Elementals: Equestria in Chains

Chapter One: Apprehension

Note: I know it's unorthodox to put an Author's Note at the beginning of a story, but in this case it is necessary. I started this fic with the intention of sending it in to Equestria Daily, and did so, but it was rejected because it was deemed too 'out there'. I'm not bitter about this, I entirely respect their judgement. But that has put my faith in this fic into serious doubt. So, what I'm saying here is: Is this fic even worth continuing, or should I move on to another idea? Sometimes my mind is just all over the place, and that could've resulted in this fic. So, please tell me what you think, truthfully. IS it worth continuing or not? Also, this is not a crossover. Everypony seems to think it is, but it's not. I am also aware the formatting is a bit wrong (especially the paragraph gaps), but I don't think it's worth fixing for a fic I probably won't continue. Thanks for your time!

- Porcupine

Today was the day.

The day it all fell apart. The end of one life, and the beginning of another. The day that set the events of the next few months in motion. The day that threw me into a world - or, more correctly, many worlds - of war, politics, and grim truths.

Of course, looking out onto that grimy, concrete street, I didn’t know any of that was to happen. All I was thinking as I sat in that ruined apartment was one thing. Today was the day.

It was Wildgrass’ birthday, that day.

I looked out the cracked, grime-stained window pane at the two Officers in the street below. I'd been watching them for a while. They were perfect targets.

One of the two ponies, a dark green unicorn, seemed somewhat kind for an Officer. The fact that she was an Officer was unforgivable, but I guess she didn't have the choice.

The nice Officer pony seemed somewhat intelligent. The other one, a purple earth pony, was absolutely clueless. He'd be the easier target. The downside was that he was as cruel as he was stupid. He looked like he'd have beaten a filly to death earlier if his partner hadn't intervened. And she'd only been yelling... I didn't want to think what he's do if he found me trying to take his PDA.

Don't think about it. It'll all be worth it tonight. As long as I pull this off...

Well, no sense waiting. I already know what I'm going to do. I moved my head away from the windows and looked around the room. It was in an abandoned apartment building on the second floor. The place was mostly empty, except for a few broken pieces of furniture. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls. Perhaps, once, this was a homely place. Maybe a family lived here. They would have cooked food, played with their children, perhaps entertained friends during the evening. It was all dead now. Just an empty, dusty room. One of the many things the Amalgam had stolen from us. I gritted my teeth. Another reason to get this done, so tonight we can have some fun for once. I trotted down the creaky staircase. I was surprised it had lasted so long.

I wandered down the hall on the first floor of the apartment and snuck out using a side door into a small alley. It was packed with trash. Some plastic wrappers, some foul-smelling sludge. A pegasus wing-clip. Celestia, this place stinks.

As eager as I was to get out of the alleyway, I slipped out slowly and quietly. I didn't want the two ponies to notice me. They were standing by the curb of the road. The area they were in was under shadow, the large apartment behind them blocking out the sun. This was Zone Sixteen of the Sprawl, which was mostly residential.

I looked down the street furtively. Not many ponies about. A few earth ponies loitered a little ways down the road, but it was too far away for them to pay any attention to my grey form. So it was just me and the Officers. And soon I'd be gone, with that fruitcake's PDA to boot.

I slipped into the small gap between the two ponies and the hard brick wall behind them. My flank briefly brushed against the wall. It probably didn't make much noise, but it sure as hay sounded loud to me. I froze.

“...I don't care what he says, there's no way Milo would've killed anypony,” Stupid was saying. “He's as timid as a freaking mouse! I reckon they’re just pulling our tails again.”

“You didn't see him in Zone Six last week,” said the unicorn. “When he gets angry...”

I slowly breathed out. I’m OK. They didn’t notice me. I slowly slipped into position behind Stupid.

“Do you reckon he'll will get relocated to Capital?” the smart pony asked Stupid.

I reached forward to take Stupid’s PDA from the socket on the side of his uniform and slowly slipped it out. Score one for the little pony!

Stupid shrugged and opened his mouth to answer. His rump moved backward into my face. He turned around with a snarl.

Oh, horseapples.

He grabbed me by the neck and threw me out into the middle of the road. I clutched my hooves to my chest protectively. He moved forward and stood above me menacingly.

“What. The hay. Do you think you were doing?” He asked me slowly, his eyes glinting dangerously.

Scared little colt time!

“Uh, please, I wasn't doing anything...” I said quickly, opening my eyes wide.

He whipped out his sparkrod and poked me with it. “Speak up, you little runt!”

I clenched my teeth as the energy ripped through my body, causing my muscles to spasm and twist painfully. I would not give this moron the chance to hear me scream.

