Mane Effect

by Quillery

Chapter 8: The Dig

Chapter 8: The Dig

“Holy moly thats a lot of holies!”

Ponies in my line of work frequently live in the depths of space. Working on some distant trawler, or some backwater salvage depot, perhaps even, like myself, working on a military vessel. Whatever their tasks may be, whether it’s repairing a broken capacitor to make sure the warp drive functions, or that all the cutting tools are at maximum efficiency and ensuring that the weapon systems are fully primed and ready to go. While any of these ponies may work in vastly different settings, they all share one thing in common.

Space. It surrounds us, stretching out farther than the eye or the mind can fathom. Even on the surface of a planet, only so much of the worlds beyond it can be seen through the sky with the naked eye. With a telescope, the range grows wider, but still only covers at a best estimation, a single percent of the entire galaxy. Not even from the apex of space itself can we cover everything. Something always is missed, some little detail or hidden treasures that escape our combing eyes. Its those very secrets that make the endless emptiness of space seem bearable.

Swirling galaxies, endless nebulas, countless stars and millions of worlds. These are only a few of the trademark beauties in the universe that add color to the dismal landscape of black that fills the night sky, and makes working in it as a nomadic engineer all the easier. But sometimes, there are times where trudging through the blackness can be overwhelming to you. Sometimes the canvas of black can be all you see, and if you look into it deeply enough, you could be lost to it.

And that’s where I found myself now. Floating along, through what seemed to be an endless landscape of black. I tried to reach down in the hopes of finding a solid surface to ground myself, but only emptiness returned my swatting grasp. This place seemed to be endless, because I’d been hovering for at least ten minutes with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Maybe I was dreaming, but I’d never had a dream this boring before. It could have been another vision, but I had seen all that I could from the beacon on Equestria Prime. Or at least I thought I did. Since it was destroyed though, I would never know for certain. All I knew now is that I felt trapped in what might have been nothing more than a stress induced fever-dream from all the new happenings in my life.

I say black, not dark, because despite the void appearance of my surroundings, I still could see perfectly well. Sure, I could only see myself, but it was better than being shrouded in eternal darkness. I felt like I was being tugged towards something. It was a similar feeling that I remembered from the ending of the vision. That ever present sense of pestering at the front of my mind that pulled me from the dreamworld now seemed to be guiding me here, where to, though, had yet to be seen.

I wasn’t, freaking out, not yet anyways. Despite the eeriness of everything around, I felt no sense of dread, no malevolence, nothing. It was as if I was in the midst of complete and utter neutrality. Everything was still, motionless, non existent. I just wish I would hurry along and get to the point! As far as I was concerned, all this pointless floating around was robbing me of what should have been a pleasant nights sleep!

Somehow, I think something got the point at my rising frustrations. Slowly, a razors edge of light began to grow in the distance, forming a glowing horizon. A corona of light, slowly crept up into the inky sky, casting a violet light over the landscape. The source of the light filled the once blackened sky, an orb of prismatic colors, much like a dying sun. A shape formed within the light. It was a blob of darkness, or perhaps a shadow of something standing between me and the eternally setting sun. Its shape became clearer the closer I got to it, until it was impossible for me to not identify it. A slender body, four legs and hooves and a long flowing mane that shimmered in the light of dusk. It was a mare, of purplish color in coat and mane. A mare I had seen before, in my dreams.

Whatever force that was propelling me towards her stopped just as I arrived beside her. She looked a great deal younger than our last encounter, but there was no doubt that this was the same mare from the vision that I had seen in the reflection. Her lavender fur almost glistened in the unnatural light, her hair twisting in a phantom wind. She stared straight forward with violet eyes, her gaze unbreaking from the horizon.

“Excuse me,” I asked. “Where are we?”

No response. She blinked, but made no other indication that she had heard me.

“Who are you?”

Still nothing. I followed her gaze to the horizon, looking at the glowing sun that floated unmoving in the darkened sky. Aside from the strange glow it emitted from this strange landscape, it seemed like any normal sun. Why was this mare so focused on it? I turned my head back to her, only to see her looking right at me. She had a morose expression on her face, her eyes glinting with sadness. I would have asked another question, when the light illuminating her body began to fade away.

I looked back to the sun. Something had quickly moved in front of it, something very, very large. It was a rock, an asteroid, twice the size of any freighter or dreadnought that I had ever worked on. And it was moving right towards us. The monstrous rock took little effort in blotting out what little light there was, filling my entire field of view and still grew larger as it approached. I glanced back to the mare, who was still staring at me.

“What are you trying to tell me?”

She slowly turned her head to the asteroid, then back to me, closing her eyes.

“The asteroid? Is that important?”

She lifted her right hoof, tapping on her left just above the fetlock in a gentle motion. Her eyes opened again, a smile forming slowly on her muzzle. That was the last thing I saw before I felt the force holding me up dissipate around me, dropping me into the black abyss below. I tumbled into the inky darkness, catching glimpses of the moon sized monster that hung in the air like an a stagnant omen. The void wrapped around me, like silken strands of velvet as the spun themselves, constricting my movement. Now, I was feeling panic. I was falling, spinning, and being slowly wrapped tighter by the very darkness that I was surrounded by.

Then I hit rock bottom.

The surge of pain when you fall out of bed is more than enough to wake you from a unfriendly dream and for once, I was grateful for it. I was, however, conflicted on how I felt about my freedom from my strange dream. On one hoof, I had returned to the safety of solid ground. On the other, I had returned to the safety of solid ground, with my face. I groaned as the rest of my twisted body followed suit in my heads journey to the ground, tangled in the mess of cloth that were my blankets, a delightful thud accompanying my descent to the floor. Remaining motionless, I sat quietly on the floor, trying desperately to piece together my cryptic dream. That mare was trying to tell me something and it had something to do with an asteroid. A scary one at that. I didn’t think it was possible for a rock to worry me, but that one would give me nightmares for nights to come.

An pounding noise began echoing through my mind. It felt like listening to the sound of my heartbeat, rumbling through my spinning mind. It was rather calming, until I realised that the timing was off. I knew I had just woken up from a alarming dream, but my heart shouldn’t be racing at a constant, heightening pace. Or sound like it was speaking my name.

“Hey Shepard? You ok in there?”

It sounded like Dexter. I rolled over towards the source of his voice, my gaze falling on the door. Something was banging on it rather loudly. I slowly untangled myself from the bed and got to my hooves and trotted over to the door, my mind still distant by the ominous dream. I opened the door for the Lieutenant, who had a worried look on his face.

“Are you ok, Shepard? I’ve been knocking for a while.”

“I’m fine,” I said, yawning. “Just a weird dream.”

He nodded tentatively in understanding, but it didn’t help his worried look. “Is there something wrong?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“No,” he shook his head. “But we’re about to exit the FTL jump. Thought you might want to get ready.”

