Void

"Incoming," I whispered into my mic, and froze. The others followed my lead. We stood, still as statues, trying to not even breathe while the shadow oozed past the window. As soon as it had left, we all quietly exhaled in relief.

We had left the arrival building, carefully marking the position so that we could return if needed. We were now attempting to stealthily explore the city by dodging from house to house, avoiding the random windigo patrols. Thankfully, most doors were open and we didn't haven to struggle to get inside.

The patrols didn't seem to be able to sense us, as long as we weren't actually fighting. We still kept a careful watch, and hid at their approach. They were easier to spot than might be expected, since they brought a chill feeling with them. I was currently on lookout, using a shiny piece of crystal as a mirror to watch the street. Rainbow and Twilight were searching through the house for anything useful, but especially water. If we were here for more than a day, we needed more than the canteen and a half that we had brought with us.

"Twilight!" Rainbow hissed. "Come see this!" I heard quiet hoof-steps, echoed through the mic, move towards Rainbow's position.

"Rainbow, what did you find?" I asked softly.

"Hold on, I'll come relieve you. It's, uh, I'm not really sure, but it LOOKS like a pony under a layer of black ice. Captain Egghead is on her way."

A bit later, the Rainbow tapped me on the shoulder. I handed her the mirror-crystal I'd been using.

"Go up the steps, first door on the left." I nodded.

I stumbled up the steps. Ponies used a different ratio for the height-to-width of their steps, and unless I concentrated, it was easy to trip on them. I turned to the left, and found what had bothered my teammates.

"Woah."

Twilight was already there, her horn glowing with aura as she scanned. In the corner of the room, curled up on a bed as if asleep, was a lime-green pony. Its color was muted under a layer of black crystal, which folded and flowed over it like water, covering even its nose and mouth.

"Is it dead?"

"No idea. I'm not getting much of anything. Whatever that stuff is, it's a superb insulator. Just guessing from the visual similarities, but I'd say that this is a product of the windigoes. Well, that and the fact that there's no-one else here."

"What's it for?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe if I could take a sample, I could-"

"No. Sorry, but our own survival comes first. Anything you do could alert the guardians, since this must be part of what they're guarding. As fascinating as that could be, our first priority is to find a way out. Once we have a retreat secured, we can consider grabbing things before we run."

"Fine. Then I'm done here, I think."

"Ok." I turned, and led the way back towards the door. I tapped my mic to silence it, and stopped Twilight for a second. "Um, do you have a spell that would make Rainbow flying around less....noticeable?" She frowned in thought.

"Hmm....maaaaaybe. Why do you ask?"

"I...would really like to send her out on a patrol. I'm pretty sure she could out fly anything she met, but....I don't want her to be traced back to us, or if possible even noticed."

"Careful with what you ask her to do, Wes. Rainbow is very brave, but that doesn't mean she's not affected by what's going on here. This whole thing has been pretty stressful, for all of us. If you push her, I'm sure she'd agree to a flight. But that's not necessarily a good idea."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right. I still want to do it, but I'll have to have a word with her before I do." I tapped the mic back on, and we finished descending the stairs.

"We're headed for that house, next." I pointed to our target, several blocks down the street. "Let's stick to the drill; skulk, sneak, and stealth. Fall in, here goes!" The two took up position behind me, and I slipped out the door.

"Rainbow, how are you doing?" I whispered, letting my mic carry the words into her furry blue ears.

"A little thirsty, but not tired at all."

"That's not exactly what I meant, Rainbow. How do you feel about all...this?"

"Just fine, Wes! As if this sorta thing could bother me, Rainbow Dash!"

"None of this bothers you at all? Not the creepy emotion-sucking shadows, or the impossibly black sky, or the way the streetlamps have that eerie, green cast to them?" I paused, but got no answer. Well, you often needed to share some trust to gain some trust. "Because honestly? This whole thing has got me crawling in my skin."

"Heh, that's a good expression. Crawling in your skin." She paused for a second, and sighed. "Listen, don't you ever tell anyone else I said this, 'k?"

"Cross my heart, hope to die."

"Fly, dude. Fly."

"Huh?"

"Um...later. Anyways...yeah. I'm a little, teensy bit creeped out. Just a bit."

"It's OK to be scared, you know."

"I'm not scared! Nothing scares Rainbow Dash!"

"Woah, calm down a minute. I'm not saying you're scared. I'm saying it's OK to be scared. Which you, of course, aren't."

"Of course."

"But if you are, it's OK. Listen, this is something my friend Splinter told me. It's important not to deny who you are. Understand, that's not the same as giving in to who you are. Giving in lets your feelings control you. But if you're really trying to be effective, then you can't block parts of yourself off, either. Being afraid isn't a bad thing. Remember in training, how you commented on the way I sometimes guess where an attack is coming from, even if I didn't see it?"

