//------------------------------// // LII - Good News Everypony // Story: Mortal Coil // by Reeve //------------------------------// It really was my own fault, if I had taken the time to tell Twilight and Pinkie in greater detail the things I had been doing in their absences, if I had just mentioned one of their names to the other I could have saved so much bother. However there was no point crying over spilled milk, I failed to inform them that I was involved with the both of them, they had their fight, but finally we were all sitting around a magically conjured campfire, talking like civilised ponies. “And I think that’s that,” I finished, letting out a long breath. “Pinkie stayed behind in Brine while Fluttershy and I went onto Olympus, seeing the pony in the church was the last involvement I had with the robed ponies.” “I see,” Twilight replied thoughtfully. “Well I can see why they’re a cause for concern, particularly after what Spike told us, but why did you never mention this to me before?” “Because I knew you were only here for a short while, and you had to focus on taking down the Solar Empire,” I explained. “If I knew you’d be here as long as you have been, of course I would have filled you in on what was going on.” “So these robed ponies were working alongside Arcana to… move troops,” Twilight summarised. “To what ends we don’t know yet. They hired Pinkie to kill Arcana before he could reveal their involvement to you, and now you think they’re involved with these monster sightings after what happened in Brine. Is there anything else we know?” “Well before you got back from, uh, freshening up,” I began, glancing over at Pinkie. “Pinkie told me that she had learnt something after we parted ways.” “Oh, I did, I did!” Pinkie declared, nodding her head rapidly. “It took a while, but I found a secret room in the church I believe the robed ponies were using as a base. It looked like it had been cleared out before I got there, perhaps even before we came to Brine, but I found evidence of alchemical procedures taking place there.” “Alchemy?” Twilight repeated, sounding surprised. “What sort of evidence?” “Spilled substances, specks of powder,” Pinkie listed. “A few discarded tools and vials that they left behind, not enough to indicate what all they were experimenting with, but I think it’s obvious whatever they were doing there was directly responsible for what happened to the ponies of Brine.” “You said you found something that you needed to follow up on,” I reminded her. “Yes, I found a note,” Pinkie replied searching around her pockets for it. “I might have lost it, but it was instructions for drawing that scorched ring around the town. It was definitely put there to keep the ponies from leaving after they… changed, the note clearly stated they wanted to avoid further incidents of test subjects escaping and running wild, that they were drawing unnecessary attention to their work.” “Really, what do you think it meant?” I asked eagerly. “I had a feeling when it said ‘test subjects’, it was referring to the monsters we’ve been hearing about,” Pinkie hypothesised. “So I searched around, trying to pick up the trial of another one so I could test my theory. I learned of one floating around the western side of the Lesser Pastures, I went there and found this really tall monster near an abandoned cabin. After killing it, I was able to examine it and yes, there was definite evidence to suggest that it had been restrained or shackled at one point or another.” “Spike also mentioned the robed ponies,” Twilight pointed out. “And he said he remembered being restrained.” I thought over the evidence for a moment before voicing my opinion. “Pinkie believed these robed ponies were in some way related to the sudden monster appearances,” I began. “That was supported after what we saw in Brine. Spike said he was captured and ‘restrained’ by the same robed ponies before he was… altered, and now Pinkie believes these other monsters were contained at one point or another before escaping as well. It sounds to me like these robed ponies have been… creating monsters, and that something happened and a number of them have escaped.” “But for what purposes?” Twilight added. “And if they’re really being created by ponies, they wouldn’t technically be monsters. Monsters may be unnatural beings, but not in the sense of being artificially created. They’re supposed to come from other planes of reality, what we’re talking about here sound more like abominations.” “Pinkie, did the note say anything else?” I asked hopefully. “Anything at all?” “Nope,” Pinkie