Hey there everyone, I'm going to go ahead and throw out a heads up and say that there is going to be quite a few perspective shifts in this chapter, I know it gets annoying but this should be about the only one like this, so just please bear with it and we will get through it. So, without further adieu, here comes Chapter 6
6. Spelunkers!
Ponyville Schoolhouse
"And that class, is how Sir Isaac Neighton discovered gravity." said a pink mare at the front of a single room school house. "Now, for homework..." She was suddenly interrupted by a loud, collective groan from the class in front of her.
"But Miss Cheerilee, it's the weekend!" complained a voice from the back of the classroom.
Miss Cheerilee tapped her chin with a hoof and had a contemplative look on her face. The entire class leaned forward in their desks and held their breath to hear their teachers response. Then she finally said with a smile, "Oh, I suppose a little time off from homework won't be too bad."
The class erupted into cheers at her words and there was a general stampede towards the door that sent papers flying as the class exited the room at impressive speed.
Out in the school yard the little colts and fillies were milling about in groups, every once in a while one or two would break off and start their way home. One such group was making their way out of the school yard and headed nowhere in particular.
Suddenly one of the fillies, the one with a yellow coat and red mane and tail spoke up, "So, y'all got any ideas for tha weekend?"
"No... not really." sighed a white filly.
"Yeah, I think we have tried just about everything now." said a small orange coated filly with a purple mane.
"Yeah, Ah think you may be right Scoots... oh, wait what about firefighters?"
Scootaloo snorted and said "Oh yeah, we definitely did that one, don't you remember Apple Bloom? I swear it was almost a week before my feathers were orange again and you lost your favorite bow." said Scootaloo as she rustled her wings a little at the uncomfortable memory.
"Oh, right." replied Apple Bloom as she touched her back up hair bow and hung her head with disappointment.
Suddenly the filly by the name of Sweetie belle perked up and said, "Have we tried being chemists yet? I'm sure we can do something in Twilight's lab."
"You know, I think you may be on to something there Sweetie, we haven't tried that yet and Twilight is always willing to help others, maybe she can help us!" said Scootaloo excitedly.
"Yeah, this may be our chance!" said Apple Bloom stopping in the middle of the road and held a hoof up.
The other two knowing exactly what to do, did the same and they all clapped their hooves together in the air and shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHEMISTS!!!" All three happily started to run towards the Golden Oaks Library, hoping get their cutie marks once and for all.
Golden Oaks Library
Knock, knock, knock.
The three quick beats sounded throughout the empty library and quickly subsided, the echos quickly snuffed out by the many silent tomes lining the room.
"Is she even home?" asked Sweetie Belle out side the door.
"Ah don't know, let's knock one more time and see." replied Apple Bloom. "Knock again."
Scootaloo nodded and struck the door more forcefully.
Deep in the library the banging on the front door finally managed to rouse Spike from a very long sleep.
"Ugh, what time is it?" yawned a groggy Spike. He got out of his bed and trudged over to the top of the stairs leading down to the main lobby where looked down at the door where the offending noise had come from.
"Coming, coming." Spike grumbled as he thudded down the steps and up to the door which he opened.
"Hiya Spike, is Twilight home?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Yeah, she's down in her lab working on something. Why?" asked Spike suspiciously.
"We were hoping she could help us get our cutie marks for being chemists." said an excited Scootaloo.
"Oh, uh, listen guys, Twilight has been on edge lately, what with the humans arriving and all and..."
"Wait, what? What are Humans?" asked Sweetie Belle
"You mean you haven't heard about them yet?" asked Spike. At this each of the fillies before him shook their heads.
"Ah heard Applejack say somethin about them last night, but that was only in passin."
"Well, these humans are aliens from a different planet and their ship got stuck here because something messed up on it and now they are trying to get it fixed so they can get back home." explained Spike quickly, trying not to go into much detail.
"Oh wow, cool!" said Scootaloo. "Hmmm, maybe we can get our Cutie Marks doing something with them." she thought out loud.
"Sooo, anyway, it won't take long Spike, we just want to learn some of the basics." said Apple Bloom reigning the conversation back in on topic.
"Well... alright," said Spike hesitantly, "Just... please, remember, her temper is not at its best today."
"Ok, will do." said Apple Bloom as she lead the other two past Spike, into the library's main lobby and towards the basement door standing ajar.
As soon as Spike closed the main door and looked after the three fillies walking down into the basement, all he could sarcastically think was, "Oh boy, Twilight is about to have some fun. Ugh, I'm going back to yawn bed."
Twilight Sparkle's Basement Laboratory
"Ok, now I need to add exactly five point five milliliters of trinitroglycerin," Twilight mumbled to her self as she levitated a small beaker containing a yellow tinged, viscous liquid from a shelf.
"Careful, careful." Twilight continued to talk to her self as the last of the liquid was being added to the solution.
"Miss Twilight! Are you down here?" a loud voice rung out from the stairs causing Twilight to jump in surprise. Twilight could only watch in horror as time seemed to slow down as a drop of the extremely volatile liquid splashed into the beaker. After a few tense seconds when nothing happened Twilight let out a sigh of relief and then glared up at the three fillies that were half way down the stairs.
"Oh, you are so lucky that didn't just," suddenly the solution in the beaker changed from a bright yellow to jet black and began to smoke.
"Oh no, HIT THE DECK!" Twilight screamed out.
Just as Twilight and the Crusaders hit the floor, the solution exploded with a large bang and filled the room with thick billowing clouds of dense black smoke.
Twilight, feeling her way around, found the three fillies, picked them up with her magic and brought them to the front door of the library.
"Please girls cough," Twilight said through gritted teeth, "go play somewhere else." and with that she deposited them outside and shut the door.
"Well, that could have definitely went better, but at least it didn't end with us covered in tree sap." said Scootaloo.
"Yeah, come on girls, lets head to the club house." Apple Bloom sighed.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders began to walk out of town towards Sweet Apple Acres. Soon they reached the long white picket fence that marked the land boundary of Sweet Apple Acres, ducked under the fence and began walking along one of the well worn paths that lead through the apple orchard toward their secluded club house.
"Dang, I just can't believe this, we have run out of ideas and we still haven't gotten our cutie marks!" groaned Scootaloo.
"Hey, you never know, we might think of something." said Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo sighed and said, "Maybe, but I just don't see what else we could, whoa!" Scootaloo's sentence was cut short as she tumbled down to the bottom of a hole next to the path.
