Tarnish awoke, feeling very warm and dry, while having no memory of falling asleep. He was groggy, his mouth was leathery, and a cup of tea was being shoved in his face by Vinyl. Cracking open one eye, he made the groggy assumption that he had been asleep long enough to become something of a danger. Lifting his head, Tarnish became aware that the cave was quite cosy at the moment. At least, it was for him.

“How long was I out?” he asked, his voice parched and gritty.

“About twenty hours,” Daring Do replied. She held a cup of tea between her hooves and the steam curled around her muzzle. “Your amulet turned a bit dark during that time. Rainbow began feeling a bit of dislike for you and we figured out what was going on. It’s good that you got some real sleep finally. It puts my mind at ease.”

“It’s warm.” Tarnish pulled himself up into a sitting position and took the tea from Vinyl and drew in a deep breath of relatively dry air. It was much easier to breathe now, but there was still quite a stench in here. The bedding was dry and didn’t have the disturbing, skin-shivering moistness.

“It’s a nice sunny day outside and it is about five degrees above zero.” Daring Do smacked her lips and then took a sip of tea. As she swished the tea around inside of her mouth, she smiled at Tarnish, a reckless, life-loving grin. Swallowing, her nostrils flared and she said, “I need you up and ready, Mister Teapot. I have an itch to get some stuff done today. So have a cup of tea, a bite to eat, and get yourself sorted.”

It wouldn’t be hard to follow those orders. As he lifted his teacup up to his muzzle, Vinyl passed him a plastic bowl full of oatmeal and dried fruit that reeked of cinnamon. It made his mouth attempt to water, but he was too dried out for a proper flood of slobber. There were also slices of toast, which Vinyl was reheating with a little magic.

So far, this was turning out to be a good day.

Ol’ Gertie was now covered in a light dusting of snow, but the wind seemed to have cleared quite a bit of it away. Daring was studying the ship, no doubt trying to learn more about the crash, and Tarnish kept a wary eye upon their surroundings with a sincere hope that today would be an automaton free day. He was worried that there would be an ambush; there were supplies here at this wreck, and Tarnish was paranoid that something might be waiting for them inside.

Vinyl was armed and so was he. The leg mounted guns couldn’t be worn in such cold temperatures, not with all of the bulky clothing, leaving Daring Do and Rainbow Dash unarmed, but not helpless. He had chosen the shotgun while Vinyl had armed herself with pistols. Knowing what awaited them inside, Tarnish wasn’t so sure what good some guns would do. The mechanoids were relentless, difficult to stop, and the crew of Ol’ Gertie had put up quite a fight, to no avail.

In spite of this knowledge, Tarnish was determined to enjoy his day.

“This ship is an antique,” Daring Do remarked. “It’s a relic from another era. Seeing it is quite disconcerting.”

“Why’s that?” Tarnish asked.

“It leads me to believe that their expedition was done off of the books.” Daring Do’s head tilted upwards and she looked at the fractured, broken hulk of the crashed ship. “There is a long history of this, you see. Take an old decommissioned ship, make it somewhat serviceable, and then hire a crew of questionable sorts. These ships become pirates, privateers, or go on rogue expeditions. The East Windia Trading Company relies heavily upon ‘phantom ships’ as it operates in the blindspots of the Grittish Crowned Heads.”

Tarnish didn’t know what to say in return, so he remained silent.

“These ponies, their family will likely never know what happened,” Daring Do continued. “All of these ponies will have just disappeared without a trace. The Grittish Crowns will cover this up as much as possible, fearing another embarrassment or scandal. What little information that does come to the surface will be buried, denied, or suppressed.”

“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think I see a wolf,” Rainbow Dash announced as she pointed off towards a copse of trees, some of which had exploded.

Turning his head about, Tarnish focused in the direction that Rainbow was pointing. He squinted and realised that Rainbow had much better vision than he did. In the distance, he could just make it out, an indistinct outline of white on white. Reaching out with his will, Tarnish tried to touch minds with the wolf, hoping to learn something or at least keep his companions safe, just in case the wolf was feeling peckish.

After repeated attempts, Tarnish found there was nothing to touch, which confused him. He was looking at the wolf, he could see it in the distance, but there was nothing there. No mind. A cold, creeping prickle ran down Tarnish’s spine as he drew one conclusion—that was no wolf. The realisation alarmed him, scared him, and he pulled his shield from his back.

“That’s no wolf,” Tarnish whispered.

“Then what is it?” Rainbow asked as her eyes squinted to focus through the glare of sunlight on snow.

“I don’t know,” Tarnish replied, “but not a wolf. Vinyl, shoot it!”

Within an eyeblink of Tarnish’s command, two revolvers blinked into existence and were pointed at the distant creature that wasn’t a wolf. Vinyl fired once and then the not-a-wolf was off running, not running away, but running right at them, and when Vinyl fired again, the not-a-wolf rippled. It was hard for Tarnish to describe what he was seeing, but it was like a drop of water in a pond.

Rainbow and Daring dropped in a defensive crouch and Tarnish raised his shield up in front of him, but he did not draw Flamingo. She needed her rest so she could be at full power for real emergencies. Vinyl fired again, and the not-a-wolf’s body jerked backwards, but did not stop its advance. The strange, indescribable ripple was seen again, almost as if the not-a-wolf’s hide was made from liquid.

