//------------------------------// // Generosity, Interrupted // Story: Friendship is Revolution // by ultiville //------------------------------// Twilight and Rainbow set down just outside the warehouse office, and Rachel slides unsteadily to the ground. "No offense, Rainbow," she says, "but I preferred teleporting." "Suit yourself," Rainbow smirks, then mutters "wuss," under her breath. Rachel just chuckles and walks over to try the door. It's locked. "Seemed too much to hope for anyway," she says, "speaking of teleporting, any chance you could get us in there?" "If I can see open floor through the window, I could bring us in," Twilight says, frowning, "but it has the same problem as forcing the door, we'll be disoriented for a bit and we don't know if anyone's in there." "Right, so safe drop zones only, that makes sense. Is that why you brought us to just outside the 7-11 that time, not right inside?" Twilight nods, and Rachel thinks a bit then continues. "Okay then, time for some good old fashioned off-the-books snooping." She looks between the office window and the ponies, seeming lost in thought for a moment. "I don't think your bodies are really shaped right to fit through that window, but I should be able to wriggle in. Can you protect me while I do, Twilight?" The pony nods. "Right. If it looks clear I'll open the door if I can, or you can just blink in." "What if it isn't clear?" Rainbow says. "I'll be fine, I'm a professional." Rachel pulls a small metal object out of her pocket and walks to the window. Curious, Twilight follows and watches what she's doing. She's about to ask, but Rachel holds a finger to her mouth, then returns silently to her work. She's using a glass cutter, and though Twilight hasn't seen one before, she quickly figures it out. Soon the human pops the plug of glass out. She's about to reach in and undo the latch when it briefly glows and opens itself. She shakes her head and eases the now unlatched window open. Twilight's shield snaps into focus around her, and Rainbow Dash gives her a boost with her back, letting her crawl in the window. Both mares tense up, ears pricked for any sound of a struggle, but the next thing they hear from inside is the click of the latch, and Rachel presses the door open. "All clear," she whispers, and they file in with her. Once they're in and she's shut the door, she turns to Twilight and whispers again, "could you have just opened the latch without my cutting the window?" "No," Twilight whispers, "I can't manipulate objects through obstructions, even if I can see them." "But you can teleport places you can't even see." "Yes." "That doesn't make any sense." "It's really complicated." Rachel shakes her head and they creep through the office and into the warehouse proper, the ponies walking with knees bent, low to the ground. It isn't one of the larger storage buildings on the waterfront, but still the interior is cavernous, filled with cardboard boxes and a few larger white sea-shipping capsules. They dash behind the first of them, and peer out around the cover. The storage floor is silent and devoid of motion. They glance a second time, and Rachel motions to the corner of the next row down along the wall. They dart there, then again scan the area ahead. It remains quiet and still, but the ponies' sensitive noses twitch slightly. "Twi'," Rainbow whispers, "do you smell smoke?" "That's what it is," Twilight answers, "I thought it smelled familiar. Rachel, why are we smelling smoke?" "Fuck," Rachel says, "they're probably burning records or something. Twi', put up your shield and head towards the smell, we're out of time." The purple bubble snaps into being again and Rainbow Dash leads the way through the walls of containers. Soon Rachel can also smell the smoke on the air, then the blaring of the fire alarm fills the warehouse. "We need to hurry," Rachel shouts over the din, "the fire department'll be on the way now." Now they can see smoke billowing over the shelf ahead of them, and the scent is heavy on the air. "Will your shield protect us from this?" Rachel asks. "The worst of it, but I have to let air in so I can't keep all the heat out. We need to grab what we can and hurry." The fire looks to have started in the middle of a row, and the boxes on both sides are wreathed in flames. Twilight can tell immediately they're a total loss. Lying on the floor, though, between the shelves, are two figures, obscured by the haze of smoke. One is a human, bound and with a bag over his head, writhing on the floor. The other appears to be a pony, but as they approach they can see the telltale panel in its side is open, and a tangle of wires are strewn across the floor. "Another pony robot?" Twilight says, "What the hay? Did Lasombra make more?" "No time to worry about it now," Rachel says. Already the heat is uncomfortable, even through the shield. "We need to get out now. Can you bring both of them?" "Yes, but I'll have to drop the shield for a moment to grab them. Cover your faces." Rainbow Dash closes her eyes and covers her face with her wings, and Rachel brings both arms up over her own. Twilight takes a deep breath of the partially protected air, then drops the shield. A wave of heat and smoke rushes into the gap, and for a moment she can't concentrate on anything else, but she shakes it off and catches both of the distant forms in her magic, pulling them quickly nearby before all of them vanish in a flash. "Rarity..." Twilight says, looking over the partially disassembled mechanical pony lying on the floor of her room. She clearly was modeled after Rarity, but her normally pristine coat is coated in smoke and grease, and a complex tangle of wires and unlit LEDs has been dragged out of her side. Most painfully to Twilight, her horn has been partially cut open, revealing a complicated series of dark metal objects within. "You know it's not really Rarity, right Twi'?" Rainbow Dash scowls down at the broken machine over Twilight's shoulder. "Not yet, but maybe she could be. I started out like that, Rainbow. Maybe if we can fix her, we'll be able to get the real Rarity here." "That's great, but she's pretty messed up. Do you know anything about fixing robots?" "No, but I bet the Internet does!" Twilight eagerly pulls out her tablet and starts poking at it with her stylus. Rainbow Dash wanders over to where Rachel is sitting next to the unconscious human. "So any idea who this guy is?" She asks. "Yeah," Rachel frowns, "he's the guy we were going to see." "I thought he ran away in that car. Why was he tied up?" "I did too, but now I dunno. It'd be pretty weird to come forward as a witness if you were involved, anyway. I'd say we interrupted a kidnapping that turned into attempted murder." "Whoa. That's pretty cool of us, so we gonna talk to him now?" "Once he wakes up, but I'm worried he needs medical attention. I'm going to take him to the hospital, but smoke inhalation is pretty rare and the scanner's all over the warehouse fire. I was hoping I'd come up with some good story but it can't wait, so I'm just gonna have to go with the old anonymous tip, sadly." "Ponyfeathers!" Twilight calls from the bedroll, where she's sitting poking at the tablet. "What's up, Twi'?" Dash calls over. "Turns out the Internet really doesn't have anything useful to say about pony robots. It's all just stories about me, and none of it's technical." She sighs, and bites her lower lip. "I'm going to have to go to plan B." "What's plan B?" "I'm going to message 'Shades'."