//------------------------------// // Act 2, Chapter 3 - Trapped Like a Rat // Story: Hoof and Claw Versus the World // by Chythar //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon had just felt the might of the United States Marines, and was not eager to repeat the experience. We had just left the base perimeter and were heading towards a nearby city to the south in hopes of finding an easier target. Can someone tell Murphy I'm sorry? I didn't mean to break his law, it was a complete accident. Turns out that the east side of the MCAGCC Twentynine Palms base perimeter, the side that Nightmare Moon and I were on, was not a straight line running north to south as I expected. It instead zig-zagged towards the east sorta like a staircase. And unluckily for us, the base perimeter was either poorly marked or we kept missing the signs. Probably the latter, the signs looked like they were meant to be seen from the ground and not from the air. Were we showing up on the base radar? It didn't really matter. Each time we accidentally violated their airspace, we ran into a Humvee patrol. After our first run-in with a Humvee, my dark Mistress gave me an order in case we encountered more of them. "We should avoid any additional conflict with the guards stationed here, ere we invoke their ire and those 'tanks' are mustered against us. If confronted, attempt to flee towards the east. Only fight if there is no other option." Sounds good to me. I don't want to attack my fellow humans if I have a choice. We easily avoided the next Humvee we saw. They had their spotlight on, and were scanning the night sky for anything that moved. The third Humvee kept their lights off, but they were parked in the middle of a field. Thanks to our magical night vision, we saw this vehicle early enough and veered back to the east to avoid a confrontation. We didn't see the fourth Humvee until it was too late. This one had parked itself behind a small rock formation, one just large enough to hide behind. When we flew past them, the soldiers launched two drones that lit us up with bright lights. Two quick shots from Nightmare Moon took care of the drones, but the Humvee had already launched a parachute flare that lit the entire area. It was time for us to leave. As before, the dark mare and I angled east and quickly lost sight of the pursuing Humvee. BANG! The sky in front of us had been lit by a painfully bright light! It appeared directly in front of Nightmare Moon, and the flash blinded us both. Fortunately for me, the dark mare's body shielded me from the worst of the blast. But the Night Mare took the full brunt of the surprise attack. "Argh! Mine eyes!" A flashbang! Those things were really annoying in video games, and they turned out to be fucking painful in person. Even though I was protected from the worst of the explosion, I still felt like I had been slapped in the face and punched all over my body. My ears were ringing and the bright light had messed up my eyes. I couldn't see a thing! So it's not really my fault I didn't see Nightmare Moon stop right in front of me. The next thing I knew, I had slammed into something big and the two of us tumbled out of the night sky. We hit the ground hard in a painful tangle of fur and feathers. Both of us flailed around in a panic: blinded, deafened and quite confused. The smell of gunpowder was everywhere while we each tried to untangle ourselves free of the other. "Mine eyes!" "Get off me, you fat bitch!" "ENOUGH!" A flash of healing magic from the dark mare, and both of us could see and hear again. We quickly untangled ourselves, and got to our respective feet & hooves as fast as we could. My Mistress lifted her wings and prepared to fly, and I did the same. I did not know who had attacked us, but I really didn't want to be caught on the ground in a fight. My pegasi instincts were screaming at me to get into the air and leave my enemies on the ground below. But before we could depart, a flare popped up into the air; the chemical light held aloft by a small parachute. Caught unawares, the dark mare and I hesitated a mere moment to stare at the flare as it floated down. One lost moment later, a muffled bang rang out in the night and something white streamed out to cover us both! I ducked instinctively and waited for the thing to fly over us. After waiting a few tense seconds, I heard my Mistress speak. "Clearly, thine instincts in battle are in sore need of a polish." Huh? I looked over at Nightmare Moon, and noticed that she and I were not trapped in the white thing that flew over us. Instead, we were protected by the dark mare's glowing shield. Said shield was spherical in nature, and the center was a bit taller than the Mare in the Moon's horn. After standing up, I could see that the white thing was actually a large net, and it was draped over the dark mare's shield. The net was so large that it not only covered the shield, but it sprawled across the ground all around us. My Mistress was looking at me, her expression one of disapproval. "Oh great, now we're trapped." "Not so, my student. Watch and learn." A look of concentration covered the ebony mare's muzzle, and a burst of magic shot out from her horn and into her shield. The shield pulsed and SQUIRMED somehow, then grew short and stubby spikes all over its outer surface. The spikes pushed through the holes