//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 - Ships That Pass in the Night // Story: My Little Equestroid: Stompin' is Magic // by ForeverChasingRainbows //------------------------------// **Rainbow Dash** Rainbow Dash leaned hard right as she approached another junction, intent on taking the turn at full tilt. Despite her best efforts, she felt her traction on the metal flooring slip at the apex of her turn - and the far wall started approaching a lot faster than it was meant to. Oh, son of a- ow, ow, ow! Rainbow Dash was really starting to hate... wherever this place was. Not only was almost everything made of metal, which was the absolutely ideal combination of slightly slippery beneath her hooves and very, very hard when she consequently ran wide on a corner and slid into the walls, but the place was also a total maze. Trying to ignore the protests coming from her increasingly abused left side, Rainbow stumbled upright again and pressed on around the bend in the passage. She might have considered slowing down, but her trick with the door apparently hadn't held her captors back for as long as she might have hoped. They'd started shooting those red magic bolts at her again, although thankfully that seemed to be all they could do - they'd already gotten close enough once or twice that they could have grabbed her magically, had either of them been a unicorn. Stupid ground. Stupid legs. Rainbow Dash refocused on the path ahead, determined to gain some distance on her pursuers - she could apparently outrun them in a straight line, but they could handle the corners a lot better. She was also pretty sure they were taking shortcuts she didn't know about as well. The smaller one had somehow gotten ahead of her once, popping out of a side door only the instant before Rainbow had reached it. Neither of them had had much of a chance to react, but thankfully Rainbow had held the twin advantages of momentum and an extra pair of legs for stability - the strange creature had simply bounced off her as she charged through it. Rainbow risked a quick peek behind her as she approached another T-junction, trying to gauge how far ahead she was. To her delight there didn't seem to be any sign of the mismatched pair of guards. Remembering the last corner, and several more painful impacts before it, she decided it might be worth slowing down a little to take the next bend. Clinging to a half-remembered piece of advice about mazes she'd heard from Applejack, she had been sticking to the right-hoof side whenever she had a choice. Augh, every passageway in this place looks the same! Where the hay is the exit? Easing back just a little, Rainbow Dash took the next corner at a slightly slower pace. It was the only thing that saved her. The thrown lasso landed on the floor right in front of her, and Rainbow only just managed to avoid stepping in it by awkwardly falling back onto her haunches. The reins still attached to her hastily-constructed bridle flipped forward and dropped down in front of her as she stopped, and Rainbow hurriedly tossed them back over her head before she tripped over the things. Something at the back of her brain started yelling about suspiciously similar hallways and how many right turns she had been making, but she really didn't have time to pay attention to that right now. Somehow, both of her bipedal hunters had gotten in front of her - with enough time to lay a trap, as well. She hadn't quite blundered right into it, sure, but she'd still fallen down in the corridor right in front of both of them. This is bad, this is really, really bad! The huge pig-minotaur thing grunted in annoyance and hauled its rope back in with a jerk of one arm. Quick as a flash the rope loop was whirling around at its side as it stepped forward. Rainbow tried to both stand up, turn and scramble backwards at the same time, and ended up just flailing her exhausted hooves around uselessly and half-rising before falling again. The smaller furry creature edged out to the side, pointing one of the boxy bolt-throwing devices at her. Then, the lights went out. Rainbow covered her head and bit back a terrified scream as the whole world went pitch black. Instead of jumping on her, the way the monsters in your nightmares were meant to do when they caught you in the dark, she could distinctly hear confused and angry complaining coming from the shadows in front of her. Lowering her forelegs - which she had definitely not just been using to cover her head as she cowered in fear - as quietly as she could, Rainbow carefully got her hooves beneath her. Belly to the ground, legs trembling - from the awkward posture and adrenaline, nothing to do with fear at all because I'm not scared why would I be scared this isn't frightening at all - Rainbow Dash crept ever so slowly backwards, inching away from her hunters. Once she was sure she was some distance from where she had originally fallen, Rainbow slowly stood all the way up and tried to turn herself around. Even if she couldn't see it now, there had been a left turn at that junction, opposite the passage she was now in. That was better than backtracking, and a whole heap less scary