Escape From The Forbidden City 1

>Your legs feel like they're about ready to give out any moment.
>Hell, your whole body does. Just making it this far was seemingly impossible, but here you are.
>There's blood leaking from a wound in your side, but you don't have time to check it.
>Shining Armor looks up at you, "We should patch you up."
>You look around at the delipidated hallways of the abandoned palace, then shake your head.
"No, we get your sister, and then you can worry about me."
>"And your eye?"
>The pain from the other wounds almost made you forget about it, but you're pretty sure you won't be able to see out of your left eye for the rest of your life.
"We have a mission."
>"But..."
"You want your sister back or not?"
>At that, he falls silent.
"I'm fine. I've had worse."
>The look on his face tells you he doesn't belive you.
>You don't care if he does or not.

-2 Months Ago-
>You are Anonymous, and you've been locked up for a month now.
>It's not your longest running stint, but being behind bars has never been what you would call comfortable.
>Passing the time isn't much of a problem. Even in this limited space you can work out. The guards have gotten used to the grunts from your situps and pushups, and the dark princess had even been kind enough to get you a pullup bar.
>You thanked her, and those were the only two words you've spoken since you've been here.
>Time as a merc has taught you a few things, and one of those things is to never talk, even if the ones holding you prisoner said they wanted to be your friends.
>Honestly, that's all they have been doing. They make sure you get three square meals a day, and have even offered you time outside.
>You didn't take it. You don't know what these things are, and you don't know how you got here.
>If they were letting you go they were going to do it on your terms.
>No questions.
>You're sitting on your bed now, staring at the wall outside of your cell. Sometimes you lose track of time in here due to the lack of windows, but judging by the guard outside you know it's daytime.
>The white ones are on day shift, and the black ones are on graveyard.
>You assume they guard their corresponding princesses as well.
>Before you can think how to pass the time you hear the large steal door at the end of the hall open, and the guard outside your cell stiffens to attention.
>Heavy hooves on stone.
>She's bigger than her sister, so you know it's Celestia.
>You keep silent as she comes into view.
>She dismisses the guard, and he leaves as quick as he can. "Are you sure you want to stay silent? You spoke to my sister, so I know you can understand me."
>Once she figures out she's not getting a response she starts sizing you up. She does this whenever she visits. You think she's trying to figure out what you are, but you can't really say.
>"We were planning on releasing you once my student arrived, but I'm afraid there's been a... setback."
>You're interested, but you know you don't have to ask her to continue.
>"We simply do not know what you are. If you had answered our questions this could have happened a lot sooner." She lets out a soft sigh and shakes her head. "Twilight Sparkle was coming here to research you, but I'm afraid she's gone missing."
>Now she's really got your attention.
>"She left a note saying she was going out on a research expedition, but didn't tell me where. We lost contact a week ago when she stopped sending letters. After asking her assistant he revealed that she's been studying a place called the Forbidden City."
>You decide it's time to sit up fully, and you rest your hands on your knees.
"What is it?"
>Her eyes widen. She obviously hadn't been expecting to hear your voice. "Excuse me?"
"The Forbidden City. What is it?"
>"We... don't know. Not even I know what happened there."
"You used to live there?"
>"Not me. My mother and my father, and many other ponies. Now... no one knows what's there."
"You haven't thought to explore it?"
>"We tried, but the search parties never returned. Eventually we decided to leave it be. There is a sickness in that place, and it doesn't spread, so it's not a threat to the outside world. I didn't want to risk anyone for curiosity, but I should have known Twilight would find out about it one day."
"Let me guess, you want me to do something about it."
>"When you got here, you had an assortment of things on you. Tools."
>You nod.
"My weapons."
>"We managed to reverse engineer them, so there's really no point in keeping them locked up anymore."
"Nothing a shotgun can't handle. What do I get out of this?"
>"Payment... of your choosing."
"Blank check, huh?"
>She nods.
"When do I start?"
-------
>You lean over the side of the carriage and your gaze narrows at what you see below.