"Where did this thing come from?" groaned Scootaloo from the bottom of the hole.
"Oh, y'all remember that old dead tree that was along this here path? Well, sometime last week Big Mac and Applejack came out here an bucked it down so it wouldn't fall on the path. That hole is from the roots." explained Apple Bloom.
"Oh." said Scootaloo. Just then a large clump of dirt broke loose from the edge of the hole and landed squarely on Scootaloo's head with a dull thump.
"Ow!" yelped Scootaloo, "Dang, that hurt!"
After a second of rubbing her head an idea suddenly occurred to Scootaloo.
"Hey girls... have we tried spelunking yet?"
"No, I'm pretty sure we haven't, heck, I don't even know what that is." replied Apple Bloom
"Spelunking is when somepony goes down into a cave and explores it." piped up Sweetie Belle.
"Oh, well, no, we haven't." said Apple Bloom as she reached into the hole and helped Scootaloo out.
"Well, I think I know where an old cave of some sort is, Rarity told me about it one time when she came back from gem hunting with Spike. I think she said it was part of an old mine."
"Your's? What's your's?" asked Scootaloo
"No no no, mine, as in a metal mine."
"Oh! Hey that sounds cool!" said Scootaloo now starting to get excited.
"Yeah it does!" exclaimed Apple Bloom.
"Ok, what all will we need for this?" asked Scootaloo.
"Rope for sure, and I can get plenty of that." said Apple Bloom
"Helmets too" said Scootaloo, "I'm fairly sure I've got a couple spares stashed away in the clubhouse."
"Oh! Flashlights! It will be dark in there." squeaked Sweetie Belle.
"Good thinkin" replied Apple Bloom, "Alrigh, we all know what to get now lets move out and meet back at the clubhouse in a little bit."
Each of the fillies nodded, clapped their hooves together and cried out "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SPELUNKERS!!!" and scampered off to gather supplies.
Sweet Apple Acres Barn
"Alrigh, where is that dern rope, I saw it just yesterdy." mumbled Apple Bloom to herself as she rummaged through a pile of things to the side of the barn door.
"Watcha lookin for there AB?" asked Applejack from the barn doors. Apple Bloom barley even noticed her.
"Huh? Oh, just some rope, I saw some in here yesterdy, but now I can't seem ta find it again." said Apple Bloom as she poked around under some loose straw on the floor.
"This whatcha lookin for?" asked Applejack as she tossed a small coil of rope over to her sister who caught it in her mouth.
"Eyep, thish ish it, tshanks shis!" Apple Bloom said around the mouth full of rope and ran up to Applejack gave her a quick hug and ran out the door back towards the CMC club house.
"Heh-heh." chuckled Applejack as she walked out of the barn.
"Wait a second." said Applejack to herself as she watched her sister disappear into the of apple trees, "Rope and the CMC's... Ohhh boy, this already doesn't sound good.."
Carousel Boutique
Several loud crashes and thumps echoed throughout the building along with the frantic clattering of hooves back and forth across the upper floor.
"Come on! Come on! Where are they!" yelled Sweetie Belle as she tore her room apart looking for three flashlights.
"Hmm, Maybe they are over here." the sound of somepony rummaging through a chest could be heard shortly followed by a shout of pain.
"Owowowow! squeaked Sweetie as she shook her hoof, quickly put the small wound in her mouth, and glared at the stray sewing needle. Just as she released her hoof she caught sight of something reflective at the very bottom of the chest burred under an assortment of odds and ends. Sweetie shouted in triumph as she pulled three flashlights out of the chest and tried turning them on, with a soft click they each turned on for a second then the beams flickered and promptly died.
"Dumb batteries." Sweetie muttered to herself as she ran out of her room and down into the kitchen area in the back of the building.
As Sweetie began tearing through any and every drawer she could find as Rarity walked into the room carrying plans for her newest line of dresses.
"Oh, uh, Sweetie, what are you looking for?"
"Batteries for these flashlights, I need them quick!"
"Alright, alright," chuckled Rarity as she used her magic to open a cabinet and levitate down six batteries.
"What do you need the flashlights for anyway?" asked Rarity as she started looking over her plans in depth.
"They are for our newest idea for crusading, we are going to go see if we can get our cutie marks in spelunking!" and with that Sweetie rocketed out of the room and then out of the building.
"Uh-huh, spelunking, that's great Sweetie." Rarity said absent mindedly from behind her plans, suddenly what Sweetie Belle had said hit home with Rarity who simply dropped her papers and stared into the empty space they had occupied moments ago with a nervous twitch.
"Crusaders, batteries, flashlights, spelunking?! Who knows what could happen to them! Imagine all the dirt they would track in," Rarity suddenly gasped and said "The dirt!" Just before she collapsed in a melodramatic faint she teleported her couch to herself and then proceeded to fall.
CMC Clubhouse
"Finally you guys are back!" exclaimed an excited Scootaloo, "What took so long!"
"We were only gone for twenty minutes." replied Apple Bloom.
"Well... it felt like forever ok!" said Scootaloo
"Anyway, Ah got tha rope, you get them flashlights Sweetie?"
"Mmm-humm." Sweetie replied.
"Alright, hoof me those flashlights right quick and I can put them on the helmets." said Scootaloo
Sweetie nodded and tossed the flashlights to Scootaloo who caught them and proceeded to start taping them to the tops of each of the three helmets.
"Done! Now lets get moving!" exclaimed Scootaloo.
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom nodded with huge grins and followed Scootaloo down the ramp of the club house to the ground. Scootaloo leaned into a nearby bush and mumbled to herself, "Where is it? I know I parked it here last time we used it."
"Watcha lookin for there Scoots?" asked apple Bloom as she trotted up next to he friend.
"The wagon, I know I put it away some where around, AH HA!" shouted Scootaloo as she pulled the old wagon out from the protection of the dense bush and attached it to her scooter. "Alright, pile in you two and lets head out. Where is the entrance Sweetie?"
"Ummm, all we should have to do is get on the road leading away from Fluttershy's and stay on that until we come across a fork in the road, then we take the left path and it should take us straight to the entrance. But it is fairly close to the Everfree so we probably shouldn't stay very long." said Sweetie, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.
"Ok, ok, we won't stay to long, now lets go! We're not going to get Cutie Marks for just standing around." said Scootaloo.
