//------------------------------//
// 26. [Sunset Shimmer] Getting a Lead 
// Story: Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss 
// by The Atlantean 
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“Sunset, darling, I know we’re taking the day off from mining, but do you have a moment?”
Sunset Shimmer carefully set down her magnifying glass and looked up from her rifle. It lay in pieces on the workbench near the Mission Assignment hologram with each piece placed in their outlines on a blueprint sheet. Spinning around in her swivel chair, she lifted her safety goggles to her forehead and nodded.
“Sure thing, Rarity. Just cleaning out my rifle,” she replied. “What can I do for you?”
Rarity took the swivel chair next to Sunset and spun it around to face her. She looked deep in thought and worried about something. Her shoulders heaved as she collected her thoughts.
“It’s our geodes from Camp Everfree,” she began. “A few days ago, when we retrieved that Ommoran Heartstone, I felt a slight connection to it through my geode. During the refinery mission the next day, Rainbow Dash told me she felt the same thing. And two days ago, Applejack told me the same thing. So, I was wondering if you felt anything.”
Sunset frowned as she collected her thoughts. “Yeah, I felt something. Like the Heartstone was calling to me. Why? Is there a problem?”
“Not necessarily, but it got me thinking. We, through our geodes, can use Equestrian magic just like Twilight from across the portal. Hoxxes IV is speaking to our geodes. That begs the question: is Hoxxes full of magic?”
“Not that I’m aware of. If it’s magic, it’s certainly not Equestrian, or I would’ve recognized it.” Sunset crossed her arms. “Interactions between different forms of magic were considered impossible to study when I was Princess Celestia’s pupil. Of course, with the portal to Equestria, Princess Twilight started research into the subject, but it still remains a highly theoretical field.”
Before she could continue, a dwarf approached from the communal recreation area with a package in his hands. He looked the two up and down before asking, “Cave Runner Shimmer? This arrived for you with the supply run. Says someone named Flash Sentry sent it. Just sign here and you’re good to go.”
Sunset signed the holographic form and accepted the package with a smile. She waved the dwarf off, and he left to continue his delivery rounds. Gently tearing the packaging apart, she soon revealed her journal--the one that had a twin in Equestria. Anything she wrote in this one would appear in the other.
“Didn’t you keep that somewhere secret?” Rarity asked.
“I sent Flash a letter last week telling him where it was and how to send it. I had to send my house key, too, but it looks like he returned it.” Sunset pocketed her key and returned her attention to the journal. “And sent my pens, too. He’s so thoughtful.”
“What will you say to Twilight?”
Sunset thought for a minute, then began to write:
Dear Princess Twilight,
I know it’s been a while since I last wrote, but my friends and I have been working for a mining company called Deep Rock Galactic on the other side of the galaxy for the past couple weeks. During one of our expeditions to the subsurface of the planet Hoxxes IV, we encountered something called an “Ommoran Heartstone”. We have reason to believe that it can connect to Equestrian magic.
Now that I have my journal with me again, I can tell you about our adventures here. Of course, that’ll have to wait for another time, but I can’t wait. We’ve encountered so much, and I know you’re excited to hear all about it.
In the meantime, we really need to know about magic-form interaction. I know it’s just theoretical, but I think we have a solid example of it at work. As far as I’m aware, Hoxxes IV has no magic, and all four of us (Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and myself) clearly felt a connection to it through our Camp Everfree geodes, which we know have Equestrian magic.
I look forward to hearing from you again.

