As we walk into the mico station I can hear everyone murmur about the room. Some looking around in astonishment while others being only slightly impressed. The hall has lost it's former gleam, being covered in dust and having bullet holes everywhere. I lead everyone to the men's dormitory platform and wait for them all to flash away before I take the platform. I walk down the hall, reminiscing about the countless time I walked down these halls, and head straight for my old room, having everyone trail behind me as they peer into the other rooms.

"Where are we?" Applejack asks.

"This is the men's dormitory of the school. My room is just ahead." I sigh as I stop before room 1337. I glance back to Twilight and open the door for them. "Go ahead and put her on the bed." I say to Storm as he walks past me.

"My heavens Miles, what a mess." Rarity says as she walk in after everyone.

"Hey, my side is clean! Dolums side was the side that's always dirty!" I say as I head over to my computer. After I plug in my phone and begin down loading the file I head over to my locker.

"What's in there?" Pinkie asks as she watches me enter the combination.

"Hopefully, my secret arsenal." I say as I pop open the top and look in. Aw fuck. All of the weapons in here are gone! I look through it and find some spare ammo at the bottom, four 7.62, ten 5.56, three .45 magnum. "Well, all of the super secret weapons of OP are gone. Next we should go and check the armory for any scrap weapons there. I doubt there will be anything there, but it couldn't hurt to check."

"What should we do about this?" Rarity asks as she points to the unfamiliar's skeleton.

"Toss it. Destroy it. I don't really care..."

"Miles! How could you say something so horrid!"

"Becuase that fucker was going to eat Auxy." I say, silencing the room. "Look, I don't care what you do to it, three of you come with me while the rest of you stay with Storm and Twilight." Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie step forward, so I turn and walk out the door.

We walk to the mico platforms in total silence. I teleported to the armory first, raising my weapon up and looking for and potential threats as the rest of them appear behind me. The armory consists of five, ceiling high, black racks that are behind a chained fence counter. Every shelf, every rack and every wall is empty. To the right is a door with an engraving of a shield on it, the armor room. I walk over to the door and smack the butt of my rifle against the lock, breaking it off.

"What'r we lookin fer?" Applejack asks as she follows me inside.

"Anything really. Look in every drawer, locker and cabinet and pull anything out that looks even remotely useful. If it's glowing, don't put it in your mouth." I say as I sling my rifle and head to the first aisle. Everyone goes to their own aisle and begins to look through everything. After awhile of looking, I finish both sides of my aisle and only come out with a large flash light. I refill the gem inside and give it a try, bright as ever. I walk over to the next aisle and begin to go through the items Pinkie found. Some scrap mark 4 parts, a few 5.56 rounds, and some trash.

"Hows my haul?" Pinkie asks as she bounces up and down.

"Pretty good. Almost as good as mine." I say as I flash the light on her.

"AH! That was bright." She says as she rubs her eyes. I laugh a bit as I move to the next aisle. I run over and pull the frag grenade out of Applejack's mouth, stopping her from blowing up.

"What's with you and your brother trying to eat explosives?" I ask as I pocket the grenade.

"What? It looked like an apple."

"Remember that we didn't have tree's down here. There are no apples here."

"Oh, right." She says coyly as she looks back in the drawer. "This sides empty, ah'll try the other one." She says as she walks over to the last aisle. I go and check on Rainbows aisle to find her staring at a picture. I walk over to see that it's a picture of some women in a Terradisian military uniform holding a little blonde girl.

"Did you know her?" She asks, still looking at the picture.

"No."

"What do you think her chances were of getting out?"

"Rainbow... is everything alright?" I ask as I sit against the counter.

"Yeah... it's just... I don't know. Thinking about a lot of things." She says as she sets the picture down and continues to look through the drawer. I pick it up and look over the back, finding a message.

"Me and my mama. You're the best mom ever." I read aloud, making Rainbow stop and look over to me. "If I had to guess, their chances of getting out were better then most. She was military, and one of the background ones at that. Once the call was made, she probably got her girl and went straight to Quartz Crest."

"You really think so?"

"Well.... maybe. Auxy was on her way out. I don't see why she wouldn't of." Rainbow nods to this and wipes a tear away. "Rainbow, whats got you so worked up?"

"It's nothing. Please don't tell anyone that I was crying. Crying just... isn't cool." She says as she tries to clear her eyes of tears.

"Right... well if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here for ya." I say as I stand up and begin to look through the drawers on the other side of the aisle. After a few minutes we go through every nook and cranny, only to come up empty handed. We head to the door to the right and go to the next room. I walk in a bit before I stop and stare at it. I can't fucking believe it. I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT. Of course its still fucking here. WHY WOULDN'T IT STILL BE HERE! Of course they would take everything useful and leave behind the one fuck you possible.

"What's wrong Miles?" Rainbow asks as I walk to the counter and pick up my old helmet.

"Son of a bitch... my helmet." I turn it around to find a large hole has been blown clean through the sides, making it inoperable. "Of course its broken! Why would they leave a perfectly fine helmet behind!" I yell as I toss it aside.

"Whats the matter Miles? Whats going on?" Applejack asks as they look around in confusion.

