“God-damn girl, couldn’t you have just stayed in your bed like I asked you to,” Alastair yells at the sudden Pinkie Pie, getting off his chair.
“Sorry, but I got bored and I wanted to look for my friends,” Pinkie replies, smiling happily.
“Couldn’t you have waited until you were not in agony?” Alastair asks, sighing.
“She doesn’t look like she is in agony,” notes Twilight, still surprised by the sudden pink pony.
“Actually I am,” states Pinkie, a eye twitching, “Right now, I am in extreme amounts of pain.”
“Than lay down you idiot,” Alastair says, picking up Pinkie with one arm and throwing her onto the bed with Twilight, causing to Pinkie to say ‘Ouch!’, “You don’t mind sharing a bed with her?”
“Not really…” Twilight says, although it is a bit embarrassing to share a bed with a pony when they are both naked.
“Good, for I don’t want to have to carry her back to bed,” admits Alastair, glaring at the pink pony who just smiles back.
“Are you sure you don’t have any clothes?” Twilight asks, embarrassed as Pinkie slips under the sheet with Twilight.
“You know Pictish females aren’t much smaller than the males,” replies Alastair, noticing Twilight disappointed face he says, “But look, I will have some of the lads look around in storage and we will see if we can find any smaller races clothes.”
“Thank you,” Twilight says, thankful.
“Yeah, thanks!” thanks Pinkie, happily, “It is a bit drafty.”
“I warn you though it may not be in one piece,” he warns, leaving the room.
“What do you think he means by that?” asks Pinkie, looking at Twilight.
“I think he meant that it will be battle salvage,” explains Twilight, sighing, “But as long as we can get some clothes I don’t care where it comes from.”
They lay in silence for awhile until Pinkie breaks it by talking again.
“Hey Twilight, I’m bored!” whines Pinkie.
“Sorry to hear that,” Twilight says, sighing.
“Hey Twilight, I got an idea, let’s go look for our friends,” suggests Pinkie, surprising Twilight.
“What!?” Twilight says, shocked by Pinkies suggestion.
“I said let’s go look for our friends,” Pinkie repeats, smiling happily.
“No we can’t, we have to stay in are rooms, Alastair said,” scolds Twilight, scowling.
“No he didn’t,” counters Pinkie, still smiling.
“Yeah well he meant it,” admits Twilight, sighing again.
“But aren’t worried about our friends?” pouts Pinkie.
“Of course I am, but they are safe and we still need to heal properly,” counters Twilight, wondering where this is going.
“But what about Fluttershy? She will be so scared and lonely,” Pinkie says, sadly, “You don’t want to just leave her alone?”
“I guess…” admits Twilight, “But I am sure she will be ok for a day.”
“But it hasn’t just been a day, it has been a week,” counters Pinkie.
“I guess you right…” Twilight says, starting to give in.
“And then there is poor Rarity,” continues Pinkie, “I mean after what happened to her mane…”
“Wait, what happened to her mane…” then Twilight notices something she didn’t see before about Pinkie. Her mane is very short, like it was shaven off and only recently grown back. “Pinkie what happened to your mane?” Twilight asks, horrified.
“What do you mean? Your mane is the same as mine,” Pinkie replies.
“WHAT!?!” Twilight yells, placing her hands on her head. She is right, her mane is the same as Pinkie. “Why is my mane short?”
“Why does matter?” asks Pinkie, who doesn’t really care, “It will just grow back.”
“But I liked my mane,” moans Twilight, depressed.
“Well anyway,” Pinkie says, hopping off the bed, “Let’s go looking for our friends.”
“Look I can’t anyway,” Twilight says, sadly, still depressed about her mane, “I’m not like you, I can’t walk around with no clothes on.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Pinkie says, happily. With that she pulls off the large sheet, exposing Twilight.
“What the hay, Pinkie!” yells Twilight, covering herself with her hands.
“I will make something with the sheet,” declares Pinkie, grabbing the sheet from the middle.
“Wait, Pinkie! That belongs to…” Twilight says too late as Pinkie tears the sheet down the middle, “... Alastair.”
“Don’t worry about it, they have lots,” Pinkie says, without a care in the universe, “Now up you go.”
Pinkie suddenly pulls Twilight off the bed. Twilight winces as her muscles complain about their sudden use. “Ow, Pinkie that hurts!” cries Twilight.
“Mare up, Twilight, we are on a quest,” declares Pinkie, warping half of the sheet around Twilight.
“What are you doing, Pinkie?” Twilight asks, curious.
“Making a toga,” answers Pinkie, “And… done! What do you think?”
“It is not a huge improvement,” complains Twilight, noticing that see can still see the shape of her body through the sheet, also her nubs can be seen through the sheet.
“Moan, moan, all you do is moan,” Pinkie says, jokingly, putting on the other half of the sheet.
Twilight notices it is worst for Pinkie whose breasts are the biggest of any of her friends.
“Let’s go Twilight,” Pinkie says, skipping out of the room.
Twilight sighs. She grabs her amulet from the bedside table and follows her, this is definitely not a good idea, but somepony has to watch Pinkie. By the time Twilight leaves through the large door she is already regretting it, the muscles in her leg, chest and hips are killing her.
