"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Break in, level one. Code Blue."
The bored CP pony watched with disinterest as a pair of foolish pegasi were surrounded by his comrades, who readied their artillery and trained their gun barrels upon the intruders.
'Idiots,' he thought. 'They'll be dead in a couple of minutes.'
He turned off the screen showing the building lobby, and his walkie-talkie, and instead turned his attention to a different screen; this one displaying an alleyway next to Canterlot Mall. He watched as a terrified looking young pegasus cantered into the alley, huddled next to a large bin and started to talk to and cuddle something she had clutched in her hooves. He turned his walkie-talkie back on.
"Ready the dispatch teams," he said, "we have a curfew breaker by Canterlot Mall, suggest mid-level firepower."
There was no response.
"Dispatch?"
Still nothing.
"RED ALERT. RED ALERT. INTRUDERS ON LEVEL SIX. APPROACHING SURVIELLANCE ROOM."
The CP turned the lobby screen back on, and was greeted by the sight of his comrades lying dead all over the floor (except for one, who was slumped over a desk). He then glanced at a second screen and saw the intruders from earlier galloping through corridors and definitely heading in his direction.
There was a polite knock on the door.
He picked up his gun and was about to open the door when it flew back in his face and he was trapped underneath with only his head and forehooves protruding, and he would have leapt straight back up again had a rather furious looking yellow mare not slammed down on top of him and said "Don't even THINK about it."
The CP looked to his left and saw a second pegasus, this one a pale blue stallion, examining the CCTV screens, and his green eyes widened when they fell upon the one displaying the Canterlot Mall alleyway.
"Canterlot Mall, there she is!" he cried. "Take care of that one and let's get outta here!"
The last thing the CP saw before everything went dark was an angry yellow pegasus aiming a gun barrel at his forehead.
"So tell me again what Rainbow was doing outside," said Spitfire as she and her friend galloped through the ruined streets of the city.
"Lightning Strike was getting edgy," Soarin' explained, "so Rainbow volunteered to take him out for some fresh air. I guess they must've been spotted."
"And now we're running through Canterlot to find her, most likely with half the Combine on our trail now that we pulled that little stunt in the CPs' place."
"Well, what would you have me do, Spitfire?" asked Soarin' as he drew to a halt. "My son and his mother are hiding somewhere near Canterlot Mall, potentially scared out of their lives, and they could be found by Civil Protection at any moment! And you expect me to just leave them there?"
Spitfire sighed. "You're right," she said, "that was thoughtless of me. I'm sorry, Soarin', but we really have to get moving!"
Before she had finished that sentence, a group of CP ponies came galloping up the street. One of them fired an energy ball, which zoomed through the air and slammed into the side of a pegasus' face.
Soarin' screamed in agony.
Spitfire supported him across her shoulders while firing at the enemy, using her feathers to pull the trigger on her various guns, and backing into a ransacked shop once every CP lay dead on the tarmac.
Her comrade sat on his haunches, his breathing unnaturally fast and shallow as he clutched both forelegs to the side of his face, while she started to tear off strips of her Wonderbolts uniform for makeshift bandages.
"See, this is why you should've worn your flight goggles!" she pointed out, indistinctly because of the material in her mouth. She removed her own goggles to get a better look at the damage.
"Could you please stop criticizing everything I do?" said Soarin'. "I feel like my face is on fire! Is my face on fire? Be honest with me! My face is on fire, isn't it?!"
"Your face isn't on fire," said Spitfire as she tended to her friend's injury, "but you might want to keep that eye closed for a while."
"If it ever works again," said Soarin'. "But at least we won't end up like Rapidfire. Or Fleetfoot, for that matter."
Spitfire bound his face in the blue material as she and Soarin' shared a moment of silence for their fallen comrades. She went to help him stand, but he said "My legs work fine; it's my face that's hurt."
"Fair enough," said Spitfire, and the two companions resumed their canter through the empty night time streets of Equestria's capital city.
After a few more streets, they slowed to a steady trot.
"I don't like this," said Soarin'. "It's too quiet."
"Be glad this isn't Fillydelphia," said Spitfire. "I heard there's nothing left of that place except-"
She was cut off by a volley of gunfire. A CP emerged from the shadows of a doorway and shot his SMG at the pair, but was stopped when Soarin' unloaded a pistol into his mask-obscured forehead.
