Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss

by The Atlantean

27. [Rarity] Wealdly Beauty

Full Mission Roll:
400 Morkite, 15 Apoca Blooms, Haz 3, Azure Weald
Warning: N/A, Anomaly: Rich Atmosphere
Machine Event: Tritilyte Crystal
Encounters: Cargo Crate, Lost Pack
Extra Resources: N/A
Mission Special Beer: Skull Crusher
Roll System in Final Phase

“All Mining Teams: Management is resuming operations except for in designated locations. See the company memo for details. Expeditions may now be conducted again in all other areas. Good luck! Mission Control out.”

Sunset frowned. “Alright, girls, let’s get going before they change their minds.”

“That’s a long Morkite run,” Rainbow Dash said. “At least we’ll have the Skull Crusher.”

Rarity nodded. At the roll of the dice, they’d decided to do Sunset's assignment mission today if Management lifted the restriction on missions. Of course, that seemed like a good idea at the time. Right now, with the mission specifications projected over the holoprojector, it was less so. She had a 400 Morkite run in the Azure Weald, one of the two biomes opened by Update 33 (the other being the Hollow Bough).

“What Haz do you want, Sunset?” she asked.

“Let’s go with Haz 3,” Sunset replied. “It can’t be that bad. It’ll be long, but we can handle it.”

Rarity nodded and selected the appropriate Haz settings. “Don’t forget your drink, everyone,” she reminded the others. “It strengthens your pickaxe swings, damaging enemies more with each hit. Pinkie Pie has also kindly prepared lunches for all of you, so make sure you pick yours up at the counter.”

---------------------------------

The Drop Pod clanged through the dark blue of the Azure Weald, crashing to the ground and revealing a picturesque deep-sea-colored jungle-like cavern with tons of overgrown pink and blue plants that gave off little bits of light. Although just as dangerous as any other place on Hoxxes, the Weald looked serene in comparison to its counterpart biomes.

Rarity patted her grenade launcher. If all went well, she’d have enough materials to get incendiary rounds--and the experience necessary for Management to authorize her. A little fire could go a long way toward keeping herself and the others safe.

She grabbed an Apoca Bloom as Applejack drilled into the tunnel beyond and Sunset and Rainbow mined any Nitra and Gold they saw.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said, and paused. Her voice was distorted like she’d inhaled the contents of a party balloon. “Alright, we’re good to go on.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rarity replied. Her voice also squeaked. She coughed to clear her throat but to no avail, as the next thing she said came out high-pitched and distorted, too: “Sorry. I sound like a chipmunk.”

“It’s the rich atmosphere,” Sunset explained. “There’s a much higher concentration of helium here. It shouldn’t be fatal, but I imagine our bodies will need to adjust back to standard air once we leave.”

“Ah don’t care what we sound like when we’re done as long as we make it back in one piece,” Applejack said. “This is the longest Morkite run we can do. Let’s get it done.”

Rarity jogged to join Applejack and whistled. The tunnel was spectacular. Like the rest of the cave, it was dark and blue, but various glowing lichens and other plants lit it better than in the larger rooms. She tossed a flare and watched as the plants shrunk away slightly when it passed.

“They’re sensitive to light,” she observed.

“Ain’t everything around here?” Applejack asked.

“Not usually. Most creatures down here are blind for the most part, and plants aren’t the kind of thing you’d think would retract near a strong light source.”

Applejack shrugged. “Ah don’t see how it’d be useful. It’s pretty and all, but Sweet Apple Acres doesn’t have a place for glow-in-the-dark flowers from an alien world.”

“Not everything needs to be functional, Applejack. Just imagine the inspiration you can get from such small things.” Rarity knelt and brushed her hand along a flower. It felt harsh and rough but didn’t cut her.

The screech of a Glyphid echoed in the distance.

Rarity gestured on when Rainbow and Sunset joined them. “Onward?”

