Chapter 12: Unstable Radius
[I knew part of me was just trying to live up to my overblown reputation.]
I yelped as Naiara’s hoof slapped my flank. “Come on, Snow, I’m only going like half speed here.”
Growling as she danced away, my horn flared back up. “Just you wait, I’m gonna get you this time.”
She just smirked and began her next sequence. Dodging left, right, up, down, side-to-side, and all possible directions, she moved surely towards me, as I did my best to dissuade her with my ice magic.
Exactly what kind of ice magic wasn’t important right now, as the purpose of the exercise was for me to be able to keep up with a moving target and be able to use my magic against them.
So far, it wasn’t going great.
I was driven back a few hooflengths as she caught me in the sternum. It hadn’t hurt, as we were just sparring, but it had been firm. Naiara kept her hoof raised, and maintained eye contact. “They’ll get harder if you don’t hurry. I’ll leave bruises eventually.”
Nodding, I rubbed the spot where she’d hit me for a moment. “I understand. Let’s go again.”
She hopped back and switched stances. She didn’t appear to favour either side, as that would hinder herStompeii Emboli style, which was structured around omni-directional movements.
She was very good at those.
The moment my glacier-blue glow relit, she was springing away from the spot she was, and it was only due to her deliberately slowing down that I could barely follow her with my eyes.
The problem was that being able to keep her physical form in my sights did not automatically guarantee that my magic could reach her, nor that a pony with my minimal level of combat experience could predict where she would be to account for my reflexes.
The frozen spots of land that I’d iced, where she had been standing when I focused on it, were a reminder of this.
Still, I kept trying.
Zigzagging back and forth, Naiara suddenly went airborne, flipped over me, and landing a backhoof kick to the back of my head. She pulled the strike, but was true to her word. That one had hurt. “Not good enough, Snow. You’re thinking too much. I can see it in your face.”
“How am I supposed to use my magic without concentrating?”
“The more you use your magic, the less time it’ll take to cast. Look at Undertow sometime, her casting happens almost at once, quicker than you can blink. You’ll get there too, at some point. Until then, you get roughed up as incentive.”
“Hmph, slave driver.”
“That’s exactly what I am. Now let’s go.” She retreated back to her starting point.
Not this time, not again. My vow might’ve sounded confident, if I’d said it out loud.
Naiara’s jade eyes hardened before she moved this time, and I felt a bead of nervous sweat run down the back of my neck. Her stutter-step to the right immediately sent my backtracking, though she’d still managed to cover half the distance in that time.
I need to move faster.
Strangely, I felt my horn respond, though couldn’t see any effect it might have had, at least at first.
It became apparent what had happened as Naiara charged straight at me, when a look of surprise crossed her face and her hooves began scrambling for purchase that just wasn’t there anymore.
Only when she crashed down to the ground, and yet kept going, did I spot what had happened. Without really meaning to, I’d created a slick trail of ice, just thick enough to turn walking into skating, along the ground.
A very roundabout, ice-magic way to ‘move faster’.
Magic’s weird, but it works! I thought this as Naiara went sliding past me, and I returned the earlier favour by smacking her flank, and carried on straight into Soft Swell lake with a splash.
Spluttering and spitting, trying not to swallow any of the irradiated water, she quickly got herself back on dry land. Still, she gave me a smile for my efforts. “There you go! That’s one for you. I’ll need to speed up a little.”
“Please don’t.” I whimpered, still smarting from her hits.
“The price of success, svara.”
“What happened to you?” This was Bosco speaking as he trotted up, slipping his shiny new communicator back into his pack and smirking at the sopping wet zebra.
Naiara just spat out some more water. “Snow finally got me, once anyway. Put me in the lake. No damage done, but I think I’ll take a Radaway just in case. I don’t have Taint-based water resistance after all.”
I dug one serving of the medicine out of my pack, and tossed it to her. “Here, maybe see about grabbing a towel too. Don’t want you catching a chill.”
“This coming from the freeze-icorn.” That drew a chuckle from each of us.
“I spoke to Schwarzwald.” Bosco began, after Naiara had upended the Radaway down her throat. “She says the information Amber’s after is in a place called Whitepony. Apparently it’s an old Ministry building.”
“Which Ministry?”
“Two of them, actually. Jointly owned by Image and Morale. Apparently it was a record archive. Dunno how much is left after two hundred years, but Amber seems to think that there’s something valuable in the place. Schwarz said it concerns Lethbridle, so it’ll be wherever they keep those records.”
“Lethbridle? What about Lethbridle?” The biggest settlement in the region had been quite busy recently, especially being stuck between the Steel Rangers at Neighlway, and the slavers in Plottawa. What was Amber’s Bernstein Conclave planning for the place?
The charcoal colt just shrugged. “Didn’t say. I don’t think even Schwarz knows. We’re just supposed to find the computers that have the info on Lethbridle, then link up the communicator. It’ll do the rest, apparently.”
“Nice to be kept in the loop, huh?” The words were nearly lost under Naiara’s furious towelling. Bosco and I stepped back to avoid the irradiated flying droplets.
I looked at him. “So is that it? Just get to a working terminal, and let the gadget do the rest? Sounds simple enough, so long as the place isn’t another ghoul hangout.” I shuddered, thinking of another Ministry building, this time for the Ministry of Wartime Technology, housing agricultural supplies, materials, and vehicles.
“Schwarz didn’t say whether Amber didn’t say or not. Maybe she doesn’t know herself. I kinda doubt Ms. Bernstein has been there personally.”
“What’s she like? Amber, I mean.” Naiara had the towel draped around her neck, apparently having done all she could with it. Her mane was much wilder than its usual appearance, which was smooth and lustrous, whereas now it was damp and clumpy.
Undertow wears that look better.
“Real high society mare. Fancy dresses, squad o’ bodyguards, the works.” Bosco’s expression spoke volumes about his opinion of said ‘high society mare’.
“Fancy dresses aren’t so bad every now and then. Sometimes it’s fun to look pretty and sophisticated, ain’t that right, Snow?”
“I’unno.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? They didn’t dress up in the Stable?”
“Some did. I was never really invited to those parties. Mostly I just wore my Stable clothing, or went without altogether.” Whiskey Sour’s bar wasn’t really the high class place to relax in Stable 61.
Come to think of it, I don’t really remember where Roc and his ilk had their parties. Huh.
Naiara wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat. “Well then we’ll get Amber to throw us a fancy party when we’re done, and then we can get nice dresses and things.”
“Why does this matter?” Snarking aside, I had to agree with Bosco’s question.
“Why not? Be a nice change from Raiders.”
She wasn’t wrong there. Raiders weren’t known for their finery. “Point taken.”
“Speaking of a change from Raiders,” Bosco’s eyes darted between the two of us. “I want us to go help Schwarzwald with this. Today.”
We both raised an eyebrow. “Today?”
He nodded determinedly. “Today. We’re not doing anything for a week anyway, until it’s time for the Raider meet up. We only came back here so Undertow could make sure there was enough charge in her diving Orbs. Soon as she gets back, we’re setting out.”
Though surprised at his commanding tone, Naiara didn’t seem inclined to disagree. “Alright.”
He really wanted to do this, that much was sure. He seemed to trust Schwarzwald, and remained on good terms with her, although the only person I’d ever seen the mercenary mare on bad terms with was a drunk stallion, who tried to throw his weight around. Him, she knocked clean out in six seconds. Everybody else, including the stallion’s girlfriend, was treated more like a fun distraction than anything else.
Bosco was right about the timing too. There really wasn’t anything more that we had to do for the Raiders right now. Caber Toss had scheduled the meeting for days away, and we’d visited all the tribes he wanted to contact.
