A Sheet in the Wind (Iota Force Issue #5)

by The Iguana Man

Chapter Six: Paper Density

It hadn't taken long to locate the most likely possible hideout – an old paper mill lying on the River Ponomac, in the valley between the Foal Mountain range and Mount Canter. It had apparently been set up a number of years ago because none of the nobles wanted a paper mill next to Canterlot “to avoid both visual and olfactory distress”, so the small river on Canterlot Plateau was off-limits. However, it had become obsolete once the company realized they could build a facility in one of the many caves beneath that river's waterfall and power the mill from that.

It had briefly surprised Icy that it took so long for that idea to occur to them. Then she learned that the company in question was named “The Canterlot Paper Company” and understood that creativity was probably not their strong point. Though, to be fair, when your sole remit is to create blank sheets of paper, creativity was kind of unnecessary, if not actively detrimental. Icy supposed there might have been a market for paper where the millers had been “creative” in its size, shape and colour, but she doubted it was that profitable to pursue.

Regardless, this mill seemed to be by far the most likely place for the Paper Prince to have set up shop. Unfortunately, one little known fact about mountains, valleys and rivers is that, as a rule, they tended to be very big. As such, while they knew the area the mill lay in, pinpointing its exact location was trickier. Because of its placement at the river's edge, it had apparently been unnecessary for the company to keep any more detailed information about its location – if you needed to find it, you'd just follow the river.

This might have been less of a problem had the team taken a pegasus-pulled chariot down the mountain the next morning, but it had been determined far more efficient to simply teleport the team down to the general area and have them walk. Icy had tried something between appealing and insisting that they take a chariot, but Colonel Steward assured them that Lieutenant (not Left-tenant, Icy had mentally insisted) Gate was fully capable. Apparently, the Colonel thought Icy was asking for a chariot for Gate's sake and not her own. Either that or he knew perfectly well why she was asking, but was pretending otherwise, intentionally making it awkward to say why she wanted a chariot and trusting Icy to be too embarrassed to do so. If that was his strategy, it was remarkably effective.

Whatever the case, the end result was that the team ended up being dropped off at a completely empty riverside, the banks stretching to either side of them with no visible landmarks beyond the mountains themselves. A quick aerial survey by Alula had pinpointed a large building approximately three miles up river.

Icy considered it somewhat validating that she wasn't the only one who groaned a little. Claiming an effort to be “more efficient” sounded good, but didn't always feel better when you were the one making the effort.

Of course, it wouldn't have been so bad had they not been travelling along a river. That said, the team was well aware of Icy's aquaphobia, so had agreed to follow the river's path from a good distance away. Icy also got the impression there was a silent agreement between the others to help distract her by keeping her talking, as the conversation was very much a constant throughout the hour-long trek to the mill. Icy wasn't certain this was intentional, but she appreciated it if it was.

Fortunately, maintaining discussion wasn't hard for the group, with the obvious exception of Lance, who simply kept an eye on the river as they followed along it. Of the others, however, conversation wasn't a problem – Dinky was always eager to chat about whatever interested other ponies and Truffle relished any chance to make himself heard. This might not have been desirable if they were closer to Mount Canter, but as it was, Icy was almost certain he wouldn't cause any avalanches.

As for Alula, Icy knew that she preferred to avoid talking that didn't amount to anything – phatic speech, as Alula referred to it, thought Icy wasn't sure why; surely the problem was that that kind of speech was too thin, though one could make an argument that it's all flab rather than substance, but Icy wasn't sure how far the metaphor carried. The point was that Alula generally didn't talk until and unless she actually had something to say, though she often did. However, it was clear that this was due to preference, not a lack of ability, as she was able to contribute plenty to the conversation when it became clear Icy needed it. She even managed to feign interest in the latest JLE storyline, to the point that, had she not known Alula beforehand, Icy might have even believed her.

Though it might have helped if she could keep her sardonic tone in check.

“...so it turned out that Lethal Lexicon and his group were being controlled by the Anti-God Magaddon, who was trying to destroy the world.”

“As anti-gods are known to do, I suppose, when not anti-addressing their anti-worshippers.”

“So Supermare attacks but gets assimilated and the rest of the heroes have to figure out... What's that smell, ew!” Icy interrupted herself, throwing a foreleg over her nose.”

Alula raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, if the world was being destroyed, I'd probably have other questions to ask, but I supposed I'm not a superhero. Oh wait!” Thanks to her level tone, Icy honestly couldn't tell if that last part was her registering the smell or jokingly remembering that she was a superhero.

After a couple more sniffs, she continued. “Sulfur – if my research is right, that's a common smell around paper mills because of the heat and chemicals used to turn wood chips into pulp.” She pointed to the large building they were coming up to. “Definitely the second worst smell we've encountered this month.”

Icy frowned, thinking for a moment. “But I thought the mill hadn't been used for years?”

Alula nodded. “Indeed – it implies that the Prince has been using the mill himself.”

Dinky hummed in agreement. “I think he definitely would if he could – the more stuff he does to make his origami things, the more he'll feel...” she paused, trying to come up with the word, “like it shows how good and useful it all is.”

“Validated?” Alula suggested, to which Dinky nodded.

Meanwhile, Truffle and Lance strode up in front of the group, heading for the door.

Lance placed his right hoof against the door and nodded as the rest of the group formed up behind them, ready to aid the two front-liners however they should need it. Icy wasn't entirely sure they would at all, but it was as well to be prepared.