"Soarin'?"
The pale blue Wonderbolt looked around at his friend.
At the fear in her eyes.
At the slowly spreading patch of dark red on her chest.
She fell to the ground.
"SPITFIRE!"
Soarin' galloped desperately over to his fallen friend and cradled her head in his hooves.
"No, no, NO!" he cried. "Spitfire, stay with me! You have to stay awake! STAY AWAKE!"
"Soarin'..."
"Don't you dare die on me," said Soarin'. "For the love of Celestia, STAY THE BUCK AWAKE!"
"Soarin', remember the Rule."
"Spitfire?"
There was no response. The golden pegasus stared into the dark sky with dull, lifeless eyes which would never see again. Soarin' reached up and tearfully closed them, then sobbed shamelessly into her mane.
He didn't know how long he lay there, face buried in his fallen comrade's neck, just that the tears only ceased because he had run out. He had nothing left to give.
He would have to leave her. There was nothing he could do for her now, and his family was waiting - no, depending on him to come and find them.
"Don't stop. Don't think. Just run."
His ears informed him that he'd just spoken the Rule aloud.
"I'm so, so sorry, Spitfire."
It killed him inside, but he had to leave her. He stood up, wiped his face on his foreleg, and galloped down the street in the direction of Canterlot Mall.
Soarin' looked back, just once, at the hunched shape of Spitfire's body.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, Lightning," Rainbow Dash whispered to the infant colt in her hooves, "it's okay. Daddy's... Daddy's coming. We're gonna be okay, I promise." She guessed her son must have sensed the uncertainty in her voice, because he refused to end his fearful moaning. She held him close as once again her eyes filled with tears and she rocked back and forth, sobbing and chanting "We're gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay, we're gonna be okay..."
"Rainbow?"
Her heart leapt over the moon when she heard that voice.
"Soarin', is that you?" she asked as he galloped into view.
"Rainbow!"
"Soarin'!"
The two pegasi met in a warm, loving and above all tearful embrace, which both of them were extremely reluctant to break.
"Are you okay?" asked Soarin'. "How's Lightning Strike?"
"We're fine," said Rainbow Dash, "both of us, but what about you? What the hay happened to your face?" She indicated the now bloodsoaked bands which were wrapped and bound tightly around his head.
"Have you ever been hit by one of those energy balls?" he asked. "It's not very pleasant."
"You're gonna be alright, aren't you?"
"I'll be fine," said Soarin', "I just wish I could say the same about Spitfire."
"Why?" asked Rainbow Dash. "What happened?"
She looked into his green ocean of an eye, and suddenly understood.
"Oh my gosh," she said, "Soarin', I'm-I'm so sorry."
"And that's not all," said her coltfriend. "We... may have slightly broken into the Civil Protection base and kinda led them on."
"You were followed?!"
"Don't worry, I think I lost them."
As he spoke, a trio of dropships flew overhead. Two were carrying containers, which would be packed with Overwatch ponies, but the third held a Strider to its underside.
"But we're trapped," said Rainbow Dash, "and it's all my fault. If I hadn't come out here with Lightning, you wouldn't have had to come after me. Spitfire would still be alive if it wasn't for me."
"Don't say that," said Soarin', "don't you ever say that. None of this was your fault."
He wished he could do something else to halt the tears which flowed freely down his marefriend's face.
"I'm so - I'm so sorry, Soarin'."
Lightning Strike joined his parents as they both began to weep helplessly.
"Wait a minute," said Soarin' after what felt like eons, "what's that noise?"
Rainbow Dash sniffed and wiped her muzzle on her foreleg.
"What noise?" she asked.
"If I didn't know any better," said Soarin', "I'd say it was like a coin being scraped on a piano wire..."
It took me a full five minutes to catch my breath.
I looked back and up at the dam I had just come through. It loomed over me like a monster of concrete. I’m not usually intimidated by tall buildings, but at this moment I was ready to believe an ant was fifty feet tall.
The airboat creaked threateningly underneath me, so I pressed onward and came to a sort of dock-like area and had to depart the airboat to climb up a ladder and onto the raised ground upon which the warehouse was situated, but first there was something I had to do.
