//------------------------------// // Stranger Things // Story: A New Start // by Black Hailstorm //------------------------------// The fight between the sewer gremlins was thankfully being muffled greatly thanks to the bathroom doors, the long hall's distance to the entrance where the dining hall was actually located, and the loud chatter between multiple patrons. Cozy Glow ran the length up the hall with a single question on her mind that had been on her mind since the day that dark unicorn prince had returned and the whole nation more or less had a panic attack when the Crystal empire showed up out of the story books into the real world. That simply question was: why? Why was Equestria always the focus of such madness? It had been a question she had asked her daddy once and he had given her the answer, "it's just how things are. Not everything can be sugar and candy gumdrop, sometimes life throws some spice at ya, and you deal with it the best you can." For some reason, she had never really liked that answer. If Her Grace, Her Departed light, Princess Celestia were as powerful as all said and alicorns were as great as their society seemed to believe, why couldn't they stop some of this madness from ruining her own innocent day. Honestly, any other day Cozy wouldn't have minded a bunch of gremlins needing their clocks cleaned. But today was her special day, and she didn't like it when things interrupted her special days. There had been times where she wondered, if she had really let all that bubbling anger being picked on as a filly settle, could she have muscled the nation into a better place than it currently was? Princess Twilight was said to have once tutored for a brief period, Cozy wondered what she could have been like had she been under the current head of the aristocracy's eye. And just how better at magic she could be. Why was it that somewhere, at some point, at some time, anywhere in Equestria you could just pick up the papers and flip through somewhere randomly only to learn something bizarre was happening? Sludge monster in Baltimare. Ignis breezies in Marizona. It was always something or other here in Equestria. Sometimes she honestly did feel like Princess Twilight and her friends were to blame for all the weirdness that goes on. At least when Lord Overcast had been around he had done something in cutting down half the weirdness around here down, even if he did let some goons get away with cheating the system. As far as she could tell, as she entered the dining foyer no creature had noticed what was going on just yet, and if she was quick enough to get to Agent Pierce all of this could be settled immediately. So she snapped her wings shut, landed at a bit of a gallop and then slowed her pace down so as not to draw unnecessary attention. Screaming "there's gremlins in the female's restroom!" would most certainly be ignored, because who would believe that and if anything it would probably just draw attention that could lead to somepony going to check and getting horribly hurt. To join S. M. I. L. E you needed to pass a written exam. That exam required one to have a decent understanding of a variety of magical creatures, their social structures, behaviors, abilities, quirks (if there were any recorded) and a myriad of other things that made it easier to understand how they could become a possible threat to society, if they became a threat to society-- if they ever appeared in a city, region, or home. Cozy Glow knew for a fact she would be getting daily drills once she joined the academy for her official training to check if she was keeping up on her studies, so honestly she was on some level glad she had recalled not to immediately engage with the gremlins while they were distracted. If attacked immediately without provocation the whole troop would launch themselves at her in a effort to defend their fellow members. Problem was, this wasn't the kind of practice she had been hoping for. Especially not here and not today. Not when she was supposed to be having a good day. At a brisk trot she moved past a Pegasus waiter and between rising patrons, moving to get drinks from the dispenser fountains or bars on the walls to the right. Gremlins, Cozy frowned as she moved, trying to drum up information as she circled around others or slithered past rising or leaving parties. Doing her best not to draw attention or get some query eye at a filly running out of the bathrooms and screaming of impending danger, she kept silent and just trotted quickly. Gremlins she shook her head, curls bouncing as she moved, are naturally disorganized and virtually stupider than diamond dogs (a stereotype she had learned was in fact not true given the two Diamond dog brothers she had seen in her testing class). A troop of Gremlins consists of twenty, with an extra five leaders. The average Gremlin have the sense to follow orders, but most Gremlins of the warrior caste aren't too bright outside of combat. Distracting may be easy but getting them to do anything else once they've set their mind to it isn't, especially once in large numbers. If a troop of gremlins are here, hunting for food when they should be far away from any where that has a civilization, then this must mean that they have Scholars nearby that should be appearing any moment to settle their bickering and install order. The question was why were they here in a restaurant