Spring Bloom was fine. Absolutely fine. By her count, two spaceships had been violently destroyed while she was inside them. Then the mining station she was in had fallen victim to an armed incursion, and it was looking like she’d be walking straight into another one. She was fine with this. Why wouldn’t she be fine?
She tried to control her trembling limbs as she trudged along the lunar surface towards Starshine City with the others. There was nothing else to distract her from her thoughts, so she just focused on putting one hoof in front of the other. She was angry. Angry at the moon, angry at space, angry at the cruel threads of fate that seemed to delight in making her their plaything, angry at everything… but if she was being honest with herself, she was actually terrified.
She decided to direct her energy towards thinking of her friends. She needed to get a grip for their sakes, and she wasn’t going to be any more than dead weight if she kept flying off the handle. Hex Key, the de facto leader of their little group, seemed to be doing just fine. Zuri was being quite a trooper as well, but it was hard to tell; she hadn’t said a word since they had left Toybox. And Needle Prick had gotten himself tossed around and forcefully ejected out of a pipe, just to keep her safe.
***
The first sign of civilization they came across wasn’t a building at all, but a small crater partially filled with trash. A sun-bleached sign nearby identified it as “Disposal Pit #9.”
“What is this?” Spring asked as she approached the crater rim. She was grateful for something, anything to take her mind off their situation, even if it was a hole filled with garbage.
“This is what Starshine does with their waste,” Hex answered. “It’s too expensive to ship it planetside, so they just find a crater and throw it in. I’m surprised to see one so close to the city, though.”
“Look, there’s a road here,” Zuri called out. A narrow track, little more than a couple of tire ruts, lay at her hooves. But it was flatter and smoother than the surrounding terrain, and was lined with illuminated marker posts.
“Good find. We can follow that to the city.”
If Spring had turned around with the others and started walking away, she might have missed it. But as it was, she saw something in the pile of trash, poking out of the very edge. It looked like a pony’s forehoof, clutching and grasping as if its owner were trying to dig themselves out.
With a startled cry of alarm, she scrabbled down the slope of the crater towards the trash heap. She dug away the refuse and grasped the hoof with her own, and it immediately latched on with an iron grip. Strangely, the hoof appeared to be made of metal and plastic.
“Spring? Spring!” She heard Needle cry out.
“I’m down here!”
She saw out of the corner of her eye that he had joined her at the bottom of the crater.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“There’s – there’s a pony in there!”
“What!?”
By then, Hex and Zuri had joined them at the bottom of the crater, and all four of them began to scrape the trash away from around the pony’s hoof. Once a significant amount of scrap metal, plastic packaging, and food waste had been removed, they eventually revealed another foreleg. Needle grasped that one, and he and Spring dug in their hind hooves and pulled.
From out of the pile, mounds of refuse cascading off of it, came a pony…or rather, a pony-shaped robot. Its body was made of white-painted metal, with black plastic or rubber visible behind the seams at its joints. On its face were a pair of screens, on which were currently displayed bright green, pixelated representations of eyes. The eyes, and indeed its whole head glanced around wildly at the gathered creatures. As if to add to the absurdity, its face bore a wide grin, and after brushing a banana peel off its ear it began talking and waving its forelegs around animatedly. At least, Spring assumed it was talking; she couldn’t hear a word it said.
“What in Tartarus…?”
“Is that…a robot?” Spring asked in astonishment.
“I’ve seen one of these before...” Hex mused.
“You have?” Needle asked.
“Yeah, the one I saw was like a security or guard robot or something. But it didn’t act like this, it just stood there.”
The robot seemed to get the sense that it wasn’t being understood. A pair of eyelid-like shutters closed over its eyes in a slow blink, after which it smacked itself in the face with a forehoof. Then an idea seemed to occur to it, and the images displayed on its eye-screens changed to show a representation of an old-timey radio set, with its tuning dial spinning back and forth.
“I think he wants us to tell him our radio frequency,” Zuri said.
“He?”
Zuri shrugged inside her suit. “I dunno, he kinda looks like a stallion, I guess.”
Spring had to agree; whoever had built the robot had given it distinctly male features.
“Okay, but how are we going to tell him?”
“Like this,” Zuri said matter-of-factly, and drew the numbers 94.9 into the dirt at her hooves. The robot made some excited gestures, then looked into the distance and stuck its tongue out as if deep in thought. The sound of a quiet pop over the comms channel indicated that it had successfully connected.
“Oh, thank you for helping to dig me out of there. I probably could have done it myself, but you saved me a lot of time. At least 4,879 seconds!”
The robot’s voice was synthesized, clearly male, and bewilderingly chipper.
“Uh…you’re welcome,” Needle managed after a few seconds of shocked silence.
“How did you get in there?” Zuri asked, seemingly unfazed by the robot’s demeanor.
The robot thought for a short while, but he froze up and his eye-screens changed to show lines of white text on a blue background. After a second or two, he shook his head and his eyes returned to normal.
“I don’t know,” he said with a frown.
“Do you have a name?”
Again, the robot froze up, requiring another violent shake, after which he looked down at the ground. “I…I don’t know.”
“Is that it?” Zuri pointed at the robot’s flank. “CLIP?”
The robot twisted around to look at his own rear end. A tail made of what appeared to be rubber-coated electrical cables sprouted from its hindquarters, but ahead of that, where a cutie mark should be, the letters “CLI – P” were stenciled on its white flank in black letters.
“Hmmm…CLIP. I like it!” he declared with another grin. “So, to answer your question, my name is Clip. What’s your name?”
Zuri giggled. “My name is Zuri. And these are Hex Key, Spring Bloom, and Needle Prick, my friends.”
“Call me Needle,” the doctor replied quickly.
“Nice to make your acquaintances. What are you all doing out here?”
“Um…it’s complicated. We’re trying to get to Starshine City,” Hex said.
“Oh! I know where that is. Just…uh…in a general…that way direction. I think,” Clip looked around as if lost, then pointed south. “No, that’s not right…I’m sorry, I can’t seem to connect to the navigation satellites.”
“That’s okay. We know the way. Come on!” Zuri said, and started climbing back out of the crater. Clip eagerly followed, like a puppy after its master.
“Wait, we’re taking him with us?” Needle asked.
“I’m not just going to leave him here!”
Spring agreed with her reasoning. She and the others followed the strange robot out of the crater and back onto the road they had seen earlier. She still couldn’t believe that something like Clip was even possible, yet there he was, prancing merrily along the road.
They made better progress along the smooth road, and soon came up to an interconnected collection of moderately-sized white buildings. Set up outside was a frighteningly large gun turret, dutifully scanning the skies to the west.
“I’m willing to bet that’s what shot us down,” Hex said as he walked up to it.
“Wait! Don’t get close to it!” Spring cried in alarm.
“It’s fine. It’s probably only configured to attack spaceborne targets. The soldiers must have set it up, which means that I was right about the city being attacked.”
Nopony said anything for a while as the realization sunk in.
“Attacked? What do you mean?” Clip asked.
“We came from the Maulwurf, a mining station west of here. It was attacked by armed ponies, and we were the only ones to escape,” Zuri explained. “We were trying to get to Starshine City to find help, but it looks like they’ve been attacked too.”
“So what do we do now?” Spring asked.
“Well, our suits’ air supplies aren’t going to last forever, so from where I’m standing there’s only one thing we can do. We have to enter the city and find a way to get off the moon,” Hex said with quiet resolve.
“How are we going to do that?”
“If I may offer a suggestion,” Needle broke in, “I’d like to get inside and get out of this suit first. Then we can figure out a plan.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“I just wish I knew how to shut this gun down,” Hex mused.
“I can help with that,” Clip said.
“You can?”
“Sure!” he affirmed as he hopped up to it. “Just gotta plug myself in.”
Clip sat on the ground next to the cannon and began sifting through the wires that made up his tail.
“Hm, which one is it…not that one…I think it’s the one that has screws…ah-ha! This one should fit.”
