Twilight really didn’t expect being a Pathfinder to have the amount of freedom that it does.
She always knew they were somewhat ‘above’ the all-too present restrictions and routines most other Enclave personnel had to live their lives by, but at this point she wishes there were specific tasks for her to do or something.
For the past few days, her pattern has been pretty set.
Comb through the information registry, hang out with acquaintances, write papers, repeat.
Sure, she always has the option of doing an Expedition, or joining another Pathfinders expedition, but she’s naturally a little apprehensive about leaving Charlie Compound after what happened with SPAV-3, at least for now.
It hasn’t been all bad, though. Her paper ‘To Kill a Dusk Sucker’ was a big hit. She’s also been able to give a nice amount of cash to Golden Harvest to help spruce up her quarters.
Twilight honestly has so many bits she doesn’t even know what to do with them. At first she wondered why the Pathfinder wage was so high, but then she realized she’s being paid by the Enclave and also buying stuff from the Enclave so she supposes it's more like a cycle or whatever.
One unexpected boon appears to be that using the magical interface of the Information Registry day-in and day-out has somewhat strengthened Twilight's magical ability. It’s not huge, but it’s still noticeable.
Twilight frowns as she looks through the Registry. She’s gotten quite proficient at maneuvering around it, but all this has done is let her see more negative things at a faster rate. There’s been a handful of Hovel attacks in the past week, more than half of which belonged to the Annui.
Severing her connection with the registry, Twilight groans. Simply surfing these files and incidents won’t do anything good in the long-run.
She reaches into her satchel, pulling out some sort of device. A communicator.
Maybe it's time for an actual expedition.
Flitter lays back on an extended chair, sunglasses on. Her front hooves are tucked behind her head, giving her a bit of an incline.
“Ahh… nothing like some good ol’ basking.”
Sitting a few feet away, Rare Find tilts slightly towards her. “You know the lighting here is artificial, right?”
“So what? Still relaxing.” she responds, flipping her turquoise mane.
Comet Tail just rests his forelegs on the edge of the balcony, watching ponies down below.
Twilight sits a bit away from the rest, looking slightly nervous. She’s about to speak up a few times, but relents every time.
Comet notices this after the third or fourth time, glancing over to the purple unicorn.
“Something on your mind?” He asks, curiously.
Twilight’s eyes widen a little, not expecting anypony to pick up what she was trying to do. The question makes Flitter and Rare Find turn towards her as well, also curious.
“U-uh… well… I know we’re just chilling right now, but I was wondering if you guys wanted to do an Expedition sometime?” Twilight asks.
Comet wastes no time getting into the details.
“Where? Why?”
Twilight recoils a little. This guy’s analyticism is giving her’s a run for its money.
“Somewhere in the Outskirts. There’s a few locations I want to check out, mainly regarding their Hovel presence.”
The three share an awkward glance.
“Uh… you sure about that, Twilight? Flitter asks.
“Yeah… uhm… wouldn’t you rather do something a bit less… risky right now?” Rare chips in.
Comet doesn’t say anything but he shares their expression of worry.
Twilight does her best to quell their fears. She waves a hoof dismissively.
“Come on guys, it’s been like, what? A week since the SPAV-3 thing! I’m good to go now.”
Truthfully, she’s just as worried as they are, maybe even more so. But she won’t get any better from just sitting around in the Compound all day.
Flitter shrugs. “If you’re really up to it, sure.”
Rare Find nods.
The three look towards Comet, who doesn’t look so convinced. But seeing that he’s outnumbered, he sighs.
“Alright. When do you want to go?” he asks towards Twilight.
“I was hoping later today, maybe?”
The other three look shocked. Flitter lifts her sunglasses with a bit of a laugh.
“And you guys call me impulsive.” She says, nudging Rare and Comet.
Twilight frowns. Should she have said a later date? Maybe she can—
“It’s a bit sudden, but sure. We’ll need to begin preparing now, though.” Comet says.
Twilight blinks a few times.
Okay then.
Twilight isn’t going to take any chances. She was woefully underprepared last time.
She dons a few pieces of weaved armor, a lighter version of the armor that combatives use. Hopefully this should help mitigate any possible injuries that could arise, or other more mundane things like falling a significant height.
She also packs a respectable sized first-aid kid. Bandages, cloth, antiseptic wipes, some painkillers, and last but not least a special medi-shot. That last item costed a small fortune, but it should be worth it if push comes to shove
As Twilight packs, her eyes drift over to her holster lying on her bed, with the Ritt still in it.
She picks it up, looking at it for a few moments. The goal of this is supposed to be about peace, but…
Just in case.
She equips the holster, sliding it underneath her jacket and weaved armor. Hopefully she doesn’t need to use it.
