Revelations
The corridor may as well have gone on forever. With no perception of time, Luna couldn't tell whether they'd been walking for ten minutes or an hour. The princess looked towards her compatriot, straining to see him through the dark. There was a sense of irony to the fact that she couldn't see in total darkness, being the princess of the night. She could see in any conditions on the surface, when the stars' light or the moon could help her out. A third princess would've fit nicely, considering all the places the celestial bodies didn't reach. Princess of the earth or something.
"So, what now?" Comet asked, his hoof steps offbeat from his limp. "I mean, what if this thing goes on forever?"
"It must lead somewhere." Luna responded. "Even if it dead ends into some chamber and we have to turn around, there must've been some reason this tunnel was built."
"But didn't you say you're a princess?" The stallion inquired, and Luna sighed. If only she had more experience with amnesia. "Shouldn't you know why these things are here?"
"There are things in this land that easily predate my sister and I. Some are wondrous, as this would be without the darkness and giant spiders, yet appear far beyond the technology of ancient ponies. And of course, no concrete records have been found about any of it."
Comet scratched his head. "Hey, with the darkness bit, how come you can't make your horn glow?"
Luna put a bit of exploratory power into her horn, immediately regretting the decision. Pain lanced through her forehead, and her legs faltered. It hadn't hurt so much when she'd thrown a spider from Comet, and now she couldn't preform the first use of magic that children learned. It'd probably been the focus. Before, she'd just thrown energy at a target, but now it mattered how her energy manifested itself. A concussion to a unicorn was like one of Jason's guns with a bent barrel. You could never do what you wanted to, and it was dangerous to try.
"You okay?" Comet asked, as a reassuring hoof went over her shoulders.
"I'll be fine. Just a little headache."
"So no magic?"
"No magic." She confirmed, starting to walk again.
"You know, it kinda looks brighter down there, doesn't it?" Comet asked, pointing down the corridor.
"A little, maybe. Probably just a trick our minds are playing on us." Luna replied.
"I suppose we have to investigate it anyway though…"
"Yeah…"
___________________________________________________________
Jason hissed as Dash attempted to peel off his body armor. There was a knock at the door.
"Go away, Twilight!" Dash yelled. "I've got more important things to take care of at the moment."
"Dash, I-" The purple mare tried to respond.
"I said I'll deal with you later!" The room was silent for a few moments before hoof steps retreated down the hall with a quiet sigh.
"How come you- ow- exploded at her like that?" Jason asked. "I mean in general, not just now. I didn't see you being the one to do it."
Dash sighed, successfully pulling the fabric a few gentle inches. "Twilight's well meaning and all, but- for all her intelligence, she just doesn't handle any sort of pressured decision-making well. I guess I got mad at her because of the fact that she didn't even need to make a decision, let alone assume that she needed to help. And besides the anger from her breaking orders, we've gone through so much before that the idea we'd need help is a little ridiculous. That second part isn't the big part of the anger, obviously."
"Still got a bit of a vain streak in you, huh?" Jason asked, clenching his teeth as Dash pulled his armor and it finally let go, sliding off his fore hooves. He still had the lower half on, but that was unimportant.
Dash bit her lip. "I think we deserve a bit of a vain streak. God, welt is right."
"Should I look?"
"Up to you."
"That really instills confidence." He sighed, opting not to look. "Throw me that shirt."
Dash grabbed a T-shirt from their nightstand, tossing it over. "I don't know why you keep some of this stuff around."
Jason pulled off a store tag, sliding it over his upper half. "Human clothes are useful for a lot. The fabric's pretty strong, doesn't easily degrade, and it covers up welts like these." He paused. "Plus, I'm a little chilly right now."
"You're chilly." Dash said in disbelief, pointing at him. "You're always like a million degrees!"
"Room temperature is farther away from my body temperature." He replied with a shrug. "Being cold is weird for me too."
"You don't think it means anything, right? You feel okay?"
"Yeah. Look, maybe it's just the healing process. If love keeps me warm, and it's being used for healing, maybe I'm a little colder. Usually I just stay passed out under hospital blankets until I get better."
"There were those times you got cold under Canterlot. That didn't make any sense." Dash pointed out, throwing an eye towards Scoots, who was hidden somewhere in a pillow fort that may or may not have fallen over.
"Yeah, well I'm no doctor." He paused. "Then again, even they wouldn't really be able to diagnose most of what I could have."
"Don't you just love being different?"
"If I could become a regular pony I would."