than trying to sneak by her pursuers in the dark. She had only taken a few tentative steps forward when a series of clunking sounds came from all directions. Rainbow Dash froze, one hoof in the air, and waited for the strange noises to stop. All of a sudden, something was visible in the dark in front of her. A faint, vertical red line getting steadily wider- Door! More urgent sounds from behind spurring her onwards, Rainbow Dash threw all pretence of stealth to the wind and rushed toward the light. The rope reins still tied to her head slapped against her back as she ran, a constant reminder of what awaited her if she was recaptured. The pale red glow from the other side of the opening doorway was faint, but it was definitely enough that she'd be clearly silhouetted against it for anypony stood behind her. She had to get through the door and out of sight before one of the things chasing her figured out what was going on. **BraveStarr** "That'll even the odds a little," the Marshal muttered to himself as the lights went out. The faint red glow coming from the chunk of X-Kerium within the reactor wasn't quite strong enough to see by properly - other than illuminating the reactor itself, it really just served to split the darkness up into jumbled areas of slightly varying reddish shadow. "Emergency shutdown complete," the oddly cheery, synthesised voice of the control computer announced as he made for the door. "Dumping core in: Three, two..." "Wait, what?!" BraveStarr span back to the console. No time... "Error. Emergency core venting system not found. Core dump aborted." BraveStarr let out a long, relieved breath, and brushed a white-gloved hand across his forehead. The last thing I need is this souped-up reactor venting crazy substances spirits only know where. "Manual extraction required. Please dispose of expended core material in a safe and responsible manner." The transparent section of the reactor around the Kerium chunk let out a hiss and a puff of gas, before splitting in half vertically. The rear section stayed in place, while the front slid outward a little before being retracted up towards the ceiling. This time, BraveStarr gave the computer a few seconds to spring anything else it might suddenly feel like doing on him. Instead, he got the reaction he had hoped for from the nearby doors. The power loss failsafes on the electronic locks started triggering, opening the doors - a standard safety feature to avoid trapping anyone inside a room in the event of a power failure. Of course they could have been set up the other way around, as external airlocks were, and sealed themselves shut - but BraveStarr already knew he was strong enough to easily break through these doors. They would prove almost no obstacle to him, but would have seriously hindered his opposition, so either way gave him an edge. He turned towards the closed second door of the generator room, one hand resting near his gun. He'd heard the laser fire and those hoofbeats off in that direction, so that would be the first place to look. As soon as the door cracked open, BraveStarr heard sounds coming from the passage beyond - muffled cursing and complaints, in all-too-familiar voices. It sounded like Skuzz and Hawgtie were right on the other side of the door, blundering around in the dark. BraveStarr suddenly realised the faint light from the generator behind him was about to neatly outline him in the doorway, making him not just the only thing they could see - but also a perfect target. Spinning deftly to one side as he drew his weapon, BraveStarr flattened himself against the wall next to the door. If the pair moved toward the light, he could surprise them as they came through the doorway. They'd be able to tell him exactly where their prisoner was being kept, or at least provide a little insight if the spirit really was making a fight of it. Although, based on the shouted argument now reaching his ears, the pair sounded like they were tangled up in one of Hawgtie's ropes. The sound of approaching hooves on the other side of the opening door almost caused BraveStarr to forget himself and stick his head out. There was something off about the sound, but before he could place it the source of the noise shot through the doorway and blurred past his knees in the dark - and whatever it was, it was far too small to be Thirty-Thirty. That's not one of Stampede's gang, and it ain't my partner... which only leaves one option! Probably should'a guessed it'd be some kinda animal if its true form got pulled through into our world. Grateful for his seeming good fortune, even if it apparently didn't stretch to returning his best friend to him as well, BraveStarr slammed the door closed behind what had to be the escaping spirit animal. Thinking quickly, he switched his Neutra-Laser to thermal and put two bursts into the door - one to turn the handle red-hot, and another to melt a portion of the door where it met the frame. "That should keep them busy for a little while at least," he said, turning to search the room for what was, presumably, the reason he was here. **Rainbow Dash** Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! Rainbow Dash tried to bury herself deeper into the huge mess of metal pipes in the corner of the dimly-lit room, keeping the large central pillar between her and the other thing in the dark. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for something so obvious. It goes dark, then a door suddenly opens to reveal a conveniently lit path... of course it was a freaking trap you idiot! The third one hiding by the door had almost got her - and even though she'd been fast enough to get by, it had still slammed the door shut right behind her. She'd headed straight for the cover offered by the big metal tanks and tubes, praying she wasn't about to get grabbed and dragged back into the dark. Peeking out from her hiding spot, Rainbow had seen whatever was in the room with her doing something to the door, too. Probably sealing it shut somehow, so she couldn't get away. There might still be a chance, though. In her mad dash for cover, Rainbow had spotted what looked like another one of the red crystals held inside the room's central pillar. The middle part of it looked like some sort of glass case, and it had been open - if she could get to it, get herself airborne again, maybe she could get by these things and get out of this crazy, terrifying place. She could barely see the third thing in the dark, but that was making it worse. Her imagination was filling in all sorts of horrifying details, things hidden in the red-tinged shadows that obscured its form. It was at least as big as the pig-taur thing outside... and now she was trapped in here with it. The shadows shifted as it turned back to examine the room, and Rainbow let out a quiet gasp as she ducked back into cover. As quickly and quietly as she could, she clambered under and around the concealing tubing, moving around to the other side of the central pillar. It was getting more difficult by the moment for Rainbow to ignore the fact that she was trapped in a confined space, in the dark, with some enormous... thing hunting for her, and she knew she was starting to panic. A very old, primitive part of her brain was repeating over and over that she wasn't safe outside of the herd, that the dark was the province of predators, and that she should be running as fast as she could to anywhere but here - preferably towards other ponies. As she worked her way anti-clockwise around the room, Rainbow caught sight of another open door to the left of her closed-off entry point. She quickly clamped down on her urge to bolt for it - it couldn't be that easy. A way out that obvious had to be another trap. Either that, or they hadn't bothered to secure that door because it was a dead end. She'd been herded in here, which meant the way out had to be back the other way. Suddenly, something yanked hard on the crude rope harness still tied around her head. Rainbow's heart felt like it was about to explode out of her chest as the bit in her mouth turned a terrified yell into a muffled "Glurk!" Falling to the ground, Rainbow rolled onto her back and kicked out as hard as she could against whatever was behind her. She had just enough time to make out the rope twisted around a protruding valve before her hind hooves impacted the tank it was attached to, and the room echoed with the sound of a hollow metallic bang. Rainbow didn't even need to hear the growl from the other thing in the room to know she's just told it exactly where she was, and she began frantically tearing at the harness around her head to try and free herself. I swear I will never do another bad thing as long as I live, just please let me get out of here alive! Spurred on by the banging and clanking sounds of the huge creature clambering through the maze of piping towards her, Rainbow Dash pushed harder against her restraints. She felt the metal bit shift oddly in her mouth, and saw out of the corner of her eye that the knot on the piece of rope threaded through one end had come loose. Yes! Come on, come on... Gripping the bit firmly in her teeth once more, she fumbled at the knot with her hooves until it popped loose. The crude restraint practically fell apart in her hooves with the one rope untied, and Rainbow quickly shoved the whole mess off her head and scrambled away as fast as she could. This was her chance; if she could get to the crystal while her pursuer was still struggling to fit its larger form through the maze of pipes and tubes, then she was as good as free already! Cantering round to the front of the giant pillar, Rainbow Dash tried to figure out how she was going to get all the way up to the crystal without the use of her wings. I need to get the stupid thing to fly, but I need to fly to reach it! Argh! More out of desperation than from any sort of plan, Rainbow attempted to jump up onto one of the shorter boxy things clustered around the base of the pillar. After some rather embarrassing dangling from the edge, complete with flailing wings and scrambling with her hind legs, she managed to grab something sticking out of the top of the platform and pull herself up. Looking down at the thing she held, Rainbow recognised it as some sort of lever - and there were more buttons and switches all over what