//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Angelswift II: The Awakening // by Nevel //------------------------------// Lance walked with Moonlight over to his sister, who was still talking to the robot. “Hey Cherry.” Lance said. “Everything okay?” “Yeah.” Cherry said, turning to face her brother. ”Spark and I were just talking about-“ “Eh? Whoa whoa…” Lance interrupted her. “Spark?” “Yeah. Miss Moonlight suggested that he should have a name so I thought-“ “He?” Lance interrupted again. “Well, he sounds like a boy to me.” “I am neither boy nor girl, but you may call me what you will.” The robot said, turning its head to Lance. A quick spark flashed out from its neck. “I think the name suits him.” Cherry said, smiling up at her brother. Moonlight sat down next to the robot. It looked at her and leaned back a little, as if she was getting a little too close. “So Spark, what were you and Cherry talking about?” I guess we’re calling him Spark now. Gah, I mean it! I mean- Lance thought, having an internal discussion on whether Spark is a “he” or an “it”. “We were talking about Cherry Blossom’s garden.” Spark said. “It’s really pretty, Miss Moonlight. You should come with us when we go back home.” “Huh?” Lance snapped out of his own thoughts and re-joined the conversation. “What do you mean by ‘us’?” Lance asked his sister. “You, me and Spark.” Cherry said innocently to her brother before looking back to Moonlight. “You will come too, won’t you Miss Moonlight?” Lance was frozen once again. He couldn’t get his brain to send orders to his mouth say something before it was too late. Moonlight looked up at Lance and knew exactly what he was thinking. She couldn’t help but smirk. “Of course I’d love to come see your garden, Cherry. That’s so sweet of you to offer.” Lance could only stand there. His brain had packed up and left for a holiday it seemed. After everything that had happened, he had to ask himself if things could get any worse. …Huh. Usually that’s the point where something bad happens. “And you can stay with us in Ponyville, Spark. You’ll love it there.” “Wh- What a minute, Cherry.” Lance finally said, finding his voice. “We can’t just invite him err, I mean, Spark to stay with us. He… he needs to stay here and recharge. You heard him before. He can’t leave here.” Cherry looked at the floor sadly. Moonlight looked up at Lance and gave him a stare that just screamed the words ”Did you really have to say that?” “Cherry.” Lance began, speaking more softly. “I’m sorry but it is true. Spark, there’s no technology like you have here anywhere else in Equestria. I don’t think that even Twilight Sparkle has anything that she could use to help you.” “Twilight Sparkle. I know of this Pony.” Everypony turned to Spark, surprised he knew about her. “How do you know Twilight?” Lance asked. Before the robot could answer, there was a scream coming from all around them, echoing through the entire facility. Spark slowly turned his head to face Lance. “What have you done?” He spoke with a flat tone that sounded like he was accusing Lance of breaking something. Lance never thought the machine would have been capable of sounding like that. Spark then stood up and began moving to the lift. “What’s going on? What was that?” Lance asked. “That… was Titan.” Spark said. Lance exchanged a look with Moonlight and then she turned to face Spark. “But I thought that Titan was in permanent stasis?” Moonlight asked. “He was. And can only be awoken by another pony tampering with the pod.” Spark pressed the button on the lift and the doors opened. “One of you ponies must have interacted with it.” “Skylar.” Lance said to himself. Spark stepped into the lift and looked at the buttons. He shook his head and then pressed the up key. “Wait!” Cherry called out. “Where are you going?” “To access the control room and lock down this facility. We have to stop it from escaping.” “Lock down the facility?” Moonlight questioned while holding the door open. “You can’t lock this place down while we’re still all in here.” “Then hurry, because it will be here soon.” The realisation of Sparks words hit them all. Moonlight motioned for Cherry to get in the lift and then Moonlight stepped inside. Lance ran to the elevator and stopped. The lift was already pretty full and Lance was worried about the weight. Especially with the extra weight of a robot. “Lance, come on.” Moonlight said while still holding the door for him. “The lift is too full.” Lance warned. “Go up with Cherry. Then get her and the others out of here. I’ve gotta find Skylar. Spark, are there any other areas in this facility?” “Many.” The robot pony said. “This lift will take you to the other side of the facility. It’s the gear button.” “Okay, thanks. I’ll wait here and once you’re off, I’ll call it back down again.” “No, I wanna stay with you!” Cherry protested. She immediately tried to get out the door but Moonlight stopped her. “It’s okay sweetie, he won’t be gone for too long. Besides, I need your help with Spark. He listens to you.” “But…” Cherry began to protest again, but stopped. She turned to her