Bait 'n' Switch Codology

"I vomited. After I saw... I..."

"... I'm not surprised."

"I feel like vomiting right now."

"I wish I had the... I wish I could vomit right now. Not hungry... I guess."

"..."

"I don't...?"

"..."

"What? What were you gonna say?"

"Nothing. I'm just gonna shut up and let you tell your story."

"..."

"... Thank you... Uh... what was your name again?"

"Gerald."

"Thank you, Gerald."

Bullseye was catching her breath outside the door. She'd just puked a stream somewhere on the floor behind her, and was barely standing, a paw gripping the door frame as she fought off the spontaneous shivering fit she had tearing up her shoulders. She was cold when she definitely shouldn't've been. Open mouth breathing, even through the stomach acid still staining her face and mouth.

She was just blankly staring out into the hallway, barely orange from Immersion. He was still in the room. She could hear him shuffling about. Aside from the rain, that was the only thing she could hear. Why can I hear rain, two floors down, from the center of the structure? She continued huffing, but looked up, where she could barely see the ceiling. The shadows danced along the beams, now with some light to dance to.

Bullseye stood up a bit straighter and used her opposite limb to wipe her mouth.

She turned, and saw Immersion had taken down the wire, and pulled up the nails. Telephone was laying on his side. Immersion stood over him, a stray hoof inspecting the fur on his neck.

Bullseye took a step into the room, intent on getting either an answer, or Immersion to respect the dead. "What are you-"

"Hello! Help!"

Immersion's ears perked, having heard the same thing she did.

"Help! She's hurt!"

Immersion looked at Bullseye, "Is that Snow Cone?"

"Sure sounds like it." Bullseye looked at Telephone Wire as Immersion stepped away.

"He's dead." He said, filling the phrase with finality intentionally. "We can't do anything for him. Let's go."

Immersion pushed through the doorway, leaving Bullseye to step backwards into the hall and watch him turn to leave towards the sound of Snow's voice. Bullseye took a shaky breath and quietly closed the door as she followed after him.

The hallway was measurably easier to traverse with horn light, even if it tinted everything around it. Finally being able to see would have calmed Bullseye's racing heart, steadied her rough breathing if she couldn't hear Snow Cone calling for help.

Immersion wasn't running. Sure, he was moving, but trotting steps were measured and specific. At each turn, he pointed the light from his horn down each hallway before continuing on. He's a professional... That comment about him being a cop? Seemed more like detective at this point.

"Somebody help!"

Immersion sped up. Bullseye kept the pace until they rounded a corner towards what Bullseye recognized again as the dining room, with white light coming from underneath the door. Both of them entered without waiting.

Floating boules of white magic floated around in the air around Snow Cone, casting the room in a static tint that mixed with Immersion's orange. It would have been pretty if not for the body Snow was cradling in her hooves.

Immersion responded first, totting around the table. "What happened?"

Bullseye seemed fit to let him have this one. She was far more shaken than he was, apparently. Just... take the backseat and calm down.

Snow Cone looked ragged, she still had a few tears on her muzzle, but she let Violaceus go and stepped away. "She-something came out of the dark. She's-she's hurt really bad." The poor mare was taking it far worse than Bullseye was, and she hadn't seen a pony get nailed to the floor.

Wave was dead from an impact wound to the back of her head. At a glance, Bullseye could just tell. You don't get very far in her line of work without picking up a few simple skills like that. Immersion apparently did too, after a simple inspection under the part of her mane where the blood was seeping out. "She's dead." He said simply, looking up and quickly glancing around the room.

"W-wh-" Snow Cone stuttered. "What? No! She-"

Immersion shook his head. "She's older than she looks. Some kind of treatment probably. It was probably half the impact, half the fall, but she's definitely dead."

Snow Cone dropped onto her flanks and the tears started flowing again. "No..." She said quietly. "I-" A shake wracked her body. "She can't be..." Bullseye took a few steps over and sat down with the mare. She didn't lean into any contact, but Bullseye still felt the need to be there.

Immersion turned back towards the body. "There's good news though." His horn lit, and Wave's mane lifted in his aura. "With a blooded impact wound, I can trace the murder weapon. We can find this bastard."

Snow Cone's shaking increased, but the tears stopped. Bullseye's brow furrowed.

Immersion did some magic, a flash and a twirl from his horn, and then a lamp shone orange like it was made of one of those glowy drinks. Immersion didn't waste any time lifting it off from the inconspicuous counter it was on, to find the blood underneath it.