After traveling down to the Exchange wing, she looks around for the designated meeting spot with her squad. Unlike last time, no guard tries to accost her, noticing her attire.
She catches a glimpse of herself in a piece of reflective metal. She could probably be mistaken for a soldier like this.
A rather small and lightly armored one, but still a soldier nonetheless.
Looking around, she spots Flitter arriving in the wing as well. Her outfit is quite similar to Twilights, but even lighter. It almost looks casual.
“Hey Twilight!” She says, waving and walking towards the unicorn.
“Hey, Flitter. Do you know where the others are?”
Flitter puts a hoof to her chin.
“Hm… Don’t know about Rare, but Comet said he would be doing all the required paperwork and things before we could leave. Also known as the lame stuff.”
Right on cue, Comet arrives next. He’s a bit more armored than either Twilight or Flitter, but still not as much as an average combative.
“Sorry I was a bit late guys. Just had to finish doing the required documentation for our departion. Also known as the lame stuff.”
Twilight frowns.
“My bad. If I knew about that, I probably could have helped—”
“It's fine, it's fine. Consider this a freebie from me, next time it's your job, though.” He says with a laugh.
Twilight laughs too, but doesn’t know how serious he is about that last part.
“Do you know where Rare is?” Flitter asks.
“Apparently he came down with something. A little bit of me thought he was faking it for whatever reason, but when I went to see him, he was actually in the Medical wing. Might be something serious.”
“What? Aw. I hope he gets better.” Flitter says.
Twilight nods.
Comet doesn’t seem very worried though. “He’ll be fine. Enclave medical care is the best in the entire Underworld!” He says, reassuringly.
Twilight is about to ask something when she’s interrupted by a large amount of rhythmic footsteps. The others seem to notice as well.
Near the other side of the Exchange wings giant hall, a thick column of Enforcers walk towards one of the vehicle bays.
Flitter perks up, surprised. “Woah! Where are those guys going?”
It’s unusual to see such a large amount of them all on the move like that. Usually that size is only reserved for things like rallies or literal war.
“Apparently those guys are going to Kilo Compound. They’re really hemorrhaging ponypower against the Hivelings.” Comet says with a pause.
Twilight barely has time to ask any questions before Comet beats her to it again. “So, are you guys ready to leave?”
"Mhm." Twilight says.
Flitter nods in agreement.
“Alright. Let’s go.” the stallion unicorn says.
The trio head towards one of the exit points, one designed for a small group such as themselves.
After being identified and getting it confirmed that they are indeed the ponies they claim they are, they’re let in through a few segmented doors, like an airlock. There’s one more security checkpoint on the outside, before they’re finally released outside the Compound.
They all look generally a bit pleased by the change in scenery, but especially Flitter, the pegasus immediately flying into the air happily.
Comet chuckles. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t fly inside the Compound?”
Flitter sticks her tongue out. “It’s different out here, man! The outside air feels so much nicer… something only a pegasus would get.”
Comet raises an eyebrow. His horn begins to glow as Flitter’s wings begin to contort somewhat. She doesn’t feel any pain whatsoever, but she slowly begins to drift downwards even as she tries to stop herself.
“Hey! Comet! Quit it!” She says, trying to regain altitude, but continuing to float down until she lands back on the ground. She grumbles, looking unamused.
“What happened?” Twilight asks.
“This donkey just used his evil voodoo magic to control my wings against my will!” Flitter says, exaggerating her anger a little.
Twilight looks at Comet with a shocked but also confused expression.
He chuckles dismissively. “It’s just a little thing I learnt by combining an old skill with telekinesis.” he says.
“Elaborate?” Twilight says, intrigued but still confused.
“I used to be a chiropractor before I became a pathfinder. Turns out, many of the same principles there can be brought over to telekinesis… if you know them well enough.”
Twilight scratches her chin, confused.
But then her eyes suddenly widen.
She didn’t make her hoof do that.
“Oh the horror! Now the evil puppeteer has claimed another victim! Does his evil know no bounds!?” Flitter says, slapping at Comet’s shoulder a few times.
Twilight shudders a little. She gets they’re jokes, but still.
“That’s kind of creepy.”
Comet shrugs.
“Maybe. But I find it a great tool for practical jokes. Like can you imagine the classic hoof-cream prank but without needing a feather? You can just make ponies slap their own face while they sleep! It’s hilarious.” He says.
Twilight still feels a bit off, but ignores it for now.
Maybe she could even learn how to do it herself, later…
The trio travel through the outskirts for a bit. Flitter is able to scout ahead and spot open routes for them to take, while Comet and Twilight are able to combine their levitation to get rid of some pretty sizable obstructions here and there.
