//------------------------------// // Delays of the Explosive Variety // Story: Strange New World // by Conor Colton //------------------------------// Strange New World Chapter Eleven: Delays of the Explosive Variety Chris and the others had made their way back to the hotel to get settled in for the night. Applejack and Rarity sat on their beds, Twilight lay herself next to a nearby lit fireplace reading through Zecora’s tome; Spike and Zecora were taking inventory of their supplies, Fluttershy was in the bathroom and Chris and Rainbow were practicing some basic fighting moves; more so Chris than Rainbow though. “Sure you wanna stay in there, Fluttershy? I may actually land a hit, it could be cool.” Chris exclaimed in hopes Fluttershy would come out and see. Inside the bathroom the mare merely shook her head. “No thank you. I don’t like the violence and somepony could get hurt.” Fluttershy yelled through the rustic wooden door of the lavatory. Chris shook his head in disappointment and retorted back to her. “C’mon, I may have bandages but I’m not gonna get hurt anymore than I already ha-Ow!” Chris yelped after receiving a conk on the head from Rainbow. Chris rubbed his head where she had hit and raged, “What was that fo- Ow!” Chris spoke before receiving another blow. “You were getting distracted!” Rainbow explained as Chris scrunched his nose in disapproval. The stallion gritted his teeth in that instant. He would have went into a full blown argument with the mare but figured the best solution would be to cover his head and continue practising. “Now, you gotta keep a good stance and be ready for anything. Your reflexes need to be as sharp as a knife!” Rainbow explained further as she hovered around Chris who was in stance as she instructed. “Easy for you to say, you can fly.” Chris thought before Rainbow jutted her head close to his; Chris’ eyes widened and he wondered if she had just read his mind. “That clear?” The blue mare questioned as she hovered inches away from Chris with an angry glare in her eyes. The stallion nodded. “Yes Ma’am, Miss Rainbow, Si-er Ma’am!” Chris yelped rather nervously, with a tiny trickle of sweat dripping from his mane. “Good. Now...” Rainbow led into as she landed in front of Chris and got into a stance as well. “I’m going to pelt you in the jaw and you have to stop it, okay?” She asked as Chris looked around, as if to gain clarification from everypony else. Rarity, Twi and AJ nodded uneasily, which in turn made Chris nod. “Rainbow, you sure he’s okay for this?” Twi asked with a hint of concern in her tone, Rarity following soon after. “Yes, I think he should have time to heal his injuries first.” The purple maned mare added. “Well if he gets in a fight with one of those monsters again he won’t exactly have any healing time.” Rainbow explained as she readied herself, as did everypony else and Chris. Even Fluttershy winced a little. Rainbow dashed towards Chris with a hoof raised, Chris went to lift his but as he did he noticed something. Rainbow pulling back one of her hind legs, like it was going to ping forward. The stallion reacted to this by jumping. And sure enough, Rainbow attempted a leg sweep and failed. Everypony’s, even Chris’ eyes widened at that point. The stallion landed and almost instinctively his hoof went straight for Rainbow. Luckily the mare blocked, leaving a slightly out of breath stallion. “How did you even...?” Rainbow asked with a slight look of bewilderment on her face as she released the stallion’s hoof. “Well...I saw you...pulling your leg back and...Wow...jumping is a lot harder without wings...” Chris retorted, out of breath. Rarity and Twi answered this by giving a small applause from their places of seating, smiling widely. Chris smiled back, relaxing his breathing again. Rainbow answered this by putting a hoof around Chris and giving him a congratulatory pat on his far shoulder. “Training with Rainbow Dash...Couldn’t have gone wrong.” Chris thought as he returned the shoulder pat to Rainbow. Chris then grinned and did a few kicks into the air whilst standing on his hind legs. “Bring it then, Shade, let’s see what trick ya pull ne-” Chris led into before being interrupted by a thundering noise from outside. The room shook and the lights flickered as everybody tried to find out what the source of that noise was. In the commotion Chris had fallen right on his flank, “What was that?!” He shouted. Everyone was drawn to a nearby window, well apart from Fluttershy. Out of the the window they could see a large orange cloud of fire lifting and dissipating off the ground, lighting up the whole town for a brief few moments. “My Celestia...” Rarity said absentmindedly as everybody continued looking. Chris then broke away and said essentially, the obvious. “Well we gotta go check that out, let’s go!” Chris signaled as everyone in the room started heading outside to see what had happened. AJ stopped and realized something, which she pointed out to Chris. “Wha’ ‘bout Fluttershy?!” The concerned earth pony asked. Chris nodded reassuringly and turned AJ to face the door again. “I need to get some clothes on anyway, I’ll get her