Lyra Heartstrings - 23th of Faust 09 EoH - AfteroonLyra Heartstrings - 23th of Faust 09 EoH - Afteroon
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
The now familiar pulling sensation of the portals only barely registered in my brain over the rage bubbling in the forefront of my mind. I scarcely noticed as the purplish hole in space vanished.
“Seriously, you son of a bitch!?” I demanded of the now god knows how distant Starswirl. “Fucking seriously?!”
“Yeah, that was a bit of a dick move,” Sai agreed. “But you’ll be happy to hear-”
“I should fucking deck him right in his goddamn pony nose!” I exclaimed, kicking at the wall I found myself facing in anger.
The steel cap on my boot struck up a few sparks as some of the stone chipped away under the impact.
“Who the fuck can see the future and only checks a goddamn hour ahead for side effects!” I growled, clenching my teeth. “It’s only a fucking mutation potion! What’s the fucking worse that will happen?”
“Yeah, but-” Sai tried to say.
“How does a guy like that even marry?!” I demanded. “He probably can’t even think well enough to remember to get a birthday present!”
“Lyra, seriously,” Sai said in an irked tone.
“Oi! Don’t you get short with me!” I demanded shaking a finger angrily at the VM despite it’s lack of a camera. “That motherfucker deserves a size twelve boot up the ass! For all I know in an hour I’m gonna be a fucking pile of pond scum!”
“Fair enough,” Sai agreed, sounding rather aggravated, “but I’ve got-”
“Is that fucking portal still open?” I asked no one in particular, turning around to see no magical gate between me and the other stone-brick wall. “Fucking hell! I swear to physics itself, Clover, you had better be beating the shit out of that old fuck for me!”
“You know what, I’ll just wait,” Sai muttered. “Different Lyra, and yet the same Lyra…”
I turned back to the closer wall and punched it as hard as I could, my suit’s gloves aggravatingly reducing the impact on my fist. I wanted the satisfaction of feeling something yield to my well justified rage!
“Guess I’ll just plant my ass here and wait to turn into a fucking ferret made of cheese or something! Stupid fucking idiot! The fuck did I just drink that shit for!? What did that old son of a bitch ever do to prove trustworthy!?” I growled to myself.
“Potions don't work that way,” someone said a short ways off. “They can’t pack enough punch to turn you into a living thing made of non-living stuff. Or so highschool alchemy taught me.”
“Oh great! Like that lowers the fucking range of shit that can happen,” I snapped. “Now I only have to worry about turning into the love child of Yog-Sothoth and one of those frogs that births its young from it’s skin like fucking blisters!”
“Ew! That’s a thing?!” The same female voice exclaimed.
I turned to see who the fuck I was talking to, and only then noticed where I now was. I was standing in a windowless room with walls, floor, and ceiling made from rough hewn stone. It was like an old castle, except for the clearly 21st century style I-beams supporting the ceiling, and the very not medieval white painted metal bars and cell door which split the room into two different prison cells with a hallway separating the two.
I took a deep breath and let it out as one long angry hissing groan. “... At least you didn’t appear inside a solid object, Lyra…” I decided, clenching my fist angrily.
“Random teleport? Or did that mage you are pissed at toss you out of his sanctum?” The light peach colored mare in the cell across from me asked.
An odd looking mare at that. Or at least, odd in my experience.
Like the last two, she stood on four hooves. Well, at the moment she was sitting on her butt, but she definitely had hooves and forelegs. Which were somehow holding a crudely made hammer and a bit of pipe.
The mare had larger eyes than other ponies, not freakishly so, but definitely noticeable. Her eyes were also a very sharp glass green, which could be a normal pony color, but seemed to glow in the dim light and had pupils which were slits, just like a cat’s. She also had larger ears which came to a much sharper point, or at least appeared to thanks to the floofy-fluff tufty bits of long fur at their tips.
She also had really weird hair. Even by my standards. The way it had a gradient from rich caramel at the roots to a milk chocolate middle, and then to gray-brown tips had to have been painstakingly dyed. No way it just grew like that.
Her fur also had an odd look to it, but it seemed more natural. She had a bunch of slightly darker little dots on her coat which looked sort of like freckles. They showed up in small patches on her shoulders, knees, elbows, cheeks, on her hips above her somehow-in-color green flame shaped brand… Huh, exactly like patches of freckles, actually.
At first I thought she was a pegasus, due to the folded wings at her sides. But after a second of processing I realised they were actually bat style leathery wings.
