Archangel's New Assignment

by SabreXio

Mining Crusade 2

'Just a few miles' he said was all I could think while I drove the RAATT to the location of the mineral deposit. Technically, Guardian was right, but he failed to mention the massive mountain between the base and the mine. And now I was stuck with a flurry of questions from the curious little fillies: ranging from what we were mining to 'what does this button do?'.

"Please don't press that" I said for the umpteenth time

"Oh, sorry" Apple Bloom said

""I have another question, Captain" Scootaloo said happily
Oh joy
"Yes Scootaloo"

"How did you get your Cutie Mark?" Why would she ask that? I don't have one.

"What Cutie Mark?" I replied

"That one" she said as she pointed a hoof at my shoulder

"Oh, that" I answered suddenly realizing what she meant "I don't think that's a Cutie Mark, humans don't get them"

"Then what is it?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Honestly, I have no idea. It appeared after I got the Element of Courage, along with the rest of the gears on my arms"

"So you got it when you used your special talent?"

"No, I got it when I did what comes naturally" I said, seeing where this argument was heading

"So it is a Cutie Mark" Scootaloo declared
I thought about that for a few seconds. According to the entries Twilight had added to my ship's data core, a Cutie Mark would only appear once a pony had discovered a unique talent or characteristic that set them apart from everyone else. It would also explain why this symbol appears on all my armor when it covers one of them, being a magical...uh...thing.

"You know, now that I think about it, maybe it is" I said

"So how'd you get it?"

"As Twilight put it, I 'willingly risked life and limb to protect my friends', but you three should just leave that to me"
The GPS lit up, indicating we had arrived. I pulled the RAATT up to the cave entrance and stopped.

"We're here" I announced as I got up and opened the door, letting the restless fillies out.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Miners! YAY!" they cheered as they bolted out. I just smiled and gathered my gear.

"Ok, now there are some rules while we're here" I said "and under no circumstances are any of you to break them"
I listed off the rules I had made, which were pretty much what you could expect from me: stay with me, if it looks dangerous don't touch it, stuff like that.
"And finally: don't repeat anything I say"
The fillies all giggled a little; my soldier's vocabulary was apparently legendary.

I walked to the back of the vehicle to grab the explosives, but as I opened the cargo hold, out tumbled three chunks of metal.

"Oh come on guys" I said as the three robots righted themselves "Really?"
Phi rattled something off in gibberish the only sound I could translate was the word 'help'.
"So you three want to help?" all three said yes (I think) and pointed at the ponies
"(sigh) Well, I can't take you three home, so pick one and stay with them"
Tau floated over next to Scootaloo, while Mu and Phi relocated next to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, respectively. Each giving their pony partners their saddlebags back.

"Ok, apparently these three wanted to come along too, so they'll be sticking with each of you"

"So we get to adventure with you AND we get robots?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the hovering robot

"This just keeps gettin' better" Apple Bloom said as she checked out the salt shaker shaped machine next to her

"Awwww, he's so CUTE!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she greeted Mu, causing the shy machine to blush (Which in his case involves his screen turning pink)

"Ok, now that that's taken care of, shall we proceed?"

"Mining Cutie Mark, here we come!"
And with that we entered the cave. we all stayed in a loose group as we descended deeper into the cave, looking for the red mineral I needed. As it got darker, I realized I had forgotten to bring lights.

"Darn it" I said out loud "I forgot the flashlights"
Then, I saw the robots perk up. A small light emerged from Mu's left shoulder, while Phi produced a small LED bulb from his dome-head. Tau followed suit, rotating his arms around and positioning one tipped with a spotlight.

"Thank you" I said as I switched on my own flashlight on my shoulder

"So what are we looking for again?" Sweetie Belle asked as we continued into the cave.

"A mineral known as Cupro-Ferric Alloy, more commonly known as 'Redstone' because of it's red color" I replied "It's a material that has a lot of bizarre properties"

"What d'ya mean 'bizarre'?" Apple Bloom asked

"It's a little hard to explain, but it just doesn't act like a regular metal" I tried to explain "For example, while most metals exist as a chunk, Redstone forms a fine powder"

"What did you need it for?"

"I use it in special devices, like my power cell" I answered
We walked for almost half an hour, talking about whatever these three could come up with. Eventually we found a small round room off the side of the passage. From the entrance, I could see something moving.

