TCB: A Kinder World

06 - Trouble

Mud cascaded down from the hydra as it reared its ugly heads, one watched by the other three as it struggled to swallow it's most recent meal. Short, sturdy limbs pulled themselves from the mire of the bog’s depths, and it stepped onto firmer ground, claws giving it stability.

Rainbow Dash gulped. “You know, Pinkie called the hydra they found “super-duper ginormous”,” she remarked. “I’m starting to get a new appreciation for Pinkie’s ability to sugar-coat things.”

The hydra finished swallowing, and nodded to it’s counterparts. As one, they reared back, and cut loose with a simultaneous roar.

“Sweet Celestia!” Lyra exclaimed, putting a hoof up to shield her face as she struggled to remain upright, her lab coat flapping like a flag as the blast of (rather disgusting) air threatened to push her over outright.

Something purple flew out of the air, and with a wet thlap, hit her in the face. She pulled a face as she got a noseful of eau de hydra, and pulled the offending article off her face.

It was a hat. Trixie’s, no less. Lyra turned a slightly greener shade of teal, and cast the garment aside, looking at Richard. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“Plan?” Richard asked, not taking his eyes off the heads, his larger bulk unmoved by the gale of gustatory wind. “I’m not so good with plans. That was Shirley’s department, I just provide persistence and brute force.”

Lyra sighed, and looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was slightly damp from hydra spittle, but otherwise unaffected. “RD! Could you distract the hydra?”

“You got it!” Rainbow snapped an informal salute, and shot into the sky, leaving a rainbow contrail. Distracted by the sudden movement, the hydra lunged for the speeding pegasus; a snap of jaws yielded no prize but a mouthful of rainbow. A faint, taunting “you missed” echoed through the air, and the hydra roared it’s frustrations.

Lyra, for her part, reached into her lab coat and pulled out a small, bronze device; she unfolded it with a snick, to reveal a small collapsible lyre; small spring-loaded wheels leapt into action, and the instrument’s strings were pulled taut with a gentle twang.

“Is now the time for music?” Richard asked, nodding at the hydra. “I know it’s said that music soothes the savage beast, but I’m pretty sure that’s bullshit. It never worked on my cat.”

“Shh!” Lyra frowned, closing her eyes. “I’m going to drive it into the bog! Once it’s stuck, you run in and stab it with that knife of yours!”

“Wait a minute,” Richard pointed again. “You want me to stab a hydra to death? With a knife?”

“It’s either that,” Lyra stated, “Or we can run. Your choice.”

Lyra turned to face the beast, and closed her eyes; with a flare of magic, she strummed the instrument carefully, a deep, resonating thrum coming not just from the instrument, but from the very ground itself. Richard looked down at the earth beneath his boots, and smiled.

Perhaps all was not lost.

+==[~~~]==+

Twilight watched the skies through the window, her breath causing part of it to fog up. In the middle, Fluttershy dozed, sitting upright in the middle, but head lolling about.

“So,” Carpenter said suddenly, once again in the driver’s seat. “That pony - a friend of yours?”

Twilight sat up, looking at Carpenter, who was looking at her, and nodded. “Something like that. I guess this world has a Rainbow Dash that knows me, too.”

“Parallel universes,” Carpenter snorted. “That’s a kettle of fish I never want to get involved with.”

“Something was wrong, though,” Twilight said. “I mean, Rainbow Dash isn’t the smartest pony around, but she’s not stupid. And she was... well...”

“Stupid?” Carpenter guessed.

“I was thinking “absent-minded”,” Twilight tilted her head. “She seemed kind of off-kilter.” Twilight shook her head. “And don’t even get me started on her eyes, and how she acted. That was plain disturbing.”

“Eyes?” Carpenter said. “What was up with her eyes?”

“You’ve never noticed that before?” Twilight asked.

“Usually,” Carpenter defended, “if a pony’s that close to me, I’m too busy fighting for my life to take notes on their eyes.”