She was a bat pony. Or a vampire. Or maybe half dragon or some shit.
Na na na na nana, Batpone! … Dammit brain! I’m trying to be mad here!
“Random teleport,” I answered. “After a mage gave me a potion that’s going to probably fucking kill me!”
The mare rolled her eyes. “How do you not know anything about alchemy? The major effects of a potion happen right as it’s swallowed. If you were going to mutate into something really different, it would have happened by now.”
“Is that true?” I asked both her and Sai.
“Yes,” Sai confirmed, “at least, that’s what my basic facts database says.”
“What the bracelet said,” the mare added. “At most you’re in for… I don’t know, an eye color change?”
I took a deep breath, relief flooding my body like it had been dumped on me via anti-fire drone.
“Good! Good… No life as pond scum,” I said to myself as I let the breath go.
“Nope,” the mare confirmed, going back to hammering on some metal with light taps.
“Coulda fooled me…” Sai teased.
I ignored him.
“Uhh… Sso… Where exactly is this prison?” I asked slowly, not wanting to ask her if ponies like her were normal here.
That seemed an exceedingly rude thing to ask.
“Exactly? Humm…” She said, looking off into space in thought. “Somewhere within two arc minutes of I’m not a GPS.”
I narrowed my eyes in irritation as Sai laughed. “Haha! I need to remember that one,” he chuckled.
“Go right ahead and use it, talking wristband, and or colt on a radio someplace!” The mare called cheerfully.
“Look, are you going to help or not?” I asked irritably. I was too pissed off to put up with much shit right now, and while I was in a cell, I had a god damn lightsaber on me. I was hardly stuck here.
“Huh?” The mare asked with a surprised frown. “Of course I am. I’m just making conversation with the randomly appearing biped of a kind I’ve never seen before. You know, an interesting person.”
“Ah… Well… Fair enough,” I admitted slowly.
“Anyways,” she said casually, “hope you’ve heard of Imperial Equestria, cuz you’re in one of her border forts near the badlands. Give me a few more minutes and I’ll help you out of there… Or if you can teleport at will, it would be awesome of you to get me into the hallway.”
“Right…” I asked slowly. “So, I haven't heard of this place. Now, don’t take offence here, but, why should I help a prisoner break out of prison? For all I know you could be a serial killer.”
The mare laughed and flashed me a grin. “Nah! Just an arsonist, and only then if you’re with the Imperials. If you’re not, I’m a rebel. Set fire to an Imperial banner. It obstructed my view of the evening star.”
“Right…” I said slowly, brain starting to click scattered bits of information together. “So, let’s pretend that I’m an alien and have no knowledge whatsoever about your world. Exactly what am I getting into here?”
It sounded like I was in the middle of a nation in a civil war here. While I wouldn’t be here long, it wouldn’t be good to take a side only to pick the weaker one and wind up getting shot.
The mare's ears perked excitedly. “Ohmygosh! Are you!? That would be awesome!”
“Look,” I started with a sigh, gently tapping my sword to draw her attention to it. “I seriously have no idea where I am and what’s going on. I’m going to be here for at least three days. If it helps me, I’ll help you. But if you’re someone who might backstab me-”
Her eyes narrowed instantly, actual anger held in the green slit eyes. “You really have no idea about anything here… I’m a thestral. This is an Imperial prison. If I was a psychopath, I’d much rather be killing them than you.”
The way her body language, glare, and voice combined made me believe her. That was the way someone spoke of their enemies, and not wimpy social enemies but the real ones. The sorts who had been doing unspeakable things to them for generations. The way anyone I’d ever known spoke of our enemies…
“You’re getting out,” I promised.
She nodded. “Yep. Either now or in twenty minutes from now.”
“What happens then?” I asked.
“That’s when I finish this lock-punch I’m making,” she explained, holding up the bed frame bit for a moment.
From what I could see, she’d been hammering the metal tube into a flat bar, and rolling it over to form a thin rod. It was insanely well done for not having a forge or proper anvil available!
“Not bad,” I praised, drawing the sword from my belt and igniting it’s golden blade with a snap hiss. “But mine’s bigger.”
“Mine’s however big I want it to be,” she countered reflexively.
“Mares having a dick measuring contest. Yup, today’s just one of those days...” Sai muttered to himself.
“I like your bracelet, he’s hilarious!” The mare snickered. “Anywho, it’s not size, it’s how you use it. So how about you cut the lock open and get us out into the hallway?”
