//------------------------------// // Tale of Disaster // Story: Void Trials 2: Horizon // by Obsi //------------------------------// A pencil scratched over the paper as tired eyes shifted from one letter to the other. A sour taste spread through Shetland’s mouth and she spat out the pen. She muttered a curse as it fell onto the paper, poking a hole through it. Clenching her teeth, she tried to smooth out the parchment as she read. Dear Ciloa, Hi there…I’m so sorry It’s been a while, huh? A lot has happened since we last saw each other. First, you may be happy to hear that I survived. You and Press, both, it’s it’s hard without you two. I’ve been dealing with… stuff. Unfortunately we still haven’t caught the ones responsible, but I swear I will! There are a few hyenas here, Gan and Khunbish, who do their investigation. I know what you think, it’s obviously them, right? But things happened and I don’t know for sure after what happened with Toasty- Damnit, I wrote myself into this… You remember Toasty, the robot who works at the Turing Tart? She’s here now and she- Something attacked her and I don’t know what it was! I promised I’d protect her and I don’t have the faintest as to how! I guess that’s the reason I have to work with those hyenas for now, keep your enemies close or whatever? Mom would know these stupid wisdoms better than me. Then again, that one doesn’t sound like her at all, maybe like Queen Twinkle? If only it wasn’t that complicated, give me something to smash any day over this! Well, I’ll have to make the best of it. I have to, I have to protect her better than Wherever you are, if I can avenge you and keep Toasty safe somehow, then, then it’ll all be okay, right? Then you can be proud of me and when we meet again you won’t have to be disappointed with me. I hope, wherever you two are, I hope you are now together, forever. Love, Shetland Shetland let out a strained breath, releasing some of the pressure on her chest and eyes. She wiped over the latter with a hoof, but there was no moisture. She was over tears now. Folding the letter in her hooves, she gently pushed it into an envelope. It had no address. She wanted to add one, just to feel like it was going somewhere. Her eyes wandered over the luminaire hanging at the wall infront of her. She’d love to believe that there was some way to send it, even if she still couldn’t receive an answer. Twilight had told her stories of Spike, the dragon that was both like a son and a brother to her. Could he have sent the letter with his magic fire? Her hoof fell on the table with a loud thud as she dismissed the idea. As if anything could send a letter to the dead! And even if he could, he’d been gone long before she was even born. With a groan, she laid back, rubbing her temples. “What bothers you?” A smooth, yet undeniably artificial voice asked. “Sorry, did I wake you?” Shetland asked as she turned towards the robot, who sat in the only small spot not occupied by Shetland’s bed, her desk, a chest for her belongings and Shetland herself. She’d offered the robot a side of the bed, but Toasty had declined, since she had no use for it. And judging by the sound the hinges made when Shetland alone occupied the massively undersized bed, it was probably the smarter choice. “No need to apologize.” Toasty said, her new green eyes scanning the earth pony. “As I do not really sleep and only use a resting mode to preserve battery power, I feel no discomfort when, quote on quote, waking. Of course,” she added after a short pause. “Normally, such actions are unnecessary since I would be occupying my charging pod.” Shetland bit her lips. “It’s too-” “It is okay.” Toasty said, letting the larger pony relax. “I do not mind staying with you. Furthermore, I believe your mental stability would be more at risk than my physical health if you were unable to watch over me.” Shetland had no idea how to respond to that. Especially since she had a strong feeling that Toasty was absolutely correct in that assessment. “So, what have you been doing?” Toasty wondered, getting up on her hind legs so she could peak over Shetland's shoulder. Reflexively, Shetland jerked sideways to hide the letter from Toasty’s view. In the process however, she bumped into the robot, causing her to topple over, smashing into the floor with a loud clang. “Are you okay?” Shetland gasped. “No damage received.” Toasty intoned. She gave the larger earth pony a look with her head tilted. “Curiosity increased by sixty percent. I am raising my eyebrow right now.” “You don’t have an eyebrow.” Shetland said as a tiny smile stole it's way on her face. She then gave the letter to Toasty, gesturing for her to read before turning her back. But after a mere second, she felt the robot’s cold hoof pat