Mane Effect

by Quillery

Chapter 9: Miscommunication

Chapter 9: Miscommunication

“Time to get to the bottom of things!”

There was a nostalgic joy in my limbs as I soared through the air, remaining fixed to solid ground for only seconds before taking off again. If I had to climb, I shimmied up a leaning girder with practiced ease. If I had to jump, I could pinpoint a route instantaneously . The littered landscape around me was something far more than a simple junk pile. Where one would see a dangling precipice, I would see another jumping point. Where another would see a razor sharp skewer of death, I would see a jutting scaffold to hang from while searching for another. Somehow, even here, I felt like I was home on Earth, and I was having the time of my life. Much to the frustration of a certain grumpy mare.

“How in tarnation are ya doin’ that?”

I stopped to look back at my pursuers. Across a wide gap, was South, glaring at me with indignation. Dexter was beside her, regarding me with more of a look of puzzlement. Firestorm was the only one who didn’t show any noteworthy emotion, as she hovered placidly above the twisted metal, casting quick glances between us, and where we were heading.

She turned to South quickly, a smirk on her lips. “If you didn’t want to climb over a mountain of metal, South, you shouldn’t have caused such a mess.”

South turned up her snout at the heckling pegasus above her. “It was a good plan at th’ time. How was Ah supposed t’ know that the way down was this way?”

I scanned the amount of distance we had travelled so far, and how much more we had to go. We had made good time, at least, much more than we would have if we had gone around the giant mess South had caused. While her ‘plan’ did away with all the pesky security drones that were attacking us, it made me wonder exactly what would happen if I left South alone again around dangerous equipment. We took a moment to look at the map that I had found in the office, which led us to our current situation.

The central section of platforms were not all connected to each other in the same way, as evidenced by the map I had spent quite some time studying in the aftermath. The top two layers were connected by the catwalks we had used to get down here, as well as some service elevators for the heavy lifting. The lower levels however, were only accessible by smaller elevators. The layers themselves were identified as ‘processing’ on the layer directly below us, and ‘Geothermal’ beneath that one.

The problem was, that these particular elevators were in the middle of the section we were currently in, and that area unfortunately took the brunt of South’s dozer spree. It was also on the other side of the giant pile of mangled metal we had went around to rejoin with her, so in the interest of saving time, we opted to climb over it.

Firestorm fluttered lazily over the divide between me and the others, the beating of her wings jostling at a steady rhythm. Her eyes continued to scan in various directions, her head turning as well, taking a quick survey of the area. An unsettling calm drifted over the empty station, as an errant wind flowed between the hanging metal platforms that held us above the endless chasm below us. The vigilant Pegasus landed beside me with a thunk, moving past me and towards the sloping terrain deeper into the facility.

“Ah don’t need no fancy magic tuh get me across, Dex.”

My head snapped around back to the others still standing on the other side of the gap. Dexter was giving South an uncertain look, as the shimmer of his magic was fading away. South was also glowing blue, although it was slowly fading away as Dexters concentration faded.

“Are you sure, South? It’s quite the jump.”

South faced towards me with a narrow stare. “If Shepard can make this jump, then so can Ah!”

Dexter followed her gaze to me, his eyes filled with apprehension. “Something tells me Shepard’s done this before South.”

South backed away from the edge slowly. Perhaps Dexter had managed to talk some sense into her after all. She paced back and forth, her eyes tracing her side of the jump and mine through slitted eyes and furrowed brows. I thought that maybe, for once, South was actually weighing the pro’s and con’s of a dangerous decision, until she began to paw at the ground with her hoof.

Damnit. Her scratching at the ground kicked up all sorts of dust and dirt into the air, which she quelled with an angry snort. Her mouth curled into a sneer, teeth bared and clenched. Dexter reared his head back, stepping away from South with an worried look on his face. If he was going to try and stop her, he didn't show any signs of it.

He lost any chance as South sprang into a full gallop, charging towards the edge full tilt. The clattering of hooves on metal rang out over the divide, each step singing an increasingly resonant song. Souths head bobbed to the motions of her furious charge, her eyes wide in focus in her insanity as she came closer to the edge. Her front hooves rose into the air as she reached the edge, flying upwards into a powerful leap. Her back legs remained planted on the metal a moment longer, before she leaned into the narrow surface and kicked off with a massive pump of her legs.

South soared over the gap, the sheer force of her kick propelling her across with surprising speed. Her focused sneer shifted into a elated smile as she reached the peak of her arc. She filled the air with an excited shout, before she slowly began to descent towards the other side. Given her achieved height and speed, my brain seemed to shift automatically to calculate her odds of success. Her chances of landing safely were high, but it was the force of that landing which was more worrying.

She cleared the edge by almost a meter, landing beside me with a loud clang. The sound reverberated across the metal surrounding us, echoing in every direction before slowly going silent. South spun on her hooves back to face Dexter, grinning.

“Hah!” she shouted. “No more than a hop, skip n’ a jump!”

Her chuckling died suddenly to a loud groaning noise beneath our hooves. The chunk of metal we were standing on shifted slightly and began to lean inwards toward the crevice. The steel and iron below us scraped across the slab as it began to twist and buck downwards. I scrambled on my hooves to keep my balance as the sheet slid out from underneath me. South wasn’t having any easier of a time, her face had traces of fear on it and her were eyes wide and panicked.

I think Dexter shouted something, but it was hard to hear over the increasingly loud rumble of metal on metal grinding. I watched him dash to the edge, his eyes beginning to glow an incandescent blue that quickly surrounded his entire body. His aura multiplied in size dramatically, rushing towards us and engulfing the unsteady ground beneath us.

The beam hesitated, slowing its descent and struggling against the pull of gravity. South and I wobbled at the pull of the two warring forces exerting themselves on the ground. The shaking steadied enough for me to keep my balance, but I had yet to risk moving in any direction, lest I unbalance the entire thing and hasten its fall. South didn’t move either, still focused on the ground beneath her hooves.

