//------------------------------// // In Transit // Story: Drastic Measures // by Nimnul //------------------------------// Berry Punch could act like kind of an idiot, sometimes. That didn't make Ditzy like her any less, but it could seem very silly. For example, it was a fact that a pony could get away with a lot of stuff in Ponyville so long as they were properly sorry about it. Plus, it was this very town where Discord had been turned good. Supposedly that had mostly been Fluttershy's work, which Ditzy found very easy to believe. Yet for some reason Berry seemed self-conscious about her past. As if she was a bad pony just playing at being good, and managing only just so. Completely silly! Ditzy didn't doubt for a moment that every pony had to struggle to be good sometimes. If Princess Celestia came down from Canterlot and told her she managed to be a wise and kind ruler with no particular effort, Ditzy would have to tell her to quit fibbing. Of course, there where a lot of ponies who probably had to believe that the sun princess was flawlessly good. If they figured Celestia was more like them, they'd be worried all day and wouldn't get anything done. There were a lot of ponies who seemed a little angry about having to make the effort to act reasonable around other ponies. That's why Ditzy knew Berry wasn't a bad pony. She'd never known the earth pony to want power over anypony else. Bad ponies wanted power so they didn't have to put in the effort of being nice. Even if they didn't get nearly as much power as they wanted, they'd still use what they could get. Ditzy knew their type. Bitter flight coaches who thought they should've been Wonderbolts and made their students pay for that injustice. Unreasonable supervisors at the mail processing centers, drunk on a few drops of petty power, engaging in mindless bad behavior, however minor. No, Berry wasn't a bad pony. But Ditzy suspected by the time somepony had finally gotten around to telling the earth pony that she wasn't, she'd been too damaged to really believe it. She was an adult, but she still carried around that little filly who knew that mothers should love their daughters, but who only got indifference or hostility from her own. Bad parenting of that magnitude was one of the few things that could really upset Ditzy. She liked to think she was otherwise pretty stoic, although she could get a little too nervous for her own liking when put on the spot. Or when she screwed up badly, but most ponies would probably react that way. There wasn't much to do but think on the train. She supposed it had been a little silly to expect a royal chariot ride all the way out to Las Pegasus. Instead, Princess Luna and a pair of guards she'd brought along apparently got a whole train car to themselves. "Something on your mind?" Princess Luna hadn't been saying all that much, but her guards had been quietly conversing, which had surprised Ditzy. The daytime guards in Canterlot were always so inanimate. Ditzy found herself less shy around Princess Luna than she might have expected. She wasn't in the business of rubbing shoulders with royalty. Even Twilight had left her a little nervous, although perhaps that had its roots in the piano incident. "Just thinking. How's a little pony learn to, to like themselves, if th-they don't get any love from outside?" Ditzy hadn't been popular with many of her peers in school, Cloudsdale pegasi seemed to expect a standard in weather manipulation or athletics that Ditzy simply hadn't been able to meet, and children could be cruel. But she'd had ponies who loved her, and realizing that not everypony got to be a Wonderbolt hadn't been nearly as painful as it could have been. When it came down to it, Ditzy simply just liked herself, and life in general. She had her faults, of course, but what pony didn't? "It is difficult," Luna nodded. "Ideally, a young pony is loved by those they look up to. Evidently deserving of love, they more easily come to love themselves. No pony is an island," she added, "just the same, no pony should exist only for the sake of others. Each of us must look to our own happiness. Our well-being, in turn, makes those who care about us happy." "Makes sense," Ditzy agreed. "Good thing being nice feels good. Makes me happy, anyway." That probably was the rub. Even after Berry stopped drinking she was prone to talking about how it was all for the sake of her daughter or friends. The mare had real trouble looking to her own happiness. She was too convinced she had to work harder than other ponies on being 'good' to allow herself the occasional selfish moment. She was extremely concerned for her friend, but she was a little hurt, too. She liked to trust ponies, because good ponies liked to be trusted and usually made sure not to disappoint. Trust and communication were incredibly important in holding ponies together. But she suspected the others had been intentionally vague about their plans when talking to her because they knew Ditzy wouldn't worry what they'd do. She didn't like it when ponies made things