brother. “You’ll be back quickly, right?” “I will.” Lance said with a nod. “Pinkie promise!” Cherry demanded. Lance smiled at his sister and was about to begin the chant, but the doors started to close. Cherry saw this and tried to jump out at the last second, but Moonlight caught her. Lance let out a worried sigh. He didn’t like leaving his sister, and never had. But Moonlight had taken care of Cherry Blossom before and he trusted her to do it again. Lance watched as the lift went up hoping that they would be okay until he got back. The lift reached the top and opened up. Cherry was the first one out and looked down at her brother. She looked so small up on the catwalk. The others stepped out and Moonlight gave a wave to Lance. He the pressed the button and watched as it started to come down. Cherry kept watching despite being ushered along the walk way by the others. A loud bang caused them all to look back towards the lift. It sounds like it hit something, and then it fell down the shaft, hitting the bottom with a loud bang. Lance jumped and rolled out the way, across the metal floor with all the loose scrap. A small bit of metal scratched his side, but it didn’t hurt much. “Big brother!” Cherry called from above. Lance looked up to her. She, Moonlight and Spark were each looking down, the girls were looking at Lance, worried. Spark however was looking at the lift and then looked down to Lance. He was trying to say something but was too quiet over the ringing in Lance’s ears. There was another loud bang from the lift. Lance looked at the doors, and they were splitting at the bottom. Something was moving around on the other side of it. Lance could make out the silhouette of a leg. He moved closer, worried a pony was inside the lift when it crashed. “Skylar?” Lance called out. The pony inside the lift stopped moving, then with great force the metal doors began to bend outwards, making the pony inside a little visible. Lance stood stunned. Whatever was in there wasn’t Skylar, unless he grew since he last saw him. Lance started taking a few steps backwards, walking over the scrap metal. The thing inside the lift was hammering hard on the doors, breaking its way out. Lance could see a line of red flashing from inside it. “Lance!” Moonlight shouted from above. “Run! The cover behind you!” Lance looked behind him, seeing a massive plate on the ground beside the scrap. He saw a button on the wall behind it, with all manner of warning signs around it. Lance hit the open button and the cover noisily opened up, grinding with effort. The plate opened much like the lift doors, split down the middle. Beneath it was some weird machine. It looked like dozens of thick round metal plates going between each other, each with thick strong points designed to grab and crush between the others discs that were the same. It was like some kind of horrible grinder, designed to crush thick metals. Which would explain why there was so much dumped here. Lance thought to himself. The lift door burst open and out stepped a huge monstrous looking robot. Much more terrifying then Spark could ever have described. The spikes on its head, then large body and the red line where the eyes should be on a flat egg shaped face plate. It was looking around the room for something. And then it spotted Lance. “BIG BROTHER! RUN!” “GET UNDER THE GRINDER!” Cherry and Moonlight screamed together. Lance saw a gap between the edge of the pit and the grinder. Lance jumped for it as the murderous mechanical pony attempted to charge him. Lance fell into the dark hole, landing awkwardly under the grinder. He was safe. The metal pony stood above him, hammering on the machine, trying to make its way to him. Lance had enough room to roll over and stand up, but he had to keep his head down. He saw a green “On” button on the grinder and pressed it. Lance dropped to his belly as the machine began spinning, making a very loud noise. Above, Lance could hear the sound of the robot pony moving away quickly. Lance breathed a sigh of relief, and then he heard the sound of the scrap pile tipping over, falling towards where he was now hiding. The machine was about to start grinding up the metal, and Lance was about to be buried underneath it. He couldn’t climb back out. The thing up there was waiting to kill him. He was trapped. The first few pieces of metal fell into the grinder and Lance covered his ears from the horrible noise the metal made as it was being crushed into tiny fragments, right above his head. The sharp metal bits fell onto the ground in the middle of the pit he was in. Lance pressed himself against the wall, trying to keep out the way of the debris. He looked around. There has to be something. Anything! This scrap can’t just build up here! Lance thought with panic. More debris rained down on him. He had to find a way out. Then he spotted something. An override switch was on the wall, for the manual disposal of debris. He pulled on the lever, but it wouldn’t budge. Lance couldn’t get his full weight behind it because he had to stay low and he had no way to get his hooves under it for a