• Published 22nd Jun 2012
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Mane Effect - Quillery

An Earth Pony soldier of the far future seeks to uncover the mystery of an ancient space faring race, all the while hunting a dangerous fugitive across the galaxy.

Mane Effect written by Quillery
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Chapter 10: Hidden Gem

Chapter 10: Hidden Gem

“This big , beautiful, bedazzling rock is a DIAMOND!”

“So let me get this straight. We rush all the way out here, with no plan except a system name and a hunch. We get here, nearly crashing into a rock the size of a small moon. Then we go to the very planet that happens to be directly in said giant rock’s path, only to realise that it was the giant rock that was important in the first place?”

“That’s pretty much how it looks,” I replied.

“And none of this seems odd to you?”

I shrugged. Pipsqueak seemed to be quick on the uptake, but once I had told him we were heading back towards the same asteroid that we nearly crashed into, he was far more interested in berating me with repeated questions.

“I’m not sure if this is what Artemis had planned, but I doubt we’ve even scratched the surface of what he’s got in store for us. We knew he wasn’t going to make this easy for us.”

Pipsqueak shrugged, as he focused between his task of steering the ship and conversing with me over the rush of events of the past few hours.

“Not your average retrieval mission, huh?”

He was none too thrilled about piloting the Normanedy anywhere near that rock a second time, but what we had learned on the surface was too much to ignore. Our hunch about where Artemis was, or at least where his forces were, was close, but we had made one miscalculation. Trawlis was not the waste of time Westward had made it out to be, but we were still far from fully accomplishing our goal in the sector. Cleaning out an overrun facility of Geld might look good to some bigshot CEO, but saving lives was my primary concern.

By no small effort we were able to escape the facility on Trawlis, bringing the remaining Granite employees aboard. Whatever Geld that might have slowed us down lost whatever will they had to fight after we had dealt with the destroyers. I doubted anypony, machine or not, would want to fight somepony else who had managed to kill two Geld armatures.

Now we knew Artemis had something to do with the ‘evacuation” of the facility, but how he did it was unbelievable. Not only had he found what he was looking for, he managed to get to it without it being suspicious. Worse yet, he managed to do it while still looking like a hero.

I needed answers, and I knew exactly who I was going to get them from. “Let me know when we’re there, Pipsqueak. I’m going to talk to the Forepony again.”

“Got it.” He waved dismissively at me from his chair as I left him alone in the darkened room. I entered the navigation room to a tense conversation.

“Look,” an earthy voice grunted, almost growling. “I’ve explained it a million times. Artemis sent us a message about a week ago, warning us about the asteroid. We had no reason to disbelieve a Council Sleipnir.”

Quarry, the Granite Forepony that we had rescued, was locked in an impassive staring contest with Firestorm, who returned a narrow and critical glare. South and Dexter were nearby, but only watched on as our resident C-Sec officer questioned our primary witness.

“And the fact that a Council Sleipnir came out of the blue to offer you aid didn’t rouse any kind of suspicion?”

Quarry shrugged. “No, it didn’t. Isn’t that what Sleipnirs are supposed to do? Help ponies in need?”

Firestorm rolled her eyes. “They protect the Council’s interests and policies. They could care less about a single operation of a galaxy wide company, when it’s large enough to take care of itself.”

She paced around the disgruntled miner, whose gaze went unbroken as the pegasus circled around him. “I’m not the sort who turns away free help, ‘specially when it comes from somepony as powerful as a Sleipnir, whether they are interested in helping us or not.”

His unbreaking stare shifted into an angry glare. “And I would appreciate you not making it sound what I did was criminal! I did my job ensuring the safety of my workers and their families. Why are you so intent on turning this into an investigation?”

“Because,” Firestorm said cooly. “Artemis was branded a wanted criminal less than three days ago by the Corral Council.” She indicated all of us in the room with a sweep of her hoof. “And we’re the ones hunting him down.”

Quarry, slowly absorbing what Firestorm had told him, sunk to his haunches, as disbelief and shock crept onto his face. He finally broke his gaze away from the fiery mare, his eyes now focused squarely on the ground. We watched quietly as he processed the revelation, until he finally lifted his head. “I...I didn’t know.”

Firestorm moved closer to him, laying a hoof gently on his shoulder. Her accusatory expression softened to one of understanding. “No, I didn’t assume you did. Which is why you aren’t in any trouble. But you were the one in charge, so you have to know something, anything, that we can use to figure out exactly what he is doing out here.”

Quarry slowly raised a hoof to his temples, rubbing slowly. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth, as he looked around the room wearily. He met my gaze, regarding me with a quizzical look. I moved towards him, with a few questions of my own.

“You said he asked for supplies. What kind did he ask for?”

“Aside from the pony power, he asked for demo charges. Lots of them. And most of our standard digging equipment.”

“Whut kind o’ charges d’yall carry?” South inquired.

“We gave him our biggest ones; T-Six Dynamo’s, at least five of them.”

South’s brows arched intensely. Being so used to her natural state of grouchiness, seeing concern in her eyes was something that I didn’t expect. “Is that bad South?”

“Tee-Six’s...those are some powerful ‘splosives. With five o’ them, Ah don’t expect that asteroid tuh be ‘round fer long once Artemis wants it gone.”

“Why wouldn’t he want it gone?” Quarry was scratching his head. “Is this something about that relic thing you mentioned? What is it?”

I walked over to the map, which had been set to observe the distant asteroid. There wasn’t anything unique about it, shape or otherwise. It just looked like any ordinary rock, save for the fact that it was more than ten times the size of our small vessel. I looked back at Quarry. “We found an Alicorn relic on Equestria Prime a few days ago. Some of us were sent to retrieve it, only to find the colony in was found in burning to the ground. Artemis was the one behind it all, and now he’s hunting for more. If he’s interested in that asteroid, and not Trawlis itself, then its clear where his goals are.”

I pressed a button, re-orienting the image of the asteroid, bringing its flattest face forward. The image displayed a few anomalies along its surface, marked with registration codes that belonged to the Granite Company.

“This is where your crew landed?” Quarry nodded.

“Then that’s where we’re going. Pipsqueak will have us there in a bit.”

“What if he intends to stop you?”

“Ah suppose that manticore will see tuh that.” South grunted. She unraveled her weapon, tracing her free hoof along it affectionately. “We’ll just hafta deal with him when we git there.”

Quarry glanced at South, then back to me with even greater worry. “You mean the Manticore was with Artemis?”

Firestorm chuckled. “He’s on the run now, it would make sense for him to use mercenaries for...clean up. I bet he had hoped to get through this without arousing any suspicion, even coming out as the hero. Now that we branded him a rogue, I doubt he’ll care about who he hurts to get what he wants.”

“Then...why did the manticore take Emmy? Was she with them too?”

Firestorm glanced at me, exchanging a stern look with me. She shook her head slightly, striding past Quarry and towards Dexter and South. I looked back to Quarry, who looked like his world had been steadily chipped away until nothing was left.

“We don’t know. The Manticore will pose a problem, but your friend Emmy might not be who she says she is.”

Quarry sat quietly on the floor, his eyes lost in thought. He steadily rose to his hooves, moving ponderously towards the exit to the lower levels. “I...I’m going to return to the others, to try and keep them calm. Just do what you can to stop Artemis.” He lumbered past the others silently and out of the room.

I turned back to the others as the door closed slowly behind him. Dexter had a strange look on his face.

“Emmy...sounds short for M, for Midnight.”

I nodded. “That might be the case, but we don’t fully know if she’s actually here, or where her loyalties lie. If she was the one that sent out that cry for help, it would be in our best interest to keep her alive.”

“Ah suspect thats the manticore’s job as well.” South added bluntly.

I smirked. “Like you said, South. We’ll deal with him when we get there.”

As if on queue, Pipsqueak shouted over the radio. “Thirty seconds to the asteroid, Shepard! The landing zone looks hot!”

“Well then,” Firestorm said, her eyes glinting with determination. She had turned around, retrieving a helmet from a nearby storage container. It was white, contrasting greatly with her blue C-Sec armor. She took great care placing the helmet on her head, taking the time to hide away her lengthy mane within its confines. She turned back to us, staring at us through the tinted black visor. Her voiced crackled a familiar sound as she spoke through her helmet radio. “Never a dull moment.”

We moved towards the airlock, taking the time to equip our own helmets. I felt the Normanedy swerve as alarms began to go off throughout the cabin. The hull shook staggardley as loud thunking sounds echoed from all around us and more shouting came from the pilots nest.

“Just some debris! Nothing serious yet, until they start shooting! You guys better make it quick!”

We entered the sealed chamber of the airlock, as the pressured door hissed loudly behind us. It was several moments later as the opposite door slid open, revealing a rocky and cratered surface outside, racing past below us. The ship banked suddenly to the right, revealing a wide open plateau below us. A large open cave loomed on the far side, with Geld drones pouring out of it and moving towards us.

The others didn’t bother to wait for the ship to stop, leaping out onto the pockmarked surface of the asteroid. Without missing a beat, they opened fire at the encroaching Geld fodder. Not one to miss out on all the fun, I leapt out after them, knowing full well that this day would prove to be one of the longest ones of my life.

The closer we got to the open cavern, the more difficult it became to walk over the expanse of craters and piling bodies of broken Geld. We cut a considerable swathe in their ranks, but their numbers continued to trickle out of the looming hold ahead. Trudging over the wreckage was only made marginally easier by the reduced gravity, but hopping over them only made me a more obvious target for the Geld.