"Alright, lets go." said Apple Bloom as she and Sweetie Belle hopped into the wagon with all their supplies.
Scootaloo jumped onto her scooter, kicked off and buzzed her wings as they accelerated faster and faster towards Fluttershy's house and the old mine after it.
Sweet Apple Acres Pathway
As Applejack raced along the well worn path through the sea of apple trees, thought after thought went racing through her mind.
"Why did Apple Bloom need that rope? What are the CMC planning this time? How will I get them out of trouble this time?" Applejack thought as she thundered up to the club house she called out, "Apple Bloom! Sweetie! Scoots! Y'all up there?!"
When no answer came she trotted up the ramp and opened the door to reveal the usual mess that occupied the club house most of the time, papers all over the floor with half thought out plans scribbled on them, two over turned chairs, and for some reason one corner was occupied by a small pile of glitter, but none of the Cutie Mark Crusaders where to be found. Applejack humphed, turned around and was just about to leave when she tripped over a small tool kit she had given Apple Bloom on Hearth 's Warming Day last year and landed with a heavy thud. Applejack blew out her chops and stood up again while pushing the tool kit under a nearby table. She looked at the table and smiled at it knowing it was her sister's hoofwork and thought out loud,
"You know, Ah think every single pony in Ponyville knows her special talent 'cept her, and it's just sitin right in front of her starin her in the face. To tell ya the truth, that goes for Scoots and Sweetie as well... hang on, what's this?"
Applejack picked up a small scrap of paper sitting on the edge of the table that read, Cutie Mark Crusaders Spelunkers Equipment List: Rope-check, Flashlights-check, Helmets-check.
"So that's what they were planning... thing is Ah got no idea where they would go to spelunk, there ain't any caves near by." Applejack said to herself while scratching the back of her neck with a hoof. "Hang on, Rarity might know, she's all the time out lookin for those gems of her's, maybe she knows of a place they coulda went."
Applejack grabbed the scrap of paper, rammed it into her saddlebags and galloped out of the club house, slamming the door behind her as she ran towards town.
On The Road To Old Mine
"Ok, the fork should be coming up here in just a minute... yeeeah, I think that's it right there up ahead." Sweetie Belle said as she quickly looked up from a map to the road and back at the map again.
"Alright, so up here I go left, right?"
"Right."
"Wait, I go right?"
"No, you go left."
"Ok, so left it is." said Scootaloo as she started to turn left.
"Right." replied Sweetie causing Scootaloo to jerk back to the right almost flying off the road.
"Make up your mind back there!" shouted Scootaloo as they rolled to a stop.
Sweetie Belle sighed and said, "Just go left and stay to the left, we will be there in just a few minutes."
"Ok, thank you." replied Scootaloo in an exasperated tone and started buzzing her wings again.
"So, what do y'all think we will find down there?" asked Applebloom.
"Oh boy, I bet there will be a giant monster down there!" said an ever exited Scootaloo.
"Uh, you do remember what happened the last time we thought there was a monster in a dark enclosed space, right?"
"Yeah. yeah, I remember, it only turned out to be an ugly old green sweeter in Sweetie's closet."
"Yeah, and we also busted tha door off its hinges and put a hole in tha back wall trying to "slay" it." said Applebloom putting air quotes around the whole slaying part.
"Yeah, uh, sorry about that guys." said a slightly blushing Sweetie.
"Aw, it was nothin," said Applebloom giving Sweetie a quick hug, "It was fun, plus Ah got that door fixed up right quick that night too."
"Yeah," said Sweetie, perking up again, "and Rarity still doesn't know about it since you did such a good job."
"Aw shucks Sweetie, what are friends for?" and hoof bumped Sweetie. Both of them giggled a little and looked out at the road in front of them to see a small mound of earth coming up quick.
"Is that it?" asked Scootaloo as she began to slow down.
Sweetie quickly glanced down at the map, tracing the path they had taken from the fork in the road.
"Yep, that looks like that's it. You girls ready for an adventure!?" exclaimed Sweetie, her voice slightly cracking on the last word."
"Eeeyep!" Applebloom said with a huge grin, imitating her older brother.
"You better believe it!" shouted Scootaloo as she pumped a her foreleg "This is going to be awesome!"
Carousel Boutique
"Rarityyy! Rarity! You in here?" shouted Applejack as she burst through the door of the boutique to find nothing but endless yards of fabric and new designs on papers strewn everywhere.
"Now where in the world could she have... oh." said Applejack as she noticed a pair of hind hooves hanging off the edge of a large red couch.
"Great, she's fainted... again." Suddenly Applejack smiled devilishly and looked back at her saddle bags. "Heh heh, this aught to get her up an moving."
She dug around in the bag and retrieved a black handle in her mouth with a long thin tail of woven leather. She swung the whip around several times building up speed and with a quick flick of her head sent the end of the whip flying faster than the speed of sound right by Rarity's ear with a loud, CRACK!
Rarity screamed and jumped halfway to the ceiling of the room and grabbed onto a chandelier. As she hung there gently swaying back and forth she glared down at Applejack who was grinning toothily up at her.
"And just what do you think you are doing?" asked rarity as she attempted to levitate herself down from the chandelier. Halfway down her magic suddenly gave out and she plummeted to the couch below with a muffled "whump".
"Ugh, still can't get that one right." she mumbled to herself as she got to her hooves and marched over to Applejack who was still snickering slightly.
"This is no laughing matter." fumed Rarity.
"No, no it ain't." replied Applejack the smile instantly disappearing from her face and her tone grew intensely serious.
"Applejack, darling, whats wrong?" asked Rarity becoming worried at Applejack's sudden change in mood.
"Tha CMC's, that's what's wrong. There up to somethin again, Ah found a list of supplies in tha clubhouse, they needed rope, flashlights, and helmets, and up at tha top it said Spelunking equipment."
"Yes, Sweetie came in a little while ago looking for batteries for flashlights so they could. go.. spelunking..." Rarity trailed off, the full gravity of the situation finally hitting her.
"We have to find them Rarity. This could end very badly." said Applejack.
"Agreed, now, lets see, where could they have gone."
"That's what Ah was hoping you would know, maybe you told Sweetie about a cave when you went gem hunting or somethin like that?" Applejack suggested.
