Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4)

by The Iguana Man

Chapter Five: Over the Hurdles

“...o the hospital, just in case.”

Icy groaned as her eyes flickered open, catching the tail end of Dinky's words.

“You're right, of course.” Icy both heard Truffle's voice beneath her and felt the vibrations of it through her stomach. “But let's not get ahead of ourselves, we'll need to...”

“Could always ask her.” Archer said from behind her. “Looks like she's waking up.”

“Wha... uh?” Was all Icy could manage to say before Dinky leapt up, putting her front hooves on Truffle's back and, as far as Icy could tell, just about restraining herself from giving the newly-conscious filly a hug that would suffocate her all over again.

“Oh, thank Celestia, I was afraid you were really hurt and...”

“No need to worry, Dinky my girl!” Truffle said, the boom in his voice echoing down the tunnels. “Icy's made of tougher stuff than that, I'm sure.” Icy herself wasn't sure, but appreciated the boost in confidence. Although, Truffle's natural exuberance did seem a touch forced as he spoke.

“What happened?” Icy asked as she looked down to see herself lying over Truffle's back.

“We were kinda hoping you could tell us that.” Archer said. Icy turned her head to see that the bowmare wasn't even looking at her, keeping her gaze down the tunnel behind them, her ears languidly pricking up at every sound. “We saw you fall in, then nothing.”

Icy nodded, gathering her thoughts as her ride set off again. “Well, after I... fell in,” she squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing as a wave of terror and nausea surged through her body at the memory, “I got pulled down a pipe and sent out under the ice at one of the lakes. I tried to break through, but I couldn't. I thought I was gonna die until someone grabbed me and pulled me... somewhere.”

“Underwater cave, looked like.” Archer said, still looking behind them. “Connected to the sewers. Guess you're lucky he knew the tunnels so well.”

He? Oh, right.

“It... it was Skrik, wasn't it?”

“That it was.” Truffle said, nodding slowly so as not to upset his rider's balance. “I tried to grab you, but I didn't reach you in time. Was wondering whether to jump in and grab you – I'm not that good with water, tend to sink like a stone – when a colt came barrelling out of the tunnels, closing his eyes and shrieking like a banshee.”

“Was about to hit him with an impact arrow,” Archer interjected, as if worried Icy might have doubted her abilities or, at least, as worried as Archer ever got, “then I saw him leap into that water himself. After that, the rats all scurried off and we were left standing there wondering what in Equestria just happened.”

“But everything worked out okay!” Dinky said, smiling at Icy. “Alula told us your badge had stopped moving and guided us to where you were. We found you, you were asleep but alive, we started moving you to the surface, you woke up and that's where we are now!”

Icy blinked hard. “So... why did he leap in to save me?”

“No idea.” Truffle answered, not pausing in his steps to shrug, “But it's just as well he did, don't you think?”

“I was going to, so was Lance.” Archer said with incredibly mild exasperation. “He just got there first is all. Still, I guess we owe him one.”

“I think I owe him more than one.” Icy said, before chuckling weakly as she realized something. “Hey, at least I won't have to take another bath to clean off!”

This did not get the laugh she was expecting. In fact, everyone looked suddenly uncomfortable.

“Do you wanna tell her or...?” Archer trailed off before Dinky spoke up.

“Um, you see, you know how, in the sewers, there's a path that's above the, um... the you know.”

Icy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Well,” Dinky drew in a sharp breath through her teeth, “you kind of... weren't on the path. You were in the...”

“Sewage.” Archer finished matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” Icy said before what had just been said sank in. “Oh! Ooooooeeeeeeww!” She raised a hoof before letting it fall again, feeling like her fatigue was the only thing stopping her skin crawling. “Why would... why?!”

“Probably saved your life.” Archer replied, turning her head a little and flicking an eye briefly back at Icy. “Remember what Alula said – that stuff makes a lot of heat. And since you were probably freezing, makes sense to warm you up like that.”

