Chapter 6
When Macintosh came to, he was seated on a chair next to an empty hospital bed. An older mare was looking at her with concern. “Miss, you alright?”
Little Macintosh stumbled through a response as his memories returned to him, “I-I’m not a ma—” She blushed, and brought a hoof up to massage a throbbing headache. “I mean, I think so; thank you.”
The nurse smiled weakly at her. “You gave us quite a scare, being unconscious in a patient’s room with no sign of him. What happened to the poor stallion? All four of his legs were broken; it’s not as if he could have just walked out.” Her gaze sharpened. “He did disappear right around when you showed up…”
Little Macintosh glanced at the empty bed. Doing his best to avoid outright lying, she said, “Erm… I never saw a stallion in here. The only pony I’ve seen is me; and you o’course. I just had a bit of a dizzy spell for a moment.” Little Mac’s eyes flicked toward the door. He didn’t have time to be interrogated by a random nurse. She had to get the Sock of Zero back from Woona and defeat the Temple of the Hoodie before it was too late. And he had to stop being confused about what pronouns to use. For now she was stuck being a mare, so there was no sense in giving herself even more of a headache by persisting in using masculine pronouns. In sudden relief, she lowered the hoof from her temple as the headache eased considerably.
The nurse simply stared at her for a moment, then sighed. “Well, it’s not like a young filly like yourself could have carried him away on her lonesome.” Her eyes flicked to Little Mac’s cutie mark. “Not much dealing with apples here in Albuquercolt, in fact, nothing at all that I know of; you visiting for yourself, or on business?”
Mind racing, Macintosh answered, “I’m here to order sauerkraut for my family back in… Fillydelphia. The cabbage from here is world-famous.”
“Oh, don’t I know!” The nurse’s eyes gleamed with sudden excitement. “It’s so good for growing fillies and colts too. I make sure my foals eat a big bowl of it every morning! In fact, my brother-in-law, his family owns one of the largest…”
The nurse went on about all the many, many, many ways her family was a part of the sauerkraut business and just how that business worked for several minutes. Little Macintosh simply stared in amazement before remembering her mission. When the nurse paused for breath, in the middle of a diatribe about which vinegars produced the strongest flavors, she interrupted, “Really, that’s fascinating, but I have to get going. Orders don’t place themselves.”
“Goodness, I’ve done it again; Choral Breeze is always telling me I do love to talk too much. And now I’ve held up a fine, sauerkraut-appreciating soul from getting to her business. If you’re sure you’re alright, I’ll just pop out and bring in a release form and you can head on out.” The nurse turned away and headed to a desk in a central area just outside the patient room.
Once she was fully engaged in digging through a file cabinet, Little Macintosh leapt off the chair and sprinted into the hallway. Glancing left and right for an “exit” sign, she found a door that led to a concrete stairwell and dashed through it. Running was still a little awkward, but she was already getting used to how her new body felt. Being turned into a mare could have been a lot worse; at least it seemed like she was still in the same shape as she had been in before. The effort of running down two flights of stairs and out of the glass double doors of the hospital didn’t even leave her winded.
She made sure to put the hospital building far behind her before looking back to see if she had been followed. The streets around her were empty—too empty. Suddenly, a loud roar filled the air and a green sock soared right into Little Macintosh’s face. It happened so fast that she could hardly flinch in surprise before the sock rebounded and crashed into an unlucky shop window. It then froze the window mid-shatter, flew back toward Macintosh, deposited a pair of bricks at her feet, blew a loud and very wet raspberry, and flew away to break two more storefronts before vanishing from sight. Then the police arrived. Just as they came in to view, one of them shouted: “You there with the bricks! Don’t move!”
Naturally, Little Macintosh did the opposite: she looked around for an escape route and ran down an alley as fast as she could.
By the time she was confident that she had lost the pursuit, Little Macintosh was drenched in sweat, breathing hard, and completely lost. Albequercolt wasn’t a particularly large city, but it was still large enough to become hopelessly lost in. Little Mac spotted a park and sat down on one of the benches to catch her breath and gather her bearings. She had to find Tabala and Pandora’s house and make sure that the first two socks were still safe before going after Woona and the Temple of the Hoodie. Thinking of the Sock of Zero and Woona reminded her of what the sock had said about her father. Was it true, or was the sock merely preying on her deepest fears? Little Mac realized that the only way she would find out would be to find Woona again, and that wasn’t going to be pleasant.