“That’s forty six!” South shouted through her radio, claiming another kill. “How many you at, Storm?”

Three shots fired in quick succession from the Pegasus’ rifle, barreling through the heads of three separate Geld. They toppled over slowly in the light gravity, while Firestorm glanced in Souths’ direction. “With those three? Fifty two.”

South grunted and growled through the radio. She rushed on ahead past Dexter and I, firing wildly into another wave of Geld. While her fevered determination to beat Firestorm was working wonders to get us through these things quickly, I hoped it wasn’t going to get her into anymore trouble. We had an unknown amount of Geld to deal with on this rock, as well as a Manticore mercenary and the possibility of a mysterious Unicorn Matron, which would give her plenty of chances to step up, or screw up. Whichever happens first.

Dexter motioned for me to keep up as he rushed ahead to keep pace with South. Firestorm was busy dodging retaliatory shots against her, either deftly hopping aside or taking to the air. She spiraled through the empty atmosphere, pumping her wings to surge herself forward. Her gun kept shooting as she soared above us, each shot hitting its mark.

“We’re almost there!” I yelled. “Pipsqueak, get ready to evacuate any civilians we send your way.”

“Way ahead of you Shepard.” The Normanedy circled around, taking a few shots of its own at the swarms of synthetics surrounding us. After sweeping overhead a few times, Pipsqueak righted her and brought her to a gentle hover above the now vacant plateau. She descended towards the ground, the cargo bay doors opening in tandem. A glossy orange force field covered the threshold as a metal ramp slid down onto the jagged earth below.

“Looks pretty clear out here guys,” the pilot continued. “I’ll sit tight for anypony you send my way, but you better hurry. We’re only a few hours until Trawlis, and being inside the asteroid is probably worse than being on the planet when it hits.”

The cave mouth wasn’t as dark up close. Wires decorated the ceiling, connected to several hanging rudimentary lamps along the cavern walls. A similar field of light than that of the cargo bay covered the entrance of the tunnel, sealing the inside from the empty void of space. Groups of Geld still trickled out towards us, but they were now starting to noticeably decline. With the rate that we were killing them, we shouldn’t have any trouble pushing through them inside.

I trotted towards the gate with the others, while they cleared out any of the immediate threats. “Ok guys, we’d better make this quick. They still have hostages in there, so nothing hasty until we get them out.”

I gave them all a determined look, Souths’ lasting a bit longer than the others. She shrugged at my elongated stare, but since I couldn’t see through her tinted visor, I couldn’t tell if she was being snarky or not. I guess I’d just have to wait and see.

We passed through the glowing barrier. Without the field blurring my sight, I could see very far down into the tunnel. Rough marks had been hewn into the stone wall, lined with scorches and broken metal. Dirt and rock had been discarded all around in piles, as well as large bits of stone and metal that were not of modern origin. The hasty work done by the subjugated miners had taken its toll on the ancient stone work, and I hoped that some of it, any of it was salvageable if this place was still standing after today. Who knows how much Alicorn history could be dug out of this place.

There seemed to be a lull in the Geld, finally. There weren’t any in the cave with us, nor any down the path that was set in front of us. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, but a breather for now was appreciated at least. Firestorm halted at a banking curve of the tunnel. She looked out around the corner slowly, and I saw a strong light cast a shadow of her head into the tunnel with us. She stepped away from the light, coming back over to the rest of us.

“I think I found the miners.” She said quietly. “No sign of any Geld though, or the Manticore.”

“Do they look injured?” Dexter inquired.

Firestorm just shook her head. “Can’t tell from here. They’re just digging away at the tunnel walls.”

I moved over to the corner, peering out carefully. The mouth of the tunnel opened up into a large chamber on the other side. There was a group of ponies, using heavy mining equipment against the walls of the room. I couldn’t tell either if they were in any sort of danger, but if they were, it didn’t stop them from their work.

“Should we get them out of here then?”

“Yea, but we should approach carefully. We don’t know if they’re being watched or not, and we don’t want to spook them with the sudden appearance of armed soldiers.”

“Just keep an eye out fer that Manticore.” South grunted.

Firestorm took the first step out into the light of the next room. “It’s hard to miss something that big.”

We followed along behind her into the chamber. We moved slowly, as to not attract any unwanted attention. The miners seemed to be oblivious to our presence, focused on their tasks. At a closer glance, none of them seemed hurt, but they all shared a similar frightened expression on their faces as they drilled away at the stony walls.

“What are you doing here!” a quiet voice hissed. We turned to see a small Earth Pony mare hiding in a stack of boxes, gesturing frantically us to come closer. Her eyes looked heavy with darkened circles weighing them down, and her mane was matted with sweat and tangles. She was trembling heavily as we approached her, casting quick and panicky glances around the room.

Dexter knelt down first, waving his omni tool briefly at the frightened mare. “Are you ok, miss? Can you tell us what’s going on here?”

“Who are you?” she asked quickly, ignoring Dexters question. “Are you with them?”

“No, we’re here to help. How many of you are there?”

The mare exhaled slowly, relief taking over as her dominant expression. “They’ve worked us to the bone at gunpoint for days, barely letting us rest or even eat!” She fell down onto her rump, looking down at the ground. “There are about twenty of us here, but that Manticore took some of them deeper into the cave down there.”

She motioned towards the other side of the cave, where a separate tunnel opened up leading even deeper into the asteroid.

“Have you seen Artemis here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, he only spoke to us back on Trawlis. Once we got here we were ambushed by the Geld and that Manticore. He passed through here recently with a Unicorn when he took some of the others with him.”

“Shepard?” Firestorm asked.

She was peeking out around the boxes, checking the room. “What?” I replied.

“There aren’t any guards, not in here anyways.”

“They all left.” The mare added. “They followed their master not too long ago either, but there are still Geld on the....wait.” Her eyes widened as she looked at us, then back at the cave we had entered through.

“If you are here, then that means...”

I nodded. “We cleared the Geld out up to here. Our ship is waiting on the surface just outside the cave with the others from Trawlis. If you can get the others in here to get their breathers on, the ship has more than enough room for all of you. We’ll go on ahead and get the others from the Manticore.”


She nodded in understanding, rising slowly back to her hooves. We moved together to the center of the chamber, slowly gaining the attention of everypony in the room. Some of them halted their tasks to regard us with confusion, some of them increasing their productivity in fear. I removed my helmet, so my voice would carry clearly through the entire cave.

“Everypony listen up! My name is Commander Shepard of the Normanedy, and we are here to help.” The room slowly descended into silence as the machinery ceased working, and the ponies once controlling them left to gather around us.

“I don’t know what lies the Sleipnir Artemis has told you, or why he’s keeping you here, but we are here to get you out. The Normanedy is waiting just outside this cave, with more than enough room and supplies to accommodate you. Any Geld along the way have been dealt with. Please get your your breathers on and make your way to the ship.”

“What about the others?” somepony shouted.

“The surface crew from Trawlis is already aboard the Normanedy. As for those taken by the Manticore, we will get them out too. But for now, we need you all to get out of here, so we can do our jobs. I promise your friends will be safe.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Shepard.”

I felt my heart stop briefly, as my eyes slowly traced the crowd towards the source of that voice, that deep, feral voice that sent shivers down my spine. Standing in the mouth of the entrance to the following tunnel, flanked by a group of Geld troopers, was the Manticore we’d been looking for. He towered over the synthetics surrounding him, making them nearly foal sized in comparison. He wore a familiar style of crimson armor that covered his entire, massive body.

He stepped into the room, a pensive look on his face. “Artemis told me a lot about you Shepard. Said you were resourceful, skilled and stubborn. But seein’ ya in the flesh makes me wonder if that feathered freak was just spoutin’ nonsense. Ya don’t look worthy to pluck the spines from my tail, let alone kill me.”

The crowd of civilians dispersed around me, taking refuge behind our group and far away from the towering feline. We moved towards him, guns ready.

“You don’t seem all too keen on your employer. Why work for him then?” I accused.

He shrugged his bulky shoulders. “Don’t have to like him, only have to like his money. And the killin’ he lets me do. Would be a sorry excuse for a ‘Core if I didn’t like the killin’.”

He grunted, snorting angrily at the metal soldiers beside him. “But he pays me even more to keep his work in order. So tell you what; if you manage to get through these tin toys he sent with me, I’ll promise that if you catch up, the rest of these precious little ponies will be one piece...mostly.”

He turned to exit the room, regarding the Geld with little approval. He paused, turning to give me one final look. “Of course that would be too easy. Scratch! Rake!”

Two lanky figures crept out of the shadows behind him. I wasn’t sure what what they were, as they stepped into the dim light of the cave. They were gruff, grizzled creatures, hunched over crudely as they lumbered forwards. They looked like Gemini, but they were wild, mad looking creatures, with unkempt fur and piercing bloodthirsty eyes.

“Mutts’!” Firestorm hissed.

The two disheveled hounds stopped next to their master, staring at us intently.

“Yes...” one began.

“...boss?” the other completed.

“Kill them,” he ordered.

The twin canines smiled gleefully, cracking their various limbs in anticipation of a fight.

“With...”

“…pleasure!”

The dogs took off immediately, bounding into the air towards us. The Geld leapt forward as well, hot on their heels, opening fire and charging towards us. The civilians began to scream as blaster shots began to fill the air. I screamed over the din of the chaos. “Everypony! Head to the exit! Head to the Normanedy! We’ll cover you, just RUN!!”