“Oh.” Icy sighed, resting her head on the well-padded body beneath her. She would probably be even more disgusted later, but for the moment, she just didn't have the mental energy. “So, he was trying to save me. I'm... I'm gonna ask him why.”

She made to get up before Truffle reached a hoof back and pressed her down firmly.

“Not tonight, you're not! You're getting to the surface, going to hospital and staying there until you're definitely okay. Then, and only then, are you coming back down here.”

Icy made a token effort to push off Truffle's hoof, but it was obvious she couldn't have, even if she was at her full strength. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.” She flopped back down, sighing deeply. “I'm sorry I caused so much trouble.” A small thought suddenly popped into her head. “And that I'm getting muck all over you, Truffle.”

“Don't be... Don't be ridiculous, Icy!” Truffle said, an uncharacteristic hitch in his voice. “I'm the one who should be sorry. I was so busy leaping to the rescue, I didn't notice you were stumbling and what my weight would do. I... I truly apologize.” He cleared his throat noisily before continuing. “Besides, you're only getting it on the suit. And with how little gets through it, what with the magic and all, it'll wash right off!”

A hint of a smile flickered onto one side of Icy's mouth. “Well, in that case,” She reached forward slowly and put a hoof on Truffle's cheek, dragging it down and leaving a small trail of goop on it, “we're even.”

Archer snorted as she looked back at the two, Dinky looked at Icy with a hint of disapproval even as she giggled and Truffle just laughed, loud and long, not even bothering to wipe off the muck.

---

Nursery Rhyme sighed as she looked up from the chart she was examining, the neutral expression quickly morphing into a glare in the distance between the clipboard and Icy's face.

For her part, Icy just lay on the hospital bed, staring in trepidation at the young filly. The team's assigned medic was wearing a nurse's outfit, but with a doctor's expression. She gulped, feeling herself sweat a little despite the cool temperature of the room. She'd seen Nursery Rhyme a couple of times before, when the others got hurt, and had heard some of her... unorthodox approach to bedside manner, but had never experienced the care (if one used the term loosely) for herself. As she withered under the young nurse's stare, she did not regret this fact.

“Well, Miss Flight,” she began, the high pitch of her voice doing little to disguise the annoyance beneath it, “I guess this is kind of a milestone for you – you finally got yourself hurt. Real shame, too,” she sighed before speaking again, cutting off any attempt to respond, “got to admit, I did hope I might not see you here. Thought maybe you were smart enough not to get yourself nearly killed all the time like your friends do. And like they're determined to do to me by raising my blood pressure through the Tia-damned roof! But nope! Proved me wrong there, congratu-frigging-lations.”

There was a pause before Icy dared try to say something. “So, am I-”

“I mean, do you have the slightest idea how lucky you are?! No, no of course you don't, why would you, it's only your life we're talking about here!” She slapped a hoof against the chart. “If you'd been down there a few seconds longer... if you hadn't been warmed up so quickly... Celestia, let's forget about the water and look at how many scratches you got to your body and wings before being immersed in raw sewage!” A growl escaped her at that remark, making her turn away and ignore Icy's disgusted face at the memory. “I mean, if a single one of those had drawn blood, do you have any idea what kind of infections you could get?! You're lucky your wings didn't melt!”

“Er, okay, but...”

“And don't try to tell me it wasn't your fault. I heard enough of that from Truffle and it's a load of horseapples – you still put yourself right in the path of danger and you've got no one to blame but yourself, are we clear?”

Icy gulped. “Yeah, pretty clear, I think. So, am I gonna be okay?”

Rhyme's scowl intensified a little. “Well, there might still be complications, so we're keeping you here tonight, but it looks like yes, you have successfully escaped the consequences of your idiotic actions. Well done, looks like you'll fit into the team nicely.”

