怪談とポニー Ep2 - Factory Reset

Chapters

1.

Walking along the school corridor and entirely occupied by her thoughts, Misty Lagoon let the calling her high, concerned voice remain unnoticed for quite a while. Pinewatch High entered the home stretch, as Mane sisters would undoubtedly name it, before the summer holidays; however, while having fewer mandatory studies at school, the students were still loaded with additional preparations and extracurricular groups and clubs. It so fell out that Misty had some free time, thus escaping the busy and noisy lower floors of the school building, that she headed to the roof to ventilate and think in relative silence. In her thoughts, she constantly returned to what they discussed with the girls earlier.

“Hey! Miss Lagoon! I’m sorry, miss, wait, please. Could you devote me some time?!”

The filly was to repeat herself several times before it pierced through Misty’s reflections and made the unicorn girl wake and look over the shoulder inquiringly, finally noticing somepony hurrying to catch up with her. Misty Lagoon, the soon-to-be high school first-year student, while being pretty, wasn’t an example of school popularity, unless it came down to the jokes about the subject of her interests; therefore seeing somepony that eager to talk to her was a bit surprising. She found a few real friends only during the last year of middle school, communicating with the rest of the students mostly casually; Misty knew the approaching girl just visually, practically remembering about her only that she was a transfer student from Germane. This being said, Misty was equally interested in the reason that attracted the filly as the latter in Misty’s attention.

“Yes? Sorry, my thoughts overtook me a bit…” the unicorn girl smiled with the corner of her mouth. “How can I help you?”

“Good morning! Ahhh…” the earth filly took the breath; apparently, she spotted Misty maybe even on the lower floor and did her best not to lose, running all the way after. It was rather Misty’s absent pensiveness, which prevented her from paying attention to hurried following steps. “Sorry! I hope I haven’t disturbed you much… miss Lagoon.”

“Oh, it’s okay, I sank in my thoughts a bit,” Misty let out another friendly smile. “And… why so official?”

“I’ll attend high school in a year only, while you… Sorry, miss, where was my head!” the earth filly threw her hands up in embarrassment. “Let me introduce myself first! I’m Fluffy Folgen…”

Throwing the hair back from her sight, the filly habitually shook her cottony mane, which boasted a French bouffant from one side loosely covering her left eye and three braids from another reaching her thin shoulder. Misty took an appraising look at her miniature collocutor: the girl was easily smaller and thinner than Lacy. From the short colt-fashioned shirt with the simple red necktie usually leaving its intended place under the short thin sweater, when its owner ran around and climbed everywhere in pursuit for the news for their press club, to the narrow checkered pants with leather patching placed over the knees and crotch area, resembling the jockey pants. The latter were tucked into the high boots of light leather: apparently, the filly wasn’t attending any class today, preferring her favourite clothing to school uniform. Pinewatch was quite democratic about that matter, insisting on uniform usage only during obligatory classes and official events. For that particular student, that was indeed a blessing as the petite filly could look sloppy at the end of the day, which she entered on her scooter each morning, jumping off it right into her daily “journalist battle”. For example, the shortness of her shirt was intended, as through her adventures, it usually ended escaping from under the belt of her old-fashioned moto-pants, no matter how tight it was. Being longer, it would look messy, but in that case, the shirt and sweater barely revealed a stripe of the girl’s stomach, which didn’t bother her a iota looking almost as an intended kinky stroke to her image.

“…the last year mid-school student and a member of Pinewatch press club… transferred a year before from Germane,” catching Misty’s glance, she added after an awkward pause, while Misty did her best to guess what an amateur journalist could need from her. “It’s nice to meet you, miss Lagoon!”

“Well, introducing myself isn’t that necessary, I see,” chuckled Misty softly. “But you may freely call me Misty as I’m not too picky in that regard.” She leaned on the nearest windowsill looking at the younger girl with polite interest. “So, what did you need, Fluffy Folgen?”

“Ummm…” the earth filly hesitated, looking for better words and flushing lightly, her thin fingers fumbled with the photo camera strap on her shoulder. “Miss Lagoon… Oh, okay… Misty, it’s not a secret that you and your friends take a specific interest in everything that… errmmm… is one way or another beyond the commonly accepted laws of nature…”

“What, sorry?” Misty shook her pink mane lightly glancing puzzledly at Fluffy Folgen.

“I mean… In other words, you’re interested in everything… paranormal, right?” Fluffy added quieter, flushing desperately. “S-s-sorry if… I let myself a bit…” she stumbled, clinging to her camera and holding it almost like a shield. Misty couldn’t help pondering that something didn’t fit the image – as far as she remembered Fluffy, the girl was always vivid and mobile like a drop of mercury, let alone way less ceremonial.

“Maybe… Well, it’s pretty neutral for a hobby, isn’t it?” noticed Misty cautiously causing an understanding smile of her interlocutor. ‘I sincerely hope it’s not yet another joke plotted by the seniors, especially…’

“I have information which may be useful for you, miss… Misty,” Fluffy wasn’t going to give any time for doubts. “You and your friends perhaps…”

“But of course, I will ask for a small favour in return,” swaying her mane back again, she added with an apologetic smile before Misty could even say a word. “Information for information, let’s put it that way. Better even say, an opinion.”

‘Hmmm… It seems nopony is listening or watching us at the moment,’ Misty threw a glance left and right across the empty hallway. ‘Finding out what it is won’t hurt. Even if that’s some prank, I’d better prepare…’ she pursed her lips, pensively looking at the half-open door of an empty classroom.

“Okay!” she nodded in that direction, welcoming Fluffy for a more discrete talk. “I’d prefer some privacy if you don’t mind, Fluffy.”

“Naturl…ly!” the earth filly stumbled a bit.

Sliding the door open, Misty took a better look over the seemingly empty room; she wasn’t going to drop the possibility of a prank until proved otherwise. Spotting nopony hiding inside, Misty closed the door after them and dropped behind one of the desks gesturing her company to take the nearest one.

“I’m all ears, Fluffy,” sitting sideways, Misty glanced at the girl with a tiny smile. “Let’s start from that favour you mentioned. I prefer to be able to tell a person if I can fulfil their expectations before I made any promise in return.”

“Very reasonable!” nodded Fluffy; she preferred to nest on the edge of the desk instead, gently holding her camera.

For a very long moment, while the other girl pondered what to start with, Misty listened to the silence of the classroom.

“I can’t tell if you noticed,” finally started Fluffy, “but you’ve got quite a reputation within Pinewatch during these years, Misty. You are always calm, levelheaded, ready to help others, as long as they are ready to accept that help,” added the girl before Misty could verbalize her first thought ‘Yeah, quite a reputation of the loon!’, “yet keeping distance from most of the shenanigans and their starters, being close to those you chose yourself. At the same time hard-working and thoughtful… In other words, completely adequate, even if you suspect that others think otherwise.”

That tirade caught Misty slightly off guard and she watched Fluffy with inward shock trying her best not to show it too openly but quickly analyze her further steps instead.

“Of course, you can say that the interest in supernatural doesn’t entirely fit,” Fluffy let out a tiny smile; the girl visibly took herself in the hands as soon as she started explaining her request. “But… after some pondering and combining the parts, the public opinion concluded, that if you consider something worth taking a second look at, then there is must be some rational ground under it. Developing the idea further, you are now the semi-official publicly recognized Pinewatch paranormal expert. Don’t look at me like that, I’m simply telling you in brief what others think,” Fluffy shrugged while Misty inwardly facepalmed rolling her eyes.

“Your friends don’t look like dummies either,” Fluffy was continuing her analysis. “The Mane sisters both have quite a character… Yet you easily look like the leader of the four.”

“I… We never planned to have any leaders,” Misty Lagoon flushed. “The key point is we respect each other. We’re not some… squad, sorry.”

“Well,” the amateur reporter let out another smile shaking her fluffy mane. “It’s not a question of some artificial hierarchy… But, they always listen when you’re talking, right?”

“Were you spying on us?” Misty gazed suspiciously at her opponent.

“Maybe a little bit…” chuckled Fluffy nonchalantly only to become completely serious the next second. “Every student of Pinewatch is interesting to me in one way or another. That’s a professional interest. By the way,” she suddenly uttered, “have you noticed that the number of so-called jokes regarding your… no, I can’t call that hobby… regarding your passion dropped considerably during the recent days, almost down to zero.”

“I learned to pay them no attention anyway, so I don’t know. I’ll take your word on it,” Misty still couldn’t catch the actual course their talk was supposed to be heading.

“Rest assured, I’m telling as it is!” Fluffy nodded determinedly. “Which gives us a smart, coolheaded girl, who knows enough in her field of choice to discern the real thing from some flam. Not to mention that it significantly raised your shares across Pinewatch lately, it leads us directly to my request.”

“Finally!” Misty couldn’t hold a tiny sarcastic smile back.

“As I said,” the earth filly smiled mysteriously in return.

“I planned an article on urban legends for quite a while. The topic which never ceases to attract the readers!” Fluffy Folgen raised one eyebrow glancing at Misty intently, “So, the reawakened interest to Canterton High turned out a gift.”

Misty strained a little listening very attentively to what her fluffy-mane collocutor was going to tell.

“Everypony here knows something about Canterton High and the rumours roaming around that topic,” elaborated Fluffy; her eyes seemed to study the senior student thoroughly. “The place, if I may say so, also has quite a reputation – mostly scary and negative. Believing in these things or not, nopony would eagerly walk by the old school at night. And suddenly it becomes known that the building is going to be demolished, the park renovated and opened to visitors and so on along the lines. The place which couldn’t be successfully rebuilt or removed for nopony-knows-how-many-years already! Isn’t it fascinating?!”

“Perhaps…” Misty looked an epitome of restraint, causing a little smile on Fluffy’s face.

“So, naturally, I decided to devote a large portion of the article to the closest and most freshly spoken about… errmmm… place of interest.”

“And how are we – as if I properly understood you, Fluffy, you were talking about all four of us eventually – connected to all that?” Misty made a face of polite perplexity.

‘Careful, Misty!’ she warned herself. ‘You don’t want to frame any of your friends here, any of the involved in general. It was obvious that we managed to dodge the serious consequences in school… Why would miss Singularity behave as nothing ever happened if that wasn’t somehow important?’

‘Besides… I love what we with Fran have now. Don’t want her to be in trouble again! Even if some insignificant…’

“Let’s say I need an opinion of an… expert,” to Misty’s surprise, there wasn’t a tiny shadow of mischief in Fluffy’s expression. The earth filly nodded determinedly, automatically holding on to her camera again. “Judging by the talks, the school assumed that the “tough girls” either had been visiting Canterton High already or at least have a certain opinion regarding the subject. Anyway, those, whose attention was caught by the recent Canterton news, are guessing now if you have anything to tell on the matter. Your words in the article would heat it greatly, Misty. So, that’s my request exactly – to find out your opinion on Canterton High!” Fluffy looked at Misty almost pleadingly.

“How do you… they… called us?” Misty was unable to believe her ears.

“Tough girls!” repeated Fluffy Folgen with a smile. “These are the exact words I heard several times somewhere… at school’s “backstage”. Moreover, some of the students speculate if you being there was exactly the reason, why the object was finally considered safe and the long-abandoned works were recommenced.”

‘Oh my!’ Misty chilled inwardly. ‘I wonder what else they are… “speculating”!’ She did her best to savvy what to tell that petite clot of curiosity. ‘We definitely don’t need others to interfere in our life. Neither me nor Fran… Auntie Ana and girls as well!’

“I know about the whole Canterton related story and even studied the matter a little indeed,” drawled Misty watching her opponent fixedly. “That being said, I was quite surprised by the lack of valuable information in the libraries and archives… But you are right, Fluffy, saying that Canterton High had quite a reputation since about a few years after it was built.”

‘It’s strange that she wasn’t on her guard when I didn’t ask her to reveal her cards beforehand!’ Misty musingly tapped the edge of the desk while Fluffy nodded silently. ‘But I have no right to demand anything as I’m not going to tell the real state of things in entirety anyway. Sorry, Fluffy.’

“So, you need an opinion… and I don’t see anything preventing me from sharing it. Alas, I can’t give you more than that as we haven’t managed to visit the place personally,” with a tinted with regret smile, Misty glanced at the reporter-girl. “I wouldn’t mind though, as I found the place to be very interesting. At least from the historical point of view…”

“Oooooh!” Fluffy Folgen drawled visibly discouraged; the girl’s lips took a shape of the surprised and at the same time disappointed “o” – it looked as if she truly expected to hear how Misty with her friends roamed Canterton High grounds.

“As for any supernatural presence at the place,” Misty’s eyes slowly alternated between Fluffy’s hands and face, “it’s an open question still… I would like to see some evidence with my own eyes to make such a conclusion.”

“Hmmm… You are talking like a pro already,” chuckled Fluffy. “Expect anything, believe nothing… before you make sure, right?”

“Yeah, something along these lines.”

“But, the whole line of incidents, which pursued the school through its existence?” little miss Folgen wasn’t so easy to distract from the chosen course. “As far as I know there were enough victims of that place, including a few lethal cases… That’s… that’s not mentioning several persons going missing within its walls or after visiting the site.”

“Starting from the teacher mysteriously disappearing midterm from the supposedly closed school building after the studies,” nodded Misty Lagoon. “I read all the sources I managed to find, yes.”

“That first case shouts “Murder!” even after the entire thousand of years, to my mind,” Misty raised one eyebrow intently. “There were enough trails to conclude… But the mere fact of it being unsolved adds greatly to the general mystic image.”

“If you ask me, that’s some sort of the vicious circle, Fluffy,” the unicorn girl elaborated her idea further. “The reputation made the place an aim for all sorts of unsightly shenanigans; the latter became worse and worse with each case ending with somepony injured… and the reputation continued dropping correspondingly.”

“I can see your point here, miss… sorry, Misty,” Fluffy nodded slowly, shrugging a bit chilly with her arms around her shoulders.

“Exactly!” Misty was enforcing the impression. “To the point when the place became constantly chosen for the worst tricks down to the plain criminal ones. Which, in its turn, plunged the reputation of Canterton High, as a location at least, further down the gutter.”

“Most of the cases can be easily explained by the actual participants hurting each other or themselves,” the girl spread her hands, throwing a glance at Fluffy, who silently bit her lip thinking deeply. “Accidentally or purposely – the whole atmosphere there must have been contributing to that, especially at the periods Canterton High being abandoned and rebuilt. Just imagine the messed building at night…”

“Ugghhh!” Fluffy Folgen even shuddered. “But the incidents are mostly explained as the result of paranormal activity instead…” nonetheless, she recomposed fast enough to catch herself.

“I heard the place is in fairly poor state here and there,” Misty shrugged casually trying to remember fast all she could from Lacy parents’ stories. “Supposedly, that was the case each time some wide-scale works started. The large empty building, long corridors, unlocked windows, poorly maintained communications and broken walls… These kinds of structures tend to produce various sorts of sounds, downright creepy sometimes. Consider the darkness at the time when casual ghost-hunters usually pay their visits.”

“You think that…” Fluffy raised her eyes at Misty.

“I suppose ponies mostly scared themselves,” the latter nodded affirmatively. “You should never underestimate the atmosphere influence.”

“Dealing with places alike, where criminal element is undoubtedly present,” explained Misty Lagoon, “it’s always better to evaluate the most natural reasons of the incidents, brushing away the unfitting ones. Sometimes there is no supernatural where it seems to be present,” concluded she with a light, almost apologetic smile.

“But what about the delays in repairs?” miss Folgen even clenched to her camera in the strike of enthusiasm. “The latter lasted over several decades while seemingly they were ready to rebuild the school completely from the start. And then suddenly…”

“Well, I can only guess about the bureaucratic reasoning,” Misty smirked sarcastically. “I suppose that school wasn’t in top priorities when it came down to funding the works. Maybe they planned to rebuild it before and lately reconsidered in favour of complete removal and turning the school grounds into a park. Probably that appeared cheaper than maintaining a school in the area where it is hardly needed now. Considering the works resumed and stuff, I’d say even if there ever was a… ghost in Canterton High,” Misty chuckled lightly, “there is none at the moment.”

“It comes out quite reasoned and plausible when you dissect the phenomenon like that, Misty,” Fluffy Folgen let out a faint smile. “However, I don’t know if the readers are satisfied with the most natural explanation when it’s so tempting to take the supernatural into account.”

“Can I refer to your words directly?” she quickly shifted to the business aspect of their talk. “Quoting you in the article. Ask me, you truly sounded like a pro. And… even if your point of view looks a bit sceptical…” Fluffy bit her lip pensively, then brightened, so the shine of her eyes and smile seemingly lit her silver mane making its faint violet tint gleam in the sunrays. “Maybe… Maybe that even heats the interest to the problem!”

“Sure thing!” Misty felt slightly embarrassed, flushing at being compared to a professional. “I hope you can make something out of that, Fluffy, as I would never call my words here somewhat advanced analysis. I only ask to relay my words as close to the original as possible.”

“But of course!” the slender reporter threw her hands up with a jokingly offended expression. “I don’t even ask for a photo… as something tells me you would, unfortunately, opt out of that.”

“Yeah, I’d be happy if you let me out of the excessive publicity, Fluffy,” Misty tilted her head with a light smile. “As you can see, I’m way less of a valuable expert than expected by the Pinewatch herd.”

“Well, well… I still think you’re too modest…” the earth filly already took a notebook from her seemingly small but apparently spacious bag and scribbled there with the speed of the machinegun.

“Okay, now to your part of the deal!” waiting till the girl slowed down with the notes, Misty looked into Fluffy’s bright blue eyes, ready to catch any sign of a play. “What do you have for me?”

To her surprise (as Misty was still unsure of the seriousness of what was happening) the girl returned the glance without any hesitation or glimpses of insincerity; Fluffy even began sounding calmer and more serious than before.

‘It must be really important for her!’ glimpsed in Misty’s mind. ‘But what exactly… the information she wants to share or the mere fact of sharing it?’

“In my regular work, I’m mostly interested in Pinewatch related news,” started Flaunty Folgen pulling up the strap of her camera lightly, “in general city news – a bit less, as it’s hard to cover them better than the professionals do. Besides, that would exceed our club capabilities…”

Misty nodded understandingly, letting the girl continue.

“But regardless of that, I always check the pros’ headlines, not only from Canterlot but the nearest regions also. If something catches my eye try to find more information myself… or at least see how the real state of things is lit on paper.”

“That may be useful for professional growth,” added Fluffy with a shrug of her thin shoulders. “As becoming a pro is my ultimate goal.”

“Okay, back to the matter!” Fluffy Folgen swept her mane off her face. “Recently, I stumbled upon something that instantly reminded me about you. It’s located in your home area even, Misty. Have you ever heard about the old magical crystals refinery back in your city?” the girl looked at Misty Lagoon expectantly.

“M-maybe…” Misty felt a little dumbfounded by that low start. “You know, Fluffy, Baltimare is a heavily industrialized region, so we have plenty of factories in close vicinity. I can’t remember them all, but some of the places are indeed very old and work under the same ownership for generations.”

“So, I take your word on it, about the refinery. What’s with it exactly, Fluffy?” Misty scratched her nape musingly, ruffling the pink mane.

Instead of an answer, the reporter-filly slid off the desk and started digging in her bag focusedly; with a rustle, she finally found and took out a simple folded paper, spreading it on the table in front of the unicorn girl.

“I came across that article by pure accident brushing through the nearest regions’ news,” finally uttered Fluffy, giving Misty a minute to run through the page diagonally. “Frankly speaking, it’s mostly the photo that gained my attention at first,” she pointed at the single large image of an old industrial site amidst the forested high bank of the ocean bay. Some pegasus took time and effort to capture the factory from the birds-eye view; no wonder that the earth filly Fluffy was fascinated by a masterfully taken picture. “But then I took a read and… I even made this copy.”

The emotion appeared contagious and Misty returned to the copy page delving into reading it thoroughly; meanwhile, Fluffy resumed her story.

“It was mentioned in passing that the factory is very old, without an exaggeration – ancient. The same family runs it for centuries, but they never reported any troubles of… strange nature. Factory accidents were neither frequent. You see, the spirit of old-school management was always a thing there,” Fluffy Folgen smirked approvingly. “Thus they always were quite meticulous about safety, treating it not only like a matter of factory reputation, but actually caring about their employees.”

“… until one unholy day when things changed all of a sudden,” muttered Misty, not raising her eyes from the page. “That’s what is written here… In slightly different words, but still…”

“Exactly! Somehow it always gets down to this…”

“But I fail to see the connection,” Misty interrupted her reading staring at her collocutor. “Where’s the thing making you remember about me and my… interests? It looks like an article lighting the problems of a particular plant and its owner, which may finally lead to,” she checked the page, “yeah, to “shares drop and investors abandoning the ship after the disgruntled employees…”. By the look of it I can’t even tell if the author’s goal is to help the owner or rather the opposite by drawing attention to the problem,” chuckled she doubtfully.

“Well,” Fluffy stepped back to her desk, hands akimbo, “let’s say, it made something tingle in me. And I damn hope it was professional flair rising!” she smirked. “Otherwise, I’m wasting my time. Anyway, I started investigating on my own and found some interesting things, which reminded me of you then.”

“Hmm… I’m all ears. What, except the whole thing is happening in Baltimare?” Misty rested her chin on the fist, looking into Fluffy’s eyes.

“As I said, everything was quiet and dandy for ages, till the last but one owner decided to leave the business to his son,” started the petite girl nesting on the desk comfortably. “Nothing outstanding here, but give it time. He had two sons, a couple of years of birth difference. Different mothers!” with a dramatic pause, Fluffy gazed at her co-ed. “Needless to say that the colts were not particularly friendly towards each other when their father married again after the first boy mother’s death.”

“Yeah, that situation already screams troubles!” Misty nodded understandingly.

“Wait, wait…” Fluffy’s reporter soul couldn’t exist without condensing some tension. “The thing is that the old guy did it right, both by the reason and by the conscience. He didn’t deprive his younger son of a iota, compensating him financially with a surplus. However, he prudently decided to leave the actual factory to the older one who cared for the family business, unlike his brother interested mostly in cheap thrills.”

“The younger flushed everything and came for another bite…” semi-affirmatively dropped Misty with audible despise. “I still…”

“N-nope!” Fluffy’s lips spread in a wide content smile; she savoured the oncoming effect of her delayed revelation. “It’s waaay more interesting! After a few years, the younger brother comes and offers to buy the factory. And what’s more important he actually has funds for that, increasing his fortune. The latter, to be frank, became inscrutable for everypony knowing them.”

“The older brother declines the offer: the refinery is working like clockwork, everypony is satisfied, be them workers or customers or outer investors. Why should he refuse the family business feeding him, giving it into infamous hands with the questionable outcome?” Fluffy shrugged her narrow shoulders as if inwardly agreeing with the factory owner’s decision. “The whole butting lasts for a while, then the younger one drops his claims and leaves the factory alone. He is known to be running his own business at the moment, maybe finally reconsidered being a dolt, who knows.”

“Then exactly the problems started,” added she after a pause. “In brief, one accident resulting in severe injuries of the victim, a few less gruesome incidents, then another double death… two workers supposedly deceased in the hospital. Naturally, there was an employee who couldn’t take it and quit after the first accident, then a few left after that last tragedy. Needless to say that the atmosphere on the refinery became less trustful and friendly. Workers were and still are nervous and doubting, investors falter and so on…”

“Well, isn’t it natural to suspect the younger brother of some sabotage?” Misty raised her eyebrows inquiringly. “I would be surprised if the police involved didn’t do it first… Unless the common opinion is that he… cursed the factory instead,” she chuckled lightly.

“Oh, come on, Misty!” Fluffy threw her hands up in a jokingly pleading manner. “Don’t play a sceptic on me – I’m not one of those jerks mocking your passions!”

“The thing is – they found nothing criminal!” articulated she with all the seriousness. “No connections to the owner’s brother, direct or oblique, no physical traces of sabotage or intent wrecking. Nothing at all! The accidents looked, well… accidental…” the girl spread her hands. “Naturally, the authorities left the site, “advising” the owner to pay more attention to safety.”

“Errmmm…” Misty produced a wry smile of disbelief. “So they practically told him to… umm… buck off and deal with the things, right?”

“Yeah!” Fluffy nodded, seeing her reaction. “Needless to say, that wasn’t any calming news for the owner. But as far as I know, all inward attempts to investigate failed either, or better say, they brought no result as if there was no physical intrusion indeed. Still, there were a few minor but unpleasant incidents even after the official investigation. That’s what I could find,” concluded Fluffy.

“Currently, the factory is in limbo, despite still having contracts and working. The owner became desperate to found the source of the problem… Up to involving the unofficial aid, even amateur researchers,” the earth filly made an intended face. “But there are not so many volunteers, to be honest, due to the fame the place slowly gains. The owner isn’t prone to superstitious thoughts, but the actual witnesses of the past incidents tell that something “wasn’t entirely natural about them”.”

“That’s all I know, Misty!” Fluffy wiped the hands against her moto-pants in a symbolic gesture. “All that my cursory investigation delivered. I have one request in particular: if you’re interested in this case, Misty, please share your thoughts with me first, okay! The article on paranormal could get a continuation…” she winked.

2.

Exiting the empty class a minute after Fluffy, Misty took a look around and let out a smile, the younger girl nowhere to see already – the latter was truly like quicksilver, whisking away on her reporter business. Hands in her cargo pants’ pockets, Misty stopped at the windowsill beholding the panorama below musingly. High in the blue, cloudless sky, the sun was flooding the entire school grounds with the shine, signalling that spring was strolling proudly in its peak. The distant sounds of birds and voices of the students in the stadium reached the hallway through the ajar window. Coming close to the school walls and letting only a small empty gravel-covered space, the wide stripe of deciduous trees, boasting the fresh, bright-green, dust-free foliage at the moment, separated it from the stadium with its seats, tracks, flags on flagpoles and tiny figures of the students moving on the field slowly, as it looked from afar.

A gust of fresh wind hit the glass, making it dingle lightly, and bringing the peculiar smell of pines – the large wedge of pine forest, cutting one of Canterlot respectable districts in halves, embraced their school territory revealing only the driveway, which opened right into one of the city streets. The large park took one entire side of the named street almost surreally outstanding from the rest of the district and naturally giving the situated amidst it school its name – Pinewatch.

‘I admit that picking up this case is tempting,’ the girl confessed to herself lazily watching the far edge of the sports field where some game was taking place, while her thoughts were occupied by the received information. ‘It looks simple at the first glance: despite the seemingly obvious evidence, only a fool wouldn’t suspect the owner’s sibling of sabotaging the workflow. But… Something doesn’t compute here. Can’t tell yet but it may turn out a real thing.’

‘Speaking about trusting your intuition and clairvoyance…’ inwardly chuckled the unicorn girl watching the trees below waving in the pine tar tinted wind.

‘Just finishing with our first real investigation and doing it brilliantly, considering the outcome without false modesty, we’re getting another aim. It came at me so opportunely that I’m almost surprised. They say a good hunter has a lucky hit, of course!’ Misty frowned faintly nevertheless; something still bothered her. ‘However, something feels strange to me about it. That girl, Fluffy… she looked so unconfident at first… totally unlike usual her I knew. What was that? Anxiety in front of the… older co-ed?’ she smirked ironically. ‘We have only one year difference.’

‘Was it because Fluffy not being sure if I talk about Canterton at all?’ fumbling for the cell phone in her pocket, the girl bit her lip puzzledly. ‘She turned back to normal while spilling the beans about that factory though… Naaahhhh! Maybe Lacy can think out something…’

Finally finding the device and dialling, Misty threw another glance at the school grounds through the window; the view reminded her of another vision from Canterton High art class. The girl caught herself upon spreading in a wide unwitting smile.

‘I need to talk with Fran about the whole story. Let’s hear what she thinks as well!’

However, the long dial tones interrupted with hang up made Misty stare at the screen for a second; not answering the best friend’s call meant Lacy Reins having some reasons. After a couple of seconds, the screen brightening again blurted out a short message: “In the Library!”

‘Of course!’ smirked Misty. ‘If not in the class or greenhouse, where else could you be?’

“I seriously don’t know what to think of it,” Lacy was already gathering the books when Misty found her in the brightly lit tranquillity reign of Pinewatch school library. “On the one hand, she is the press-club reporter, thus… poking the nose into everything possible is her work of choice; on the other hand, the interest towards Canterton and our role is a bit… strange if you ask me. Why out of a sudden? As far as I know,” Lacy adjusted the glasses on her nose bridge, “we did our best to keep the whole story secret.”

“Well, she didn’t say “role” in particular,” Misty also picked up a few thick tomes to help her friend with returning the books to their places on shelves. “She was rather interested in our opinion… And… everypony, at least in the middle and high school, knows about my interests. But I agree, something feels strange indeed… Hey, at least she didn’t insist on taking photos,” chuckled the girl quietly.

“Why though?” Lacy chuckled quietly. “Your portrait would have been the cutest part of the Canterton related article! I always said that you must underestimate your looks not,” added she with a tiny smile.

“That’s not the problem,” retorted Misty. “I really don’t want our photos boasting under the school newspaper headline.”

Both were to whisper cautiously on the border of their hearing, perking the fluffy ears to catch each other’s words – like every legendary treasury, this stash of knowledge had its own guardian dragon in the face of thin tall mid-aged unicorn mare. Attracting her attention wasn’t in the girls’ plans, as it would be dangerous at the very least, not only for their reputation and academic performance but even physically as the majority of students suspected. The librarian’s aides guarded the silence and order zealously as well, but the rumours about being able to hear and see through the several rows of shelving circulated only around her prim persona. Naturally, nopony burned with the desire to get into the claws of that cold-blood warden for discipline violations.

Misty took a look around: only a few other students were scooping from that well of knowledge at the moment. Scattered here and there behind the tables, they diligently peered in their materials of choice – mostly high school students overwhelmed with the exam preparations. Needless to say that the silence was ringing, the entire reading area being well visible from the “dragon’s nest” also known as the librarian’s desk. The multitude of ceiling lamps flooded the space with shadowless light for readers’ comfort, leaving mild twilight only in the storage area where high long rows of stillages were separated by relatively narrow passages, so even a couple of students would have troubles with passing each other freely if loaded with books.

“So?” Lacy glanced at her friend over the glasses.

Instead of the answer, Misty picked up her part of the books and gestured towards the bookcases labyrinth with her eyes only. It wasn’t necessary to repeat twice; throwing a glance at the “dragon’s nest”, Lacy nodded and picked her share as well. With the stacks of heavy tomes, the girls strode with the most innocent look under the fixed glance of the library warden, hiding behind the shelves.

“Maybe the seeds fell on fertile soil indeed, but I wouldn’t mind checking that place,” pensively drawled Misty. “Of course, we need to know what others think. That’s if I assume that you are with me anyway, Lacy…”

“You know, I’m always with you – that goes without saying, so you don’t even need to ask, Misty!” rearranging the books on their intended places, Lacy stopped for a moment and gave her friend a long look, something in which made Misty flush lightly. “But you’re right, we must ask the girls.”

“Not here, obviously…” Misty gazed over her shoulder then took out the phone. “We need a less stressed place to talk,” double-checking the silent mode being enabled, she quickly typed a message. “What about the school cafeteria for example?” with a smile, she hit “Send”.

Turning off the sound was a good idea as a few seconds later the phone screen lit again with the incoming call and the photo of Windy Mane. Exchanging the glances with Lacy, Misty picked up.

“Hi, Windy. What’s up? Don’t you like the idea?” she did her best to stay audible despite her whispering.

“I have a better idea!” Lacy could hear Windy’s nonchalant voice effortlessly, even being four feet away from the phone. “Having a couple of free hours today, we planned to spend them in the swimming pool with Flo. What if you, girls, join us there? Do you have your swimsuits?”

