Broker, in his heavy suit, followed the two young fillies towards the panel on the wall that concealed the ducts the Crusaders used. Applebloom, totally throwing caution to the wind, pressed herself against a section of wall and tapped a flower painted onto it. In a blur, the panel flipped along its vertical, leaving no trace of the filly.

As the stunned Broker watched, Sweetie did the same, only stopping to tell him he should duck.

“Why should I duck when that filly just disappeared behind that panel? Gah! Fine.” Broker said in annoyance, ducking down in his armor. Reaching out to tap the flower, Broker found himself suddenly spun around and inside the oddly spacious ventilation ducts.

“How the...” Broker looked behind him, then turned to the fillies again “How did I end up here!?”

“It’s just a revolvin’ panel, set at switching you into tha tunnel at about ah tweny-fourth of a second, ta trick the eyes into... Ah, y’all don’t really care, do you?”

“Nope! I just want to get out of this freaky space, and back with the group. Where to now?” Broker replied.

“Y’all don’ hafta be rude...” Applebloom sounded a bit put out, and the two fillies began stepping further into the vents. Broker, having no real choice but to follow. Along the way, Broker saw blue arrows painted onto the walls, which AB followed, and red arrows, which she didn’t.

“Are those arrows on the wall your system of navigation around the vents? I take it red means areas you don’t go and blue means it’s a safe zone. Very nifty and useful.” Broker said while he looked at the blue arrows.

“No, Blue means go left, Red means go right. The arrows don’ point at anything in particular.”

“Oh...” Broker said turning his attention back to following the fillies. “Why would you need colored arrows to indicate navigation directions?”

“There’s over fourteen hunnerd meters of ductin’ in this school, over half ah which is in these ducts. Ah course we need ‘em to get to the clubhouse!” Applebloom’s voice spoke of someone explaining to to very slow.

“No need raise the voice now, I haven’t been in here, remember? It makes sense, though. Still a nice system to find your clubhouse.” Broker replied.

The filly shrugged, and the three continued to move along the ducts, the older pony having just barely enough room to trot along standing up.

“Must comment on the fact I barely fit in here, not complaining though. Don’t your club members grow like fillies? Surely the vents would barely fit them in here. Also, how far are we until we reach the clubhouse? I worry the vents will get that gunk in here soon enough.” Broker added while checking his weapon’s ammo amount, his Divet and Javelin Gun fully loaded.

“These weren’t ever designed to have humans in here, an most Engineerin’ suits’re more... flexible than one ah those things.”

“Might not matter for now, but hopefully we can find a way to end this slaughter on the station. A source has to be somewhere.” Broker sighed. “If only I knew where it started. Any ideas from you two?”

“Uhm, it’s only been about two hours... And we’ve been here tha whole time. How in space’s name would we know where it started?” ‘Bloom seemed mildly confused at this idea.

“I was just for ideas... But the point is, I just want to find the source and tamper with it so it stops this madness.” Broker looked towards Applebloom. “Wouldn’t you want to stop this?”

“Well, sure, but we’re jus’ fillies. How’re we supposed ta’ stop all this?”

“No idea how to stop this, but it is worth a try if we can end it all and get back into a peaceful state of mind.” Broker replied. “Before that, we need to find your friend. We close to the clubhouse? These vents are making me a little uncomfortable.”

“Little further... Oh, an’ yella arrows mean straight ahead.”

“Got it. Doubt I’ll use these vents again, but if I do, I’ll remember the directions to reach the clubhouse. Hey, may I join the club? I mean, I know the directions to the place already.” Broker replied with a smile. He turned to look at Sweetie just as a section of the vents fell.

Broker, still safely on the section of vent attached firmly to its mountings, could only watch helplessly as the section fell at an angle, spilling Sweetie and ‘Bloom to the ground. They sat there for a moment, stunned, shaking their heads. A frightening roar sounded from along the thickly matted hallway. From Broker’s position in the vent, he could see the layers of pulsating, gel-like flesh growing across the walls and floor.

“Of course this would happen!” Broker said, shaking himself. “Fillies, is there any way of escape down there? Any open doors?”

“Ah- Ah think we can climb up tha vent still, yer gonna need to ta go back ta the last intersection. follow th’ arrow, then follow the colors. We’ll meet ya at tha clubhouse! Hurry!”

“Be safe down there!” Broker yells down to them before turned his gaze to the arrows. “Red is right, blue is left, yellow is straight. I can do this.” Broker says to himself while starting to trot inside the ventilation shaft on high alert, his weapons armed and ready for use.

Finding the appropriate passage, he was rewarded with a the arrows he needed. Following the tiny marks, he finally found himself going up a small ramp inside the ducts, finally coming across a simple hatch with a grate on it.

Peeking inside, he saw a nicely-decorated room, covered in maps and graphs and posters. A few bean-bag chairs and some half-broken shelves sat around, the shelves tilted ominously from the weight of the books and stuff on them.

