The girls stood at the edge of a ravine. The train trestle that had previously spanned the void had been reduced to splinters of a suspiciously small size.
“What could have happened?” Rarity asked. “Bridges don’t just collapse.”
“Yeah, usually the train is in the middle when it happens,” the stallion working on the nearby locomotive commented. “We’re lucky we saw it in time.”
“Well, I guess we aren’t going to Yakyakistan today,” said Twilight. None of them had managed to come up with a better name for it yet.
The conductor walked by. “We’re going to be reversing the train to Canterlot soon.”
“Let’s go there and hang out until we can find another way around,” said Applejack. “Maybe we can find an airship or somethin.’”
They got back on the train. Spike was asleep and Braeburn looked forlornly out the window. Cherry’s sudden passage had left him more of a wreck than usual.
The rest of them talked on the way to Canterlot. The admittedly businesslike adventure of setting up a new settlement in the former yak lands was at the forefront. Mixed in, however, were questions about the brief appearance by Sunset “choke the shit out of them” Shimmer, Valiant’s ongoing anonymity, the spying technology he’d developed, and the mysterious Tin Mare. There were a lot more questions than answers.
In Canterlot, Twilight needed to go to the castle to report the delay in plans. After getting an audience with the Princesses, she broke the news. “The train bridge leading towards Yakyakistan is out.”
“Twilight, we talked about this,” Celestia said. “You need a new name for the place.”
“We’re still working on it,” Twilight told her.
“Work harder,” Celestia said. “You can’t still be calling it that by the time you get there.”
“Uh,” Twilight fretted. “I mean, it’s a little hard to name it having never been there.”
“Being up high in the snowy mountains could count for something,” Rainbow said.
“The mountains are nice terrain,” Rarity agreed.
“I imagine it’s peaceful up there, said Fluttershy. “Quiet.”
“Well, now that everything’s buried in a pile of snow.” Applejack looked guilty.
“A lot of vertical terrain covered in heaps of snow and with no life to make a noise…” Pinkie began. Her eyes lit up. “Let’s call it Silent Hill!”
They were all agreeable to that. It sounded like a nice, peaceful place to live.
With the matter settled, they said goodbye to the Princesses and went to find a blimp for hire. The stallion they found who owned an airship was okay with taking them to the new territory, but it would have to be the next morning.
In Canterlot, with time to kill until the next day, they went looking for something to do. Except Braeburn. He was emo and stayed by himself at the hotel.
At the mall, the girls and Spike walked around, ponywatching and window shopping. They passed two colts fighting over the last of the latest model of whiz-bang gotta-have-it toy on the shelf.
“Now, now,” Twilight stepped in. “There’s no need to resort to violence. Tell me what the problem is.”
She moderated the issue and got it resolved. Almost immediately, however, other parents and children in the toy shop took notice and demanded the responsible-looking pony solve their problems for them.
It was a little overwhelming, but not anything too out of the ordinary for Twilight. She’d been a major part of a Super Friend Team for a while and was up to the task.
Between ponies, Spike commented, “It's kinda funny, isn't it? All these ponies coming to you for advice about friendship?”
“What’s funny about that?” Twilight asked.
“You know, because you used to be famous for being such a bad friend.”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “I had good friends in Canterlot.”
Spike crossed his arms. “The fact that you know what I’m talking about shows that you know what I’m talking about.”
Twilight had one of her little freakouts. “This is a disaster! All my old friends! I can’t remember any of their names right now! But do you really think that they think I’m a bad friend?!”
“Well, we’re here in Canterlot right now,” Applejack pointed out. “We can go find them.”
“Great idea.” Twilight brightened. “Let’s go!”
The pony she had been just about to help, a blue and white filly named Cordoba, kicked Twilight in the shin and spit a curse in Spanish.
Valiant and I cracked up laughing. “I love watching this kid,” he said. “She hates Twilight so much and Twilight doesn’t even know.”
I patted his shoulder. “She will.”
“So where should we start to find your old friends?” Rarity asked as the girls and Spike left the mall.