“How come you’re not in pain, Pinkie?” moans Twilight, wishing she could lay down again.
“Oh I am,” replies Pinkie, smiling, “I just don’t care.”
“I wish could be that carefree,” grumbles Twilight, as they exit the room. They find themselves in a white chrome hallway with doors lined across it, the hallway itself seem to be stretching out endlessly in both direction.
“What is this?” Twilight asks, looking up and down the hall, “There is nothing beside doors. No sighs, numbers or anything.”
“Weird right,” agrees Pinkie, who has already seen this.
“Let’s just open some nearby doors,” suggests Twilight, “Our friends must be nearby.”
“Okie Dokie Lokie,” Pinkie says, walking over one of the unmarked doors on the opposite side to Twilight’s room.
She open it and reveals what looks like a cleaning closet, with a weird looking broom and some other stuff.
“Let’s try another door,” Twilight says, opening one of the doors beside the cleaning closet to found an empty bedroom with bunk beds.
“Let’s try this one,” Pinkie says, opening a door beside Twilight’s room.
It turns out to be a workout place, where Pictlanders lift weights, do push-ups, squat-thrusts, sits-up and other such stuff, wearing nothing but their shorts… or nothing at all. They all stop and look at the two ponies.
“Niccce!” notes Pinkie.
“Mad Bomber thanks you,” one of the Pictlanders reply, before Twilight closes the door.
“Hey, why did you do that, Twilight?” Pinkie asks, looking at the blushing alicorn leaning against the wall.
“Didn’t you see that? They were barely wearing any clothes… actually some were not wearing anything at all!” Twilight whines, her blush increasing at what her poor virgin eyes saw.
“Don’t worry about it Twilight,” comforts Pinkie, patting Twilight back, “Just think that they are your brother.”
“That’s even worse!” Twilight yells, picturing a room full of working out Shining Armours... not wearing any clothes.
“Just let me open it again and ask for directions,” asks Pinkie.
“We are not opening it again! Let’s just try the other doors,” Twilight orders, not wanting to see that again.
The two mares try twenty more doors, totalling what they found so far: 8 bedrooms, 2 cleaning closets, 3 workout rooms, 1 gym(it is totally different to a workout room, really), 1 empty medical room, 2 shower rooms full of male Pictlanders(much embarrassment), 1 empty bathroom(which Pinkie used), and 4 unknown rooms.
“Nothing makes sense here!” yells Twilight, annoyed, “There is no pattern!”
“Yeah it is weird,” agrees Pinkie, looking up and down the hallway, “You should have let me asked for direction.”
“We are not going to enter a room of naked or semi-naked males while only wearing a sheet!” yells Twilight, tired of this argument.
“Ok, ok, let’s just keep looking then,” suggests Pinkie.
Twilight walks over to a door, wishing that they could just found their friends. She is irritated, annoyed, in pain and embarrassed. She just wants it to end so she can go back and lay down again.
“You know nothing can surprise me anymore, let’s see what behind this door!” Twilight yells, hitting the open door button… and what is behind the door is a jungle, full of trees, shrubs and some form of wild lion. Twilight quickly closes it. “I stand corrected..”
“Cool, they even have their own jungle in here,” Pinkie says, amazed.
“Right, now that I think about it where was your room Pinkie?” Twilight asks, looking up and down the hall.
“I don’t know I was walking for awhile until heard your voice and then came into your room… actually I can’t even remember where your room was,” notes Pinkie, looking down the hallway.
“Yeah, me neither,” admits Twilight, also looking down the hallway.
“Let’s try this one,” declares Pinkie, opening a door to a dark room, “What do you think this room is?”
“With our luck it is properly a cave with bats in it,” Twilight says sarcastically, walking in followed by Pinkie, “Pinkie try and find the lights.”
“Ok, but I don’t think caves have lights,” Pinkie says, happily patting the walls.
Suddenly something tackles Twilight, causing her to fall over. The attacker grips her tightly.
“Help! I being attacked by something!!” yells Twilight, trying to remove it.
It seems to be making Twilight chest wet and it’s also making a strange noise.
“Don’t worry Twilight!” yells Pinkie, “I found the lights.”
The lights turn on revealing the attacker, it has a yellow coat and pink shaven mane.
“Fluttershy?” both the mares yell, surprised.
For it is the timid pegasus. Her mane is short like theirs, but it is Fluttershy mane. The weird noise is her crying and the wetness is her tears.
“I was so scared!!” Fluttershy cries, clinging tighter to Twilight chest, “There was this really scary giant blue man and lots of needles and…”
“There, there, you are alright now,” Pinkie says, patting her back, and after a while Fluttershy seems calms down.
“Are you better now?” asks Twilight, Fluttershy nods, “Good, now can you get off me please.”
Fluttershy looks up and sees Twilight’s blushing face, she looks down and sees her own naked body.
“I’m sorry!!” yells Fluttershy, quickly getting off and covering herself with her hands. She winces as she feels the pain of her sudden movements.
