Sweetie - The Magical Little Bot

by Grimweird

Vault Breakers

The cart rocketed back and forth with the drowsy rhythm. Sweetie had always had difficulty keeping her eyes open on a train. There was just something drowsy in the steady thumping as the train passed from one bar of rail to the other on the endless track.

The length of the ride did not help her fight off her ”drowsyness” subroutine. It already felt like hours since they had left Moletown behind.

Sweeties mind was still in that comfortable hot spring on the mole castles roof. It had been a rude awakening when somebody had knocked her on the head and dragged her out of the water.

After she had gotten dressed in her well scrubbed skin, she and her friends had been led to the biggest tunnel out of town. Where they had been shown the mighty vehicle that was to carry them to the digsite.

The cart, or rather, the platform they were riding on was a big circular contraption. Bowl shaped from the outside. With a big open circular ”deck” at the top, serving as the main sitting area for the three girls. And the engine compartment located beneath them, along with the wheels that bound them to the track.

The only thing that broke up the big open area was a rectangular open hut in the middle of the machine. Like the steering cabin on a ship, except roofless and bottomless. Smaller moles were constantly going up and down that central area, red capes tied adorned their necks that marked them as members of the mechanicus caste, serving the engines down below.

And at the front, a lookout had been posted, holding a pair of binoculars that could apparently see through the darkness in front of them.

The whole thing was like a mix of a steamboat and a train. None the least thanks to the two big wheels that rolled on the side of the construction, giving the thing a sense of stability on the otherwise slim rail-track they balanced on. And the two big chimneys that protruded up on either side of the wheelhouse. Pumping a cloud of dust and heat up into the sealing of the tunnel.

The dust then fell into a cloud behind them. But with the speed they were going, there was no chance of any of them breathing fumes.

It was a far cry from the machines they had seen earlier, who was nothing but engines and drills. This ride had been designed for comfort. Painted in a pearly white, and decorated with gemstones that shone like lanterns in the pressing darkness of the tunnels.

Said darkness was now that was making it hard for Sweetie to keep a track of time With the darkness in front of the tunnel looking just as endless and empty as the darkness behind them, one could be forgiven for thinking they might as well have been rolling backwards through infinity.

The mole king was firmly seated on his side of the sundeck. Having brought a big beddsofa for himself, which he now firmly lay crunched in while his servants fed him glow worms. He displayed the same bad table manner as earlier. Pieces of half chewed worm and glowing goo flew from his mouth as he tried to keep his guests occupied with countless stories about his journey to the surface.

The girls were firmly seated on cushions on the other side, trying not to fall asleep due to repetition. A task made easier by them also trying to avoid being hit by the kings bad table manner.

None of them wanted to get their newly bathed fur drenched in mole spit. Especially not Sweetie who was now adorned back in her very well kept, and well groomed organic exterior.

Her curly mane wobbled with each bump on the tracks as she took another look at their cargo. A big cone shape, tied down under a cloth that was currently occupying most of the deck, and everyone’s attention.

--- *** ---

The unmasking had been treated like the unwrapping of a hearts warming gift.

The new drill had several independent moving segments. Like rings growing smaller towards the top. Each piece was capable of rotating both clockwise and counter clockwise.

The many different segments also gave the drill a whole new flexibility. According to the science mole that accompanied them – the drill would take use of the space between the drilling blocks to be able to sway ever so slightly in any direction.

Sweetie was overjoyed as she realized this would allow the drill to turn while digging. And that would on its own save a ton of energy and effort as she would no longer have to retract and re-emerge the drill every time she needed to turn.

"A truly excellent drill. The finest piece of engineering we have yet to come up with." Said the science mole. A white cape with a gray gearwheel symbol dressed his back, marking him as a member of the science caste.

"Its a shame that our finest engineer could not be here to witness hos works completion."

There was a moment of silence on the train.

”So – can I try it now?” Sweetie asked enthusiastically.

”Well... We were really gonna wait till we reach our destination.” the science mole lisped between his big teeth.

