Two Sides of One Lie

     "Nononono... She's not here!" Rainbow shouted as she stared at the dried pool of blood where Pinkie Pie had laid. She changed her focus to the tunnel that led away from the chamber she was in and galloped to it's edge. She quickly skidded to a halt and squinted to look ahead. She realized how foolish she had nearly been, running off on her own. Without Twilight, she was essentially blind. She could feel her anxiety begin to well up in her chest, it mocked her sharply in it's silent way. Telling her that she wouldn't be able to save her friend. That Fluttershy was as good as dead.

     She lashed out at her doubt and replaced it with anger. An anger which was now threatening to boil over and cause her to explode. "Grrr... Twilight, hurry up!"

     In a matter of moments both of her friends, minus an unconcious Rarity, galloped into the room.

     "Rainbow, hold yer darn horses!" Applejack shouted as she slowed to a trot.

     "Rainbow Dash calm down! What is it?" Twilight asked annoyed.

     "Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie aren't here!" Rainbow shouted in anger.

  "Rainbow Dash, just relax! I'm sure they are around here somewhere." Twilight pleaded her light blue friend.

   "Ah don't think so. Ain't no way Fluttershy coulda done this." Applejack stood over the corpse of a strange grey creature, missing most of it's chest and right foreleg. The area around it was splattered with blood and bits of flesh.

     Twilight walked up to the edge of the lifeless form and stared at it, marveling and cringing at the amount of damage done to it's body. There were no lacerations or blunt damage visible, not even small cuts. It was just a massive amount of tearing and shredding. Like somepony had taken a gardening fork and drove it straight through it's chest repeatedly. Looking at the sight made her want to gag, but she managed to hold back the urge.

     "What's this?" Twilight levitated up a small red cylinder with a metal base. It was made of a material that was completely foreign to her and it had an unusual aroma of smoke. The sides of the cylinder carried a foreign text that was printed over in black.

Federal   No. 00 Buckshot

12 Gauge   (12x70mm)

     "Who the heck cares what it is, we have to find Fluttershy and Pinkie!" Rainbow angrily nudged Twilight and Applejack toward the exit.

     Twilight and Applejack shared a glance and the latter of the two shrugged turning to the halls they had come from originally. "Fine, let's see if we can figure out where they went off to." Twilight brightened her horn and took lead of the small group cautiously advancing down the stone pathway.

     The group came to a halt as they neared one of the numerous intersections that seemed to be randomly placed throughout the catacombs. The only decision was left or right. "We came from the right," Twilight stated motioning her head to hall. "So, it wouldn't make sense for Fluttershy to go back. But then again, she's not the type of pony to go off somewhere she doesn't recognize."

     "How exactly do we know Fluttershy's even been here before?" Rainbow pointed out with sharpness.

     "We can't... So, I guess we should just go left." Twilight turned and proceeded to walk down into the darkened tunnel.

     "Girls, ah can't help but keep wonderin' 'what caused this'." Applejack spoke in a low whisper. "What was that darned rock we found out there?"

     "Yeah, what spell did you use on that thing, Twilight?" Rainbow gave her an accusing glare and asked in an almost mocking tone.

     "I didn't do anything!" Twilight responded in her defense. "It was a simple identity spell. I don't know what could have gone wrong."

     "How could you not have known what went wrong? You're an expert in magic for buck's sake!" Her blue friend gestured by throwing her hooves into the air.

     "Rainbow Dash," Applejack butted in. "Stop blamin' Twi' for all a' this! She's your friend." She spoke sternly. "And ya'll shouldn't be fightin' 'bout somethin' like this. We need ta' help each other, not try ta' wrap our hooves 'round our necks."

     "Well if we hadn't of gone after that stupid rock in the first place, none of this would've happened!" Rainbow moved in closer to the cowpony, threatening her personal space and still maintaining her harsh tone of voice. "Pinkie Pie would be okay, Fluttershy wouldn't be missing, and Rarity wouldn't be unconscious!"

     Applejack looked like she'd been slapped across the face, but quickly returned to her angered expression. "What has gotten inta' you? Y'all done said yerself that ya'-"

*THUD*

    Applejack tumbled forward and Rarity rolled off her back as her hooves stumbled over something on the ground. She quickly managed to get into an up-right position and rubbed the sides of her head with her hooves. "Ouch... What in the hay...?"

     "Ohhh..." Rarity's eyes began to flicker open and she brought her head up to survey her surroundings.

     "Rarity! Are you okay?" Twilight extended a hoof and helped her purple maned friend into a sitting position. "You're not hurt are you?"

     Rarity took a moment to look around, squinting her eyes to see anything. She rubbed them with her hooves and focused on the purple mare in front of her. "Twilight...? Is that you?" Rarity stared at her as though she were unsure of what she saw.

     "Yes Rarity, it's me."

     "Twilight it is you!" Rarity quickly got up and wrapped her forelegs around her violet friend, as thought it would be the last time she got the chance. "I-I thought I wouldn't see you again."