I rolled out of the airboat and started tossing and turning in the crystal clear water. I know, I know, it sounds kinda weird, but wouldn’t you do that if you were me and you’d just spent the past hour or so running through a city and its outskirts with almost everypony trying to kill you? I could feel it washing the dried blood away from my ear and neck, and dirt and grime was peeling away from my body in every direction. I ruffled my mane and tail with a hoof, washing out the caked up mud and filth which I knew would give Rarity a heart attack.
As you might imagine I was very disinclined to leave the water, but I did even so. Smeg, I’d never felt so clean...
It took me a while to work out that the entrance to New TARDIS wasn’t in the warehouse itself, but in a small fenced off bit behind it. When I went in I was met by a pair of doors which looked like the sides of shipping containers, and would have tried to open them had a similar pair of doors not closed behind me.
Anything else like this and I was going to go smegging claustrophobic.
“Something’s in the airlock,” said a familiar Mid-Atlantic voice. “Okay, it appears to be of equine origin. Hello in there?”
“Um, hello?” I said nervously.
“Take it easy in there, you’re safe now,” said Rarity’s voice. “You will have to forgive the scanning process, I’m afraid that we cannot afford to take chances.”
The sound of whirring filled the air, and some kind of scanning laser thingy started to descend from the ceiling. Also, some kind of shutter opened in the wall, and I got a view of a white, purple-maned unicorn I knew all too well.
“Hex?” she exclaimed. “Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?”
I glanced up at the dripping strings of dark brown draped over my forehead.
“Oh,” I said, “you mean my mane? Hang on a sec.” I telekinetically held my glasses on my face (lucky they’re so lightweight, eh?) and shook myself dry, and soon my mane had returned to its original state: scruffy.
“I simply cannot believe you made it here this quickly!” said Rarity, apparently satisfied with the state of my hair. “The Doctor and Twilight are going to be amazed, not to mention relieved. Let me tell you, I am ever so envious of you knowing the Doctor before any of us even met him! Ah, there we are. You can come through now.”
The scanners stopped and turned off and the door in front of me opened.
I stepped through into a surprisingly large concreted area. There was a lift over to the right, and beyond the chain link fence in front of me I could see various other ponies sitting on boxes and crates and things. A door behind me opened and I looked around to see Rarity emerging.
She was just as glamorous as ever, but for some reason she had some kind of metallic ring on the base of her horn.
“Allow me to escort you to the Doctor’s laboratory,” she said and motioned for me to follow her, “I doubt that he would ever forgive me if we kept him waiting for you. We could most definitely use your help in this place. We’ve covered a lot of ground in the past few months – however, we would progress at a greater speed if we had more ponies with your kind of abilities and experience.”
As she spoke, she led me into a lift which started to take us down. I saw demon dogs cooking in some kind of kitchen thing on the way, how weird is that? And all the time Rarity kept talking about teleporters – it seemed that science had served as a suitable replacement for fashion – but I think my ears must have been ringing or something because I barely picked up on a single word she said.
“Oh, listen to me,” she said when I eventually tuned in again, “I sound just like dear Twilight! I do apologise, I am simply thrilled that we finally have you back with us once more.”
“You know,” I said, “I’ve had a look around, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say Equestria was turning into dimension 33.”
“Why, that is almost a word-for-word quotation of Twilight,” said Rarity. “You two are so alike; no wonder her heart went out to you. Ah, looks like the Doctor’s here already.”
And he was. The Doctor, wearing a bow tie and a fez for some reason, was standing in the middle of his lab (which was a smeg of a lot like the one back at Sweet Apple Basement, but it was considerably more spacious and less cluttered) talking to a demon dog. Neither of them had seen us yet.
“Alright then,” said the Doctor, “you keep right on it.”
“Oh, Doctor!” Rarity sang. “Look who I found in the airlock!”
As the demon dog left, the earth pony caught sight of us for the first time, and his entire face split into a massive cheesy grin.
“Well, pull off my mane and call me Gerald,” he said (and I just thought ‘What the smeg? That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard’), “Haydon Baxter! Come on over here and let me get a look at you.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped out of the lift. He hadn’t changed a bit since I’d last seen him. Well, his personality, anyway – couldn’t say the same about his physical state. Maybe his mental state as well, but I’d leave that for time to decide for me.
“Good grief, I never thought I’d see you again,” he said.
