//------------------------------// // 28: Nopony Told Me Wisdom was a Tenet of Harmony // Story: Friendship: Beyond Equestria // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Prism lounged on top of the new and improved Joe.  Silver had overseen a number of upgrades, and the one Prism was enjoying the most right now was a hammock strung up along the right side of the rover.  It was just after midday, and she was snoozing while the rover made good time through the gentle rolling hills that offered no flora that could hinder its progress.  Their path had them running away from the river that ran through the colony, but one of its tributaries was nearby. It was this lack of anything new, that hadn’t been cataloged already, that gave her the excuse to take a nap. She was greatly enjoying the warm sun, only to be interrupted by a call from Firefly.  His transparent face manifested like an annoying gnat buzzing where it wasn’t wanted. Given that this was on the official Pathfinder channel and they were out in the field, Prism didn’t have the option to ignore the call that activated almost immediately.  “Heyya, horn job, you going to sleep all day, or are we going to do some actual work?” Pressing her mouth flatter than a pancake, Prism cracked open a disgruntled eye.  “Call me that again, and you’re going to have both of your horns on your head. Secondly, we don’t leave the monster exclusion zone for another six hours, so I’m going to get some shut eye until then.  If you have the brains to match your mouth, you should do the same; we’re going to have a long night ahead of us.” She could see Firefly’s gaze venture off to the sides and a worried scowl crossed his muzzle.  “I think you’re putting too much stock into this so called exclusion zone. It’s too wide an area, and we don’t have enough troops or drones to really monitor it all.” Prism deepened her voice as much as possible.  “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Firefly arched a confused eyebrow.  “Uhhh, okay.” Prism inwardly groaned.  Crap, that’s right, momma never had time to prepare those movies for an Equestrian audience.  Too bad the portal collapsed after Sunset died. “Never mind. The point is, relax while we can.  We’re not going to get another chance until Seed Two is planted.” Firefly sluggishly nodded his agreement.  “Speaking of planted seeds, when are you and Silver going to have a foal?” Prism sat up and gave him a scowl so heinous that he balked a bit.  “What Silver and I do in that regard is none of your damn business.” “It kinda is,” Firefly rebutted, recovering from the initial intimidation.  “He’s my best friend, and as much as you may not like it, we need more foals.” “The Pathfinders need Ruby and me more than we need two extra mothers.  Besides, I doubt Ruby is even capable of loving anypony, let alone a child.” Firefly shrugged while giving a worried grin of sorts.  “Okay, so maybe she’d be full of tough love, but I’m sure all she needs is time away from you.” “Psh, I won’t say no to that fact.”  Prism laid back and watched the scant few clouds in the sky go by.  “But I’m ageless now, so I don’t have a menopause to worry about.” “You may not age,” Firefly countered with a sad tone.  “But Silver does. Try not to forget that, alright?” Before Prism could think of a response, Firefly ended the call.  That left her stewing, unable to enjoy the simple act of napping.  Bah, what does he know? Stallions can sire kids long into middle age or later.  We’ve got forever and a day to worry about having some ankle biters, plus I have to be a good sister to Spring Roll. Roughly on time with Prism’s prediction, the two Pathfinders reached the edge of the exclusion zone, a rather nondescript affair as they continued on moderately difficult terrain.  It was dusk by now, and the only real warning either of them received was a red indication light on their personal displays alerting them to the known, yet uncontrolled dangers ahead. Momma says this is all going to be suburbs one day for the capital. Prism gazed about from on top of her moving rover.  The area was mostly tall reeds and grass analogs obscuring the shallow boggy ground. The dampness came from the tributary. There were only a scant few tall plants or fungi, but there were plenty of large stones generated by a collection of Ruby’s Towers that had been weathered away long ago.  She tried to picture rows of nice warm neighborhoods complete with stores, schools, and various other locations she assumed suburbs contained. Well, after the bog’s been drained at least. Pee-ew. In the end, it felt like a nice idea, but not one Prism was ultimately interested in.  