//------------------------------// // Ghost Town // Story: Finding Serenity // by M1ghtypen //------------------------------// Lyra made sure that Spitfire was secured in the observation lounge before arranging the meeting with their client. After a few quick words, the urn was shipped away and the crew of Sereneighty was paid a very respectable sum. After the deal was finished, Lyra gathered her crew in the cargo hold. Most of the group were wondering why they couldn’t meet in the usual place, but everypony was patient enough to wait for an explanation before bombarding her with questions. “This isn’t going to be fun to talk about,” the Captain sighed. “Still, you all need to know what you’re dealing with. Spitfire’s dangerous, and I wouldn’t feel right having her here without explaining a few things.” “Why is she even on the ship?” Vinyl interrupted. “Can’t we just let her off somewhere?” Lyra shook her head. “Not on this planet. This kind of heist is going to attract some attention. We were supposed to slip away without making a ruckus, but now everypony’s going to know our faces. They’ll be lookin’ for us. Spitfire’s good at a lot of things, but lying low ain’t one of them. She’ll get arrested, and she could do a lot of talking about the job we just pulled. I’d rather that didn’t happen.” The next part of the conversation was going to be the most unpleasant. “Spitfire wasn’t always like she is now,” Lyra said. “She defected from the Wonderbolts a few weeks into the war. She did demolition stuff, blowing up supply lines and the like. She was one of the best.” “She went insane,” Octavia continued for her. “I am not sure what caused it. She became too aggressive, and began putting the rest of us at risk. Lyra attempted to reason with her, but eventually she disappeared. We have not seen her since.” “No mystery as to what did it,” Lyra said. “She’s a reader; she can sense thoughts and emotions. Something about feeling all of that during the war changed her, and it drove her totally fong luh.” “Spitfire is a sociopath, among other things,” Octavia explained. “We have already seen that she would blow up a train full of innocent ponies because it was convenient. She cannot be trusted to roam free aboard this ship, and she certainly cannot be allowed to know that we are harboring two fugitives worth a very large reward.” Lyra couldn’t have agreed more. “Doc, you and your sister can’t go anywhere near her. Stay on the lower levels of the ship, and for Luna’s sake, keep an eye on Vision. Vinyl, how soon can we be rid of her?” The pilot fidgeted with her hooves, evidently lost in thought. “I don’t know about this psychic stuff,” she muttered. “It’s like something out of science fiction, you know?” Octavia giggled. “Darling, you are a magical talking unicorn that pilots a spaceship.” Vinyl stared blankly at her wife, obviously at a loss as to what her job had to do with psychic powers. “So?” she asked. “Focus!” Lyra ordered. “I’m a mite anxious to get this new heap of annoyance off my boat. Where’s the closest place with air?” Vinyl adjusted her goggles and stared at the table. “There’s a moon twelve hours away,” she said after some thought, “but there should be something between here and there. I think there’s a small mining operation that ships out ore once a week. We might be able to drop her off there and let her hitch a ride to civilization.” “Set a course,” Lyra ordered. “From this moment onward, everypony but me needs to stay far away from the observation lounge. I spent the most time around her, so I know what to expect. I’ll keep a close watch on her so she doesn’t get loose. If you need anything from the galley, I’ll get it for you. I know it’s inconvenient, but it won’t last for long.” Lyra was already trotting through the galley on her way to the observation lounge before she noticed that she was being followed. “Thunderlane!” she snapped as the pegasus shied away from her. “Did you spit your bit or something? I told you to stay out of here!” “I might be able to help you,” Thunderlane said. “Spitfire’s a reader, right? I used to work with someone like her. I know how to hang on to my secrets.” Lyra eyed him curiously, trying to gauge how serious he was. “Fine,” she relented. “If you can keep her from reading you, we’ll take turns watching her. It’ll make this less unpleasant, at least; Spitfire has a way of getting under your skin.” The observation lounge was essentially a tiny brig with a tough restraint harness. The room was sandwiched between the galley and the aft hallway, and was only big enough to allow somepony to watch a prisoner while still staying out of that prisoner’s reach. Spitfire didn’t seem bothered by being cooped up and had managed to retain her annoyingly cheerful attitude. “Lyra!” she exclaimed as they walked into the lounge. “It’s about time you showed up. I’ve been bored to tears. Oh, and you brought your little friend!” “This is Thunderlane,” Lyra said. “He’ll be helping me keep an eye on you.” “When did you stop batting for the other team?” Spitfire asked. It took so long for Lyra to process the question that Thunderlane had already stopped giggling by the time she answered. “I didn’t!” she insisted. Then, immediately afterward, she slapped her