Fluttershy snorted indelicately, and her eyes opened slowly. “What...” she yawned. “What’s this about eyes?”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight looked to her friend for support. “You saw Rainbow’s eyes, didn’t you? Did you see anything weird when she thought a human was in the back of the truck?”

Fluttershy looked pensive. “Not... really, no. Should I?”

Twilight looked confused. “But I’m sure I saw her eyes change... the last time I saw eyes like that was when Spike had that greed-induced growth spurt.”

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said. “I... don’t think I saw anything like that.”

“You sure you saw what you saw?” Carpenter asked.

[I think I’d better weigh in on this’n,] Palladion said, over the radio. [I got a good look at that blue pegasus, and I didn’t see anything that I ain’t seen before. ‘cept that mane of hers, of course. Never seen a pony with a mane anythin’ like that before, all pretty rainbows and such.]

“There we go,” Carpenter shrugged. “The jury’s in, and they didn’t see a thing.”

Twilight frowned. “I know I saw it.”

“Not sayin’ you didn’t,” Carpenter shrugged. “You’re a unicorn and all, perhaps it’s a magic thing.”

“Well, eyes aside,” Twilight shook her head, “Her behaviour was downright bizzare - going on about how I’m supposed to be dead in some sort of explosion...”

Fluttershy made an awkward noise, and Carpenter remained focused on the road. Twilight noticed.

“What, don’t tell me you two didn’t hear that as well?”

“Um, Twilight, that... um.” Fluttershy bit her lip. “How do I say it...”

Carpenter sighed. “Good news, or bad news, Twilight?” he asked.

“Uh, good first,” Twilight responded, almost automatically.

“Good news,” Carpenter said, brightly, “You’ll never have to worry about running into parallel you.”

“O-kay... and that’s because...” Twilight’s face fell. “Oh.”

“Yeah, bad news,” Carpenter confirmed. “You were supposedly killed three weeks ago in the Library of Congress, I hear - bomb blast took out most of the building, and quite a few ponies outside. From what we can tell, you were the only pony in the library. Whoever did it went to extraordinary lengths to make sure you brought it.” Carpenter looked at Twilight. “Suffice to say, when you deliver that ultimatum, things are going to get interesting.”

+==[~~~]==+

Geomancy is a branch of magic not often seen in Equestria - viewed by many to be just telekinesis with music thrown in, the low magical power requirement does not do a lot to dissuade this widely-held but largely-wrong opinion.

Owing to the requirement for the user to be a unicorn capable of carrying a tune or six, true geomancers are few and far between; Twilight Sparkle, a prodigy in the magic arts, has a solid grasp of the theory, but is only minimally capable due to a condition politely referred to as “being musically incompetent”.

In the hooves of a unicorn capable of understanding music, however, Geomancy becomes a little more than a parlor trick; it becomes an easily-accessed fulcrum to a multitude of earth-based feats that would tax even the strongest telekinetics.

Like now, for example. Lyra Heartstrings stood atop a small island of packed dirt at the edge of the bog, as she strummed her lyre, brow knitted in concentration and horn aglow with only a little more magic than you’d expect from the simple act of strumming a musical instrument. On the face of it, you’d certainly never blame the tremors rocking the area on a unicorn playing an enthusiastic, if somewhat discordant, tune on her lyre.

Geomancy - the sleeping dragon of magical arts.

Richard struggled to keep his footing as the music carried on; with every strum of the lyre, a new movement was felt, and the hydra stumbled out towards the middle of the bog - distracted by the rainbow pegasus flying circles around it’s heads, it barely noticed the increasingly unstable footing.

Lyra cracked an eye open, looking at Richard. “What are you waiting for? Go on, do your thing!”

“You want me to just run out onto a swamp in this?” Richard gestured at the EOD suit. “I’ll sink!”

“Then take it off!” Lyra shot back.

“Over my dead body!” Richard retorted.