Let other ponies fill the cities, give me the unknown and a rover any day of the week.  A wiry grin crossed her face. And Silver by my side, of course. Firefly’s comments from earlier decided to echo in her head.  Her best attempts to ignore it were dashed upon hearing the high pitched whine of Firefly’s rover rolling up to her position. The orange furred and red maned unicorn jumped off his rover and approached Joe, prompting Prism to join him on the ground.  Joe had been wise enough to idle on a patch of drier, more stable ground. “Alright boss, are you finally going to tell me how you want to handle this whole thing, or just play it by ear?”  There was no irritation in Firefly’s request, only bemusement. His booted hoof dragged some clingy green fronds with him, which he tried to kick off as Prism reached him. “It’s not really complicated,” Prism stated with a bit of boredom.  “Run the path satcom laid out, and see if there’s any hazards we’ll have to circumvent.  I was going to take the right side of the path.” “Guess that leaves me with the left.”  Firefly’s horn lit up as he tinkered with his display.  “You think we’ll actually find anything dangerous satcom missed?  You know, besides migrating monsters.” Prism cracked a smile, and looked upon the wilderness ahead of her with glee.  “Only one way to find out.” Back in Elysium, Twilight Sparkle was closing her home down for the night. Spring Roll was in her crib, being lulled to sleep by Twilight humming a gentle lullaby. It was a wordless melody that her mother had passed down, and so it was that Twilight did the same. The foal’s room was a cramped affair compared to what Twilight’s previous children enjoyed, being barely larger than a walk-in closet, but it would have to suffice.  The building fabricators had so many other projects, and there were far too few ponies willing and able to build better homes the old fashioned way. Still though, no matter how cramped her little cabin in a jar might feel, Spring Roll made it home. And there she might have stayed, watching her newest daughter sleep, maybe even pulling her from her crib so the foal could curl up under Twilight’s wing.  That plan was foiled however when Sawbones made an urgent call. That can’t be good. He’s still on shift for another hour. Answering the call revealed his haggard face.  Sawbones had weary bags under his eyes, and some of his mane was shaggier than usual. “Colonial Princess,” he started. The formal address over a private call had been dropped entirely a few months ago, even when Sawbones was on the job.  To use it now made Twilight more than a little fearful. “We’ve had a serious incident. One for which the state will have to file criminal charges.” Standing up quickly, Twilight cast a sleep spell on Spring Roll to make sure the filly was out.  “I’m on my way.” As Twilight ordered Voyager to create a relay of teleport beacons between her home and the hospital, Twilight pressed a new button on her personal display. A holographic unicorn materialized in the hallway after Twilight stepped out and shut Spring’s door behind her. The unicorn had a carefully created image exuding maternal care; a sweet yet knowledgeable face, a gentle yet reassured posture, and a warm voice that spoke of patience and love.  “Colonial Princess Twilight Sparkle, how may I help you tonight?” “I have urgent business to tend to.  I know your program isn’t necessarily finished yet, but I don’t plan on being gone long.  Can you watch over my foal? She’s asleep for now, and no pony else is close enough.” The holographic pony placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s foreleg.  Recently installed force field projectors along the walls and ceiling allowed the new AI to actually touch her.  “I am honored by your trust, although I’d imagine my creators would be more so, I think.” The AI had a twinkle in her eye that felt more real than Voyager had ever accomplished.  “Do not fear, Princess, Spring Roll is safe in my care.” Twilight’s display flashed an alert that the relays were in position.  “Good, thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that, Twilight blinked away. Twilight finished her string of teleports by landing in the hospital’s reception area.  Sawbones had been waiting for her, looking just as bad as when he called her. He was sitting heavily on a bench with barely wiped blood on his scrubs.  It was not an unheard of look for him, but those times were typically reserved for post-combat injuries. Twilight rushed over and nuzzled the clean side of his face.  “What happened?” “A riot broke out at the Salt Lick.  Twenty five injured, twenty of them hospitalized, five in critical condition.”  