“Let me make you a toga,” Pinkie says, happily, grabbing the sheets off Fluttershy bed.
“You better make me another one too,” asks Twilight, pointing to her toga to show that its chest is now transparent due to Fluttershy’s tears.
“Sorry,” Fluttershy apologies again.
“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight says, trying to comfort the pegasus.
Soon all three of them leave the room, with Fluttershy and Twilight in fresh togas. Back on their quest to make sense of this place and find their friends.
“Wow, it’s long,” Fluttershy says, looking up and down the hallway.
“Yeah and weird, there seems to be no room layout and every room is random,” explains Twilight.
“And worst, Twilight won’t let me ask for directions,” pouts Pinkie, crossing her arms.
“That because you keeping wanting to ask the ones in rooms full of naked ones!” yells Twilight, wishes Pinkie would drop it.
“Or semi-naked ones,” corrects Pinkie, smiling.
Fluttershy just blushes while she listens to this. Her ears suddenly perk, “Wait girls… I can hear something.”
Twilight and Pinkie perks their ears as well.
“Yeah, I can hear something as well,” argees Twilight.
“It sounds like running footsteps,” Pinkie says, pointing her hand down the hall, “It coming from that direction.”
They look and in the distance they see a large group of Pictlanders heading for them fast.
“Oh good we can ask for directions,” Pinkie says, happily waving at them.
“They coming pretty fast,” Fluttershy says, like a deer in the headlights.
Pictish have nearly reached them when suddenly Twilight pulls her two friends into a room and out of the stampeding of Pictlanders way. As they past they can hear a pictlander yell, “Come on, run faster! No pain no gain!”
“That was close,” Twilight says, wiping her brow, “These pictish love to excise don’t they.”
“Umm, girls…” Fluttershy tries to say.
“Admit Twilight you like being lost,” pouts Pinkie, crossing her hands.
“Girls…” Fluttershy tries to say again.
“Hay, I just saved you from being trampled!” Twilight says, frustrated.
“Girls!” Fluttershy yells, having enough.
“What?” both Twilight and Pinkie say turning to Fluttershy, to find her blushing a bright red.
“We are in a dressing room,” whispers Fluttershy, covering her eyes and pointing beside them.
They turn sideway and sees a bunch of Pictlanders in various states of getting dressed or getting undressed staring at them.
“Do you mind?” says one, looking annoyed and crossing his hands over his bare chest.
“SORRY!” yells Twilight and Fluttershy, rushing out of the room and dragging Pinkie behind them.
Soon they lay down in the middle of the hallway, panting and rubbing their aching muscles.
“Why does this place have so many naked and semi-naked Pictlanders in it?” Twilight asks the universe in general.
“Look we are never going to find our friends this way,” complains Pinkie.
Twilight is about to retort when they hear a familiar voice behind them.
“Howdy, it sure is good to see some familiar faces,” says Applejack, running over to her friends.
“Applejack!” the girls say before hugging the earth-pony. Applejack’s long blonde mane is now short like theirs, and she also wears two towels, one around her hips and one around her chest.
“Nice use of towels,” notes Twilight, wishing that she used some herself, at least cover herself better.
“Yeah, you three could some towels yourself,” Applejack says, looking them over, “Your chests are… rather exposed.”
Twilight and Fluttershy blush covering their chests, Pinkie doesn’t care.
“Toga are cool,” states Pinkie, happily puffing out her chest.
“Anyway, do you know where Rarity and Rainbow Dash are?” Twilight asks Applejack.
“If the state of our manes are any judge, Rarity will be crying in her room,” guesses Applejack, “And Rainbow Dash, no idea.”
“What are you doing here anyway? Is your room nearby?” asks Fluttershy.
Applejack turns around and looks down the hallway behind her, “Don’t think so… I was following the group of blue guys…”
“Pictlanders,” Twilight corrects.
“Pictlanders, whatever. I was following them, but they are pretty fast and got away,” continues Applejack, waving her hands in dismissive manner.
“Well I guess we should start checking the doors again,” Fluttershy suggests.
“You first,” Twilight says, pushing Applejack forwards. Twilight has had enough with her luck with doors.
“Fine, just stop pushing me, Twilight,” complains Applejack, pushing Twilight away and walking to the door.
She opens the door to reveal at what first looks like a battlefield, with Pictlanders attacking each other with fists, elbows, feet and what looks like chairs, and then at second glance turns out to be a cafeteria.
“I heard of a lunch hour rush before, but this is ridiculous,” notes Applejack, winces as she sees someone get hit by a chair.
A Pictlander falls in front of them with a pretty bad blood nose. They can see his blood pouring down his face. Them someone starts to drag him back into the fray, and as he is dragged away they can hear him scream… in excitement.
“Let go,” Twilight says, closing the door.
“Yeah,” agrees Pinkie, for once not wanting to ask for directions.
“Fluttershy, you can let go of my back now, the door is closed,” Applejack addresses the pegasus behind her.
“Sorry,” Fluttershy says, letting go.
“Don’t worry about it,” replies Applejack, patting her on the shoulder.
