//------------------------------//
// On A Bale 
// Story: Half-Life: Equestria 
// by Ganymede 
//------------------------------//

The three of them had taken some time to work out how to get around the electrical equipment. The high voltages causing lightning to shoot out ruled out any hope of flying around it, although that didn't stop Rainbow Dash wanting to try.

It was with some luck, then, that Rarity noticed a door to a backtrack hallway. Twilight had assumed it was just a storage closet from the outside, and was surprisingly pleased to see that it actually went somewhere.

"Where do you think it goes?" Rarity asked.

"Hopefully back to the depot," Twilight said, leading the way through the cramped tunnel. "It would be nice if we got to use the power we just went through all the trouble to turn on." She put a hoof up to shield her eyes against the bright lights on the ceiling. "Honestly, though, I have no idea," she said. "Without a map, there's no way to know where anything leads. We could be walking into a maintenance closet for all we know, or even taking a back entrance to the silo."

Rarity mumbled, "I wouldn't be surprised if this took us into the bowels of Tartarus, at the rate we're going. How do we even know the train goes the right way?"

Twilight hung her head. "Unless you see an alternative, Rarity, I don't see that we have much choice in the matter."

Rarity nodded before falling silent. The both listened to their own hoof steps as they traversed the hallway, looking around at the cold, dark walls closing around them. Twilight could feel her own body weighing her down. The machine gun on her shoulder was becoming more annoying by the second, and she wished more than ever that she could take her suit off and relax, even if only for a minute.

"Isn't it ironic?" Rarity asked, walking up to Twilight. "We finally get the power on, only to be blocked by the very thing supplying the power."

Twilight didn't say anything. She just stared ahead at the tunnel as it curved and twisted wherever it wanted to go.

"I mean," Rarity continued, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this whole thing was a trap, specifically to make us go down this hallway!"

"Rarity," Twilight said.

"No, really, Twilight!" Rarity continued. "We've been running into traps this whole time. You think it was happenstance that a giant tentacle monster just happened to be in the center of the silo we needed to pass?"

"Rarity."

"Or that the military just happened to be guarding the generator for this old, derelict rail system that no scientist in their right mind would ever want to use?"

"Rarity, what is your point?" Twilight said. She stopped and turned around, tilting her head with a sigh.

"My point is," Rarity said, "how do we even know that this rail system isn't just another trap?" She lifted a hoof to point towards the end of the tunnel, "For all we know, the military could be waiting for us on the other end of these tracks."

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but closed it instead before turning around and continuing down the tunnel. "Look," she said, pointing a hoof around one of the bends, "there's a door coming up." She looked back at Rarity. "We'll know where we are soon enough. We can decide what the best course of action is after that."

Twilight waited for a response, but none came. The rest of the journey up to the door was slow, but they seemed to reach it much sooner than Twilight was ready. She turned around to look at the other two just as she reached the door. Part of her wanted to say something to them, but until she knew for sure what was on the other side of the door, she couldn't think of what to tell them.

Twilight took a deep breath, reached a hoof out and pushed the door open.

It was definitely the same depot from before. However, there was a certain rotting decay that wasn't there when they had first seen it. The smell was like a wall hitting her in the face. An acrid haze filled the room, and the ceiling was covered in a thick smog.

No sooner had she taking a step into the room than the bodies came into view: a near-unrecognizable pile of carnage laden with camouflage outfits lay in front of the opening they had escaped into when they first encountered the beast. The uniforms were the only things covering the morbid sight of charred pony flesh, aside from the wisps of steam still clouding the remains. Various other bodies dotted the floor of the depot, like specks of mold.

Twilight felt her jaw slowly drop as the scene unfolded. She had to work hard not to simply retch from the smell. Her knees wobbled, and she felt light-headed from the wafting smoke. It wasn't until Rarity walked in behind her that she came to her senses.

"Oh, my—" Rarity stopped short and immediately started convulsing in a fit of coughing and retching.

Twilight perked back up and trotted back to Rarity, placing a hoof on her back. "It's okay," she said. "It's only for a little bit. Just until we get the trains running."

Rarity closed her eyes, trying to stop them from watering. "Don't worry about me, dear," she said. "I'm just... allergic to rotting corpses, that's all." She smiled weakly.

"There has to be a train here that will work," Twilight said, looking around. "If we can manage to get one onto the turntable, there should be a way to direct it towards the exit tunnel."

She turned around and walked back to the door they had just exited, not bothering to look at what was in front of her. "Now, if I was to take a guess," she continued, "the switch to control the turntable is probably in the control room." She thought about the large Frankenpony switch they had seen and rolled her eyes. "Control in the control room," she repeated quietly. She peered through the door and into the tunnel. "Rainbow!" she said, squinting against the lights. "Rainbow, do you think you could come out here? We could use your help."

Twilight stuck her head inside to look around, and realized that Rainbow hadn't said anything since they had entered the tunnel.

"Rainbow! Are you ther—"

She felt a hoof tapping her shoulder, and turned around to see Rarity giving her a look. Twilight was about to ask, when Rarity jabbed her hoof towards the depot.

"Is she—" Twilight turned around to give the depot another good look.

Rainbow was clearly visible in a corner of the depot she had overlooked. She was hovering in the air, curled up, her face in her hooves.

Twilight looked back at Rarity, mouth slightly agape. "You don't think..."

Rarity put her hoof up to Twilight's mouth, and trotted off towards Rainbow. Twilight followed closely behind.

As they approached, they could see that Rainbow was curled up, almost into a fetal position in the air, and was quivering. She was silent, save for the occasional sniff, but neither of them could see her face due to her hooves being in the way. Both Twilight and Rarity stopped just short of her, trying to work out what was wrong.

"Rainbow?" Twilight said slowly. "Are you alrigh—"

"I'M FINE!" she shouted. She turned around and put her head up, as if trying to strike a proud pose. It clashed with her occasional sniffles.

Twilight and Rarity looked at one another with wide eyes, shaking their heads. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Rarity shoved her hoof into it. She followed Rarity's other hoof to where three bodies were lying, just below Rainbow Dash.

As far as she could tell, they all had shocked looks on their faces, but it was hard to tell with so much of their hair covering their eyes. Twilight reached a hoof out carefully, and brushed some of the hair out of the way so she could see their faces more clearly.

"Oh, dear," Rarity said quietly. "You don't suppose..." She looked up at Twilight before both of them looked up at Rainbow Dash.

"I—" Twilight started, "I didn't even consider—" She felt her voice falter for a moment. "R-Rainbow?" She swallowed. "Were those three pegasus ponies your—"

"No!" Rainbow shouted before Twilight could finish. "Not way! Never!" She flailed her hooves out. "Those idiots?!" Her voice cracked on these last words. "I," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I didn't even like them." She stuck her head up again, striking another "proud" pose at the wall.

Both of them walked up closer to Rainbow, trying to hide their pity.

"Rainbow," Twilight said quietly. "There's nothing to hide. Everypony goes through this. I've gone through this. We can help you."

"Hide?!" Rainbow lashed out. "Hide what? I'm not hiding anything!" She whipped around and threw her hooves out, showing her tear-stricken face. Her eyes were red, and her mouth was scrunched. "Nothing's wrong! Three random idiots did something stupid and get themselves killed. BIG. DEAL."

Twilight looked around the room at the dozens of bodies lying around. Then she looked back up at Rainbow. "Three?"

Rainbow scrunched up her face even more and made a big sniffling noise. She closed her eyes tight and put her hoof up, as though shielding herself from the sight. "I—" She couldn't speak.

Rarity stepped forward. "Rainbow, come down."

Rainbow barred her teeth, and a few tears slipped through her lids. She breathed out and in deeply.

Before Twilight and Rarity knew what was going on, Rainbow slammed herself into the opposite wall and banged her hooves into a few times, finally leaning her foreleg against the wall. Then, she dug her face into her foreleg, and sobbed.

Even digging her face couldn't stifle the sound. Her body twitched and convulsed, and her legs slowly gave out from under her.

Twilight and Rarity were with her before her body hit the ground, wrapping their hooves around her and whimpering nonsensical attempts at calming her down. Neither of them had any idea what to say, but they couldn't stand to hear Rainbow like this in silence.

"It's okay, Rainbow."
"We won't judge you."
"Just let it all out."
"Don't think about us."

Rainbow gasped between sobs, and managed to let out a few words. "Why... is this happening?" She sobbed, putting her hooves up in front of her face. "This isn't... how it's supposed to be." She convulsed again, and swallowed hard. "I'm a SOLDIER!" She threw her hoof against the wall in a mock punch. "I'm not supposed to be like this!"

Twilight stroked her shoulder and leaned her muzzle against her ear. Feelings were pouring in from her first time meeting Rarity, and she was having a tough time fighting them. She closed her eyes.

"Death," Twilight said. She swallowed. "is hard for all of us, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow scrunched her face, trying not to look at her. "But I didn't even like them!" she said. "It's not fair!" She threw her hoof against the wall again, this time with a dull thud.

Rarity continued to stroke her hoof down Rainbow's back, whispering trivial statements.

"I," Twilight thought out loud. "I don't think it matters what you thought about them," she said. "It's the fact that you knew them that makes it... difficult."

Twilight got up and walked around the room. Spike's face was flashing in her mind: on the rafters in the test chamber, peering down excitedly at all the equipment, or whining at her about how he'd be fine while she was gone. The images burned.

A quiet sob just behind her made her turn around. Rainbow had managed to get up off the wall. Her face looked horrible, and she was shaking on all fours, but she was still standing.

"Y-y-you," She sounded half-scared. "Y-you said you lost someone too?"

Twilight's eyes widened, and she looked over at Rarity, who was walking slowly up from behind.

"I don't think Twilight wants to talk about it right now, dear," she said.

Twilight took a deep breath, and then closed her muzzle and sighed. Her head sunk into her hoof, and she closed her eyes.

"I..." Rainbow said. "I want to hear it," she said.

Twilight rubbed her hoof into her face, trying to wipe away all the mental images of green and purple scales. There was a dark part between then and now: a void she didn't want to explore.

"Maybe someday," she said, not looking up. "But not right now. It's still too soon... for me."

She sensed, rather than saw, Rarity put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "It's alright dear," she said. "Just give her some time."

Twilight looked up to see Rarity leading Rainbow away. "Now," Rarity said, "Twilight says there's a switch that will activate the turntable."

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

The train in the back switched on with a hum. Twilight didn't see much of a difference between this train and the one in the silo, save for a few crates sitting atop, which she had magicked off to make room for herself. The turntable was directly ahead, and was already positioned to accept her train.

Rarity was standing at the turntable and facing the control room. Her hoof was up.

"Rarity," Twilight said over the sound of the train. "The turntable is perfectly aligned already. I don't think there's anything we have to wait for."

Rarity put her hoof down and gave her a look before finally rolling her eyes and turning away.

Twilight shook her head, and slowly pushed forward on the lever. The train lurched forward, throwing her slightly off balance, but she regained quickly. The rest of the room came into full view as she exited the nook that the train had been standing in. Rarity was walking up to the train to greet her.

"Twilight," she said, meeting the train halfway, "I must admit, I'm a bit worried about Rainbow Dash."

Twilight looked up at the control room, and saw the vibrant blue face of Rainbow Dash against the dull gray of the room she was in. She was smiling weakly, but didn't say anything.

"You don't suppose she'll do anything rash, do you?" Rarity asked. "I mean, I just remember back when you had..."

Twilight scrunched her eyes shut, trying not to remember how she had threatened Rarity after what happened to Spike. She opened them and looked back at Rarity. "I'll talk to her at some point," she said. "Just keep an eye on her for now."

Twilight waited until the train was centered on the turntable before bringing the train to a stop. She reached up her hoof to signal Rainbow Dash, who saluted with one of her hooves, and pulled down on the lever with the other. Rarity didn't wait for the train to stop before climbing onto the train with Twilight.

"I must admit," Rarity said, holding up a small canister. "I'm going to be very glad to get out of this room." She waved her hoof around, wafting a spray around them. "I've almost run out of air freshener!"

Twilight turned around to see Rainbow flying up to them, and waited until she was hovering right next to them.

"Are you going to be okay?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow put a hoof behind her neck before bringing it out in front to wipe her brow. She made a face, as though she was trying to think. It looked painful. "I guess I just need to chill out," she said. "Put all this behind me. It's not like any of them were my friends or anything." Her voice started to crack up towards the end, and she fell silent.

"Well, if it's any consolation," Twilight said, "you handle this kind of situation better me." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, turning her head to face the tunnel. "I really hope this rail will take us somewhere safer."

Rarity quietly scoffed, but didn't say anything.

Twilight pushed the lever forward, and felt the train lurch again. She was surprised at the sudden feeling that arose as she watched the tunnel approach her. As little time as they had spent in the depot, it still felt familiar to her. She understood it. Now the train was taking her away from it.