I pulled my arm back to hack at the cell’s bars as requested but paused, realizing one very important thing.
“Hold on, prison breaks are more complicated than open cell, leave building. What’s your plan?” I asked carefully.
“Well, this is a fort at a military checkpoint, not a proper prison. So it’s meant to keep people out more than it is in,” the mare began, setting down her hammer and moving a few bits of metal around the floor of her cell. “It won't be too hard to get out, they have like, twenty maybe thirty dudes at best and most of them will be patrolling around the sand dunes so we probably need to deal with like…eight.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You plan to just kill eight soldiers and walk off?”
“Pff! Buck no!” What’s-her-name laughed. “We’d be screwed if these guys were soldiers. I mean, it’s a military fort but it’s just Imperial Guard running it. I’ve been avoiding them since I was twelve, their training is shit. It has to be, cuz there’s millions of them. I think the term is ‘cannon fodder’.”
“Right… So then they are what, special police?” I asked, feeling that angry knot forming in my gut.
This was a despotic empire, wasn't it? Fucking hell.
She nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, look, this one’s easy. I got captured here on purpose. I got a ride with a stallion to try and find, er, a place. Anyways, these dickless assholes decided his booze was contraband. So got in the easy way to get his scotch back in return for half off what I agreed to pay him.
“You help me, I help you. He’s still landed out at the dock at the fort, they keep you on ground for a while to just waste your time. All we have do is get his shit. I’m sure he won't mind giving you a lift too, and boom, we have an out from here these idiots won't be able to stop.”
“Right… Except a ton of your species can fly. Aerial outs can’t be all that good,” I pointed out.
She flashed me a smile, the condescending kind. “So all of your vehicles go running speed at best, eh? Sucks for you.”
“Heh! I like you,” Sai chuckled to himself.
“Fair point,” I agreed. “Still you got what, a prison shiv? I have a sword, but they probably have you know, wizards, weapons, armor probably… So unless you’re motherfucking Riddik-”
“Why do you swear like a foal?” The mare asked with an inquisitive eyebrow raise. “Also I’m motherbucking Flintlock Rose. Eventual legendary…whatever I decide to do with my life. We’re good.”
Oh sweet fucking physics… Overconfident scrub is overconfident… Great!
I took a second to see if I could come up with a better plan than ‘break out the noob’.
“My gear’s down the hall in the contraband lock up with the booze. Got all my dad’s old shit. Trust me, we’ll be good,” she added while I thought.
Right, she was going to break out of her cell wether I helped or not. When she did, guards would be alerted, she’d be dragged back here if not killed, and they would find me if I stayed here. If I cut my way out I was apparently in a desert. I could easily just chill on a dune for a few days, my suit would keep me comfortable and-
“Can I talk now?” Sai suddenly asked. “Or are you going to rant some more?”
“What is it Sai?” I sighed, hating the interruption.
“Nothing big. Just found a SkyTech Network here is all. You know, small potatoes,” Sai snarked.
“And you didn’t tell me before, why?!” I demanded, glaring at the manipulator as intensely as I could.
“Cuz you were too busy throwing a hissy fit over shit you’d know if you took a basic intro to alchemy course,” Rose called from her cell.
“What she said!” Sai exclaimed happily. “My god, can you give me to her? Please?”
“Can you access the network?” I asked, taking a deep breath to try and keep calm.
It didn’t work, so I pictured Sai having a body so I could strangle it. That helped.
“Nope. I don’t have the right encryption. So this ain’t home, but I could have told you that with the whole ‘Imperial Equestria’ thing,” Sai answered. “The network is located within a few hundred kilometers, judging by the signal. If you get out of here, I’ll be able to triangulate where it’s coming from… Also unless you fancy that walk, we should help the nice mare.”
“Could we radio them?” I asked hopefully. “Get a pick up?”
“No. Because I don’t have the right encryption,” Sai explained wearily.
“You were able to get into the battle network of Neighponese mechs! I know you can do this,” I objected.
Sai groaned in a way which made me sure his CPU facepalmed. “Oh please, they were using radio encryption with Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction. It ain’t rocket science. My Boss uses microwave transmissions encrypted with quantum cryptography. Hard day’s work for all of me. Insurmountable barrier for just this chunk of me.
