Lazy Bones

~4: Escalation~

“If you’re interested, I keep some books that might be of relevance,” Iron heart offered to Twilight as they walked along the street.

“You do?” she asked in surprise.

“Well yeah,” he said tapping his horn, “magic may not be my special talent but I still take an interest in it.”

Twilight could see his Cutie Mark clearly for the first time without his armour on, it was hard to describe, it looked like a sword with a heart shaped blade. An iron heart… Twilight always wondered how ponies were so conveniently named.

They reached the restaurant in good time, it was smaller than the one Twilight and her friends had visited on their first day, but it had no less of a fancy atmosphere. Upon taking their seats Twilight picked up where they left off.

“Well yes, I’d like that very much,” Iron Heart smiled in response as he glance over the menu, “I’ve been through everything I have and I can’t find anything that explains Pinkie’s behaviour.”

“I feel bad having to press charges against her when it’s obvious she’s under some kind of enchantment,” he said, sounding genuinely disheartened by it, “but what she did was too much to let slide.”

They sat in silence for a moment while they read the menu in more detail, and once they placed their orders Twilight started asking Iron Heart about the days since he’d moved away from Canterlot. Time went by far too quickly for Twilight’s liking, she was really beginning to enjoy the night when Iron Heart noticed the time.

“Maybe we should head out soon, how about I get us one more drink each then we’ll head on?” he suggested, Twilight nodded her approval finished the last sip of her own drink.

She sat in peace for a moment while Iron Heart walked up to the bar. He was taking a surprisingly long time, so standing up Twilight made her way in between the other tables until she could see the bar. There Iron Heart stood; locked in conversation with a mare Twilight had never seen before. For the last few days Twilight had been feeling inescapable emotions, but now it was worse than ever watching him talk to that other unicorn, while he was supposed to be here with her no less. She didn’t know who that unicorn was but Twilight hated her.

Just then she saw the two exchange farewells and Iron Heart picked up their drinks. Twilight skipped over and met him before he lifted them off the counter.

“Oh thanks,” she said snatching up her own drink, Iron Heart was surprised to see her but looked pleased none the less, “so who was that? Friend of yours?”

Twilight could barely keep the scorn in her voice concealed, but luckily Iron Heart didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah, she works with me in the guard; we just got a lead on those missing guards.”

Twilight forgot all about her moment of annoyance hearing this.

“Really, do you want to follow it up?” she asked sounding excited now.

“Twilight I’m off duty, and besides I wouldn’t walk out on you, what kind of stallion would I be?” Twilight returned his smile but wasn’t about to drop it.

“I’ll come with you, it might be fun,” she insisted. He looked as if he wanted to argue but seeing the enthusiasm in her eyes he decided to give in, so finishing their drinks they left the restaurant and Twilight followed Iron Heart as he headed off to the mill his protégé had mentioned.

~

Applejack slammed her glass on the bar, indicating to the barcolt she was ready for another glass. He walked over looking disgruntled.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” he asked not attempting to hide his annoyance.

“Ah’ll decide when ah’m done mister,” Applejack slurred.

“Do you even have the bits to pay for all this?” the colt demanded.

“Hold your horses, ah got your darn bits right ear,” Applejack said throwing a handful of gold coins onto the bar.

The colt scooped them up and counted them, then scowled turning to get another bottle for the already heavily intoxicated Earth pony. Applejack swayed on her stool and turned to see a pair of stallions watching her intently.

“Wha’chu lookin at?” she demanded.

“Why don’t I pay for that drink girl,” the closer one said leaving his friend and waking over to Applejack.

“Ah can pay fer my own bleedin drinks,” Applejack shouted trying to wave the stallion away, but he wasn’t deterred.

“Names Patches,” he said trying to sound friendly, his friend had left the bar, “what’s yours, pretty thing?”

Applejack glared at Patches, but when he wasn’t going to back away she shrugged and replied, “AJ.”

“Can I ask what that stands for?” he asked making Applejack’s blood boil.

“No yah may not,” she spat as the bartender turned around at last with a bottle of brown liquid and began pouring it into a glass.

“Just leave the bottle,” Patches said throwing another few bits over the counter. The bartender shrugged and walked away to serve somepony else.

Applejack was about to reach for the glass but Patches took it out from under her. She turned ready to yell in his face but saw he was just pouring more of the drink into the glass before sliding it back to her.

