“Where’s the damn dog… Oh, over there! Ahoy!”
“You see him?”
“Yeah, he’s right here.”
“What the devil is he barking at? That light came from over there!”
“Hey boy! What’s all that noise about? What you got over there, huh boy? Why you got… Oh…oh bugger… Come here! Come here quick!”
“What you hollerin’ about now?”
“There’s someone over here!”
“What?”
“There’s someone over here! Looks like she got knocked out of a train! Oh…oh bugger, she’s bleeding! She’s been stabbed in the back! She’s still breathing! Call the doctor!”
The two sides were silent. Neither Twilight nor Sunset knew what to do; only that the person in front of them was a far cry from the one they met in the Castle of the Two Sisters. She, on her part, managed to look at them but frowned.
“So,” she finally spoke, “what do you want with me? If you’ve come to finish me off, that should be simple enough. I have none of my power. Or were you planning to take me before the authorities?”
The two hesitated. It was clear from the expressions on their faces that neither of them really knew what to do at this point. Yet it was also perfectly clear that the madness, the megalomania, and the prideful wrath that Nightmare Moon had flexed so freely and wantonly before was gone. Luna didn’t just look physically different from her. Seeing her now, she had only the withered remains of the spirit and vivacity that the dark goddess had possessed.
The longer the two looked at her the more clear it became that she was once the entity that had brought Greater Everfree to its knees. However, realizing that only made it a starker contrast and more unbelievable sight to see her reduced to what she was now. Veiled in mortal flesh and with only broken down remains for a will. Any traces of fear or anxiety that either of them would have had to think of being in the presence of Nightmare Moon again faded. They both gradually eased and relaxed.
“No,” Twilight finally responded, “I’m not going to do that.”
“Then leave me alone. I couldn’t cause anyone more trouble if I wanted to.” She began to step forward again.
At once, Twilight got in her way, causing her to stop once more. “I didn’t say I would let you go.”
Luna scowled. “If you don’t want to destroy me but you don’t want to leave me be, then what do you want from me? I have nothing left.”
“I want you to tell us everything. I want you to tell us exactly why you did what you did to this world. I want you to tell us what you meant back in the Castle of the Two Sisters. And I want you to tell us what’s happening to this world and to the Nighttouched that are still here.”
Luna stiffened. She silently stared back for two seconds.
“I can’t help you,” she finally said, much quieter than before. She tried to push her way forward again.
Once more Twilight blocked her. “After everything you did to this world and all the people who are dead because of you, you don’t get to just ‘walk away’. Not without answers.”
“It doesn’t matter. None of what you’re doing matters. Not anymore,” she darkly answered.
“Why not?”
“Why are you asking me? You said it yourself…I’m Nightmare Moon. Why do you think I’m inclined to tell you anything?”
“Because you really, truly don’t look like the person we met in the Castle of the Two Sisters.”
Luna swallowed. She exhaled and looked away.
“The person I met there was insane and malevolent. I don’t know what kind of person you are, but you don’t have that same look in your eye. You don’t speak like she did. And now that I’m seeing you like this and thinking back, I’m realizing that you sounded and looked different after I put the Binding Seal on you. You changed, somehow. And something tells me that the ‘Nightmare Moon’ or ‘Luna’ I’m talking to right now is far more reasonable than the one I met in the Castle of the Two Sisters. She might even feel some remorse over what she did.”
Luna’s hands clenched into fists. Her eyes closed.
“I already told you… I can’t help you.”
Her voice grew bitter.
“You and everyone else in Greater Everfree saw what happens when I try to ‘help’.”
A moment of silence passed over the group, but Twilight stepped closer.
“Please…tell us why you became that…thing that was in the castle. What you hoped to gain by bringing all of that darkness and death. Tell us what’s happening to Greater Everfree. What’s happening in the south seas. What’s happening to the Nighttouched.”
“It won’t make any difference. It’s all inevitable now.”
“Please.”
Luna kept her eyes closed. For a short time, it looked as if she would just stand there until they left her alone. Her throat tightened and her face twisted. Finally, she sighed in defeat and opened her eyes again.
