Hellfire Dash

by Centurion Pike-Wall

Chapter 4~Seeing HER again

Umbra awoke to a polite knocking on the door. She scowled, moaning and pushing herself up on the bed. She looked out the window, seeing the sun beginning to fade below the horizon. So, whoever it was, they were coming here when it was late at night. She slid on her hat, not wanting whoever it was to see her horns, she stumbled to the door. She opened it and said, "It's like eight at night. What in all the-Oh."

Twilight stood in front of her. Like the others, she looked almost no different since she had last seen her. She was still tall, with an almost graceful posture. She still wore the same clothes: A white shirt, a brown sweater vest, a dark purple skirt, and a small necklace. She said, "Sorry. I, I just want to talk."

"Oh, no no", Umbra said, recomposing herself. "I'm sorry, Your Highness."

"Please, call me Twilight. I'm not one for Titles." She shifted somewhat nervously, and said, "Listen, I just want to talk about what happened earlier today."

"Sure, sure. Come on in", she said. She stepped aside and let Twilight pass her, stealing a glance at her flank. She couldn't help it; she was a daemon, not a corpse. Despite this, she was sweating bullets. The pony she had loved, less than a meter from her, and she didn't know. She managed to recover her cool, turning around and leaning on the wall of the hotel room and folding her arms. "So. What do you want to know?"

"Well, I couldn't exactly get much out of Spike. He kept saying something about seeing horns on you? Can, can you just clear it up for me a bit?"

The question confused her. Horns? Then, she realized. When she tackled him, her hat slid down on her head a bit. The enchantment on the hat prevented her horns from being seen when she was wearing it fully, but not only partially. What must've happened was Spike saw the horns when the enchantment flickered, but the others didn't because of their angles on her.

Umbra said, "I don't know about the horns. Do I look like I have horns of any type?"

Twilight giggled a bit, a sound that still made Umbras heart flutter. "Yeah, you don't. Anyway, back on track. What exactly happened earlier? With Spike, Thorax, and Ember?"

So that was their names. Huh. "I saw the dragon; that's Ember, right? The blue one?"

"Yes, that's her."

"Cool. Anyway", she continued. "I saw Ember breath fire at Thorax, but Spike was in the way. I didn't really think; I brought him to the ground before it hit him. I just did it. That's it."

"Ok. Can I ask why", she said.

This one was gonna require a bit more tact on her part. After a moments hesitation, she arrived on a solution. "Is it wrong to not want somepony be burned?"

"No, I suppose not." An awkward silence fell over the two of them, only broken by their breathing and the very faint tapping of Umbras finger on her coat. Twilight broke it by saying, "I don't mean to sound interrogative. I just want to figure it out. And, again, Spikes thing with the horns."

"I get it. He's your little brother, you want him to be safe. I get it."

"Yeah." Again, silence reigned over the room. Twilight again broke the silence. "So, what brings you to Ponyville?"

"Business", she said automatically.

This got a confused look from her mortal age marefriend. "What kind of business?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you", she said. "I assure you, it's not a personal thing. It's just my employers like their privacy, and this policy expands to their workers. Sorry; I'm just following policy."

"I, suppose I understand", she said. "So, maybe you can stay with me? I mean, as a sign of gratitude?"

It was Umbras turn to feel uncomfortable again. "NO! I, I mean, I don't want to inconvenience you."

"It's fine. I mean, again, you saved Spike, and well, it just seems like a friendly thing to do."

Umbra looked down, thinking about her proposal. She didn't have to; she had enough money to stay here until she had handled the second contract. And, if push came to shove, she could slip back into Hell and get some more money. But, well, she would be close to Twilight. She could spend more time around her, even if she didn't spend all that much time in the castle. And that was somewhat unlikely; if Abaddon was correct, it would take some time for Flam to arrive. She somehow doubted she would spend all that time outside.

"I suppose my employer would prefer to keep costs as low as possible", she said. "Alright. Thanks."

"What are friends for? I'll let you pack up and return the key. Meet me outside."

"Cool." When Twilight left the room and shut the door, Umbra trotted over to the bed and sat down. She grinned. She was going to stay in the same building as Twilight. It may not have been in the same bedroom, or even potentially same floor, but it was something. Besides, it was probably be of better quality than the hotel. So, she packed up her stuff, slid her sunglasses into her jacket pocket, and made her way down to the front desk to check out.

