Bridlewood: the Cost of Lies

by The Blue EM2

Rating: mature
Tags: Argyle Starshine, My Little Pony: A New Generation, Horror, Alphabittle, Profanity, Queen Haven, Dark, Death, Thriller, Original Character, Phyllis Cloverleaf
Length: 25235

Every Lie we tell incurs a debt to the Truth.

The division between the races has long been a feature of post-Imperial Equestria. But even as recently as a few decades ago, the three tribes were willing to cooperate to a limited degree.

Then one mistake changed everything. Join me, and discover how one cataclysmic event thirty years ago defined the relations of three races for decades, as well as why unicorns are deathly afraid of mayonnaise.

Inspired by the HBO Series Chernobyl and a rather strange discussion in this thread.

With thanks to user Huk for helping with adapting nuclear power to the G5 setting.

Written for the Hot Pony Summer Contest.

Published 2022-07-03 23:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-07-21 23:04:36 UTC

A new Discovery

Thirty Years Ago...

University of Vanhoover

Picture, if you can, a Lecture Hall. Think similar in size to the one at Maretime Technical College, only much, much bigger. This one has space for several thousand students to listen, and furthermore this particular one was built exclusively for the use of science students.

That should give you a picture of what the science Lecture Hall at the University of Vanhoover was like. A vast cavernous space that seemed to stretch for miles from end to end. At least it felt that way to me, when I prepared to give my first presentation to the crowd.

I was fresh faced, new, and more or less straight out of university on a physics degree. It was nervous, yes, but who isn't when doing something for the first time? Weren't you nervous when you did school plays and had to speak in front of all of your peers?

I think I'm getting rather off topic. I saw that most of the people had assembled, but decided to hold a few minutes as there were still ponies trickling in through the doors. They'd gain a red light above them if the lecture was in progress, which it wasn't right now.

When it seemed the crowd had finished assembling, I decided to start by clearing my throat. "Good afternoon, everypony," I said, addressing the assembled ponies looking at me. "I am Dr Argyle Starshine, and I am here to speak to you today about a new, cutting edge innovation in the field of power production in our country."

Faced with the prospect of hearing about exciting new developments, the entire crowd leaned forward like a reverse Mareican wave, which was mildly disconcerting.

I tapped a new slide onto the screen. "About twenty years ago, archeologists digging about in the site where Cloudsdale is believed to have crashed centuries ago found a series of plans for a number of different machines which appeared to have been used for the purposes of power generation. All of them had something in common- none of them used fossil fuels like coal or oil. Instead, they harnessed the power of the very thing that makes up our very lifeblood, the most common substance that exists in the world and helps to bind it together. Spectra."

There was an 'oooooooh' from the crowd, causing me to suspect that not all of them were students, and that some were other people who had paid to attend. I decided to continue onwards.

"These devices can produce almost limitless amounts of power from their fuel, and better yet produce no pollution whilst in operation. I will say that they are the future of power generation for our world, as each of the pony races, isolated as we are, have developed our own models of these devices, which we have dubbed HARMONY reactors."

I updated it to another slide and a schematic of one design, particularly propular with the unicorns, appeared on screen. "So," I asked rhetorically. "How does a HARMONY reactor work?"

As it was a rhetorical question, I continued onwards without waiting for an answer. The crowd cottoned onto this and were silent and still. "HARMONY reactors run off SPECTRA-135, which releases energy by splitting into smaller bits. Most models use a fuel enrichment level of around 10% as that way, weapons-grade SPECTRA is not needed for a reactor as there is a moderator."

I indicated back to the display. "The model currently on the screen is a CGMR-1000 reactor, derived from a design used in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. This design is unusual in that the substance used as a moderator is graphite. This is rare, as most other models use either hydrogen or sodium. An example of this is the ZHHCR, which should be coming up on the display now."

The display briefly switched to show the different reactor model, before I switched it back. "The purpose of a moderator is to speed up or slow down the reaction based on how much power you need to be generated. As you've probably guessed, this process generates a lot of heat, so of course something will be needed to cool the reactor core."

I updated the display to include a close depiction of the cooling system. "This design uses water to cool the core down by transferring the heat from the core to the water. This is also how the water is heated for transfer to the turbine, making it very economical to build and operate."

I looked around the room and decided to conclude this section. "There are several of these devices in use across Equestria, and it is my firm belief that they are the answer to solving our world's energy crisis. Now then, do any of you have any questions about HARMONY reactors?"

I glanced about, to see one solitary hoof in the air. "Yes?" I asked.

The mare, an Earth pony, sitting in the chair spoke up. "I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard a story from somewhere or other about a Unicorn reactor being unsafe and suffering some sort of stability problem whilst in operation, resulting in a radiation leak. If this is the case, how safe are these devices?"

I furrowed my brow. The scientific community was supposed to stay connected with issues like this. How come I hadn't been told of this? "I'm afraid I am not familiar with the incident you are referring to," I replied, "but I can assure you that HARMONY reactors, when built and maintained properly, are one of the safest and cleanest forms of energy production we have available."

There were, it seemed, no further questions. "Well, thank you for your time, and if you do have any further questions please write them down on the cards as you leave the lecture hall. Thank you."

As they turned to leave, I went to the back of the room. The question had unnerved me somewhat. I needed to find out more information on that incident, and whether it really did happen. And fast.

Office of Crimson Moon, Manager of BSPS

It was early into the morning that the telephone rang, buzzing noisily on a wall. Crimson Moon trotted over to it, annoyed that his morning coffee had been interrupted by something so rude as a phone call. "Do ponies these days have no concept of delays? It's as if they want to work our socks off."

He reached for the handset (his horn was hardly useful for lifting things off their sockets considering their tendancy to spear things), and he answered it. "Good morning. Crimson Moon speaking."

"It's the UKSEA here," a voice replied. "We have a special duty for you."

Crimson Moon indicated to his secretary, and switched the call to speaker. "Go ahead."

"As you're probably aware, our preferred reactor model, the CGMR, has an unusual quirk. In the event that a plant were to suffer a total power failure, there's a problem."

"I thought that was what the backup generators were for," Crimson Moon said. "To cover the load when the power grid was offline."

"Precisely. There is just one small problem. The generators need time to spin up to full power to operate the coolant system, and that leaves a small gap in the power cycle where there is no coolant running through the reactor core."

"How do we fit into this?"

"Simple," the voice continued. "We want to establish whether the turbine will be spinning fast enough to power the coolant systems for long enough to cover the gap between a loss of power and the generators coming up to full load. In order to do this, we will need a reactor to test and see if it works."

"And you'd like to use one of mine, correct?"

"Precisely. Your station has four reactors, of which Reactor 4 is one of the newest example of the CGMR design. As a result, we want your best team of men to operate the test and establish if there is enough momentum to keep the systems running."

"Other power plants have attempted similar tests and it hasn't worked. There's an old unicorn saying that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing multiple times and expecting a different result each time."

"We expect you to do your best," the voice said sternly. "Your team will conduct the test at 14:15 on the 25th Thaw and report the results to us in the morning. Is this clearly understood?"

"Yes sir," Crimson Moon replied.

"Very good! Let your staff know straight away." The line then clicked shut.

Crimson Moon put the phone back, and glanced over to his secretary, who was busy recording the words of the conversation. "Froggy Bottom always imposes impossible deadlines on us, and then is surprised when things go wrong. Sky Chaser isn't going to like any of this." He stepped over to the intercom and prepared to call the staff into his office.

Author's Note

Technical Terms
Spectra-The key building block of all living things in Equestria.
HARMONY-Acronym for High Actuality Reactor, Moderate Order Nova Yield.
SPECTRA-135-A refined state of Spectra, suitable for weapons or reactor use.
Fuel enrichment-A Chemical process by which the percentage composition of certain substances is increased.
CGMR-Acronym for Cloudsdale Graphite Moderated Reactor, a design derived from a model used in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory of Imperial Equestria.
ZHHCR-Acronym for Zephyr Heights Hydrogen Cooled Reactor.
Moderator-An object used to control the speed of Spectra reactions.
BSPS-Acronym for Bridlewood Spectra Power Station.
UKSEA-Acronym for Unicorn Kingdom Spectra Energy Authority

Day of Disaster

Office of Crimson Moon, Manager of BSPS

When the telephone goes off with only a few minutes before a highly sensitive test is about to begin, it's rarely ever good news. This was the feeling in Crimson Moon's heart when the telephone rang with only 15 minutes before the test was due to start. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Ah, there you are! Good you got to the phone so fast. Everything going well?"

"Yes sir. As a matter of fact, we are about to begin the turbine test on Reactor 4."

"I'm afraid you'll need to hold the test. The power station at Meridian Valley has unexpectedly gone down- something about a fault with one of the turbines that means they had to bring one of their reactors offline. I need you to postpone your test until we can get Meridian Valley back up to power."

"But we've already started slowing down the reactor, and the core will start to have xenon buildup. How long until they can get running again?"

"We don't know. Try to raise power levels and burn the xenon off." The line then abruptly clicked shut, indicating the call was over.

Crimson Moon sighed. "Just trust the idiots at Meridian Valley to break their toys just when we need to do something important. I'll need to tell them the test is off. Here's hoping Sky Chaser remembered to re-enable the security protocols on the reactor itself." He stepped out of his office, and glanced briefly at a dosimeter to ensure it was safe for him to go.

Vanhoover University Radiological Department, Technical Research Center

I hurried into the research room, keen to find out more about this incident. Despite the distrust that seemed to exist between the races, there was some data sharing between us to ensure a level of transparency. After all, if there was a serious problem with a design, the other races would surely tell us to ensure there would be no repeat. Right?

I dived onto the monitor and began my search, starting with typing 'CGMR Reactor stability issue' to start. The only problem was this returned nothing, almost as if there was no such problem.

I sighed. This would need more work to sort out. I decided to try sorting through all the information on the CGMR model manually, to see if that returned any results. The system returned an awful lot of results, none of them seeming to match what I was looking for, so I started working my way through them systematically. This process took me quite a while, to the point my eyes were starting to feel awkward from all the screen use. I took a break from looking to grab a quick coffee, then returned to my work a few minutes later.

But as I looked at the documents, I noticed something strange. The records seemed to have vital bits of data missing, as if they were never there. Things just weren't adding up at all.

I eventually found luck, however. I came across some documents referring to an incident near Stalliongrad a few months ago which had been shared on the network. Most of the document was redacted, making it virtually unusable, but there was something that attracted my attention. The end of the document made reference to large numbers of control rods having been removed from the reactor core, which had led to severe instability when running. Not very surprising, as so few rods in the core would have left the reactor almost impossible to control. However, that was as much as I could glean. The paperwork gave no indication of precisely how many rods had been removed, or the number of fuel channels that were available to start with. I tried to make an educated guess based on my knowledge of other reactors, but my best guess was a reactor getting stuck in a xenon pit and the personnel trying to restart it without waiting for the substance to decay away first.

I turned to my notes to see if anything like this had been reported elsewhere. However, despite my best efforts, all other unicorn documents related to this model were so heavily redacted they were useless. What was the point of issuing documents if they then blacked the majority of them out?

I was unsettled more than relieved. I knew that, anywhere in the world where one of those reactors was running, there was the possibility of them turning into a bomb. But who would be stupid enough to attempt a restart like that?

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Control Room for Reactor IV

It was around midnight that the test had been rescheduled, and Deputy Chief Engineer Sky Chaser was annoyed. Not least because administration had re-arranged the test without good reason in his mind, but that he'd had to come in on his day off to oversee it due to unforseen circumstances. "Just tust Wild Strikes to fall ill at the worst possible moment. I bet he did it to get out of work."

He looked over to Scarlet Shadow. "How are we looking on power generation?"

"1500 Megawatts and sustained," the Earth Pony replied. "Reactor core is currently stable, but I'm concerned about the reactor safe-"

"Good," Sky Chaser replied. "Lucky Light, are we on schedule to start the test?"

"Yes sir," the Unicorn answered. "Backup generators and turbines read as normal. Systems are good to go."

"Astral Thunder, any problems to report?"

"Well," the Pegasus began, her eyes looking nervously around the room, "the previous shift reported some issues with core speed, but we should be able to burn it off if we keep running at current speed, and I haven't had any problems thus far."

"Excellent," Sky Chaser. "Remember you lot, safety first. This is a safety test, after all. Wouldn't want anything to go wrong." He took up his position at the command panel, and checked the readings for himself. "Excellent. Everything checks out. Start running down reactor power to 1000 Megawatts, preferably lower to ensure a better response from the pumps."

"Understood," Lucky Light said. "Lowering control rods to slow down reaction."

With a series of clicks and whirrs, the displays began to update to show the various status positions of the rods as they dropped into place. On the other side of the room, the power gauge began to fall rapidly. Too quickly.

The numbers began to plummet.

"We're losing power rapidly!" Scarlet Shadow shouted. "Try and equalise the core!"

Lucky Light tried some adjustments to try and increase and maintain power, but the numbers on the monitors continued to drop rapidly.

"There's no way this can be right," Astral Thunder said, consulting her gauge. "We should be able to maintain the reaction unless..." he tailed off.

Sky Chaser caught onto this. "Unless what?"

Power had dropped to under 500 Megawatts and continued to fall.

"Unless there's something in the core that's preventing the reaction from happening."

No matter how many adjustments he made to the core, Lucky Light could not get power to rise, and the reactor power reading dropped constantly until the numbers flatlined at around 10 Megawatts. The reactor, for all intents and purposes, had stopped.

Sky Chaser got out of the control panel section of the room and trotted over to Scarlet Shadow. He looked cross. "You've stalled the reactor, you fucking idiot," he said. "How are we supposed to run the test now? How the Tartarus did any of you get a job here?"

"Xenon levels in the core," Astral Thunder said. "That's what is causing the reaction to grind to a halt. We need to wait for that to burn off before we can restart the reactor."