Your faithful student,


Sunset Shimmer

Sunset clicked her pen and sighed. “And now we wait.”
“While we do,” Rarity said, “I could use some water.”
“Eh, why not? I could use a break anyway. Just taking this thing apart took two and a half hours.” Sunset patted the rifle’s disassembled receiver and stood. She stretched, feeling her joints creak from staying still for so long.
The two walked across their team’s prep area to the Abyss Bar, sitting down at the counter. Pinkie Pie’s cheerful humming emanated from the kitchen atop the delicious smell of a batch of cupcakes. There was also the clatter of pots and pans and the occasional puff of smoke from one of the many ovens.
“An Oily Oaf for me, Lloyd,” Sunset ordered. “And an iced water for Rarity.”
Lloyd spun and chirped, then produced a large brown mug and filled it to the brim with dark brown beer and a white frothy foam that dripped over the top. He slid it to Sunset’s place, then slid Rarity a (slightly smaller) glass of water with several ice cubes floating at the top. Sunset took a large swig while Rarity had a timid sip.
Just then, Pinkie emerged from the kitchens with a baking tray in hand. “Oh, hey! You two are just in time for my latest batch of CUPCAKES! Supply came in with fresh chicken’s eggs this morning like I asked, so I just had to use some. I haven’t baked with chicken’s eggs in so long, I thought I’d forget how! But they’re really just the same as Glyphid eggs, if a bit smaller and with a yolk consistency that’s much easier to work with. Glyphid eggs are so big you only need one to make three batches! Isn’t that crazy?”
“Pinkie,” Sunset interrupted as her friend took a deep breath to continue, “what flavor are they?”
“That’s just the thing!” Pinkie exclaimed as she set the tray on the counter. “Supply also got me BLUEBERRIES! I didn’t even know dwarves liked blueberries so much, but it turns out that every supply run has to fill one of the freighters with just blueberries. I had to keep Greg from eating mine before I could mix them with the batter to bake. And now that everyone knows you can put blueberries in cupcakes, that’s all I’ve been doing all day. Greg said he’s gonna send the recipe to all the other rigs so they can make some, too--it’s apparently that good, even though the ones he ate used Glyphid eggs instead of chicken eggs. I don’t get it. They know about blueberry pancakes, but not blueberry cupcakes?”
“That’s wonderful, dear,” Rarity said before Pinkie could go on one of her random tangents again. She took one of the cupcakes from Pinkie’s tray and bit into it. Her face melted, and she let out a long exhale.
“You like it?” Pinkie asked.
“I haven’t had a proper cupcake in ages,” she moaned. She took another bite. “Oh, it’s so good. Truly heavenly, Pinkie Pie.”
Sunset took a cupcake. It tasted amazing, even with the Oily Oaf’s buttery alcoholic aftertaste, and it melted in her mouth as soon as she bit. It was soft and warm and crumbly and everything she ever could’ve wanted in a cupcake.
The journal buzzed and glowed. Sunset set down her cupcake and opened it to the first empty page. The words appeared as they were written:
Sunset Shimmer,
I’m so glad to hear from you again! I was worried when you didn’t respond last week, but I figured you could handle yourself. How are the others? You didn’t mention Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, or my counterpart in your letter.
As for magic-form interaction, I would need to be there myself to see it at work. The spellworks alone would take up an entire one of these journals to explain. Unfortunately, as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have retired not long ago, I can’t just come through the portal to visit. My other student whom you’ve met, Starlight Glimmer, runs the School of Friendship and is similarly unavailable.
I can, however, send you what knowledge we do have. Different forms of magic have differing properties that determine their usage and effects. Equestrian magic, for example, can be used by anyone either from Equestria (like you and me) or connected to it through other means (like our friends). In your world, you need that extra connection, which is why you need your geode to use magic despite being from Equestria.
There’s much more to it than that, but my suspicion is that your geodes, having that connection to Equestrian magic, are searching for anything to latch onto that has even the vaguest inkling of magic. I know nothing about Hoxxes IV, but I can say that it definitely has magic of a sort. Perhaps my counterpart can investigate it if she’s available?
I’m sorry I can’t come myself. Maybe I can figure something out, but for now, you’re on your own. I’ll see if I can give some books to Flash Sentry and he can send them to you.