forehead. “I-I mean, he’s not… that isn’t what I meant! We’re not together. Shut up, Thunderlane!” Thunderlane’s laughter drowned out the rest of what she said, even though Lyra threatened him with some of the worst forms of torture that she could come up with. “You’ve got a great crew,” Spitfire observed. “Very professional.” ***** Lyra took the first shift with Spitfire. She made herself as comfortable as possible on the little bench set against one wall of the observation lounge and cracked open a book on ancient cultures. She skipped directly to the chapter on diamond dogs, her curiosity aroused by their latest escapade. “I’m bored,” Spitfire complained. Lyra put her book away and sighed. And thus, it begins, she thought. I wonder how long I can stay in here without going insane. “I heard that,” Spitfire muttered darkly The nauseating sense of psychic influence made Lyra shiver. It felt a little like something was crawling around inside of her brain. She clamped down on her thoughts and tried to fortify her mental defenses. “You’ve gotten better,” she said. “Color me impressed.” “You’d better believe it!” Spitfire exclaimed. “Sometimes I have to get away from other ponies for a while, just so I can hear myself think. What about you, Lyra? Do you ever get lonely without me poking around up there? I can tell that you haven’t moved on yet. Is that because you missed me, or because you haven’t found anypony else that can keep you interested?” “I’m not waitin’ for you, if that’s what you mean.” Lyra grabbed her book again, now desperate to distract herself. She had thought she was prepared for Spitfire’s mind games, but now she wasn’t so sure. Spitfire chuckled and spent a while tugging at her harness. She couldn’t get free, so Lyra was happy to let her try if it meant she was distracted. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Spitfire picked up on… Uh oh. “I saw that!” the former Wonderbolt giggled. “You aren’t very good at keeping secrets from me, Lyra. You must be out of practice. Who is it? Is it one of your crew, or are you trying to keep business and pleasure separate?” “That’s none of your business. Or your pleasure, for that matter.” “You’re trying not to think about her, aren’t you?” Spitfire’s eyes bored into her, searching for any secrets that might accidentally slip through the holes in her mental shield. “Come on, Lyra, you can tell me. I promise not to be jealous.” “You’re going to want to shut up now,” Lyra said calmly. “If I don’t think I can keep you out of my head one way, I’ll have to find another. I could always just have you sedated.” Spitfire almost said something, but wisely decided to clam up. Lyra felt the intruding presence fade from her mind and let out a relieved sigh. “So what’s the plan?” Spitfire asked sullenly. “You’re going to dump me somewhere, obviously. Is that how it is between us now? I don’t want to be enemies, Lyra. I still like you, even if it didn’t work out between us.” Lyra grimaced at the unpleasant change in topic. She would almost prefer talking about her secrets. “I don’t cheat the ponies that I work with. You’ll still get your cut.” If Spitfire was surprised, she didn’t show it. “You’re very kind,” she murmured, and lapsed into an unpleasant silence. Lyra went back to her book and enjoyed the quiet while it lasted. She was pretty sure that her old marefriend would be bothering her again soon. When the time came, Thunderlane took his turn on guard duty without complaint. Lyra was nervous about leaving them alone, but he put her at ease by calmly walking up to Spitfire and slapping her in the face as hard as he could. “I was right about being able to keep her out of my head,” he explained when Lyra demanded to know what had gotten into him. “If she knew what I was gonna do, she would have flinched.” ***** After leaving Thunderlane to deal with Spitfire, Lyra began checking up on the rest of her crew. Eventually, after giving Octavia permission to join her wife on the bridge and getting Shepherd Mac something to eat, she found everypony else in the infirmary. Tick Tock was using the new handheld scanner on his sister, who was sitting very still in the operating chair. Vision looked extremely uncomfortable, but Derpy and Bon Bon were helping her relax. The Companion was reading to her from a romance novel, while the mechanic held her hoof. Tick Tock looked surprised when he saw Lyra watching them, but his hooves remained perfectly steady. “Is there something you need, Captain?” he asked. “Just checking up on everypony,” Lyra said. “What’s going on in here?” “Tick Tock’s scanning Vision’s head,” Derpy offered. “We’re helping her relax.” Tick Tock nodded and checked the readings on the scanner. “I’m glad for the company,” he said. “This could take a while. The kind of detailed scan that I need is normally impossible with a handheld scanner like this. It’s supposed to be used only to diagnose superficial injuries. I’m going to have to scan tiny sections of her brain, then put the entire thing together like a jigsaw puzzle.” “The good doctor is very clever,” Bon Bon commented. She snapped her book shut and stood up to work a kink out of her hind leg. Lyra realized that she was staring and tore her gaze away before anypony noticed. “There