replied simply, only continuing after both Twilight and I sagged in disappointment. “Except a signature.” We both snapped to attention at that, Pinkie giggled slightly at getting such a reaction from us. “It’s not that big a deal,” she assured us. “It was just the letter C, no name.” “C…” I repeated. “No, that’s not a lot to go on, but it’s something at least.” “Well Rarity… Pinkie,” Twilight began. “You have me convinced, clearly these robed ponies are up to something, and since I’m here looking for Blueblood, I’d be more than happy to help in your investigation any way I can.” “I’m glad to hear it,” I said, a little relieved. “But first things first, we need to get some rest and then go to Pivot tomorrow. We can report in to Maverick and see how Applejack is doing; no doubt she’s worried sick about us… and with good reason to be.” Standing up, Twilight traced her horn over the grass, drawing out three rectangles. When I approached and tested it with a hoof, I found the grass to be warm and springy, like a mattress. “I can do something like that,” Pinkie commented as she began bouncing up and down on her own makeshift bed. “Yes, but you probably shouldn’t,” Twilight retorted. “If the laws of reality are to be maintained.” “Now how is my magic any different from yours?” Pinkie asked in an exasperated voice. “In many ways!” Twilight insisted. “For starters, unicorn manipulation of magic is something that’s developed through millennia of adaptation and…” Pinkie let out a huge, exaggerated yawn, cutting Twilight off as she made herself comfy on the bed. “Thanks Twilight,” Pinkie muttered in a sleepy voice as she curled up. “I can always count on you to help me get to sleep; you’re a good friend like that.” I saw that Twilight was blushing angrily as she glared at Pinkie Pie; she then looked up at me as if expecting me to do something about it. I simply shrugged and made myself comfortable, not for too long however, as after several minutes Pinkie decided to stop pretending to be asleep. “Psst… psst… Twilight,” she whispered, even though her voice was high pitched enough that I was guaranteed to hear it too. “Hey Twilight… hey Twilight, guess what…” “Go to sleep Pinkie Pie,” Twilight groaned, smothering her own face into the grass. “No, you have to guess what,” Pinkie insisted. “I won’t be able to sleep otherwise.” “Fine, what?” Twilight bit. “That’s not a guess silly,” Pinkie pointed out, giggling to herself. “Pinkie…” Twilight growled. “Fine, fine, I’ll just tell you…” Pinkie relented as she shifted herself and the rectangle Twilight had drawn with magic, as if it were a tangible object, across so she was closer to Twilight. “But you have to promise not to tell anypony…” “Pinkie, I swear to Celestia I will strangle you in your sleep,” Twilight began, her tired voice still managing to sound furious. “If you don’t get to the point now, then go to sleep.” “You’re kind of cute when you’re angry,” Pinkie said at last. There was a brief moment of silence before I heard the hum of Twilight gathering magic in her horn. I then heard a zap of electricity, followed by a short, sharp screech and then finally the sound of sizzling. Rolling over slightly, I saw Twilight lying on her front, trying to get to sleep while Pinkie lay on her back, her limbs were twisted awkwardly, twitching occasionally as her coat and outfit smouldered slightly. “Twilight,” I mumbled in an exhausted voice as I rolled away from them. “Play nice.” “She started it!” Twilight exclaimed indignantly. “I don’t care who started it,” I mumbled back, glad she couldn’t see my grin while I teased her. “I’m finishing it, now everypony go to sleep.” Even Pinkie obeyed me after that, or maybe she had been stunned by Twilight’s shocking spell and physically couldn’t carry on acting up. I doubted that however, she had already proven herself pretty resistant to magic during her fight with Twilight, and when I woke up in the morning she looked just as healthy and unburnt as she always did while she snoozed. Once we were all up and getting ready to set out, there was one small argument between my two friends over the weather of all things, but once we got moving they managed to keep their bickering to a minimum, if only because I walked between them both the whole time. We continued around the Lonesome Lake until we reached the bridge north of Sweet Apple Acres, from there we slipped onto the road that would take us directly to Pivot. It wouldn’t be until late afternoon that we arrived in the city, and I was glad to see that in the twenty odd days since I had last been there, an