That left plenty of time for helping Bosco out, which I’d previously resolved to do more of, and not focus so much on my own stuff. Even if, so far, my intentions had outdistanced my actions in that regard.
This was a prime opportunity to make some strides now. Though I was sure that Amber was mostly concerned with Schwarzwald’s participation, she had asked for Bosco and I to go along too. Bosco wanted to go to help Schwarzwald, and I wanted to help Bosco. The system worked.
“I’m in. As soon as Undertow’s done with her Deep Diver stuff, we’ll be on our way. You can take the lead, Boss Colt. It’s only fitting.”
He made a face. “Hey, c’mon guys, it’s not like that.”
Naiara and I saluted, neither of us making much effort to hide our laughter. “Whatever you say, Boss Colt.”
“Don’t call m-ah forget it. Let’s just get Undertow and go.”
“Go where, Boss Colt?”
“GYAH!” We all jumped at her sudden appearance. Undertow was soundlessly emerging from the lake, apparently having been out swimming. Unlike Naiara’s floundering, she seemed perfectly at home in the water, barely making a ripple.
Naiara found her voice first. “We were just about to head out and…” She blinked suddenly. “Wait, did you say Boss Colt?”
“I did.”
Happy laughter burst from the zebra. “Oh that’s amazing. Undertow just made a joke! I totally didn’t see that coming.”
I joined her in celebration. “Good one, Undertow. ‘Boss Colt’ was just saying that we’re heading out for Whitepony to do this job for Amber. It’s only right that Bosco’s in charge this time. You ready to go?”
“Whenever you are, Lady Snow.”
After what happened last time, I made no attempt to even give her the option to stay behind. Not that it was either of our choices really. I wasn’t kidding about Bosco being in charge. I’d happily defer to him on this. I was coming along to help him, and because I’d been asked for by Amber. Not being the one dragging people around was much nicer.
“Well then, we done making jokes at my expense? Yeah? Good. Let’s go. We’re meeting Schwarz at Sprinkles Supplies. It’s on the way, plus I thought you might wanna stop in.”
Boss Colt knows me pretty well.
~~~~~~
“Snowflake, ya got some explainin’ t’do, missy!”
Uh oh. “H-hey, boss. How’re you doing?”
Fedexi Lexi ignored my question for a moment, instead beckoning us into her office, in a manner that was in no way a suggestion. Gulping slightly, I meandered in, with Undertow and the others following.
Her office was surprisingly well furnished, with a wooden desk of obvious quality taking up one third of the space, with several comfortable chairs facing it. Lexi stalked behind the desk, leaned on it with her elbows, and put the flats of her hooves together in front of her face, hiding her entire face sans the eyes, her hard, frowning eyes.
“Snowflake, what in the hell d’ya think yer doin’?”
“Um…”
She wasn’t particularly interested in hearing an answer. “I didn’t mind when ya came out as Red Ice to the entire Wasteland. I didn’t even mind when ya public’ly went against the Steel Rangers and Plottawa, since y’all said ya were someplace else, and ya didn’t make Sprinkles a target by talkin’ ‘bout us at the time. Ya did good work for me when ya worked here with those Pegasus girls, even if it was just fer one job that ya didn’t finish, but now I really gotta ask: What in the hell are ya thinkin’? Raiders?!”
“Now, I can explain…”
“SHUT YER TRAP! I ain’t done.” Immediately I closed my mouth, and sank lower into my chair, as she went on. “I want to know ‘xactly how much o’ what I’m hearin’ over the squawkbox is right, and how much ain’t. Answer me right, ya hear?”
Trembling slightly, I nodded dumbly. Lexi had never been this angry at me, not even when I first showed up here with a hole through my leg, and she had to take the time to fix me up.
She sighed deeply. “Awright. First question: Are ya workin’ with Raiders?”
“…Yes.”
“Don’t take that tone with me!” Her snapped respond set me back on edge.
“What tone?” I mouthed silently to myself, panicking.
“Second question: WHAT are ya doin’ with these Raiders?”
My hooves were nervously tapping together. “I was…uh… trying to unite four clans into one group?”
She’d stopped blinking. “…Y’all know Raiders are the biggest threat to my caravans, and the boys an’ girls who guard ‘em, right?”
“I guess…”
“Ya can’t guess no more, I just tol’ ya. Now, YOU tell me. Why in the hell are ya tryin’ t’make the Raiders worse, and more organised?” Clearly she expected this to be good.
“I’m not.” She raised an eyebrow, but otherwise gave no reaction, simply waited for me to continue. “I mean yeah, I’m trying to organise them, but not make them worse. I’m actually going for the opposite. See, I’m trying to change the Raiders. Make it so that they aren’t just attacking people all the time. Give them a chance to find their own way. Not all of them are crazy and violent.”
The eyebrow didn’t lower. “Uh huh.”
“It’s true!” I stressed. “Some of them are, I won’t deny that. But not as many as people think. They can change. If we outnumber the violent ones with calmer Raiders, then they’ll have to change. If we can convince their leaders of it, then they can change their tribes!”
“And the bastard that got hisself shot through and dumped outside of Lethbridle’s gates?”
“One of the worst,” I confirmed. “He was crazy, and dangerous, and violent, and beat his own followers with a grenade. He’s dead, and his group is being handled by a better leader. His name was Four Fields, by the way.”
“I don’t care!”
“And that’s part of the problem, isn’t it?” I snapped back. “Part of why I’m doing this. It doesn’t matter whether the rest of the Wasteland likes it or not, but Raiders are still people, and deserve their chance to join the wider community. Raiders aren’t blameless, as they’ve killed lots of people, but it doesn’t have to continue, at least for these Raiders. We’re not aiming to change the entire Wasteland with this, just these groups. That’ll be a start, and maybe more will change afterwards, but this is what we’re aiming for right now.”
Her posture, though still disapproving, had softened ever so slightly. “An’ ya think ya can change these Raiders? Make ‘em like everypony else, just tryin’ to keep themselves goin’?”
“I… don’t really know. But I want to try.”
Finally, the hooves parted from in front of her face. Without saying anything, she reached down to a desk draw, and brought out a bottle of unlabelled moonshine, and a glass. Pouring herself a stout glassful, she downed it in one gulp, before resting her hooves flat on the table. “What evidence do y’all have that this’ll even work? Yer gamblin’ with lots o’ dangerous ponies, Snowflake.”
“Lady Lexi?”
Her gaze shifted to my right, losing its ire as it came to rest on the Deep Diver. “I tol’ ya, I ain’t a Lady. What is it, Undertow?”
“What was it that you said about me, during our last visit here?” She spoke slowly and calmly, though I was finding it hard to read past her goggles at that moment.
“I said ya were a good girl, why?” Lexi was pouring herself another glass, smaller this time.
“May I ask you why? Why you said it?”
Lexi shrugged, then topped off her drink. “Cause yer sweet, an’ quiet, an’ ya obviously think the world o’ Snowflake here. What’s yer point?”
Nothing changed outwardly, but I still got the sensation of immense satisfaction from Undertow. “I merely wished to point out that even you can consider a Raider to be a good girl.”
My boss gurgled as the moonshine caught in her throat. Hacking and wheezing, she set down the half-empty glass, and looked at us both in disbelief. “Wha? Undertow, darlin’, yer not sayin’…”
“I am a Raider, Lady Lexi.”
She was flabbergasted. “I… but… yer one o’ the ones that ain’t got a choice, right? Only there cause ya couldn’t get away?”
“No.” Her response was flat. “I lead the Deep Divers, one of the four groups that Lady Snow is trying to unite.”