outside.” Chris explained as AJ nodded and headed out. The brony quickly got together his new outfit and slipped it on in a few minutes. He readjusted his bootstraps and reoriented his vest before dusting off his shoulders. He knocked on the bathroom door. “Fluttershy, c’mon! We gotta to go!” Chris exclaimed, to hear no response. He knocked again with more force this time, “Fluttershy!” He yelled. Again, met with no response. “Fluttersh-...Wait this isn’t even locked!” Chris realized as he opened the door and marched in. A few seconds later he emerged with a shaken, speechless Fluttershy clinging to his back and around his neck. The stallion trotted out with the mare clinging and making a few scared meeps and squeals with wide eyes, “Yeah yeah, I know” Chris stated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Well...This is just grand, isn’t it, Nox?...The Princesses are still around...Even though I disposed of their remains...And they’re keeping me out of his head...Out of their heads...” Shade explained as he sat on a newly redesigned throne, his head resting in his paw. “Yes Sire, it is most unfortunate. Progress will be halted or at least...Slowed.” Nox sighed. “Hm...There’s always a way around, Nox...Surely you must have learned something like that by now.” Shade retorted as he got off of his throne and walked absentmindedly around, “We’ve halted their progress as well...” Shade remarked as he put a paw on his newly repaired window. “And that will buy us the time we need...” “What for, Sire?” Nox questioned as Shade turned with a grin and a red glow coming from his eye. He paced towards his inferior and explained as he walked. “We’ve injured him...We’ve stranded him...And now we do what we are best at...We fulfill our purpose...” Shade stated as he paced back up to his throne, “Fear...anarchy...death...” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chris rushed to the source of the blast, following quickly in the hoofprints of his friends and with Fluttershy still on his back. When they arrived they were met with a rather unpleasant sight. There had been an explosion on the train tracks, leading to Appleloosa. Chris gasped in awe as did Fluttershy. The yellow mare got to her hooves and rushed over to her friends who were already there looking over the crater the blast had made. Chris followed closely behind and as he got closer he made out the images of two more familiar figures, Cherry and the apparent, Marshall. These two were also looking in awe at the blast, however Twi looked to be arguing with the marshall. Chris wondered what this was about until he got somewhat of a hint from what happened next. “You! Yooou!” Marshall yelled towards Chris as he paced closer to the stallion. Chris gulped slightly as the large statuesque figure of the marshall stood over him, and proceeded to grab him by his collar. “I warned ya to not ‘cause no trouble! I warned ya! Now you don gone and blew up this here track! Admit it!” Marshall demanded as Chris merely glared and struggled. “Now, Marshall you put him down! His filly friend is right! He dun did nothing to nopony!” Cherry pleaded as Marshall continued holding and everypony stood in uneasiness, Dash having to be held back by the others for fear of causing more harm. “Well he didn’t hurt nopony but her sure hurt the track!” Marshall continued, not breaking eye contact with Chris for a second as the area around them was lit up slightly by floating embers during the pale moonlight. “I told ya Cherry, I didn’t trust this varmint. Didn’t trust any of ‘em...My instincts never failed me before.” He continued as Chris thought in his head what he could do. The stallion would have looked to the two ethereal alicorns inside his head for help, but right now he didn’t think those would help. So Chris continued struggling before sneakily raising a front hoof and smashing Marshall on the side of the head with a blow of moderate power, but enough to get him to release his grip. “Why you no good little-!” Marshall stated as he recentered himself. As he was about to lunge for Chris, a purple aura enveloped the two stallions. Neither of them could manage to move their hooves enough to swing a punch. Chris darted his eyes to his friends and saw Twilight’s horn ignited. “Now listen! Okay? Chris was with us here the entire time when the blast went off, it couldn’t have been him that did it! And Chris you could have told Marshall this but instead you knocked him right on the head! Now everypony just calm down, and apologize for starters!” Twi stated with authority and a quick gasping for breath afterwards. “...Sorry.” Both stallions stated as Twi released her grip on the two of them. The stallions stretched for a moment before Marshall spoke up again, “But listen here, little lady. The fact of the matter is, y’all showed up and this happened. Now I ain’t saying you’re guilty, but right now all I gotta go on is my gut...And that does condemn you all. So we’re good for now, but I got both eyes on all you...Him especially.” Marshall started as Chris glared with a heavy breath. “Now there’re only two ponies I trust here, Cherry and Slim. Cherry and