//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped // by Kaciekk //------------------------------// At the end of the week, the six stallions gathered together to prepare for their new mission. They stood underneath an ancient overpass at the edge of the city. No vehicles traveled on the roads in this part of town anymore. There was graffiti plastered onto the supports of the overpass, and litter was scattered in piles. The ponies watched as SpinningNote tinkered with an old cab, attempting to start it. “Is this really the best we got?” FeatherTune mumbled into Rhythm’s ear. “I know he said he’d get us a ride, but I thought he meant like… an actual working cab.” “Guess we don’t really have the money to afford one,” Rhythm suggested.  “The Resistance could have like, you know, offered us one for our mission?” Feather pointed out with increased volume. “Shh! I’m trying to concentrate here!” SpinningNote snapped while never turning his head. “I’m sure Spinning will figure out how to make it work,” BlazingFlair hoped. “This waiting is boring,” HyperBlitz complained. He turned his attention to a few ponies behind him. Three mares stood there, SweetHooves, Heartfelt and a light yellow Pegasus. They were all waiting for the stallions to depart to wish them farewell. Hyper stepped up to SweetHooves and peered down at their son who stood between SweetHooves’ legs.  “Wish we could bring you with us. We could really use your medical expertise,” Hyper lamented as he pressed his forehead against the mare’s. “We’re gonna miss you too. You and your lullabies,” SweetHooves glanced at the colt. “Promise you won’t do anything to stupid.” “Sorry, not keeping any promises I can’t keep,” HyperBlitz replied with a smirk.  “You got everything you need?” The Pegasus mare questioned.  BlazingFlair turned to her. “As far as we can tell. If we don’t, we can always come back to the city. It shouldn’t be too far. But thanks for waiting for us, Ray.” Blazing spoke to the mare with a warm voice, his emerald eyes expressing appreciation. EchoBeat sat on the curb silently while watching the rest of them. FeatherTune started pacing back and forth impatiently. SpinningNote muttered a few things under his breath while he still worked on the cab. It was compact, an off-white color with several marks and scratches on it. It would be a miracle for Spinning to turn it into a working machine. “Where the hell did you even get this?” Hyper asked him. “I got my secrets,” was all that Spinning replied. “Too many secrets if you ask me,” Rhythm remarked to HyperBlitz in a low tone. CharmingRhythm angled towards the three mare who were lined up. Heartfelt was in the middle, and her expression seemed as distant as ever. Of course she wanted to come support Rhythm as he left, but she was obviously still hurt by his decision.  “I promise I’ll come visit,” Rhythm said when he was face to face with Heartfelt. “I know,” she acknowledged. “I’m gonna miss you a lot.” Rhythm wrapped his hooves around the back of Heartfelt’s neck and hugged her. She took one of her own hooves and placed it on Rhythm’s back. Her warm brown eyes flooded with conflicting emotions. Just then there was a sudden noise that came from the cab. It rumbled to life and SpinningNote threw his hooves up into the air from where he was sitting. “Yes! It works!” He scrambled to all four hooves and stood up. “We got plenty of crystals to keep this thing going. Who wants to drive?” “I will!” Blazing raised one of his hooves. “Looks like we're ready to go,” Rhythm announced to his wife. “I love you.” He placed his horn against her horn. Heartfelt leaned into the gesture and sighed, “I love you, too.” CharmingRhythm placed his front hooves on a cinder block and overlooked his friends. “Alright. Team Xero, are we ready to go?” Four of the members said a resounding “Yes,” while Spinning reported “No,” without emotion. Rhythm shot him an annoyed glare. He could have meant it, but something about his stare and stillness told Rhythm that he was joking. He rolled his eyes at Spinning and jumped down from the cinder block.  “Alright, let’s go!” The four land bound ponies took their seat in the cab while the two Pegasi took to the air. Rhythm sat in the front next to Blazing and glanced back at the mares who were getting increasingly smaller as the distance widened. Rhythm exhaled. After a moment, Blazing finally spoke. “So uh… Rhythm. Is everything alright with you and Heartfelt?” “She did seem a bit off,” EchoBeat commented from the back. Rhythm’s dark eyes darted between them. “Oh, yeah. It’s just… she’s upset I’m going on this mission.” “I mean, I’m sure all of our families and wives are sad we’re going,” Blazing said. “She’s not sad, she’s…” Rhythm hesitated. “She’s mad.” “Heartfelt mad?” Spinning questioned. “You’re kidding right?” “I wish I was,” Rhythm mumbled, disappointed.  “But why?” Echo mused. “It’s because I’m going to be away for so long,” Rhythm explained. For a second he wondered just how much of this dispute he should give away. He decided that he trusted his friends to be open with them. “And, we were talking about having a kid.” “Oh, I see,” Blazing noted sympathetically. “I’m sure she’ll come around eventually. She can’t stay mad forever.”  Suddenly the whole cab jumped upward, and jolted back down. The track was smooth after that. All of their hearts lurched for a second, and then they began to gather themselves. “Watch out for rocks,” Spinning said blandly. “Yes, thank you. Very helpful Spinning,” Blazing acknowledged sarcastically. He peeked at Rhythm once with a smirk. The joking between his friend made Rhythm brighten up. Out of any group of ponies he had to spend a long time with to set up a camp, he was glad it was them. In the back, EchoBeat and SpinningNote were overlooking a map of the Southwest sector Equestria, which was maintained by their Resistance force. Marked on the map above Los Pegasus was where the new camp was meant to be built. “Well, we kind of know this area,” EchoBeat remarked. “But I’m wondering-why did the president send us on this mission. Er- well, Rhythm that is. Doesn’t she know what happened here?” “Yeah, she does. But I think she sees it just