Two hours. Two excruciatingly long hours. That's how long it took for Twilight to stop apologizing. At first, I thought her and Fluttershy were having an apology-off—Twilight for not listening and Fluttershy for, well, she was a little too quiet to understand, but it was fair to assume it was about her reaction, despite its tameness. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one receiving apologizes from the scholar, and I also wasn't the only one growing tired of hearing them.
I'd insisted the event only angered me because my preference was to die from my own mistakes and not a borderline-cogniphilic alicorn’s. They believed me, which only left myself to convince.
A trio of diamond dogs had volunteered to join us, and several more had expressed interest but were far too injured. Since we probably had quite a bit of digging in our future, I was glad to see Balsa join us. Recent events had gifted her a taste for adventure.
Western Agate was hesitant at first, but understood the value of a diamond dog who could fluently speak Equestrian. The third was Shok, a stocky, terrier-like mutt who took an excessive shine to Spot's tactics—in addition to the several torches each dog carried in their travel kit, many rock-ale Molotovs hung from two jury-rigged bandoliers crossing over his chest.
Rarity remained unconscious while we were in the caves and even when we loaded her and the freakishly heavy fainting couch onto one of the two carts. Several fat jokes were prepared for when she awoke.
The two carts were similar to the one wrecked in the marketplace, except intact. They'd been used to deliver the few pieces of furniture pack members had purchased, but now they would carry a much more interesting payload. That is, once all members of the payload could be convinced to board.
"I'm not sure I like the idea of a cart that moves without being pulled." Applejack prodded a wheel like she was testing for sturdiness. Her attitude towards had slightly warmed, but that was comparable to eating a spicy pepper in an arctic blizzard.
"You could always pretend it's being pushed."
Applejack's eye twitched and for a moment, I thought she was going to break out the lasso. "You know what I mean. I'm just not sure this doohickey of yours is safe."
"Safer than anything the Crusaders build." Like that meant much.
"Ah don't know what's worse: that it makes me feel better or that you're probably right." She snorted again, but jumped into the cart and laid down by the front, her head resting lazily on the side.
Naturally, I ended up in charge of driving one of the carts. Pinkie, the only other member of our party with a driver's license—straight from the Canterlot Department of Magic Vehicles—drove the other. The accelerators barely differed from their original design as far as the spell pattern went, but I'd come up with a far easier method of controlling the amount of contact.
The pattern was attached to a lever that worked like the throttle on an old-fashioned steamboat—depending on how far over you pushed the stick, more or less of the spell pattern would touch the cart and adjust the speed accordingly. As proud as it made me, they still lacked a way to travel in reverse since rotating the thaumite had no effect on direction.
Twilight and Rarity were supposed to keep the carts on the ground so we could go as fast as possible without worrying about bouncing off the road, but a certain unicorn was still unconscious.
Twilight had stepped up to plate and was all "Pfft, I got this shit. Watch and learn, my pony homies." Alright, that may have been paraphrased a little.
"Faster!" A reckless, sky blue pegasus as she stood at the front of my cart with her hooves up on the sides. "Tank could go faster than this. I want to feel the wind in my mane." You would think a weather pegasus would be able to notice that it was already windy outside.
"For the last time, Dash." My eyes were starting to hurt from all the rolling they’d been doing. "Seven ponies, three diamond dogs, and a couch is a lot of weight. We're still making better time than we would if these were being pulled."
"So you're saying if we got rid of Rarity's couch we could go faster?"
Glancing back to the red furniture, nothing had changed. She was still asleep with one foreleg draped over her eyes and the other dangling off the side. Her mane was still being buffeted by the relentless wind, and I couldn't help but giggle at what her reaction might be. "I guess. Just try not to wake up Applejack." The farmpony had been lulled to sleep by the fairly smooth ride.
"No thunderclouds, got it. Be back in a jiffy." The rainbow contrail she left behind never ceased to amaze me.
