“What do you plan to do about her?” Usagi, the fire-eating dragon-pony cast her head back towards the booth in the corner.
“I don’t know.” Deadlift, the strong pony shook his head. “I don’t know, but we can’t just leave her out on the street. She’s one of Train Wreck’s, and that means she’s one of us.”
“She’s one of Train Wreck’s…”
“But I reckon she’s also one of Noone’s…”
“How do we know if we can trust her?” The three heads of Belle, Blossom, and Louis each spoke in turn.
A heavy bottle flew between the gathered freaks and shattered against the wall, followed by three heavy tendrils striking the table.
“Geez Michelle…”
“It’s a legitimate question…”
“We ain’t meant nothin’ by it!” The triplets apologized meekly to the angry, orange tazl-mare.
“We’re not turnin’ her out.” Deadlift shared a look of solidarity with Michelle.
“We get it. We owe him. But it’s twice now he’s just vanished without a trace. And we don’t know if he’s coming back now no more than we did then.” Usagi grumbled. “And besides that, the triplets have a point. She’s one of Iam Noone’s offspring. The Shifts have murder in their blood. Diane was his flame, and we don’t know what he planned for the rest of them.”
“We’re all assumin’ Diane really killed him…”
“Or just because he died then, that means he’s dead now…”
“And if he’s alive, then whose side is she going to take if it comes down to him or us?” Belle took heavy draw from an ornate blown glass pipe, Blossom blew a ring of smoke, and Louise coughed into their forehoof.
“I figure we can trust Z. Switch Shift died years ago. She died, and the last thing Noone ever planned on was the pink ghost gettin’ involved on this end and bringing her back.” Deadlift insisted, drawing a firm nod from Michelle.
“Alright, so we let her stay.” Usagi nodded. “But we still need to decide what to do about Franklin. He’s too dangerous to just let the Equestrians keep him. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t trust Princess Sunny Side with any of the technology he could replicate.”
“These Equestrians may not be the one’s who unraveled our world…”
“But Ah figure they’re close enough…”
“...that there’s no way we can trust them with an expert in genetic warfare.” The triplets nodded each head in turn.
“It’s a moot point. Like it or not, we let Celestia have Franklin when we split with Noone.” Deadlift scowled. “We don’t have time to worry about busting him out, and even if we did, what the hell would we do with him? I couldn’t bring myself to kill him before, and I’m not gonna be the one to put him down now.”
-=-=-=-=-
“How long has it been, Charlie?” Diane wrapped her hooves about the bars of the cage and stared into the abyss.
“Days… hours… weeks, maybe? There’s no way to tell.” The blue pegasus sighed and shook his head. “And please… stop calling me Charlie, I’m not him…”
“This isn’t my first rodeo mister.” The young mutant grinned back at her fellow captive. “You don’t remember… Train Wreck didn’t either. It’s just like the dream. The text gets us out, trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve been locked up with you.”
“Yeah, the Filly Factory. I remember that. David needed Surprise back for his story… that’s why I wrote you, to replace the first Surprise.” The Pegasus laughed mirthlessly.
“Charlie, that doesn’t make sense! Why would you talk like that about mom? And what do you mean you wrote me?” Diane’s face scrunched in confusion. “You didn’t write me, you dreamed me… sort of… not you-you… the first Charlie…”
“It started that Christmas… I wrote a fun little story. A human working in a warehouse with a gender-ambiguous changeling. I named her Z-978.” The former human chuckled to himself. “The text can’t get us out of here, Diane. I know, because I’m the text… one of them anyway.”
“That’s not funny! If you don’t want me to call you Charlie anymore that’s fine, but don’t say things like that!” Diane snapped in anger.
“Diane,” The pegasus persisted, “I’m sorry… I… I’m sorry for Surprise, for Train Wreck, for Carrot Plate… you deserved a rainbow. You needed a rainbow.”
“I wasn’t made for a world of rainbows, Charlie.” Diane shook her head sadly. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is.” The colt smiled sadly. “I put the wheels in motion. I sent my devil to play in pony land. The man who wasn’t there… He was such a funny little man…”
“Iam Noone… yeah, you’ve told me that before. You made him…” She looked away uncertainly.
“I did… I made him. I made them both… Iam Noone and the Cannibal Head.” The blue colt laughed maniacally. “The Nopony and the Train Wreck… and… her… you…”
“You’re talking nonsense, Charlie, you didn’t make me. I was hatched in Equestria.” Diane hugged her love close.
“No… you go back further… I made you before I ever heard of ponies, just like the other two… I can show you…” The colt’s eye’s became strangely hollow. “I can still control the narrative enough for that…”
“Ch- Charlie… what is this? I don’t understand.” The young changeling gaped at the impossible paper.
“It’s page from a comic I drew a lot of years ago… I tried to tell you Diane, I’m not who you think I am…”