She didn’t know where Pandora’s house was, but it had to be close to where Big Macintosh had fallen and broken his legs. If she could just find wherever that was, she would have a good place to start. As she looked around for any buildings that looked familiar, she avoided any officers she caught sight of. She didn’t think that the first group of policeponies had gotten a good look at her, but it was better to be safe than in jail. Improbability aside, the sock had just been plain malicious.
It took nearly the rest of the day to find Pandora’s house. First, Little Mac had found a small crater in the cobblestone that vaguely reminded her of herself, then she had spiraled away from it knocking on doors. That is, until she found one door knocked off its hinges and Pandora lying on the floor just inside.
She rushed over to the still form—she was breathing, but unconscious. Little Mac gently shook her with a hoof and called her name. “Pandora! Wake up! I need to know what happened here.”
Pandora groaned, and stirred. Abruptly, she stiffened and stared in shock at Little Macintosh. “Wha—? Who—?” Her eyes widened as they took in a green apple cutie mark. “Macintosh? No, it—”
“No time to explain, first tell me what happened here.”
She shivered as she said, “The T-temple of the Hoodie. They came out of nowhere. I-I tried to stop them, but there were too many of them.” Tears started to fill her eyes as she stared at Little Macintosh. “Dear Luna, they took her; they took Tabala.”
Little Mac did her best to remain calm and provide an anchor for Pandora, but things were quickly spiraling out of control. “Did they take the lunchbox? Pandora, Do they have the socks?!”
Pandora collapsed to the ground once more. “Y-yes. It’s over. The Temple has won.”
Little Mac growled. “Not yet they haven’t.” Her eyes hardened in building anger. “We just have to find them. Do ya know where they went? Is there any spell you could use to track them?”
Pandora shook her head. “There’s nothing I can do. No one knows where the Temple is hidden… Wait”—she rose to her hooves—“There might be someone who knows: my sister, in Ponyville.”
Inwardly, Little Mac groaned, but there didn’t seem to be an alternative. They would have to go to Ponyville. “Then we have to get to Ponyville as quickly as possible. Is there still time to catch the overnight express train?”
Pandora nodded. “If we hurry. The mages have access to a private car whenever it’s needed; one of our cousins owns the western railway.”
The two made for the train station, Pandora leading since Little Mac still had no idea of the layout of the city. As they left the house, Little Mac thought she caught a glimpse of green fabric out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to get a better look didn’t see anything. It didn’t take long to get to the train station, and the process of booking a private car for “Cantata business” went off without a hitch. The train even left on time.
Once they were settled into the luxury sleeper car, they chose a pair of bunks across from each other. Pandora closed her eyes and seemed to fall asleep almost before the train even left the station. Little Mac tried to relax too. The train ride would last all night and then they’d have a lot to do in Ponyville. At least being turned into a mare had one advantage: no one would suspect that she was actually Big Macintosh. Just as she got comfortable in the bunk, Pandora opened her eyes. She stared at Little Macintosh for several moments before finally saying, “I don’t understand. Who are you? What happened to Big Macintosh? The last I saw of him—two days ago—he was in the hospital with four broken legs with a plan to go to Cloudsdale when he healed. Where did you come from? Did he call for reinforcements?”
Little Mac sighed. How could she explain what had happened? How could she expect anypony to believe it? She hardly believed it herself and it had happened to her. Well, Pandora was a Cantata; maybe she even knew a way to get rid of the spell. “I am… I was Big Macintosh. The Temple of the Hoodie’s leader did this to me while I was in Cider Space.”
“Cider Space? But he—you were in the hospital. How could you have ended up in Cider Space?”
“I don’t remember. I remember thinking about going there, but the last thing I remember before I was there is asking to be taken to a hospital.” Little Mac shrugged. “All I do know for sure is that I found the Sock of Zero, but that was when the Temple ambushed me and did this to me.” She gestured at her obviously feminine figure. “I don’t suppose ya could undo the spell or anything, could you?”