“I- I'm sorry, but I d-didn't want to attract any attention, so I w-went behind you...”

“Oh really? Well maybe next time, you'll think twice about it!” he said with a smirk. He raised his sparkrod once again.

The unicorn grabbed Stupid's shoulder. “Hey, Ripple, calm down. He's just a colt.”

Ouch. Just because I'm small doesn't make me young. I'm freaking twenty-one years old! You're barely older than me.

The unicorn Officer looked down at me, her eyes hard. “Maybe next time, don't be so suspicious. We're not going to hurt you if you just walk by.” I nodded and whimpered. “Ripple, we'd best get going. It's nearly the end of our shift.”

Ripple glared down at me. He turned around and began to walk away, but not before flicking his hooves back into my shoulder with a crunch.

I moaned. This time it wasn't fake. That hurt, dammit.

Still... I looked up and saw the two Officers walking away from me. I pried my hooves from my chest and looked at what I was holding. Stupid's PDA.

We'll see who laughs last, you bastard.

I trotted up to the red pegasus mare sitting behind the chipped, colourless table. Her wings were clipped behind her, a metal ring around the tips. A gift from the Amalgam.  I had a similar device around the base of my horn.

The mare lived in a small, run-down shed in the north of Zone Sixteen, and was generally known to be a good source of information - if you had the supplies to pay for it.

“Hey, Miasma.”

“What you want, kid?” She asked me. Cutting straight to business, that was Miasma.

“I heard you might know where I could find an unguarded access terminal...”

She smirked. “And I heard you might have a little gift for me. You know the drill, Silver. Chuck me something worthwhile, and you get the info.”

I sighed and pulled out a ration ticket from my bag. “How's this?”

She smiled at me. “That'd be perfect. There's a terminal in the far west of Zone Sixteen.” She pulled out a map. “Right 'ere. It's generally unused, but I can't make any guarantees.”

I gave her a smile. “That should be enough info.”

I tried the door to the room. Locked, of course. The Amalgam had one of their power locks on it, which meant it was easier to destroy the door than break the lock.

I briefly tried sliding Stupid's PDA through the slider, but no luck there. Looks like Stupid wasn't a high enough rank to get access through the door. I can't say I was surprised. Of course, breaking down the door wasn't entirely out of the question, but I'd prefer to try other methods before that.

I could see the terminal through the window, so I knew that this was the right room. Actually... I pulled out the heavy PDA from my bag.

Have window, will smash!

I winced as the window shattered, looking down the small street. Nopony in sight, thankfully. I gingerly slid through the opening in the window, taking care not to cut myself on the jagged glass.

Miasma was true to her word. This was a fully working and unguarded Amalgam Planetary Network Access Terminal. It consisted of a large monitor at head height on top of what was basically a metal cabinet underneath it. The cabinet held all the workings of the terminal. On top of the cabinet was a dashboard with a whole set of buttons.

Perfect.

I pulled an interface cable out my bag, plugging one end into Stupid's PDA and another into a port on the side of the monitor. The monitor flashed to life, showing the signature blue Amalgam Network interface. Letters moved quickly across the screen, as if the terminal was typing in the information itself.

        > Amalgam Network Interfacing Device Detected

        > Obtaining device data....

        > Device data discovered.

        > Device: Amalgam Officer PDA D708192

        > Subject: Citizen SP-372142

        > Rank: Officer

        > Indigenous Name: Ripple

        > Proceeding to User Interface. Press NO to interrupt.

I pressed the “NO” button.

        > Amalgam Network Data Access Console opened.

        > _

Ha! Yes! I was in! I mean, I'd done this before, but only a few times. Every time, the rush had been the same. I'd outwitted the Amalgam! A common citizen, and I'd hacked into the Amalgam's Network. I chuckled. It felt so damn good going against the tyrants of Equestria.

It won't feel very good if you're caught and tortured, a voice said ominously in the back of my mind, but I pushed it aside. On with the show.

The underscore meant that the terminal was waiting for a command. I couldn't use Stupid's ID to get what I wanted, he was only an Officer. I only used his PDA to access the terminal, they'd stepped up the security for these things recently. You had to have an access-level PDA for the terminal to even turn on.

To get any further I'd need to use the ID of somepony with higher rank. Of course, I had just the thing – I'd managed to find the password of a Commanding Officer a few weeks ago. Well, let's see how this goes. I put my hooves up to the dashboard and began to type.

        > login_

        > Direct login request accepted.

        > Username: _

I typed in SP-005276.

        > Username: SP-005276_

        > Username input accepted.

        > Password: wildgrass18_

        > Password input accepted.

        > Welcome to the Amalgam Planetary Network, Sprawl Security Commanding Officer SP-        005276.

