Friends like these

by Istaran

Act 2 - Chapter 7: With and without forewarning

Sombra and Istaran strolled down the street, heading deeper and deeper into downtown. Sombra still found it strange how humans seemed to reflexively ignore him unless he drew attention to himself. And even then, they didn't seem to be able to grasp that he was a unicorn unless someone pointed it out. They had experimented enough while training for this day that they had a vague idea of what was going on, but not why. Some kind of veil made it impossible for humans to perceive Sombra as what he truly was, and subconsciously explained him away as something ordinary and unimportant. Only when confronted head on with the truth did their minds allow them to perceive his poniness at all.

Istaran was actually getting more attention than him, as a result, simply for dressing oddly. he had loose fitting black clothing, including a billowing cape. It had a certain style and flair to it, that stood out in contrast to, well, everyone. However, while people looked at him, or occasionally detoured around him, they didn't take him to be anything more exotic than an out-of-season cosplayer. No one was quite sure what he was cosplaying as, but it seemed a safe assumption. There wasn't anything supernatural about the lack of attention to Istaran, it was simply natural for people to seek a nice, safe, easy explanation. The idea that they were dealing with a pair of supervillains about to make their debut was simply too unbelievable to even entertain.

One squadcar had entertained the idea, the pair of cops within enjoying their lunch and not really paying attention to their surroundings. They didn't notice Sombra at all, and traded joking remarks about Istaran as he strode into the exact bank he had told Detective John Miller he was going to rob, at approximately the exact time he had said he would be there. He was two minutes before 1pm, but he had said the time would be approximate.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Istaran announced loudly, getting a little bit of attention as he did, but not much. "Please do not panic, but I am here to rob this bank!"

Since he wasn't brandishing any obvious weapons, most of the people just gave him odd, uncertain looks, while one of the security guards calmly strolled toward him, unclipping his holster but not drawing his firearm yet. So, with a burst of magnetism, he rip the gun across the space to his own hand, flipped it right side up quickly, and fired, killing the guard instantly.

Now he had everyone's attention, but most of them were panicking, exactly as he told them not to. Several ran for the exits, only for a pair of massive wolf-like shapes, formed of shadows with glowing red eyes, to emerge at each exit, growling and drooling hungrily. One man thought to call the bluff, and his graphic demise shocked even the most panicked minds out of any thoughts of fleeing past them.

The other guards took cover, and when they thought they had clear shots, took them. Istaran let them hit him, bleeding but otherwise unphased as he quickly closed the gaps to them. They dropped their guns as he pointed the first guard's gun at them point blank, demoralized as they saw his wounds closing over before their eyes.

"Now then! Does anyone still doubt me that I am, in fact, robbing the bank?" Everyone gestured clearly, some adding their voices to the cacophony insuring Istaran that, in fact, he had them convinced.

"Good! Now, I need everyone over here on the left side of the room," he gestured, making sure everyone knew which 'left' he meant. "My associate, here, will keep an eye on you, and send you one by one into this room here," he gestured to the men's room. "Where I will have a nice, little, chat with you. And then you'll come out and stay on the right side of the room. Understood?"

Everyone was quite confused, and wasn't sure what this had to do with the robbery, but they nodded anyways. The instructions were simple enough, and the giant shadow wolves were quite motivational. They could see more and more police cars finally lining up outside, giving some sense of hope.

The first hostage brought into the room gave Istaran a weird look. It was a woman in her late twenties, in business casual clothing. "Please don't tell me this is some ridiculously elaborate scheme to rape us," she said.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's a far longer game than that. Here are two pills," he opened his hands, showing a silvery red one and a blue gel cap. "If you take the blue pill, you'll lose the ability to convert your short term memory to long term for about an hour, including forgetting this conversation. If you take the red pill, you'll get superpowers, a subset of my own, and be forever in my service. Take one, and leave, and Sombra will send the next person in. If you don't take either, I'll kill you. You may have up to one minute to decide."

Istaran made the same offer to each and every hostage. None of them chose death, though most chose the blue pills. All of them acted about the same when they returned, their minds fogging and being unable to recall what had happened in there, making it impossible to judge who had taken the red pills.

When every hostage had had their turn, Istaran strolled out.

"The police are getting restless," Sombra informed him. "They say we have only another minute or so before they come in guns blazing, if we don't send out at least one hostage as a sign of good will."

"That's fine, we're done with them anyways. Ahem! Ladies and Gentlemen, please climb to your feet and stretch a bit. Great! Okay. So, here's what you're going to do. You are all going to run out the front door, waving your arms and screaming. If I catch any of you not waving your arms, or not screaming, BAM! Am I clear? On my mark... get set.... go!"