“Hey! And why whisper? Are you okay, Misty?” inquired Windy, before the girls could answer anything.

“Yeah…” sighed Misty keeping the phone as close to her mouth as it was possible; she fancied some footsteps behind the shelving already. “We’re in the library with Lacy… Do you know what it is famous for except the books?” she couldn’t hold back a little sarcasm.

“Well, well!” Windy wasn’t somepony to confuse easily. “The more reasons to meet at the pool – there we can talk without any foreign ears spying on every word. So, let me know if you’re coming. Bye!”

Lacy only shrugged meaningfully, hearing the hang-out tone from her friend’s phone.

“So, what do you think? Will it be yes or no?” Flaunty Mane watched Misty fixedly after the latter briefly told them the story presented her by the reporter-girl and a pensive silence fell between the friends. Flaunty adjusted the shoulder strap of the regular school monokini swimsuit, which, simple and strict, dark blue with white trim, looked on the gifted by Mother Nature girl more alluring than any fashion bikini no matter what. Flaunty let the admiring gazes of a few school-colts training at the opposite side of the pool pass by unnoticed, which truth be told didn’t discourage the boys a iota.

“On that field, you’re the boss, Misty!” added the pegasus filly, bathing her long fit legs in the bright-blue transparent water. “At the end of the day, it’s you who feels… things.” It smelled ozone in the large echoing swimming pool: instead of chlorine, Pinewatch direction preferred healthier and more skin-friendly water disinfection methods.

“That’s the question…” Misty approached the pool edge, holding on to it for some rest, her legs worked, keeping her on the surface. “That case is very tempting to investigate, call me a liar if I deny,” added she quieter. “But at the same time, I have that gut feeling…” Misty dropped silent.

“What’s wrong, Misty?” Lacy Reins threw an attentive glance at her friend through the round glasses. The earth-pony girl nested at the edge next to Flaunty, but with her legs tucked under her. Her swimsuit, dry, yet tightly fitting her firm round breasts, easily rivalled with Flaunty’s looks, distracting the high-school colts from swimming even more.

“You looked positive about going to the old factory in the library…” added she. Suddenly Lacy squeaked. “Ah! Windy!!! It’s cold!”

The reason for that was another pegasus girl, which quietly swam to the friends underwater, emerging noisily with a fountain of splashes and clinging to the pool edge near Misty. Not giving the girls time to recompose, Windy Mane wrapped her wet arms around Lacy’s legs, resting her head on the girl’s knees.

“Mhhh… Windy!” Lacy squeaked and giggled from chill and ticklishness, but Windy snuggled to her so tenderly that the earth filly finally gave up.

“I can’t get rid of the impression that this case…” Misty bit her lip, “… found us too fast after we sorted out our first one,” concluded she meaningfully. “On the one hand, it looked the “let’s share for mutual benefit” type of talk… But,” she slowly shook her head, “at times Fluffy seemed equally interested in us taking the case and sharing the information about Canterton High.”

“What other benefits, except another catchy article, she could have from that case?” Lacy and Flaunty exchanged glances.

“If only I knew…” Misty shrugged puzzledly.

“What about a good hunter having a lucky hit then?” Windy Mane squinted slyly, tilting her head on Lacy’s knees. “And the reputation running before its owner…” the next second her lips spread in a blissful smile, eyes closed as the thin hand lay on Windy’s head, gently brushing through the fluffy red hair. “Mmmmm… I feel forgiven!” she nuzzled deep into Lacy’s warm knees.

“Hmmm… Fact! We managed to shift the public attitude from “these looneys” to “somepony having practical knowledge in that sphere” quite fast!” chuckled Misty Lagoon, but somewhat pensively. “I’d still say it was a bit premature though…”

“However…” she raised her eyes at the girls; three fillies knew that inspired, enthusiastic look very well, just as what usually followed. “However, it looks the real deal for me,” firmly put the unicorn girl, “just like the Canterton High. Besides, we can have it fully – the official investigations have failed so far. It seems as if nopony cares anymore, waiting only for the spontaneous outcome,” Misty shook her head reproachfully, sending the water drops from her hair fly. “The factory owner can’t count on others’ help anymore… except us.”

“I get it as a firm “Yes”,” Flaunty Mane let out an understanding smile. “You know, we’re with you then, girl!”

“Certainly!” Lacy quickly nodded and even Windy murmured something affirmative still melting under her hand.

“Obviously, we need to see the place first, to decide if we are going in,” Misty stated their unspoken rule. “If any,” she emphasized, “any of you dislikes something strongly at the site, we’re not meddling, right?”

“Right, pal!” Windy Mane found the inner strength to open one eye and focus on Misty. “So what’s the general plan?”

“Well,” Misty brushed wet mane from her forehead. “We’re a bit limited in time and space by the ongoing studies. But thankfully, the place is only about two and a half hundred miles from Canterlot.”

“It’s a few hours ride,” elaborated she. “We could start with an acquaintance with the case during the weekend and I know how to make that work!” smiled the girl. “This time it’ll be my duty to offer a feasible cover,” Misty winked to Lacy.

“Did you all forget, mates?” Misty answered the glance of three pairs of puzzled eyes. “I was born in Baltimare and my parents live there. As they are in one of their expeditions right now,” she raised one eyebrow meaningfully, “the house is at our service.”

“Hmmm… Supposedly that can be enough an explanation for the teachers and some casual interest…” drawled Windy rubbing her cheek on Lacy’s knee. “What about your aunt? She knows that your parents are away.”

“That isn’t exactly a problem,” parried Misty with a smile. “I’ll tell auntie Ana that I’m going to take us to Baltimare and show you some places of interest there, stopping at my family house for the weekend.”

Flaunty Mane snorted lightly.

“Yeah! As you may notice, there isn’t a word of a lie,” properly guessing the reason for the girl’s reaction, Misty smirked. “You know Anaesthesia well, she is quite calm about the endeavours of her trusted niece… as long as I’m safe,” all three girls giggled and Misty continued imperturbably. “And what can be more innocent than showing your best filly friends your native city and the beauties of the bay? Right? Right?!” she squinted at the still giggling girls.

“So!” before they said anything, Misty started listing the points of her plan, seemingly having it already in front of her inner sight; she bit her lip pensively. “First of all tell our legend to aunt Ana. You,” she pointed at the horsing around girls, “deal with your parents and tell the same.”

“Don’t worry!” said Flaunty; Lacy and Windy nodded, the red-hair pegasus girl released her friend and dived to cool down her dried head. “Will do the same if any of the teachers… Well… ideally, they shouldn’t have any questions,” Flaunty swayed back her long hair, “but it seems you can’t be entirely sure about that in our school.”

“What about Fran?” Lacy’s eyes flashed behind her glasses.

“Well, I’ll tell her everything,” simply shrugged Misty, pushing from the edge and laying flat on the water; her pink hair floated forming a fluffy halo around her pensive face. “It’s up to her then if she joins us or not; I won’t lie to her anyway. Fran can hide from a casual eye, so it shouldn’t be a problem at the factory. I’d rather worry about leaving her alone with aunty – Fran can’t loaf around and aunt has a sharp eye on little things,” a kind smile lit Misty’s face, almost reflecting in her horn. “Well, I’ll tell Fran to keep low for the weekend…”

“Okay!” with a powerful stroke, Misty positioned herself in the water vertically again. “I think we can go on Friday, right after the classes… plus some time to change and grab the things. Let’s take the bus,” she lowered her voice a bit as a group of students passed behind the sitting Lacy and Flaunty, “that’ll take more time, but attracts less attention anyway. If everything goes as planned, we must reach the city a couple of hours before sunset, but…”

“Sorry, mates, this time it’s not for sightseeing as you understand,” the unicorn girl stated meaningfully. “We’ll need to prepare, check the map and so on, as you don’t know the place.”

The girls nodded seriously.

“And I still have a couple of days to study everything I can find about the factory,” added Misty. “Don’t think there is much, but at least we don’t want to roam around – the site is practically in the forest on the bay shore as far as I know.”

“Mmmm! Ocean bay! Mmmm! Forest!” exclaimed Windy and Lacy almost at the same moment, causing Flaunty to laugh.

“Pack the things for the trip and prepare everything beforehand, mates. But don’t grab too much!” Misty looked at Lacy and Windy fixedly. “No gardening utensils…” Lacy nodded through laughter.

“…and no sports equipment,” concluded Windy. “Oh! I guess the beach volleyball is delayed till the next time…” the pegasus girl sighed, pouting jokingly; she made a miserable mien, barely moving her legs, so only her eyes and nose showed up from the water.

Somepony hopped by behind their backs, hurrying to catch up with the previous group of students.

“Hey, red one!” the familiar sneering tone reached their fluffy ears as the hay-haired colt passed them with a condescending look. “Kick faster or you may drown as you don’t have a “life vest” like the others!” winked he with a wide grin.

“Youuuuu!” Windy Mane turned flaming red in a wink; she was about to push from the pool edge with her legs and follow along, even her wings spread going to help her dash faster. In her azure eyes, the girls could read the wish to pull the mocker by the leg into the pool and sink him.

“Shhhh!” Flaunty Mane looked back with concern; Misty caught Windy on the shoulder holding from the impulsive act she would regret. Right in time, as she heard from the corner of her ear how the whole place became quieter for a moment.

The nearest door opened and somepony paraded along, making the loud ones turn quieter, the unruly – docile and the absent – concentrated. The quick glance told Misty that by her exclamation Flaunty meant both sister’s gust and their recent talk – still undecided about her, the girls preferred to keep their plans secret from that particular teacher.

On the positive side, her mere presence made the impudent hay-head shut up and quickly join his class. Windy followed the colt with a very long look promising revenge but some other day, then turned around in the water and smiled.

Flashing with the waterproof wristwatch, miss Singularity was striding through the school pool in her a bit old-fashioned but very open black swimsuit. The high cut thong and minimalistic bra top tightly fitted her smooth toned body; the latter easily made everypony forgive the owner any degree of old fashion. No wonder that passing by miss Singularity made students’ heads turn and eyes ogle the gracious figure, truth be told, not only colts but many fillies as well. The top seemed to hold the sumptuous bust by some magic, yet nothing ever slipped away, escaping it regardless of the hot wish of some students. The noisy colts on the far end of the pool fell silent immediately, following every move of the tall mare.

“Good afternoon, girls!” Heading to the diving tower, miss Singularity bestowed the four girls with a delicate smile. The piercing glance of the big dark eyes swept along each of them. Misty and her friends immediately caught themselves on the urge to think of something random instead of their planned trip, as if the continuation of her greeting was “And what are you plotting here?”

“Good afternoon, ma’am!” the fillies said in chorus watching the tightly braided tail and the complex cutie mark on the tanned hip.

The girls always wondered, miss Singularity was the only pony they knew with a cutie mark actually moving. Even if she was an alicorn, that was an outstanding trait. Mare’s hips were decorated by something most of all resembling a galaxy constantly swirling on the cloud of flowing void.

Moments later the tall figure appeared on the high-board of the tower; the girls raised their heads like many students present. Three precisely measured large steps and the strong legs sent the body into the air: for a fraction of a second, miss Singularity was hovering above the pool even not spreading her wings. Her freely flowing hair framed the head with the floating chocolate cloud, causing the certain scene from Canterton pool to glimpse in Misty’s mind.

Misty shook her head, dispelling the sudden impression of similarity, shocked by it a little. The long swirled horn shimmered in the sunlight coming through the high pool windows; arching in the air, the slender body graciously entered the water almost without a tiny splash: first the outstretched hands, then the rest of her. In a second, miss Singularity emerged from the pool so fast that she raised above the water nearly waist-high. Throwing back her long wet hair in one sway, their physics teacher quickly swam along the free track with the sweeping, powerful strokes, greeted by the cheerful whistles and applause of half of the students.

“Have you ever thought that she is swimming like a stallion?” asked Windy over the shoulder, watching miss Singularity crossing the pool, pushing from the edge and quickly heading the opposite way.

“Better say like a pro…” Flaunty chuckled lightly. “Well, I bet she had enough time to master many things!”

“Know what,” drawled Misty, making a pirouette in the water while watching the small black bikini top diving and emerging. “We’ll be in the high school next year. And that means we are allowed to get rid of these boring uniform swimsuits in favour of something more stylish!”

The fillies of the high school course of Pinewatch were allowed to wear more freely-fashioned swimsuits for the sport studies, while primary and middle school students were restricted to the standard uniform blue or black single-piece ones.

“Mhm… We must visit the shop to find something for this summer then,” Flaunty Mane adjusted the swimsuit on her large breasts.

“Mmmm… I have been looking at something cute already!” Lacy raised her eyes dreamily, making the rest of the girls wonder how she had time for everything, including a lingerie shop.

Windy snorted loudly. She was about to pout her lips – as always when swimwear or lingerie topic was touched; however, having a thorough look at Misty and Lacy, she suddenly felt her lips dry, licking them instead.

3.

“Awesome!” the mildly frustrated huff came out quiet but heartily, pretty audible for all Misty’s friends resting on the road shoulder. “Just when I thought that we planned everything…” Misty raised on the tiptoes and observed the surroundings as far as her eyes let her do. “Now, this is strange…” muttered she, not seeing any car in their direction or towards Canterlot, where they came from about half an hour ago.

“Yeah, normally there is more transport here on Friday noon,” sitting on her small backpack Windy Mane stretched, watching Misty walking back and forth a little. “Not today, I guess… Exactly, when some help would be quite handy. Well, that falls under Hoofry law!” chuckled the pegasus girl shaking her ginger mane – when Mother Nature designed her, she definitely forgot to add the ability to lose heart easy.

“Yet, I agree with Misty, this is way too strange!” her sister was more serious. Flaunty slowly unfolded the map with one hand, wrapping another around Lacy’s shoulders. “Let’s see…”

The earth filly nodded sleepily; Lacy Reins tiredly leaned her head on Flaunty’s shoulder, her eyes looked a bit unfocused.

“Hey, mate, you seem out of your plate!” Flaunty Mane let away the map and watched Lacy fixedly; upon a more careful look, Misty and Windy were to agree with their friend.

“I can’t help falling asleep…” Lacy pulled the knit turtle-neck collar; apparently, she misjudged the weather and was now suffering from that. “This sweater is too hot – I feel like I’m already boiling.”

“What’s the problem?” with a smile Windy glanced at Lacy from under the palm, squinting from the sunlight. “You just need to take it… Oh…” at a sudden guess, the pegasus girl stumbled and a light flush started covering her cheeks.

“Yeah, there is a certain problem!” Lacy focused on her meaningfully, then threw a glance at the bus and a small group of its passengers nearby. “I would change a while ago, if… There is a couple of shirts in my bag.”

“I can cover you…” both sisters blurted out simultaneously. “… with my…”

“…wings!” finished Windy Mane and even a brighter blush could come out genuine, if not spoiled by the sparks of anticipation in her eyes.

“Ahem…” Misty cleared her throat alternating between the girls; the unicorn filly dared to break the long minute of silence interrupted only by the chirping birds choir from the field greening at their feet. “Let’s get a bit away from the bus and we’ll help you change, Lacy…” in her turn, Misty was to admit that she barely struggled the wish to strip and lay on the grass sunbathing – the sun was overly warm for the spring afternoon.

“Back to our trouble…” the unicorn girl picked up her backpack and helped her friend back on her feet. “Look, mates, I didn’t insist on taking off shortly after classes for nothing,” she busily strolled along the road followed by the sisters supporting heated and softened Lacy. “We didn’t plan the road eating away half of the weekend. I thought we would reach Baltimare today, have some rest and get to sleep early… to reach the factory even before sunrise on Saturday. Wanted to check the maps once again, before we go in and stuff.”

“And now…” she took another look around from under her palm when the girls stopped a few dozen yards away from the bus towards the Canterlot direction.

Brightly lit by the summerly hot sun, despite it passed zenith a few hours ago, the fresh green field spread across both sides of the road as far as the eye could see. Not a single building or tree pierced the sea of grass or crops – it was hard to tell that early – only at the horizon framed by the darkening wood from the northeast and south and with sloping hills from the opposite side. The breeze smelling of dust and heated soil spread the sounds of birds choir everywhere, flooding the surroundings with lively chirping. A few small lark-like singers hovered high above the ground, fluttering their wings; the rest, less daring ones, accompanied them from the safety of vegetation.

Running through the deep blue sky, the scarce small clouds couldn’t provide any considerable shade, and even the frozen on the roadside bus couldn’t give enough, making their forced wait equally unpleasant inside and outside. Under different circumstances, Misty, as well as the other girls, would have appreciated the sun, the view, the peacefulness… Not when plans they had were about to get busted due to that unexpected stop.

Briskly running since they left Canterlot and passed the industrial outskirts, the bus jerked strangely and started to lose speed exactly when they distanced from the city suburbs and entered the seemingly endless flat cut in half by the road. The growing noise from below told the girls that the problem was serious; Misty had time to regret them not going to Baltimare by train when Lacy, almost as if reading her friend’s mind, whispered her the same idea.

The driver managed to stop the misbehaving vehicle on the road shoulder and climbed out. Unable to hear from their places, the girls still could guess his accolade towards the bus by stallion’s mimic. His partner followed shortly, carrying the tool case and joining him in front of the opened engine hatch. The bus was half occupied, providing enough free space, but when several minutes passed under the accompaniment of tingling and the puzzled voices, the passengers streamed outside one by one to stretch their legs and check out the delay reasons.

The closer look told everypony – they got stuck flat. Both drivers kept digging in the engine, dropping a curse from time to time; they already called for technical assistance from the city, but didn’t give up the idea to fix the “damned bolt-box”. Apparently, it couldn’t keep running to Baltimare either way, as Misty understood from the drivers’ talk.

“…and now all our plans are rolling into Tartarus!” concluded she throwing another glance towards the broken bus and a small crowd of passengers discussing what to undertake. Misty already intercepted a couple of stares from the colts, but thankfully none of them dared to approach the girls offering their help. Gaining too much attention was undesired. Yet Misty wasn’t sure if they succeeded, especially given the provided scene.

Windy Mane wrapped her wings around Lacy, completely shielding the latter from the curious sight, but still unable to hide how the girl pulled her sweater off over the head and hung it on Windy’s shoulder. Hiding a smile, Flaunty dug a jeans shirt from the depths of Lacy’s bag, handing it over the improvised feathery screen. All that time, her sister did her best to pull out an uninvolved mien, despite her noticeable flush; Windy almost buried her nose into Lacy’s hair, sniffing deep and making the girl twitch her fluffy ears from the tickling sensation.

“Thanks, dear. I finished!” Lacy finished buttoning her shirt and nuzzled Windy’s cheek tenderly. She was to raise on her tiptoes to reach and hold on to the pegasus girl’s arms a bit, looking still dizzy. Judging by Windy’s face, she was to breathe deeply and inwardly count to ten or maybe more to hold back her natural motion to snuggle her friend and return the nuzzle with dividends.

“So, what next?” Lacy started fixing her hair, which fluffed and ruffled a bit while changing clothes. Her firm breasts lifted the shirt, providing a very promising view, while the girl treated her braided mane musingly. Windy Mane bit her lip, observing the nearby field with exaggerated attention; Flaunty threw a laughing glance at the girls and winked to Misty.

“Well, ladies, we don’t have many options to choose from…” Misty Lagoon suppressed a smile caused by the so familiar scene; wasting her plans didn’t call for any amusement. “Only two…” She took another look across the road, wondering again nopony passed them in last twenty or about minutes: the dark band of roadbed snaked completely deserted in both sides, hiding behind the nearby hill in Canterlot direction. Confirming her growing suspicions, only undisturbed natural sounds reached the girl’s ears – if anypony was driving down that road, they were too far to be heard either. Misty shook her mane, shooing away the impression.

“First of all, we can wait for the next bus running to Baltimare and try to board it. They must go regularly enough for us not to lose much time… But…” Misty threw a meaningful glance at the herd surrounding their broken vehicle. “Judging by this run load, the next would likely appear the same. By luck, it may have a few spare seats, but we’re not alone on that trip!” the girl made a dry mien. “No way we can convince everypony we need some priority lift without revealing our goals, which I would prefer to happen the last if only.”

“Yeah!” Windy Mane smirked widely. “The next bus will stop next to that… if the driver finds it reasonable. And the whole herd rushes to occupy these scarce seats it may have – everypony has it urgent!”

“So, we have an alternative,” shrugged Misty, raising on her tiptoes again and observing the road turn persistently. “We can take some passing transport,” at these words, all the girls chuckled a bit ironically, “and return to Canterlot, taking another bus to Baltimare from the station, thus having guaranteed seats…”

“And losing time nevertheless…” added Lacy quietly.

“Exactly! That’s why I suggest doing the same but towards Baltimare to start with,” dropped Misty. Before any of her friends said anything, she added quickly. “Obviously, we need to walk towards Canterlot to catch a car first, before the rest getting the same idea. If anypony agrees to give us a lift that would be the fastest way, without our plans changing… much.”

“Will it be safe enough, that’s the question?” Flaunty looked at her friend pensively. “Especially considering that the run to Baltimare from here is way longer than to our city.”

“I thought about that,” Misty returned the glance slyly. “Of course, I’m not asking you, girls, to sit into a car of the obvious yahoo. Our bet is a single driver, visibly normal, with a transport spacious enough to fit us all yet reach the destination in one piece.”

“Come on,” she nudged the pegasus girl lightly. “The four of us are young, strong enough mares. I guess we can manage our safety in the light of the day, being fairly prudent.” Misty then sent an encouraging smile towards still pensive Lacy.

“That goes without saying, pal!” Windy exchanged glances with Flaunty and stretched a little. The girl parodied Misty, lifting on her tiptoes and observing the landscape from under the palm, drawling. “And I can see the long queue of these lucky drivers fitting our demands, Misty!”

Instead of an answer, Misty made a funny face and picked up her bag determinedly.

“Let’s move, mates!” she headed away from the immobilized bus. “Somepony must drive our way eventually!”

“Are you serious… about getting in the car of some stranger, Misty?” whispered Lacy, when she caught up with her lively pacing friend, leaving both sisters a couple of steps behind.

“Pretty much!” the good judgment could be read behind the girl’s seemingly nonchalant words. “Of course, there are wackos of different sorts, including the discrete ones…” seeing that it hardly made her friend relax, Misty hurried to add. “But we can surely tell the trouble when we see. I mean, nopony forces us to get into the obvious maniac wagon.”

She chuckled and pulled up her backpack, throwing a glance at the pegasus sisters.

“Come on, girls! I can almost see a few of our co-riders going to try the same as us,” with laughter Misty ruffled the hair, running her thin fingers through to cool down under the hot sun.

The light breeze ran past them in waves waking the green tide in the surrounding fields. The smell of motor oil was completely flushed by the one of heated grass and dry road dust. The mechanical noises and voices faded behind, so only the birds’ chirping accompanied the friends’ small talk. Slowly walking in that heat, the four girls managed to cover a quarter of a mile when the first car ran south past them. Following the appearing from behind the turn vehicle with the estimating eye, Misty shook her head lightly; however, even without that gesture, her friends realized that they were not going to test their luck.

That low, wide, black car looked utterly pretentious: one exactly of a kind when some mid-aged stallion desperately tries to look and behave as coltish as he can afford. “Personality problems of various kinds” might equally be written instead of the nameplate. The entire rear was tinted to the extreme; the bull horns on the hood looked almost laughable for that time and area. As the last straw breaking the girls’ wish to deal with the driver, his greasy glance slid across Flaunty Mane, who stretched hard, as the metal monster shot past them roaring with the straight-through muffler and raising a cloud of dust.

“Definitely, not our lift!” chuckled Misty, as Flaunty sneezed and disapprovingly huffed.

“Know what, I’d have rather played some beach volleyball with you this weekend instead of sweating here. As beach volleyball presupposes water and fun, pals!” noticed Windy; she made a face and blew raspberry over the shoulder. “Hmpf! What a jerk!” The girl unbuttoned her shirt and tied the edges into a knot under her chest, while Flaunty brushed the dust off her mane and gathered the hair into a ponytail.

“Hey, look!” Misty interrupted them suddenly; she pointed forward, where a long heavy-load truck taxied slowly from behind the hill, trembling in the veil of heated air coming from the road. Passing the sharp turn, it sped up spitting two clouds of denser exhaust from the vertical pipes behind the cabin; the deep bass roar of a well-maintained engine reached girls’ fluffy ears. “That seems to be more suitable,” Misty let out a smile.

“Can you really tell from here?” Lacy raised an eyebrow behind her round glasses.

“First of all, if the truck belongs to some respected company, its driver must be one of the most level-headed ponies we can meet on the road,” explained Misty intercepting her friends’ glances. “Some psycho wouldn’t stand a chance on that job,” giggled the girl. “If I were you, I’d have been rather afraid to be bored to death during the ride, as far as I know the truckers. We’re lucky if he is of a more communicative kind… double-lucky if he actually gives us a lift.”

“Hmmm?..” Windy Mane stared inquiringly at her unicorn friend.

“The cargo trucks usually follow the certain routes, not supposed to change them out of the blue,” elaborated Misty. “Besides, all of them are equipped with trackers nowadays. Thus it’s not even guaranteed that he stops and takes anypony.”

“Depends on the driver…” added the girl, following the approaching vehicle. “And as we see him, we can finally decide if we are fine with that ride.” With these words, Misty Lagoon walked on the inner edge of the road shoulder, outstretching her right arm and raising the thumb in the hitchhikers’ international greeting.

Truth be told, seeing the truck slowing down and taking to the right road shoulder was mildly surprising for Misty. She had no doubt that the driver noticed them, but the girl also knew that the truckers usually avoided taking any companions due to security reasons; even on long routes, going with a partner. Naturally, she didn’t expect it to turn out that easy: caught a ride and there it was.

Creaking with the gravel and letting out a huff of hydraulic brakes, the large cargo truck stopped. The girls mingled at the shoulder in confusion, so, Misty took it in her own hands, running around the truck cab; the driver already opened his door and looked at the girl with perplexity politely masked with curiosity.

“Anything I can help with, young lady?” the mid-aged stallion sounded friendly; his <…> eyes quickly sized up the unicorn filly from her boots powdered with the road dust to the tightly-packed backpack and to the attentive sight Misty replied with.

“Thanks, sir!” pulling up the backpack strap and throwing a glance at the friends cautiously peeking from behind the cab, Misty finally decided. “Yes… Well, our transport has got broken mid-road and… it doesn’t look as if it’s going to run again anytime soon.” She nodded left; following her sight, the stallion noticed the bus frozen at the roadside not far away. In the silence occasionally broken by the chirping from the field, the faint sounds of metal parts jingling reached their ears through the heated air.

“I know that it is most likely against the company rules or something,” Misty attracted his attention again. “But… we drastically need a lift to Baltimare, sir.” The light-brown eyes reverted to the girl’s face, the driver blinked.

“I wanted to take my friends from Canterlot to my birth city for the weekend… to show them the place and so on,” the girl started elaborating quickly. “We had certain plans… Eh, the main thing is we were to show up at my parents’ apartment by today’s evening. And now…” she spread her arms in an apologetic and helpless gesture. “Well, you see… we got stuck here without any bright perspective and definitely won’t arriving in time!” she let out a tiny smile watching the stallion, who bit his lip pensively, some decision getting ripe within.

“Okay! Worry no more, young lady!” he nodded in amusing seriousness, but driver’s eyes smiled. “Luckily for you, I’m on a relatively short trip to Paddoxandria; Baltimare is a bit aside of the route, but I think I can afford that.”

“Moreover,” the driver waved in a welcoming gesture towards the passenger door, “I’m going without the second driver today, so there is plenty of space even for a few passengers.”

Misty Lagoon already jerked up her bag and rushed around the cabin towards the unconfidently mingling girls nudging them towards the door opened by the stallion.

“He’s fine about the co-travellers! That’s our chance to arrive in time,” meaningfully whispered she, hurrying the fillies. “Come on, mates, get in!”

Without further hesitation, Flaunty Mane hopped on the footboard; she tossed her and sister’s bags onto the long back seat, then gave Windy a hand helping her to climb into the high truck cab. Windy pulled inside still dumbfounded Lacy with her usual large postman bag. Misty jumped and pulled herself in with both hands, entering last and accurately closing the door behind, when the pegasus sisters already settled down with all possible comfort on the back seat. She already noticed the tidiness of the truck, properly concluding that the driver treated the automobile with due respect, almost symbolic for the honoured tool of the trade.

“Thank you very much, sir! You have no idea how you’re actually saving us…” Misty turned to take a seat. The very moment the stallion picked up large binoculars from the passenger seat freeing more space for Lacy; he curled the strap around the bridge and put the whole thing into his door pocket to keep at hand.

“It may be useful to check the road ahead before you roll in,” following her glance with a smile elaborated the stallion. “You see it can be quite hard to turn the old lady around with the long trailer. By the way, you can call me Longhaul, for it is my name!” he tipped his seasoned but perfectly maintained grey wide-brimmed hat. Indeed, Misty noticed the badge, saying “Longhaul Hoofer” under smaller text with company name, on the chest of the driver’s tartan shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

“I’m Misty,” nodded the unicorn girl. “It’s been a pleasure… This is Lacy. Flaunty, Windy!” she nodded towards the sisters; Windy waved her hand with a wide smile.

“Hmmm… I heard the battleships referred to as females,” noticed Windy Mane musingly. “But cargo trucks?..”

“Well, this one has seen in her life more than some salted battleship!” with another smile, Longhaul stroked the dashboard lightly. “Believe me, she deserved.”

With that mysterious phrase, he released the brakes, revved the engine, and the huge truck slowly taxied back to the road, screeching with the shoulder gravel. Misty made a notice that the whole cabin had that feel of the owner’s accuracy and meticulousness. It wasn’t excessively decorated – like some drivers abused the common sense in favour of false individuality; it was simply clean and in perfect order instead. Everything was in its easily findable place, staying functional: the shades were simple serving their intended purpose, not decorative, the radio set told that its owner used it not only because it was “cool to do”, the maps didn’t clog the place, but were accurately folded in the driver’s door pocket, where the binoculars went. The girl noted that her eyes didn’t stumble on any noticeable junk in the cabin – the case rare for the majority of truckers. Everything told that Longhaul’s words weren’t simply… words, the stallion truly respected the vehicle he spent the lion’s share of his time in. Come to think of that, Misty remembered that the logistical company logotype wasn’t painted on the truck, it was instead pasted over the cab doors as large film stickers; Longhaul owned the truck, which got hired with its driver. The unicorn filly glanced at their driver with a different eye.

In a minute, they reached the bus, the small herd of the passengers and two drivers tiredly digging in the engine.

‘Sorry, folks, we really needed it!’ Misty Lagoon sighed inwardly, noticing a few jealous glances following their transport. Meanwhile, Longhaul reached the radio set under the dashboard. He clicked with something, already connecting with his control office and telling them to contact the Canterlot long-distance bus depot about route 250 getting broken and needing technical assistance somewhere between Canterton and Trotterton. “Nudging them once more won’t hurt,” elaborated he for the girls. “That’ll help the rest of the passengers continue the trip faster.”

“Yeah,” Misty looked at the receding bus in the mirror. “Our drivers requested the assistance, but it was a while ago… And the road seems deserted today.”

“That’s because it’s not the main highway in this direction,” chuckled Longhaul. “It’s not that well-kept, but still many use it for passing that part of the route faster.”

“Wasn’t our case today apparently…” muttered Windy from the back seat, making everypony laugh.

The truck ate mile after a mile on the hot dusty road; Longhaul closed the side windows and nothing disturbed the silence of the truck cab except the quiet rumbling of the engine and air conditioner rustling. Driver’s eyes were chained to the road ahead, alternating between the mirrors occasionally. A quick look at the speedometer told Misty that they were making a tiny bit faster than allowed on that road: Longhaul tried to compensate the unexpected route hook, or maybe he wanted to deliver the girls faster, impressed by their delay caused low spirits.

