Pump Fictionby NetherWalkerChaptersPrologue: Monumental Failure, and coincidence, not a good mixChapter I: The Bridgefall Wastes, and the things you'll find thereChapter II: A Secret World, and what you'll learn thereChapter III: Home, and how they worryPrologue: Monumental Failure, and coincidence, not a good mixHooded and concealed by frosted woods, three figures stood in wait, peeking ever-so-often towards their target. "Is it time yet?" The first figure asked, crouched low behind a boulder and gazing worriedly towards the purple Alicorn and her compatriots, "I'm getting antsy, they've just been standing there... You don't suppose they've spotted us?" "Subtlety isn't their style," the second said, laying down on the ground in a careful motion, "Believe me. I mean, have you seen Rarity?" "Quiet!" The third snapped, the telekinetic grip on her book tightening as her companions flinched, "Its time when I say its time, so stop talking and wait. We only have one shot at this! And if one of you messes up my concentration we are all going to die, not just Princess Twilight, but everyone else in a 20 miles radius, so, shut, up." And for a good while, the group respected the request, but time turned on, and even gentle breezes wore steadily at their nerves. The apparent leader, clutching her tome ever tighter, eyed the group of mares still gathered at the edge, peering over into the depths. Beginning her incantations with a measured sigh and a deep breath, she spoke the words slowly, letting slip each syllable as carefully as one could. To her two underlings, the effect was at once beautiful and disturbing, like the words had a will of their own, indignant at being summoned forth from someone unworthy. "Dolain Ak'marorna," she said, her face twisting with concentration, as if every letter was fighting her, willing itself to remain unspoken, "H'yiat Zetheil Xsim!" "So... When do you think she'll be done?" The First whispered, reaching up with a claw and scratching underneath his hood. "Who knows," the Second said, "Honestly, you'd think somepony with such a big brain could work out a less convoluted way to... Just get it over with." "Well, that's Specter for you, when she wants someone dead..." The First again looked out at the group, his voice growing heavy with pity. He didn't need to continue the thought for the Second to understand what he was getting at. Specter, the third, was if nothing else, thorough. If she succeeded with finishing her incantation, there would be no doubt, the Princess, and likely the other four that were with her, would die... And that's what you want, isn't it? The Second was so sure, at least, once, in another time... She'd wanted vengeance, she'd wanted to be free of her past... That was her mistake, and as she looked at Specter, her incantation nearing its zenith, powered by a laundry list of thing the Second had stolen, cheated, and lied to get her hooves on... A vial of royal blood, moonstone, even the Alicorn amulet, that had been the hardest, but what was that effort for? What did it mean? She look back to the group, spying the shock of colors that was Rainbow Dash... Her... Her friend... The truth was, it meant nothing, all that effort, that time, the lies, the thievery, all of it, for something she no longer wanted any part of. The realization hit her like a train. Guilt, regret, the pain from every lie she ever told, long suppressed, rushed back to her, and her calm, carefully constructed facade threatened to crack under the weight of it. And, as if it was the crescendo, the finale of her emotional crisis, there was the rage. At herself, At the world that had brought her to this, At Specter... So, in the moment of blinding rage, she lost her control. Her hate slipped from her mind into action, and as the rock sailed through the air, she realized just what she'd done. THOCK She winced as the stone sailed true to its target, beaning Specter straight on, and cocking her neck back with the force of the impact... Cutting the word she'd been saying neatly in two. Uh oh, The Second quickly reoriented herself, trying to look just as scared as she felt. Neither Specter nor their companion had seen her throw the stone, but of course, that wasn't what she was worried about. The First looked back in a panic as the word was cut short, eyes widening as he took in the implications of the failed incantation, just as the Second had. They stood there, all three of them, as the seconds wore on, the First and Second scared witless, and Specter seemingly dazed. Then, as if awoken, Specter reacted, Her face curled as she seemed to concentrate its mass toward its center, all her features crushed together in a face that somehow managed to convey her near boundless rage. With no doubt, she was pissed. But as fast as the rage had overtaken her, it dissipated, along with the magic she'd been gathering in her horn. "Welp," She said, finally straightening her neck and looking to the other two with an expression best described as 'flat', "We are so unbelievably dead." And with a flash, they were gone, moments passed, and the bright light attracted the attention of the five ponies still near the abyss. Looks of confusion were shared, before the calm was wrought upon a shock wave, the sky above seemed to fold within itself, and three great spheres shot out from its depths. The first sped south, beyond the mountains, the second fell to the North, descending into the great abyss, and the third was launched straight towards the now panicked bearers. Chapter I: The Bridgefall Wastes, and the things you'll find thereChapter I: The Bridgefall Wastes, and the things you'll find there Alan felt awful, though it was not a kind of pain he recognized, it spread and spiraled throughout his body in a surreal fashion. His muscles tingled and his hands felt frozen and limp. Oh crap... he thought, feeling guilt flush past his grogginess. I needed to help Mr. Schrumer today. His water heater, all busted, and I was supposed to take a look at it. I can't afford to... He struggled to rise, though he felt so much lighter than he usually did, it sent odd tingling shivers up and down every limb and nerve. His eyes shot open as the sensation made him grunt, making him unwilling to move till it passed. What am I talking about? I can't very well move, much less do a job. I should focus on fearing for my life right now! This isn't a normal morning quirk, kick yourself into gear Alan. Though with the snow falling around him, he doubted he really needed worry much anything, hypothermia would probably set in before long, so he'd just go back to sleep an' wake up at home... Hold on now... snow? So much for that sleep bit. Panic gripped him before he'd even the chance to produce another thought. Pushing through the almost overpowering sensations, he attempted to rise to his feet, disturbing the small layer of snow that had settled over him. He got his arms straight before he had to submit. Bending his limbs and letting out another grunt, he realized that his ears felt stuffed, every sound he made was muffled, he had to hope desperately that it wasn't permanent. As he made to speak however, his voice cracked horribly, it felt so wrong. Now that he thought about it, it seemed that everything felt a little off, of what he could feel anyways... But it didn't matter, if he was the only thing that had mattered in the situation, he didn't know if he would have had the will to push on, instead of simply submitting to the cold and tired weakness. He had to call for her, search for her, she was all that mattered right now. His daughter. "Ella!" He called, again and again, unsure of he was even loud enough to be heard a few feet away. But he continued. "Ella! Can you hear me!?" his heart beating faster and faster, as he pushed away the sensations, and getting on all fours, crawled up the frozen snowbank. He lost his grip a couple times while his still foggy brain tried to, all at once, keep the sensations away and ponder his sudden lightness, amongst other curiosities, both frighting and benign in implication. He felt as if forty pounds of him was missing, laying around somewhere in this frozen waste to be a grizzly prize for some wayward bear. ... Morbid, Chimed in the part of his brain that still didn't seem to truly understand the level of (excuse his French) deep shit he was in. Though it was certainly a, justifiably, morbid thought, it was not as disturbing, or as unwarranted, as the dangers his mind put his daughter through that pushed him forward out of fear. "Ella!" He shouted again, as he finally managed to get a limb up over the bank, though his light headedness forced him to tuck his head and close his eyes, else he tumble back down. So, as he slid himself over the snowbank, he kept his eyes squeezed shut. He feared what he'd find, or not find, hoping beyond all hopes to find Ella standing there unharmed and dressed head to toe in fluffy winter ware. He took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of his lungs for his daughter, only stopping once his already strained vocal cords reached their absolute limit. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, regaining his courage alongside his breath. Finally, they opened, and his heart sank, he saw no Ella, just snow that seemed to stretch on forever. Though he saw no sight of her, he forced himself to rise again, the alien feeling still clinging to his muscles and making his stomach feel hollow. He noticed, as he stood, his sight blurring, and again closed his eyes. This won't stop me, he thought, she has to be around here, she has to! He lifted his head up, now fully convinced that she'd be right around the next corner, she had to! He already lost too much, he couldn't lose anymore! Alan heaved himself up to all fours, panting and moaning as his muscles shook, the feel of it nearly unbearable. He trudged forward like that, arm after leg, leg after arm, everything felt so wrong, like someone had scrambled his insides and broken all his bones. His feet felt the same as his hands, cold and limp, and resting at odds with the ground. It should have been painful, which worried him more than the pain would have. But he continued. Finally lifting his head and opening his eyes. The blurriness he'd experienced before dissipated, but he began to worry that his vision was skewed, it looked almost like he was back where he began, the snow rose into a bank just a few feet ahead. No, wait, His eyes widened, and he kept them wide, despite the wind that stung them. Though it was hard to be sure it appeared as though the bank was much farther than it seemed, A few hundred yards at least he thought, trying his hardest to make it out accurately. He took a couple steps forward, only to trip on something, sending his spasming muscles out in all directions. He would soon come to recognize this as the second worst fall of his life. He first twisted his right arm beneath him, yelping as the pain lanced all the way up to his shoulder. Then, His ears popped so painfully it almost felt as if someone had taken a vice to his skull, just as his chin slammed into the ground with his tongue between his teeth. For nearly a second, he laid there, the pain of it all rushing in all at once, and he screamed. Sounded just like a woman to his recovering ears. As he quickly twisted himself to remove pressure from his injured arm, muttering curses the whole way in a broken little voice, he noticed the cause of his unfortunate tumble. A limb. He reeled back with as much speed as he could manage without hurting himself further, looking up at a cloud covered sky in an effort not to look at it. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," He muttered, so quite he barely heard himself, "Don't let it be her, please, God." His entire body shaking with trepidation, he just couldn't look. He felt his stomach twist, just the thought of what he might find finally getting to his nerves. Though at the same time, he knew he had to look, his resistance only served to agitate him further. Damned if I do, damned if I don't, he thought, forcing his head down, But I can't afford not to look... No, This whole situation is just too... I don't know, I'm just barely holding on. I'm not thinking straight. Alan slowly began to think, really think about his situation. His tired mind working as hard as it could to piece together the narrative of this frighteningly impossible morning, all the while his head slowly lowering. He could remember his day before, a hard day of work. He could remember his morning, waking Ella for school, sending her off with a kiss and a hug. He could remember his jobs, helping a friend of a friend with his electricity, cleaning out his Uncle's trash compactor of a garage, trouble shooting with Old Gale and her bipolar AC unit. Then, he returned to an empty house, and started up his PC. Ella soon returned from her friend's house, that often being her first stop after school. He asked her how her day had been, she blew him off, she had obviously been upset. He tried to ask her about it, but all she gave him was a swift apology and some nonsense about how she was fine, a very poorly veiled attempt at dissuading him from asking more, though it worked. He'd left her to her own devices, hoping to guess the cause before confronting her again. After that, he believed he'd gone to bed, but he wasn't sure. Suddenly, a violent and frigid gale ripped through snow, forcing his eyes shut. He sat like that for only a moment, flinching at the absurd winds that threatened to lift him off his feet, but as quick as it came, it moved on. So, the wind gone, Alan opened his eyes. Though as he looked at the sky, several things in the present stuck out to him. Yesterday had been the 18th of April, on one of the hottest weeks they'd had in years. The wind bit like he was in the arctic. So he wasn't anywhere near home, let alone still in the country, where on Earth was he? ... Or... It appeared as though it was sunset, as the bright light in the sky seemed to set rapidly from what he guessed was the west. So, he'd likely been moved while under sedation, how far had he been taken, and by whom? ... Or Maybe... Wait... Earth only has one moon. Or maybe I'm not on Earth anymore. As his mind reorientated itself, his eyes watering in the light, the four bright spheres stared back down, as if defiantly daring him to question their place. The clouds had receded, how such a thick cover had so quickly retreated, ludicrus winds or no, he hadn't a clue, but there were bigger things to wonder after, much bigger. The largest moon seemed so gargantuan compared to the others, taking up a sizable portion of the sky with its bulk and glow, whilst the others, varying in size and color seemed to dance across it's surface, too close for plausibility sake, No way. Alan didn't know how to react, how to move in sight of this revelation. It filled his stomach with a horrid unease, but his heart with a yearning to run, to explore this new world and let his eyes be the first to see it before anyone. In the midst of it all, his addled brain had nearly forgotten the worries of the moments before. Nearly. The groaning and hacking from below brought him back down. He seized up again, taking a second before simply just forcing himself to look below. All distractions fled his clouded mind as he pushed all his attention onto the limp limb below... And the... purple unicorn attached to it? Okay, this has to just be a dream! He thought, his wide eyes observing the creature's slender form with disbelief and shocked scrutiny, how could this not be a hallucination. It has wings too?! The creature appeared to be injured, its wings bent at an angle Alan thought couldn't be natural, even for this... Thing. He eyed the numerous lacerations and bruises that crisscrossed its form, now feeling terrible about tripping on its leg, hating that he may have caused the poor thing anymore pain. Though he certainly felt more glad he had not stumbled across Ella in such a condition, he was still frightened for her, even if this was a hallucination, it pained him not to have her near. Poor animal probably doesn't even know what happened- He swallowed that thought as soon as he looked into the eyes of the fallen creature, for it most certainly did. Its eyes, while filled with fear, were nowhere near animalistic. In fact, they seemed to glow with a sensitive intelligence that Alan had thought restricted to art. Its eyes seemed too surreal to exist, but there they were, starring right into his. He didn't quite know how to describe it besides a torturing realization. He was watching this creature, one likely just as aware as him, die. The expressiveness in its eyes was all too telling, a paralyzing fear marred its features. God. For the first time, he spoke loud enough for him to really hear. "Hold-" His words were caught in his throat as soon as he noticed the drastic change in his voice. It sounded so... Feminine. Disturbingly so. He brought his hand near his throat, but quickly put it back down. He shook his head and again looked at the little creature beneath him. "H-hold on." He said, stuttering. Was that really his voice? "I-I'll find... h-help." He didn't know if it understood him, feeling more a fool with every word he pushed out. He hoped his tone projected the care he was aiming for, instead of the fear and uncertainty he was feeling. Lord above, I'm talking to a horse. He, of course, never expected her to respond. "N-no." She wheezed, as Alan's already wide eyes threatened to pop out of his skull, "Don't leave, w-we're both wounded, the Hydrus will be back soon with my saddlebags-" She coughed, spitting small drops of blood across the snow, "I have medical supplies, and by the looks of it, you need the attention far more than I do." He didn't bother asking questions, instead he decided to settle for a startled expression of confusion. The same expression the (presumably) young mare shot right back at him. "How are y-you even standing?" She asked, voice thick with worry. Alan's heart quickened, the beat seeming to hitch on his fear, despite not believing himself to be uninjured. Regardless, even his breathing sped up, cold air burning his lungs. Alan groaned, how could he move this forward? Everything felt stalled, he knew his mind wasn't functioning at peak performance, but still, he was getting so sidetracked. He was mentally stuck, not knowing what question to pursue, the little creature had brought so many to an already burdened table. Thankfully, the mare brought him back to focus. "Please, lay down... you're not in any condition to stand." She said with concern, but Alan remained standing, staring at the unicorn's own wounds, Sheesh, all I have is a hyper-extended arm or something, you seem to have it much worse than me, He thought. Though as he continued to examine her wounds, his own body seemed to become aware of far more than just a twisted limb. A searing hot pain made itself known, starting at the bridge of his nose, moving to his right eye, then streaking all the way down to his rear, painfully spreading in spikes along his skin and insides. A frigid sense of dread settled over him, spreading up his limbs and into his core. Fear gripped him as he was again forced onto the ground. He again felt lightheaded, but this time it felt painful, and metallic taste filled his mouth. His vision tunneled, and his breath quickened. What was this? Was he only able to stand before on adrenaline? Was he going to die like this? Forgotten on some alien world? Or maybe he was drugged out in some weirdo's basement being slowly tortured to death? Maybe... he was already dead? "Oh, by Celestia's mane, lay down!" A purple glow tinged the edge of his vision, and with an unnatural force, he felt himself pushed to his side. His heart began to sputter, and his lungs spasmed, but the horror only lasted a few seconds as he regained control of himself. He was facing her now, as he laid, his eyes lining up with her's as she lit her horn once again. Alan flinched and shut tight his eyes, but the Unicorn put no more pressure on him, and when he was confident enough, he opened them once again. "Stay... Calm, I'll heal you," She huffed, "You may... Feel some pressure in your... Um, Everywhere. Nothing more than a soft pinch... I... Promise." Her eyelids slowly slipped, becoming lidded, sleepy. She said a few unintelligible words under her breath, the power of it shooting through Alan's veins like lightning. Then came the tingling again, but this time, it felt like... More, like the cold had worn his nerves and only now they could truly feel. His body began to mend, and though he felt... wrong, it was less pain and more the knowledge that what he was feeling wasn't right. Skin and the flesh beneath regrew and was resown. The fibers and fabrics of his body twisting back into shape on their own accord. Except, no, not of their own, But of her's. It was magic, power given will. At the sight of it, all Alan could do was stare at the caster. Her human-like eyes finally shut fully, and his flesh ceased its mending. For just a moment, he lay there, the wind biting at his new, tender skin. His mind was clear now however, all the weight, the shocked state, gone. He still had his fears, his confusion, but for now, his mind was free from fatigue, and his body from pain. Though... was it even his body? He could feel it now, the strange alien sensation that forced him to consider himself. He felt naked, but not cold. The sensation of unkempt, thick hair whipped by the wind ripped across his skin, a layer of himself he had previously been unaware of. His jaw felt long, misshapen, narrow. His mouth was smaller, more delicate, with thinner lips. To his horror, he couldn't draw any form of sense from his fingers, hands, toes, or feet. Ankles were all he could feel, though they seemed tied to bricks, hard, heavy and unwieldy appendages that capped off each of his limbs, be they arm or leg. From this, his mind made the obvious conclusions, a coat of fur, a snout, hooves. He had only to look with his own eyes, as he slowly lifted his neck, now long and thick, he twisted it. Again, slowly. Jerking back when he saw, through the corner of his eye, a light blue where his pale pinkish skin should be. God, could I stretch this out any longer? He thought, It'll be worse if you wait! Just look, and get it over with. So, he shook off his apprehension and steeled his resolve. Though perhaps it was a horrible mistake, and be sure to note that he hoped he would never get the chance to find out, he once more turned his head. He was... blue. A light blue, an icy blue. It was fur, as he had thought, like the unicorn's, but shaggier, thicker. All along his right side, a angry red scar cut through the fur like a canyon, twisting jaggedly all the way up under his eyes, and from what he could feel, up his neck, under his eye, and over his nose, as it burned, sensitive to the cold. Blood, brighter than he though it should have been, ran in gaunt streaks down his coat to the snow, staining it a rosy red. It made his stomach churn. Though, probably the worst of it all, he couldn't feel... it What has she done to me? Were the words that came first to him. Seeped in the mix of feelings, he needed some answers. He didn't just get flung from his planet, gored, healed, then turned into a cartoon horse all within what felt like half an hour, for no reason. Someone, or something, had to be responsible, and suspect number one was lying a mere seven inches ahead. Her gentle breathing seemed an insult. Now is not the time for this! He thought, I'm not going to get anything from her if she dies out in the cold, I have to act. So, that is exactly what he did. Slowly standing, he made his way over to the crumpled pegacorn, or whatever she was, and considered how best to keep them both alive, difficult as that was... Considering his cercumstance. He remembered a documentary about Inuits, and how they survived the cold, specifically, how they built igloos. It seemed a little ridiculous, especially for someone whom had never even tried and was currently handicapped without tools or hands. Not to mention that even if he could make one, the little unicorn didn't have the thick, insulating fur he... now had. He couldn't imagine the igloo could bring the temperature above freezing (for obvious reasons), but he'd do it anyways, it working couldn't be anymore absurd than the current situation. So, he dug, and dug, packing what little loose snow he could into uneven, misshapen walls around the crater's edge, luckily, most of the snow there seemed fresh and unsettled. So it was easier than he'd though it'd be, but its still took long enough for his bloodied side to freeze. And at the end of it, he could barely feel a change, it was there, the temperature rose slowly as the cold air was forced out, but regardless, it remained frigid. Cold enough to keep meat or milk, probably way too cold. His elation and pride at successfully creating the impromptu shelter was broken up swiftly by the chattering of teeth. So, slowly, he settled the creature into the center of the construction, trying to wrap himself around her in an effort to keep her warm, and he supposed it worked, she stopped trembling so much at least. He hadn't worked with horses too long, but the one time he had, it had been mid-winter. He hadn't thought of them as so... weak to the cold. He happily set those thoughts aside for the time being, he was quite tired himself, so he made to join miss mystery mage in slumber, closing his eyes and trying not to strain himself too hard with arrant thoughts and violent emotions. Unfortunately, despite managing to force himself into snoozing, it wasn't restful or long lasted. While the stars still hung in the air, and no light could be seen on the horizon, something scampered over the heads of Alan and the Unicorn. Alas, the roof of the poorly constructed igloo was not scamper proof, the creature found that out the hard way. Its shrill, squeaky cry and the falling debris slammed into the slumbering man’s head, sending it ringing like the chimes of a church bell. His neck shot up immediately, dragging a tired head with it, eventually forcing a cautious, frightened stare out of his weary eyes. The kicked up snow that swirled around the center of the igloo didn’t seem to indicate a particularly large... thing had fallen through, but regardless, something had. Small as it may actually be, Alan wasn't about to take a chance on size being an accurate scale by which to measure danger, alien world and all, so the eyes stayed glued to the pile. Tense moments passed, as the creature beneath stirred. Muffled squeaks and curses wiggling their way into Alan's ears. Wait, curses? And that was just when the cap of the mound forcefully rocketed into the upper atmosphere, leaving a trailing shower of frigid flakes to fall back down and leaving a bewildered Alan to gape after it. He wasn't the only one surprised. "Holy-" Came a stifled swear, unfortunately put to an early rest by a packed ball of snow dislodged from its precarious, roof bound position, landing with a whumph atop the pyramid. Two little grey feet, like the feet of a rabbit, poked out from underneath the sphere, wiggling and scratching at it with catlike claws. Though he honestly didn't want to put his face anywhere near the kicking feet, after about a minute of struggle, it been made clear to him that it wasn't making much progress. So, he slowly pulled the solid snow upward with his teeth, tossing it away. He stared down, for a few moments, ears involuntarily twitching. "Ah, aya scruffy, wouldn't mind getting me out've this pickle?" At which point, in spite of himself, Alan chuckled. He quickly cut it short, but it felt good even if it was just for the moment, because this was just rich. "Oi..." The rodent chirped, "You gunna' help or what?" Alan, for his part, couldn't be bothered to try and take in the little creature with his eyes at the moment, so with hooves and teeth, he scooped what he could off the mound. And after that, lifting the thing by its feet, with what looked like two bags, just about twice its size, strapped to its back. He could feel the muscles between his teeth tense up like steel springs, and the little weasel cleared its throat. "Alright, you can put me down now." It said, with arms crossed and eyes glaring, and while Alan felt like he was being accused of something, perhaps he could understand not wanting to be wedged betwixt another creature's teeth. Especially one fifty times his size. Gently as he could, he set it down, bringing his head back up to give it a passing glance. Though his eyes lingered longer than he meant them to. It resembled a cross between a rabbit and a weasel, with ears like a lynx and a long tapered tail, near wide as the rest of it till the end. Large glowing eyes stared back up at him, thick paws grasped and fidgeted with the strap wrapped round it like a bandoleer, and little facial features twisted up in recognizable displayed of discomfort. Well, he thought, it's official, I've lost the ability to be surprised. "Listen Lady, if you like what you see, just want to let you know before hand, don't swing that way." It commented, face twitching a bit, ready to smile. Alan, meanwhile, was left with that one word, 'Lady' it had said. It echoed through his mind. A consequence of his transformation he'd been trying desperately to avoid. But now he was forced to acknowledge it... the prospect made his skin crawl, he wasn't about to make himself sound crazy or confused, and unfortunately that meant he had to play it straight. But if he ever met the powers that decided it would be a good idea to stick him in this body, hoho, he had some choice words for them. "Um, hello? What's with the thousand yard stare, anybody home?" Accented chirps asked, as a tiny fist came knocking on his skull. He took his eyes up to find the little creature hanging from his hair, fists wrapped tightly around the thick strands, eyes gazing back at him with reserved concern. "Sorry, Just... Trying to figure out what you meant by what you said." Alan replied, hesitant, both at the sound of his own voice, and for the sake of measuring the reaction of the creature currently using his nose as a rappel wall, the blank stare told him what he likely should have already guessed. "Do I sound masculine to you?" It said, rapidly tapping its foot, "And further more-" Was what she was able to get out before more snow toppled from the ceiling, colliding with her once again. Alan bit his tongue, It was all he could do to keep from laughing. "You were saying?" He said, kicking the snow off of her. For her part, the rodent took it with grace, standing tall and announcing clearly: "I hate gravity." Whether it was the sound or the acrid smell that woke her up, Ella didn't know, but neither were good. Her heart felt like a bomb ready to explode, so frightened it caused physical pain. Her hands tightly clutched her covers, shaking with with the rest of her in spasms of fear and anxiety, sitting stark upright in her bed. Her eyes flashed wildly about her room, searching for movement or any sign of that thunderous crash or horrible smell. But in the darkness