“But how are we going to find Rarity and Rainbow Dash like this?” complains Twilight, stomping her hoof in frustration, “Every room is random and has no pattern I can follow! They could be anywhere.”
Suddenly Pinkie does some odd movements that can only be her Pinkie sense.
“My pinky is twitching, my hoof is itching and my tail is wagging, that means that somepony is crying nearby... must be Rarity,” yells Pinkie, rushing off, “And she is over here.”
The other girls not arguing, follow after Pinkie. Soon they reach another part of the hallway.
“She is around here somewhere,” declares Pinkie, her Pinkie sense starting up again.
“I guess we better start opening doors,” Twilight sighs, heading for a door.
“Wait, I can hear something,” Applejack states, looking for the source.
“Yeah, it sounds like crying?” agrees Fluttershy, looking around.
“Must be Rarity then,” Pinkie says, happily skipping towards the door where the sounds comes from.
They open the door and step in, where they see Rarity, crying in the corner of room. The reason is quite clear why she is crying for her mane is the same as them.
“Rarity are you alright?” asks Fluttershy, going to comfort her.
“NO!” Rarity wails, turning back to her friends, tears in her eyes. Luckily she isn’t wearing any mascara or her face would be more of a mess, “My beautiful mane has been cut away leaving me with this short cut, I am also without any clothes and I have no make-up!!”
“Nice to see you too,” grumbles Applejack, crossing her arms.
“Oh yes, quite,” replies Rarity, actually seeming to notice them. She then notices Fluttershy mane, “Darling, you're beautiful mane is gone too?!” Rarity says horrified, grabbing Fluttershy face.
“Actually all our hair is cut too,” Twilight says, pointing to her own mane.
“What kind of monster would do this?” Rarity asks, angrily.
“Most likely that doctor guy,” Pinkie says, happily.
“His name is Alastair,” corrects Twilight.
“Who?” says Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, confused.
“Don’t you know Alastair?” Twilight asks, also confused.
“The big blue guy? With a cross on his face?” Pinkie tries to explain.
“Was he the one who jabbed needles in my arse?” asks Applejack, angrily.
“Yes, but the needles were to help us,” defends Twilight.
“How does putting needles in… in our behind help us?” Rarity asks, raising an eyebrow.
“It is hard to explain,” Twilight says, wondering if Alastair didn’t explain Boost to them and just did it, “Anyway, didn’t you see Alastair when you woke up?.”
“Nope, only heard his voice and when I woke up I was alone in my room and in pain,” answers Applejack.
“Same here,” agrees Rarity, nodding her head.
“I was awake, but I pretended to be asleep when he came in,” confesses Fluttershy, blushing.
“Why?” asks Twilight.
“I was scared,” answers Fluttershy, lowering her head, “He is so big.”
“If I see him I am going to teach him a lesson,” declares Applejack, determined.
“Here, here,” agrees Rarity.
‘They won’t be saying that when they see him,’ thinks Twilight, hoping nopony gets hurt.
“Anyway, now that we found Rarity let’s find Rainbow Dash!” declares Pinkie, double fist pumping.
“Not until I get something to wear,” Rarity states, crossing her arm across her ample bosom.
Soon they leave the room with Rarity wearing a towel wrapped around her chest and toga made of a bed sheet over it. Twilight and Fluttershy also now wear a towel under their toga, and Pinkie… just doesn’t care.
“I guess we should try doors again,” sighs Twilight, opening a door.
Behind the door is another bunch of showering Pictlanders, they stare at the five ponies as the door opens.
“Sorry,” Twilight says, not caring anymore and closing the door.
“My word, what was that?” Rarity says, flustered and blushing a deep red.
“Did we just see a bunch of naked Pictlanders?” Applejack says, also blushing, “They are well built aren’t they?”
“Is it safe to look?” asks Fluttershy, who has closed her eyes just in case.
“Yeah it is,” sighs Twilight, who is used to this.
“Is every door like this?” asks Rarity, nevious.
“Actually they’re all random,” states Pinkie, “So you never know what you will get.”
“I guess we should try another,” Twilight says, going for another.
“Wait!” Rarity says, grabbing Twilight’s hand, “Maybe we should just look around the hallway. I mean she is most likely looking for us.”
“Good idea, Rarity,” Twilight says, happy at the option that did not involve opening doors.
The girls start walking down the hallway. After a while Pinkie speaks up again.
“You know what I just noticed,” states Pinkie, skipping down the hall, “We haven’t seen a single female Pictlander. Don’t you think that is weird.”
“Maybe the females are elsewhere,” suggests Rarity, adjusting her toga.
“Or maybe the Pictish females look like the males, with beard and everything,” jokes Applejack, smiling.
With that in mind Twilight imagines Alastair in a dress… Twilight then shudders.
“I wonder what one looks like?” Pinkie wonders.
“Stop right there!” yells a voice behind them.
The girls turn around and see a Pictish female, for it can only be that(what a coincidence). She has the long ginger hair, no facial hair, Pictish dark blue skin and a very curvy but muscular body. She is a little bit shorter than Alastair but she still towers over them. She wears some form of armour, similar to what they seen other Pictlander’s wear. She wears a skeletal looking face paint(least Twilight hopes it is face paint and not a tattoo) and is pointing a huge glowing sword at them.
