Chapter 35
As the elevator slowly descended, I looked ahead, a goofy smile on my face. Glancing up revealed Mallogory had the same look on her face.
“I’m not much for relationships and shit,” I warned.
She just snickered and slugged my shoulder, “I don’t do all that lovey-dovey shit, so if that’s what you ponies are into, not happening.”
Giving her thigh a punch in response, I waved her off with my wing, “Trust me, I prefer it not to be all lovey-dovey.”
“So, we doing the couple thing?” she asked.
“I guess, if we’re on the same page at least,” I replied, looking up into her beaming face.
“Guess we are then,” was her response as the doors dinged open.
“FREEZE!” a cop screamed as at least a dozen cops stood outside the elevator, pointing their guns at us.
We glanced at each other, grimacing.
“Hands up!”
Not wanting to hurt anyone innocent, we raised our hands, me standing on my hindlegs to get mine up.
They push forward and pull us out of the elevator, slapping handcuffs on us. They moved us towards the front doors, reading us our rights.
Roughly, they put us into two separate cruisers.
I could easily break out of these restraints, but I’ll hold off till I could do so and not hurt anyone else.
The cruiser pulled forward and we began to speed down the road. I remained silent, looking out the window as we drove along.
“Why’d you do it?” the cop up front suddenly asked, glancing in the rear view mirror at me.
Turning to face him, I just grinned, “You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me,” he replied.
“That guy, Kelman Utop, was using his Ego to siphon Ego from all of you, and was influencing everyone in this city to lower their morals and do his bidding. I believe that’s the end game at least,” I said, getting a strange look from the cop.
“Kelman Utop is a hero,” the rat cop responded. “When this city was falling apart, he left for the endless Plains and returned with an ability that helped to pull everyone together. It’s thanks to him that we were able to survive the Collapse.”
“Yet he was lying to you all,” I countered, getting a nasty look in return.
The cop huffed, staring at the road ahead. “He was a good rat and you murdered him. Hell, he didn’t even run for mayor once, just wanted to help the city.”
I thought of responding, but seeing the angry look on his face, I decided to keep my mouth shut.
We remained silent till we got to the police station, where he pulled me from the cruiser and led me inside.
Processing was very similar to how it was back home, but here, they were a lot more rough. Or that could just be I killed their ‘hero’.
After being processed, I was pushed into a cell by myself. Not long after they led Mallogory in and shoved her violently into her own cell next to mine. There was no wall between us, just bars.
“Fuckers,” she spat at them as they all stepped out of the room, leaving us as the sole prisoners in the cells.
She huffed as she leaned against the bars, crossing her arms. “They took my gun.”
“Cops do that,” I replied with a chuckle as I opened my pocket dimension, “but I still got mine.” I close it without taking anything out.
“I should of thought of that,” she commented, rolling her eyes. “So,we breaking out or what?”
I nod as I look around the small room, “We will at night, that way we don’t have to worry about too many people being here.”
“Being good guys makes things so much harder,” she groaned. “At least when we were under the influence we got shit done faster.”
This got a chuckle out of me as I sat down on the cot, “Make yourself comfy. It’s just the morning now, got a whole day ahead of ourselves.”
ooo000<^>000ooo
It was only a few hours later when three cops walked in, two detectives and what looked to be the chief.
“You two are popular, we’ve got two detectives from the mayor's office here to speak with you,” the chief said, gesturing to the two detectives, one tall rat female and the other a shorter male.
“Leave us, chief. We’d like to talk to them alone,” the female said roughly.
“Of course, ma’am,” he said as he handed over an envelope. “Here’s the evidence and case report.”
“Thank you,” the short male said as the chief quickly left the room. The camera in the corner of the room seemed to turn off, as the little red light stopped blinking.
The two rats walked up to our cells, pulling two chairs up as they did so.
“I ain’t talking, rats,” Mallogory said gruffly from her back on her cot.
