The walk through the tunnel was long. Our hoofsteps, and the pitter patter of Aria’s wings, echoed off its mossy and cracked walls. The cool draft brushed against my hide and the squeak of a small rodent could be heard further off.

“Are we there yet?” Everyone, including Aria, deadpanned at Chaser, “I couldn’t resist.”

Aria let out a few disappointed whistles.

We continued down the tunnel after Chaser’s gosh awful cliche timing. Like really, there would have probably been better opportunities than now to joke. Nearing the mouth, our eyes adjusted to the harsh sunlight and we emerged at the highway dirt path we came in on. Looking to the left, I could see the Y-shaped tree with Aria perched within. She began to sing a song while we took a moment to further plan our excursion.

“Anyone got a suggestion as to where we should go?” I asked openly.

Everyone paused for a moment, then surprisingly, Fae spoke up. “I have a suggestion, if no one else does.”

“The floor’s all yours Fae,” Solani told her.

“Well, when I was created, I was programmed with countless amounts of data regarding Newshire. According to the map data I have, there should be an old water park to the east. Expedition Team recon have shown that it's only sparsely inhabited by wildlife.”

“A waterpark huh? Any cool slides?” Chaser asked as he floated by us.

“From what I can read, there should be a super attraction called The Whirlpool, supposed to be the park’s signature ride until they ceased construction. It seems the construction teams had a load of injuries, fatalities even, and the project got canceled.”

“Sounds like an adventure if I ever heard one,” I said as I stood up. “Where’s it at exactly?” A small arrow with a number popped into my vision.

“You should see the marker now, it’s about three kilometers out,” Fae informed us.

“Perfect,” I offered my hoof to Solani and helped her off her haunches.

Aria flew over to us from the tree and landed on my back, then began to sing a traveling tune.

Our trek had made it halfway so far and things hadn’t changed much. The few threatening encounters we had included mutated bugs and a few Guanas, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We also ran into another group of like-minded adventurers, two earth ponies and a unicorn, who were on their way back from an old supply depot. We traded words and wished each other safe travels, then continued on our way.

The wind had picked up as we rounded the eastern side of Doveport’s hill. The eastern entrance was surrounded by construction teams working to remove the debris, cutting through the rusty cars with buzzsaws and hammering away at broken stone. They had a half-dozen guards posted around the perimeter keeping watch. One of them spotted something off in the distance, unfolded her SAER and fired a single beam. She seemed quite pleased with her shot as her SAER folded back up.

After some time passed, we had stopped at an intersection to take a break. We sat down in the back of a mostly unrusted truck and pulled out some snacks and bottled water.

“Fiiinally, I’m starving!” Chaser groaned.

“How? It’s… you didn’t eat breakfast, did you?” Solani asked.

“Nope!” He smiled.

“Well here, this should hold you over for awhile.” I passed him an apple and a hay sandwich.

“Thanks.”

I pulled out the same for Solani and myself and we all began to eat. The sudden soft peck on my side caught my attention, leading to Aria looking up at me expectantly. “Of course! Can’t forget about you Aria.” I passed her an apple and she ate along with us.

“These are really good, where’d you get these?” Chaser asked between bites.

“Picked ‘em up from that diner before we met back up. They aren't charging anything since we don't really have a currency,” I told him.

“What do you think they’ll decide on?” Solani asked.

“Not sure, but they might just stay that way, not like there's any reason to charge for them.” I took the last bite of my sandwich and tossed the rest of my apple into the grass.
Unknown to us, the apple slowly sunk into the grass without a trace.

“Alright, everyone ready to go?” I asked, while stretching my legs.

“Yeah, one sec.” Chaser said, finishing the rest of his apple.

Solani whistled to Aria, who flew up onto her back.

We hopped down from the back of the truck, relieving its squeaky suspension of our weight. Walking the rest of the way, we finally made it to the entrance gate of the park. The barely legible moss covered archway stood tall over the road.

“Welcome to Skipping Stones Waterpark!” Fae exclaimed.

“So that's what it says.” I mumbled to myself.