>There's a huge abandoned city down there full of God knows what standing between you and this Twilight chick, and you're armed with a shotgun, a rifle, a machine gun, and a shit ton of ammo.
>The boxes of brass and gunpowder Celestia provided you with before leaving sit behind you and your new partner.
>You're pretty sure you're going to use every last one of them.
>From up here the place looks like a ghost town, lacking the life and flair you saw on your way out of Canterlot. What you can see of the streets and buildings are decimated. There are char marks from explosions, and the lifeless sand of the surrounding deserts cover it like a blanket.
>The pegasi towing you seem like they're on their last leg. They've been ordered to drop you off and get the hell out, only coming back once they have confirmation of Twilight's survival.
>Celestia must really care about this girl.
>Hell, she offered to come with you, but you turned her down.
>One weight is enough.
>"What do you think is down there?"
>Speaking of that weight.
"A whole lot of crap that wants us dead."
>Your partner is a pretty large unicorn. He obviously has some experience in battle, but not as much as you would like him to have.
>Kid says his name is Shining Armor, and he's the captain of the guard.
>He didn't bother to tell you much else.
>He goes silent as you reach the landing zone outside the south side of the city.
>The pegasi are quick, dropping the carriage like a rock at the entrance to one of the streets and taking off with speed you didn't think possible. It's rough landing, but you've had worse.
>You hop out and check your ammo. Everything seems to be in order. The rifle is strapped to your back, and the machine gun and the sawed off shotgun are in the holsters hanging at your side.
"You know what to do."
>Shining Armor nods, and his horn flashes with light. The carriage seems to vanish. "With the resonance the Princess added, we'll always be able to find our way back here."
"No need for that, we're good. If we need extra ammo I can find my own way back."
>Even with you reassurances Shining Armor is still reluctant to follow you as you step into the city.
>Tall, vast, crumbling buildings surround you on either side. You imagine that at one time they were of pristine nature, much like Canterlot.
>The only thing under your boots is sand. The stone and marble walkways have long since been left to rot.
>You wonder for a moment what kind of creature would live in this place.
>As the two of you walk on, Shining Armor seems... nervous. He keeps glancing into the buildings, presumably to see if anything is alive in there.
"If something wanted us dead it would have attacked by now. Anything else doesn't want to be seen, so there's no use looking."
>He takes a deep breath and puts his eyes forward.
>Kid's got more guts than most people you've worked with.
>Since it's so damn quiet, you figure you might as well pass the time.
"So why'd you take this mission, anyways?"
>His gait quickens, and he falls in by your side, "It's my duty."
"That answer was a bit too quick and forceful. You need to work on lying."
>He sighs and shakes his head, "She's my sister."
"Tch. You shouldn't have come. Personal baggage only weighs you down in a place like this."
>"I can't just leave her out here. Who knows what could happen?"
"She could be dead already. We don't know until we find her."
>He falls silent at that. There's no use sugar coating it. In a place like this this girl's survival chances are pretty close to nil.
"What the hell made her come out here anyways?"
>"She found something. It was..."
>You hold up a hand to silence him and halt your movements.
"Shh... you hear that?"
>You lay your hand on the shotgun at your side and hold completely still.
>"Hear what?"
>Something falls down in an alley to your left. It sounded like a bunch of rattling silverware.
"An alarm. They know we're here."
>"Who does?"
"We're about to find out. I'm sure they'll throw us a big welcoming party."
>Almost without warning, something leaps from the alley the alarm sounded from. You have barely a moment to take in its form.
>It's huge, bulky, and grey. It's charging you with a pair of great big horns on its head and a snorting mouth.
>You unholster the shotgun and aim right for its head.
>With a squeeze to the trigger the beast's face explodes into a cacophony of gore and brain matter.
>You think you hear Shining Armor's jaw hit the floor.
>From the looks of the thing as it falls to the ground dead, it had been a minotaur.
>Now it was a headless minotaur.
>You bring the shotgun's barrel close to your mouth and blow the smoke from it.
"Try seeing red with a face full of buckshot."
>"On the roofs!" shouts Shining.