Rainbow whipped around with a whoosh of rainbow trail, and flew into the tunnel. "Can't this thing go any faster?" she asked. "There's nothing here!" She hovered in front of them at the end of the tunnel and crossed her hooves. "It just bends over this way and keeps going."

"Really?" Rarity asked. "You're sure you didn't miss anything? Perhaps some swinging spikes, or a pit of lava?"

Twilight glanced over at Rarity before looking back at Rainbow. "Well, I suppose we could go a few notches faster." She gave Rainbow a look. "But you have to promise to catch us if we lose control."

Rainbow stood up in mid air and saluted again. "No mare left behind!" she said.

For the first time since they had entered the depot, Rainbow's face glowed, and Twilight couldn't help but smile. Rainbow gave a weak smile back at her before turning back to face the tunnel.

"She'll be fine," Twilight whispered to Rarity.

She pushed the lever forward a few more notches, and felt the train pick up speed.

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

"I wish I had a map," Twilight said, gazing down the endless tunnel. "These rails could lead anywhere!"

"Twilight's right," Rainbow said, pacing in the cool air in front of them. "For all we know, we've been going in circles. I mean, what if the whole train thing is just one giant round trip?!"

"We don't know that," Twilight said. She had kept her hoof on the speed control the entire time, despite the fact that they were hardly travelling at more than a slow gallop. "If we were going around in circles, we'd have merged with another track by now." She held onto the control panel as the train curved around one of the corners. "Besides," she said, leveling out, "we're well away from the silo by now. According to my calculations, if the silo door was two floors below the surface, then the lift we took would take us 2 more floors below that, then another lift up into the silo..."

She continued to think out loud, tracing their path up lifts, down stairs, taking into account falling through holes and climbing ladders, always using her hoof to help gauge the height.

"...and then finally landed in the room with the trip mines, my guess is that we're probably only a couple hundred feet below the surface."

Rainbow whipped around in front of her. "How can you remember all of that?! I don't even know how far we went since our last turn!"

Twilight looked around at the dark, cold tunnel around them and sighed. "Part of me wishes I couldn't," she said. "Looking back, I can still sketch out the exact floor plan of the Canterlot Castle." She swiveled her hoof around, as though drawing out blue prints in mid-air. "I could also tell you the exact dimensions of my old room, down to the last inch, without having ever measured them." She sighed. "It hasn't been very useful until now."

Rarity's eyes were wide. "Why, that's remarkable, dear! How can you still manage to fit anything else in that little head of yours?!" She tapped the top of Twilight's head with her hoof, making Twilight blush.

"Uh, guys?" Rainbow's back was to them, and she was pointing down the tunnel. "Looks like we got something up ahead."

Twilight squinted against the darkness, and saw something red and white in the distance: a parking gate, similar to the one they had crashed into in the silo. Twilight instinctively pulled back on the lever, slowing the train to a slow walk.

"Uh," Rainbow said, pulling back and scratching her head, "we're not exactly anywhere close to it yet."

Twilight blushed again. "I know," she said. "I was, er, just making sure the controls still work?" She ducked her head down, and pushed the lever forward again.

"Why, who could that be?" Rarity said. "There's a stallion standing on next to the gate." She turned towards Twilight. "You don't suppose he's—"

Twilight peered over the train panel to get a better look. She shook her head. "If he was a soldier, we'd be dead by now," she said. "They'd be looking for us."

The stallion was standing on a raised boarding platform off to the side. A room was in back of him, with a set of windows looking in. A switch towards the back of the platform clearly controlled the gate.

"If he's not with the military, he's probably lonely," Rarity whispered. "Should be pretty easy for me to get something out of him."

Twilight turned towards her. "Let me talk to him, first."

She pulled the speed lever down one notch at a time, and brought the train to a lurching halt at the platform. The brown stallion standing there was wearing a standard Pony Mesa security uniform, and trotted up to them with an excited look on his face.

"I knew it!" he said, skipping the last few feet. "I knew somepony got the power on! HAHA!" A crazed look crossed the stallion's face, and took a step back.

Twilight looked around. "I—"

The stallion took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said, "It's just been a loooong day. I think the aliens are starting to get to me." He turned around. "I've been hoping to see some signs of pony life down here ever since the place went under. Thank Celestia you three showed up!"

Twilight stepped off the train and onto the platform. "You've been down here the whole time?!"

The stallion shook his head. "Well, not the whole time. I've been wandering around these tunnels for a bit, but—" His eyes locked onto Twilight's hooves, and slowly followed them up until they reached the suit. His jaw dropped as he gazed all around Twilight, slowly walking around her as though admiring a marble statue.

"Um," Twilight said, feeling uncomfortable, "can I help you?"

Rainbow snickered behind her.

"My... gracious Celestia," he said, breathlessly. "That suit!" He continued to walk around her.

"I—" Twilight stopped mid-sentence, and straightened up. "Well, I guess it is a state of the art Mark IV, and it has certainly been helpful, but—"

"It's you!" he said, jumping up and down like a colt. "It's you! It's really you!"

Twilight looked at him cock-eyed, and then looked around. "It's me." She stopped. "Wait, what's me?"

The stallion rolled his eyes. "You are Twilight Sparkle, are you not?"

Twilight looked perplexed. "I, uh... h-how do you know my name?"

As a response, the stallion placed his hoof on Twilight shoulder and started laughing hysterically. "H-how," he wheezed. "How do I—" He turned towards Rainbow and Rarity. "How do I know—" He shook his head with his mouth hanging open, and pointed his hoof at Twilight. "Can you believe this mare?"

Twilight looked at Rainbow and Rarity, too, and saw that they were just as perplexed as she was.

The stallion looked back at her. "EVERYPONY knows who you are, Twilight! The whole facility knows!"

Twilight felt a chill run through her entire body at these words. "I—er—what?"

The stallion shook his head and turned around. "Well, not every pony." He laughed silently to himself before turning around a few feet away from her. "But... the Twilight Sparkle?" he said, half-asking. "The one who destroyed an Osprey? The one the military has been after? The one who—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash said, swooping down and landing in front of him. "How does the military know her name?"

The stallion beamed again. "Luckily," he said, "they don't. Not yet, at least. They just refer to her by an alias for now, and occasionally describe her." He gave her a sly look. "I think they're afraid of you." He winked.

"So," Rarity said, stepping forward, "how do you know her name? You said you haven't met anyone since the incident."

The stallion raised his hoof. "That's... I guess that's not entirely true. One of the scientists mentioned it to me in passing, before I made it as far as this tunnel." He turned around and beckoned to them. "Come with me."

He trotted off to the side and through the small door into the security room. Twilight looked blankly at the others before leading them through the door as well.

"Here," the guard said, "is where the eyes and ears of the facility are!" He waved his hoof around at the darkened closet-of-a-room. It was cluttered with wires and electrical equipment. "Radios!" he said, waving his hoof around. "We've been listening in this whole time." He leaned into one of them and smiled suggestively at Twilight. "The military isn't the only group who's interested in you, Twilight."

Rarity shifted uncomfortably next to her.

"It seems," the stallion continued, "there are two factions battling over you. One is the military." He turned around and walked up to a table in the back, standing there just long enough to adjust a knob at one of the stations. "The other," he said, turning around, "is a peculiar team of scientists who call themselves the Lambda Lab."

"Lambda La—" they all started to say, before being cut off by the stallion.

"This," he said, waving a hoof at the window, "is what they keep talking about. This rail system. That's why I came down here." He walked up to Twilight and lowered his voice. "There is something here they want, and want desperately! Lambda keeps mentioning it. I think they're hoping you hear about it." He looked up at Twilight. "They also keep mentioning you," he said. "I think they have a feeling you're in the general vicinity."

Twilight shook her head. "What do they want? Do they want me to find it?"

The stallion turned around. "I don't know. Whatever it is, they won't say. I think they fear the military will find out about it." He turned back around to look at them. "And with good reason! I believe the military is stationed near here. Whatever it is Lamda is talking about, the military has shut it down."

"Shut it down?" Twilight repeated. "Shut what down?! It sounds like it could be anything! Without knowing what this thing is, it could be impossible to find it!"

The stallion chuckled. "I thought the same thing," he said. "But keep in mind, I also thought it was impossible for a single mare to take on a military-grade hovercraft!"

"I wasn't alone," Twilight interrupted, placing her hoof on Rarity's shoulder.

"Nor will you be during this mission," he said, indicating both Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "It looks like you've found some friends along the way."

Rainbow flew out in front of Twilight, nearly bumping into her. "Darn straight!" she shouted. "We'll ALWAYS be there for her!"

The stallion backed up, eyes wide.

"You'll have to forgive her," Twilight said. "She can be a bit rash sometimes."

Rainbow scoffed at her. "Says the pony who blew up some wooden boards with a grenade," she said.

"That was one time, Rainbow!" Twilight shouted. "ONE. TIME." She stopped as Rainbow burst into fits of laughter on the ground. "Oh, very funny," she said, rolling her eyes with a sigh.

Twilight looked back up at the stallion. "You wouldn't happen to have a map of this place, would you?"

As an answer, the stallion started shuffling papers, and bumping into equipment. "I... don't think so," he said. He picked up something small on the table and held it up to Twilight. "I do have a few sticks of bubblegum left, though! It's not quite a map, but I happen to know they're still minty fresh!"

Twilight looked at the stallion, then down at the gum, then back at the stallion, glaring. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

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

Twilight started up the train as soon as the guard had opened the parking gate. She ignored the few loop-da-loops Rainbow did out of boredom, and concentrated on the tracks ahead.

"Without a map, we'll have to improvise," she said. "It looks like there's a turntable up ahead."

"That's not a turntable," the guard said behind her. Twilight turned around as the guard continued. "That lift will take you straight down into the main part of the rails."

Rainbow Dash flew up ahead to take a look. "Down?" She landed on the turntable and stuck her head between the table and the surrounding wall. Her voice echoed from beneath it. "You can't be serious!" She brought her head up and flew back towards Twilight. "Aren't lifts supposed to take ponies up? I mean, who designed this place? Moles?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Diamond Dogs, more like," she said. "I don't know where they get their "Anomalous Materials", but I wouldn't be surprised if they simply find them buried in a giant pit. The gem I saw in the test chapter must have been bigger than my head!"

"Gem?!" Rarity's eyes widened and sparkled. "This place has gems?!" She grabbed Twilight's head and steered her face to meet hers. "Do they have anything else? Sapphires, perhaps? Or... rubies?!" Her eyes rolled back and her mouth slouched into a dreamy position.

"Focus, Rarity," Twilight said, picking Rarity's hooves off her face and guiding them back to the ground. "I doubt this train will take us to a great mine or anything."

"But," Rarity said, her voice cracking, "it could?"

The security guard could be heard chuckling to himself behind them. He hadn't left his station, but they were still close enough that his echoing voice carried down the tunnel.

"Just ignore him," Twilight said. "We should be ready in case something or somepony is waiting for us." She reached behind her and pulled out her crowbar. "Rainbow!"

Rainbow turned around as Twilight tossed her the crowbar, which she caught with both hooves. "Awesome!"

"Now, we'll have to look for a way to activate the lift," she said as the train rolled onto the turntable. "Rainbow Dash, do you see any kind of lever, or button that could—whoa!"

The train turned, and she grabbed hold of the panel and looked back up to see the wall moving.

"Never mind!" she said.

The ceiling was floating away as well, a she could see Rainbow still hovering above her with the crowbar. The entire train and the rail it was sitting on were corkscrewing down a large pit. Twilight grabbed hold of the control panel to keep her balance as they spun down the lift, and Rarity had grabbed onto Twilight. Both of them had closed their eyes, trying not to get dizzy. A few seconds later, the lift splashed into the floor before clanging to a halt.

"Well, that was... fun," Twilight shaking out her head and trying to get her inner-ear juices to settle. She kept her eyes on the train, trying to get her bearings.

"Heh," Rainbow Dash said, floating down to their level. "Looked pretty awesome from up here." She put her hooves up in a mock-spooky manner and spoke like she was telling a ghost story. "Like you were delving down a deep pit to to your doom." She pulled back and laughed. "I only wish there was a giant lever at the top. We need mad-scientist costumes."

Twilight scowled at her, and Rainbow's smile faltered.

"Oh, right, I forgot," she said. "You are mad scientists."

"RAINBOW!" Twilight yelled.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Actually, dear," she said, "I'm more of an office assistant. I never actually did anything sciencey, per say." She tilted her head in thought. "Although I did once experiment with mixing various levels of cream in my coffee. Does that count as science?"

Twilight scrunched her face and resisted banging her head into the control panel.

"I dunno," Rainbow said. "The only time I did any experimenting was when I was in flight school, and we really didn't wear any lab coats when we were doing that. In fact, we really didn't wear anything at a—"

"ENOUGH!" Twilight yelled.

The whole area went quiet, except for the echoes of their voices. Twilight looked at the tunnel ahead of them. The whole area they were in was flooded, although luckily none of the water came up past the wooden platform boards they were standing on.

