BookHoppers: Exiled from Home

by Ace of Blackjack

Chapter: Seven

“The, you know what I'm breaking the law, what the fuck was that thing.” Grima looked at Elizabeth, before holding up they're rather black covered trench coat with a ruler, the flicker of vague purple electricity illuminated her actions. They threw it into the dark corner. Before they flicked a breaker switch that acted as a light switch.

“Well it's a manifestation of some type, an embodiment of fears. My guess on this is that someone is trying to screw us over. For what gain we have no clue.” Grima’Daarken paced as the lights came on. The room had bean bags, a few filing cabinets. And a tarp-covered object in the centre.

“What now? I'm sorry, an actual embodiment of fears?” Elizabeth asked looking around, walls featuring multi-eyed cats with sayings on them. A dream catcher on one side, and Elizabeth turns around and sees a different looking side of the room. She looks below her hoofs at a line of yellow tape on the floor, separating the room in two.

“Yup! Can you come to my side, please? I rather you are not on my sister's side, she'll be here soon. Welcome to the Quito Sisters panic room!” Grima’Daarken pat a hoof on a bean bag beside her. Elizabeth looked at them, a uncomfortable angry feeling rose inside her. Though she took a step across the tape line to her side, enough of a step for something on top of one of the disorganised filing cabinets to start vibrating and lighting up.

“I don't care, for all you know she's dead, I saw her like glasses on the ground, that was her last known position, right where that thing was!” Elizabeth stomped a hoof, but Grima’Daarken didn't flinch. She scooted a step stool up to the filing cabinet and reached a hoof up to it, pulling it off. She flicked a switch on the side with a precise flick of her tail.

“Are you even-” The machine sides flicked out, slowly pulsating lights flicked down the thin extrusions. It beeped quicker pointed at Elizabeth, the little screen on it lit up in a thin pulsating line. Grima fell onto their haunches holding the device out in front of her, with a rather slowly changing mood.

“171 on the patent-never-happening Quitoarian scale!” Grima looked at the machine hard and long. A smile forms on their face. They looked at Elizabeth and then nearly screamed.

Elizabeth's hoof smacked the side of Grima hard enough to knock her to her side. Elizabeth looked at her hoof with disdain, regret of some type forming inside her. She looked at the Bat pony, who was still alive and unconscious, and her regret was rather quickly subdued.

“Focus for their sake, for our sake!” Elizabeth shouted at Grima, they laid there. Everything about their body language was tense. An upsetting amount of dread rose in the room as she rose up.

They looked at the bat pony and then at Elizabeth, they looked at their hoof and then at the anger in their eyes. It felt like anger, misplaced anger. Or maybe it was correctly placed, she couldn't tell.

“I, I.” She paused struggling with the words in her mouth, all of the words felt weird, but she needed to say them. “I don't know what my sister saw in you.” She pushed Elizabeth aside as she walked towards the bat pony. Elizabeth stumbled but felt oddly vindicated in the fact they got Grima to do something.

“Right I-” Elizabeth was shoved back as she took a step forward. An invisible force was around Grima as she sat beside the bat pony. Their sword disappeared in a shimmer.

“No.”

“But I-”

NO! The word pierced Elizabeth’s mind as she recoiled back. Grima looked at them before going back to the Bat Pony.

“What did you do!” Elizabeth asked, stepping closer, pressing against the force holding her there. The area was cool to the touch, maybe an explanation instead of dark magic is it's technological magic? Elizabeth thought, feeling the bubble, and feeling the sudden hot air underneath her throat.

The sword flashed into existence right near her neck, the sword radiating heat. She fell backward trying to scramble back as the blade sat there, hovering. Grima looked at Elizabeth and down at the bat pony.

“Apologize.” Grima, looked around the room past the faint shivering that is her magic. Items popped towards her, from cabinets and various disorganised places. All settling into a mortar bowl.

“You were so focused on me and not them! I don't care! Just help them.” Elizabeth's fur was marred with different spots of her un-dyed fur, the black ichor from that creature burned away the dye. The pain was in her at the gashes from the attacks of that creature, each one leaking black onto more of her fur. She looked down at the ground, and then at her hoof.

Grima’Daarken was barely fazed by the words of Elizabeth as she pushed the different ingredients in the mortar bowl. Elizabeth flopped onto the ground, easier on herself to just lay their, ease her pain a little. Grima’Daarken looked at Elizabeth and groaned.

The haze in the room left as Grima’Daarken bit Elizabeth's mane and dragged them next to the bat pony, in the same state as he is unfortunately. They mumbled, but Grima knew that whatever they had to say was gonna be incoherent. Now she sees what her sister saw in them, a stubbornness to help, a little arrogant but that's nothing time can't heal.

Heck, they cracked their own eggshell, the least she can do is help tear down some emotional border walls. She looked off them and back at the mortar bowl, her pestle struggled on the Mint and Eye of Wart. But she looked at the vaguely dark purple paste she had made and smiled.

