Gears in the Void

by Lab


Groovy

There was a book on my face. It was strange reading about mushrooms from a book stuck to the wall of an inexplicably sideways library. Fog rolled through my head, and my body was unresponsive and exhausted.

"Gears!" The strange sound was slowly drawn out and continued to reverberate long after it should have ended. I could only imagine how far away the speaker must have been.

I recognized that word as a name for some reason, but that was silly. Why would somepony use Gears as a name? After all, gears were components, not ponies. Ponies. What's with ponies in my brain? I haven't seen ponies in ages, fictional or otherwise? Fictional? Of course I haven't seen fictional ponies, they're fictional.

A blurry shape appeared in front of me, its motions leaving trails in the air. The blob was made of more white than blue, and more blue than pink. The book was in focus, why wasn't the blob? Or maybe the blob was in focus and I was accidentally insulting its appearance.

Miles away, something prodded my hoof. Hoof? No, that doesn't sound right. Why would I have hooves? Hooves were for horses and ponies. I missed that show.

"Look at me." I think it was the blob that was speaking, and this voice was vaguely similar to the last one.

I needed to communicate with the swirling mass of white and blue and let it know I wasn't going to hurt it. There was only one thing I could say to convey my feelings.

"Bluh." Never before had a word been articulated so perfectly.

"Thank Celestia you're still awake. Stay with me, Gears." What a caring blob.

Gears. There was that word-name again. Was it mine? My name? Gears is my name. Yeah, that sounded right. My fur turned to pins and needles all over my body, and I involuntarily squirmed at the uncomfortable sensation. Feeling my body against the floor alerted me to its odd, equine shape. I was on the floor? I thought I was against the wall reading that wall-book on mushrooms.

"Come on, Gears. If you don't come around I'm dragging you to the hospital." That word filled me with icy terror and long-buried memories of constant screaming.

"Vinyl." I wasn't trying to say anything. Bad tongue.

"What? What is it?" The blob sounded worried. Was this blob named Vinyl? So many weird names in Equestria. Equestria. I know that place.

"Ouch."

The blob stifled a snicker. "You blast yourself across the room and all you have to say is ouch?"

Another memory flickered in front of my mind's eye. There was a book and me playing with some metal thing and then... mushrooms. My brain linked these two events together and things suddenly made much more sense. Why was I so confused? Of course I had hooves. Of course I had ponies on the brain, magic too. Did I get here with magic? No, my spell pattern blasted me here. I had been working on a pattern for a disabling spell, and my ability to do anything felt thoroughly dissed.

Shakily, I pulled my limbs under me and tried to sit up. The minuscule effort required for such a menial task further clarified things, and I looked at the slightly blurry unicorn in front of me.

"Vinyl, could you please get in focus? You're all smudgey."

"I think she's coming around Owloysius. You don't have to get Spike just yet."

A relieved hoot made me jump out of my skin. Or maybe not seeing as my skin was still where it should have been. "What did I do?"

A white foreleg rested on my shoulder as Vinyl chuckled. "I think you would describe it as science."

My balance was iffy at best on my way back to the table. It wasn't too far away, only a few meters, but it might as well have been thrice that with how long it took me to stagger there. On the floor nearby, the thaumite I had been shaping sparked and sputtered, tiny tendrils of smoke rising from it like steam over food fresh from the oven. Not wanting to risk poking the vaguely tube-shaped object yet, I circled the blackened metal and frowned.

"Looks like I burnt it out, but I'd say it did something, right?" My mind was still slightly hazy, but now it was like there was a fan blowing the fog away.

"That was a lot of magic you blasted yourself with, much more than any unicorn would ever release with that spell. Are you sure you're fine?"

Looking at the diagram refreshed my mind and pulled to the front what I’d learned. "Yeah, looks like I just don't have a way to limit the output on this spell, so it used every last drip of magic in that one burst. Oh, this must be where the spell gets released from." That end crumpled to ash at the slightest nudge. "I'll definitely have to remember not to point that end at myself again. Good thing it was just a stunning spell, eh?"

"I'll say. That could have gone far worse. Still, you had me worried when you launched yourself into that bookcase. How are you not hurting right now?"

"Sorry about that." I smiled sheepishly and lowered my head, my ears falling flat against my skull. "I am aching a bit, but it's nothing big at all."

Vinyl eyed me, suspicious. "Define big."

"No, really. I've been in more pain from walking into furniture in a dark room." Pulling the remaining thaumite towards me, it was a simple matter to reshape all of it into the new pattern.

"Why would you make it again if it just breaks the thaumite?"

"I won't completely finish it. Last thing I remember is bending these two pieces towards each other." I pointed at a particularly sparky section of the ruined pattern. "So if I keep them slightly separate, I can finish it the moment I need to pew pew something. May just be one use, but if the normal version only drove them away, this much power might completely obliterate it."

”You will fail.” It could talk all it wanted—it still had nothing but words.

"Clever. Where do you get all these ideas from anyway?"

"I used to work in housewares."