I looked at the clock on my omni-tool, confirming what he said. We were about ten minutes out, but it was definitely a good idea to prepare ahead of time. “Alright, you go on ahead Dexter. I’ll catch up.”

“Of course.” He turned around and trotted away briskly. “I’ll see you there Shepard. Don’t take too long, or you’ll miss the show.”

The what? I would have asked, but Dexter was already gone. I returned to my room, sighing at the disastrous mess that used to be my bed. That dream had certainly gone to outrageous lengths to mess with my head, but what did it mean? Who was that mare, and why was she still in my head? These questions were going to have to wait until later, as well as repairing the damage it caused to my room. I shut the door behind me and chased after Dexter.

The ship was much quieter than normal as I darted through the corridors. I supposed others took the time to rest as I did. I couldn’t blame them. The last few days had been hectic, stressful and chaotic. Plus we had moved from the incident on Equestria Prime to the Corral and now to Trawlis in no less than twenty four hours. With little time to rest in between no less.

The alert that the jump was about to end seemed to rouse the ship from its slumber, as I noticed the decks steadily become filled with more ponies. The navigation room was the least affected by the long travel, many of the original technicians still at their posts. Westward was still at his position at the galaxy map, tapping away his holographic display dutifully. The door to the cockpit was propped open, and Dexter had just stepped through it.

I moved towards the pilots nest, stopping a few times to politely return a crewpony’s salute as I passed them. The darkened room was more populated than I expected as I entered. The grumpy soldier was leaning against the consoles along the left, while the aloof pegasus was standing just beside Pipsqueak’s chair on his right, on the opposite side from her newly acquired rival. Pipsqueak and her seemed to be talking about something, differences in piloting most likely, while South was staring quietly out the window into space, while Dexter continued walking up to the pilot.

“How much longer, Pipsqueak?” he asked.

I saw Pipsqueaks head turn from Firestorm to Dexter from behind his chair. “About five more minutes, Dex. Did you get Shepard?”

“I’m here,” I announced.

Everypony turned to look at me, inciting at least a pleasant smile from everypony but South, not that I expected anything different. I joined Dexter and Firestorm at the front of the room. Pipsqueak chuckled once I arrived beside him..

“Good to see you here, Shepard. Now you get to see the master at work for real.”

“Just don’t crash the ship coming out of a simple jump, Pipsqueak.” Dexter teased. “Wouldn’t be much of an assignment if we all died on the first day.”

“Jeeze Lieutenant,” Pipsqueak groaned. “Way to be morbid. You act as if I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Dexter smiled. “Just keep her steady flyboy. We’re on a short schedule and need to catch up to Artemis, wherever he is.”

“Yea, yea.” the pilot mumbled. He took hold of the ship, swiping at the holographic controls with practiced experience. The console bleeped steadily, toning the familiar noise that signaled the end of a FTL jump. A second tone accompanied the original, one I never heard before in my previous observations of a space jump. Pipsqueak glanced at the flashing set of lights, dismissing them with a casual shrug.

“Is that something important, Pipsqueak?” I asked.

“Nah, the hyperdrive sonar just picked up a bit of space junk in our exit space. The auto cannons will clean it up if there’s any risk. The odds of us running into anything big enough without a marker tag would be a million to one.”

The Normanedy shuddered as the blue vortice of light surrounding us began to wither and wane. The coursing energy of the EX core hummed loudly as the vessel began to return to normal speed. The tunnel of light fractured and shattered into nothing. The starry background of space blurred back into view as the FTL drives whirred to a crawl. Pipsqueak pulled back on the vessel and the Normanedy tilted upwards, bringing a series of large planets scattered over a vast region of space into view.

“See? Nothing to worry about. Like I said. Million to one.”

Pipsqueak spun around in his chair, beaming. He looked like he expected a round of applause and gave a little pout when he didn’t receive one. Dexter walked up to the window, looking out over the portion of space we had entered. His head became illuminated by the radiant light of a nearby star as he came close to the window. There was a pleasant look on his face as he looked out into space, when a blurr of shadow darted across him. I don’t think anypony but he and I noticed it, as we were the only ones who darted to the other window.

Peering frantically outside the cabin, I searched for the source of the strange shadow, not that it was difficult. Careening towards us, like a bad nightmare come to life, was the same massive asteroid that I remembered from my dream. Even as a plain old rock, it was impossible to not see the similarities of this massive chunk of space rock, including the rate as it was approaching us.

“Uh, Pipsqueak.” I blurted. “I think that will be that one you were talking about.”

He spun his chair forward again, trying to see over Dexter and I. “What are you talking abou-”

Warning signals started blaring through the cabin, accompanied by ear shattering wails and blinking red lights. Pipsqueak’s eyes doubled in size as his gaze finally fell onto the behemoth rock hurtling towards our tiny vessel. I heard his chair grind in protest as he whirled it to his controls.

“EVERYPONY, HOLD ON!”

The Normanedy dived downwards and swung out wide, narrowly avoiding the path of the asteroid. It was difficult to maintain balance with the sudden change of direction and even the motion dampeners failed to keep the ones of us that weren’t seated from bouncing into each other. I felt my hooves slip on the cold steel floors in the shift of gravity and nearly went flying when the Normanedy righted itself upwards again. I felt a warm glow surround me and Dexter, as he struggled his magic to keep us from flying around the confined room. Dexter was unable to keep me facing forward though, as I spun around in place. I saw South riding the turbulence with reckless enthusiasm, shifting her body with the rocking and tumbling of the Normanedy’s hull as if she had done it many times before. Firestorm seemed to also be keeping from tumbling around, beating her wings furiously to keep her hooves solidly on the ground.

Pipsqueak finally regained control of his emergency maneuver and brought the Normanedy to bear. The ship straightened itself in a single direction and the artificial gravity was finally doing its job at keeping us from crashing into the walls. Although we were safe, the tumble through space was enough to inconveniently bring back my space sickness. I wobbled on my hooves as the dizziness set in, but I managed to lean against the chair to keep my balance. For now, until we could determine what just happened, I was going to have to fight this feeling down before I sought Chalkdust’s and her ‘treatment’.

The Normanedy crawled to a stop. Pipsqueak released a weighted sigh of relief a he went limp in his chair, almost sliding out of it. South was the first to voice a coherent thought. “Is ev’ry pony ok?”

“Think I might have ruffled a few feathers there,” Firestorm replied glibly. “But I’ve been worse.”

South didn’t acknowledge the Pegasus, instead moving towards where Dexter and I were standing. He seemed to be ok, as well as Pipsqueak who was still breathing heavily. We all stared out the window at the giant rock that we nearly ran into, as it continued its journey through space unaffected by our presence.

“Will somepony get that lout Westward in here?” the pilot barked. “I’d love to know how he missed a rock the size of Manehatten state!”

