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Post by Moxie on Aug 23, 2015 16:17:38 GMT
Unexplored Caves
These mysterious and countless caves stretch far back into the mountain. Considered off limits to campers, the only ones permitted to enter these unpredictable caves (with permission) are campers with the primary role of Caver Explorer. When more space is needed in camp, Cave Explorers expand camp boundaries after making a select cave safe from any possible hazards. If a cave is deemed too unsafe to be salvaged, it is closed up.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 23, 2015 16:57:01 GMT
Deep within the Camp New Hayven cavern system, a yellow pegasus mare was working. She had come with her new friend and trainee to work on the project her Primary role team had been slaving over. A new storage room was badly needed for camp resources in preperation for the coming winter, and with their growing community, last years storage room was no where large enough to keep everypony fed in hard times.
This previously unexplored cave was the perfect match for what they needed, however, it was far from being ready. Dangerous and unstable stalactites hung from the ceiling, extending their enormous pointed claws downward, as if waiting for an ignorant passerby to wander into it's deadly trap. In order for this cave to open to the camp public, they needed to be cleared.
Stalactites are usually left to the pegasi of the Cave Explorer Primary role, which wasn't a problem. Pegasi commonly chose this role for their camp job. It offered much more opportunity to stretch their wings and soothe their stereotypical adventurous nature. The Cave Explorer Pegasi had been working for weeks on treating this cave, and now it was time for Moxie and her small team of 5 pegasi's to resume their shift.
As the other 4 pegasi working in teams of two across the cave, Moxie had taken a less aggressive area to continue her training with Flux. He was a quick learner, but Moxie knew stalactites were nothing to play around with. It took time to develop the habit of continuing to fly while holding onto the sharp drooping rocks, because once they dropped you couldn't go down with it.
Moxie hooved Flux a small makeshift pick-axe and pointed to the root of the stalactite above. "That's the safety hazard we will be working on today," she said with a encouraging smile. "Its alot bigger once we get up there, dont be fooled. We'll have to grip it with your hoof spikes in order to be able to use our picks at it's root. That's the only way we're going to make it fall. Are your hoof spikes strapped tight?" Moxie glanced down to Flux's hooves where the scuffed set of horseshoe spikes she had given him this morning were tethered.
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Post by Flux on Aug 23, 2015 18:38:57 GMT
"Yeah, they're pretty tight," Flux responded as he looked down at them. He rolled his hooves forward a little and bounced slightly on them, showing that they were secured. "It's just...how come we don't just fly up there and knock it down?" The question came out almost hesitantly; he certainly wasn't trying to undermine her experience and advice, but he was still trying to wrap his mind around why they were going to anchor themselves to a rock that could fall and drag them down with it if they weren't careful.
At this point Flux had only been living in New Hayven for about four months and though he wholeheartedly wanted to to learn how to coexist with these ponies, sometimes he couldn't help but offer his suggestions about certain things. He was usually content to accept what the camp's veteran's had to say so that he didn't appear to be a challenging troublemaker and make them regret allowing him to stay with them, but when it came to matters that could end up with somepony hurt - or worse... He shook his head slihgtly to keep memories locked away where they belonged and looked up at the stalactite above them with a calculating gaze.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 23, 2015 18:57:41 GMT
"It's not that simple unfortunately." Moxie looked up at their stalactite as she explained. "If you dont anchor on, you wont get NEARLY enough force needed when you swing your ax. If you simply fly next to it you'll be picking at it without much effect because you push away so easily. When we grab on, we can use ALL our muscle. Some of these fall easily, others don't fall without alot of force. We have to knock them all down though, because a tremor in the mountainside can unhinge these big guys without us being aware."
Moxie gave him a reassuring smile, "I know its risky, but thats why we are training with these smaller, more predictable ones. Those hoof spikes are made to hook on with weight, but as soon as the weight shifts and the stalactite falls, they loose their grip." She lifted a hoof and showed him how the points angled towards the back of her hoof. "You just have to get used to latching on correctly and there shouldnt be any problem when it falls as long as you continue to flap your wings. Does that make sense?"
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Post by Flux on Aug 23, 2015 19:30:14 GMT
The stallion gave one last look at the contraptions on his hooves before taking a breath and steeling himself. 'She wouldn't have us do this if it wasn't safe,' he thought to himself.
"Yes," he said aloud. "Physics and all that. So...shall we?" He hefted the pickax in his hooves before giving a few flaps of his wings to hover a few feet off the ground for a moment to adjust for the added weight of the equipment. It wouldn't do to get to the top of the cavern and then find out that his balance was off and drop the items or himself.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 23, 2015 21:44:31 GMT
Moxie felt a bit hesitant about Flux's answer, worried she was pushing him into something he didnt necessarily want to do. Pushing it aside, she opened her wings and rose up to meet him, then on to the stalactite above.
