Firefly: The Long Job

by psychicscubadiver

Chapter Three: Down, Down to Diamond Town

Editor: Silentcarto
Proofreader: Coandco
Story Image by: Silentcarto

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Firefly or My Little Pony; that is Joss Whedon and Hasbro, respectively. This is a fanfiction that portrays MLP characters in a ‘Verse very clearly based on Firefly. Shake well and enjoy.

The shuttle was small compared to rooms Rarity had held in the Training House, but she didn’t mind often. It was suitable for her needs. The focus of the room was, of course, the bed, and it was a sumptuous thing. Trimmed with gauzy curtains, covered in fine (but machine washable) sheets, specially reinforced but soft as a cloud, and wide enough for three ponies. She both loved and hated the bed, but the rest of her home suited her perfectly.

A beautiful but functional wardrobe held her dozen or so outfits, and the drawers beneath it contained all the accessories that went with them. A low dresser across the room held her personal possessions and make-up. The mirror above it helped Rarity make herself presentable every morning. A low table made of old hardwood and surrounded by floor cushions completed the furnishings. Silk hangings and such concealed the bare metal walls, except in one corner where she had hung two small pictures. One showed a pair of tall, proud unicorns and a younger Rarity. The other was a smiling white filly with a curly lavender and lilac mane.

Cleanness was next to goodness in Rarity’s opinion, and the tidy nature of her room reflected that. Most of the time, at least. Currently, it was littered with crumpled pieces of paper and a bit of charcoal dust.

Rarity sketched a rough figure in charcoal. Her strokes were hard and swift, quickly finishing the drawing. She studied it critically for a moment then balled it up and threw it to join the rest on the floor. She smoothed over her drawing pad, set the charcoal to paper, and began again.

She wasn’t actually in the mood for drawing, but she had worked up a temper arguing with that fool of a captain. Drawing would calm her. In theory, perhaps. “‘I’m Rainbow Dash and I’m such reckless idiot that I’ll risk myself and three other ponies on a wild goose chase in miles of underground caverns all while leaving an emotionally fragile filly to hope her precious robot doesn’t get smashed as part of my stupid scheme.’” Rarity muttered to herself, an exaggerated parody of Dash’s unsophisticated voice. It was a touch immature, but she could act that way here. Locked away from the prying eyes of the worlds, she didn’t have to be perfectly proper at all times.

The drawing pad was a mess of angry lines, and the severe outfit taking shape beneath her hooves would have embarrassed even the most martial and daring of mares. Though, if she cut back on the chains and removed the shoulder spikes she might have something that ponies of a certain taste would enjoy.

This page too was crumpled up and thrown away. “Honestly,” Rarity said to herself, “would it kill her to have the slightest bit of consideration for others?”

“Maybe,” said an unexpected voice beneath her floor.

Rarity let out a … sound of distress – perfectly normal under these trying circumstances. If the voice had come from the comm on her wall, or muffled by the door, that would have been one thing. However, it was coming clearly from a small vent in the corner of her shuttle.

“It depends on who the ‘others’ are,” the voice continued. "If she’s having consideration for somepony trying to shoot her, which apparently happens a lot, she’d have to let them hit her and that would kill her.”

“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity asked, trying in vain to slow her heart rate. “Is that you, dear?”

There was silence from the vent for a moment. “I don’t know,” Pinkie said quietly.

“How in the heavens did you get in there? I know you enjoy–” haunting, terrorizing, “exploring the ship, but none of the lines connecting my shuttle to the ship are nearly big enough to crawl through.”

“They aren’t?” Pinkie asked, sounding genuinely curious. “Then I’d better get out of here before I get stuck.” The vent swung open, and a mass of pink mane – followed quickly by a mass of pink mare – exited the insides of Rarity’s shuttle with an audible ‘pop’. Pinkie stood there for a moment, getting her bearings. She violently shook her head with a bizarre noise, and grinned widely. “Hi, Rarity, how’s business?”

Rarity stared at the younger mare for a moment. “Do you actually want to know or is that an attempt at small talk that you didn’t quite think through?”

Pinkie frowned and rubbed her chin as though she had a beard to play with. “Definitely the second,” she said after some thought. “So awkward small talk done, let’s move on to something interesting!. Do you think mirrors are really just portals to alternate worlds where your alternate self just happens to be looking back at the same time?”