as another challenge for me,” Rhythm told him. “That seems odd. It’s like she doesn’t even care what happened,” SpinningNote wondered. “Like she doesn’t care if it upsets you or not. Aren’t you kind of traumatized?” Rhythm turned fully to face the ponies in the back. “I’ll be fine guys. Don’t worry about me,” he tried to reassure them. Both Echo and Spinning exchanged unsure glances. Even Blazing shot an uneasy look to the ponies in back. It was a while before anything else notable happened. The ride was rocky but steady. A speaker holstered to the front dashboard suddenly burst to life with static. “Uh, guys,” FeatherTune’s muffled voice came from the speaker. “I think we may have a problem.” Rhythm levitated the speaker in his cyan magic and brought it to his face. “What’s wrong?” “There’s a gorge up ahead. I don’t see where we can cross it,” Feather reported. Blazing slowed the cab down as they neared the gorge. HyperBlitz landed next to the cab and exchanged looks between the ponies inside. Rhythm eyed the gorge; it’s cliffs were many meters high. At the floor of the gorge was a meager river. Rhythm commanded Feather to scout east of the gorge to find anything.  FeatherTune came back and announced “Okay, worse news. Hybrids. A whole camp of them is in the gorge.” “Wonderful. We’ll deal with them later. We have to find another way around,” Rhythm thought. “Can we run over the Hybrids with the cab?” Hyper proposed avidly. “What? That’s a stupid idea,” Spinning shot back. “There's no way this cab can handle that.” “Aw. I really wanted to run over some Hybrids.” Hyper’s wings drooped.  “Do you think there’s a way around the Hybrid camp? Maybe there’s a slope or something on the other side,” Rhythm suggested to Feather. “Why not check this way?” Hyper pointed to the west. Before anyone could protest, Hyper bounded into the air and shot downriver, quickly disappearing from sight “How long do you think it will take him to get to the ocean?” SpinningNote joked. Soon enough the yellow Pegasus came back into their vision. Before even nearing the cab he hollered loudly, “Hey guys! I found a bridge!” Everyone gathered back into the cab and followed HyperBlitz downriver, at a safe distance from the ledge. Sure enough there was a bridge, but it was a railway bridge. “Are you sure that’s safe to cross?” Echo asked cautiously.  “It looks strong! I think Resistance trains cross it,” Hyper assumed. “Yeah but… it’s meant for trains. Not cabs,” Echo tired to protest. “There’s plenty of steel beams protecting it, and there’s no gaps. It should be fine!” Hyper spat. “I say we should go for it,” Rhythm decided.  The ride across the bridge was extremely rocky against the wooden tracks. The two Pegasi flew on each side of the bridge, in line with the cab. They crossed with no problem. They were back to the desert soil, and continued their way up north. “We got a node,” FeatherTune reported on the speaker when they had traveled a few kilometers.  All the ponies in the cab looked to their right. FeatherTune was referring to what was called a node. It was a Hybrid structure, shaped a bit like a missile, that stood a few meters high, and drained energy from the ground. The Hybrids would then take the energy stored in that node and use it for their own. “We’ll have to come back to deactivate it,” Rhythm replied into the speaker, but addressed all the ponies. “I want to get to base first. Then we can start heading out on scouting missions.” A couple moments later a few small buildings came into view. This was the old village the camp was meant to be in. They rode through the houses to a larger building on the northern hill surrounding the village. This was where they would make their base. Everyone got out of the cab and pulled all of their belongings into the building. “Dusty,” Hyper noted just as he expelled a sneeze.  “Eh, that should be the least of our worries,” Rhythm said. They explored around the building to see what the Resistance had set up for them. Rhythm found a stockpile of water and food that would last them for some time, but he knew it was important to grow their own food and filter their own water. In the main room there were a few chairs and a computer desk, but no computer, which disappointed SpinningNote. Just east of that room was a meeting room with a small kitchen area. To the west there was a long hallway with several doors. In those doors bedrooms were set up. The stallions began debating which room would be theirs. Knowing that the Resistance had made a few provisions for them before they came, there was one last thing Rhythm had to make sure of. He exited the base building through a door in the meeting room. FeatherTune trotted after him. Taking a few paces from the base, Rhythm saw a cellar door on the side of the hill.  “Rhythm,” Feather called out. “What are you-” “I want to make sure they put up protection,” Rhythm affirmed before opening the cellar door. He strolled down a long, steady slope with his horn luminated. Soon enough, the caverns Rhythm entered into began to glow a similar color to his magic. Shining blue crystals aligned the walls and ceiling of the cavern. There was a huge opening where large spots of gleaming blue swelled in the ground. Energy wells. Just as Rhythm suspected, each well was surrounded by steel fences, protecting ponies from falling into them. The energy wells contained raw energy from agitated crystals. A pony could be disintegrated in them if not careful. The whole cavern was a mass source of energy, if harnessed correctly. Feather came up next to Rhythm. “You okay?” “Yeah. They still scare me though,” Rhythm said, referring to the energy wells. “Me too.” “They put fences around them but… I think they need roofs too. It needs maximum protection,” Rhythm conjured. “Sounds like a good idea. Do you think we can do that?” Feather wondered. “Not sure. But I will talk with some ponies back at Headquarters to see what can be done.” Rhythm shivered. The whole cavern gave Rhythm an uneasy feeling. His heart felt heavy, and his body began to feel numb. He gazed down at his forelegs: one natural, the other prosthetic. He turned around and passed by Feather. “Let’s get out of here.”