complicated or confusing to exclude ponies who didn't know any better, or were naive, and she wasn't going to put up with it from ponies she usually respected. "My friends ... they're in for an earful once we're done." "Rightly so," Luna nodded severely. Conversation trailed off. Ditzy found that she wasn't a big fan of the train ride. She didn't mind the enclosed space, and it wasn't as if she would be faster if she flew on her own, but sitting here and doing nothing felt wrong. She was too used to flying nearly all day, every day, delivering mail and parcels. She idly flexed her wings, hoping whoever was filling in for her didn't make a mess of it. "Excuse me, ma'am," one of the bat ponies addressed Ditzy unexpectedly. She didn't yet know what to make of the guards. They were pegasi, she supposed, and the mailmare generally had some idea what to expect. Pegasi living on or near the ground were usually okay. Rainbow Dash might have been exceptional both as an athlete and regarding how quickly she could complete weather work, but even as she boasted, she didn't belittle others for being less gifted, not usually. Rainbow Dash usually wanted to make other pegasi excited for what was possible, not envious about things they couldn't do. At least that's the way it seemed to Ditzy, otherwise Rainbow Dash wouldn't be such good friends with Fluttershy. Cloudsdale pegasi were more likely to cop an attitude and try to give her grief about her eye or sometimes graceless flying. That was an unfair generalization, but Ditzy couldn't always quell a sense of unease when meeting a pegasus from Cloudsdale. They didn't usually have much patience for a pony like her. These, though? Who knew? She wasn't even real sure if they were only disguised for the job. She hadn't delivered mail to any bat ponies in the past. These two were young and looked really in shape, as she expected from guards. On top of that, the two of them were hard to tell apart. She was pretty sure she'd been addressed by the one who'd introduced himself as Wrench without mentioning any sort of rank. His name had just seemed the tiniest bit odd, since the other guard had introduced himself first as Ebonclad, which certainly seemed like the sort of name a guard for Princess Luna would have. Of course she was being silly. Most night guard probably had completely normal pony names instead of spooky or dramatic ones. "Just wondering if you've ever been in the guard? Or any other service branch, really." "No." That seemed like a pretty silly question, especially considering her wandering eye. She didn't want to seem curt, though, so she inclined her head and smiled patiently, maybe he'd explain how he got that idea. "Just looked like you could've been flying in armor, ma'am." He seemed slightly embarrassed for having noticed. As much as possible without getting up, Ditzy puffed out her chest proudly. "Ten-plus years, Royal Equestrian Mail Service. Letters and parcels. Strongest back in Ponyville." For honesty's sake, she added, "for a pegasus mare." She certainly wasn't going to claim she was sturdier than somepony like Applejack. Anyway, it made sense that members of the royal guard would recognize a pegasus who did most of her flying loaded down with additional weight, they had their armor, after all. Everypony knew that there was quite a bit of magic involved with flight, but the wings still had to work hard. "Not a flashy flier, but strong." Some might claim that 'not flashy' was an understatement, but she got where she needed to go. It wasn't even always necessary to fly. Groundside mail offices assigned workloads appropriate for pony ground speed. Not every mailpony was a pegasus, after all. Suited her pace, anyway. She liked to be unhurried, it prevented mistakes. "Ah, big fan of the mail service," the other stallion, Ebonclad, smiled. "Me mum's sending me cookies from back in Hollowshades every few weeks." Ditzy couldn't help but smile brightly in return. Nopony really liked delivering bills or other tedious bits of everyday life, however important they were, but helping ponies who meant much to one another stay in touch, that always felt great. "Well, how d-does the poem go?" 'While the breath's in her m-mouth, she must bear without fail, in the name of the Princess, the Equestrian Mail.' It's longer, but I like the line." "Yes," Wrench nodded. "Spent some time on the southern frontier. Even most of the outlaws will tell you, you don't mess with the pony bringing the mail." "Glad I don't work there," Ditzy stated openly. "Have a daughter." Some parts of Equestria where wild and unsafe. Getting anything delivered out there was dangerous, and therefore expensive, but the mailponies plying those routes were resourceful and sneaky. That was learn-able, and the extra pay had always been tempting, but the trips were long, and it would have been irresponsible to try and get such risky work while raising a filly. The conversation meandered along with stops and starts. While these guards seemed a bit more lively than the typical Canterlot guard, they