Two canine eyes peered out from the thick bushes across the narrow street. Foliage rimmed my vision as well, and the two of us exchanged nervous looks before scanning up and down the road once more. I still wasn't sure how we'd made it this far with my leg, but the hospital, and hopefully Nurse Redheart as well, were several blocks and random turns behind us.
"How long we hide for?" Spot called out, poking his head out the top of the bush like a groundhog out of its hole. Wincing, he pulled a leaf out of his ear.
"Get down! You're going to get us caught." It was difficult making my voice barely loud enough for him to hear but not loud enough for it to carry far.
"But she not leave hospital."
"Come again?" I deadpanned as I poked my face out the front of the bushes.
"She stay at hospital. She look angry though." Spot shrugged. More accurately, the bush wobbled and I assumed it was from his shrugging.
I flopped out of the bush and onto the road, taking great care not to fall on my injury. Too exhausted to stand, I opted to lay on the packed soil and catch my breath. While the road was merely a wide, dirt path, it was still smooth and nothing poked at my back. With a hoof on my face, I asked, "And why didn't you bring this up earlier?"
"Thought you hurry to get ice cream." He stepped out onto the road and shook to dislodge the leaves clinging to his fur. He paused, musing while a small cloud of dust settled around him. "Still not sure what ice cream is."
Dave chuckled as he sat next to me. "This is just priceless. She probably doesn't have any authority outside of that place, you know. You ran all this way for nothing. Well, I wouldn't have called that running."
Feeling half-frustrated and half-exhausted, I continued to rest on the road until Spot padded over and prodded me in the ribs, accidentally putting far more force into it than necessary. "Beta okay?"
His poke hit a sweet spot, and I jumped and scrambled to my hooves, my eyes wide with surprise at the surge that ran through my nerves. I barely calmed myself before resignedly suggesting, "Let's just go get that ice cream." There was another bruise to feel in the morning. I’d never expected Spot to be that strong.
Early afternoon Ponyville was delightful to aimlessly stroll through. The sun pleasantly shone down, casting distinct silhouettes that danced with each gust. The weather was mildly windy yet still slightly warmer than what I would consider brisk—there were significant advantages to weather control. I yearned to speed down the road in my cart, but the walk was a pleasant substitute, and I reasoned I'd have to get used to being on my hooves more often with my vehicle out of commission. Idly, I wondered if the accelerator had survived the crash and asked Spot if he'd heard of its whereabouts.
"Scratch have, I think. Say she keep safe." Him using a pony's name was more impressive than Vinyl keeping my stuff company. Spot quickly glanced around the quiet park we'd found ourselves in and asked, "Where ice cream at anyway?"
"No idea." It was like half of Ponyville was just parks.
"Could ask other ponies." He looked around again, confused. "Not see any though. Where ponies at?"
"Probably at work. Hold up." My head snapped towards a flicker of movement in my peripheral. There was only one object in that direction, a tree with leafy boughs, and I internally argued over how concerned I should be. A small breeze rolled through the area as it had for most of the day, and the rustling leaves obscured any noise something following me could be making.
"I know you're there. Come on out." My muscles tensed as I hunkered down to face my stalker.
"Nothing there, beta." He scampered over to the trunk and looked upwards. "I see nothing."
"Are you seeing things other than me again?"
Remaining resolute, I snorted. "Wouldn't be the first time my eyes played tricks on me, but I'm not about to turn my back until I'm certain it really is nothing. Do you think you could climb the tree?"
Spot nervously looked upwards and then back to me, gulping. "Y-you mean up there?"
"No, climb down the tree. Of course I mean up there. Are you afraid of heights or something?"
"Heights fine. Not like trees." He backed away from the apparently terrifying oak and hid behind me.
I facehoofed and groaned. "Why would you be afraid of a tree?"
"Trees unfriendly. Always sticking nasty roots in home."
While Dave was incapacitated with laughter, I resisted the urge to join him and instead opted to give Spot a sympathetic smile and nod. "Alright, we'll keep going then. Just keep an eye on it." It was probably just the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I was surprised I’d made it that long without running into them or them into me.
Spot made the gesture for letting the tree know he was keeping his eyes on it, and he walked backwards after me, his brow furrowed in concentration until he tripped over his own feet. He was making it very difficult not to giggle at his expense.