Sitting on one of the bean-bag chairs was a bright orange filly with a magenta mane, in the buff, curled up and apparently napping, partially under a blue-and-black ‘Wonderbolts vs Shadowbolts’ blanket. Broker, blushing furiously, backed away from the vent.

“They expect me to get in when she’s nude? Dang, I hate the small things sometimes” Broker said quietly to himself before approaching the grate again. He took a deep, calming breath before hitting the hatch with his hoof. “Hello?” He said while knocking with just enough audible force.

The filly started, jerking up from her sleep with eyes wide as she looked around, quickly dragging the blanket over her completely to cover herself.

“Who’s there?!” The filly shouted the words like a command, and Broker felt himself recoil slightly.

“I- I’m Broker Wordsmith. I was sent here by two fillies named Applebloom and Sweetie Belle I believe.” Broker replied softly and still recoiling away from the grate, but still close enough to look inside the room. “This is the clubhouse, correct?”

“Yeaaah... how did you find this place? And, uh, gimme a sec, I need to dress.” The filly didn’t sound very bashful about needing to dress, instead mostly seeming to remember it as an afterthought.

“No question there...” Broker said while diverting his eyes away. “Applebloom told me to follow the arrows until I found an intersection and follow the arrows by their color, and now here I am.”

“Riiight... So you aren’t with the school board? Alright. Where’s Bloom and Sweetie?” Scootaloo (which is who it had to be) didn’t sound very concerned, and sounded a little older than the other two.

“Well... Those two sort of went a down a different path and we split up.” Broker answered.

“Shit. That Fuoco guy said not to split up. Y’know, before he told me to stay hidden and wandered off on his own to draw the necro-shits off. C’mon in, if you aren’t with the school board, then ‘dressed’ isn’t on my top priorities.”

Broker blushed and was taken aback by the profanity usage. “Interesting words you use. Scootaloo is it? Also, who in the name of Celestia is Fuoco?”

“Scientist guy I saw, or some shit like that. He seemed to know what was up and he had good aim and shit. Looked nice, too, when he was out of his suit.”

“Uh... Uh-huh. Interesting, but I hope he’s alright since he went to drive off the Necromorphs.” Broker said while trying to figure out a way to enter the room. His magic concentrated on the grate and attempted to lift it up gently. The metal opened up slowly, and he eased himself into the room; the grate was about a quarter-meter off the floor.

Once he was inside, he looked around again, studiously avoiding staring at the nicely

muscled pegasus. She definitely was a little older than her classmates, by around a year or two, he’d guess. Instead choosing to observe the room, he concentrated on the posters.

They were posters of the Wonderbolts, the fantastic atmospheric flight team from Equus, and the Shadowbolts, the Nightwing EVA team that rivalled the Wonderbolts for popularity. as well, there were read-outs

“Nice posters you have here. Never did like the Wonderbolts or the Shadowbolts, but I guess they’re cool. I would much prefer a book in my head.” Broker said, still not looking at the orange filly.

“Yeah, the Shadowbolts make me wish I’d been a nightwing instead. Never did like reading, though. I guess they’re alright, but I like stuff with lotsa pictures. Easier to get the whole story at a glance. Any reason you aren’t looking at me? Am I ugly to you?”

“No, no, you’re not. I just like the posters here on the wall. They’re very unique and-”

“I got them second-hoof... at a thrift store... for ten credits. They’re all reprints. Jeez, you need to lighten up, I already got dressed.” Scootaloo sounded mildly upset, as if unhappy he couldn’t take a joke.

“Oh... I did not know that.” Broker turned his gaze to Scootaloo. “Still, I never did see those posters in the area I live in. I worked at a bookstore, so no posters of either team in there.”

“Damn, a bookstore? That blows.” The young mare was in a blue-and-yellow Junior Wonderbolts uniform, the fabric hugging her body in a way that made Broker blush again. Her slightly under-sized wings poked out from the uniform, tucked to her sides, showing her RIG.

“Hey, it’s not so bad working at the bookstore. Sure it’s a little slow, but very quiet most of the days. A blessing since I was raised inside a house that had nothing but noise.” Broker said trying not to look away.

“Jeez, sounds like my fam’s apartment in the evenings, when dad got back from work and mom got back from the bar.” Scootaloo paused to shrug. “And, of course, my brother always worked night shifts. He’s cool, but never around these days.”

“Pretty much my case, but just add more siblings and my mother not being drunk. I hope your brother is alright though.” Broker looked do

“Yeah, me too, but oh well. Anyhow, in case you’re wondering, that’s why I sleep here most nights. Gives the old cunt some time to sleep off her boozing.”

Broker’s eyes went a little wide at one particular word within her vocabulary. “My... I really don’t know how to respond to that. I hope she’s okay too. Don’t you ever visit her when she’s not drunk?”

