Lily’s smile was plastic as she stared at the darkened windows and locked door of the Carousel Boutique. “It’s usually open today,” she said.
“Of course, darling.”
Rose frowned. “I hope everything’s alright. We should check on them.” So saying, she lifted a hoof and knocked firmly at the door.
There was a slight scuffling and fumbling with the locks, and then the door swung open, revealing a tall, smiling drake in a buttoned shirt and tie. “Rarity!”
Then, his smile faltered. “You’re not Rarity.”
Hyacinth, for once, said nothing, the common response to seeing that many sharp teeth. Daisy stepped forward. “No, we aren’t. Our sister, Hyacinth is visiting for a few days, and wanted to take the opportunity to get a new hat.”
Spike’s green eyes fixed on the magenta mare. “Dragon,” Hyacinth said faintly.
The dragon in question smirked at the flowershop trio. “Wanted to give her a scare?”
Daisy looked up at the sky. Lily looked at the ground. Rose suddenly became very interested in the Boutique’s flower beds. “Yeah, a little,” Carrot said with a shrug.
“A dragon tailor,” Hyacinth said, her voice regaining its usual force. “How terribly nouvelle!”
“Uh,” said Spike. “I’m not a tailor, actually.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Hyacinth said hastily. “Designer, I mean. I must say, I didn’t quite expect Ponyville to be so tolerant. I’m very impressed that all the usual stereotypes have been so successfully trounced.”
She trotted into the now-open shop, leaving Spike slightly dumbstruck on the doorstep. “Uh…”
“Just go with it,” Rose sighed. “It won’t make any difference, anyway.”
“...Alright…”
Hyacinth hummed to herself as she perused the ponniquins on display. “How delightful! You certainly do have an eye for design,” she said as she cast a twinkling eye over the dresses.
“Uh, ah, why thank you,” Spike said, rubbing at his horns nervously. Hyacinth had a strange air about her. She seemed to exude superiority, culture, and class in a way that not even Rarity’s clients could pull off. It was unnerving, this force of personality. “So, uh, I haven’t seen you around before.”
“Oh, I’ll only be in town for a few days,” Hyacinth said vaguely, scouring a shelf full of scarves. “I’m in from Trottingham, you see, and my… dear… sisters were kind enough to open wide their doors while I’m passing through.” She beamed.
Spike leaned down to Rose. “Okay, what’s the real story?” he muttered.
“The letter came about an hour before she did,” Rose hissed back. “We didn’t have time to make our excuses.”
“Jeez, that’s rough.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “That’s Our Hyacinth for you. She really does mean well, most of the time, but she can’t see past the end of her own nose. So, what’s been happening here? Where’s Rarity?”
“Dunno,” Spike replied. “She went out this morning to run some errands, and she never came back.”
Rose squinted. “And you haven’t gone looking for her?”
“This is Rarity we’re talking about. She can handle herself,” Spike said.
The corridors in the labyrinth were narrow and poorly-lit. They offended Rarity on a visceral level. “It’s just so… clinical!” she sighed, glaring at the plain white walls.
‘Clinical’ again, Ditzy noted absently. That made five times now. More than ‘tedious,’ but far fewer than ‘dull.’ Charting Rarity’s descriptions of the decor was a less-than-scintillating pastime, but it was at least more interesting than Mac’s vague, half-awake stare as he gazed through space at nothing in particular.
“These little beasts have terribly dull decorating abilities.”
On the other hoof, maybe she could talk to Mac. She nudged the big red pony. “Whatcha thinking about?”
It took him a moment to register the question.“Dunno.”
Ditzy frowned. “What do you mean, ‘don’t know’? You’re obviously thinking about something.”
“Eeyup.”
“So what is it?”
“Somethin’ ain’t right here,” Mac said simply.
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying,” Rarity agreed. “The decor—”
“No, that ain’t it.” Mac scowled. “Ah mean. That ain’t great, either, but it ain’t what Ah mean.”
“Oh. Then what are you talking about?” Ditzy asked.
“...Ah ain’t sure yet,” Mac admitted.
“Would it help you to explain your thoughts to us, darling?” Rarity asked brightly.
Mac considered this quietly. “Well, lemme start like this. How far away is the moon from Gaea?”
“Oh, pretty far, isn’t it?” Rarity said vaguely.
“Too far fer a unicorn ta teleport,” Mac continued.
“I… yes?” Rarity asked, perplexed.
“Now, why’s that?”
“Well, theoretically I suppose one could teleport from Gaea to the moon, but—”
“It would take too much power,” Ditzy finished, catching on.
“Right. So, how’d these li’l fellas get all that power? Seems an awful lotta trouble jes’ ta get us stuck up in here.”
“If it comes to that, why would they send us anywhere at all?” Ditzy asked, frowning. “What do they want with us?”
There was a groaning, grinding noise that echoed down the hallway. The grey mare closed her eyes. “I don’t want to know.”
“Ditzy,” Rarity began.
“Nope.”
“Miz Doo…” Mac said.
“Don’t tell me, please.”
“The walls are closing in, darling,” Rarity said.
“Guys! I told you not to tell me!” Ditzy groaned. “C’mon. We’d better run.”
“Ya don’t say,” Mac replied, starting off toward the end of the hall at a light canter.