Pandora’s brow knit in concentration and her horn flashed a brilliant blue for a few seconds. “I can’t detect anything; you seem like a normal mare as far as I can sense… But with Cider Space involved… I don’t think anyone fully understands it.”
Little Mac nodded. That was what she had feared. There likely wasn’t any way for her to turn back into a stallion shy of revisiting Cider Space or alicorn magic. She glanced out of the train window at the pitch black countryside. For the briefest moment she thought she saw a green speck keeping up with the train. “It’s late, and we’ll have an early start in the morning when the train arrives in Ponyville. We should get some sleep.”
They woke to the sound of the train’s whistle as it marked the last mile to Ponyville station. Through the window they could see the shadow of Mount Canterlot stretching nearly to the platform, indicating how early it still was. Little Mac took a deep breath of the country air. Cities were nice and all, but something about all those ponies living so close together gave the places an odor that was just a little off. Nothing beat the air of the open country.
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, Big Macintosh, but it smells—”
Little Macintosh continued to watch as the train began to slow. “Wonderful? I know.”
“—like manure and dirt.” Pandora arched one eyebrow. “I don’t think I’ll ever really understand you country ponies.”
Little Macintosh laughed. “Every pony prefers how their own place smells; you’ll hardly notice anything in a few minutes. And when you go home, you’ll think it smells wonderful too.” They were both silent until the train began pulling into the station. Then, Little Macintosh turned back to Pandora and said, “Don’t call me Big Macintosh in front of any of the townsponies; I don’t want to risk any of them recognizing me in this state.”
As the train came to a stop, Pandora frowned Little Mac’s way. “What; is being a mare so terrible?”
Little Mac opened her mouth to reply, but then stopped to think. Apart from the momentary disorientation when she’d first been transformed there hadn’t been anything wrong with being a mare. She didn’t feel weaker; if anything, she felt better than she ever had before—just as strong, but lighter, quicker. “I’m just not… myself. In any case, none of the ponies here know I’m a member of the Order of the Apple, and it’d just lead to too many questions.”
There was a knock at the car’s door and it slid open to reveal a conductor. “We’ve arrived in Ponyville ladies. Do you need any assistance with luggage?”
Pandora smiled at the stallion. “No thank you; we’ll be all right on our own.”
The conductor nodded and retreated back toward the front of the train. Following a quick glance, the two mares exited the caboose and stepped onto the nearly deserted platform. Only one or two other passengers had been on the train and they were busy with luggage. Little Macintosh turned to Pandora. “Everything opens early in Ponyville, so I think your sister’s shop should be open. Hopefully she knows enough to at least get us started in our search for the Temple.”
Pandora nodded, and Little Mac stepped off the platform only to stop dead. There, not twenty yards in front of her, was the green Sock of Inconvenience. She started to sprint at it, hoping to finally catch the infernal article. She closed to fifteen yards, ten yards, five, when an orange form blocked her path, walking down a cross-street. With no time to react, Little Mac slammed into the other mare, and both of them tumbled to the ground. “What in tarnation!?”
Little Mac broke out of the tangle of limbs to look at where the sock had lain just before—nothing. She grumbled, “Horseapples. Got away again,” before it fully dawned on her just who she had run in to. Her face froze halfway between horror and rage as she realized just what the sock had just done. “Almost like the stupid thing has a grudge against me,” she muttered.
An all-too familiar voice said, “Now it’s one thing to run into somepony, but to not even offer to help them up is plain rude. I have half a mind to—wait a tic. You look mighty familiar. You’re an Apple ain’t ya?”
Before she could stop herself, Little Mac said, “Eeyup.” She winced at her own stupidity before slowly turning to face her sister, a look of embarrassment on her face. “Sorry for runnin’ into you and all; I just thought I saw”—she spotted a pile of hay—“a needle in that haystack! We wouldn’t want anypony to accidentally eat it or anything…”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “That’s real kind of you.”
Just then, Pandora reached them. “Macintosh, why’d you suddenly go galloping into the town?”