"I wouldn't let you." Dash replied. "I didn't fall in love with a regular pony. I probably wouldn't even know you if you'd been regular from the beginning."
"I dunno, with my charming good looks…"
"Pfft. The most you could say is humor."
"I'll accept that." He replied, beginning to push the armor from his lower half. The room grew silent again.
Dash finally spoke up. "So what about that Hercules thing?" She asked.
"I really just hope that it isn't anywhere close to literal. Hercules was this big strong guy from Greek mythology that was physically unstoppable. Mentally, not so much. But people mostly refer to the physical bit. Bob might be blatantly misusing the name, but it's still worrying."
"Especially considering the fact that Bob knows physical muscles won't do much against our magic." Dash added.
"Ooh, yeah…" Jason paused, shaking his head. "Damn. See, if he was human, all he would have is a plan. He wouldn't be able to do all these weird things and keep this fog about him. Both literally and figuratively."
"Well I doubt he's going to wait too long to show off something that he was so keen in advertising." She replied. "But of course, there's no way to be any more ready than we already are. Except, of course…" She pushed herself into Jason's side. "If I decide to love you a little more."
Muffled complaints came from the pillow fort.
"Look," Jason began, "Though I do appreciate your increased love, I feel like it's sort of pointless. There's a lot we haven't seen, but I don't doubt the ability for us to come out ahead."
"So you don't want any love?" Dash asked rhetorically, shifting away. Jason followed, tipping her onto her back so that he was looking downward into her eyes.
"Corny, cliché line." He said, putting on a dreamy expression as he moved his face close to hers. Dash put a hoof around the back of his head, pulling herself up to kiss him. "You bastard." She whispered a moment later, pushing him to one side. He landed on his bad side, grunting as he hit.
"You know," Dash began after he seemed to recover, "I sort of like it here."
__________________________________________________________________
"So Luna."
"Yes, Comet?"
"Did you expect anything like this?" The stallion asked, gesturing around. Laid out in front of the pair was a huge cave, which disappeared downwards into gloom. "And do you think it goes upwards?"
"I haven't a clue." The princess responded in a near-whisper, her eyes straining for the ceiling. "I also can't say I know where we are. There were mines around Manehattan, but this is clearly naturally formed." She looked at the mouth of the tunnel they'd come from, staring at the stalactites that had begun to form from the ceiling of the unnatural entrance. "Each inch on one of those is probably about a hundred years of dripping. Assuming that the water and mineral content there was constant, I'd say that this passage is at least a few centuries old."
"You said something about being princess for a thousand or so, right?"
"These structures far predate my lifespan, yes."
"Isn't that sort of eerie, knowing that even a thousand years doesn't really shed light on the world?"
"Well, I definitely didn't think this conversation was going to be about things I don't know either." Luna replied, slightly annoyed. "I've known that I-" She paused, finally taking a few steps into the cave. "Haven't known everything for a long time. I never really assumed that I did, and after this whole disaster of the past few months with the war and Jason and so on, there's been no end of things I've just had to just go with."
"There's a war?" Comet asked.
"There was. Officially, it's over. Unofficially, we still have a small contingent of the army tied up in areas where the previous government remains in control. While it's not a spectacular threat or long lasting, it's just as much of a headache as this city. We're dealing with a pony that has survived his own death, and only just now risen up. I don't know what he's capable of, and I'm not sure if we can fight him."
"Just us?" Comet asked, his lower voice making an spooky sounding echo. Luna gestured for him to follow, and began to hike upwards in a slightly smaller cave.
"No, we have ponies that can fight. But none really specialize in magic, and I'm probably the only other pony in Equestria that knows their way around the same type of magic the enemy uses."
"So what's this Equestria thing?"
"Comet?" Luna asked, exasperated.
"Yeah?"
"We really need to get your memory back."
___________________________________________________________________
"So basically, you think that if they've got any sort of base in the city, it'll be here?" Jason asked, pointing to a somewhat run-down part of town. "And I'm assuming you've got no subways or anything, right?"
"No tunnels, if that's what you're asking…" Dust said, furrowing his brow.
"Basically subways are underground trains that transport people around a city, by the way. It's efficient transportation."
"Noted?" Dust replied.
"So the point is," Dash took over, "we should look here?"
"Ah, well more specifically, these few blocks. This city's full of royal guards… or at least it was. Luna specifically set them up to act as civilians, going about jobs here and there and staying vigilant. We didn't get a lot of tips, to be honest. But maybe that's because we weren't around the right areas." He shook a hoof at them, grinning.