Chattering sluggishly, the girls deliberately avoided Baltimare in their talk – they didn’t want to reveal the details of their trip to a stranger, so discussing the real deal was problematic. Windy dropped off her snickers and sat cross-legged, leaning back and hiding in the shade of the cabin from the sun, which was still high now peeking in the side window from the cloudless sky. Flaunty observed the constantly changing landscape, watching their route and probably comparing it with some mental map; that made Misty smile inwardly – they could be confident about safety with such a guard.

Nodding sleepily, Lacy nested her head on Misty’s shoulder; the unicorn girl wrapped one arm around her friend’s shoulders and kept observing the roadside. They were to cover at least half the way, passing the tartan blanket of fields around Canterlot outskirts, then waves of grassy hills, more of the fields and small towns. Now the road entered the forested area, trees approaching almost the road shoulders and occasionally giving the impression of the green tunnel. Misty pensively watched the small birds fluttering along in the roadside bushes; she almost felt how the rest of the girls shared her concerns about their upcoming adventure.

“Don’t worry, young ladies, we’ll bring you to Baltimare in a reasonable time!” suddenly, as if reading their thoughts, Longhaul let out a smile. “And you’ll get plenty of sights and memories. There are several places of interest there indeed.”

“Have you been in Baltimare often?” Misty glanced at their driver.

“A few times, mostly passing by,” nodded the stallion. “The Horseshoe Bay is stunning during this time of the year, but whom am I telling that, you most likely start with it.”

“My father was born in Baltimare near the bay exactly,” Misty buried her nose in Lacy’s mane then added. “His old house is where my parents live now and the bay can be seen from there.”

“…the old Prison,” with a nod, Longhaul continued. “They opened it for the tourists again after some time-worn parts restoration…”

Windy snorted quietly from the back seat, but that didn’t put him out of countenance.

“I mean from the purely historical point of view,” chuckled Longhaul throwing a glance into the mirror. “Besides it has some peculiar architectural solutions…” Misty felt how Lacy perked one ear upon hearing the familiar term; Flaunty turned to them with pure artistic interest.

“… then there still is the old magical crystals refinery. I believe it has some… sightseeing value.”

Trying to keep her sudden concern restrained, Misty raised her eyes on Longhaul slowly, not to reveal the electrical spark which made her and the rest of the girls, including Lacy, strain at once.

“Didn’t it crumble to pieces yet?” noticed the girl casually; as much as she tried, she couldn’t notice anything not falling into the random talk pattern. That made her relax a bit.

“Don’t think so,” Longhaul shook his head. “Its ancient buildings will likely survive much longer than expected. I heard they had some problems lately, but I also heard they are still struggling.”

A long pause followed; Longhaul probably interpreted it as if the girls were still down about their almost ruined weekend because he turned to Lacy and Misty and said.

“Everything will be fine, girls. You’ve lost a couple of hours maximum, so don’t worry.”

“Never lose hope for the best! Sometimes things change and help comes, when you least expect, no matter if you think you’re having it hard,” added he with a strangely warm smile. “A fascinating story happened to me a few years ago. I can tell you if you don’t mind.”

The girls quickly nodded, partially enlightened by the talk going away from the sensitive topic.

The truck ate mile after a mile on the dusty road; leaving no discernible sign for the sight, the desert slid by, endlessly the same as far as the eye could see. The same low sandy hills, low crooked thorny bushes, occasional spots of dry grass and cactuses in a variety of forms and sizes. Opening the side window, the only smells one could catch were of heated metal of the truck and omnipresent dust. The working air conditioner increased the fuel consumption, but it was the only thing saving the driver from the long day heat. That’s why, when the dark, thick clouds started veiling the horizon and quickly spreading across the sky, the stallion had ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, the changing weather finally shielded the land from the flaming sun and the temperature began to decrease noticeably. That allowed him to lower the glass and turn the air conditioner off, thus saving the fuel, the level of which quickly approached to problematic. On the other hand, the clouds ate up most of the daylight; with the setting sun, it made another problem real – the landscape ahead looked completely unknown to him. Navigating in the approaching darkness was not only hard, it became dangerous. However, settling for the night in the middle of the desert wasn’t a smart choice either.

Especially in that area!

No matter how frustrating it was to admit, Longhaul Hoofer, the trucker with quite an experience, had lost his route. Maybe the first time for a long while, maybe even the first time in his life. Definitely the first time within such unpleasant circumstances and with such dangerous possible consequences.

Longhaul had no clear idea when he made a wrong turn or missed the right one. He was unsure if there were any sharp turns lately. The well-maintained highway slowly and insensibly turned into the older narrower road with the uneven cracked surface, then into a dirt road, before he felt something was wrong.

With annoyance slowly painting into light panic, he drove forward for a couple of hours on the straight as an arrow path, thankfully still clearly discernible from the desert around. All that time, he couldn’t notice any spot for turning the long cargo truck around to try returning to the place things went wrong. Performing a U-turn on the narrow road with the uneven sandy shoulders was dangerous: the long heavy trailer wouldn’t allow doing that safely. Needless to say, turning into the desert in an attempt to get back on the highway wasn’t an option. Turning over the trailer would become fatal not only for the cargo Longhaul was concerned about but for the stallion’s own life.

Peering into the road ahead, Longhaul was to admit – he couldn’t recognize the surroundings; he had a map but could hardly position himself on it at that moment. Strangely the tracking system couldn’t catch the signal for a while.

The worst thing was that his route went along the south border of Equestria. And every self-respecting pony knew what that meant. Even despite the armed conflicts were long history, the relations with the Changelings Kingdom were still strained to say the least; small gangs of changelings were common along the southern border. The scoundrels didn’t find guts to attack cities and towns, well-protected farms of Appleloosa and transport on the federal roads, but lost travellers, vehicles amidst the desert and smaller settlements often became the prey, the bug-asses felt their duty of honour to bite on. Coming across a few of them here would definitely mean saying goodbye to the goods he transported. In case of extreme misfortune, they could even damage his truck; not saying it would be as if they hurt Longhaul himself, depending on the severity it could easily turn out deadly for the stallion.

The uneasy feeling grew with the clouds covering the entire sky and darkness quickly falling around. A couple of miles more and the truck rolled into the night. Longhaul was to slow down a bit to keep safe in the low visibility conditions, but occasionally it seemed that they weren’t moving at all in the dark dusty haze. The bright headlights cut the darkness and lit the endless road ahead, sometimes it felt as if the truck was standing still and the desert flew under the wheels like some crazy treadmill. Longhaul shook his head to dispel the illusion; he was to stay sharp to reach his destination no matter what. Truth be told the last hour panic became almost a palpable companion in this ride across the dark unknown land under the cloudy starless sky. He started to think that he wasn’t diligent enough in his usual prayer to the Higher Powers of Equestria, asking for guidance and protection during the journey.

After a while, Longhaul started to think that he entered the highway directly to Tartarus; the gas needle trembled dangerously close to “E”, when he fancied some light in the void, spreading where the truck headlights were unable to penetrate.

The spark of light lied too low to be an occasional star peeking through the cloudy blanket and with the new hope Longhaul stomped harder on the gas pedal. Every sign of civilization, except some changelings’ camp (however, Longhaul was sure that he was still on the equestrian side of the border), seemed a better variant than spending the night amidst the desert. Besides, with the temperature falling even lower, almost without gasoline, the trucker didn’t have any feasible choice.

To Longhaul’s sheer bewilderment, the approaching light source turned into the small gas station accompanied by seemingly a workshop; Longhaul couldn’t tell in the shadows. A well-lit truck parking made him stumble at the inscrutability of the happening. Still not entirely believing his eyes, the stallion stopped his car at the nearest dispenser. The ajar door let in so common and familiar smell of motor oil and something thin ephemeral, Longhaul couldn’t easily tell.

The night shrouded everything behind the borderline of the lit area: in the middle of it, Longhaul couldn’t make out a thing behind the line where the light gave up to the darkness. However, that place had electricity, light and the dispensers were operational as far as he could judge. Putting on a jacket – the nights were quite cold in the desert, Longhaul climbed out of the truck cab. There was nopony around, from his position Longhaul could easily observe the whole illuminated space; his truck seemingly was the only vehicle present, but before taking a look around the stallion locked the truck. Just in case!

The first and probably only living soul he came across sat above the large thick book behind the brightly lit checkout window. She probably sat that way for quite a while: the young dark blue unicorn mare almost nodded sleepily over the pages. She supported her forehead with the hand and even darker hair flowed between her fingers streaming from under the large stetson hat, down her shoulders and the flannel checkered shirt with rolled-up sleeves.

Trying his best not to startle her, Longhaul cleared the throat carefully. One night-coloured velvet ear perked turning to him.

“Ahem… Good… night, miss!”

The girl raised her eyes on Longhaul, deep, even darker than the rest of her colours; it seemed the whole galaxies of stars floated into them. The stallion felt as if an electric discharge ran through him, but at the same time, the feeling of warmth and safety enveloped him for the first time since he lost his route in the desert.

“Good night, mister Hoofer! What can I help you with?” her nose twitched funnily and the light blue lips curled in a smile revealing perfect teeth.

“I’m almost out of gas, miss. And… as shameful as it sounds, I lost my way through that desert… Eh! How do you…” stumbling mid-phrase the thunderstruck trucker stared at the unicorn girl.

“It’s written on your badge, mister Longhaul Hoofer, isn’t it?” letting out silvery laughter, she smiled even wider. “So?..”

“Well… I mean… Yes, it is, but…” Longhaul felt entirely lost at the moment, but not in the desert per se. “Ehhh…”

“Okay! First – the gasoline,” mercifully giggled the young mare, “then we’ll try to determine your position in time and space.” The bookmarked and closed book said something physics-related on its cover as Longhaul could catch.

“I’m combining work and studies,” with a smile the mare followed his glance. “How much do you need?”

Telling the volume and paying, Longhaul watched the short precise movements of her long delicate fingers like enthralled.

‘Where from such a filly can appear here, in the middle of nopony-knows-where?’ spun in his head chaotically. ‘Where from and how?’

“Is it safe enough to stay night shifts here alone?”

“Oh, believe me, it is,” the unicorn girl chuckled silvery again. “It’s relatively calm here, the city isn’t that far and that booth…” she raised one brow meaningfully. “That booth needs a tank to run it over.”

“Still… the border is near and the changelings…”

“I’m alone here for a few hours only, the mechanic comes early in the morning,” elaborated the girl. “Besides, the police patrols the road to the nearest city from time to time. But, thanks for your concern, mister Hoofer!”

Longhaul slowly shook his head with visible doubt.

“Well…” the mare pulled him out of the thoughts.

“The gas!” reminded the unicorn beauty, when the stallion glanced up at her. She looked at him with the friendliest expression possible, one eyebrow lifted slightly.

Showing the dispenser into the neck of the gas tank and feeling his ears still flushing, Longhaul picked the map from the door pocket. He unfolded it under the lamp at the checkout window, when he heard a click behind the small building.

The crackling gravel told him that the girl left her post; in a moment, she showed up from the corner, revealing her lower part presented by shapely hips in tight-fit jeans and high leather boots. The latter appeared a smart choice in the place where rattlesnakes were common.

“So,” the girl peeked into the map over Longhaul’s shoulder. Studying it for a moment, she poked the delicate finger with the light blue nail into the Y-shape crossroads Longhaul suspected the least. “Here we are exactly!”

“Almost at the border…” drawled Longhaul, feeling his skin crawling under the shirt and warm jacket. “I was going that way for about three hours!” he waved, showing the direction.

“Five miles more and you would have crossed the border, mister Hoofer,” this time her silvery voice was meaningfully serious; the bottomless eyes glanced, telling the possible outcome wordlessly. “Not to mention that the road becomes dangerous, way worse than here.”

“There is another road behind the station,” the girl touched his shoulder lightly, gaining Longhaul’s attention and pointing the way for him. “Ten more miles on it and you shall reach Los Pinatos. There you can continue your route entirely safe.”

“Sorry?..” Longhaul emerged from his thoughts and blinked. A moment before he raised his eyes to the sky and froze that way for a while. As if by some magical effort, the storm clouds passed, the receding stripe of thunderstorm front headed north; rare bolts of lightning ripped the sky in the distance – the thunder barely reached Longhaul’s ears. Where they were, the sky cleared and turned into the deep black velvet encrusted with myriads of diamonds and one large opal – the moon on star-woven skies. The girl’s voice made him finally close his mouth and return to the mortal land.

“Ten miles northeast from here,” she waved her hand, dousing him with faint lavender aroma, “and you’ll reach Los Pinatos…”

“Oh… Yeah…” Longhaul blinked several times more as if waking up. “Thank you, miss!”

“Not a problem!” smiled the night-coloured girl. “If you need anything more, I shall be where expected.”

With a long puzzled look, Longhaul watched her returning to the booth with her graceful confident gait, then headed back to his truck cabin. After a short estimation, he decided to spend the darkest night hours in the harmony-given safety and parked the truck under the bright lamp on the small parking lot. Leaning back on the driver seat and almost dozing off, he smiled, seeing the lit window and the dark-haired silhouette over the book again.

The morning met him with the dense fog. Apparently, some rain still fell at their place at night, the temperature fell even lower and the mist was clinging to the cabin glass condensing and rolling down in large droplets. Longhaul woke quite early; the sun didn’t yet show up from the horizon and twilight covered the surroundings, making the foggy landscape even more surreal. For a moment the trucker tried to recognize where he was, remembering the recent events which started seeming a part of some weird dream.

The opened door told him that everything last night was real: the long sheets of fog swirled between fuel dispensers and roof-supporting columns, fruitlessly trying to reach the metal wetly glistening frame. Lamps were still on, throwing long thin rays of light in the humid air and floating like jellyfishes on the ends of their mist-flooded posts. Cringing from the morning chillness, Longhaul pulled on his jacket and climbed out of the truck cab to take a better look at the suggested road.

He walked around the locked booth, automatically noting for himself the shuttered but still lit window; the mental image of the unicorn girl studying till late night then falling asleep using the free hours made Longhaul smile. The road was indeed behind the buildings, old and weather-beaten, almost the dirt road. The stallion thought that if not being told about it, he could easily miss the road, simply passing by.

Another strange thing was the transport or better say lack thereof: Longhaul couldn’t see any car behind the station, his truck was the only one on the parking.

‘How did she come to work? And more importantly, how will she return home?’

Some tingling noise reached his ears coming from the workshop; the mechanic arriving at his daily duty was the natural guess. However, Longhaul decided to check and headed back to the entrance. The workshop doors appeared open, he probably simply missed that earlier; behind the black spot of a car, somepony moved the tools and parts on the racks putting them in order.

‘Perhaps they use the same car…’ beamed in Longhaul’s head.

“Hello!” he called just in case.

The dark silhouette turned around and waved to Longhaul, in the hangar twilight he could see only the general contours in the coveralls. Everything looked fine.

“Ermmm… I’m leaving,” before the mechanic interested what was needed, Longhaul explained. “Already out of my schedule, so… Could you please… thank the refueller lady for me?”

The mechanic nodded, flashing with a bright smile and waved once more a goodbye.

Starting the engine, Longhaul quietly taxied from the gas station not to disturb the locals at such an early hour; the girl could have a deserved rest – it didn’t look that there were frequent guests at that place.

Mile after mile, but he was still driving through the desert, covering more than ten miles already. Longhaul had no idea what to think about all that: maybe he heard her wrong, or maybe the girl made a mistake telling him the distance. Nevertheless, he kept driving the shown way, trying to stay optimistic. The filled gas tank contributed to that feeling a lot.

The road, however, became better and better pronounced, when with crackling, his truck crossed the gravel stripe, passing the edge of ongoing road construction. The tires hummed evenly on the freshly laid asphalt, a few road signs fled by as the cargo truck sped up guided by the suddenly smiling stallion. It was about 40 miles from that gas station, according to the speedometer, when some city showed up ahead. The road turned into a properly maintained highway long before that moment…

“…your storytelling. Come on, Longhaul!” chuckled one of the stallions. “I’m not the first year on the road either and know the region well enough.”

Except for Longhaul, there were a few truckers in company uniform and a dispatcher in the driving control office. The stallions chuckled, exchanging glances and even the old dispatcher hid a smile.

“What I mean, there is no gas station in the area you’re most likely talking about,” continued the talking driver. “As far as I know there is nothing at all, except cactuses and sand… And… it needs quite a strange mass of cactuses to mistake for a gas station… let alone for a pretty refueller girl!” he winked, causing another burst of laughter among the truckers.

“No offence, Longhaul!” another driver patted him on the shoulder. “We know you long enough – you talk no shit usually. But the whole thing seems… strange. Where, you say, was that station exactly?”

“Okay, laugh as you wish,” Longhaul jokingly gloomed. “But I know what I saw with my own eyes. Wait!” he rushed to the cabinet with maps, picking one and returning with it to the large table.

“Let’s see…” drawled he unrolling the large map and leaning over it. “South-west from Los Pinatos,” recalling the city he finished his adventure in, muttered Longhaul, “about fifty miles. Ah, there it is!” he pointed the finger at the Y-shaped crossroads.

“Hmmm…” the stallions leaned closer, examining the map, then one of them raised his eyes at Longhaul. “That doesn’t change the fact that there is nothing at that crossroads, except the crossroads itself.”

Longhaul blinked, staring at the map – the crossroads he pointed at was indeed empty, no infrastructure objects present; then he shifted the sight a bit lower and froze.

“One thing certain,” meanwhile, the fellow trucker continued. “You are very lucky, mate! That crossroads was made to leave the old road towards Badlands, they finished bringing it in order not long ago. The old one can be safely named ruined, a bit further… and if you kept driving it at night, you’d have been officially screwed! Falling right into changelings’ claws or crashing on that wreck of a road instantly.”

Suddenly Longhaul felt simultaneously hot and cold: sweat came out on the back while he kept examining the area on the map; Longhaul automatically began to pull off his jacket. It hooked on something and didn’t want to come off. Struggling with the frustrating obstacle, Longhaul stared down at the caught by the jacket seam name badge on his shirt chest.

“So… You want to say that the gas station somehow appeared where nothing was before and nothing stayed after…” Misty Lagoon kept biting her lip musingly. “Mister Hoofer?”

The cargo truck stopped at the highway pocket, so Longhaul could drop the girls delivering them right to the outskirts of Baltimare as promised. A narrow street of cottages hiding in the foliage of the gardens went below parallel to the main road and a bus stop could be seen from their spot. One would need to go down the highway shoulder using the specifically built stairs, cross the grassy buffer zone and made a few yards along the street. The landscape ran downhill from the road turn, revealing the gradually increasing number of storeys architecture on the left towards the city centre and the deciduous forest waving its branches in the soft evening breeze on the right. Shining its smooth blue lens in the light of setting sun, the Horseshoe bay lay far ahead, behind the green mass, separated from it by the narrower stripe of inhabited area. Rare roofs shimmered there between the trees.

“… or the unicorn girl there was…” Misty wanted to clarify everything, as usual. She and Lacy checked the seat, ensuring that they left nothing.

“I may build assumptions, many of them, or may not,” Longhaul let out a smile. “But that doesn’t change the general sense of the story. Fact is – I have more than one piece of evidence that help comes to those who need it and hope. And… she did know my name before anything or anypony had time to tell her!” he glanced at the girls meaningfully.

“Maybe you are right, mister Hoofer!” chuckled Windy Mane, picking her backpack and jumping out of the cab. “Anyway, let’s hope everypony succeeds in their endeavours.” She lent her hand to the sister, helping her get outside.

“Thank you very much, sir!” the girls waved Longhaul goodbye and started accurately descending the steep narrow stairs. The truck was still standing in the highway pocket when they walked in the shade of lindens towards the bus stop down the street.

“What do you think?” Flaunty Mane looked over her shoulder, even if she couldn’t see the road through the trees.

“I don’t know,” Misty shook her head slowly. “It seems he truly believes in that story…”

“Truth or lie, it brings no advantage to anypony, definitely not to mister Hoofer,” Lacy Reins noticed, adjusting her glasses. “So it may easily be the truth.”

“Hey, a bus!” Misty perked up, throwing a glance at the route board. “This will bring us where we need. Come on!” She pulled the girls towards the opening doors.

The cargo truck didn’t hurry away indeed. Digging in the door pocket for a second, Longhaul fished out the binoculars and watched the four friends walking down the street, boarding the city bus and departing. His eyes followed the bus cruising the narrow suburban streets, while it was possible, then took out a phone and dialled a number.

“Yes. On their way,” Reported he after some question from another end of the line. “Their bus got broken, so I was to give them a lift as planned to back up their… mission.”

“…”

“No. They seem overly inspired by their plans rather!” he let out a smile, invisible but audible for his collocutor.

“They have quite a nice cover if I may judge,” the stallion scratched his nose. “Doing fine so far.”

“…”

“Anything else?” after an answer, Longhaul nodded, starting the engine finally. “Well. I’m on my own route from that moment. Good luck, boss!”

4.

Under the warm soothing streams, Misty felt how the strain and anxiety of that day’s journey finally started to release her, little by little washed off by the water. Lifting her face, she let it run freely down her horn, closed eyes, down her cheeks; her thoughts were slowly coming to order. They had a long weekend ahead and nopony could predict what they would come across in their search. But the tranquillity of the moment at least allowed her to relax at the feeling that everything was fine, everypony safe, the first step of their mission succeeded despite the obstacle.

Not entirely unpredicted, yet that didn’t make that less unpleasant, the city bus trudged as if a bunch of snails harnessed to it. After the conditioned truck cab it felt hot like an oven; the girls realized their luck of coming to Baltimare long after the midday – at least they didn’t risk being fried in the local transport. Misty understood that the speed was dictated by safety on the narrow suburban streets, yet the red metal sausage rolled so slow occasionally it almost looked as if they were standing on one spot. Thankfully the bus was almost empty at the outskirts at that hour, so the friends could occupy the desired places: all next to each other and, considering the general direction of their route, mostly staying at the shaded side of the salon.

Leaving the suburb, their transport headed towards the centre; that made the overall road a bit longer than if they travelled directly to the bay area, but at least the speed seemed progressively increasing as the streets became wider. More ponies boarded the bus; still, it was far from being full, allowing the girls to speak freely if necessary. However, nopony hurried to express their thoughts – their endeavour had too many unknowns yet; they were to see the place with their own eyes first. Instead, Misty was to take the role of spontaneous tour guide for the rest of the girls, when they reached the old part of the city with monuments, museums and simply architectural sights of historical value. Tiredly commenting on the objects they were passing at the moment, she briefly introduced her friends to her native city. They could even have a short view of the old prison when the bus turned away from the centre and the gray stern buildings clinging to the small island glimpsed at the end of a very straight long street reaching the Horseshoe bay.

The landscape finally went uphill, becoming greener again with the houses standing further between, hiding in the foliage of large gardens – that was another private property area, but much older than one they first came to. With a hydraulic huff of the brakes, their bus arrived at the next stop, their destination as Misty signalled the girls on exit. Almost in time as all four felt a bit broiled up already. A short walk up the street along the whitened brick walls of neighbourhood gardens, and Misty guided them to the narrow side gate, on the shady path between the old trees whispering in the starting breeze, then to the large old house in the depth of the orchard.

“Welcome to my parents’ house, my birthplace…” opening the large double doors, Misty smiled and added to thinner the sudden officiousness. “It’s empty at the moment, so we won’t disturb anypony.”

“Finally! The shade! The freshness!” exhaled her friends in unison. “The shower!” added Lacy Reins with almost palpable hope.

No wonder that right after being shown the way, the girls raced to the bathroom, throwing off clothes on the run. Misty didn’t fall behind much, spending a moment to grab everything in one heap on her way; friends’ laughter and rushed footsteps on the upper floor brought a smile on her face. That room choice wasn’t random: the guest rooms were unprepared for such a spontaneous visit – Misty’s parents were in one of their lengthy expeditions and the house stood empty for a while, so their large bedroom was the only one in decent order and having a bed large enough to fit all four girls at the same time.

Dropping the clothes into the armchair, Misty quickly added her own to the pile. That turned out a smart decision: as soon as the filly approached the bathroom, the door opened, two pairs of hands emerged from the water mist and quickly pulled her inside, right under the water streams, making Misty shortly squeak from surprise.

Heat and fatigue were forgotten at once; the girls started splashing and tickling, making the large bathroom echo with laughter and falling water. The foalish tickling turned into tender cuddling very fast: the four girls began tangling passionately under the water streams.

‘Mmm…’ with eyes still closed, Misty recalled the sensation, finding it exciting and relaxing at the same time. Moving from carefree fun to a more practical approach, they started soaping each other with all possible diligence and care. Girls’ hands kept being curious, examining and gently treating each curve and sensitive spot. Wrapped around by Windy’s strong caressing arms Lacy bit her lip; with half-lidded eyes, she enjoyed the kisses lavished by her pegasus friend to the back of the girl’s ears and neck. Faster than Misty’s eyes could notice, she found herself cuddled from behind by Flaunty, feeling the girl’s hot palms squeezing her hips, tenderly running over her navel and higher, finally rubbing and massaging Misty’s shoulders and breasts. Her hardening nipples got caught and lightly squeezed between Flaunty’s fingers, while the pegasus girl playfully bit the tip of Misty’s ear, making her arch back and lean closer to Flaunty with a moan of pleasure.

In a moment, both Misty and Lacy found themselves pressed closely together, so the pegasus sisters could even reach each other while caressing the girls all over. Lacy’s large widened eyes behind the slightly misted glasses appeared inches from Misty’s face. Without the second thought, Misty’s arms wrapped around Lacy bringing her even closer; girls’ expectantly opened lips met in a sweet kiss.

‘More! I want more! …to last forever…’ screamed Misty’s mind as she kept catching and lustfully sucking on Lacy’s tongue teasingly sneaking into her mouth. With both hands on Lacy’s and Flaunty’s butts, Misty pressed both girls closer to herself, wriggling and rubbing on their amazing slippery bodies. The touch of Windy’s silky heated pussy on the back of her palm send another electric spark of pleasure through the unicorn girl.

“Ahhhh!” Misty even muffled herself; the sensation was sharp enough for Misty to wake from the fresh memory. For a moment, she stood leaning one hand on the bathroom wall, breathing heavily and pressing her thighs together to prevent another hot wave from flaming there and flooding her again. With a giggle she looked over the shoulder: the rest of the girls headed to try the bed and she didn’t want to wake her tired friends.

The room was submerged in golden twilight, the light of the setting somewhere behind the house sun spread around, reflected in the distant bay waters and softly flooded everything: the garden, the house, the room through the open window. Accurately closing the bathroom door shut, Misty quietly approached the framed by the curtains picture in green, blue, golden and pink. Before finally leaving for the night, the sun was playing with waves, making them shimmer like myriads of small diamonds on the rippled azure tablecloth. Far away, almost on the horizon, some ship slowly approached the bay with tiny white and coloured triangles of sails of the late yachts.

Inhaling the floral aroma brought by the passing breeze from their garden, Misty couldn’t hold back a smile; each time watching the bay like that she felt her closeness with mom and dad extremely strong. The flesh of flesh! No matter if they were close or far away in one of their constant journeys. With that smile the girl listened to nightingale warble reaching the room from the shadows of the garden; the nocturnal singer greeted the upcoming night already.

“M-misty…”

The sleepy voice pulled the unicorn filly from her peaceful thoughts, making Misty look back. Squinting – her glasses remained on the nightstand next to the large bed – Lacy Rains raised on one elbow from Windy’s loving cuddle and stared at her friend. Her eyes widened and bright lips opened slightly; Lacy watched with unhidden admiration. Reaching the curtains, Misty’s delicately chiselled naked silhouette was framed in the reflected sunlight, small water drops shone on the neck, firm breasts, silky hips. Glancing over her shoulder, the girl noticed Lacy beaconing her sleepily. With another smile Misty whisked to the bed, slipping between sleeping Flaunty and Lacy, catching her hand tenderly.

‘Let’s rest! Tomorrow will be another day… hard or not, who knows…’ Misty planted a tender kiss on Lacy’s nose and reclined on Flaunty’s warm shoulder, sinking in the girl’s long soft hair and feeling how the pegasus filly nuzzled Misty behind the ear. The girls’ hands slid on her skin, stroking and cuddling her tenderly; their legs tangled with Misty’s to feel and keep her presence. In a minute, all four drifted into a deep sleep.

5.

“Here we are,” whispered Windy Mane leaning closer to Misty’s ear. “What next?”

Blurry in the early morning twilight, but easily distinguishable the magical crystals refinery territory lay ahead, observed by the girls through the thick fresh foliage. The four friends were hiding in some sprawling bushes on the top of the forested gentle hill above the factory; keeping quiet they could be sure that their position was undiscoverable in the morning fog even if the factory security was really good.

“Let’s say, I’m as farsighted as mister Hoofer!” with these words, Misty dug in her backpack fishing out small, but powerful binoculars. “First of all we’ll keep low and watch for a while what’s going on there,” she carefully spread the leaves making a fitting gap and clung to the eyepiece.

The horizon across the factory and the bay was getting lighter slowly, but the sun didn’t yet show up in the sky. Misty woke up her friends before the crack of dawn – the girls were to reach the site on foot lightly, preferably finishing their march before the daylight fell. She properly assumed that the later they were found by whoever runs the factory, the more they could find out thus the easier they could probably negotiate their investigation if necessary. Thanks to Misty spending her entire free time of the remaining days before the trip in the library, studying the maps and everything else she could find about the plant, they managed to get there as planned, not even getting lost. Even if that feeling had visited Lacy at least once on their way through the dense forest.

The first humble rays of light started touching the treetops brushed by the breeze from the bay; however, dense twilight reigned under the forest roof. That side of the hill was covered rather by some undergrowth, the bigger trees reached only the hilltop; long sheets of fog swirled between trunks and branches behind girls’ backs. At the foot of the hill, cut specifically to protect the old stone wall from forest humidity, a several yards wide stripe of bare ground separated the factory territory from the nearest vegetation. Closer to the girls, behind the wall, two buildings were visible despite the slowly spreading and flowing mist. One of them was of the modern construction, while another looked ancient enough: differing in architecture, made of the dark red bricks, it was probably one of the oldest blocks of the factory. With a silent gesture, Misty directed her friends’ attention towards it.

“This is our goal, I’ve read that the problems with equipment happened in the old building,” whispered Misty, as the sounds spread far and loudly in the foggy morning air, especially in that silent hour before sunrise disturbed by the earliest birds only.

“Isn’t it the perfect time to go?” Windy Mane squinted at the brightening up horizon. “If we go down when the sun rises, we’ll be in full view here…”

“Don’t hurry!” Misty shook her head slowly. “I need to see if anypony is moving around the territory. Despite the early hour and supposed troubles with personnel, taking their situation seriously, they still must have some security.”

“We need to know the intervals at least, right?” guessed Lacy Reins, taking the binoculars in her turn; Misty silently nodded. “And the routes as well.”

“One thing still spinning in my head…” muttered Flaunty Mane, taking the binoculars in her turn. “Technically a breach is a breach. Not that I’m trying to convince you not to do that,” she let out a tiny smile. “Besides, while we’re outside it’s still not… Hey,” she pointed to the southern corner of the older building, “there is an opened window at the top level. That’s our way in… if we decide to make that final step.”

“Kinda strange for those forcedly concerned about the security by the situation,” with a wry grin, the girl passed her the binoculars. “Considering that one-third of the populace can fly and another third can use magic.”

“Shhhh…” jokingly huffed Misty. “Don’t scare away our luck, mate!”