“Well, I would if that ever actually happened. Most of the time, I come home to make sure the fridge is stocked and that she hasn’t passed out in her own barf again.”

Broker looked down at his hooves. “Gosh... even my family isn’t that bad. Maybe we should at least see her since this outbreak occurred.”

“Eh, she’s either fine or dead, it’s not that big a deal.” Scootaloo shrugged again, before digging into a few boxes off to one side, flashing her rump at Broker, making him blush even harder under his helmet and back away a bit. He looked towards the vent, hoping the other two Crusaders would show up. To his greatest relief, the vent opened up, and ‘Bloom and Sweetie stepped through.

“Glad to see you two arrive. How is the growth? Is it spreading around to this place?” Broker said looking towards the two new fillies in the room.

“Nah, it all seemed fine. But we might wanna get movin’ fast. Hey Scoots, can ya’ lead us to tha trams? We need ta get ‘bout twenty-”

Sweetie interrupted with, “Fifteen youths below legal age, as well as five adults, not including the three of us.” in her dead, monotone voice.

“- Uh, right, tweny-three, then, to the trams at once. Can ya do that, Scoots?”

Scootaloo looked back and forth from where she’d been rummaging through the boxes. “Yeah, I can manage that. I know these ducts like the back of my hoof. I just need to grab a few things, and we can go, alright?”

“Sounds good to me. Do any of you have weapons by the way?’ Broker said looking around the room. “You could use them if the growth starts to spread into the vents.”

“Ah got mah cutter, and Sweetie’s got her Tesla Gun. Scoots, ya still got yer ‘knife’?” Scootaloo nodded. “Good. Idunno ‘bout clearin the goop offa tha walls, but we can sure take out the monsters.”

“I’m surprised by the Tesla Gun. Something tells me that gunk brings the monsters, so we better be prepared incase that happens. How about medigel?” Broker added.

Scootaloo fished something out of a box of stuff, and strapped it around her left wrist. Then, she pulled out a set of bulky, gray saddlebags, and put those on, aided momentarily by Sweetie and ‘Bloom, who both had fingers.

“Alright, lemme put my hand on, and we’ll get going.” Scoots fished around a bit more before pulling out metallic cage-like device that she slipped over her right hoof like a shoe. Raising her hoof, the device flexed, displaying a quartet of digits.

“Alright, we all ready to go? Also, how are we going to get back to the classroom?” Broker looked up at the grate. “The vents seem safe, but that gunk could be growing in them.”

“Ah don’ think so, but yer right, we should hurry.” Applebloom agreed, and the three fillies turned to the vents. “So where’s the group?”

“Cheerilee’s classroom.”

Scoots seemed pensive at this news. “Do we have to save the wrinkled cunt?”

“Scootaloo! I mean, I understand using that word once, but twice!? To answer that question, yes we do. We have to save as many ponies as we can in this nightmare.” Broker said giving Scootaloo a shocked look.

Scoots huffed. “Fine, we’ll save the old nag. I better be getting a show from all this, mr. iron shell.”

Broker just sighed. “We all deserve a medal after we get out of this place alive, but I want the source shut down first. Come on, we can quibble while we walk.”

“Not what I meant by a ‘show’, but whatever. Lemme stash some of my ‘zines, and we’re good to go.” Scootaloo grabbed a box and slipped it into her spacious bags. Another box went in, and finally a cooler unit. Each of them went in with a small flash of the off-white magic indicating an inventory field.

“You keep raising more and more questions from me.” Broker said looking at Scootaloo. “What is that stuff?”

“Military surplus store. It was seventy credits, and without a warranty. I saved up for two months of panhandling. As for the stuff, those were my ‘zines and my food stash. I’m only missing two of my ‘zines, and both are my best ones.”

“Oh, that’s good. We were looking for food earlier in the mall... Phew, bad memories. As for the missing zines, where would we find them? Also, Applebloom, are the vents still clear of the growing gunk?” Broker said still looking at Scootaloo a little more intrigued.

“Ah already said they’re weren’t none!”

“Just making sure, Applebloom. Let’s get a move on and regroup.”

“That’s what ah said!”

Sweetie began to lead them along the vents, Broker following with Scootaloo next to him, and Applebloom taking up the rear. The journey back was largely unimpressive, but Broker got the idea that the orange young mare was bumping into his armored hip on purpose, but he hoped it wasn’t so.

“So... Applebloom, what happened while you were down in that room with the slime.” Broker said out of curiosity.

“It was just a hallway. An’ all we did was just climb up tha vent. Nothin’ special. How’d you get here before us, though? We were on the shortcut.”

“I just simply did as you said and followed the arrows from the intersection. How I managed to beat you there is beyond me.”