“At least they aren’t very fast,” Rarity noted, trotting along. “Still, I’d much rather not end up stuck in two dimensions. I do take pride in my depth of character.”
The walls were barely inching along, it was true. They probably could have walked out of the hallway without so much as bumping the walls. Even Mac’s yoke would barely have brushed the edges. Still, best not to loiter. Once they were all safely out in the next hallway, all three turned to quietly watch the white walls slide steadily together. It took another three minutes for them to fully close. Ditzy examined the walls. “Huh. Well, I guess we know why we’re here,” she said calmly.
Rarity swallowed. “Though I feel I know what you are speaking of, darling, I feel I should get your confirmation…”
“We’re lab rats,” Mac said levelly. “They’re gonna test us.”
“But in turn, we can test them,” Ditzy said brightly. “Here, help me get into this wall…”
Mac examined the panel and nodded solemnly. “Let’s see what we kin find…”
Rarity stared flatly at both of them. “You’re both quite mad, aren’t you?” She sighed. “Hold on. You’ll get in there more quickly if I undo the screws…”
The Doctor nodded as he was led into the smooth, tidy laboratory. “I see things really have changed,” he said appreciatively. The walls were white marble, smooth and cool. The doors were fine hardwood and burnished bronze, and opened automatically.
“All the latest equipment and techniques,” Fancy Pants said proudly, glancing around the lab.
“Quite primitive, of course, but still, very well done!”
Fancy’s perennial smile drooped a bit at that, but he rallied. “Well, I suppose by the standards of the next several centuries it is, but as for now, well! Quite cutting edge.”
“Hm? Oh, yes, of course!” The Doctor nodded. “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”
“Quite alright, dear fellow.”
The tan stallion nodded, glancing around the room. “Spectrograph, laser array, Van der Giraffe generator… yes, very nice. But…” he squinted at a large machine in the corner. “Is that an MRI?”
Fancy grinned broadly, clapping the Doctor on the back. “A new addition, we’re very pleased.”
The Doctor cocked his head. “What d’you want one of those for?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Fancy said, shaking his head. “Plenty of invaders partial to a bit of mind control, you know.”
“Mm…” the Doctor said thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s true. The trick is figuring out if they’ve actually been taken over by another intelligence or if it’s just, well, Ponyville being Ponyville…”
Scootaloo peered nervously through the bushes. What was Rainbow Dash doing? She had landed on that hill nearly fifteen minutes ago, and just sort of… collapsed. And who was that stallion up there? Why wasn’t he helping her?
The orange pegasus shifted slightly in the foliage, trying to dislodge a pesky branch stabbing into her side. Suddenly, the two ponies on the hill whipped around to face her hiding spot.
She drew in a breath sharply, then stood perfectly still. She barely dared to exhale. Cyseyes! What was going on? Okay, they were looking away now. Okay. She still didn’t dare move. They were looking all around, now, scanning the ground with the sort of panicked air that comes from losing something important. Well. They were distracted now, at any rate. Slowly, Scootaloo eased herself backwards and out of the bushes. She finally allowed herself a faint sigh of relief as she all but fell backwards onto the ground. Not even rolling over, she propelled herself away from the bushes with her back legs and then somersaulted behind a tree. Only then did she relax.
Okay. Ponies acting creepy. Was it Tuesday already? She ran through the possibilities in her head. Changelings? Not likely, now that Chrysalis was gone and Thorax had taken over. Still, she had sworn that she would return, so, still a possibility. Other options? Scootaloo stared into space, brow furrowed.
...Aliens? It was distinctly possible. Ponyville already had two Time Lords living there, why not some kind of shape-shifter, too? Well, she’d just have to get some more inform—
Her train of thought cut off abruptly as she saw something flash in the underbrush. Scootaloo squinted. What was that? Her eyes widened as she saw sunlight flash off its back again. A robot. She glanced back up at the hill, where the two figures were still frantically searching the ground. She glanced back at the robot. Two and two became four.
Given that that… thing is five meters in front of me, and my scooter is twelve meters away at a vector roughly one hundred degrees off of that, let’s see… okay, and the nearest cover on that path is… six hooves away… Alright, let’s go.
She quickly scurried toward her scooter, keeping a careful eye on the ponies on the hill. Fortunately, their eyesight was apparently worse than their hearing. Mounting up, she angled herself just so and then pushed off. The pegasus skimmed over the ground, deftly steering away from rocks and sticks. With a single swoop, she nabbed the robot from the ground with one hoof and let her altered momentum carry her into the treeline.
The Dash-thing glanced up, peering in the general direction of where, just moments before, Scootaloo had been visible. Now, there was nothing but a faint cloud of dust. The blue pegasus stared for a moment longer, and then resumed her search.
Scootaloo straightened up on her scooter and pushed off the ground once more, sending her zipping along the path back to Ponyville proper. Her mind was racing. “Okay,” she muttered. “Who can I ask for help? Uh, the Doctor’s in Canterlot… and this probably isn’t Twilight’s area…” she frowned and looked down at the robot, which was clinging tightly to the handlebars. She nearly crashed out of sheer shock. Emblazoned on the shiny metal surface was a familiar stylized cloud with a multicolored lightning bolt. Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark.
“Okay, that’s it. I’m taking you to an expert,” Scootaloo decided, propelling herself forward once more as fast as she possibly could.