in the net and effectively pinned it to the shield's surface. Well, now the net is trapped on the surface of the shield. How is that going to--oh. If she expands the shield, the net should tear and let us escape. As I watched, the shield split into spherical wedges not unlike pieces of an orange or grapefruit. With a loud yell, Nightmare Moon forced the wedges of her shield apart and violently tore the net to shreds. A moment later, she let the shield disperse and tiny pieces of net fell around us harmlessly. Two sets of headlights suddenly flickered to life, one to our front and the other towards our left. The Humvees started their engines, and slowly began to creep towards us. Now that's a threat if I've ever seen one. After thinking for a moment, I realized that the Humvees weren't much of a threat after all. I was sure Nightmare Moon and I could beat them fairly easily. With a thought, I summoned a fireball into each hand. Then I waited patiently for the order to attack. Instead, my Mistress turned away from the vehicles and leapt into the sky. HEY! Aw crap, I forgot she wanted to avoid a fight! Even if the Humvees were only a small threat, they were still a threat I did NOT want to turn my back on. So I leapt into the air backwards and did my best to fly away. I couldn't travel very fast this way, but it meant I could keep an eye on the Humvees while we fled. In a blink, I de-summoned the fireballs and re-absorbed their energy. In their place, I made a special shield that was large and round and flat. This shield wasn't attached to me like my normal one, so I could move it and even throw it if I had to. But that meant that I could drop it, too. I hoped it was good enough to help the two of us to escape. I should have known that there would be more soldiers out there. I saw and felt the trademark flash of light & explosion from a flashbang behind me. It was quickly followed by the blood-curdling scream of Nightmare Moon. I whipped my head around in time to see her tumble out of the sky, smoke and flames roiling from her head. Since I had been facing away from the explosion, the sudden light and sound of the flashbang didn't really affect me. But my fear froze me in place, and I could only watch in horror as the injured Night Mare slammed into the ground and tumbled down a dirt embankment I didn't even know was there. OH MY GOD! "MISTRESS!" Whatever held me in place let me go, and I found I could move again. The sudden surge of motion made me drop my shield, not that I needed it anymore. My only thoughts were of the Mare in the Moon, as I chased after her wounded body as fast as I could. But I wasn't fast enough. I could only watch helplessly as the ebony mare limply rolled down the embankment. Just as she reached the bottom and came to rest, I landed hard in the dirt next to her unmoving form. Dust raised from her crash and my landing swirled around our bodies. A brief look for injuries on the mare's body revealed no obvious broken bones or blood. However, there were ominous wisps of smoke curling lazily from her head. And I could smell cooked meat. I couldn't see her injuries from where I stood, but the smell alone told me they were really bad. A quick walk around the mare's body, and I could finally see the terrible damage done to her. It looked like the poor mare had taken the flashbang right in the face. Most of the fur on her muzzle had been burned away, with blackened flesh and soot surrounding large patches of red and burned skin. Even worse, I could see large patches of white bone where the flashbang had burned all of her flesh and muscle away. And her nose was missing, just an empty hole in her skull where it used to be. While her helmet was still on her head, the metal had been blackened from the flames. Her horn had survived the blast, scorched but undamaged. But to my horror, the fur on her eyelids had been burned away and the skin there was charred and red. Oh no, not her eyes! I desperately hoped that her eyes were alright, but deep inside I knew she would never see again. How could the flashbang not have blinded her? There was too much damage. Despair for my Mistress filled my heart, and I slumped to my knees in the dirt. No, no no no no no no! Why oh why didn't you teach me any healing magic! I can't do anything to help you! Wanting, no needing to comfort the ebony mare, I reached out and cradled her mutilated head in my arms. I called out her real name over and over until she began to stir. The Moon Mistress groaned and grimaced, likely from the pain from her burns. Her eyelids twitched, but she was unable to open them. From what I could see, her flesh had melted from the heat and fused her eyelids to the surrounding tissue. After a few attempts to open her eyes, she let out a deep growl of anger. Her horn lit up, and her wounds began to miraculously heal before my very eyes. Mere seconds passed as flesh and muscle stretched over exposed bone, burned flesh healed to a healthy pink, and ebony fur rippled out to cover naked flesh. In mere moments, all of her grave wounds were gone with no sign that she was ever hurt at all. As soon as her horn went dark, the ebony mare's eyes snapped open. Her gorgeous teal orbs were filled with white hot anger, and I could feel the muscles in her neck tense in my arms. She quickly scrambled to her hooves, and shouted her