//------------------------------// // 12 - Reboot // Story: The Black Between the Stars // by Rambling Writer //------------------------------// “Alright,” muttered Applejack, “who in the mother-lovin’ outhouse o’ Tartarus designed this mess?” The reactor room wasn’t a room at all. It was a sunblasted pit, at least ten stories tall, pipes and cabling snaking around the walls, dimly lit by emergency lighting. Applejack and Lightning were up on a balcony at the top. And the reactors were allllllll the way down at the bottom. Applejack leaned over the railing of the balcony to try to get a better look, shuddered as vertigo overtook her, and quickly scooted a good ten feet back. Lightning scoffed and muttered something Applejack wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “It’s in case anything goes wrong in the reactor,” Trixie said in her earpiece. “It keeps any stray magic from reaching the rest of the station.” “Although it makes getting up and down it a real pain,” said Lightning. “Especially since the gravity lifts are out.” “You’re a pegasus. You can just fly down.” “Heh. Yeah.” Lightning climbed over the railing and spread her wings, but twitched before she jumped. “Say, uh, I know these suits aren’t the greatest for holding onto, but maybe I could fly you down?” Applejack thought about it and her heart rate immediately doubled. Images of her slipping, falling a hundred feet, and splattering across the floor filled her head. That seemed bad enough, but then she thought about falling fifty feet, breaking most of the bones in her body, and still managing to cling to life for several more agonizing hours. “Nuh-uh, nope,” she said quickly. “Too risky. I’m walkin’.” “Alright. Fine.” Through the speakers, Lightning’s answer sounded almost like a growl. Luckily, there was a service staircase off to one side of the room. Since it was running on emergency power, it had very little light, but it would do. Applejack swallowed and began plodding down. Good thing she wasn’t a unicorn, or else she’d still be aching from the trip down to the top of the power plant. For the first time in a long time, Applejack could hear the low hum of machinery at work: the auxiliary reactors at the bottom were still… reacting. The pipelike nature of the room funneled these sounds like an organ, and while they weren’t very loud, the sound was low enough that Applejack swore she could feel the entire room vibrating beneath her, just a little. The sound was just enough that her footsteps on the metal staircase didn’t sound like they belonged in a tomb. Outside the scaffolding, Lightning stayed level with Applejack, very slowly lowering herself down. “You’re sure you don’t want my help?” she asked. “It’s-” “Nope. No help,” Applejack said. Step, step, step. “I’m doin’ just fine. Hate heights.” “…You… hate heights… and you work onboard a space station.” “Yep.” Lightning snorted. “Weirdo,” she muttered in a voice the mic only barely picked up. Applejack ignored it and kept walking. Blueblood’s voice crackled in, but he wasn’t talking to her. “Um… Trixie, was it?” “Yes. Why?” “Could, could you get me into a computer and show me where the location services are? I, while I’m waiting, I might as well make myself useful and see if I can locate any survivors.” “…Sure. Hang on a sec.” Applejack could almost hear Trixie’s shock. Blueblood, voluntarily doing work? What was the world coming to? (A lot of things, actually, especially recently.) Applejack kept walking as Trixie laid things out for Blueblood. She could tell when they saw the statuses of the crew for the first time; Trixie gasped and Blueblood went very quiet. Trixie’s voice grew more sobered after that. Blueblood seemed to know what he was doing once Trixie finished up, because Applejack didn’t hear anything more from him. Down and down and down. (Lightning was audibly gnashing her teeth.) By now, the metal wasn’t vibrating so much as… humming. Vibrating felt wrong, but this felt like a well-oiled motor purring away inside a tractor. Good, smooth, safe as long as you didn’t stick your hoof near the moving parts. It was comforting, almost. Something on this station was working properly, even if it was just the auxiliary reactors. Soon, it might be the main reactor as well. Finally, finally, finally, Applejack reached the bottom. On one side of the room hummed several large spheres, the auxiliary reactors. On the other was a set of garage-sized doors labelled Maintenance and Storage. And in front of Applejack was the main reactor itself, a gargantuan thing as big as a house. It was shaped a bit like a squat, lopsided hourglass, the bottom much bigger than the top. The surface was stamped with protective runes, although with the reactor inactive, they weren’t