aren’t many ponies that could do so much with so little.” “This type of procedure has been circulating around the Rim worlds for a while,” Tick Tock said dismissively. “We’re done for today. Thank you both for your help.” Derpy offered to play a game with Vision, who seemed very excited by the idea. She was probably just happy to be out of the infirmary. Tick Tock waved to them, and continued staring at the door even after they were gone. Bon Bon politely nodded to the Captain and went to do whatever Companions did in their free time, leaving her alone with the doctor. “Still having trouble with our infirmary?” she asked. “Treatin’ your sister must not be easy with this kind of tech.” Tick Tock blinked and finally tore his attention away from the door. Lyra guessed that a certain grey pegasus was still on his mind. “Yes,” he sighed, “conditions around here are adorable. Uh, aplorable. They’re deplorable. D-don’t look at me.” He shuffled around anxiously, refusing to look at her, and put the scanner in the drawer of his desk. “Did you want something?” “I was just checking up on everypony. How are you settling in?” Tick Tock’s embarrassment gave way to a skeptical frown. “You’re being oddly social. Is this because you’re concerned for us, or because you can’t stand to be in the same room as your old marefriend?” “Mostly the second one,” Lyra admitted. She trotted out into the cargo hold and saw Bon Bon looking down at her from a catwalk. The Companion motioned for Lyra to join her, so she climbed the stairs and leaned against the railing. “What are you doing up here?” she asked. “Wait and see,” Bon Bon said cryptically. Tick Tock soon joined them with the same question that Lyra had asked, and he received the same answer. They stood in companionable silence for a while until Thunderlane rattled across the catwalk. “Your turn,” the pegasus grunted as he hopped over the guard rail. He fluttered his wings to slow his descent and landed next to his weight set. Bon Bon grabbed Lyra’s shoulder as she tried to leave. “Just a minute longer,” she urged. “I think I hear them coming.” Vision galloped through the cargo hold with Derpy in hot pursuit, filling the air with terrified shrieks as the Pegasus tried to tackle her to the ground. Tick Tock, Lyra, and Bon Bon watched the chase while Thunderlane tried to focus on his workout. “It’s almost like we’re home again,” Tick Tock said. “She used to act like this all the time before they took her away. Any time she wasn’t moving was time wasted.” “Ah, the pitter-patter of little hooves,” Lyra said wistfully. Then, in a suddenly harsh voice, she shouted “Shut up! One of you is gonna fall and die, and you know I don’t provide health insurance!” She grinned at Bon Bon. “They’re so cute.” Derpy careened up the stairs, hot on Vision’s hooves. “She’s got my wrench!” she shouted. Vision stopped at the top of the stairs, the wrench dangling from her mouth, and pranced around in a little circle. “Oh, you’re dead!” Derpy giggled. “Dead, you hear me? I know where you live!” Eventually Derpy managed to corner Vision and wrestled the smaller mare to the ground. She came up holding her wrench and laughing. “Victory is sweet!” she exclaimed, and twirled her wrench like a pistol before hanging it back on her belt. “No force in the ‘Verse can stop me!” She returned to the engine room, but not before flying a victory lap. Vision crawled up the next flight of stairs on her belly and collapsed beside Tick Tock. “Derpy cheats,” she wheezed, and hung her head over the edge of the catwalk to watch Thunderlane. “Air superiority takes all the fun out of war. I’ll look for reinforcements next time.” “Good luck with that,” Bon Bon scoffed. “Derpy is a very strong flyer when she isn’t bumping into things.” “That reminds me of something I need to discuss with the Captain,” Tick Tock said. “Could we have a word in private?” Bon Bon looked questioningly at Lyra, who could only shrug apologetically. “Very well,” the Companion sighed. “I’ll be in my shuttle.” She trotted away, inadvertently catching Lyra’s eye as she climbed the stairs to her door. Vision wandered off as well, but only went as far as the lower level of the cargo bay. She flopped down near Thunderlane’s weight set and immediately went to sleep. “I’m sorry to bother you with this,” Tick Tock began. “It’s about Derpy. I need to ask you for a favor.” The Captain didn’t respond. “Lyra?” he asked. “Are you listening?” Lyra wrenched her gaze away from the door to Bon Bon’s shuttle. “Huh? Right, sorry. What about Derpy?” “I think she’s hiding something,” Tick Tock said. “Before you make any unfortunate assumptions, it isn’t anything dangerous. I think she might be hiding a medical condition.” Lyra was taken aback by the concern in his voice. “Is she sick?” she asked. “I mean, is this the sort of thing we need to contain?” “Not at all,” the doctor said. “I think she’s suffering from PBMSE. That’s Pre-Birth Mystical Static Exposure, if you were wondering. I did a very detailed study of it in medical school. It’s a congenital disorder that usually occurs on planets that have been recently terraformed. She exhibits most of the symptoms; irregular strabismus, cognitive dissonance, even fits of creative mania. She’s probably