Applejack frowned. “Macintosh? I’ve got a brother by that name. Big Macintosh.” She stared hard at Little Mac. “You look almost exactly like ‘im”—her eyes grew wide—“Sweet Celestia! Y’all must be his long-lost twin sister! Why, even yer cutie marks are the same!”
Both Little Mac’s and Pandora’s jaws dropped in complete surprise as Applejack continued. “Granny never said anything ‘bout another sister, but that’d make sense if Momma and Papa took her with ‘em—Then that must mean—you know where our parents are!” She looked expectantly at Little Macintosh.
Little Mac looked blankly back at her. Applejack continued. “Of course you do. Oh! This must mean they sent you to tell us—everypony back at the farm is going to be so excited! I’d better go find Apple Bloom and we can all head back to the farm together so you can tell us all about it! Now you wait right here; I’ll be back before two shakes of a whisker.” And with that Applejack galloped off, jumped into the air once, and clapped her hooves together in a giddy jig.
Little Mac muttered to Pandora, “You just had to say ‘Macintosh,’ didn’t you?”
Pandora replied, “Sorry, I forgot. I didn’t say Big Macintosh.”
Little Mac sighed. “Let’s get out of here and to your sister’s shop before she gets back. Maybe if we’re lucky if we’re gone she’ll think she must’ve hallucinated us after she got knocked to the ground.”
“If you say so. It’s your family.” The two quickly trotted away from the spot, heading in the opposite direction Applejack had. They passed four buildings before reaching the music shop and stepping inside.
“Good morning! Welcome to—Sis? What are you doing here?” A mint-green unicorn, seated behind a wooden counter looked up at them.
“Hello Lyra, long time no see.” Pandora smiled weakly. “I just wish this was a social call. We need your help. It’s Cantata business.”
Lyra frowned and glanced at Little Mac. “It sounds serious. Let me lock up the shop.” She slid off the stool behind the counter and walked—on her hind legs—to the front window to turn an “open” sign over. Then, she locked the door. She gestured toward a door on the opposite side of the counter. “Let’s talk in the office.”
The office was a mess. The walls were covered in anatomical diagrams of the various species of Equestria that walked on two legs. Next to one was a picture of a tea cup with an arrow pointing to the handle labeled with large, red letters, “WHY?”
“Excuse the mess; I don’t usually have company and I was working late last night. It’s amazing what things you’ll think of at three in the morning.” Lyra levitated an odd-looking metal claw onto one of her forehooves as she sat down behind the desk. As she fiddled with the strange instrument, she motioned for the others to sit down in the pair of chairs covered in books. “Go ahead and just push all that stuff to the floor. I’ll get to it later.” She raised the claw and grabbed a quill from its spot in an inkwell. “I worked on this thing all night! It’s a prosthetic hand!”
Little Mac looked at Pandora, who shrugged. Little Mac said, “Lyra, I’m sure it’s incredible, but we need to ask you about the Temple of the Hoodie.”
Lyra froze. She looked Little Mac in the eyes and said, “I can’t imagine any reason you would need to know about the Temple. They don’t do anything that would interest a member of The Order of the Apple.” At the look of shock on Little Mac’s face, she grinned. “It only makes sense that you’re one of them; why else would my sister bring you in here at the same time as Cantata business.” She looked at Pandora. “Sis, you of all ponies should know that I don’t know any more about the Temple than any member of the Cantatas. I don’t even like sweaters.”
Pandora frowned. “Lyra, they took Tabala.”
Lyra blanched, but replied, “Then I’ll help you any way that I can, but I still don’t know what you expect me to do. If you can find them, I’d be more than happy to help you rescue here, but you’re the one who told me everything I know about the Temple.”
Pandora turned to Little Mac. “Can you head into the shop and grab a lyre?”
Frowning in confusion, Little Mac headed out into the main room and returned with a golden lyre. “Will this do?”
Pandora nodded. “Perfect.” She turned back to Lyra. “I’m sorry to have to do this, but you did say you’d help any way you could.” She began playing a haunting melody.
Lyra said, “What does a lyre have to do with me—” She stopped speaking and her horn began to glow as she listened.