glowing at the moment. A set of doors on the front, almost seven feet tall, lay open, displaying an empty set of holding arms waiting for a crystalline rod. The rod itself lay on the ground in pieces, shattered to bits; its scattered pebbles still glowed fitfully, which may or may not have been a good sign. Applejack’s coat stood on end; how much worse would it be without the protection of her suit? As Lightning settled next to her, Applejack asked, “Alright, Trixie. We’re down.” She clicked on her flashlight to get a better look at the reactor. “Don’t see any obvious damage, but you were right: someone smashed the mana rod to bits.” “Or something,” Lightning said quickly. Applejack ignored her and kept talking. “It’ll pr’y still work, but we’ll have to see. Y’know what to do next?” “Yes, actually, Trixie does. She really has to hand it to the engineers, the rod replacement sequence is EXQUISITELY simple-” “Cut the crap, pinhead,” snapped Lightning. “What do we do?” She made a face at Applejack. “There should be a door to your… right. That’s the mana crystal storage bay and it’s where the drones load and unload crystals. According to the last inventory there were… over a dozen spares lying around.” “A dozen?” Lightning gasped. Applejack nearly laughed. A dozen. Plenty of wiggle room, even if you smashed half of them. “Yep. Just take one out and put it in the cradle. The system can handle the rest — with Trixie’s help, of course.” “Heh. This’ll be easy,” said Applejack. Dragging a big, heavy thing to somewhere else? She did that all the time on the farm — entire trees, in very rare cases. This was the sort of thing earth ponies thrived on. “C’mon.” The doors didn’t open when Applejack hit the button, but a few moments of looking led her to find a panel that had been ripped off the wall and the wiring inside ravaged. Fortunately, all the wires were color-coded. As Applejack spliced them back together as best she could without the dexterity of her mouth, she said, “Wonder why the changelings would do somethin’ like this. They ain’t animals.” “Dunno,” Lightning said. “But they are aliens. Who knows what they’re thinking?” Once the wiring looked decent enough, Applejack tried the doors again. This time, they opened easily and soon Applejack and Lightning were standing inside a large room with guttering lights. It was still enough for them to see the things inside, large arcane and/or mechanical components that Applejack presumed were for the reactor, plus some crates for the more delicate items. It only took a bit of looking for the two of them to find a rack full of about ten mana rods. They were huge hexagonal crystals, one foot thick and seven long (if you didn’t count their pointed ends), glowing with a constantly shifting rainbow hue. Luckily (for multiple reasons), they were all intact. Lightning went very quiet when she saw them. Applejack chuckled. “Big, ain’t they?” “They’re usually moved with power loaders,” said Trixie, “but the loaders need keys. PHYSICAL keys, can you believe that?” She snorted. “And unless you know where to find them-” “Nah, I’ll just carry one.” Applejack rolled her shoulders. “I’m an earth pony, for cryin’ out loud. I’m strong.” “Right,” said Lightning quietly. “I just… Never mind.” Applejack put a hoof on one of the lower rods, right about at shoulder level for her. “This one oughta be good. Think you can move it all by your lonesome?” Lightning pushed hard, and the rod lurched, nearly falling off the rack. “Barely. Stand next to it and I think I can get it onto you.” The weight of the rod as it rolled onto Applejack’s back was like nothing she’d felt in a long time. Everything she’d encountered in her time on Golden Oaks was supposed to be easy to use, to move around. Everything was light. Not so with the crystal rod. Oh, Celestia, no. It nearly made her knees buckle. It was a struggle to just stay upright, the thing was so heavy. Walking would only be accomplished with great difficulty. It felt good. Like the farm. It’d been too long since Applejack had been made to physically work like this. “Alright,” she grunted. The strain in her voice was magnified in the helmet to somewhat troubling degrees. “Keep her steady.” One step forward, two. The crystal didn’t wobble that much, although Lightning muttered several uncouth things as she fought against the weight. “Right, that’s good,” said Applejack. She looked at the doorway. Too narrow for her to walk straight through. “Alright, I’m gonna go sideways. Don’t let it fall.” Lightning grunted. Applejack assumed it was an acknowledgment. One step to the side. Another. Another. Another. Another. The heavy weight of her footfalls made them echo like the blows of a hammer. The rod pressed into Applejack’s back with the