//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: To Look in a Mirror // by Materious17 //------------------------------// Day 8, With the river being tiny and stagnant, the amount of time for it to reasonably carve this gorge is far longer than the current accepted age of the world as we know it. The sluggishness also makes it as a source of drinking water sketchy, as it is full of insects. More of my crew were forced back to base camp, a current two day hike away due to illness from poor filtration of the river's water combined with the ever present heat. Fluttershy is a lot stronger than it would seem, the heat hasn't gotten the best of her yet. With the Ghastly Bottom River Hypothesis out of the question, I've moved to looking for kinematic indicators. It seems very likely that with the rivers flow dictating the general shape of the gorge, that perhaps there was at least one tectonic event that weakened the granites. If there was any evidence of strike-slip or dip-slip motion along the gorge it would be present from an aerial perspective. Over the next few days Fluttershy's wings are going to get the work out of their life with her having to be my eyes from the sky. After a core drilling of the sediments in the river, I was baffled to see that the granites go down farther than the 4000 feet we can observe above ground. The core drill could only go down a couple hundred feet but it tells the same story as the granites above ground. This lava flow must have been up to a mile deep in this area and I can't imagine how far it expands laterally. The gorge's creation isn't the only thing shrouded in mystery right now, the more data I collect the less sense this whole thing makes. "Ready for tomorrow Fluttershy? Need you to rest up tonight, can't have my number one worker not up to a long day of flying, alright?" She was a trooper this last week and her free spirit always brightened my mood. "Yes sir! *squee*" A tiny squeek left her lips as she smiled. I'm not sure how she could be so happy out here, but it's contagious. Truth be told I am incredibly happy as well, just got a lot on my mind. I am in my element after all, what's the point of having a cutie mark shaped like a... "Boulder! We have a problem!" I turned to the faceless lackey shouting from the distance to then feel the ground tremble and then hear a massive explosion off in the distance. Silence returned almost as suddenly as the disaster. The camp site was in a hysteric panic. "Boulder! Several members from the east site are missing." "What do you mean missing?!" The safety of my crew was always the upmost importance to me, if I was forced into this leadership position, the least I could do was try to be a great leader. "The crash sounded like it came from the east end of the gorge. It was probably a rock fall but the shaking means that was one hell of a rock." The situation at camp was getting out of hand and the darkness wasn't being friendly. Working under pressure however was the one reason why I succeed in my studies, as tests feel no different from a basic assignment and never having to study beforehand attested to that fact. "Everyone remain calm!" It amused me that I shouted that but this was too important to lose myself in irony. "West group leader, gather your members, and bring extra water and first-aid supplies. I don't want to see a pony without a head lamp! Fluttershy, lead West group towards the rock fall zone, I want immediate search and rescue procedures. Were missing 4 members and damn it no one is going to die on me tonight! Rock falls don't just happen without a reason, I'm going to study the seismographic data we've been collecting to see if there may be chances of a repeat offense. Wait, you there!" I wanted to do more than just sit at a machine and hope, I needed to get in there and rescue my men myself. "West group leader, you watch the seismograph, report to me your findings over the comm. channel, I'll head out with the search party. Everyone move out!" The large pile of rubble was a good indication of an avalanche, though discerning the rocks apart from potential signs of my crew in the dark was neigh impossible. The shouting for the hope of hearing a response became rhythmic in my mind, almost like a chorus of death. It wasn't as easy as just digging out the pile of rocks to uncover a potential victim, shifting all of that weight can do just as much damage to anyone trapped underneath as the initial collapse. All we can do now is hope that they weren't stupid enough to have even caused this thing, let alone die to their own mistakes. "Fluttershy, I need an eye on that wall, shine a headlamp along it looking for any planes of failure, here's a walky-talky. I need to know anything out of the ordinary that you see, descriptions and everything." It was a lot harder than it had to be since I could tell she wasn't sure what she was looking for, but I know she would never let me down. I continued my rhythmic tapping on the rubble with my hammer and shouting for confirmation of life. The tapping of the hammer would be louder to the ponies inside than any of our voices. With all of the commotion, it was mostly luck that we actually found the missing crew. While the survivors got hauled off with first-aid getting most use its seen for the entire trip, Fluttershy being usually diligent, the comm channel blasted with news from the nearest camp site. "Boulder! You got to get out of there, the seismograph is picking up frequent surges of activity, with one being consistent with the time of the avalanche! This area is incredibly dangerous and we should evac' ASAP." Just as the message finished the ground started to tremble again, this time much more violently. I needed to be a leader at this very moment. "Everyone evac' immediately! Get away from the gorge walls! We head back to camp now!" My words seemed to fall on deaf ears as everyone scrambled to get their composure from all of the shaking and panic. "Fluttershy! Where are you?!" Just great, she was out of earshot. Wait a minute, I gave her a walky-talky! "Fluttershy, you need to fly out of the gorge as fast as you can, fly back to base camp and relay the earthquake to the camp leader, he'll know what to do next." But nothing responded. The radio was quiet and the ground shook more erratically knocking mostly everyone off their hooves. "Fluttershy are you there?" The walls of the gorge were beginning to chip away, large boulders sized clasts crashed on the ground filling the air with dust and the sounds of explosions. I'm unable to move very far without falling on my face from the irregular tremors. Regardless I stayed behind to get everyone evacuated to the best of my ability. The safety of my crew was more important to me than my own life. I could only hope that Fluttershy fled for help, but I stayed behind to find her as well. As the boulders fell around the cavern walls, I ran for the river bed in the center. Before I could turn to double check everyone's successful evac, I was struck in the back by a runaway boulder and knocked unconscious, sending me into the river.