It's been only a month since the Mysterious Object over Equus had been identified. Now, after saving Celestia, and defending Equus, the crew of The Dome are trying to relax, while some conspire to bring others aboard...
(Note you MUST read the previous season to understand what's going on in this one. This is a hard requirement.)
Einuli and the crew of the Biosphere known now as The Dome, are resting after the battle aboard the Floran Space Cruiser. Now, they little raptor hero is being recognized by not only Equestria, but the world at large... what could this mean for the rest of Equus?
All characters (unless otherwise mentioned, and if so, you can assume they won't be used in anything sexual) are of age.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Expect what follows to change through the course of the story.
I will take any ideas, and if I like them I'll work them into the story in one way or another.
All 'Episodes' will be labeled down below. This is purely for ascetic purposes, though any chapters in the same 'episode' will be connected and won't have massive (being one to any number of days) jumps in between them, allowing for a smooth flow of time.
It had been nearly a full month now. The crew of The Dome (which it had been officially christened when thanks to Dandy’s own recipe for Moonshine, Twilight smashed a bottle of wine against the outside of it… okay it was Ponyville’s entire store of wine… including all the vintages… Alicorns and 100% alcohol don’t mix kids, don’t try it at home.) were settling in, thankfully the Avenged had been fixed up and was jump worthy. So they weren’t stuck to Equus’ orbit as Chotl and Oxoloc fixed the continually mounting issues with the ancient systems of The Dome.
“How the fuck has this thing survived so long? It’s like a bucket with a hole in it! WORTHLESS!” Chotl growled slamming his head into the desk he and his brother had set up.
“It’s huge… and well, Einuli could have been jerry-rigging the system to work…” Oxoloc tried to reason.
“He fucked it all up! Gods… useless for a starship…” Chotl muttered.
“But I’ll be damned if he isn’t good for reverse engineering anything he comes across! I mean look at this jump-core! It’s fucking amazing! This is from a Hunter-Class cruiser! And then look, the systems are built around it! He knows some serious shit.” Oxoloc retorted. “Look, we just don’t know what he did to do this. So…”
“Our best bet is to start from square one. Break the entire jump-drive and engines down… and install new ones.” Chotl sighed. “Yep… and we’re out of Durasteel, Telebrium and there’s no Solarium or Penumbrite in this system. Not to mention all the other shit we’ll need to even make the jump drive work!”
“Hm… it’d be a good learning experience for the newbs… I’ll go talk to Dandy, and we’ll see if some of those ponies are still willing to help us out… hell, if it doesn’t work, the Avenged can always use this as a homebase. There’s a nice peaceful planet under it that’s friendly towards us… it’s perfect!” Oxoloc shot up. “I’ll go alert Dandy to our needs, and we’ll see what he’ll do.”
“Alright… I’m just… I need something to eat… let's see if I can’t make some Feather Food…” Chotl got up and walked out of the engine room… or the remains of it after the two had been tearing it apart piece by piece for at least an hour now.
Dandy had gathered Suzy, Spike, Ayaka, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, Starlight, Femati, and Einuli in the main area of The Dome.
The Bunk rooms had been started, as had a new mess hall. A few other structures were being built as well, namely a new library, and a larger teleporter room that just lead to various points in Equestria, mainly so a few trusted ponies could come and go.
“So, I’ve gathered all of you here for one reason…” Dandy began. “Oxoloc and Chotl have found out that the engine is FUBAR. No chance it’ll be able to be repaired. So… they want to build a new one. FTL and close range jump-drive and all. But, we don’t have the required materials. This system doesn’t have them either, we’ve already scanned the uninhabited planets and moons. Now. We’ll need to use the Avenged Sevenfold to jump to another system and explore planets, moons, and whatever else is in the systems to find the materials. Namely, Durasteel, Telebrium, Solarium, and… drumroll please…”
Ayaka gave him a joking drumroll. “Penumbrite! That’s right, we’ll have to dive right down into insanity central.” Dandy said. “But, we also have a list of materials from Nightbloom. He needs… uuh, where is it…” Dandy searched around for a moment, “Ah! Yes, he’ll need… Zerchesium, Protocite, even more Penumbrite, and Volium. Whatever he’s making… wheew baby. Someone’s gonna love it.” He chuckled. “Now, I know quite a few of you gathered will go on this mission regardless. But, I’ve gathered the others…” He looked to Dash, Applejack, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike. “To ask, would you be willing to come with us? Of course, we won’t be leaving now… and you’ll have plenty of time to th-”
“Yes!” Spike and Rainbow Dash said.
“Sure.” Applejack shrugged.
“Exploring a new planet, count me in.” Twilight grinned.
“I mean… besides nearly dying and all the killing… it’ll be fun to get out there and see something new.” Starlight added. “Guess we’re all going, right?”
“Well… that was easier then expected.” Dandy said, then he turned to Einuli. “What about you, bud? You feel like tagging along?”
Einuli let out a small sigh, “I’d honestly just…”
“Don’t you say that. You got that matter manipulator thing. It’ll be indispensable if you come along. Means we can dig up more ores faster without resorting to wasting mech fuel.” Suzy said. “Plus, we can pack a few teleporters along, allowing us to safely evacuate if anything comes up when we need to go underground.”
Einuli gave a small smile, “Sure. I’d love to go along.” He nodded.
“Great! Now, we need to get the newbs some EPP’s and get them use to haulin the things around.” Dandy said.
“Right. Um, I know Dash and Applejack will be able to handle it… I still haven’t gotten any scans of you, Spike… and I’ll need to get bodily scans of Twilight and Starlight, just to make sure their bodies can support the additional weight… if need be, we can wait a week or so, and… well if you’re serious about coming along, I can make sure you’ll be able to support the weight and then some…” Einuli explained.
“Yah mean… give us augments too?” Applejack asked.
“Yes…” Einuli nodded slowly.
“If it means seeing more things… a bit of time in a hospital bed isn’t much of a concern.” Starlight said.
“I’d love to get some augments…” Spike muttered.
“It’d be… interesting to say the least. I’ll have to think about it…” Twilight said.
“Ah saw the way yah took care of Dash, so… if yah need ta do some surgery on me. Ah won’t complain.” Applejack said.
“They have been really nice to have. I feel less tired when flying… I’ve been able to keep up with Suzy and Femati when they do workouts… and it’s great to listen in one somethings I’d otherwise never be able to understand. Other than the discomfort at the beginning… it wasn’t so bad… but, I think I’ll stick with the ones I have.” Dash smiled at Einuli. “Unless the doctor thinks I need more.” She joked.
Einuli chuckled a little. “You’re fine just the way you are.” He grinned. “Well… um, I’ll be in my lab if anyone needs me. I’ve got a few things I need to extract… namely more carbon. Can’t ever have too much carbon for the lab…” He muttered walking out. “Everything requires carbon…” He vanished down the hall.
Twilight followed Einuli down to his lab, not actually having seen the inside. She was floored by the advancements inside the lab itself. Einuli smiled back at her for a moment. “Like it?” He asked, walking up to a console and typing in a few commands. Within moments a pipe came out of the wall and attached to a box like machine.
“Um… Einuli?” Twilight asked.
“Ah yes, I’ll explain as much as I can about all of this.” Einuli turned and smiled at her. “First off, this has some of the most powerful technology on the ship. Including this…” He walked over to a large machine. “This is a Quantum Reactor. It’s highly efficient with any fuels put in it, making it useful for when we can’t harvest solar energy. Specifically on Dark or Dying stars. It powers everything in here, but, it’s incredibly delicate.” He explained, motioning her to follow him around the clean and sterile lab. “It’s wirelessly… yes wirelessly, connected to all of the machines in here.”
“W-wireless power transmission?”
“It’s a lot less efficient, allowing only three machines to be powered effectively at once. If I hardwired it all up… yes I could power more. But it’d get cluttered fast.” He continued. “So, I keep it this way… it’s a strange function of the Matter Manipulator. I can’t… well figure it out myself. So I just treat it as is. Now… these sets of machines…”
“Centrifuges! Yes, I know what those are.” She nodded.
“Great! Now, these are actually two different types. These on the tables are used for liquids… for ease I’ll call them Lab Centrifuges from now on.” He explained. “These…” He walked over to two large machines, they were separate from the major part of the lab, and had a strange outline in the area around. “Are called Gas Centrifuges. Now, they don’t centrifuge gas mind you, but liquid forms of it. As well as other super-chilled liquids and super-heated liquids, or even plasma if it can be contained.”
