Mocha HQ’s basement was standard for all of the other high-rise buildings in Manehattan. It wasn’t terribly big, but it was large enough to store some extra supplies from the ground-floor Tavern that weren’t immediately needed. There was also some space in case some particularly panicky ponies wanted shelter from the odd storm that the weather team couldn’t curtail completely, such as the short-lived blizzard that Leviathan and Bushwhacker had created.

The sub-basement was an entirely different beast. The ceiling lay an additional twenty-five feet beneath the basement’s floor, and with no real worries for space, the room was a warehouse in its own right; it spanned the length and width of the tower above it, and was about the same height as a full-size four-story building. It was designed in such a way that there wasn’t any real danger of it collapsing, though there were still a set of broad and redundant pillars in place to alleviate any possible fears of it happening. Not everypony was privy to the tower’s secrets, after all, and engineering wasn’t necessarily part of their skill sets.

Caramel and Hazelnut’s family were notorious collectors, and over the centuries they had stockpiled a lot of items (some useful, but most not). A batch was in the hidden library at the far end of the tunnels, but the rest were kept in stacks of armored crates around the sub-basement’s perimeter. There were also replacement replicas of items in the company museum, kept just in case of fire or idiotic visitors who ignored all the warnings.

There were two or three who thought the room’s size was strange, but they were the apathetic sort who cared only that there was no danger of cave-ins. Only First Quarter, Ignition, and the magitechnicians responsible for the room’s defenses knew the full truth.

From the moment Gray entered the sub-basement, her instincts were buzzing. Something about this room just plain felt off.

Her search of Ignition’s office had borne fruit. The file she’d found didn’t say what this Project Ashes was, just that it was something that was in its fourth year of development and involved a great deal of resources and investment. It was supposed to have been confidential to anypony who wasn’t in the late Cocoa Mocha’s inner circle. There had been notes attached to the inside of the file that suggested that “if there aren’t any laws on the books against this, there will be”.

And there were other tidbits that she had found during her wanderings that were very, very important indeed… but they were best saved for Celestia’s ears only.

Nopony was in the room to greet her, be it with hostility or otherwise. Gray didn’t mind. It meant that there was no need to pretend that she was a new guard or somepony similar. What she did mind was that finding out where this Project was stored was going to require a methodical search, and her instincts weren’t pointing her in a specific direction this go around.

Nothing to do but to start looking. I didn’t need to see that last clock to know that I’ve been down here for a while, so I don’t want to waste any more time. She trotted to the nearest crate and read the label on it to herself. A backup model of museum assets---

With no warning, the crate jerked backwards. Gray jumped back in surprise, legs flailing a bit before her hooves found purchase on the floor again. Her eyes widened behind her shades as a rumbling chorus sang throughout the room.

Everywhere around her, large panels in the walls were opening up to reveal spacious compartments within them. Something was slowly pulling the crates into the compartments, rejecting any possible perusal on her part. For the sake of being stubborn, Gray hooked one of her gauntlets into the crate she’d been examining and tried to pull backwards. This endeavor was abandoned when she realized that she was being dragged along, prompting a hasty retreat.

One by one the panels slid shut and sealed everything away. A silvery glimmer of magic washed over the entire room, barely discernible runes faintly glowing behind the walls.

Experimentally, Gray poked at the panel before her. She frowned when she met solid resistance, her claws failing to pass through. Hmm… low-strength magic blocker, if I had to wager a guess. That one office’s security door was geared towards stopping unicorns, but this seems more applicable towards magic in general. Nothing that would stop a determined pony, but it would keep any casual thieves out at the very least. Have they had problems in the past with thieves getting in here?

Gray huffed and considered her options. I don’t know if I want to put more effort into going where I please. It would be doable but very tiring. I have enough information to close the books on this case and more, so I should probably see about finding a way out of here. Whatever Project Ashes is can wait until I can get either the Police or Leviathan to investigate further.

A quick check of the door she’d entered through showed that it was locked and secured the same way the crates were, so Gray wandered the room’s perimeter. The vents were out of the question, as while they were plentiful they were also too small for her to fit. There were some other exits, but they either were locked as well or went to rooms that led nowhere.

