“Doc...” Rainbow Dash spoke slowly, all the while keeping her angry eyes trained on the two mercenaries. “Go and take Echo as far as you can into the heart of this hotel.”
“Affirmative.” Theanim re-hoisted Echo over his flank.
“Waaaay deep so that anypony with wings would have a hard time getting to you and getting back outside,” Rainbow snarled.
“But... but... what will you be up to?!” Theanim stammered. “Please don't tell me you're actually going to entertain the thought of enlisting these—”
“I will take care of these melon fudges, so kindly scram with the bat pony!”
“Mrffnnghhh...” Echo shuddered, his tail trailing. “Any chance we can waddle by the lavatory on the way there, Theams?”
“Quiet, old chap.”
As soon as the two had left the room—THAP!—Rainbow slammed the door shut with a rear hoof. “Okay...” She cracked her neck joints, tail flicking. “Where we?”
“Uh...” Bard glanced at Wildcard, then pointed at the mare. “I'll give ya a hint. Not with more fistihoofs.”
“Says you.”
“We mean it, darlin'. Can't ya see by now that we're at an opossom?!”
Wildcard looked at Bard. He gestured emphatically—
“I know what I said!” Bard snarled, his usually calm expression breaking under a tense frown. “Look... I'm a mite bit frazzled, ya hear?!”
“My friends and I have no quarrel with you. We never did from the start.” Rainbow's eyes glinted. “So why don't you punks just live and let diarrhea?!”
“Missy, please.” Bard sighed heavily. “If Dubya-Cee and I here wanted to get the drop on ya, we would have dun so fifty times by now.”
“He has a point, Rainbow,” Twilight said, squirming slightly. “I completely didn't sense him or his companion until you entered his room.”
“And they do seem to know the territory, darling,” Rarity said.
“But... that... what...” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “Are you implying that I even humor these bozos?!”
Wildcard and Bard glanced side-to-side across the room.
“Erm... yes...” Bard nodded awkwardly. “...and I reckon any other personality that you might be havin' cramped up there in yer noggin'.”
“Look, buzz off!” Rainbow snapped. “None of us are here for the same reason, and where I'm headed is of no concern of yours. But rest assured... the things I'm entangled with and the places I've got to go are way... waaaaaay more important than anything you or your bird-nosed mime of a friend have ever... ever lived for in your dumb, friggin' lives!”
“Heh...” Bard smirked stupidly. “I plum knew you had somethin' to fight for! No wonder yer so concentrated!”
Wildcard's metal talons swept the air.
“I'm gonna ask her!” Bard groaned. “Stop chatterin' yer beak off!”
“You're not going to ask me nothing,” Rainbow said, scraping a hoof. “Because there's nothing left to discuss!”
“Ain't there?” Bard smirked. “Do ya have any idea... any idea just how much that fanged feller that you're protectin' is worth? Where I come from, bat ponies are practically invisible. But this here varmint's crossed enough ponies in enough time to rake himself a twenty-seven thousand bit bounty. Now how's that for a dicussion-maker.”
“That... it...” Rainbow's jaw dropped. “What in the hay has Echo done?!?”
“Rainbow...” Twilight murmured.
“Did he burrow his way into an orphanage and eat his way out one starving foal at a time?!” Rainbow's voice cracked. “I mean... Luna Poop!”
“Ah...” Bard pointed, smirking. “Got yer attention, didn't we? Well, suffice to say, I'd be more than willin' to answer any and all of those particular questions you've got bouncin' off the walls of yer brain bone, but that's not what matters in the long run, isn't it? Seems like you've got a very important trip to make. How'd you like to set sail on that voyage thirteen thousand five hundred bits richer?”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow's brow furrowed. “What?”
“That's right. The way I figure it, we could certainly use yer help in gettin' the creep to Mud Top, and we could certainly use you stayin' off our flanks even more. So, in the end, it all really hinges on you, Missy. So... the earnings would be split fifty-fifty.”
Wildcard angrily rattled his metal-and-flesh talons.
Bard slapped him with a wing and snarled: “Fifty-fifty. Cuz if this job dun get finished, then Dubya-Cee and I here will never break even. Let us worry about how we split up our half.”
The griffon's beak gritted hard.
“Ahem...” Bard nervously pointed aside, eventually squeaking: “He g-gets most of it.”
Wildcard folded his arms and huffed.
“It's an offer that won't come more generous no matter how far you throw yerself over these ripplin' seas,” Bard said in a calm tone. “So, whaddya say, Missy?” He shrugged with a dumb smile. “I'm givin' my all here. Dun make Wildcard here beg.” A talon slapped off Bard's stetson, but he remained still, staring at Rainbow.