        > _

Ha! Well, that had paid off. Well, that would teach the Commanding Officer not to write his password down. Too easy. I typed in another command. This better work...

        > storage_

        > Goods Storage Viewing Application opened.

        > Type location to view all storage sites, or type a location or goods category to view         information on that topic.

        > sugar_

        > Goods item “Sugar” can be found in:

                > Zone Sixteen Primary Warehouse, Cell 210.

                > Storehouse 6.

                > Military Inventory, Zone Sixteen.

        > To see item locations, type all.

        > _

Like taking candy from a filly. Literally! Well, the sugar part. The filly part, not so much.

        > print_

        > Printing item location data...

The cabinet hummed to life, and a small slip of paper slid out of a slit in the side. I grabbed it. This was the product of a few weeks of planning. I could almost taste the sugar...

I shook my head. I need to get back on track. There was still work to do.

I left the room by the door this time. It would open from the inside, just not the outside. I'm not sure whose idea that was, but at least I didn't have to navigate my way through the glass window of spiky sharpness again.

I made my way east, back into the centre of Zone Sixteen. There were more ponies around here. Nopony was smiling though. It was sort of hard to smile when you had no hope in life. Everypony here would live the same life, including myself. Each day they’d wake up sore and aching. They’d eat the colourless, tasteless sludge that the Amalgam gave to us. Celestia knows what was in it. It probably would've made her sick. If she was alive. The ponies would receive some – well, a lot – of beatings from any traitorous pony who had signed up to work with the Amalgam as an Officer. In the end, they'd die of starvation, illness, or basically anything else imaginable. Or even worse, they'd be taken to a Facility for conversion.

I shivered, my skin feeling prickly and cold. The site of the dying population of the Sprawl had really killed my previously happy mood. Such was the way of life in Equestria.

I stopped by a dingy apartment, the same as hundreds of others in the Sprawl, mass manufactured by the Amalgam. I opened the door and walked down the cold, concrete hallway, stopping in front of a door. I knocked on it three times.

“Oi!” I whispered. “Open up, Butterscotch! It's me, Silver!”

The door opened a crack. “Get in!”

I slipped into the small room. It was empty except for me and Butterscotch, which was a blessing. Normally there was a lot of annoying ponies in this room, but they must have been out somewhere.

“You got it, Silver?” The yellow earth pony asked me urgently.

I gave her a victorious smirk and showed her the slip of paper. “Of course I do! I told you I could do it!”

She snatched it out of my grey-furred hoof and looked down at it. “Ha, Silver! You're amazing! This is perfect!”

I blushed. “Just make sure you can pull it off,” I told her. She just grinned.

“It'll be a pushover, Silver.”

I opened the door. “I hope so. Good luck.”

She winked. “Thanks, but I don't think I need it. I'll see you at Wildgrass' place tonight. With the goods.”

I happened to get to Wildgrass' apartment at the same time as Butterscotch did, a full bag of what I hoped was the sugar on her back. I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She squealed.

“Celestia, Silver, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

I smirked. “Have you got the goods?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I have, Silver. I don't know how you could think otherwise.”

I merely chuckled at her. “Well, mares first,” I said to her, opening the door for her. She walked into the apartment. I followed.

“Hey, Wildgrass!” Butterscotch yelled. “We're here!”

“I'm in the kitchen!” Came a mare's voice from our left.

Wildgrass had a much nicer apartment than most, including myself and Butterscotch. That was because her father was a Commanding Officer - incidentally, the one whose username and password I used to find the sugar. Even with her father’s position, Wildgrass still hated the Amalgam just as much as we did, perhaps more. Her father's position jut let us get away with that little bit more.

Ponies who worked for the Amalgam – helping crush and destroy their fellow ponies - actually got to live a somewhat enjoyable life. One of those bonuses was this apartment, which, while it wasn't nice, was still nicer than your average hovel. It had more than one room, at least. Wildgrass' apartment had a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room. Technically, it was her father's apartment, but he hardly ever came home. So, we had the place to ourselves.

“Happy birthday,” Butterscotch said to her, giving her a hug.

She gave us a sad smile. “It's kind of hard to be happy in these circumstances.”

I grinned. “Oh, you wait and see what we've found for you...”

Butterscotch dropped the bag and opened it up. Wildgrass' mouth dropped open. “Is that sugar? Where did you get that?”

Butterscotch smiled. “Well, Silver here hacked into the Network and found out where they had sugar, and I broke in and stole it.”

Wildgrass shook her head, her eyes wide. “You guys did this for me?”

“Hey, it's your birthday,” I told her. “As much as life might suck now, we're going to make sure that you have fun tonight. No matter what.”