“No, darling, they’re just made of reflective glass.”

Two blue eyes narrowed menacingly. “Unless that’s only what they want you to think.”

Rarity sighed, and rearranged her sheer silk dress to fall more comfortably. “Why are you in my room, Pinkie?” It wasn’t that Rarity didn’t feel sorry for the poor girl, especially considering what sort of things must have been done to her to produce such a broken mare. Yet at the same time, Pinkie was difficult and tiresome to deal with. To say nothing of the slight fear Rarity still felt of her. They had been … introduced in a less than ideal situation.

“I’m here to protect you,” Pinkie said, her mane losing some its perpetual frizz. Her expression turned absolutely serious, and somehow her bright coat seemed to have lost its luster. “They’re waiting in darkness, plotting to enslave and torment to feed their greed. They’re poachers and they hide behind trees.”

Rarity hid a shudder, and forced herself to smile. “Thank you, but–”

“They took you once, but I won’t let it happen again. You’ll be safe this time.” Her grin returned, as mad as ever, yet more comforting than that bleak stare. “We’ll have cake, and drink caffeine past midnight, and do each other’s manes, and play board games and talk about the colts we like, and diss the teachers we hate. This will be so fun!” She bounced around the room, gesturing wildly without care for where her hooves went.

Pinkie’s enthusiasm was worrying, but Rarity simply employed a few discrete uses of levitation to keep her from knocking down everything around her. “That all sounds lovely,” Rarity said an idea occurring to her. “Let’s start with our manes. I believe,with some time and effort, I could make yours a bit more reasonable.”

Pinkie giggled like a school filly. “Silly Rarity, you can’t reason with manes.”

Proper ladies did not roll their eyes. They handled problems with dignity and patience. “Of course, dear. Now, if you’ll lie down, I’ll get started.” She lifted a comb, and two mane-picks in her aura, wondering if an actual mining pick would perhaps be a better tool for the job. The more she stared into the bright pink frizz, the more puzzling it became. How in Celestia’s name did it appear to lie flat merely at the whim of Pinkie’s mood? The tangled mess before her was full of knots and snarls.

Slowly and carefully, Rarity went to work. Pinkie prattled on about random topics, sometimes inane, sometimes technical, sometimes esoteric. At one point she switched to a language that Rarity had never heard before, despite being fluent in three tongues and dabbling in another four. Eventually, Rarity just interjected the occasional nod or ‘oh really?’ here and there, letting the sound of Pinkie’s babbling wash over her like the noise of the ocean.

It was slow going, but Rarity was making good progress. The worst of the superficial tangles were undone and she was ready to move to the ‘root’ of the problem. Rarity allowed herself an internal giggle at her pun, brushing aside another lock of Pinkie’s thick mane.

Two wide, purple, reptilian eyes stared back at her. Rarity froze, her own eyes widening, but she made not a sound. The purple eyes blinked slowly, then continued staring at her. Rarity could faintly make out a stubby, scaly body attached to the eyes, nestled far deeper in Pinkie’s mane than should have been possible. Rarity gently combed a thick lock of pink hair back over the eyes, hiding them from view. Released from that unrelenting stare, she calmly put down the comb and mane picks.

“You know, darling,” she said, her voice perfectly even and steady. “Perhaps we should have tea instead.” Rarity gestured to the low table and its cushions.

“Sure thing, Rarity,” Pinkie agreed cheerfully.

The younger mare waited with a surprising amount of patience as Rarity took her time preparing a pot of herbal tea. At last the water was the right temperature and she gently poured it over the herbs, inhaling their soothing fragrance. “This tea set was given to me by my great aunt when I was a young filly.” She smiled in memory. “I wasn’t interested in it then, but when I left to complete my Companion training it was one of the few things I could take with me.”

Pinkie nodded, her expression almost comically serious.

Two cups floated beneath the pot and soon the tea was ready. Rarity gently set one in front of Pinkie, and took the other for herself. “Now, your cup is still quite hot so be careful,” she cautioned.

Without even pausing Pinkie picked up her tea and tossed it back like a shot of some coarse liquor. She gulped down the near boiling liquid without visible sign of distress. Then let out a satisfied sigh, with a small gout of steam. “Another!” she demanded, tapping her cup on the hardwood table.