“The world is ending.”
Both Twilight and Sunset looked stunned. “Excuse me?”
“The world as you know it is coming to an end. The land…the water…the birds…the beasts…cities…nations…governments…families…friends…even the seasons and your concepts of day and night… All of it is going to go away. And I honestly can’t say what will be left or who.”
Twilight looked aghast. “But…why? How?”
Luna again closed her eyes and was silent.
A thought came to Sunset. “Does this have anything to do with the Angr-”
She cut herself off as Luna suddenly lunged at her with an enraged look.
“Didn’t Celestia warn you not to say that name?!”
Sunset recoiled, staring back at Luna while standing perfectly rigid. Twilight was much the same. Even Spike drew back and whined. A silence hung over the area for several seconds before Luna took a breath and leaned back.
“That…thing…” she continued, far more calmly, “is essentially what you can think of as the herald of the apocalypse. When it appears, everything…everything you know and love…will come to an end. Your guns…your cannons…even the most powerful spells you can think of or imagine…they’re nothing more than gnats to it. The sum of all firepower of all of the nations of this world combined striking it together would be like a needle pricking your finger. But it? With a wave of its hand it would sweep a major city away like dust in the wake of a broom. It could uproot a forest like a carpet being rolled up. It could overturn a mountain range like a child playing with blocks. And it’s on its way.”
“How do you know all of this?” Twilight asked.
Sunset looked up. “Wait…it’s you, isn’t it? I remember you. That one time I got called to the Headmistress’ office. I saw you walking out of it…”
Luna looked at her a moment but said nothing.
Twilight’s own interest was piqued by this. “So you did know Celestia...”
“I would think so,” Luna sighed in response. “After all, she was my sister.”
Now the two were truly surprised, gaping at her in open-mouthed shock. “Then why did-”
“You were asking me questions about why the world is changing; not about my relationship to her,” Luna coldly cut off.
Twilight was taken aback. She held momentarily, clearly wanting to know more, but forced herself to bite it back. “Alright. You said it’s on its way. What do you mean by that?”
Luna took in a deep breath, looking a little tired. She turned and ended up hobbling over to a bit of masonry jutting out from a wall. She leaned against it and sat down, making herself more comfortable. She then looked up to Sunset.
“One thing I definitely remember before I blacked out in the castle… You stabbing me in the back and telling me that you were going to become a god.”
Sunset winced at that, her own eyes turning to the ground.
“Then that means you know the true potential of Anima Viris. You’ve seen it now firsthand—what happens when one completes their Promethian Sigil with six balanced Anima Viris. The power it gives. It’s the same way with the herald. Alone, it is more than strong enough to destroy whatever military force would be set against it. Yet it too, at this moment, wherever it is, is ‘incomplete’.”
“Are you saying that the A-”
Luna shot Twilight a cold glare.
“…The ‘herald’ has a Promethian Sigil too? That it’s just like us?”
“Not exactly. Most individuals who have a Promethian Sigil have a soul of their own. Not the herald. It’s a creature of pure hate. Pure evil. Its one and only desire is to bring death and pain. But yes, it too has a Promethian Sigil. And it needs to fill it with specific Anima Viris to achieve its full potential. Very specific.”
Sunset put a hand to her chin. “That makes sense. I needed all of Celestia’s to get to full power myself. And when I put the wrong one in…”
“Wait.”
The flat word by Luna caused Sunset to turn to her. The woman was looking up again and staring at her hard.
“You’re the one who took her Anima Viris?”
Sunset was caught. Her face quickly turned, making it clear she knew she had said the wrong thing. This became even stronger as Luna’s own face rapidly began to tighten. Her eyes burned at Sunset as her hand momentarily tightened into a fist. Sunset started to recoil again…
Yet, just as soon as it came, it left. She relaxed her hand, turned her head away, and snorted. “I should have known. Who better to stab me in the back than the one who stabbed her in the back? This is why I thought that academy of hers was a terrible idea…”
Sunset stayed back a moment before she uneasily exhaled, slowly relaxing again. Twilight, a bit on edge herself after the exchange, looked back at her. “You said it needs specific Anima Viris. What do you mean?”