Aside from one door in particular. Even from afar, the buttons in the wall next to it were as plain as day. She’d been checking the maps during the mission, so she knew that it had to be Mocha HQ’s main elevator.

Gray made a beeline towards it to see if she could access it. It occurred to her en route that this whole setup was a trap intended for intruders like herself, so she listened carefully as she went. Her path took her within five meters of a particularly bulky stone pillar---

A whoosh of air bade her to throw herself violently to the right. An oddly-shaped firework of some sort flew through the space she’d just occupied, detonating against the floor and pitching her several meters further away.

Unhurt, Gray recovered her bearings and took to the air to see what had fired upon her. The sounds she was hearing disturbed her, and that wasn’t a mean feat in light of her fondness for horror. The impression she was getting from them made her think of a clock shop, magnified many times in size and gone to ruin, the inner workings of every clock scraping against each other as they struggled past their lifespan.

Many clocks. Dozens. Hundreds.

And that was to say nothing of the shimmering air as her attacker made itself known, seamlessly shifting from unseen to seen a meter off the ground. Gray had found the blueprints for the various drones that Leviathan had fought, but nothing like this was on the itinerary. She growled to herself, more out of anxiety than as a warning: she knew she was treading on unfamiliar ground. If this is the future, I don’t like it.

It was the front half and head of a pony, but radically altered and merged together without a neck or legs. A single large eye was planted on its face, its color alternating between yellow and red. A hoofful of black stripes were draped across the monstrosity, laid out much like the labyrinth that she’d traversed, and what they didn’t cover was a fiery orange. The body—what there was of it—was broad and boxy, with sharp and angular corners where the shoulders should have been.

Four hatches were built into it: one each above and below its head, and one on either side of its body. The one on its left was smoking a little; Gray quickly determined that it was where the firework had been dispensed.

If whatever it was had been pony-sized like the other drones, she probably wouldn’t have been quite as worried. As things stood, it was a little bit bigger and wider than an average one-story house in Diarchs.

Gray’s eyes flicked towards the pillar, suspicions rising. That thing didn’t announce itself until I got too close to that. I wonder… Keeping her eyes on the attacker, she took two sideways steps towards the pillar.

Another firework forced her to quickly evade, wings flapping. As the light from the explosion faded, she noticed with a bit of puzzlement that when it detonated, it had done little to no damage to the floor. She pieced things together quickly. Won’t harm its surroundings, but ten to one it will harm actual ponies. There’s something in that pillar; I’m guessing it’s Project Ashes, and that thing doesn’t want anypony getting close.

Well. Dangle a feather toy in front of my face, why don’t you?

A voice spoke somewhere overhead from a previously unnoticed loudspeaker. Everything about it was distorted, making it impossible to pin any sort of identity to it. “Gray Ghost,” it echoed down to her. “You need to die. No hard feelings and nothing personal. The Equihulk will send you on your way.”

Gray’s answer was a mouthful of teeth.

She didn’t know whether or not the big drone was entirely autonomous or if whoever had spoken to her was controlling it somehow. There was only one way to find out, and thankfully she had the means of determining it. Watching for any incoming attacks, she took off towards the Equihulk at full gallop.

The giant drone did fire at her again—a grappling claw from its dorsal cannon that she easily slipped past without phasing—but it was while it was slowly fading from view. By the time she reached it, the Equihulk had vanished.

Gray didn’t have time to curse at that. The grating clockwork that had been assaulting her ears immediately shifted locations, relocating itself to a corner of the room near the suspicious pillar. As she turned, the drone faded back into visibility before her eyes even as it retracted its grappler.

This time when the Equihulk fired, it was from its right cannon. Another firework closed in on her; her sharp eyes noted that it was white and green, and fairly bulky compared to the others. When she evaded, she took to the air in order to get more distance; big explosives meant bigger detonations, of course.

When it happened, the explosion was surprisingly subdued. For a split second Gray was wondering if that was it… just before the firework’s contents streaked out of the smoke. Eight magic orbs, all of them as green and shiny as the missile that stored them, packed close together, and all of them intent on making Gray’s acquaintance as they shot straight for her.

