//------------------------------// // 35. [Rarity] Rebuilding the Team // Story: Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss // by The Atlantean //------------------------------// Full Mission Roll: 250 Morkite [2,2], 10 Fossiles, Haz 3, Magma Core Warning: Mactera Plague, Anomaly: N/A Machine Event: N/A Encounters: Cargo Crate, Lost Pack Extra Resources: N/A Mission Special Beer: Dark Morkite Roll System in Final Phase The next morning, Rarity rolled out of bed with a purpose. She donned her armor quickly, downed a couple cups of coffee--though Pinkie said some tea had been ordered for the next supply run--and strode out of her room to see Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack already gathered around the Mission Assignment Table. They stood in awkward, begrudging silence, not speaking to each other, working on a plan, or even acknowledging the others’ presence. She frowned. This would simply not do. “Alright, girls,” she said. “We have a problem, and we’re going to fix it.” “And exactly how do you plan on doing that?” Rainbow asked. Rarity shook her head. “You’re not asking the right question, Rainbow Dash. The first question is to know what the problem is. You were team captain back at CHS. You should know this.” She crossed her arms. “One of you tell me what you think the problem is.” Sunset raised a finger. “Can we--” “Not until you answer the question, Sunset.” “I… don’t know.” She looked down. Rainbow and Applejack remained silent. Rarity gestured to the three. “It’s this.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “You just gestured to all of us.” “I know. Because that’s the problem. We are the problem. We aren’t a team. The minute everything broke, we started squabbling. We split at the seams. We tore our threads. That kind of thing is going to get us killed, girls.” Sunset crossed her arms. “So what are we going to do about it? You seem to want to be the captain. You tell us what to do.” “We’re going to do an Elite Deep Dive.” “What?!” they cried simultaneously. “Not now. We need to all do a standard Deep Dive first, which means we all need to promote. That will take quite a few missions which we must all do as a team. From now on, you leave your squabbles on the Rig. If you have any while on Hoxxes, you wait and address them on the Rig. As soon as you step into that Drop Pod, you are saying that you will work as a team. You are saying that you will set our differences aside and stick together as a team. You are saying that you are worthy of the equipment you carry. You are saying that you will hold each other and me accountable for keeping our promises. “And you are saying that you are worthy of being called a Dwarf of Deep Rock Galactic.” Rainbow snorted. Rarity turned her fiery gaze on her friend. “Is something funny, Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow wilted. “No. We’re just… not dwarves, Rarity.” “You’re right. We’re not. But do you know what we are? We’re tough. We’re resilient. We’re friends. You remember our first Escort Duty? How you took down a BET-C by yourself and revived Sunset after Applejack and I had to go protect the Drilldozer? And how you did it completely because you wanted to do it and bring us home?” She pointed to Applejack. “On that salvage mission in the Crystalline Caverns when we first encountered the Glyphid Menace. You volunteered to stay by the Fuel Cells while we spent our ammunition fighting a Bulk Detonator. You made sure we didn’t have to worry about losing the mission, and you did it without hesitation.” She pointed to Sunset. “And during our Elimination, the one that completed our Probation Assignment, you zipped around the cave and revived everyone as we went down.  Without you, we would’ve all died to the Glyphid Dreadnought. That’s not a feat I take lightly. “As for me… well, you tell me what I’ve done.” “You took charge,” Sunset said. “You took the lead when everything broke, and you’ve kept us all on track during missions. And you probably know more about our equipment than we do.” “See? We’ve all done things that saved each other and the mission. Look, we’re going down to Hoxxes today. Magma Core, a Hazard 3 Morkite mission with Fossils and a Mactera Plague Warning. Applejack, this should be your current Assignment Mission.” Applejack checked her assignment. “Uh, yeah, it is.” “Lock it in and prepare to move out. And remember what I said. We need to be a team, girls. It’s a matter of life and death.” --------------------------------- The Drop Pod doors clanked open to reveal the fiery hellscape that was the bu-infested upper