“The only logical place to start is at the beginning,” Twilight said. “My quarters here in Canterlot, back before I moved to Ponyville.”
None of them could come up with a better idea. Theyy made their way to the building and walked inside. “I know we were just here for the Grand Equestria Pony Summit,” Pinkie said, eyeing the furnishings, “and I meant to say something then, but this place isn’t as dusty as I pictured considering you haven’t lived here in so long.”
“Well, did you expect me to just leave the place and drop everything literally where it was?” Twilight said. “I’ve been back to Canterlot several times since moving to Ponyville. It would be very irresponsible and forgetful of me to just let the place sit and collect dust.”
“It was kind of irresponsible and forgetful of you to abandon your old friends,” Spike pointed out.
“Just because I can’t remember…uh…”
“Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moon Dancer,” Spike provided.
“Yes, them, just because I forgot their names doesn’ t mean I’m irresponsible and forgetful,” Twilight argued.
“Princess Celestia made me the de-factoid leader of this team for some reason,” Applejack said.
“De-facto,” Twilight corrected. “And she did it because you’re apparently a badass who can crack wise under pressure, not because I’m a terrible friend.”
“Instead of mussing up more friendships, perhaps we can work on fixing the old ones?” Rarity broke in.
“You’re right,” Twilight acknowledged. “Now, where can we find these ponies?”
“Lyra lives in Ponyville,” said Pinkie. “As for the rest, my Pinkie Sense is tingling.”
There was a long pause. The rest of them glanced at each other. Applejack said, “What’s it telling you?”
“No clue.” Pinkie shrugged. “But if I were trying to find out about somepony, I think I would go ask the Princesses to use their mysterious devices they hijacked from Valiant to check up on ponies. Hey, maybe they already have files on everypony and can tell us where Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Moon Dancer live.”
“That’s a great idea!” Twilight said. “In fact, we should create some sort of book that binds together information about everypony and how they can be contacted. Maybe we could sell ad space to fund the venture. We could distribute free copies to every residence in Equestria!”
“Sounds boring,” said Rainbow. “Now, if we also threw in pictures of their faces in these books…”
“Rainbow just found herself back on the list,” Valiant said through clenched teeth. He grabbed the microphone. “Tin Mare, where the hell are you?”
“Returning to base,” Tin Mare replied. “Unable to comply with a new mission at the current time. Sorry, I am but one war machine.”
Valiant ground his teeth. He didn’t notice when he did it. I thought it was kind of cute.
“Isn’t this the kind of thing you’d rather handle yourself, anyway?” I said.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Valiant calmed down. Then a smile spread across his face. It was his “the hunt begins” look. Sexy.
The girls made their way back to the castle and got a moment with the comms gear. It was easy enough to find Minuette’s file.
The last thing Minuette expected, though, was six ponies and a dragon to show up at her doorstep. She took it in stride, though. “Twilight Sparkle!” she laughed. “What are you doing here? I mean, I know you're here in Canterlot all the time, but you never come to see me. Hey, I just had the greatest idea! You want to go see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine?”
“Of course! My old friends!” Twilight said, already cheering up.
“Have fun,” Rarity said. “The rest of us will give you some space.”
“No, come along,” insisted Minuette. “I have no idea who you all are, except Pinkie, but any friends of Twilight are friends of mine.”
Fluttershy ducked her head. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”
“We’re going to Donut Joe’s,” said Minuette.
“Well, what a co-ink-e-dink.” Pinkie grinned. “So are we!”
“So am I,” Valiant said, getting up.
They all went to the donut shop. The girls and Minuette met up with Twilight’s two other old friends. Twilight kept trying to get in an apology edgewise but between so many ponies talking at once, she could barely hear herself think.
Valiant, meanwhile, dressed in an awesome hat/coat combo and sunglasses, walked into the donut shop and sat at the bar. I didn’t know what he had planned, but I eagerly watched and waited.
“Whatever happened to Moon Dancer?” Twilight asked.
