The World At Large

by ToixStory

Episode 2: For Whom The Bell Tolls - Part 1

The sun broke through the clouds over Fillydelphia. Delicate rays of warmth splashed across the ivory and glass towers that dotted the city center. Far overhead, Serenity drifted lazily through the air, its engines creating a loud hum that washed over the city below.

I had to cover my eyes with a single cerulean hoof to keep the glare out of my eyes. Sunlight streamed in through glass panels on the rear of an elevator I rode on. It slid up the side of a stone skyscraper, carrying Grapevine, Starshine, and I to an office near the top.

Starshine fidgeted as the elevator rose higher and higher into the sky. “So why is Marshmallow up in here again?” she asked. “It’s awfully high . . .”

“Says the pegasus,” I said.

She glared at me. The space on her back where her wings would normally be was bare, the metal wings marked only by a small pair of holes deep that ran deep into her body. My stomach swam when I looked at them.

“Isn’t my fault I don’t like being able to fly if we fall out,” she said. “Is this how you always feel, Grapevine? Totally useless?”

“Funny,” Grapevine said. Her horn was glowing and projected a sunshade in front of her eyes. “But really, girls, can we try to act professional for once? This is the Staten Building, the first skyscraper raised after the parasprite attack. The bell in the tower is the one from the old city hall.”

“Do you think it still rings?” I asked.

“It does, I’m sure.” Grapevine stared up at the glass ceiling, toward the puffy white clouds in the sky. “It does for us all.”

The elevator slowed as it reached the top of the spire. Little breaks built into a track on the side of the building coasted the glass car to a stop. I fought the urge to look down. Metal doors behind us opened, letting in the cool air from inside.

I turned and followed Grapevine inside, Starshine bringing up the rear. The elevator let out into a tiled hallway. A single black stripe ran across the pearlescent floor from one set of doors to another. The ones opposite were made of thick wood that towered toward the ceiling.

“Fancy duds for a mayor’s office,” Starshine said.

“Better than the old city hall,” Grapevine said. “Less murder-y. And less burnt now, too.”

“Are they ever going to get that repaired?” I asked.

Grapevine shrugged. “It’s been three weeks since Marshmallow was elected and I haven’t seen a single work crew at the site. Shows you the priorities in this city, I guess. Meanwhile they put up a new terrace in The Burb.”

“You say that like it’s something new.” Starshine snorted. “This city’s always catered to money. How do you think Pullmare got elected over and over? The little mare’s been screwed over for years.”

We reached the heavy oak doors and Starshine stopped talking. Grapevine reached out and pushed them open with a grunt. Despite their size, the doors slid open without a sound across the polished floor. We walked into the room within and looked around.

I was standing in an oval room lined with tall Prench windows that filled the room with natural light. A stained desk sat atop a plush blue rug with inlays of cerulean and seafoam green. In the center was the seal of Fillydelphia, a tower of industry rising into the sky.

The girthy threads felt soft under my hooves. Shelves lined with books were sprawled over the room, but for the most part it was empty. Save for a couple mares by the desk, of course. Marshmallow sat in a high-backed chair while a mare I hadn’t seen before sat on the edge of her desk, her violet lower legs dangling off the side.

“Great to see you all made it!” Marshmallow exclaimed.

“Yeah, ride was a little scary, but we got here just fine,” Starshine said, then turned to the mare. “New secretary?”

Marshmallow blushed a bit and shook her head, holding out her hooves toward the mare. “No, no, she’s not—”

The mare laughed and hopped off the desk, shaking her light blue mane about. “It’s quite alright, dear, few ponies can recognize me compared to my company.” She brought a hoof to the red sweater vest she wore and pumped her chest out proudly. “My name is Amethyst, CEO of Amethyst Star Lines, Equestria’s premier airship transportation line. I’ve got hubs in every major city and outsource to just about every little town across the country, as well as a few overseas.”

Starshine whistled. “Me and my daddy used to offload some of your ships up in Serenity. Always were in good condition. Not everyday you get to meet someone famous.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to tell who’s the most powerful mare in the room,” Grapevine remarked.

Marshmallow slid her chair back and climbed out from behind her desk. She gazed out across the bustling city outside and smiled. “Miss Amethyst owns a majority holding in this building, and was kind enough to lend the city the top office for the mayor.”

“I was only too happy to help,” Amethyst said. “This city’s been good to me for a long time. I moved my headquarters here after the Prench Quarter of New Stables burned down and Pullmare offered me a lucrative offer here.”

