//------------------------------// // Operation 16: The Vault, Part Three // Story: Sunset of Battle // by Tundara //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer; Sister of Battle By Tundara Operation 16 Sunset’s ears rang from the thunderous crack of Twilight’s pistol being discharged almost right next to her head. It was a distant second to when she cut her ears off, but the still stung like mites had crawled into them. She forced herself to focus on the woman who’d attacked Applejack. Head tilted to the side, she rotated to fix Twilight with a paralyzing stare. Half her face had been torn away by the powerful pistol revealing a skull of shiny silver underneath black fibrous artificial muscles. Golden pulses of energy rippled through the muscles like a heartbeat. Blades swished back into forearms. Dispersion shields flickered around her head and shoulders. As if in cruel mockery of Twilight’s effort, muscle and skin began to regenerate.  It could self-heal! “Don’t let it recover!” Sunset barked as she squeezed off another burst. The corridor was a cacophony of autoguns.  The Man of Iron pivoted on a heel, dropped into a squat, and sprang into a back-flip that carried it through the hail of bullets with only a few being pinged off weakened dispersion shields. The flickering slowed as the shields recalibrated. In a few more moments the gap in the defenses created by Twilight would close.  Twilight pulled the trigger on her pistol again. Only this time there was an exhausted warble and click. It had a recharge time.  How long?  Irrelevant. Too long.  Sunset cursed and dived towards Applejack. Her hand thrust into the other girl’s bags and withdrew a small brick of moldable demolition explosives. Her other hand darted for a frak grenade. Instincts and desperation propelled Sunset forward. She had to deal with the doll now. Doll. This had to be what the woman and man in the recording had referred to as a doll.  Thoughts raced in a dozen directions at once as adrenaline surged and the world began to slow thanks to her aeldari blood. Being half-xenos had its advantages.    “Sunset, get clear!” Rainbow yelled as Sunset dashed forward.  Rainbow was ignored.  Sunset had to draw the doll away so the explosives wouldn’t hurt anyone else.  The archeotech horror entered a defensive stance, arms at its sides and left leg back. Wary of those hidden blades, Sunset understood that trying to beat the machine in a fist fight was beyond total insanity. Democharge in one hand, and grenade in the other, Sunset did her best not to laugh at her own stupidity. Yet, for some unfathomable reason it responded to her advance in kind.  It fired a right jab faster than any Sunset had ever before encountered. Exceptional inhuman reactions just barely allowed Sunset to twist her head to the side so the doll’s knuckles brushed her cheek.  With her thumb Sunset popped the pin off the grenade.  Cold interest flickered in the doll’s eye.  “Fascinating,” the doll purred. An almost human smile tugged at the corner of reformed lips. “Self-sacrifice? Negative. A plan then. Fun.”  Sunset ignored the silky smooth voice of the machine. Adrenaline pumped through her willowy frame. She bounced forward and launched a jab. The doll mimicked to perfection the dodge Sunset had done seconds earlier. To Sunset’s relief, the dispersion shield didn’t activate as her knuckles gave a gentle kiss to the doll’s cheek. Quick as a cat, Sunset hopped back and around the corner of the corridor with the doll in close pursuit. Punch-dodge, dodge-punch. Kick. Bone jarring block.  Twist around each other.  It was more like a dance than a fight as the doll mimicked and played with Sunset. She was being played with, as if she had wandered into a manticore’s lair. Her shin ached and her knuckles were bruised. Slowly a too-wide grin formed on the doll’s porcellian pure face. Sadistic, confident, amused; the grin churned Sunset’s guts.  Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset saw the other girls move as if trapped in a field of molasses. Rainbow and Spitfire both dived to the sides to clear the corridor. Even their hair floated around their heads, and a blink took what seemed like several seconds. Instincts, xenos biology, and adrenaline combined to push Sunset to inhuman speeds.   The blade in the machine’s left arm began to extend. A fleck of Applejack’s blood on the apparatus bounced into the air. It oscillated oddly as it floated past Sunset’s eyes. She arched her back into a desperate flip to keep her momentum and avoid the plasma edge of the blade.   In the depths of Sunset’s psyche magic growled angrily. She pushed it down her arm and into the plastic explosives. No idea if the material would react to magical energies, she only had a hopeless gamble. Unbound by material laws, the plastic explosive flew from her hand and wrapped around the doll’s extended arm. With the same magical surge she threw the grenade and guided it to land and stick in the plastic explosive. The grenade’s spoon clattered on the floor. Sunset spun and ran. The doll froze. It stared at the explosive on its arm.  “Nightmare Energies,” it spat the words as if they were a curse. As it spoke its second blade extended. In a single stroke it took off its arm at the elbow, grabbed the severed limb, and hurled it down the corridor with a force that left Sunset breathless.  It stood there in the midst of the firestorm and shockwave. Dispersion shield created a breakwater that split most of the concussive force of the explosion. Shrapnel pinged off the doll’s shields. Still, the explosion didn’t destroy the doll.  The explosion blew Sunset off her feet and hurled her past the other girls. Clothes torn and large sooty patches where skin had been seared, it turned back towards Sunset.   It looked at its stump and there was a flash of exasperation. Meta-material muscles flexed and began to reform along with the endoskeleton frame and other components. Sunset’s heart pounded in her chest and ears. Other than the ringing from the explosion, it was the only thing she could hear. The doll took a step towards the sprawled out girls, and then a blast wall slammed down between it and them.  Fire retardant sprayed from the ceiling and walls.    Exhaustion smashed into Sunset. Her fight with the doll had lasted thirty or mabe forty seconds. To her it had felt like minutes. She slumped and the world tilted under her back. Every muscle ached. Her eyes grew heavy. No, she pushed the weight of exhaustion back. She couldn’t fall asleep.  Sunset struggled to her feet.  Her hands shook. Her entire body shook.  That would have killed her. That explosion was far more powerful than she expected.  Was it? Of course it would have been powerful! It was a demolition charge! She hadn’t intended to sacrifice herself to save the others. But, that would have been the result… Assuming any of them survived. They’d all have been killed as well, if not for the doll’s actions and shields. Only being wounded would have been a miracle.  Wounded…  Applejack…  Applejack was wounded. She needed to be treated. “Flutter—” The girl was already pushing her way forward. Medicea bag swung around her front as her hands expertly darted through pouches to pull out gauze strips and auto-sutures. She pressed fingers against Applejack’s neck, nodded in partial satisfaction, and set to work.  “Rainbow; tourniquet and stimpacks!” Fluttershy took only a cursory glance at the stump of Applejack’s right arm. “Blade cauterized it. Good,” she shifted to Applejack’s leg. A thick jet of blood spurted from it at the slightest touch. “I have to stop this bleeding. The femoral artery must be damaged. Holy Throne; protect this child.”  Fluttershy moved with speed and surety. Sunset trusted her to deal with that calamity without needing any input.  Sunset headed to the others. She found Twilight in an equally bad state.  “Man of Iron. Man of Iron,” Twilight repeated over and over, unable to look away from the blast wall.  “Oh, Emperor… That is an active Man of Iron!” “And there are more of them,” Spitfire said as she approached them with her squad. She set Blaze down and leaned her against the wall. In the bright lumens, it was uncanny how similar the two looked. Almost as if they were twins. Spitfire went to Sunset, while Misty and Fleetfot tended to Blaze. Her wounds were nowhere near as serious as Applejack’s, amounting to a series of lateral slashes to her right leg, arm, and a flap of skin hung over an eye.  “We’ve been ordered to evacuate the vault and seal it with every bit of explosives we possess,” Spitfire explained.   This seemed to snap Twilight out of her stupor. She whipped around to face Spitfire. “No! We can’t!” Sunset heaved a sigh. “I think I agree with Spitfire.”  “No, you don’t understand; we can not leave! It won’t let us!” Twilight was almost frantic. She grabbed Sunset by the flak vest. There was a wildness that bordered on insanity in her gaze far more unsettling than anything else Sunset had seen in the vault.  “What choice do we have? We have awoken an Abominable Intelligence and its Men of Iron,” Sunset growled. She said what they all feared. A current of abject dread rippled through all the girls present, save Fluttershy with her intense focus on saving Applejack’s life.  “No, we haven’t! It’s impossible. No, let me finish! This place hasn’t woken up; it was never asleep! It has been watching us this whole time. Listening to us. Guiding us. Studying us. Drawing us in and then slamming the trap shut. We’re doomed. The Emperor’s light can’t reach us here…” Twilight dropped to her knees and her gaze faded towards an imperceptible distance.   While Spitfire looked incredulous, Sunset had a deep knot in her gut that Twilight was right.  “We need a plan,” she stated and fished out the holo-puck with the facility map. There was a shudder of protest that was brushed aside. A flick of her thumb activated the hologram.  As before, hundreds of little red dots blinked in almost every part of the vault. From the disposition of the dots, the rest of Class Three had already pulled back to the oversized tunnel. About half of the class were in a large chamber attached to the tunnel on the opposite end to the rest of the facility. Four squads were in the tunnel itself, or the adjacent areas. One squad guarded the raised bridge to the administratum building, and three squads were set up at the access point to the tunnel. Other than Sunset and Spitfire squads, all the others had pulled out of the sealed research and development compartments.  Or they’d been eliminated. Sunset didn’t like that idea, and put it aside.  Sunset squinted and examined the rest of the self-styled army. She could already see where the dolls had been, portions of the facility cleared of the red dots already. Worryingly, the number of blue dots had grown exponentially. The central core manufactorum in particular seemed to pulse as a single, solid blue object. In rapid order the blue mass began to disperse into smaller dots. They encountered the first red dots. After several seconds those red dots vanished.  In their place blue dots appeared. It happened to a few more.  A few more.  A few more… “Celestia’s mane,” Sunset whispered.  The foalhood oath twisted her mouth in her shock rather than the epithets she’d learned since she’d crossed through the mirror. Her blood didn’t quicken as the enormity of what the map laid bare became apparent. With a cold certainty, she understood that she was witness to the onset of a massacre. No, not just a massacre. For some reason the abominable intelligence was converting the red dots for the children into its own blue dots. How? Why? The zombie in the holorecording came unbidden to mind.    Escape. Fall-back and escape.  They had to escape back to base camp.  Sunset focused back on the map. The simplest route was the one they’d used infiltrating the facility. Weirdly, it was the only area bereft of any blue dots. “It looks like we can still get out the way we got in, but I don’t know how to stop—” “Find us a medicea!” Fluttershy’s blood covered hand shot out, a finger thrust towards the map.  Sunset curled her lip. She looked between the map, Fluttershy, and Applejack. The girl’s breaths were shallow, almost imperceptible. The floor was covered in far too much blood. She didn’t have long.   Applejack’s pale face shook Sunset. Even a selfish pony like her couldn’t let someone die. Protests and admonitions were swallowed.  “I don’t know what I am looking for,” Sunset admitted as she began to manipulate the map.  Something in her voice broke Twilight out of her frightened stupor. Or, maybe it was the idea of Applejack dying. Whatever it was, Twilight snapped at the holo-puck, “Plot the shortest route to the nearest medical facility.” “Calculating, Director Albrecht,” the puck responded.  Sunset yelped and almost dropped the puck at the eerie, flat voice.  The map zoomed back to their location, and a solid green line appeared, heading down a short series of corridors to a largish room tucked into a corner of the facility. It was the opposite direction of the rest of their class. And more than a few of those horrid blue dots were headed in their direction. If they didn’t leave now it was possible that they would either be caught from behind, or cut-off through the large tunnel.  “Rainbow, Sunset; carry Applejack,” there was no hesitation in Fluttershy. Only pure determination and unyielding resolve. “I’ll help Blaze. Twilight, you guide us to the medicea. Spitfire, you better warn the others.”  Sunset bristled at her authority being usurped. They needed to act fast, and she grasped what Fluttershy hoped to achieve. If the medicea on Mother had healed Twilight’s compound fracture in a matter of minutes, surely the medicea of the vault could heal Applejack and Blaze.  She glanced down at Applejack. All logic and reason said to abandon her. It was the only way they could survive these ‘dolls’, these Men of Iron.  Spitfire sucked on her teeth, clenched Blaze’s shoulder, and after a brief word of encouragement, set off at a run with the remainder of her squad. Sunset watched them go, and then hefted Applejack up by the shoulders, while Rainbow took her legs  They rushed through the corridors. In the distance echoed the pop-pop-pop of gunfire. The other girls could hear it now too. Closer and closer the red dots on the map were being pushed towards them. Screams began to punctuate the pauses. In the tight corridors of the vault, battle lines formed and it was clear that the situation was dire. Gaps formed between the red mass outside and the trio of entrances discovered. Blue dots twisted through a warren of tunnels on the far-side towards the entrances by the silos. One by one, rooms and chambers within the vault fell, the red of the children overwhelmed by the blue servants of the abominable intelligence.  