The gaggle of terrified miners seemed to hear his orders, aiming their panicked charge towards the surface. The Geld didn’t slow down their assault with the nearby civilians, so we had to take the fight to them, if only to avoid getting any innocents hurt.

The two feral ‘Mutts’ seemed keen on making that incredibly difficult for us though. They were fast, agile creatures, managing to jump deftly into the crowd of panicking ponies. They slashed their claws at any who were foalish to get too close. Screams of pain rang out from the crowd. South tried muscling her way through the crowd to chase him off, but they leapt away before she threatened them in any way. Eventually they split up, spreading their chaos evenly around the room.

One of them decided to get some distance from us, brandishing a crude looking weapon atop a small ledge dug out from the rock. It was a long barreled device, with a small but noticeable scope, all the trademarks of a long ranged weapon, but he held it low, braced against his side. He fired the weapon recklessly towards us, sending scattered shots in all directions. Many of them flew towards some of the civilians, but all of them ricocheted harmlessly of a sapphire blue barrier cast in front of the fleeing civilians. Dexter took careful steps towards this dog, focus flaring in his eyes.

The leaping hound landed near his partner, beckoning us towards him with outstretched claws. I was far more focused on the encroaching Geld, who were now on top of us. Firestorm managed to end some of them with a couple quick shots, but that left a few alive for me to deal with. Up close, the troopers attempted to swing at me with their synthetic limbs. I narrowly dodged their battering swings, taking the chance for a strike of my own. Knowing my own strength wouldn’t dent their thick armor, I resolved for a more familiar and effective weapon.

A quick swing of my omni-tool arm sent a razor sharp plasma cutter through the head of the nearest Geld, causing it to twitch and shudder violently before falling over. As the flimsy blade dissipated to recover, I turned towards the next Geld. It too attempted to swipe at me with its metal hooves, only to miss as I reflexively leapt backwards. My military training was finally starting to kick in, and for once, I found myself exhilarated in the thrill of combat. More gunshots filled the room as Dexter and South chased after the mercenary hounds. At least they had them under control for now, so Firestorm and I could deal with the rest of the metal abominations.

It was short work though. Geld were far less dangerous in close quarters, at least this particular model. While the stalkers were fast, and destroyers were nearly impervious, troopers were simply fodder that even I could easily deal with, after enough practice at least. Learning to use my omni-tool for more than its intended use didn’t hurt much either. A few more swipes of blistering hot plasma dealt with any of the remaining Geld foolish enough to get too close, while Firestorm lingered to clean up any that were smart enough to stay at a distance.

With the Geld disabled, only the dogs remained. Considering that the two flighty dogs were still bouncing around the room, taking turns in firing at us or engaging in melee, it seemed that it was going to take a lot more effort in dealing with them. South and Dexter were still chasing them around the room, but they only seemed the be negating the chaos that the two were causing instead of actively harming them.

With the workers gone, we had considerably more breathing room to work with. The dogs stopped jumping around when they noticed that the room had emptied of potential civilians casualties. They regrouped together on the far side of the room where they started from. I swear one of them was giggling, while the other rubbed his claws together expectantly.

“So...”

“...who’s first?”

The sound of charging hooves answered as South bolted towards them. She galloped towards them full tilt, not even bothering to unholster her rifle. The shotgun bearing Mutt cackled as he aimed the volatile weapon at the charging mare. His twin laughed maliciously as she continued, undeterred by the threat. I don’t know what South was planning, but wasn’t going to let her get herself hurt from her recklessness. I doubted my pistol would help much against their shields, but I had been getting used to my omni-tool as a reliable stand by.

I swung my hoof towards the hounds, a bolt of electricity flying from my tool towards them. The flying spark sizzled in the air, skating past South in a blink before reaching the twin Mutts. They scarcely reacted as the flurry of sparks exploded between them. The brawler stumbled away from the impact with a dizzying expression in his eyes. The other yelped in pain, as he hastily dropped his weapon. The glowing red weapon clattered to the ground, as steam poured from every part of it.

None of this caused South to slow down. Whether it was part of her plan or not, she reached her destination anyways, colliding head first into the gut of the disarmed Mutt. A wheezing ‘oof!’ croaked from his mouth as he flew backwards, crashing into the wall behind him. He groaned loudly as he landed prone on the ground, quivering slightly before collapsing in silence. Then South rounded on the other.

After his head had stopped spinning from the explosion I caused, the Mutt whom I guessed was ‘Scratch’ had a soured expression on his face. He growled menacingly as his face contorted into an angry snarl, leaning over to pounce. South mimicked his stance, arching forward and pawing at the ground with her hooves challengingly.

But before either of them could begin, a single shot blazed across the cave, striking the cavern wall just inches above Scratchs head. His ears tensed, arms quivered, and eyes twitched as he slowly turned his head towards Firestorm. Her smoking sniper rifle was all the evidence needed as to where the shot came from, while she tapped her hooves impatiently.

“While it’s all good and fun to dance with rabid dogs,” she snapped irritably, “we don’t really have the time to play around here. So can you be a good little Mutt and get out of our way?”

Scratches eyes darted between us, South, and his semi conscious friend beside him. If he did have any wheels turning in that tiny head of his, they made an awfully slow effort for calculate his painfully poor odds. He stepped back slowly, holding his arms out in front of him. We watched him carefully as he moved towards the tunnel. It was a refreshing change of pace that we didn’t have to gun down every obstacle in our way, when a mere show of superiority will do the trick. Even feral dogs can appreciate the lesson of self preservation.

No sooner than he reached the tunnel mouth, though, he swiftly swiped at a series of cables hanging along the wall with his claws. The grinding of metal and stone gave way to a burst of sparks as the power cable detonated. The room descended into darkness, filling swiftly with a loud, echoing cackle.

“Methinksss,” he snarled, “how good can ponies smell with those helmetsss? How goods can they see in the darknesss?”

“Damnit!” Dexter shouted “Flashlights, everypony!”

A trio of lights cut through the darkness as the others turned on their helmet lights. I activated my omni-tool light as well, but even that seemed like a needle of light a midst an ocean of black. I heard shifting rock from all directions, swinging my light around to see where it was coming from, but only found disturbed dust and stones.

“When Ah git mah hooves on that- Oof!”

I swung my light where I saw South last. She was still there, but sprawled on her side. I rushed over to help her, only to feel something scrape against my legs and trip me. I landed less than gracefully on my back, my hooves hung limply above me with my flashlight aimed upwards, casting a weak light around me. Firestorm and Dexter were side by side, each of them checking each other's blind spots. Dexter emitted a faint blue barrier creating a weak glow that cast small silhouettes around the room.

“Heheheh,” Scratch chuckled. “How long can the precious little ponies last in the dark?”

This goon was taking too much enjoyment at playing hide and seek, and was starting to irritate me. But he had the advantage, and it was only a matter of time before he stopped playing around and started drawing blood. I had to take that advantage away, somehow. Many of my omni-tools functions could make a spectacular light, but without a target or direction, it would only be a waste of energy. Even overloading my flashlight would only last a few seconds, and leave me defenseless.

“Storm,” Dexter whispered, “can’t you see him with your scanner?”

“He’s moving too fast. I’m only catching glimpses of him.”

“Can you predict where he goes?” I asked.

“I don’t think I- Wait! South, watch out!”

My ears caught sound of...something, skidding along the rocky walls. It was close, but not close enough to tell where it was exactly. Quick muffled steps sped along, towards a familiar area, where South was still recovering from the last assault. I aimed my light in her direction, just in time to see her head crane upwards suddenly to Firestorm’s warning. The movement quickened, punctuated with a bloodthirsty snarl.

So of course it was then, when my friend was probably in mortal danger that I got an idea. An idea that even the most insane minds would declare as reckless, foolhardy and unbelievably stupid. Had I not had a working knowledge of shield technology, or engineering at all, I might have come up with something else, something better, but all I could come up with now was going against the basic principle of my trade.

I needed to break something incredibly valuable, and potentially live saving, to save a life.

“South!” I shouted with little hesitation. “Don’t hate me for this!”

“Whut are you-”

I didn't bother to give her a chance to react, much less reply, lest she try and do something even more reckless or stupid than my own boneheaded idea. With my tool aimed right at her, I fired another bolt directly at her, striking her shields with a booming crack. The blue barrier surrounding her coalesced around her in retaliation of the attack, but shattered due to the overwhelming surge of energy. Tendrils of sparks arced in all directions at the shields failure, lighting up the area around South in a torrent of bright blue.

And crashing into the face of a very surprised dog.

The violent release of energy found a new home in the airborne hound, flowing through his flesh like metal to a magnet. His fur went rigid with the excessive charge that coursed through his body, causing his limbs to seize and his trajectory to become skewed. He crashed into the ground hard, going limp mere feet from South. His legs twitched spastically, as the smell of burning hair and flesh filled the air.

I rushed over to South, who was still lying on her side. She rolled back and and forth slowly, her helmeted head turning in various directions as I approached. “South! Are you ok?”

“”Shep..ard...” she groaned through a damaged radio. I made it to her side attempting to help her up, but she batted my hoof away.

“Iffin’ it wernt fer the grace o’ you bein’ mah commandin’ officer, Ah‘d kick you so hard ya’d land into next week.”

I smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. C’mon, let’s get you up.”