Sawbones climbed to his hooves and started walking to the recovery bay. “What caused it?  Just drunken brawling gone bad, or is something behind this?” Twilight inquired with far more concern than anger at her subjects. “I’ve been too busy saving their idiotic lives to get any more details than what I’ve given you.”  Sawbones slid into a room with two occupants. “I’m sure Voyager could give you all the details,” he stated with mild confusion, assuming she didn’t already ask the AI. “Voyager can give some excellent analysis as to the cause, but he’s still lacking some insight.  I can get a clearer picture by asking the instigators directly. And by asking them first, I don’t go in with preconceptions.” “Well, if that’s your prerogative, then be my guest.  I’ll let those two speak for themselves,” Sawbones huffed with a wave of his hoof at the two patients.  “I’d love to listen in, but my break has lasted too long as it is. I have paperwork to do before I can head home.” “Save it for the morning,” Twilight started with both love and a firm tone.  “You need the rest, and you’ll be able to finish it faster when you’re not so exhausted.” Sawbones considered it for a moment before shaking his head.  “Sorry. Protocol demands finishing it asap, but I’ll request some help from some of the nurses who are coming on shift in an hour.  Deal?” The current situation forced Twilight’s hoof into agreeing without further negotiation.  “Alright, Honey. I’ll see you later tonight then.” Watching him go, Twilight’s face wilted. I wish he wouldn’t have so many night shifts.  Putting on her best nonjudgmental expression, Twilight marched in to find the two patients had been separated by not only privacy fields, but two earth pony guards.  The first pony was an irate green pegasus stallion that Twilight vaguely remembered from the original colonist screening for Seed One, while the other was a familiar earth mare: Apple Kuchen, the current director of Hydroponics. Apple Kuchen’s injuries were serious, but not life-threatening.  A compound fractured foreleg, a black eye, and various minor scratches.  Twilight noted the stallion on the other hand, had two fractured legs, a bite taken out of his right ear, and from what the wall mounted screen told her, a ruptured spleen.  He was currently asleep, and the medication Twilight saw in his IV meant he wasn’t waking any time soon. More importantly to Twilight at the moment, was that Apple Kuchen was able to talk.  Both of them also had IV drips of magically charged fluid on one end of the bed. The mana charged medication could temporarily allow a drunk to think clearly, but it was dangerous to use for long.  Looks like both of them were stinking drunk. Giving a nod to the guards, Twilight commanded Kuchen’s privacy field to shrink so the earth mare could see her, but not the stallion.  “Director, I see you’ve been keeping yourself busy.” Apple Kuchen tried to sit a little straighter.  “Colonial Princess, can’t say I’m surprised you came to see for yourself.” “Yes, well,” Twilight let her eyes drift along the mare’s injuries.  “This is something I had hoped wouldn’t happen until at least the next generation of ponies reached adolescence.   So what happened, AK? Was the liquor watered down? Somepony called you a fake Apple? Got accused of being a draft dodger?  What was it?” Kuchen averted her gaze in shame.  “I have no excuses.” “Then don’t think of it as excuses, think of it as reasons why it happened.”  It was a trick Twilight had used quite often in her motherly career. “And if you don’t talk, I’ll get your neighbor’s story first.  And if I have to wait for him to be awake, it’ll be worse for the lot of you.” Kuchen ground her teeth for a long moment.  She glanced at what appeared to be a vacant space in her room, but Twilight’s threat made it obvious who was there.  “I was being stupid and letting words rile me into a fight.” Twilight’s silence allowed Apple to keep speaking. “I just - I wasn’t myself.  You know me, Twi—” Apple Kuchen hesitated, “Princess.  I toss banter back and forth with the best of them, but lately, I’m just angry all the time.  Briar Patch talked a bit meaner than he normally does, and I tossed it back even harsher. Next thing I know I get bashed in the back of the head with a stool.  After that, we all started beating each other senseless. Me, Briar, everypony. It was a good release at least, for… what it’s worth.” Voyager and Twilight watched Apple Kuchen sigh and fall silent, awaiting a verdict.  Sensing the pause, the AI spoke up for only Twilight to hear. “Colonial Governor, I’ve finished reviewing the security footage from inside the Salt Lick.  