Clip triumphantly pulled a cable out of his tail that ended in some kind of connector, then plugged it into the control panel at the cannon’s base. His eye-screens began displaying lines of rapidly scrolling green text.
“Okay, let’s see here…administrative functions…main controls…there we go!”
The cannon’s control panel suddenly went dark, and its barrel dropped until it was pointed at the ground. Clip unplugged himself and his eyes returned to normal.
“That was amazing!” Hex exclaimed.
“Aw, you’re going to make me blush.”
“Oh, you’re going to be so helpful!” Zuri gushed as she hopped over to Clip and hugged him. A sound like a squeaky toy was heard over the radio.
Needle cleared his throat.
“Oh, right. Let’s get inside.”
Clip stood and swept the moon dust off of his hindquarters, then followed the others up to the building. An airlock was nearby, and opened easily with a few taps on the interface. Once it opened, however, the group was greeted with a grisly sight.
The body of a pony lay slumped against the wall, its suit riddled with bullet holes. Spatters of blood bloomed behind it and rivulets ran down the wall, pooling beneath the body. Through the shattered visor, the face of a stallion with a pastel yellow coat gazed out, his eyes open in shocked surprise.
Zuri was the first to see the body, and let out a shriek followed by something in Zebrican.
“By Celestia’s grace…” Hex breathed, then turned to face Needle. “Here, give me a hoof with this. Let’s get him outside.”
“Why are you taking him outside?” Spring asked.
“The vacuum outside will keep the body from decomposing until he can be buried.”
Spring looked up to see that Clip was standing by the body, staring down at it.
“Clip?”
Clip looked up at them. “Hm? Oh, right.” She was constantly surprised by how expressive the robot could be. Clip backed away.
“Is something wrong?”
Clip shook his head. “I don’t know. But this pony looks…familiar, somehow.”
“Did you…know him?”
“I can’t remember.”
Together, Hex and Needle dragged the dead stallion out of the airlock and laid him down just outside. Hex carefully reached through the visor and closed the body’s eyes.
“Sprits keep you,” he said gently, and joined the others back inside.
After cycling the airlock, the four creatures wearing suits began to pull them off. They all let out relieved sighs upon doffing the restrictive garments, followed by massaging sore muscles and rubbing spots where the suits had chafed. Hex Key stretched his wings with near-orgasmic sounds of relief.
“I need a shower,” Needle declared.
Spring felt the familiar sensation of her organs settling back into place in the higher gravity.
“Ugh, I hate moving to higher gravity. It makes me nauseous,” she said.
She took a few short steps to test out the gravity, and stumbled a little bit, since her legs weren’t used to using so much strength. She would still have her “moon-legs” for a little while, it seemed.
The group looked around to get their bearings. A white corridor stretched off to the left and right, leading to what appeared to be research laboratories.
“Where are we?” Hex wondered aloud.
“We’re in Research Annex W3,” Clip said.
“How do you know that?”
He pointed to a sign mounted to the wall ahead of them, reading “Welcome to Research Annex W3”.
“Oh.”
“But I also have a comprehensive map of the whole city,” he continued.
“That will be helpful.”
“So what are we going to do?” Zuri asked. “We have to get off the moon.”
“Right. Good news, the city is the best place to do it. Bad news, it’s probably crawling with ponies that want to kill us,” Hex summarized. “First step, we need to find a ship. Clip, where is the city’s spaceport?”
“Which one?”
“There’s more than one?”
“Yep! There’s three: the passenger spaceport, the freight terminal, and the Draco Orbital terminal, next to their factory.”
“Which one is closest?”
“That would be Draco’s spaceport. It’s small, but there should be several ships there we can use.”
“Wouldn’t that be stealing?” Zuri asked.
“Um, yes, I suppose—”
“But if it lets us get back to Equus, it will be worth it,” Spring said with determination.
“And if Draco has a problem with that, they can take it out of my paycheck,” Needle finished.
“So that’s settled then. Clip, could I ask you to take us there?” Hex asked.
“Sure, you can ask me.”
There was an awkward pause. “And can you take us there?”
“Yes, I can! I’m just happy you want me to stick around.”
“Of course we want you to stick around!” Zuri said, sounding almost offended that he would even think of being left behind.
“I’ll help as much as I can, I promise. I can even give you moral support, but I have questionable morals.”
Spring, Needle, and Hex looked at each other, but Zuri started laughing.
Clip smiled. “See? She gets it.”
“Oh, it was a joke,” Hex said with a short laugh. “Yeah, that’s pretty funny.”
A round of chuckles made its way around the room, brightening their spirits somewhat, then Clip turned and started trotting down the hallway to their left. “Right this way, mon capitan!”
The laboratories in Research Annex 3 were utterly abandoned. Aside from the one body there were no signs of a struggle, and no indications that anypony had left in a hurry, either. Spring checked the time on a wall clock as she passed, and was shocked to discover that it was almost two in the morning. If the soldiers had attacked when everypony was in their quarters like they had been on the Maulwurf, then the researchers working here would have packed up and gone home for the night.
At one end of the building, and their destination, was what could only be described as a train station. They entered a small waiting area, where a single rail could be seen behind a set of sliding glass doors on the opposite side. Through the room’s windows Spring could see that the rail stretched onwards towards the city.
Clip walked up to an access panel next to a screen on the wall, pulled the cover off, sat down, and plugged his tail into it. His eyes changed to lines of code once more as he accessed the system.
“Looks like they shut the train down,” he said. “Normally you’re supposed to be able to summon it with this call button, but it’s been disabled. I think I can bypass it.”
They didn’t have to wait long before the long white cylindrical train could be spotted in the distance, gliding soundlessly along the rail towards them. It pulled up to the doors with a hiss and a sucking noise, then the glass doors opened with a chime. Clip was the last one in, yanking his tail cord out of the access panel and dashing in before the doors closed again. The monorail train backed smoothly out of the station and began to follow its rail back the way it came, towards the city. It accelerated quickly, and soon was flying down the elevated rail at astonishing speeds.
Now that she could get a good look at it, Starshine City took Spring’s breath away. On the horizon directly ahead of them were several gleaming white towers, glittering in the twilight. Bridges connected many of the skyscrapers together. At their base, hundreds of other buildings of various sizes and shapes made up the bulk of the city, and stretched as far as she could see in either direction.
As the train began to slow down on approach to the next station, Spring suddenly realized something.
“Wait… if they shut the train down, wouldn’t they notice if it started moving again? What if there are guards waiting for us?”
Clip narrowed his eyes conspiratorially. “Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”
***
Hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait. Double-time it over here, and then lean on your rifle for a few hours. Pyrite fucking hated that about the military, and it seemed that being a private mercenary was no different. The only thing different was who was yelling at you. At least it paid better.
Blackwater had ordered him to guard the train station leading to some bumfuck research post, telling him to shoot anyone if they came in. Pretty simple, but boring as all get-out. At least there was a place to sit. Pyrite lost track of how many hours he’d been here, and might have dozed off a few times. If Blackwater had a problem with him sleeping on the job, he could guard his own damn train station.
A quiet hum stole Pyrite’s attention from where he had been counting the ceiling tiles (he was up to 286). He looked down just in time to see the train, which had sat motionless for hours, pulling away from the station. He flicked his carbine’s safety off with a forehoof and stood in front of the glass doors.
A few minutes later, the train returned and the doors hissed open. Pyrite peered inside, but it looked empty. Just as he was preparing to board the train and search it, a pony-shaped robot marched out. It moved stiffly and slowly, and came to a stop right in front of him.
“What the fuck…?”
The robot turned its head to scan the room.
“Directive?” it asked in a monotone voice.
Pyrite had recovered from his initial confusion to give an irritated retort. “None of your fuckin’ business, robot.”
The robot blinked, tilted its head, and smiled. “It looks like you’re trying to murder innocent ponies. Would you like some help with that?”
“I…what?” the robot’s tone had changed completely. Pyrite decided he really didn’t like the way it was staring at him with that creepy smile. “Are you bein’ funny, you stupid machine?”
