The Equestrian Odyssey - A Tale of Two Worlds

by Kamahido

Chapter 16 - Keeping Your Eyes Open

Arc, Ember and Frank sit in the back of the car as it drives back toward Angel Grove. Frank sighs and shakes his head.

“That poor little girl. To lose everything like that…”

“Y-yeah. I know just how she feels.”

Ember takes Arc’s hand. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

Frank nods. “She is in the very best of care with Miss Kulara. If anyone can help her, she will. Of that I am certain.”

Ember looks to Arc. “I wonder if there’s anything that CAN be done for her.”

Arc sighs. “I’ll give the matter some thought.”

They arrive back at the Shard’s Hideout. The car stops next to Arc’s Jeep. Frank turns to them as the car comes to a stop.

“Well, here we are. Back safe and sound, as promised.”

Ember smiles at him. “Thank you for the ride.”

“Y-yeah, Frank.”

They step out of the car. Ember stands with Frank as Arc starts his Jeep and begins brushing the snow off.

“You did very well today, miss.”

Ember shakes her head. “All I did was read stories.”

“You don’t understand. Such a kind gesture can be life changing to an orphan.”

“It can?”

Frank nods. “Yes! To those who have no one to turn to… no one to love them, a simple act of kindness can make all the difference.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You and Arc are welcome to join our family here any time.”

Ember looks over at Arc as he scrapes the windshield. “Thank you, but… I already have a family with Arc. I may not be an orphan, but I do know the pain of losing a parent.”

Frank nods. “Yes. Arc is a very kind-hearted individual. You’d do well to stay by his side, Ember.”

“I plan on that!”

Frank extends a hand as Arc walks over to join them. “Well, until we meet again, take care of yourself, Arc.”

Arc nods soberly as he shakes hands. “You too, Frank.”

The pair walk toward the Jeep. As he puts a hand on his door Arc turns around to face Frank.

“Frank? Do… do you think… someday…”

The words die in Arc’s throat as his voice trails off.

“N-never mind.”

Arc and Ember get into the Jeep and drive away. Frank looks after them as they do so. He smiles and sighs.

“Yes, old friend. I too wish we could go back to the way things used to be. But fate would have us both walk different paths… alone.”

Meanwhile, Arc and Ember drive on in silence for several minutes along the dark back roads toward town.

“Arc?”

He says nothing.

“Are we going to talk about this?”

Arc does not respond, but abruptly pulls over to the side of the road and stops. Ember unbuckles her seatbelt as Arc gets out and walks off the road into the dark woods.

“Arc?! What are you…?”

He walks over to a tree and smashes his fists into its trunk in a fit of rage! Ember runs over!

“Arc?! What’s gotten into…”

He interrupts her, angrily. “Don’t you get it, Ember?! That little girl! It… what happened to her! It’s all my fault!”

Ember puts her hands on his shoulders. “None of that was your fault! We all saw the news report a few days after the fact! That fire was completely accidental!”

“If I had just gotten there a little sooner, maybe… maybe I could have…”

Arc’s voice trails off as he hits the tree again. A piece of bark falls off and lands in the snow next to him as he falls to his knees. Cherry calls out to them.

“Maybe you could have saved her? Remember, I was there too, Arc! You did everything within your power!”

Ember nods. “Cherry’s right. We did our best.”

Arc pounds the ground angrily! “Well my best wasn’t good enough! And that little girl paid the price for my failure!”

Ember kneels down behind Arc to wrap her arms around him. “You mean OUR failure! Like I said, I was there too, you know! There was nothing else ANYONE could have done to prevent what happened!”

“But…!”

“Listen to me, Arc. Not everything you do is going to end happily. Sometimes you’ll mess up… wish you could have a do-over, or even think things would have come out better if you hadn’t even tried. But let me ask you this. Do you think that little girl would have made it out alive without us?”

“Well, no.”

Ember hugs him tighter. “You saved one life from a situation that would have otherwise claimed two. Now please… don’t dwell on the ‘what ifs’. Powerful as you may be, even you can’t change the past.”

Cherry nods inwardly. “Listen to Ember! She’s right and you know it!”

Arc sighs as he stands up. “Thanks, you two. Sorry for… you know.”