She blushed. “Thanks guys... I really don't know what to say...”

“Say nothing,” said Butterscotch. “Let's cook up some of this sugar!”

Turns out, when you cook sugar, it turns into some brown sludgy stuff which tastes really good. I can't remember what it's called. We sat on some dusty couches in Wildgrass' living room with a bowl full of shards of the cooked sugar and a glass of brown, murky water each.

“I can't believe you guys did this...” Wildgrass muttered quietly. “They'd torture and kill you for this, you know.”

Butterscotch snorted, a few chunks of cooked sugar flying out her mouth. “They'd torture and kill anypony if they so much as look them in the eye. We might as well make the most of what we have.”

I nodded in agreement. “The Amalgam can go to hell.”

“I second that,” said Butterscotch as she lifted her glass.

Wildgrass chuckled, but she had a sad look in her eyes. “Maybe one day, everything will be different. Maybe one day things can be like they were before the Amalgam came.”

“Maybe,” Butterscotch said sadly. She didn't sound very confident. I can't say I thought it would ever happen either.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

It happened almost instantly. One moment, we were calmly sitting in Wildgrass' apartment. The next moment, the door burst open, and the room was filled with Amalgam Officers.

I heard a scream. I think it was Wildgrass. There was a crack, a colossal noise that reverterbrated around the small room. Her voice stopped abruptly, and she looked down at the red hole in her chest in surprise. She fell forward, her face falling into the bowl of cooked sugar.

I froze. Butterscotch did the same. Well, crap.

Nobody said anything. A pony slowly stepped into the room, followed by a hooffull of Officers with mouthguns. I eyed them warily, acutely aware of the many firearms pointed in our direction.

The pony which had came in first was covered in dark grey armour. There wasn't a single part of its skin visible. The armour was made up of many small metal plates. In between the plates was a thick, leathery material to allow movement. A huge pulse rifle was mounted at his side. It looked me straight in the eye, its eyes glowing an eerie blue colour. Bad news.

“You are under arrest for theft and abuse of Planetary Network Services under the Amalgam Planetary Command.”

The voice wasn't natural. There was a strange hum behind it, and the way he pronounced the words was all wrong. A Converted. I shivered involuntarily.

He trotted over to Butterscotch.

“You are-”

“Go to hell,” she snarled, and bucked him in the face. “RUN!” She screamed at me.

I didn't really need telling. The room erupted in a chaotic mix of fur and bullets. I rolled to the floor and jumped behind the couch. A hole appeared in the couch right in front of my face.

Couches are not bulletproof.

I pushed the couch away from me, which managed to topple an Officer. I got up and ran for my life, shoving Officers aside as I dashed towards the door madly. I heard the Converted roar angrily behind me, and the distinctive hum as his pulse rifle began to fire. I could feel the air heat up as the globules of energy passed me. I felt one singe my tail. Then one perforated my ear.

I gritted my teeth and barrelled through the Officer at the door. I didn't think about where I was going, I just ran. I could hear the bullets as they whistled by my head. I didn't look back. Wildgrass' words echoed in my head as I ran.

They'd torture and kill you for this, you know.

I don't know how long the chase lasted, but eventually I stopped running. I was in a dark, dingy alley. I couldn't go onto a main street. It was well beyond the curfew times by now.

I wandered into an old, derelict building. I hoped it was abandoned. There was always the chance it could be infested with zombies, or worse. I climbed my way to the flat roof of the building, four stories up. It seemed abandoned.

I needed to get out of the Sprawl or get this magic suppressor off my horn, or I was dead. The suppressor also doubled as a tracking device for the Amalgam. It wouldn’t be long before they found me.

Then again, was there any point in continuing? I looked down the side of the building, and felt dizzy. It was a long way down. It would be quick. Painless. It was better than going with the Amalgam. Celestia, I hoped Butterscotch made it out. I didn’t think she did.

“Well, look who it is. You've made quite a scene.”

I jumped and looked behind me. The voice had come from a hooded pony. Judging by the way her hood sat, she was a unicorn. A I could see some white fur under the hood.

“Who the hay are you?” I asked her with a snarl.

She ignored me, and came up and stood beside me, looking over The Sprawl. “Quite a nice job you pulled off, too. Flawlessly executed. To be honest, I’m not sure how they found you, or why they reacted so strongly. Anyway, more to the point... don’t you think you could do better things with your time than steal sugar?”

“Well, it’s not like there’s anything for me anymore, is it?” I spat. “How do you know all of this, anyway?”

She smirked under her hood. “We have our sources.”

Infuriating little bastard. I really wasn't in the mood for this sort of crap. “What do you want?” I asked her.