The binoculars made a couple of cycles in the girls’ hands before something actually started moving behind the stone wall. Misty nudged her friends silently, calling for their attention: two narrow light cones flashed under the stone wall, fighting the twilight and morning fog with varied success. The beams swept the narrow space between the factory blocks and fence, occasionally brushing the building walls with large windows and swaying in the foggy air as the supposed guards walked along. They passed the new building, then the old one, monitoring the situation but somehow casually, then disappeared behind the corner.

“Let’s see…” Misty checked the wristwatch.

In the strained silence the girls perked their ears as if they could hear anything going on behind the stone wall on such distance. Nothing, except birds chirping in the forest behind and the importunate thin whining of the mosquitoes in the shrubs above their heads. Everypony thanked mentally Misty, who insisted on taking some bug-repelling spray with them; hopefully, its scent wouldn’t wake any suspicions in the possible guards.

It took the two spots of artificial light about nine minutes to reappear from the opposite side of the blocks, yet Flaunty insisted that they waited for one round more to be sure they would have enough time to get inside unnoticed.

“Nice, I can’t hear or see any dogs, they could be a real problem!” Lacy’s perked ears twitched slightly.

“They probably didn’t want to attract too much attention to the extended security,” uttered Flaunty, taking a moment to listen more carefully as well. “The dogs could notify the potential trespasser too early about their presence. And the factory owner seems to be interested in revealing the reasons for his trouble, not simply shooing somepony away. Or, maybe, they couldn’t put enough effort into that,” added she, brushing through her mane.

“They have this instead!” Windy Mane waved for girls’ attention, pointing at the far corner of the factory wall when the binoculars appeared in her hands again. Dimly shining with its red eye in the shadows, the surveillance camera stared at the open stripe of ground along the wall. “There may be more on the fence…”

“Thankfully, I see none of them on the buildings,” the binoculars quickly brushed along the dark silhouettes of the blocks; Windy smirked. “What a lapse of them… Anyway, we’ll need to soar high right from under the foliage and cross the wall above the camera’s view. That’s if we plan to use that window up there!”

In the following silence, the girls waited tensely, listening to the intensifying birds’ chirping in the forest behind. To their luck, there were no feathered chatter-boxes on the hillside the girls occupied; they could move freely not risking to startle a flock and reveal themselves.

“Fine. They take about nine-ten minutes to round this area,” muttered Misty, when two flashlights hid behind the right corner for the third time. “That gives us eight minutes to clear the view! In the worst case, we’ll make two attempts…”

“I spotted a small ravine there,” Windy pulled her by the sleeve, nodding right. “Let’s get down there. Better than rolling down the flat hill in full view. Come on, follow me!”

The sunlight painted the treetops yellow already, slowly flowing down the leaves, branches and trunks; there was no time to waste if they wanted to use the natural advantage. One by one, crouching down in the thick bushes, the girls rushed right along the hillside, towards a shallow ravine there. Then down with the flowing fog, tacking between the shrubs and trying their best not to get caught by the twigs or rustle too loud.

“Now, wait here!” Windy waved them to stop in the last thicket before the open ground; the girl took another attentive look along the wall to ensure there were no other cameras nearby and that one wasn’t panning. “I’ll go first, check that window and look if it can be opened a bit more quietly. Then we’ll try to get through in one go. Okay?”

“You have six minutes for everything!” checking her wristwatch, Misty nodded shortly.

Without another word Windy rushed up vertically, piercing the mist blanket outside of camera view; the fog was especially thick here on the low ground, but the top of the factory wall and the buildings themselves were visible. The latter towered above the girls as if floating on the waves of flowing fog, making the fillies involuntarily think how huge the buildings looked in the close view. The red head flashed high above at the ajar window of the old block; the girls were to lift their heads watching their friend carefully trying the frame, not to wake any sound or screech from it.

To the common relief, the massive window gave up under Windy’s effort and slowly opened wider, staying almost unnoticeable from the ground. Or at least the girls wanted to believe that. In a few seconds, their pegasus friend landed between them quietly and pressed her finger to the lips. The “plotters” got low listening.

Right in time: muffled by the few yards of fog-filled distance and the old stone wall, two voices reached their ears. The girls couldn’t make out the exact words, but they perfectly heard two stallions slowly passing behind the fence. One of the voices sounded more drearily as if its owner was long frustrated by the night vigil, dampness and cool air. Another hummed something completely unintelligibly; the flashlight drew an arc above the fence, sweeping along the building wall. The four girls held their breath, but thankfully nopony paid attention to the window under the very roof. The footsteps crunched by, turning behind the corner.

“Quick!” Windy Mane already got up ready for the action. “Sis, get Misty and fly up as I did before. You’ll have enough space to get right through the opening, but be careful – there is some catwalk right under. Go further and land between the machinery,” explained she. “We’re right behind you.”

Next moment Misty felt warm arms wrapping around her. Flying was causing ambivalent feelings in her still, being somewhat a thrilling experience, yet a matter of curiosity. After the Canterton case, the girl tried to practice levitation several times basing on her magical skills; with a varied degree of success obviously. Her best result was raising about a yard above her bed while sitting cross-legged: the bewilderment was so strong, Misty could hold a few seconds. Right till the moment when watching her Fran stretched quite promisingly – with the distraction so strong, Misty flailed her arms in the air and dropped on the bed the next second, causing both girls to laugh.

No wonder that at the same time she enjoyed the feeling and the panorama opening below from the bird’s eye view, yet preferred to do that snuggling closely to Flaunty and hiding her nose in her friend’s silky mane, merely peeking outside. Misty’s heart habitually jumped, as she was suddenly pulled from the damp foliage, making the fog jerk up in stripes and swirls following girls’ tangled legs. The shrubs remained small on the ground; in a wink and a held breath the stripe of the bare ground, the old stone wall with its moss and drops-covered rocks and the narrow space of the factory yard at the foot of the blocks flew by under girls’ feet. Misty had time to notice the attempt to whitewash the inner side of the wall; the damp and greenish spots already tried to regain the space.

Flaunty did her best to pull them with slow wide powerful flaps, so the girls entered the half-opened window almost silently. As Windy said, there were some railings under the window inside, thus the pegasus filly slid further, above the shadowy silhouettes of machinery darkening below, until the stripe of lighter floor showed up in the aisle between two parts of the conveyor line. Minding all possible precautions not to knock down anything, the girls landed. Half-heartedly, Misty left Flaunty’s embrace slowly, suppressing the strong wish to cuddle for a while more inhaling the scent of the pegasus girl’s hair.

Flaunty Mane hid the tiny smile; taking out the flashlights, the girls pointed them at the floor and took the first look around. The machines formed a narrow passage turning behind the corner of the line at the nearest end, where the building wall towered and dissolved in the height, and vanishing in the darkness, running into the depths of the production hall, where their flashlights couldn’t dispel the dense void. With the sudden revelation of the building being huge, Misty glanced up: narrow catwalks with railings crossed the space on two levels above the machine lines; a couple of load cranes peeped through the twilight under the roof.

In a second, Windy and Lacy joined them, silently landing on the floor nearby. Their cuddle was visibly loving rather than simply practical, making Misty and Flaunty exchange smiling looks. Remembering about the window, Misty made a small effort: the golden aura grabbed the corner of the frame returning it to the initial barely ajar state. Not closing completely, as it was their the only at the moment known way for an urgent retreat.

“Hmmm… The machinery looks… nowhere near prehistoric to me,” drawled Lacy taking a look around while still holding cutely on Windy’s shoulders. “Rather modern and… yes, it looks new.”

“Yet, unused for quite a long while,” quietly chuckled Flaunty. She wiped her hands, having accidentally touched some machine surface. “Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust already. Be careful what you touch, girls.”

“Be careful what you touch anyway,” meaningfully noticed Misty. “At least while we don’t know what we are dealing with…” She realized that the scents tickling her nose were of metal, oil and paint indeed, but the one of dry dust overtook everything. It… and something faint, bitter, floating on the far borderline of Misty’s smell, so she couldn’t tell if there was something really, nor if she recognized it yet. “It smells like they renovated everything important here, but somehow stopped using it some time ago. I wonder why… but I read that the accidents mostly took place in the old block exactly.”

“Let’s have a look then!” Meanwhile Windy listened up to something from outside, perking her fluffy ears and turning her head following the sound source. Ensuring that the casual guards passed successfully, she added in half-voice. “Careful with the flashlights. Shine only on what you’re examining, pals… And don’t raise the lights or shine on the windows! We don’t want to get caught by these hay-heads.”

“It seems they don’t have enough ponies to cover the entire territory, which is huge, properly,” smirked the red-haired filly, looking around hands akimbo. “Which made me think of… And… Yes, Misty…”

Suddenly Misty felt that the eyes of all of her friends were chained to her inquiringly.

“Can you feel anything, Misty?” quietly asked the girls almost in unison.

Flushing in embarrassment – Misty was far from fully mastering yet alone boasting her newly accepted psychic abilities – the unicorn girl listened to herself, to the slowly dissolving darkness and machinery around.

“No…” exhaled she after a while. “Nothing yet. At least not here…”

“But it’s not like in Canterton,” almost whispered Misty, blushing again. “Where energies were so strong, it almost screamed of some presence. Not to neigh that I’m far from being a pro…” she fell silent confusedly.

“Nonsense!” quietly huffed Windy Mane; she patted Misty on the back lightly. “You are who you are, mate. Don’t diminish your values! I mean the place is huge – we may still find something.”

“Besides, we planned to find out the truth if possible, regardless of it being of supernatural or material origin,” noticed Flaunty with a smile; brushing along the machinery with her flashlight, the girl already started to look around.

“Let’s check everything we can find, dear!” Misty felt the small hot palms on her shoulders when Lacy’s breath tickled her ear.

“Okay, okay!” the unicorn girl was to admit that it was their aim from the very start. “But remember – don’t tackle or switch anything! I don’t know if power is cut here or not and don’t want to find it out suddenly!”

“Aye, ma’am!” Windy saluted nonchalantly; however, Misty knew well that her friend would act perfectly serious instead.

The girls started to spread slowly, trying to flash down their feet remembering about the stallions circling outside. The place turned out to be way larger than they expected: while examining the factory buildings from outside the distance concealed the actual scale. The free space was enough to safely move and maintain the machine tools, which occupied the rest of the hall – everything was visibly organized for the hard and fruitful work, not some leisure there. Lighting her way with the flashlight, Misty carefully examined every inch of the space around, looking for anything that can appear drastically out of place for her. Moving along she could hear only accurate steps of the other girls. Meanwhile, the darkness cleared, giving way to grey morning twilight: more and more reflected sunlight came in through the large windows, despite they were facing west.

In pairs, girls walked along the whole long building, from one end to another, hasting to brush around while they still had an opportunity to do that, undisturbed by the workers or anypony who can peek inside in that early hour. They made notice of some closed doors on the ground level of the eastern, completely blank otherwise wall, of the few large crates stacked in the piers of that wall, of the stairs and door leading to some lower level under the building. When the flashlights were no longer vital, it turned out that all the machinery in the block was queued in a single long production line snaking around the factory block. Visibly handy, practical, quite modern and… dusty and motionless at the moment production line!

“So! What do you have, mates?” Misty asked tiredly when the friends gathered again at the starting spot under the unlocked window. “Any observations?”

“For the start,” she shoved the flashlight into the back pocket of her cargo pants, “I want to tell that I didn’t sense anything… clearly supernatural here yet. But the whole place and situation looked strange to me,” added Misty after a moment. “For the reasons which I’ll tell you later… after your thought, okay?!”

“Well!” started Windy Mane, scratching her nape. “My observations will be mostly practical, pal! There are a few locked doors here, leading most likely to some storage rooms. I suppose we’re not going to lockpick them, right?” a smile made her freckles jump. “One door leads to a staircase… I didn’t go there yet, of course, but supposedly there are some offices behind that blank wall. The place is kinda wider than this… manufacturing facility. The basement door, or whatever it is, is also locked,” Windy nodded over her shoulder.

“The main thing!” added the pegasus girl with a serious look. “Everything in this hall looks solid, fixed in its place to me. I mean… there should be some traces of the accidents, no? So… I don’t know how this equipment works, but it seems quite safe to me as it is now. Somepony must have taken safety seriously enough. Wonder, how…”

“…they can experience any incidents at all?” Flaunty finished for her with a pensive nod. “Indeed, I know nothing about magical crystals refining process either, but… all of the equipment looks undamaged to my non-professional eye. Shouldn’t there be anything… out of place, corrupt after the accidents involving serious injuries?” The girl threw back her mane and shrugged. “I understood it that way, considering some of the workers even quit.”

“I examined everything I could reach in time that short, but didn’t find the spot where something could be broken with serious consequences,” elaborated the pegasus filly, leaning on the blank side of the nearest machine and dusting off her hands again – the gesture made Misty unwittingly note it for the second time. “The line looks renovated or even replaced to me as if the equipment was installed recently but never really stressed. Like they abandoned it for a reason or something… Now it is collecting dust.”

“Speaking of which,” Lacy reached for Flaunty’s hands, taking them and examining the palms – the faint traces of some ash-like dust were still visible. “Don’t know if you noticed that too, but I spotted that powder several times in the different places of the line. Just like you all I’m not familiar with the local work process and have no idea if the crystals can leave after themselves something alike. It can be seen irregularly on the line… I have no idea if it can be residual or a part of, for example, the line lubrication system. By the way, it can be found on the production line only, not at the doors or crates, neither away from the machines,” added she meaningfully.

“It’s not some metal powder, not soil, not regular dust…” Lacy rubbed Flaunty’s palm with her finger then stared at the dark spot pensively. “I’d say I never saw something like that. Looks like strange ash or the pollen from butterfly wings sometimes. Only the chemical analysis can tell,” the glasses flashed, when Lacy raised her eyes on friends.

“I see…” Misty was biting her lip slowly. After a moment of silence, she sighed making a decision. “Remember Canterton? There I sensed something right ahead, but it wasn’t a surprise considering…” she let out a tiny smile, “… considering what we found out.”

“It’s nothing alike here,” she shook her head yet with the tint of doubt. “But…”

“But?!” Flaunty and Windy glanced at their unicorn friend simultaneously.

“It’s always about “buts” no matter what,” nodded Lacy.

“There was something faint, ephemeral in a couple of places,” admitted Misty half-heartedly. “And I don’t know what to make out of it. It’s borderline… if you understand what I mean.” She squeezed out a strained smile. “I’m not some… paranor… meter, you see, can’t tell in digits or per cents or… And I can certainly mistake, mates.” She spread her arms slightly.

“Don’t worry, we know, pal!” chuckled Windy, shaking her red mane. “Nopony expects that you tell us the root of the problem at the first glance; moreover, point the guilty one.” She glanced at the girls around. “So, what’s the preliminary verdict? Sabotage? Frankly speaking, it’s hard to tell either…”

Flaunty and Lacy shook their heads together.

“Something happened, somepony got hurt, somepony was even scared by that up to quitting,” muttered Lacy, as if listing for herself. “But everything still looks more or less fine, without major destruction.”

“The main question is: are we going to investigate a non-supernatural case?” asked Windy Mane, hands akimbo. “If that’s a plain dirty old sabotage…”

“Mmmm…” Misty hummed musingly. “The case looks too strange to be called casual anyway. I’d like to find out what’s going on, if you’re fine with that, girls.”

“I expect nothing less,” Flaunty let out a small smile; her sister shone with a wide enthusiastic grin.

“Yet, we found nothing yet, except maybe that powder,” sighed Misty Lagoon. “I’m unsure, what next? We can’t stay here for much longer I suppose. Do we keep it on our own or contact the owner, trying to get official permission? Lacy, what do you think?”

“Lacy?” Misty looked around for the earth filly, who stood behind her right shoulder a second ago.

“Girls!” sounded from the depth of the hall, which was slowly brightening with the morning light. “We forgot about that control booth…”

When Misty and Mane sisters reached the middle of the east wall, Lacy already put her foot on the first step of the narrow metal stairs, leading to the high glassed construction overlooking the entire hall from several yards height. The girl grabbed the railing and looked up.

“Something can be there, documents or… We don’t want to miss a spot, when we checked everything else, right?”

“You mean, they could imitate the incidents themselves?” Flaunty shook her head with doubt. “I can’t imagine why would they need it though…”

One by one, the girls climbed up the stairs after Lacy, crossing the short catwalk and entering the metal booth attached to the wall. Several desks with papers and some index boxes on the back wall were the only interior of the metal to the waist level echoing room. Glassed from that level above to the metal as well roof, it was lit in its better times by a few long lamps under the ceiling. The steps boomed on the metal floor, making the girl slow down and move accurately.

“A few more minutes!” decided Misty. “We lingered here for a while already. Somepony may come into the building any time soon; we need to get out before that and plan our further actions.”

“Look for everything you consider unusual, but try to keep the initial order… or disorder,” added she with a smile, observing the paper mess on the desks.

After the first several minutes the girls realized that even if there were any subtle signs of wrong going on at the factory in those documents, they were either masterfully hidden, or the friends had not enough time and knowledge to effectively unearth them. Rustling with papers more to calm their investigation instincts, they were to check every moment if nopony entered the building, as those might instantly notice the presence in the echoing metal booth.

“N-nah… There is nothing for the eye to catch on,” Windy Mane cringed quietly, leaning on the table next to Misty. “Production schemes, delivery documents… There are even no journals or something to check for the exact incidents’ description…”

“Well, that’s natural,” noticed Flaunty from her place; she still did her best to find just anything that shouldn’t belong there according to the girls’ limited knowledge of the local workflow. “Journals, if there were any, were the first thing the direction removed from the practically unattended room. With or without signs of sabotage… Even more likely if without – they could be the only evidence of the factory owner uninvolved in those accidents.” In a minute the girl joined Misty and Windy and shook her head with regret. “Nothing that I could find…”

To their surprise, Lacy was still examining something thoroughly; the girl even found a chair and nested on its edge behind the desk. Quite intrigued, her friends approached the earth filly to look, what captured her attention.

“I have nothing to please you much with either,” muttered Lacy hearing the girls behind. However, she waved them to come closer, still staring at some large sheet of paper. “This looked most interesting to me within our circumstances. Other documents are useless for me as not a specialist, but this one can possibly mean something for our search.”

The girls gathered at the desk, Windy and Flaunty going around it to see better what appeared to be some large scheme of supposedly the factory block they infiltrated. The detailed architectural plan of the ground level of the machine hall Lacy was leaning over made her friends smile and exchange understanding glances. Except for botany, Lacy fished out and found something valuable in the sample of another field of knowledge she was familiar with since early foalhood.

“Mhmm… I still don’t catch up, what it gives us…” muttered Flaunty throwing a long strand of hair back from her face. The plan contained measures and levels, all the windows and doors marked on it; besides, it had the thorough scheme of the production line below with all the machines and conveyor belts depicted in conformity with the actual placement. Windy shook her head, agreeing with the sister. “I don’t get it, pal! A scheme of the machinery stuff… So, what?”

“It seems I know what Lacy wanted to show us,” Misty leaned closer and poked her finger in one spot of the line snaking around the hall plan. “That’s wasn’t the part of the scheme initially…”

“Exactly!” the glasses flashed as Lacy raised her eyes at the girls.

The section Misty pointed at and a few others on the machinery plan were thinly outlined with red; a couple of spots even had a quick yet accurate exclamation mark nearby. Mane sisters blinked as if a light bulb suddenly lit in their heads, finally beaming onto what the other two girls were implying.

“Hmmm…” with a smirk, Windy leaned closer. “Bull’s eye, Lacy!”

“Yeah,” Misty’s fingers ran across the scheme, brushing through the highlighted spots. “These may be the accidents areas marked on the plan…”

“Well, well, well… Who do we have here?” the slow and audibly tired, puzzled and mildly frustrated voice made the four friends jump on their spots.

6.

Hoping that her exhale sounded like a squeak not, Misty Lagoon turned around, very-very slow, trying not to make a sharp move. There was a certain risk of them being spotted or even caught by the local workers, but, as she was to admit, realizing the possibility of something and the actual condition felt quite different. At the first moment, her heart made a leap, seemingly pumping all the blood from her stomach and legs and throwing it to the head, making the lower half freeze and the upper half hot, raising the hair on the girl’s nape.

The opening image wasn’t overly intimidating, as Misty could assume when her blood flow reverted to normal. Standing at the entrance of the administration booth, there was a stallion resting an old baseball bat on his shoulder. A white shirt, loose tie, dark blue suit trousers but no jacket, the fair-maned stallion looked expecting somepony to break into the factory, yet was visibly surprised to run into the four school fillies. His grey eyes even widened a bit, when the girls all turned to face the newcomer. Yet, when he spoke up again, his voice was still tired and dull. Misty noticed the polished shoes got dusted and stallion’s hair called for a brush – he possibly was on his duty since yesterday’s evening.

“So, who are you, for Harmony sake? And what are you doing here? Come on, I’m all ears!”

Misty’s thoughts raced with the speed of light: the decision was to be quick as the future of their entire investigation, let alone their safety depended on it.

‘Tell him the truth… or… make up something plausible? Most important, suitable for that guy! Think girl, think!’

“I hardly imagine that somepony sends four high-school girls to sabotage my factory, but… in our crazy times…” he shook his head slowly. “You have gotten inside somehow. What for that’s the question. So, names, goals, leader? Come on…” strangely there wasn’t any threat in that voice, only fatigue and, to Misty’s confusion, disappointment.

‘So that’s the owner of the facility!’ Misty looked at the stallion differently. Young, a few years younger than her father, he inherited that factory, according to what Misty knew, and took the entire responsibility quite seriously, according to what Misty saw and felt at the moment. ‘They must feel desperate indeed…’

“I-I’m sorry, sir…” Misty made an effort, forcing her voice calm and even again. “I’m Misty Lagoon, these are my friends,” she decided to place a bet on truth, “and we are from Canterlot Pinewatch school,” meanwhile, she subtly pulled Lacy back, making the girl retreat behind Misty’s back slowly – the move causing a tiny smile on stallion’s face.

“Otherwise than studying, we spend time investigating some…” Misty stumbled, searching for a word to avoid “supernatural” for the first impression, “… mysterious cases. Something others failed to comprehend or lost heart to do.”

“What did you say your name was?” the stallion looked suddenly woken up. “Lagoon…”

“Misty Lagoon,” nodded Misty. “My parents live here in Baltimore, sir. They are oceanologists, Charity and Stone Lagoon…”

“She was Charity Caring back then…” muttered the stallion with a faint smile. “Stone Lagoon is your father, you say?” he raised one eyebrow. “That may change things… if it corresponds the reality. I have a couple of questions for you then,” smirked he watching the girl fixedly. “For your fate, girls, I used to study with one Lagoon in college. The colt, who ran to the bay shore more often than to the library, yet managed to graduate somehow. With the help of Charity maybe… yet, considering the field he naturally chose, well… He is two years older than me and we were pals back then, so…”

“So… When puzzled by something or in the moment of deep thoughtfulness, Stone Lagoon does what?” inquired the stallion. “It’s impossible to miss.”

Despite the stress and absurdity of the situation, Misty Lagoon couldn’t hold back a smile.

“He starts to wind up his hair onto his finger. Right behind his horn! Mom always says, he will have another one that way soon,” the girl chuckled with warm sparks in her eyes.

“Well… At least you know the stallion we’re talking about!” he barely nodded, but his face lit up a bit; out of the edge of her ear, Misty heard, how Flaunty exhaled with relief quietly.

“Another question,” he cut their flow of thoughts. “I suppose only close ones know. Stone has a… special sign of sort…”

“You mean that scar, sir?” Misty glanced at her collocutor.

“Yeah, scar… Where, then?”

“A thin scar, half a palm long behind his right scapula,” said Misty confidently. “I always shuddered when he mentioned the story,” added she; a faint shadow ran across her face. “Dad hurt himself on an underwater cliff in Horseshoe bay…”

“…while diving from the high point,” nodded the stallion with a sad smile. “He was dating Charity already. Her older sister visited on holidays and we four went to the beach.”

“Upon diving into the water once he hit his shoulder on a cliff tangentially,” continued Misty, feeling how the atmosphere became noticeably defused.

“Luckily, it wasn’t dangerous,” stallion’s eyes seemingly rewound that day. “But there was a lot of blood and… it looked worse than it actually was. Anaesthesia sewed the wound shut after disinfecting it,” he chuckled. “I was pretty shocked to find out she carried such stuff in her lady bag!”

‘He knew parents well! He even knew auntie Ana…’ flashed in Misty’s head. ‘On the one hand, it may help our job, on the other though…’ meeting the eyes of her friends, Misty understood that the girls were visited by similar thoughts.

“Okay, girls, I’m Nordy Thorntwist, the owner of that place as you might already catch. And now I know who you are at least,” the stallion lowered the bat, leaning on the wall tiredly. “With that aspect clear… what were you four doing here anyway?”

“As I said, I’m Misty, this is Lacy, Windy and Flaunty… Windy and Flaunty are sisters…”

“Somehow, I caught that up,” Nordy let out a smile throwing an attentive glance at them, “and not because of the same sports uniform.”

“… and we’re investigating strange cases in our free time. Feel free to call it our hobby, even if I prefer to avoid that word not to sound more unprofessional than we are,” Misty rolled her eyes with a sigh. “But we can do that, rest assured.”

“Do what, girls?” the stallion dropped on the edge of the desk loosening his tie even more. “Excuse me my scepticism… I’m on that casual security shift since evening, so a bit stiff in the brains.”

“We can at least try and help you sort that problem you’re having for quite a while,” slowly and confidently said Flaunty. “When the others gave up on that mostly…” she shrugged meaningfully, looking away through the booth glass wall.

“You lose nothing, sir,” nodded Windy in unison. “You tried to find out the truth, police tried, maybe some other officials… Everypony found nothing and left you to fight the situation alone, but…”

“Nopony knows us here, we’re school fillies for them and that’s all,” continued the pegasus girl suddenly ardently. “And nopony would probably take us seriously enough, just like you at the moment, sir,” she made a sly face. “Yet we can ask our own questions and try to at least find out the reason of your problem for you… Not to mention that the four pairs of fresh eyes can notice something others didn’t.”

The stallion glanced at them pensively, but now it looked as if he was weighing a possibility.

“Sir, giving us a chance to examine the place once again won’t hurt anyway,” for the first time since his arrival, Lacy said softly. “You can simply continue doing what you were doing if we find nothing new at all. I assume this place isn’t running at the moment,” the thin hand circled the room, “our short presence changes nothing… or everything if we manage to help.”

“Our current findings are scarce, but we did our best in that short time!” Misty said persuasively. “Am I right, the place was cleaned up quite meticulously after the last… event?”

“Heh! I must admit you’ve found the only thing connected to the accidents, we left shortsightedly,” chuckled the stallion, alternating between the girls appraisingly. “That scheme with points marked!” he pointed at the paper on the desk. “Yes, most of the facility is working as usual, so… we replaced almost all the outdated equipment and fixed everything.”

“Except that!” he pointed at Flaunty’s hands, spotting the black dust traces. “No idea what it is… But…”

“To make things clear,” accurately interfered Misty Lagoon. “We investigate regardless of the supposed nature of the problem, sir. Natural or not-entirely…” she made the meaning face, adding insinuatingly. “Even better if it’s the latter case.”

“And I’m still unsure…” said she after a moment of silence. “There is something… near that building basement… It’s the basement entrance, right?” Misty pointed at the big plan.

“Mhm…” muttered the stallion indeterminately, he only glanced at the girl pointing, but it seemed he knew where she was poking already; some faint shadow glimpsed behind his eyes. Nordy Thorntwist sat thinking, resting the bat on the tip of his shoe. Minutes dripped like an eternity.

“Okay!” he finally exhaled, making the girls perk their ears. “You have guessed properly, Lacy… right? We have nothing to lose indeed…” Before the girls exchanged triumphant glances, he added. “You and your friends may try, why not… But mind a few rules, girls.”

Misty raised one hand and nodded as if making a silent oath; Lacy, Windy and Flaunty showed the polite readiness to listen.

“As you know the accidents only happened here. We checked the entire block,” stated Nordy, “and found nothing suspicious. The machinery is safe… when powered off!” he looked long at the girls. “Do not turn anything on, electricity in general. If you have your own flashlights, use them, but nothing else. The second thing, be prudent in general: everything is fixed in its place, but mind the balance of things while looking around.” The girls nodded in agreement.

“You are right, Misty,” Nordy turned to her. “We cleaned and fixed everything here. The renovated line is to be examined by the specialists – the inspection should arrive on Monday. That means you have roughly two days to look for your clues. If everything is assumed to be operational, we run the line next week and… Celestia help us! Even with the rest of the facility running, we can’t afford to keep this place on hold forever…”

“No matter what we tried, the incidents kept happening until we stopped the workflow here completely,” the unicorn gritted his teeth, the eyes sparkled for a second before veiling with fatigue again. “I would suspect an insider, but… The newest workers are here as long as I’m the factory owner and the oldest worked probably with my granddad. Whom can I trust then? It’s about to turn desperate indeed, Misty Lagoon.”

“It was a long day before and even a longer night!” the stallion got up tiredly. “Let’s talk out the details in my office. That’s in the newer building next to that. Come on, ladies, I will need at least a couple hours of rest before the next… eh, this day,” he sighed, heading to the narrow stairs.

“You may take the plan with you if you need it for the job,” Thorntwist intercepted the glance Lacy drilled the production line plan with.

To friends’ bewilderment, he headed towards the supposed basement entrance. Taking out a massive bunch of keys from his pocket, the stallion unlocked the door at the bottom of a short staircase and turned to the girls. The deep sucking sound produced by the opening door, turning silently on the well-greased hinges, made Misty cringe involuntarily; by the look of it, she wasn’t alone in those sentiments – the rest of her friends were slightly stunned by the evident tightness of the basement. But it wasn’t what made the soft fuzz on the back of her neck stand; faintly perceptible near the door, the feeling of presence turned out confirmed when the girls entered. Neither her expectations nor her paranormal sense failed Misty Lagoon, leaving her in mixed feelings and making the girl stumble for a moment.

“The blocks connect through the first level of the basement,” elaborated the stallion, seeing the unvoiced question in girls’ eyes. “We need to be careful, right?.. If it turns out there is an insider,” he made a dry mien. “No need to show everypony that you appeared out of the blue… in the old closed block.” The girls were to admit reason in his words.

To reach Nordy’s office, they had to pass the dark underground level. As electricity was off in the entire old building, the long hallway was pitch black, echoing with weird sounds of pipes and constructions. The stallion turned on a powerful flashlight for the girls not to bump the walls and crates, stacks of which were placed along the walls between the locked doors.

“Careful here, ladies,” the unicorn lit their path. “Keep behind me not to hurt yourself or knock anything over. As you can see, we still have lots of work; can’t even fit all the materials and product in dedicated storage rooms. But that lasts as long as the factory is running and ponies can work here safely,” chuckled he sadly. “As soon as we are declared unstable, it’s a full stop, I’m afraid…”

The flashlight swept the concrete floor – the unicorn looked for another key in his bunch. When the new door opened, Misty was to cover up her eyes, the lit corridor appeared so bright for the first moment. ‘The newer building!’ guessed she, nodding the girls to proceed. After Nordy, they covered the last yards, passed several staircases, going up three floors presumably, and stopped in front of another door, this time unlocked.

“Well, nopony there!” Thorntwist peeked into the doorway, checking the situation. “Come on, girls, it’s the second door on the left,” he pointed at the brown double doors in the long softly lit hallway with light-blue walls.

