“And that’s the whole story, is it? You haven’t left anything out?”

“Nope, that’s the whole kit and caboodle,” Lyra nodded. She stared into her empty cup and sighed. How long had she been sat here now? Gods, her backside was killing her! She shifted round to a more comfortable position, noting how the dim light through the porthole was decidedly darker than it had been at the beginning of her tale. The unfamiliar light above them worked well enough though, and she was grateful enough for that. “I’m a musician not a story teller, Six. If you have any more questions I’d be happy to answer them if I can.”

Six glanced back at the doorway again, her shoulders slumped, “I see.”

“Huh?” Was there somepony back there? She couldn’t hear anything, but the last thing she wanted to do was antagonise the strange mare. If she lived out here amongst these wrecks all alone it wouldn’t surprise her if she had imaginary friends or, more worryingly, was hearing voices. If so then she may just have to make a run for it when she got the first opportunity. But where would she go? She had no idea where she was, let alone which way was home. No. Whether she liked it or not, right now Six was the only chance she had of getting out of this mad house alive.

Unaware of Lyra’s concerns, Six looked at the floor, staring at her hooves. “I always thought it was a legend,” she said distantly, “a fanciful story that ponies could only dream of being real. But to hear about it… I can’t believe it.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Lyra announced.

Six slowly looked up at her, frowning, “What do you mean?”

Lyra waved her hooves indicating the room, “All of this!” she said expansively. “Hardly anything I’ve seen or heard since I arrived here has made any sense at all! I’m not an adventurer, Six, I’m just a poorly paid archaeologist and a musician - a musician without a bloody band I might add!” Her heart rate was increasing, her breathing coming in short pants as her emotions began to well up. “Now I’ve got monsters trying to eat me, ponies wanting to kill me and telling me I’m some sort of spawn of the devil or some such nonsense, and now we’re in some sort of ship which is clearly NOT equestrian. You don’t need to be a historian to see that much!” Tears finally broke through, rolling down her dusty cheeks. “Celestia help me, I don’t know what’s going on! I… I don’t belong here. I want to go home! I just… I just want to go home...”

Six sat on her stool in silence. She saw the tears. She heard the emotion in Lyra’s voice, and the genuinely heartfelt sentiments that this creature, this curious being from another world, was expressing. She stared at her hoof, at the weapon attached to it, then back to the sobbing ball of green fur. Her mind was made up. She removed the device and placed it back on the workbench. A voice behind her questioned her actions. “It’s alright,” she said quietly. “She’s not a danger.” Six nodded, “I know, but I think we can trust her.” Six took a deep breath and opened her treasure drawer, taking out one of the precious packages from inside. There weren’t many left now, but considering the circumstances it was a worthwhile price to pay. Hell, that story alone had been worth it. Equestria… It was real? If it was, if it truly was, then perhaps… perhaps the other stories were similarly true. Maybe the portal worked both ways? Maybe all they needed was here, right here in her cabin! A unicorn… A magical unicorn to activate the magic and send them home – their real home.

“Here.”

“Snnf… Huh?” Lyra wiped away a tear and sniffed loudly. “What is it?”

“Chocolate,” Six explained. “It always cheers me up when I’m upset. Make sure you take the wrapper off first.” She watched in fascination as Lyra’s magic glowed, forming into… hands? Six’s eyes went wide and she turned in amazement to face the door. She could almost hear the amazed intake of breath as the shadows moved. Six quickly turned back to face Lyra, noting how she examined the wrapper, and carefully, tentatively, took a bite.

“Oh… Oh, Luna that’s good….” Lyra’s eyes closed in confectionery based ecstasy. “So, so good!”

“Isn’t it though?” Six couldn’t help but chuckle. Had she been so enraptured the first time she’d had a taste? “Make it last, Lyra, there’s not many left.”

Lyra nodded, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the letters on the wrapper. “What language is this?”

Six shrugged, “One of the languages the zeks use.” She waved a hoof dismissively, “These vessels belong to them. Belonged rather. Mostly they’re just abandoned and left to the mercy of the sea.”

“These wrecks?” Lyra asked. “But there’s so many of them! And some of them must have been here for-”

“Hundreds of years?” Six finished for her. “At least.”

“And this is your home?” Lyra asked. “You actually live here?” She tried to keep the incredulity from her voice.

“I do,” Six confirmed with a nod. “But it’s also my job. I could have had a hut in the village, but I kinda like it here - scouring the wrecks for salvage. I take the best bits to the citadel of course, but there’s no rule against keeping a few odds and ends for myself.”

“Like the chocolate?” Lyra asked.

Six shrugged, “Like the chocolate.”

“And this ‘citadel’, where they took Parchment, that’s where these ‘zeks’ live, is it?”

Six nodded.

“I’ve never heard of them,” Lyra said honestly. “If I didn’t know better I’d say these were made by humans.” She took another bite of her chocolate, holding up the wrapper. “Crazy, huh!”

The yellow mare froze like a statue, her hoof halfway to the steaming teapot. “What… What did you say?”

“I said these ships look like they were made by humans.” Lyra shrugged, “I know ponies think it’s all make believe, but I still like to think there’s some truth in it. I mean, just look at this stuff. You’ve got switches and controls for things that were clearly never meant for equine use. It’s certainly not magically powered, and steam powered ships are a fairly newish innovation back home. These ships have been here for decades at least. Then there’s the writing. I’ve seen fragments of it before, but way, way older than this stuff.”

“Lyra...”

“Take these doors for example, they’re-”

“LYRA!”

Lyra stopped mid-sentence and looked up in alarm, “What?”

Six was staring right at her, “Don’t say that word.”

“Eh? What word? You mean ‘Human’?” Lyra had heard ponies laugh at her before when she’d said it, but Six… Six looked… scared?

The yellow mare’s eyes bored into hers, “That word is forbidden. To say it aloud, even to so much as whisper it, will bring disaster down upon our heads. Considering our current position that’s the last thing we need. Look, just… just whatever you do, don’t ever, ever, use it again.” She took a breath and closed her eyes, “Please, Lyra.”

“Um… Okay?” Lyra didn’t understand why, but the passionate plea in Six’s voice was enough to convince her. “Sure, I won’t say it,” she said assuredly. “But still, you do know it’s just a word, right? It’s not magic or anything. Believe me, I’d know!”

“Maybe to you it’s not magic,” Six said coldly. “To us, to our people here, it means death.”

Lyra’s eyes went wide, all humour vanishing from her like morning dew, “Death?!”

“Execution,” Six confirmed.

“Goddesses in their bloody heaven!” Lyra exclaimed. “You people murder ponies for mentioning the name of mythical creatures? That’s a pretty big margin for error there, girl!”