To distract myself, I asked, "Did Vinyl mention where we could find her?"
He casually dusted himself off as he resumed walking. This time, he intelligently chose to look forwards, albeit with the addition of an apologetic grimace. "No. Sorry. She say she visit you again, right?"
"Oh, right. Well, won't that be a surprise if she checks at the hospital?" Spot chuckled with me.
Soon, we wandered into a small neighborhood and, ahead of us, a dingy building I recognized came into view. "There's Metalhead's place, so I think I know where we are now. Let's see if we can find somepony to give us directions to an ice cream place."
The Scrap Shack's door sounded the same as it did before, and I called out for Metalhead when he didn’t appear behind me. A few minutes passed, and I tried again but continued to receive no answer.
"Beta, is this metal pony?" Spot tore a flyer off a fencepost and handed it to me.
My mouth dropped open in shock as I read the missing pony flyer for the rust-colored unicorn who owned the building behind me. "Last seen two days ago," I mumbled as I gave the area a quick once-over. "Spot, is that flyer over there also for him?"
"No. Says Berry Icicle. Who she?" He asked as he held up the second flyer so I could compare.
I frowned and shook my head at the smiling picture of a fuchsia earth pony with a creamy silver mane. "Never heard of her, but it says she was last seen two days ago as well." It actually said 'two days ago.' Did they have somepony whose job is replacing the flyers every day?
"Same thing happen to both?"
"Probably. I'm sure these weren't up yesterday. Vinyl said a few ponies had gone missing, but I didn’t expect him to be one of them." The flyers had to have some extra information. The short descriptions of the appearances did little more than inform me of their size and coloration, but there was a detailed drawing of their cutie marks at the bottom of each. Metalhead's ingot looked like what I remembered, and Berry Icicle's trio of carrots wouldn’t be hard to remember.
"Oooooh, the plot thickens." Dave cackled. "Ask Spot if any of the diamond dogs are Great Danes or whatever the appropriate pun is. That way we can get to the bottom of this mystery that much faster. Sucks Metalhead is gone—I liked him."
I wasn't sure how long I spent examining the papers, silently fuming at Dave, but Spot pulled my attention away with a sharp cough. "What we do now?"
"Sorry about that. Unfortunately, I think we'll have to reschedule the ice cream. I shouldn’t even have suggested it yet. Ponies are missing, we need to get busy sooner. We don't know what it is or how to fight it, but that's why I'm headed to the library. If we throw enough of a variety at it, something's bound to hurt it."
"Those unicorn guards got rid of it, so something with magic does the trick. Maybe you could tinker with some thaumite to make a new pattern." Dave looked at the posters over my shoulder. “Purple ‘n Nerdy mentioned something about your other pattern being a 3D model of an already existing spell.”
"Spot, I need you to hurry back home and have them increase night patrols. We need to get that escape tunnel done as well, but we're going to have to move a lot faster on it. Let's shrink the size of the tunnels a bit, so maybe just wide enough for three ponies or two diamond dogs to walk comfortably. And nodog goes anywhere alone. Got it?" At least it wouldn't be as hard to keep these guys safe, since they didn't think I was just crazy. Well, maybe they did, but at least they’d listen while they did so.
He straightened his posture and nodded firmly. "Yes, Beta. What else?"
"Have Fido make a list of everything he'd need to smelt wolf's ore. Then I want a small stockpile of the raw ore very close to the forge as well as some aluminium. Oh, and we might need to trade for some of the supplies, so see if he can refine some of the gold or silver. Things are going to get busy around here, and we need to be prepared." I nervously paced as I gave the orders, constantly glancing to Dave in hopes of additional ideas.
"Will get done."
"One last thing. I was only able to become beta because you guys are terrible fighters. We need to start sparring. You know, practice fights. You told me diamond dogs are supposed to be protectors from Tartarus's demons. I don't know if this is in that category, but we will protect the land from this creature. Alright, that should be it. Off you go." In retrospect, I probably damaged the grand impact of my short speech by losing my balance while waving him off, but Spot did look incredibly determined as he bolted to the northwest. He didn't even trip this time.
"You know, it probably wasn't smart to tell them to get better at fighting when the leaders are determined by strength." Dave removed his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead before continuing. "I think you covered the necessary bases though, so good job, I guess."