“Weird... Ah well. We’ll figure it out later.” ‘Bloom continued down the vent, going around a section with light pouring in through it. Broker took a nervous glance at it, and saw a few tiny tendrils of the corruption creeping up.

The four returned to the classroom without further incident, Scootaloo finally stopping her hip-bumps and occasional pawings at Broker, which he was 99% certain were absolutely on-purpose, and 1% certain they were only kinda on-purpose.

Thankfully, she’d stopped before they arrived, and his helmet prevented any of the others from seeing his scarlet red face.

Cheerilee and Dave had apparently rallied to the cause of getting the children ready. Cheerilee was sitting down and talking with Big Heart and another of the small fillies, both of whom were hooked up to a stretcher, on which Alex lay, still unconscious.

Dave was still packing up various stuff, and had a plasma cutter clipped to his belt.

“Hey Dave, how much ammo do you have for that thing? We could use more protection.”

“Twelve. Clip and a half.”

“So now that we’ve got everyone here, how do we get to the trams? I don’t see how Alex is going to make it very easily.” CD said, thinking of what to do as he says this.

“We’ll be taking the vents. Plenty of space for the turns, just don’t take ‘em too hard. Hello, Cheers, how’s the vag? Still unstuffed?” Scootaloo’s cutting tone made Cheerilee scowl, and, across the room, Dave stifled a laugh behind a hand, as did CD behind a hoof.

“No, young lady, this is not a conversation I’m having again. You are to help us get out, and you’ll be on a different tram from me, or so help me, by the marker I’ll strangle you!” Cheerilee’s face would’ve gone purple with rage, if it wasn’t already a deep maroon.

“No you aren’t, we’re staying as a group, because that’s safe-”

“Oh, shut up, you moron! Those trams can only hold ten or so people at a time!” Cheerilee looked like she’d finally snapped.

“And if you did strangle her, I don’t think you’d be allowed to teach anymore, or be anywhere near children again, just putting that out there.” CD said. “Making threats is not helpful and we don’t need another headache. The filly, who I assume is Scootaloo, is our best bet, I’m fairly certain she might decide to leave you for dead, even if we know you’re alive.”

“And if you did strangle her, like between you and Dave, I will solve the problem or eliminate it, understand?” Sketch motioned with his line gun.

Cheerilee growled slightly, but nodded. “Fine, but she’s in my sights the entire time. Got it?”

“Or, you could be useful instead of holding a grudge against a filly. Act your age.” Sketch said coldly.

“I reiterate. For the sake of my students, whom I do not trust her to be around, I am going to be a short distance behind her, and I am not letting her out of my sight.”

“So easy to keep your eye on someone you demand be on a separate tram.” CD pointed out. “And then, if you’re paying all your attention to her, then that leaves all the other kids unattended, even though you are responsible for them. Way to go, Ms. teacher of the year, infighting is stupid, so drop it. It’s pissing me off.”

“I don’t care what she does on your tram. She can stay with you, Dave, and those other bucks that came in here. I don’t care about what happens to her after that, as long as all the threats are away from my students.”

“You keep holding your grudge against a filly, I’ll keep her safe while you continue to play teacher and try to-”

“Actually, I kind of have to agree with her on Scootaloo being a bit of a threat. Considering some of the things she’s done, she is almost as big a threat to the kids as those beasts out there.” Dave was calm and conciliatory, but also mildly amused.

”If that is true then I will be glad to have her in our tram, someone who is of use, finally I can get rid of you.” Sketch

“Yeah, seriously, we need to offer all we physically can if we want these kids to be safe. Dave obviously has a weapon, and I’ll suppose he knows how to use it. You on the other hand, for as long as I’ve been around you, have done nothing but berate us for helping, and whine about everything, and generally piss everyone off. Prove to me you are worth saving, right now.” CD dared the teacher.

“Worth saving? I have more than a decade of teaching experience! If this truly is one of the final tests of the Marker, then we shall all need my knowledge in our next stage!”

CD sighed. “Cheerilee, I have been committed to an insane asylum, and I have horrible memory loss, I have no clue what’s happened in the last five months or so, and I’ve contributed a lot more than you. I’m officially insane, and if it wasn’t for me, Alex would be dead right now, as well as everyone else, including you. You’re. Freaking. Welcome.” CD then shut up, ignoring everything else and tapping the button to put his helmet back up. Jabbing the external mute/unmute button, he showed that he really didn’t want to hear it.

Cheerilee could only gape like a fish at the commentary.

“Yeah, besides harass Scootaloo and belittle Dave you have done nothing, let alone anything productive. I set up traps, I helped secure the room, CD and Broker saved the fillies and got their suits. Now pray tell, what exactly have you done, and no, elementary school teaching isn’t going to help you here in the apocalypse. Name one thing.”

“I- I kept them safe... the children. I- I kept them safe, when it all started.” Cheerilee’s confidence had obviously broken.