Although it does feel like Comet is the one doing most of the work.
After some continued walking, the group are in a sort of rocky crossroads, with multiple paths intersecting with various walls blocking vision and movement around.
Comet slightly turns to Twilight.
“Say… Twilight. Did you have any specific locations you had in mind?” he inquires.
Twilight thinks for a moment. Her plan was sort of just to walk around for a bit and see what they can find.
“Uh… I was hoping we could just explore for a bit?” She says, unsure.
Comet frowns.
“I’m not sure about wandering around without any destination as a goal. Moving about aimlessly this far from the Compound is just asking for problems. For all we know—”
They hear what sounds like footsteps nearby.
Flitter picks up on it first, flying up into the air to get a better view of anything or anyone nearby.
“Hm… I don’t see anyth— AH!”
She narrowly dodges in mid-air what looks like a hand-axe thrown at her. Comet’s eyes widen.
“FLITTER! GET DOWN HERE!” He yells, urgently. She immediately lands.
Comet creates a yellow dome of magic around the group, as they all look around frantically.
Eventually, the perpetrators show themselves.
A handful of Hovels, maybe numbering four or five. They’re armed with stone spears and axes. They slowly creep towards the dome like predators on the prowl.
Twilight is a bit shocked, but also sees her opportunity. She approaches the semi-transparent wall of the dome, one hoof out appealingly.
“Twilight, what are you doing?! Get away from the edge!” Comet yells.
She continues walking towards the Hovels, though.
“Peace! We come in peace! I need to see the Annui!” Twilight says, slow and steadily.
The Hovels look surprised and lower their guard a little bit.
Twilight beams. Is this actually working?
But then… they begin to… laugh?
Twilight squints as she looks closer at them.
They have distinct markings on their body, and much different clothes than the ones that the Annui warriors had in the SPAV-3 attack.
But her heart skips a beat when she looks at their faces, more specifically their mouths.
They have sharp teeth. Not like Jack's that were just a little pointed, these look like full blown fangs.
These aren’t Annui.
Immediately, the Hovels begin to slam and pound against the dome, making Comet visibly struggle.
Twilight scampers back, surprised. She fumbles for her Ritt.
“Can't… hold it for much… longer!” Comet yells.
Flitter pulls out some sharp objects out of her bag, tightening them onto her hooves. They look like claws.
She nods at Comet, who nods back. Twilight just stays near the two of them.
“NOW!” he yells.
He pushes out the dome with all the strength he can manage, sending the hovels tumbling back.
The first one to recover their footing charges at Twilight, but they’re tackled by Flitter. Leading with her clawed gauntlets, the Hovel is gouged like he got shot with a pony-sized arrow.
Twilight’s surprised at the damage she inflicts with her small frame.
She doesn’t have much time to be shocked, though. Another Hovel comes charging at her again.
She points the Ritt at them, trying to make the Hovel back off, but they don't. She flinches somewhat as she fires into them, leaving a nasty wound in their torso and sending them to the ground.
Two charge at Comet at once from different sides. Twilight quickly attempts to reload the Ritt, but she can't in time.
Comet steps back a little, letting the two smack into each other, but they’re already upon him again.
He uses a blast of telekinesis to send one sprawling away, while the other keeps charging at him. His eyes focus as he glares on the remaining one.
The hovel's face of maniacal cheer quickly becomes one of contorted pain. One of his legs suddenly snaps back at an unnatural angle with a loud crunch, definitely broken. Comet runs up and knees him in the face, breaking something there as well.
The other Hovel appears undaunted from what happened, or at least unaware. He charges straight at Comet as well. However, he steps near the body of his fallen comrade.
The fallen hovel’s leg shoots out towards his still-standing compatriot, spear in hoof. The charging hovel gets stabbed through the side and screams in pain. Comet forces the Hovels mouth to close so hard that his sharp teeth stab into his own face.
Twilight looks completely shocked at what she just witnessed in the span of a few seconds.
Don’t mess with chiropractors, apparently.
Flitter flies back around, looking around rapidly for any other hostiles. She doesn't manage to spot a Bola net thrown straight at her. She’s wacked multiple times by the stones impacting against her body, while one of her wings gets caught up and she quickly falls, screaming.
Comet barely stops her fall with levitation, but a Hovel comes from behind and wacks him over the head with a club. Twilight isn’t able to reach him in time as the Hovel lifts his weapon for another strike…
THWACK.
Flitter looks back at Comet with surprise. She heard a noise, but he wasn't the one hit.
The hovel looks completely shocked. He holds his throat with one hoof. All he can do is gurgle incoherently as he slumps dead on the ground.
