We stand united 1x1 Maple Bat

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus nodded "We should tell the others that too, I'll back you up on this because I do agree that something probably needs to happen.

Fluttershy did see a loose panel and slid to a stop. "Oh, I think that's one there. Is that one jack?" Fluttershy poked the panel and it sounded hollow on the other side  These are vents? What are they for? Fluttershy wondered

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Yes, that is one. And it seems to be not reinforced, wich means i know of a means to get trough it."

"Festus, could you use your fire breath to melt trough those iron bars that are holding the front of it? We can create our entrance from that." Jack suggested

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus nodded positioning himself accordingly starting to melt the bars his flame breath seemed almost hotter than Ember's as it had seemed to see more use, possibly due to Ember using so many different weapons she never needed it. After a minute or two, Festus took the bars off. "That'll do right?" He asked not sure if he burned enough off, but he did leave enough room for the three to get in.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack nodded.

"That should do good." he said with a smile.

He then jumped from Fluttershy straight to the vents and ripped out the bars one by one.

"Fluttershy, if things tend to get to dangerous, could you warn one of the others to help us out? Perhaps Ember might be the best call since she and that new pony don't exactly seem to go along well." Jack suggested as he entered the vent.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Oh... Yes of course... I noticed the little quarrel between them as well... I'm nervous about them fighting and if they fight who knew what may happen..." Fluttershy said nervously as she entered the vent.

Festus reassured her by saying "Ember's rather level headed though. It should be alright... I hope so at least." He followed behind Fluttershy

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

As Jack was crawling through the vents, he was a bit quiet until he spoke up again.

"To be honest i am getting pretty tired of fighting, all i really wan't is just be somewhere safe and actually spent some time with family, but i know it is just dream never come true at this point, considering everything that beenn going on, what about you guys?" he asked.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Fluttershy sighed "Like you, I can never really sit with my whole family anymore, what with Maple gone... But perhaps I could hope to settle down after all this is over with what's left of my family."

Festus shrugged "I don't really know, the only thing I wish is that my wings weren't useless, perhaps then I'd be stronger than I am now. Other than that I do just want to be stronger than I am. Which is why I use the shield, It gives me confidence."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Well, to be honest, while my instincts tell me i need to do this, i feel like i just don't have the strength for it, i mean, my situation is shifting so much. I am just really afraid i end up collapsing in the middle of the battle. I haven't eaten or drank for a very long time, sleep is something i barely do, i will never be able to understand how body is able to keep this all going." Jack said puzzled.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I... I don't know how much longer I think I can go without a bit of water..." Fluttershy said worried "You think they keep stuff we could eat here? If so maybe we should take some it'll be bad if someone passes out..." She was really worried as the tone in her voice.

Festus just stayed quiet for a bit unsure of what to say.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I am afraid we won't be finding here anything Fluttershy, they don't exactly give out food to their prisoners and the guards itself don't necessarily eat, they more take... I rather not go into to much detail regarding that."

Jack sighed.

'This is not going to end well, there is the chance that Fluttershy might not be able to defend her self, Festus still can defend himself good, but i am still having doubts about myself. And normally i never lack any kind of hope or morale since i was either alone or with others who were used to these things all the time. But now.. my hopes are dropping faster than ever, Festus is someone who is rather identical to me regarding these things, so i have no doubts about him, but with Fluttershy, this is just not going to end well, i worry myself to no end but with her worry at the same time, our courage is getting weaker within every second, this is not going to work.. Why did at least Ember or Celestia not come along? They have been in combat for so many times and do not particularly get demoralized by such things. At any rate, i should just accept the fact that it is likely I am going to die, being alone does have the benefit of not having to worry about others, but with Fluttershy's state? I can barely save my own self, so how could i even protect her? No, this plan needs to change.' he thought.

"Fluttershy, this is not going to work, it is to dangerous as of how it is going, could you get Ember? We CANNOT take any risk here because we make one mistake and one of us ends up dying or worse, there is no way i am going to let that happen." Jack said with a determined tone.

"Festus, you and me should go on ahead but not carry out direct attacks, only attack if we have no other choice, but to keep it safe we try to get past them without causing any suspicion." he said.

'Hopefully, this is enough, it seems mimicking Kiran's way of strategy might just be our best course of action here.' Jack thought.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Fluttershy nodded "Ok... I don't know if I could do this anyway. Feeling a bit woozy." She said as she started to leave the vent "Good luck."

Festus sat down in the vent "I guess we're waiting then? Or should we keep going and let Ember catch up?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack gave Fluttershy a nod

"Yes we are, perhaps it's best if we wait. It looked best for me this way also since you and Ember know how to follow my signals without strong panic and fear. While Fluttershy could be capable of that to, i was noticing alot of doubt and fear still coming from her, and considering how dangerous this place is, it would be very dangerous for her, you gotta keep in mind we are in one of the most dangerous places that exist, i am honestly surprised how good we have managed so far." Jack whispered to Festus.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus sighed "I really do feel bad for her, She was so confident but all that has been stripped from her... Well, we can't worry too much about that now... It'll ruin our will to keep going, Though I have a question, Do you regret falling into Equestria? Or perhaps are you glad to have shown when you did?"

