Final Solution

by Luna-tic Scientist


43 - A soot-covered world

The last of the vibrations, easily felt through the armourcrete floor slab and sometimes strong enough to make the bunk frames rattle, had faded away a hundred kiloseconds ago. More ripples, below the simple threshold of paw on stone, were registered by the seismometers built into the contingency vault's foundations. Vanca stared at the flatscreen she'd been issued, running statistical models on the data to calculate locations and probable yields. Some of the numbers were obscenely large, far in excess of what would be found from a typical warhead, and hinted at rocks falling from orbit. Around her, the rest of the vault's ruling clique talked in hushed tones, many sounding on the verge of tears. She ignored them, keeping busy and trying not to think.

The mad rush away from the pony had ended with a search of the comms records, only to discover that the system wasn't accepting civilian traffic. She'd headed to the nearest contingency vault, hoping that Arturor had done the same. They had identical security ratings within the Institute, and it gave them both access to the vaults, as People with critical occupations.

The first thing the vault leader had done was place her in charge of the laughably simple proton-boron reactor. It basically ran itself and was stuffed with enough redundant systems to survive events that would kill everyone in the shelter, so she spent her time morbidly mapping nuclear and kinetic strikes and trying not to think about the Creation Stones.

"Has Vanca made any progress?"

Vanca does not care for religion, so why is she thinking of the Stones? They were never far from her thoughts; no matter what she was thinking of, her attention always returned to them, like they were some collapsed object her mind orbited. She stared off into space, looking through the display as the slow processor churned through the deconvolution code and dropped another coloured pip on the map. As it did so, she played with the model, trying to accomodate the planet-wide earthquakes that didn't seem to be linked to anything as simple as an impact. Gross changes in tidal stresses... She remembered the rubble-pile moon, smeared across the sky as if by a careless paw, and smiled mirthlessly.

There were five hundred People in the vault, and Arturor hadn't been one of them. Perhaps he was in another vault, she thought, or in the one Vanca should have been in. No way out now; the main doors were closed and the tunnel beyond had collapsed after the first big impact. Even that didn't matter that much. There was enough tunneling equipment in the stores that they could dig their way out. These ones can get to the surface, talk to the pony and get the Stone-- Vanca shook her head violently. Madness!

"This one said--"

"Vanca heard Wendur the first time," she said, lifting her gaze and glaring at the grey-coated female. "Vanca isn't sure what Wendur wants to hear. Of course the arcologies are gone!"

"It would be nice to know what direction to dig!" Wendur snapped back, her ears folding back and pale yellow teeth gleaming in the dim lighting. "These ones have to get the Stones." There were serious nods from the circle of faces.

"This one suggests that 'up' would be best." Vanca growled something indistinct, body tensing into an instinctive fighting pose. Those around her took a step back, looking alarmed, and she made a conscious effort to relax. Vault security had already drugged a dozen of the inmates, strapping them to bunks in one corner of the dorm. "It doesn't matter much. Most of the damage is to the arcology cores; outlying vaults like this one were not priority targets for the earth penetrators. The tunnels have all collapsed, of course, all the way to the surface."

"How long before the radiation--"

Vanca rolled her eyes. All of this is in the vault summary! She sighed, spreading her paws at the anger in Wendur's expression. Vanca has to work with these idiots. "Not that long. The weapons are relatively neutron-free, and activation of light elements only creates isotopes with shorter half-lives." Relatively. Not enough to worry about. "May as well start digging now. There have not been any significant detonations for some time." It will take forever to get to the surface in any case. "And stop thinking about the Stones!"

"But these ones must--"

"The ponies have at least two of them." Probably more, if the seismic data is anything to go by. "They will never give them up, and all these ones have left is harsh language!" The other faces had fixed expressions, closed off to any contrary suggestions. Vanca sighed and shrugged. "Fine. Whatever these ones want." At least Vanca can get out of here.

===

Gravity floated ten thousand kilolengths above the world, above the dense and dangerous low orbit bands.

The work was never-ending, but at last there was time for her to rest and simply watch. No rock larger than a few lengths would strike the ground -- at least, not anywhere it actually mattered -- for almost a megasecond. Even with the shroud of ash and dust drawing over the world, the view was still remarkably beautiful, as bits of sand and gravel, too small for her to bother with, reentered. It was like having a swarm of dancing fireflies beneath her hooves.

Lacunae had over a quarter million ponies, and each of the other Hives probably had the same amount. Three million of us only a few kiloseconds ago... how many now? Gravity's ears drooped as a wave of sadness swept over her and all the strength drained from her limbs. How many did we kill while trying to stop the dogs? "No choice. There was never any choice." At least we made them pay a heavy price. She flicked tears from her eyes, setting them adrift as a spray of diamond sparkles, and glanced back at Luna. The dust-shrouded surface glowed with a sullen, red light, slowly radiating the outrageous heat of her bombardment back into space.

"All those ponies," she whispered, the words echoing back from the smooth and rigid inner surface of her defences, "how many are not dead, but will be soon?" Trapped in rubble or in sealed chambers. Dying from radiation poisoning or flash burns. How can we find them? I could feel their minds before, but they have no magic now... Gravity let the problem tumble through her mind while absently pulling some of the larger remaining fragments of the second moon into higher orbits.