The metal gates themselves were rusted and broken, one had even fallen off of its hinges. Making our way along the roadway led to the parking lot. Many of the vehicles within were rusted or broken down. Aria flew up onto a light pole and began to chitter, a sound we had heard from her a few times on the way up here. Readying our SAERs, we took positions around some nearby cars and waited.

Scanning my surroundings revealed a group of yellow marks on my EFS. “You guys see that?” I whispered, “to the north-east, I'm counting three.” A bushy tail wagged above the hood of a car.

“Yeah, I see ‘em,” Chaser responded.

Solani was set up in the back of a pickup, “I’m seeing about five from here.”

“Fae, what does ‘yellow’ mean?” I asked.

One of the beasts jumped up onto the roof of a car and sniffed the air. The dog-like creature began to hop from one roof to the next, the rest of the pack following behind.

“Yellow marks on your EFS are for organisms that are not hostile, but may become hostile. According to Expedition Team notes, those animals are simply called mongrels. Just stand your ground and look intimidating and they shouldn’t bother you, but don’t let them surround you.”

“Alright, then let’s keep moving. Keep your guard up.” I whistled to Aria, who hesitated to come down.

We made our way through the lot, keeping a close eye on the mongrel pack. Aria rejoined us after we reached the overgrown ticket booth. The glass panels of the booth had been broken long ago and replaced by thick moss. The rusted turnstiles unsurprisingly didn’t budge, so we had to climb over them. The plaza on the other side consisted of a large fountain with a skipping stone statue in the center, a gift shop directly behind. The walkway diverged, leading to the two halves of the park. The left being the Dry Zone and consisting of rides, food court and other attractions, while the Splash Zone to the right had the water slides and swimming area. That’s at least what I got from the surprisingly well-preserved park map.

“So where should we go first?” Chaser asked from above.

“Let's go check out the Splash Zone and see if we can get a good view from the slides,” I suggested.

“Can we at least check out the gift shop first, it's literally right there,” Solani pleaded.

“I think we'll check that out last,” I said sarcastically.

Solani scowled at me. “Well, I'm going now, so,” she stuck her tongue out at me.

“Booo, I'm gonna go check out the rest of the park,” Chaser informed before flying off.

Walking across the plaza and around the fountain, I caught up to Solani, who was already at the gift shop’s door. She cleared away some ivy and slowly pushed it open. The thick scent of vegetation and the humid air saturated the room. The inside of the gift shop was trashed, old toys and nik-naks littered the floor. Each step was accompanied by the sound of crunchy dead leaves. A hole in the roof allowed a corner to be bathed in sunlight, vibrant wildflowers growing below. Admiring the flowers, I'd realised I'd seen these flowers before. My mother had a few back in the stable. I stepped closer to them and sat down, then began to think about her and all the great memories we had. I remembered a picture of her, smiling like she did every day, right beside my father. I looked down at my neck and floated his necklace into view, wishing I had known more about him. I wonder what they would think of this new and changed world…
if they were still in it.

I began to turn away when I realized my front hooves were caught on something. Looking down, I saw just what had stopped me; roots extending out from the wildflowers! They had crawled up my hooves without me noticing. I panicked and tried to tear myself free to no avail, yelling and grunting, my heart racing, the roots slowly inching upwards. I looked into the wildflowers, catching a glimpse of the muddied remains of another creature. The roots encasing most of their form. I screamed, sending out a blast of magical energy. It burned through the roots and sent me sprawling onto my back.

Solani came rushing in from another room, “Oh my gosh, what happened?” She yelled as she helped me up, “are you okay?”

“The flowers tried to eat me!” I lifted a hoof up to show her the leftover root endings, a few of them embedded into my hide.

“Fae, I thought you said this place was safe!” She shot, as we backed away from the flowers.

“Technically that's not what I said,” Fae corrected, “I said it was ‘sparsely inhabited by wildlife’, which is true. These carnivorous plants however, are not in the recon report.”

“Great, our first real adventure and I've already almost died,” I sighed. “We need to warn Chaser.”

“Already done, he should be here soon,” Fae told us.