Slim were both with me when whatever happened happened...So you all watch yourselves.” Marshall stated as he walked away with Cherry following shortly behind. Chris sighed and finally recentered himself to see a rather disappointed looking Twilight standing over him. Twi proceeded back to the crater and Chris followed sluggishly behind. Everyone in the group looked into the small hole in the ground and each took it in a different way. Chris sighed once again and spoke up, “...I don’t like that Marshall guy.” “Eeyup.” AJ added as everybody continued gaping into the hole. “...We have a mystery on our hooves...Don’t we?” Pinkie implied as she slowly started lifting up a pipe, which was quickly snatched away by Zecora, who merely glared at the slightly confused pink pony, “...Fine, I have more anyways.” Pinkie retorted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Later that same night, the group had made it back to their hotel rooms. Chris stood to one side and held the main door for his friends. As Twilight walked past, Chris lowered his head slightly. When everyone was in, the stallion closed the door. “A’ight y’all, best we be getting some shut eye. Celestia knows what’s going on but we got some work to do tomorrow that’s fer sure.” Applejack stated as everybody nodded and headed to their respective sleeping arrangements. It was then Chris had realized, yet again, he wasn’t in these sleeping arrangements, he sighed and looked at a vacant couch, as if it was calling to him as everypony went to their rooms and headed to bed. As Chris walked towards the couch he caught a glimpse of Twilight walking into her room, the two of them met eyes for a moment before both frowning and Twi heading into her room with Pinkie. Chris turned his head to see Rainbow and Fluttershy heading into their rooms; the rainbow mare merely shrugged and headed on in. “Are you okay, Chris?” The stallion heard as he turned around to see Rarity lying in bed with a concerned look on her white, beautified face, “You look worried. More so than the rest of us. Come, sit over here, we have to discuss it if something’s bothering you.” The unicorn almost ordered as she continued lying in bed but patted a spot on the side. Chris sighed and sat down as prompted. “Now, what exactly is bothering you?” Rarity inquired, getting out from under the covers to reveal she had managed to bring along a familiar bed robe. Chris would have chuckled if he wasn’t so concerned. “Just...I don’t know...figured I could have handled things down there better...With Marshall I mean...I don’t know why I hit him I just...didn’t know what else to do...” He said sulkily as Rarity nodded along before motioning for him to continue. “And...I feel really disappointed in myself...I mean you guys never really seen me like that, I mean hitting another pony...’Cept for Blueblood though...” He relived as Rarity chuckled slightly before responding. “Well, nopony was against you in that decision, darling. Now I think you’re caring far too much about what other ponies think of you. We are your friends, as you know and we can forgive and forget. Even Twilight. I saw how she looked at you after that...She’s upset now of course but she is as reasonable as she is intelligent, she won’t remain that way for long.” Rarity nodded reassuringly. “Yeah...Yeah you’re probably right...Guess I should have more confidence in you guys...” Chris admitted as Rarity placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder nearest to her. She grinned pleasingly and patted her hoof a few times against him. “Yes, Chris. We all have to have confidence in each other, darling. We had the confidence to leave some of our family to be mature and responsible enough to look after themselves, and even our pets, darling. I had to leave my little Opal with Sweetie Belle and Applejack had to leave Winona with Apple Bloom. Same with most of us. You just have to have confidence in ponies you trust, friends and family.” She finished. “Yeah...yeah those two really are important...” Chris started before turning to Rarity and smiling lightly, “...Thanks.” He finished happily. “Think nothing of it, Chrissy. It’s what friends are for.” Rarity also finished with a wider smile than Chris’ as she went back under the covers, leaving Chris to his own devices. The stallion went and headed into the bathroom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When he entered he looked at himself in the mirror, he sighed once again and looked down at the sink below said mirror. When he looked back up again though he noticed something off about his face. Being that it wasn’t his face anymore, but Princess Luna’s. The stallion jumped slightly before the Luna in the mirror spoke, “My apologies for startling you, Chris.” The alicorn stated as she stepped out of the mirror and stood in front of the brown haired stallion. Chris could only watch with disbelief. “I have gone crazy, haven’t I?” Chris asked, to which the ethereal Moon Princess shook her head. “No, you are of mental soundness. This is just how me and big sister communicate with you when you’re not asleep.” She clarified with a slight nod. “By