Six sighed, “You’re not from here, you wouldn’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand?” Lyra snorted. “You murder ponies for saying words somepony doesn’t like? How the hell can that be justified in anyponies book? Even the yaks don’t do shit like that and they’re as mad as a whole crate of frogs!”

Six stared down at her hoof, a habit Lyra had noticed when she was deep in thought about something, “You don’t have the death penalty in Equestria?”

“NO!” Lyra shook her head vigorously. “There’s not exactly much in the way of crime there at all, except maybe in the cities of course, but we have laws, courts, the watch, and all sorts of things like ‘due process’ and-”

“And the, what did you call them? The ‘C.B.I’?” Six interrupted.

“Well, um… sure,” Lyra felt a little off balance. “But they’re an exception. They only started showing up a few years ago, and only when really weird stuff was going on.”

“Like the portal you used to come through here.”

Lyra sniffed, “Huh! Don’t remind me!”

“They were willing to kill you to destroy it though, yes?” Six asked.

“Well, I… I suppose they thought I’d get out of the way.”

“And didn’t they threaten to shoot you?”

“I...” Lyra hung her head, “Yes… Yes, they did.”

Six smiled sadly, “I expected as much. Even the mythical land of Equestria, the lost land of peace, love and song, has a darker side to it.” She looked like a foal who’d just dropped their ice cream.

“It’s hardly the norm there,” Lyra retorted trying to sound reasonable in the defence of her homeland. “I’ve lived there my whole life and never seen anything like that. Oh, I’d heard of them of course, the C.B.I that is, everypony has really, but in all fairness I did kinda put myself in the firing line – metaphorically as well as physically.”

“Because you wanted to save your friend, right?” Six offered.

“Of course, but…” Lyra groaned, leaning her head back. “Look, Equestria’s not perfect, and there’s dickheads there aplenty as I’m sure there is here, but at least we can walk around without being threatened with murder for uttering some stupid word or torn apart by monsters.” Her mane bristled, “And we sure as hell don’t steal babies from their mothers to send them off to only Celestia knows where.”

“Celestia knows where...” Six murmured. She barked out a laugh but there wasn’t a single note of humour in it. “There’s no ‘Celestia’ to protect us here, Lyra,” she said quietly. “There’s no magical Princess Luna to watch over our dreams. There’s no Ponyville, no songs, no music…” She lifted her head and gave her a frightening look. “Whether we like it or not we serve the zeks, and here the zeks are our masters.” Her eyes caught the light making Lyra shiver, “You’re not in Equestria any more.”

The green mare swallowed. “What do they have over you,” she whispered. “Why would your ponies allow this to happen?”

“Why?” Six shrugged resignedly, “Because we let it. Because we were born into this world and it’s the only one we know. But mostly, it’s because of this.” She pulled open a drawer and lifted up a small phial of white liquid. She turned it slowly, allowing the light to reflect like stars twinkling in the night sky. “It’s medicine,” Six explained. “Without it you get the shakes. After that the fever sets in and you sweat yourself dry no matter how much you drink. Leave it and it tears your lungs apart from the inside out. There’s no cure, but the medicine will keep you fit and healthy for a month or so.” “Before you need more,” she added quietly.

Lyra’s eyes followed the movement of the phial, “And the zeks give you the medicine in return for your subservience?”

“If you want to look at that way, perhaps,” Six replied. “I find things in the wrecks and they pay me in medicine. The village work the fields, the food goes to the citadel, and they pay them for it in the same manner.”

“So it’s kinda like a business transaction?” Lyra suggested.

Six nodded, “It is.”

“So where does all this ‘tainted’ business come from then? Why the fear of magic and-”

“SHHH!” Six held up a hoof, shushing her.

Lyra’s ears pricked up, “What? What is it?”

“Shut up! There’s somepony there,” Six said quickly, jumping to her hooves. “She shoved some of the things from her desk into the drawer, then reached up and pulled something from a shelf. “Seekers, it has to be.”

“Oh, shit!” Those pegasi are- Hey!” Lyra flinched as Six rammed a large woollen hat over her head.

“Just belt up and keep that on,” Six said hurriedly. She paused, looking over her shoulder, “And no magic!”

“But-”

“No buts!” She cursed quietly under her breath, “I should have done this sooner!” Six put her hoof on the door as the sound of voices began to be heard outside. “Your name’s Lyra. Just Lyra, okay? You’re a-”

“A musician?” Lyra suggested.

Six looked horrified, “NO! A fishers daughter, come here from the archipelago to learn about finding.”

“Is that what you are?” Lyra asked, “A ‘Finder’?” She’d overheard the pony on the beach call her that.

“Yes,” Six confirmed with a nod. “Now just play along, and don’t say anything stupid!”

“That might not be so easy,” Lyra mumbled.

Suddenly Six rounded on her, shoving her up against the wall. “You listen to me, mare, and you listen good.” Her expression brooked no nonsense, “I’ve risked my life bringing you here. If you drop me in the shit because you say something dumb, I’ll claim ignorance and give you to them without hesitation. Am I making myself clear?”

“Crystal!” Lyra squeaked.

There was loud banging on the steel door, “Six? Open up, I know you’re in there.”

Six walked up, unhurriedly, and leaned her head against the rusting metal, “Who’s there?”

“Seventeen, of the Seekers. In the name of the Maester, I command you to open this door!”

Six groaned, “Sure, sure, there’s no need to so officious about it all, Seventeen.” She began to unchain the locks and haul on the enormous handle, “What’s happened now?”

“As if you didn’t know!” A stallion with a dark blue coat pushed past Six, all but barging her out of the way. His eyes narrowed, taking in everything in the gloomy steel room. “You alone here?”

“I always work alone,” Six said unhurriedly. She flicked her mane out of her eyes, watching the other two pegasi as they marched in after their leader. “Come on, come all.”

“Less of that, mare,” Seventeen snorted. “Your living here amongst our masters’ treasures is a privilege, and-”

“-not a right,” Six finished for him.

He glared at her for a moment before nodding, “And you would do well to remember it.” He pointed towards the light. “By rights that belongs to the masters. What are you doing using it?”

“Because I can’t see in the dark?” Six said with a hint of sarcasm. At the hard look she received she shook her head, “Look, we have dispensation to use what we come across to help us find for-”

Seventeen waved her away, “Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all before! You Finders are a law unto yourselves. I don’t know why the masters tolerate you so.”

“Because it is their prerogative to do so,” Six replied flatly. “I do not question the laws of the Maester – blessed be her benevolence.”

“Blessed be her benevolence,” the pegasi intoned. Seventeen sneered, moving towards the stool. Suddenly he froze, spinning round to face the green mare in the corner of the room. “YOU!” His fellows as one, tensed as he glowered at Lyra. “You said you were alone!”

“I said I work alone,” Six said simply. “I didn’t say I was alone.”