instead of stripping public vendors for grub out in Manehattan's busy streets. Gremlin raids were not uncommon, if memory served right. They weren't common either during the days of Her Royal Sun, Princess Celestia, but they still happened now and then once in a blue moon; Gremlins would surface from out of nowhere, horde as much food as they could in sacks, then disappear through the sewers and drainage system; back to wherever it was they resided. There had been attempts to stop them, but they were slippery folk. Most escaped or most that didn't end up staying in prison, were never caught to begin with. They were only really a problem here, in the Eastern parts of Equestria. Then again the term 'problem' was relative. Gremlins were more like a nuisance than an actual problem. They were like the rat living in between your walls. That rat only came out to steal crumbs once in awhile, the rest of the time it barely bothered to show up. Even when you laid out believable harmless traps. They never came in stupidly large groups to draw attention. They were actually intelligent about the raids and virtually non-confrontational unless attacked, and usually they aimed on scare tactics. Fighting the common pony or citizen was often avoided unless cornered. Instead they chose to chase away trouble with weapons and threats of violence, rare cases any actual violence ensued at all as far as her studies had shown on statistic reports in her Criminology studies. They went in units of five or eight and just raided nearby vendors or the public store and fled through the sewer systems before the cops could catch them all. If that didn't work, they hid and waited things out before making an escape. They were, as Uncle Furnny had once said, the Underground Bandits of the surface world. This was the first time she'd ever heard of Gremlins attacking a restaurant, especially using such covert methods as mass teleportation. The fact teleportation had been used at all was still surprising and Cozy couldn't help but get the sense she was missing something that might help explain this. The disturbing thing was that these days Gremlin raids were supposed to be rare. More rare than they'd been before. Adaptations to sewer systems had been installed during Lord Overcast's brief period of power. Grates made of steel, charged with electrical energy delivered shocks to any entity that touched the steel before the power transmitted to it was shut off to allow for work to begin. It was a security measure he had personally ensured was installed in Manehattan with how troubled the suburb parts had been with the complaints of improper waste disposal, and increased violence cases in certain Districts that used the drainage system as escape methods. The shocks were painful enough to chase off and hurt, but not enough to instantly kill or stun. The installments while not all complete but should have been enough to scare the gremlins away for good, but here they were. And now that she thought about it ...How did they manage a Zone Point for teleportation into a restaurant at all? The thought was chased away as Cozy saw her table come into view. Breaking into a gallop Cozy rushed towards where Mr. Pierce was sitting. "Cozy!" Merry said with a smile, the smile soon faded upon seeing the sweaty state her daughter was in. "What's wrong gumdrop?" "Mr. Pierce!" Cozy went on ignoring her mother. "Please, hurry! There's-- WAIT!" spreading her wings Cozy flapped and practically missed the hen trotting past her, heading in the bathroom's general direction on their side. "Cozy!" Merry shouted in surprise. "What are you doing?" Torch asked in confusion. "And is that...bickering I hear?" Pierce asked, both ears raising. "Ma'am, you cannot go in there." Cozy advised. The griffoness who seemed to be trying to trot around Cozy snorted, "why not?" she stomped her hind paw in irritation. "Bathrum's out o'er dere lass. You clog te toilet or sumetin?" Gritting her teeth Cozy narrowed her eyes, staring up at the griffon who in general towered over her. "You watch that tongue Missy before you go making false accusations or--" "Cozy" uncle Furnny drew out her name cautiously in warning. "Watch what you say next spark plug your mom is right here." "And just what exactly is going on?" her mother asked with some sense of impatience creeping into her own voice as her eyes shifted between her daughter and the griffon she was blocking. "Is there a problem?" Seasoned asked, trotting up to the group's booth with a hint of concern. "Yes!" Cozy shouted. "Mr. Pierce" the pegasus stamped both forehooves. "We have a problem!" "Oh, is it the food?" Season asked with a look of concern. "Oh no dear the food is perfectly fine," Mrs. Light assured with a friendly smile, shooting her daughter a glance with those forest green eyes that seemed to warn she was losing her patience even without dropping her warm expression. "I don't have time to explain I just--" wings shifting, feathers vibrating, Cozy shivered visibly as she felt that horrible nagging that something wasn't right here. That something was about to go wrong. That things were only just about to get worse and the shiver she gained made both father and mother, uncle and family friend shift their expressions in various forms of acknowledgement, surprise, alarm, or concern. "Excuse us," Pierce was the first to slip from his seat and motioned with a wing