With scuffling hooves, Rainbow Dash slid onto the top platform of a steep, winding stairwell. She pressed a hoof to her pendant and shone a ruby spotlight diagonally donward. Within half-a-second, Wildcard posed beside her, brandishing the staff.
The crimson light illuminated empty space... pale steps and dead gray walls. An ambiant hush echoed up the vertical chamber, and desolate fuzziness ate at the black edges of the spotlight's penumbra.
Wildcard stared and stared. He cocked his gaze slightly to the side as his goggles devoured all the hidden details from the sparsely-lit environment. Then—when the Desperado felt it was "safe"—he motioned forward with his staff. Talons scraping, he descended the stairs before Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow held her breath. With flapping wings, she slowly followed the griffin's tail. Together, the two descended the winding stairwell and took their time turning around the ninety-degree corners.
Grunting.
Sweating and straining.
At long last, Logan shoved a rusted metal door all the way open. He used the blunt portion of his axe to push the lid deeply into its frame. As he took the moment to exhale, Ariel threaded through the lower corridor entrance. She held a magically-charged crystal that had essentially been tied to the end of a rusted stick. Wielding the makeshift torch, she waved it around until the light outlined a narrow hallway flanked by randomly open doors.
Half of the dozen-or-so lights were flickering. The voice of Onyxxus was a dull bass hum emanating from the floor above. The power wasn't completely reaching this place, and it kept the environment mostly dim.
Ariel got as good a survey of the landscape as she could manage. Exchanging glances with Logan, she then gestured down the corridor.
Logan heaved his axe and took point. He marched down the hallway... stopping at each door to collect his breath and then dash in front of the frame, his axe held high.
There was no sign of life—even as Ariel caught up and shone the light in. They tried chamber after chamber, prying open doors to small utility closets. The enchanted crystal illuminated metal tools, piles of junk, magical reagents, and partially disassembled weapons—but nothing alive and breathing.
So—with cautious breaths—Logan and Ariel shuffled along their way... eventually following a set of stairs leading down into the next underground story of the facility.
Wildcard and Rainbow Dash entered a large chamber. As they did so, Rainbow had to squint. The manacircuitry here was undamaged, and the leylines delivered full illumination to the ceiling lamps suspended above. As the subterranean world came back into focus, she and Wildcard found themselves shuffling down a wide-spaced storage compartment full of lockers, cages, and partially-damaged glass cases.
There was more than one dais projecting the hologram of Onyxxus here. The alicorn patriarch continued his recorded monologue, sincerely entreating generations of dead or lost souls. His voice echoed against dead walls as Wildcard and Rainbow Dash crept along.
Twilight Sparkle and the others stared at every piece of equipment. The room was full of storage devices in various states of disrepair. Applejack floated past a metal locker overflowing with a colony of mushrooms. Rarity gawked at a dull pile of strange red crystals. Pinkie Pie cocked her head at the sight of a glass cage filled with thick, white, fibrous strands—like ancient silk.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She approached a cage in the center of the room. It contained the cartileginous skeleton of a large creature. Judging from the triangular wingflaps and elongated tail, it resembled a stingray... but it also possessed a skull with gaping fangs and multiple eyeholes.
The next cage was stranger. Even Wildcard was possessed with the urge of staring at it: a large spiraling conkle shell resting on a dusty pile of organic refuse.
All of the ghostly mares looked at Fluttershy.
She stared straight back, her face full of mixed surprised and guilt. She could only shrug and tremble.
Applejack patted her shoulder while Pinkie Pie floated close to nuzzle the pegasus.
Composing herself, Fluttershy took a deep breath and gestured towards the next stairwell.
Rainbow Dash signaled Wildcard, and the two approached the distant chamber... passing under the translucent gaze of an extinct alicorn.