Little Mac looked confusedly between the two sisters and waited. The song ended, and Lyra’s horn flashed brightly before going out. She sagged in her seat for a moment.
When she spoke, her voice was slightly huskier than it had been before. “Pandora… we worked so hard to bury these memories. It was such a dark time for me”—she looked up—“why would the Temple take Tabala? Even with my memories, I don’t understand.”
Pandora’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry, sister. We have to know anything you can tell us about the Temple. We have to save Tabala.”
“And stop them from using Luna’s socks,” Little Mac added. “They took Tabala because she was keeping two of the socks safe for me. She’s probably the only one who can open the case they’re in.”
Pandora nodded and looked back at Lyra. “You have to help us.”
Lyra paled. “I can tell you where the Temple is, I even know why they want the socks.” She looked back at Little Mac. “Do they have any more than the two…”
Little Mac answered, “They have three of them: the Sock of Convenience, the Sock of Inflexibility, and the Sock of Zero.”
Lyra shook her head. “And the Sock of Inconvenience?”
Little Mac shrugged. “It seems to have a grudge against me. It followed us all the way from Albuquercolt.” She tilted her head to the side. “What’s the ‘Omnihoodie?’”
Lyra’s eyes widened. “If you know enough to even ask about the Omnihoodie, then we’re in greater danger than I had thought. The Omnihoodie has the power to become Woona: an alicorn more powerful than Nightmare Moon. Woona can control the power of the socks to a degree no mortal could hope to. For instance, if I had the Sock of Convenience, I could possibly find a way to get rid of my memories again, even though it was originally a one-time-use only spell. If I had Woona’s powers, I could just create a new way entirely out of nothing, and combined with the other socks, she could rewrite reality. That’s what the Temple’s goal is: to create an entire reality where they are the masters. When combined with Woona’s power, the socks can do that.”
Little Mac frowned. “There must be some way to stop them.”
Lyra nodded. “The Omnihoodie can only become Woona for a short time—seconds at most—before having to revert back to her normal state. If she’s using a sock, however, the amount of time is increased exponentially. As I understand it, each sock increases the time by a power of four. But she has to use all the socks individually before she can use any with another. There’s a window of opportunity to strike before she can use the socks in combination, or at their full potential.”
Pandora asked, “Then how much time do we have?”
Lyra frowned. “Each historic Omnihoodie needed to recover for different amounts of time. You could have anywhere between a day and a week from the moment she initiated the transformation until she can do it again. She will likely use each of the ones she has in her possession in an effort to summon the fourth. Unless somepony else already has control of it, there’s no way to stop her from calling it to her.”
Little Mac sighed. “I’ve been trying to capture the Sock of Inconvenience since the first time I saw it. We’re probably better off going straight for the Temple, but we still don’t even know where it is.”
Lyra laughed. “Well, that’s easy. All you have to do is go over Neighagra Falls and you’ll be inside the Temple. Oh, you have to be wearing a hoodie when you go over, or you’ll just end up at the bottom of the river.”
“Neighagra Falls?” Pandora moaned. “That’s only a few miles north of Albuquercolt and Fillydelphia. If only we’d known before we left.”
Lyra raised a hoof. “Knowing how to get into the Temple is one thing, but have you seen anypony wearing hoodies recently? Not only is it still only early Fall, hoodies went out of style years ago. Only flanksters and members of the Temple wear them these days. They’ve become a bit of a rarity.”
Little Mac sat up in excitement. “Rarity! That’s it! She could probably make us some hoodies in no time at all. I’ve never known a better seamstress.”
Pandora slid off her chair. “Well then, we’ve got no time to lose; let’s go meet this ‘Rarity.’”
The three left the office, Lyra locking the shop behind her once they made it onto the street. Little Macintosh led the way saying, “It’s just around the center of town, only a few blocks this way.”
As they trotted down the street, Little Mac caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye only to turn and see the unmistakable green of the Sock of Inconvenience floating at the far end of a cross street. “There’s the sock again.” she whispered back to Lyra and Pandora. Just as she was about to try to chase it down she saw Applejack and Apple Bloom walking down the parallel street. Abruptly Little Mac turned back and hid behind the side of a building. It was better to miss a chance of failing to catch the sock than to run into Applejack again.