her back. “Oh, Shetland…” she whispered quietly. “I don’t want your pity,” Shetland muttered. Her nose was stuffy, but she refused to pull it up, not infront of her friend. “I’m dealing with it, okay?” “I…” Toasty hesitated before she withdrew her hoof. “Alright.” “We’re going to the hyenas later.”Shetland’s eyes drifted to the clock. I just hope they can help somehow. She pushed her breath through her teeth. “Either by knowing stuff or revealing themselves, we’re going to crack this mystery.” “There is no proof that they are hiding anything-” “Toasty, I know they’re hiding something.” Shetland stated it like a fact. “Shetland-” “No, Toasty, listen to me. Do you remember why you even went out, what did you discover beforehoof?” Toasty’s eyelights went out for a second before they reactivated. “Do you mean the error the mainframe made?” Shetland groaned. “It’s a computer, it doesn’t make errors!” “You would think that.” Toasty said, her eyes dimming. “Not that kind of mistake, anyway.” Shetland rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t just do its math incorrectly. And lo and behold, in exactly the place that was missing from the map, just before a storm where no sensible pony would be outside, you were attacked by someone. And all of that because the mainframe made a, quote on quote, 'mistake'. And guess who I found a few days before that, trying to sneak his way into said mainframe while nopony was around? It was Gan!” Toasty backed off. “That could… still be a coincidence.” “Like that super convenient hacking attack during their landing?” Shetland raised her eyebrow. Toasty stood, silently but for her head, which emitted a whirring sound as she processed. Slowly, a smile spread on Shetlands face, she was finally beginning to convince somepony! “Then… you really think it was them?” Toasty asked, her ears squeaking on their hinges as they folded down. Shetland could have let out a victorious whoop- so it was a bitter pill to swallow as she admitted: “No.” As the robot’s gave her a surprised look, she elaborated. “Maybe they could do all this, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would they?” She stared at her hoof. “If they’re here to cover something up, why take the risk of randomly attacking robots? There’s no motiv!” “Then…” “I think we’re still missing some big piece of this puzzle.” Shetland sighed. “And that’s why, when we meet them later, we need to be ready and…” Her voice halted. “I… I don’t really know what’ll happen,” she admitted. “I don’t have a plan.” There was a pause. Then Toasty began to chuckle. “And here I thought you had finally accepted the Sparkle Spirit.” “What, No!” Shetland stood up, barely finding place to stand in the tiny room without touching anything. “So, great strategist Sparkle,” Toasty mused. “What is your plan until we meet with the dangerous hyenas?” “Uhm…” Toasty giggled. “You are adorable when you look clueless.” Shetlands mouth opened, but her tongue was too confused to decide between a thanks and a protest. Then she yelped as a cold, smooth hoof brushed over her scarred flank. “W-What are you doing?” “Does it hurt?” “No.” she muttered, but quickly gave in under Toasty’s look. “Kinda, still sore.” A sigh escaped her lips as the hoof ran over her back, kneading the muscles a little. “You are very tense.” Toasty commented as she withdrew her hooves, causing Shetland to let out a disappointed moan. “When we go back to central, would you like to visit the spa with me?” “Oh, Tartarus, yes.” Shetland breathed, wishing those cool hooves back on her skin. Then she blinked. “Wait, with you? What are you gonna do in a spa? I doubt you can get tense joints or sore cogs.” “I can get a polish.” “Right.” Shetland hid her smirk, just in case the robot would take offense. “By the way,” Toasty said, as if she’d just thought of it. “Have you done your exercises yet?” Shetland’s breath stopped and in the same moment, she realised what a mistake that was. Now she could not lie anymore. And so, she begrudgingly admitted: “No.” “Then what are we waiting for?” The robot was already on her hooves. “But I’m already sore.” Shetland whined, even as she, much slower, followed suit. “Excuses.” Toasty said mercilessly. “Your health is worth a bit of pain.” “Shouldn’t I decide that?” Shetland grumbled quietly, even as she followed her out the room. ---- It was astounding, really, Shetland thought, that one can make pain better by adding more pain, at least when it comes to sore muscles. With the sound of a bellow, she puffed out air as she stemmed her hindleg against Toasty’s head and pushed. After a moment of strained agony, she was rewarded with the earthy sound of ceramic scraping over rocks as the robot was pushed backwards. “20” Toasty said to the heavily