I looked back to Dexter. He was leaning down on one of his knees. His teeth were clenched together in a strenuous focus. “I... can’t keep... this thing... up forever...”, he wheezed.

My legs, at least, got the hint, and began moving slowly up the slanted ledge towards a safer surface. South, however, did not move at all. She was still silently staring at the ground, wobbling with the rhythm of the teetering slab. A gust of wind rushed past my head, as Firestorm zipped through the air and stopped above the frozen South. “Sweet thundering zephyrs, will you MOVE IT?!” she shouted.

South shook her head, and realization creeped over her features as the Pegasus’s screaming managed to break her out of her stupor. She started moving slowly, but surely, towards me. Her gaze never left the edge as she backed slowly in my direction. Not wanting Dexter to strain himself into another headache, I reached out to South once she was in range and yanked her to safety. She stumbled slightly as she tripped and fell down onto the opposite side of the landing, but was no worse for wear.

Dexter sighed with relief and released his grip on the beam. Under the throes of gravity once more, it landed with a terrible crash, and began sliding into the crevasse once again. Any bits of debris that tried to slow it down only crumpled underneath it as it washed over them like a wave. Then, it broke free of the pile that it once called home and fell into the open maw of metal below. Its landing caused a terribly loud rumble, shaking the remains of the ruined structure. As it settled, the air became suddenly silent, aside from the sound of Firestorms wings beating softly.

She landed beside me, peering down with me into the pit we had narrowly avoided falling into. The beam had slid a fair distance, managing to wedge itself between both sides of the divide. If it wasn’t so far down, it would have made an acceptable bridge in hindsight, but now only served as a grim reminder of where an unfortunate date with gravity could have ended. I looked up at Dexter. His eyes were downcast, but alert. I could hear his heavy breathing faintly from where I was standing. I wasn’t sure if he should have been able to stand at this point, but he still was, so it was something.

“Hey, Dex.” I called out. “You gonna be ok?”

He heaved an excessive breath, lifting his head to look at me. “Not as bad as I could be. It wasn’t as heavy as I expected.”

He turned his head to the mare beside me. “Hey Firestorm, I don’t suppose a lift over this is out of the question?”

The pegasus grinned, her wings lifting her into the air once more. She moved over the gap swiftly with a single motion of her feathery limbs. There was a short pause as Firestorm hovered over Dexter,and scooped him up in her hooves. She fumbled awkwardly as she attempted to hold Dexter in her grip as she carefully made her way back over the gap. She took care in letting him go to the ground, dropping him in front of me. His demeanor had improved a slight bit in his short trip, his breathing reduced and his focus less errant. He looked past me, speaking through weak breaths.

“Hey South, are we gonna have to start taking a tally on...”

He trailed off, his eyes widening, focused on something behind me. I turned, realizing immediately what had given him pause.

South was on the move already. After she recovered from her landing, she moved to the opposite side of the plateau and down a sloping ramp.

“South Where are you going?”

She didn’t answer, prompting us to follow her. The three of us moved towards the slope down the side of the wreckage. The first thing to catch my eye was the single standing structure only a few meters in the distance. Well, mostly standing. A sizable portion of its front wall was missing, as well as the metal plating that once was its front door. Trails of debris led directly towards this building, shoved aside in a familiar pattern.

South continued moving towards a flattened building that appeared to be one of the very first to fall to her earlier rampage. She stopped in front of a rather large, innocuous piece of metal across the ground and without a word of explanation, she began to move it. She did not bother ask me, or the others for help as we surrounded her. She grunted as she shifted the slab of steel an inch at a time with her shoulder, much to our confusion. A glimmer of light caught my eye from underneath the panel. I took a few more steps forwards, noticing that the piece that South was moving was covering a hole, a large one at that.

“South,” I asked. “What are you doing?”

She gave one final heave, sending the obstruction the final few feet necessary to open the hole into a widened crevice. She released a loud breath of relief from her strenuous effort, then turned to us with an impatient grimace. “Ah recognized this place from earlier.”

“Where exactly is here?” Dexter questioned.

“Come see fer yerself!” South stomped the ground excitedly, punctuating her joy at what she had accomplished, whatever it was. We all stepped slowly towards the hole she had uncovered. I noticed a series of still working lights, as well as a framework of intact metal beams. Built squarely, the girders descended downwards through a long, narrow shaft and out of sight into darkness, only dimly lit by a series of dull security lights. A single platform rested just beyond the threshold of the hole, held in place by what appeared to be a series of rolling tracks.

“Ah found our way down!”

---

The elevator began to slow as we came into a processing plant of some kind in the center of the floor. Much of the automated machinery in this shipping depot continued to whirr and go about their pre-programmed tasks blissfully, their rhythmic clattering only adding to my nerves. The absence of life did little to detract from the fact that the machinery seemed perfectly able to work on its own. If the digging operations were automated as well, the sudden disappearance of the entire staff could easily have gone unnoticed.

Firestorm took point, gliding into the room and coming to a sudden halt in front of us. Her head craned in many directions to check behind the many corners of boxes and keeping a careful eye on our surroundings. South huffed and trotted obstinately past her, glancing down to the rows of machinery grinding below us.

“This looks like a final processing area for the ore, b’fore they prepare it for shippin’.”

“We can see that,” Firestorm commented dryly.

South made no indication that she had heard Firestorms comment and continued.“Don’t look too different from the equipment back on mah family’s farm. Only problem is its runnin’ dry.”

She pointed down at the series of conveyors that ,I assumed, would be bringing in processed materials to be sealed into crates by the automated systems. If they weren't completely empty. The mechanical arms repeated motions that looked like picking up large boxes, before moving the empty crates over to the storage area.

South moved down the walkway towards a computer terminal connected to the largest section of the automated system. Accessing it, she hurried through bits of information, skimming through technological readouts and other jargon that would be relevant to a miner or forepony. It was an impressive machine, but it was no EX Hyperdrive core.

“Aha!” South exclaimed, stopping on a file that listed the machines specifications.