"Yeah. Still think that's crazy."

"This is part of it. My brain, and yours, takes in a whole lot more information than we notice. Small things, but they all add up. This comes out as intuition and guesses, and an important part of that, is being afraid. I can guess where an attack is coming from because I'm afraid of the attack. If I tried to deny my fear, and block that off..."

"You wouldn't be able to do that." A sigh came across the channel. I carefully eased the door of the target house open. We'd managed to transition without trouble. We filed inside. Twilight set off to explore, but I stopped Rainbow with a gesture. I motioned for her to wait, and started counting off the time till the next patrol passed. They were very inconsistent. I'd suggested that maybe it was intended to throw intruders off guard. Twilight thought we just hadn't found the pattern. Rainbow insisted that they weren't actually organized. I was beginning to drift towards Rainbows viewpoint, especially since there hadn't been any sort of concentrated effort to find us, and any sort of command chain should have noticed one of their units was missing by now.

"Rainbow, I'd like to send you out on a patrol." I said. "I asked Twilight to think of spells that could hide your takeoff and return, but it's important for me to understand how you're doing, first. So, are you scared?" I pinned her with my eyes. "As your leader, tell me true."

"....yeah, I guess I am." Her ears flattened slightly, and she peered up at me. "I mean, I'm certain that the three of us can get out of here. We're too awesome to let this stop us. But this whole place is creepy, you know?" I nodded somberly. "And, well, I just can't help it."

I steeled myself, knelt down, squashed my feelings, toughened my resolve, and carefully hugged her. She stiffened for a second, and then returned the gesture, wrapping a wing around me.

"That's OK." I said quietly. "Really, it is. Don't wall your feelings off. Don't put up a facade and ignore them. You do yourself a disservice, if you do. I'd be lying if I said I was as sure as you that we'd get out of here. I went into this because it needed to be done, not because I was sure I could do it. Bravery is moving forward despite all that, and no-matter what else you may be, you are brave."

"Thanks."

I rubbed her ears for a second, and then broke the hug off with a sigh of relief. That would take some getting used to. It did seem to help, though; her ears were noticeably less flat. I stood and carefully checked the street again. Nothing.

"Um, guys?" Twilight said softly. "Sorry to interrupt, but I've found water."

"GAH!" I swallowed a gasp. "How long have you been there?"

"Just now. I looked like a nice hug." She giggled quietly.

"Nevermind that," I said. "Water?"

"Yeah. This house has a cistern."

"Good. You get something to drink?" She nodded. "Ok, take over watching. Rainbow, let's go top up."

A minute later we returned, stomachs and canteens full. I pulled out some of my ration bars and we split a quiet meal. They were very similar to granola bars, although heavy on the oats.

"We have four days worth of food," I said. "We have water now, so that's not a concern. Twilight, any thoughts on that spell?" She flicked her eyes towards Rainbow, and I nodded slightly.

"Ok, how are you two doing that?" Rainbow interjected. Both of us turned to look at her, eyebrows raised quizzically. "That, that!" She gestured to us. "Twilight, you don't even have a comm. But Wes just gives a wave or two, and you know exactly what he's thinking! When did you two get so....so close? it's like you can read his mind, or something!"

That's an interesting idea.... I thought, wondering if it were possible. I glanced at Twilight but she flicked an ear, waving the notion away.

"You're doing it again!" Our multicolored companion burst out. Twilight giggled a bit at her distress.

"Um, Rainbow..." I started, but paused, not sure what to say. We'd explained some of what was going on to Twilight's circle of friends, but we hadn't given them an in-depth or technical overview. Partly because we weren't sure what they would think of Twilight and I 'sharing souls', and partly because I didn't feel totally comfortable sharing the secret, and Twilight respected that.

"It's because of last time." Twilight came to my rescue. "I said it before, right? This isn't the first situation that Wes and I have escaped from. We worked out some of these signals before."

I nodded. That was true, if not the whole truth. The fact that we shared some memories, if on a mostly subconscious level, could be ignored.

"Yeah." I added. "Not to mention the bonds of camaraderie that form from being in a life-or-death situation together." Rainbow slowly nodded.

"Ok, fine. I'll buy that for now. But you two do seem awful close."

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "We're just friends." I finished my bar, and gestured for Twilight to continue explaining.

"Well, here's what I've got." She took over smoothly. "Rainbow, for this spell to work, you'll need to fly slow. Your contrail is just too noticeable. Otherwise, I have a spell that ought to dampen any noise your wings make, and color you mostly black. I think if you're careful, and if they don't look up too much, you should be able to make a slow exploration by air." She started to charge up her horn, but I stopped her.