breathing pony. “You can stop now.” It was only her long gym-experience that made Shetland wait for air to actually reach her brain again before considering. She wiped off her forehead. It was drenched in sweat, dripping down her face and the rest of her body. A quiet chuckle escaped her. At first, she’d just wanted to skimp out on as much as possible. Then… her competitive spirit had taken over, her ego forcing her to push herself to the limit. Though, the fact they were just behind the dorms, in broad sunlight, probably didn’t help. But the settlement had no gym, as such this was the only place they could work out without attracting attention. It was nice to be able to impress one pony, but to have random strangers watch... It wasn’t made any more comfortable by the fact that without equipment, the only thing Shetland had that came close to a weight was the robot by her side. She’d stemmed her, pushed her, hoofwrestled and carried her on a jog. Toasty had been remarkably reserved about all this, but that did little to make Shetland feel less awkward about it. Luckily, they had attracted very little attention. Most ponies were at work in the greenhouses or staying on the shadow-side of the buildings to cool down. An itchy feeling brought Shetland back to the present and she made a face. “I think I’ll pass.” It wasn’t that she had no ambition, but she was just as much vary about pushing her leg too far. And judging by her nod, Toasty fully agreed. Relieved, Shetland stretched her back, groaning as a series of pops came from her spine, almost as loud as the growling of her stomach. It caused Toasty to laugh her weird staccato laugh. “We should probably feed the monster before it devours us.” she said jokingly, poking Shetland’s stomach with her cold hoof. “Very funny.” Shetland mumbled, though she obliged to the robot mare’s suggestion. Unlike Shetland’s room in the central colony- well, the room her mom gave her- they lacked a personal kitchen, a luxury to begin with. As such, they headed for the canteens, hoping that now, after the morning rush to feed before work started, there were no lines to contend with. “They better press the orange juice correctly.” Toasty ranted. “It drives me up the wall how ponies can be so wasteful. Our competitor in canterlot left an average of three percent to be thrown away, can you believe it?” “I don’t think we get orange-juice here, they probably just put vitamin powder in the water.” Shetland said absent-mindedly. Toasty shook her head in disbelief. “Where do all these shortcuts in our very sustenance lead us?” Shetland grunted a sound that could be vaguely interpreted as a yes. Her attention was on a trio of robots carrying a few bags of soil out of a sturdy looking storage house. Far too little weight to warrant that large of a group. The robots halted as they moved past, regarding them with vary, curious looks until they were a distance away again. They weren’t the first to show this reaction either. It seemed that every robot now only traveled in groups of mostly their own. Sometimes they would be seen with ponies, but the organics always seemed to be outnumbered. They were afraid. The realization felt like a cold talon pressing into Shetlands neck. She hadn’t ever considered what effect the news of attacks and vanished robots would have on the colony at large until now, that it was right before her eyes. That robots no longer felt safe to travel freely, to mingle with ponies. That’s what the looks of curiosity must be for, she thought as she looked over Toasty. Despite being the one to directly suffer an attack, she is still optimistic enough to travel with just me. Whether it be because she couldn’t remember or some sort of ill-fated trust. “What’s bothering you?” Shetland blinked in surprise as she got aware of her own deep frown. “I’m just thinking. How can we help to put a stop to this? The things that are happening.” she clarified in response to Toasty’s look. “I wanna do something, but I have no idea what could even be done. What can I even do in an investigation with hyenas? I barely remember, like, three clishees from some trashy mystery novel and that’s all!” “Well,” Toasty began slowly. “Maybe you should just focus on what is next. Which is food. Afterwards, we meet the hyenas.” Shetland let out a little chuckle. “I guess that’s a nice way to see things. Just think about the food.” Her belly agreed loudly, making both of them giggle, even if Shetland’s was still a bit strained. “I should probably shower first, though.” “Do you think you need to?” “Of course. I can’t go like this, I’m all sweaty and itchy and smelly!” she shook her head and in that motion, she was caught unprepared as Toasty suddenly drew closer, reaching her head to Shetlands