Rarity frowned. “Pinkie, please be gentle with that cup.”

“Heh, oops,” she said, grinning sheepishly.

More tea poured gently into the cup, and Rarity set the pot down. She picked up her own cup and sipped slowly, enjoying the mild bitterness. Pinkie took a tiny sip, and made a face, spooning in a heaping mound of sugar. Rarity sighed, but it was an improvement at least.

“Rarity,” Pinkie said. She looked thoughtful and played absentmindedly with a teaspoon as she spoke. “What defines us?”

Rarity blinked. Philosophy had been been one of the last things she had expected from Pinkie. Much less hearing such a question out of the blue like this. “We define ourselves, Pinkie. Every day we can decide what we do and how we act.”

“Do we?” Pinkie asked skeptically. “Choices are never made for us?” Her eyes lost their shine and her hair once more began to lie flat. “Did you always mean to become a Companion then? Was that your dream job as a filly?”

Proper ladies did not let their baser emotions control them. They certainly did not curse and throw things at younger mares. “Even then. We have a choice in how we deal with the things forced upon us. I had options when sent to the Training House. Besides, I do not define myself by my occupation.”

“But others do,” Pinkie said, an almost sly look on her face. “So many ponies see the surface and never delve beneath. Appearances are enough for them. How else could they do what they do? How else could they sit and watch calmly when the needles come out and ponies start crying?”

“I-I think we have gone quite far enough in this conversation, Miss Pie. Perhaps another topic would be better.” The mare across the table looked like an inferior sketch of the cheerful filly a moment ago. Her hair was completely flat and perfectly straight. Her eyes were cold and empty, and worst of all was the knowing, mocking smile.

“I disagree. We were talking about others defining the self, and I had a rather pertinent example. It may not be pretty, but you should be able to deal with it. Aren’t diamonds a symbol of strength, Rarity?”

Rarity glared and drew herself up. “They are. I earned my cutie mark on the day I refused to break no matter what the pressure. I can’t claim to know what you’ve been through, but I survived my own trials and tribulations without succumbing. My diamond symbolizes not just beauty but a core of inner strength.” Her eyes narrowed to the perfect angle, her face the epitome of cold fury. “Now get out, you rude little beast.”

Pinkie nodded, but didn’t seem to have heard the last sentence. “Yet for all their hardness diamonds can be so brittle. Strike them in the right place and they shatter.” She leaned across the table, as though she was about to whisper something in Rarity’s ear, then she froze completely. Not a muscle moved, not a breath passed her lips for several seconds. Rarity was about to call for the doctor when Pinkie began blinking rapidly. She slowly sat down down and shuddered.

“Sorry,” she said. Her hair stayed flat, but her eyes were tearful and her ears folded back. “That was a bad one. Ghosts of Pinkie Future, hiding in the wainscoting. They’ll nibble the fruitcake to a nub. But she’s under the tree now, safe until morning comes.” She giggled suddenly. “And no peeking or shaking the box.”

Rarity took a deep, calming breath and finished her tea. “Pinkie, I think it would be best if you left me in peace.”

Pinkie flinched, but slowly nodded her head. “I think so too. I’m… not right, right now. But if I can say something real quick first?” She didn’t wait for Rarity to respond, but grinned as though she had already heard her answer. “I think your cutie mark means more than you think. Diamonds aren’t pretty until somepony makes them pretty. Y’know?”

With that she bounded out of the door, leaving Rarity with a half-full teapot and a thought. She sighed, and poured herself more tea. What nonsense, she thought. Of course diamonds don’t shine until they are cut and polished. Anyone with a ounce of knowledge knows that. But something about the statement irked her in a quiet way. Perhaps she would give more thought to it later.

For now, she made certain her door was locked, retrieved her drawing pad and went back to sketching.

………

The land would have made a decent orchard with enough work. Clearing it would be a pain, but the soil was good and the winter should be cold enough to make some decent frost. You couldn’t grow apples without a good winter.

“Yeah, they definitely went this way, boss,” Gilda said from the front of the group. “Doesn’t even look like they were trying to hide their tracks. Tartartus, the unicorn could probably track them.”

