“I know about you and Firmie,” said Ether Brew, as he fastened electrodes to Skanky’s chest.
“I’d begun to suspect,” said Skanky. Hearth was already being anesthetized — they were going to send her in first, and then send Skanky in after to find her. Because she’d been able to do that. Once. “That’s why you send her to me whenever you need something from me, right? You must really love her.”
Ether scowled. “Listen, she can lesbian around all she wants, as long as at the end of the day she remembers she’s mine.”
“You’re a prize, Ether. Put me under, I don’t want to listen to you any more.”
✭☆✭☆✭☆✭
Skanky came to in a toilet stall.
She listened for a moment, and when she decided she was alone, she opened the door. The bathroom was posh, corporate-looking, drab, clean, and gray.
Skanky galloped back into the bathroom stall and slammed the door behind her. No. No no no. Nope. This was Hearthie’s mom’s office. This was a bad place. The Gray Pony was here. Skanky was going to hide here until they revived her. Then she would transfer to another school. In another country, if possible.
The restroom door opened and closed. Hooves clicked on the marble floor. “Skanky? Skanky, was that you?”
“Faust damn it, Hearthie, keep your voice down!” she hissed, opening the stall door and rushing her inside. Hearth hugged her until started to turn blue.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said, pushing Hearth away. Being with her in a restroom stall was a bit too exciting, even under the circumstances.
“Finding my mom, and saving the world from the Gray Pony, I guess? In that order of importance,” said Heath.
Skanky gave up trying to be good and slumped against Hearth’s side. She was soft, for such a skinny mare. “Hearthie, I love you.”
Hearth kissed her cheek. “I love you too. No homo. We need a plan. Eyes on the prize.”
The whole building shook. The was a horrible thump, accompanied by the shriek of steel beams pushed past their tolerance. Then a second thump, noticeably closer. Skanky gulped. “Yeah, I don’t think hiding in the bathroom is gonna do it for us.”
“Run away very fast. How’s that for a plan?” said Hearth. Skanky nodded once, firmly.
They tumbled out the bathroom door. Something was coming around the corner — the Gray Pony, grown huge, mashed into the corridor, shaking with rage. She shoved a glowing hoof forward, shattering windows and denting the corridor wall. “You!” she bellowed, the building reverberating with the power of its voice.
“Go! Go!” shouted Skanky, body checking Hearth’s rump to get her moving.
“But mom!”
“I don’t think she’s here!” Skanky proved she wasn’t that much of a hero by taking off at full speed, without waiting for her friend. Hearth followed her.
“What do you mean?” shouted Hearth
“We go where our desire is! Not… where… the thing really is? I think? Fucking RUN!”
Hearth’s longer legs soon brought her up next to Skanky, then past her. In a fluid, natural motion, Hearth turned, scooped Skanky onto the back of her neck, and began running again. Skanky gripped Hearth’s neck as tightly as she could.
They hit the end of the hall. Behind them, the building was twisting under the gray pony’s weight, sending ripples through the floor and walls. Steel beams groaned with stress. There were elevators doors. Hearth hammered at a button.
“No!” screamed Skanky. “The stairs! Always take the stairs in an emergency!”
Hearth looked behind her, kicked backward, and knocked the stairwell door open. Galloping down the stairs on her back was like the worst amusement park ride imaginable. Skanky’s belly jerked up and down, half a second out of time with her body. Behind them, the doorframe shattered as the gray pony forced her way through. Stairs came away under her tread and fell past them.
“Why does she have to be so big?” yowled Hearth, leaping over a piece of displaced railing and skidding onto the next landing.
“I don’t know! I guess she lost her temper! If she was smaller, she’d probably go faster! Meep running!”
Half a flight of stairs came down behind them, smashing through the landing they’d just left. Above them, the gray pony leaped from fragment to fragment like a giant jungle cat.
“How far down do these stairs go?” screamed Heath.
Skanky’s throat choked up. If death was like a dream, these stairs could go on forever. She remembered what Rainbow Dash had told her about flying. That was true, so what else could she do? She closed her eyes and drew her magic together into a formless spell — the ‘basic’ pre-spell all unicorns learned in magic kindergarten. She held it in place and visualized what she wanted. If this was a dream, then the stairs could end…
"Here's the door!" shouted Hearth.
"Oh thank Harmony!" shouted Skanky, letting the magic go out of her.
