//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Death Rides a Pale Mare // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// The Manehattan problem continued to taunt Pale. Finding the Weeds was like finding needles in a haystack. Every time the guild found one, it would be ages until they came across another. Fortunately, it seemed the Weeds were also struggling with finding the guild among Manehattan’s huge population. That was probably why the assassins had been lucky enough to never run into more than one or two Weeds at a time. Pale had come to the safehouse in Trottingham to relieve Shadow and Whisper. The two of them had done good work, but still hadn’t gotten the Weeds pinned down. It was Pale’s turn to try again. “During interrogation, we still haven’t been able to get any of them to reveal their headquarters,” Whisper explained. “He tortured them a lot, too,” added Shadow, looking upwards to where Whisper sat atop her head. “Do they have a headquarters?” asked Pale. “I believe they do,” said Whisper. “They’re too well organized not to.” “A headquarters would imply a leader,” Pale speculated. “But individual Weeds are still dangerous on their own.” “If we can, we could try drawing them into a decisive battle,” said Whisper. “We’ll bring everyone and destroy them once and for all.” “Well, I hope they don’t have more than us,” put in Shadow. “It’s been awhile since we needed Hammer to go into battle.” Whisper grinned. Pale hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. Hammer was physically incapable of being subtle. Although, any situation serious enough to require his combat ability probably wouldn’t be capable of being hidden anyway. She relieved Whisper and Shadow from the Manehattan task and the two of them headed back for the cave. Pale studied the paper map of Manehattan they had left her. A few dead twitchers and a few dead Weeds were marked. It seemed that in about half of cases, the Weeds were still trying to use twitchers as bait. Now that the guild was wise to the tactic, their count of Weeds had gone up. In fact, it was turning into an opportunity to find and attempt to interrogate their adversaries. Pale only hoped they were able to learn something useful before the weeds realized what they were up to. Pale studied the map. There was not a clear pattern, not yet. She sighed. Barring a stroke of luck, they would just have to keep working. She folded the map and stowed it. Trottingham wasn’t a crime-ridden city, but leaving the map just lying around was unnecessary risk. The guild, though using the house quite often, still took precautions to keep it safe. They had never dealt with an aware enemy before, and were taking no chances. She stepped out the door and headed for the Trottingham train station to catch the shuttle to Manehattan. A colt out front of the train station was holding up newspapers and shouting. “Extra! Extra! Lord Tirek attacks Canterlot and steals magic!” Pale hurriedly paid him for a paper. It was really more of a pamphlet, it had been printed in such a rush. Just hours ago, a monster called Tirek had attacked Canterlot, sucking magic from ponies to get stronger. It had a picture of him, so tall that he even towered over buildings. She found Whisper and Shadow at the station and corralled them towards the ticket counter. “We’re going to Canterlot.” She held up the paper. Shadow speedread the warning. “Are you nuts?” “Coin’s there right now,” said Pale. “She might be in trouble.” “So? That’s kind of what we do,” Whisper pointed out. “But voluntarily going towards the giant monster is a horrible idea.” The conversation paused there because they’d made it to the ticket counter. Pale ordered three for Canterlot. “Are you sure?” said the pony behind the counter. “There’s this Lord Tirek thing going on there right now.” “Is the train going to Canterlot?” Pale demanded. “Well yes, the train runs no matter what.” “Then give us the tickets.” They boarded the train. It would be a short ride just west to the capital city. The car they sat in was completely empty. “I still think this is a stupid idea,” said Whisper as the train began to move. “Can you imagine how many twitchers are going to bloom because of the terror Tirek causes?” Pale countered. “We have a month to take care of them,” Shadow reminded her. “Which we can’t do if Tirek gets us,” added Whisper. “What do we have to lose?” said Pale. “You’re a breezy without wings, she’s a griffon, I don’t have a horn. We don’t have any magic to steal.” “Are you sure that’s how it works?” Shadow said. “I thought that kid said something about how even earth ponies aren’t safe.” “If we don’t go and do what we can, nopony might be safe,” said Pale. “The Blight is bad, but slowmoving. If Tirek can attack an entire city in a day, that’s worse. Don’t you want to do something besides murder once in a while?” “I think you read too many newspapers,” said Whisper. “You’re not Princess Twilight, Pale. You’re not a hero.” Pale felt her upper lip curl and her cheeks burn, but she clenched her jaw and said nothing. The worst of it was, he was right. This was not what she did. The guild might serve a higher cause, but none of its members could be called noble. They couldn’t save everypony, and Pale was no saint. The train kept rolling towards Canterlot. The three of them