barrel and loudly drew air through her nose. Startled, Shetland lept away, bringing a good distance between her and the crazy robot before she exclaimed: “Toasty, what the heck?!” The robot chuckled, her eyelights randomly changing size and brightness and she placed a hoof where a mouth would be. “Oh, this is fun.” “What. The. Heck?!” “Oh, relax, I did not smell anything.” Toasty’s head made a little circular motion. “I only inhale as a function to cool my processor.” “Okay…” Shetland said, her breath slowly normalizing again. “Don’t do this again, it’s… really, really weird.” “Oh, I won’t.” Toasty said jovially, though one eyelight blinked on and off in a robotic wink. “Now go, I’ll wait right outside. Unless you think it is dangerous and want me in eyesight?~” “After that action, no way.” Shetland grumbled. “Just… knock if there’s trouble or shout, okay?” Toasty took a moment to answer and Shetland already assumed she was going to make another joke, but instead she solemnly nodded. “Will do, Shetland.” It was much too soon when the time came for them to go.And yet, in all honesty, Shetland had been relieved. Cleaned and sated, with nothing to occupy her mind, every second had stretched into minutes. Even Toasty had fallen quiet over time. She now glittered next to her, polished, just to bridge the last thirty minutes. Curiously, Khunbish and Gan were not situated in the same dorms as everypony else. Instead, they had been granted a small edifice a five minute walk from the rest of the colony. Unlike most structures, it was build neither from metal or glass, instead it was made from smooth white rock akin to those primarily used in Canterlot, even if it was far less tall or grandiose than anything from the city. Shetland breathed in deeply, then allowed the air to slowly escape her lungs. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards at the familiarity. She’d lived with Ciloa in just that sort of building for two years. It’d been her home and now… she swallowed. Now there were hyenas inside. Stop procrastinating! she chastised herself. The door was just infront of her, if a little low. Behind it, she could barely make out their voices. Without thinking it through, she pressed her ear at the door, ignoring the look Toasty gave her. The voice, she assumed it was Gan, was dulled, but clearly recognisable. “-And now. We discuss secret evil plan. Right before pony arrive. Much logic in decision. PONY VERY LOUD.” he shouted as Shetland, her cheeks burning as she’d been caught red-hoofed again, knocked on the door, hoping it could mask her error. The hatch turned and Khunbish’s face appeared, tinted blue behind the visible magic shield, preventing the air from escaping outside. “Welcome,” she greeted them with a smile, even as she strained her neck to look up to Shetland. “Come in, Sparkle and machine, I do not know for how long the magic works.” Shetland and Toasty exchanged an uneasy look, then Shetland stepped inside first, ducking her head to do so. From the inside, the familiarity to Canterlot only increased further. Smooth, clean walls, ornate furniture and big, thin arcing windows- Shetland scratched her head at that, there’d been no windows from ouside. Then she noticed that they showed the wide outlook over a large country-range lush with fields and even the great Everfree swamp. It was enough to make anypony feel homesick. The marks of the hyenas were relatively few. Two hammocks hung from nails driven into the ceilings, each holding a hide of some sort as a blanket. The desk was covered in paper displaying the weird runes hyenas used for letters. If only she could read them, but while Twilight had managed to hammer a whole bunch of languages into her poor head, she was much less proficient in writing them. All of their belongings apparently took no more space than two bags designed for long travel. And that included Gan’s shocktalon, which he had thankfully decided not to wear. With Khunbish’s help, he pushed a big couch from the wall into the midst of the room. “Please sit down.” The female hyena offered. Shetland accepted, mostly because while room was comfortably wide, the ceiling was low enough to give her neck cramps over time. The couch even held up surprisingly well, though it did let out a pained screech as she sat down. With her hooves propped on the rests and head head leaning on her hooves, she could even sit fairly comfortably. Toasty meanwhile simply sat infront of the couch, joining Shetland in cautiously eyeing the hyenas. “If I may ask,” she said. “This room looks different than any other on Horizon.” “As I was told,” Khunbish answered. “It was used by a psychologist when this was the only settlement. The most common issue, especially as every day was still a