//------------------------------//
// Blast Bit 
// Story: Half-Life: Equestria 
// by Ganymede 
//------------------------------//

"QUIIIIIIIEEEEEEEET!"

Twilight had been hacking away at a boarded-up passage with her crowbar, and stopped to scream at the wiggling blue pony.

"I can't even think with her making all that noise. Even with her gagged!"

Rarity just rolled her eyes, tightening her magic around Rainbow Dash's muzzle.

"Twilight, I really don't think we should be going this way. I mean, don't ponies put boards over an entrance for a reason?"

Twilight walked around exasperated. "Do you see another way to go?" She trotted back to the silo entrance, slamming her hooves into the ground the whole way. "They bolted the door shut after we went through! It's not like we could go back if we wanted to."

She swung her crowbar into it, making a satisfying clang.

"Besides, every other door in this entire place is locked up tight. Just look around us!"

All around them was a dark, dank area. The sound of the ventilation from the storage area they had left was replaced by complete silence, save for the sound of some dripping water in the distance, and the loud "MMMPH!" sounds from Rainbow Dash struggling against her ties and gag. The few lights around them barely lit the concrete floors, and all the pipes along the ceiling were rusted over.

"By all means," Twilight continued, "if you see a pleasant, inviting door with a welcome mat, do let me know."

Twilight went back to the boarded-up hallway and continued to hack away, content with hearing the satisfying THWACK of each hit.

"Well, now, dear," Rarity said, "there's no need to use that tone." She shrunk back into one of the corners, using her magic to drag Rainbow Dash with her. "You know," she said quietly to Rainbow Dash, "you could be a bit quieter."

Twilight imagined Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes, but didn't bother to turn around to see. The boards were taking forever to knock down, and her arms were getting sore from all the swinging. She let out an exasperated groan amid Rainbow Dash's muffled yells.

"Darling!" Rarity said, "Are you sure you wouldn't like some help?!"

Twilight swung her crowbar into another board, feeling it start to crack. "Well," she said, "you could start by tightening your grip on that grunt's muzzle." She swung the crowbar again and slammed it satisfyingly into the cracked board, and watched as it broke in two, and fell to the floor.

"You don't think I've tried?" Rarity said. "If I make it any tighter, she might not have a muzzle!"

Twilight lifted her crowbar again, finding the next board. Fine with me, she thought. At least that would make it quieter in here.

A few boards later, Twilight caught a glimpse of light on the other side. She put down her crowbar with a clang and peered through, pressing her face against the wood.

"I think I see something," she said. "It looks like a... well, it's some sort of really big room. I can't really tell from this angle." Twilight was concentrating so hard, she hardly noticed that Rainbow Dash had fallen silent. "I think we can get through here, but it might take a few more min—er—hours." She took a deep breath and picked up her crowbar with a sigh.

"Really," Rarity said, "I simply can't stand watching you do all the work! Can't I at least use my magic to help?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "If you use your magic on this, you might lose your grip on Mr. Wings over there. The last thing we need is a pegasus flying around here like some lost moth."

Rainbow Dash let out another yell, much louder than the others.

"AH!" Twilight groaned, "make it STOP!" She threw her hooves into the air and over her head. "You know what? Forget it! I'm sick of hammering these boards!" She lit her horn and grabbed one of the grenades from her suit.

Now, even Rarity started yelling out in protest as Twilight magicked the grenade through the hole and pulled the pin.

"All right, every pony," Twilight yelled. "MOVE!" She galloped out of the way, and caught a glimpse of a screaming, panicking Rarity flailing a wide-eyed Rainbow Dash behind her. Both of them cradled into a corner and put their hooves over their heads as the blast hit their ears. Twilight winced from the pain, forgetting how much a loud noise could hurt.

All of them waited a few seconds in silence as the wood chips settled and the air cleared. She sensed, rather than heard, Rarity getting to her hooves.

"Have you gone INSANE, dear?!" Rarity spewed. "Honestly, you seem to be turning the most mundane tasks into some sort of... of... demolitions competition! I swear to Celestia, I'm never going to get my hearing back when we're done with this!"

Rainbow Dash could be seen in the corner, some of the color missing from her face.

"And of all the things to blow up, you just HAD to use your precious grenades on a bunch of wooden boards! You didn't think that we might need those in case we, oh I don't know, GET ATTACKED BY ALIENS?!"

Twilight felt a cold sweat start to pour down her neck, and tried not to look Rarity in the face.

"Oh, and," she added, lowering her voice to a whisper, "I almost forgot to mention, you nearly got us killed, dear. That might be an important fact."

Twilight tried to move, and found herself unable to. She could still see Rarity's face in her mind, even though all her eyes saw was the cold, dark pavement at her hooves. She opened her mouth to apologize, and only managed to make a high-pitched squeak come out instead.

"I—" Rarity started to speak up again, before exhaling and sighing deeply. Twilight looked up to see Rarity look down at the ground, and then turn around towards the corner where Rainbow Dash was.

Rainbow Dash was still in the corner. Her magic bindings were off, but she hadn't moved one inch. Both Twilight and Rarity seemed to notice the unbound Rainbow Dash at the same time, and just stared.

Rainbow spread her wings and lifted her head slightly, shifting her eyes.

"What?"

Rarity looked back at Twilight before turning back to Rainbow.

"You're... still here?" Rarity squeaked, as though her voice would frighten her away.

Rainbow gave them a bewildered look. "Uh, yeah?" She indicated the room by glancing around. "Kinda lost in here." She started to get up. "Besides, you two are too busy blowing yourselves up to bother hurting me." She got up and stretched her wings.

Rarity and Twilight were still staring at her.

"I—but—aren't you—" Rarity stuttered. "We have weapons!" She tried pointer her hoof to the pistol on her shoulder, and nearly fell over. There was a clatter on the ground as the gun fell out of its holster.

Rainbow Dash looked down at Rarity picking it up. "I'll take my chances," she said.

Twilight put her hoof to her face. "Well, at least she won't be making a racket anymore," she said quietly to herself. "Why in the world didn't we just—" she thought about what would have happened if they hadn't bound her in the first place, and decided it was for the best.

Rarity gave a loud, disgruntled sigh as she levitated the pistol back in place. She turned back at Twilight and stuck her hoof into Twilight's chest. "Don't," she said, putting her face right up to Twilight's, "ever do that again."

Twilight watched as Rarity walked through the debris and into the big room on the other side. Rainbow Dash was still stretching, now lying on the ground with her body laid out as much as she could muster.

"Well, come on, Mr. Grunt," Twilight said, rolling her eyes, "you can stretch later." She turned around and muttering wishfully, "Maybe there's a gym somewhere around here we don't know about."

=========================================================

Twilight felt her hoof slip on one of the ladder bars and groaned as she regained her balance.

"Why in Equestria does this place have so many ladders?!"

She looked around at the large pit she and Rarity were descending into. It could have easily housed the small library room she lived in back in Canterlot. But, somehow, she couldn't imagine anything being less like Canterlot. The concrete was gone now, replaced by a dark, rusty metal, lit poorly by the glaring overhead lights. There was a large concrete platform in the center of the pit, surrounded by a black-and-yellow striped warning trim, that looked like it might be a door of some sort, but none of them could figure out how to get it open. Looking up, Twilight could still see remnants of the area above the pit, including the small head of Rainbow Dash peering curiously at them.

Rainbow Dash had decided to stay at the top, in case she discovered a way to open the door from the top. Both Twilight and Rarity had searched with her for a while and never did find anything, but Rainbow swore she didn't see anything when she flew down there. Twilight doubted Rainbow would find another route up there, but she still tried to keep a close eye on her anyway.

"Darling!" she heard the voice of Rarity above her. Twilight looked up, but only saw Rarity's large rump intruding upon her face, and tried to ignore the face-full-of-tail that kept brushing all around her. "Darling," she continued, "I—I think I'm slipping."

Twilight looked forward again and felt a large weight drop on her head. She tried pushing back against it, but her own hooves quickly slipped off the bars as well. Twilight felt an all-too-familiar jolt in her stomach and light scream from Rarity.

Luckily, the fall wasn't very far, and they collapsed on the ground a second later. Rarity groaned, partially bruised, but Twilight's suit absorbed the impact. "I hate ladders," Twilight sighed.

"Having fun down there?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, head still peering over the edge.

Twilight looked up at the blue dot of a head, silhouetted against the glaring lights on the ceiling, and gave as scathing a glare as she could muster. Rainbow had decided to take it as a blessing that she was stuck with a couple of jesters to keep her entertained. After letting her loose to fly around the room, Twilight and Rarity had made a number of blunders while searching for a way out, including one involving a headcrab zombie and an explosive container. Rainbow had found these encounters increasingly amusing, and was now giggling at almost any small blunder they made.

"Oh, by the way," Rainbow continued, a hint of satisfaction in her voice, "I think I found something!" She stifled a laugh. "You two—" she put a hoof to her mouth, "You two wanna come up and have a look?!"

This was followed by a large spurt of giggles, to which Twilight rolled her eyes. She tried to toss a few magic bullets her way, only to find herself yelling "OW!" as she remembered her horn was still bad. This only made Rainbow laugh even louder.

"You two are a riot!" she said, finally calming down enough to talk. She was peering back over the edge again. "I wonder if all scientists are like this!" She scratched her head, "I shoulda become a security guard. Who needs TV when you have this?!"

Twilight watched Rainbow turn around and out of sight. She could still hear her giggling as she retreated.

"You don't suppose," she heard Rarity say behind her, "she actually found something?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter," she said. "It's not like she has any place to go—not unless she found some sort of secret trap door, at least." She considered this as she got her bearings. This may as well have been the kind of place that had all sorts of hidden areas that lead to secret compartments and maintenance areas, very few of which (she hoped) lead anywhere in particular.

Rarity was already ahead of her, studying the lighter-metal "door" sunk into the bottom of the hole they were standing in. Twilight caught up, stepping over the black-yellow warning trim, and noticed the step onto the sunken door was much deeper than it looked from above.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Twilight asked Rarity. She stepped down and walked up to join Rarity. "What if this thing opens while we're standing on it?"

"Oh, don't silly, darling," Rarity said, not bothering to look back. "There couldn't possibly be anything else that operates this thing! See for yourself!"

Twilight followed Rarity's hoof, and noticed there was a large vertical beam extending from the back of the door-pit, with a small light a good ways up. It had been so camouflaged that Twilight hadn't noticed it until she had walked right up to it.

"See those buttons up there?" Rarity asked. "Those have to be what opens this thing."

"Up... there?" Twilight asked slowly. "Rarity! We can't even reach that high! How are ponies supposed to open this thing if the controls are out of reach?!"

Rarity turned around and rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't know, darling. Maybe the ponies who work down here are taller?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to roll her eyes. "Let's just ask Rainbow to come down here. It'll be easier than finding a ladder to cli—"

A klaxon sounded, filling the room with echoing alarms so loud, they made the air feel thicker. Twilight covered her ears instinctively before remembering her ears were already dampened to loud sounds from all the gunfire. She could still see Rarity's hide standing on end from when she had jumped from surprise.

"What in Equestrian is that?!" she screamed.

Twilight almost had to lip-read to hear her. "I don't know!" she yelled back, "but I think we should—AH!" She felt the floor shift out, nearly making her fall on her face. "The platform!" she screamed, catching her balance. "MOVE!"

They slammed into each other, still panicking, before noticing the doors had already conveyed them to the edge of the pit. Twilight jumped onto the side, pulling herself forward and onto the yellow-black trim. Rarity had been right behind her, and had jumped on top of Twilight. Judging by the weight, the floor had completely swept back, and was no longer supporting them.

Twilight groaned as she felt Rarity claw herself over Twilight back, being sure to knock Twilight's head around as she reached the end. "Rarity!" She felt the weight lift. The klaxons shut off a few seconds later as Twilight got to her hooves. "For gosh sake, Rarity! You couldn't have—"

Twilight jumped as a loud metal clang rang out behind her. Rarity did the same. Silence took over again, and Twilight once again became painfully aware of the ringing in her ears.

"Well, that was interesting," Twilight said, turning around. "I wonder what—"

"AWESOME!"

Both Twilight and Rarity looked up to see an annoying flare of rainbow shoot down from above and land right where the sunken door used to be. She flared her wings and posed like some great war hero on top of a large lift that wasn't there a second ago: one which covered the entire pit, and was high enough to allow a pony to reach the switches on the poll.