“Moon Dancer?” said Lemon.
“Yeah, you know, our other friend,” Twilight clarified.
Valiant raised one hoof up beside his head as if scratching his ear and said into his sleeve microphone, “Sunset, what do we have on a Moon Dancer?”
“Running it.” I quickly flipped through the files and found what I was looking for. “She lives out by the stadium. I’ll get more information about her.”
Valiant got up and left money for his donut plus a box with another dozen. On the way out the door, he spotted Starlight Glimmer hiding in the corner behind a menu. He shook his head and kept going, outside and across town.
Tin Mare arrived back and I went to help her out. Valiant had put huge amounts of time and effort –and science, mad or otherwise - into making her into what she was, but for all that, she still needed a little help. No dexterity, that one.
“Get back to Canterlot,” I said. “I don’t know yet what Valiant is planning and he might need you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she intoned.
I went back to the control station and saw that Valiant was inspecting Moon Dancer’s house. It looked like a pile of shit.
“This place looks like a pile of shit,” he muttered.
I grinned.
Valiant went inside. The door disintegrated just by him touching it hard. The interior of the house was dark and messy. Also, he was attacked by a robot.
Part of the facial covering flopped free, but otherwise it appeared much like a pony. The mane and tail were styled exactly like Twilight. In fact, the whole thing looked like Twilight, but if she had been dipped in bleach and left to fade. Everything was a few shades lighter.
Valiant caught the attack in his hooves and the two of them struggled across the floor like some sort of dangerous dance. His eyes narrowed. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Twi-minator. It’s been too long. You’re certainly looking the worse for wear.”
The robot did not reply except to make some corroded-sounding noises. Maybe its skinlike covering wasn’t the only thing that had been weathered.
Valiant managed to gain an advantage and kicked the robot in the chest. He didn’t have much time to wind up and only managed to knock it halfway across the room. Before the robot could hit the floor, however, its horn lit up and it teleported.
“Shit,” Valiant muttered. He walked over to some open textbooks and glanced at them. “It taught itself magic.”
There was a sound in the back room of the house. Valiant glanced that way and walked over to the bedroom door. It opened a crack and a mare who looked a lot like the robot, except wearing black glasses with the nose fixed with tape, peeped out. “Is she gone?”
“Yeah,” said Valiant. “How long have you been hiding?”
“A couple of weeks,” admitted the mare.
“Not that anypony noticed,” I said in Valiant’s earpiece. “Before the robot took over Moon Dancer’s house as a hideout due to their similar appearances, all she did was go back and forth between the library and her house.”
Valiant addressed Moon Dancer. “Well, I feel slightly responsible for this since I didn’t manage to finish the job the last time I had that thing in my clutches. You’re also kind of responsible because you didn’t think to climb out a window or something and get help.”
“Well, it wasn’t too bad,” Moon Dancer said. “She was quiet. We made okay study buddies.”
“I like a library-dwelling unicorn as much as anyone-” Valiant said.
I squee’d.
“-but this is pathetic. Don’t despair, though. I’m going to help you.” He took a step towards MD. No, let’s not call her MD, that implies she actually did something with all that studying. How about…MoDa.
“What are you going to do?” she asked suspiciously.
“I’m going to simplify your life and make you more physically attractive by getting rid of those ugly broken glasses.” Valiant grinned. “Surprise laser eye surgery!”
I imagine the smell of burning corneas would have been quite thick in the stuffy house. I could at least hear the screams. That’s what Twilight and her friends walked in on a few minutes later.
Valiant dried his hooves after washing and passed them on the way to the door. “Don’t mind me, I’m just on my way out.”
“Who are you?” Twilight said. “What did you do to Moon Dancer?”
“What, you’ve never seen an eye surgeon who makes housecalls?” Valiant shook his head and went out the door.
“I can see quite clearly,” MoDa offered weakly. She looked around. “What are all of you doing here?”
Twilight gestured to herself, Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts. “It's us, your old friends!”