A distorted projection of Onyxxus shone sideways, flickering in and out of existence from where its dais had fallen over to the side along with an assorted pile of scattered junk. Logan and Ariel trotted straight through the image... and they emerged to find a dimly-lit room full of desks, cabinets, and mold-strewn tomes.
The two Heraldites froze in place. Ariel shone her light around while Logan's gaze danced across multiple exits on the far side.
At last, it was Ariel who took the initiative. She slowly flew forward, checking every corner and obstruction. When she determined the coast was clear, she made her way to a round-shaped desk situated towards the distant corner of the room. She saw dozens upon dozens of scattered notes. Most of the papers had withered to pulp over time... but a few of the documents were still intact. What's more, she discovered etched slabs of metal evidently used to preserve information for future use.
Logan shuffled up and watched over the pegasus. His presence gave her license to peruse some of the material.
Ariel's fetlocks ran through sheets of paper. She held up what appeared to be a map of Darkreach, the mesa, and the environment surrounding. One side of the map was marked by the "Alpha" signal and another labeled with "Omega." Towards the "Omega" side, she saw a broad area outlined with a circle. There were words—neatly written in archaic font—but they clearly read: "Once a forest. Now gone."
Her brow furrowed. There was a rustling sound. She and Logan jolted in place—only to realize it was a glitch in the holographic projection. Onyxxus would occasionally flicker and re-orient himself to continue the recorded message throughout the colony.
Catching her breath, Ariel rummaged through a few more papers. She found another map—wider this time—and towards the "Omega" side there was the illustration of a crescent moon. This symbol was accompanied by a frantically written word in all capital letters: "BLOODWINGS."
Chewing on her lip, Ariel flipped to another sheet. It was an illustration—of what, she couldn't initially determined. Logan looked over his shoulder. With a breathy whistle, he reached in and re-oriented the paper in Ariel's hooves until it became clear. They were looking at a skyline. Tall spires, jagged steeples, and spacious balconies formed a pale silhouette against black charcoal scrapings. Then—beneath the illustration—there was the alpha symbol along with a calmly-etched word: "Spindlers."
Logan and Ariel could have searched more, but now wasn't the time. With dutiful breaths, they abandoned the archives... then made for the far end of the chamber. After much deliberating, they chose one of the multiple stairwells... and descended to the next lower floor.
Minutes passed.
Rainbow and Wildcard didn't know it, but they were making faster time than the other group. It also helped that the deeper they went, the smaller and sparser the rooms and corridors of Darkreach were.
Until they got to the very bottom floor. Here... they encountered the largest chamber of the colony yet. The lights were miniscule here—spread out in such a way that their pale glow scarcely illuminated the black industrial mechanisms that loomed everywhere. Rainbow knew it wasn't the generator room, and yet there was a bevy of moving parts, dangling chains, and rotating fans. The place had a neverending bass hum to it that drowned out the now-indiscernible words of Onyxxus' projection.
"I think I'm starting to understand," Twilight Sparkle blurted out, startling the other girls. "Why aren't we suffocating or dying of heatstroke right now?"
"Twilight, darlin'?" Applejack tilted her hat back as she gazed nervously at the looming bulwarks of the chamber. "Reckon this ain't a good time for riddles."
Twilight shook her head and smiled at the rest. "This is the ventilation system. See those pipes?" She pointed up at a series of metal tubes and elongated vents that stretched across the ceiling. "I'm willing to bet that they run through the mesa and open to spots along the lateral sides of the outer mesa. This whole room at the base of Darkreach is for filtering air throughout the facility and cooling its inhabitants!"
"Yes, Twilight, I do concur," Rarity muttered. "But Applejack has a point."
"We checked all the other rooms!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "What we're looking for has got to be in here!"
Rainbow Dash merely looked at Fluttershy. Unlike Rainbow's friends, the petite pegasus didn't have the luxury of vocalizing.
Fluttershy looked back. "It's... it's definitely in here... somewhere..."
"Can ya pinpoint it, sugarcube?"
