoofsteps. It’s too hilarious.”

The tendrils from Shamrock relaxed, and the twisted pony sat up straight, the sound of cracking bones unnerving me. “How interesting.” The voice was not Shamrocks, Phobetor was now in control. “How many more secrets do you hold, arcano abomination?”

“Shit.” Quicktrot image distorted, and all but one image of her disappeared, flanked by the image of Slowtrot and a green unicorn.

“Ahh, I see now. You’re a composite soul.” Phobetor commented. “Rare, but not something I'm unfamiliar with. I’ll just need to find the end of the loose thread that binds you together, and pull...”

The avatar of Quicktrot now showed her firing a gun, sending the message loud and clear. Firing the revolvers, the bullets slammed into a wall of shadows, the lead falling harmlessly to the ground.

“Though this was amusing, I do grow tired of this game.” Phobetor laughed as she slowly turned to me, her golden eyes filled with hate. “You’ve served me well, but it’s time you meet your fate and come to me.” Her tendril reached out for me, surrounding me.

*Bang!*

Shamrocks chest exploded causing her head to go flying. The shadow tendrils faded as terminals turns off one by one, and when the body of Shamrock fell over, Quicktrot stood there holding up my Lathanos rifle.

“Right, I really gotta stop talking so much when I need to be killing bitches.” Quicktrot said with a sigh before tossing me my rifle. “Well as they say, bad habits die hard.”

I placed the rifle in its holster, reloading my revolvers before putting them away as well. “Are we done?Because honestly, fuck this place. Let's get the hell out of here.”

Quicktrot nodded, and made way over to me as I slammed my hoof on the doors control panel. I hopped out as soon as the door opened, seeing the two conga lines of lurkers not far from us. Slipping the goggles back over my eyes, I bolted with Quicktrot following right behind me. We rounded the corner and quickly reached the end of the hall, where I slid to a stop.

Sitting on the other side of the pit, was Berenices. She had her eyes covered by a rag, but still managed to look up at us.

“The more I chase you, the more I see of the horrors you pony's have plagued this world with.” Berenices called out to us. “Why can't you understand that you’re all poison and just kill yourselves? It would make every creature so much happier if you just died off. “

I just facehoofed at her words. “Just fuck off you overgrown crab! I have enough crazy to deal with as it is, and you just have to make everything worse.”

“There's a solution to that.”Berenices pointed down at the pit. “Easy, a bit painful, but guaranteed to end your pitiful suffering.”

Quicktrot looked at me, eyebrow raised before looking at the mad lurker princesses. “You do know there’s millions, if not billions of ponies all over this world, right? Maybe dream a just a tad bit smaller.”

“That would be wise,” Berenices tilted her head. “With ponies from far beyond the deepest waters, it is clear that simple spear and claw is not enough.” She then clapped her chitin hooves together. “That's why I’m making a three step plan to kill all of you off. Plan one, have enough of us to spread us far and wide, all so that ponies can never stop us. Plan two, find others who understand and help us rid this world of the plague that is ponies. Plan three, well, we will know it when we see it, but I guarantee you, even if it takes a thousand years, we will succeed.”

I pointed at the Lurker “If Mayall wasn’t a dear friend bent on keeping you alive, Berenices, you wouldn’t have a head right now.” I turned to the stairwell door and pushed it open. “I’m really starting to hate this place.”

A quiet laugh came from Quicktrot. “Nothing gets the blood boiling more then returning home, right?” I rolled my eyes and we stepped into the stairwell.

-Footnote

Quest Trait Obtained: Mortal Enemy (Looks like some creature has made the decision to ruin your life, and they will make sure to follow through with this decision. Best to keep one eye open at all times, as some advice.)