“Then find another way!” Lyra exclaimed. “I don’t think that hydra’s gonna put up with this for much longer!”

Richard searched around, trying to focus amidst the tremors. The hydra was out there; he was here. There were rocks and old trees throughout the bog, but no actual islands that he could see. The surface of the swamp glooped in agitation with the tremors, and seemed like an impassable obstacle. But Richard had a will, and he could see a way.

Half a plan forming in his head, he ran for the edge of the swamp proper, headed for a rock. With a hop, skip and a jump, he leapt, and flailing his arms like windmills, landed on the top of the rock; it was barely big enough to hold him, but that didn’t matter, because it was just a stepping stone to the next solid object. With a second leap, Richard hopped from the rock to an old treetrunk floating on it’s side. With a scrape of boot on mossy wood, his mud-coated boots found no purchase, and he slipped.

“Fuck!” he shouted, falling sideways. With a whump, he landed on the log and began to slip off, into the swamp. With a flailing hand, he grabbed what was left of an old branch; he looked at his handhold with surprise when it didn’t break, and with a grunt, pulled himself back up onto the log.

“You okay?” Lyra called out.

“Just peachy!” Richard shot back, before muttering to himself quietly. “Fucking stupid mossy logs no traction bullshit...”

The human returned to his feet, and set off at a quick trot down the log, posture low for balance. With a heave, he leapt to a ridge of rock that protruded from the swamp, and arms outstretched, landed on the thin edge with a cat’s grace, regaining his balance. A stark contrast to his ungainly slip on the log.

Quick steps marked his progress along the thin stone, followed by a thap as he leaped to a flat rock, just under the surface of the bog. He looked up, and saw a rainbow blur darting at and around the hydra, the oversize lizard’s eyes moving fast to track Rainbow Dash... one pair. The other three pairs were looking at him, and they looked hungry.

“Watch out, Richard!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I think it wants to eat you!”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious!” Richard yelled back.

+==[~~~]==+

The hydra had had enough.

The smaller, swifter Rainbow Dash was just that - too small, too fast. A waste of time, really. Not to mention the constant taunts being hurled it’s way were hurtful - a hydra had feelings too, did it not?

The multi-headed leviathan turned it’s attention to the fatter-looking, slower-moving creature perched on a rock in front of it. One of the heads came to the conclusion that yes, it did look awful tasty. The second was still a little dizzy from tracking the pegasus, and didn’t really want to eat anything at the moment. The third was largely indifferent, and only a little cautious, having had trouble eating that loud thing earlier.

The fourth wasn’t that stupid, and spotted something shiny in the creature’s limb; like a tooth, only without a mouth. Or perhaps that was it’s mouth, and the head was a deception?

No matter; whether the head was on top or on the side of the body didn’t really matter, as long as it went down smooth. With a little luck, this one would do just that. Not like the small blue pony, which had kicked and screamed something atrocious.

One of the more eager heads elected to make the first move, and struck; like a rattlesnake, the head lashed out, eager for a taste of the mysterious creature.

Equally fast, the creature dived to the side, landing with a splash next to another rock. The hydra was suddenly faced with a new menu; submerged stone, with a side of pain.

+==[~~~]==+

The hydra roared in pain as it managed to headbutt the stone Richard had been standing on, and the human in question found time to chuckle with amusement, even as he hauled himself out of the bog once more.

The Hydra’s remaining heads glared at him angrily, and tried to charge; a loud squelching, and they realized that one of their legs was stuck quite firmly in the muck. Again.

Richard moved while the beast was confused, hopping from stone to log to stump to stone once more, getting as far as he could, and making it to a scant fifteen metres away from the stationary creature.

Another head roared, and attempted to avenge it’s less-fortunate comrade. Richard didn’t react in time, slow to dive, and with a snap, he was picked up by his leg. Richard thanked his lucky starts that the EOD suit proved it’s worth against wild animals once again, the tough ballistic material staying intact against the jaws of the beast.

