Ruins of a Forgotten Time

by Tekket

Chapter 2 - The Camp

Sweetie’s first impression of the base camp was rather disappointing to say the least. Two long tents had been erected on opposite sides of a long wooden table, and a fire pit had been created at one end. Only after she continued to look did she notice movement coming from the entrance of a nearby, slab-like building. She finally realized that most of the camp must be inside the structure, as several figures exited it to greet the newcomers.

First and foremost among them was a dark grey unicorn mare with a long, limp, red mane. She sported a prominent scar across one cheek, and looked like she had gotten it in a knife fight. A pair of saddlebags were strapped to her back, one bag open and filled with what appeared to be jagged black rocks.

The rest of the figures that came out included: a massive brown minotaur wearing a pair of yellow goggles and a hardhat, a length of rope wrapped around its torso; a pair of gryphons with slightly green and white feathers, nearly identical to each other, with metal gauntlets on their talons and dark brown saddlebags on their backs; and a naked mole rat wearing a large burly overcoat and the most peculiar wooden stick contraption on his shoulders that had probably been built from the firewood lying around the camp; as well as a small multitude of other ponies, all garbed partially in different types of safety gear, from hardhats to leather aprons.

“Lyra! Bon Bon!” the grey unicorn at the front of the group said, waving to the newcomers. Her voice was harsh, as if it pained her to speak, but no such pain showed on her face, and a somewhat eerie smile spread across it instead.

“Magma Burn! How’s everything been going? I heard you’ve been having trouble navigating the lower sections” Bon Bon replied cheerfully, trotting forward and giving the intimidating-looking mare a brief hug.

“Ah yeah, but nothing to worry yourselves over just yet. First let’s get you inside and unpacked. So these are the scientists you brought?” The dark unicorn swept her calculating gaze across the rest of the new explorers and scientists as they all came to a halt inside the base camp.

“Don’t give them a hard time, Burn,” Lyra called out, already walking past and heading inside the building the first expedition team had exited, “They’ve got a few surprises up their sleeves.”

Sweetie leaned closer to Lyra as she said this and whispered, “Um, Lyra, most of us aren’t wearing sleeves…”

“Oh don’t worry about it, it’s just an expression. Peo–ahem, ponies used to say it a long time ago.”

“Like, as long ago as when they made these buildings?” Apple Bloom pushed her way inside the slab-like building alongside Sweetie and Lyra, “Cuz I ain’t never heard ponies use that expression before, and mah Granny Smith says all sorts o’ things from way back in the ol’ day.”

“Ummm… I think the saying originated a bit before your Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, but good try anyway! Actually this city is estimated to be-”

“Estimated to be over seventy thousand years old, yes, and I was the one that did the calculations, thank you,” spoke up a tiny voice from the group’s left, which turned out to be the naked mole rat, who, up close, was actually even smaller than he had seemed, only reaching up to Sweetie’s chin, and she had to tilt her head almost straight down to look at him from how close he stood. He wore a large dark coat and the twig-apparatus on his shoulders had vanished to be replaced with some sort of miniature windmill. Apparently he’d followed the new group back inside, and brought a pair of spectacles down to his beady eyes as he waddled up next to Sweetie Belle, staring at her closely before he extended his claws in greeting. “The name’s Sir Obsidian, and what is your name, young miss?”

Sweetie slowly extended her hoof and shook his clawed hand, trying to lean back as far as possible and seeming to be very uncomfortable with how much attention she was suddenly getting. “Uh, I-I’m Sweetie Belle, um, nice to meet you, mister Obsidian.”

“That’s Sir Obsidian, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance as well. Tell me, what are those contraptions you seem to be lugging around? I’ve never seen anything like them!”

“Don’t mind Obby, he’s just fascinated by anything that isn’t ordinary… one of the reasons he’s here, instead of someplace else.”

The red-maned unicorn, Magma Burn, had returned, bringing up the rear of the newcomer’s group while most of the new arrivals began to disperse, looking for old colleagues or being shown around by the current dig members. Moving herself between Sir Obsidian and Sweetie’s cart, she glared at the mole rat.