"Hmmm," Rarity hummed in thought as she rubbed her chin, "Well, there was that one time that I had just gotten back in from looking for copper to make brass for a special order dress and I had absentmindedly told Sweetie about it and... Oh no, the old copper mine right out side Ponyville," comprehension drawing her face into a horrified expression "The section I told her about has been closed down for years now, the only reason I went there was because I could get the lose ore towards the entrance of the shaft. We have to get them and quick, that entire section is badly deteriorated. One wrong move could cause the entire tunnel to collapse!" said Rarity frantically. Applejack gave one quick nod and trotted over to Rarity's saddle bags. Applejack picked them up and tossed them to Rarity. "You'll need these, now come on, let's go!" shouted Applejack.Rarity ran out the door with applejack hot on her hooves. As Applejack cleared the door way she bucked the door shut and the duo continued off to the old mine shaft.
Alpha Base, Near Ponyville
"Now Derpy, uh, how to phrase this, um, don't... just don't wander off in the base when we get there, the humans are kind of sticklers when it comes to security, so just stick close to me, ok?"
The two ponies were only a few hundred yards from the base where there were many marines running about performing various tasks, mostly centering around a large tubular shaped machine with massive teeth at the front.
"No problem Doctor!" replied the grey pegasus in a bubbly, cheerful voice.
The Doctor couldn't help but smile as Derpy's ever good mood was rather infectious. "Alright then, allons-y!" said the Doctor with gusto as he and Derpy trotted forward to the base.
---------------------
"Sarge! Two unknown contacts approaching, both are ponies."
"So, just go out and tell them to get back to the town." said the Sargent around a large cigar that he proceeded to light.
"Uh, well Sarge, one of them looks strangely familiar."
"Oh, is that so now." said Sargent Johnson with a hint of sarcasm creeping into his voice as he let out a puff of smoke.
"Yeah, the hair style is definitely familiar, along with the bow tie he is wearing."
Johnson's eyes widened a little at the description and said. "Hand over those binoculars." Just as he said that the base's defense turrets activated and jerked around to point at the approaching Doctor and Derpy as they passed the turret's detection boundary.
The Marine quickly handed the optics over and stood by, waiting for Johnson to say something. As Johnson peered through the binoculars he quickly recognized the pony the Marine had described earlier and said under his breath,
"Well, I'll be damned, it is him. It has to be, I have never known any other person, alien or human, that can get their hair to do that... radio into base to let them pass."
"Will do, Sarge." replied the Marine. "Stand down and let'em pass." the Marine said into the mike protruding from his helmet. At his word the base's four defense turrets swung back around to their neutral position with a whir of electric motors and hydraulics.
Sargent Johnson walked out towards the pair of ponies and met them halfway.
"Doc? That you?" asked Johnson with a guarded tone.
"Avery? My, I certainly never expected to find you here."
"Well, I could say the same for you. We haven't seen you in years."
"True, but ever since the formation of the UNSC the Earth hasn't really needed my help but judging from what I've seen I take it that situation might have changed?"
"You could say that," replied Johnson, "and it would be the understatement of all time."
"What's wrong?"
"Ever heard of the Covenant?" asked Johnson with an annoyed sigh and rubbed his face at the same time.
"Ah, yes, I know about them, a regular pain in the flank, the whole lot of them and that's putting it insanely lightly."
Suddenly a very loud and low note echoed around the area and the earth below them began to tremble as the great machine that had been in front of the base started to move .
"Yeah, anyway, follow me, I'll explain the situation we're in on the way." Johnson said as he turned around and headed back to the base with the Doctor and Derpy following close behind.
As Sargent Johnson lead them back to the base he began to catch the Doctor up on the events of the Human-Covenant war that had taken place so far from the beginning of first contact on February 11, 2525 all the way up to the present. A task that Johnson somehow managed to do within fifteen minutes of walking through the base to the main control room.
"And that basically has you all caught up." finished Sargent Johnson. "Quite a mess, ain't it?"
"Yes, you could definitely say that. I knew the Covenant were bad news the moment I met one of their leaders at the time, the Prophet of Obligation."
"Obligation? Heh, well, now we got an asshole who is calling himself the Prophet of Truth."
"Well, I can tell you one thing Avery, I will do everything in my power to aid you and the human race once more, I swear it."
"Thanks Doc, because I think we are going to need every last bit of help we can get."
Abandoned Mine Shaft Number One
... "thunk."
Scootaloo whistled, "Dang, that's a long way down. We do have enough rope, right?"
"We should, judging from that rock you threw in Ah'd say the bottom is maybe... twenty feet down. This is the shaft that connects to an emergency escape tunnel so it will naturally be fairly shallow.
"If you say so. Sweetie, you got those helmets fixed up?"
"Sure do, here's yours, and here's yours AB."
"Thank ya, Sweetie."
"Alright, Ah got the rope tied off nice and tight, we should be all set to go now."
"Alright! Let's do this!" shouted Scootaloo as she excitedly buzzed her wings hard enough to hover several inches off the ground.
She quickly landed, snagged up the end of the rope tided it around herself and and leaned backwards over the hole. With a cheeky grin at the others she shouted "Geronimo!" and released her hold on the rope. Sweetie and Applebloom rushed forward to try and grab their friend but she was already far beyond their reach. Suddenly the rope went taut and a muffled "Ooff!" could be heard from the darkness."
"Scootaloo! Scootaloo!! Are you alright!"
"Ugh, yeah, I'm fine," came Scootaloo's voice from the blackness, "I wouldn't suggest falling like that, that rope is a little bit short just like we intended but the stop still isn't exactly gentle."
The others at the surface shared a chuckle and Applebloom leaned as far into the hole as she dared and shouted,
"What do ya see down there Scoots?!"
"A whole lot of dark!" Scootaloo's voice echoed out of the hole, "Hold on!" A gentle click was heard and a bright yellow glow suddenly appeared.
"Rocks!" shouted Scootaloo. "And a tunnel."
"Alright we're comin' down!" Applebloom shouted. She drew up the rope and tied it around herself.
Applebloom looked up from her knot and said "See ya in a bit, Sweetie."
"Alright!" replied Sweetie Belle perkily.
Applebloom leaned backwards over the hole and stated walking down the side of the air shaft on her back hooves while keeping a tight grip on the rope with her front. After only a minute or so Applebloom reached the tunnel floor, she untied the rope and clicked on her own flashlight helmet and hollered up to Sweetie Belle, "Alright, your turn, come on down."