“Friends…?” MoDa said. “Oh, right. Friends. Those exist.” She reached up to adjust her glasses, but when her hoof found nothing, she paused and smiled.
“I’m going to throw you all a reunion party!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Can we do something about my not-literally-blinding-but-still-pretty-intense pain?” MoDa asked.
Pinkie tapped her chin with a hoof. “I think I have an idea.”
I watched them make their way to the party place. Being a Pinkie party, it couldn’t be a bad event. They had balloons and streamers, cake and other refreshments, and Pin the Tail on the Pony: Princess Celestia Edition. Oh, and Pinkie took a page from Valiant’s book and spiked MoDa’s punch with tequila.
Valiant got back to headquarters while it was going on.
“Donut?” he offered from the box he had bought. He settled back down beside me to watch the live feed from the drunken reunion party.
All of them looked like they were having a surprisingly good time. Twilight and MoDa caught up with facts and figures related to Hayscartes, Morari the Maneless, and Sir Horseword. Those sounded like they were either rappers or old school scientists.
Speaking of rappers, Valiant decided to call out Twilight for racism in the middle of everything. After checking that the connections were set up and the radio patched through, he picked up the microphone.
“Attention Twilight Sparkle.” Valiant spoke slowly and threw his voice deeper, aiming for the God voice.
The partygoers stopped in confusion. “Where is that voice coming from? said Rarity.
“Is it Valiant?” asked Rainbow.
“Yes, it is I.”
“I think it’s coming from the sky,” said Applejack. They all looked up.
“Where I am right now is of no importance. What is important is that you’re a racist, Twilight. Studies show that you strongly prefer the company of unicorns.”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight demanded.
“Just look around the party. Rarity, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Moon Dancer, the librarian, the bookseller, Moon Dancer’s sister – all unicorns.”
“Canterlot is mostly unicorns!” she protested. “Statistically, this is not an uncommon spread of race among groups of this size.”
“Don’t bring in facts to muddle the issue. And speaking of muddling issues, I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while now: I know that you know about my satellites. And now, you know that I know that you know about them. Oh, and one more thing, what’s this shit about Silent Hill? I mean, it’s not a bad name, but you could have done better. You should call it New Milwaukee.”
“We’re not doing that,” Twilight said flatly. “Princess Celestia didn’t appoint you as governor.”
“She would if I asked her.”
Both Valiant and I enjoyed the moment of panic that flashed across Twilight’s face. Heck, maybe Valiant should ask, just to see what would happen.
“Does anypony see where his voice is coming from?” Twilight asked the group.
“If it’s something high up in the sky, maybe I can see it since I got this special eye surgery recently,” said MoDa.
“Then look, look with your special eyes,” Twilight said.
MoDa squinted at the sky. “There’s this tiny little speck. It’s really high up and painted a dull color that blends well against the background.”
“Maybe it’s one of them unmanned flyin’ whatchamacallits Valiant was always talking about,” Applejack speculated.
“Drones?” suggested Rainbow.
“Stop speculating about my hardware,” Valiant commanded.
“Well, show us!” Twilight challenged.
“You really want to know?”
“We really want to know!” she said.
“Then come to Ponyville and I will enlighten you.”
“Um, what about Silent Hill?” Fluttershy said. “That was kind of important too.”
“That’s right,” Twilight said. She looked back up at the sky. “Valiant, we kind of need to get back to establishing this new settlement. The bridge is out, so we’re waiting on an airship. That puts us behind schedule, so we’re going to need to hurry. We’re going there as soon as possible.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yes we are!”
“Twilight, if you keep arguing with the sky, everyone in Canterlot will think you’re crazy.”
“The sky makes a good point,” Minuette agreed.
Twilight’s mane had started to smoke, which was kind of funny as it streamed around her face since her head was tipped back looking upwards.
“All right, fine. We’ll go to Ponyville. But you’d better explain everything.”
“Or what?”
Twilight burst into flames.
“Some kind of record,” Applejack muttered. “First we hear from him in months and Twilight’s already fuming.”