//------------------------------//
// By Invitation Only 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	It was a deep bass tone, almost similar to a fog horn, that made Pilate sit up with a gasp.  On numb hooves, he trotted briskly across the tight space of the zeppelin's gondola.  He leaned up against the edge of the vessel's railing, piercing the high winds of night with his muzzle.  Once again, sounding out from the darkness, there was another heavy, blaring noise.  It was soon accompanied by other sounds, a smattering of various bedlam, including grinding gears, whirring pistons, and the muttering of multiple workers.

"A factory..."  Pilate gulped.  "Mr. Floydien?"  He turned, pivoting his head towards where he knew the one creature steering the vessel was situated.  "Mr. Floydien, I believe we're approaching a city!"

"A city it would be called if it ran less like the stabbiest of zoos," grunted his companion's voice in response.  "Here there is nothing but groaning and Blueing and Novaing.  That is a prison that only pretends to be a city."

"Blue Nova..."  Pilate murmured to himself.  He felt Simon scampering past him with a swish of his bushy tail, but that didn't stop the zebra from tilting his twitching ears towards the wind and listening for even more clamoring noises.  "Grinding gears.  Steam vents.  Laborers..."  The stallion gritted his teeth.  "By the Spark!  I know!  The city has a famous industrial sector along its northeast side!"  He blinked, then tilted his head towards his companion.  "But, Mr. Floydien, what would you want from the elevated factories of this maretropolis?"

"Stabby stabby horses think they can fill metal and fake bone with the glimmer after they have stolen it from membrane and real bone.  Cover it with spit, they will, if only to hide the facts that they hide the fillies and the beloveds from families."

"Hide the fillies and beloveds..."  Pilate's ears folded back.  "Could... could your Nancy Jane be here?"

"There is no where else for the stabby stabby to have taken her.  She awaits the glimmer from all sides, glimmer that is not hers nor should ever be."  Floydien paused, suppressing a growl.  When he spoke again, it was almost as if he was channeling a different, darker voice.  "What comes next will need more sparks than striped boomer or Simon can provide."

"Huh?  What are you talking about?"

"Nancy Jane cannot be saved so easily.  All the spit in the world cannot change this.  Floydien knows.  Floydien has always known."

"At least let me help you in some fashion!"  Pilate had to shout.  The noise of factory work was building up and up in the air around them.  He smelled pungent fumes of smoke.  Somehow, he didn't doubt that if he stretched a hoof out beyond the edge of the deck, he might touch the smokestacks as they passed by.  "The O.A.S.I.S. sphere could help us track Nancy Jane down!  Then, once we've got her, we'll search for Belle, right?"

"Striped boomer's glimmer sphere has served its purpose."  Floydien was strangely quiet, almost sullen.  "The spark is nearly drained from it.  Floydien does not think the ball will do what the ball will do for much longer."

"Then... uh... g-give it another charge!"  Pilate exclaimed, leaning forward.  Four sets of paws landed on his shoulder.  He ignored Simon's twitching figure and continued speaking.  "You can do that, right?  Give the sphere... uh... more glimmer?"

"It is too late for the spark to help us in the realm of the stabby stabby."

"Why do you say that?!"  Pilate frowned.  "What's changed, Mr. Floydien?  Why can't we grab Nancy Jane and go after my beloved—?"  He gasped upon feeling a very familiar sphere of metal thrusted into his forelimbs. "Ooof!"

"Because the horse horse is upon us, and ready to behead the unbeheaded, they are.  Floydien's fate was determined by utmost glimmer.  But striped boomer?  No no no.  Live another day, he should."

"I... I don't get it..."  Pilate quietly raised the sphere to the choker around his neck and attached it.  "What in spark's name are you talking about—?"  He gasped, for he could sense beyond the edge of the small, puttering zeppelin.  Three heavy bodies were flying up, up, up towards the craft, and they were full of bodies armed with rods of brimming energy: undoubtedly tasers.  "Well, that's rather unpleasant..."

"The paws of Simon are upon striped boomer, yes yes?"

Pilate suddenly winced, feeling a pulse of energy overcoming the sensory field of the O.A.S.I.S. sphere.  He realized that it was emanating from the rodent perched upon his shoulder.  "Uhh... yes?  Yes they are?"

"Allow him to be your guide.  Floydien goes after Nancy Jane, for Floydien can help striped boomer no further."

"Please.  I beg you.  Tell me what's happening!  Tell me what they want with—!"

Just then, a speaker crackled loudly.  Sound stones hummed to life, resonating with an angry stallion's voice as the three Ledomaritan vessels flew up and surrounded the tiny zeppelin.

"Halt!  Bring your engines to a stop!  You are trespassing on Nightshade Industries' property!  Explain yourselves!"

Simon barked with a shrill, mouse-like voice.

Meanwhile, Pilate stammered into the winds.  "Nightshade... Industries...?"

The smoke in the air had become positively smoldering.