Her face darkened. “She may not have been the best gal, but this city’s better’n her. If a new mayor needs an office, I’ll give her one.”

Marshmallow nodded. “It’s been a real lifesaver. Having a sort of official office goes a long way in convincing the ponies of Fillydelphia that their government is functioning. Especially after the whole election debacle . . .”

“Right, yes, debacle,” I said.

To be honest, as bad as it had been, it had been an alicornsend to us. Grapevine’s editorial and my front page story had hit the newsstands the day of the election and had sold out before noon. If there was one thing ponies loved more than how bad their last mayor was, it was learning about the new one. Just the paycheck from that story had kept me floating for weeks, and could provide for me months if I needed.

Sterling certainly hadn’t complained.

Grapevine looked at her purple counterpart, then back to Marshmallow. “Alright, so if everything is okay, why are you calling us here, Marsh?”

“I need to call in a favor,” the ivory-coated mare admitted. “And it’s a big one, I’m afraid.”

“I’m listening.”

Amethyst stepped forward. “As part of Mayor Bauble’s major contributors and staff, I am one of the few who know of the true events that conspired at Pyrrhus. The individual known only to us as The Assassin.”

I hugged a hoof to my chest. The scar had ceased to be so red and angry, but it still throbbed on occasion. Sterling had told me it fit my look, but to me it was a reminder of that night, and how little control I had had on my near-death. I’d tried to put the incident behind me as best I could, but it had been a futile gesture at best.

“So you decided to tell her, Marsh.” Grapevine’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the sound of this. What business is her’s to know what happened.”

“It’s her’s if the information is going to affect her and her company directly,” Marshmallow shot back.

Amethyst raised a hoof. “I’m right here, Miss Lulamoon. If you protest me knowing confidential information, that is fine, but you should know that I am not a bystander to The Assassin’s actions.”

“Oh, did he hold a knife to your throat?” Grapevine asked.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” The mare held a hoof to her head and sighed. She looked out one of the plate windows toward where Serenity drifted just outside a cloud bank. “Since the fall of Pyrrhus, most of the other businesses around Fillydelphia have fallen on hard times, and ASL is no different. But to meddle issues further, it has begun to be apparent that The Assassin’s influence extends much farther than just a few company execs.”

Marshmallow joined her by the window. “Amethyst came to me personally after several of her workers began to feel threatened by ponies in masks, telling them that if they were going to work with the oppressors, they would die with them.”

“So what? Scabs get threatened all the time downtown,” Starshine said.

“My company does not hire scabs!” Amethyst snapped. “These are my everyday, normal workers who were threatened with their lives for working for me. Several of the higher-up ponies I managed to transfer out to Manehattan, but the rest are afraid to come to work everyday.”

“And just why are you so sure that these ponies are connected to The Assassin?”

“The way the masks and cloaks the ponies wore were described, it can’t be anypony else. Even if it’s just a copycat crime, it’s enough for my business to start to sink even further.”

“So why call us?” Grapevine asked. “We’re reporters, not miracle workers.”

Marshmallow waved to the city outside her window, bathed in sunlight. “Not to them, you’re not. The two of you right now represent everything this city is striving toward. Just your presence might be enough to get them to back down.”

“And if they don’t?”

“You’ll be sent with a police escort to track them down. They will escort all of you to their last known location tonight. Please, Grapevine. All of you, actually. I can’t be a good mayor if ponies in this city can’t even work.”

Grapevine leaned against the desk. She looked at the seal on the desk and the papers scattered around it. It didn’t even look as much like a mayor’s domain and more a CEO’s. Grapevine wrinkled up her nose, then shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to get Minty for this one,” she said. “I know it’s a worthy cause and all, but something just doesn’t sit well with me on this. I’m going to have to keep out of this one.”

I thought I saw Amethyst shoot Grapevine a glare, but it was gone so fast I tacked it up to my imagination.

Marshmallow sighed. “I understand, Grapevine. Minty?”

I shrugged. I didn’t have much of a stake in a company I hadn’t used or in workers I hadn’t met. It was an easy story, really. The only element that kept me from jumping at the opportunity was the subject matter. Facing possible associates of The Assassin wasn’t the safest idea I had ever had. Then again, when was the last time I had played it safe?

“I’m in,” I said.

Starshine stepped forward. “Well, nopony asked me, but I’m in too. You’re going to need someone who can be downtown and actually know what the heck she’s doing. Trust me.”

Amethyst beamed. “Great, it’s settled! You will both receive compensation for your consultation, as well as the rights to any story you publish based on your experiences.”