The police quickly captured every hostage as they ran from the building, screaming and waving their arms as directed. No one wanted to die over defying such an easy demand. The police detained them all, thinking to check them and make sure the perpetrators hadn't tried some crazy switcheroo, like in the movies. But it had all been rather straightforward, aside from the strange memory loss and whatever had gone on in the men's room. Rape kits were brought out, to take the necessary samples, but there was no samples to collect, no signs of sexual assault at all.

They were devising their next move, preparing to send in SWAT teams and other armed forces to retake the building, when eight massive robotic, spiderlike legs burst from the ground, spraying gravel everywhere. The police barricade had kept everyone out of the blast range, so that the squad cars themselves were the only casualties, but things didn't stop there. The legs dug into neighboring buildings in all eight directions, and began lifting the skyscraper the bank was built into away from the ground. Somehow, they had managed to install giant robot legs into the building without anyone noticing. The idea of it broke many a brain.

In minutes, the skyscraper had clambered up a few dozen floors, before settling into place. The other buildings, collectively, bore the weight admirably, but they were nevertheless evacuated as quickly as possible. That brought attention to the fact that the upper floors of the bank's own building were still full of people, office workers employed not only by the bank but by many other, unrelated, companies as well.

However, one by one those hostages were shoved out the front door, screaming in fear as they fell toward the ground below, only to be caught and slowed to a gentle stop by a strange, black energy. As with the bank hostages, these two had memory loss, but recalled others being taken aside one by one. Eventually, everyone in the building was accounted for, leaving only the two perpetrators in their now suspended building.

"Well, this is certainly one for the record books," an officer said, next to the police chief. The chief face-palmed, remembering that part of the warning she had been forwarded by one of her officers. "What do you figure the actual bank building is worth to steal? To say nothing of the whole vault still being up there for them to crack at their leisure."

"I don't know, Brady, but we're passing this on to the military. Pretty sure giant robots is their jurisdiction."

Meanwhile, Istaran and Sombra sat at the edge of the open front door, Istaran's legs kicking out freely over the void. "So, Sombra my man. Do you have a marefriend? Or, I guess former marefriend?"

Sombra was a bit taken aback by the random topic choice, but quickly settled down and decided to answer. "There was a special somepony in my life, once, very long ago. She was kind to me, when other ponies were cruel, and did what she could to ease the pain the Crystal Heart caused me. But in the end, she chose to be my enemy rather than my bride. Why do you ask?"

Istaran avoided the question for the moment, asking more of his own. "Would you want one, if you could have one? A loyal devoted Queen, somepony to rule by your side?"

"I long ago gave up such dreams," Sombra declared, shaking his mane. But after some hesitation he added. "I would want one, but I can't believe anypony would take that place, at least not unless they were as cruel and heartless and I.. and how much could I really trust such a pony? You were right to question my wisdom, when I filled you with darkness. It worked out so well, I think, but you are a strange outlier. You still haven't answered my question."

"I have a surprise for you. I've hidden it in your nanospiders' memory, and it will unpack itself when the time is right, when you finally do leave me, and return to your world. To your throne. A parting gift I hope you will truly enjoy," Istaran said, looking a bit unhappy as he looked down at the oncoming tank columns.

"Are you going to be alright without me?" Sombra had, more genuine concern creeping into his voice than he had known himself capable of.

"No, of course not. That was the condition, right? You won't leave until I can't bear to lose you? We're not there yet. But the tanks, by contrast, are here already. Let us take our leave. The bank has served our purpose."

Sombra nodded, wrapping shadowy magics around them both and causing them to disappear.

The hostages all went home, though many of them got fevers that night. And in the morning, they got a new sense of purpose, a new sense of family, and a new sense of power.

---

Author's note: in direct contrast to other stories in the series, I will be using <> to indicate words in Equestrian.

"<Guess who!>" a voice said in fluent Equestrian from behind Robert, as a pair of small hooves clamped into place over his eyes. The hooves narrowed the possibilities down to.. aproximately zero possibilities. So it was time to start considering impossibilities. It was female, a filly judging by both hoof size and voice, but he couldn't think of any fillies it could be. Had the Text sent him a second 'friend' because Discord ditched him without playing the game properly?

Robert had been sitting in his foster family's dining room, enjoying a snack of sliced apples and cheese, simple fair that never quite held up to the standards of its Equestrian equivalents, but Robert didn't like to complain. A lot about living on Earth didn't live up to living in Equestria from Robert's point of view, but he was here now, and with Discord's departure, he more or less figured he would never be able to go back.

"Wow! A pegasus!?" Shelly cried out in pleased surprise. Shelly was Robert's 13 year old foster-sister, adopted in, much as he someday hoped to be. Her own original parents had died in a fatal car accident, leaving her a persistent nervousness during travel, but otherwise fairly well adjusted.