Citizen Apple Kuchen’s story is correct from her vantage point. The chair was actually thrown at another pony who avoided it rather clumsily.” The relevant video feed appeared next to Twilight, but she largely ignored it, save to take note of the thrower. What she did take note of, was that Apple Kuchen was the brawler in the highest position of authority.  Seems Sawbones thought she was the original cause of the fight, or thought I should make an example of her. I could give her a lighter sentence since she didn’t really start the fight, but what sort of message would that send, hmm?  “Kuchen, normally a crime of this sort is resolved via fines, community service, or jail time if the other injured party wants to press for damages beyond medical bills.  So you and the rest of your brawler ‘friends’ leave me in quite a bind seeing as how I haven’t established a currency yet, and everypony’s work could be seen as community service by the letter of law.”  Twilight took a deep breath. “I suppose this is a wakeup call for me to write some new laws. But in the meantime, incarceration will have to do.” She gave Apple Kuchen a hard stare.  “This is not the old world, Apple. The colony is a family, we all know everypony else, if only by face and name.  We can’t afford to let this slide.” She paused to let it sink in. “You and the rest of the brawlers will be under house arrest for the time being.  You will work, and then go straight home under guard, you will be on three fourths rations, and be restricted from any form of alcohol for the duration.  Understood?” Kuchen squared her shoulders as best she could and nodded crisply.  “Yes, Princess, it won’t happen again.” “Good,” Twilight replied firmly.  “I would hate to have to replace you for somepony less qualified if this behavior becomes repetitive.”  Sensing the earth mare quietly accept her punishment, Twilight departed the room. Once in the hallway, she made a recording of herself giving a less personalized sentence to all of the bar fighters, and allowed Voyager to determine the length of time for each individual. When she was done and ready for some sleep, Twilight noticed a text message from Praxia waiting for her.  Opening it revealed a single line: “We need to talk about the bar fight.” Odd.  It’s not like Praxia to be cryptic… well, towards me anyway.  Instead of following her teleport beacons back home, she opted to make her way to the elevators to reach Praxia in the command center. Shortly thereafter, Twilight walked into Praxia’s office, just outside of the Command Center.  Since the founding of the colony, the changeling princess had personalized the room into a sort of collage of history.  Pictures of notable ponies, past and present. A bust of Twilight’s head sat on a marble pedestal to Praxia’s right side.  There was even a holographic drawing of the time Twilight and the Elements partook in the Hearthswarming Eve play. One thing that saddened Twilight about it all was the sheer lack of anything belonging to the changelings or any other of the now long dead civilizations. Praxia had been sitting ramrod straight, but still jumped a bit upon seeing Twilight enter the room.  “Sensei, you got my message?” “I did,” Twilight answered as she took a seat in front of the desk. Praxia blushed furiously and got out of her much nicer chair and magically pushed it around towards Twilight.  “Here, I can’t possibly have a better chair than yours.” Twilight sighed heavily and remained in her less comfortable chair.  “Praxia, as much as I appreciate the gesture, it’s late and I’m about two inches from being as grouchy as Spring Roll.  What did you want to talk about in regards to the bar incident.” A phone call would have been alright, no need to come in person.  Praxia kept that hint of bewilderment under wraps. With her mind returning to the present, Praxia nodded slowly and sat back down in her desk chair.  “Okay, to the point. I don’t think the bar fight is an isolated case. I think it’s a symptom of wide-scale stress across the whole colony.” Twilight was slow to shrug.  “And? No pony was under any illusions that a new world would be a vacation.  Granted, stress tolerance wasn’t exactly very high on my screening metric for the colonists, but it was up there.” Praxia’s ears wilted and she nervously tapped her hoofs together a few times.  “Well, um, Sensei, I think the colonists have done an amazing job so far, but I think they're at their breaking point. If we don’t do something soon, tonight’s bar fight will only be a herald for even worse incidences.” Twilight’s first reply died on her tongue as she took a moment to think.  