Ember nods as he turns to face her. “I feel bad about what happened too. But beating ourselves up over it isn’t going to help her.”

Arc notices Ember is shivering. He takes her hand and leads her back toward the Jeep.

“Let’s get you back where it’s warm.”

Ember looks relieved. “I thought you’d never ask!”

They get back into the Jeep and slowly but surely continue on their way towards Arc’s house. As he pulls into the garage and turns the vehicle off Arc turns to her.

“Ember. I… I just wanted to tell you you’re a really good friend. Thanks for sticking around. Why you do I really don’t understand sometimes.”

“Isn’t that what friendship is all about? Staying even when things are tough?”

Cherry giggles. “That it is!”

“Yes it is. We’ve certainly come a long way together since that day we met on the road in Tartarus.”

Ember leans over and takes his hand, smiling. “And here’s hoping we have many more adventures together!”

Arc nods. “I’d like that.”

The pair get out of the vehicle and walk to the back door. Opening it and stepping into the kitchen, they are greeted by a plethora of wonderous aromas Derpy is standing by the stove tending the pots with Hugh. Dinky, Max and Xenos are setting the table. As they enter, Dinky runs over to her father and gives him a hug.

“DAD! Your back!”

Arc returns the affection. “Of course! A little bit of snow won’t stop me!”

Max salutes him. “All’s well here, sir!”

Derpy turns around from the stove. “Welcome home, Arc! I…”

Ember walks in behind Arc and quickly closes the door behind them. She rubs her hands together.

“So c-c-cold out there!”

Dinky looks confused. “Miss Ember? Where did you come from?”

“She came with me, sweetheart.”

Xenos frowns. “She did?!”

Ember shoots them all a withering look. “You guys didn’t even know I was gone?!”

Max shakes his head. “Sorry, Ember. We just assumed you were still up in your room.”

Arc sighs. “Nope. Somehow she snuck her way into the Jeep.”

Hugh raises an eyebrow. “How?! She would have had to get past all of us!”

Sereb walks into the kitchen. “She jumped out her bedroom window.”

Arc’s eyes grow wide. “WHAT?!”

Ember looks at Sereb, astonished. “How did you…?!”

Sereb points a paw at his ear. “I heard you hit the snow. Luckily those bushes below the window broke your fall.”

Ember folds her arms over her chest and looks away indignantly. “So I forgot for a moment I didn’t have wings! Big deal!”

Sereb nods. “Oh? Is that why you’re walking strangely?”

Dinky looks to her. “Miss Ember! Are you all right?!”

“I’m fine! My ankle just hurts a little bit, okay!”

Arc frowns. “Are you sure?!”

Sereb shakes his head. “Then why is you keep wincing every time you put weight on it?”

“Darn it Sereb! Why do you have to be so observant?!”

“I am merely trying to be more like Arc. Taking in my surroundings and using what I observe to my advantage.”

Ember glares at him as Arc kneels down to examine her ankle. “Well, stop it!”

Arc shakes his head. “No Sereb, keep doing it! Ember, your ankle is badly swollen! You need to sit down!”

He puts his arm around Ember’s waist and slowly helps her to the living room couch. Sitting down with her Arc quickly rolls up her pant leg to the knee.

“Dinky can you please bring me some ice from the freezer, a plastic bag, and a towel please?”

“Okay dad!”

Dinky returns momentarily and hands the items to her father. Arc puts the ice in a Ziploc bag, wraps it in the towel, and puts it on Ember’s ankle. Her eyes grow wide as she attempts to sit up.

“That’s C-C-COLD!”

Arc pushes her back with his magic. “Well, it’s the best way to get that swelling to come down.”

Xenos snickers. “Be brave, Ember!”

Ember glares at him. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?!”

Hugh nods. “Just a bit.”

Max smiles at her. “Forgive us, Ember. It’s not every day we get to see you… what’s the term… in such a weakened state.”

Ember mutters under her breath. “I’ll get you for this Sereb.”

Sereb calls out from the kitchen. “I heard that.”

She rolls her eyes. “Of course you did.”

“Xenos, would you come here please?”

“Yes sir! What do you need?””

Arc stands up. “Hold this on Ember’s ankle and make sure she doesn’t try to get up. I’ll be right back.”