“This model should be able to pack away fifty crates an hour, so long as it’s fed ore constantly.” South had a smug look about her, as she skipped through the next set of readouts.

“Sez here that today’s crate count started packing at nine this mornin’. Whut time is in now?”

I glanced at the clock on my omni-tool. Ignoring the decreasing time limit of the impending asteroid collision, I remarked the planets local time.

“Almost one o’clock, planetside.”

“Alright,” she continued. “Says here that only a hundred or so crates were filled before the ore stopped comin’ in.”

“What are you getting at, South?” Firestorm questioned.

South gave her a sharp look. “Ah’m gettin’ to it, just hold yer horses!”

She stepped away from the machine, and towards the side of the room where an uneven amount of boxes was stacked against a wall. The imposing selection of crates loomed over the room, as they waited patiently to be shipped off world.

“Iffin they were diggin’ today, they woulda been working to feed ore into this thing all day and keep it working constantly. But since it stopped only a few hours ago, th’n that means...”

“Then that mean whatever happened here didn’t happen all that long ago!” I blurted.

South shot me a hurt look, upset that I had stepped in and took her thunder, but she quickly nodded, looking at the others.

“Whutever happened here, happened quick, but Ah don’t reckon anypony was hurt. T’aint no way to clean up a scuffle that big in less than an hour.”

“Then where the hell is everypony?” Firestorm asked sharply. “There aren’t exactly a lot of places to store dozens, let alone hundreds of miners and civilians down here.”

“Ah guess we’ll find out out there.” South motioned her head towards the exit to the shipping plant. “Didn’t the map say there wuz a security hub down here?”

“Yes”, I replied, bringing up the map. “It’s near the elevator to the next level.”

I took a closer look at the layout of the processing plant. It appeared to be a large and irritatingly windy section of corridors and large chambers that were most likely similar or identical to this one. We probably weren't going to need to waste too much time exploring this area, but it was still going to be a long walk to get any progress regardless. So much for a speedy rescue. But at least South’s mind for her native industry gave us a glimmer of hope at this so far bleak excursion.

“Whut are the chances that virus you mentioned spread t’ here?”

I shook my head. “I sealed it in the network back up there, and since we haven’t run into security mechs yet, I doubt it got down here.”

“Then that’s where we should go next.” Firestorm added, moving towards the exit. “If it’s the central security station, then maybe there are some undamaged cameras to give us an idea what really happened down here.”

“Lets just take it slow this time.” Dexter cautioned. “I’d rather not have to deal with any more of those things anyway, virus or not. We could just as easily piss them off on our own.”

Dexter glanced at South, and I found my gaze following his. We stared at her for a moment in silence, before she noticed. She gave us crooked stare right back. “Whut are ya lookin’ at me fer? Ah ain’t th’ only one who’s caused a ruckus down here. Ah heard that concussive round o’ Firestorm’s from across the mine.”

I broke my gaze and trotted away towards Firestorm and the exit. “Yea, but lets just try to tone it down. I don’t want to have this mine come crumbling down on us while we’re still down here.”

South grumbled something inaudible behind me as I walked past Firestorm and stepped out into the hallways of the processing plant. The next room was similar to the previous one, the only difference being the large smelting furnace on one side. From the layout, this room looked like it was used to dispose of the unsatisfactory ores into a large smelting furnace that took up the far side of the room.

The rest of my friends followed behind me quickly, matching my pace past the machinery. This processing plant was an impressive undertaking. Even South was awestruck by it all. Her eyes peered around wildly, filled with wonderment and awe at the equipment. I guessed that she would have loved to send some of it home to help her family’s business. Maybe we could work out a deal when we saved an entire facilities worth of employees. If we saved them.

I picked up the pace, moving ahead through the halls until we finally left the central core of the processing plant. The rooms became more spacious, but had little in the way of different . Piles of discarded crates and drilling equipment were lain around the room, near a giant blast door on the farthest side.

“That has to be the way out of the plant.”

“Looks like it,” Firestorm responded hesitantly. “Seems too easy though.”

South chuckled, moving towards the terminal beside the door. “Lighten up Storm. Even if somethin’ happens, we can deal with it.”

She tapped on the console, but nothing happened. She tried again, holding the button down down, but still the door refused to open. The room groaned with the strain of hydraulic pistons, but nothing apparent changed in the room as the sound continued for a short while and suddenly died.

“Is it locked?” Dexter inquired.

“Don’t ya think Ah could tell iffin’ the blasted thing wuz locked? It don’t say it is, so it isn’t!”

“Then why isn’t it opening?” Firestorm quipped sarcastically.

I walked over to the door during their little spat, noticing a very familiar pattern bored into the seam of the door. The metal had warped over it, sealing the door shut completely. I touched it with my hooves, feeling the remnants of warmth.

South grunted as she tried more buttons. “Maybe it broken, or the hydraulics are-”

“Its welded shut,” I interrupted.

Dexter walked beside me “Looks like somepony doesn’t want us getting through here.” He gave me an expectant glance. “Think you can get through this, Shepard?”

I smirked back at him, bringing up my omni tool. I looked for an older function that would serve my purpose just fine. Activating the device, my tool began emitting a bright yellow glow as the plasma cutter came to life. I tested it against the metal with a errant swipe, slicing through the metal like butter.

“Yea, I think I can do this just fine.” I replied glibly.

I sunk the heated blade into the metal, tearing apart the door. The others paced around the room, doing soldier things I imagined as I focused on my task. I enjoyed the simplicity of my work, at least. It was nice to be able to do something without somepony shooting at you for a change.

I heard something fall over behind me. I stopped briefly to turn around, seeing South standing in front of an overturned box. She looked back at me, shrugging. “Wasn’t me,” she drawled. I shrugged in reply, returning to the door.

“Hey guys, look at this.” Firestorm called out. I ignored the interruption this time, letting them deal with it. Whatever it was, I was certain they could manage without me. I heard the trotting hooves of the other two moving towards where Firestorm was.