“Oh, well thanks ah guess,” Applejack said with a shrug.

“You’ve got quite the temper on you,” Patches commented, Applejack didn’t credit that with a response, just took another long gulp.

Setting the glass down she coughed heavily, it was like something got stuck in her throat, but she swallowed hard and found whatever it was, wasn’t bothering her anymore. She looked back at Patches who was still looking at her and was smiling wider than before.

“So what you want?” she tried to say, but knew it only came out half as legible as that.

“I just want to talk to a nice mare,” he said, sounding wrong in so many to Applejack, something about this guy gave her the creeps.

She was about to say something but began swaying dangerously on her stool.

“You alright?” Patches asked not sounding concerned at all.

“Ah’ll be fine,” but she tumbled off the stool only to be caught by Patches who heaved her to her feet.

“You look like you’re gonna be sick,” he commented, why was she still smiling, “don’t worry I’ll help you to the toilets.

With that Applejack didn’t struggle as she felt the stallion lead her out of the main bar area into the toilets. She did feel sick but as soon as they entered that small room, she felt something else, wary. She couldn’t shake the incident with Fluttershy out of her head, it gave her chills. Without even realising it Patches was leading her across to one of the cubicles, he really was smiling way too much to be normal, but Applejack couldn’t contemplate it as she felt her body about to collapse again. That was also weird, she prided herself on being able to hold her liqueur, she shouldn’t be in this state.

It was only as she heard the lock of the cubicle door slide shut that the pieces fell into place. Ever since Applejack and her friends had arrived in Hamlet she’s been feeling unusually angry, but now faced with her current situation, it was like the last docile part of her was snuffed out and her wrath was let free. Without hesitating she heaved her hindlegs up, and with all her might powered through, connecting with Patches torso and sending him crashing through the cubicle, sprawling onto the bathroom floor.

As she looked down at him curled up her mind thought of Fluttershy, and her anger just grew stronger. Without even trying to resist she walked over and began kicking the stallion with as much force as she could muster. Again and again, she felt his bones crack, heard him cry out in agony, saw him writhe in anguish, but she didn’t stop, not until he was completely still and even then she stomped on his head for good measure.

Stumbling out of the bathroom she was thankful for the loud music in the bar, she was sure nopony had heard Patches screams. Without even going to retrieve her drink from the bar, Applejack rushed from the building heading for the nearest cluster off bushed which she immediately began vomiting into. She saw a pair of mares avert their gazes in disgust, she didn’t care though. Straightening her hat she wandered away from the bar, she needed to lie down; she couldn’t resist the drug forever. Noticing an iron archway she passed through and found herself in a public park. It was peaceful here, reminded her of home, and as she collapse of the freshly cut grass her eyelids began to shut, and she smiled knowing her dreams would be of Sweet Apple Acres.

~

“Spike,” Pinkie whined for the hundredth time, Spike had finally had enough. He dragged himself up and slouched over to the bubble with contained Pinkie.

“I am trying to sleep,” he said gruffly, “and it’s kind of difficult with your annoying whining.”

“The just let me go,” she begged, “You must know how.”

Spike sighed and massaged his temples, “if I get you out of there will you leave me alone?”

Pinkie nodded rapidly and Spike drifted off to the bookcase looking for a familiar title.

Pinkie bounced happily down the stairs, her stomach was growling louder than ever, she needed food. Reaching the kitchen she was happy to see the others had done a small shopping, this should be enough to sustain her. And without waiting for permission, she dived in… again. The food didn’t last nearly as long as she’d hoped, so reluctantly she left the house in search of her next meal. It was pretty late, she didn’t think anywhere would be open… but that wasn’t going to stop her.

Rainbow Dash perked her head up as she heard the slamming of the front door.

“What was that?” she asked, momentarily distracted from her own situation.

“Does it matter?” Fluttershy asked, sitting on top of her.

“Course not, now where were we?” Dash said, herself satisfied smile returning. Fluttershy thought loudly about it for a few seconds as she looked around the room, her eyes widened as they they caught sight of Dash’s souvenir Wonderbolt flight suit.

“Hey Dash, do you like roll playing games?” Fluttershy asked playfully.