“Be careful, everyone,” Alula said, as if in answer to Icy's thought. “Even if he's not here himself, we don't know what surprises he might have in store for intruders.”

“Quite right,” Truffle added in a low rumble. “Could be a lot worse than someone throwing rice pudding at us.”

Icy gulped and nodded, suppressing a shudder at the associated memories of that particular incident. Flaring her wings, she gathered her energy as Lance pushed the door open, reminding herself that he, at least, was at a disadvantage without his signature weapon.

The moment Lance had pushed the door fully open, something dropped from the ceiling towards his head – something small, white and with lots of pointy bits.

However, like a tautened bowstring, Lance started moving – his left hoof, having been hovering above the larger of his two scabbards, rose, pulled out the katana within and slashed above his head, all in one motion. Meanwhile, his right hoof came away from the door and met the handle of the blade halfway, continuing in the opposite direction to create the levering motion Icy had seen the previous day. The falling object was neatly bisected by the strike, the two halves falling to either side of Lance with a quiet, papery thump.

It was important to remember that “at a disadvantage” was a relative term.

Looking down, the group saw what it was that had fallen. It was origami, of course, and it seemed to be folded into the shape of a large spider – a central body in two sections, with the back half significantly larger, eight long, articulated legs coming off the sides of the front section and a pair of big protuberances coming from its “head” - the length making them look somewhere between fangs and mandibles.

The thing was about the size of one of their heads and, though it looked harmless now that it was both no longer animated and in two halves, the legs and fangs had looked wickedly sharp as it was falling.

Icy approached the thing, letting the energy she'd gathered diffuse into the air around her. As she reached the nearer half, she poked it with a hoof. “Huh. You know, I wasn't expecting something so small. I mean, it was a pretty decent trap for whoever opened the door first, but it's still not much. I mean, if he knew he might be up against a team, you'd think he'd have made...” she stopped as she looked up at Lance, whose eyes hadn't strayed from the inside of the mill.

“...more.” she finished, fumbling against the wall next to the door. After a moment, she found the light switch and flicked it on.

As it turned out, he had made more. A lot more.

The mill was filled with tools and machinery that Icy couldn't even guess the use of, beyond the obvious – making paper. However, even if she did know her way around such a workspace, she would probably have had a difficult time recognizing everything, since practically every surface and much of the floor was lightly dusted with paper spiders, the points of their fangs and legs practically gleaming like shards of shattered glass. There must have been at least fifty or sixty of them. Some of them looked like they had been standing still while others seemed to have been in the process of moving across the floor or up the walls and objects of the room.

However, none of them were moving any more. They were all standing perfectly still and, although they had no eyes, Icy got the distinct impression they were staring at the interlopers.

A few seconds passed, neither side moving – the spiders were motionless, Icy presumed, because they were still processing this new development, and the ponies were motionless for fear that any sudden action would expedite their opponents' decision-making.

Then, the spiders started scuttling towards the door, startling Icy but simply making Lance and Truffle step forward, readying themselves to block the exit.

However, what caught them all by surprise was when another form swung down from the ceiling. This form was another spider, but far bigger than any other, easily the size of Truffle at least. She fell in an arc towards them, suspended by a long string made of thin strips of paper tied together and attached to the thing's rear end – a paper web line.

Had the three been looking towards it, they might have been able to stand their ground, maybe even deflect it. However, they had all been focused on the ground in front of them and hadn't thought to position themselves to defend against an aerial attack. Fortunately, the massive spider didn't seem to have enough control over its swing to impact them fangs-first, but the impact still knocked the three of them tumbling backwards into the air, allowing the rest of the spiders to exit the building unimpeded.

Lance was the quickest to react, managing to jam his sword down into the earth, bringing him to the ground in a long skid. He tumbled backwards for about ten feet before he managed to get himself under control, place his hooves beneath him and skid to a stop.

Truffle was the slowest to react, but also the one who needed to the least – his greater weight brought him to the ground much quicker, where he bounced a couple of times before landing firmly and rolling to his hooves.

Icy was somewhere in the middle – she was the lightest of the three, so was sent highest into the air, but that was something of an advantage, as it gave her time to flare her wings out to stabilize herself into a glide.

She looked to the side to see the others react to the threat. Alula's form was briefly enveloped in a green distortion before it faded to reveal a winged form. Not wasting a moment, she flapped and took to the air as well, hovering above the fray and assessing the situation, ready to be the eye in the sky for her allies. Meanwhile, Dinky didn't immediately move, but a golden glow came over her horn and her eyes – Icy knew she was speeding up her perceptions, making the world seem to move in slow motion so she could have plenty of time to react and decide what to do.

Of course, it was theoretically possible that she was actually slowing her perceptions down so that her death by spidery hoard came quicker, but Icy knew that couldn't be the case – the day Dinky gave up hope was the day Equestria imploded.

Also, it would be stupid for her to do so, since the threat was perfectly manageable, but that was by far the less important reason.

Overall, Icy thought, the team seemed to be handling the situation fairly well.

Then she turned her head forward again and that thought disappeared, along with all her other thoughts and most of her faculties.

The river was rapidly closing in on her. Or rather, she was closing in on it, but that really didn't matter. Her wings flapped forward before locking up completely, knocking her backwards out of her flight path and sending her tumbling to the ground. She fell onto her lower back, the whirling descent and upside-down landing giving her a dizziness that briefly distracted her from her terror, though it was hardly an improvement.