"Now," she said, ignoring the blushing faces of Rainbow and Rarity, "as you all can see, this place is flooded." She tried and failed to hold her sarcasm. "This means all that ridiculous high voltage that we saw at the power plant is coursing through here." She pointed her hoof at the water. "So, unless any of you want to end up like the big blue monster back there, I suggest we take it nice and slow." She pushed forward on the lever, and felt the train lurch into its lowest speed.

Rainbow Dash flew up ahead. "Nice and slow, huh? And how's that going to help if the train dives into the water?"

Twilight scowled. "Then I guess it's a good thing we have a pegasus to carry us," she said.

Rainbow didn't ask any more questions after that.

Twilight looked around at the walls of the tunnel, which were decayed, and given a brown, rotten look from the dim lights yellow lights hanging from periodic hooks on the wall. It felt like they were travelling down a sewer. The coronas blinded them as they approached, and all they could hear was the gentle splashing of the water against the moving train.

Rarity looked around and made a face. "I do hope we don't have to spend much time down here," she said. "You're sure the military isn't simply setting us up?"

Twilight leaned gently against her hoof trigger as the train approached the first turn. "The guard did say they were down here. But, I'm not seeing how they could have gotten here without the power on. The lift won't work without it, and as far as what the guard told us, he didn't see any soldiers come this way."

"Unless he's a spy!" Rainbow Dash said.

The train gently turned the corner, revealing a widening tunnel. Some other parts of the rail system could be seen above them through the ceiling, and some of the light from above shined through the openness, forming patterns on the water.

"Somehow, I doubt that," Twilight said. "Although there technically isn't anything to prove otherwise." She thought for a moment. "The pegasus soldiers disabled the power, which means they probably don't want us down here. Why would they station one of their ponies at the entrance, and tell us to proceed?"

Rainbow Dash turned around. "Obviously, to put us off guard!"

Rarity pushed Twilight out of the way before she could respond. "Rainbow Dash, that's enough," she said. "We are all prepared for a fight if one comes to us."

Twilight looked at Rarity. "That is a good point," Twilight said. "There's not much we can do if there's a trap down here. We already know the risks."

The train tilted upward, and Twilight and Rarity grabbed hold of the panel so they wouldn't slide backwards.

"We're moving up," Twilight said, looking ahead at the tracks.

Rainbow Dash flew to the top of the incline and peered around. Her body glowed in the darkness up ahead, and her voice echoed down the tunnel. "Looks like it meets up with another track," she said.

"Good," Twilight said. "That must be the primary rail. The one we've been travelling on must be an entrance rail." Twilight watched as they crested the top of the incline and saw the rest of the track come into view. "My guess is that the unit on the surface is a different unit than the one in the depot. The rails are probably built like a mine, and are filled with inclines just like this one." She looked at Rarity, and then back at Rainbow Dash. "The further up we go, the more careful we'll have to be."

Rainbow Dash flew in front of the train and lead it as it turned the corner onto the main rail. The tunnels up ahead were mostly barren. A few wooden structures climbed the walls, and provided platforms that seemed to have no purpose. Other paths would fork off into a dark corridors that ended in abandoned storage. The going was slow, but the military was nowhere in sight.

"Anything up ahead, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow hovered up ahead. "Just another fork," she said. "This one's blocked, though. Some sort of cable's in the way."

Twilight scratched her head. "Cable?"

A few red lights on the wall saturated the part of the tunnel they were in, and a brighter area could be seen in the distance. Twilight could just make out another switch in the tracks.

"Some kind of hook thing," she said. "Looks broken."

Rarity sighed and rested her face against her forehoof, leaning into the control panel of the train.

"You're sure there's nothing else?" Twilight asked. More of the brightness up ahead came into view, and she could see the left-hand wall give way to a large space. The switch in the track diverted it into this space.

"Well, there's a door, but it doesn't look like there's anything on the other side."

Twilight peered around the corner as the train entered the expanse, and brought it to a halt just before it reached the switch. A thick cable was hanging from the ceiling, with a large steel claw at the end of it, obviously used to lift crates at some point.

"May as well take a look around," she said. "It certainly looks more promising than any of the other forks we've come across." She stepped off the train. "At least it's quiet. Might give us a chance to rest our hooves." She trotted into one of the corners and turned around to look at the room from another angle. "Why don't you explore the new path, Rainbow?" she said, pointing a hoof. "Rarity and I will have a look around."

Rainbow did a lazy salute, and hovered around the corner and out of sight. Twilight and Rarity waited until they  could no longer hear the flapping of her wings.

Rarity walked up to Twilight in the corner. "She's looking a bit worn out," she said. "You don't think she's lost her enthusiasm, do you?"

Twilight shook her head. "She's definitely still Rainbow Dash," she said. "She's probably just fatigued." Twilight walked up to the hook and reached a hoof up to it. The entire thing was larger than her body, and half of it was too high to reach. "If I had to guess, I'd say she's just bored. I mean," she looked around, "there's nothing to fight down here."

Rarity tilted her head. "And... that's a bad thing?"

Twilight trotted across the tracks, lifting her hooves high above the rails so as not to electrocute herself. "We should look for a way through this door," she said, reaching the wall on the other side. "It looks like more than just a storage room. There might be some useful stuff in there."

Rarity leaned up against the hook. "I don't like this, Twilight." Her face was blank, and she wasn't looking at Twilight. "This... situation." She moved her hoof gently across the hook.

Twilight was busy examining the door. It was surprisingly standard compared to the large blast doors they had been running across lately. The dull handle and indented casing made it look like a standard hinged door that opened on the inside. Twilight prodded the handle, but it wouldn't turn.

"I don't like it either, Rarity," Twilight said. "But we've managed to survive worse."

Rarity sighed, and trotted across the tracks to meet up with Twilight on the other side. "I don't mean that," she said. "I mean I don't like knowing what's about to happen," she said. "The anticipation." She walked up to the wall and leaned against it, carefully pushing her mane out of the way so it wouldn't pick up any of the dirt on the surface. "Every other time, we had no idea what we were getting into. We had no time to think about it." She leaned in close and whispered, "We're about to infiltrate a military operation! Doesn't that make you nervous?!"

Twilight kicked the door out of frustration, and leaned up against the wall on the other side of the door from Rarity, and sunk to the floor. "We're not soldiers, Rarity," she said. "Neither of us know how to fight. Most of the times before this were simply luck." She looked at the floor and shook her head. "We have to be smart this time. We know what we're getting into, and we know what we have to work with."

A soft flutter could be heard echoing in from the tunnel, making Twilight's ears perk. She lifted her head to see Rainbow hovering back into the light.

"There's a lift," Rainbow said, throwing her hoof over her shoulder. "I think it goes up a ways, but I didn't fly very far."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Well that's good news," she said. "The closer to the surface we are, the more likely it is we'll find what we're looking for."

She got onto her hooves and groaned at the sudden protest her muscles were making. "See if you can break down this door, Rainbow. There might be some controls we can use to move the hook."

Rainbow looked around absent-mindedly, breathed deep, and sighed. She reared back, and flung herself against the door with a dull thud. Twilight and Rarity jumped at the noise, but the door didn't budge. Rainbow hovered back and shook her head.

"Whelp! Looks like it's stuck. We'd better get going."

Twilight narrowed her eyes, and quietly walked up to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow also turned around, and for a moment, they stared at each other.

"Crowbar," Twilight said, holding out her hoof.

Rainbow looked at her blankly, and reluctantly handed the crowbar over. "Heh, good luck with that," she said, rubbing her shoulder. "If an awesome pegasus like me can't open it, I doubt a simple egghead like you would have the strength!"

Twilight snatched the crowbar away with a "hmmph", and walked behind Rainbow. "It's not for the door," she said simply. With a "whish" sound, she brought the bar back, and whipped it with a loud snap into Rainbow's rear end.

"AHH!" Rainbow said, keeling over. She gritted her teeth, and jumped into the air, rubbing her rump with her hoof. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Twilight cocked her head and pursed her lips. "I just figured you could use a little motivation," she said, taking a few steps away from her. "YOU'RE A SOLDIER!" she yelled. "PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!" She tossed the crowbar hard enough to make Rainbow flinch as she caught it.

Rainbow's wide eyes followed Twilight as she moved out of the way. Even Rarity had taken a few steps back, and was looking back and forth between the two. Rainbow waited for Twilight to say something else, but all Twilight did was turn around, flip her hoof towards the door, and say "proceed".

Rainbow looked over at Rarity, who shrugged.

"She is right," Rarity said. "You didn't exactly give it your all last time, dear."

Rainbow breathed a few choice words under her breath, still rubbing her rump, and hovered to the other side of the tracks, narrowing her eyes and scowling.

Without hesitation, she flared her wings, flipped over, and slammed her body into the ground, using the force and momentum to kick off. A bang went off a second later.

A cloud of dust exploded across the area, making Twilight cough and wave her hoof around to see. All that was there was a glowing streak of rainbow between the ground and the door. Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight.

Twilight caught her breath, gave Rarity a look, and walked slowly through the dust cloud to peer through the doorway.

The wall was cracked in many places, and entire chunks were missing near the entrance. Rainbow was spread-eagle upside-down on the wall in the back, eyes slightly derping. Off to the side, the door was rocking back and forth on the ground, knocked entirely off its hinges with a dent protruding so far that it couldn't lay flat on the ground anymore. Twilight smiled at it before looking back at Rainbow.

"Now that's the Rainbow I know," she said.

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

Twilight stepped into the room and let her eyes adjust to the light. The place had been abandoned for quite some time, judging from the amount of dust and cobwebs investing the area. A few old computers sat on a metal table off the the side. The rest of the room was empty save for a few boxes here and there.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "why don't you check those crates over in the corner. See if there's any ordnance." She turned to the other side of the room as Rainbow saluted. "I'll see if any of these computers still work."

Twilight stepped up to a metal table off to the side, and started wiping the dust off the monitors. "I haven't worked too much with computers," Twilight said. "They use a very different kind of magic than I'm used to. It's more delicate than the kind I was trained on." She bent her head down and looked under the table. "If these things don't work, I'm not sure I'll be able to repair them."

Rarity cocked her head. "I always assumed they ran off the same stuff as the train."

Twilight tapped the side of one of the boxes under the table, and got down onto the floor to have a closer look. "As a power source, that's true. But all the logic is handled by spells. Some of my teachers back in Canterlot told us about it. It can take a lifetime for a unicorn to acquire the accuracy and precision needed to cast magic at that level. Very few ponies can do it."

Twilight stayed under the table for another minute, fiddling with switches and prodding things with what little magic she had. A few of the systems hummed to life.

"Looks like two of the three mainframes still work," she said, getting back to her hooves. "If we're lucky, we should be able to get some information." She looked at Rarity. "Do you think your credentials still work?"

Rarity looked confused. "Why in Equestria would my credentials work on these old things?! I may as well try to log into a rock!" She walked up to one of the monitors and touched the screen with her right hoof. She sighed. "Still, I don't suppose it would hurt to try. Maybe they're all on the same network?"

Rainbow Dash flew over to the other two. "Not much in the crates," she said. "But I did manage to snatch a couple of these things, whatever they are." She held up some small leather pouches in her hooves.

Twilight grabbed one of the pouches and examined it. "It has an antenna," she said, pointing at lt. "It's probably got a receiver inside somewhere." She turned it over in her hoof a few times. "Maybe an explosive?" She walked over to where the crate was, which Rainbow had carefully pried open. "I wonder if there's a transmitter in here somewhere."

"Twilight!" Rarity said from across the room. "I think I found something!" She waved a hoof at one of the screens.

Twilight left Rainbow Dash peering into the crate, and joined Rarity to look at the screen.

"Look at this," Rarity said, as Twilight stepped up next to her. "I don't know why, but my credentials got me access to some of the security systems. Those things should only be accessible to highly important personnel!"

Twilight tried to make some sense out of the diagrams and maps she was seeing on the screen. "Is that..." she said, pointing a hoof at the screen.

"A map of the rail system, yes," Rarity said. "Look at this! I can see all the levels of the system, and control parts of them, too!"

Twilight's eyes widened, and she felt a chill run through her body. "Can we," she said excitedly, "bypass the entire rail system?" she asked. "Is there a shortcut to the surface?"

Rainbow's voice shouted from across the room. "Got it!" She held up a few small bricks. "Whatever it is, it's got a button and another antenna," she said. "Are these the transmadiddlies you were talking about?"

Twilight glanced around at Rainbow floating up to her. "How many did you find?" she asked. "They should match up with the pockets."

Rainbow fiddled with a few of them, and floated back to one of the tables. "I... think they have numbers or something on them. I can't tell. Gimme a sec."

Twilight turned back to Rarity, who was scanning the screen with her hoof.