Sweetie Belle's head popped into view blocking out a small portion of the sun's rays that managed to make their way into the hole.
"Uh, you guys sure this is alright?" asked Sweetie, as a slight nervous sweet broke out along her brow.
"Aww, it's fine, look, me an Scoots are already down here," Applebloom said gesturing to herself and Scootaloo, "Don't be such a scaredy pony."
"Alright." Sweetie sighed as she slightly started to regret her proposition of this plan, she backed up and drug the rope up to tie herself off as the others had.
"Here I come."
"Don't worry, we'll be right here!" yelled Applebloom.
Sweetie Belle slowly made her way down the side of the hole just as she had seen Applebloom do it. She had made it about a quarter of the way down when a small rock that she was using as a foot hold gave way suddenly. Sweetie started to fall, screaming all the way. Both Applebloom and Scootaloo took in a sharp breath as they watched their friend quickly approaching the bottom of the tunnel. Then with a loud "SNAP!" the rope went taught leaving a still screaming, yet unharmed, Sweetie Belle dangling about a half foot off of the floor slowly rotating in a circle. Both Scootaloo and Applebloom let out their breath in a low whistle, shared a small chuckle and approached Sweetie. When Sweetie had rotated back around to her, Applebloom quickly reached up and smushed Sweetie's face between her hooves causing her scream to cut short and her eyes to pop open in surprise. Sweetie looked at Applebloom and then down at the tunnel floor and blushed slightly.
"Eh heh, yeah, um a little help please?" Sweetie asked in a distorted voice because of Applebloom's grip. Applebloom smiled and said, "Well, sure." reached up and pulled the loose end of the rope with her teeth causing the entire knot to unravel. Sweetie dropped the last six inches and landed with a small "oof".
"Thanks." said Sweetie Belle sarcastically as she rose to her hooves and brushed herself off.
"No problem" said a grinning Applebloom as she plunked down a helmet on top of Sweetie's head and clicked on the light.
Scootaloo grinned and said "Alright, lets get moving..." and after a seconds pause said, "and stay close," she looked over her shoulders and said in a low whisper, "we don't know what's down here." She then whirled around and began merrily trotting deeper into the cool, humid, gloom, leaving the other two simply staring at where their friend had been a moment before, a little more anxious now.
Applebloom hoofed Sweetie in the shoulder and whispered, "C-come on Sweets, we had best catch up ta her."
----------------------------
After about about fifteen minutes of trotting in the damp tunnel the CMC had not come across anything notable at all, a wooden beam here, an old rusted pickax there, every once in a while they would happen across a small pool of water, with, you guessed it, nothing in it.
"Ugh, whose idea was this!" exclaimed Scootaloo.
"Uh, yours." stated Applebloom rather bluntly. "You were the one that said this would be a good idea."
"Well... how was I suppose to know it was going to be this... BORING!" sighed Scootaloo.
They all stopped, except Sweetie Belle who was actually enjoying herself and in her own little world, taking in every sight of a few small crystal formations or odd looking rock.
"Ah know," Applebloom sighed and looked down at the ground, "maybe we should just head back."
"Yeah, I guess, what do you think Sweetie... Sweetie?" Scootaloo looked around for her friend but saw her nowhere, not even her light.
"Oh no, SWEETIE!" yelled Scootaloo as she began to race off deeper into the tunnel.
"Stop shouting," came a voice from directly in front of the running duo, who quickly slid to a stop.
"Where are you." Scootaloo called out, "On up ahead, I kept on going when you two stopped, there is actually some interesting stuff in here but it's a dead end, almost as if the miners didn't finish out the tunnel."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and looked over to Applebloom and muttered, "You can tell, she is Rarity's sister."
"I heard that!" Sweetie Belle yelled back, "Hold on, my flashlight fell off... ugh, I think the bulb is busted, just let. me.. see... here...." Applebloom and Scootaloo could her her grunting up ahead of them and sparks of magic flying in all directions.
"What are you doing?" called out Scootaloo.
"Just (pant) a little (grunt) more!" and with one final strain a soft glow emanated from the tip Sweetie's horn, brightening up a small area around herself.
"Whoa, Sweetie, when did you learn to do that?" asked a dumbfounded Scootaloo.
"Oh, uh, just a few days ago actually, I've been practicing really hard lately." Sweetie said as she turned to her two friends, a smile beaming on her face.
"Heh, nice, well, Ah guess we might as well get goin back, there's really nothin down... wait, do y'all hear that?" asked Applebloom as the other two perked up their ears and swiveled them around as if they were small radar dishes.
"Yea-yeah, it sounds like a b-bunch of mad snakes, and it sounds like it's coming from behind Sweetie" stammered Scootaloo who was obviously getting scared now.
Sweetie, slowly turned to her right until she faced the solid rock wall behind her. What she found there made her blood run cold. It wasn't mad snakes they were hearing, it was several fuses burning and setting off others as they snaked their way along the floor to the wall.
"Oh no," Sweetie whispered to herself, and as she ran back to the others she yelled, "They didn't finish! That's live dynamite!"
Applebloom and Scootaloo were frozen in place by the horrifying news, to scared to pick up a single hoof.
Sweetie Belle crashed into them and forced them back down the tunnel.
"Come on, move!" Sweetie Belle screamed, her voice majorly cracking as they all began to gallop away as fast as their legs could carry them. Sweetie squinted into the gloom for a saving grace and found one, a small tunnel dug into the side of the main tunnel just deep enough for them all to get into.
"Quick! Into that side tunnel!" Sweetie shouted as she yanked her friends to the right and into the small space forcing them in before herself.
"That wall is about to blow, keep your ears pinned down and open your mouths and keep them open!" commanded Sweetie.
"Wh..." was all Scootaloo could say before Sweetie clamped her hoof over her mouth and yelled, "No time to explain, Just trust me and do it!"
Scootaloo nodded and she and Applebloom did as Sweetie said. Sweetie Belle took her own advice and as she did so, turned her back to the small tunnel entrance and bear hugged her friends as tight as she could to keep them safe from the massive pressure wave and any derbies she knew were to follow the explosion. There was a few seconds of complete silence and then the with a monstrous explosion, the dynamite detonated. The pressure wave quickly traveled down the tunnel and into every little nook and cranny, including the tunnel the CMC had taken shelter in. The blast bowled them over and peppered Sweetie's back with peaces of rock that fell from the ceiling as he face was ground into the small tunnel floor. It also left them hearing nothing but a loud ringing in their ears.