better grip. The debris was beginning to fill the pit now. His ears were ringing from the noise. His headache had quickly returned and he was struggling to think. He was desperate. He was going to die. Lance gripped the lever with his teeth and pulled hard. It moved! Lance pulled harder and then got a hoof behind it, letting go with his teeth and then putting all his strength into pulling the lever all the way down with a loud clang that he could barely hear. The floor then collapsed from under him. Lance fell with all of the debris and tumbled down a slope into utter darkness. - - - Moonlight and Cherry watched in horror as the monstrous machine, known as Titan, stood over the grinder, trying to find a way in. A red light shined over the grinder and then turned yellow. “He found it.” Spark said. “He should be safe from Titan now.” Spark had told Moonlight about the grinder, how there was a way out under it. She was glad to see that Lance found it quickly. Moonlight suddenly found herself wondering. “Where does that go?” She asked Spark. “To the in-“ “Miss Moonlight!” Cherry interrupted Spark as she poked Moonlight’s back leg repeatedly, pointing down below. The unicorn looked down and saw that Titan was looking right up at them. “Move! Quickly!” Spark yelled as it saw the killing machine raise its foreleg and fire a hoof at the catwalk. It flew at them and large claws came out the end, grabbing the railing. They watched, stunned as Titan began to pull itself up, using the cable connected between its hoof and leg. “Ponies! We have to go!” Spark told them. Moonlight didn’t move. She had an idea on how to slow it down. “Cherry! Turn away from me and close your eyes!” “But why? And where’s my brother?” She asked, confused. “Please, just do it! And when I tell you, I want you to run for the stairs. Got it?” Moonlight looked very determined. Cherry didn’t argue and looked away, closing her eyes tight. Moonlight ran to the railing where the grappling hoof was and she waited. Titan then appeared in Moonlight’s face and she almost forgot what she was doing, startled by how large the thing was face to face. She then cast a spell using her magic. A blinding white light shot out from her horn and hit Titan in the face. The machine, blinded, wobbled on the edge. Its hoof came loose for just a second, but long enough for Moonlight to buck it and cause the massive robot to fall, crashing on the floor below with a devastating crash that shook the catwalk. Moonlight hadn’t expected that to work out so well. She looked over the edge expecting to see the wreck of the machine. Instead she saw Titan was already getting up and retracting its hoof back into its leg. “What?! Not even a dent?” It was waiting for its grappling hoof to retract and then it would climb again. Moonlight doubted the same trick would work twice, so she shouted to the others. “Run!” Cherry opened her eyes and looked around. Moonlight ran past her looking worried. Cherry didn’t ask what happened, she knew it was bad and just began to run up the stairs. However, Spark didn’t run. He moved at a snail’s pace up the stairs. “Spark, we have to hurry!” Cherry said to him. “I cannot move any faster. I do not have the mobility.” Spark kept moving up the stairs slowly while he talked. “Tell your pony friend to initiate the lockdown. The code is #10112012.” “What? But we can’t lock this building. We’re still inside. My brother is further down then we are!” Cherry said, sounding upset. Moonlight came back down the stairs. She hadn’t noticed right away that Cherry had stopped. “What’s the hold up? We’ve gotta go!” “Spark can’t run!” Cherry said looking at Moonlight, worried. “Can you carry him with your magic?” “I- I don’t know.” Moonlight said, unsure of her ability. “Please! You have to try!” Cherry looked up at Moonlight with large pleading eyes. “Okay… but get upstairs, quickly!” Cherry nodded and ran behind the unicorn. Moonlight then began to use her magic on Spark to levitate him. It worked, but it was a strain. She moved backwards up the steps, bringing the metal pony with her. They soon reached the top and she put him down. Moonlight was exhausted. “You did it!” Cherry called out in glee. But her happiness faded quickly as the sounds of Titan stomping up the stairs, echoed from below. He was right behind them. “Quick! Get inside!” Moonlight shouted. They jumped into one of the four rooms in the hallway and shut the door behind them. The sound of Titan climbing the staircase ended. It was now in the hallway. If it chose to look in the room that they were in, they were goners. Moonlight looked around the room to see if there was anything they could use. It was packed high with boxes, unlabelled and unmarked. There was nothing else in the room. Spark wasn’t daring to move, his movements would no doubt bring attention to their location, fast. Moonlight had her weight against the door. She knew that she couldn’t hold it out, but tried anyway. Cherry was stood, shaking from head to hoof. She was looking at the window of the door, seeing what they couldn’t see. Titan was stood on the other