Pyrite suddenly heard the sounds of applause coming from the robot, as well as a fanfare of jazz music. When it spoke again, it was with the likeness of an excitable game show host.
“C-c-congratulations! You’ve won the GRAND PRIZE! Tell him what he’s won!”
Its voice shifted from male to female. “You’ve won an all-expenses-paid trip to Silver Shoals Resort, a brand-new Kitchen-Pro Deluxe stand mixer, AND a free direct momentum transfer to the sternum!”
“…Huh?”
Pyrite didn’t have much time to puzzle through that before the robot spun on its forehooves and delivered an explosive buck to his chest. He felt his ribs crack as he flew across the room and crashed into the far wall.
***
Zuri had been trying to hold back laughter while hiding under the train’s seats, but now she was silently staring at the soldier crumpled on the floor.
“Holy cow, Clip,” Hex said as he approached the body.
“What? I didn’t kill him. I just wanted him to rethink his career choices, that’s all.”
As if to illustrate his point, the soldier let out a low groan.
“No, that was awesome!” Hex cheered, but the smile fell from his face shortly after. “Although this unfortunately proves that Spring was right. This place is probably crawling with soldiers. Clip, you’re not bulletproof, are you?”
Clip looked down at himself, inspecting a foreleg. “I’d probably be able to take a glancing hit, but I’d really like to avoid it. My chassis is titanium, but a lucky shot to a joint could damage something vital.”
“Are there any maintenance corridors we might be able to use to sneak past them?” Needle suggested.
Clip shook his head. “No, not really. But there’s a lot of different paths to take to get where we need to go. It looks like the greatest density of hallways is in the residential sections at the city’s core. It will take longer to get to the factory that way, but I think we can slip by any patrols if we’re careful.”
“Right. That sounds like the best course of action then,” Hex decided. “Does anyone have any objections?”
Everyone shook their heads. Hex nodded and stepped up to the incapacitated guard, and began removing his tactical barding and weapon.
“Let me guess,” Needle said with an eyebrow raised, pointing to the rifle, “You know how to use one of those, too?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve never even held a gun before, let alone used one. I just want the vest.”
With Needle’s help, he stripped the weapon and its ammunition from the vest, and Hex shrugged it on.
“I don’t like having my wings pinned like this, but the radio will be useful.” He motioned to a walkie-talkie attached to the vest’s shoulder. “Alright, I’m ready. Go ahead, Clip, you’re our eyes.”
“Wait,” Zuri said as they prepared to leave. “What about him? Should we tie him up, or something?”
Hex frowned in thought. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.” He trotted off back the way they had come, and returned a few minutes later. Some of the tools he had brought with him were slipped into the vest’s various pockets. He pulled out the roll of duct tape and used it to bind the guard’s limbs.
“There we go. Damn, I love this stuff. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.”
***
Spring thought that the corridors spanning the underside of the Maulwurf were labyrinthine, but Starshine City’s network of tunnels and hallways was another matter entirely. They weren’t nearly as claustrophobic or riddled with hazards, but the lights along the white-and-grey corridors had been dimmed due to the late hour, giving the whole affair an ominous and spooky atmosphere. Their progress was slow, but methodical; at every junction, Clip would peer around the corner, and if he saw any guards he would backtrack and lead them on another path. Otherwise, they’d continue and repeat the process at the next intersection. Luckily, they didn’t seem to run into very many soldiers, but their luck ran out when they came across two of them guarding of the entrances to an apartment block. Clip led them around to another entrance, but it was also guarded. At the third, the group retreated around the corner to discuss their options.
“I can try the confuse-then-strike tactic again,” Clip offered.
“I don’t know…” Zuri said hesitantly. “That’s a long hallway, they might see you coming and call for backup.”
After thinking for a little while longer, Zuri perked up. “Oh! Here’s an idea!”
She leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Clip’s eyes lit up – literally.
“What? What did you tell him?” Needle asked.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you!” Clip teased as he trotted back the way they came and pulled open a supply closet. “Hide in here please.”
Zuri ducked inside, and the others followed suit with some trepidation. Once they were all hidden, Clip stood in the middle of the hallway, opened his mouth, and began to produce a sound like an alarm siren.
“Alert! This sector is experiencing a decompression event! All citizens are advised to make their way to the emergency muster stations and don supplemental oxygen,” he called in a voice frighteningly similar to an official PA announcement.
After sounding the alarm for a few more seconds, Clip dashed into the closet and shut the door, leaving a small crack to peer through. Spring heard the sound of two sets of hooves galloping down the hallway towards them. Once the guards had run past them, Clip burst through the door and ran after them. There was a cry of alarm, a meaty crack, then two thuds.
The creatures left in the closet carefully opened the door and peered out. Judging by the way they were lying, Clip had bashed the two guards’ skulls together like a pair of coconuts. He stood over them beaming triumphantly.
“Look, Ma, can I keep ‘em?”
The soldiers were dragged into the closet and tied up with more of Hex Key’s duct tape, who then stripped them of their radios and added them to his collection. He listened to them intently for a few seconds, but they were silent. Just as it almost seemed like no one had noticed their little stunt, one of the radios crackled to life.
“Uh, say again, you’re reporting a decompression alarm in your sector?”
“No, uh, nothing to worry about. We’re fine here. How are you?”
“…I’m going to send somepony out to take a look, you two sit tight. With that hippogriff running around, we’re not taking any chances. Out.”
Hex looked up with a confused expression. “Hippogriff?”
“There’s more soldiers coming, right? We need to get out of here,” Spring urged.
Hex nodded. “If we move fast, we should be long gone by the time they get here.”
The group left the closet and returned to the door the soldiers had been guarding. It didn’t open as they approached.
“Can you hack into it?” Zuri asked Clip.
Clip studied the door and the surrounding walls. “There’s no access point for me to jack into,” he said, then thought for a bit. “There is something else I can try, though.”
“What is it?” Needle asked.
“I can’t do it if you’re watching.”
“What!?”
“Could you please, just, turn around?”
Begrudgingly, the four non-artificial creatures turned their backs on the robot. At the sound of a tremendous crash behind them they all jumped and spun around.
“There! Hacked!” Clip announced.
The sliding door had been knocked out of its frame, and lay askew in the hallway beyond. A pair of dents in the door made Spring suspect that Clip had simply kicked it open.
“What would we do without you?” Zuri mused as they all proceeded through. Once they were all inside, Clip wedged the door back into its frame behind them. The corridor beyond was lined with numbered doors, leading to individual apartments.
“At the junction up ahead, we need to take a right,” Clip said as they quickly made their way along.
The sound of a door opening beside made them come to a halt. One of the apartment doors was ajar, and a young colt was standing on the threshold. He opened his mouth to say something, but a mare dashed out of the apartment and immediately placed herself in front of him. She fixed Hex Key with an acid glare.
“Don’t you have somepony else to…to…” she accused, but the fire in her eyes faded upon sighting the rest of the party. “You’re…not with those soldier ponies, are you?”
They all shook their heads. “No, we’re not,” Hex said. “We’re here to help.”
“I don’t know how you can. There are hundreds of them. They’ve locked down all of the apartments and trapped us all inside.”
“We’re trying to get back to Equus and get help from Canterlot,” Zuri explained. She crouched down to look at the colt who was now peering out from behind his mother’s legs. “So we can get the Royal Army to come and kick out all the bad ponies!”
The colt managed a smile. “Can they find my daddy?”
Zuri faltered. “Um…”
“I don’t know where my husband is,” the colt’s mother said shakily. “He was supposed to be on his way home from work when the…when the attack came. It’s possible he’s trapped in another apartment block, but…I just don’t know.”
She was on the verge of tears now, and Spring stepped forward and scooped her into a hug.
“What’s your name?” Zuri asked the colt.
“Slickenside,” he said, timidly at first, then proudly displayed his flank, showing off a cutie mark that looked like a rock. “I’m gonna be a geologist!”
“Well, I’m sure you’re going to make both your parents very proud.”
Spring and the colt’s mother broke their embrace, and she wiped her eyes and gave a grateful smile.