She sighed. “The same ones that I had. All six of them.”
Twilight looked surprised, but soon after a look of realization came over her. “Wait. If that’s true, then…then does that mean the reason you…”
“Once an Anima Viri is a member of one individual’s house, it can’t go to another unless the household head wills it. Or the household head is killed or bound,” Luna quietly answered. “So long as those Anima Viris were united to Nightmare Moon, they could never go to the herald. And while Nightmare Moon may not have had the same power as the bringer of the apocalypse, so long as that same bringer didn’t have any Anima Viris of its own she was more than a match for it.”
“So that’s what you meant back in the castle…” Twilight quietly answered. “That’s why you said you were the only thing holding it back… But I don’t understand. Why did-”
“Why did I envelope half of Greater Everfree in everlasting darkness?” Luna whimsically finished for her. “Why did I create the Light Eaters and the Nighttouched? Why did I kill hundreds of thousands?” She sighed. “It hardly matters at this point, but you know by now what the Anima Viris are, don’t you?”
Twilight grimaced. Sunset inhaled and exhaled before answering for her. “Souls.”
“Then you should have a good idea of what it means to call on the power of an Anima Viri. It says it right in the contractual ritual. To use the power of an Anima Viri means that your soul must unite with its soul. Your body is no longer solely yours but belongs to it as well. Call on two Anima Viris, and now there are three in control of one body, and both of them could be opposed to one another as well as to their household head. By the time you get to six, you’ll have the sum power, yes, but by that point you’re only one voice in a multitude. If they aren’t balanced, if they aren’t compatible with you, and if you haven’t mastered them, then you’ll cease to be you. Instead of you using the power of the Anima Viri’s soul, the Anima Viri uses the power of your soul. And your flesh. The result is what Nightmare Moon was.”
She glanced over to Sunset, looking at her darkly.
“Or perhaps…something like what you became.”
She again shuddered uneasily, looking away.
“The point is now that those Anima Viris are no longer bound to me, they’re free again. The herald will find them. It might take it some time, but it will. Until then, things in this world will go from bad to worse, and when things reach their zenith it will come.”
“You’re sure about this?” Twilight asked. “I mean…how do you even know that…that it’s out there?”
“Believe me, it is,” Luna sighed again. “If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be seeing people appearing everywhere with new Promethian Sigils.”
“But I don’t understand. What made it show up now? And why-”
A low growl from Spike cut Twilight off. She looked down to him, and saw he was now facing the opposite end of the alleyway. Sunset spotted him as well and looked behind them. “Uh, Twilight…?”
She turned and looked back along with Luna. A man had rounded the corner. He looked like a normal civilian, at least in terms of clothing, but he glared at them with a fierce, unwavering stare. His body was tightened and his face stern, before he fully rounded the corner and began to approach them.
Sunset sighed. “Great…not again…”
Twilight exhaled before she reached into her pocket, pulling out an old tool handle she had gotten from the quarry. She began to aim it in front of her. “I’ll do this quick. We’ve spent too much time in the open as it is.”
No sooner had she finished saying this, however, when a woman turned the corner as well. Her expression was much the same as the man’s. Soon after, another woman joined her. And then a fourth from the opposite side. A teenager followed behind that. Then two more people followed, with more coming in behind them.
Twilight’s wand arm began to lower as she started to look nervous, along with Sunset. Spike kept barking at first, but now he began to whine and pull back. “Uh…there’s…there’s more than I thought…”
Sunset started to back up. “Just how much around the city did you run when you were looking for that person?”
By now, there were a dozen people filling one end of the alley and moving in quickly with more falling behind. Twilight swallowed. She began to raise her hand, clearly meaning to use her Anima Viri, but lowered it again on seeing everyone closing in too fast. Instead, after another moment of deliberation, she held out the handle and began to draw a sigil.