“I could say the same thing about you, Doctor,” I replied. “I see you’ve got a new fez. And a... bow tie.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor, “I have a bow tie. Bow ties are cool. Now let’s see; the last time I saw you, you and the lovely Ms Amber were distracting a platoon of Judoon for me, and you know I never got a chance to thank you for that.”
“Think nothing of it, Doc,” I said. “Quite a place you’ve got here.” It was as well. It felt a lot more homely than Sweet Apple Basement. The desk was a little better kept (although there was what looked like an alien head in a jar which looked rather disturbing), the teleporter was tucked neatly away in a corner rather than being smack bang in the middle of the room, and there was a notice board covered in newspaper clippings which all ran along the same lines: Equestria Under Siege, Equestria Surrenders, Stage Magician Appointed Liaison to Combine. I gagged at the last one.
Why is that? Why is it that when I hear the word Trixie I want to puke? Smeg, even thinking about it now makes me want a bucket.
“Yeah,” said the Doctor, “it’s not the TARDIS – poor girl had her lot years ago – but it serves its purpose well enough. I ‘spose it’s nothing compared to the stuff you could conjure up.”
“When you ladies are finished,” Rarity interjected, “I think I should say that everything is going to change for the better now that we have Hex back. I just have a few things to finish, but Hex,” she turned to me, “it’s been a pleasure.”
She kissed me on the cheek.
Man, if Twilight had seen that, she’d be sooo jealous. I’d have sold tickets to see the look on her face.
“Hex?” asked the Doctor once she had gone.
“Yeah,” I said, “me and Amber found that travelling the multiverse may occasionally require a codename, so I stole the name of a computer in dimension 41.”
“Interesting,” said the Doctor, in the kind of voice that says ‘That is the most unusual and unnecessary thing I have ever heard, but I like you and you’re my friend, so I’m going to humour you as well as I can.’
“Feel free to take a look around,” he said, “but stay away from that head. Twilight brings in all kinds of rubbish from outside and I have yet to discover what it does, if it does anything at all.”
So I decided to steer clear of the head and found my attention instead being drawn to a black-and-white photograph, this one in a fancy silver frame. It showed Twilight, but she looked so young, so innocent, that I had to do a double take to make sure it was the same pony. There were three other ponies in the photo with her – an older mare and stallion who could only have been her parents, and another young stallion, pale in coat and dark in mane, who could possibly have been her brother.
Strange. Twilight had never told me about her family. Why?
“I’d be careful with that photograph if I were you,” said the Doctor, even though I was sure he hadn’t looked. “It’s all Twilight has left of her family.”
“Oh,” was all I could say. Smeg; that actually hurt. “So they...” I didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want to say the word ‘died’. Twilight’s already been through so much, please let her family be okay...
“Worse.”
I gulped. Of course the Combine of all people would come up with something worse than death.
I turned instead to the notice board, my interest piqued by the various headlines and images. One showed a superportal in what looked like downtown Canterlot (that would bring those snob’s snouts out of the sky, wouldn’t it?). I didn’t like the look of one in particular which said “ROYAL SISTERS VANISH” and not just because of what it implied. Were they dead, or imprisoned, or just plain missing? I tried to keep my eyes from wandering towards the one about Trixie, but it wasn’t exactly easy. She was as charismatic as a cat and just as slimy.
Wait a minute; that made no sense whatsoever.
Oh well.
“Ugh, Trixie.” Okay, how did the Doctor know what I was looking at? “The only reason she is where she is now is because when Celestia and Luna vanished, she managed Equestria’s ‘surrender’ and the Combine rewarded her with power.”
“I’ve only seen her on those broadcast thingies,” I said, choosing to forget the brief excursions into her office, “but I already hate her completely.”
“She does that, doesn’t she?” I could tell from the tone of his voice that the Doctor was smiling. “Even before I crashed in this incredible world, I knew people who could make you hate them just by looking at them. Like the Slitheen: nasty pieces of work they were. And not just because they looked like obese green Teletubbies. The Teletubbies in fact were rather offended when I said that.”
Smeg, why does some of that stuff have to be so funny? This is a serious situation, I can’t be laughing!
A door behind me opened and I straightened up instinctively.
“Hex, you’re here!” said Twilight, and she pulled me into a hug. “The demon dogs said you’d arrived, but I didn’t want to believe you’d made it here so quickly. And on foot, as well. Thank Celestia you’re safe!”