"How is everybody holding up?" It was a little difficult to speak clearly over the wind in our ears. I could only imagine how much trouble they were having understanding Fluttershy in the other cart.
"Everypony." Twilight risked nervous glances at her friends. She must have been worried about giving me away.
"I'm hardly a pony, Princess." West, the only diamond dog in Pinkie's cart, chuckled. He pointed at his fellow packmates. "And it would seem I'm not alone."
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity shrieked, flopping off her fainting couch to evade the concentrated downpour. It was a stroke of luck she'd been facing the cart’s interior.
"Wakey wakey, Rarity. We need the speed and you were slowing us down with that couch of yours." Dash forced her head underneath and flipped it over the back gate, watching it fall apart as it bounced behind us. "Huh. Thought it was a bit sturdier than that."
As the unicorn rose in volume, Balsa tugged her tail and pointed to where Applejack peacefully laid with her Stetson covering her eyes. Sopping wet and smiling sheepishly, Rarity retired to a rear corner and settled for glaring at the pegasus, who retook her spot at the front.
With the lighter load, we made good time and reached a familiar inn late in the afternoon. We should have been there an hour or two earlier, but maybe I’d just been really booking it my first time down the road.
While we worked on turning the carts onto the northbound road, Twilight spoke up. "I've been running some calculations, and I don't think we'll make it before nightfall. I think this inn is a much better idea than camping out."
Dash and I shared a groan at the idea of having to wait even longer, but a small part of my discomfort may have also been from the idea of facing Soft Down again.
"Seconded. The thought of having to ‘rough’ it in the dirt like that—" Rarity shuddered like snow had dripped down her neck "—I'm just glad this place came along when it did."
"Actually, I was thinking of our safety after it gets dark. A well-lit building would do better than a campfire."
"Yes, that too."
The two carts came to a stop alongside the building, all of us eager to work out the few kinks that inevitably surfaced. We grouped up while Fluttershy gently shook Applejack. Just as Rainbow Dash started grumbling about getting another rain cloud, the cowpony stirred with a sleepy "I'm up, I'm up."
"Think Softie will be glad to see you again?" Dave broke away from Pinkie—he probably needed a break after riding and chatting with her the entire trip—and sat on a small boulder. My snort was passed off as a sneeze. "I think he'll understand at least. You should talk to Twilight though. I think she knows exactly where we need to go. And so do you."
"Later."
Something about the quiet inn just wasn't right. The fur on the back of my neck prickled as a feeling of dread washed over and clung to me like an oily wave.
As one of the first through the door, I had the chance to see just how much the place had been wrecked. Furniture was shattered, the wood scattered about like kindling after a tornado. Feathers from a multitude of torn cushions sprinkled the area and soaked in the occasional splatter of red. Bloody streaks decorated the floor and walls in a macabre mosaic. My eyes flicked back to the stained feathers, noticing some of them were tan instead of the usual white of pillow stuffing.
"Hello? Is anypony there?" Twilight called out, ignoring the carnage and ringing the service bell. What should have been a crystal clear "ding" instead sounded like shrieks of life cut short.
"Oh my! Have they even heard of dusting?" Rarity asked, running a hoof along one of the few intact tables. The blood marred her fur, but she paid it no mind.
Bewildered at their nonchalance, I opened my mouth to question their sanity and barely managed to catch myself. My eyes clenched shut so tight it hurt, and when they opened the destruction and gore were gone. Everything was intact and nothing had been painted scarlet by futile struggles. A thin, undisturbed layer of dust covered every surface like a winter's first snowfall.
"Are you feeling okay?" A hushed voice to my left caused me to jump, and I wheeled to face a pale yellow pegasus adorably attempting to take refuge behind her mane. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you. Please don't be mad."
Dave failed to suppress a “D'aww.”
I gave a single, faint laugh at classic Fluttershy. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Um, are you sure? It looked like something really bothered you. You can tell me about it if you want. Or not, it's up to you."