“Simple. I want to offer you a job. A life. Right now, you have no hope. The only reason the Amalgam haven't found you is because I'm jamming their signal. We can give you a life fighting the Amalgam. Which I'd rather enjoy, if I were you.

“So, here's the deal. You can stay here and kill yourself. Or, you can perform one little task for us. If you can do what we ask, I can promise a bed and food.”

I looked at her sceptically. “This is the sort of thing that I'd say sounds too good to be true.”

Her smirk grew larger. “What do you have to lose?” she replied.

Well, she had a point there.

“OK, what do you want me to do?” I asked her.

She pulled a small bag out of her cloak and passed it to me. “In there will be instructions and some equipment you may need,” she said, pointing a hoof at the bag. “There's also a little something in there. A gift. A gesture of goodwill.”

I opened the bag and poured the contents out onto the roof.

The mare turned away. “Make sure you destroy that note. Good luck, Silver.”

I started. “Wait, how do you know-”

I trailed off. She was gone. It was if she had never been there.

I shook my head and looked down at the contents of the bag. It looked like I might have a chance after all.

Immediately my feeling of hope washed away. I bowed my head in dismay. I didn't care what that unicorn said. This situation was my fault. If it wasn't for me, my friends would've been alright.

We made a good team, Wildgrass, Butterscotch and I. Butterscotch had been my friend since I was relocated to the Sprawl along with my father when the Amalgam took over. They didn't have quite the level of control then as they did now. We got away with a lot of things we never would now. Then we got caught. I still have scars from that incident. That taught us we had to really watch out. We laid low for a while until we met Wildgrass.

Butterscotch was sneaky. She generally did the actual acts. I was smart. I set everything up for Butterscotch and handled anything technology-related. Wildgrass... Wildgrass was crafty. She would make sure that we always could get out of trouble, and always knew when an idea was good or bad. When Wildgrass came along, we found that we got a whole lot more done with a whole lot less consequences.

But Wildgrass didn't know about the sugar-stealing plan. It was my plan. A surprise birthday gift. I thought we'd be fine. I was an idiot. I had gotten Wildgrass and probably Butterscotch killed. There was a small chance that Butterscotch has escaped, but it was unlikely. Otherwise, I hoped she was dead. It was better than what the Amalgam would do to her if they'd captured her.

I sighed. There was nothing that could be done about it now. The only way this could stop is if we managed to overthrow the Amalgam. It was an impossible task. They had too much control. But I didn't have any other options, so I guess I'd try and irritate them as much as I could.

It felt like a very long time before I finally picked up the unicorn’s note and began to read it.

OK, so, you've probably managed to annoy the Amalgam and now need some help. That's good. But first, we need to make sure you're actually worth something to us. I'll get to that.

But first, this building is rigged with jammers to stop the Amalgam tracking you here. As soon as you leave, they'll be onto you. So, that tracker on your horn needs to go. In the bag there is a thin metal rod with a button on it. This is a one-use device. Touch the tip of it to the tracker on your horn and press the button, the tracker will fall off.

All ponies under the Amalgam's control had something similar. Earth ponies had a tag on their ear. Pegasi had their wings clipped together. Unicorns had a magic suppressor on their horn. All of these devices doubled as a tracking mechanism for the Amalgam. While it was attached to you, they could track any pony within the Sprawl with perfect accuracy.

I pressed the stick to the tracker and pressed the button gingerly. There was a hum, followed by a loud click. The suppressor split open and fell at my hooves. I stood there for a moment, stunned. I hadn't been able to use magic beyond lifting a pin since the Amalgam introduced these things about five years ago. And now I could. It was like you just got a limb back after having lost one awhile ago.

I focused and tried to lift the note back up to my eyes. It twitched. Well, I may have to practice a bit. It had been years since I'd last lifted something, after all. I picked up the note with my hoof and continued to read.

OK, here's what you'll need to do. There is a large radio station in Zone Eleven. It's one of seven in the Sprawl. You can see them from the rooftops of Zone Sixteen. You need to get to the Zone Eleven Broadcasting Station. To get there, I recommend you use the old sewer system. It's locked, but you can get past the doors using the modified PDA in the bag. There's also a rough map of the sewers and Zone Eleven on the PDA. I trust you know your way around Zone Sixteen, so I haven't got a map of that.

I reached into the bag and found the PDA. Well, this looks like it would be very useful. I placed it on the roof and continued reading.

Once you get to the Broadcasting Station, you need to go to the base of the tower. To the east of the tower a massive pipe stretches away from the tower before slanting underground. A few metres down this pipe is an access hatch, the PDA you have will also let you open the hatch.

