“They seem to be gaining on us now.”
“So it seems. Can you see anything else?”
Rainbow Dash picked up the telescope and held it up to one eye, sighting until she found the ship in the distance. It was visible with the naked eye now. “Looks like griffons,” she concluded.
“Unsurprising in these waters,” the captain said and leaned over the railing.
“You think they’ll attack?”
Barrel turned to look at the water, relaxing as he thought. “Nah. They’re not moving like they want to pick a fight. Seems to me they’re just keeping an eye on us.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “I’ll fly over there and ask them!”
“Don’t bother,” Barrel interrupted her. He stood back up and turned to walk back to the wheel. “Let’s focus on getting where we need to go and let them do the same. No one needs to get in anyone’s feathers out here.”
Rainbow Dash huffed and followed. Bonbon looked away from the two pegasi to where Lyra was standing at the front of the ship, staring ahead. Bonbon stood up, feeling heavy and tired as she slowly trotted across the deck to join Lyra. “Hey.”
Lyra looked around briefly at Bonbon before returning to stare at the horizon. A hazy strip of land was faintly visible there, waiting for them. “Hey,” she said in a flat voice without any joy.
Bonbon settled in next to Lyra, leaning in to her a bit. “What’s the matter?”
“There’s no way we’ll get there before the sun sets,” she said, which seemed likely to be true. “It’ll be dark when we reach the city.”
“And you’ll be …” Bonbon trailed off, looking back at the ship and the crew going about their business.
“Trapped?” Lyra finished for her. “Yeah. There’s no way I’ll get off this ship without being seen once we land at the docks. There’ll be ponies everywhere, and they’ll expect me to get off along with you and Rainbow.”
Bonbon watched their Wonderbolt friend still arguing with the captain about the other ship. Her mind went to work on the challenge. “Good thing you brought a pegasus with you, then,” Bonbon concluded and looked back at Lyra. She was almost proud of the unicorn’s foresight, even if this was not the situation Lyra had prepared for exactly. “How fast would you bet she could get you to shore?”
Lyra turned to look at Rainbow Dash and gave a small chuckle. “That’s much better my idea. Here I was thinking of swimming the rest of the way. I bet that would be cold, wet and hard to explain,” she said, a little blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash was halfway over the side of the ship, having clearly decided to pay the other ship a visit despite the captain’s advice, when Lyra’s call stopped her. She turned around with an exasperated look. “What?”
Lyra waved her over, and Rainbow Dash grudgingly turned around. “What?” she repeated in a lower voice as she crossed the length of the ship and landed in front of them.
“How fast can you make it to shore from here?” Lyra pointed a hoof at the distant city.
Dash glanced that way, looking unimpressed at the apparent challenge. “Is that a dare? Twenty minutes, tops.”
“Alright. Same question, but now with me on your back?”
“With—Uh, what?” Rainbow Dash looked between Lyra and the distant shore and scratched her head. “You want me to carry you there … now?”
“Why not? I need to get there a little early, I … have some things to do.” Lyra looked past Rainbow at where the sun was descending towards the horizon. “Think you can get me there before it gets dark?”
Dash looked at the setting sun and huffed. “Easy peasy! I could make it back here again, too. Long as you think you can hold on, that is.”
Bonbon gave Lyra a smile. “I’ll stay here and pack your things for you.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you there.” Lyra returned the smile and turned back to Dash. “Well?”
“Right now right now?” Rainbow Dash asked and glanced around the deck. Seeing Lyra’s look she shrugged and knelt down so that Lyra could climb on her back. “Whatever. Just hold on tight. I don’t want to have to fish you out of the water.”
Lyra climbed up on Rainbow’s back, making herself comfortable between her wings and holding on tightly with her hooves around Rainbow’s neck. “All set,” she said and glanced back at Bonbon. “Adiós! I’ll see you there.”
Bonbon waved as Rainbow Dash set off, swiftly accelerating towards the city on the horizon. She shook her head and watched the two disappear across the deep blue waves for a while.
“Is she missing her own wedding or something?”
