//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: Hunt // Story: Rimworld: Colony is Magic // by Anotherrandom //------------------------------// Sand. Coarse, irritating and gets absolutely everywhere. The setting sun shone in brilliant reds onto the three travelers. The desert flat stretching into the far horizon. Nothing but dust, old ruins and lichen-covered rocks as far as the eye could see. The plains of Great Empty. They broke camp; she helped Crown set up the tent while King prepared dinner. No campfire as those could be seen for miles and miles on the plains, so they had to prepare for the freezing temperatures without it. It would be a long night for the trio. But that didn't mean that they didn't have a trick up their collective sleeve. “Use a support,” read King. “What support?” They put the chemical pad made for heating up their meals to good use, providing them with one of the foods Twilight ate in her life. It was warm at least. “I dunno, use a rock or something.” They sat on rocks as they dug into their survival meals. "That's their fire out in the brush. Found more tracks, kept some caravan animals nearby for when they would come back. Plenty of tracks now. " There was a tiny white dot in the distance. Shimmering and flashing like a fallen star. A campfire of their target's. Crown chewed, eating the packaged meal took effort. His ration was some kind of burger, but the bun had the taste and consistency of hardtack and the burger left an unpleasant aftertaste in his mouth. "Good. We might catch up to them before they arrive at their base." Twilight's food wasn't much better. A spicy mixture of questionable origin. Vacuum sealed and opened after a prolonged struggle she had ended with a chain sword. The real challenge came when she tried to open her crackers without breaking them. Such a simple task on the surface. But opening the tightly packed, thin and brittle crackers without breaking them into little pieces was no small feat. Not even telekinesis helped. She opened it with too much force and, to the great entertainment of the two men, was showered in crumbles and dusted corn crackers. They knew cracker struggles. King had a vegetable omelet. “Well,” he said, staring at his meal, the meal staring back. “I'm going hungry tonight,” It was a funny thing. It took the combined effort of Lilith and Sun Glory to create the packed meals, the research for them took much longer than making fully functioning solar generators from scratch. And yet, despite their expertise in both of their respective fields, they couldn't make it taste right. Twilight smiled despite the quality of her dinner. Even with the days it took King to recover well enough to start the chase, their mark didn't get away from them. The fire was still there. A beacon for them to follow. "It looks so close, like we could walk over there tonight to free them." Crown bit into his burger and grimaced. "Blech, that's just the desert playing dirty tricks on ya. That's at least three days of travel.” "Hmm." It was the first night of their journey after leaving Going South. Crown led them from the front, acting as their wayfinder and tracker. The desert was as vast as it was merciless and the smallest mistake could turn lethal fast. They did not travel far on the first day, and yet Twilight already felt her muscles protesting against the abuse. Water. The precious liquid was easily the heaviest item in her pack, if one would ignore the armor she was currently wearing. The route she had planned had the closest guaranteed water source almost near the mountains they needed to climb, so they had to carry a six day supply with them. King took on most of the weight. It surprised Twilight to see him still so chipper, even after the exhausting travel. The next day would be much worse, of course. The winds and the chill of the lowering temperature bit into her, the pony involuntarily shivering. Dawn answered by giving a low hum, the blade warm to touch. Dawn. The mysterious chain sword raised question after question. But she could not deny its helpfulness, its very presence was calming. Even in the dream, it tried to be comforting. And yet, there was a sense of uneasy familiarity, and not just because of its chosen form. A detail she was missing. She yawned, she could worry about it later. Sleep. Sleep would be great. “I think it's time we hit the hay.” Crown nodded, eyes darting around. “Should we have someone stand watch?” King gave him a questioning look. “Why? It's the desert. Nothing here. Even the sand lions keep away from the plains. It's just rocks and sand out here.” Their tent had barely enough space for all of them, the cold making them huddle together for warmth. It didn't take long for King's breathing to become even and rhythmical. Crown on the other hoof. Moving, shuddering, and fidgeting in his bedroll. Any notion of peaceful rest escaping him. Until finally, the last vestiges of resolve broke. “Twilight?” he whispered in a weak voice. “Hmm?” Twilight answered tiredly. Her saddlebag wasn't the most comfortable of pillows, but after the ordeal of the desert a rock would do. “Could you…” he trailed off, sounding embarrassed. “Could I what?” He sighed. “Ya know, that thingy where ya wave your horn around it glows?” “The horn light spell? What about it?” She then