When you get the pipe hatch open, you will see a lot of wires. This pipe contains all of the power and data cables for the Broadcasting Station. One of these wires will be blue with a red stripe running along it. Use the scissors to cut it. Then, you'll have to splice this device onto the wire. The device has two clips. clip one onto one end of the cut wire and do the same with the other.

Well, that was somewhat vague. He found the device in question at the bottom of the bag. It was a featureless metal box. From each end proceeded a wire with a clip on the end.

OK. If you've managed to do that, you've done well. There's a bar in Zone Eleven called the Swirling Gryphon. Go in there, wait at the bar. We'll contact you from there. Just look for the hexagon.

In the bag there is a pistol and a healing potion. Hopefully you won't need to use them. Also, that PDA will give you extensive access to the Amalgam Network. That's my gift, use it well.

When you're done, destroy this note. Eat it, whatever. Make sure nopony can read it again.

Snapshot

At the end of the note there was a simple hexagon. I had no idea what it meant, but it looked like it was the unicorn's symbol. I assumed that she was 'Snapshot'.

I pulled the other items out of the bag and examined them all.

Tracker removal device. PDA. Note. Pistol. Scissors. Healing potion. Device I had to splice into the broadcaster.

The PDA and the pistol were what interested me the most, especially the PDA. It was grubby and scratched, but if it did what Snapshot had said...

I picked it up with a hoof and pressed the power button with another. The screen flashed to life.

        > Welcome to Applebloom's alternative PDA Operating System!

        > First time setup. Please enter your name.

        > Silver_

        > Welcome, Silver.

The PDA flashed to a menu. I picked the 'Files' option and saw two images: a map of the Sewers and a map of Zone Eleven. Snapshot was true to her word.

I tapped the power button on the PDA, putting it into sleep mode. I picked up the pistol. It was filthy. The curved handle was encrusted with dirt. At least, I hope it was dirt. There was no way I was putting it in my mouth, though. I'd have to practice my telekinesis.

It took me about ten minutes, but eventually I got used to telekinesis again. I practiced until I was sure I could hold the pistol steady.

I decided I had wasted enough time, and picked up everything on the rooftop and shoved it into the bag before slinging it over my shoulder. I grabbed Snapshot's note and stuck it in my mouth, chewing it slowly and then swallowing. It was pretty gross, but it was what I had to do.

There were several sewer access gates in Zone Sixteen that I knew of. I made my way from the dilapidated building towards the closest one. I stuck to alleys and smaller roads where possible. Main roads were too well lit and had too many eyes to be safe for more than a few seconds. Thankfully, I don't think I was seen.

There were no citizens around at this time, it was far past curfew. The only ponies about were Amalgam Officers. I wasn't really scared of being seen by an Officer. They were mere ponies, they weren't too hard to sneak past, especially since the moon hadn't risen yet. The floating Sentry Spheres that the Amalgam used were much more dangerous. They were designed to find ponies like myself.

I eventually found my way to a sewer entrance. The Amalgam kept the Sprawl's sewers hidden away behind huge metal doors. The sewers were vast and had exits in almost all the Zones. The Amalgam kept track of the location of any citizen and usually restricted them to a single Zone. The gates between Zone Sixteen and its surrounding Zones were kept under strict guard. Hardly anypony ever left their Zone. The Amalgam couldn't afford to have ponies using the Sewers.

It was at the end of a short alleyway. The concrete ground sloped downwards to meet it. Above it was a colossal, towering metal structure. The Amalgam had walls like it all across the Sprawl. They used it to divide the city up into its respective Zones.

I walked up to the door and plugged my PDA into the terminal next to it. The terminal flashed to life. It was a much simpler terminal than the one I used to find the location of the sugar. Its main and probably only purpose was to open the sewer door.

        > Amalgam Network Interfacing Device Detected

        > Obtaining device data....

        > Device data discovered.

        > Device: PDA [Specifications Unknown]

        > Clearance Level: Four

        > PDA accepted.

        > Open Sewer Access Hatch 16D?

I pressed “YES”.

        > Sewer door opening...

I heard a series of deep clicking noises come from the inside of the door. It opened slowly with a grinding screech.

The outer side of the door had been a shiny silver. The inner side was brown with rust and algae. It looked disgusting. They obviously didn't use this door much. I gulped. This was not a nice-looking place. I lifted up the pistol and held it in front of the as I trotted inside. I looked back at the dark, secluded alleyway of Zone Sixteen. It didn't look so bad anymore. I gritted my teeth and pressed the red button on the rusty inside of the door. It creaked as it slowly closed, before it finally slammed shut.

Well, this was it.

The first thing that hit me was the smell. It didn't just smell like refuse, I could handle that. Enough places in Zone Sixteen smelled like that. No, this was the smell of death.