“I’m right here, Mr. Piper.” the navigator groused.

We all turned around to see the elder stallion wobbling slightly as he entered the room, with a weary look on his face. His officers tunic was torn in some places, dirty in others. It seemed that we in the pilot’s roost were not the only one bounced around a fair bit.

“Would somepony kindly explain what in the seven circles of space happened?”

Pipsqueak spun in his chair, hopping out with a sharp clank on the metal floors. He beelined towards Westward in a huff with a very angry look on his face. “Would you like to explain how you missed that?!” he shouted, pointing out the window.

Westward trotted past the fuming pilot over to the window. Horror spread across his features as he too fully realized the reality of what happened. He muttered something harshly under his breath, darting over to the nearby console near the doorway.

“It can’t be,” he muttered. “It isn’t possible, not something that large.”

We all shared worried glances with each other over Westwards frantic state. He feverishly prodded at the console, flashing through readers and all sorts of navigational jargon that I might understand, if I bothered to research it.

“What is it, Westward?” I asked.

He stopped, looking at us with a slightly calmer expression. “That asteroid is twice the size of a class M.”

“Class M?”

Firestorm stepped beside me, giving me a plain look. “Asteroids that can cause serious harm to a planet are often tagged with danger levels, Shepard. Defense computers can pick up on them and allow Corral fleets to monitor them incase they become a threat to a colony.”

“E-exactly.” Westward agreed. “This one is the largest I have ever seen. A class M would destabilize a planets atmosphere by engulfing it in dust and debris, as well as leave a sizable hole in its surface. This one would obliterate a planet in seconds”

“Well, where did it come from?” Firestorm inquired.

“Whut do you mean, ‘where did it come from’?” South snarked. “It came from out there!”

Firestorm rolled her eyes. “We are also very close to the galactic rim here, its very possible that thing came from the dead space between galaxies. Thats probably why nopony has noticed it before.”

“She’s right. “Westward interrupted. He was at the console again, checking his data. “That thing would have only arrived from the galactic terminus less than a week ago at its current velocity. A very unfortunate coincidence.”

Coincidence my left hoof. That thing was from a dream I had woken up not ten minutes ago. That mare seemed to know something about it. Maybe it wasn’t just chance that we happened to run into it now. It had to go deeper than that.

“Where is it headed?” I asked.

Westward completed his calculations and mulled over the results. A weak laugh escaped his mouth, followed by the return of his morose expression. “Now that is just not playing fair,” he deadpanned.

“What, what is it?” Dexter asked worriedly.

“Trawlis. Thats where it’s headed.”

Pipsqueak groaned. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“I wish I was. In less than ten hours that rock will collide with Trawlis right along its equatorial fault line. Trawlis is a very large world, but even it wouldn’t survive a hit from something that large.”

“Then whut are we doing yammerin around here?” South drawled excitedly. “We gotta git’ a move on!”

“On it!” Pipsqueak bounded back to his chair and the Normanedy quickly lurched forward. Permission for a short distance jump, Commander? The faster we get there the better.”

“Do it, we’ve wasted enough time.”

I could feel the Normanedy’s engines hum loudly as it charged for a short distance jump. Everypony braced themselves for another dive through lightspeed, while I on the other hoof, wobbled sickeningly towards the exit out of the room.

Before the jump completed, I heard Dexter call after me. “Shepard, where are you going?”

“To see Chalkdust,” I replied weakly. “I need a drink.”

---

“I certainly hope I am not inuring you to this sort of treatment, Shepard.” The matronly doctor chided. “This was meant as a temporary solution while your body naturally adjusted to artificial gravity, not to be a crutch to rely on.”

I deposited the now emptied glass of the burning liquid onto the small white table with a heavy hoof. “You and me both, Doc.”

As much as the process of quelling my stomach tremors became easier, it was still an unpleasant method of achieving it. It looked pretty bad if the Commander of a spaceship couldn’t hold their liquor and it was even worse if they couldn’t stand switching between natural and artificial gravity. I really hoped that Chalkdust was right about my body eventually getting used to it, I just wished it would hurry the hell up.

“Are you certain you are alright though, Shepard? I can imagine these past few days have been taxing on you and I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself. As much as I enjoy my profession, I do not enjoy repeat visits with such frequency.”

She had a solemn and worried expression on her face. I could tell she was genuinely concerned for my well being and I was very grateful for it. But I don’t think even she would fully understand the mess that became of my mind since the relic on Equestria Prime. First that vision, then the prophetic dream, I wondered grimly what else I would have to look forward to.

“I’ll be fine Chalkdust, really. I just need to get an actual nights rest for once.” I tried to add a sarcastic spin to my voice, but it was lost on the doting doctor. She merely shook her head and turned away to return her supplies and instruments.

I heard the door to the med-bay open, followed by two silhouettes moving towards us from behind the veiled curtain. The canvas cover fluttered open revealing an armored South and Dexter. Chalkdust nodded to the two entering soldiers. “The Commander is fit for duty, Lieutenant,” she said affirmingly. She quietly slipped out behind them, leaving us alone in the inner sanctum of the curtain.

“You ready to go Shepard?” Dexter asked. “Pipsqueak said we’re gonna be in Trawlis’ orbit any second now.”

“So long as he don’t try an’ crash us into any more o’ those asteroids,” South added dryly.

I hopped off the bed, shaking loose the last bit of tension from my aching body. “Yea, I’m good to go.” I glanced at my companions armor. “I guess I should get suited up too.”

Dexter stopped me when I tried to walk past him. He had a stern look on his face, which was something I never expected to see on the jovial Lieutenant. “Are you sure you are ok, Shepard? I saw that haunted look you had after that asteroid.”

I chuckled weakly, trying to dissuade his prying. “Who wouldn’t be spooked after a close call like that? I’m fine, Dexter. Really.”

He looked like he was going to press further, when South laid a hoof on his own. “Lay off, Dexter. If Shepard’s alright, then Shepard’s alright, don’t we got someplace tuh be thats more important right about now?”

South was defending me now, that was new. I wondered what I had done to earn such a gift, or perhaps she was just waiting until after all the shooting was done to pester me with worry. Whatever reason she had to be suddenly altruistic, it seemed to work on Dexter, who finally lowered his hoof that was barring my way. “Yea, ok. If you say you’re fine Shepard, I believe you. Just don’t hesitate to talk to somepony if something changes.”

I nodded silently at his concern and continued towards the exit. We joined together and left the med-bay, moving through the levels of the ship until we found ourselves in the depths of the cargo section. The room was still as scarcely populated as it was when we left the Corral and I found myself missing the platoons of soldiers that once called the Normanedy home. South and Dexter wandered over to the pile of supplies surrounding Depot, leaving me alone to get my equipment from my locker. Putting on my armor was also getting easier with practice, and it wasn’t long before I rejoined my companions at the front of the room. Depot was in the middle of showing them some rifles and other weapon paraphernalia, when I noticed the elevator doors open.