Perhaps now it will be different. She tapped at one of the Stones with the tip of her horn. "Zap," she whispered, "fix all this with rainbow light." The thing did nothing, just floated there. "Not some dumb wish-granter, huh? Probably easier to try this on the ground, but... " Gravity closed her eyes, remembering how it felt to touch the mind of Random, or the dogs she'd interrogated, and pushed her will into the bottomless well of the triplet of Stones.

There was a curious fuzziness out in the world, like a sound at the edge of hearing. One mind was sharp and clear, containing depths of appalling sadness and flickers of unfamiliar scenes -- bomb craters, or vast crowds of slumped dogs around a pyramid, or an overwhelming wave of polychromatic fur filled with countless toothy mouths. Gravity opened her eyes at the last one, trying to unpick the vision. Where did you see that, Fusion? she thought, but didn't try to open the sharing. Not yet, not until I have something to lift your spirits. She pushed the unspoken invitation to one side and tried again.

The fuzziness was still there, clustered in certain locations that corresponded to areas in each of the Hives. The feeling of it being a sound intensified, and just for an instant it snapped into clarity. Screaming, crying and wailing, the howls of distress from a hundred million minds blew through her, making her eyes go wide and her tail clamp tight between her legs. The magic faded and Gravity floated in her defensive bubble, breathing hard and damp with sweat. "Like the whole world is in punishment fugue. Maker, what have we done?"

Gritting her teeth, she tried again, shying away from the dog-screams and towards the fainter sounds. Just as horrifying, but far more familiar, half-sounds tickled at her mind. Whinnies, neighs and the thick, choking silence of ponies that knew the stain of failure and were certain that rescue would never come. She pushed further, trying to localise the minds responsible, but the touch was just too faint. Not enough power even with three... but what about with all of them? Letting go, she searched the world for her sister.

Gravity nodded, building her drive spell and falling head-long into the magically-generated mass. Fusion, she sent, I think we can save them.