Dinky walks over. “I can do that, dad!”

Arc heads toward the bathroom as Xenos sits down to carry out his orders. “Yes, well… I want someone doing it who can hold her down if need be.”

Ember narrows her eyes. “Ha, ha.”

A few minutes later Arc returns with a large cloth bandage.

“I’ll take over, Xenos. Did she give you any trouble?”

Xenos stands, salutes, and grins. “No sir! She was a model prisoner!”

Dinky giggles as Arc kneels down in front of Ember. He begins to wrap her ankle.

“What are you doing?”

“Wrapping this up. Then we’ll go back to the ice pack. This is the best way to treat a human’s twisted ankle.”

Max turns to Arc. “Should we get her medical attention?”

Arc shakes his head as he stands up. “I don’t think so. She’s been walking on it this long, so it’s not broken. Are you in a lot of pain, Ember?”

“No. This is helping a lot.”

She sighs and rolls her eyes.

“Anything else I have to do in my quest to entertain all of you?”

“There is one more thing. Would you lie down please?”

She complies as Arc grabs a couple extra throw pillows and puts them under Ember’s foot. She growls.

“This is humiliating.”

“Well, we have to raise your foot to get it to heal faster. Doing so helps improve blood flow.”

Cherry calls out. “It’s the same for ponies. I guess that’s another thing we have in common with humans.”

Derpy walks into the living room.

“Supper will be ready in about fifteen minutes. How’s Ember?”

Arc stands up. “She’ll be okay after a few day’s rest.”

Ember’s eye twitches. “A few DAYS?!”

“Longer if you don’t rest.”

Ember folds her arms over her chest and looks away indignantly. “Hmph… why do humans have to heal so slowly?!”

Sereb walks in from the kitchen. “Can we not turn Ember back into a dragon to heal?”

Ember nods. “Great idea!”

Max looks to Arc. “But what if someone sees her?!”

“I don’t know who would see her in the house. What do you think, Ember?”

“Yes, yes, a thousand times YES!”

Arc shrugs. “Go for it, Sereb.”

Sereb returns to his normal form. His horn glows as he casts the counter-spell on Ember. In a moment she is back to her dragon form. She stretches her wings and hovers.

“Ah!”

Derpy looks over. “How do you feel now, Ember?”

“Much better now that I can get around! My ankle should be fully healed by tomorrow morning.”

Max looks confused. “What? HOW?!”

“Dragons have the innate ability to heal minor to moderate injuries quickly. Whether by magical means or whatever is unknown, even to us.”

A short time later supper is ready. They sit down together around the kitchen table. As they eat, Arc turns to Derpy.

“Wonderful meal!”

“Thank you. But I can’t take all the credit. I had quite a bit of help.”

Hugh nods. “We all pitched in!”

Dinky grins. “Can you tell us how your day went, dad?!”

Xenos chuckles. “Yeah! Starting with how Ember convinced you to let her come along!”

“Yes, well… I was actually partway there before I noticed her.”

Ember frowns. “That will teach you to try and leave me behind!”

Sereb turns to Arc. “Perhaps next time you should restrain her.”

Arc laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ember narrows her eyes. “Ha, ha…”

Arc and Ember recall the day’s activities.

Viktor listens intently. “That’s quite the tale, sir!”

Hugh nods. “Do you ever have just a normal day, sir?”

“It doesn’t seem so, no.”

Cherry giggles happily. “I wish everypony could have been there! The little humans were so CUTE!”

Arc looks down, sadly. “Yeah… they were.”

Derpy looks to him, concerned. “Is something wrong, Arc?”

“Very much so. There… there was this one little girl who sat in a corner under a blanket. She didn’t move or talk even when I joined her.”

Sereb frowns. “Was she perhaps ill?”

Arc shakes his head. “No. She was brought to the orphanage after losing her father in… the apartment fire.”

Max’s eyes grow wide. “They two victims you and Ember pulled out of there!”

Viktor gasps. “She was one of them?!”

Ember nods sadly. “Yes. But her father didn’t make it.”

Dinky shakes her small head. “I feel so bad for her! To lose everything in a fire is bad enough. But to lose her father on top of it! I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you, dad!”

Derpy looks to Arc. “Is anything being done?”