Chaser landed in the plaza then walked inside, Aria following behind. “I got Fae’s message, you two alright?” He said through heavy breaths.

“Yeah, we’re fine now, but we should stick together from now on. This park may be more dangerous than we thought.”

With the near death experience out of the way, we began to walk along the pathways in the Dry Zone, carefully exploring each of the abandoned shops or kiosks we passed. Aria flew around us, letting out chitter noises whenever we got close to any flower beds. We crossed a short bridge, that created a tunnel for the murky-green lazy river below, and neared the food court and playground area.

The playground equipment was rusted, broken, and covered in vegetation. Thick patches of grass had covered the ground and the last swing’s rusted chains looked as if they’d snap at any moment. We stood in awe at the scene, until the swing started to rock creepily, at which point we quickly trotted around it. We took a seat at one of the less rusted dining tables and had another small snack break. Passing out more apples and sandwiches, we gazed around at the sights as we ate. The large wall on the other side of the lazy river showed an image of a stone skipping across a body of water. A unicorn, who I assumed to be Skipping Stone herself, stood along the shoreline. In large letters read, ‘Don’t skip out on all the fun!’ probably hitting number one in my cheesy slogans list.

On the opposite side of the food court held the swimming area at the center of the park. The water was dotted with patches of algae, deflated floaties, and other foreign objects. The water level had dropped over the years, leaving a thick green stain on the concrete. The towering water slides creaked and groaned as the wind blew, the hanging vines and moss gently waving in the breeze.

“Hey, who's that?” Chaser said suddenly, pointing to a pony by the swimming area, “HEY OVER-” I quickly silenced Chaser with my magic.

“Are you trying to tell everything we're here?!” I snapped. I released the spell and looked to the pony, “we don't even know who that is. He's too far for EFS, could be hostile.”

“Or she,” Solani added.

“Yes, or she.”

“Alright, alright I get it! My bad, jeez,” Chaser quickly apologized, “whoever that is, they brought some friends.”

Looking back to where the mystery buck/mare was standing, we saw they were no longer alone, but instead, accompanied by two other forms. A ‘dog’ and… something big. “Great and now there’s more of ‘em. What even is that one?!” I unfolded my SAER, opting for the sniper mode to utilize its scope, and took aim.

“Sweet Celestia, what are you doing?” Solani said before pushing the barrel of my SAER down. “we don’t even know if they’re bad!”

“I was just getting a better look, I didn’t plan on shooting,” I reassured, then took aim again.

Not yet at least.

Looking back at the unknown pony and things, I saw they were looking directly at us. Their featureless heads were covered in a hanging moss along with the rest of their body. Small flower beds were attached to each of them in a different place on each of their bodies. “Well, that's unnerving.”

“Umm, guys...” Chaser said, pointing at the new moss hound that had appeared on the bridge behind us. Aria began to chitter, the creature showing red on the EFS.

“That's not normal, what is that?” Solani asked, sounding slightly frightened.

“Whatever it is, it wants us dead. So let's get to returning the favor.” I positioned myself and took aim, firing a few beams into the beast.

The moss hound faltered only slightly before it began to rush towards us. No eyes or ears, just one very-toothy grin. The moss on its body began to wriggle as it neared.

“What in the world is that thing?” Solani, obviously terrified, unfolded her SAER and sent more beams into the creature, searing one of its legs clean off.

The dog collapsed as black sludge oozed from the wound. It made no noise, but the moss on its body wriggled violently.

“Don't know and don't care enough to let it get any closer to find out. It dies there.” I fired a volley of beams into the creature. One beam ignited the beast, sending it into a frenzy as it flailed to put out the flames. Only problem was, we were at a water park… that still had water. The creature threw itself into the lazy river, and a plume of smoke rose afterwards.

The sloshing and wet slapping to our left caught our attention. We had forgotten about the trio of moss beasts who had been wading through the swimming area. Now on dry land, they lumbered over towards us, now red ticks on my EFS.

Chaser unfolded his SAER and took to the air, firing beams into the largest of the creatures.