"So we're looking here because the lack of traffic through this area implies that it might be of importance?" Jason asked, leaning backwards in his seat. "That's ridiculous."
"Yeah?" Dust asked. "You went to one of the same places last time."
Jason stared. "That seems a little too convenient. Just look where we haven't been and boom, obvious evidence. They've got to be playing us. Why else would there be a plant like that. Bob wanted us to know that. I'm sure he would want us to go there too."
"You know, you forget that this is after months of work." Dust responded angrily. "And look, you knocked off a bunch of guys today. That's a success."
Jason sighed.
"What about the tips?" Dash asked. "Do those help?"
"When Luna pursued those, the suspects either committed suicide or disappeared off the map. I don't think they were supposed to be found. Similarly, the guards had suspicions towards these areas that, while unfounded, were somewhat legitimate. They knew what they were doing, and I doubt much got through them. At the very least, having an idea of the locations of more cronies of this guy should help. You can design a raid however you like, expecting heavy resistance."
"I suppose that's true…" Jason replied. "There's a high chance it'll be a 'shoot everything that moves' scenario."
"Yeah, well either way, we aren't doing anything about it tonight." Dust said, turning away. "Get some rest and we'll plan this out tomorrow."
_______________________________________________________________
Jason landed on top of a roof, folding up his wings as he peered down on the block they had decided to investigate. There were a few that showed promise, but trying to attack more than one at a time was too risky. They didn't have the manpower, especially, with the other half of Team Green Bean, Steve and Sartos stuck down south. From what he'd heard they were needed anyway, so he couldn't exactly complain.
"So that's our target?" Morning asked, watching Tank, Eravel and Thunderlane come to the mouth of the alley below. The griffin made an okay sign from one talon, lining up in front of a street level door and aiming at the old lock. He gave a nod, beginning to count in his head as Dash, Jason and Morning shifted over to the rooftop of the target building and lined up against the roof access. Eravel's shot rang out as Jason pulled the wooden door from its hinges with his magic, storming downwards into the darkness.
No shots came to meet them, but he could hear the sounds of a skirmish downstairs. The trio descended another flight, only to find one dead pony, his firearm still in his hoof. A tattered cloth curtain blocked off the other half of the first floor, and the team began to move towards the barrier.
Laughter rang out, and the curtains shifted. Bob sort of passed through the flaps like a light breeze, grinning. It was the first time he'd opted for a lack of any facial fog, leaving his shockingly normal face open to the world. He didn't really look like a bad guy that wanted to do- whatever bad things he wanted. The guy looked more like a librarian or maybe a shopkeeper.
~I don't quite enjoy the radio silence.~ Twilight murmured. Jason saw Dash roll her eyes.
"Yeah, well that tends to happen when you're looking at the guy we're after."
Bob had lost his grin, and was looking straight at Jason with a somewhat quizzical look. "I see you're still a changeling." He said.
Jason didn't credit the guy with a response. He didn't really have one either, but that didn't need to be mentioned.
"You're quite the interest, you know. I expected this little problem would resolve itself, but it appears you're just as at home as ever." He was only met with blank faces. Bob put on a face of faux surprise, and Jason suddenly felt himself get fed up, raising his gun to point at the fiend.
"Woah there." Bob replied quickly, holding his hooves in the air as at least fifteen ponies pushed through the cloth with guns raised. "Don't want anyone to get hurt here."
"Shut the fuck up." Jason sneered, hearing the others raise their firearms in defense.
"Haven't you ever wondered, 'why me?'" Bob paused, but received no answer. "Come on, we all have. It's part of being alive. I guess you didn't fall into the whole, 'alive' group for a while though, did you?" He paused. "Guess you can check that off the bucket list. Or can you?" He acted like he was weighing two invisible options. "Paradox?"
Jason's eyes widened, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Oh, I see we've got a winner!" He laughed. "You're powerful, but you aren't that smart. Let me tell you a story, alright? I think you have a bit of time." Bob cleared his throat, pacing to one side. "You, my dear Jason, woke up in a meadow near Ponyville a few months back. And you know what? Achieving magic on day one I've heard? That's quite the accomplishment. Completely impossible, but an accomplishment nonetheless."
There was a long pause as Jason tried to get his mouth to work. "Then how'd I do it?!" Jason replied, annoyed. He shifted his gun to a crony, who flinched. "I don't care how much you seem to know about me, it still doesn't change the fact that anything happened the way it did!"