Seventeen clucked his tongue, “Don’t test me, Six. I’ve had enough of your bad attitude over the years.”

“I always thought I had a very amenable attitude,” Six smiled innocently. “Your brother thought so.”

“My brother was a fool,” Seventeen snorted. “Still, I promised him I would keep an eye on you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“And for that I’m eternally grateful.” Six bowed her head.

“Hmph!”

“Anyway, is there something I can do for you, or is this a social call?” Six asked.

Seventeen turned his attention back to Lyra, “Who is she?”

“Her name’s Lyra,” Six said absently. “Her parents sent her here from the islands to learn finding from the expert.”

“Ha! ‘Expert’ indeed!” Seventeen snorted loudly. He looked Lyra up and down, “I thought I knew all the islanders, but I don’t recognise your face.” The stallion frowned in thought, “Who are your parents?”

“I… I don’t know, sir,” Lyra said shyly. “I’m an orphan.”

“Huh! Are you now...”

“Seventeen, what’s going on?” Six asked. “I was expecting Eighteen, but he never turned up.”

“And he won’t be,” Seventeen said weightily. “Ever.”

“What? What do you mean?” Six’s eyes went wide, “Has something happened to him?”

“You could say that,” the pegasus replied. He stared at Lyra, his eyes never leaving her. “We found his body in the forest. Chocks had got him by that damned stone archway. The blasted thing’s a magnet for the weak minded, and I’m convinced the Chocks know that too.”

“Oh Lode, the poor kid...” Six looked genuinely saddened by the news. “I’ve told him before to avoid that place.”

“You did right to do so too.” Seventeen grimaced, pausing to adjust a strap on his chest, “Unfortunately he didn’t listen.” He took a breath, “Look, Six, I don’t want to alarm you, but there’s been another incident… on the beach.”

“Another one?!” Six neighed loudly. “You’re frightening me, Seventeen, and believe me that’s not easy!”

“You always were a tough one,” Seventeen said. A note of compassion entered his steel hard voice. “Two of our lads were looking for tainted and found one, fully grown too, right on the edge of the beach.”

“Dear Load!” Six gasped.

Lyra tried to look genuinely frightened and pushed back into the detritus that had been piled up in the corner.

“Mmm...” Seventeen looked away from her. “Anyway, they went to apprehend it and it used its foul sorcery to summon one of the Chocks. Forty Eight barely escaped with his life, but Twenty...” He closed his eyes, “Twenty was…”

Six lay a hoof on his shoulder, “I’m sorry Seventeen, I know Twenty was your friend. We spent a lot of time together as foals.” She closed her eyes, her voice dropping to a near whisper, “He was one of the good ones.”

“He was a true follower,” Seventeen said at last.

“And this tainted one,” Six asked. “You did get it, right?” Seventeen hung his head, the unanswered question hanging in the air between them. “Wait, you mean it’s still out there?!” Six looked terrified, “You know where it is though? I mean, it wouldn’t come here would it? I can defend myself, but Lyra here’s all alone in the world. She didn’t know anything about the danger of chocks growing in the islands, let alone tainted.”

Lyra shook her head, playing the part of the scared peasant girl.

“In which case you may want to return to your village and help to bring in the catch,” Seventeen said, raising himself up. “I don’t agree with ponies crossing the sea for anything other than deliveries to the citadel. Your people have… strange ideas.”

Six waved her hoof in the air. “Old superstitions and mares tales,” she scoffed. “If you spend your life on the water and fetlock deep in fish guts it’s no wonder your mind becomes addled with that rubbish.”

“And rubbish is exactly what it is!” Seventeen nodded approvingly. He stared a Lyra, “You would be well advised to listen to Six, girl. Get a number like proper ponies and learn well from her. If not, then get back in your boat and go home before you end up like Twenty – Eaten alive.”

Lyra let out a cry and covered her eyes.

“Seventeen! For Lode’s sake, you’ll give her nightmares!” Six hurried to Lyra’s side, taking her muzzle in her forelegs.

“She has a right to frightened, Six, “Seventeen said. “We recently caught one fully grown tainted, and now there’s another on the loose. Where they’re coming from I have no idea, but I’ll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.”

“Didn’t Forty Eight give you any ideas?” Six asked.

“No.” The stallion shook his head, “The poor lad’s in shock, and the healer doesn’t think he’ll ever be right again. All he keeps babbling about is ‘fingers’, ‘violated’, and ‘evil laughter’.” He shivered visibly, “I don’t what the tainted did to him, but if a lone one can do that to two of our Seekers, then we’re going to have to double our patrols to track it down before we lose any more good ponies.”

“Well, thanks be to Lode that you’re here with your brave boys,” Six smiled, giving the other pegasi stallions a gentle smile. One of them blushed a nice shade of red too. “Will you be stopping for a cup of tea? It’d be nice to catch up on things.”

The pegasus commander shook his, “Next time, Six. I’ve got to organise the patrols for tonight in case that thing comes back.” He lay a hoof on Six’s shoulder, “If you see it, don’t hesitate.”

“I don’t-” Six froze.

Seventeen tapped the desk drawer as he watched her reaction. It was the very drawer that held the contraption Six had used to put a hole in the wall. “I don’t act without reason, Six, nor would I warn you if I didn’t have good cause.” He glanced at Lyra, “Both of you are out here in the wrecks far from the village and the citadel. By the time we heard of any trouble it would probably be too late.”

“I have flares,” Six offered, pointing to a rusty metal box on the wall. “Red for danger, right?”

“Red for dead.” Seventeen turned to walked away, waving his team out the door. “I can fly fast, Six, but I can’t turn back time. Dead is dead, and there’s a reason why the masters protect us from the tainted. Like I said, don’t hesitate.” Six nodded solemnly. I’ll close the door behind me. Don’t forget to lock it.”

Again, Six nodded, “Take care, Seventeen. Lode protect you all.”

“Aye,” Seventeen said quietly. “And you.” He nodded to Lyra, “Both of you.”