There was a momentary silence. Then Sky Chaser responded. "Raise the power."

"What?"

"I know you're stupid, I didn't realise you were deaf too. Raise the power."

"I won't. It's not safe," Lucky Light stammered. "We can't safely restart with the poisoning-"

"I don't give a shit about the xenon levels!" Sky Chaser snapped. "We are doing this test and that is final. Raise the power."

Scarlet Shadow produced a clipboard on her hoof. "Sir, I request that you write down your order fir-"

"Oh, are you blind as well?"

"With all due respect, I thi-"

"With all respect means you shut the fuck up and do your job. Get that power raised. I won't ask you again."

Lucky Light shook in fright as he began lifting control rods out of the core. More and more of them were lifted as the numbers began to rise.

Soon, the reaction was up to speed once again, then the numbers began to climb out of control. "What's happening now?" Scarlet Shadow called. Control panels started to light up and beep loudly, producing a cacophany of terror.

"Reactor power rising uncontrollably!" Astral Thunder called. "Drop the rods! DROP THE RODS!"

Scarlet Shadow dashed over to another panel, tore a cap free of its housing to reveal a button marked SCRAM. Sirens screamed throughout the plant as she slammed the button down.

She hoped it would be enough.

Author's Note

Glossary of Terms

Xenon poisoning-A byproduct of poorly handled spectra reactions. This is a problem as xenon buildup can halt a reaction in its tracks.
Control rod-a device used for speeding up and slowing down spectra reactors, allowing power output to be varied.
SCRAM-Acronym for Safety Control Rod Activation Mechanism.

Not Great, Not Terrible

Home of Amber Gem

Amber Gem had been sleeping relatively peacefully when suddenly there was a huge noice from outside, and some sort of pulse came through the air. Both of these factors were enough to jolt her out of bed, and she picked herself up off the floor and headed over to the window to try and see whatever it was had happened.

"I hope it's nothing bad," she said quietly to herself, moving slowly due to her eyes still adjusting to the light. "Or maybe I was just imagining the entire thing to myself."

She reached the curtains, and opened them. Her mouth opened in surprise when she saw a strange orange light, distinct as a laser beam, reaching high into the sky from what appeared to be the local power station (her home faced right towards it). She did a double take and rubbed her eyes to ensure she wasn't seeing things, but sure enough the light was still there. "This is all very strange," she said, and went for the telephone to report the situation.

A nearby hill

A group of unicorns just happened to be watching in that direction when the glow had appeared, and stood transfixed, watching the strange sight unfolding before them. Moments later, a milky white substance began to descend from the clouds above them.

"What's that, dad?" a small unicorn colt asked as he saw some of the blobs touch the ground.

"Oh, that's mayonnaise," the father said, unaware of how wrong he was.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Control Room for Reactor IV

The control room briefly shook owing to a loud bang from nearby, and some of the tiles seemed to have been dislodged from the ceiling, based on how they were hanging at awkward angles. Sky Chaser glanced up at the monitors. "Looks like we have a temperature problem with the core," he said. "Lucky Light, get the water valves reopened, keep water moving."

Lucky Light pushed a button and only got loud beeping in response. "Pump controls at my end are offline," she said. "We'll need to activate the pumps manually in order to get water flow moving."

Sky Chaser nodded. "Did the rods move into position to stop the reaction?"

"Can't tell, moniting unit is not responding."

Sky Chaser glanced over to two new employees who had just arrived. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Scarlet Song and Straight Arrow, sir," the first said. "The control room officer for Reactor III sent us over when they heard the sirens."

"Right," Sky Chaser noted. "You two, we need to get water moving through the core. Your priority is to get the pumps up and running manually which will let us cool it down. Once you've done that, I need you to head via Reactor IV's turbine hall and ensure the rods are in the down position. Once you've done that, try and get in contact with Apple Specter."

As they left, he checked his dosimeter. "Hmm, 3.6 Starswirl. Not great, not terrible."

Tunnels within Bridlewood Spectra Power Station

Straight Arrow made his way down the tunnels as best he could. As Earth Ponies, they were uniquely suited to fitting down through these sorts of situations, and would fit through tunnels most others could not. He and his friend Scarlet Song were especially good at this, even if Sky Chaser usually wasn't the one they took orders from.

"What do you think happened down there?" he asked her, as sirens continued to blare the closer they got to the core.

"Probably another turbine trip requiring a restart," Scarlet Song replied, as they continued along. "He probably wants the water flow checked as a safety precaution, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

As they ended the corridor, they turned a bend towards the section of the building that housed the turbine hall and the reactor itself. On the way, they stopped as a door opened. "Didn't expect to see you guys down here," a unicorn said, emerging from a door and addressing them directly.

"We were sent over from Reactor III to see what was going on," Scarlet Song said. "I don't believe we've met before."

The unicorn decided to introduce herself. "Aqua Pie, Reactor Section Foreman. I wouldn't go that way just yet with all the sirens blaring. We need to open the water valves first before we head in to check the reactor."

"Did you hear anything?" Straight Arrow asked.

"There was a loud explosion from the turbine hall. I tried to raise Apple Specter on her radio but didn't get a response. She may be out of radio range or something is jamming the signals."

"Which way to the water pumps?" Scarlet Song asked.

"Down this corridor," Aqua Pie said. "Follow me. I don't think we'll need gas masks down here, the dosimeter's only giving a reading of 3.6 which isn't too bad."

As they made their way down the corridor, the world around them seemed to be warping in strange ways. There was an odd taste in the air, and not only that there was evidence of flooding and ruptured pipes. Whatever had happened seemed to be a lot more serious than just a stalled reactor.

At long last, they entered the pump room to find the panels offline and badly damaged. The connecting controls from the control room were also on the floor, which was why they had been unable to operate them from the control room.

"We need to turn each of these valves by hoof to get the water flow moving," Aqua Pie said. "Mind the flooding on the floor as it can get a bit wet down here."

One by one, the ponies began to turn the heavy valves round and round, the slow rushing sound confirming that water was indeed moving through the pipes. At long last, the pipes were fully open, and water was rushing into its destination.

"That's that task handled," Aqua Pie said. "Anything else you two were ordered to do?"

"They also wanted us to check on the reactor and turbine hall," Scarlet Song said.

"That may be a problem," Aqua Pie said. "Whatever that explosion was caused much of the ceiling of the turbine hall to cave in based on the CCTV feed. However, you guys might be in luck. There's an alternate path into the turbine hall that uses the upper walkway that runs right over the reactor. I can get you in there, and then you can report back. Follow me."

They followed her up a narrow walkway into the beating heart of the facility. The damage to the facility was growing ever worse the further they progressed in, only emphasised by the blaring sirens all across the facility. Rubble was strewn everywhere. Even this corridor was choked with rubble that had fallen out of the ceiling and landed on the ground. They pushed onwards into the site, with the cacophany around them a constant theme. But after much walking, they had finally found luck.

Aqua Pie looked at a map of the facility on the wall, and checked towards another section of corridor. "Ah, not far now. We take a left just up ahead and proceed into the room over here, which will get us access."

They headed off into the new area, suddenly sensing something strange. "Can you taste something?" Straight Arrow asked.

"Such as?" Scarlet Song replied.

"I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It tastes like... metal in the air. I'm pretty certain that's not supposed to happen."

"Come on, let's keep moving," Aqua Pie said, and they went onwards and closer towards the core. The lights in a corridor up ahead had failed, forcing them to proceed using a torch to see where they were going. The dinginess only grew worse, with some form of strange white substance in the air that had leaked in somehow. The interior of this corridor was not supposed to look like this, so something was very wrong.

Not only that, but Straight Arrow was starting to feel... off. Not quite sure how, as he had been feeling fine for a while before this point. He continued onwards, concluding he was just seeing things that weren't there.

Up ahead they found their target. In front of them, beneath collapsed tiles, was a large door. All three ponies rushed forward and rotated the door mechanism to try and open it, but it took some effort.

When they finally got it open, there was a vision of hell on the other side. Smoke and flames billowed upwards into the air, dancing on trails of flames and fire. The heat was incredible, and the room was an absolute mess, covered in rubble.

But what shocked them most was a mangled pile of rubble below. Near their position was a massive pile of metal, and a massive metal object lying on its side with mangled pipes coming out of it.

Scarlet Song looked horrified. "What have they done?"

Author's Note

Glossary of Terms

Dosimeter-Device used to measure radiation readings.
Starswirl-A unit of measurement used to describe the amount of spectra radiation in the air.

Emergency!

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Control Room for Reactor IV

Sky Chaser quickly looked about the room as he saw the others at work. So far, they had succesfully gotten the diesel generators online to try and get the turbine spinning again, and other electrical systems appeared to be working. "Lucky Light, any word on the pumps?"

"Displays suggest that the pumps are now operational again, but there's no response from the reactor sensors, and Apple Specter still isn't picking up on her radio."

"Forget about Apple Specter, we have more important things to deal with right now." Sky Chaser looked over the room to Scarlet Shadow. "Anything yet?"

"Well, the CCTV's back up in most of the plant. The two you dispatched are about to arrive on scene, and I just got a call from Crimson Moon. He's on his way and will see you when he arrives."

"Good." Sky Chaser saw the door open and both Scarlet Song and Straight Arrow stepped through. Both of them were red in the face, and Sky Chaser was pretty certain it wasn't from exhaustion. "Status report. What is the state of the pumps and reactor?"

"Pumps are good to go," Straight Arrow said. "But the reactor is less good."

"What sort of damage has been sustained?"

"Critical." Scarlet Song took over, her trademark bluntness cutting through the air like a knife. "Simply put, the reactor blew up."

Sky Chaser froze for a moment. Had he heard them right? "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I said the reactor blew up. It exploded. There's a gigantic hole in the ceiling, the room is full of smoke, and the reactor lid is lying on its side with the control rods exposed."

Sky Chaser couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he almost immediately went into denial. "That's impossible," he said, less trying to deny reality than desperately trying to reconcile what he had been taught was impossible and what was being described to him. "CGMR reactor cores can't explode."

"I would try to explain further, but we were only there for a few seconds and-" Scarlet Song would have continued, but she suddenly collapsed to the floor vomiting, sounding as though she was in extremely poor shape.

"Straight Arrow, take her to the infirmary. We need a second opinion on the state of the reactor, but obviously we can't go back that way. Astral Thunder, I want you to go to the roof and assess the situation. Take this video camera with you and record what you can. The camera never lies, after all."

Astral Thunder looked shocked. "No," he said. "I won't."

Sky Chaser shook his head. "You will. Thunder Tail, Dew Drop, escort him. If he gives you any trouble, use the tasers."

Astral Thunder hung his head in defeat as he exited the room, two other technicians in tow. It was known that it would take about five minutes to get to the roof and five to get back.

It would prove to be the longest 10 minutes of their lives. By the time that Astral Thunder had returned, Crimson Moon had arrived in the control room and was going over the evidence of the disaster with Sky Chaser.

"3.6 Starswirl, you say? Well it's not great, but at the same time it's not horrifying."

"Things could easily be worse, sir," Sky Chaser replied.

Astral Thunder had now returned with the other two. His face was red, much like Scarlet Song and Straight Arrow, and he seemed to be having difficulty speaking.

"Well?" Sky Chaser asked. "What did you see?"

"The reactor core is gone, and the roof has been mostly destroyed," Astral Thunder replied. "The floor was mostly gone, there was a lot of smoke, and there was also a white substance. It looked rather like mayonnaise. There were also blocks of graphite scattered around the grounds."

"You didn't see graphite," Crimson Moon said.

"I did," Astral Thunder replied. "I also filmed what I saw, which is he-"

"YOU DIDN'T!" Crimson Moon roared, causing everybody in the room to jump. "You didn't see graphite because it's NOT THERE. And how do I know you didn't fake or edit the footage you filmed to discredit unicorns, you idiotic pegasus?"

"I'll view the footage," Sky Chaser said quickly, and took the camera. He looked in concern, especially at the white blips that kept appearing across the screen, and when the camera panned across the ground he knew the game was up.

He looked over to Scarlet Shadow. "Call the fire brigade."

Bridlewood Fire Station

The radio operator was ready for duty when the call came in. "Bridlewood Fire Department, how can I help?"

"Hello, is this the Fire Department?" asked a female voice, which was quite shaky and worried.

"Yes, you have reached the Fire Department. How can we help, over?"

"We have a fire inside the power station, over!"

"What sort of fire, and where, over?"

"Currently burning between Blocks 3 and 4."

"Are there any people in the viscinity in need of rescue, over?"

"Yes, people are trapped and need rescue!"

"Message received and understood, we are mobilising as many units as possible. Any specific gear we require?"

"Not that's I'm aware of, over. Please hurry!"

"Thank you. Help is coming, it's on its way." The call suddenly ended, and the operator then struck a button on the wall which triggered an alarm.

Rapid Shadow, one of the firefighters on duty that night, immediately went for his equipment. "Come on guys! We need to get moving! Dispatch will brief us when we're on the move!"

Ponies, mostly unicorns, grabbed their firefighting gear and helmet, as well as equipment such as gas masks, and bundled into the fire engines. The doors were closed, the front doors of the fire station opened, and the night air sounded to a cacophany of sirens as the engines of Bridlewood Fire Station made their way through the streets, blue lights flashing off the walls and windows of neighbouring buildings.

"So, what have we got?" asked Brisk Thunder, one of the firefighters.

"Dispatch dialled us in to a small scale fire at the power plant," Rapid Shadow replied. "Apparently some material on site caught fire and produced a small fire. It shouldn't be too much to handle. They've deployed some extra appliances to help with evacuation of the facility, but this should be a fairly basic firefighting operation."