"*sigh* that's my old helmet. Basically, if I had that on during that last fight in Topaz, I probably wouldn't be here right now."I say as I stare at it a bit. Everyone take another look at it before Pinkie erupts in a fit of laughter. "It's not funny!"

"It totally is! Think about it. If you did have it, you wouldn't be here now, or at least be knocked out as often as you are." She says from the ground as she holds onto her sides. I can see Rainbow and Applejack trying not to laugh along with her... I'm starting to chuckle at the irony as well.

"Alright, maybe it is... at least a little. Lets just look through the rest of the armory and get back to the others." I walk over to the locked door and knock the pad lock off. We spend the next thirty minutes looking through all of the drawers, closets, and cabinets... Pinkie listing every time a helmet would of saved me the entire time....

"OH! And don't forget the time the girls chucked a bunch of pumpkins at you and Storm! Come to think of it, we should look for one for Storm as well." Pinkies says as she looks through a drawer.

"Yes Pinkie, I get it, I get knocked out a lot."

"I know! Isn't it funny!" She says as she chuckles a bit.

"Right... well this room is completely devoid of anything useful. Let's meet up with the others before we move to our other objective." I say as I lead them back to the mico platforms. We flash back to the dorm rooms and make our way back to my room, where we find everything perfectly cleaned.

"Miles! You'll be happy to know that I took the liberty to tidy up a bit." Rarity says as she trots out from the restroom. "What do you think?"

"Uh... thanks? I really appreciate it." I say as I step in and look around. I don't know why, but seeing Dolum's side of the room perfectly clean is making me feel uneasy. I look over to see Twilight laying in my bed, talking to Storm as he holds her hoof. I walk over to her and sit beside her. "How're you feeling?"

"Better. Tired but better." She says as she picks her head up a bit.

"Next time don't push yourself too hard..."

"I know, it wasn't very clever of me."

"Think you'll be able to walk in about twenty?"

"Probably."

"Alright.." I say as I stand up and head to my closet. I look through it until I find my tattered official uniform and pull it out for Rarity. Amazing that it's still here... and relatively in on piece. "Rarity, think you can memorize this?" I ask as I lay it on Dolums bed. She walks over and begins to look it over, inspecting every part of it in total focus and silence. I see that my phone is done uploading the coordinates, so I pocket my phone and shut off my computer. With nothing better to do, I take a seat and wait for Rarity to finish studying the suit. I look around the room and notice all of the missing pictures, must of been Auxy. She was always one for the small things like that. I look over and see the golden rod she gave me in the video... what did she call it? Dominus Clavis? Just what is this the key to? I take it and look it over some more. Just a golden rod with seven slots where some gems can be inserted. At the top is a grip for another gem can be placed. All of the slots seem to be grated for the same size gems... hmm...

"What is that?" Twilight asks.

"According to Auxy, this is Dominus Clavis, the master key."

"Key to what?" Storm asks as he looks it over.

"I don't know."

"Well, if you don't find out, at least you'll have a pretty stick." Pinkie says, making me laugh a little. I look back to my closet and see my other pair of shoes.... oh sweet Barbra yes! I walk over and pick them up... only to have the fall apart in my hands... that's just not fair.

"You alright Miles?" Fluttershy asks.

"Yeah..."

"Well, I've learned all I can from this. Once we get back I'll get to work on them as soon as I'm done with all of the costumes." Rarity says as she sits down and rubs her eyes.

"OK, you ready Twilight?" I ask as she gets out of bed and stretches a bit.

"I should be fine."

"Then lets get going, we need to get to the bottom of the P.C.H. as quickly as possible." I say as I lead them down the hall and towards the mico platforms.

"Why do we need to get to the bottom?" Twilight asks as everyone follows after me. I stop by the platforms and head to the one with the etching of a wrench and electrical bolt, pulling out my rifle on the way.

"To get the power completely back on." I say before I step onto the platform and flash away.

As soon as I can see again I lift my rifle up and take a few steps forward, scanning the area for threats. I'm standing on a catwalk that's a story above the city reactors. Four massive machines that send metallic tubes far down into the ground, collecting the heat of the core to power the city. The machines stand about a story high, having catwalks go around their midsection. The entire area here is lit by bright red lights, numbing my eyes a bit. When everyone appears behind me I start to make my way around the catwalk, heading towards the other side of the room.

"What are those things?" Applejack asks from behind.

"Power stations. They send massive metal tubes into the center of Terra to collect heat, that we use for energy."

"How do they do that? The center of the earth is molten lava, it would destroy the metal before you could collect the energy." Twilight asks.

"Uh... magic. We super treated them to resist insane amounts of heat." I say as something makes a sound, stopping me as I try to find it. Not being able to see it, I continue down the path, keeping an eye on the catwalks around the generators.

We make the rest of the trip over in silence, whatever is out there made a couple more sounds, but hasn't shown itself. I head to the main computer and start it up, getting a loud hum as the screen shows me the home screen.

"Watch my back while I reset this... I think there's something in here." I say as I start to slide through the options.