Now there was just that little problem of being upside down. With a jerk, the hydra rectified that problem for him, and adjusted him in it’s mouth, throwing and re-catching him by the torso and right shoulder. The sudden pressure on his chest made Richard gasp for breath and reconsider his plan, which seemed like it needed revising, truth be told. Richard decided on a plan of action, and started his new plan by gripping his knife tighter in his right hand; with a vigorous motion, he stabbed into where he thought the hydra’s tongue was.

The hydra’s mouth opened as it roared in pain, and Richard consulted his internal to-do list as he fell out - escape, check. He compared the next task to the rapidly approaching surface of the bog. Not die - perhaps checking this one was going to be a challenge.

+==[~~~]==+

Lyra stopped strumming the lyre to watch the fight go on; Rainbow Dash landed next to her, breathing hard. They practically felt the ground shake as the hydra headbutted the submerged stone.

“Celestia, look at him go!” Lyra said. “He just doesn’t stop!”

“The hydra, or Richard?” Rainbow Dash puffed.

“Richard, obviously,” Lyra gestured at the running human. “A pony would have been mince by now, but here he is, taking on a hydra! It’s gotta be the hands!”

The hydra snapped Richard up with one of it’s heads like lightning, and the pair watched as the human was hoisted into the air by his leg.

“Richard!” Lyra screamed.

“Spoke too soon,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Okay, you start running; I’ll try and get Richard, we’ll try and out-run it.”

“Wait, never mind!” Lyra switched tack, pointing with a hoof. “Look!”

The hydra roared in pain, and like a rock, Richard fell out, his knife glinting silver and red as he fell. With a wet splash, he hit the muddy water like a rock, submerging completely, and Rainbow Dash hovered into the air, concerned.

“Oh Celestia, is he alright?!” she exclaimed, ready to dart over.

The water thrashed, and Richard resurfaced, his head clearing the water as he struggled to get up, muddy water running off him in rivulets as he voiced his displeasure.

“Fuck gravity!” he yelled, clutching his side as he got up. “Seriously, fuck it!”

Rainbow Dash returned to the ground. “He’s fine,” she assessed.

Richard waded through the waist-deep water with as much haste as he could manage, staggering to the hydra’s chest; he raised the knife in his hand, and-

Nothing.

“What?!” Rainbow Dash demanded, looking at Richard, who was in turn looking at his knife and at the shallow scratch he’d made on the scale he’d tried to stab. “You’re kidding me!”

Richard tried again, this time trying to stab around the scale - no luck, and the knife just slid off again. He looked up, and saw the hydra looming over him. He seemed to slump a little, and Rainbow Dash leaned forward again.

“No, Richard... don’t give up!”

Richard returned his knife to it’s sheath, and stepped back, waving at the hydra. “Come on, you fucker! Come and get it!”

“Richard! No!” Lyra held out a hoof, looking for a way to get over the bog. “Don’t do it!”

Richard couldn’t, or wouldn’t, hear them, stepping back into prime eating range for the hydra. The hydra considered him, skeptical - Once bitten, twice shy, and so forth.

Lyra hoped that Richard had some sort of miraculous trick up his sleeves - perhaps some new human trait that she hadn’t heard about? Super-strength? Incorporeality? Something? Anything!

The hydra decided that Richard was fair enough game to be getting on with, and struck, jaws open wide to receive the prize. Richard dove... straight into the hydra’s mouth.

“Richard!” Lyra screamed; she was frozen mid-dash by Rainbow, pulling on her tail.

“No!” Rainbow grunted around the tail in her mouth. “It’s no good! We have to run!”

“But, Richard!” Lyra looked at the hydra, which was repeating it’s earlier swallowing act, albeit with more choking.

“We have to run! I think he did it to buy us some time!” Rainbow Dash tugged harder. “Come on! We have to run!”