still seemed entirely comfortable with long stretches of silence. Still, that meant there was plenty of idle time for Ditzy's thoughts to turn back to her friends. Maybe Bon Bon and Lyra were so used to dealing with one another's quirks they had a hard time telling when Berry was in a bad place. They'd need looking after if they didn't expect Berry to do something stupid. Like children, sometimes. She didn't much like thinking like that of her friends, but seemingly neither Berry nor Bon Bon was familiar with the ways reasonable ponies dealt with problems, or their own emotions. Or maybe they did, but they'd learned some really bad behavior and whenever they slipped up it ended up worse compared to when somepony who'd been raised better slipped up. Lyra was the wild card, she was generally really good at handling Bon's hang-ups but maybe she couldn't, or wouldn't, extend that to a pony who was merely a friend and not her romantic partner. She was convinced that, should Dinky ever get into a real bind, violence, 'travel across the country' pre-planned violence wouldn't even be on the first page of her daughter's list of options. "I'm glad that life is unfair," she blurted out. She'd need to explain that. "Well, anyway, I think Bon's convinced that the world is this big unc-caring, unfair thing. Well, I think that's alright." "Care to explain your reasoning?" Luna seemed to be confused by the assertion, and her guards were obviously surprised by it, as well. Ditzy blushed, feeling put on the spot. "W-well. Bad things happen to good ponies. Good things happen to bad ponies. Random, it looks like." She shrugged. "It has to be unfair. If it was f-fair, I'd have to think th-that, think that we, we deserve all this. Berry's bad childhood. My eye. Bon's issues." "You can't make me think that," she concluded. "It's unfair, and I can, can keep th-thinking that ponies deserve better, and be nice to th-them." "That's ... one way to look at it," Luna commented vaguely. Wrench seemed much more convinced. "Yeah. World's random enough. Not much pattern to it, the way I see it, might as well be ponies, and thinking critters like that, who put something nice there." "We're guards. The more ponies we keep safe, the more ponies might get to enjoy this whole mess we're stuck with," Ebonclad agreed. "No point to it if we weren't around to enjoy it, I figure. Might as well look out for each other." Ditzy didn't have much experience with this sort of conversation, just as she was relatively new to pondering that sort of thing in the first place. Ponies had a tendency not to take her seriously, and in any case most of them liked to image that the world was basically good, and didn't draw connections between that thinking and the bad things that did happen. Then they got really complicated about it. She didn't think her stance was so silly. The world didn't have to matter or make any sense, as long as she did right by her daughter, and the ponies who trusted her. Wasn't that enough? She wondered if bat ponies in general looked at the world a little differently after a thousand years of essentially being the orphaned followers of a banished Luna. Or maybe this, too, was just random chance. She was happy either way. "I wouldn't presume to know how their Majesties look at it, different perspective, but," Ebonclad pointed at Ditzy. "You have a daughter. Pick any moment of real happiness you shared. Any or all. It took all of eternity, all this random, uncaring mess, to get to that point. And to you, it was worth it. You put that meaning there." After a moment, he continued. "Not really a lot of ponies going around saying life's meaningless. Most of those that do, look to the future, see that most things end and stop being remembered, and they don't much care for the idea. Well, I think it's better to claim that we made the past worthwhile by enjoying life, and let somepony else worry about the future." "That's what Princesses are for," Wrench commented. "No offense, Highness." "None taken," Luna stated neutrally. "Is this way of thinking common among the nocturne enclaves?" "Well, can't speak for other places, right, but it's not uncommon 'round Hollowshades, least with us common riff-raff. You never know what the elite thinks, anyway." Wrench shrugged and looked embarrassed. "Before you came back, well, my pa taught us that there's no real point to us – other ponies barely put up with us, our Princess was never comin' back. If you got nothing, it's worth even more if you act like a reasonable sort. After all, it works just fine for folks who aren't ponies. Just be good to others and be happy and you make your small share of the world worth it." "I guess that's a bit silly now that you're back," Ebonclad commented. He nodded at Ditzy. "But as she said, it's more comforting to think nothing makes sense until we do something nice with it, than to think life is fair and we deserved to be, well, not real popular with the rest of Equestria even generations after your banishment." "I shan't speak ill of your approach to life's