I guess I have been so busy with Spring Roll, Sawbones, and running general affairs that I may have been lax in reading the forums. Twilight’s continued silence gave Praxia the time she needed to recollect her argument.  “The thing is, Sensei, ever since the kraken attack almost a year ago, the ambient stress I feel in the hallways, cafeteria, work places, what have you, has been rising steadily.  It used to wax and wane in a sort of balance, but now the general level of stress doesn’t release as much anymore. And in the past week, there’s been a sharp increase in anxiety.”  Praxia shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to enjoy her better chair. “…I see.”  Twilight ground her teeth as doomsday scenarios threatened to run amok in her mind.  “Do you think I was too ambitious trying to go for another breeding initiative? It received glowing applause at the time.” “It’s been proven that foals create a lot of stress and fatigue in parents,” Praxia recited almost as if she were reading it from a book.  “But my theory is that the admission that survival is no longer our number one priority might be the root of the problem.” Twilight was taken aback, and narrowed her eyes in a mixture of curiosity and grave confusion.  “I don’t understand, that should have been a relief more than anything else.” “Perhapsss,” Praxia coughed and pulled up two things and sent them to Twilight’s display.  The first was a laundry list of forums with various highlighted keywords, while the other was some medical text on psychology about causes of stress.  “The thing is, Sensei, just about everypony has been on anywhere from sixty-five to ninety hour work weeks since we started.” Praxia adopted a short-lived, yet proud façade. “Now, I know you and I can weather that easily enough, what with being able to do a lot of our work remotely and on the fly.  But not everypony can, or at least are not as willing to anymore. The crisis of survival is over in their minds, but nopony’s work weeks have been reduced to pre-Seed levels.  Not one. Praxia waved at the highlighted forums.“ And it’s got ponies talking.Fearful more like it. The gist of the speculation is that you and I are covering for something.  The push to get an outpost away from the ocean and into a natural fortress hasn’t gone unnoticed. Ponies are worried, more so than ever now that they think we’re hiding something.” Twilight took it all in and nodded solemnly.  “And no amount of reassurance speeches will convince them otherwise.  We had better act on this now before things get really dicey. ”Twilight looked up to the ceiling.  “Voyager, inform all work crews that work weeks are to be incrementally curtailed until everypony is at forty mandatory hours.  I won’t stop ponies from working extra if they desire it.” Twilight closed her eyes to think for a long moment.  “This is going to have to include us as well; if on a smaller scale.  Ponies will need to see the two of us taking it easier to truly believe it.” Praxia brightened considerably and nodded quickly in agreement.  “Thank you for hearing me out.I was half expecting you to double down on keeping long hours thinking we’d all be used to it by now.” A heavily, tired exhale escaped Twilight, as if she finally relented in showing her own exhaustion.  “To be honest, I’ve been tapping into my alicorn magic more often than I care to admit to keep up the pace.  I can’t tell you how much respect I have for the others pulling those ninety hours along with us.” That could be why you’ve missed this crisis.  You’re spreading yourself too thin, Sensei.  “It’s been rough, to be sure.” Praxia was already adjusting her schedule to allow more sleep.  “We’ll have to work in some more ways to automate more tasks. Perhaps retooling some of those military drones for civilian use could be a good start.” “We’ll see. For now, though,” Twilight yawned wearily again, “I’ll sleep on it, how about that?” Prism flew side by side with Joe as the two made their way along the fringe of a mushroom forest.  The massive blue stalks around her were not as tall as their adult counterparts, and were flimsy enough for the rover to shove or break out of the way. “Pathfinder’s log ascension date…” Prism stuck her tongue out as she decided between using a fake date or the real one, and ended up giving a blasé shrug.  “235.9. The wilds around me are fearful, petrified even, of my awesome power. Sensors detected no less than five critters of incalculable ferocity, yet a few warning shots across the bow were more than enough deterrent to chase them away.” Prism swooped to the other side of Joe, and gave the machine a playful salute.  “Crew morale is holding steady, with promises of rum and plenty of loose green alien stallions waiting for any tired mare’s attention.  But as captain, I must fly above such wild and raunchy times.” On her personal display, Prism summoned an image of Silver’s head, complete with that fang filled grin that still gave her tingles.  “Besides, I have a first mate to tend to the captain’s needs.” She caressed Silver’s jawline, oh so wishing she could actually touch something, or someone, physical. Banishing the image with a wistful sigh, Prism shouldered her father’s rifle and took aim at the forest.  “Red alert! Something wicked this way comes!” Without slowing, Joe turned its camera stalk towards the dusty grey alicorn.  “My sensors currently detect no wildlife larger than a dog, Pathfinder. And even that is staying back from the tree line for visible light sensors to not detect them.” “Don’t be fooled, Number One!”  Prism smirked from behind the butt of her rifle.  “The beasties ate some poor ensign and now they have active camouflage.  Only my mighty, cosmic alicorn powers can sense their unspeakable eeevil.”  Prism started actually searching for the critter her rover mentioned. Using her circlet to mold the spell, Prism fired off a few firework spells in the shape of her head and cutie mark. “Pathfinder, might I suggest a more—”  The AI was cut off by Firefly calling Prism up on the priority channel.  Prism lowered her rifle and glided down to land on Joe’s back. She accepted the call before it auto-connected, allowing her fellow Pathfinder’s head to materialize.  “Hey, boss, I got a bit of situation here. You need to see this.” Prism’s gaze briefly slid to the left as a set of coordinates appeared.  “What’s got you in a fuss? You don’t look like you’re getting eaten at the moment.” “Just get over here. Knowing you, sending a camera feed would just spoil the fun.”  Firefly gave a knowing smirk. Firefly looked as if he was ducking behind something, but Prism couldn’t be certain with only seeing his head.  “It’s that cool, huh?” Prism didn’t try very hard to hide her growing excitement. “What angle should I fly in at for the best reveal?” Firefly’s toothy grin only widened.  “I’ll have Barbie alter the flight plan.  Just get over here soon; I don’t know how long I’m going to be safe here.” “Oh, I am on my way!”  Prism ended the call, and reared up so she could hook one foreleg around Joe’s camera stalk, and the other hoof pointing the way.  “Come on, Joey boy, we got ourselves a right good mystery to unravel!” The trip towards Firefly’s location had to take a sizable detour as they flew above the otherwise impassable terrain.  The fungal forest canopy cover was so dense there was no place small enough for Joe to return to the forest floor.  Nothing but a vast blue expanse yawned in all directions, broken only by the occasional hole carved by insects or herbivores.  One such pack of bird-like things had been eating away at one section of the massive mushroom caps, but more importantly, was where Firefly’s rover was parked.  Prism jumped off of Joe to approach the other rover while Joe eased into a landing. “Barbie, where’s that marenizer of a pilot of yours?” Barbie had been watching Prism’s approach with its camera stalk and spoke in a sultry female voice.  “My master is currently following a fascinating energy signature on the forest floor. He said to direct you down this breach in the canopy, then follow his locator beacon.” Figures he would get his rover to address him like that.  Prism rolled her eyes before looking down into the gloom of the hole.  The whole place gave Prism the shivers. Ugh, I swear, if Firefly is luring me over to some giant wasp nest I’m going to strangle him.  “Stay here and watch the exit, Joe. This deep in and we could see some actual threats.” The rover came to a landing and anchored its legs into the center of a sturdy mushroom.  A newly installed mana canon, roughly the length of a leg, pulled itself out from the side of the machine.  “Sentry mode engaged. Stay safe, Pathfinder.” Poking her head inside the breach to scan for bitey things, she saw nothing threatening, for the moment.  Gulping down the lump in her throat, Prism slid inside the small hole and landed heavily onto the spongy ground.  Using magic to pull her rifle off her back, and smoothly wrapping her robotic hands around it a second later, Prism checked every corner, barrel first. This forest was much like all the others; the mushrooms had a steady blue bioluminescence about them, while something resembling trees grew in between the towering stalks.  