“What is it?” Dexter asked.

“It is, was, a security mech, I think.”

“It’s been sliced into t’ pieces though!” South exclaimed.

“I’m more worried about the fact that we didn’t do this.”

An eerie quiet descended on the room, as the truth of the matter slowly began to sink in. I felt the need to stop what I was doing to glance worriedly around the room.

“We’re not alone in here.”

I heard the the charging of their weapons as they moved into defensive positions around the door. I looked back behind me. They had split up, and were scanning the room slowly. They searched the darkened corners carefully, but did not seem to be finding anything dangerous. With them on point, I felt safe enough to at least return to opening the door, as long as I continued to listen to the four pairs of hoofsteps pacing around the room.

Wait, four? I perked up an ear, listening carefully to the echoes of the room. Somewhere very near by, was a fourth source of hoofsteps. I turned to my left, only seeing Dexter, peering around a set of narrow corners extending into dimly lit sides of the room. Behind me I saw Firestorm who had jumped onto a tall crate, looking around from a high perch, while South patrolled quietly beneath her. There was nothing else. Relieved, I turned back to cutting through the metal.

And was face to face with a robotic eye.

I reared back from the door in fright. I tried to shout something, but the immediate presence of a potential hostile robbed me of that ability. The ‘head’ of the creature in front of me was bent at an unnatural angle, as its eye shifted at me curiously. The rest of its slender and twisted body was somehow attached to the door itself, above the section where I had been cutting. It bent its head at me in a strange manner, before it began to emit a familiar sound.

Its eye began to glow a bright red, and an ear splitting hum filled the air. I tried to back away, but the machine detached one of its limbs from the wall and grabbed my leg. I had no time to move, no time to ready my weapon. The only thing I had available to me was...my plasma cutter. At this realization, my foreleg reacted involuntarily, swiping up at the droid holding me down. I screamed as I plunged the molten hot cutter directly into its head, severing it in half.

The Geld released a rain of sparks and loud digital screams. One by one its limbs lost grip on the wall and its limp body slid slowly to the ground. It clattered to the ground in front of me, unmoving.The others ran up to me, all stopping close enough to observe the thing that just tried to kill me.

“Stalkers!” Firestorm hissed.

I turned around to look at her, hoping she would explain exactly what a ‘stalker’ was, when I noticed a series of similar lights blinking into existence like stars on the canvas of night. Whenever one light appeared, two more accompanied it almost immediately. My eyes widened at the spawning spots in the dark, prompting worried looks from my friends before turning around to see what I did. I heard one of them curse under their breath as the lights steadily filled the room. They backed slowly towards me, weapons ready as they formed a perimeter around me.

“So...” South said quietly. “Whut’s the plan?”

“Well,” Dexter said, shrugging. “I’ll get the half dozen down the middle, if you two can get the dozen on the left and right.”

“Good enough for me.” Firestorm replied fiercely. “Hey South?”

“Yea?”

Firestorm swiveled her rifle upwards. A single shot fired, sailing through the air towards the closest Geld, piercing the small synthetic right through its head. The projectile ripped through the tiny ‘skull’ of the creature, tearing out a sizable amount of circuitry and scattering it in all directions. She laughed at her kill as the fragile machine fell over, before exchanging a glance with South, who just stared on in confusion.

“That’s one,” she said through an impish grin.

South’s eyes widened further, before the statement clicked something in her mind. I could see the gears of her competitive mind linking together, returning the grin back to her rival.

“Oh it is on!” She shouted, before opening fire at the lights looming in front of her.

The two mares opened fire into the shadows, at the glowing optics of the now leaping stalkers, who jumped from surface to surface, narrowly avoiding the torrent of weapon fire trained on them. Dexter stepped back, his head following the rapid movements of the Geld drones within his section of the room.

He grabbed his rifle wordlessly in his magic, floating it in front of him. With a flick of his hoof, the weapon began to spin in steadily hastening revolutions, making several spins in the matter of seconds. I stared at the spinning weapon as it became nothing more than a whirling blur in front of me, as Dexter continued increasing his focus.

The stalkers before him left the safety of the shadows, moving steadily towards him, oblivious or unconcerned with the revolving assault rifle hovering mere feet away from the motionless Lieutenant. The closer they approached, the faster the weapon seemed to spin, whistling in mid air as its rotations increased. Once the stalkers were close enough, their eyes began to glow , as their own weapons preparing to fire.

But before a single one of them could react, Dexter made his move. His gun, in the fraction of a second, flew towards the group of Geld. The rifle bashed into the first stalker, caving in its armored head. Its neck bent over with a sickening snap. It blurted a garbled digital noise as the lights on its shell went dark and its entire body went limp. The telekinetic fury did not end there as Dexter sent his flying weapon into another stalker and then another, before he smashed each of them into crumpled bits.

“Just get that door open, we’ll be fine.” He grinned at me before he turned his head to a loud crash from the other side of the room.

A crate on the far side fell over, inviting a whole new set of geld into the room, as Dexter charged forward with his rifle astride him, firing wildly into the mess of synthetics. South and Firestorm were still engrossed in their own combat, shouting back head counts between them. I doubted that I would be able to add anything to the fight, so I obliged Dexters suggestion, and returned to opening the blasted blast door.

Even with the gunfire surrounding me, it was getting noticeably easier to work under pressure. The work itself wasn’t particularly difficult, considering the amount I managed to get done before being interrupted in the first place. I hadn’t found a metal yet that didn’t yield to hot plasma, and I managed to get through quickly.

I turned away from the door over to the console, glancing at the fight developing without me. South and Firestorm had racked up an impressive amount of Geld bodies between them, as well as Dexter. But the stalkers seemed to be endless as they continuously entered the room from every possible entrance they could find. Even with the rate the others were felling them, they would overtake us soon in this small room. I needed to get that door open.

