"Purring like a kitten..." Flynn dusted his fetlocks off with a smile. He turned from an instrument panel and smiled up at the loftily-placed spherical core fitted with sporadic, glowing crystals. "I estimate it's... running on only twenty-percent normal juice at the moment. Which is good. This thing's likely been inert for a super crazy long time. Best that we 'wake it up' slowly, y'know? The more bouts of manafeedback that we avoid, the better."
Wildcard only nodded.
"Once the entire thing stabilizes, we'll see about shoving more manacrystals in. I mean... sure, it looks like we've got loads to spend through... but it's probably best that we don't count our blessings before they've... they've..." He shrugged. "Well... there's no evidence of birds on the Dark Side. So I'm gonna avoid making an egg analogy."
Wildcard sighed.
"Anywho, what's the next order of business, Rainbow Dash?" Flynn asked. "I'm guessing it's to let the other Heraldites inside and inspect what's left of the facility."
Silence.
Flynn turned around, arching an eyebrow. "Rainbow Dash?"
She stood in place, staring at the reflective surfaces of the generator room.
Wildcard shuffled over and tapped her shoulder with a claw.
"!!!" She jumped in place, hissing through her teeth. "Good! Cool! Fine! Whatever!"
Flynn squinted his natural eye. "Is... everything cool?"
"Yeah. Sure." Rainbow took a shuddering breath. "Just... visions."
Flynn and Wildcard exchanged glances. "Discord?"
Rainbow trotted limply past the two. "Only glimpses. The girls are still here. They're... uh... they're keeping him shielded. Or me shielded. I dunno."
"Should..." Flynn squirmed. "...should we be freaked out?"
Wildcard facepalmed.
"I'll be sure to update you on when it's time to utterly panic," Rainbow Dash said, stepping up to an etched panel in the wall fitted with glowing specks of light. The heart of the mesa hummed loudly around them, echoing further from deep within. "As for now... I wanna count this as our first victory of the Dark Side."
"Damn straight!" Flynn grinned.
Rainbow gulped. "Hopefully it won't be our last..."
Wildcard breathed in and out. His goggles reflected moving machinery and flickering manalights.
"Well..." Flynn slicked back a mane that was hardly there. "There are lots of rooms in this wonderfully carved 'colony.' If we do a thorough search, then maybe we can scrounge up some super useful tools for—"
"Check this out," Rainbow droned, interrupting the stallion. She pointed at the diorama etched into the partially-pit panel in front of her. "This thing right here."
Wildcard and Flynn shuffled up.
"Huh..." Flynn's mechanical eye rotated in and out. "If I didn't know better, I'd say this was—"
"A map," Rainbow Dash said. "A layout of Darkreach."
Wildcard nodded.
"Are... are we sure?" Flynn asked, trying to study the shape of the geometric layout. "It's a bit simpler than I expected—"
"Rarity's confirming for me right now," Rainbow Dash said. She pointed at the rigid lines surrounding the lights. "This is the overall shape of the top floor."
"But just the top?"
"I... think it's simply attempting to outline the power grid," Rainbow said. "But it's definitely the shape of the topmost layer of Darkreach."
Wildcard pointed at a few dark spots along the etched rectangles.
"Some places are unlit," Rainbow added, observing Wildcard's talon.
"Then... if this thing is working correctly..." Flynn leaned his head to the side. "That means some places aren't fully receiving power."
"Do ya..." Rainbow's ears flicked. "Uhhhh... do ya have to shove more crystals in?"
Flynn was alredy shaking his head. "Not a good idea. There's no telling how screwed we'll be if the central manacore overloads. I mean..." Flynn looked at her. "The central engine to this place isn't alicorn tech, but do you really think we can build a new one?"
Rainbow shook her mane. "Cylindrimane is a long... long distance from here. And their cultural society's changed at least once."
"However..." Flynn turned about and scanned the interconnecting manacables with his mechanical eye. "...if I could figure out precisely how the manapower is distributed in this place..."
Wildcard glanced at him curiously.
"Simple, Double-Yoo." Flynn gestured with a hoof. "We can redirect the juice from less important systems and get the top level illuminated completely... well... almost completely."
"Hold up," Rainbow said.
The other two looked over at her.
Rainbow was staring into abject nothingness. "Twilight's giving me a science lecture."
"Buh?"
Rainbow stared... squinted... then nodded. "Cool. Thanks, egghead." She turned to look at the other two Heraldites. "She says there's an instrument panel right..." She pivoted, scanned, then pointed at a series of dials positioned perpendicular to the lit panel. "...there!"
"Hell yeah!" Flynn galloped over, scuffled to a stop, then blinked. "Errr..." He glanced over at Rainbow. "What's it function?"