“To tell you the truth,” I said into her shoulder, “I almost didn’t make it. Lucky you’ve got those friends of yours all over the city or I might not be here now.”
“I hate to tell you, Twilight,” said the Doctor as he gave her a tap on the foreleg, “but I think he may have broken your speed record.”
“Well, if you ask me you’ve earned it,” Twilight said as she released me. “If anything, you’ve proved you can handle just about anything.”
“With the sole exception of you,” the Doctor murmured.
“Doctor!”
“What?”
“Hey guys,” I said, “I hate to interrupt your little discussion, but I don’t suppose there’s a *ahem* bathroom anywhere around here?”
“Oh, of course,” said Twilight, “it’s just through that door and to the left.”
“Thanks,” I said.
I don’t think even Rainbow Dash could have left that room as quickly as I did. Do you know how many toilets there are in Limbo or wherever I was after... what happened? None. Zero. Naught. Zilch! I’m good at hiding it, but I’d been busting for the dunny ever since I’d left Sweet Apple Basement. And I mean good at hiding it. But I’m not gonna get ahead of myself.
Ah, sweet relief.
When I got back the Doctor was busy with something (how am I supposed to recall what? This was all ages ago) and Twilight was working on the teleporter, or at least the components above my head. I had a clear, unobstructed view of her flank, which I didn’t partake in because I’m not a pervert. I considered that one quick glance couldn’t hurt, but at that moment Rarity re-entered and derailed my train of thought, if ever I had one.
“Twilight,” she said, “I thought you were on watch.”
“The demon dogs relieved me so that I could come and see Hex,” said Twilight as she descended. “And anyway, I should be working on the teleporter.”
“Oh, not to worry, dear,” said Rarity, “I have the repairs completely taken care of. It’s just that somepony misjudged the capacity of the Combine thyristor-”
“Are you blaming me?” asked Twilight. Ooh, mare-on-mare conflict, this could get interesting. What? I’m a teenager; I’m allowed to have these thoughts! And they were both still young and extremely good looking- Okay, okay, I’ll stop!
“Oh, no!” Rarity said hurriedly. “It was a simple calculation error, nothing major.”
“Well, I suppose I should be the one to do the calculations next time,” said Twilight. “It wouldn’t be any trouble, even with the installing.”
“You know, Twilight,” said Rarity, “I have no idea how we ever got along without you.”
“Yes, yes, everyone loves everyone else,” said the Doctor. “Twilight, I think Hex could use a little ‘boost’ don’t you?”
Twilight looked at me, and her face lit up in comprehension.
Eh?
“I’m sorry, I almost forgot!” she said. “Follow me Hex, there’s something I need to give you.” And she started to lead me out of the lab.
“The magical enhancement rings are not toys, Twilight,” said Rarity.
Okay, now I’m lost. What?
“Can you please tell me what you’re talking about?” I said, before my frustration got the better of me.
“Just follow me,” said Twilight. “I kinda wanted to talk to you in private.”
I followed her through sculpted hallways of concrete, but she paused in front of one passage which looked particularly dark and foreboding – the kind of place which you want to go down, but you’re terrified of what you might find.
“That’s the old passage to Trottingham,” said Twilight, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. “We don’t go there anymore.”
I looked from the passage to her, and back again.
“Do I want to know?” I asked.
“No,” she said, “you don’t.”
Thank smeg. I seriously don’t want to know what happened in Trottingham. Knowing the Combine, it was something sickeningly sadistic.
So instead I followed Twilight out another airlock and into a massive open area piled high with all kinds of junk. Wow, was it night time already? I could have sworn it was the middle of the afternoon. I guess with the royal sisters gone, a whole load of stuff must have been screwed up, like nature taking back what was hers.
“Welcome to the scrap yard,” said Twilight.
I looked around. There was so much junk there I could list it for days and still not cover it all.
“Lots of stuff,” I commented.
Twilight produced a small silver ring, which split open on a tiny hinge.
“The Combine’s suppression field may prevent pony reproduction,” she said (with a small blush), “but it also represses unicorn magic and prevents pegasi from flying. The Doctor and I managed to reverse-engineer one of the magic-blocking rings Deluminata put on my horn, and they cut through the suppression field. Sweet Apple Basement was in a blind spot, in case you were wondering.”