she couldn't see much, the outlines of clothes and toys stacked precariously atop dressers and little else. Anything untouched by the limited light coming from her window was pitch black. So Ella stood, trying to at once tiptoe and run to her light switch, flicking it on as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, this too yielded undesirable results, no response. The room remained dark, even as Ella tried again and again there was still no light, not even a flicker. Probably a broken light bulb. Loath as she was to the idea, she was feeling compelled to call out, she knew her Father would hear, come and fix it, he was just on the other side of the wall. But... She could fix this herself, Dad was a last resort. So, determined to show her unbridled talent and Independent spirit, she set off towards the hall, promptly tripping over a mysteriously fallen dresser that she had previously failed to see. As painful as the fall was, Ella managed to stifle her whimpers, instead opting to kick the dresser she'd tripped over with a hearty grunt steeped in frustration and lean back against the nearest wall, only to fall again as her outstretched hand disappeared into the darkness where the wall was supposed to be. The wall had caved inwards, like someone had tried to run a car through it, and when Ella's hand did meet with the wall, instinct propelled her backwards with a sharp cry. It was hot, unbearably hot. How it had happened she didn't know, but the wall felt like it should have been on fire! She couldn't hear the crackling of fire, or see glowing in the hall, but even if she had it wouldn't have mattered much. Despite her fears and trepidation, she sped off down the hall, sparing only the briefest of dirty glances back at the fallen dresser. Something was fishy, but the faint twinge of doubt was drowned out by her fear. She shared that wall with her Father, it was his room that was on the other side. At this point, Panicked wouldn't have begun the describe her, but she skidded down the hall without faltering. She had no idea what she'd do, as she gripped the handle of her Father's door crying out as it singed her hand, though as soon as she pulled it away, her eyes hardened, tears dried up, and her hand twisted the knob even as she bit her tongue, a harsh howl clawing its way out of her throat. She swung the door open as the moon light met her, staring with wide eyes, she wept, heart seizing in her chest as if to voice its own disbelief. The entirety of the rooms center was gone, along with the bed and wall it was closest to. Most of the furniture was tossed on its sides, lamps ripped from the wall, drawers sent to rest within the singed pit that was once where her Father would have greeted her from his bed, read her stories, comfort her. And now, what could he be but dead? "No..." Even as her gut started screaming for her to leave, she moved forward, feet beginning to feel the same pain as her hand. But still she continued, to the edge of the hole where the floor had given way, she forced herself to look over the edge... Seeing nothing, nothing more than what she had seen before, the bottom was empty aside from the blacked husks of drawers, no bed, no dad, no... nothing. Even as she tried to process this next revelation, she heard the splintering of wood and hurried foot steps. Someone had busted in, and now of all times! Her gut was going crazy, telling her to run, hide, do anything to escape, so she settled for the one piece of furniture that hadn't been tossed around, her Father's old trunk. Rushing over to it the second she saw it, she flipped up the lid, tossing about the junk inside before clumsily jamming her fingers trying to close the thing. Just like everything else, the Trunk was hot both inside and out, but her gut had convinced her, getting caught by whoever was breaking in would be worse, she was sure. Painful as it was, she was only reassured by the time the intruders made their way to he Father's room. "What the-?" Ella could only see the legs of the first man through the keyhole, thudding steps and rough voice finally disturbing the contradicting silence that had settled over the room, thankfully masking the little noise Ella had tried so hard not to make. "What is it Corddae?" The second asked, gasping in surprise, "God's name, how did this-?" "Get the girl, find her." This Corddae growled, sending Ella into a panic and edging further away from the keyhole, just as he shuffled himself closer to the edge of the pit, "And be gentle!". His partner, college, underling, whatever he was, pounded off without another word, and Corddae reached into the pit. He mumbled under his breath, before shifted his stance, letting Ella see his face. A stark white mask was all Ella thought she saw at first, till the corners of his mouth twisted in a look of displeasure. The great pits where his eyes should have been were instead host to flames, just as pale as his face. "Have you found her?!" He called, standing back to his full height, thankfully taking his horrific visage with him. "No, quite a mess though Inspector, should we-?" "Not yet Kiddo." Corddae turned, stepping out of frame, "First, we'd best pull any information we can get from the Grivada, something with this case is off." No sooner had he spoken than the howling screech of tires broke the silence outside. "... Coincidence?" His fellow asked, voice tense. "Not in this job Bayesian. Get to the motorcar and get dispatch on the bell. Tell them we need a team of Postcogs and an Illuminist." The was a pertinent pause, but soon the second man, Bayesian, spoke. "An Illuminist, sir?" His voice grew quite as footfall carried him further away, "Shouldn't we seek out, well... More logical options first?" The questions were met by a sharp, short laugh, and an equally sharp response. "The today's logic assumes that the improbable is tantamount to the impossible. If things were really so cut and dry, I wouldn't have even asked for the postcogs." Their conversation continued, but the words stopped being clear after that last sentence. Ella, for her part, waited, silent and unmoving. She had no idea what she had just witnessed, it felt like everything had just stopped making sense the second she saw that thing's face. Never mind the things he said, to her, it was almost gibberish... Almost. This Corddae person... Had specifically mentioned "the girl", who else could he had been talking about? They were there for her, thank God she listened to her gut or... Well she didn't know what, but it couldn't have been good. Slowly, she peeked out of her box, not seeing anything out of the crack, she lifted the lid further. She briefly through of where she would go, who would take her in. Maybe, someone could explain this hell away, that somewhere down the line, they'd show her the camera and this nightmare would be through. She knew that was naïve, but then again, that was what she had called Bailey for... All thoughts were cut short when Ella noticed it, floating well above her head and tucked in shadow. An eye, a human eye. Horrific blood red fibers curled, twisted, and swayed from it, sinuous strands that twirled in a wind she could neither feel nor hear. For but a moment, she hesitated, eyes wide, face taught in shock. And in that moment, she heard her dread, the distant thudding, boots striking the ground, they were coming back. "Shit!" Ella cursed, violently throwing the lid back with a crash and springing full tilt into the hall. As she reached the doorway, she turned for the main door, hoping to beat her pursuers to it. Hopes that were quickly dashed as she spotted the monster, Corddae, turn the corner, face lit by the fury of hell. That sent her scrambling the other way fast, faster than she thought herself capable. Like a fire was at her heels, Ella dashed into her room, slamming her door shut and making for her window. She could hear the shouting and swearing, the encroaching thunder as the intruders charged her door, her heart sputtered as it splinted. And with one swift motion, she slid from her open window, landing on her rear several feet below, barely dodging a grasping hand. Shooting to her feet, she took off. Staying out in the dark had always left her scared witless, though the fear she felt now made everything else seem small and distant, wild, fanciful feelings better suited to the minds of the naive than her own... Though maybe she was naïve, she had called Bailey that, for professing her belief in the magical. Now that she had seen it herself, monsters in the image of men, creatures grotesque in form and unclear in purpose, she lacked the confidence she had once scolded her friend with. She had been so mad at Bailey's stubbornness that she had not accepted pleas to end the argument till she had heard what she wanted... That too felt small, the anger, the frustration. What was left was guilt, regret, and shame. But where else was she to go? She had to wonder if she would see herself rejected, if she pushed her friend too far this time. In the absence of her father, she felt she only had one place to go, and if Bailey wouldn't let her in... Well, she'd have to cross that bridge when she came to it. Tick! Bailey had no thought as to what the sound was, she supposed she may have heard the last few times, but that thought was barely more than a whisper, and faded quickly into her darkening mind. In that period, she felt herself drifting back into unconsciousness, blissfully unaware of the rain or the storm that rattled her house. Settling into a dreamy lull however, only served to startle her when the subtle ticks stopped being subtle. Bang! With a start and a yelp, Bailey fell from her bed, landing with a soft whump upon the ground. Anger flaring, She stood herself up, slightly disorientated, and made her way to the window. On the way, her groggy mind wondered just who would be trying to get her attention at this time, and with no small amount of hesitation (or frustration), she considered that it might have been Robbin trying to be romantic. Now, if it was anybody else he was trying to woo, she'd have been ecstatically following the entire saga, gushing over it the whole way. Such romantics did not seem to apply when she was the one being romanced. So, cautiously, she approached the window, not wanting anyone to notice she was looking through. She peeked just barely over the sill, just enough to guess that it was not Robbin. He may have been a little bit of an odd one, but she doubted he was one to wear pink pajamas. "Ella?" She whispered to herself, it was hard to tell for certain, all that lit the dim street below was a barely functioning street lamp, plus she was one whole floor off the ground. But even so, she moved as fast as she could down stairs, fast as she dared anyways, her parents were far from hard of hearing. Even now she doubted they were asleep, that final toss from Ella almost certainly left one of them awake. That alone would have made her angry, but Bailey still had the lingering vehemence of their earlier argument drifting about at the forefront of her mind. Her Father had always said to "Be the better man," hard words to live by, even harder when it was one in the morning on a school night. Even as she approached the door, she struggled with what she was going to say, and as her hand grasped the door knob she saw Ella hurrying to meet her. Her anger rose for but a moment, as heated words and bitter grievances gasped and clawed their way to her throat. She almost said many things, words she knew she would regret, even as she opened the door, her mouth hung open, half-formed syllables formed at the edge of her tongue. And there they would remain, as Ella rushed in, dragging Bailey into a wet, shivering hug. "I'm sorry." She whispered, voice cracking with every sound she made. She said it over and over again, "I am so sorry Bailey!" By the seventh apology, her voice trailed off into strained whimpers, with Bailey hanging limp in her embrace. Ella was never like this, she could count on one hand how many times she had seen her friend cry, and never... Hugging, holding, sobbing. Though, maybe just one time, the memory was fuzzy, it felt so long ago... When-? A casket, flowers, pictures, Bailey never really counted herself as one with good memory, but the event was suddenly very clear in her mind. Oh no. Mrs. McLane's funeral, It was so long ago that Bailey couldn't even picture the face of the deceased, but she could still remember the hug shared between budding friends... Their first. Oh Ella. She thought, as her anger melted away, replaced with bittersweet melancholy and unreserved empathy. She didn't know what had caused this outpouring of grief... But whatever it was, Bailey would be there for her, as she was in the beginning, as she would be in the end. New friends found in trails, Old friendship strengthened in loss, Winding paths to lead, To the battle of the lost, Commentary: Gaiden Al Yuth wrote this as his 33rd Title in his historical anthology, Seven Hundred Wars, unique among the others. It has captured my interest somewhat. I've noticed that it has a pattern, somewhat like poetry, that, and it is incredibly vague, I have no real thoughts as to what he is referring. The rest of the passage is similar. Curious. Author's Note Well, that only took two years of procrastination, cheers mates! Report any spelling and grammatical errors you notice, helps me out a lot! Take care, and more to come soon! Chapter II: A Secret World, and what you'll learn thereCorddae breathed deeply, letting the breath escape him, fogless. He always wondered what it was like to watch your breath leave you, small thoughts, like how a man wonders after the flight of a bird... Something to distract him from his failure. As he had suspected, something was quite off with this case. Not quite in the way he thought, closer inspection had revealed that certain "Third parties" had some interest in the girl, that alone would have told any two-bit inspector this wasn't your average undocumented magic user that they were dealing with. No, and considering the... aura that surrounded the steaming hole in the ground, he had a pretty good idea which "Third party" he was dealing with. Singular. "Illuminist." Corddae greeted, tipping the edge of his hat at the well dressed man hurriedly making his way to him amidst the swirling blue and red lights of Police Cars and the hustle of disguised Inspectory agents. "You must be Inspector Corddae," He responded in a deep baritone voice, clasping his hands around Corddae's and giving it a firm shake, "I must admit, caught me by surprise when I picked up the bell to find the Inspectory on the line. I assume you've found-" "Fishy business?" Bayesian interjected, doing his damnedest to look official while sporting the appearance of someone you would find stumbling out of a monkey enclosure. The chase had not been kind to poor Bayesian. "Ah, yes..." The Illuminist said, eyes lingering a little longer than he meant to on the officer and his disheveled condition, "Well, anyways, sorry, bit caught up in it all. My name is Michael Kainage, Father Kainage if you prefer." "Well then, this way Mr. Kainage," Corddae said, sweeping his arm to the side and gesturing to the building. The Priest nodded grimly, and moved ahead into the house, Bayesian made to join them, but was halted by an open palm from his partner, "Paperwork." Then, without another word, he followed the Illuminist, leaving a grumbling Bayesian with a clipboard and a pen. He supposed it was fitting though, leave the strange things to the strange folk. And despite appearances, Father Kainage was quite strange, aside from the base line of being an Illuminist, not many of his Order bore the cross. It was almost a contradiction, as the studies involved with such an occupation often involved pagan ceremony, ancient rites, and foreign ritual, not something a typical Priest would wish to be involved with. Strange things seem to congregate in this city, he thought, And he's no stranger than a nine year old girl that can shake two trained professionals. "Is this the room?" The Priest asked, pulling Corddae out of his musings. "Yes." Corddae nodded, pushing the door open, while Kainage whistled. "Excuse the mess, twenty thousand volts isn't an easy thing to get out of the upholstery." "Well, this was certainly not what I expected," He said, walking into the room, crouching to touch the ground, "Still warm..." He muttered. "Did you already have Postcognitives look over the site?" "Yes." Corddae said, rubbing his chin. "What did they see?" Father Kainage was certainly interested, but that didn't peg him as involved. Besides, Corddae had no intention of solving this on the spot, one man was dead, and his daughter missing, fleeing terrified into the night. He'd take all the time he'd need to find out just who did it, best to be sure when you intend to kill the bastard. Otherwise, his primary objective was to find the child, even if that meant sharing information with the people that might be the cause of it all in the first place. "A bed, a man, a flash. Then a steaming hole in the ground... We are working under the assumption that he was vaporized." Corddae waved his hand, as if to ward something off, "But God, I hope not." "Yes, they handed me the initial report during the ride here, his death was made a clear possibility," He said, voice hard to read, "Alan McLane... Terrible. When do you intend to tell the mundane authorities?" "Dispatch should have already handled that, at least one of those cars outside belongs to a normie. Nice kid, might have seen him, looked like he had shell shock?" Kainage stared at Corddae blankly for a moment, before returning his gaze to the ground, shaking his head. "Ah, yes, well... I'd better get to my work." With that, he took a deep breath, whipping out a slab of chalk with his free hand and skimming it roughly about his other. A simple circle took form around his grounded hand and with its completion, he tucked the chalk back. Corddae had rarely gotten to see an Illuminist work, but this, out of everything made him raise an eyebrow. Magic circles were common in the casting of certain kinds of spells, but a simple chalk circle was almost useless. Best it could do, so far as Corddae knew, was waste energy, storing it, but not providing a safe or efficient way to properly contain and release it. He'd seen novices cook themselves using more detailed circles. The danger, alongside the relatively mundane nature of this particular ritual, seeing as the few other Illuminists he had witnessed working usually involved animal sacrifice and intense rites, made him briefly consider that perhaps dispatch had rung up the some crazy poser... Then he remembered that all Illuminists were, as a general rule, crazy, so he stowed his doubts. At least the ones concerning the man's authenticity. "Are you sure it's safe for me to be standing here?" Corddae asked, starring at the simple circle with just a little apprehension. The Illuminist in response, chuckled. "You're plenty safe Inspector Corddae, but I may need a new coat after this." And with that, the Illuminist returned to his work, now speaking in a low tone. Corddae couldn't quite make out the words, at first. But he soon realized it wasn't English, prayer of some kind was what he was guessing, probably Latin. But no, not Latin. The language seemed strikingly familiar, it made him uncomfortable, like he was venturing somewhere he ought not to be... No, he remembered, Hebrew. The realization made him... Wish that he had not stayed with the Illuminist, maybe even calling him here was a mistake, but... He quickly shook off those feelings, the only physical sign of their existence relegated to the pulling of his hat further over his forehead. As the Priest continued to chant, the air became electrified, radiating a blanketing cloud of crackling energy that twisted and turned like the tendrils of a living creature. Corddae was confused by this, only for a moment, as the glowing rings conjured around the Priest's grounded arm soon revealed themselves as the culprit. He seemed to be funneling his magic through the rings, allowing for more delicate manipulation, as each ring striped more unstable magic that the previous ones had failed to. It was a favored tactic of Echanters working with dangerous spells, though such filters were more often engraved on a metal instrument than one's sleeve, though perhaps this was because of some Divination related quirk. "Clever." Corddae muttered, watching closely as this newly introduced and refined magic began to interact with the remnants of spellwork that had been left behind. Corddae was unaware that Divination Magic could be used to disturb dormant magic, not even the most powerful mages were capable of keeping the spell's structure intact whilst dissecting its inner workings, but it seemed that the unknowns behind this particular School of Magic were always outnumbering the knowns. Considering the secretive nature of the Orders that used and taught it, that wasn't very surprising. What was surprising however, was how the seemingly dormant magic reacted. Both he and Father Kainage seemed to notice around the same time that the magic was rearranging itself, and with a quick wide eye'ed stare between the two, Kainage ripped his arm free of the magic circles, causing an explosion as the pent up energies contained in the rings were suddenly forced outward, cutting off his access to the foreign magic and settling the spellwork down, for now. "What the hell was that?" Corddae asked gruffly, hurrying to Kainage's side and looking over his wounds. "I... Have no idea..." Kainage said haltingly, whether that be because of the pain of his bruised and bloody arm, or the unexpected response from the spellwork, Corddae didn't know. But slowly, a hearty, good natured laugh began to escape The Priest's mouth, and he looked at him with the shining, curious eyes that gave his Order its name, "Now isn't that something?" Bailey sat still on the bathroom counter, as Ella held her burned hand beneath a cold stream of water, wincing as the frigid flow slowly washed the pain away. "So..." Bailey said, staring worriedly at her friends reddened, inflamed hand, "Can.. Can you tell me what happened?" As much as Ella would have preferred to, she had decided against keeping Bailey out of the loop. If she actually believed in any of that magic stuff, then she would believe her too, right? Even the Monster? Her traitorous mind asked, Even the eye? Briefly, Ella shuddered, recalling the nightmarish abominations, creatures she couldn't explain away no matter how hard she tried. Besides, when Bailey talked about magic, she was probably thinking about fairies, unicorns and the like, not horrid monsters. But no, Ella had made up her mind, so she told her wide eyed friend about everything she saw, though the names had seemed to have escaped her memory. "W-well?" Ella asked, finally breaking back into tears while Bailey stared on, trying to work her mouth into pushing out something more than a hesitant grunt. "E-... Ella, I... I don't... Know..." "You don't know what?" Ella's tone had taken a turn for accusatory, "What to say? Do you not believe me?! M-my Dad is... He's probably dead right now and... you have nothing to say?" though the bitterness tapered off at the end, she could see each word hit Bailey like it was physical, regardless, regret rushed in almost as fast as the anger left. "B-b-bailey, I... didn't mean it, I swear, I just... I-I..." There was a lengthy pause, the awkward stillness occasionally broken by sniffling, but little else. "I don't... I don't think we're very good at this whole... Support thing." Bailey said at last, before pulling her legs up over the counter and to her chest, grasping them tightly. "Yeah..." Ella said, averting her gaze, "But... Do you believe me? You don't have to... I... I just need to know." Slowly, she turned her head to find Bailey staring at her burned hand, and soon she spoke. "Y-yes Ella, I believe you... I just... I don't know how to help." Ella took a deep breath, resting her free hand against her forehead. "I know how you feel..." There was another lengthy pause, before once again, Bailey broke it. "So if those guys are after you... Do-do you think they'll figure out you came here?" Ella's heart froze, in her panic, she had not even thought about the consequences of running to someone for help. "I... I need to leave." She said shakily, pulling her hand from beneath the water and making for the door, before being blocked by Bailey, as she slid from the counter. "Yeah, probably," She said, looking down at her feet, before renewing her intense gaze,"But not without backup." "B-bailey-" Was all Ella managed to get out before Bailey's hand covered her mouth. "I'm not going to let a... little thing like the possibility of a brutal death stop me from helping you..." She said, forcing Ella into a tight hug, "And I may not know exactly what to do... I do know what not to, and I'm not going to throw you to the wolves... Especially when those 'wolves' have... floating eyeball monsters. I mean, we don't even know what they want, right?" Ella sniffled, Bailey smiled, and the two embraced each other a little while longer. "We are so going to die." Ella said. "Yep." Bailey winced, "Especially if my Dad finds out about any of this." "So let me get this straight," Alan said, staring down incredulously at the Hydrus, as she had clarified she was indeed not the mutant offspring of a rabbit and a weasel, "We fell... From space?" She had also made it clear she had no idea where they were, or who the currently unconscious purple horse they were dragging behind them through the snow was. So she was pretty much in the same rickety boat as Alan, presumably minus a few... Extra problems. And maybe the existential crisis this absurd first contact scenario was liable to bring on any second now. Annnnnny second now. "Well, I don't know if was that high." The Hydrus responded, waving around her hands expressively as they walked across the frigid landscape, "I mean, I could see the horizon... Is that in space?" When Alan didn't answer, she continued. "Anyways, The purple one saved our tails, if she hadn't of... done that thing she did, I don't think we'd be in as good a shape." Alan was left to consider this, all the sudden feeling rather guilty about his the emotions he'd directed her way. If he was getting this right, the unicorn had saved his life twice now, this revelation however, did not make the unease surrounding his every awkward step disappear, and he doubted anything could. "I dunno," Alan muttered lowly, "I think I'd feel better as a pancake." "What'd you say?" "Nothing," Alan looked back at the makeshift travois they had managed to put together using the camping supplies they found in the bags, and its load. She was wrapped so tightly in blankets and sleeping bags that you could barely tell she was there, save for the steady puffs of breath that shot up like smoke from a smokestack. It had been a long night, trying to get the poor thing into the sleeping bags had been a nightmare, though luckily the Hydrus had opposable thumbs, he still hadn't the foggiest idea how to work a zipper with... dumb unshod nubs. Luckier still those saddle bags Twitch had recovered had stitching, lest he wouldn't have had a harness to awkwardly slip his hooves through. Involuntarily, he shuddered, hooves. Almost as soon as he thought about it, he wished he hadn't, he still struggled to even walk correctly, much less keep his mind in order. Soon, that dread he had stirred up would turn into anger, and the anger into resentment, never good feelings to have when you're stranded in who knows where, with complete strangers to boot. Too easy to make them the villains. "Do... Do you think she'll wake up?" The Hydrus' question halted the growing storm within Alan, not releasing the anxiety, but staling it... For that he was grateful, but... It was not a question he wanted to answer right now. He had no idea what to say, so, he changed the subject. "Where did we fall from?" He asked, his nerves getting the better of him, force in excess, too much panic. He sounded desperate. Aggressive, Irrational. Combined with his jerky movement and legs that refused to work right, he probably checked every box off the crazy list. It certainly wasn't lost on his companion, who shrunk from him, ears folded back. "Ah... We-Well, You see... I... Don't know, exactly." She said, for the first time sounding timid... And unfortunately, Alan knew why, he couldn't imagine he would react any differently to seeing at 10-foot tall monster forcefully trying to change the subject. Though it didn't make it hurt any less. He'd always tried to be the laid back guy, and he had usually succeeded. Seeing someone react to him with fear was... Off putting, to say the least. "Just... Just ignore me for now... I'm... not my normal self." It took all he had to push that out. He was going for apologetic, but to him, it sounded pleading. And that was a tone that accentuated his predicament rather clearly, sending a shiver down his spine was every word. The sensation someone else's voice coming from his mouth was almost more than his mind could bare. "Nono, you're fine!" The Hydrus assured, hopping into Alan's vision and waving her hands, "I... I'm just a bit of a blabber mouth..." Well, that certainly made him feel better, but not by much. He knew he had to come to terms with himself eventually, but... Well, how the hell was he supposed to do that? He'd barely come to terms with himself before all this, and even then, it had taken... Help. Vel, I wish I'd taken the time to let a little more of you rub off on me... I miss you. "Hey, are you-?" The Hydrus may have been able to catch herself, but Alan was well past that point before he realized his eyes were stinging, and again, before he could keep himself from making a small... noise in surprise. He hadn't cried since his wife's funeral, and here he was, practically weeping at just the thought of her. What was he becoming? Were even his emotions unsafe? Could he no longer trust himself to even be himself? "Hey... Um... So, I kinda just realized, not that I was curious, I mean I am... What's your name?" And once again, this small creature was proving remarkably adept at suddenly and clunkily shifting the conversation, not that you'd find Alan complaining. Though maybe not for the better. What could he say, he didn't know what was normal in this situation, he wasn't even sure there was a normal anymore. Would his true name be acceptable, or should he fully commit to the role he'd decided to play? Would they even consider the name he came up with feminine, could he inadvertently defeat the point? Had he already done so? Would it make a difference? Why were they even able to communicate, had the transformation effected even his ability to speak? Too many questions, too few answers. But, like the stubborn mule he was, he stuck with his first plan... Now, what name would work? "Aurora..." It felt so weird to try and accept that name as his own... He had a history with it, with games, but he was never meant to... live it. It made