Lyra looked one last time at the hydra, which was roaring in triumph, and after a moment of agony, nodded.

“Alright, let’s run.”

+==[~~~]==+

It had been a long time coming, but Trouble had finally made an appearance at the Forlorn Hope Armory, in the form of something which looked like it had been considerably more than a bump in the night, and probably closer to a small explosion. Following hot on the heels of Trouble, however, was Questions. Questions that wore a military biohazard suit, smoked a cigar and generally looked and sounded like the Commander himself.

Tulip stood in the doorway, thouroughly unimpressed. All around him, soldiers were in a panic, trying to do a multitude of things. Mostly covering their collective and individual arses by hiding evidence because the big boss was watching. The slightly smaller boss stood next to the big boss, wishing he could join them and ignore Questions.

“So,” Tulip said, looking at the room. “Quartermaster - the inability of your men to secure the armory aside, I’m not impressed with how you’re running things.”

Derrick Lynch, the Quartermaster, and a rather portly man, looked ashamed. “I... I don’t really have anything to say in my defense, sir.”

“Not only is the armory broken into, Mister Lynch,” Tulip sighed, “but not a single person here can actually tell me what was stolen, because nobody’s been keeping any records, and the stolen items could be anything.”

“It... uh,” the Quartermaster coughed awkwardly. “You see, when we prepared for the attack the other night...”

“You thought we were all going to die, and thought you didn’t have to keep records,” Tulip sighed. “I will confess that I thought the same way. But I still did my job, right up until the end. You, however, did not. And now that we’re not all going to die, we have a problem - to wit, that someone might die anyway, very soon, because some twit has a gun that we don’t know about and everyone’s generally jumpy bastards after the attack. Derrick, I really do not care for problems like this, and you seem like you’re determined to make sure this gets to my desk.”

“I- “ Derrick Lynch cleared his throat. “We’re checking inventory now. Most of my team can remember what they issued and what they didn’t.”

“Quartermaster, “Most of”?” Tulip frowned. “Most of? What about the ones that don’t?”

“Well, uh... um.” Lynch looked at his boots. “That’s... that’ll be a problem, yes.”

Tulip took his cigar in one hand, and ran his other down his face in exasperation. “Please tell me the explosive ordinance, experimental, and heavy weapons are all accounted for. Especially since I can see the lock to that door’s been blown as well.”

“Those were the first things we checked,” Lynch said, brightening and taking heart that he’d managed to take the initiative on this, at least. “Don’t worry - all the detpacks are present, and the Deus Ex is safely locked away in it’s container.”

“Really, now?” Tulip placed the cigar back in his mouth. “So, if everything’s present in Secure Storage, then why was the door busted?”

Lynch frowned in thought. “A red herring, perhaps?”

“I will admit that seems possible,” Tulip nodded. “Nevertheless. You’ve got until the end of the day, Mister Lynch - dust for prints, get evidence, and if you can’t bring me solid proof and a suspect by sundown, you’d better bring me some solid leads,” Tulip turned to leave. “Or your head will roll, do I make myself clear?”

“A-a solid lead?” Lynch stammered. “Commander! How can I do that?”

Tulip looked over his shoulder. “There are a thousand people on-base. Start crossing names off, ask questions. Play detective, Quartermaster. Remember - sundown.”

Tulip’s boots crunched on gravel and bits of rubble as he walked away, and the Quartermaster watched him go, face ashen.

“I’m so dead.”

+==[~~~]==+

Lyra and Rainbow Dash ran for their little pony lives, as fast as they could; dodging through the undergrowth in search of the path, they quickly tired. Even Rainbow Dash was feeling it, panic and playing decoy to distract the hydra earlier taking it’s toll. No such disadvantage to their pursuer, the hydra, as it happily romped over and through obstacles with ease, searching for them.

“Lyra!” Rainbow Dash called, leaping over a log. “Do that thing with your lyre again!”