I swatted the console, hoping that my effort was not futile. The door groaned slightly, still somewhat sticky from the previous welding, but the powerful hydraulics managed to tear the door open. Everypony glanced at the sound, but continued their assault against our attackers. They started to slowly back towards the exit and with their focus elsewhere, I decided to take the initiative to go through first, at least to ensure where we were going was at least marginally safer.

The hallways outside were empty, thankfully, but looked like they would only be a temporary solution to our problem. Being boxed in a small storage room was not conducive to our survival however, and an empty hallway could at least turn into an advantageous choke point if we somehow manage to work in in our favor.. I turned back to the rest of my friends, who still had yet to break off from their defensive line.

“Guys, it might be a good time to run.”

Dexter glanced back at me, then gave an appraising look at our situation. “Shepard’s right, we need to get out of here.”

South stomped the ground suddenly. Her rifle looked like it was folding back into its holstered position, but instead reconfigured into something with a much larger barrel. There was a gleeful look in her eyes as she took aim near the center of the room, and fired. A round orb shot from the weapon, bouncing along the ground towards the gaggle of approaching Geld. The rainbow colored sphere spun in place, going unnoticed by the stalkers who merely trod past it.
South was the first to dash from the room past me. She turned back to us with an impatient look. “Well are we goin’ or stayin’ fer the fireworks?”

Dexter was next to follow her, leaving Firestorm to pace out of the room with a smaller sense of urgency. Once she crossed the doorway, I mashed the door console, closing it as fast as I could, before joining my friends in their mad dash away from the impending explosion.

“What’s the matter?” Firestorm questioned. “Its just a grenade.”

A loud, thundering explosion rattled the ground beneath us. Smoke began to billow from the cracks and holes that had been melted along the doorframe that was no longer securely fastened to the wall. Firestorm stumbled from the immense shock from being so close to the point of origin, almost tripping and landing on her face. She turned back to the door, then back to us with a horrified look on her face.

South smiled, tossing her head in a victorious motion. Her scarlet mane danced about her face as she shot Firestorm the smuggest look I had ever seen in my life. “So, how many was that?”

---

We lost the stalkers on the far side of the complex. It was a long run, and they were almost on our tails the entire time. The little bastards were fast, capable of jumping from wall to wall easily to keep up with us around every corner. The narrow hallways helped us a bit in that regard, allowing us to slip out of their sight long enough to elude them. Now we were hunkered down in a small control station that maintained the automated systems of the processing plant.

The others stayed close to the entrance of the small office to recuperate from our hard gallop. I busied myself with the map trying to figure out where to go from here. We weren’t too far off course, but with those things out there it was going to make getting where we needed to go much harder. I sighed wearily at the increasing complications of the day, wondering what else was going to come along.

“Where to next, Shepard?”

I looked over to the others. Firestorm was the least fatigued, mostly because she flew behind us giving us covering fire while we ran. She stood up away from the doorway to come over to me and look at the map herself. I shifted the image to point out where we were exactly, and where we needed to go to get to the security station, and hopefully, our answers.

“The security office doesn’t look that far from here. Think we should make a break for it?”

“Maybe,” Dexter commented. “But lets let things calm down a bit. If they don’t know where we are then we can take a minute to breathe. I’d rather not run into more stalkers along the way.”

“T’aint like those things are hard t’ kill,” South panted.

“There are more of them out there than there is of us, South. And we’re exhausted. We
need to catch our breath South, even you.”

South shrugged, and went back to looking out into the hallway. Dexter was the next to walk over to me and observe the map. “Does it look like theres a route with cover so we can get there without getting shot at anymore?”

“Maybe,” I replied. The map showed a host of similar hallways that made up the majority of the processing facility. Only a few of them led from where we were to where we wanted to go, and most of them would have been right along the route that the Geld were chasing us. Only one seemed marginally safe, but
I doubted they would stay that way for long.

“We can cut through this section of the factory here.” I pointed to a narrow section of the platform running along the edge of the floor. It was out of the way, and we could use it to go straight towards the security station and the elevator down, but another narrow room could be the death of us if any of these Geld managed to catch us there.

“Its not far, maybe a few minutes at a fast pace. And if we don’t get caught on the way, the security hub looks fortified. Might even have some weapons we can use against them there.”

He shook his head in apprehension. “If its the best we got, then we should take the chance now while they don’t know where we are.”

“Then let’s do it now.” Firestorm moved back to the door, opening it slowly. It was quiet outside, but I could hear in the distance the clattering of metal hooves. The stalkers were around, but not near enough to cause us worry. For now.

I got up and walked over towards the door with Dexter. South poked her head out, looking down the hallway in both directions. She motioned towards the right with her hoof, looking at me. “Its thata way right?” I nodded.

“Then let’s go. Try an’ keep up.”

She slipped out of the door quickly, darting to the right and straddling the wall slowly. I followed behind her, letting Dexter and Firestorm form up behind me. At least in the middle, I wasn’t immediately responsible for watching our flanks for ambushes, not that I didn’t keep an eye out anyways. Following behind South also seemed like a safer alternative, unless something were to provoke her. Then I would most likely end up being roped into keeping her safe from whatever trouble she got herself into.

We kept our single file line short, moving in bursts around corners and keeping a steady pace. Every corner we advanced, the sound of Geld moved further away, sometimes completely silent. Although the stalkers had avoided detection at first, they seemed to be fully intent on scouring for us now, and might not bother with keeping quiet anymore. Hopefully.

The narrow section we moved through had seen little use recently. The rooms were almost stripped bare of any useable materials of equipment. The walls were rough with hewn scorch marks and welding scars, as well as the large scratches carved into the sides. Vacant spots on the ground glimmered dully in the dim light, showing that something once had occupied that space, but was now moved elsewhere, revealing the clean, unexposed surface beneath.

The emptiness made it easy to move through unhindered, and we finally made it to our first useable destination. The security office was indeed a heavily fortified structure. Large plated walls covered the exterior, allowing for a single door on its front side. It had windows, but they were lined with metal bars for reinforcement. If there were any weapons in there, we might actually make it out of this alive.