“Of all the ridiculous attempts at desperation,” Twilight muttered. She folded her forelimbs while rolling her eyes. “I can't believe that after all of that unnecessary violence, they're willing to stoop so low. Pfffft... they're even worse than the pickpocketing riff raff that used to hang out in downtown Canterlot.”
“Rainbow Dash, I think you should take them up on their offer,” Rarity said.
“Yeah! Exactly! I—” Twilight's eyes bugged. She gawked at the other ghostly unicorn. “Rarity?!?”
“What?” The fashionista shrugged.
“You can't be serious!”
“I most certainly can!” Rarity tilted her nose up. “These ruffians have made it perfectly clear that they will not stop harrassing us until they've gotten ahold of Doctor Mane's so-called companion. What's more, with those kind of bits, we could buy our way straight into Shoggoth and beyond!”
“Yes, but at what cost?!” Twilight's voice cracked. “These guys only care about the rich sound coins make! They'll sell poor Echo into slavery, torture, or even w-worse!”
“And do you truly think the soul that belongs to such a despicable creature is so deserving of Rainbow Dash's intervention?” Rarity frowned. “You've seen Echo, Twilight! He's a self-destructive degenerate! He very well earned such a low spot in this kingdom's totem pole!”
“But it certainly wouldn't be nice to turn our backs on him in his time of intense need!”
“And what of Pinkie Pie?” Rarity stuck her nose up. “Did she ask to be imprisoned so unjustly? She's never hurt a fly in her life, and yet we know that we can do something to save her! So, what of this Echo character? We clear his debts, and he goes right back into huffing coral or other such nonsense! I bet you a million bits!”
“Of course you would,” Twilight grumbled. “Because suddenly money is all you care for.”
“Did you not hear a single word I just said?! Honestly.” Rarity rolled her eyes and looked at Rainbow. “Rainbow, darling, think of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy!”
“Think of what you'll be doing to Echo!” Twilight gasped, shoving Rarity out of the way. “You'd be giving him the death sentence! Could you live with such a horrible thing as killing another pony?!”
Rainbow blinked at the mares. “... ... ... uhmmmmm...”
“We're here to restore Harmony... not just through our friends!” Twilight said, her eyes growing soft. “Every single thing we do here matters! As well as the consequences of our actions!”
“And if we don't get anything accomplished, then Rainbow Dash is that much further away from restoring not just us... but the entire cosmic domain.” Rairty gestured. “'Euro-Hunger'... was it?”
Wildcard's feathers twitched. He sliced the air with his talons.
“I know, right?” Bard nodded. He squinted hard at the pegasus mare across the room from him. “Darlin'? Are you... thinkin' really hard? Or perhaps you need some fries to go with that heapin' stupor of yers...”
“Uhhhhhhhhh...” Rainbow Dash sweated hard. Just then, the entire hotel shook from an intense thudding shockwave. Rainbow's eyes jerked, and she gazed with relief at a plume of billowing flame situated somewhere outside. “Oh! Whew! An explosion!” She blinked, and then her whole body flinched. “What the—an explosion?!?”
“Good gracious!” Rarity gasped, spinning around.
“Hells bells!” Bard turned to gawk out the patio window. He and Wildcard watched as several citizens of Rust froze in place, staring up at the fourth story window of a partially delapidated apartment complex clear across the artificial inlet. Three whole rows of riverside windows had shattered completely, and intense flames spat out of each opening. “How in Queen V's heiny did that happen?!”
Wildcard gestured, his beak agape.
“Impossible! I didn't hear no pirate catapult or nothin'!” Bard's ears twitched nevertheless, for all of the sudden the air was pierced with several high-pitched screams and yelps for help. “Skin my hide. Ya hear that?”
Wildcard gulped, nodding.
“Sounds like three... six... hell... ten ponies caught in there! What gives... did a coral stash catch fire?” He shuddered, turning about. “Look, Missy, I'm afraid that we—”
FWOOOOOOOSH! A blue body streaked past the two mercenaries, nearly throwing them to the floor from the sheer velocity.
Rainbow Dash hurled herself towards the burning apartment. Her wings twitched from the rising heat as she drew closer.
“Twilight!” Rainbow hissed. “You sensing anything?”
“You could definitely say that!” Twilight rubbed her glowing horn with a grimace. “Just about the biggest discharge of mana I've felt since we parted ways with Ultimo!”
“You think it's another one of those damn heaters or what?!”
“I don't know but...” Twilight nervously pointed into the flames. “There're ponies in there.”
“How many?!”
“I-I can't tell you that!” Twilight exclaimed. “I only know how many unicorns... and it's two.”
“Yeah? Where are they?”
“One there...” Twilight pointed to the far left, and then towards the burning window furthest to the right. “And there. Rainbow... I think this place was packed before... b-before...”
“Surely we can do something!” Rarity stammered.
“I can do something,” Rainbow growled. “But I need your girls' help!” She looked aside. “Where's the building weakest at?!”