Starshine pumped her hoof in the air. “Sweet, golden wings here I come!”

Grapevine rolled her eyes.

* * *

The trip down the building was only a little less disconcerting than the trip up. Maybe it was because everypony kept quiet, but the ride seemed to take forever. What seemed like five hours later, but really five minutes at best, we all stepped out of the Staten Building’s lobby and onto a clean sidewalk outside.

Starshine cracked her neck. “Well that went well, I think. Nice to be making a little extra cash, I mean. I can see why you took the raise to a reporter, Minty.”

“That’s not really why I did it,” I began, but trailed off when I saw Grapevine.

She was glaring at the ground, her eyes focused on the smooth pavement below. She shook, like a racer at the starting gate, but said nothing. I pressed a hoof against her.

“Grapevine?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just dandy,” she said.

“It’s just a case . . .”

“It is not just a case,” she growled, turning to me. “Marshmallow’s gone corporate, and you’ve just followed right in her hoofsteps. Since when are we helping corporations instead of trying to bust them?”

I shook my head. “Not all corporations are bad, you know.”

“Do you really think that the ones that try to buddy up with the mayor can be any good?” She sighed. “Look, if you and Starshine want do this, fine, but don’t expect me to pull your flanks out of the fire if things go bad.”

She flagged down a steam taxi and climbed inside. She looked at us for a moment, but after seeing we weren’t going to join her, she closed the door and the cab sped away. Starshine stared at the cloud of smoke left in the taxi’s wake.

“What’s up with her?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Who knows? I guess she’s still paranoid about the whole Pyrrhus thing, even if pretty much everyone hated them.”

Starshine and I walked down the street toward the nearest trolley stop. The warm air felt nice blowing through my mane, and the smells of the food stalls we passed had my mouth watering. Some aprts of Fillydelphia may be distasteful, but downtown wasn’t one of them.

“So what do you think is going down with these masked ponies anyway?” Starshine asked as we walked.

My scar tingled. “Let’s just hope their imitators and that’s all. If they are, a little news coverage should be enough to scare them off.”

“Or give them enough justification for more.”

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”

The trolley stop was a step above what could be found in West Fillydelphia. A bench made of polished wood stood beneath a glass enclosure that kept the rain and wind out. Advertisements were plastered all over, but they were little more than a nuisance.

The trolley that slid up to us, too, was far different than any out west. The paint shone and the headlights still functioned correctly. The ponies onboard dressed properly and sat quietly in their seats. We boarded and took a bench near the back, feeling out of place among the upper class.

“I could get used to this,” Starshine whispered to me.

“Tell me about it,” I muttered.

Now that I really looked at downtown, it wasn’t hard to be a little envious of the ponies who treated it as the norm. Sparkling windows, smooth brick, and clean sidewalks just weren’t something a mare like me was used to. Starshine seemed to regard it with indifference, but I felt a stir inside me. I had money, but not enough for anything here. Yet, the dream of living opulence flashed before my eyes.

A dream of Sterling and I, sitting together on a plush couch in front of our sweeping front window. Watching the nighttime vista around us as downtown Fillydelphia pulsed and prospered. Thousands of lights from thousands of apartments just like ours shining against the window pane in an imitation of starlight.

I was snapped from my illusion when Starshine had to pull me out of our seat. Even with her help, we barely made it on the connecting trolley in time. Then, as soon as it took off, it was back to the dirt and grime my life now encompassed.

Joy.

* * *

I left Starshine on the trolley at my stop. She told me she’d take it all the way to a small airport out near the Burb to get back up to Serenity. Lacking wings and all that, she didn’t seem to like readjusting to her life on the ground. I waved at her and got off, then watched the battered trolley chug away.

Even without being as fancy as downtown, I had to smile from being in front of Joya’s. The cool green paintjob that Sterling and I had helped her apply looked nice for the coming winter, and helped her shop stand out among the others on the street.

Sterling’s fire-red convertible sat in the street outside, resting where it always did. The hood was jacked up, and my coltfriend himself leaned over the engine, tinkering with something inside. I could hear him muttering and cursing to himself, so he must have been having some trouble.

With a smile, I walked up and slapped him on the flank. “Hey, whatcha doing there?” I asked.

He let out a yelp and hit his head on the raised hood. He glared at me and rubbed the sore spot. “Do you always have to do that?”

I grinned. “Does that mean you don’t want me to touch your flank?”

“Well, no, I mean . . .”