A look at the mole king and another at the girls made him give in.

Shedding the old drill was as easy as tilting your head and hoping you did not rip a hole in the deck when the component unfolded itself from your head – Which is to say, not that easy at all. But Sweetie was careful (honest) and managed to put her old drill down beside the new one without causing too much damage to the deck.

Separating from it however – proved a little bit more difficult. Her subconsciousness subroutines had already begun to counting the drill as a part of her. And the had to tell the repair and restoration programs not to restore the wires and bolts that were cut while the moles helped her separate the drills internal engine from her horn.

Looking at the two drills side by side was like looking at day and night. The new drill was white, and encrusted with diamonds – the hardest material one could find, the moles assured her - whereas their home made drill had just been a single piece of welded together scrap metal. With a spiral shaped edge for cutting through the dirt.

Strange though – for all the rock and mud she had pushed that thing through, there wasn't a single dent or scratch along the whole drill. There wasn't even a speck of rust, and the welding lines had been smoothed out.

”You Children of the surface truly are something else” Said the science moles, as they examined the old drill. ”You are truly able to take the elements of mother earth and make them bend to your will.”

”What do you mean?” Asked Sweetie.

”I mean that if we meager moles had put together an engine like this, we would still be in the age of blindness.” the science mole lisped.

”Again. What do you mean?” Applebloom pushed.

”I mean that the way the cogs and gears are put together in here, the thing should not be able to run at all.”

The Girls looked questioningly at each other. Mostly everyone looked at Sweetie Belle, who – lacking anywhere else to look, just looked at the old drill. True, none of the Cmc were anny drill engineers. But the thing had worked. True – it was not perfect, Sweetie had been a part of the inner workings of it like no one else... But it had worked.

”Huh...” she said.

The moles made the necessary modifications to the new drill. Allowing for Sweetie insert her horn at the connection port. Once again wires and support structures were attached to her horn, and for the second time today she spent a lot of magical energy making the shrinking spell encompass the entirety of this new component.

Magic … The energy inside the little red gemstone, whose potency she had once compared to that of a suns, were diminishing.

She drew a silent sigh as the magic washed over the new drill.

Magic was all she had wanted to learn today. And all she had really learned was how to activate the power already present within gemstones.

It was an external form of magic, other ponies magic. It was power that did not resign within herself. It was like like borrowing a magical amulet to grant the user powers they did not normally have.

Unless...

She looked over at the old drill.

”Done!”

And that was as far as she got along those thought’s before someone gave the signal that the drill had been entirely encompassed.

With a though she activated the spell, and every diamond along the new drills many rings glowed as they one by one retracted into her horn.

”Wow Sweetie. Then looked like you turned the trill into a series of energy rings.” Applebloom complemented as sweetie sat down.

”And you say you don't have any magic.” Said Scootaloo.

Sweetie did not answer. Her horn sparkled and her eye twitched. She was busy examining all the systems of her new components that her electricity flowed through.

Or more likely – her systems were busy coming up with names for all the components of her new drill.

Whereas their old construction had been made with an engine. This one was instead filled with gemstones. Ball shaped gems loaded with kinetic and magnetic force. Mounted inside several layers of rings and plates that pushed up against one another – all the way to the outer shell – forming a ball bearing of sorts, all rotating around the central axis of her horn.

Getting in touch with the inner workings of these unusual systems took time and energy, she had to pour herself into every single orb to make sure all the wheels would turn when she wanted to. It took a few test runs and a lot of simultaneous power adjustments to get the energy flow just right. But when it did. It was like the drill ran on nothing at all – so smooth and powerful were the gravitational forces within.

Then she noticed that their Boat-train was leaning and that a lot of moles and two ponies were screaming.

Sweetie was sitting on her side of the vehicle. With the drill fully extended above her doing test spins back and forth.

The sudden increase in weight and mass on that side had made the train tilt over. The wheels on the other side were lifted up of the rails and the whole train-wagon-thingie started to lean over from the unbalance.