Flitter quickly frees herself, and she and Twilight run over to Comet’s side. He’s dazed, but it’s nothing serious.
They look over at the Hovel’s corpse barely a foot away.
There’s an arrow through his neck.
It barely takes a few seconds for another wave of Hovels to appear, surrounding the area. There looks to be nearly a dozen of them.
“Oh come on!” Flitter says.
Twilight recognizes these Hovels as being the Annui. She immediately can tell one of them was also at the SPAV-3 attack, that giant red guy.
Twilight quickly throws her hooves up.
“We surrender! We come in peace! We want to see Jack! I know you can speak, so please do!” She yells.
Comet and Flitter look completely shocked and confused at what Twilight just said.
“What?! Who is Jack?!” Comet says, a tinge of anger in his voice.
The Annui look equally confused. The red one steps up though. He points at Twilight.
“She. Purple’ Unicorn. That’s who Jack talked' about.” He says.
Twilight feels a little relieved. Jack told them about her. They should be fine.
Her relief quickly disappears when the red pony immediately begins to charge at her with a fury in his eyes. Twilight scampers back as Comet immediately seizes him with his magic.
The red stallion is taken aback, feeling one of his limbs beginning to contort against his will. His glare sharpens though, and he keeps moving towards Comet like he’s in a wind chamber.
Comet’s eyes widen with fear and surprise.
The red pony punches him across the face, knocking him out cold in a single strike. Flitter and Twilight look with terror as the other Hovels begin to move in on them.
Flitter looks like she’s about to go full kamikaze on them all, but Twilight manages to hold her back.
The red pony yanks Twilight away, with a face of fury. Twilight expects the worst, but she instead has a bag thrown over her head, and is grabbed into the air, over the shoulder of the red pony.
He takes a deep breath of restraint.
“Grab both of em’ and load em’ up.” he orders to a few other Hovels, gesturing at Comet and Flitter.
Flitter has the wherewithal to surrender, being bagged similarly to Twilight. Comet’s unconscious body is simply picked up as well.
The three of them are thrown into a cart-like cage, and are wheeled away, with the red pony himself pulling it away.
The normally bubbly Flitter looks at Twilight with a dark face of pure anger and shock.
“Twilight... what did you do?" She asks.
It’s almost poetic. Now Twilight is the POW being transported.
She’d probably not feel as bad pondering about it if she didn’t have a pissed off Flitter and a knocked out Comet next to her as well.
Twilight wants to explain to Flitter what she was thinking, but decides maybe it isn’t a good idea within earshot of all the other Hovels.
The red guy in particular didn’t look very happy when he saw Twilight.
The group are transported through crevices and cracks of the Outskirts that Twilight never even knew existed. It’s like an entire secret part of the Pocket.
Eventually, they reach something that could only be described like a wooden fort.
Shoddily made wooden and scrap structures work together alongside the natural terrain to create something which can only barely be described as ‘livable’. The whole thing looks like the slightest force would bring it all down, but it appears its inhabitants are careful enough, somehow.
The three are thrown out of the cart and carried towards a deeper part of the whole construct. Various hovels aside from the group taking them in appear to follow or jeer at them, some even getting dangerously close.
At one point, the red pony even has to toss somepony out of their way for being too aggressive, ironic when looking at the out-cold Comet.
Eventually, the following Hovels are shaved off, and the group thins as they get further in as well, until they’re only a handful along with the red pony, and the trio themselves.
They enter some sort of deeper chamber, one that appears to actually be structurally sound. Twilight can see some sort of robed figure sitting at the end. Twilight can only assume this has to be the tribe's elder or something of the like.
Her and Flitter are thrown down and forced onto their knees, facing the figure. Comet’s body just slumps down next to them.
“Ah… you found em’. I assume” She says, in a light and raspy voice.
At closer glance, elder might have been understating it. This pony looks older than everypony in the room combined!
She approaches the actually conscious duo. Her skin is a light green, thin as can be. A long and white mane is visible under a hood, but most notably is her eyes.
They’re completely glazed over. She’s blind.
“Yes gran’. That purple’ one is the pony Jack talked’ about.”
Twilight sits up, at least as much as she can without looking like she’s trying to make a move.
“What did Jack say about me? I need—”
“Quiet!” The old pony snaps. Twilight does so, not wanting to aggravate anypony here.
She licks her lips, coughing a little.
“I don’t know’ how you know about Jack, but I’ll entertain you. We found her barely alive in the outskirts, with a broken leg and a sky-high sickness, ramblin’ about nothing except a purple unicorn and some sort of ‘fighting shot’. Got any clue?” She says.
Twilight freezes. Did Jack have some sort of bad reaction to the combat shot she injected into her? She didn’t even think that was a possibility.
