“Okay,” nodded Drafty. “I think this is probably it, but-”
“Finally!” blurted Aisle, giving a sigh of relief. “So what’s everypony standing around for? Let’s head inside!”
Cozy frowned as she looked left, then right. “Where? There’s no door.”
“That’s what I was trying to say,” added Drafty. “I think this is the place, but I don’t see any way in.”
Now it was Cloudbank’s turn to frown as she looked over the sight in front of them. After passing through the wall of black fog – which, just like she'd said, was completely transparent from the other side – they’d found themselves facing a squat wooden structure. It was pretty wide, and about a story-and-a-half tall, but otherwise had no doors or windows that she could see. The entire structure was freestanding in the middle of the warehouse, and looked like it might have been some sort of interior office, since there were scattered bulletin boards and posters tacked along the sides of it. But why was there no way in…?
“This has to be another one of Lex’s wards,” she decided, voicing her thoughts.
“This again?” moaned Cozy.
That was enough to make Drafty frown, giving Cozy an upset look. “Hey, if these are doing such a good job of keeping us out, then they’ll work against monsters too.”
“Not to mention other survivors who try to make their way here,” retorted Cozy, but her response was half-muttered, lowering her eyes to the ground.
Nevertheless, her comment was clearly heard, and Drafty started to walk towards her with an angry look, but Aisle moved in front of her. “Give her a break,” he whispered quietly.
Drafty turned her angry look on him, lowering her voice in kind. “No! She’s not being fair at all! Lex is out there right now, probably fighting for his life, and she’s complaining about the fact that his protection is too good?!”
Aisle didn’t flinch, making his response short and to the point. “She’s worried about Pillowcase. Lex said he wasn’t here, but she’s been hoping that maybe he was anyway. Now she’s sure that’s not the case, with how strong these defenses are and all.”
Drafty’s anger evaporated instantly, and was immediately replaced by a rush of shame. “Oh geez…I…” she trailed off, then sighed. The fact that she’d completely forgotten about the missing member of their group was unforgivable. She didn’t have the same relationship with the missing crystal stallion that Cozy did, but that was no excuse for being so completely unconcerned with his disappearance. “I should apologize.”
“No, it’s alright,” answered Cozy, clearly having heard them despite their whispering. “I know that if…if Pillow were here he’d b-be happy that we were someplace safe.” Despite her conciliatory tone, she couldn’t keep the sadness out of her voice, and it was heartbreaking to hear. Drafty started heading towards her for a hug, eyes already watering in sympathy for her friend, but Cozy shook her head, visibly pulling herself together. “I’m fine. Anyway, we need to figure out how to get in here.”
Cloudbank, who’d been watching the exchange silently, spoke up. “I think I have an idea about that.” All eyes turned towards her, and she continued. “Remember when we were headed towards this place, this warehouse I mean, and we couldn’t see the door before Lex opened it? I think it’s like that.” She pointed at the building in front of them. “It has a door, it’s just invisible.”
“It’s not invisible,” corrected Aisle. “It’s just hidden from view.”
“Whatever, it’s here and we can’t see it.”
“So, how do we find it then?” asked Drafty, looking over the blank walls in front of them.
“Finding it’s not the problem,” interjected Cozy. “Remember what happened when that thing was trying to follow us inside? The door kept trying to close by itself. I’m guessing that even if we find the door in, Lex would be the only one that can open it.”
“Well we can’t just be stuck out here!” protested Cloudbank, throwing her hooves in the air in frustration.
“Actually, I have an idea,” said Aisle. The other three turned to look at him questioningly, and he responded with action, rather than words. Walking up to the side of the building, he reached out a hoof…and knocked on the wall.
“I don’t get it,” frowned Cloudbank. “Your idea is just to knock?”
“Why not?” shrugged Aisle. “Lex said that he brought doctors and other ponies, right? If they’re inside, maybe they’ll have a way of letting us in. At least this way we can let them know we’re here.” With that, he knocked on the wall again.
A pregnant silence fell as he stepped back, the four of them waiting to see if there would be any response…
Nosey’s ears perked up. “Hey, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” asked Sonata, taking her blindfold off. She tried to hide how glad she was for the distraction. It turned out that pin the tail on the pony was a really hard game!
“I heard some sort of tapping on the wall just now,” answered Nosey, going over to the side of the room. She paused for a moment, then pressed her ear to the wall. Several other ponies, noticing what she was doing, moved closer out of curiosity.
Behind them, Severance floated closer as well.
A moment later, Nosey shook her head. “It stopped. Maybe I was just-”
The knocking came again, and this time Sonata heard it as well. “That’s, like, totes weird. Who knocks on the wall? Why not just use the door?” She glanced at the exit, fully fifteen feet away from where the knocking was coming from.
That set off a round of murmuring from the surrounding ponies, but Nosey shook her head. “Whoever it is probably can’t see the door, remember? Lex said that he’d covered it with an illusion to make it look like the rest of the wall as part of all that stuff he did to defend this place.”