"I knew that had to do something!" she said triumphantly. "Too bad you two were too busy—rolling—around down here." She rolled her eyes in different directions as she said this.

Twilight didn't even bother dignifying that with a response.

"Hey, don't look at me that way!" she said. "I just helped you two find the way out of here!" She turned around and trotted up to the buttons in the back. "Now, I wonder what these do."

Twilight was about to casually step onto the lift, but was caught off guard by Rainbow's statement. "RAINBOW! NO!" she shouted out, already seeing her hoof hovering over the switch. She didn't bother to wait to see what she would do. Rarity's tail was already in her mouth, and she was flinging her onto the lift.

"Twilight! What are you—"

No sooner had Rarity hit the lift than Rainbow's hoof hit the switch.

The lift didn't so much "descend" as "plummet". Twilight felt a tremendous force on her muzzle, which was still holding on for dear life to Rarity's tail, and felt her entire body yanked forward and down. Every muscle in her body tightened. The lift was moving so fast that she remained suspended above it for a few seconds.

Unfortunately, a few seconds was all it took for the lift to reach the bottom, and by the time Twilight found her bearings on the lift, she felt the uncomfortable sensation of her hooves collapsing from under her and her face slamming into metal.

Silence ensued, which was followed by a very long, muffled groan directed into the ground.

Twilight heard the sound of gently flapping wings, and imagined Rainbow Dash lightly touching down on the lift. Twilight was already clenching her teeth, trying to prevent a few choice words from slipping out, even before prying her face from the ground.

"Well, this place looks... different," she heard Rainbow say.

Twilight was already pulling her face up. It stretched for a moment, skin still clinging to the metal, before snapping off with the sound of a cork popping. Her eyes derped for a few seconds, a few stars rotating over her head, before she finally shook out her mane and clenched her teeth in a snarl.

Rarity was busy laying on her side and rubbing her temple with a stunned look still on her face.

"Hmmm..." Rainbow contemplated, flying off the lift. "Looks like this place actually goes somewhere."

Twilight followed Rainbow with her eyes, and gasped as an enormous tunnel came into view. It was still just as dimly lit as the room they were just in, if not darker, but unlike that room, this place actually went somewhere.

She was so busy taking in the enormous space—the vaulted ceiling, the small walkway on the side, the way the lift suspended over the floor, the suspended walkways surrounding it, and a small object she couldn't quite make out—that she didn't even notice Rainbow Dash hovering around in contemplation. The next thing she heard was Rainbow turning around.

"Well... er..." she started, before a sudden "thanks guys gottago!"

A SWOOSH followed, and Twilight only caught the tail-end of the rainbow streak left behind.

"RAINBOW!" Twilight yelled. She turned back to Rarity, who was still getting her bearings. "Well, that's great. That's juuuust great!" She furrowed her brows, feeling her face grow hot. "She just flew off!"

She turned around, face still red, and heard Rarity trot up behind her. She sensed, rather than felt, Rarity put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"Maybe it's for the best, Darling," she said. "She is, after all, a soldier. We're lucky she didn't just kill us as soon as she was set free."

This only made Twilight angrier.

"She could have told us something. She could have helped us!" She turned back to Rarity. "Can you imagine how useful it would have been to have an actual military soldier with us?!"

Rarity withdrew her hoof. "Dangerous, more like," she muttered.

Twilight ignored her, and carefully walked to the edge of the suspended walkway and dropped down to the tunnel floor. "How in Equestria are we going to catch up to her?!"

"Darling." She heard Rarity drop down to the floor with her. "I don't think we need to—"

"OF COURSE WE NEED TO!" Twilight turned around and blurted out. "I mean—" she calmed down upon seeing Rarity's reaction. She sighed. "Look, I don't think there's any way we can stand a chance at surviving this without some help." she explained. "Now," she walked up to Rarity, "if you want to continue wandering around here, with nothing but the pistol on your shoulder, and a pony who only half understands how the sub-machine gun she's wielding works, be my guest, but I really, really, seriously think we could use someone who really knows what they're doing."

Rarity gave her a look that a mother might give to an upset child. "You really believe Rainbow Dash knew what she was doing?"

"Why, of cour—" Twilight stopped herself mid-sentence. She put her hoof back on the ground, which was hovering around to help make her point. Rarity's statement hit harder than the floor of the lift when it had slammed into her face. She hung her head and scowled. "No," she said blankly.

"Good," Rarity said simply. She walked past Twilight, continuing her own train of thought. "Now then, we should think about the best way forward," she said, walking up to a small object on the tracks that Twilight hadn't noticed a moment ago. "This train might help."

Twilight's head sprung up. "Train?! Really?!" She galloped forward, and found that the "small" object had really been a rather large object a ways away. As she approached, a small electric cart came into view. She also realized, looking down at the floor, was that what the black metal beams that she assumed were just reinforcing the floor were really embedded train rails.

She looked back up at the small cart. "That's... not really a train, Rarity," she said, catching her breath. "It's more of a wooden platform on a rail. They may call it a train, but it's more of an electric-powered cargo hauler. They made me ride one of these back in the hazard course."

Rarity cocked an eye at her.

"It doesn't really go that fast," Twilight said, boarding the platform and studying the metal box mounted on the front, "but it should get us where we need to be."

The top of the orange box she was looking at was full of switches and knobs, all of which Twilight knew exactly how to operate. She flipped one of them as Rarity boarded behind her, and heard the satisfying sound of the "cargo hauler" come to life.

"Looks like this one's three speeds," she said. "The other one was only two. Maybe it'll get us there faster?"

She gently push the lever forward until it clunked into the first speed. The train lurched forward, catching Rarity off guard. 

"A-a-are you sure this is safe, dear?" Rarity said, catching her balance.

Twilight was carefully keeping her eye on all the gauges. "I'm not sure how long this thing has been down here. It seems to be a little rusty."

She pushed the lever another notch, and felt another jarring increase in speed. Rarity had put both hooves around Twilight's waist.

They were moving a lot faster than Twilight had thought. The lift they had gotten off was fading into the distance. The tunnel was curving now, and both of them were keeping a close eye on what was ahead of them.

"Uh, Twilight?"

Rarity was pointing her hoof at some green dots approaching them. Twilight had seen them before Rarity had even stuck her hoof out, and recognized them as those strange hound things Twilight had protected Spike against in the sewage area. She could hear them yipping in the distance.

"Don't worry," she said, pushing the lever one more click. "Full speed ahead!"

She felt another lurch as the train sped up again. The wind was whipping her mane around, and part of her felt the exhilaration of the moment. The green dots very quickly approached, and turned into green blurs before passing on their left or their right. One of the dots was right in front of them, and looked confused on which way to go.

"Twilight, we're going to—"

SPLAT!

Twilight and Rarity flinched as they felt a light bump.

"Maybe we should slow down, dear!" she heard Rarity say.

Twilight was starting to agree with her. The speed was a lot of fun, and certainly helped to avoid alien contact, but there wasn't much they could do if they ran into a larger obstacle.

The walls were a blur, and the ride had become one ceiling-light passing by after another. Occasionally a large creature would pass by, but aside from the splats of "rail kill" and the constant churning of the electric motor and metal-on-metal wheels, there wasn't much to the monotony.

That was, until the tunnel straightened out.

"Dear, you might want to slow down."

"I see it!" Twilight said, pressing some controls.

There was a very bright green light at the end of the tunnel, and both of them were having to shield their eyes. Neither of them could see well enough to see what was beyond, but they both doubted the rails extended beyond that point. Boxes were coming into view, sitting on the rails beside some of the aliens. Twilight yelled out as the ones sitting on the rail explosively turned into flying wooden chips as the "train" plowed into them. Both Rarity and Twilight ducked, hooves flailing over their heads, as this happened.

"Twilight, SLOW DOWN!"

Twilight's hooves were going crazy over the control panel. One of her hooves was yanking on the speed switch. "I can't!" she yelled, looking up at the fast-approaching green glow.

They were close enough now to see that it was, in fact, a large vat of green glowing liquid. Twilight could hear a faint ticking from her suit which in the back of her mind sounded like a Geiger counter. Pipes wound around above the fluid, extending from the walls. Many were leaking the glowing goo, and there were small specks of debris floating around the small lake.

"Twilight! Gate! Board! WOODEN THING!"

Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw the parking gate ahead, with a large concrete barrier just beyond. Twilight's hooves stopped, and she felt herself go into a small trance. A few choice moments flashed before her eyes as the gate flew up to them and snapped into a slew of wooden chips. Twilight and Rarity instinctively grabbed onto each other in a tight embrace, scrunching their eyes. There was a loud bang as the train collided.

Twilight only remembered the next second or two as a bunch of flailing hooves, blurred glimpses of pipes and metal, and a very bright green light. Did she scream? Was Rarity next to her the whole time? Did anypony see them? Twilight couldn't say. All she could remember was the painful pinch on the back of her neck, followed by an even more painful upward jerk.

She kept flailing her hooves in an outright panic, and didn't even take note of the fact she wasn't falling anymore. It wasn't until she had "floated" over the concrete at the back of the lake that she noticed she was being carried. She stopped flailing her hooves, and felt her head spin. She felt like she had just run a marathon.

"W-WHA-AA-A-AT?!" she could barely let out.

She drifted gently down until she felt her hooves touch ground before feeling the pain in her neck go away suddenly. She collapsed, feeling the ground slam first into her hooves, and then into the rest of her body. She wished she could take off the suit so she could feel the satisfaction of the cold ground against her bare hide.

For the first time since they had seen the barrier, she heard the sound of Rarity's voice. It was just a bunch of groans and sighs, but it was still clearly recognizable as her voice.

Twilight tried to get up, and promptly collapsed again as her wobbly knees couldn't hold her weight.

"R---r-rarity?"

She tried looking around, and noticed a solid metal wall marking the end of the tunnel. Behind her, the green liquid still glowed brightly, casting shimmering shadows on the wall.

"R-Rarity!" she said again, this time having a little better luck getting to her hooves. "Rarity, what just—"

"SERIOUSLY!" a voice sounded above her, "You two really need to get your acts together!"

Twilight's head snapped up, nearly making her overbalance and collapse again.

There, floating above them with the most sarcastic scowl Twilight had ever seen on a mare, was Rainbow Dash.

"YOU!" Twilight gasped. She had to rub her eyes just to be sure she was actually seeing correctly. "YOU saved us?!"

She stared as Rainbow floated onto the ground. Rainbow couldn't help but strike a pose at these words, although her scowl was still somewhat present.

Twilight barely noticed Rarity coming to her senses. It wasn't until she heard the words "Twilight, what in Equestria just- RAINBOW!" that she finally turned around to see Rarity starring dumbfounded right at Rainbow Dash. "You have GOT to be kidding!"

Twilight walked slowly up to her, mouth still agape, struggling with whether to say thank you, ask her why she saved them, or simply slap her in the face. What ended up coming out was a stuttered combination of all three.

"Wha—but you... how—and why?! And—"

Rarity's eyes went even wider. "Did you just... save our lives!?"

A hint of red tinged Rainbow's cheeks, and she made a funny smile. "I, uh..."

"So, wait," Twilight thought. "You actually went out of your way to save a us? A couple of clumsy scientists?" Twilight emphasized the word clumsy.

"No! I mean yes! I mean—" Rainbow was retreating into the corner and smiled with a small squeak.

Twilight's gape instinctively turned into a smile, and then into smirk. She walked up to Rainbow, half-knowingly, and slowly said "And here I never would have thought! A soldier, actually caring about a couple scientists!"

As if Rainbow couldn't have gone any redder, she somehow defied all the laws of color by turning even more red.

Twilight found herself starting to chuckle at this, and turned to Rarity, who started to smile as well.

"Well, what do you know," Rarity said, walking up to Rainbow. "Our military soldier has feelings after all!"

"Guys, really! It was just something I—" Rainbow said, starting to cower against the wall. "I mean, I only—"

Twilight and Rarity forced themselves to stop smirking, and walked up to Rainbow. Twilight patted her lightly on the head.

"Don't worry, Mr. Airman Rainbow Dash," she said. "We won't tell a soul." She closed her eyes as she said this. "Just so long," she looked back down with a smirk, "as you tell us your story."

Rainbow Dash stood up. "My story," she said, sounding relieved. Some of the color came back into her cheeks. "My story! Oh, of course! Sure." She looked around. "I'll... get right on that."

She flew up, eager to get away from the awkward situation.

=========================================================

"I have to admit," Rarity said, descending in the arms of Rainbow Dash, "having a pegasus around is a big help."