"<Thunder Peal. You sound different though,>" Robert said with barely restrained excitement. As her hooves pulled back he turned to see her. "<You look younger, too. What happened? And how do you remember me? How much do you remember?>"

"<You look and sound younger, too,> Rob, <what happened to you?>" Thunder Peal answered, smiling back at him with a massive grin of her own.

"Robbie, you speak pegasus?!" Shelly asked, adding new layers of amazement. "And you know each other? What's her name?"

"Yeah, Shelly, this is <Thunder Peal>, or in English I guess it would be Thunder Peal. She and I go way back. <I asked first, you answer and then I'll tell you.>" Robert answered them each.

"<Some crazy dragon-pony-lion-thingy showed up at my house all of a sudden,>" Thunder Peal began. "<Discord,>" Robert supplied helpfully. "<Yeah, Discord. You know of him then? I guess that makes sense. Anyways, he appeared and gave me back my memories of the year I gave you the letter, and the year after you burned it. Then he reverted me to a filly for some reason, and sent me here. I smelt your scent in that room, so I left my saddlebags there, and came looking for you. He didn't explain very clearly what he had in mind, just something about 'Celestria's interdimensionally shipping service'? I don't know if we'll hear from him again, but I'm guessing we're being given another chance to be together.>"

"<That's great. Maybe we'll be able to stay together for life this time. Though I'm not sure how smoothly things will go with us trying to live together here on Earth. But I'm so glad to see you again! When I finally managed to win that damned game, I was sent back home to the exact moment we were taken, even down to being my original age! But my mom was simply vanished, because she died in the final iteration, and I.. wasn't able to reverse it. Anyways, I have a foster family now to help me get through it all. They're nice enough, but things are going to be a lot better now that I have you again.>"

"What are you talking about? Don't leave me out!" Shelly interrupted, frustrated. "Robert! Don't leave your sister out!" our foster father, Matt, called from the other room, obviously oblivious to what was actually going on.

"Sorry, Shelly, but Thunder Peal doesn't actually speak English yet. Well, almost none. <Thunder Peal do you remember any of the English I taught you?>" Robert said, trying to pacify her.

"Hello, Shelly," Thunder Peal said haltingly, struggling with a heavy accent. "Can I have an apple?"

Robert chuckled, and Shelly ran off in a hurry to raid the refrigerator, grabbing an apple and tossing it into the filly's mouth, where it disappeared in a couple of quick crunches. "Thank you," the filly said once her mouth was empty, earning another fit of giggling.

"Holy shit, why is there a blue pony with wings in my living room?!" Matt exclaimed as he walked out of his office, suddenly aware of the situation developing in his own home.

"Dad, this is my girlfriend, Thunder Peal. She just got sent here from another world, can she stay with me?" Robert asked, before adding to Thunder Peal, "<do you want to date again? I just kind of assumed we would, but it's not fair without asking.>"

Thunder Peal pounced Robert and nibbled his ear as an initial answer before whispering to him. "<Dating again? You don't have any excuses this time, mister. Marry me?>" Robert blushed bright red, choking a bit.

"Girlfriend!?" Shelly squee'd. "Oh man, you have to tell me all about it! How did you two meet?!" Shelly begged, but Thunder Peal's confused expression made it clear she wasn't able to track the English questions, much less answer.

"I, umm, what?" Matt stammered meanwhile. "Okay, can you start over from the beginning?"

"Well, now that she's here, maybe you'll be ready to hear me out? I've only told Dr Schrödinger so far, and I've left out the most important parts so that he never really understood, much less believed me," Robert began.

"No! Wait. You should wait until your mom gets here too.. maybe we should call Dr Schrödinger over as well? Did this.. have anything to do with why that police officer was talking with you?" Matt asked.

"Detective John Miller? Yes. He's investigating some related issues, including my mother's disappearance. He's seen enough now that he's beginning to believe. If he meets Thunder Peal, that will probably erase any doubt, so call them both over if you could," Robert answered, digging out the Officer's business card.

"Alright, alright. I'll call them after I call your mom. In the meantime, I guess she can stay for now. We'll discuss arrangements tonight," Matt conceded.

"If you don't mind, Thunder Peal and I have some catching up to do of our own. We'll be in my room, call me when everyone's here, okay?" Robert excused himself.

With Matt's permission, and Shelly's reluctant concession, the pair made their way back to his bedroom.

"<Marry, huh?>"

Comments

[Morning Dusk]

That was a really moment. I feel nice about it. Also, really?! Celestia's interdimensionial shipping service?! (Also, double meaning puns: ha!) that literally made me walk away from the monitor and laugh on the floor from that single line!