The mass formation of fire engines, 15 vehicles in total, blazed down the street towards the power plant, their sirens wailing and blue lights flashing as they continued on their way. Traffic dispatchers were holding all other traffic to let them through, and inquisitive unicorns had turned out to see why on earth so many appliances were on the move at once.

As they approached the plant, the first thing that became apparent was the amount of smoke. "Sir, if this is a small fire, why is it producing so much smoke?" one asked.

"Probably a material like plastic or something," Rapid Shadow said, before swerving. "Shit! Who left these blocks in the road?"

As they pushed onwards and drove under an access bridge, the smoke levels only continued to rise. The smoke didn't seem to conform to what they had been briefed on, instead being equivalent with a large fire at a fuel depot. There was still the odd explosion echoing over the facility, and the air was choked with strange, acrid smells, like burning tar.

As they approached the plant itself, the enormity of what they were facing became clear. There was something very wrong with this fire.

Meridian Valley Power Station, Office of Solar Blossom

Solar Blossom, a unicorn employed at MVPS, had just re-entered the building after performing an external radiation check. The plant had suffered a problem with one of its reactors and had been forced to shut down for hours, but now the fault was fixed and the plant was ready to resume power production.

She had been completing external readings of radiation levels to check ambient levels were fine. To her surprise, the alarms went off in the decontamination chamber and had picked up incredibly strong radiation readings on her HAZMAT suit. After getting it chemically washed down and scanned, the readings that appeared stunned her.

"This makes absolutely no sense," she said to a visiting politican. "These readings contain the prescence of Somnambulum-238 and Lunarium-131. Neither of those isotopes are found in the open air, so for them to be on my suit makes no sense!"

"Perhaps the equipment was faulty?" the politician suggested. "And I do apologise if this is a silly question, but where are those normally found?"

"They're normally found inside the core of a HARMONY reactor," Solar Blossom explained. "So they shouldn't be out here. For them to be out in the open air would mean an exposed reactor core somewhere within the radius of 100 miles. And that's not possible, as both plants have CGMR equipment."

"And our reactors cannot explode," the politician said.

Solar Blossom stopped herself before she spoke the words, but she was beginning to suspect something was very wrong.

Author's Note

Glossary of terms

HAZMAT-Shorthand for Hazardous Materials.
Isotope-members of a family of an element that all have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

A Great Star from Heaven

Exterior of Bridlewood Spectra Power Station

The fire engines rattled into the yard just outside the power station and came to a stop, their lights flashing and sirens blaring loudly. Rapid Shadow glanced over to the burning structure. Whereas he had been told it was a small fire, instead the structure was gushing massive amounts of acrid black smoke, and rubble dotted the area around them. The flames jumped in this eldritch manner, and the sky seemed off. He was pretty certain that the building wasn't supposed to give off this strange orange glow, but he did his duty as any good firefighter would.

"Everybody out!" he called, as they bailed out of their trucks. "Get the fire hoses and connect them to the hydrants! We need to get a continous stream of water onto that fire and put it out!"

The ponies on duty immediately went for the equipment racks next to the driver's cabin, and rolled back the shutters to reveal a multitude of equipment ready for use. The piping required for the hoses to work properly was removed, and the fireman carried them to the nearby hydrants to plug them in. Once connected, they then turned the handles.

"Sir?" Brisk Thunder called. "We've got a problem! There's no water pressure!"

"The pipes must have burst again!" Rapid Shadow replied. "We're going to have to pump water manually from the water tenders until this problem is sorted out. Back we go!"

As they disconnected the hoses, a water render rolled in. "Assault Company 2, Tender 4 is standing by."

"Get that high pressure hose focused on the fire and don't let up until I tell you!" Rapid Shadow commanded as they connected up the pipework to the water tender's water tank.

As they turned the handle and water began to obediantly surge out of the fire hose, one other firefighter asked a question over the radio. "Sir, can you taste metal in your mouth?"

Rapid Shadow swirled his tongue around in his mouth a bit. "Yes, I can. Something is very wrong with this fire."

"Shadow, we need you to send a team onto the roof to help fight the blaze. Company 3 just attempted it but were forced back by the smoke. We need more pumps and more appliances."

Rapid Shadow then indicated to another team. "Get your hoses onto the roof and help out with the blaze there!"

The team started to move forward, but then Brisk Thunder tripped on something that was lying on the ground, flew through the air, and crashed onto the ground in front of him with a thud. A sickening crack came from one of his forelimbs crashing into one of those strange blocks. As he tried to get up, he was obviously in pain. "Captain, I think I've broken one of my legs!"

"Understood!" Rapid Shadow replied. "You two, get him to the hospital for treatment. I'll take his place in the team and lead the others up to the roof."

The nearby stairway had collapsed, so the firefighters were forced to make their ascent of the roof via a series of walls and collapsed ladders, all of which stuck out at precarious angles. Add to this the fact that they were lugging heavy machinery up the building and it was all taking longer than hoped.

Added to that, Rapid Shadow began to feel oddly short of breath as he ascended the building. He'd never had this problem before, so what was causing it? He continued to suspect something was up when one of his fellows further down the line broke out in an explosive coughing fit more fitting for somepony who smoked most of their life rather than a trained firefighter. After difficult climbing, they finally reached the top.

The roof was like the very mouth of Tartarus itself, the prison of ancient legend. The smoke was so incredibly thick that moving forward would be a challenge. "Gas masks on!" somebody called.

"We can't see where to aim the water!" shouted another. "The smoke is obscuring our view of the situation!"

"Try to fight the fires closer to our position!" Rapid Shadow responded. "I'll try to get a firefighting plane called in to make a drop over the building!"

The hoses suddenly sprung into life, water surging out of them and striking the flames.

"Let's see how you like that, you son of a bitch!" Rapid Shadow snarled, the team continuing to spray water onto the burning wreckage.

He had no way of knowing it at the time, but this would be the last fire he would ever fight.

Home of Argyle Starshine

When you receive an order to join a Zoom call in the late hours of the night, it's rarely good news. This was the situation I found myself in when I was put into a call between Earth Pony and Unicorn authorities.

The King of the Unicorns, Stoneheart, was on the line, as were Moonlight Hunter and Dapper Gust, professional bootlickers if I ever saw any. Also on the call was a unicorn scientist called Solar Blossom, Alphabittle, another unicorn politician, and Princess Haven, acting on behalf of her father, the Pegasus Emperor.

"Thank you for joining at such a short hour," Stoneheart said, getting down to business immediately. "But there is something extremely important to discuss. Moonlight Hunter and Dapper Gust work for Bridlewood authorities, and I believe there is an incident involving radiation."

"Oh yes," Moonlight Hunter said, her voice grating and annoying. "Fire crews are already on scene containing it, and I'm informed by the plant staff that the reading for radiation is only 3.6 Starswirl. Not great, not terrible, they told me."

Alphabittle suddenly chimed in. "I believe that's about the same amount as a pony is exposed to during a hospital stay. Hardly anything to worry about."

"On the contrary, we need to be careful," Solar Blossom noted. "Just because they quoted one number does not mean it is the case."

3.6 Starswirl. There was something about that number that seemed very familiar. "Your Majesty, I have reason to believe that there is a problem of which you have not been made aware," I said.

"And you are?" Stoneheart asked.

"Argyle Starshine, sir," I replied. "I'm a spectra researcher. The number that has been quoted to you is 3.6 Starswirl, which is indeed not too bad on the face of it. However, this is also the maximum reading that most dosimeters in service today can give out, meaning that the actual radiation levels could be a lot higher."

"This is hardly the time for engaging in paranoid and alarmist hysteria," Alphabittle said suddenly.

"It's not alarmist hysteria if it's a fact!" I snapped back.

"STOP!" Stoneheart snapped. Based on the screens, everybody recoiled in surprise at the outburst, myself included. "Professor Starshine, control yourself. Take a moment to collect your thoughts, and then explain your concerns."

"We hardly need to bother, sir," Alphabittle said. "Surely the accident cannot be that severe with these readings."

"I want to hear what he has to say. Is that clearly understood?"

Alphabittle looked as though he had swallowed several lemons, but nodded his head. "Yes, your Majesty."

"Good. You may continue."

"Thank you, sir. I have seen images of the actual disaster site which shows several large blocks lying about on the ground. Their design is entirely consistent with a core component which can be found at the bottom of this particular reactor model, the CGMR. If my analysis is correct, then those blocks are graphite, which form the moderator for the CGMR reaction process."

"Could somebody please translate that for us? I don't speak scientist," Dapper Gust said, the first thing she had said the entire meeting.

"Could you send those images to me if you have them?" Solar Blossom said. "This is the first I've heard of these images."

"What is the significance of this?" Stoneheart asked.

"Well, sir, if the blocks are indeed graphite, there is virtually no chance that they are only giving out 3.6 Starswirl. The reading is, in all likelihood, a lot, lot higher than that considering the reactor core is full of radioactive material. We would only be able to get a better sense of what is happening if we were to get better readings."

"I think I can back up Professor Starshine's theory," Solar Blossom added. "I detected isotopes which can only come from a reactor core. This leads me to suspect that the core is exposed."

"Well, I think that about cleans that one up," Stoneheart said finally. "Tomorrow morning, a team shall be dispatched to the disaster zone to investigate what is happening. Professor Starshine, I want you on that team. Be prepared for pickup early tomorrow morning by helicopter."

"Yes sir."

"Alphabittle, you are to serve as political liason to the operation. Make sure all is within parameters and clean this mess up. If this gets out we're in a right mess."

Alphabittle seemed surprised, but outwardly made no complaint. I could, however, sense there was some bad blood between us.

The Maw of Tartarus

A helicopter bound for Bridlewood

Safe to say, the next morning I was pretty tense. The helicopter I was in would normally be a sense of wonder (was this what flying was like in the days before the magic vanished?), but considering our destination and where we were going, I was pretty much fearing the worst.

The perpetually grumpy look on my travel companion's face didn't help. You could tell he was only here out of obligation, and would much rather be coordinating proceedings from his office. The two guards sitting next to me were unreadable. Their faces were blank, expressionless. Probably ideal for a guard, but still rather unnerving.

As we flew along, there was a sudden voice from Alphabittle. "How does a HARMONY reactor work?"

The suddenness of the voice caught me by surprise, and I stalled for a second. "Pardon?"

"Come sit opposite me, and explain how a HARMONY reactor works. That's an order."

Seeing the two burly guards next to me immediately allowed me to make the connection. I went over and sat down at the chair opposite Alphabittle, and started to explain. "A HARMONY Reactor is essentially a giant kettle. It makes electricity by boiling water which turns to steam, and this steam is then sent through a turbine. This generates electricity, and the water is then sent back to the start of the cycle. The heat is generated using SPECTRA-135, which is a fuel version of Spectra that has been modified to react more dramatically than normal. These release energy and generate heat by splitting up into smaller bits, generating heat."

"Is that it?" Alphabittle asked.

"I'm afraid not, there's a little bit more to explain," I said. "The particular model of reactor we are dealing with is a Cloudsdale Graphite Moderated Reactor, or CGMR for short. This uses graphite to regulate the speed of the reaction within the core and allow for the efficient generation of electricity at the station. The speed of the reaction is regulated using machinery called control rods and reactor temperature is controlled using water flow. Now, I haven't been able to get any concrete information on the fuel channels for this model, but I have reason to believe that it has about 200."

Alphabittle nodded. "Thank you. It's good that you explained it as simply as possible. All too often scientists speek in gobbledegook which nobody could hope to understand."

As the helicopter continued to make its way through the air, we began to see some alarming sights. Below us, we saw lines of trees from a nearby forest. Normally, trees would be green at this time of year, assuming they behaved like trees back home. Unfortunately, they were not.

These trees were red.

"What the?" I said to myself, immediately concerned for the situation. "If that forest is red, there must be a lot of radiation in the air."

Suddenly, the helicopter took a sharp turn to the left. "Power station coming up on your right," the pilot radioed.

I looked out of the right hand windows and what I saw took my breath away. Not in amazement, but in sheer horror. "What have they done?" I asked.

Even from this distance, it was clear the some sort of explosion had blown a hole in the roof. Bits of rubble lay everywhere, and the ground itself looked hazy, as if the very earth itself was giving off a strange energy. But that was not what was most concerning to me. In the centre of the disaster site was a strange orange light, shooting up into the sky like a laser beam, clear even now against the light of a very cloudy day.

"What are you referring to?" Alphabittle asked. "Is something wrong?"

"The core is open!" I said.

"And what makes you think that? We can't see the core from here."

"See the orange plume of light?" I said, pointing with my hoof. "That is spectra radiation ionising the air, and there's so much of it it's producing a light similar to a laser beam." The situation was a lot worse than I could have imagined, although the huge amounts of smoke was making it hard to establish what was going on precisely.

Then Alphabittle gave a completely insane command. "Fly us directly over the core."

"What?!" I asked. "You can't be serious."

"I said fly us over the core."

"Alphabittle, that's insane!"

"Who's in charge here?"

"It doesn't matter who's in charge! If we fly over that core we'll be dead in less than a week! Do you really want that?"

The pilot had heard the commotion. "Is everything alright back there?"

"Fly directly over the core, or I'll have the authorities put a bullet through your skull," Alphabittle said coldly.

Enough was enough. I removed my glasses and looked him directly in the eye. "If we fly over that core, mark my words that, by this time tomorrow, all three of us will be begging the authorities to put bullets through our skulls."

In that instant, Alphabittle's character shifted, and I detected what appeared to be a brief smile followed by a nod. "Pilot, turn away from the core," he said. "Land us somewhere over there in the clear space, away from the rubble and debris."

"Understood sir," the pilot replied, turning us away from the core and preparing to land.

I glanced back to Alphabittle. "Is there something I'm missing?"