Icy was about to say something to that – exactly what, she didn't know, but definitely something – when she heard the door to the ward open. She turned her head just in time to see her mother bearing down on her before she wrapped her daughter in a hug, threatening to do to her what the water had failed to.

“Oh Celestia, are you okay, Icy? No, of course you're not okay, you wouldn't be here if you were okay, but are you going to...”

“She'll be fine, Mrs Flight.” Rhyme said, her scowl vanishing into an encouraging smile so quickly it looked like another filly had switched places with her via teleportation.

Sunny sighed, releasing Icy from her affectionate vice-grip and turning to Rhyme. “Oh, thank Celestia... and Luna and Cadance and Twilight and anyone else who's listening.” She started to turn back to Icy before pausing. “Oh, and it's “Miss”.”

Nursery Rhyme nodded. “Oh, sorry, Miss Flight. Anyway, she probably shouldn't do anything too strenuous for a few days, but assuming no complications happen overnight, she should recover fairly quickly.”

Sunny nodded as she faced her daughter. “Well, don't worry, I'm sure she won't be having any more adventures for a while.”

“Um... actually,” Icy said, hesitant to interrupt the moment, but feeling the need to voice the thoughts she'd been having since she'd reached the surface, “I was thinking I'd go back down there tomorrow.”

There was silence as Sunny and Rhyme turned to her, staring in disbelief.

“I'm sorry,” Rhyme said, cleaning an ear with a hoof, “you're gonna have to repeat that. I was treating Rainbow Dash earlier today and I think I still had some stupid stuck in my ear.”

Sunny shook her head for a moment, broken out of her stupor by Rhyme's words. “Are you five kinds of crazy? This... rat-colt, whatever they said... he nearly killed you and...”

“No!” Icy interrupted, a slight frown coming to her face. “The rats did cause they thought we were hurting him. He saved my life.” She closed her eyes, breathing out slowly and calming herself down before opening them again “I think... I'm not gonna go in there alone, but I think I can talk to him and... I dunno, make friends.”

Sunny looked at her daughter intensely. “You're sure?”

Icy hesitated for a moment before meeting her gaze. “Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure.” She gave a small smile. “I promise I'll be careful, Mom – the moment something goes wrong, I'll get outta there.”

Sunny held the gaze for a moment before closing her eyes, chuckling a little. “Okay, honey, as long as your friends promise to protect you.”

Icy breathed a sigh of relief. “They will, Mom.”

The moment was broken as Nursery Rhyme spluttered. “Buh... I... you... you can't... you're not seriously going to...” After a couple of disbelieving throat noises, she exhaled, turning around. “Excuse me for a moment, I have some... things to do. Feel free to talk about whatever, I'll be back in a bit.” She left the room in a daze, letting the door swing shut behind her.

Smiling, Sunny and Icy hugged again, pointedly ignoring the sound from outside of a young filly banging her head against a wall.

---

Icy gulped a little as she looked down the staircase that lead to the sewers. She hadn't been lying when she said she was sure of this plan's safety, but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous. There was just something about a near-death experience that tended to put one a little on edge. Weird how that worked.

She looked away for a moment to calm herself. The alley they were in was just next to the town square, so she focused on the sounds of the market – the movement of hooves, the exchange of bits, the sound of Applejack and Carrot Top arguing...

Well, Applejack was arguing, at least. Carrot Top, on the other hoof...

“Are you sure?” She asked, beseechingly. “I've got a lovely bunch of chantenays that would make a delicious cak-”

“I told you,” Applejack yelled, “I don't want any damn carrots – I only got that one cause I had to, so would you stop tauntin' me!”

“I'm not...” Carrot Top replied, sounding very hurt. “I just thought you'd maybe like some...”

“Well, I wouldn't!” Applejack snapped. “So you just march your sex- er, your second-rate flank back to your stall right now!”

Icy raised an eyebrow. Adults are really weird.

“Area's clear, you can come down now, Icy.”