The others gathered around as I helped South to her hooves, ignoring any further complaints. Firestorm held a hoof over her mouth as if she were trying to stifle a laugh, an act completely useless due to the fact she was still wearing her helmet.

“Wow Shepard,” she chuckled, “that was...quick thinking.”

I turned my head sharply to make sure the weak smile that made its way onto my face was unseen by South, who was still a little shaky on her hooves. “It wasn’t one of my best ideas...”

“Ya can say that again.” South grunted.

“I don’t know, South,” Firestorm continued, failing to hide her increasing laughter. “I certainly thought it was a bright idea!”

Even Dexter couldn’t help but snicker a little, as Firestorm burst out laughing, falling over and rolling around on the ground. South growled loudly and turned towards the next tunnel. The Pegasus continued her boisterous laughter as she went down the darkened path. As she reached the end of my light, she turned back.

“While Firestorm spends her time makin’ bad puns, Ah’m gonna go take care o’ that Manticore! So unless any o’ you wanna help...”

The giggling subsided to a faint chuckle as Firestorm slowly regained her ability to speak. “Hah...hah..ok..heh..I’m...fine. “she panted. “We should...heh...we should go after her...”

“After you.” I politely allowed her to go first, utterly failing to conceal my impish grin.

She gave me a sideways glance, when her head heaved down slowly and a loud sigh echoed out of it. “You just want her to kill me first don’t you?”

“I didn’t say anything. But we’d better hurry before she has all the fun to herself. Especially if there are more Geld in there.”

“Are you two coming?”

We both stared at Dexter, who had moved past Firestorm and I, and was already moving down the dark tunnel after South. We shared a shrug, and started after him. Never a dull moment indeed.

My tool blurted that we had traveled at least a few kilometers towards the core of the rock, and had many more to go. With nothing but the singular tunnel to follow, our only option was to continue moving deeper into the cave. As we went along, we encountered a far more natural series of caves that the coerced miners may have used to save time. The tunnel walls were rough, wound with a series of cable shaped stone formations.

We spent most of our time following these stones that winded downwards into the core of the asteroid seeing as was our only indication of a direction. Well, the others followed them, somehow I managed to trip over one of them.

South, showing her rare ability to help, meandered over to me to help me up. When she reached out to grab me though, her hoof froze, instead grazing it across the thing I tripped over.

“That ain’t right,” she mumbled.

“What is it?” I looked critically at the cable. Nothing jumped out at me as strange, aside that it was the color of stone.

“This ain’t a rock, its a...a tree root!”

“What” I said blankly.

“Ah ain’t kiddin’, look!” She pointed to a section of its shell. There was a rough design etched in the exterior. A coarse pattern rippled across the entire length, one that could not have been machined by any method that I knew of.

“Its petrified, and thousands of years old, but there ain’t no way to call this anythin’ else but a root.”

“What would a tree root be doing here?” Dexter asked.

“Beats me.” South shrugged. She looked up at the cavern walls. She moved to towards it, rubbing a hoof against it. “This asteroid ain’t right. Some of these walls wernt cut by any equipment Ah know of. It’s like they were already here. Ah know some asteroids ain’t completely solid, but this place...” She turned her head slowly back to us.

“It ain’t natural.”

Firestorm walked over to examine the ‘root’ herself. “Maybe the asteroid originated from an Alicorn world. Some of the ground isn’t even rock, just compacted earth.” She gave the stony, petrified limb a light kick. “There’s probably more of these lying around on the ground, not just the walls, best to watch where we are going.”

She was right. Once I got back to my hooves, I noticed that from the walls and floor, dangling appendages hung loosely from the earthen wall. Similar vines clung to the sides of the tunnel, covering more of the ancient decaying remains of what used to be a mighty tree as the tunnel continued. The petrified stone appearance made them look like ageless carvings on what might have been a temple wall, but in here they were only reminders that time makes foals of us all.

We left the roots behind, picking up our pace back into the winding tunnels. I strained my eyes to see through the dark, but I could barely see more than a few feet in front of me or make out any discernable shapes. The only reason I chose not to turn on my flashlight was to avoid making our approach obvious to any who might be watching out for us. Firestorm managed to keep ahead of us, stepping over any obstacle in her way like it wasn’t there. I managed to keep up with her by following the glint of light reflecting off of her armor, and considering how closely the others were following beside me, they must have been doing the same.

We entered another chamber, by far larger and better lit than the others within the asteroid. The strange roots were in this room as well, but in much greater quantity. They wrapped and spun around overturned stones and uncovered slabs of metal, but many of the stony tendrils had been crudely sliced through. More mining equipment was laying around the room, but most of it was discarded haphazardly on the ground. Walking past it, some of it looked like it hadn’t been used recently.

We moved across the uneven ground, when a loud guttural voice carried over the jagged walls.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t where she is?’” it bellowed.

We cleared a corner just in time to see the Manticore from earlier, towering over a quivering Earth Pony. Several others, as well as a couple of Moles were huddled against a wall, shaking in fear from the roaring feline. He continued his tirade against the frightened miner, unaware of our presence as we approached slowly.

“I gave you two things to do; watch the girl and dig a hole. And you useless runts can’t do either of them right!”

“We-we’re sorry!” the stallion stammered. “We couldn’t dig anymore because of the strange barrier we ran into.” He pointed to the far wall behind him. I don’t know how I missed it before, but behind what appeared to be a recently opened crevice of rock was a bright purple field of energy. It didn't look much different from the atmospheric barriers from the Normanedy, but I couldn’t see anything through it. Lying in front of it was a small selection of drilling equipment, all of which had damaged nozzles or bent pneumatic heads.

“So when we couldn’t get through it, we asked the Unicorn. She said she would take a look at it, then she vanished!”

The Manticore swiped his massive paw at the stallion, sending him flying through the air into the huddled group. The group screamed in panic as the ferocious behemoth slowly approached, his tail dancing in the air.

“Excuses! That’s all you ponies and moles are good for are excuses!”

He lifted his paw high in the air, claws drawn, when a loud shot fired from beside me. It ricocheted off of a rock very close to the Manticore’s head. His uplifted arm froze, as he turned his head towards us. He glared at us, but none so much as Firestorm, who was leaning forward.

“Pick on somepony your own size, you great oaf!” she yelled.

He chuckled, turning his entire body to face us. “Big words for such a little pony.”

Slowly, he began to walk across the room circling around us with measured, deliberate steps. His small bat like wings fluttered menacingly, and his barbed tail lashed back and forth like a viper ready to strike.

“I see those two useless hounds couldn’t deal with you. I expected them to last longer than that, but twenty minutes?” His head shook disappointedly. “You know what they say...” He stopped, lining up perfectly between us. “Never send a dog...to do a lions job.”

He tensed suddenly, shrugging his shoulder. Much like Firestorms sniper harness, the Manticore lifted his massive paw back to pull a very large weapon forward and balance it over his back, aimed directly at us. While at a first glance, it looked like a massive slab of metal, the glowing red and whirring noises made it sound and look more than dangerous enough for me to take note. I dove to the right just as he opened fire, gouging a huge crater into the rocky ground where I once was.

The explosive weapon launched me further than I intended, and I ended up landing behind a small pile of rocks. I scrambled to my hooves in time to see the others dive the opposite direction, returning fire at the Manticore as he slowly but steadily advanced towards us. I peeked out at the carnage unfolding on the other side. My friends managed to find similar cover to protect themselves from the unwavering onslaught of the Manticore. However many shots they fired, and no matter how many of them hit, each shot either deflected off his shield, or bounced off his thick armor.

He stopped firing occasionally, but only to shout more insults at us as he continued his advance. “It’s cute that you ponies are trying to play war with the likes of me. Manticore are bred for combat! We eat, breath, and sleep combat, while you grass eaters are no better fit to walk upright, let alone fight!”

He loosed another blast from his gun, slowly chipping away our cover. “But you Shepard? Artemis paid me a pretty penny to make sure you end up dead. The amount he gave me, I expected you to be a challenge. But this?” Another shot crashed through the rock beside me. I felt whatever protection I had slowly dwindle before me as he continued his rant. “This is just sad.”

“Hey buddy!” South shouted. “Ya’ll talk too much!”

A stream of shots exploded from where the others were. Over and over the sound repeated, only slightly masking the feral grunts that accompanied it. I peeked out again. South was still leaning out of cover, her smoking weapon aimed at the stopped Manticore. He was still standing, but he had a noticeably sterner expression on his face. Blood trickled down his face over his eyes and into into his thick red mane. He licked away the crimson fluid through a sinister grin.

“Ya got spunk, pony, I’ll give ya that!” He commented darkly. “I’ll save ya till last if ya want, if only so I can take my time strangling the life from you.”

South spat defiantly at him, ejecting a molten red thermal clip from her smoking weapon. “Ah’d like tuh see ya try!”

And try he did. With a ferocious roar he charged towards South and the others. Ignoring their guns, he smashed into the rock that they would have once called cover, turning it into a rubble. Now beside Firestorm and Dexter, he lashed his paws at them, bashing them into each other. South ducked her head down from the swiping claw, barely in time, and rolled away as another strike crashed into the rock beside her.

He snarled at her, eyes narrowed. He stepped towards South, who in turn took her own step back. He lumbered past my hiding spot, moving along either unaware, or uninterested of my presence, keeping his gaze level with South. I looked at her, but with her helmet still on, I couldn’t tell if she were worried or she had intended this all along. All I knew is that she was slowly running out of room to back into, and the Manticores steps were far bigger than hers.

