"Eris?"

Something wet dripped onto my face. I groaned and opened my eyes. "James?"

He had my head cradled in his lap, and I looked up into his tear-filled eyes. "Oh no," I gasped, water welling up in my own as I remembered. I reached a hoof up and gripped his shoulder. "James, Mia's gone."

"I know," he replied, his voice breaking. "Oh, Eris."

I snuffled and crawled up into his arms. "How long has it been?"

"I don't know. Five minutes? I went out to look for her, but I couldn't find anything, except this." He held up one of Mia's cute red heels.

The sight of it stabbed me in the heart like a knife. "Ohhh," I gasped, curling up and holding my chest in physical agony. "It's my fault. Why didn't I use my magic? I should have done something! And now she's... she's..." I sobbed hard, my entire body twitching.

James cupped my cheeks and pulled my muzzle against his nose, staring into my eyes. "It's not your fault. She's alive. She has to be. And we're gonna find her."

I stifled another sob, slurping back my snot and drool. "Yes. Yes we will. Don't worry about me. I'm okay," I lied.

"We need to go. Now. This guy is our only lead," James said, standing and pulling me gently to my hooves.

"H-hi," the new pony said when we glanced his direction. "I'm Turf Dumper, by the way." He looked like he was barely holding it together. "Maybe we can find your friend and my family at the same time?" he added desperately, with an attempt at a grin that twisted his face into a horrible grimace of abject misery.

"We're gonna try. Are there any other unicorns in town?" I asked, trying hard to keep my voice even and failing miserably.

"It's a small farm town," he replied. "Just some Earth ponies. Griddle is a Pegasus, though." the pony pointed at the restaurant owner.

"Sir?" James called to the Pegasus. "Can you please get someone to take a message to Canterlot as fast as possible? Tell them the situation, tell them ProteC security needs backup here."

"The Crystal Empire is a little closer," Griddle replied as he approached, his eyes serious. "We could get word to Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. That's what we would have done if you guys hadn't been here."

"Do it then. Make sure they hurry, okay?"

"I will. I'll go myself, I'm the only Pegasus in town. And sir? Good luck. I hope you find the lady."

James paused a moment, steadying himself before replying. "Thanks. Good luck to you too." He raised his voice and addressed the room at large while big eyes watched him from beneath tables and behind furniture . "The rest of you, barricade yourselves in."

"But I want to help," a young mare said, coming out towards us.

"Do you know how to use any weapons?" James asked.

She shook her head.

"Then you can help best by staying here and helping out whoever arrives to back us up," James said. "I'm sorry but we don't need more defenseless ponies running around in the dark, getting snatched up."

Reluctantly, the girl nodded. "I understand. But be careful."

"Like he said, you might want to barricade yourselves in," I reminded, pulling my ARHUD out of the small backpack I had left at our table. "If they came once, they might come again." I saw Mia's little backpack still sitting by her chair, and I picked it up with a sharp stab of sorrow.

As we left the restaurant with Turf Dumper, the scraping of tables being lifted over windows followed us, until somepony slammed the door shut and dropped a locking bar into place behind it.

I wished I had dropped that bar across the door right after Turf came in. I wished I had just shut up and let the monster have me, instead of calling out and dooming Mia when she came to help my sorry ass. I wished I could change a lot of things. It felt as if the entire situation had been a series of my mistakes leading up to Mia's loss.

"We gotta go, Eris."

I sniffled and pushed the guilty thoughts into some dark corner of my mind to fester for later, then quickly trotted after James. I had to believe she was still alive. If I was wrong, there would be plenty of time for self-loathing as I miserably dragged through the rest of my hopefully short life.

We crossed the deceptively peaceful street, searching for any signs of the barely-seen attackers, but they had apparently vanished into thin air, or maybe the underbrush.

We soon approached the truck, and James headed straight to the rear to open the hatch. He then reached in and tapped his wristband against the softly glowing red lock mechanism on the case inside, causing it to brighten and turn green with a beep. The latches on the case released, clicking softly, and he pulled the top open, revealing a compact collection of weapons and gear.

"Party time," he said grimly, passing me a smaller version of a gun I'd trained on, as well as a glowing magic-enhanced magazine full of crystal-tipped bullets.

"What is this?" I asked, going bipedal and turning the miniaturized weapon over in my hooves. Softly glowing crystals embedded under the forward heat shields winked out at me.

"It's an AR SBR."

"SBR?"

"Short-barreled rifle. Do you remember how to use the AR?"

"Yes. We trained on it when I first arrived at ProteC." I snapped the magazine in and yanked the charging handle, clicking the fire selector to safe. The electronic modifications on the the gun activated, and my ARHUD instantly synced with the weapon. A digital ammo counter in my field of vision jumped to 100.

"It's the same thing, just smaller." He reached back into the truck, leaning on his hand, his holobracelet glowing gently near my face while he passed me an ammo belt with additional magazines. "Turf?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how to handle a gun?"

The pony blinked at us both. "I, uh, I've never held anything like that before. Sorry."

James looked at me, and I sighed. "Is there just a flashlight or something in there we can give him?"

"Yeah. Here." James held out a small object.

Turf accepted the light, a belt, then a large sheathed knife James tossed him. "Okay. This works." He put the gear on.

I continued to stare at James's wristband while I slung my midget rifle and belted the gear around my body. Something clicked in my head after a few moments. "James? I have an idea!"

"What?" he asked, sliding glowing magazines into ammo pouches on a satchel carrier he had pulled out of the box.

"She was still wearing her bracelet! Can we track it?"