taking medication to keep the mood swings in check.” “So she’s got some kind of birth defect?” Lyra shrugged apathetically. “So what? She seems happy enough, and as far as I can tell she’s jen duh sh tyen tsai. What’s there to worry about?” “She’ll run out of those pills eventually,” Tick Tock pointed out. “I can give her more, but I need to be sure that she actually needs them first. I need you to help me keep an eye on her for a while. Tell me if you notice any strange mood swings, or if she starts getting confused for no apparent reason.” Lyra glanced at the door to the engine room, looking as though she expected to be caught talking behind Derpy’s back at any moment. “Why don’t you just come out and ask her? I don’t much care for all this secrecy.” Tick Tock rested his hooves on the catwalk’s guard rails and looked down at his sleeping sister. “It isn’t going to be that easy,” he said. “Lyra, I know that everypony thinks I don’t understand how life is on the Rim, and for the most part they’re right, but I know medicine. Most of the ponies suffering from PBMSE will do anything to hide it. It’s seen as a sign of weakness in the family. It isn’t, of course; anypony subjected to latent magical energies in the womb can develop it. That doesn’t stop other ponies from looking down on them. I’m afraid that if I bring it up, she won’t let me help her.” “Alright,” Lyra agreed. “I’ll watch her.” “Good,” Tick Tock said. “This has to stay between us, though. I may be a fugitive, but I’m still a doctor. I took a very important oath about giving away my patient’s personal information.” “I’ll keep it confidential,” Lyra promised. “If you’re right about this, and we blabbed Derpy’s secret to the rest of the crew, she’d be crushed. I won’t let that happen.” Tick Tock breathed a sigh of relief, satisfied that he had made the right choice in trusting the Captain. He hadn’t known Lyra for long, but he knew that she could keep a secret. A pony didn’t become a relatively successful smuggler without knowing when to keep her mouth shut. ***** Lyra took several more turns watching Spitfire before Vinyl called her to the bridge. “We’ve got a bit of a problem,” she said. “You wanted to know when we were about to reach the Dogworks, right? Well, we’ve just entered the Diamond Rings. I think you’d better get up here, Cap.” Sereneighty’s engines flared as the ship passed into an asteroid belt that dwarfed all others in the known universe. The Diamond Rings were home to a number of mining colonies, some of which weren’t afraid to associate with smugglers if it meant access to a few comforts that their employers couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. It also helped that the dogs forced to work in the mines rarely got to see strangers, so there was always a warm welcome waiting. Life for an asteroid miner was usually unpleasant and occasionally very short. Diamond dogs were often paid in a special currency that was only redeemable in the company store. Without any real money, they couldn’t leave to start over somewhere else. The companies employing them were well aware of the dismal prospects the species faced elsewhere in the ‘Verse, and didn’t mind exploiting it. Times are tough, Lyra reflected. What else is new? The colony came into view, and immediately Lyra saw that something was wrong. Normally shuttles would be traveling to and from the station, loaded down with workers and the equipment they needed. Ore grinders should have been running within the station itself, venting the useless toxins and impurities in whatever direction was necessary to help the station maintain its position. There certainly should have been something happening, and the complete stillness was downright creepy. “Where is everybody?” Vinyl asked, voicing the Captain’s concerns. “No diamond dogs, no griffon overseers, no ships. What happened here?” Once of her ears swiveled around like a radar dish searching for a signal. “Do you hear that?” A loud bang startled them. It came from far below and outside the ship, as though an errant asteroid had bounced off the hull. An eerie scraping noise traveled up from the point of impact and slowly made its way toward the window. “What… what is that?” Vinyl asked. She almost sounded panicked, and Lyra honestly couldn’t blame her. The scraping stopped, and the bottom half of a bright orange spacesuit drifted into view. It was followed by a belt connected to a long tether, the kind used by miners to keep them anchored to the asteroids they surveyed. The magnetic plate at the other end must have gotten stuck on Sereneighty’s hull. The helmet finally came into view, causing Vinyl to cover her mouth and gag. Octavia put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, but even she began to look a little green. Inside the helmet was… well, Lyra wasn’t sure what to call it. It had probably been a diamond dog, but his insides weren’t on the inside anymore. The front of his helmet was smeared with blood and bile. The diamond dog’s suit must not have been sealed properly before he left the station. That meant that he was either fatally incompetent or working with substandard equipment. It was probably a bit of both. “Wuh de ma,” Lyra whispered. “That’s an omen if I ever saw one.”