“You were saying?” he mocked. He was only a few meters away from South by now, who had less than a few meters of room left herself. Dexter and Firestorm remained motionless against the wall. There was nopony else to help, there was just me. Me, against an angry, psychopathic, war-frenzied Manticore. So I did what any rational pony would do when faced with impossible odds.

I charged at him guns blazing.

I swung my omni-tool at him, overloading what remained of his shields in an attempt to make my meager attack as effective as possible. My pistol blasted into his sides, crashing against his thick armor. He took little notice at my assault, shrugging away the attack like one would swat a mosquito. Emphasis on the swatting. His tail sailed into me, hitting my in my side. The world turned blurry as intense pain surged through me, but even it wasn’t enough to mask the fact that I was no longer on the ground.

I was airborne, flying high and far over the piles of rock and remains, falling further into the room. I thought I heard somepony call my name, but I couldn’t be certain as the numbness of the strike slowly began to take hold. I felt dull and cold, even as I landed some several meters away. On the hard ground, I didn’t feel much better. The Manticore made his point, painfully so, that I was nothing to him.

Something tugged at me, prompting me to lift my head. One of the miners had rushed to my aid, and was trying to help me up. His omni tool flickered on his arm, glowing a calming blue. I stared at the coalescing colors of the device, as I felt a soothing warmth overtake me. The sound of my own breaths was no longer deafening to me, and I glanced appreciatively at the one who aided me.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

I grunted and groaned, rolling over to attempt to get back on my hooves. “I’ll be fine...I think.”

More gunshots caught my attention. I looked in vain back to where South was, only seeing the Manticore moving from a slow trot to a steady lumbering gait. His gravely laugh echoed through the cavern, almost masking the sound of galloping hooves. South was running, faster than I’d ever seen her run. She climbed over more of the rocks to escape her pursuer, only provoking more cruel laughs.

The Manticore had holstered his weapon, as if he wanted to pointlessly chase South around to add to his twisted sense of fun. South had the speed and stamina to keep ahead of him, but the Manticore had stride and power. She hesitated to buck a storage crate into his path, but he swatted the metal container away as if it were made of tin. She tried again with an errant boulder, but the result was the same, the Manticore plowing through it like it wasn’t there with a swipe of his paw. His face had become matted with his own blood, covering nearly half of it in the crimson bile. And if that didn’t manage to slow this thing down, what would?

I scanned around, looking for anything that might help us deal with this hulking warrior. The miners were still huddled together behind their equipment. Most of it looked damaged, either fizzling slightly or leaking precious fluids. One device stood out, not bearing any of the cracked casings or broken drill heads of the others. I muscled my way through the crowd to the machine, reaching a control console.

“What is this?” I asked hastily.

“One of our last plasma drills.” somepony beside me answered. “It’s the only one that didn’t overheat before we gave up on that barrier.”

“So it still works?”

“It should...” he replied weakly.

“What would this do to a Manticore?”

There was no immediate answer. I faced the crowd, remarking their confused looks. The lead pony looked at me uncertainly. “If he didn’t have his armor...” He trailed off as he winced the unpleasant thought from his mind. I placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“I don’t care if it kills him or not, I just need to stop him.” I jumped at a nearby crash. South was still evading the Manticore, but she was running out of time, time I intended to give her.

I pointed at the drill, shouting over the worried murmurs of the group. “Help me move this, we only have one chance at this!”

We heaved against the base of the machine, twisting it slowly on its platform. I felt my grip weaken as the strongest of the group managed to push the large drill on their own. Not needed for that, I went back to the controls, preparing it to fire. I saw the Manticore closing on South, who was backed into a narrow corner. She was shaking her rifle, the radiance of heat billowing from it. I could see a ferocious grin in the felines face, as he moved within mere feet of my friend.

“Hey ugly!” I shouted.

He turned his head at me. He tilted his head, confusion on his face.

I gave him an angry glare. “Stay away from my friend.”

Realization dawned, but far too late. The whirring machine spun up quickly, the loud hum vibrating in my ears. Before the Manticore could move, the drill lanced a massive beam through the ground, slicing upwards across him. The ground erupted geysers of dirt and rock as the plasma cut through the rock. As the dust settled, what I saw was incomprehensible. He was still standing. A massive swathe had been cut through his side, melting through his armor and flesh like butter. Blood oozed from the wound, dripping to the rock underneath him. But he was still standing. Somehow this, thing, was still alive.

“Is that...all you got?” he grunted.

I stared in disbelief. I knew Manticore’s were hard to fight, even harder to kill, but this was ridiculous. He was bleeding far too much for a normal creature to survive, but he held it together, barely.He tried to walk, only to misstep and slip. He managed to right himself and stay standing, but the weary look on his face made it seem like it was becoming an increasingly difficult task. I looked down at the controls of the drill. The screen was riddled with warnings and alerts. I hopped off, seeing that it was no longer any use to me. Now, we needed a miracle.

A large CRACK came from the entrance, and I turned just in time to see a rock nearly half his size flying towards him. It shimmered with a magical green glow as it hurtled through the air, striking the Manticore in the side. He roared in pain as the boulder smashed into him, collapsing to his haunches. His head wavered, drooping and swaying in circles as his forepaws quivered to maintain his posture, but eventually lost that battle and slumped forward.

The rock had widened the hole in his side, but the bleeding had slowed. His breathing began to fade into low, raspy wheezes. He managed to slowly lift his head, looking at me. He eyes were heavy, as he tried to glare at me through a half lidded stare.

“Killed by a damned pony...what a way to go...”

His head collapsed to the ground, and his body went still. I released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding, and trotted swiftly over to South, who was still frozen against the wall, staring at the dead Manticore.

Firestorm and Dexter also showed themselves at last, none the worse for wear. Firestorm’s hoof was cradled over Dexters back, who limped with every step. They took their time pacing around the Manticore, regarding it with a slow, cautious stare.

“You two alright?” I asked.

Firestorm managed to nod, but Dexter only managed to shake his head. Firestorm stopped to lay him down, then turned back to me. “It’s good to see that you guys are ok too.” She turned to the corpse. “And to kill a Blood Claw Merc, too. Not bad.”

I laughed weakly. “If it wasn’t for that rock that Dexter tossed, I doubt we would have.”

Dexter coughed, straining to bring his gaze to mine. “I didn’t throw any rock.”

“Uh, Shepard.” South interrupted. “Ah wuz about t’ say. Isn’t Dexter’s magic blue?”

The realization struck hard. How did I not realise it at the time? Playing it over in my mind, South was right. The rock was indeed thrown by a distinct green aura. I looked back at the remains of the Manticore and the rock that had felled him.

“If you didn’t throw it, then who did?”

“Um...’ a weak voice interjected. “Excuse me?”

I turned back to the small group of miners behind me. They looked mostly relieved that their captor was dead, but the one who had helped me up was pointing wildly at something. I followed his hoof back to the broken wall, where the purple barrier was still standing. What I didn’t remember, was the bright green orb hovering in front of it.

“Behold!” a loud, echoing voice bellowed. The strange orb shifted and warped into a series of odd shapes, glowing brighter and brighter.

“It is by the mighty grace of the Alicorn that you are spared! To spill blood on the sacred ground is a crime punishable by death! Only if you leave now will your transgression be forgiven!”

The orb grew in size, as a strange form began to shape within the light. A pair of eyes peered through the haze, as a equine form manifested around them.

“Well, Shepard?” South asked, breaking the silence between us. “Ya’ll is probably th’only one t’ see an Alicorn b’fore. Is that one?”

South had a point. To date, nopony had ever seen any evidence of what the Alicorn had looked like. There was no doubt that the regal looking creature that I had witnessed from the relic vision was a creature never seen in Equestrian space, but was it an Alicorn. The glowing shape in front of me shared many similarities with that of my vision. It was a slender creature, with long legs and a strange, rippling mane. But the similarities ended there.

Instead of wings, this creature had a set of long spindly tendrils growing from where its spin would be. They wriggled and coiled menacingly in the air, reaching far from its host to grip at the nearby walls. The horn was also different. Instead of a finely honed point, this things horn formed a deadly curve, complete with a sharpened, jagged edge.

“I will not repeat myself again! Leave this place now if you wish to see the light of the stars again!”

“You aren't an Alicorn,” I stated calmly.

The image seemed taken aback, but moved forward with an aerial stomp. The cave shook, bringing dust and rocks down on our heads, as the “Alicorn’s” mane writhed and grew like fire.

“You dare to resist the will of the Alicorn?!” it shouted, drawing closer to us. Several more rocks surrounding us began to lift into the air on their own, enveloped in the same greenish glow.

“Your insolence will be your deaths!”

“Shepard?”

Dexter managed to stand on his own, and stood beside me. “Somethings not right here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The magic...it isn’t focused around that...thing.”

I looked back at the glowing image. It was drifting closer, its arsenal of floating rocks slowly beginning to spin.

“So that means...what exactly?”

Dexter gazed around the room, stopping on a small stone near his hooves. His magic snatched the tiny rock from the ground, lingering in the air just beside him.

“Firestorm,” he asked. “Think you can dodge those rocks if they come at us?”

“Why?” she replied, turning her head sideways.

“Cause I need you to fetch this.”

The rock in his telekinetic grasp took off like a bullet, soaring through the glowing apparition harmlessly, It ricocheted across the rocky walls, disappearing into the distance.