Her adorableness was stopping me from full-out lying. "It's nothing. I didn't get any sleep last night." I spoke too quickly—they had to be certain something was wrong now.
Dejected, she nodded and left, only to make room for Applejack. The universe was really showing its love. "You don't have to hide things from Fluttershy, ya know? She's just about the kindest mare you'll ever meet."
"I really didn't get to bed last night. Spent too much time stocking up for today." Teal eyes locked with emerald ones, the first trying to weather the second's onslaught.
"I know when a pony is hiding things. We got off on the wrong hoof, but that don't mean I can ignore that you’re hurting something fierce." Applejack's expression softened, but her eyes maintained their ferocity.
Unable to take it anymore, my head turned to the side. Part of me wanted to tell her off or just snap at her to mind her own business, but I was better than that. "I don't want to talk about it." With any luck, she wouldn't detect the annoyance in my voice.
She rubbed at her forehead, sighing. "Alright then. But, I'll tell ya right now, it's better to get that sort of thing off yer barrel. Trust me."
"Maybe later. This really isn't the place for a story like that." Not that she’d ever hear it unless there was no other option. No sense in running around telling everypony my life's story, especially since most of it was boring.
"I'm holding you to that." It looked like there was more she wanted to say, but politely nodded and excused herself to join the others in searching the building for ponies, disappearing up the stairs.
"Damn hick." Dave scoffed and gestured rudely, incidentally reminding me of another thing denied by having hooves. "Where does she get off prying like that?"
"Dude, I saw you watching her leave. Stop checking out her flank." Dave glared so hard half the room shivered at the sudden drop in temperature.
Soft Down was gone: there was an unshakable feeling of dread in the back of my skull insisting he didn't just pack up and leave. Call it cynicism, but it wasn't something I'd only felt once or twice. The others had to have thought the same, even if they didn't know what the feeling was.
It wasn't long before Twilight stepped out of the door marked "Employees Only" and shook her head. "I can't find anypony. It's like they left for vacation, but nothing was locked up."
"No ponies or cookies in the kitchen." Pinkie appeared behind Twilight, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's and spraying crumbs. "Not anymore anyway. Anypony bring any milk?"
"Applejack, Rarity," Twilight shouted up the stairs. "Either of you find anypony?"
"Sorry, Twi. Emptier than a barrel after cider season."
The bookworm stepped back to let her friend by. "Where's Rarity?"
"Still prettying herself up in the bathroom, I guess. Rainbow soaked her pretty good." Applejack shrugged before plopping down on a cushion, coughing on the resulting cloud of dust.
"Hopefully Rainbow finds somepony then. If not, this place was likely deserted."
On cue, the prismatic pegasus pony perilously plowed through the portal, colliding with Shok and sending them both tumbling through a table. Somehow, none of the diamond dog’s bottles so much as cracked. Sheepishly apologizing to the diamond dog, she pulled him off the ground. "Nothing outside except for a weird crater near a pile of junk."
"My bad. I was here a couple weeks ago and may have blown myself up a little."
"You've been here recently? Why didn't you say anything?" Twilight asked.
"Because it's an inn… ponies visit all the time.” At least she had the gumption to look embarrassed. “There was a pegasus, Soft Down, who pulled me out of an Everfree storm. Turned out he owned this place, but he's obviously not here now."
Rainbow Dash snorted in disgust. "Ugh, those things are nasty. Nothing I can't handle, but since you're an earth pony, I'm glad I wasn't in your hooves." Her brow furrowed in thought. "We met the day after, right?"
"Yeah, you 'rescued' me." We quietly giggled over the memory.
"If Mr. Soft Down isn't here, shouldn't we leave? I don't want to intrude." Fluttershy stood next to the door her fellow pegasus had knocked open, glancing between us and the marshy area across the road.
"Sorry, Fluttershy. It would still be much safer to rest here for the night. Wouldn't you rather sleep in a bed than on the ground?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I don't mind sleeping outside. It's kind of nice, and a lot of my animal friends do it all the time."