Bullseye stood again, and took a single step away from Snow Cone. "Who puts the murder weapon back on the table?"

"Somepony who had the time to." Immersion said in subtle agreement as his face creased with focus and his horn exploded with light again. Waves of magic flowed like nearly invisible waves around the lamp stick, before spontaneously cutting back to simple levitation. He's not just a detective, he's a proper mage.

He drew his pistol and pointed it at Snow Cone. "Do you want to explain why this is covered in your aura?"

"WHAT?"

"The submissive maid? Are you kidding me?"

"Shut up for a second, there's more."

"I-" Snow Cone shook again, and whatever she tried to say was cut off by a choked sob.

"Something came out of the dark? In far reaching light like this? Something? Snow Cone?" The pistol levitated forwards, and Immersion intelligently kept his distance. Bullseye stepped in-between the pistol and Snow Cone. Immersion sent her a look, but she just lifted her paw.

She still couldn't believe it. It still didn't make sense. Her cutie mark was itching something fierce. She was till missing something.

She turned toward the maid and offered a paw. "Snow Cone."

The maid looked up at her, still cringing and shying away. She thinks... Bullseye knelt down. "Snow, I'm not gonna hurt you. At worst, you're gonna go to prison."

That got the blubbering started again. Damnit Bullseye, prison? That's the best you can come up with?

"I-I-I-di-" A hiccup. "Didn't mean- She just... I-" More tears. "It-it- Accident. I didn't-" A huff and more tears.

Bullseye reached out for Snow Cone's mane and gave it a gentle pat. It seemed to help.

"She found out." Snow choked. "I didn't mean to hit her so hard." Her hooves came up to Bullseye's paw and gripped it like a life line. "You have to belie-" another hiccup "-eve me. I'm sorry-I didn't mean to." Bullseye inched forwards in her kneel and hugged the mare.

Fuck. That was an admittance. Snow Cone had murdered Violaceus Wave. This whole situation is fucked.

"I'm-I'm so-rry!" Once Bullseye had initiated the hug, Snow had reciprocated like it was the last thing she was ever going to do. "I just wanna go home!" She continued to cry, "I wanna see my filly again!"

Immersion snorted, "Then you shou-"

Hoof steps. Multiple, and incoming.

"That's when I figured out the first part of the puzzle. Snow Cone wasn't the killer."

"She... she wasn't?"

"She did literally kill someone."

"She did, but she said it was an accident, and I was inclined to believe her. That, and if she was the cudgel wielding maniac from before, why use a lamp to kill Wave? And why stick around after the fact? Wave's death was just that, an accident, and as soon as I heard those approaching hooves, I was reminded of the actual danger."

"... If that's true, it still begs the question of why Wave was killed."

"..."

"..."

"What's that look?"

"Yeah-uh- I may have forgotten about that part? In the moment?"

"What?"

"How coul-"

"The oncoming ponies! There were things happening and I got distracted!"

Bullseye let go of Snow Cone and stood up. "Stay behind me." Then she turned to Immersion. "How many left?"

His eyes remained narrowed, but he got the message and turned with her to face the sound of incoming hooves. His pistol raised up in front of him, close enough for him to see down the sights of the tiny thing. "Four." Was all he said.

Then they waited. The hoof steps got louder.

Bullseye tensed, strained her ears. Prepared for a fight. If a pony with a cudgel came through that door?

They were going to die.

The moment dragged on, and a different noise resolved through the heavy hoof steps.

Talons.

Bullseye held out a paw to Immersion, who raised an eyebrow and lowered his pistol. Verglas and Johnson entered through the door, slowly revealing themselves in the light. Bullseye let out a sigh of relief, and Immersion holstered his pistol again, somewhere underneath his duster. Verglas matched Bullseye's happy look that they were both still alive after getting chased.

She didn't mention it though, cutting right to the chase. "The hell is going on." Ley summed up everyone's thoughts.

Bullseye opened her mouth but Immersion beat her to it. "Telephone Wire is dead-"

Snow Cone gasped and interrupted, "No! That- I didn'-"

Bullseye hushed her, "It's okay Snow, we know. You couldn't've."

"Wave's dead then." Johnson said calmly. Inspecting the mare, who had yet to be moved. She was still just laying sprawled out on the floor.

"Snow Cone killed her." Immersion answered, seemingly trying to match Johnson's grace.

Ley's eyebrows shot up, "whAT?!"

Bullseye continued standing in front of Snow Cone. "It's not what you think."

"Oh?" Verglas stepped up, "Please explain then!"

