Chapter 8 - The Shortcut
Mandible had regrets.
He had brought Proboscis, or whatever her real name was, into their squad because he had thought that her running loose was a risk. That somepony might recognize her form as Pinkie Pie and realize she wasn't supposed to be in Manehattan. That they would get mildly suspicious and maybe go to the police officers with it. By the time anything was done about it, the squad would probably be long gone, he realized when he gave it more thought.
But what he hadn't expected was Proboscis herself bringing the police down on them so effectively through her incompetence. She was a menace of idiocy, and now the streets were filling up with police officers from all precincts, all looking for her and her five changeling companions.
At least he hoped she was just an idiot. Gena seemed to believe she was doing it on purpose, and who knew, maybe it took a traitor to spot one.
After Proboscis had disappeared from him at the station, Mandible had been skeptical of leaving her alone with Clypeus when they went into the clothing store, so when they came back into the alley where the squad was waiting, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Then he heard Labrum laughing behind him and it sunk in what Proboscis was wearing. It took all his willpower not to groan so loudly it'd draw the attention of every police officer within a mile.
Frons spoke before Mandible could. "That's not the outfit I would've taken," he said, "but what do I know about pony fashion. Well, as long as it does the job."
Mandible doubted that it would.
"Mandible," Frons continued, "you studied the map. How far is it to the edge of the city?"
"About half an hour, I think, going straight south by hoof." Normally, they would've flown, but somepony had to be stuck in a form without wings.
"We'd better get going, then. Everypony shift." Every changeling except Proboscis took a new form – Mandible that of a red, yellow-maned pegasus – and Frons started leading them out of the alley and south
"Wait!" Proboscis said as they came to an intersection. "I just remembered I know a shortcut!" And so she bounced off to the left.
Mandible followed with his wings. "Pro–" He caught himself. No sense in outing them by using changeling names in public. "Party Popper, come back here!"
Proboscis stopped abruptly, causing Mandible to crash right into her. They tumbled around a few times until they came to a stop with Mandible lying with his back on the ground and Proboscis grinning down. Her two hats loomed over Mandible, adding to his embarrassment – it was one thing to look like a fool, but looking like a fool next to an actual fool was even worse.
"I didn't think you'd be that excited about my shortcut!" Proboscis said as she continued bouncing.
The rest of the squad, most wingless except for Gena, caught up to Mandible. Frons offered a hoof to help him get up, but he didn't take it. He could get up on his own.
Proboscis had stopped at the next intersection towards the east, and was waving for the squad to follow.
"Let's just go, let her do her thing," Gena said. "Old Queeny can't say we didn't try to get her to come with us."
"But she can say we failed," Labrum said, looking eager to follow Proboscis wherever she was headed.
Clypeus looked thoughtful, but his slight frown remained shut.
Mandible groaned. As much as he regretted his decision to bring Proboscis along in the first place, the real reasons he'd had, the ones he didn't like to acknowledge even to himself, still applied. They couldn't just leave her behind. It just wasn't right.
"Labrum's right," Mandible said, though the Queen was the last thing on his mind. "Frons?"
Frons was looking pensively at Proboscis, who was waving even more frantically now. "No more splitting the squad. Let's–"
He was cut off by Proboscis screaming across the block. "ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?!"
"–go."
When they caught up to Proboscis, Mandible tried to point out to her that logically, there couldn't be a shortcut to the east because the closest part of the city border was straight to the south along the streets.
Proboscis simply said the shortcut wasn't to the east, and headed north. North!
When she took a third left turn and brought them westward, in the direction of Saddle Row, Mandible felt the need to dig his head into the ground. He had heard some griffons did that when they were startled, but he was sure this kind of frustration warranted it more.
Gena looked as peeved as Mandible felt. Had she been right about Proboscis? Was the pink mare leading them in circles – well, squares – to hold them up while the police mobilized everything they had to catch them?
Wait… Shouldn't we have reached Saddle Row by now?
He looked around and realized the area around him looked unfamiliar. In place of the tall buildings most of southeastern Manehattan was defined by, this area had small, dilapidated, seemingly abandoned buildings. It didn't take an expert in pony architecture to tell that they were clearly in the Manehattan style, apart from their size, but this definitely wasn't Saddle Row.
The rest of the squad didn't seem to have realized that something was strange about their surroundings, except maybe Labrum, who was laughing again. He laughed entirely too much for Mandible's liking, and always at the worst times.
"How did we…" Mandible said, mostly to himself. He trailed off as he followed Proboscis around a corner to the right, heading north. In front of them was a simple road heading into a forest. Next to it, a sign informed him they were leaving Manehattan. To his left and right, the transition between city and nature stretched as far as his eyes could see.
All he could manage was a single, flat word. "What."
"Told you I knew a shortcut!" Proboscis reminded him cheerily.
"We took three left turns and a right and ended up at the northern edge of the city!" Mandible protested, ignoring Labrum's hysterical laughing fit and Gena and Frons' dropped jaws. "Even the hive isn't that confusing! It doesn't make any sense! You don't make any sense!"
Proboscis' smile faded. "Not everything in Equestria does. Sometimes you walk in a square and don't end up where you started. And sometimes you think the world works one way until somepony you thought was a friend…" She cut herself off, hesitated, then grinned again. Something about it looked different, but Mandible was too upset to pinpoint what it was. "Let's not talk about that. We have a Queen to see, right?"
Frons echoed her in a low, thoughtful voice. "Right." He walked ahead to take Proboscis' place at the front of the group.
"But– I– what?!" Mandible sputtered. "WHAT?!"
Nopony answered him as they walked into the forest.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,066 users online
1,275,336 hits today, 2,439,861 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Honestly, I just chalked it up to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Heck, I was half expecting her to walk right into a brick wall at the end of an alley and end up in Griffonstone or something.
9759762
"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it" is also a valid explanation, yes.
I was expecting Pinkie to be heading Norht to leave by the South because thats what Meobius Trips do?
Though she knows not to turn round twice, because the last time she did that she ended up last week?
9759806
We have an excessive number of Pinkie Pies as it is without getting into time shenanigans...
Dang, now I'm caught up and need to wait for more. I hope you know you can never get out of this fic now, I simply won't let you
I came into this story expecting fun shenanigans, and those have been had. But I'm delighted by the wealth of heavier stuff, like Popper's history being brought to the forefront and the changelings not exactly fitting in as your typical changelings. Even Mandible starts showing something resembling a soft side here (just uhh don't tell him I said that)
This is pure gold XD
So finally the group are together now and now they have to figure out how to escape from the city
sorry I had to do that lol but anyway Mandy was about to leave them out of the city but party popper told them about a shortcut so the others follow her and they thought they going around in circle but turns out it leads to the outskirt out of town wish that was something but again can question that logic but apparently party popper kinda mention about Pinkie Pie and her friends but she decided not to say it anymore because well she had a reason why she wants to leave with them instead which I don't blame her again well at least they finally got the stuff out of the city and heading for the hive
9759762
Or even walk into a broom closet and end up in Narnia.
Heh, ostrich griffons. Different kinds of griffons sounds like a fun concept. Can you imagine Hummingbird griffon? That would be bloody.
11870140
There's some great (mostly non-MLP) art out there of griffon variants with bird/feline combinations other than the usual. I unfortunately don't know where to re-find it off the top of my head, but I've come across it on multiple occasions and it's always fun to see.
Pigeon/housecat griffons, anyone? Owl/cheetah?