Torn, Hilda and The Eds readily guided Jak, Daxter, the Mane 6, and Ben into the Underground's hideout.
"Phew! Being a big hero sure makes ya thirsty!" Daxter said, strutting his stuff.
"You put that banner up there, didn't you?" Twilight asked Torn.
Daxter deflated. "What?"
"Good guess. We used that tower to test anyone new who wanted to join the Underground if they knew who to ask for and felt they were up to the challenge." Torn replied. "You guys are the first besides Hilda, Ed, Double-D, and Eddy to make the attempt. Now we need to find a new way to test anyone else. But enough about that. Since you've proven so capable, there are a few things you three can do to further our goals."
Jak nodded. "Go on."
"The Baron's turned off all water to the slums since he's figured out we're based in here somewhere. He's willing to sacrifice innocent lives, just to stop us." Torn explained.
Ed demonstrated by pulling a lever on a nearby pipe, causing black sludge to spew out in the process before shutting it off.
"Good lord, that is simply atrocious!" Rarity gagged.
"Where's the valve we need to turn back on?" Ben asked.
"Outside the city," Torn confirmed, pointing to it on the map. "I've got a passkey that will let you get through the Eco Dome, but you still need to be careful. While it will let you pass through the Dome itself, it won't get you past the checkpoints. There's a large drain pipe in the north wall. It's a little dirty, but you can get through there without trouble."
"Now where have ya been getting this here info, anyway?" Applejack demanded suspiciously.
"I used to be a member of the Krimzon Guard," Torn explained. "I've still got some friends in it that feed me information on occasion."
"YOU were a Krimzon Guard?" Jak asked cautiously before thinking things over and shrugging. "Well, I guess that explains your 'charming' sense of humor."
"Can your friends be trusted?" Rainbow asked.
"As much as anyone," Torn replied worriedly.
"We're on the case!" Pinkie promised.
"What about the Metal Heads out there!" Daxter pointed out. "That ain't no pettin' zoo, peeps be gettin' deep sixed!"
"You guys do this and the slums will be indebted to you," Torn said as the group headed out, this time joined by Hilda and The Eds.
Once at the drainage pipe in question, the pass worked as expected, letting them pass through the Eco Dome unharmed. Jak quickly hid it away in his clothes to keep it safe. The group soon caught sight of creatures that were half flesh and half metal, with yellow crystals embedded in their foreheads.
"Jak, those are Metal Heads!" Daxter cried.
"Not good, not good, not good!" Double-D panicked, scurrying to hide under Hilda's hat.
Ben moved forward, transforming his arms into their Dark Eco Hammerfists to pound the Metal Heads into mulch, leaving behind the crystals, which Eddy scurried to pick up.
"What are those even for?" Rarity asked. "I must say, they have quite a nice shine to them."
"Hey, you never know what might be useful!" Eddy smirked.
The pumping station itself proved to be relatively easy to navigate for the group, the path much more straightforward than similar areas back in the Sandover era. And between the new powers Jak and Ben had developed as a result of the Dark Eco experimentation and Hilda and Applejack's Scatter Guns, the few Metal Heads and other creatures were easily dealt with.
Along the way, the group found some med-packs containing Green Eco, which Ben seemed to assimilate into his body, the veins on his arms changing from purple to green briefly.
"How'd ya do that?" Hilda asked.
"I don't know...the Green Eco isn't healing me but it is being stored inside," Ben noted. "I think this might come in handy but I'm not certain."
Eventually, the group managed to find the valve in question.
"Ah, the valve. Allow me." Daxter said as he leaped on and tried to turn it.
Unfortunately, three things proved his undoing. The first was that his small size gave him no leverage. The second was that he was trying to turn the valve the wrong way. The third was the suction pipe directly above him when Ben banged on the pipes to get it to turn.
What followed was Daxter flying through the pipes like something out of a slapstick cartoon, causing Pinkie, Ed, and Eddy to burst out laughing.
Thankfully, it didn't take the gang long to get to where Daxter had become stuck in the pipes and release him, along with a spray of water.
"Next time Jak, you turn the valve." Daxter groaned before passing out.
"Is he unconscious? Good." Eddy said before bursting into another fit of laughter, rolling around while holding his furry tummy.
With the task done, the gang returned to the Underground hideout to report and get a new task.
"The slum's water is back on," Torn confirmed. "I'd love to see the heads roll when the Baron finds out."
"Yeah, I'm sure he's losing lots of sleep over this armpit of a city." Jak sarcastically said.
"I dunno, I think we can give him even more to be upset about," Rainbow smirked.
Torn grinned. "I like the way you think, Dashie. Keep that attitude, and you might just get to meet the Shadow someday."
"Hey, only my brothers and sisters call me Dashie." Rainbow huffed.