"Just relax!" Bullseye looked back towards Snow for a second, which was apparently the wrong move.

"We're in a labyrinth." Johnson stated.

"Where did you go when we all broke up, Johnson?" Immersion accused.

Bullseye tried to calm the group. "Wait! Stop!" It didn't work.

"Um... ?"

"I followed after you." Johnson answered, still low and steady. "Where did you go?"

"I was with-" Just as he turned to Bullseye, she shouted.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP."

A beat passed.

"Something bigger is going on here-"

"Hey, yo-"

Bullseye continued, "We can't be bickering. What do we know?"

Verglas was the first to talk. "That pony that chased us? They were a pony. Definitely." That rules out her and Terri.

Immersion nodded with Ley "Telephone Wire was strangled by hooves. So that checks out."

Wait

"Guys?"

Bullseye turned fully to Immersion, "What do you mean strangled? He was choked, wasn't he?"

Immersion shook his head, "That was what the killer was originally going for. They must have given up when you got there and gone for a quicker kill."

"Are you sure?" Bullseye took a step closer.

"There was blood in the eyes, and bruises around the neck." Immersion grumbled. "Yes I'm sure."

"So they were in a hurry." Johnson questioningly added.

Verglas narrowed her eyes, "A hurry to get down here, and kill another, perhaps?"

As soon as all eyes pointed to Snow, she pointed at the walls. "LOOK!"

Near the corners, blocked from vision by the paneling in the ceiling and seeping through the cracks in the wood was white smoke. It was already filling the air, and collecting on the ground.

"GAS!" Bullseye screamed, "EVERYONE OUT!"

There was a tumble of limbs towards the door. Ley got there first after leaping over the table. The doors jangled, but they stayed closed. "Locked!" She shouted, followed by a viscous cough.

"Immersion!"

His pistol drew with a flash of orange, and it hovered in front of the door for a moment.

Everyone held their breath while nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for?!" Ley shouted at him.

Immersion's eyes were jumping to points on the door, "I can't find the bolts! It might be magically sealed!"

"The kitche-" Snow's exclamation was cut off by a cough. Bullseye was starting to feel it too, the itching in her throat, the burning in her lungs and nose. They were running out of time.

Snow was already stumbling her way towards the hidden doors. "There's a way out though the other side of the kitchen!"

Bullseye's cutie mark itched. "Snow Cone! Wait!" She went stumbling away from the door too, coughing, and woozily twisting as her legs tried and failed to respond to her instructions properly. She nearly stumbled, but Johnson suddenly jumped to her side and started leading her forwards.

Ley had jumped up onto the table, scattering materials and taking a deep breath before catching up with the rest of them.

Snow Cone passed through the hidden doors and screamed, the yelp was cut off in the middle. No...

"Snow!"

The path through the smog lasted agonizingly long, Bullseye couldn't move any faster.

She had to move faster.

Eventually, she took a quick breath as soon as they barreled through the doors. Everything in her body jumped into action, expecting the cudgel or a gun or something.

It was just an empty kitchen.

The rest came in, and Ley shut the doors behind them.

"Where's Snow?!" Immersion shouted, coughing and stepping away from the door.

"Leave her! She killed Wave!" Ley argued

Johnson looked like he was about to punch her in the face, "She's the only one of us that knows how to get the hell outta here you idiot!"

With that settled, Bullseye was already shouting and coughing in tandem. "SNOW!" Not again "SNOW, TALK TO ME! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Bullseye didn't realize how loud she was until she turned to see both Immersion's and Johnson's ears folded down.

"Help me! I'm trapped!"

Bullseye spun around. Desperately trying to find where the voice came from. "KEEP TALKING SNOW! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I fell! There's-"

The rest was cut off by Ley flapping her wings at the door. The gas was seeping in, she was pushing it back with her wings.

They were running out of time. THINK BULLSEYE.

Everything went quiet. The flapping slowed, the metal in the kitchen glimmered from Immersion's horn light.

She passed through the door and whatever got her, it happened immediately. No where in line of sight. She fell. The yell cut half way through. She's still alive, close by, trapped, fell, cut-off, nearby, audible, cut-off, fell, close by-

Everything came back into focus, and Bullseye knelt down. "SNOW!"

Her paw came down in a fist on the tiles. The other was feeling along the grooves in the grout, the mixture of banging and feeling led her to something that didn't feel quite right. "SNOW! SNOW ARE YOU DOWN THERE!"

"The hell are you doing back there!?" Ley shouted over her shoulder.