“W… wh… what does it produce?” Twilight asked, summoning a note-pad and pen to take notes on everything he was explaining now.
“Ah! I was hoping you’d ask. Come over here.” He motioned leading her to a wall mounted console. “Go ahead touch it.” He said.
Twilight did just that and immedietly the screen came to life, there were lists of things, a search bar, and two different options. ‘As Inputs’, ‘As Output’.
“Now, select the item your either extracting from, or trying to get, and it should appear on the screen.” Einuli explained. “It’s also connected to the Xeno-biology lab, which is used for extracting specific genes or traits from seeds and plants. And the Extractors around the lab, which as the name implies extract things, but instead of from liquids they do it from solid matter, breaking down things to a molecular level at points, giving us the basal objects.”
“Gods above… this is…” Twilight mumbled.
“Did you want to give some of the stuff a try?” Einuli asked. “Right now I’m extracting Carbon from Diamonds. It’s an effective process, more so than getting it from coal… for some reason. That of which I still have yet to grasp.”
“I’d love to!” Twilight nodded, her magic surrounding her body, instantly changing her clothes to that of a scientist. “Where can I begin?”
“Before you begin, there’s two more things I need to explain to you.” Einuli said, leading her over to a grouping of machines. “Now, these are specific, as instead of extracting resources, they take the extracted resources and various other ones and produce things. Now, it depends on which one you use as to what resources they’ll take.” He explained. He began with the one on the far left, nearest to the doorway. “This is the Matter Assembler. I produces other machines used in the lab, namely the extractors and centrifuges. As well as other ‘crafting’ stations as I’ll call them from now on.”
“Alright, what else can it do?” Twilight asked.
“It produces complex parts, namely Power cores, AI Chips, and other complex circuitry. An incredibly essential part of the lab… though not as essential as the next thing, the Bio-Chem Lab. Now, it’s essentially it’s own contained lab, and it can produce biochemical reactions in a safe environment. It can produce Graphene, advanced plastic, morphite, bio-goo, calcium nitrate… and many, many other things. It is the most essential part of the lab. Without it everything would cease to work, as it’d just be useless to m- us.” He corrected himself with a smile, his eyes slightly glimmering.
“It’s wonderful that such a thing can exist… I can’t wait to see it in action.” She smiled back, hugging him warmly.
“Now, why don’t I continue your tour?” He asked.
“That’d be great! What’s next on the list?”
“The Nano-fabricator. Now… this is an interesting piece of hardware. It can produce nanite augments for our armor and EPP’s. As they are powerful, only one can be put onto a given section of armor, helmet, body, and legs. And one on the EPP. They’re… hard to produce however. Requiring rare and hard to obtain materials. But, it can also produce specific upgrades to armors Nightbloom can make, strengthening them given the right materials. It can also produce a three special pieces of tech, they’re notable for their usefulness in the field. They’re the Mining Laser, which can be made more powerful through reinforcements made to it with various materials, a cave-detector, which can be improved as well, and an ore-detector… which like the other two can be improved for better ore-detection.” He motioned for her to follow once more, leading her to the last two machines. “This first one is the gene-design lab. It can, given the right genes and traits, produce any seed I have records and the gene designs for. Meaning, essentially given a solid store of genes…”
“If the farm dies… you can just replant it…” Twilight said.
“Yep. Meaning we’ll never go without food.” Einuli nodded. “But, it also can give us hard to find plants, like the Dark Bloom… it only grows on planets devoid of UV light…”
“That’s impossible! How could a planet block out UV light?” Twilight gawked.
“It does happen.” Einuli said. “You… might get to see a few stranger planets when we head out… but enough on that, this is the Power Station.” He lead her to the last machine, and it did look more industrial then the others, with a conveyer belt leading out of a huge box on it. “And… well it produces ways to make power. Solar panels, converters, batteries, generators… as well as some more technical equipment that requires a lot of energy. More then our suits onboard generators can produce that is…”
“W… wow…” Twilight mumbled.
“Now… I won’t even ask if you have any questions because I have a feeling you’ll be figuring everything you want to know out shortly.” Einuli smiled. “Now… two rules. No producing radioactive materials unless we’re both suited up for it… and don’t produce explosives unless I’m monitoring the amount you’re making, okay?”
“Got it!” Twilight nodded, smiling even wider. “I’m ready!”
“Then let's get to work!” Einuli grinned, the two immediately beginning to produce SCIENCE! (I had to do that, sorry)
It was several hours before the two came to a halt in the lab. Twilight herself had found materials she never could have dreamed of, and honestly they hadn’t gotten much work done. He had to explain to her the composition of various metals and alloys she’d never even thought could exist, as well as a small look at some of the planets that they’d been to.
“Wow… so, to even survive on certain planets we’d need these… EPP’s? And some survival packs can help too…” Twilight said slowly.
“Certain nanites that armors produce, or certain features that the armors have can also help. Now… before you ask… yes, we have tried to make armors produce the nanites of other armors… it just doesn’t work. The technology that was given to the space faring species is just… too old. Like the Matter Manipulator. It’s impossible to reproduce now that the Protectorate is gone.” Einuli explained. “Just… we have to deal with what we have, and what we can discover, or re-discover.”
“Alright. It… makes a bit of sense.” Twilight sighed. They were both immediately snapped to attention as a massive fist shaped dent was put in the ten inch thick Durasteel doors between the lab and the rest of the ship.
“The fuck?” Einuli muttered rushing to a console as another dent was put in it. “Who the hell is trying t-... Who is this?” He glanced to Twilight who didn’t even need to look.
“Maud.” Was all she said as the door finally caved in.
Einuli was left speechless, the earth pony mare standing there. “Your door was in my way.” She said plainly.
“Pinkie told me I should go find you two in here. The door wouldn’t open.” Maud said.
“Thank god we aren’t working with genetic material… the extractors can work with contaminants in the air.” Einuli sighed, walking over to one of the machines that had just finished.
“Oh. You two were busy.” Maud said.
“Just… working on extracting geological substances.” Twilight sighed. “Nothing too impo-”
“What were you trying to get?” Maud asked.
“Fucking carbon.” Einuli sighed.
“I knew everything required carbon but… Gods damn it. You were right to complain about how much we needed.” Twilight groaned.
“Thankfu- Twilight what did you put in Extractor A-2?”
“The red diamonds, why?” Twilight asked, both her and Maud walking over to investigate. When Twilight reached him Einuli’s hand shot up and she stiffened up completely as he kissed her.
“Your accident has given us something else we needed desperately. Quietus.” Einuli said happily.
“What is Quietus?” Maud asked, taking some of the ore and examining it closely.
“It’s a strange, strange ore. It has both biological and mineral components to it.” Einuli explained, handing a chunk of the ore to Twilight.
“It’s… pulsating?” Twilight asked.
“Where on Equestria can this be found?” Maud asked.
“It can’t be found on Equestria. It’s only found on planets orbiting what we call ‘Black Stars’. They give off a specific type of radiation to the planets orbiting them, causing… things to occur.” Einuli explained. “Uh, we’ll need to go visit one to get Penumbrite. So Twilight you’ll be able to experience the mutations and thing the radiation causes firs-”
“I’m coming.” Maud stated firmly, grabbing both Einuli and Twilight. “Let’s go.” She began to drag them both out of the lab.
“Maud, we aren’t leaving anytime soon!” Twilight stated, teleporting both herself and Einuli out of her grasp.
“Oh.” Maud replied, turning back around.
“You know what… since… uuh, Maud is here and… since she punched down a FUCKING DURASTEEL door… with four hits… Now’s a wonderful time to get some body scans of you both.” Einuli said. “Why… don’t we go to the med-bay?”
“I… need a bit of a break after seeing a ten-inch thick hard metal door get punched completely in… so yeah, that’d be great!” Twilight nodded.
“Hm…”
“It’ll guarantee you can come along.” Einuli said.
“Fine.” Maud responded. “Let's go.”
-------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile back in Ponyville:
“You… sent Maud… up to the ship.” Starlight began.
“Yeah! I think it’d be great for her to go meet some new ponies!” Pinkie nodded.