Gray flew up and to the right to get out of their flight path, but screeched when she saw them changing course to compensate. “You’re kidding me!” she complained as she took evasive action, remembering Leviathan’s icy dragon from their duel. “Not this again!”

“Welcome to Ghostmurder,” the distorted voice notified her. “Hope you like plasma.”

Gray didn’t know what plasma was, and she didn’t care enough to learn. All she knew was that it was dangerous and it was still closing in on her. She poured on the speed, giving herself some breathing room, and put one of the spare pillars between them. It was clear their homing abilities still needed some work: the bolts harmlessly detonated against the pillar, leaving her in the clear.

Gray cautiously shifted out of hiding, keeping one eye on the distant Equihulk. With her other eye she checked the pillar for damage, finding naught but a set of scuff marks. Still nothing? she internally deadpanned. The weaker fireworks I can understand, but this too? I think I’m starting to see how Leviathan feels when she sees something about Equestria she doesn’t get.

Magic was and always would be quite the thing.

The Equihulk was beginning to disappear again. When it teleported and reappeared, it was practically right next to her with the clockwork roaring in her ears. She inhaled sharply in surprise, but reacted appropriately and took off.

Gray’s reflexes had saved her several times in the past, and they did so again as she narrowly avoided what came next. The Equihulk’s ventral cannon came into play, disgorging a virulent crystal blue wave of what had to be dragonfire. The oven-like temperatures around it were enough of a deterrent for her, and now she knew that staying still at any point was a foolish move.

She wasn’t Leviathan. She didn’t have a computer for a brain that would let her hash out any number of strategies in seconds. She’d faced a few tough enemies in the past, most notably that one golem, but this was on a different level. She needed space to think.

Another need made itself known. And while I’m at it...

Making a quick decision, Gray flew over to one of the doors that hadn’t been sealed shut, flung it open, and ducked into the room beyond before she could be fired upon again. The pleasant smell of soap greeted her nostrils as she quickly shut the door.

…

I’m not sure how to feel about this, First Quarter considered, bemused. On one hoof, going someplace where the Equihulk can’t go means that she has plenty of time to plan things out.

On the other… maybe she just really needed to use the restroom? Only savages could fault her for that. Of course, it might easily be both.

Ehhhh… not much to do but wait until she’s out. Whatever happens, I’ll just have to deal with it.

…

Seven minutes later, Gray finished drying off her hooves and slipped her gauntlets back on. Best-smelling soap I’ve ever used. I wonder which brand it is. … Anyway, back to business.

She’d kept her ears listening to the noise outside the entire time. Periodically the location of the noise would change, effecting its volume. Several times it was loud and thus close by, with it almost right in front of the door at one point. Other times it was at the far ends of the room, like now, and much quieter. The time lapses between teleports were always the same.

Now she knew what the Equihulk could do: weak fireworks, strong fireworks, a grappler, and a flamethrower. It appeared to be well-armored, durable enough to take any number of strikes from her claws. And of course, there was its whole cloak-and-teleport deal.

But everything had its weaknesses, and there were four real big ones that she could exploit. I’m not Leviathan, rogues. When the chips are down, I never play fair.

Gray waited until the next volume shift, then opened the door a crack to try and discern her enemy’s location. The Equihulk was positioned more or less in the center of the room, facing her direction. She smirked. Wonderful.

Flinging the door open again, she went from zero to fast in the span of a few heartbeats. Before the drone could fire anything at her, she’d already placed herself between it and the suspicious pillar it had been intent on guarding.

Predictably the Equihulk resorted to firing one of its weaker fireworks at her, something that wasn’t likely to cause collateral damage. In the throes of pure speed, she reached out with both gauntlets and—with nothing less than picture-perfect timing—snagged the projectile between them. Grunting at the force of its propulsion, she spun herself around to build up momentum before releasing the firework, setting it on a new course.

Straight for the hatch it had come from.

The firework struck the inside of the cannon. When it went off, it set off a fiery chain reaction that consumed all of the weapons stored in that side of the Equihulk. By the time the reaction had ended, the left side of its body had been reduced to slag with small pieces breaking off of it, and the cannon had been rendered completely useless. Gray nodded in satisfaction.