Firestorm stepped out, her sniper rifle cradled ominously over her shoulders. She glanced our way, moving across the room briskly. Her heavy Pegasus armor clanked loudly on the metal floors, causing South and Dexter to look her way. The Lieutenant gave the approaching Pegasus an approving nod, while South settled on a contemptuous snort.

“So Ah guess we all are goin’ down there together, huh?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Why wouldn’t we all go? We have no idea what’s down there, or if it’s safe.”

“Ah suppose so...” South agreed sourly.

Firestorm trotted up finally, looking around at us and even giving South a friendly smile. If she was purposely trying to goad her into anger, it seemed to be working. South shot back a sneer and snagged her rifle from the table, walking away in a huff. Nopony made a comment until the soldier trotted away towards the other side of the room.

“My coming along isn’t going to cause problems is it?” the Pegasus asked.

“She’ll be fine,” I remarked. “She just needs some time to warm up to you.”

“Or an ice pick,” Dexter added dryly.

Firestorm and I laughed at his comment. His face went still as he closed his eyes in focus. After a brief moment of concentration, a weak blue glow emitted from his temple, as a similar glow enveloped his own rifle. He lifted his weapon with his magic effortlessly and attached it to the side of his armor. Firestorm’s eyes widened slightly at the simple feat of telekinesis, whistling approvingly.

“I never did look into how Earth Pony’s reacted when they started getting into magitech. What generation are you?”

Dexter grinned. “I’m first generation myself. It was a pretty big mess when foals started lifting things with their minds. It took nearly a decade to balance it all out.”

Firestorm nodded with interest. “Cool. The Pegasi have had access to magitech for a few centuries now I think, since we ran into the Unicorns at least. But for the most part, we still only rely on our own natural talent of weather control. It’s all we’ve ever needed, and it’s probably all we’ll ever need.”

“That makes sense, I guess. We are sort of the same. We use it mostly for little things, like using tools more efficiently. But South over there is living proof that we as a race prefer to doing things ‘the Earth Pony way’.”

“Hah. I’d bet she would rather die than use magitech if she was given the choice.”

“Probably.”

I finally got around to getting the rest of my own gear sorted away, when the intercom buzzed to life.

“Hey guys,” Pipsqueak called out. “We’re five minutes from entering Trawlis’ orbit. I hope you guys are ready.”

“Almost, Pipsqueak,” I answered. “Have you hailed the colony on surface yet?”

“I did during the jump, but didn’t get anything. I’ll try again.”

A faint buzzing filled the air, as Pipsqueaks voice hummed through radio static. “Hailing Granite base of operations. This is SEV Normandey requesting docking clearance. Please respond.”

More buzzing, but no reply. “Granite base, this is Normanedy. A class M asteroid is on a direct collision course with Trawlis, do you read?”

Nothing. The channel simply continued to buzz with ominously quiet static.

“Looks like you might have been right about Artemis coming Shepard,” Dexter remarked gravely.

Of all things I would get right as my first official act as a Commander, and it had to be this. I should have felt relieved that we were on the right path, but the fact that an entire mining complex, one that encompassed nearly a quarter of a planet, had gone dark.

“Do you see anything out of the ordinary, Pipsqueak?” Firestorm added. “A Geld dropship maybe?”

“Nope, nothing. The sky over the complex is empty. Hang on, I’ll open the cargo doors once we clear atmo.”

The ship rumbled loudly as she slipped through the planets atmospheric barriers. The sound of air and friction roared from the outside of the steel walls of the vessel as we left the emptiness of space into the bonds of earth. I felt the gentle tug of natural gravity pull on me, and the relaxing sensation it brought to my stomach was a welcome relief.

“Almost to the colony, opening cargo-bay doors.”

The metal plating groaned as the hydraulic doors slowly began to descend. Air rushed into the room as the Normanedy flew threw the air. We all stepped slowly towards the door as it opened, taking in the sight of the surface as it came into view.

A barren, rocky mesa stretched out in all directions. Scores of jagged cliffs and desolate ravines disappeared below us as the Normanedy zipped along the surface. I noticed a series of towers protruding from the landscape in the distance. They stood out from the surrounding hills with sharp, deliberate shapes and sizes, not belonging among the rock and dust covered surface of Trawlis. As we got closer, the maze like web of canyons below us blended into wide, gaping chasms in the earth. Dozens of giant, black pits were scattered around in a large circular pattern around a central, pillar like structure.

The Normanedy began to slow, and lifted higher from the earth to soar above the strange cylindrical building that we had seen from space. The building, if I would call it that, was more like a giant metal scaffolding dug around the walls of an enormous crater. The structure appeared to be sectioned off in coils, each level separated at regular intervals into the pit. At the top, a platform was suspended in the air, connected by catwalks and ramps that weaved through each level of the coiling mineshaft.

“Now that,” South drawled. “Is a mighty big hole.”

“You can’t even see the bottom,” Dexter added.

I looked down into the massive pit below us. The coils were lined with powerful floodlights, illuminating the depths of the shaft, but it was not enough to reveal all of it. Just endless, ominous black descending into the center of the planet. The Normanedy hovered listlessly in the air, the droning noise of the engines bringing a sense of calm to my mind, which was a welcome feeling all things considered.

“How wide is it even?

“Almost five kilometers,” Firestorm replied quickly.

We all looked at her, everypony mimicking the same puzzled expression. She noticed our sudden stares and smirked, tapping her hoof to her visor.

“Does that thing say how deep it is?” I asked.

She shook her head. “This things range is about ten kilometers, if it goes farther than that, it won’t get an accurate reading.”

South snorted impatiently. “We’ll, we ain’t gettin’ nothin’ done gawkin’ up here like a bunch of birds. Pipsqueak, hows about you start landin’ down there?”

The pilots voice piped up over the speakers. “Yea, I’ll have to bring her down to the platform manually though. If nopony is responding, chances are we won’t be able to use the docking station.”

True to his word, Pipsqueak started the Normanedy on a slow descent towards the uppermost platform covering the massive chasm below us. The shaft grew wider as we got closer, like the opening maw of a massive creature waiting to gobble us up like a tasty treat. That thought alone sent a shiver down my spine. I broke my gaze from the hole to remove that disturbing thought from my mind, and instead focused on the series of platforms that we were approaching. The top layer looked to be comprised of storage areas. It was covered with countless boxes and other containers, stacked in piles all over.

We drifted towards an open area on the platform, devoid of any boxes or other junk that would impede our landing. I could feel the strafing movements of the Normanedy as Pipsqueak deftly steered the ship forward towards the looming platforms. Looking down at this point treated me to a full face of the blackness below, and it was all I could do from freaking out and falling to cling onto the hydraulic arm of the cargo bay doors.