"YES! HELP! IT'S FILLING WITH WATER!"

It was some flat thing, the grout lines disappeared, even though they were there visibly, and the impact of her paw on the fake tiles made it clear that there was an illusion. Immersion stepped up, having apparently figured out the same thing. "Move!" Bullseye rolled, instead of standing up.

A flash of light, and a pane of glass embedded into the floor revealed itself.

"Help me!" Snow cried. Really cried, the tears were audible. Bullseye rolled back and got a good look.

It was a small chamber made of metal, just barely big enough to fit a pony, it wouldn't've fit Johnson. Snow was stuck at the bottom, and water was flowing up from the grate at the bottom that made up the floor. There was no way out, and the water was already up to her fetlocks.

Immersion's pistol flipped out with zero hesitation, and a bullet went straight into the glass. Bullseye flinched from the volume, but watched the ping as the glass resisted with nary but a scratch to its surface.

"Shit!" Immersion shouted

"What's going on back there!?" Ley yelled back, still trying to keep the gas at bay. She'd taken several steps back, and Bullseye could tell from the exertion that they didn't have much time left. The doors were practically invisible at this point, covered in gas.

"Move." Johnson stepped up to the glass pane, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Bullseye wisely moved out of the way.

"That's when Johnson proved his innocence in all of this."

"He saved her?"

"Oh, yeah. It wasn't saving her that proved him innocent though, it was the way he did it."

"Explain?"

"He proved that if he really wanted to kill us all? He could have just done it. You'd expect somepony that size to be slow right? You know, lumbering, but back breaking punches, right?"

"..."

"His hoof came down on that glass four times before I could even blink. Not to mention the roar. He screamed like a dragon who just had their hoard stolen. You ever see someone punch through glass designed to stop a bullet?"

Bullseye recoiled with eyes wide. She felt the impacts as they happened. On the fourth, the one where she recognized what was actually happening, Johnson's hoof split open and covered the pane with blood on the fifth. Every strike involved raising his entire body up, making his torso jump back up, nearly getting air, every time the hoof came down. On the seventh strike, the glass cracked, on the tenth, his hoof went through. What was left of his crumpled leg reached around the inside of the shattered glass, and in a blur of brown fur stained red, he peeled the glass back until something broke on the edges. The broken glass cover got to enjoy a short flight as it flew across the room and exploded on the wall.

The entire series of events took three whole seconds to happen.

Bullseye shoved a paw into the hole and grabbed Snow just as Ley screamed in pain. Immersion bodily shoved Snow out of the hole and into Bullseye's arms with his magic.

"Mage rifle! Get down!" Ley stumbled away from the door, the gas pouring in as another hole got punched through the door and the floating gas like a viper moving so quick, that only the backlash was visible.

Bullseye bodily hefted herself and Snow up. She was still blubbering, Bullseye practically dragged her along as Johnson and Immersion both dove for cover. How the fuck can he even move still. Even with his leg broken all the way up to the shoulder, Johnson was still the fastest to find cover of any of them.

Bullseye got Snow around the corner of a pillar, and then sunk down, whipping Snow around with her. "Snow!"

More crying.

Bullseye lightly shook her, "Snow! Focus! You have to tell us how to get out of here!"

Another crash, the sound of a mage rifle round passing through tiles and metal like butter.

Snow nodded and sucked in a breath, already moving. Bullseye leaned out from cover to get a look.

It was a monster.

Near chest height to her, and not proportional either. The limbs were extended, the fur was missing in those particular regions. The pony in question, even under the mask, had fluid spewing and foaming at their mouth glittering with alchemical magics. Their steps were jittery, shaking with barely contained energy that simply didn't belong in their body. Muscles rippled and strained against the flesh underneath, tearing in certain places, weeping crimson blood down their coat and onto the floor.

The mage rifle in their front hoof leveled in her direction in the split second she stuck her head out of cover.

A crack sounded off, gunpowder, and Bullseye watched in stunned flight or fight as one of Immersion's shots glanced off the pony's coat. Sending them stumbling and squealing in rage like a pig.

"This way!" Snapped Bullseye out of her trance, and she turned to see Snow hefting open a heavy metal door. A freezer.

Bullseye didn't hesitate, half jumping from four limbs to two. Her and Johnson reached the door first, and she watched him slide past on three legs as Bullseye roughly shoved Snow past the door with him and held it open herself. Immersion was next, he ran in trailing his gun in his aura and Ley over his shoulder. Her right wing had been nearly shot off.

Bullseye began to slam the door closed just as stallion, she was sure it was a stallion now, turned the corner and spoke.