“I’m residing here for now,” the stallion elaborated upon Misty’s eloquent glance. “Father’s office is in the old building. I can’t make myself change anything there since… since him passing away.” He held the door into the modestly decorated room with a long T-shaped desk, surrounded by varied chairs. Bookcases circled the walls, on one of which Misty spotted a window, finding the morning landscape behind quite relieving after the dark tunnels. Some sports prizes shone dully in the sloping rays behind the doors of a glassed showcase, catching Windy’s attention at once.

“The work starts in a few minutes,” Nordy closed the cabinet door behind them and gestured the girls to take seats. Enveloped in the teal-blue aura, the showcase leaf opened; the factory owner accurately put the merited baseball bat on its place and sank into his armchair at the head of the desk. “Now, we need to make your presence here legal,” the stallion slowly rubbed his chin, observing Misty, Lacy, Windy and Flaunty pensively. “Not mentioning your real aim… if we keep the possible insider in mind.”

“I think I’ll tell them the truth. That part which is safe,” he threw a glance through the window, where the sunlight was flooding the broad factory territory. “Let’s say, the daughter of my college friend visits her home city and brings a few classmates on an excursion,” he winked to Misty conspiratorially. “The girls, you, are interested in history in general and some local stories, so the old factory is on your list naturally.”

“Thus you can ask my workers about the history of this place and workflow as well,” noticed Nordy. “This covers the… supernatural,” he rolled his eyes jokingly, “part of your questions. As for looking for some evil wish, material that is, you will need to disguise what you ask into something vague – that’s your job, girls. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with that exactly without gaining too much attention to your real role.”

“We understood,” Misty nodded, looking around the girls. “For the natural clues, we will mostly use our eyes. No problems being subtle, sir.”

“So, I’m going to ask the workers to cooperate with your… “historical project” and assist where possible,” Thorntwist let out a tiny smile. “As for the old building…”

“Yes, I’m afraid we need more time to examine it,” Misty shrugged apologetically. “Minding the basement as well…” Lacy nodded quickly; she looked like bearing some question, but going to wait for a better moment at the same time.

“No objections, but…” the stallion hesitated a little. “Unfortunately, that could be done only after the day shift is over. Otherwise, we will blow your cover instantly. Moreover, I will need to imitate driving you home then drop you somewhere near the factory but outside the territory.”

“That’s even better!” quickly said Windy Mane, exchanging glances with Misty. “We’ll have hands untied, except the need to keep quiet during our search.”

“Don’t forget to keep the power off!” reminded Nordy. “Well, I suppose you can wait somewhere behind the fence then get in the same way you did this morning. Hmmm… You reminded me of something. Just a second, sorry!” he took out a portable radio set, clicking with some switch.

“Dusty!” called Thorntwist when the device grunted affirmatively through the faint static. “Send somepony to change the guys at the old block. They seem to fizzle out after the whole night,” smirked he throwing a humorous glance at the girls keeping their innocent faces.

“Okay!” he listened to the answer and hanged off.

“I will provide you the necessary keys and give time to get inside,” the unicorn addressed the fillies again. “Now, if you have some questions about that case, and you must have some, ask them now, girls. Use the chance that I can answer you openly.”

“Thank you, mister Thorntwist!” Misty’s pensive eyes stared at the desk in front of her, the girl recalled the details told her by Fluffy Folgen in Pinewatch. “Can you tell us more about the take over attempts? We know that your brother was involved… Anything except that?”

“The thing is, that never looked like “take over” actually,” sighed Nordy locking his fingers together and resting the chin on top. “You heard it right: one day, Fallton, my younger step-brother, appeared out of the blue and completely caught me off guard by his new pony of business stance. If you know his colthood traits, you can imagine my surprise instantly,” he glanced at Misty, raising one eyebrow insinuatingly. “Then he shocked me again by his offer to buy the factory from me; him having suitable funds aside, the mere idea that Fallton suddenly became interested in family business stunned me wordless…”

“But not enough to accept that crazy offer!” the stallion chuckled sarcastically. “Word by word, when I recomposed myself after the initial impression, I found out that he had a stable, even developing income source. Why would he need the factory then? Naturally, I declined the first and a few following offers from him… when he finally dropped that idea. The problems started shortly after.”

“What is it other than suspicious coincidence?” Windy’s wry grin dripping with sarcasm made mister Thorntwist smile.

“At first I thought the same, girl,” he shook his head slowly. “But visiting Fallton, I saw his own business running smoothly, found no connections between him and our problems… Frankly speaking, he could hardly have found time and interest in that sabotage… if that was sabotage, at that moment.”

“Know what,” the stallion leaned forward, lowering the voice, “dropping the whole factory profitability and value to convince or even force me to sell it isn’t that easy. Not by manipulating with our… reputation at least.”

“We have long-established partnerships,” elaborated he, seeing girls’ perplexity. “Business that doesn’t build trusts upon rumours solely. That factory isn’t the building or machinery, it’s the ponies and knowledge working!” in his eyes, Misty saw true belief in those words. “We can repair machinery, fix the material damage. As long as we work, we are profitable, fulfilling our claims and completing contracts. I’m not my father,” a tint of sadness in Nordy’s smile, but he stated firmly, “but ever since I found common grounds with my workers, I had no reasons to give up the factory.”

“I think I understand,” slowly said Flaunty. “As long as the workers trust you, feel the place safe for work, see the future – they do the job and the whole facility is running fine, despite some wiredrawn problems…”

“And what was going on recently, hit the pony factor mostly,” quietly concluded Lacy, adjusting her glasses. “Sowed concern and uncertainty… until a few employees quit. The others can’t work as effectively as usual under that, even if ephemeral, strain, so…” the girl squinted.

“Exactly, a few of the new workers left,” Thorntwist was to admit with the heavy heart; suddenly, he brightened. “But the rest stayed and… Nopony of the old guys quit, these who worked with my father!” added he with audible relief, even some pride. “Together we tried to tighten the bolts on security but succeeded nothing. I hate to say that, nor can I prove anything, but some insider seems a feasible explanation,” the unicorn gloomed.

“You wanted to tell us something about that… black dust, sir,” remembered Misty; Flaunty and Lacy demonstrated their palms, still slightly powdered with the stuff.

“Yeah, funny thing,” Nordy grimaced. “Funny-unfunny… Well, that stuff occasionally appears on the production line in the old building, despite we renovated and cleaned all the sectors of the conveyor. Nowhere else in the factory, not even in the basement of the old block or offices. Nopony knows what it is. The machinery itself can’t produce that stuff – that’s I’m sure about, last month I read more on the matter than in my whole life before,” he chuckled sadly. “And… I consulted the oldest and most experienced of my stallions – all of them said that magical crystals couldn’t produce similar matter, even upon destruction.”

“Hmmm…” drawled Lacy Reins; she raised her eyes on Thorntwist. “And have you…”

“We couldn’t define the nature of it, so we ordered a thorough chemical analysis,” nodded he, guessing her next question properly. “It should be ready on Tuesday at least. Then we’ll probably see…”

“… if the inspection assumes the line safe and ready for work,” sceptically noticed Windy in half-voice, habitually fidgeting with one of her hood straps.

“Exactly!” nodded Nordy, admitting the unpleasant but inevitable fact.

“That’s why we need to stay in the old building,” meaningfully exclaimed Misty; the girl flushed and covered her mouth as the last phrase came out overly enthusiastic. However, everypony in the room seemingly caught her thread of thoughts. “Tonight and probably on Sunday as well if necessary,” added Misty calmer. “If that’s sabotage,” elaborated she, “chances are high, somepony attempts to play a show for the inspection!”

“Reasonable!” Nordy rubbed his chin. “So, my stallions keep an eye outside and you… try to find what’s going on from inside the hall.”

“That may work, considering nopony expects you,” the stallion let out a small smile, hopeful for the first time. “But I want to ask you, girls! Please, be careful… Your job will be to watch only! Don’t mess with anypony, okay?”

“I wouldn’t want to contact Stone for the first time after a while only to tell the bad news about his daughter!” he looked into Misty’s eyes gravely serious. “Right, speaking of which,” <…> took something small out of his desk drawer. “Here. If you see anything strange, anypony, in case of emergency… Scratch that! Upon any unplanned sneeze! Dial me immediately!” he handed Misty the business card. “I’m living here at the factory lately, so…”

“Agreed,” Misty took the thick paper rectangle. “You’re our backup, sir!”

“Well, if you have no other questions for now…” Nordy Thorntwist grabbed his desk edge, forcing himself out of the armchair. “I’ll gather the team; let’s introduce you according to your legend.”

7.

Despite passing zenith a couple of hours ago, the sun still flooded the flat gravel-covered roof of the newer factory block; without the strong wind from the ocean, it would be uncomfortable to stay there for a long while. Even so, the girls were to hide in the shade from the eastern side of a small superstructure containing the stairs and roof exit, choosing that place for the temporary headquarters of their investigation. The roof had one undeniable advantage: it was as quiet a place as it was only possible amidst the large old factory, the only witnesses to the girls’ talks being the railings, various antennas, humming and rotating headers of the ventilation shafts and occasional seagulls, whose plaintive screams resounded the sky over the girls’ heads.

Spending half of the day snooping around the factory, watching the stages of work process and simply examining the territory, asking questions and listening to opinions, local gossips and a couple of quite enticing stories – all of that while doing their best to not interfere with the work of the facility much – made the friends feel nearly exhausted to that moment. The meal in the factory cafeteria partially replenished only the physical side of the problem; the girls needed some rest and time to digest the received information. Treating their mission with all seriousness, the factory owner offered them one of the vacant yet offices in the modern block, but Misty came out with a counteroffer, asking for permission to occupy the roof instead. Motivating it by the fresh air and solitude would turn better recreation means, the girls convinced Thorntwist to agree, thus settling at that moment at the narrow lining of the roof superstructure, leaning to the warm wall in its shadow and exposing their faces to the fresh tinted with the salt wind.

Gathering their notes from all the girls, Lacy sat cross-legged, surrounding herself with them fixed in places with gravel, and kept pensively studying something in her notebook, adding new notes occasionally. Judging by her face, she was bearing some theory and most likely bombarded it with doubts, trying to bring it to the most feasible form.

Windy, on the contrary, looked sleepy even before they came to the roof: the girl dashed around the factory the most, seemingly checking two or three places simultaneously, no wonder that she needed her batteries recharged more than the others. She dropped on the lining tiredly closing her eyes. Barely waiting for Misty to finish taking pictures, endlessly clicking with her camera – truth be told, the opening views were indeed impressive – the pegasus girl fell asleep, resting the head on her friend’s shoulder right the moment Misty sat next to her.

With a tiny smile, wrapping one arm around the sleepy girl’s shoulders, Misty started thinking over the heard; her gaze aimed seemingly at something unspeakably distant, somewhere amidst the shimmering sea and blue, cloudless sky at the horizon. Somewhere, where her mom and dad probably explored the ocean floor, estimated the pollution of the ocean waters or influence of the fish catch on the migration processes.

Flaunty approached the railing running along the roof edge; shielding her eyes from the sunlight, she enjoyed the perfect view opening to the girl’s eyes from their considerably high observation point. Surrounded by the trees waving their crowns in the wind, the entire broad factory territory was at a glance. The large production blocks and smaller outbuildings, the sunlit paved tracks with moving along workers and electric trolleys and loaders, the shadowy recreation green zones. Some reservoirs gleamed with their silvery metal sides, towering over the far edge of the plant. The endless pipelines of various sizes snaked around the factory, diving into the buildings, arching their shiny backs over the walkways and belting the entire territory within the old stone wall, which emerged here and there from the greenery. Everywhere around, the green flowing sea made an impression of complete isolation. The stony hills on the west shielded the nearest city districts from the view, the only sign of civilization being the old road meandering up the overgrown slopes. In all other directions, the forested landscape gradually lowered, running down to the coast.

Blown away by the wind along with the specific factory smells, the hum of voices and occasional rumbling of arriving and departing large trucks barely reached the roof. Instead of that, the breeze brought the distant mewing of the coast guard boat plying near the shore, attracting Flaunty’s sight to the bay. The giant mirror of water was perfectly visible from their position; shimmering in the sunlight with myriads of light-reflecting small ripples and larger waves, it was dotted with barely visible pleasure yachts and motorboats. Two large ships barely glimpsed in the distant heat haze, waiting for their turn to enter the harbour and resembling long grey dashes on the ocean surface.

Inhaling the full chest of sea freshness, Flaunty Mane stretched with her hands behind her head: her loose long hair fanned by the wind, the simple white top shone in the sun tightly fitting her firm raised breasts and opening the tanned stomach, the lush tail flowed around girl’s strong but elegant legs with the tensed muscles showing through the silky skin. She threw a glance at the resting friends and a smile lit Flaunty’s face; something sparkled in her flowing hair – a small colourful barrette was glaring in the light.

At that image, Misty was torn between two equally strong feelings: she would have hated to wake exhausted Windy napping on her shoulder by a sudden move, but at the same time the girl felt a so strong urge to capture that moment taking a picture of cheerfully smiling Flaunty. Lacy’s thoughtful voice mercifully pulled her from that dilemma.

“Well…” the earth filly took off her glasses, closing her eyes for a moment and tiredly rubbing the nose bridge. “I tried to briefly sum up our finds and… What I can say…” she shrugged with a smile, “It seems we were extremely lucky getting inside the old block that easily and staying unnoticed for a while…”

Under the inquiring look of Misty, the girl put aside the notes and started elaborating.

“We managed to get in the “right” place in the “right” time, Misty. Early morning, when the guarding workers were tired and their attention – maximally scattered; morning fog and twilight did their job as well as the humidity outside – blunting their perception in addition to fatigue.” Lacy let out a small smile. “The ajar window was specifically some sheer luck in my opinion. Otherwise, we could look around for another way in or… try to make one and get caught.”

“What are you implying?” quietly asked Misty as Windy sighed through her sleep and snuggled closer.

“According to what we have found out already, infiltrating the factory isn’t that easy of a task in fact,” Lacy shook her head with conviction. “Not at the daytime at least, not when the workers are on their places. Frankly speaking, I’m nearly bewildered by how lucky we were – one chance for a million. The territory is large, I admit, but at the same time, it’s mostly easy to see through. A lot of staff makes it nearly impossible for a group of strangers to traverse the facility secretly, let alone doing something plain dangerous. Especially after the first incidents, when a lot of workers started remaining for the night security shifts.”

“One single pony could hardly be that effective… errmmm… effectively destructive,” Misty watched her friend pensively.

“That’s why suspecting an insider, nopony said that supposed insider was performing the sabotage itself,” Lacy raised her eyebrows with emphasis. “They must rather be the eyes and ears of that… shady gamble. The real saboteurs must know exactly where they needed to go and what they were supposed to do each next moment,” elaborated Lacy gravely. “They also needed to have a covert way to infiltrate the factory… something that Thorntwist and the others didn’t take into account due to low probability or… on the contrary, seeming commonness of it.”

That suggestion made Misty perk up; the girl’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“It leads us to one interesting story we all heard here!” Lacy produced a mysterious mien, glancing at her friend. “When we pretended to be looking for some historical values, a few of the older workers remembered about the old mine near the factory. So, I thought…” the filly smirked slyly.

“Wait…” drawled Misty. “I can see perfectly where it drifts… But the mine was locked down years ago according to their exact stories. Everything must have collapsed there already…”

“Or not,” shrugged Lacy. “By the way, the main entrance to the mine is still somewhere in the forest surrounding the facility!”

“I think I can see it,” Flaunty peered into the distance, pointing at something afar; she was listening to the girls from the corner of her ear all the time. “There is a spot further at the coast, where the trees are less dense, and I fancy some constructions still protruding above the green over there…”

“Hmmm…” Following her glance, Misty gloomed slightly. “The more reasons to check the basement thoroughly. That variant would be ideal for the intruders…”

“Yeah. The mine exists at the rumour level since Thorntwist remembers himself,” musingly uttered Flaunty; approaching, the girl landed next to her resting friends. “But at the same, time everypony here knows well that it was locked. Even your first thought was about it being collapsed, Misty! No wonder, they never took it into account…”

“However, the mine must connect to the old building for that,” Lacy raised a finger, calling the girls to avoid premature conclusions. “As for the alternate explanation…” she checked her notes again.

“Some older workponies told about some factory related “ghost story”,” chuckled Misty, trying to sit a bit more comfortably. “By the look of it, they didn’t overly believe it, rather telling it a joke or local urban legend. I would brush away without any doubts… if only I didn’t feel something near the basement entrance.”

“Mhmmm…” muttered Windy opening one eye slowly. “Our Canterton case started from an urban legend as well.”

“Right to the point!” admitted the girls smiling.

“Speaking of which,” Windy straightened, waking up completely and adjusting herself against the wall; however, the girl didn’t hurry to leave Misty cuddle. “I heard a very interesting story right during the lunch break. When you, pals, were occupying a table already, one of Thorntwist’s stallions introduced me to a very picturesque character,” she looked around her friends. “So…”

“…and here, girls, is the one whom you need to interview if you want to dive into the history of the place!” the worker gestured the friends to approach the next table occupied by a noticeable old chap. Their guide lowered his voice. “Myopic Hawky is the pony you need to hear a story or two. Let his nickname delude you not; he may mistake you for a chair, but sees the tiniest nick at his nose distance. The oldest and I won’t make a crime against the truth the most valuable employee, god of quality control… even if he may look a bit strange the other time.” To girls’ surprise, they noticed that the stallion was deadly serious this time.

Personally, Windy would never imagine such a person still working for the factory, let alone in the quality control department. It was easily believable from the first sight that Hawky was the local veteran. Ruffled and bulky, the old pegasus hunched over his lunch, musingly poking his fork into the dish. However, the smock, which he put over his simple suit pants and sweater, was perfectly clean and neat, and his movements were rather caused by deep thoughts than some age problems. The monstrously thick glasses sitting on Hawky’s nose explained his pose perfectly. Myopic Hawky, according to his nickname, had his clear sight limited nearly by the length of his nose indeed. The more surprising was his work at the quality check conveyor.

The old chap definitely was happy to see some new faces around, especially ready to make him a company and listen. Squinting through his thick glasses, the pegasus greeted the girls enthusiastically; it wasn’t a problem to draw him into the conversation.

Hawky knew a lot about the factory; unfortunately, in addition to that, he was overly talkative. Windy realized where they were drawn into, noticing how the worker guiding the girls there disappeared quietly and subtly; the stallion knew well how long the talk might drawl. After a short while, the rest of the girls followed suit, insensibly sliding behind the nearest table and addressing the meal; they left the old chap on Windy, concluding that the latter had a special gift of dealing with the chatty old ponies, based on her considerably more durable patience and ability to listen. In her turn, Windy had nothing else than to submit to her mission with a sigh and an expressive face aimed towards her friends.

Little by little, she managed to drive his meandering memories to the subject, which interested the four investigators. It seemed that Hawky had a story for each mentioned aspect of factory life, but the topic of paranormal drew his interest visibly.

“Know what,” he leaned closer across the table confidentially, gesturing for Windy’s attention. “They all may believe me not, even make that a local joke…” the pegasus looked around the herded cafeteria; the thick glasses shook reproachfully. “There was some spirit at our factory… Even in the times of Nordy’s grandfather ownership. And I guess long before. Yes, yes…” the pegasus nodded. “There were always rumours about all Thorntwists having some sort of agreement with it.”

“They say there is a secret room in the old building,” feeling Windy’s awaken interest, Hawky continued. “I won’t lie, I haven’t seen it myself, but I saw some other thing making me believe.”

“What did you see, sir?” the red head leaned closer.

“Hmmm… When I only started working here… and my eyesight wasn’t the local landmark,” the stallion visibly enjoyed the conversation and his collocutor attention. “I saw the Thorntwist’s grandpa and then his father after a while… saw them visiting the old building very late in the night. Didn’t look like a fitting time for some business if you ask me.” The pegasus raised one eyebrow meaningfully. “And nopony else was accompanying them…”

“Mmmm…” drawled Windy indefinitely. “That’s not necessarily…”

“I admit that may sound strange…” giggled the old stallion. “But another thing sounds even stranger; however, it’s a known fact! I think I won’t betray the truth if I say that nopony can remember the last time when some accident happened here… before that last series! And the equipment was always working out its resource safely until it was changed as planned,” Hawky pointed his finger with emphasis. “But young Thorntwist thinks it all grandma’s stories!” huffed he, although kindly. “He’s… too young to believe… Would probably dislike me telling you all that, but he can’t change things,” shrugged the old worker.

“I was utterly surprised, you four asked such questions,” Hawky raised his eyes behind the glasses at Windy. “Well… fillies – maybe,” he glanced at watching them Misty, Lacy and Flaunty behind the next table and lowered his voice. “But you… could certainly find something fancier to occupy yourself within such a… flower-garden!”

“I’ll put it flat and honest!” he patted Windy’s hand lightly. “You’re in Baltimare! It’s Spring… The ocean coast is almost several steps far… Such a handsome colt would never have problems gaining fillies’ attention! Better grab a ball, your girls and go to the beach… Eh!” Hawky winked confidentially…

“Now, can you imagine?!” pretty frustrated, Windy alternated between the girls. “And stop giggling, you...” she glared at Flaunty, who almost fell backwards on the roof and was to lean on her elbows to keep balance.

“Did he just say exactly that? “I’ll put it flat…”?” Lacy muffled herself to hold back snorting.

“Somepony mentions that part again and I’ll bite you,” Windy warned the girls grumpily, she cringed. “The worst thing that some other workers heard that. Given his eyesight, that was accepted as a joke, but the glances…” pouted the girl.

“Oh, come on! We love you for a wide variety of… well-pronounced qualities,” Lacy was an epitome of peacemaking. Misty and Flaunty rolled on the roof laughing.

“Grrrr! You, mockingbird!” Windy grabbed the earth filly, showing the teeth and pulling her closer, but suddenly giving Lacy a tender lick on the ear.

8.

Exactly at six PM a large black sedan slowly drove out of the factory checkpoint, heading north-west up the forested hill. Passing under the raised barrier the wide Corre L’Alicorne rolled a few yards lazily as if undecided whether to turn to the dark road snaking under the natural canopy of the old overgrown trees handshaking over the roadbed. Thus everypony interested could easily notice the car leaving the plant territory with four fillies on the back seat.

A few minutes before that, chattering and giggling joyfully, Misty, Lacy, Windy and Flaunty left one of the modern factory buildings through the main exit; the girls headed towards the gates nonchalantly, smiling and waving goodbye to accidentally met rare workers, who prepared to their improvised night security shift. Every curious eye could watch them gathering around Thorntwist’s car discussing something, then boarding inside with fuss and laughter – the sudden excursion ended and mister Thorntwist was going to return his friend’s daughter and her classmates to her Baltimare house. The stallion in the booth lowered the barrier smiling – today’s visit was a bit unexpected, considering the circumstances around the facility, but generally well understood by the majority of the workponies, many of whom had foals of various ages as well. At the end of the day, the girls managed not even to avoid the unwelcome disturbance, but rather to add some fun and light into the factory current bleak routine. Remembering the funny misunderstanding between one of the pegasi sisters and Myopic Hawky, the guard couldn’t hold back a snort.

“What’s up, Windy?” Mister Thorntwist glanced at the girls through the mirror, when the car distanced from the gate a bit. He noticed the appraising look the red-head pegasus gave the car and its owner on the driver seat upon boarding. “Surprised it not being a fancy Colt-Joyce, eh?” he chuckled seeing Windy’s nose getting slightly pinkish. “It’s good even being a serial model! Corre L’Alicorne production was reopened in the New Lunar Era in Prance; this one is the second generation model,” Nordy stroked the steering wheel lovingly. “The car must be reliable and suit owner’s needs – simple as that!”

“Yeah…” drawled Windy a bit confusedly – rare case by itself. “I’m sorry, mister Thorntwist, it seems I let the stereotypes get ahead of me a bit,” the girl let out a smile. Her friends giggled.

“Well,” watching the winding road, the stallion threw another glance into the mirror. “I prefer to invest into my business rather than some indulgence, especially when things are as they are. The so-called “cool” car won’t help us keep the factory afloat, so what’s the point? Reputation is gained by other means here.”

“That’s what we already noticed, sir,” said Misty with respect; the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

“One of the reasons why the old workers are still on board no matter what,” noticed Lacy with a tiny smile. “They know they can rely on you.”

“I would like to believe they do… and I can meet their hopes,” Nordy said with a tint of sadness. Then he winked with a chuckle. “And I’m not that old or snobbish to hire a personal driver, Windy! I like powerful cars, yes, but that’s about it, them not being the essence or aim of my life.”

The car moved uphill, passing the bushes of various thickness, trees growing denser and thinner, large rocks and once crossed the small creek taken into a metal tube under the road. The quiet rustle of soft tires left the feathery forest fauna almost undisturbed, mostly overshadowed by the insects rasping. According to Misty’s calculations, they passed about half of the road to the hilltop, that making one-sixth of the way to her house, when Thorntwist slowed the large sedan down and looked over his shoulder.

“The spot is behind the turn,” the stallion nodded towards the next loop, “the forest comes very close to the road and the shoulders are bushy. I doubt anypony can watch the road there nor has any chance to notice anything, so you’ll have a moment to exit. I hope you can find the way!” he turned back looking at the girls seriously.

“No worries, mister Thorntwist,” Misty watched the passing landscape through the side window. “I know how to find my way through the woods,” she smiled. “We came here through the thicket anyway, so we get a bit uphill and head back to the fence. Will wait for your signal at the same spot we got in this morning.”

“Well, then…” Nordy checked the wristwatch. “I’ll dial, when I reach your house, right?” he named the address once again to be sure.

“Yes, I hope the thing works still.”

“Are we supposed to hop off on the go?” Flaunty examined the passing vegetation and branches reaching for the roadbed with some doubt and concern.

“I’m strange enough to ask for your help, ladies,” chuckled Nordy. “But not strange enough to catapult you. Of course, I’ll stop for a moment, just be fast, if you don’t want to get spotted!” His eyes sparkled with laughter as Flaunty flushed a bit.

“Sorry!”

The road turned and dived into a real green tunnel, so dark the day turned evening at once: the trees’ branches entangled over the path making the shadows dark-green, the ground – damp and the mosquitoes – almost audible. Misty thought that the path was specifically cut through the dense foliage that way it could barely fit a couple of typical trucks passing each other on their way to the factory. Black Corre L’Alicorne rolled slowly under the green roof and finally stopped, the back door opened and closed after a couple of seconds with a soft thick sound, which sank into the cicadas’ screeching. Not startling any bird, the shrubs closed behind the last pair of wings deepening into the thicket and the car slowly started again, rustling its tires on the way to Baltimare eastern suburb.

“Well, I suppose we still have some time,” Windy Mane rubbed her arm squinting: one nasty buzzing git was daring enough to pass the repellent barrier and dumb enough to end its bloodsucking life under girl’s palm the next second after bite. “We almost ran through the forest. That’s impressive, pal,” she nudged Misty lightly, “even for one born here, even if you spent most of your foalhood in the wild. Don’t humble down your virtues!” the girl smirked at confused and blushing Misty. That sudden linguistic pearl of hers made two other girls exchange meaningful glances. “What I say, the guy hardly raced all the way to your parents’ house, even if he remembers the road well.”

Finding their way through the darkening forest, the girls sneaked back to the same overgrown fold reaching almost the factory wall. From their hiding spot they could perfectly see the fence, its corner nearby on the right, the cleared stripe of land along – nopony in the view as far as the eye picked. Naturally, the surveillance camera was on its spot as well, staring along the stone wall. The girls promptly stopped in the shrubs outside of the electronic eyesight, waiting. The sun already passed the top of the hill behind their backs, giving it and the treetops the golden halo, but it was very bright anyway. The day was only gaining towards night and real twilight could fall long after nine. Ambulating back and forth in the plain daylight wasn’t smart, especially if they did their best to make an impression that they were not on the territory anymore, regardless of who could be interested in that fact.

“What’s with the time?” moving a twig away from her face, Flaunty picked a couple of small leaves out of her hair.

“It’s almost seven,” Misty’s eyes were chained to her cell phone screen as she answered. “He must reach there anytime soon.”

“And what then?” almost simultaneously asked Lacy and Windy; the girls sat back to back on the leafy branch they pulled to the ground, and looked at their friend inquiringly.

“Thorntwist was supposed to deliver us home, right?” Misty raised one eyebrow slyly. “And we are supposed to… well… do something in the house, turn on lights at least.” She smirked. “I very much doubt anypony spies after us too diligently as we did our best to look casual, but…”

“Ah, here it is!” she exclaimed quietly as her mobile lit silently with the incoming call dropped in a second. “I doubt we ever used it,” Misty brushed through her phone for something, “after the alarms were installed… besides, the area was really quiet. Let’s hope it still works…” she launched some application, searching for a moment, then tapping some button. “The whole system is controlled remotely and turns on and off lights in and around the house randomly,” elaborated the unicorn girl with a smile, “to make an impression there is somepony in. Dad installed it before we got the alarms. You know, we are rarely home!” she shrugged.

“Now we can wait only…” sighed Windy, fidgeting on her spot. The friends exchanged humorous glances knowing it was part statement, part compliance.

The shade had already flooded the forest entirely and crawled towards the factory wall, touching the bushes and bringing the usual for the woods damp chillness. Unfurling her wings, Flaunty cuddled looking chilled Lacy and Windy; throwing a smiling glance at her feathery motherly embrace, Misty returned to watching the path to the gate closely. Finally, the velvet rumble of the powerful engine reached the girls’ ears; after a few minutes, somepony showed up under the far end of the factory wall: Nordy Thorntwist was balancing between hurried and relaxed walk, which wasn’t easy by itself.

Quietly whistling, the unicorn approached the camera; his glance barely slid on the surrounding vegetation not stopping at any particular spot. Eyes wide, the girls watched how he was staring into the camera enveloped in his teal-blue aura: the stallion was pretending his best to be correcting the device focus and position… not actually changing it too much. Finally, he huffed with satisfaction, waving into the lens, then left the camera field of view, somehow heading directly to where the girls sat watching that pantomime.

The unicorn stepped back almost forcing himself into the shrubs; observing the fence, as if he wanted to check the wall condition and camera orientation once more, Nordy seemed to be ignoring the hiding girls.

“Everything was fine,” he said quietly from the corner of his mouth, barely squinting over the shoulder at them. Noticing the girls’ surprised eyes, the stallion smirked. “That’s probably the only well-masked place here unseen through the cameras – our big mistake, I guess!”

“Anyway,” he rubbed the chin; for the random observer, it looked as if Nordy was pondering aloud. “I passed the gate and drove to the garage as agreed, it’s completely invisible from the road indeed. The lights outside went on seconds after I called you, so I suppose everything is working at the moment,” he winked conspiratorially. “When I left the lights were randomly on in the house. Let’s hope, if anypony was watching you, they think you’re minding your own business there.”

“Excellent!” breathed out Misty with relief. “I was mildly afraid the stuff might have gotten rusted… What about…”

“Here it is!” the stallion subtly dropped a massive bunch of keys into the shrub with a quiet heavy tingle. “The spare keys, complete set from the old block. Including the basement and passage between the buildings,” he gazed at the thin palm, which accurately pulled the keys deeper into the shade, and smirked.

“Thanks, mister Thorntwist!” whispered Lacy peeking out from Flaunty’s feathery cuddle. “You can rely on our eyes and Misty’s… vision.”

“I’m going to distract the patrolling ponies for a short while. Get inside in ten minutes after now,” Nordy checked the time, lingering for a second. “And, girls… Remember, you are not here officially; it’s too bright yet, don’t get spotted! You’re on your own at least until you find or spot something; however, dial my number if you decide you need backup. Good luck!” the stallion clenched his fingers together; he wanted to add something but pushed himself away instead with a sigh.

“I think I can understand how your father and this guy got along well, Misty,” noticed Flaunty Mane watching his receding figure. “If the adventurer spirit is dormant, it doesn’t mean there is none!”