“All I can do is see the network’s ID and it’s signal strength. I can’t do shit to get into it. And before you ask me if I can just broadcast a general message and hope they hear it, yeah no… My transmitter’s range for shortwave radio is less than a hundred klicks.”
“Not to butt in here,” Rose interrupted, “but I’m actually kinda going to Sky Labs anyways.”
“Wait, what?” Sai and I asked together, as I turned to look back at the peach colored mare again.
Rose nodded. “Yeah. My dad’s gear was made by Ayna, and she works for Sky Labs. I know she’s a changeling and well… I’m a halfbreed. My Thestrial half might not have any kin left in Equestria, but there’s still plenty of Changelings around. I… I thought maybe I’d have some family left.
“So I’m heading to the Lab to ask her where I can find a hive. They can’t all have been driven completely underground.”
“You don’t look like a changeling,” I pointed out rather stupidly.
Rose grabbed her cheeks with her forehooves in a gesture of mock shock. “Oh my gosh! The shape shifter doesn't look like how I think they should!”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know, sorry… That was dumb.”
Then a thought occurred to me. “But not as dumb as looking like the species getting purged! At least it sounds like-”
“Oh yeah, we are being purged or exiled,” Rose confirmed with a grim nod. “Not always, not everywhere… It’s slow. Cuz bucking Emperor Solaris can’t have a pony kind with a bit of monster blood in them… And also doesn't want to look bad to his loyal speciesist lapdogs… Cuz apparently it’s okay to get rid of a people a bit of a time but not all at once…
“Look, maybe I am stupid for valuing my heritage. But at least I have something to be proud of.”
Right then. Evil emperor. Ongoing holocaust. Side chosen.
Also, next hop had better drop me off into a gumdrops and ice cream festival. Because seriously. Four for four! Come on!
I drew back my blade and chopped down at the lock, metal shrieking in protest and sparks flying as I sheared the bolt from the lock. The cell door scraped along it’s rails as I pushed it open, the irritable metal clearly needing some oiling. A sign these doors rarely opened.
“Right,” I said to Rose, “let’s get you-”
“Meh, I’m good,” she countered, giving me a smile as she held a small spike up to the back of her cell’s lock.
Then she rammed her hoof forward into the other end of the spike. The ping of metal shattering made Bon coil tightly around me, nearly crushing my breastplate in her fright. I had a fraction of a second to register the spike had simply rammed the tumbler out of the lock enclosure completely before Rose slid the ruined door open and stepped out of her cell.
“Ah! There we go. Shall we?” She asked, only to yelp slightly as Bon slithered off my shoulders. “Woah! Okay, that’s not your tail!”
“No, that’s my snake… Girl… Person?” I poorly explained, “If- I… If you could just punch the lock open why did you-”
“I’d never have been able to break through hardened steel like that without something to focus the punch. The edge of my hoof wouldn’t cut it. They heard that, so we should be going left,” Rose announced, starting a light jog down the hall.
“Wait,” Sai asked as I began to follow her, keeping my sword ready, “she punched through a cell door?”
“Yeah, using a spike,” I elaborated.
“You sure you're half changeling and not half earth pony?” Sai asked.
“... You do know we can quarry soft stone by hoof, right?” Rose asked with a laugh. “Seriously, does nopony know what threstrial magic even does?”
“I don’t know what any magic does,” I pointed out swiftly.
“Wait, like, literally or just pony-” as Rose spoke a solid steel door on our right was thrown open, and a light blue furred unicorn stallion dressed in black and gold armor somewhere between ancient greek and modern tactical plating surged into the hallway shouting an alarm!
“Get behind me!” I shouted, pulling my sword up into a ‘smash this into the thing!’ stance.
God I needed melee training!
“Hang on!” Rose exclaimed.
The peach mare rushed forward, pulsing her wings and jumping at the same time to soar through the air, land briefly on the left hand wall, leap off of the stone and smash rear hooves first into the guard’s face with a loud crunch, sending the two flying in a tangled heap several feet down the hallway!
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed in shock as Rose disentangled herself from the pile.
“What?” She asked while trotting to a point behind me, honestly not understanding what had shocked me. “Point’s yourse. Next door on the left is the lock up.”
“Where did you learn to do that!?” I asked, still awestruck at the fucking live action kungfu maneuver.
“Used to live in a Taikwuan dojo, before that Clan got ‘purged’ as you put it. We gonna move or are you thinking of using this hallway as a funnel?” Rose asked curiously.