for Cozy to come along as he drew her under his other wing. "I think we need to talk in private for a moment, ma'am if you wouldn't mind using the bathroom on the otherside that would be very appreciated." The griffoness eyed the thestral with a raised brow before Pierce offered her a tooth filled smile. "Please" he added gently. She huffed a "fine." then spread her wings and flapped away, disappearing down the foyer to the otherside of the o-shaped hall. "What's going on?" Pierce trotted in the other direction. His ears twitching now and then. "There's gremlins in the bathroom!" Cozy yell-whispered as she followed. This statement only got Pierce to raise a brow, drop it, then nod. "Of course there are." He picked up the pace and wasn't surprised to find Torch in his blindspot when he turned. "Daddy?" Cozy asked concerned. "What are you doing?" "If there's a problem I'm joining you." "Daddy, no!" Try as she might even if she kept her wings still, she felt the need to shift them. Things were getting worse but she wasn't sure if it was from the gremlins in the bathroom or if it was their leaders organizing them for some kind of attack. "You can't! It's too dangerous, plus you're injury--" Torch snorted and looked down at his daughter from the corner of his eye with a cocky grin. "Danger's my middle name gumdrop. And no filly o' mine is headin out there without her pap." "No." A green glow tugged on the earth pony's tail, granting a yelp of surprise from him, "You are not leaving." Pierce entered the hall leaving Cozy who had stopped at the entrance to stare back and forth. "Mommy, I--" "Go" Merry nodded with a small smile as she tugged her husband back to her side with her magic. "I'll keep an eye on him--" Then the piercing yell reached everypony's ears. It took a second as they squinted down the joining hall on the other side, but something was happening. Yelling and shouting suddenly began taking over the otherside of the dining hall in the distance as others looked down in the direction where a pony had just ran out of the bathroom's on the other side, bucking and kicking wildly to get something sitting on its back and laughing. Not a second after this did gremlins, multiple of them, come rushing out of the bathroom entrance into the dining hall. Some crawling along the walls and leaping off it and crashing into tables, upsetting and stunning those who were still trying to process what was going on. Others running across the distance and heading straight for the various food on patrons tables, tackling the startled customers and dragging them away, while their other allies dug in with vigor. Waiters that were the closest to the mayhem could be seen throwing trays at something before they were tackled by three or four vague looking green things, customers who didn't try to rush for the exists immediately were blocked by the same figures or in one case were driven away from the second floor exit leading to ground level by something laughing at them, swinging instruments left and right and herding them away. A eagle cry pierced the air as Cozy caught sight of the griffonness she'd blocked earlier flying and with a spin, threw some creature down in the direction of the fighting and disorder only to disappear as she dived in for combat. "We got ourselves a problem here!" Furnace shouted. "I'm gonna see if I can get back up!" Then without a second glance he was off, rushing towards the cashier stand, where all staff were still processing what was going on. Flinching and trying to kick away, Cozy was snapped out of her stunned stupor when she felt the pressing hug of her father's chest blind her. "You stay safe now you hear me?" He whispered in her ear. She nodded. "I will, I promise." "Atta girl." She saw him grin, then with a scowl that made his scar twist into something more menacing, Torch Path let go of his daughter, turned to his wife and straight up threw her onto his back. "Best of luck to ya Cozy. See ya when the fun's over." "Torch!" Merry shrieked in surprise as her husband galloped off after his brother-in-law. "Wait! Where are we--" it was the last thing Cozy heard as the sound of conflict grew to a crescendo with several ponies rushing towards her direction and the sound of shouting growing louder and louder by every passing seconds. She hoped her family would be safe and able to take some control while she was away. Turning and galloping off, Cozy plunged into the lengthy bathroom halls. Running after Pierce who'd long disappeared ahead. The pony in question stood waiting for Cozy in the miniature hall within the bathroom; a small corridor of sorts that had been built within. Where one simply pushed on the door ahead to get inside the bathroom itself. Entering through the first door, Pierce paused. His ears perking. Outside of the conflict his sensitive ears could pick up, he heard nothing from behind the bathroom door itself. Not a heartbeat, not a breath, not squabbling, not a soul. There was no sound that came behind the thin door ahead even though Cozy had said there were Gremlins that had appeared in this exact restroom. Eyes narrowing Pierce cocked a brow as he stared at the door. "..." He nodded, retreating his steps back outside the main restroom entrance to the female's bathrooms but instead of letting it shut, he used one wing to keep it open. Breathing in deeply he focused. In and out, he repeated this