Fort Drogan (Task Force Suntrot Only)

[SunlightHeart]

Gigavolt was taken by surprise, but he hid it well, just barely managing to make the shift in his focus seem natural. The amount of ponies who burst in on him in Canterlot being loud and obnoxious was several times greater than the traffic he received here, but still. The sudden interruption was no less sigh worthy. He contained his annoyance and simply raised and eyebrow to the mare who had rushed to him. She was the same mare who he saw helping the returning patrol, Applejack, was her named. She worked with logistics and as far as Volt could tell, she was a friendly sort of pony. He also had a feeling that she wasn't a big-brain type. He wasn't saying she was stupid, just that she didn't seem like the sort to be interested in all the gear, data, and equations that surrounded him. With that in mind, it wasn't to difficult for him to figure out that she had a problem, even before she opened her mouth.

Just as he expected, she brought up a concern to him. Now, at the this point, he had two options: what most ponies would have probably told her was that she was overstepping her boundaries and far out of line, that if something was off, the Colonel would have heard it straight from intel before the existence of a proble even crossed her ears; the other choice was to acknowledge her concerns and genuinely look into it. What he had just witnessed would have made anypony with a heart dive at the second option, but as with everything there were rules. 'Does she have the clearance needed to request this information from me?' Was on of his largest concerns, but Gigavolt was never one to stick to the status-quo.

Applejack was asking about strange readings from underground for the past week, something he hadn't been able to get a detailed look at yet. He silently cursed himself for letting the data go without being reviewed in detail for this long. It couldn't be helped though. "Sadly, I haven't gotten to really study that data yet. Applejack, correct? Give me a moment to retrieve readings and we can go over it. I'll help you make heads or tails of it, and you can tell me if your concerns match up with what we find."

A part of him wanted to find something, anything fascinating. To have something he rarely got to study cross his peepers so that he'd have a chance to go at it was a a scenario he played in in his head a hundred times over. Curiosity fueled him as he lay down the tape he was reading and moved over to a desk. Using his magic, he opened a drawer and retrieved a several connected sheets of paper with what appeared to be squiggles charted on landscape graph paper, but in reality these were readings from the seismograph. Volt signaled for Applejack to come over before he tore off the segment that interested them and spread it across the desk.

"See here," he said, his eyes scanning the paper. He ran his hoof along graph, pointing out certain places for her. "this amount of activity in the ground is normal. The world is active, and this place, even moreso." A sudden spike in the intensity of the readings caught his attention though. He'd missed this when he gave the papers his initial cursory glance. "But this... isn't normal..." Gigavolt mused, tapping on the spike of activity. He looked down at the other sheets and each one had segements of increased activity like the first. They weren't spaced in any logical manner either. "Miss Applejack, you brought this to my attention, so, what is you concern exactly? This is something you be monitored sure, but not panic worthy. I feel you have a bit more information on your 'concern' than you originally revealed."

[SteelEagle]

Applejack looked at the data with as much interest as possible for a pony to muster who wasn't a scientist, emboldened by the dark vultures of memory circling around her as a sense of doom approached. She wasn't a pony given to overt bouts of insubordination but this was important, life-threatening stuff as the dots connected. She had hunch that had evolved into a suspicion that now grew into a fear and that fear was being realized in the data in front of her. Multiple spikes of activity underground that followed no logical pattern that she could discern and that Gigavolt didn't bother smoothing away. Each one of those spikes coincided with an aethereal rift aboveground, and each time ponies got her. And if the path of the rift was any sort of indication, it wasn't a random geological event either.

"Well, each one of these spikes happened at tha same time as one of tha aether rifts that have hurt a lot of ponies. It doesn't strike me as anything geological. Tha Princess an' Ah used ta have these long talks 'bout tha Everfree, right? I live right on top of tha ****ed thing. Always had all sorts of weird stuff happen Ah couldn't understand, but she could. Well, one time we got onto tha subject of anti-magic creatures, 'cause Ah joked that it'd be mighty fine ta rent a few during Winter Wrap Wup so tha unicorns would play by the rules. She told me that there was only one such wild creature and that the last of its kind had been locked away in Tartarus," Applejack started, breathing swiftly as she tried to remember everything that was said. It could, it would, be life saving.

"Now, Ah'll be tha first ta say that tha second she started talking about how the aetheral flow between Equestria and Equestrians worked, Ah sorta tapped out. But I did listen as to the basics of tha creature. It was large and lived underground, pretty lazy and stationary as it feed off of tha magic-rich land. When it moved, it would cause mighteh tremors and its entrance into an area would come with rifts in magic as the aether was torn open by it. It would then feed and move on. It was a difficult beast to brung down since getting close to it neutralizes magic, but the species was eventually subdued and sent to Tartarus," Applejack finished, a hoof over the data as a pregnant pause lay between her and the smart science pony. She had respected his work as part of the task force but in all honesty a lot of what was said was beyond her. She was a brass tacks kind of mare, wanting to know what was important and what was useable and not really spending her time on the rest. Some considered her dull for doing so, but she just considered herself a results mare. And the result here was important.