layers of the Magma Core. Its dim orange glow simmered with hostility, and the half-molten fields of rock around the end of the ramp pulsed with heat and anger. Rarity fired a few platforms onto the rock for a safe place to stand as the Pod returned to the surface. “Alright, listen up,” Mission Control said. “We’re sending you deep, so be on your guard. Scanners indicate particularly rich veins of Morkite and gold further down. Bring it back, girls.” Rainbow Dash threw a mock salute toward the surface. “Got it, Skipper.” Sunset fired a flare into the ceiling, and Applejack looked around from the safety of Rarity’s platform. “Y’know, at least it ain’t Low Oxygen again.” Rarity shot a platform just below a Nitra vein on the wall as Sunset grappled to it. “Indeed. I’m not very fond of that particular Warning. Rainbow, dear, could you shoot a zipline over to the dirt, please? Thank you. And everyone, watch the air. Macteras are annoying at the best of times, and this cave is full of them.” Sunset grappled to Molly after mining the Nitra. “Twenty units. Not bad for a vein in the starting room. Anything else?” Rainbow used her laser pointer on a small red-bulbed plant. “Just a Barley Bulb over there and the dirt. Right over there, AJ.” Sunset nodded. “I’ll get the Bulb. You guys start digging.” Applejack’s drills whirred. “On it, Sunset.” Rarity crossed her arms with a smile. It was a start. The cave was surprisingly quiet until the first room. They split off to gather resources, only dealing with a few mini-swarms of Macteras and Glyphids and the occasional Cave Leech. Rarity made a staircase of platforms up to a gold vein as Sunset lit the cavern with her flares and Rainbow set up a zipline down to the next patch of dirt. As they gathered around Molly at the top of the zipline, the ground shook and rocks fell from the ceiling to plink at their feet. Rarity, Applejack, and Sunset held out their arms for balance while Rainbow hooked herself to the zipline. The rock beneath them opened up with a great crack, and Rarity suddenly felt weightless as the cavern around her fell up. She cried out when her hand brushed against the half-molten rock beside her and tumbled to the bottom of the crevasse. Sunset screamed, “Rarity!” Rarity shot her platform gun and climbed onto the instantly dried goop. She rolled onto her back, her breaths heavy and her eyes wide. Her whole body felt bruised, but her left hand burned especially badly. She risked a look: the skin was reddened and already peeling a little. It felt like she was on fire. Sunset’s head appeared at the top of the crevasse. “Rarity, are you okay?” Rarity groaned. “No…” Then Mission Control called: “Heads up! There’s a load of Macteras headed your way. Contact imminent.” Applejack called, “Stay down there, Rarity. We’ll handle ‘em.” Rarity could only nod. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. Damn, her hand hurt so much. The radio crackled. “Contact! Take ‘em out, Team!” The air buzzed with the wingbeats of dozens of Macteras. Most of them were Spawns, but there were a couple Grabbers that screeched from Applejack’s flamethrower. A Goo Bomber wailed and crashed to the ground. A few minutes after the wave started, Mission Control called the end, and the bugs petered out. Sunset’s grapple landed next to Rarity’s head, quickly followed by Sunset herself. She helped Rarity up to a sitting position and hissed at her hand. “Rainbow, shoot a zipline to me! She’s not climbing out on her own.” Rainbow complied, and Sunset hooked Rarity to it before grappling out of the crevasse and running to the other side of the cave. Applejack helped her off. “Ah don’t think we can go on with you like that, Rarity.” “No, let’s finish the mission.” “Ya sure?” “Yes, I’m sure. We’ll give it a look when we get back to the Rig.” Sunset returned and smeared some Red Sugar on the burn. “I don’t know how much that’ll help, but it’s better than nothing.” Rarity nodded. “Thank you, dear. Let’s mine the rest of this Morkite and get out of here.” The rest of the mission was hectic and aching but uneventful. --------------------------------- Once she’d secured her equipment in the Drop Pod, Rarity tiredly visited the medbay where the robots there immediately got to work. They treated her burn and bandaged her hand as well as go over the rest of her just in case. In the end, she was confined to the Rig for the rest of the week. The others expressed their sympathies and agreed to do low-hazard solo missions until she healed. Rarity promised them she’d take care of herself and stay behind. She did not keep that promise.