The drill was scratching the roof of the tunnel and made gravel and grit fall down on the passengers before Sweetie caught her senses and retracted the new drill.

The train slammed down on its wheels again, and hipped and skipped a few beats before it settled comfortable and smoothly on the tracks again.

"Ups ... sorry."

The whole equipage gave her looks, before the king let out one on his characteristic chuckles, and the hole situation was defused.

”I … though that was all in my head.” She said to Apple and Scoot.

”You certainly were all in your head.” Said Scoot.

--- *** ---

The ride carried on without incident for several miles. They passed by several side tunnels and intersections. Some mole made, some not. At one point they passed over a bridge overlooking a massive mine shaft with a river of dark water running down below.

Occasionally the lookout would call something out, and their ride had to slow down a bit while a crew ran ahead to change gears on the tacks.

At another point they reached a dead end. But instead of stopping the, their vehicle was driven up to the very wall. Whereupon a gear was changed and the big steamboat like side wheels folded out big claw like hooks that were driven into the walls.

And their journey suddenly went from horizontal to vertical as the vehicle train-boat started to climb upward.

The worms, that had up until now been laying dormant spouted to life after a few whistle blows, and began to support the engines with their might as two climbed into the hollowed out wheels and begun to crawl along inside them like a hamster in its hamster wheel – while the other two grabbed crank protruding from the center axis and began to turn and wind with the flow.

Looking upwards the girls saw a long vertical tunnel, perfectly shaped so that the circular centerpiece of the "deck" just fitted inside the round elevator shaft – With the wheels being edged into two straight columns with regular ladder-like steps that the hooks on the wheels now grabbed onto for their accent.

Their cargo wagons – including their precious gem storage was detached from their main hitches behind the vehicle, and were instead attached below it, where they hung from new vertical attachments and chains as their ride ascended upwards.

Some moles even hung out from down below themselves, sitting on tiny benches that hung like swings from the engine above. Almost all of them carrying some form of light gem in their paws – or attached like headlight between their ears.

The sight was like some sort of reverse hearts warming tree. Or perhaps a chandelier, Sweetie thought. As she looked down through the glass floor of the central steering cabin.

The "boat" was rocking slightly back and forth as it balanced on some axis between the two wheels. But otherwise managed to keep its right side up.

"It feels like we are on the ocean." Sweetie said

"No! We're flying" Scoot said.

"I think its more like riding an elevator" Said Applebloom.

Sweetie was filled with a new understanding for why the vehicle was shaped the way it was – This way the machine could traverse literally any angle, both vertically and horizontally.

Regardless of how you though of it – the unusual way of transversing was an assault on the scenes. And Scootaloo had managed to catch the sea sickness before they reached the top.

---***---

The undergrounds were a maze.

The ride had so many track changes that sweetie had grown bored of counting them all. Sometimes it was almost like they went in circles with how many times they tuned left, or right, in a row. But then the tunnels would twist like a snake, so she guessed they had to change gear in order to stay on course.

She wondered if she would be able to find her way back to Moletown. She wondered how much further they had to go to reach the ancient vault of the Sunstone that the mole king spoke of.

She wondered is Scootaloo could snore anny louder.

It felt like they had been riding all the way to canterlot and back. But who knew? It was not the first time today that a short and simple journey felt like forever. Maybe time moved differently when you could not see the sun or moon?

She needed a clock installed – and a compass.

”Ok! Were here.”

-::Finally::-

The ride came to a very literal dead end, and the Mole king and fillies disembarked from the vehicle.

”Are the others not coming?” Sweetie wondered, as the rest of the crew remained on board.

”Oh – they are no diggers.” The mole king chuckled. ”Besides, they would not want to get in your way.”

He led them down a smaller side tunnel. And a short walk later entered into another tunnel that seemed to run parallel with with the first.

"This is the older tunnel.” the mole king explained. ”It was first used when my people found this place. Before they dug the newer, more direct route."