Lexi continued to stare wide-eyed at Undertow, before turning to me with a glare. “Why didn’t ya tell me?! Had to go draggin’ Undertow into this by havin’ her damn near gimme a heart attack!”
Her sudden shift to anger left me flathooved. “I… what?”
“It’s never the baby that Momma gets mad at, always the first child.” Naiara’s sarcastic reply wasn’t delivered with her usually playfulness, and Bosco’s stone-faced silence didn’t really convey that he thought this was fair either.
“True, but that is a sign of a mother’s trust, dahling.” came a voice from the door. “After all, big sisters are born first so that they may protect the little ones that come after.”
“Who the fuck is this, and why’s she in my office?!”
Schwarzwald, unimpressed by Lexi’s anger, strolled in as casual as you like. “I am a companion to these lovelies, and will be aiding them in this endeavour.”
Lexi was fuming at being disrespected in her own office. “Yer involved with all this Raider crap?”
Schwarz just smiled that unshiftable smile of hers. “Yes and no, but that is for another time. We are on a different assignment at present.”
Somehow, this was also my fault. “Another li’l tidbit ya forgot ta tell me, Snowflake?”
“Sorry!” I tried helplessly. “It didn’t come up.”
Throwing her hooves up in the air, Lexi sat back in her chair heavily. “So what are y’all doin’ right now?”
“We’re going to Whitepony to look for some records.” Bosco finally broke his silence, and delivered this news with firm conviction, as if daring her to call him on it.
She eventually elected not to. The mention of Whitepony had derailed her. “…So no Raider business? Then why’s Undertow here?”
“Because I wish to help Bosco, and Lady Snow.” Undertow had completely turned the tables on Lexi, and she was now no longer in command of her own office.
“Me too, if anypony cares.” Naiara chipped in.
Lexi closed her eyes, a seconds-long blink, before admitting defeat. “Good girls.”
“Aren’t they just?” Schwarzwald was leaning against the wall by the door, which drew a sour look from the office’s owner.
I didn’t want Lexi looking this bad, especially after telling Undertow that this was her ‘territory’. Deep Diver thinking might make her lose respect for Lexi. “Undertow’s helping me with my magic, so that I can help more people. She’s been really helpful.”
“Yer havin’ trouble with yer magic? Why didn’t ya come to me? I’da helped.”
“You were so busy, and I didn’t want to disturb you. Undertow’s doing just fine. Better than fine. I’ve learned more with her than I have in my entire life.” I was more than happy to show my pride at what Undertow had been able to do for me, and how good she was herself.
Another glare morphed into a gentle gaze for Undertow. “Is that right? Yer a strong unicorn, and ya been helpin’ Snowflake out?”
“She’s the strongest I’ve met, and yes she has.”
Undertow was less combative now. “Lady Snow has helped me much more, I only do what I can to make her stronger.”
It was a few seconds before Lexi said anything. “…Atta girl. Awright, awright, I’ll trust that y’all know what yer doin’. Don’t hope fer miracles with these Raiders though. They’ve had a long time to get plenty good at bein’ bastards.”
“Do not fear, our current employer is taking steps to protect us while on this assignment. She has guaranteed their safety.” Schwarzwald seemed unconcerned that she’d warned us about Amber’s words not long ago.
“Well that’s real good t’hear… since I can’t anymore.”
Confused, I looked back at Lexi. “What do you mean? Can’t do what anymore?”
Firm, yet apologetic, eyes panned over the five of us. “Yer too hot right now, Red Ice. I like ya, Snowflake, but I can’t have Sprinkles Supplies associated with ya, not while yer dealin’ with Raiders. Not with DJ Pon3 warnin’ folks offa ya. If Lethbridle found out that we went easy on ya, then it’d kill our business round here, not to mention that more ‘n a few o’ my workers ain’t happy to have Red Ice on the premises at all. I told ‘em not to get involved, but they won’t listen forever, and that could mean strikes or breakin’ rules, ‘specially if you keep going with what yer doin’. Sorry, but y’all can’t come back until all this Raider crap is finished. ”
My insides went cold. What?
Immediately, Undertow and Naiara jumped to my defence. “What?”
“You can’t be serious.”
Schwarzwald and Bosco were less supportive. “It makes sense, dahling.”
“It’ll be okay, Snow. We’re almost done with the Raider stuff anyway, it’ll only be for a little while.”
All eyes went to me, waiting for my response.
Making no attempt to wipe away my worried tears, I quietly let her know what I thought about that. “S-so, you d-don’t care that I’m Red Ice, until it hurts your b-business? Happy to be nice, unt-til I get in the w-way of p-profit? D-don’t do this to m-me, boss!”
It’s not fair! Lexi’s done so much for me before, so why now? What does she have all these guards for if not to stop trouble? Why is she sending me away?
Lexi didn’t falter. “Yeah. Sorry, but that’s the way things are. Raiders are bad news, kid, and yer not gonna change folks’ mind on that. Y’all can try, but I don’t’ see it happening. All that’ll happen is I get a bad rep, and lose a lot of caps for me an’ everypony else here. I like ya, but yer not worth all that if you keep this up.”
Schwarzwald’s voice drifted into my ear. “I told you that there are all kinds in the Wasteland, Snowflake. You must accept this.”
“She’s right, Snow. It’s harsh, but you kinda have to be in the Wasteland. We just have to make sure that the Raider stuff works out, and then there won’t be any of these problems anymore.”
“…I think we should go.” Naiara was standing now, having taken up position close to my chair.
“I agree, Lady Snow. We may not like it, but this is still Lady Lexi’s territory, and she has authority here. If she wishes for us to leave, then we must.” Between Naiara and herself, they began to gently walk me out.
As Schwarzwald and Bosco disappeared through the door, and the three of us were just about to step through the opening, Lexi had more to say. “Wait!”
Wordlessly, I half turned, waiting for for her to yell at me some more.
“…Don’t die.”
That took me by surprise. Sniffling through my runny nose, I turned the rest of the way.
Still sitting at her desk, and cradling the bottle of moonshine, Fedexi Lexi was gloomily watching us, her frizzy mane drooping over her orange eyes. “Whatever happens, keep yerselves alive, all o’ ya. This Raider bullshit? I don’t care if you fail, won’t ‘xactly be a big loss if Raiders keep bein’ Raiders. I don’t care if y’all get hurt, cause I’ll just patch ya up again.” She rubbed a hoof through her unruly mane, stressed at the whole situation. “…Just don’t die, awright?. That goes fer all o’ ya.”
None of us really knew how to take that, resolving to simply walk away in confusion a few seconds later. All of us except Schwarzwald, who was quietly singing “Momma told me not to come” under her breath.
We weren’t too far away from the office to hear glass shattering against the closed door, along with a frustrated “Dammit ta hell!” as we left.
~~~~~~
The gate to the Sprinkles compound clanged shut behind us, and we began to stroll around the outer perimeter. I was in no way interested in saying anything, happy to just follow silently, while listening to the other conversations that had started up.
“Hey, Schwarz?” Bosco didn’t look at the mercenary as he spoke. He wasn’t really looking at anything. Apparently deep in thought, his eyes were glassed over as he walked.
“Yes, Bosco?
“What’s Amber paying us for this job?”
“Such a pragmatist.” She teased. “The fee is one thousand caps each for yourself and dear Snowflake, and two thousand for me.”
“Why do you get more?”
“What does it matter, Bosco?” Naiara chipped in. “A thousand caps isn’t chump change.”
“Thank you lovely, but to answer Bosco’s question, I will be the one to deliver our prize to Amber in person, and so I garner a higher cut for protecting the information, from whomever may try to take it from me.”