“Yeah, and that almost got them killed when one of the students you ‘kept safe’ was infected and nearly turned, if he had, you all would be dead.”

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?! This has never happened before!”

“Because, being the teacher means you are somewha-”

A loud thud on the main door of the classroom interrupted Sketch before he could continue, and the classroom shook from whatever caused the impact.

Feeling the tremor, CD unmuted his helmet, and got his Plasma Cutter ready, aiming at the door, staying incredibly silent.

“Dave, get up here, we need to defend Loud Mouth and the kids.”

“Get them into the duct! I’ll keep the up the rear!” Dave sounded confident, and had already drawn his cutter, keeping it steady on the door. Looked like Dave earned his keep.

Another thud, along with a garbled shriek, like someone speaking at a hundred kilometers per hour, a series of rapid slams echoed through the room.

“Guy, back up and take aim, Broker, is your safety off?” Broker checked, and saw that the little switch was not on. Yeah, it’s off.”

“Alright then, get ready.”

Cheerilee and the students had already begun filing into the duct, Applebloom having locked it half open. She turned to Sketch. “Get in, yer next. You’ve got all tha medigel, so yer goin’ in behind Alex.”

“Fine, Broker, aim for center of mass.” Sketch followed the group into the vent after he folded up the line gun.

“If they come into a single file order.” Broker said, keeping his aim at the center of the door.

The rapid-fire series of thuds continued, and the visible dents in the door only grew more visible. Like a blister bursting, the largest of them split apart, and a long claw stabbed through it.

Inside the vent, Scootaloo and Cheerilee led the way, followed by a couple of children. Then, Big Heart and Alex’s stretcher marched long, followed by Sketch. The whole procession crept by vents, the soft orange light filtering in through them.

In the classroom, another batch of kids went in, this time followed by CD. “Broker, don’t nuke the room, just impale them, and keep your aim on them.” CD rushed back into the vent with the others, yelling “Good luck!” behind him as he crawled into the vent, followed by more children.

Broker rolled his eyes at the comment, growing more frustrated. “I will, CD.” His javelin gun and Divet were at the ready for the incoming horde.

As the first necromorph, twitching and spazzing every few moments, tore its way into the room, Broker unloaded a half-clip into the creature. The sheer number of rounds managed to make most of them hit, and that was enough to blow apart the thing’s chest.

Thankfully, the three shots all hit at approximately the thing’s sternum, the first two breaking its armor and the third practically liquefying its chest inside the ceramic armor.

Their relief was short-lived as a second one began pulling itself into the room, the metal of the door scraping against the military-grade suit.

Broker reacted by firing a round from his javelin gun, hoping it would be enough to pierce the suit’s armor. He was rewarded with a satisfying view of the creature being dragged back into the corridor by the departing javelin, only to be replaced by one of the black-skinned slashers.

“Next group, yer up! That’s you, Mr. Wordsmith!” Applebloom called out from the vent entrance. “And as soon as we’re in, you need ta follow, professor!”

Broker took a shots towards the fresh Necromorph in the door before turning and running towards the vent, getting into it. “Don’t take too long, Dave!” Broker called from the vent.

Broker’s vision was cut off by entering the vent, following the procession of ponies, momentarily followed by AB and Dave, still shooting backwards as he crawled facing backwards. In fact, Broker got a good view of how that was working; Dave had tied some cord under his arms, and AB was dragging him along.

Broker turned to look forward in time to see a vent, momentarily darkened, burst inwards as a necromorph stabbed into the vent system. The three-clawed arm reached into the vent and dragged the foal, screaming, into the room beyond.

“Oh, hell no!” Broker shouted in the vent as he raced to reach the foal, his weapons at the ready instantly. Unfortunately, by the time he had cleared the scant half-meter, the foal’s screams had already been silenced. In the room beyond, a massive creature with four claw-tipped arms stood, the four pieces of the foal were strung between them. Strings of the blue foal’s intestines and spine strung the arms together like a grotesque spider’s web.

Broker, seeing no other option, ushered the foals past him, and he, Applebloom, and Dave skittered along the vent.

Further along the vent, Sketch was keeping an eye on Alex, making sure the boy wasn’t further injured by the journey. The young colt holding the back of the stretcher looked terrified, and Sketch tried to calm him.

“Don’t think about it, let’s hurry.” Sketch said quietly. As he tried to reach out to ruffle the kid’s mane, a spike of bone slammed through the wall of the vent and into the child’s head. The spear jammed in through one eye and out just below the ear on the other side.

The child jerked and twitched on the length of bone, his injured eye gone entirely red by the blood filling it. The other eye looked at Sketch in utter terror and agony, before glossing over. Big Heart, at the other end of the stretcher, had just avoided the twin of the claw lodged in the colt’s brain.