“There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding. I didn’t—”
“Misunderstanding? How about you see her for yourself, eh?”
She gestures to the red pony, who goes over to another side of the chamber. He pulls back a stitched sheet, and sure enough, Jack lies on an impromptu bed of furs and grass. She looks terrible. Her eyes are barely open, she’s twitching a little bit, and also making occasional gasps.
Twilight looks shocked. Flitter looks surprised as well, but doesn’t know who this pony is whatsoever.
The old pony continues. “Yes, yes… we tried everythin’ we could. The best practices we got’ available… bloodletting… leeching… mudskinning… none worked.”
Twilight’s mouth is agape. “Of course none of them worked! You’re making it worse!” She yells.
The old pony snaps at her.
“Makin’ it worse? You’re why she’s like that in the first place!” She yells, hoofing at Jack's direction. The red pony covers the mare once more.
The old pony is about to say something, when Comet suddenly comes to. He groans, slowly awakening.
Some of the hovels get to attention, weapons ready, but the old pony simply waves them down.
Comet’s eyes widen seeing the scene around him. He immediately attempts to do his magic on the red pony again.
But… nothing happens.
His eyes widen further as he notices. “What’s happening… what did you do to me?!” He yells.
The old pony smirks.
“Nothing… permanent, at least. As-long as I will it, you won’t be doing any unicorn magic around here.”
Twilight briefly saw this sort of thing in the information registry. Something about Hovel ‘mystics’ and unnatural powers. Can this pony really disable magic?
Either way, it definitely seems to be working on Comet. He futilely tries to cast something, anything, but not even a single spark from his horn comes out. He slumps down, defeated
“Back on topic… the Enclave kidnapping my Jack is why this happened in the first place… so I might as well return the favor.”
“I don't understand! What are you gaining out of this?!” Twilight says.
The old pony feigns shock.
“Gaining? Nothing. Think of it more like… insurance?”
She coughs.
“As much as I hate to admit, the only place I can see gettin’ a cure for her is the Enclave. But why would I trust any of you dogs? They would be amazing fools to try and play me if I have you all in my hold, though… and if they still do, then that’ll be four Enclaves for the price of one Annui.”
Twilight is about to speak up, when Flitter cuts her off.
“Four? You said four?” She says.
The old pony gestures again. After about a minute, another pony is thrown into the room. Twilight recognizes him immediately.
It’s the CO from the SPAV-3 attack. What was his name again? Major Pane?
He appears to be alive, but he looks like he’s been ran over by a cart multiple times. He’s almost entirely covered with bruises and gashes, and part of his face is swollen. He’s also missing a significant chunk of one of his legs. He’s completely out of it.
“What the heck did you do to him?!” Comet yells. He has no idea who the pony is, but recognizes him as a Enclave officer.
“We beat him with various blunt objects and then pushed him down a flight of stairs a few times.” The old pony says, nonchalantly.
“Wait, you guys have stairs?” Flitter asks.
The old pony looks at her like she’s crazy. “Of course we have stairs! They’re an amazin’ invention, really. You push a pony down the top, and they’ll tumble’ all the way to the bottom and get super beaten’ up. That’s about as close to automation as we’ll get. Let gravity do the work for us, ya know?” She says.
“Do you guys like… have other floors to this place?” Flitter asks.
“What’s a ‘floor’.”
“Nevermind.”
“Okay. So. You’re just going to keep us hostage until… Jack gets better?” Twilight asks, trying to get back to something relevant.
“Yes.”
“And what if Jack dies?”
“Then you die.”
Twilight nods a little, trying to not scream out of frustration.
She suddenly remembers one of the things she brought in her first aid kit. The medi-shot!
Twilight reaches into her bag. “Look, I have this device which I think can cure her, but—”
The red pony yanks her satchel away, tearing it off its handle. Twilight looks with shock.
“Do you think I’m stupid, girl? As if I would allow you to inject her with ANOTHER one of your poison sticks!” The old pony barks.
She steps away from her seat.
“You’re lucky that I’m even being lenient enough to let you remain alive… my forefathers would have cut you down before you even would have had time to know what happened to you. That’s all you dirty Enclave dogs deserve. A slow death wouldn’t even be good, as it would make us have to waste more time not cleaning you filth from this underworld. You—”
“Er. Granny. You’re facing a wall.” The red pony says.
Granny blankly stares towards one of the stone walls.
“Oh.”
She turns to the trio. “You’re luck—”
“Okay we got it. Can you just send us to your prison or something already?” Flitter asks.
Granny scoffs. “Tch! So impatient, you youngsters. Yes. Throw them into the hold.” She says.