Solani pulled out a bright blue flask and hurled it towards the beasts. On impact, the glass shattered, releasing a blast of electricity, causing the internal sludge to bubble and ooze from the creatures. They lurched towards us, but whatever magic that kept them together was disrupted, causing their legs to fail beneath them. The moss pony and the moss hound fell shortly after, while the larger monstrosity held together; The moss on its body now slightly burned on the ends. The beast reared on its hind legs, standing several meters high, and slammed its forelegs into the ground, sending forth a wave of black sludge towards us. Solani and I jumped onto nearby dining tables while Chaser kept to the skies. All of us kept firing simultaneously, but the monster barely reacted to our assault.

“You should use SATS,” Fae told us, “target its chest at the same time. I’m reading a strong magical signature inside!”

“Okay, how do we do that?” Chaser asked from above.

“Just focus, like really focus on your shot. When it lifts itself up again, everyone fire at the center of its chest,” she told us.

The beast lowered itself and charged for Solani and I. We barely jumped off the tables in time, before it came crashing through several table sets. It recovered swiftly and lowered itself again, but instead of charging this time, two large vines erupted from its shoulders.

“Tu es ludens loqui?” I growled, firing more beams into the creature.

The beast burst forward again, whipping its vines around and throwing tables and chairs alike through the air.

I remember the time one of my mother’s friends accidently dropped me through a glass table trying to throw me over it, didn’t hurt that much. Getting hit by a metal table on the other hoof… fucking sucked!

The table slammed into me, knocking me down and winding me. I coughed, trying to breathe and ended up spitting out some blood.

“I’m detecting multiple internal injuries, cracked ribs and internal bleeding, possible concussion.” Fae alerted me.

“Yup,” I coughed, “hurts a lot.”

The sudden breaking of glass and clattering of metal, pulled me out of my daze. I realized the creature had thrown a table into the food vendor building, trying to hit Chaser.

Solani rushed to my side with tearful eyes, “Oh, thank the goddesses, you’re alive,” she cried, “we need to go, now! We can’t take this thing down on our own.” She pulled out a small syringe and apologized before jamming it into my leg. The pain in my body dulled, but I could feel myself going unconscious.

“Anytime now, I don’t think it’ll care for a target it can’t- WOAH! Hit!” Chaser yelled, dodging a flying chair.

Solani pulled out a small container and popped a few of the tablets into her mouth, then picked me up onto her back.

Was she always this strong?

She began to carry me towards the bridge, “Chaser, we’re on our way out, how you holding up?”

“A little tired, but this thing just doesn’t give up!”

“Alright keep up the-” Solani stopped. I lifted my head to see the moss hound from before standing before us, silently baring its teeth. Solani wasted no time tearing into the creature with her SAER, turning its moss to ash, causing its sludge to flow to the ground, then kept moving towards the bridge.

After she got around the ooze, I spotted something glowing within. Using my magic I floated the gem towards me and held it to my chest. A voice began to whisper to me, then I passed out.

“Chaser we’re clear, lets go!” I told him after I crossed the bridge.

“On it!”

I moved as fast as possible towards the exit. I looked back to Xye, who had fallen unconscious, and pushed on, the Buck helping significantly. After passing the fountain, Chaser finally landed beside us, Aria landing on his back. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He should be, but he’s bleeding internally and has some broken bones, so I can’t use a healing potion. Did you make sure that thing isn’t following us?”

“Yeah, I led it into the pool then flew off really fast, it shouldn’t find us.”

“Good, we need to get back to Doveport, and fast.”

We hurried back to the ticketbooth and through the parking lot, under the archway and made it back to the truck before the Buck narcotics wore off, leaving my body aching and my lungs dying for air. I hadn’t even noticed the dried blood Xye had been drooling onto my neck. I laid him down in the back of the truck, leaning him against the cabin. The soft pulsating glow underneath Xye’s arm caught my eye, and on further inspection I spotted a small green gem, but with Xileel’s life dwindling, I had more pressing things to worry about. I rummaged through my saddlebags and found my doctor’s bag. I pulled out some surgical tools, and another syringe of Med-X. I injected the painkiller into his leg whilst I held a scalpel in my mouth, and waited for it to do it’s work.