Eventually the ship righted itself, and slowed into a gentle hover mere feet above the waiting storage area. My companions leaned over the edge, surveying the area carefully. A loud, boisterous cry filled the air as South bounded from the safety of the ship. Her long scarlet hair flailed wildly in the wind, seeking release from the white brimmed hat that rested securely on her head. Her landing echoed across the deserted platform below with a tremendous thud. She spun around deftly, taking hold of her hat and waving it triumphantly at us.

A bright blue light shone from beside me, as Dexter calmly walked towards the edge of the ship. Hs pace didn’t falter once, even as his hooves left the metal floor and began stepping through the empty air. His entire body shimmered with a blue outline as he steadily walked towards the ground on a phantom staircase. Even the rowdy mare below him went silent in awe at the display of magic.

Firestorm had the easiest of it. Even in her heavy looking armor, her wings flared out effortlessly and fluttered gracefully, lifting her from the ground. Her eyes were shut tightly as she tilted forward, dropping into a swift dive. Her speed of descent was great, descending far below the edge of the platform. With a single beat of her wings, her course corrected upwards, soaring just over the lip of the ground. Her wings coursed strongly, before she stopped graciously onto the solid found beneath her.

That of course, left me, still on the Normanedy by myself. The edge I was standing on was no longer lingering over the endless put below, but there was something about the five or so foot jump that wracked my limbs with dread. My mind raced and my body twitched with nervous worry. I watched my friends below, who had already begun spreading out across the platform, not even paying attention to the fact that I was still aboard the ship. If they could move on and move out without a second thought or care, then why couldn’t I?

I looked tentatively at the section of ground again, swallowing a lump forming in my throat.
I released my death grip of the Normanedy, shoving off from the edge with little skill or tact. I nearly tripped over my own hoofs as I hit the ground, twisting and skipping forward in an ungraceful manner. But I managed to not fall flat onto my face, so I guess that was worth something. Shortly after I had landed, I heard the Normanedy’s engines begin to rise. I looked behind me to see her spinning sleekly through the air, twisting sideways. She dropped downwards for a moment, low enough even for me to see Pipsqueak smiling through the aft window and waving at me. His voice crackled over my radio.

“I’ll keep her in low orbit Shepard. Just holler if you need anything, and be careful.”

I waved back as he steered away from the platform, angling the vessel upwards. With a blast that roared of thunder, the Normanedy surged upwards in a burst of speed and into the cloudless sky. Only when she was completely gone from my view did I bother to turn back to the reality I was now in. My friends hadn’t gone far, and were waiting for me before proceeding into the facility. Feigning any chance that this was some cruel joke, or another bizarre dream, I broke out into a canter, catching up with the rest of the party, ready to move on, madness and all.

---

“So. Anypony else creeped out by this place or is it just me?”

There was no arguing with that. It only took us a few minutes to go through the entirety of the storage areas on the top level of the facility. It would have gone slower had there been anypony working here, asking us pointless questions, or perhaps even shooting at us. But that was not the case. Each step we took through the area echoed gloomily against the vaulted walls surrounding us. Each breath, each word, each idle comment magnified and traveled endlessly and rebounded back to us. We were completely alone.

At this point, we were navigating the section of catwalks that connected the upper levels together, hoping that somewhere there was a sign of what had happened here before we arrived. With the four of us moving together, it was easy for us to move along while keeping an eye on every direction. The last thing we needed was to be ambushed by something, especially if it was something capable of wiping out an entire mining outpost.

“Does anypony see anything at all?” Dexter asked quietly.

“Nothing,” Firestorm replied. “My scanner isn’t picking up a thing.”

“Maybe you should rely on yer own senses then,” South groused.

“South...”

She looked at me with a smirk on her lips. I rolled my eyes at her attempt to cause a fight and returned to ‘leading’ the group. Finding nothing of value where we started, it was an obvious course of action to move through as quickly as possible until we at least found some kind of information hub. With that asteroid on its way as well, we were on a very strict timeline to get done quickly.

The walkways descended in many directions, though most of them all ended at a level lower than the highest one. It did not have any storage crates, but it did look like it houses a small amount of warehouses and other small buildings. One of them, hopefully, had to have something that could help us, like a map.

“Hopefully there’s something over here,” I observed. “It would be nice if we had a map of this place.”

“Thats just one of the things the Granite company keeps to themselves.” Firestorm commented. “They are the best for a reason. But I bet that if we could get access to a computer terminal of some kind we could get some useful information.”

“Like whut happened to the ponies that worked here.” South added glumly. “A mine this big, the amount of ponies ya’d need tuh work it. They wouldn’t jus’ disappear like that.”

“No kidding. This place has its own colony to support the staff. This facility alone would support hundreds of workers, maybe a thousand or two including their families.”

The warehouse platform proved to be as empty as the one above. Many of the large steel doors were wide open, and the equipment housed in them was still laying around just like it would be on a normal work day. Firestorm picked up her pace slightly, looking through the equipment critically. Dexter moved alongside her, trying to see what she was looking for. Unsatisfied, she raised her head, shaking it unhappily.

“No sign of struggle. No sign of combat, or death, or even an injury. Nothing!”

She kicked closest thing near her, a large forklift that had been left in the middle of the pathway. “Its just like they got up in the middle of work and vanished. But to where?”

“No sign of struggle or injury is a good thing, Firestorm. It means that nopony was hurt, at least not up here when it happened.”

“Unless they wuz vaporized.”

Dexter glared at South after her morbid comment. She shrugged at his disapproving look and trotted away to examine the closest open warehouse. She stopped tentatively in the open doorway, peering into the dimly lit building. I walked towards her, while the others moved further down the path to a separate set of buildings. From the doorway, I noticed that the inside of this particular building was filled with heavy loading equipment, from forklifts to industrial sized dozers and trawlers. South whistled at one specific model that stood close to the entrance.

“Well, ah’ll be,” she beamed. “Ah haven’t seen a Titan this big since Ah left home!”

She approached the colossal machine, giving it a light kick across its massive treads. It was rather amusing, watching South affectionately paw at the giant machine that was at least ten times larger than her. She hopped up onto it, climbing the steps leading to its drivers compartment.

“Mah daddy let me drive one o’ these when I was just a filly. Ma weren't too happy none when she found out.”

She hesitated at opening the door. Her hoof dangled in the air just before the knob for a short while, and even from down here, I saw it quiver slightly.

“South,” I called. “Are you alright?”

She snapped to her senses, lowering her hoof and looking down to me. She shook her head, and began to hop back down to the ground.

“Ah’ll be fine,” she grumbled.

I would have pressed further, but my radio began to beep at me. “Shepard? We found something over here you might want to look at.”