It didn't last, however. She quickly righted herself, keeping her back to the river. It didn't help – now that her attention had been brought to it, she could feel the rushing water behind her, hurtling down the river and indiscriminately pulling in anything that so much as brushed against it.

She tried to focus her attention forward, only to find that that was even worse. The hoard of paper spiders was just finishing pouring out of the mill's door, meaning they were mostly heading in roughly her direction. Now, she didn't inherently have an issue with hoards of small enemies... well, no more of an issue than any other sane pony, but the fact that they were flooding out towards the river and towards her – as if to either corral her into the river or simply pick her up and drop her in there – brought back horrific echoes of the trauma that had given her her phobia.

As such, she simply stood there, paralysed. She couldn't even begin to ask her limbs to move towards the fray, she would rather cut them off than move them back into the river and she was too scared even to move to the side – even if she knew intellectually that it wouldn't get the spiders' attention any more than she already had it, she just couldn't seem to truly convince herself of that.

As she trembled in place, she half-registered Alula's words.

“Lance, five o'clock! Dinky, slow that one! Icy, what are... Icy? Someone help Icy, she's having a problem.”

“I'm on it!” Truffle called back instantly, picking up a hoof after having stomped one of the spiders flat. He reached the hoof onto his side and flicked off a spider that was hanging there, trying ineffectually to get its fangs through his suit. After scuffing his back hooves a little, knocking the spider behind him backwards so he could step there, he took off towards Icy, charging fast enough that the spiders that got in his way were sent flying.

Somewhere, in the small part of Icy's mind that wasn't busy either babbling or screaming, she wondered what Truffle intended to do – whether he would try to talk her out of her panic or help her away from the area where it was a problem.

As it turned out, once Truffle got next to her, he didn't stop moving. Instead, he picked up, put his momentum into whirling around and then simply threw her away from the river like a discus.

The combination of sudden motion and going away from the water helped Icy regain her senses a minimal amount, enough to spread her wings and glide away. She vaguely heard Truffle's hoofsteps thunder back towards the hoard, but didn't pay it much mind as she skidded to a halt on the ground. She turned back to the melee.

The group was doing reasonably well, it had to be said. Lance was practically a whirlwind of metal and cloth, using both his swords to sweep away all the spiders near him. The swings didn't always kill the spiders they impacted, but they kept them away from him, only a few of the things even getting close to him.

Meanwhile, Truffle was already covered in spiders – seven or eight of them, scraping their fangs against his suit pathetically. He barely seemed to give them a moment's notice, only smacking them off when they tried to crawl up to his head, where the few holes in his costume were. Other than that, he was seemingly content simply stomping on the spiders around him.

Alula was hovering above the fray, out of reach of the spiders, and Dinky... actually, Icy couldn't see Dinky, but that was probably a good thing.

Icy picked her wings up off the ground, holding them out shakily, and tried to gather her energy. It wasn't much – she was still trembling from her near-depth experience and focusing enough to call up the freezing energy needed was difficult. After a few moments, she had called up a little and let it out.

She was briefly surprised when it managed to freeze a group of five spiders rather than the one or two she was expecting. Flexing her wings and feeling the fabric under the feathers, she remembered how her new suit would kinda-sorta-not-really-but-effectively amplify her abilities, calming her down a little. Still, she was having difficulty reaching into her reserve of energy.

She was about to start gathering again when her vision suddenly went yellow and slowed nearly to a stop. She looked to see a golden glow flowing through her suit, blinking in surprise before she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Dinky looking at her with large, gentle eyes.

After a moment, Icy realized what was going on. “Oh, heh, I guess now that I've got my suit, you can channel your magic through it. Should make it easier to use on me, right?”

“Mm-hm!” Dinky nodded, giving her a small smile. “Miss Mode made all our suits able to do that – she's really good at that. But that's not important – are you okay?”

“I'm fine!” Icy blurted out, before closing her eyes tightly for a moment and breathing out. “I will be fine. I just... I almost... I mean, I'm away from it now, but...”

“But we're still too close for comfort?” Dinky finished for her. “Even though you know there's no reason the fight will go near there again, you can't stop thinking about it.”

Icy nodded, looking out at the fight that was, to her, moving in millimetres. “Yeah. I know, it's stupid – like, really stupid but-”

“Wanna know a secret?” Dinky interrupted.

Icy paused, blinking in confusion. “Er... sure?”

“I'm scared of lightning. Really scared – just like your thing. Mommy would always need to cuddle me to stop me from screaming.”

The gentle tone in Dinky's voice almost managed to make Icy forget both her fear and the fight, locking her focus on just how much she wanted to give Dinky a hug.

“But then one time, Mommy wasn't there. I was staying at Pip's house, since both our mommies were out somewhere, when a big unscheduled storm came to the town. This was when I was still just becoming friends with Pip, before I was...” she paused, clearing her throat, “before we really knew each other. But even then, when I started curling up, he came over and gave me a hug.” As she said this, she walked forward and climbed onto Icy's back, nestling between her wings and wrapping her hooves around her barrel. “It really helped.”

Icy sighed, feeling the tension in her body start to evaporate around Dinky's tiny hooves. After a moment, the glow around them dissipated, sending the fight back into normal speed and revealing a group of four spiders scuttling towards the pair, a fact that Icy hadn't even noticed until then.