"Well, for now, we've managed to ID an ammo dump in the Fortress, and I'd like you guys to take care of it." Noticing the wide grins spreading over Jak, Daxter, Ben, Rainbow, Pinkie, Hilda, and Eddy's faces, Torn raised a hand. "Not everyone who works in the Fortress or Palace is a bad guy. Some are just trying to survive. Just destroy the ammo dump, alright?"
"I could have told them that." Double-D sighed. "I'll try to keep them in line..."
"Don't worry, I'll help." Twilight smiled, making the sock-hatted Ottsel give her a thankful look in response.
While getting to the Fortress passed without obstacles, trying to pass through into the Ammo Dump triggered the activation of a security tank. Glancing over his shoulder, Jak grinned.
"I think we just found out how we're going to get rid of all the Ammo."
"Oh really, do tell," Hilda smirked.
Jak growled wickedly as he watched the spiked roller spin at the front of the tank that was following them. The tank took shots at them, but Daxter and The Eds kept their heads back towards the tank, telling the others when to jump and in which direction. The security tank, for its part, smashed through anything in its path in an attempt to hunt them down.
"Yoink!" Rainbow said as she took a few security guns off their hinges for future use.
"Rainbow, what in the hay are you gonna do with those?!" Applejack asked.
"You may never know, AJ!"
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Fluttershy panicked.
Eventually, they reached a point where the security tank couldn't follow, and they were confronted with Krimzon Guards.
"Ready to let out some anger, boys?" Hilda asked.
Jak and Ben both growled excitedly as they went full Dark Mode on the hapless guards, eventually wiping them all out.
As they moved along, they found a red security pass sitting on some nearby barrels, which Jak picked up.
"Oooh, that's a security pass!" Daxter said. "We need those to get through city checkpoints!"
Jak suddenly heard something and made a shushing motion for everyone to be quiet. Down below through a grate, they could witness Metalheads inside the city. A pair of them were accepting a shipment of Eco from a pair of Krimzon Guards, apparently on order from the Baron.
"Metal Heads in the city?" Jak whispered.
"But why are the Krimzon Guard giving them Eco?" Twilight wondered.
Before they could react, however, the security tank caught up to them. Since they were in the ammo dump itself, they let the tank shoot out all the ammo, and a large missile. The group managed to get out just before the missile exploded, taking the whole ammo dump with it.
"This place has too much excitement," Daxter groaned. "We need to move back to the country."
"Has anyone seen Ben?" Hilda asked.
"Ahmf raght ere."
Hearing the muffled words, Hilda looked to see she had accidentally sat on Ben with her full big blubbery body after everyone had been sent flying out by the explosion. What was odd was the trail of blood coming out of his nose.
"DO IT AGAIN!" Ed cheered as he came out from Pinkie's mane.
"Yeah! That was fun!" The pink pony girl cheered.
"Let's not and say we did..." Twilight groaned dizzily.
After taking a moment to get their bearings, the party returned readily enough to the Underground's hideout.
"One barbecued ammo dump served up hot!" Daxter proudly announced.
"Impressed yet?" Jak asked Torn as he leaned on the table.
Torn huffed. "You can do better."
"Is this the part where you actually are impressed at how readily we're able to do things but are being deliberately condescending about it as a way of pushing us to do even better in the future?" Pinkie asked with innocent curiosity. "Cause according to the books on military strategy and tactics I read, that's a standard Drill Sergeant approach to new recruits, and you said yourself you were a Krimzon Guard."
"Wait, you READ?!" Twilight gawked.
"Of course I do! So does Dashie!" Pinkie smiled.
"Pinkie..." Rainbow hissed. "Twilight does NOT need to know I'm an egghead like her!"
"Also, we saw something odd while torching that ammo," Jak said. "The Baron's guards were giving barrels filled with Eco to a group of Metal Heads."
"Really?" Torn asked with slight surprise in his tone. "The Shadow will be very interested to hear that."
"So is this here the part where it turns out you're actually the Shadow, or what?" Applejack asked.
Torn chuckled. "I'm not the Shadow. But I do have another task for you all. And this one could get the rest of you some weapon that'll let you do bigger ops."
"Give us the skinny, Torn." Ben said. "I need more of a challenge to test out my newfound powers on."
"One of our...suppliers needs his payment delivered; A bag of Eco Ore," Torn explained. "Take the Zoomers out back, and drive it to the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon in Southtown. Ask for Krew, he'll be there. And don't let the Baron's patrols stop you."
"Oh good heavens, not that scoundrel..." Double-D said in a tone of disgust.
"What's so bad about this Krew guy?" Pinkie asked.
"You'll know when you meet him..." Hilda grumbled.
"By the way, when you get there, pump Krew for information." Torn advised. "He's wired into the city, and may know what the Baron is up to."
I'm gonna cut things off here for right now. In the next chapter, we meet everyone's least favorite arms-dealing scoundrel.