“Well, that looks cozy,” Firestorm remarked.

“Any port n’ a storm.” South replied snarkily.

I moved to the front of the group and across the empty distance between us and the station. “As long as we can get some answers about what happened here.”

“Wait,” Dexter hissed. “Do you hear that?”

I stopped about halfway across, perking up my ears to take in the sounds. Far away, there was a chorus of marching hooves. The distinct noises reached far across the facility, echoing of metal. It seems that there were even more Geld down here than we thought, and they were getting closer.

“Let’s get inside.” I dashed over to the door, beckoning the rest of them to follow quickly. I darted inside, coming into a antechamber of sorts. It appeared to be a lobby, with a small cubicled desk on the far side enclosed by glass. The only other door was shut, and after walking over to it, I found out that it was also very tightly locked. Cubicle desk it is then.

The others made their way into the room as I accessed the computer. They shut the door behind them, but it did not muffle the sound of approaching Geld as much as I would have liked. This office had access to many monitors at once, but as I opened each one, I discovered that they were all showing nothing but static.

“Dammit!” I slammed my hoof on the desk in anger.

“What is it, Shepard?” Dexter left South and Firestorm to guard the door, coming over to me.

“The cameras are broken. Either the feeds are broken or someone broke the cameras, but either way, we got nothing.”

Dexter examined the screens as I had been. “What about the saved footage? Maybe something got missed.”

I discarded the useless monitors, and salvaged through the days backlog, hoping something had been left alone from the virus that had ruined our day so thoroughly. Some files had survived, but whether or not they were useful, had yet to be seen. I brought up the earliest timestamp, labeled sometime earlier this morning.

A full set of active monitors came to life, showing me a full range of sight throughout the entire facility. The screens all showed a lively and active factory operation, with dozens of working ponies milling about their business as usual. Nothing seemed out of place, but this recording was from much earlier than South’s estimation, so it was unlikely that anything interesting would happen.

“What is she doing?”
Dexter was staring intently at one particular monitor. A quick scan of the room it was showing reminded me of the office we had been in on the second floor. It was practically the way we had left it, save for the mysterious mare that was sitting at the desk. Her white clothing did not seem to match any of the other employees of the facility from the other pictures, but she could just as easily have been a civilian or other staff. She was doing something on the computer, looking every so often at the door with sharp, panicky glances.

“I think we found out who planted that virus, Shepard.”

“Probably.” The mare quickly finished whatever it was that she was doing on the computer, shutting it down and head towards the exit. Just before she left however, she turned back into the room, staring directly at the camera. At this angle, we could see that this mare was a Unicorn. She shook her head, a look of sadness in her eyes, before she exited the room and vanished.

“Was that who I think it was?”

“The mysterious Lady Midnight? Maybe.”

“Does she show up anywhere else?”

I skipped through the sections of footage, jumping ahead minutes at a time. As the timestamp climbed, sections of feeds began winking out. One by one less and less of the facility became visible through the security hub, until only the core system cameras were left. At the final set of footage, only a hooffull of cameras were still working, albeit fuzzy and unclear. The functioning cameras seemed to be all focused on the same area from different angles. A large group was standing in an enclosed area that I was not familiar with with loud sirens playing in the background. Many, if not all the employees were standing together, squaring off against a smaller group of armed soldiers.

A large furry mass lumbered into the frame, flanked on both sides by two equally large Geld destroyers. The Manticore was saying something, but the cameras did not pick anything up over the wailing alarms. From the group of miners, a lone mare stepped forward out of the crowd and walked over beside the Manticore. It was the same Unicorn from before, but her head was hung down low as she walked over dejectedly. The forepony was shouting at her, but she continued until she left the view of the cameras.

The Manticore turned and left as well, signaling his subordinates to do something with a flick of his barbed tail. The destroyers began to advance on the unarmed civilians, but did not fire on them. Instead they continued trudging ponderously towards them, until the frightened mine workers began to back away in fright away from their pursuers and out of sight.

It was about then that the remainder of the saved footage failed, completing the display of static and haze over the entire network. Dexter said nothing as he got up and walked back to the door.

“Dexter?”

“That footage was from the next floor down, and it was from less than an hour ago before the security system failed completely. We need to go. Now.” He made an attempt to leave the room, but Firestorm stopped him.

“Are you sure that is wise, Lieutenant? We have no idea what’s out there, or if they are still alive.”
“If they wanted the civilians dead, the destroyers would have fired on them. They let them go.”

Firestorm’s hold on Dexter faltered. “I suppose that is something. But there’s still no need to rush in head long without a plan.”

“Hey.” South added, but to deaf ears.

“Time is something we or they don’t have. The elevator down isn’t far, and the floor below won’t be much bigger than this one. If we hurry then maybe...”

“Guys...”

“I understand your desire to save them, I want to get out there too. But Artemis definitely has his hooves in this, and he won’t make this easy. We need a plan that doesn't involve us getting killed for nothing, and-”

“Landsakes, will you two SHUT IT?!” South hissed. “Listen!”

I rushed over to the door, joining in listening for whatever South had noticed. In the distance, rapidly approaching was the sound of charging hooves. The three of traded worried looks, then looked at me. The decision was obvious, although I wished I wasn’t the one making it.

“We’re going. Now. I don’t want to be around when those stalkers get here.”

No pony bothered offer a counter argument. So we bolted for the nearby elevator, hoping it would offer us a better sanctuary than here.

---

The temperature took a noticeable upturn as we waded into the fourth floor of the complex. The geothermal power plant wasn’t so much a marvel to behold as it was an enormous pain in the flank to trot through with the exhausting waves of heat emitted by the large steel pipes that lined the walls. Even with my armored suit, the intense heat pierced through it effortlessly, drenching me in sweat and sapping what little stamina was left in me.

We had not slowed down from the elevator, fearing that the Geld were still in hot pursuit, and the constant running was taking its toll on me even faster in this hazardous environment. I was trailing the group, with the others slowly gaining distance ahead of me. None of them seemed as affected by the heat as I was. Dexter in particular moved with zealous fervor as he plowed ahead of the group, dashing around corners recklessly. One particular corner, though, forced him to a stop. We all caught up to him, waiting for him to explain his sudden halt.