She adopted a chivalrous pose. “Through fire, and ice, I shall be the brave knight, guarding the precious relic.” and then shattered the illusion with a lecherous grin. “Bloodied and torn, I shall return to the waiting princess with the prize, and enjoy the gentle attention of her... tending to me.”
Bosco mostly ignored the lewd rhetoric, focusing only on the information he’d asked for. “Fine, so a thousand caps. Lemme ask this, is her Bernstein Conclave a big group?”
“Oh yes. Their normal operating channels are very different from the general population this far north, but they have many different operations of varying scales in progress at any one time, and dear Amber sits in the centre of the web, guiding it all. Not without help, of course. If she was so busy as to handle everything herself, then she would never have made the time to visit.”
Not even for you?
“Doesn’t sound like they advertise much. I’d never heard of them before the Molar Bear hunt.”
“You wouldn’t have. Simply put, Lethbridle and the surrounding area are far too remote, and poor, to be greatly affected by Bernstein machinations. They are more prominent further south, especially Tenpony Tower.”
“And do they only trade in caps?”
He had her attention now. “Whatever do you mean, Bosco-dahling? What else is there?”
He came back from where he’d been, his eyes focusing again. “That’s what I wanna know. Would Amber be willing to pay in a different way for the information?”
Her eyes lit up. “Bosco! You naughty boy!”
“No.” He stated flatly.
“Oh poo. Then what do you mean?” We were all listening in now. What was Bosco looking for that he’d take over caps?
“I want a favour from her. I’m trying to figure out someone of my own, and a network that’s as extensive as you say hers is would be really helpful.”
“Hmm, that is a good question. I actually don’t know, dahling, I shall have to ask her.” She lapsed into silence, mulling over the new possibilities.
Bosco was clearly talking about his Memory Orbs. He’d carried them around for six years before being able to view them, and didn’t remember anything before those six years.
With Amber’s help, he might be able to find out who he was. That was worth a thousand caps, or two, if he needed mine as well.
“Who pays a thousand caps for a two hundred year old piece of information?” Naiara’s question was very valid, and had me wondering exactly why none of us had asked it before now.
“Amber does.” Schwarzwald answered simply. “She also never does anything without purpose.”
“So what’s her purpose?”
“I do not know, and do not intend to ask. I will carry out the job she has tasked me with, for the payment we agreed on, as two thousand caps is fine for me… but then again, a favour from Amber may be quite beneficial.” Mercenary or not, the idea was definitely intriguing her. “Hmm, I will have to think about it later. For now, we still have to complete the task first, and I do not aim to disappoint. I have, after all, been doing this for a long time.”
~~~~~~
Whitepony stood before us like a vision from the past.
A great stone monolith, it rose from the ground as a giant concrete cube, with hard edges and corners. It must have been a hundred metres high and wide, standing there seemingly untouched by balefire bombs.
Either that or it just shrugged the attack off. A record keeping facility probably was built to last.
From where we were standing, a few hundred yards away, the sole visible entrance looked positively tiny in comparison to the building’s bulk. A single set of glass double doors provided a way inside, though nothing could be seen in the shadows beyond the glass.
Were it not for the barren land around Whitepony, you might have been mistaken for thinking that the bombs hadn’t dropped yet, so solid and unblemished was the imposing facility. Also, though two Ministries were apparently using it during the war, the outer walls bore no insignia from any organisation.
“Friendly.”
“Well put, Boss Colt.”
“Ooh, ‘Boss Colt’? I like that.”
“Aaand now Schwarzwald knows about the nickname. Thank you, Naiara. Thank you, thank you so much.”
His sarcasm was ignored through a grinning salute. “Happy to be of service, Boss Colt.”
“Hate. You. All.”
“What’d I do?” I asked, incredulous.
“Spoke to her in line at Lethbridle.”
“…Touché.”
“Dahlings.” Schwarzwald interjected, showing that she evidently DID have a limit to her patience and good cheer. “Though this back-and-forth is very entertaining to watch, should we not proceed? Perhaps knock on the door?”
“Do not worry, Schwarzwald, Bosco and Naiara are good friends.” Undertow paused in her attempt to assure the older mare. “Though she may kick him at some point.”
Silence greeted her remark. Schwarzwald sported a raised eyebrow, and an approving smile.
Bosco and Naiara, on the other hoof, were staring open-mouthed. “Did… did Undertow just make another joke?”
“Well I’ll be damned, she did at that.”
“I’m so proud!”
“I know, me too!”
“ENOUGH!” I’d reached my limit too. “Can we just go?”
“Schwarz’s right.” Bosco reassumed his ‘Boss Colt’ persona. “Let’s go.”
We crossed the rest of the grounds without incident, and formed up at the double doors. “Somepony check if it’s locked.”
A quick pull, then push, on the doors confirmed that it was. Undeterred, Bosco brought out his wicked knife, jammed it into the gap between the two doors, then rammed his hoof down on top of it. With a momentary thunk, the lock broke.
As Naiara opened the door to check inside, Schwarzwald was tsk-tsking at the brute force solution. “You will ruin the blade if you do that. I advise finding a whetstone when you have a moment.”
As he was sheathing his knife, Bosco replied in a whisper. “I’ll keep that in mind, now pipe down. We don’t want to give ourselves away too soon.” With that, he slipped in after Naiara, followed by the rest of us.
Inside, we found a silent reception area. The only features on the room were a receptionist’s desk, and a few dilapidated chairs placed around a grimy table covered with magazines whose covers had faded to near blank. There was a terminal on the desk, which we crowded around.
Experimentally tapping a few keys, Bosco relayed what information came up. “Nothing much to work with really; two hundred year old visitor’s list, a notice telling everypony to head for the nearest Stable… must’ve been sent when the bombs dropped, and lastly… uh oh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Automated security’s been activated.”
We all tensed up. “What kind of security?”
Bosco shook his head. “Doesn’t say, just that they triggered it before evacuating. I guess they didn’t want any spies or anything snooping around while they were away.”
“That was two centuries ago.” Undertow was looking towards the other exits. “Surely the security must have lost power by now?”
“Not necessarily, dahling, it depends on what kind of security they employed here.”
Grimacing, Bosco agreed. “She’s right. I once came across a few security robots in another old building, and their lasers worked just fine. The Ministry of Tech built their guards to last. We’ll have to be careful.”
He gave us all a stern look. “…And quiet too.”
Surprisingly, even Schwarzwald obeyed the order. Keeping close, we moved past the desk and into a hallway beyond. “Keep an eye out for a map or something. Anything to get us out of here sooner.” The whispered command had Undertow and I looking here, there, and everywhere, while the others just moved their eyes.
Rounding a corner, we came up on a set of heavy doors, this time with three sturdy bolts slid across. Bosco’s knife wouldn’t get us through here. Half a minute of searching yielded no alternative way in. Instead, we carried on past the doors, turning left at the next bend presented us with a window wall to look into the room we couldn’t access.
Surprisingly, the locked door led to a walkway, only a couple of meters below the ceiling. The room itself was much larger than I had thought, as it descended down past the ground floor. It housed a few rows of massive computers, with two other levels of walkway suspended above them.
“It is a server room. The information we need may be closer than I thought.”
We all shushed her, but the damage had been done. From out of a side passage came a hulking mound of metal. The robot was not very pretty, but looked solid and durable. Even before compartments began opening to reveal weapons, it looked like it meant business.
“HALT!” The tinny voice crackled as it emerged through speakers. “Identify yourselves!”
I heard a rustle behind me, catching Naiara pulling her cloak further around her, as she surreptitiously moved to the back of the group. Right, she’s a zebra. Of course she doesn’t wanna be seen by the robot.