“Miss Kulara the headmistress would have sent her to live with a relative if she could have located one. I can only assume she was unable to do so.”

Max sighs. “Anything we can do?”

Dinky’s eyes light up. “How about a special Christmas present?!”

“I asked her about that, sweetheart. It was the only thing that she responded to.”

Hugh nods. “What did she say?”

“That all she wanted was… her mother.”

Xenos thinks for a moment. “I don’t get it. If her mother is still alive, why wasn’t she sent to live with her?”

Arc shrugs. “Good question. I’m going to see if I can figure that out tonight.”

Ember frowns. “Tonight?”

Derpy looks confused. “How?”

“By looking through Headmistress Kulara’s records.”

Cherry gasps. “Wait, what?!”

“It’s the only way I can think of. We need to find out if she’s still alive.”

Viktor nods. “If she’s as good at keeping records as the rest of humanity appears to be, that would be a good place to start, sir.

Ember stands up. “I’m coming with…”

“No you’re not, Ember! That ankle won’t heal if you keep walking on it!”

“But…!”

Arc shakes his head. “Not this time! I’m not even sure how I didn’t notice you walking funny when we were there earlier!”

Ember sighs as she sits back down. “Let’s just say I’m glad Frank walks as slow as he does.”

Cherry calls out to them. “Is he all right?”

“Kinda. It’s an injury from quite some time ago. But that’s a story for another day. In any case, I won’t be in any danger on this one, Ember. So there’s no reason for anyone to come with me.”

Max chuckles. “It would be about as dangerous as you sneaking into the Little Hooves Orphanage back in Ponyville.”

“Right.”

Dinky looks out the window at the snow. “But the roads will be even more dangerous now that the sun has gone down!”

Xenos nods. “I agree with your daughter, sir!”

Arc grins. “So do I.”

Derpy raises an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yes, I believe you’re right. It’s far too dangerous to do any more driving tonight.”

Ember breathes a sigh of relief. “Glad we could talk you out of this, Arc!”

“That’s why I’m teleporting over.”

Xenos facepalms. “Saw that one coming.”

Sereb nods. “You’ve thought of everything.”

Ember frowns. “When did you have time to place a sigil?!”

Arc chuckles. “Remember that bathroom break I took at one point?”

“I thought you were taking too long!”

Cherry giggles. “Arc and I Blinked up onto the roof and placed one of his sigils.”

“That we did.”

Derpy looks to him. “So what’s your plan, Arc?”

“Simple. I put on my magic cloak, teleport back there, Blink back inside, head for Miss Kulara’s office, go through her recent case files, and see what there is to find.”

Arc leans back. He appears to be thinking.

“Problem, dad?”

“Sort of. I don’t own a camera. But at the same time I don’t really want to take the file outright. After all, Miss Kulara might need it.”

Dinky frowns. “Wouldn’t that be stealing, dad?!”

“I suppose it would be, sweetheart. While I would do my best to return the file quickly…”

Viktor interrupts. “You could let me look at the files over your helmet cameras, sir!”

Ember grins. “Right! How did we forget about those?!”

“Good idea, Viktor! You could screen shot them and print copies for us back here!”

Xenos laughs. “Sounds like you have a bona-fide plan there, sir!”

Arc stands up. “Right. If everyone’s done eating, we can get underway. Viktor, was the equipment delivered today?”

“Yes sir! All monitors, headsets, and workstations are already up and running. All of us will have no trouble watching your back and calling out warnings now.”

Max nods as he looks toward the basement door. “We’ve got a real computer laboratory down there now.”

Hugh grins. “It does make our work a lot easier. Being able to pull up whatever we need in an instant.”

Xenos shakes his head. “Well I for one don’t like it! This takes all the legwork out of investigating!”

Ember raises an eyebrow, skeptically. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No! It makes you flabby and lazy! You need to keep moving to keep your legs and mind sharp!”

Arc nods. “Both of you are right. My legwork combined with all of you processing the data I send back will make us unstoppable.”

Ember nods. “Teamwork?”

Arc pulls the magic cloak out of his ring and puts it on.

“Exactly. If everyone plays their part, in the end we’ll meet our goal of finding Princess Celestia and bringing her home. But for now, all we can do it wait, prepare, and try to make the world a little better in the meantime.”