“If you don’t speak up soon, I will be forced to just beat you to get the information,” she says, looking like she wants this to happen.
“Wait, stop!” Twilight says, not liking the look of the sword, “We are just looking for our friend!”
“Unless he is Pictish you won’t find whoever you are looking for here,” she declares, lowering her sword.
“No, she is one of us,” explains Twilight, relieved, “We are the aliens you picked up recently?”
She looks confused, before realization dawned on her face. “Oh yeah, the ones that had been in stasis too long,” she says, putting the sword away, “I guess that explains the bedsheet thing, right?”
“One must make do in the worst situation,” grumbles Rarity, crossing her hands over her chest.
“Aren’t you guys supposed to be in bed still? I mean no way you have recovered yet,” she states, looking them up and down.
“How would you know that?” asks Twilight.
“Cause I can see your muscles complaining,” she says, pointing down at them, “Your body obviously hasn’t recovered yet from the Boost they injected you with.”
The girls can’t argue with that, their muscles are killing them like they would after a hard workout.
“I suggest you go back to bed now,” she says, putting her hands behind her head, “For own sakes… also so not to piss off Alastair more than you most likely have.”
“Maybe we should go back, girls,” suggests Twilight, not wanting to anger Alastair and this new Pictlander, “I mean Rainbow Dash can wait until we fully recover, right?”
“Oh come on, Twilight!” Pinkie says, happily, “What’s a little bit of pain for our friends?”
“Pinkie, my muscles feel like they are on fire,” Twilight says, winching while rubbing her calf.
“No pain, no gain!” Pinkie says, happily marching forward, “Let’s find our friend and then feel sorry for ourselves later!”
“I have a nasty feeling that we are going to be in a lot more pain later,” sighs Applejack, shaking her head.
“I hope not,” whimpers Fluttershy, rubbing her arm.
“Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?” Pinkie asks the female Pictish, at last getting to ask someone.
The Pictish looks down at Pinkie who has walk up to her. The Pictlander is nearly twice as tall as Pinkie. She gives a bemused smile, before saying, “Depends, who is Rainbow Dash? The name doesn’t ring a bell. Also why should I help you anyway?”
“Oh please,” begs Pinkie, while still smiling, “She is blue and has rainbow coloured hair. So please help us! Pretty please with a cherry on top!”
“You have a weird way of asking someone for help,” she says, frowning before she suddenly smiles, “But you sure are amusing though.” She points down the hallway, “I believe room ‘50132’ had a something rainbow coloured in it.”
“Umm, which is room 50132?” Twilight says, confused and noting she isn’t as nice as Alastair, “None of the rooms are numbered.”
“Oh yeah, you don’t have one of these,” she says, holding up her left wrist. There seems to be something built into the armours wrist,
“What is that?” Twilight says, craning her neck to get a good look at the device, but it is kind of hard being the pictish is so tall.
“It is P.T.S.D,” she states, lowering her hand so Twilight can see better.
“A PTSD?” Twilight says, confused, ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder?’
“Yeah, a Pictish Tracking and Search Device,” she nods, pulling her hand up before moving her other hand across it, “And with a few taps.”
Suddenly numbers appear above the doors, also none of them seem to be in order. For example number 33309, is next to 101310 and that’s next to 663311, it makes no sense.
“This doesn’t make it any less confusing,” Twilight sighs, looking at the numbers.
“Are there really 663311 rooms here?” Rarity asks, amazed.
The Pictish laughs, “No, of course they're not. It is a puzzle.” She points up at the numbers, “If you take out all the numbers beside the last three, you get…”
Realization dawns of Twilight’s face, “309, 310, 311… so that means Rainbow Dash is in room 132.”
“Correct,” she smiles, showing her pearly whites, “Want me to take you there?”
“You will! Thank you!” Pinkie says, happily.
“Why not, I am bored anyway and you are the first interesting thing I have seen in ages,” she smirks, she starts walking off, “Coming?”
The girls quickly chase after the Pictlander, they have to walk quickly to keep up with her long strides, which is not helping their muscles at all.
“Hey, I got a question,” asks Applejack, having to jog to keep up, “Why are all the rooms weirdly laid out and what’s with the invisible number?”
“Hmm,” the Pictish says, looking down at Applejack, “Oh, that is just in case we are boarded. You know, to confuse the enemies. It means that the enemies will have trouble finding our sick, ammunition and other important stuff. It also means we have the home advantage, one can easily get lost around these halls, but a Pictish will never get lost on their own ship. So while they can’t find us we can always find them.”
“That’s actually kind of clever… in a dumb sort of way,” admits Twilight, trying her best to keep up with the Pictish, “But won’t that trick only a few times until they work out how your ships are laid out?”
“Nope for every Pictish ship is built with a different layout and a different number code,” she explains, while looking at her PTSD, “So our enemies will never be able to guess how our ships are laid out.”
“Do you get boarded often?” asks Rarity, worried.
“Not for long,” she says, giving a wicked smirk.
“I see… are we nearly there?” Rarity asks.