"Ooh, did you see a waterbed upstairs, AJ?" Pinkie Pie was already out of sight, her hooves echoing from the second floor hallway. Regardless, she still heard Applejack say she couldn't remember any. Instead of returning, Pinkie insisted Applejack didn't check the water-closet.
She removed her Stetson and wiped her foreleg across her forehead, quietly muttering, "Why do I even try?" Applejack turned to the demure pegasus and smiled. "Tell you what, Shy. We'll still pay for the night, even if nopony is around to take it."
"If you really want to."
"That’s that then. I'm gonna go call a room." A rainbow-colored blur disappeared in the same direction as the pink one.
"Go ahead and get comfortable, everypo—everybody." Western Agate thanked Twilight with a polite nod. "Sundown is less than an hour away, so now would be a great time to eat your dinner. Sterling, can I have a word with you in private?" Noticing the several curious looks directed at her, she said, "I need your perspective on some equations that are giving me trouble." Sweet Celestia, how could nobody have noticed such a terrible lie?
"Ooh, somepony's in trouble."
As the door closed behind me, I heard Pinkie shout "Found it!" followed immediately by the sound of a rushing flood mixed with Rarity's shrieks. Twilight held the door just shy of closing entirely before deciding she didn't want to know how much damage Pinkie had caused this time.
"I'm sorry, but there aren't actually any equations." Her ears fell and she turned her head. "I had to lie to get you out of there."
I was too tired to make an innuendo, no matter how much she set herself up. I’d mess with Dash’s head later to make it up to my sense of humor. I rolled my eyes at Twilight. "You're not the greatest liar. I take it you know exactly where we need to go and noticed too many coincidences."
She lay down and yawned, forcing me to follow suit. "Shortly after the recent Everfree storm, Princess Celestia sent me to analyze a magical disturbance north-northeast of our current location. Since the storm's residual energy threw off my readings, I couldn't figure out exactly what happened. Now though, I believe you are involved in some way." I don't know how she saw any fictional concern peeking out from under my drooping eyelids, but she held up a hoof to stop me from talking—not that I'd had anything to say. "Don't worry, we already know you aren't behind the voidlings, remember? I just want to know if there's anything you can share on this matter."
"Giant hill with more rocks than Sweet Apple Acres has trees?" Twilight snorted at the comparison and nodded in affirmative. "That's where I showed up. I appeared a couple meters in the air, I think? I don't think I was too near the top when my tumble started, but it took me a long time to hit a tree at the bottom."
Twilight excitedly jumped back to her hooves. "Even with the interference, I knew there was something very unique about the magic in the air."
"Transformation or whatever school teleporting falls under?"
"Transpatial and no. Those would make sense, but this was too different. Too chaotic."
"Discord? I haven't heard anything about him since I got here, so for all I know he's still a bad guy."
"No, Fluttershy really befriended him. Admittedly, I don't fully trust him yet, but he probably has nothing to do with this. He went to unravel some of the plans he'd set in motion before he was sealed in stone the first time." That was some crazy forethought. “At least that’s what we hope he’s doing.”
"Well, the Everfree Forest is the only other thing I can think of that's chaotic. Would a storm that formed there share that kind of magic?"
Her eyes lit up, and I found myself wondering what the pony equivalent of eureka was. "Of course! That's why it seemed familiar. The magic that was there was displaced, probably absorbed by you when you became a pony. Or maybe it had nothing to do with you becoming a pony. Your world may not have had magic, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't have had some capacity for it. Unfortunately, I would need a human to draw any conclusive data."
"Twilight, focus." My cheeks burned when I realized I’d snapped at her. "Sorry. You were going off on a tangent."
She once and sheepishly smiled. "Whoops. What I was initially trying to say was the Everfree storm's magic must have filled in the absence left by you showing up, but that was way too much energy for you to take in alone. There wasn't any trace of transformation or transpatial magic, so where did the rest go?"