"When ponies are hit by one of them rifts, it gets bad and it gets bad quick. Not only can a pony be directly effected magically, but the local landscape goes haywire as well. We've had plenty of injuries because of them and they are happening more frequently and are getting closer and closer each time. Tha line of aether rifts is headin' straight for us...Ah know animals and Ah know a fertile huntin' ground for a carnivore when Ah see one. It's comin' right at us," Applejack said emphatically, pulling the data up into her hooves.

"Come with me. We gotta tell the Colonel and head this thing off!" Applejack said quickly before galloping away.

[SunlightHeart]

With each word out of the orange mare's mouth Gigavolt grew a little more concerned. Aether rifts weren't his specialty, but as a natural phenomenon he was both aware of them and somewhat read on the subject. His gaze switched between the graphs and her as she spoke and the more she said the easier it was to see that what was going on wasn't a natural pattern. This anti- magic creature she'd mentioned that the princess told her about, it was a subject they covered in university, but it had nothing to do with where his passion was so he had gleaned what he could from the lessons and crammed everything else just to pass exams. He wanted to facehoof, not learning that little bit of info was coming back to bite him in the flanks.

He could understand her zoning out when somepony tried to explain aetheral, if you didn't already have a pretty functional knowledge of high magical theory most of an explanation one the subject would just go over your head. But luckily for them she understood and remembered the basics of as well as applied what she knew to this situation. Though Volt watched her with a neutral expression, internally he was tipping his hat to the farm mare; if she was correct, her coming to him would save a lot of lives in the near future. Gigavolt feel into his own thoughts: He should have seen this! Heck, even if he didn't think about the aether rifts and the implications of such a thing the pattern in activity and its movement across the sectors should have caught his eyes! He was better than this. Her sudden, loud declaration that the creature was coming their way and the scraping of hooves against the table snapped him back to reality.

"Wait!" He called after her. Gigavolt wanted to at least put roll the graphs up and slide them into some carrying tubes. It was less a matter of doing things by the books and more of a matter of the tubes actually serving a practical purpose, keeping the papers together and preventing them from losing something valuable. He silently cursed himself. Volt prided himself on his lightning quick thought process, but Applejack had dashed before he could react. Galloping after her, the scientist steeled himself and hoped that the Colonel was ready for more bad news.

[SteelEagle]

(Sorry for short post: Great pain. Also, see OOC topic for the latest development.)

Applejack knew the fort like the back of her hoof by this stage. She had always spent her time traversing it from top to bottom, delivering information and supplies to just about everypony in the task force. From the spire to the deep tunnels below, she knew eery nook and cranny. Sometimes it had gotten the mare into a bit of trouble with other departments as she nosed her way into everything, but she had to know where was what to do her job and even on a personal level she had this unnerving and uncewasing need to know everything that was going on around her that related to her. She kept a lot of information floating up in her brain. A lot of ponies didn't give her the credit applejack deserved. Running a farm meant having to keep aware of dozens of small projects while keeping an eye on how it all came together in the big picture. She wasn't good with theories or words on paper but give her something physical and she could relate, and when she could relate and understand her natural instincts which were powerful and honed by experience took over.

And that was what happened and she made lightning quick time as a resukt, curring in and out of hallways and charging in between the spaces of busy hallways. She was seized by a strange mix of excitement and fear, fear and excitement, that raced through her like the warmest of liquors and put her whole form on notice that soon she would be taxed beyond her capability and would be forced to still succeed. She got a certain thrill out of being beyond herself at times. It scared her to some degree as the knowledge that you were simply not qualified or prepared for what was happening to you was a dark realization to come to. But knowing that and still doing what you could do was what made an Equestrian an Equestrian- friendship and love in the hard lands during hard times were just other words for courage. And she sure did love her comrades. She found Pummel's office and threw the door open, finding the Colonel with excited eyes and declaring:

"Colonel, we're gonna go monster huntin'!"

[Bellosh]

"Colonel, we're gonna go monster huntin'!"

Euuuugh..... civilians. Col. Pummel would have liked to hope by now that everypony knew that showing respect for someone with a high rank, especially one doing their job, meant not barging through the door into his office. Then again though, Pummel remembered from Applejack’s dossier that she had no real experience in serving under a superior, having spent virtually her entire life on an apple orchard. Where she came from, the earth pony mare was used to calling the shots; something that’d require amending if she was to work under the supervision of a demanding officer of Her Majesty’s army.