Ponies said that before they put gates on the entrances, the Amalgam had transported zombies down here in order to keep other ponies out. Nobody could confirm it, so I had disregarded it. It wasn't like I was ever intending to come down here, anyway. How wrong I was. I was really hoping I wouldn't find any zombies down here, but that smell... something was rotting down here.

I wish Snapshot had given me a torch, or something. It was very, very dark down here. The only light was provided by sewer grates from the surface. It was a pretty dark night, so they were next to useless.

In the end, I floated out my PDA and used the light from the screen to illuminate my path. It wasn't very effective, but it was all I had.

I opened the sewer map on the PDA and studied it. Well, Snapshot had said it was a rough map. It looked like somepony had hastily scribbled it out on paper and then photographed it. I could barely make out some of the lines. I eventually found a route that would take me from my current position to Sewer Exit 11B, which was quite close to the Broadcasting Station.

Well, this was it. I lifted the pistol and PDA in front of me, and trotted forward, down the tunnel.

I don’t like this.

The sewer tunnels, were, essentially, huge metal pipes. By now they were rusty and covered in grime from disuse. This was an access tunnel, so it was large enough to walk through without bumping your head.

The sewers were completely silent. The only thing I could hear was the soft splish-splosh of my hooves plodding through the murky, thick water at the bottom of the tunnel. It was eerie.

I eventually came to a T-intersection. I turned right, following the map. I was only a little way down that tunnel when I heard a low growl come from ahead of me. My heart stopped for a second. Oh, Celestia...

I slowly walked forward, one step at a time. I tried to keep calm, keeping my breath steady. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Breath in...

Something lurched out of the darkness in front of me with a low moan. I squealed, bring up the pistol and firing once, twice, three times. The noise in the small space was deafening. I was unprepared for the recoil, and the pistol spun upward. My shots went wild, ricocheting of the metallic pipe walls with a series of small ping sounds. The zombie-pony galloped up to me, bloodied drool dripping from its maw. The zombie dived at me with a roar that echoed down the tunnel. I threw myself to the side, and the zombie flew right over me. It looked back at me, its eyes wild and bloodshot. I brought up the pistol once again and fired, trying to keep it steady this time.

The bullet exited the chamber with a colossal boom and pierced the zombie's leg. A moan of pain escaped its mouth as it leapt through the air at me again. It was an unexpected move. Didn't that slow it down at all?

The abomination crashed into me, knocking me to the floor. I could feel the sewer muck flowing into my ear. The zombie stood on top of me, pinning me down. I could smell its breath as it wheezed, its face far too close to mine.

I brought the pistol up to its head and fired.

The bullet punched straight through the zombie’s head with a crunch. It sounded like the opening of a plastic wrapper. Warm blood splattered across my midsection.  Its eyes dulled, and the body slumped on top of me. I quickly pushed it off.

I got up from the filthy tunnel floor and tried to calm down. My breath came in short gasps. I managed to get myself under control, and examined the zombie. It was covered in sores and gashes that wept a noxious looking yellow pus.

I reached and closed the pony's eyelids. “I'm sorry.” The skin was slimy and wet. I looked at my hoof. It was covered in blood. I was covered in blood. I bent down and retched. Celestia, this is disgusting.

I swallowed the bile in my mouth with a grimace and lifted my PDA and pistol once again. There was no way I wanted to stay in this place any longer. It was a nightmare.

I don’t want to spend any more time down here than I have to.

I pressed on.

The rest of the trip through the sewers was uneventful. I heard the moans and screeches of zombies a couple of times, but I was fortunate enough to avoid any further encounters. Thank Luna. I was on edge the rest of the journey, my teeth clenched tightly.

Words cannot express the relief I felt when I finally got to Sewer Entrance 11B and saw the rusted door loom into view. I'd made it.

I quickly plugged in my PDA and opened the door. I winced as the light hit my eyes. It was still nighttime, but I had spent a few hours in the sewers. By now the moon had risen, and sat high in the sky, its white face shining onto a damaged, chained Equestria. It looked as if it was crying for the state of the world.

I took a deep breath of the fresh night air. I'd almost gotten used to the stagnant stench of the sewers. Clean air. It was amazing.

I examined my surroundings. Sewer Entrance 11B was located in an almost identical spot to 16D, where I had entered the sewers. It was a thin alley. At the end of the alley, the pathway sloped downwards until it met the sewer door, which was a few metres below ground level. The buildings that towered over the sides of the alley were made of a characteristic red brick, the material that the city was made out of before the Amalgam took over. Newer buildings were made out of bland grey concrete and metal.

Because it was so much lighter now, I'd have to be a whole lot more careful, it was much easier for me to be seen now. In addition, I didn't know how many bullets this pistol had left. I had already used, what, five, six? There probably weren't many more.