-::Direct route?::-

Sweetie looked down the opposite end of the tunnel, away from where everyone was going. But even her infrared vision could only see so far before the tunnel bent and headed of somewhere else.

Heading back after the main group. They soon exited out in to what could only be described a a dig site. A slightly widened gap to the end of the tunnel that ended abruptly at the solid wall that had apparently caused the moles so much grievance.

Around the site, a few shining gems had been placed as light sources. Most focused on that stone wall.

In the shadowy corners of the site - few machines had also been shoved. Some of them looking like primitive excavators. All of them broken.

A massive grill laid of to the side, easily the biggest one the girls had seen yet. One that could have been responsible for the tunnel they had been riding through for so long.

It was also cracked in half. And its tip had been grinded down so much it no longer resembled a point – but more of a lump.

The wall itself barely had a scratch in it.

”This is a tough nut to crack.” Said the mole king. ”But with your help I'm sure we will finally be able to claim out price.”

Without further adue, Sweetie lowered her head, and folded out her drill.

Placing the tip on the wall, she could feel it humming with eagerness (Or perhaps that was just her own subconscious files?)

The drill started spinning. and then ... nothing.

Sweetie pushed harder, but was unable to gain an inch. The trill simply refused to sink into the stonework.

Not even a gravel had the decency to scrape of the wall. The only sound of her progress was the grinding noise as friction struggled against friction.

She redirected power to increase the speed of the drill. Her friends and the mole king covered their ears as the noise grew worse.

Faster and faster she sent the drill spinning. The friction was fighting against her. This did not even feel like drilling in stone. Stone usually had the decency to crack and break when put under enough force. This wall did neither.

Not one to quit, she pushed harder. Until her body reached its maximum threshold. She was gonna break down this wall. Even if she was gonna have to grind it down.

And grind was just what she did. The new drill was already being pushed till its utmost. Every kinetically charged crystal inside it was milked for all their raw force of motion. Until the very act of spinning a hard pointy thing on a dense surface had created a hole.

Over the deafening sound of friction, she could just make out her friends shouting encouragements.

Then she felt their hooves on her shoulders as they helped her push. Their efforts making a miniscule but welcome addition.

With a tiny hole in the wall, the drill finally had something to work on. And as more and more of the drill head sunk into the wall, the rest of its drilling area was able to help with the eroding of the unmovable object.

At no point did it get any easier. The wall fought back all the way. At no point did any gravel or dust fall away. The only thing that did come of was a thick smoke caused by red hot friction.

It was like trying to make a piece of wood disappear using only sand paper.

Step by step Sweetie persisted. Her friends feeding her a constant stream of gemstones as all her energy went into the drill. Until finally the pressure disappeared from the tip of the drillhead, signalizing that it had pierced through to the other side.

Inch by inch the drill came through, until its widest rear edge was finally scrubbing away at the holes edge.

Sweetie could finally retract her drill and observe her work. The wall had never cracked or collapsed. No rubble had fallen on either side of the hole. It had simply ceased to exist. The edges of the hole were growing red hot from where relentless spinning had grinded the stonework away.

The wall itself want even that thick, Sweetie noticed to some disappointment. Just about a filly's legs reach in width. It had felt much thicker with how much effort it took to pierce.

”You are definitely something little miss” Said the mole king, as he looked into the thick darkness that filled the area beyond.

---***---

A small glowing gem was thrown in through the hole. It bounced a few times with a satisfying echo on a hard stone floor.

When no evil jumped out of the shadows to descend upon the light source, Sweetie Belle and her group took their first sensitive steps into the new area.

The room inside contained a few lanes of stone pillars. In between these pillars ran stone tablets, like shelves in a shopping mall. And these shelves were stacked full of shiny objects of all the sizes and shapes, neatly displayed upon each stone rack.

Scootaloo pulled one of the artifacts from the shelves. It was a wide golden headdress, like something straight out of what the old pharaohs would have worn, if Sweetie's memory files about history class were corrupted. A few of those files had been found to contain unreliable data due to the boredom virus.

