The Eternal Nightmare[Closed]

Violet grinned as she looked down at the remains of the roaches, wiping the gunk off her blade with a cloth she kept in her saddlebags before wiping off the rest of the mud from her face with it, although the rest of her body (and mane) were still quite muddy from her impromptu roll into the mucky stuff.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Violet replied as she turned away from roaches, sheathing her knife. Her own eyes were drawn to the wooden platform, the filly following Lightning as the two approached it. “Hmm. I wonder what is this used for.” murmured the pegasus.

Violet herself gave the matter some thought, before speaking up.

“It’s probably what miner ponies used to get down into the mine. This cable here,” she nudged it with her hoof, “Would get attached to the top, and then get looped around the big wheely thing up on the surface. Turn the wheel with whatever machinery in the building does that, and the platform gets lowered or raised depending on what direction the wheel went.

Atriark looked around and saw a terminal, but he couldn't see any sort of generator. The zebra continued to scan the area and saw a gear box amongst other things. "Alright, Arc, can you hack the terminal? And Rad, go and check out the gear box, I'll go and see about the locker. Maybe something useful is inside it."

Rad nodded to Ark and headed over to the gearbox, he didn't really know what he was looking at, but one thing the Pegasus did recognise was levers! Rad stopped and stared, thinking about just how much he knew about the things... And that was that they did SOMETHING! But what was that something? Was it good? Or bad? Perhaps neither? Maybe those levers were a cunning trick, meant to fool ponies into pulling those, when really there was some kind of switch SOMEWHERE! But then again, maybe Rad was getting ahead of himself, maybe it was all about the levers, this whole moment revolved around those mysterious levers and just what they might DO... But was it worth finding out what they did? Was it safe? Reasonable? Useful? All these possibilities racing around the little Pegasuses head. But that was all pointless now as he had in fact pulled the central lever about halfway through his mental revelation and hadn't even realised it until now... "Oh... Uhm... Whoops?"

Lightning gave a nod of agreement to Violet when she explain the platform's and the cable's purpose. "I agree. We should probably grab this cable then fly it back up there." The pegasus frowned for a second as he thought that he was going to have to bite the cable then bring it back up to the surface that way. There was no way that he wanted to put his mouth on it though. Looking toward Violet, the stallion got another idea though. "Hey, Violet. Grab the cable with your magic then hop on my back. Let's head back up to the surface."

Lightning lowered his body and waited until Violet had (if she did) grabbed the cable and hopped on before slowly testing his wings by gently rising to a low hover. After he was sure that his wings weren't broken and that he was ok enough to fly, he began to ascend in a slow speed, this time, watching around him in case something hit them again.

===Arc, Ark and Rad===
The lever made a dull thump noise as several large parts moved inside the device, the whole room resonating with more loud machine sounds. Several high pitched whirring sounds were heard, marking something spinning inside it. The wheel that had the chain wrapped around it started to turn, placing tension on the blocked chain.

The Spark power source, a pony sized horizontal tube, with what seemed to be small hatch, placed in the height of a pony's head, with specks of white paint, started to lowly whir. The sound was getting louder and the whole tube started to slowly turn red from heat.

Arc trotted in to the upper floor behind Atriark, looking around the room and thinking on what to do next. "Right. Shouldn't be too hard, Atri." Arc nodded to the zebra and stood in front of the computer.

(Science 92, Hacking comp...)

CLANG!

Suddenly the whole room came alive, the gearbox starting to spin, the chain starting to get pulled against the blockage. That was not good. Not good... at all.

"RAD WHAT DID YOU DO?!" yelled Arc as he watched the chain strain against the pulling wheel. Arc turned towards the catwalk galloped outside. Reaching the hoofrail of the catwalk, he turned his head up, towards the large window in the roof. "NOVA! NOVA, GET OUT OF THERE, RIGHT NOW!"

Arc turned around, facing the machinery room again. His eyes grew wide when he saw how the old power source started to turn red. Oh... fuck. Nononono...

Arc galloped back into the room, pushing Atriark away from his path, sliding into stop in front of the unstable power source. He carefully opened the service hatch with his magic and peeked inside, shielding his face from the heat with his hoof.

(Repair 62, trying to stop the device from overheating and blowing up.)

Nova noticed a strange clang sound before watching the mechanism come to life, struggling against the pipe that was blocking it. It was then that she heard Arc's shout, so obviously something had gone wrong and activated the entire thing, and that jam was definitely causing it's fair share of problems. Nova reasoned that if she could at least remove it, then at the very least it will by the others more time to fix the thing. With that in mind, Nova reached out and began trying to remove the damn thing.