him feel more than a little dirty, like he was accepting this, lying down, rolling over to this fate. He had to tell himself, over and over, You're not that name, you're Alan, you're a McLain man, saying it doesn't make that any less true... just to keep from freaking out, to say nothing of the blush that spread hot and red across his face, near ear to ear. "That's very pretty!" The Hydrus clapped her paws together, all the energy lost seeming to jump back in out of nowhere... She even sent a little smile Alan's way, not doing much good for his flushed face. "Mine is... Twitch!" "W-well," Alan said, trying not to make eye contact, mostly out of embarrassment, the rest was to keep... Twitch from seeing Alan's now tickled expression, "Its nice to meet you, Twitch." He even let loose a chuckle, but that was quickly reined in. No room to laugh 'Aurora', his mind said, Not with the story behind your name, 'Twitch' might as well be God given. That kept his mouth shut, well enough for him, it wasn't generally a kind thing, laughing at someone's name. He'd had his fair share of 'McLame' shoved at him, he was tougher with words than most, but he had seen what some people let those words do to them. Mockery was not worth the risk, least of all now, in a foreign environment. Accompanied by aliens. Hell, for all he knew, culture and custom would dictate that he could be rightfully killed for such offences (Not that he feared much from Twitch, her being two feet tall and all). Best to let the sleeping dogs lie... But perhaps there was one thing he needed to address, and sooner rather than later. "I'd like to ask you a couple more questions, if you don't mind." Alan asked, looking back at the Unicorn once again, wishing she was awake, so he wouldn't have to go through all his questions again, but he pressed on. The question would have bugged him till she awoke anyways. Twitch nodded, eyeing him curiously. "How exactly can we understand each other?" He asked. Twitch, in response, scratched the back of her ear, seemingly at a loss of words. "Oh please don't make me think about that... I really don't want to end up a gibbering mess all because I couldn't just leave this madness as it was. I mean... You're a talking horse! That may not be strange to you, but I've got exactly zero experience with talking animals... And if I'm honest..." She rubbed her arm, averting her gaze from Alan, "I wasn't exactly the... most stable person before all this." Oh goodie, His mind said, We're stuck here with a crazy person, as if we didn't already have enough of that on Earth. He quickly shoed those thoughts away, he wasn't about to let himself treat Twitch differently now, her behavior was not indicative of a girl with a few screws loose. Though, it didn't stop the guilt, he hadn't done anything, or said anything, but still. Just the fact he had thought it nagged on him, and as tempting as it was to lay blame on the transformation, he had to take responsibility, especially once he finally connected the dots. "You... Don't know if I'm real?" He asked, hesitant, she made no move to correct him. The two walked in silence for a while, and what words could have even be said? In truth there weren't any, just the waiting, and the wondering, taking the time to let the awkwardness seep from their minds before once again engaging in halting conversation. Finally, Twitch spoke up, thankfully disregarding the threads of the previous conversation. "Soooooo... You know any cute guys?" And unfortunately right into another hot bed topic. Twitch stared up expectantly at Alan, his eyes now wide and face as red as heated iron. And we just got out of the fire! I swear Twitch, everything you say is designed to get me in a state! "Oh... I um, I, well... You see-" Twitch rolled her eyes, smiling at Alan's inane ramblings, then chuckling, then laughing, she cupped her hands around her face, shaking her head from side to side. "Figures I'd get a shy one." She said, "Girl, when we get back to civilization, remind me take you out for a few." Her eyes glinted with a strange light as she brought her gaze back to rest on Alan, a glint far too familiar for his comfort, "I'll get you out there in no time!" She paused for a moment, staring at the sky and leaving a worried Alan to wonder after what she meant. "By the way, you're sure we needa' go south?" Alan, the blush still resting unshakable and firm across his face, took his time in answering. "Ah, y-yes. I'm sure." "Hm," Twitch brought her paw up to her chin, eyes dancing between the horizons, "I dunno, it might get colder... The Sun here... We might already be in the south... Maybe." This prompted Alan to stare up as well, the sun was indeed rather high in the sky, though Alan didn't know what exactly... Oh, Uh oh. "Twitch..." He said, squinting at a Sun that was nearly on top of them. "Yea' Aurora?" "I hope to god I'm wrong... But I don't know if it's going to matter what direction we go." "And... Why's that?" Twitch asked, now showing signs of alarm. "Because this might just be the Equator." The two stood in silence, as the few shadows around them slowly started to disappear, till finally, everything was as a white, shapeless plane, stretching onward to the horizons. The realization finally seemed to make itself known on Twitch's face, dancing from expression to expression in rapid succession, before landing on a sour, scrunched look. "... May I say now, if we die, that I am going to haunt my boss forever. How about you?" She asked. "5th Grade Math Teacher, definitely." After a moment to regain their spirits, Alan and Twitch set off again, headed now for the east. Honestly an arbitrary direction, they had little hope aside from the vague sense that that direction might be leading into an ever so slight decline. Might mean that they were headed toward an ocean, might mean they were stumbling into a basin. But regardless of it all, Twitch had kept up conversation, likely to keep Alan's spirit up. And it wasn't that he didn't appreciate the thought, its just when Alan wanted some quiet, he was used to actually getting some quiet. So with the revelation that they may very well freeze, or if they were lucky, starve to death no matter what direction they headed, and Twitch's increasingly random choices in topics were steadily wearing his already strained nerves down to a razor's edge. What was even worse however, was that he couldn't even muster the heart to ask for some silence. "- I mean, have you ever just thought about it? We drink liquefied crystals to survive, its weird!" She carried on, heedless of Alan's attention, or rather, lack there of, "Imagine waking yourself up, walking to the cooler and grabbing a cuppa' liquid quarts or somthin', that's basically what you're doin'." "Uh-huh." Alan muttered, trudging onward with his head hung low. He had already been moving slow, incapable of moving much faster because of his altered physicality, but now he moved at a mere snails pace, as one was want to do in a hopeless situation. How was he to react? They had been dropped into a world in the middle of an ice age, it was likely a fluke that they had managed to survive the night, for the other two at least. Alan could feel the chill, but he couldn't properly gauge it, to his skin, or rather, coat, it felt like a nippy autumns day, but he couldn't very well ignore the biting cold that ripped down his throat every time he took a breath. Even at this pace, it made his lungs hurt. Though actually, perhaps, if he was to really think about it, neither he, nor Twitch were showing signs of succumbing to the cold. Not that he knew what to look for, but if the fact that Twitch had still not stopped talking was anything to go by, they weren't quite in the red yet, or the blue, as it were. As in, frozen corpses... Anyway; Alan thought he was getting used to the endless babble, though it was starting to remind him of someone he'd just rather not be thinking about. So they continued on, as the sun fell ever on at their backs, reaching its final quarter just as Twitch seemed to be reaching hers. Yawning between her sentences, stumbling between her steps, she finally took a break as the sun slipped behind distant clouds, halting her one sided conversation. Alan, for his part, was grateful for it. He'd been waiting for the quite eagerly, talking that time to let his mind slip into the silence, thinking of nothing but the cool air and the face of his daughter. Soon though, she spoke up once again, her voice horse and cracking as she declared her weariness. "Aurora, I... I'm so beat, when do you think we'll settle?" Alan barely had to spare a glance to tell that she was done, eyes lidded, ears folded down, and Alan really couldn't say he felt much better. Or, at least, he was convinced he should have been, his mind seemed to want to say he was tired, but every step sapped no more energy from him than a flick of the eyes. It was strange, one half saying he needed to rest, the other felt like breaking into a run. It had to be something with this body. Regardless, he knew that after last night's restlessness, he needed a long sleep, as much as it pained him. "Real soon, real soon." He knew Time wasn't exactly on there side, but what could they do? If even the equator of the world was a damn icebox, where were they to go? Why not simply hunker down now and think on it some more. But then again... Shelter seemed nonexistent, and the bitter wind was sure to make any sleep they clawed from it restless. He could certainly try constructing another Igloo, but even then there were significant obstacles. The ground seemed harder then before, solid and immovable, it could've taken days to dig up enough material, and Alan wasn't even sure they had that. Alan's heart jumped, his pulse quickened, something was wrong. He turned to Twitch, finding her similarly panicked. "What in the hell..." She mouthed, quiet and hushed, like someone was going to overhear them. Or something. Time went on, but their unease never seemed to settle, in fact, it only increased as the night slowly stole away the color and light of the world. The fear left them frozen in their tracks, looking around at the empty plain of ice and snow, frightened and bewildered eyes starring into the dark. "Stay on me Twitch,", Alan whispered, his voice harsh and stern, his tone serious and commanding. Something was out there, something that wanted them. It was something more than the feeling one got on a long walk home, late at night when the street lamps were flickering, when you stare into the darkness... And the darkness stares back. "Get on the Stretcher." There was a pause, then without a word she climbed onto the travois. Another pause, more silence, then, panicked whispers. "Aurora! I saw something move!" Alan twisted his head around so fast he made his neck crack, but the dark revealed nothing to him, even as the last light was extinguished beneath the horizon, and the stars became the only illuemination in a cold, dead night. Then, there was the sound. So close it might as well have been on top of him. A long, loud, winding, chortled call, like the death knell of an elephant. Though there was nothing quite so natural about it, and even as Alan ran, others anwsered, one, two, five, ten, twenty. He lost count as all his mind came to focus on was escape, though, as one could imagine, it proved hard to gain ground on the onslaught of terrible calls. Alan's new body wasn't cooperating with his need to run, his legs struck the ground at awkward angles, nearly sending him sprawling. What was worse, is that every time he seemed to lose his footing, the voices would squeal and crack, like distorted laughter, coming closer each time. Though whether by force of will or pure luck, Alan never fully fell, and even began to outpace the horrors on his tail. It wouldn't give him much in the way of hope, even if he could keep up this pace, and he was fairly certain he'd collapse sooner than these things would. Perhaps that was the only reason they had not caught them yet, to wear him out, to watch him fall to his own weakness, they were playing with him. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide... Alan took one final breath, closed his eyes, and stopped, feeling the cold dread wash over him. Twitch let out a sharp squeek, jumping onto Alan's back and clutching his hair, pulling it taught about herself and shaking, muttering curses and questions. Though Alan couldn't hear her over the howl of the wind, he knew what she was likely asking. Why did you stop? It was because they wanted him to run, they wanted him to fear them, they wanted him to run, to drink in the chase, why else would he not be dead. He could feel them now, all around him, were they confused? Disappointed? It didn't matter, he wouldn't submit to them, he wouldn't play their game. A hollow victory? Maybe, but what were they to do? This world would have killed them if these things had not, what was the point in fighting a battle that ended in death no matter what? His anger was far from burnt out, he raged that he would never see his dear child again, he raged for how little anything he did ultimately meant, he raged for the people that were being dragged down with him, for Twitch's tangible fear, and the Unicorn's silent ignorance. And most of all, he raged at the monsters surrounding them, rage that spiked dramatically when he heard the laughter, or at least, what Alan imagined passed for laughter. He could feel them closing in, but still he refused to move, stubbornly holding stock still, convinced his actions would spite them... But was that all he was going to aim for? Of course it was! What good would running do!? What good would fighting do?! Resistance was pointless, the only path he could take, the only one that would deliver to him even a sliver of satisfaction, was to not give them what they want! Or was it? He had felt this before, crushing hatred, spiteful indignance, the air of total pointlessness... He realized something back then, just as he was realizing now, as the murderous laughter died in the bastard's thoats... This wasn't him. Even as he finished the thought, the screeching resumed, the force of the spiteful rage redubbled, but that only reenforced his certainty. And as he had back then, he turned to those who relied on him to pull him from the brink. Not just Ella now, no. Twitch, The Unicorn, They were relying on him now too! Now was the time to fight. But even as he readied himself, a bitter howl cut through the chatter, a ragged, torn, but none the less bone rattlingly powerful burst of sound that seemed to shake the very ground. In that instant, like a sign from God, the chortled calls ceased, and the path was made clear. RUN. His eyes opened in a sharp snap, his limbs burst into furious motion, every peice of his body throwing itself forward with as much speed and momentum as he could muster. Which, as it turned out, was quite a hell of a lot. In the brief moments he caught sight of one the horrid creatures, his first instinct was to freeze solid. It stood directly in front of him, vauge, smokey form encompassing his vision, but his newfound will, pressed against that fear, shattering it, much like what Alan's physical body did to the beast. He smacked head first into the creature, the feeling of hitting a brick wall ending a suddenly as it came, as the wall gave, and crumbled. Through the monster he emerged, trailing peices of it's body that quickly faded to dust, and landing roughly on the cold, hard ground. Somehow, he maintained his momentum, speeding away from the monsters as they came to realize their quarry had made a break for it, even taking one of their own with them. And oh, if Alan thought the sound before was bad, if death and madness could be put to song, then this was it. There were no words to describe this sound, it put to death any notion Alan had of trying to fight back in an instant. Running was indeed the only option. Unless one wanted to consider the promise of a death soaked in every brutallity imaginable an option. Alan preferred not to. He had no clue where he was going, or when he'd get there, but what he did know is that he he wasn't stopping for hell. Courage swelled in his heart as the snow and ice seemed to glide by at a remarkable rate, despite his constant stumbling and bad form, if he could keep this pace, maybe-! Alan quickly dodged to the side, as one of the creatures came in screaming like a missile, colliding with the spot he had just been and kicking snow high into the air. Alan stared back at this with a slack jaw, watching as the ground continued to crack and heave from the impact. He quickly reassessed the situation, noting the speeding black masses the shot from the cloud of snow, the odds were definitely not in his favor. Alright, disheartening, but, if he just kept dodging, he could probably- "AURORA!!!!!" Twitch's small scream caught Alan's ears, and he looked forward to find a massive wall of white, stretching from horizon to horizon, so tall he'd have had to touch the back of his head to his spine to the the top. "Oh," As Alan's anger flaired his speed picked up, his eyes narrowing, jaw setting. "AURORA?" Twitch yelled again, this time questioning. "Come," At this point, Alan was well past angry at this point, his speed was so that he couldn't even hear himself think over the wind. He was only interested in one thing, surviving, and if he had to bust through a thousand miles of rock hard glacier, he was going to do it! He would survive, even if it killed him! "AURORAAAAA!?" "OOOOOON!" And with the both of them screaming like banchees, they crashed into the glacier... Well, less a glacier, and more a pane. Turns out that the ice was only around a couple feet thick, and while that was, at the least, a difficult thing for a human to break through, in Alan's new body, and at the speed he was moving, the ice wall shattered like it was hit with canon shot. It took a moment for Alan to regain his senses after the collision, adrenaline could only hold off so many blows to the head, and as he did, he noticed something startling, he was falling. Panic gripped him for a second, but before he had the chance to let out more than a yelp he was already slamming into the ground, wheezing as his body slid to a stop. He could faintly hear the groans of Twitch, not all that far away, and began getting to his feet, if he didn't soon, the creatures would catch them. He jumped around as he heard the sounds of impacts, but, they were muffled, and he soon saw why. Through the holes in the ice made by them, he could see the creatures, writhing aross the surface of some strange, viscous wall, glowing slightly. Alan stared up at it in awe, eyes wide as his injured brain clicked into place, a force field, or at least, what seemed to be one. He couldn't fathom why it had let them pass but... He wasn't about to look a gift horse In the mouth, he needed to get Twitch and the Unicorn as far as... Wait, where was the Unicorn? Twilight didn't know how long she had aimlessly wandered the dreamscape, while one wasn't lucid, time often seemed to matter little in this realm, though she was keenly aware when she became so. "Twilight!" She could hear the faint voice in the distance calling her name, but the distortions natural to the Plane of Dreams made it difficult to know who, or from where the voice had originated. But Twilight had a fair guess. "Luna, Is that you?" She called, looking about. The couldn't see the Princess approaching, but it was soon evident where she was, as the twisting wisps of the Dreamscape tried with great effort and spectacle to subdue and remove Luna from her presence. The sheer size of the disturbance would have clued her in easily, but the magic that flowed to her from the swirling silvery mass well quite the tell-tale sign as well. "Luna!" She cried, galloping as fast as she could, till finally she could see the Princess, struggling against the tides of the Dreamscape, sweat dripping from her chin in clear sign of her tremendous efforts. "Twi-Twilight!" Luna shook under her stain, lifting her head to meet Twilight's concerned gaze, "We do not have much in the way of time, Our Sister, you must speak with her, I will-!" Luna was unable to finish speaking before she collapsed, gasping, her front legs pushed to the ground with great force. "No time, no time!" Twilight said, trying to light her horn but failing, how could her magic betray her at a time like this!? She didn't even know what was going on, she needed to know! What was so dangerous that it necessitated Luna contacting her in such a way? What could be trying to halt her? Plenty of things, none of them good. "Tell me Luna, quickly!" "We know not what to tell, only to ask what we need to know!" Luna collapsed further, now fully on her knees, "Where are you Twilight! Your friends have searched, but you, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie remain unfound... And I feel that my discovery of you may not be easily repeated." Dash and Pinkie? Lost... what happened?! Twilight knew that certain circumstances could lead to an unstable Dreamscape, making it difficult to contact an individual or for said individual to recall recent memories, though the presence of Luna should have been counteracting that! "I... I don't know... I..." flickers of memories danced across her mind, always staying just out of reach. But finally, faint recollections began to coalesce, faint shadows at first, though time sharpened her mind's eye, and soon recognizable forms began to make themselves known to her. "We... We fell, the three of us." "Loyalty and Laughter?" Luna asked, panicked, grimacing as the effort she expended took its toll. "No, I... I have no idea who these... ponies are. I managed to save us, but I never saw Rainbow or Pinkie during the fall." "Then this is... Grave news indeed, we have seen no hair nor hide of any of you in a full day... You are certain, that you fell? Nopony has returned from that place Twilight, it was exactly why we had advised against the expedition in the first place! If so... We may not be able to recover you by our own power..." Luna starred at Twilight, with eyes full of apprehension, as Twilight took full stock of how dire the situation truly was for the first time. The map had told them, north of Yakyakistan, farther than it even dared to depict, something was brewing. As with all friendship problems, they never truly knew the purpose of the journey, only that Harmony demanded their presence there. What perhaps set this particular adventure apart from the other however, aside of the seer distance involved, was that the map had called all of the elements. A sure sign that something was seriously amiss in the North. And Luna, she had told them that the North was nothing more than the domain of Windegos and other, greater evils. She had warned them of the darkness that lied beneath the world. But you just had to push it, didn't you Twi', She was such a fool. She had stood there, at what seemed like the edge of the World, gazing into the abyss, into a darkness that swallowed even the light of the Sun. They had arrived at the Northern most point, only to find the end of the world. Mountains and valleys alike cracked and wrought into a jagged cliffside that seemed to continue on forever, circling the impossibly large pit that must have been thousands upon thousands of miles in diameter. If she had fallen in... Celestia, where was she now!? Regret and dread hit her harder than the actual physical fall ever could. Her breathing became labored, her body shook. And all Luna could do was watch, as Twilight began to weep. Though, as her time began to wane, the Princess steeled her gaze, and raised her voice, determination seeping from every word she spoke. "Twilight, I swear to you, we will never forsake our search! As long as you do not give up hope, as long as you fight, we will as well. I swear to you, I will not rest till I have seen the elements reunited!" With those last words, Luna began to disappear, as if being ripped away from Twilight's dream by gravity of impossible strength, "I swear it!" Then, she was gone slipping through the inky swirls of the Equestrian Dreamscape, the last she would see of Twilight would be a smile that had never reached her tear filled eyes. Author's Note Whew, this one was a struggle, kept second guessing the dream sequence, actually had to rewrite(delete) a large portion of it because it was written like an H. P. Lovecraft Character had gotten his crazy hands on my keyboard. Question; Would you good folks mind supplemental chapters? Basically just'd be world building, i've had this story cooking in my head for nigh on two years now, more little tid bits than an Ent could shake his many sticks at. Chapter III: Home, and how they worryLuna sucked in as much air as she could, letting it go through her teeth as she sat up In her bed, eyes wide and brimmed with tears. "I take it, it didn't go well." Discord said removing his hands from their position over Luna, his power ceasing its transfer. He sighed as Luna merely shook her head, "Figures." "Luna, what did she say? You did not do as planned, I was worried." Celestia looked at her sister with concern, her brow knitted into a delicate furrow. Though, despite this, Luna was sure she caught a sliver of panic in her voice. It was... Disconcerting. "It was as we thought, Twilight is separated from... the others. Though she claims... there are two souls accompanying her, she knows not who they are." Luna said, holding back her tears, "There is worse news..." "Oh?" Discord took a breath, covering his face with a hand before putting on a small, exhausted half smile, "Do tell, what could possibly make this worse?" "Windego." Luna spat the word out, her voice practically oozing venom. "I open my fat mouth!" Discord said, throwing his hands into the air before balling them into fists, "Just what did we go and do to deserves this, it's the worst, possible, thing!" He proceeded to slump onto a disheveled old red couch, throwing an arm over his eyes, only for the couch to collapse under his weight. "Discord!" Celestia stomped the ground with a hoof, the shock of it enough to bounce Discord up off the ground, trailing broken wood and ripped velvet, "This is no time to play the clown! Be serious! I would remind you that Twilight is your friend as well." Discord grit his teeth, breathing deeply. "Serious? Serious!?" He brought himself face to face with Celestia, eyes starring wildly into her unflinching gaze, "Princess! I'm surprised! We all deal with stress differently, and being unpredictable isn't easy. You think I can afford to drop character for even a moment?" He turned, walking to the window of the room and staring out into the early morning, "Though. If you worry I'm not taking this seriously..." He paused, balling his claws into fists, he flashed her a grin, Something about that smile was off to Luna, and she had a hard time imagining it meant anything good, but Celestia carried on, turning from Discord with a rare show of contempt and walking from the room without a second glance. "I hope you do Discord." Eyes mere slits as she stalked from the room, she offered neither farewell nor apology as she slammed the door behind her. "So," Luna said, staring after her departed Sister, her grief rolling away as she forced her will to take its place, "I assume you have a plan to catch our culprit?" Discord nodded, stroking his beard as he looked after Celestia's wake. "Are you so certain this was a malevolent action?" She asked, setting her jaw. "Come on now Luna, we all felt it!" Discord narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Someone or something has been tampering with old, old magic. The kind that summons seas of blood, celestial collisions, undead hordes, replacing our number system with base-24. We are talking about the apocalypse here!" "And yet," Luna pressed her hoof to her chin, eyes closing and the gears behind spinning, "No such signs, no such catastrophe... All to be used against the bearers of harmony, and not even to great effect... I can't help but wonder-" Discord rolled his eyes and slithered his way to her, quietly, slowly. Carefully, he made to grab her shoulders, then striking like a cobra, he lifted the surprised Princess off her hooves and, in a instant, slammed her into a chair. Shocked out of her thoughts, Luna held Discord's name on the edge of her tongue, ready to shout loud as she ever could, till she centered her focus on the cork-board he had summoned. Scrawled across it's surface were line after line of yarn, and on occasion, wire and silly string, mashed together in a confusing jumble of crisscrossing lines, strange geometric patterns, and what looked like a paragraph regarding the chaotic power of cheese stuck In one corner. Though it was a mess, one pattern prevailed above the Discordian jumble, the single picture of Twilight Sparkle in the center, all strings coming to rest beneath it, and twenty or so other portraits that the strings attached seemed to lead to, though it was kind of hard to tell, the whole thing being an utter mess and all. Discord sprang from the ground, his face, for once in his life, stoic. "Luna, I would like to present you with my list of suspects!" Among the gathered portraits were many faces Luna didn't recognize, but a few stood out as familiar. "Is that the one known as Derpy?" Stoic facade forgotten, Discord looked confused for a moment, before he looked back at the board. "Ah, sorry, let me just," he very quickly plucked the picture from its position, "Forgot to remove that one." Luna's raised brow prompted further explanation, and Discord provided, "See, ever since that timely incident with Strobelight Dribbler-" "Starlight." "Whatever," Discord proceeded to trace the lines with his claw, talking as he did, "I've been keeping tabs on anyone and everyone that might pose a 'significant' threat to our little heroines. Not to brag," He said, flashing a smile in the Princess's direction, "But I've probably put more effort into this than I have in just about..." He scrunched his nose, "Actually, never mind. Now, back to the topic! Diamond Dogs, Lind Worms, Ghouls, the Aegis Ogres, Ancient blood Dragons, and so on, these are the obvious threats, they're defined, they have rules they play by, some even have codes of honor. And so, they are... predictable." He smacked his paw to the nearest portrait, a sneering Thestral bound in chains and stuck in a line up, "Ponies tend to be a... little more complex than the average super-mook, you can't just magic zap every one of 'em into submission for one, as for two," He took a sip out of a flask Luna swore hadn't been in his hand a moment ago, "They can wreak just as much chaos, Moon Cruiser, know him?" Luna sighed. "By reputation only." "Puh-Leeeese Lulu!" Discord said, "We both know you were more involved than that!" He curled his lips in a fanged smile, "You took him down after all." Though Luna should have been expecting it, the lance of shock that shot through her still took a moment to reign in. It was Discord after all, what else could be expected of him? ... Though if he knew about that... She shook the thought off as soon as it tried to take root, now was not the time to worry after her... secrets, she had someone else to worry about. "Fine," She said, twitching her tail in annoyance, "I felt responsible." Now It was Discord's turn to reign in the shock. "Oh, wow, not even a denial. Okay. Going to have to push up the timetables." He grunted awkwardly as he fluttered about with note cards Luna refused to question the existence of, "Well, then, I'm sure you don't need reminding what he intended to do?" Luna nodded, willing him to finally get to the point with a hard stare. "Well, turns out, he wasn't as alone as we thought." He moved his paw to the next picture as something caught in Luna's throat, a bulky Earth Pony stallion drinking a coffee, almost looked like a promotional picture for Moonbucks. If it were not for the daggers the stallion was staring at the camera, "Bulk Sale, unassuming business pony, family man, crime-boss, the police had vetted him, released him without suspicion of any wrongdoing. Never realized they had the biggest boss in the city dropped into their hooves till I brought him back to the main station, along with the deeds and addresses of every warehouse and smuggling operation he had even a sliver of a fraction of stock in." Discord let out a small, dry, chuckle, "He was in on Moon Cruisers plot, wasn't just in on it, he supplied all the equipment." His chuckle escalated to a harsh laugh, "Evidently, he resented the Apple family for forcing his agricultural ventures in Ponyville to bed before they'd even got started! Petty bastard." By this point, Luna was working the lump out of her throat. Moon Cruiser was a cultist of Nightmare moon, devout, cunning, ruthless. And when Twilight and her friends had... released her from the Nightmare's grip, Moon blamed the elements, and two years ago he had nearly succeeded in both assassinating Twilight, and resurrecting his master. That incident had been the reason behind the Tantabus' creation. And, much to her everlasting embarrassment, why she was missing during the wedding of her niece. Of course, she'd thought the matter over with, an adventure for the books, certainly, but all consequences were dealt with. Or so she had assumed. Foolish! Did we truly think he had managed to gather all that summoning equipment alone!? The full implications of this were not lost on her. Whether as members of the Cult called Evermoon, or simply individuals seeking vengeance for themselves, every pony present of Discord's board, every last one were out to kill the elements, and she had missed it. "I'm sure you've already come to understand the ramifications of this," Discord said, bringing his captive audience of one back to attention. "I like to call them the 'Elements of petty vengeance'. Twenty-seven ponies in all, from all walks of life, beholden to different ideologies and beliefs," He raised his lips in a snarl, "Somehow managed to band together for one purpose, to-" "How many are accounted for?" Luna asked, seemingly unabashed by her interruption, much to Discord's irritation, "Are you keeping tabs on them? Were are they? Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Her questions begged no argument, so, Discord gave her his answer. "At this moment, Ten are in custody of Equestria's finest, seven are imprisoned for unrelated crimes, six more are being followed, one is under my personal watch, and three are unaccounted for. And I didn't tell you because you had enough on your plate, I thought I could handle it... I was wrong." He deposited three of the photos at the Princess' hooves, "The Unicorn, Specter, always clever. She caught on to me." Discord sighed, "She was new to the cabal, so I underestimated her. Turns out, there was a very good reason I'd never heard of her before. Because there was no reason I should have, no way for me to know just how many crimes the girl has committed. She's a total ghost, only incident that I can confidently say she's responsible for is the Kronosus heist." "This-This can't be!" "I know right?" Given what he'd been focused on, it wasn't an unfair assumption to make, but the sudden magical grip on his ears made sure that assumption was soon corrected. "Not that!" Luna Pointed her hoof at one photo in particular, "I had thought Twilight dealt with these!" "Ah, yes, that one," Discord said, still held tightly by the grip of the Princess, "Was just getting around to that. Evidently, a few had escaped, I'd been hearing rumors of them in far off places... but... Luna?" Discord looked around, finding his ears released and his Princess gone. "Oh for Pete's sake Luna, I wasn't finished!" And with that, he chased off after her into the twisting halls of the castle. He'd failed her. All he could do was watch. Beyond the shield, the creatures swarmed and tumbled over each other like filthy black maggots, staining the snow with every touch. He hadn't payed enough attention, somewhere so close to safety, the travois had broken apart, leaving the unicorn to the wolves. That failure was bitter, It was almost indescribable. His was a family of soldiers... Military was tradition. It surprised even himself when he had declined service, perhaps it was a wise decision. Because If this was the way he felt, failing someone he cared about out of obligation, he wouldn't have lasted a second on the battlefield. He wanted to turn away, so badly... But he couldn't, for one, he had to confirm. He hadn't seen anything substantial yet. Nothing to tell him... To move on. A sudden jolt in his chest told him to run. Not away. But towards her. Even as he watched the ice break apart like brittle glass at these creatures' passing. He tried to shout himself down, to inject some sanity into himself. Nothing could survive that, the way they swarmed where she was... No way. He'd already taken his first step. This echoed through his mind even as he crossed it, watching, almost without fear as the shadows took notice. He was fully through now, feet away from both danger and safety, life and death... He could hear Twitch, shouting his name still. Not his name... Aurora's name. He stopped, his steady pace halted by a sudden familiar feeling. A faint little push... A heartbeat later, Alan's world turned to white. He blinked it away rapidly, quickly finding the searing white fade into a soft purple glow, he looked ahead, back at the black ball of hatred only to find it replaced by a little purple unicorn, broken wings trying as hard as they could to look graceful and majestic as they and their master remained affixed above the ground. Torrents of purple miasma flowed from her horn, her eyes shown, lit like fire. Relief flooded him, though it didn't quench the anger. No, his anger finally died when she exploded. Where there was once a torrent, now spewed a geyser, the release of power rocketed into the sky, illuminating the area for miles. The cold icy dread returned as the lights of the unicorn's power faded, and she weakly collapsed, the ground embraced her with a wheeze. He had seen them, thousands, the unicorn had stunned them, perhaps even killed the ones that had gotten to her first. But they were there, slowly fading out of sight as the pillar of light receded into the sky. It was... Insurmountable, but even so, he stepped forward, and the screeching began. Such a cacophony was death, it should have been. And yet, with each step, the pain wore away, even as the noise grew. Was it bravado? Courage? Something in between? Alan knew, for once in his life he knew. Much to his own chagrin. He reached her just as she opened her eyes, slowly bringing them up to meet his. He smiled, watching her weary stare manifest the signs of panic, flicking to the sides, her breathing becoming erratic. "Breath!" He yelled, catching her attention once more, his smiled held in place purely by the need. "Can you stand?" She tried to speak, but the noise drowned it out, her eyes shot wild and wide as the shadows grew, threatening to send her into a panic, "Hey!" Once more she focused on him, her eyes now shimmering. "We're going to be fine! Just focus, I need you to stand!" She shook her head, and once again mouthed something unintelligible. "I need you to trust me! Try! Try as hard as you can," He breathed heavy, as he felt his spine tingle with the touch of something foreign, even still, he smiled, "Stand!" Alan couldn't help but feel pride as the shaking subsided, and steel finally began to form in her eyes, she nodded, and with great effort, began to heave herself from the ground. With speed fueled by dread and adrenaline, he ducked beneath the space between the unicorn and the ground, rolling her onto his back and making a mad dash for the shield. Don't you dare let it go! He skidded to a halt on the other side, collapsing as his heart and legs finally gave out. And for moments, sweet blessed moments, there was silence. "OH MY GOD!" Twitch was on them in a second, "Are you- How did- I mean-!" She fumbled with her words a little longer, making vague attempts at language till finally she finished, awestruck, "Wow... You guys are a-freakin'-mazing!" She continued with the strange noises, but Alan was fairly certain she had ceased trying to form words. He heard giggling, and turned. The unicorn was smiling now, worries of moments past forgotten. "I think you need to meet my friend Pinkie sometime," She coughed a little, Alan worried after that, but she got it back under control, "You'd really hit it off." Her smile faded a bit, as she glanced between her two companions, morphing into a pained wince as Alan set her on the ground. "T-thanks. Um... Speaking of meeting," She looked a bit abashed as she looked at Twitch in particular, "I didn't ask for your name. Before, that is..." "OH! Yeah, I, should have said something too, kinda a theme we've got going... Twitch, its Twitch!" The Hydrus had an odd tone weaved into her words that Alan couldn't quite catch the meaning of, though he wasn't given much time to wonder, "And this here is Aurora, she's been dragging your unconscious body through miles and miles and miles of cold, uncaring wasteland..." The unicorn looked between the two once again, now with a face of confusion, "So what I'm saying is she saved your life and you should thank her." "Ah! Yes! Ahem," She fixed her gaze more permanently on Alan, "Thank you very much for dragging my unconscious body through miles and miles and miles of uncaring wasteland, I, um, appreciate not being left for dead!" She said that with a smile Alan thought a little too wide. Fear perhaps? "Well," trying his best to sound authoritative, and make his tone powerful, that worked with calming down kids, "couldn't live with myself if I'd just... Left you there..." Ooooh you just boophed it bro. His voice was all off. That had somehow sounded like the skeeviest thing he'd ever heard, it wasn't the words! It was this... This... Squeaky toy... Tuba, totally wacked in 360 degrees voice he had to deal with! No way to mimic Teal'c now, this was Mark Hamill's Joker all the way! He was never going to get used to this voice! "Oh, yes. I'm sure you want compensation," She said, reapplying her smile, "If you want, you can list your fees now, I never leave the castle unprepared!" He had to raise his... hoof to that, halting her before she hurt herself, dark though it was, Alan was surprise by how many wounds he'd missed at a cursory glance. Wait just a second, Alan blinked, Castle? Shaking it off, he steadied himself, trying to appear as though he actually knew what he was talking about, "No, nonono, I don't need payment! I'm... Not that kind of... Girl...", Eeeeeeeea, "And I wouldn't move around too much right now if I were you, or I'll have to return your favor." The unicorn was still for a moment, the darkness slinking back to cover her face from view. At least he didn't sound like a psycho "I didn't get to apologize for marehandling you like that, did I?" She said, giggling a little, "I am sorry about that, I thought you were going to... Lose something important." "Forget having to apologize," Alan said, a little too sharply for his own liking, "its fine. " "Oh, uh, its Twilight Sparkle by the way." "Ah- Um, Aurora, Nice to meet you." He said, flushing as he heard her giggle, soft and subdued. "I know, Twitch already introduced us, isn't that-" She looked around for a moment, before furrowing her brow, "Um, Twitch?" The responding call came only a moment later. "Over the snowbank Twilight! You two are really going to want to see this!" Twilight smiled and shook her head, moving to rise to her hooves "Uncanny... Wait, when did she-?" A pained grunt cut Twilight off as she nearly fell back into the snow, before Alan rushed up to steady her, "O-oh, thank you." She tried to speak again, only to spit out a yelp. Alan had her draped belly down over his back again, unwilling to let her chance walking just yet, even if they were still on the brink of death. Might as well go screaming into that dark night. At least, that's what his father always liked to say. "Stay steady Twilight," He said, taking a slow pace up the bank, "and like I said, please don't push yourself." Twilight couldn't help but agree, as much as she wanted to say otherwise. It was enough of a strain maintaining a state of calm after an unrestrained release of magic that intense. Struggling to stay awake as well. Aurora's soft, thick, icy blue coat wasn't exactly helping with staving off the wave of weariness that threatened to suck her back into unconsciousness. Now, the panic she had to press all her will into suppressing? That was quite a lot of help there. Facing up to the high probability that her horn was broken was slowly starting to wear her down, getting at her. After all, what was a Princess of Magic without her magic? "And what is the measure of a Princess but her strength in a crisis?" For a moment, tears welled in her eyes, those were some of Princess Luna's first words of advice to her, when she had finally gained her title in full. Words she too often forgot. Words she had too readily disregarded, not as a matter of conscious choice mind you. But it was neither here nor there, until she had confirmed the condition of her horn, there was no need to fret about it... Nooooo need. None what so ever. Not at- "A-! ... W-woah..." Oh, thank Celestia, I was about to crack! Aurora's exclamation brought Twilight's focus back to her sight, giving her only moments to process the shimmering stream of white-yellow light ascending from the center of a simply leviathan cylindrical superstructure and the three great towers that ascended from it it. "What the hell is that?" Aurora said, wide eyes taking in the power on display with a look of awe, fear, and maybe a bit of child-like wonder if Twilight was guessing right. She smiled at the sight. The mare was a... rough one for sure, but it seemed she had a softer side after all. You'd think she'd never seen a shield spell before... Wait. "Shield spell!" Twilight could barely contain herself as she tried to push Aurora onward. Aurora, for her part, only flinched. "Are... Are you okay?" Twitch asked, coming up below them, face pinched. "Yes! Better than okay!" Twilight pointed a hoof at the towers, "Its a shield spell! And an extremely potent one at that. Whoever is casting that has to be either an Alicorn or making use of a super specific talent!" She smiled broadly, "They could help us get out of here!" Aurora looked down at Twitch, her face twisted in confusing, and mouthed something like 'Ali-what?'. Twilight couldn't keep her expression from tending towards shock, or her brow from raising. She'd known from the moment she heard her speak that Aurora wasn't quite your average Equestrian, no regular inhabitant of Equus either. Her language was either ancient beyond counting, or alien beyond understanding. She was just glad that active translation spell had worked so well, and that it had caught Twitch within its range. As interesting as it would be to act as an interpreter, it would waste quite a lot of time. Curious though, Twitch's Equestrian was almost perfect, past all the fair with translation spells, though the accent she didn't recognize. Regardless, they'd found their first clue to help them out of this pit. Of course, she hadn't yet realized the full breadth of the situation, though that was understandable, layer upon layer of thick, glacierized snow coated the great shield's exterior. No one would have been able to see the moons through that. But looking up wasn't a concern at the moment. "Wings and a horn." She couldn't suppress a wince as she pointed to her own appendages, "Now go! I'll explain what I can later, but we don't have the time to waste!" Strangely, her mystery mare didn't seem as eager. She eyed the slope down tentatively, as though it had teeth. So, with a heavy sigh, Twilight said "Aurora... We need to get going." Though she had spoken softly, something about this sudden timidness annoyed her. This mare had faced down a hoard of monsters where most would have balked and ran at the sight of just one, yet here she was, stalled by the prospect of walking down hill. "Y-yes, I know, just... Still a little dizzy, yeah, that's all." It was easier to let those grievances slide when she spoke, though her voice held a sort of resounding brass that Fluttershy's did not, it was none the less starkly familiar, it was just something about words without confidence. And the contrast between her speech now and when she was out there, saving Twilight's life was frank and unapologetically apparent. It didn't encourage her, but she found her solace in the knowledge that no book was simply its cover. The next few moments found her retreating to her mind, losing track of her senses as she put all her focus into her thought. Which was exactly why she was so surprised when she was thrown from Aurora's tumbling backside. Luckily, she came out of her roll none the worse for wear, same as her companions, though as she checked over Aurora's balled, groaning form... This... Was going to be a long adventure. "Turn it around." Corddae Leveled his eyes at his partner from over his notable, a bitter tone and harsh stare kept Bayesian from questioning exactly why. This of course, further frustrated Corddae. "Well? I can't exactly tell you where we're driving if you don't ask." He'd been programmed for politeness after all. "Sorry sir!" He said, trying very hard not to look in Corddae's direction as he pulled off to a cul de sac and flipped on his turn signal. "Just seemed like you-" "Yeah, yeah, sorry." Corddae muttered, flipping through his programmable with a gesture. The magical paper responding by searching the archives as he required. "Just found some a familiar name in the victim's school registry." He held his tongue a little longer, before letting out a sigh. If all Bayesian intended to do in this investigation was eye him sidelong this was going to be a stuttery affair indeed. "Filut, I checked the father's phone records. A match." "Really now?" Bayesian said, his brow furrowing. "You don't suppose-?" Corddae let out a sharp bark of a laugh, his partner spotted a wisp of a smile marking his grey features. "Damn that boy and his sense of humor, 'McMasters'? He ruffles us worse than the Federals. Could well be that this man was McMasters..." Corddae, fiddled a bit more with the paper, "Depends. What did Filut mean by 'Old friend'. But I doubt any teacher of the Great and Powerful Filut wouldn't have a criminal record." Corddae shifted his focus to Filut's profile. He'd long since been taken off the Filut case, but his superiors had been gracious enough to allow him unrestricted access to the file... Files, lots of files. And now that he thought of it, wasn't this Alan fellow the same age as Filut? "He had to learn his flamboyant sense from someone." "Hm, flair Corddae." "What's wrong with flamboyant?" "He's not homosexual, is he?" Bayesian made it more of a statement of it than a question. "Not in the least." "Then flair, sharp, gets to the point. Doesn't have the connotation." "Flamboyant, and I'm sticking with it." His focus narrowed itself on the programmable, interest plain on his face. "Oh ho ho well now! Seems I hit it right on the money!" "3483?" "As sure as day." Corddae thumbed his nose, looking up from his programmable paper, "As sure as this little venture is staying off the books. Fifteen minuets Bayesian, no more no less." "Aye, aye!" Two packs filled with essentials, that's all, no sugary treats, no toys or games, pure essentials. That had been unbelievably hard. Ella and Bailey rummaged through the kitchen as fast as they'd dared, eyeing sweets stashed here and there with longing, though Ella'd always reign Bailey in... And to her chagrin, vice versa. They'd ended their quiet little raid with backpacks stuffed half-full, bread and canned soup, peanut butter and fruit bars. They'd been hoping for more, that most certainly didn't help their spirits. All Bailey could do was keep her chin up, breath deep, and wipe at the sweat trailing off her brow. All Ella could do was think about the thousands of ways it could go wrong. The plan as of now was simple, if a bit morally bankrupt. They had already procured the keys to a vehicle, one that Bailey claimed to have experience driving, so, all they'd have to do was get out of town and find her Grandmother, which would doubtless be quite the surprise. She'd tried using Bailey's phone to text her, but that had fallen through once she'd realized she didn't remember her phone number. Bit of a set back, but thankfully she knew her address, soon, they'd be on their way there. Bend wasn't too far away from Cascadia after all. The trouble would really be getting out of the city. Cascadia was built into the hills, and she'd never paid much attention to how to get out. That was a problem when you couldn't see over the buildings, and honestly, she had forgot the name of the Highway that cut through the middle of the city. So, little help those road signs were going to be. There was a fierce knock, someone was at the door! Who in the ever loving-!? She stowed that question when she heard movement up stairs. Her friend's eyes practically bugging out of her head. "We need to go now!" she said, quiet, harsh. Ella responded with a curt nod, and they both crept slowly toward the backdoor. Unfortunately, someone in the house had probably woken, they could hear their footsteps groggily plodding over their heads. "... We're doomed." Ella wasn't so sure, despite her heart rising to her throat, they couldn't afford to be stopped here. No mater what. She wrapped herself around her friend looking through the darkened kitchen. Somewhere, anywhere, just to hide... "Pantry..." she said, doing her best to keep her nerves out of the equation. Bailey looked up at her, but had a poor time making eye contact, being roughly shoved as she was. The reaction to that being an almost acceptable squeak, almost. Ella swore heard the knocking pick up, the footsteps fall faster. She almost soiled herself right then and there, but she managed to close the pantry door. She waited and listened, feeling rather than hearing or seeing the descent of Bailey's parent finally reach the bottom and come to its completion. A few moments passed before the front door was answered, and Ella spent her time wisely, embracing her friend and gently stroking her hair. Though she wasn't sure if she was doing it for Bailey's sake or her own... Both. Defiantly both. "Oh goodie." Seemed the father, Kent, was the one to draw the short straw, "Two fine officers and I have nothing to show for you!" ... But was that Ken?! Bailey's Dad Ken!? The voice he had put on was arguably more feminine than even Bailey's own mother... "Flamboyant." Came a quite voice, one Ella knew, one Ella feared, "Filut, We need to come in." "Ah ah ah! Tickets, gentlemen, please! I don't run a charity." Kent responded, his... Friendly tone masking a sinister growl bubbling just beneath. "Alan McLane is dead, Kenny." The atmosphere immediately shifted, like there wasn't enough air in the room. Not for Ella at least, and she suspected not for Kent either. "CORDDAE... you better have an explanation- A DAMN good explanation for me, why are you here? What happened to Alan, and where the hell is his daughter!" Now that sounded more like Ken. Didn't stop her from from picking up on one simple fact, he knew that demon's name. "That last one wasn't a question." Ella gripped her friend tighter, as she heard the quickened steps. He was letting them in! Anger spiked, and Ella's eyes moved to meet Bailey's, accusations passing through sight. Did she know? Did she trap her here just to-... No, paranoia washed away the instant eyes met. Confusion, anger, depthless sadness. How this was understood, Ella didn't know. Maybe for now, it was the one thing she didn't want to know. "We've uncovered what we believe to be a trafficking ring... They've been nabbing magic kids. Killing parents. This particular case however..." That was the minion. Bayard? No, that sounded wrong. "Has absolutely nothing to do with that." "So, Officer Bartowski-" "Bayesian." The man in question corrected. Yeah, Ella thought that was right. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Came the snarky reply, and Ella smiled at the barb, "Anyways, what does this have to do with anything, much less me, my child, or my godchild?" There was a mumbling growl, Ella was sure it was Bayesian. "The magic... Moved." There was silence for a good while before Kent spoke up. "Specifics, please." "It was a good while between when we had seen the strike, like a pillar of light fall upon the residence. We called in all the regulars for forensics... I felt like this was bigger that. So, we contacted an Illuminist." Corrdae said. "With no prompting, no energy introduced, it... Attacked us." Once again, there was silence, shorter lived this time. But Ella couldn't help the small bit of joy she found in whatever had happened to the demon. Even as that joy turned to horror. "I'm going to make some tea." Kent said, a heavy sigh escaping him, "Sorry for my lackluster hospitality, either of you-?" "Not at the moment." Corddae swiftly cut off a muttered reply from his minion. Ella heard footsteps approaching, on a twinge, she looked at the shelf nearest her... Stocked full of tea. She had to bite her own tongue to keep from screeching in frustration. She had no idea who was trustworthy here, no clue who might be telling the truth. It was, after all, the first she'd heard of this "Godfather" business. But she held firm. Something told her this was the right call. So, she glared at the door, as if daring it to open. That bravado lasted right up to the moment the pantry's handle twisted. She flinched, shutting her eyes tight as the fear flooded her. She knew keeping herself blinded wasn't going to help. So, she opened her lids, barely allowing the light from the kitchen into her pupils, along with the sight of an inexpressibly confused Kent. "Wuh?" He squeaked, eyes jumping between the girls, anger, guilt, and panic battling for supremacy. This, was of course where Bailey showed just how loyal she really was. One finger pressed so hard to her lips it left an imprint. No sound, just gesture. Kent understood her immediately, she was Daddy's girl after all, though the look he gave promised consequence. Ken took a breath, "Peachy," He turned over his shoulder, "Bad news, I'm out of tea. Jacci hates the stuff, never sending a pregnant woman grocery shopping again." With that, he shut the pantry door. For a few moments there was silence, then the mumblings of a significantly quieter conversation began, and Ella let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but even so she now held confidence that Ken was mostly on their side. But how to get out of the pantry without being detected... A tap on her shoulder would reveal the answer. Bailey had struggled out of her grasp and popped the face off of a vent, getting her friend's attention with a tap from her foot on Ella's shoulder. Way to go Bailey! She cheered, her eyes lighting up with hope once again. Time to go Bailey! Because Bailey had to get out of this house! She breathed heavy, sweating buckets as she remembered the look on her dad's face. She had managed to push Ella out into the hall right behind the kitchen and pantry, and was in turn dragged through the rest of the way. It was Go time, she could see the Keys sitting on their hook. Wrapping her hands and as much fluff as she could, she stood slowly reaching up to retrieve them. With what she considered an all time high in her short but illustrious saving career, she gently lifted the keys from the hook and pocketed them. Giving her just enough time to spy another disturbing sight. He’d spotted her. She knew it. She also wanted to know why he wasn’t letting his compatriot no that’s a very two girls they were seeking were also speeding out the back door on owls wings. He held her in his vision, nothing but calculation, his lips a slight curve. She really didn’t know and she didn’t want to know. She hadn’t really even gotten more than a second to look at the fellows face, but she understood why Ellie had called them demons. They seemed too cold to be men. After that it was all such a rush, Bailey hardly noticed the flight from the back door to the parking garage. Not until Ellie was tapping on her shoulder. Suddenly seeing her face in the pristine glass of her father’s favorite car helped too. Good God she was really doing this. Well, she was always telling daddy that she wanted to go on adventures, seeing all the magical sites. Maybe if you came back with something of value, he might be a little more lenient. Those “law enforcement officers“ on the other hand… Something was very very wrong with them. Treating her father like… A criminal, he didn’t have a true bad bone in his body. What on earth were they lording over his head? Did they let her go just so they could get him in trouble? Is this really the right play? Didn’t matter now, she was in the cockpit. Garage door was open, and despite all the clouds, she could see the stars she needed to guide her. Hand on the gears, foot on the clutch, eyes dead set as the engine roared to life. Tonight, she was going to make this baby fly! A single crack, almost like the snapping of a twig was all Ken need to tell him what the girls were doing. Though his panicked wife also helped in that regard, nearly tripping over herself on her way down the stairs. "Ken!" She yelled, only to stop dead in her tracks as she spotted Corddae and Bayesian. "Gentlemen," she spat out, "Didn't know you had scheduled some 'guy time' To coincide with our daughter running away!” The two looked at each other with a small amount of panic Themselves, and jumped up from their positions. “Yes ma’am!“ They both shouted, before turning their attention towards the already open door. Ken was just beyond, sitting in the driver seat of a constabulary vehicle like he belonged there and honking the horn. “Get in or I’m leaving without you!” Corddae smiled as he fished for his key and came up empty. “ bloody fast bastard.“ he muttered, as Bayesian practically dived into the back, he swiftly walked to the passenger side and sat down heavy. “ I swear Kenny, if our girl doesn’t come back in one solid piece, I’m going to dice you like a tomato!“ and with that, they were off.