rode in silence for several minutes. An inkling of surprise built in Pale as Whisper and Shadow stayed in their seats. Didn’t they disagree with her? They were still there when the train pulled into the station at Canterlot. Stepping onto the platform, Pale turned and broke the silence. “Are you coming with me?” “Well, at least you have a plan,” said Shadow. “Even if it’s not a very good one,” added Whisper. Shadow nodded in agreement. Pale knew she was in an awkward position. It surprised her to realize that they were taking cues from her decisions. They were still on her side, and willing to follow, but wanted reassurance that she was acting in the same interests they were. Was it really so wrong for Pale to want things besides stopping the Blight? To look towards a future where she didn’t have to kill every new pony she met? But Pale realized she had never considered what the others might want. If they were going to look to her example, even if Pale didn’t ask them to, then Pale had to return the respect. “We should link up with Coin and then take stock of the situation in the city,” said Pale. “If it looks too dangerous, we’ll come up with another plan.” Whisper and Shadow didn’t object. Pale jerked her head at the nearby parasprite and it led them into the city. The streets were practically deserted. Debris was scattered everywhere with nopony to clean it up. On some blocks, a building or two had been damaged by something large. Occasionally, the three of them passed lethargic ponies without cutie marks. That was enormous, something that could take away a cutie mark. Though it did add a slight credibility to Pale’s earlier assessment that she, Whisper, and Shadow might not be affected. None of them had cutie marks to lose. Getting a cutie mark was a pony’s coming of age event, when they learned their special talent and place in life. Pale couldn’t imagine what her destiny might have been had she been allowed to grow up like a pony. She couldn’t even think of a talent that she might have as a cutie mark, that is, if she could even get one. She picked her way through the quiet city, Whisper and Shadow following behind. The parasprite led them faithfully, heading towards a hospital. There was more activity here. Emergency ponies were bringing victims into the building. The afternoon sky above the city suddenly lit up even brighter than the sun as a rainbow trail streaked across it, flashing every color across the spectrum. Pale stared. She realized it was the first time she’d ever actually seen a rainbow, much less whatever kind of rainbow that was. There was so much she’d missed living underground and working at night. The parasprite flitted through the hospital doors along with a patient being pushed by paramedics. The pony on the stretcher blinked and sat up, apparently aware enough to swat at the insect. Pale, following through the door, saw their cutie mark reappear with a sparkle. It seemed like everypony around them was suddenly talking at once. Cutie marks were popping up all over. Apparently, Tirek had been defeated. Pale snorted. One guess as to who had done it. The parasprite led them straight to Coin’s hospital room. She’d already recovered in the few minutes since regaining her cutie mark and was sitting up in bed. “What are you doing here?” she asked, surprised, as the three of them came in. “Pale thought there would be lots of blooms during the attack,” piped up Whisper. “Speaking of, we should probably get to that.” “I’ll, uh, be along soon,” said Coin. Whisper and Shadow left the room with the parasprite. Pale turned back to the bed. Coin still hadn’t moved, and was looking at the sheets in front of her. A moment passed. “Are you alright?” Pale asked. Coin took a breath. “I...I don’t know how to describe it.” She paused to consider her words. “It felt like I was losing myself. I don’t know if you can understand.” Pale shrugged wordlessly. She tried a sympathetic and listening expression, but didn’t think she pulled it off very well. “I don’t know what I would do without magic,” said Coin. “Well, not even just magic, more than that. It felt like...my life. Everything that was me. The worst part was, it didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel a single thing. Just like I didn’t have any emotion at all.” Coin shook her head, ridding the bad memory. “I never want to feel like that again, like a hollow shell.” Pale may not have had a cutie mark to lose, but would she have lost anything if the same had happened to her? Did she have a life to lose? Coin pushed back the covers and swung her hooves to the floor. “I’m glad you came.” Pale nodded. She realized she was, too. The pair of them rejoined the others and left the hospital. Piper was already selecting targets for them. Pale made a mental note to have Coin take a look at the map of Manehattan that was marked with twitchers and Weeds. She would probably be eager to use her skills now that she had them back. Maybe she could make sense of the data or pick out a pattern nopony else had seen. It was good that Coin had something to do. Even if the guild was her home and her task, she had a spark inside, something that made her her. Tirek may have taken it temporarily, but at least she had something she valued that much. Pale decided she needed to find something for herself.