//------------------------------//
// To Danger 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"Where are we going?" Maple asked, panting lightly and favoring a cramped leg as she chased Valey through another corridor in the fruit-loading depot. The batpony was slowed by Tarfeather's bound form, wiggling and protesting against his gag.

"Eh, here's fine." Abruptly, Valey flopped down on the floor, leaning casually against a wall and wiping her brow.

"...Huh?" Maple squinted.

Illuminated entirely in teal from Starlight's horn, Valey shrugged. "Here! Where we're going." She pulled off Tarfeather's gag with a wing, and set about lazily unbinding his limbs. "Sorry about that, buddy," she mumbled as she worked. "I might've put off planning a bit too long there, and when stuff happened, you were the best scapegoat around! How many hard feelings does that earn me?"

Grainwave had long since left to seek out her patrol, leaving no ponies around who were supposed to be catching fruit thieves. Tarfeather sat up warily, as if he nevertheless expected two dozen armed goons to jump him from behind a hidden doorway.

When no attack came, his eyes narrowed. "I don't like you."

"Eh, I'll take that as an eight out of ten." Valey munched on another banana, offering his mostly-deflated pack back with a hoof, keeping one wing clasped at her side. "Seriously, it's your own fault for being unlucky. Next time, try not to run into me!"

Taking the pack and opening it, Tarfeather looked up forlornly with more than a hint of anger. "After all that trouble, you ate my bananas again?"

"I did?" Valey peered in over his shoulder. "Nah, there's still a bunch left."

"One bunch," Tarfeather complained. "You tied me up and dragged me all over the place for this? Really?"

"Yeah, that's just how I apologize." Valey stretched, rubbing her stomach. "If it makes you feel better, they were delicious."

"I can't believe you're worried about that at a time like this..." Maple murmured.

Tarfeather stepped backwards, glaring. "...Screw you," he said, before winging away into the darkness.

"Wow. Talk about ungrateful," Valey giggled once he was gone. "Seriously, we probably got them off his tail, too."

Maple sighed loudly. "Well, whether it was stealing or not, you did just take something he worked hard for. He probably doesn't see it that way."

"Eh, I was hungry." Valey stretched her wing, revealing another bunch of bananas stashed underneath. "I'm full now, though! Want a banana?"

Before Maple could say anything, Starlight interrupted with a groan, sweating beneath the light of her horn. "Can we hurry to wherever we're going? My horn hurts..."

Maple was instantly at her side. "Put it out, then! We can find our way in the darkness. You don't need to hurt yourself, okay?"

"Actually, we totally can," Valey agreed, looking over Maple's shoulder and pointing to her slitted eyes. "Seeing in low lighting, remember? Stick right next to me, and we'll be just fine!"

"How are we supposed to do that if we can't see you?" Starlight asked, horn dimming to the barest flicker.

Valey hummed. "Eh, you can ride on one of our backs, and Ironflanks can... hold my tail, or something."

"Starlight?" Maple sighed. "Are you fine with that? My legs still hurt, so I don't think I'm ready to carry you yet..."

Starlight shrugged, rubbing her forehead with a grimace. "She can carry me. Ow..."

Maple pursed her lips, but didn't protest. A moment later, she felt something tickly and hairy brush her muzzle. "You coming?" Valey's voice asked in the darkness.

She carefully bit down, following the guide at a gentle pace. "Where are we going?" she asked around a mouthful of fuzz.

"Oh, somewhere."

"Valeyyy..."

"Meh, fine!" Valey grunted. "I'm still deciding, but I'm pretty sure we should just bail. Between me, Banana Boy, and our cute friend from earlier, those lemon bags should have like three things to chase that either don't exist or are getting out of here. You two are maybe a little more work to bring along than I'd hoped since you can't fly, so I kinda wanna just call that good, go find that tunnel and smooth-talk our way through DK's base. Unless you're still super duper opposed to that idea?"

"If you promise not to let anything bad happen to us." Maple fought back a sneeze. "I guess it makes sense to go in the direction we want to if there are guards both ways..."