“It is just up ahead,” she says, pointing to a door a little distance away.
“That was fast,” Pinkie says, happily, skipping ahead towards the door.
“Hey I just thought, when you make the numbers appear do they appear all over the ship or just around you?” asks Twilight, as they head for the door.
“Just around me,” she smiles, “Would defeat the purpose if they lit up all the numbers on the ship, also if I wear my helmet I can make it so only I can see them through my helmet hud. Which is good if I don’t want my enemies to see them.”
Just then they reach the door, Pinkie has already gone inside. The rest of the girls and Pictlander follows her in.
“We found Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie says, standing by the sleeping pegasus, “And she is asleep.”
“I can fix that!” Applejack says, with a annoyed look on her face.
“Don’t bother,” says the Pictlander, smirking, “It looks like she is under the effect of Hammer.”
Twilight suddenly remember Alastair saying that one of her friends were still kept asleep because she was too energetic, I guess it was Rainbow Dash.
“How are we going to wake her up then?” asks Rarity, looking at the sleeping Rainbow Dash.
“I guess we will have to use Smack,” the Pictlander says, grabbing a needle off the bench.
“What the heck is Smack,” asks Applejack, confused.
“It is a powerful drug used to counter Hammer,” explains the Pictlander, “Called so, because when you wake up you”
“Let me guess, you feel like you were slapped across the face?” interrupts Twilight, getting the hang of Pictish pharmaceuticals.
“Something like that,” the Pictlander says, filling up the needle with a brown liquid. She walks over Rainbow Dash side and jabs it into her arm, injecting the contents. “Hope I didn’t put too much in.”
“What will happen if you put too much....” Twilight tries to ask.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash sits up with a wild look on her face.
“Rainbow Dash are you ok?” asks Fluttershy, worried.
Rainbow Dash quickly looks at Fluttershy, and then talked at a million words per-second, “IamjustfineFluttershywhyareyouspeakingsoslowIfeellikeacouldflyamileinasecondactuallyIthinkIwillWOO-HOO!!!!” Suddenly Rainbow Dash shoots off the bed and starts bouncing off the walls.
“Oops, methinks I gave her to much,” the Pictlander says, smiling at the bouncing pegasus.
“YOU THINK!!” Twilight yells, laying on the floor with the rest of her friends.
“Although I haven’t seen someone react to Smack like this before,” she says, dodging an incoming Rainbow Dash, “It is quite funny!”
“HOW LONG TO IT STOPS!?!” yells Applejack, watching Rainbow Dash bounce off more walls.
“Won’t be long now,” but as soon as she says those Rainbow Dash slows down and crashes onto the bed where she now lays groaning.
“Are you ok, Dash? asks Pinkie, walking to Rainbow Dash’s side.
“NO!” she yells, angrily her face planted in the pillow, “I feel like I was hit by a hammer multiple times and then slapped multiple times across the face!! Also all my muscles are killing me!!”
A sound of laughing can be heard, it is the Pictlander, “Hahaha, you aliens sure are amusing! It has been a while since I have had this much fun.”
“You think it is funny,” growls Rainbow Dash, failing to get her hooves, “Making fun of me! If I was at a 100% I would teach you a lesson!”
“Oh, you are actually threatening a Pictish? Can you get any more amusing,” she says, smiling, “I was actually planning to ditch you guys now, but now I think I will continue to help you guys find the other ones.”
“Wait, what other ones?” Twilight asks confused, while her and Applejack help Rainbow Dash up.
“The other three we pulled out of the ship,” she says, raising a eyebrow, “There was nine of you right?”
“No, we are the only ones who should of been on the ship?” Twilight says, shocked.
“Then someone was stowing away on your ship,” she says, smirking.
“Who could it be?” Rarity asks, confused.
“It better not be Spike,” Twilight says, worried, “I told him it was too dangerous for a baby dragon.”
“You better takes us to them,” Applejack says, now supporting Rainbow Dash while Rarity wraps her up with a towel.
“I already said I would,” she says, giving a cheeky smile, “But it might be quicker if I carry Rainbow Dash.”
“No way, I don’t want to be carried by you!” Rainbow Dash says, glaring at the smiling Pictish.
“No need to be angry,” she says, her smile growing, “I will carry you like this.” She suddenly picks up Rainbow Dash and holds her between both hands, one hand supporting her upper back and the other supporting both her legs.
“Wait! This is a princess carry!” Rainbow Dash yells, blushing slightly, “Put me down right now!!”
Applejack and Pinkie are laughing their plot off at this, and the other are trying to hide their giggles.
“Oh Celestia, this is perfect!” laughs Applejack, holding her sides, “I only wish I had a camera!”
“Dashy is like a bride!” Pinkie laughs, rolling on the ground.
“It is rather amusing, isn’t it. I mean she is even wearing white,” giggles Rarity, referring to the towel Rainbow Dash is wearing.
Rainbow Dash just glares at her friends, and then at the Pictish who just smirks back.
“You know you're pretty small,” she says, smirking,”You’re kind of like a child in my arms.”
“I am no child!” Rainbow Dash yells, angrily, “Just put me down, I can walk myself!”