Once confident he would not feel it, I carefully drew the blade down the center of his chest. Blood seeped out, but I quickly pushed the hide back and located the broken ribs, setting each one back individually and pouring small amounts of healing potion on them to repair the snaps. Blood pooled through the truck, and I soaked as much of it out from his chest cavity as I could.

Chaser gagged, “Did not need to see that!”

I ignored him, too focused on Xye, moving his hide back into place before I wrapped potion-soaked bandages around his chest.

“Uhh, we got company!” Chaser yelled.

Turning away from Xye, I saw mongrels creeping out of the woods. There were way too many for us to take on by ourselves, and were probably attracted to the scent of Xileel’s blood. Looking back to him, I knew he’d be unconscious for awhile. Carrying him with those hounds around would be impossible. Then, I noticed the small gem had been glowing brighter, and with more frequent pulsations. I didn’t know why it was acting so strangely, and this didn’t seem like the right time to try to find out, so I chose to ignore it again, instead facing the encroaching scavengers.

I readied my SAER, “Don’t let them get to Xye!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Chaser said before taking to the air, 10mm drawn. The first wave of mongrels rushed us. We took out a few before they could reach the truck. I switched to scatter beams and blasted them before they could clamber up. The hounds growls and barks echoed around us, whilst their alpha stood at the back, meticulously watching his pack at work. With the brutes slowly getting closer, I fired into them and tried to keep them at bay as Chaser circled the truck from above.

The sudden shift in the trucks weight caused me to lose balance. Two mongrels jumped onto the cabin’s roof. I screamed in frustration and fought to right myself, seeing them try to pull him from the truck.

A sudden tremor shook everything, causing the mongrels to lose their grip on Xye, while I completely fell from the truck’s bed. A bright green glow pulsed from the gem and continued to do so as a patch of earth rose from itself. Roots tore and dirt crashed to the ground as a behemoth rose from the ground. Three large tree-trunk like appendages extended from the beast and a deep harmonic call broadcasted its awakening.

The beast swung at nearby mongrels and impacted with such a tremendous force, that it instantly killed a few. A cascade of vines extended from the creature as it moved over the truck, wrapping themselves around Xye and lifting him up. I screamed in protest, but I couldn’t hear myself. I ran and jumped onto the vines, frantically trying to free him. The vines continued to lift us, releasing Xye’s body onto the beast’s lush grass top. I dove to him and held him, trying my hardest to protect him. The behemoth continued to swipe at the now scattering mongrels until they began to flee. The alpha let out a long deep howl, then receded into the forest.

Once the danger passed, the behemoth let out another deep call and began to dig itself back into the crater it had emerged from, as though it had never been here at all.

The voice began to fade and I could feel myself waking up, but I still had so many questions I needed answers to.

“Wait, don’t go! Why did you help us?” I asked into the void.

“I simply did as She told me, but I had my own reasons,” It responded.

“Who is She?”

“She is our mother, She is Gaia.”

“Where do I find Gaia?”

“She resides in the world tree, but you are far from ready.”

“How will I know when I’m ready?”

“In due time child, but your friends weep for your return.”

“Thank you.”

The voice became too quiet to be understood, leaving me in the void. I could hear the cries of Solani and Chaser, begging for me to wake up, praying for their goddesses to return me. I felt myself drift towards them.

When I woke up, I jolted, feeling as if my soul had reconnected to my body. I could feel something small and warm rubbing against my face. Sitting up I could see Solani, Chaser and Aria beside me. Covered in blood, Solani wasted no time in pulling me into an embrace, her tears falling on me. I wrapped my hooves around her and held her tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” she sobbed.

“What happened to you, are you okay?” I asked, looking at Solani’s bloodied hooves and muzzle.

“Yeah, it’s not mine,” she said, between her sobs, managing to calm down a bit.

“When those mongrels showed up, I thought we were done for, but then that grass monster came outta nowhere and started smacking ‘em!” Chaser said, mimicking the movements.

“How are you feeling?” Solani asked me putting a hoof onto my chest.