struggle, was homesickness. So, it was modeled to closely resemble your country. I have to say, it… is very pretty.” Somehow, from the tone of her voice, Shetland got the impression that Khunbish saw that as a bad thing. “Either way,” she continued. “We should finally begin: Machine, you will have to be patient as we will hear Sparkle’s story first. If the events are related, it is better if we learn in order.” “I do not have much to tell.” Toasty shook her head. “My memory is missing.” Gan’s head shot up. “You lie. Machines do not forget!” “I do not have any data in between my departure and myself when I was broken.” Toasty reaffirmed. “My memory has been manipulated.” The hyenas exchanged looks. Gan quietly growled, but Shetland’s eyes were drawn to Khunbish and she furrowed her brows. She had a hard time reading their expressions, and yet, the hyenas showed not a single sign of surprise, simply nodding at the information. Somehow, she doubted that even Khunbish was that cold. Meanwhile, Shetland put a hoof over Toasty’s shoulder, her eyes darting back to Gan who eyed the robot critically. “If the machine not lie-” “She is not lying.” Shetland said sternly, glaring at him until he gave in, even if just at a whispered command of Khunbish. “What he meant to say,” the larger hyena said, her voice chiding both of them. “Is we should get back to the business at hand. Miss Sparkle, would you please depict your position in the raid?” Shetland let go of her breath. Her muscles tensed as she briefly considered simply running away. But no, there was no backing off anymore. Her foreleg pressed to her chest, she took another deep breath before slowly exhaling, straightening out her leg as she did. “Where should I start?” she asked quietly, unable to meet the hyena’s eyes. “Wherever it appears logical to. If... it becomes too much, when it becomes too much, we can take a break, too.” Khunbish offered. But Shetland shook her head. It’d been bad enough to wait for this meeting and as much as she wanted to run away, an even stronger part now wanted to just get it over with. “It was a normal shipment to Horizon,” she finally started. “Far as I know, it was just some supplies, standard stuff. Me and my friends-” she took a breath before she continued. “We were given a few spots on the Esseless so we could cross, y’know? We- uh-” she shifted uncomfortably, trying to find words as Khunbish finally interrupted her. “When did the attack happen?” “I… don’t know for sure. The morning of the day we arrived, I think.” “Can you give an estimate of the time?” Shetland bit her lips. Funny, that for how vividly she thought she remembered everything, how foggy the details had gotten. “I- really don’t know for sure. Maybe four, five hours before I came here.” “Did you have any warning? Any sign, a message from Horizon?” “No… no… maybe. We got- they send us a signal. An SOS. We only knew there was a spaceship stranded in our way, so we tried to rescue whoever was on board. Of course, when the hatch opened-” she swallowed, her voice husky as her hooves trembled, wanting to shield her eyes from what played behind them. “And the fuckers threw a grenade.” Both hyenas winced and Toasty reached out for Shetland. She barely noticed the touch. “I didn’t see much, it threw me away and- it burned my leg.” The limb in question made its presence known as it began to itch horribly. “It all seemed to happen instantly. Next thing I knew, half the crew is dead and I’m running for my life from all these drones. And- and we should have prepared!” she beat her hoof on the couch. “We were connecting to an unknown ship while all our weapons were in the Celestia-damned storage! They could only come from one direction, if I’d been armed-” her voice died. She pressed her eyes closed as she gnashed her teeth. The thought that it all could’ve been prevented if they’d treaded just a bit more warily… “If you do want a break-” Khunbish offered cautiously. If Shetland heard her, she showed no reaction. A smell of smoke stung in her nose. “Next thing I know, I’m with my friends and… somepony else in the cargo. It’s got this… this large door that we closed, so we could prepare.” “Uhm… Shetland?” Toasty asked quietly. “If they couldn’t get in, what about the rest of the crew?” She couldn’t meet Toasty’s eyes, instead she faced a wall and took a long, shaky breath. The shaking of her hoof became harder and harder to control. “Next... next-” she took another breath, calming her voice until she was ready to speak again. “We made a plan, I don’t know for sure who made it. We were gonna wait until as many as possible stood before the cargo, waiting for us to get out. We opened the door, as well as one at the back.” “The… back?” Gan asked. It was the first time