The mushroom caps were easily eight meters high, allowing the glow to give the whole forest a surreal look. A scattering of ferns and moss coated the ground. Firefly’s beacon directed her north through a thinned path due to some tell-tale cuts with a spellblade.  What was he even doing this far into the forest anyway? We’re supposed to be finding the quickest route around this damned place. Steeling herself, Prism opted to fly above the underbrush.  Weaving between the mushrooms and trees wasn’t overly difficult, since she had long grown accustomed to compensating for her larger wingspan in tight places. The general din of animal noises clamored in all directions, making Prism’s ears constantly shift in search of danger.  The thick humidity was warded off for the most part by the suit under her duster, except for her head and neck, which were now drenched with sweat.  A good portion of that sweat was caused by the worm of terror in her heart. Come on, PF, there are no wasps. This place is too dense for them. You’re safe, you’re definitely safe. A sharp buzzing noise was growing in front of her, with Firefly’s beacon centered right on it.  She came to a stop, and rested near a patch of clear soil. Panic threatened to grip her heart like a vice as the giant wasps filled her mind’s eye.  She squeezed her eyes shut, her grip tightening on her rifle hard enough to make it groan. Calm down, PF, calm the rut down! Hissing through her teeth, Prism released her left leg’s grip on the rifle and placed it on her chest.  “Breathe,” she chanted to herself. In and out, slow, in and out. “You’re cooler than this,” she challenged herself.  “You going to let some damn monsters chase you away?!” With perhaps more bravado than sanity, Prism grit her teeth and clenched her rifle.  “No freak’n way!” Rounding the tree she had been hiding behind, Prism flew towards Firefly’s beacon.  It was all she could do to keep her teeth from chattering.Wish meditation helped against fear, that’d a been a good thing to include in the package deal now wouldn’t it? To her eternal gratitude, she found her fellow Pathfinder crouching behind an earthen mound overlooking a massive gap in the canopy.  Prism rolled to a stop next to Firefly in a mad attempt to hide her fear a bit longer. The buzzing was omnipresent now, yet Prism had yet to sense any bugs trying to investigate or sting her mercilessly. It took her a few moments to realize this fact, long enough for Firefly to pull her up by the collar into a proper prone position.  “Took you long enough.“ He gave her a superior smirk. “I half expected you to freak out and run away.” Prism shoved his hoof off of her, using irritation to squash her fear.  “What could possibly make you think I’m afraid of anything?” A fetid stench about the place, only noticeable now that she was no longer upwind of it, blunted her desire to toss harmless banter with him. Firefly shoved his face into Prism’s own, making sure she wouldn’t look over the mound.  “Your biometrics were going crazy as soon as you entered the canopy. You were as scared as a rat in a cat convention.” “Well, I’m here aren’t I?” Prism pulled her face away and tried to pinch her nose shut.  “Can you stop playing coy and just show me why you went off course to play in the woods?”  Prism didn’t miss the mushroom canopy had been completely missing in her mad dash to arrive here.  I could have just flown all the way over here, the jerk. I swear if he brought me all the way out here to see some ginormous turd I'm going to bury him six feet under it. Prism used her magic to shove him and looked over the side.  Below was the source of the buzzing, but it wasn’t a massive swarm of insects in the traditional sense.  Something looking like flesh constantly folded in on itself lining a massive stadium-sized chasm. Stabbing up towards the sky on what Prism assumed were artificial stalagmites was even more of the strange folded mass.  All of its surface danced in the full rainbow of colors. The strange folds were vibrating at a steady rate while worm-like things crawled all over the place. A strong wind blew hot air straight up, and it was only now that Prism’s feathers could feel the air outside of the pit being pulled in, but not anywhere near strong enough to account for the massive updraft. “Wow, okay, this is really cool.”  With the source of the buzzing not an apparent threat, the vestiges of her terror ebbed away, replaced by the far more enjoyable excitement of discovery.  “It looks like somepony took the gills off a ginormous fish and planted them all over a cave.” Firefly joined her on the lip of the ridge, a scant few inches from the edge of the closest part.  “Now are you glad I dragged you out here?” “Alright, no lie, this is pretty great,” Prism started while taking pictures with her circlet and her eyes acting as the camera.  “But as much as I hate to admit it, we can’t stick around. Mom wants us to keep a twenty-four hour lead against the crawler, and it’s making better time than we originally planned for.  We should head back to our routes.” “Not so fast there, boss,” Firefly challenged by keeping a restraining hoof on her withers.  “Take a look at this.” He sent over a remote camera feed showing both normal light and infrared.  “I picked up some really weird, high-heat, narrow objects further in with a drone. I'm talking lava levels of heat here. I think we should grab some asap.” The visible light showed rows of what could have been hoof-long narrow eggs.  But the thermal camera revealed an enormous heat signature within. “Holy…” Prism went wide eyed.  “That’s hot enough to be magma!” “I told you,” Firefly proclaimed while ducking away from where he assumed her video was playing.  “A biological substance capable of containing that level of heat could be a huge leap in insulation technology.  I say we snatch it while we’re here, and have one of us take it to the crawler. From there, somepony can ship it back to Seed One.” Prism scratched the base of her horn in contemplation.  “We could just flag this location and come back later.” “But then somepony else could take the credit of retrieving it,” Firefly countered with a sad, goading frown.  “The glory typically goes to the one who brings treasure back to civilization, not so much the original discoverer.”  Firefly noted Prism’s eyes widening. “And since I don’t want to walk all over that gunk, and Barbie’s too big to fly in. That leaves you fly over and grab them.” Prism’s excited grin faded before she eyed him suspiciously.  “Why are you so worried about somepony other than me grabbing it?” “Because you’re not just a fellow Pathfinder, but a future Princess as well!” he replied as if it was obvious, eliciting an even deeper scowl from Prism.  “This discovery should belong to us. Plus, leaders need fame to inspire those that follow, right? Nopony thinks too highly of a leader who is only there because of their parents.”  Firefly poked Prism in the chest. “If Ruby can still think you’re here because of nepotism, then so could others once you eventually claim her job.” “I’m not using my horn as an excuse to kick Ruby to the curb,” Prism growled.  “I thought I made that abundantly clear.” “Sure, sure,” Firefly answered almost dismissively with a wave of his hoof.  “But even if you don’t, at some point down the line, Ruby’s either going to retire from the corps, or end up dead like Thunderbeard did last month.  And since you’ll never age out of your prime, that means you’re going to be top dog one day. “Just look at your mom for example.  Sure, she took on the Princess title right after ascending, but she had an impressive resume before that.  Being the de facto leader of the Elements of Harmony, fighting off a changeling invasion plot, defeating and purifying evil Princess Luna, etcetera, etcetera.” Prism couldn’t help but to be a bit impressed.  “You actually know all that about mom’s pre-alicorn life?” Firefly looked truly insulted, giving off a mad scowl.  “You may not understand this, living in the same house as the Twilight Sparkle, but there’s not a lot of ways to know a pony you don’t live with.  Doubly so with all the pro-princess propaganda the media is inherently stuffed with. So I researched her before we left the old world. Of all the princesses, after reading everything Twilight’s done to earn that crown, I wanted to make damn sure I got on her ship.” “Pah, I know how awesome mom is, okay?” Prism flared a wing and admired her plumage for a moment, noting how meticulous she was with her wings, and her efforts showed with perfectly precise feathers.  “You’ve got to be an awesome mare to produce somepony as radical as me.” “Yeah well, you may think you’re all that and a bag of chips,” Firefly punctuated with a light hoof jab.  “But no pony else will believe it if you, the self-proclaimed best explorer around, toed the line and let somepony else take the glory.  It goes without saying that you can respect the title, but not the pony.” Firefly’s argument struck a chord in Prism Flash.  Any sort of counterpoint she wanted to make was washed away by that driving need to be the best explorer.  It’s just a little detour. Fly down, grab a few magma eggs, and boom, done. She gave Firefly a brash smirk and stepped to the edge, her wings flared.  “You made your point. I’ll have this done in no time flat.”