Twilight was standing inside one of the pipes that ran from the walls above the vat of radioactive goo. They had just gotten done searching the entire area for an exit, and determined that the only way out was through one of these pipes. Twilight admitted this wasn't the optimal solution, since it could potentially lead them somewhere really bad, like the source of all the radiation, but none of them had come up with a better idea.

Rainbow Dash had just finished lowering Rarity inside the pipe. They were lucky to find an opening in the pipe to climb through. Luckily, these pipes were so old that many had completely rusted through, resulting not only in leaking goo, but also some rather large openings in the top for them to enter through.

What was more curious about the general area, however, was the fact that the tunnel simply stopped. The cargo train didn't have anywhere to go beyond the lake of goo. Twilight made the suggestion that, perhaps the radioactive lake used to be some sort of lift that would carry the crates somewhere further. The others thought it more likely, though, that the construction crew simply abandoned the train project. Whatever the case, the pipes seemed to be the only way to go.

"You still have your flashlight, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

This was, of course, a rhetorical question. Twilight's flashlight was bound to her suit. It was simply Rarity's way to reminding her it was there.

A click indicated that Twilight had switched it on. They all looked through the pipe in its new brightly lit glory.

It was empty.

"Sure you don't want me to fly ahead?" Rainbow asked.

Rainbow was still getting over her embarrassment, but she was doing much better since they started looking for the exit. She found pride in her ability to use her wings to help looking around from a distance.

"I'm sure," Twilight said. "You couldn't see anything anyway. I'm the one with the light, remember?"

Twilight walked forward, and lead the way through the pipe, her hooves clanging against the hollow metal. It was a noisy process, but they were glad their hooves were the only thing they could hear. No sound meant no rushing fluid coming their way, or anything else that might surprise them.

"So," Rainbow Dash started. They had only been walking for a few seconds, but it felt much longer. "The guy back at the entrance says this is a silo complex. Do you scientists really keep missiles down here? Or are silos just used for testing and stuff?"

Twilight had nearly forgotten that this was supposed to lead to a silo. So far, she hadn't seen a single sign since the entrance. Nevertheless, her mind felt compelled to correct her.

"The missiles themselves are never actually stored in test silos," she said. "The parts are brought in and tested, and then carted to another area to be assembled."

She pondered a bit to be sure what she said was correct.

"Unless," she put in, "the silo is really a housing for a missile prepped to launch. But that's not the kind that we're going to... I think."

Rainbow seemed much more interested than she should have. She pulled up right beside Twilight, wide-eyed.

"Is that what happened at ground zero?" she asked. "Did you set off a missile? Did it blow up?"

Twilight sighed. "We're not going to see a missile, Rainbow. Or a rocket. Or anything with any kind of cross-Equestrian propulsion system prepped with an explosive." She rolled her eyes. "The most we could possibly see is a rocket thruster, and even then, it'll be disabled." She glared back at Rainbow, "And no, we weren't in a missile silo when this all happened." She looked back toward with a blank stare and squeaked, "We were in a test chamber for an anti-mass spectrometer."

Rainbow's eyes went even wider. "Wow," she said blankly. "Geeky."

Twilight turned back to her, trying not to roll her eyes again. "Shouldn't we be the ones asking the questions?" She stopped, and Rainbow almost passed right by her. "I mean, why are all you guys trying to kill us?! Shouldn't you all be—oh, I don't know—trying to rescue us?!"

"WHOA, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow put her hooves up in defense. "We don't rescue," she said. "We clean!" she said with a flourish. "That's our job." She thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. "Actually, that's just what they told us. We're not exactly officially part of the HECU."

"The what?" Twilight asked.

"It's," Rainbow put her hoof behind her neck, "some kind of strange clean-up crew. I don't remember what it stands for. They basically just ripped us out of the armed forces or wherever we came from, and told us they had a mission for us."

Rainbow put her hoof back on the ground and stood there, but Twilight kept waiting for more.

"and?" Twilight asked.

"And," Rainbow thought, "they basically just told us they were sending us to some big facility of some sort, and to kill everyone and everything in sight. Said it was some sort of dangerous hazard to all of Equestria, and that the entire place was... er... contaminated? I don't know."

"You didn't listen to the briefing?!"

"I did!" Rainbow said. "Right up until the words "kill everything". After that, I kinda blanked out."

Twilight lowered her face into her hoof and sighed. "So you don't even know why you're here." She looked up. "Do you at least know who sent you? Who recruited you?"

"We never ask," Rainbow said. "We just go where they want us to go. We're not supposed to ask questions. For all we knew, you all were a bunch of mad Frankenstallion scientists, mixing up evil goo, and bringing back ponies from the dead!"

"That's... not... what...." Twilight felt her face go read from hearing this despicable misconception of science, but pushed it into the back of her mind.

"Pardon me," Rarity interrupted, making both Twilight and Rainbow Dash turn. Rarity winced as the flashlight glared in her eyes. "Ah! Point that somewhere—"

"Sorry."

The light flared to the side.

"Thanks. Anyway, I was wondering. Aren't soldiers supposed to be all armored, and have all sorts of weapons and tools and stuff? As far as I can tell, you're not wearing anything at all, dear!"

Twilight smirked. The whole facility in ruin, and she asks about clothes. she thought.

"I—" Rainbow looked hurt. "Look, I don't like being weighed down, all right?! I'm a flyer! Those stupid uniforms don't make any sense!"

"When you're flying, dear, I can see that," Rarity continued, "but in a place like this?!"

"What can I say?" Rainbow said, a little louder, "I guess I just like going all natural!"

"Well, I couldn't possibly stand getting all mucky down here in these areas! Why, if given the choice, I'd suit up in something just as full-bodied as Twilight's suit."

"You would, wouldn't you!"

"Uh... girls?" Twilight started.

Both Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. Neither had noticed how they had been inching towards each other the whole time. There was an awkward silence as they realized they were still standing in a damp, dark tube that could barely fit all three of them.

Twilight indicated with her flashlight. "Could we, maybe, move along?"

Rarity's left eye twitched. "O-of course, dear! We were just... having some casual conversation, that's all." She daintily walked past Twilight before realizing she was blocking the flashlight. "Right, this way," she said, walking back behind Twilight. 

Twilight didn't even bother rolling her eyes, and kept walking forward.

"So," Rainbow said, "do they, like, have a stash of those suits somewhere? I mean, not that I'd wear one," she said, flicking her eyes at Rarity, "but those things look kinda cool."

Twilight reached a sharp turn to the left and waited until everypony reached the end up the tube before turning the flashlight in their direction.

"They must have a number of them," Twilight said. "They spent the money on an entire course for it, so I would imagine there are at least enough for each major location to have two or three."

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "if you all work in this green goo all day, I can understand why."

"We don't work in green goo, Rainbow Dash, and if you'd just—"

She was interrupted by the sound of giggling. Twilight scowled, "Can we just move forward? There's a light up ahead, and I'd like to get out of here before we're all covered in goo!"

Rainbow still giggled silently to herself as they all approached the end of the tunnel.

The light was shining from the top of the  pipe, which meant they all had to climb out the top. There was no point moving forward in the pipe, since a portion of it was blocked by a strainer grate. Rainbow was the first to shoot out the top, eager to fly again.

"Hey, guys!" she said, sticking her head upside down into the pipe again. "It's a bit of a drop from here. You'll probably wanna watch your step."

Twilight walked the rest of the way and tried sticking her head over the top. Her eyes barely breached the opening.

"I can't quite see. How far is the drop?" she asked. She saw that Rainbow was now perched at the top of the pipe like a sphinx.

"Far enough if would hurt," she said. "I'd carry you, but," she stretched out her wings and arms in a big, histrionic show, "I think I've done enough heavy lifting for today."

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted.

"All right! All right!" Rainbow said, jumping off her perch with a scowl. She threw a hoof in Twilight's direction. "But this is the last time!"

Being lifted into the air by two hooves wasn't exactly comfortable, but Twilight would much rather endure the awkwardness than wind up with another fractured ankle. As she was lifted, she took note of how much smaller this "room" was than the others she had been in, and concluded that this was no more than a plumber's maintenance area. The entire place was grungy, and the only things of note were the enormous pipes cluttering the small area, equally as large as the one they were getting out of.

It seemed Rainbow had barely set Twilight down when Rarity chimed in beside her. "Twilight, dear, do you think we're going the right way?" She indicated with her hoof, "This doesn't look at all like a silo."

Rarity had a point. Twilight hated to admit it, but the evidence was mounting. The way to the silo was most likely not through a series of pipes.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "could you fly ahead and see if this goes anywhere?"

The words "go anywhere" didn't immediately seem to make any sense. The entire room seemed to be a small pipe-filled area with no visible exit. However, it was so convoluted that there may as well have been an open pipe, or (Celestia forbid)  a ventilation duct somewhere.

Rainbow Dash agreed enthusiastically, though, and was whooshing around the room so fast that the wind blew their manes around.

A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash disappeared entirely, and it was another moment before Twilight realized she had gone around some kind of corner. She could hear the swooshing around of the air somewhere nearby, and knew Rainbow had to be close.

In fact, considering how long Rainbow was gone, Twilight suggested there must be quite an expansive tunnel or room to explore somewhere, and motioned to Rarity to follow her down the most obvious path through the pipes. It wasn't like they could get lost in a room not much larger than her old living area.

They were nearly close enough to see where the room curved around when another SWOOSH made them nearly jump out of their hide.

"HEY GUYS!" Rainbow shouted. "Big room! HUUUUUGE! You gotta see this!"

Another WHOOSH and she was gone.

Both Twilight and Rarity looked at each other, then up at the pipes, then back to each other. Struggling, they both climbed onto a couple of the larger pipes in the back of the room. From there, they could see the much nicer, more brightly lit hallway that lead away from the room. However, neither of them could reach it.

For one, the floor of the hallway was much higher than the floor of the room, and for two, the suspended walkway it spilled out onto was blocked by hoof-rails too high for them to jump over, even if they could reach the floor.

"How are we—" Rarity started.

SWOOOOSH!

"Hey, sorry guys," Rainbow said, hovering over the suspended walkway. "Guess you two could probably use a lift." She came down over Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her waist. "Trust me, though, this is gonna be worth it!"

=========================================================

Twilight put a hoof up and squinted. They had just rounded the corner of the hallway, and found themselves staring at what Twilight believed to be a large room. She couldn't quite tell, since all she could really see was the blinding green light of what must be kilotons of radioactive material leaked all over the ground. It was taking a while for her eyes to adjust to the glow.

Her Geiger Counter was having a seizure. It sounded like someone turned on a fan and stuck a piece of parchment between the blades.

"I think we missed the silo," Rarity said, turning her head completely to the side and using her entire forearm to shield against the light. "So much for living very long after we get out of here."

Twilight considered going back to the other room, but curiosity got the best of her. There was some sort of walkway over the lake, from the little Twilight could see, and she had to take a look around.

"How did you manage to fly in here?!" she asked Rainbow. "I can barely see anything!"

As an answer, Rainbow flew out into the room. "I just look up," she said simply. "There's no light coming from the ceiling."

Twilight ignored the absurdity of there being no lights on the ceiling, and followed suit. By holding her hoof low enough, she was able to almost completely block the direct light.

The room looked a lot smaller without the glow shining directly in her eyes, and she was able to take in the odd shape. The most notable thing, aside from the very tall ceiling, was that the back wall actually curved outward, as if some sort of large cylindrical building had bumped into it from the outside.

Beyond that, she noticed a large vertical beam rise to the ceiling, and end at a square hole. She later tried squinting at the base of the beam, and thought she could see a square lift to accompany it. Unfortunately, the lift was suspended out in the middle of the lake, and Twilight still couldn't make out the floor without damaging her eyes.

"Rainbow," she said, flailing with her other hoof in the general vicinity of the lift. "Can you fly us over there? That might be a way into the silo."

Rarity must have retreated back into the hallway, as that's where her voice came from.

"The silo?" she asked. "What in the world of Pony Mesa thinks we're anywhere near the silo?!"

Twilight indicated towards the round shape of the back wall, even though Rarity couldn't see it from the hallway.

"There's a sign back there that says "Silo D"" she said, proud of the fact her eyes were starting to adjust. She was quite expecting the gasp from both Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

"I—" Rainbow started, "I knew that!" She crossed her hooves with a smug look, still hovering in mid-air. "I was just... waiting for you two to come in here and see for yourself!"