"You take this guard thing too seriously," Valey chirped. "Some day, I'll have to dunk a whole complement right when you're watching to get you over that fear. But in the meantime, let's go!"





Some distance away, in another part of the depot, a gold-coated pegasus with a wavy mane fluttered her wings in agitation, trying to explain to a band of nearly a dozen vigilantes that there was, in fact, a party of Spirit ponies using the facility to conduct a secret, underground meeting.

"I told you," Grainwave insisted, "I don't know exactly which room! I heard them through a ventilation shaft! It sounded like they had heard us or the thief banging around and were sending some ponies out to investigate!"

"But you were unable to apprehend the criminal we were chasing in the first place... I see." Non Sequitur adjusted his hat downwards, so that more of his eyes were covered. "These new clues can only mean something greater than even I had suspected is ahoof..."

"Well, yes, but... Sir!" Grainwave stammered. "When I caught up to him, he had already been caught by Valey! I know better than to fight with that, Sir."

Non Sequitur rubbed his chin. "So you do, so you do... Admiral Valey is my arch-nemesis. You're wise to avoid her! Unfortunately, we have no intelligence concerning whether she is on the thief's side, or sees him as competition. It is useful, however, that we have two separate clues informing us she and our present target are not the same pony..."

"Look, I didn't volunteer for conspiracy hunting," a burly stallion said from the sidelines. "What is it you want us to do?"

Another nodded. "What he said! And make it quick, because I'm starting to feel a little nervous if this place has ponies like Valey and the Spirit in it. We're not exactly armed..."

"I third that," a mare added. "You said we would be up against maybe one unarmed fruit thief at most! Not somepony infamous like Valey!"

"Also..." A fourth raised a hoof. "Could you talk normally? That's starting to get annoying."

Non Sequitur frowned. "What, my vocabulary? Detectives always talk like this! Although, the evidence does seem to suggest that our best course of action-"

Whizzzzz! Thud!

The chunky stallion who had spoken was nearly bowled over by a speeding black pegasus, who reeled back from the collision and nearly hit the floor. "Ooog... Oww..."

"What have we here?" Non Sequitur leaned closer, snatching the fallen Tarfeather's bags. "Ah-ha! You're the fruit thief, aren't you? It seems justice has been given a great... victory..." He trailed off, looking inside. "You went to all the effort of going up against me to steal one single bunch of bananas?"

"I hate everything," Tarfeather said, sprawled miserably on the concrete.

Grainwave eyed him carefully. "That's the pegasus Valey had, yes..."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" The feather in Non Sequitur's hat bobbed frantically. "Tie him up, already!"

As the ponies around him made to do so, he held his chin once again, musing. "In light of this good fortune, the best course of action may be to quit while we are ahead. Ponies!" he barked. "You are correct that we are ill-equipped to handle a potential conflict between Admiral Valey and the Spirit of Sosa, if one is in fact set to occur. Let us take this criminal and return to Dangerous Karma's headquarters to inform him of what we found and allow justice to be served, and let him determine how best to handle the situation. It is he, after all, who holds the greatest stakes, and we are naught but volunteers in the pursuit of justice."

Happily murmuring, the headlamped ponies lined up and began following him towards the tunnel to Grand Acorn proper.





"Hmmmmm..."

A shadowed pony stared up at the parked fruit transport carts in the loading room, thinking carefully. "Anyone who's not as nutso as me would never make it here from Blueleaf in this rain, and there's no way they could have flown like I did, either! So they must've hitched a ride on these..."

He produced a dormant, magically-charged gemstone and rubbed it thoughtfully. "Come on, bro, just pick up! I know you're with them; I got a signal less than thirty minutes ago! Why the silent treatment, huh?"

The stone didn't respond.

"Ugh," he huffed, tucking it away. "Well, if they're going anywhere, they'll probably head through old stallion Karma's place first, so... let's see if I can head them off at the tunnel! Geronimooo!"