“Shhh!” whispered Windy Mane bringing her finger to the lips; the filly perked her ears catching some foreign sound.

Indeed, another stallion silhouette showed up at the far end of the gravel-covered stripe; he looked as if he searched somepony and quickly started waving to Thorntwist, spotting his presence. The latter was off-camera for a few minutes maximum.

“The closer to the inspection… and to the next night, the jumpier they get,” muttered Misty, watching how the new stallion waited for Nordy, following him to the supposed factory entrance. “Yet that didn’t help them find the saboteur…” she stared at the watch, counting seconds to the clearance.

9.

“Hmm… Thorntwist was right!” Misty threw a quick look around the hall when the girls landed two by two between the conveyor lines. Denser in some corners, the shadows were still unable to hide any unexpected activity in the block from the eyes of the guards if any of them decided to check the factory windows. “We’re not supposed to be seen, mates!” she pulled her friends into the dark narrow passage between the nearest machine tools and gestured for silence.

Right in time, as the approaching hum of voices reached them from outside. Coming closer, two stallions could be discerned; thankfully, their tone was even – those two discussed something casually. The voices passed and the echoing silence fell again; rare specks of dust were dancing in the sloped rays coming through the upper parts of the factory high windows and throwing patches of soft light between dark silhouettes of the dead machine tools.

“You see?!” Misty made an exaggeratedly meaningful face causing Windy to snort and muffle herself with the palm.

Hiding behind the machinery, crouching in the gaps, in short dashes, the girls reached the far end of the production hall and rolled down the short stairs. There, at the basement door, Misty finally straightened up and took out the large bunch of keys, looking for the correct one. The girls took seats on the narrow stairs, waiting.

“Thank Harmony, the keys are labelled!” whispered Lacy, fiddling with her flashlight. “But I guess that the whole ring must be one heavy thing…”

“And noisy,” noticed Windy; the girl watched Misty, resting her chin on her fists.

“That’s among other reasons, why we start from the basement…” the unicorn filly fished out the right one and accurately shoved it into the lock, sticking out the tip of her tongue. “Here… it… is! Now…” the lock clicked twice with the key turns. “We haven’t a chance to explore the basement levels thoroughly, but… I have a strong feeling, there must be something important inside. Even if mister Thorntwist said that there were no accidents on the underground levels.”

With those words, Misty leaned on the handle forcedly; the heavy door turned on its hinges easily and silently as before, without a visible strain to pull. Stirred by the cool breath of the darkness inside, the girl’s hair fluttered around her face; Misty stumbled for a second and blinked pensively.

“Hmmm…” she shrugged, shaking away the feeling, and clicked her flashlight on, gesturing the friends to follow. With the sound resembling a soft, mellow kiss, the large door closed behind Flaunty going down last.

The four light spots swept about the light-grey monochromatic walls and ceiling, flashing out the cable harnesses and occasional flat lamps on the ceiling – details they had no time to spot in the morning. The hallway looked as if it underwent some sort of repair and refurbishing recently, with electrics and lightening being changed and modernized. It remained useless at the moment with the main power turned off. Girls’ flashlights were going to be the only available light source throughout their investigation. Misty involuntarily cringed.

Stopping for a moment, she lit the floor scheme Lacy Reins promptly took out and unfolded. The plan looked simple enough: one central gallery going into the newer block on one end and to the staircases and elevators on both ends; the number of rooms was connected to it by the closed doors – most likely storages at that moment, according to what mister Thorntwist said.

“Look! We need to check it through anyway,” Misty’s flashlight travelled across the plan. “Every nook and cranny! The same on the second level… Lacy, do you have the scheme?”

“Of course,” the earth filly adjusted her glasses. “I specifically asked mister Thorntwist for all the documents which could aid.”

“Good! Now…” the flashlight jerked towards the interconnection of the short entrance hallway with the main basement passage, pulling the opposite wall and two dark openings left and right from the darkness. A glimpsing dejavu feeling made Misty shake her head. “…mates, we have time till about half past eleven: Thorntwist said they would have shift change at midnight. We must check the basement and get into the machinery room before that.”

“Why, Misty?” reaching the intersection already and going to examine it, Windy turned back; the ray of her flashlight danced on the girls’ legs.

“Somehow, I doubt those sabotaging the factory were coming from outside of the building,” Misty caught up with the pegasus girl, pulling the rest after her.

“Why not? We did…” Lacy let out a tiny smile, shrugging.

“We were simply lucky: light on… wings, nothing heavy with us, we simply got in fast. Besides, we got noticed anyway, so…” Misty stopped, biting her lip. “Those bringing troubles here must have something to help them stage the so-called incidents. Do they usually bring stuff through the accidentally opened windows?” the girl made a sceptical face.

“Reasonable!” in the small dome of light formed by the girls’ lamps, Windy and Flaunty exchanged glances.

“But, we shouldn’t ignore that possibility completely!” Misty stated with confidence. “The production hall is where everything happens, so we’ll make an ambush there… Or,” she downcasted under her friends’ eyes, “better say, we’ll hide and watch. But until then…” she lowered her voice with emphasis. “I tend to think they come from inside… if we accept the insider idea, that means through the underground levels.”

“And that’s another reason we shouldn’t split no matter what!” added the girl meaningfully.

“And the first one is?” Windy could sound gamine, but the friends saw she was totally serious.

“I feel something is here,” simply said Misty, but everypony understood what she meant. “Some presence… But I can’t read it like in Canterton. I mean it was more transparent there,” the unicorn girl sighed. “I can’t feel its intentions here, even approximately… yet, only know there is… something. So, we keep together, mates!” she cut it peremptorily.

“Aye, ma’am!” Windy smirked and turned her flashlight into the intersection again.

“And keep your eyes open, please! It’s pitch dark here, we need to be careful.”

“Aye, ma’am!” with their nonchalance, Flaunty and Lacy made Misty roll her eyes; the four fillies slowly proceeded.

Sliding on the light-grey walls, the lights suddenly dropped into the void, as the girls reached the intersection. The hallway narrowed by the randomly stacked boxes ran into the distance on the left; the flashlights were unable to reach the end. Misty swayed her lamp side to side: the ray of light picked the same walls with cables, crates and numerous identical doors along the path. The square metal ventilation shaft under the ceiling sighed with the gust of air and tingled lightly sending the involuntary shivers down the friends’ spines and making Lacy and Flaunty instinctively flash it with their lights. Naturally, the girls spotted nothing except shiny metal duct with the latticed hatches and the row of dead lamps.

“It’s okay, girls!” Misty glanced at the duct lighting it for a second as well. “The wind must be coming inside through the shafts on the roof… Even if the active ventilation is disabled here either.”

“How long did they say this place was abandoned?” directing the light at her feet, Windy was examining the floor. “It looks clean to me, not that dusty it could be…”

“A week, he said. Maybe a couple of days more,” Lacy glanced up at her pegasus friend from the plan she held. “Right after the last episode they turned the power off and locked the old block completely, except the occasional security checks.”

“It doesn’t look as if they moved anything here since,” Flaunty slid her finger along the top of the nearest box: the faint cleaner stripe remained where she touched.

“More dust could help us find out if somepony was here, doing something unplanned,” noticed Windy catching up with Misty; the latter stopped at one of the similar doors and looked slightly puzzled.

“That would give out our presence as well, if somepony, who isn’t supposed to be here, is yet roaming the place,” the unicorn girl slowly scanned the door with her flashlight, alternating between the surface and the bunch of keys she held. “As I see, we have another problem at the moment!” turning to the friends Misty lit the keys on her palm.

Only a few keys from the large bunch were properly labelled: such as “Basement entrance”, “Second new block”, “Second level” and a couple of others. The rest had only numbers on them. The problem was in the nameless doors, as they could make sure of by lighting a couple of the nearest ones. Misty remembered how mister Thorntwist said that it was done after another accident when the thought of sabotage possibility firmly nested in his head. The idea was to complicate the access to the unauthorized areas for any strangers.

‘It didn’t look that it worked as intended,’ smirked Misty examining the door, ‘but it’s only making our job harder now!’

The girls herded at the door, meticulously searching the blank rectangle and the frame for any helpful clue, but it was Flaunty who spotted something useful thanks to her height.

“Oh! Here, look, girls!” she pointed at the small digits, thinly painted at the upper right corner of the leaf – they said “12”.

“Wait!” Misty started brushing through the keys quickly, finally finding one with the same number. “Let’s check.”

The key fitted as expected and unlocked the door in two turns, leaving the girls in the face of the dark gap of unknown.

“No electricity means no alarms and other… surprises!” Windy mischievously winked; she ran her flashlight along the door frame edge, then along the floor behind, as if making sure that it existed, then stepped inside. “Come in, pals,” called she quietly, “that’s a storage room.”

Windy’s flashlight jumped from one row of stacked boxes, which reached almost the ceiling leaving only a narrow gap for the light from the turned off at the moment lamps to spread, to another: the boxes and crates reached the far wall, seemingly being the only things in that room. Disturbed by the opened door and ponies coming in, the dust danced in the four rays of light. The girls quickly examined the storage, accurately walking to the end of each row: boxes and only boxes, no crossing passages, nothing else. Not fitting any completed row, the few of them lied freely at the entrance, forming a smaller stack.

“Finished crystals,” the golden aura carefully peeled the duct tape off the upper box; Misty peeked in. She flashed inside, showing the friends the crystals about of index finger length, packed with long curly hay strands. “Nothing fancy!”

Checking another box from the pile gave them the same result. The boxes stacked in large rows returned the rustling sonant tone, almost like empty, upon knocking.

“Same thing in all of them, I suppose,” Windy Mane circled the room with her flashlight again. “By the way,” uttered she intently. “Have you noticed any traces of that… black powder? I haven’t. Nor in the hallway…”

The girls were to shook their heads slowly.

“I wonder, what gives…” Misty was pondering aloud. “We assumed the powder is connected to the accidents, right? Then, if the supposed saboteur had full access to the building, why the stuff can be traced along the production line only? They could make things happen all over the old block if not the entire factory…” She sighed. “I still can’t understand the mechanism of what they were doing here.”

“Are we dealing with some supernatural effect indeed?” she looked at her friends as if expecting some hints from the girls. “But I don’t feel any hostility from it, despite the presence is constant here…”

A couple more rooms gave the investigators the same: boxes varied only in size and the stacking method – one room was already equipped with the durable stillages for them. The spots of light had nothing to stop on, except the non-ending packed product, wiring and dusty lamps under the ceiling.

‘If it goes that way… and nothing happens during these nights in the production hall,’ Misty already estimated their future steps, ‘we’ll have nothing to do than to leave fruitlessly… for a week. And then,’ she cringed, ‘it’ll depend on the inspection decision. Maybe there will be nothing to investigate…’

‘No, girl, stop!’ she shook her head mentally. ‘That’s no class! We must find the answer… However,’ the doubt veiled her again, ‘with no direct evidence of sabotage… the equipment is technically in order as Nordy confirmed… We can say, it’s some paranormal effect indeed, but…’

Only the softness of the cuddle allowed Misty to jump from surprise not.

“What’s wrong, girl?” she felt Flaunty’s warm hands on her shoulders. “You look a bit… absent.”

“It’s just…” Misty looked at the girls gathering around mindfully. “Something doesn’t quite compute still!”

“In Canterton it was more or less clear from the start,” elaborated she. “Here though…” the filly pursed her lips with doubt. “There is something, I admit. But I still can’t catch its vibe on the tail. I can’t believe that what I feel can be the cause of the trouble. It’s… ermmm…” Misty stumbled looking for an explanation, “not aggressive definitely… Maybe sorrowful, I don’t know…”

“Perhaps, my praised by you extrasensory perception is not enough for that…” the girl sighed.

“Look, we understand that you must plan beforehand,” started Lacy softly, “and weigh all the chances…”

“But we barely scratched it here!” finished Windy with a cheerful smile. “The basement is huge… and I rather believe in some natural reason for the machines breaking… even after my acquaintance with Fran,” she shook her short red mane.

“Yeah, mates. Sorry!” Misty shook off the sad thoughts. “I simply… The least I want us to fail him, after how mister Thorntwist accepted us.”

The next numbered room was full of heavy wooden crates instead of boxes. Sent through the small gap, the ray of the flashlight reflected onto something shiny and lilac – a larger chunk of something solid of deeper colour. Examining it under different angles as much as the gap allowed, the girls assumed, that was unprocessed crystal. The crates were full of magical crystal “ore”.

“Tons of them here!” Misty pondered aloud, rubbing the nearest crate she leaned on. “Mister Thorntwist told about the accidents being in form of explosions. But they neither had nor found anything to explode… If these crystals can somehow react with… whatever…”

“There are enough to send the entire old block fly!” exhaled Lacy with widening eyes. “Its basement included!”

“Maybe that was the reason why the accidents happened in the machinery hall only,” muttered Misty. “Controlled effect of a kind?”

“Hmmm…” throwing back her long chestnut mane, Flaunty was rubbing the chin. “Whoever did this practically had everything to blow the building, maybe even the factory. But that’s not what they need.” She smirked. “Big ka-boom results in full-time official investigation reopening, right?” the girl glanced at her friends meaningfully. “Heavy excavation tech involved and all the fuss!”

“You mean, they rather need nopony wishing to employ here and the place quietly closed!” Windy guessed first. “What for then?”

“Who knows…” shrugged Flaunty. She squinted. “Canterton was abandoned, yet remained technically the school for, creepy to think of it, more than thousand years, so… What I wanted to say – this method could fit both the natural and supernatural forces if they are involved.”

Quickly scouted, the rest of the rooms delivered them nothing new in terms of evidence. They even could be called sterile, as Misty chuckled inwardly, if not for some small amount of dust accumulated naturally. The girls returned to the intersection, where the basement entrance was, then looked in the rooms to the right of it; the same accurate abandonment met them in each, despite the friends did their best to fish at least something regarding the case they unofficially contracted to investigate. Despite their polite silence, Misty started to notice her own doubtful sentiments spreading among the girls.

‘It’s only natural!’ Misty checked the time, suddenly finding out that they had roamed the basement for about an hour and a half already. ‘Still no signs of planned pony actions,’ sighed she, ‘and the spiritual presence shows no actual intentions. Damn!’

Finishing with the supposedly last room, the girls pulled out to the hallway to be met by the first surprise for that night. Directed right into the distance, their flashlights somehow abutted into the solid wall not so far from the place they were standing.

“What the…” Windy quickly swiped her flashlight across the gallery walls with a few remaining doors, only to make sure they indeed connected to the dead-end; Lacy took out and rustled with the scheme. Flaunty flashed back to the intersection to check their actual position – they were near it and the girl turned to Misty shrugging puzzledly: they couldn’t make it to another wing end if the basement was nearly symmetrical.

“The hallway must be at least twice longer…” quietly said Lacy, glancing at her friends; as if in confirmation of her words, she turned over the sheet and lifted it into the light. Even without explanation, the girls saw that the hallway was supposed to run way further from the entrance than they saw, with more rooms connecting to it. In the following oppressing silence, the girls immediately started noticing what they paid no attention to before – subtle constructions crackling, mostly metal ducts – with approaching night, cool air began to come in through the ventilation. Flaunty cleared her throat a bit hesitantly.

“When I thought it’s going to become boring, it suddenly started turning out interesting!” smirked Windy stretching to the bone crackle.

“Wait… Hmmm…” Lacy’s large eyes shimmered behind the glasses, running back and forth across the basement plan. “Long gallery… Next block passage… Stairs here and there… Hmmm… Ventilation shafts…” muttered she, then shone her flashlight into the hallway dead-end, fishing the double doors out from the darkness.

“Come on, Misty, bring your keys here!” before anypony uttered a word, her braids already jumped to the beat of the earth filly dashing to the doors. “Look for an unlabeled key or keys!” confidently stated Lacy, examining them, when Misty and sisters approached.

It turned out there were two such keys in the bunch; the second one Misty tried fitted the lock. Opening the first pair of doors, the girls revealed a tiny pier, formed by the enormous thickness of the basement bearing wall, and a second pair of the doors. The latter opened using the same key and let them into another dark hallway.

“The plan sucks!” noticed Lacy with a wry smile. “This is the rest of the first level, typical method to split the overly long corridor and avoid strong draughts. But it marked as one single hallway on the scheme,” the girl facepalmed, making her friends smile. “I wonder what else…”

“Okay, don’t show that plan to your parents!” giggled Windy. “We also won’t! Now what?” she glanced at Misty. “Do we check the remaining rooms?”

No matter how much she regretted to admit it, the remaining rooms were nearly the same as before, offering Misty and her friends only a limited list of objects to come across; nothing of the investigation value was on that list though. Until the fillies opened the door to something different from the first sight.

“Mhmmm…” Windy evidently got used to finding the same storage rooms behind each door; the rest of the girls similarly looked a bit dumbfounded by the revealed room, resembling some library or better say archive most of all. Dozens of open racks and filing boxes with hundreds of dusty folders in them filled the room, leaving some free space to navigate and a couple of desks with chairs.

“It seems that they brought the outdated document archive here. Yes, there are dates, years to be exact,” Flaunty Mane picked one folder at random when the girls entered. She and her sister began to pick folders from the shelves marked with different years and check through them swiftly. “Dates start descending from five years ago… Perhaps, the year when Nordy accepted the inheritance,” Flaunty shrugged with her wings.

“Paychecks, delivery,” muttered Windy, brushing through the bureaucracy galore, “lots of accounting mumbo-jumbo here!”

Meanwhile, Lacy brushed the dust off one of the chairs and landed behind the empty desk; expanding the schemes of basement levels and production line on its surface, she stared at them pensively. Misty came closer, stopping behind her shoulder and illuminating the plans with her flashlight; it wasn’t the first time she noticed, how Lacy returns to the machinery scheme again and again as if trying to catch something, which kept whisking away from her.

“Oh, look!” sounded from the shelves. Misty briefly shone her lamp at the girls to see Flaunty lifting yet another thick folder. “It’s labelled “Purchases”. I’ll check it, just in case…” throwing back her mane, the filly dived into the papers. The disturbed sheets let a cloud of dust fly and made Flaunty sneeze; the girls froze listening to the distorted by repeating echo sound rolling out of the room and down the hallway, resembling some broken glass sound at the end.

“Sorry!” Flaunty blushed a little and sniffed. “Sounded creepy…”

“Know what…” drawled Lacy after a few minutes of silence diluted only with paper rustling. “I think there was nothing paranormal in the accidents themselves! And that is why,” she gestured Misty to lean closer. “I just realized that! The plan has control points marked on the production line,” Lacy pointed at the thin lines accompanied by text on the scheme for Misty to understand. “The spots where some staff must be present all the time to keep the process running properly.”

“Yeah!” the glasses flashed in the light; Lacy nodded in response to understanding lighting up in Misty’s eyes. “The places where somepony is near the line!” emphasized she, then poked into the plan again. “Now look at the outlined spots. These are the accident locations!”

“Windy, can you please find me the same folder from the previous year and the next one?” reached their ears from the archive shelves. Flaunty turned over the pages with increasing attention; more and more satisfaction in her quiet humming.

Misty stared at the plan: many labelled “control points” were circled in red; there were a few not marked, but there were no outlined spots without a “control point” in them. Misty and Lacy exchanged glances.

“We knew that the accidents always involved ponies injured… But this shows that they were specifically and only staged to result in exactly that!” grimly summed up Lacy. “Ask me and I say that it most resembles the ill will of somepony material than some spiritual effect.” Misty was to admit the reasoning in her words; inwardly, she would like the problems to be caused by something paranormal – the idea of somepony purposely harming their kin looked nothing fancy!

“If you need more evidence, there was no black powder in the other rooms, including that one,” meaningfully glanced Lacy.

“Hmmm… That may be interesting!” Flaunty’s exclamation interrupted the girls’ thoughts; the pegasus sisters stopped their digging and joined Misty and Lacy at the desk. In the response to their inquiring look Flaunty dropped the thick folder she held, poking at the page.

“I may know nothing about the magical crystals processing,” uttered she, seeing Misty and Lacy staring at the document a bit abashedly. “But ordering candles… Yeah, yeah, simple candles! In large numbers, monthly,” Flaunty raised one eyebrow. “Isn’t it a bit strange?!”

“The last year given here and the previous, and one before,” continued she, nodding. “I suppose every year stored in that archive. And that’s not fifty or ninety years ago, but recently, when electric light exists in every nook and cranny! Besides, who in the sane mind would try to light the entire factory with candles?!” she drove in the final nail.

“And where else except lighting are the candles used?” Windy added insinuatingly. “We’re not insisting… But, if we just imagine…”

“Decoration, but that hardly fits here… a-a-and… Rituals!” breathed out Misty.

“So it might be two in one pack at the end of the day…” muttered Lacy adjusting her glasses. “Interesting!”

Together they quickly brushed through several equivalent folders from different years;,confirming their find and even expanding it; in addition to regular candle orderings, the fillies came across a few with incense sticks. Four friends exchanged meaningful glances.

“So the old chap wasn’t making it up,” muttered Windy Mane, habitually putting her collar strap at risk. “The story he heard and told me wasn’t a fable, even if the current owner is sceptical about that.”

“Yeah…” musingly drawled Misty. “It looks that somepony was… negotiating with a spiritual entity here for quite a long time. I wonder, what were the stipulations of that… agreement?”

“You think that spirit, whatever it was, might have turned hostile when the new owner stopped paying attention to its existence…” Lacy rubbed her temples. “If the accidents were the result of its acts, that “spiritual entity” must obtain… How do you call that? Completely formed personality. Like Fran, for example.”

“The problem is – I don’t sense any hostility,” Misty spread her arms puzzledly. “The spirit would hardly make any difference between the factory workers it was supposed to be hostile towards and us – complete strangers, technically intruding its area. I still have no idea what to make out of it.”

“The sunset was a few minutes ago,” reminded Flaunty checking the watch, when the girls left the archive; her flashlight travelled across the end of the hallway, shining on three remaining passages. “We planned to hide in the production hall and see if somepony shows up,” reminded she, glancing at Misty inquiringly.

“We’d better stay consistent, mates,” Misty shook her head slowly after a moment of thinking. “Let’s check the remaining rooms… and the second level as fast as we can without ignoring things, then return upstairs. Thorntwist promised to tighten the security outside, I hope whoever sabotages, they won’t slip by unnoticed.”

“You still think they can’t come from outside, right?” Windy shook her red mane; the girl was examining the shut metal doors already. “Somepony, give me a hand! The doors have no locks…” she ran her flashlight around the metal frame, stopping at the large red button. “It’s the heavy load elevator judging by the width!”

The underpowered doors had some backlash nevertheless; with some effort, Windy managed to make a gap enough to send a ray of light through.

“Yeah, it is. The platform is between the floors,” there was a slight disappointment in the girl’s voice. “Anyway, it’s useless without electricity.”

Another door opened freely, revealing the dark staircase in the light of their lamps. Holding on the doorknob, Lacy looked at Misty; the unicorn filly shook her head.

“Let’s check another room first!”

“That’s… unexpected…” Flaunty Mane blinked several times, examining what made all four girls freeze and scratch their napes as soon as they lit the interior. Her reaction was understandable, considering the light falling on the huge stack, which occupied most of the room, leaving some space behind the entrance and along one of the side walls.

The crates and boxes were accurately stacked, accounting for their various sizes to form almost a solid block nearly reaching the ceiling. One couldn’t probably squeeze a knife between adjacent ones; evidently, it took much effort to put all the stuff that way, not mentioning that it was quite unhandy to store anything in such a pile without a chance to pick one piece not taking apart the whole.

“Ahem!” The girls stared at it for a good few minutes before Flaunty coughed and approached the stack, carefully knocking on one of the boxes. “Filled with something… But what’s the point in that heap?” the girl looked lost, glancing back at her friends. “Unless… they dumped the old junk here…”

“It looks stupid still, if you ask me,” Windy Mane observed the stack sarcastically. “If they didn’t plan to use anything of that, why not simply dispose of it entirely?”

“Old junk, you say…” uttered Misty pensively. Her aura enveloped one box, then another, showing the girl that it was impossible to move any of them, not risking being buried under that heap. Misty bit her lip, running the fingers along the cardboard wall; she wanted to say something…

“Wait! Misty, that room is shorter than it should be!” alternating her flashlight between the plan she held and the non-barricaded wall she managed to walk along twice, Lacy exclaimed making her friends jump from surprise; the end of her phrase rolled behind their backs, echoing in the long hallway.

“Sorry!” Lacy’s cheeks flushed under the glasses. “I mean… The plan wasn’t one hundred per cent reliable from the start, but it seems, that room is at least five steps shorter than the one behind that wall. Yet they are of the same length on the scheme.”

“That stack is not to store things… Something may be hidden behind!” Misty’s eyes shimmered brightly for the first time since they entered the basement.

“Errmmm…” both Windy and Flaunty looked around the stack, wordlessly describing the futility of their task. However, the four friends moved along, guided by the mutual exploratory spirit and feeling the surface inch by inch, hoping for some miraculous clue.

Lacy was the first who found something attention-worthy: accidentally, the cardboard surface under her fingers produced a slightly different sound, giving up inside visibly when she pushed stronger. Attracted by her involuntary whoop, the girls rushed to their friend.

“These sound empty!” Flaunty Mane gave one of the upper boxes a flick, listening to the hollow sound as the box barely gave in.

“It’s better if I try,” noticed Misty, seeing how Windy spread her wings and flexed. “It’s a bit tight here,” elaborated she apologetically.

Wrapped in the golden aura, one of the upper boxes slowly moved inside the structure, audibly pushing something behind itself. It hid in the darkness, then something rustled behind and fell down with a tiny hollow thud; the box held by Misty moved freely and hung into the void finally. ‘Carton!’ realized the fillies when Misty decided to release the box and the latter smacked the floor with the same sound. The smell of dust and paper filled the air.

Pushing a few more boxes more confidently, Misty found out that the empty ones were placed in a small column two boxes wide and two boxes deep. The girls directed their flashlights into the increasing gap to see a part of the ceiling with the running away row of lamps and two walls of boxes: a narrow passage was revealing itself in front of their eyes.

“Just a second!” with an impatient sigh, Windy stepped forward and gave the remaining boxes a good kick, sending them flying into the gap at once. “You’re welcome!” she smirked, lighting the passage. The light spot slid along the crates and fell on the opposite wall, which looked the same dull even grey surface as everywhere else from their view.

“I’ll check!” Misty braced herself, grasping the flashlight tighter. “Stay here, mates… In case something collapses and you’ll need to dig me out of that barricade,” she chuckled a bit nervously.

“It’s okay!” she took Lacy’s hand, which tried to grab her on the sleeve, for a second. Listening to her senses once more, Misty didn’t notice anything threatening and proceeded carefully.

“Looks like a solid wall!” reached the girls’ ears in a minute. Three of them shone into Misty’s back with their lamps, lighting the supposed dead end. “But it’s not!”

“There is… a thin crack in the wall!” said Misty after a short pause. “It forms a proper rectangle. Must be a door, but I see no keyhole or handle…”

“And I can’t pick the edge up,” sounded plaintive; she palpated the door endeavouring to open. “Anypony has a knife or… anything?”

“I’m going to help her,” dropped Windy handing her sister the flashlight and squeezing into the passage.

“Eh… Okay!” Misty was to give up.

“Pals, there is nothing to hook to indeed,” a disappointed huff sounded from the depth after a couple of minutes both girls spent trying to open the secret door. “Damn!” in warm blood, Windy gave the surface a light punch.

To their sheer surprise, the supposed door gave in slightly and sprung, bouncing off the frame and revealing a gap enough to grab the edge. Misty and Windy exchanged glances; with a smirk, Windy pulled the leaf open.

The opening wasn’t large and two girls peeking inside the room obstructed the passage completely; their friends’ lamps couldn’t reach from behind and dispel the darkness, thus Misty and Windy could rely on their single light source only. Carefully examining around with the flashlight, they found the floor, nearest walls and the ceiling in their intended places; thankfully, that new place wasn’t some kind of abyss. In reality, the compartment turned out rather small, likely narrower than the storage it adjoined – the light easily reached the far corners of the room, telling the girls that it was almost empty. The grey walls were bare, the ceiling even had no lamps at all, while only one would probably be enough to flood it with light. The only mention-worthy thing there rested in the centre of the otherwise pristine floor; however, the first glance at it in the ray of their flashlight made Misty’s heart beat faster.

A low square elevation of the same nondescript concrete gave a base for a knee-high table loosely resembling a lectern. A bright glare shone on its surface when the ray of light slid by. It turned out to be a glass plate spreading and holding something underneath. The rest of the inclined desk was occupied by a couple of bowls with something loose inside and a variety of candles; unusually thick they lined along the far edge of the desk and stood in a stair-like manner on both sides of the glass press. Remnants and wax spots along the edges of the elevation told that similar candles were placed there as well when that place was better maintained. A medium-size old basket tiredly leaned on the desk front, as if held together by that support only.

‘That thing resembles an altar too much to be something else!’ Misty’s flashlight returned to the centre of that structure, sticking to the glass plate. ‘It looks like paper… Maybe, there are some answers there!’

“Do we certainly know what we are doing?” Windy touched Misty’s sleeve, feeling her urge to approach the thing. “Let’s be careful anyway, pal!”

“I’ll better go alone first,” Misty smiled apologetically. “We don’t need to bother… anything more than it’s absolutely necessary. Don’t worry!” she squeezed her friend’s hand lightly.

Slowly, shining the flashlight at her feet not to disturb or knock over something accidentally, Misty approached the elevation with the improvised altar. Ready to retreat at any moment, the filly listened to herself and that presence sensation, which she had ever since entering the basement. At the moment, everything seemed peaceful: Misty couldn’t recognize any threat or disturbance in that feeling; if that presence had any will, it was rather tinted with the faintest sorrow now than anything else. It wasn’t very hard to guess what it could be caused by; observing the scene of desolation over once carefully attended place, the girl let out a tiny sigh.

Under a closer look, the glass plate held a sheet of very thick paper. Yellowish, time-worn, with its shabby edges it reminded Misty about the ancient scrolls only the Regal Sisters and history books could witness. ‘Well, maybe some other alicorn…’ flashed in her head. The sheet surface was densely peppered with the words written in the peculiar intricate font; several words were highlighted red. Promptly deciding against touching the ramshackle document, holding together mostly with the aid of the glass cover, Misty leaned closer. Trying to parse and comprehend the lines, the girl noticed that two bowls of something resembling the tinted sand actually held a few thin, partially spent incense sticks each.

‘Hmmm… The fable told by the old workpony turns out not entirely a fable!’ smirked Misty inwardly. ‘But by the look of it, Nordy’s father wasn’t the first one Thorntwist taking part in it!’

The document language was heavy, truly ancient: Misty caught herself on not knowing a good portion of the words, modern Ponish stepped way forward since the times that text was recent. Maybe Princesses could fluently read that…

‘Contract! It is a contract, no doubt…’ despite the complexity of the ancient formula, Misty saw such words as “agreement”, “protection”, “obliged” among the recognizable ones. ‘But… it makes things even stranger…’

“Come here! It’s okay,” with a puzzled smile, Misty called her friend quietly, gesturing Windy to approach.

“What’s the matter, mate?” quickly but cautiously crossing the room, the pegasus filly appeared behind her shoulder. “Anything about this old lingo?” Windy pointed at the desk.

“Yeah! There was and still is some spirit on that factory,” quietly nodded Misty. “It looks that Thorntwists, a lot of their ancestors, had some sort of contract with it. Some sort of the protecting spirit… A brownie or neighponese zashiki-warashi seems to be too shallow of an explanation,” smiled she lowering her voice, “but something along these lines in the general sense.”