===

~~~discontinuity~~~

Fusion I think we can save them!

Gravity's mental voice was tired but tinged with an undercurrent of happiness. Fusion hovered for a moment, then dropped to a four-hoofed landing on the pebbly banks of the glacial river. All around were the frantic movements of gryphon and pony, the latter far more random and more directed to finding loved ones and friends. By shadow sight the world was still absent its pastel colours, holding only the hardness of manufactured crystals and the uniform golden glow of gryphon wings. She folded her wings, feeling like she was made of numb, cold metal.

Fusion stared blankly at the bustle, ignoring the raised voices asking for her attention. Already figures were converging on her, and she felt a sudden urge to teleport away again. We've won, burned the dogs from their dens and bought these rescued few a respite from the relentless atomic bombardment, but the cost... She bowed her head, tears running down her muzzle. The magic has gone, Gravity. Our world is in ruins. What is there left to save? The gryphons will do just fine on their own... perhaps we should just slide back into the animals we were made from.

There was a thump, and Gravity appeared overhead, spiralling down to land at her side. She stepped close, resting the side of her head against Fusion's. "You were the one driving all this, Fusion," she said quietly. "What's changed?"

Fusion stepped away, staring into Gravity's eyes for a moment, then lowered her head again. She could feel her sister's gaze shift from her face to the Stones that orbited around it. "The world is covered in soot, Gravity," she mumbled. "Craters, ash and bodies, as far as I can see. The forests are burning--" She gestured towards the southern horizon and its thin band of swelling darkness. "--from all the nuclear explosions, and all your impacts, and my beams from the sun."

"I know." Gravity sighed and seemed to shrink slightly, the careless, random motions of her not-quite-hair slowing and becoming still. "I felt their minds, in broad strokes, while trying to find our ponies. It was--" She shrugged, a slightly bewildered look on her face. "--overwhelming. But you know what?" Gravity stepped forwards, ears folding back and tapping Fusion on the chest with one hoof. "The dogs, they all deserved it. They set this up, and it was mostly their weapons that did the damage."

Gravity stepped forwards again, mane and tail darkening as the light leached away from the surroundings, and Fusion gave ground. "But--"

"Are you saying you deliberately targeted their arcologies, after that last Hammer strike? Are you?" Gravity snorted. "Of course you didn't, and neither did I. If anything, we reduced the carnage. They had enough weapons to slag the surface of this world twice over, yet most of them were destroyed before they could launch. I think we should kill them down to the last pup for what they've done... I want to, but I won't, because we've done enough damage already."

There was a look on Gravity's face, one of regret and determination. "Many of our ponies are dead, but many are not." She reached forwards with one wing, waving at the Stones around Fusion's head. "We can get them out, we can save them from a slow, lingering death by darkness and radiation."

"I wonder if that would be a better fate than a gigasecond-long decline without magic--"

Fusion whinnied sharply and jerked backwards as Gravity leaned in, pressing muzzle to muzzle. "Don't you dare think like that! None of this may be permanent, and even if it is, think about the foals still in their dam's bellies. They will still have their magic, surely?"

"There was a message from Orgon, before the Hive was destroyed. He said--"

"A pawful of scientists studied one pony for a few kiloseconds, while the Hive was being bombed," Gravity sneered. "You really expect them to have all the answers?" She relaxed a little, her tone becoming quiet, persuasive. "And even if it is, and we can't figure out how to fix it with these magic rocks--" She made her Stones bob up and down. "--remember Slipstream... it's perfectly possible to live a life without magic. He never gave up, and neither will we."

Fusion cleared her throat. "Have you finished?" she asked, feeling nothing but allowing a trace of annoyance to colour her words.

"I don't know, do I need to say more?" Gravity stared at Fusion, her eyes narrowed, then smiled. "My sister is no foal, and she has reserves of courage I've never had. Tell me she's still around."

I can do this for you, if nopony else. Fusion straightened, staring into Gravity's eyes. "Okay, what do you want to do?" she asked.

===

The launcher tube was dark after the main lights had failed, leaving only the tritium emergency panels. The temperature was stable -- the lengths of armourcrete, bedrock and soil between them and the outside world made sure of that -- but Geodetic still shivered. There was a smell drifting up from the depths of the launcher, not the normal ozone and machine oil of the autoloader mechanism, but the metal of blood and the foulness of opened intestines.

He got shakily to his hooves and swallowed painfully, then pawed again at the supply unit built into the floor next to the open entrance to his niche in the launcher wall. It responded with a dull, mechanical clack, but there was no water in the little bowl-sized drinker and no rattle of food pellets in the trough. "Probably died at the same time as the lights," he muttered. Power surge as a result of some distant nuclear explosion? Geodetic shook his head, tongue feeling thick in his dry mouth. "Who cares. I just wish..." I just wish they'd hit us directly. At least it would have been fast. He looked at the opening and its sheer drop to the monster clockwork of the autoloader, ten lengths below. After Planar, no other pony had taken that final step, but it was looking ever more attractive.

He backed away from the drop until his rump brushed against the real wall, then carefully folded his legs and lay down. "They will come for us," he whispered, the words sounding thin and hollow. Even if they do, what would you go back to? Planar was right, it's all gone. No dam, no sire, everypony you know blown away, or burned or buried, or-- His throat closed up and he sobbed, great, silent, dry tears from burning eyes.

Feeling sick and head aching, Geodetic finally lowered his head and closed his eyes, waiting to die.

There was a green meadow all around, filled with long, sweet grass and varicoloured flowers. It tickled at his fetlocks as he walked, head occasionally dipping to take a bite. Off in the distance were the bright shelters of his home corral.

--ait, I think I have him! It's easier when ponies are asleep... I can feel--

His heart beat faster, a sudden feeling like he was being watched, as if some predator, all coiled muscle and callous intent, was hidden nearby. The ponies in the distance moved slowly, the unconcerned drift of a grazing herd.

--no! Not yet, got to be sure. I only met him twice. What, you want to take the whole facility by mistake--?

Geodetic broke into a trot, then an unsteady canter, heart suddenly pounding. Breath roared through his muzzle, and he tried to call out a warning to the others. Bright lights streaked through the sky and he wailed, the neigh chopped and strangled by the thunder of his footfalls.

--oh, that would be great, a hundred kilotons of concrete dumped in the valley! They are not going anywhere, and I want to get the first one right--

A sudden glare filled the sky, bright and hot enough to burn fur and blind the unprotected eye, yet all the details remained clear. Shelters and ponies alike burst into flames, turning from delicate pastels to the ugly mottle of ash in a moment. The perfect glowing arc of a shockwave reached down, smashing them all to wild fragments--

Now!

--sudden light and wind, real ground beneath his belly. The smells of ash and growing things, and ponies and gryphons. Geodetic bit back on a scream, head swinging wildly from side to side. An alpine valley, sides carpeted with pine under a blue sky. Military vehicles and squadrons of gryphon troops overhead, the rest of the propulsion herd surrounding him. "What? How--?!" he choked out. The Masters got us out!

"No they didn't."

This came from a pony he'd not noticed, a young, vaguely familiar, dusky-blue mare, with the crescent moon on her hindquarters. Something was wrong with her mane and tail, there was a depth-- Unconsciously, he took a step closer to his herd, the whole group bunching together. "Can somepony tell me what is going on?" he asked plaintively.

===

The world was darkness filled with polychromatic glitters, like the night's sky long after the sun had set. Gravity's mind hung close, a comforting, invisible mass, and directed Fusion's attention to another of the clusters.

Them. We'll take them next.

Fusion felt her body nod, a faint echo within the greater flood of far more engaging information, and directed her power to the location. With only three of the Stones she felt slow and stupid, something that must be an illusion. Those things are almost addictive, she thought, keeping the idea to herself. I think I want my other two back. It's not like Gravity needs more than one-- The selfish thought was so out of place that she immediately became suspicious, and examined her memories for that odd taste of crystal she'd felt during her first encounter back at the Institute. There was nothing, no holes or odd continuity changes, so she relaxed and focused on the targets.

Feeling leaked through from the glitters, snippets of distress and loss, of pain and confusion. Here and there, the glitters were going dark, like sparks lofted far above a fire. More foreign memories, of the roof falling in, of the transit tunnel the pony herd had been collected in, waiting for transport to-- Fusion shied away from the flood of fear and denial that was connected to the destination, emotions untempered by the pain of the Blessing.

The memory hardened, falling into the teleport pattern and completing it. Assent from Gravity so she pushed--

--deftly removing the excess momentum and turning it into random, high-altitude turbulence.

The targets were suddenly here, only a few hundred lengths away, slotted into the next available space in the valley. There was an uptick in the whinnies and frantic contact neighs, as there had been for all the other transfers. She risked opening her eye, watching as pairs of ponies worked their way through the huge herd, pulling away groups and directing them further down the valley. One enormous triage operation, she thought, wondering how, or if, the medical supplies would hold out.

Gravity was already impatiently pushing her towards another group, and she lost herself in the work.

===

"You have to stop!"

Fusion opened her eye and wondered why it was so hard to focus. Breathing raggedly, she swayed from side to side, a bone-deep exhaustion turning her body to lead. "Can't," she muttered. "Not finished." Got to work, don't want to think.

The voice came again, no words, but an irritated squawk, and a set of hard talons gave her a shake. "We've got no more room! Get some rest and let us spread some of them about. There have already been fights, and there are too many wounded to deal with as it is."

"Ellisif?" Gravity let the mind-magic fade, pushing Fusion out of the sharing, then stretched and yawned, wide enough that her jaw clicked and popped. She blinked, head swivelling. "Wow. I lost track."

Alone in her head, Fusion stared blankly out over the valley. It was full of filthy, injured ponies. Shouts, screams and neighs made a backdrop, drowning out the more gentle sounds of wind and water. They had bunched into impromptu herds, milling clusters radiating fear and hostility. Gryphon medics, assisted by troopers to prevent any interference, whirred overhead, dropping down at various points to provide emergency treatment.

"This is what we have done," she muttered, then shook her head when Gravity's ears flicked in her direction. "Nothing." A world full of the dead and dying, survived by only the maimed. Do the living envy the dead, I wonder? She swallowed, a bitter dry taste in her mouth. Stupid mare. You are too tired to make such pronouncements. Gravity might still be right.

Gravity stared at Fusion for a long second, then sighed, focussing her attention on Ellisif. "How many? What is their status?"

"About twenty thousand," Ellisif said promptly. "We are shifting them out as fast as we can, to other protected sites in the local area. First to a clawful of staging areas, within a few kiloseconds' walk, then further on over the mountains." She looked thoughtful. "That's the bottleneck; we have to fly them out, and there's only so many transports. It's only a few hundred seconds by air, but it takes ten times that to load and unload."

"What about the wounded?" Gravity's gaze flicked to Fusion, then back to Ellisif again. "Your medical supplies?"

"We're mostly seeing gross physical injuries -- crush and impact from those in the tunnels and flash burns from those on the surface. Little radiation, fortunately. Not surprising; countervalue weapons are big... the thermal flash has a greater kill radius." Ellisif's expression became fixed, as if she was a dead thing, animated by fell magic. "Policy in these circumstances is to carry out field euthanisations on the hopeless cases, to save supplies for those who can be saved." Gravity stirred, a sudden fury on her face, then calmed as Ellisif held up a set of talons. "It is a policy we are not following."

Fusion coughed, trying to get her tongue to work. "We may have to, if the alternative is a painful, inevitable death."

"Can you not, well... magic something?" Ellisif cocked her head, looking uncertain.

"I'm no medic, and neither is Gravity," Fusion said. "And these rocks, powerful although they are only seem to work with existing skills and abilities."

"Perhaps we could manage a sharing with Spiral, or some other pony medic?" Gravity said, head drooping. "If I provide the connection, she might me able to show us what to do."

"You know how long it takes to learn thaumic medical procedures, even when trained by the best." Fusion said softly. "Perhaps save a few now, with a technique that may cause more harm than good, or pull out hundreds more for certain?"

Ellisif touched Fusion on the shoulder with the back of one curved talon. "The supplies will hold for now. The ones we can't treat can be made comfortable, if not completely pain-free, until they pass naturally. The thaumic nerve blockers aren't as good as drugs, but they don't run out, either."

"That's something," Fusion muttered, voice sounding thin and strained.

"Go, get some sleep." The touch turned into a gentle push, firm enough to send Fusion staggering. "Both of you. Find somewhere quiet--" Gravity opened her mouth "--no arguments. Shoo."

"But what if--"

Ellisif hissed, a steam-boiler shriek of genuine anger and frustration. "Take a comm set and don't go too far. We'll find you when it is time. For the Maker's sake, will you go?! You'll open the next wormhole into deep space or the heart of the sun, you're that tired."

===

Gravity grinned at Ellisif, then picked up Fusion before the mare could do more than draw a startled breath. Her horn flashed violet--