mysteries, my friends," Luna finally offered a smile, but didn't comment further, or share something of her own. Ditzy thought maybe she was being coy because she had a special insight she wasn't sharing, or maybe she just didn't want to risk influencing the two. Ponies tended to take things said by the Princesses very seriously, after all. Really, at the end of the day, Ditzy was pretty sure that being raised with enough love and care meant that a pony would turn out good in most cases. All this deep thinking was a kind of luxury for her. She was happy with her lot in life, but didn't normally have hours of time away from work or her daughter to spend just thinking. Her life was good, it hadn't been particularly pressing to think about it beyond that. She supposed the bat ponies might have more of a motivation to be concerned about making sense of the world, if life hadn't been real good to them. If a pony felt like they got a raw deal a lot, they might start looking for a good excuse to keep acting as nice as they'd been raised to act? Maybe that's why she had never been particularly worried about how Dinky or Pinchy would turn out. The fillies were being raised pretty well, either way. Didn't it take a village to raise a kid, or some such saying? Ponyville was a great place for that. "It's funny. We always teach foals, teach them that the world is fair. Implied. Happy endings in the stories. Moral victories. Things getting better. I think th-that's important, too. If they think that's how th-things sh-should be, they get mad at bad stuff." "Well, that's the rub," Wrench grinned. "Some folks only say 'well, life sucks' when somepony gets mad about some disaster or tragedy, like it's a waste of time to worry about it. That's cynicism. If you believe life is unfair, then you gotta go ahead and do work, not just shrug and muddle along." Ebonclad nodded his agreement. "It's an ego thing. You can't fail at defeatism, y'know. The trick is to think the world is random and unfair, but staying optimistic about what ponies can do with it. That does take work and it does carry risk. Cynicism is nice and safe – trust me, anyone from Hollowshades is bound to know loads of cynics." "Idealism is critically important," Luna commented. "What would we alicorns be without ideals? Immortal tyrants, ruling over mayflies for us to shuffle around as pawns on a board, as we deem best. It is ideals which ensure that we do not grow too distant from our ponies as their generations rise and fall around us. We must guard against cynicism at all times." "You're the best example," Ditzy smiled brightly. "Happy endings take work. But they're possible." Luna probably had some nagging self-doubts remaining from the whole Nightmare moon thing, Ditzy figured. Some ponies tended to be afraid that they'd always be judged by the worst they did. That thought did bring her back to the problem at hoof, however. "How will we find them?" "We are resourceful," Luna sounded confident, returning Ditzy's earlier smile. "Additionally, the cooperation of local authorities is assured, should it be necessary." "Good." Ditzy didn't ask further than that. She could trust the princess, after all. Bon Bon would certainly have to return to Las Pegasus one day with Lyra. Sure, there'd probably be some Las Pegasus wedding jokes, but you had to take your licks, sometimes. It'd be nice to take the trip together without worrying about a third pony slowly driving herself crazy with worry. Berry Punch clearly in no way enjoyed the visit. She wasn't at ease in the poorer parts of town, and she seemed to feel vaguely resentful in the areas that were middle class and up. So Berry had slept in, mostly because she hadn't really wanted to go out and try to kill time. Truth be told, Bon Bon was usually operating on a sleep deficit, so she'd tried to do the same, with limited success, until Berry had woken up and gotten ready to head out into the city again. "So what would you have done if you hadn't had a way out via your extended family?" Lyra would, of course, be curious. She didn't really have an extended family the way some earth ponies had, but Bon Bon supposed that the older Heartstrings probably counted for two or three regular ponies. Lyra rarely doubted that she'd have family back-up when it was needed. "Hrm." Berry grunted, then seemed to think for a while. "Tough call, in hindsight. I guess I woulda stayed with Pan, at first. Imagine he woulda gotten locked up eventually, though. There's government aid and housing so I wouldn't have been in the gutter without him, even if the officials tend to act like prison wardens." She was quiet for a minute, working her jaw. "I wanted Pinchy to grow up a good pony, and not be poor, but getting both woulda been a real outside chance. I wasn't all that employable. If all your previous experience amounts to 'hired goon', there's not much room on the legit workplace. City only needs so many bouncers." "Beating up people for money?" Lyra kept her voice neutral. "Well, sure, did a bit of that around the time I got to