Who Knows Where

by WindigogoGadget

Somewhere Else

Prince Shining Armor had gone ahead to spearhead the investigation over the South Western Sky Anomaly, apparently, a patch of the sky that didn't have clouds no matter what, and gave off magical readings that were off the charts. Something about the place even attracted odd floating creatures never before seen in Equestria that were fortunately too small to be a threat to anything except anyone dumb enough to leave their food unattended.

And to think that it was so simple, all they had to do was follow the shimmer of magic in the sky. A few pegasi scouts tried to fly up but found the shimmer always being just out of reach as something directed their flight paths away from it. Magic was clearly at play, but since the damn thing had to be a floating anomaly, nobody could actually get close enough to dispel whatever charms were at play, even if they tried to have a unicorn mage get close enough on a cloud, it'd get diverted around it.

Whatever it was, it was massive, the size of Ponyville, maybe smaller, maybe larger. But his instincts told him that this is where that thief would be hiding now that he thought about it more. The biped disappeared into the sky from a gust of wind and was never seen again. This anomaly in the sky, which couldn't be reached even by the pegasi, was likely, not unrelated.

All he needed to do is figure out how he and his men were supposed to get up there. Or better yet, where it was going since it seemed to move over time. It was hard to notice at first with how it was always sending them in circles, but at one point the circling stopped. Another magical scan revealed it was on the move to... Somewhere.

"Sir! New activity reported near Galloping Gorge! Magical Influx detected by local patrols!"

---

The dry sun beat down on the Kid, the silver sheen of his white hair practically a beacon in the dusty canyon. The blued metal that made up a battered chest piece and bracers for his arms clung snugly to him, not a strap was loosened even though they felt as if they were beginning to sear the leather and skin beneath. Sure, the air blew a pleasant wind, enough to cool off the sweat he had started to build up, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep him comfortable underneath all the heavy equipment he had brought alongside him.

Fortunately, he wasn't much for complaining about comfort. Compared to other places that needed the Kid to explore, trekking through the sandy terrain at the bottom of the gorge was a walk in the part, unlike the time he flew headlong into the masonry that constituted the ruins of Cinderbrick Fort, where the place was covered in hot ash and where embers flew up in thick billows from below the fragments of the world.

It was odd, not having to watch his step all the time, it was even stranger having a battle buddy with him.
See, the kid was one of Caelondia's finest scouts once upon a time, the members of his unit trusted him to scout out farther than anybody, and he always came back even under the direst chances of return. Then came the calamity, not a true war, but while fighting hordes of beasts coming from wild forests and desperate countrymen he fought alone, simply because nobody else was fit to fight. Having Changelings as escorts was an odd thing indeed, but not unwelcome. They didn't interrupt the flow of the journey at all, they didn't try to make awkward small talk, it felt just like any other mission that had been thrust upon him, "Go find a core" "Go scout this area" "Go get Zulf."

At least he always knew what the cores were used for, he was just wondering why the changelings had decided to tag along. He wasn't a stranger to the occasional beastly companion tagging along, "Not every creature in the world is born bad" as Rucks would say, but none of them had really introduced themselves to him or talked, just buzzed their wings to fly around. Hell, not one of them even mentioned they'd be joining him on what he assumed would be just another journey alone. Still, the company they offered was not unappreciated, just questioned.

Stopping in the sandy ground, he felt the gear shaped crest on his back hum faintly, calling him to journey somewhere to the east, to go left. Since he had already stopped he fished around in a bag affixed to his belt, as he had brought along some munitions from the Armory of the explosive variety.

Hand grenades. The real secret skill in using these was how to pull them out of your sleeves in a fight without blowing yourself up, without having sleeves. He didn't want to rely on these too often, since they were fine quality explosives that would eventually run out. At least if the core was underground, these could maybe help out. The grenades didn't pride themselves on fragmentation, rather its ability to have a devastating explosion for when folks were just getting too close. Perfect for clearing out Ura tunnels.

...Though that last fact holds no matter now, with no more of humanity left.

With Inventory taken care of, and a full stock of tonics, he trudged forward in the dust. He could mind the heat, but he hated dust, he hated the sand. He kept seeing nothing but gray sculptures whenever he saw the stuff.

He had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for, if it was a cave, or just somewhere in the rock. These missions had never been easy, and it was why he'd brought the tools of a proud breaker and Caelondian navy mortarman. If his hammer couldn't bust it out, then it could trust that a finely tuned mortar would. With all of that heavy artillery on him, he was a one man demolition squad.

A tug from his crest made him look up at a great wall of stone, and he saw a fragment of familiar blue crystal. The objective found, now he only had to break it free.

Trouble is, was that it was about fifty feet high, and he couldn't hit that with his hammer. He dropped his hammer on the sand, letting it rest while he pondered the best way to break it free from the surrounding rock.

The easiest way would be his mortar, but he'd prefer to conserve the shells, and more accurately, he'd prefer to not telegraph his presence to anything nearby.

He pointed at the sparkling outcrop, the changelings had wings, and he wanted to see what they could do. He wasn't particularly afraid of the core breaking, they were tougher than iron and even when the Bastion was attacked, their supply of cores was untouched.

In a moment as the changelings followed the line of his finger, they flew up and started circling around it, chattering to themselves. Magical lines traced and dissolved the stone in slow increments, revealing the swirling blue undertones as the core was revealed.

It was still stuck. And it would take a while, even with three of them. Five minutes, maybe ten. As much as he'd love to offer his hammer, he had his doubts that they could lift it effectively, and he would never, ever, let his only melee weapon stray from him, especially his service weapon.

There was a thud and a plume of dust as a chunk of stone fell from the sky. Five minutes, he decided finally.

He could make that only one minute. The sooner he could haul that back to a skyway, the better. His mortar was withdrawn from his back, and adjusted and wound up before a ball round was placed inside for one well timed shot. He whistled twice to catch the attention of the changelings, then twice again to confirm what they heard as he gestured to his gun.

The changelings quickly flew clear before his gun thumped and out flew a brilliant blue shell, colliding with the stone in an explosion that send debris flying for yards. At last, the crystal they searched for fell free and sent sand in the air as it landed. For once, a collection mission was actually sped up by shelling the container.

Evidently he still held a grudge against every time he found one of those things stuck underneath a slow moving cage. The core was taken, and he felt himself tense and brace for the land below him to start rumbling and falling away.

Nothing happened. This world was intact.

Then the ground started shaking anyways. The changelings stopped moving and the Kid followed their example, as a great beast tunneled through the side of the explosion crater and away into the stone. Now it was time to leave. He'd seen everything.

This time all he'd need to leave was a flat space, as high up as possible, and a bit of wind for the mat he'd brought to work. The group walked further along the gorge, trying to quietly clear distance from whatever it was that they'd called with the blast. One minute and nothing happened. Two minutes, and they'd more than doubled their distance, three minutes, and some great white idiot shouted.

"Stop right there! By my position as Captain of the Royal Guard, I order you to-" The white pony barely had a moment to shout before a great red quarry eel jumped out from the sand underneath, no doubt catching him if he hadn't teleported away in a flash a moment early. Behind him were several more guards, no doubt shaken and entirely willing to turn tail and run.

"I order you" The captain said again, quietly this time. "To stand down, and surrender. You are outnumbered."

Four versus a company of armed force. Traditionally they would be outnumbered, but the thing about wildlife was that they didn't quite care about how big you were or how many you were.

Because the second that shell hit, they were all on the food chain. As the ground rumbled again in ferocity as doom approached, the kid withdrew his hammer. It would be just like old times.