Prologue: Monumental Failure, and coincidence, not a good mixHooded and concealed by frosted woods, three figures stood in wait, peeking ever-so-often towards their target. "Is it time yet?" The first figure asked, crouched low behind a boulder and gazing worriedly towards the purple Alicorn and her compatriots, "I'm getting antsy, they've just been standing there... You don't suppose they've spotted us?" "Subtlety isn't their style," the second said, laying down on the ground in a careful motion, "Believe me. I mean, have you seen Rarity?" "Quiet!" The third snapped, the telekinetic grip on her book tightening as her companions flinched, "Its time when I say its time, so stop talking and wait. We only have one shot at this! And if one of you messes up my concentration we are all going to die, not just Princess Twilight, but everyone else in a 20 miles radius, so, shut, up." And for a good while, the group respected the request, but time turned on, and even gentle breezes wore steadily at their nerves. The apparent leader, clutching her tome ever tighter, eyed the group of mares still gathered at the edge, peering over into the depths. Beginning her incantations with a measured sigh and a deep breath, she spoke the words slowly, letting slip each syllable as carefully as one could. To her two underlings, the effect was at once beautiful and disturbing, like the words had a will of their own, indignant at being summoned forth from someone unworthy. "Dolain Ak'marorna," she said, her face twisting with concentration, as if every letter was fighting her, willing itself to remain unspoken, "H'yiat Zetheil Xsim!" "So... When do you think she'll be done?" The First whispered, reaching up with a claw and scratching underneath his hood. "Who knows," the Second said, "Honestly, you'd think somepony with such a big brain could work out a less convoluted way to... Just get it over with." "Well, that's Specter for you, when she wants someone dead..." The First again looked out at the group, his voice growing heavy with pity. He didn't need to continue the thought for the Second to understand what he was getting at. Specter, the third, was if nothing else, thorough. If she succeeded with finishing her incantation, there would be no doubt, the Princess, and likely the other four that were with her, would die... And that's what you want, isn't it? The Second was so sure, at least, once, in another time... She'd wanted vengeance, she'd wanted to be free of her past... That was her mistake, and as she looked at Specter, her incantation nearing its zenith, powered by a laundry list of thing the Second had stolen, cheated, and lied to get her hooves on... A vial of royal blood, moonstone, even the Alicorn amulet, that had been the hardest, but what was that effort for? What did it mean? She look back to the group, spying the shock of colors that was Rainbow Dash... Her... Her friend... The truth was, it meant nothing, all that effort, that time, the lies, the thievery, all of it, for something she no longer wanted any part of. The realization hit her like a train. Guilt, regret, the pain from every lie she ever told, long suppressed, rushed back to her, and her calm, carefully constructed facade threatened to crack under the weight of it. And, as if it was the crescendo, the finale of her emotional crisis, there was the rage. At herself, At the world that had brought her to this, At Specter... So, in the moment of blinding rage, she lost her control. Her hate slipped from her mind into action, and as the rock sailed through the air, she realized just what she'd done. THOCK She winced as the stone sailed true to its target, beaning Specter straight on, and cocking her neck back with the force of the impact... Cutting the word she'd been saying neatly in two. Uh oh, The Second quickly reoriented herself, trying to look just as scared as she felt. Neither Specter nor their companion had seen her throw the stone, but of course, that wasn't what she was worried about. The First looked back in a panic as the word was cut short, eyes widening as he took in the implications of the failed incantation, just as the Second had. They stood there, all three of them, as the seconds wore on, the First and Second scared witless, and Specter seemingly dazed. Then, as if awoken, Specter reacted, Her face curled as she seemed to concentrate its mass toward its center, all her features crushed together in a face that somehow managed to convey her near boundless rage. With no doubt, she was pissed. But as fast as the rage had overtaken her, it dissipated, along with the magic she'd been gathering in her horn. "Welp," She said, finally straightening her neck and looking to the other two with an expression best described as 'flat', "We are so unbelievably dead." And with a flash, they were gone, moments passed, and the bright light attracted the attention of the five ponies still near the abyss. Looks of confusion were shared, before the calm was wrought upon a shock wave, the sky above seemed to fold within itself, and three great spheres shot out from its depths. The first sped south, beyond the mountains, the second fell to the North, descending into the great abyss, and the third was launched straight towards the now panicked bearers.
Chapter I: The Bridgefall Wastes, and the things you'll find thereChapter I: The Bridgefall Wastes, and the things you'll find there Alan felt awful, though it was not a kind of pain he recognized, it spread and spiraled throughout his body in a surreal fashion. His muscles tingled and his hands felt frozen and limp. Oh crap... he thought, feeling guilt flush past his grogginess. I needed to help Mr. Schrumer today. His water heater, all busted, and I was supposed to take a look at it. I can't afford to... He struggled to rise, though he felt so much lighter than he usually did, it sent odd tingling shivers up and down every limb and nerve. His eyes shot open as the sensation made him grunt, making him unwilling to move till it passed. What am I talking about? I can't very well move, much less do a job. I should focus on fearing for my life right now! This isn't a normal morning quirk, kick yourself into gear Alan. Though with the snow falling around him, he doubted he really needed worry much anything, hypothermia would probably set in before long, so he'd just go back to sleep an' wake up at home... Hold on now... snow? So much for that sleep bit. Panic gripped him before he'd even the chance to produce another thought. Pushing through the almost overpowering sensations, he attempted to rise to his feet, disturbing the small layer of snow that had settled over him. He got his arms straight before he had to submit. Bending his limbs and letting out another grunt, he realized that his ears felt stuffed, every sound he made was muffled, he had to hope desperately that it wasn't permanent. As he made to speak however, his voice cracked horribly, it felt so wrong. Now that he thought about it, it seemed that everything felt a little off, of what he could feel anyways... But it didn't matter, if he was the only thing that had mattered in the situation, he didn't know if he would have had the will to push on, instead of simply submitting to the cold and tired weakness. He had to call for her, search for her, she was all that mattered right now. His daughter. "Ella!" He called, again and again, unsure of he was even loud enough to be heard a few feet away. But he continued. "Ella! Can you hear me!?" his heart beating faster and faster, as he pushed away the sensations, and getting on all fours, crawled up the frozen snowbank. He lost his grip a couple times while his still foggy brain tried to, all at once, keep the sensations away and ponder his sudden lightness, amongst other curiosities, both frighting and benign in implication. He felt as if forty pounds of him was missing, laying around somewhere in this frozen waste to be a grizzly prize for some wayward bear. ... Morbid, Chimed in the part of his brain that still didn't seem to truly understand the level of (excuse his French) deep shit he was in. Though it was certainly a, justifiably, morbid thought, it was not as disturbing, or as unwarranted, as the dangers his mind put his daughter through that pushed him forward out of fear. "Ella!" He shouted again, as he finally managed to get a limb up over the bank, though his light headedness forced him to tuck his head and close his eyes, else he tumble back down. So, as he slid himself over the snowbank, he kept his eyes squeezed shut. He feared what he'd find, or not find, hoping beyond all hopes to find Ella standing there unharmed and dressed head to toe in fluffy winter ware. He took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of his lungs for his daughter, only stopping once his already strained vocal cords reached their absolute limit. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, regaining his courage alongside his breath. Finally, they opened, and his heart sank, he saw no Ella, just snow that seemed to stretch on forever. Though he saw no sight of her, he forced himself to rise again, the alien feeling still clinging to his muscles and making his stomach feel hollow. He noticed, as he stood, his sight blurring, and again closed his eyes. This won't stop me, he thought, she has to be around here, she has to! He lifted his head up, now fully convinced that she'd be right around the next corner, she had to! He already lost too much, he couldn't lose anymore! Alan heaved himself up to all fours, panting and moaning as his muscles shook, the feel of it nearly unbearable. He trudged forward like that, arm after leg, leg after arm, everything felt so wrong, like someone had scrambled his insides and broken all his bones. His feet felt the same as his hands, cold and limp, and resting at odds with the ground. It should have been painful, which worried him more than the pain would have. But he continued. Finally lifting his head and opening his eyes. The blurriness he'd experienced before dissipated, but he began to worry that his vision was skewed, it looked almost like he was back where he began, the snow rose into a bank just a few feet ahead. No, wait, His eyes widened, and he kept them wide, despite the wind that stung them. Though it was hard to be sure it appeared as though the bank was much farther than it seemed, A few hundred yards at least he thought, trying his hardest to make it out accurately. He took a couple steps forward, only to trip on something, sending his spasming muscles out in all directions. He would soon come to recognize this as the second worst fall of his life. He first twisted his right arm beneath him, yelping as the pain lanced all the way up to his shoulder. Then, His ears popped so painfully it almost felt as if someone had taken a vice to his skull, just as his chin slammed into the ground with his tongue between his teeth. For nearly a second, he laid there, the pain of it all rushing in all at once, and he screamed. Sounded just like a woman to his recovering ears. As he quickly twisted himself to remove pressure from his injured arm, muttering curses the whole way in a broken little voice, he noticed the cause of his unfortunate tumble. A limb. He reeled back with as much speed as he could manage without hurting himself further, looking up at a cloud covered sky in an effort not to look at it. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," He muttered, so quite he barely heard himself, "Don't let it be her, please, God." His entire body shaking with trepidation, he just couldn't look. He felt his stomach twist, just the thought of what he might find finally getting to his nerves. Though at the same time, he knew he had to look, his resistance only served to agitate him further. Damned if I do, damned if I don't, he thought, forcing his head down, But I can't afford not to look... No, This whole situation is just too... I don't know, I'm just barely holding on. I'm not thinking straight. Alan slowly began to think, really think about his situation. His tired mind working as hard as it could to piece together the narrative of this frighteningly impossible morning, all the while his head slowly lowering. He could remember his day before, a hard day of work. He could remember his morning, waking Ella for school, sending her off with a kiss and a hug. He could remember his jobs, helping a friend of a friend with his electricity, cleaning out his Uncle's trash compactor of a garage, trouble shooting with Old Gale and her bipolar AC unit. Then, he returned to an empty house, and started up his PC. Ella soon returned from her friend's house, that often being her first stop after school. He asked her how her day had been, she blew him off, she had obviously been upset. He tried to ask her about it, but all she gave him was a swift apology and some nonsense about how she was fine, a very poorly veiled attempt at dissuading him from asking more, though it worked. He'd left her to her own devices, hoping to guess the cause before confronting her again. After that, he believed he'd gone to bed, but he wasn't sure. Suddenly, a violent and frigid gale ripped through snow, forcing his eyes shut. He sat like that for only a moment, flinching at the absurd winds that threatened to lift him off his feet, but as quick as it came, it moved on. So, the wind gone, Alan opened his eyes. Though as he looked at the sky, several things in the present stuck out to him. Yesterday had been the 18th of April, on one of the hottest weeks they'd had in years. The wind bit like he was in the arctic. So he wasn't anywhere near home, let alone still in the country, where on Earth was he? ... Or... It appeared as though it was sunset, as the bright light in the sky seemed to set rapidly from what he guessed was the west. So, he'd likely been moved while under sedation, how far had he been taken, and by whom? ... Or Maybe... Wait... Earth only has one moon. Or maybe I'm not on Earth anymore. As his mind reorientated itself, his eyes watering in the light, the four bright spheres stared back down, as if defiantly daring him to question their place. The clouds had receded, how such a thick cover had so quickly retreated, ludicrus winds or no, he hadn't a clue, but there were bigger things to wonder after, much bigger. The largest moon seemed so gargantuan compared to the others, taking up a sizable portion of the sky with its bulk and glow, whilst the others, varying in size and color seemed to dance across it's surface, too close for plausibility sake, No way. Alan didn't know how to react, how to move in sight of this revelation. It filled his stomach with a horrid unease, but his heart with a yearning to run, to explore this new world and let his eyes be the first to see it before anyone. In the midst of it all, his addled brain had nearly forgotten the worries of the moments before. Nearly. The groaning and hacking from below brought him back down. He seized up again, taking a second before simply just forcing himself to look below. All distractions fled his clouded mind as he pushed all his attention onto the limp limb below... And the... purple unicorn attached to it? Okay, this has to just be a dream! He thought, his wide eyes observing the creature's slender form with disbelief and shocked scrutiny, how could this not be a hallucination. It has wings too?! The creature appeared to be injured, its wings bent at an angle Alan thought couldn't be natural, even for this... Thing. He eyed the numerous lacerations and bruises that crisscrossed its form, now feeling terrible about tripping on its leg, hating that he may have caused the poor thing anymore pain. Though he certainly felt more glad he had not stumbled across Ella in such a condition, he was still frightened for her, even if this was a hallucination, it pained him not to have her near. Poor animal probably doesn't even know what happened- He swallowed that thought as soon as he looked into the eyes of the fallen creature, for it most certainly did. Its eyes, while filled with fear, were nowhere near animalistic. In fact, they seemed to glow with a sensitive intelligence that Alan had thought restricted to art. Its eyes seemed too surreal to exist, but there they were, starring right into his. He didn't quite know how to describe it besides a torturing realization. He was watching this creature, one likely just as aware as him, die. The expressiveness in its eyes was all too telling, a paralyzing fear marred its features. God. For the first time, he spoke loud enough for him to really hear. "Hold-" His words were caught in his throat as soon as he noticed the drastic change in his voice. It sounded so... Feminine. Disturbingly so. He brought his hand near his throat, but quickly put it back down. He shook his head and again looked at the little creature beneath him. "H-hold on." He said, stuttering. Was that really his voice? "I-I'll find... h-help." He didn't know if it understood him, feeling more a fool with every word he pushed out. He hoped his tone projected the care he was aiming for, instead of the fear and uncertainty he was feeling. Lord above, I'm talking to a horse. He, of course, never expected her to respond. "N-no." She wheezed, as Alan's already wide eyes threatened to pop out of his skull, "Don't leave, w-we're both wounded, the Hydrus will be back soon with my saddlebags-" She coughed, spitting small drops of blood across the snow, "I have medical supplies, and by the looks of it, you need the attention far more than I do." He didn't bother asking questions, instead he decided to settle for a startled expression of confusion. The same expression the (presumably) young mare shot right back at him. "How are y-you even standing?" She asked, voice thick with worry. Alan's heart quickened, the beat seeming to hitch on his fear, despite not believing himself to be uninjured. Regardless, even his breathing sped up, cold air burning his lungs. Alan groaned, how could he move this forward? Everything felt stalled, he knew his mind wasn't functioning at peak performance, but still, he was getting so sidetracked. He was mentally stuck, not knowing what question to pursue, the little creature had brought so many to an already burdened table. Thankfully, the mare brought him back to focus. "Please, lay down... you're not in any condition to stand." She said with concern, but Alan remained standing, staring at the unicorn's own wounds, Sheesh, all I have is a hyper-extended arm or something, you seem to have it much worse than me, He thought. Though as he continued to examine her wounds, his own body seemed to become aware of far more than just a twisted limb. A searing hot pain made itself known, starting at the bridge of his nose, moving to his right eye, then streaking all the way down to his rear, painfully spreading in spikes along his skin and insides. A frigid sense of dread settled over him, spreading up his limbs and into his core. Fear gripped him as he was again forced onto the ground. He again felt lightheaded, but this time it felt painful, and metallic taste filled his mouth. His vision tunneled, and his breath quickened. What was this? Was he only able to stand before on adrenaline? Was he going to die like this? Forgotten on some alien world? Or maybe he was drugged out in some weirdo's basement being slowly tortured to death? Maybe... he was already dead? "Oh, by Celestia's mane, lay down!" A purple glow tinged the edge of his vision, and with an unnatural force, he felt himself pushed to his side. His heart began to sputter, and his lungs spasmed, but the horror only lasted a few seconds as he regained control of himself. He was facing her now, as he laid, his eyes lining up with her's as she lit her horn once again. Alan flinched and shut tight his eyes, but the Unicorn put no more pressure on him, and when he was confident enough, he opened them once again. "Stay... Calm, I'll heal you," She huffed, "You may... Feel some pressure in your... Um, Everywhere. Nothing more than a soft pinch... I... Promise." Her eyelids slowly slipped, becoming lidded, sleepy. She said a few unintelligible words under her breath, the power of it shooting through Alan's veins like lightning. Then came the tingling again, but this time, it felt like... More, like the cold had worn his nerves and only now they could truly feel. His body began to mend, and though he felt... wrong, it was less pain and more the knowledge that what he was feeling wasn't right. Skin and the flesh beneath regrew and was resown. The fibers and fabrics of his body twisting back into shape on their own accord. Except, no, not of their own, But of her's. It was magic, power given will. At the sight of it, all Alan could do was stare at the caster. Her human-like eyes finally shut fully, and his flesh ceased its mending. For just a moment, he lay there, the wind biting at his new, tender skin. His mind was clear now however, all the weight, the shocked state, gone. He still had his fears, his confusion, but for now, his mind was free from fatigue, and his body from pain. Though... was it even his body? He could feel it now, the strange alien sensation that forced him to consider himself. He felt naked, but not cold. The sensation of unkempt, thick hair whipped by the wind ripped across his skin, a layer of himself he had previously been unaware of. His jaw felt long, misshapen, narrow. His mouth was smaller, more delicate, with thinner lips. To his horror, he couldn't draw any form of sense from his fingers, hands, toes, or feet. Ankles were all he could feel, though they seemed tied to bricks, hard, heavy and unwieldy appendages that capped off each of his limbs, be they arm or leg. From this, his mind made the obvious conclusions, a coat of fur, a snout, hooves. He had only to look with his own eyes, as he slowly lifted his neck, now long and thick, he twisted it. Again, slowly. Jerking back when he saw, through the corner of his eye, a light blue where his pale pinkish skin should be. God, could I stretch this out any longer? He thought, It'll be worse if you wait! Just look, and get it over with. So, he shook off his apprehension and steeled his resolve. Though perhaps it was a horrible mistake, and be sure to note that he hoped he would never get the chance to find out, he once more turned his head. He was... blue. A light blue, an icy blue. It was fur, as he had thought, like the unicorn's, but shaggier, thicker. All along his right side, a angry red scar cut through the fur like a canyon, twisting jaggedly all the way up under his eyes, and from what he could feel, up his neck, under his eye, and over his nose, as it burned, sensitive to the cold. Blood, brighter than he though it should have been, ran in gaunt streaks down his coat to the snow, staining it a rosy red. It made his stomach churn. Though, probably the worst of it all, he couldn't feel... it What has she done to me? Were the words that came first to him. Seeped in the mix of feelings, he needed some answers. He didn't just get flung from his planet, gored, healed, then turned into a cartoon horse all within what felt like half an hour, for no reason. Someone, or something, had to be responsible, and suspect number one was lying a mere seven inches ahead. Her gentle breathing seemed an insult. Now is not the time for this! He thought, I'm not going to get anything from her if she dies out in the cold, I have to act. So, that is exactly what he did. Slowly standing, he made his way over to the crumpled pegacorn, or whatever she was, and considered how best to keep them both alive, difficult as that was... Considering his cercumstance. He remembered a documentary about Inuits, and how they survived the cold, specifically, how they built igloos. It seemed a little ridiculous, especially for someone whom had never even tried and was currently handicapped without tools or hands. Not to mention that even if he could make one, the little unicorn didn't have the thick, insulating fur he... now had. He couldn't imagine the igloo could bring the temperature above freezing (for obvious reasons), but he'd do it anyways, it working couldn't be anymore absurd than the current situation. So, he dug, and dug, packing what little loose snow he could into uneven, misshapen walls around the crater's edge, luckily, most of the snow there seemed fresh and unsettled. So it was easier than he'd though it'd be, but its still took long enough for his bloodied side to freeze. And at the end of it, he could barely feel a change, it was there, the temperature rose slowly as the cold air was forced out, but regardless, it remained frigid. Cold enough to keep meat or milk, probably way too cold. His elation and pride at successfully creating the impromptu shelter was broken up swiftly by the chattering of teeth. So, slowly, he settled the creature into the center of the construction, trying to wrap himself around her in an effort to keep her warm, and he supposed it worked, she stopped trembling so much at least. He hadn't worked with horses too long, but the one time he had, it had been mid-winter. He hadn't thought of them as so... weak to the cold. He happily set those thoughts aside for the time being, he was quite tired himself, so he made to join miss mystery mage in slumber, closing his eyes and trying not to strain himself too hard with arrant thoughts and violent emotions. Unfortunately, despite managing to force himself into snoozing, it wasn't restful or long lasted. While the stars still hung in the air, and no light could be seen on the horizon, something scampered over the heads of Alan and the Unicorn. Alas, the roof of the poorly constructed igloo was not scamper proof, the creature found that out the hard way. Its shrill, squeaky cry and the falling debris slammed into the slumbering man’s head, sending it ringing like the chimes of a church bell. His neck shot up immediately, dragging a tired head with it, eventually forcing a cautious, frightened stare out of his weary eyes. The kicked up snow that swirled around the center of the igloo didn’t seem to indicate a particularly large... thing had fallen through, but regardless, something had. Small as it may actually be, Alan wasn't about to take a chance on size being an accurate scale by which to measure danger, alien world and all, so the eyes stayed glued to the pile. Tense moments passed, as the creature beneath stirred. Muffled squeaks and curses wiggling their way into Alan's ears. Wait, curses? And that was just when the cap of the mound forcefully rocketed into the upper atmosphere, leaving a trailing shower of frigid flakes to fall back down and leaving a bewildered Alan to gape after it. He wasn't the only one surprised. "Holy-" Came a stifled swear, unfortunately put to an early rest by a packed ball of snow dislodged from its precarious, roof bound position, landing with a whumph atop the pyramid. Two little grey feet, like the feet of a rabbit, poked out from underneath the sphere, wiggling and scratching at it with catlike claws. Though he honestly didn't want to put his face anywhere near the kicking feet, after about a minute of struggle, it been made clear to him that it wasn't making much progress. So, he slowly pulled the solid snow upward with his teeth, tossing it away. He stared down, for a few moments, ears involuntarily twitching. "Ah, aya scruffy, wouldn't mind getting me out've this pickle?" At which point, in spite of himself, Alan chuckled. He quickly cut it short, but it felt good even if it was just for the moment, because this was just rich. "Oi..." The rodent chirped, "You gunna' help or what?" Alan, for his part, couldn't be bothered to try and take in the little creature with his eyes at the moment, so with hooves and teeth, he scooped what he could off the mound. And after that, lifting the thing by its feet, with what looked like two bags, just about twice its size, strapped to its back. He could feel the muscles between his teeth tense up like steel springs, and the little weasel cleared its throat. "Alright, you can put me down now." It said, with arms crossed and eyes glaring, and while Alan felt like he was being accused of something, perhaps he could understand not wanting to be wedged betwixt another creature's teeth. Especially one fifty times his size. Gently as he could, he set it down, bringing his head back up to give it a passing glance. Though his eyes lingered longer than he meant them to. It resembled a cross between a rabbit and a weasel, with ears like a lynx and a long tapered tail, near wide as the rest of it till the end. Large glowing eyes stared back up at him, thick paws grasped and fidgeted with the strap wrapped round it like a bandoleer, and little facial features twisted up in recognizable displayed of discomfort. Well, he thought, it's official, I've lost the ability to be surprised. "Listen Lady, if you like what you see, just want to let you know before hand, don't swing that way." It commented, face twitching a bit, ready to smile. Alan, meanwhile, was left with that one word, 'Lady' it had said. It echoed through his mind. A consequence of his transformation he'd been trying desperately to avoid. But now he was forced to acknowledge it... the prospect made his skin crawl, he wasn't about to make himself sound crazy or confused, and unfortunately that meant he had to play it straight. But if he ever met the powers that decided it would be a good idea to stick him in this body, hoho, he had some choice words for them. "Um, hello? What's with the thousand yard stare, anybody home?" Accented chirps asked, as a tiny fist came knocking on his skull. He took his eyes up to find the little creature hanging from his hair, fists wrapped tightly around the thick strands, eyes gazing back at him with reserved concern. "Sorry, Just... Trying to figure out what you meant by what you said." Alan replied, hesitant, both at the sound of his own voice, and for the sake of measuring the reaction of the creature currently using his nose as a rappel wall, the blank stare told him what he likely should have already guessed. "Do I sound masculine to you?" It said, rapidly tapping its foot, "And further more-" Was what she was able to get out before more snow toppled from the ceiling, colliding with her once again. Alan bit his tongue, It was all he could do to keep from laughing. "You were saying?" He said, kicking the snow off of her. For her part, the rodent took it with grace, standing tall and announcing clearly: "I hate gravity." Whether it was the sound or the acrid smell that woke her up, Ella didn't know, but neither were good. Her heart felt like a bomb ready to explode, so frightened it caused physical pain. Her hands tightly clutched her covers, shaking with with the rest of her in spasms of fear and anxiety, sitting stark upright in her bed. Her eyes flashed wildly about her room, searching for movement or any sign of that thunderous crash or horrible smell. But in the darkness she couldn't see much, the outlines of clothes and toys stacked precariously atop dressers and little else. Anything untouched