“I feel fine, still a little dizzy though.” Solani let out a sigh of relief. “But… after I passed out, there was this… voice.” Everyone looked at me for a moment in confusion. “I think that monster was me… or I was… inside it? I don’t know,” I tried to explain. “I grabbed this gem,” I stopped and looked for the gem but couldn’t find it anywhere. “I coulda swore…” I mumbled in confusion.

“I saw it when we got here. It started glowing like crazy right before that monster came,” Solani told me, “maybe it took it back?” She said poking the earth beneath us.

“Wait, wait, wait, so you’re telling me you called that thing here?” Chaser asked in disbelief.

“I don’t know the specifics, but that’s how it’s looking at the moment,” I admitted.

“So what all happened while you were unconscious?” Solani asked.

“Well... that voice, I didn’t know who or what they were. I was just floating in a void. I couldn’t see anything. They told me a whole bunch, but I was just really confused for the most part. I do remember that they told me someone named Gaia told them to help us, and that She is at the world tree.”

“World tree, you mean there’s someone living by that giant tree?!” Chaser asked.

“Possibly, but not just her. They said She was their mother. So I’m assuming it’s a community of sorts.”

“Sounds like some sort of freaky cult to me,” he scoffed.

“We have to tell the Leaders back at Doveport, they have to know about this!” Solani told me.

“Of course, we should probably hurry too. Those mongrels could come back at any time.”

During the long walk back home, questions flooded my head. Who was Gaia? Why did She want to help us? What’s really going on at the world tree? What kind of power did that gem contain? How were we going to explain all of this to the Expedition Team and the others?

Making it back to Doveport, we broadcasted for Isu and regrouped with him later, filling him in on what happened.

“And your telling me I MISSED this?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! That sounds so awesome, well… besides the whole ‘almost dying’ part.”

“What’d you do while we were out?” I asked.

“Played One-O with some of my security buddies, took a nap, helped around town and then you guys called me, nothing too exciting.”

On the way to the town hall, Isu told us the best moments during his time playing One-O.

Some time ago…

“Draw four, Isu, and I’ll choose red as the color.” Hyd exclaimed as he slammed down a draw-four wild card.

I groaned and drew four cards. Two of them would help me get revenge, a reverse and a draw-two. I grinned on one side of my face.

“Hmmm… I'll play these,” Sundance mumbled, placing two number cards.

Xaige played a three nines.

Jhekl placed two skip cards.

“Are you shittin me?!” Hyd growled.

Ocean Dusk placed a hoof on his shoulder, “Shhhhh, calm down. You get so heated over the little stuff.”

“Easy fer you ta say. Ya’ve only got three cards left,” Hyd retorted, lifting his seven cards.

Now it was my turn… but then I took another look at the last card and realized it wasn't the same color as any of my other cards. “Damn.” I grabbed a card from the deck. Another eight to add to my ever growing collection. Yayyy. I rolled my eyes for the twentieth time.

A rotation went by and nothing too interesting happened, a few reverses, some double plays. Then it got back to me, where I unleashed my- “Ya got skipped, Isu,” Hyd told me before I placed my cards.

I looked at him, then at the last played card, which… was a skip-card. “OH COME ON!” Everyone laughed and Sundance played his cards, continuing the rotation.

The rotation went around again... and I finally played my reverse card, putting Hyd on my attacking side. Then the rotation went to Hyd, then Ocean Dusk, “One-O,” Xiage yelled as she placed her card. She looked at him, then slowly slid her second card from behind the other, casually floating a bottle of Sparkle-Cola to her lips and taking a pull. Xaige’s jaw dropped, “but, but…” he stuttered.

“Ha, that’s rich,” Jhekl said lazily, taking another long pull from his beer.

Defeated, Xaige drew several cards from the deck.

“Oof, that’s just cruel,” Sundance added.

Dusk simply snickered and slid her second card back behind the other.

The rotation continued, switched, went to Dusk, who thankfully drew another card, then skipped me. Sundance played another reverse so I finally got the chance to play my draw twos… all three of them! With one swift motion, I slapped them onto the discard pile. Slowly looking to Hyd with a smirk on my face.

