"Mr. Floydien!" Pilate panted as he and Ebon Mane galloped after the echoing noise. "You must calm down! Please!"
"Stabby stabby horses locked away Nancy Jane!" The voice cackled from far ahead. Simon's barks could be heard like a staccato beat between blasts of rumbling telekinesis. "Filled her full of spitful glimmer, they did!" The hallway shook, causing Pilate and Ebon to stumble in mid-sprint. "Little grace is there to give when so little has been asked for, yes yes?"
"No no!" Ebon grunted, then pivoted his head towards Pilate. "Can't you talk any sense into him?!"
"Alas, I've been trying to do that for days on end," Pilate grumbled. "I knew that all of his anger and... uhm... zaniness were building up to something." He winced as O.A.S.I.S. fluctuated from another wave of distorting mana "I suppose this is it."
"He's going to summon all of Blue Nova with this racket!" Ebon grumbled. "What I wouldn't give to stuff an apple in his mouth and call it a day!"
"Don't be so quick to dismiss him, Mr. Mane. He very well may be able to help us out of this place."
"How?! By tearing it to dust?!"
"Hey boysies!"" Props' voice dripped from the enchanted shard nestled within Pilate's choker. "If you're not too busy tearing stuff apart, you're getting a teensy-weensy bit close to the north edge of the building!"
"Would you mind explaining how you know this, Miss Props?"
"A sound stone is good for sounding off more than just sound... soundly!"
"Then that means we're nearding the edge of the floor," Pilate thought aloud.
Ebon stammered, "P-perhaps there's a fire escape that leads all the way down!"
"Mr. Floydien!" Pilate shouted above the noise as they rounded another corner. "We need to get out of this building and find a way to regroup with the others!"
"Our fallen pieces will be picked up just as soon as Floydien takes apart theirs!" the voice growled back. "Forthwith, bushy bushy! Turn their glimmer inside out and pull the trigger in them there!"
Simon squeaked in obedience. The air crackled with hot magic.
Gritting his teeth, Pilate shouted, "I know what's wrong with Nancy Jane!"
The crackling stopped. Floydien's body pivoted around, and a little rodent was perched on his cranium.
"Your beloved..." Pilate gulped and said, "I know what they did to her."
Ebon turned towards him. "You do?" The zebra stomped on his hoof. "Owch!"
"And I'll do whatever is in my power to help you get her back to normal if you just help us get out of here," Pilate said calmly as the dust settled. "We can't get anywhere closer to Nancy Jane by running around up in here, taking our wrath out on Nightshade's cronies. Even if we do strike a lot of them down, sooner than later they'll outnumber us. We'll be in even greater trouble with the Council of Ledo, for they have sent their enforcers after us as well."
"Hmmm... much stabbing to be had with the glimmer stealers."
"And you're not one to stab, are you, Mr. Floydien?"
Silence.
Ebon trembled, biting his lip as his head turned from the zebra to face Floydien.
At last, the figure said, "No, most certainly Floydien does not wish to have 'stabbing' on his head of stone."
"Good..." Pilate said, exhaling heavily. "Now, let us find a way out of this place before—"
"Left! Left! Zebra town!" Props' voice echoed. "That wall beside you is edge of the floor!"
"What spits the voice of horse horse?"
Ebon explained, "Props, downstairs, is telling us that we're right along the north side of the building."
"Sun brights!" Floydien victoriously exclaimed, then pivoted towards the wall in question. "Simon, the honor is bound to you to be done!"
Simon barked. Simon thrusted. Simon flickered.
The ponies nearly fell off their hooves as a veritable cannonblast exploded in between them. Pilate felt the warmth of sunlight gracing his striped features.
"Son of a baker's wife, that squirrel packs a whallop!" Ebon exclaimed. "Oh jeez... this is a long way up..."
Pilate shouted above the sound of whipping winds "My manasphere is going haywire! Can somepony please explain what's going on?"
"Bah! So much wind and blowingness!" Floydien grumbled. "It beckons for us to hop down, Simon, yes yes yes? Facilitate, glimmer bushy bushy, if Simon will!"
With a rodent squeal, something blocked off the air flow. Pilate sensed a slab of metal and reinforced steel floating horizontally before the huge gash in the building's wall.
"What in Spark's name...?" Pilate gasped.
"Hop to the hop! Hoppingly!" Floydien bounded forward.
"Ah jeez... Ah jeez..." Ebon gulped audibly before gripping Pilate by the shoulders. "You're gonna wanna hang on tight."
"Wait wait wait!" Pilate flenched, his teeth showing. "J-just what are we about to d-do?!"
"For once, just be really flippin' glad that you're blind."
That said, Ebon hoisted the two of them forward. Pilate let loose a brief shriek, then froze as his hooves landed on something, wobbled, then stood firmly. O.A.S.I.S. echoed the sensation of a crouched rodent on the edge of the slab, leaning his sparkling head forward. In swift order, the slab levitated away from the building, and descended with more or less grace through a nebulous maze of looming skyscrapers.
"Props!" Ebon shouted over the whipping winds. "You there?"
"Gosh, I hope so!"
"Then listen up! We got a little update for ya! Uhhhhh... though I'm n-not sure you're gonna believe it..."