"It looks like the entire system revolves around this one central room," Rarity continued. "There's definitely a control center of some sort on the surface. Whatever's in the central room must be controlled from there." She pointed to it with her hoof, and then scanned around it until she found what she was looking for. "Here! This elevator goes straight for the surface. It looks like it's shut down right now, but... hang on." She moved her hoof around and pushed her hoof into some buttons on the screen. "It's not giving me access." She pressed her hoof into a part of the screen a few more times, and finally started punching the screen. "It's not working," she said. "I don't have control over anything on the surface."

Twilight stepped back and peered out the door. "Do you at least have access to the crane hook?"

"Hook... hook... let's see..." Rarity moved her hoof wildly across the screen. "Ah! There it is." She pressed her hoof into the screen again, and a loud sound could be heard outside the door.

Twilight trotted up to the door and stuck her head out. "It's moving!" she shouted back. A loud click emanated from the tracks, over the sound of the moving cable.

"I flipped the switch on the tracks, too, dear," Rarity said. "It looks like I can control everything below the surface."

Twilight licked her lips, and felt a twinkle spark in her eye. She smirked at the tracks and the hook outside, and then turned around to head back into the room.

"Rarity," Twilight said, "I think I have a plan." She walked up to her, and put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "If we can find a way to stay in contact, I'd like you to stay here. You can help control the rails using the system, and the meet up with us on the surface using the elevator." She turned around. "Rainbow, how are those explosives coming along?"

"Almost got it," Rainbow said, holding up a few of the pouches and flying over Twilight. "I matched them up by their little number thingies. Hopefully that's how they work. OH!" Rainbow gasped. "You mentioned staying in touch! I saw something a minute ago! Just a sec."

Rainbow darted back to the table with the explosives, and got down on the floor. "I think," she said, rummaging around with some cardboard boxes, "these might help."

Rainbow got back up, holding three small contraptions in her hooves. She tossed one to Twilight, and it ricocheted off her fumbling hooves and into her forehead.

"Ow!" Twilight said, barely catching it in her hooves. "Warn me before you do that!" She scowled, and looked down at what she was holding. "A... shortwave radio?" She looked back up at Rainbow. "Are you serious?!"

Rainbow shrugged. "Hey, I don't know what any of this techno-jumbo does. They're just bricks to me."

Twilight shook her head. "No, no, no. I mean, these things could be really helpful! Here." She reached out towards Rainbow and grabbed the other two radios. "There should be enough for all three of us to stay in touch," she said. "Rarity?"

Rarity turned around with a blank face.

Twilight tilted her head. "Are you going to be alright staying here?"

Rarity put a hoof to her chin. "Stay here, darling?" She looked around the room, and for a while, Twilight wasn't sure what was going on in her mind.

Finally, Rarity looked back, still somewhat absent-minded. "Well, I hadn't put much thought into it. Let's see," she said. "No fighting, stay in touch with my friends, get to control everything..." She finally looked back at the other two and flipped her hair. "It's not quite an evening at the spa, but it'll have to do."

Twilight just looked at her, and smiled.

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

"Rarity!" Twilight yelled through the radio. "Ra—ri—ty! Can you hear me?" She pushed a few of the buttons.

Rainbow Dash was hovering next to her on the train, trying not to snicker. Twilight had been trying to figure out how to work the radio transmitters for the past few minutes before they departed.

"Ugh! Stupid technology," Twilight said, pushing a few more buttons. "This thing needs a manual."

The explosive charges were neatly packed away next to the few trip mines she had left, and Rarity had spent the last five minutes familiarizing herself with the rail map. Twilight had been glued to the screen for a while, trying to memorize every line and crevice, and Rainbow Dash almost had to pry her away with the crowbar to get her to leave.

Twilight shook the contraption around with her hoof before pushing another random button. "Ra—ri—ty!" she shouted. "Come—In! Do—You—Rea—"

"You—Do—Not—Have—To—Shout—Dear," came the response.

Twilight stopped dead and closed her muzzle. Her ears went red, and she shrunk back behind the train panel. Rainbow Dash's hooves were jammed in her muzzle, barely containing her laughter.

"Testing," she said, much quieter. "Testing?"

"I still heeeear you," Rarity sang.

"Rainbow," Twilight said, making sure the radio was turned off, "we should work out a way to talk in code words, in case the military can hear us on this channel."

Rainbow shrugged. "Pfft! Leave the flying to me," she said. "You can work out the code words with little miss sing-song over there." She pointed a hoof over to the security entrance.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight growled, "we're already on the train. Can't you just fly over there and tell her?"

Rainbow glared at her for a second, and then floated over to the entrance, turned around, and positioned herself like one of the royal guards. "The Rainbow Messenger is standing by to receive your requests," she mocked. She shot Twilight a look.

"All right," Twilight said with a sigh, "we need basic code words for common things, and they need to have nothing to do with what we're really saying." She pondered to herself a bit more. "Common things... common things... let's see."

She started ticking things off with her hoof: "Throwing rail switches, spotting guards, giving directions..."

Rainbow Dash stretched her arms out in a histrionic yawn, and made no attempt to stifle the loud noise.

"Fine!" Twilight said. "I'll get to the point." She got off the train and walked up to Rainbow. "Since we're looking for the Lambda Lab, we'll go Greek. Rarity will be Phi. I'll be Rho. We'll give cardinal directions based on nu, sigma, epsilon, and omega—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rainbow said, holding up her hooves. "I am not memorizing the Greek alphabet," she said. "I had a hard enough time remembering the fraternities at flight school! I am not about to try figuring out which letter is which over that staticy radio thing."

Twilight glared at her. "Okay, Airman Rainbow Dash," she said, "what would you prefer?"

Rainbow pointed her hoof at herself. "Obviously, I would be called Awesome." She pointed a hoof a Twilight, "You would be Egghead, and Rarity would be Prissy."

"Prissy?!" Rarity said from around the corner. "I am not prissy! I am fabulous! Or do I need to give you a lesson in the difference?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "We are not doing that, Rainbow," she said. "We need something the military can overlook. Most of the military is going to hear words like awesome and fabulous and call them out." She twisted her hooves in front of her. "How about we compromise. We'll use military jargon for some of the stuff. I'll be Suit-Up, you be Wings, and Rarity will be Radio. Sound fair?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Sounds lame," she said.

"Well, it's not like we have a choice," Twilight said. "I mean, the only other way would be to guarantee the military couldn't decipher our signal, and the only way to do that would be to... encrypt it..." She trailed off at the end, and then groaned loudly. "Why didn't I think of that?" She put her hoof to her forehead. "Encrypt the signal, that's it!"

Rainbow just stared at her blankly.

"Gather the radios, Rainbow," she said, holding out her hooves. "I have an idea."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and flew back through the door to get Rarity's receiver.

"Okay," Twilight said, grabbing the radios from Rainbow, "if this works, we can say whatever we want, and the military won't be the wiser."

She lit her horn and cried out after a few sparks flew. She stopped and took another breath. "Stupid horn." She closed her eyes and let the lightest of auras fly around, touching it directly to the antennas of the radios. There was a purple spark, and the tip of the antennas glowed, as though she had just lit three candles.

"There," she said, rubbing her horn with one of her hooves. "The transmission should be altered when it comes out. The signal will only make sense if it's received by one of these these radios." She handed two of them back to Rainbow Dash.

"So... that means we don't have to learn to speak egghead?" Rainbow said.

Twilight ignored her, and headed back towards the train. "The only problem would be if the military gets hold of one of them," she thought. She held the radio up to her muzzle and pushed the button. "Can you hear this, Rarity?"

"Loud and clear, darling," came the voice. "And, thank you for not yelling this time."

Twilight stepped back up onto the wooden train platform, and started up the controls. "Rainbow Dash, I'm going to start the train rolling forward. I need you to scout ahead. Fly down to the lift and keep me posted."

Twilight reached her hoof out to the controls and hesitated. Thoughts emerged about what she was doing: the closer the train got to the surface, the messier things would get. Even Rainbow Dash was having second thoughts.

"Rarity," Twilight said over the radio, "as soon as we're gone, I want you to set one of the explosives just outside the door. If you see any aliens or military ponies in the area, I want you to detonate it." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Keep me posted on everything, Rainbow. If you kill a headcrab, I want to know about it."

Rainbow swung the crowbar around a few times, and then flew off down the tunnel.

Twilight took a deep breath and touched her hoof along the trigger of her side-arm. Every muscle in her body was tensed. "Think thoughts," she whispered to herself. "There is a way to the surface, and we are going to make it." She closed her eyes, reached out to the panel, and pushed the lever.

She watched as the train rolled through the room and up to the tunnel, and couldn't help but lean against the trigger. Her eyes glanced at the security door, hoping to see Rarity one last time before crossing the threshold, but she was too far around the corner. The walls of the tunnel passed by the train, and she was plunged into darkness.

Her eyes darted over the rust-stained walls, and blinked against the distant lights. Parts of the floor opened up to reveal glistening water, flooding what must have been maintenance pits below the rails.

"Rainbow," she said, holding up the receiver, "Is everything clear at the lift?"

Rainbow's cracked voice echoed through the tunnel. "It's stuck."

Twilight cocked her brow. "What do you mean, it's stuck?" Her eyes darted around, and part of her was distracted by the thought of being knocked into the water. She wished there was something to help keep her on the platform.

"I mean," the voice came again, "the lift is stuck! It's partway up, and won't come back down."

Twilight felt a chill crest her body. "Rarity?" she said. "Did you touch something?"

Rarity's voice sang through the receiver. "I don't think so," she said. "Although the screen is showing the same thing."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said, "Regroup. I want us teamed up in case we see activity. Rarity, I want you to try lowering the lift."

She looked back down the tunnel, and noticed she was most of the way down the initial tunnel stretch. The lift was just around the corner.

"Rainbow," Twilight said, as Rainbow rounded the corner, "get behind the panel. I think it'll work better if we surprise them."

Rainbow's wings flapped wildly as her hooves touched down, and Twilight reached over and pushed her head down behind the panel.

"Twilight," Rarity's voice echoed, "I think I got the lift down, but the system asked if I wanted to override something. I don't think I'm the only pony controlling the system."

A light shown around the bend at the end of a short stretch, which grew as the train rounded the corner. A cylindrical room could be seen at the end of a short stretch, with a turntable at its base. Twilight pulled the train up to the threshold and pulled the lever back to a stop.

"Do you see anything, Rainbow?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash jumped onto the panel and stuck her head out into the room. Her rainbow tail flicked and brushed against Twilight's face, and Twilight clawed it away with her hooves.

"I don't see anyone," Rainbow said. "It's just really high."

Twilight reached her hooves around and guided Rainbow back behind the platform. "Rarity," she said, "I'm going to move the train onto the lift. As soon as that's done, I want you to start it up."

She turned towards Rainbow. "They're going to try to ambush us, but I have a plan. I don't think they know you're with me." She reached out her hoof and pushed the lever forward a notch, and then held out a hoof, "let me see the crowbar."

The train came to a halt on the turntable as Rainbow made the hand-off. She lit her horn and touched it to the crowbar, just as she did with the antennas.

"I wrote some papers on this theory back in Canterlot," she said. "Normally it takes very powerful magic to form a barrier. I think I found a way around that." She handed the crowbar back to Rainbow Dash. "That crowbar has only a portion of force field magic on it. I discovered that that kind of magic is both regenerative and elastic, which means you should be able to form a complete barrier simply by moving it around fast enough."

Rainbow was tilting the bar in front of her face at different angles, trying to discern exactly what it was. Upon hearing Twilight's explanation, she instinctively moved her hoof off to the side and started shaking it around like a glowstick.

A sheet of purple glass materialized as she moved the crowbar around, and Rainbow reached out her other hoof to touch it.

"That's pretty freaky," she said. "It looks like some sort of hard candy."

Twilight was looking up at the shaft, trying to figure out whether to take an offensive or defensive approach. "Well, don't lick it," she said. "I've never tasted a force field before, but I doubt it tastes anything like candy." She held up the radio. "Move us up, Rarity."

She held onto the panel as the train started corkscrewing up. "That force field doesn't last very long," she said. "You'll have to keep repainting it if you want—"

"AHH!"

Rainbow jumped up and grabbed her tail. A tinge of smoke was wafting from it, and the tip of it was black.

Twilight looked around, and noticed some cubbies around the walls, opening into various chambers. "Force field, Rainbow! Get a barrier up!" She squinted into the dark chambers, trying to see who had fired. Rainbow's blurred swishes around her didn't help.

"I can't see," she said, trying to compensate for the train's rotation. "The lift is moving too fast! I—AH!" Something bounced off her hoof, and she looked down to see a glowing green spot emanating from her suit. "What is—" She thought for a second, and the looked up to see the solid glowing field of purple darkening around her.

"Rainbow! Get inside the force field!" she yelled.

Something whacked her from behind, and she jumped around. "What in Luna's..." she said, rubbing her backside. "They're using penetrative magic." She looked up at Rainbow. "We can't protect against this stuff!" She ducked as a green ray came shooting out of one of the cubbies and singed her mane. "Rarity," she said into the radio, "can you make the lift go any faster?"