"I didn't think of that. I don't think so though, there are no GPS satellites here. Wait. Maybe a ping triangulation between our three bracelets? Eris! You drive! I need to set up the tracking."

We slammed the back hatch and ran for the doors, jumping in and slamming them as well. James sat in the passenger seat, tapping through menus on his holobracelet as fast as he could. "Come on, come on!"

Turf climbed into the back seat. "Guys?"

"I've got a ping!" James exclaimed.

"Where?"

He frowned. "Shit. We're too close together, Eris. It just sees us as one point. It can't triangulate. I'm just getting a signal strength pulse, that's it."

"How far apart do we have to be?" I asked, glaring at my own bracelet.

"I don't know, but we don't have time for it, the signal is fading fast."

"Guys!" Turf said again, more insistently.

"Yeah?" I looked at his reflection briefly in the windshield as I prepared to start driving.

"I think we should head towards my farm. I think that's where they come from."

James and I looked at each other, and he nodded. "Better than nothing."

"Okay. Guide us, Turf."

"Alright. Go that way." He pointed a hoof, leaning forward between our seats.

"Got it." I stomped the accelerator and we took off, bouncing on the rough road while we travelled as fast as I dared.

"Signal strength is increasing," James said after a few seconds. "We're going the right direction!"

"Should we try to call her?"

"No. We don't want to draw that creature's attention to the one thing connecting us to her!"

"Right." I squeezed my butt as we slammed over rocks and gravel. James grabbed the little handle over the passenger window, but made no complaint. Turf was banging around wildly in the back.

"Put your seat belt on," James called to him.

"Ooof. Ugh! This thing here?"

"Yeah. Click it over your lap. Yeah, like that "

"Thanks. Turn left at the tree!"

The vehicle skidded and rocked as I followed his directions, veering around the corner and accelerating down a dark a tree-lined road. The powerful headlights speared ahead, illuminating the endless tunnel of leafy vegetation, and I pushed the vehicle as fast as I dared on the bumpy unpaved surface of the country road.

"Eris!" James yelped suddenly. "We're getting closer! I've got telemetry data loading from her wristband. There's a heartbeat, Eris! She's alive!"

My heart spiked in my chest, and tears threatened to obscure my vision again. Oddly enough the knowledge of her survival brought all my repressed emotions right back to the surface. "We have to save her," I said. I blinked rapidly and focused on the road, racing through the shadows with Turf's navigation.

"Shit," James said a few seconds later. "The signal just cut off completely. I'm not getting anything now. Not even a ping."

I grit my teeth, trying not to let the implications of that grow in my imagination. "Which way, Turf?"

"Keep going straight! It's not far now," he said.

The wind had picked up by the time we reached Turf's farm and pulled up to a stop in front of the dark, single-story house. I could see the front door stood open, swinging in the breeze. The effect was intensely creepy.

James opened his door and stepped out, his Hawaiian shirt flapping in the surprisingly warm air. I shoved my door open and exited as well, my mane waving slightly but the ARHUD goggles protecting my eyes from the wind. I jumped as the screen door on the farmhouse slammed into the wall in a strong gust. Even from here I could see the broken windows, shattered wooden railings, and trampled flowerbeds around the wood-sided home.

"Turf!" I said, my voice raised. "Where do we go from here?"

"Follow me!"

Leaving the truck where we parked, James and I switched our powerful weapon lights on and followed Turf around through the small flower garden and into the backyard. There were signs of large creatures having moved through, snapped off saplings and a wrecked picket fence. I could see images in my mind of Turf's wife and family screaming as the tentacles dragged them out the shattered windows. Poor guy. I glanced at James, his mouth set in a grim line, and his determination gave me strength.

We continued on, passing through the yard and entering the thick treeline beyond, where we pushed forward, forcing our way through brush and stepping over vines.

"How much further?" I asked eventually. The dark forest was making me nervous. At least the wind in the trees made plenty of nose to cover our talking.

"We're almost there."

"What are we looking for, exactly? It's pretty hard to see out here."

"Trust me, we won't miss it."

He wasn't exaggerating. Eventually as we trudged into the woods, our lights picked up an obstruction.

"What the hell?" James said, playing his weapon back and forth.

In front of us, a slanted wall of dirt and rocks rose towards the treetops, stopping just short of the crown. It continued left and right as far as we could see.

"I found this when I was looking for my family," Turf said. "I had gone after them alone, and seeing this snapped me back to reality. I knew I couldn't deal with whatever made this, so I ran for town when I found it. I don't know for sure, but I think something dug a hole, maybe."

"A pretty big one, from the looks of it," James agreed, staring at the huge pile of earth. "And it appears whatever did it is intelligent enough not to pile the dirt above the treetops and attract attention with the sudden appearance of a new mountain."

"I think we need to go up." I slung my SBR, then moved towards the steep slope and began climbing, using the trees to assist. James and Turf joined me almost immediately, and we carefully crawled up, the loose rocks and dirt making progress difficult. Regardless, I reached the top within a minute or two, where I quickly found vision was somewhat obscured by the treetops being directly on eye level.

I leaned back over and offered my hoof, pulling up James, then we both helped Turf Dumper.

"I guess we just head deeper in," James said.

I pulled my weapon off my back, holding it in my forehooves and standing erect next to him. Walking side by side, we pushed through the trees for what seemed like several hundred feet. It felt like we'd been shoving past the branches for quite a long time.

"Do you guys have any idea what we're looking for?" I finally said, glancing behind me for a moment.

"Eris! Watch out!" James hissed urgently.

"Wha-?" My head snapped around, just as I stepped out into empty space. I couldn't stop myself, and I pitched forward into nothingness with a shrill squeal of terror.