“I can’t!” Lyra protested, brushing past a shrub and smearing green all over her once-white lab coat. “I need to concentrate on the music, and I can’t concentrate when there’s a hydra trying to eat me!”

“Join the club!” Rainbow Dash called back, sliding under a low arch of stone. “Whoa! Watch out!”

The blue pegasus skidded to a halt, and looked out at the water before her. Lyra caught up, and swore when she realized what she was seeing.

“A river,” she lamented. “We are so hydra-food.”

“There’s gotta be a way across!” Rainbow Dash looked around, then at Lyra. “I’ll carry you, even. Come on, gimme your shoulders!”

Lyra shook her head. “The river won’t even slow the hydra down, and by the time you’re done carrying me to the other side, you’ll be so tired it’ll catch us in no time!”

“Then what do you propose?” Rainbow Dash gestured at the river. “I don’t see you offering any solutions!”

Lyra’s face hardened. “You go. I’ll stall for time.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Gimme your shoulders now, or I take them! Today is not a good day to die!”

The pegasus tried to take Lyra’s shoulders, only for the unicorn to shake her off.

“Come off it, Dash - you’re one of the bearers of harmony,” Lyra pointed out. “You’re one of six ponies who can wield the strongest powers known to ponykind - you’re important! I’m just a regular old unicorn!” Lyra smiled. “Besides. I owe you for that one time on summer camp.”

“I don’t think helping you sneak into the kitchen at midnight for a snack is on a level with stalling for time against a hydra,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“It is for me,” Lyra said, her horn glowing as she telekinetically pushed Rainbow Dash towards the edge. “Go!”

“No.” Rainbow Dash shook the telekinesis off, and stood her ground. “If you’re gonna get eaten,  then I will too. We started this journey together, we’re finishing this together.”

The hydra’s roar echoed over the trees, and one head snaked up. It spotted the brightly-colored equines with ease, and roared again. With a shaking of earth and crunching of trees, the head stalked towards them, the other three heads snaking up to watch them. Lyra smiled.

“Well, looks like the decision’s been made, RD,” she chuckled, and unfolded her lyre again, and gave it a strum. “Let’s hope for a miracle, huh?”

The hydra finally cleared the edge of the forest, and roared it’s glee as it noticed it’s prey had stopped running. It reared it’s heads, and eyed the two up; the pegasus seemed like a better choice, not to mention the third head had a bit of a grudge against her for various taunts and insults regarding a multitude of subjects including, but not limited to, parentage, intellect, sexual potency and scale color.

The hydra licked it’s fangs, and before Lyra could do a thing, it cringed, stopping dead in it’s tracks. Lyra paused, mid-strum, confused. It spasmed, hunching over and roaring in pain. A claw clutched it’s breast and it dawned on Lyra.

“Oh, no way. Is he...?”

With a muffled shlick, accompanied by a titanic roar of pain, something sharp visibly bulged against the hydra’s chest, hammering on the scales from the inside. The hydra began to thrash, unable to do a thing about it. With a slam, it ran into a tree, and began to scoot about on the ground, roaring. To no avail, as something sharp and metallic finally stabbed through the skin.

The hydra couldn’t take it any more, and with a faint growl, passed out. All the while, Lyra and Rainbow Dash watched on in mild horror as the blade cut and stabbed a vaguely semi-circular arc through the scales. After a few minutes of crude hacking, a flap of flesh finally flopped open, and amidst a flood of nauseating fluids, a figure emerged.

Covered in bile, blood and things best not questioned, Richard stood. Over his shoulder, a limp, light-blue form was slung, bearing what looked like burn marks. Slight movement of her torso signalled breathing.

“It’s official,” Richard said, putting his knife away and stepping out of the corpse awkwardly, “I fucking hate Equestrian wildlife. It can all burn in hell for all I care.”

+==[~~~]==+

The truck slowed once more, and Twilight startled awake at the change in movement.