Hearth kicked open the ground floor door. They ran through a steel and glass lobby. With a horrible groan, the ceiling began to tumble towards them, all at once, at first, then breaking into hundreds of crumbling drop tiles as it fell.
“Close your eyes!” shouted Hearth as she leaped towards the glass front door, forehooves out…
✭☆✭☆✭☆✭
Skanky let her eyes slip open the tiniest bit. They hadn’t been torn apart by broken plate glass. They hadn’t bounced embarrassingly off the door and been smashed under a falling ceiling. They were alive, and in…
“A tunnel,” said Skanky.
“With a light at the end,” said Hearth. “You can get off, now. The Gray Pony is gone, and my back hurts. You’re heavy.”
Skanky glanced behind herself. Just more tunnel back there. Her hooves clicked on the glass of the tunnel floor. Outside the glass, glowing gray mist swirled, like in Eternal Enigma’s story. Well, that was good. Skanky wanted some answers.
“Hearth?” she said.
“Yeah, girlfriend?” said Hearth.
Skanky looked up at her friend. “I think this is a place Eternal Enigma told me about. A bad place. You might not want to go any further. There’s something up head you might not be ready to see.”
Heath stomped her hoof. “Seriously? You think I’m going to chicken out now?”
“I’m serious, Hearthie. Go look for your mom or something.”
“No.”
Skanky sighed. “Fine. Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The glass tunnel went on for a very long time. Eventually, they came out into a massive chamber. Black iron bands supported building-sized glass panels stretching up in a dome above them — a dome so big they couldn’t see the other side. The floor… ground… whatever… was done up like a park. Green, neatly trimmed grass, gravel paths, piped in birdsong. Skanky leaned down to sniff at the grass. Astroturf. She bet the trees were fake, too.
All of this more or less lined up with Eternal Enigma’s story. What he hadn’t mentioned, though, was the massive crack running through the glass of one side of the dome. Gray mist seeped out of it. Skanky narrowed her eyes, her heart boiling with rage. Maybe he’d forgotten about it. Maybe it hadn’t been there when he’d come. Or maybe there was another reason. Whatever. Skanky was eager to have another reason to hate Eternal, so she assumed the worst.
They walked down one of the paths, following it across a bridge over a small steam with a perfectly semi-circular bed. There was a large hill across the stream; they left the path to climb it and get a look at what lay ahead — miles and miles of artificial parkland, with something small and red in the distance.
✭☆✭☆✭☆✭
Celestia had far too many organs, thought Skanky, as she waited for Hearth to finish vomiting in the bushes. The pillar she’d been impaled on was covered in them. Not any organs she recognized, either. Skanky’s undergrad had been a BFA. She’d always had an interest in figure drawing, so she’d been to the anatomy lab. She wasn’t an expert, but she knew when she was looking at real organs, and when some smart ass was making new ones up to make a point. She looked up and met Celestia’s violet eyes. Eternal had said she looked in pain, but at peace. Well. That had been a while ago. Right now she looked crazed.
“This is horrible,” said Hearth, wiping her mouth with the back of her cannon.
“I warned you,” said Skanky. “Didn’t I warn you? Eternal saw this.”
“The moon is out of order,” said Celestia.
Skanky looked up. There was no moon, and no sun, just gray light everywhere.
“Is there anything we can do for her?” said Hearth, tears in her eyes. “To make her more comfortable?”
“She’s doing this for us.” Skanky raised her voice “You’re doing this for us, aren’t you? You’re protecting us, from the Gray Pony.”
“Well, I’m not doing this to cheese my taco, am I?” said Celestia.
“What?” said Hearth.
“Humor her,” said Skanky.
“I would do anything for her. I would take her place.” Hearth began to step forward. Skanky stepped in front of her.
“They Gray Pony is getting out,” said Skanky. “It might be our fault. I don’t know.”
Celestia began to cry. Skanky felt like she’d pissed on somepony’s birthday cake. “No, no, no! You’re doing a good job! Really! We can take care of this! We just need a little help.”
“Find the one outside,” said Celestia.
“Twilight?” said Hearth. “We’re trying but she’s not the easiest pony to get in touch with. She’s really busy.”
“I want the moon and sun, but it’s inside out. It’s inside out,” said Celestia.
Skanky’s insides lurched. She’d heard somepony say that before. Somepony very important to her. Oh no.
Electric current surged through Skanky’s chest, and she came out of the ice bath screaming.