Bonbon startled a bit at the voice and turned to watch Snow Dive standing next to her. “Something like that,” Bonbon said and tried to smile. “Just needed to get there a little faster.”
“Hrm.” Snow Dive shook her head and turned around. Bonbon watched her go. She made a note to thank the crew properly for having them on board, but she got the feeling that what would help even more was for them to leave the ship.
A foul mood appeared to follow them around wherever they went. Bonbon was glad that it seemed to be merely brooding at the moment. Perhaps it was the crew’s natural cheerfulness which resisted, she thought idly, before turning back to stare at the horizon.
They should have brought Pinkie Pie along with them, then. Bonbon smiled a bit.
* * *
Rainbow Dash returned an hour later, as the sun was just starting to turn the sky to red. She landed next to where Bonbon was sitting, watching the sunset and the other ship, which had steadily caught up with them and was now drifting along not far behind them.
“You didn’t drop her off in the sea, did you?” Bonbon teased.
Rainbow Dash flicked her mane proudly and stretched her neck, watching the other ship suspiciously. “What do you take me for? Some second-rate flier? I’m the best. Of course she’s fine. Told me she’d meet us at the dock again tomorrow before she ran off.”
Bonbon just nodded. A few more hours and she would have solid ground beneath her hooves herself. She was almost tempted to ask the pegasus to fly her there right now, but she didn’t think it would be polite to either Dash or the crew. And then there was all their stuff to carry. She settled herself instead on enjoying her last sunset at sea to the fullest.
* * *
The ship berthed at the harbor just before midnight. Bonbon glanced out the window as the ship came to a rest at the docks, and saw the other ship drifting in not far behind. In the darkness of night it and its crew were but shadows in the flickering lights of lanterns, working the ropes and readying for landing. Bonbon shook herself away from the window and returned to packing her and Lyra’s things.
Bonbon turned around and picked up Lyra’s instrument. It was a bit heavier than she expected. Perhaps, she thought with a sad smile, there was more gold in it than she had given it credit for. She sat down and ran a hoof over each string in turn. The sound came out a little flat and discordant in her untrained grasp. Bonbon sighed and set it down next to Lyra’s bags.
Her eyes lingered on one of Lyra’s notebooks. Hesitating, she reached out to pick it up. She flipped through several pages of musical notes, telling herself that she wasn’t really going to read anything. She skipped over a few pages which looked more like a diary, before stopping at a random page.
A dried flower graced the middle of the page, glued carefully to the paper. Bonbon recognized it as a simple pansy, light blue like the ones Bonbon had once given Lyra in one of her attempts to woo the unicorn. Bonbon lowered her gaze to the words scribbled below.
“Why don’t I just go? Why do I stay, when I know there’s nothing for me here? I’ve done what research I can in the Ponyville library long ago. That’s what I came here for, wasn’t it? Why do I stay, then? Every day that I remain here only makes it harder. I can’t stay for her. I could never really be with her. I would only hurt her. I don’t want to hurt anypony.”
A few idle hearts graced the page, drawn by a mind lost in thought. “I’m fooling myself with hope that love or friendship was ever meant for me, the real me, the whole of me, and not just the face of me. I should never have stayed here this long.”
Bonbon lifted the book to avoid her tears dripping on the paper. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “You dumb, foolish mare!” she whispered.
There was a knock on the door, and Rainbow’s voice brought her back to the world around her. “Hey, you ready? We’re about to leave the ship now.”
Bonbon stuffed the notebook back in the saddlebag and stood up, wiping her eyes. “Yeah. I’ll be right up. Just give me a second.”
“Alright,” Dash said on the other side of the door before disappearing, her hooves echoing on the steps. Bonbon stretched herself and shook off the sadness before picking up the bags and turning to leave the ship. It would be good to finally have solid ground beneath her hooves again.
* * *
Bonbon stepped off the ship and almost felt like she had been reunited with a long-lost friend. She had to compose herself for a moment lest she succumb to the urge to get down and kiss the ground. “I’m never setting hoof on a ship again,” she said.