Twilight retreated into the hallway, which looked extremely dark after coming back from the glow-room, and lead Rarity carefully out into the room. Rarity kept her eyes closed tight the whole time.

"We just need to get to the lift," she said. "We can take it from there."

Rainbow looked insulted. "A lift?!" she shouted. "You guys think a lift can carry you up there better than I can?!"

Twilight hadn't considered this reaction.

Next thing she knew, all the wind was being knocked out of her from the force of Rainbow's hooves.

"I'll show you two a lift!"

Within less than a second, the wind was flailing her mane back. Between the hooves digging into her torso and the sheer speed they were going, Twilight could barely breathe. The room was once again a blur of green light, for which she tried not to look down.

They flew straight up, and everything went dark. She felt her hooves touch ground a moment later. She gasped for breath upon Rainbow letting her go. A WHOOSH signified Rainbow diving back down for Rarity.

Twilight looked up and squinted, this time because of the dark. The glow from the room below washed up through the ceiling and into the hallway she had just been carried into, but it wasn't enough to shed light all the way to the end.

Twilight heard screams from below, and thought about how Rarity must feel in Rainbow's arms. She couldn't quite tell whether they were screams of exhilaration, fright, or surprise, as they kept going back and forth between the three.

The screams increased tenfold as Rainbow surfaced above the hole, and turned into heaving breathing and sighing as she was lowered to the ground.

"Oh..." Rarity said, wobbling on all fours, "I'm seeing stars darling!"

She shook her head violently and turned towards Rainbow Dash with a menacing snarl. "Never, in all my years, has any pony dared picked me up in such a rash way!" She flipped her hair. "I'll have you know I have quite a kick," she said, bucking one of her hind legs, "from some of my ex-stallions." She walked right up to Rainbow and poked her in the chest. "You'd better Watch. Your. Back."

She "Hmmph"ed, and turned around with her head held high.

Twilight continued to squint into the darkness. "Can anypony see anything?" She asked.

"There's not much to see, Darling," Rarity said. "It's just a grey hallway."

Twilight switched her flashlight on, but it looked just as dim as the rest of the hallway. Her pupils were still adjusting.

"Hopefully this place will have less radiation," she said, noticing her Geiger Counter go down to only a few ticks here and there. "Not that it'll help after the amount we were just exposed to."

She turned around. "Rarity, can you lead the way?"

Rarity shook out her mane, and trotted forward. "I may not be a tour guide, but I can most certainly see where I'm going."

Twilight kept a close eye on Rarity's tail, which shimmered against the dark surroundings.

They hadn't gone very far when Rarity stopped abruptly, causing Twilight's head to ram into Rarity's hind quarters, followed by an "Umph!" from Rarity.

Twilight looked around, and could make out a dim green glow, as if from far away, and was finally starting to adjust enough to the darkness to see some silhouettes here and there.

"Oh, my!" Rarity gasped. "Is... is this the silo?!"

As Twilight continued to stare, the silhouettes gained some color, and as they did, even Twilight had to gasp.

They were about mid-way up the entire height of the room, on a catwalk suspended way high above the ground, which was (not surprisingly) glowing a dim green way below them. In the center of the silo was an enormous cylindrical beam which Twilight assumed was "the silo within the silo", and probably housed the missile itself, if there was one. Various other catwalks could be seen at varying heights and directions spanning the space from the inner silo to the walls of the outside—places leading into other hallways like the one they had just come from, and probably housing other facilities adjacent to the silo.

It was still the same dark, damp, metal atmosphere of every other place they had been so far. Twilight could make out some peeling colored paint on many of the walls with the words "Silo D" on them, which were so faded that they almost blended right in with the grey walls.

"So this is the Silo!" Rarity exclaimed. "I had no idea it was so... big!"

Twilight heard some squeaks and murmurs behind her, and turned around to see Rainbow Dash anxiously bouncing around on her hooves. "So... much... room..." she squeaked. It only took Twilight a second to realize what was going on.

"Oh, all right," she said, rolling her eyes. "Go on."

Rainbow shot straight up and immediately launched into the room, sending cascades of Rainbow over every inch of the room. She circled around catwalks, pounced off of walls, climbed the shadows of the ceiling, and even explored a few of the hallways that the catwalks attached to.

Twilight and Rarity watched her, smiling involuntarily as she "whoohoo"ed and "yeah"ed her way around the room. Twilight agreed with Rarity: she certainly added a "dash" of color to the drab.

Five minutes later, Rainbow popped up in front of them, heaving and wiping her brow. She caught her breath quickly.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" she said. "I still say I like being outside. But this has got to be one of the best indoor workout areas I've ever seen!" She turned around and threw her hooves out in a pretend bear-hug of the entire room. "Seriously! If we survive this mess, we need to come back here. I have plans for this place!"

Twilight smiled at her weakly, and turned towards the catwalk as it curved around the perimeter of the silo. "Come on. Let's see if we can't get to the center part."

Rainbow flew in front of them and turned to stop them. "Uh, why?" she asked. "What's in the silo that we need?"

Twilight stopped and thought about this. They had been working this entire time on getting into the silo. Now that they were here, she wasn't quite sure why they had come here, save as a way point to where they were ultimately going.

"To get to the Lambda Complex," she said, closing her eyes and grinning.

Rainbow lowered her eyelids. "And what's in this Lambda Complex, anyway? More dumb scientists?" She threw up her hooves. "Why don't we just get out of here?! Get to the surface! Find a vehicle and leave!"

"Easy for you to say," Rarity chimed. "You're a soldier! They won't be hunting you." She flipped her hair. "In case you haven't noticed, you grunts are kind of trying to kill us."

Rainbow scratched the back of her neck. "I guess." She looked around. "Still, it's a better option than being stuck down here, or being crammed into some small room with a bunch of other scientists who have no idea what they're doing."

"You don't know that!" Twilight said. "If we can create a situation like this, I'm sure we're smart enough to clean it up! We just need enough time."

Now it was Rainbow's turn to roll her eyes. "Yeah, right. You two don't even know how to work a gun."

Twilight was about to leap out at her, but Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. "Let it go, dear."

They all went silent for a minute and stared at the ground. Even Rainbow hovered onto the ground with the rest of them. They walked around the catwalk of the Silo for a while, and noted the way it sharply turned at a point to head straight into the inner Silo. It looked much larger from the perspective of walking up to it.

"So, Twilight," Rainbow asked, "what kind of silo is this?"

Twilight looked around the walls for signs, but didn't see anything aside from the obvious ones that said "Silo D".

"I'm not sure. My guess is it's just a standard rocket test lab. Very few silos actually have rockets in them."

When they finally reached the wall, Twilight noticed a hatch in the side, roughly the size of a standard door. It blended right in with the wall, save for the bolted metal trim around it.

"Looks like there's a latch that opens it here," Twilight said, examining a large red handle to the side of the hatch. "Silo Access," she read allowed.

"Hang on," she heard Rainbow say. She was already at the door with her ear pressed against it. "Can you hear that?"

Twilight and Rarity looked around at the seemingly empty outer-silo, then back at the hatch.

"Hear what?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow pressed her ear harder against the door. "It sounds like something's banging around in there." She ignored Twilight and Rarity's strange looks. "They don't do construction work in any of the Silos, do they?"

"Not that I know of," Twilight said.

Rarity had been backing up the whole time. "I... you know what? I'm not sure this is the best idea, girls."

Twilight looked back at her. "It's not like we have a choice. This is the only way forward. That is, without having Rainbow fly us around the silo."

Rarity glanced at Rainbow Dash and gave an involuntary shiver. "Fine," she said, walking toward again, "but don't expect me to follow you to certain death. I do have standards, you know."

"There's nothing in there," Twilight assured her.

She turned the lever as she said this, and the hatch swung open to reveal a wall, just feet away from them. A small room lay in between. However, the most notable thing was the noise.

Rainbow was right. There was definitely something banging around inside. Even Twilight had to think twice before walking into the small area they had revealed.

"There's another hatch," she said, looking around the room. The other two crammed inside behind her. "I think this is some sort of access hallway that goes around the perimeter."

She pulled the lever and heard the door shut behind them. For a moment they were trapped inside the room.

Then the door swung open in front of them, and the first thing Twilight saw was a headcrab, surrounded by blood, and latched onto the moaning head of an undead pony. She felt her heart leap, and her front hooves left the floor as she backed up. The pony was only a couple feet away.

Twilight slammed on her forehoof and felt the familiar feeling of her teeth chattering to the bullets flying out of her shoulder. The first few bullets knocked the zombie to the ground, but Twilight didn't let up on the trigger until the entire clip ran out.

Her ears rang more than ever from the echoing sound of gunpowder going off, but the banging from inside the silo still continued.

She turned around to make sure her friends were okay to see Rarity cowering with her hooves over her ears, and Rainbow Dash still preoccupied with the metal wall.

"Come on, everypony," she said, leading them down the blood-stained hallway. "Let's all hope it's just machinery that's banging around in there."

They stepped lightly, going around all the blood stains, carefully avoiding the bodies of the deceased ponies. She could hear Rarity dry-heaving a couple of times.

"Watch out, girls," she said, pointing up at the barnacle attached to the ceiling way above them. Its ropy tongue descended the entire way to the floor, and Twilight didn't want to see any of her friends turned to ceiling-lunch.

A few steps further, Twilight caught sight of some steps leading up to a wall with another hatch at the end of the curving hallway. The banging was getting louder.

"Wish I could see what was making all the racket," Rainbow said. "I can barely think!"

"Wait," Rarity turned towards Rainbow, "you mean you actually use that thing?" She tapped the side of Rainbow's head.

"Oh, ha, ha," Rainbow said blankly.

Twilight had been carefully approaching the door as Rarity and Rainbow Dash held back. Her hoof was almost on the lever when Rainbow Dash flew up to her.

"Wait!" she said. "Let me. I wanna see what we're dealing with, here."

Before Twilight could protest, Rainbow had already pressed the lever and was anxiously waiting to peer inside. Her wings were flared, and her feathers were rustled.

When the hatch finally hissed open, Rainbow took a step inside and looked around.

"Finally! A window!" she flew out to the center of the room to look through it. "What could possibly—"

The window exploded, filling the room with glass shards. Twilight threw her hooves over her head, trying to peer between her forearms to see what was happening. Many of the shards cut into her forehead and chin, but the suit absorbed most of the damage. A loud scream from Rarity pierced the room.

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted, putting her hooves down so she could see what was going on.

Her mouth never closed after she said that. Her eyes widened, and her feet froze to the floor. Something was on top of Rainbow Dash.

That's how she would have described it. "Something". Because her eyes still couldn't make sense out of what she was seeing. It was green. And it was so large, it filled the entire room and extended right out the window.

Rainbow Dash was sprawling on the floor, trying to get out from under it. "Uh," she said, struggling, "a little help, guys!"

Twilight could barely think with Rarity screaming in her ear. She turned around, "Rarity, STOP!" she said, forcibly closing her mouth. "We gotta help Rainbow!"

"What do we do?!"

"We have to—"

"GUYS! HELP!"

Twilight felt a fire rupture within her at these panicked words, and pulled her hooves free of the ice binding them to the floor. "COME ON!" she yelled, running out into the room like some crazed mad-pony.

The creature, which Twilight now realized was just the end of an enormous "stem" originating from the inside of the silo, had managed to wrap two thick black tentacles at its base around Rainbow's torso, and was dragging her across the floor.

"TWILIGHT!" she yelled, seeing Twilight run out into the room.

Twilight lunged forward stupidly and grabbed onto Rainbow's front hooves with her own, trying to use her rear hooves to dig into the floor.

"RARITY!" Twilight yelled. She could feel herself being dragged across the room with Rainbow. Her hooves struck the side of some sort of desk or cabinet resting against the window-side wall, and Twilight pressed them into it for leverage. She could see Rainbow's face the entire time, scrunched and strained as she fought with every hoof and wing for freedom. She could tell Rainbow was slipping out from its grasp.

"I... I..." Rainbow said, "I GOT A WING OUT!"

She flared it around, and Twilight could suddenly feel more progress as she strained to push against the cabinet. Rainbow struggled to get her other wing out.

"I'm coming, Twilight!"

Twilight's eyes went wide as she caught a glimpse of something white dashing towards her to her right. 

"Don't worry, Twilight! I got you!"

The next thing Twilight knew, her hooves had been pulled out from under her, wrapped up in Rarity's forehooves. Immediately, Twilight felt herself lurch forward, letting go of one of Rainbow's hooves.