She opened her mouth, but instead sighed and shrugged. “Good enough. How's your leg feeling?"

"Like it's stuck in a cast. And itchy." It was true, there was a nasty itch just below the top of the cast, and it made me want to chew my leg off. "Alright, that's one. Five more to go."

While I bent the thaumite, eldritch sparks danced up my hooves in protest. The bizarre feeling was more prominent than before, with the raw comfort and warmth resting atop the jolts of energy. The amalgamation of the two sensations encouraged me to work fervently.

As expected, working the metal with just hooves was clumsy and slow, but it was currently a necessity. Even the moments where I had to bind smaller pieces together were not going to stop me. Besides, I wasn't sure if I would go back to using tools for all but the most delicate of tasks after this anyway. Doing it this way felt personal and had a certain beauty to it I refused to relinquish. That and I was cheap.

Recalling the work just before the impromptu test-firing, I couldn't help but grin at the memory of purposely building a new pattern for the very first time. That glorious feeling of creating something the world has never seen, beginning as a mere thought, but growing into something undoubtedly real. If there were any doubts of my calling after earning my cutie mark, returning to work chased them away and etched purpose into my core.

Triumphantly setting down the last pattern, I beamed at Vinyl. "I'm all set. Will you be able to cast this spell on your own at all or would you like to use a couple of these yourself?"

"I should be able to use it a couple times even if I have to be the light source." She posed dramatically and sparked her horn. "I am so stoked to get this show on the road after sitting in this stuffy library all day."

"We still have to wait for night, don't we?"

"You aren't as quick as you think. It's pitch black out there." She magically held the curtains open just enough for me to see the familiar, oppressive darkness. "We can go whenever you're ready."

I stacked the books my impact had knocked off the shelf, on the table to make it easier for the owl. "Thanks for the help, Owloysius. Wish us luck." I nodded at the after-dark, avian assistant.

He puffed out his chest feathers and deeply hooted, saluting Vinyl and I with a wing as we excitedly marched into the night to hunt. Some small part in the back of my mind tried to tell me I was going to get myself killed with my foolish bravado, but what did it know? The creature would get blasted, and the issue would be solved, not to mention we'd already discussed escape routes. You just can't do things like that without a way to get out in case Murphy steps in to fling his law around.

”Nothing will remain.”

Maybe it was Dave messing with me for our argument earlier. It would have made it easier to know it would have stopped the moment he calmed down, but when was it ever that simple? I didn't remember ever hearing Dave inside my head either. Maybe he’d finally picked up some new tricks. If I could hear it, maybe it could hear me mentally ask it to stop being a douche.

"Way creepy out here. Can't even see to the side of the road without magic," whispered Vinyl. Although her voice was hushed, it clashed with the eerie silence more than our cautious footsteps.

”She will abandon you.” I could almost hear a voice behind it.

"Yeah, good thing we have your headlamp." Vinyl was in front of me and slightly to the left so my blasting rods, as they’d recently been named, could be easily yanked from her saddlebags at the first sign of trouble.

”You will be alone for the rest of your meager life.” I looked at Vinyl and saw she was still concentrating on maintaining her spell and looking around. Even though it sounded like somepony was talking right in my ear, she couldn't have heard the sickly, bleak voice.

”Life will be a myth.” It was practically screaming in my head, and my skull throbbed angrily.

This was bad. It felt more foreboding than if somebody had said “We need to talk.” The dark seethed with malice.

”Snuff the flame!” The roaring noise bore down from all directions, staggering me. Vinyl turned back and said something, but I could only tell since her mouth moved. Her eyes frantically darted around and she motioned to me.

"—ed help!" The storm in my ears dwindled enough for me to catch the last of her sentence and a distant, piercing noise.

"What is that?" My own voice sounded muted.

"We need to help them. Come on!" She trotted forwards a couple paces, and when she noticed I was right behind her, she broke into a full gallop.

In an actual race, Vinyl would have mopped the track with me, but the weight of the saddlebags and the limited visibility did more than enough to let me match her pace. I followed her down the street towards the sound. What was that awful noise? Was that screaming?

A fountain appeared suddenly out of the darkness in front of us, and as we ducked around the obstacle, Vinyl's horn illuminated a terrifying sight. A member of the Royal Guard struggled against the creature trying to consume him, the darkness hungrily lapping at his armor and pulling him in like sentient quicksand. His horn flickered meekly as he continued to scream and flail.

Without another moment spent comprehending the scene, I snagged one of the blasting rods and awkwardly held one end between my two front hooves. I took aim and squeezed the unfinished part of the pattern. When the two ends met, a crack of thunder rumbled outwards and a lance of searing, white energy blazed out of the opposite end. The recoil was enough to knock me over, and the crumbling pieces of thaumite flew out of my grip. It was pretty sweet, and I was glad I wasn’t getting hit by it again.

The spell struck home, boiling away the creature's form in moments. It barely had time to release a moaning death rattle that would no doubt haunt us for weeks to come, the unholy noise lingering long after the beast was gone.