Rarity's voice could barely be heard above the growing activity. "I'm barely able to keep the lift going at all, dear. Something keeps fighting it!"

"Rainbow," Twilight said, dodging another ray, "Fly into one of the cubbies! Try to take out whatever's causing these things!"

Rainbow whipped around just over the train and flew at one of the cubbies. The force field was sinking below the lift as they ascending.

"The opening's blocked," Rainbow said. "I—AH!" She jumped out of the way of one of the rays, "—can't get through."

"Come back down, then," she said. "My suit seems to block some of it. Get under me! I'll protect you."

Rainbow looked insulted. "Under you?!" She crossed her hooves. "I'm not chickening out just because we can't hide behind a wall!"

Twilight put her hooves over her head and got down on her stomach. She flinched as one of the beams struck the side of the train, kicking up wood chips. The air was saturated. "Are you crazy," she said. "They'll vaporize you!"

Rainbow swished around. "Only if they can hit me!" she said. "Besides, we're almost at the top."

Twilight peeked through her hooves, and saw the ground above her quickly descending to their level. She got out the radio again.

"Rarity, can you seal off any of the passages around this place?"

The train crested the top as Rarity's voice came back. "There's an escape hatch off to the side, but everything else looks open."

"Then seal it!" she said. "We need to trap whatever's down there."

The lift clanged to a halt, and Twilight grabbed hold of the panel to keep her balance. She got to her hooves and looked around.

"Are you all right, Rainbow?" she asked.

Rainbow circled around the train a few times. "It would take more than that to beat me!" she said. She flew up and struck a pose.

"We need to split up," Twilight said. "The track splits up ahead. I need you to take the right side, and then use the staircase that leads to the upper level. It's the ideal place to search the rail, and the military is bound to have guards stationed up there."

Rainbow turned around and faced the dark tunnel. "Right side, top level," she said. "Got it!" She flew off with a trail of rainbows behind her, leaving Twilight alone on the train.

"Rarity," Twilight said, "I need you to make sure the switch it flipped to the right side, and make sure all of the gates are open. I'm going to make a run for it."

Rainbow's voice replied. "You might want to hold off on that, Twilight," she said. "They've setup trip mines along the walls."

There was a thump off to the side of the rails, and Twilight looked over to see the hatch Rarity had closed in the floor. Something was trying to get through.

"You'll have to detonate them, Rainbow. I'm starting up the train now." She reached a hoof out to the panel. "I can't afford to stay here much longer."

A few war cries came over the radio, followed by a lot of thumping and crunching.

"Rainbow?" Twilight said. The cries were getting louder. "What's going on over there?!"

The thumps got louder, and were mingled with loud cracks that sounded like gunfire. Twilight's ears shot up, and her blood ran cold. "Rainbow Dash!"

She brought the radio up, hooves shaking. "Rarity, Is the path clear?"

Her hoof was pushing forward on the lever before she got an answer, and she grabbed hold of the panel and ducked behind it, placing the muzzle of her gun just over the top.

"Rainbow!" she yelled into the radio. "Wherever you are, stay clear of the rail!"

She pushed the lever as far as it would go, and placed her hooves on either side of the panel, keeping the trigger button against the wall. This was crazy. It was absolutely crazy! But she could manage to clear the rails.

She was shooting forward faster than she had anticipated. The first turn was the worst. It pulled on her hoof so hard she thought it would rip it clean off. Without thinking, she pressed her hoof into the side of the panel, and felt the rattling kick of her gun pummel her shoulder. The radio was sandwiched between her other hoof and her body, continuously uttering static and cracks of gunfire.

Each turn jolted and disoriented her, stopping the stream of bullets coming from her shoulder. She could see glimpses of wider areas around the rails, and could tell she wasn't alone. The noise around her was deafening, increased ten-fold by the myriad of other gunfire around her. Between the blur of colors around her, and the thunderous noise, it was like being in a tornado. Lights flew by overhead, alternating light and dark too quickly for her to comprehend. Painful explosions struck her ears, most likely remnants of the tripmines Rainbow had mentioned, rendering her temporarily deaf to the activity, and she could feel heat emanating from the suit, which kept reporting minimal amounts of damage to her.

The turmoil only lasted a few seconds, and ended as quickly as it began. The train straightened out, leaving the noise echoing into the background, without any knowledge of just how much damages she had done. Her ears were still ringing loud enough that she couldn't hear anything from the radio.

She peered over the panel as soon as the noise started to subside, and saw something racing up to her: something large, green, and glowing. She barely had time to react. She grabbed the radio receiver, and rolled off the train just before it collided.

She felt her body slam into the ground and immediately flail off spinning from the impact. All she could do was pull her hooves in close to her body and pray. She felt her right-rear hoof strike something hard, and yelled out against a sudden sheer of pain. An explosive noise echoed down the tunnel, striking her head like a sonic hurricane. She could feel the heat singing her face as she rolled to a stop.

It took a few seconds for her to realize she wasn't moving anymore. The pain from her hoof was pulling her attention away from her surroundings. She had barely managed to hold onto the radio.

"R-Rainbow?" she managed to sputter through the radio. "Are you—"

She stopped as she saw a whip of rainbow colors soar around the bend of the tunnel. It stopped just short of her location.

"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled. Her voice scared Twilight more than anything she had just encountered. She had never heard Rainbow this scared before.

Twilight sat up, and watched as Rainbow lowered herself to the ground, just in front of Twilight. "What happened back there, Rainbow?" she said. "I heard gunfire."

Rainbow was already on top of Twilight, moving her eyes around Twilight's wound. "What happened?" she asked, voice shaking. "You're bleeding."

Rarity's voice cracked over the radio. "What's going on over there? Is everypony all right?"

Twilight brought her hoof up for a better look. A large gash of dark red was oozing around it, and she could see some of the metal of the suit exposed around the crack. "It's just a cut," she said. "It doesn't look that deep. I just need to find something to stem the bleeding."

Rainbow took a deep breath, followed by a sigh of relief. "Twilight's fine," she said to Rarity. "She just... had an accident." She put the radio down and looked back at Twilight. "You look terrible," she said. "Like, your whole face is all bruised up and dirty. I can barely tell that it's still you!"

Twilight put a hoof up to her face and scraped against it. The pressure against it felt sore, and the rubber tip of the suit came away soot-filled.

"What happened to the train?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight turned around and followed the tunnel up to a brick-laid dead end. The glowing green barrier was gone. All along the path were bits of flame and chunks of wood, and the shattered remains of the train could be seen in the distance, at an odd angle against the brick wall.

"I guess you could say it came in handy," she said.

She got onto her hooves and winced. "I don't know how well I can walk," she said. "That fall might have sprained something." She limbed forward, and Rainbow Dash landed next to her to help guide her. "We have to keep moving. More guards could be on the way."

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

Rainbow helped Twilight to the end of the tunnel, where the passage opened up into a large shipment area. The rail stopped just short of a brick wall, now flickering with fire from the train wreckage. Bodies and debris were scattered, and it looked as though the area had been in heavy use just before the crash.

"Rarity," Twilight said, still holding onto Rainbow Dash, "does your map show any locations of first aid stations?" She looked around at the shipment yard, and noticed a passage off to the right: the only exit in sight.

"I don't think they show up on my map, dear," Rarity said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Twilight pointed to the passage, and Rainbow Dash started to head in that direction. "It's just a minor scrape, Rarity, but I'd like to get it cleaned up. The creatures that have been showing up have some sort of weird infectious organisms."

She leaned up to Rainbow Dash, and pointed out the shadow of a corpse in the corner of the room. "Unicorns," she said. "They've been putting up all the force fields. It's rare to find unicorns with these kind of powers, even in the Canterlot Royal Guard."

Rainbow stopped just short of the passage. "The ponies I fought back there weren't unicorns," she said. "They were just earth ponies."

"We can't afford to assume anything up ahead," Twilight said, pushing Rainbow to go faster. "The military is probably in short supply of able unicorns, but the limited number just means they'll be seen more at bottlenecks."

The smoke from the fires was starting to cloud the room behind them. Twilight pushed through the passage to the side, and found that it opened into a sharply inconsistent hallway, with many nooks along its jagged walls. Twilight could pick out a place or two where the nooks seemed to continue into other passages. She could see the other side, which bent sharply around, back towards the rail.

"Rainbow," she said, "search this place for medical supplies. And let me know if there's another suit recharge station nearby." She could feel the strength coming back to her ankle, and moved a bit faster as Rainbow Dash took off.

Rarity's voice cracked over the radio. "Twilight, are you there? You're getting close to the central chamber."

Twilight brought the receiver closer. Ribbons of swishing rainbow were saturating the room in front of her, and she tried not to run into it as she walked forward. "I was hoping we were," she said over the radio. "We should be just around the corner from it. If we can get to—"

A deafening crack went off next to her ear, and she nearly dropped the receiver. She put her hoof up to protect from the crackling green light, and stumbled on her bad hoof. "Rainbow!"

Strange voices echoed behind her as she tried to catch her balance, and she felt something pinch her side.

"Rainbo—"

Another crack went off, further down the passage. The claw around her was pulling her in, and she instinctively flailed her good rear hoof into the alien body behind her. It was disturbingly smooth and soft.

A rainbow missile appeared in the corner of her eye, followed by a yell and a crunch of metal-on-bone as she swung the crowbar. Twilight flew forward as the creature let go, and landed on her side on the ground. More cracks were going off in the distance, and she could see some of the aliens charging up in a green aura.

A rainbow mane came down over her face, and she felt a pair of hooves reach around her middle, hoisting her up. She could hear Rainbow's voice.

"I found a box thing in that room over there," she said. "And I heard soldiers talk—EEEK!"

The bright arch across the room, and Rainbow's mane stood on end. Twilight pushed against her forehooves and stumbled onto all fours as Rainbow recovered, a dull pain coursing through her rear hoof.

"Get behind me!"

She waved her forehoof around, and Rainbow Dash leaped behind her as another arch shot just over Twilight. Without thinking, she slammed forward on her hoof, and felt another staggering set of punches strike her shoulder. The kickback knocked her onto her rear hooves, and she stopped firing.

"Into the room, Rainbow! I'll follow you!"

She was on all fours before Rainbow had even gotten the message. Some of the creatures were clutching parts of their body and staggering, but none of them had fallen.

Rainbow whipped around and flew out of sight just a few feet in front of her. Twilight looked around, trying to see where she had gone, and trotted forward against the sharp pains with each strike against her hoof.

"Rainb—"

A pair of hooves wrapped around the back of her neck, and she was yanked off into a side room as another green arch shot past. She stumbled forward, nearly running right into Rainbow Dash, who flew up in surprise.

"Quick, behind the table," she said, pointing a hoof. "I'll finish them off." Rainbow whipped forward towards the door, but Twilight caught her tail between her teeth.

"Ah, noyadon't," she mumbled through her clenched muzzle. She pulled back hard, trying to toss Rainbow back into the room, but ended up only feeling a sharp pain in her jaw, and let go. She brought a hoof up to her cheek and rubbed it before turning her attention to the room. "I need you to help clean the wound."

Rainbow peered out the door. "But—" She looked back in with big puppy-dog eyes, and Twilight had to look away to stop from giving in.

"If they find us, you can take care of them, but for now—"

"Movement!"

Twilight's ears perked up as the word echoed around the corner of the passage. Hoofsteps were pounding all around them, and Twilight instinctively ducked and covered her ears as the waves of bullets struck the air just outside the door. She crawled hoof over hoof to the area in back of the table, where Rainbow had pointed.

The medbox Rainbow had found was on the wall just above her, and she reached up with a hoof, trying to reach it without having to get up. Rainbow was still busy peeking out the entrance from behind the wall.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said, slumping back onto the ground. "I still have the explosives in the bags on my suit." She magicked the pack open and slipped out one of the leather bags, as well as the transmitter. "I want you to slip it out into the passage and detonate it if any of the activity comes in here."

Rainbow looked back at her, slightly confused, but ultimately grabbed the case with enthusiasm. A sly smile spread across her lips as she grabbed the transmitter, and she turned her head slowly back towards the noise happening outside the room.

"Make sure it's well away from the opening," Twilight said. "The back flash alone could scorch everything in this room." She turned over and started messing with something on the shoulder of the suit. A small pop sounded right around the base of the gun, and she turned back towards Rainbow. "Take my gun," she said, slipping it off her shoulder and onto the ground. "I need to work on getting cleaned up."

Rainbow threw her hoof up in a salute, and accidentally tossed the leather case behind her against the wall. A patch of red crested her cheeks, and she swooped down the grab it, tossing it around the corner just outside the opening.

Twilight reached up higher with her hoof and managed to pop the casing open, revealing a complete kit of medical supplies: gauze, disinfectants, bandages—everything she needed.