(Virus was a label designated to any contradictory or unreliable data --- that had become corrupted or incomplete due to the heart drive and logic center disagreeing with each other. While it might be a good idea to take in all information that was being presented to you in school, and the memory banks more then happy to store any and all information. But The heart drive may have other idea's and create subroutine that sent the visual lenses wandering out after that bird that just landed on the swing in the empty playground. )

It more closely resembled the big headdress that her older sister had once made for the pop star singer Sapphire Shores. (that was a memory that had been corrupted by the Shame and Jealousy virus.) It even had the big pink eye in the middle of the forehead.

Though – this eye was not sown on. This was a big pink pearl with a pupil and iris that Sweetie could swear followed them.

"Look at this" Said Scootaloo,"Just like Daring do and the Temple Raiders of Phantasmia."

She put the headdress on. The pink eye in the center seemed to focus as she did so.

"Its like we found the eye of Phantasmia, she once ruled over all the seven rivers that supplied the great sands of Saddle Arabia. Its said that she used this to see the thoughts of all the ponies she ruled over, and shrink any one she did not like into tiny mice."

She proudly tucked the headdress in place. It was so big that it sunk down over her eyes.

"I don't know about that" Said Applebloom. "Doesn't that look like the hat look like the thing that Rarity made for Sapphire shores."

The pink eye gave them with a penetrating glance.

"Don't you compare the mighty eye of Phantasmia to some low rent singer." Scootaloo snapped.

"Low rent what? You like her music too!"

"Not as much as you, with your three hundred and forty five bit collection of 'Mare of the month'. "

"Wha ... how did you? ..."

"Does your sister know about your fantasies of becoming a pop singer - like that two bit entertainer?"Scootaloo said as she advanced on Applebloom. " Of course not! It would be way to shameful to break your family trend. An apple does not fall far from the tree after all."

"What are you talking about?"

"Scootaloo. Knock it of – its not funny any more."

The eye on the headdress turned towards Sweetie Belle, where it froze for a moment of uncertainty.

"A ... Sweetie, you ... you ... "

The pink pearly almost adopted a confused look.

"How dare you stand before the eye of Phantasmia you mechanical abomination! Do you want to me to smite you with my rays of shrinkingness?"

"Shrinkingness?" said Applebloom. "That's a stupid name."

The glow of purple aura that surrounded the eye was all the warning Sweetie Belle got.

She leaps out of the way as beam of purple energy shout out of the eye. The beam struck a shelf behind her, bounced of a gold cover and ricocheted across the room, where it bounced of a shield made entirely of glass before it finally struck a piece of terracotta armor – which instantly transformed it into the perfect armament for a fat rodent.

In the confusion, Applebloom ran up and smacked the headdress of her crazy friends head.

Scootaloo looked upon her with eyes glowing as pink as the pearl.

"You dare lay a hoof on me you insolent child! You must pay for this insubordination! "

Applebloom smacked her again, and the pink faded.

"Knock it of Scootaloo, Its not funny any more."

Scoot rubbed her chin.

"Wait ... what was I saying again?"

Sweetie looked down on the headdress. The pink eye spun in its socket, before going still again.

It followed Sweetie as she put it back in on the shelf. And she cold almost feel its eye on her as she turned and walked away.

”I'm starting to think some of these things were put here for a reason.” She said.

”That's usually the case” Said Applebloom. As she examined another shelf, containing a bundle of completely ordinary rope – except for that the rope end was following the little Apple filly like the head of a snake – a thread even wobbling in and out of the end like a tongue.

“Oh don't be like that.” Said Scootaloo “this is obviously some dead kings treasure chamber.”

”Focus children, focus.” Said the mole king. ”Lets not be distracted by this temples strange treassury – less I'm shure we will fall into its traps.”

”A … Like how you hide your most valuable treasure in the treasure chamber with all the other shiny stuff – so that the thieves will get distracted and go for the gold instead.” Scoot agreed.