Pandora looked at her. “What’s wrong? I thought you saw the sock.” She turned to peer down the cross street again, but Little Mac pulled her back.
“I also saw Applejack. Remember how we don’t want my sister to see us?” Lyra just watched them with a confused look on her face.
Pandora winced. “Well what are we going to do? Is she looking for us?”
Lyra peered around the corner. “Well, she’s not coming this way, and I highly doubt she’s headed toward the Carousel Boutique.” Lyra looked at Little Mac. “‘Sister?’ I thought her only sister was Apple Bloom… Who are you anyway?”
Little Macintosh sighed. “It’s not important right now. Let’s just get the hoodies and see if we can still catch a train back out toward Neighagra today.”
As the bell over the door to the Carousel Boutique announced their entrance, a lilting voice greeted them. “Oh, hello; I’ll be with you in just a moment.” A meticulously groomed mare was putting the finishing touches on a dress resting on a mannequin. “There we go; maybe a half-seam on this part here, but first: customers! Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique. What can I do for you fine ladies?” She gave each of them a quick, evaluatory glance. “Oh, Miss Heartstrings, I’m sure I say this every time I see you, but you simply have the most fantastic shade of green for your coat—quite a rare color too. You simply have to let me design something special for you.”
Lyra smiled at her. “Well maybe one of these days I’ll take you up on that. Unfortunately, we’re in a bit of a bind and need your talents for… something else.” She looked at Little Mac.
Little Mac looked slightly uncomfortable as she asked, “This will sound strange, but we’re looking to get three hoodies.”
Lyra corrected her, “Two. I won’t be going to the… party. So I won’t be needing one.”
Little Mac frowned but said, “Two then.”
“Say what now? Hoodies? They’re terrible out of fashion right now, but”— Rarity pursed her lips in thought—“hmm… come to think of it, I might actually still have a couple in storage in the basement. If you’ll just wait here for a minute, I’ll go check.”
As she turned to go, Pandora whispered, “You won’t be coming with us? But—”
Lyra cut her off. “I shouldn’t have to explain to you why it would be a bad idea for me to go back there.”
Little Macintosh frowned. “Back there? You mean to say you’ve been inside the Temple before?”
Lyra gave a little laugh. “Ha ha! It wasn’t painfully obvious from how much I knew about them? I used to be a member. In fact, I was next in line to be Omnihoodie before I abandoned the Temple. Still, not only would it be dangerous for you if I went, it’s hard enough for me just remembering everything about them. I’d rather not be tempted back into it all by going.”
Pandora sagged. “I understand. I’m sorry I had to awaken the memories, Lyra.”
“You have to do anything in your power to save your daughter. I can’t be mad at you for that.”
Little Macintosh found herself appreciatively admiring the dress Rarity had been working on. When she started imagining herself in the dress though, she stopped herself. Pandora gave her a knowing smirk. “It is a lovely dress. Even a stallion would have to admit it.”
Little Mac was saved from having to reply by Rarity re-emerging from a door toting a pair of dark sweatjackets. Neither had hoods. “These are the only two even remotely usable jackets I could find. No hoods yet, but I should have the right fabric to add them around here—aha! There it is.” She pulled out a yard of the same fabric the two jackets were made of and levitated a pair of scissors to cut it out. “I try to hold onto every type of outfit I’ve ever made. You never know when an old style is going to re-surface as the most chic thing.” She winked at the three mares. “Just a little insider fashion secret. Every fashion comes back at least twice. Just look at bowties; they’ve been back with a vengeance since Doctor Whooves next door wrote his last best-seller. And there’s always going to be a market for magnificent hats.”