coming through a mirror, Grudge-style?” Chris thought into himself. “I beg your pardon?” Luna questioned as Chris’ eyes widened then closed upon a rather obvious realization. “Oh yeah...In my head and all that...” The stallion admitted awkwardly, “So...what did you want to talk about, Princess?” Chris inquired as Luna answered promptly. “Well I saw your conversation with Miss Rarity, and I thought I’d tell you-” Luna was cut off at this point by the clothed equine. “You can listen to my conversations?” He asked. “All the time. Now, I wanted to say that me and Celestia both approved of the realization you came to after said conversation. You realized that friendship is of vital importance, especially here. Sister and I have only seen mentions of your world, and at times it can be...Not too friendly, to be honest.” The Princess finished. “Yeah, I know.” Chris admitted. “And...thanks...I suppose I would have realized it sooner or later but...Thanks all the same.” He admitted with a grin. “My pleasure, Chris.” Luna smiled back as she went to hop back through the mirror. “Wait! Uh...could you see about maybe not listening in on every conversation or thought I have?...Kinda creepy...” The stallion asked sheepishly. “...Maybe.” Luna quickly answered as she hopped into the mirror and out of sight. Chris sighed and spoke to himself. “Well...great.” He said with sarcasm. Then he heard a small voice ring in his head. “Indeed.” “You’re learning from Celestia, aren’t you?” Chris asked. “Indeed.” The brony sighed, smirking a little and exiting the bathroom. He went to go and lie on the nearby couch; however, as he got closer he had noticed something; or rather somepony. Rarity had hopped out of her bed and went to sleep on the couch. Chris wondered what the reasoning behind this could be, then he remembered. “Generosity...Right.” He thought, almost expecting another ‘indeed’. The stallion smiled at the sleeping unicorn before heading to the previously occupied bed and gently laying himself in it. With a quick pull over of the covers and a resting of his head upon a pillow, Chris had drifted off to sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roughly eight hours later, Chris and everyone else started to wake up. The stallion sat up in his bed, yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes with a hoof. He looked in a slight slumber induced haze as his friends starting waking and exiting their respective adjacent rooms one by one. AJ sat up in her bed which was across from Chris’, rubbed her eyes in a similar fashion and opened her mouth, “‘Morning, y’a-” Applejack was starting to say before the door to the room swung open and in the doorway stood Cherry. “Morning, y'all! How’d we all sleep?” The seemingly excited mare asked as she was met with a series of grunts and meh’s. “Well hope y'all don’t stay that way for too long, after what happened last night, I’m thinking we got a busy day ahead of us all...” She stated as everypony accepted that truth as well, Chris included. “Well come on, I got y’all some breakfast waiting downstairs, I’ll give ya’s time to freshen up if ya need it.” She continued as she turned to walk back downstairs, before turning her head back to add something else, “Oh! And Chris, son, Marshall said he wants you helping investigate what happened last night. You’ll be helping him and Slim out until he says you’re ‘Okay’. Guess he wants to keep an eye on ya.” The wavy haired mare finished as she left for downstairs, everyone looking at Chris then the stallion sighing. “Well...Guess all I can do is appease him. I don’t think he’d listen to reason very well.” Chris stated as almost everypony nodded. Applejack kept her head motionless before speaking up. “Ah, you’ll be okay. Marshall may not like ya but Slim don’t mind ya, I think. Slim ain’t the type o’ pony to assume the worst, y’know.” The earth pony made a point of as she got out of bed. Everyone merely stared with confused expressions, Spike being the first to speak up. “And you know this, how?” The little dragon inquired, AJ suddenly looked a lot more nervous than she previously did, he lips almost scrunched up but she responded promptly. “Ah...well, Slim and me go way back...I been to Dodge a few times and me and ‘im are just...Uh...Old friends...” She stated with a rather loud and obvious gulp. Everyone continued staring, some with slight smirks, “...What?” AJ asked, beads of sweat dripping from her mane. “Nothing, nothing.” Chris stated as he looked at Rainbow Dash, both of them near in tears about not saying anything. The stallion cleared his throat and stated, “Well, uh...Breakfast then, eh?” As the stallion bolted down stairs just to have a little chuckle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After everything was said and done in the hotel, Chris split away from his friends and headed outside; the hot air of the town coming at him a large wave, enveloping him in the town’s atmosphere. He began heading towards the marshal's office, but fate had different plans it would seem. “Hey! Chris! Over here!” Shouted Slim as he waved to the passing brony. Chris made a turn towards the other stallion