“Keep your pesky claws off of her stuff. From what Lyra and Bon Bon tell me, she’s a very intelligent and accomplished inventor, as well as spellcaster. If I find out you’ve been going through any of the new ponies’ stuff, I’ll be sending you back to Canterlot in a matchbox. Got it?” As the dark grey unicorn finished, Sir Obsidian was busy shielding his face with his arms and begging for forgiveness, before he started backing up and waddling away, grumbling loudly to himself.

Leaning close to Sweetie, the older mare gave a small smile and winked. “That’s just Obby, don’t mind him, but keep an eye on your stuff. He’s a brilliant mind, no doubt, but he likes to poke around other ponies’ belongings where they start “mysteriously” ending up in states of disassembly.”

Straightening up once more, Magma Burn put on a bit of a scowl, and yelled at two ponies bickering over a sample of blue shards on a nearby table, after which she pointed Lyra to a set of huge stairs upon which a sort of barracks had been set up, although every surface was covered in cloth and fabric, and everything was covered in several more tent-like tarps.

Unhitching herself from her cart and moving into the large tent, Sweetie Belle noticed that all of the poles that held up the tarp were strung up with hammocks and there were no actual beds. Trotting over to an empty section of hammocks in one corner beside one of the stone walls, Sweetie looked around with the pale illumination provided by light crystals the ponies had brought with them.

“Why’s the floor all covered in tarps and cloths?” she asked, to no one in particular. Scootaloo, who had followed her in and was busy setting up her own little hammock with a pillow and stuffed rabbit toy she had brought with her, looked over and fielded a guess.

“Maybe it’s to make the place feel cozier and more like home? It is a little colder in here, even though it just rained a whole bunch. Actually, how did they manage to get a fire going so quickly after there was a downpour just an hour ago?”

“I dunno. Guess we’ll have to ask somepony when we see them. Let’s just get our stuff laid out first and then go meet with the rest of the camp. I think I’ve actually heard the name “Sir Obsidian” before, now that I think about it… just can’t figure where.”

The two ponies started unpacking their belongings and piling them next to poles from which unclaimed hammocks swung, before they were joined shortly after by Apple Bloom and Trickwing. The earth mare and the pegasus stallion were holding a hushed conversation, suddenly halting as they noticed the two friends.

“Oh hi, girls! We just overheard the main leader pony, I think her name was Magma Burn? Anyway, we just heard her talking to a couple other ponies from the ship about some kind of exploration party she was gonna be putting together later! We were just talking about where we thought the party would be going, and whether they’d let us join!”

“Hey, yeah! That sounds awesome!” Scootaloo said, looking back at Sweetie Belle, who was busily pulling several small machinations out of her saddlebags and placing them carefully on the ground beside the hammock she had claimed.

“What do you think, Sweetie? What better way to start our adventure here in Seskantor than by all going exploring together?” The orange pegasus smiled brightly, but Sweetie shook her head, an apologetic look on her face.

“Sorry, girls, but unless it’s tomorrow or later, I won’t be able to come. I’ve got to get all my stuff out of the cart and set up. It’s gonna take most of the day and I’d rather get it out of the way right away. That way if we need my equipment for anything, or I want to run any tests, everything will be ready and available just in case.”

Seeing the looks on her friends’ faces, she gave a small smile, “Aww, but you three go on ahead and explore a bit! I mean, if you end up being part of the exploration party, of course. I wouldn’t you want to stay behind just for my sake, I’ll join you all tomorrow, ok?”

Apple Bloom glanced between her friends and shrugged slowly before looking at her other two friends. “If ya say so, Sweetie. What about you guys? Ya wanna go see if we can make the list?”

Scootaloo and Trickwing jumped and happily yelled their affirmation, before Scootaloo and Apple Bloom trotted over to Sweetie Belle and embraced her in a group hug.

“You sure you won’t need any help unpacking any of this stuff, Sweetie? You know, we could help and then you’d have enough time to come with us.”

The orange pegasus quickly got her answer as the unicorn’s horn glowed and she and Apple Bloom were bodily lifted and moved several feet back.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! No offense, but you two aren’t exactly subtle or careful with fragile things, and most of my life savings have been put into the experiments and inventions I brought with me. I’ll be just fine unpacking everything on my own,” the unicorn said with a slight smile.

“Hey! We can be careful!” Scootaloo retorted.