attempt was finally being made at reconstructing the city. As we walked up the main street, there were a great deal of buildings with scaffolding up around them, and others that had the boards removed from their front windows to show ponies busy inside renovating. Glancing down side streets revealed that most of the work seemed to be focusing on the main street of Pivot, which was fair enough as a place to start, I guessed all this work was the doing of the new mayor who had organised the restoration of Glean. The streets were certainly a lot busier that when I was last here, and not with homeless ponies, although the majority of the ponies than were walking about were Rebel soldiers. As we reached the square in front of the town hall, we found that it was most lively here, with a couple dozen ponies making a brave attempt at setting up market stalls, and some of the shops turned into clinics and shelters. I wondered if those clinics and shelters were temporary, after all, even the Trapper tavern seemed to have been converted, all its chairs and tables shifted outside, while the inside had been packed full of mattresses. I noticed Pinkie looking forlornly at the bell tower of the town hall, no doubt remembering our last visit here and how harrowing it had been. “This was where you saw them?” Twilight asked in a wary tone. “When they were… you know.” I nodded, as did Pinkie Pie, for once not coming out with a smart remark to try and get a rise out of the unicorn. “Well it looks like things a doing a little better,” Twilight said optimistically as she looked around. “Oh, hey, there’s Applejack.” Pinkie and I both spun around to see Applejack stepping out of one of the clinics, dressed in sanitary scrubs and fanning herself off. We all hurried over to her, making sure not to knock into any of the ponies bustling about with building materials or supplies. Applejack saw us and smiled as we got near. “Boy am ah glad to see you girls,” Applejack greeted, sounding exhausted. “It’s mighty stuffy in there, so many ponies to look after. Ah’m no doctor, but they need all the help they can get.” “I’m glad to see you too Applejack,” I replied. “So how are things here since… well, since the attack? The town itself is looking better, but what about the ponies?” “Difficult to say,” Applejack admitted with a sigh. “Very few unicorns and pegasi managed to hide from them, that means there’s a lot of ponies who got ‘castrated’, a lot of which became sick from the conditions they were bein’ kept in. Plenty of ponies were killed outright; all we could do for them was finish crematin’ what was left behind when the scoundrels fled the city.” “So what all is being done now that the Rebels are back?” I asked. “Well, as you can see we have clinics set up to try and treat the injured,” Applejack explained, gesturing to the shop behind her as well as a few others around the square. “There’s more shelters opened up around the city to help with the homeless problem, you can thank the new mayor for that, she’s doin’ wonders for this place.” “Yes, we heard about the restoration programme in Glean,” I commented. “Although it looks like their efforts will have to stretch to Timber now as well.” “Ah shucks, what happened there?” Applejack questioned, a distressed look on her face. “Dragon attack,” Twilight informed her. “But don’t worry; we’ve taken care of it.” “It’s like every time somethin’ goes right, somethin’ else has to go wrong,” Applejack muttered to herself. “This country just can’t catch a break. So Rarity, is that you back for good now?” “We’ll see,” I replied doubtfully. “I have to report back into Maverick, tell him how Olympus went. Oh, that reminds me, Fluttershy sends her regards, she had to stay up that way and take care of some other business for a while.” “And that reminds me,” Applejack began looking over at Pinkie Pie. “Howdy Pinkie, ah see you there gettin’ all worked up. But don’t worry, ah hadn’t forgot about you.” “Oh you can read me like a book,” Pinkie responded with a coy look. “You know, I’m just about done here for the day,” Applejack told us. “If you give me a minute to get changed, I can come with you.” We agreed and lingered outside the clinic for a few minutes until Applejack re-emerged, scrubs swapped out for her leather armour and sallet helmet, her claymore slung across her back. We all made our way back across the square and up the steps of the town hall, once inside we found it stuffed full of ponies. Craning my neck to see over the crowd, I managed to make out a familiar face near the end of the far corridor, just outside