In response to this, the Equihulk started to cloak itself prematurely. Not yet, Gray hissed to herself. I’m not finished with you, prey. She jetted straight at it, pulling several items out of her suit pocket.

Along with her memory eraser, she had taken a few small somethings with her from S.M.I.L.E.’s little repository just in case she needed them. In her gauntlet’s “paw” were a trio of pill-shaped capsules created by the organization’s best chemists. They were normally used as a distraction in the event that an agent needed to make a quick escape. What she was planning wouldn’t be the intended use, but it would still give her a leg up on her high-tech foe.

As soon as she was close enough, she flung the capsules with all of her strength right into the Equihulk’s eye. Each one burst on impact, exposing their contents to open air. The colorful droplets rapidly expanded and combined with each other, becoming a light red paint-like substance that covered most of the eye’s surface by the time it was finished growing.

The Equihulk faded out a moment later, reappearing in the area between the pillar and the elevator. But it was almost completely blind now, unable to detect Gray’s presence visually. As such it tried to rely on its limited instructions to continue its attack.

“Not looking too good there!” Gray taunted it, circling near the drone. “Go see a doctor. You’ve got a serious case of pink eye!”

On hearing her voice, the Equihulk immediately jettisoned one of its larger fireworks at her. Its aim was completely off, and the weapon flew past her and struck a distant wall instead. One of the other pillars was between it and Gray when it detonated, leaving the “plasma” unable to lock onto her signature; with nothing to home in on, the bolts scattered in all directions harmlessly.

That was all the confirmation Gray needed. With a predator’s grin, she opened up the gates and threw everything she had into speed. Around and around the Equihulk she went, manipulating the air in ways that only trained pegasi could accomplish. A twister formed around the drone, then grew into a tornado large enough to contain it. Like at Bronclyn High, nature’s fury was unleashed indoors.

The Equihulk might’ve been the size of a house and heavier still, but that didn’t mean that it was immune to the wrath of the winds. It whipped about within the tornado’s confines, not possessing any means of stopping itself. At one point it fired its grappling hook, but this only caused it to flail about in the wind without striking anything.

Feeling the strain of what she was doing, Gray watched the Equihulk’s flight path as she continued to fly. One Equestria, Two Equestria---THREE!

With a violent twist of her wings, her entire body and her pegasus magic, Gray put everything in reverse, effectively slamming the brakes on her attack. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as she took in the backlash this caused, knowing that this would cause her some pain but willing to bear it.

The effects were more pronounced on the Equihulk. The tornado dissipated not quite immediately, but enough that the drone’s momentum threw it free of its weakening grasp. It tumbled through the air, struggling to right itself all the while, but its efforts were quickly rendered moot.

The machine’s full mass smashed the suspicious pillar on impact, crushing its stone façade and shattering the glass beneath it. A murky black liquid spilled out of the container like a tipped-over glass of water, spilling out onto the floor and flooding the immediate vicinity. Some of the stone and glass went with it… and something more besides.

...

Quarter’s eyes widened as a curse escaped her. I knew we should’ve given that thing a bit more intelligence to work with! Gray’s stunt just put Cozy Glow in danger!

…

Gray looked on, panting as she surveyed the aftermath of her assault. I think… I overdid it. A tornado of that size and power… She wiped off some sweat that was trickling down her temples. That was the absolute limit… of what I can do. If I tried that again... I think my wings would fall off. Followed by the rest of me. Then my wings again, just for good measure.

Said wings felt sore and tired from the effort she’d put in, and she was feeling twinges of pain throughout her body from her attack’s recoil. Her suit was damaged, ripped in several places from where bits of the drone’s own debris had been picked up by the tornado. Her shades were cracked, with another piece having glanced off of the left lens. Though somehow, her fedora had managed to remain unharmed and secure.

Gray’s eyes settled on the black liquid, feeling a bit of bile rise up just from looking at it. “Disgusting,” she murmured. Her eyes wandered to something that was floating in the pool---

The Equihulk had pulled itself out of the ruined pillar, steadied itself, and was in the midst of teleporting again. Its dragonfire cannon had taken the brunt of the impact, crumpling the metal enough that trying to fire it again would end in disaster for it, but its other two weapons were still a threat.