Lyra watched with a mixture of fascination and relief as the steel door slid shut behind the commander of the pegasus ‘Seekers’. Immediately Six set to chaining and bolting the massive metal covering, securing them from whatever horrors lurked outside. ‘Tainted’ indeed! Lyra let out a sigh. What a strange creature that fellow was! Not that he was all that different to any other pegasus she’d ever met of course. They were all weird so far as she was concerned. It was funny old world when you thought about it; earth ponies thought unicorns were haughty, and unicorns thoughts pegasi were. Magic was her element, and to even think of having to live without it was terrifying. But to give it up for wings and be able to fly? It was hard to imagine, yet on the other hoof it must be incredible to be able to soar high above the clouds without a care in the world. They also had fantastic eyesight and hearing, no doubt the reason why they were employed here by the ‘Zeks’ as ‘Seekers’. The reality of a what a ‘seeker’ was though, that is to track down unicorns and hoof them over to their masters – or kill them if they resisted – put a whole different complexion on things. Why did they fear unicorns so much? Was it their magic? Lyra frowned in thought, pulling the blanket up around herself. Perhaps it had something to do with this mysterious illness that the ponies here suffered from. If the malady was magical in origin then there was a possibility that a unicorn could devise a cure. Do that, and suddenly the zeks lose their grip on the equine population. Still, it was a hell of a leap of logic. Many doctors and physicians back in Equestria were earth ponies, even pegasi for that matter, and there were plenty of diseases ponies could fall foul of without it necessarily being magically based. From what she’d seen so far of this place, and granted that wasn’t very much at all, these guys were hardly advanced in terms of their civilisation away from Equestria. On the other hoof, looking around at the interior of this ship, there must be technology that could help them, surely? Lyra adjusted her hat and wrinkled her nose at the weird aroma emanating from it. It was certainly old and smelled decidedly musty too, but it looked right for a nautical type. Seventeen had obviously thought so and had accepted her story without pressing her with more questions – questions she doubtless wouldn’t have been able to answer. Ha! All he’d had to do was take her hat off and the jig would have been up. It was not a comforting thought.

“That was a close call,” Lyra breathed, watching Six pushed the last bolt into place. “I thought I was for the chop there.” She chuckled, “Just as well he likes you, eh?”

Six didn’t make eye contact with her, “He feels obligated to me, that’s all.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Lyra replied. “I saw the way he looked at you.”

Six shook her head, “You can believe what you want. Seventeen may be Thirty One’s brother, but he wouldn’t think twice about taking us both to the tower if he thought for a moment we’d betrayed the zeks.” She hurried to the desk and started pulling out various items of equipment.

“Who’s Thirty One?” Lyra asked.

“My betrothed,” Six replied simply.

“Oh!” Lyra got up and began to fold the blanket, “So where’ve you got this mystery fella stashed away then, eh?”

The yellow mare pulled out the metal hole making contraption she’d hidden earlier and attached it to her foreleg. “Nowhere,” she replied. “He’s dead.”

Lyra felt her heart go cold. “I… Oh, goddesses,” she face hoofed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Way to put your hoof in it, dimwit! she thought to her self bitterly.

Six shrugged it off as if it were of little consequence. “You didn’t know him and I didn’t tell you, so don’t be.” She looked up at Lyra, “Life means buck all here, unicorn, and if you want to survive you’d better come to learn that pretty damned quick. She nodded to a cabinet on the wall, “You can use your magic to manipulate objects, right?”

Lyra blinked in surprise at the sudden change of conversational direction, “Um, sure, I guess. Why?”

“Because we’re getting you the hell out of here.”

“What?!” Lyra shot to her hooves, “Why? You heard Seventeen, he said-”

“He said that the pegasus you did ‘something’ to has lost his mind, yes.” Six fished around on a shelf where she found the key she was looking for. “Did you use magic on him to scramble his brain or something?”

“Eh? Of course not!” Lyra rolled her eyes, “All I did was poke his bum a bit and frighten him.”

Six paused, “Poke his bum a bit…” She shook her head and reached up to unlock the metal cabinet. “All the more reason for us to act now.”

Lyra frowned, “But why?”

Six clucked her tongue irritably, “Think, girl! If he comes back to his senses all he’ll need to do is describe a green mare with a white stripe in her hair and Seventeen will be all over us like stink on a bilge rat.” She nodded over to some panniers stacked in the corner, “Grab those and put them on. I always keep them supplied in case I need to get out of here in a hurry.”

“Happen a lot that, does it?” Lyra’s mind was in a blur and she wasn’t really thinking about what she was saying.

In reply, Six shot her a hard stare, “No. Not until you appeared… Lyra Heartstrings.”

The way the yellow mare said her name made Lyra’s hair stand up along her spine. Six may have saved her on the beach, in a roundabout way of course, but that didn’t mean she was her friend by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that she’d covered for her when Seventeen arrived could very well have been no more than an act to save her own hide as well as Lyra’s. No, friends don’t shoot holes in walls next to your head either.

“Ever used one of these before?”

As the last strap on the packs was pulled into place, Lyra looked up to see Six holding a black metal tube-like object. She stared at the thing and shook her head, “No. What is it?”

Raising herself on her hind legs, Six lifted the thing in her forehooves. “Shotgun.” At Lyra’s puzzled expression she continued, “Makes holes in things. Lots of holes.” She tapped a wooden slide-like part on the front of the device. “You rack this back and it cycles the next shell. Takes these...” She lifted up a belt fitted with short, red cylindrical things. “Takes seven of these. You put them in here, rack it, and you’re good to-” She paused, watching Lyra’s eyes. “Never mind, I’ll be taking this.”

The green mare’s mouth had gone dry again. She hung her head and licked her lips, “Six, what’s going on here? I mean, I understand that Seventeen could come back, but why are you doing this for me? Why put yourself in danger for a complete stranger, and a ‘tainted’ unicorn at that.”

Lyra thought for a second that she saw Six cringe. But only for a second. “Just… Come on,” the yellow mare huffed. And just like that they were on the move.

The world outside, full of bright sunshine and blue sky, soon seemed like little more than a hazy memory. The evening was coming on quickly, and what light there was through the portholes had been replaced by… “What are these?” As they descended another set of metal stairs, Lyra had been able to have a close-up look at one of the lights marking their path. It wasn’t magical that was for sure, and it certainly wasn’t fuelled by kerosene.

“Light bulbs,” Six said over her shoulder. “They’re powered by electricity from the hydro-electric generator in the inlet.

Lyra shook her head, “I’ve never heard of… what did you call it?”

“Electricity,” Six repeated. “Think of lightning, only more… ‘controlled’.”

“The zeks can control lightning?!” Lyra was shocked, and not a little frightened too. It would certainly explain the awe the ponies here held for the so-called ‘zeks’.

“Of a kind,” Six explained. They turned another corner and passed another rusting sign. The zeks sure were keen on their signs apparently - the things were everywhere. This particular one was a map of the interior of the ship, and accompanied by more of that alien writing. Lyra mouthed the words, trying to sound them out. She’d seen a language like it, but it didn’t quite add up. “You know how your fur can stand on end if you comb it too much when it’s dry?” Six continued. Lyra nodded. “That ‘snap’ is electricity. We just call it ‘static’, but the zeks call it ‘static electricity’. It’s not much use like that of course, but the generator I use creates it’s own electricity from the motion of the waves which I then store in batteries. It’s old though, bound together with string and best wishes for the most part, but it gives me enough power for the lights, cooking, and even hot water.”