he said anything since Shetland had started her story. “To the outside.” Shetland said grimly. “We sucked ‘em out, over two dozen, I think. But then, when Ciloa tried to close the door again, the lever was stuck.” In retrospect, it all seemed like some cruel, cosmic joke. “So, you see, we were all holding on to the wall so we weren’t sucked out too, but when her magic wasn’t enough, Ciloa had to reach out with a hoof-” she took a long, dry breath. “I wasn’t close enough to save her. Only Crimson was and he got sucked out too.” she wanted to kick something, find something responsible to ram into the dirt and trample on its corpse, but there was nothing. Water filled her eyes, boiling tears of futile anger. “He tried to save her and it was for nothing!” Khunbish stepped closer, her rough voice trying to sound as gently as it could: “You do not have to talk about your friends in such detail, Sparkle. We don’t need to know their exact fates-” “No,” Gan interrupted her, gaining a bewildered look. But his eyes were focused on Shetland's, deeply narrowed in concentration. “Your friend’s story is tale of honor. They deserve to be told. They deserve to live in memory.” His eyes met Shetlands and she bit in her lip, slowly regaining her composure. She looked from him to Toasty and Khunbish and swallowed. Then she continued her tale. It was as if the worst had passed. It hurt less to speak, even as she recounted Press’s reckless charge to his demise. Maybe she’d finally grown numb, her brain simply deciding that enough was enough and turning off her heart. And so, she carried on in a dull voice: The aftermath of the battle. The message she recorded for her mother. How she almost shot herself. “Stop!” Toasty threw her forelegs in the air, startling everyone else with her sudden outburst. She shook her head, her eyelights switched off. “Toasty-” Shetland muttered. “Can we take a break, please?” Toasty asked the hyenas. “I can not listen to this anymore.” “Of course we can.” Shetland said before either of them could open their mouth. She slid off the couch, sitting down next the robot, so Toasty’s head was a bit below her shoulder. She laid a hoof around her and realized with surprise that she was shivering. After a minute, Toasty spoke up. “This is horrible.” “Mhm.” Shetland nodded. There was nothing else she could say. “How can you deal with it?” Their eyes met and Shetland had to blink from the bright green lights. “How can you stay calm and talk about it, how can you accept these things?” Shetland took a deep breath to answer, but then she froze. “I’ll… just have to, Toasty.” she let out a drawn out sigh. A hoof reached around the small robots chassis. “All I know for sure,” she said with steely resolve. “Is that I’m not letting it happen again. It-” she swallowed. “It’ll be fine if I can just do that.” She once again met Toasty’s eyes. Suddenly, Shetland felt something cold squeeze around her lower ribs. “I’m so sorry.” Toasty whispered, her hug not able to fully reach around Shetland. With a sad smile, the earth pony patted her back. “If you want, you could wait outside while we finish this.” Toasty hesitated, but then she shook her head. “I’ll stick it out with you. Just please, give me a few more minutes.” “Certainly.” Shetland said. Then she raised her head, glaring at the hyenas, challenging them to disagree. Neither of them did. Gan simply huffed, shaking his head in disbelief as he muttered “ponies”, like it was self-explanatory. Meanwhile, Khunbish patiently waited, refusing to let the slightest emotion disrupt her stony face up until a few minutes later, when Toasty broke away from the hug. Then she asked: “You were the only pony left on the spaceship. You already stated you had no means to pilot it either. How did you get out?” “I didn’t fly with the Esseless.” Shetland said. “I convinced the A.I. of their ship to take me back.” “WHAT?” Both hyenas shouted, sudden as a gunshot. “You talk with ship?” Gan asked, his eyes wide. “You convince ship?” “Y-yes, that’s what happened.” Shetland said quietly, watching with concern as both hyenas exchanged looks. “Is that special, I thought all spaceships pilot with A.I?” Khunbish shook her head “No machine intelligence like yours. You could not hold a conversation or argue with one of ours. It only maps a course, it is a tool for the pilot, nothing else.” “Why would you do that?” Shetland raised an eyebrow. “An A.I. would always perform much better and safer. And…” she tapped her chin with a hoof. “Didn’t you use one? Don’t tell me one of you two piloted the ship you landed with.” While she liked to think she had let go of her animosity to these two, seeing their lips become dangerously thin was still a satisfying sight. “We used a pony ship.” Khunbish