Icy shook herself back into the moment before descending the staircase and entering the sewers for the third time in three days. With how often she's been going down there lately, she probably counted as a frequent flyer (or tunneller, perhaps). Although she doubted there was any kind of reward for regular service and further doubted she'd want it if there was.

Still, as before, at least she wasn't going down there alone.

“So, Icy?” Dinky began. The moment Icy had announced her intentions to go back down, Dinky had volunteered to come along, both to keep her safe and, if things went wrong, to help her escape with a bit of time wizardry. “I like the idea of talking things out with Skrik, but how were you planning on finding him?” She asked as, judging by her tone, a genuine question rather than a criticism – she assumed Icy had an answer and was just curious what it was.

“I'm still not entirely sure we should.” Alula said, a slight edge to her steady tone. She hadn't volunteered to come with at first, but Icy had gently insisted, arguing that they may need her intelligence during their talk. To her credit, she didn't take much convincing and agreed once Icy had convinced her she would be useful, but she still looked over her shoulder frequently and gave off an air of quiet resentment. Icy was getting the distinct impression that she didn't have solely tactical reasons for why she preferred to stay out of the front line.

That said, Icy did feel a little satisfaction that this time, when she'd said “I thought I'd go back down there”, she'd actually meant “we would”

“Well,” Icy said, looking both ways down the tunnel, “He'll have probably moved again, but I think we just need to get his attention.”

Alula nodded. “Well, that shouldn't be difficult.” A green light rose up around her.

Icy tilted her head. “What are you doing?”

A small smile edged onto Alula's face. “Making myself louder.”

The green distortion to the air overtook Alula for a moment before it faded to reveal another form that, Icy agreed, was more likely to be heard.

“SKRIK!” Truffle's voice rang down the tunnels, echoing loud enough to hurt Icy's eardrums. “WE WANT TO TALK WITH YOU!”

A chorus of squeals sounded out, coming from both sides of them and, though it was hard to tell due to the echo, seeming to come from every tunnel and offshoot.

As Icy looked around, she saw another green glow in the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw Alula again.

“Well, that should bring him if he's coming. Now we just have to see if that was a terrible idea.”

“Well, if anything goes wrong, we're still near the exit, so we can get away.” Dinky pointed out, giving an encouraging smile.

Alula looked behind her. “Oh yes. I hadn't thought of that.”

Dinky and Icy nodded, not calling her out on the obvious lie.

Then the waiting began. Long periods of silence, with occasional moments when rapid sequences of squeals registered on the edge of Icy's hearing. She couldn't tell how far away they were, how many were involved in each burst of noise and whether they came from actual rats or from a colt who could speak rat.

Dinky passed the time by humming a tune quietly to herself. Alula passed the time looking both ways down the tunnels, the turning of her head her only movement, barring the occasional flick of an ear.

Icy, on the other hoof, chose to occupy her time by trying to interpret the squeaks they heard and what the rats were talking about. Within ten minutes, she'd built up a rich narrative involving a pretty young female named Ratchel, an emissary from a far away land named Moustafa and the various stories of their life as they met, fell in love and created a life safe from the evil Rodent empire.

She was just trying to come up with a name for their first child – coming up with rat puns was harder than it sounded – when she heard the squeals start increasing, both with more rats making noises and with them getting closer.

“Get ready.” Alula said, her eyes flicking back towards the stairway out of the area.

After a moment, a horde of rats came down the tunnel to their right, illuminated by Icy's lamplight, and the noises from behind them indicated that another group was coming from the left. Icy's legs tensed, ready to fire her back up the stairs if needed.

However, once the front of the horde got within fifteen feet of them, it stopped, the swarm behind it all coming to a halt in rough rows. They glared up at the three and, although Icy still wasn't an expert on animal expressions, she got a sense of “come no closer” from them.