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm more worried about losing any of them than I am about my authority." My expression remained grim as I limped further into town.
"If it's any consolation, you're off to a better start than last time you led people. Maybe more than we thought changed when you got dumped into a mare’s body."
"Or maybe diamond dogs and ponies are less interested in their own agendas than humans were."
Dave curtly corrected me, "Are. You're just a human mind in a pony body, remember? And aren't you just pushing your own agenda there, hypocrite?"
"Pony, Human, whatever. I'm me. I'm Sterling Gears. Sterling Gears is a pony. Therefore, I'm a pony." As I turned towards the library, I growled at him. "It's different when my agenda is about keeping others safe."
"Is it?"
"Of course it is!" It was a relief nopony was present to see me berate the air. "All I've had for so long is you, but you don't exist. You're a figment of my imagination and a constant reminder of everything I've been dragged through. I'm just starting to claw my way back from having nothing, and now that I'm in a paradise like this, you have no idea what I'll do to keep the past from repeating and having Equestria live through it as well."
"I'm more than just a reminder and a figment and you know it. All those times I've tried to point you in the right direction only to have you wander into the woods on the side of the path and blow it up."
"Because I'm good at blowing stuff up. Got the cutie mark doing it, remember?" I smirked smugly at him. "I got us here despite your pointing."
"I don’t care about your ass emblem. Your hunches got us here. Neither of us know what those were, but it's a complete fluke things worked out like this. You should have blown yourself up with that machine."
"And it still would have been better than scavenging to prolong that pathetic life. I would rather be dead than try to survive with only you to keep me company."
"Too bad we're stuck with each other, eh?" He snidely chortled while glaring daggers at me. I'm pretty sure those daggers were enchanted up to plus five as well. And on fire. With lasers.
"Too bad indeed. But we already knew that. No need to rub it in further."
"What do you think is going to happen when the ponies find out your origins? It'll just be me and you again. Think before you burn your bridges."
"They're better than that. Besides, it's such a cliché event in fiction everywhere I've seen it play out hundreds of times. I should have little trouble fixing that issue."
"Fiction is fiction for a reason. You can't just apply it to real life."
"Can't I? Equestria was supposed to be fictitious, yet if I recall, this certainly looks like Ponyville."
"Or you finally snapped and roped me into your delusions."
"Tough talk for someone who already is a delusion. I can't help but wonder if everything would just be easier if I didn't know you were a hallucination. After all, you not appearing in the first place would just be too much to ask for."
"Keep running your mouth. You're lucky we need each other or I would have left you to rot ages ago. Hunches or not, I've saved your ass more than you’d want to remember."
"As if." Chuckling, I rolled my eyes. "You saved yourself. I just happened to be there. Cold, hard, logical Dave doesn't show concern for Sterling Gears or anypony other than himself." I relished him cringing at my decisive choice of words.
"Poke fun all you want. I'm not the one lying by omission to the first living beings she has seen in years. Have fun at the library." He gave a final smirk and with a tip of his hat, he walked off, ignoring everything shouted after him.
I growled in frustration and punted a small rock unfortunate enough to be near my hoof. "Arrogant bastard." I could take care of myself just fine. I'd never needed him, right? He did have a point, but it wasn’t like I could come out and say 'hey, I'm from another world where everything else died and still kept trying to eat me. Oh, and by the way, I wasn't a pony or even a mare back then.' Bah, Dave sucked. I was content with my indifference, but he loved stirring up a mess.
Brooding and entrapped by my worries, I continued towards the library. Another flicker of movement distracted me momentarily, but my frantic searching proved fruitless once again. Maybe it was nothing for once, but I still couldn't let my guard down.
The Golden Oaks Library stood regal as ever, overlooking the road like an arboreal sentry. Its leaves rustled in the delicate wind to create an ambient symphony sharply contrasting my mood so much it made me feel vulnerable. My presence drew the attention of the shorter of two figures chatting in the open doorway: a small, purple dragon I felt I had the beginnings of a friendship with. As he looked around the taller figure, his action caught the white mare's attention and she casually glanced over her shoulder to view the newcomer. She recognized and then heartily greeted me, turning around to enthusiastically wave much like I remembered Lyra doing.