I patted his head and nuzzled my nose against his. We’d settled into a sort of routine, him and I. I reported, he kept up the shop and sold the gadgets he could while dealing with all the legal binding behind the gasoline car.

“How goes today?” I asked.

He scratched his head. “Got a few new investors for the car, and . . . not much else. I think Joya is getting tired of using a stallion to model her dresses for her, though. She keeps huffing when she makes me.”

“You never complained that I remember,” I said.

“You’re so funny, Minty.”

I winked. “I know I am.” I leaned against the car, but quickly pulled myself away. The metal felt hot as coals under the influence of the sun.

“I got a new story,” I told him.

“Did you now?” he said. “And somehow I thought you had gone into early retirement.”

I stuck my tongue out. “Me and Starshine are heading to the factories tonight with the police. Going to do a little investigating, a no-rough-stuff type of deal. Easy story, you know.”

Sterling wiped his hooves on an oil-stained rag and smirked. “But easy stories never sell papers.”

“Don’t I know it.”

I gave him a peck on the cheek and went inside the little shop that we lived in with Joya. Clothes were strewn haphazardly on and over shelves and display stands that were scattered around the room. I stepped over a pile of dresses and toward the kitchen that stood at the back of the spacious front room, behind the checkout counter.

I peeked my head in to find Joya sprawled in a chair, snoring softly. I started to step out the door, but she jerked up and her eyes snapped open.

“Huh, what’s going on?” she asked in a drowsy tone.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to her. The kitchen was as much a mess as the front room, only with messy splatters of dough covering a myriad of pots and pans. The table in front of the chair Joya sat in was stacked high with boxes filled to the brim with cloth. What was strange, however, was that it was all the same color. Black.

“You were asleep,” I told her.

The beige donkey yawned and licked her lips. Her eyes had heavy, dark bags ringing them and parts of her face sagged. “I guess I was, wasn’t I?” she said, then looked at the clock. “Oh dear, I must have worked through the night!”

I nodded to the boxes. “Working on . . . whatever all that’s for?”

“Costumes.” Joya hit her head against the table. “Lots and lots of costumes.”

“All in black?”

“It’s some new stage play, artsy-fartsy thing. They just wanted a hundred identical cloaks and I’ve been trying to get them done.” She rubbed her hooves and winced. “I may have gone a bit overboard.”

I laughed. “I’ll say.”

I put a hoof around one of her shoulders and squeezed. She smiled and leaned against me for a moment. Since coming to the city, she’d seemed more and more like the mother I had wish I’d known, the kind who threw everything into what she loved instead of the bottom of a glass of brandy.

Once we broke apart, I looked to a bright pink telephone on the wall, and a little wooden table underneath it. “Did I get any calls?” I asked.

Joya nodded and walked to the table. She picked up a little slip of paper and looked at it. “Red Rover called,” she said. “He said he was going to come pick you up around eight or so.” She giggled. “You got a new boyfriend on the side? I know I’ve heard of ponies in three-way relationships before . . .”

My cheeks flushed. “No! It’s for a new story that Marshmallow wants me to do for a friend of hers. Starshine will be there too. She’s my assistant or whatever.”

“Your camerapony? My, how the tables have turned. The student’s now the teacher.”

I giggled. It was true. The pony who had spent one disastrous day trying to teach me weather and almost got me killed had somehow ended up under me as an assistant. What a world.

I rustled my wings under my shirt. Since that day, it seemed like I had been using them less and less, only in spurts. I couldn’t even remember the last time I went flying just to fly. They almost seemed like they’d be better off, like Starshine’s.

“Yeah, pretty crazy,” I said. She yawned again and stumbled her way toward a room under the stairs in the store. It was inside that she kept her sewing machine and other materials. Dozens of black cloaks lay around the room.

“Back to work, I suppose,” she said, and shook her head. “After some coffee, of course.”

I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll let you get to it. I’m going to try to get some sleep before Red comes to pick me up, okay?”

“Should I tell Sterling to come join you?” she teased.

“Sure, if he wants to cuddle up next to a log,” I told her, backing out of the room. She laughed it off and I trotted up the shop’s stairs to the living area above, my tail swishing behind me. I blew past all the room and practically jumped into the big double bed in the room Sterling and I shared. Before long, I was out like a light.

* * *

I was woken by Sterling shaking my shoulder. I pulled myself up reluctantly from the soft caress of silk pillows and sheets. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, smiling up at him. “Hey there,” I said.