the mayor’s office. As we weaved through the busy ponies and neared Sufferthorn, she was just finishing up issuing instructions to one of her soldiers who saluted and marched away. “Hey Sufferthorn,” I said announcing our presence, a lot more casually than I once would have done. “Ah Rarity, glad to see you’ve returned,” she greeted formally before glancing to Twilight. “And Lady Sparkle, did you have any luck?” “None I’m afraid,” Twilight replied. “Glean is the last place we can place Spitfire.” “Well Strangle still hasn’t returned from Arclight,” Sufferthorn said, looking put down. “But maybe Rarity has some good news for us?” “I do actually,” I replied eagerly which got a look of surprise out of her. “I’m glad to hear it,” she stated as she turned to the door behind her. “Come on, you can tell Maverick all about it.” As she knocked twice before walking straight in, I got a slight shiver up my spine as I realised we were in the exact spot we first met. I wondered if she remembered and felt awkward about it, still, she seemed to have warmed up to me since then… or maybe Strangle had just given her a stern telling off after the sword to the neck incident. My friends filed in behind Sufferthorn and I took up the rear, as I entered I saw Maverick standing by the desk, talking to a pony I presumed was the new mayor. “I’m sorry to cut this short,” I heard him say to her in his usual voice that felt like he was drooling in your ear. “But I’m afraid a very important meeting suddenly came up.” “Not at all,” the mayor replied in a light, friendly voice. “Use the office; I need to go check on the work outside anyway.” As she made her way out past me, she flashed me a warm smile, and I suddenly realised that she was the same secretary who had served me really poor tea during my talk with the Pen Pusher. I then remembered what the innkeeper at Glean had said about how the new mayor was inspired when she overheard somepony shouting at the last mayor about what needed fixed in Pivot. I blushed heavily when I realised I had most likely had an indirect hand in helping Pivot recover after all. “Rarity, good to see you back,” Maverick said as he levitated several chairs around the desk for us all. “So, tell us how your mission in Olympus went. Has Iron Sights agreed to keep to himself?” “Even better, depending on how you look at it,” I replied as I took my own seat. “Iron Sights is dead.” There was a stunned silence following my declaration, of course Twilight knew this, but I hadn’t told her all the details. “We were right to believe he was involved with whatever Arcana was doing,” I continued. “But it turns out he didn’t know why, it would appear that Arcana simply used him, and paid him off with a magic artefact called the Terrorstone.” “Never heard of it,” Maverick commented. “I assume it was something they had lying about in the Tower or the Arclight University, you can’t walk ten feet in those places without tripping over some magical artefact.” “The stone allowed Iron Sights to turn the fear of his enemies into his own physical strength,” I explained, Sufferthorn ‘ohh’d’ as she realised where I was going, but the others continued to stare blankly at me. “He was using the power of the stone to make it so he could never be overthrown in the Dragoons.” “So he was cheating,” Sufferthorn murmured. “I wondered how that guy had stayed top dog for so long in a faction based around strength.” “Iron Sights wasn’t going to help us against the Children of the Earth,” I went on. “He was quite stubborn about that, but after discovering his secret, a friend of mine was able to defeat him in the Olympus Coliseum and become the new Marshal of the Dragoons. Now here’s the really good part, not only does she want to help the Rebellion in fighting against the Children of the Earth, she also wants to see the Dragoons dissolved and all their forces return to you.” Maverick’s eyes went wide; even Sufferthorn gave a rare smile as she surveyed me with an impressed look. “So that’s the short version of the story,” I finished. “Rainbow Dash has taken units to Anchorage, Breakwater and Brine to help defend them if the Children attempt another attack, and she’s more than happy to meet with you for negotiations to see the reunion of your two forces.” “Rarity, I must say I’m very impressed,” Maverick told me with an approving nod. “After our recent trouble involving Blueblood, we really needed some good news like this.” “Well, every piece of good news must come bundled with a few pieces of bad,” I jumped in quickly. “And while the news regarding Olympus and the Dragoons