“Uhm... the v-very center!” Rarity said, pointing with her horn. “About ten paces in!”
“I mean on the outside, Rares!”
“Oh... uhm... rightmost window, just to the right of the solid frame.”
“Thanks.”
“Rainbow, whatever you're planning, please... be careful,” Twilight insisted.
“Right. Careful. Got it.” Rainbow angled her wings and swooped straight into the blaze.
“No, Rainbow! Stop! Gaaaaie!” Twilight flinched, clinging to Rarity.
SMASSSSSSH!
Rainbow barreled in through the wooden frame. She rolled to a stop, and instantly regretted it. Tongues of flame curled up the walls on all sides of her. She was being cooked by just standing there. Narrowing her teary eyes, she stretched a wing over her muzzle, breathing through the filter of her blue feathers. She navigated a patch of smoke, and on the other side stretched a mostly unblemished living room. Two ponies were stuck beneath an overturned sofa—an earth pony and a unicorn.
“There, Rainbow!” Rarity pointed.
“I see 'em!” Rainbow galloped across the room without hesitation. “Httt!” She bucked the sofa hard. Smasssh!
The earth pony struggled to get to her hooves. Her unicorn companion assisted with a touch of magic.
“Everypony stay calm!” Rainbow nevertheless shouted under the sound of crumbling wooden beams. A chunk of the ceiling cracked overhead, and she gazed all around. “How many other ponies are on this floor?!”
“Kaff! Koff koff! Mmmff... twelve... maybe f-fifteen!” stammered the earth pony. “We barely t-talk to our neighbors!”
“What's happening?!” the unicorn whimpered. “I don't understand! Is Verlaxion punishing us?!”
“Never mind that! I'm gonna get you out!” Rainbow craned her neck at the sound of shrieking voices. She saw a crooked doorframe. Smoke billowed through the cracks while several pony bodies struggled to shove their way out. “Crud...” She dodged a falling chunk of smoldering debris. “Rarity! How far is it to the canal?”
“Just a sneeze, d-darling!” Rarity exclaimed. “Two feet from the apartment's outer face!”
“Can you guys swim?” Rainbow asked.
The smoke-stained ponies exchanged confused glances. “Why... of course! Everypony in Rust knows how to—”
“Cool.” Rainbow gripped them, flapped her wings mightily, and soared towards the hole she had made in entering. “Rrrrrrgh—HAAAH!” She flung the two ponies with all her strength.
The two citizens shrieked and shrieked until their falling voices culminated in two safe splashes below.
“Rainbow, the manafire is spreading from deep within the building!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Right!” Rainbow galloped towards the shaking door. “Rarity, where's the door the weakest?”
“The hinges are about to snap!” Rarity tilted her head up with a feeble glance. “But I'm honestly more concerned with—”
“Thanks! Keep your horn on!” Rainbow grunted and kicked... kicked... kicked the door frame. “Rrnnngh! Come on! Gahh!” The hinges finally snapped. Gripping the doorframe with her teeth, Rainbow Dash yanked the thing away from the next room. She gasped upon what she saw.
An old, wrinkled pony lay on her side, her head and mane soaked with blood. Two other mares and a cluster of foals clung to the aged equine.
“Get... g-get my grandfoals out,” she stammered, her tears blackened by the smoke. “Pl-please...”
“Gonna get you all out!” Rainbow spoke above the childish sobs. She squatted low, gathering them. “Just hang tight! I'll be back for—”
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity shrieked, pointing above them. “The ceiling!”
“....?” Rainbow flew her gaze up. “...!”
A dark fissure had formed lengthwise across the apartment's ceiling. The beams splintered, bowed... and then fell completely.
The smoldering room filled with a chorus of screams.
Grunting, Rainbow covered the residents with her body and flinched. She breathed... and then she breathed again. By the third breath, she realized that she hadn't been crushed to a pulp. Shivering, she looked up into a sudden shadow.
Bard stood with his wings outstretched. The stallion's thick muscles held the chunk of ceiling in place, although numerous ashen bits fluttered through the spaces between his charred feathers.
“Whew... this stings like the d-dickens!” he said, struggling to smirk amidst his sweat. “Dubya-Cee? Take yer damn time, why don'tcha?”
FWOOOOOSH! A feathered shadow murked in, grabbed two of the gasping adults, and then dashed back out... quick as lightning. Rainbow watched in an incredulous stare as the griffon made his swift exit, carrying the hapless citizens to safety.
Twilight and Rarity exchanged stupefied expressions. They joined Rainbow in their mutual blinks in Bard's direction.
“Well...?!” Bard sputtered like a constipated panda, his legs starting to buckle. “...ya gonna sit there givin' me googly-eyes or are ya gonna lift a hoof?!”