Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss

by The Atlantean

16. [Fluttershy] Icy Runaway

Fluttershy woke from her brief, cold rest, dropping one of the few flares she had left into the geothermal vent she’d spent the night in, rubbed her hands together, and breathed into them to warm herself. She briefly wished she’d brought a coat, but she knew she wouldn’t have made it this far if she’d had to carry one given the humidity and heat of the Fungus Bogs. However, this far below the surface, it was cold enough to freeze most of the available water--which meant her, too, if she wasn’t careful. Her breath fogged, and she shivered in the freezing temperatures.

She stood and shouldered her pack, full of various mushrooms and leaves she’d foraged along the way. Most of her equipment had started to fail after several days without recharging, and she’d unfortunately had to leave a trail of dead batteries and broken tools to make room for food and water.

Speaking of which…Fluttershy pulled her water bottle from its pouch on her pack and took a tentative sip. Its auto-filter had worked perfectly overnight, cleaning and sanitizing the melted glacial ice she’d gathered the night before. She bit a mushroom, gagging at the taste, and swallowed before chugging half the bottle.

“Oh, that tasted like onions,” she groaned.

The Glyphid Grunt that had befriended her all the way back above in the Fungus Bogs clacked its legs against the rock and shook itself clear of ice. It screeched affectionately and rubbed its cold chitin armor against her.

“I know, I know,” she cooed as she patted it in reply. She shivered. “It’s cold.”

She tapped her armor rig’s wrist screen. When it didn’t turn on, she tapped it again, harder this time. It blinked to life and gave her a meager amount of light as it displayed a dying amount of data.

“Five kilometers deep,” she said. “Why does it have to be so cold down here?”

The Grunt purred.

“It’s okay, Steeve. We should be safe now. That thing can’t get us down here.”

A distant roar echoed in the darkness. It sounded like a Bulk Detonator, but it was more ethereal, ghostly. Whatever screamed now, it wasn’t something she’d seen before. At least it wasn’t the…thing that had chased her down from the Fungus Bogs.

Fluttershy ran her freezing hands along a bit of blue rock and felt a bit of water run down her fingers. “It’s…ice,” she whispered. “Or at least covered in ice. This must be the Glacial Strata. Heidei told me about this place.”

Steeve shuddered, his chitin clacking in the cold. He quietly screeched and skittered towards a small opening in the rock.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked. She peered through the hole. “I don’t see anything. Can you hear something?”

Steeve screeched a noise that she interpreted as ‘yes’. He then climbed through the hole and tapped around on the rock.

With all her gear from the mission, the gap was a tight fit, but Fluttershy managed to push her pack and weapons through first before climbing though herself. She got her head and shoulders through, but her belt caught on the rock, stopping her completely.

The ethereal roar echoed again, closer this time.

Uh oh. Fluttershy reached back and eased her belt gear through piece by piece. It took some careful maneuvering, but she finally fell through the rock, landing next to her gear and scattering it across several feet of rock. She scrambled to put it back together, knowing she’d need every last bit if she could manage.

Whatever was roaring did so yet again. Fluttershy could almost feel the sound as it echoed through the cave. A quick glance found its source: a ghostly Bulk Detonator, stomping slowly toward her. She knew she’d been lucky with a live one, and she didn’t want to find out if she could command a dead one.

Time’s up.

She hastily stuffed whatever she had left into her pack and bolted, following Steeve into the darkness deeper below the surface. In her shivering panic, however, Fluttershy accidentally knocked her transponder off her belt. It blinked in distress as her swinging arm ripped it from her rig and clinked down a chasm, landing in a steaming geyser far below her path.

Detecting a loss of data from her armor rig, the transponder beeped not unlike the other DRG equipment left by various unlucky miners. Its emergency battery slowly ran down over the next several days, and its beeping eventually quieted, but not before it received a single confirmation pulse from an orbiting satellite.

Author's Note:

Just a quick one to catch up on Fluttershy.

Also fixed some character tags since they weren't quite right.

Comments

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

You know, I had a variation of this idea in my head for a while, but don't want to add more to the pile of work I haven't been writing on.

Essentially, the three villains, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy, are sent to DRG to work off their crimes, assuming they survive.

They get placed on a team with an Engineer supervising them. Chrysalis becomes a driller who can dig pretty fast even when the Drills run out of fuel. Cozy can fly, so she becomes a scout that doesn't carry a grappling hook, though recoil from her gun sends her bouncing if she doesn't ground herself first; Tirek, given just enough magic to bulk him up (because sending a wizened old scrawny centaur down to Hoxxes isn't penance, it's cruelty), is gunner.

Chrysalis, of course, would think that she could get a new army by making the Glyphids follow her... This line of thought lasts about three seconds before said Glyphids try to bite her face off.
Chrysalis: "OW!!!"

Engineer: "By the BEARD! Are you a bloomin' idiot with a deathwish?!"

Chrysalis: "It bit me! ME!!!! Queen of the Changelings! We're practically cousins! How dare it- YIPE!"

Engineer: "This ain't no leaf-lovin', candy-colored horsey land down here, Queenie! You won't find any subjects to rule and aside from loot bugs, no love whatsoever. Only thing down here is a painful death and precious minerals. So if you see any'ting that has more than four legs, you'd best kill it, and kill it with all that pent up rage you've got goin' on. Trus' me. Some days, dat may be the only thing that keeps you alive. And don' think your little shape-shiftin' trick will work on a glyphid. They can smell ye no matter what you turn y'self into. And don't botha' turnin' into a rock. They can bite through steel armor. Turn into a rock and you're just a free meal. Now keep movin... Morkite's a bit further down."

[Venerable Ro]

Buggering haunted caves...

[OlDreaddy]

I'm only here to relay this possible story bit to help flesh out Greg that also fits in with the rumor that Greg is one of the original batches of Dwarves, it involves Karl.
I did not think of this, JTelli786 did by posting a comment on the DRG song named Karl's End and it's one of if not the top comment, I am mealy relaying this info in hopes it could be used if not ideas. Link below.

Deep Rock Galactic_19 Karl's End - YouTube

[OlDreaddy]

10677926
Ether that or DRG goes to Equestria.