by the limited light coming from her window was pitch black. So Ella stood, trying to at once tiptoe and run to her light switch, flicking it on as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, this too yielded undesirable results, no response. The room remained dark, even as Ella tried again and again there was still no light, not even a flicker. Probably a broken light bulb. Loath as she was to the idea, she was feeling compelled to call out, she knew her Father would hear, come and fix it, he was just on the other side of the wall. But... She could fix this herself, Dad was a last resort. So, determined to show her unbridled talent and Independent spirit, she set off towards the hall, promptly tripping over a mysteriously fallen dresser that she had previously failed to see. As painful as the fall was, Ella managed to stifle her whimpers, instead opting to kick the dresser she'd tripped over with a hearty grunt steeped in frustration and lean back against the nearest wall, only to fall again as her outstretched hand disappeared into the darkness where the wall was supposed to be. The wall had caved inwards, like someone had tried to run a car through it, and when Ella's hand did meet with the wall, instinct propelled her backwards with a sharp cry. It was hot, unbearably hot. How it had happened she didn't know, but the wall felt like it should have been on fire! She couldn't hear the crackling of fire, or see glowing in the hall, but even if she had it wouldn't have mattered much. Despite her fears and trepidation, she sped off down the hall, sparing only the briefest of dirty glances back at the fallen dresser. Something was fishy, but the faint twinge of doubt was drowned out by her fear. She shared that wall with her Father, it was his room that was on the other side. At this point, Panicked wouldn't have begun the describe her, but she skidded down the hall without faltering. She had no idea what she'd do, as she gripped the handle of her Father's door crying out as it singed her hand, though as soon as she pulled it away, her eyes hardened, tears dried up, and her hand twisted the knob even as she bit her tongue, a harsh howl clawing its way out of her throat. She swung the door open as the moon light met her, staring with wide eyes, she wept, heart seizing in her chest as if to voice its own disbelief. The entirety of the rooms center was gone, along with the bed and wall it was closest to. Most of the furniture was tossed on its sides, lamps ripped from the wall, drawers sent to rest within the singed pit that was once where her Father would have greeted her from his bed, read her stories, comfort her. And now, what could he be but dead? "No..." Even as her gut started screaming for her to leave, she moved forward, feet beginning to feel the same pain as her hand. But still she continued, to the edge of the hole where the floor had given way, she forced herself to look over the edge... Seeing nothing, nothing more than what she had seen before, the bottom was empty aside from the blacked husks of drawers, no bed, no dad, no... nothing. Even as she tried to process this next revelation, she heard the splintering of wood and hurried foot steps. Someone had busted in, and now of all times! Her gut was going crazy, telling her to run, hide, do anything to escape, so she settled for the one piece of furniture that hadn't been tossed around, her Father's old trunk. Rushing over to it the second she saw it, she flipped up the lid, tossing about the junk inside before clumsily jamming her fingers trying to close the thing. Just like everything else, the Trunk was hot both inside and out, but her gut had convinced her, getting caught by whoever was breaking in would be worse, she was sure. Painful as it was, she was only reassured by the time the intruders made their way to he Father's room. "What the-?" Ella could only see the legs of the first man through the keyhole, thudding steps and rough voice finally disturbing the contradicting silence that had settled over the room, thankfully masking the little noise Ella had tried so hard not to make. "What is it Corddae?" The second asked, gasping in surprise, "God's name, how did this-?" "Get the girl, find her." This Corddae growled, sending Ella into a panic and edging further away from the keyhole, just as he shuffled himself closer to the edge of the pit, "And be gentle!". His partner, college, underling, whatever he was, pounded off without another word, and Corddae reached into the pit. He mumbled under his breath, before shifted his stance, letting Ella see his face. A stark white mask was all Ella thought she saw at first, till the corners of his mouth twisted in a look of displeasure. The great pits where his eyes should have been were instead host to flames, just as pale as his face. "Have you found her?!" He called, standing back to his full height, thankfully taking his horrific visage with him. "No, quite a mess though Inspector, should we-?" "Not yet Kiddo." Corddae turned, stepping out of frame, "First, we'd best pull any information we can get from the Grivada, something with this case is off." No sooner had he spoken than the howling screech of tires broke the silence outside. "... Coincidence?" His fellow asked, voice tense. "Not in this job Bayesian. Get to the motorcar and get dispatch on the bell. Tell them we need a team of Postcogs and an Illuminist." The was a pertinent pause, but soon the second man, Bayesian, spoke. "An Illuminist, sir?" His voice grew quite as footfall carried him further away, "Shouldn't we seek out, well... More logical options first?" The questions were met by a sharp, short laugh, and an equally sharp response. "The today's logic assumes that the improbable is tantamount to the impossible. If things were really so cut and dry, I wouldn't have even asked for the postcogs." Their conversation continued, but the words stopped being clear after that last sentence. Ella, for her part, waited, silent and unmoving. She had no idea what she had just witnessed, it felt like everything had just stopped making sense the second she saw that thing's face. Never mind the things he said, to her, it was almost gibberish... Almost. This Corddae person... Had specifically mentioned "the girl", who else could he had been talking about? They were there for her, thank God she listened to her gut or... Well she didn't know what, but it couldn't have been good. Slowly, she peeked out of her box, not seeing anything out of the crack, she lifted the lid further. She briefly through of where she would go, who would take her in. Maybe, someone could explain this hell away, that somewhere down the line, they'd show her the camera and this nightmare would be through. She knew that was naïve, but then again, that was what she had called Bailey for... All thoughts were cut short when Ella noticed it, floating well above her head and tucked in shadow. An eye, a human eye. Horrific blood red fibers curled, twisted, and swayed from it, sinuous strands that twirled in a wind she could neither feel nor hear. For but a moment, she hesitated, eyes wide, face taught in shock. And in that moment, she heard her dread, the distant thudding, boots striking the ground, they were coming back. "Shit!" Ella cursed, violently throwing the lid back with a crash and springing full tilt into the hall. As she reached the doorway, she turned for the main door, hoping to beat her pursuers to it. Hopes that were quickly dashed as she spotted the monster, Corddae, turn the corner, face lit by the fury of hell. That sent her scrambling the other way fast, faster than she thought herself capable. Like a fire was at her heels, Ella dashed into her room, slamming her door shut and making for her window. She could hear the shouting and swearing, the encroaching thunder as the intruders charged her door, her heart sputtered as it splinted. And with one swift motion, she slid from her open window, landing on her rear several feet below, barely dodging a grasping hand. Shooting to her feet, she took off. Staying out in the dark had always left her scared witless, though the fear she felt now made everything else seem small and distant, wild, fanciful feelings better suited to the minds of the naive than her own... Though maybe she was naïve, she had called Bailey that, for professing her belief in the magical. Now that she had seen it herself, monsters in the image of men, creatures grotesque in form and unclear in purpose, she lacked the confidence she had once scolded her friend with. She had been so mad at Bailey's stubbornness that she had not accepted pleas to end the argument till she had heard what she wanted... That too felt small, the anger, the frustration. What was left was guilt, regret, and shame. But where else was she to go? She had to wonder if she would see herself rejected, if she pushed her friend too far this time. In the absence of her father, she felt she only had one place to go, and if Bailey wouldn't let her in... Well, she'd have to cross that bridge when she came to it. Tick! Bailey had no thought as to what the sound was, she supposed she may have heard the last few times, but that thought was barely more than a whisper, and faded quickly into her darkening mind. In that period, she felt herself drifting back into unconsciousness, blissfully unaware of the rain or the storm that rattled her house. Settling into a dreamy lull however, only served to startle her when the subtle ticks stopped being subtle. Bang! With a start and a yelp, Bailey fell from her bed, landing with a soft whump upon the ground. Anger flaring, She stood herself up, slightly disorientated, and made her way to the window. On the way, her groggy mind wondered just who would be trying to get her attention at this time, and with no small amount of hesitation (or frustration), she considered that it might have been Robbin trying to be romantic. Now, if it was anybody else he was trying to woo, she'd have been ecstatically following the entire saga, gushing over it the whole way. Such romantics did not seem to apply when she was the one being romanced. So, cautiously, she approached the window, not wanting anyone to notice she was looking through. She peeked just barely over the sill, just enough to guess that it was not Robbin. He may have been a little bit of an odd one, but she doubted he was one to wear pink pajamas. "Ella?" She whispered to herself, it was hard to tell for certain, all that lit the dim street below was a barely functioning street lamp, plus she was one whole floor off the ground. But even so, she moved as fast as she could down stairs, fast as she dared anyways, her parents were far from hard of hearing. Even now she doubted they were asleep, that final toss from Ella almost certainly left one of them awake. That alone would have made her angry, but Bailey still had the lingering vehemence of their earlier argument drifting about at the forefront of her mind. Her Father had always said to "Be the better man," hard words to live by, even harder when it was one in the morning on a school night. Even as she approached the door, she struggled with what she was going to say, and as her hand grasped the door knob she saw Ella hurrying to meet her. Her anger rose for but a moment, as heated words and bitter grievances gasped and clawed their way to her throat. She almost said many things, words she knew she would regret, even as she opened the door, her mouth hung open, half-formed syllables formed at the edge of her tongue. And there they would remain, as Ella rushed in, dragging Bailey into a wet, shivering hug. "I'm sorry." She whispered, voice cracking with every sound she made. She said it over and over again, "I am so sorry Bailey!" By the seventh apology, her voice trailed off into strained whimpers, with Bailey hanging limp in her embrace. Ella was never like this, she could count on one hand how many times she had seen her friend cry, and never... Hugging, holding, sobbing. Though, maybe just one time, the memory was fuzzy, it felt so long ago... When-? A casket, flowers, pictures, Bailey never really counted herself as one with good memory, but the event was suddenly very clear in her mind. Oh no. Mrs. McLane's funeral, It was so long ago that Bailey couldn't even picture the face of the deceased, but she could still remember the hug shared between budding friends... Their first. Oh Ella. She thought, as her anger melted away, replaced with bittersweet melancholy and unreserved empathy. She didn't know what had caused this outpouring of grief... But whatever it was, Bailey would be there for her, as she was in the beginning, as she would be in the end. New friends found in trails, Old friendship strengthened in loss, Winding paths to lead, To the battle of the lost, Commentary: Gaiden Al Yuth wrote this as his 33rd Title in his historical anthology, Seven Hundred Wars, unique among the others. It has captured my interest somewhat. I've noticed that it has a pattern, somewhat like poetry, that, and it is incredibly vague, I have no real thoughts as to what he is referring. The rest of the passage is similar. Curious. Author's Note Well, that only took two years of procrastination, cheers mates! Report any spelling and grammatical errors you notice, helps me out a lot! Take care, and more to come soon!
Chapter II: A Secret World, and what you'll learn thereCorddae breathed deeply, letting the breath escape him, fogless. He always wondered what it was like to watch your breath leave you, small thoughts, like how a man wonders after the flight of a bird... Something to distract him from his failure. As he had suspected, something was quite off with this case. Not quite in the way he thought, closer inspection had revealed that certain "Third parties" had some interest in the girl, that alone would have told any two-bit inspector this wasn't your average undocumented magic user that they were dealing with. No, and considering the... aura that surrounded the steaming hole in the ground, he had a pretty good idea which "Third party" he was dealing with. Singular. "Illuminist." Corddae greeted, tipping the edge of his hat at the well dressed man hurriedly making his way to him amidst the swirling blue and red lights of Police Cars and the hustle of disguised Inspectory agents. "You must be Inspector Corddae," He responded in a deep baritone voice, clasping his hands around Corddae's and giving it a firm shake, "I must admit, caught me by surprise when I picked up the bell to find the Inspectory on the line. I assume you've found-" "Fishy business?" Bayesian interjected, doing his damnedest to look official while sporting the appearance of someone you would find stumbling out of a monkey enclosure. The chase had not been kind to poor Bayesian. "Ah, yes..." The Illuminist said, eyes lingering a little longer than he meant to on the officer and his disheveled condition, "Well, anyways, sorry, bit caught up in it all. My name is Michael Kainage, Father Kainage if you prefer." "Well then, this way Mr. Kainage," Corddae said, sweeping his arm to the side and gesturing to the building. The Priest nodded grimly, and moved ahead into the house, Bayesian made to join them, but was halted by an open palm from his partner, "Paperwork." Then, without another word, he followed the Illuminist, leaving a grumbling Bayesian with a clipboard and a pen. He supposed it was fitting though, leave the strange things to the strange folk. And despite appearances, Father Kainage was quite strange, aside from the base line of being an Illuminist, not many of his Order bore the cross. It was almost a contradiction, as the studies involved with such an occupation often involved pagan ceremony, ancient rites, and foreign ritual, not something a typical Priest would wish to be involved with. Strange things seem to congregate in this city, he thought, And he's no stranger than a nine year old girl that can shake two trained professionals. "Is this the room?" The Priest asked, pulling Corddae out of his musings. "Yes." Corddae nodded, pushing the door open, while Kainage whistled. "Excuse the mess, twenty thousand volts isn't an easy thing to get out of the upholstery." "Well, this was certainly not what I expected," He said, walking into the room, crouching to touch the ground, "Still warm..." He muttered. "Did you already have Postcognitives look over the site?" "Yes." Corddae said, rubbing his chin. "What did they see?" Father Kainage was certainly interested, but that didn't peg him as involved. Besides, Corddae had no intention of solving this on the spot, one man was dead, and his daughter missing, fleeing terrified into the night. He'd take all the time he'd need to find out just who did it, best to be sure when you intend to kill the bastard. Otherwise, his primary objective was to find the child, even if that meant sharing information with the people that might be the cause of it all in the first place. "A bed, a man, a flash. Then a steaming hole in the ground... We are working under the assumption that he was vaporized." Corddae waved his hand, as if to ward something off, "But God, I hope not." "Yes, they handed me the initial report during the ride here, his death was made a clear possibility," He said, voice hard to read, "Alan McLane... Terrible. When do you intend to tell the mundane authorities?" "Dispatch should have already handled that, at least one of those cars outside belongs to a normie. Nice kid, might have seen him, looked like he had shell shock?" Kainage stared at Corddae blankly for a moment, before returning his gaze to the ground, shaking his head. "Ah, yes, well... I'd better get to my work." With that, he took a deep breath, whipping out a slab of chalk with his free hand and skimming it roughly about his other. A simple circle took form around his grounded hand and with its completion, he tucked the chalk back. Corddae had rarely gotten to see an Illuminist work, but this, out of everything made him raise an eyebrow. Magic circles were common in the casting of certain kinds of spells, but a simple chalk circle was almost useless. Best it could do, so far as Corddae knew, was waste energy, storing it, but not providing a safe or efficient way to properly contain and release it. He'd seen novices cook themselves using more detailed circles. The danger, alongside the relatively mundane nature of this particular ritual, seeing as the few other Illuminists he had witnessed working usually involved animal sacrifice and intense rites, made him briefly consider that perhaps dispatch had rung up the some crazy poser... Then he remembered that all Illuminists were, as a general rule, crazy, so he stowed his doubts. At least the ones concerning the man's authenticity. "Are you sure it's safe for me to be standing here?" Corddae asked, starring at the simple circle with just a little apprehension. The Illuminist in response, chuckled. "You're plenty safe Inspector Corddae, but I may need a new coat after this." And with that, the Illuminist returned to his work, now speaking in a low tone. Corddae couldn't quite make out the words, at first. But he soon realized it wasn't English, prayer of some kind was what he was guessing, probably Latin. But no, not Latin. The language seemed strikingly familiar, it made him uncomfortable, like he was venturing somewhere he ought not to be... No, he remembered, Hebrew. The realization made him... Wish that he had not stayed with the Illuminist, maybe even calling him here was a mistake, but... He quickly shook off those feelings, the only physical sign of their existence relegated to the pulling of his hat further over his forehead. As the Priest continued to chant, the air became electrified, radiating a blanketing cloud of crackling energy that twisted and turned like the tendrils of a living creature. Corddae was confused by this, only for a moment, as the glowing rings conjured around the Priest's grounded arm soon revealed themselves as the culprit. He seemed to be funneling his magic through the rings, allowing for more delicate manipulation, as each ring striped more unstable magic that the previous ones had failed to. It was a favored tactic of Echanters working with dangerous spells, though such filters were more often engraved on a metal instrument than one's sleeve, though perhaps this was because of some Divination related quirk. "Clever." Corddae muttered, watching closely as this newly introduced and refined magic began to interact with the remnants of spellwork that had been left behind. Corddae was unaware that Divination Magic could be used to disturb dormant magic, not even the most powerful mages were capable of keeping the spell's structure intact whilst dissecting its inner workings, but it seemed that the unknowns behind this particular School of Magic were always outnumbering the knowns. Considering the secretive nature of the Orders that used and taught it, that wasn't very surprising. What was surprising however, was how the seemingly dormant magic reacted. Both he and Father Kainage seemed to notice around the same time that the magic was rearranging itself, and with a quick wide eye'ed stare between the two, Kainage ripped his arm free of the magic circles, causing an explosion as the pent up energies contained in the rings were suddenly forced outward, cutting off his access to the foreign magic and settling the spellwork down, for now. "What the hell was that?" Corddae asked gruffly, hurrying to Kainage's side and looking over his wounds. "I... Have no idea..." Kainage said haltingly, whether that be because of the pain of his bruised and bloody arm, or the unexpected response from the spellwork, Corddae didn't know. But slowly, a hearty, good natured laugh began to escape The Priest's mouth, and he looked at him with the shining, curious eyes that gave his Order its name, "Now isn't that something?" Bailey sat still on the bathroom counter, as Ella held her burned hand beneath a cold stream of water, wincing as the frigid flow slowly washed the pain away. "So..." Bailey said, staring worriedly at her friends reddened, inflamed hand, "Can.. Can you tell me what happened?" As much as Ella would have preferred to, she had decided against keeping Bailey out of the loop. If she actually believed in any of that magic stuff, then she would believe her too, right? Even the Monster? Her traitorous mind asked, Even the eye? Briefly, Ella shuddered, recalling the nightmarish abominations, creatures she couldn't explain away no matter how hard she tried. Besides, when Bailey talked about magic, she was probably thinking about fairies, unicorns and the like, not horrid monsters. But no, Ella had made up her mind, so she told her wide eyed friend about everything she saw, though the names had seemed to have escaped her memory. "W-well?" Ella asked, finally breaking back into tears while Bailey stared on, trying to work her mouth into pushing out something more than a hesitant grunt. "E-... Ella, I... I don't... Know..." "You don't know what?" Ella's tone had taken a turn for accusatory, "What to say? Do you not believe me?! M-my Dad is... He's probably dead right now and... you have nothing to say?" though the bitterness tapered off at the end, she could see each word hit Bailey like it was physical, regardless, regret rushed in almost as fast as the anger left. "B-b-bailey, I... didn't mean it, I swear, I just... I-I..." There was a lengthy pause, the awkward stillness occasionally broken by sniffling, but little else. "I don't... I don't think we're very good at this whole... Support thing." Bailey said at last, before pulling her legs up over the counter and to her chest, grasping them tightly. "Yeah..." Ella said, averting her gaze, "But... Do you believe me? You don't have to... I... I just need to know." Slowly, she turned her head to find Bailey staring at her burned hand, and soon she spoke. "Y-yes Ella, I believe you... I just... I don't know how to help." Ella took a deep breath, resting her free hand against her forehead. "I know how you feel..." There was another lengthy pause, before once again, Bailey broke it. "So if those guys are after you... Do-do you think they'll figure out you came here?" Ella's heart froze, in her panic, she had not even thought about the consequences of running to someone for help. "I... I need to leave." She said shakily, pulling her hand from beneath the water and making for the door, before being blocked by Bailey, as she slid from the counter. "Yeah, probably," She said, looking down at her feet, before renewing her intense gaze,"But not without backup." "B-bailey-" Was all Ella managed to get out before Bailey's hand covered her mouth. "I'm not going to let a... little thing like the possibility of a brutal death stop me from helping you..." She said, forcing Ella into a tight hug, "And I may not know exactly what to do... I do know what not to, and I'm not going to throw you to the wolves... Especially when those 'wolves' have... floating eyeball monsters. I mean, we don't even know what they want, right?" Ella sniffled, Bailey smiled, and the two embraced each other a little while longer. "We are so going to die." Ella said. "Yep." Bailey winced, "Especially if my Dad finds out about any of this." "So let me get this straight," Alan said, staring down incredulously at the Hydrus, as she had clarified she was indeed not the mutant offspring of a rabbit and a weasel, "We fell... From space?" She had also made it clear she had no idea where they were, or who the currently unconscious purple horse they were dragging behind them through the snow was. So she was pretty much in the same rickety boat as Alan, presumably minus a few... Extra problems. And maybe the existential crisis this absurd first contact scenario was liable to bring on any second now. Annnnnny second now. "Well, I don't know if was that high." The Hydrus responded, waving around her hands expressively as they walked across the frigid landscape, "I mean, I could see the horizon... Is that in space?" When Alan didn't answer, she continued. "Anyways, The purple one saved our tails, if she hadn't of... done that thing she did, I don't think we'd be in as good a shape." Alan was left to consider this, all the sudden feeling rather guilty about his the emotions he'd directed her way. If he was getting this right, the unicorn had saved his life twice now, this revelation however, did not make the unease surrounding his every awkward step disappear, and he doubted anything could. "I dunno," Alan muttered lowly, "I think I'd feel better as a pancake." "What'd you say?" "Nothing," Alan looked back at the makeshift travois they had managed to put together using the camping supplies they found in the bags, and its load. She was wrapped so tightly in blankets and sleeping bags that you could barely tell she was there, save for the steady puffs of breath that shot up like smoke from a smokestack. It had been a long night, trying to get the poor thing into the sleeping bags had been a nightmare, though luckily the Hydrus had opposable thumbs, he still hadn't the foggiest idea how to work a zipper with... dumb unshod nubs. Luckier still those saddle bags Twitch had recovered had stitching, lest he wouldn't have had a harness to awkwardly slip his hooves through. Involuntarily, he shuddered, hooves. Almost as soon as he thought about it, he wished he hadn't, he still struggled to even walk correctly, much less keep his mind in order. Soon, that dread he had stirred up would turn into anger, and the anger into resentment, never good feelings to have when you're stranded in who knows where, with complete strangers to boot. Too easy to make them the villains. "Do... Do you think she'll wake up?" The Hydrus' question halted the growing storm within Alan, not releasing the anxiety, but staling it... For that he was grateful, but... It was not a question he wanted to answer right now. He had no idea what to say, so, he changed the subject. "Where did we fall from?" He asked, his nerves getting the better of him, force in excess, too much panic. He sounded desperate. Aggressive, Irrational. Combined with his jerky movement and legs that refused to work right, he probably checked every box off the crazy list. It certainly wasn't lost on his companion, who shrunk from him, ears folded back. "Ah... We-Well, You see... I... Don't know, exactly." She said, for the first time sounding timid... And unfortunately, Alan knew why, he couldn't imagine he would react any differently to seeing at 10-foot tall monster forcefully trying to change the subject. Though it didn't make it hurt any less. He'd always tried to be the laid back guy, and he had usually succeeded. Seeing someone react to him with fear was... Off putting, to say the least. "Just... Just ignore me for now... I'm... not my normal self." It took all he had to push that out. He was going for apologetic, but to him, it sounded pleading. And that was a tone that accentuated his predicament rather clearly, sending a shiver down his spine was every word. The sensation someone else's voice coming from his mouth was almost more than his mind could bare. "Nono, you're fine!" The Hydrus assured, hopping into Alan's vision and waving her hands, "I... I'm just a bit of a blabber mouth..." Well, that certainly made him feel better, but not by much. He knew he had to come to terms with himself eventually, but... Well, how the hell was he supposed to do that? He'd barely come to terms with himself before all this, and even then, it had taken... Help. Vel, I wish I'd taken the time to let a little more of you rub off on me... I miss you. "Hey, are you-?" The Hydrus may have been able to catch herself, but Alan was well past that point before he realized his eyes were stinging, and again, before he could keep himself from making a small... noise in surprise. He hadn't cried since his wife's funeral, and here he was, practically weeping at just the thought of her. What was he becoming? Were even his emotions unsafe? Could he no longer trust himself to even be himself? "Hey... Um... So, I kinda just realized, not that I was curious, I mean I am... What's your name?" And once again, this small creature was proving remarkably adept at suddenly and clunkily shifting the conversation, not that you'd find Alan complaining. Though maybe not for the better. What could he say, he didn't know what was normal in this situation, he wasn't even sure there was a normal anymore. Would his true name be acceptable, or should he fully commit to the role he'd decided to play? Would they even consider the name he came up with feminine, could he inadvertently defeat the point? Had he already done so? Would it make a difference? Why were they even able to communicate, had the transformation effected even his ability to speak? Too many questions, too few answers. But, like the stubborn mule he was, he stuck with his first plan... Now, what name would work? "Aurora..." It felt so weird to try and accept that name as his own... He had a history with it, with games, but he was never meant to... live it. It made him feel more than a little dirty, like he was accepting this, lying down, rolling over to this fate. He had to tell himself, over