I sighed. Interrupted again. South had already moved on out of the warehouse, probably towards where the others had wandered off to. I tapped my omni-tool hesitantly. “Ok, Dexter.” I responded. “We’ll be right there.”

Back in the light of day, I saw South moving hastily towards the direction that Dexter and Firestorm had disappeared. I chased after her down the path and followed her around a corner. She had stopped in front of what looked like a small office. Beside her was Firestorm, eyes narrowed. The Pegasus’ gaze shifted often, looking in many directions quickly. Even after looking in a particular direction once, it wasn't long before she looked again, her weapon never lowering. South moved past her with no comment into the tiny building, where I assumed Dexter would be. The Pegasus nodded at me as I approached her, motioning towards the building.

“Dexter’s in there, said he found a computer or something.”

“What about you?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine out here. I’m no good with computers anyways. You’d better hurry though, before South tries to ‘help’.”

She chuckled softly, swiveling her sniper pose in various directions. “I’ll keep a lookout. Don’t worry.”

I nodded appreciatively at her devotion to her task, and decided to let her continue unbothered. I entered the small building, looking through the dimly lit lobby for any sign of which way South or Dexter had gone. A thumping noise in the back gave me all the direction I needed, moving quickly towards its source. Muffled grunting and cursing grumbled through the thin metal walls as I got closer, reaching a small office in the back. Dexter was standing in front of a small desk, reading through several data pads that floated around him in a familiar blue glow. South, on the other hoof, was in the middle of what appeared to be...redecorating?

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

She didn’t stop her straining effort as she attempted to move the large steel shelf that loomed against the far wall, nor did she pay me any attention. I looked at Dexter, who had an amusedl expression on his face. He hovered one of the date pads in his possession over to me.

“This thing says there’s a safe behind that shelf, so naturally South thought the best course of action was the forcibly move it.”

“Ah almost...” South grunted. “Got it!”

“You haven’t moved it an inch.” Dexter said glibly.

South ignored his pestering and continued heaving against the metal shelf. I moved closer to the desk, my eyes calling to the small computer terminal resting on it. Dexter noticed my approach and stepped aside, depositing the data pads back to where they came from.

“Nothing really useful on these things, but maybe that computer has something. Think you can crack it, Shepard?”

I accessed the terminal, bringing up a password prompt. The style of the computer screen suggested that this terminal belonged to a lowly forepony or similar crony, and should be relatively easy to get through. I brought up my omni-tool and activated my hacking interface. I smiled at the simple series of code that flashed on the screen, and it was only a few seconds of effort before the locked screen yielded. They would have been better off using simon says as a security system.

The fruits of my labor, however, were equally poor. This office seemed to only hold a few dockets of inventory informations and loading dock dates. The only notable thing I could claim was, in fact, a map of the surrounding levels, which would at least make searching this place a bit easier. I downloaded the file, and prepared to close the terminal, when I noticed that its discard file had something in it. Not one to leave any file untouched, I opened the directory.

I was met with another password prompt, which was interesting. Maybe there was something useful in here after all, and somepony tired to delete it.

“I think somepony tried to hide something in the garbage here,” I remarked to my companions. Dexter moved towards me and looked over my shoulder at the terminal. “I think I can get into it.”

“Who puts a password on the discard file?” Dexter questioned.

“Heh, South chuckled in between her constant grunting.. “Ya know whut they say. One pony’s trash is another’s treasure.”

“Maybe. Just be careful.”

Hacking interface at the ready, I began my latest attempt at breaking through the encryption. Surprisingly, this wall was much harder than getting into the computer itself, several levels harder in difficulty. My tool beeped alarmingly at me, warning that I had a limited amount of time before I would be locked out of the system. I carefully decoded the encryptions, not that it was that much more difficult. Only a few more seconds to go, and everything was looking-

CRASH!!

I jumped back in surprise. South had finally managed to move the metal shelf from the wall, causing it to tip over and crash onto the floor. She smiled victoriously as her eyes traced the giant metal slab that she had moved, then looked at the bared wall it once covered. There was indeed a safe hidden behind it, but that discovery alone did not excuse the interuption.
“South, will you keep it down?” I cautioned. “I’m trying to- uh oh.”

I glanced back to the terminal, noting that less than five seconds remained until my hacking tool would fail. I typed as quickly as I could, praying that I wasn’t making any mistakes. This game of simon says quickly turned into a potentially deadly game of roulette, one that I was dangerously close to losing. I was going to make it, just barely, as long as I kept going-

“Is everypony alright?” Firestorm shouted, bursting into the room. “I heard something crash.”

My head turned out or reaction to the now open door, and the Pegasus standing in it. My eye gave a twitch as my omni-tool continued to blare in my ear. The timer had struck zero, and the terminal fizzled with static before it went blank. Red lights began flashing and claxton sirens began wailing loudly at my failure, and probably signaled that something very bad was about to happen. South trudged across the room towards Firestorm, lifting a hoof poised to strike her.

“Lookit’ what ya made Shepard do!”

“Me!?” Firestorm barked. “I wasn’t the one who knocked over a hundred pound shelf!”

The two were head to head, snarling at each other when Dexter lept in between them. “Will you two give it a rest?! We have more important things to worry about.”

He looked back at me. “Can you fix this, Shepard?”

I reactivated my omni-tool and looked at the damage. The terminal wasn’t completely locked out, but it would take some time, time we probably didn’t have.

“Maybe, but I’ll need some time. Preferably time not being shot at.”

He nodded, and gave the bickering mares a shove out into the hallway. “You do what you can, we’ll go outside and see what kind of security system we just woke up.”

The three of them disappeared around the corner, leaving me alone in the office with the wailing alarm. Perfect. Just the kind of work environment I needed to work in. Loud noises, potential dangers, and a screaming computer system that did not want me poking inside of it. Not like there wasn’t any pressure or anything.

After a few minutes of quiet muttering, broken hubs and incorrectly coded algorithms, I managed to get back into the blasted terminal. The sirens still refused to cease however, suggesting the problem was far worse than I thought. Perhaps the discard file had a security directory hidden away in it, or at least something that would help solve this problem. Attempting to break into a second time would probably have made our problems even worse though. I needed the password.

I searched the room, looking over the scattered data pads that Dexter had looked through, hoping that he had missed something. But it was pointless. They were all as useless as I feared. Was I missing something? I glanced around the room, my eyes falling onto the metal shelf, then to the wall it was once hiding. Could it be that simple?

I dashed over to the safe, uttering a silent prayer to the empty air. This safe was not nearly as complicated as the computers in this office, and opened on the first attempt. Inside were a few cartridge like objects that I had seen Firestorm use before. I scooped them up quickly and deposited them into my bags for later inspection. Underneath them was what appeared to be a small data drive. Oh please let this be something useful!