Fluttershy gulped. "I'm sorry..." Her eyes teared up slightly. "No more than I could pinpoint the organic fossils we found a few stories above us. I d-don't know what's wrong with me on the Dark Side! It's... it's like I'm so useless—"
"Shhhhhh..." Applejack comforted her. "You ain't useless, Fluttershy."
"You just have a new set of challenges!" Twilight said hoarsely. "We all do!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded. "I haven't had an explosion of Pinkie sense since we left the Light Side!" Right as she said that, her tail curled up—as did her ears. "Whoaaaaaaaah..."
"!!!" Rainbow Dash tensed up. This startled Wildcard, who held Bard's staff up high and overshadowed her, protectively.
"Pinkie...?" Twilight exhaled as she and the mares gaped at her.
"I... I-I've never felt that one before!" Pinkie blinked back at Twilight. "Although... somehow it seems like I was supposed to..."
"Can you describe the sensation?"
"It's... it's like I'm looking at a shattered mirror... and a thousand pinkie eyes are all looking back. But—like—none of them are meeting my gaze exactly..."
Fluttershy merely shivered.
"Twilight?" Rarity looked over. "Are you sensing anything?"
"If Fluttershy can't and Pinkie Pie can't, then—"
"Just concentrate, darling. There must be more to this for you as well as for them!"
Twilight Sparkle clenched her eyes shut. Her horn shimmered as she focused... focused...
Wildcard looked anxiously in Rainbow's direction. The mare held a gentle hoof up for him to "be patient."
"Mmmmmm..." Twilight's eyes darted and rotated under her ghostly lenses. "Mmmmmm... a candle... beneath a veil..." Her ears folded back. "... ... ...smoke descending... going backwards into a blaze..."
"Ooooooh..." Pinkie grinned from ear to ear. "Spoopy!"
"Twilight..." Applejack floated closer. "T'ain't like you to speak like a soothsayer. Is what we're dealin' with magical or not?"
Twilight reopened her eyes. "Definitely... definitely so..." She looked at Rainbow. "Just like Pinkie, I feel like I'm familiar with it too."
Rainbow was silent.
"Mmmm... the Vanilla Zone?" Fluttershy spoke up.
The other mares looked at her.
She looked back. "Maybe we've sensed this before... but from the Vanilla Zone?"
Applejack scratched her head. She looked at Rainbow.
Rainbow sighed. She lowered her head—as well as her voice—and spoke barely above a whisper: "Can all of you... with your muddied senses combined... give me a general direction for finding this thing...?"
The mares huddled close together.
"We can certainly try," Twilight said. She looked over. "Pinkie? Fluttershy?"
"I think it'sssssssss..." Pinkie's tail uncurled as she nodded with her head. "Thattaways!"
"I... I'm not so sure..." Fluttershy murmured. "I think Pinkie's off..."
"How about..." Twilight held her hoof up. "...we all point to where each of us sense it?"
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie reluctantly nodded. Then—with nervous motions—they pointed their fetlocks out.
Twilight cleared her throat and did the same.
Rainbow watched her three friends' hooves. Indeed, each was pointing in a different direction... but she could ascertain a vague angle to take the next step. She patted Wildcard on the shoulder. When the Desperado looked her way, she gestured... then trotted slowly ahead.
Wildcard followed suit... silent as a shadow.
Together, the pair passed by rows and rows of humming metal machinery. The rotating shadows of large rusted fans broke the dim lights above. Moisture dripped from multiple suspended pipes, and the recently reactivated manacircuitry heated up a few portions of the ventilation system... so that steam vented in random spots, making portions of the chamber more obscured than the rest.
Rainbow didn't bother looking at the industrial nonsense in front and above her. She didn't have to. Her eyes remained locked on her friends... and she studied the changing angles of Twilight's, Fluttershy's, and Pinkie's forelimbs.
Before long, the fetlocks of all three mares converged into one specific direction.