Sketch carefully stepped over the colt and picked up his end of the stretcher and began to push it, hurrying Big Heart along as the talons pulled back from the vent wall with a screech of bone-on-metal.

A little further back, CD was keeping an eye on the middle of the caravan. A portion of the vent was torn away, the top of the vent now exposed to the air above. A tall, vicious-looking black-skinned slasher had torn the section back.

CD took a quick shot at it, and dashed forward, warning everyone about the ceiling being monster-infested. “Guys, they’re above the vents too, don’t worry about anything, just keep running!” CD took one more shot before continuing his rush.

The monster fell back, missing its limbs from the shots. CD’s reaction was a bit hasty, and he had to stop for a moment to blast away another necromorph towering over the children. Swearing softly under his breath, CD emptied the rest of his clip into the next two monsters, only pausing to reload before keeping an eye on the opening.

He felt a blinding pain erupt in his side as a spike entered the wall of the vent and his side. Pulling away from it, he coughed, feeling blood splash across the inside of his mouth. Keying his mask, he coughed up a splatter of blood on the floor of the vent. Looking up, he keyed the helmet back in time to get hit with a blast of caustic fluid.

Swearing again, CD shot the puker multiple times.

At the back of the group, actually rather near CD now, Broker had the luck to see yet another child die as the same blast of acid that hit CD poured over one of the human children, the poor kid not even having enough time to cry out as the acidic bile stripped away flesh and organs in seconds.

Broker’s rage was building up at the sight and he aimed his Divet towards the puker and fired at the monster without mercy. Between the Plasma Cutter blasts and the Divet rounds, the black puker was torn apart in a gout of acidic spray. The gore and bile rained down, this time striking another of the children causing them to cry out in pain.

Behind them, Dave was continuing to fire at something, the child hit by the acid quieting as the acid ate through the kid’s skull.

“Get fucking moving you all! We’re dying back here!” Broker shouted over his shoulder

“We are moving!” Sketch replied.

The entire convoy continued to move forward, hurrying as best as possible. The screams of another young pony dying echoed through the vents, and Sketch was there to see Cheerilee trying to save one of the children as the foal was dragged through a vent.

Unfortunately, it’s nigh impossible to hold something with nothing but hooves.

Cheerilee was in tears as Sketch hurried her on, pausing only to look over his shoulder as Sweetie Belle calmly fired her weapon into the torn-open vent wall, the actinic silver fire of the tesla gun blasting and scouring away whatever was on the other side of the hole.

Near the back, Dave was shuffling up a bit to get past the acid-marked hole, before sitting back and letting ‘Bloom drag him once more, Broker and CD continuing onward just a bit farther ahead. The ponies warily watched the side vents, only pausing to assist Applebloom with dragging Dave along.

They barely avoided a series of spikes being driven through the roof of the vent; the necromorphs were getting inventive.

Back with Sketch, he, Big Heart, Cheerilee, and Scootaloo, were holding at the ‘final’ split.

“Alright, we need to hang a left, and get to the vent at the end. I loosened the cover earlier, just in case of a quick exit being needed. It’s open-out only, so we shouldn’t have to worry about anything getting in, but once we’re out, we’ll need to sprint down the hall and go through the door to get into the trams. There should be two still heading to one of the habitats in the PV sector, so we’ll take those.”

“Can we sweep once we’w on dah twam? Ah’m kinda tiewd...”

“Yes, but for now we need to hurry, try and stay awake.” Sketch spoke calmingly, and reached out to pat her on the head. She smiled, and yawned, her eyes looking a little bloodshot.

They all jumped slightly as a metallic screech echoed through the ducting, followed by the quick patter of small feet or hooves. It wasn’t coming from the rest of the convoy, meaning was likely more of the little necromorphs.

“Just great. How should we do this? Children first or people with weapons first?” Broker said looking towards the source of the noise.

“Do you even have to think, put the guns between the necromorphs and the kids!” Sketch said, as CD and the other group caught up, the remaining 9 kids (two having been jumped along the way) bunching up as well.

“Guys, shut up. We need one armed group ahead of the kids, and one behind them, and watch the ceiling. Other than that, keep moving, if there are monster children, shoot them!” CD said, keeping his eyes on the ceiling, hoping there wasn’t anything above him.

“Me and Dave will take the front. You two take the back. Sound good?” Broker added his plan quickly.

“No, I’ll stay in the back. It’s pretty easy to drag me quickly, and I can still shoot like this.” Dave responded.

“CD, with me. I feel Sketch’s line gun will be needed more if it is necromorph children chasing us.” Broker replied.

“Yeah, sounds good, Sketch how are you holding up with ammo?” CD asked, reloading his Cutter.

“Five in the gun, one left over and 20 rounds for my divet, eight loaded.”

“Nice, so what are we waiting for? The longer we stay up here, the more chance these kids have of getting brutilated.” CD said, not caring that others didn’t understand his made-up word.

