Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Hyperquizzitistical

"We don't have much time. If I'm spotted I will need to leave, and it's important that we share this information now. We..." The pony-sized praying mantis wearing a trench coat stopped, and tilted its head to the right, making sure to stop its hat from sliding off. "Wait, are you the right Pinkie?"

Pinkie moved the pile of plates she was carrying slightly aside, so she could look at the mantis face to face. She shook her head, then gave a nod towards a table near one of the walls, where another Pinkie sat eating soup. The mantis sighed, brought its hat a little lower on its face, and then made its way towards the other Pinkie, pushing through the crowd in the busy restaurant.

"Hi," said Pinkie as the mantis approached, before eating another spoonful of soup.

"Hello," said the mantis, sitting down. "We don't have much time, and it's important we share this information as quickly as we can. I could be forced to leave at any moment, therefore our conversation should be brief and efficient. It could be potentially very dangerous if we did not have the proper time to exchange everything we need to. For this reason we should get to it as soon as possible. Do you understand? I need you to understand that time is a valuable resource and we cannot afford to waste any of it. Is that clear? Is it clear that we need to be quick? Time is of the essence, Pinkie."

Pinkie nodded, still eating her soup.

"Good. I'm glad you understand our need to act fast in this situation." The mantis poured itself a small pile of salt on the table and then took it in through some orifice in its head. "Was it done?"

Pinkie nodded again, more vigorously this time. "Yes it was!"

"Good. Were there any complications?" asked the mantis.

"None at all." Pinkie shook her head. "Everything went off without a hitch, all according to plan. The right time and place, everything just as you said it would be."

The mantis nodded, pleased. "Yes, very good indeed. This should mean this iteration is preserved, for now at least. Did anyone see you?"

Pinkie shook her head again.

"I trust you are right." The mantis sighed, and took a moment to recollect its thoughts and adjust its hat again. "Was our messenger safe?"

Another nod from Pinkie.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, then, onto the next step." The mantis produced a folded piece of paper from within one of the pockets of its trench coat, then unfolded it on top of the table. It then pointed to a circle drawn on top of it. "There's one here," it said. "When the time comes, I want you to be the one who chooses to go there, alongside Rainbow. Preferably just you two, but if Twilight decides to come as well you may let her." Then it pointed to a cross drawn onto a different spot of the map. "And keep everyone away from here for as long as you can. Things will need to be solved on this side before you can properly deal with that. By any means necessary, Twilight mustn't go there before the Moon has passed. It may be a dangerous gamble, but it's a risk we have to take."

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

I see this mantis went to the Mojo Jojo school of clear and concise speaking.

in any case, fascinating to see it has such intelligence regarding the local region hyperspace. Part of me is tempted to think it's a nantuko planeswalker, but that's my answer to everything.

[Venerable Ro]

Not the strangest patron I've ever seen, at least he hasn't left rambling Sending voicemessages just as someone casts Detect Good And Evil.

That was a right pain to get out of, I tell you what...