A flash of panic briefly surged through her body, but by the time it reached her wings, she had already gathered her energy and flapped, freezing the advancing spiders in a foot-tall block of ice.

At that sight, her panic quietly excused itself and left.

“Huh,” She said simply.

A moment before she could start charging again, her and Dinky's badges crackled to life.

“Iota Force, report,” Corporal Ton's voice came over the badges, reaching Icy's ears in stereo. “Have you found...?”

“Spiders!” Icy blurted out, her voice still not fully in control as she pressed her hoof against her badge. “Lots and lots of big paper spiders.”

“Do you need backup?” Ton replied instantly.

Icy swallowed. “Might be helpful. Can it get here in time?”

“Not a problem,” Ton assured her. “Gate can hone in on your badges, teleport them there within a hundred metres or so.”

“Is that gonna be close enough?” Icy asked, gathering energy as she saw another group of spiders break off and charge towards them.”

“Oh, I think it will,” Corporal Ton said with a hint of humour in his voice. However, Icy didn't have time to think about what he meant or reply, as she sent a low wave of cold over the ground beneath the spiders, freezing their legs in place.

After that, she called over to the rest of her teammates. “Guys, they're sending backup!”

“We heard!” Alula called back. “Not necessary, battle well under control, but could be helpf- Ah!”

Unnoticed by any of the ponies present, the massive spider who had knocked them away from the door had spent the fight so far climbing atop the mill's roof, along with a number of its smaller brethren. It had then waited until Alula had flown within its range before hurling a cluster of spiders at her. The group landed on her back, most falling off but a couple hanging on and biting her wings.

Alula yelped in pain. Her wings spasmed and then disappeared in a flash of green, sending both the spiders and her plummeting to the ground.

She landed on her back, a couple of small spots of red appearing on her suit. She was about to get up when the spiders around her surged forward, gathering beneath her and picking her up with their eyeless heads, looking towards the river.

Icy's eyes widened as she rocketed to her feet, carrying Dinky with her, the tiny filly still hugging her like an adorable barnacle.

Icy's hooves started vibrating in place, still resisting her commands to move towards the group bearing Alula away. Lance and Truffle were both moving towards her, but it didn't seem like they'd get there in time. Furthermore, Icy was sure she wouldn't be able to get there herself and didn't want to risk hurting or immobilizing Alula with a freeze-gust, particularly since she had enough difficulty fine-tuning their strength before she gained her focusing suit.

“Come on, backup, please get here fast,” She whimpered quietly.

“Um,” Dinky began, the position of her voice indicating to Icy that she was looking behind her, “funny you should say that.”

Icy was about to question what she meant when she heard a buzzing behind her.

Before she could even think to turn around, an orange and purple blur surged forward, darting into the melee and carving a deep gash in the carpet of spiders. It headed straight towards Alula, the filly-sized comet turning and skidding alongside her, going almost horizontal. It held a long, straight object out to the side and swept it underneath Alula, knocking away the spiders beneath her and sending them flying towards the river.

The form came to a stop, turning to the group.

“Hey, guys!” Scootaloo called, leaning against her scooter's handles and smirking. “Guess who's got two forehooves and aunts who came back early!” She indicated herself with both forehooves.

Not even giving anyone a chance to react, she buzzed her wings into action and dashed back into the fray, continuing to carve paths into the spiders.

Alula shifted again, this time gaining a horn, and backed away from the melee, keeping her face to the hoard at all times.

“Don't suppose Archer's with you,” She said, picking up a spider that was coming towards her and flicking it back into the crowd, where it was quickly stomped by Truffle.

“'Fraid not, still couldn't get the slip signed,” Scootaloo replied casually as she leapt into the air, swinging her scooter around herself to smack away a spider that was leaping at her before landing back atop it.

“Annoying,” Alula said simply, her horn alight in readiness for the next attacker.

“You know, Alula,” Truffle said as he hopped onto his hind hooves then fell on his back, crushing the several spiders on there, “you're the only pony I know who'd complain about the cavalry arriving and saving you.” He rolled to his feet again, giving Alula a raised eyebrow. “You're the sorest winner I've ever met.”

“Am grateful, can go into that later, right now, need way to deal with big spider on rooftop.”

Scootaloo came to a stop off to the side of the now-very-sparse troop of spiders, skidding around to look at the building and the massive paper arachnid sitting on top of it. Her eyes quickly flicked around the building before a smile poked its way onto her face.

“Ask and you shall receive, Princess.”

Flaring her wings to life again, she rocketed forward towards the mill. At first, it seemed like she was simply dashing towards the wall, not noticing the vertical difference between her and the spider. However, she soon reached the building and went off to the side, past the point of the roof the spider was sitting on.

It quickly became clear what she was going for. The mill's water wheel was sitting far above the water's surface, presumably having been raised when the mill was shut down. Leaping off the river bank, she landed on the wheel, leaning heavily to the side so she could travel up the loop of the wheel while avoiding the spokes. She followed the path of the wheel until she was almost upside-down before kicking off the upper inside surface. Twisting around, she landed on one of the spokes going upwards, grinding along it before she reached the wheel's upper surface. Grabbing its edge, she flipped around again, landing on top of the wheel and scooting along it. From there, it was a simple hop from the wheel to a lower part of the mill's roof.