“You’re a real cunt, ya know that?” He said, begrudgingly grabbing his six cards.

The rest of the game revolved around keeping Ocean Dusk’s card count higher than one, in which failed after three more rotations. But hey, we all had fun, and that was what counted.

The Present...

“And that’s about all the cool things that happened to me,” I finished, looking along the road to see the town hall on the next block. “Perfect timing too!”

“Mmhmm,” I hummed in agreement.

“So how exactly are we going to explain what happened?” Chaser asked.

“I’m explaining it to them as we speak. They’re mostly just trying to figure out what to do with the information,” Fae told us.

Pushing through the town hall’s front door, we were met by a large seating room. A yellow unicorn mare trotted up to us, “Welcome to the town hall,” she stopped short, looking at Aria perched on Xye’s horn, before asking, “umm, is the bird with you?”

“Yes.” He affirmed. Aria also let out a happy chirp.

“Well… alrighty then. I’m assuming you’re the group that was exploring Skipping Stones?” We all nodded except for Isu but she didn’t seem to notice, “perfect, please follow me.”

We followed the mare up a set of stairs and along a hallway. She stopped, then slightly opened a door for us, “right through here.”

After walking in, we were met by a long conference style table set up to fit a lengthy room. The walls and floor were still slightly dirty, but had definitely been cleaned. Sitting at the other end of the room were several of the Expedition Team leaders. Skyscreamer, Counter Pulse and Done Ham were three that I recognized.

“Please take a seat,” Counter Pulse told us. After finding a seat he began. “It’s come to our attention you’ve not only discovered this... timber-beast spider a few days ago, but also some new variety of the carnivorous plants that our recent excursions have also uncovered,” he explained, “These discoveries are very helpful and I want you to know they will not go unrewarded.” We grew hopeful at that, “but back to that later. Oh, and before I forget, we heard what happened, I hope you’re alright, Xileel.”

“I am,” He responded, then looked to me and smiled, which made my heart flutter.

“I, personally, would also like to congratulate you Solani, for possibly saving his life. As a field surgeon myself, I’m quite impressed,” He praised, “but now onto the more pressing matter.”

One of the other leaders took off their Pipbuck and placed it at the center of the table. The screen lit up and projected a map with a dotted line, starting from Doveport and projecting a perimeter around an area out to some other part of Carsas.

“This area is where we suspect that spider took Gnash, but since we don't have access to the radio tower here,” a circle highlighted a point at the center of Carsas, “we can't get an exact location,” Skyscreamer detailed out for us. “We’re planning to recover his Pipbuck if no body can be found. It holds information that would be invaluable to our primary objective.”

“Wherever that creature came from, there has to be a hive, possibly even a queen, and it needs to be eradicated,” one of the other leaders told us.

“Since you’ve seen things a majority of the population hasn’t, we have granted you access to some of the Expedition Team's classified dossiers,” our Pipbucks beeped, “but they're classified for a reason, so don't go showing them around,” Done Ham warned.

One of the other leaders whispered something into Counter Pulse’s ear. He ‘ah’d’ and held up a hoof.

“There are few others who also have these details, adventuring types like yourselves, their contact information has been added as well, and vice versa,” another Pipbuck beep. “On another note, my colleague has informed me that an auxiliary detachment is preparing to head to Skipping Stone's. If you would like to assist them in dispatching that vine beast, we can send word.”

We looked to each other, the only one of us looking interested being Isu. “Come on guys,” he urged, “I wanna see this thing, you want revenge and we we can get more of those crystal things you were talking about.”

Xileel’s ears perked up, “I'm in.” he said quickly.

“But you haven't fully recovered!” I warned him.

“Excuse me, Counter Pulse, sir?”

“No need to be formal, but go ahead,” he responded.

“Would you mind giving me a quick once over to see if my internals are all in order?”