noticed his face. Even in the relative darkness of the tent, it was visible. Fear. Crown was scared. The dark was back, its claws digging into his flesh, rending him apart piece by piece. She shouldn't. There was a chance, however miniscule, that the imperials would notice. And it cost magic. Another resource she needed to manage carefully. A purple glow lit the tent, Crown calming down, a deep sigh leaving Crown as he relaxed. “Twilight?” “Yes?” “Thank you.” She was back at the library. The form of Celestia was sitting on some pillows, a book levitated in front of her muzzle. Blank pages one by one transforming into writing. Dawn was making progress on her promise, evidently. “Hello Twilight.” She scratched the floor with her hoof; it had the texture of solid wood. Feeling as real as things can get, down to the hard edges of her hoof leaving a small mark behind. Her mind was telling her it was undeniable a wooden floor, yet she knew it had to be a fake. She remembered going to sleep. By Faust, this was so confusing! “So, you are ehm… real?” Her voice was unsteady, and she was avoiding eye contact on instinct. This thing was a stranger. Dream manipulating, weirdly friendly stranger. Oh gosh, she really was talking to a sword? There were no manuals for that! How does one strike a conversation with a sword? She was going crazy, didn’t she? The alicorn put the tome down, a sincere smile adorning her muzzle. “As Real As Reality Can Get.” Twilight gulped. Sword or not, Dawn knew things and probably could answer a lot of her questions. Some of them more pressing than others. Deep breaths, Twilight. Calm down. Panicking solves nothing. Wait, do I even have to breathe? It is a dream technically. Would I just wake up if I did? No. Bad Twilight. Questions for the strange, possibly mind reading entity living in your sword first! She used Dawn to open her dinner, would she be angry at her for that? It seemed demeaning a little, but she was really hungry and the packaging was stupid tough! “You Have Nothing To Fear From Me, Twilight.” Of course, the whole mind reading thing. “No, You Just Obviously Panicking.” Oh. “But, you can read minds? Can you?” “No,Mind Reading Isn't One Of My Capabilities,” Dawn said. “I Can Feel Your Emotions And Peer Into Your Dreams And Memories.” Well, that was creepy and unnerving. The notion of anypony being able to rummage through her memories like a picture book send shivers down her spine, let alone a pony looking exactly like her teacher and basically a second mother! If she finds about the first time she- “And Yes, That Include-” Abort! Abort! Abort! “Nope! Nothing! You know nothing!" Thankfully Spike never found out what she was doing in the shower for half an hour but if any of that got out, she would be ruined! Ruined! The doppelgänger chuckled, the sound ringing like silver bells. “I Must Say, I Missed Being Able To Do This. And You Singing Of Tune While Showering Is Hardly A Thing To Fret Over.” She felt the tips of her ears turn red. Embarrassing foalhood memories aside, she still had questions. “B-but how are you able to do all of this! You lack a Persona core!” At least Sun Glory thought so. Her understanding of Persona cores was underwhelming at best. But she knew it was what allowed artificial intelligence to be, well, intelligent. It was the reason why Liliths ship could be talked to and teach Lilith like a mentor. Those hyper-advanced cores house a peak-human level machine persona. Minds of truly great power when in proper support structure. And Dawn didn't have one! “Through You.” Dawn approached her, wing extending and touching her forehead. “Through You, My Dear Wielder. And The Ambient Psychic Field That Surrounds Us. Through That Connection, I Shall Assist You.” Connection… Dawn saved her life. Just the pain lessening aura helped her many times. The sword arrived just in time to save her twice! The whispers in the back of her head that made her dodge just in the nick of time, the minor corrections to her moves in battle that proved critical. That was all Dawn, wasn’t it? And even now, she could feel it when she focused on it. A golden line connecting her to the blade. “B-but, who made you and why? And what is with that Equestrian writing?! And why Celestia?” She took a deep breath, buck it if it helps or not! “And why me?” Dawn draped one of her wings over her and smiled. “Your Mind, So Young And So Brilliant. You Will Get Your Answers Soon.” The dream shook, cracking and breaking like a mirror being shattered to thousands of pieces. “But Now.” The image shattered, vanishing entirely in a vast blackness. Only a voice remained. “It's Time To Get Up.” Bzzz. Flick! Her ear moved, making the fly perched on her horn do another circle around her head. Traversing this part of Great Empty was a tricky. The white sand hid small greenish glassy beads similar to pieces of jade. Sharp enough to cut an unexpecting pony or a human. The terrain was almost flat, with large bowl shaped cavities in it. And by large she meant miles. Miles of almost unnoticeable decline, you only really realized it was there when you slipped and lost something, sending it down away at increasing speed. Which happened, more than once. Forcing them to dash after anything they dropped as it kept rolling down the slippery, almost pearl like sand. She