frustrations to the heavens. "I TIRE OF THIS HUMILIATION!" In answer, another flashbang flew over the top of the embankment and fell towards our position. My instincts screamed to knock it away, so I made a flat shield and swatted the flashbang off to my right. The flashbang exploded harmlessly, too far away from us to do any harm. My protective instincts were still strong, so I gave Nightmare Moon a quick look over for more injuries. To my eyes, she looked completely healed and was likely back at full strength. However, her left wing was drooping down while the right one was neatly folded up against her side. Her armor was scratched and blackened from the flashbang that had burned her, and she was still covered in dirt from her tumble down the embankment. Why didn't she cast a cleaning spell? Doesn't matter, we need to leave NOW. "We need to go, Mistress!" I took to the air, but when I realized that the Moon Mare was not following I stopped several feet above the ground. "Mistress?" "Nay." "What?" Nightmare Moon did not turn to face me, but instead addressed me while staring up the embankment. "Mastery of the finer elements of healing magic has always eluded me. As such, healing such deep wounds taxes me greatly. I must rest before I attempt to heal my injured wing." Oh, so THAT'S why her wing is drooping. The Mare in the Moon suddenly tilted her head forward and fired a lightning bolt up the embankment. I heard a yelp high above as someone was tagged by the magical lightning. Screams and yells from several soldiers could be heard above us, followed a moment later by an explosion and a flash of light. Nice, she got one just as he was about to throw a flashbang at us. "Search for a place we can hide, my student. I have enough strength to hold these foes at bay for a time." "Got it!" Place to hide...place to hide... I did a quick scan around the spot we were in, and immediately recognized it as a dry river bed. The ground around us was cracked and littered with branches and rocks. The steep river banks were fairly tall, and rose up maybe 20 or 30 feet both in front and behind us. The river bed itself seemed to be maybe twice as wide as the sides were tall. A brief mental estimate told me that it would take a while to climb up either bank, and that was time we probably didn't have. A look down the river bed to my right, I saw rocks and a bridge far off in the distance. To my left, I saw more rocks. And a hundred or so yards down, I saw...metal? Is that a drain pipe? Before I cried victory, I wanted to make sure what I saw was actually something we could hide in. Didn't want to trap us in a drain pipe that was too small for us, after all. I was still hovering in the air, so I nimbly flew down the river bed towards the metal thing. Maybe halfway there, I was able to see it well enough to determine it WAS a culvert AND it was big enough for us to fit in. I couldn't see any water coming out of it, and didn't expect to as the dirt all around us was bone dry. I was confident I had found our hiding place, so I called out to my Mistress. "Found it!" Nightmare Moon turned her head in my direction, then began to move towards me. Unfortunately, her injured wing was now dragging on the ground and as such it was causing her trouble. If she ran too fast, she might smash her wing on a rock and the pain would really slow her down. Moving too slow was just as bad, our attackers would have more time to realize that the dark mare was injured. Despite her injury, it looked like the Moon Mare was moving as fast as she could. Unfortunately, the Marines hadn't given up on us yet. While Nightmare Moon was making her way towards me, one of the Humvees drove up to the edge of the river bank. I presumed that they had seen us moving, for they then turned in our direction and followed us both. Yet another flashbang was thrown out of the vehicle and soared towards my dark Mistress. "Is there no end to these tubes of fire and pain?!" Ever alert, Nightmare Moon batted the device out of harm's way with her own shield. She followed it up with a bolt of lightning hurled at the Humvee. The lightning did no visible damage to the machine, but it did make its occupants yelp. Suddenly, the vehicle's engine stalled. Fortune shone upon us that evening, for the injured mare reached my position down river without further incident. I took over watching for attacks from above, while Droopy Wing Moony concentrated on running. We managed to make it to the culvert opening before the soldiers could restart the Humvee's engine. "What is this, my student?" I landed next to Nightmare Moon and took a look at the culvert opening. And realized in horror that I had made a terrible mistake. The culvert entrance was blocked by rusty bars and there was no lock or other opening in sight. A small pile of sticks and other trash had gathered up at the bottom of the grate, probably left there during the last rainy season. "Oh, crap! What do we do? We can't tear those off, or the soldiers will know we're in there! And we'll be trapped!" "Calm yourself, student. I believe I have an answer." Nightmare Moon closed her eyes in concentration, and either did not hear the two Humvees drive up to the river bank or she left them for me to deal with. Probably the latter. As it was, I saw TWO flashbangs arc over the edge and fall towards our position. I was