Flitter and Twilight are grabbed by the red pony and slung over his back, while some others grab Comet and the unconscious Major Pane.
The four of them are tossed into some sort of gigantic cell made of vines and logs. They land with a splatter of mud and small rocks.
Immediately, Flitter and Comet turn to Twilight, glaring at the unicorn.
“Okay so maybe I wasn’t being entirely honest with you guys about what happened.” Twilight says, nervously.
“You think?” Flitter says.
Twilight explains the run-down of events. The full wreck, the fights with Jack, her saving her from falling, the talks they had, Jack saving her from the Dusk Sucker, everything.
They seem skeptical, especially at the idea of a Hovel being able to act anything like Jack was at the wreck, even more so considering how they’ve just been captured and tossed around silly by the same group of Hovels.
Notably, though, they’re also upset at Twilight in particular for not only holding out the truth on them, but lying to them and getting them into this situation. If not for the literal cage surrounding them, they probably would've ditched her already.
The most they can settle for is sitting in a different corner and turning away.
Twilight feels bad for a little while, but her expression hardens.
“Come on guys. Are we really just going to rot away here because you’re mad at me?” She asks.
“Perhaps.” Flitter says.
Twilight face-hooves.
“How was I supposed to know how you guys would react if I told you the truth?! I didn’t—”
“Maybe we could have helped you. But no. You decided to get us wrapped into this with us being none the wiser. Thanks.” Comet says.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? But can we at least save the moping until AFTER we manage to get out of here?” Twilight asks.
“And how do you suppose we do that?” Comet asks, still not looking her way.
“I have a plan. I brought with me a medi-shot. If we can deliver it to Jack—”
“Amazing plan. Heal her up. What’s she gonna do next? Beat us up as well?” Comet asks, pretty bruised up.
Twilight frowns. “You heard the old pony. If she’s healed, then we can leave.”
“And you trust her?” Flitter asks, in disbelief.
“Do we have a choice? If she wanted to, she’d have killed us already.” Twilight retorts.
Comet sighs.
“You know, I still don’t like how you got us into this mess. At least if we fail, we probably won’t have to deal with being here forever on account of being killed. What’s your plan?” He asks, reluctantly.
Flitter looks shocked, but turns over as well.
Twilight crouches a little.
“Okay. So…”
Twilight, Flitter, and Comet lay on the floor, unmoving.
Suddenly, Major Pane springs to life. He begins to bang on the logs of the prison, loudly. Some hovels show up to investigate the ruckus.
“Quit it!” One shouts.
The other hovel pokes at his fellow. “Hey look. The dog doesn’t wanna be in the cage! Bwahaha!”
The other hovel is about to laugh, when they hear a crack. The major is literally breaking through the cage with his bare hooves. The two hovels feel a shiver down their spine.
How strong is this guy?!
Before long, the major breaks through the logs, and begins to wildly stumble and strike around. The hovels attempt to subdue him, but they feel like they’re trying to wrestle a rabid animal. He throws them around with nothing but his movements.
He shambles off, literally charging through one of the wooden walls. The two shocked Hovels chase after him, with more Hovels in the distance noticing the escape as well.
Flitter slowly opens one eye, seeing the coast is clear. After nudging the others, they get up as well.
“How long will that spell last?” Twilight asks Comet, horn glowing from controlling the major.
“A few minutes. Let’s just hope they don’t kill him.”
The three try to navigate their way through the fort without being spotted. They come across an impassable room with two Hovels standing around.
Flitter has an idea.
“Do you ever wonder why we never use guns?” One hovel asks.
“Guns are for losers, man. Besides, where would we even get the shooty powder from?” Another hovel responds.
“Good point.” The first hovel says, sipping from a small cup of water.
He spits out the water when he sees the trio casually enter the room. Their clothes are all torn up, and they’re covered in mud.
"How do you do, fellow... ponies?" Flitter asks.
“The dogs are escaping!” He yells.
“Dammit! I thought this always worked!” Flitter groans.
Both Hovels are telekinetically thrown together by Comet, falling to the ground dazed. The trio quickly run over them.
Flitter briefly stops to kick the head of the Hovel who spotted them out of revenge.
“This way! I remember the path!” Comet says, running through some more passages. They come across a dead end.
“Or not.”
Twilight groans.
“What are we even doing? This entire place is made of wood!” She says.
She blasts a hole in one of the nearby walls, large enough for them to access.
Unfortunately, they must've blasted into Hovel-Con or something because the adjacent room had somewhere around ten of them, now all looking at them.
“Crap.”
They take off running as they’re pursued by the mob behind.
A couple block their passage in a hallway in front of them. Twilight pulls on the ceiling with her magic hard, causing a cave-in to block the Hovels' access to them.