seemed to be a large control panel, reminiscent of the crazy egghead machines Twilight had kept in her old basement. No time for sightseeing, I can figure this dumb place out when I come back. So, uh, never. Rainbow took a moment to plot out a route, then shot off across the panel - trying not to trip over any of the protruding switches as she hopped from one console to another on her way upward. She felt buttons shift underneath her hooves once or twice, but she didn't have a moment to spare to worry about what effect that might have had. There didn't seem to be any blinky lights or other flashing things, which as far as she could figure had been important components of Twilight's machines, so she guessed the thing was switched off anyway. Another burst of effort and a final jump took her into the hollow part of the big pillar in the middle of the room, and within touching distance of her objective. She could already feel the heat coming off the gem from where she stood. Although, heat wasn't quite the right word. It sort of felt like heat, but Rainbow could still sense the slight chill that permeated the strange place in which she had found herself. Her coat was still standing on end, and she almost felt like... shivering. Weird. It's not even that cold. I mean, yeah, it's about freezing in here, but... did I turn into a unicorn when I wasn't looking or something? Temperatures like this shouldn't be bothering me at all. Discarding the stray thought, Rainbow Dash refocused on the crystal floating in the air over her head. There didn't seem to be anything holding it in place, which only strengthened her suspicion that there was something magical about the red gems. When she reared up to wrap her forelegs around the gem and pull it down, however, Rainbow found that it didn't want to cooperate. It wobbled a little in the air, but something seemed to be holding it in place firmly enough to take her weight. Adjusting her grip on the jewel, Rainbow began walking her hind legs backward. Some sort of elastic force seemed to be resisting her efforts to move the gem, continually tugging it back towards its mid-air resting place. She also wasn't feeling any of the other strange sensations she'd gotten from the other red crystal, which was beginning to chip away at her confidence. Rainbow Dash strained against the invisible force trying to pull the crystal away from her. Her drive to beat whatever was holding her prize hostage pushed her to try harder, and without really thinking about it, she gripped onto the gem with all four hooves and started to pull with her wings instead. The further she stretched the invisible band, the better she felt, and just as she realised what was happening the mysterious tether snapped - the strange gem pulling free of whatever field had held it. Power surged through all six of her limbs, a wave of thrumming force that brought life back to the colours of her coat and mane, almost lighting them from within. The outpouring of energy from the gem as it was freed was overwhelming. The whole chamber lit up as the stone blazed with a bright red light, and this time Rainbow Dash barely even registered that she was flying again. The comforting glow of home, the feeling that all was right with the world, had returned with a vengeance - of course she was flying, that was what she was born to do. The sky was where she belonged... and it had been far too long since she'd felt fresh air beneath her wings. It was time to leave. **BraveStarr** "Hello?" BraveStarr squinted, eyes straining to pierce the darkness of the chamber. The small creature has disappeared after it shot past him in the dark, but there was only really one place it could be hiding. Poor thing must be terrified if those two no-good scumbags have been chasing it around since it got loose. BraveStarr carefully approached the mass of pipework, trying to sound non-threatening. Although he didn't have much of an idea of how the spirit might react to anything he did, in his experience they at least valued things like honesty and integrity. When his own guardians had tested him, that had been the entire point of the exercise - to see if he would hold to his principles even if his powers abandoned him. Presumably this spirit would be confused and frightened by the strange place in which it found itself, and had probably had a few bad experiences with certain nearby individuals already. Top priority was convincing it he was friendly, at least long enough to get them both out of here. He might not be able to help his partner, but there was one creature lost in a strange world he could do something for. Maybe someone on the other side would return the favour for Thirty-Thirty. Even if they didn't, that was no reason for BraveStarr himself not to be the kind of helpful, upstanding person he would want to share the world with. "I'm not gonna hurt ya," he said, addressing the tangle of pipes and cabling that doubtless concealed his charge. "My name is BraveStarr. I'm a friend." The mass of pipework made no reply, but BraveStarr thought he could hear faint sounds of movement coming from the shadows within. Easing a little closer, he pushed