//------------------------------// // 88 - Turn That Smile Upside Down // Story: Fading Suns: A New World // by David Silver //------------------------------// Laud powered through the crowd, stepping over and around ponies that gawked with stunned expressions. He could hear the frantic flaps of Spike keeping up with him. "It's Bon Bon," came Spike's sudden call, able to see from his elevated position. He suddenly went into a dive, swooping ahead of Laud to arrive at the trouble first. Bon Bon was flipped onto her back with a dazed expression on her face and her entire front covered in soot. She wasn't the only pony there, Trixie sprawled just a few feet away, her head swaying as if just as dazed by the explosion that had clearly knocked them both for a loop. "What happened?!" blurted Spike, though neither seemed ready to converse just yet, soft groans the reply they could manage. A human merchant joined the forming ring. "Oh hells..." He wasn't looking at the stunned ponies. He rushed right past them to the unmoving form of the merchant in the stall, the contents of that stall scattered far and wide. "John, say something!" He was practically stepping on packets of explosives, but showed no fear for doing so. Alarmed gasps rose through the crowd, several other ponies just slumping over and passing out. It was one thing to see a pony knocked dizzy. When the new human had touched the former one and their hand came back slick with blood, that crossed a line, and bodies began to hit the floor at the outrageous violence they realized they were witnessing. Laud jumped over the slumped form of Cheerilee, emerging into the uneven circle. His sharp eyes quickly took assessment of the situation. Two injured ponies, no blood, making noise, conscious. One human, unconscious, bleeding badly. Whatever had exploded, it caught the human far more directly, or ponies were unreasonably durable. A pity one of those ponies was also his wife, but he pushed that concern aside for the immediate moment. "Spike, see to their care. Is there a nurse or doctor in this crowd?" "I'm... right..." Redheart popped free of the thick crowd. "Here! I didn't imagine my trip to trade for some medicine would turn into..." Her eyes settled on the unmoving human, her breath hissing through clenched teeth. "Everycreature back away!" She darted towards him. "It's actually bleeding. That's bad. Back away, back away." She was glaring at the other merchant who wasn't so keen on withdrawing. "Are they a friend of yours?" "Associate, crewmate," retorted the human with a drawn look of tension, his terse words repeated without inflection by his translating collar. "How are you going to help? You don't even have hands." She scowled at him, but sat down beside the human and pulled out gauze from seemingly nowhere. "I'm on the case. We have to stop this bleeding, now. "Did somepony get the number of that ursa?" Trixie sat up, giving her head a rapid left-right shake. "Never has Trixie seen such fireworks before. Brilliant, but maybe a little too forceful." "What happened?" It was hard to tell if Spike or Laud had asked the question first, their collars echoing the question in the human tongue. Trixie put up her hooves. "It wasn't my fault! I was inspecting these goods. The human here said it made for big booms." She threw her forehooves wide. "I was considering if I could incorporate some of it into my next act." Laud inclined his head towards the fallen man, though his eyes were on Trixie. "Consideration does not typically suffice to create this damage. What happened after that?" "I don't know!" She waved her hooves wildly. "I was just looking, with my eyes." She curled both arms to point at her big eyes. "He was saying a particular one made especially pretty sparkles and Trixie was considering asking for a demonstration but didn't get a chance to." "Mmf." Bon Bon rolled over onto her belly and stood up. "Ow..." "Easy there." Spike supported her immediately, keeping her stable. "You alright?" "Just a little dizzy... I think I'm--" She paused long enough to cough, black smoke billowing from her. She shook suddenly, soot flying, revealing her usual pelt beneath it. "I'm fine. What happened?" Laud frowned at her question. "That is exactly what we are attempting to discern. So far no one is aware of what created the explosion." He suddenly clapped a hand down on Spike's shoulder. "I fear the worst." "Huh? They're alright. You mean him?" He hiked a thumb at the still prone and unmoving human. "He didn't take it very well." "That is but one piece of this." He leaned in closer, flicking off his translating collar as he did so, his voice lowering to a faint whisper, "Someone caused this explosion, and I fear it was purposeful, to drive a wedge between the ponies and the merchants. Someone who did not understand their... sturdiness." "I could have taken it," boasted Spike before he realised that had been translated loudly. He flicked off his collar quickly. "I could have! Anyway, what do we do?" "Damage control, for now. Let us keep casualties as low as we can." He stood up tall, flicking his collar back on. "Trixie, Bon Bon, are you both alright?" When they nodded, he pointed off into the crowd. "Go ahead and join the others." "I refuse." Bon Bon pointed at the injured man. "You need help getting him to the hospital. I won't-- "Make way," boomed a male voice in the human tongue and untranslated, several merchants bursting through the crowd without any of the gentleness Laud had displayed. Redheart barely had a chance to look up before a new gaggle of humans were upon her, shouting at her in their foreign tongue. She flipped her ears back and cringed away from their towering forms. "Laud, please. I'm still treating the