”Yes … like what you are doing now” Said Applebloom, while she was petting the rope.

Scootaloo was like a kid in a candy store – Or a adventurer in a treasury – Either way she had already managed to fill her saddlebags with a whole drove of strange golden coins, rings and jewelry. What she could not fit into her saddlebags she had started putting on her person.

”What?” She said. Putting on a pair of golden bracelets and a necklace that on her was as big as a breastplate. ”Its just as well that what we can now. Its not like we are coming back to this place. Maybe the moles are. But we might as well take our share of the treasure now.”

”And I though we did this for a reward of gems.” Said Sweetie.

"But does anyone see anything that looks like a "sun stone" Said Applebloom. ”You'd think something with a name like that would be pretty easy to find."

It was true, the place was dark , and no where was there anything that really shone like a sun or anyting.

"It ... It wasn't just a myth, right?" Said Applebloom. "like – our Sunstone is not in another tomb?"

"No. no" the mole king chuckled. "Its here, somewhere,"

Sweetie noticed some irritation creeping into his voice.

"Maybe its hidden" Scoot suggested. "Maybe there's a secret contraption somewhere and you got to find the switch to make it appear."

"Good idea girls, start looking behind things." Said the mole king, as he rode upon Applebloom.

"I'll start here." Said Applebloom

She walked up to a big decorative spear that was standing, without support, on its hilt on a small podium. After examining said podium for half a second, she came to the elegant conclusion that no spears should just be able to stand like that without having its hilt attached to something.

So she pulled it.

The spear tilted, just a bit. Then vibrated so intensely that it faded out of existence for a second, and then it fell.

Well – a spear fell. The spear was still very much standing at its angle, But now a new spear – identical to the first, had fallen to the floor. It was quickly joined by another – and another – and another.

More and more spears kept falling out of the first spear and piling up on the floor until Applebloom gave the spear a push to correct it back up to its standing position. The spear gave of another vibration, before all the duplicates also rose up and faced back into the original spear.

”Well, that clearly wasn't it.”

”Maybe this is.” Said Scootaloo, walking up to a big black rug that was hanging from a hook in the roof in the middle of the treasury – like a big black cone of cloth with strange engravings.

"I wonder whats underneath this." She said. And pulled the cloth.

The hook came loose. And their whole world turned blind for an instant as light exploded forward.

There, upon a simple pedestal, was probably the strangest crystal Sweetie had ever seen.

The thing was round of shape, But not like a sphere. It consisted of many, many flat sides, shaped into perfect octagons. Sweetie did not know which octa or gone the thing itself classified as. Their teacher had only really taught them of so many geometrical shapes. From triangles to squares to pentagons and octagons. This was several stages above that. Like someone had made a circle out of very small straight lines.

Some crystals shine with an inner light. Some burn with an inner fire so bright that you can see the flames dancing inside the gem.

This ... this shone with the inner light of a sun.

Inside the many times octagon shape was a smaller yellow sphere. A mass of flames and light made solidus = almost solid mass that shimmered and shifted inside a glass container. Whatever color the crystal itself might had was lost in a light so blinding that only Sweetie Belle could look directly at it. Just like she had so many times stared up at Celestia's yellow orb, sometimes for hours without blinking. Just trying to get a sense of what the lightbulb actually looked like. Until Rarity or someone else cam and told her to stop before some other foals got the same idea.

(it was the same reason no one played staring competitions with her any more)

It was like looking upon a miniature of the sun.

”if anyone was go guess, I'd say we found what we're looking for” Said Applebloom.

She, Scoot and the mole king were covering their eyes. Unable to look upon the thing without risk of retinal burns.

Sweetie picked up, and marveled for a second over what she was holding in her hooves. The surface didn't even feel hot, it only felt like glass. Like it was just a container that somepony had put this miniature sun in.

Like catching the sun in a bottle.