weight of a truck, but she stayed steady. Just go one step at a time. Another. Another. Okay. This wasn’t too bad. “Still got it?” “Yes, I do,” snapped Lightning. “You can tell from the way I haven’t yelled at you to stop so I can get it.” Applejack ignored the snip. “Just be careful. Don’t wanna break it.” “Right. Yeah.” A long pause from Lightning. “Let’s keep moving.” Step. Step. Step. Inch by inch, foot by foot, they approached the reactor. Applejack’s muscles were aching already, the good sort of ache. Lightning cursed and the crystal tilted wildly on Applejack’s back. Pure weight pulled her to one side; she instinctively shuffled to try and keep it balanced, only for her legs to give out under her. One of the rod’s ends hit the floor with an almighty clang as Applejack toppled over onto her side beneath the crystal. The floor hit her like a freight train and, although she didn’t break anything, the crystal pressed down on her ribs to the point that it was a struggle to simply breathe. “Sorry,” Lightning said quickly. “Slipped.” “Are you tryin’ to break it?” bellowed Applejack. As close to bellowing as she could get, anyway. “Keep the dang thing steady!” “Well, excuuuuse me!” snapped Lightning. “This thing is heavy!” “And I’m carryin’ most o’ that weight!” Anger made it easier to breathe. “Don’t push and shove like that’s the only way to move it! Keep it slow, we got time! If y’wanna carry this and let me keep it steady, that’s fine by me! Now lift up this side so I can get back on my feet!” “Applejack?” asked Trixie. “Are you oka-” “Not. Now. Trixie,” growled Applejack. To say she wasn’t in the mood was… an understatement. Lightning shot a dirty look at Applejack and sidled over to the higher side of the rod. With a few grunts and some help from her wings, she managed to pull the crystal up enough to let Applejack get back on her hooves, albeit crouched. After a few bracing breathing, Applejack clenched her teeth and forced her legs straight. Ever so slowly, she got back into a standing position. “Alright,” she snarled. “Pull the other end up and let’s get this goin’.” They got back to walking, Applejack eyeing Lightning every step of the way to be sure she wasn’t slipping. Lightning was eyeing her right back. In spite of the shared animosity, they managed to haul the crystal over to the reactor. Now came the tricky part. The holding arms for the crystal were arranged so that the rod had to be vertical. In other words, Applejack and Lightning needed to stand the crystal up straight while at the same time pushing it into position. At least one of them was a pegasus. Applejack stood in front of the reactor, the crystal still across her back, one end resting on the floor right below the holding arms. If ever there was a time where automation was a good thing… “So how d’you wanna do this?” she asked. “Dunno,” said Lightning. She looked back and forth between Applejack and the reactor, her wings constantly twitching. Then she popped her lips. “Maybe we… just push it up next to the reactor and stand it up? You at the bottom, me at the top.” She flapped her wings once. “Unless you’ve got any better ideas.” “Nope.” None that they could do without a lot of risk, anyway. “You can hold it?” “C’mon, I’m not that much weaker than you.” Applejack grinned. “Y’sure about that?” A crackly sigh filtered through Lightning’s speakers. “Let’s just get it done.” The crystal ground along the floor as they pushed it to the reactor, but it didn’t look damaged. With Lightning’s help, Applejack got the crystal off her back and propped it up on her front hooves. It felt like she was holding up the sky, but she could push it up. “Ready?” Lightning flapped to the upper end and hooked her hooves around it. “As I’ll ever be.” “Right. 3… 2… 1… HEAVE!” Applejack pushed with all her might as Lightning flapped up a hurricane. Slowly but surely, the crystal inched to an upright position, closer and closer to the cradle. Applejack grinned to herself as she pushed a little harder. Whatever happened to good, honest physical labor like this? She never got to really get down in the dirt on Golden Oaks. And then Lightning’s grip slipped; she lost control of the crystal and her vigorous flapping slammed her into the side of the reactor. The weight on Applejack’s hooves skyrocketed and the crystal began to slide to one side. Cursing, Applejack dug her hooves in to support the weight, but the crystal began rolling. She shuffled to one side to catch the roll, but the crystal began dropping. “Help me!” she yelled. Still dazed from the impact, Lightning didn’t respond as she hovered and tried to get her bearings. Applejack screamed in frustration and deliberately overcorrected, going beyond the crystal and pushing up at the same time. It