~

Rarity pressed her face up to the shop window momentarily; she examined the shop’s interior, just as it had been when she looked through earlier. Pulling back she reached into her new saddle bags and emerged with a rather peculiar looking tool, she couldn’t remember its name but the shady looking unicorn in the pawn shop had been kind enough to demonstrate how it worked. Placing the circular end on the window she twisted the dial feeling the suction cup stick to the glass. She then measured out the length of the arm and used it to draw a circle in the glass.

With that stage complete she pulled the whole device back along with the circular pane of glass she had just cut out using the tool. Placing it on the pavement and looking around to make sure there were no ponies who might stumble upon her, she delicately lifting one hoof into hole, angled her head through, and followed through with the rest of her body. Once she was inside she reached back into her saddle bags and produced four black leather hoof covers, not only were they stylish and they prevented her from leaving hoof prints over the shop. Scowering the shop she began gathering any and all things that grabbed her fancy, stuffing her saddlebags full of the stuff.

Once she’d gathered everything in plain sight, she moved over to the display cabinets, the hard part. She removed her last tool and using her magic she adjusted the thin piece of metal until it was embedded in the lock, once it was she immediately began wiggling it in the way described by the same unicorn who sold her the window cutter thing. Listening carefully for any slight noise, her ears picked up faint clicks, and to her great pleasure the lock sprang open.

Without any further delay she stashed the real treasures hidden in the cases, and standing up once more to survey the now bare shop she was satisfied her work here was down. Climbing back out the way she came she continued down the street. One shop down, many more to go.

~

Twilight stared at the abandoned mill, unsure of what to make of it. When Iron Heart had explained on their way over that a witness had stepped forward admitting to have seen the missing guards enter this building she began getting her hopes up that what they were going to find was something mysterious and adventurous. However from the outside the mill looked as ordinary as every other building, sure it was more run down but it was still made of the same generic stone that every other building in the town was constructed from.

Iron Heart opened the padlock with his magic, and together they entered the dark entrance room. Both instinctively lit their horns before continuing further in. Twilight had to admit now she was here she hadn’t the first notion what she was supposed to be looking for, but Iron Heart seemed interested in the floor. Approaching him she could make out what appeared to be tracks.

“Somepony was definitely here not long ago,” he confirmed beginning to follow the tracks in the dust.

Twilight remained inches behind, intrigued by his methods and admiring of his professionalism. After navigating a number of corridors and taking a few wrong turns which required they double back, they made it into a large open room. Even with the light of their horns it was difficult to make out the entirety of the room, but Twilight had an eerie feeling she had been here before, it just seemed so familiar. This room was badly ruined, rock fragments lay scattered over the floor, and sections of the wall were heavily battered as if something was thrown at them at high speed.

However the thing that appeared most significant about the room was the gaping rip in the centre of the floor. Twilight approached it cautiously and looked inside, it appeared empty. Nudging a stone over the edge she listened to hear how far it descended, but it never made a sound, it was like it went on forever. As she examined it she felt something tingling in the tip of her horn, noticing this she crouched down and lowered her horn so it was just over the hole. While she didn’t recognise what she was feeling, she was definitely detecting some residual magic.

“Whatever was here,” Twilight said over her shoulder to Iron Heart, “I think it’s long gone.”

“Hey Twilight, you might want to see this,” the voice responded from behind her. Twilight turned to see Iron Heart examining the floor boards close to one of the walls. Walking carefully so as not to disturb anything she reached where Iron was crouched and looked carefully. There were dried streaks of something on the floor, and Twilight gulped as she realised it was unmistakably blood, vast amounts of the stuff.

Several minutes later after accepting they weren’t about to make any other major discoveries or breakthroughs, Iron Heart lead the way out. Once outside Twilight became aware of just how late it was, and subsequently how cold it was. She shivered briefly but forced herself to stop as she didn’t want to concern Iron with it.

“Well that wasn’t the positive discovery I wanted to make,” he said moodily.

“But at least it’s a discovery none the less,” Twilight pointed out, provoking a laugh.

“I didn’t take you for the optimistic type Twilight,” he said still laughing, “but yeah, I suppose you’re right. Anyway it really is late, do you want me to walk you home?”

“That… would be nice,” twilight said after a brief hesitation, she was still concerned that she hadn’t told any of her friends where she was going tonight and still wasn’t keen on them finding out. But she put that thought to the back of her mind and walked with Iron Heart in silence through the streets, staring up at the clear night sky.