“Scoots, I saw you faceplant on your way down from the airship this morning,” Sweetie deadpanned.

“That was different! I-hey! Apple Bloom, what’re you doing?” the orange mare protested as her earth pony friend started pushing her towards the flap in the tent that served as the door, chuckling lightly.

“Come on now, we don’t need to be arguin’. If Sweetie says she doesn’t need our help, then that’s fine. I almost killed myself just looking at one o’ those contraptions just the other day. We’ll see you after you’re done then, alright Sweetie?” she said, pausing at the tent flap and giving her unicorn friend a warm smile.

“Of course! You three have fun on your adventure!” she waved as the three ponies left.

Having no more distractions, Sweetie Belle went back to carefully levitating all of her machinations out of her wagon, as well as all of her various tools, protective equipment, and raw materials, and laying them all out on the floor. It didn’t take long for the strange cold of the stones underneath the cloths and blankets on the ground to start getting to her though, and soon her magic was starting to get affected because of it.

Huh, no wonder this place is covered in tarps. It’s freezing if you stand still! It wasn’t this cold when we were walking, I wonder why that is? I understand why all the beds are hammocks though, I wouldn’t want to sleep on this floor, no matter how many layers are on it.

Teeth chattering, Sweetie finally decided to take a break from assembling all of inventions around her hammock in a way that allowed ease of access and mobility, when she nearly dropped the carapace for a special project she’d been working on recently.

Maybe a short walk will get my blood pumping back into my legs. That ought to warm me up a bit… I hope. Maybe I’ll be able to get something warm to eat too, I just remembered we didn’t eat breakfast yet.

Shaking her head, she tiptoed carefully around all of her laid out work and stepped out of the tent, nearly running straight into Bon Bon. She quickly took a step back and apologized, while the other mare smiled and shook her hoof.

“Oh! Oops, sorry Bon Bon, I didn’t hear you walking around out here!”

“Ah, don’t mention it kiddo, these stones do all sorts of funny things. They muffle the sound of anything that strikes them, and they’re always cold to the touch, no matter how much they might be in contact with warm stuff. Trust me, I’ve tried. Me and Lyra were on the first voyage here, but we only spent a couple days helping the others get the base camp set up before we departed to bring more explorers. I was always cold my first time here, so I insisted on making Lyra constantly do fire spells to warm up the sleeping quarters, but nothing either of us did managed to make the rocks warmer.”

“Really? That’s really weird… why didn’t anypony bring mattresses or something thick enough so that the rocks wouldn’t affect them?”

“Well, we would have, but remember, the landing site’s a few klicks away and nopony wants to be making more trips than necessary, so we decided to just set up hammocks instead. Besides, from what some of the others already here have told me, they tried sleeping on many layers of blankets and it didn’t work out too well for them.”

Sweetie frowned slightly, a thoughtful look on her face, before she looked back at the long tent set up at the base of the massive stair, and following the steps up. She got lost in her thoughts of how one of her machines might be able to do something about the heating problem, but found herself looking up at the near-empty blackness that was the building’s ceiling.

Suddenly a new idea formed in her head that pushed all of their previous talk out.

“Hey Bon Bon, why is the ceiling so high? I could have sworn this building was way shorter than the ceiling up there when we were walking into it.”

The other mare craned her neck up and smiled as she figured out Sweetie’s predicament.

“Ah, see, that got me too when I first saw it. You might notice that it looks like there’s little blobs floating in the air there, or the fact that the staircase seems to be going up forever into the darkness, right?” Seeing the unicorn nod, Bon Bon continued, “Well, it just so happens that the stones and metal that make up all these buildings are slightly reflective, if very dark. I don’t know how it works, but any flat surfaces made of this stuff get more reflective the farther away you look at them from, and because it’s dark in here, the ceiling, is actually just faintly reflecting what’s on the floor, and reflecting what’s being reflected by the floor, which is the ceiling.”

Sweetie frowned and furrowed her brow as she tried to follow, and the other mare noticed.

“See from here it seems like you can’t see your reflection at all, but if you look closely it’s like a ghost of your hooves can be seen on the ground. From up there though,” she pointed at the ceiling, “if you look down, you can see the floor reflecting everything on the ceiling, and because both surfaces do a decent job at showing the other at a distance, but not from up close, it looks like the floor is a bottomless pit, while the ceiling looks almost exactly the same as the floor does to us when we’re down here.”