The guardian roared in anger at being attacked by the stony projectile. “You have sealed your fates! Die!”

“Are you serious?” she snapped.

“Just do it, trust me!”

As predicted, the glowing rocks began to spin wildly in the air, before launching towards us. The workers screamed in panic as the volley of stones hurtled towards us. Firestorm lingered a moment, watching the rocks flying towards us, while Dexter continued yelling at her.

“Just go! I’ll deal with these!”

He stepped forward, taking hold of his magic once more. A bright sphere began to form around us, radiating a quiet hum through the cave. Firestorm, seeing that the rest of us were not in immediate danger, took off in an aerial charge towards the angered guardian. Much like Dexters stone, she sailed through the green specter like it was only air, dodging past the soaring rocks with practiced ease.

The guardian turned to follow her as she sailed past and reached the far side of the room. “No! Stay away from there!” it shouted.

Firestorm disappeared into the darkness of the far side of the cavern. The zealous spectre turned its attention from us, chasing after the pegasus. The boulders flying at us lost their magical projection, losing their velocity. They slowly lost their height, before landing harmlessly into the ground in front of us with a loud thunk! Dexter dropped his shield, and took off after the guardian and Firestorm, leaving South and I to follow him wordlessly.

“Firestorm!” I shouted. “Are you ok?”

A brilliant flurry of green sparks exploded from above, as the apparition above us flickered in and out of existence. It screamed in pain, as it seethed in rage. Its shape bubbled and warped, and its luminescent face contorted in agony as it struggled against a new threat. The spectral monstrosity twitched, before it began to tear itself apart, vanishing into a cloud of emerald mist.

We found Firestorm in the dimly lit tunnel, staring into the darkness. The lamp from her helmet was on, pointed into a small crevice in the rock. Something flashed from within, a glimmer of light reflecting off the shining light. We approached carefully, and as we did, I heard something. It was a sound I was all too familiar with. Rapid, irregular, shallow breaths, tempered by the futility of trying to hide it. It was the sound of fear.

“Stay away!” the lingering voice screeched. “Pay no attention to the pony behind the wall!”

Firestorm sighed, moving quickly over to the small hole. “I’ve had about enough of this!” she barked. She fished her hoof into the small hole. Soft, fearful squealing emitted from within, as Firestorm struggled with whoever was inside. After a few moments of rustling and screaming, the pegasus succeeded in pulling a small Unicorn mare from the cavern wall.

She tumbled out of her hiding space, landing flat on her stomach. Her widened eyes peered up at us quickly, darting between us. Thick, black circles underlined her eyes, but they did little to soften the absolute panic in them. Her tangled, disheveled mane was a shimmering green. She was wearing a white uniform not too different from the one Doctor Chalkdust wore, which only slightly hid her onyx colored fur.

She scrambled away on her belly, trying to get back to her hole, only for Firestorm to step on her tail.

“Lady Midnight I presume?”

The Unicorn’s head twisted suddenly to face the Pegasus. “No!” she screamed. “NO! You can’t be here! You were supposed to run! You were supposed to leave!”

Dexter approached her calmly, a hoof outreached. “Take it easy, we aren’t going to hurt you.”

She tried to back away again, swatting Dexters hoof away in the process. “No! Either you will hurt me, or he will! There isn’t any saving me. Unless I bring him what he wants! That means you have to leave!”

“Sorry,” Dexter said apologetically. “But we can’t do that. We only want to help.”

The frightened mare’s eye twitched. “The only way you can help...is...to...LEAVE!!!”

Her horn began to glow brightly, as she sent out a lance of green energy towards us. I tried to jump out of the way, but it proved pointless, as a blue bolt blasted from Dexter, meeting the Unicorns’ head on. I could hear him grunt with struggle through his helmet, as he braced himself to the ground to maintain his balance. The rest of us watched on as the two magical adversaries pitted their powers against each other. I was surprised that Dexter was actually holding his own against a full fledged Unicorn, but the swaying in his stance hinted that he wasn’t going to be able to keep it up for long.

I was even more surprised when South casually walked up to the Unicorn, and promptly bashed her in the head with the side of her rifle leg.

The Unicorn gave a weakened squeal, before collapsing to the ground. Firestorm quickly leaned down to examine her, while Dexter wheeled on South.

“South!” he snapped. “That was completely unnecessary!”

The soldier shrugged. “In case ya’ll fergot, there’s this asteroid, maybe ya heard of it, careenin’ t’wards this big ol’ planet. And there’s a fancy Alicorn relic inside it too, and a bunch o’ mean ponies tryin’ t’ stop us from gittin’ it.”

She trotted away from us back towards the miners and the barrier they had uncovered. “So while ya’ll try and play nice with little miss crazy Unicorn, Ah’m gonna see tuh gittin’ this job done.”

Dexter watched her leave, no doubt with a contemptuous glare underneath his helmet, then looked at me.

“You can’t honestly tell me you approve of that?”

I stared in thought, occasionally glancing between South and the angry Lieutenant.

“No, I don’t,” I replied, shaking my head. “But she is right, we’re running out of time.” I looked at the unconscious mare beside him. Her face no longer looked panic stricken as she slept, as if somehow, now that her worried mine was resting, she was finally at peace.

“Can you two carry her? We need to talk to her in a less stressful setting.” I noticed a freshly forming lump on the top of her head. “After Chalkdust has a look at her.”

“I got her,” Dexter said quickly. He focused his magic again, wrapping it around the Unicorn and lifting her gently from the ground onto his back.

“Now let’s go see about that barrier. Something tells me its got something very interesting behind it.”

Back in the main chamber, we found the remaining miners huddled together near the glowing barrier. As we approached, they turned to us, not with fear, but with relief. They started to move towards us, when they glanced past me, suddenly halting. Their eyes were filled with concern, focused on something behind me. I turned to see Dexter, with the unconscious Unicorn hanging off his back.

“It’s ok,” I assured them. “She’s out cold. We shouldn’t have any problems with her anymore.”

The group of them eyed the Unicorn uncertainly, stepping away from her as Dexter approached. South chuckled loudly at their worried glances.

“Ah’d like t’ see her wake up after the wallop Ah gave her!”

I glared at her. While I understood her motive for disabling the potential threat, she didn't need to be rubbing it in. She shook her head and meandered over to the hole in the wall where the barrier was. I turned back to the workers, who started looking uncertainly at South as she trotted past them.

“What I’d really appreciate is any ideas that you have to get through that.”

I pointed a hoof at the purple obstruction blocking our path. Up close, it looked spherical, like a giant bubble encased within the rock. Its bright coloring also concealed anything that was behind it, making it impossible to see through and see if there were any dangers inside.

One of the miners scoffed, pointing at the machinery aimed at the barrier wall. “As you can see...” he commented dryly. “That thing ate up all of our equipment. Even our most expensive plasma drill couldn’t get through it. And you went and overheated it, so we’re kind of out of options.”

I walked over to the stockpile of materials. I was no expert on digging through earth and stone, but what my expertise did recognise was obvious. This stuff was broke as hell. I shook my head, looking back at the barrier.

“We could always use them Dynamo’s” South said, pointing at a stack of metal cylinders stacked against the wall.

“And probably blow up what we’re trying to get.” Firestorm retorted. “Explosions don’t always solve our problems, South.

“Sez you,” she snarked.

“So any ideas on how to get through, Shepard?”

Dexter stopped between me and the shield, shrugging his shoulder every so often to make sure the mare was still secured on his back.

“I doubt anything I can do will get through this.” I waved my omni-tool at the wall, trying to get any kind of reading. All I got in return was a bunch of nothing, mixed with a heavy dose of magical interference.

“This thing is magical in nature. That’s your field of expertise, Dexter.”

“Hmm, well there might be something I can do.” He moved up to the barrier, placing a hoof against it. His body began to glow blue, as his magic poured from him and slowly leeched into the glowing wall. The field began to hum loudly, absorbing the blue hue of Dexters magic into its own, deepening in shade. This continued for a while, when a loud cracking noise thundered through the cave. Dexter hopped back from the wall, shaking his hoof.

“Ow!” he exclaimed. “I don't think it liked me doing that.”

I walked beside him, peering at the wall. Whatever Dexter had done was steadily undoing itself, the darkened hue fading back to its original purplish tones.

“What did you do?”

“I was trying to decipher what kind of spellwork we’re looking at here. It’s kinda like looking at its blueprints, but for spells.”

“Oh.” I had to admit, that was kind of clever, being able to apply scientific reasoning to the realm of magic. Magic was far beyond my understanding, outside of fairy tales and myths, so it was nice to have a Magitech of our own to sort this out.

“Shepard, “ he continued, a stern tone overtaking his voice. “Whoever made this barrier was immensely powerful. The spell weaving is complex, I doubt any Unicorn today could do something like this. And its still this strong despite being so ancient.”

“Wait, you can tell how old it is?”

He shrugged. “Not a precise age, no, but yeah, its old. Like, Alicorn old.”

“Well then whut are we gonna do?” South grated. “It’s not like we can jus’ sit here poundin’ on it all day.” She punctuated her frustrations with a hoof punch to the barrier. A loud electric noise filled the air, as it ushered a response in the form of a bolt directly at South. She yelped as the small jolt zapped her, causing her to trip and fall over.

Firestorm started to laugh, as I rushed to help South up. Her legs kicked and twitched, even coming close to sweeping me off my hooves as well. I navigated around her flailing limbs, placing my hoof against a wall for balance while I tried to get South back up.