---------------------------------

The second large cavern opened up and was just as massive and beautiful as the first--except for a certain giant Glyphid with an orange glow and a penchant for kiloton-scale explosions. It growled and began to approach.

“Everyone scatter!” Rarity ordered. “Rainbow, grab its attention! Sunset, light us up and see if you can take out a tumor before it gets to us! Applejack…” She paused, trying to figure out what the girl could do with a flamethrower and a pair of drill arms.

“Ah’ll look for minerals,” Applejack offered. “We’re still short on Nitra.”

“Cave Leech!” Sunset called as she blasted the thing with her rifle. “Watch for more!”

Rainbow leveled her minigun and let loose, sending a stream of bullets into the Bulk Detonator’s tumors. Rarity lobbed a couple grenades at its face, then bolted to the side as a large ball of glowing acid flew at her from the side. A large plant-like thing seemed to sprout from the ground and spat more acid.

Before she could call it out, Sunset’s rifle and Applejack’s flamethrower fired at it, setting it alight and puncturing the oval-shaped weapoint on its stem. It didn’t even try to screech--it just turned its attention to Applejack and spat into her face, unfazed.

Rarity fired another precious grenade at the thing, and it exploded before it could spit again. A new note appeared in her bestiary: Spitball Infector. One of Sunset’s flares arced into the ceiling.

“Applejack, any luck?” she asked over her suit comms.

“Not yet, but there’s some Morkite behind the Spitballer.”

“Focus on Nitra.”

“Ah’ll try. There ain’t much around right now.”

Rarity pulled out her turret and hammered it together. She’d set up two loadouts (one with one turret, one with two), and today she’d brought the one but with more ammo, more range, and more damage. Once it was up and running, it spun around and immediately pelted a nearby group of Glyphids that had sneaked around the team.

She whirled around to see the bugs and fired her shotgun frantically into them until they lay unmoving on the ground.

The Bulk Detonator’s growl told her it wasn’t dead yet. That, however, was short-lived, as Rainbow and Sunset managed to take it down moments later.

“Woo!” Rainbow cheered. “That was fun!”

“Sunset, Nitra,” Rarity ordered breathlessly as she recalled her turret. “Rainbow, call Molly, and let’s look for Morkite and such.”

“Say, what’s this?” Rainbow Dash approached a large bright hole in the ground not far from where the Detonator had exploded. Stepping in, she fell--albeit far more slowly than she should--and leapt back out with ease once she reached the bottom. She seemed to be moving much faster than normal (even with Rich Atmosphere) for a few seconds until the particles surrounding her finally dissipated.

“Uh…” Rarity was dumbfounded. “A magic hole?”

“Jump in, it’s awesome!”

“I think we should focus on completing the mission, Rainbow Dash. we’re not even a quarter of the way through our Morkite quota, we just killed a Detonator, and we still don’t have the Nitra to call a resupply. Look for minerals. We can explore this later.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but she contributed to the team just the same.

---------------------------------

The next large cave didn’t have any Bulk Detonators and was much more mineral-rich than the first. Although there was a swarm of Swarmers, they weren’t too hard to handle. By the time the team reached the third room, they had a considerable margin of Nitra, refilled their ammunition with a resupply pod, and were just under halfway through their 400 Morkite quota.

Rarity set up her turret and sat down on a small boulder. Opening her suit pockets, she produced a peanut butter sandwich and a baggie of blueberries. She unclipped her water bottle from her utility belt and took a long, tired sip.

“Lunchtime?” Sunset teased as she ate her own, a ham and cheese sandwich and peanut butter crackers.

“I’m starved,” Rarity admitted. “This is hard work.”

“You want to wash your hands first?”

“If only I had soap.” Rarity rinsed her hands with water from her bottle, taking care to not use too much. “This will have to do for now.”

They relaxed and ate for a few minutes before Sunset asked, “What are the chances we’ll actually find her? Fluttershy?”