The older mare giggled and rubbed Sweetie’s head with a gentle hoof.

“Don’t worry about it too much though. There’s a lot of stuff here that most of us don’t understand, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the new experiences and discoveries here. I only spent a little while here, so I can’t answer much else if you have more questions.”

Sweetie shivered slightly and dropped her gaze back to Bon Bon before starting to walk in place to stay warm, the cold from before returning to her body in earnest.

“H-hey, Bon Bon, I have one more question. It’s not really all that cold here, but you were right, I was mostly just standing around inside and levitating things around and now my hooves are freezing. How are we supposed to stay warm here if the ground stays cold no matter what?”

“Oh, you’re cold? Oh jeez, I can’t believe I forgot to go over this on the airship.” Slapping a hoof to her face, the earth pony turned tail and quickly started trotting out to the entrance, calling for Sweetie to follow her.

As the duo neared the entrance, Sweetie thought she saw something slip out of sight behind a corner of one of the other corridors in the building, but a moment later when she looked down it, she saw nothing and simply shrugged, heading after Bon Bon. Maybe it’s another one of the strange properties of this place. Makes you see things that aren’t there.
As the pair moved into the central courtyard-like area of the camp, Sweetie sidled up to the campfire in an effort to warm herself slightly, but Bone Bon pulled her along towards a doorway to another building, where voices and shouting could be heard.

Inside, several ponies and a griffon were leaning over different stones and gems that lay on large slabs of what looked like meter-thick glass. Bon Bon however, led the young unicorn mare past the working geologists and to the last table, where a figure that Sweetie hadn’t noticed was working over a huge cluster of orange crystals, a large tome open beside them.

“Mister Obsidian!” Sweetie exclaimed and smiled, waving as she recognized the short mole rat from before. “What’re you doing with all these crystals?”

“That’s Sir Obsidian! And I am evaluating which of these crystals make for good heating accents. It is something that can only be seen with a good eye and experience, rather than being able to detect with magic. Now what can I help you two with?”

The short figure of Sir Obsidian stood on top of the glass slab and tapped his foot quickly, a small frown on his face while he looked Sweetie Belle in the eyes, before Bon Bon gave a small snort and caught his attention.

“Obby, quit it. We need a few heating accents, and you handle everything about them.”

“Hmph, fine, you can have some. But this had better be it! I’m not going to be stopping my work every few minutes just because somepony forget to get theirs!”

Hopping down on the opposite side of the glass block, Sir Obsidian went over to a bag and pulled out a handful of dark string, while several of the orange crystals hung underneath. Untangling them, he tossed a few over to Bon Bon, who caught them around her hoof and handed one to Sweetie.

Sweetie grabbed the crystal in her mouth and when once she had one by itself she realized it was a simple necklace, with the orange crystal hanging from it. Taking the hint from Bon Bon (who had just put one around her own neck), Sweetie Belle put her necklace on and instantly felt the cold melt away from her hooves, and the rest of her body seemed to heat up a bit as well.

“Wow! That feels so much better! I thought I was gonna freeze my flank off for sure. Thanks mist- I mean, Sir Obsidian,” Sweetie said with a smile, while the naked mole rat took a low bow.

“Now that’s more like it. You ponies should remember, I’m much more cooperative when I’m treated with a modicum of respect.”

"Is this the only way to stay warm here then?" Sweetie asked quizzically, tilting her head to the side. 

"Well, not entirely, but these crystals are turning up everywhere in some of the excavations, and they make for excellent heating accents. It’s a simple enchantment that allows these to heat the body comfortably constantly," Sir Obsidian explained, tapping his chest before he pulled out a crystal necklace of his own and letting it dangle from his claws.

“Although, technically, they just work on the principle that they continually add heat to anything that they are touching to keep it regulated…”

The naked mole rat started rambling on about the finer details of the ‘heating accents’ as he called them and Sweetie Belle was completely enraptured by every word, barely registering when Bon Bon said good-bye and something about giving the necklaces to Sweetie’s friends, her mind only belatedly realizing what she said and snapping her out of her trance.