Comet does the same behind them, giving them some breathing room. After a brief pause, they continue blasting through various rooms, having to beat up the occasional hovel. Eventually, they find the hallway leading to Jack’s chamber.
As they run for it, the red pony comes out from ahead of them, blocking their path. He almost takes up the entire hallway.
Comet and Twilight immediately think about blasting a hole in the side of the walls, but these walls are stone. No do.
The red pony charges at them like a bull.
Comet glances at Twilight. “Get the medi-shot to her. You’re right there.” Twilight nods cautiously.
He gestures to Flitter. “Come on. Let’s do a little cow tipping.” he says, gesturing at the furious charging giant.
Flitter feels a bit afraid, but she isn’t gonna let herself be out-done by Comet of all ponies. Comet flings himself straight into the red ponies path, taking him off-guard, beginning to pummel his face. He grabs onto Comet with one of his giant hooves, but Flitter latches onto his shoulder and begins to claw at him like a cat, causing him to yell and fall backwards with both ponies still attacking him.
The path opens up just enough for Twilight to squeeze through, bursting into the chamber.
Between her and Jack’s bed, is nothing except the elderly pony. She has a small knife, holding it with an uncanny stillness against the unicorn.
Twilight tries to levitate her away or something, but she forgets the pony can disable her magical ability.
She face-hooves.
“Come on. I don’t want to beat up an old lady.” She says.
Granny yells as she charges at her. At a snail's pace.
Twilight calmly grabs the knife away, picks up the old pony, and sets her on her side a few meters away.
“Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” She cries.
Twilight rolls her eyes, and runs for Jack. She rips off the blanket, and immediately injects the mare with the medi-shot.
Applejack’s foggy eyes immediately come back into focus, widening slightly. She sits up with a gasp. Within seconds her face is beginning to clear up, her gasping having stopped entirely.
She looks with complete shock at Twilight right in front of her face.
“Eh?! What are you doin’ here?!” She says. Granny looks at her with bewilderment
Before Twilight can say anything, Flitter and Comet are literally thrown through the wooden doors to the room. They sprawl on the floor, both beaten but still alive.
The red pony bursts in after them, covered in small bruises and scratches, and furious. Dozens more hovels erupt into the room as well, having found the end destination. Jack quickly pieces together what's happening.
They’re about to descend on the trio, when a voice pierces the room.
“STOP!”
Jack yells, nearly jumping out of bed, dwarfing the smaller Twilight by a fair amount.
Everyone in the room freezes, especially the red pony who looks at Jack like he saw a ghost.
“Wh-wha? How?!” The Granny says, scrambling to her feet.
“I told you I could heal her!” Twilight says, annoyed.
Jack looks confused. “Heal me? What exactly happened?!” she yells.
“We found you in the outskirts… you were sick and babblin’ about this purple unicorn and how she injected you with something. We only could assume that the—”
Jack cuts her off.
“This purple unicorn injected me with some combat drug or something that let us fight off a monster that was trying to kill us! I got sick because I accidentally ate some poison berries!”
Granny face-hooves.
“We got kidnapped. We were gonna be used as hostage chips to secure a cure for you.” Twilight says.
Jack looks at Granny with a fury. Granny just gives a nervous chuckle back.
“Really?”
“We couldn’t think of any other way!” Granny retorts.
“You guys rescue me and the first thing you wanna do is kidnap some Enclave ponies? What was the plan if they came lookin’ for them? Get nearly wiped out again???” Jack yells.
Granny is silent.
“Let these ponies go.” She says, approaching Granny. Granny looks shocked. Wanting to avoid encounters with Enclave ponies is one thing, but this is like… something more.
Twilight tries to chip in. “We didn’t want any of this. I came looking for peace! We—”
The parade is quickly rained on by the arrival of the Major. The LUCID Major. He looks like a used piñata from the sheer amount of beating he’s taken, but he’s somehow conscious and found his way over here.
“YOU! IT WAS YOU! YU’RE THE RESON THE AMBUSH HAPPEN!” He slurs, holding a shaky hoof to Twilight.
Everyone glances over, confused.
“I NEW YOU WER BAD NEWS! THEY KNEW WHERE WE WE BECUSE OF YOU!” He slurs again, cackling slightly.
He notices the three standing with Hovels and not immediately killing each other.
“wHAT’S THIS? COOPING WITH THE HOVEL MENACE? TTHAT IS TRESON! YOU’LL ALL BE EXECUTED! DO YOU HEAR—”
Jack rapidly closes the gap with the major, striking him in the face with a powerful punch, and an audible crunch. He’s out cold.
“Hopefully that knocked that dumbasses' memories out of his brain.” She says, shaking her hoof a little.