“Going to be hard to get home, then,” Rainbow Dash grinned as she came up next to Bonbon, jabbing her shoulder with a hoof.
“Spoilsport,” Bonbon grumbled and hefted her bags up as she looked around the docks. Most of the crew was getting off to join the quiet bustle of the docks. Even at this late hour, several ponies and griffons were at work or standing around. “So what now?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged and turned to look up at the city, sitting upon the hills and cliffs above the docks. “I guess we find a place to sleep for the night and meet Lyra in the morning as planned. As long as the griffons here aren’t jerks like in that other place.”
“Careful now. You don’t want to tempt fate,” Bonbon chuckled.
“Yeah yeah. Let’s just find the captain and say—”
“You!”
They both turned towards the group of griffons walking down the pier from where the other ship had docked, led by a now familiar bluish and large-beaked griffon. “Oh Fate,” Bonbon sighed. Others were turning to watch what was going on too.
“Great. What do you want now?” Rainbow Dash gave the griffons a look like they were the least interesting people in the whole world right now.
“What do you think I want?” The griffon came to a halt in front of them, the other griffons gathering beside him. “You think—”
“Geoffrey!” The griffon was tackled mid-speech by the young stowaway, leaping off the ship and rushing at him at the sight of someone familiar.
“Gerome?” There was a moment of surprise and confusion among the griffons at the appearance of the missing boy. Geoffrey looked at the boy hugging him tightly, then back at the ponies. “So, you thought you could get away with kidnapping my cousin? You have some nerve!”
“We didn’t—” Rainbow Dash protested.
“They tied me up!” The boy broke her off.
“Because you attacked us!” Bonbon glared at the boy. Ponies and griffons were gathering around them, turning into something more and more like a mob. Things could quickly take a turn for the worse, and Bonbon found herself right in the middle of it. Why couldn’t people ever just be reasonable?
“That’s what you say!” the boy countered, glaring back at Bonbon. “You knocked me out and tied me up, and I don’t even know how I got on that ship!”
Geoffrey lifted the boy’s head and pulled at the bandage to look at the wound to his head where Lyra had hit him with the bottle. “You’re going to pay for this,” he said and pointed a claw at them. “Every bloody pony who laid a hoof on this kid! Your foul witchery won’t save you this time!”
“We didn’t kidnap him! He attacked us!” Rainbow growled as she got in the face of the griffon. “Get it through that thick skull already!”
“You pay for your words, pony!” The griffon growled back.
Bonbon groaned and applied her hoof to her face. She turned to look as a new voice picked up from the crowd behind her.
“Are we having a fight on the docks this early?” A large, sandy-coated griffon strolled through the crowd of ponies and stopped beside Bonbon. Maurice winked down at Bonbon and looked back at the other griffons. “It’s hardly past midnight yet. The best bars only just opened.”
“You’re taking their side, Mice?” Geoffrey spat.
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m just thirsty and would rather we all drink than fight,” Maurice said. “So why don’t we all go have a glass and talk about it like decent griffons and ponies?”
Geoffrey puffed himself up and stepped in front of the boy. “I know you and your friends, but you don’t scare me!” His friends joined him in looking confident as well. “We’ve got your boss on our side.”
Maurice lit up in a delighted grin. “Abbie? She’s with you? Well, why don’t you tell her to get her feathered ass out here, then? Tell her Maurice owes her a drink or two.”
A few uncertain looks were shared by the griffons. Geoffrey frowned and turned to one of them. “Tell her to get out here. And take the kid back to the ship with you,” he said and gave the boy a pat on the head before turning back to the ponies and Maurice. “They kidnapped my cousin and beat him up. I don’t care who you are or what you say; I’m going to make them pay!”
Maurice smiled and looked at Bonbon and Rainbow Dash. “These two little ponies? I find that hard to believe. Come on, Geoff. You know how kids are at that age, always running away from home to go on adventures, sneaking aboard ships and getting themselves in trouble. How many ships did you sneak aboard as a kid because you wanted to be a sailor just like your uncle?”
Geoffrey was fuming, glaring at them all. “My cousin would never lie to me!”