“Is anypony hurt? I’m a doctor,” Needle offered.
She shook her head. “No, thank Celestia. Just shaken up.”
“Alright, well, stay safe,” Hex said. “We have to keep moving.”
They waved goodbye before retreating back into their apartment, but not before giving Clip a quizzical look.
The apartment block was, mercifully, completely empty of guards. It made sense, since if the soldiers had locked down and guarded all the entrances, there was no need to patrol the interior. They were making good time until a crackle from Hex’s radios caused them all to come skidding to a stop.
“Good evening, everypony. This is Blackwater speaking. Or would it technically be morning? Fuck it, it doesn’t matter, because I am not happy right now. It has come to my attention that a certain hippogriff has been prancing around my city and making a mess. I gave a simple order, one simple fucking instruction, that he be kept under guard until I got back. What, exactly, about that is so fucking hard!? It’s a shame he ripped the throats out of the morons that were supposedly guarding him, because I wanted to do that myself. So let me give one more order to you grunts, and let me be perfectly clear: Find that fucking hippogriff and bring me his head, or I swear on Celestia’s sparkling cunt hairs that I will personally RIP YOUR COCKS OFF AND SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR WORTHLESS THROATS!”
Hex Key winced and turned the volume down on his radio.
The five looked around at each other in shock, before Clip broke the silence.
“I want to meet that hippogriff.”
***
The lack of any guards allowed the group’s pace to increase dramatically. Within minutes, they had reached another sliding door, identical in appearance to the one Clip had kicked open, that again did not open at their approach.
“Here’s the exit from the apartments,” Clip announced as they stopped in front of it.
“Think there’s guards on the other side?” Hex asked.
“Most likely.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“I could try hacking it again.”
“No, they might just start shooting if you kick the door down like that.”
Their pondering was interrupted by Hex’s radios coming alive again.
“Command, this is Halberd.”
“Go ahead, Halberd.”
“We’re at the entrance to the west apartments, and there’s no sign of the guards posted. And the door’s been…kicked open.”
“Say again?”
“Command, the door to the apartments has been completely knocked out of its frame, and there’s a pair of dents in it that look like hoofprints…one second, Command…shit, we’re going to need Medical down here. Foxhound just found the guards, tied up with duct tape and stuffed into a closet.”
“Copy that, Halberd. I’m sending a medical team and reinforcements to your location.”
Once the radio chatter had ceased, all the creatures listening in looked around at each other. Most of them were concerned, Spring included, but Clip looked deep in thought.
“Clip, is that your ‘I’m thinking of a plan’ face?” Zuri asked.
After a pause, Clip blinked and looked up. “Hm? No, that was my ‘processing audio sample’ face. Could I see one of your radios please?”
Hex furrowed his brow, but he pulled one of the walkie-talkies off of his vest and passed it over. Clip positioned himself just inside the doorframe, and motioned for the others to do the same. Once they were all pressed up against the wall, Clip pressed the button on the radio and began speaking in an almost perfect facsimile of one of the soldiers’ voices.
“All units! This is Halberd! The hippogriff has been spotted in the west apartments! Requesting immediate support from anyone in the area! There he is! Look out! AAAAUGH…”
To complete his performance, Clip thrashed around and then threw himself to the ground dramatically as if he’d been stabbed. No sooner had he scrambled to his hooves again than the door slid open and two guards rushed past without sparing them as much as a glance. The five creatures hiding in the shadows dashed through the door before it closed behind them.
“Halberd, come in! Foxhound? What’s going on over there?” the pony identified as Command could be heard through the radio as they rushed to find another hiding spot.
“Halberd here. What the fuck is going on? I’m fine! I ain’t seen no fucking hippogriff.”
“Then who was that in distress on the radio?”
“No idea, but it wasn’t me.”
Once the group had stopped again, Needle regarded Clip with a quizzical look. “That was really impressive, but were the theatrics really necessary?”
Clip simply beamed at him. “It helps me get into character.”
***
The concentration of guards roaming the hallways seemed to increase the closer they got to the factory. Almost every other turn required them to divert and change their course. Their pace had slowed to a crawl as they crept along as quietly as they could, speaking only in hushed tones.
As they carefully picked their way down another side corridor, Spring heard a quiet shuffling behind her. She stopped and made a “psst” noise to alert the others, then motioned behind her. A supply closet that she swore had been closed before was now cocked open slightly.
Hex tapped on Clip’s shoulder and pointed wordlessly at the door, and the robot nodded and walked over to it. He put a hoof on the door and pushed it open, then peered inside. Clip pulled back to look at them, the shrugged. Hex egged him on with a wave of a foreleg, and Clip slowly continued into the room.
Suddenly there was a crash, and sounds of a struggle. Without hesitation, the other four rushed in to help. Needle arrived first, and Spring wasn’t far behind. Inside the dark room, amid scattered boxes, Clip lay on his back on the floor. Beneath him was a hippogriff, wild-eyed, with his front claws wrapped around Clip’s metallic throat.
Spring was trying to figure out how she could help, but Clip was able to get to his hooves with little difficulty. He stood on his hind legs and backed against the wall, crushing his attacker, who let out an “oof!” and lost his grip.
The hippogriff scrabbled to his feet and looked as if he were about to leap at Clip again, when he spotted everyone else in the room. He paused, blinked, then looked around as if seeing where he was for the first time. He looked over to see Clip grinning at him, and took a step back.
“Who are you?” Hex asked.
“I could ask you five the same question,” he responded in a gruff voice.
Zuri ran up to Clip. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “If I had a windpipe, the hippogriff would have certainly crushed it. But no harm done.”
Spring closed the door behind them and found a light switch. Now that she could see him properly, the mystery hippogriff would have been quite handsome under better circumstances. His coat and plumage were a vibrant seafoam green, and his dark blue mane was streaked with grey. Unfortunately his appearance was somewhat worse for wear: his feathers were bent and ruffled, his mane was disheveled and haggard, and his almond-shaped eyes constantly darted about as if expecting one of them to attack him.
After staring each other down for a tense few seconds, Clip finally broke the ice. “Is this some kind of hostage negotiation, or what?” He stuck out a hoof. “My name’s Clip.”
The hippogriff stared at the mechanical appendage before tentatively grasping it with a claw and shaking it. “Azure Coast,” he said.
Things seemed to relax appreciably after that, and everypony else introduced themselves.
“Wait a minute…” Hex said, and pointed to the radio on his shoulder. “Are you the hippogriff that’s got all these guys so spooked?”
Azure gave a mirthless smile. “Yes. I’ve taken out quite a few of them.”
Zuri gulped. “Taken out, meaning…?”
“Killed,” Azure finished without hesitation. “And they’ll do the same to you, given the chance. I don’t intend to give them that chance. This is a matter of survival. Kill, or be killed.”
“Hey! Back off, you’re scaring her!” Spring shouted. During his diatribe Azure had been slowly advancing on the zebra, backing her against the wall. She was trembling beneath his gaze.
Azure looked up, then back down at Zuri, and almost jumped backwards.
“I’m sorry,” he hastily apologized.
A nervous silence befell the room until Spring spoke up again. “Did you come from the apartments? If you want, I’m sure we can help you get to safety,” she said, looking to Clip for confirmation.
Azure frowned. “I didn’t come from the apartments. And from the looks of things, you’re the ones who need help. There’s no way we’re getting into the apartments anyway.”
“We just came from there. Clip helped us get through the security lockdown.”
Azure blinked in surprise before his expression hardened again. “In any case, I’m not staying here. As soon as I figure out how, I’m getting off this Celestia-damned rock.”
“Well, that’s great! Because that’s what we’re doing,” Clip said.
“Do you have a plan?” Azure asked skeptically.
“We’re going to the Draco Orbital factory, to…borrow one of their ships,” Zuri explained.
Azure shook his head forcefully. “No, that’s not going to work.”
“Why not?”
“That spaceport is where they came in. All their ships and equipment are there, under heavy guard.”
“What about the other spaceports?”