Twilight – or ‘Star Glimmer’, as they were supposed to be calling her – frowned but didn’t say anything. Applejack let out a sigh and went back to watching for somepony tailing their group. That happened to involve a good piece of staring at the surrounding landscape, and she couldn’t help but analyze it with a farmer’s eye.

The hills leading up to the caves were low and rolling. A couple of small streams cut through the shallow valleys and joined into a small river before they reached the town to the south. The group was following a trail of paw prints and trampled plants alongside one of the streams. AJ had to agree with Gilda about the trail. Either they were confident that they couldn’t be tracked below ground and didn’t care about tracks leading to their cave, or they were good enough to leave a false trail capable of fooling Gilda.

Given what Applejack had seen in town and heard from the locals, she didn’t think that second was too likely. Nopony had heard of the Dogs attacking until they suddenly rushed the town a few days ago, and word of that kinda thing traveled quickly. The Dogs shouldn’t have the know-how to fool an experienced tracker like Gilda if they were new to this whole thing.

Leastwise, that was what AJ hoped. She wasn’t watching for an ambush because she thought it was fun.

“There we go,” Captain Dash said, and Applejack didn’t need to see her face to know that the Captain was wearing a satisfied smirk. One last sweep of the forest and AJ faced forward. The cave’s opening wasn’t difficult to spot, sitting right clear in the middle of the trail.

“Am I the only one who thinks this screams ‘trap’?” Twilight asked. “An easy trail leading into a labyrinth of underground passages and no one else finds it suspicious?”

“I hate to admit it,” Gilda grouched, “and I really mean hate, but I agree with the unicorn. Those walls are dug out, not natural, and tracking is going to be near impossible on bare stone.” AJ held her tongue but privately agreed with the both of them.

Captain Dash just snorted and gave them a look. “I was counting on it being dug out. It’s a mine, not some kind of maze. They’ve got to navigate the thing too, so it can’t be impossible. We’ve got the time to explore it, and Star can make enough light to keep them from sneaking up on us.” She eyed the cave and pulled a pistol brace out of her pack, strapping it on with practiced movements. “Besides, we’re only here to check if they have the gem and buy it back if they do. No violence unless they start it.” She paused in thought. “Or we have a really good chance of getting away with it.”

“The violence or the gem, Captain?” AJ asked dryly.

Captain Dash smirked again. “Both. Get ready, ladies, we’re heading down in five.”

Gilda gave a sidelong glance to Applejack, but the first mate just shook her head. The Captain had her mind made up, and there wasn’t any changing it after that. Gilda scowled briefly, but said nothing, only checking her bandoleers and weapon belts, making sure that all the various cutlery strapped to her was where it should be.

Twilight looked nervously at the cave entrance, but gamely schooled her face into a serious expression.

Applejack pulled out her own pistol brace and strapped it on, doing a quick mental inventory. She’d brought about fifty feet of good climbing rope, matches, a small crystal lantern, about two days’ worth of water and food, enough dust masks for all of them, the dummy grenade, the flashbang, a thin blanket, a small first aid kit, a decent knife, spare ammo, and two spare pistol braces. She nodded to herself satisfied; prepared for anything, just like Granny Smith taught her.

“Everyone ready?” Captain Dash asked. “Alright, let’s move out. Light it up, Star.”

Twilight frowned, though AJ couldn’t tell if it was from annoyance or concentration. A low red glow surrounded her horn and grew brighter and brighter the further they walked into the cave. Visibility was pretty good, though seeing everything tinted a bit red was a mite trying on the nerves.

The tunnel opening was tall and dry with a little-worn path down the middle. Applejack wondered whether the passage wasn’t very old, or just not used very often. Gilda led the group, pausing to listen at each bend before ‘slicing the pie’ – pivoting cautiously around the corner with her rifle at the ready. Twilight was right behind her, Captain Dash kept an eye on the first two, and AJ continued to bring up the rear. About forty feet in, they found the first branching. Two passages angled off partially back the way they’d come, and another continued straight ahead. All of the them were similar, but the one straight ahead might have been a bit wider.

Gilda looked and listened down each of them until she was satisfied nothing was going to jump out at the group. “Okay, so which way?”

The Captain thought for a moment. “Straight ahead. They wouldn’t keep the town this close to the surface.”