“I don't see why not. Step closer and hold still,” Counter Pulse stood from his seat and met with Xye at the center of the room. His horn began to glow as he looked around on Xye’s body. Pulse looked closer at Xye’s chest for a moment, “Interesting… well Xileel, everything checks out, Solani did a fine job. I would however like to ask you to check in with the clinic tomorrow. Nothing to worry about, just some formalities.”

Xye turned back to us, “see, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about.”

I really couldn't argue against that. “Alright, just don't strain yourself okay?”

“Can do. Chaser you coming?”

Chaser shrugged, “eh, what the hay.”

“Solani?”

“Yeah, I guess. Not like I'm busy or anything.”

“That's all of us.” Xye told Counter Pulse.

“Alright, I'll send word. They'll be waiting at the armory. Your Fae should lead the way. Meet with Auxiliary Leader Sanded Stones, she'll provide more information. Dismissed.”

After leaving the town hall we made our way to the armory. Making a left out on the main street, we continued down the sidewalk. I walked silently, thinking solely on getting another of those gems. If I could get a hold of another, maybe I’d be able to speak to that voice again, maybe even get all of my questions answered. My focused gaze must have made Solani uneasy as she nudged me.

“You alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah… just… thinking.” I responded.

“You’re going to try to speak to that voice again, aren’t you?”

I guess it was pretty obvious, “yeah, I just need to know more about it. I had so many questions then and even more now. They’re eating at me, and I have to get answers.”

“You shouldn’t think so hard, you’re going to end up melting your brain one day,” she joked, “so you’re really interested in this Gaia, huh?”

“If She can give me answers, then yes.”

“So you’re interested in another girl.”

“Yea… wait,” I deadpanned at her, “really?”

“What? I didn’t say anything,” she said innocently, “it’s just that your cheating on me is all.”

“You know that’s not the kind of interest I have with Gaia.”

“Mmhmm suure...”

“It’s more of a curiosity, like a distant light with an unknown source,” I explained.

“Then what am I?”

“You’re like… a campfire that keeps me warm whenever I’m near,” I said, nuzzling her cheek.

She blushed and began to lean on me as we walked, “Is that so?”

“Mmhm.”

We turned a corner and could see the armory down the street. Two transport trucks were parked outside, a few security standing guard.

Once we got close, one of them stopped us, “You the Skipping Stone’s group?” We nodded. “Head inside, Sanded Stones is expecting you.”

Entering the armory, we saw a tan mare in security armor at the center of the room. Griffins, zebras and ponies were scattered around the room, gathering spark batteries, putting on armor or checking weapons.

The mare in the middle noticed us, “you must be the Skipping Stone’s group. Welcome to the armory,” she said in a gruff voice, “what are your names and groups?”

“Xileel, Group D.”

“Solani, Group C.”

“Isu, Group A.”

“Chaser, Auxiliary,” That caught her attention.

“Auxiliary huh, how’d you manage that?” She asked, getting low and staring into Chaser's eyes.

“I ran an obstacle course with Sergeant Candy Floss. I made time and she moved me to Auxiliary.”

“Ohh, so that was you! You're a quick little shit aren't ‘cha,” She said while ruffing up his mane. Chaser didn't looked too pleased as he fixed his mane. “If you don't have armor already, just grab some. Try not to fuck it up too bad while we're out. We leave in ten.”

We took that time and equipped ourselves with some more batteries and armor. I made sure to get some sturdy body armor before I was ready to go. Chaser and Isu pulled on cannon guards for their legs while Solani grabbed some lighter barding. With everyone ready, we loaded up onto the trucks, and prepared for departure.

The last of the auxiliary team took their seat on the trucks and a broadcast ping was sent out.

We joined and waited, then a voice chimed through the static, “Alright, so here's what's gonna happen…”

Footnote: Level Up!

No Group Perk Added.

Xileel Perk added! Touched: You are not sure what happened, but you feel different. (Stage 1 of 6)

No Chaser Perk added.

No Isu Perk Added.

Solani Perk Added! Hooves on Learner: You learn by doing, you earn 50% more experience from actions but 50% less from skill books.

Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. To be honest I didn't use my time as wisely as I could have, but no longer! I'd like to thank all the people who help with, or promote Newshire! You all mean so much to me.