almost insulted. This was TOO easy. Without any real effort, I summoned two separate shields and batted the flashbangs right back at the Humvees. I turned my head away just before the devices detonated, and heard screams from the soldiers as they were blinded by their own weapons. "Now! While they are sightless!" The Mare in the Moon wrapped her good wing around me, and in a blink we were inside the culvert. The light in the area was very dim, but was just enough to see by. I could hear nothing but our own breathing, but something sure smelled foul and nasty. If it smells THIS bad when dry, I can't imagine how bad it would be if there was water in here. Eww. Alright, calm down. It may stink in here, but we should be safe for a while. I wasn't sure why it was so dark, shouldn't my magical eyesight let me see in the dark? A memory came forth, likely included with the spell, that told me that the magic needed a little light to work properly. If that magical memory is right, and they all have been so far, it means that it's really dark in this place. Everything I could see around me made me think that we were deep inside the drainage system. The part we were in was round and made out of a corrugated metal, probably stainless steel or aluminum. It looked to be tall enough for me to stand up straight if I stood in the middle of the pipe. Nightmare Moon, who was sitting just off to my right, had to duck her head down to keep her horn from touching the corrugated ceiling. The metal surface showed some mild corrosion and mineral residue, typical damage for metal that had been in contact with water for a while. Roots dangled from the ceiling in some places, and the bottom of the pipe was littered with sticks, dirt and rocks. To my left, I could see an intersection between the pipe we were in and another one. It looked like that other pipe was perpendicular to ours, making it a t-intersection. The light seemed to be a bit brighter that way, but I wasn't sure. I could not see the end of the pipe to the right, it simply disappeared into the darkness. "I DON'T SEE--SEE-see--see--see--see--" Yikes! I cringed outwardly as my normal speaking voice echoed up and down the metal pipes. Several seconds passed as the echoes slowly radiated outwards and eventually faded away to nothingness. I looked over at Nightmare Moon and saw a startled look on her muzzle. She obviously realized the echo's significance: if we made too much noise, our hiding place would be discovered. I tried speaking again, but this time I lowered my voice to a whisper and hoped it would be quiet enough. "I don't see the entrance, where are we?" Both the dark mare and I waited in silence, simply listening for any echoes my whispered words might create. After several seconds had passed without a single echo, both of us let out quiet sighs of relief. Now confident that we could speak to each other without discovery, the ebony mare gestured towards the intersection to my left with her good wing. "We are deeper in these metal caverns of yours, out of sight from the entrance yonder." I glanced towards the t-intersection, then turned back to my Mistress and nodded in confirmation. We seemed to be safe for a little while, so I turned my thoughts to Nightmare Moon and her injured wing. She seemed to be in the same condition as before: healthy and strong, yet her armor was still damaged and her left wing was limp against her side. "What's wrong with your wing? Is it broken?" "Nay, merely dislocated. However, relocating the joint shall take more energy and focus than I have at the moment. So for now, I must endure." Endure? Of course, it must hurt like all hell. "I could fix that for you." "Truly? You have experience in relocating wing joints?" "Well, no. But I have experience relocating shoulder joints. At least, on my people. If the anatomy is similar enough, the same techniques should work." That was a lie, I had no such experience. But I had seen a couple of Youtube videos on the subject, and the techniques were really easy. What could go wrong? "Hmmm. You are correct my student, the dislocated wing joint is similar to the shoulder joint and can be relocated in much the same way. You may make your attempt." Alright, let's do this. I slowly and quietly padded around Nightmare Moon and over to her left side. Then I carefully crouched down behind her dislocated wing. There were two techniques I knew of to relocate a dislocated shoulder, and I wanted to take a closer look at her wing anatomy before I chose one. Reaching out, I gently placed my fingertips on to the ebony mare's shoulder. I tenderly dragged my fingertips through her fur, from her shoulder down to the pegasus wing girdle on her back. My Mistress looked back at me, not expecting my light touch against her fur. But she said nothing. From what I could see, the joint did resemble a shoulder joint on the outside. I avoided touching the wounded joint and traced a line down her wing instead. I noted how similar the skeletal structure looked to an arm. As I reached her elbow, I noted that it looked much like a human elbow except that the lower wing stuck out sideways instead of forward. Basically, her elbow joint is rotated 90° outward from a human one. In theory, this means I could rotate her wing up or down and get the same effect. But rotating her wing upwards would be closer to the