"RAINBOW!" she yelled, trying desperately to hold onto something, but Rainbow's other hoof was slipping fast. She felt herself yanked forward, all the way out the window, until Rarity's own hooves locked against the wall. As she ground to a halt, she felt Rainbow's hoof slip most of the way out, until they were hanging on by the tip.

And then, with a snap, they parted. Twilight gasped as she felt herself fall to the ground, rear hooves still clung to by Rarity. Her body landed on the desk, head still sticking out the window, and was immediately dragged the rest of the way into the room.

"TWIIIIIIIIIIIIILIIIIIIIIIIGHT!"

Rainbow Dash's voice could be heard fading away, and Twilight could still see a glimpse of blue attached to the strange stalk as it descended to the bottom of the silo.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight shook her hooves free of Rarity's an ran up to the window in a panic.

"We have to do something, Rarity! We have to do something NOW!"

She turned back to Rarity and saw she was already on her hooves and dancing around. "What to do, what to do what to dowhattodo—"

"We have to get in there!"

"In THEEEEEERE??!" Rarity squawked. "But there's THREE OF THEM!"

"I know! I see them, but—"

"There has to be another way!"

"I know, I know. I'm looking—AH! YES! The rocket control command!"

The "drawer" she had been pushing her feet against turned out to have a lot of buttons and switches on them, which Twilight quickly realized controlled the rocket engine that had been mounted to the ceiling.

"Come on, come on comeoncomeoncomeon," she shouted, slamming her hoof into the launch button. "It's out of fuel!"

"Well we can't just throw grenades at it, that'll just make it mad!"

"I know, I'm thinking!" Twilight jabbed her hoof at the button a few more times, more as a stress reliever than anything. "We have to get the fuel on somehow. There has to be a source—", she glimpsed some red and blue tubes on the ceiling coming from the rocket engine. "PIPES!" she yelled. "Follow the pipes! Come on, Rarity! We'll go outside and see where the pipes go, COME ON!"

Twilight ran out the door, barely looking behind her to see if Rarity was following. "If we're lucky, it won't be too far!"

"Twilight, the catwalks outside are a dead-end, remember?" Rarity was hot on her heels. "They don't go anywhere!"

"I know, but we need to try. Watch out for the—"

There was a crash as Twilight's hoof landed on the floor and kept going. Part of the catwalk had simple crumbled beneath both of them, sending them tumbling onto the catwalk below.

"Twiliiiiii—" rarity screamed.

The both landed on the catwalk below. Twilight felt the impact of it, and looked back at Rarity just before she felt the second one break under he weight.

"Rarity, catchme!" Twilight yelled, grabbed onto Rarity's hooves before she fell. Twilight's weight dragged Rarity forward a few inches, but she finally stopped, hanging onto a dangling Twilight.

"Twilight!" Rarity said, struggling to hold on. "I can't hold both you and the suit. You're too heavy."

"Just... hold on!" Twilight said. She looked around at the very tall outer perimeter of the silo, and the layers of catwalks above and below them. "If you can just pull—wait! No! There's a catwalk just below me!" She wiggled her rear legs. "Just let me go. I'm low enough it shouldn't break."

"But what if it does! There's nothing left under that!"

"Trust me!"

They stared at each other, Rarity wincing under the strain of holding Twilight up. Twilight gave a small nod, and Rarity loosened her grip.

Twilight slid down as much as she could, and then let go, landing with a small thud on the catwalk below. She quickly retreated to an area where the catwalk was sitting directly on one of the beams that supported them before catching her breath.

"Are you all right?" Rarity asked, peering down the hole Twilight had just dropped down.

"I'm fine, but Rainbow Dash still needs our help." She looked around and saw a hatch not too far away She assumed there must be an exit hatch at every level. "You stay up there and see if you can find the fuel. I'll look down here. We'll meet back at this opening, got it?"

"How will you get back up?!"

"Don't think about that right now." Twilight said. "We'll figure that out when we get back. Let's go rescue Rainbow Dash!"

=========================================================

Rarity still had her hoof out from when she was holding onto Twilight. She blinked, and wiped the shocked look off her face. "Okay, Rarity," Rarity said to herself, getting onto her hooves. "You can do this. It's completely possibly to fire a rocket and be fabulous doing it!"

She waved her mane around and looked around at the drab surroundings. All that ugly rust was cluttering what could otherwise be a glistening industrial marvel.

But there wasn't time for that. Rainbow Dash was in trouble, and she alone had to do something! At least, that's what she kept telling herself. She struck the best pose she had for a pony about to launch out on a mission.

Then she thought twice about charging off, and instead tiptoed lightly across the catwalk, praying she wouldn't land on a part that would crumble beneath her—or worse, snag her hoof on something sharp.

"These architects really need to be more careful," she said aloud. "This material is much too flimsy! Don't they know somepony could be hurt?"

She swung her head up and sighed. "I suppose I shall simply watch my step," she said, picking up the pace. "I wouldn't want to be responsible for being late to Rainbow's rescue."

She finally found the ugly hatch that lead to the outer section. She would most certainly be pleased to be away from all the ruckus that monster was making. If she had had her way, she would gladly have stayed just to teach it some manners. It should know better than to strike its nose into the walls. That causes dents, after all.

The hatch swung open to reveal a catwalk leading to one of the many hallways at the end. Rarity would have charged forward except for the zombie standing in the middle, surrounded by—

"Explosives?!" Rarity said to herself. "This keeps happening! The ponies have no consideration for safety around here!"

She grimaced before leaning forward onto her hoof. She would have winced had she not been expecting the tremendous sound of the gun being fired.

"Well, I suppose I could use better aim."

She trotted back behind the hatch opening and peered around. Hopefully the wall would stifle the sound. She leaned against her hoof again, keeping the gun pointed in the general direction. It was still uncomfortably loud, but at least it helped. She had to shoot a few more times before the air satisfyingly exploded around her ears.

She looked around to see a lack of explosives and zombie in the way. She smiled to herself, and remembered how before, she would have cowered or hidden her ears to do such a thing.

She galloped to the spot to see how well she did when she stopped short.

"Wha—but—my catwalk!" She stared at the ground in disbelief. "Darn it, Rarity, you went and blew your path up!"

She peered over the edge, and saw it against the green glow dozens of feet below her.

"Well, this isn't going well at all!" She backed up, feeling dizzy from the sight. "Why, the only way across now is by those pipes spanning the gap!" She recognized the pipes from the inside of the silo. "Well at least I'm going to right way."

She stared at them for a moment. "The red could use a slightly lighter shade." She caught herself. "Ah, but no time for that! Rainbow Dash."

She tiptoed onto the pipes as lightly as she did the catwalk.

"Ooooo..." she wavered, trying not to wobble too much. As wide as it was, being this high made it feeling like a balance beam. She never did make a good ballerina, yet somehow she always made it to the other side.

As soon as she made it across, she galloped full speed into the hallway and collapsed onto the ground—not because she was out of breath, but because she wanted to hug the beautiful, solid ground beneath her hooves.

"Oh, I would kiss this if it wasn't all filthy and covered in germs," she said. "Oh, what the heck." She plowed her muzzle into the ground and gave it a smack.

"EWWWYUCK!" She made some spitting noises without actually spitting, and first wiped her lips, then her tongue. "That's the last time I do that," she said.

She got up, and noticed the pipes still following her. In fact, the pipes were the only thing to take note of in the entire hallway! Everything else was just dark, drab concrete.

She turned the corner and galloped across the empty stretch.

"Follow the pipes. Just follow the pipes," she said, trying to catch her breath. "Follow, follow, follow..."

She rounded the corner again and ran into a metal door with a light over it. The sign read "Fuel Room".

"AHA! Fuel," she said triumphantly. "Well, that was easy. I'll just—" she looked around and only saw a small keypad next to her.

"A passcode?!" she said. "Well, that's just delightful. How am I supposed to find a passcode?!" She thought for a moment, taking note of the way the beige bricks clashed with the metal door. "I'd change the door color to green," she said. "But that can wait. Passcode!" she said, turning around to start looking.

Perhaps some nice pony had written down the password for the door on a sticky note, and lift it somewhere easily accessible. At least, that was the only thing she could hope for.

She trotted into the room, noting the flimsy pillars here and there, plus the floor's constant back-and-forth between tile and diamond-plate. It was most distracting, especially in the inconsistent lighting.

Unfortunately, the area was small enough that she had explored the entirety of it within seconds. The section in the back had a ladder that went to a lower part, but she really didn't feel like going there. For one, she could already see down there by looking over the railing behind the ladder, and for two, it didn't seem to go anywhere.

Nevertheless, it seemed to the only place left to go.

She walked daintily in front of the ladder, and carefully placed each hoof onto the rung, following what she was sure were the proper procedures that all maintenance ponies should follow.

"One—hoof—at—a time," she chimed, making each move as fluid as she could. "Aaaand, that's it," she said, getting off with a flourish. "Now then! What glamorous thing does Rarity have to do next?"

She trotted around the ladder, taking extra care not to look at (or step on) any of the pony corpses in the corner.

"A ponyhole!?" She looked in disbelief at the round hold in the ground, partially covered by a matching metal cover. "Of all the places I have to explore."

"Still, it's better than going back empty hooved."

She took a deep breath, and pushed the cover out of the way. "I hope Twilight's having better luck than me."

=========================================================

Twilight peered around the open hatch at the walkway leading to the hallway at the other end. There was a creature on the other side, delightfully preoccupied with something on the ground. She resisted her kill-on-sight impulse for a moment to consider simply tip-toeing past it, but reconsidered. A grenade should do nicely here.

She aimed carefully, pulling the pin before galloping out onto the catwalk to throw it. She didn't trust herself to toss it the entire length. She waited until she heard the tink of metal on concrete before turning around and ducking.

The ground shook as the shock wave struck her, and she was slightly worried about the catwalk crumbling from under her. Luckily, it was still intact.

She got up and inspected the large scorch mark on the ground. It smelled horribly. She even noticed a trail of smoke extending from just in front of her, and looked around for the source, only to find out it was her own tail. A few of the hairs had been singed, and a light trail of smoke was still wafting up from it. Twilight made sure there were no live flames on her it before setting out down the hallway.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in this hallway that indicated fuel. There was just a thick, rough, metal cable in the upper left that looked like it could transfer a couple megawatts of power. Other than that, the rest of was just concrete and lights. Occasionally the cable would attach to a power reader the size of a book shelf, but none of the dials read anything larger than zero.

She followed the hallway around a corner, and noticed the cable turned straight down and plunged into the ground. Of course, this made sense as soon as she saw the next room, whose floor looked to be suspended somehow.

This was only because the material of the floor matched the catwalks back in the silo. That, and the floor ended at a large pit off to the right, complete with hoof-rails and a "boarding platform", which Twilight (correctly) assumed was for some sort of elevator.

This whole place seemed to be for storage. There were enormous hooks dangling from long thick cables all over the ceiling, and many crates were scattered all around the room. The elevator was obviously for transporting something (although what it was transporting was a complete mystery). Perhaps the scientists lived down there?

Whatever the case, Twilight stepped up to the boarding area and found a convenient button on the side to call the elevator.

"Huh," she said out lout. "Something in this place actually makes sense!"

She tried to peer down at where the elevator should be and felt her head spin at the dizzying height. There was no elevator. Instead, the floor was again covered in a glowing mass of goo.

"Is this their idea of littering?!" she exclaimed aloud. "There's green goo everywhere in this complex!" Somehow, she really didn't want to know the source.

She pushed the button anyway, despite the lack of elevator. Not entirely to her surprise, instead of an elevator, she heard some clunking noises approaching her from the bottom of the pit, and noticed that lights were turning on along the walls. She rolled her eyes.

"Should have guessed," she said. "It's a light switch."

She had already turned around the look for a ladder or a staircase when she heard a hissing sound from above her. She looked up to see some sort of yellow-ish grate or platform lit up on the ceiling, and realized the elevator had been sitting up there the whole time.

"Why would it need to be up there?!" she asked.

Regardless, she watched it descend, taking note that it was, in fact, a complete elevator, with sides and a ceiling, although it didn't have any doors. The ceiling had a blue light that illuminated the inside, but the outside of it was lit from the lights on the walls of the pit.

Twilight watched as it reached the platform—

—and went right past it without stopping.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

She waited until the roof was at her height, and leaped out onto the roof, grabbing hold of the thick cable at the top. She looked up at the platform quickly moving away from her. She pondered a bit at her rash actions.