Whipping her head around she found that Bon Bon had already left and Sir Obsidian was still talking, seemingly to himself, while Sweetie remembered that she had to finish unpacking and organizing all of her equipment.

Interrupting the mole rat from his discussion with himself, Sweetie excused herself and trotted back outside to get back to work, noticing that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were talking to the mare named Magma Burn near one of the tents.

Trotting back to the main building, she slowed when she heard voices down one of the hallways. Being stealthy was not a problem, as the strange materials that made up both the floor and walls seemed to drink up the sound of her hooffalls, while doing little to make the conversation she was hearing less audible.

Stopping just before a corner at a narrow intersection with an impossibly tall ceiling, Sweetie held her breath and listened intently while two voices tried, and failed, to argue quietly.

“… and who knows what else is lurking there? You’ve seen the signs, brother, don’t be so stupid as to think they’ve stopped.”

“As much as I agree that it is dangerous to continue excavating and exploring that area in particular, I cannot say the same about the surface. Everyone has said that despite the cold, they would much rather stay here than venture off, no matter how large the group is.”

“They say that, but what you fail to realize is that our part to play in all of this was to just keep the expedition safe from anypony who might try to undermine the team’s efforts here or take the dig out from under them. What we’ve seen is grounds for us to not only terminate our agreement, but enough to convince everyone else here that it’s not worth it. The ponies are scared, Theus. You can see it in their eyes, there’s only so long their curiosity will win over their fear. I don’t want to see things when those tables flip. We should leave now.”

“I understand your concern, Miserelle, but there have been no excursions from above the surface that have ever had any negative-”

“They’ve seen the eyes, brother.”

“What? Are you going on about those eyes you keep saying you see?”

“It’s not just me, Theus! I’ve spoken with some of the ponies after they’ve come back from their trips through the city! There are others who get the feeling of being watched, a few have even said they’ve seen the blue lights moving when they look!”

“That’s just paranoia, sister. The surface is safe. If you want, we can talk to Magma Burn about stopping the Depth excursions until we understand more of the city and can properly navigate, but you know she won’t let us just pack up and leave. It’s her last chance to make some worthwhile discoveries. It’s the only reason she hasn’t given in yet, and I believe we can help her, even if we only stay up here.”

The conversation had started to move off, but Sweetie could still make out fragments of what the two speakers were saying, though it had become unintelligible beyond the occasional word.

Peeking around the corner, she saw that the corridor ahead was completely empty, and that the voices seemed to be bouncing off the walls, occasionally making it seem like the owners of the voices were getting nearer, and sometimes farther.

On her way back to her hammock and spread out inventions and supplies, Sweetie couldn’t help but think at all of the new information she had learned. She was starting to feel like some of the ponies here were hiding a terrible secret, and she certainly wasn’t meant to know about any of it.

***

It was back in the makeshift tent beside her hammock that Sweetie noticed something was wrong.

She had nearly finished organizing all of her tools, and her inventions were laid out beside the dark blue wall in a neat row, with the largest creations at either end and the smaller ones between them.

Sweetie had wanted to organize them by size, but looking around at some of the strewn belongings of some of the camp's other occupants, she had decided to make them easily visible by putting the largest ones at either end, and lowering the chances that somepony might be clumsy enough to lean against the wall and step on something.

She was now placing her tools and supplies in orderly rows on the tool rack that had been buried at the bottom of the wagon when suddenly a tiny adjustment pin flew off the rack and landed without a sound on the tarp-covered floor.

If Sweetie hadn't been looking almost directly at it when it happened, she doubted she would have noticed.

Using her magic to pick up the pin and place it back on the rack, hanging on by a hook in its handle, she was about to place a heavy mallet on the row below it when the pin fell off again. This time it wasn't alone though.

A small screwdriver landed with a soft puff of air on the tarp and the small tinkling sound of her tools vibrating reached her ears.

Taking a hesitant step backwards, Sweetie watched as the lighter of her tools seemed to suddenly jump off their perches all on their own and clatter to the ground, but a few seconds later she started to tremble, her legs shaking slightly.

Looking down at her hooves, she realized that it wasn't she who was shaking, but rather everything else.