>You look up, and there are even more where that came from. Perched on the top of the buildings that still have roofs, and scattered throughout the higher floors, are what appear to be a ton of minotaurs.
>You grit your teeth.
"He had a lot of buddies. We should probably get out of here."
>The kid doesn't argue, and the both of you take off down the street like the hounds of hell are on your heels.
>In the gloomy, musky air of the desert city you can hear the minotaurs howling, banging on pots and pans. You're pretty sure there's at least one group following you, but you don't slow down to find out.
>Doing that would get you killed rather quickly.
>Whoever these minotaurs are, you hadn't been expecting them.
>They, however, had been expecting you.
"Take the next right side alley!"
>Shining takes the order without hesitation, pulling to the right and galloping down the alley.
>You sprint after him, turning around and letting off a shell from your shotgun. You think you see a minotaur fall, but you can't be too sure.
>It would be nice if he tripped some of his buddies on his way into the ground.
>The kid is way a head of you. He's smaller than an actual pony from your world would be, but he still has the advantage of having four legs.
>You do your best to keep up, but eventually he falls out of sight.
>That's fine in your book, as long as one of you gets away there's a chance, and you're pretty sure you won't be able to outrun these guys.
>You fling open your shotgun as you run, depositing shells into the chambers and giving it another flick to close it back up.
>Turning to face the oncoming group of minotaurs, you pull the rifle from your back and lean on it, aiming with your already drawn shotgun.
>There are about five, and they're closing fast.
>You wait for the right moment, and your eyes narrow.
"Ole'."
>The first shotgun blast knocks the closest minotaur on his rear end. The second mutilates a leg.
>You drop the shotgun and aim with the rifle. You aim for the head on the third minotaur. Headshots are enough to put anything down.
>By the time you're ready to fire again the remaining two minotaurs are already too close for you to accomplish anything useful.
>They send you straight to the ground. One of them puts its large hand on your throat and snorts before laughing. The other sits on your legs.
>Your arms are still free, but no matter how much you struggle they don't let up a single inch.
>The one holding a hand to your throat grins, "Boss is gonna like you. Got some fightin' spirit in ya'. More than that unicorn from a few days ago."
>With how hard he's squeezing your throat you can barely breathe, much less talk, but you manage to utter out a single question.
"Where... is... she?"
>"Tha' unicorn? Like I would know."
>Without hesitation, you reach down and grab your SMG. You jam the barrel into the side of the minotaur holding your throat and pull the trigger hard.
>He goes down, but so do you when the last minotaur punches you in the head.
--------
>You awaken coughing, and you're not sure how long it's been since you've been out. Your head feels like it's about to burst, and your heart is pounding a mile a second.
>Trying to make sense of your surroundings, you start to look around. You're surrounded by rusty bars, so you can only guess that you're locked in a cage.
>Your legs and wrists feel like they're binded, and it takes you another moment to establish that you're hanging upside down. You sigh in exasperation.
"Again?"
>"Shut up in there!" A gruff voice from abo... below you billows. "Noisy slaves."
>Well, despite the situation, at least you're not naked. That's happened before, and it wasn't exactly an experience you'd like to revisit any time soon.
"I'm going to assume you're the warden."
>"I told you to shut up monkey."
>No matter where you crane your neck to look, you can't manage to see him. From the voice alone you can tell that he's big, stupid, and slow.
>If you manage to break free there's probably not much and oaf like him could do to stop you.
>That is the problem in itself though, and probably the reason they hung you upside down.
"I'm guessing your leader is smarter and tougher than you are? It would be a joke if he wasn't."
>"If you talk one more time..."
>Hmmm. Maybe you could take advantage of this idiot.
>You strain your neck to look up. Your ankles hurt like hell, and from what you can tell they're locked in metal cuffs attached to the roof of the cage.
>You let your head fall back again and look at the ground below the cage. It'll hurt, but it's not much of a drop. Not far enough to break anything, anyways.
>A plan starts to form in your head, but you decide to remain as you are a bit longer.
>The kid might show up soon, and his presence would make this a lot easier.
>At least... you hope it will.