Little Macintosh beamed at her. “Thanks so much for helpin’ us out with the hoodies, Miss Rarity”
Rarity smiled back at her. “Just Rarity, please, and think nothing of it. I’m glad to help. Though I have to wonder what kind of party you need hoodies for.” She raised an eyebrow at them before laughing. “No need to tell me. I can tell your need is genuine and anything I can afford to do for other ponies, I should do. Now if one of you two would step up here, I can start fitting it…”
It took most of ten minutes to get Pandora’s hoodie fit properly, and another ten for Little Macintosh’s. Rarity took the two pinned garments in a grip of magic and said, “Now I should be able to get these ready for you in the next hour or two, but you probably don’t want to wait here for them. Aloe and Lotus’ spa down the street offers the most wonderful massages and hooficures.” She smiled. “Plus, if you tell them I sent you, you’ll get a discount. They’re such good friends.”
Lyra answered, “We just might do that. It’d be good to relax today. Thanks Rarity; we’ll be back later this afternoon.”
Once the three had left the boutique, Little Mac said, “There is no way I’m going to the spa.”
“I can’t believe y’all made me go to the spa.” If Little Macintosh hadn’t already been bright red, her combination of anger and embarrassment would have been obvious to every passing pony.
Pandora giggled. “You had to lie low someplace Applejack wouldn’t think to look anyway. What harm is there in getting a chance to relax?”
Little Mac groaned. “But you didn’t have to insist on the warm mud bath or the—”
Pandora interrupted. “Oh come on, you can’t say you didn’t enjoy it at least a little bit. I saw that look on your face during the massage session.”
Lyra laughed. “Even I’ll admit it was a lot more pleasant than I had thought, and I never go out.”
Pandora gasped. “You mean to say you have such a wonderful spa here in Ponyville and you don’t visit as often as you possibly can?”
Lyra said, “I did mention how I never go out, didn’t I? I usually just work at making more instruments or on my xeno-zoological studies. You’d be amazed at all the different kinds of bipedal creatures there are.”
Little Mac responded, “I’m sure we would be, but while we were at the”—she shuddered—“spa I found out that the only train that leaves toward Neighagra today is scheduled to depart early this afternoon and it’s already”—she looked up at the sun—“half-past one. How long did we spend in there?”
Pandora nodded at her. “You’re right. We really should pick up the hoodies and get going then.”
Lyra stopped walking along with them. “Well, in that case I should get going. It was good to see you sis, even with the circumstances the way they are. No matter how things turn out in Neighagra, promise you’ll come visit again sometime soon? And bring Tabala?”
Pandora smiled. “I promise. It was good to see you again too.” They exchanged hugs while Little Macintosh watched slightly awkwardly.
“Good luck you two.”
Little Macintosh winced. “With what we’re up against, I’d almost wish luck would just take the day off.” They all laughed, and Lyra left them to head back to her home. They walked into the Carousel Boutique and were welcomed by Rarity’s smiling face.
“Ah, welcome back. I’m sure they’re all finished up, but if you wouldn’t mind trying them on quickly just to make sure?” She hoofed them each one of the heavy dark-grey articles. “I do hope they work for you.”
As they tried the sweatjackets on, the door opened to reveal a purple baby dragon carrying a pair of books. “Hi Rarity, I got those books you asked for—oh cool! Dig the swell hoodies!”
“Oh, thank you, Spikey Wikey; those are just what I needed.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she levitated the books onto a counter. “I’ll make sure to bring them back once I’m finished.”
Little Macintosh coughed. “Miss Rarity, how much do we owe you for the hoodies?”
Rarity shook her head. “Oh, I couldn’t charge you a single bit for those. To be quite honest, it was more than enjoyable to work on something completely different. No, no! I insist! They’re yours. And if I do say so myself, you two manage to pull them off quite well.”
Pandora beamed at her. “You really are the Element of Generosity aren’t you. Really though, we can’t thank you enough. If there’s anything we could do…”
Rarity just smiled. “Well, I suppose you could try to convince Lyra to order a dress. I really would love to make something for her.” She winked.
Pandora laughed. “I’ll see what I can do the next time I’m in town. Until then, once again, thank you.”
Spike was still basking in the warmth of Rarity’s affection when Little Macintosh and Rarity left to head for the train station. They were just about there when they heard the sound of the train’s engine starting up. A call of “Last call for boarding!” echoed over empty platform as they started to sprint to the station. Little Macintosh looked up at the sun. The train was leaving early! There had to be some reason for that. Glancing around wildly as they ran for the platform trying to get somepony’s attention, Little Macintosh finally spotted it: the Sock of Inconvenience under the steps up to the station’s platform.