know Pan. Not full-time, but in a city like this, somepony always owes money to the wrong sorts – and those sorts pay to communicate their, uh, displeasure. Impatience. Or maybe somepony needs help breaking up with a pushy partner. Never run out of work." Berry shrugged. "Steady pay, but most of it is bein' a bully for hire and that woulda been a pretty bad example for a foal. Not totally without risk, either, no matter how small-time we're down here. Wouldn't have liked to get back into it, but I think I mighta done so anyway. I had offers." "S'not real satisfying if it's not personal, though," she admitted. "I gathered that a lot of ponies in the big cities just kind of muddle through their jobs to make ends meet, not because they particularly enjoy it," Lyra suggested. "Well, I am happy for you, since you had help." Berry didn't respond to that. She'd been rather sullen all day. Eventually, she spoke up again. "I'm hungry. Let's go buy a bag of oats or somethin'." Seemed like a monotonous meal, but cheaper than eating at a restaurant. Bon Bon had experience with monotonous meals, anyway. The next store likely wouldn't be far, in any case. The small corner store was surprisingly tidy. A grey stallion with a vest and nametag was straightening out the contents of the shelves and restocking where necessary. A yellowish mare with similar apparel was working the single cash register. There was a bit of a line. Perhaps some ponies used their lunch break to grab a bite to eat from here instead of an eatery – it didn't look like anyone ahead of them had a particularly large mass of items to purchase. The pegasus ahead of them seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. He was wearing a collar and a tie, looked like some kind of office worker. Wasn't the part of town to expect a musician like Octavia, anyway. The stallion sighed, looked back at Berry and rolled his eyes. Bad move, apparently. Berry scowled. "Eyes ahead, buddy. We ain't bonding over this great injustice of waitin' in line." Lyra snickered. "Bit surly today, huh?" The pegasus in question apparently wasn't up for a verbal confrontation and kept to himself for the rest of the wait. Bon Bon had thought she'd heart a quiet chuckle or laugh elsewhere in the line. Berry herself just shrugged. "Punch? Is that you? I'd recognize that attitude anywhere!" Ears flattened to skulls all around her, and Bon Bon was no exception. Whoever had called out to Berry had a voice like a bandsaw. It was followed up with a shrill cackle that would make any wicked witch envious. It was an ancient unicorn mare, coat the color of nicotine-stained teeth and white mane. She was wearing something like a large saddle blanket, long enough to cover up her cutie mark. "You've got to be joking." The muttered comment expressed Berry's surprise. "Well, come on back and bring your friends. Got to be time enough to catch up, right? I thought you were dead!" More cackling. If Granny Smith back in Ponyville was slightly decrepit, this lady seemed positively desiccated, a pony hide stretched over nothing but bones. Bon Bon decided not to comment that nobody around here looked as much like they ought to be dead as this unicorn. Berry just heaved a sigh and left the queue to follow the old mare to a door marked employees only, friends in tow. "You're one to talk, Ma. How old are you?" "Only the good die young, Berry. Bad weeds thrive anywhere, you ought to know that!" Now that she didn't have to raise her voice, it still sounded like the lady had smoked a pack of cigarettes per day for approximately the last hundred years, but it at least didn't seem physically painful to listen to as she turned to face Bon Bon and Lyra. "Madame Madeline Marmelade, although most ponies just call me Mama these days." "Pleasure to meet you," Lyra smiled readily. "I'm Lyra, this is Bon Bon, we've known Berry for years now." "Ma, what happened to your old store? Didn't figure on finding you here." "Pah. Burned down, it did." The old mare shrugged in a creaky sort of way. "I figure I got on the wrong pony's nerves and got a message about it. After makin' the insurance agent see things my way, I decided to set up in a better part of town. Back when I set up the old shop, that was a respectable neighborhood!" "Like what, eighty years ago?" Berry scoffed, then grinned at Bon Bon. "Ma's shop was real popular with the oldtimers." "Yeah, because whenever one of you mugs tried to shoplift or empty the register, I'd hire a couple more of that sort to break their legs! The youngsters knew to behave around my place." She snorted and cackled again. "That's why I figure someone got their tail in a knot and set the place on fire one night." Shaking her head, she added, "Not necessary round here. The cops'll actually show up here when you need them. So if you're lookin' for that sort of work, I gotta disappoint you." "Nah, I'm not sticking around. Just here on some personal business, then I'm goin' back to Ponyville. I got a daughter now, y'know. And real, legit work, too." "Good, good." The unicorn