Maurice held back a laugh, very poorly. “Right, right, of course.”
The griffon who had run back to the ship returned, alone. She looked uncomfortable as she whispered something to Geoffrey. The confidence of the griffons seems to falter, the air slowly seeping out of them.
“Tell you what,” Maurice began. “Why don’t you run off or come with us for a drink, and when I see Abbie next, I’ll be sure not to tell her that you tried to involve her in your personal little squabbles with my friends.”
The griffons seemed to grow steadily smaller as they looked at Geoffrey for support.
“You know what she thinks of griffons who go around claiming to be her friends to other griffons,” Maurice added. “No one likes griffons like that very much.”
Geoffrey was smoldering, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to make anything of it at this point. He gave a huff and pointed at Rainbow Dash and Bonbon. “Don’t think I’ll forget you two,” he said before spinning around, stalking angrily back towards his ship with the rest of his friends behind him.
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Yeah, why don’t you just remember how many times we made you run off with your tail between your legs before you try again?”
“It’s a bad time to push your luck,” Maurice said and nudged the pegasus. “You look like you need a place to stay, and maybe a friend or two as well in this place. So how about I offer you that drink, maybe?”
Bonbon gave Dash a slap to the back of the head for extra emphasis. “We would be honored,” she said to Maurice.
* * *
“Whoa!”
“What happened here?”
Bonbon looked around as they walked down one of the streets of the city with Maurice. Every window had either been barred with wood or replaced recently. She looked down, nearly stumbling on the loose cobblestones where the whole street had been torn up in a long, jagged scar all through town. Pieces of shattered glass could still be seen glinting everywhere among the cracks, though the majority had been swept up.
Maurice looked around at the destruction. “If you believe everyone around town, some crazy pegasus flew through the city fast enough to blast every window and tear up the street,” he said like he wasn’t sure how much of it was embellished over a few drinks. “Then she landed—or more like she crashed—in the market and started raiding the place for food before taking flight again, leaving everyone in the dust so to speak. I didn’t see it, mind you. I only just got back here two days ago, and it was like this. I live several blocks from the path of destruction, and even one of my windows got blown.”
“Sounds like a tall tale,” Bonbon said.
“You’re telling me? I didn’t believe a word of it, but here we are.” Maurice looked around. After a second he pointed to a wall and trotted towards it. “They’ve got a big reward on her head, too.”
They stopped to look at the poster on the wall. It depicted a turquoise pegasus mare standing in the wreckage of a marketplace, hoarding cobs of corn. Her brilliantly orange mane was a wind-blown mess, and her wild, manic eyes were staring straight into the camera of whoever had managed to snap the picture. The tattered remains of a blue flight suit clung to her body.
Underneath the picture, in large letters, the poster read, “Wanted! For wanton destruction of property, endangering lives, theft. Reward 5.000 bits, dead or alive.”
“Unbelievable,” Bonbon shook her head and turned to follow Maurice.
“My exact reaction,” the griffon said, his tail swishing lazily along the ground as he sauntered along the street. “No point chasing after her, though. Not if you ask me, anyway. Wherever she was going in such a rush, she’s gotta be far away by now.”
Bonbon nodded. The night was cool and refreshing, and the feeling of solid ground under her hooves still managed to make her smile. She looked around and paused when she realized that Rainbow Dash hadn’t said a word for a while. The pegasus was no longer following along with them. Bonbon stopped and turned to look for her. “Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus was still standing by the poster, staring at the picture. Bonbon watched her for a few seconds before calling out again. “Rainbow Dash? Are you coming?” Bonbon smiled at a sudden impulse to add, “You couldn’t catch her anyway.”
Rainbow Dash startled, as if someone had stuck her with a needle, and turned to give Bonbon a withering glare. She reached out and grabbed the poster in her teeth, pulling it off the wall, then turned and drifted gloomily past Bonbon and Maurice.
Bonbon watched her, confused at the change in mood. “Sorry? I was only teasing,” she called out and glanced at Maurice. The griffon just shrugged and continued on his way.
* * *
“So where’s your other friend?” Maurice opened a door and stepped into a small guest room. “Last we met there were three of you.”