She snapped the ring onto the base of my horn.
Wow, that actually felt a whole lot better. I gave a nearby barrel an experimental tug, and I had to duck as it flew over my head and smashed into a wall. The fact that it was empty had nothing to do with it, I swear.
“How did you do that?” I asked. “That was magic, I mean-”
Twilight pulled her mane aside and revealed a short horn, about half the length of what it would have been, with another ring clipped onto the base. Huh. Looks like unicorn horns grow back by themselves. I guess it’s because they’re naturally magical, and if you try to contain too much energy in a single thing it’ll make a mess.
“Hex,” she asked, “can I ask you something?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Was that too casual? I kinda feel like it was too casual.
“What happened to you?” asked Twilight. “You threw yourself into the portal to try to overload it. I did the math afterwards, and it should have worked! But why didn’t it? What happened to you after I... lost you?”
She-she thinks she lost me? Ouch. The tone of her voice, and that heartbroken look on her face... this could be an answer which would make or break our relationship.
So I explained about how just before I’d entered the portal, the G-Colt (who as you may have guessed came from the same place as the Combine) pulled me out, and I had a choice between dying or accepting “employment” with a slight possibility of returning. And returning was on top of my to-do list.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself,” I told her. “If I’d had just a bit more time, I could have worked something out, but as it is...”
“It’s okay,” said Twilight, and she put her hoof on my shoulder. “You did what you have to. I don’t blame you at all.”
“And now she’s stealing my catchphrase,” I said sarcastically, and that set us both giggling.
I wished at that moment that time could have stood still. That it could just have been the two of us, in this place, until the end of the universe. This moment, when we were freshly reunited after seventeen years, and yet were still completely unchanged.
“I...” Twilight looked nervous. I wish she’d do that more often, it’s so adorable.
“Yes?” I asked.
“When you were gone,” she said with another blush, “I had dreams about you almost every night.”
“Were they good dreams?”
She wiped her eyes.
“I never wanted to wake up,” she confessed. “I wanted to sleep forever if it meant I could stay with you, I...” She smiled and rubbed the back of her neck in the way people do when they’re nervous or embarrassed and trying to regain their composure.
“I suppose you have a lot of questions,” she stated.
How would you feel? I don’t know about you, but to me it felt like my questions were an overflowing reservoir, and Twilight had completely demolished the dam which had been holding it back.
“How come the Doctor’s here? How did he get here? Where’s Spike? And Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie and Fluttershy? What the smeg are the demon dogs and why and how do they know my name? And I don’t mean my fake name, they know my real name! They call me Baxter! How is that possible? You and your friends are the only ones I’ve ever told my real name, so how did-”
“Whoa, whoa, too much!” Twilight placed a hushing hoof on my lips and I stopped talking. “One at a time, please.”
“Okay,” I said, and I tried to get my breath back. “First of all, what is with the demon dogs: what are they and how do they know my real name?”
“They used to be diamond dogs,” Twilight explained, “but the portal storms mutated them into the things you’ve been seeing around the city. I don’t know how, and quite frankly I don’t want to know, because it’s bound to have been horrible. They probably know your name because they overheard us talking, but I can’t be certain about that.”
“Oh.” I guess that makes sense. Kinda. “Well, what about-”
You know, someday I’d like to finish a sentence without being interrupted, be it by the pony I love or by some kind of monster swooping down from the sky causing us to duck for cover. Seriously, I really thought my number was on that one!
As the creature flew over, Twilight raised her head and yelled “SPIKE!” in a loud and objective voice.
“Wait a minute,” I exclaimed by way of voicing my thoughts. “That was Spike?!”
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Ever since he got his wings, he’s been acting like a real jerk,” she said. “Spike, you get down here right now or so help me, no ice cream for a month! Get down, now!”
Spike just flapped overhead and laughed. Odd. His voice hadn’t changed. I guess dragons age differently to ponies. He was a lot bigger though, probably one-and-a-half times Twilight’s height, and he had wings. If I had to, I’d say he was the dragon equivalent of early teens, like maybe thirteen or fourteen. I don’t know much about Equestrian dragons, so I’m sorry I can’t be more accurate.
“Hey, who’s that?” he asked. “Is that... is that Hex?”