But that wasn’t what had gotten Gray’s attention. The strange feeling that had been in the air since she’d walked in had become stronger, and she saw the reason why. After the Equihulk teleported to the back of the room, she flew over for a closer look to better discern what it was.

The object floating in that mess wasn’t an object. It was a pony, a pink one with loose light blue hair and a tail. She couldn’t have been more than three or four years old. None of the debris had touched it, the Project’s negated defenses having done their job before they failed completely. Bizarrely, the pony already had a Cutie Mark: a chess piece, a rook painted red. She was sound asleep, completely oblivious to all of the danger in the room.

A second passed as Gray got her breathing back under control.

A child was here the entire time.

Two.

A child… was…!

Something inside of Gray snapped, and she whipped around to give the Equihulk her undivided attention. She charged forward, taking a mid-air position just behind the room’s center. “You tried to swamp me with one of my biggest weaknesses,” she snarled, her words directed at the one who had trapped her. Her instincts were roaring at the agent—no, the mother—telling her that a child needed protected, and she embraced that urge with a complete heart. “You tried to blackmail me with my family’s safety. You’re endangering this city with your magitech. And now you’re trying to incorporate a helpless filly into whatever power grab you have in mind?!”

Whatever was going on, whatever this strange feeling in the air was, she was going to put a stop to it. Right now. “This…” she screamed, “is unforgivable!”

The Equihulk turned in her general direction when she shrieked and made as if to fire at her, but stopped itself short. Gray wasn’t aware of this, but the instructions contained within its runes told it that it was not to fire its missiles if it detected that Project Ashes was outside of its container. It was a stroke of luck for Gray, but she neither knew it was the case nor cared.

A ghastly aura triggered around her as she forcefully started pulling at her magic, guiding it down a path that ended at her gauntlets. Overkill at this point? Possibly. This was the technique that she had promised she wouldn’t use again, the one in the file she’d told Shining Armor and his girlfriend about.

She was too angry to care. As she’d illustrated to Leviathan and the kidnappers’ leader, she took the protection of her family seriously. That same protection extended to children in general, the natural care of a parent amplified by her grafted feline instincts.

Nopony harmed her babies on her watch. Nopony.

Her heart beat rapidly as she struggled to channel a greater amount of magic than she was used to doing, trying to direct it all to its final destination. She raised her gauntlets and crossed them before her face, and a silver flash confirmed her success: all of the power needed to put an end to this threat, gain her freedom, and take the child to safety was contained in her claws.

Pain blossomed in her chest, and she began to feel very nauseous. Pressure was building up, and it was starting to become more difficult to breathe. She gritted her teeth. Not yet, she begged. Not yet! Not until the child is safe! Just hold on a little bit longer!

Even as her body started to rebel, she forced her gauntlets down. Her two fiery eyes met the Equihulk’s paint-covered one. As if it knew that its seconds were numbered, it didn’t even try to teleport.

…

Gray had never given names to any of her techniques, and there hadn’t been one intended for the forbidden attack in particular; all knowledge of it was going to be erased eventually. And to her, one clawed swipe was just as good as another.

But after her time spent alongside Leviathan, who went out of her way to name any real technique of substance that she had (Water Circle? Seriously? Gray remembered thinking after a related conversation), she decided to indulge herself just this once. If the fish sticks could do it, so could she.

...

“Your time’s up! Cat’s…” The gauntlets swung up over her head, energy trailing behind them and forming a familiar shape for a few brief moments. “Eye…” The shape vanished as Gray swung down, pouring out her heart and magic with one mighty motion. “SLASH!”

An arc-shaped silvery bolt with all of the magic that Gray could spare ripped through the air, its flight unstoppable. It vanished as it struck the Equihulk. A second passed, then another noise was overlaid on top of the clockwork cacophony: a drab, monotone buzzing that gave the impression of a mechanical death cry. The drone spun in place once, three times...

...and violently burst apart in a series of explosions, an inferno of shattered metal and plasma ending its ruckus once and for all. Pieces of it were scattered around that end of the room, buckling the floor and some of the protective wall panels nearby. The runes on the wreckage glowed faintly, then died. Project Ashes' primary line of defense was obliterated.

...