"I've... done stupider things," she thought out loud. "At least the cable seems to be in good condition."

No sooner had she said this than the elevator came to a jarring halt, and made a terrible racket above her.

She lowered her eyelids and stared at the wall of the pit. "Great," she said. "The pulley system's out."

She looked up at the ceiling, grabbed hold of the cable, and jumped up and down a few times. There were a few creaks, but nothing seemed to free up.

"Okay, Twilight. You're smart. You can get yourself out of this." She looked up at how high the platform was above her and gulped. "Right?"

Now would have been the perfect time for a levitation spell. She cringed at the thought of having to use her horn that much again. She inched over to the edge of the lift, getting down on her belly and crawling as close as she could, and peered over the edge.

She seemed to be about halfway down. It couldn't have been more perfect. A long crawl back up the rope, or an equally long fall into slime at the bottom. As she stared, she noticed a hallway she couldn't see from the platform above. The lights were on, and she could hear some machinery down there.

"HEY!" she instinctively shouted. "IS ANYONE DOWN THERE?!"

She waited, listening to her own voice echo around the pit. She watched the glow of the green fluid, taking note of how eerily calm it looked. Had it been water, she may have considered jumping.

She was just about to inch backwards onto her hooves when she heard a faint echo from below.

"Is someone up there?"

Twilight looked back over the edge and squinted. She could barely see the form of a pony at the edge of the hallway.

"YES!" she yelled. "I'M TRAPPED UP HERE! CAN YOU GET ME DOWN?!"

She listened carefully for a reply. A second later, the distant voice of the pony could be heard again.

"What are you doing up there? It's not safe!"

Twilight rolled her eyes before looking back down for a reply. "I THINK I KNOW THAT NOW!"

It was a while before she heard the next reply. Twilight hoped he was looking for some way to get the elevator to the bottom, but for all she knew, he had simply abandoned her. It wasn't for another 5 minutes that he came back, and another faint message came back to her.

"Looks like the elevator's jammed!"

Twilight looked up and made a very exasperated groan at the ceiling.

"Do you see another way down?"

Twilight was just about to give the pony a piece of her mind when she heard this last statement. She had done some looking around, but hadn't seen anything overly obvious, save for a ladder along the side of the pit.

"THERE'S A LADDER, BUT IT'S TOO FAR AWAY!" she shouted back.

Again, another 5 minute wait for a reply. It was as if there was a conversation going on at the bottom of the lift that she couldn't hear.

"Can you try jumping to the ladder, and using the rungs to slow your fall?"

Twilight couldn't have thought of a worse plan if she tried. She imagined the scenario, and saw herself falling to her death in 12 different ways. Some had her landing on the ground, others in the goo. Sometimes she reached the rungs, but slipped and got pushed onto her back. In one scenario, she even saw herself clinging onto a rung and injuring her shoulder from the impact. One thing was consistent, though: every scenario saw her dead at the end.

She was just about to give up and try it anyway when she heard a loud snapping sound above her, and felt the elevator move down a step. She nearly fell off, but managed to use her hooves to stay rooted on her belly.

"I THINK THE CABLE'S COMING LOOSE!" she yelled.

She didn't wait for a response. She was on her hooves and back at the cable as quickly as she could, and looked up hopefully at the cable.

Another snap, another step. This time, she was ready, clinging onto the cable as tightly as she could.

And then, with another snap, the elevator freed completely, and Twilight suddenly found herself screaming for dear life. The cable had completely snapped somewhere up above, and had sent the elevator in free fall.

The feeling of her stomach dropping out from under her was a familiar one, but one she wouldn't call "comfortable". It only lasted for a couple seconds, though, and the goo at the bottom was viscous enough to give a soft landing.

She looked around sarcastically as the elevator sunk into the goo, still clinging onto the elevator cable (which she noticed was flaccid), and looked into the hallway at two scientist stallions staring back at her.

The floor of the elevator sunk into the goo, and quickly traveled until the goo was up to her waist before it stopped.

Hazardous Chemical Detected, the suit rang out.

She lowered the lids of her eyes and stared back at the scientists.

"You, uh," one of the scientists started, "You need some help?"

She stared at them for a few more seconds, still holding the flaccid cable. "You think?" she said blankly.

Another few seconds passed.

"It, uh," he continued, looking up curiously at the pit, "It looks like the cable broke."

Twilight didn't move. "Yeah," she said. "I noticed."

"It's a good thing that stuff was at the bottom to stop your fall, huh?"

Twilight still hadn't lifted her eyelids. "Yeah. Gooooood thiiiiiing," she said, being sure to emphasize each word as sarcastically as she could.

The scientist seemed to have finally run out of words, and turned to his colleague, who had been standing just behind him and staring at her like she was another alien.

"Why don't you help her out of there, Pipelight?"

Twilight let go of the cable and dropped on all fours, letting the goo rise almost to her neck. "I think I can manage."

=========================================================

"Step, aaaaaaand step, aaaaaaand step, aaaaaaaand step..."

Rarity had been climbing down the ponyhole ladder for what felt like the last 10 minutes. She was beginning to wonder if there was an end. Every time she looked up, all she saw was the sides of the tunneling hole converge to a pin point at the top.

"Aaaaaaand step, aaaaaaand ahh!"

Her head had descended below the ceiling of a small tunnel. She peered through the rungs of the ladder at the dismal sight.

"Oh, my!" she said, "A sewer for sure! It's going to take forever to get back up again!" 

There were yellow-ish lights on the ceiling, but they didn't do the best job of lighting the area. There was a large red pipe just above the ground that followed the tunnel around, though, which meant she could use that as a platform and avoid taking a dip into the nasty water flooding the ground.

"This place could most definitely use some air freshener." She took a hoof off the ladder and pulled out a small container. "Good thing I always carry a can."

She wafted the can around letting out a spay of freshener and taking a deep breath.

"That's better!"

She continued down the ladder until her hooves reached the pipe. It was a bit slippery, but it was plenty wide enough to walk on. She carefully got on all fours and turned around, spraying the freshener some more.

"Now then! To get out of here."

She held out the can and sprayed a little as she walked, closing her eyes occasionally as she enjoyed the minting smell. The tunnel bent around a corner to the right at the end, and she stopped to peek around.

"Well, that won't do," she said, looking at the bars of a large gate blocking the way. "Looks like I'll have to go the other way."

She sniffed her way back to the ladder, and carefully went around it, sniffing her way to the next right-hand corner.

"Aha!" she said. "Another ladder. Rarity, you are a genius!" She walked right up to it, smacked her can of freshening with a kiss, and put it away as she started to climb.

Luckily this was a much shorter ladder, and Rarity had only to push the lid up be able to climb out. She stuck her head out over the edge and examined the state of the floor before deciding it was at least satisfactorily clean enough to put her hooves on it to climb out.

She lifted herself out onto all fours, shook out her mane, and looked around. The room was barely large enough to fit both her and the ponyhole she had come out of. It was mostly an excuse to allow the pony access to an open hatchway in one of the walls, identical to the ones leading out of the silo. More yellow light shown through, casting shadows across the room, but the hallway on the other side was warmly lit and somewhat cozy.

"It feels like I'm in a submarine," she said. "All these hatchways and narrow passages—it barely qualifies as a hallway!"

The passage was filled with openings in the left-hand side,  which all opened into smaller compartments. Each one contained some sort of supplies that sat inside an open chest. The last one had some armaments sitting inside a green chest, complete with grenades.

"Hmmm," she said, "no fuel. I'm not high enough to have reached the control room yet."

She walked to the end of the short hallway and pulled the lever to open the hatch at the end.

"These doors really could use labels," she said. "All these plain metal doors really don't help the poor ponies who don't have a map."

She stepped out and looked around at the large amount of space. This place, much like the cargo area Twilight had explored, was just adjacent to a large pit. However, this one was much wider, with no green glow at the bottom. In fact, it even had catwalks that went all the way around the perimeter.

Rarity stepped up carefully to the edge of the pit, taking note that there were no hoof rails or warning labels. She peered over the edge and gasped.

What she saw was what she could only describe as Equestria's largest propeller fan. It was easily large enough to propel a cruise liner, and didn't seem to have anything to do with anything else in the room.

"I don't remember seeing the budget reports for this thing when I was in the office."

She looked up at the ceiling, which towered so far above her that it was dizzying. It was like somepony had taken a jet engine, blown it up to 10 times its size, tilted it on its end and built a room around it. It didn't make any sense.

"Maybe this is part of a rocket." she said. "The... inside of a rocket, yes. That has to be it."

She stood there for a while with her eyes cocked, wondering whether she should simply head back. The rest of the room was so plain it didn't even warrant exploring.

"I guess there's not much harm in poking around a bit," she thought. "It's not like there's any other ponies in here." She turned around. "Right?"

She waited for a response just in case.

She turned around and started trotting around the catwalk, looking down at the fan as she went. It was a standard four-petal flower-shaped fan: the kind you see in the small hoof-held personal devices at the one-bit store. Each blade could have supported her entire Boutique, back when she was still making dresses.

She was only a quarter of the way around when she reached a ladder that descended through an opening in the catwalk against the wall. She looked through it, and noticed it went to a lower catwalk, at the same level as the fan.

She pushed her mouth to the side as she considered it, and decided there wasn't much to lose by looking. After all, it wasn't like there was anywhere else to go.

"One. Step. At. A Time," she said as she descended. "Step, and step, and step, aaaaand step."

She reached the bottom and had to gasp out loud at how majestic the fan looked from this angle. It looked like something that should be roped off at a museum. She walked around slowly, taking in every curve. The shapes of such things always made her mind turn to the curves of the pony body. She used to work with those curves every day while patching her fashions together. They were her life.

Halfway around, she found another ladder that descended to a platform just below the fan. This platform looked flimsier than the catwalks, and lead straight up to the enormous shaft the fan rested on: a shaft that descended straight into the darkness of the pit.

"Now that's just too far," she said to herself, looking at the flimsy platform. She couldn't help but admire the kind of ponies who would descend to such a place. "Why in Equestria would anyone want to go down there?"

At the end of the platform, she could barely make out a red light resting against the top of the shaft.

"Is that," she started. "NO! No pony in their right mind would dare  put a switch in such a horrid location!"

She stuck her head up and "hmphed". She turned around and started to head back.

And then something struck her in the back of her mind. She stopped, and contemplated. Her eyes narrowed, and she backed up a few paces to stare at the red light. It was like it was beckoning to her. It longed to be pressed, to be made green—to work.

Of course, such a fan couldn't possibly work. It was too big. Nothing that big could spin worth anything.

And yet, curiosity kept building.

She walked back to the ladder, grinning at the thought of actually pressing it, just to see what would happen.

"Oh, all right," she finally said.

Just before she grabbed onto the ladder, she did a little dance and giggled like a little girl. "I can't believe I'm doing this!"

She was much more careful on this ladder. She had half a mind to turn back after every step, but the adrenaline was already flowing. She was sure she could race back up the ladder if anything went wrong.

The platform looked much wider down here than it did from the catwalk. There was nothing between her and the darkness of the bottom of the pit. She would have been downright scared from the utter silence and darkness surrounding the area had it not been for the sheer majesty above her. It felt like she was exploring a giant's house, and this was the fan for the disposal in the sink. She giggled at this analogy, and tried to imagine a giant hoof reaching down, and a pair of eyes looking down at her through the top of the pit.

She walked dramatically up to the fan, right up to the red light, and noticed there was a second light as well: a green one just under the red. It was protruding slighting.

"Should I push it? Should I not push it? Should I push it? Should I not push it?"

She went back and forth for a few seconds before finally having another giggle fit. There really wasn't a choice anymore. She had to do it.

She closed her eyes and stuck her hoof out for a second before pulling it back and giggling some more. "Okay, okay, okay." she said. "Don't think about it. Just do it."

She jabbed her hoof into it without a further thought, and both felt and heard the satisfying click of the button pressing. The red glow turned to green, which lit up the area she was standing in.

Had she not looked up at the fan, she wouldn't have been able to tell if it had worked. It was moving so slowly, and so quietly, there was almost no difference.

"Okay, I really should shut it off now," she said, still giggling slightly. "Aaaaaand off!" She jabbed her hoof into the red protruding button.

Nothing happened.

Rarity frowned. "Aaaaaand OFF!" she said a little louder, really putting her weight into it.

It wouldn't budge.