{Strength 6 trying to remove the pipe. IF success, then 11 Agility to avoid injury. IF failure, then 11 Agility to escape area.}

Rad jolted backwards in shock when things started happening, suddenly everything was loud. "I don't know!! I was thinkin and then suddenly i've pulled this lever! And then there was noises and shouting, and then your shouting and there's still noises and... And..." He looked around in panic, not really knowing what to do anymore, once more his overly inquisitive nature had got everypony into trouble. Rads eyes settled on the lever he had pulled, maybe if he put it back? Rad tried to push the lever back to it's original place, using all his strength. Though if that didn't work panic would take hold again and he would try pulling or pushing the other levers. And if that didn't work, then he would run and cower under his hooves in the corner and hope that somepony could fix his mistake.

[Pushing the middle lever back into it's original position, STR 6 if needed.]

===Arc===
The machine breathed back a wave of hot air into Arc's face. Arc squirmed his eyes close, trying to spot the right wire inside, the hot gust of wind humming in his eyes, not letting him hear how the pip-buck on his leg was clicking like mad. Then he spotted it, a loose connection. Arc plugged it back, slammed the door close and the machine started to cool down.
===Nova===
Nova wrapped her hooves around the pipe, struggling to pull it off from the wheel before the chain would break from the strain on it. Her strength, however, proved insufficient to force the pipe from the wheel, the friction from the pull of the chain preventing her.

Then the chain proved stronger than the pipe, the pipe snapped in half, and the bottom part spun out and hit Nova in her left back hoof, breaking the skin and causing a deep gash to show.

Nova lost 10HP, now has 195/205 HP
===Rad===
Rad successfully managed to force the lever back, stopping the machine.

Atriark had pulled out his bobby pin and screwdriver. He hadn't had much need of the two tools. But he had used them before and the zebra stallion didn't want to be caught without. Lock picking was one of the odd skills he possessed, especially as a zebra.

Zebras usually used alchemy in the things, such as cooking, or medicine. Atriark didn't know much alchemy, and thus didn't use it. His skills included Pony Medicine, Lockpicking, Martial Arts, and guns. He had been taught a bit about alchemy from a lovely zebra mare named Zestari, but it was nothing more than getting him back in touch with his roots, both literally and metaphorically. It had helped, a lot. He felt like a zebra now.

The runt had gotten lost in thought as he fiddled with the locker. Then he had heard a spark engine start up. Surprised, Atriark turned around to see Rad by the gearbox. Getting up, the Stable 113 zebra headed for the pegasus, only to get pushed out of the way by Arc. He watched the two work. As the unicorn worked frantically, he could have sworn he heard the sound of a metalic snap.

Heat.
Incredible heat.
No, Arc, not now, now we DON'T have the time for THIS.
Alright. There... the core... heh, looks like a dark violet gemstone, just floating in the fire...
Ah, that conduit there, green and yellow stripes, containment field, now to just... concentrate enough...

The horn on the engineers shimmered in crimson red magical field, same one forming around the small tube inside the kettle.

Just keep looking at... it... just a little...
Arc felt how his face sweated, how the heat turned the sweat into vapour and burned his face, fighting to keep his eyes open despite the pain, keeping eye contact with the wire inside as his mind pushed it to the corresponding contact.

The tube clicked as the counter piece accepted it, and suddenly everything went silent, the heat gone, the device tamed and calmed down. Arc slammed the door close and sprawled on the floor in front of it, panting, his coat lightly glistening from the sweat that covered him.

"Alright... that... should... do it..."
Just few moments... to catch my breath...

The silence was too silent though. Not even the machinery worked now, even though its power source was now back under control. Arc rolled on his back and looked at Rad, standing in front of the levers, leaning on one as he pushed it back.

"Well... Rad... that was close, eh?" said Arc, smiling at the pegasus, a chuckle at the end of the sentence.

Nova groaned in frustration as she tried to pry the pipe out of the mechanism, using everything she had to try and remove it. Still, after trying for more than waht she considered a safe amount of time, it hadn't so much as budged. Nova decided to cut her losses there and turned to fly away from the thing.

That was when she heard it, the distinct sound of metal snapping, and she then felt the sudden, searing pain in her back left leg, towards the hoof, and could feel a warm liquid trickling out of it. It didn't take Nova long to realise what had occured as she hissed in pain and turned to see what had hit her, noticing half of the metal pipe now on the floor and slightly stained with blood.

Nova could feel that the cut ran deep, as not only was it bleeding profusely, but she had to use her wings to be able to keep herself steadily standing. Nova then noticed the mechanism shut itself off and loudly groaned in frustration, making her way for the others by slowly flying back down to them.

"Guys... Little help?"

Violet nodded at Lightning and focused her magic on one end of the cable, lifting it into the air. “Hmm...Give me a sec Light.”

She lifted the end of the cable up to the hook at the top of the platform, looping it through and doing her best to tie the cable to the hook. Once she was sure the knot was secure she nodded to herself and picked up the other end, before jumping onto Lightning’s back.