"We're not doing this just now." I said. " We need to get to a better location. Also, if possible, I'd like to try and find the wall of this cavern, first. Can't have Rainbow flying into them in the dark." My two companions nodded. I felt a chill march down my back, and alerted them. "Patrol!" We all froze.

"Ok," I said, after the windigo had passed, "We continue heading that way." I pointed down the road. "I still think that if we keep heading away from the castle, we're more likely to reach the wall. Remember, slow, quiet, and above all, careful." We opened the door, and slipped out.

"So, thoughts?" I stared into the 'wall' of the 'cave', wishing Rainbow would get back, so we could leave.

As it turned out, we weren't in cavern.

We were lost.

In a formless void.

With no way home.

I squashed that depressing train of thought.

We'd reached The Edge, as I now thought of it, not too long ago. Turns out, this whole city was sitting on nothing. Literally. The Edge was where the road ended, cut off as if by a razor. Beyond, was a deep black void.

Lost.

I squashed the thought again.

"What's got you so twitchy?"

Twilight turned towards me. We were hiding in a house that the The Edge had sliced in half. She was carefully inspecting the phenomena, probing it with as much magic as she could spare. I'd cautioned her against using more than necessary, reminding her that getting home was our highest priority.

<"Apollo 13."> I answered. She winced, as my words pulled up memories of my childhood. I'd been absolutely terrified of that movie. Not so much from any rational reason, but from the idea that people could be lost in space. Gone from the planet for good. So far away from home, that not even their corpses would make it back. Drifting endlessly, through a lightless void, their only contact with home crackling voices fading on the radio as all hope was lost to them. Looking back, I rationally knew that the situation hadn't been as bad for them as that....but when I was young, it had given me creeping shivers.

"Hey, Wes, it'll be OK." Twilight rubbed her head against my arm and I nodded, once again squishing the thought. Irrational fears were exactly that. We'd make it through this. We would. For our sake. For our friends sake. For Equestria's sake! I psyched myself up.

Glancing out into the black again stole my mood, but I managed to keep from despairing again.

"Again, thoughts?" I asked, wanting a report from my magic expert.

"Well, the space itself isn't anything special. I mean, I don't think you can examine emptiness. Although, the phrase keeps popping up in my head, and I'm going to need to examine that concept later. Anyways, what's really fascinating is the boundary. Look!" She held up a rock, turning it. It was sliced so smoothly that the surface showed my reflection. "Whatever did this was operating by different rules than most transportation spells. The fact that it could teleport only part of something means that it's bypassed the geometry laws! If I could extrapolate how that was done, just think of everything we could learn!" She deflated a little. "It does mean, though, that Sombra is even smarter than I'd thought. If he developed this sort of spell all by himself then he's at the very least an unsung genius. At worst, we're up against someone with the sort of knowledge that I thought only the Princess' had. This could be very tricky."

"Well, we do have an advantage in that." I said. "With any luck, we'll be out of here before he even knows what we're up to."

"Yeah, I hope."

I leaped to my feet as a black shadow swooped into the room, but relaxed when I recognized the disguised Rainbow. She laughed quietly at my reaction, her red eyes twinkling in a pitch-dark face.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Flawlessly, of course!" She struck a pose in the air. "They never even suspected that I was there!"

"So, see anything worth investigating?"

"Well, the whole city doesn't seem to be very different from the bits we've explored. There are windigoes in the streets, but they just seem to drift around randomly. Like I said, I really don't think they're organized. However, the central castle does have those statue-things you talked about around it; faceless crystal ponies. And it is in the center of town. Also, I flew a ways into that-" she waved a hoof into the void, and I shivered at the thought. "It seems to continue for a long ways. Didn't see any sign of an end or anything. Turned back quickly, though. It was a little creepy not being able to tell if you're moving or not."

"I bet," Twilight said, subdued.

"First off, do not do that again. We have no idea what sort of magic is sustaining this...this pocket dimension, and I do not want you messing with anything connected with that if it can be avoided. That's Twilight's job. Secondly, were you able to find anything with your scanner?"

She pulled out the enspelled telescope, and spun it in a circle. The lenses glowed slightly, brightening and dimming as the scope pointed different directions.

"Yeah, no matter where I went, it gleamed directly at the castle."

"Well, I'm glad that gamble paid off. Twilight, how's the magic feeling?"

"Only two or three spells left, Wes."

"Blech. Well, that's what I expected. At least it was worth it. It seems that our next objective is the castle. Take a rest, Rainbow, and wrap up your studies, Twilight. We're moving out in a half an hour. If we're lucky, we'll be out of this before tomorrow."