//------------------------------//
// Not Again 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Valey, Starlight and Maple stood atop a second-story catwalk, frowning down at the room below.

Spacious and apparently used for storing collapsed packing crates, there was a rectangular hole in the floor where a ramp descended, sloping gently on its way below the earth. The concrete floor around it was barren... save for the dozen-odd ponies milling around it cluelessly, Non Sequitur, Grainwave and a disgruntled Tarfeather among their ranks.

Valey's lip twitched. "Would he get a move on?" she whispered, keeping her voice well below the nervous din from below. "That fatso is blocking our path, and I'm getting kinda tempted to move him myself..."

"Shhh," Maple cajoled. "We can see them, and they can't see us. This is fine."

Content to wait, Starlight sat to the side of the discussion, peering curiously down through the metal lattice of the catwalk. Non Sequitur, defined even more by his feathered hat when seen from above, paced aggressively, muttering words she could only catch part of. Something about deductions... the Spirit? Perhaps Valey's idea had worked after all, though she still wasn't sure of the purpose.

"Boooooring," Valey yawned, glaring down at the vigilantes. "Look, I'm obviously getting through to them, somewhere! And if not me, Banana Boy is. Why don't they... like... run around and freak out, or at least go through the tunnel? What are they waiting here for?"

Maple shrugged. "Maybe they want to stay, but have a retreat route covered? I don't know what they're thinking. It shouldn't be hard to be more patient than them, though."

"Are you sure?" Valey raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "Because I'm feeling pretty impatient. How about I do a fly-by and get all their attention, then you two run past while they're distracted?"

"I don't know..." Maple bit her lip. "You've already gone and told them you're here, and I really don't see the point of everything we've done here so far. What all does it accomplish?"

Valey rolled her eyes. "I told you, I was making stuff up and fishing to see if anything fun would happen! But too bad, so sad, that ship has flown, since you guys obviously don't wanna be here and those goons don't look like they took my bait."

Suddenly, a call rang out from below. "Hey, do you hear voices from up there?"

Hissing, Valey shrank back. "Too loud! Too loud. Uhh... new plan. All I wrote was that I was here, so you should be fine! So go pretend to be lost or something, and see if they're nice and point you down the tunnel. I'll spot you from the shadows and come kick some tail if anything remotely bad happens. Now go go go!"

She shoved them unceremoniously forward, leaving little chance to get out of the way before they came into sight of the vigilantes, who were already looking upward.

"Um... hi!" Maple nervously waved.

Non Sequitur stared back at her. "Well, well, well. Unexpectedly, a new puzzle piece enters play... Logically, as you lack a horn, it follows that you aren't affiliated with the Spirit."

"No we're not!" Starlight called from beside her. "We're lost! We came in here to get out of the rain and want to go to Grand Acorn!"

Below, Non Sequitur looked away, scratching his chin. "The mystery deepens..." he mused, lowering the brim of his hat. "What reason could the Spirit have to extend beyond their predominant race? Is there a mission ahoof for which they would task mere sympathizers with-"

"Uhh..." A stallion poked him. "Boss? Hear that?"

He craned an ear and listened, and all the ponies around him did too.

Far above, the rain roared down against a roof of corrugated metal with the fury of a caged dragon, its volume diluted by distance but still impressive enough that even the most foolhardy knew not to mess with the real thing.

The stallion who had spoken smiled apologetically. "If I was out in that, I'd break into a place like this to get dry, too. Maybe they ain't part of whatever she stumbled in on?"

He pointed at Grainwave, who stepped forward and squinted. "I don't recognize them, or their voices..."

From a nearby shadow, Valey pumped a hoof.

"...I see." Non Sequitur blinked owlishly. "In that case, I deduce that you should accompany us. We will be returning through Grand Acorn shortly."

Maple beamed. "Thank you!"

Together, she and Starlight made their way down a switchback staircase, eventually reaching the ground floor. "So, umm..." She pointed to the ramp descending beneath the floor. "Is that the way to Grand Acorn?"

"You already know of this?" Non Sequitur asked, striding closer, leaving the rest of his ponies behind as his eyes flicked between Maple and Starlight. "Interesting. You want to go this way... Did you not say you were lost?"

Maple's ears flattened against her head. Starlight took a step closer to her side.

Frowning, Valey began swimming closer, ears protruding shark-like from the ground.

"Unfortunately," Non Sequitur said, stepping forward, "the evidence at present is all too suspicious to go about trusting random citizens! You have been lured, you see. Justice will be served, and if for you that means exoneration, it will be all the sweeter, but in the meantime we cannot afford to take undue risks. Ponies, help me tie them up."

"No!" Maple yelped, snarling and backing away as Starlight lit her horn. "Keep your filthy hooves away from me! I am not doing this again! Valey...!"

Non Sequitur lunged...

...And the crucial difference between him and Selma came into play: he wasn't a unicorn and couldn't hold her at bay with magic. Unprepared for physical contact with Maple's enhanced weight, his tackle bounced straight off, leaving her staggering, yet upright enough to retaliate with a giant punch.