hated the desert so much… Bzzz. Flick! All day they were going to the only feature of that place. A single ruined building. They were intending to hide from the biggest heat of the day there but it was further away than they thought. The three of them formed a line. Crown didn’t even need to look for tracks, the imperials left behind plenty of evidence for them to follow. So it was three of them, Crown in front with spring in his step, King with his enormous luggage and her, with a fly on her head that decided that unicorn horns, very sensitive and ticklish organs, are great for sitting. Bzzz. Flick! The rational part of her brain told her that talking would only speed up the loss of water. The other pointed to the fact that they had enough and if she has to travel in silence another hour, she is going to explode. At least it would get rid of the fly! Dawn was by her side, humming to itself a low tune. “I get why he named it Great Empty.” There was really nothing here. No flora or fauna, or even rocks anymore. Just the sun, shimmering air, sand and the sharp glassy things and one annoying fly. “Well,” King said, “It’s actually an abbreviation. The old name was far too long.” “What was the long name?” Crown took a sharp intake of breath. “Ehm,” he cleared his throat. “GreatitssofuckinggenormusnothinghereIwannadiepieceofshititsofuckingempty plains.” “... Knight really disliked this place did he?” “Well, he had to traverse it alone for two weeks I kinda get it.” Crown reached for his water bottle and took a sip. Drink even if you are not thirsty. If you drink only when thirsty, you are going to collapse dead with water still in your bottle, ya git. Thanks pap. “Well, it looks like we are here. Let's just hide in the shade until it's bearable again.” The ruin was a sturdy-looking construction. A skeleton of a long gone building, made from steel and concrete, with lichen hiding inside from the wind and sun. The imperials had the same idea like them, the remnants of their campfire and trash still evident. “At least it’s some cover from the heat.” Twilight examined the walls, wondering just how old they could be. The desert arid air preserved to some extent, so it was hard to say. “Anyone wanna play some caravan?” she heard Crown ask. King put down his bag with a clank, he winced at the noise. “What are the rules?” Crown shrugged “No idea, but better than just sitting around and doing nothing. Twilight, wanna join? I think it allows over two players…” “How do you not know? I thought you were an expert on these kinds of games.” “My friend, it's caravan. No one knows how it works.” he leaned in and whispered to King's ear. “No one.” Twilight continued her exploration, checking the depilated buildings, its rooms filled with accumulated dust and sand. “No, thank you. I want to look around.” “Well, knock yourself out.” There were no signs to gleam to what purpose the building used to serve, no furniture or anything. Parts of the steel beam were bent and partially melted. Maybe the ruin was burned? Must have been a very serious house fire to melt steel. Behind a corner, she reached a piece of outside wall, now fallen over. Bleached by the heat, with only a black outline etched into it. She stopped and scrutinized it, the shape not looking quite right. “Hmm, that's funny. It almost looks like a person. A shadow?” ‘Click clack’ Twilight turned, Dawn and her spear instantly out in her telekinetic grip. It came from behind her, sounding almost like hooves. Should she call for help or investigate by herself? If she call for backup, she could startle whatever made that sound, but if it was a monster waiting for an opportunity to attack then- “Ba-a-ah!” “Eeek!” Twilight gave a very Fluttershy-like yelp, jumping and losing balance on the slippery sand, falling to the ground. “Ouch.” Then something wet went over her muzzle. In front of Twilight stood an animal, the best analogy Twilight came at the moment was that it looked like someone stretched out a sheep. It was wooly, had a long neck and was currently licking her face. “Blergh, get away from me!” From inside, Crown arrived, weapon in hand, the hard look of someone ready to fight replaced bewilderment. “Is that a goddamn alpaca?” The licking didn’t slow down; the pony uselessly defended against the onslaught of the animal. “I don't care! Make it stop!” “Yup that’s an alpaca alright, and it looks friendly.” “It's gross! I think I got its spit in my mouth! That can't be sanitary!” King carefully approached it, the alpaca seemingly not caring for his presence as he laid his hand on it. “What interests me is how did an alpaca end up here?” “Maybe the imperials left it behind? Let's be grateful we got something to help haul our stuff.” “You sure?” “I mean, It's probably tame, at least it ain't afraid of people at least. And it seems healthy. Don't look a gifted horse in the mouth is the saying.” “I give you a gifted horse! Help me already!” *Snort* The two humans behind her tried to hide their laughter. Badly. “Yeah, yeah, enjoy it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Stupid humans.” Created by the combination of sweat and alpaca spit, her mane changed style. It now looked, quoting Crown “Like a duck's arse.” King said she looked like something called Elvish Parsley, whatever it was. She hated the