nodded. "Seen too many promising young ponies never get to achieve anything. Maybe that's part of why I moved, too. Maybe one of my useless grandkids tipped over the box I kept my conscience in and it came back, huh?" She grinned. "You just take good care of yourself and that filly then, right? Just do me a favor and don't mention me in Ponyville." "I don't talk much about Las Pegasus anyway, but why? I mean, I didn't figure an ancient shopkeeper to be worth talking about anyway." Berry grinned as she teased. "Wouldn't you wanna meet the Bearers and Princess Twilight before you crumble into dust? I know her personally, y'know." The old lady shuffled uncomfortably. "That's what I'm trying to avoid, in fact. No need for all that excitement at my age." For all that she looked old, the unicorn didn't move like an old pony. She seemed a bit creaky now and then but had generally moved with the unthinking certainty of a much younger or healthier creature. "Besides, before your time, I ran into some trouble with the law back east, and well, the government has a long memory. Wouldn't do to spend my last few years in prison." Lyra shook her head. "And here I naively thought we might be the weirdest ponies you know, Berry." The earth pony sighed in exasperation. "I wish." Bon Bon frowned, but didn't say anything. She was retired and in any case, pony crime had never been her business. At this point, she'd accept anypony who treated Berry halfway decent, maybe it would improve her friend's mood. "Hey now," the unicorn joked. "I've always been professional with you, Berry. No need to get personal." She scrunched up her nose. "I'm serious though, I'd really rather not run into the element of magic. I hear she's nosy. Anyway, I got work to do. You kids scram now, alright? And Berry, it was good seeing you. Remember, don't mention me!" "Yeah yeah. Hey, can I just leave you the bits for these oats?" "No. Get back in line, ya lout!" The unicorn kept grinning, then started herding her 'guests' back into the shop proper with a wide broom. Berry grabbed a bottle of cheap rotgut before getting back in line. The store had thinned out a bit during the conversation, so the three of them soon found themselves back on the street. "This is my life, ladies." Berry sighed. "The most normal folk I knew growing up were my mom's coltfriend who never stood up to her, a diamond dog kid, and a unicorn who used to hire me to beat up ponies and looks like she ought to chase around Daring Do for cracking open her crypt." "Well, to be fair, that kid's older brother seems to have done alright for himself, too, according to Lucky," Lyra pointed out. "Yeah. And apparently Ma' switched to proper legal recourse for shopliftin' these days." Berry grunted. "Why's it always feel so hard for me, then? S'not fair. I made it out, too. Why can't I just feel okay?" "Afraid I'm the wrong pony to ask." Had taken Bon Bon quite a bit of time to feel okay with herself more often than not. Survivor's guilt wasn't fun, but it also wasn't real applicable to the situation at hoof. Berry grumbled, sitting down. "And I dunno why I feel like this, but I move away, and suddenly Ma' no longer needs to hire goons to keep the locals in line 'round her shop? I know the two aren't related, but it feels like she moved on better than I did, and she looks like she's two-hundred bloody years old! I thought old folks don't like change!" "Not needing to hire legbreakers on account of the cops actually doing their jobs around here isn't that big a change, I expect. Saves her money, too," Lyra reasoned. "Well, here's to everything being garbage and me whining about it." Berry started opening up her bottle of booze before sighing again. "You two just gonna watch me?" "We can sit down, too." So they did. "S'your choice." "Come on, Bon, have an opinion." "Fine." She tried to sound gentle. "Seems a bit stupid to throw the hard work away. I read that kicking the habit gets harder every time, too." She shrugged. "I'd rather just keep on spiting those ponies who expect you to crack and start drinking again any day, if I was in your place." "And you know Pinchy and Dinky wouldn't much like it, either," Lyra concluded. That was probably a better note to end on, anyway. Most ponies didn't improve themselves just to prove other ponies wrong. "I just wish everything didn't feel so complicated." Berry looked miserable, but at least she seemed to have decided not to drink, for the moment. "Suspectin' like it's only complicated in my head just makes me feel worse." "Well, tomorrow we'll hear back from Chook and then we can get to straightening things out." That was just how it went. Ponies couldn't properly concentrate and didn't act like themselves if they had trouble back home. Serious trouble, in any case. Sometimes loose ends needed to be tied up, one way or the other. At least so far, Berry had been willing to keep things low-key instead of just confronting Pan Flash at his home and doing something stupid. Ideally they would find a course of action they wouldn't get in trouble for.