Twilight nodded. “Plus, all of these passages converge on that one. It’s clearly a larger thoroughfare.” Applejack figured that made sense and nodded, though she watched the two side passages and listened carefully as the group moved on.

Thirty feet and another turn later, Gilda suddenly held up a claw. “Everybody stop,” she said, then after a second’s thought added, “Except the unicorn. She can keep walking.”

“Very funny,” Twilight replied flatly.

“Who said I was joking?” Gilda shot back.

“Enough, you two,” Captain Dash commanded, and AJ heard a faint echo of her words. Curious, she glanced around the Captain and got a look at what was holding up everypony. It was massive hole in the floor with a thick braided metal cable in the middle attached to a stout pulley. The cable continued off to the side, running through a similar pulley and disappearing down into the darkness of the hole. There was another passage nearly identical to their own on the other side of the hole, which Applejack suspected was some kind of shaft.

“Looks like it goes down pretty far,” Gilda said, leaning over the hole. “I can’t see the bottom, but I can see at least two more levels further down.”

“About what I expected,” Captain Dash said. “We found the central mine shaft, or at worst the secondary shaft. Unless the town was completely wrong about the number of Diamond Dogs living in these hills, it wouldn’t make sense to have more than two shafts, three at most.”

AJ took a long look and the Captain and she wasn’t the only one who did.

“And how would you know that?” Twilight asked.

Captain Dash chuckled. “Most folk don’t remember, but Tranquility used to be a mining town before it grew up into a real city. Us flying types used to race down the old shafts and tunnels.” She let out a soft sigh. “Not that it was legal, but since when did that stop a bunch of teenagers?” Then her expression hardened, and Applejack made sure she was looking somewhere else. “Which doesn’t matter now. Gilda, scratch ‘one dash one’ into the wall next to the shaft. We’ll sweep the mine, level by level until we find where the Dogs live. I don’t want us getting turned around and that will mark our way well enough.”

“I just got this thing sharp,” Gilda complained, but she went to her work before Captain Dash could glare at her. Twilight frowned in thought but didn’t say anything, which AJ was grateful for.

“So, whatcha figure?” Applejack asked, eyeing the mine shaft below them. “I can slide down that cable easy enough, but I doubt Twi– er, Star can. Who’s gonna to fly her down, you or Gilda?” Gilda was stronger, but she was also the better shot. Not too difficult, since she could use a rifle while the Captain only had a pistol brace.

Captain Dash chewed it over for a moment. “I’ll take her.” Then she lowered her voice. “If something spooked Gilda, she’d drop Twilight for a gun in a heartbeat.”

Applejack raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t disagree. The Captain explained the plan to the other two without mentioning why she was the one doing the carrying. They arranged at the edge of the shaft and the fliers took off first. As the red light from Twilight’s horn began to disappear, Applejack took one glance back at the tunnel they’d come from. She still didn’t see anything, so she turned back and leapt forward, her hooves spread wide. She hit the cable with her body and quickly wrapped her forelegs around it. The cable swayed from the impact, but didn’t go far. Gravity caught up with her and Applejack began sliding down the cable, picking up speed. Before she started sliding fast enough to scrape the coat right off her forelegs, AJ clamped her sturdy hind-hooves together, squeezing the cable between them. The sudden jerk of deceleration almost made Applejack lose her grip, but she hung on until the cable stopped threatening to buck her off. Once she was stable again, she eased the pressure, letting the cable slide past just fast enough to catch up to Captain Dash.

The pegasus and griffin were hovering cautiously near the mouth of another set of tunnels like the one they’d just come from. She tightened her grip to slide to a halt even with them. Her hind-hooves were hot from the friction, but they were thick and tough enough to take it. Gilda covered the three of them as Captain Dash set Twilight down in one of the tunnels, then stretched out her hoof to AJ. Applejack took it and swung across the short distance to the tunnel. She pretended not to notice the way the Captain dipped in the air and grunted with effort as she took AJ’s weight.

“Can’t say I look forward to doin’ that all day, but things ain’t so bad as I’d’ve thought,” Applejack said, fanning her rear hooves quickly with her hat.