Not only Sunset but Luna recognized the emblem, and quickly covered their eyes. Twilight did the same a moment later, right before driving her wand into the center. In a brilliant blast, the sigil ignited with a tremendous bursting sound combined with a brilliant flash of light that radiated throughout the entire alleyway. In spite of their fearsome looks and single-minded obsession, the eyes and ears of the incoming crowd were pierced, and a moment later they froze and recoiled as their own vision was blinded.
As soon as the light died down, Sunset lowered her arm and saw that while the incoming group still had their eyes wide open, they were staggering and stunned. She quickly spun around to Twilight. “It worked! Let’s go!”
She took off for the crowd, moving for the biggest gap in their ranks she could still find. Spike began to run after her. Twilight nearly followed, but hesitated and spun back around. Luna was still standing there, grasping her cane but looking uncertain.
“Come on!”
She looked to her in bafflement. “You want me to come with you? You can’t be serious. Not after-”
She didn’t get out another word as Twilight reached over and seized her by the wrist. “We’ll argue later! Just come on!”
Before she could protest further, Twilight was leading her on after Sunset and Spike and into the crowd. Moments later, Sunset brushed by one person, making physical contact. Immediately, she wheeled around and clutched frantically for where she had been touched, trying to seize whoever did it. Spike went past another’s leg, and that man immediately dove to the ground furiously grasping for the source. By the time Twilight and Luna reached the crowd, all of them were beginning to reach out and fumble for them. The two had scarcely gotten halfway past them when they all began to turn toward her; indicating their vision was clearing fast.
As Twilight reached the end of the crowd, one of them suddenly lunged out for her and nearly seized one of her arms. Fortunately, she only got her sleeve, although her grip was so strong she immediately ripped it clean off of her arm. The sound alerted the others and quickly caused them to turn to the two as well, but Twilight pulled Luna free soon after. With Sunset and Spike already out, the four took off into a run. They only had about a five second head start before the people they just escaped turned around and took off after them.
In spite of the fact that Luna was hobbling and reluctant, she allowed herself to be pulled along as the group ran back the way they had come, ducking back around the street and heading back to the café. However, as soon as they got near they could tell something had already gone wrong. The area was a mess and whatever patrons were still there were frightened-looking and scrambling for it. A few looked injured. When they emerged into the street on the other side, the reason became clear. Another man was coming barreling down the road from one side while another woman was running down the other; making it clear that the mob that was now behind them had to have gone through the café to reach them.
Twilight and Sunset looked one way and the other before the former let out a nervous sigh. “Great, there could be more coming. I don’t think we can avoid making a scene…”
“Let’s just get to that canal and get out of here,” Sunset retorted. She pointed in one direction. “It’s that way!”
A commotion sounded behind them. Sunset glanced back, seeing the crowd coming around the corner and picking up speed. Twilight let out an exhale and finally turned to the direction Sunset indicated. The woman coming down the road was nearly on them, but she quickly squared herself off against her and began to form the Binding Sigil. Just as she reached striking distance, she lashed out and executed it directly on her forehead. Instantly, her eyes went wide and her body went limp, and no sooner had she fallen to the ground than the group took off again.
In spite of Luna’s gait, they tried to push themselves faster this time to put more distance between them and the crazed crowd behind them. Now, however, they had to keep their eyes forward for signs of any more random individuals coming toward them. At this point they were so close that they couldn’t afford to be stopped again.
Eventually, the four moved past a series of scaffolding for roof repair on one building. Just beyond it was another intersection. Sunset pointed to it. “There! That’s the turn!”
Twilight headed straight for it. As soon as she reached the bend, she tried to duck down into the alley only to cry out and get pushed back a moment later by a crazed civil workman emerging from within it. She was so caught off guard that she was immediately thrown to the ground, and seconds later he was struggling on top of her to try and overpower her.
Spike quickly moved in and seized him by one sleeve, biting down and trying to drag him back. Sunset was left standing stunned for a moment before she did all she could think of. Using her cloth-wrapped helmet as a crude brunt instrument, she got behind the man and began to beat against his head while Twilight struggled to get her impromptu wand up.
