//------------------------------// // XXII - The Grinning Mask // Story: Mortal Coil // by Reeve //------------------------------// Had that been my first exposure to crazy stuff since I arrived in Panchea, I might not have handled the situation as well as I did. As it was however, I was starting to expect the unexpected, so I was able to stop panicking after only a moment and starting putting a plan of escape into action. I didn’t know how the assassin had escaped and survived, but I wasn’t risking taking the same route out, my only hope seemed to be going out the way I came in. Naturally I couldn’t walk out the door as Arcana’s body was in plain sight, were the police pony to glance in, so using my magic I dragged his corpse across the floor, leaving a dark trail across the carpet as I went. I tucked the body in under the bed and proceeded to casting my fabric cleaning spell on the carpet, the same one I used on my clothes. There was so much blood soaked in and I had too little time to do it properly, but I managed to get it to a point where it would only be obvious once you were in the room, that might give me enough time to get out before the alarm was raised. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves and looking myself over in a tall mirror to make sure there was no splattering of blood on my dress or coat, I made my way over to the door. As I stepped out, the police pony’s head turned slightly in my direction. “Arcana’s just getting… cleaned up,” I explained, hoping the pony wasn’t such a robot that it would get the implications. “I’m just going to go downstairs to fetch my friend and we’ll be back up in a moment.” The police pony didn’t nod or say anything, simply turned its head forward and continued ignoring me. With that obstacle apparently overcome, I made my way over to the teleporter, making sure not to walk too quickly lest I appear suspicious. As I tapped the entrance hall on the digital map of The Tower I had to resist the urge to sigh with relief when it didn’t ask for identity verification. The teleporter lit up and for a brief second I was blinded by light before reappearing at the top of the staircase, overlooking the crowds of ponies still enjoying the evening, unaware that their host had just met a tragic end. As I made my way down the staircase I scanned the room for Lyra, she was no longer with the rest of the musicians so I assumed her set must have been finished. I also noticed that the harlequin wasn’t where they had been earlier, although there was never any real doubt in my mind that it wasn’t the same one who had murdered Arcana. It didn’t take long to see Lyra, quite easy to spot with her bright coat and pale gold dress, standing over by the buffet table, making conversation with a couple unicorns I didn’t know. I bit my lip as I watched her talk away, briefly considering whether I should leave with or without her. On the one hand all my stuff was back at her house, although I was mainly thinking of my father’s spyglass and compass and I didn’t think it would be hard to steal her front door key or even knock it down when I got there. Lyra was part of the Order, even if she had been lied to or was simply delusional, but could I really leave her behind and risk her being punished for being associated with me? I gave a little sigh as I started walking across the hall towards her; I was never really going to leave my friend behind. “Hey Lyra,” I greeted, breaking her out of her conversation. “Oh, there you are Rarity,” Lyra said, smiling as she saw me. “I know you wanted to do some schmoozing tonight, but sucking up to the main man himself, very impressive.” “You have to do crazy things to get ahead in the business world,” I said casually. “Hey, could I speak to you in private for a moment.” “Yeah sure,” she said, glancing over at her friends who both nodded and went off with one another. “So what’s up?” “Lyra, do you trust me?” I asked in a suddenly serious voice. “Huh? Of course I trust you,” Lyra replied, looking a little concerned. “Rarity, is something up?” “Yes Lyra,” I told her. “Something bad has just happened, and I need you to trust me when I say that we need to leave right now and go back to your house.” “Leave?” Lyra repeated in a shocked voice. “Why? What happened Rarity? Was it something to do with Arcana?” Lyra stopped asking questions when she saw the grim look on my face. “Alright Rarity…” Lyra said slowly, looking unsure. “I trust you, we’ll leave now.” With no further words we both made our way across the hall to the main doors, the whole way I was waiting for somepony to call out after us or to order the police to seize us. Thankfully nopony did, and the flood of ponies entering the event had long since ebbed, leaving the door relatively clear for us. We started making our way through the almost deserted streets in utter silence, although I could tell from the look on Lyra’s face that she was burning with questions. Finally we reached a junction and she came to a halt, turning to face me, an annoyed look on her face. “Okay Rarity,” she began in an irritated voice. “What the actual he…” She didn’t get any further than that however, as all across the city, from every direction around; a loud siren began blaring out. It started out slow, occasionally jumping up in pitch before coming back down again. I knew exactly what it meant and that my time was running