"Ugh," Sweetie groaned, "Are you two alright?" she asked as she disentangled herself from her friends rubbed at a few shallow cuts on her sides and legs and a slit in her lower lip that were all slowly oozing blood.
"Yeah, for the most part, jus can barely hear is all!" yelled Applebloom.
"What?!" yelled back Sweetie.
"Ah said, Ah can barely hear!"
"Oh, yeah, give it some time, the ringing will stop in a little bit. It's called a temporary threshold shift."
Applebloom nodded, knowing better than to ask as to where Sweetie new this information, and they both turned their attention to Scootaloo who was curled up into a small ball next to them.
Sweetie reached down and touched her shoulder. Scootaloo twitched violently and continued to steadily tremble.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Applebloom in a slightly more normal voice as her hearing slowly began to return.
"I'm not entirely sure, she doesn't look hurt, she might just be in a kind of state of shock."
They both looked down at their quivering friend and laid down next to her. Applebloom settled down in front of her and held Scootaloo's hoof while she brushed the hair out from her face while Sweetie laid down to her side and rubbed her back.
After a few minutes of this Scootaloo began to relax and when she finally opened her eyes she was greeted with a grin, a relieved sigh and the moist, golden eyes of Applebloom.
'Wh-where a-am I?" Scootaloo asked as her voice trembled.
"Your in the tunnel with us."
"The-the tunnel?" asked Scootaloo, "What tunnel?"
"The tunnel we came to ta get our cutie marks in spelunkin, don't-cha remember?
"Uh..." she was silent for a moment then suddenly her face brightened as she remembered, and then she whimpered and hid her face as she remembered the blast.
"W-we'er all d-dead, aren't w-we?" Scootaloo sniffled from under her hooves.
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were slightly taken aback by their normally care-free and flamboyant friend's sudden change in demeanor.
"What? N-no, no, we are all perfectly fine, a cut or two and ringing ears but we are all fine." said Sweetie Belle in a soft voice.
Scootaloo looked up to her battered friend and felt a few tears well up within her eyes. S-she would have given her life for me and Applebloom... j-just like that. At that thought Scootaloo lunged forward and hugged Sweetie Belle with all her might allowing a few tears to leak out of her eyes and stain the hair on her cheeks a slightly deeper orange. After recovering from the surprise, Sweetie Belle hugged Scootaloo back just as hard with Applebloom joining in as well.
"Boy, am I glad I have you two as friends." chuckled Scootaloo as she broke the hug and quickly wiped at her face with a foreleg to remove the small tear tracks before her friends could see. Heh, now come on, lets see what that blast uncovered." Scootaloo said with a cocky grin.
Road Leading To Mine Shaft
"Why in the world would they do something like this?" panted Rarity as she and Applejack raced towards the old mine.
"Beats me, Ah don't understand half the stuff they try to go and do."
"Agreed... wait do hear that?" asked Rarity still galloping.
Applejack perked up her ears and sure enough heard the squeal of metal on metal and earth being crushed and shifted in the distance.
"That's the human's mining machine, ain't it?
"Yes, I believe it is, and if i'm remembering the map right that Celestia gave them, it's headed.. for..." Rarity paused and a look of pure horror fell over her face. "Oh pony feathers," Rarity cursed "Come on, we must hurry, I think they are headed for the same mine the CMC are at!"
After a while at a full out gallop Applejack and Rarity only managed to beat the slow moving Nightcrawler by a few minutes at the most.
"Look," pointed Applejack, "that's the rope Applebloom borrowed.
"And it's dangling into that shaft there. Come on, we have to get down there before the humans get here." Rarity raced forward and began to hurriedly pull up the rope and tie it around herself, just as her sister had done only forty-five minutes ago.
"I'm going down, keep a good hold on that rope."
Applejack gave a quick nod and grasped the rope.
Soon Rarity felt the tunnel floor beneath her hooves and called up to Applejack, "Alright, come on down, and quick!" The only reply she got was the rope dragging up quickly. after a few seconds of silence, an orange blur came swooping down from the top of the hole, swinging down on the rope. Applejack let go of the rope, dropped to the floor, tucked and rolled, and popped up to her hooves with Rarity starting open mouthed behind her.
"What? You said get down here quick, so Ah did."
"... Anyway, they can't have gotten to far." said Rarity as she cast a light spell that brightened the tunnel considerably and started trotting down the tunnel with Applejack falling into step right beside her.
Nightcrawler
"Alright, start up the boring head, start at half power and once we are leveled out crank it up to full."
The pilot of the Nightcrawler gave a quick nod to his co-pilot, pulled a lever back to start the drilling head into motion and began pushing forward on a small steering wheel. The massive machine turned downwards and its large teeth began ripping away at the soft earth.
"The ground penetrating radar indicates that there are rich pockets of ore dead ahead and another twenty feet down... you know, this is weird, the ore is actually closer to the surface than what I thought it would be."
"You're right," replied the co-pilot as he scratched his head, trying to make since of the situation. After a moment he gave up trying to rationalize it and said, "Eh, forget about it, it's not like that's the weirdest thing we have seen since being here."
The other pilot simply shrugged, and nodded while he adjusted their bearing a bit. "Hey, I'm also picking up some empty space to the right and further straight ahead."
"Yeah, that's part of the original mine, I think I heard someone say that the locals shut that part of the mine down for some reason, something about it being unsafe and supposedly some of the workers just kept having a bad feeling about the whole place, like there was something unnatural about it all." The co-pilot gave another shrug. "Huh, unnatural is right, I just picked up a pressure difference coming from that direction like the ground just sifted a bit. You think its worth checking out?"
"...Maybe, let's just get that ore first, and if something else happens we'll take a look-see."
"Alright," the co-pilot said with a nod and flicked a switch, "first major ore pocket fifty yards and closing."
Tunnel
After several minutes of trotting the both Rarity and Applejack began to notice quite a bit of dust swirling in the light cast by Rarity's horn and a now soft rumble from the tunnel wall to their left.
"Uh, Rar? Is it normal for all this dust to be in the air like this?" asked Applejack as she fanned the air with her hat in a vain attempt to clear it some. "And A'm almost positive that that rumblin sound is the human's digging machine."