“Hey sleepy head,” he replied. He looked back toward the bedroom door, then to me again. “Your ride’s here, so I figured you might want to get up. Just a thought.”

“Such a joker.” I put my hooves on the floor and looked down at myself. My floral short was stained and tattered from so much wear, and I still almost thought about wearing it some more. With a huff, though, I decided to grab a fresh batch of clothes from the chest of drawers across from the wide bed in my room.

I replaced my usual wide-brimmed hat with a small bowler, and put on a light green, collared shirt that Joya had described as “stallion-ish” but I thought was comfy. Oh well, I’d always been more stallion than mare anyway.

I looked at my old camera bag, then decided against it. If I was going to be a reporter now, especially on my own, I wouldn’t need it. Or want it, so I told myself.

Sterling led me out of my room and down the stairs, back into the main room. Red Rover was waiting for me by the door with a half-smile on his crimson face. He was a large stallion, but hid his size by letting his stark-white mane grow long over his face and neck. Longer than police regulations, I was sure, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“Nice to see you again, Minty,” he called to me.

I gave a tired wave and yawned. “This mare is ready for the night shift,” I mumbled. “Probably.

He grinned. “Glad to hear. Starshine’s already in the car, and I’m sure she’s fidgeting by now. If we’re to get down to the docks, we’ll need to go now.”

I nodded and followed him out of the store after giving Sterling a parting smooch on the cheek. The night air washed over my fur and I shivered a little. I was thankful to climb into the sleek, black police steamer. I sat in the back, behind a wire mesh cage that protected the front passengers from prisoners in the back. I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t about to fight Starshine, who was sitting with her hooves held close to the heater, a sullen look on her face.

Rover got in and shut his door behind him. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“I was ready like twenty minutes ago,” Starshine grumbled. “Just how long does it take you to wake up, Minty?”

“Twenty minutes, duh.” I giggled and leaned forward against the mesh grate. “So, officer, where are you taking me?”

“Down by the airship docks near the airport,” Rover said. “There’s been rumors of activity down there by those fanatics, so hopefully we can catch some in the act. That would make quite the story, eh?”

Starshine brought up a camera from beneath her seat and held it up. “And quite the picture.”

The steam car started up with a cough, and Rover pulled it away from Joya’s shop and away from the district of West Fillydelphia. The airport was south of the city, a big open area of concrete and oil stains. A few terminals dotted the landscape, but most of the land was just space for giant zeppelins and dirigibles to land.

Even at night, from halfway across the city, I could see the bright lights shining in the sky, marking the way for the pilots to land their ships. Midnight flights were just taking off and I knew the terminals would be packed with business ponies just returning home.

We drove through quiet neighborhoods that ringed the area between West and South Fillydelphia. These areas were the boring ones, the “normal” ones. Parents went to work at local businesses or downtown, fillies and colts went to school and played sports and played music and had lots of friends and nice houses. It wasn’t the richness of the Burb, but it was as normal as Fillydelphia got. Boring.

Luckily, we passed out of the district soon and drove down some small hills to the flat expanse of the Fillydelphia Airport. Traffic was bad and we had to sit and wait for several minutes at a time, just stuck and unable to move.

Starshine, the whole time, remained silent.

“Something wrong, Starshine?” I asked her.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just cranky, okay?

“Okay, jeez,” I said, and sat back. Rover didn’t say a word, but gave her a sideways glance. There might have been a hint of a smile there, but I couldn’t tell. At any rate, we passed through the traffic soon enough and emerged on the other side of the road leading to the airport.

Past the airport a little ways was the Fillydelphia Dockyards. A whole different beast from the airport, the dockyards was an orderly and strict set of landing bays and cargo storage areas. Each bay was a mass of metal girders that formed a cradle for the airships to land in. There, they could unload whatever exotic material they had brought and take off just in time to let another one land. Railroad tracks ran up to the dockyard on the other side to ship the goods off to other cities.

I whistled. “That’s a whole lot of ground to cover. And in the dark, how are we supposed to find anypony?”

“It won’t be so bad,” Rover said. “We’ll just patrol from the car and look for any suspicious activity. We probably won’t even find anything tonight, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Sure. Me, worry?” I muttered.

Rover drove around the edge of the dockyard, around the massive cargo containers colored in pastel shades. His steam car had a small spotlight on it, and he shone it over the containers. The light spilled out from the lone car over the piles and piles of cargo, but found nothing.

We drove on, past the outskirts of the docks, and further in. Graffiti covered some of the containers and a few cargo loaders nearby stood gleaming in the darkness, but nothing else was out of the ordinary in any way.