The unicorn seemed rather different in his manner now. "Impressive," he said. "Even in the face of certain death you're prepared to hold your own and stand up for what you believe in, even risk yourself to help others. You're not one of those who slavishly obeys the official line, but thinks for yourself. Congratulations. You passed the test."

"Touching down now," the pilot said, as the wheels engaged with the ground.

"You were testing me?" I asked.

"We can't rely on blind trust," Alphabittle said, collecting together his things. "Come. Let us see if the plant manager is made of similar stuff."

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, near Reactor IV Building

Alphabittle stepped out of the helicopter, with Argyle following shortly after him. A safety compound had been established near the disaster zone to let staff and scientists operate away from the relief efforts. Based on information he had been given, the fires were largely out, and the overall readings weren't too bad. He saw somebody waiting for him at the table.

"Deputy Minister, it is good that you could join us," said a unicorn. "I am Crimson Moon, plant manager of Bridlewood Spectra Power Station. I trust you had a nice flight?"

Alphabittle just sighed. "Cut the crap and tell me what's going on."

"Well, as you can see there is a fair bit of concrete lying about, but the core itself is safe and radiation levels are reasonable. My Deputy Chief Engineer, who unfortunately cannot be here owing to illness, is confident that things are in hand, and assures me that the situation is under control. And Argyle Starshine too. I have heard that you Earth Ponies have been spreading rumours about us Unicorns. It is disgusting to do such a thing to other people."

Argyle seemed riled up. "We're dealing with a serious accident here, and all you can do is crack insults?!"

Alphabittle glanced over. "Professor Starshine, would you check in with the engineers to secure a plan of the plant? I believe this one will require a diplomatic touch."

"Wild Strikes is currently in the tent over there," Crimson Moon told him.

As Argyle picked his way towards the tent, Alphabittle turned his gaze back onto Crimson Moon. "Now then, you were saying about this concrete?"

"Yes, it's over there."

There was a pause. "You are lying."

"How could you accuse a fellow unicorn of such a thing? Has that Earth Pony-"

"Enough of that Earth Pony, he is irrelevant to the discussion. The reactor here is a CGMR, which uses graphite for moderation. The graphite goes at the bottom of the core, correct?"

"Yes, but I also don't see how-"

"That's graphite over there. I may not know much about what graphite looks like, but I will have you know I worked in the construction industry before I went into politics. I know a lot about concrete, and concrete looks nothing like that when burned."

Crimson Moon stood slack jawed, knowing he had been rumbled. Alphabittle made his way over to the tent, where he saw Wild Strikes briefing Argyle on the situation. "There's graphite on the ground, as you said," he stated.

"I've been trying to explain that to Crimson Moon for ages, but he still denies it," Wild Strikes complained, the unicorn moving some more of her tools. "The problem is we cannot challenge the official radiation reading as if a unicorn does, they'll be called a traitor. If an Earth Pony challenges it, they'll be accused of alarmist hysteria. We need an independent third party who is highly respected and is impartial."

Alphabittle smiled and got out a communicator. "Princess Haven? I have a request to make of you."

Wormwood

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.

Drastic Action

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Safe Zone

No sooner had Argyle finished speaking than Alphabittle swung into action. He looked over to two soldiers. "Kindly escort Crimson Moon to the local police station," he said bluntly. "We have no further use of his services."

Crimson Moon fought them the entire way. "IT WAS SKY CHASER! IT WAS SKY CHASER! Get your dirty wings off of me, you foal eaters!"

The soldiers, to their credit, did not reply to these insults, and instead continued in their duty that was given to them by the powers that be. Alphabittle had no further time to think about that fool, however. He marched over to the nearest telephone box and dialled the local number for the administration that ran the area. There was a brief beeping as the tone engaged, and then a voice spoke on the other end. "You have reached the Office of the Mayor of Bridlewood. How can I help?"

"Get me the Mayor, and quickly," Alphabittle said. "There's a bonus of 100 bits for you if you transfer me within a minute."

"Understood sir, transferring you now." There were some more whirrs and clicks, followed by what Alphabittle swore was a brief segment of a pop song playing (he didn't know which one. He hated pop music), and then finally he heard the sound of somebody picking up the phone on the other end.

"This is Moonlight Hunter, Mayor of Bridlewood, may I ask who is calling?"

"Alphabittle Blossomforth. I have some urgent information that you need to hear.

"I'm listening."

"It concerns the power station. We just had a team conduct a sweep of the site with a high power dosimeter to check the local radiation levels."

"What were the results?"

"The dosimeter gave a reading of 15,000 Starswirl, not 3.6. I don't entirely understand what the numbers mean, but I'm pretty certain that means not great, simply terrible."

"Good Heavens!" Moonlight Hunter replied. "This situation really is bad."

"I need you to evacuate Bridlewood. There is virtually no chance of the area being safe to inhabit with this place spewing out its filth."

"I'll be convening the city council and the town authorities tomorrow morning to decide a strategy and settle the situation."

"You'll convene them now," Alphabittle said bluntly.

"But it's the middle of the night, and they'll all be in bed, and-"

"I don't care if they're taking a dump or not, get them convened by any means necessary!" Alphabittle growled. "There are lives at stake, and we need to do something rather than sit around talking. Do you want to be remembered as the Mayor who got thousands of her own citizens needlessly killed because they were asleep?"

There was a brief pause. "I'll get them convened right away, sir."

"Good. You are dismissed." Alphabittle put the phone down and glanced over to an aide of his. "Find me a HAZMAT suit," he said. "And find one for Argyle as well. I'm certain we can find Unicorn and Earth Pony ones around here."

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Inside Radiological Monitoring Trailer

I stepped inside a trailer that had been deployed earlier that day, and when I did enter it I found two figures I had not expected to meet. One of them was the unicorn scientist I had been on the call with yesterday, and the other was none other than Princess Haven, heir to the Pegasus throne. I bowed quickly, my nose coming scarily close to touching the floor in the process.

"There's no need to bow," Haven said. "I'm rather relaxed about all that. Besides, I believe we have a situation to deal with."

"Of course," I said. "But I thought the sector was locked down. How did Doctor Blossom get here?"

"I was given diplomatic immunity by Princess Haven to enter the sector," Solar Blossom replied. "But we have bigger matters than travel arrangements to deal with. As you're probably aware, we're facing a disaster on a massive scale."

"I know," I said. "I've spent the last few hours butting heads with an entire political machine that wants to pretend it isn't happening."

"Unfortunately," Haven said, "it gets worse, based on what Dr. Blossom's explanation of what this information means."

Solar Blossom nodded, and pointed to a screen. "During the initial explosion, the incredible heat resulted in fuel elements being mixed together to create Sombrum."

"That's not good," I said. "With the lava like properties, it would-"

"You made lava?" Haven asked.

"In short, yes," Solar Blossom said. "As you correctly guessed, the Sombrum is slowly sinking its way down through the ruins of the power station to the bottom. And I'm afraid it gets even worse from there."

She pointed to the bottom portion of her screen. "See that down there? Owing to the lack of the required pipework, all of the water from the pumps and the firefighting efforts directed on the reactor itself has sunk to the bottom of the building, and collected in a large reservoir down there, deep underground. When the Sombrum reaches the bottom, the extreme heat from the substance impacting the extremely cold water will trigger a massive explosion."

"How big?" I asked, already dreading her answer.

She checked some numbers on her tablet and then looked back to me. "Based on conservative estimates, we're looking at a surface blast radius of 200 miles. Unfortunately, the design of the plant means that most of the blast will be forced downwards, straight through the planet's crust and all the way to the core. We're looking at an extinction level event here."

Something Solar Blossom had said gave me an idea. "We need to redirect the flow of the Sombrum away from the water. You said it's underground, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Crystal miners also work underground. If we can find enough mining workers, we can dig a tunnel underneath the plant and install a machine that will change the direction of the flow!"

"Yes," Solar Blossom said. "But where are we going to find enough miners?"

Atlas Crystal Mine, outskirts of Foggy Bottom

Moonstone Mustang and his fellow miners were on their lunch break on the surface, waiting for the bell to ring so that they could relieve the morning shift of their work digging for crystals. He was, naturally, rather surprised when a helicopter came into land, the heavy whirring of the rotor blades throwing dirt and dust everywhere.

"Watch it! We spent ages putting those piles together!" shouted one miner.

The doors on the helicopter opened once the rotor blades had spooled down. Out of it stepped a trio of pegasi. Two of them were soldiers. The other was a figure who was very nicely kept and clean, and who presumably had never been amongst working class ponies before.

She cleared her throat. "Good afternoon, everybody. I am Princess Haven of the Pegasus Lands."

"I figured as much from your pristine coat," Moonstone Mustang muttered. "Prissy snob."

One of the guards raised a weapon. "How dare you speak to the Princess in such a vulgar manner!"

"Shut your fucking mouth," Mustang replied. "You'll run out of bullets eventually, and there are more than 200 of us."

"Can we please stop fighting?" Haven asked, adjusting her jacket awkwardly. "I'm here because I need your help."

"Go on. If it involves tunnelling, we're probably good for that."

"There has been an accident near Bridlewood, the consequences of which would spell doom for us all."

"Bridlewood and Doom only have one letter in common," said one miner.

"You know what I mean. If we don't do something, a disaster will happen that will spell the end of all life on the planet. We need your help to avert it."

Moonstone Mustang sighed. "As much as I dislike the other tribes, the world ending does sound pretty bad. How many of us do you need?"

"About 500 should do it," Haven said. "You will also receive four times your usual wages to compensate you, as these working environment will be extremely dangerous. What say you?"

There was a pause. And then a response. "We'll do it. Come on boys, let's go! Get the trucks and set off for Bridlewood!"

"Where exactly is Bridlewood?" somebody asked, trotting towards their security gear and helmets. "Wouldn't want to go anywhere without this kit."

As the procession of miners made their way to their trucks, they each walked past Princess Haven. As they did so, a fragment of mining dust 'fell' off their bodies and onto her clothing, which was a process that continued along until they were all past.

Once of them called. "Now you look like one of us!"

Haven quickly glanced over her clothing and fur, seeing it was now covered in dust, as if she had spent a long time underground. "I'll keep these," she said, "as a way of remembering them." She looked over the guards. "Back to the helicopter. Make all speed to Zephyr Heights. We need to get them some more help."

Author's Note

Glossary of Terms

Sombrum-A chemical substance formed due to incredibly hight temperature reactions within a reactor core. First observed at the test sight for the HELIOS megaspell weapons.

Robots

Bridlewood Town

Within the city limits of Bridlewood itself, the evacuation was currently underway. The authorities had vehicles travelling around the city, distributing personnel and staff into location to allow for any potential questions and information to be answered and distributed, and this was good to prevent panic and hopefully keep calm, allowing proceedings to proceed smoothly as the process got underway.

Most notably, they had vehicles fitted with speakers driving about the city, playing a single message on constant loop for all to hear, and take heed of, for it would have a very big impact on the rest of their lives.

"Attention! Attention! Please listen closely. Owing to a technical fault with the power station at Bridlewood, the city is being temporarily evacuated. Please only bring absolute neccesities with you, and ensure that you do not overburdern yourselves. The buses that are coming to collect you can convey you all, so only bring one bag each to avoid using up seats that can be used by another pony. Thank you for your cooperation. Only with the work and sacrifice of our generation can we build a brighter tomorrow."

Ponies were dashing out of their houses carrying only one back loaded with essentials, with everything else being left more or less where it was. The buses that were sat outside groaned under the weight as huge numbers of people got on board, ready to abandon their homes for what they thought was a short spell.

"Attention! Attention! Please listen closely. Owing to a technical fault with the power station at Bridlewood, the city is being temporarily evacuated. Please only bring absolute neccesities with you, and ensure that you do not overburdern yourselves. The buses that are coming to collect you can convey you all, so only bring one bag each to avoid using up seats that can be used by another pony. Thank you for your cooperation. Only with the work and sacrifice of our generation can we build a brighter tomorrow."

Amber Gem simply wanted to smash one of those speakers. That announcement had been going nonstop for hours now, and as she boarded the bus she suspected something wasn't right. Her husband hadn't come home from fighting the fire two days ago, and nobody had any explanation as to where he was.

"Have you seen my husband anywhere?" she asked a fellow passenger.

"Rapid Shadow?" the passenger replied. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen him anywhere. But I imagine he's safe."

"Attention! Attention! Please listen closely. Owing to a technical fault with the power station at Bridlewood, the city is being temporarily evacuated. Please only bring absolute neccesities with you, and ensure that you do not overburdern yourselves. The buses that are coming to collect you can convey you all, so only bring one bag each to avoid using up seats that can be used by another pony. Thank you for your cooperation. Only with the work and sacrifice of our generation can we build a brighter tomorrow."

Amber Gem looked behind her as Bridlewood grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Within hours, a once vibrant and bustling city had been reduced to a ghost town.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Robotics Command Trailer

General Rider and Argyle had, by this point, decamped to another trailer which had been dropped off in the area by a helicopter. Inside it were numerous displays and monitors containing useful information about the operation, such as readings and control panels for operating heavy machinery.

In the centre of the trailer sat an interactive model of the damaged Building IV, with positions of concern clearly marked on the display.

Argyle, at that moment, was explaining the situation to General Rider. Both of them were now equipped with HAZMAT suits, although it was safe inside the trailer to remove their gas masks thanks to the pressurised air. "As you're probably aware, General, the floor and the ground all around the site are littered with graphite blocks. Much of it is currently sitting in piles around the building, but the greatest concentration is currently on the roof of Building IV, here."

The display zoomed in on the roof, showing digital representations of graphite blocks. "These blocks are still giving off massive radiation readings, and for the purposes of cleanup need to be pushed back into the reactor core so that we can seal the roof off and keep it secure."

"You're the expert on radiation levels," the General replied. "What sort of equipment do you suggest we use to clear the roof?"