Arc’s squad stands up and heads for the basement stairs. Viktor calls out over his shoulder.

“We’ll get into position, sir!”

Hugh sighs. “Probably not much for us to do on this one.”

Max shrugs. “We’ll, it will make for good practice.”

Xenos smacks his fists together. “True. But eventually I want to start smashing bad guys!”

Cherry Jubilee sighs. “Patience. If somepony has kidnapped the princess, they’ll be no shortage of those in need of a good thrashing.”

Arc turns to Ember. “You wait here with Derpy and Dinky.”

“But… okay…”

“Thanks.”

Derpy nods. “Take care, Arc.”

“We’ll keep the lights on for you, dad!”

“This shouldn’t take long.”

Arc opens a portal and steps through. The portal closes behind him as Derpy turns to her daughter.

“Why don’t we get the dishes done while we wait for your father, Dinky?”

“Okay mom! I’ll dry!”

Ember hovers nearby. “Can I help?”

Derpy shakes her head. “Please rest, Ember. We want you to get better quickly!”

Dinky nods. “Yeah! That way you can go with my dad and keep him safe!”

Ember flies back toward the couch and lies down. “Fine… but I don’t have to like it!”

Derpy calls out to her from the kitchen. “Shall I have Dinky bring you some more ice?”

Ember shivers at the thought. “No thanks!”

Meanwhile, Arc appears on his sigil on the Farburg Orphanage’s roof. He pulls out his pocket watch and checks the time.

“I didn’t realize it was this late. We really did have a late supper.”

Cherry calls out to him. “Although it’s better to do this now, right?”

Arc nods as he cloaks. “Right. Everyone should be in bed, including Miss Kulara. Our only obstacle should be the night watch.”

“Night watch?”

“A single employee that sits at the secretary’s desk, babysits the surveillance cameras, and makes sure no tries to break in or leave.”

“Sounds like a pretty boring job.”

Arc nods. “I’m sure it is. But we’ll be invisible anyways.”

He Blinks into the building and makes his way down the silent corridors. Soon the pair reach their destination. Arc Blinks them through the headmistress’ office door and decloaks.

“There. No cameras in here.”

“Are you sure?”

Arc smiles. “Yup. There’s one pointed at this door, so… you know.”

He quickly walks over to one of the filing cabinets and opens it. Quickly going through the files, he mutters to himself.

“Let’s see what we have here…”

Cherry sighs. “There must be hundreds of folders in there! How will you know which one is the right file?”

“The files are separated by age group and each comes with a photo of the child in question. That narrows my search down by quite a bit.”

Max calls out to him over his earring. “How do you know that, sir?”

“When I got older I sometimes helped Miss Kulara with her paperwork. It helped me learn how to properly organize things.”

Hugh chuckles. “That’s handy!”

Arc shrugs. “It gave me something to do.”

Max turns to Viktor. “It’s kinda hard to see with the low light levels in there. Can you do anything about it?”

Viktor nods and types some commands on his keyboard. “Give me a minute.”

A few moments pass. Suddenly everyone’s viewscreens brighten.

Xenos grins. “Way better! How’d you do that?!”

“Night-vision mode.”

Hugh frowns. “Why don’t you just leave that on?!”

“Because it only works in really low light. If the lights were to be turned on now, it would blind us!”

Arc nods. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, Viktor.”

A short time later Cherry calls out to Arc.

“There she is!”

A picture of the sad little girl is paper-clipped to the file.

“Right!”

Arc turns to the desk and opens the file. He slowly turns every page.

“Did you get everything, Viktor?”

“Yes sir, it’s recorded. Anything else to do over there?”

Arc shakes his head. “Not at the moment. I’ll put this back and we’ll be on our way.”

He closes the file and returns it to its place in the drawer. Cherry sighs as Arc closes the filing cabinet.

“Do you think we’ll find what we’re looking for in those pages?”

Arc shrugs as he opens a portal back home. “I sure hope so! After all… we don’t have anything else to go off.”

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Drop into bushes and snow? Ow, done that, was lucky to have a flat landing with no pointy broken branches.

Information gathered, now to see just what it is?

[Kamahido]

9993112
When you have wings your entire life, I suppose one might forget their absence. :-)