process like usual but with each intake and exhale he channeled the energy all around him into his body. Magic, the very force that infected reality and all its inhabitants, flowed into him and through every pore within his body. His eyes flashed a cold pale blue glow and in that same instance Pierce's hooves flashed the same pale blue as he cast a simple Silent Step spell on himself. When he moved across the tiled floor on his horseshoes next, his steps were muted, soundless, like a insect scuttling on ground. Hearing steps rapidly approaching his direction he turned one ear on his unseen visitor's path, then turned the other ear to the low whine, like a tuning fork had been struck, coming directly from the door itself. Magic, he eyed the normal white push-in door. So it's true. They really can. "Mr--" "Shhhhhh", Agent Pierce shushed and then stretching one wing out as she came into the mini bathroom corridor, he tapped Cozy Glow's nose bridge gently with the tip of his wing membrane. She too flashed a pale cold blue color, but only for a moment as the spell took its effect. "What was that?" She asked in a low, quiet voice, looking slightly up at the thestral as she glanced towards the other door on the other side of the corridor. "A spell to mute our steps and this--" a second flash, this one of cold blue mixed with yellow flickered on them both, "That will make sure no one can hear us. We'll look like mimes to anypony else but from what I can hear outside, I don't think we have to worry about that just yet." "Has anything happened?" she asked in a normal volume as he stepped inside to let the main entry door swing shut behind them. Both ears rotated to his right where the door was. "I don't know. One or more know how to perform magic from what I can tell based off the spell tune, the spell they put on the door sounds like a spell tune from Abjuration. Low but strong pitch, deep and heavy yet quiet." "Spell tune?" Cozy asked. "I hear the varying frequencies in different forms of magic when a spell is cast. The air itself plays a sort of tune, like listening to music I suppose. It's like unicorn sense but for a solar pegasus, or lunar pegasus in my case. Abjuration has a low yet deep pitch, Illusion spells come with multiple pitches; varying and fluctuating in volume and accent. Elemental spells tend to accompany the nature of their element: fire has a fast tempo with hard and soft notes etcetera etcetera. It is a gift as far as I am aware only few of us have." "By 'us' you mean other thestrals, right?" "No." He glanced at her and smiled. "I mean us." With a hoof, Pierce gently prodded Cozy's chest. "You and I can tap into magic in ways that are considered unordinary for a reason Cozy. Our biology is an anomaly with how it interacts with magic and I'm not talking about those example cases in Quibble Pants case study on Supernatural Offspring. We're an anomally just like those before us. I mean those of us that descend from the Royal Sisters Old Guard." "Old Guard?" Cozy parroted. "...you mean the ponies that the Princesses had appointed as their personal body guard after marrying into the Platinum bloodline once things were settling after Discord?" "The very ones. You might think I'm talking outta my ass here, but believe me. The Old Guard were known for doing strange things in their early days, and ponies like us fit that bill. Like me you too are an Illustram Cozy, but that is a story for another time. For now let's focus on the important matters." Nodding Cozy turned her attention towards the door ahead, filing the term away for future looking into later. "So, what's the deal with that spell you can hear Mr. Pierce?" "From what I can tell that based off the pitch I'm hearing, the door in front of us has had defensive charms cast on it. Which means...Cozy if you wouldn't mind aiding me in trying to break it down?" Focusing Cozy nodded. Her collar glowed a spider web of green intricate lines across its banded surfacd, a red-orange glow emitted from her gem as Cozy suddenly became attuned to the presence of magic all around her. She could feel it in the air, passing through the ground, herself, Mr. Pierce, and everywhere around her. Eyes narrowing Cozy shifted her wings and with that subtle shift she gathered the magic into a single point. It grew in a second from a dot to a coin to a pool ball to a tennis ball of growing energy. Sparks flying as she concentrated to keep the ball together. "Now!" Pierce instructed. With a second shift of her wings and a miniscule adjustment of her feathers, the orb of crackling energy launched forward; expanding and becoming more like a wave as she released her concentration. In the same instant, Pierce's whole being was incased in a ghostly blue glow that shrouded him like fog, then peeled off him and flew forward. Both the telekinetic blasts slammed into the door shaking it violently but overall did nothing to budge the door at all let alone even dent it. A odd feat considering it had once needed a simple push of no real effort to get in, and out. Frowning Cozy whipped her natural bouncy curls back with shake of her head, stretched her wings slightly and glanced at the older stallion. "What do we do now?" "The only two options we have is to go back out there and see if we can help the others. " Pierce stated, eyeing the door. "That door won't budge unless we hit it hard, and if I have to use