desert so much. In a few short hours, the trio, now plus an animal, were back on the trail. The wooly creature was now eagerly following them, burdened with a part of their equipment. “It's sworn to carry our burdens… Lydia it is!” King proclaimed. Lydia was a male, pointed out Crown. “Inconsequential!” Lydia it was then. Stupid desert, whoever is controlling the sun in this place needs a good buck in the head. Stupid alpaca that nearly caused her to have a heart attack and stupid bucking Rimworld! Twilight wasn't in the best of moods. She was sweaty, filthy, her mane was now sticky and greasy because of alpaca spit, and this was just the second day! The wind sent a piece of sand into her remaining eye; the pony gritted her teeth together. “Don't like the wind. May mean rain.” “Wouldn't that be a good thing? For once?” she asked. Rain, she didn't see a single raindrop since waking up in this place. She saw plenty of lighting striking Knights cornfields, but that was about it. She missed seeing the weather teamwork, Rainbow Dash creating clouds between her naps. The coziness of snuggling up with Spike next to the fireplace on a rainy day. The smell of wet dirt and just how clean the air was when a storm passed. “Nah, rain would probably mean flash floods. Trust me, ya don’t wanna flash floods.” Ah of course, the weather was also insane and wanted them all dead. Because honestly why not at this point? Was there a thing in this place that wasn't trying to murder them horribly? At least it was getting cooler as the sun began its descent behind the horizon and the wind was refreshing, when it wasn't blowing sand into her face. Silver lining Twilight, silver lining. Then they started to notice. Their path took them to a wide, flat circular area clean of any debris. Even the strange green glass was absent. First was the alpaca, the animal flared its nostrils, kicking up sand and refusing to go any further. “Common ya dump mule, move! We are losing daylight!” She was next, the smell of death hit hard. Rot and decay gave her already dubious launch an idea for swift evacuation as bile built in her throat. A corpse of an imperial trooper, sprawled stomach down in the sun. Skin turned blue and his body was swollen like a balloon, with his clothing partially burned. Crown kneeled next to the cadaver, one hand holding his nose. “Fuck, that smells.” He first examined the tracks nearby. Got hit, he said to himself. Crawled some distance away, not enough ketchup around for blood loss to do him in. Burns are not severe enough to kill. Hmm, some red pooling under him. Abdominal wound, probably internal bleeding then. He turned the body face up. The wound was nasty, a double puncture on his chest. Whatever attacker killed him ignored the flak jacket and his vest and impaled him. The open wound was seeping pus and some clean liquid. Strange, looks like a giant spider bite. But why did the death acidifier not kicked in? The answer was simple as he registered the shallow breathing. He was still alive. Twilight saw the stunned expression on him. The builder went pale, color vanishing from his face. “Crown?” “Okay guys, we're getting outta here. Now.” The urgency in his voice was enough for them to listen. “King, get the alpaca. Let's follow our own hoofsteps. Crown, get to us, slowly!” Dawn was getting louder, the chain spinning. A warning, she sensed. Danger nearby, but from where? The ground. Something was moving under them. Lydia was resisting on her leash, kicking and protesting, even trying to bite King's hand. The ground moved. The circular flat they were standing on started to rise, like a giant lit being unscrewed. And from under a newly made gap, a pair of giant, hairy legs of even more enormous spiders appeared, reaching out for them blindly as they fell to the ground because of the unstable ground. A trapdoor spider, Crown recognized. Just bigger. A lot bigger. A dunealisk brood mother. “Mother of Celestia,” the creature was enormous. It was the size of a train wagon! Its nest was more like a small cavern it excavated. Luckily for them they were far enough to be safe, avoiding the grim fate of being turned into spider food. “Wait, that doesn't make sense, the fangs on this thing are way too big, it would tear the imperial to shreds.” An army of smaller, only large dog sized spiders emerged from the nest, covered in yellow and brown hair and protected by a hard chitinous hide. “Why I had to open my stupid mouth?” The eight-legged beasts crawled into the dying daylight, fangs glistening with venom. Searching for prey through smell and vibrations, their hunger unsatisfied. They moved fast on the hot sand, locked on their next meal, the next target. That being two scared humans, one panicking purple unicorn and an alpaca. The spiders started spitting webs. Brilliant spider silk coated in a strange liquid. Then the webs caught on fire. “Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous,” Crown deadpanned. Things were getting better and better! King turned to him. “F.E.A.R tactic?” The builder nodded. “F.E.A.R tactic.” “Scatter!” Twilight yelled. The brilliant strategy on fuck everything and run, designed and named by Knight during a conflict that would latter be dubbed the second great emu war, proved to be an effective survival tactic once more, as the