"No, it doesn't. But it does change the circumstances under which they did. I don't know what you think about that body, but it definitely isn't just a re-skinned copy of your old one." Bob's smile started to come back. "I'm sure Luna's told you about me, and the soul magic, as she calls it. We talked like this once, before she… ceased to exist" He explained, gesturing around. "She's starting to show her age." Another pause, as he seemed to lose his train of thought. "Anyway, souls aren't easy to come by. Bodies like to hold onto them, you see. But your world sure seems to have a lot of people dying. Large populations do that, you know."
Jason spluttered. "No, that's not what-"
"So I grabbed a few. Could just focus on a little area and suck them up. And you know what? They're slippery things, souls. They don't really exist in the way other things do. But yours was all annoying. Slid right into some busted up changeling after that supposed invasion."
"That's impossible!" Jason yelled, his gun shaking. "This is my body!"
"Well, I guess you could call it half and half." Bob proposed. "The other guy's still in there. I mean, come on. You don't just pick up magic and walking like that. You just had it all along. Knew it. Muscle memory, so to speak."
A frustrated tear slid down Jason's cheek. "You're wrong."
"I could be, but it sure explains everything a bit better, right? Look how helpful I am. Basically a saint."
"B- but why tell him anything!" Dash screamed, taking a step forwards. "What kind of a stupid fucking plan is that anyway?"
"I thought it was good." He turned around, sticking his head through the curtain. "Hercules! Did you think it was good?"
Another head popped out, and a large pony walked through. "I thought it was good." He replied.
"Now, gentlemen, if I can direct your attention elsewhere. This is the guy I'm sure you all know about. He's an example of what happens when you smack two souls into a body and they stick. I suggest you don't piss off Hercules. I'm sure this also sheds some light on why you're such a bother, changeling, although you did prove the possibility of such an outcome. It takes research and time, a perfect client and a lot of luck to get anything like this fellow here. Can you see why it annoys me that you haven't died yet, and that body hasn't outright rejected you?"
"It's started to become clear." Jason choked out. Not his body-
"How about memories? I'm assuming you've got a bit of haze over stuff you should remember, right? It doesn't seem like everything really transfers between brains, or something. Maybe you don't know what you don't remember. Hercules has a few gaps, to say the least. Then again, I can't say I know the effects of being with a changeling that wouldn't have developed knowledge or free will, Chrysalis being how she is." He tapped his chin in thought. "Huh."
There was a long pause.
"Well, I quite love last words." Bob picked up. "They're clichéd, but what can I say?" He pulled out a notepad. "I'm a little old fashioned."
For the first time in his life Jason couldn't hope to think of a clever retort. He also couldn't seem to get his mouth to become moist in the slightest. His mind was too busy going through the ramifications of everything he'd just heard. The fact that it made sense infuriated him. But his anger wasn't turning into action; it was too bound by the prospect that his life was due to the actions of someone he despised more than anything. And on top of that, what if this really wasn't his body? He looked down at his hoof. Somewhere inside him was a random changeling that he'd taken over.
He felt his anger start to win out over his shock. He gritted his teeth, looking back up at Bob, who was waiting patiently with a pencil in his hoof. "You want a suggestion?" The guy asked, as Jason's horn started to glow. Dash caught on and started to collect energy for whatever type of spell she decided to use.
"No." Jason replied succinctly, a hoof bursting into flame as he threw a wide semicircle of green fire at the line of ponies. He pulled out his riot shield, levitating over a piece of old sheet metal to act as a secondary shield. The team came closer together, backing out the door as quickly as they could.
The flames dispersed, leaving a line of slightly singed ponies. "No." Bob said, dotting the period. "Alright, so go after him…" He paused. "Oh wait, just get them somewhere so that Hercules can clean them up. He's not that high of a priority though, so don't kill yourselves." The goons rushed out. "Probably will anyway, though… idiots." Bob murmured, his avatar fading into the gloom.
_________________________________________________________
Jason took a turn from the door, running down an alleyway as the team split up. That wasn't a fight he was going to win, and he wasn't sure how much he wanted to fight at the moment anyway. He ducked around the side of the building, pushing his back against the wall. Dash stopped next to him, peering around the corner. They were in some part of the alleyway, but from the ground she couldn't be sure.
"Jason, snap out of it!" She said, watching his chest rise and fall a little too quickly. She grabbed his hoof, flapping her wings. "Come on, we should at least fly a ways away first."
After a couple of seconds, Jason seemed to acknowledge her. He spread his wings, shaking his head free of tears. They barely lifted off the ground before bullets whizzed past the corner, landing inches away from them. Dash felt something impact her side, sending her back to the ground.