“Alright, then we should go. I can carry a couple of the smaller ones.” Cheerilee said, nodding to two of the smallest children, a filly and a young girl, who happily crawled into Cheerilee’s saddlebags, sitting there and curling up on their teacher’s back to try napping.

“Come on, CD.” Broker said, walking down the vent while reloading both of his weapons.

Broker and CD took point, followed closely by Cheerilee. The three ponies, along with Scootaloo, got to the back of the vent, just as Dave began firing at the mass of twisted, mutant children pouring through the vent towards the kids.

“Shit, mini-necromorphs.”

“Run! We don’t have time to piss around here!” Scoots shouted, pushing CD and Sketch through the vent, holding it open so that Big Heart and the stretcher could fit.

The sound of Dave continuing to fire was the main thing they heard as the small group of children ran for the trams.

Applebloom and Scoots were out of the vent barely a moment after, both of them dragging Dave while at a full gallop. He continued to fire a couple more times, AB chucking a plasma cartridge towards him, which he caught and slotted into place.

The remainders of the class and their saviors burst through the doors, praying that they would not be ambushed on the other side. Thankfully, the bright yellow sun of the Equus system continued to fill the tram’s windowed tram station with soft light. They ran towards the nearest trams, only the thought of escaping in their minds.

Rather suddenly, CD, Sketch and Broker heard a shout from ‘Bloom and Scoots behind him.

“What’s wrong, girls?” CD asked, not quite wanting to know the answer, but turning towards them anyway.

He saw something that confused him for a moment. Dave was standing up, firing calmly at the horde of necromorphs. He’d cut the cords connecting him to the girls, and they were skidding to a stop to help him.

“Go on, I’m just a burden. Let me be with her.” Dave’s words were filled with pain, those five words naught but a whisper.

“No way pal, until you’re out of ammo, you are going to keep shooting. I don’t care about who died, we just need to keep the ones still here alive. As long as your cutter has shots in it, you're killing monsters!” CD said quickly, giving Dave a quick jolt with his hoof. “Don’t be a wimp.”

“Absolutely. I’m not just going to stand here, after all. Now go, you need time, and I can give you that. Don’t waste this.”

“Yes sir.” Was all CD said before dashing towards the trams.

The escape from there was almost... anticlimactic. The children piled into whichever tram they saw first, and the two trams began moving almost immediately. CD, still watching Dave, saw him continue to fire until the cutter stopped firing, likely out of ammo.

If he’d been there, he would’ve heard Dave mutter to a ghost, half-visible in the oncoming avalanche of necrotic flesh, “It’s all about love, isn’t it?”

“So... what now?” Cheerilee’s voice was much more subdued before.

The two trams shared a single radio as they went along their ten-minute journey, finally pushing the time since this whole thing had started to about three hours.

“I guess we settle down while we can before we head back to that nightmare of a station.” Broker’s voice replied in a tired tone and one of deep pain.

Six of the nine students remaining had ran to the tram Cheerilee had been in, and Broker had joined them, if only because CD, the other three students, Sketch, and all three of the CMC had piled into the other. He’d seemed rather wary of being stuck in the same tram as the young pegasus mare.

CD sat down and took a minute to breathe, retracting his helmet. “Man, that was... yeah. So now what? What do we do if there are more necromorphs when we get off? If Frost or Johan are killed, I’d say our chances of surviving are total shit.”

“Ah... I could have the trams stop. Give us some time to rest and all... The children need some time to sleep.” Cheerilee gave the suggestion quietly, the two trams barely ten meters apart on the same track.

“If I wanted to stop the tram, I would have done so myself, I can. I know they need to rest, we all do. Just think about it. What if there’s a whole bunch of necromorphs and they all swarm us as soon as we get off? Or one, giant, hulking, magical, acid barfing, super-speedy, tentacled, clawed lump of mobile walking rotted flesh. Seriously, I am not having a good day. I’m just glad Summer is alright.”

“Also, we need to further ourselves from that overrun part of the station, and if we sat here and waited for them while we take a nap Dave’s sacrifice would be for naught.”

“Actually, out here on the trams, we’d prolly be safest holdin’ still. An’ we’d be fresher, better able ta aim.” Applebloom pointed out, her helmet retracted. “If we’re all tired, we’re gonna make mistakes. Just stop us in a minute, halfway down tha tracks.”

“That sounds like a good compromise, if everyone’s okay, we’ll stop in a minute.” CD said. “Now does anyone have anything to say about that plan?”

“I’m okay with being stuck in the middle, as long as we have some distance between us and them I don’t mind a break, but I would prefer having somepony on watch to be sure.”

“I don’t volunteer. I need a nap.” That was all CD said before somehow managing to fall completely asleep in his suit, snoring lightly.

“I vote Cheerilee and Broker get first watch dut-” Sketch fell asleep mid sentence.