Bonbon followed inside and dropped her saddlebags on the bed, both her own and Lyra’s. “She had some things to do,” she said and looked out the window at the dark city outside. Lyra could be anywhere out there. Bonbon hoped she was okay, wherever she was staying for the night.
Maurice gave a nod and looked around the room as if to satisfy himself that everything was as it should be, then walked back out. “Your friend must have been tired,” he said. Rainbow Dash had gone straight into the other guest room and closed the door without a word.
“Sorry. I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with that pony.” Bonbon sighed. “But we’re very thankful for your hospitality. Or at least I am.”
“Think nothing of it,” Maurice said and shook his head. He looked down the hall and hummed a bit. “It’s a bit late, but my offer of a drink still stands.”
Bonbon stretched her back and looked between the bed and the window. After a moment she shrugged and walked out, closing the door behind her. “I don’t mind a drink or two.”
The griffon livened back up a bit and turned, leading the way out. Bonbon followed through the small manor. “You think Abigail was on the other ship, or were they just bluffing?”
“If they were bluffing, they were bigger idiots than I gave them credit for.” Maurice huffed. “Abbie doesn’t care to get involved in petty squabbles like that, and she’s good at slipping away when she doesn’t wish to hang around any longer.”
They headed down the street to a small tavern. Maurice showed her in, and Bonbon followed him to the bar. “Why would she come here?”
Maurice shrugged. “Probably just a stop on the way. Bet she’s headed back home, but you’re better off asking her yourself,” he said and smiled. “Two glasses and a bottle of whiskey for me and my pony friend,” he said and held up two claws at the griffon behind the bar. “You haven’t been to Mais before you’ve tried our whiskey, my friend.”
* * *
Twi, Lightning Dust passed through Mais. Trashed and raided the whole place too. They’ve got a bounty on her head, but hay if I know where she is by now. Must have been … How long did it take her to cross the sea? If she flew at that speed all the way … bet it wouldn’t be long. She’s going to burn herself up. There’s no way she could have kept that up … right?
— Dash
*
It’s impossible to say much with any certainty, my love. Based on some assumptions about her speed and assuming also that she made no stops, she could have reached Mais the same day, and I do not believe she could have continued like that for more than an hour after at most. That’s being generous with assumptions, even. But the fact that she stopped may be a sign that she took rests along the way. We can only hope that she did.
Luna is reluctant to say much. I don’t think she’s feeling confident about what she knows yet. But Scootaloo says that Luna has been unable to find any of Lightning Dust’s dreams. Either she doesn’t dream, hasn’t slept all this time, or … I’m sorry, dear, we can only hope, but I want you to be prepared in case of the worst.
But there’s more, and I think this is what has Luna so reluctant to speak. Scootaloo mentioned that Luna has had the same problem with Lyra. Assuming that Lyra does dream—very few ponies don’t dream at all, even if they don’t remember it—, and that she’s not a changeling of some sort, it’s possible that she is possessed by something which doesn’t dream, or whose dreams are not those of a pony. If so, this could be the same for Lightning Dust.
Given recent events, I think there is reason to keep a close eye on Lyra. She may hold the key to all these questions.
Please be careful.
♥ Your Princess,
Twilight Sparkle.
*
That’s what I’ve been saying all this time, Twi. But I’m not breaking my promise to Lyra, and I’m not giving up on Lightning Dust either! You know, I don’t care … forget it.
We’re in Mais now. Smells of corn everywhere. Lyra’s off somewhere out there in the city, was in a hurry to get here and said she’d meet us at the docks in the morning. We’re staying with one of the griffons we met at the crater. I think I just heard Bonbon stumble down the hall to her room a few minutes ago. Probably drunk off her hooves. Wish I had a bottle too— I didn’t write that, Twilight, and you didn’t read it. I don’t do that crap! It’s not me.
I don’t know why I’m writing this stuff to you, but I can’t sleep, and I miss you. I keep staring at the picture of Lightning Dust and thinking. She looks awful, Twi … like all Tartarus is chasing her or something. It’s all —
*
Dash?