A movement on the other side of the swarm caught her eye and she raised her head and her light to see Skrik walking towards them. As he stepped into the carpet of rats, they scurried to the side, making a path for him.

Icy breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't attacking, they were forming a blockade. Which, admittedly, was still fairly intimidating, but at least indicated that they weren't going to make the first move.

Alula stepped up next to Icy as the colt came to a stop five feet from the front of his army. “Skrik, I presume?”

Skrik recoiled for a moment, making Icy briefly terrified that he was going to flee, which would mean he wasn't willing to talk and that the rats would come at them to stall them and...

“Skrik is Skrik.” Skrik answered, relaxing again.

Icy blinked away her imagination and focused on the task at hoof. “Can we talk, Skrik?”

Skrik looked at them, eyes flicking between them as if looking for a sign they were lying. “Talk? Not run?” His expression not changing, he nodded. “Talk.”

Nodding, Icy opened her mouth, only for nothing to come out. It took a moment to understand why, since this was exactly the situation she'd been preparing for. Or, rather, she realized, she'd been preparing to find out whether or not she was right and had been so busy with that, she hadn't thought about what she would say if she was.

Fortunately, after a second, Dinky saved her the trouble. “Well, we need you to stop stealing food.”

Skrik tilted his head, brow furrowing in thought. “Ste... Stealing?”

Icy's mouth stretched to the side, a little exasperated. She honestly couldn't tell if Skrik didn't think what he and his rats were doing was stealing or if he just didn't know what the word meant.

Deciding it best to play it safe with the latter, she clarified for Dinky. “Taking. You need to stop taking food.”

Skrik's head moved back a little, slowly, his suspicion increasing. “Stop...? Need food. Need to get food or khhrk.” He said. The last word sounded like rat-speak, but the meaning of what would happen without food was clear.

“But that food belongs to other ponies.” Dinky said, giving Skrik her most powerful cute-eyes. “It's theirs and they need it.”

Skrik's eyes also widened, his guard lowering but his resolve remaining. “But... others not there. Not have it. Not their food.” He said, though it sounded like he was beginning to doubt himself.

“Hm.” Alula interjected before Icy or Dinky could say anything. She pondered for a moment, her eyes looking to the right, before speaking. “Your food... pile?” She said, pausing. She was presumably checking that Skrik knew the word, as she continued when he nodded. “I can take some stuff from it?”

Skrik frowned, glaring at Alula, his fur raising slightly. “No, can't!” He hissed. “Can't! 'smine!”

Alula raised her eyebrows, feigning confusion. “Is it? But you're not with it right now, are you? So that means...”

“No!” Skrik interrupted, an angry sneer coming onto his face. “Still mine!”

Alula smirked. “So, just because you're not with it right now doesn't mean it doesn't belong to you?”

Skrik nodded. “Yeah! It...” he trailed off as his eyes widened, the implication sinking in, “Oh.” He looked down and away from them for a moment. “Sorry. Not know...” He shook his head. “Still need food!”

Dinky smiled. “Don't worry. We can arrange something. Maybe find someone to care for you. If you just come outside...”

“NO!” Skrik yelped. The rats beneath his started shifting slightly before Skrik took a deep breath and gave a squeal that seemed to calm them down. “Not go out. Bad place.”

“Ooh, sorry, I didn't tell them.” Icy picked a hoof up, almost putting it to her mouth in shame before she remembered where that hoof had just been. She turned to the others. “I think Skrik's afraid of the outdoors.”

“Not 'fraid! Just bad place!” Skrik insisted, the tone of his voice indicating otherwise.

Alula nodded. “Agoraphobia. Not really surprising.”

Dinky frowned, confused. “But then...” She looked up at Skrik. “If you don't want to go outside, why did you go out to save Icy?”

Skrik shivered and shook his head, his pupils dilating a little at the thought and his speech accelerating. “Didn't want to, no, didn't want, needed to. You went down, couldn't get back up. Skrik not go, you stay down and khhrk.”