It was just another hallway, lined with pipes and other slabs of steel holding the various machinery of the plant together, although it did seem familiar.

“This is the hallway from the security vid.”

I looked down the hallway critically, trying to piece it together in my mind and view it from different angles. Dexter was right. There was no mistaking this stretch of hallway from earlier, and if that was the case, then...

“The civilians were routed this way then. C’mon.” Dexter was off again, and with no other say in the matter we continued chasing after him. Being in the back, I was at least trying to keep an ear out if anything was following us. Aside from the sound of hissing steam and the rumble of the pressurized pipes, I didn’t hear anything threatening.

The pipes embedded in the walls seemed to be winding together, all converging towards the same place, a place we appeared to be running towards. I glanced at my map as I ran along, showing that we were heading towards what looked like the heart of the power station. The display hinted that the room was a large portion of the level, even extending down below the platform into the shaft underneath us.

“Whoa!” Dexter shouted.

My attention returned as Dexter nearly screeched to a halt as he turned a corner, only to leap back behind it. He tried to mask his heavy breathing as he peered cautiously around the corner.

“I found the destroyers.” He said dryly.

The rest of us took turns looking around the corner. Standing in a pair on the far end of a long and winding hall was indeed the two destroyers from earlier. They stood ominously beside a heavy blast door, which I assumed was the entrance to the central power station. Why they were guarding it though, was mostly obvious at this point. I hoped.

“Bits to bite’s the civies are in there.” South remarked.

“Yea, but it seems too easy...” Firestorm cautioned.

“Who said two destroyers would be easy?” Dexter added. “We could barely handle one on Equestria Prime.”

“Ah might have another grenade in here somewheres.” South began poking her head into her saddle bag, but I stopped her sharply. “I think one of those is enough for today South. We need something that won’t blow this place to pieces around us.”

“I doubt you could hack one of them to attack the other?” Firestorm asked me.

I shook my head. “If I could do that, we wouldn’t have been running from the stalkers. There’s something about their coding that makes it difficult to hack them. I barely managed to overtake those drone things for more than a few seconds.”

“Well, then all we got are guns. So it seems like an obvious plan.” South reared up, preparing her weapon for combat. The others, seeing that Souths' course of thought was the only option we had, readied theirs as well. I grudgingly prepped my pistol as well , not looking forward to a head own fight with these things. If my friends were ready for a fight, then I had to be too, and at least I could play a support role if I had to.

South took Dexters place on the wall, pressing herself against it. She inched her out around the edge, taking a personal stock of the situation. She turned back, her eyes darting and narrowing as the insanity of her mind pieced together what I hoped was at least a survivable plan. Whether she was ready or not, she leapt out into the hall and began firing, with us following right behind her.

The destroyers were slow to respond from the initial onslaught, but slowly began to make their way towards us. The massive cannons attached to their sides began to glow brightly as they fired massive bolts of plasma in our directions with little accuracy. Their lack of aim was a shallow tradeoff with ours though, as out shots managed to hit more than a few times, but had little effect on the lumbering synthetics as they trotted unflinchingly towards us.

It was a battle of unmatched equals as our various weapons sent their projectiles back and forth along the room, neither side making any headway. Suddenly, a stray shot struck very near to South, who only barely managed to dodge it directly. She heaved sideways with a grunt, sliding across the slick metal ground to safety as the plasma ate the spot where she was moments ago. Her stance widened, head lowered as she stared down the metal monstrosity that so very nearly ended her life, as a faint blue aura crackled and died around her.

“Darn it!” she cursed. “Mah shields are gone!”

If a shot at that proximity took out her shields, I did not want to see one without them. Dodging the destroyers was getting increasingly difficult the closer we got to them, and South was our front runner in leading their shots away from the rest of us. I had managed to get pretty far without worrying about dodging a hit, so my shields we doing just fine. Fine enough, maybe, to let somepony else use them.

While I contemplated my stupid, stupid idea, I brought up my shield interface, pointing my omni tool directly at South. Ignoring the self preservation part of my brain, I sent a surge of energy to replenish the damaged shield of my friend, and then some. A field of solid blue surrounded South, who began looking around in confusion. When her eyes met mine, she knew what I had done. A smile flashed across her muzzle.

“Thanks Shepard!” she shouted, and continued charging with renewed gusto.

One problem averted, I took another look at the unfolding fight, Dexter and Firestorm had taken their positions, and both traded shooting and moving to avoid getting hit themselves. The pegasus laid out an entire volley of shots from her powerful rifle, but none of had any effect on the Geld. She angrily retracted her weapon, dodging another bolt of ordinance.

“Their armor is too thick!” she grated. “I can’t get a clean shot!”

I looked at the destroyers again. Their armoring was very imposing on them, and was probably the main reason why they moved so slowly. Dexter had managed to knock one over before, but I had no intention in letting him get too close to a pair of them, or dealing with the strain to his powers again should he overexert himself. I needed something better. As it stood now, all our shots ricocheted off harmlessly, flying into the nearby walls.

As I inched forward, something drifted past my nose. It was a strong smell, that reeked of sulfur and unprocessed fuels. Looking at the pipes, I noticed that some of them weren’t solely for moving steam and molten earth to power the plant. Some of them had to have been carrying magnesium to stabilize the unsafe chemicals in the processing plant. And one of our stay shots had punctured a valve. Another insane plan found its way into my head, one that would have made even South proud. I strafed away from the wall, as too get a clear shot, knowing that I was putting myself as a much more hittable target.

“South!” I shouted. “Get back!”

She looked back to me angrily. “Ah’m kinda busy here!” She dodged another close range shot, retaliating with a few rounds from her gun.

“Just do it. And get ready to cover your eyes. All of you!”