“Yah sent… Maud though. Alone. Ta find Twilight and Einuli, when… they went ta the science lab. Which, might Ah add, is set up to security turrets.” Applejack scoffed. “Why girl? Are yah insa… Don’t answer that.”
“Psssh, they won’t shoot her!” Pinkie retorted, crossing her arms. “And I asked her to be nice to them.”
“Oooh gods, this is gonna be gooood.” Dash started to laugh. “How long do you think until she breaks something?”
“An hour at the most.” Starlight sighed.
“She won’t br-” Pinkie was cut off as Twilight teleported down.
“You. Never do that again. Maud busted open a TEN INCH THICK durasteel door! It’s completely ruined and now they’re adding Durasteel to the list of things we need to collect!” Twilight stated. “My MAGIC couldn’t even force those things to open, but somehow… some way… Maud broke them straight down.”
“Oh.” Pinkie paused. “Well I’m sure she’ll help get the thi-”
“I came down to alert you all, she threatened Dandy into making us go in the next hour.” Twilight grumbled. “So.” She grabbed both Applejack and Dash, Starlight grabbing ahold of her. “We’re all going to need to suit up. Nightbloom wants to see you Starlight, so we’ll go there first.” She teleported the group up.
“Yes…” Pinkie cheered, “Now Maud can get out and make even more friends!”
Everyone was suited up and aboard the Avenged. Dandy appeared to be fully ticked off, and had Suzy and Femati hold and restrain Maud who for some reason didn’t put up a fight.
“Alright… so I wanted to WAIT a few more days. Get a specific plan settled out… find which star’s we’d be jumping to and how long we’d be there… But, because SOMEONE had to damage flight controls on The Dome. We have to leave.” Dandy growled. “So, you want to leave so badly? First up on our list is grabbing some more fucking durasteel. We also need gold, and some sliver. So, scanners have detected a system nearby, it thankfully holds gold and silver, as well as the chance for some other ores we need.” He pulled up the scan of the system.
“Wait… why is… is it called…” Dash began barely holding back laughter.
“Jabba Weiner, really? Are you guys that immature?” Starlight burst into laughter.
“Look. The ship computers auto generate names for stars so they’re… memorable.” Suzy began to laugh too.
“I will abandon you on a planet.” Dandy stated.
This entire next conversation was in Hytoli “And you’ll magically find poison in your next meal, Dandy.” Einuli retroted. “Oh, and what’s this? I’ll be on the planet while you’re slowly withering away? Oh, too bad.”
“You wouldn’t dare…”
“Try me.”
“Hey, there’s no need to threaten anyone with poisoning!” Ayaka stated.
“Wait… wh-... Oh right translator…” Dash muttered.
Now back to Equish.
“What are they saying?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing… just uhh…”
“Dandy’sss in a bitchy mood. And I can really sssee why.” Femati glared at Maud. “By the way who sssent her…”
“Pinkie.” Applejack, Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash said.
“Great. Einuli, make sssure ssshe doesn’t have accesss to the teleporters again.” Femati sighed.
“Already done.” Einuli said.
“Why can’t I access your ship? If my sister can I should be able to too.” Maud stated.
“Neither of you will be able to. I can’t have more things getting busted. You’ve damaged a TEN FUCKING INCH DURASTEEL DOOR beyond repair. And busted our short range flight controls. I’m honestly surprised nothing else got damaged.”
“Hey! She sent me to the medbay!” Dandy retorted.
“Your moonshine sends everyone to the medbay for weeks.” Einuli stated. “You deserved it.”
“It does not. You’re all just week.”
“IT TASTES LIKE GASOLINE!” Suzy growled.
“That’s literally all it is. But, because of him, now I know intimately how to pump out a stomach.” Einuli laughed.
“IT IS NOT A GASOLINE! IT’S 150% PURE NOVAKID MOONSHINE!”
“150% that makes literally no sense.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You can’t even math can you?”
“Shut up! I WILL…”
“And I just sent a message to Chotl to smash your brewery. It’s dangerous, yah know?” Suzy grinned.
“Ha! Jokes on you Ayaka already burned it!” Dandy said triumphantly.
“Give it a moment…” Einuli chuckled.
“We need iron and timber… and copper… and tungsten… and sand… You know what… fuck it all, we need everything.” Dandy plopped down in the captain’s chair.
“Adventure time!” Suzy cheered.
“Woo!” Spike sat down in one of the many open chairs.
“So, what’s our first stop, Cap?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“A planet orbiting the gentle star I just showed you… Uuuh, for ease lets call it Alpha, or on the main screen…” Dandy pulled up the letter of the planet. “Α”
“Alright! Lets go I’m getting antsy just sitting here.” Dash said giddily.
“Well, since we probably won’t be encountering any hostiles here… other than when night falls. Well, Einuli, leave your Matter Manipulator with Suzy and Spike, you two are going to get us a base camp set up. Make sure it’s defensible, just incase.”
“Got it.” The two nodded.
“Everyone else… well don’t leave the initial beam site until we have a beacon set up. Just so you don’t get lost.” Dandy explained, “One of the major reasons we could have multiple beam sites on your planet was because of the lack of random weather variables. It… actually made it possible to beam anywhere in Equestria, unless it was underground. We won’t have such luck unless we come across an Elysium world.”
“Alright, we’ll try to st-” Applejack began.
“I can clear out the clouds!” Rainbow Dash stated.
“Uuuh… remember that time you tried to destroy the clouds over the Everfree? Yeah. That’s probably what they’ll be like on other planets.” Spike stated. “Not… magical.”
“Hmph… Fine.” Dash crossed her arms. “I’ll still try.”
“No you won’t.” Einuli said. “I don’t want you getting struck by lighting… or covered in Bio-rain… or anything else that might be overly dangerous that we can avoid. So. If you want to go clear out the clouds, I’ll just lock up your wings.” He stated firmly.
“I won’t try then.” Dash sighed, sitting down near Einuli, she invited the raptor up into her arms. “Just so long as you stay nearby. Otherwise I will have to take to the skies to look for you.” She smiled as he climbed up and nuzzled against her.
“So, when are you two going to have sex?” Ayaka asked, causing everyone to choke a little.
“What the hell!” Suzy nearly started to laugh.
“What? The sexual tension between the two is killing me slowly.” Ayaka retorted. “It’s a simple question. It’s clear they care about each other.”
“Just… let’s leave shit like that for when they’re alone I don’t want to have to deal with a ship being ruined because someone decided to get frisky.” Dandy sighed.
“And, when are you two…” Ayaka began turning to look at Suzy and Spike.
“Ayaka ssstop!” Femati stated, covering the navigator’s mouth. “Sssshe will rip you a new one.”
“You’re damn right I will.” Suzy growled, cracking her knuckles.
“Ayaka, Femati… you two go out and explore. I don’t want anyone getting into fights.” Dandy sighed, hitting a few buttons. The ship began it’s take off sequence, beginning the ponies and Spike on their first space adventure (beyond taking down an enemy battlecruiser that is).
They were in orbit over a planet designated Jabba Weiner A.
Now, under Dandy’s direction, they were going to go in two separate teams. One, would actively search out the planet for any ores or caves, and if they found access to the underground they’d alert the other team right away.
The second team would scour the surface for anything of note.
The first team consisted of Dandy, Ayaka, and Femati.
The second team consisted of Starlight, Einuli, Twilight Sparkle, Suzy, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and of course Maud.
Einuli had made some emergency tranquilizers incase Maud attempted anything, handing one syringe to each of the other team members.
“Alright, Einuli, we’ll need the Manipulator.” Dandy said. “Team two, you’re to explore the surface of the planet. Do NOT go underground. If you find anything of interest, please… do alert us right away, and mark it out on the map.” He explained. “And Maud. You’re a danger to us all. Stay with the group or you will be abandoned. After all the shit you’ve caused so far… Trespassing, property destruction, assault…”
“Calm down Dandy.” Einuli said.
“You’re lucky I even brought you along. Let alone, lucky I didn’t defend myself.” Dandy snorted. “Now. We’re all going to be beaming down at once. Everyone ready?”
“Yeah!” Was the resounding answer.
“Good. Brace for touchdown.” Dandy hit a single button and the entire group was beamed down to the surface of the Lush Planet.
Now, more then a few of them had never seen another planet, and were expecting the absolute worst.
But, they were all surprised by the peacefulness of the planet, it was incredibly lush and verdant.
