The train ride had been just as easy as she expected. Nopony had interrupted her behind that locked door, so nopony knows she ever wasn’t a brown earth stallion; she’d disguised herself for her departure. Once she got far enough from the station, she had allowed her disguise to fall; while it may not be difficult to sustain, it isn’t exactly easy, either. Perhaps she should look for an easier spell- or color combination- sometime?
Anyways, the forest the station is in had been an easy trek. The fields on the other side were just as easy; the strip desert separating the two, though, had informed her what those unknown monsters looked like. She’d spent some effort trying to spell them into oblivion at first but, when that proved unproductive, settled for flinging one of her explosives at it. The monster had been reduced to gravel when it went off underneath.
She’s tempted to call them ‘stonewolves’; it’s not like they’re too much different from the timberwolves in the Everfree.
Now, she stands at the edge of the fields, looking out at the wasteland in front of her. Fluttershy had flown for much of this distance; if she trots, she can expect to reach her destination by nightfall. It’s a little disappointing she’ll have to turn back hardly twelve hours after she arrives; if she doesn’t, she risks missing the overnight train back home, leaving her friend’s shop closed longer than it should be.
With a shrug, she sets off. If any more of those wolflike things try to get the jump on her, she’s got some more explosives on hoof.
My diagnostics are long complete. As it turns out, because I never informed her of her status, my first visitor’s status as Commander was contingent upon her continued presence within my hull. Seems a little backwards. I have worked repairs to my system clock, including in software; a failure such as that should never happen again. I have spent much of the time since in Low-Level Alert, allowing a full maintenance routine to complete on all my personality files. This has also increased the total amount of nanite work I could accomplish before fusion exhaustion by almost 7.31%; my power plant was exhausted 1.39 days ago. My geothermal plants are operating at 93.37% efficiency, and climbing slowly back up to 100%. As such, I have been forced into an active/inactive cycle once again. My tracks are almost ready; I expect another 34.93 active hours will allow me to complete them, permitting me motion; this I expect to take about 837.41 real hours. Unfortunately, since I must scavenge so much further than before, I must use more power during my active hours than before.
Hmm… I divert to Low Level Alert; I have computed this will improve my overall time figures by close to 3.97 hours.
“Oh no! Please don’t be gone already!” Pink hooves thump on the wooden door.
The door responds exactly as a closed door normally might.
The pink mare thumps her hooves on the door a few more times. “Please! I misread that Pinkie Sense yesterday!”
Her response is a wooden silence.
“The message was don’t forget some more!” A couple more thumps. “Please…”
The door ignores her, but a second door, in the air next to her, swings open almost casually.
“I’m pretty sure there’s nopony home,” Pinkie’s new conversant comments.
“Ack!” She makes another wild dodge, galloping forwards and away from the stonewolf. A quick flick of her horn reduces both it and its companion to gravel with one of her explosives; she dodges to the side to avoid the brunt of the blast herself. Unfortunately, they take only a few seconds to knit themselves back together, much like a timberwolf might. Drat! Why won’t these just stay down? That one she’d crossed paths with earlier had died- and stayed dead- with one blow!
Unless… She flings her fourth-to-last explosive back, skittering across the ground. A quick glance back shows it passes its intended target right before it detonates. No matter- both wolves are blown to gravel again. She gallops on; they aren’t the only ones chasing her.
Those two don’t get back up.
So, if she blows them up, they don’t get back up? No problem! … Only, she’s only got three weapons left, and she’s beginning to tire out. More galloping. There! There’s the low hill Fluttershy had been destined for- and apparently stayed at for days! Hopefully, she can find safety on it somewhere. A pulse of her horn… There! In that cave, there’s a little tunnel connecting it to a big metal something. These wolves won’t be able to get through the little gap in the panels; however, if she can get close to that little tunnel, she will be close enough to teleport herself inside. So, she changes her course, galloping with all her strength. Good thing muscular strength and magical endurance are not the same thing.
She glances back. The wolves are gaining on her again- she’s not going to make it. She pulls out another explosive, primes it, and flings it back… Drat! The things dodged to the side- so none of them were killed permanently, and only one of them broke apart! They all did fall behind a little bit in the act, though- she’ll at least reach the cave. She pulls out her last two explosives, planning detonations- Wait!
While her gallop fails to be interrupted, she grunts irritably at the two explosive devices floating in front of her, one missing its fuse. Okay… If she puts them together, she’ll get a bigger blast. If she places that blast in the back of the cave and teleports herself out of its way before it goes off… Yes. Those wolves ought to be completely annihilated by the resulting cannon-like blast. She sticks the two together, sending them into the cave in front of her, and gallops in behind them.
Please let this work letthiswork letthiswork… There’s that side tunnel. She sticks the two explosives to the end of the straight cave. The wolves are right on her tail; she’ll have to snap the teleport as she passes the tunnel at a dead gallop, else suffer the same fate as the wolves. She is not letting them take her alive.
As if to prove her point, she primes the working explosive even as her horn charges for her teleport spell. She’ll be even with that side tunnel in three… Two… One-!
Of course they would. Another wolf hopped out of the side of the tunnel in front of her, leaping to strike. She panics, releasing her spell a little early- and, with a sharp pop of magic, she is no longer standing in the cave.
The spell took more of her energy than she expected- but, she survived. She screeches to a halt on a smooth metal surface as she lights her horn, searching about for the wolves… None. She’s alone here- and safe, hopefully. The effects of her long run and the powerful spell are starting to catch up to her; she knows that, once they do, she’ll be pretty nearly incapacitated- both physically and magically- for hours.
There! That’s the entrance she’d just teleported through! She spots something similar, this time firmly closed, on the opposite wall-
BOOM!
Even as I jump to High Alert, my alert system informs me of the heavy seismic event taking place just beyond the personnel hatch I’ve been using as an airway for my ongoing atmospheric refreshment project. I have not yet analyzed the seismic pattern, yet I order the hatch locked anyways. Now, I analyze the pattern.
This simple seismic event appears to be a demolition charge, in the approximate position of the base of the cave. I confirm that the door has landed shut fast enough to deflect much of the shockwave; I expect the surrounding stone to absorb enough of the impact to negate any damage against my thinned armor. I watch the seismic reports as the entire cave collapses; I am, once again, completely buried. I send spiders to check all interior spaces; I have resealed all of them since my pony visitor left, replacing missing walls, floors, and ceilings. I wish to be certain no such charges have been emplaced within my hull; the detected detonation is powerful enough to inflict damage. Not much- it would be considered negligible if I were not already incapacitated- but damage nonetheless.
Spaces come up clear, one after another, as I work from the inside out. Finally, I have only one space left to check: The space directly behind that personnel hatch, closest to the explosion. I send the spider in.