“The passenger terminal is also guarded, possibly even more so than this one. That’s the only other place to get a ship.”
“There’s still the freight terminal,” Hex said.
“The freight terminal?”
“Yeah, Clip mentioned it earlier. We might be able to get a ship there, right?”
“I don’t know for certain. But I think it’s worth a try,” Clip replied. “And if not, I do have a Plan B.”
“And what would that be?” Azure asked with a raised eyebrow.
“What indeed? Enquiring minds want to know,” he said cryptically with a smile before trotting out of the room again, forcing the rest of the group to follow.
“Can someone tell me why we’re being led around by a sarcastic robot?” Azure asked as he hesitantly brought up the rear.
Clip dutifully led them back through the hallways in the direction of the city’s freight terminal. Azure seemed to have been correct about the factory being the soldiers’ central location, since they encountered fewer and fewer of them as they drew further from it. The hippogriff in question seemed to revert back to the state they had found him in back in the storage closet. He was tense, but moved with a precision and exactness that was reminiscent of a trained soldier. Spring got the distinct impression that he was ex-military. He had placed himself at the front of the group, just behind Clip, and constantly swept his gaze in every direction.
“Hey, Azure, can I ask you something?” Zuri said from behind him, barely above a whisper. Azure simply responded with a grunt.
“How did you know the soldiers were in the factory?”
“I came here with them. And they’re not soldiers, they’re mercenaries,” he almost spat the word.
“What do you mean, you ‘came here with them’?” she continued.
“I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said tersely, not looking back at her. “They forced me to fly one of their shuttles.”
“You’re a pilot?” she asked again.
“Was.” Azure’s voice bristled, and silently Spring begged the young zebra to stop pestering him. It was obvious he didn’t want to keep answering her questions.
“How did you escape from the —” Spring put a hoof on Zuri’s shoulder to interrupt her before she could finish the question. She looked back, and Spring silently shook her head. In front of her, she heard Azure take a deep, measured breath.
“The same way I escaped from Appleloosa,” he growled. “And before you ask: no, I’m not going to tell you about it.”
The six creatures came to a stop as Clip signaled that he had seen somepony. He carefully peeked around the corner again, and when he looked back he wore a concerned expression.
“It’s not one of the mercenaries,” he whispered. Azure stalked around the corner himself, but once his tail had vanished from sight, Spring heard his steps increase in frequency.
“Are you okay?” the rest of the group heard him say as they rounded the corner to follow him. Near the mouth of the next corridor was a doorway leading to a small break room, spilling light onto the dark floor outside. Through the door Spring could see a young mare sitting at the table, and she was shocked to see that Azure’s entire disposition had changed. Gone was the tense, clipped, almost hostile air around the hippogriff, replaced by something warmer as he looked at the mare with concern.
The reason for his change in demeanor was obvious; the earth pony mare was upset, and had been crying recently. The vermilion fur on her face was marred with tear streaks, and her eyes were puffy. She looked up at Azure in surprise for a moment until she sighted the others, then sat bolt upright as if to flee. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers upon sighting Clip.
“It’s alright, we’re here to help,” Needle said gently.
“Are you security?” she asked quietly.
The six looked around at each other. “No, not really,” Hex Key said. “We’re trying to find a way off the moon so we can get help with these mercenaries.
“We can get you back to the apartments if you want,” Needle continued. “You’re not safe here.”
The mare’s face took on a strange look before she shook her head, making her cream-colored mane flip into her face. “No, that won’t be necessary. My…my friends need me here. I’m waiting for them to get back.”
Needle didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t push.
“So, if you’re not security, why do you have a protection robot with you?” the mare asked as she pointed to Clip.
“Well, it was better than the alternative,” the robot said with a shrug. His expression turned smug and he casually brushed a hoof on his chest. “And I don’t think these five would have made it this far without me, anyway.”
The mare’s mouth fell open. “It can talk!?”
“Yeah, and he won’t shut up,” Azure muttered under his breath.
Spring had already divined from her own friends’ reactions that a talking robot was unusual, but this mare’s reaction certainly hammered home the rarity of their companion.
“It’s a Gamma model, if I’m not mistaken, which is the most advanced, but none of the ones I’ve seen have had such intricate expressions,” the mare gushed, her grievances forgotten, as she left the table to inspect Clip more closely. “The mouth, the ears, and the eyes! Whoever built you is a master craftspony! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a real pony.”
Something clouded Clip’s expression for a brief moment before he broke into a smile. “Well I’m glad somepony appreciates me.”
“And such fluid conversation! I can’t even imagine the complexity of the neural networks…”
“Sorry, ma’am, but I can tell right now that it’s not going to work. Sorry to drop it on you like this, but you’re not really my type.”
The mare’s face went through several expressions in quick succession: first confusion, then mirth, then thought.
“Wait…do you have…feelings?”
“I do, ma’am, I do. I carry the brain of an earth pony farmer.”
“Holy shit, are you serious?”
“No, ma’am. Not at all.”
The mare opened her mouth so utter a retort, but was cut off by sound of voices coming from the hall. Azure immediately stepped around so that he was standing just inside the doorframe, and he motioned for the others to do the same.
“Wait—” the mare started to say as she looked between them and the door with panic written on her face.
“Hey, Strawberry, we’re back,” Spring heard another mare’s voice say from outside the room. “I got some pizza, and some of that weird stir-fry stuff that the griffins—”
The voice’s owner was another earth pony mare, earthy green in color, with several take-out boxes balanced on her back. She entered the room and paused upon seeing the red mare’s stricken expression. The new arrival glanced around and froze when she laid eyes on the six other creatures. When she sighted Azure, she tensed up even more and lowered into a guarded stance.
“Strawberry…” she said slowly, “who are these?”
“Evergreen, wait—” Strawberry started to say, but was interrupted by two more ponies entering the room. The first was a dirty yellow unicorn floating more food boxes behind him, and the second was an off-white pegasus. They both stopped and looked around with expressions ranging from suspicion to bewilderment.
“Oh, are these your friends?” Clip said cheerfully, seemingly ignorant of the standoff. “Hi, I’m Clip!”
Strawberry put on a forced smile. “Um, I’m Strawberry, and these are Evergreen, Dusty, and Leeward.”
Dusty carefully put his food boxes down and pulled the ones off of Evergreen’s back as well. “And you are…?” he asked after he was done.
“These are my friends: Azure, Dr. Needle, Spring Bloom, Zuri, and Hex Key. It’s nice to meet you!” Clip said without hesitation. “We’re trying to get off the moon so we can warn the Royal Army about all these mercenaries!”
The reactions from the occupants in the room were mixed. Strawberry smacked herself in the face with a hoof (a gesture mimicked by Azure, Spring noticed), Evergreen shot Strawberry a Look, and Dusty and Leeward glanced at each other nervously.
After a few tense moments, Evergreen put on a plastic smile and turned toward Spring and her friends. “Could you excuse us for a moment, please?”
The six of them glanced at one another before shuffling back into the hallway. Evergreen closed the door behind them, but any pretense of privacy was lost as shouting could immediately be heard behind the door.
“Strawberry, what the fuck? I leave for ten minutes and I come back to—”
“You’re not my mother, Evergreen! I can make my own decisions!”
“That’s not what this is about! Do you have any idea who that hippogriff is!? And he had that robot with him! If they…” Evergreen suddenly lowered her voice, and all six eavesdroppers leaned in closer to catch her words. “If they find out we’re with the mercenaries, they’ll kill us!”
“No, they’re not,” Strawberry replied calmly. “Because I’m going to help them.”
“What!?”
“Now, Strawberry, maybe you should think about—” a male voice began to say, but Strawberry cut him off.
“No, Leeward, I’ve made up my mind. I don’t think we’re on the right side anymore.”
“Sides? This isn’t about sides, it’s about—”
“I didn’t sign up for this!” Strawberry cried. “Do you know what Syzygy said to me? He said nopony would die. He lied, Evergreen.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes, he did! I’ve seen what those soldiers have…wait. Did you three know?”