“Wow… this is… amazing.” Twilight mumbled.
“It’s beautiful.” Starlight gawked, looking around at the bright blue sky.
“It really makes me want to see more…” Rainbow Dash murmered.
“S-so there’s more planets out there like this?” Spike asked.
“With an nigh endless amount of stars, and with the even more endless amount of planets… infintesimally small chance that this is the only planet like this. Yes. There are millions more.” Einuli laughed, throwing the manipulator to Dandy. “Already got the storage container you had marked inside it. Just pop that sucker down, and begin work.”
“Alright. Don’t wander too far.” Dandy said as team one got to work.
Team two left the camp site, going out to explore a small area around the beam site.
“How big is this planet?” Applejack asked.
“It’s a smaller one. Meaning we’ll just need to get some hoverbikes down here when the camp is set up and we’ll be good to explore the surface.” Suzy said. “Don’t want to overwhelm you all on your first day.” She chuckled.
“It seems just like Equestria. Are there going to be any new geological features on the planet?” Maud asked.
“We don’t know.” Einuli sighed. “We haven’t been to this planet before.”
“Then why come to some unknown planet? Do you have a death wish or something?” Maud questioned. “And, if it’s peaceful why co-”
“Bandits, cultists, monsters, Canibal Floran… there’s dangers everywhere. Despite that… despite what we risk losing every single fucking day.” Einuli motioned to his missing hand and damaged wing. “Despite that, there’s a thrill to the unknown. You find new things, meet new races and species, see new things. If you wanted something known and safe, you should have stayed the fuck back in Equestria, not barged onto my home and ship, beat down the door to my science lab, there by making sure it’s useless for genetic research… and then attacked one of my friends, and damaged the controls for my ship. But, here you are. Questioning why we’re here. Just go the fuck back up to the ship and quiet down if you want to leave. We won’t miss you.” He growled angrily. “You’ve been nothing but a nuicense since you showed up.” He turned and walked away from her.
“What’s his problem?” Maud asked.
“His problem? HIS PROBLEM?!?” Rainbow Dash growled. “It’s you. I’ve seen you and Pinkie do some dumb shit in the past… but this… you’re really lucky Dandy didn’t obliterate you. He had full right to when you smashed his head into the ship controls. You’re lucky Einuli didn’t just force you out of the ship permently. He could have… and now, you ask what the fuck his problem is? He nearly sacrificed his life to make sure all of us…” Dash waved her arms, thereby motioning towards everyone else in the group. “All of them and Celestia could escape a hell hole that nearly killed us! He doesn’t expect that anypony will treat him differently… like it’s just normal to be willing to die for those you barely know…” She trailed off for a moment. “But, I’ll be fucking damned if I let you treat anypony else like absolute garbage, only fit to do what you want.”
Spike had to step inbetween Maud and Dash as he saw she was reaching for her new machine pistol. “Calm down Dash…”
“You didn’t see him the day after he woke up. Before all of this happened… he was at least trying to be friendly, to be happy. Hell, I think he was happy. I won’t say it’s because of me… I met him too late to claim that. It was more than likely thanks to Twilight. She led him to the rest of us. Now, you threatened him and his friends, barged on a mission to gather resources so they could fully repair their ship… You know the only reason I’m givng you the courtesy of talking right now? Because you’re Pinkie’s sister. I do not like you. Not after what you’ve done the past two days. You’re only on this mission to tag along, to get your ‘rock’ samples. So, shut the fuck up, and stay the fuck back. I don’t care how physically strong you are. You haven’t seen shit in Equestria… Tirek, The Changelings, Nightmare Moon, Discord, even Starlight? They didn’t want to commit genocide. Sure, they were ‘evil’ but shit out here… shit that we’ve never seen? That’s true evil. Things that can’t be reasoned with, or stopped by ‘friendship and harmony’. I had never taken a life until that battlecruiser… and now. If it means protecting others. I’ll take more. I don’t like having to… I don’t think I ever will. Hell… I felt sick for days after that…”
“We all did…” Twilight muttered.
“Yeah.” Applejack nodded.
“You don’t really get over it.” Suzy said. “Not unless you dehumanize yourself… and just become a killer.”
“Maud… you only know of rocks, minerals, and crystals. Don’t try to pretend like you’re going to be of any use to us. You aren’t. None of us had a choice of you coming along. And if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t have said yes.” Dash growled. “Now, shut the fuck up. And stay the fuck back. If you do that, I might just give you a second chance to prove you aren’t just some fucking bully who uses force to get what she wants. Understand?”
Maud glared at Rainbow Dash, the silence was nearly deafening, and it seemed like the entire planet had just stopped making a single sound.
“Fine.” Maud finally spoke. “I’ll keep out of your way.”
“Good.” Rainbow Dash stated, “I’m going to go check to see how far Einuli went. The rest of you can come when you’re good and ready.” She took off to look for the Avali.
“Wow…” Starlight finally said.
“She cares about him.” Maud pointed out.
“Thanks, captain obvious.” Spike sighed. “We already knew that, what with how often she’s been by his side since her augmentation surgery.”
Maud was utterly quiet now though, simply waiting for what the others were going to do next.
“Lets… go find them.” Suzy sighed, “Follow me, if the map-” She paused. “Twilight, can you fly too?”
“Yeah, why?” Twilight asked.
“You two are the perfect scouts then. The mapping sensors on Dash’s suit is mapping out everything she flies over. I-it’s fucking amazing!” Suzy said happily. “Less work for more ground coverage! It means less time until we get a decent area mapped out!”
“I’ll get to work on that then!” Twilight shot up into the air, beginning a grid-like flying route to cover as much area as possible as she tried to move with the group who were on their way to where Einuli and Dash were.
After only a few moments they arrived at where Dash and Einuli had settled down. Twilight having arrived a bit earlier thanks to her flight.
“All she’s done so far…” Einuli was muttering.
“I know. After everything that’s happened I know you, and everypony else is on edge and… after nearly dying, you especially. But… we’ve gotten a little too mad at her. She’s… not very social.” Twilight was explaining.
“Tha-”
“Einuli. Just… listen. She won’t take social cues, or anything of that nature. She’s… strange like that. But… just wait until we get her underground, alright? I’m sure we’ll be making off with a haul. Don’t worry.” Twilight assured.
“How can…”
“You, knock it off. You are making things worse.” Twilight cut Dash off. “Just… apologize. You and I both know she won’t.” She tapped her foot. “Do you both understand me?”
“Yeesss mother…” Dash groaned.
Einuli was quiet, his ears twitching slightly.
“Einuli?” Twilight asked.
“Sorry… I thought i heard something.” He sighed quietly, turning back around. “Fine… I’ll apologize.”
“Thank you. And… after we’re back, I’ll make sure she won’t come breaking down doors again… she was told just to find us… and that’s more than likely what lead to all of this.” Twilight smiled slightly. “Though… I will have to talk with Pinkie… no more ponies are allowed up without permission.”
Both Dash and Einuli returned to the group.
“Maud, I’m… sorry I snapped at you.” Dash said.
“It’s fine.” Maud replied.
“And, I’m sorry I snapped too… just…”
“It’s fine.”
“Alright…” Einuli sighed. “We should… get going on the exploration.”
“So, what ores are we looking for exactly?” Maud asked, occasionally tapping her foot against the ground.
“Tungsten, gold, silver, iron, copper… anything is good really.” Suzy said.
“About fifty feet below us, large vein of I believe iron.” Maud stated, stopping on the spot.
Everyone else stopped completely. “What.” Suzy said, now digging through her sack. She pulled out a hand held device, one which Einuli knew to be the Ore Detector. “Hold the hell up… there can’t be a large vein of…” She activated it. Within seconds she froze up. “And she’s right.”
“There’s also some other ore just under it.” Maud added. “I don’t know what it is, as I don’t recognize the sound.”
“Sound?” Einuli asked.
“Just… she’s on the same level as Pinkie, don’t question her.” Starlight said.
“One is… harsh. I don’t know what it is, but it seems important, there’s only a small amount of it.” Maud continued.
“Tungsten and… god damn it she found Densium.” Suzy said. “I think Dandy might just hug you after this.”
“So.” Maud began.
“Well… she’s useful. Definitely useful.” Suzy looked to the others. “I say she stays.”
“I told you she’d prove herself.” Twilight grinned.