"Probably into what's there now. You're tracking emptiness, so maybe it's been sucking up magic like a milkshake."
"Yes, that seems to fit. But that worries me. If it really does absorb arcane energies, how much of an effect can we make on it?"
"Hey, you're the leader-type, not me. You don't get to be all mopey and hopeless unless there's character development involved." She stepped back as I jabbed a hoof at her. "Now show me your game face!"
"What?" The bewildered look plastered across Twilight's face caused Dave to laugh.
"Game face!" I scrunched my face and snarled, mustering as much determination as possible into my expression. "Now you try."
"Grr?" Dave rolled on the floor, clutching his sides.
"That's it? Fluttershy wouldn't be intimidated by that look. No offense."
Twilight's second attempt was even worse, and the adorkableness of it made me and Dave laugh even harder. This was hopeless. "This is Rainbow's department, not mine. I need to get some sleep, and you should make sure Applejack does as well. Figure out a watch rotation for tonight, and just wake me up when it's my turn."
"For not being a leader-type, as you put it, you're giving out quite a few orders." Her smirk reminded me of Dash's pranking face. "Go get some rest… Beta."
“Says the princess.”
Rarity was still absent, probably fixing herself up after Pinkie, who was happily mopping at a gigantic puddle of water covering a quarter of the room, had interrupted her.
My packmates were chatting with Rainbow Dash, and they smiled as they noticed my return. Dash followed their eyes and nonchalantly waved.
"You all prepped in case there's another attack tonight?" They winced at the memory and nodded grimly. "Excellent. I need to get some sleep, so that's where I'll be. Twilight is working on a watch rotation, so listen to her, please. Western Agate, I have a difficult task for you tonight."
"I will face it to the best of my ability." The proper diamond dog bowed deeply. "What would you ask of me?"
"Rarity's going to come out of that bathroom and probably spend the entire night trying to apologize. I need you to talk with her and calm her down. She should respond better to somedog who speaks fancy."
West threw his head back and laughed. "Is that all? You had me worried, Beta. I will talk with her."
"Awesome. That's everything I needed to say, so you can go back to what you were doing. Sorry for interrupting your conversation." All four of them readily dismissed my apology.
Halfway to the stairs, Dash called after me. "Gears, wait. What are the chances of there being a fight tonight?"
"No idea. I'd just rather defend against nothing than get caught flat-hoofed again. I have an idea. Follow me." She followed me to where I'd slid my saddlebags off. Dash confusedly looked over the blasting rod I gave her. "I think it would be a good idea if I weren't the only one who knew how to use these."
Fluttershy and Applejack were hesitant to accept the lesson, but before long, they conceded to the necessity of the situation. As expected, Rarity immediately sought me out once she was grooming, and was pointed to Western Agate without a word.
By some stroke of fate, my room ended up being the one I’d stayed in my first night. It was amusing to look back on how unsure I’d been on my hooves back then. Only a week had passed, but so much had happened it felt like months ago. Even with most of my last visit a decent memory, the beds were just as comfortable as I remembered.
My dreams were nothing special, just being lost in a labyrinth. Sure, any number of things could have freed me, but where's the fun in that? With any luck, I'd be able to find David Bowie as well. Dave followed silently.
"Sterling Gears, how goes your quest?" Luna's appearance caused me to launch myself into the air in fright. Dave and her laughed as I slowly drifted back to the ground. "My sincerest apologies, I did not mean to startle you."
"No harm done." Tell that to my pounding heart. "I thought you could only show up like this if you were asleep as well, and I'd think you'd be awake by now."
Luna shook her head and phased her hoof through a granite wall. "Astral projection is just another skill of mine. I may not be as influential, but interaction with dreamers is still possible. Your task?"
"So far so good. We stopped at an abandoned inn at the crossroads west of Ponyville."
"An excellent choice. It would be far easier to defend a building than a campsite."
"Our thoughts exactly. How is Barinzan?" I resumed my walk and she followed.