Rainbow picked up the machine gun from the floor, held it up, and attempted to pump it like a shotgun before realizing it wasn't that kind of gun. She held the sight up to her eye, and pretended to shoot it out the door.

"Focus, Rainbow," Twilight said. "I need you here with me."

Twilight was busy pulling down some of the gauze, and was rummaging through some of the bottles, trying to find something non-sterile to help clean out the wound.

"Hold this," she said, handing some of the gauze to Rainbow. "I need you to press this into the wound. Soak up the blood, and try to keep it under pressure as I find the right solution."

Rainbow did as she asked as Twilight continued to look through a pile of bottles on the floor that she had knocked out of the supply box a minute ago. Gunshots and cries continued to rain outside.

Twilight and Rainbow froze as hoofsteps trotted up just in front of the opening, and a lone soldier ducked inside the room for cover. He was so busy concentrating on the outside that he didn't even think to look around the room. Twilight pulled Rainbow's head below the table, and they both held their breathes as the soldier reloaded.

She looked down at her hoof, and saw that the gauze was completely soaked. She peered over the table to see that the soldier had run back out into more gunfire.

Twilight pushed Rainbow back up, and quickly resumed looking through the bottles. The one she was looking for came up quickly, and she handed the saline solution to Rainbow.

"Squirt some of this into the wound," she said. "We need to get it wrapped up before going back out there." She reached up and pulled down some of the bandages. "If we're lucky, we should be able to—"

She stopped short. The gunfire in the passage had subsided, and all they could hear were hoofsteps outside. A few quiet echoes around the corner could be heard, saying things like "All Clear".

Both Twilight and Rainbow stuck their heads up the listen, holding their breaths and trying not to move.

"Damn aliens die too easily," one of them said.

"Heh, at least they fight back. You should be glad there aren't any scientists down here."

Twilight shrunk back as the voices got louder.

"Hey, the scientists aren't that bad," the other one said. "I like a good cannon fodder every once and a while. It's fun to watch the blood fly."

Twilight's stomach lurched at this, and she got down as far as she could. She winced as Rainbow splashed some of the saline onto her wound, and tried not to cry out.

"Hey," a different voice said, further away. "What are you two doing over here? Aren't you supposed to be with the group?"

Some shuffling could be heard, as well as some mumbling.

"Well?!" the other voice said, "Do you have something to say or not?"

More mumbling of "No sirs" came through the door, followed by a deep sigh.

"Well, if you're going to be here, you may as well do a sweep of the area. I'll send the rest of the troop this way, and we'll search it for any other activity."

Twilight's stomach jumped up into her throat at this, and she started silently waving her hooves around at Rainbow.

"What?" Rainbow mouthed, trying to figure out what Twilight was saying. "What do you—"

"Button!" Twilight whispered. "Case!"

Rainbow's eyes flashed as she got the message, and the grabbed the transmitter she had left on the floor and got behind the table with Twilight. She reached up a hoof to push the button, but Twilight stopped her.

"Wait!" she whispered. "We need as many of them in the room as possible."

They both got as low as they could, and listened as the hoofsteps in the passage grew. More voices could be heard.

"Stupid orders," one of them said. "What do they want us to do? Clean up the corpses?"

Twilight pointed a hoof at the bandages, and Rainbow silently got low on the floor, setting the transmitter just next to her hoof as she started unrolling some and wrapping it around Twilight's wound.

"Just what the hell are these things alien things, anyway?" said another voice. "Stupid scientists, playing Celestia. They're all just power hungry SOBs!"

Rainbow pulled one of the bandages taught, and Twilight gasped as it cut into the wound.

"Hey," another voice said, "take a look at this. I think it's one of ours."

More hoofsteps could be heard collecting into a particular spot around the corner, right where Rainbow had tossed the leather case. Rainbow seemed to have noticed, too, as she had stopped to look back at Twilight. The mumbles from the soldiers were getting louder, and one of them sounded above the others.

"Search the area! Get this thing out of the tunnel, and get a demolitions group out here! Everyone, evacuate the area!"

Twilight lurched forward and flailed her hooves. "NOW, RAINBOW!"

The explosion slammed into her ears, just as Rainbow came down on the button, and she closed her eyes against the blinding flames. Heat whipped against her face, singeing her cheeks. The pain from her ears leeched into her head, and the subsequent migraine brought tears to her eyes.

She leaned back and opened her eyes, and saw Rainbow Dash shaking on her hooves, with hairs on her mane sticking out on end. She could barely hear Rarity's voice screaming over the radio against the ringing in her ears.

Rainbow turned towards her, a look of shock still invading her face, and Twilight choked on a laugh. Neither of them could hear each other, but Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her ear and rubbed it, and Twilight nodded in agreement. Both of them just looked at each other for a moment. And then Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground with a deep breath, prompting Twilight to do the same. Her half-bandaged hoof was the last thing on her mind.

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

Twilight coughed from the light haze of smoke hanging in the passage. Rainbow was already looking around at the remains, trying to guess what they used to be. Most of what was left was either in pieces, charred black, or both, and all of it was surrounded by blood smears.

"Check around the corner," Twilight said. "Rarity says the central chamber should be somewhere nearby." She turned around and distracted herself from the carnage by looking at one of the walls. "I'm going to setup some traps behind us."

She only had three trip mines left, but that was all she needed to cover the passage. Within a few seconds, three green beams shown in the haze, blocking the path behind them.

She turned around to see Rainbow returning.

"Any luck?" she asked.

Rainbow came up close and rubbed her hooves together. "I think you'd better come see this."

Twilight couldn't quite read her expression. It was very un-Rainbow-ish, and she couldn't decide whether this was her way of showing concern or fright. Either way, the look didn't suite her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

As a reply, Rainbow hovered back down the passage, flashing Twilight a glance that implied she wanted her to follow. "First off," she said, leading Twilight around the corner, "we're lucky the guards were called away. I seriously doubt we would have gotten past this thing."

She pointed down the tunnel, to where it opened up at a "T". A single-pony barricade sat at the far wall, facing the passage they were heading down. It was covered from top to bottom with bricks, except for the front of it, which was opened just wide enough to expose a massive duel-barreled turret gun as large as their entire bodies. Twilight had to fight the urge to duck as she approached it.

"I looked all around this thing," Rainbow said. "There's nopony inside it."

Twilight walked up to the "T", and found that the path had taken them back to the rails. She gazed across them at the gun turret bunker sitting across from her, and then carefully stepped across for a better look.

"Do you think they put this here to guard the central chamber?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow hovered just to the right of the bunker. "Central chamber, big army base, big scary monster—whatever it's guarding is on the other side of those blast doors." She pointed a hoof to the right.

"Blast doors?!" Twilight turned her head.

Sure enough, the rails only traveled a short distance before ending dead-stop at a massive pair of red-white striped metal doors.

"You—" She trotted down the rail passage until she was right up against the doors. "You found it! We found it!" She turned around. "This has to be it!"

She rummaged around until she found the radio. "Rarity," she said, "we think we found the chamber. Do you think you can open the doors?"

Static chewed away at the silence as Twilight waited, but Rarity finally responded. "I thought you'd never ask."

Rainbow obviously heard the words, but didn't look as pleased as Twilight felt. She lowered herself to the ground and pointed a hoof at the wall next to her. "That's not all," she said. "There's something else you need to see."

Twilight cocked a brow and trotted back to the turret. "What is it?" she asked. "A message?"

Rainbow tilted her head. "Nooooooot exactly."

Twilight stepped up to the turret, blinking against the sharp lights, and squinted to see what Rainbow Dash was pointing to. A few words were scribbled in yellow paint where Rainbow Dash was pointing.

"Yore Dead, Rainbow Dash," Twilight read out loud.

She turned back towards Rainbow. "Well, aside from showing how bad soldiers are at spelling, that's not really saying much," she said. "You did betray them, after all. It's not this is a big surprise." She turned back towards the wall and cringed. "I just hope they don't mangle you as badly as they did that contraction. That has to be the worst spelling of the word "you're" I've ever seen!"

Rainbow shook her head. "That's not all."

She flew over to the other side of the bunker, to an area Twilight hadn't really looked at, and pointed to an area of the wall that was dimly lit. Twilight could barely see anything in the shadows, but could tell there was something huge written on the wall. It wasn't until she  flipped on her flashlight that the full impact of the image hit her.

The words covered nearly the entire wall, but were so distorted that she could barely make them out. Whatever was smeared on the wall looked horribly like blood.

"Wha—" Twilight said, turning towards Rainbow. "What does this mean? Free Mare?" She turned back towards the words and re-read them. "Free. Mare." She cocked a brow, and then looked back at Rainbow. "Is this... did the military write this?" She looked back at it before walking across the tracks for a closer look. "It... looks fresh." She ran a hoof over the rough surface, and a few streaks of red came off onto her hoof. "I sure hope this is paint."

She brought the radio back up. "How's that door coming, Rarity?"

"It's tricky. I think all the doors are tied together somehow. I should almost have it."

She acknowledged, and then ran her hoof along the graffiti again. "I don't like this, Rainbow," she said. "Death threats and bad grammar are one thing, but this—" She turned around. "This is a call sign! It's like an alias for something—or... someone." She trotted back across the tracks. "If the military have placed this much importance on it, then they must have picked up on something. This has to have something to do with the communications that Lambda is putting out. We have to find out what—"

"Whahaha!" A hiss and a crack emanated down the hallway against Rarity's echoing laugh. "I've got it!"

Both Twilight and Rainbow turned to see a sliver of black widening between the two blast doors. Twilight glanced at Rainbow as she walked past her, and Rainbow hovered silently behind.

"Good work, Rarity," she said, walking up to the doors. "This will give us an idea of what we're up against."

As the doors widened, the silhouette against the darkness came into view, revealing some sort of fancy, red and white cylindrical pipe in the center of a larger silo. As Twilight crested the threshold, she found that the pipe travelled right up to the ceiling, where it capped with a black dome. On the floor, the pipe travelled straight through a hole, and she could see it travel far below by looking through the grated catwalk she was standing on. There was no doubt what it was.

"This—" Twilight started.

Rainbow was whipping around the room like a colt in a newly-discovered playground. She whipped up to the dome, then down to the floor, then around in circles, dragging her hoof around its surface. "Ha!" she said, pulling away with her hooves on her hips. "And you said none of these silos would have a real rocket!"

Twilight got down onto the floor and winked through one of the grate holes, trying to see how far down the base was. She could just make out a few wisps of steam hissing below.

"This is amazing!" she said. "It looks like it's still active."

Rainbow flew out in front of the rocket. "Well of course it's still active! They were probably going to launch it just before we showed up!"

Twilight brought the radio back up. "Looks like we found it, Rarity," she said. "The team at Lambda was trying to launch some sort of rocket. We need to get to the surface so we can launch it. Any ideas?"

She waited as a few more cracks of static came out of the radio.

"It doesn't look like there's a way out anywhere near your area," Rarity said. "If I had access to the launch site, I could open the bay doors and you could climb out, but those controls are probably on the surface."

Twilight clenched her hoof and growled at the ceiling. "Then what's the long way?" she asked.

Another long wait crackled, with a few "hmmm"s thrown in from time to time. "There's a lift a ways a way that will take you to surface level," she said. "But it's on the level below you."

"There's a ladder back here," Rainbow said, whipping around from behind the rocket. "Doesn't look like we'll have any trouble going down."

Twilight grumbled as she stomped around the rocket, with an occasional "ow!" each time she landed on her bad hoof.

"If it's any consolation, dear, the blast doors are already open at that level," Rarity said. "No need to thank me!"

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

Rainbow hovered below Twilight as she lowered herself down the ladder. The fall wasn't too far, but Twilight wanted somepony there just in case.

"So," Rainbow said, caressing the rocket like a childhood toy, "what do you think they're going to blow up?"

Twilight lowered her hoof off the last wrung and felt the catwalk below her. "Blow up?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow said. She hovered around the rocket, running her hoof along the surface. "I mean, with the right stuff, this thing could make a heck of a rainbomb!"

Twilight lowered her forehooves onto the ground and looked around. "Rainbomb?"

Rainbow blushed. "It... was an idea I came up with at flight school," she said. "It would happen if I did a sonic rainboom just before hitting the surface."

Twilight opened her mouth to ask, but thought better about it. She lowered her hoof and lead Rainbow around to the exit. "This doesn't look like a military rocket," she said. "I doubt it's designed to blow up."

She turned her attention to the exit, and found herself looking at a somewhat larger, brighter passage. It was less like a tunnel, and more like a long hallway, much wider than the rail. As a result, the rail itself only took up a portion of the area, giving rise to a rather extensive walking area on either side. The yellowish lighting shed some color onto the grays.

Twilight stepped out, carefully avoiding the rail, and walked to the right. A few twinges of pain still crept through her hoof, but the suit was doing a wondrous job healing. She imagined the morphine must also be helping.