Nobody attempts to contest Jack’s order of letting the group leave after that display. Even the trio feel afraid, and she’s technically on their side.
Granny grumbles.
“Let the Enclave ponies leave.” She orders.
The group is safely accosted out of the fort by Jack. As she’s about to shoo them off, Twilight quickly runs up to her.
“Wait. We’re going to leave right now, but... just... take this. Please." Twilight pulls out some small object.
Jack hesitantly takes it from her, pocketing it.
"If you hear this thing make noise, find somewhere private and press the green circle thing."
"Oh... kay?" Jack says, not really sure what to say.
Afterwards, she proceeds to shove the three far and out away of the passages, back on the main trail towards the Compound.
Flitter and Comet look at Twilight with confusion.
"What did you give her?" Flitter asks.
"Just a gift."
After getting their story straight, the three agree to not get into some of the more… specific details of what happened.
Comet and Flitter are a bit salty at it all, but can’t help but respect Twilight for managing to get them out of that situation, and are most of all surprised at seeing and experiencing possibly the first instance of peace with Hovels. Assuming you only looked at the ending of the whole mess.
They promise to keep everything related to Jack a secret to the best of their ability.
After arriving back at the compound with the presumed dead Major Pane, the three were given a commendation, especially Twilight for surviving ANOTHER encounter with Hovels.
Upon awakening, the Major said he couldn’t remember anything from the past few days. He reasons he must've fallen off a cliff or something similar.
Twilight tries to hold back a chuckle.
Twilight relaxes in her quarters. She’s aching both mentally and physically from the day's events. But she got what she wanted.
The Annui seemed much more… placable than what the reports would suggest. A bit ironic considering they all got the snot beaten out of them, but they weren't the bloodthirsty savages that the Registry claimed they were.
As Twilight ponders, there’s a knock on her door. She looks out the peep-hole and her heart nearly drops. She immediately swings the door open.
“Commander Raven! What brings.. you here?” She says, stepping aside for the Commander.
Raven quickly enters the room, a neutral expression on her face.
“I’m not gonna mince words. I have a proposition for you, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight holds her breath.
“I’m assembling a special team, meant specifically for counter-Hovel actions. I’ve noticed an up-tick in Hovel activity, and decided that enough is enough. It’s about time we take the problem to its roots. And based on your track record, you seem perfect for this.”
She continues. “A rookie Pathfinder not only surviving but THRIVING against two Hovel incidents? You’re a prodigy. We could really use someone like you with us. What do you say?”
Twilight doesn’t know whether or not this is a good thing.
What if Raven figured out what happened, and is messing with her?
Or testing her?
Even not, this seems counterproductive for what she’s trying to do… Jack probably won't take it well seeing her mowing down Annui like they're pests.
She bites the bullet.
“Sorry but… I can’t. I’ve already made too many dedications to my squad to just leave them like that. I’m sure you could fill me in with like… an Enforcer or something?” Twilight asks, uneasy.
Raven gives her a disapproving look.
“Are you sure?” She asks.
Twilight just nods slowly.
Raven simply turns away, walking out of the still open door.
“If you ever change your mind, please come see me.” She says, tactfully. She closes it behind her with telekinesis.
Twilight takes a deep exhale of relief.
She hopes Raven doesn't take it too badly.
Raven hits a button in the wall, activating a complete lock-down of her private quarters. The windows and doors are covered with solid metal shutters.
She retreats into a further private room, some sort of secret compartment.
Taking a seat, she looks at the large screen in front of her.
There's a camera feed, displaying what appears to be some Hovels fighting with some Enclave personnel. Twilight's squad.
But the footage is being recorded from the Hovel's perspectives.
She squints her eyes. Twilight's story was that they simply 'found' Major Pane somewhere in the outskirts. She didn't believe it one bit, but now she knows for sure.
Raven pulls out some kind of transponder. One far too advanced for even the Enclave to have produced.
Pressing a button, a magical vertical interface appears above, with nothing on it besides a single simplistic eye shape.
"VERIFY IDENTITY."
Raven appears to grab something on her face. There's some hissing and clicks. She lifts the device to one of her eyes, her horn glowing at the same time.
"[MOONLIGHT RAVEN] VERIFIED."
The eye is replaced with a view into some barely visible room and figure. Raven lowers it back to her face at a distance.
"Ah. Moonlight. Back so soon?" A modulated voice says from the darkness.
"I need another shipment of Neurals. Now."
Before the voice can respond, she quickly closes the device, the interface disappearing.
Raven grabs her face again, the hissing and clicking resuming. Afterwards, she leans back in her seat, clasping her hooves lightly.
It appears Twilight Sparkle is forcing her hand.