said, laying out each word carefully before moving on to the next. “We were under strict agreement with Equestria to only send two representatives. On this one occasion, we accepted the necessity of a machine intelligence.” “We do not often.” Gan said, speaking a bit louder than her. “Machine should not be trust.” “Our lands were arguably hit the worst by the grinding wars.” Khunbish justified his words before Shetland could protest. “Plus, Hiroshimare lies on our coast. We have much reason to distrust machines. Either way, we are losing our thread. The fact that these pirates had a machine intelligence on their ship is worrying.” “Why?” Shetland asked, grumbling to herself as she swallowed her comment to the previous topic. Even if it would have been quite satisfying to say. “Because ship stolen from us.” Gan said. “So Pirates either steal from your land too, or make own.” “Bullshit.” Shetland said and shook her head. “No little pirate group can program an A.I. like that.” “No pirates act in space before.” Gan said grimly. There was a short silence as Shetland failed to come up with a counter argument. “If that is true,” Khunbish said. “We might be dealing with a network large enough to cross the continents.” she met Shetland’s eyes. “Maybe the rest of your tale will be able to clear it up.” Suddenly, her stomach clamped up as her mind was drawn to what came next. A faint voice whispered in her ear, but it wasn’t loud enough to make out. “Can’t tell much.” she said, trying to mask the outbreak inside her. “I convinced the A.I. to bring me to the colony, so I prepared for a fight and flew there. I can’t tell you any details after my arrival either, I was just trying to survive.” Khunbish sighed. “This is all you can recall? Not a single detail more?” Shetland just nodded. She didn’t trust her voice. “In your report, you stated that you planned to free the colonists and arm them. But when you arrived, many of them recalled that you had some sort of breakdown. Some claimed they saw you press a button, after which you violently vomited on the floor.” “Yes, yes.” If she spoke fast enough, maybe her thoughts could not catch up. “I loaded the ship with explosives as a trap beforehoof, I thought if I could take out a lot of them in an instant, their morale would break and I was right, right?” she gasped for air, having said all that in a single breath. “True,” Khunbish said mercilessly. “But one thing makes me wonder. Why were a whole bunch of them inside the ship at the same time? Would they not immediately leave it after seeing it was safe? And why haven’t they discovered your trap, they surely had ample time to search your ship and an explosion like that must have been caused by a sizable pile.” “It was their ship.” Shetland said. Her mouth felt dry and linty, as if she was speaking around a woollen ball. “Why wouldn’t they be on it?” Her and Khunbish’s eyes met for several seconds before she backed hers down to her own hooves. “Quite.” Khunbish said. “If you allow a few more questions-” “Yes, yes.” Shetland gasped. Anything to talk about something else. That something turned out to be questions about a lot of details she couldn’t remember, like the insides of the pirate ship, their weapons, faces, special marks or uniformity in their clothing. She also had to describe each of her friends, whose names she had used in her tale without explaining who they were. Finally, Khunbish pressed both Shetland and Toasty for further details on their recent “excursion”, but neither was able to provide any new information, to the hyena’s chagrin. With a sigh, Khunbish stuck the last of her notes inside of a folder. “Thank you both for your time.” she said, even if it didn’t sound very thankful. Admittedly, it could just be her rough voice. But then she let out a long sigh, after which it became much softer. “I’m glad to finally have this behind me.” “Me too.” Shetland admitted. Her eyes hurt, her guts were cold, but despite all that, she was happy to have it finally be over with. “And it is good we did today. Tomorrow we will move back to your main colony. We would have this evening already, had you not declared your willingness to talk with us today.” “Uhm… sorry?” Khunbish simply shook her head at the apology. “While your spaceport will not be cleared tomorrow, as I tried to arrange with Luna Princess, it was worth receiving your account. Despite interruption, we can maybe find something tomorrow. You can be helpful too.” She added with a look to Shetland. “You were there, maybe you can point something out.” “I suppose.” Shetland said, even as she suddenly felt quite quite unsure of herself. “If you think I’d be helpful-” “You will be.” Khunbish said, giving her an unsettlingly toothy smile. “I am sure of it.”