The tools began to rattle and clatter violently and bounce off the tool rack and the shaking became more pronounced, causing Sweetie to stumble. Realizing she was in danger of getting impaled by one of her tools if it flew off at the wrong angle, she bolted for the tent flap and looked up as she stepped into the flat-walled cavern of the building, before running for the entrance and stumbling over her own hooves every time the trembling increased.

Bursting out of the doorway, Sweetie tried not to hyperventilate as she felt like she was in a bouncy castle. Around her, it seemed that all the other occupants of the camp had the same idea, running into the open clearing from nearby openings as the ground shook with a violence she hadn't felt since the thunderstorm they had gotten caught in on the airship.

She felt the same now as she had then. The sound of the world groaning and roaring assaulted her ears while her vision went blurry from the constant vibration, and she heard somepony yelling "earthquake!"

Sweetie tried to spot the telltale manes of her friends, but couldn't see anypony that resembled either Apple Bloom or Scootaloo. She did, however, notice Magma Burn come streaking out of the building behind her, followed quickly by the two griffins with a mix of green feathers and grey fur.

Slowly, terribly slowly, she felt the ground start to slow down beneath her and she looked up as the buildings around her seemed to quiet down, no longer howling for blood, but only gently screeching as the rumbles died down, and eventually, all that was left was the sensation that wasn't standing quite so much as she was struggling to stay upright.

Finding her legs could no longer hold her up, Sweetie fell to the ground and began shivering violently, but it had nothing to do with the cold of the place anymore, as that had been banished the moment she had put on the necklace in the morning.

Curling into a ball and covering her face with her hooves, she began to weep, her chest heaving as her breathing finally allowed her the proper amount of oxygen and she started gulping down air, her sobs wracking her body.

Feeling somepony petting her head she looked up and wiped away her tears so that she could see who was comforting her, and found that it was Sir Obsidian.

Instantly she began to weep anew and threw her forehooves around the diminutive figure who squawked and fell over.

"O-Oh S-s-s-ir O-Obsidi-ian! I thought w-we were all going to die!"

"There. There, young one, don't fear. Everything is alright, and we're safe now. Do you see anyone else crying like a little filly? I know that was scary, but you need to get a hold of yourself and help us make sure everyone else is alright."

Sweetie nodded and took a long shuddering breath, closing her eyes and trying to concentrate on breathing for a few minutes when another voice reached her ears.

"Alright people! I know that earthquake gave us a real fright, but we've got to make sure nothing's broken and no one got hurt. First off! Head count! Who's here?"

Sweetie looked to the source of the voice and found that it was Magma Burn. The older mare was standing on top of one of the tables and some of the camp's other occupants were gathered around her and were voicing their names.

Once her shakes had nearly gone away, Sweetie gave a small sniff and smiled at the naked mole rat, who had stayed by her side the entire time.

"Thank you, Sir Obsidian. I didn't see my friends at all, can you help me look for them? I need to make sure they're all right."

The short figure crossed his arms and looked up at Sweetie not that she had stood up again. He was so small that he in fact only came up to her chin.

"Don't see how much help I'll be, I can't exactly see above the crowd, but this is your first earthquake here, so I'll see what I can do. What do they look like?"

"My friends' names are Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Apple Bloom's a light yellow and has a red mane and Scootaloo has an orange coat and purple mane. I haven't seen them since this mor- Hang on... What do you mean my 'first earthquake here'?"

Sweetie Belle fixed the small creature with a curious stare and he tilted his head in response.

"Everyone's first earthquake is terrifying, I'll admit, and it took us a while to get used to, but the earthquakes have been happening with more and more frequency now. When we first arrived we all thought we were going to die, just like you did just now, but then we realized that nothing here had been damaged. The earthquakes used to come about once a week or so but they've steadily been getting more common, and now they run through the camp about once every three days.
Though all of it though, none of these buildings has ever fallen or crumbled or shown any sign of damage, nor has the earth split or broken in any way."

The naked mole rat scratched his chin and continued, "It's understandable that you're scared, but you'll get used to the earthquakes before long. The only real dangers come from something falling over onto you when they happen."

"They're a common occurrence? How can that be, I heard somepony yelling 'earthquake' just a few minutes ago!"