"Off! Off! OFF! You. Defiled. Thing. Why. Won't. You. Turn. OFF!" she said with every bang, each one harder than the last.

She looked up against, and noticed the fan was moving a bit faster now.

"Uh... oh..." she said quietly. "Well, nice being here, better get back, BYE!"

She galloped back to the ladder and climbed it straight to the top. Every second the fan moved faster, and she was starting to feel a breeze each time a blade passed by. It was a sprint back to the other ladder as the wind picked up. By the time she started climbing, the wind was whipping her mane around violently in intervals.

"Okay. Here we go," she said, putting her hooves on the rungs. "Up. Up. Up, up,up,upupupupupupup," she had never climbed a ladder faster in her life. As she climbed, the wind became steady, and she had to fight a bit to stay on the rungs.

"Okay," she thought, "Here we are. The top." She inched over and felt some of the wind die down as it was blocked by the catwalk. However, her mane was still being blown around as she galloped back into the main part of the room. It was making quite a noise now.

The hatch back into the hallway was still open, and she burst back in, intent on climbing out of the sewers before the fan tore down the entire facility. After all, a fan that large most certainly would destroy at least the entire room it was in, right?

As she entered, however, she noticed the hatch at the other end was still closed. She looked for another switch, but there wasn't any.

"Ah!" she thought. "Other door." She turned around and tried flipping the lever for the other hatch, hoping they were connected somehow.

It was stuck.

Rarity gritted her teeth, and felt herself starting to turn red. "What is the matter with the equipment in this place?!" she shouted. "Every darn thing I try to use breaks!"

She could hear the wind still picking up outside, and felt some of the hairs on her mane and tail flip around even from inside the hallway. She entered one of the tiny rooms on the side of the hallway and curled up. "Well!" she said to herself, "A fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Rarity."

=========================================================

Twilight looked at the dials on the power device. Every one of them was sitting at zero.

"We're thinking the generator isn't turned on," one of the scientists said. He was a brown stallion with a blond mane.

Twilight turned towards the stallion, who was silhouetted against the green goop she had just climbed out of. Much of it stilled clung to her suit.

"Well, I really have no reason to doubt you," she said, her eyes still lidded. "Everything else you've said so far has been correct."

The stallion smiled, clearly not picking up on her sarcasm. "So, do you think you could help switch it on? You do have a hazardous environment suit, after all."

"Yes, indeed!" the other scientist chimed in. This one was blue with a brown mane. "Those new suits can come in handy in a tight spot."

Twilight merely sighed quietly at this, and turned to look down the passage to the generator. The scientists had pointed out that there was a third scientist who had already gone down there.

"Why don't you two go down there yourself?" she asked. "Isn't maintaining the generator exactly what you two do all day?"

The stallions looked insulted. "Oh, my, Celestia no! We leave that to the maintenance crew," one of them said. The other one continued, "We just monitor the gauges here, and let someone know if they do anything unusual."

Twilight watched as the stallion trotted up to one of the gauges. "Looks like it's still at zero." The brown maned one answered. "Right O! Still a problem." They both turned to Twilight, closed their eyes, and beamed at her.

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. "Look. I really need to get the rocket in the Silo turned on. Do you know where the fuel is?"

"The fuel?" The brown one said. The blue pony answered, "Why, that's on the other side of the silo!" Brown pony: "You'd need to climb back up that shaft!" Blue: "And head back to the Silo!" Brown: "And through the other hallway!"

"WHAT?!" Twilight said.

Blue: "But if it's a rocket you want to fire," Brown: "that thing won't fire without power." Blue: "Why don't you take a look?" Brown: "You might find it'll come in handy."

They beamed at her again.

Twilight sighed, feeling a bit better than before. "Right," she said. "Power."

She rounded the corner, not bothering to say another word before she departed. She stepping through the spilled goop in the middle of the hallway, and came out into another pit-room.

It was as though every other room in this part of the complex was a mini-silo. Did they do this as a joke?! This one wasn't as tall as the other one, but it still had the obligatory goo at the bottom. She looked up and noted: more catwalks, more ladders, more darkness.

"Of course," she muttered to herself.

At least she could see the generator at the top: a large cylindrical metal contraption suspended by two metal beams. It reminded Twilight of some sort of a bloated sauce pot left too long on the stove, save for the bare wires all around it.

Instead of simply putting a catwalk at ground level, however, this place had another platform with a control switch, which Twilight assumed was another elevator of some kind. It certainly couldn't have called another elevator, as this platform had hoof-rails all around it.

She walked up and pushed the button, half-expecting it to not work, and found herself clinging on for dear life to the hoof-rails on either side of her. The entire platform had swung a complete 180 around the perimeter of the entire room. It came to a halt on the other side, leaving Twilight winded.

She swung her hoof into the dial out of spite. "Ow!" she said, holding up her hoof and examining the suit. "I thought this thing was supposed to protect me against everything!" She grimaced, and turned around to face the ladder. "Well, at least this is better than the elevator."

Twilight could see a hoof sticking out just above the generator, waving violently. She shook her head and continued to climb.

"Hey!" a voice said, "Go back!"

She crested the top of the ladder, which went straight through one of the beams supporting the generator, and saw that she could use the beam as a platform.

A cowering white stallion with wavy blond hair could be seen at the top.

"Stay away!" he shouted. "Go back! Isn't safe!"

Twilight saw a button on the side of the generator as she walked up to it.

"Is there something wrong with the generator?" she asked.

"Not safe! Go back!"

Twilight scratched the top of her head, wondering if she should try pressing the button anyway.

"You know," she said, looking up at the ceiling just in case, "I don't think there's anything in here that can hurt you. Why don't you just go back to the other ponies?"

The stallion shivered, curling up into a ball. "C-c-can't. T-t-too late. T-they're coming! T-they're already here!"

Twilight cocked a brow and looked around. "Uh... who?" Her hoof was resting on the power button.

"T-t-the... ZEEEEN!" he said. "QUIET!" he yelled out, piercing the entire room, "they'll heeeeeeeeear you..."

Twilight just stared at him, keeping a brow cocked. "Oooooooookay! I'm going to turn the generator on now."

She pressed the button, and watched satisfyingly as a green light illuminated above it.

"I'm going to go away now, okay?" she said to the stallion.

"D-d-d-don't leave! ZEEEEEEN, remember?"

Twilight was honestly getting scared now as she headed back to the ladder. She was just about there when she yelled out.

"AH!"

Something large and metallic nearly hit her in the head, and swung into the wall with a bang. She quickly climbed down the ladder to avoid anything else.

It turned out there were two pendulums that had swung down the walls. They had made a few connections just before Twilight heard the generator spring to life. As Twilight got back onto the last-moving platform, she could still hear the stallion at the top.

"zeeeeeeeeeeeen..."

Twilight took a deep breath before heading back down the passage to the two scientists.

"Excellent!" the blue one said, starring at the gauges. "Somepony has restored all power!"

"We'll have the engine up again in no time," the brown one answered, walking up to him.

Twilight rolled her eyes and walked around them. "I think I'm going to see myself out," she said, finding the ladder that climbed to the top of the pit. "Don't worry about me."

Neither of the two stallions seemed to notice.

=========================================================

The wind from outside the hallway sounded like a locomotive hurling down the tracks. It was quite clear, now, why the entire room was empty. The wind could probably pick up a house.

Rarity was still curled up in the room. She backed up, and felt the box behind her rup up against her flank.

"This is ridiculous," she said to herself. "I can't just stay curled up in here. What am I waiting for? The fan to run out of power?!"

The thought did occur to her.

"I must prevail!" she said, standing up and striking a pose. "I must! I must! I MUST!" She galloped down the hallway and back out into the room.

No sooner had she gone through the door than her entire face flailed back from the wind, making her skin ripple against her skull. Her mane and tail had completely come unraveled, and she felt lucky they hadn't detached from the rest of her body.

She pushed forward against the wind, right up to the edge of the pit, and looked up. The top was boarded up to the point that she couldn't see anything beyond a few dozen feet, but she was sure it went on much higher than that.

Time to knock open a new way, she thought, unable to move her lips.

She galloped back into the hallway, where the wind wasn't as strong, and moved around her mouth, trying to get some feeling back. The grenades were here, which she saw fit as the perfect way to break through.

"Ok-ey, Ra-ity!" she said dramatically through numb lips, "-ime to b-low -tuff up! MMPH!"

She added the last part in protest of her own mouth.

She had to put her hoof up to prevent the wind from obscuring her vision as she walked close enough to the pit to stand a chance at tossing. In fact, she didn't really even have to "toss" the grenades at all, if she got close enough. A couple of them went soaring out of her hooves by accident simply by holding them too far out over the fan.

Just hold the pin, Rarity. she though. Hold—the—pin!

She did just this, and felt the rest of the grenade slip away as her hoof reached over the pit. A few seconds later, there was a flash above her. She could barely hear the explosion above the sound of the wind.

She followed suit with the remaining grenades, and watched the boarded up passage fade away with each one. The wind died down slightly as more of the air was free to go upwards.

Rarity walked right up to the edge, until she could feel the torrent against her chin. It felt like she was trying to push her body against a solid piece of metal going the speed of a train. She backed up, holding her chin, and felt that was red and raw.

"There's no turning back, Rairty," she said, walking back to the wall and striking another dramatic pose. "I must explore this final territory! I must restore peace and fuel to this silo! I. Must. PREVAIL!"

She galloped down the runway at full speed and jumped straight into the wall of wind. 

She accelerated so quickly, her initial thoughts were of a quick death against the ceiling. It was like being flung from a super-powered catapult. Everything happened so quickly, she could hardly think. She barely realized she was screaming, save for her terribly sore throat.

She slowed down just as she saw the ceiling approach, and saw a small opening in the back. She had nearly reached the wall at the other end. Twilight Sparkle would have pointed out her conserved momentum from galloping, but Rarity just considered it magic. She reached up with a hoof, as though she was simply jumping incredibly high, and tried to grab hold of the edge of the tiny hole in the wall—

—and flew right past it, slamming into the ceiling.

"Ow..." she said, before peeling off the ceiling and falling back down the pit.

The wind picked back up, and before she had time to think, she was being flung back up against as though by a spring. This time, she didn't go quite as fast, and was able to grab hold of the top of the opening. The wind wasn't enough to keep her level, and she fell back down, managing to grab hold of the bottom of the opening before she fell the rest of the way.

She hoisted herself up, wondering whether it was worth letting go once more for another chance. With some concerted effort, she managed to make it over the edge.

She collapsed onto her belly inside and caught her breath. The inside of this area was tiny—nothing more than a glorified ventilation duct—and was only lit with a dim red light.

"Well!" she said, finally catching her breath. "That's one way to go back upstairs."

She crawled around on her belly before trying to get back onto her hooves. The area was too short for her to fully extend her limbs, so she ended up moving around like a fish on the ground.

"Now, I can't be too far from the control room," she said, looking around on the ground. "There has to be an exit around here somewhere."

There wasn't much to explore. It didn't even extend as far as the ventilation ducts they had traversed back in the storage facility where the soldier were.

There was a light breeze from the fan, but nothing like what she experienced before. "That fan had better not just be the air-conditioning for this place," she mumbled.

She didn't have far to go until she found a number of grates scattered around the floor. She peered down the first one, and noticed it wasn't too far from where the hallway lead out to the entrance to the fuel room.

"HAHA!" she screamed. "I may yet be in luck!"

A few checks later, and she had found the entrance to the fuel room, and the very next guess placed her directly over it.

"Now," she thought, "to get through."

She lifted her hoof and brought it down on one of the grates, letting out a loud "OW!" as she did. "That thing's sharp," she whined.

As she rubbed her poor hoof, she caught a glimpse of a light on the ceiling next to her, and realized one of the grates was already open, making her feel silly for trying to break one open. She crawled over and peered through, seeing a step-ladder just below.

"I guess they tried to escape?" she asked to herself. "Well, whatever. At least I don't have to jump down."

She carefully lowered herself onto the ladder and climbed down, looking around the room as soon as she reached the bottom. There wasn't much to see. The red and blue pipes roamed around in a few places, but other than that, it was just another standard metal chamber littered with bodies.

"Let's see... fuel, fuel, fuel," she muttered to herself. "FUEL!"

She ran over to a large control panel the size of the panel for the test rocket in the silo, and noticed two large buttons: one red, one blue, each marked with a label.

"Feeeeul!" she said dramatically, ramming her hoof into the red button.