Troubling Pummel also was the relative vagueness of Applejack’s declaration, shouted as if she spontaneously decided to go out fishing with her friends. Was there a reason this logistics contractor wanted to ignore her assigned duties to go hunt monsters? And which monsters? Did she plan on capturing one for recreational purposes? Or did she want to lead a scouting party? What purpose was there in chasing after monsters, in a territory already infested with them, when the earth pony didn’t specify how immediate her need to leave the confines of Fort Drogan was?

Aside from Applejack’s vague language, the sweating colonel had nothing to work with. Pummel responded by... doing nothing, keeping his gaze upon his report. “May I ask,” the imposing powerhouse of a pegasus gave the impression of somepony not quick to anger over the slightest disturbance, but nonetheless sounding as immovable as the mightiest mountain; “What gives you, a logistics contractor, authorization to march into here to tell me nothing other than that you’re going to hunt monsters?”

OOC: THE MONSTER LEECH PLOTLINE IS CONTINUED HERE

[SunlightHeart]

D***, that mare was fast. Several times during their mad dash to the Colonel's office he'd nearly lost her in winding halls, only keeping track of her by capitalizing on fleeting glances of the signature ponytail she sported. Gigavolt had lost track of how many times he'd hastily muttered and 'excuse me' or 'pardon me'. Eventually, he just quit trying to be pleasant, the extra breath needed was tiring him out and he'd rather not fall to far behind Applejack. Luckily, Col. Pummel's office wasn't too far away; the end of his chase was nigh and much to his joy. He may have enjoyed a good run, but not so spontaneously.

Turning the final corner, Volt's right eye twitched when he saw the farmer burst into Pummel's office. He wasn't one for all the military hoops and acrobatics needed to do something, but he understood their purpose. Not only that, but rushing into somepony's space like that was just place rude. He could get that she was excited, but maybe she could tone it down a little? Actually, thinking about it, he figured that if he said that to her he'd be a hypocrite. After all when something got him all riled up he was totally absorbed in it and drowned the world out. Stopping his current line of thought and returning to reality, Gigavolt entered behind her just in time to hear her proclamation of monster hunting.

Just as expected, Pummel was not amused. Heck, the stallion barely even acknowledged her. Figuring that her response would only dig them deeper in a hole, Gigavolt cleared his throat and spoke up,in an attempt to pull the attention away from her. "What she means to say is that we have reason to believe that an extremely dangerous beast is making it's way here as we speak. We needed to inform you directly. The time it would have taken to go through the proper channels could be the difference between being prepared and getting blindsided. Applejack, tell him what you told me," Gigavolt said coolly.

[SteelEagle]

Pummel liked to give off the impression that he was as solid as rock and immovable as the mountain but today he met a pony capable of moving them in order to get the job done. Applejack hadn't really expected him to not have much of a response but looking back just the few critical seconds she could see how her proclamation about monster hunting would have been not so greatly informative. Well, and he did have a point. She wasn't even REIN, just logistics, so why would he be immediately interested in whatever she was saying? Luckily she hd the perservance of a fat colt trying to get cake. She took her hat off for a second and pulled a hoof through her mane, straightening it out. In this weather, in this climate, it didn't matter that she could run for ten hours before feeling any pressure. She was going to sweat and sweat hard, not that it annoyed her. Luckily she had Giga there to strike the first blow and set up what needed to be set up so Applejack could deal the finishing blow to the leech's freedom, even if that would come later.

"Heh, sorry 'bout barging in like that...actually, ha, Ah'm not. This is important. Our lives and Equestria's safety is at risk. Giga's right. There is this creature called tha leech that lives underground an' feeds off tha aether. It attacks by puncturin' the aether and causing an aetheral rift. Well, as Ah'm sure you've noticed, we've had a bundle of these rifts and a troubling list of casualties as a result from 'em. Well, Ah've looked at tha data thanks ta Gigavolt 'ere and it is pretty clear as day. It is headin' right for us and tha rate of those rifts are increasin'. It won't be long before it bores itself right into the underside of the fort and sucks out all of tha aether from this place- mostly from us, Ah'll add. So we need to buck up a bit and go hunt this thing down and smack it all tha way ta Tartarus!" Applejack said with energy, feeling the hard earth all around her as she lasso'd the beastie to the ground in her vivid imagination. It was time to prove their worth to Equestria!

(OOC- So ends the scene here and now between Pummel, AJ, and Volt. Next time you see them in this thread will not be in this same time and place. Other ponies are unafefcted by this three pony time skip. This story is continued in the thread mentioned above.)