Before sticking her spikes in, Moxie tapped the rock in several place, listening for any hollow sounds to come from it. Spitting out her pick ax and letting it swing at her side, she looked to Flux. "I'm testing the rock to make sure it isnt loose. If you hear something echoing inside it, it means its not solid or has a fracture and is probably barely hanging on. This one sounds nice and solid, so lets go ahead and latch on. Take your hoofs and put them completely vertical, like this." Moxie flapped her wings hard as she rocked back and lifted all four hooves, then slowly maneuvered herself towards the rock and placed them into the stone. Her hooves were perfectly perpendicular to the ground far below, and after easing her flapping, her weight set the spikes in place. "Its really important to make sure your aligned right, or your spikes will snag when the rock falls. If that happens, LET THE SPIKES SLIP OFF. If you angle your hooves down they should slip out no matter how tight you have them. Just try not to panic if it happens and you'll be fine."
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Post by Flux on Aug 23, 2015 23:24:53 GMT
Panic...perhaps that wouldn't be so bad. To feel the rush of adrenaline again, knowing that if you screwed up it could be the last time. Flux mentally shrugged; maybe that could break him out of the numb feeling he'd had since shortly after leaving Canterlot behind him. He watched Moxie carefully to see how she was using the hoof spikes, and as he watched how they worked made sense.
He flew up to the opposite side that Moxie was on, doing as she said to hear the inside of the rock before he mirrored her actions and anchored his hooves into it, careful to keep the spikes pointed straight down so that the rock could fall clear of them. The position was a little weird at first, half-flying and half-not, but it made sense for the work they were doing. Flux silently thanked the long flights he'd endured to give him muscles that could work for long periods of time; this rock was going to take a while to get through. "So we just...knock it down now?" It seemed so simple once he was up and on it.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 24, 2015 0:04:31 GMT
"Pretty much! Just grab your pick ax and aim for where it joins the ceiling, we call it the root." As if to demonstrate, Moxie reached back and grabbed her pick ax with her mouth, then whipped it forward with careful aim and smashed it hard against the root end of the stalactite.
A shower of small rocks spurted out, dusting her face. She gave a little sneeze and shook her head to get it out of her eyes to no avail. Letting her ax go to swing at her side once more, moxie gave a small chuckle as she loosened a hoof to rub her eyes. "Heh.... Eye protection sure would be a luxury I'd like to come by."
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Post by Flux on Aug 24, 2015 0:57:30 GMT
Flux found himself rather surprised at her comment. "You don't have goggles or anything?" he asked, slightly incredulous. The camp had been started from nothing, but it seemed odd to him that nopony thus far had considered something like that a necessity, especially for the jobs that had more dangerous elements, such as the one they were currently doing.
He lifted the tool hanging from his side up and bit down firmly on the handle, eyeing the swing he'd have to take to do any real damage to the stalactite. As soon as the edge of the pick was about to make contact with the stone he screwed his eyes closed; damaging his vision temporarily or even permanently was a thought that sent a shiver down his back. Closing them, however, did not help him from choking slightly on the little cloud of dust that erupted from the strike. "Are they all like this?" he asked. "Seems like we should have face shields or helmets or something."
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Post by Moxie on Aug 24, 2015 3:14:24 GMT
"Something you'll have to get used to around here is that we have only what we can make or pick up from scavenging missions, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to find something as simple as goggles. I think Jade Feather over there got the only set of glasses today, and those are sunglasses." She pointed to the back of the cave where a pale green Pegasus mare was working with her teammate, eyes covered in black sunglasses.
Moxie shrugged to Flux, giving him a good natured smile. "We make do with what we have. And don't worry. The crust of it is the only thing that's this dusty, this one seems to be worse then most. Once we're past it it should be a lot easier to keep your eyes open." With that, Moxie took up her ax again and set to work, smashing through the first layer of rock until the spray outward lessened.
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Post by Flux on Aug 24, 2015 4:19:14 GMT
Gaze following Moxie's, Flux noticed that Jade did indeed have a pair of dark glasses on; he hadn't even noticed she'd been wearing them. He was tempted to mention that perhaps working a job like this in a cave while wearing sunglass might not be the safest idea, but it really was the best situation that they could make with what was available.
He buckled down into the work at hoof, and while Moxie was right about it getting cleaner the further they dug, Flux still found his eyes blinking closed every time he swung the pick. It didn't particularly matter though, once he'd found a good working rhythm he went on autopilot, his mind drifting away.
Thoughts of his family were hard to keep out of his mind in the life he now found himself in, or at least whatever family was left. He'd never found signs of his mother or sister in Canterlot, and they certainly wouldn't just stumble upon him up here in the mountains. He often found himself wondering if they would be proud of him for what he'd done, or disgusted with him for not coming back sooner. Perhaps if he had he wouldn't have to wonder.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 24, 2015 14:43:18 GMT
Moxie kept beat with her partner, striking when he pulled away and pulling back when Flux let fly. After a few minutes, she herd the familiar muffled crunches sounding from within their subject that only meant one thing. She mumbled through her ax to Flux, "Okay, it's going to drop soon, be ready. And make sure to watch around you if you get thrown a bit, there's alot of smaller ones of these above."
Craning her neck back once again, she hit her mark harder than ever to give the inner fracture some momentum. The crunching noises became much more audible now, and Moxie readied her hooves by keeping them perfectly perpendicular. "Timber!!" She cried out.