“Alright, lets go!”

As the two took off, Violet kept her magic’s hold on the cable as best she could, multitasking making sure the cable didn’t get caught on anything while also directing Lightning safely out of the pit.

Rad successfully pushed the lever back, his hooves shaking a bit as he did so, the pegasus didn't handle stress well, and was breathing heavily as he rested on the now silent gearbox. "Close, yeah... Yeah it was..." He turned away from the machine and took a few deep breaths to help calm himself down. That only lasted until he saw Nova, or more importantly the blood coming from her leg. "Nova? Are you ok?" He said as he rushed over to her, it probably sounded like a stupid question really. "I'm sorry! So, so sorry! This is all my fault..." He stood with his head hung low in front of the other pegasus, expecting some kind of backlash from Nova because of what he did.

Arc rolled back on his stomach and slowly pulled himself back on all four legs. He felt his legs, well, his whole body, little shaking, but that was probably just from the shock of the whole situation. He took a few long controlled breaths, with his eyes closed, to calm down.

Right. Let's continue then, hopefully we can pull the cable up now...

Then the velvety black pegasus, with green stripes across herself, flew back down from the top of the tower where he posted her. He noticed the bleeding wound on her back left leg. His face contorted a little, suddenly feeling a regret for this.

Damn it all, Nova... just... why couldn't you... right. What is done is done, Arc, at least see what she has for us.

Arc trotted closer to Nova, trying to look calm, lot calmer than he was. He nodded to her in greeting, following the nod with a question. "Nova, I hate be so blunt, but what happened up there, how is the machinery looking? And... Atri?" the unicorn turned his head, looking at the medical zebra. "Could you look at her leg, please?"

Atriark rushed forward, hearing Nova's plea. Then, when Arc asked him to look at her, the zebra nodded. He had already pulled a roll of bandages out of his medical bag inside his saddle bag and was starting forward when Arc asked. He took a moment to look over Nova's gash. It would need a few stitches and maybe certainly a healing potion.

Quickly, the runt replaced the bandages and took out a bottle of whiskey he used for cleaning wounds. He opened it, took it in his mouth, lifted Nova's injured leg carefully, and poured some whiskey on the wound. He replaced the stopper and set it back into his saddle bag. Next the zebra took out a needle and some thread. After cutting a lenght, Atriark began the odd process of a magicless equine sewing up a pony's leg. A few minutes and a half dozen stiches later, Atriark was washing his mouth out with whiskey while Nova was sporting a newly bandaged and stitched leg.

"In a half hour," Atriark said, pulling put a minor health potion and speaking through it. "Drinth fiss."

Nova smiled sheepishly after she carefully touched down, wincing slightly. Still, Nova laughed awkwardly as she let Ark begin to look at her leg.

"Good to see you all as well." Nova stated with a slight smirk. "Relax Rad, you don't need to apologise. There was no way anyone could have seen this happening."

Nova then smiled a little more genuinely before wincing once more as Ark worked. Still, Nova carried on and turned to Arc with a smile.

"Guess I won't be dancing anytime soon, huh?" Nova giggled slightly before yelping in surprise from Ark's work. "As for the machinery, yes it works. It kind of caused this in the first place so I'm guessing it works well." Nova laughed slightly. "And Ark, thanks for patching me up. Should have been more careful. Sorry."

Nova then nodded and accepted the healing potion, stowing it away for later, but planning to use it for a more severe situation if necessary.

The brown buck looked away when he saw Atriark got to tending Nova's wound. This problem solved, he turned to the gears again, and the ashamed Rad Boom next to them.

"Okay... Rad, seems that the middle one turns on the engine and starts winding up the cable. Since we have the power source... solved, and the blockage removed, I'd say we try to pull up the platform," spoke the engineer, looking at Rad.

Arc took a few steps closer to the lever and enveloped the end of the stick in his crimson tinted magic, slowly pulling it towards him.

(Started the machine again.)

===Arc, Ark, Nova and Rad===
The lever got moved into the other position. The spark generator started to purr as it returned back to life, though this time in a controlled manner, as the gears started to spin the chain. The large wheel on the top of the building, now unobstructed, started to slowly spin and reel in the cable from the darkness below.

===Flash and Violet===
As Violet reattached the cable to the cabin, the cable, partially curled on the ground started to, started to move upwards as the mining tower started to wind it up. Soon enough, all of the excess cable was gone, and with a yank, the cabin got wrestled from the mud and started to ascend to the top, mud dripping from it's bottom.

===Everyone===
The cabin arrived to the surface, allowing everyone to enter.

(In 24 hours, I'll godmod everyone to enter the cabin and descend down, provided noone states otherwise. I apologize for possible inconvenience, please post accordingly.)