~

Fluttershy rolled of Rainbow Dash’s bed; she was feeling pretty good about herself, even if Dash was snoring loud enough to give her a migraine. Walking over to the window she opened it and leaned out, breathing in the fresh night air. As she did so however she heard voices just below her, and looking down she was surprised to see Twilight standing out the front door with Iron Heart. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, she couldn’t make out what they were saying but she could guess. As she watched Iron Heart jotted something down on a scrap of paper and gave it to Twilight.

That was all there was to it, they said their goodbyes and Iron Heart began walking away, Fluttershy’s eyes glued to the swish of his tail as he did. She left the sleeping Rainbow Dash and made her way down stairs. She found Twilight in the lounge in front of the fire place.

“Oh, hello Twilight,” she said casually, feigning surprise to see her; “you’re up late.”

“Oh hey Fluttershy,” Twilight said, a little too convincingly, “I was just out having a walk on my own, why are you up?”

“Oh I just couldn’t sleep,” she lied, coming to sit next to Twilight. She saw the scrap of paper sitting on the arm of the sofa.

“After everything that’s happened I’m not surprised,” Twilight said leaning back with her eyes shut. Fluttershy watched calmly, she was here for a reason but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun.

“Do you think I’m ugly?” Fluttershy asked, causing Twilight to blink a little in confusion.

“Ugly? No, what would give you that idea?” Twilight asked, but Fluttershy noticed there was an edge in her voice. She slide across the gap between them and leaned in slightly.

“It’s just something Rainbow Dash said,” she lied, trying to sound hurt, “I mean, maybe she’s right, after all who could ever love me?”

Twilight was looking immensely uncomfortable, but that didn’t stop Fluttershy leaning even closer.

“I know you wouldn’t,” she said making Twilight’s eyes grow wide, she reached out with a hoof and stroked Twilight’s cheek, she was too stunned to resist, “after all, somepony as smart, and beautiful as you, you could have anypony you wanted, least of all timid, little me.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a croaking noise as words failed her. Fluttershy closed the gap, bringing her lips to meet Twilight’s, just as she had done with Rainbow Dash earlier that day. However unlike Rainbow Dash Twilight didn’t just sit back and take it, she turned her head away and rolled off the sofa putting as much distance between the two of them as she could.

“Fluttershy… what… I…” she stammered, “I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen.”

With that she turned and left the room, Fluttershy heard her run up the stairs.

“Suit yourself,” she said with a shrug, and with that she reached out and claimed the scrap of paper. Her suspicions were right, written in neat letter was an address. She quickly memorised it before replacing it on the arm of the chair. With that she yawned and decided it was time to hit the hay, she was going to need her energy for tomorrow.

~

When Fluttershy asked Twilight if she thought she was ugly, Twilight immediately felt the urge to slap her. How dare she be so smug, Twilight would sell Spike to be half as pretty as her, the stuck up… but swallowing her retort she answered half honestly, but what came next was so far left field Twilight genuinely couldn’t do anything other than ramble a bit before retreating as fast as she could. What in Equestria was going on with everypony?

Reaching the door to the attic bedroom she grimaced remembering she left Pinkie Pie imprisoned, and she knew she wouldn’t be happy about that. But as she was about to turn the handle she thought, would it be so bad to ask if she could sleep in Rarity’s room tonight, she really didn’t want Pinkie pestering her all night about how hungry she thought she was. Making her decision Twilight turned back the way she came and walked down to the second floor.

As she reached the landing she saw Fluttershy’s pink tail swish away and her bedroom door close and she began to feel light headed, recalling the events that had just taken place. Walking up to Rarity’s room she knocked a few times and called in.

“Rarity, do you mind if I sleep in here tonight?” she immediately heard a series of loud clanging and rattling noises, followed shortly by a panicked Rarity calling back.

“What? In here? Tonight?” she exclaimed, Twilight raised an eyebrow, confused by the panic in her friend’s voice.

“Yeah, if it’s not too much trouble,” she said pressing an ear against the door as the and various banging continued.

“Oh, I’m afraid you can’t,” she replied hurriedly, “I’m… I’m very sick.”

She began coughing loudly, but Twilight wasn’t fooled, and she wasn’t having any of it tonight. She opened the door and walked in.

“Honestly Rarity what could be so bad that you…” she froze as her eyes fell upon the room, “Rarity! What is going on here?”

“Twilight, I can explain everything,” Rarity said, sitting atop her hoard and stolen objects