and headed in that direction. When he arrived the two exchanged in a hoof shake and then some words. “Hey, Slim. Any idea where Marshall is?” The brony inquired, wondering if he should even want or care about the answer. “Yeah, he’s at that there crater from last night. That thing is huge, buddy! I wish I coulda seen it when it were still fresh, Marshall had me going round telling ponies not to panic.” Slim answered with a sigh, “He sent me to find ya, come on.” Slim added as he led the way back to the crater. When the two arrived they saw Marshall down in said crater, examining the ground. The pony turned to see Chris and Slim had arrived. “Ah good, new boy you get down here.” Marshall almost ordered as Chris did just that, sliding down into the crevice. “Thanks for getting ‘em, Slim, now I want you to keep an eye on his friends.” Marshall directed with a raised eyebrow from Chris and Slim. “Aww Marshal-” Slim was cut off by Marshall, who didn’t even turn around to interrupt the stallion. “Slim I’m good ‘er, now get! I don’t want them left unattended...Besides, you’re sweet on one of ‘em, ain’t ya?” Marshall questioned. “Ay- I....Yes sir.” Slim replied with a sigh as he headed back to the hotel. Chris didn’t dare say a word, less he agitate the law figure more than he already had. Though he had to ask the obvious, since he was there to help in a sense. “Soo...Found anything?” Chris asked carefully. He got a response, but with no direct eye contact. “Nothing yet...Only thing in this crater is dirt. Don’t even look like somepony blew it up...Strange...” Marshall wondered as Chris wondered similarly. “What you mean?” Chris asked with great interest. “Well usually in a blast like dis, ya get somethin’ left behind. Like magical residue, or gunpowder or something that could cause a big boom...But this been picked clean...Only dirt and a few embers to go on...” The stallion continued as he gave his search a bit more effort. Chris also started looking around for anything to go on. “Did you ask anypony if they knew anything?” Chris inquired once again. “Nah not yet, I’ll get Slim on it later. I gotta keep looking, there’s gotta be somethin’ here...Like a clue...Actually just a clue would be great right about now.” The jacket wearing stallion replied to the brony. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After a while of searching and a fair bit of silence, Chris wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and sighed with discontent. Marshall heard his sigh and snorted almost with disgust, “Well, if we can’t find anything with our hooves we best get some equipment from the office. Let’s go! Outta the hole!” Marshall demanded yet again as Chris rolled his eyes and crawled out. However, as he did he noticed something. One of his hooves was deeper in the ground than the others. He would have let it pass right by him but he felt compelled to check, he lifted his hoof out of the ground and examined it. He looked on the flat of his hoof and saw the usual expected grains of sand, though on his blue skin he noticed something; a few small, black grains of a substance. “What you got there?” Marshall wondered as she saw Chris staring at his hoof, he walked closer and almost instantly his nostrils flared up, “Gunpowder...” He stated as he noticed the grains on Chris’ hooves. He immediately grabbed Chris by the collar again, “I knew it! Ya dang mania-” Marshall was cut off by Chris pulling himself away. “Before you jump to anything, look!” Chris stated as he pointed to where his hoof had been. In his hoofprint there were more and more grains of gunpowder mixed with the sand. The pair eyeballed the surrounding area and noticed there was an inconsistency with some of the land. It appeared that there was a line of raised dirt and sand, leading away from the crater. It was then that the brony and pony came to essentially the same conclusion. Just to be sure, Marshall checked under a part of this line of raised dirt, and sure enough, noticed more gunpowder. It was clear now, somepony had carelessly left gunpowder leading away from the crater, and was attempting to cover it up. Right then and there Chris and Marshall started following the line of raised earth. The line took them through the town center, through various alleys and finally to a door; the door to an old mining operations building. The sign on the building read, ‘Pickings Mining Limited.’ Marshall’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, “No...” He stated in disbelief. Chris was fairly sure him and Marshall had the same thought. The stallions tried opening the door but it was sadly locked. So instead the stuck each of their shoulders into it. The door flung open to reveal a most intriguing, all be it disturbing sight. “My dear, Celestia.....” Marshall stated as both his and Chris’ jaws hung open. The room they were in was a large open rectangle, and in the middle of said room was a fairly large pile of dynamite, some even under the floorboards. And on the wall, there was a crude drawing. A drawing of two large, red demonic eyes. And crude text underneath, saying one thing. “The red eyes tell me to do it.”