I sat down, my back leaning against the side of the alley. I pulled up my PDA with my hooves and brought up the map of Zone Eleven. Thankfully, the sewer exit where I had come out of was quite close to the broadcasting station, only a few blocks away. Looking up, I could see it the metal framework towering above the Sprawl. I made sure I knew the route to the station before putting the PDA and the pistol back into my bag. I needed to be stealthy now. I couldn't be carrying stuff around.

I made my way through the alleyways and backstreets toward the broadcasting station. Thankfully, I didn't see any Officers or Sentry Spheres. It was a little bit suspicious, actually. Still, I wasn't going to complain.

I found myself at the end of a thin backstreet. In front of me was an open courtyard with a bare, polished concrete floor. The Broadcasting Station was situated at the back of the courtyard. The station itself wasn't really that interesting. It was a moderately sized, average looking concrete building. From the top of it emerged an intricate latticework of metal rods and cables, stretching up into the night sky. From one side of the building I could see the massive pipe that I had to open. It didn't look easy. There was an Officer guarding the door to the Station. He wasn't guarding the pipe, but he would surely see me if I tried to get to it. It was too bright tonight to try anything while he was watching.

No, he needed to go. I brought up the pistol. I couldn't shoot him, it would make far too much noise. Half the Sentry Spheres in the Sprawl would be onto me in seconds. But the pistol was quite hefty. It should make for an effective club.

I could see another alleyway across from me with a trash can in it. I concentrated, and the trash can fell over with a clang. The Officer looked over at the alleyway entrance, but didn't move. Damn.

I lifted the trash can and dropped it again. He couldn’t ignore that.

The Officer sighed and trotted over to the alleyway, looking down it. I quickly floated the pistol over to his head while rattling the trash can a bit more to keep his attention. He frowned, looking puzzled.

I brought the pistol down on his skull as fast as I could. It collided with a crack. I hit him again, just to make sure. I then trotted over to him to make sure he was completely out. He wasn't.

Thump. Yeah, he was definitely out cold by now. He was going to have one hell of a bruise when he woke up.

I trotted over to the pipe and saw the hatch Snapshot was talking about. It had a basic terminal next to it. I plugged in the PDA, which was beginning to look very battered. The terminal accepted the PDA, and the hatch opened with a hiss.

Well, Snapshot wasn't lying when she said there was a lot of wires in it. I had to sort through wires for a few minutes before I found the one she had referred to: a blue wire with a thin red stripe. I pulled out the scissors and cut it.

I reached into the bag once again and pulled out the strange device. I examined it for a moment. I wondered what it did. Interfered with the Amalgam's communications somehow, I would expect. It doesn’t matter.

I attached the device to the wire ends just as Snapshot had said, and then pulled the hatch shut. I put the scissors and PDA back into the bag. I left the pistol out. I might need it.

I allowed myself smile. It was done! The hard part was over. Now all I had to do was make my way to the Swirling Gryphon. I sighed. A long night, indeed.

My breath caught in my throat. A hoof landed on my shoulder. “Oh, and what are you doing?”

I whirled around. In front of me there was a blue pegasus Officer. She had a smirk on her lips, but her eyes were hard. I knew that look. She wanted to hurt somepony. Probably me.

Not now. I’m too close to mess this up now.

I brought up the pistol from the ground and pointed it between her eyes. They widened in surprise.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

Blam!

A puff of red mist flew out from the back of her head. Her body slumped down, splayed lifelessly on the concrete.

Oh, Celestia. I just killed a pony.

The gunshot echoed around the courtyard. I ran. After that noise, most of the Sentry Spheres would be headed this way. I galloped down the alleyway in which I had knocked out the Officer guarding the station, leaping over his prone form. I ran until I found myself in a small alley. You couldn't see the pavement. This alley  was favourably used as a refuse dump for Zone Eleven. It stunk. It was better than getting caught.

I dived into it, burying myself in the muck. I already stunk from the sewer, I probably couldn't get much worse. I waited in the dump for what seemed like hours. I could hear sirens. The occasional footsteps or hum from Sentry Spheres.

Eventually, I felt like I had to get moving. I checked my map of Zone Eleven. I think I could get to the Swirling Gryphon without crossing a main street. I snuck out of my hiding place and slowly moved between buildings, hiding in shadows when something passed. I eventually found myself at the Swirling Gryphon. The entrance to the Gryphon was a simple, wooden, single-pony door, situated at the end of a small street. The only thing distinguishing it from any other door was a simple gryphon scratched into the wood. I could hear noise coming from within.

I shrugged. Well, here I was. I pushed open the door and walked inside.