Argyle switched to a different display. "I noticed that you brought a robotics trailer with you. I was going to suggest that we use the robots of that unit to clear the roof. What attachments can they be fitted with?"

General Rider looked at the mission parameters again, and then to another monitor. "The robots would best be fitted with dozer blades for this mission, and operated as bulldozers. The challenge will be getting them onto the roof, as they are quite heavy and will need a lot of ponies to carry them along."

"Couldn't we drop them into place with a remote control helicopter?"

"We could give that a try," General Rider responded. "We do have a robotics expert on staff." He switched on a radio. "Thunder Charge?"

"Yes sir?"

"Report to the Robotics Command Trailer immediately. We have an important mission for you."

"On my way sir!"

The line clicked shut as General Rider glanced back to the model. "What sort of radiation levels are we dealing with up there?"

"Based on my preliminary scans, about 10,000 Starswirl. That should be well within your robots capabilities and endurance range. I suggest fitting them with dosimeters to be absolutely safe, though."

Thunder Charge then arrived. "Reporting for duty, sir!"

General Rider turned around. "Prepare two armoured bulldozers for service. We'll need them to clear the roof. Once they are ready, return here and prepare to take control of the helicopters to drop them onto the roof."

An hour later...

Thunder Charge had completed setting the robots up, and both of them had been dropped on the roof of the building. The remote control helicopters had retreated to a safe distance, although the operator had his concerns.

"The choppers were struggling to maintain a signal over the roof," he explained. "There was some sort of interference, like something was jamming them. Our equipment is hardened to take this level of radiation, right?"

"Yes," Argyle said. "They should be able to withstand this level of radiation comfortably. Are we ready to start?"

"Yes sir," Thunder Charge said.

"Fire up the robots and switch on the cameras. Power up the dosimeters and prepare to move. Handles off."

Thunder Charge threw some switches, and brought the machines into life. "Engines running. Cameras on- Tartarus almighty, those screens are blurry. Look at all the white particles!"

"Those aren't particles. That's the film picking up radiation," Argyle explained.

Thunder Charge nodded, and moved the last switch. "Dosimeters on. Readings coming through now- what the?"

The dosimeters briefly squealed, then stopped broadcasting just as suddenly. As the robots moved forward, their heavy dozer blades hitting the graphite rubble, they just as suddenly ground to a complete stop, their engines spluttering and dying as they stopped, unable to move an inch.

Then the camera feed cut out.

"Shit!" Thunder Charge exclaimed. "Visual feed lost, robots are dead. Nothing I can do will get them to respond."

General Rider glanced at the display. "What was the final reading on the dosimeters?"

Thunder Charge quickly flicked between the displays before him. "Just a second... the final reading that the dosimeter gave was 20,000 Starswirl, sir."

Argyle looked pale. "It's worse than even I could have imagined," he said. "That high a reading makes the roof essentially inaccessible."

"That's 5,000 more than my run collected," General Rider said. "How bad is 20,000?"

"That's high enough to give a pony fatal radiation poisoning in 2 minutes."

General Rider looked concerned. "That's also far higher than any of our robots can handle. I don't think clearing the roof using them is going to be a practical option, and that's before we need to deal with the other problem of the leaky core."

Just then, Alphabittle arrived. "They've finally finished evacuating Bridlewood. The wounded have been moved to a secure location elsewhere. Any news from the roof?"

"Robots we just tried broke down almost the instant we turned them on," Argyle replied. "Our readings were out by about 10,000 Starswirl. Clearing the roof by other means will be fatal to anypony even in a HAZMAT suit that stays up there for two minutes."

This gave Alphabittle an idea. "Why not have them fit led to their HAZMAT suits, and work in shifts of 90 seconds?" he suggested. "This would limit the radiation exposure they would get, and would also clear the roof."

"It looks to be the only option we have," General Rider said sadly. "I'll brief Steel Mustang immediately."

The Needs of the Many

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, proposed site of Tunnel Alpha

Solar Blossom knew that she was in for an interesting day when suddenly several lorries loaded with Earth Ponies ground to a halt in front of her position. As they were busy disembarking, she adjusted her HAZMAT suit in preparation for what she thought was going to be an incredibly long day, and waited for Princess Haven to finish issuing some instructions.

"Now, you wouldn't mind forming some neat lines, please? Preferably as many across as we can? Thank you!"

"If only other ponies I worked with were that polite," Solar Blossom thought to herself. After several minutes of them moving and shuffling about in front of her, the assorted collection of ponies were in front of her and ready to receive the briefing.

"Greetings, everybody, and welcome to Bridlewood," she said. "Although you are a long distance from the plant, this is a safe zone where you can gather and converse in relative safety. But I will warn you that your mission will be extremely dangerous, and there's no guarantee you will all make it back alive."

"What do you want us to do?" Moonstone Mustang asked, noticing a small table in front of the unicorn scientist.

Solar Blossom threw a switch on it, and a display came up on it, revealing a hologram of the plant and the damaged reactor core. "A few days ago, the power station here suffered a serious systems failure, resulting in a steam explosion blowing the roof of the building off. The explosion had another, rather more serious side effect, however. A substance similar to lava is currently drifting down through the damaged building, and is currently heading towards the water table."

She updated the display to focus on the lower level of the plant. "A massive pool of water has gathered down there. If the lava hits it, the resulting explosion could bring about the end of all life on this planet."

"I assume this is where we come in," said another miner.

"Yes," Solar Blossom replied. "We need you to dig a tunnel from roughly where we are now down to below the power station. This is so we can install a device that will redirect the flow of the lava away from the water and avert disaster." She pointed to a nearby storage bin. "Inside there you will find some objects that will help you with your mission. Inside the lockers are enough HAZMAT suits for each and every one of you, as well as gas masks, which will be critical for your safety underground whilst working. You will also be issued with shovels designed for this type of ground, and reinforced helmets to protect against any impacts. Not only that, you will be required to take chemical treatment and showers inbetween shifts underground, which shall be no longer than two hours. Is this all quite clearly understood?"

There were nods of agreement, as well as a few murmurs, but generally all was well. They walked over to the storage bins which contained the vital equipment they needed for their mission, but upon peering inside and hauling them out, Moonstone Mustang made an interesting point when he saw ponies in the nearby area wandering about without them.

He indicated to Solar Blossom about this. "They're not wearing gas masks. Come to think of it, neither are you, and yet here you are telling up the importance of this equipment. I think there's something we're missing here, and that you should tell us what that something is."

"You'll need them down in the lower levels," Solar Blossom explained. "But they're within the safe zone, so don't need to wear them there."

Moonstone Mustang looked completely unconvinced. "If these things worked, you'd be wearing them." He and his fellow miners headed off for the digging point. "Let's get digging, boys! Clearly if they don't need the gas masks, we don't either!"

"That's not how it works!" Solar Blossom protested.

They then all pulled their gas masks on, and went to work underground without another word. The unicorn shook her head and went back to the trailer, adjusting her own in preparation for another meeting. Her fellow scientist, Argyle, had wanted to speak to her and Alphabittle about something important, and was ready to hear what they had to say on the matter before making any further moves on the operation. She entered the larger trailer, before arriving to what seemed like quite a dramatic event.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Military Command Trailer

Myself and Alphabittle had been pouring over the plans of the site for hours. We were trying to find an alternative way into the facility to help the tunnel workers with their construction project, but at the same time it was proving to be slow going.

"That route doesn't look to be accessible from that side," I mused. "Though that would give access to another sector of the facility that they can't otherwise easily reach. On top of that, the radiation levels are a deep concern in that area."

Alphabittle pointed to another section of the plans. "Look here, Argyle," he said. I noticed the fact he had used my given name, but chose not to outwardly react. "There's an access chute down here, marked underneath one of the flow ways nearby. The path gives direct access into the remains of the flow room, which controls the access to the water pools. Not only that, there is another route there."

"Where does that go?" I asked, looking closer. I was beginning to see where this was going, but wanted to be certain that the two of us were thinking on the same wavelength.

"It takes them right into the place where the water seems to be building up. The lava will, admittedly, be right above them, but if they can achieve this plan then we may not need the tunnel after all."

I nodded. "It would take almost suicidal bravery to go down there."

Alphabittle switched on his radio. "General Rider? I need you to send three soldiers to us. Preferably ones with experience in diving."

"Understood. I'll send the best men I have."

A few minutes passed, and although they were fairly routine minutes for us, the circumstances we were in makes every second feel like an hour. Every moment of inaction was a moment in which everything could go very wrong indeed, such was the disaster looming over our heads. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife, so to speak, and I was certainly very tense.

Eventually, the door opened, and three ponies stepped through the door before stopping in front of us. "Reporting for duty, sir," said the first one. "The general sent us to you. I hear you have a mission for us."

"Indeed," Alphabittle replied. "Professor Starshine will fill you in on the situation."

I adjusted the hologram before taking a deep breath. "As you're probably aware, the core of the reactor is currently busy melting its way down towards the planet's core. Between it and solid ground is a vast pool of water formed from firefighting efforts and early attempts to contain the disaster. If the superheated core reaches the water, they will make contact and produce a gigantic steam explosion." I adjusted the model downwards again. "The resulting explosion would have a blast radius of several hundred miles, killing everything between our current location and the lower mountains, and producing an explosive blast so incredibly powerful it would punch directly downwards into the planet's core, triggering a chain reaction so potent the entire planet could break apart, dooming everything on it to a horrific death. What we need you to do is to travel down into this part of the complex here." The model moved to show the corridor. "You will need to travel down this corridor here, and access these valves here to drain the water away and ensure the water does not hit the core elements."

"What are our chances of survival?" asked one of the others.

"I cannot guarantee that any of you will come back," I replied sadly. "But if the mission doesn't happen, everypony on the planet will die."

Suddenly, Alphabittle spoke up. "There can be no victory without sacrifice. Our forefathers knew this when they carved out our respective nations in this hostile land. But this, I do appreciate, is a rather different sacrifice. Although you may not return, it is in our core to accept the personal cost that will lead to a brighter tomorrow for all. You'll do it because to fail is unnaceptable. You will do it because you know it is the right thing to do. You'll do it because you know it must be done."

There was a momentary silence. Then the first of them spoke once more. "Well, if we don't go we'll certainly die. If we do go, there's a chance we'll make it back alive. We'll do it, sir."

Bio-Robots

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Reactor Power Room, just outside roof

General Rider cleared his throat as he addressed one of his fellows. "Major General Steel Mustang, I take it you understand the importance of the task assigned to you?"

"Yes, General," Mustang replied, nodding his head. "I am to brief the men as they each head out onto the roof to ensure that they have the correct safety equipment and correct brief. They are to make sure they safely make it back inside, and that their HAZMAT suits are correctly fitted to their bodies. If not, they will be in serious danger."

"Very good," General Rider replied. "Carry on. I must be away to oversee the requisition of additional troops. The first group of soldiers should be arriving shortly."

Steel Mustang saluted as General Rider moved away. Truth be told he hated work like this, as exposing his troops to risks he himself was not there to help with rather ran against his moral code. But at the same time, his duty dictated that he had to stay here and ensure that each soldier who came through knew his duty, and how to keep themselves safe in this dangerous new world.

The troops shuffled in, already outfitted in their HAZMAT gear. Their gas masks made them impossible to identify, and yet he felt as if he knew them all. They also had other equipment fitted to them.

"Alright, listen up!" Mustang said, causing the ponies to snap to attention. "Your orders are simple; you have been tasked with shovelling the graphite on the roof back into the reactor core. You will be working on that rooftop for a maximum of sixty seconds, as any longer risks a fatal radiation dose."

He indicated to the plating on the floor. "The metal plating on the floor is lead. Fit this to your suits, and it will help to mitigate the worst of the radiation levels. Do this now."

There was an ecstacy of fumbling as the troops attached the makeshift collars and plates to their suits, fitting the equipment with clumsy straps to their clothing in time for duty. Truth be told, the equipment had been more or less thrown together, but it was the best that the Army could do in the circumstances.

"You are each equipped with a gas mask and a high power dosimeter to allow you to check radiation levels. Radios will be useless in the conditions so communicate via wing signals. Finally, no matter what you do, do not look directly into the core. This will expose you to a fatal dose in seconds, so be careful. Once the bell sounds, make your way back to the safe zone, rotate to the cleaning room, and then wait until you are called for duty again. Make sure no breaches occur in your armour."

The ponies saluted, and turned to face the door with one synchronised motion. The doors sat before them, and they had lined up behind them, ready to go.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Reactor Power Room, just outside roof

Private Rainbow Dawn listened out carefully for the bell that would signal that they could move. Everybody who had been deployed upon this mission knew of the dangers. The briefing they had received said as much, and it was their duty to do it. After all, if they couldn't stop this threat that would posion all life, it would prove to be a serious situation for all life on the planet.

She tensed herself up as she prepared to move. Her shovel weighed a ton, but it was critical for her survival.

Suddenly, the bell rang, along with a loud siren to signal them to move. The doors slid open, revealing the harsh world before them.

"GO, GO, GO!"

Rainbow Dawn charged out onto the roof alongside her fellows, and found herself cantering through a broken, shattered place, with eerie ruins and broken machinery sitting all over the place. She could see what they were looking for, though. Before them, lying all over the place, were suspicious mounds of rock. These, they had been informed, were graphite, and were what they needed to shovel back into the core.

She saw several other soldiers shifting a large piece of the stuff back towards the edge of the wall and down into a gigantic pit before them. The mounting enormity of the situation was building upon her, and she closed in on another piece, lodging her shovel underneath it. It was deceptively light, with lots of holes in it to make it surprisingly easy to lift.

She trotted over to the edge, being extremely careful not to look over. Based on photographs she had seen, seeing that core was like looking into the mouth of Tartarus itself, a place of eternal suffering and ruination.