side of the door, unmoving. He was searching for them. They both held their breaths, trying to be as silent as possible. The sound of the grinder and the hum from the power room next to them was all that could be heard. They waited, as did Titan. It seemed like it wasn’t going to leave. The silhouette of Titan walked away from them. Cherry breathed a sigh of relief then pointed towards the other wall, signalling that the bigger robot had moved away. Moonlight exhaled, taking in a few breaths and then she stood up. The unicorn moved silently to the window, looking around. Titan was gone. “Okay, we’ll wait here a few more-“ “He’s gone back down.” Spark interrupted Moonlight. “What? But I didn’t hear him on the stairs.” Moonlight said, looking towards the steps. “And he went that way, away from the stairway.” Cherry added. “He’s not going to that room.“ Spark informed them. “He’s going to the other half of this facility.” “What? What’s down there?” Moonlight asked. “Lance Angelswift is.” “What?!” Cherry squeaked. “We have to go help him!” “Spark. Is there any way we can stop this machine?” Moonlight asked, hoping for something. “We could trap him, his power will run out eventually.” “How long is that?” “Without a recharge pod, Titan will power down in twenty years.” “But I thought you said you robots couldn’t last long without recharging?” Said Moonlight. “Titan is different. He was made to be superior.” Moonlight sat down. The killing machine would hunt them for twenty years and will never need food or water. And on top of that, it was damn near indestructible. Their only hope was to get out and lock the thing inside this building. But Skylar and Lance were both missing, and no way was Cherry going to willingly leave while Lance was still in here. They had to get up to the others and figure out a plan. - - - Lance hit the floor pretty hard after sliding down the slope, being chased by hundreds of sharp pieces of shrapnel. He rolled out the way quickly as the debris threatened to land on top of him. The sound of the tiny bits of metal hitting the floor echoed throughout the room he was now in. Lance sat down to take a breath. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and the sound of the grinder flowed down from the hole above. He could also hear the small bits of debris as they continued to fall down the hole, the grinder still doing its job. He wasn’t going to be able to climb up, even if the machine was off. Lance couldn’t see anything. He was trapped in a room total darkness. The floor felt like a grate and the walls were made of a thick metal. The temperature in the room was surprisingly high. The walls were warm, but the grate under his hooves was warmer. Lance felt his way along the wall in the dark, looking for some way out. There couldn’t have designed a thing like this without some kind of way in. Gah, if only I could see! Lance thought to himself. Just then, as if some mystical higher power heard him, two flickering orange lights lit up the room. “Oh, thank Celesti-“ Lance stopped min sentence, he could see everything. The debris from the grinder was rising higher. Below the grate was tons of ash. The lights were tiny flames sticking out holes on the walls pointing down at the floor. “Oh no! This is an incinerator!” Lance saw a ladder right above where he was standing. At that very moment, massive flames spewed out at the floor. Lance jumped and pulled himself up the ladder. He was going to be burned alive if he stayed down here too long. Already the flames were generating a heat wave that Lance could feel burning away the hairs on his tail. He climbed quickly, as fast as he could but it wasn’t easy. This ladder was designed to be climbed by something that could grab it. He was already beginning to sweat and lose the minimal grip he had. Lance again resorted to using his teeth to hold on, he slowly made his way up. The heat getting more unbearable the higher he got. He then saw a small hatch door. The top of the ladder did thankfully offer a way out. Holding on with his teeth, he raised a hoof and pushed on the hatch. It didn’t budge. Lance hit it hard, but couldn’t get into a position where he could use both his hooves. Again he hit the hatch. Again and again. Sweat was pouring down his face and into his eyes. He couldn’t see. He was going to lose his grip, and fall to his death. Or worse, survive the fall, long enough for the flames to burn him to death. He kept holding on, weakly banging on the hatch but it remained solid. Lance couldn’t believe this was how it would end. He felt his grip loosening. Light. A white light shinned before his eyes. The mix of sweat and tears in his eyes blurred the outline of an angel before him. Lance felt the angel pull him up, taking him up to the heavens. It was nice and cool. Lance laid down on the metal floor, enjoying the coolness of it. Wait… Metal? Not clouds? Lance blinked a few times. He saw pipes and machines everywhere. Lance looked up at the figure before him. It was another earth pony. A brown stallion with a dark brown mane. “Well, looks like I made it just in time.”