I didn’t give any of them a chance to question what I was doing, only allowing a few seconds for South to get moving. When I thought she was far enough away, I powered up my plasma cutter and fired the blade directly into the pipe strewn wall. The heated edge sunk into the metal, the silicon film quickly dissolving as the molten instrument cut through the steel piping. A silvery liquid began spraying out of the rupture, arching nearly across the hall in a shimmering glow. Seeing the fruits of my labor, there was only one remaining step.

“Firestorm, light it up!”

I covered my eyes and ears as a single shot whizzed through the air, striking the broken pipes. The resulting spark did exactly as I wanted, filling the hallway with a blindingly bright surge of light and sound. A wave of heat rippled outwards, washing over us as the force of the explosion nearly knocked me to the ground.

As I skidded away from the impact zone, I steadily uncovered my eyes, taking in the new scene with amusement. The source of the explosion had sealed itself from the sheer heat of the ignited chemicals, crudely bending and warping the metals together into a single mass. The ground had been charred black and silver as the paint and treatments done to it had been scorched away. None of these results were nearly as interesting though, as what happened to the destroyers.

There were still standing, surprisingly. While they still seemed to be functional, they also appeared to be in the middle of melting. Their outer plating of armor had turned to the consistency of butter, and was flowing off them just as quickly, running off their frail shells onto the ground. Their hooves had fused to the floor, and tried in vain to lift or move in any way. Thirty one thousand degrees can do a lot of interesting things; namely make all that fancy armor plating as useful as paper.

I tried to gauge the reactions of my friends, though the results were mixed. South being closest seemed more focused in clearing the effects of the explosion from her ears and eyes. Dexter and Firestorm though, seemed to reflect confusion and uncertainty.

I trotted towards the disabled Geld, observing my work up close. Their outer layer was fusing together due to the intense heat, and once it cooled would solidify into a single mass of metal, rendering them harmless. Their eyes seemed to be the only thing still working, as the lens swiveled around its head at me. It made a few digital noises, but if they tried to convey anything intelligent to me, it went unheard. The others slowly approached, taking tentative steps towards the hulking soldiers.

“I don’t they will be hurting anypony else anytime soon.” I walked past the frozen destroyers and headed for the door they were guarding. “Let’s hope they were guarding what we thought they were.”

I waved my omni-tool at the console connected to the door, breaking through the simple lock easily. The door hissed as its locks disengaged and slid open. We all stood moved in front of the opening door, hopeful that we had made at least one positive step in this day. Well, mostly hopeful. South still had her gun readied, and Firestorm was hunched over, ready to pounce.

The room was dark, reeking of warmth and fear. As the door went silent, the sound of whispers and hushed conversation carried through the air to our ears. The faint light from the hallway cast itself into the room reflecting off of the eyes of dozens of silhouettes. The dark figures moved away from the door as we approached to the threshold.

A single shadowed shape stepped away from the darkness of the room. As it entered the light from behind us, we saw that it was an Earth Pony. He was a grizzled individual, with downcast eyes. His coat was matted with sweat, and breaths were shallow. We walked slowly towards us, an uncertain expression on his face.

“It’s ok,” I said. “You’re safe now.”

His expression went unchanged. “So the asteroid is gone?”

I exchanged looks with my friends, who were as confused as I was. “You knew about the asteroid?”

He nodded slowly. “Of course. That Sleipnir warned us about it. Artemis I think it was.”

My skin crawled at hearing that name, as well as worry at the possibility that we were too late. “Artemis was here? Did he get the relic?”

He looked confused. “What relic? He didn’t mention anything about a relic, only the asteroid.”

“And Artemis...warned you about it?” My voice trailed out slowly, disbelief tripping over my words.

“Yea. He came to us a few days ago, claiming that we were in danger. He asked us for our most skilled miners to assist him in dealing with it, while the rest of us evacuate.” He turned back to the others hiding in the shadows behind him. “The most of us left already, but some of us stayed to supply the diggers with materials if they needed it.”

He looked out into the hall behind us, straight at the two Geld standing in the hall. “Then these...pirates show up, disable our security and...” His eyes went wide suddenly. “They took Emmy!”

“Who?"

“Emmy, our staff doctor. The kindest Unicorn you would ever meet, and they took her!”

My mind reeled at the conflicting stories and intentions being explained to me. There was way too many inconsistencies to deal with, and with the possible threat of Geld stalkers finding us, dealing with it here was not the best idea. I turned on my radio, signaling the Normanedy.

“Pipsqueak, do you read?”

His voice replied immediately. “Yea, Shepard. What’s up?”

“We need a lift, there’s been a change of plans.”

---

Engineer Skills unlocked: Plasma Bolt

Comments

[Quillery]

One hour before deadline, I feel like a real writer now...

[Dead_Page]

Nice work. I love a magnificent bastard for a villain. Excellent planning and manipulation of everyone around you always leads to fun.

[Rodinga]

Shepard's becoming a good support character, hacking skills, plasma bolt, shield recharges, "lockpicking".
great work, as always.

[G S tol Kriaal]

so in an intrest to save time

Couple things: first, you spelled "interest" wrong; and second, the phrase is "in the interest of ____ing (___)," in this case, "saving time"

with an angry snort. Her mouth curled into an angry sneer

The repetition of words like this is generally frowned upon

kicking upwards into a dive.

If she was kicking off the ground (i.e. jumping), then she was, in fact, kicking downwards (which, admittedly, sounds kind of silly in this context). Also: dive, verb: to plunge, fall, or descend through the air, into the earth, etc. What she's doing here? Not a dive

seeing that Souths course of thought

Forgot an apostrophe

a stray shot struckvery near

Missing space

[Lyricist Lyrea]

Great chapter. Leaves a lot of questions, though. Namely, what on earth was Artemis doing there if he wasn't there for a relic?

[Quillery]

1521128

fixt.

Thank you very much for your consistent effort in pointing these out. I may have to kidnap you and brainwash you into one of my editors at this rate.

[G S tol Kriaal]

1549101 But then I won't be as good