Luna was left standing to one side, regarding the situation somewhat indifferently. She glanced behind them, seeing the crowd still on their heels and bound to overcome them while they were dealing with their current threat. She glanced back to the three, then back to them.
Finally, she sighed tiredly. Choking up on her cane, she held it up straight and swung at one of the support rails on the scaffolding with all of her might. With a snapping sound, the support rail was broken clean off, and immediately it set off a chain reaction that traveled up the scaffold all the way to a pile or roof tiling and unmixed bonding materials. Soon after, the entire collection rained down just as the crowd passed by it, burying half of them in a deluge of stone, tile, and mortar. The others tried to move back or around it, but simply the impact of the unmixed materials sent up a cloud of dust that obscured their vision once again.
Meanwhile, Sunset finally dropped the helmet and grabbed the man’s other arm, and with Spike it left him pinned long enough for Twilight to quickly take up her wand, form the Binding Seal again, and execute it on his forehead. Moments later he slumped like a sack of potatoes and fell to one side, and Twilight quickly began to stagger back to her feet. Sunset turned and went for her bundle, just as a sound of rapid boots trampling began to echo down another street up ahead.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” she moaned. “Just how many Promethian Sigils are there in this city?”
Twilight, just as she got up, looked more uneasy. “I don’t think those are Promethian Sigil bearers…”
She quickly gestured Sunset on around the corner, followed by Spike. Luna, looking reluctant again, nevertheless came up after them and Twilight quickly followed her around the corner. Yet just as they entered the street, she looked up and glanced back down the main road to an intersection up ahead.
Sure enough, she caught a glimpse of the first line of Trottingham troopers rounding the corner with rifles out and at the ready. Two of them looked up and straight at her, but she instantly turned away and pushed Luna down the road with her.
As the four charged along, they heard calls to stop and halt behind them, but none of them heeded it. More scuffling soon rang out, but everyone winced a few seconds later when a hail of gunfire erupted. It wasn’t aimed at them but rather at their pursuers. After just long enough of a pause to reload, another sound of firing rang out, followed by faster footsteps. Before it could reach their road, however, Sunset led them down a turn into an alleyway. From there, they ran straight through the narrow, twisting passage before coming to an end overlooking a drainage ditch.
On reaching it, Twilight froze and grimaced. These ditches weren’t the most clean or sanitary places to begin with in industrial cities, but this one looked like it had long since been clogged with the foulest filth imaginable. Sunset, however, only hesitated a moment before charging into it with a sickening, squelching noise, then turned back to the others. “Come on!”
Even Spike gave out a bit of a whine before he hopped down and struggled to stay on the angled sides, out of most of the muck. Twilight only reluctantly and slowly stepped down and into it. Luna, grimacing again, actually looked back over her shoulder a moment. By now, the sounds of the soldiers coming down their street became audible, and finally that caused her to resign and step in as well. Once in, they turned and began to run down the canal.
The bootsteps continued to get closer, and started to echo in the adjoining streets. Only a short distance down the canal, a grating walkway stretched over a section to provide a bridge for one of the side streets.
Twilight quickly pointed that way. “Over there!” she whispered loudly. Pushing ahead to take the lead with Spike, she quickly moved underneath it. As soon as she was there, she moved up and back against the sides of the bridge, pushing herself as far as she could out from under the grating. Spike seemed to follow suit. Sunset, on arrival, quickly took the opposite side, and soon found herself side-by-side with Luna. As a result, she looked at her somewhat uneasily, but Luna just kept her eyes forward and a stone expression.
They were only under there for a short time, just long enough for the ripples that they made in the filth of the canal, to fade, when they saw shadows move over the grating. The metal “dinged” with each clack of a boot overhead. Sunset kept her eyes to the ground as she cringed, but Twilight managed to look up and watch; spotting glimpses of boots, belt buckles, uniforms, and rifles. Soon after, further in the distance, more gunfire was heard. The initial set of boots passed soon after, but the streets continued to echo with noises followed by the occasional gunshot.