++++

Twilight, after Umbra had packed up and came out to meet her, lead her to the castle. Even after all these years living across from a tower that was easily eight times as big, the crystal structure was still quite the impressive sight. Not much had changed since that fateful day after Tireks defeat. Same partially translucent blue crystal, same structure, all that jazz.

The two of them arrived just after the sun went down. Twilight pulled out a key and opened up the door, and lead her inside. Like the outside, not much on the interior had changed from the last time she had seen it. Twilight said, "Come on, I'll lead you to the guest rooms. It's kind of a confusing place when you first come over."

"Oh, I've heard", Umbra said.

"Really", Twilight asked. "Is that a thing?"

Umbra, wanting to play it safe for a bit, said, "Just rumors."

Twilight mouthed 'ah', and lead her along in silence. As they went along, Umbra took the opportunity to look around the hallway. The green doors, and all of the strange shapes of the walls. As they trotted along, Umbra stopped and looked into a side room. It was the map room, and she couldn't help but check it out.

inside, she couldn't help but marvel at the tree roots thing from the ceiling. Multi-colored lights fell down from the roots, and filled the room filled the room at odd and beautiful angles. This was certainly not something she had seen when she had last seen this room. Other than that, nothing in the room was rather different. The table still projected a holographic display of Equestria. Around the table, large backed crystal chairs faced the inside, with the cutie marks of each of her friends on the backs. Well, all except one.

She walked over to that one chair, which was covered by a white sheet. She knew what under it, just by process of elimination. Still, she couldn't help herself. She grabbed and lightly pulled down the seat, revealing her cutie mark stenciled on the back. She just looked at it, a nostalgic look on her face.

From behind her, she heard Twilight snap, "What are you doing?"

"Sorry", Umbra said immediately, stepping back and putting her hands up. "I was just curious."

Twilight did her cute breathing exercise thing, before stepping forward to put the sheet back over the seat. "It's ok. I was just, really close to the pony who used to sit here."

She knew exactly, but she asked, "What is this room? If, you don't mind me asking."

"We call it the Map Room", she said, resting the sheet over her old chair. "The map sends me and my friends to solve friendship problems. You know, Princess of Friendship shtick and all."

"Ok, ok. So, who's seat is that?"

Twilight leaned on the seat, sighing. She lifted up the necklace, and rubbed it around with her fingers. Umbra got a decent look at it: a small, multi-colored lightning bolt shaped pendant. "It was the Element of Loyalties. Rainbow Dash. She was a, a good friend of mine. A really good friend. Listen, It's not important. I'm, I'm over it. Let's, let's just go."

"Ok then. Lead the way." Twilight lead her out of the room, Umbra looking back at the Map Room as she left. Umbra considered what she had seen. The sheet was obviously a sign of respect, or at least an acknowledgement of her. Umbra also couldn't help but lightly smile at the sight of her amulet. At the same time, however, it hurt her to see Twilight for her sorrow. She just wanted to hug her, and assure her that she was alright, and she was back. But, well, she couldn't.

After a bit of a walk, they arrived at a wall of doors. Dozens of them lined the hallway, light green doors stretching around the edge of the ring and disappearing from sight. Twilight opened up a random door, saying, "Here you go." Umbra stepped inside, and whistled at the sight.

The interior was quite the place. It was a single room, yet it was well furnished; a nice desk, a comfy looking bed, a small hooflocker, and a dresser. A window was partially opened, wind whipping through the heavy curtains into the room from the still early night. Umbra tossed her duffle bag at the foot of her bed, and slumped onto the bed, and grinned. The bed was nice and comfy, much like her own back at her apartment.

"You like it?", Twilight asked.

Umbra looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Nice and comfy", she said. "Like the housing at the office."

Twilight nodded. She said, "Good. Bathrooms right next door. My room is the second on the right, third hallway, fourth floor. Sleep tight."

"Night", Umbra said, leaning further back on the table. As Twilight began to shut the door, Umbra muttered and shot back up. "Hey", she said. When Twilight stopped, she continued, "I'm sorry about the whole thing in that Map Room."

Twilight said, "It's fine. It's fine. Good night." As the door shut, Umbra slid against the back of the seat. She went over to shut the window and the blinds. She slid the bolt over the door; she didn't want to, but she couldn't really take chances with somepony walking in and seeing her horns. She slid off her jacket and pants, slid into the sheets, and passed out.

Comments

[Replica Knight]

So far so good

[FirewaspRambo]

oooooooooooooohh, I can't wait for the next chap.