much more force it'll do more damage to the area before it hits the door." "Thing I don't get is how? Since when have gremlins ever been able to do magic let alone learn how to get the materials to create something capable of storing or channeling it? Why even the interest?" "Don't know exactly myself." Pierce replied, ears twitching. "But if this goes to show anything they've always been able to do it" he grimly stated. "Always?" Cozy frowned, glancing at the door. "Mass teleportation of this scale? That's not about raw power that's about skill. There's a reason the School of Thauma Sciences advise against mass teleportation for any caster. Sure, you need the juice to actually be able to do it so you don't hurt yourself straining, but to do it and do it safely? S. M. I. L. E had no idea they could do magic, till one police chase in District 34 reported two months ago the gremlins they were hunting down just vanished mid chase...Princess Luna proposed it was magic when she heard about it, and no one believed her..." "At least till now." Cozy finished, to which Pierce grimly nodded. Seconds went by as they pondered what to do. Cozy glanced back to the exit, wondering how things were going on the other side. Everything was so muffled here and it was difficult to tell if they were winning or losing but since there had been no tremble in her wings she could only imagine... "Do you recall those documents I gave you?" Pierce suddenly said, distracting her. "Princess Luna's articles Monsters of Equestria? Yeah, why?" "Gremlins," Pierce stated, his body was encased in the magical aura again. When he spoke his voice had a hollow second echo. "What do you recall about them?" THUNK "According to A.K. Yearling's Magical Capabilities Of Supernatural Creatures, gremlins are known for having a hierarchy caste consisting of Warriors and Scholars. The caste is determined by birth--" THUNK the door shook but did not budge "--and is defined based on the intellectual limits of a gremlin." "Correct." Pierce nodded, taking a moment to observe his work. "What else?" "Scholars are the most intelligent." Cozy recited. "While all Gremlins are capable of communication, the Scholars are capable of greater focus, concentration, better memory, and have better learning skills than a Warrior who generally is easily distracted and far more suited to physical activity and are recorded as being far better at physical endeavors than mental ones outside of using brute force to get their way. Against Scholars that doesn't work though, my hunch is they take control while they're young and establish themselves as a dominant with at least one Warrior. The 'smart' Warrior would side with a good Scholar, the impudent ones won't." At these words her eyes widened with realization. "Wait, could Scholars learn theory? Is that possible?" "Yes, if this door is any living proof" Pierce stated after failing to push it open. "Wouldn't surprise me, especially since gremlins and Diamond Dogs were the ones that played a role in manufacturing the paths in the Celestial Era that we'd use for the train systems later. But they're not the ones I'm thinking conducted this." "What makes you say that? And how did they even get the means to study magic in the first place?" "It's wrong to think just because Equestria is a leading figure in Thauma Sciences, we're the only ones that should be capable of bettering ourselves. The way this is all playing out seems like a larger effort. Scholars would no doubt be behind some of the activity going on with the raids, probably actively involved in the planning for them. But this, the number of Gremlins here? This doesn't seem like something a Scholar would do. They're smart about their actions and they play roles in a way that makes sure they maintain their support. Didn't Princess Luna's article Monsters in Equestria have something about there being another part to the hierarchy we missed? There was another type of Gremlin." "Gelehrt" Cozy answered thoughtfully. "She called them the leaders of the Gremlin society and the ones making sure the balance of power didn't topple completely. But they never leave the Gremlin territory. They always keep a presence there to ensure that their territory isn't taken by a rival or rogue group." "Hm..." Pierce went silent as he stared at the door. "...You said before you left, there was a fight that started? That's what all the commotion was. Other gremlins coming in. What was happening before you came here?" "Everyone went into a panic. Some were trying to run, others were confused, and I saw a few actually fighting and taking some of the bats, clubs, and makeshift spears and fighting back against some of the gremlins that had brought with them. Uncle Furnny went to go call the police but after that..." her ears splayed and she bit her lower lip. Cozy shrugged. "Don't worry, they'll be alright. Let's focus on dealing with this first and see if we can get some answers, alright?" "But how can we get answers if we can't get inside?" Cozy stomped her hoof in frustration. "Should we just make our own entrance and force out some answers there? If that's the option then let me do it I can--" Pierce's ears perked. "I think we won't need to worry about that anymore." Tilting her head in confusion Cozy looked at the door and found her eyes widening. "Enter." Said the gremlin standing at the door. "Kianda wishes to talk."