“No, it will be bad for you after what happened before, and since it is my fault I will take responsibility and continue to carry you,” she says, clearly enjoying herself, she starts to walk out of the room, “Coming? I will take you to the stowaways.”
The girls follow, still giggling at Rainbow Dash, who is struggling.
“Put me DOWN right now…” Rainbow Dash pause mid scream and looks at the giggling Twilight, “Hey egghead, stop laughing and tell me something, what is her name? You never mentioned it.”
Twilight pauses her giggling and looks confused, “Actually I don’t know, I forgot to ask.”
“Let me,” Pinkie says, happily leaping next to the Pictish, “Excuse me but what’s your name?”
“Only now you realize?” she smiles, looking down at Pinkie, “But call me Devil.”
“Is that your title?” asks Twilight, remembering Alastair mentioning titles.
“Yep,” Devil smiles, looking back ahead.
“What do you mean by title?” asks Applejack, confused.
“I think it is something that Pictlanders earn and you are supposed to call them,” Twilight explains, trying to remember what Alastair said.
“Something like that,” smiles Devil.
“Interesting how does one earn a title, exactly?” asks Rarity, curious.
“By doing something impressive that stands out,” answers Devil.
“How did you get Devil?” asks Rainbow Dash, who has given up trying to escape.
“Well when a Pictish man or woman comes of age they must survive a year somewhere in the wilds of Pictland,” explains Devil, giving a evil smile, “I was only in there for a month until I was pulled out cause they thought it was unfair to the animals to keep someone like me in there.”
“That... impressive,” Twilight says, wondering how dangerous the wilds of the Pictish planet is and what Devil must of done to it.
“Technically you can get another title if you do something better, but I haven’t done anything more impressive yet,” Devil sighs, “I just keep getting all these boring jobs.”
“What is your job anyway?” asks Pinkie, looking up at Devil.
“To fight our enemies or other Pictish if they look tough,” Devil smirks.
“And that’s boring?” Rainbow Dash asks, confused, “That sounds pretty cool.”
“One, I have already fought all the tough Pictish… beside Alastair but he says I am not worth the time and he doesn’t want to marry me or father my children,” Devil sighs again, “Two, we are patrolling empty space just in cause we see a enemy, and big shock we haven’t.”
“Wait, what was that about Alastair marrying you?” Twilight asks, confused.
“That is how Pictish marriage works. The male has to beat the female to bed her or marry her,” explains Devil, yawning, “So that was Alastair’s way of saying he could easily beat me. Cocky bastard.”
“That sounds… barbaric,” gasps Rarity, horrified by this, “So you don’t marry out of love?”
“Oh of course we can… you just have to beat them first,” Devil smirks, “Oh course you don’t have to bed them or marry them after you beat them. Just in my case, if my father finds out that I was beaten by someone he will insist that I marry them or at least have a kid since I have beaten nearly all the toughest Pictish in the galaxy.”
“But isn’t that unfair to the female?” Fluttershy asks, shyly, “To have to marry someone they may not like?
“You are assuming that we Pictish female are easy to beat,” Devil smirks, “We usually have to go easy on them! If a Pictish doesn’t want to go down then she won’t go down… also you can refuse the battle if you are a wimp.”
Twilight nods, “So it not as serious as it sounds?”
“Nah, that wouldn’t be fun if it was,” Devil smirks, “But we Pictish usually do have sex afterwards.”
“What!” the girls say, blushing.
“Nothing is more fun after a good rumble than a good tumble,” Devil smirks, “That is also why we maintain a low gender ratio on ships, to lower the chance of unexpected pregnancies.”
“When males fight each other do they also, ummm… do each other?” Rarity asks, blushing.
“If they want to,” Devil shrugs, “We are pretty pan people… it also helps if there are no females about.”
“Oh my,” Rarity says, blushing.
“Rarity, your nose is bleeding,” smirks Applejack.
“It most certainly is not!” Rarity says, covering her nose, causing most of her friends to laugh.
“Well, we our in the area where the others are at,” Devil states, putting Rainbow Dash down next to a wall, where she leans on it.
“Wait, so they are in the same area?” Twilight says, confused.
“Yeah, they are randomized by a computer when built, so there is chance that sometimes rooms will be close together,” Devil explains, looking around, “Now they should be in rooms…”
A sudden noise interrupts Devil. They look over at the source and see that a door has opened and three heads are sticking out. As soon as they notice each other they quickly retract and the door closes. A angry looking Applejack heads for the door, followed by similar looking Rarity.
“I recognize those heads,” Applejack says.
“As do I,” agrees Rarity.
Applejack opens the door and quickly grabs the three ponies before they can escape, dragging them out.
“What the hell are you doing here!” Applejack yells, to her little sister Applebloom and her two friends.
“Let go, Applejack!” whines Applebloom, struggling.
“Not until you explain…” Applejack is interrupted by Rarity, who tapping her shoulder, “What is it Rarity?”
“Umm, have you seen our siblings?” Rarity says, with a shocked look on her face. This is shared by the rest of her friends.