Whud! The force of the augmented blow sent him rolling across the floor, snapping his hat's feather and causing the article to fall off altogether. He slid to a stop next to the tunnel entrance, moaning.

"Stay back," Maple seethed, crouched in her best idea of a fighting stance, red eyes glinting. "I'll do that as many times as I have to..."

Valey slithered closer. The rest of the ponies shuffled backwards, unwilling to follow their leader's ill-fated example. Starlight's horn stayed protectively on, and Maple's legs trembled from tension, when...

Flaaaaashhh!

A violent burst of white lit the room, forcibly ejecting Valey from her shadow and sending her sprawling across the ground. "Ow, what gives!?"

"Ha-ha!" an unseen voice crowed from on high as the mass of ponies staggered, blinking and trying to clear their vision. "Tremble in your boots, oh evildoers... for I have arrived!"

"Who?" Starlight sat, rubbing her eyes and wishing away an unwelcome headache.

"Yeah, what?" a voice from the volunteer guards echoed. "Who in the Seventh District are you?"

"I didn't sign up for this!" another grumbled. "This isn't something I should be doing for free...!"

Starlight's eyes finally began to focus, revealing a pony posing hopefully between her and the guards. He was a pegasus... Lavender coat, black pompadour with jagged red streaks. He also had gray eyes and a pointy goatee. She frowned.

"Youuu look like a bad guy," Grainwave nervously observed, several heads around her nodding in agreement. "Like... too much like a bad guy."

The pegasus shrugged. "I didn't pay this much for a stylist for nothing!"

Maple cleared her throat. "Have I seen you before? You look familiar..."

"Really?" The pegasus raised an eyebrow, then drooped. "That's cold. You don't even remember the Howenator?"

"I've met a lot of ponies recently," Maple announced, "and it's kind of hard to... Wait, Howenator..." She chewed her lip. "Howenator... Howe..."

Her eyes constricted to pinpricks. "You're that stupid pegasus who got us in trouble in the Stone District!" she accused, pointing. "Remember? Who made the guards distrust us? Everything that's happened to us over the last day has been your fault! I feel like giving you a piece of my mind, you little..." She strode forward, scowling.

"Ah, so he is a bad guy!" a guard laughed, squaring his shoulders.

"Then would that make them be good guys?" another asked, pointing to Maple and Starlight.

A third shrugged. "I dunno. If the Stone District doesn't like 'em... Their villains, our heroes, you know? Like the Spirit?"

"We're hunting the Spirit," another pointed out.

"Yeah, but you gotta admit..."

"Hey, and what about Valey? Nobody likes her up there, but that doesn't mean down here she's-"

"Pancake!" At the mention of her name, Valey joyously erupted from the floor right next to Howe, startling the whole room into giving her their attention. "Long time no see, huh?"

"Eh heh heh..." Howe waved feebly. "Hi..."

"That's Valey," a guard said, stating the obvious.

"Ow," Non Sequitur groaned from the floor nearby. "My hat..."

Starlight stood in silence. Next to a stack of crates, Tarfeather lay, still bound and having apparently given up on ever reclaiming his freedom, dignity or bananas.

"So, uhh..." Valey looked around at the suddenly silent room. "What's up?"

"I quit," a guard suddenly said, pulling off and setting aside her headlamp and marching down the tunnel.

"Yeah, me too. This is ridiculous," another agreed, following suit. Two more mimicked him, and eventually every last guard was slinking away, Grainwave among their number. Swiftly, the room was empty save for Valey, Maple, Starlight, Howe, Tarfeather and Non Sequitur's punched form.

Valey huffed. "Wow, rude. ...So, Pancake! How've you been?"

Howe chuckled, making sure to stand well out of her immediate reach. "Oh, this and that, you know..." He nodded at Starlight and Maple. "I was hanging out with my bird-bro Gerardo for a while, having some grand old times, busting into the Defense Force mmmph!"

A fuzzy black hoof covered his mouth, stifling his impending monologue. "Hey, cool story and all that," Valey said, nodding, "but if you're about to do any bean-spilling, maybe we should take care of this bozo first?"

Maple tilted her head. "You want us to carry him with us until he wakes up? He looks a lot heavier than Redshift..."

"Nah, he's too fat." Valey shrugged. "I was just thinking of leaving him somewhere more inconvenient. Oh, and we gotta get Banana Boy, too!"

Howe curled his lip, spying Tarfeather. "I'm pretty sure he's one of those dudes who threw fruit at my mane..."

"You probably deserved it," Maple huffed, inspecting and pocketing one of the abandoned headlamps.

"Yeah, well, it... What she said. Your mane's hilarious." Valey pointed over her shoulder as she moved to untie Tarfeather. "For realsies, though, Ironflanks, Pancake is pretty funny, so don't scare him off too fast, all right? I at least gotta know what this random reunion is all about, first."

Maple sighed, then sat down, Starlight at her side, watching the winged ponies slowly going about their business.