Sonata blinked. “He did?”
Nosey nodded. “Yeah, remember? Back before we had that pillow fight?” Seeing her friend still having a vacant expression, she kept describing the circumstances. “He was telling you all of that stuff he’d done, and you were…you know…flirting with him.” She mumbled that last part slightly, fighting down a blush at having to admit that she’d overheard that.
Sonata paused then, doing some hard thinking before her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh yeah! I remember that now!”
Rolling her eyes, Nosey kept going. “So anyway, whoever’s doing that probably can’t see the door, so they’re knocking to try and get us to let them in.”
“Hang on.” More ponies had gathered around by now, listening to the exchange, and C. Shells had to push her way through them to reach Sonata and Nosey. “Isn’t that kind of strange that they’re knocking?”
“What do you mean?” asked Sonata, tilting her head.
“Well, if Lex was with them, wouldn’t he just, you know…open the door himself?” She turned to look at Nosey. “If what you’re saying is right, then he hid the door with his own magic. Shouldn’t he be able to lower it and just walk right in?”
“Most likely, yes,” said Nosey, her expression turning grim.
“Wait, wait, hang on…” Sonata furrowed her brow, trying to keep up with what was being said. “If that’s right then…whoever’s out there…Lex isn’t with them.” She paused to digest that, feeling her stomach start to tighten into a knot. “Why wouldn’t he be with them?”
An uncomfortable silence fell then, and the assembled ponies glanced at each other, trying not to make eye contact with Sonata. Nobody wanted to point out the obvious alternative: that he was with them, but was in no condition to do anything. “Maybe they’re bad guys and this is a trick?” ventured a stallion in the crowd hesitantly.
C. Shells licked her lips. “Or maybe they’re Vanhoover ponies, and he told them how to get here on their own.”
Sonata shook her head. “Lex, wouldn’t do that. He really cares about ponies. Like, a lot. If he brought some back here, he would be with them.” She could feel herself starting to become seriously worried, and that fear ratcheted up a moment later as the knocking came again. “I’m going out there!”
She marched briskly towards the door, and the crowd of ponies parted for her immediately. Only Nosey tried to stop her. “Sonata, hang on! We don’t know who’s out there! What if that’s another monster like the ones that attacked the ship?”
“Then I’ll totes kick their scaly butt!” scoffed Sonata, pushing her way past Nosey without slowing down. “And besides, we have Severance here,” she waved a hoof to indicate the scythe, which was hovering overhead as though monitoring their conversation. Even as she spoke, it moved to follow her towards the door. “If it’s something serious he can handle it no problem, so I’m gonna go out there and see what’s what!”
Nopony else tried to stop her as she reached the door, grabbed the handle, and tugged on it…to no effect. “What the heck?! The door’s stuck!”
“I think that’s part of what Lex did,” ventured Nosey. “He said something about the doors being sealed, as well as disguised.”
“Oh well that’s just great!” Sonata glowered at the door, before turning to look at everypony else. “Help me with this!” In response to her demand, several ponies – all of them stallions – rushed forward to begin prying at the door, trying to yank it open. But after almost a minute of grunting and straining, it still resolutely refused to budge.
“That does it,” growled Sonata. “Everyb-, er, everypony back away from the door!” She waited until everyone was clear before she moved directly in front of the door. “Cover your ears.” She tossed the warning out casually, before muttering the few words needed to activate her spell. A moment later, she vocalized a single note, holding its pitch perfectly, letting the magic amplify and direct it towards the door…which exploded outward a moment later, shattering under the force of her magical assault.
A moment later four nonplussed-looking ponies leaned their heads in the doorway, clearly unnerved by what had just happened. “Hello…?” asked one of them, a white-and-pink pegasus mare.
Sonata stepped forward, opening her mouth, but suddenly lunged forward and interposed herself between the unknown ponies and Severance, which had begun to spin in a cutting motion and work its way towards them. “Hold it!” she yelled at the floating weapon. In response, it stopped its descent, but didn’t cease its threatening rotation.
Ignoring how the foursome, along with everypony else, was watching the exchange with wide eyes, Sonata glared up at Severance. “Okay, like, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you need to back off.” The weapon’s only response was to make no change in its position or actions, making Sonata frown. She’d never actually talked to Severance before, and wasn’t sure what to say to make it settle down.
“Look,” she began. “I get that Lex told you to protect everypony here, but he left me in charge while he’s gone, so I’m telling you to, like, go cool your…curved-blade thingy, and let these ponies in, you got that?” She did her best to look commanding, and was gratified to see that the blade stopped spinning in place a moment later. But it was still hovering uncomfortably close. In response, Sonata stomped a hoof. “If Lex rescued these ponies, I bet he’ll be really sore that you wouldn’t let them come inside.”
That seemed to do the trick, as Severance floated back to the other side of the room. Sighing in relief, Sonata turned back to the four ponies in the doorway. “Okay, you guys come on in. I’ve got something I want to ask you.”