a bundle of braided insulated cable off to one side with one hand and tried to peer into the concealing darkness. Can't see a darn thing. Flipping down his scan visor from within his hat, BraveStarr thumbed the display to thermal. The array of tubing emerged from the blackness before him, a tangle of mostly blue-purple cold metal illuminated by the slowly fading orange heat-glow of the few warmer parts left over from the generator's shutdown. A little crouching and peering around, over and beneath the outermost parts of the maze, revealed no signs of an immediate presence; but there was definitely a heat trace to follow - a brighter patch of pipe here, an almost-faded tiny hoofprint there, a smear of colour on the wall of a tank where something warm had rubbed against it. BraveStarr heaved a short sigh and began to squeeze himself into the largest gap he could find in the metal maze. Guess there's nothin' for it then. In we go. "Shaman... Shaman sent me to get you out of here." His voice came out a little more strained as he struggled to find a navigable path through the piping. "He can get you home again, or at least keep you safe until we can figure something-" If there had been space to do so, BraveStarr would have jumped in surprise as the large fluid tank pressing against his left side let out an almighty bang. Trying to calm his suddenly racing heart, he called out to the concealed spirit again. That had sounded painful. "Are you okay? Just-" BraveStarr paused as he sucked in a breath, squeezing between a couple of thick vertical pipes to get around the tank, "just wait there, I'll come help you out." A little more effort and some tight squeezes later, he came across a frankly baffling discovery. A short tangle of several roughly-tied pieces of rope hung from a valve attached to the larger tank, but there was no sign of his quarry. Something warm had definitely been there moments before, however - and the pair of small hoof-shaped indentations in the tank suggested a probable source for the sound. What's this thing? Lifting the strange rope assembly from where it was looped over the valve, BraveStarr took a moment to ponder its purpose. It wasn't until his attention fell on the short piece of metal dangling from one end, and the teeth marks still visible in it, that he figured out what it was. The spirit was obviously equine in nature based on what he'd seen so far, but it was far too small to be a horse - at least, not a fully-grown one. The size of the crude bridle, along with the tiny hoof marks in the tank, only gave him another reason to despise the criminal gang responsible for so much suffering on New Texas. One gloved hand tightened on the rope involuntarily before BraveStarr dropped it in disgust. A new-born body for a spirit's material birth, and they put it in chains. They bridled a foal, of all things. No wonder it's running. The sound of frantic movements from the other side of the generator drove BraveStarr back into motion himself - the spirit creature was unlikely to trust anyone now, but he still had to get it away from this place before Stampede did something terrible to it. He wouldn't tie the poor thing up as the gang obviously had, but he might have to catch it and carry it out - however much more that might frighten it - before something even worse happened. Determined to see the spirit safely away from this place, BraveStarr pushed his way free of the dark confines behind the generator. A blaze of heat, obvious on his visor, drew BraveStarr's attention to the open front of the device - giving him just enough time to make out a small four-legged form inside the main chamber, reaching for the X-Kerium crystal still suspended in the containment field. Before he could think to shout a warning, the temperature readings on the visor went off the scale - turning the whole screen into a garbled bright white mess. BraveStarr scrambled to stow the now useless screen away, still reeling from its assault on his dark-adapted eyes. As he did so, he felt the heat begin hammering against his body - but just like in the streets of Fort Kerium earlier that night, there was something off about it. Despite the prickling, uncomfortable pressure against his skin, he found himself unburned. The initial shock was uncomfortable enough to force him to turn aside and close his eyes, but he quickly discovered that - with a little effort - he could face the source of the unusual effect. Is that... magic? Just how much power is this little guy packing?! BraveStarr forced his eyes open against the assault, to find the room was now also flooded with a bright light - emanating from the small figure now clutching the crystal chunk in its legs. He could only look on in stunned silence as the spirit he had come to save made it abundantly clear it was more than capable of rescuing itself. It was several seconds before he collected himself enough to close his mouth, and drag his eyes away from the former location of a now-faded prismatic contrail - and the ragged hole punched through the reinforced security door. "Why," BraveStarr said to himself, "is the spirit of Loyalty a miniature flying rainbow pony?"