~~~discontinuity~~~

--and they appeared on a patch of alpine sward near the top of the valley wall. It wasn't anywhere close to being flat, but the dense vegetation at least made it tolerably soft; Gravity folded her legs and sank to her belly with a relieved grunt, dropping Fusion next to her.

Fusion shook her wings, settling the feathers, and glared at Gravity. "I was going!" she said, tucking her legs neatly beneath her barrel.

"Were you?" Gravity snorted, then rested her head on one convenient rock, gazing up at her sister.

"Eventually," she grumbled, then fell silent, staring down at the mass of movement on the valley floor. The only thing really audible was the growl of heavy transport aircraft, echoing around the mountains. Fusion watched the polychromatic swirl of the super herd, her ears drooping and her eyes filling up with tears.

Gravity rolled sideways, ignoring the sharp touch of rocks through the plants, and pressed against Fusion's side. In response, the white mare leaned into the contact, her mane and tail returning to their natural pink and the Stones falling from their orbits. The tears overflowed, making damp tracks down the sides of her muzzle, and she turned away from the view, staring down at the little cushion plants. "Maker, Grav, what are we going to do?"

Gravity straightened Fusion's mane with delicate touches of power, then touched her lightly on the shoulder with the end of her muzzle. "We carry on. What else is there?" she murmured, nuzzling at Fusion's neck. "Why now, Fusion? What happened?"