“Well, I…” Evergreen waffled uncomfortably. “He told us he wouldn’t kill anypony who surrendered, but…”
“I can’t believe this! I’m sick of you three always treating me like a child!”
“I…”
“And you know what else? You know Syzygy’s lapdog Blackwater? When he got back from that mining station, that sadistic fuck tried to ask me out on a date. A date! While he still had blood all over him! If Syzygy hadn’t been standing there, he probably would have shot me for turning him down. Or worse.” Strawberry’s voice was shaky.
“Strawberry, I—”
“I can’t do this anymore, Evergreen. We’re supposed to be hackers, infiltrators, thieves! Not murderers! I thought we were the good guys!”
The sounds of sobbing could now be heard through the door. Azure had seemingly heard enough, as he pushed past the group to open the door. Evergreen spun around and assumed another defensive posture, but Azure ignored her. He walked around the table and put a claw on Strawberry’s shoulder.
“If she wants to help, I will accept any assistance given,” he said.
Evergreen looked back and forth between the various ponies in the room before she finally let out a sigh of surrender. “Well, there’s nothing I can do to stop you. But please be careful. If Syzygy finds out about this, we’ll all be getting a date with hard vacuum.”
Strawberry gulped and nodded, before standing up and digging through a pair of saddlebags on the counter. She dug out a tablet and a pair of devices that Spring had never seen before.
“I can’t go with you, but I can help you from here. You can use this throat microphone to keep in touch with me. Do any of you know how to use it?”
Azure stepped up and took one of the devices, and expertly attached it around his neck and stuck the earpiece into his ear.
Strawberry sat back down at the table and powered up her tablet. “You’ll be happy to know I took your advice, Dusty.”
“How’s that?”
“When Syzygy asked me to hack into the city’s computer systems, I left myself a back door. I can get in and control just about everything from right here.”
She turned her tablet around and showed them a map of the entire city, with hundreds of tiny red dots scattered around.
“Syzygy likes to keep track of all his mercenaries, so each one has a tracking device that I can lock onto. I’ll be able to guide you around the patrols in real time.”
Hex Key blanched. “Uh…I took one of their vests. Am I being tracked?”
Strawberry looked down at her tablet and back up at him. “No, it doesn’t look like it. Did you take his helmet?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Strawberry nodded. “That’s where the trackers are. Oh, and try not to damage them. If any of the trackers go offline, Syzygy will know something’s up.”
“Okay.”
“So,” Azure said, slipping back into what Spring was calling ‘soldier mode’, “We need to get to the freight terminal. Can you help us get there?”
Strawberry went back to inspecting her tablet. “Hm…getting back into the apartments will be tricky. They’ve increased security at a couple of the doors. Even if I could open them, I couldn’t lure the guards away. Wait…there’s a small section of the apartments that they’ve evacuated completely. It’s not guarded, and there aren’t any mercenaries inside either. That should allow you to get to the central plaza, and from there you can head straight for the freight terminal. It’s only lightly guarded.”
Azure nodded. “Thank you.”
He turned and headed back out into the dim corridors, and Spring and the others trotted to follow him. She heard Evergreen mutter something under her breath.
***
True to Strawberry’s word, the apartment entrance they found wasn’t guarded at all. As they approached the door, they noticed a paper sign taped to it.
“This section is forbidden. Any unauthorized entrants will answer to me. –Syzygy”
Azure regarded the sign with a frown. “Strawberry?” he said into his microphone. “We found a sign from Syzygy taped to the door. It says that no one is allowed to go in.”
Spring couldn’t hear Strawberry’s response, but Azure nodded.
“Makes sense. I wonder what we’ll find in there, though.”
“Alright, could you open the door for us?”
The door ahead of them slid open, showing nothing but another dark hallway beyond.
“What did she say?” Spring asked.
“Strawberry doesn’t know why Syzygy doesn’t want anyone going in there, but there aren’t any guards. I’m willing to go for it.”
Everyone else nodded in silent agreement and followed him inside. The door slid shut behind them.
This section of the city seemed spookier than the others. Spring reckoned that it was because no one knew what to expect in here; even though there weren’t any mercenaries, this area was restricted for some reason. She could only hope that it wasn’t a dangerous one.
They crept through the dark and silent apartment block, for what seemed like an hour, the only sounds coming from their own steps and the occasional piece of machinery behind the walls. Suddenly, Azure stopped and held up a fist, then pointed at a spot ahead of him. Everyone came to a halt behind him and looked down the hall to where he pointed.
One of the apartment doors was open, but the interior was dark. Following his Azure’s lead, they all crouched low and snuck past it, as quietly as they could.
“Wait,” Spring heard Clip whisper once they passed it.
She turned around to see that he had stopped, and was angling an ear at the door of the apartment next to it, whose door was still closed.
“What is it?”
“I can hear somepony in there. She’s…begging for help.”
Azure spun around. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
Azure set his jaw and stalked up to the door, then placed an ear against it. His brow furrowed, then he slowly grasped the handle and turned. The door was unlocked and swung inwards easily.
The interior of the apartment was even darker than the hallway outside. Azure blinked several times and peered inside, but Clip pushed past him.
“I can see in the dark,” he whispered.
Azure shrugged and followed him in, with the others on his heels. Spring felt a chill run down her spine as she entered the apartment. She was sure it was just the cold air.
“Wait, I think I can hear it, too,” Needle whispered.
“It’s this way,” Clip said as he walked over to a bedroom at the far corner of the apartment.
Just outside the door, Spring could hear it. The quiet voice of a mare muttering to herself. Azure put a claw on the handle and pushed the door open.
The room was a mess. A dresser was toppled over on the floor, and clothes were strewn about. A bare mattress lay askew on the bedframe. In the far corner of the room, a pony was curled up on the floor, with her back to the door. The first thing about her that Spring noticed was her shockingly red coat, a bright crimson even in the darkness. The second thing she noticed was that she was shaking.
“I can see him. He’s here, I can feel him. Help me, please, somepony help me.”
Azure walked right up to the mare and gingerly put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked up violently and scrambled to her hooves.
The unicorn was blindfolded with a stained cloth, but her ears swiveled about wildly and she looked directly at all of the other occupants of the room. Spring felt another chill as the mare’s gaze landed on her. The greasy, tangled, and unwashed locks of her bronze hair flopped around as she turned.
“Five and one makes six,” she said.
“Ma’am?” Azure said hesitantly. “Are you alright?”
Her head whipped around to look at him.
“Six, six, always six. Why, we wonder?”
“Um…”
Suddenly she grabbed his face with her magic and yanked his face closer to hers.
“He is here!” She hissed urgently. “The architect! He watches.”
With a horrified gasp, Spring noticed that every surface of the room, walls, floor, and ceiling, were scrawled with hundreds of eyes, all looking at the corner of the room where the mare had been lying. Various words were written between the eyes, vague phrases like “The Moon will fall beneath Shadow” and “The River will take Us all”.
“Who is the architect?” Clip asked.
She turned towards him, but said nothing.
“When the moon falls to shadow, he will come. We will all be swept along his river, his stream. I envy you, for you have nothing he wants,” she said at last.
Zuri started glancing around nervously. “Are you sure it’s wise to stay here? We might get caught.”
“Who is wiser?” the mare in the corner asked to no one in particular. “The king, or the fool who mocks him?”
Needle walked up to the mare and put a hoof against her blindfold. “Are you hurt? I’m a doctor, I can—”
She slapped his hoof away and fixed him with her blind gaze. “The eyes are windows to the soul…so I removed them.”
Her statement, uttered with such finality, horrified everyone into silence. The eerie mare stayed silent for a long while before turning to look at Spring.
“The prophet in white. One and five makes six. Six shepherds, always six. Protect your flock. Find the second. She hides the swords,” she declared.
Before Spring could make heads or tails of that, the mare perked up and her ears swiveled towards the entrance to the apartment.
“She comes with a physic. She will defy you. Her jaw is weak.”