“But, why did you care?” Icy asked, not noticing how the question sounded. “Why was me being in trouble enough for you to go outsi... go into the bad place?”

Skrik looked blank for a second, as if not understanding the question. “Because you're nice.”

“Nice?”

Skrik nodded. “Sweee said you were nice. Said you gave Sweee food.”

“Oh!” Icy said as she remembered. “That wasn't... sorry, but we did that to find you. Used a spell on nng!” She was cut off as Alula stepped on her hoof, giving her a death glare.

It was too late though, as Skrik nodded. “Oh. Didn't know how found me. Put thing on food.” He thought for a moment before he asked. “Why on food?”

Alula turned around to look at Skrik again. “What?”

“Why on food. Why not put on Sweee? Could have put on Sweee?”

Alula nodded. “Yes, we could have.”

Skrik nodded decisively. “Could have. Didn't. Still gave Sweee food. Two food. Still nice.”

Icy blushed a little. “Well, actually the second one was Dinky's idea.”

Dinky nudged Icy playfully with a shoulder. “You still agreed to it.”

Skrik nodded again, looking between the two. “You and you gave food? You and you are nice.” He said, as if explaining the concept to someone who didn't understand the idea of two ponies being “nice.”

He looked Icy in the eye. “Were nice. Shouldn't khhrk.”

Icy stayed in eye contact with him for a moment before breaking it. “Well, thanks, I guess. You saved me... but we still need to figure out what we're going to do now.”

“Actually,” Alula said, stepping forward, “I think I have an idea. Skrik? How did you get here? To these... tunnels? This small place? Did you come through the... big place?”

Skrik nodded a little hesitantly. “Mm-hm. Came in... small place in big place. Small, lots of...” He mimed several objects with his hoof pointing straight up.

It took a moment for Icy to realize what he was saying. “Trees? Er... big, tall, bendy things?”

“Mm-hm. Trees.” Skrik said, his breath starting to get a little more rapid.

“So,” Alula said, speaking slowly to calm Skrik down, “you can go out into the big place if you have to, as long as you're in a small place when you do.” She concluded, seemingly unconcerned with how little sense her statement made. “Well, for the moment, that won’t be necessary, you can stay here and we’ll try and see to it that you’re provided for without having to steal. However, how would you like to go to a place with bi- with a lot more tunnels, more sewers where ponies... nice ponies will give you food and help you if you do things for them in the tunnels? More tunnels, more food, more rats.”

“More friends?” Skrik asked, briefly overjoyed about the idea before a hint of suspicion re-emerged on his face. “Can do that? How?”

“Well, any decently-sized city has sewers and needs ponies to work in them, but Ponyville's a little small to need you and all your... friends. So if you go to a bi- to the small place under a big city, they could probably use your help and give you food in return.”

Skrik's face scrunched up in thought, as if he was having difficulty with the concept. After a few moments, though, it seemed to get through to him. “Where?”

---

“Canterlot? You want to bring him to Canterlot?”

“That's correct, Colonel.” Alula replied to the screen.

“I see.” The face on the screen said, raising an eyebrow. “May I ask your reasoning for... Miss Flight, could you stop that, please?”

Icy froze, her head in mid-movement. She hadn't been aware that the machine could see her, so she'd been moving her head to different angles, fascinated by how the screen would shift from normal to negative and back again. She sat back down, blushing a little.

In fairness, she hadn't previously been aware that the aetheroscope also had a system built in for communicating with Head Office in Canterlot. In fact, she wasn't even sure what “Head Office” entailed other than being the team's bosses. It was understandable that she didn't know, of course, as Pip had told her it was rarely used. It wasn't solely an emergency line, but it was generally discouraged for them to use it when a letter would do just as well. It was mostly used for when, like now, they needed to discuss things with their superiors, rather than just report or take orders. All in all, it was a neat little system.