"Looks like there's a room in the corner, here," Rainbow said. "Might have more supplies." She reached out a hoof, and Twilight placed her crowbar on them.

"Have fun," Twilight said. "I'm going to look around."

She got out the radio as Rainbow retreated. "We should be two levels below the surface, Rarity," Twilight said. "No sign of the military. Do you see anything of interest in this area?"

She could hear Rainbow cracking open boxes in the distance, and a few lights were flickering towards the end of the passage. Other than that, everything was very still.

"Nothing is marked on my screens, Twilight," Rarity said. "I have no idea what's in any of these areas, or even what their purpose is."

Twilight squinted into the distance, and walked alongside the rail. "Can you at least give us an idea of how far we have to go?"

"Twilight!"
"AH!"

Twilight jumped and turned to see the large blue ball of pegasus smearing against her face, making her jump back.

"DON'T—" she started, "do that." She took a breath as Rainbow backed up.

Rainbow whipped the crowbar around absentmindedly. "Sorry," she said, "but I found another one of those suit power charge things, and a few more of those exploding pouch things, too. I thought you might want to know."

Twilight sighed. "Thanks," she said. She stepped forward and made her way back to where Rainbow Dash came from. "Rarity? Any word on how far?"

"It's quite a ways, dear," she said, "but it doesn't look like you should have much trouble getting there. It's very straight-forward."

"Any bottlenecks?" Twilight asked.

"Looks like there are two," Rarity said. "But they aren't very long. I don't see any kind of doors or hatches that could be in the way. You should be able to ride the train straight to it."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Easier said than done," she mumbled.

She followed Rainbow back to the small room, and saw the suit charger unit on the wall right away. She instinctively placed her hoof onto it, just as she did in the storage rooms.

A warmth spread through her body as she charged, and the pain in her hoof dramatically subsided. It almost felt as though she was recharging her body. Her fatigue was being sucked away, and it felt easier to move around.

"I owe my life to this technology," she said, pulling away from the station. "I must admit, I thought it was crazy when I first put it on, but—" She took a deep breath and looked Rainbow. "I'm going to be glad when this is all over."

Rainbow stretched out her hooves in a mock-yawn. "I just can't wait to get to the surface," she said. "These tunnels are really cramping my style!"

Twilight giggled. "Just don't forget about us when you finally fly home," she said.

Twilight stepped out of the room and looked around the passage. She hadn't paid much attention to it when she initially came out here, but there was a train parked a good ways down the track. Her eyes moved towards it, and she signaled Rainbow to follow her to it.

"You think the rocket's the answer?" Rainbow asked. "You think it could end all this?"

Twilight shook her head. "Honestly, I have no idea what it could be. It looks like a satallite delivery rocket, but it could be anything."

Rainbow flew up ahead. "Let's just hope those eggheads know what they're doing."

They both stopped just before boarding the train, and Twilight got the radio back out. "We're moving forward, Rarity," she said. "We should be at the surface shortly."

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

Twilight had been travelling slowly down the rail for a good five minutes, with Rainbow hovering next to her. Each minute that passed by put her more on edge, despite Rainbow's lazy acrobatics in the background. Everything was silent except for the soft hum of the train. The tunnel had grown dark again, and the extra space between them and the wall had shrunk back down.

Twilight jerked around, craning her neck to see behind her.

"I don't like this," she said. "The military should be down here. They should be guarding this place."

Rainbow waved a hoof. "Relax, Twilight! They're probably all at the surface." She flew ahead of the train and turned around. "Besides, we didn't even see any soldiers until we went up that first level."

Twilight jerked again, looking from side to side. "Yes, I know, but from what Rarity has told us, there's only one way to the surface. The soldiers would have to pass through here to get to where we were! It's not like they just... disappeared."

Without thinking, Twilight reached her hoof forward and stopped the train. The hum immediately gave way to palpable silence that made her ears ring.

"What are you doing?!" Rainbow flew right in front of her and reached her hoof out over the panel, but Twilight blocked her.

"Wait," she said. "Think about this. The military has unicorns, right?"

Rainbow cocked her head. "Yeah. So?"

Twilight stepped back, readying her gun. "So," she said, "they would want to station those unicorns at bottleneck junctures so they can use their magic as a blocking strategy! Bottleneck junctures just—like—this one." She waved her hoof around.

Rainbow looked around incredulously. "Yeah," she said. "Loooots of unicorns around here right now."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You're not getting this, are you," she said. "You've seen what they can do. They have both force fields and penetrative magic. That's well into the advanced studies of some of the top Canterlot schools!" She stepped forward. "Do you know what else they study at that level?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and put her hooves on her hips. "Get to the point."

"Cloaking magic, phase magic, materialization magic..." She ticked these off on her hoof. "They could be standing here, and we wouldn't even know it!"

Rainbow took a deep breath. "Is that why you're so jumpy?" she asked.

"However," Twilight continued, ignoring Rainbow Dash, "I just remembered that, a few years ago, I delved into some of those subjects in my free time, and discovered some tricks to detect cloaking." She growled stamped her good hoof against the ground, "If only I had my horn, I'd be able to conjure up enough energy. It would take almost an explosive amount of—"

She stopped, hoof still in the air, and stood like a statue, thinking.

"That's it!" she said, slamming her hoof into her forehead. "I can send a weak signal into an explosive, and use it to magnify the signal!" She levitated one of the explosives out of her suit. "The problem is, an explosion like that would be difficult to focus the magic on. But I could remedy that by focusing it before I—"

"AHH!" Rainbow flew back into Twilight's side.

A green flash had gone off next to them, and Twilight glimpsed a small, white unicorn barring down next to her. A few more flashes went off in front of them. Magic auras from their horns were lighting up the tunnel.

"Rainbow! Forward!" Twilight slammed on the lever and grabbed onto the panel, trying desperately not to fall off. The unicorns were in stride with her actions, and were teleporting out from behind her to lead her down the tunnel. Some of them were firing beams, trying to disable the train. Others were attempting to form barriers, and failing to make them stable in time. The train shattered these easily, sending green shards sprinkling over her.

"Rainbow!" Twilight put her horn against the antenna of one of the explosive transmitters, and tossed it to Rainbow Dash. "Keep it close!"

A tingling feeling formed around her hooves, and she looked down to see a massive aura of green waving around her body. She recognized it as levitation magic, and realized the unicorns were attempting to pull her off the train.

"Stay close to me, Rainbow!" she said. "Be evasive! They're trying to grab onto us!" She looked back at her own body curiously before looking back up. "Don't worry about me, my suit protects against it!"

Rainbow was flying ahead, trying to see what the train was heading into, sending spirals of rainbows hurling into the tunnel. She whipped around one of the bends and out of sight, prompting Twilight to hang onto the panel as the train followed. Her rear hooves nearly left the platform from the force.

The rainbow trail reappeared ahead of her, but she couldn't see any more flashes. The unicorns seemed to be gone. All she could see ahead of her was the bright blue and rainbow glow of Rainbow Dash up ahead. She reached a hoof up, ready to slow the train down.

"Duck!" Rainbow's voice echoed back to her.

The rainbow trail swept down, and in its place was what Twilight could only describe as a flameball hurling towards her. She instinctively moved her hooves out from under her, slamming her body into the platform with a "Whoa!" as the ball hurled over her head, leaving a thick smoke trail. "What was that?!"

Rainbow slowed to let the train catch up to her. "It's heading back this way," she said. She slowed down even further, and Twilight watched as she tailed even further behind. "I think it's following us."

Twilight stumbled and slipped against the platform, trying to turn around for a better look. As soon as she did, her eyes locked onto the glowing mass behind her, lighting up a large part of the tunnel. Whatever the unicorns had unleashed was almost sentient in the way it moved: almost phoenix-like.

Rainbow could only be seen as a blur of blue and rainbow, but the ball of fire followed her every move. It was like watching two glowsticks have at each other.

Twilight put her hooves over her head as Rainbow swept back over the train. The train shook from the sonic waves, and she could feel the heat of the fireball. She quickly got to her hooves and stumbled back up to the panel.

The tunnel was opening up into a larger area, with several other tracks and tunnels leading out of it. It was like a larger version of the depot near the generator. Several large pillars helped hold up the vaulted ceiling above them.

"Rarity!" Twilight yelled into the radio. "We've reached some kind of huge junction! What way do we go?!"

She could barely hear Rarity's voice cracking out the other end. "Just keep going straight!"

Rainbow was dancing around the pillars as the train hurled through the room. She had just made it to the far end, and was accelerating forward across the length of the room, gaining distance from the ball. Twilight saw what she was doing a split second before it did it, and yelled out.

"No, Rainbow! NOT ONE OF THE PILLARS!"

She held her hoof up against the glowing explosion behind her, and watched, as if in slow motion, the crumbling rocks surrounded by flaming gases, spreading out to damage other pillars. The sonic waves reached as far as her train, and for a moment, she was afraid she would be derailed. The ceiling cracked under the pressure, and within seconds, the top of the room was breaking and crumbling into large boulders crashing into the ground. All of this was framing the growing rainbow trail, heading straight for her.

"Rainbow!" Twilight said, as Rainbow caught up with her. "What did you do?!"
"I destroyed the fireball!"
"Using the structural foundation of the tunnel?!"
"What was I supposed to use? My tail?"
"Rainbow, we can't—"

The rumbling behind them grew exponentially, and they both turned to see the entire room tearing itself apart from the inside out.

"What do we do?!" Twilight yelled. "This thing can't outrun an avalanche!"

Rainbow glanced back at the cascading roar of earth falling behind them, and in a split second, dove down on top of Twilight and grabbed her hooves around her.

"Well I can!" she yelled.

Twilight felt a yank around her middle as the roar behind them nearly deafened her. Bits and pieces were already falling off the tunnel ceiling before they had crested the threshold, forcing Rainbow to maneuver around them.

Everything became a blur of darkness and flashes of ceiling lights as they flew by. Rainbow's hooves were squeezing her so tight, she was having trouble breathing. She pulled her hooves up as high as she could, afraid they would scrape against the ground. The rumbling was quickly fading behind them.

"Lift ahead!" Rainbow yelled.

Twilight forced her head up, and tried to focus on the end of the tunnel. A light was growing larger, and she could just make out a small crowd around the area.

"Unicorns!" Twilight said. "They're blocking the area, we have to stop!"
"And risk being squashed?!" Rainbow said. "I don't think so!"

Twilight stuck her head down between her hooves and looked behind her. The entire tunnel was collapsing a good ways behind them at a solid clip. It was only seconds away.

Twilight looked back up and was immediately blinded by a series of green flashes. Every unicorn had apparently seen the collapse, and was teleporting out of the room. Both Rainbow and Twilight were inside the lift room a second later. They came to a halt just inside.

"DON'T STOP!" Twilight yelled.

"I can't!" Rainbow said. "There's a force field!" Rainbow lunged upwards, and Twilight felt them both whack against it. "I can see the surface! If we can just—"

Twilight had already gotten out one of the explosives, and was lighting it up with as much magic as she could get through her horn. "Button, Rainbow!" She threw the explosive on the ground. "Press the button!"

Rainbow nearly dropped Twilight as she got out the receiver. With her hooves already busy holding onto Twilight, she ended up slamming the button up into Twilight's suit in order to detonate it.

A blinding corona of magic went off below them, shattering the field above them. There was no heat or shockwave, but Twilight still had to shut her eyes tight against the sheer amount of light.

"We're good!" she said. "GO!"

Rainbow was already hurling them straight up. The walls of the cylindrical room were cracking, and a few chunks were falling here and there.

A screeching blur of dull gray and rumbling snapped away, replaced by quiet darkness and a soft breeze as they crested over the lift exit. The rumbling continued below them, sounding much more distant from above, and diminished to a hiss after a few more seconds.

Twilight and Rainbow hovered in the air, breathing hard and looking around at the deceptively still air. The night sky shown above them against the lights shining down on the surface track, and they could just make out a massive concrete barrier ahead. Signs smattered the side of it, ranging from "Heat Warning" to "Radioactive".

Rainbow brought Twilight down just behind a nearby bush, and they both peered out from behind, still catching their breath.

"Twilight?" Rarity said. "Rainbow? What's going on up there? What's all that ruckus?"

Twilight looked at Rainbow before bringing the radio back out.

"We're fine," she whispered, before winking at Rainbow Dash. "And it looks like you were right. That track lead us straight to the launch site."

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

Twilight glanced towards the exit hole they had just come out of, in case there were any remaining unicorns trying to escape. Everything had once again fallen silent. She could just make out a few unicorn guards a ways up ahead, but other than that, the only things of note were the bugs flying around the lights overhead, and some military radio chatter.

"So, what's the plan?" Rainbow whispered dramatically.

Twilight closed the gap in the bushes, and turned towards Rainbow. "They know we're here," she said. "We made too much noise in the tunnels for them not to know we're here. The real question is, why aren't they attacking us? " She reached forward and parted the bushes again. "It's almost as if they're waiting for us."