All of the other occupants of the room looked back towards the door, just as they heard the apartment’s front door open. The lights in the main room clicked on, casting a rectangle of light into the dark room. A shadow crept along the floor towards them, and a silhouette of a pony appeared in the doorway. It reached a hoof into the room and turned on the light.
Standing menacingly in the doorway was a bulky earth pony mare, dressed in a nurse’s uniform. She held a syringe in her mouth, and her face held an expression of surprise before it turned hostile. With a wordless growl, she charged at the creature closest to the door, which happened to be Zuri. She let out a yelp and stumbled backwards to avoid the needle being swung at her and tripped over the wardrobe, landing in a heap on the floor.
The muscular nurse turned toward Spring next, but before she could charge, a seafoam blur tackled her to the ground. Azure wrestled with her, barely dodging her attempts to stab him, all the while attempting to wrap his claws around her throat. With a snarl, she stood up and smashed him against the wall repeatedly until he slid off her back. The nurse locked eyes with Spring again, but instead of charging, she whipped her head around and flung the syringe, needle-first, straight towards her. Spring could do nothing but clamp her eyes shut.
Instead of the sting of the needle, she heard the pounding of hooves and a clattering sound. She opened her eyes to see Clip standing between them, the syringe on the floor at his hooves. Before the nurse could react, he spun around and delivered a hard kick straight to her jaw. Spring heard the unmistakable sound of her jaw breaking with a sickening crunch, and she flopped to the ground, writhing in agony.
“Who was that!?” Zuri cried as she shakily got to her hooves.
“A nurse on steroids would be my guess,” Hex said, his eyes still wide. “What’s so funny?”
Spring realized that the crimson mare in the corner had been cackling madly throughout the entire fight. She stopped laughing, but didn’t respond to Hex’s question.
Needle trotted across the room to Azure, who was just standing up with lots of painful-sounding grunts.
“I’m fine,” he said to Needle, waving him off with a claw. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Needle frowned at him, but shook his head and stepped over to the nurse lying on the floor, clutching her head. He knelt down and started talking to her.
“I need to take a look at this, so I’m going to need you to put your hooves down for a second.”
“What are you doing? She tried to kill us!” Spring said in disbelief.
“Yes, but she’s no threat now. And it’s my oath as a doctor to heal the sick and injured whoever that may be,” he said forcefully. “I stood by while you broke that guard’s ribs, and I ignored it when you probably gave another two traumatic brain injuries. But I’m not going to let this go. Not this time.”
Spring looked to Azure, but he simply closed his eyes and nodded.
“Her jaw is broken and dislocated. There’s not much I can do from here. She needs proper medical care.”
“I guess I can call for some help on the radio,” Hex offered.
“Good idea. Azure, could you please go out into the kitchen and get some towels and ice, please?”
Wordlessly, he limped out of the door and returned a few minutes later with the requested items. The nurse on the floor had calmed down significantly upon hearing that Needle was going to help. Needle took a pair of the dish towels that Azure had returned with and bundled a hoof-ful of ice into each. Then he set them aside and placed his hooves on the nurse’s jaw.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, then lit his horn and carefully pushed her jaw back into alignment. The nurse screamed through gritted teeth and pounded the floor with a hoof. He quickly took the ice-wrapped towels, placed them on either side of her jaw, then tied them in place with a third towel around her head.
“There. That’s going to help with the swelling, and keep you from moving it until it can be set properly,” he said, then stood up. “Hex, I want you to call for medical help once we get away from here.”
As they left the apartment, Spring took one look back at the mare in the corner. She was staring at her with an inscrutable expression, tracking her movements perfectly despite the blindfold. Another chill ran up her spine as she left the room.
Once they were far enough away, Hex activated one of his radios. “Command, be advised, uh…we need a medical team right away in the uh…restricted section of the east apartments. Pony down with, uh, severe jaw injury.”
Azure cocked an eyebrow at his performance.
“Copy that, we’ll send a team right away. What are you doing in the restricted area anyway? Syzygy isn’t going to be happy.”
Instead of responding, Hex muted the radio. “Boring conversation anyway.”
***
The freight terminal was a huge interior space, stacked with thousands of shipping containers in various colors. A crane for moving the crates around could be seen hanging on rails on the ceiling. The relative lack of guards and the ubiquitous cover made it easy to make their way around without being sighted. Once they had found a decent hiding place, Azure touched a claw to his ear and spoke to Strawberry over his microphone.
“Alright Strawberry, we’re at the freight terminal. Can you find us a ship to use to get out of here?”
Although Spring couldn’t hear her response, it was obvious that it wasn’t good news based on the frown that pasted itself on Azure’s face.
“What!? Hang on a second.” He looked up at the others. “She says there’s no ships here. There’s not even a place to land them!”
“What?” Hex said. “Clip, you said we could get a ship here!”
“No, I didn’t,” he responded defensively. “This place is marked on the map as the ‘freight terminal’. There’s nothing that says whether or not there are ships here. Besides, I still have Plan B.”
“And what, exactly, is Plan B?”
Clip seemed to consider being coy, but evidently decided against it. “We’re going to take the mass driver.”
Spring had no idea what that was, and based on the confused expressions of the others, they didn’t know either. Zuri, however, was incredulous.
“The what!?”
“What’s a mass driver?” Spring asked.
Zuri gave a sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s a track that accelerates payloads up to escape velocity using electromagnets. It’s cheaper than using ships to shuttle things back to Equus, as long as you don’t care about the gee forces.”
“What kind of gee forces are we talking here?” Hex said nervously.
“I have no idea, but it’s not pony-rated.”
Clip looked down and pawed at the floor sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I really thought it would be an option.”
“Do you know how high the gee forces are?” Azure asked.
“How long is it?” Clip countered.
Azure sighed and pressed a claw to his ear. “Alright, Strawberry, looks like we might be using the mass driver.”
Spring was able to hear Strawberry’s “WHAT!?”, and Azure flinched.
“Ow. Yes, I know, Zuri already said that. Clip wants to know how long the thing is…she says that the default length is about sixteen kilometers.”
Clip looked up at the ceiling and stuck his tongue out, and Spring couldn’t help but smile at his ‘thinking’ face.
“Twenty gees,” he said after a few seconds.
Azure shook his head. “Sorry, but that’s a no go. You’re all untrained, so anything over about ten gees risks oxygen starvation and brain damage.”
The mood turned somber for a moment before Hex frowned. “Hang on, did you say ‘default’ length?”
Azure asked Strawberry for clarification, and her answers made his eyebrows rise. “She says there’s an acceleration loop, so you can make the track longer by making the payload travel more times around it.”
Clip looked over, a hopeful expression on his face. “Can she change that?”
Azure asked the question and listened for an answer. “No, but you can. There’s a terminal near the loading dock you can jack into.”
Clip made a happy dance on his hooves. “Okay, I can fix this. I’ll go make my way over to the terminal and reprogram the launch sequence.”
“Wait, Clip, don’t leave yet. Azure, can you ask Strawberry if she can access the cargo logs? I need a few things,” Hex asked.
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Azure replied, and removed the throat microphone and passed it to him.
“Okay can you hear me? Great. Okay, are there any containers bound for the orbital shipyards? Really? Awesome!”
[1]Hex’s face took on a broad smile. “Okay, I really think this has a chance at working.”
“What’s your plan?” Zuri asked.
“On the other end of the freight terminal is a cluster of containers loaded with parts for spacecraft. If we can find an empty container, we can pack it full of the stuff we need to turn it into our own little spaceship.”
No one had any objections to that, and even Spring had to admit that she was feeling a little optimistic. They carefully made their way through the labyrinth of containers across the warehouse, using Strawberry’s help to avoid the guards. It wasn’t too difficult; most of them were asleep.
The containers in question didn’t look any different from any of the others, but Hex’s ear-to-ear grin upon cracking one open seemed like a good sign. The container was packed wall-to-wall with machinery whose purpose Spring could only guess at.
Hex and Zuri began unpacking and organizing it, while Clip and Zuri investigated more containers. Spring went with Needle to search for an empty one, and in short order they found a blue one that was completely devoid of cargo. Soon, they were all making trips back and forth, loading the equipment that Hex set aside.