Fluttershy was running quickly but she seemed to have attracted the attention of a few guards since she was making quite a bit of noise.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Jack nodded but his eyes got a surprised look as he heard Festus his question.

"Well... That is a pretty hard one to answer, I am very glad that i landed onto Equestria for a  couple of reasons, for one, i have met all of you guys, and it also changed me a bit. But on the other side... Because i crashed into Equestria, alot of time went by as i stayed there, and while i was safe, i was breaking a promise, and many had to pay the price for this incident.." Jack said.

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus nodded "Well you basically saved our race! Imagine if these infested would have shown up and Ember had gone into a conversion center not knowing what she was up against and died, It would have been a lot worse than what it is now. Plus now you've got Equestria's army to help you end this conflict. I'm sure those people would forgive you, Especially because... Well I think it was a crash, wasn't it? So that means you couldn't help it."

 

Fluttershy eventually reached Ember and Celestia even though she was being chased. Celestia, Ember, and the Nameless pony all attacked the guards dispatching them quickly before Ember ran off to go find Festus and Jack. She, as she was running off, heard Fluttershy say "They're in a vent right now." She gave her a thumbs up and kept running.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I am afraid there is not much to forgive, most of them are already long dead by this point, the only survivor that could still be alive is one of my older friends, but I am not even sure if he is still alive, after 3 years of being absent that planet has gone through terrible changes, and every chance I had to liberate it is now gone, which means my friend is perhaps no longer even alive if I can speculate from all the disaster that has been playing. And while losing ones who are dear to you happens alot these times, losing someone wich you started to see as someone who truly understood you is perhaps even harder. If he is truly dead i can never forgive myself, never..." Jack said.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I... Don't know if you believe this kinda stuff but if he is gone from this world... His spirit still lives on... possibly in someone else." Festus sighed as he said that "Never mind all that spirit stuff and more beyond death, It's not something I think you care to hear right now." A little bit after he stopped talking he heard something approaching them quickly.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I actually-" Jack, however, stopped as he heard it too.

He was listening closely for specific sounds, and after a few seconds, he whispered something in Festus his ear.

"I have been listening for the sound of breathing, but none could be heard, which means the person could be holding his breath. I also hear footsteps, but it sounds off from the boots that the guards wear, instead of it sounds a bit heavier version of feet, what do you think? Could it be Ember?" Jack whispered.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

After a few more second Festus got tackled by Ember "Are you two ok?!" She whispered loudly "Fluttershy came by and I figured she would if you two weren't alright because I and Celestia knew Fluttershy would run when there was danger..."

"W... We're ok." Festus said standing up. "We were waiting on you we wanted Fluttershy to come but she was just too scared at the moment. Jack, what were you saying before I got tackled?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I will tell you later, for now, we kinda need to go through with a plan. Our objective is pretty deep down and trying to fight through all their defenses is not going to be the best option, but this air vent probably won't go that deep, which means we must find some sort of elevator. When we reach one then we can fight our way through to the inhibitors. Speed is mainly going to be of the essence here once we get out of the vents. Does that sound like a plan?" Jack suggested.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"If we're trying to hurry then maybe it'd be best we didn't just sneak by, but I think that's the only option we have here. Lead on I trust that you have enough leader ship to get us through this safely no matter how dumb the Idea may seem." Festus said confidently. "Let's just hope it goes alright."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Leadership might perhaps not be the best term when it comes to my teachings, while I did learn it from a very skilled person, there is no way I could actually take leadership in something." Jack admitted.

He mentioned for them to follow him.

As they were heading through the air vents, about 5 minutes later Jack stopped, as he heard sounds coming from down them.

He looked trough one of the ven't gates, and saw 2 guards in a room operating something.

"2 guards directly below us, but the ven't door is locked, but on the bright side, these walls are very thick, wich means sounds are muffled, wich gives us a better chance at stealth."

"What guys do you think? Should we take them down by stealth or fight our way trough them and run towards the evelator? When we stealth further it means it will be difficult to get this vent door lose without attracting the attention of those 2, but if we fight our way trough we have lost the element of surprise, what do you guys prefer?" Jack asked

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Festus was about to say something but he looked at Ember both of them nodded and melted the vent Festus caught it before it made any noise and Ember left down killing both of them "Actually I got a new Idea." Ember took a look at the guard's armor. "Think that'll fit?"

Festus shrugged "No idea... try it on."

Ember took the armor. "Let me see." Ember left the room carrying the armor.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"That might work, if you can manage to cover up your wings and tail, you should be all good." Jack said..

It was eventually later that Jack was mentioned something.

"Tough while I am not sure if Festus will be the correct height, I for a fact I am going to be spotted the moment they see me, and this kind of armour doesn't really fit me either."

"But if i may give you some advice, try not to speak entire lines, they are rather good at noticing when someone is showing diffren't sign's then they are, however, short replies and gestures are a good idea since those gas mask have a inbuild voice filter, wich is excellent for our case."

[Maple Bat 3,568]

After a bit Ember came back into the room wearing the guard's armor she was a bit bigger than the guards themselves but you couldn't tell with the armor on, She did n't have the mask on yet but if she had she would have fooled Festus. "Well... It works... I think but I don't think I saw any female guards do you think that'll ruin the plan?"

"Just because we didn't see any doesn't mean they aren't around I think it'll be ok." Festus told her. "Jack would probably agree