“Let’s… just get Dandy and the others out here, we can set up a small quarry, that way we don’t get trapped… and, well… She might have to get samples of the other ores.” Einuli nodded slowly.
“This thing is worthless compared to her… It didn’t even detect the other ores until I moved and she… just found all of them at once.” Suzy put the Ore Detector away.
“I was… more than wrong about you.” Einuli fully apologized.
“Einuli. Stop, it’s fine.” Maud stated, “I know I damaged somethings, and I do want to make up for it.”
“Keep up this good work and you’ll more than make up for it… hell, you might be able to join the crew eventually.” Suzy joked. “But, first lets extract these ores… Don’t want to let a good vein of anything go to waste.”
After digging for a little bit with a mixture of lasers and pickaxes, they reached the ores.
Sure, what they found wasn’t what they were looking for but they weren’t willing to pass up the Densium. Now it was fully realized, they had been treating Maud a little terribly. Though, she was quite alright to just forgive them, much to Dandy’s honest surprise. He was used to others holding grudges.
“Well… Um, when we do head fully underground… I say, we all…”
“If you are… I’ll slow you guys down.” Einuli said. “If you find a shaft… set up a teleporter of some kind, and I’ll come down regularly to check on everyone.”
“Einuli…”
“Look, I know you want me down there… but I’d just be a risk. I can’t really supply much additional strength that we already don’t have tenfold of. But, if I’m needed I won’t waste time in coming down.” Einuli said with a smile. “And… I just need a bit of time on my own.” He teleported himself back up to the ship.
“Dandy.. Wh…”
“Just leave him be. If he wants to be alone, no need in stressing him out by breaking th-”
“He’s depressed.” Maud said simply.
“W… I don’t think he is… he just feels…” Suzy began.
“No. He’s depressed. I’ve seen those reactions before. I may not pick up on much, but, dealing with Pinkie… you know when somepony’s depressed and hiding it.” Maud said. “I’d go up to help him, but I’m more useful down here, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, we’d honestly prefer your help.” Dandy nodded.
“Dash, you’d be useless underground.” Maud stated.
“I wo...uld not be.” Dash huffed.
“Go up and make sure he’s alright.” Maud said firmly. “You’re more useful helping him then falling asleep underground.”
“I… Alright.” Dash didn’t even fight, she teleported herself up to the ship.
“Wow.” Ayaka muttered.
“Those two care about each other a lot.” Maud said. “He’d listen to her the most out of any of us.”
“You aren’t wrong…” Suzy said.
“So… uh, when are we going underground?” Spike spoke up.
“We started a mine in the camp, and found a cave entrance… we’re going to begin there.” Dandy said. “Everyone… let’s fall back to camp.”
Dash and Einuli returned to the Avenged, he collapsed into the first chair he found and she was taken aback as he started sobbing.
“Hey… hey…” Dash quickly approached him, pulling him into her arms and wings.
“What’s wrong with me?” He sobbed. “W-why am… am I being…”
“Shh… shhh…” Dash caressed him, snuggling him close. “There’s nothi-”
“DON’T SAY THAT!” He screeched, causing her to pull back to look at him. His eyes were watering and he was quivering. “I wa-”
Dash slapped him hard across the face.
“What the f-”
She repeated the action. “Stop it.” She ordered. “Otherwise next it’s going to be a fist to your stomach.”
Einuli looked at her for several long seconds.
“Now…” Dash began, she put her hand down and he noticed that she stumbled a little. “Oooh… okay.” She chuckled quietly.
“Dash…” Einuli quickly stood up, guiding her to sit down.
“What? Horny all of a sudden?” She joked, seeing him give her a look she didn’t quite recognize from him. At least until she looked a little longer.
He rushed away and was back at her side in a moment. “Blow into this.” He held a device up to her mouth. “First take a deep breath though. And I mean deep.” He ordered.
“I’m not drunk.” She stated firmly.
“I know.” Einuli stated. “Just do it. Help ease my worry.”
“What worry?”
Einuli held up the wrist device and motioned to one word on it. ‘Methane’.
“Methane?” Dash raised an eyebrow.
“JUST BLOW ONTO THE DEVICE!” Einuli growled, scaring her a little. She did just that.
“Alright… now it’ll just be a…” Einuli trailed off as the reading on his wrist device changed. He went completely silent and rigid.
------------------------------------
Meanwhile:
The rest of the crew was down in the new mine.
Maud had led them to the first massive ore vein and they were extracting it. Though, Twilight, Starlight, Applejack, and after a few minutes Maud were all hanging off to the side. They had all begun to feel a bit funny.
Dandy didn’t really breathe so he didn’t notice it… well besides the color of his body taking on a slight blue green coloration.
Suzy, Spike, Femanti, and Ayaka all had helmets on so it didn’t effect them.
“Oooh… I have a headache…” Starlight muttered.
“Dizziness… Headache…” Twilight was mumbling. She flicked her fingers over her own wrist device. “Ugh… Temperature higher then it should be…”
Immedietly all of their comms devices went off. They didn’t have time to respond as Einuli forcefully broadcasted his voice. “All of you back to the ship now! There’s a major problem!” He growled out. “If you have a helmet on keep it that way! Otherwise, get back here NOW you could suffocate if I don’t get you on oxygen right away! Twilight and Dash are at the highest risk…” He began to rattle off.
“Whatcha mean?”
“Blue green flame…” Twilight muttered, the thought slowly dawning on her.
“There’s a reason we foundno life on the surface! There’s nanites in the air! Something trying to terraform the planet into a-”
“Methane!” Twilight nearly shouted. “We’re suffering from methane poisoning!”
“GET UP HERE NOW!” Einuli ordered again.
Every one glanced around before nodding and rushing to the entrance. It wasn’t long before Twilight collapsed. Immediately Spike hauled her up.
“C’mon Twi…” Spike began.
“The nanites are converting oxygen into methane. I don’t know why it wasn’t affecting us on the surface…”
“What about you?” Dandy began.
“I can breathe methane! I have nanites doing the reverse in my body!” Einuli stated. “It’s a slow enough process that an oxygen tank can counter it… but we’ll need to get them back to the Dome for proper treatmen-” Einuli trailed off for a moment. “Shit… shit shit shit…” He repeated over and over again before the line went dead.
“Fuck! We need to hurry! Suzy, Femati, Ayaka, grab one of the-” He stopped and raised the matter manipulator. “Please work…” He muttered, trying to dig a hole to the surface so they could beam out.
------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile:
Dash had just passed out. “Fuck! No don’t do this to me!” Einuli growled, grabbing her and hauling her to a bed. “No… fuck we don’t have the oxygen for this!” He laid her down and inserted a breathing tube into her, pumping fresh oxygen right into her lungs.
The rest of the crew teleported up to the ship. “Dash and Twilight have higher concentrations! Get Twilight onto a bed!” Einuli ordered. “Starlight, Maud, Applejack, get an oxygen mask on and stay put!”
“What the hell, how did our scanners miss this?” Dandy questioned.
“They weren’t looking for nanites you fucking idiot!” Einuli growled shifting to Twilight’s bed before guiding a breathing tube down her throat. “Get us back to the Dome! We have better equipment back there and it’ll give us more time!”
Dandy nodded as he rushed to the helm.
As the two were bathed in the nearby star’s light, their eyes began to flutter open as they regained consciousness.
He looked out to the star and saw the strange coloration of it. It wasn’t like any he’d ever seen before, shifting between different shades and hues. Then it dawned on him. It was the light making them stop working. That had to be the key!
“DANDY WE CAN-” He cut himself off as they jumped into hyperspace. “NO! NO FUCK!” Einuli growled angrily.
Both Dash and Twilight lost consciousness again.
“No… no, no, no…” Einuli shook his head. “No… no please… no…” He muttered, “There has to be a way to… to reverse this…” He thought back to his own nanites. “Yes! I… I’ll just…” He trailed off before he collapsed into a chair. “It has to work…”
“The other are out cold too!” Spike said as he rushed in.
“Avoid bodily fluid… Get them into a bed, I’ll get a breathing tube in them!” Einuli slowly stood up. “I can’t do much now, but we can keep them alive.”
Spike nodded and the two rushed out to tend to the others.
Upon their return to the Dome, Einuli had the ponies transferred immediately to the medical bay. Now with much better equipment he was able to get them fully breathing again. Part of his anxiety was relieved, though he still worried for them.
