Bridlewood Spectra Power Station exterior, security compound

The last I had heard was that Alphabittle had been able to get through to Princess Haven of the Pegasi and get some additional support sent to our position. He had since vanished off somewhere else, so I was still looking at plans of the facility to try and establish a course of action. A critical problem was still that reading. I could sense that it was far, far higher than 3.6 Starswirl, but I was simply a scientist and lacked political clout. On top of that, I was an Earth Pony, and thus could be easily accused of xenophobic hate speech if I attempted to dispute any of the numbers.

I suddenly became aware of large numbers of military vehicles pulling up in a nearby yard, and their troops staying inside for now. One of the vehicles, however, unloaded a single figure. A pegasus, dressed in a dark green military uniform with silver accents and a helmet to match. His face was ageless, as it often was with military figures owing to the incredible amounts of fitness they did.

"General Wind Rider, ZHIG 3rd Infantry Division, reporting for duty," he said, and he extended his wing as a greeting. I nervously reached my hoof forward and shook it, noting the firmness of the shake. This was clearly a pony who meant business.

"Glad you and your men could make it, General," I replied, looking back down to my map. "As you're probably aware, we've got a bit of a problem in the local area with radiation."

"That's why I ordered my men to stay inside their vehicles. The NCB shielding should keep them safer than if they were outdoors."

"Nice to see somepony is taking this situation seriously," I said.

Just then, Alphabittle returned. "I was just on the phone with local party administration," he said. "The other races have started to issue radiation warnings. In Trottingham City, which bear in mind is thousands of miles away, ponies are being told to stay indoors until further notice, whilst here the authorities are doing nothing. They plan to conceal the accident from Bridlewood citizens on the grounds it's not too bad. When I try to shift them, they simply repeat the 3.6 Starswirl number."

"We need an independent authority to travel into the danger zone and get an accurate reading from a high power dosimeter," I said. "General, I was wondering if you had any thoughts?"

"We brought a high power dosimeter as you requested," the General replied. "It's already been installed on one of the IFVs which has increased radiation shielding and recycled air systems."

"General," I said, "I have to warn you that the radiation levels out there are unknown. Even with the increased shielding fitted to the vehicle, there is a chance that whomever operates that vehicle will not make it back."

The general nodded, then glanced over to the vehicle in question. "Then I'll do it myself," he replied.

Head Office of CanterLogic, Maretime Bay

Solar Blossom felt that she had a potential lead on this new situation. Whilst analysing photographs of the debris scattered around the power station, she had spotted something interesting. Several parts and heavy machinery, such as steam tanks and a turbine, were lying about the place and were being removed using remote control cranes. But the markings on them interested her.

After doing some digging, she had found that the components were all marked 'CanterLogic'. Research had revealed that the markings were of a company based out of Maretime Bay, a town deep in Earth Pony territory. As a result, she had organised a meeting with the head of CanterLogic, a mare called Phyllis Cloverleaf. She was arriving at her office, and knocked on the door.

"Enter," said an abrupt voice. Blossom pushed the door open and stepped inside, to see a gaudily decorated office full of treasures from across the world arranged haphazardly with no order or sense. It was just accumulated stuff that been more or less dumped there.

The mare in the chair was presumably Phyllis Cloverleaf. She peered at Blossom from down her glasses and snout. "Take a seat," she said, in the same unfriendly tone.

Blossom did so, and addressed the mare. "Miss Cloverleaf, I am Solar Blossom. I contacted you about a meeting to discuss a find I recently made?"

"Is this concerning the Bridlewood Spectra Power Station? Because I can assure you that CanterLogic equipment was not the cause of that disaster."

"It was CanterLogic equipment that I wanted to ask about. I noticed that several pieces of equipment ejected from the building were stamped with your company's name. I was simply wanting to eliminate the possibility of equipment failure from botched manufacturing."

"CanterLogic doesn't botch any production," Phyllis said, sounding bored. She was, without a doubt, the rudest mare Blossom had ever met. "If anything, it's you Unicorns who are at fault. You clearly cannot operate Earth Pony machinery properly, and heaven knows what would have happened if you tried to operate one of our reactors! Good thing that the radiation levels from yours are so low."

Blossom decided to ignore the insult and continued her line in enquiry. "The radiation levels are, in all good measure, much higher than 3.6 Starswirl."

"I prefer the official numbers to your own. They look better. Besides, what could a scientist know about how the world works?"

Blossom could not believe what she was hearing. "I am a scientist, and you worked on an assembly line. What makes you think you know more about radiation than me?"

Phyllis laughed. "Yes, I worked on an assembly line. But now, I am CEO of an entire company, which makes my word law. We control the world and you don't. So if I say that CanterLogic machinery did not cause the accident, it did not cause the accident. Words are power, after all. Goodbye."

Blossom left the room, incredibly frustrated. "Well that was a waste of time," she said to herself, when Phyllis was firmly out of earshot. "This is going nowhere. I need to travel out there myself."

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station exterior

General Rider drove the IFV slowly into the power station area. The heavy shielding on his vehicle helped to keep him safe, but even so he had a HAZMAT suit on as a safety precaution. He peered through the twin eye holes of his gas mask at the display in front of him. The driving ports had been plated over, so he was using cameras to navigate. Even that was easier said than done, as the screen was covered in white spots.

He reached over and switched on his personal geiger counter. It squealed loudly, then tripped.

"That's not good," he said to himself. "Engaging dosimeter now."

The dosimeter cracked as he drove around the site, running constantly at high speed as he tried to stay safe and relatively clear. Despite the radiation shielding, he was fully aware that radiation could cause the IFV to break down. He drove along the side of the building, internally astonished at the level of destruction all around him and the flattened structures all about. The rubble made navigating through the area quite difficult.

He drove as far as he dared into the plant, and then turned the vehicle around to make his exit from the zone. He saw a clear route out of the place, and then gunned the engine towards the safe zone, being understandably keen to get out of this area. He pulled the vehicle up in the armour pool, where a group of soldiers also in HAZMAT gear got to work on hosing the vehicle down with anti radiation liquid. Once he had exited via the back ramp, he himself was sprayed with the same substance to decontaminate his own suit.

He trotted over to Argyle and Alphabittle, both of whom were waiting for him, alongside Crimson Moon. He stepped over, reaching up to remove his gas mask and removing it. "My geiger counter broke the second I switched it on thanks to the radiation levels," he said.

"What was the reading on the dosimeter?" Alphabittle asked.

General Rider paused before giving his reply. "It's not 3.6 Starswirl. It's 15,000, maybe higher, as that's as high as the dosimeter can read."

Crimson Moon looked like he was about to piss himself. "You can't be-" he started.

Alphabittle glared at him, which was enough to silence him. "What does this mean, Argyle?"

"It means the core is open," Argyle began. "It means the fire we're watching with our own eyes is giving nearly twice the radiation released by the megaspell warheads of pre-Imperial Equestria. And that's every single hour." He glanced at a clock. "Hour after hour, 20 hours since the explosion, so 40 bombs worth by now. Forty eight more tomorrow. And it will not stop. Not in a week, not in a month. It will burn and spread its poison until the entire planet is dead!

Author's Note

Glossary of Terms

ZHIG-Zephyr Heights Imperial Guard
NCB-Military shorthand for Nuclear, Chemical, Biological, a type of protective equipment designed to shield troops against these hazards.
IFV-Acronym for Infantry Fighting Vehicle, a type of armoured vehicles designed predominantly to engage infantry.