The spider was still turning around, ready to run at her, but she didn't even slow down, scooting right past the spider. The massive thing tried to intercept her with a swipe of a leg, but she leapt off the scooter while pushing it down into a skid, so she went over the leg and the scooter slid under it. Landing on the scooter's upper edge to flip it back up, she went towards the opposite edge of the roof.

Just as she was going off, however, she ducked down and grabbed the top of the chimney coming out of the wall and up past the roof. She used it as a pivot to swing around and keep much of her momentum as she ran straight at her opponent. She leant forward so her ramming stick was far out in front of her as she impacted the spider.

The thing went flying off the roof, limbs flailing as it arced through the air and landed in the river.

Now, as with all of the Paper Prince's creations, the construct seemed to be mostly unaffected by the things that would normally destroy ordinary paper, such as being immersed in water. Unfortunately for it, a spider falling to a river was almost as doomed as a piece of paper being thrown in, so after a few seconds of struggling, it perished. As it did, all its motion seemed to fade away, as if the energy keeping it solid simply ceased to exist. The moment it did, it regained the qualities of paper and quickly disintegrated.

Icy blinked as she realized something. She had seen the Prince's creations get deactivated and destroyed before, but seeing it happen in that specific way suddenly twigged her memory, allowing her to figure out exactly what the process reminded her of.

Before she could say anything, however, she felt Dinky squeeze her slightly before dropping her hug and hopping down from her back.

“Are you going to be okay now, Icy?”

Icy blinked, refocusing on the situation around her. “Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine.”

Dinky nodded, smiling. “Okay, let's go say hi to Scootaloo.”

Icy's eyes widened as she considered something. She turned to the mill, only to be disappointed that Scootaloo had already come down from the roof, without Icy seeing exactly how.

Admittedly, it wouldn't have been difficult and she could have easily come back to the ground without needing any special techniques, but considering how stylishly she'd got up there, Icy kind of expected at least a little flair in her descent and would have loved to see that.

However, after a second, she shrugged and followed Dinky, meeting up with the group among the many scraps of paper now being carried away in the wind.

“Thanks so much for coming to save us, Scootaloo!” Dinky chirped as she came to a stop. “Did you come because we were in trouble?”

Scootaloo snorted, smiling as she shook her head at Dinky. “No, no and no – I didn't “save” you, you weren't in trouble and I was coming anyway – like I said, managed to get the slip signed earlier than I thought and figured I'd come and surprise you.”

“You saved me,” Alula stated matter-of-factly, her face even more blank than normal. Icy couldn't tell exactly how much of her reaction was simply a correction and how much was because she was extremely concerned with what would have happened to her if Scootaloo hadn't been there. However, from how much she was focusing on keeping her face straight, Icy got the impression the latter feeling was quite strong.

“Nah, you'd have gotten out of it!” Scootaloo assured her. “Still, good thing I did – that was fun. Wish we had to fight that many tiny things more often.” She buzzed her wings in excitement.

Alula winced as she poked at her side, where her wings had been and where a tiny spot of blood adorned her suit. “Speak for yourself.”

Dinky's eyes widened as she saw this. “Oh! Alula, are you okay? You're not too badly hurt, are you, I could...”

“I am fine, Dinky,” Alula interrupted her. “It's just a scr-” She cut herself off mid-word, holding up a hoof for silence for a moment before continuing. “Okay, I would like to make this clear – when I say “it's just a scratch”, I mean it entirely literally. It is a scratch, no worse than being pricked slightly with a thorn. Only a small amount of damage remained after I shifted away my wings, which weren't that badly hurt anyway. All it means is that I shouldn't give myself wings again for a while.”

Dinky nodded, though her expression suggested she wasn't entirely convinced. “Okay, if you're sure.”

“Perfectly,” Alula said, the lack of expression on her face now far more natural.

“Right – it was just a few spiders, after all,” Truffle added, picking up one of the squashed paper constructions. He looked up, suddenly thoughtful. “Is anypony else really hungry right now?”

Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow. “Are you ever not?”

Truffle nodded. “A lot of the time, actually, but... ah well, guess it's just the thought of those spiders.”

Icy frowned in confusion. “Why would... I mean, spiders don't really make me hungry or anything.”

Truffle shrugged. “Don't suppose they would if you've never had deep-fried tarantula before.”

Icy blinked, her face frozen for a few seconds before what was said truly registered. “Okay, one, ewwwwwww! And two, isn't that meat? Can ponies even eat meat?”

“Technically yes, but we get very little out of it and our teeth aren't really designed to intake it,” Alula said, already trotting over to the mill. “Combine that with how much ponies need to eat and there really isn't any call for it as a true equine food source.”

“We don't get much out of digesting it,” Truffle pointed out as he followed. “Doesn't mean we can't try it for the taste. Never hurts to broaden your palate, eh? And for your information, Icy, deep-fried tarantula doesn't taste too bad. A little like crab, though I'd avoid the abdomen – very bitter aftertaste.”

Icy was about to ask after the fact that he'd also eaten crab, but she restrained herself, deciding that she'd stop asking questions.

That insight into Truffle out of the way, the group made their way back to the door into the mill. Lance took the lead, head darting around to check everywhere he could see, ready to react if any more surprises leapt out from the room's hidden corners. Truffle followed closely behind, his muscles also tensed and ready, hard as it was to tell beneath the fat. If anything came at them, he was ready to block it from exiting the room.