is good, there are some things you should be aware of. For starters, Brine is infested with the undead… or monsters… or abominations, we’re not exactly sure what they are.” “Undead?” Sufferthorn repeated in a concerned voice. “Something like that, the entire population is dead, and yet they continue to walk around and attempt to kill anypony who enters the town,” I explained. “I was first there with Pinkie and Fluttershy, Pinkie’s looking into what caused it while Fluttershy is helping the squad of Dragoons Rainbow Dash left there to eradicate them from the town.” “That sounds…” Maverick began in an odd tone; it was almost like he doubted the sincerity of what I was telling him. “So what have you found out then? What has caused this… outbreak?” “I will get back to you on that one,” Pinkie replied in a cheery tone. “So nothing,” Maverick stated, making Pinkie and, oddly enough, Twilight frown at him. “What else has happened? We might as well get it all on the table now while we’re here.” “There was a dragon attack in Timber,” I informed him, which caused a bit more of a reaction. “Twilight and I went there while searching for Blueblood. We took care of the dragon, but the town was been destroyed, we think it’s of the utmost importance that you include in this restoration scheme.” “You’ll have to speak to the mayor about that,” Maverick told me. “But don’t be surprised if you get a negative response, her efforts are spread very thin at the moment, as are our troops.” “So besides Blueblood escaping, was there anything I missed while I was gone?” I asked. “Not much,” Sufferthorn told me. “We received word that Typhoon survived the destruction of the Fort, and while the Liberators took a massive hit, they’re somehow holding together. We’ve been too busy with our search for Blueblood and the efforts to restore the city to consider them at the moment, it’s possible after everything they’ve lost, they’ll finally listen to reason and…” “Typhoon will have to wait,” Maverick cut in. “We must focus on consolidating this relationship with the Dragoons, before some other megalomaniac can take them over.” “Rainbow Dash can handle herself, but I think you’re right,” I told him, before murmuring under my breath so only Applejack and Pinkie Pie could hear me. “Unbelievably.” “I’m glad you do,” Maverick said, clearly not picking up why my friends were sniggering to themselves. “I’ll begin making arrangements immediately, but right now I need you all to focus your efforts of finding Blueblood. Just under forty sleeper agents have vanished from the face of the earth, we need to capture him soon if we’re to find out what he’s planning on using them for and put a stop to it.” “We’re still waiting on Strangle coming back from Arclight,” Sufferthorn reminded us. “But until then you could go to Anchorage and ask around. We have plenty of able bodies working around here, but we don’t have enough eyes and ears further north.” “I suppose I could go to Anchorage,” I said, mulling the idea over in my mind. “I do have to get back to Fluttershy soon…” “Oh, you’re going to see Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed, jumping up on her seat. “Count me in!” “Well obviously I’ll be going since I need to find Blueblood,” Twilight commented, a little bitterly after Pinkie had already said she would be going. “And ah can come too,” Applejack added. “You’re gettin’ awfully close to enemy territory goin’ up that way, you might need the extra set of eyes… and blade.” “Excellent, Sufferthorn could you show them out?” Maverick asked as he began pulling out some sheets onto the table so he looked busy. “Find them some suitable accommodation and arrange for transport in the morning to take them to the dock.” Sufferthorn’s face scrunched up at being addressed like a secretary, but she obeyed and walked over to the door, holding it open for us. Once outside, my three companions began walking down the corridor to the entrance hall while Sufferthorn and I lingered back. “It’s weird to think…” Sufferthorn began in a low voice, drifting off before she could finish her thought. “To think what?” I asked, noticing the distant look on her face. “Nothing,” she said after a moment of silence on her part. “Let’s just get going.” “Sir, yes sir,” I replied as she began to walk away. Sufferthorn snapped around, glaring at me, but then she saw how I was struggling to hold in my laughter. She quickly turned away, but not before I saw a smile creeping on to her face. She started marching after the others, making sure to keep her face turned away from me as I trailed behind.