“And here you three thought your fearless Captain didn’t know what she was doing,” the Captain said with a smirk. Gilda rolled her eyes and holstered her rifle, leaving it within easy reach. “Gilda, mark this wall with ‘one dash two’. If we find another mine shaft, we’ll check for markings to make sure we didn’t get turned around. We’ll sweep this level, then head down to the third.”

“And what do you mean by ‘sweeping’?” Twilight asked.

“We’ll check every tunnel big enough for the group until we find the Dogs. Ignore the small holes, they won’t put their town behind a bottleneck.”

Gilda cocked an eyebrow. “Says who? That’s exactly what I’d do.”

The Captain snorted. “Yeah, if you’re building a fortress. They just started raiding a week ago. The town is gonna be built for normal living, not defense.” She paused. “We’re gonna see some traps and stuff, but they’ll be recent, nothing like what you’re saying.”

Applejack thought the Captain was probably right, but didn’t entirely agree. Still, she wasn’t worried. So long as they kept exploring, the Dogs would eventually notice them. Which meant either somebody would come out to talk, or they’d get attacked and have a prisoner or two for questioning once the dust had settled. AJ was fine with either of those possibilities, and she suspected Captain Dash felt the same.

“Any more questions?” the Captain asked. She got nothing but silence in response. “Good. Star, give us some more light.”

Twilight nodded, and the glow from her horn increased, throwing the shadows back further. “I’ll try to keep it at this level of luminosity, but just let me know if I start to slip and you need it brighter.”

“Works for me.” Applejack listened for a moment to see if the increase in light had startled a hidden watcher into movement. She heard nothing, but cast a careful glance down each tunnel anyway.

“Let’s get going,” the Captain said. They moved out, and started exploring. It took about an hour by AJ’s reckoning to check the second level. They did find a second mineshaft, which Gilda marked, but not much else. In the further corners there were a few stairs between levels, but the Captain just marked the bottom of the stairs so they could find them again later, and continued exploring the second. They were only fifteen minutes into the third level when AJ heard something.

“Hold up,” she said. Gilda grabbed her gun, but otherwise everypony stopped. Applejack listened carefully. It had been a faint scratching sound, but with a sorta metallic noise to it too. “Star, light.”

Twilight increased her horn’s glow, taking a hesitant step forward. “What is it?” she asked. Her words almost covered up a second noise, like a faint metallic sort of ringing.

“Shut your mouth,” Gilda shot back. “I heard it too.”

AJ listened, her nerves stretched taut as a wire, but she didn’t hear anything else. She waited for a minute to make sure, and everypony stayed still. Eventually she sighed. “I don’t hear it anymore. I guess we can keep moving, but keep an ear to the ground and an eye out.”

Gilda chuckled, but still kept a tight grip on her gun. “That’ll make walking pretty hard real scorching fast.”

Everyone else rolled their eyes. Twilight took another step forward and AJ heard the noise again. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. “Wait! Get offa that–”

But even as she spoke, a metal hatch covered in rock dust dropped open beneath Twilight’s feet and she plunged downward, her light disappearing with her. AJ rushed to the hatch as darkness fell, but she wasn’t quick enough. The hatch swung back up and locked into place with the sound of a bolt sliding home.

Leaving her, the Captain, and Gilda in darkness.

Author's Note:

Resolution 2016 Status: On track. Two months, two chapters.

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Great chapter. I loved the interaction between Pinkie and Rarity, especially the conversation about the meaning of Rarity's mark. Very deep.

[Always Breakfast]

Pinkie Tam is wonderfully creepy.

Also, poor Applejack! You just...you really just don't slide down a steel-braid cable. Those things have waaaaay too many sticky-out parts for that.

[Lithl]

Live Rarity's reaction to Gummy!

[Beware The Carpenter]

Clever dogs

If they only started raiding a week ago I'd see two likely scenarios.

1. Someone hired them, quite possibly specifically to get that gem, though they wouldn't have necessarily told the dogs about it.

2. The dogs had some kind of food shortage or sickness meaning they were driven to raid for money to get food/ medicine. In the event of the second scenario I'd think bringing some direct commodities to trade rather than money might have been a good idea\ in case the dogs don't have access to markets where they can buy what they need themselves.

[Beware The Carpenter]

Is it just a coincidence Pinkie asks Rarity about diamonds right when the rest of the crew is chasing diamond dogs?