"I wouldn't call it speaking. Really."

"How would you describe it? He was on something, I take it?"

"Like if you could still talk while you were drowning. It was loud, guttural, and it scraped at my insides."

"RUN-RUN-RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" They gagged in a yell, advancing on the door.

Bullseye slammed it shut and stepped backwards into the frigid air of the freezer. Her ears picked up the rest of the pony's terrifying proclamation.

"I'LL CATCH YOU."

She turned and dashed. Not really sure why anymore. She just had to get away. There was a hallway, there were ponies at the end of it. Go. Was all her mind told her. As she ran, holes opened up in the wall as Mage rounds passed through the walls, food and shrapnel of ceramic tiles flew in almost complete silence to her mind as she sprinted across the freezer to the opposite door. She stepped through as the other one opened, and Johnson slammed the portal behind her closed with a well placed buck that sent it rattling in its hinges.

Ley and Immersion were already running ahead, Snow had waited to start moving, and Johnson had already pulled ahead. So she kept running, ducking down instinctively as more destroyed ceramic shards flew from the wall. She heard the monster of a pony cackling as they fired round after round.

Then they were out of the opposing kitchen, and into more hallway. The cackling went quiet as Bullseye stumbled through the doors, but the rain didn't. She could hear the lightning, and she sprinted off, overtaking Johnson, who nodded to her as she passed.

"They're going the wrong way!" Snow yelled.

"Immersion!" Bullseye yelled up, but a peal of thunder silenced the sound. They turned a corner, and it was the only thing they could do to follow.

Snow gasped and stumbled just ahead of Bullseye. Her eyes snapped to Snow's form as she half stumbled, and as she was moving, she knelt down and grabbed Snow by the hoof. Snow tried to keep up with the dragging, but she was gasping and retching and whimpering every time Bullseye had to tug her forwards to keep pace.

Fuck this!

A twist, and a random application of force with limbs that she didn't know how to use properly led to Snow getting scooped up in her arms.

"It was sheer luck on my part, that I didn't fall. I don't even know how to describe what I did, I just did it."

"Why was..."

"I'm sure you figured it out already."

"..."

"Mage rifles are illegal for a reason. As far as they've been tested, infinite penetration, and completely silent. There are just some things that you shouldn't use on a fellow."

Bullseye's chest felt wet. The blood running down Snow's coat had found hers.

Snow continued to gasp, and lightly paw at Bullseye, staring off into the middle distance.

"Hold on Snow!" Bullseye and Johnson turned the corner.

Immersion was at a door with windows, rain was pouring in from the side. It was the center of the structure, the garden. "Move it! This way!"

Snow's words struck again, "WAIT!" That's the wrong fucking way idiot! There's no way out! Despite that, Bullseye kept running towards the door. There was too much going on for her to suddenly turn around.

A hoof wrapped around her paw. "I'm sorry." Snow said softly.

"It's okay Snow-"

"Beanie-I love you so much." Snow's words were strangled, from her position upside down in Bullseye's arms, stomach up, the blood was flowing from her face, strangling her words. The quarter sized hollow tube now running from her flanks to her chest was pressurized now. Bullseye could feel the heartbeat in the hoof grasping her paw slowing down.

Bullseye followed Johnson out the door, and into the gardens. It was too much. She was just moving.

Snow continued to whisper. "I'm sorry." Talking to something or someone unseen.

The rain and the sudden smells of being outdoors only amplified the confusion. A flash of lightning and the three seconds delayed peal of thunder covered the time it took for her to catch up to Immersion and Ley. They were struggling with the shed, it was locked of course. Snow started to convulse, shivering as the cold and rain water filled her fur and her wounds. Bullseye tried to shield her from the worst of it.

Immersion fired a shot at the door. Ley still couldn't get it open.

There was a crash of glass as the monster simply went through one of the windows, laughing all the while.

Bullseye snatched Immersion's pistol from the air as he tried futilely to slam it into the lock. She had better leverage, and shook her whole body with the force of desperately trying to break in.

Snow leaned over as Bullseye struck down again. She reached a hoof out, and there was the vibrant sensation from Bullseye's inner core of something happening as the lock picked itself off the door and fell to the mud.

Then Snow's heart stopped.

"IN. NOW!"

Bullseye wasn't sure who said it, but they all piled inside in a flurry of limbs, shoving past each other to get inside. Immersion's magical glow slammed the door shut behind them then snuffed out. Submerging the group in darkness, and the wet sounds of rain.