That said, Icy had been a little disappointed. She knew intellectually that the Princess wouldn't handle all, or even most, of their briefings and debriefings, but the two times it had happened before had given her hope it might be a regular occurrence. However, this time and, it seemed, most times, it was handled by Colonel Steward, who was... well, again, she wasn't exactly clear on his position or what it entailed, but he was in charge of things relating to them.

The colonel nodded, his moustache twitching a little. “Thank you. Now, perhaps you could explain your reasoning.” He said, his clipped South Trottingham accent gaining a slight crackle as it came out of the speakers.

“Well, we have a colt who lives in the sewers and commands an army of rats...”

“Yes, I understand that part.” The colonel interjected, as if slightly annoyed at restating the obvious.

Alula continued, unbothered by the interruption. “So, instead of attempting to force this to change, why not make use of him? Ponyville's sewers are too small to need such a pony, but Canterlot's are far bigger. So, you can use his abilities to help in managing them and, in return, he can be given food so he doesn't have to steal it. Plus, there are dozens of teachers and psychiatrists there who can gradually help him acclimatize and, eventually, integrate into equine society. Which will probably be much less difficult and harmful than trying to force him to live on the surface.”

The colonel nodded as Alula finished her explanation. “I see. Well, you may be right that it would be better for him, but I'm not convinced that the benefits for the city would outweigh the risks. We are talking about the capital of Equestria and home to any number of vital governmental organizations.” His eyes went up for a moment, perhaps thinking about all the decidedly non-vital governmental organizations there as well, but he didn't say anything. “Having someone who can mobilize and potentially weaponize the city's rat population seems dangerous. Are you sure this Skrik fellow is safe?”

“Um,” Icy spoke up before Alula could respond, “I don't think he wants to hurt anyone. I mean, if you make him mad, he'd probably be dangerous, but I don't think he'll be a problem unless someone hurts him first.”

“Hmm...” The colonel said, his expression and tone making clear that he was only half-convinced. “Well, I suppose I can see your reasoning. However, I’m not sure that simply bringing him here would be best, even if he’s not inherently dangerous. Even if he thinks he’s prepared, moving to a new city might be enough of a shock to cause problems and would almost certainly make him hesitant to trust anypony who tried to rehabilitate him. On the other hoof, you seem to have already gained his trust enough that he would be better suited to staying in Ponyville for the moment. So I’m going to have to say no to the immediate transfer.”

Alula nodded, keeping her face neutral. “I see. I admit I hadn’t considered that. It simply seemed that he would be far more useful in Canterlot.”

“Indeed he would and I do agree that that should be the long term goal, it’s simply problematic in the short-term.” The colonel replied. “The best idea, I think, would be to send a Crown psychiatrist down there to evaluate him, make sure he’s not going to be a threat, gain his trust, prepare him for when he makes the journey and accompany him while he does. That way, he’ll have a point of contact if and when he gets here, which should lessen any problems considerably.”

Icy breathed a sigh of relief, sure that whoever was sent would see that Skrik was har- mostly harmless. As long as you didn't try to get him onto the surface. Although...

“Um, how are we going to get him to Canterlot?” Icy asked.

Alula looked back at her. “Well, the train is an enclosed space, so we could use that.”

The colonel thought for a second. “And, if that doesn't work, I can have one of my unicorns make a force-tunnel for him to travel between forests until he reaches the city's catacombs. Shouldn't be a problem when it happens. In the meantime, keep an eye on him and do what you can to keep him from causing trouble, at least until the psychiatrist arrives and preferably afterwards. Right, well, if that's all...”

“Yes, nothing else to report.” Alula said, reaching for the controls to disconnect.

Icy smiled. It seemed like everything was going to work out fine.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Good work with this chapter! I'm interested to see how this story finishes up - and what will happen next time.

[Wild Stallion]

Icy smiled. It seemed like everything was going to work out fine.

It's not. That's a Jinx if ever I heard one.