“Okay…seats, check; oxygenator, check; lithium perchlorate canisters, check; water reclaimer, check; ECU, check; Azure, what’s that?”
Azure had returned carrying a large cardboard box. “I found these emergency rations. Might be a good idea to have some, just in case.”
“Good idea. Clip, how long are we going to need to stay in here?”
“Three days.”
“Three days!?”
“Well, yeah,” he responded. “We’re kinda taking the scenic route. No fancy teleportation crystals for us.”
Hex took a deep breath. “Well, that changes things a bit. I am definitely going to have to go back and find a WDU now. How much food are we going to need?”
Needle stepped up to the box and started sifting through the contents. “These things are really calorie-dense, so we’re not going to need much. The biggest problem is going to be water, though.”
“The water reclaimer should be able to handle it.”
“Still, I’d be more comfortable with some extra water supplies on board our…ship.”
Azure nodded in agreement. “I’ll go see if I can find some water.”
While Azure and Needle left to find water, the rest of them helped Hex load all the pieces of equipment into the container and secure them to the walls with straps. Some of the items, Spring noted, were zero-gee sleeping bags, and she had to suppress a groan. She remembered the ones aboard the Celestia Dawn, and how she didn’t find them very comfortable. But she had to remind herself that the direness of their situation precluded the use of creature comforts. She’d have to make do.
Azure and Needle returned with a case of water each, packaged into bags, and strapped them down inside the container. With the completion of their makeshift spaceship, the six creatures stood back to admire their work.
“She needs a name,” Hex declared.
“What?” Needle asked.
“The ship. We built it, we’re going to spend three days in it, we need to name it.”
“That’s not a ship, that’s a…hodgepodge of machinery packed into a metal box.”
“That’s perfect! I dub thee Hodgepodge!”
Needle smacked himself in the face with a hoof.
Clip’s smile was as wide as ever. “Okay, I’m going to go over to the loading dock and access the terminal. I’ll meet you guys over there.”
“How are we going to get Hodgepodge over there?” Zuri asked.
Clip pointed upwards to the crane hanging from the ceiling. “The claaaaw.”
He trotted off, leaving the rest of them to glance at each other with confused expressions. Hex led the way by climbing into the container first. Needle followed, and Spring and Zuri entered next, settling down into the seats that had been installed against the far wall.
“Azure?” Zuri asked. He was still standing outside, gazing into the interior of the container with a thousand-yard stare. At Zuri’s question, he blinked and shook his head.
“Um…do you think we could maybe find a bigger container?”
“We don’t have time,” Needle said. “Are you claustrophobic?”
“No, I…just don’t like small spaces.”
“That’s the definition of claustrophobia.”
He stood there for a few more seconds, pawing the ground and glancing around nervously. Finally, he took a deep breath and climbed inside.
“You’ll be okay,” Zuri tried to reassure him.
Azure grumbled something under his breath, which Spring thought might have been, “No, I won’t.”
Once he had sat down, Hex walked up to the door. He pulled it closed and latched it, and they were plunged into near-pitch darkness. The only light came from the control panels affixed to the various machinery spread throughout the container, and it was just enough to see by. Nopony said a word. Spring glanced around at all the other occupants of the container; Azure had his eyes closed and was slowly breathing in and out. It had seemed so big from the outside, but now it was incredibly small.
After hiding in the container for a few minutes, a large clunk was heard from somewhere outside that resonated through the entire container. Spring felt a lurch as it was lifted off the floor and swung through the air. After a few seconds it was set back down again with a thump. More mechanical noises could be heard, accompanied by smaller jolts and bumps, then everything went still again.
A knock to the tune of “Shave and a Haircut” rapped on the door from the outside, then the latches cracked open and the door swung outwards. Spring was relieved to see Clip on the other side.
“The container’s sitting in the loading dock now. Last chance to use the bathroom before we head out,” Clip said as he stepped in. “I’ve programmed the loading and launch sequence to be automatic. It should be taking over in…twenty-eight seconds.”
He closed and latched the door again, and his eye-screens provided a little extra light.
“Get ready, and hold on,” he said. “I added as many loops to the track as I could, but we’ll still be pulling about ten gees on launch. No shame in passing out.”
“Stay in your seats, with your back upright,” Azure lectured. “That position gives the greatest gee resistance. If you’re having trouble breathing, just keep each breath in your lungs as long as you can.”
Clip’s eye-screens changed to show a countdown timer. “Launch initiation in three…two…one.”
[2]Spring heard a series of clunks and a low humming noise, and then felt the container start to move. There was no luxury of gravity plating to cancel out the acceleration, which was slowly beginning to build. She briefly wondered what ten gees was going to feel like, before she heard Needle speak up.
“Is there any way they could stop us?”
“Nope,” Clip answered, his face stretched into a wide grin. “I’ve overridden all the access consoles and safety interlocks. There ain’t no brakes on this train!
“Speaking of which,” he continued, “we’re almost at the acceleration loop now, and we’re really going to put on some speed.”
Spring felt herself being pressed up against the back wall, gently at first. She could hear the quiet humming noise growing in volume and frequency.
“Alright, entering main acceleration loop…all systems green…this is where the fun begins! Beginning main coil sequence…now.”
The force on Spring’s body steadily increased until she could feel the skin on her face peeling back. She was finding it hard to breathe, as if lead weights were being lowered onto her chest. She tried the technique Azure had suggested, holding each breath until she couldn’t anymore, then quickly drawing another one. She chanced a look off to the sides; Azure still had his eyes closed, and the others were gritting their teeth. She looked to her right to see Clip casually bracing himself against a crate.
“You’re doing great! Almost halfway there!” Clip said.
Spring heard a grunt from her left; she suspected from Hex, but she couldn’t be sure.
The pressure just kept building. There were no vibrations, no other forces but the one pressing her into a pony pancake. Her forelegs were pinned to the wall, too heavy to lift or even move. She could feel her eyeballs being pressed back into her skull. All other sights and sounds faded to nothingness as she focused solely on forcing air into her lungs.
“Okay, loop exit and final acceleration sequence beginning now. We’re on the home stretch,” she heard Clip say.
Suddenly she was weightless. Her movements were slow and uncoordinated; the act of merely thinking felt like she was swimming through molasses.
“Hey, what’s going on? Are we in space now?” she said. Or, at least, tried to say. It may have come out something more like “Ugh-uh-wha?”
Azure floated over to Spring and looked her over, checking for injuries. “You passed out near the end of the launch there, along with everyone else. But you’re fine, no lasting effects.”
Once her brain caught back up to reality, she saw that the other passengers, with the exception of Clip, hadn’t fared much better. They were all floating about the cargo container in various states of disorientation. Even Azure was looking frazzled.
“Ugh, I did not like that,” Hex groaned. “Everything hurts.”
Clip, of course, was chipper as ever. “Thank you for flying with us today, we hope you’ve had a pleasant trip! We’re now on a free-return trajectory to Equus, so just sit back, relax, and settle in for the next three days.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Zuri muttered.
“We’re just a lonely cargo container floating through space, with ninety millimeters separating us from the endless void.”
“Not helping.”
“Would it help if I told you that with physics in the driver’s seat, there’s no way we won’t get home?”
“Assuming we don’t burn up on re-entry or get flung back out on another three-day jaunt to the moon,” Zuri pointed out.
“Please. Have a little faith, would ya? I calculated our orbital trajectory the second we left the mass driver. We’re on a perfect course for the cargo port drones to snatch us up and brake us into orbit. Assuming nothing hits us, of course, but the odds of that are so low that it might as well be a floating-point error.”
Spring slowly drew herself out of her seat, massaging her aching muscles. She hated the fact that she was getting used to zero-gravity so easily. She swept her mane out of her face and pushed herself over to the wall that the sleeping bags were affixed to. She had no idea what time it was, but she was exhausted. The others seemed to agree with her, as they too wordlessly slipped into their own.
Clip shut off the light from his eyes, and Spring fell asleep almost instantly.