human equivalent. This should work. "Alright Mistress, I'm ready. I'm going to slowly move your wing into position. Are you ready?" "Aye." Here we go. I placed my right hand on top of Nightmare Moon's upper wing, and reached under her feathers to place my left hand on her lower wing. I slowly lifted her wing up, then gently rotated the injured limb so that her upper wing was flush to her body and parallel to her spine. At the same time, I bent her elbow at a 90° angle so her wing was parallel to the ground and pointing away from her body. The Moon Mare grimaced in pain as I rotated her dislocated wing joint, but made no sound. "What I'm going to do, is slowly rotate your wing upwards. When your wing gets high enough, your wing joint should pop back into place. Ready?" "One moment. This technique is different than the one I am familiar with." "Oh. You mean the one where you tug on the wing slowly until the joint relocates itself?" "Aye." "Well, both techniques will work but the one I'm using requires very little force to complete. And it causes less pain and less risk of permanent damage." "I care not for risks of damage and lessened pain, for they are easily repaired by magic. However, you may proceed." Slowly, carefully, I lifted Nightmare Moon's injured wing with my left hand while holding her elbow down with my right. This motion was intended to rotate the bone in the upper wing until the ball at the end of the bone came free of whatever it was caught on. Then, muscle tension should pop the shoulder back into its socket on its own. OK, I can feel the joint grinding a bit but it's rotating. If that video was right, the shoulder should pop into place somewhere around now. A moment later, the wing in my hands jerked forward a couple of inches as the wing joint relocated itself. The Night Mare gasped at the sudden shock of the relocation, then went silent. I simply held her wing and waited, guessing that she was resting now that the pain of her dislocation was gone. To help her recover, I held her wing immobile until she was ready to move it on her own. Maybe half a minute later, she lifted her injured wing out of my hands and gingerly stretched the appendage out. When she was finished testing out her wing, Nightmare Moon turned to me and smiled. "Excellent, your ministrations were successful. The damaged muscles and tendons are now easily healed." A quick flash of magic from her horn, and she folded her freshly-healed wing up against her side. A simple cast of a cleaning & polishing spell, and the ebony mare was looking her best once again. Now that my Mistress was feeling better, my next priority was to find out if the soldiers were still looking for us. The only way I knew how to do that was to go take a look. Thus I quietly and carefully tip-toed towards the intersection I had seen earlier. "Where art thou going?" "I want to see if the soldiers have left. I'll be right back." In little time, I was at the intersection of the two pipes. Peering carefully around the corner to the left, I could see the iron grate blocking the culvert opening some 60 feet or so down the pipe. Moonlight shone past the bars and illuminated that part of the culvert. By turning my head to the right, I could see that the metal pipe went off into the darkness with no end in sight. Suddenly, the area got a lot brighter. I looked left again and saw a bright light beam shining down the pipe! I quickly ducked back into the side pipe, but not before the beam swept across my face. The light played up and down the walls of the pipe, and I realized that the light was a flashlight beam. Looks like the soldiers are still looking for us. A second flashlight beam joined the first, and the two soldiers began talking. "Anything?" "Thought I saw something moving down the tunnel." "Could be a big cat or something. If they can get inside, they like to sleep there 'cause it's nice and cool during the day." "Maybe. But this is the only place those two could be hiding. There's nothing else around." The sound of metal scraping metal could be heard, something was being shaken back and forth. "These bars are rusted in place. There's no way they could have gotten in there without tearing these out. "Damn, they must have flown off while we were blinded." "Yes, sir." "Alright, pack it up. We're heading back to base." More shouts could be heard from beyond the grate, as the soldiers relayed the command to leave. I could faintly hear a diesel engine start up, then rumble as the driver put the vehicle into gear. In moments, all was quiet. I tiptoed back to where Nightmare Moon was sitting and quietly reported my findings. "It sounds like the soldiers have left. I heard them talking, and they decided that we could not be hiding in here. They think we flew away instead." "This is good news. Are you certain that they have left?" "Well, I heard their leader order them to leave and head back to base. And I heard their vehicles start up and drive away. Or, at least it sounded like they drove away." "Excellent. While I detest hiding, I am not eager to wage war with them again. My encounter with their tubes of fire and pain was most unpleasant. Perchance, do you have any knowledge of these devices?" "They're called flashbangs, Mistress. They are designed to do exactly that, make a bright flash and a loud bang. The combination is intended