For a time, the sounds and noises continued. Occasionally a scream from a civilian followed by someone shouting an order rang out, along with another gunshot at points, but nothing else. It seemed like things might have been calming down.
However, not long after, sounds were heard coming down from the next alleyway down.
“Did we get them all?”
“I think so. They lost the source, but it looks like we got all the stragglers. We’ll do another sweep to make sure.”
“Forget that. Get your men and women looking for the source.”
“The source? By now they could be hiding anywhere or even leaving the area…”
“Some of the members of my unit spotted them. There’s several of them together. One of them was unknown, but one of them definitely had the hair of the Fire Witch fugitive.”
Sunset looked up at that, pupils contracting.
“Are you serious? I thought they finally concluded she fled the country?”
“She’s back now, it looks like. And it looks like they were right about that theory of her being the Instigator. She’s probably doing sabotage for Manehattan or Fillydelphia at this point. If that’s the case, orders are to take her alive. Neutralize anyone with her.”
Twilight paled a little herself on hearing that, while Sunset struggled not to cringe further.
“Understood.”
“Move out.”
There was no more talking after that. After about ten more minutes, the gunshots and screams had stopped, and all foot traffic was down to a minimum. Nevertheless, both Twilight and Sunset were on edge now, and it was a bit longer before they felt bold enough to speak to each other in whispers.
“Did you hear that? That ‘Instigator’ thing they mentioned?” Twilight spoke up. “You think that’s what Gilda was talking about in Fillydelphia? It sounds like the Trottingham people think all of these folks going crazy is due to a weapon too.”
“I don’t care what they think! If they identified me, then I just want to get out of here!” Sunset barely kept from shouting. “Can we go now or what?”
The mage exhaled. “Fine… To be honest, we’ve already spent too much time here already, and I don’t think we’re going to be able to get a steam cab this time… Working through this canal is going to make things take even longer…”
She stepped up to start walking, and Sunset readily rose and began to go down the canal pathway. Twilight was going to follow, but she ended up stopped and turning back to look at Luna. The woman herself was easing against the wall to avoid having to use her cane for balance, and didn’t seem eager to move.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“And why would I be going with you?”
“You can’t stay here. If they spotted you, then they’ll be after you too now.”
Luna sighed, looking to the grating over her head. “Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad… I just wanted to live a quiet life until the end but apparently that’s as impossible as going home. If you’re worried about me exposing either of you, don’t be. I have nothing to gain from that.”
Twilight turned to face her. “There’s a lot more questions we need to ask you too.”
She closed her eyes. “I already told you I can’t help you. Nothing of what I’m telling you will do anything except show you how inevitable it all is.”
“It might not be. And we need to know more before we can say that. If you really don’t care one way or another, then please…come with us. Because we do care one way or another.”
Luna let out a long sigh. She cracked her eyes open again and looked back down at Twilight. Her eyes flicked to Sunset, who had stopped and looked back, but still was eager to get moving. Finally, she pulled herself off of the wall.
“Very well. I suppose there’s some merit to talking to the last person who saw Celestia alive…”
Twilight smiled back at her as she began to hobble after them. “Thank you. We appreciate this.”
“Yes…I’m sure your friends will very much appreciate seeing me,” she sarcastically snorted. “As will anyone else who learns about who I am…”
Twilight winced a bit at that, but Sunset used the moment to motion them on. “Come on! We’ve got a long way to go and we need to get started before any more soldiers show up!”
Much to Twilight and Sunset’s displeasure, the sun had already been down for an hour before they finally managed to work their way to a more obscure and sparsely populated part of the industrial district of Manechester. Their blood ran a little cold when the clock sounded the alarm for 7 PM. With time fast running out, they had no other choice. They had to chance getting a steam cab. It was a bit pricey for three of them plus a dog but, grudgingly, Luna fit the bill for them—apparently having access to more funds than any of them.