Dash ducked back behind the corner, folding her wings away as their window for escape faded. Whatever had hit her, it didn't really hurt a whole lot. Must've whiffed or something. She pulled her gun up to one shoulder, pivoting around the corner to return fire. The pegasus barely got a couple shots off before she retreated around the corner. She chanced a glance at Jason, who was wiping his mouth after he'd presumably vomited.
If Bob had been trying to wreck Jason's morale, he'd succeeded.
"There are a million of them over here!" Dash hollered, watching Jason pull his shield from his back and deflect a bullet in the nick of time. Dash felt a wave of dread wash over her as she realized they were cornered. She pushed herself against Jason, trying to stay behind his shield. "Do something, Jason!"
"I can't concentrate!" He yelled back. "Why do you think I don't use magic in combat?!" His voice broke on the last word.
"Well you've got to!" Dash replied, wrapping a hoof around his midsection in an attempt to comfort him slightly.
He was gathering power in his horn, but she could tell it wasn't a fast process. Every time a bullet hit, it would lose a bit of it's light as Jason concentrated elsewhere. He dropped his gun, turning his head downwards. The air cooled, his horn turning the nearby air a brilliant green, building towards whatever spell he was about to cast.
Jason barely felt the bullet bounce from his shield. What he did feel was the one that impacted his fore hoof, taking it out from underneath him. He tried to catch himself with his other hoof, but only flipped himself over the rest of the way onto his back when the shield got in the way. He started to roll to get up, shutting his eyes tightly as Dash grabbed one of his hind legs and began to pull him towards her.
Dash looked around, surprised by the sudden lack of gunfire. She chanced a peek around the corner, almost bumping into a bullet that was slowly making its way past.
"Jason, you did it!" She yelled, aiming at a guy and firing before she moved onto the next one and the next one.
"Dash, I-"
"I know it only works for a while, alright? I've got it covered."
"No, that's not it." He replied shakily, and Dash looked over in confusion. Her face fell. Jason had a bloody hoof held to the front of his shoulder, pulling it away for a moment so that he could push himself against the wall. "This hurts."
"Jason, I-" She bent down to pick him up, but he shoved her away with an arm.
"There's not enough time. Just shoot them."
She didn't have time to argue. Dash angrily pulled the trigger on the one that had flanked them, checking around the corner to knock off a few more. Their bullets were beginning to accelerate in the air, and she pulled back around as the spell collapsed with an audible crack. Dash slid down the wall next to Jason, and pressed at her walkie talkie. She pulled her hoof away a moment later, realizing that it was blown pretty well to shreds.
"I guess that explains why she was so quiet." Dash laughed, watching Jason hold up the cord to his earpiece that had melted through, his face a mask of pain and tears.
"I think it got stuck on my hoof in there." He explained, the pain only slightly coming into his voice. He tried to laugh for a moment before his shoulder complained and he gritted his teeth. "What are the chances that it hits a seam anyway?" A whine. "Oh, this is so much worse than I thought it would be."
"Yeah?" Dash asked, pulling out a bandage and wrapping it around his shoulder tightly. A pony stepped around the corner, aiming a gun at them as Jason's horn gave off a flash and he thudded against the opposite wall. Dash started to get up, but relaxed as she realized the crumpled heap wasn't moving. "Do you think you can fl-"
A section of the wall exploded a few feet away from the two, creating a sizable pile of bricks against the opposite wall.
"Shit." Jason muttered, getting to his hooves slowly. His shoulder literally felt like it was on fire. "So I take it you're what's his face?" He asked, as a pony slowly walked through the hole.
"I am." He replied. "It's interesting to finally see both of you in person, you know. I mean, the boss wants me to kill you and all, but-"
"Oh, you've decided not to out of the goodness of your heart?" Dash asked, batting her eyelashes cutely as she raised her gun.
"Well, I've got to say that I sort of admire what you've accomplished in the last couple months. Boss didn't expect you to get anywhere so he just sort of left things alone. Then you did and obviously he wanted to know why, and now he just wants you out of the way having found out the answer. Not that you're a huge threat, really." He paused. "So look, no hard feelings. Just following orders. Loose ends, you know?"
Jason pulled Dash's lowered gun from her hooves, pointing it at Hercules. "Shut up."
click
"Now!? Really!? Now!?"