Ever your friend,


Twilight Sparkle

Sunset took another sip of her drink and sighed. “I understand, Twilight.”
“Can she help us?” Rarity asked.
“No, she has to govern Equestria. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped down, and she took their place. So, she’s too busy. She’ll send some books on magic-form interaction to us through Flash. It’s a very complicated subject.”
“If she can’t explain it through your journal, I’m sure it is.” Rarity sipped her water. “Besides, didn’t you say it was theoretical? There isn’t any hard proof of its existence, so the best anyone can do is guess.”
“Yeah. Hey, Pinkie, is Twilight busy up in the Control Center right now?”
“Nope!” Twilight cheerfully said as she sat down next to the two. “Lloyd, an Oily Oaf, please.”
As Lloyd served her drink, Twilight continued: “Taking a lunch break. I heard something about magic?”
“Yeah, Princess Twilight said you could investigate it if you’re not too busy.”
Twilight made a face. “I don’t really know. I want to for sure, but have you ever coordinated the search-and-rescue efforts of 20 Space Rigs? That’s how many we have in orbit, and each one holds five Mining Teams and an Experimental Team. That’s 120 teams right there made up of over 700 dwarves. My hands are full.”
“That’s alright.” Sunset took another swig. “Next time we get an Ommoran Heartstone, can we keep it? That’s what gave us the idea of Hoxxes having magic in the first place, and I’d like to run some tests.”
“I’ll have to talk to Management, but Mission Control’s been on my side ever since I found Fluttershy’s transponder. We should be able to work something out. The problem is, research is expensive and normally nets no profit for extensive periods of time. If we can prove this’ll give us a positive return, though, we’ll be fine.”
“I can’t guarantee anything, Twilight. But if we can connect to Hoxxes’ residual magic, we might be able to find Fluttershy--and the Mother if we do it right. Maybe even Karl if he’s still alive. I mean, if Fluttershy can survive down there, he’s got a pretty good chance.”
Twilight shifted nervously. “There’s more to it than that.”
Rarity narrowed her eyes. “How bad is it? I know you, Twilight, and you don’t avoid explanations if you can help it.”
“I think it’s classified. I only know it because I’ve been working in the Mission Control Center lately.”
Sunset felt a chill run down her spine. “Does it have to do with Team 17-E? I don’t think they’ve returned from their Elite Deep Dive yet.”
Twilight gulped. “Well, I guess I can tell you, but only because I don’t want you spreading the wrong information. Word came in about ten minutes ago that Teams 16-E, 8-A, 15-C, 12-D, 17-E, and 20-X all died last night during the second stage of their EDD’s--which, as you know, was in the deepest reaches of the Magma Core this week. Combat Recovery says they were killed by something massive before our teams could get to them. Hell, we lost contact with them until they were well on their way back to the surface, with the last team reacquiring communications just half an hour ago. That means we’re looking at something that blocks x-ray-based radio, and that’s bad news. It’s also why we pulled the plug on your mission yesterday--we couldn’t risk losing a seventh team down there.
“Everyone thinks it’s the Mother since that’s what we think killed Karl and the teams sent after him, but nothing’s been confirmed. Management is offering three million credits to anyone who can find out how six veteran Mining Teams were all killed on a mission that had over two dozen previous successes.”
Sunset shifted her weight. “This isn’t going to be a solution, Twilight.”
“I know, but you have something, and they’re going to latch on to that. Twenty-four veteran dwarves--four of them on an Experimental Team--died all on the final stage of the mission. Their objectives: two Dreadnoughts and a Black Box that’s been monitoring the local microclimate. All we know is that when they activated the Black Box’s transceiver, seismic activity shot through the roof as if something was approaching. Ten seconds later, all dwarves were down. We didn’t find the bodies.
“Management wants answers, Sunset, and they’re open to anything that looks remotely promising. If they can’t get to the bottom of this, we may have to shut down operations--and DRG is infamous for mining the most dangerous worlds out there. This isn’t a decision that will come lightly. When we say ‘No dwarf left behind’, we’re serious. If miners don’t have even the slimmest chance of returning, it’s not worth sending them down there.”
“Did they… find anything? At all?”
“If you put the last known location of Karl’s End in the center of a circle, the farthest team was well within a hundred miles. Management has declared the area a no-go zone indefinitely.”
“So,” Rarity asked, “can we get that Heartstone or not?”
Twilight nodded. “It’s our only lead. With all that’s been going on, I might be able to either get you a drop when another team cracks theirs or give you an escort when you go after your own. It’ll take a few days, though, even assuming we resume operations tomorrow.”
Sunset smiled tiredly. “Thanks, Twilight.”