“I could sure do with some of that!” Lyra replied longingly. She’d been trying in vain to ignore the faint smell of bile emanating from her coat which had been hanging about like the proverbial ever since the incident in the portal. What she wouldn’t do for a hot bath right now! She looked up at the ceiling disappearing off into the darkness and whistled, noting how that singular note echoed all around her. “Look at this place, it’s absolutely vast!” she breathed. “You could home hundreds in here, and with light and power you’d be safe from those bloody chock things too.”

Six snorted, “And spend the rest of your life rotting away without ever feeling the sun against your coat?” She let out a loud snort, “Pah! We’re ponies, not moles. Only a lunatic would willingly live their whole life in service to the zeks or hide in the darkness praying for deliverance. You call that a choice, do you?”

Lyra frowned, “I didn’t mean it like that, Six. It was-”

The yellow mare held up a hoof, “I know what you meant.”

From that moment the two continued their descent into the bowels of the leviathan without speaking, with only the dim light from the curiously alien ‘bulbs’ illuminating their way.

Time passed slowly in the ship. In truth it was hard to tell exactly what time it was considering the lack of portholes or the fact that Lyra hadn’t brought a timepiece with her. Unfortunately most of her things had been left at the dig site. There wasn’t anything there she couldn’t have lived without of course. One of the things you learned early on was that you didn’t take things on a job if you were paranoid about theft, damage or loss. Archaeologists were a strange bunch by and large, and it had to be said that they did attract some odd balls on occasion. The camps were also wide open to anypony who fancied having a sniff around, with the inevitable consequence that sometimes things went ‘missing’. On the bigger jobs they had security, which on reflection they sure could have done with on this latest one. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and if she could have turned the clock back she would have made herself scarce the moment Timber had written to her with the job offer. Perhaps if she had then poor Parchment wouldn’t have- She closed her eyes and gave herself a hard shake.

“Six?”

The yellow mare didn’t look back at her as she answered, “Yeah?”

“What do they do with the unicorns they take?”

Six seemed to think about this for while, the two passing several more light bulbs before she deigned to answer, “I don’t know.”

“Oh...” Lyra’s heart sank. “Do you mean you don’t know personally, or that none of your people talk about it?”

The yellow mare gritted her teeth and her ears visible flattened. Lyra felt she’d taken a step too far, but if she didn’t find out what had happened to Parchment, then… She closed her eyes and shuddered. She didn’t want to think about it now, and was beginning to regret asking Six anything at all.

“Does it matter?” Six asked. “They do what they want with us, and we let them. They give us the medicine and we provide the food and the labour. All very equitable, yes?” Six tossed her mane, picking up her pace as they travelled ever deeper. “They take our children, Lyra, did I tell you that? They… the zeks, they...” She paused, “No, that’s not right. The zeks don’t take our children, they let us give them to them the same way we give them sacks of fish, wheat and vegetables. Oh, we’re all very well trained! It’s done without barely a word either. Even the parents take heart that these terrible, ‘tainted beings’ are being given to their blessed, revered gods.” She sobbed back a tear, “And only the gods know what happens to them.”

Lyra felt her heart falter. She was right, she really had hit a raw nerve. “You lost somepony, didn’t you,” she said quietly.

“Lost?” Six turned suddenly, glaring up at Lyra. “Lost?” She held up a hoof, indicating the darkness all around them. “This is ‘lost’, Lyra. This stuff, this rusting, rotten, oily shit the zeks desire so much, is what’s lost. That’s why ponies like me, the Finders, go to the wrecks, the cliffs, the forest, even the swamps of the lost, to look for things that they, these ‘gods’ of ours, have lost. But do the zeks give us anything in return other than the medicine to keep us working? Working for them?” She let out a huff and continued to descend. “If any of us fall ill or, Lode forbid grow old, we’re no longer of any use to them and are turned out into the forest to starve – or worse.” Her voice dropped an octave as she added, “We have to keep our numbers ‘just so’, or else there isn’t enough medicine for everypony.”

“My goddesses,” Lyra breathed. She’d heard of population control in areas that had poor natural resources in some of the more remote areas outside of Equestria, but this? They actually turned out those who were no longer able to provide for the zeks, into the forest? The forest where those chocks live? “Is this what all that number business is about?” Lyra asked half to herself. “Why you don’t have real names?”

Six let out a low, humourless laugh, “The village elders give us our number at our coming of age ceremony when we get our cutie mark, but there are those of us who remember the days before the tower, those of us who keep believing in a better future where we are no longer forced to surrender our babies and work until we drop as indentured slaves to those… those things.”

“The days before the tower?” Lyra felt a shiver run down her spine, “Six, you don’t mean Galeus’s tower, do you?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. One of the other ponies had mentioned Parchment being taken to a tower, but it wasn’t as if towers in and of themselves were all that rare. “Did all your people come here through the portal?” Lyra asked, “Like me?”

The name had an immediate effect on the yellow mare. She all but snarled the name through gritted teeth, “Galeus...” Six’s eyes narrowed, but just as Lyra thought she was about to say more she stopped again, this time removing two round rimmed metal helmets from hooks on the wall. Each one had a light attached to the top which was duly switched on. “Put this on and tuck your ears inside,” Six said helpfully. “The lights are out from here on in, so make sure you keep close.” She looked Lyra up and down before adding, “You may have a job with that horn of yours, but-”

“I can use magic, remember?” Lyra replied. “Watch this.” And then, with the simplest of illumination spells, the ancient hold of the stranded steel vessel burst into life around them. “Let there be light.”

Six swallowed as she covered her eyes from the sudden and unexpected glare. Lyra would have too, if her legs had decided to obey her. A curse croaked from her dry mouth, “Buck me ragged…!”

All around them the once gleaming steel of the ship’s hold was brought into the full light of pure Equestrian magic. Miles of pipes, ladders, gantries, and all manner of exotic machinery whose unfathomable purpose had been lost in time, blended together with the extraordinary panoply of detritus from another world. Lyra’s eyes took it all in, unable to speak. Looking back she could see where they’d come from, and also where they were heading too. All of it, every single inch of it, sat there in complete and utter silence except for the faint, distant sound of the ever present waves breaking against the stern. But that wasn’t all of it. Not by a long shot. Stretching off into the distance like some alien cathedral to an ancient god, enormous piles of gemstones lay hither and thither in untold numbers. Was this what Six recovered for the zeks? But… If it was their ship to begin with, why would they leave it all here? Why were the ships here in the first place? The answer seemed obvious.

“Offerings to the gods,” Lyra whispered. Her voice echoed in the distance, resounding off unseen metal that likely hadn’t seen light or life since… She gave herself a shake.

“That stuff?” Six gave herself a shake, peering over the railing at the gleaming piles. “Manganese ore,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “The zeks use it for only Lode knows what.”