"Pffffft!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You tell me, brainiac! Twilight doesn't know its purpose—only that the manajuice is being funneled through it."
"Ah. Okay..."
"You're the stallion who graduated from Manapunk Academy."
"I am self-taught."
Rainbow face-hoofed. "Oh. Great."
"No, it's a sexy 'self-taught'," Flynn insisted, studying the dials up close. "Hmmmmm... hold up. I think I'm seeing a pattern here." His lensed eye focused on a series of symbols etched above each dial... then up at the lit panel where the corresponding emblems were situated alongside each illustrated compartment. "So... I think each of these funnel power into the various compartments of Darkrreach."
"Can they power up the top room?"
"It's... a bit more convoluted than that," Flynn murmured. "Unless there's another compartment, I think these dials will control the power levels of Darkreach in entire sections."
"You mean multiple floors?"
"Something like that. My guess is that each symbol represents a prearranged section of vertically arranged chambers. If we had more crystals lit, it'd be possible to power up the entire place. As it is, however, we can only provide juice to one portion of the colony at a time."
"And we don't want to overload any of that schnazz right this second."
"Exactly."
Rainbow sighed, taking a step back. "Well... then... uhm..." She shrugged. "Time for a Darkreach spelunking adventure?"
"Lighting up one chamber at a time?"
"That's the idea, yeah."
"Not without the rest of the Herald," Flynn remarked, shaking his head. "I wouldn't suggest it."
"Right." Rainbow nodded, then turned to make a lethargic exit. "I'll go round 'em up, I guess."
Wildcard whistled. The other two looked at him.
The Desperado approached the instrument panel. His goggles reflected a wide rectangle with two dull diodes. He gestured at it.
"Yeah, we just went through that room," Flynn said. "The one with the mosaic... mural... thingy..."
"No..." Rainbow squinted and shook her head. "That's not the room with the Verdestone mosaic."
"It's not?"
"It's not shaped the same way," Rainbow said. "And Rarity concurs." She pointed. "This is a different large room... one we haven't been through."
"How could we miss it?"
"Dude, it was darker than Luna poop when we first entered this place. I'm sure there are lots of crud on the first floor that we've missed."
Wildcard shook his head. He pointed again at the large rectangular on the panel.
Rainbow cocked her head to the side, squinting.
The topmost horizontal line of the rectangle was fainter than the rest. "Huh... there are two empty diodes. I'm guessing they could be lit up?"
"Most likely," Flynn said. "And corresponding to manacircuitry."
"So... basically... that large room is not lit up right now?"
"Correct."
"But two diodes—one must represent manalights. But what's the other for?"
"I..." Flynn looked at Wildcard, then back at Rainbow Dash. "I don't know."
Rainbow's ear flicked. She glanced at the ear beside her. "For realsies, Rares?"
"What does your friend sense?"
Rainbow smirked. "Cool beans." She looked at Flynn. "I know how to get the rest of the Herald inside."
"You mean we're not using the stairwell?"
"Pfft. Stairs are for noobs." Rainbow pointed at the unlit rectangle. "Juice that baby up. I'll be there in a jiff." SWOOOSH!
"Big Show!" Ariel shouted, pouting. "Cut it out!"
"I'm just saying...!" Logan leaned back against the supply shed with a casual smirk. "...she's got lots of muscle on her! All we need is a big enough oven and then we can easily feed two Herald per drumstick!"
"Eughhhh..." Ariel shook her head, tail flicking. "...I can't believe this place is corrupting us already."
Seraphimus droned: "I welcome any death... including something as pathetic as cannibalism."
"See?!" Logan gestured. "She's into it!"
"I no longer know which of you two is worse," Ariel droned.
"Granted..." Logan scratched his chin as he glanced over at the bound griffin. "...lack of fear will make the meat juices less succulent."
"Mrrmmmfff..." Kepler adjusted his spectacles. "This is not what I wanted to put in my memoirrs."
Logan glanced at him. "You're writing memoirs???"
Before the wyvern could respond...
CRKKKKK!
The mesa beneath them shook.
"Ackies!" Ariel took off, flying and trembling in midair. "Earthquake!"
"No!" Logan pointed. "Look!"
"My starrs!"
A solid line of glowing red light materialized. Then—with mechanical grace—a ginormous "lid" tilted up, lifting and opening. It was easily ten times the size of the first hatch in the roof of the mesa that had been accessed to reveal the stairwell. Peering down, the group saw a shallow ramp leading to a large "hangar" of sorts built into the upper crust of the mesa. There was a smattering of loose crates and age-old abandoned junk. But—hovering in the center—was a lively, blue sight. Rainbow Dash flew up and into the open air of twilight.
"Hi, welcome to Darkreach." She smiled at the group. "We don't have sandwiches here, but we can pretend." A wink. "Right?"