“Shepard!” Dexter shouted. “What are you doing!”

I froze, halting my aid. I slowly turned my head to my outstretched hoof, realizing that I had unwittingly placed it onto the glowing barrier. Before I could take it away though, the glowing wall began to mirror Dexters earlier spell, seeping its aura into me. I felt a fluid warmth overtake me, as a small, probing feeling pricked at my mind.

A spark of light flashed before my eyes, followed by the sound of a slowly fading hum. I opened my eyes slowly, and found that the barrier was fading away. As the shimmering purple began to dissipate, I could see what lay through it. The crevice appeared to extend deeper into the rock, opening into a well lit chamber on the other side. The tunnel was narrow, but wide enough for us to travel one by one. Regardless of that little issue, the news was good.

“How did you do that?” Disbelief was the only thing I recognized in Dexter’s voice as he walked up beside me.

I looked back at him. “I have no idea. It felt like...like the barrier knew who I was. Like I was a...friend.”

“Maybe the relic back on Equestria Prime did more than give you memories.”

Could that have been it? Chalkdust did mention significantly strange readings on my brain after I had woken up from the relic. Considering the headache it gave me, there was little reason to disprove it. There was little to get excited about when you are face with the possibility that an ancient piece of technology might have rewired your brain.

“I’ll have Chalkdust take a closer look once we get back to the Normanedy. For now, I think we should take this chance to get what we came for and get out of here.”

We all stared into the darkened crevice, and at the lit room beyond.

“After you, Shepard.”

I can't remember who said that, not that I really mattered. All I knew is I was going in first, regardless of if I wanted to or not. The joys of being the ‘hero’, and with Alicorn shield breaking powers to boot. Who better to send in? Before I proceeded, though, I turned back to the workers, who merely stared on in wonderment at us.

“If the rest of you have your breathers, our ship is waiting just outside the cave to take your out of here. There are no Geld left in the way, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

I hailed the Normanedy. “Shepard to Normanedy, we’re sending the last of the miners to you. We found the relic chamber and are going to check it out, over.”

The radio only hissed static back to me.

“Bah,” I groaned. “Too much interference from the asteroid.” I looked at the workers. “Can you tell them that we’re going to be right behind you after checking this out?”

They nodded, moving as a group towards the way we came to leave the rest of us to the task at hoof. With nothing left to distract us, I crawled into the narrow passage, moving slowly as the rocky walls grinded against my armor. South filed in behind me, but I couldn’t tell who followed behind her in the cramped space. I kept a steady pace, not wanting to rush into anything dangerous. The light at the tunnel grew brighter, faster than my eyes could adjust from the dimly lit caves.

I stumbled out of the tiny space into a wide open chamber. I looked around, identifying the light sources as a series of brightly glowing runes along a rounded wall, that made the room look like a giant stone dome. A draft carried across the room, bringing a strange smell to my nose. It was a refreshing smell, like a calming summer breeze. I heard the rustling of leaves, bringing my attention to the center of the room. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, as I stared in bewilderment at a large, towering oak sitting in the middle of a small grassy field within the chamber.

“Is that...” I heard from behind.

The others slowly filed into the room behind me. They all slowly took off their helmets, revealing their faces with a similar expression to mine. The tree was fully in bloom, with thick green leaves rustling vibrantly on the many branches. Its limbs twisted high into the ceiling of the chamber, swaying by the power of a phantom wind.

“I guess this is where those roots came from.” Firestorm mused.

“But...it’s still alive!” South added, disbelief ringing in her voice.

My eyes traced the length of the trunk, eventually reaching the core of the tree. One of the lower limbs was covered in wood paneling, which looked like a roughshod balcony, complete with a glass paned doorway. At the base of the tree was a large, solid carved door that swung listlessly in the errant wind that circled the room. A placard sign hung loosely from a damaged frame nearby, displaying a large painting of a book.

Despite the natural decay of neglect, the tree house looked surprisingly well preserved, considering the amount of time it would have had to be in here. I moved closer to the swinging door, surveying the area carefully. I heard the crunch of leaves and grass behind me, reassuring me that I wasn’t approaching the strange building alone.

Reaching the door, I pushed it aside with a gentle tap of my hoof and peeked inside. The room inside was decorated with many shelves, lined with various books. A small wooden table and a set of matching chairs was overturned on one side of the room. The room was devoid of dust or other debris that time would being, even in such a strangely manipulated environment.

“Is this...” Dexter intoned. “A Library?”

“And somepony left some of the books behind...” Firestorm added dryly.

“Why would t’ Alicorns have a Library like this?” South pointed out. “Wern't they more advanced than us?”

I took a few more steps into the room. The wooden floor creaked and groaned, and my hooves clopped loudly as I trotted across it. “It probably was an act of preservation. This place might have been in some sort of temple garden before it ended up out here.”

I stopped suddenly, something suddenly coming to mind. “The question is, how on Earth did this get out here in the first place?”

“Considering the power behind that shield, I don’t doubt it would be difficult for somepony to put this out here.”

“I’m more interested in what they tried to accomplish putting this out here.”

I trotted over to the shelves, taking out one of the books. It was worn and well read, but the symbols on it might as well have been gibberish. The Alicorn alphabet looked simple enough, but we were still some time away from fully understanding their ancient language.

“I bet an Alicorn researcher would give his full set of hooves to be in this room.”

“We should probably take some of it with us.” Dexter commented. “If any of these belonged to the one who made that shield, I’d like to learn a little bit more about them, if we could translate it.”

I placed the book in my saddlebag, and went back to looking around. From the middle of the room, I could see a broken staircase leading up towards an upper landing of the abode. Seeing no easy way to get up there myself, I waved Firestorm over. “Hey Firestorm, c’mere.”

She trotted beside me, following my eyes to the inaccessible area. She grinned, as she started to beat her wings to lift off. As she did though, I started to hear a loud groaning noise rumbling beneath me. Firestorm didn’t stop however, either unaware or too focused on the landing to notice. She launched off the ground with a powerful kick, causing the ground beneath me to creak and groan, before a large crack erupted from underneath me.

The wooden ground gave way, splintering and shattering under the stress of two heavily armored ponies. Firestorm eventually noticed what was happening, but was too slow in attempting to reach for me, just barely missing my hooves by inches. I fell through the floor into darkness, barely having the time to scream before I quickly hit a painful bottom.

I landed onto my stomach with a crash, as the fragile building material crumbled under me. I slowly lifted my head upwards, seeing the light from the room casting into the dank cellar I had fallen into, pair of blue eyes peering down at me.

“Shepard!” she shouted. “Are you ok?”

I watched her flit about in the air, readjusting her self as she attempted to enter the hole, but being larger than I, had little success in getting through, not without making the hole bigger at least.

“I’m fine,” I shouted back. “I just found the basement.”

“Do you see anything?” I heard Dexter ask from the floor above. “A way back up?”

I looked around, trying to make out anything from the limited light of my omni-tool. The room was as bare as the others, showing the same signs of hasty eviction. Dust and other debris littered the stony floor, masking scuff marks and grinded rock as if something large and heavy were swiftly displaced. I traced the marks along the ground with a hoof, following them into the room. Looking up, as my eyes grew accustomed to the dark, noticed the faint silhouette of a door on the far side of the room, at the top of a narrow stairwell.

“Yea” I replied to my friends. “I think I did, just gimme a sec.”

I carefully made my way across the room, circling around the center of the room towards the exit. Nearer to the stairs, I felt something hard and round under my hooves, nearly stumbling over it. I examined it closer, recognising the small cylindrical object as a power cable. Out of curiosity, I tugged at it, and was met with a sturdy resistance towards the center of the room.

My intrigue piqued, I followed the length of cable, discovering that it led me to a large stone edifice sitting in the center of the room that I had not noticed before. It was an interesting piece of carved stone, cut with interesting and familiar designs.

“Guys?” I called out. “ I think I found the relic!”

“What?” Dexter replied. “Are you sure?”

“Its kinda hard to mistake one of these once you’ve seen them before!”

“Is it active?”

I opened my mouth to respond, when a low, throbbing hum answered in my stead. My eyes widened as the familiar noise reached my ears, and I started to back away slowly.

“Shepard! What’s going on!?” Somepony screamed. Anything else they said went unheard as the relic began to pulsate louder, steadily beginning to glow, this time a deep blue. I felt a presence wash over me, a force creeping over and taking hold of my entire body. I scraped madly against the ground as I slowly lifted from the ground into the air. Knowing full well what was coming next, I tried to brace my mind, however one does that.

The storm of thoughts came quickly and suddenly, as before. Again, the emotions and fears of thousands, if not millions of living beings filled my mind, replaying the horrors of the previous relic in the front of my brain. Glimpses of pain, torture and panic flashed in front of my eyes, accompanied by sounds of screaming, agony and hysteria. The violent scratching of my head forced so much information into my head as it felt dangerously close to bursting.

When it all came to a head, I returned rudely to earth. I landed prone, my swaying head trying to maintain balance as the relic ended its torment on my mind. As the visions faded from my eyes, I slowly recognised my surroundings. The relic lay before me, no longer emitting the throbbing noise, and had stopped glowing. It shimmered with static electricity, as the small lights along its shell began burning out, one by one, until they all ceased to function.

I looked around the room, noticing that the door I was heading to was now burst open off of its hinges. Beside me was my friends, shouting at me and between each other, as they circled me slowly. My ears were ringing, and I could only hear some bits of what they were saying.