He was able to pressurize a room and fill it with oxygen and nanites. The nanites were an vain attempt to counteract the higher tech ones inside the unconscious ponies bodies. Though it helped to keep them stable.
Einuli was the most freaked out, until the mares friends arrived. Though as a precaution Einuli had them wear quarantine suits to make sure they wouldn’t be infected.
Fluttershy was all over Dash’s bedside, while the others split their time jumping around.
Spike had taken up residence beside Twilight’s. Einuli however never stopped moving, rushing around to tend to every little thing. He seemed to have an endless supply of energy, as he was attempting to do various things, including finding out how the nanites were being purged from his system.
It was Pinkie who noticed it first, the utter fear emanating from the raptor. They were scared to lose them… but he was utterly terrified. Like, the thought of losing them meant his own death.
It was Fluttershy who immediately understood why he was acting this way, and it brought a bit of happiness to her, knowing that he was going to do everything in his power to bring all of their friends back from the brink.
“Einuli…” Fluttershy began.
As she did the doctors Celestia had sent to help keep them stable arrived, all suited for what they assumed was a virulent alien plague.
“No! I can… can’t…”
“Einuli.” Fluttershy touched the outside of his suit, right where his cheek would be. “Get some rest. They are other doctors here now too. Yes… they might not be able to cure whatever’s wrong, but if you kill yourself by not sleeping, who will?” She asked.
Einuli stopped his constant moving and nodded slowly. “You’re right…”
“Now… we need our precious little doctor to be well rested. With a clear mind you’ll be able to think a lot better won’t you?” She continued, surprising Rarity and Pinkie with how much she calmed him down. “Wouldn’t that be better for Dash to see when she wakes up?”
Einuli nodded again.
“Now, we’ll be here to provide whatever we can. Just tell us. For now though… let us do the worrying. You go get some rest, and then go work on finding out how to stop this.” Fluttershy stated firmly.
Einuli sighed quietly. “Alright…” He slowly left the room, taking off his own protective suit in the airlock. After he was clear he headed towards his room, he, like usual in his own ship, hadn’t bothered to change because he just wanted to sleep. His usually boundless energy was completely drained.
He was taken by surprise when a creature he couldn’t identify slammed into him. He chided himself for not paying attention, then remembered how it was his ship. He screeched, as did the other feathered creature as they fell flat on their asses.
“Where is she?!?” The creature asked in a panicked tone. “Where’s Dash?”
Einuli’s eyes narrowed, “Why should I tell you?” He snapped.
“Because she’s my best friend!” The bird like creature retorted.
Now Einuli began to recognize her from stories Dash had told him while he was recovering. “What are you?” He asked quickly.
“A gryphon, my name’s Gil-”
“Gilda. Yeah I know.” Einuli sighed.
“How do you know my name?” Gilda questioned, glaring down at him.
“Rainbow Dash told me about you.” He muttered. “Sorry if I seem…” He trailed off and quivered a little bit.
Gilda shifted slightly and quickly grabbed him. “Shit…” She muttered, “Are you alright?”
“A… as ‘alright’ as I can be with most of my new pack sick with something I can’t cure…” He muttered quietly.
“Pack?” Gilda repeated the word, glancing away for a moment. “So… you’re the one who’s been keeping Dash safe?”
“I… guess I was. But now…” Einuli clammed up and went rigid. “I shouldn’t have been so stupid… I should’ve vetted the place more… mad- made…” He babbled out, breaking down into squawk and chirps.
Gilda unlike Dash was having none of it. She hauled the little raptor up, being a bit surprised by his weight. “C’mon. In here big guy.” She joked quietly in equish. She carried him into the nearest room, she set him down on a chair and pulled one up across from him.
She could catch a few of the things he was squawking out, though it was far too fast for her to hope of fully understanding.
“Slow down!” She squawked out herself, glaring at him. Immedietly Einuli’s panicked and fearful speech stopped. “Better. But not what I wanted.”
“S-sorry. I-I…”
“Tell me what you mean first by, ‘new pack’. You can’t ju-” She trailed off, shaking her head. “No. No, never mind. I understand enough.” She put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll be here to help you out, alright? Once you’re calm, we can come up with a plan to help them.”
Einuli nodded, “A-alright…” He pressed against her, relishing in the feeling of her wings wrapping around him.
“Shit… looks like even alien birds need a bit of comfort.” Gilda joked, albiet in a much softer tone then she usually had. “Usually… I wouldn’t be caught dead like this, but… if you’ve managed to bond with Dash and consider her a pack mate? I can make an exception for you.” She rested her head atop his.
“C-can you j-”
“Shhh.” She whispered. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood a bit… no one benefits if you’re stressed and anxious.”
Einuli nodded slowly. “R-right…”
“Why don’t we head to your room or somethin? Some place a bit more relaxing.” She suggested, lifting him up into her arms again.
“S-sure… I-I’ll tell you how to get there…” He muttered, pressing closer still.
Gilda was quietly pacing outside Einuli’s room. He came out of his room, now feeling just a bit better. “Thank you for that…”
“We all need someone to talk some sense into us.” Gilda laughed, stretching out. “Now, we need to gather a group together to help out don’t we?”
“Heh… we already have the rest of the crew.” Einuli explained, cracking his back as he began to walk down the hall.
“I need to meet them, don’t I?” Gilda questioned, “And I’m su-”
Shining Armor and Cadance made their appearance, along with a stallion and mare Einuli had never seen before.
“Einuli, we need to see Twilight! Is she alri-”
“No.” Einuli stated, shaking his head firmly.
“What the hell do you mean ‘no’. That wasn’t a requ-” The unknown stallion began to growl out.
“Dad…” Shining held him back.
“I don’t know if it’s dangerous for you to be around them. If something happens and bodily fluid gets into you, you could be contaminated with the nanites.” Einuli explained slowly, “Look… I completely understand why you want to see her… but she’s unconscious. The only way to bring her back to consciousness is to take her back to the star.”
“Then d-”
“The Dome can’t move. The Avenged doesn’t have the power required to put all of them on life support. They nearly died in transport here. I’m not risking taking them back to the system just so you can speak to Twilight.” Einuli growled out.
The unknown stallion stepped forward. “I dema-”
He was cut off and everyone who could move stepped back as Einuli grabbed his collar. “I AM THE DOCTOR HERE! Under MY orders they aren’t to be moved. And if you try to go against my orders I’ll eject your sorry ass into space and forget about you.” He hissed, seeming more threatening then ever. “Try it and see what happens to those that threaten my friends and pack mates.”
The stallion gulped.
“E-Einuli let go of Nightlight, please?” Cadance asked quietly.
Einuli shoved the unicorn to the ground. “Come on, Gilda, if you really want to come help we’ll need to get you to suited up.”
“I’m coming too.” Shining stated firmly. “And n-”
“Then come on.” Einuli growled. “I’ll need to get you both prepared.”
Shining was a bit shocked. “N-no fighting? You’re… just…”
“Why should I try to stop you? You want to help, and the more help we have, the better.” He grumbled quietly.
“What ab-”
“I’ve lost my family once. Anything, and everything I can do to make sure that doesn’t happen again, I will do.” Einuli stated. “You’re strong enough to help.”
Shining glanced down, “Well… thank you.”
Nightlight remained silent as the alien, his son, and the gryphon vanished down the hallway.
“I still want to see her.” Velvet murmured.
“If it weren’t for that thing, we would be able to! And she wouldn’t be in this kind of condition!” Nightlight growled.
“It isn’t his fault, I know it isn’t!” Velvet retorted. “If he really wanted to hurt them, or us, he could have! You know that!”
“Then why is he here? Why isn’t he out trying to fig-”
“Because he doesn’t know!” Velvet retorted. “You think because he’s from off the planet that he has all the answers? Listen to what he said, how he talked about them! He cares more then anything we could possibly understand!”
“My little gi-”
“The last of his FAMILYis lying unconscious in a state of near death! He’s as determined to see all of them alive and well, as you are to see Twilight again!” Velvet growled back. “If you want to make sure it gets done, follow them and join them in finding a way to reverse this!”
Nightlight glanced down.