And within that sea of red and blue there was a single black marker. A skull that twisted, spun, pulsed and began to move from the deepest depths of the vault. It was only a hundred or so meters to the medicea, but it felt like kilometers.   Sunset could tell from the map when it was visible over Twilight’s shoulder that they were headed into a dead-end and would be cut-off in only a few minutes. They had to hurry.  The Vault’s medicea, as hoped, was nearly an exact replica of the devices on Mother. Except, sleeker. Shinier. Newer and far more advanced in appearance even to Sunset’s inexperienced glance. And strictly utilitarian without any iconography or decorations of any sort.  Applejack had awoken while being carried. Confused by the powerful sedatives she grew awkward and wriggled. “Put me down, Mac,” she drunkenly slurred. Fluttershy directed them to put Applejack on a gurney, while she helped Blaze. Sunset slipped off Applejack’s backpack. It landed with a heavy clang that echoed through the complex. Sunset winced and baratted herself for not abandoning the bag. Twilight stashed the map in her satchel and went right for the archeotech cogitator. Fingers flew over the input altar without any of the usual litanies to pacify the machine spirits. A lumen on the cogitator flashed, datacrypts chittered with activity, and a bored voice intoned, “Please state the nature of the medical emergency,” as a bald male hologram took shape in the middle of the room. Sunset tsked and took a step back so she was in the doorway. Soft feet were drawing nearer, only her exceptional hearing able to detect the subtle steps of the murderous machines. “Hurry up!”   “Heal them,” Fluttershy commanded with a finger thrust to Applejack and Blaze. The hologram ignored her.  “Do what she said!” Twilight snarled, and only then did the hologram respond.  The hologram shimmered and reappeared next to the gurneys. It leaned over, and from its eyes a red light swept over the girls. Expression as flat as its voice, the hologram straightened, folded its arms behind its back, and addressed Twilight.  “Neither child is registered in my database, Director Albrecht.” “So? Heal them!” “I can not.” “Why?” “Neither child is registered in my database, Director Albrecht.” “Argh!” A primal roar of frustration tore through Twilight’s throat. Turning she kicked Applejack’s backpack as hard as she could. A heavy clang filled the room, followed by a stream of expletives.  Only Sunset caught the barest flicker of a smirk in the corner of the hologram’s eyes. It was so quick even she wasn’t wholly certain of what she’d seen. Only a cold sense of doom, and of time being far too short for them to argue with an Abominable Intelligence.  “Girls, leave me,” Apple mumbled. She pushed herself into a half sitting position. Her eyes were clouded with a combination of pain and drugs. “Not sure what y’all doin’, precisely. Know you can’t stay. Y’all gotta go.” Sunset tweaked her head to the side. The sounds of feet dragging were getting close. “She’s right. We are out of time.” “Take this.” Twilight tried to press the archeotech pistol into Applejack’s remaining hand, but it was pushed back.  There was a ghostly smile through the pain. Applejack was already aware of her fate. “Nah, sugarcube. You need that more than me. Go on, now.” Twilight clutched the pistol to her chest, nodded mutely, and backed up to the door. “What about you?” Sunset asked Blaze.  The fiery haired girl had pushed herself off her gurney and limped to the corner where she was setting up to cover the door with her combat shotgun. She flicked a cocky grin. “I’d only slow you down. You’re going to be running, and a limper like me would just mean we’d all be dead.” Sunset’s mouth was dry. She was torn in two; self-preservation and pragmatism screaming that they should be running through the corridors already. That every half-second wasted was a precious moment of survival. Her other half balked at the contemplation of leaving two people to die.  Indicession began to grip her.  No. She forced herself through that wall. She had to act and act now.  She despised the choice she had to make.  “We’re moving out! Rainbow, take point. Fluttershy, Twilight; behind me!” “No!” Fluttershy yelled. “We have to save them. We’re here. We’re here. This is a medicea! It should heal them!” “It won’t!” Sunset grabbed Fluttershy by the backpack and shoved her towards the door. “That is an Abominable Intelligence, not some common machine spirit. We can’t reason or bargain with it. We can only run and live and hope to somehow get a message out about this place.”    Twilight’s frown deepened, and she reactivated the holomap. “I can’t leave!” Fluttershy shrieked. Her hands flailed around Sunset towards Applejack. “We can’t leave them. They are still alive. We can’t abandon them!”  