“Uh, no! Moving’s good!” I exclaimed deciding to just move down the corridor. I gave the downed guard a nudge with my foot as we passed by. “Dead or uncon-”
“He took Taikwuan Leap’s signature move, to the face,” Rose deadpanned.
“Ah, just checking,” I replied.
The jog to the next door was surprisingly far. The prison segment of the fort here seemed like it should have more cells going up the way we were, but instead there was only fifty feet or so of straight, gray stone corridor and red I beams holding up the roof, with only the occasional chunk of white glowing crystal to shed light.
To me, the architecture backed up Rose’s claims. A proper prison would be using this space for more cells. This was more like a UAM base, with a long straight cover free corridor to use as a killing field in the event of an attack. Definitely military… Except for the height of the ceiling.
Ponies were half my height, unless they reared up. So why was this hallway tall enough not only for me to stand up but for me to have a good bit of headroom too?
I almost ran past the door Rose had mentioned, the solid steel plate of a door was almost the same dull gray as the wall, with only its shape to really make it noticeable in the dim light. Fortunately I caught it in time to stop just far enough past it to roll into a position that made it look like I was getting into position for a door breach.
Rose definitely knew a bit. I knew I was out of my element and off my game. But I didn’t want her to know that. She could easily decide to use me as a distraction if she felt I was weighing her down.
“Oh yeah! Good plan, we don't know if anypony’s in there,” Rose nodded, apparently having not even thought about a breaching maneuver…
“Uh… Possible idiot moment here but, how experienced are you?” I asked, unable to believe she wouldn’t think about what was on the other side of a door before opening it.
Rose blushed and shuffled a forehoof against the floor. “Well… I’ve done a lot of street brawls, and broken out of a few local jails but uh, nothing professional. Not till we’re done here.”
I sighed and flipped my sword around to a reverse grip, ramming it through the keyhole on the door before kicking the door open while keeping my back to the wall. The violent slam of the door came and went. No surprised yelp, no arrow through the doorway, no grenade. Nothing.
I shook my head slightly and turned to peak into the room. “And here I was worried about looking off my game…” I muttered.
The lockup was a very simplistic room. I’d expected a barred off half of the room with a quartermaster’s station. Instead the room just looked like a simple store room, with long bench-like shelving units you’d normally find in a physical storefront with a few lockers here and there, and large white banners with a yellow sun logo on the rear wall.
No enemies, just shelves, boxes, and locked chests stacked up on top of each other. What a sloppy way to store equipment...
“Well…” Rose said slowly as I inspected the room. “You do seem a bit crap with a blade. I mean, you hold it like a club. Do you normally use a different weapon?”
“She had a blaster, but pegasi lightning hit it,” Sai explained for me.
“I do ranged combat… My species really doesn't use melee weapons anymore,” I added as I stepped inside the room. “It’s clear, grab your gear and let’s get rolling. I don’t like the lack of enemies. Feels like they are planning something.”
Rose nodded and trotted inside. “Yeah, that one guard did call for help with a messenger gem. They know we’re out of the cells.”
I nodded and closed the door, holding it shut since the lock was completely screwed up. With a little luck, anyone coming down the hallway would assume the door was shut and locked normally. After all, it was kind of hard to see, and that was with my helmet’s night-
I facepalmed, the sound of armorweave on face-flesh akin to a brick hitting a tomato. “No fucking wonder it was so dark,” I groaned to myself before closing my helmet’s faceplate.
“Mage-crystal visor?” Rose asked, the sound of snapping metal suddenly echoing off the walls. “Wow that padlock was cheep junk… How did Flimflam Co get a military contract again?”
“Something like that,” I answered.
“Hey Lyra,” Sai said suddenly.
“What?” I asked. “Oh! Did you get into-”
“You’re not dehydrated,” he informed.
“Huh?” I asked lips pursing in confusion.
“Just thought I’d inform you you forgot to put on a night vision helmet in the dark, and have no excuse for the dumb this time,” Sai snarked.
“... I-” I began.
“Also Bon’s still in the hallway,” Sai added.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed ripping the door open.
No way in hell would a pony just walk by the door if a twelve foot long sna-
The open door presented me with the unconscious blue-faced form of a white stallion, firmly wrapped in Bon’s iron coils, a crystal tipped spear-staff-thingie pinned firmly to his side due to her apparent attack.
“Damn! Good work hun… You can let him go, he’s unconscious,” I said, hoping to avoid Bon deciding it was okay to just kill ponies.