Rarity thought for a moment, then replied, “If we’re being honest, I hope we will, but I doubt we can. We must search an entire planet for a moving target who doesn’t have a working transponder. We can’t tell her to meet us in a specific place at a specific time, and the odds that she encounters a cave during excavation are astronomically slim.”

She sighed. “I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like for her. Being down here alone, in the dark, without working equipment, low on ammunition if not out entirely… it must be horrible for her. She probably thinks we abandoned her.”

Rainbow’s voice crackled on the radio. “Another Bulk coming in!”

Rarity blinked. Another? “Okay, Rainbow, bring it here and we’ll deal with it.” She turned to Sunset. “You’d better go help her.”

Sunset threw a mock salute and grappled into the distant dark. She returned a couple minutes later with Rainbow and Applejack at her side and the Detonator hot on their tail. By then, Rarity had double-checked her turret and ammo. She leveled her grenade launcher in preparation.

The Bulk Detonator growled and slammed through the rock, throwing up orange cinders and ashen particles as it came into view. Its top tumor was destroyed, and the other two looked like they were about to burst.

She fired, feeling the recoil of the launcher kick into her shoulder as it lobbed her grenade across the room and into the monster’s face. The Detonator staggered back from the blast, and Sunset threw an inhibitor grenade at its feet. Now it was frozen in place for all intents and purposes, which Rainbow took advantage of with a hail of bullets while Applejack hurled her impact axes at it with terrifying accuracy. The Detonator soon exploded in a massive fireball and threw its fireballs upon death, blowing craters into the surrounding cave.

“Woo, Rock and Stone!” Rainbow cheered.

“Rock and Stone!” Sunset and Applejack yelled.

“Great teamwork, girls. Rock and Stone,” Rarity said. “Now let’s finish this cave.”

---------------------------------

As the Drop Pod clanked into place in the Space Rig, Rarity let out a long, relieved sigh. Five Bulk Detonators total, a Praetorian swarm with an Oppressor, a Mactera swarm, and a second Swarmer swarm, plus a near-endless wave of bugs as they made their way back to the Drop Pod later, and the cave was empty. Haz 3 her ass.

“By my calculations, we should have the next set of upgrades available for us,” she said. “Get your drinks and get ready for tomorrow. Well done.”

Author's Note:

Interestingly, the last biome to be visited by our intrepid crew is the Magma Core. Rolled that up next.

Also, I once had a 400-Morkite run with my brother (he was Gunner, I was Scout) in the Glacial Strata. Unlike the girls, we ultimately failed, but we had a hell of a good time and killed a Crassus and a couple standard Detonators while we mined the gold (which is where we failed at the third since we ran out of Nitra after 2-3 resupplies and our other brother came in as Engineer but didn't quite get that last Nitra to Molly in time). So, that's where the inspiration for all these Detonators came from.

Didn't really feel like writing the entire mission since getting this and the next two chapters just took forever (but the ones after didn't. Go figure), but if you guys want, I'll see about at least putting in the final dash back to the Pod.

And dammit, I got dragged on a hiking trip and forgot to post when I meant to.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

They get to bring sandwiches?

We don't get sandwiches...

[The Atlantean]

10877348
Hey, it may not be written into policy that they're allowed to have sandwiches, but it never says they aren't, either.

[ThinkTank]

10877348
I was playing the Xbox version a couple weeks ago and some of the ammo upgrades flavor text said
"you had to give up some sandwich space, but you can carry more ammo with you"
Or something along those lines, can't remember exactly but close enough. Either way, mission sandwiches are cannon, both in this story and in the game.

[Alyarin9000]

A bit of 'pony-up' power in the weald, eh? If there's anywhere that'd work, that'd be the place.
Makes me wonder how the magic in the area will interact with the girls' own powers. Sunset could be interesting...

Also, 5 bulks. Damn, that's bad even for haz5 standards.