Hercules' horn started to glow brightly, and Jason shielded his eyes. He took a step backwards, stepping on his gun that he'd dropped earlier. He grabbed it, realizing too late that he wouldn't have time to change the outcome with a single bullet. He felt Dash grip onto his shoulder as he charged his own horn, his forehead heating up past all levels of comfort as he forced as much energy into a teleportation spell as quickly as possible.
He saw the light suddenly become like the surface of the sun through his eyelids, heat washing over his body and singeing his fur for a brief moment before his stream of consciousness ended.
______________________________________________________________________
Mission command was silent. It was a little ways past the pin drop analogy.
"Did it break?" Dust finally asked, poking at the computer screen. It had frozen on the last frame, the top of Jason's helmet barely visible on the bottom of the screen against the light. "It broke, right? The camera thing just can't handle that kind of exposure?"
The screen replaced itself with a grey screen that read, "Signal lost. Open Troubleshooter? It helps, we promise."
"Shit." Twilight murmured, still staring.
Scootaloo was staring as well, though she was doing a good job hiding her worries. "I'm sure they got away." She affirmed. "They get away from everything." She only received silence. "I know it! They're too strong to die like this!" Tears streamed down her face, any composure lost. The filly shifted on her hooves for a moment, not knowing what to do. Eventually she sprinted for the door, leaving the others behind.
It took her several tries to get the door to their room open with her hooves shaking like they were. She nearly launched herself into her parents' stuff, digging through it like she'd found gold. Scootaloo knew they still had it, somewhere. Moments later she let out a pitiful cheer of victory, pulling free the old notepad they'd used months ago. Jason had it, she was pretty sure. He better. If Dash and him weren't dust in some alleyway.
She shook her head free of those thoughts, simply writing the words "Are you alive?" before collapsing to the ground in tears atop the notepad.
______________________________________________________________
Jason hadn't thought of a destination for the teleportation. He would punch himself in the face for that one, but he couldn't really seem to feel his hooves. Or anything, really. That was weird. Was he dead? Had he not teleported or something?
Then he got hit in the chest by an unseen force, knocking the air from his lungs. Usually he got his hearing back first. This time it was just pain. His front was burned, his shoulder seared with pain, and he just felt worn out. Well, worn out was sort of an understatement.
He felt himself get rolled over, his eyes opening to the sky just as raindrops hit his face. Rain again? Really?
"Jason, you okay?" Dash asked, looking down at him. The amount of worry on her face seemed a little overkill. This wasn't much of a life threatening thing. Unless he looked like shit… He sat up quickly, feeling nauseous for a moment and regretting the move as his shoulder burned. He tried to ignore the pain, and looked himself over. His fur had been singed off in patches, replaced with a few small circles of angry red flesh. A flash of green spread across his front, filling in the fur that was missing. It looked a little better.
"I'm fine." He replied, letting himself flop back to the earth. He bit his lip as his shoulder flared up again. "Well, sorta."
The rain had started to pour.
"Alright, so now that that's out of the way, what's wrong with this place?" Dash asked.
"Huh?" Jason looked around, immediately noticing what she was talking about. The colors looked different, less one-dimensional. "What?"
"Why does stuff look weird?" She asked, her eyes scanning the landscape. Dash picked up her gun and slung it onto her back, pushing Jason's towards him. The shield was still sort of attached to his hoof by a strap, and he shook it off.
Just as fast as it'd started, the rain stopped. Dash was looking up with surprise as the clouds broke apart and sunlight began to show through. "What the hell?" She asked to no one in particular, shaking her head. She was silent for a moment as the air warmed up, thinking. "Do you think big teleportations screw with the weather?"
"Uh, maybe?" Jason replied with a shrug that became painful. "I'm no expert."
"Yeah, but do you feel how much warmer it's getting? Wherever we are, it's not cold and snowy anymo-" She paused. "What."
"What?"
"Where the hell are we?" She asked, pointing through rapidly clearing haze at a cluster of buildings down the hill they had appeared on. They looked like office buildings, sort of.
"Chicoltgo?" Jason asked, watching the rainy haze fade and his assumed ground-level drop further on the buildings.
"Those are way too high already." Dash replied, barely louder than a whisper. She leaned against a tree, watching the weather continue to cease.
More buildings emerged, a pyramidal one becoming visible as sunlight washed over the duo. "That sort of looks like-" Jason fell silent, hot, salty air blowing past them and drying his soaked fur.
"Like what?" Dash urged, pressing her hoof into a well-trodden path. It had the strangest tracks, from she could see was left of them.
"Like San Francisco."