“Hi Spike!” I gave him a cheerful wave, and he landed in a different part of the scrap yard. Twilight and I galloped through the piles of junk to greet him.
“Oh my gosh!” he cried when he saw me. “It is Hex! I can’t believe you’re here, you’re finally back!” He pulled me into a suffocating hug.
“Tell you the truth,” I said through a mouthful of scales, “I couldn’t believe it either.”
“Spike, I think he needs to breathe,” said Twilight.
“Oh, right, sorry,” said Spike, and he released me so that I could suck in some oxygen.
“I’m glad I’m back too,” I said.
“But what happened to you?” Spike asked. “I mean, seventeen years ago Twilight came back to the library, and she was crying and she just said ‘Take a note’. The letter I wrote for her made it sound like you’d died! Seriously, what the hay happened?”
“Um...” I didn’t want to go over it again. It was hard enough the first time around.
“I don’t think Hex would want to tell us that again,” said Twilight. Thank you!
“What, you mean he told us already?” Man, Spike did not sound happy. “And I missed it? That sucks!”
“You’re telling me,” I said, “and you’re not the one who had to go through it all. I think I should tell you both that it was literally the hardest thing I have ever had to do.”
“Shhh.”
I just got shushed by a dragon.
“Spike,” said Twilight, “what’re you-”
“Shush!”
She gave me a quizzical look. I just shrugged: how the smeg was I supposed to know what was going on?
Then it all became clear. Innumerable camera thingies flew over the scrap yard, causing a cacophony of bleeping which could rival Angry Dogs At Midnight, Nails On A Blackboard and Supermarket Radios for the Most Annoying Sound award.
“Oh horseapples,” Twilight swore, “the Combine’s sweeping the area! We gotta get back to the lab, fast!”
We started running, but Spike grabbed us both and took off. If I had been a couple of years younger I would have screamed no end, but I wasn’t a couple of years younger so I kept my mouth shut until we were back in the airlock...
...which wasn’t opening.
Twilight turned on an intercom thing and the Doctor’s face appeared on the screen.
“Doc, it’s Twilight,” she said, and I could feel the desperation in her voice. “Are you there? What’s going on?”
“Right here,” said the Doctor, “but where are you?”
“We’re in the scrap yard airlock,” said Twilight, “but I think it’s stuck.”
“Is Hex with you?”
“Right here.” I gave another little wave.
“Good,” said the Doctor, “now listen carefully, I want you two to-”
The screen flashed into a snowstorm of static. Twilight tried to get the signal back, and I looked at Spike in what I hoped was a questioning fashion. He just shrugged.
The Doctor reappeared.
“Take Hex out of here, and head for the coast!” he commanded. “Whatever you do, do not go to Trotti-”
Before he could finish the power went out completely, and we were left in darkness.
“Doctor?” Twilight banged uselessly on the intercom. “Doctor! Horseapples... Spike, open the airlock and get us out of here! Hurry! Tear it apart if you have to, just get it open!”
“Okay, okay!” Grumbling under his breath, Spike wrenched the airlock doors open and let me and Twilight gallop through, and he didn’t take long to follow us. We were about halfway down a corridor when the roof caved in – Spike pulled me out of the way, but Twilight was stuck on the other side.
“Hex, Spike, are you okay?” she asked when she appeared at a hole.
“We’re fine,” I said, “well, I am, thanks to Spike.”
“You’re welcome,” said Spike. “Twilight, what should we do? Should I try to clear away-?”
“No, don’t!” cried Twilight. “If you try to move these rocks you could bring the whole tunnel down on us, and then we’ll all be in trouble! There’s no way I’m leaving the Doctor: Spike, take Hex to the Trottingham tunnel, he has to get out of here!”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked, because I most certainly was not. “I think the Doc tried to say-”
“Hex,” said Twilight, her voice considerably softer, “you’ll be okay.”
I would. For her sake, and for the sake of Equestria, I would be okay. I would be okay!
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” I told her. “I’ll meet up with you later.”
With that, I followed Spike back to the foreboding-looking tunnel, and he led me to a massive door which he pulled up to allow me through.
“Wait a sec,” I said before he dropped it again, “is Trottingham... bad?”
“It’s awesome,” Spike said sarcastically, and he dropped the door almost on my hoof.