“Shepard! Are you ok?”

“Can you stand?”

“Whut did ya see?”

I shook my head, and waved my hoof dismissively at them. I slowly got back to my hooves, refusing their attempts to aid me with a swat of my leg.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t as bad this time.”

I stumbled and staggered on my hooves, swaying back and forth drunkenly. Somepony caught me, but I instinctively brushed them away again.

“I said I’m fine. Totally fine, I just need a nap. Perfectly fine.”

When everything started falling sideways, though, I knew that it would be remiss of me to not admit later when I woke up, that I was most definitely not fine.

Engineer Skills Upgraded: Your Overload ability now has a chance to affect an additional target, regardless of the primary target. In addition, your Overload sabotages enemy weapons, overheating them and rendering them incapable of firing.

Dixie De-light: Renegade points earned.

Codex Entry Added: Manticore

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8
Comments ( 17 )
Quillery
Quillery #1 · Nov 16th, 2012 · · ·
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Because everyone has been super patient with me (or secretly planning a revolt) I present this chapter a day early, for your reading pleasure.

G S tol Kriaal
G S tol Kriaal #2 · Nov 16th, 2012 · · ·
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EDIT: Second? Second. Wow

Cleaning out a overrun facility

Should be "an"

that might of slowed us

This is a common one; should be "have"

he sent with me, i’ll promise

cAps derp :derpytongue2:

I wasn’t sure what I recognized them as,

If he wasn't sure, then he didn't recognize them as anything

panicking ponies, They slashed

Period, not comma. Also, it sounds like both entered crowd, but only one was in it

scarcely reacted
as the flurry

Um...

seemed light a needle

:facehoof: At least you didn't say "needle of like"

rough, winded with a series

The word you want is "wound"; "winded" means something else entirely

my meger attack

"Meager" has an a in it

“No! Stay away from there!” it shouted.

Is this supposed to be bold? 'Cuz it isn't

only thing i recognised

Missed caps, and the s should be a z

you are face with the possibility

Forgot a d

“Wernt they move advanced

Dropped an apostrophe, and the v should be an r

Wow that's a lot. But it was a long chapter so dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png

Dead_Page
Dead_Page #3 · Nov 17th, 2012 · · ·
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Man, these chapters just keep getting longer.
I love it.

Rodinga
Rodinga #4 · Nov 17th, 2012 · · ·
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I'll say this for this chapter: "Manticore Charging!" :pinkiegasp:

Interesting find, I wonder what shepard learned from this...

Quillery
Quillery #5 · Nov 18th, 2012 · · ·
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1400310

Its these kind of comments that I crave. Asking questions like this, in any quantity tells me that my writing is leaving readers with wonder, and the desire to know what happens next. Even with the established cannon of Mass Effect, and the established Setting of Pony, I'm really hoping I can pull off something truly unique between the two and continue to leave people guessing. I enjoy being connected with my readers, because you are what makes me an author. Without an audience, I;m just some schmuck with a word document.

To answer your question: Yes I intend to cover all three games, whether or not I will split them up into three separate stories though, I don't know yet.

I also intend to use most of the DLC's content in someway, but [SPOILERS]

Time will tell.

ultra1437
ultra1437 #6 · Nov 20th, 2012 · · ·
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1636392
I just finished reading this update now, and i never got a notice that you replied to my comment. :twilightblush:
You're also not 'just some schmuck with a word document,' you're a writer. Part of the reason i'm not an author is i lack the imagination and creativity for it, but it doesn't stop me from reading (and writing my 'walls of comment') fics that pique my interest.

One question, are Manticores the analogue of Krogan in your story? If so, i guess 'mutts' would be the Vorcha equivalent then too.

You never cease to amaze me with the amount of detail you put into each scene as well. It's much more detailed than about any other crossover i've ever read. I have a feeling not unlike a movie playing in my mind after i read a chapter.

Quillery
Quillery #7 · Nov 21st, 2012 · · ·
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1651999

I would have to say to use the word analogue at face value, but yes, from a world building stand point Manticores are indeed coming from the krogans mythos. How their culture is built, what is their primary drive is as a race and everything in between, like all of the races that will appear, will be different from their Mass Effect counterparts. Some might be only slightly different, some might combine parts of other races, either in biology or theology, or some might be completely different and unique entirely, it really all depends on how I fee about how each race will impact the story in what is essentially Equestria's far-far future.

Some of it is already planned, but not set in stone, some of it is still an errant thought in my head, waiting to be given life of its own. Once I begin to develop actual Codex entries, as displayed at the end of most chapters, then perhaps more light will be shed on exactly what the equestrian universe that we know has become. But unfortunately, because some plot points are based around, or at least strengthened by what the readers don't know about what is different. And Codex Entries might spoil that. I will do them eventually, when the time is right.

The "Alternate Universe" tag isn't used for a reason. Take that for what you will. :trollestia:

Vortex
Vortex #8 · Nov 22nd, 2012 · · ·
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Ho man, another great chapter, glad to see Shepard getting a little into the swing of combat even if it is only against silly Geld drones.
And Twilight's library, when the ancient tree roots and the purple barrier were mentioned a had a tiny suspicion it might have been the library but I was still pleasantly surprised when it was confirmed. Of course now we have the question of how Twilight managed to make a beacon and what exactly they are supposed to say. Can't wait for more.

The Apphole
The Apphole #9 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
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Is that last scene inspired by the "Wizard of Oz" in any way? It's pretty similar...

Shepard's finally getting some joy from combat. About time, too. He's pretty awesome when he's in the zone. I'm also pretty impressed that all of Shepard's team is involved and not just there. I'm actually having trouble visualizing a scene without one of them (that's something I often have little trouble doing). That unicorn going to be a bucket of fun; South and Firestorm are going to have a ball with her. Another great chapter, and I'm disappointed that I took so long to get around to reading this.

Quillery, some schmuck with a word document? You give yourself too little credit.

Also, 1651999...

If this has more detail than any other crossover fic you've read, then I highly recommend giving "Sweetie's Mansion" a shot. (I'd provide a link if you'd be interested, but I don't know how.) The level of detail there is on par with this one, and the atmosphere it creates is phenomenal.

ultra1437
ultra1437 #10 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1696490
Just giving me the full name (or most of it, if it's unique enough) of a story is plenty, the ways of google-fu are strong with some.

Also, to add a link, you must have the source URL (in this case: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/7526/Sweetie%27s-Mansion), and use the 'Add Link' button, it looks like this: fimfiction-static.net/images/icons/link.png , and if you have text highlighted when you click that, it automatically links the URL you paste into the box, when you finish, if you don't have text selected, a second will appear, asking for what the text you want to be used at 'face value'.

Link A: Straight URL copy, text and URL the same: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/7526/Sweetie%27s-Mansion
Link B: URL and text different: Link
Man, that was a bit off topic.

I don't read many crossovers, so my 'more detail than any other crossover' statement, isn't as impressive as i'd like it to sound. But, i digress... I'll give it a look-see, though it may be a while, i've got 20+ stories ahead of it in my read later list. I'm trying to clear it out, but they keep getting added with recommendations like this. I'm mainly a fan of PC game crossovers, as it's my main platform, when i do play. Doesn't mean i don't like to read about (or play on) other platforms though!

The Apphole
The Apphole #11 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
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1696848

Thanks. The sad part is, I plan on becoming a computer engineer, but I can't set up a hyperlink.:facehoof: Most other sites aren't that convenient.

Also, you're a PC gamer that's not an elitist jerk. I haven't run into many people like you.

ultra1437
ultra1437 #12 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1697980
No problem, I can 'understand' part of the 'PC Master Race' crap, but i just laugh at it. My original reasoning for going PC was that consoles are for more strict budgets and local multiplayer, which is perfectly fine. I don't have many friends locally, so i don't see the point in getting a console, other than the good exclusive titles. One other reason i play on the PC, is because of my powerful system. I tend to get multiplatform games on PC, for two reasons; mods and i can have a guide up on my second/third monitor if/when i get stuck on a section. It's not happened lately, but i did get two screens originally for helping with multitasking.

Hell, right now i've got a promised review of a fic on my second screen (not quite finished yet), while i'm reading on this firefox window. Two screens really helps for doing that, you can keep the source material on one, and type into the second.

The Apphole
The Apphole #13 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1698054

Meh, I still need to get out of high school (and through college) before I could even consider getting a good PC. That's on my to-do list, though. Two screens does sound quite appealing...

Quillery
Quillery #14 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1698228

Who needs two monitorswhen you have a 32 inchtelevision? :trollestia:

ultra1437
ultra1437 #15 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1699727
I've got two ~24 inch monitors, as well as i'm waiting on an HDMI cable to arrive for my 50 inch TV.

1698228
It's not too hard to set up, and is relatively inexpensive to do, compared to most computer upgrades. I will warn you now. Once you have two or more screens, you can never go back to one and be happy. Three+ and you can go down to two and be fine, but never back to one. Well, you can tolerate a computer with one, but you'll miss the second dearly, for all it can help you with.

The Apphole
The Apphole #16 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1699727

Who needs a television when you have the internet and YouTube? :raritywink: (Okay, I have a TV for my gaming consoles, but that's the only use my TV gets.)

The Apphole
The Apphole #17 · Nov 28th, 2012 · · ·
Reply

1700134

I believe you. The dual monitors setup always did seem superior to me, even though I've only read about it.

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