She flipped the bat pony around, checking their pulse once more. Still their, just still hasn't woken up. What was it her sister said, if it's longer than twenty minutes then you need to let her help.

She rolled her eyes stepping over the tape separator in the middle of the room. The clean and nicely kept area had tech bits and bobs here and their, much more than she had on her side of the shared community room. She went to their main drafting desk, holographic keyboard sat there with the only out of place item.

She picked up the vaguely militaristic Med-Kit, not much can be changed about the externals of a Med-Kit. She straightened her sister's snow globe on her desk and went back to her side, crouching beside the Bat Pony. The Med-Kits latch came open easy as she looks looked at the neatly packed Med-Kit.

She upturned it letting the supplies spill out onto the floor as she couldn't help but feel bad for wasting the time her sister had spent organizing it. The glowing blue syringe she needed shined through the pile of Radexion and Glow band-aids and other various supplies. She took it and bit down letting the cap come off.

Her sword teleported near her as she feared for herself. The bat pony’s neck armour latch was coated in the black ichor, melted and fused. Her sword swiped away the latch with a single thought of her mind, only cutting their neck slightly.

The sword appeared beside her with a Glow Band-Aid on the end of it's blade. She carefully removed their gothic-looking neck armour, noticing scratches and scaring around the area, and also a comically strange bite mark. She made sure they were laying on her stomach as she found the right vein.

She trusted it into their neck, their striped leg holding them down slightly. It took longer than she would have liked as their eyes violently opened, fear in them as he looked at Grima’Daarken. He easily scrambled out of her light hold and onto his hoofs.

His bat wings shot straight out before his right wing went limp. He reached for a missing weapon, the scarborough not even properly there. Before he spit at Grima.

“Thanks, for that kinda helped get you awake-”

“It's your fault! Zebra! Black magic, curses! All you're doing!” The bat pony shouted stumbling in front of the laying body of Elizabeth, taking a defensive crouch. A chunk of armour flaked off with a dripping of Black Ichor that made him inhale sharper. Grima held up the mortar bowl out in front of her towards the Bat pony.

“Okay, First off, Rude. Second off, racist, and third off.” Her sword floated at his neck, close enough to cut fur. “I have a sword, and you don't. Plus also oddly enough magic, so sit absolutely down.” The bat Pony looked at the edges of the blades in the far corner of his vision. Analysing his chances before he let out a long and powerful sigh.

“Tribals are always bullshit to fight against, unfair honestly, truly unfair.” The Bat Pony took a step back and flopped down. Accidentally landing on Elizabeth who he profoundly apologised in a flurry of words at them, though most were incorrect. To which Grima wasn't looking forward to explaining to them why.

“So you accidentally sat on Elizabeth, a she, theirs probably someone in your history like that or maybe personal experience, I'm not judging.” She said, too which she barely held a straight face as the Bat pony Blushed. He turned a bright red as he mumbled rapidly, so many different things. The sword hovered before appearing at the side of Grima in a near-invisible phantom scarborough

“I'm sorry I didn't-

“I've cross-dressed on-occasion for defensive-reasons and-for my own-personal enjoyment-during my free time.” The bat pony said quick enough the words nearly blurred together. Well that's a lot of cracks in their egg waiting to split, that's gonna be hell when they get back home. But they wheezed a little as the black ichor in a cut started to hurt again, much more painfully.

“I've got a sluave here that can aid you and her, and also numb the pain you are experiencing. And I'll need your help to find another one of these,” She held up the blinking red syringe she had injected him with. But of course, he just tilted his head at it. “Think of it as magic shaman juice you put directly into your body.”

The bat pony nodded slowly at that before looking at Elizabeth. He rolled her over and whistled slightly to which Grima groaned. And the bat pony giggled.

“I mean if I wasn't gay, then maybe, maybe their Bi-Sexual, who knows!” Grima groaned and reached a hoof up ready to abruptly smack the back of their head. The bat ponies' wing blocked her hoof from impacting it and she simply battered it easily aside and bonked him in the back of their head. Making them stumble slightly.

“Show some respect, they saved your life after all!” Grima said, checking Elizabeth's pulse once more. Still alive. She leaned in and started spreading the Sluave into their wounds.

Much to her shock and awe Elizabeth grunted and opened her eyes during it. She mumbled a few words of thanks and remained still, obviously awake but completely out of it. But she looked at Grima’Daarken as she wrapped a bandage on her leg.

“I'm sorry.” That was all Elizabeth said before she started to cry. The bat pony immediately tensed up and turned away. Grima went in and hugged them, letting them nuzzle into her thin coat of fur.

“Don't, you were right, I should, I'm sorry.” That was all she managed to stutter out before she tightened her hug on Elizabeth. For a former stallion they see rather thin, can hormones do that? She didn't know, and didn't care as she stroked a hoof on the back of Elizabeth.