“I wouldn’t expect you too,” the male rat said as a Ego card flashed above him, causing the two of them to emit a bright light.
What I saw both dumbfounded me and made me laugh loudly.
“What have you two been up to?” Lance asked as he sat down, opening up the case files on us.
Bronwyn sat down, an amused look on her face.
I leaned up and looked at them, raising an eyebrow at her, “Nice to see you again, Bronwyn.”
“You too,” she replied, smiling brightly at me. “Got a few new wounds I see.”
Flashing her a toothy grin, I ran a hoof up the side of my burned body, ending right at my ruined eye. “It was a fun situation for all involved.”
“You tortured a child?” Lance asked in a disbelieving tone, eyeing us over the top of the report.
I smiled sheepishly back at him, “Not technically.”
“Then you attacked a family and wounded the father,” he said, then sighed. “And threatened to not only shoot the baby, but also eat it?”
“That last one was me,” Mallogory admitted, getting a scowl from Lance. “But to be fair, there was an evil villain that was influencing everyone to do evil, even the two of us.”
Lance just went back to reading the report.
“When did you get back?” I asked Bronwyn.
“Last night, after you two never responded to Lance’s desperate calls,” she replied, chuckling at him.
“I wasn’t desperate, just worried,” Lance said in a low voice, then looked back at us. “Killed a lot of people.” He flipped the page, “a LOT of people.”
“To be fair, we chose peace and they returned violence,” Mallogory said, shrugging at him. “Gotta defend ourselves.”
“Sure,” was his response as he finished the report, putting it aside. He just stared at us, looking displeased.
“You said make our own adventure,” I said, giving him a sheepish grin.
He blinked at me, and sighed, “Yes, I did. But you two went on a killing spree, and killed someone labeled a hero to this city.”
“You’re kinda just going off the report there, and not what we’re saying,” Mallogory said, getting annoyed as she leaned forward, pressing her face against the bars.
Bronwyn let the scene play out, just smiling at us.
“I doubt the hero of this city would turn out to be evil,” Lance said, ignoring her words. “From what I’ve gathered, he saved this city. And then you two murdered him.”
“That’s enough,” Bronwyn finally said, just as Mallogory and I jumped up, both of us looking pissed. “Lance, I’m going to cut this short and tell you they were right.”
“What?” Lance asked in confusion, turning to face her.
“I know this city, and the rat in charge, not the mayor,” she said, a sly smirk on her face, “he was using his Ego to control the populace and steal their Ego. If Mallogory and Scamp hadn’t been so powerful Ego wise, they’d have fallen under his control as well. Luckily, all it did was influence them.”
“So this wasn’t them?” Lance said, holding up the report.
“It was and it wasn’t,” she answered. “But what I will say is they weren’t bad compared to others I’ve seen come through here. However, somehow, these two tracked down and killed the one responsible. Not even I was able to do that.”
“Shit,” Lance muttered, turning to us. “You’re off the hook, for now.”
“No apology?” I asked, getting a sour look from him.
With a flash of a card, the two of them turned back into their rat disguises. He took a device and handed it to me. “Wait thirty minutes then use this.”
I put it away in my pocket dimension.
Lance stepped up to the door and knocked on it. After a minute, the chief returned, smiling.
“That was fast, need anything?”
“We’re done here,” Bronwyn said.
They were led out of the room, leaving just the two of us again.
“Guys a prick,” Mallogory said with a displeased look on her face.
I just grinned, “he comes off that way sometimes, but honestly he means well. He just doesn’t want me to go down a path I can’t come back from. Like murdering innocents or shit like that.”
“My feelings towards him are… indifferent right now,” she said with a groan, laying back down.
“What did he give you?”
Pulling it out, I chuckled, “Teleport device, it's already preloaded with a location.”
“At least he’s helping us get out and not leaving us here,” she muttered.
ooo000<^>000ooo
After thirty minutes had elapsed, I used the device as Mallogory and I held hands so we’d be teleported together.