three colonists and an confused animal went screaming into the desert, giant spiders in tow. No one really knows who had the idea of creating super sized spiders for silk production; what is known is that their home planet was reduced to ash by an atomic hellfire soon afterwards. The spiders survived. Twilight ran for her life, hooves thundering on the treacherous desert surface, the sharp stones hidden in the sand cutting painfully into her already leg, adding to her limp. But she ignored the injury and the pain. She had other problems right now. “Aaaah!” Twilight shrieked. Hundred pounds weighing, eight legs having and fire webs spewing problems. The lisk jumped as she dodged, landing next to her. Dawn roared as it cut into its legs, severing several of them and crippling the creature. King had it worse. King was on fire. The web hit his backpack; the canvas caught aflame as he sprinted away. He was huffing and puffing as two dunealisk were gaining on him, a trail of smoke behind him. “Oh god no, oh god oh god no...” Reality bended, light and gravity diverted for a moment and space that was empty was now filled with a furious purple mare, swinging a chain sword. Twilight was in a sour mood. She was sore, sweaty, and dirty. She didn't shower in two days. Her leg hurt and her missing eye itched. The sword she wielded was apparently alive and now adding insult to injury, she was also covered in green spider ichor that smelled just awful. Twilight was done. “Have this!” The blade vanished into the jaws of a spider, only hilt covered in purple aura remaining as Dawn cut its way out. “I just want to go home!” Her horn was alight with power, blasting them with magic, knocking them back. She conjured a shield to protect her from the fiery webs as the fiery blast scorched her tail. “But you have to be difficult!” Slice and dice, her discomfort vanished under a wave of anger and fury. “So die already!” She jammed her blue spear into the body of the second lisk. The mare dodged under its snapping mandibles, slicing and stabbing with the now spider free sword as she did, but the venom staining her fur, discoloring it and stinging like a thousand ant bites. “You-” She kicked the slain beast for good measure. “F-FUCKER!” King stared, his firearm finally freed from its holster. Turns out that drawing your gun while on fire was harder than it looks, but now he found out he ran out of targets. The unicorn handling them already. Oh, wait, he was still on fire. “Eeep!” he started rolling on the ground, putting the last embers out. Crown chose that exact moment to find them, his own pursuers now dead due to lead poisoning and also gunshot wounds to the head. Lydia was with him, chewing on one unlucky bush. Twilight took a few labored breaths. The adrenalin was still cursing through her, though she knew a crash was imminent. Dawn was still spinning fast, its faint golden glow relaxing her tensed muscles. The fight was over. “I must say Twilight, on behalf of me and Knight, I'm so proud of you.” Twilight watched him, her attempts at setting him ablaze using her mind was so far unsuccessful, probably because she was low on magic. Well, maybe next time. Which meant tomorrow. Their campsite for the night was a humble establishment, again having to go without a campfire to not warn their prey. King busied himself with cleaning their rifles while Crown prepared food and pestered her. “Your first swear word,” practically sang Crown. “I thought the day would never come.” “I swore before.” “Your first real swear word.” The battle with the dunealisk had ended without any injury, other than her pride as they threw her limp body on the alpaca like a sack of potatoes, making her ride the rest of the day. For ease of transport supposedly. Ease of transport my flank… But the fight didn't leave them without losses. “What do you mean, the food burned?” “Well, you know the packaging for the survival meals? Well, we made it from chemfuel.” That would explain why it took King so long to extinguish himself and also why the fire was bright pink. Having their food supply significantly reduced was a major concern. They were prepared and carried surplus for the way. Hopefully, they could steal from the imperials and be okay. But there was one significant detail that made all of it way worse. “No vegetarian meals left? Like, none?” “Nope, we have only meat based meals from now on. I mean, you could try it, maybe not that bad?” She gave the “goulash” a taste. No, it was worse. Now, she understood some creatures needed meat; it was a natural part of their diet. Something they needed to keep healthy. Some ponies even liked meat! Pegasi love fish and thestrals have their bugs. Nothing wrong with that! She just wasn't one of those ponies. Crown gave her a funny look. “Say, since when can ya turn green?” It would be a long two weeks of travel. They huddled together again in the stuffy tent, offering them protection from the strong winds howling outside as it played with the cloth of their tent. Lydia humming outside, adding to the noise along with Dawn. Still, despite the noises, the exhausted colonists were drifting to sleep, surrounded only by the desert, the light of the moons and dark clouds, building up on the horizon. And late into the night, the first raindrop fell, and the flood began.