A sigh was heard over the intercom as Cheerilee stopped the tram, approximately halfway along the tracks.

In the tram with Cheerilee, all the kids had fallen asleep already, giving Broker and Cheerilee the time to talk.

“How are you holding up after that? I feel pretty shattered after the vents. I hope the growth isn’t wherever we are headed to. That stuff tends to bring the necromorphs.” Broker said, sighing.

“I- I’m not sure, Broker. I’ve always... always thought of things in black and white. But all of this- it’s all in shades of gray.”

Another sigh was released from Broker’s lips. “I see it as black in white in ways. Save as many as you can before the infection takes them. This is a place for rebirth for those that get out. Redemption, a new life. If, and only if, they fight to have it.”

“But then... there’s Dave. I- I’ve always hated him for what I- I thought he was doing. What the entire faculty thought he was doing.” Cheerilee sighed heavily before turning back to look at the school they’d left. “I don’t know if you can understand this, but I’ve never been really, well, social. I’ve always been the educated type more than anything.”

“Come to me and you have someone that escaped through books” Broker’s gaze followed Cheerilee’s towards the school. “Everywhere I went I had a book, especially at home. I was caring to my family, but it was irritating having that many siblings running around screaming and messing up everything.” Broker looked towards Cheerilee. “As for Dave, he was redeemed by giving us the time to come here. His past image should be wiped out and re-forged as a better one, heroic.”

Cheerilee just sighed again, before turning to him and smiling. “I- I suppose. Broker? I rather have to ask, uhm, how old are you?”

“Eighteen. Still fairly young for a Unicorn, but I think I’ve had enough sights and smells to last me several lifetimes within the last three hours of this hell.”

“Ei- eighteen? Wow... Well, I suppose th- that was just a silly... sorry.” It was a little hard to tell, but Broker swore he saw the teacher blush as she looked away with an embarrassed look in her eyes.

“What would be silly Cheerilee? I personally think nothing here is silly under the circumstances.” Broker replied as he helmet folded into a socket to reveal his smile. “Everyone else is asleep, so you can tell me. It’ll be our little secret if you want it to be.”

Cheerilee looked back, definitely embarrassed, and definitely blushing. “I, uhm, I’ve never had a coltfriend. I- I suppose if this- if this is the apocalypse, I’d like to have one. B- but I’m just being a silly old mare... who’d want me now?” She said the last words with a bitter sigh as she looked away.

“Well, to be honest, I’ve never had a marefriend in my life. I know they say to wait, but I’ve been waiting long enough, especially after this mess and I want one.” He sighed himself. “But I’m the pushover that nopony wants. You have better chances than me.” Broker’s own blush began to form on his cheeks.

As he looked back up, he saw that Cheerilee had shuffled closer. “I think you’re plenty good enough for me... But am I good enough for you?” She sounded honestly afraid of what his response might be.

“Seeing you earlier, my friends downtalking you... it broke my heart. I wanted to stand up, but I just didn’t have the courage. You are not worthless, Cheerilee, especially to your students.” Now Broker started to shift closer as well.

Cheerilee put a hoof up to his armored chest, and pressing her head under his chin. “Broker, you’re the most wonderful, Marker-sent thing I could ever want. P- please don’t leave me.”

Broker smiled at the words she said. “I certainly can’t be the best. But, I think times have changed now.” He put a metal-clad hoof around Cheerilee, embracing her in a small hug. “And I think you’re one of the better things to come out of this apocalypse.”

Cheerilee just smiled and tilted her head back to stare him in the eyes. “B- broker?”

“Yes, Cheerilee?”

“C- can I ask for a f- favor?”

“Go right ahead. I wouldn’t mind fulfilling a favor to a pony like you.”

“Will you kiss me?”

Broker’s cheek were set into a fiery inferno of scarlet red. “O- oh.”

Cheerilee looked away. “I- I understand if you don’t want to, I’m moving too fast, and I’m too ol-”

“Cheerilee...” Was all Broker said in a quiet, whispery tone before his face pushed forward to press his lips to hers. They kissed, albeit amateurishly. If it weren’t for the void of space, he probably would have heard Scootaloo’s upset shout of ‘oh, come ooon!’.

Author's Notes:

Those poor kids...
And yes, the shifting, confusing last half of the chapter is on purpose. Those vents are dark, and it's really hard to tell if anything is actually going on or if it's just the shadows.

So, much thanks to my crew of faithful stooges minions players, as they've really done a lot of work towards this.
And as such, please remember to vote each chapter for who your favorite and least favorite characters are. Every vote can save or destroy a character in time

Thanks to the following for contributing to the story so far:
Itsmyfuneral, starring as Sketch
Hunterz263, starring as Broker Wordsmith
Rosethorn, starring as Victoria Frost
SomeGuy, co-starring as Johan Allegro
The Pieman, as Copy.Data