I rushed back to the desk, downloading the contents of the file directly into my omni-tool. The terminal yielded immediately at my touch, recognising me as a high clearance administrator. I quickly muttered a thank you to whoever invented digital access I.D’s and opened the mischievous file that had been toying with me.

Inside the discard folder was a single file that looked innocuous enough. Until I looked at its code markings. I had seen this format before, and I immediately felt stupid for even trying to unlock it. Now I realised, far too late why this had been locked away. The terminal began to stutter and flash, the corruptive effects of the file starting to take hold. I tried to correct as much as I could, but the damage had been done. The only thing I could do was isolate the terminal, shut off that insufferable alarm and disconnect before my own equipment suffered a similar fate. I heard gunshots echo from outside. Seeing that my work was done, I bolted for the door. Hopefully my friends were having better luck than I was.

---

I poked my head out the door leading into the open terrace of the warehouses. Trails of smoke rose from burning holes bored into the metal ground and walls surrounding me, hitting me with a strong odor of molten steel. I crouched down low, glancing up and down the terrace. I saw Dexter and Firestorm sharing cover across from me behind a series of boxes. They were taking turns ducking out of cover, firing at something far down the narrow pathways between the warehouses.

I stepped out carefully, trying to get a better look of what they were shooting at. They were pony shaped objects, but moved stiffly with clockwork motions. They moved steadily towards us, firing in tandem with each other at my companions and their rapidly deteriorating cover. Their armor plating was bulky and unwieldy, limiting their speed to that of a stagnant crawl, not that it mattered. Their numbers alone would overwhelm us if they got much closer, and considering that my friends had only managed to kill a fifth of their total numbers, we would soon be in trouble.

I moved behind a crate of my own adjacent to the office. I don’t think I was noticed, at least by the fact that they hadn’t begun shooting at me yet. Dexter seemed to notice me, ducking down from his latest spray of shots. He muttered something to Firestorm, who nodded and jumped up from her cover, firing wildly at the advancing security drones. Each shot struck perfectly, many of the drones crumbling and falling down in a fiery explosion. They continued with their onslaught, focusing their attention on the Pegasus sniper.

Dexter took this opportunity to dive towards me, rolling across the ground and landing behind the crate I had hidden behind me. He pinned himself to the steel crate, and signaled the all clear to Firestorm, who acknowledged him, dropping back to the safety of her own cover. Then Dexter turned to me. He was breathing heavily from the whole ordeal so far, and his dive across the narrow alley hadn’t helped much.

“Did you not manage to turn off the security?” he asked raggedly.

I shook my head. “No. I turns out that the file that was locked away was a virus, meant to compromise the security system of the entire complex. Somepony was actually smart enough to lock it away and dull its effects, but me letting it out locked out the entire system.”

Dexter groaned. “Well, then I guess we are going to have to deal with these security mechs the hard way.”

“I guess so,” I agreed. “But Dexter, the virus coding. It was Geld in origin. I remember it from the code I used to hack their drones on Equestria Prime. They’re here, I’m sure of it.”

He managed a weak smile. “Well then our coming here wasn’t a complete waste of time then. Provided we manage to survive this at least.”

He glanced around the corner, floating his rifle out for a few more strafing shots. It must be nice for Unicorns and Magitechs to not have to hold their weapons around corners to fire. I peeked up over the boxes, noting the growing body count of our aggressors. Considering our combat skill, it was appropriate, but it could have been bigger. Wait a minute...

“Where’s South?”

Dexter shrugged. “No idea. She took a few of the first ones out on her own, then said she was going to flank them.” He pointed down the small alley space on the other side of the terrace. “She went that way.”

“And you let her go alone?”

“We’re kinda being shot at here Shepard. And Souths’ a big mare, she can take care of herself.”

He looked out again. “So how do you suggest we go about dealing with this lot so we can go find her?”

I counted the remaining mechs. There appeared to be five fully functional drones remaining, including a few that seemed to be attempting to crawl towards us on damaged limbs. I had to give the manufacturers some credit. They made their drones resilient to the bitter end. My skills were made for dealing with this sort of foe, but considering the extent of the damage the geld virus had done to their programming, any meddling on my part would only make it worse.

“I guess we just keep shooting. There isn’t much I can do with their damaged programming without ruining my own equipment.”

“Well.” Dexter smirked. “Shooting is one of our specialties.”

He looked away from me towards Firestorm. “You got anything that can deal with these, Firestorm? We need to get out of this bottleneck.”

She looked at us, pressing herself against her crate. “That depends,” she shouted. “How big a bang do you want?”

Dexter and I shared a worried look. “Big enough to clear these things out?” The hesitation in Dexters voice suggested he really didn’t want to see what was in Firestorm’s bag of tricks, and knowing how she fought I certainly shared the sentiment. She poked her head into her saddlebag, pulling out a grey cylinder. Using her wings as pseudo-dextrous limbs, she somehow managed to attack the object to the barrel of her sniper. She crouched behind the crate, ready to pounce. “I’d cover my ears if I were you.”

Let it never be said that I don’t learn from experience. There were too many times that I had been within spitting distance of somepony about to cause a massive explosion, myself included. I complied immediately, as Firestorm moved in one swift motion, leaping out from her cover and taking careful aim with her rifle. Time seemed to slow down momentarily as she lined up her shot with the round device attached to her already dangerous weapon.

Covering my ears was not nearly enough protection from the explosive sound that erupted from her shot. An endless ringing sensation filled my senses, my head reeling in pain. A blinding flash of light and smoke poured from the barrel, as the metal cylinder rocketed towards the mechs. It collided with the closest standing mech, tearing through its armor like it wasn’t even there. It sailed through unimpeded into the one directly behind it. The shell shattered on the second mech, but its force alone was enough to propel the robot backwards, tumbling it into a third, turning them both into a twisted mess of metal. By the time the tangled heap of steel stopped tumbling away, the first one finally realised it had been shot clean through, and collapsed onto its side.

The remaining crippled drones took enough collateral damage to push their short life spans over the edge. They sputtered in a flurry of sparks and smoke, before what remained of their integrity fell to pieces. The sound of the shot continued to echo across the narrow metal buildings before descending into an eerie silence. With the moment of safety we now had, we finally stepped out from our cover towards the wreckage.

The damage was far greater up close. I had never seen such devastation to solid metal mechs before, and wondered who in their right minds would make peice of ordinance so powerful. I wonder what else Firestorm had in that bag? She, of course, looked immensely pleased with herself at what she did. She regarded the destruction she caused with an air of satisfaction.

“Now what?” she asked, as she stepped around the scorched remains of the security.

