Twilight rose over the crest just in time to see a brilliant flash of light. She gasped, eyes wide then shot forward towards the jutting cavern on the nearby peak. The pegasi, not needing a signal, darted forward with her, easily overtaking the grounded unicorn as they reached the recessed hovel.
By the time they had gotten there, only an unconscious and battered minotaur and an equally affected griffon had been found. Further in the pegasi guards had scouted but only a small crater with scorch marks and assorted gems were present.
Twilight came about half an hour later, having teleported the last stretch. When she reached the empty cavern, she collapsed, letting her sore, throbbing head lie on the cool ground floor.
She was told that the human hadn’t been found much earlier, but seeing the evidence sunk her deeper into a pit of depression. Being confronted with the evidence had frozen her thought processes.
She was blank for a few moments before her mind decided that that was enough time to have a break. It slowly reached a few disturbing points as Twilight picked herself up and sat on her haunches.
Had she made the right decision?
Perhaps.
There was no way she could pursue the wayward human ambassador now, she had tried igniting her tracking spell a few times. Sparks flowed but there was no pull. He wasn’t anywhere detectable anymore.
Twilight slumped, for once in her life her prodigious knowledge and spell crafting had no answers, no indication of what she should do.
She was surprised and very annoyed when a hoof glanced off her back and she glared back at the insensitive pony.
Little Hoof gave her a bemused smirk.
“What are you doing here?” Twilight demanded, sinking back down from her crouch. Her posture remained guarded.
Little Hoof looked a little embarrassed.
“Okay, I thought about what you said back there, about going after your friends and all that”, she began, shifting her hooves.
Twilight just stared at the mare.
“I-“ she started again but stopped, she looked at the pegasi guards circling the sky.
“I want to say that you’re right. I was paid for this expedition. It’s not my style to chicken out”, she explained awkwardly.
“Are you saying that because you’re nice and safe behind the pegasi guards, now?” Twilight snapped, but instantly regretted it as she saw Little Hoof’s ears lay back flat against her skull.
Twilight sighed.
“I’m sorry. We just haven’t found any trace of my friend.”
Twilight stared into the distance, her thoughts in turmoil.
Little Hoof regarded Twilight in sympathy.
“If it helps, I can understand. If you want, you know-“ she shifted her gaze awkwardly “-a shoulder to cry on?” she offered hesitantly.
Twilight gave vent a snort of laughter.
“No thanks, but that was very kind of you to offer”, she replied easily and laughed harder when Little Hoof sagged in relief.
“Thank Celestia, I’m not good at this hoof on the withers sort of thing”, she mumbled, drawing another chuckle from Twilight.
It wasn’t funny but it was something she needed right now.
-----
Not for the first time in her life, Pseudo was lost.
After escaping from the foalnappers, Pseudo had flitted within the forest. She didn’t think about the direction she was going, or how far she was going for, or for how long. All she could think about was getting help. Unfortunately, Pseudo hadn’t made it very far when she collided with a cloud and spiralled out of control, narrowly missing some jutting boulders in the area and landing painfully on partially rocky soil.
Spitting out a few clumps of dirt and shakily rising to her hooves, Pseudo tried to get into the air again but a sharp pain in her wing caused her to awkwardly flop to her side. She moaned, looking back at the wing. Her eyes widened, seeing the awkward angle it was bent at. Pseudo tried to stretch her wing out but even a third of a way she let out a whimper of agony.
She looked around the forest, pawing at the rocky soil.
She glanced up at sky, noting the sun’s position. It was slightly after noon, she would have to find somewhere to rest. A gnawing feeling twisted in her gut.
What if she couldn’t find Twilight, or one of the princesses, or Nicodia? There weren’t many ponies in Equestria who knew who Pseudo was. Pseudo shuddered. Changelings weren’t very well received after the Green Hive had attacked Canterlot.
She nervously made her way to the forest, heading towards the west. Pseudo hoped that she could find her way to a friendly pony. Or at least long enough to copy them and slip back to Canterlot. Then she could get some help.
-----
Solid grunted.
Lightning took a step towards Solid, with a cocked head.
“What is it?”
Solid fiddled with a dial, reading the results on the old mage-screen.
“I’m getting some very strange readings”, she mumbled, peering at the jumble of numbers and equations. Lightning looked at the readout and shook his head, he was a pegasus without any real professional training in magic, it was just gobbledegook to him.
“What does it mean, Solid?”
Solid hummed to herself.
“I’m not sure, Lightning.”
“But you have a clue?” Lightning pressed, creeping closer.
Solid nodded hesitantly.
“I think-“ she looked around, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper “-I think ambient magic has stopped decreasing.”
Lightning had a curious look on his face.
“That could be because our resident null being has stopped touching ponies.”
Solid looked thoughtful.
“Even so, there should be a very small drain just from being here in Equestria.”