The stench of singed mane met me as I climbed back to my hooves and hoped the creature was the only thing I’d struck. Vinyl appeared unharmed as she checked on the guard, who wasn’t smoking either. Oh good, it was me. The guard shivered violently, like he’d just been medevaced from a mountain range.

"What—what was that?" he quietly sputtered through chattering teeth. Old instincts screamed at me to give him mercy before he could turn.

"This little thing? This… is my boomstick." I proudly grinned. "I'd call that a successful field test."

"Oh, I remember you two from yesterday. Thanks for returning the favor." He tried to chuckle but broke into a coughing fit.

Vinyl gasped. "Gears, this guy is an ice cube. Let's get him somewhere warm before he gets hypothermia or something."

"Stalwart Point. Where is he?" He anxiously looked around as much as he could from the ball he had curled up in. It was difficult to hear his frail voice over the sound of his teeth rapidly smashing together.

Magical light swept the area as Vinyl scanned the fountain plaza. A glimmer of gold shone back at us, and we found a battered set of Royal Guard armor with frost creeping up its edges like ivy. We exchanged looks and silently agreed on his fate. I shook my head at the disabled guard. I couldn’t go through it again. Not again. Not again. Not again.

"I'm too cold to cry," he replied grimly.

Apparently I was out of it again, and Vinyl punched me in the shoulder to get my attention. "Focus, Gears. We need to get him some medical attention."

"Do you know if any doctors or nurses live nearby?"

"I know where Red lives, but that's a little far away. We'll have to hope one of these houses will let us in." She cleared her throat and shouted, "Hello? Is anypony there? We need help!" Not even an echo disturbed the silence.

"I don't like this. Can you carry him or at least lift him onto my back?"

”The end is inevitable.” My head pounded from the headache that damned voice was causing. What did it want from me?

"Your leg is broken. You wouldn't be able to carry him even if I let you. I'll do what I can, but I don't think I can lift him and keep the lights on for too long." She cricked her neck and grumbled, "I'm going to need a drink after this mess."

A raspy voice slithered out of the darkness. "Warmth...good."

We spun to face another creature. It looked almost exactly like the one that had chased us and the one I had blasted, but it was just a hair smaller. Flickers of movement to its sides alerted us to the presence of another. And another. Eight beings surrounded us, their outlines rippling. The pessimistic gibbering degraded into a cacophony of horrid noises.

"This is bad," Vinyl whispered.

"Good. Bad. I'm the pony with the gun." Seven beings surrounded us as another blast tore through their ranks. Taking all the blasting rods from Vinyl's saddlebags, I stood over the fallen guard and took aim once more. Six.That one was loud.

A beam of blue magic tore a chunk off one of the creatures. Its screech of pain abruptly cut off as Vinyl's coup de grace found its mark. I risked a moment to take stock of the situation: five enemies against my three blasting rods and one winded, heavily sweating unicorn.

"Come get some!" I laughed and fired again. I missed, shattering a distant flowerpot.

My body ached from the punishing recoil, but I gritted my teeth and pushed on. I shivered and dropped the next rod, cursing the strength-sapping chill sneaking into my bones. Vinyl visibly vibrated from the cold, and the beacon shining from her horn flickered ominously, like the bathroom light in a horror movie—that must have been what they were waiting for.

"Vinyl, leave the fighting to me. You need to keep that light up or we're toast. Without butter." They tentatively pushed against the barrier between light and dark, lamenting their existences.

We were still against five enemies, and I only had two rods left. Math was a heartless jerk. Any escape route we had planned unravelled the moment they’d surrounded us—we’d only expected two or three creatures at most. My aim rapidly switched between them, but they were unfazed by the devastation I held. The dark din slowly rose in volume, approaching a crescendo we could not afford. Four.

"I'm sorry, Vinyl." I sighed, solemnly staring at the final rod. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this."

Her light blinked off as she slew another. The moment before her light came back on felt like an entire lifetime, but there were still three of us when it reappeared. Their numbers had closed half the distance, and the weakened sphere of light wouldn't hold for much longer.

"Not. Done. Yet." She could barely stand, and her face was scrunched up in determination and pain.

Numbness forced me to miss my final shot, and I invented four new expletives to commemorate the occasion. As the light of our final moments flickered, there was a rumbling beneath us. This was it—there was nothing I could do to pull us out of this one.

At least I would be going out alongside a friend. The rumbling grew as Vinyl sagged to her knees, every remaining ounce of her strength devoted to keeping the light up. The guard remained silent and stone-faced except for his constant shivering. The ground quaked beneath us, and we stumbled.

Fountains of dirt erupted from the ground as we fell. Shocked, Vinyl lost her connection to the spell and her light gave way to the comforting warmth and light of flames dancing on torches and in wrought-iron lanterns. Gently, we came to rest on a pile of earth at the bottom of a shaft extending a few stories above us. Four diamond dogs stood around us while two more worked to patch up the hole. Only my own thoughts filled my mind, and I almost smiled at the relative tranquility.

Spot patted my shoulder and smirked. "You late, Beta."