"You'll think I'm stupid, but it's not the countless bases I've turned to glass, or the carnage of the, of the--" Fusion breath came quickly, hard and fast, and she swallowed her next words. "Those deaths are faceless, although I'm sure they'll haunt me soon enough, little more than distant points of light and expanding clouds of vapour. I've seen the impact craters and laser scars close up, but I can't hold the numbers of deaths in my head."

I can. If I want to I can feel the minds of the millions trapped under rock. At least there are fewer of them with each passing kilosecond. Gravity remained silent and just twitched her ears in ascent.

"One dog, Grav. One stupid, stubborn dog." Fusion smiled bitterly, shaking away the tears. "Back when I pulled the Lacunae Stone from their main Church. One of the Deacons got in the way, so I burned him as an example to the others. Made him writhe and scream without so much as a thought."

Gravity sighed and leaned back to look at Fusion, her gaze searching her face. "I take it he was no threat?"

"Of course not! A few guards with railguns--" Her tone was harsh and bitter, and Fusion turned away. "I acted out of spite, took my anger against all those dogs that were beyond my reach and piled it on one fool's head."

Gravity heard the hatred in Fusion's words and knew very well where it was directed. "Is that really what is getting to you?" she said softly. "Really?"

"Why did I pick the Baur Hive as a target for the Hammer? Civilians, Grav, people who had no say or choice in the policies of their government." Fusion's eyes were wild and her wings made quick, agitated movements. "I burned them just like the Deacon."

No, the Deacon died faster. Gravity draped her wings over Fusion's back and leaned in, pressing against her sister. The flesh under the white fur shivered and twitched, as if beset by a swarm of flies. "You put a face to the faceless, helpless millions." She sighed, closing her eyes and remembering the howl of pain and fear from all the minds in the world. There's no way I'm going to share that, not now. She felt tears prick at her own eyes. You were supposed to be the strong one!

Fusion gave a jerky nod. "Yes," she said lowly. "I'm so tired, Grav. We've reached that fire-filled and blood-soaked future I was afraid of, and--" She gave a quiet whinny, a strained sound through a closed throat.

Bloody to the shoulder and stifle. Gravity stifled a sudden laugh, turning something that might have been hysterical into an amused snort. "It will be harder to get out of your coat than that manure pile. No quick trip through a storm cloud!" A lake of soap and cold water -- and the scrubbing! She'll be lucky to have any fur left.

Fusion jerked away, shrugging off Gravity's wing. "That's not funny," she snarled, ears folding back.

"That's because you can't see the image in my head!" Gravity's smile faded, her expression turning serious. "We can't change what was done, Fusion, Spiral taught me that. We can only learn from what we did, and do better next time. Anyway, what was it you said to Random? You can't balance a mountain of blame on its point."

"I suppose not." Fusion slumped, looking back down at the valley. It was emptier now, the crush of pastel bodies thinned out. "Ellisif is making good progress."

Gravity's horn glowed, a barely perceptible glimmer in the daylight. She reached out with a delicate touch of power, readying the spell Spiral had used on Packet the night he'd stumbled upon Fusion. "She is..." Gravity whispered. Before long she'll call for us.

"I think I might--" Fusion yawned, slumping sideways into Gravity's telekinetic grasp.

"Go down there and do some more work? I don't think so." She covered Fusion's back with a protective spread of dark blue feathers. Spiral was right... as long as you agonise over these horrors, you are still a good pony.

Staring off into the sky, watching the sun as it started to set for the second time today, Gravity probed her own feelings, trying to find any trace of remorse.

===

The 'escape room' housed the heavy thaumic tunneller, a device like the shielded head of some ancient beast. A triplet of crystal horns protruded from the circular ramp of the shield, itself ringed with ruby gems, and the whole thing was pushed forwards by two rings of spider-legs.

"Is Vanca really the only technically trained Person in the whole vault?" the Academician grumbled under her breath. She wasn't, but the engineering staff, who had little more than basic thaumic operator training, had stepped aside when they'd discovered who she was. This one doesn't want this! She sighed, one paw checking the power cables running down to the reactor. The other paw was buried deep in a pocket of her equipment vest, wrapped around an egg-sized synthetic sapphire. She'd found it in the spares locker and had no idea what it actually did, but couldn't resist pocketing it.

Reluctantly, she let go of the gem and tapped out a command on her bracer, stepping back as the tunneller twitched and flexed its legs. Self-test finished, it leavered itself up, pointing at the ceiling armourcrete slab. Above that was an unbroken stretch of limestone before they reached the lower Hive layers. Some of which might only be partially blocked, if her seismic scans could be believed. The paw went back into its pocket to touch the sapphire, then drew it out so she could look at it.

The tunneller emitted a harsh, building whine, then a sudden thump. The ceiling flowed away from the tip of the machine, before solidifying a moment later. It looked like a freeze-frame from some high-speed video of a water splash. The whine built again, but Vanca ignored it, staring instead into the depths of the jewel, fascinated by the patterns of light. Is Vanca going mad?

There was the sound of pawsteps behind her, suddenly audible in the silence after the tunneller cycled again. Vanca turned, feeling obscurely embarrassed as she tucked the sapphire away again.

"Vanca feels it too?" Wendur asked, holding up a gem of her own. "Wendur knows that Vanca is right; going after the Stones will be practically impossible, but the idea won't go away."