“What’s going on?” she asked blearily, rubbing her eyes. “Are we stopping for fuel again?”

“Nah,” Carpenter grunted. “Stopping for the night. I’d love to keep driving, but you know what they say about driving tired - you’re driving, you drop off to sleep, next minute, everyone’s upside down and/or dead.”

Twilight looked out the window at the still-running lights that blinked a steady message. “Motel. What’s a motel?”

“It’s like a hotel,” Carpenter shrugged, “Only... more situated on motorways? I got no idea.”

The truck rolled to a halt, and the brakes squeaked as Carpenter killed the engine and pushed the door open. Twilight and Fluttershy got out, and stretched their legs.

[I’ll just camp out here, pardners,] Palladion said. [I prefer a roof of stars, and all.]

“Also, because your oversized chassis won’t fit inside,” Carpenter pointed out, comparing the utility mech to the relatively tiny doorways of the rooms.

[Now that ain’t true, pardner. I can fit inside just dandy. I just don’t, is all.]

“Can we just... take a room?” Fluttershy asked. “Where do we pay?”

“Pay?” Carpenter laughed. “Abandoned, remember? Finding clean sheets is gonna be a real bugger, though. Let’s try to find some relatively clean rooms.”

Carpenter turned to the nearest room, and tried the door; to his distress, it was locked. He took out his handgun, and put it to the lock.

“Carpenter?” Twilight asked, curious. “What are you doing?”

“Lockpicking - block your ears,” Carpenter suggested, and averted his eyes as he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed around the low buildings, and Twilight and Fluttershy cringed at the volume of the noise.

Carpenter clicked the safety back on, and returned the gun to the holster as he pushed the newly unlocked door open with a creak. A waft of nauseating air hit his nostrils, and he grimaced.

Inside the dark room, the light from the setting sun and doorway illuminated a gruesome sight - what looked like the rotted corpse of a pony on the bed, missing most of it’s skull. On the other side of the room, a human corpse lay, propped up against the wall, what was left of it’s chin resting on the barrel of a hunting shotgun.

Carpenter shook his head, and pulled the door close before Twilight could smell or see what was inside the room.

“What’s wrong, Carpenter?” she asked. “Is the room too dirty?”

Carpenter paused, then nodded. “Yeah. Very. Don’t go in there.”

+==[~~~]==+

Dozens of miles away, a trio of pegasi flew through the air, framed by the sunset.

“Hey,” one of them said, “I wonder what Fluttershy’s doing out here - wasn’t she handling rehabilitation back in Canterlot hospital? How did she find Twilight?”

“I have no idea,” Rainbow Dash sighed, smiling. “It’s just good to know she’s still alive, even after the bomb and all.”

“Uh,” the other pegasus said, hesitantly. “I just realized something.”

“What’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Uh, we’re up near... what’s the name, Quebec. Or whatever. Aaand... the Library Bombing happened south. Like, way far south. Why were Twilight and Fluttershy out here?”

There was a flash of magenta as Rainbow Dash’s eyes flashed unnaturally bright, tightening to slits. Her jaw clicked as her jaw clenched.

“They tricked me,” Rainbow Dash spat. “They aren’t my friends! They’re... spies! Dirty, cheating, lying spies!” Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt in the air. “They’re heading to Equestria! Equestria is in danger!”

“W- what do we do, Dash?” one of the pegasi asked.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes danced over the ground below and behind them - it was getting dark, and she couldn’t see anything in the half light. “Tonight, we’ll camp out here,” she decided. “Tomorrow, we haul flank back to Armor and warn him to be on his guard - there’s an imposter on the way!”

Rainbow Dash went into a slow circle, drifting down to the ground, followed by the two other pegasi without question.

“Using a stallion’s own dead sister against her...” Rainbow Dash muttered murderously. “Such a dirty, human thing to do!” Her eyes glowed brighter, and her face slackened slightly. “Yes... It’ll all be better when they’re one of us.”

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