Are you there? What’s happening?
* * *
Bonbon twisted and turned, feeling hot and sweaty. The darkness flowed like water. Waves of thick black currents rushed over and around her. It lifted her up high and back down, raging and frothing like a silent beast.
Running and panting, stumbling blind and panicked. Her legs were scraped and bloody from falling and galloping through bushes and over sharp rocks. The sound of the darkness chasing her, galloping hooves and shouts. Something whistled past her ear and shattered against something ahead. She fell and cried out. Pebbles howled for her and pulled on the leash. Bonbon stumbled back on her hooves, frantic and pained. “Princess!”
“Run, you fool! This way!”
Bonbon stumbled after the sound in a panic. The darkness tore at her like sharpened branches, obsidian claws in the night grasping at her. They snapped and broke like brittle bones as she pushed through, head down and crying. “Why are they after us?”
“We did not permit thee to speak! Run! Stay behind, protect u—” Something whistled through the air, and a cry of pain cut through the darkness ahead. Bonbon heard the princess fall and scramble among the underbrush ahead.
“Princess!” Bonbon stopped and fell down low to the ground. “Princess!”
“Stay away! Don’t touch us!”
Bonbon ignored the words, fumbling in the dark for the princess.
“Away!” The voice of the princess was frantic now. A leg kicked out at Bonbon and hit the side of her face. “No! We need no help, get up there and fight! We command thee! Stay a—Ah!” The princess cried out again.
Bonbon reached out towards the voice. She had to get them away from here, get them to safety. The darkness writhed and screamed. Bonbon clasped her ears in pain and cried, curling up on the ground as the world shook with sudden rage and fear.
The world trembled like a snake in the throes of death, whipping the black sea into a frothing mass of white fury. Bonbon cried in agony as a cold light shone through the darkness. A figure, tall and terrible leaped across the waves, landing above Bonbon, horn ablaze.
Princess Luna’s mane billowed in the wind and waves, her teeth gritted and face snarling. Her legs buckled under the weight of the darkness above her, standing under the crushing of a wave hitting the shore. “Be … gone! Away with thee!” she howled at the dark, and her eyes shone like twin moons.
The darkness howled back, thick with rage and despair. Princess Luna shook as from a blow and fell down on one knee above Bonbon. Her horn flared brighter, meeting the black wall above with unwavering force.
A quake shook the world, tearing the ground apart beneath them. Bonbon screamed and opened her eyes wide as the world around her shattered and howled in a thousand shrieking voices.
A tiny ball of fur landed on her face and clawed at her muzzle. Bonbon blinked and sat up in bed with a start, her drunken vision blurred and he heart pounding. The Tartarean shrieking wouldn’t stop assaulting her ears and frayed nerves. Another furry body landed on her blanket, tiny black eyes of madness and maw of yellowed teeth screaming and hissing at her.
Three more landed on her.
Bonbon screamed and swatted the mice away. Hundreds more flooded the room, pushing and clawing against each other for space. Bonbon pushed herself up against the wall, kicking at the swarms of rabid mice quickly flooding her bed and floor.
The screaming and shrieking never ceased, nearly drowning out cries of alarm and shouting from outside. Bonbon kicked wildly about her and jumped off the bed, trying to fight her way to the door, but there were too many, biting and clawing at her. She fell and closed her eyes, waving frantically about her as she was covered in enraged mice.
Somewhere above her, glass shattered and fell upon the floor of mice. “Bonbon!” She heard a voice call out. Strong hooves grabbed her and pulled her into the air and out into the night.
* * *
“Mice! Mice everywhere! Biting … scratching everywhere!” Bonbon wept and shivered, still feeling them all over her and crawling around in her mane and tail. She cracked an eye open and stared down at the town below, the streets and homes overflowing with rivers of enraged rodents, a perfect picture of complete and utter mayhem. “Holy bloody hay! What did they put in that whiskey?”