Applejack confused, looks down. Her eyes widen, “What the hay!!”
Her little sister is not so little anymore, actually she is about the same size as Applejack and her body has finished filling out as well. She is now around about the same size and build as Applejack. The rest of them are similar states.
“You all have grown up?!” Rarity says, looking at the once fillies.
“What the hay happened to you girls!?” yells Applejack, letting them go.
“We don’t know! We just woke up like this,” explains Scootaloo, folding her hands over her small but modest chest.
“It might be better to explain why you were on the ship first,” Twilight asks, walking up to the group.
“We were exploring the ship,” Applebloom says, averting her eyes.
“Even though we told you girls not to and to stay at home,” Applejack says, angrily, tapping her hoof.
“But the curfew was so boring!” whines Sweetie Belle, “And it was the first ever Equestrian spaceship and we wanted to see it before it left.”
“We were being invaded!” yells Applejack, “The curfew was for your own good and safety.”
“But they couldn’t get us,” whines Applebloom, “They were being blocked by the shield.”
“Yes a shield that could have been broken at anytime!” yells Applejack, stamping her hoof, “And this still doesn’t explain why you are now here.”
“Well, when we entered the ship we look around and after a while we decide to leave, but then you six came abroad and laid in those pods,” Scootaloo starts to explain, “Then the ship started to start up and we were grabbed by some of the robots that Twilight made and put into three other pods, so it is not our fault!”
“Of course it is your fault! You shouldn’t of been in the ship at all!” continues to yell Applejack.
“Maybe we should save this argument for later,” Fluttershy says, shyly, “We’ve attracted some attention.”
The rest of girls look around and see they have attached some Pictish watchers. They are watching them in mild interest.
One of one that Twilight recognized as Rock Head says, “Go on, don’t mind us.”
The girls tries to cover themselves better with their hands, embarrassed being surround by many males while the girls wear nothing beside towels and/or sheets. But before this can continue for long Twilight hears a familiar voice.
“Out of my way, brick heads!” yells the familiar voice of Alastair.
“It’s Alastair!” Twilight says, starting to panic. They are going to get in so much trouble.
“You mean the one, that shaved us and stuck needles in our… behinds!” Rarity says, angrily, “I got a few things to say with him.”
Those things died when the other Pictish parted and Alastair walks through with his hands in his coat. He looks very pissed. He walks up to the girl and stands in front of them, glaring down at them.
“Twilight, do you know what I am feeling right now?” Alastair says, quietly fuming.
“Anger,” Twilight says, meekly, like a filly being told off by her parents.
“Yes, and do you know why?” Alastair asks, continuing be angry.
“Because we left our rooms…” Twilight answers, hanging her head to hide from Alastair piercing eyes.
“Yes, I am pissed because when I came back to your rooms I found no one there, which cause me to have to search for you!” he yells.
“You never said we couldn’t leave our rooms,” Pinkie says, opening her big mouth again.
“Sorry, I thought you were smart enough to understand the unsaid rule!” Alastair says, shooting Pinkie a sharp glare causing her to close her big mouth.
“Sorry Alastair,” Twilight says, who is soon joined by the rest of girls in chorus of apologies. For some reason it feels like the thing they needed to do.
Alastair sighs, “It’s not really me you should be apologizing to, but to your body that will be hurting today and tomorrow cause of this.” He then shrugs his shoulder, “So I guess you will have punished yourself enough for this…” He looks and notices the large group of pictish standing around. “SCRAM!!” he yells at them.
The pictish glare at him and boo a bit, but they soon start leaving, until only Alastair and Devil are left.
“You too, Devil,” yells Alastair, to Devil who is leaning against the wall with a amused look on her face.
“What no thank you for leading them here?” she says, smirking at Alastair.
Alastair sighs again, “Thank you, Devil… now piss off!”
Devil shrug and walks off, but she does turn and waves at the girls, “See you later.” But soon she walks into another room and they lose sight of her.
“Now everyone is going back to their rooms and there will be no complaining… got it!” he orders.
The girls nod, not wishing to upset the large man.
“Now you three,” he says, pointing to the three once fillies, “Back to your rooms!”
The girls nod and head back to their own rooms, with Applejack giving Applebloom ‘we are going to talk about this later’ look.
Alastair then lead them all back to their own rooms, letting them say a quick goodbye to each other before leaving. Soon only Twilight and Alastair is left.
“I am really sorry about this Alastair,” Twilight apologizes again.
“If you are really sorry than you wouldn’t have done this,” Alastair says, calmly.
Twilight sighs, “Pinkie managed to convince me that we should check on our other friends and I guess I got convinced…”
“Twilight, what you did you was noble and loyal but still very stupid,” notes Alastair.
“I guess so,” Twilight says, letting off a weak laugh.
They soon reach her room.
“Here we are,” Alastair states, “I put a new sheet on your bed.”
“Thank you,” Twilight says, slightly guilty.
“It is no problem,” he says, with a slight smile, “I will see you tomorrow.”
Twilight waves him goodbye before entering the room. She removes the sheet and towel that is wrapped around her and laying her sore body under the covers. She eventually manages to fall asleep.