//------------------------------// // Information & knowledge // Story: We will catch you if we can // by proto-alpha //------------------------------// Fernando was at the train, unaware that there was somepony that knew he was there this time. Like the other times, he was in the luggage wagon, hiding between the largest suitcases. Lyra was hiding in the medium size suitcases, because that was enough to hide her. She had seen where he was hidden, and when she determined that Fernando had lowered his guard, she slowly approached were he was hiding. When he was next to him, she said very quietly but also in a grim tone, to scare him "I know that you are there". This worked in a way that he jumped almost a meter because of the alarm, while screaming "AAAAAH!". He was caught in midair by Lyra's magic, but she wasn't strong enough to maintain him in the air, so she ended up dropping him. He quickly got up and went to the other side of the wagon, quickly taking a small suitcase for protection. Lyra walked up to him, knowing that she could stop him while he is on the floor. Fernando, panicking, said in a warning tone while putting the suitcase between him and Lyra "Don't take another step, uh... I know... ninety three ways to kill you with this suitcase" this stopped Lyra on the spot. She couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth, but she didn't want to take any risks. "Just calm down, I just want to talk" she said while making signs for him to lower the object. "How can I know that you won't trick me?" he asked distrustful "Look, I'll stand over there" she said while pointing to the other side of the wagon, "my magic isn't strong enough to affect you at that distance". Fernando watched her walk to the place that she pointed and then asked "What do you want to talk about?" he questioned with his eyes narrowed, not dropping his guard "Well, your species was believed to be a legend not to long ago, and I want to gather as munch information as I can" Lyra responded, hoping that he would cooperate "We were in this place before?" he asked surprised, referring to the humans. "Yes, but before you or me can ask another question, why in the name of Celestia did you have to scare us back at Manehattan?" Lyra asked, really angry with him. Fernando, not noticing for now the pony pun of the human city, responded "Well, I have to stay away from everybody here, and what is better than a haunted place? Also, you and your friends have been hunting me for the past days and it was starting to annoy me" he responded, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue in a childish manner. "Well, the princess asked us to do it, after all, you're a potential threat" Lyra returned. "Me? I'm just a teenager that is lost in some strange place" he responded, giving his excuse. This returned Lyra to the main theme, her mood returning to normal as if nothing had happened. "Oh, that reminds me, how old are you, how much do you live, how is your society organized..." Lyra was asking these questions a mile a second, and Fernando, confused from the sudden question swarm, interrupted her "Hey, one question at a time". Lyra took a sheepish expression and then asked far more calmly "Okay, first of all, how old are you?" Fernando sighed and answered "I'm fourteen years old" Lyra looked surprised and commented "But, you're four years younger than Pinkie, and she is the younger of us, and even then you managed to get away from the Princess Celestia herself, the Royal Guard and from Twilight and the others?" "Don't forget like eight or nine teams that were focused on catching me and the ponies that were destroying that station" Fernando said with a proud tone, a smug smile, and a boastful pose, now knowing that all this time he had outsmarted adults. Lyra stared at him, half still surprised and other half wanting to throw him any nearby random object. After sighing, she continued "Anyway, how much is your life expectancy?" Fernando thought a little and answered "From the place I come from, seventy years" at this, Lyra raised an eyebrow and inquired "From the place you come from, how much does it varies from the highest to the lowest?" Fernando again thought, searching through his memories for the answer, and after a minute, he finally answered "The highest is between eighty and ninety and the lowest is like thirty, but I'm not sure" Lyra gasped at the numbers given by Fernando "But, how can it vary so much? Here it is of at least ninety years, everywhere!" Lyra couldn't believe the difference between highest and lowest "Well, it is a big world back in my home" he answered without knowing the consequences of giving Lyra that much information "Your species lives all over your world!? You have to tell me more about that and the technology you used for that!" she commanded, but then she realized something, "uh, uh, uh, I need a notebook and a pencil". She then started to see through every piece of luggage for her targets. Fernando stared at her and commented "Back home, what you're doing could be considered as stealing" Lyra turned to him and then said while raising her hoof dramatically "This is not stealing if I do it for the KNOWLEDGE!" Fernando stared at her as he thought "This is gonna be a looooong ride Back with the mane six and Spike, they had already gathered the things that were left with Applejack's relatives and were now waiting for their trains to arrive. If Twilight's calculations are correct, they would get to their destinations the next day in the early hours of the morning. Twilight was redacting her letter for the princess right now while she sat at the station. It was like this: Dear princess Celestia Your plan to keep Fernando in Manehattan didn't work, and if you happen to hear about a ghost here, you can blame our little friend. On a brighter side, we think that Lyra might be with him right now in a train, because she was the only one that could follow him. We'll proceed with the plan and separate to the cities of Fillydelphia, Las pegasus and Trottingham. At this rate, he will be out of Equestria in a week, so I have come to ask you, yet again, for some advise. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. She got her response from her some minutes later. The parchment, as usual, came out from Spike. She took it and started to read it aloud, because the others too wanted to hear the advise from the princess "Ehem," Twilight cleared her throat "Dear Twilight Sparkle In these past days Fernando has shown signs of extreme cleverness and slyness. I still don't get notice of this ghost, but the rumors spread fast, so I don't have to wait long. It is actually a good thing if Lyra is with him, either if she catches him not, because I trust that she will at least be able to learn things from him by asking him a question or two. When you arrive to those cities, and Fernando is in any one of them, please send me the location of him, because your other princess, Luna, is going to try her luck at convincing and/or catching him. Don't worry, with the help of my sister he'll be here by tomorrow in the night. Your trustful mentor, Princess Celestia "Well, I hope that I get some revenge before the princess comes if we happen to find him" said Rainbow Dash, thinking of what she could do to him "Remember that we're not supposed to cause him any harm" responded Twilight, even if the idea of a little pay back was tempting. "What are you saying? By what you told us, your case was the worst" Rainbow returned, remembering the story of what happened to Twilight earlier that day "So? If today was Nightmare Night you would have done pranks far worse and just for fun. He just did it because he didn't wanted us to catch him" Twilight said, remembering how she had used Princess Luna for her pranks that night. This immediately got Rainbow to shut up, but she continued to think of ways to cause pain "Rainbow Dash, calm down" said Applejack, noticing her facial expression that matched her thoughts,"I too want a part of him for some kick practicing" with a face full of revenge wish. Twilight could only hope that princess Luna can catch him before any of the others, not trusting even in herself. After some more minutes of wait, the trains started to arrive, and the ponies said their farewells to the others.