I mean, I didn't know exactly how smart she was yet… It would be bad to impart the wrong messages so early.
Bon noded and loosened her coils, the unconscious guard dropped like a rock, his breastplate crushed in a way that made me certain his ribs were just shattered. That was definitely a downside of armor… It wont spring back once crumpled inwards.
‘What happened?” Rose called urgently.
“Bon took care of one of them for us,” I informed.
“Oh Faust! That thing didn’t eat somepony, did it?” Rose asked fearfully.
Bon literary recoiled, her face managing to give a look of disgust.
“Uh, looks like she doesn't like how you guys taste,” I informed, deciding to this time keep the door open and keep a lookout. “Thanks for saving our bacon there hon. I owe you a nice rabbit as soon as we can get one.”
“Also that ‘thing’ is technically a baby lamia,” Sai announced. “So as she’s a developing person, you should use the right pronoun.”
I triple blinked and stared at my wrist for a few moments.
“What?” Sai asked, somehow sensing my stare. “People deserve that. It’s common decency. I’m a dick, not an asshole.”
“Hold on,” Rose asked, a grunt of effort escaping her lips. “You mean if I ask her not to crush and eat me, she’ll understand and might not do that?”
“She literally snuggles up to me at night,” I said with a laugh, still watching the hallway. “Bon won’t hurt anyone… Unless they threaten me apparently. Seriously never thought you’d do something like that.”
I gave Bon a loving head scritch. That guy might have been able to do some serious damage to me. He definitely had the element of surprise going for him.
Also I lacked a weapon I knew how to use… I should fix that as much as possible.
What did I have on me? Decontamination tent, combat knife, energy sword, a flash guard for a gun I no longer had, water storage container, safety pins, tweezers, chewing gum, a signal mirror, mosquito headnet & mittens, a physical compass, a basically useless fishing kit, a flexi saw, some latex gloves, razor knife, casualty blanket, medical instruction sheet, firestarter thingie, a syringe of antitoxin, and one stimpack.
Right… Nothing too useful as a weapon. Except for the fishing line! I could get some sticks and tie the line to it to make a garrote… Which is also a melee weapon, and even shittier than a sword I barely know how to use.
“Hey, there isn’t a spare crossbow or something in there, is there?” I asked Rose hopefully.
“Uh, if I see one I’ll let you know. Just looking for the- Ah ha! Here’s his whisky, and the cooler of beer. Man he’s lucky that officer wanted it for himself,” Rose said.
“Yeah, desert outpost, fuck all to do, limited supplies… That stuff should be gone,” I agreed.
What else did I have? A spare battery for a gun I no longer had… A necklace of immortality that I probably shouldn’t mess with and should totally have had Sta- no Clover look at.
Oh! The earring!
I reached into the belt pouch I had put the telekinesis charm into and fished the small silver hoop out and rolled it in my hand to inspect it. It was something simple… But it had come from that universe which ligit wanted to kill me…
Turning around to find Rose in the middle of pulling an olive green full face helmet from a box, I held up the earring and asked. “Hey, does this magical earring look evil to you?”
Rose blinked and tilted her head at me before asking. “Uh, you really don’t know how magic works, do you?”
“Nope,” I replied. “My species is totally mundane. All tech, no magic.”
“... That bucking sucks!” Rose exclaimed.
“Look, this thing is supposed to grant telekinesis… I wanna know if it’s evil before I stick it on,” I said with a weary sigh.
“Oh! A TK charm, is it gold, or silver?” Rose asked.
“How can you not tell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Too dim in here to judge the color of a tiny ass object from like, twenty meters away,” Rose shot back.
“It’s silver,” I answered.
“Any markings on it?” She asked.
I turning the ring in my fingers. “Nope. Just a plain silver hoop.”
“You’re cool, put it on,” Rose answered going back to digging things out of the foot locker.
“You sure?” I asked, just wanting confirmation.
“Yeah, Flimflam Co always marks their products, and I’m pretty sure they don’t make silver ones. I have two of those myself.” Rose mentioned.
“... You don’t have any earrings,” I objected.
“Well duh! I was in a prison, both of them are in this box right now,” Rose pointed out. “Hell, only one was in my ear too. They usually never check for piercings elsewhere but they actually had an enchantment detector here. Didn’t count on them finding both…”
Deciding to ignore those implications, I quickly took off my helmet and put the earring on. Thankfully my ears were pierced already. That could have been a problem.