Reaching back to drag Schwarzwald forward, Bosco tried to keep his voice strong as he replied. “I am inspector Upper Crust, along with my wife, inspector Jet Set,” he pointedly did NOT look at his ‘wife’ during all this. “And these are our inspection staff. Our inspection is already late, and we do not appreciate the delay.”
“What the hell is he doing?” I had to agree with the growled question. What was Bosco doing? Who was Upper Crust, or Jet Set?
“Verifying…” The bulky robot went silent, as it communicated with the rest of its network.
We all held our breath.
Then the robot’s guns came out. “Verification failed! Inspectors Upper Crust and Jet Set are unicorns. You are not unicorns!”
There was a half second pause. “…Fuck.”
Clicking as its lenses readjusted, the robot was giving us all a thorough eyeballing. “Scanning intruders for identity.”
“What now?” I hissed.
“Um…” His gambit having failed, Bosco was temporarily at a loss as to how to proceed.
Schwarzwald wasn’t. She opened up with her battle saddle, striking the robot again and again in the head and chest. Its eyes shattered under the barrage, but it only fell back a few steps, instead of being destroyed.
It was evidently still connected to the network, as alarms began sounding and flashing everywhere. “ALERT! INTRUDERS ON SITE! VISION IMPAIRED! REQUESTING ASSISTANCE!”
Turning from the continuing roar of Schwarzwald’s battle saddle, now joined by Bosco’s pistol as they tried to put the automaton down, Undertow, Naiara, and I kept a look out for the other trouble.
It wasn’t far away. Through the windows, we could see other identical robots mobilising, gliding around and between the servers as they rushed to our location. “Company’s coming guys, a lot of it!”
“Snow, Naiara, find us a way out! Undertow, help us out here!”
There was no way we were gonna question that order. Her horn glowing, and with water surging around her, Undertow jumped into the fight, as the robot was readying its own weapons to counterattack.
Naiara dashed along the glass wall to the next intersection, looking each way with a lightning-quick hide-and-peek, while I watched the way we’d come. Satisfied, she called back. “THIS WAY’S CLEAR! COME ON!”
I made to follow, but one of the windows exploded into the hallway, making me duck back before the flying shards cut me to ribbons. Looking back into the server room, I saw another robot standing on the upper walkway.
It saw us too. More than we wanted it to see. “NON-PONY LIFESIGN DETECTED! TAINT INFECTION DETECTED! LETHAL FORCE AUTHORISED!” Bigger guns emerged from yet more hidden compartments, opening up on me almost immediately.
Helpless, I threw up my hooves as a pointless shield. The shockwave from the grenade explosions blew me onto my back, but sounded strangely muffled.
I opened my eyes to see a shield of water had intercepted the blast. Undertow was standing behind me, her horn glowing. “We shall deal with this one, Lady Snow, assist Schwarzwald in stopping the other one.”
Looking back, the first robot was struggling. It was still upright, but its weapons looked to be in bad shape. Schwarzwald was firing round after round into its metal skull, but still couldn’t deal a fatal blow. Still, it was only a threat if it got close, which seemed unlikely.
Nodding to Undertow, I traded places with her and Bosco, who took over in battling this new, fully armed threat.
A quick glance down the hall showed Naiara turning and running, as another robot rolled past the T-junction after her.
“Guys, they’re after Naiara, she’s a zebra!”
“Snowflake! Your assistance!” Schwarzwald was yelling, as the robot still hadn’t gone down.
Cursing, I turned and focused on my newest spell, the slippery trail that I’d used on Naiara back at Soft Swell Lake. My horn blazed, and suddenly the robot looked far less sturdy, as its wheels spun in a vain attempt to find traction. Overbalanced, it toppled over completely as Schwarzwald opportunistically shoulderbarged into it. As the bot hit the ground, the mercenary mare was on it, jamming her heavy rifle into its destroyed eye-socket, pulverising its processor with a point-blank burst.
The two of us stood over it, panting slightly, making sure it was down this time, when the chest section opened up, and a beeping commenced.
Wide-eyed, Schwarzwald wheeled round and grabbed me. “Time to go!” She dragged me further down the hallway, all but throwing me around the next corner.
I managed to get my head back, shouting out a quick “LOOK OUT!” to the others, before the robot exploded.
Having caught the tail end of my warning, Undertow’s water shield was already wrapping around her and Bosco, but there was a terrible crash as they, and the shield, were propelled through the window by the blast, falling down into the server room.
“UNDERTOW! BOSCO!” I tried to run to reach them, but Schwarzwald grabbed me.
“They are fine, Snowflake, but we have to get away for now!”
I fought in her grasp, desperate to reach the two. “NO! We have to save them! They might be hurt! LET ME GO!” I kicked and twisted in her grasp in my haste to aid our friends.
I had almost gotten free, but then I saw that the robot, who Undertow and Bosco had been trading fire with, was rolling towards the locked double doors, which led into our corridor. A heavy scrape of metal on metal showed that the door was no longer locked. The robot would be here in seconds.
Again, Schwarzwald seized me around the shoulders, and dragged at me. “See? It is after us now! Let us go, and we will find the others when we are safe?”
“But what if they’re hurt?”
“Then they are hurt!” She snapped. “We cannot get to them, and will only die ourselves if we try! What good would that do anypony?”
That stopped me cold, being reminiscent of Undertow’s words. I couldn’t help anyone by putting myself into needless danger. “Y-Yeah, alright.” I stopped struggling, and turned to face the direction she was dragging me. When I started running with her, she let go and we began to sprint, just barely evading a hail of bullets from the arriving robot.
Juking and jinking, we did everything we could to get away from the robot, now joined by friends, but whichever way we went, we couldn’t find a time to double back and reach the others. Eventually, we were cornered near a stairwell, with our only option being to go up.
I hated myself, and her, as we climbed. This is taking us too far away from the others! Undertow and Bosco might be trapped in that room with dozens of them! And who knows what’s happened to Naiara. I hope she’s okay.
Bursting into an office full of cubicles, we searched around for a safe place. Jumping ahead, I caught sight of two bots just as they saw me.
“Snowflake, get down!” Crushed by the sudden weight, my breath left me as bullets, and now lasers, whizzed by overhead, with Schwarzwald holding me down, until the shooting stopped. After scrambling into the cover of one of the cubicles, she leaned around and took a few shots with her battle saddle’s rifles, the harsh collision of bullets and armour sounding hollow and pained.
Sneering in frustration, she triggered the reload of her weapons. “I am losing too many bullets for too little damage! Do you have any ideas?”
I did have one thought. It had worked on Peanut…
“I’ll freeze their legs, then we’ll make a run for it. Can you keep them busy?”
“Not for long, dahling.”
“Okay, I’ll be quick.” I didn’t really have much of a choice. If this didn’t work, Schwarzwald’s ammo wouldn’t last, and then we’d be in too much trouble to help anyone.
Gathering herself, Schwarzwald darted across into another cubicle, a trail of laser fire chasing her, before leaping up and over into a third partition.
With their attention temporarily on the older pony, I found a bullet hole to look through, catching sight of one of the robots with its back turned. I couldn’t see its leg from where I was, but I could see the steady fire of the cannon in its arm.
That’ll have to do. My horn glowed, as my attention centred on the pumping weapon.
After a few seconds, the fire rate began to rapidly diminish, until eventually all that was happening was an unhealthy, lethargic clicking. Confused, the robot looked at its limb, but I kept the magic on, watching as the gun turned white, with frost forming along its length.