We appeared right at the teleport hub, but not the one in the city we were just in. Instead, we were back in Lorenzo’s Fun Park.
“Right on time,” Lance said as he and Bronwyn stepped out of the teleport hub, back in their normal forms.
“Thanks for getting us out,” I say as the two of us hug. “Still mad?”
He flashes a smile, “Well now that I’m sure you two weren’t just killing for the hell of it, I can’t really be that mad about it. I’m just happy you’re safe.”
As we broke the hug, Bronwyn stepped up and held out her hand. I shook it with my metal paw.
“Good to have you back,” she said as she shook my paw.
“You too, I was starting to wonder if you’d ever get back to us,” I said as I pulled out the little tracker she’d placed on me. “Even if you left this little baby behind.”
She just laughed as she took it back, “Sorry about that, I did that when we were all training together. Just in case.” Leaning down, she looked my wounds over closer. “I need the story on these.”
I smirked at her, “You got it.”
Lance began heading into the park, waving for us to follow him.
As we all walked, I took my place next to Mallogory.
“I wish I could say I’m happy to be back here, but this place gives me the creeps,” she said as she looked around at the colorful booths and rides.
“That fire really should have spread to more of the park,” I joked, referring to the fire caused by my ship crash landing.
“We’re not that lucky,” she commented as Bronwyn fell back to meet our pace.
“So, Mallogory is it? I have a few questions for you regarding your home dimension,” she looked a little excited.
“Uh sure, ask away,” Mallogory replied in a slightly confused and uncomfortable tone.
The two of them slowed down, allowing Lance to walk next to me with no one else near us.
“So?” he asked expectantly.
“So what?” I asked in return, raising an eyebrow.
He nudged me as we walked, “How’d it go?”
“Great?” I replied, smiling awkwardly.
“And you two?” he pushed, clearly wanting the details.
“What about us?” I countered, trying to make it clear to drop it.
“You two… together?” he finally asked.
I sighed and looked back at her, watching Bronwyn bombard her with questions as she looked just as awkward as I did.
“... Yeah.”
He let out a little cheer as he pumped his hoof, “I knew that would get you two together!”
“Shut up,” I said with a laugh as I slugged him hard in the shoulder, causing him to stumble and almost fall.
He just kept on smiling, head held high at his little victory.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Once we’d arrived back to the area we were using a home base, which was just a pavilion, everyone came running, expressing a mixture of relief and confusion. A lot of questions were thrown our way, but there was no way we could answer them all.
Luckily, Lance got everyone's attention as he jumped up on a table.
“Alright, guys. Now that we’ve all finally returned after completing our task, we can start moving forward with our plans.”
Jero took up his position on the table next to Lance, but did not say anything.
“The next phase will require us to do two things; Track down Lorenzo, and increase the power levels of those of us who will be fighting,” he announced, getting murmurs from the gathered group. “Bronwyn will focus on tracking Lorenzo while the rest of us will focus on the latter.”
“But, what will we do once we find him?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking unsure.
“Simple,” Lance said with a wide grin. “Kick his ass and make him tell us where the Watcher is. We stand a chance with Scamp and her Ego.”
“I don’t like this,” Greg said aloud, but then smirked as he jumped up with Lance. “But I’m ready. We need to finish this, I’m ready to go home. What about all of you?”
Everyone yelled up in agreement.
“Perfect,” Lance said as he pulled a card out. “I’ve made the perfect card for our training session. Time will not stand still here while we are in it, instead it’ll just be slowed down. That’s because the plan is for us to stay in this new dimension I’ve created till Bronwyn has found Lorenzo. We will not age while here, so don’t worry about losing any time.”
“It shouldn’t take her more than a day or two to track him down,” Jero assured everyone as Bronwyn gave a confident nod. “That’ll give us plenty of time to get everyone trained up on their roles.”
“And,” Lance continued, “It’ll give Greg here time to figure out the best way to use this UAD drug. This all hinges on him.”