out, more than that, if I was caught while Lyra was still with me she would almost certainly get dragged into this. “Lyra, you need to go home now,” I ordered. “Please hide my things and I’ll try to come back for them, but you need to go right now before you’re seen with me.” “Rarity I don’t…” Lyra began in a terrified voice. “Just do it!” I bellowed, startling her into silence. She gave me one last worried look before turning tail and running down the street I knew would take her home. That left me with the task of getting out of the city before the police ponies found me. From everything I had learnt, the police would be able to see into my mind, they would see that I hadn’t killed Arcana, but they would also see that I was a Rebel agent. I couldn’t allow that to happen no matter what, so I pulled out the stained glass bottle from within my dress and held it in front of me. I wasn’t going to drink it right away, but I would need to get at it quickly if I got ambushed. Getting ambushed is exactly what happened in the end. I had made it pretty far though the city, keeping to the shadows, dodging the patrols. It was only when I arrived at the city gate and found a wall of masked police ponies standing, waiting for me just as another patrol flanked me from behind. The police behind me all spread out, creating a wall blocking my exit, while the row standing before the archway began marching slowly forward, every step perfectly in synch with the pony standing on either side. As they began to encroach, the purple gems in their masks began lighting up all in unison, slowly at first before getting brighter and brighter until it was like they were all wearing torches on their foreheads. I guessed this was the way they invaded ponies’ minds, so without a second’s hesitation, I uncorked the bottle, brought it to my mouth and downed it in a single gulp. The effect was instantaneous, it began with what felt like a lightning bolt passing through my brain, causing me to gasp in shock as I reached up and clutched either side of my head. The initial pain faded quickly leaving a very numb sensation in my skull, like my brain had just been replaced with copious amounts of cotton wool. My sight became much sharper, every colour massively exaggerated while shapes constantly shifted in and out of focus. Every little light, no matter how dim began shining like suns until my vision appeared to be little more than lens flaring. The siren turned to indistinguishable ringing in my ears, and the ground turned to air beneath my hooves. From the little I could make out in front of me, all the police who had been marching towards me had the light in their foreheads snuffed out while they all collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony. Everything that followed was a blur; it was as if I had lost all control over my body. My memories of all that occurred while under the effect of the Mind Fog was sketchy at best, I recalled disjointed events or brief images of places I had been and faces I had met. At one point I was crawling around in a gutter, another I found myself inside a cramped dress shop, at one point I was sure I had been falling from a very tall building and yet my next memory was of me running through the forest, still in my dress. The very last thing I remember was nearly taking a pendulum to the face and collapsing into Stranglethorn’s forelegs. When I woke up the next morning, not that I knew it was morning until a little later, I felt like death itself. My limbs ached, my mouth was dry and my tongue felt like sandpaper, but most of all my eyes felt like they were bleeding while a corkscrew was twisted into the back of my skull. Once the various pains began to ebb away and I became more aware of my surroundings, I realised I was lying on the double bed back in Dolor. Something felt wrong through, my limbs felt… constricted. I was still wearing my dress, but then I would have been more concerned if Stranglethorn had taken it off me. No, something else was wrong, and I didn’t know what until my head rolled to the side and saw my foreleg tied to the bedpost. After a quick look around I confirmed that, yes, all my limbs were tied to the four bedposts so I was now restrained, spread eagle on the bed. “Good morning!” a high pitched, cheery voice greeted. I craned my neck so I could see who it was at the foot of my bed, and who presumably had tied me up like this. The blood drained from my face when I saw a horribly familiar figure dressed in a red and blue striped harlequin outfit, complete with grinning mask and a single rondel dagger that they were currently spinning around their gloved forehoof. “It’s nice to see you awake at last,” the seemingly female voice continued. “I was beginning to get so bored talking to myself.” I tried to speak, but no words came out. I wanted to shout for help, for Stranglethorn to rush in and save me, but still I couldn’t find my voice. “Don’t worry Rarity,” the pony continued, sheathing her dagger. “I’m not here to hurt you, I actually came to apologise for throwing you under the bus like that. I had you figured all wrong, thinking you were just another boring, upper-class tool, but watching the way you dealt with the body and escaped the police… 'boring' is definitely not a word that describes you!” “H… how do you know my name?” I asked, still slightly afraid. “Because Rarity…” the figure