Suddenly the mechanical sentry wheeled around on me, swinging the rigid limb. Shrieking, I ducked out of the way, and the swing caught the cubicle wall.
The limb violently exploded as it struck, scattering bits of frozen metal and circuitry everywhere. While the bot was distracted, I jumped over the cubicle wall and darted down the gap.
I nearly choked as a hoof shot out from a corner partition, snagging me around the throat and ripping me off my hooves. As I was dumped on the floor, Schwarzwald was trying to reload, check the enemies’ position, and talk to me. “I saw that, Snowflake. Do it again.”
I just wheezed.
“No time for that now, just freeze the robots. Get their chests, or their heads. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Ack, you didn’t have to grab me so roughly?” I rubbed my tender neck.
“Dirty talk can wait, dahling, and I’ll let you return the favour when we find a bed, but for now I need you to focus.” Slipping a hoofheld mirror out of a pocket, she angled it to see down the straight path between cubicles. “There, look in the mirror. Can you see it?”
It was getting close. “I see it. Hold the mirror steady.”
I imagined my spell bouncing off the mirror and heading straight towards the robot’s chest which, thankfully, did start to ice up. It took longer than the gun had, however, so I only managed to finish when the bot rolled over the mirror, crushing it, and turned into the cubicle.
We were trapped, but trapped animals fight the hardest.
With an inarticulate yell, Schwarzwald swung her hoof into, and through, the frozen chest armour of the mechanical beast, up to her shoulder, and withdrew a blinking power pack. It toppled over, the lights dimming before it hit the ground.
“Do you see its one-armed friend, dahling?” She was juggling the battery, testing the heft, acting for all the world like she hadn’t just punched out a robot’s heart.
“I… uh…” I stuck my head out, thankful that the remaining enemy no longer had a projectile weapon, and scanned the room. It was a mess, with office supplies, and bits of metal and plaster and wood strewn everywhere. At the other end of the walkway, the remaining bot caught sight of me, and motored towards us. “End of the path, coming this way.”
“Heh, perfect.” Grinning like a demon, Schwarzwald stepped out of the cubicle, facing down the straight course, wound back, and let fly with the power core. Arcing through the air, the robot raised its arm to shoot the core out of the air.
The arm it raised didn’t have a gun anymore.
Schwarzwald did. I realised her plan just before she fired. Panicking, I grabbed her tail in my teeth and yanked just as she fired, pulling her back into the cubicle before the explosion reached us.
The flames still licked around all the barricades, setting us both briefly on fire before we could stamp or snuff out the embers.
Nothing remained of the robot, who’d caught the explosion full in the face, except miniscule chunks of bubbling armour. The room near the explosion was bowed out, a spherical curve present in all surfaces.
After confirming that there were no other robots in the vicinity, we relaxed a little. “Where to next, Snowflake? This is fun.”
The alarms chose this moment to cease, making me forget about my indignant answer. An artificial voice sounded out of the loudspeakers. “VISUAL CONFIRMATION OF INTRUDERS LOST! COMMENCE ROOM BY ROOM SWEEP! ALL SENTRIES MOBILISE!”
“We should go.”
~~~~~~
We glided from room to room, as stealthily as we could, sometimes just barely managing to avoid patrols of searching sentinels.
Soon enough, my companion had regained her cheerful demeanour. “You know, dahling, I find myself somewhat disappointed.”
“Disappointed?” I didn’t try to hide my sarcasm. Somehow Schwarzwald’s warped worldview wasn’t really what I cared about at present.
“Indeed.” Apparently she was gonna go on regardless. “Amber sends me to fight mere machines? Disappointing. Steel and wires are not nearly so interesting as blood and bones.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“Besides not currently having a choice? Because Amber will soon provide me with something more interesting, I am sure.”
Mostly I responded for a distraction from worrying about Undertow, Bosco, and Naiara. Finding out some more about the Bernstein Conclave was a distant second. “What makes you say that?”
“Not many can provide the results she seeks.” Her tone turned wistful, though still quiet to avoid alerting guards. “I remember a story she told me of one of my predecessors. She meant it as a warning, I’m sure, though I would kill her long before she could repeat the practice on me.”
“Meant what as a warning?”
“Well, my predecessor, I forget the name, took on many jobs for Amber; Assassination, bounty hunting, secret messages, carrying special cargo, all sorts. Apparently, the mercenary developed something of an ego over this, believing himself to be too valuable to lose, and soon forgot to show respect.”
“…You don’t act respectful to her.”
She gave me a disbelieving, shocked look. “Why, Snowflake, of course I do! Amber has accomplished much for a filly of her age, mere years older than yourself. No, I don’t act disrespectfully to her, I am merely friendly. It would be wise to learn the difference. The idiot I replaced never learned.”
That’s an interesting way of looking at it. “What happened?”
“After her patience ran out, Amber played to his ego, hiring him to attack a small gang of slavers, of which there was no possibility for him to succeed. Obviously, he did not think as she did, and declared himself her go-to pony for every job.”
I could already see where this was going.
“Amber then bought him back from the slavers, after they had broken his spirit, though his skills were mostly intact. Then… she made him keep to his word.”
“His word?”
“He claimed to be her go-to pony for every job. Amber made this truth. No matter the job, mind-numbingly mundane or suicidally dangerous, she sent him first, and as he was a slave now, it cost her nothing. Soon enough the cost she’d paid to acquire him had been repaid many times over, and still she sent him on every job. Eventually, he was killed trying to subdue a beast, past the northern mountains.”
“Past the mountains?”
“Indeed. Amber does not accept defeat easily either, whether personally or through her subordinates. I do not doubt she will ask me to find this creature at some point. The Molar Bear, and Tarantubaas? Merely a warm up.”
I eyed her warily. “And you’ll go?”
She shrugged. “Most likely. Amber pays well, and it does intrigue, does it not? A monster strong and strange enough to be sought so dearly? A fun challenge, and a good way to prove my superiority over that enslaved fool.”
Talk of slaves made me think of Plottawa, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the nameless idiot. Still, Schwarzwald’s words hammered home her earlier warning. Amber was good with words, both hers and those of others. I would have to watch what I say, and make sure that my friendliness wasn’t mistaken for disrespect.
I already have enough powerful ponies for enemies.
“Not to mention,” Schwarzwald cut in. “Amber could not make me a slave, I already have a mistress in waiting, no?” She waggled her eyebrows at me, prompting me to roll my eyes in response.
Then I caught myself. This wasn’t the time for her nonsense, Undertow and the others were still in danger. Amber was irrelevant at this point. “We should hurry and find the others.”
“If we move too fast, we will bring the robots down on our heads again.”
“I know, but…” I didn’t care. Undertow, Bosco and Naiara were in danger. The thought made me sick, and so I picked up my pace, trying to outpace my worry.
“Snowflake, slow down.” There was an edge in her voice that was very different than usual. Thoroughly annoyed, I turned, waiting for her to make her point.
She didn’t say anything though, just casually ambled up until we were level again.
“What is wrong with you? The others could be in trouble, and you’re taking it easy!”
Oh how I wanted to rip that stupid smile off her face. “I have more stories if you wish to pass the time.”
Livid, I tensed up. “I don’t want to ‘pass the time’, I want to find my friends and help them against killer robots!”
She cocked her head to the side. “You seem tense, Snowflake, do you not want to relax first, to make sure that you are ready?”
“No, I don’t wanna relax! Let’s go already!” What the fuck was her problem?
“Are you sure? I could help you relax.”
I slapped her, as hard as I could. This was really not the time.
Almost instantly, pain exploded across my face, and I slammed into the wall behind me. Before I could fall, Schwarzwald was on me, with her front leg under my chin.