After about half a minute, it seemed that there weren't any more traps to be sprung on them, at least not that were triggered by entering the room. The others made their way in carefully, Scootaloo's wings buzzing and Dinky's horn faintly glowing, ready to facilitate a hasty exit for the group should it be necessary. However, nothing made itself known to them, nor could they see anything lying in wait.

Not that it was easy to tell – the room was full of machines that none of them could tell for certain the function of beyond the general purpose of “make paper.” There were massive vats with spots of a white substance spattered around them and gigantic loom-like machines with rust covering the frameworks, though the moving parts were clean. There were multiple series of tubes and rollers, some interconnected, some separate. And finally, there was a huge roll of paper sitting along one wall, along with a few empty rollers that had no doubt held similar reels in the past. The roll was about ten feet long and five feet thick, presumably to be cut down to whatever size was needed.

Fortunately, the group didn't have to look long to find something useful – in one corner of the room was a desk covered in papers – some blank, some written on, some folded.

The latter got the group tensed for action, but Alula and Dinky quickly lit their horns, poking at the origami objects on the desk. Fortunately, they didn't react to the magical prods, suggesting that they weren't animated, instead being purely for decoration.

Huh, there's a weird idea. Icy thought. Origami being used for its real purpose for once.

So, it seemed that the various bits of origami on the desk weren't a threat. However, not one to take chances, Lance drew his sword again, went over to the desk and began methodically bisecting each of them. Once this was done, he nodded to the group, confirming that it was safe to approach.

Nodding back, Alula turned to her left. “Scootaloo, are you up to speed?”

Scootaloo snorted. “Course I am – Bridge told me everything that's been going on and how you guys have been held off by paper.”

Alula sighed. “Indeed. In which case, you, Lance and Truffle look around the facility, see if you can find anything else that might prove useful or informative. Me, Icy and Dinky will look over this,” she said as she trotted over to the desk, Icy and Dinky following once they heard their names.

Perhaps unsurprising given its owner, the papers on the desk were neatly stacked and organized. The Prince evidently arranged his papers with the same precision that he folded them. Train schedules, flyers for events and a lot of photos and handwritten observations were all separated and squared away in their own sections. In the centre of the desk was a thick book that Alula poked with her magic, before she slowly and carefully picked it up and opened it, ready for any further booby traps.

Fortunately, none of the pages had been folded into origami pop-up scorpions or anything like that – Icy wasn't sure if that was possible, but she didn't know for certain that it wasn't, so it was still something to consider. Once that was established, Alula scanned over the first page while Icy looked over the desk.

“Good thing he's so organized,” She observed. “That'll make it easier to look through all this stuff. Very nice of him.”

“More than you think,” Alula added as she snapped the book shut. “This is a journal – always nice when the enemy keeps one of those. Should tell us a lot. Dinky, would you mind?”

“Mm-hm!” Dinky took the book in her own magic and placed it on the ground. She cracked it open and then cast a golden glow over her eyes, after which they started moving at an incredible pace.

Icy turned to Alula. “You sure it’s safe to read?” she asked, not noticing that it was far too late to do anything if the answer was 'no'.

Alula's eyes briefly flicked up to Icy before returning to scanning the desk. “Yes, completely safe, no explosive runes or anything.”

Icy tilted her head in confusion. “Explosive what?”

“Oh, erm...” Alula cleared her throat. “Nothing. Anyway, I suggest you look through the photos – you're the fastest among us at going through pictures.”

Icy nodded as she put her hooves up on the desk. “Right, on it.”

The pictures formed a tall stack, so it took even Icy a while to get through them. From the top, they showed various aspects of the places and things he'd already targeted. First were pictures of the noble couple – their chariot, their employees, their security arrangements, such as they were. Each picture was of a different style and quality, suggesting that he had got the photos from multiple different sources.

After that came some photos of an armoured cart travelling the route he'd intercepted, though pulled by different ponies, meaning these were previous times that company had transported secure goods along that route. Then were pictures of the River Canter from above, along with the inside of the cave the smugglers had used. All these sections looked to have come from the same camera, so the Prince had presumably taken them himself.

After that were pictures of trains, focusing on their structure and construction – the machinery, wheels, brake lines and that sort of thing – rather than their routes. These were once again taken by multiple professionals, it seemed – none of them were the sorts of things that would be hidden or classified, so it wouldn't have been hard for him to acquire them.

Many of these pictures had markings, circles and crosses on them, some with even annotations like “Don't need horncuffs” or “need ten five-foot sheets”. However, as much insight as this all gave about how carefully the Prince had planned his crimes, it didn't help much in terms of learning what he would do next.

The final batch of photos, though, were very informative in that regard, showing a very distinctive building with its signature construction and ornamentation that would have been a dead giveaway even if its name wasn't plastered in golden letters above the door.

“This is the First National Bank of Canterlot!” she exclaimed.

Alula looked over at the photo Icy was looking at. “So it is. Well, I suppose we can't fault him on his ambition.”

“Or his chutzpah,” Truffle said from a short way away.

Icy looked over at Truffle. “His what?”

Truffle didn't look up from the cupboard he was searching. “It means his nerve, his audacity – Chutzpah is a dish that traditionally used ingredients stolen from the royal gardens, so you needed a lot of guts to make and sell it.”

“Oh. Nifty!” Icy was about to shrug off the etymology lesson before it occurred to her to ask. “What kind of food is it?”

“Oh, nothing complicated,” Truffle assured her. “Just a special kind of dough rolled into balls.”