"I've been looking all over for you, Gears." Vinyl Scratch laughed as she trotted to my side and supported me. "I never guessed you would have wound up finding me instead. Let me give you a hoof getting inside before I grill you for busting out of the hospital."
"Gee, I can't wait."
"Hey, Gears. Heard what happened. Good to see you didn't get too roughed up yesterday." Spike smiled warmly as he held the door open.
"Takes more than that to keep me down." It was not lost on me that the mere presence of these two was rapidly changing my disposition for the better. Screw Dave. I had these guys and the pack.
As she helped me to a cushion, she sasked, "Like being less than a week away from dwindling down to nothing? You look like crap." Her tone and goofy smirk refused to let me take it as anything but the playful jest it was.
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Missed you too, Vinyl."
"Takes guts to book it away from Red, but you really should have stayed. They told me and Tall why you collapsed, you know."
"I'll try to take better care of myself now that I know I was doing it wrong. What brings you to the library anyways?" I inquired. I didn't want to say it out loud, but I didn't peg Vinyl Scratch as the type to have reading for a hobby.
"You kidding me? It's pretty much the only place in Ponyville you've gone."
"You have been here every night," Spike said while he straightened a pile of books on a cart.
Vinyl nodded. "After they told me you left the hospital, I looked for you at the meeting at town hall. Then I came right here."
"What meeting?" How much time had I wasted in fleeing with Spot?
"I only caught a bit of it and didn't pay much attention, but that thing last night has everypony scared senseless and now the whole town thinks it's behind the disappearances. Those two guards that saved us are organizing a militia and night watch." She noticeably shivered as she mentioned the creature, like the room's temperature dropped at the mere thought of it. "There's a stupid curfew now too."
"Sounds like they don't think they got rid of it or there really are more out there."
Spike, who had spent most of the conversation fearfully looking around, gasped. "It's still out there?"
Gently, I patted his back. "As if it could get in here. You'll be fine. Vinyl, how did they drive it off the first time?"
She looked upwards in thought, idly tapping her chin with a hoof. "I think they said it was a stunning spell of some sort. It didn't stun it, but it apparently left in a hurry." She shrugged. "Sorry I don't have more. You ever tried talking to anypony in the Royal Guard? I've had more productive talks with walls."
The bookcases towering around me offered a smidgen of clarity I viciously pounced upon. I remembered what Dave had mentioned about Twilight saying the spell pattern I had invented matched the matrix for an already existing spell. "I think I might be able to rig something to blast it with if I can find the right books. Vinyl, Spot mentioned you had my accelerator. Any chance it's nearby?"
Excitement flared within her and radiated outwards from a confident grin. "Taking the fight to it? Count me in. Your doohickey is back at my place, I'll go grab it quick and—" my stomach cut her off with a violent rumble "—I'll bring you dinner as well."
"Mooching really isn't my style. I'll scrounge something up later." Frowning intensely at her did nothing to dissuade her. In fact, it provoked a mischievous smirk to play across her face momentarily.
"Dinner or I drag you back to the hospital by your tail."
"You crafty b—" I bit my tongue as I remembered Spike was a baby dragon. It didn’t matter if I figured he could handle it. Being protected by an alicorn powerful enough to turn me inside out on my way to the moon may have also influenced me to cut off my playful expletive. "Dinner it is."
"You sure? I know you like to make things difficult."
"No no, I insist."
Her mock-disappointment forced Spike and me to snort. "Aw, ruining all my fun."
"Save that kind of fun for when Octavia gets back from Canterlot." I waggled my eyebrows and playfully stuck my tongue out again. Were they even called eyebrows if my face was covered in matching fur? Eyeridge?
If she were surprised, she didn't show it and instead returned a wink. "I just might have to."
"Why would being yanked around by your tail be any fun?" Spike confusedly asked.
"Depends on what you’re into." It didn't dawn on me what I had said until I caught the confusion in Spike's eyes. Oops.
"I'llbebacksoonbye." Vinyl dashed out of the library quick enough to leave a dust cloud trailing behind her.
“I don’t get it.” Ignoring Spike, I slowly ducked behind the cart he had tended to earlier. "I can still see you, Gears."
"No, you can't. I'm invisible back here." My plan was foolproof!