Unfortunately, Gray was having a difficult time appreciating the blissful silence. She dropped to the ground, her legs buckling as she landed clumsily. Her pain had spread to her shoulder and back, her nausea was worsening, and her lungs were struggling to function properly. An incredible wave of dizziness overtook her, and for a minute she could do nothing but hunker down, whining in agony.

The... the child. Is... is she safe?

She forced herself to look back at where the filly was resting. There was no noise coming from it, and as jumbled as her thoughts were she couldn't imagine how the child could still be asleep.

I... have to... check on... her...!

She knew that she had to get to the hospital somehow immediately, but to her it was unthinkable that she should try to leave without taking the child with her. She reached out with a hoof, trying to start dragging herself over there and succeeding on her eighth attempt. Little by little she pressed on, first by inches, then by feet. Some of her pain subsided, and her lungs regained some of their strength. She was finally able to get to her hooves, though her movement speed was barely that of a slow amble and she still had some dizziness to contend with.

Gray was forced to take a slight detour to get around the pillar's wreckage, making her wait feel unbearably longer, but at last she reached the filly. Looking down at her and taking in her healthy condition, the agent smiled past her pain, satisfied that the child was doing well...

She froze, trying to get her wits about her. She didn't know what, but she had the vague feeling that she was forgetting something---

As distracted as Gray was by her situation and that of the child’s, she was almost completely blind to her surroundings. An arrow of strange and unusual power shot at her out of the blue, striking her right flank squarely and ripping through the back half of her suit—

And four eyes, two on either side of her, shattered like glass into nothingness as the arrow passed through her, leaving the pony outwardly unharmed. Inwardly, however...

A violent shock struck Gray’s heart, overwhelming her. Bright colors in many shapes wrapped around her vision, then continued to brighten until all was white. For a fleeting moment, she completely lost her sense of self amidst all of the pain. Her ability to form coherent thoughts fled from her, and her consciousness followed suit.

The pony whimpered once before dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes, partially submerged in the nutritional fluid that surrounded her.

…

And the small part of her that had never been pony-like in the past thirty-four years refused to take the danger it was in lying down.

Author's Note

Music links in this chapter include: Descent II’s Level Four, and “Battle in Flash” from Kyatto Ninden Teyandee.

I am not happy with this chapter. It took entirely too long to work on, even with my health as haywire as its been recently. I’m sure there’s probably something like twenty things I could’ve done to make this one better, but my brain doesn’t want to think of them.

Sadly… it’s necessary. You’ll see what I mean when the next chapter goes up, which will likely be sometime in the next 12-14 hours: it’s been mostly completed for the better part of a month. That’s pretty much where all of my creativity has been.

And on that note, an advance warning on the next chapter. There’s a certain part of it that will likely come off as very unrealistic. If you get to that point, remind yourself that half the crossover is My Little Pony. “Unrealistic” is a large chunk of FiM’s whole deal, and that’s in part what I love about it.

The Equihulk takes inspiration from the bosses in the first Descent game (an example can be found on the Descent – Freespace Wiki here), though it’s better armed than either of them were, is on the smaller side, and not nearly as durable. One of its weapons, the plasma-spewing Smart Missile, was the weapon used by the Level 7 boss.

I debated with myself for a while as to how big to make the sub-basement. I considered making it as tall as Gray’s apartment building, but decided against it. I eventually settled on the height of a substantial four-story building, and I used the local courthouse as a visual indicator of how tall that would be.

(As a side note, I don’t think I ever established how big the Hyacinth Apartment building was. I don’t have an exact measurement for feet or meters, just that it’s a nine-story building and that Leviathan would hit her head on the ceiling if she tried anything higher than a short jump.)

Another thing I debated with myself with was whether or not to use the Dwarf Fortress reference (more specifically to the infamous Boatmurdered experiment). Ultimately I went with it, and it’s probably for the best: the next chapter’s going to be completely lacking in humor.

The Cat's Eye Slash is--obviously--Speedy/Yattaro's attack from the above mentioned KNT.

I knew little to nothing of what heart attacks actually were, so I had to look up some information on them and what the signs of them were. But I'll be blunt: the way I described what Gray was going through still feels very haphazard.

See you all tomorrow. And… brace yourselves.

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