"Got it." Storm says as he runs to the edge of the platform and looks for whatever is out there. The rest of them just walk around the opening, inspecting everything and whispering to one another. I turn back to the screen and begin punching the codes to restart the generators. It seems that only two of them are operational, but with how little will be required, it'll do.

"Alright, they need a couple hours to reboot, but we're done here." I say as I tap the final the screen and walk away.

"Thank heavens, all this red was starting to give me a head ache." Rarity says as she leads us back through the catwalk.

"Why are the lights red anyway?" Twilight asks.

"Its just a security thing. Kind of hard not to realize somethings wrong when everything goes red." I say as I approach the Mico platform.

SCREECH

I spin around to see a utility bot high in the air, falling towards me with a large pipe in its hands. I raise my rifle and fire a few rounds into its chassis as I step aside. The bot crashes down and slams into the mico platform. The platform sends out archaic sparks before the dent pops up. The bot begins to turn towards me, but I send a few more rounds into its head, dropping it.

"What was with all those sparks from the platform?" Applejack asks as I kick the bot aside. I walk onto the platform and wait...

"Fuck! It fucking broke it." I say as I step off of the platform.

"Well, can't you just fix it?" Twilight asks.

"No, I'd have to go to the first floor and set a new platform before I set a new one." I say as I look around for the stairs, finding them in the back right of the room. "We'll have to take the stars until we can make it back." I say as I walk towards them.

"Well.. how many will we have to take till we can teleport back?" Rainbow asks as they all follow after me.

"Well... I don't know. Anywhere from one to ten floors." I say as I open the door, only to jump out of the way as a wall of rubble falls out. "Well... shit."

"What should we do?" Storm asks as I bring my magic up. "Whoa... uh Miles... don't you think that will be a little too... strenuous." I ignore him as I start to magically pull the rubble out, getting more to fall down.

"Hmm... this may not work." I say as I look up the stairwell. There's a fairly tight gap going up...

"Ah think ah can make my way up there." Applejack says from my side as she looks up the stairwell.

"Hmm... I've got an idea. Applejack, if you can get back up to the floor with the other half of the platform and take a picture of it with my phone, I can replicate it and get everyone out of here."

"And I'll go with you!" Rainbow says as she walks up beside her.

"Well, alright, but no more. I don't want to put too much weight on that rubble." I say as I pull out my phone and show them how to use it. Once they get the gist of it I send them up the stairwell, and wait.

I follow after AJ through the small crevice, barely having room for my bags as we wiggle our way up. I keep getting dust and debris in my eyes, making it harder to follow after her, but I ignore it for now and trudge along with her.

"Hey RD.... everything alright?" AJ asks as we make it into a larger opening, the only opening being through the room next to us. We walk up the slab of concrete and continue our climb through what looks like a slanted office.

"I'm good, got some dust in my eyes but..."

"Not what ah meant." She says flatly. "Look... ah know things didn't go as you wanted, but..."

"I know, I know, but... I like where things went. It wasn't what I wanted, but... I'm happy." I say as we stop in a large opening in the building. It seems several floors had collapsed, making a large open room above us. I grab AJ and begin to fly us towards a door at the top.

"What ever happened ta livin the dream and that who-haw ya use ta holler about? Don't tell me ya gave up on yer..."

"I didn't give up. I tried my best, but.... look, lets just focus on getting out of here. I like how things turned out, that's that." I say as I set her down and walk off through the hallway. I think this hall was a hospital wing or something. Every room has rows of white beds with weird metal, claw contraptions. We make it to the end of the hall where we find a platform station. We find the one with the thunder and wrench, so AJ begins to try to take the picture.

"Ah'm just sayin, ever since that day, ya never talked about it, or them since. We're all worried about ya girl. If ya ever need ta talk about it, we're here fer ya." I take a deep breath as I look away from her. I don't want to talk about it... ever. I just want to move on with my life and forget that embarrassment. She takes the picture and begins to walk back down the hall. I stay behind as I try to collect myself. I can feel tears starting to form up again... I can't let them see me cry... that's just uncool. "Ya comin or not?" AJ calls from the hall.

"Right, lets get back already." I say as I follow after her. No more tears, no more reminiscing. I have to focus on the future.... if not for me, then for her. We make it back to the group in total silence. I can tell AJ wants to talk some more, but I just don't want to hear it right now.

"Did you get it?" Miles asks as AJ gives him the phone. "Perfect. Just give me a sec then." He kneels down as he sets his hands on the ground, making a white fire encircle him as he stares at his phone. A few seconds later he steps off the newly formed platform.

"Are you sure it's going to work?" Twilight asks as she looks at it intently.

"Only one way to find out." Miles says as he steps onto it and flashes away, only to flash back in a few seconds later. "Good to go." He says as he steps off and steps back on. Everypony takes their turn until its just me and AJ in the room. I try to step onto the platform, but she stops me by wrapping me up in a hug, making me go tense.

"What she did ta ya was wrong. But you have somethin she'll never have."

"And what would that be?"

"Friends." I sigh as I wrap my hooves around her, holding onto her lightly as I think about what she said. I know I have friends... but whats left of my dream?

Next Chapter: Chapter 97 What's Important Estimated time remaining: 65 Hours, 31 Minutes