As the platform started to ascend, Flash and Violet decided to hop in and take the ride topside. They stayed silent as the elevator took then through the hundreds of meters of darkness to the slowly growing mote of light above them. Soon enough, the platform reached topside, and the machinery stopped winding in the cable, suspending the platform above the long drop, the cabin lightly swaying in the breeze.

As everyone slowly embarked, the platform creaking a little from the strain, Arc told Rad to move the levers into opposite position to make the engine move backwards. Rad flew off and Arc joined the rest of the crew on the platform. Soon, the platform jerked and the wheel started to return back into the hole, Rad soon catching up with the rest and sitting the ride down.

The dark tunnel opened into a large cavern, seemingly untouched by the time since the war. The high ceiling was supported by arches with long stalactites hanging from them, occasional drop falling onto someone's mane as they passed under. The whole opening was lit by dim green and blue light, emitting from fungi and lichens covering the cavern walls. The air was humid, and heavy, as if there were nothing around that really needed it. A strong, dank stench hung in the air, likely from the ages of rainwater flowing into it, making Arc suspect he was actually right in his expectations of water source as his breaths formed into fog in front of his muzzle. Perhaps there was an underwater lake or a maybe even a freshwater spring in the caverns?

The party passed under another arch, opening entrance into another part of the cave. In front of the was an opening, a small flat space, but that was not the interesting part of the new cavern. On the other side of it stood an arch build from stone slabs, blackened by time and grown over by lichen, leading into what appeared to be a pony made tunnel. In front of it was what once might have been an encampment, but given how damp the air was, everything was rotten away by the time, leaving behind only few iron tent nails, several desks and some other scrap metal.

Arc stood in the middle of the encampment, looking at the arch. "Well... seems like we might have hit something. Certainly not here first, or second for that manner, and... oh..." Arc stopped mid sentence, feeling his legs weaken and his head spin. "Excuse me, I might..." he blurted out, staggering away. He could feel how his stomach was trying to flip around already by the time he took the elevator, but he accounted it more to the unstable platform and managed to keep it inside, but now... He found a niche in the cavern wall, creating a sort of bowl like structure, stood above it, and started to retch into it, the sounds of a vomiting unicorn echoing against the ceiling of the cavern.

(I apologize for such horrible and inexcusable godmodding, but I needed to move it on a little.)

Atriark patted Arc's back as he vomited. He turned his head away from his unicorn friend, avoiding the smell. "Come on buddy, get it all out," Atriark said, while he rubbed Arc Weld's back. "Weapons out. Anypony or thing that's down here would have certainly heard Arc."

Nova quietly followed behind the others, careful not to apply too much pressure to her recently bandaged leg. Nova took a look around of their current location, noting the abandoned camp site. Nova knew such things were likely never a good sign, but still managed to keep calm, trying to focus more on what she could see.

Which is why when Arc rushed off, Nova looked to him concerned, wondering what brought this on. Still, Nova didn't want to say anything just yet, considering they still weren't sure whether it was safe to do so.

Arc looked up from the small pile of his breakfast, trying to speak to the zebra next to him. As he opened his mouth, he winced across his whole body, feeling how his stomach send another load of its content up his throat, making him retch into the crevasse again.

Few moments later, filled with the sound of a pony choking on it's own vomit, Arc felt the stomach finally calm down, though mostly because it ran out of contents to vomit. He was standing in a broad stance, hooves straddled apart for stability, his head hung low and lightly rising up and down in the rhythm of his panting. His mane was droopy from the cold sweat that covered his whole body, and his eyes were watered and reddened from the exertion.

He stepped back few steps from the hole and sat oh his haunches. The rocky, uneven and wet floor was feeling like it was biting into his flank from how cold it was, but at least it was not moving under him like his shivering hooves.

Then he slowly swayed to right, and fell on his right side. The cold floor felt good against his feverish body, offering at least some comfort to him.

This... why... no sense... from where? When?

Arc, against all the exhaustion he was feeling, slowly slid his left leg in front of his face, looking at the pip-buck attached above the hoof. The ticker on the radiation counter was in yellow numbers.

"Right... saddle bag... rad... away..." he said, almost a whisper.

Without hesitation, Atriark complied. The runty zebra opened up Arc Weld's right saddle bag and began fishing. A moment later, Atriark's hoof came to a squishy bag, and he retrieved it. Sure enough, it was the bright orange Rad-Away bag.

"Here you go buddy." Atriark said softy, hoofing the brown unicorn the bag.

Rad looked around at the cave they were in, he was amazed it hadn't collapsed. He felt something drip onto his mane, and looked up to see the large spike that was a stalactite above him, thoughts of what might happen if it fell made him swiftly carry on from underneath it. He had been looking at the pony-made arch when Arc ran off to be sick, he stood watching from where he was as others ran to see if he was ok, he figured it was best not to crowd the unicorn, though wondered what was wrong. As far as he remembered Arc was fine earlier.