"What's that?" Scootaloo asked. I quickly shushed the little Pegasus, told the robots to turn off their lights and turned back to check it out.

"I don't know, but they are really creepy looking" I replied. It was definitely some kind of animal, but like nothing I've ever seen. It was tall and skinny with four stubby legs. It was colored various shades of green, reminiscent of jungle camouflage. The most striking characteristic was its face: the mouth was twisted into a scowl and red eyes that glowed faintly in the cave. I also noticed that even though they were walking on a stone floor, they weren't making any noise.

"Let's just keep going" I said as we retreated and dove further into the mine. After about an hour, my detector lit up, indicating Redstone was nearby.

"Ok, it should be around here somewhere..." I began to say, until I looked at Sweetie Belle.

"Wow, Sweetie, I didn't know you could use magic yet" I asked

"Um, I can't use magic yet" she said confused "What do you mean?"

"So you aren't making your horn glow?"

"What?" she replied in surprise as she tried to look at her horn "But the only thing I've ever done is a spark or two"
Mu offered a solution. He raised his hand to get our attention, then pointed at the ground under the unicorn. Upon closer inspection, Sweetie Belle had been standing on a large deposit of Redstone.

"Hmmm...very interesting" I said

"Is that the stuff we're looking for?"

"Yes, that is a deposit of Redstone ore" I said as I examined it closer "And it is the biggest I've ever seen"

"OK, so how do we git it outta the ground?"
Phi rolled up and presented one the coring charges, while Tau showed the drill he had installed on one of his arms.

"We're going to use explosives" I said simply "But don't worry, this will be fun"

"Um, is this safe?" Sweetie asked

"If you three do exactly what I say then yes"
We then set to work. Tau used his drill to create a series of holes around the deposit with Mu providing light. Phi, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all sat with me as I taught them how to operate the coring charges.

"Ok class" I said "This is a Model 94 Self-Contained Blasting Charge. Each one is capable of blasting out a hole in solid rock a foot in diameter"

"But it's so small" Sweetie said "I've seen fireworks bigger than that"

"Big things come in small packages. Now, to prime a Coring Charge, simply press this button..." I depressed the small red button on top of the small canister causing a ring about an inch below it to start glowing blue "and it will glow blue. Once the charge is primed, it can be deactivated by pushing the button again" I pressed the button and the charge stopped glowing

"Ok, so how long does it take for it to explode?" Scootaloo asked

"Once primed, a Coring charge will only explode when given the command from this..." I produced a C4 detonator "Which I will be using. And that's pretty much it. Now for the demonstration"
I took the charge and reactivated it before throwing it far down the cave.
"Cover your ears" I said. All three immediately clamped their hooves over the sides of their heads. I pulled the trigger, creating a thunderous BANG and a dust cloud.

"Any questions?"

"So it won't do that while we're holdin' 'em, right?" Applebloom asked nervously

"No, these are completely safe" I assured them
Tau and Mu had finished the drilling and were now ready for the charges.

"OK, let's add the explosives and blast the rock out"
Under my supervision, the ponies took the charges from Phi and set about loading the holes with them. They still weren't really convinced that the explosives were safe, so they treated them very gingerly. I was also quite impressed that they managed to use them with no hands. Within minutes, all the holes were filled with charges, ready to blow. After retreating a safe distance, I began the countdown.
"5...4...3...2...1..."
I pulled the trigger and the charges exploded, sounding like a huge Blackcat Firecracker.

"OK let's go see how much of a mess we made"
We approached the crater and I found the Redstone bulb ejected by the blast. Perfect, now I could get it back easier.

"Wow, that's a big egg" Sweetie Belle said as she poked the Redstone bulb.

"It basically is an egg" I said as I inspected the bulb "except there's Redstone dust in here instead of a bird"

"How're we gonna get that thing outta here?"

"Oh, that's the easy part. Redstone is really light" As if on cue, Phi and Tau lifted the egg up and began carrying it toward the mouth of the cave.

"Um, Captain. I think we have a problem" Scootaloo said
I turned around to see what she was taking about and...
"Oh shit!"

Author's Note:

I bet you can't guess what Scootaloo found.

Comments

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

A One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater

[King Sombrony]

A creeper

[storydude23]

Badass creeper

[Wolfinsheepsclothing]

an even more badass creeper