With a considerable effort, she shifted the piece of rubble into the core and turned away as fast as she could. Suddenly, another bell rang.

"EVERYPONY BACK INSIDE!"

Rainbow Dawn swung about and got up speed back towards the door, covering the ground with all the speed she could make. She dashed along, noticing the others keeping up their pace. She tripped, falling down into a puddle of water with a bang.

As she tried to pull herself up, she suddenly felt a wing grasp hers. The wing belonged to one of her fellow soldiers, and he beckoned for them to go back indoors. Once they were through the doors, the General was there, waiting for them.

"Well done, all of you," he said. "You've done our country proud today. Proceed to the cleaning room for scrubbing and processing before you are needed again."

"Sir?" said one of the pegasi. "We have a problem here."

General Mustang came over, and saw Rainbow Dawn. Specifically, that her boot had a hole in it. A hole through which radiation could have leaked in to lethal levels.

"Get her to the infirmary," he ordered. "The rest of you, get cleaned up."

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Safe Zone, Command Trailer

Alphabittle finally completed connecting his equipment to the network, allowing him to start the Zoom call with his superiors who were, of course, an extremely long distance away from him. The equipment beeped as it connected to the network properly, and finally the system brought up their faces.

Before him was the King, Princess Haven, Emperor Haven, and several other important dignitaries connected to the local area (the Bridlewood authorities were elsewhere, he assumed, trying and probably failing to keep the populace calm as they had been evacuated to another place in sudden circumstances).

"What news, Alphabittle?" asked the King. "Is there good or bad news from Bridlewood?"

"Both, Your Majesty," Alphabittle replied. "The good news is that we have works underway to contain much of the disaster and limit the effects to the surrounding area. This is currently taking the form of clearance works, moving rubble, and digging tunnels to try and remove graphite blocks and limit radiation leaks into the local area as much as we can. Concrete is being used to bury large quantities of rubble and radioactive substances in order to prevent too much local damage."

"And the bad?" the King asked.

"I can help out here, your majesty," Princess Haven began.

"Silence," the Emperor proclaimed, the only words he had said the entire conversation. "Alphabittle was the one he asked, not you."

Princess Haven looked stunned by those words, but did not speak up. Instead, the King asked his question again. "And the bad? You said that there was bad news."

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Alphabittle sighed. "Owing to the way the fire was fought, water has pooled in a large tank underneath the reactor building, where it has been building up for some time and is surrounded by rain water. The reactor core has turned to some sort of lava-"

"You made lava?" Emperor Haven asked, incredulously.

"Yes, and it's leaking its way down to the water table. We're looking at a massive explosion, possibly an extinction level event." Alphabittle paused.

"How are you planning on mitigating it?"

Alphabittle nodded. "I believe Princess Haven can tell you her side of the plan."

"Thank you, Alphabittle," Princess Haven said. "I called upon the services of miners who are currently digging a tunnel underneath the complex, so we can get the reactor remnants flowing in a different direction."

"We also have a backup plan." Alphabittle took over the conversation. "We are sending a team of divers down into the tunnels to they can drain the water out of the tanks and prevent a steam explosion."

"We would rather you had secured permission from us first before taking such a drastic step," another voice said. "Pony lives are not to be used lightly."

"I am aware, but had we waited it could already be too late."

The King nodded. "Carry on. We may well save the planet yet, but I hope it never comes to that which we fear most."

Open Wide, Oh Earth

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station Safe Zone, another room of the Command Trailer

I studied the new plans we had just been delivered in a mixture of confusion and alarm. As part of my duties to contain and help clean up the disaster, one of many things I had to advise on was the creation of an exclusion zone, in order to ensure people were safely out of the way of any radioactive fallout in the area. I kept examining the display, spotting something wasn't right with the map.

The exclusion zone that had been drawn made no sense whatsoever. The straight lines on the map should have more than made that one clear to me.

As I puzzled over it, Alphabittle entered to see me peering at this map. "What news, Argyle?" he asked. "What of the exclusion zone?"

"The exclusion zone," I said, "as set out on this map before us, makes no sense whatsoever. The area covered is only thirty square miles when I specifically requested one hundred, and furthermore the borders don't make any logical sense." I pointed to one part of the map. "See here, for instance. This area within the marked zone has not received any contaminants or fallout as of the current times." I moved my hoof to another part of the map, on the other side of the area. "But this area has seen Ironium-234 and Somnambulum-136 contamination, and yet is not part of the zone. This makes no sense at all." I slumped in frustration.

"The map has been produced in accordance with-" Alphabittle began.

"In accordance with what, exactly?" I demanded, interrupting the politician. "In accordance with the locations of trees? In accordance with the fact that Moonlight Hunter once took a dump there? In accordance with the position of the nearest supermarket?" I panted, barely having gotten started. "This map has been drawn solely for the purpose of political convenience, an arbitrary decision made by a pencil pusher who has no idea what they are doing. I have no clue how you manage to deal with people like this every day. If I had to, I'd find myself bashing my head against the wall constantly."

There was a pause before Alphabittle spoke. "There is often reason for them to downplay things like this. It allows them to more easily secure awards and bonuses. I will take it up with them over the phone and ask them- no, I will order them- to increase the size of the zone, and rework it in accordance with your data. They won't dare refuse a direct order from a high ranking official within the government."

I nodded. "Thank you," I said. "I have no idea what we would be doing without your support here."

"Just part of the job," Alphabittle sighed, before turning away. I thought he was about to go and make the call, but before he could set off the onboard systems informed us another pony had just entered the trailer behind us.

I turned around to see that General Rider had just entered. He had removed his gas mask, and looked uneasy at the situation. "Greetings, General," I said.

The General saluted in response. "Greetings, gentlecolts," he said. "I wish to discuss the cleanup operation with you. It concerns my own troops."

"By all means, speak your mind," Alphabittle said. "We are all friends here."

General Rider nodded. "At the present moment my troops are employed on the roof to be clearing graphite back into the core and minimise leaks. This operation appears to be working, but there is quite a serious problem we are having."

"And that is?" I asked, thinking I knew where this was going (and sincerely hoping it would not).

"Several of the soldiers have come down with Acute Spectra Syndrome, or ASS for short," the General replied. "They're being seen to in the sick bay, but they are in very poor health. Doctors tell me that the majority of them will not live to see tomorrow morning, and several more in better condition have been asking to be shot."

The normally stoic Alphabittle took a step back, shocked. "Faust preserve us," he muttered.

"This is having a severe effect on morale," the General continued. "Other soldiers are refusing to go onto the roof in numbers where discipline will not be effective. At the current rate of illnesses to deaths, we are losing more men than we can get onto the roof with each passing cleanup attempt. This method is unsustainable, gentlecolts, and I cannot in good faith go on risking the lives of my troops. If any of you can come up with a solution, let me know, as I am aware of the importance of this mission."

"Well, do you have an alternative?" I asked.

"Yes, actually," General Rider said, and pushed a button on the command table. The image scrolled over to a display showcasing a red, pony like robot with wheels and treads attached to the bottom of the legs. It had a number of different attachments fitted, including a dozer blade. I could see where the General's line of thinking was going.

"This," he said, "is Maximus. It's a robot developed by the CanterLogic corporation. I am reliably informed that it is fully capable of withstanding the high radiation levels on the roof of the reactor building, at least according to the assurances of their CEO, Phyllis Cloverleaf. This, I believe, presents our best chance for getting the roof cleared, as it is far better shielded than the robots we tried before. I am aware that this is an awkward about turn, but I honestly believe this could be our best shot."

"By all means," Alphabittle said, a smile on his face, clearly looking forward to seeing an idea that worked. "I shall go and negotiate the lease with her now. Argyle, you devise a plan for getting the robot onto the roof."

I nodded. It wasn't as if I had much choice in the matter.

Tunnels underneath Bridlewood Spectra Power Station Water Cooling Facility

The divers, by now, were making their way through the tunnel system hidden beneath the plant, roughly where the pump rooms had been before the disaster. The water was continuing to drip down through pipes and water feeds that were burst open and badly damaged. The water was pooling at their hooves as they made their way through, their geiger counters screeching at the top of their power readings as they made their way through.

The three of them were painfully aware that this was extremely dangerous, and that at any moment the roof might collapse and molten lava would plunge onto them and into the freezing, radiation packed water. But still, onwards they went into the tunnel system, diving onwards as they hunted for their final target.

Suddenly, the first one indicated with his hoof and grunted. Before them was a large wheel attached to a drainage pump, and below that a series of water silos that could safely drain the water away. This, it seemed, was what they were looking for, and they swam into position around it, ready to get to work at last.

The second of their number swung the wheel around with all their might, the rusty equipment squeaking as it turned and turned, gradually opening up the sluices. As they glanced about in the dark tunnels, their torches barely piercing the gloom, they could hear the sound of water rushing away and down into the bowels of the Earth itself.

The trio breathed a sigh of collective relief as they heard that sound. In that one act, there was no longer any risk from lava breaches. As overdramatic as this sentence may sound, three ponies had just gone and cancelled the apocalypse.

The Miners' Tunnel, a few miles away

There was a roar of laughter from the mining crew as Moonstone Mustang finished the joke. There's had been a hard shift, and the next crew had just gone down the tunnel to continue excavation into the area below the core.

He was just getting up to grab a drink when suddenly he was handed a piece of paper by a guard. He looked at it in confusion, before glancing over to the other miners.

"Apparently," he said, "they've done it."

"Done what, exactly?" asked another miner.

"Three divers have drained the water chamber underneath the reactor and have prevented the explosion. The very thing we were sent in to prevent with our tunnel shenanigans." He turned around. "Did we really do all of that for nothing?"

"On the contrary," Solar Blossom said, stepping in underground, "your work is still needed. We now plan to install a nitrogen plant down here that will gradually cool down the lava from the core, allowing us to slow the contents down. Your tunnels will be used to install it."

Moonstone Mustang seemed a little easier, but in truth he felt as though he had been lied to earlier.

Author's Note

Technical Terms
Acute Spectra Poisoning-A disease that results from excessive exposure to Spectra. Currently uncurable.

Maximus

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Outside Robotics Command

Solar Blossom looked over as a cargo plane dropped off a large container from its rear hatch before taking to the skies once more. It was as if the pilot wanted to spend as little time in the area as they could. Not that Solar Blossom blamed them, of course. Places like this were hardly on her bucket list of locations to go to by choice.

She turned her attention back to the container, which was now being wheeled over by military personnel. It was pushed over at a slow speed to ensure the contents inside were not damaged, and finally placed down in front of a small crate. A laptop had been placed atop the other crate (not the container that was being moved), and as the soldiers prepared to open the doors the text INCOMING CALL appeared on the laptop screen.

Solar Blossom moved over. "I'll answer this," she said. "You two get the robot unloaded."

"Yes ma'am," the two soldiers replied in unison.

Solar Blossom, on the other hoof, moved the mouse indicator over the ACCEPT CALL button and pressed it down. There was a brief moment of silence before the call finished engaging, before at last the face of the caller appeared on the other end of the monitor.

It was Phyllis Cloverleaf, whose face was seemingly etched into the same perpetual scowl it had worn when Solar Blossom had spoken to her. "I was wondering when we'd speak again," she said, her eyes looking disapprovingly at the world around her. "Tell those soldiers to take care of the robot, as it's extremely delicate."

"They can hear you from here," Solar Blossom explained, glancing over her shoulder at the two pegasi. "They're close to finished, and we should shortly be able to start up the controls and get it moving."

"Oh, you won't be controlling it," Phyllis said, her beehive hairdo somehow seeming to be scowling. "You oafs managed to blow up one of your own reactors. I won't trust you with prototype CanterLogic hardware. We've already flown out an engineer who will operate the machine and ensure all is functioning properly."

One of the soldiers then attached a cable to the harness on the robot, which allowed for a lifting chain to be fitted and attached to a nearby helicopter.

Phyllis noticed this. "Why does that helicopter have no pilot?"

"For safety reasons we're flying it in using a remote control helicopter," Solar Blossom explained. "That way we don't risk any pilots along the way."

"Oh no," Phyllis said. "I'm not having some slipshod, badly built pegasus robot flying in my superior prototype Earth Pony robot. You will have a pilot drop it off on the roof, or my technician will refuse to start the equipment."

The technician, who had just arrived, looked over. "Are you sure that's completely neccesary?"

"Do you want to be fired? It's very easy to find some form of misconduct in the books," Phyllis said coldly.

Solar Blossom shook her head. That mare was impossible.

A few minutes passed before another helicopter, this time with a pilot in it, arrived, and it was soon hooked up to the robot on the ground. The machine could theoretically driven to the roof thanks to its adaptable tracks and smooth, alternating suspension allowing it to drive over rough terrain. However, there was concern that it would take damage if it was driven in this manner, and not only that the connection could easily be lost at this distance. So, they were flying it in.

"Hammer 2 to Command, am closing in on the target site and preparing to drop, over," the pilot radioed.

"Command to Hammer 2, acknowledged. Be careful when placing the drone; the reactor core still has some quite strong crosswinds and reactor contaminants. Make the drop as fast as you can and get the hell out of there, over."

There was no response, apart from an extremely loud buzzing on the radio, making it unclear if the pilot had gotten the message. As they watched from a distance, the swirling smoke made it hard to see what was happening.

"Ham-er 2 to Co-mm--d. Smoke -- thick, will -ee- he-p la-d--g the r-bo-, over."

"Command to Hammer 2, message was not understood. Please repeat, over."

"Ham-er 2 to Co-mm--d. Smoke -- thick, will -ee- he-p la-d--g the r-bo-, over."

The radiation was already causing communication problems, so the team had to try and figure out what was going on from observing through binoculars as best they could. They could see the helicopter in position over the roof, when the cable was dropped. The robot was down and in position.