Vanca nodded slowly, rolling her own between her claws. "This one is not a believer, but that doesn't seem to matter." She grimaced, putting the gem away again. "It seems to help with the urge. Same for Wendur?" The other nodded in turn. "It was all Vanca could do not to fill her pockets from the spares lockers. How is the Deacon doing? This one was wondering if he could shed any light on this phenomenon, as Vanca is at a loss."

Looking guilty, Wendur brushed at her own, bulging, pockets. "When science fails you turn religious?" Wendur smiled at Vanca's scowl. "The Deacon is still sedated. He... did not handle the situation well."

The tunneller had punched an organic, liquid-looking hole in the ceiling, manipulating the overburden into a dense, compact shell around the void. It started to climb, legs gripping the walls, trailing the superconducting cable behind it.

===

Luna was up, the moon's face shrouded by a haze of dust and marred by a new set of craters, the largest visibly glowing red on the dark side of the terminator.

Spiral trailed the gryphon medic, Fahim, a heavy load of equipment spread from her withers to her rump. The gryphon, covered with an even coating of mottled tawny-brown feathers and fur, had quickly picked up on the differences between his normal patients and the ponies he was treating now. For the first dozen cases Spiral had been able to give him good advice, but he was smart and didn't really need her help now.

Reduced to a beast of burden, she thought, watching as he applied a thaumic nerve block to an older colt's poll. The pony, surrounded by his worried dam and sire, gave a shuddering sigh, relaxing his rigid muscles.

"Oh Maker, thank you," he whispered, heaving sides slowing. "My leg--".

Spiral nodded. "Broken cannon bone," she said, kneeling by his head and watching the medic lay out a battlefield splint. "We have no drugs available, so it is still going to hurt when the bone is set." She reached down, nuzzling at his throat. The gryphon took a firm grip either side of the break, making the colt flinch. He nodded at her. She'd played this part before and knew what he wanted. "Get ready. On three. One--"

Fahim pulled hard, grunting with the effort, and the colt screamed, falling silent as the pressure was released. He looked at her accusingly. Spiral smiled; the set bone looked good and there was minimal extra damage. "What, you'd prefer it not to be a surprise?" she said, nipping him behind the ear.

The splint inflated around the leg, filled with tough polymer foam, holding it in place. The colt flinched again, but smiled wanly back. "I guess not. Am I going to be okay?"

"You will be fine... just don't expect to do more than hobble for a few megaseconds, and getting up and down will be tough without some help. Your leg will heal." She stood, nodding at the dam, and waited patiently as the gryphon repacked his equipment into her paniers.

"Where to next?" he asked, looking around the triage field. They'd already worked their way down the intervention list, from the silent and non-responsive to the noisy and complaining, and there seemed to be no major injuries left.

Spiral frowned, lifting her head and sweeping the field. There were plenty of minor injuries to see to, but many of these were being treated by friends and relatives. There was one pony who stood out, with a garish white and black coat, alone in an empty circle. "That one," she said.

The medic grunted, stretching his hind legs. "Baur Royal Guard. We were briefed, but I've never seen one. Hard-core nutjobs, by all accounts." He muttered something into his command collar, and a couple of soldier-gryphons changed their paths to walk closer.

"Not anymore," Spiral said sharply. "All just ponies now. We should check her over. At the very least she looks like she needs a friend."

The stripy pony watched as they approached, her expression unreadable except for the rapid flicker of her ears. Spiral paused a length away, outside easy kicking range. "My name is Spiral and this is Fahim. I was a medic, but--" She gave a twisted smile and shrugged her wings. "--now I'm reduced to offering suggestions." The other pony was covered in minor scratches and was favouring her right foreleg, but seemed otherwise uninjured. "What's your name? I've not seen anypony with such a striking set of coat colours before."

The other pony twitched, finally moving slightly to look at Spiral. Her right front hoof came off the ground and came back down carefully. Spiral watched intently, sampling the other's scent. The stress and fear were obvious, layered over a deep core of anger, but there was nothing to say the pony was different from any one of a hundred other refugees. At least she is a pony, Spiral thought, one mystery solved.

"I am Askari Seventeen from Creche Delta, I am--" Askari swallowed, looking lost, then her expression hardened. "--I was my Monarch's claws."

"Will you let us take a look at your leg, Askari?" Spiral took a step closer, bending to inspect the skin. This close, surface damage was obvious under the fur. "Were you struck by debris?" No foreign bodies... looks more like a crush injury. Shoulder and not the leg itself? She looked up expectantly, waiting for Askari to contradict her.

"The base I was patrolling for the Monarch was struck by a shockwave and the roof fell in." Askari spoke with a flat voice, as if reading from a report. "I held up the ceiling so the Masters could escape, then my magic failed and I--"

The ground jumped under her hooves, a sudden hard shock followed by others, and a long, deep rumble sounded from the mountains around their valley. More than one of the peaks was collapsing, megatonnes of rock falling in apparent slow motion. The panic returned: her gryphon medic had taken to the air and was shouting something, while Askari staggered, unable to adjust her balance. Whinnies and neighs rang out, followed by the drumming of hooves.

Spiral felt the urge to run, to follow those who had already galloped off to who-knew-where, but held it off. The closest members of the herd teetered on the edge of panic, legs tense and shifting. "Don't run!" she shouted, fear filling her voice with anger. "It won't help if you break a leg in a stampede." Others were shouting similar commands and entreeties, and the herd stepped back from the brink of a mass bolt.