A click and a rumble sounded before the light glowed red above the switch.

"HAHA!" she screamed. "Something around here actually works!"

She looked at the other one, which said "Oxygen".

"Better turn that one on as well," she said. "Just in case."

Luckily, that one worked too.

Rarity was just about to head back to the ladder when she realized how silly it would be if the door just so happened to work. She looked around, and saw a ladder over in the direction where the door should be.

She was at the top within seconds, and came face to face with the same door she had already had problems with.

"Ah, should have known," she said, looking at the wall to the side. "Another keypad." She rest her hoof against it and tapped some buttons in jest. "Be nice if it worked."

With a hiss, the door swung wide open, leaving Rarity staring wide-eyed and gaping. She stepped through slowly, looking around at the same room she had been standing in when she was still searching for the key code.

She gritted her teeth for a moment, and considered kicking something before taking a deep breath.

"There will be time for that later," she said.

Without another word, she galloped back to the silo at full speed, happily listening to the gurgling sounds of the fuel being pumped through the pipes.

=========================================================

Twilight hadn't stopped running since she had reached the top of the ladder. The last minute and a half were a complete blur, but she was definitely back at the silo.

She flipped open the hatch to the inside, and ran back across the catwalks, clattering loudly until she reached the hole where she fell through.

"Rarity?" she asked. "Are you there?"

As an answer, a head poked through the opening. "Well, it's about time, dear! I've been trying to figure out how we were going to get back up to the top!"

They both leaned in and gazed at how high the top catwalk was.

"Come down with me, Rarity. I think I have a plan, but it's not going to be pretty."

Rarity gawked. "Down?! But—"

"No time!" Twilight said.

The banging from inside the silo had waited until now to really start up. Twilight had hardly notice how quiet it had been until just now.

Twilight watched as Rarity's hind legs dangled from the hole, followed by her torso, her head, and finally her top hooves.

"You want me to simply let go?" she asked, still dangling from the top.

"It's a short drop," Twilight said. "We can get back to the top as a group. It'll be easier."

Before Rarity had hit the ground, Twilight was already running further up the catwalk to look around. As she suspected, none of the catwalks went full-circle around the silo, and she reached a hoof-rail dead-end before long. She peered over the rail to see nothing but a long drop and some goo at the bottom.

Of course, it wasn't the dead-end she was looking for. A light shed across the walkway not too far before the hoof-rail, and Twilight cantered quietly to where the light shown.

"Twilight, where are you?" Rarity asked, rounding the corner. "Slow down!"

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth.

"Oh, well you don't have to be like that, dear," she said, tiptoeing right up to her. "It was only a question."

Twilight shook her head, "No, no. Just... lower your voice," she said, motioning downward with her hoof.

She lead Rarity right up to where the light spilled out onto the walkway, and showed her the source of the light. There was a doorway the same size as the hatchways into the silo, only without the hatch itself, and directly on the other side was

"You can't be serious, Twilight," Rarity gasped as quietly as she could. "We're going inside the chamber where she was captured?! In with that... that thing?!"

As if in answer, one of the three stalks stopped its incessant banging, and reared back into a long, drawn-out moan that shook the floor and made their hide stand on end.

Twilight gulped and nodded. "I have a plan," she said, getting out a few grenades.

"Oh, Twilight, dear," Rarity said, shaking her head, "I really was just joking when I suggested we lob grenades at it."

"No, no!" Twilight said quietly. "It's a distraction. I heard one of the ponies say that these things hear us. They're listeners!"

Rarity both widened her eyes and rolled them at the same time. "That can't be right."

"Here, watch."

Twilight gently pulled the pin from the grenade with her magic, and tossed it through the doorway into a far corner. Rarity hid her ears, but the boom was muffled by the walls.

No sooner had it done this than the sound of the banging started up full force right where the grenade went off.

"Now, watch," Twilight said.

Twilight positioned herself just to the side of the doorway and leaned against the wall. She then stuck out her hoof right in front of the doorway and wiggled it up and down violently for the next few seconds.

Sure enough, the creature didn't stop banging in the same spot from when she threw the grenade.

"You don't know that," Rarity said. "What if it just isn't looking at you?!"

As an answer, Twilight hunched up onto her toes, and tiptoed through the door.

"Twi—" Rarity started, before hunching herself up and tiptoeing after her. "Twilight!" she whispered. "Twilight, what are you doing?!"

Twilight was already well into the room by the time Rarity caught up with her. As they had entered they both got a good look at the stalks, as well as the silo.

When it attacked Rainbow Dash, Twilight had only caught a glimpse of the creatures, and thought them to be simple animated plants. However, as she got a closer look, she noticed the stalk was more like a neck with an enormous head at the end. The head was approximately oval-shaped, stretching out vertically from the top of the stalk. It was always bent over, though, feeling around with what looked like a large black beak at the end, which curved down and ended at a point like a hummingbird's. Both the beak and the small tentacles underneath the body were black, and Twilight now saw the tentacles as being like tiny limbs, so small they could only grab something if the head was directly over its pray.

The banging finally made sense now. The creature's only real attack was to skewer its enemies with its sharp beak, which would immobilize it to the point it could pick it up. The creature didn't have eyes, Twilight could now see, but it did have a mock-eye painted on its side, much like a butterfly's back is falsely painted.

Twilight would have stayed to quietly analyze its habits, but there was still Rainbow Dash to rescue. She looked up at the rocket engine on the ceiling above them. It was held by a tripod of red-blue pipes, thick electrical cable, and support beam, all running from the walls along the ceiling to the center.

"Ladders," Twilight whispered to Rarity. She pointed over at a red ladder just to her left, propped against the wall, and leading up to the first of many layers of overhangs going around the perimeter of the room.

"Twilight, wait!" Rarity whispered. Twilight had always tiptoed at a quick pace over to the ladder, and was already starting to climb.

"Twilight, slow down!" Rarity shouted, watching as Twilight quickly climbed halfway up. "What if it's not—"

There was a snap from the ladder, and a "Whoaoaoa!" from Twilight as the ladder parted from the wall, clanging against the hole it went through in the upper overhang.

Rarity gasped as the creatures banging immediately headed in their direction. "Twilight!" Rarity bolted over to her and put her hooves over her head.

Twilight saw it too. She inhaled deeply and held her breath, closing her eyes tight as one of the stems reared its head to strike down upon her.

Just as it was about to lean in the strike, it leaned back and gave another almighty groan, shaking the entire room. The other two stalks did likewise.

Twilight didn't stop to think about why it was doing this, and kept climbing the crooked ladder. She reached up with a hoof as she got to the hold in the overhang, and pushed the ladder back upright before looking down at Rarity.

"Come on!" she said, waiting until Rarity was just below her before climbing up onto the platform. Rarity did likewise. "Just one more, and we can get into the control room," she said.

They were now tiptoeing as quickly and quietly as their hooves would carry them. The next ladder was on the opposite side of the control room, but Twilight was confident they could make it without distracting the creature.

"Hang on," she said, getting out another grenade. She pulled the pin and flung it to the platform just above them, where the ladder came up.

After covering their ears and letting it shake the room, Twilight explained. "Boxes," she said. "They were blocking the way."

The next ladder came and went without much event. Both of them held their breath in case it also detached from the wall, but this ladder was much more solidly build.

Twilight could feel her heart pounding as she approached the control room. She was curious to know whether all the lights would work, showing them that everything was working properly. She guessed they would find out once they got inside.

However, before they were completely around, Twilight stopped dead. There was a brown stallion dressed like a security guard standing inside the control room, looking around. He hadn't seemed to notice them, but was completely distracted by the three stalks rearing their heads and banging against the platforms. Twilight could tell he had a determined look on his face.

Twilight had horrible visions of him pressing the launch button with them still inside the silo. There really wasn't anything she could do. If she warned him, the creature would hear. If they didn't, they'd get burned alive.

Twilight was just about to toss a grenade somewhere to get his attention when she saw him leap  heroically out the window.

"HEEEEY!" he shouted at the creature, brandishing the gun on his shoulder. "HEY, OVER HERE! EAT LEAD, YOU OUTER SPACE OCTOPUS!"

There was nothing she could do. Twilight simply watched as the guard managed to fire three shots just before the creature slammed on top of him with a bang.

It wasn't pretty. The beak went right through his torso, spreading blood all over the platform. When the beak lifted, his body was still clinging on it, making the creature writhe around and bang random places trying to get it off.

"Over here!" Twilight whispered, feeling a tight knot in her stomach as she tried to avoid the random strikes and tiptoe at the same time. "Quickly!"

They didn't even bother avoiding the blood. Twilight leaped inside, followed by Rarity. They both jumped again as the creature struck the platform just outside the window.

Without thinking, Twilight slammed her hoof into the "Test Fire" button, and hit the floor with both hooves over her head. Rarity followed suit.

There was a hiss—a rumble—

And the room exploded.

It was like listening to a grenade constantly going off next to her ear. Twilight could feel the heat from above her, and knew the flames were wafting inside the control room. She kept reminding herself that heat only rises, but it didn't distract her from the burning sensation against the back of her head. She could only imagine what Rarity was experiencing.

With one last puff, the engine died out, leaving a thick trail of smoke idling just above the ground.

Twilight let out a violent cough, and staggered to her hooves. Her mane and tail were completely singed, and even parts of her hide had turned black from the smoke.

"Is—*cough*—is everypony okay?" she said weakly.

Rarity got up and looked around.

"My tail!" she shouted. "My beautiful tail!" She thrust her mangled tail in Twilight's face. "RUINED!" she shouted, pointing out every scorch mark and place where the hairs were now uneven.

Twilight smiled, and even giggled, glad that Rarity was okay.

She looked around at the blackened equipment around them, and then at the hazy interior of the silo, which was now strewn with the melted biological matter of what used to be the alien creature.

"Well," she sighed, "we did what we could." She climbed out the window and onto the platform, noting that parts of the inside of the upper platform were still glowing red. If it wasn't for the suit, she wouldn't have been able to stand the heat of the metal platforms.

"You might want to stay inside, Rarity," she suggested.

She turned back to the hole in the bottom of the silo where the stalks had been sticking out of, and waited. "Come on, Rainbow Dash," she whispered.

The seconds rolled by one at a time, and Twilight was testing how long she could hold her breath. She was very aware of the exact way in which the smoke curved and rose all around the ground. She was very aware of the shape of the mass of creature sprawled all along the ground.

After what seemed like hours, she finally heard something.

A voice.

Before she could call out, there was a pop, and a small black meteorite launched out of the hole, raining black debris onto the floor. It spread out its arms wide and uttered "OH, FOR PETE'S SAKE!"

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted, dancing around on the floor.

The black blob shook itself out, turning blue as it did so, and flew right up to the platform. "You guys couldn't have waited a few more minutes?!" Rainbow shouted. "I almost had 'em!"

She swung her hooves around in a few mock-punches.

Twilight's eyes went wide as she remembered the many groans the creature had been letting out. "That was you?!" Twilight said. "Heh, I was afraid you were just giving the poor thing indigestion!"

"Indigestion is right," Rainbow said, trying to get the soot out of her mane and tail. "The way I was pounding that thing, it was probably begging to be killed!"

Twilight actually laughed. She would have hugged her if she could reach that far.

"Okay," Twilight said, crawling back into the control room with Rarity, "you've proved your awesomeness."

Rarity had simply been staring with her mouth open the entire time, unable to comprehend how Rainbow Dash was still alive, much less unscathed.

"I guess we should figure out how to get out of here," Twilight said, watching Rainbow hover just outside the window.

"No problem!" Rainbow said, closing her eyes and hovering her hoof from side to side. "There's a pool the creature was covering up at the bottom of the pit." She turned around to look at it. "Now that it's seen the wrath of me," she turned to strike a pose, "it's been completely uncovered. It probably takes us straight out of the silo!" She flung her hooves into the air and smiled as she said this.

Twilight nodded her head, not even bothering to refute. "Rarity? That sound good to you?"

Rarity was still gawking at Rainbow Dash, and finally noticed all the other ponies staring at her. She blushed, and smiled lightly, realizing how rude it was of her to stare. "I, uh..." She looked up at Rainbow Dash. She was at a complete loss for words, but managed to get out a "It's good to see you, Rainbow Dash." She blushed even harder, trying to think of more to say.

Twilight shifted her eyes between the two of them and nearly cracked up.

"I guess it's good to see you, too," Rainbow said.

Twilight let out a couple giggles. "Alright, you two," she said. "What say we get out of here."