“Hmmm…” Windy huffed indeterminately.

“You see that tough-to-pronounce word in red?” Misty lit the paper again, explaining her inferences to her confusedly blinking friend. “That must be the spirit name. Spirits don’t need food or entertainment in the usual sense, Windy. For a large number of them, recognition is the most desirable reward…” glanced she meaningfully. “In one form or another, it doesn’t matter: while somepony remembers about you, you exist.”

“It fits the living ponies no less,” Windy Mane smirked. “Everypony needs their name called occasionally to feel needed.”

“Exactly! Name remembered, some symbolic offering made… This,” Misty nodded towards the decrepit basket, “was filled with some flowers likely…” What filled the basket resembled some ash at the moment.

“And the new owner of the factory, as good as he is, nevertheless decided that all of it was gibberish,” Misty raised her eyebrows. “So, this… altar is abandoned for a few years likely…”

“So you think…”

“Hardly the spirit caused all the troubles. And there is a reason for that,” Misty rejected her friend’s guess softly. “But, we could probably…” the unicorn girl automatically checked her pockets then took an inquiring look around.

“Here!” watching friend’s discomfiture, Windy was handing her a gas lighter. “In the places like that, I always thought that a flashlight was good, but some backup would never hurt!” explained she with a wide smile.

“Thanks, Windy! You’re a fairy!” exhaled Misty. She started to lit the candles on the desk, fixing a few toppled ones. Then adjusted and lit the incense sticks. The small flames trembled for a while as if unsure of their intentions; crackling and sparkling they ate the dust from the wicks and finally flared up brightly, flooding the desk with their soft warm light and drawing a golden halo around the entire structure.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Misty fancied some change in that presence. It felt like the first unconscious movement of a sleeping pony called by the name and delivered a feel of rightness into Misty’s soul.

“That’s it,” Misty stepped back from the altar, pulling Windy with her.

“Misty, Windy! Girls, are you okay there?” the voices of the friends reached them from the storage room.

“We’re fine! Coming back already!” called Misty, nudging her pegasus friend towards the exit. Lingering in the doorway, she made a decision, but reconsidered using the digital camera after a moment of thinking; instead of that, Misty took out her cell phone and made a photo of the entire room with the candles-lit structure.

“I’ll need to talk with mister Thorntwist about that,” elaborated she under Windy’s bewildered look. The girls accurately closed the handleless door trying to leave it the same way it was before their visit.

In the bright light of their lamps, Flaunty and Lacy greeted them both, squeezing out between the crates and boxes, like the deep sea divers returning to the shore. Despite they tried to hide it, the girls had become a little anxious, not seeing Misty and Windy but only hearing their muffled voices.

“Well, mates… What can I say?” dusting off her hands, Misty briefly described to them what they with Windy found inside. “Everything is good in moderation, including being sceptic. Mister Thorntwist should have paid more attention to that old “legend” definitely… At least perform some investigation before denying everything and completely cutting off all the fruitful cooperation,” she shook her head in disapproval.

“Wasn’t it enough then for the accidents to start happening?” huffed Windy. “The spirit got disgruntled and…”

“I doubt that,” Misty was hard to talk around. “And now I see three reasons for that. First – the spirit was supposed to protect. After the breach of agreement, it would rather stop whatever it was doing… But I can’t explain that series of accidents by the accumulated negative effect being… errmmm… unblocked.”

“Second,” Misty started digging in her bunch of keys, throwing an unequivocal glance at the staircase door, “if you trust my senses, then you should take it as I say – that spirit isn’t hostile. I… I don’t know if that would be an exaggerated claim, but… it’s not in that spirit’s nature, I suppose.”

“And the third,” added she in a moment. “As Lacy found out – all the accidents were thoroughly planned… even technically reasoned.”

“Not a single one of these accidents was actually accidental,” confirmed Lacy confidently.

“Which returns us to the chance of accumulated effect being vanishingly low – the pattern is too obvious to ignore!” finally holding the proper key, Misty headed to the stair. “So, we’re checking the lower level as well.”

“Ughhh…” Flaunty gave a tiny shiver entering the stairwell – the rest of the girls seemed to feel it as well. Cool draught trailed along the floor; being more pronounced there, it sent goosebumps up girls’ legs.

“Yeah,” Misty made a grim face. “There must be another exit here. If it was the ventilation – and we know it’s turned off – then it would be the same everywhere. These doors look tight enough not to let it entirely through, but the more of them we pass, the stronger the wind is.”

10.

The lower door to the second level surprised the girls: making Misty huff meaningfully – it was locked with three locks at once.

“Now that’s interesting!” struggling with them, she threw an expressive glance at the friends; the girls nodded without words.

The heavy door opened, revealing another dark hallway; all the girls shivered – the draught became easily perceptible. Unlike the upper level, that one wasn’t completely silent. Right upon entering, the girls fancied running water behind the walls: some communications, driven through there, were partially used – the flow was low, making the large pipes produce a variety of echoing sounds. As the friends proceeded into the corridor, looking around much more carefully than before – their flashlights scanned every inch of the walls and ceiling with familiar doors and lamps, they could almost hear the air moving along that level freely, producing the variety of sounds, which usually scare folks in the tunnels and abandoned buildings.

“It sounds like some subway tunnel,” muttered Misty – the place felt oppressive for all of them. “Or a submarine on depth,” added she, when the distant sounds of constructions crackling reached their ears. “It’s not the building,” she leaned her ear to the wall, “these subtle sounds aren’t produced by the basement constructions… something beneath them rather. What?!” she glanced at the girls, who stopped staring at Misty in bewilderment.

“You have been on a submarine…” exhaled Windy. A tint of envy sounded in her voice.

“There is something new we find out every day,” Flaunty chuckled a bit tightly; Lacy started nodding.

“Come on, mates!” Misty felt as she began flushing. “It was only once… Besides, it was rather a large bathysphere than a proper u-boat. Still, it sounded similarly…”

“Wow!” said Windy, shaking her head. “Just… And you never told!” she made a face.

“Ehhh… That’s most likely because I was… frankly speaking, I was scared shitless back then,” confessed Misty quietly. “I was… like ten or something. Wasn’t entertaining for me back then.”

“I bet you were,” Lacy hugged her friend softly. “I would be in your place! That sound of metal and concrete under some weight can give creeps to everypony.” Windy and Flaunty kept the impressed silence.

The hallway sighed with another gust of air, bringing more distorted sounds of distant metal tingling and something indiscernible, making all the girls cringe.

“Okay, let’s hurry up!” Misty braced herself and held the flashlight firmly. “Although, I wouldn’t mind Fran making us company this time. She may know more about such things as haunting… in general.”

“Having a friendly spirit at your side, yes?” Windy smirked over the shoulder, but Misty nodded with all seriousness.

Checking a few rooms, the girls made sure that the general feel of abandonment was stronger here. Most of the rooms were unused and empty, locked rather as a precaution than out of necessity; only a couple of was used for storage. Junk storage to be exact, by the look of it. Being brightly lit by their flashlights, the compartments were still giving the girls that uneasy eerie feeling… Maybe because of the sounds, which didn’t become habitual, despite being constant.

“Now I’m sure the actual underground is larger than that basement,” stated Misty after the next empty room; the occasional echoing seemed to become louder as they proceeded. “We must find another exit… or rather the way in,” added she with emphasis, “before we leave.”

“It looks as if neither Thorntwist nor any of his workponies entered here since they locked the old building,” dropped Windy pensively. “Or even longer. They must have blocked the second level of the basement after repairs in the building.”

“Well, normally they wouldn’t have to,” noticed Flaunty holding Lacy around the shoulders and checking the hallway behind. “Two doors at the stairwell had to be enough… if the keys were in the proper hands only! Not to mention that the basement entrance itself was locked.”

“They must have somewhere to come from!” nodded Lacy with a shudder.

“Ahem!” when the girls directed their flashlights to the voice, Windy stood in front of very large doors examining them carefully. “Does that fit, pals?” she turned to them with a grin.

The found doors, metal, thick, with rows of rivets on their edges and across the leaves, resembled something more fitting for a large hangar than some storage or office. One simple lock would look hilarious and inappropriate if it wasn’t complimented by a huge bar crossing the leaves from one wall to another and fixed with nothing less than a crowbar. ‘One would need a tank to break through from inside when it is locked!’ thought Misty, examining the construction in the light of her lamp.

“I wonder if anypony checked that place,” Flaunty musingly cupped her chin. “This looks serious enough to break through…”

“Unless you have everything… to open it,” uttered Misty and Lacy in unison.

Together they barely managed to remove the obstacle aside after taking the crowbar out of the rings. Misty found the key expectedly labelled as “Hangar” and crouched over the keyhole.

“Well, let’s assume they had keys… somehow, but still… Most unicorns need to see what they apply their magic to!” elaborated she throwing a meaningful glance at the crowbar then looking back at her friends. “I wonder how…”

Instead of an answer, Lacy pointed at something she noticed the first, shining her flashlight at the small window at the door surface. Blocked by a thick metal plate, it could be easily opened from inside for peeking. The lock crackled and unblocked their way.

“Damn!” Windy couldn’t hold back the word, when with their entire effort used the large doors opened slowly, revealing the broad dark space behind them. Their flashlights couldn’t reach the far walls of that… hangar.

It was tangibly colder inside; the girls shivered involuntarily zipping their jackets. The wind – as airflow that strong can be hardly called draught – blew out strong enough to sweep under their feet a small amount of dust. The latter covered the floor and even formed a low bolster along the lower door edge. Brushing around with their flashlights, the girls could spot various crates scattered around; alone and stacked, they were all peppered with the same dust. Thin and hard, it was nowhere alike house dust – soft and fluffy, born by paper or cloth; on the contrary, it looked as thin sand, as Misty felt touching it and rubbing between her fingers.

“I knew there was an old mine near that factory,” uttered she in bewilderment, “but I had no idea there was a mine under the factory!”

“It’s like a graveyard…” Lacy looked around the scattered dusty crates and an electric loader lonely rusting deeper in the hangar. Apparently, the workers brought it there through the working elevator back then.

As if in response to her words, the wind kept bringing the cacophony of mixed sounds gust by gust. The whole hangar sighed occasionally; faint long crackling, tingling of chains, water drops were mixing in that breath, making the girls come closer together instinctively. The air smelling of dust didn’t bring any voices or sounds of mechanisms working, but Misty felt shivers coming up and down her spine nevertheless.

Sticking together, they slowly proceeded, walking around large chunks of garbage on the floor. Finally, their flashlights hit the far wall. To friends’ surprise, the hangar appeared smaller than one could judge by the sounds. There was a reason for that difference.

Hidden from the direct view behind another large stack of crates, there was a wide crack in the wall, bringing in the strong chilly airflow and all the weird noises. Misty stopped staring at several large and small fragments of the masonry in the spot of her flashlight: the concrete debris strewed the floor inside the room, none of them being inside the dark passage as the girls found out lighting the space behind the crack. Misty exhaled slowly, raising her eyes at the friends – the girls didn’t need any words to tune into her thoughts.

“W-e-e-ell…” quietly drawled Windy Mane, squeezing the flashlight like a police baton. “Anypony doubts that the accidents had an entirely natural reason?”

“If we assume they had all the necessary keys copied… ” Misty nodded, coming closer and peeking into the crack. The flashlight in her hands trembled emotionally: the large empty passageway behind was carved in the rock, its walls reinforced with beams and concrete plates. The faintest touch on the rough edge of the crack woke the rustling echo inside. “Mates! It’s like some subway tunnel!” breathed out Misty, turning to her friends in bewilderment. The underground breathed in response, distorting the echo of her voice and making everypony’s skin crawl. Lacy coped with her shivers and joined Misty, taking a look into the dark tunnel.

“One could bring an army through that way if needed,” she breathed in fitfully, taking off her glasses and wiping them clean.

“Amazing! How much trust mister Thorntwist has in his ponies,” noticed Flaunty, examining the huge passage over their heads. “Even after the idea about an insider came into his mind, he didn’t guess to check the basement thoroughly.”

“He couldn’t imagine somepony to give out all the keys,” chuckled Windy; the tunnel echoed as if a knife travelled on the metal plate. “S-s-sorry!”

“So, are we going to check inside?” hands akimbo the pegasus filly tapped the floor impatiently.

“No!” firmly stated Misty. “Not now definitely!” This time everypony agreed with her, even Windy admitted the reasoning.

“Too much of the unknown lies behind,” elaborated Misty under her breath, scanning the tunnel with her flashlight again: the ray got lost in the darkness when directed right along, barely hinting at the distant turn of the passage. “The system must have at least one exit to the surface more, that’s given. But… Who knows how many tunnels are there? How deep they go?” her voice trembled, bracing herself the filly added. “If what lies behind factory basement is the ancient mine indeed, it could be a real labyrinth there.”

“We are unprepared to go in that deep!” assumed she, seeing the unanimous agreement of the girls. Getting out her mobile again, Misty took a few pictures of the tunnel entrance; the sound resulted in something resembling a flock of bats going airborne, instantly making her browse through the settings muting the camera shutter. Stepping back, she made a shot of the crack itself. “I guess that’ll be more than convincing!”

Leaving the place much more enthusiastically than they entered, the girls did their best to close and lock everything exactly as it was. Even if the supposed saboteurs – the friends silently agreed that a single pony could hardly plot and stage all that, let alone break through the concrete wall of the tunnel and basement – had keys, letting them know about girls’ presence was undesired.

11.

“Ughhh… It seems that I got all my limbs numb!” quietly complained Windy, fidgeting on the wooden crates stacked in the dark corner of the production hall. The girl turned over and lay on her stomach, stretching hard. “What about time, pal?”

“Half past midnight,” Misty checked the watch shortly. She was sitting on the crates, wrapping her arms around the knees and staring into the night. The girls hid at their vantage point for over an hour already, forced into the less than comfortable poses, thus Windy’s compliant sounded reasonable. “I’m one hundred per cent sure that something must happen tonight. We should only wait.”

“That’s the toughest part of it,” smirked Windy flashing her teeth in the dark. The only dim light occasionally travelling through the hall was the moonlight, entering the high windows, when the running across the sky clouds spread up; it gave everything inside the ghostly grey-bluish look.

“Frankly speaking, I’d prefer nothing to happen tonight,” whispered Flaunty. “We reporting about the underground system in the morning and everything being taken on alert and sealed completely would be the ideal outcome,” confessed the girl with a tiny smile. She leaned her back at more crates behind, letting the head with braids rest on her lap; Lacy nested cuddling Flaunty’s knees, girl’s eyes were closed, but her sensitively perked ears told that Lacy wasn’t asleep, rather using the opportunity to recharge. Stroking her shoulder lightly, Flaunty added. “But I realize that it would solve nothing. There may always be another way in. If we don’t find what they do exactly, this will continue endlessly…”

“…or rather until they force the factory closed and take over,” nodded Misty with a sigh. “What’s the real reason though? The mine… closed for nopony-knows-how-long? Hmpf!” She returned to observing the machinery in the alternating running stripes of moonlight and shadows.

At first, the girls wanted to take the control booth, but Flaunty convinced them to reconsider and after the second thought, they admitted the reasons. The entire production hall was perfectly visible from that spot, but they would be as well; half-glassed, the booth was flooded with the moonlight and would give them hard time hiding. Those crates though, stacked in the form of a stepped pile in the far corner of the hall, never received any light from outside and gave the friends perfect view from the darkness to the faintly lit production line. Besides; the lower step was still higher than an average pony, thus the fillies quietly lying prone on it had a fair chance to stay unnoticed.

Deadly bored, Windy audibly yawned, but the tiny sound, coming from the basement entrance the next second, made all the girls cautiously freeze at once; the redhead pegasus closed her mouth almost with a clap. The key was turning in the lock, breaking the ringing silence with a faint metal tingle. Lacy opened her eyes at once, raising the head from Flaunty’s lap and listening to the noise. Flaunty leaned forward, automatically squeezing Lacy’s shoulder.

“Shhhhh!” hissed Misty, dropping flat next to Windy. “Make no sound, mates!” In a second, two other girls followed suit from another side.

The basement door opened with a quiet rustle and the girls heard a cautious footstep on the stairs, then another one. The friends held their breath, turning all ears and regretting their heartbeat, seemingly being too loud. A lonely head slowly emerged over the edge of the stairs; strangely black, most likely masked, it cautiously turned around for a while, catching every sound with the perked ears. The shoulders showed up; after another look around, the stallion gestured somepony below and climbed out. ‘What’s that strapped to his side?’ Misty watched the sneaking intruder fixedly.

The door spat out a few more dark silhouettes: two, three… five; after the tenth, the girls were to admit they underestimated the scale of the problem. Walking upstairs one by one and quietly spreading around the production hall, the strangers had a well thought out plan.

‘A group that large, acting in a coordinated manner, they could easily do their nefarious job in a matter of minutes and leave before even getting a chance to be spotted by the security!’ Misty facepalmed inwardly, meaningfully gesturing her friends with the eyes only. ‘No way it was some hooliganism, disgruntled employee’s revenge or… even raider seizure. One doing that must have resources enough for a… distributed terrorist attack!’ the girl swallowed a lump. ‘What did Thorntwist plunge into? And us along…’

Gritting her teeth, Misty reached for the binoculars slowly; trying to take them soundlessly, she pressed its oculars to her eyes. Confirming her assumption, the shady figures headed each to the exact spot along the production line.

‘Call me a dragon, if that’s not a well-prepared scheme!’ light touch on her shoulder made Misty twitch. Windy pointed at the binoculars and then nodded towards Lacy, telling that she wanted to have a better look.

The device migrated to Lacy in complete silence and the earth filly watched the saboteurs fixedly for a while. Then she conveyed it back; opening her palms as if holding an imaginary map, Lacy performed a pointing gesture and nodded, telling with her entire look that her assumption about the exact points on the line being affected was true.

Meanwhile, two stallions reached the closest end of the conveyor line, appearing at a sneeze distance from the hiding girls. The fillies played dead, watching with wide-open eyes and catching every sound.

“All the effort only to screw up some machines and get somepony injured,” muttered one of the stallions, crouching near the exit tract of one of the machine tools; he examined the inner edge of the hood, right where the conveyor belt ran from, then looked back at his partner. “Tons of these crystals down there, completely unattended as I noticed! Why not place the shit there… and blow the entire block to Tartarus? Then the factory’s busted for sure,” chuckled he quietly, digging in his side bag and picking out something.

Another one simply shrugged; with his back to the girls, the stallion did something on his spot, shielding it from them with his body.

“I wonder, how would you make these things wait till you get away from the whole thing?” huffed he hoarsely. “Unless you’re willing to play a bucking kamikaze, pal…”

Distracted from his manipulations, girls’ eyes became chained to the thing the first saboteur revealed. Showing in the moonlight, the small object – hardly a handful – resembled a glistening cocoon to unpleasantly surprised Misty. The thing looked leathery; Misty would like to believe that faint pulse it gave was her imagination.

“What… the fuck… is that?!” under her breath slowly whispered Windy; the pegasus filly visibly struggled with nausea while the dark figure placed his nasty payload into the narrow gap under the machine hood, next to the conveyor belt. The girls exchanged wild glances; Misty saw the tint of disgust on the faces of Lacy and Flaunty as well.

“…besides, we need the factory closure, not the proper investigation turning the place inside out,” continued the second. “Officials coming and all that shit…”

“Why wouldn’t you both shut up, idiots?” a unicorn mare covered in black emerged into the stripe of dim light; her eyes, the only bright spots on masked face, shone angrily. Apparently, she heard the guys, and unfortunately for them, she looked like their leader. “What’s up colt?” she glared at the first thug. “Eager to become a gelding, eh?” another guy snorted muffledly, but shut up completely under her snake look. “The boss isn’t paying for useless talks!” rapped out the mare; her eyes scanned around, burning through the darkness and making the girls duck lower instinctively. “But can do for the dumb heads of the nosy ones!” she dropped firmly, disappearing in the narrow passage between the machinery. “Round it here and do the rest of the points…”

Through the binoculars, Misty followed the movements of those two, then addressed the rest of the saboteurs visible, alternating between them. The sense of their act was sliding away from her comprehension still. Looking back at Windy, she saw the same ‘What the hay we just saw?’ expression in her puzzled eyes. Leaning to Windy and gesturing Lacy and Flaunty to bring their heads closer, Misty barely exhaled.

“We need to look closer… When these guys leave…”

“Not tonight! Hold it right there you four!” with a tint of laziness, a cold crispy voice drawled from behind, making all the girls jump on the spot.

With the freezing heart, Misty turned around very slowly, full of foreboding; in the dark narrow passage behind their backs and the stack of crates, there was an even darker figure of the familiar mare, which scolded the chattering thugs minute ago. Covered in a tight pitch-black catsuit with small strapped side-bags and a mask of the same fabric leaving open only her eyes, horn and mane gathered behind, she held something in front of her. To guarantee the complete understanding of her intentions, a dull metallic glare on that object told the girls the mare was talking seriously. Deadly seriously!

“Now, get down slowly! One by one…” Enveloped in the dark-green aura, their flashlights started crawling out of the girls’ hands. Flaunty slid first from the crates and reached the edge to help Lacy down when the mare stopped her abruptly. “Eh-eh-eh! Keep your hands up, so I can see them! No surprises, chicks!”

“I was expecting somepony like you… since I spotted the footprints in the hangar,” smirked she, contentedly watching the bewilderment in Misty’s gaze. “Next time pay more attention to small details, chicks! He-he, next time…” her joy didn’t bode well.

The unicorn mare patiently waited for the girls getting to the floor; her snake eyes watched them fixedly, seemingly not giving a blink and a tiny chance to escape her claws. However, the fillies were too shocked at that moment to undertake anything calling for lucky wit and fast reaction. Guarding them into the light, she sensibly nudged Misty into the back with something metal and round, confirming the girl’s suspicions.

“Psst!” From the corner of her eye, Misty saw how their escort waved to the stallions they saw before. “Tie their arms behind properly! Pronto!”

Downcasting, Misty nodded to the girls to avoid struggling. ‘We’re in deep shit already! No casualties needed!’ flashed in her head, when strong hands roughly pulled her arms back tying her wrists together.

“Well, well, well!” the chilling voice went around them and the mare entered the ray of light. “So, what were you, chicks, doing here? I mean in general, other than watching us seconds ago!” the crystal chuckle caused goosebumps, seemingly not on the girls only, as Misty noticed the nearest thug cringing slightly.

Still held ready, even off the safety latch, there was a firearm in mare’s hands – Misty remembered that a weapon of that kind was called a submachine gun. She threw a glance at Windy; the pegasus girl replied with a wry mien as if telling her that an SMG can spit out a plethora of bullets in a short time, almost giving no misfire.

“So, again, what are four…” the cold eyes measured them, “high-school students doing here in the middle of the night, with powerful flashlights?” the mare levitated her catch to one of her henchponies while still keeping the girls in her view. “I would never believe that you got inside accidentally… out of pure filly curiosity!” grinned she wryly.

‘Tell her the truth?’ it glimpsed wildly, as Misty was fathoming what to reply. ‘It would hardly change anything but could win us some time perhaps… while they are thinking what to do with us. If they really wanted to avoid too much publicity around their real intentions…’ She finally braced herself.

“Simply helping uncle Nordy sort out things going on,” calmly replied Misty, hoping wholeheartedly that her voice wasn’t betraying her. “Fresh eyes having a watch and maybe noticing something, you know… ma’am,” added she.

“Uncle? Hmmm…” the mare looked dumbfounded, even lowered the gun barrel a bit; however, that meant nothing for the tied up and guarded girls. “We didn’t know about any more relatives…” she squinted suspiciously, then clicked her fingers – some decision was finally made. “Doesn’t matter now! You may sing or may not, chicks,” she leaned closer to the girls; Misty did her best to withstand the look of her cold grey eyes behind the mask. “If you are strangers, it’s your problem… And if you have something common with Thorntwist,” the elastic mask stretched giving away her poisonous smile; the squinting eyes glanced predatorily. “Then it may be a gift… To us! We may put a bold dot at that tonight.”

Misty looked around, noticing that her friends were doing the same: evidently, each of the girls was estimating their chances and the prognosis wasn’t optimistic. In the given circumstances, they couldn’t attract any helpful attention and make it through alive simultaneously. As they noticed, all the saboteurs were armed and nopony gave a look of being unconfident about that.

“We’re taking them!” commanded the rattlesnake in unicorn mare guise, taking a look around and seeing that her team, stallions and mares, mostly finished with their malicious job and started gathering around their leader. “You and you!” she pointed at the chosen ponies. “Help these two escort them to the old elevator cage and lock them in for now. I need to decide what to make of those nosy chicks,” she raised one eyebrow unequivocally. “Don’t get your eyes off them until locked, chisel-heads!” barked she at nastily smirking thugs. “Now move, everypony!”

“So… What do we have at hand?” Windy started grimly, when silence and darkness wrapped around them, the footsteps of the saboteurs grew farther and farther, finally fading. “We found out the reasons for the accidents… Even if I have no feasible idea how some fleshy crap can explode,” huffed she with disgust. “Hands tied, cage locked, with future unknown but hardly bright. Unless they…” she chuckled cutting her phrase, yet everypony understood where her thoughts were drifting.

The girls found themselves back into the factory underground again; moreover, passing the first and second levels of the basement, the unknown bandits took them further into the tunnel. Walking not so far, they most likely reached that tunnel turn, which glimpsed in girls’ flashlights, when they examined the crack in the basement wall. Going a little further, their escort stopped at the old metal cage, large enough to fit not only several ponies but some considerable excavation machine. Unfortunately, despite the size of the cage, the bars of it were close to each other, not leaving an opportunity to squeeze between them. Contrary to the factory building, there was electricity in that part of the underground; the distant sound of working generators explained the autonomous and temporary nature of the setting.

In the dim flickering light, the girls had time to notice the tunnel endlessly running into the thickening twilight; a sideway not far from them blocked with a formidable gate was to contain that elevator shaft the cage was taken from. They weren’t given a chance to spot more: pushed into the metal compartment and seated onto the dusty floor, the girls were neither untied nor given any other word, the thugs simply left, locking the rusty cage and turning off the scarce lights.

“Yeah! I would like to see things more optimistically, but…” Flaunty was to admit. “They didn’t muffle us, didn’t search us over. They took nothing, not even cell phones, except the flashlights… the latter, I suppose, only because they were large and heavy, and could serve as a weapon.”

“Cell phones are futile here, wouldn’t be any signal,” Misty pursed her lips, fighting the growing guilt and savvying frantically about their further step. “But they didn’t even check if we took any evidence…”

“I suppose we all know what it could mean,” Lacy sighed quietly; sitting next to Misty, the girl leaned closer and did her best to let out a semblance of encouraging smile.

“Another accident,” grimly nodded Flaunty in the darkness. To girls’ bewilderment, it turned out to be not absolutely dark for their accommodating eyes: they could easily see the contours of each other and the cage around, even facial expression if leaning closer. The pegasus filly added. “This time with us taking not the last role in it.”

“Girls… I drag you into a tight vice again!” Misty was about to let a tear, doing her best not to give up and keep thinking. “I’m worse than hopeless… Please forgive me!”

“Oh, come on! Stop that. Each of us volunteered… just like the other time,” Windy moved a bit on the metal floor. “We suspected the variants, we wanted an adventure… Here is the adventure! Don’t blame yourself again, pal! Arghhh…” she groaned with strain.

“What’s up, Windy?” Misty perked up as the tied hands allowed her. “Are you hurt?” Lacy and Flaunty exclaimed simultaneously.

“No, I’m fine!” Windy kept fidgeting though. “The pose isn’t that much comfortable, you know,” chuckled she forcedly.

“They may, at last, find some use for those crystals stored there,” Lacy’s thoughts returned to the matter of their nearest future. “I assume those… things,” Misty almost heard as her friend cringed, “can react with the crystals somehow… explosively, leaving that black powder as the residue.”

“That’s what she meant under “the gift for them”,” muttered Misty. “Relatives, friends or strangers… if we are done with, Thorntwist is in even deeper shit than he ever was before. And his business is definitely a goner!” added she. With rust and dust reaching her nostrils, the girl couldn’t hold back a loud sneeze. “Sniff-f-f… Sorry!”

“Yeah…” Windy Mane kept huffing and tinkering on her spot.

“Are you sure, you’re okay?” Flaunty leaned closer trying to see what was going on with her sister. “Oh!”

Something rustled on the floor.

“Yeah! And one thing I agree with that bitch about…” Misty heard Windy’s slightly panting but triumphant voice behind her ear. “Those “chisel-heads” couldn’t even make durable knots!”

“But how?” to her amazement, Misty already felt her wrists untied.

“I strained my arms, being tied, and thus gave myself some slack of the rope,” explained Windy, nuzzling Misty’s ear lightly. “Thankfully, they didn’t tie the elbows as well, what that icy bitch wanted most likely. The rest is pure luck…”

“So! Stop blaming yourself, pal!” Windy addressed the rest of the knots, freeing the girls. “And start thinking how to get us out of here.”

Jumping to her feet in a heartily flurry, Misty grabbed the untied friends in a bear hug, squeezing the girls: Windy even groaned, rubbing her side when released. But her eyes were smiling, just as Lacy’s and Flaunty’s. Then next moment the girls turned serious though.

“We need to remember the way up precisely!” Lacy and Flaunty leaned over the basement plan – the thugs failed to search them properly indeed. “So we can blaze outside and call mister Thorntwist.”

“Yeah, that turned out being above our league yet!” unwittingly confessed Windy, giving them the gas lighter miraculously found in her pockets; the girl walked around the cage, flexing her numb legs and arms.

‘We have no time to waste!’ Misty rushed to the door. Biting her lip pensively, she was staring at the old lock for a minute. ‘Well, with nothing else to try…’ crouching at the lock, she took the barrettes out of her mane and began digging in its guts, trying to find movable parts.

‘Damn, I turn out a terrible leader!’ Misty kept torturing the lock for good ten minutes and her conscience for much longer; the girl managed to fixate a couple of pins, but the rest few were not going to give up easily. With her conscience things went even worse – it didn’t show any willingness to be tamed and kept biting back harder and harder each time. ‘Their lives are threatened for the second time in a row under my, even informal, guidance!’

‘Every leader carries the load of responsibility,’ retorted her small voice. ‘The better the leader, the heavier the load, you know…’

The improvised lockpick kept crackling thinly, feeling the innards of the old rusty mechanism. Holding her breath, Misty was catching every tiny change of sound.

‘Besides, under your guidance, you managed to extricate yourself quite nicely…’

“How’s it going, pal?” cautiously asked Windy, stopping behind. “Need any light?” the girl cringed. “I hate being useless, but there is not much I can do otherwise…”

“About halfway through!” exhaled Misty, almost sticking her tongue out. “No thanks, mate, it’s nothing to see here actually, I’m rather listening…” she let out a strained smile. “I’m afraid we need help none of us can provide at the moment,” added the filly under her breath.

‘Yeah, once… when the actual threat appeared a bit overestimated! Fran wasn’t going to hurt any of us,’ Misty rebuked inwardly. ‘Now, when the danger is real… we’re in the deep… gutter!’

‘But, you had no idea, the threat was artificially agitated back then, yet made fast and proper decisions!’ glimpsed in her mind mischievously. ‘You’re doing not bad so far either. The less you stick to despair instead of real acts, the better.’

Thankfully, even if she never tried that before, Misty could aid the process with her magic a bit, keeping the fixated pins in place with her aura, while her hands were busy with the rest of the work. Another cautious turn and the lock produced another louder click; however, Misty didn’t like the sound of it. One of the barrettes started moving loosely.

‘Oh, no! Sweet Harmony, no!’ with the sinking heart, Misty stared at the broken barrette sliding out of the mechanism. Attracted by the sob of despair, her friends turned their heads.