Rainbow cocked her head. "Waiting for what?"

Twilight levitated a few of the explosives from the suit and placed them on the ground. "That's what worries me. All the unicorns teleported out just before the tunnel collapsed. They easily could have gone to the surface and waited for us."

Rainbow scratched her neck. "Maybe they were afraid to?" She shook her head. "I dunno. We brought the entire tunnel down with us. Maybe they thought we had some sort of weapon or something that they didn't know about."

Twilight lifted each of the explosives one-by-one and touched them to her horn. "That's true," she said. "We broke through their force field pretty easily, and we could have destroyed a large crowd on the surface with a single one of these explosives." She lowered the device to the ground. "I just can't help but think they're up to something. They keep changing their tactics."

Rainbow cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"Like," Twilight started, "for example, they were firing condensed magic at us on the lift, which wasn't very effective. It just bounced off my suite, and you were able to evade it pretty easily." She ticked it off on her hoof. "Then there were the force fields. They put them up in the tunnel originally, but then discovered they weren't working well against the train, so they moved it into the lift shaft instead." She ticked another hoof. "And then that fireball they made seemed to be some sort of last resort. You noticed they didn't make it until towards the very end of the tunnel, and they must have known how vulnerable and dangerous it was."

Rainbow sighed. "So, what's your point?"

Twilight lifted each of the explosives back up with her horn. "The point is, they must have something up ahead waiting for us. It's probably some sort of new tactic."

Rainbow looked down at the explosives before looking back up. "So, again, what's the plan?"

Twilight levitated one of the transmitters, and touched the antenna to her horn. "The plan," she said with a sigh, "is to distract them with a bombing run, and then drop me off near the entrance to the command center. That should buy us enough time to launch the rocket and get out of here." She carefully placed each of the explosives back into her suit, and then stretched out on onto her stomach. "The only way we can see what they're doing is from the air, and the best defense is surprise. We need to detonate the explosives before they know what's happening. Now," she stretched out, "carry me like you did before."

Rainbow stepped back. "You want to fly straight into their trap?!"

She shot Rainbow a look. "Trust be, Rainbow," she said. "If it doesn't work, we'll just fly out of here. You are a fast flyer, are you not?"

Some of the color washed out of Rainbow's face before being replaced with a tinge of red. The word "fine" escaped her lips through barred teeth just before she jumped on top of Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her.

"Good! Now swoop us down lo—whoa!" Rainbow pulled up so fast, Twilight barely had time to catch her breath. The ground fell away from under her hooves, and she had to work not to look down as even the few tree-tops shrunk below them. The ground was dotted with lights and variously-shaded surfaces. She couldn't tell the difference between warning lights and unicorn magic glows from this distance, even if she tried.

"Rainbow! Down!" she said, waving her hooves around. "Take us into a dive over the launch pad." She hovered the explosives next to her as she said this.

Rainbow leaned forward, and Twilight felt the wind pick up as the ground swept back towards her. She wasn't expecting how drastic the sudden loss of gravity would be, and her mind went blank from the motion.

As she pulled up, the shades of color came into focus as rails, walls, trees, and everything else she had seen through the bush, all racing past her at once. She only had a fraction of the second to think. She dropped the first explosive as soon as the first unicorn came into view, and randomly dispersed the others as Rainbow flew over the wall.

A few shouts came from the soldiers below, followed by many green flashes. Twilight only caught a glimpse of the launch site itself, which seemed to be nothing more than a massive concrete crater with a hatch in the bottom for the rocket to come out. The unicorns stood all around it, frantically firing magic up at them. She could feel the levitation auras fight against her, and Rainbow was struggling to continue flying straight.

"Up, Rainbow!"

As soon as she felt the tug upwards on her middle, she pressed the button on the transmitter. The subsequent shockwave shook her bones as the fireball from below lit up the night sky. The auras of magic immediately vanished, and she tried to glance back down at the ground as Rainbow continued to climb.

"Is there anyone left?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow leveled out and slowly hovered down to the launch site, sweeping her eyes around the ground. "Looks like your plan worked," she said. She hovered both of them all the way to the ground. "There's nopony left on the ground. Could be more hiding, though."

Twilight looked around at the launch site as they descended. The entire area was surrounded by cliffs, except for the wall with the entrance, and a large concrete building adjacent to it. The building's only noticeable features were a set of small blast doors at the base, and two windows on a second story.

"That was easy," Twilight said, looking around. "That was way, way too easy." She trotted up to the wall and pointed a hoof. "Why didn't they at least have a force field over the wall? Why were all the unicorns in plain sight? And—" she trotted full-circle around Rainbow Dash, looking along the ground, "where are the bodies?! There are no remains!"

Rainbow Dash jumped up, doing loops in the air to look around with her.

"Hang on," Twilight said.

She lit her horn, and fizzled a blast over the wall. The pitiful sparks flew overhead, and continued past the wall and into the stars.

"So much for a surprise force field trap," she said. She took a deep breath. "Maybe they're just losing their edge. Come on. We should at least get the rocket launched." She looked up at the building. "My guess is that the launch button is going to be in that top floor. Can you fly through those windows?"

Rainbow had swooped up to them before Twilight had finished her sentence. "No problem!" She peered through the glass, and then traveled back to the ground, holding out her hoof.

Twilight instinctively got out the crowbar and placed it in her hooves.

A moment later, there was a loud crash, and Rainbow was busy smashing the crowbar into the remaining shards in the opening. She dove inside and disappeared.

"Rarity," Twilight said over the radio, "We've found the command center. We need you to get to the elevator so you can rendezvous with us."

A crack over the radio responded. "Okay, darling, but it may take a while. It's not the easiest location to get to."

"Take your time," Twilight said.

Rainbow swooped back out the window and landed next to Twilight. "I found the launch button, but it's stuck," she said. "It says it needs some sort of "authorization" or some such thing. I can't get it to work."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Can't trust a soldier to do anything," she joked. "Carry me in, and I'll see what I can do."

She felt the familiar squeeze around her middle, and the uncomfortable sensation of the ground falling from under her as she was carried up to the windows. Her initial concentration was on getting through the opening, as they were only large enough for a single small pony to slither through. Her rear hooves caught on the bottom, and she stumbled forward over the threshold and rolled onto the command-center floor.

She shook out her mane and looked around at the new setting. The buzzing and beeping machines all around her were a jarring change from the dull gray of the rail, and it was a struggle just to try and make sense out of all the colorful lights that flashed and flickered across the many monitors.

"Here's the button," Rainbow said. She had flown in just after Twilight, and was standing behind her. "It's really big, and has the word "launch" on it, but when I hit it—" She leaned forward and pressed her hoof into the button. A mare's voice came over the intercom overhead:

"INVALID AUTHORIZATION. PLEASE ENTER CREDENTIALS."

Twilight opened her muzzle and stared at the button. "Credentials?" She looked around. "It's just a button! There aren't any credentials for this thing. How would it even know who—"

She stopped, and a wide smile crested her face. "Of course!" She stepped up to the button, and looked at it closely. "A hoof signature." She licked her lips, and then pressed the rubber tip of the suit's hoof into the button.

"INVALID AUTHORIZATION. PLEASE ENTER CREDENTIALS."

Twilight gritted her teeth and groaned at the ceiling. "They must have used the hoof of one of the scientists working here." She looked around. "Check the other rooms. There's probably a body around here we can use."

Rainbow looked a little sick at this statement, but moved out of the room anyway. A few seconds later, she returned, dragging the corpse of a black stallion wearing a science uniform. A light train of blood followed on the floor.

"Put his hoof here," Twilight said. "That should trigger the authorization they need."

Rainbow turned her head away from the body, and pulled the hoof up to the button, proceeding to randomly slam it into the wall all around where the button was. Twilight was about to roll her eyes when one of her attempts succeeded.

"AUTHORIZATION GRANTED."

Sirens flared, accompanied by warning lights, and a blast protection cover closed over the windows.

"LAUNCH SEQUENCE IN TEN SECONDS."

Twilight launched herself onto Rainbow Dash and pinned her to the ground. "We did it!" She reached her hooves around Rainbow and squeezed hard. "We actually did it!"

"4... 3... 2..."

"Ummm, Twilight?" Rainbow said. "Can't breathe..."

The ground shook beneath them, and Twilight could only imagine what was going on outside on the other side of the blast shields. Even with such thick walls between them, the sound was still deafening. She looked up at the screens and followed many of the statistics they were reporting. All of them looked normal. Had the military been staging the whole thing, it would have been picture-perfect.

"Rarity!" Twilight shouted into the radio. "Rarity, we got the rocket launched! We're in the command center!"

The static was worse than ever, but she could still make out Rarity's voice. "I'm al - - ere. Jus - - more mi - -"

The rumbling subsided over the next many seconds, and Twilight couldn't help but feel a weight lift from her shoulders. She stood up and moved back towards the blast-shielded windows, and watched as they uncovered the openings.

Twilight immediately trotted up to the windows, leaned her head out the opening, and peered up at the strangest, most wonderful sight she had seen yet: A trail of smoke leading up to a magnificent rumbling fireball against the night sky. She could just make out the shape of the rocket as it curved in its intended trajectory.

Twilight put her elbows on the sill and rested her head in her hooves, simply smiling up at the sight, still unable to believe how easy it was to pull off.

"Twi - - etting close. Ha - - pened th -"

Twilight's ears perked, and she looked down at the radio. "Oh, right!" She trotted over to one of the monitors next to the fancy server equipment and saw an entirely new map in front of her. It showed everything for the surface, including the elevator Rarity had mentioned. She jammed her hoof into it and watched the highlight turn from red to green.

"You should be good to go, Rarity," Twilight said. She turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Do you think we should go wait for her?"

Rainbow flew through the opening and looked up. Her arms were crossed, and she seemed to have a mock-scowl on her face. "I can't believe they put a darn wall up between us and the rocket," she said. "I totally wanted to race it!"

Twilight giggled. "I'm sure there will be other chances," she said. "At a place like this, at least."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Because firing giant rockets like this happens all the time, right?" She sighed. "I just wish I had had a chance to—HEY!" Rainbow batted a hoof against her shoulder.

Twilight had thought she saw a flash of light, but couldn't be sure. She instinctively trotted up to the window.

"Rainbow?" she said.

Rainbow fidgeted around in the air, as though she was fighting something. "Hey! Just what's the big deal?!" She struggled around some more, and Twilight eventually caught sight of the aura around her tail.

"Rainbow!" Twilight leaped forward and stuck her hooves out. "Grab on!"

By the time she had said this, Rainbow was already being pulled away into a corner in the ground. Twilight leaned her head out over the sill, and saw what must have been a dozen unicorns standing around the launch pad, all aiming their horns at Rainbow.

"Twilight!" Rainbow fared her wings frantically as the aura spread up her tail to her body.

Twilight looked back and saw she had left the crowbar inside, and quickly grabbed it before squeezing herself out of the window. "Rainbow Dash!" Her hoof caught on the sill, and she found herself being hurled into the ground. The impact was overwhelming, and for a few seconds, she couldn't focus on anything. She rolled onto her hooves against the aches invading every part of her body, and pressed herself forward into the fray.

"Stop it!" Rainbow struggled. "I'm not going back! You can't make me! LET. ME. GO!"

The aura was up to her neck now, and she was so close to the group of unicorns that Twilight couldn't risk setting off any kind of explosion without hitting her. Regardless, she charged forward, horn spitting what little magic she could muster. A few of the unicorns sent out jets of magic that knocked her to the ground.

She got back onto her hooves, and slammed on her forehoof, sending a torrent of bullets streaming into the group. A few of them hit something, and one of the unicorns fell, but not before three others had jumped in to put up a force field around them, with Rainbow Dash inside it.

"HANG ON!" Twilight said. She got out one of the explosives and put it to her horn. "I can get you out of there! Just give me a mi—"

There was a loud POP, and a blinding flash struck her eyes, making her put her hoof up to shield against it. When she brought it back down, only a trail of magic residue was left in front of her. Every one of the unicorns, including Rainbow Dash, had teleported away.

Twilight stood there a few minutes, heart pounding, trying to take in what she had just seen. She whipped her head around, as if expecting everyone to simply be in a different location now, but everywhere she looked, there was only silence.

"RAINBOOOOOOW!" she yelled into the silence, trotting forward to where the unicorns were standing. She coughed and sputtered against the wafts of smoke still remaining from the rocket launch. "RAAAAINBOOOOOOW!"

She turned around, searching for any little nook or cranny where the unicorns could have dragged her: anywhere she could possibly be hiding. Her body shook, as she tried to figure out where to go.

"Twilight?" Rarity came over the radio. "Twi - ight? Are y - - ll right?"

Twilight stood there a few more seconds, catching her breath. She stared at the launch pad and watched the smoke waft away. She watched the bugs dance around the lights. She watched the wind jostle the tree tops.

Finally, she brought the radio up to her muzzle, and closed her eyes.

"She's gone."