“We have to support their efforts. He cares about all of them…” Velvet shivered, closing her eyes. “Just please… Nightlight…”
Her husband wrapped his arms around her. “I just…”
“I understand. We both are worrying, Shining trusts him to make this right, Twilight trusted her life with him. And he’s on the verge of collapse without them being here.” Velvet nodded slowly. “We just… need to help in whatever way we can.”
“Honey… let’s head back down. Maybe… we should let this cool off now.” Nightlight suggested quietly.
“I’d like that a lot.” Velvet nestled against Nightlight, the two leaving the hallway to return to Equus.
Einuli, Gilda, Shining, and Cadance arrived at the armory within moments. Einuli approached Nightbloom the moment they entered. “These two need armor and weapons.” He stated.
Nightbloom looked to the two newcomers. “Unsurprised. I figured.”
Einuli now saw that Nightbloom was making himself armor and weapons. “You…”
“Serious. Yes. I am coming.” Nightbloom stated. “As are a few others, they’ve been here for nearly an hour, escorted by Spike and Suzie.”
There were four different creatures, all of them new, at least for Einuli.
One was a teal colored unicorn, who seemed agitated and angry, though it wasn’t directed at anyone here. Another, a tall earth pony stallion. His bright red fur was nearly covered now as he had gotten his armor on, only waiting for his helmet to be finished. He glanced to Einuli and simply nodded.
The second mare in the group had a bluish grey coat, and gray hair. She seemed to be the most on edge of the group, holding her new weapon tightly as she awaited any further instructions.
The final creature in the group was a tall dragoness, unlike Spike, she had wings which were now covered in armor. She held a spear tightly and seemed proud to be here, she immediately approached Einuli when she noticed him. “Hello there, Einuli, it’s nice to finally meet you.” She greeted. “Though… it’s terrible that it’s under such horrific conditions.” She sounded apologetic.
“I…” Einuli trailed off.
“My name is Ember. And… well. I’m here to help save my friends.” She stated firmly. “I have several more of my guards with me, they’re still being outfitted. We’re here to do whatever you need us too.”
Next was the tall stallion. “Ah’m Big Mac. Mah sister’s in yer medical bay… and well, ah’m here to help with whatever Ah can.” He explained. “It’s good ta finally meet yah.”
Now Einuli was smiling slightly, “Likewise… for both of you.”
“Tri- I’m Trixie. Starlight’s my best friend… and, I owe it to her to help.” The unicorn mare sighed quietly. “And… I do wish to help Twilight and her friends, they have saved my life in the past.”
The final pony growled quietly. “I’m Limestone. I just want to get Maud back home safe and sound.” She glared at Einuli.
Einuli sighed quietly, “Thank you, all of you.” He ignored Limestone’s comment, he had every intention on saving all of them. “Just… get ready, and practice a bit. Shining knows how to work the VR room. I’m going to go talk with…”
“I’m sticking with you.” Gilda stated. “So stay close by, alright?”
Einuli looked up at her. “Alright. I’ll…”
Nightbloom walked up to Gilda and using a scanner took all her basic measurements. “Done.”
Gilda grinned slightly, “Look at that. We don’t have to wait.” She chirped.
Einuli nodded, “Alright… we’ll go talk to the rest of the crew, get a few more measurem-”
“Dandy, Femanti, and Chotl went to take more recording of the planet in hopes of tracking a source.” Nightbloom explained as he returned to his forge.
“Well… perhaps all of you could get outfitted, and we could test a few other things… just in case.” Einuli sighed, smiling a little more as he finally began to relax a bit.
Mission Goal: Escape to the local Orbiting Body where Evac is waiting.
The large gathering of Equestrian Soldiers, including Shining Armor, were prepared, alongside the others who had come including, Spike, Ember, Trixie, and Gilda. Enuili and Nightbloom were inside as well. Although the rest of the crew didn’t come to the training, they were preparing the equipment and any foodstuffs they’d need for the main mission.
“Alright, gather around, you wanted a mission… here we are. Something… ‘basic’ for the most part. Probably far less dangerous then whatever we’ll get into on the planet… but, it’s always better to be over prepared for things like this.” Enuili began, the security room now loading in around them. On the video monitors on the security rack they could see the back end of whatever riot occurred, some areas were rather bloody and coated in gore, others still had prisoners beating guards to death on them. The more sickening ones were flickering before going out, alongside the rest of the cameras as they were taken out.
The glimpse they got of what could be considered the worst included prisoners ripping into guards and…
“This is a Level Ten riot. The rest of the guards are dead. We’ve been cracked out of cryosleep… the last resort, but our goal isn’t to shut down the riot.”
He pulled up a holoscreen and everyone was treated with the sight of a simulated orbital bombardment… except it didn't seem to simply strike from the air.
“A-are those engines on the moon?” Gilda muttered quietly.
“That isn’t a moon.” He smirked. “There are tractor beams on the planet, meant to prevent ships from leaving without permission from the orbiting satellite. We have to make it to… here…” He pulled up the cracked and nearly gone surface of what was once the moon. “The moon of this planet… the other orbiting device is a failsafe. In this prison are some of the worst prisoners in this sector… Cultist, cannibals, rapists, you name it… they’re locked up here. They stopped worrying about mental health when the UNCS fell. Then everything else fell apart after Earth was annihilated.”
All the creatures present blinked a few times as it set in. “What… the hell are we doing here?” One of the guards asked quietly.
“Escaping… of course, you’re not in any real danger. Should you reach your physical limit however…” He tapped a few controls and now right in their helmets vision was a bright red bar. It remained just in the top left corner of their vision, almost like a HUD from a video game. Underneath it was a blue bar. “Those are your health and energy bars. Weapons you pick up no longer require ammo, your armor and suits can replicate bullets but they require power to do so… Of course there are ways to increase that power supply, and how quickly it recharges, but… we’re doing here won’t require it.”
“So, if the health runs out?” Ember inquired.
“You’ll be kicked out of the simulator. Well more like… teleported out. You aren’t in any physical danger here. Unless you push yourself to your limits and do things you shouldn’t do.” Shining answered. “Am I right?”
“Yup. And to add on… there are ‘medicines’ that are in here that can regenerate your health, or allow you to ‘heal’ rapidly.” Enuili continued on, “There are different ways of getting out of here… we can take the most direct path, and cut a swathe through the prisoners… going from cell Block Z to A, or find a more stealthy way of doing it. Of course, plan so you can react if the plan fails… as really, no plan survives direct contact with the enemy.” He chuckled quietly, “Any questions?”
The others looked around and started arming themselves… except Trixie who was realizing she was out of her element… like, incredibly out of her element. “or does anyone want to leave?”
Trixie was about to raise her hand…but she didn’t. Instead, she shuffled over to a weapon case and pulled out a strange looking weapon. “What’s this?”
“That is a laser repeater… it’s a bit different from most guns that fire actual projectiles. Instead this fires a highly concentrated beam of energy that’s capable of turning biological matter to ash, or melting electronics.” Enuili answered. “We’re running this scenario and one other. Hopefully both are unnecessary but, we need to be prepared for more then just a safe and easy trip to whatever is creating the nanites.”
“Right! And who actually knows what we’ll be facing anywhere…” Shining nodded, glancing to the other guards with them who were prepared for a fight.
“Hm. I’d like to see whatever’s causing this stand up to a dragon.” Ember smirked, giving Spike a nudge. He was less enthused, checking his gun and muttering quietly to himself.
“I’ve got enough energy in my tanks to take down a small army… why doesn’t it feel like it’s enough?” He grumbled to himself.
“Depends on what you mean by small… the last recorded population of this planet was Four and a half trillion. So… let’s take that down to a tenth at the very most… We’re dealing with at least four hundred and fifty billion prisoners if we executed each and every prisoner by hand.” Enuili said, his voice unwavering. As if that many lives in a prison were… normal.
“F… four and a half trillion?” Gilda murmured, all of the others freezing up and looking to him.
“We should only have to deal with…. around fourty thousand up through the path we should take. If even that. If we’re stealthy and don’t engage groups, or take out everyone… then we shouldn’t alert them further to our presence.” Enuili nodded, checking his gun, “Whenever you’re all good to go… we’ll head out.”
The silence in the room was palpable now, the bravado some of them had was melting away as the gravity of the training they were about to undergo hit them.
“Well… we’ll do our best. Let’s get our asses in gear, yeah?” Spike stood up, shouldering his gun.