"No, it's not and I think it is too. That's why I'm stating to get even more nervous" Rarity said as they passed by a small tunnel to the left that had some how remained mostly clean.
"Lets hope we find them soon." said Applejack, worry creeping into her voice as she started trotting faster.
-------------------------
"What do y'all see? Cause all I can see is dust." said Applebloom.
"Same here." said Scootaloo squinting as she tried to see through the thick motes of dust still swirling around them. "Come on, let's get over these rocks and see if there is anything behind them."
All three of the CMC began to clamber over the large mound of rocks that had been blasted from the wall. Once they had reached the other side, Scootaloo jumped down to the floor, but instead of the muffled thump she expected to hear, she was greeted with an entirely different sound, that of hooves striking a metallic surface.
"What the hay?" Scootaloo questioned out loud as she angled her flashlight downwards to point at the floor. It was steel grey in color with darker strips in an odd pattern.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom quickly joined her in her inspection of the floor.
"I ain't ever seen nothin like this before." stated Applebloom
"Me neither." said Sweetie Belle.
"Come on, let's go in a little deeper." suggested Scootaloo. As she took another few steps their entire surroundings light up with a soft blue-white light emanating from the once darker strips in the floor, walls and ceiling almost as if the strange structure knew they were there.
"Ooookaaay, this, is g-getting weird." said Applebloom, but each of them continued forward, memorized by their strange new surroundings.
After following the central corridor, the three CMC's came to a large metallic door with a glowing green button at its center.
"Wow, look at the size of this thing!" exclaimed Scootaloo as she raced to the button. "And I bet this thing opens it."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea Scoots," Applebloom said with a hint of uncertainty in her voice eyeing the massive door. "it might be shut for a reason."
"Oh come on, we came all this way, we at least gotta see what's behind this giant door." Scootaloo said motioning to the hulking plates of metal.
"Well... ok, but just be careful."
No sooner had Applebloom finished speaking, Scootaloo had pressed the slowly pulsating green button. The entire housing of the button reconfigured itself to cover the green section and promptly disintegrated into orange particles.
After a second of quite Scootaloo said, "Well, that was anticlimat..." but before she could finish her sentence the great door split into three pieces and retracted with a soft hiss, reveling a massive room with a large column standing at its center with a glowing blue ball of light attached to it.
"W-what is that thing?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"I... I'm not sure. Let's get a closer look." said Scootaloo an air of cautiousness in her voice.
Nightcrawler
"Whoa!" exclaimed the co-pilot within the Nightcrawler as he suddenly sat up and stared at one of the many monitors, "There was just a large a power surge, bearing zero-one-five."
"Heh, I guess we get to check it all out then." the pilot said as he powered down the ore conveyor system and adjusted their course. "That was the last ore vein we needed anyway. A few more runs like this and as long as the other Crawler is having the same luck, we will be out of here in half the time the eggheads back on the Autumn thought."
The co-pilot simply nodded while being distracted by the monitor in-front of him.
Tunnel
"Alrigh, now A'm gettin real worried, look at all this loose rock, and... do you smell that?"
Rarity tilted her head up and smelled of the air.
"Yes, it kind of smells like the time the CMC tried being pyrotechnics, they scared half of Ponyville nearly to death when one of the big rockets... exploded" Rarity squeaked out her last word and felt her legs start to buckle at the thought of the CMC possibly being hurt in an explosion in the tunnel.
"Applejack, I think... I think they might have accidentally set off some old dynamite charges, that's why there is so much dust in the air and it explains why there is a massive pile of rock right up ahead." Rarity weakly pointed up ahead at the rock pile the CMC had crawled over just a few minutes before.
"Alrigh, I don't really see any sign of them here," AJ said looking around and shifting some of the rocks around, "help me move some of these rocks just to be sure.
In all the rock pile was wide across but not very deep and Applejack with the help of Rarity's levitation spell was able to clear most of the blast debris away.
"Ok," Applejack panted, "They ain't here, but look at that." she pointed a hoof down down deeper into the tunnel towards a faint blue light.
"They probably kept on going."
"Agreed." said Rarity as she began to run down the corridor with Applejack hot on her hooves.
After running for a bit and a quick stunned silence cause by the metal walls, floor, and ceiling and the blue light, Applejack and Rarity continued running down the corridor until they came to the large room that housed the console in it's center.
"AB, Sweetie, Scoots!? Y'all in here!?"
Three heads popped out from around the console with a surprised look on their faces at hearing their names. They each quickly scampered out to meet Applejack and Rarity who meet them halfway with each receiving a large bear hug.
"Oh thank goodness we found you, do you have any idea how worried you made us!"
"We know, and we are sorry, but we hadn't tried this yet and we thought it was a good idea at the time and I remembered you talking about this place and..."
Rarity put a hoof up against Sweetie Belle's mouth to cut short her explanation. "It's... fine." Rarity sighed. "At least we got to you before something too awful happened although I can see you have already been banged up quite a bit." Rarity said as she put a hoof under Sweetie's chin and lifted her face up to see her split lip and the dried blood around the cut.
Sweetie Belle smiled sheepishly and a wince of pain as the small smile began to tear the split open again.
"Now, come on, let's get all y'all out of here before something else... aw horse-apples, what now?!" Applejack cursed and threw her hat to the floor as a loud grinding sound could be heard coming from back further in the tunnel they had just come through. Suddenly the grinding sound stopped and all was quiet once more.
"Now what in the world could that have been." asked Rarity eyeing the tunnel suspiciously.
"Well, if i had to guess, I would say it's..." Applejack paused at the sound of footsteps echoing off the metal walls, "Eyep, it's the humans."
"Whoa, look at this place man." the co-pilot of the Nightcrawler said as he and the pilot walked into the room.
"Yeah, I guess we know what caused that energy spike."
"Yeah, oh, hey, look, some of the locals are down here." the co-pilot nudged the pilot and pointed.
"Yeah, hold on," and in a louder voice asked, "Y'all haven't touched anything down here have y'all?"
"We haven't." replied Rarity looking back at the CMC who shook their heads.
"We didn't either, we just got over to that thing when y'all came in." said Applebloom jerking their head back to the console.
The two pilots looked up from the group in front of them to the console. They both began walking towards it causing the CMC, Applejack, and Rarity to turn and watch them approach the glowing blue sphere of light.