So, not gemstones then. She had no idea what ‘manganese ore’ was anyway. “Is it valuable?” Lyra asked.

“Not to anypony but the zeks,” came the simple reply. Six changed the subject, nodding towards another of the ship’s maps. “We’re nearly there. When we reach the engine room there’s another set of stairs where we can head up to the crew quarters.”

Lyra nodded her understanding. This place was beginning to creep her out, and it was made all the worse by the shadows her light was casting amongst all the pipework. This must be what it’s like being swallowed by a whale, Lyra pondered silently. Gods, what a thought! She had to keep the conversation going whether Six liked it or not, otherwise she’d end up losing her nerve altogether. “Six?” she asked, “Who’s Lode?”

Six huffed, jogging down the last few metal steps until they were standing on the lowest level. It was dry here, but every now and again the sound of something scurrying away from Lyra’s magical light could be heard fading into the distance. Rats probably… At least she hoped that was all they were. “Lode Stone was the first to come through the portal into this land,” she began. “He founded the village, helped the others to learn the various skills we needed to survive here: farming, fishing, building. That sort of thing.”

“So he’s venerated by the ponies here?” Lyra asked.

“You could say that,” Six replied. “He’s not a god, or an alicorn, or any of that nonsense.” Lyra felt a little dig at her in that statement. “No, he was just a stallion who had the wherewithal to survive. Just as well really. If it wasn’t for him we’d have died out long ago.”

“Were the zeks here when you arrived?” Lyra prompted.

“When the first ponies arrived you mean?” Six shrugged, “I’m not sure.” Her voice suggested that she genuinely didn’t have a clue. “Some think they’ve always been here, and that it was they who used their knowledge of medicine to save us from the fever which we’ve suffered from since the very first of us appeared through the portal.”

“But not everypony believes that, right?”

Six let out a snort, “No. Some think that the zeks came later, washed up by the storms which bring them onto the beach. Some think...” She nickered under her breath, “Some think that they were the ones who brought the sickness with them – that we were here first.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Lyra said quietly. “It’s obvious the zeks aren’t from here. In fact, I don’t think they’re from Equestria at all.” She glanced at the writing on the wall, the images of a stylised two legged creature on a sign apparently warning the viewer to wear a helmet.

Six glanced back at her, those big eyes of hers speaking of a life in this land that Lyra couldn’t even being to understand. “The storms bring them,” she said coldly. “A storm happens, the zeks come. That’s all we need to know, apparently...”

“And they go up to the citadel when they appear?” Lyra asked, noting Six’s tone of voice. “Just like that?”

Six nodded, “The Seekers locate the survivors and lead them to the citadel to be with the others.”

“Whether they like it or not, eh?” Lyra huffed under her breath, trying to piece all the fragments of information together like a broken old pot from one of her digs. She’d done this kind of thing a thousand times or more over the years. Unearthing the past was her job, and trying to understand events which may have happened hundreds if not thousands of years earlier was something she’d not only trained for, but was also damned good at. At least the ponies she worked with seemed to think so. But this time things were different. No matter how she arranged the pieces in her mind, none of it was coming together in any intelligible form. “None of this makes any sense,” she announced finally, shaking her head in disbelief. “The zeks sound like they’re shipwreck survivors, not an indigenous population. Besides, unless they beach their ships here deliberately, why in Equestria wouldn’t they try to get home? The vessels don’t look so badly damaged that they couldn’t be made to float again. They’re all lined up too, as if somepony had deliberately put them there for convenience. Now I’m no expert in nautical matters, but you know, I don’t think that storms are all that orderly?”

Six shrugged again in that dismissive manner Lyra had noted was almost habitual, “The storms bring them, that’s all I know. And not it’s just ships either. The zeks come from the sky as well. Every time there’s a storm the seekers scour the land and the sea. Some of the zeks die before they’re found, but there’s nearly always at least a few survivors. Those are taken to live with the rest of them in the citadel.”

“And they just stay there, living in this ‘citadel’ place?”

“That’s right.”

“What, you mean they never leave?”

“Not that I know of,” Six said plainly. “They… don’t talk much.”

“So you’ve spoken to them then?” Lyra asked. “Or you’ve tried to?”

Six let out a low rumble of irritation, “I said they don’t talk much. Is it that hard to understand?”

Lyra shook her head, “No. But what it sounds like to me is that they’re more like prisoners than a free population.” Lyra felt a shiver run down her spine. “Who’s on the outside, Six? It’s you, isn’t it - you and your people. You give them food, and sure they give you medicines in return, but what if you found how the medicine was made for yourselves? You could just walk away, all of you, and-”

“Do you think we don’t know that already?!” Six’s voice carried through the ship’s hold, resounding, cold, and heavy with emotion. “We’ve tried countless times to find out what the medicine is. Lode knows how we tried! But there’s something in it, something we just can’t replicate.”

“What about the portal then?” Lyra asked. “Surely some of you must have tried going back through the way you came.”

“Ha! You think it’s that easy, do you?” Six stopped in her tracks and rounded on her. “Do you know why none of us can go back to your magical land of Equestria, girl? Let me tell you - there’s a reason why that bastard, that thrice cursed rat, Galeus, only sent earth ponies and pegasi through the portal.” She moved closer, staring into Lyra’s eyes uncomfortably. “Come on, take a wild guess what that was!”

“Because,” Lyra began. The answer seemed so clear, so obvious, at least in Six’s mind. “Because there was a chance a unicorn could work out how the portal operated and go back the way they came?”

Six sniffed, then to Lyra’s surprise bopped her on the horn, “That’s what I believe. But then, why would anypony listen to an oil stained Finder living in the wrecks, eh?” With a shake of her tail she picked up speed, once more leaving Lyra in her wake.

The gravity of what Lyra had heard began to make itself felt in her mind. She’d heard stories of Galeus, and how that rogue mage had used ponies as guinea pigs with her crazy experiments. One such tale referred to her use of volunteers, or ‘travellers’ as she’d called them, to try out the efficacy of the portal network when it was in its infancy. Apparently it hadn’t always worked as expected either, and what had come out at the other end wasn’t always… recognisable. Up until then she’d written the story off as nothing more than a legend, a harsh story from the depths of time used to warn ponies away from using any active portals they may stumble upon. Now that very same legend, the one the archaeologists used to laugh about as being ‘too far fetched’, was starting to look far from being a legend at all. Indeed, by the looks of things the experiments of the infamous sorceress had been an all too effective one way trip – of the worst kind. Whether the ‘volunteers’ had been willing or not was a question that wasn’t ever likely to be answered, but it didn’t take a genius to work out that there would have been a distinct lack of willingness in the participants if they’d thought there was a chance they may not be coming back. Suddenly realisation dawned. “That’s why you’re helping me, isn’t it?” Lyra asked. “You’re not doing it out of the kindness of your heart, or that you feel compelled to help another pony in distress.” Her neck quivered, “You think a unicorn might be able to activate the portal and get you out of here.”