It was close now, close enough for Tarnish to really get a good look at it, and it showed no sign of injury, no blood gushed forth, even though Vinyl had scored several hits. He secured a telekinetic tether spell to his shield, gritted his teeth, then launched it, sending it spinning away like a frisbee. There was a metal-on-metal clang when his shield hit the not-a-wolf, which confused Tarnish, but he didn’t have time to think about it as his shield returned to him.

The impact knocked the not-a-wolf over, but did not keep it down. As it rose, Vinyl shot it, firing several times, and then, sparks and smoke began to rise from its head. It convulsed, fell over, and then lay there, its legs kicking. It’s whole body flickered, then vanished, revealing a quadrupedal brass mechanoid.

Shield forward, Tarnish advanced, and when he was close enough, he smashed it in the head a few times, bringing the hard, impervious pointed edge of his kite shield down upon the strange automaton’s head. On the third hit, there was a crackling flicker and the projected image of a wolf’s body could be seen, but then it fizzled out once more.

“The fronk is that?” Rainbow demanded as she pulled close to Tarnish’s side. “It’s like changeling magic, but without the green flames.” While she was speaking, Tarnish clubbed the not-a-wolf one final time, which caused the glowing gemstone eyes to go dim.

Keeping his shield held out before him, Tarnish eyed the fallen automaton and thought about the synthetic ley lines he had encountered. The centaurs had worked on an alternate means to distribute magic, life-giving magic. It seemed that there was also synthetic life. The mechanoid wolf had been quite real looking, quite convincing, right up to the point where Tarnish had tried to touch minds with it. After a little thought, Tarnish wasn’t all that surprised, as the timber wolves were also an attempt at bio-engineering.

What purpose had the mechanoid wolves served? No doubt, it was an answer lost to time, but perhaps more could be learned about them if they found their way inside. Tarnish could hear the sounds of Vinyl reloading and he leaned in so that he could have a closer look at the fallen automaton.

The brass head was hollow and filled with ruin. Crystalline fibres could be seen and crystalline structures, all of which looked eerily similar to that which could be found in the Crystal Empire. Tarnish was almost certain that there was some greater connection, but he lacked proof. It was only a hunch, but he suspected that the Crystal Empire was originally a centaur installation and then ponies had repurposed it.

The centaurs loved their crystal-tech though, Tarnish knew that for certain.

The mouth was filled with pointed steel teeth. The eyes were blue gemstones of some sort, but Tarnish didn’t know what type. They might be some kind of synthetic, grown gem. There were several holes in the head, evidence of Vinyl’s targeting spell. What was worrisome was that the mechanoid wolf had taken several shots to the head before being downed. His own shield blows had damaged the crystalline fibres in the base of the skull that lead down into the body, no doubt acting very much like a spinal cord. The body was a brass cylinder, long, straight, with four actuators for the legs.

The legs were spindly, brass rods with ball joints and hinges. The paws sort of looked like bird’s feet, with five segmented toes that went in all directions. A cluster of crystals grew from where the tail would have been, and several small crystal shards protruded from along the back. Tarnish could see that the metal shell over the body was quite thin and the wolf-mechanoid had a good deal more crystal bits than a standard bipedal mechanoid. Perhaps it was for the illusion generators?

“You know, whomever had an army of those things would find themselves controlling the world in short order,” Daring Do remarked as she looked down upon the fallen automaton. “It could have just as easily looked like a pony, perhaps somepony that you love, somepony you trusted… it would get close to you, just like a changeling, but I daresay these are far, far more deadly than the common changeling. Those… fingers would do great harm.”

The companions, silent for a time, gave some thought to what Daring Do had said, each of them musing upon it and reacting in their own way. Tarnish, cautious as ever, rolled the mechanoid over so he could have a better look into the gaping hole that could be seen in its brass skull. A bullet, now a misshapen lump, was lodged in a cluster of still-sparking crystals. Tarnish thought about what Rainbow had said about crystalised lightning, and he had a better idea of what powered these mechanical monstrousities, or, at least he thought he did.

“Nice work, Rainbow,” Tarnish said to his pegasus companion, and he held his booted hoof out. After waiting a moment, Rainbow bumped hooves with him, and he gave her an appreciative nod. “With you watching, I don’t think much will get close enough to us to be threatening.”

“You know it!” Rainbow replied, sounding very proud of herself.

“Vinyl, we need to start making those mines.” Tarnish turned about in the snow and looked at his fellow unicorn. “Not sure about the triggering mechanism though. Brass isn’t magnetic. We’ll need to figure something out and soon.”

“Tarnish is right.” Daring Do cast a final glance at the fallen mechanoid, then looked over at the wreck of Ol’ Gertie. “For now, let’s strip everything we can. I want those ration bars, as awful as they are. Let’s get to work. Tarnish, be a dear and load that automaton onto the sledge for Vinyl, will you?”

“Sure thing,” Tarnish replied and he set to work doing his boss’ bidding.

Author's Notes:

There wolf, there Skyreach.