“Yeah.” Shining and the guards nodded, joining him in finally standing up with their new weapons. Gilda and Ember were next to join them.
Trixie let out a sigh. “I’m going to regret this… but it’ll be worth it in the end.” She mumbled to herself. She lifted up her weapon and walked over.
Under his helmet Enuili’s ears twitched, he knew none of them were prepared. Not even he was… not missing an arm, or with his current mental state. But, this rag tag group would be going in regardless. No matter how much he tried to weed them out.
“Good.” He walked over to the door and pried it open, peeling the reinforced steel back to give them an opening. “Then, let’s be on our way… we’ve got little time to waste!”
It had been an intense night in the VR training. Most of those who had entered were beaten, battered… drained from the constant battling and fighting. Most of the trained soldiers were struggling to stand. Enuili… wasn’t doing much better.
Anger, depression, fear… so many negative emotions clouded his ability to react and think. He was feeling it now. Lack of sleep, lack of positivity… he was dreading it. Losing his pack a second time. Part of him… didn’t think he could take it.
Enuili really didn’t think he could handle it if Dash came out of it harmed... he already felt like a failure. And his stumbling during the training. Dropping targets… ignoring obvious clues or ambushes. He was letting it all surround him like a choking fog.
Then there was… her. This ‘Trixie’. She… wanted to help, but she was so under prepared. She barely made it two hours… let alone the full twelve they were in. She had to be kicked out around hour four. Now, he was angry. He had to deal with her health issues… he couldn’t focus on protecting those he actually cared about…
Trixie however was trying-trying so damn hard to show she was worth something. Something more then the persona she had put out and gotten her the ire of all of Starlight’s other friends. She was laying on a medical bed wheezing violently. She quivered and tried to draw deep breaths in. “I’m sorry…” She whimpered, she’d failed her own goals… she couldn’t keep up with even the basic climbing and tactics they were using.
It hurt her something fierce. Even more then the pain she felt in her legs, her arms, her chest… even the throbbing headache that was setting in paled in comparison to the pain she felt in her heart. She had a few tears in her eyes, not looking at the avali as he was checking her.
“You pulled a muscle in your leg. Looks like you over strained your lungs…” He said, ignoring her ‘apology’ as he didn’t think she had anyone to apologize to but herself. “You should rest for a bit longer. And… don’t try that again. You aren’t cut out for it.”
She sniffled, looking to him for a few moments. “I don’t… care… that I’m not cut out for it… I-I need to do it…” She said quietly, trying to get the words out as her chest tightened. “P-please… I-I need to help them…” After seeing second hand how… much he was pushing himself, even missing a hand. Even knowing second hand what he’d been through… what he was willing to do.
She wished she could bring herself to that level before… why did it take this to bring her to this?!
Enuili was quiet as he finished up the scans and injected something into her pulled muscle. Her body relaxed and pain started to fade. “Yeah… you may want to. But you can’t.”
“AND WHY NOT?” She shouted, causing a bit more pain to be added to her headache, and that tense feeling deep in her chest. Thankfully she knew it wasn’t her heart… she hoped it wasn’t. “You can do it! Hell, Twilight’s stupid pet dragon can! Why can I not?!” Her pained tears turned to anger as she now glared at him. “Who the hell are you to decide what i can and can’t do!? You’re just some… stupid little alien!” She stopped herself short of blaming him for their current condition. For… her being in this situation.
Enuili was silent again, he just stepped off to the side. “Because.” He seemed passive now, not showing anger… not even showing the slightest bit of care. “You’re not muscular. You lack magical power… you lack intelligence. And I’ve heard about your over inflated ego… you’d die. You’d die doing something utterly fucking stupid.”
Trixie grimaced, glancing away from him. “You’ll rush into some group of enemies… thinking you can bravado them to death. And by the time you take a step, you’ll get several thousand rounds in you… Or you’ll get sliced in half. Hell, I honestly don’t think you’re cut out to do much of anything besides whinge and perform parlor tricks.” He walked slowly, unsteadily over to a chair nearby. Climbing weakly into it.
Trixie quivered, now turning her angry gaze back to him. “And you’re the asshole who didn’t even think about what it’d cause when you entered our planet! Those space pirate things that almost killed most of the HEROES of our world?! They were after you! So, honestly, FUCK YOU! And I’m not going to deal with whatever you think you know about me… I KNOWwho and what I am! I know what I’ve been, what I’ve done! Who I’ve fucked over!” She tried to stand, and… Enuili didn’t stop her. By now he was only listening. Looking down and sniffling.
They were both right… and even though she didn’t say it… h-
“And if you get to go throw your fucking life away while ponies down there think you’re a hero… and while your friends lie in bed on life support. And my ONLY FRIEND ON THIS PLANET lies there as well, I get to throw my life away! Because that’s what it’s worth to me! Saving my friend and PROVING TO EVERYONE THAT I’VE CHANGED!” She shouted, stumbling towards him. She poked him roughly. “Now, you’ve got two choices! Put me the fuck down, or patch me up and help me get good enough to help! I don’t CARE if I have to work until I’m bleeding from the mouth, coughing up my lungs, or dying from sleep deprivation! IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES TO GO ON THIS FUCKING QUEST TO SAVE THEM THEN I’LL DO FUCKING WHATEVER YOU TELL ME TO BESIDES GIVE UP!”
Enuili quivered as he listened to her. “Then lay down.” He said quietly, in almost a whisper. He knew… just why she was doing this now. Why a slightly overweight unicorn, with no experience fighting… no experience even working out, was trying to throw her life away. His gaze moved slowly up, and he locked eyes with her. Tears sliding into his feathers. “Lay down… s-shut up… a-and rest. We all need it…” He muttered, “I need… to check on the others…” He quivered a bit, not bothering to push her away. The angry unicorn slowly… slumped forward into him. Her legs giving out, he barely caught her as his body was in pain as well… and the chair tumbled to the ground, only hurting them both a bit more. He squawked out a groan, quivering as the chair skittered out form under their weight.
“I need to do this…” She muttered, “S-so I can tell… t-them all I’m sorry…” Her voice was quivering and so quiet that only he could hear it. She sounded like a broken record now… repeating that, until her body gave out fully and she passed out. Enuili didn’t bother to move her for a while… after he finally did, he laid her out on the medical bed once again. Wrapping her up before stumbling out…
Eventually coming into the life support room. He barely made it to the chair beside Dash’s bed. There he finally gave into fatigue, closing his eyes and collapsing into the chair. His mind blanking as he just… didn’t know what to do.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, he had been so unfocused that he hadn’t realized someone else was in there. He chirped up and quickly looked back, “W-what?” He muttered, still shaking with… an emotion he couldn’t understand.
“Hey… we’re ready to leave when you are. But… really, you need to get some sleep before we go.” Shining said firmly. “I know for a fact that none of them would want you dying to get them back.” There was a finality in his tone that caused Enuili to relax, he didn’t even fight the Prince’s statement. Nor did he fight it when Spike came in too, Suzie backing him up.
“So, you brought back-up?” He asked quietly, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh. His body slumped fully back into the chair.
“In case you were going to be stubborn about it.” Spike nodded, glancing uncomfortably at the three unconscious ponies in the room. “We all want them back, and… I’m really starting to see why everyone else worries about you.” He strode forward, guiding Shining off to the side. He grabbed the Avali and hefted him up. Putting Enuili over his shoulder. “You were always stubborn from what I heard, don’t listen to anyone but yourself… and I can see why. But, that’s enough of that shit. Ya here? If there’s anything I’ve learned from Twilight and her friends, it’s that we need to work together to get things done. Especially if we want it done right…”
Suzie nodded in agreement, the human smiling brightly, “C’mon bud. Lets get you to bed first. Give everyone else time to rest and get suited up. We know you only need like four hours… and…”
Enuili sighed and closed his eyes, “Eighty hours. That’s what they have from the system’s worst estimate. I…”
“You’re stressed, we know that… we all are.” Shining snorted, “It’s why we’re here to help. You know what you need… and we’re here to make sure you can get it.” He smiled softly, “We all believe in you, and I’m sure they do too.”
Enuili for once… smiled. A small barely noticable one, but Shining caught it, seeing him relax and pass out completely made the pony relax too. “I think he understands.” Shining whispered, “At least for now… if he’s anything like me, he’ll probably be right back to normal when this is all done…”