      Twilight felt her cheeks turning red as Rarity squeezed her tightly. "Thanks I guess... Could you please let go?" She barely managed to force the words out of her already suffocated lungs.

      "Oh I'm terribly sorry dear," Rarity loosened her grip and leaned back to get a better look at Twilight. "Im just so relieved to see you again. I'm sure if anypony knows where we are it's you." Rarity seemed overly enthusiastic in her statement, like it was an absolute certainty.

     Twilight suddenly felt her conscience gnaw at her for having to break the truth to Rarity. The mare was so happy, she was sure telling her would only get her depressed, and having to be the one to break it to her made it all the worse.

     "Well Rarity... That's sort of the problem." Twilight scratched the back of her neck with her hoof and let her eyes wander away from her ivory white friend, unable to bring herself to look her in the eyes.

     Rarity cocked her head and stared quizzically at Twilight. "Whatever do you mean, darling?"

     "What she means is that we are completely, and hopelessly lost!" Rainbow dropped to the ground next to Rarity and stated bluntly. "We've been stuck in these Celestia forsaken halls for who knows how long, and the closest we've come to finding an exit is death!" Rarity looked to Twilight as though asking for confirmation. Yet all Twilight could manage was to look down to the stone in guilt.

     Rarity fell back down on her haunches as the life seemed to drain from her being. Twilight felt the intense urge to console her friend, but what could she say? How could she explain it would be alright if she had no absolute certainty of anything? Besides, she was the variable in their situation that had brought them here in the first place. She began to reach out with a hoof to pat Rarity's shoulder, but Applejack suddeny walked between the two in excitement.

     "Y'all look, it's Fluttershy's saddle bag!" Applejack held it in the air with a hoof, displaying her find proudly to the rest of the group. "Eveythings still in it too."

     "Well, at least we know we're going the right way." Twilight said as she lifted the saddlebag out of Applejack's grip. She examined it closely and plain as day, there was her cutie marke embroidered on the side of it.

     "Y-you mean you haven't found Fluttershy yet?" Rarity finally broke her gaze from the smooth rocky floor and looked up to Twilight. Before she could respond herself, Applejack had already beaten her to the first word.

     "Fraid not Rar'. We done lost the poor gal not too long ago. And pinkie with her." Applejack said. She insantly noticed the sullen, miserable expression worn by her snow-white friend. "Hey now," Applejack set a hoof on her shoulder.  "Ain't no reason to fret. We'll have em both back safe n' sound in no time at all. Something tells me they're both just fine."

     Rarity looked into the cowpony's deep green eyes and barely managed a smile. Slowly she stood back up and wiped the tears from beneath her eyes, she changed her gaze to each of her three friends present and let out a deep breath. "Okay... Let's go find Fluttershy."

     Callahan woke with the sudden need to go and take a leak badly, and carefully made his way out of the hooves of the sleeping little horse. He stood up and stretched lightly, feeling the pleasant chorus of satisfying cracks and pops. He looked down to the fire that had now been reduced to but a small pile of glowing embers and briefly thought about going to get more firewood, but figured that there would been no need.

     He proceeded out the doorway of the room and took a few steps down the hall. He reached down and gripped the zipper with his hand, gently opening it and proceeding to relieve himself. His mind began to drift to the recent events he'd experienced. The kind of toll it would take on him to be suddenly relocated wasn't nearly as devastating as possibly having his equipment torn from him. Shelter was something that he could acquire easily but that didn't make it any less frusturating to be lost.

     Yeah... 'Strange' was definitely an understatement.

     Gently shaking loose the last few drops of urine, he zipped up his pants and went to return to his resting place next to the yellow horse. He entered the room and did his best to step over the pink one without disturbing her, performing a balancing act to get around and laying himself back down against the wall. Once he was comfortable he stared up at the small window that served to let the smoke out and noted it was still night-time. He had no clue how much time had passed since he fell asleep nor how long it had been since he arrived.

     Leaning over to his backpack, he opened a small pouch on one of the shoulder straps and removed his PDA from it's holster. He pressed down on the power button which prompted the screen to light up and display a triangular logo bearing the letters ETG. He gazed up to where the time would have normally been displayed on the screen, only to find it reading the words "No zone".

     "Piece of crap." he muttered under his breath. His fingers danced across the screen, guiding him the through the various settings and systems until he finally got the one he was looking for.

Coordinates: N/A

Time Frame: N/A

Satellite Connection: N/A

Radio Link: N/A

'What the hell is going on here?'

     With a few more strokes of his fingers a new set of words flashed across the screen.

Attempting to acquire satellite connection, please standby...

...

...

...

...

...

Signal could not be found.

Please move to a more open area and try again.

     "Fucking figures..." Callahan Powered the device down and returned it to it's holster before laying back against the wall like he'd done previously. He let out a sigh and stared at the little yellow being the slept just next to him. "I really hope you know where we're at... Cause' I haven't got a clue."