A distant explosion answered her question. We all turned to look in the general direction of the noise, which was not too far from where Dexter told me South had vanished. We wasted no time in breaking into a full gallop towards the next area. Dexter and Firestorm bolted ahead of me, guns ready. I hoped that South had not gotten into much trouble, or worse, while she was alone. There was no telling how extensive the security system was, or what level of protection they expected from it. Either way, it wasn’t going to be good for us.

The second alleyway was similar to the first one we had come through, lined with many open warehouses. The sound of gunfire drew our attention to a second group of drones that were standing in front of the furthest warehouse, firing into the open doorway. Crimson bolts flew out from the inside in tandem with the weapons of the robots.

“South must be in there!” I exclaimed.

“Maybe,” Firestorm said hushedly. “Lets try and get closer first.”

The three of us filled into the alley way, moving carefully along the walls and behind boxes stacked against the buildings. We moved quietly, so the angry security drones did not seem to notice us as we got closer to them. They continued their assault on the phantom gunshots from the garage, who retaliatory attacks seemed to have ceased as we got closer.

Worry crept into my mind when I noticed that if South was indeed inside there, she was no longer returning fire. She could have merely overheated her weapon, but my mind decided to rush to the worst possible conclusion. I rushed ahead of the others, much to their worried cries. Having no smarter alternative, I shot my pistol towards them, if only to attract their attention away from my potentially wounded teammate.

Some of them took notice to my shots, turning their attention towards me. Of course I didn’t think this far ahead, and was now standing in the middle of an open alleyway, with no cover and nowhere to run. Three drones pointed their weapons towards me, and began to walk ponderously towards me. I barely managed to react when they fired at me, sending a volley of crimson pain in my direction. I felt a shot hit my shield, which managed to absorb its lethality. The force of the shot, however, caused me to lose my balance and trip and fall onto my face.

I heard a variety of sounds in my dazed state. I could have sworn I heard something calling my name, as well as a series of loud clanking noises. But of all the muffled sounds in my head, a large bellowing roar caught the focus of my shifting attention. My head turned reflexively towards the source, which I think was the garage, I couldn’t be certain. What I was sure of though was the drones that were keen on ending my life had gotten much closer to me. And even with their terrible aim, at this range they couldn’t possibly miss me. If they were aiming at me.

Once my eyes stopped spinning, I noticed that the dozen or so drones, as well as Dexter and Firestorm who were now right beside me, were all staring at the garage. Had they heard that strange roar as well? From the inside of the garage, I heard a undulating rumbling noise, that quickly heightened and lowered in pitch. And what ever it was, it was getting closer.

Our radios screeched with a cacophonous scream. “Yeehaw! Here comes Sue!”

A cataclysmic crash followed the sound of Souths voice, as the metal walls of the garage buckled over in a heap. The giant dozer roared out of the tiny warehouse, tipping over the walls of its confinement over onto half of the standing drones. But the great metal beast did not stop there. As South steered the massive machine, it rumbled ominously towards the remaining mechs and proceeded to run them over, collecting their remains in its giant scoop.

South, Titan, drones and all started moving in a beeline, crashing through any buildings and boxes that dared stand in its way. Nothing managed to even slow it down as it pushed everything aside, including any new coming drones that decided to test its luck against the runaway South and her new toy. We watched in awe as the the steel behemoth swatted the tiny bots aside, or crumpled them into its growing collection.

We followed her as quickly as we could, minding the massive wake of destruction she was leaving behind her. She had caused an impressive amount of damage, clearing out much of this level. What was once filled with small storage buildings and offices had been cleared almost half way from the dozer. And South still wasn’t stopping, even though the edge of the platform was rapidly approaching.

“South,” I shouted into the radio. “You plan on stopping that thing any time soon? You’re running out of driving room.”

“Inna minnit’,” she responded. “Ah’m almost done.”

I saw her moving rapidly through the driver's compartment, and a few flashes of light. Smoke started billowing out of the cabin, and I watched South jump out. Despite her no longer steering the Titan, it continued to move forward, at an even faster pace. The mare jumped across the machine, eventually finding a safe return to the ground behind the machine that was now moving on its own.

We caught up to South, who was busy dusting herself off, unconcerned about the beast she had just released. She turned back to her implement of destruction. As it approached the edge, she removed her hat, placing it affectionately over her heart. She closed her eyes and looked down solemnly, when the dozer finally reached the edge. The small safety barrier wilted at the metal beast, as it careened over the edge and fell down into the massive pit below us. The roar of the engine and the trail of smoke was all that remained, but even those reminders of its existence slowly vanished.

After silence returned, South returned her hat to her head, with a smile on her face. She nodded briskly.

She turned back to us, her smile twisting into a fierce grin. “So, whut’s next?”

---

Codex Entry Added: The Granite Company

New Skill Level Earned: Your Decryption skill is more efficient, allowing you to hack into more difficult computers.

Comments

[Quillery]

Sweet Luna was today a nightmare. I am so sorry for posting this so late, hopefully it isn't too much of a trainwreck in light of my hasty revisions to get this up befoer midnight.

[Rodinga]

No complaints here, caught an error though

somehow managed to attack attach the object to the barrel of her sniper

excellent as always Quillery, its nice to see Dexter getting some more screen time as well.
Though I can't help but wonder what caused Shepard's dream though, a message from the past about the future?
it's mystery to solve!

[The Apphole]

You broke the three-person (pony?)-squad rule! Ah, well, you're making it work. Nopony (so-far) is coming across as tacked-on or unnecessary.

You're handling South's prejudice against Pegasi very well. Nothing over-the-top, but also not down-played. Very nice. After that last scene, I'm liking South a bit more; she's acting a bit less... flat (in terms of character. I've always felt that "hard" characters do sadness, reverence, and/or grief much better than "soft" characters do.)

One complaint, though. There are enough possessive apostrophe mistakes in here that warrants a note. I lacked the presence of mind to mark them as I went, but keep a lookout in the future.

Needless to say, another great chapter!

[The Apphole]

1400310

"Plot Armor." I really like that. (For story purposes, of course.) I really hope neither South nor Dexter die there. I honestly feel that Ashley/Kaiden fall victim to (in)convenient writing on Virmire. Heroic deaths are often unnecessary in my book; writers know that readers usually overlook a dramatic death just for the pathos appeal. An intelligent character losing common sense ever-so-conveniently? That ruins so many good stories. Mass Effect gets a pass for good (not great) reasoning, but that situation could have been handled better.

[G S tol Kriaal]

“She’s right. “Westward

Quote-space, not space-quote (Pff, space-quote)

“Now that,” South drawled.

That should be a comma

“Heh, South chuckled

Forgot the ending quote, and there's an extra period at the end of the sentence

attack the object to the barrel

I think you mean "attach"

An impressive dearth of errors, for an 11k-word chapter

[Quillery]

Just a reminder to anyone expecting an update today and hasn't read my recent blog post, Chapter 9 will be posted NEXT Saturday. For more information go get your blog on!