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Post by Flux on Aug 24, 2015 18:00:01 GMT
Lost in his mind, Flux didn't even hear the mare's warning. His eyes flew open in surprise at her shout as he was snapped back into reality and he instinctively tried to push away from the wall of rock that was still in front of him. The hoof spikes did their job, however, anchoring him quite solidly to the hanging stone. The sound of the cracks finding their way through the root of the rock told him that they'd done more work than he realized and it was about to crash down to the ground, with or without him.
Maybe the raw thought was all it took to tempt fate into messing with him, but the adrenaline rush that the stallion had missed was suddenly followed by another realization: they usually mean bad things are about to happen. His brain raced, assessing the situation in its entirety; Moxie's words rang through his head and he flapped his wings hard, lifting his hooves straight vertical as the stone began to tilt and fall, sliding down the spikes as he let himself drift away from it.
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Post by Moxie on Aug 25, 2015 3:12:11 GMT
Moxie felt the weight of the rock slip away and her hoof spikes free themselves. She hovered in the air as she watched the stalactite free fall and shatter upon impact. Quickly turning to check on her trainee, Moxie's face flashed worry as she saw the startled state he seemed to be in. "Are you okay?" She asked.
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Post by Flux on Aug 25, 2015 4:15:08 GMT
It briefly struck Flux that it was a rather sad point that looking and being startled was probably the most life he'd really shown in the past few months; he was going to have to make more of an effort to be more open and engage with the ponies of the camp.
He watched the stalactite fall until it shattered into several pieces against the cavern floor, and realized that he had an odd sense of satisfaction at watching it crumble. It took a moment for Moxie's words to register in his brain and he blinked, shaking his head slightly as he reached up to scratch behind his ear, his brow furrowing when he touched it.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just didn't realize it was..." he trailed off as he looked at the hoof that came away darkened by blood, turning to see a matching smear on one of the other structures on the ceiling. "That's...not supposed to be there..."
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Post by Moxie on Aug 25, 2015 4:31:46 GMT
"Oh my gosh!" Moxie rushed over to his side and roughly pulled him toward her and began to inspect his head. It only took a moment for her to see the wound to determine one outcome. "We need to get you to Moon, c'mon." Her tone was brisk, mixed with worry, guilt, and a hint of frustration for him not being more careful. Moxie pulled him with her until they both were able to touch down on the ground. Quickly rushing him to the exit of the cave, Moxie called back to the others to let them know where they were going before she looked back to Flux.
She wasn't sure what had happened entirely, he must have scrapped his head on the smaller stalactites above, but even without her prior warning, she felt that Flux was much more in control of his flying and of his wereabouts more then this. This wasn't the first time this week she had had this feeling. "Are you alright?..." She asked, meaning more than his head in her heart, but unsure if it was her place to pry.
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Post by Flux on Aug 25, 2015 18:00:56 GMT
It couldn't have been more than a small cut that the hanging rock had inflicted, and Flux hadn't even felt it until everything had stopped moving. It didn't exactly hurt, more like a dull itch, but he wasn't sure if the feeling was from the injury or the little trickle of blood on his scalp, probably opened when he pulled away from the large falling stalactite. It didn't really matter, however, because Moxie's determination on taking him...wherever made it clear that his insistence that he was fine was falling on deaf ears. He had to admit though that he was touched at the concern she was showing; it had been quite a while since he'd had what he could call a good friend.
"It's not that bad, just a little scrape. I'm sure it'll be good as new in a couple of weeks," he replied. "I guess I just...got lost there for a minute and didn't make sure I had a clear route away." His head sunk down a little as he continued, eyes watching the ground in front of his hooves. "I'm sorry, I should have been watching it like you said. I don't want to get you in trouble, if anyone asks tell them you gave me proper instruction and I just messed up." Several seconds passed by and it appeared he was through talking before he shook his head lightly and whispered, "Just go away..."
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Post by Moxie on Aug 25, 2015 19:09:48 GMT
Moxie sighed heavily and shook her head. "I'm not afraid of getting in trouble, I just.....we just need Moon to look at it and to stop the bleeding, those things arnt very sanitary."
Leading the way quickly out of the cave, Moxie's ears perked at Flux's last hushed remark. The words were like a hot iron striking against her chest. She was just trying to get him out of a place that could really hurt him being half there in mind, but he resented her for it... Not knowing what to really say in reply, Moxie's ears simply fell along with her spirit as she kept her eyes trained forward and guided him out of the project cave. She just needed to get him to the Medical Grotto, then she would leave him alone...
[Exit Moxie to Medical Grotto]
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Post by Flux on Aug 25, 2015 22:26:43 GMT
Flux couldn't even bring himself to look up at her and just kept trudging along as she led the way. She was so like Ranger, so concerned and caring for anypony in need of any kind of help, and the siblings both reminded him of his family; he was afraid that if he looked forward and saw those selfless eyes while unbidden memories bombarded him he'd simply break down in the middle of the path.
The realization of similarities between the ponies made him stumble and he briefly paused to press on his forehead, as if that could clear his mind. He sniffed once and angrily wiped at his eyes before hurrying after Moxie.
[Exit Flux to Medical Grotto]
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