“I don’t know much about your equipment and what you’ve been constructing but is that drain big enough to measure?”
Solid tapped a hoof on her muzzle in thought.
“That’s why I need a little longer to figure this out. It could be background… but then again…”
“He could be in trouble”, Lightning finished for her. “I better get this to Gruff.”
Solid nodded, already lost in calibrating the equipment.
Lightning found Gruff tinkering with a coupe of crystals and a wire frame.
“Gruff”, he greeted, ignoring the indignant glare from Gael at his interruption.
“Just a moment, Lightning, I’ve almost got this.”
Gruff straightened a brace and fused the crystal with a blast from a welding torch.
He lifted the visor to see Lightning blinking rapidly.
“Sorry about that”, Gruff apologised. “I should have warned you, that was quite rude of me.”
Lightning chuckled.
“I’ve had worse. Solid has come up with something, I think you need to take a look.”
Gruff grunted in affirmation, heaving the wire frame over to a pile of other similarly assembled metal structures.
“Okay Lightning, lead the way.”
They trotted back to the clearing where Solid was cursing under her breath. It was just loud enough for Gael to roll her eyes and Lightning to cough loud so that Solid could hear them.
“Eheh, sorry about that”, Solid replied, finally aware of the new occupants in the clearing.
Gruff waved a dismissive paw.
“Lightning says you’ve gotten something.”
Solid nodded apprehensively.
“It’s not conclusive but I think the null being doesn’t exist on Equestria anymore.”
Gruff frowned, going through the implications. A corner of his mouth curled downwards in consternation.
“That could mean anything. He could be sent back to his home world, which would be the best-case scenario, or he could be in trouble, or it could be just none of the above. Have we ruled out equipment?”
Solid shook her head sheepishly.
“I’m sorry Gruff but I haven’t had enough time. Doesn’t help that the equipment is substandard”, she commented, sending a small kick to the monitor.
“And illegal”, Lightning muttered darkly.
“Ah, don’t be a stick in the mud”, Solid scoffed, nudging Lightning. Lightning rolled his eyes.
“If the Princess didn’t explicitly tell me it was alright to go support you, I would have arrested you about five times now.”
Solid stealthily shifted a thaumic driver she ‘borrowed’ from a nearby store.
“Wouldn’t want to make it six now would we?” she chuckled nervously.
Lightning narrowed his eyes at Solid but Gruff interrupted them before a protracted argument could be made out.
“All that is secondary to finding out more about this disturbance and setting in place the passive network”, Gruff reminded the both of them.
Solid and Lightning nodded in agreement, sobering up.
“I’ll get right on it again”, Solid affirmed. She moved back to the equipment and gave it another critical look.
Lightning stood by but gave Gruff a serious nod.
There was more at stake here than a simple legal spat anyway.
When we finish with this though, Solid is going to return every minutia of stolen goods she borrowed for this mission. He thought in exasperation. Even though they had plenty of bits, Solid insisted on ‘borrowing’ items for her use, she said it helped her workflow. Lightning had been initially very surly with the idea but Solid had made an offhanded comment that he sounded just like Iron did before and he couldn’t muster up the strength to argue against those sad eyes.
She’s still returning them though. He thought darkly.
Gruff nodded, getting back to work.
Gael quickly caught up.
“Sir, do you think we’ll be able to finish in time? Sharp looked a little apprehensive when you started this”, she commented softly.
Gruff looked up in mild amusement.
“I take it you eavesdropped on our conversation then?” he queried, patting Gael on her back.
Gael blushed and stammered a response.
“O-Okay, m-maybe just a l-little”, she admitted weakly.
Gruff nodded and continued walking.
“Gael this mission we’re undertaking is a little dangerous, mostly for me but not as much for you. Still, I will not blame you if you want to pull out”, he said, admiring the scenery.
Gael always loved that aspect of the diamond dog. His ability to notice his surroundings and appreciate nature whilst still being on top of the complex responsibilities and tasks he set for himself and from others.
He does so much. Gael thought sadly. And no one will probably ever know.
He stopped in front of the mesh of wires and crystals.
Gael cleared her throat.
“You know I will always be here to support you, Sir”, she answered giving Gruff a smile.
“How many times have I told you to call me Gruff?” he muttered, exasperated.
“Just about as many times as I have declined, I think”, Gael replied easily, hiding a smirk as Gruff threw up his paws.
“One day”, he responded, rolling his eyes. His smiled drooped fractionally.
“One day.”
-----
I drifted in empty space. It was weird. It didn’t feel like I was breathing anything. It didn’t feel like I was feeling anything. Yet, I felt like I was floating and it felt like I was breathing but at the same time I wasn’t. There was no sense of gravity or atmosphere or time.
It was an empty void.
Drat, was I really dead?
“No, you’re not”, a voice growled from behind me. I whipped around.
“Oh”, was all I could say.