“Geez, thanks for the pressure,” Greg chuckled, looking a bit worried with everything hinging on him.
“What about those of us who don't want to train?” Rarity asked, getting a nod from a few of the others.
“Then it’ll be okay, I’ve included plenty of things in this dimension for those of us that just want to focus on anything else than training,” Lance answered, seeming to appease everyone.
“Don’t worry, everyone,” Bronwyn said as she smiled at all of us. “I’m confident I’ll find a trace of him very quickly and I’ll have found him in a day or two.”
I looked to Adry, who looked nervous about the idea of being in another dimension long term, I could see the question she had on her face clear as day.
With a sigh, I spoke up, “Hypothetical question; what if someone who was pregnant went in there, and since we don’t age, does that mean the pregnancy won’t progress?”
Lance and everyone looked at me, eyes wide.
Clearing his throat, looking very nervous, he addressed me, “Are… are you… pregnant, Scamp?”
“Nah, I’m just curious,” I say, chuckling nervously at all the stares.
“Uh…” he said, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t know?”
“Could you add that to it? Just in case someone gets pregnant in there?” I asked, getting a thankful smile from Adry.
“I don’t… think we’ll… Geez, alright, Scamp, I’ll make it so IF someone were to be pregnant, that the pregnancy will halt right where it’s at. Sound good?” He asked, looking very uncomfortable.
“Yep, thank you, Lance. That’ll make me feel so much better,” I said, giving a wink to Adry, who just looked so relieved.
Lance held the card up, causing it to glow as he worked on it. “Anything else you all want me to add?”
At asking this, everyone surged forward, telling him all kinds of things to add to the card.
Adry came over and hugged me tightly, “Thank you, Scamp. I do NOT want to give birth to my baby in a place like this, and if we were in there too long, I’d start showing.”
“Anything for my alternate dimensional mother,” I joked, giving her a few pats on the back as we broke the hug.
As she returned to the group, wanting to add her own opinions to the card, Bronwyn stepped up to me.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you,” she said, looking a bit pained.
I just smiled and waved her off, “don’t worry about it, it worked itself out. Besides,” I said as I looked past her, seeing Mallogory trying to add her thoughts to the card, “if I hadn't gone, I'd have missed out on meeting my new friends.”
“They really are strange,” she chuckled, kneeling to my level. “They compliment you greatly.”
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult,” I say with a sly smile.
“Take it as you will,” she teased, hugging me.
As we broke the hug, she tapped her chin, “So, how exactly did you defeat Leem? The others give conflicting reports of the fight.”
“Oh, erased his memories,” I say, getting an impressed nod as a response.
“And it worked?”
“It stopped him from attacking us in that moment, so I’d say it did,” I replied.
“If you face him again, do not attempt the same attack, he always figures out a way to counter anything that remotely threatens him.”
“Thank you,” I say as the others step back as Lance walks forward.
“Enough guys, we don’t need hot tubs or spas!” he yelled, causing everyone to back up.
“But the spas-” Rarity began, but Lance cut her off as the card glowed again.
“Fine, we have spas, but NO MORE! Please, we have plenty in there now. It’s basically better than our old homes at this point!”
I chuckle and slap my hoof down on her shoulder, “Good luck, Bronwyn.”
“You too, Scamp,” she says, glancing at Mallogory. “Don’t have too much time in there.”
“You know?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“Lance told me his plan for you two,” she replied, getting a sigh out of me.
He really is proud of himself on this one.
“Well, I guess it worked out this time around,” I say as I step around her. “Find that prick for us.”
She gave a little salute as she stood up.
Lance threw the card, causing a portal to open. “Everyone in, let’s go!”
As everyone piled in, I lingered in the portal, looking back at Bronwyn.
She gave a little bow, beaming a smile my way.
I gave her a salute in return and passed through the portal. It closed behind me with a loud pop.
End of Act 1