"What do ya think it is?" The co-pilot asked quietly.
"Well, it looks alien to me, probably Forerunner. Hold on, let me try something." The pilot stepped forward and was about to put his hand on the blue sphere when suddenly the co-pilot grabbed his hand and stared at him saying, "What are you doing?"
The pilot looked at his co-pilot, shrugged and simply said, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
The co-pilot released his grip on the pilot's arm allowing him to get closer to the sphere which quickly spun around and five glyphs light up a bright white. The pilot hesitated for just a second before laying his hand on the sphere of solid light with his finger tips touching each of the highlighted symbols. As soon as he made contact, the sphere disappeared and a whirring was heard through out the room causing all in the area to take a few hesitant steps back.
"What did you go and do!" yelled Applejack.
"I...I'm not sure." the pilot said as he stared at the machine.
Suddenly with a loud pop and whoosh, the room was filled with floating points of light with lines quickly tracing between small groups, all of which were slowly spinning around the machine which turned out to be a projector.
"Whoa, it, it looks like a map."
"Yeah, it looks like local star systems and look here," said the co-pilot walking towards an area the projector had highlighted."It looks like a... Is that a giant ring?"
"That's what it looks like, touch it right quick, it might give some information." the pilot said as he quickly walked past the group of dumbfounded ponies who were all staring in different directions, trying to take all the points of light, to stand along side his co-pilot for a better view.
The co-pilot reached up and quickly touched the ring shape. The entire map zoomed in on the ring and placed it in the center of the room right above the projector along with a holographic box beside it giving dimensions and other information.
Both humans walked back to the console to read the box's content. "Let's see here, it says its name is Halo Installation zero-four, ring world, diameter of ten thousand miles, orbits a moon of Threshold called Basis, caretaker is someone or something named three-four-three Guilty Spark, wired name, sounds like an AI. And the last thing it has here is Years Since Last Activation: one-hundred thousand."
"Alright, get a picture of that box and of the Halo and send it to the Captain, I think he would like to see this."
"Agreed."
The pilot turned back to the group of ponies that were staring at him. "What?" he asked.
"Do...do you know what all this stuff is?" asked Rarity as she motioned to the projector and the large holographic ring.
"No, not really. We have only seen a very tiny bit of this kind of technology before, the only reason I know what little I know is because I was a guard for an important scientist before I was trained to operate the Nightcrawler. All I can say is that the race that built this place here, and more than likely that ring right back there, called themselves the Forerunners. And all we know about them is that they were a highly intelligent race that acted as caretakers of the galaxy and then mysteriously disappeared and the aliens that we are at war with think that the Forerunners were gods and if they activate something they keep calling the Array then they will follow them into godhood, they have even gloated that activating the Array will wipe out all that oppose them."
"Well, that's terrible, they would be so selfish as to want to destroy all other life." said rarity with a look of disgust on her face.
"It is, that's why we are at war with them, to try to simply survive."
Applejack tilted back her hat and looked at Rarity then at the pilot and said,
"Alrigh, we need ta get out of here and tell the Princesses exactly what you just said and quick. Y'all got any extra room on that rig of y'all's?
"Uh, yeah, a little. Why?"
"Because, at the moment it's the fastest way to the surface."
"Alright, I see your point, I don't think the higher ups will mind, especially when we show them these pictures." the pilot said with a jerk of his head towards his co-pilot that had just walked over to them. ''Lets go."
Soon the group had arrived back at the Nightcrawler and boarded it. The great machine once more rumbled to life and began slicing its way as quickly as possible to the surface.
Covenant Ship: Truth and Reconciliation. Normal Space.
"Shipmaster! We have detected the activation of a holy relic."
'Ravamee's head jerked off of his hand as he sat up straight and stared at his navigator.
"Are you positive?" 'Ravamee growled.
"Yes Shipmaster, It's a faint signal but we are positive it was an activation. We have the approximate location of the signal... and the human's trail is heading straight into the heart of the location.." The navigator finished with snarl.
"Then we have found them, make for best speed to our prey." and as an after thought, growled, "And send word to the carrier following in our wake, send them the rough coordinates and tell them to slow their speed and let us confirm the presence of the humans and the artifact."
"As you wish, Shipmaster." the navigator said, a murderous glint in his eyes as he turned to relay the Shipmaster's orders to the rest of the bridge.
Just Outside Alpha Base
"Whew, y'all weren't kidding when y'all said that there wasn't much room." Applejack said as she jumped down from the Nightcrawler and loudly popped what seemed to be every joint in her neck and back as soon as she landed on the ground, "Ooo, yeah, that's better." she said as she shook herself out and quickly started helping down the three fillies. Each of which were coated in a thick layer of dust that muted their natural colors to a dull grey. As soon as Rarity saw Sweetie belle in the proper light of day she gasped and said, "Sweetie! You are absolutely covered in filth! We must get you cleaned up, especially those cuts.
Sweetie only nodded and sighed and gave a dejected look at her other two Crusaders, she could already practically feel being scrubbed down with soap and water and the irritating sting of alcohol in her near future.
"Bye girls," Sweetie sighed as she began to walk away following Rarity back to the boutique.
"See ya, Sweetes" both Scootaloo and Applebloom called in unison.
"Ahem, Ah believe the same goes for you too little missy." said Applejack in a stern voice.
Applebloom winced and hung her head and began to follow Applejack on the long walk back too the farmhouse.
Applejack looked back at Applebloom following her and then a sudden thought ran through her mind that caused her to look up at Scootaloo who was whistling and slowly trying to sneak away.
"Ho-hoo there, Scoots, your coming too, what if Rainbow saw you like that, huh?"
"Eh-heh, yeah, uh, well... umm..." after a few moments of stalling Scootaloo finally gave in, "I guess your right, she would probably fly off the handle and think somepony had tried to beat me up or something like that, she can get real protective sometimes." Scootaloo said as she slowly trotted toward Applejack with her head low.
"Heh, that comes with the title of big sister." Applejack said as she hooked a foreleg around Applebloom, pulled her close, and smiled down at her, "Even if she is an adoptive sister."
"Yeah," said Scootaloo who had a small smile on her lips as well, "She is an awesome sister."
"Eyep, now, come on, lets go get y'all all cleaned up. Then I can go and tell Twi to send a letter."
And with those last few words the trio began the walk back to Sweet Apple Acres with the sun just beginning to set in front of them.