“And can you?” came the simple reply.

Lyra stared at the yellow mare incredulously, “I told you earlier that the portal I came through was destroyed. What, you think I was making that up for a laugh?! Gods above, I’ve still got bald patches on my arse to show for it!” Lyra sighed, facehoofing. “There’s nothing to go back through to, Six.” She peered into the eyes of the yellow mare, more than a little surprised to see so little in the way of emotion there. She’d have thought that at the very least Six would have been hopeful she could have opened the portal. But no, on the contrary she didn’t show any signs of emotion at all. If anything she seemed almost… relieved? “You know,” Lyra said quietly, “I’m not sure you even thought it was possible in the first place. Am I right?”

Six huffed, “I had my doubts.”

“So why go to all this trouble to save my hide then?” Lyra asked. “I know I’ve asked this before, Six, but you evaded the question. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like a little openness and honesty before we go any further.”

Six gave her customary snort, looking away from Lyra to the walkway ahead of them, “We don’t have time for this, Lyra.”

“Yes we do,” Lyra replied curtly. “We can talk as we walk.”

“No.”

Lyra balked, “What?”

“I said, no.” Six didn’t even bother to look back at her.

“Oh, yeah?” Lyra spat, “Well I don’t intend taking another step in this damned tomb until you start telling me the truth! How do like them apples, ‘girl’?”

“I like them just fine,” Six announced turning away. “Stay here then.”

“Oh, yeah? Like you mean that!”

“I do,” Six said, adjusting the helmet on her head. “Survival is all that matters on the island, Lyra. And I for one, intend to. I don’t need a horn, a goddess, or ‘magic’ to be able to do that.”

Lyra had had enough, “Now you’re just being a bitch!”

“I’m being realistic.”

“Like shit you are!” Lyra could feel anger welling up inside her. It wasn’t unpleasant especially. Truthfully she almost relished the feeling of power it gave her. But there was a time and a place for expressing such things, and now was not it. “Look…” She took a deep breath, letting her tension simmer down a little. “I just want to know what’s happening. I’m not averse to helping you, Six, or your people. But you need to understand that I’m just a pony, like you. I’m not a heroine, I’m not some adventuring type, I’m just a singer and an archaeologist who got thrown into a shitty situation by a bunch of arseholes. Hell, if it hadn’t been for that dickhead Parchment I’d probably have sat back and watched those suits blow up the portal with a mug of tea and a biscuit. Well, I may have been a bit pissed off about it of course, but at least I’d be home and safe, not… not wherever the hell this nightmare land is. You know, I don’t even know if I’m even on the same bloody planet! Gods help me, all I want is to go home, but from what I’ve seen we’re all nothing but castaways in the middle of butt-buck nowhere. You, me, the zeks, your people… We’ve all been vomited up here by fate, and if any of us want to get out of here then maybe we should be looking to pooling our resources and knowledge instead of acting all bitchy all the time.” Lyra tossed her mane out of her eyes, satisfied that she’d finally got her point across. She wasn’t one for speech making, at all in all honesty, but she was pleasantly surprised with how she’d- Hang on…

“Hey!” Lyra took a frustrated step towards Six who was staring into space. “Did you hear a word I just-”

“Shhh!”

“Tch! Don’t you shush me, you-”

“Shut up I said!” Six continued to stare past Lyra. “There’s something there.”

The two mares stood in silence, barely daring to breath. Despite the brightness of the glowing orb above Lyra’s horn, the magical light could not dispel every shadow. And here, deep within the hold of the ship where the veins and arteries of the great vessel threaded through its ancient metal skin, there were a lot of shadows. A lot of places too where something could lurk, hiding from the brightness. Beside her, Lyra heard the sound of the shotgun being readied. She heard the sound of a click, saw the way Six shifted her weight onto her hind legs, reared slightly, and then…

Something black, something fluttering like a crazed wash-cloth, flew at them out of the darkness. Whatever it was it entered the light in a wild fury of wings, shrieking shrilly in the unaccustomed glare. Lyra looked up in time to see it, to see the tiny, beady eyes, the long thin teeth like sewing needles glinting maliciously. The creature hissed angrily, unsure whether to attack or flee.

The choice was irrelevant anyway.

BOOM.

The brightness of the muzzle flash was muted in the Lyra’s magical light, but the sound was anything but. Here in the enclosed hold the sound was amplified ten fold, echoing around them before passing off into the distance. Lyra stood holding her ears, her attention drawn to the spray of gore across the walkway that had marked the path of the flying creature. At first she felt relief, and then… then there was the sound. There in the distance, beyond the faint hiss of the waves… she heard them.

“Shit! Let’s move, there’ll be more coming any second.” Six roughly shoved the shotgun back into its holster on her flank and launched herself forward, “Forget the upper decks, we’ll never make it.”

Never make it?! Lyra didn’t wait to see what Six was talking about. Unlike on the beach when fear had gripped her so cruelly, this time it all but had her in a full gallop from a standing start. In any case she sure as hell wasn’t going to question Six’s plan now, whatever it may be. Right then running as fast as possible was far more important. In fact the more distance she put between them and those ‘things’ the better so far as she was concerned. Putting her head down she easily caught up with the yellow mare. “What was that thing?” she shouted.

Their hooves thundered along the metal walkway, the noise of their passage almost deafening in the enclosed hold. “We call them ‘arbalests’,” Six called back. “Think bats but with large teeth and a taste for blood.”

“I’m guessing that means ours, right?” Lyra snorted.

Six dodged around a thick metal pipe without letting her speed drop for a second, “If they can get it, yes!” she replied breathily.

The hushing of waves was louder now, but so too was another sound - the sound of fluttering… and shrieking. A lot of shrieking. Lyra couldn’t see them, she didn’t want to either, but she knew they were there alright. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them. A tidal wave of black, leathery fluttering things with long teeth and those hideous, tiny dead eyes. They were coming.

“Can’t you use that shotgun thing to stop them?” Lyra shouted.

Six let out a dry laugh, “How many rounds do you think I have?!” She tossed her mane, lowering her head for more speed. “The only thing we can do now is run!”

Lyra neighed loudly in response, “That’s what I’m bloody well doing!”

“I’m glad to hear it!”

The mares hooves thundered with their headlong gallop, the two of them passing more of the ship’s maps, more pipes, more gantries, ever more steps disappearing into the darkness beyond the magical light. And yet despite how fast they ran, no matter how hard they pushed themselves, the louder that ominous, unearthly sound grew behind them.