Legs spayed for stability, Spiral risked taking a step closer, intercepting the pony before she could fall. Askari's wings opened, covering Spiral with dirty white and black feathers as she leaned in. For the first time there was real emotion on the mare's face, a near-mindless terror. "No! Not trapped, not again--"

Spiral held her close, grunting with the effort at each shock, then relaxed as the ground stopped moving. The valley they were in was one of the larger ones, with smoothly rounded walls, and that seemed to have saved them from rockslides. "Come on," she said to Askari, "I think we should talk somewhere quieter." She glanced at Fahim, who gave a shaky nod, and led the other pony away.

The moon, still mottled and glowing a dull red, even from the unlit part of the surface, was starting to become hazy. High clouds were spreading over the sky, and fine ash was starting to fall.

===

Fusion lifted her head and looked accusingly at Gravity, then shook her head and reconnected with her power, rainbow light flowing down her mane.

"Feeling better?" Gravity asked, her head cocked to one side. Her magic was active, a faint haze filling the air around them.

"Yes," Fusion mumbled, then stood up slowly. "That ground isn't as comfortable as it looked," she said, stretching hard enough that the click and pop of joints was clearly audible. "What woke me up? I'm sure that..."  

"Earthquake. Quite a big one. Not surprising considering all the orbital shifts, I guess." Fusion opened her mouth, looking alarmed, and Gravity shook her head. "Nothing major for us, just a few collapses. Nopony injured."

"Something else to get used to. How long before the weather gets here?" Clouds were already building, ugly, lumpy things that looked out of place. They were far too dark and moved far too fast. She sniffed at the air, then sneezed. "Ash... I can smell burning."

"It's the forests. Firestorm plumes carry the smoke a long way. You'll have to do it; I've got to throw some more rocks around. Again." Gravity said the last word like it was something sour. "I really need to spend the time to shift everything further out, otherwise I'll miss something."

"Weather it is," Fusion sighed, then narrowed her eyes. "It's a little radioactive," she grumbled. "Mostly clean, hah! Fix this, then we need to see how many more we can rescue." She suddenly looked alarmed. "Gryphons! I didn't even think about them."

"Enough!" Gravity jumped into the air, hovering with quick, short wingstrokes. "First we protect what we have. I'll be back in... a few kiloseconds?" She looked questioningly at Fusion, who nodded. "Good."

With a roar and a blast of displaced air, she shot straight up, vanishing to a point before Fusion could take another breath. "You can do that from anywhere," she muttered darkly. "I think you like space too much."

===

"The Church always said that a good pony should keep busy. I must be the best pony in the whole wide world for there to be so little rest," Fusion shouted, voice swept away by the the ash-laden gale. She flew, alone, just below the speed of sound, along the edge of the encroaching storm. The Stones flew with her, chained to the back of her neck by bonds of telekinesis. Weather control was never my strong suit, she thought. The results of the pathfinding tests, oh so long ago, had been quite clear on that.

Fusion snorted, remembering Backdraft's review of her tests. What was that she said? 'Never seen a pony so unskilled in cloud manipulation.' Fortunately, power has a skill all of its own.

The Stones, even with her clumsy manipulations, made it easy to drain momentum and heat from the howling winds. Water was starting to coalesce, fat drops condensing around the radioactive dust, and raining out. The clouds paled, turning from pitch black to a more kindly grey, as Fusion spiralled upwards above the upper layers and into the clear. That energy all had to go somewhere, though, and she could feel it filling the reservoirs within her body.

The sun had set, back on its expected track -- if not actually in the place it should be -- and the sky was as black as it ever was likely to get, alive with boiling lights and reentering debris. Nothing worth keeping was directly above, so Fusion kindled a point of plasma and poured all the excess energy into it, then let it go. A fountain of blue-white light lit the clouds, rising and fading into gentle wisps of aurora that spread across the sky.

The light faded, dropping below the busy glare of the mangled debris ring and the things dropping out of it. By shadow sight the ground and sky were equally dark, except for the scattered light of gryphon wings and the crystal thaumic equipment they had with them. Drifting, she studied the falling ash and the faint purple taint of radiation coming from it. Not enough to be worried about in the short term, and within a few megaseconds the short-lived isotopes will have decayed away. Still, no need to be exposed if we can help it.

The magic Redshift had shown her, a simple method for cracking carbon dioxide back to oxygen, was easy to change into something that hunted down the scarce few isotopes formed by neutron activation of the soil and air. The atoms were scattered, finely divided and spread through the clouds and dust, but they fell into line as she flew, pulled up and into her wake, leaving fur and feather, soil and water, clean and safe.

The haze behind her was thick enough to see, a cloud of smoke collapsing to larger and larger particles until Fusion was left with a single, smooth, grey mass, flecked with shiny metal. It radiated heat, waves of roiled air boiling up from it, and started to glow a dull red. Fusion hovered and held it up, her muzzle twitching at the heat as she deflected the radiation, then encased it in layers of magic and threw it into the sky, as hard as she could.

The air parted to let it through and it carried on going, far faster than the escape velocity of the world. She watched it go, following its path until it disappeared, then twisted her wings and fell back down towards the ground, landing next to the command aircraft. Ellisif was there, still issuing orders. "Don't you ever sleep?" she asked, when the gryphoness turned to face her.

"I take drugs. They work very well; the dogs had plenty of test subjects to work with," she snapped, looking annoyed. Fusion blinked, taking a step backwards. "Sorry. They are also used as combat drugs; aggression is a useful side effect. What's the next problem we have to worry about? You ready to get more refugees?"