Still sprinting, she murmured to Pandora, “Forget the train; it’s already too late. But keep running toward it. We may be able to catch the sock after all.”
“The sock?” Pandora followed Little Mac’s quick glance and spotted a hint of green. “Right. So what’s the plan?”
“I’ll go for the left side, you take the right. We should be able to trap it between the two of us.”
Pandora nodded, and they ran in silence the rest of the way to the bottom step of the platform stairs. The train started pulling out of the station and Little Macintosh yelled, “Now!” They split apart and dove for the sock. Pandora’s horn flashed as she tried to use magic to stop the sock from escaping. The sock, realizing it had been tricked tried to run left, away from Little Mac, then right, away from Pandora. Seeing no escape in either direction, it tried to go straight up through the wooden staircase.
Little Macintosh watched in frustration as the sock began to rise. She shouted, “Pandora, I’m going up!” and jumped up, through the suddenly splintering wooden staircase to snatch the sock in her jaws. The shattered bits of wood all had a dark blue glow around them. The sock wasn’t done fighting yet. Even as Little Macintosh fell back to the ground it tugged randomly in every direction to no avail. Little Macintosh’s oral grip held fast. “Helph me hol istill!”
Little Mac waited until Pandora was ready before spitting the sock out onto the ground. Both mares held it down with a hoof as it wriggled wildly against the restraint before suddenly going limp. Breathing hard, Little Mac said, “I think we finally got it, even if we had to miss the last train to Neighagra for the day.” Pandora just stood next to her, panting.
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Well, I just giggled profusely.
My fingers hurt from biting my fingernails.
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Normally this far into a story, I'd feel like I have a really solid idea of where it's going and how it'll end.
I have no idea what will happen next.
Bananas?
I see what you have done with that sentence.
Dem references.
Holy crap! How many secret organizations have ponies stationed in Ponyville!?
Now I'm more interested in Lyra forsaking the mantle of the Omnihoodie than I am in badflank Little Mac. My prequel-senses are tingling...
*laughs* Very awesome story and definitely loving it. It does grate in a few spots, namely him going from knowing nothing to being able to tell Tabala so much with no real explanation for how he got said knowledge. Also the fact that in the first chapters it says the Order is male only but Tabala's a filly and apparently joining said order. The fact that the socks are so distinct is off too since Luna says they're all the same not that each one has distinct attributes.
I know each chapters written by a different author (A fact I found my checking your blogs, maybe sya that in a preface or even just have each author's name beside each chapter?) but it was still a bit of a shock XD
Anyways awesome story, right up there on my fave list can't wait for more!
Albuquerque references aside, this was a fun addition. You got the story to a point where Brian should be able to figure out how to do things. The Order of the Hoodie have three socks, Mac has one. This means they're all in the same place, or are about to be. Good work on that. I liked the additon of Lyra. She was fun, but not a crazy-nutty human lover, just a few implied moments. Also, kidnapping Tabala was a good move—adds a little something else to the stakes of the finale, so we've got lots of things happening.
As for plot points ignored... uh, well, my plot has been broken since chapter 2, so I honestly don't care. Things have been mixed-up or reinterpreted or done differently a dozen times. Mac's gender confusion was amusing, and not overdone, so that was great. AJ was... a little strange, honestly, but I can't put a pin on what was weird. Maybe the whole sudden leap to "OBVIOUSLY this relation of mine knows where my parents are!" It was definitely funny, though, so whatever!
Good work, man. Overall, very enjoyable. I chuckled a few times, and rolled my eyes a few more times. My favorite moment was when the sock broke all the windows and then dropped a bunch of bricks at Mac's hooves.
My mind is full of what at this point
Dug the swell background pony reference
This story is pure maddness combined with sheer ludicrisy and randomness. I love it you are a genious, a mad sick and twisted genious you know in a good way
Got another sock. This time without saving any cities, contacting any ancient orders for help, or wandering through a cider-washed hellscape. How improbable is that? Apparently just enough.