“How?” That was all she said.
“How what?” I gargled back, glaring at her.
“How will you help them?” Her words, and her eyes, were cold. The only time I remembered her being this vicious was in the bar, when the drunk stallion tried to show off to his marefriend.
“I’ll… find them…”
“Then what? How exactly will you fight?”
A glare was my only response, not having a concrete answer. She nodded knowingly. “Exactly. You saw how durable these machines are, yes? How many bullets are needed before they drop? You don’t have a gun, and your magic won’t be enough. What then?”
“P… punch… like you!”
In response, she held up her hoof, the one she’d buried in the robot’s sternum.
It was gashed, and bloody. Clearly she was in pain, but was hiding it. “I am much stronger than you, Snowflake, and yet I can only do this once. How many sentries do you think there are?”
My glare began to soften. Though I still loathed her at that moment, she was starting to make sense, even cutting through my worry.
She kept up her cold stare. “I am strong, dahling, but unlike my predecessor, I am not fool enough to call myself invincible. This is not a battle any one of us can win. We must work together. Effectively. Charging in, like the fighter that you’re clearly NOT, will get you and your little sister killed.”
Her foreleg across my throat had slackened enough for me to speak. “I… how can I help them?”
She lowered the limb, that she’d been choking me with, completely. “First, we shall calmly find our friends. Then, your magic will be used to create opportunities for the others to finish our enemies. You’re no killer, not yet, so you haven’t developed the necessary spells.” Her cocky smile returned. “Wait a little while longer, and then you may join the fun.”
My nausea returned at the thought. Robots are one thing, but she can’t seriously expect me to sit there and think up ways to kill people. Not a chance.
Bzzt! “Schwarzwald, you there?”
Taken by surprise, we looked at each other for a moment, thinking that the robots were talking to us over the intercom.
Bzzt! “Come on, pick up already.”
In a very familiar voice.
In puzzled amusement, Schwarzwald fished the Bernstein communicator she’d received out of a pocket. “Breeze? Is that you, dahling?”
“Ah good, you are there. Listen, I don’t really know what’s going on, but Naiara says to tell you that she’s fine, but can’t come find you guys right now. What’s she mean? And who’s ‘you guys’?” There was an ease to Breeze’s voice, even through the device, that I hadn’t heard in a while. Our last few meetings had always made her angry. I didn’t mind right now, I was just glad that Naiara was okay, even if she couldn’t meet up with us yet, whatever that meant.
Calm down, Snow, she’s probably just dodging patrols, like us. If she can use the transmitter, then I’m sure she’s okay.
“Well, I’m at Whitepony with the others, but we got separated after a fight with some sentry bots. Snowflake and I…”
“Snowflake’s there?!”
“Yes! Would you like to say hello?”
“No, I don’t wanna say hello! I’m just telling you that Naiara’s okay, like she asked. If you want anything else, then you call me. In private. Got it?”
“Very well, dahling, and thank you for telling us about dear Naiara.”
“Yeah, thanks Breeze, really.” No matter what she thought of me, or what I thought of her, she’d helped us out right now, and that deserved thanks.
They weren’t welcome though. She just “Tch”’d, and the signal cut out.
Grinning widely, Schwarzwald turned to me. “You see, Snowflake? Your friend remained calm, and got a message to us to ease your fears. Now we can concentrate on finding the others.”
I still wasn’t happy with Breeze’s attitude, or Schwarz’s really, but I had to admit she’d made her point. “…Alright, but since Breeze called us, can we use the communicator to contact…”
Bzzt! “Schwarzwald, pick up.”
“…Bosco!”
The smile was now a full on smirk. She gracefully raised the device to her lips. “Hello, dahling. How are you?”
You smug mare. “Is he okay? Ask him about Undertow!” I pressed at her to find out.
“We’re okay. We got away from the robots for now, junked a few too.”
“You continue to impress, dahling.”
“Yeah, whatever, I- OW! I didn’t find the- OW DAMMIT! Find the- FUCK OFF UNDERTOW!” There was a brief sound of a scuffle, before a new voice was yelling down the line.
“LADY SNOW, ARE YOU THERE?”
All thoughts of ponies and their bad attitudes vanished. I jumped for the communicator, but Schwarzwald turned away from my grabbing hooves, continuing to speak. “She’s here, Undertow-dahling. What do you need?”
“Let me speak to Lady Snow!”
I made another dive for the gadget. “Give it to me!”
Another dodge. “I’m afraid that she’s busy at present, would you like to leave a message!”
“I can hear her!” Undertow wailed through the channel. My heart was breaking.
“Dammit, Schwarzwald, if you don’t give me the communicator right now…”
“What?” She replied sharply, but still smiling. “What will you do? Remember to remain calm.”
Oh, you absolute- I almost made another blind grab, but forced myself to stop, even though I could hear sniffles coming from the speaker. Fuck! I can’t do anything too drastic, it might hurt her, or bring the robots running. What else can I do to get her to give it to me? What does she want? Well, besides…
…
Ah, damn it.
Hating the entire situation, I stomped over to her. Schwarzwald made no move to stop me, or dodge, even as I reached a hoof up.
Grabbing her battle saddle, I yanked down, bringing her face close to mine.
Then I kissed her full on the lips.
Even with all her scars, the flesh was far softer then I imagined, and more supple. I felt one scar with my upper lip, and was idly tempted to trace it with my tongue, but stopped myself before it sent the wrong message.
Thankfully, that surprised her enough for me to reach up, while her lips were busy, and knock the communicator out of her upstretched hoof.
I caught it before it hit the floor. “Undertow? Undertow, answer me!”
The sniffling halted. “L-Lady Snow!”
Overjoyed, I laughed into the mic, hearing her respond in kind. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“I am glad you’re okay too, Lady Snow, and Schwarzwald as well. Bosco is fine too, although…”
Alarm bells sounded in my head. What had happened to Bosco? Was there something in here that was affecting him? “What’s wrong with Bosco?”
Pregnant silence flowed down the channel or a few moments.
“Undertow!” I repeated, firmer this time. “What happened to Bosco?”
It was the colt himself who answered, an angry voice in the background. “She fucking bit me again, that’s what happened!”
“Undertow!”
“I am so sorry, Lady Snow! I wanted to hear your voice, and he had the communicator… and what he was talking about wasn’t important, and…”
“Unimportant?” Bosco interrupted again. “This is what we’re here for, idiot!”
He found it? “Undertow, we’ll talk about this when we meet up, I promise. For now, don’t bite anybody again, and put Bosco back on the line.”
“But…”
“Now, Undertow.” I had to be firm with her, this sort of behaviour wasn’t nice, and I didn’t want it becoming a habit.
“…Yes, Lady Snow.” She sounded utterly dejected.
There was another movement, and then Bosco’s gentle, but unmistakenly male, voice came back on the line. “I’m here, Snow.”
“Alright. Good to hear you’re okay, Boss Colt. I’m putting Schwarzwald on again. Tell her what you’ve got.”
“Okay.”
Turning to the mare, who was watching me strangely, I held out the gadget. “See if Bosco’s got what you need.”
She began to reach for the device, but I quickly whipped it back, hardening my stare, but keeping my words calm. “Don’t you ever, ever try to get in between me and her again. Understand?”
The stern admonishment revived her smirk. She also ran a hoof over her lips, before licking it seductively. “Yes, Mistress.”
Rolling my eyes, and sighing tiredly, I tossed the communicator to her carelessly, and she scrambled to catch it. “Snowflake! That is not yours, be careful!”
“Whatever.” I turned away from her, and privately revelled in my joy at finding out that my friends were okay. I still kept on ear on the conversation between Schwarz and Bosco though.