and over, You're not that name, you're Alan, you're a McLain man, saying it doesn't make that any less true... just to keep from freaking out, to say nothing of the blush that spread hot and red across his face, near ear to ear. "That's very pretty!" The Hydrus clapped her paws together, all the energy lost seeming to jump back in out of nowhere... She even sent a little smile Alan's way, not doing much good for his flushed face. "Mine is... Twitch!" "W-well," Alan said, trying not to make eye contact, mostly out of embarrassment, the rest was to keep... Twitch from seeing Alan's now tickled expression, "Its nice to meet you, Twitch." He even let loose a chuckle, but that was quickly reined in. No room to laugh 'Aurora', his mind said, Not with the story behind your name, 'Twitch' might as well be God given. That kept his mouth shut, well enough for him, it wasn't generally a kind thing, laughing at someone's name. He'd had his fair share of 'McLame' shoved at him, he was tougher with words than most, but he had seen what some people let those words do to them. Mockery was not worth the risk, least of all now, in a foreign environment. Accompanied by aliens. Hell, for all he knew, culture and custom would dictate that he could be rightfully killed for such offences (Not that he feared much from Twitch, her being two feet tall and all). Best to let the sleeping dogs lie... But perhaps there was one thing he needed to address, and sooner rather than later. "I'd like to ask you a couple more questions, if you don't mind." Alan asked, looking back at the Unicorn once again, wishing she was awake, so he wouldn't have to go through all his questions again, but he pressed on. The question would have bugged him till she awoke anyways. Twitch nodded, eyeing him curiously. "How exactly can we understand each other?" He asked. Twitch, in response, scratched the back of her ear, seemingly at a loss of words. "Oh please don't make me think about that... I really don't want to end up a gibbering mess all because I couldn't just leave this madness as it was. I mean... You're a talking horse! That may not be strange to you, but I've got exactly zero experience with talking animals... And if I'm honest..." She rubbed her arm, averting her gaze from Alan, "I wasn't exactly the... most stable person before all this." Oh goodie, His mind said, We're stuck here with a crazy person, as if we didn't already have enough of that on Earth. He quickly shoed those thoughts away, he wasn't about to let himself treat Twitch differently now, her behavior was not indicative of a girl with a few screws loose. Though, it didn't stop the guilt, he hadn't done anything, or said anything, but still. Just the fact he had thought it nagged on him, and as tempting as it was to lay blame on the transformation, he had to take responsibility, especially once he finally connected the dots. "You... Don't know if I'm real?" He asked, hesitant, she made no move to correct him. The two walked in silence for a while, and what words could have even be said? In truth there weren't any, just the waiting, and the wondering, taking the time to let the awkwardness seep from their minds before once again engaging in halting conversation. Finally, Twitch spoke up, thankfully disregarding the threads of the previous conversation. "Soooooo... You know any cute guys?" And unfortunately right into another hot bed topic. Twitch stared up expectantly at Alan, his eyes now wide and face as red as heated iron. And we just got out of the fire! I swear Twitch, everything you say is designed to get me in a state! "Oh... I um, I, well... You see-" Twitch rolled her eyes, smiling at Alan's inane ramblings, then chuckling, then laughing, she cupped her hands around her face, shaking her head from side to side. "Figures I'd get a shy one." She said, "Girl, when we get back to civilization, remind me take you out for a few." Her eyes glinted with a strange light as she brought her gaze back to rest on Alan, a glint far too familiar for his comfort, "I'll get you out there in no time!" She paused for a moment, staring at the sky and leaving a worried Alan to wonder after what she meant. "By the way, you're sure we needa' go south?" Alan, the blush still resting unshakable and firm across his face, took his time in answering. "Ah, y-yes. I'm sure." "Hm," Twitch brought her paw up to her chin, eyes dancing between the horizons, "I dunno, it might get colder... The Sun here... We might already be in the south... Maybe." This prompted Alan to stare up as well, the sun was indeed rather high in the sky, though Alan didn't know what exactly... Oh, Uh oh. "Twitch..." He said, squinting at a Sun that was nearly on top of them. "Yea' Aurora?" "I hope to god I'm wrong... But I don't know if it's going to matter what direction we go." "And... Why's that?" Twitch asked, now showing signs of alarm. "Because this might just be the Equator." The two stood in silence, as the few shadows around them slowly started to disappear, till finally, everything was as a white, shapeless plane, stretching onward to the horizons. The realization finally seemed to make itself known on Twitch's face, dancing from expression to expression in rapid succession, before landing on a sour, scrunched look. "... May I say now, if we die, that I am going to haunt my boss forever. How about you?" She asked. "5th Grade Math Teacher, definitely." After a moment to regain their spirits, Alan and Twitch set off again, headed now for the east. Honestly an arbitrary direction, they had little hope aside from the vague sense that that direction might be leading into an ever so slight decline. Might mean that they were headed toward an ocean, might mean they were stumbling into a basin. But regardless of it all, Twitch had kept up conversation, likely to keep Alan's spirit up. And it wasn't that he didn't appreciate the thought, its just when Alan wanted some quiet, he was used to actually getting some quiet. So with the revelation that they may very well freeze, or if they were lucky, starve to death no matter what direction they headed, and Twitch's increasingly random choices in topics were steadily wearing his already strained nerves down to a razor's edge. What was even worse however, was that he couldn't even muster the heart to ask for some silence. "- I mean, have you ever just thought about it? We drink liquefied crystals to survive, its weird!" She carried on, heedless of Alan's attention, or rather, lack there of, "Imagine waking yourself up, walking to the cooler and grabbing a cuppa' liquid quarts or somthin', that's basically what you're doin'." "Uh-huh." Alan muttered, trudging onward with his head hung low. He had already been moving slow, incapable of moving much faster because of his altered physicality, but now he moved at a mere snails pace, as one was want to do in a hopeless situation. How was he to react? They had been dropped into a world in the middle of an ice age, it was likely a fluke that they had managed to survive the night, for the other two at least. Alan could feel the chill, but he couldn't properly gauge it, to his skin, or rather, coat, it felt like a nippy autumns day, but he couldn't very well ignore the biting cold that ripped down his throat every time he took a breath. Even at this pace, it made his lungs hurt. Though actually, perhaps, if he was to really think about it, neither he, nor Twitch were showing signs of succumbing to the cold. Not that he knew what to look for, but if the fact that Twitch had still not stopped talking was anything to go by, they weren't quite in the red yet, or the blue, as it were. As in, frozen corpses... Anyway; Alan thought he was getting used to the endless babble, though it was starting to remind him of someone he'd just rather not be thinking about. So they continued on, as the sun fell ever on at their backs, reaching its final quarter just as Twitch seemed to be reaching hers. Yawning between her sentences, stumbling between her steps, she finally took a break as the sun slipped behind distant clouds, halting her one sided conversation. Alan, for his part, was grateful for it. He'd been waiting for the quite eagerly, talking that time to let his mind slip into the silence, thinking of nothing but the cool air and the face of his daughter. Soon though, she spoke up once again, her voice horse and cracking as she declared her weariness. "Aurora, I... I'm so beat, when do you think we'll settle?" Alan barely had to spare a glance to tell that she was done, eyes lidded, ears folded down, and Alan really couldn't say he felt much better. Or, at least, he was convinced he should have been, his mind seemed to want to say he was tired, but every step sapped no more energy from him than a flick of the eyes. It was strange, one half saying he needed to rest, the other felt like breaking into a run. It had to be something with this body. Regardless, he knew that after last night's restlessness, he needed a long sleep, as much as it pained him. "Real soon, real soon." He knew Time wasn't exactly on there side, but what could they do? If even the equator of the world was a damn icebox, where were they to go? Why not simply hunker down now and think on it some more. But then again... Shelter seemed nonexistent, and the bitter wind was sure to make any sleep they clawed from it restless. He could certainly try constructing another Igloo, but even then there were significant obstacles. The ground seemed harder then before, solid and immovable, it could've taken days to dig up enough material, and Alan wasn't even sure they had that. Alan's heart jumped, his pulse quickened, something was wrong. He turned to Twitch, finding her similarly panicked. "What in the hell..." She mouthed, quiet and hushed, like someone was going to overhear them. Or something. Time went on, but their unease never seemed to settle, in fact, it only increased as the night slowly stole away the color and light of the world. The fear left them frozen in their tracks, looking around at the empty plain of ice and snow, frightened and bewildered eyes starring into the dark. "Stay on me Twitch,", Alan whispered, his voice harsh and stern, his tone serious and commanding. Something was out there, something that wanted them. It was something more than the feeling one got on a long walk home, late at night when the street lamps were flickering, when you stare into the darkness... And the darkness stares back. "Get on the Stretcher." There was a pause, then without a word she climbed onto the travois. Another pause, more silence, then, panicked whispers. "Aurora! I saw something move!" Alan twisted his head around so fast he made his neck crack, but the dark revealed nothing to him, even as the last light was extinguished beneath the horizon, and the stars became the only illuemination in a cold, dead night. Then, there was the sound. So close it might as well have been on top of him. A long, loud, winding, chortled call, like the death knell of an elephant. Though there was nothing quite so natural about it, and even as Alan ran, others anwsered, one, two, five, ten, twenty. He lost count as all his mind came to focus on was escape, though, as one could imagine, it proved hard to gain ground on the onslaught of terrible calls. Alan's new body wasn't cooperating with his need to run, his legs struck the ground at awkward angles, nearly sending him sprawling. What was worse, is that every time he seemed to lose his footing, the voices would squeal and crack, like distorted laughter, coming closer each time. Though whether by force of will or pure luck, Alan never fully fell, and even began to outpace the horrors on his tail. It wouldn't give him much in the way of hope, even if he could keep up this pace, and he was fairly certain he'd collapse sooner than these things would. Perhaps that was the only reason they had not caught them yet, to wear him out, to watch him fall to his own weakness, they were playing with him. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide... Alan took one final breath, closed his eyes, and stopped, feeling the cold dread wash over him. Twitch let out a sharp squeek, jumping onto Alan's back and clutching his hair, pulling it taught about herself and shaking, muttering curses and questions. Though Alan couldn't hear her over the howl of the wind, he knew what she was likely asking. Why did you stop? It was because they wanted him to run, they wanted him to fear them, they wanted him to run, to drink in the chase, why else would he not be dead. He could feel them now, all around him, were they confused? Disappointed? It didn't matter, he wouldn't submit to them, he wouldn't play their game. A hollow victory? Maybe, but what were they to do? This world would have killed them if these things had not, what was the point in fighting a battle that ended in death no matter what? His anger was far from burnt out, he raged that he would never see his dear child again, he raged for how little anything he did ultimately meant, he raged for the people that were being dragged down with him, for Twitch's tangible fear, and the Unicorn's silent ignorance. And most of all, he raged at the monsters surrounding them, rage that spiked dramatically when he heard the laughter, or at least, what Alan imagined passed for laughter. He could feel them closing in, but still he refused to move, stubbornly holding stock still, convinced his actions would spite them... But was that all he was going to aim for? Of course it was! What good would running do!? What good would fighting do?! Resistance was pointless, the only path he could take, the only one that would deliver to him even a sliver of satisfaction, was to not give them what they want! Or was it? He had felt this before, crushing hatred, spiteful indignance, the air of total pointlessness... He realized something back then, just as he was realizing now, as the murderous laughter died in the bastard's thoats... This wasn't him. Even as he finished the thought, the screeching resumed, the force of the spiteful rage redubbled, but that only reenforced his certainty. And as he had back then, he turned to those who relied on him to pull him from the brink. Not just Ella now, no. Twitch, The Unicorn, They were relying on him now too! Now was the time to fight. But even as he readied himself, a bitter howl cut through the chatter, a ragged, torn, but none the less bone rattlingly powerful burst of sound that seemed to shake the very ground. In that instant, like a sign from God, the chortled calls ceased, and the path was made clear. RUN. His eyes opened in a sharp snap, his limbs burst into furious motion, every peice of his body throwing itself forward with as much speed and momentum as he could muster. Which, as it turned out, was quite a hell of a lot. In the brief moments he caught sight of one the horrid creatures, his first instinct was to freeze solid. It stood directly in front of him, vauge, smokey form encompassing his vision, but his newfound will, pressed against that fear, shattering it, much like what Alan's physical body did to the beast. He smacked head first into the creature, the feeling of hitting a brick wall ending a suddenly as it came, as the wall gave, and crumbled. Through the monster he emerged, trailing peices of it's body that quickly faded to dust, and landing roughly on the cold, hard ground. Somehow, he maintained his momentum, speeding away from the monsters as they came to realize their quarry had made a break for it, even taking one of their own with them. And oh, if Alan thought the sound before was bad, if death and madness could be put to song, then this was it. There were no words to describe this sound, it put to death any notion Alan had of trying to fight back in an instant. Running was indeed the only option. Unless one wanted to consider the promise of a death soaked in every brutallity imaginable an option. Alan preferred not to. He had no clue where he was going, or when he'd get there, but what he did know is that he he wasn't stopping for hell. Courage swelled in his heart as the snow and ice seemed to glide by at a remarkable rate, despite his constant stumbling and bad form, if he could keep this pace, maybe-! Alan quickly dodged to the side, as one of the creatures came in screaming like a missile, colliding with the spot he had just been and kicking snow high into the air. Alan stared back at this with a slack jaw, watching as the ground continued to crack and heave from the impact. He quickly reassessed the situation, noting the speeding black masses the shot from the cloud of snow, the odds were definitely not in his favor. Alright, disheartening, but, if he just kept dodging, he could probably- "AURORA!!!!!" Twitch's small scream caught Alan's ears, and he looked forward to find a massive wall of white, stretching from horizon to horizon, so tall he'd have had to touch the back of his head to his spine to the the top. "Oh," As Alan's anger flaired his speed picked up, his eyes narrowing, jaw setting. "AURORA?" Twitch yelled again, this time questioning. "Come," At this point, Alan was well past angry at this point, his speed was so that he couldn't even hear himself think over the wind. He was only interested in one thing, surviving, and if he had to bust through a thousand miles of rock hard glacier, he was going to do it! He would survive, even if it killed him! "AURORAAAAA!?" "OOOOOON!" And with the both of them screaming like banchees, they crashed into the glacier... Well, less a glacier, and more a pane. Turns out that the ice was only around a couple feet thick, and while that was, at the least, a difficult thing for a human to break through, in Alan's new body, and at the speed he was moving, the ice wall shattered like it was hit with canon shot. It took a moment for Alan to regain his senses after the collision, adrenaline could only hold off so many blows to the head, and as he did, he noticed something startling, he was falling. Panic gripped him for a second, but before he had the chance to let out more than a yelp he was already slamming into the ground, wheezing as his body slid to a stop. He could faintly hear the groans of Twitch, not all that far away, and began getting to his feet, if he didn't soon, the creatures would catch them. He jumped around as he heard the sounds of impacts, but, they were muffled, and he soon saw why. Through the holes in the ice made by them, he could see the creatures, writhing aross the surface of some strange, viscous wall, glowing slightly. Alan stared up at it in awe, eyes wide as his injured brain clicked into place, a force field, or at least, what seemed to be one. He couldn't fathom why it had let them pass but... He wasn't about to look a gift horse In the mouth, he needed to get Twitch and the Unicorn as far as... Wait, where was the Unicorn? Twilight didn't know how long she had aimlessly wandered the dreamscape, while one wasn't lucid, time often seemed to matter little in this realm, though she was keenly aware when she became so. "Twilight!" She could hear the faint voice in the distance calling her name, but the distortions natural to the Plane of Dreams made it difficult to know who, or from where the voice had originated. But Twilight had a fair guess. "Luna, Is that you?" She called, looking about. The couldn't see the Princess approaching, but it was soon evident where she was, as the twisting wisps of the Dreamscape tried with great effort and spectacle to subdue and remove Luna from her presence. The sheer size of the disturbance would have clued her in easily, but the magic that flowed to her from the swirling silvery mass well quite the tell-tale sign as well. "Luna!" She cried, galloping as fast as she could, till finally she could see the Princess, struggling against the tides of the Dreamscape, sweat dripping from her chin in clear sign of her tremendous efforts. "Twi-Twilight!" Luna shook under her stain, lifting her head to meet Twilight's concerned gaze, "We do not have much in the way of time, Our Sister, you must speak with her, I will-!" Luna was unable to finish speaking before she collapsed, gasping, her front legs pushed to the ground with great force. "No time, no time!" Twilight said, trying to light her horn but failing, how could her magic betray her at a time like this!? She didn't even know what was going on, she needed to know! What was so dangerous that it necessitated Luna contacting her in such a way? What could be trying to halt her? Plenty of things, none of them good. "Tell me Luna, quickly!" "We know not what to tell, only to ask what we need to know!" Luna collapsed further, now fully on her knees, "Where are you Twilight! Your friends have searched, but you, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie remain unfound... And I feel that my discovery of you may not be easily repeated." Dash and Pinkie? Lost... what happened?! Twilight knew that certain circumstances could lead to an unstable Dreamscape, making it difficult to contact an individual or for said individual to recall recent memories, though the presence of Luna should have been counteracting that! "I... I don't know... I..." flickers of memories danced across her mind, always staying just out of reach. But finally, faint recollections began to coalesce, faint shadows at first, though time sharpened her mind's eye, and soon recognizable forms began to make themselves known to her. "We... We fell, the three of us." "Loyalty and Laughter?" Luna asked, panicked, grimacing as the effort she expended took its toll. "No, I... I have no idea who these... ponies are. I managed to save us, but I never saw Rainbow or Pinkie during the fall." "Then this is... Grave news indeed, we have seen no hair nor hide of any of you in a full day... You are certain, that you fell? Nopony has returned from that place Twilight, it was exactly why we had advised against the expedition in the first place! If so... We may not be able to recover you by our own power..." Luna starred at Twilight, with eyes full of apprehension, as Twilight took full stock of how dire the situation truly was for the first time. The map had told them, north of Yakyakistan, farther than it even dared to depict, something was brewing. As with all friendship problems, they never truly knew the purpose of the journey, only that Harmony demanded their presence there. What perhaps set this particular adventure apart from the other however, aside of the seer distance involved, was that the map had called all of the elements. A sure sign that something was seriously amiss in the North. And Luna, she had told them that the North was nothing more than the domain of Windegos and other, greater evils. She had warned them of the darkness that lied beneath the world. But you just had to push it, didn't you Twi', She was such a fool. She had stood there, at what seemed like the edge of the World, gazing into the abyss, into a darkness that swallowed even the light of the Sun. They had arrived at the Northern most point, only to find the end of the world. Mountains and valleys alike cracked and wrought into a jagged cliffside that seemed to continue on forever, circling the impossibly large pit that must have been thousands upon thousands of miles in diameter. If she had fallen in... Celestia, where was she now!? Regret and dread hit her harder than the actual physical fall ever could. Her breathing became labored, her body shook. And all Luna could do was watch, as Twilight began to weep. Though, as her time began to wane, the Princess steeled her gaze, and raised her voice, determination seeping from every word she spoke. "Twilight, I swear to you, we will never forsake our search! As long as you do not give up hope, as long as you fight, we will as well. I swear to you, I will not rest till I have seen the elements reunited!" With those last words, Luna began to disappear, as if being ripped away from Twilight's dream by gravity of impossible strength, "I swear it!" Then, she was gone slipping through the inky swirls of the Equestrian Dreamscape, the last she would see of Twilight would be a smile that had never reached her tear filled eyes. Author's Note Whew, this one was a struggle, kept second guessing the dream sequence, actually had to rewrite(delete) a large portion of it because it was written like an H. P. Lovecraft Character had gotten his crazy hands on my keyboard. Question; Would you good folks mind supplemental chapters? Basically just'd be world building, i've had this story cooking in my head for nigh on two years now, more little tid bits than an Ent could shake his many sticks at.
Chapter III: Home, and how they worryLuna sucked in as much air as she could, letting it go through her teeth as she sat up In her bed, eyes wide and brimmed with tears. "I take it, it didn't go well." Discord said removing his hands from their position over Luna, his power ceasing its transfer. He sighed as Luna merely shook her head, "Figures." "Luna, what did she say? You did not do as planned, I was worried." Celestia looked at her sister with concern, her brow knitted into a delicate furrow. Though, despite this, Luna was sure she caught a sliver of panic in her voice. It was... Disconcerting. "It was as we thought, Twilight is separated from... the others. Though she claims... there are two souls accompanying her, she knows not who they are." Luna said, holding back her tears, "There is worse news..." "Oh?" Discord took a breath, covering his face with a hand before putting on a small, exhausted half smile, "Do tell, what could possibly make this worse?" "Windego." Luna spat the word out, her voice practically oozing venom. "I open my fat mouth!" Discord said, throwing his hands into the air before balling them into fists, "Just what did we go and do to deserves this, it's the worst, possible, thing!" He proceeded to slump onto a disheveled old red couch, throwing an arm over his eyes, only for the couch to collapse under his weight. "Discord!" Celestia stomped the ground with a hoof, the shock of it enough to bounce Discord up off the ground, trailing broken wood and ripped velvet, "This is no time to play the clown! Be serious! I would remind you that Twilight is your friend as well." Discord grit his teeth, breathing deeply. "Serious? Serious!?" He brought himself face to face with Celestia, eyes starring wildly into her unflinching gaze, "Princess! I'm surprised! We all deal with stress differently, and being unpredictable isn't easy. You think I can afford to drop character for even a moment?" He turned, walking to the window of the room and staring out into the early morning, "Though. If you worry I'm not taking this seriously..." He paused, balling his claws into fists, he flashed her a grin, Something about that smile was off to Luna, and she had a hard time imagining it meant anything good, but Celestia carried on, turning from Discord with a rare show of contempt and walking from the room without a second glance. "I hope you do Discord." Eyes mere slits as she stalked from the room, she offered neither farewell nor apology as she slammed the door behind her. "So," Luna said, staring after her departed Sister, her grief rolling away as she forced her will to take its place, "I assume you have a plan to catch our culprit?" Discord nodded, stroking his beard as he looked after Celestia's wake. "Are you so certain this was a malevolent action?" She asked, setting her jaw. "Come on now Luna, we all felt it!" Discord narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Someone or something has been tampering with old, old magic. The kind that summons seas of blood, celestial collisions, undead hordes, replacing our number system with base-24. We are talking about the apocalypse here!" "And yet," Luna pressed her hoof to her chin, eyes closing and the gears behind spinning, "No such signs, no such catastrophe... All to be used against the bearers of harmony, and not even to great effect... I can't help but wonder-" Discord rolled his eyes and slithered his way to her, quietly, slowly. Carefully, he made to grab her shoulders, then striking like a cobra, he lifted the surprised Princess off her hooves and, in a instant, slammed her into a chair. Shocked out of her thoughts, Luna held Discord's name on the edge of her tongue, ready to shout loud as she ever could, till she centered her focus on the cork-board he had summoned. Scrawled across it's surface were line after line of yarn, and on occasion, wire and silly string, mashed together in a confusing jumble of crisscrossing lines, strange geometric patterns, and what looked like a paragraph regarding the chaotic power of cheese stuck In one corner. Though it was a mess, one pattern prevailed above the Discordian jumble, the single picture of Twilight Sparkle in the center, all strings coming to rest beneath it, and twenty or so other portraits that the strings attached seemed to lead to, though it was kind of hard to tell, the whole thing being an utter mess and all. Discord sprang from the ground, his face, for once in his life, stoic. "Luna, I would like to present you with my list of suspects!" Among the gathered portraits were many faces Luna didn't recognize, but a few stood out as familiar. "Is that the one known as Derpy?" Stoic facade forgotten, Discord looked confused for a moment, before he looked back at the board. "Ah, sorry, let me just," he very quickly plucked the picture from its position, "Forgot to remove that one." Luna's raised brow prompted further explanation, and Discord provided, "See, ever since that timely incident with Strobelight Dribbler-" "Starlight." "Whatever," Discord proceeded to trace the lines with his claw, talking as he did, "I've been keeping tabs on anyone and everyone that might pose a 'significant' threat to our little heroines. Not to brag," He said, flashing a smile in the Princess's direction, "But I've probably put more effort into this than I have in just about..." He scrunched his nose, "Actually, never mind. Now, back to the topic! Diamond Dogs, Lind Worms, Ghouls, the Aegis Ogres, Ancient blood Dragons, and so on, these are the obvious threats, they're defined, they have rules they play by, some even have codes of honor. And so, they are... predictable." He smacked his paw to the nearest portrait, a sneering Thestral bound in chains and stuck in a line up, "Ponies tend to be a... little more complex than the average super-mook, you can't just magic zap every one of 'em into submission for one, as for two," He took a sip out of a flask Luna swore hadn't been in his hand a moment ago, "They can wreak just as much chaos, Moon Cruiser, know him?" Luna sighed. "By reputation only." "Puh-Leeeese Lulu!" Discord said, "We both know you were more involved than that!" He curled his lips in a fanged smile, "You took him down after all." Though Luna should have been expecting it, the lance of shock that shot through her still took a moment to reign in. It was Discord after all, what else could be expected of him? ... Though if he knew about that... She shook the thought off as soon as it tried to take root, now was not the time to worry after her... secrets, she had someone else to worry about. "Fine," She said, twitching her tail in annoyance, "I felt responsible." Now It was Discord's turn to reign in the shock. "Oh, wow, not even a denial. Okay. Going to have to push up the timetables." He grunted awkwardly as he fluttered about with note cards Luna refused to question the existence of, "Well, then, I'm sure you don't need reminding what he intended to do?" Luna nodded, willing him to finally get to the point with a hard stare. "Well, turns out, he wasn't as alone as we thought." He moved his paw to the next picture as something caught in Luna's throat, a bulky Earth Pony stallion drinking a coffee, almost looked like a promotional picture for Moonbucks. If it were not for the daggers the stallion was staring at the camera, "Bulk Sale, unassuming business pony, family man, crime-boss, the police had vetted him, released him without suspicion of any wrongdoing. Never realized they had the biggest boss in the city dropped into their hooves till I brought him back to the main station, along with the deeds and addresses of every warehouse and smuggling operation he had even a sliver of a fraction of stock in." Discord let out a small, dry, chuckle, "He was in on Moon Cruisers plot, wasn't just in on it, he supplied all the equipment." His chuckle escalated to a harsh laugh, "Evidently, he resented the Apple family for forcing his agricultural ventures in Ponyville to bed before they'd even got started! Petty bastard." By this point, Luna was working the lump out of her throat. Moon Cruiser was a cultist of Nightmare moon, devout, cunning, ruthless. And when Twilight and her friends had... released her from the Nightmare's grip, Moon blamed the elements, and two years ago he had nearly succeeded in both assassinating Twilight, and resurrecting his master. That incident had been the reason behind the Tantabus' creation. And, much to her everlasting embarrassment, why she was missing during the wedding of her niece. Of course, she'd thought the matter over with, an adventure for the books, certainly, but all consequences were dealt with. Or so she had assumed. Foolish! Did we truly think he had managed to gather all that summoning equipment alone!? The full implications of this were not lost on her. Whether as members of the Cult called Evermoon, or simply individuals seeking vengeance for themselves, every pony present of Discord's board, every last one were out to kill the elements, and she had missed it. "I'm sure you've already come to understand the ramifications of this," Discord said, bringing his captive audience of one back to attention. "I like to call them the 'Elements of petty vengeance'. Twenty-seven ponies in all, from all walks of life, beholden to different ideologies and beliefs," He raised his lips in a snarl, "Somehow managed to band together for one purpose, to-" "How many are accounted for?" Luna asked, seemingly unabashed by her interruption, much to Discord's irritation, "Are you keeping tabs on them? Were are they? Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Her questions begged no argument, so, Discord gave her his answer. "At this moment, Ten are in custody of Equestria's finest, seven are imprisoned for unrelated crimes, six more are being followed, one is under my personal watch, and three are unaccounted for. And I didn't tell you because you had enough on your plate, I thought I could handle it... I was wrong." He deposited three of the photos at the Princess' hooves, "The Unicorn, Specter, always clever. She caught on to me." Discord sighed, "She was new to the cabal, so I underestimated her. Turns out, there was a very good reason I'd never heard of her before. Because there was no reason I should have, no way for me to know just how many crimes the girl has committed. She's a total ghost, only incident that I can confidently say she's responsible for is the Kronosus heist." "This-This can't be!" "I know right?" Given what he'd been focused on, it wasn't an unfair assumption to make, but the sudden magical grip on his ears made sure that assumption was soon corrected. "Not that!" Luna Pointed her hoof at one photo in particular, "I had thought Twilight dealt with these!" "Ah, yes, that one," Discord said, still held tightly by the grip of the Princess, "Was just getting around to that. Evidently, a few had escaped, I'd been hearing rumors of them in far off places... but... Luna?" Discord looked around, finding his ears released and his Princess gone. "Oh for Pete's sake Luna, I wasn't finished!" And with that, he chased off after her into the twisting halls of the castle. He'd failed her. All he could do was watch. Beyond the shield, the creatures swarmed and tumbled over each other like filthy black maggots, staining the snow with every touch. He hadn't payed enough attention, somewhere so close to safety, the travois had broken apart, leaving the unicorn to the wolves. That failure was bitter, It was almost indescribable. His was a family of soldiers... Military was tradition. It surprised even himself when he had declined service, perhaps it was a wise decision. Because If this was the way he felt, failing someone he cared about out of obligation, he wouldn't have lasted a second on the battlefield. He wanted to turn away, so badly... But he couldn't, for one, he had to confirm. He hadn't seen anything substantial yet. Nothing to tell him... To move on. A sudden jolt in his chest told him to run. Not away. But towards her. Even as he watched the ice break apart like brittle glass at these creatures' passing. He tried to shout himself down, to inject some sanity into himself. Nothing could survive that, the way they swarmed where she was... No way. He'd already taken his first step. This echoed through his mind even as he crossed it, watching, almost without fear as the shadows took notice. He was fully through now, feet away from both danger and safety, life and death... He could hear Twitch, shouting his name still. Not his name... Aurora's name. He stopped, his steady pace halted by a sudden familiar feeling. A faint little push... A heartbeat later, Alan's world turned to white. He blinked it away rapidly, quickly finding the searing white fade into a soft purple glow, he looked ahead, back at the black ball of hatred only to find it replaced by a little purple unicorn, broken wings trying as hard as they could to look graceful and majestic as they and their master remained affixed above the ground. Torrents of purple miasma flowed from her horn, her eyes shown, lit like fire. Relief flooded him, though it didn't quench the anger. No, his anger finally died when she exploded. Where there was once a torrent, now spewed a geyser, the release of power rocketed into the sky, illuminating the area for miles. The cold icy dread returned as the lights of the unicorn's power faded, and she weakly collapsed, the ground embraced her with a wheeze. He had seen them, thousands, the unicorn had stunned them, perhaps even killed the ones that had gotten to her first. But they were there, slowly fading out of sight as the pillar of light receded into the sky. It was... Insurmountable, but even so, he stepped forward, and the screeching began. Such a cacophony was death, it should have been. And yet, with each step, the pain wore away, even as the noise grew. Was it bravado? Courage? Something in between? Alan knew, for once in his life he knew. Much to his own chagrin. He reached her just as she opened her eyes, slowly bringing them up to meet his. He smiled, watching her weary stare manifest the signs of panic, flicking to the sides, her breathing becoming erratic. "Breath!" He yelled, catching her attention once more, his smiled held in place purely by the need. "Can you stand?" She tried to speak, but the noise drowned it out, her eyes shot wild and wide as the shadows grew, threatening to send her into a panic, "Hey!" Once more she focused on him, her eyes now shimmering. "We're going to be fine! Just focus, I need you to stand!" She shook her head, and once again mouthed something unintelligible. "I need you to trust me! Try! Try as hard as you can," He breathed heavy, as he felt his spine tingle with the touch of something foreign, even still, he smiled, "Stand!" Alan couldn't help but feel pride as the shaking subsided, and steel finally began to form in her eyes, she nodded, and with great effort, began to heave herself from the ground. With speed fueled by dread and adrenaline, he ducked beneath the space between the unicorn and the ground, rolling her onto his back and making a mad dash for the shield. Don't you dare let it go! He skidded to a halt on the other side, collapsing as his heart and legs finally gave out. And for moments, sweet blessed moments, there was silence. "OH MY GOD!" Twitch was on them in a second, "Are you- How did- I mean-!" She fumbled with her words a little longer, making vague attempts at language till finally she finished, awestruck, "Wow... You guys are a-freakin'-mazing!" She continued with the strange noises, but Alan was fairly certain she had ceased trying to form words. He heard giggling, and turned. The unicorn was smiling now, worries of moments past forgotten. "I think you need to meet my friend Pinkie sometime," She coughed a little, Alan worried after that, but she got it back under control, "You'd really hit it off." Her smile faded a bit, as she glanced between her two companions, morphing into a pained wince as Alan set her on the ground. "T-thanks. Um... Speaking of meeting," She looked a bit abashed as she looked at Twitch in particular, "I didn't ask for your name. Before, that is..." "OH! Yeah, I, should have said something too, kinda a theme we've got going... Twitch, its Twitch!" The Hydrus had an odd tone weaved into her words that Alan couldn't quite catch the meaning of, though he wasn't given much time to wonder, "And this here is Aurora, she's been dragging your unconscious body through miles and miles and miles of cold, uncaring wasteland..." The unicorn looked between the two once again, now with a face of confusion, "So what I'm saying is she saved your life and you should thank her." "Ah! Yes! Ahem," She fixed her gaze more permanently on Alan, "Thank you very much for dragging my unconscious body through miles and miles and miles of uncaring wasteland, I, um, appreciate not being left for dead!" She said that with a smile Alan thought a little too wide. Fear perhaps? "Well," trying his best to sound authoritative, and make his tone powerful, that worked with calming down kids, "couldn't live with myself if I'd just... Left you there..." Ooooh you just boophed it bro. His voice was all off. That had somehow sounded like the skeeviest thing he'd ever heard, it wasn't the words! It was this... This... Squeaky toy... Tuba, totally wacked in 360 degrees voice he had to deal with! No way to mimic Teal'c now, this was Mark Hamill's Joker all the way! He was never going to get used to this voice! "Oh, yes. I'm sure you want compensation," She said, reapplying her smile, "If you want, you can list your fees now, I never leave the castle unprepared!" He had to raise his... hoof to that, halting her before she hurt herself, dark though it was, Alan was surprise by how many wounds he'd missed at a cursory glance. Wait just a second, Alan blinked, Castle? Shaking it off, he steadied himself, trying to appear as though he actually knew what he was talking about, "No, nonono, I don't need payment! I'm... Not that kind of... Girl...", Eeeeeeeea, "And I wouldn't move around too much right now if I were you, or I'll have to return your favor." The unicorn was still for a moment, the darkness slinking back to cover her face from view. At least he didn't sound like a psycho "I didn't get to apologize for marehandling you like that, did I?" She said, giggling a little, "I am sorry about that, I thought you were going to... Lose something important." "Forget having to apologize," Alan said, a little too sharply for his own liking, "its fine. " "Oh, uh, its Twilight Sparkle by the way." "Ah- Um, Aurora, Nice to meet you." He said, flushing as he heard her giggle, soft and subdued. "I know, Twitch already introduced us, isn't that-" She looked around for a moment, before furrowing her brow, "Um, Twitch?" The responding call came only a moment later. "Over the snowbank Twilight! You two are really going to want to see this!" Twilight smiled and shook her head, moving to rise to her hooves "Uncanny... Wait, when did she-?" A pained grunt cut Twilight off as she nearly fell back into the snow, before Alan rushed up to steady her, "O-oh, thank you." She tried to speak again, only to spit out a yelp. Alan had her draped belly down over his back again, unwilling to let her chance walking just yet, even if they were still on the brink of death. Might as well go screaming into that dark night. At least, that's what his father always liked to say. "Stay steady Twilight," He said, taking a slow pace up the bank, "and like I said, please don't push yourself." Twilight couldn't help but agree, as much as she wanted to say otherwise. It was enough of a strain maintaining a state of calm after an unrestrained release of magic that intense. Struggling to stay awake as well. Aurora's soft, thick, icy blue coat wasn't exactly helping with staving off the wave of weariness that threatened to suck her back into unconsciousness. Now, the panic she had to press all her will into suppressing? That was quite a lot of help there. Facing up to the high probability that her horn was broken was slowly starting to wear her down, getting at her. After all, what was a Princess of Magic without her magic? "And what is the measure of a Princess but her strength in a crisis?" For a moment, tears welled in her eyes, those were some of Princess Luna's first words of advice to her, when she had finally gained her title in full. Words she too often forgot. Words she had too readily disregarded, not as a matter of conscious choice mind you. But it was neither here nor there, until she had confirmed the condition of her horn, there was no need to fret about it... Nooooo need. None what so ever. Not at- "A-! ... W-woah..." Oh, thank Celestia, I was about to crack! Aurora's exclamation brought Twilight's focus back to her sight, giving her only moments to process the shimmering stream of white-yellow light ascending from the center of a simply leviathan cylindrical superstructure and the three great towers that ascended from it it. "What the hell is that?" Aurora said, wide eyes taking in the power on display with a look of awe, fear, and maybe a bit of child-like wonder if Twilight was guessing right. She smiled at the sight. The mare was a... rough one for sure, but it seemed she had a softer side after all. You'd think she'd never seen a shield spell before... Wait. "Shield spell!" Twilight could barely contain herself as she tried to push Aurora onward. Aurora, for her part, only flinched. "Are... Are you okay?" Twitch asked, coming up below them, face pinched. "Yes! Better than okay!" Twilight pointed a hoof at the towers, "Its a shield spell! And an extremely potent one at that. Whoever is casting that has to be either an Alicorn or making use of a super specific talent!" She smiled broadly, "They could help us get out of here!" Aurora looked down at Twitch, her face twisted in confusing, and mouthed something like 'Ali-what?'. Twilight couldn't keep her expression from tending towards shock, or her brow from raising. She'd known from the moment she heard her speak that Aurora wasn't quite your average Equestrian, no regular inhabitant of Equus either. Her language was either ancient beyond counting, or alien beyond understanding. She was just glad that active translation spell had worked so well, and that it had caught Twitch within its range. As interesting as it would be to act as an interpreter, it would waste quite a lot of time. Curious though, Twitch's Equestrian was almost perfect, past all the fair with translation spells, though the accent she didn't recognize. Regardless, they'd found their first clue to help them out of this pit. Of course, she hadn't yet realized the full breadth of the situation, though that was understandable, layer upon layer of thick, glacierized snow coated the great shield's exterior. No one would have been able to see the moons through that. But looking up wasn't a concern at the moment. "Wings and a horn." She couldn't suppress a wince as she pointed to her own appendages, "Now go! I'll explain what I can later, but we don't have the time to waste!" Strangely, her mystery mare didn't seem as eager. She eyed the slope down tentatively, as though it had teeth. So, with a heavy sigh, Twilight said "Aurora... We need to get going." Though she had spoken softly, something about this sudden timidness annoyed her. This mare had faced down a hoard of monsters where most would have balked and ran at the sight of just one, yet here she was, stalled by the prospect of walking down hill. "Y-yes, I know, just... Still a little dizzy, yeah, that's all." It was easier to let those grievances slide when she spoke, though her voice held a sort of resounding brass that Fluttershy's did not, it was none the less starkly familiar, it was just something about words without confidence. And the contrast between her speech now and when she was out there, saving Twilight's life was frank and unapologetically apparent. It didn't encourage her, but she found her solace in the knowledge that no book was simply its cover. The next few moments found her retreating to her mind, losing track of her senses as she put all her focus into her thought. Which was exactly why she was so surprised when she was thrown from Aurora's tumbling backside. Luckily, she came out of her roll none the worse for wear, same as her companions, though as she checked over Aurora's balled, groaning form... This... Was going to be a long adventure. "Turn it around." Corddae Leveled his eyes at his partner from over his notable, a bitter tone and harsh stare kept Bayesian from questioning exactly why. This of course, further frustrated Corddae. "Well? I can't exactly tell you where we're driving if you don't ask." He'd been programmed for politeness after all. "Sorry sir!" He said, trying very hard not to look in Corddae's direction as he pulled off to a cul de sac and flipped on his turn signal. "Just seemed like you-" "Yeah, yeah, sorry." Corddae muttered, flipping through his programmable with a gesture. The magical paper responding by searching the archives as he required. "Just found some a familiar name in the victim's school registry." He held his tongue a little longer, before letting out a sigh. If all Bayesian intended to do in this investigation was eye him sidelong this was going to be a stuttery affair indeed. "Filut, I checked the father's phone records. A match." "Really now?" Bayesian said, his brow furrowing. "You don't suppose-?" Corddae let out a sharp bark of a laugh, his partner spotted a wisp of a smile marking his grey features. "Damn that boy and his sense of humor, 'McMasters'? He ruffles us worse than the Federals. Could well be that this man was McMasters..." Corddae, fiddled a bit more with the paper, "Depends. What did Filut mean by 'Old friend'. But I doubt any teacher of the Great and Powerful Filut wouldn't have a criminal record." Corddae shifted his focus to Filut's profile. He'd long since been taken off the Filut case, but his superiors had been gracious enough to allow him unrestricted access to the file... Files, lots of files. And now that he thought of it, wasn't this Alan fellow the same age as Filut? "He had to learn his flamboyant sense from someone." "Hm, flair Corddae." "What's wrong with flamboyant?" "He's not homosexual, is he?" Bayesian made it more of a statement of it than a question. "Not in the least." "Then flair, sharp, gets to the point. Doesn't have the connotation." "Flamboyant, and I'm sticking with it." His focus narrowed itself on the programmable, interest plain on his face. "Oh ho ho well now! Seems I hit it right on the money!" "3483?" "As sure as day." Corddae thumbed his nose, looking up from his programmable paper, "As sure as this little venture is staying off the books. Fifteen minuets Bayesian, no more no less." "Aye, aye!" Two packs filled with essentials, that's all, no sugary treats, no toys or games, pure essentials. That had been unbelievably hard. Ella and Bailey rummaged through the kitchen as fast as they'd dared, eyeing sweets stashed here and there with longing, though Ella'd always reign Bailey in... And to her chagrin, vice versa. They'd ended their quiet little raid with backpacks stuffed half-full, bread and canned soup, peanut butter and fruit bars. They'd been hoping for more, that most certainly didn't help their spirits. All Bailey could do was keep her chin up, breath deep, and wipe at the sweat trailing off her brow. All Ella could do was think about the thousands of ways it could go wrong. The plan as of now was simple, if a bit morally bankrupt. They had already procured the keys to a vehicle, one that Bailey claimed to have experience driving, so, all they'd have to do was get out of town and find her Grandmother, which would doubtless be quite the surprise. She'd tried using Bailey's phone to text her, but that had fallen through once she'd realized she didn't remember her phone number. Bit of a set back, but thankfully she knew her address, soon, they'd be on their way there. Bend wasn't too far away from Cascadia after all. The trouble would really be getting out of the city. Cascadia was built into the hills, and she'd never paid much attention to how to get out. That was a problem when you couldn't see over the buildings, and honestly, she had forgot the name of the Highway that cut through the middle of the city. So, little help those road signs were going to be. There was a fierce knock, someone was at the door! Who in the ever loving-!? She stowed that question when she heard movement up stairs. Her friend's eyes practically bugging out of her head. "We need to go now!" she said, quiet, harsh. Ella responded with a curt nod, and they both crept slowly toward the backdoor. Unfortunately, someone in the house had probably woken, they could hear their footsteps groggily plodding over their heads. "... We're doomed." Ella wasn't so sure, despite her heart rising to her throat, they couldn't afford to be stopped here. No mater what. She wrapped herself around her friend looking through the darkened kitchen. Somewhere, anywhere, just to hide... "Pantry..." she said, doing her best to keep her nerves out of the equation. Bailey looked up at her, but had a poor time making eye contact, being roughly shoved as she was. The reaction to that being an almost acceptable squeak, almost. Ella swore heard the knocking pick up, the footsteps fall faster. She almost soiled herself right then and there, but she managed to close the pantry door. She waited and listened, feeling rather than hearing or seeing the descent of Bailey's parent finally reach the bottom and come to its completion. A few moments passed before the front door was answered, and Ella spent her time wisely, embracing her friend and gently stroking her hair. Though she wasn't sure if she was doing it for Bailey's sake or her own... Both. Defiantly both. "Oh goodie." Seemed the father, Kent, was the one to draw the short straw, "Two fine officers and I have nothing to show for you!" ... But was that Ken?! Bailey's Dad Ken!? The voice he had put on was arguably more feminine than even Bailey's own mother... "Flamboyant." Came a quite voice, one Ella knew, one Ella feared, "Filut, We need to come in." "Ah ah ah! Tickets, gentlemen, please! I don't run a charity." Kent responded, his... Friendly tone masking a sinister growl bubbling just beneath. "Alan McLane is dead, Kenny." The atmosphere immediately shifted, like there wasn't enough air in the room. Not for Ella at least, and she suspected not for Kent either. "CORDDAE... you better have an explanation- A DAMN good explanation for me, why are you here? What happened to Alan, and where the hell is his daughter!" Now that sounded more like Ken. Didn't stop her from from picking up on one simple fact, he knew that demon's name. "That last one wasn't a question." Ella gripped her friend tighter, as she heard the quickened steps. He was letting them in! Anger spiked, and Ella's eyes moved to meet Bailey's, accusations passing through sight. Did she know? Did she trap her here just to-... No, paranoia washed away the instant eyes met. Confusion, anger, depthless sadness. How this was understood, Ella didn't know. Maybe for now, it was the one thing she didn't want to know. "We've uncovered what we believe to be a trafficking ring... They've been nabbing magic kids. Killing parents. This particular case however..." That was the minion. Bayard? No, that sounded wrong. "Has absolutely nothing to do with that." "So, Officer Bartowski-" "Bayesian." The man in question corrected. Yeah, Ella thought that was right. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Came the snarky reply, and Ella smiled at the barb, "Anyways, what does this have to do with anything, much less me, my child, or my godchild?" There was a mumbling growl, Ella was sure it was Bayesian. "The magic... Moved." There was silence for a good while before Kent spoke up. "Specifics, please." "It was a good while between when we had seen the strike, like a pillar of light fall upon the residence. We called in all the regulars for forensics... I felt like this was bigger that. So, we contacted an Illuminist." Corrdae said. "With no prompting, no energy introduced, it... Attacked us." Once again, there was silence, shorter lived this time. But Ella couldn't help the small bit of joy she found in whatever had happened to the demon. Even as that joy turned to horror. "I'm going to make some tea." Kent said, a heavy sigh escaping him, "Sorry for my lackluster hospitality, either of you-?" "Not at the moment." Corddae swiftly cut off a muttered reply from his minion. Ella heard footsteps approaching, on a twinge, she looked at the shelf nearest her... Stocked full of tea. She had to bite her own tongue to keep from screeching in frustration. She had no idea who was trustworthy here, no clue who might be telling the truth. It was, after all, the first she'd heard of this "Godfather" business. But she held firm. Something told her this was the right call. So, she glared at the door, as if daring it to open. That bravado lasted right up to the moment the pantry's handle twisted. She flinched, shutting her eyes tight as the fear flooded her. She knew keeping herself blinded wasn't going to help. So, she opened her lids, barely allowing the light from the kitchen into her pupils, along with the sight of an inexpressibly confused Kent. "Wuh?" He squeaked, eyes jumping between the girls, anger, guilt, and panic battling for supremacy. This, was of course where Bailey showed just how loyal she really was. One finger pressed so hard to her lips it left an imprint. No sound, just gesture. Kent understood her immediately, she was Daddy's girl after all, though the look he gave promised consequence. Ken took a breath, "Peachy," He turned over his shoulder, "Bad news, I'm out of tea. Jacci hates the stuff, never sending a pregnant woman grocery shopping again." With that, he shut the pantry door. For a few moments there was silence, then the mumblings of a significantly quieter conversation began, and Ella let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but even so she now held confidence that Ken was mostly on their side. But how to get out of the pantry without being detected... A tap on her shoulder would reveal the answer. Bailey had struggled out of her grasp and popped the face off of a vent, getting her friend's attention with a tap from her foot on Ella's shoulder. Way to go Bailey! She cheered, her eyes lighting up with hope once again. Time to go Bailey! Because Bailey had to get out of this house! She breathed heavy, sweating buckets as she remembered the look on her dad's face. She had managed to push Ella out into the hall right behind the kitchen and pantry, and was in turn dragged through the rest of the way. It was Go time, she could see the Keys sitting on their hook. Wrapping her hands and as much fluff as she could, she stood slowly reaching up to retrieve them. With what she considered an all time high in her short but illustrious saving career, she gently lifted the keys from the hook and pocketed them. Giving her just enough time to spy another disturbing sight. He’d spotted her. She knew it. She also wanted to know why he wasn’t letting his compatriot no that’s a very two girls they were seeking were also speeding out the back door on owls wings. He held her in his vision, nothing but calculation, his lips a slight curve. She really didn’t know and she didn’t want to know. She hadn’t really even gotten more than a second to look at the fellows face, but she understood why Ellie had called them demons. They seemed too cold to be men. After that it was all such a rush, Bailey hardly noticed the flight from the back door to the parking garage. Not until Ellie was tapping on her shoulder. Suddenly seeing her face in the pristine glass of her father’s favorite car helped too. Good God she was really doing this. Well, she was always telling daddy that she wanted to go on adventures, seeing all the magical sites. Maybe if you came back with something of value, he might be a little more lenient. Those “law enforcement officers“ on the other hand… Something was very very wrong with them. Treating her father like… A criminal, he didn’t have a true bad bone in his body. What on earth were they lording over his head? Did they let her go just so they could get him in trouble? Is this really the right play? Didn’t matter now, she was in the cockpit. Garage door was open, and despite all the clouds, she could see the stars she needed to guide her. Hand on the gears, foot on the clutch, eyes dead set as the engine roared to life. Tonight, she was going to make this baby fly! A single crack, almost like the snapping of a twig was all Ken need to tell him what the girls were doing. Though his panicked wife also helped in that regard, nearly tripping over herself on her way down the stairs. "Ken!" She yelled, only to stop dead in her tracks as she spotted Corddae and Bayesian. "Gentlemen," she spat out, "Didn't know you had scheduled some 'guy time' To coincide with our daughter running away!” The two looked at each other with a small amount of panic Themselves, and jumped up from their positions. “Yes ma’am!“ They both shouted, before turning their attention towards the already open door. Ken was just beyond, sitting in the driver seat of a constabulary vehicle like he belonged there and honking the horn. “Get in or I’m leaving without you!” Corddae smiled as he fished for his key and came up empty. “ bloody fast bastard.“ he muttered, as Bayesian practically dived into the back, he swiftly walked to the passenger side and sat down heavy. “ I swear Kenny, if our girl doesn’t come back in one solid piece, I’m going to dice you like a tomato!“ and with that, they were off.