“Okay.” Icy turned back to the pictures of the bank. Among some wider and narrower shots – including one of the building's skylights with an arrow going through it and one of a massive vault door, with several arrows pointing towards it – there were photos of the walls of the building. Three of them had crosses on them, with arrows pointing out the reason they were rejected for... whatever he wanted – one was because it held the front door and had guards posted in front of it, one was rejected because held a fountain that spewed water into a pool outside and one was very close to the next building over, the alley presumably too narrow for whatever he had planned.

The final wall, though, was devoid of any such features and was circled. Within the circle was drawn a small grid with every other row offset, most likely indicating a brick wall. Oddly enough, that same pattern was drawn over the front door of the building.

“What do you think this means?” Icy asked, pointing at the patterns.

“I think that means he's planning to block those off,” Dinky answered, making Icy jump slightly – she had intended to ask Alula and assumed Dinky was still reading.

“You've finished with the journal?” Alula asked, still looking over the desk for further information.

Dinky nodded. “Uh huh, but it's not just a journal. He also used it to plan out how he does each job, including that one.”

At that, Alula looked up, a ghost of a smile finally working its way onto her face. “Well, that's fairly optimal. When is he going to strike?”

Dinky looked to the side, her smile diminishing slightly. “Oh, um, he didn't really note down the exact times, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be today.”

“It is?” Icy rocketed to her feet. “We better get back to Canterlot, we could be needed any sec-”

“Icy,” Alula said firmly, giving her a stern look. Her eyes strayed to the side, the hoofsteps Icy could hear behind her indicating that she was also directing her mild glare to Lance, Truffle and Scootaloo, who must have also been heading for the exit.

After a moment, Alula continued. “I highly doubt he's going to be acting this soon – he'll need a lot of time to make the servitors he'll need to take the bank, so...”

“Er, Alula?” Dinky piped up quietly, as if she hoped to interrupt but didn't mind being talked over. Fortunately, Alula paused and let her jump in. “I think you're right, he won't have attacked yet, but I think it's for a different reason.”

“Oh?” Alula responded levelly.

Dinky nodded. “Yeah, see, it says he made almost all the constructs he's used so far before he even started using them. It sounds like he's already used his plane to bring them into the city a few at a time. For the really big one, he's going to make it within the city, but the rest are already made.”

Icy nodded. “That makes sense. Have you noticed that, when his origami stuff gets deactivated, it looks kinda like what happened when Fire Eyes's lava ponies got taken down? He must be using something like that to animate them, putting... what was the phrase Fire Eyes used... a bit of his soul? Into all of them. And Fire Eyes had a whole bunch of them guarding him, no reason the Prince couldn't, right?”

Dinky nodded. “Yeah. Plus, he had around two months to make them all, so...”

“Two months?” Alula's brow lowered a little in confusion.

“Mm-hm!” Dinky confirmed, turning to one of the first pages in the journal to make sure. “Says he arrived about two months before his first robbery.”

“That doesn't... hold on...” Alula's eyes closed tight as she thought.

Icy raised an eyebrow. “Is that weird? I mean, it must take a long time to make a paper pony as big as the ones he does, right?”

“Wrong,” Alula answered quickly, though not forcefully. “Remember what smugglers said – folded one while they watched, took about five minutes. Could have made literal army in two months, why not either make more or not take as long?”

“Oh, well, um, I don't know for certain, but,” Dinky swallowed nervously before continuing. “It's the same reason I'm... pretty sure he hasn't acted yet.”

“And that is?”

Dinky shrugged. “He's tired.”

There was a pause, everyone expecting Dinky to say something else. However, after a couple of seconds, it became clear she didn't have anything else to add.

“That's it?” Icy asked. “He's just... wait a second!” she said as she thought back over the team's encounters with the Prince.

“Yeah, that's why he took so long.” Dinky put a hoof onto the journal. “In the time he was preparing, he says he started feeling more and more tired and was able to do less and less each day. In fact, apparently, he spent nearly the whole week before his first attack sleeping. After that, he says he was pretty refreshed, but started getting tired after he...”

“You're right, he did!” Icy interrupted as she clopped a hoof against the ground as she finally realized what had been bugging her about how the Prince had been acting.

However, she was briefly distracted by Dinky's ears going down and a slightly uncomfortable look flicking across her face.

“Oh, sorry, Dinky, I didn't mean to...” Icy shook her head and refocused on the topic at hoof. “Anyway, that's what was so weird. Remember how the ponies... the ones that were telling the truth described him when he attacked the chariot? He was jumping around, dodging, throwing stuff, whipping chains around, doing flips...”

Alula's eyes narrowed as she thought back and, though it could have been Icy's imagination, it looked like she was starting to see where this was going. “Correct.”

Icy nodded. “And it was mostly the same when he attacked the armoured cart – he was bouncing around on those springs and flinging that spiked ball around like nopony's business. He even managed to get a hit in on Lance.”

Lance sniffed loudly, but Icy carried on regardless.

“But then, when he took down the smugglers, it sounded like he was a lot less... he moved around a lot less, like he was a lot less...”

“Energetic,” Alula finished for her. “And would have needed to animate piranhas and bats after reaching cave – could not have transported psuedo-live bats using plastic wrap and likely could not animate piranhas until were in water. Had just animated lot of constructs.”

“And then, on the train, he didn't move more at than a canter,” Icy continued. “Every time he struck, he got less and less energetic.”