“Well, that first server room we found was a bust, it was all information on places I’d never even heard of: Caledonia, Dise, Wintertrot, and so on. Nothing on Lethbridle. So we got out of there before more bots showed up. Spent a while trying to find a map, or anything that could help. Caught a break when Undertow found something.”
“Which was?”
“The servers here are water-cooled. Undertow found the pipes with her horn, and we followed them all the way to the next lot of servers.”
Well done, Undertow! That’s great work.
“Very impressive, dahling. Both of you. And you found the Lethbridle data?”
“We did.” I imagined the colt nodding at that, even though neither of them could see the other. “Did just what you said. Plugged the communicator in, and let it do the rest. Dunno what info you were after, but it thinks it’s got it.”
“Very good, dahling! How shall we meet up, so that you can transfer it to me?”
Pride, and a little arrogance, carried along the airwaves. “That’s taken care of, too. While I was waiting on the device to finish getting the files, Undertow actually DID find a map of the building. Seems like this place mostly restocked through aircraft, so the top floor is just one giant warehouse. On top of that, there’s an external fire escape we can use to get back down, should let us avoid the robots. I say we all head up, and meet up at the top.”
“That sounds perfect, dahling. Naiara contacted us, through Breeze, just before you. We will inform her of our plans.”
“Great, we’ll see you then. Oh, and tell Snow to hurry, Undertow’s sulking.”
A static-y, and pouty, “Am not!” was heard just as the transmission cut out.
Stashing the Bernstein device away, Schwarzwald turned back to me. “So there we have it, Snowflake. Shall we go?”
I’m not mentioning what I did if you’re not. “Sure. So where are those stairs?”
~~~~~~
As planned, we relayed the plan to Naiara through Breeze. She was fine with it, though she did think she was somewhere underground, and therefore might take a little longer to arrive.
We got quite lucky with the patrols, only twice did we meet more robots, first we came across a pair, which were dispatched without trouble, through a combo of ice and bullets.
The second confrontation was more dangerous. We were only a few floors from the top, when a hidden door, scant metres away, opened up, revealing a slimmer version of the sentinels that we’d been facing so far. It was far faster, and much harder to hit, with either magic or weaponry.
Finally we’d been forced to have Schwarzwald offer herself up for the robot to come in close, deploying several small blades. Fighting through the cuts, Schwarz had grabbed it long enough for me to cover its head with ice, which she crushed with her remaining good hoof.
The fight had left her tired, and bloody. I’d stopped us long enough to apply healing bandages. It’d also been long enough for her to annoy the hell out of me, by cooing over the ministrations of her ‘mistress’.
Finally, we were at the doors to the top floor warehouse.
Wordlessly, we took up station at each side of the door. Schwarzwald held up a hoof, telling me to wait, while she eased the door open a crack.
The sound of something heavy striking the door just on the other side synched up perfectly with her startled yell, and wild leap backwards.
Landing in an undignified pile, she seemed unharmed, so I took the opportunity to look through the gap while she got herself up.
On the other side of the door was the busted remains of a sentry bot.
Who did that?
“I heard something at the door.”
“Maybe it is Lady Snow?”
YES!!!
Wrenching the door open as far as I could, I kicked the scrap out of the way, and dashed into the room. “Undertow!”
Standing on a walkway with Bosco, and with a blissful smile spreading across her face, was the water-wielding unicorn. “Lady Snow!”
Having picked herself up, Schwarzwald trotted in after me. “Bosco, are you here? Do you have it?”
“Right here.” He confirmed from the walkway. “And there’s a fire door up here. We can get out!”
“Excellent, dahling. I cannot wait to get to safety. Such stories I have for you both.”
“No you don’t.” I quickly corrected, before turning back to the pair on the catwalk. “How do we get up to you?”
“Far side of the room. Over there. You see it?”
“Yeah, we’ll be right there, just stay put.”
Beaming, the colt turned to Undertow, who was still swimming in happy, innocent joy. “Undertow, get the fire door. I’ll watch the entrance in case any more robots show, or Naiara.”
I was trotting swiftly towards the stairwell as I called back. “She’s on her way, but she was pretty far down when you called. I don’t think the bots’ll give her much trouble though, she’s pretty sneaky.”
All in all, I felt that Boss Colt could be quite proud of how this went. We’d been split up for a few hours, but had still gotten the data, probably, and had a safe way out. All we needed now was for Naiara to get here, and we were in the clear.
With a clunk, the fire door opened.
And everything went wrong.
“AAAAH!”
Three pairs of eyes whipped towards the source of the scream, none more so than mine. “UNDERTOW!”
Surging in from the outside, shining gold smog was swarming around her. Her thrashing resistance seemed to have no effect, as the demonic fog just bubbled and flowed around, over, and under her. “LADY SNOW! HELP ME!”
“I’M COMING!” Sprinting to the stairs, I took them three at a time.
The fog wasn’t satisfied with just Undertow though. Bosco had gone charging in, firing wildly with his pistol, as Schwarzwald opened up from the lower level with her own artillery, but neither had had any noticeable effect. The bullets went into the fog, and then out the other side, but all the while the cloud kept its hold on Undertow.
Slashing wildly with his knife, Bosco too was overwhelmed as he tried to reach her. He disappeared within the fog almost immediately, as it boiled around him as effortlessly as it had Undertow. “SNOW! SCHWARZWALD! HELP!”
“Let them go!”
An aquamarine glow burst forth from within the cloud, and it blew apart just long enough to reveal that Undertow’s water shield, forcefully thrown up around herself and Bosco. No sound came from within the shield, so her anguished pleading seemed silent, a stark contrast to the petrified expression she wore while unblinkingly watching my mad dash to reach her.
The cloud was battering at the shield from all sides, probing for a weak point. Whatever it was, Undertow distracted it long enough for me to get in close, and I mindlessly poured ice magic into the cloud, trying to force it away from the trapped ponies.
Great frozen chunks of gold fell to the catwalk’s grating, but were just as quickly swallowed back up into the main body. A writhing gold tentacle formed, and shot towards me violently.
If not for Naiara’s timely intervention, grabbing me and dragging us both over the edge of the catwalk, to crash down through a box below, I’d have been gored. Naiara’s side had been slashed, though I couldn’t tell how deeply.
“Schwarzwald, watch her!” I bolted again for the stairs, four at a time the second time around, and powered up my magic again. Whatever you are, I can hurt you! “GIVE THEM BACK!” I could beat back whatever it chose to throw at me.
Only… it didn’t.
Scooping up the water bubble, like an egg in a spoon, the fog began to pull back towards the fire door, tentacles stabbing at the already rattling catwalk, ruining it and tripping me up, while taking the helpless captives with it.
“Nonononono! COME BACK!” My horn’s glow vanished as I stumbled, all but the most base thoughts leaving my head.
Catch them. Save her. Kill fog.
All three of those thoughts went completely unrealised. The fog vanished through the door mere milliseconds before I could reach it, and I nearly toppled over the fire escape’s railing as I desperately threw myself onto it, stretching my hoof out to the trapped ponies, now vanishing into the night sky, as they soundlessly cried back at me.
“UNDERTOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!”
~~~~~~
No level gain.
~~~~~~
Author's Note:
Shorter chapter this time. There was originally more but I thought it best to push that into the next chapter. This is a more natural end point.
As always, a big thank you to Hasbro, KKat, Y1 especially in this chapter, as he provided some great insights (his story, Conviction is definitely worth a read too),Cascadejackal (he did the cover art), and you, the readers. Please read and comment, and pass the word along if you like the story.
Enjoy the fic, kiddies.
Toodles.