"Probably one of the new ponies," Sir Obsidian said, waving a claw in the air and dismissing it quickly, "It's only natural for you newbies to get scared the first time around. I have to say though," he winked at Sweetie Belle, "Even if you broke down and started crying, you should have seen the first earthquake we endured. I was paralyzed with shock and some of the biggest stallions you've ever seen were cowering and crying for their mommies."

Sweetie gave a small chuckle at the thought, before Magma Burn pushed her way through the crowd beside Sir Obsidian and fixed the pale unicorn with a hard glare.

"I heard you were looking for your friends... Sweetie Belle was it? I'm afraid they're not here. They left on an expedition to go down into one of the excavations sites nearby a few hours ago. They're with some of the most experienced ponies from my team though, so you have nothing to fear. They'll be perfectly alright."

The scarred mare cracked a hard smile, "Plus they've got Lyra and Bon Bon with them. If anypony can keep them safe, it's those two. As for you," the glare switched to the naked mole rat, who seemed to shrink just a bit under Magma's gaze, "I think we need to have a small talk. You said that the earthquakes wouldn't be a problem from now on. As you can see, they are still very prevalent."

The small figure grumbled before giving an apologetic look to Sweetie Belle and turning and pushing his way through the slowly-dispersing crowd, Magma Burn following close behind.

Sweetie couldn't help but wonder that something was amiss with the charcoal-grey mare as the two disappeared into an alley between two of the squat buildings around the camp.

Feeling a hoof tap her on the shoulder, Sweetie thought she was going to turn around to see one of her friends, but instead it was Heavy Hoof, looking quite glum, his blonde mane falling over his eyes slightly. If Sweetie were to guess, he had been just as terrified of the earthquake as she had been.

"My uncle says I have to help you look for your friends, or something..."

"Um... thanks Heavy Hoof, but I just found out my friends are on an expedition. They're out somewhere in the city."

The large red stallion lifted his head slightly and squinted one eye. Sweetie Belle could easily see that he was wearing a heating accent around his neck as well, and he blinked several times before speaking again.

"Uh, are you sure that's safe? I've heard from my uncle that some of the ponies from the first group have gone missing."

Suddenly the earthquake seemed so inconsequential as she remembered the conversation she had overheard earlier.

Who knows what else is lurking there?

The ponies are scared, Theus.

...feeling of being watched...

They've seen the eyes...

"Missing?" Sweetie breathed, barely daring to whisper. Her question seemed to make Heavy Hoof uncomfortable.

"Uh... um, n-not that I would know for sure! I just overheard my uncle talking with the camp leader earlier and it sounded like somepony had gone missing. What with the earthquake just now I thought it would be better if everypony stayed together... As much as I don't like the cold and quiet of this place, I don't think we should be wandering alone..."

New resolve steeled itself inside Sweetie and her eyes hardened slightly. Apparently the change wasn't unnoticeable, as Heavy Hoof took a step back and looked at Sweetie uncertainly.

"Heavy Hoof, have you seen Trickwing recently? Or Chrome Clock?" The pale unicorn asked.

"Who's Trickwing?" Heavy Hoof answered, a blank look on his face. "And was Chrome Clock that pony that would never wipe the engine oil off his hooves? I remember my uncle made me meet everypony, and that oil stained my hooves for days! It wasn't until we got in that thunderstorm that I finally managed to get it all out."

The red unicorn was looking at his hooves with something like disgust, and he suddenly fit Sweetie's memory of the haughty and whiny unicorn much better than he had a minute ago.

Shaking her head, she activated her magic and dragged Heavy Hoof along with her.

"Come on, Heavy Hoof. We're going to find your uncle and then Magma Burn, and then we're going to have a very long talk with them."

***

A grey stallion peered out from under his cloak and smiled, watching the camp go about its business after the earthquake. One pony in particular held his interest as he turned to his companion on the roof of the large rectangular building from where they surveyed the expedition camp.

"Go tell the boss they newcomers have arrived and that the strain is finally getting to the first ones. I'll keep watch and update you when you get back."

The second pony, whose face was covered by their scarf and who wore a similar dark cloak, nodded and ran to the opposite edge of the roof massive building, before dropping out of sight.

The grey pony smiled and settled back in to wait. These ponies would do all the hard work and get past all the obstacles, and then they would just swoop down and pick up the prize.