"The robot is on the roof, and safe from the looks of it," Solar Blossom said, looking at the situation through her binoculars. "We should be able to start the operation shortly. We just need to let the helicopter get clear."

The helicopter began to move away, but navigating through the smoke was difficult. Within seconds, it began to lose control. It smashed into a nearby gantry crane on its way out of the sector, and then fell out of the sky like a bird, its rubble being scattered all over the place.

"That's not good," said one Pegasus soldier, who was monitoring from nearby. "Dispatch a rescue team immediately."

Solar Blossom turned to the monitor with Phyllis' face on it. "It just cost us a soldier to get that robot of yours onto the roof, so it had better work."

"Sometimes you have to sacrifice to make things better for others," Phyllis replied, looking pretty smug. "After all, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. But we have more important things to do." She looked over to the technician. "Prepare the robot for service."

"Understood," the technician replied, trying to wipe his brow underneath the HAZMAT suit. "Energizing Maximus now. Cameras and electric motors on and running in three, two, one... live!"

The screens on the monitor ran into life, and with a rumble Maximus began to transmit data back to the team on the ground. "Systems are looking good. Pressure is good. Batteries are good. Cameras are receiving, loud and clear. We've got white dots on the screen. I'm assuming that's radiation on the monitors?"

"Correct," Solar Blossom said. "You may start the clearing sequence. Be careful the robot doesn't fall into the reactor, as it would be very difficult to get it back out again."

"Understood," the technician replied, who reached forward and pushed a stick forward. Solar Blossom peered at the screen as Maximus began to move forward.

The robot's front dozer blade struck the first piece of graphite, scooping it up and holding it there. Just as the robot began to move towards the core, however, the display suddenly cut out.

"I've lost video!" the technician called. "Still getting data. Dosimeter's failed, batteries are failing, traction motors are offline. I can't explain this, but Maximus is dead. Completely offline. I can't get it restarted from here."

To say Phyllis was annoyed was an understatement. "How did this happen?" she demanded. "That robot is more than capable of handling the 10,000 Starswirl on that roof! How did it break down?!"

Solar Blossom did a double take when she heard that. "I'm sorry, but did you say 10,000 Starswirl?"

"Yes, I did. I said 10,000 Starswirl. That is the measurement system you use, right?"

Solar Blossom shook her head. "Miss Cloverleaf-"

"Mrs Cloverleaf to you."

Solar Blossom witheld the internal urge to punch Phyllis as hard as possible and gave a calm reply. "The reading from the roof is not 10,000 Starswirl. It's 20,000, which is double the amount of radiation. How did you get the numbers so wrong?"

"I didn't. It's what they told me the levels were when they asked me for the robot. Maximus is built to handle a maximum of 15,000 Starswirl."

"Who are they?" Solar Blossom asked.

"The Unicorn authorities, of course. They said that a Pegasus General wanted to borrow a robot that could handle high levels of radiation, and that the area that the robot was going to be working in had a reading of 10,000 Starswirl, well below Maximus' maximum limit. I, of course, agreed. If I had known that the actual figure was a lot higher, I would of course have sent a different robot."

Solar Blossom was in shock. "The authorities intentionally lied about the readings," she said. "That's insane. How does that help anybody?" She turned around to the technician. "Is there any chance of getting that robot running again?"

"Not from here I'm afraid," he said. "I'd need to get onto the roof and restart the machine manually, which for obvious reasons is not a good idea."

"I'll notify the authorities," said a voice. It turned out Alphabittle had been standing there the entire time. "I'll notify them, and ensure they know how badly they've screwed up."

Saving Face

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Communications Trailer

To say Alphabittle was annoyed was an understatment.

"What the Tartarus were you idiots thinking?" he thundered, holding the earpiece as close to his face as he could without it snapping into bits. "Do you have any idea how much damage you have done?"

"Alphabittle, I have no idea what you're referring to. We got you that robot, didn't we? What have you got to complain about?"

"The fact that you gave an incorrect reading on purpose to CanterLogic, causing the robot to break down on that rooftop? The fact you fuckheads have been so slow to acknowledge anything we tell you? Or how about your repeated delaying tactics and drawing of maps which bear absolutely no resemblance to scientific advice?"

"The security of the administration matters over all. If Unicorns, or indeed any ponies learn the truth, there could be future problems down the road and that could severely harm our jobs."

Alphabittle suddenly went deadly silent, his voice almost a harsh whisper. "So, saving face and protecting your job is more important to you than saving lives and preventing this situation from repeating itself." He paused for a moment.

"This reactor, and us, are merely temporary, but our empire will last forever. And whatever the authorities say is true, no matter what happens on the ground. Do you understand?"

"No, I do not," Alphabittle replied, his voice seething with frustration. "All you lot have done is make our lives on the ground harder for no good reason, and make procuring what we need more difficult because you want to avoid international embarrassment. You have your priorities backwards, and the whole rotten system is responsible for this chaos!"

"I would advise you to watch your tone, Alphabittle. The King is on the line, and able to hear what you say."

Alphabittle smiled. "Well then, your majesty, know this; your government of halfwits and clowns tried to ensure nobody knew of this disaster, and in doing so nearly blew up the planet. If that isn't achievements in ignorance, I have no idea what is." He went silent again. "This whole mess is a consequence of this system, so I say if it falls because of this, so be it." He slammed the phone receiver down, hard, causing the table it was mounted on to fall over. The phone shattered into pieces on the floor.

Alphabittle looked at his map in annoyance. The middle management always cocked everything up. He made his way to go outdoors, trotting over to the trailer door and slowly opening it with his teeth. Outside stood a soldier on duty, who turned around at the door opening.

"Sir?" he said.

"We will need a new telephone," he said, stepping out through the door and trotting off down the road towards the meeting point with his allies. He needed to fill them in on what was going on, as the situation was now even worse than he had thought it had been. The soldier, on the other hand, went in search of a new telephone.

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Command Trailer

The familiar beep which signalled the arrival of a new member of personnel into the trailer sounded in my ears almost as background noise as I continued to study our options. I had heard that the robot had broken down, but Solar Blossom's report had been slightly garbled, to say the least. There was something about the Unicorn authorities intentionally reporting wrong numbers to CanterLogic, but I was a little skeptical of this claim. After all, what would they get out of making things up in the face of a world ending disaster? That would surely be insanity.

I turned around to see that it was Alphabittle who had entered. I was about to speak, but the General spoke first.

"What news from the Unicorns?" he asked. "Do they have any information on why the test failed?"

Alphabittle shook his head and sighed, before speaking. "They lied to the Earth Ponies. Instead of informing them of the true number, they told them the roof was only reading 10,000 Starswirl, not 20,000. The robot never had a chance." He sighed again and looked at the monitors. "I wish to apologise on behalf of my species for their complete and utter stupidity."

I shook my head too. "It's baffling. It's like they want us to fail."

Another series of beeps signalled the arrival of Solar Blossom. "Bad news on my front," she said. "After that fiasco, CanterLogic are refusing to send any more equipment. They're also billing us for the loss of Maximus, to the tune of several million bits."

"Power corrupts, and total power corrupts totally," General Rider noted. "I'll be ordering my men back onto the roof, as we've run out of robots with which to complete the work."

Something that the General had said resonated within my head. "Sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked.

"I said we've run out of robots with which to complete the work."

"Work... work..." I quietly said to myself. I was starting to have an idea.

Solar Blossom glanced over to me, her eyes and ears noticing that I was saying something. "What are you getting at, Argyle?" she asked.

It was here that I proposed by idea. It was a crazy one, but considering the circumstances stupid ideas were better than none at all. "We need to break out the museum pieces!" I said triumphantly, looking about the room for approval. There was little. In fact, they all looked baffled at what I had just said.

Alphabittle was the first to respond by rolling his eyes. "This is hardly the time for jokes, Argyle," he said, the frustration evident in his voice, and still believing I was something of a clown at that given moment.

"I'm not joking." I waited for them to acknowledge. "Not far from here are leftovers of an old program that I think can tip the scales in our favour."

Countryside around Bridlewood

There was one thing that Ocean Breeze knew he would never be able to get out of his nostrils. That was the smell of concrete.

They were using hundreds of tons of the stuff. As he and Starfish had been patrolling, large bulldozers had been systematically sweeping up the topsoil in many fields, driving it about into gigantic hills like large moles had been there. They had then been dumping it into large pits that had been dug for them, and these pits were in turn concreted over. This would, they hoped, prevent the worst of the radioactive leak that had been going on even as the reactor was yet to be sealed.

They weren't required to deal with that, though. What they were tasked with was far more uncomfortable. Although the majority of ponies had already been evacuated from the zone of exclusion (which was due for expansion, based on information from the top brass), there were still some who either had not heard the instruction or were too stubborn to leave. On top of that, thousands of animals still roamed free. If they escaped the zone, they could spread radiation far and wide outside the zone itself.

Their job was to deal with them, and the repeated bangs from a nearby farmhouse confirmed that another group of irradiated animals had just been shot. He and Starfish approached another farm, seeing a door to a barn open, and presumably somepony inside. He signalled to approach slowly, and then he stepped inside.

An older mare was there, tending to a cow. The world almost seemed not to have noticed her there.

Ocean Breeze cleared his throat. "Ma'am, we need to speak to you."

"What do you want, pegasus?" the unicorn mare replied.

"By order of the state, this area is subject to clearance of all inhabitants," Ocean Breeze said. "Radiation levels in this area are high, and the region is not safe to inhabit. Additionally, all livestock must be destroyed."

The mare snorted. "My family was here when the Unification Wars tore the continent apart. We were here when the Battle of the Bell raged. We were here as well when the races chose to live apart. So, tell me child, what makes you think I will leave, just because of something I cannot see? If it cannot be seen, how can it be a threat?"

Ocean Breeze indicated to Starfish. Seconds later, a loud crack rang out, and the cow dropped dead.

The mare recoiled in horror, before the screaming began.

This was the part of the job he hated the most. But he had no choice. Orders were orders, and it was for their own good as well. He activated his radio. "Farmhouse cleared. Mare is ready for evacuation. Will update you when you arrive, over."

He glanced to Starfish. "Make sure there's no other livestock in the farm," he said.

He sighed as they went about their work. This wasn't what he'd signed up for, but orders were orders, and he had to carry them out.

Memory Eternal

Bridlewood Spectra Power Station, Robotics Command Trailer

Alphabittle glanced over to me. "Argyle, when you said that we should break out the museum pieces, I had no idea this was what you meant."

Sitting before us on the display, which had been set up to show the roof, were a pair of new robots that I had recently found. Well, I say new, but in actuality they were pretty old. Originally developed for a proposed lunar program, these machines had been shielded against the cold vacuum of space and the anticipated solar radiation that they would produce. Now, here they were, carrying out a similar task on our world, only this time they were in an environment unlike any other experienced on the planet. Indeed, it hadn't existed until a few days ago.

I looked closely at the controls. "How are they holding?" I asked.

Thunder Charge looked back to me. "The systems seem to be holding fine on them," he replied. "Pressure is good, batteries and motors are holding, power systems are in good shape. We are ready to go."

Alphabittle smiled. "Hard to believe that these got to the moon," he said, a chuckle coming from his mouth as he weighed up the situation.

"Well," I replied, "not these exact ones, but you know what I mean." I laughed gently as well, sensing those in the room were quite excited to see these machines in action. "You may begin when ready."

"Yes sir," Thunder Charge nodded, and pushed the lever forward. The two bulldozers began to move forward, their heavy wheels beginning to role against the ground below them. The landscape shifted underneath them, but held.

Their twin dozer blades moved forward and into the lumps of graphite still on the roof, made contact... and held. The former rovers were still moving, pushing their heavy cargo towards the edge of the roof where that explosion had happened all those days ago.

And with a crunch, all of the stuff fell into the pit, plummeting down back into the maw of Taraturus from whence it came, and where it should remain for a long as possible.

"First load of graphite moved succesfully!" called one soldier, as the rovers began to back up towards their starting point.

"Excellent work, so far," said General Rider. "Keep reversing and collect the next load of graphite."

This process was repeated by these machines repeatedly. I was stunned at how reliable at all was. Whereas the newer kit had struggled to operate in this hostile land, the units here were having no trouble at all with shifting the dangerous rubble and putting it away. Within minutes, those dependable machines had completely cleaned out the roof, completing a task that so many others had failed to pull off all those days ago.

"Mission accomplished," Thunder Charge said. "The graphite has been collected up and put back into the core. We should now be able to start with the next stage of the cleanup operation on the ground."

As we watched the military get to work, Alphabittle stepped over to me. "It's been a long road," he said. "But at last we can move on from this place. There are plans to start building a containment structure soon, and with that in mind there is one task that remains to be done."

"And that is?" I asked.

"To punish those who caused this disaster," Alphabittle said coldly, looking around him. "The trial will be soon. I question whether I should be there, of course."

"Why?" I enquired. I was legitimately curious as to why he thought this was the case.

"I'm only a functionary," Alphabittle said, a tone of regret in his voice. "Just a cog in the machine. I am merely a component that helps to keep the system running, one of many who supports the running of the country. I'm not important. I only did what needed to be done."

I shook my head. "No, Alphabittle. I still remember what you said to me when we landed. 'Even in the face of certain death you're prepared to hold your own and stand up for what you believe in, even risk yourself to help others. You're not one of those who slavishly obeys the official line, but thinks for yourself.' The same is true of you. Of all the ponies they could have sent to clean up this mess, they sent the one good one out of an entire orchestra of fools."

Alphabittle nodded. "Thank you, Argyle," he said. "Now we must ensure that justice is done."

Unicon Kingdom Courts of Justice, Courtroom 3

A few days later, the trial was about to begin. Myself and Alphabittle were serving as witnesses for the prosecution, and I glanced across to the dock to see both Crimson Moon and Sky Chaser up there, clad in orange suits and hoofcuffed to the rails in front. Surely they weren't that dangerous.