In her excitement – Sweetie sent a spark of energy between her hooves, through the orb she was holding. Like the other crystals she had worked with today, this allowed her to get a sense of the power that resigned within.

But as while all other crystals might have needed a little push to activate the magic inside them – this one simply swallowed the energy.

It was like traveling through a black hole. An blank space where something should resign that she simply could not comprehend. Her sensors simply could not measure it.

While she though she had been touching a sun before – this one was like drowning in the stary ocean of space. An eternal sea in which she wasn't even a droop.

"So this is what true power feels like."

Without more thought. She dropped the Sunstone onto the black cloth that had hidden it and tied it up into a bundle.

The room fell to darkness again.

"Sweetie? Are you ok?"

Sweetie felt Applebloom's hoof on her shoulder.

”You're sweating."

Sweetie rubbed her forehead – her biological shell really was producing its cool down feature. Despite that her body temperature hadn't changed.

"Yeah... yeah I'm ok."

"So. Do we have it?” Asked Scootaloo. ”Is this what were been looking for?"

Sweetie nodded. Then , remembering the darkness, she added.

"Yeah – its definitely what were looking for."

"What was that?"

-:: Warning – Unfamiliar voices recognized ::-

"Don't be silly man – no one ever comes down here – and we were literally guarding the only entrance to this place."

Voices – Male and gruff. Sweetie had no idea who they were, or how they were here, this deep underground.. But they had clearly entered this place from somewhere else.

"Who are they?" Whispered Applebloom.

"It ... It might be the guardians of the temple. Cannibalistic tribals that are gonna sacrifice us to their dark god." Scoot shivered.

"You read way to many of Rainbow Dash's books."

"There it was again!"

"Since when do cannibalistic tribals speak perfect equestrian?"

"And since when do they have flashlights!?"

The darkness had just enveloped the fillies again, when two cones of light sweeped though the treasury. The sudden light quickly fell upon the girls, blinding them. And male gruff voices started shouting.

"There! Over there!"

"Intruders! We have got intruders!"

"Sound the alarm!"

And just like that – all semblance of order collapsed. The girls screamed and scattered. Scoot jumping up on the shelves while Applebloom descended under them. Leaving Sweetie to run down the between the shelves.

Heavy hooves closed in behind her. In a moment of panic she looked behind her, straight into the powerful flashlight.

Her vision flickered, causing her to straight into the supporting pillar of one of the shelves.

She stumbled and fell. In the tumult, her hazy vision just barely made out the silhouette of a pony coming right for her.

"Hold it right there!" He roared.

Sweetie instantly activated her drill. Throwing it up between her and her assailant like a shield.

"Its the henchponies of Dr Caballeron!" Screamed Scoot, as she descended from the shelves to place a big urn over the bigger ponies head.

Despite the urn being barely bigger then a flower pot – the whole pony disappeared into the thing with a sucking sound.

Scootaloo looked on the urn in her hooves. Normally pots were supposed to go over the head of the pony – she was not too sure about the whole pony following the head into the urn.

She then looked over at a new pair of shadowly figures advancing on her.

"Back off! I have an Urn!" she shouted, and aimed it at them like a canon.

A swift swing of a spear knocked it out of her hooves.

Now she was sent running down the halls – the two guardians followed – only to trip on a rope that had extended itself across the hall.

The duo fought to get the rope off, but only got more tangled up as they struggled – as the rope weaved itself like a snake around them, before finally tying a big knot on itself as it had its prey firmly wrapped up in several wraps of itself.

In the chaos – Sweetie noticed they has lost sight of the mole king.

Then she quickly caught sight of the big blue spear that were thrown her way. It split as it sailed straight over her head, and struck the ground around her as a dozen individual pointy sticks, linked together by a blue magic.

Sweetie tried to run past them – but found herself bouncing back as she tried to run out between the spears.

A second later, a herd of big strangers with spears closed in, but just as quickly as they surrounded her. They were found running back the other way as a barrage of pink beams shot out from the opposite end of the treasury.