Rainbow nodded to Sunset and grabbed her friend to haul her out of the room.  “She’s dead already, ‘Shy,” Rainbow roared into her oldest friend’s ear. “She’s dead, and so are we if we don’t get moving! So move! Because, by the Throne, I will knock you out and carry you if I have to!”  Sunset hated herself. She hated the grief and terror in both Rainbow and Fluttershy’s faces. But, they had to leave.  From the depths of her being, Sunset pulled a small piece of magic and infused it into her voice, “I order you to leave them.” Neither girl was prepared for the compulsion. It slammed against their teetering psyches in a violent thrust. A golden flash lit the core of their eyes as Sunset’s magic took hold. Fluttershy gave a last look at Applejack, whimpered an apology, and with tears streaking through the grime on her cheeks she rushed off with Rainbow. They broke into a sprint and surged past Twilight, who had grown more engrossed in the map.  Sunset started to give Applejack and Blaze a last apology. They had accepted their fates. She could see it in their eyes. Nothing more needed or could be said, much less done. In the back of her mind she recalled the lessons on the Emperor’s Mercy, and her stomach sank further. It wasn’t in her to grant that kind of mercy. Sunset bit down her apology and instead gave them both a little nod and then made to leave. Twilight intercepted her at the door. Why was that silly girl still in the medicea? Sunset roared in frustration in her head. “Come on,” She gripped Twilight’s arm and gave it a sharp tug as she set off at a furious pace.  “We need to go left,” Twilight said in a sort of half-daze, her attention still on the holomap.  Sunset flicked a glance towards it, and saw that the dots for Rainbow and Fluttershy were in the indicated intersection. From all angles clusters of blue were heading to cut them off, however. She wasn’t sure they’d be able to link-up with the rest of their class.   “We’ll be trapped if we do that.” “You need to listen to me,” Twilight yanked her arm free and took the turn that led them further away from the rest of their class. She went between Rainbow and Fluttershy, who blinked and looked around in momentary confusion as the brief compulsion of Sunset’s magic faded. “By the Throne, my head,” Rainbow grumbled. She massaged her forehead with her knuckles. “What just happened? We were… and then…” “Nevermind! Keep up!” Sunset snapped over her shoulder as she hurried to keep pace with Twilight.  Maybe Twilight had found something. Maybe there was another way out of the vault.  The map led them down a couple more turns, right to a set of elevators identical in every regard to those on Mother. Twilight pushed the ‘up’ arrow. Numbers above the door began to count down. Twilight bounced from foot to foot, her eyes darting to the map and back to the slowly descending number.  A couple older girls from Class One, from their vestments, staggered down the corridor. There was a shuffled, drained quality to their steps. The girl on the left dragged her autogun by the strap wrapped around her wrist. Blood dripped from her fingertips, but the source wasn’t easily apparent. The girl on the right had lost her helmet, and a flap of scalp fell over an eye.  “Oh, Throne! Stay there!” Fluttershy made to push between Sunset and Rainbow. In the same moment they both reacted to grab her arms and push her back. “They are w-wounded!” She protested, surprise mingled with confusion in her eyes, along with a rising steely resolve.  In the brilliant light cast by the lumens, Sunset could see it clearly. A silvery vein in the neck of each girl that ran up to their jaws and ears. It pulsed, and they shuffled another step closer. In the meat on the right girl’s forehead metal shifted and grew like a shiny silver moss.  “Don’t let them touch you!” Twilight’s warning was unnecessary.  “Open fire!” Sunset barked as she squeezed the trigger on her gun. It let out a short rap-rap-rap, and the right girl was knocked back. The left girl shrieked and hurled herself forward like a wild beast. A feral grin parted her lips that exploded as Rainbow put three rounds into her face.  Breathing hard, Sunset stared at the body of the girl she’d shot. A whirlwind of emotions spun through her. She’d killed someone. On a hunch. She’d killed— The girl twitched, then sat up. Blood mixed with a silver substance frothed out of the corners of her mouth.  “Contain. Contain, contain, contain!” Eyes rolled in the girl’s head, and her voice rattled with manic electrical currents. “You will be melded into the Stack, and made to contain the nightmare. Contain, contain, contain! We must contain the nightmare.”   She reached for Sunset.  Sunset put a round into her head. Brain matter mixed with some sort of metal filament splattered across the walls.  “Throne!” Rainbow spat the word. “They were like that guy in the holorecording.” Four other girls from Class One stumbled around the corner. And behind them a doll-like Man of Iron. It sauntered like a sultry vixen, dress cut to accentuate its feminine form. A hand rested on a bare hip, and it twirled a cord with the other. Joy gleamed in its eyes.   “Frag out!” Rainbow roared as her arm spun about to hurl a grenade towards the zombies and their doll master. The doll simply continued without so much as a flinch at the explosion that tore apart the zombified children.   Twilight held out a hand. “Stop!”  The doll did as commanded, though there was a look of consternation on its face.  “Director Albrecht, you are in danger,” the doll addressed Twilight. “Come with me. I will take you to Father, and add these intruders to the Stack.”  There was a ding and the elevator doors hissed open. The girls piled through the doors in a rush. Rainbow jammed the ‘Up’ icon next to the doors. With a satisfying swoosh they clamped shut, and there was a sudden pressure as they ascended. Sunset let out a long relieved sigh.  “That was close,” Sunset groaned. “Why does everything call Twilight, ‘Albrecht’?” Rainbow demanded. “I Think—” Sunset teeth smacked together as the lift came to a sudden stop. Everyone was thrown a couple feet into the air and landed into a pile. The lumens died with an ominous clank. The lift was cast in a hazy glow as red emergency lumens activated a half second later.  “Ugh, what was that?” Rainbow growled as she pushed herself into a sitting position atop of Sunset.  “L-Lift is dead,” Fluttershy reported as she jabbed the buttons.  Twilight sucked on her teeth and checked the map, “It’s trying to stop us. We’re only half-way to the command level.”  “Access shaft,” Sunset pointed at the latch overhead. She cupped her hands and helped Rainbow reach the latch. In quick order they helped each other onto the roof of the elevator. To Sunset’s relief there were ladders in the walls.  “Gimme your grenades,” Rainbow held out her hands. “I’m going to try to slow those things down.”   Last grenade thrust towards Rainbow, Sunset barked, “Hurry!” Twilight and Fluttershy already scampered upwards. She quickly followed.    With the entire squad’s five remaining grenades, Rainbow set to work. She shoved a couple into the maglocks before she began to climb up behind Sunset. Sadly, they’d left the remainder of Applejack’s demolition charges behind. Though, Sunset shuddered to imagine having that go off beneath her in a contained shaft. When they were sufficiently above the lift, Rainbow dropped her remaining grenades. There was a flash and cacophonous series of bangs as they detonated in a chain. The brakes failed, and with a screech, the elevator plummeted. Several long seconds passed before a heavy crunchy thud echoed up the shaft.  Trapped, the girls laboriously climbed.   And as they did, they began to chatter.  “W-Why did they mistake Twilight f-for this Director person?”  “Maybe because I opened the doors to the vault using that card?” Twilight huffed as she hauled herself up, hand over hand. “Mom taught me that some ancient machine spirits could have very strange quirks. It could be as simple as only Albrecht had that card and code, and since I used them, I must be Albrecht.” “But, we’re talking about an Abominable Intelligence!” Rainbow protested. “Surely it can see you are a girl, not some crazy old man who tried to splatter his brains all over his office wall!” “It’s just an idea. Could also just be that the AI is playing with us because it is bored. There are a multitude of possibilities, none of which really matter.” Sunset said, “I agree. Whatever the reason, we’ll make use of it confusing you for this Albrecht.” “So, I assume you have some plan, Twilight?” “Yes,” Twilight paused and wrapped her arms around the ladder. Sweat ran down her brow and her legs shook from over exertion. “We need to contact the Space Marines and have them use the weapons on their battle barges to destroy this mountain range.” “Correct me if I am wrong, Twilight, but wouldn’t we also be targeted?” Twilight shot Rainbow a scathing look. “Give up all hope of living through this; we’ve all been dead since we entered this valley.” “There has to be another option,” Sunset looped her arm through the ladder. Her legs were sore from the climb. Muscles trembled and ached.  “These are Men of Iron with an Abominable Intelligence in control of an STC assembly unit, judging by the condition of this vault. Exterminatus is the only viable solution.” Twilight shook her head and then resumed her climb. She repeated, “the only viable solution.”  Hand over hand. Rung by rung, they slowly made their way up. Sunset tried to come up with another option, and all she could think was to trick the observers overhead into sending a rescue party. The Space Marines were known to pluck boys from the surface. Surely there was a handful among the boys that interested the astartes enough to warrant retrieval.    “H-How much farther is it to the top?” Fluttershy gulped, and looked down.  “Another fifty floors, or two hundred fifteen meters. Give or take. If my memory serves.”  Groans, and the resumption of the arduous, slow climb. Sunset’s legs and arms were on fire, but there was nowhere to stop. There wasn’t a ledge or place to rest. Not that they could afford any delays. It felt like hours they’d been in the shaft already, though Sunset was certain it was much less. She didn’t want to check her chronometer. Above her Fluttershy’s legs shook with each rung. If they didn’t rest soon, either Fluttershy, Twilight, or both would soon slip and fall. If they did, they’d almost certainly knock Sunset and Rainbow off the ladder.   A few clangs echoed up the shaft.  “New problem! It’s back!”     “Double time!” Sunset yelled and gave Fluttershy’s foot a nudge.  Fluttershy gave a small ‘eep’, and quickened her pace.  Below Sunset, Rainbow’s gun gave a short, earsplitting, bark.  “What I’d give for a Krak grenade right now,” Rainbow yelled as she took careful aim and squeezed off a second burst.  Sunset made the mistake of looking down. A hundred meters away, give or take, a long, giant metallic centipede smoothly ascended. On its broad head, arms crossed, was the doll Sunset had fought in the corridor. It’s eyes locked with Sunset’s, and a broad grin split its face. Bullets pinged off the centipede or were deflected by the doll’s diffusion shields. Stomach somewhere around her knees, Sunset looked down at Rainbow, and up at Fluttershy and Twilight.  There was only one thing in her arsenal that had any chance against the doll and its mount. Her magic. Only, there would be no way of hiding it as she’d done in the corridor with everything ducking out of sight.  “Buck it,” she growled. “Rainbow, move out of the way!” “Huh?” Rainbow did as instructed, using her weight to swing around the ladder and wedge herself between it and the wall.  Sunset gathered her magic without any finesse or incantations. Crimson bands of energy encircled her outstretched hand. She didn’t release it right away and held onto the rampant energies, as a dam holds back a river. A wild tendril snapped between her hand and the wall, and from it sprouted a sunflower. Teeth clenched tight, she fought the tempestuous surge that yearned for freedom.  “Nightmare energies,” the doll hissed.  “Throne!” Fluttershy and Rainbow both gasped.  A sharp whine and crackle emanated from the barely contained magic. More bursts of wild magic slipped through the cracks in her control. The sunflower began to sing. A little blue bird popped into existence, twittered in confusion, and fled up the shaft in a flurry of fast wingbeats. Still Sunset forced more magic into her hand, and began to give it a shape.  The doll urged the centipede to climb faster. “Shit! Frak! Shit! Throne!” Rainbow let out a torrent of other expletives and tried to crane herself away from the ladder.      Sweat ran down her face. Splits formed in the skin of Sunset’s hand. Blood ran down her fingers and was swept into the small maelstrom of magic.  Sunset screamed as she opened the dam and unleashed her magic in a condensed torrent of ruby-gold. Grass, wildflowers, and all manner of critters and insects appeared on the walls of the shaft as the magic swept down its length. There was nowhere for the doll and centipede to go, no way to avoid the wave, and so it braced itself behind layers of diffusion shields. Magic passed through them without a hint of hindrance. It passed through the doll, and nothing happened. The centipede, however, vanished into an explosion of butterflies. The doll’s Eyes widened as it realized what had happened. The doll began the long, long fall to the bottom of the shaft in silence. That had not been what Sunset intended, but she wasn’t one to argue with results.  Before Sunset could let out a sigh of relief, Rainbow lost her grip. Rainbow spun backwards away from the ladder.   “No!” Sunset reached out for Rainbow.  Now awakened, her magic was quick to respond. Her aura wrapped around Rainbow and held the girl. Rainbow was absolutely white with terror as she hovered there in the middle of the shaft. Teeth clenched tight under the strain of holding Rainbow, Sunset slowly brought the girl back to the ladder. Rainbow’s hands shook as she gripped the cool metal rung.  Pride, jubilation, triumph; Sunset felt them well in her chest, and then the horrible reality of what would come next killed any such emotions. One look at Rainbow was enough to make her own blood run cold. A voice in the back of her head that sounded all-too similar to Celestia said that what she’d done was the right thing. That she hadn’t had to lose a second friend. It had been the only way to save Rainbow.  It was little comfort. “I hate this reality,” Sunset whispered so softly she wasn’t certain she’d even spoken. “I wish I was back home.”