At the moment, the prosecutor was speaking. "These two ponies are the ones entirely to blame for this disaster. Were it not for them, there would have been no evacuation, no loss of property, and the destruction of millions of bits of official state property."

Sky Chaser, who looked pale and quite sickly, spoke. "Leave Crimson Moon out of this," he said. "This accident is my fault alone."

"You will speak only when spoken to," the judge said suddenly.

"But he just spoke to me," Sky Chaser replied, confused.

The prosecutor shook his head. "I call as my first witness to the stand. Professor Argyle Starshine of the University of Vanhoover, a specialist in spectra based energy production and power generation."

I made my way up to the stand with some equipment. A projector was already there for my personal use alongside extensive papers and tapes, to use as evidence for the case. "Thank you, Flawless Whispers," I said. "I am here to explain the cause of the disaster. Whilst the actions of Sky Chaser were indeed reckless, they were not the sole cause of the disaster."

There were gasps in the courtroom. "May I ask what they were?" the judge asked.

"The state, mainly," I said, producing more gasps. "As I say, Sky Chaser's actions did not help the situation at all, the disaster would not have happened on the scale it did where it not for a series of severe design flaws that the reactor contained, all of which exacerbated the problems encountered during that test."

There were no further comments, so I took this as a sign that I could continue onwards with my explanation.

"The core problem with the reactor design," I said, indicating to a diagram, "was the fact it was extremely prone to producing positive void coefficients. This is where a reactor's reactivity increases as the void within it increases, mainly through loss of coolant if that is the neutron absorber. This made the design very unstable."

"Why was it built that way?" the judge asked.

"The same reason any company builds something a certain way. It's cheaper. CGMR Reactors, if properly managed, can generate electricity extremely cheaply, but only if managed properly."

I moved the slide onwards to a new display. "The second problem the design faced was the lack of a top containment structure. Unlike most other reactor models, which feature containment components on all sides, the CGMR only has side and bottom containment as the reactor is built into the floor. This means there is nothing to resist pressure if the resulting force requires it to move upwards, and expanding substances will always take the path of least resistance as per conventional physics, in this case going upwards."

Alphabittle then spoke up from the other side of the room. "You would be wise to listen to Argyle."

"It is not your turn to speak, Mr Blossomforth," said Flawless Whispers. "Please wait your turn." He then looked to me. "Please, Professor Starshine, continue."

"Thank you," I said. "On the night of the accident, the staff were attempting a test to see if the spinning turbines could cover the energy required to keep the coolant moving before backup generators kicked in. However, owing to xenon poisoning the reactor stalled completely."

"In an effort to get it restarted, they pulled almost all the rods out of the core, more than 200 of them. The reaction began to speed up, steam building up in the core from boiling water. As power readings rose, the SCRAM sequence was initiated to reinsert the control rods. These control rods are mostly made of boron which serves as a neutron absorber, but the tips were made of graphite which only sped up the reaction. Keep in mind more than 200 rods were entered at once, causing the reaction to accelerate out of control."

I paused to let them process this. "The reactor's final energy reading was 30,000 megawatts, but that was high as the meter went. It may have been producing as much as 300 terrawatts before the reactor roof failed and was ejected through the roof."

"That," I concluded, "is how a CGMR Reactor explodes. Lies. And we are still in danger. There are still many of these reactors in use with these very same flaws. Any moment now there could be another accident, and measures must be taken to ensure it cannot repeat itself."

Once the trial was over, and justice had seemingly been done, all that remained was to return to the site of the clean up operation and oversee that. As I made my way down the corridor, I was suddenly pulled out of it and into a nearby room. Inside it was Phyllis and another pair of security ponies.

"Ah, Argyle, we meet again," she said. "Do you have any idea how much damage you have caused?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I flatly replied. "Those problems needed to be known about, or we'll always be in danger."

"Wrong," Phyllis said. "A new political party has taken power, and they have decided that it is best that any trace of this incident is erased from history; isolationism, you could call it. By keeping us away from the unicorns and pegasi, we can never be harmed by the consequences of her actions."

"Radioactive fallout doesn't give a shit about national borders," I said bluntly. "What you are proposing is insane."

"Do not interrupt," Phyllis said coldly. "This is what is going to happen. You have caused us a good deal of embarrassment in exposing this situation, and association with CanterLogic in this disaster has harmed our reputation. CanterLogic machinery can never fail, that is the official line, and it will always remain the official line forever. As for you, however, you are being unpersoned."

I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. I did all that work in preventing catastrophe, and this is there response? A cover up?

Phyllis droned onwards. "The authorities have decided to strip you of your degree. You will live out the rest of your days in Maretime Bay, and any achievements and research you made will be deleted and or reassigned to other individuals. It will be as if you never existed, and will be nothing but the idiotic crackpot you are."

"What do the other races think?"

"They're isolating too. After all, if they stay apart, if something goes wrong outside of their turf its not their problem, is it?"

I shook my head. "How can we come together and solve the mistakes of the past when we won't acknowledge the ones we are making now? How can we reunify under these circumstances?" The way they were speaking was utterly mind boggling.

"Don't concern yourself with something that'll never happen," Phyllis said coldly.

I sighed in defeat. "Don't concern yourself with something that'll never happen. Tells you everything that's wrong with the world."

As I was sent away to my doom, the irony of it all came clear. All of this for nothing. And the state had prevailed over the truth.

Credits

Following the reunion of the tribes and the restoration of magic in 2021 PT, Sunny Starscout was able to reveal her father's notes to the world, and expose the dangers surrounding the CGMR design of reactor. The evidence, now too great to ignore, was finally acknowledged, and all three states finally acknowledged the disaster. The remaining CGMR reactors were refitted to prevent such an accident occuring again.

Argyle Starshine would pass away in 2019 PT, after a long battle against cancer. A statue was produced to honour his work, and he was posthumously awarded the Star of Luna- the highest civilian honour available to an Earth Pony.

Solar Blossom was informed that, due to the high radiation exposure she had suffered, she would never be able to bear a foal. They were wrong, as her daughter is a well respected researcher in the spectra field to this day.

Sky Chaser and Crimson Moon were both sentenced to 20 years in prison for their roles in the disaster. Sky Chaser died of Spectra related illnesses in 1991 PT, whilst Crimson Moon later found work in the banking sector.

Scarlet Shadow, Scarlet Song, Straight Arrow, Lucky Light, Sky Sunshine, Astral Thunder, and Aqua Pie all passed away from the effects of ASP within days of the disaster. They were all buried in concrete layered coffins owing to the radiation their bodies are emmiting. It is estimated they will remain radioactive for thousands of years.

The body of Apple Specter was never found. It is believed his remains are permanently entombed inside the reactor complex.

Thunder Tail and Dew Drop both survived the disaster, and continued to work in the power generation industry to this day.

Rapid Shadow died of the effects of ASP, and was buried near the disaster sight. He and his fellow firefighters gave the ultimate sacrifice in containing the fires. His wife, Amber Gem, would not learn of her husband's fate until 2021 PT.

Moonlight Hunter and Dapper Gust are still in politics to this day.

General Wind Rider passed away in 1999 PT. An entire wing of the Zephyr Heights Military Academy is named in his honour, as is another in honour of Major General Steel Mustang.

The fate of Private Rainbow Dawn was not recorded, but it is highly likely that she did not survive.

Lance Corporals Ocean Breeze and Starfish both survived their ordeals, and went on to serve long careers in the military. Ocean Breeze recently retired from active service, having reached the rank of Major.

Contrary to popular reports, the three divers survived their mission beneath the reactor core. Two of them are still alive today.

It is believed that those who watched the initial disaster from the hilltops did not survive. The sight has since been called the Valley of Death.

King Stoneheart and Emperor Haven passed away in 1991 and 1994 respectively. The latter would note that the disaster was the event that brought Equestria to an end.

Phyllis Cloverleaf is head of CanterLogic to this day, although her reputation is tarnished by the actions of her son Sprout. Nontheless, she remains powerful, and has lived a long life- a longevity denied to countless others.

Flawless Whispers is still an active lawyer across Equestria, most recently having fought the Balloon case.

Alphabittle finally received the recognition that he deserved following the reveal of the truth. He was granted the Star of the Motherland, and still lives near Bridlewood today.

Princess Haven eventually succeeded her father, and despite radiation exposure went on to have two heirs- Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals.

Although their work ultimately proved to be pointless, the miners were rewarded for their work. Of the 500 employed, it is believed that 200 have since died of spectra related illnesses.

Thunder Charge is a well respected professor of robotics at Fillydelfia Institute of Technology.

Thousands of ponies from across Equestria were involved in the cleanup effort, but most of their fates are not recorded.

Despite remedial work to the containment structures designed to prevent further radiation leaks, the exclusion zone remains mostly uninhabitable, and will remain this way for the next 20,000 years. The citizens of Bridlewood were told the evacuation was temporary, and apart from a small community exiled there as punishment for refusing to tow the official line, no former citizen of Bridlewood has ever returned.

It is believed that thousands have suffered long term health effects as a consequence of Bridlewood. The official Unicorn death toll, unchanged since 1986 PT... is 4.

CAST-IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Michael McKean-Argyle Starshine
Gillian Berrow-Mare asking question, Amber Gem
Henry Shields-Crimson Moon
Donald Sumpter-UKSEA Official
Greg Tannahill-Sky Chaser, Firefighters
Kimiko Glenn-Scarlet Shadow, Unicorn Foal on Hill
Adam Nagaitis-Lucky Light, Father Unicorn on Hill
Rhona Rhees-Astral Thunder, Dispatcher
Angelina Jolie-Scarlet Song, Dapper Gust
Charlie Day-Straight Arrow, Firefighters, Ocean Breeze
Ashleigh Ball-Aqua Pie, Power Plant radio operator, Old Mare
William Hope-Rapid Shadow
Sean Pertwee-Brisk Thunder
Emma Watson-Solar Blossom
Sam Troughton-Politician, First Diver, The Judge
Stellan Starsgard-King Stoneheart
Elizabeth Perkins-Moonlight Hunter, Wild Strikes, Phyllis Cloverleaf
Phil LaMarr-Alphabittle Blossomforth, Flawless Whispers
Brian Drummond-Helicopter Pilot, Second Diver
Hugh Bonneville-General Wind Rider
Jane Krakowski-Princess Haven
Ralph Ineson-Moonstone Mustang
Ben Whishaw-Thunder Charge, CanterLogic Technician
Jason Isaacs-Major General Steel Mustang
Brian Blessed-Emperor Haven
Vanessa Hudgens-Sunny Starscout

Dedicated in memory of the Liquidators of Chernobyl.

Prologue

What is the cost of lies?

There are many reasons that an individual may choose to bend the truth, or outright disregard it. It may be because they believe that lying presents the best chance of getting what they want. It may be because they want to hurt others with their words, or avoid hurting the feelings of others (as we Earth Ponies call them, white lies).

Or, it may be to save face in a situation of embarrassment, where a failure so massive occurs that to acknowledge it would be to accept that your very society is rotten to the core.

For those who refuse to accept the lie, it becames the beginning of truly understanding what is really going on. They see the apparently disconnected threads between thoughts and understand how they fit together, and come to understand the powers and ponies who shape our world.

The pieces are always there. It's just establishing how they fit together.

But if all you have ever been taught is lies, how can you see the truth? The system feeds lies into the minds of our foals from the very start. Ponies find comfort in the lies. Even when they become so used to the lies, they can no longer recognise the truth.

But if the truth threatened to completely overturn your world and topple the powers that be, would you accept it?

Even when it's more dangerous to remain ignorant, when it's too dangerous to keep the truth covered up, those in positions of power will try to cover the truth up, never truly understanding the price they, and the people they deceive, are paying.

I write this, and compile this information, in the hope that the struggle and sacrifice of those brave souls will not go down in vain. Ponykind deserves to know the truth about what happened in those critical months 30 years ago.

My name is Argyle Starshine.

And this is the true story of the Bridlewood disaster.

Epilogue

And now you know the truth. The truth that those in positions of power tried to cover up.

All my life I have tried to convince others of the truth, to look out beyond the murky veil of propaganda and darkness to see what is really out there. But all too often they retain the lie. Is it out of comfort?

No, at least not for most of them. The majority are not even aware they are lies at all.

Most traces of the disaster were purged in the years since, the populations reduced and documents destroyed. The unicorns who had worked to help contain it were sentenced to live in the exclusion zone- Alphabittle was one of them, I believe.

This need to save face instead of admitting the truth and trying to help heal the wounds of our broken world is what has brought our species to the brink of extinction countless times.

That is the true cost of a lie. It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.

A just world is a sane world. What happened at Bridlewood and the subsequent cover up convinced me that this world is neither.

If you are reading this, it means that I am already dead. My wife- your mother- passed a long time ago, and I know the day will come when I join her in paradise. On that day, I shall give you a key, and I shall have one last dying wish for you.

Show them the truth, Sunny. Bring the truth out into the light, and overcome the lies no matter the personal cost.

Because without the truth, we are nothing.

Your loving father,

Argyle Starshine.

As she finished reading the documents laid before her, Sunny was numb. All of that suffering and work to prevent a catastrophe, and all of it went to waste. She had looked up half the places and ponies mentioned, and it was as if none of them had ever existed. She had long since run out of tears, but now was not the time for crying. They had attempted communication with the other races, but she was yet to hear back.

She had to finish what her father had started, and prove that once, they had all lived in harmony. She had to bring them back together, and expose this and other truths to the world. Tomorrow was the annual CanterLogic Technology Demonstration, and she was going to confront them with the evidence her father had given her as a dying wish.

As she stepped out onto a balcony, the lights in the sky dancing on a spectral sea, she made a solemn vow. "You're sacrifice won't be in vain, dad. We'll play our part, hoof to heart."