Even so, they couldn’t afford to have the cab drop them off at the quarry. They only managed to get into the adjoining town before they had to make the long walk through the forest. By the time the cab dropped them off, the town’s clock tower signaled 8 PM. They were forced to practically run through the woods to get back, which was not only hard to navigate and not only dangerous in terms of Nighttouched, but also involved having a person come along who had a limp. Eventually, Twilight had to equip her Anima Viri both for light as well as for defense, in spite of the risk of signaling people nearby.
They made much better time after that, but it still took far too long to finally clear the forest and emerge on the trail leading into the quarry. That was soon confirmed when they saw figures running out from the shack and up to them, revealing themselves to be the rest of the ladies.
“Where in tarnation have y’all been?!” Applejack nearly screamed at them. “It was bad enough that Twilight was past due, but we were frettin’ all day that Sunset up and ran off to turn us in!”
“Gee,” she muttered, “thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“After all that you’ve put us through, darling, you’re fortunate to be getting the benefit of the doubt at all,” Rarity sharply responded.
“Wait,” Fluttershy spoke up, looking to her feet. “Is that…?” Her face lit up. “Spike! It’s you! You’re alright!” Immediately, she bent low to the ground, allowing the dog to happily bark and run up to her. She reached out to start giving him belly rubs, which he readily complied with by lying down and rolling over. “Who’s a good boy? Yes you are! Yes you are! Angel, look who’s back!”
The rabbit, still lounging in Fluttershy’s satchel, looked less than enthused.
“Oh, oh! And look!” Pinkie cheered. “You brought another friend along too!”
This prompted everyone to look up and focus on Luna. She merely stood there with her cane at her side looking somewhat dully back.
“Oh…hello there, dear,” Rarity spoke up after a moment. “Didn’t mean to ignore you until now. Um…may I ask who you might be?”
“She’s, um…another fugitive from Trottingham who we ran into,” Twilight immediately interjected. “She helped us by footing the bill for the steam cab. I’ll explain later. Right now…” She reached into her pocket, scrambled around for a bit, and then pulled out the receipt. She passed it over to the group. Rainbow Dash reached over and plucked it from her hand, then brought it back and opened it up to start reading.
“Alright…we’re going to need to get moving pretty soon. Let’s get back, tell everyone to load up, and then start heading out.”
“Wait,” Dash suddenly spoke up, looking at the slip in some disbelief, “this slip says to load up at 3 AM. Tonight?”
Twilight looked a little uneasy. “Um…yeah…”
“3 AM? It just turned 10!”
She paled. “Wh-what?”
Applejack wheeled to Dash. “Wait now…come again?”
“You mean we only have…five hours?” Fluttershy spoke with a panicked whine.
The ladies spun back to Twilight, but she could only offer a sheepish look. “I…I meant to be back a lot sooner, but we didn’t have a choice! We ran into the authorities and they IDed Sunset! We had to head back keeping our heads down!”
Sunset immediately winced on hearing that, because the change was almost instantaneous. Whereas before everyone was looking at Twilight in disbelief, now their eyes turned to her, and were far sharper and more critical looking. Applejack frowned and Dash actually grit her teeth and muttered. As for Sunset, she clutched her bundle and looked like she wanted to shrink out of sight right then and there.
Twilight quickly cut in. “Look, we don’t have time for this right now! If we’re going to get everyone to the station in time, then we need to leave in the next fifteen minutes!”
Dash groaned. “Celano is not going to like this. She thought I’d give her another two hours at least to start looting. If we don’t want them to back off of the deal, then I’ve got to leave right now.” She stepped to one side, getting ready to call on her Anima Viri.
“Oh…I’m not sure all of the rats will get in place on time…” Fluttershy spoke up nervously. “Could we possibly leave any sooner?”
Applejack let out a groan and turned around. “Come on, y’all! We need to get everyone ready to mosey like yesterday!”
A bit sorely, the others turned around and began to run back to the shack, while Rainbow Dash called on her own Anima Viri. No sooner had she equipped it when she took off in a blaze of speed the way that the others had come. Sunset continued to wince, holding a hand to her head and groaning. Twilight herself was looking increasingly uncomfortable as well.
Luna simply balanced on her cane and exhaled. “So, shall we bother heading down as well or just wait on them?”