Six abruptly pulled up, turned left, jinked past a mass of pipes, and glanced up in alarm, “Hell, they’re nearly on us! We aren’t going to make it!”

Lyra shook her head. An idea came to her, “Can we find the way there with just the lights on the helmets?”

“What?! Of course we can!” Six shouted back looking confused.

“Good!” The green mare put on a burst of speed, coming up alongside Six, “Stay close whatever you do.” Flicking on the lamp her neck shivered, “I just hope this works...”

“What are you-” Six’s eyes went wide as the world around her changed colour.

The bright blue-white glare of magic winked out, replaced a second later by a shimmering bubble of rich golden light which enveloped the two mares. It did little to illuminate the ever present darkness, but it was better than nothing. The beams from the lamps on the helmets did the rest. Their silent light shone out into the gloom, illuminating just enough of the gantry to keep them on course. Six visibly flinched at the sudden change but kept running, ignoring all else.

The first of the creatures slammed into the shield a few seconds later.

Shrieks of outrage filled Lyra’s ears as the arbalest flapped desperately against the shield, its prey almost within reach beyond the wall of this strange glowing orb. Unable to get a purchase the leathery winged beast scrabbled with its tiny hooked claws, gradually sliding down and then falling away into the blackness. Moments later more appeared. The result was the same, each of them hurling themselves at the shield, flapping hopelessly, then sliding off to be replaced shortly afterwards by more of their fellows.

Lyra swallowed, the strain beginning to take its toll not only on her body but on her dwindling magic reserves. She was from inept when it came to her magical abilities, but she’d used far more of it since arriving in this madhouse than she had in the last six months. Keeping up a shield wasn’t all that hard when it was to defend yourself against idiots throwing bottles, but when you had to run and keep it up? Now that was no mean feat for any unicorn. Fear, however, had its advantages.

Thankfully their salvation was soon at hoof.

“There!” Six shouted. “Slow down, we’re there.”

“Where’s ‘there’?” Lyra snorted.

She needn’t have asked. The enormous wall of steel loomed up out of the darkness like a sheer cliff face of orange tinged grey. Set into its smooth surface was the most glorious sight Lyra had ever seen – well, at least since their march through this horrible ship had started anyway. It was a door. A large, oval, thick steel door with a small round window in the top. Above it a small sign stated ‘ENGINE ROOM’. Lyra mouthed the words, earning a curious look from Six.

“Give me a hoof here will you, the damn things stuck.” The yellow mare heaved on the thick metal wheel set into the centre of the door. Lyra moved up to her, took it in hoof, and heaved. Nothing happened. She stared up at Six, their eyes meeting.

One by one, more of the arbalests slapped into the shield, the sound of their frustration drowning out the thunderous beating of Lyra’s heart. “What are we going to do?” she whispered. Panic was starting to grip her.

Six squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead in thought, “Can you keep this magic thing going?” She looked up at another set of stairs leading up. “We could try for the rear superstructure and the crew quarters, but-”

As if in answer, Lyra shield suddenly faltered. It was only for a split second, but it was enough to let one of the things through. It landed on Lyra’s back and immediately dug its claws into her backpack.

“GET IT OFF ME!” she shrieked.

Six yanked out her shotgun, “Hold still, Lode dammit!” With that she grabbed the barrel in her hooves and swung it like a bat, swatting the thing away. The things squeaked and flapped, but only long enough for Six to leap upon the flailing creature. Hooves well practised at digging and years of scouring hard to reach places amongst the wrecks pounded the monstrous beast into a bloody red paste. Lyra thought she was going to be sick.

“Can’t you use your magic on the door?” Six tried, chambering another shell in the shotgun.

Lyra shook her head wearily, “Not if you want me to keep the shield up too.” She let out a heavy huff of air, “Gods, I’m half dead as it is.”

“We’ll be completely dead if we don’t do something!”

“It was your bucking stupid idea to come down here in the first place!” Lyra snapped back. “Remind me why we didn’t use the deck again? Or are there worse things trying to eat us there?”

“The Seekers could be-” Six began.

Lyra felt herself begin to lose control, “I think I would have preferred my chances up there, don’t you?!” She was becoming hysterical, and what was worse was she knew it too. “We’re going to die down here. Down in this shitty, miserable hell hole!”

“Not today you’re not.”

A loud metallic clanking pulled Six’s attention, her gaze drawn to a cylinder approximately six inches long and bearing a strange inner glow. The thing bounced down the gantry stairs, landing just outside the perimeter of the shield. Suddenly the yellow mare turned and threw herself atop Lyra, “Cover your ears and-” The world turned white, followed a moment later by a deafening BANG. The mares screamed in unison, covering their eyes the best they could. And then a word, a strange accented word, but clearly equestrian, called through the whining in the ears…

“HURRY!”

Six’s shotgun was already out and firing at the stunned arbalests, “Whatever you’re going to do, you better hurry!” she shouted. “They’re stunned but they’ll be back.”

Lyra felt sick. Her magic faltered, and with it the shield. Weakly she pulled herself to her hooves.

“Lyra! Get yourself together, NOW!”

“I… Oh, goddess...” Lyra shoved the ill fitting helmet back onto her head, licking her horribly dry lips. Luna’s arse she need a drink right then. Anything would do, and what she wouldn’t give for a glass, just one glass, of plain, clear, water. But drinking was the last thing she should be thinking about right then. If she didn’t get her act together, and quickly, thirst would be the last thing she’d have on her mind. In the dim light of the lamp she focussed on the large metal wheel, gripped it in her magic, and focussed all her energy. “Right...” She closed her eyes, trying to think clearly. Her head was still ringing with the sound from that… whatever the hell it was. “Righty… tighty. Lefty...” It was hard, very hard, but one good yank and… the wheel moved. “Loosey!” Her jubilation gave her added strength and she kept turning, watching the wheel rotate, moving the large metal pins that had held it closed since who knew when. She turned to give the good news to Six just as the shotgun went off.

There was a screech, and then another. More came. The shotgun’s deafening blasts resounded again and again, each report coming quicker and more desperate than the last.

Terror grabbed at Lyra’s heart. She looked up at the broiling mass of leather things coming at them, turned again, and bucked the door as hard as she could. It moved, creaking open on ancient hinges. It wasn’t enough. She kicked again. The sound of hoof against metal, the strain of her magic shoving on the heavy steel, mingled with the dread mix of sound and emotion bursting all around her. Six screamed. The shotgun fired. And then… pain. A sharp, searing pain lanced across Lyra back. In a blind panic she leaped back, crushing the arbalest between herself and the door. Almost simultaneously the two of them fell bodily through the opening, and into whatever lay beyond.

It was all too much for the young mare. Terrified beyond reason, physically exhausted to the point of collapse, Lyra’s world was plunged into darkness more complete than the hold of the great vessel.