Some of them failed to dodge the beams, and ceased to be ponies.

Scootaloo came running by, wearing the big headdress with the strange eye, blasting beams to her hearts content.

"Face the eye of shrinkingness" she shouted.

"That's still a stupid name."called Applebloom, who appeared from the shadows, holding a shield made entirely of glass.

"Get down Sweetie!" She shouted as she charged.

Sweetie did the oposite. With a great power surge to her legs, she jumped out and over her prission just as Applebloom smached into it from the outside.

The spears were sent flying, and imploded back into the original spear, which fell to the flow with a finite clang. Sweetie herself fell on top of Applebloom, and the two tumbled over and ended up sitting with the shield of glass under them – Who rocketed over the stone floor like a sledge that had never heard of friction.

"Where's the mole king?" Sweetie shouted in the middle of their joyride. "Where's the Sunstone!?"

"I thought you had them?"

In no time at all, they caught up with Scootaloo, who was screaming about insulence and whatnott. The collision knocked her helmet of her, and knocked her straight into the hooves of the other two.

"Hello Scootaloo. Have you seen the Sunstone?"

"What – I though you insulent fillies had it!"

"Stop in the name of the law!"

In an even shorter time. A big burly pony appeared in front of them, the girls would surely have collided with him too, if a speck of magic had not made the floor rise like a ramp in front of him.

The fillies went Airborne. A dozen flashlights tracking their aerial acrobatics as the trio did a double somersault before crashing down into the awaiting herd. Their joyride ending in a mass of sprawling limbs and ponies.

”Somepony get the lights!”

The catacombs suddenly became very bright as a roof filled with luminescent light blinked into action.

Sweeties infrared vission gave upp, and even turning it of she had to blink a few times before here optic lenses could ajust to the sudden change of brightness.

When her eyes came to. She found herself surrounded by the second biggest bunch of growling armored burly dudes with point spears she had faces today.

Except this growly bunch didn't smell bad ...

And their armor was golden, complete with helmets with blue crests on them ...

And there wasn't a single cannibalistic tribal tattoo or henchpony mark among them. Just a clean permalecent white ...

"Hold it right there criminal scumm. You are under arrest for trespassing and attempted theft in the holy vault of Celestia."

Scootaloo looked up at the guards. The crash having shaken the pink from her eyes. But not enough to shake the golden bracelets and necklaces from her body.

She sheepishly looked down upon the riches that adorned her, then up at the guards again. Then back at the angry duo, tied up by magic rope. And the many white mice in golden armor that wielded them miniature spears at them. And at the urn rolled around on the floor – spewing some very loud profanities.

"This isn't what it looks like." She began.

Then – the hole and the tunnel behind them exploded, and caved in.

-:: Crap ::-

Author's Note:

This writer does not know what a shape beyond an octagon is called.

Comments

[Tanis]

That rotten little bastard; though, i doubt the Mole King has accounted for the fact that Celestia personally knows Sweetie Belle, so his little caper, and backstabbing may well backfire.

---

Shapes beyond Octagon...
I remembered Decagon off hand; a quick check of Wikipedia refreshed my memory on the rest:
Nonagon - 9 sides
Decagon - 10 sides
Hendecagon - 11 sides
Dodecagon - 12 sides
Hexadecagon - 16 sides (likely candidate #1 for what Sweetie Bell was trying to describe)
Icosagon - 20 sides (likely candidate #2 for what Sweetie Bell was trying to describe)

[Life Beat]

8323166

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[tsaukpaetra]

And so the mole Kings' treachery is brought to light!
We figured it was suspect when they got to a nigh impenetrable wall that took hours to get too. As soon as we saw that we said, "oh Geeze, they're robbing Celestia's banned magical artifacts vault, aren't they?" Surprisingly low security though. Obviously the vault was designed with faith that the single barrier would be sufficient...
Hey, at least they're topside though! Might be going to war, but sun!
Keep going! ;)

[Matthewthawes]

its called a decahedron