was enough to halt both the downward and sideways motions, at least for a little while. She pushed and the crystal moved up a fraction. She clenched her teeth and pushed again; another tiny movement up. “Applejack!” Trixie yelled in her ear. “What’s wrong?” “Lightnin’- lost- the crystal- and I’m- tryin’- t’keep it- from breakin’,” Applejack said, each set of syllables a quick grunt before she breathed in again. Her strength was good for pushing, pulling, or carrying. Precision balancing was a lot harder. “Sun blast it, Lightnin’, get your act together, you pansy!” Lightning shook her head and snapped to look at Applejack. “What did you call me?” she hissed. “You heard dang well what I said, you stot! Get up there and lift the cotton-pickin’ crystal!” “Why you little-” Lightning took a deep breath and slammed herself against the rod. It lurched up, almost slipping out of Applejack’s grip. She readjusted her hooves and pushed; a few more degrees towards the vertical. Lightning hurled herself at the rod again, wham. “I-” Wham. “-am not-” Wham. “-a pansy-” Wham. “-or-” Wham. “-a stot!” Wham. By now, they were only a few inches from the cradle. Applejack’s heart was pounding in her ears and her muscles were twitching. Lightning was breathing heavily and loudly, so loudly Applejack could barely hear her own breath. “Well, I guess I might be a stot,” said Lightning. Wham. “But not that kind.” Wham, clunk. And the crystal was in. Just as Applejack was about to wonder what to do next, the fingers of each arm curled around the crystal, locking it in place. A computerized voice echoed through the room: “Fuel rod detected. Please step away from the reactor.” Applejack and Lightning quickly both backed away. The arms shuffled up and down to bring the crystal into a better position, then the entire cradle slowly withdrew into the reactor. A set of doors closed behind it and the reactor’s runes began glowing, one at a time. “Oh, yes,” Trixie whispered. “Very good, my pretty… Trixie will take excellent care of you…” She giggled shrilly. “Y’know we can hear you, right?” Applejack asked, even though she was feeling quite giddy herself. A deep hum pierced the air and quickly dropped out of hearing range. “Of course you can hear Trixie,” Trixie said shamelessly. “What makes you think she CARES?” She cleared her throat. “The reactor is already starting up. Trixie will do anything that needs to be done up here.” “How long will it take?” asked Lightning. Her voice sounded a little nervous and she was walking in place. “Do we need to be up there?” “Oh, no,” laughed Trixie. “No, you stay down there in case something needs to be fixed. Which it shouldn’t, we’re seeing green readings across the board…” “But how long? An hour? Two?” “HA! You don’t know anything about these reactors, do you? No, five minutes.” “Five- Five minutes?” Lightning gasped. “Max. This wonderful little device is a marvel of engineering, and I don’t use that word lightly. Did you know, it actually recycles some of the radiative mana to-” Trixie babbled on. Applejack stared at the reactor. The runes were lighting up in distinct patterns, now, swirls and lines and maybe some larger runic shapes of their own? She took a breath and briefly tasted the air of the orchard back home. The reactor might not have been harmful, but it was still some very potent magic. She glanced to one side. Lightning was standing still, staring at nothing and blinking. Applejack nudged her in the side. “Hey. Y’alright?” “What?” Lightning twitched like she was jolting out of a slumber. “Oh, uh… yeah, just… thinking.” “ ’Bout what? Can I ask?” “No,” Lightning said quickly. “Personal.” Applejack shrugged and didn’t press. She wouldn’t want Lightning to pry into her business, so she wouldn’t pry into Lightning’s. “So far, so good,” Trixie said over her earpiece. “I think, I don’t know reactors, but the things that look like they need to be green are green… New security’s holding up… Yes, just a few more minutes, and-” “What was that?” Blueblood asked suddenly. Applejack froze and even held her breath. The reactor started whirring as it continued its startup, but it seemed muted. “What was what?” Trixie asked, although her voice was quiet. “I didn’t-” A pause. “That!” whispered Blueblood. “Down!” hissed Trixie. Applejack thought she heard a thud as Trixie and Blueblood… what? Threw themselves to the ground, maybe? Silence but for the reactor. It suddenly seemed deafening. Applejack couldn’t move. What would she do, anyway? It’d take ages to get back up. “Oh, no,” Trixie whispered. “Applejack, there… There are so many of them…” “So many of what?” Applejack asked. But there was only one answer that made any kind of sense. “Changelings. They’re already entering the airlock.”