“Stupid question again,” I began.
“Just will it to move and if you could move it like you want with your hoof, it will do it,” Rose answered.
I nodded and out of curiosity thought about my combat knife floating up into view from my belt.
Nothing.
Frowning in concern, I tried again, this time thinking about it more intently. I heard a small scraping sound, and fearing someone approaching from the hallway spun around, fist raised to deliver a punch!
My knife clattered to the ground, having somehow fallen out of it’s shea- Oh! Sweet!
Looking at the knife I held out my hand and focused intently on the idea of the knife jumping handle first into my hand. A faint gold aura flickered to life around the knife, slowly pulling it towards my hand. So slowly that I decided to just reach out and pick it up.
“Okay… So this takes practice…” I grumbled.
“Yeah, it’s tricky as hell to get things to move just right. You…you won't be able to use that for combat, like, not now. Sorry,” Rose apologised.
“Well I had to try something,” I sighed.
“True… Can you please help me get my ears through the helmet slits?” Rose asked politely.
“Helmet?” I asked curiously as I turned to help her out.
“Yeah, figured if I was going to travel I should have some armor… I mean it’s just miner's gear, but it helps,” Rose said rather uncertainly.
From what I could tell, that was not mining gear. The olive green equipment looked more like the security armor given to base guards.
A chest piece best described as a form fitting canvas t-shirt with shaped metal plates inserted under the fabric to protect the heart and lungs, some simple cup shaped spalders to protect the shoulders without adding any real bulk. The only real difference there was some shaped cup-like plates to protect her wing joints too.
The armor also included bracers which covered her forelegs uh… forearms? The bottom bits of her front legs, but left her hooves free. The bracers were a bit bulky, and angular, with a raised section on each one that clearly contained a pop-out device of some kind, ether an integrated tool or weapon.
And the helmet… That was not a mining helmet.
The helmet was full face covering, with a built in respirator, like you’d expect a miner to have in their helmet. It also had a clear visor that would let you see the wearer's entire face, again just like you’d expect of mining safety equipment. But it’s overall shape was rounded, sleek, streamlined, clearly designed to deflect a weapon strike from multiple angles, not just prevent rocks falling on your head. It also seemed to lack any lamp on the outside.
“Kid, this is war gear,” I said adamantly, crossing my arms in front of me. “Stop bullshitting me, what’s really going on with you?”
Rose’s ears drooped. “Nothing… This is just what our miners use.”
“Bullshit! You kick all sorts of ass in hand to hand and you got some decent by my standards armor. What’s up?” I insisted.
Rose’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding. “Ohhh! There’s a few subterranean species here. Our miners are often ambushed by them. Diamond Dogs usually. So we give our miners armor.”
“Bull,” I said decisively.
“No, she’s right,” Sai insisted. “SkyTech does produce armor intended for use by miners near Dog territory.”
“Ah… Well, all right. Sorry about that, Rose,” I apologised.
“It’s cool. You didn’t know, and yeah I can see how this would look. Help now please?” She asked holding up the helmet with one hoof.
I nodded and helped her get the helmet on, and get her ears slipped through the small slits in the helm.
“Sooo does your species like ear notches?” I asked as she buckled the helm’s strap under her chin with a hoof… Somehow....
“No, but if you cover the ears, we can’t echolocate. It’s a trade off,” she grunted. “So uh, since you don’t have a good weapon, how about you carry the cooler and I cover you?”
“Sounds like a plan… Does your friend know we are coming? You don’t think they will have him under lock down or something?” I asked, just to make sure our bases were covered.
“Uh, well no… But we can find out! Bracelet guy, you said you have a shortwave radio?” The peace mare asked.
“What frequency?” Sai asked, clearly understanding what she meant to do.
Rose sighed. “Sixynine point sixynine megahertz…”
Sai paused for a moment then asked. “That sigh would indicate the frequency was-”
“Picked to make the innuendo, yeah. Just do it, please,” Rose interrupted.
“You’re on,” Sai announced after another pause.
“Ferrous Gale, are you there?” Rose asked.
The radio spat some static for a few moments. But finally after a minute a distinct click came from the VM’s speaker.
“They’re blocking the boarding ramp. Six of them, they have clear line of fire. Two unicorns, a pegasus, and the rest are zebras. All have repeating crossbows,” a serious but suave and vaguely australian sounding male voice whispered. “Engines are primed to go. Can’t talk more, they might hear.”