began, in a very serious voice all of a sudden. “I… am you mother.” I simply stared at the figure in utter confusion before they burst into a fit of giggles under their mask. “Sorry, that’s a terrible joke,” the pony said through her laughter fit. “But in all seriousness, your friend left a note for you.” The pony walked over to the bedside table and picked up a scroll which she opened up and read allowed for me to hear. “Dear Rarity, I apologise for leaving but something urgent has just come up,” she read. “You will probably be feeling very sick when you wake up, just drink plenty of water and the effects will dissipate quickly. You probably don’t remember, but you filled me in on everything when you got back last night. Don’t feel bad, you did well in spite of the circumstances and you’re not always going to succeed in your missions. I am going to return to Arclight and retrieve your equipment from your friend’s house, I will leave them in a dead drop half a mile south of where you are right now, you know what to look for. Do not return to Arclight, take some time for yourself, perhaps return to your friends at the apple farm, we will contact you in a few days.” The pony finished reading out the letter before flipping it around to show me. “Look, he even drew a pretty picture for you,” she informed me, indicating the wreath of thorns he left in place of a signature. “So, Rarity the spy, eh?” “I’m not a spy,” I retorted. “Oh, well what do you call yourself then?” the pony asked. I opened my mouth quickly before shutting it again when I couldn’t think of an answer; the only words that came to mind were agent, operative and even spy which annoyed me. “Well I don’t know what I am,” I admitted. “But it’s only part time. Now why have you tied me up if you aren’t here to hurt me?” “Sorry, I didn’t want you overreacting when you saw me,” the pony explained as she began undoing my bonds. “I did spoil your mission after all.” “Yeah, why did you do that?” I asked, annoyed when I remembered just how close I had come to cracking Arcana. “He was just about to tell me what I needed to know, you could have killed him right after that, I wouldn’t have cared.” The pony snorted with laughter at that. “That’s exactly why I killed him then,” she explained once I was free. “The ponies who hired me to kill him didn’t want him revealing his dirty little secrets.” “What?!” I exclaimed, leaping off the bed and approaching the pony, forgetting she was armed and I was not. “They must be the ones he was in contact with, tell me who they were!” “Not a clue I’m afraid,” the pony said, pushing me away slightly. “I didn’t know who they were or why they wanted him killed; they were just a group of ponies wearing fancy robes.” “So how much did they pay you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. “How much was doing their dirty work worth?” “Nothing,” the pony replied, her voice sounding genuinely bitter, no trace of its previous amusement. “They offered me something more valuable than money, something I had been seeking for a long time. I didn’t question why they wanted him killed because no life was important enough to come between me and what I sought. But after I did the deed and watched you escape back here, I went to meet them, and they decided it would be easier to kill me off as well.” “Oh…” I said, taking a step back. “They probably never had what I was looking for,” the pony continued bitterly. “They knew they could play me and get me to do what they couldn’t risk, and when all was said and done they could take me out of the picture… only they didn’t account for how very angry that deception made me.” There was a long silence between us as I tried to figure out what I could say to console the weird clown killer standing in front of me. “So I took care of them,” the pony said suddenly, brightening up greatly. “And I was left without a direction to follow, until I remembered you. Seeing you in action, you really caught my interest, so I thought I’d look into you, and now I know that you’re some kind of super spy who was looking for information on the ponies who tried to stab me in the back. Well we might have gotten off to a bad start, but why don’t we let bygones be bygones and team up, after all, just imagine the things two talented ponies like us could accomplish together.” “Sorry, but I’m not about to go trusting a pony wearing a mask,” I replied sternly. “Oh, sorry,” the pony replied, reaching up to take the mask off. “It’s so easy to forget about this thing sometimes.” She removed the white and gold mask with one hoof, while pulling the jester cowl off with the other. As she did, a mass of bright pink curls sprang out, bouncing slightly before settling into a poufy, candy floss like mane style. How she kept it all held flat beneath that skin tight cowl I couldn’t begin to fathom. Her coat was also pink, while her eyes were the brightest blue, and even without the mask she wore a huge grin on her face. “So, now for a proper introduction,” she began, clearing her throat. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” “Well hello Pinkie Pie, my name is Rarity,” I replied a little awkwardly, before muttering under my breath. “Although you already knew that.” “Well Rarity, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Pinkie said jubilantly. “I just know you and I are going to end up being the best of friends.”