Their fur was missing in some patches, burned off, some places were covered in band-aids and various professional bandages of actual medical quality. Her fur has spots of light red fur dotting the navy blue fur of themselves, and their mane as she noting has spots of unmistakable white. All she's done is for the world to tell, judge.

But Grima didn't as she nuzzled into the neck of Elizabeth. Concern buried her mind, she didn't want to think about it. But it filled her mind.

“My Sister can handle herself, she's a Commandant after all but, what if, if, what.” Elizabeth pushes herself off from the chest of Grima’Daarken slowly pushing off to tighten her hug on her. It felt weirdly comfortable, as their mutually higher each other and cried to each other. The Bat pony sighed and approached.

He wrapped his hoofs around the two and joined the hug, their stoic face held beside the whimper of his lip. He didn't show any showing of anything else besides the hug. He made sure his hug felt welcome as he continued it.

“My name is Speck, but if rather be called Echoin.” He said as he hug tighter, feelings boiling inside. Odd ones, one he feels a lot. Friendship of shared pain, though he prefers to just think of it as just tight comradery,

Elizabeth was the first to pull out of the hug, followed by Grima leaving Echoin standing there awkwardly with their eyes closed. Grima cleared her throat and then looked around the room before settling on the thing underneath the tarp. Grima looked around and settled on an eyeglasses case on her drafting desk she hadn't seen before.

She walked away from the two, their conversation being rather basic, it blurred as she walked towards the desk. She placed it on the main area as she popped it open, looking at the rose-tinted glasses with a rather obvious tech attachment on both sides. She picked them out and saw the paper left in there, or had a note on it.

‘To the Best Sister, you are my favourite out of all my other siblings, not that hard when your only competition is someone who violates ponies rights left and right, still haven't caught him. But wow, okay I keep forgetting how messy my handwriting is on paper. Uhm, happy Paeganian? I think that is the name of the holiday you celebrate from that little book of yours. I'm sorry this note is all over the place, I got you coloured eyeglasses with built-in tech doo-dads so you don't have to keep borrowing your own pair. ~Love Your Sister, Ms Frazzle.’

She set the note back into the glasses case. The holiday is five days from now, but that didn't matter. It didn't.

She placed the glasses onto her muzzle, they glowed showing her text in the papyrus font, how her sister remembered that was her favourite font she has no clue. They glowed as she looked around, it's kinda apparent she does need glasses now that she realizes it. Silly holograms increasing her eyesight quality.

She turned back around to see Echoin liking the ear of Elizabeth. She blinked as Echoin blushed and Elizabeth giggled. Echoin backed up, some of what remained of his armour clacking off one another.

“He was curious on how in the world licking an ear was an act of love, pretty sure he figured out after the third lick.” Elizabeth giggled as Echoin blushed. Grima rolled her eyes as she walked past the two, both getting up to follow her the short distance to the middle of the room. With her hoof, she pointed at the round tall object covered in a tarp.

Echoin tilted his head as Elizabeth examined the tarps circular outline. Grima but the end of the tarp and pointed her tail at the other end of the tarp. Echoin got up and walked over biting it.

They pulled together, the tarp coming off. Elizabeth gasped at the object much to the surprise of Grima. And Echoin looked even more confused.

“Do you know what it is Elizabeth?”

“Nope! But I got a bet on what it is!” Elizabeth said pacing around the front of the object. A small ramp lead up to a metal ring, an inner ring with glyphs from every dead language she had ever known and then some. It had a slot in the side that was as Elizabeth was slowly gathering, was book-sized.

“It's a portal isn't it!” Elizabeth said, looking at it. Echoin tilted his head before having a moment of realization. His one good wing went out tracing a path of nothing before pointing at the wall.

“It's a separate bank magic portal, requires around I say Level purple magic casing how strong the after magic residue is, and then theirs the not-magic-tech that powers the conversion of travel location from the book into a realm. So all we need is a book, and a new power source for this ‘tech’ to get it running.” Echoin said, leaving the two mares dumbstruck, Elizabeth's mouth hung open. Echoin walked towards Grima, facing them and moving their wing to close Elizabeth’s mouth. Grima blinked and shook their head.

“You can see the magic!” Grima was dumbfounded looking at her side, searching for the device she dropped after the unfortunate incident with her head and Elizabeth’s hoof. She picked it up letting the two sides extend out, it beeped quickly as she faced it towards Echoin. Who tilted his head.

The device's screen cracked as Grima threw down the device, and its batteries popped producing a cloud of white. She shook her head as Echoin nearly bit the device, still spewing smoke from popping the Crithuim battery. He shrugged and went back to standing near Elizabeth.

“So you have more energy than a ship, which uh don't know how I feel about that, other than afraid you'll blow up in a horrid magic explosion if you ever go through a Koraian made disrupt field,” Grima said, her new glasses showing a helpful reminder the air is slowly becoming poisoned with Changuim byproduct. She groaned as she got a idea. A stupid one.