Luna frowned in concern. "It is restless and… worried, I think. Our enemy has likely noticed what we are attempting and is now acting on it."
"Awesome. Anything else I should know about?"
"Not that I am aware of. That said, how are you, Sterling?"
She frowned when my immediate response turned out to be a shrug. "I'm alright. I just want this to be over with so I can finally relax without worry. You?"
"Dreadfully bored. Nopony ever comes to Night Court, but witnessing some of the nobles Tia deals with makes me appreciate the quiet. Have you been successful in keeping your origins hidden? Normally, I would be one of the first to encourage you to share such information, but I fear it may be unfavorably tied to current events."
"Nothing like a lynch mob to influence things," Dave grumbled. "Gears saw something that shook her up when we first entered the inn. Fluttershy and Applejack didn't get anything out of her, but they're still suspicious or concerned."
"And what did you see?"
A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the scene. Blood and feathers everywhere I could see. "It was like some of the things I've come across while scavenging… it was clear somepony had been killed. Why though? I thought we dealt with all of that!" A mare was screaming in the background. "We went through all of that, but it still haunts me." The walls shuddered, viscous blood seeping out as the stone cracked.
Luna laid a wing over me, and the maze slowly healed. The effect was lessened since she was intangible, but it was the thought that counted. "What we faced was the inner turmoil causing your nightmares. There are wounds and scars I cannot touch, and you must be the one to conquer them."
"You can not save them all."
"What was that?" Luna growled as she adopted a defensive stance, her wings spread menacingly and a potent glow encompassing her horn. Dave replied similarly, but fully intended to use Princess Luna as a shield if shit hit the fan.
"Luna, I need to wake up now! There's voidlings near the inn." Why could I hear that voice again? I hadn't heard it since we’d evicted Barinzan. All my effort went into waking myself up, but the maze mocked me as it refused to leave, the walls cackling like a B-movie villain.
I jolted awake with a gasp and sprung to my hooves, wincing from a sudden headache as my mind retaliated against the transition and the spell Luna had used to cause it. A table and chair stopped my stumbling, but the clamor awakened Shok and West, who had both been napping on cots they’d carried in while I was out cold. I really needed to stop running into furniture so often.
Quickly striding across the room and to my aid, they picked me up off the floor and asked what was wrong. They steadied me as my head swam, stopping me from staggering back into the table.
"At least they're nice enough to warn you. We'll have a talk about that voice later."
"Don't worry about me! There's voidlings nearby, we need to wake everybody up pronto!" I bit the middle strip of my saddlebags and flung them into the air, catching them on my back in a feat of coordination that would likely never happen again. "I’ll have to practice that one. Alright, I'll go meet up with whoever is on watch right now. You two go rouse the others."
They nodded and ran into the hall after me, splitting off to hammer on every door in the hallway with big, meaty paws incapable of properly playing the tuba. Balsa and Fluttershy looked up from their friendly discussion and their expressions quickly changed to concern. When she saw me, Fluttershy clutched the blasting rod tighter.
"Sterling?"
"Voidlings nearby. West and Shok are waking up everypony else." She shivered and retreated to stand under a wall-mounted light. Balsa nodded and went to the door with her tinderbox in one paw and a torch in the other.
The door slammed against the building as we burst through it, the blazing torch in her paws casting its flickering light into the shadows. No less than a dozen voidlings regarded us with expressionless visages, and they stood only a few pony-lengths away.
"No solicitors!" A blasting rod should have been waiting for me, but only canvas met my hoof. A look back told me they were on upside down. Oops.
The voidlings flinched as Balsa brandished her weapon at them, snarling and spraying forth vindictive insults. Their abyssal bodies stood out against the natural darkness of the night, their supernaturally black coloring contrasting against the… well, it’d be difficult to find a color they wouldn't stand out in.