Rainbow Dash stopped in place—as did Wildcard. Both looked straight ahead.
That spot of the chamber was divided by rows of massive rusted shelves—storing countless metal crates full of supplies and tools for maintaining the ventilation system and equipment in the floors above. It was like gazing into a pitch black metal forest.
"Twilight... Pinkie..." Rainbow gulped, leaning aside as she whispered: "Fluttershy, is it there...?"
"Yes, Rainbow," Fluttershy coldly murmured.
Rainbow's eyes darted to her.
She looked back. "This time I am sure of it."
"There's... some magical phenomenon situated in fr-front of us," Twilight managed. "I wish I could explain it."
"Never mind explaining!" Pinkie's teeth chattered as her tail and ears curled again. "Let's go and squash this thingy already!"
"Or—maybe—not squash?" Applejack said with a frown. She looked at Rainbow. "Darlin', I'm not sure what I'm sensin' myself... but whatever's lurkin' there sure as hay ain't malicious."
"How can we be sure of that?" Twilight hissed.
Silence.
Wildcard looked at Rainbow, then back into the shadows.
"Rarity..." Rainbow whispered aside. "Is... is it cornered?"
"No, Rainbow," Rarity said, shaking her head. "I was about to say—there's an out." She pointed. "The shelves end about four meters from the furthest wall."
"Maybe... uhm..." Fluttershy stroked her bangs aside. "...if you and Wildcard surround it—"
"Right." Rainbow nodded. She gave a breathy whistle and gestured Wildcard closer. "Dude..." She murmured, pointing down the aisle. "It's right in front of us. Between these two shelves. If one of us goes around and comes up the backside..."
Wildcard was already nodding. He shouldered Bard's staff, held his breath...
...and darted off into the shadows without a sound.
Rainbow Dash blinked.
"Whelp!" Pinkie shrugged. "So much for picking straws!"
"He's going around to the opposite side!" Fluttershy squeaked. "Rainbow, it's now or never."
"Be careful, Rainbow...!" Twilight insisted.
"Uh huh..." Rainbow took a deep breath. One hoof after another, she approached the dark throat of the metal aisle in front of her. Tall, looming shelves full of discarded equipment lingered on every side. The air was dense, misty, and filled with a pungent odor that grew even thicker as Rainbow drew herself forward. "Psssst! Hey!"
Her marefriends winced.
Nevertheless, Rainbow bravely continued: "Whoever you are..." Rainbow approached the darkness. She spoke louder to be heard above the hum of rotating fans high above. "...we know you're there. We're..." She gulped. "...we're not going to hurt you."
Silence.
Darkness.
Odor.
Rainbow slowed her trot, shuffling forward on three limbs as she raised a fourth to her pendant. "Show yourself..." The ruby glow in front of her intensified, piercing the steam. "...you're not helping anything by hiding. I dunno how long you've been in this place, but if you need somepony to talk to—"
The crimson light glinted off a pair of mechanical lenses.
"...!" Rainbow Dash jerked to a stop. She ceased moving... breathing...
"Dashie?" Pinkie asked.
"Guh...!" Twilight grimaced. "A surge!"
"Rainbow..."
Rarity and Applejack gasped upon hearing a deep, female voice emanating from the shadows.
"Rainbow Dash..."
Shuffling hooves.
Rattling metal ringlets.
Rainbow Dash stood dead still... even as her ears tickled with the approaching hoofsteps.
The first thing to materialize was a swath of crimson braids... followed by a series of metal plugs... glinting like birthed stars. "Rainbow Dash... I waited so... so long for you since you left..." The mechanical lenses pistoned inward as the mare's ears drooped. Her muzzle formed a bittersweet smile as a mechanical tail twisted and curled behind her. "At last... nothing can ever hold us apart..."
A whimper escpaed Rainbow's lips, sincere and vulnerable: "Roarke...?"