to stun an enemy for a few crucial moments, letting the user approach in relative safety." "Flashbangs. What a crude yet accurate name." "Yes, Mistress." "Nevertheless, I do not wish to encounter these 'flashbangs' again any time soon. We shall have to wait until we are certain that they have left the area." "Alright. But how will we know for sure? We can't see anything from here, and if we go outside and they are still here they will attack again." "Undoubtedly. We must then be very cautious." We both went silent while we both thought of ways to escape. I broke the silence first. "Hm. Too bad we can't use illusion magic, we could sneak right by them in plain sight." "How would illusion magic help us? No matter what form we take, we shall still be pursued." "No no, we use illusion magic to hide ourselves from view. That's how I hid us from the soldiers after your unfortunate encounter with the tanks." "I had not thought of using illusion magic in such a way. Hiding in the shadows is of no consequence to me, but I have never needed to hide myself while exposed in the open. One moment, I must think." As Nightmare Moon pursed her brow in concentration, a medium-sized rock next to us began to shimmer. Then slowly faded from view. "Huzzah!" "Nice. But there's a problem." I reached out with a foot and bumped the rock currently hidden from view. Once my toes moved the rock, the illusion spell broke and the rock was visible once again. "The illusion breaks as soon as the hidden item moves. So even if we were able to get outside and cast the spell, we would be seen as soon as we moved." "I do not see a problem, my student. I merely need to change the spell slightly. Watch." The same rock shimmered again, then disappeared from view. As before, I reached out with a foot and nudged the rock. But this time, it did not reappear. In disbelief, I pushed the rock harder and it scraped across the metal surface. But it stayed hidden. "You see? The spell will now stay in place until a counterspell is cast, like so." Another flash of her horn, and the rock reappeared. "There are two consequences to this spell. The first, thou wilt not be able to cast magic once enclosed ere the spell will break. The second, thou may be hidden to sight but the simplest magic detection spell will see thee as clear as day. Here, let me teach you the changes to the spell." I immediately bowed my head to my Mistress, and with a mere tap of her horn I had the necessary knowledge. The spell was much the same as the one I already knew, but it had been tweaked with a couple of new bits in it. Bigger items needed more power to hide, but once hidden they would stay hidden until they took sufficient damage or the counterspell was cast. "Wow, this spell would have come in handy earlier tonight." "How so, my student?" "Well, instead of fighting the soldiers we could have simply made ourselves invisible and escaped. Like this." With a quick cast of the new and more durable illusion spell, my body disappeared from the mare's sight. I took a few steps to my right, then cast the counterspell. "Voila! We could have skipped past all the soldiers, that net trap, and all the flashbangs!" A moment passed while Nightmare Moon digested my words. Once she finally understood my meaning, she slumped her shoulders and brought a hoof to her head with a squish. 'Squish'? The Night Mare sat there, frozen, with her hoof still pressed to her face. I could see something stuck to her hoof, which was now also spread into her fur. And that nasty smell from earlier was now coming from the mare herself. Oh, shit. The Mare in the Moon slowly pulled her hoof off of her face with a squelch, as the fresh offal on her hoof was pulled apart. She glared at her still-upraised and offal-covered hoof, then began to tremble. Her face contorted into an angry snarl, and her trembling intensified until her eyes burst into white hot flames! Terror burned through my body at the sight! I was so scared that she would lash out in anger at everything nearby, even me! The white-hot flames spread across her body to her offal-covered muzzle and hoof, and sizzled there for a while. All at once, the flames went out; from high intensity to gone, as if they were never there. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that the offal on her muzzle and hoof was no longer there and the smell was gone. But the mare's fury remained. I felt a familiar spell being cast: the clean & polish spell, intended to polish armor and clean fur & body. She cast the spell five times before she finally relaxed. Nightmare Moon sat there, her hoof still upraised, and made no sound. I counted several seconds before she turned and addressed me. "We are leaving--leaving--leaving--leaving-- NOW--now--now--now--" My vision went dark. A moment later, we were in the dry riverbed just outside the culvert. I felt illusion magic spread over me, and realized that I could again see the ground through my body. "There, we both can no longer be seen. Now, let us leave posthaste." The Night Incarnate and I took to the air at the same time. As soon as we cleared the edge of the river bank, I saw a single Humvee full of soldiers that was sitting maybe 50 feet away from the edge. The soldiers did not move nor react to us in any way, while we climbed up into the air and resumed flying towards the city to the south.