Shrugging off my bags, I flipped them over with my snout and hastily yanked out a blasting rod, ending the non-existence of a voidling with a lucky shot. Another bolt of magic seared by my ear, and I glanced back to see Rainbow Dash smugly smirking as she walked forward to grab another rod.
"These chumps don't looks so bad. Don't see what all the worry's about." She paused and cocked her head. "Are they whispering something?"
"We're lucky it's probably just the quiet ones. They shouldn't do anything unless there's an opening or a lot more of them." Of course, several dozen more chose that moment to appear at the edges of our visibility. "Good thing I brought enough to share with the entire class."
The voidlings surged forth, rushing our position like a shadow blitzkrieg, and only a giant swath of flame saved us. Shok laughed maniacally as he hurled another into the advancing crowd, using his torch to light the rag serving as a fuse. "For Ravel!" Another ignition, another throw. "For Shen-Shen!" He tossed the next bottle into an area that was already aflame. "Ha, this fun!"
"I question the wisdom of letting Pyro-dog play with fire so close to such a flammable building." Dave had brought up a valid point, and I could only hope Pinkie hadn't used up too much of the water with whatever stunt she’d pulled the night before.
"Woowee!" Applejack cheered as she let loose. At this point, aim was hardly a necessity. "Nopony told me we were gonna have a bonfire! Time to pay these varmints back for Braeburn and the rest of Appleloosa!" There was a venom to her words that warned me to keep a safe distance.
Twilight fired her own magic missiles that sought out their targets in the darkness. She took the time to carefully aim and judge distance between each shot. Fluttershy was shoved backwards by the kick each time she shakily fired, but she sternly carried on. Shok was running out of bottles quickly, and the otherwise effective barrier would not last much longer.
Out of the corner of my eye, a blotch of pink adjusted the marshmallows roasting on carefully placed sticks. The party cannon had the firepower we needed, but there was no way it would’ve worked. Twilight turned another voidling to mist, which gave me an idea.
"Pinkie!” A hoof clonked against her combat helmet as she saluted. "We need a heavy weapon!" And I'd thought I had a big smile.
"What's she going to do?" Dave moved so I was between him and Pinkie.
"Just like Canterlot. On it!" I almost felt sorry for them.
"Hey! What are you doing, Pinkie? Let go of my tail!" Twilight shouted as she feebly kicked at Pinkie Pie.
A hail of magic erupted from Twilight's horn as as Pinkie turned her tail like a crank, spraying hot, sparkly death into the hapless voidlings. "Say hello to my purple friend!"
As the onslaught died off with a faint whirring sound, Shok whined. "Aww, no more."
"Um…"
"I think that's all of them, good job, everybody." After a final scan, the blasting rod in my hooves returned to my saddlebags. This time, I had made enough, but it was still disheartening to see the scattered bits of thaumite all over the porch.
"What about…"
"Pinkie, I don't know what you did, but please warn me next time." Twilight yanked her tail out of Pinkie's hooves and stroked like she was trying to comfort it.
"Okey dokey lokey!"
"The inn…"
"We kicked their flanks! They didn't stand a chance." Rainbow wiped the sweat off her brow. "Sheesh, is it me or is it getting warm out here?"
"That's because—"
"Good heavens! The inn is on fire!" Rarity screamed with the lung capacity of a champion diver.
Fluttershy sighed.
"Sorry." Shok smiled sheepishly. "Fire look slow. Get stuff quick." A crown of flame danced atop the inn as the thatched roof caught fire. "Really quick." He rubbed the back of his head after Balsa pulled her paw back.
Somehow, we managed to gather all our things before things got too dicey. I even had time to duck back in and save some of the cushions. Soft Down may have shoved me away from the inn, but he knew his cushions—they were just too damn comfortable to let perish in fire.
"One more trip!" Rainbow Dash was trying to hold an argument while clamped onto my tail. With a titanic groan, the roof collapsed inwards, half of the building following suit as the blackened timbers buckled into the flames. "Never mind."
At least we already had a campfire and, more importantly, smores.