patient." Laud approached carefully, hands held up in soft placating motions. "She is a local physician, giving first aid." "Thanks for keeping him breathing," grunted one of them, dropping to a knee beside the injured man. "I'll take it from here." The man drew out a needle and plunged it into the chest of the still man. With a thumb he depressed it, forcing the fluid into the patient without delay. It became quiet. All eyes were on the men, both injured and not. Eyes glanced towards others, then back at the scene. Nothing happened for several long seconds. The man drew a sudden ragged breath, his eyes opening and an attempt to sit up made, only for the other men to keep him laying down. The one that had injected him nodded. "Alright, get him back on the ship." He clapped his hands together and rose, tossing the needle aside. "Now tell me what happened?!" Laud nodded softly. "We are still attempting to gather that information. I was hoping your man might be able to give us more information, when he's ready to speak. The ponies present were both caught by surprise and do not know the cause of it." Even as the man was carted off, Redheart trailed along beside them, her eyes on the injured human. "He's an expert at his trade. He wouldn't set off an explosive unless it was supposed to be going off." He leveled a finger at Laud, a scowl on his face. "Seems more like one of your magic natives did the deed." Laud drew free the one extra collar he had. "If you are to accuse them, at least let them understand the words." With an angry grunt, he snatched away the collar and put it on, repeating his heated words. "I was going to buy some!" Trixie stomped a hoof down in a loud clop. "Trixie had no interest in having it displayed in such a fashion." Bon Bon frowned softly. "I am without what you would call 'magic', so the odds of my having done it are minimal. Not to mention your explosives seem to operate differently than ours." The man's expression eased into confusion. "You have explosives?" Bon Bon tilted her head at that. "Of course we do. We're not primitives. A good stack of TNT can make short work of an obstacle in the way. Still, yours are different, I could see that immediately." "Be that as it may." Laud gestured to Bon Bon. "She is royalty, princess-consort." "Then a political enemy of hers? We don't know or care about the local politics." He threw a hand aside before snapping his fingers. Bon Bon rolled her eyes at that. "We don't usually explode our rivals, and they did a very bad job of that if that was the goal." Spike suddenly landed in the middle of them, a hand held out towards the human, the other towards Bon Bon and Trixie. "Hey, hold on. I don't think either of you did this. You were attacked, by someone else. And I have an idea who it might have been." All eyes were on him, the entire crowd focused on Spike. He swallowed softly, regathering his momentum. "We should... talk to Father Gregor. I think one of his 'flock' might have wandered." Almost as one, the entire crowd turned to look towards the other ship there on the landing pad. Already, Father Gregor was approaching with a small gathering of his guards. The ponies of the crowd were scowling at him, accusations in their eyes. "My furry little cherubs, what has happened to put such a dire set of expressions on your faces?" The merchant and Laud were pushing through the ponies and they began to part as they caught on who was moving through them. They were able to meet without further delay, Laud nodding at Father Gregor. "Father, there's been an unfortunate accident. We have a merchant being treated, and two ponies stunned but--" "Trixie is fine." She had followed along, softly buffing her chest with a hoof. "She had no idea humans were so fragile." "How terrible... Things had seemed to be going so well from where I could see. How does this involve me, unless you had wished me to tend to the injured?" He glanced past them to the ship where the man had been taken. The merchant thrust forward a finger. "Word has it one of your people might have been involved! My man wouldn't explode himself and the natives are claiming innocence. No offense, Father, but keeping them away from 'faithless' technology, or us from 'godless' magic both sounds like something one of yours may consider a worthy cause." With the ring of drawn steel, two guards stepped forward, warding the merchant back with naked swords. Father Gregor put a hand on one of one of their shoulders. "Please, enough injury has already occured today." His eyes turned to Laud. "You are the lord of this place. If you feel someone has erred, it is within your right to interrogate them. I can assure you that causing injury is not only against my desires but against my most basic of faith. Saint Amalthea strike me down if I speak falsely." "I do not believe it was your action specifically," stated Laud in clear tones, his collar echoing in Ponish. "But neither the merchants nor the ponies would want this, which leaves us with few other options. I bid you to inspect what you may." Gregor kept right on smiling. His hands made gentle and nonthreatening motions. "The pancreator would not wish such a lowly strike. Afterall, you..." "Trixie." "Yes, Trixie--" "Trixie Lulamoon." She smiled so smugly, polishing a hoof on her chest. "Miss Lulamoon already knows how to deal with explosives. As a professional, it could not be called untoward that she inspected them. While I would agree that a base commoner would be well warded away from such potential dangers, she is not that. She is a guild member, even if it is of a guild not our own." "What is going on here?" hollered Mayor Mare as she trot firmly towards things, no collar on her neck, her statement in Ponish.