“This sort of crap always happens whenever you don’t happen to have Fluttershy around to deal with it,” Rainbow Dash’s voice grumbled above her. Bonbon turned her head to look at the pegasus holding her, circling high above the city where the rodents couldn’t reach them. “She’d have this place under control in a snap, believe me.”
“I knew I should have gone to live with my brother up in Grifland. No doggone mice up there.” Maurice drifted up beside them, shivering as he eyed his home and the sea of rodents below with visible apprehension. “I knew Mais had a lot of them, but this is crazy!”
“Lyra!” Bonbon cried in sudden horror. The other two looked at her. “She’s down there somewhere,” she said and turned her head, staring at the madness below as if she might spot a minty unicorn among the masses of mice. Then she remembered that Lyra would not be a unicorn for a few hours yet. “Bloody damn!”
“Any idea where she might be?” Rainbow Dash looked around the city.
“I … I don’t know!” Bonbon’s heart was starting to race again. Lyra could be anywhere, and worse, she was stuck as a human. Should she tell Rainbow Dash? She had no hope of rescuing Lyra from the mice without wings herself. She had promised Lyra that she would keep her secret. If they went to find her, there was no way Dash wouldn’t find out.
Bonbon frowned at herself and at the whole mess around her. “Let’s try the docks!” There was no way she was leaving Lyra alone down there, no matter what promises she had made. “Maurice, you try looking on the other side of town.”
“Right,” the griffon said and looked around before taking off.
Rainbow Dash nodded and spun around, racing towards the docks. “How the hay are we going to find her among all this chaos?” she called over the wind and shrieking of mice.
“Look out for any golden light,” Bonbon said, wracking her brain for anything else that might help. “Lyra!” she called out, hoping it would help rather than scare Lyra away even more.
“Good idea!” Rainbow Dash said and dove down closer to the streets, scouting left and right while calling out for Lyra.
Where were all these mice coming from? Bonbon shivered at the memory of waking up covered in angry, screeching mice. If that didn’t end up haunting her forever, she would be greatly thankful. More importantly, what could have enraged them so? Thick streams of rodent bodies scrambled and clawed for purchase against each other in the streets. The image of ponies galloping around wildly in the Manehattan streets flashed through her mind, replaced by the hordes of thousands upon thousands of mice running amok and wreaking havoc below her. But the ponies in Manehattan hadn’t been stricken by rage like this.
“Bonbon!” Rainbow Dash shook her out of her thoughts and pointed to a flash of golden light.
Bonbon looked up to see a second flicker of light. “Go!”
“Right!” Rainbow Dash picked up pace, racing over rooftops before diving down between buildings, zig-zagging through tiny back alleys.
Another flicker of light came from an alley ahead, and a strange, haunting melody sprung up from a street behind them. The mice below seemed to pause for a moment, looking up and trying to turn towards the sound echoing among the old buildings.
Rainbow Dash ignored the sound, racing around the corner and came to a stop. Bonbon looked around the alley for any signs of Lyra. A shadow flicked across the walls as something ran through the light of a lantern. Bonbon turned and caught a glimpse of Lyra turning to look at them. A moment of horror flashed across Lyra’s face before she darted through the door to a nearby shop.
“What the hay?” Rainbow Dash blinked.
“Just follow her!”
“On it!” Rainbow Dash zipped down the street and turned on the spot, racing through the doorway into the shop. She stopped and looked around among the dusty shelves. There was no sign of Lyra anywhere.
“The basement!” Bonbon said and pointed to a flight of stairs behind the counter.
Rainbow Dash nodded and landed, letting go of Bonbon before running down the stairs into the dark cellar below the shop. Bonbon followed and stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the small room.
Rainbow Dash trotted up to a large stone grating lying on the floor next to a wide hole in the wall, just large enough for somepony to crawl through. “You think she’s …?” She turned to look at Bonbon. “Uh, in there?”
Bonbon walked up beside her and knelt down to look into the deep hole. All she could see was darkness, though mercifully free of any mice. A shiver ran down her spine. She looked around the room, but there was nowhere else Lyra could have gone as far as she could see.
Bonbon took a deep breath before crawling into the hole and the darkness ahead. Why could she never have prepared for something like this?