"When Gravity gets back from stopping the sky from falling. No, I wanted to ask... what about your people? Gryphons, I mean. I know Grav can see the dogs, so I bet she can see gryphons. Do you want us to...?"

"I wondered if you'd ask that." Ellisif stared at her, drumming one set of talons against the deckplates. "Do you think you can? My kind were in the front lines, and the aeries would have been strategic targets."

"The world is big and there are always survivors. What do you intend to do about food?"

"Can't eat grass like you ponies." Ellisif's beak opened in a mirthless avian grin. "But, when you are done with the transports, I plan to strip the cattle farms and store the meat above the snow line. There are farms out there big enough to feed a billion dogs... the few of us that are left shouldn't be a problem."

Fusion nodded. "I need to talk to Grav first, but I think I can wall off a large part of these mountains. If I can't do that, then there are ways to locally accelerate time. I can push us forward into a future where the world has calmed down."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised--" Ellisif shook herself, shedding dust and a couple of loose feathers. "--what with the sun and everything. Is there anything you cannot do?"

"Can't change what has been done... and the dead stay dead. Only forwards." She gave Ellisif a pained smile.

"Only forwards." There was a flash of violet light overhead, followed a half second later by a thump of displaced air. Ellisif looked up, following Gravity's path. "I'll get ready for new arrivals. Oh... what do you want to do with that Discord-thing?" She gestured to the frozen figure, currently strapped to the wall inside the open cargo bay. "The thaumic sensors go a little nuts when we try to get a reading, but there's no sign of it being able to actually do anything."

"What do you think?" Fusion said to Gravity as she landed heavily on the mud and grass outside.

"The magic seems stable, but I still want to keep an eye on him. In fact, I've been thinking..." Gravity said, waving one wing in Discord's general direction. "...leave him in the sun, out in the open air so he can see his failure." Her expression hardened. "Let him burn."

"Burn? Oh..." Time dilation, all that energy piling in, building up over the megaseconds. Fusion looked uncomfortable.

"What, don't tell me you are feeling sorry for him?!" Gravity snorted, turning away. "This creature manipulated us from the start and tried to kill everyone, everywhere. It's not like there was another way to stop him."

Fusion stepped to her side, pressing against her flank. "No, I guess not." She nuzzled at Gravity's mane, just behind her ear. "Sorry, I can't help it."

Gravity sighed happily, twisting her head to allow Fusion's teeth to work on a different spot. "Don't worry, Fusion. You wouldn't be my sister if you weren't like that." She paused, then stepped away. "Come on, let's rescue some more of our ponies."

"And gryphons." Fusion nodded, picking a dry spot and dropping to her belly. The Stones sped up slightly in their orbit of her poll.   

"Yes, and gryphons."

===

The shadow universe, seen through Gravity's mind, was alive with the lights of living minds. The glittering jewels of ponies were clustered densely around them, spread along the spider-trails of glacial valleys. Gryphons, more thinly spread and not confined to the dense interface between ground and air, were sharper shapes, angular things like the gunships they piloted and full of a similar, focused intent.

Told you I could see them, Gravity thought, with a slightly self-satisfied tone. The view widened as she cast her mind further out, expanding towards the closest arcologies of Lacunae Hive. There was little in the core, where the greatest population density should have been, but there was life further out, a ragged ring around a black centre. These minds were different again, more similar to a gryphon than a pony, but they all carried the same cast, like they were all thinking along similar lines.

Never doubted you for a second. Why do they -- I assume 'they' are the dogs -- all seem so similar?

If we look too closely we will start to feel what they are thinking, Gravity sent. I did that once, and I really don't want to do it again. That wasn't there before, and I don't think it's as simple as panic or pain. Something has bent their minds a certain way.

Fusion shivered. I saw something in one of the Churches... all the dogs driven to search for the Stones. Has it affected all the dogs, everywhere? And their Maker has gone, so why continue?

Nothing to turn it off, Gravity thought. It really did make everything, and this must have been a fail-safe to bring it back. She moved the locus of her perception away from the gutted corpse of the arcology, inspecting the more distant volumes. Most of them will die soon enough. Ah... there, see?

A concentration of gryphon-minds, moving at speed a few kilolengths above the ground, filled with the flat notes of fear and confusion, as easy to pick up now as if they were standing right beside her. Fusion took the location, feeding it into her own power and crafting a teleport spell to extract them from the aircraft and cancel both their planetary and intrinsic vectors. I think they are coming to us!

Best they don't get here with all that hardware, then. Do it.

The mind-traces vanished, and there was a dim series of pops and thumps, immediately drowned out by startled squarks and screeches. Fusion opened one eye, grinning at the staggering flock of utterly bemused and disoriented potential new recruits now being bundled away by Ellisif's troops. One down, far too many to go, she thought.

Gravity's mind had already moved on, further and further out, finding small groups and singletons for Fusion to bring to their new home.

===

Gravity worked, scanning and sweeping through the Hive, finding everyone still alive and stealing away the gryphons and ponies. The dogs, a far higher number even with the cataclysmic reduction in their population, she left without a second glance.

...except for one that had a familiar, half-imagined tang that she'd only known second-hoofed through Fusion's memories. It had attracted her attention, a single mind far closer to the epicentre of the blasts that had killed so many others. A single mind, alone in the dark and trapped in a small space, thinking desperate, violent thoughts.

You, she thought, when I'm done here, I'll be back for you.