The manipulator clicked again. Sai announcing shortly after. “Right, I just cut that off for security’s sake. We're good to talk. I hope you two have a plan.”
“Well, if we take this door off the hinges we could use it as a tower shield to get close to them and hope it holds up to whatever spells are thrown our way,” I mused looking thoughtfully at the thick steel door.
“That’s not half bad!” Rose said eagerly. “Let me just get that for ya.”
Lifting her left forearm, Rose flexed her hoof, the obvious sliding section popping up, revealing a small barrel.
“Is that a mining-” I began.
With a thunderous crack and decent flash of green light a large chunk of the stone wall flaked away, freeing the door’s top hinge. A second shot from the slugthrower and the bottom hinge was also blasted free.
The heavy steel door wobbled, the energy from the impact having unbalanced the slab of steel, sending it toppling down at me! Throwing my arms over my head I braced myself, catching the door just before it started to pick up enough speed to do damage. Dull pain radiated down my arms as the tremendously heavy door threatened to crush me.
“Ow!” I groaned, slowly walking backwards to let the door drop down safely, “Okay… Nope… Too heavy…”
“Sorry!” Rose exclaimed, “Y-you just seemed so certain you could use it as a shield and-”
“No. It’s cool. Didn’t think it was… Oh god this is at least a ton,” I decided as I got to safety and let the door drop down.
Bon slithered over the top of the fallen door, looking up at me with her tongue flicking in concern.
“I’m alright hon. It didn’t get enough speed to just squish me,” I said soothingly.
Turning to rose I pointed to her right bracer. “That thing also got a gun built into it?”
“It’s also got a shard-pick, yeah… Oooohhhh!” Rose smiled before actually laughing. “Oh my Faust! I never thought about using them as a weapon! These are for breaking apart stone… I uh… Huh… I guess dad probably did use them as weapons too though.
“Well I feel dumb. Here, you flex your hoof a little to activate it, and then more to fire. Wait! Hold on… Uh, yeah… You don’t have hooves.”
I nodded. “Yeah, so I use my wrist. No big.”
“No, like, you flex your hoof like you're picking something up. Here watch my hoof closely,” Rose offered sliding one bracer off and holding out her hoof.
“Do we have time for this? Just give me the weapon!” I pleaded. “They could decide to come in after us any minute!”
“Just look! See the soft fleshy bit on the bottom of my hoof?” Rose asked.
I nodded.
“See how the hard edge stick out just a little bit past it so you stand on that and not the soft bit?” she asked.
I nodded again. Then I understood.
“Ohhhh, the soft part-”
Rose flexed her hoof, the soft part moving to it extended past the edge of her hoof slightly, enough where the soft pad would contact anything she touched instead of the hard hoof.
“Yeah you can’t do that… Sooo carry the cooler trust our armor and run for it while firing the whole way?” Rose asked.
“That’s a horrible plan!” Sai exclaimed.
“Yeah… I like plans to have more not-die in them,” I objected. “If we take too much time in here, we know they will come in after us. Think we can pick them off as they come in?” I asked thoughtfully.
Rose blushed lightly. “It’s not my fault all the threstrial legends have glorious charges against overwhelming force in them… But I also like the not-die plan. Waiting it is. To the main entrance?”
“Are we sure they are all outside?” I asked cautiously.
“Well, if we run into one or two on their own, I definitely can take care of them myself,” Rose said confidently.
I nodded. “Alright, let’s move.”
I walked over to the table Rose was standing next to and grabbed the cooler.
“You’re absolutely sure you can keep me covered, kid?” I asked one more time.
“I’m thirty three…” Rose said, ears flattening in irritation. “Also I’m not a goat.”
“Oh, duh… Didn’t think about that. We call our young ‘kids’ too. Also I don’t know how to tell how old your species is, you are all too cute for that,” I explained.
“Oh! Well, I’m an adult. Please don’t call me kid. It’s really insulting,” Rose asked.
“No problem. Now, I got the beer, you’ve got point. Let’s go,” I said waving an arm for her to step into the hallway.
“Well,” Sai sighed. “At least you didn’t say hold my beer and watch this…”
Rose paused, and with one small twitch of her wings I could tell what she was about to do.
“Hey, biped, hold his beer and watch this!” Rose shouted before sprinting down the hallway.
“... Cheeky dick,” Sai grumbled.
“The name’s Lyra!” I called up the hall before running in pursuit.