Starshine drummed her hoof on the dash of the car, and Rover leaned against the wheel. I tried to keep my eyes peeled, but after about twenty minutes or so I became so bored of that I almost wanted horrible criminals to jump us.

At just about the time we had all grown half-asleep, we heard a crash. Rover shot up like he had been plugged into a circuit and swiveled around in search of the source of the noise. I scanned the area as well, but it was Starshine who spotted it first.

“Over there, in the offices!” she shouted, pointing towards a small cluster of squat buildings sitting among the piles of cargo containers. They stuck out like a sore thumb in the dockyard, even more so when I could see a light on inside.

We all scrambled out of the car, and Rover kept a hoof on the holster of his pistol. He galloped ahead of us toward the offices, with Starshine and I trying to catch up. I noticed she had forgotten to take her camera, but just figured we could get a picture afterwards.

We made it across the open ground between the car and the office unmolested, and stacked up beside the door. I could see Rover breathing hard, and he pulled out his gun. He looked at us, then to the door, then back a few times. After a deep breath, he rose up and kicked down the door, galloping through the entrance.

“Police!” he yelled. “Drop any weapons you have and come out with one hoof in the air and you head down!”

Starshine and I rushed in after him, but couldn’t see anything through the dust the door’s splintering had created. When it had cleared, however, all we saw was . . . a very scared-looking janitor who had dropped his mop on the floor.

“P-Please . . .” he stammered.

Rover sighed and holstered his gun. “False alarm,” he muttered. “You can put your hoof down,” he told the janitor. “Just police work, go back to your business. We’ll pay for the door.”

He turned, dejected, toward the door and started out. “Come on, let’s go, we need to get out of here so I can file the paperwork.”

He stepped toward the door, but Starshine moved in front of him, blocking him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that, Rover,” she said.

“Wha—” he began, but was stopped when the janitor brought a jug of bleach down on his head. Red Rover slumped to the ground and lay there, unconscious.

I stepped back, away from the two, my heart racing. “Wh-What’s going on?” I stammered.

Starshine sighed. “I’m sorry, Minty, but you’re going to have to be our hostage.”

Comments

[Silverness]

Okay, time to read the rest of this

At the end: Wait... Minty what?

What.

WAT.

static1.fjcdn.com/comments/4652794+_e6712bf87cce999f52675ef70d0476cc.jpg

[derpyhooves15]

I don't even know how to react
Of course, this has been inactive for a little while, so imagine my surprise when a new chapter popped up. I was straight on the read, not caring that you chucked a couple of plot lines and went for a new one, it was still seeming awesome!
Then i come to the last few lines and i just... wow. In 4 lines you changed the tack completely and left me completely stunned. I don't even know what to do. I've grown to love the crime fighting team of Minty and Grapevine, and Marshmallow always seemed nice to me, but my brain did a 180, followed by several more 180s. I literally can't decide who to pick sides with. The "bad" guys who are good (pressuming this is V for Vendetta style, as it was in the last episode), or the "good" guys who MIGHT be bad (I still trust em). Gah! I just can't decide. Kudos to you for writing so awesome again that it gives me that great a moral dilema. Can't wait to see more.

P.S What was going to happen in the now forgotten episode? I'm afraid that I've missed any blog posts from you on this topic, so not only was this update a complete surprise, but if you gave away the plot for the unfinished episode, I missed it. Sorry, but where we left of with them walking into a tunnel with an army and a collapsing city, I was really curious to see what would happen.

[ToixStory]

2871294
Glad I can keep you on your toes after so long. To the forgotten episode, well, I just ended up deleting all of it so that I could change the story to fit a new dynamic, as you've seen in the newest chapter. If you want a rough idea of what was to come in the lost episode, read H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

[djthomp]

Starshine! What r u doing??

[Balmas]

Wat. WAAAAAT.

This blew my mind worse than a bullet from Dirty Harry.

[RoboRed]

What...wait, what?...

“Costumes.” Joya hit her head against the table. “Lots and lots of costumes.”

“All in black?”

“It’s some new stage play, artsy-fartsy thing. They just wanted a hundred identical cloaks and I’ve been trying to get them done.” She rubbed her hooves and winced. “I may have gone a bit overboard.”

I laughed. “I’ll say.”

Hmmm...

Like the way this is going now, btw.

[dancing mop]

Holy crap! Didn't see that one coming! I'm glad I waited to read it, I'll have less time with just this cliffhanger...