“Makes sense if caused by increasing fatigue which makes sense if exhausted by use of magic. But... doesn't make sense.” Alula's face fell into a scowl of both annoyance and concentration. “If was tired, why not just wait? Why not take time, recover energy before further crimes?”

Icy thought for a moment. “Maybe he was afraid somepony would find his hideout? Or maybe he didn't want to wait in case people forgot about him?”

Alula shook her head. “If had waited, would have even more guards and himself present, probably not in danger.”

“And he wouldn't worry about waiting,” Dinky added. “I'm pretty sure he knows that it's actually kind of a good thing to let stories and rumours spread for a while.”

“Also, pretty sure he should've been saving his energy, if he's planning something big – look at this!” Scootaloo called over, dragging something towards the group.

It was a short stack of paper, like the many that were scattered around the place except for one thing: the sheets were absolutely massive – at least fifteen feet long along each side. The stack was fairly thick, but the height relative to the area made it look tiny.

“And just what do you think he's planning to make out of that?” Truffle asked, eyes wide.

“Well, er, we don't know that he made that... I mean, why would he make so many and just leave them here?” Icy pointed out.

“Backups,” Dinky suggested. “He was probably worried he might damage the big paper taking it underwater and up through the tunnels, so he left some here in case he needs it.”

Icy gulped, a little intimidated by the size of the paper even without it being folded or brought to life.

“But, that doesn't make sense. If he was planning to make something that huge, he'd have to rest, wouldn't he? He'd have to know that he'd need the energy – being that tired should give him that clue.”

“Actually, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know why he's tired,” Dinky said.

“He doesn't?” Icy asked.

Dinky shook her head. “He just talked about feeling more and more tired for some reason. It doesn't seem like he's even connected it to how much stuff he's animated.”

“Makes even less sense!” Alula exclaimed. “Would have to notice... unless... Oh!” She clopped a hoof against her forehead. “Of course, that's it! Sipper's Syndrome!” She looked up, only to find a series of blank expressions facing her. Undaunted, she started speaking even faster. “Sipper's Syndrome, medical condition, means drawing on aetheric reserves not-”

“Alula!” Truffle interrupted forcefully. “A bit slower, if you don't mind – some of us aren't anywhere near as clever as you.”

“Not true, but irrelevant,” Alula replied before closing her eyes and taking a breath. After she opened them, she started speaking at a more reasonable pace. “Every pony has a well of magic within them that they draw on both during life and when using their own kinds of magic, correct?” Everyone nodded, letting her know that they were aware of this. “However, most of us can only access a certain amount of that magic consciously – a safety thing, so we don't run the risk of running out, should we ever need it. It's the same reason that, earth pony magic aside, we can only use a certain amount of strength in our muscles – we're theoretically capable of lifting much more than we usually can, but doing so would risk doing damage to our bodies, so we can't access all of it unless we really need to and can ignore the damage it may be doing.”

Icy hummed a little – she wasn't aware of that, but it was an interesting, if slightly macabre, fact.

“However, Sipper's Syndrome is a rare condition that means a pony doesn't have that safeguard. They can access all of their magic and won't notice when they run the risk of aetheric exhaustion. They'll just keep pulling from it until they run out completely.”

“Is that dangerous?” Icy asked, the beginnings of a plan forming in her mind.

Alula shook her head. “Theoretically, yes, but-”

Before she could continue, the team's badges crackled to life.

“Headquarters to Iota Force, do you read me?” Colonel Steward's voice came over the transmission.

Scootaloo slammed a hoof over her badge. “We read you, Bridge.”

“That's not how you address...” There was a pause and then a sigh was clearly heard. “I suppose that's not important – we need you back here. This “Paper Prince” has made his move. Are you ready for extraction?”

“We're ready – bring us back, Gate. We'll get him this time,” Scootaloo replied.

As their badges started glowing, Icy turned to Dinky. “I thought you said...”

“I didn't think he'd move soon!” Dinky replied, sounding a little distressed. However, Icy couldn't tell if it was because of Icy's question or because she'd misread the Prince. “I didn't think he'd be that, well... stubborn.” She winced at the word, uncomfortable at having to criticize him even a little. “Though I guess it makes sense – if he didn't know why he was so tired, he wouldn't see a reason to let that stop him.”

Just before they teleported, Icy gave Dinky a smile. “Of course he wouldn't. That's our job. And I think I know just the way to do it.”

Author's Note:

So, fun fact, I originally intended that Scootaloo, like Archer, would sit this story out completely - one of the things I always liked about shows like Justice League or the 90s X-Men animated series was that they didn't feel the need to shove every character into every episode. It was okay to give the focus to a few, or even sometimes just one or two, of them. As such, I thought it'd be interesting to go without those two for this story, particularly since Archer's going to be a bit more in focus for the next couple of stories.

Buuut then I realized that I wasn't planning on focusing much on Scootaloo in those stories, I hadn't in the previous story either and, while I did give her some focus in Issue #3, she didn't exactly come out of it looking her most dignified. And I think that's a pretty raw deal for the filly embodiment of Badass Adorable, so I decided... screw it, I'm writing her in and letting her be awesome for a little while. Sue me.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was a great chapter, as always. We seem to have hit a bit of a breakthrough, at least in regards to how the Prince's magic works and what might be his potential downfall... but now I'm quite concerned about *what* his ultimate plan is for his grand robbery. Can't wait to see how it all plays out!