‘Nothing’s gonna work!’ the golden aura faded, releasing the lock; the broken barrette fell out of the trembling hands to the floor. Breathing fitfully, Misty hid her face in the palms. ‘Mom, dad! Fran! If we die, could I see her? Could I stay, as Fran did?’ flashed in her head. The girl pursed her lips firmly not to cry out, squeezing out regretfully instead. “Girls! I’m sorry… I’m so useless…”

A mutual gasp of bewilderment was an answer to her.

“None of you is useless to the others, as long as you are accepted and trusted by the rest!” whispered in her sadly flattened ear and a feel of soft hands on her shoulders made Misty’s heart jump but of joy that time. “We are with you and each does what she can on her place!”

“Fran!!! But how…” in a wink, Misty turned around to appeared from the thin air unicorn mare, dressed so casually – dark-blue loose shorts, a beige, tied under the breasts shirt and black soft flats – that her homely look contrasted with the surrounding strikingly. Not waiting for an answer, the filly wrapped her arms around the mare, snuggling her face to Fran’s chest; the girl’s eyes trailed with tears, shoulders started shaking, as Misty burst into sobs. “I… I’m so happy to see you, sis!”

“I’m always near, Misty! No matter where you are, dear!” with Misty’s touch, the mare seemed to shine from inside, tenderly hugging the filly and stroking her mane soothingly. “All you need is to call! Calm down, dear, don’t cry…”

Exiting their stupor, Misty’s friends surrounded her and Fran; the girls feared to make much noise at the threat of attracting the enemy’s attention, yet that didn’t prevent them from squeezing Fran and Misty in a huge mutual hug. The unicorn mare had a hard time trying to share her attention and touch with each girl, but Fran’s eyes shone: seeing how Lacy, Windy and Flaunty clung to her from all sides, she did her best to give them a motherly cuddle.

“You needed my help, girls, right?” Fran von Selle looked around the girls when they finally composed themselves; however, they still kept holding onto her, bringing a soft smile to the mare’s face.

“Absolutely!” not letting go of her cuddle, Misty exhaled intermittently. She took a breath, grasping her thoughts together. “Ehhh… A group of strangers wants that factory closed! We don’t know whom they work for or what their final aim is, but they sabotage the workflow here regularly. They caught us upon watching them after searching for some evidence in the old building basement. These ponies are well armed and threatened us with death…” Misty inhaled fitfully. With her story progressing, Fran’s crimson eyes darkened more and more. “I… Actually, I think that was their plan to… to make another “accident” with us as the victims. We need to get out of that cage! And warn mister Thorntwist…”

“The owner of the factory,” added Windy seeing the question in Fran’s eyes.

“He is very welcoming and cooperative,” Lacy let out a tiny smile. “But neither he nor we expected things to turn that grim!”

“…police, whoever else needed to stop this…” Misty fell silent, regaining her breath and snuggling closer to her named sister again.

“Yeah, their leader is more than serious to end any witness, let alone their mentioned but unseen boss,” noticed Flaunty, swaying her mane back. Windy and Lacy nodded in confirmation.

“Getting you out of that cage and outside of these catacombs is the smallest thing I can do, girls!” Fran spread her shoulders; her eyes flashed dangerously. “Let’s try fixing this picture!”

The next moment Fran stretched spreading her arms in the air; her tall elegant figure went afloat, lifting in the air. Starting from her long helical horn, the radiance spread all over her body, making it shine from inside brightly. Bewildered by that sudden move, Lacy and the pegasus sisters stepped back in confusion. However, Misty’s face brightened; she thought she knew what Fran was going to do.

‘Doing what she can with what she has! She is always like that and it works every time so far…’ smiled Misty, addressing the girls just in case. “Stay cool, mates! Everything is okay…”

Her friends kept staring at Fran. The shine faded revealing the pale naked body, which looked glowing in the seemingly condensing darkness. Mare’s long slender legs and firm shapely hips were stained in blood, which also covered arms, going denser to the palms and turning almost black at the fingers ending with long sharp claws. Her abdomen muscles strained as she arched in the air; the voluptuous breasts perked when she inhaled deeply; thin nostrils trembled as if feeling the prey. The draught blowing in the mine tunnel wasn’t that strong, yet the long, pitch black, glistening wetly mane fanned in the air, framing the finely chiselled face with a threatening halo. Her tail flowed like a river of black void, falling and spreading on the elevator cage floor. With another sigh, large eyes opened wide, darkness-filled and scanning around. Misty couldn’t hold herself from feasting on her sister’s look, beautiful even in that eerie ghostly form.

“Fran?” unconfidently called Lacy, dumbfounded by the transformation.

“It’s okay,” repeated Misty with a sly mien. “Fran simply tries to fit the situation and effectively get us outta here. Right, sis?”

Fran nodded: the reassuring expression of the unicorn mare turned out so contrasting with her smile with the multitude of needle-sharp teeth. Nevertheless, her eyes were looking the same way as they did before – surprisingly, the girls could see the attitude in those wide lakes of flowing darkness effortlessly.

With a sigh of relief, Lacy stepped forward and softly placed her palm over Fran’s stomach, feeling the instantly straining abdominal muscles. The mare touched her shoulder, giving it a tender stroke; her elegant yet dangerous fingers trembled slightly.

“Phew! You nearly got me for a moment, Fran!” Windy breathed out with a relieved smile. “Now, how are we going to escape?”

“Stand back, girls!” that Fran’s voice was deep and echoing, vibrating and causing their skin to crawl. The mare released Lacy and moved her aside ever so softly.

With wide-open eyes, the fillies watched Fran heading to the locked door: followed by the cloud of floating mane and tail, the mare slid forward; the thin fingers with sharp claws grabbed the metal grille.

For a short second, nothing was happening.

Then the bemused girls saw, how darkness started condensing around Fran’s palm; flowing and enveloping the metal bars, it trembled in the sight like heated air. Something crackled, tingled and… with muffled metallic rustle the cage wall started to fall apart as if being corroded before girls’ eyes and crumbling into dust. In a minute, a gap with uneven rusty edges, large enough to fit an adult pony through, formed.

Looking over her shoulder and giving them another toothy smile, Fran slid out of the cage and gestured the girls to follow. They needed no second invitation, starting up at once and fluttering outside after the ghostly unicorn mare.

Dashing through the dark halls and stairwells after their saviour – the glow Fran emitted was enough to find the way safely – Misty felt the inexplicable wish to laugh joyfully despite the entire severity of the yet far from its ending situation. ‘Now everything is going to be alright!’ The rest of the girls ran as if suddenly gaining a second wind, but the cheerful smile touched their faces as well.

Fran stopped only once, amidst the first level of the basement. Arching her neck like a swan, she bent her head and inhaled, looking around the dark hallway as if trying to sniff out something. Alarmed by that sudden change of pace, the girls gathered around, watching the concerned mare.

“We are watched…” simply stated Fran, turning around and making her long flowing hair fan into the air even more; her eyes were trying to pierce the depths of the basement as if what she sensed could be material. “There is another spirit in here. Powerful! Ancient…”

“Is it dangerous?” eager to verify her guess, Misty hopefully looked up into Fran’s face.

“No…” the mare closed her eyes for a second. “It was dormant for a long time. Now it is watching us… but I can feel no threat. Perplexity rather.”

“It’s unsure about our goals,” Fran looked at the girls pensively; the clawed hands softly grabbed Misty and Lacy by their shoulders. “Girls, please be careful! With the local equipment and machinery…”

They slowed down at the basement door only: Windy and Flaunty were restoring their breath, trying to inhale through the nose slowly; Lacy leaned on the wall, taking off her glasses for a second and wiping the forehead. Misty took out her cell phone and was quickly typing a short message.

“It’ll be sent as soon as we exit and the connection is restored!” she tapped “Send” and approached the heavy door with Fran, who dimmed her glow considerably: both leaned to the door leaf and listened carefully.

“I can’t hear anything, not right behind that door at least,” Misty’s palm lay over Fran’s hand; the unicorn mare let out a smile.

The next thing she did, made all the girls, including Misty, freeze in momentary shock, despite it wasn’t that unexpected considering Fran’s nature. The glow faded completely and Fran simply seeped through the door into the machine hall: first her face, letting the mare peek outside cautiously, then the rest of her gorgeous even in its bloody eeriness body. The tips of her mane and tail sank into the door leaf and complete silence fell for a second, so the sound of four slamming mouths could be perfectly heard. Then, with the sound of quietly turning lock innards, the door slowly opened. The girls exchanged bewildered glances; sometimes, they still had to get accustomed to Fran’s peculiarities.

However, they didn’t have much time for recomposing; Fran already beaconed them from the stairs behind the open door. Trying to stick as close to her as possible, the girls slowly went upstairs entering the coal-dark production hall. Either the moon had set or the clouds had covered the entire sky – the girls had no other source of light there, except the faintly glowing ghostly mare figure in front of them. Windy took out her gas lighter, but Misty shook her head; they needed to stay unnoticed as long as possible – the ajar window they could escape through was at the other end of the hall.

Misty took Windy’s hand; accommodating a bit, her eyes could yet barely see the huge silhouettes of the machine tools darkening around. At that moment, they looked weird and intimidating. Feeling the racing pulse on Windy’s wrist, Misty realized that each of her friends was ready to jump upon hearing even the tiniest noise from the hall. Rather feeling than seeing Fran’s lead and flowing mane on her face, Misty tried to step track in track with her named sister, remembering the narrowness of the passages and all the sharp edges and corners around.

“Halt, bitches!” the sudden bright ray of light nearly blinded the girls for a moment, startling and disorienting them at once. A moment of tense silence! Then the passage in front of them exploded with the screams of terror. “AAAAARGHHHH!!! Tartarus! What is it?! Shoot her, shoot!!!”

Suppressing the wish to cover her ears from all the yelling, Misty realized, with a vengeful inner smile, that the light of the lamps of the waiting for the girls and ambushing them thugs fell on Fran, illuminating her in all the glory of her horrific ghost form. The colourful bubbles were floating in front of her eyes; blinking them away, Misty managed to notice the rising dully glaring barrels…

Fran’s reaction was lightning-like!

Like in the slow-motion movie, in the flash of suddenly flaming light, Misty noticed the stack of empty wooden crates bursting into the cloud of separate planks and splinters, exploded by the mysterious force. In a fraction of second, they formed a solid wooden shield in front of the mare and two fillies clinging to her. Lacy and Flaunty fell slightly behind; Misty saw how one instinctively covered another with her wings.

The gunshots were nothing for Fran, but she did her best to protect the girls. Lit by the flashes spat from the gun barrels, two thugs retreated; a few more desperately gazed around, seeking where to hide in that narrow space. The bullets slowed down in the suddenly thickening and almost flowing like liquid air; Misty heard how they lazily drummed into the wooden shield unable to break through and falling on the floor with distorted metal tingle.

The guns shut; empty, the two stallions continued to retreat, reloading feverishly. Their bemused comrades behind only impeded them. Meanwhile, the air around seemed to be electrified to the brim, making the metal constructions of the machine hall grind and groan; sparkles and discharges flowed along them. Shooting at the girls was the worst decision the bandits could ever make, infuriating Fran over the limits. Guided by her will, the wooden shield split into two parts. More horrified screams, as they threw another glance at the exasperated ghostly mare.

Lunging forward, her hair fanning around like a coal-black with silvery strands halo, Fran spread her arms; the blades of claws aimed at the intruders and she evulsed a shriek, which seemingly condensed the air even more and made friends’ blood freeze for a moment. Two parts of the improvised shield rushed forward, slamming the thugs to the floor and giving them no chance to reload; falling to pieces, they bombarded the rest, knocking down the stallions and hitting the most sensitive parts of their bodies.

Squinting at the opening image, Fran exhaled forcedly and another powerful gust of air swept the thugs and their weapons to the end of the passage, leaving them there unconscious. The wooden planks started gathering, ready to reflect another sudden attack if necessary.

Automatic gunfire burst stitched the large machine tool housing right above Fran’s head!

“Well, well, well!” the familiar venomous voice reached their ears from behind. “Quite impressive, bitch! But you can’t control all the directions at once, right? Not at this time for sure,” drawled it with a tint of spiteful delight.

With a deep hiss resembling the sound air passed the subway tunnel with, Fran turned around; Misty and Windy snuggled to her at the view revealed.

“You can try of course!” nastily giggled the masked unicorn mare. “Why not? Perhaps we couldn’t blow their heads off with the guns put directly at them before you reach us. Perhaps… Or not…” Two of her henchponies held Flaunty and Lacy firmly, guns at their napes, not giving them a chance to move. Hands akimbo, their leader grinned widely, visibly relishing the effect.

Squinting at her sullenly, Fran produced a sound as if a lion was waking up in its cage. She was hugging the two girls carefully; the wooden debris was slowly crawling from behind, gathering in a new barrier.

“Come on, think!” the poisonous mare continued scoffing. “We can kill these two chicks right now if you don’t behave… and the rest two probably during the resulting mess. Or… we can take them all with us and… probably nopony gets hurt.”

‘No way!’ Flaunty barely shook her head. Feeling the cold metal so close, she still thought. ‘Negotiating with these bastards is the worst trap you can fall into!’

The sudden change of expression of the girls’ faces and caught both Lacy and Flaunty and even their captors off guard. Utterly dumbfounded by their look of sheer bewilderment, Lacy squinted her eyes at Flaunty; the pegasus girl replied with the same puzzled glance. Some metal rolling reached their ears from behind, making the holding them thugs worry.

Rumbling in the darkness of the hall like some waking beast, a giant machine tool at the end of the line started coming to life to everypony’s shock. The hull was rising, lifting its round hunch above the rest of the machinery and wresting out the dimly visible extremities from below; something tingled and crackled as the new inscrutable creature seemed to flex after the long sleep. A few small cogs rolled to the girls’ feet from behind.

The main door of the production hall boomed under some impatient force applied; the sound of lock reached them accompanied by the hum of concerned voices outside.

Flaunty heard the choked hiss leaving the throat of the holding her stallion; something made him lower the gun unwittingly and the girl dared to throw a glance over her shoulder.

Right in time to see, how the dark silhouette advanced with agility unexpected for its size and form. The chains and conveyor bands, released from its depth, swirled in the air like dimly glistening tendrils. The grip unclenched and the girls heard the metal clank of the guns falling on the concrete floor: one of the metal tentacles wrapped around the chest of the thug holding Flaunty, another grabbed Lacy’s captor by hands, more extremities reached out to aid. The head of the goons, the nasty unicorn mare whisked somewhere aside in the last second, dissolving in the darkness and dropping from sight.

With satisfied rumbling, which sounded somewhat mockingly to the girls, that monster of the machinery turned around and crawled to the basement, dragging its catch – the screaming and wriggling bandits – with it.

“Sweet Celestia! What… is going on here?!” the main doors slammed open, letting the bright lights inside and revealing Nordy Thorntwist and a bunch of his workers rushing inside. Thorntwist froze at the doorstep, his jaw started to drop, while his eyes quickly brushed around, noticing the scattered unconscious strangers, agitated and irate Fran mothering the surrounding and cuddling to her girls and the dark something disappearing on the basement stairs. “I… ehh… What?!” he seemed to lose all the words at once.

To her credit, Fran caught herself momentarily: the flash of light enveloped her, while the dumbfounded factory owner struggled to brace his thoughts and feelings, revealing a second after that a casually dressed young mare in soft shoes, jeans and a free fit shirt, combed and neat, expressing the polite puzzlement. She glanced down at Misty still clinging to her side: only the monstrous effort allowed Misty to hold back laughter when Fran winked most jocosely.

“Oh… Errmmm… Take these guys… mmm… and lock them until the police… arrives!” mister Thorntwist finally recomposed, finding addressing his ponies to be the most rehabilitating thing to do first. The strong stallions didn’t linger, nodding and grabbing the lying around thugs in pairs and carrying them out.

“I… errr… Are you okay, girls?” he turned to the friends a bit cautiously, keeping suddenly appearing from nowhere Fran in mind. Besides, his eyes were returning to the basement entrance from time to time; however, Thorntwist didn’t rush to discuss that part of what he saw or couldn’t find the fitting words yet.

“Yes, mister Thorntwist,” Misty let out a diplomatic smile. “Now we’re fine.” She threw another glance at Fran, who did her best to avoid excessive attention. “You appeared very fast and hopefully take care of the things, secure the factory and…”

“I called the police as soon as your message arrived,” quickly nodded Thorntwist; apparently, he grabbed on that talk as the only means to support normality at that moment. His eyes still alternated between Fran and the basement stairs, where the creature retreated. “Then I gathered everypony I could and hurried here to find… to find…” Nordy stumbled and spread his arms helplessly as if saying “To find all of this!”

“This exactly is what I need to talk with you urgently about, sir!” watching the direction of his glance, Misty said firmly. She took out her cell phone, quickly showing him something on the screen. “About this and a certain… contract, you can’t be uninformed about. Besides,” she brushed through more photos, demonstrating them, “things turn out much more serious than we expected. So…”

“Okay,” Thorntwist gave up, sighing in agreement. “I must admit, I was wrong about the… spirit. I wonder if I can fix things now…”

“And that’s what we need to talk about, too…” nodded Misty seriously.

“But… forgive me my bluntness, miss Lagoon,” Thorntwist finally decided to ask the question teasing him since arrival; the stallion threw another suspicious glance at Fran casually bringing Lacy, Windy and Flaunty in order and chattering with them nonchalantly amidst the herd of workponies estimating the damage made to the production line, “who the… Who’s that lady with you? For a moment I saw…”

“Oh, that’s my older sister Fran,” Misty waved her hands in a calming gesture, making the cutest face she was capable of at the moment. “She came to help us with a slightly tight situation. Very capable unicorn… as you see, she could stun and hold them up for the time necessary to sort the trouble,” she sported a bright reassuring smile, seemingly not paying attention to Thorntwist’s attempts to verify if he wasn’t going completely mental. “So, where can we…”

“Excuse me, sir!” the main doors let through one of the workers. The stallion was puffed a little and took a breath before reporting. “The police… They took the intruders! They said they would perform the first aid in the precinct, sir.”

Just barely recomposed, Thorntwist turned as if he was suddenly hit with the sack of cotton again. He blinked, alternating his wild glance between Misty and the stallion.

“How… I…” he began stuttering, causing the girl to feel for him. “I-I spoke with them five minutes ago… They s-said they couldn’t arrive f-faster than forty minutes… even if I asked them to hurry… errmmm… as the situation was urgent.” He looked at Misty in dismay as if asking for emotional support and explanation. Her friends coming closer and pulling Fran with them didn’t make his condition easier.

“The police?” Misty addressed the worker. “You mean they had cars, uniforms, badges and so on…” The stallion nodded in confusion. “Hmmm…” what she heard made the filly gloom pensively. Softly hugging her from behind, Fran shared an understanding glance with Misty.

“Sir!” another stallion approached. “A visitor is waiting for you in the parlour. Regarding all the things happening here… Would you…”

“No, no, no!” Misty raised her hand; feeling the warm approving squeeze on her shoulders, she tangled her fingers with Fran’s softly. “Mister Thorntwist, please! Devote me half an hour first… It’s vital!”

12.

Caressing the shore, small turquoise waves came one by one, rolling over the tiny stones on the white with pinkish tint sand and quickly fading with the flakes of almost transparent foam. Afternoon sun flooded the forested hills, the beach, the endless water mirror everywhere an eye could see with its warm light. There was a tiny shining diamond, emerald or aquamarine at the tip of each ray hitting the smallest ripple; calm Horseshoe bay surface sparkled with myriads of them. The light breeze crossed the narrow stripe of the beach, ruffling its green mane of rich vegetation where the ground went uphill and bringing the salty freshness tinted with iodine. Without that wind the shore would most likely turn into a frying pan at midday hour; however, with the tender breath of sea and shade from a few palm trees towering over the first line of bushes and a providently taken beach umbrella, that beach turned into probably the best place in the world Misty knew. Why probably? Simply the best! Maybe except for some small tropical islands…

Just like the mentioned islands, this small cove was a completely secluded place; to reach it safely one had to know well the narrow overgrown path across the stony hills on the shore. It turned into Misty’s corner of paradise since the times she came there as a foal with the parents during the rare days when Lagoon family stayed home – their actual home not some expedition abode. A tiny dent on the long Horseshoe bay shoreline, protected from both sides by the high cliffs protruding far into the water, it had enough space for a few close to entirely enjoy the blessing of the ocean when the latter was in a peaceful mood.

Hiding her face in the shade of the large striped umbrella, hands behind her head and her eyes closed, Misty Lagoon reclined on the wide beach mat the friends brought with them. Lulled by the tenderly whispering tide, the girl lazily fought the wish to fall asleep, letting the salty breeze lovingly touch her hot naked body.

“Mmmm… So wonderful that we could still get to the beach! Windy was grumbling that if she knew that, she would have squeezed the ball in her bag anyway, but she is happy!” pulling Misty out of her dreams, Lacy giggled. “We all are! Thank you, Misty! This place is awesome!” she rubbed her cheek on Misty’s inner thigh tenderly.

Unlike her unicorn friend, Lacy preferred to stay entirely in the sun, motivating that by: “I became too pale with all the studies!” Thus the girl rested her nape on Misty’s venus hill, hugging her friend’s hips and exposing every possible inch of herself to the sunlight.

“I’m glad,” smiled Misty with her eyes closed. “It was my own secret place since early foalhood. And I don’t mind it becoming ours!”

“So, we managed to combine work and pleasure this weekend,” the unicorn girl sweetly stretched with a light moan, enjoying the touch of Lacy’s silky skin on her legs. Now the term “work” didn’t sound to her somewhat strange, unfitting and Misty didn’t even feel surprised by that. “I like the outcome… Even if I have a feeling that we barely scratched the top of an iceberg. A very mysterious iceberg…” uttered she, raising slightly on her elbow and watching, how Flaunty and Windy played further on the shoreline, laughing and splashing in the waves. Covering their spread wings and manes in small drips, the water shone on girls’ fit tanned bodies with thousands of gems; gathering into larger ones, they occasionally ran down the curves in thin trails. Misty caught herself upon a strong wish to run her lips and tongue up those streams gathering them.

“What’s bothering you, dear?” throwing back her head, Lacy looked up into Misty’s eyes attentively; soft braids tickled Misty’s thighs. “We solved the case, right?”

“Know what, we found the reason for the incidents on the product line. That’s given!” the sensation was borderline arousing; with a light flush, Misty tried to distract herself. “Nopony will get hurt anymore… not because of the sabotage at least. The underground tunnel is sealed again and with all the information at hand, Thorntwist can deal with, or better say, prevent further attempts of a similar kind. The factory is safe and can work as intended, it seems… Especially considering the insider revealed himself and fled!”

“But?..” Lacy outstretched her arm up, reaching to her friend.

“His own words aren’t letting me go: by that act, whoever was attacking the factory, would rather end it than made Thorntwist sell it at a… bargain price,” Misty’s palm met Lacy’s, entangling the thin fingers; the unicorn girl let out a tender and musing smile. “I’m afraid there is more to that than a simple raider seizure, Lacy.”

“I had a chance to talk to mister Thorntwist… before things spun fast,” elaborated Misty, squeezing Lacy’s hand lightly and playfully running the toes along her hip and side, making the earth filly tickle and wiggle with laughter. “If he finds out anything in addition to what we already know about the malefactors… and it isn’t confidential for the factory business, he will let us know.”

“But I realize that he already has too much on his plate at the moment,” Misty shook her head pensively, touching Lacy’s wrist tenderly and smiling at the feeling of a small kiss planted on her inner thigh; Lacy’s cheek snuggled tighter to her. “Ah, Lacy! I’m being serious!..” the girl threw her head back in pleasure, letting the gust of wind play in her mane.

“He may forget about that,” she caught her breath, “and we’ll find out nothing.”

‘I’m already flushing! Is it the sun or…’ Misty moved a bit following the slowly crawling umbrella shadow.

“Don’t you say, you want to investigate deeper!” murmured Lacy, slowly caressing Misty’s leg with her free hand.

“Even if… I don’t what we could start with,” seriously admitted Misty, trying to concentrate and failing to look away from Lacy’s sunlit round firm breasts. Glancing at still horsing around Flaunty and Windy, she tried to explain. “I can’t believe that the passage we discovered was a simple digging under. Do you remember the sounds we heard, Lacy?” both girls unwittingly shuddered despite the hot sunlight. “It seemed there was way more space than we might think. And, what was more important, those saboteurs knew way too much about that underground: more than we found out and, surprisingly, more than Thorntwist knew.”

“As for me, there are too many questions unanswered!” light-magenta and green eyes met when Lacy turned over, looking fixedly at her perplexed friend. Misty began listing. “How many of the tunnels are there? Why? Where do they lead? How came, the trespassers knew about them and why Thorntwist didn’t take the underground system into account? Besides, not everything is clear about the spirit residing in the old building,” Misty shrugged. “It was too powerful for a simple ghost… yet as far as we know, there wasn’t any powerful curse or something alike connected to the facility.”

Lacy huffed indeterminately, but her fingers stopped on Misty’s leg.

“I think we could have more involvement when it came to the results,” Misty sighed. “But admitting how we got into the business, we should be thankful we were not refused at all. You see, I can probably continue for a long while,” smirked the filly. “For example, what if the factory itself wasn’t the primary goal?”

“You mean that everything was about the place, not the facility… Well, miss Lagoon,” Lacy rested the chin on her locked palms, leaning over Misty’s stomach. “I can’t imagine, how you plan to find the answers. I certainly don’t have any.”

“…and the main question,” added Misty, stroking Lacy’s shoulder pensively. “Whose were those thugs sabotaging the factory and attacking us? They appeared to be way better organized than some band. They had more ponies involved than we saw, kept their hand at the pulse and intervened as soon as it became known their avant-garde failed. How? By simply taking their captured members under police guise: they had the uniform, equipment, everything to look believable…”

Misty took a breath shortly and Lacy was to admit the reasoning, nodding slowly.

“…and if Nordy didn’t attract our attention to the wrong timing, we would keep thinking the bandits were given out to the officials till today. Same with those the… Spirit of the factory took away – they weren’t found, but… something tells me the spirit didn’t hurt them much. I bet they escaped as well somehow, even if scared shitless. Their bitchy unicorn leader easily escaped and if you ask me, I say she looked more like a trained professional. If we sum everything up, we’ll rather get an image of something more severe than a bunch of goons hired to threaten the owner.”

“To top that over… what was that leathery crap the bandits placed all over the production line?” remembered Misty suddenly. “I told mister Thorntwist about those things as soon as we could talk… and his guys found a lot of them hidden on the conveyor. Know what,” the girl squinted meaningfully, “they dropped one of them and the thing broke releasing some sort of black mist. It dissolved quickly, but…” she shook her head slowly, “throughout the entire course of magic in school, I never came across anything alike. What was the purpose of those? Were they supposed to react somehow? With what then?”

“You’re right, some things feel strange! But… you can’t do anything about that, dear… Let the officials and Thorntwist deal with the dangerous stuff!” The earth filly kept enjoying her view as if choosing something. “Where is your optimism, mate? We still may get our answers sooner or later.”

Misty chuckled faintly, brushing her fingers through Lacy’s soft mane.

“But we only have a few hours more to spend here today, before returning to Canterlot!” Lacy’s eyes sparkled slyly; she playfully nuzzled Misty’s stomach, causing her to let out a squeak of surprise. “Mmmm… Let’s not waste the quality time…”

“Tsk-tsk-tsk! What are we doing here?” the two winged shadows fell on the cuddling girls. Misty squinted, covering her eyes from the sun, while Lacy kept nuzzling her; sporting two wide smiles, Mane sisters returned. Having played enough, they now stood drying up their spread wings in the sun and stretching. Feasting her eyes on their long tanned legs powdered with the white sand, Misty involuntarily swallowed. That view or Lacy’s efforts already caused the hot tickle wave raising in her.

“Simply discussing the mysteries left unsolved after we, well, cracked the case,” trying to maintain the most innocent face, Misty bit her lip not to squeak as Lacy’s tongue kept travelling ever so slowly from her navel upwards. “I… I c-can’t tell for sure it can… be called that way.”

“Mmm… Something along these lines…” almost purred Lacy; she nested her cheek on Misty’s stomach and glanced up at the sisters.

“Oh, I see…” drawled Flaunty Mane, examining the girls with extremely mischievous mien.

“Hmm… You want to uncoil it further, Misty. For that we would need some permission at least,” Windy Mane swayed her hips; the girl started dusting sand off her legs. “I wonder if anypony would ever give us that… If you ask me, I think that Thorntwist regretted involving us… after it turned out to include gunfire and stuff,” elaborated the red-head pegasus throwing a meaningful glance at Misty. “To dig further in this case… Well, I’d say it would be one hay of the adventure, but… others, and I’m not talking about the ladies present, surely think otherwise. Well, except maybe a few.”

“Frankly speaking,” the girl’s voice became serious at once. “We barely managed to escape that tight moment.”

“She is right,” noticed Flaunty pensively. “Without Fran’s help… who knows how it would have turned…”

“That doesn’t mean we’re ready to retreat though!” With a smile Windy wrapped her arm around her sister’s waist, pulling Flaunty closer. “We simply need to be prepared better for the more troublesome situations. Right, Flo?”

“Yeah, preparation is the key,” Flaunty hugged Windy in response. “And more information about… the parties involved. I would so like to know, who stands behind those henchponies…”

“That’s exactly what Misty said a couple of minutes ago,” leaning on her elbow, Lacy threw back one of her braids. “According to her, the whole thing was too sophisticated for a simple raider seizure.” Her finger pensively drew a complex pattern on Misty’s stomach, progressively making the unicorn girl breathe harder. “Speaking of Fran, it’s truly awesome she could help. Knowing we can rely on that occasionally makes things a bit easier! Where is she now by the way?”

“She…” Misty took a breath trying to distract from Lacy’s hand. “She must be resting. I think she spent quite a lot of energy, so…”

“Oh! What a pity! I would like her to share this with us as well as the hard things!” drawled Windy; Misty nodded in agreement. “Anyway…” the red-head tomboy suddenly perked, “you two had too much of this mat for yourself only. Incoming!!!”

Before Misty and Lacy could utter a word, both pegasus girls flopped down at the large blanket, spraying them with a shower of small water drops from the wings; as for Misty personally, she got breathless for a second from that contrast. Flaunty’s lips intercepted the raising squeak, sealing it within their with Misty long kiss. After a moment, the wet touch stopped being scalding as Misty buried her fingers into Flaunty’s sumptuous mane, nuzzling the girl and pulling her even closer. Letting out a smile, with a gesture of a professional illusionist, Flaunty took a barrette out of somewhere; lovingly fixing it into Misty’s mane instead of the broken one, the pegasus filly sweetly conquered her lips again.

“Ahhh… There’s one thing I can’t fit in my head still…” Windy’s voice reached from below when she and Lacy stopped kissing; partying for a moment, the girls kept cuddling each other and Misty’s leg caught between. “Who was that visitor, arriving at the factory almost following the fleeing thugs? That wasn’t an official if you ask me! They spoke of them as about a single somepony…”

“Mmmm… yeah…” apparently, Flaunty was eager to avoid any distraction; the girl’s hand covered Misty’s breast and squeezed it lightly, their lips pairing again. Windy and Lacy exchanged understanding glances.

“Why something tells me that it was somepony we already knew very well…” muttered Windy; both girls snuggled to Misty’s thigh, almost touching with their noses. “Anyway! I don’t want to talk business anymore, not here and now at least!”

“Thankfully, we packed everything beforehand!” whispered Lacy with a smile, pulling Windy closer. “We have all the time till the bus departure… Unless this time somepony wants to book train seats instead…”

to be continued