"How's your wing?" asked Dahlia, looking at the pegasus mare that was walking calmly at Camo's side. High Winds smiled, looking at the filly.
"It's alright Dahlia. Is hurting a little bit, but is not broken." She said sweetly. The little filly continued to stare at the injured wing that was lying motionless at the mare's side, twitching slightly with every step.
"Don't worry about it, it'll be easy to fix, once we arrive at the hospital." Added Winter Lily from behind them. "For now, just don't use it."
"If we can get to the town!" grunted the gray unicorn, moving the stream of light that his horn was emitting around. "This fog is thick as hay." He growled, still following the road. Camo couldn't be more on the same page: it was actually hard to see a few feet in front of them; even with Metal Hooves and Flame Flower's lights, it was impossible to see the end of the road. Only the tops of the trees at the road's sides emerged from the fog.
"Why does it have to be so foggy?" grunted Solaris, adjusting the cracked shades on his muzzle, while looking around.
"Well, when I received the letter from the mail zebra that declared I had won this awful trip, I asked him why I should leave my comfortable castle for a little provincial town…" began Lord Crow , waving a hoof, as Winter Lily rolled her eyes. "He told me that the town was just in front of a lake. So I assume that's why it's so foggy."
"A lake! Yay, we can swim all day long, Camo!" chirped the little filly. Her brother smiled and nodded. Of course, their first step would have to be a hospital, just to check if Dahlia was injured. Then they would move to the agency responsible for the flying ship to get refund. And then, relaxing. Yep, that was a good plan.
"Is that a building?" asked Metal Hooves suddenly, focusing his eyes on a shape emerging from the fog: a two-floor tall building, built with faint colored bricks and little dirty windows on the upper floor. At the street level, they could see a series of bigger windows for all the wall's lenght. As they approached, their eyes were drawn to a little board with neon letters spelling "Trotting Me-l". The 'a' was lying on the ground, fallen from the board. The place seemed to be some sort of restourant, not in its best state.
"Well, look at this. I have seen farmer's houses better than this place." commented Crow, glaring at the structure. "Why the hay is it so dark? Is it abandoned?"
"Chill out, you. It's probably just closed. It's early in the morning, you know?" Commented Metal Hooves. Camo took a few steps towards the store, examining the dirty windows: indeed, it seemed to be closed, the inside was dark, and only a few tables were visible.
"I assume that the ponies who handle this place live on the upper floor. Maybe we can ask for help." Stated High Winds. In response, Flame Flower raised her horn, causing a flaming explosion near one of the windows on the upper floor, startling the rest of the group.
"Flame!" cried out Winter Lily, glaring at her sister, and receiving only a chuckle in answer. They waited for a couple of minutes, as the stream of fire disappeared from the sky, but nopony opened the windows, to see who was causing such a ruckus.
"Let's just head inside and search for help." Stated Camo, walking towards the entrance.
"Yes, they probably are a couple of deaf mules." Grunted Crow, taking a couple of steps forwards, before stopping and cowering, as a storm of crows suddenly flew off the roof of the building and passed over them, cawing. High Winds passed beside the scared unicorn, giving him a questioning look.
"I don't like crows, ok?" stated Crow, raising again on his hoofes and walking with an annoyed expression towards the building's entrance, ignoring the giggles of the mares behind him. He joined Camo, who was studying the door with a frown on his face, tapping a metallic clipper on the lock. "What are you trying to do here, peasants?" asked the unicorn, while regaining his composure.
"Trying to open the door, since it's locked. And can you just stop calling us that? It's not very nice. Especially with a filly around." answered Camo, as with a little click the lock opened.
"You are good at picking locks. Do you have any experience in that?" asked Crow, avoiding the other stallion's statement. Camo didn't answered, pushing open the door and entering the restaurant, followed by the others.
"Hello? Anypony home?" shouted Metal Hooves, without receiving any response. Solaris walked towards the counter, passing a hoof throught the dense layer of dust over the wooden surface.
"They need to clean this place a little." He commented, adjusting again his cracked shades and moving towards a photo on the wall. Flame Flower and Winter Lily examined the jukebox laying against one of the walls, near a ripped piece of wallpaper. Metal Hooves eyed the bathroom sign, and trotted happily over to it. Crow let himself fall into one of the puffy and dusty armchairs near the tables, then jumping immediately again on his hooves as a couple of spiders walked out of it. Camo Fall put Dahlia down, looking around.
"Well, you guys stay here. I'll chek around, see if I can find the owners of this place." stated Camo, before heading through the door behind the counter, as the others gave nods. High Winds sat in another armchair, looking around, slightly bored and uneasy. And she had hoped for a nice vacation. She sighed and looked around the large dining room where they were sitting. Her eyes happened to fall on a rolled, yellow newspaper placed behind a table, partially covered in dust. Since she didn't have anything better to do, apart from trying to not notice the pain coming from her wing, she grabbed it, beginning to read the title.
-oOo-
Well… he wasn't actually searching for the kitchen. Apparently, the stairs must have been on the other side of the big room filled with stoves and refrigerators.
"At least the emergency lights are on, so I won't slam into anything…" thought the stallion, as he walked towards the other door, which would probably lead to the stairs. He looked nervously into the empty room, mentally regretting that his companions were so silent. The silence of the place was really starting to freak him out.
He trotted towards the door and gently tugged the handle. The door didn't budge, as if the lock had something jammed inside it. Camo sighed. How did the owner of this place get inside the kitchen?
"Maybe there is some sort of emergency stair behind the building and they enter from the main door. Boy, this place really sucks." Thought the stallion, turning, ready to return to the others. As soon as he turned, he noted something: one of the stoves was on, a little circle of flames spreading out of the metallic surface. Camo raised an eyebrow, walking towards the stove, examining it. The valve was still closed.
"Mh… what is there, a leak?" he muttered, trying to force closed the valve. The little circle of flames didn't change at all. Instead, from the stove behind came a hissing sound, as another circle of flames lit up. "Ok… this is weird." Murmured the stallion, turning and examining the newly lit up stove. "Is this some kind of time-connected magical shit?" he murmured, studying the stove. "Well, at least, it means that the owners are coming, I assume." He commented, as all the others stoves lit up. The stallion turned and trotted towards the door: it would already be awkward enough to explain how they got in: it was best that they didn't find him in their kitchen, too.
He was about to turn towards the door, when the flames in front of him suddenly burst up, raising high with a high-pitched sound as the metallic stoves exploded. Camo fell backwards, startled, as the suddenly big flames began to attack the wall. "The hay?! So much for safety standards!"
The stallion jumped on his hooves and ran towards the door, to join the others and get her sister out of there! He grabbed the handle and slammed himself against the door, as he tried to open it. "What the…?" The handle wasn't moving. The stallion slammed his hooves against the door. "Hey! Guys help me! There is a fucking fire here!" he cried out, receiving no answer. He turned, facing the flames that were attacking the walls, burning the wallpaper. His eyes fell over a button, partially hidden behind a battery of pots, with the dirty writing above it reading 'in case of fire'.
The stallion rushed towards it and pressed the button with both hooves, hoping to activate an alarm or something. With a hissing sound, a couple of sprinklers hidden in the dirty ceiling popped out, beginning to spray a strong smelling liquid all over the kitchen. Wherever the liquid hit, the flames just grew bigger.
"Gasoline?! Why the fuck are the sprinklers spurting gasoline?!" screamed Camo Fall, panicking. He began to look around, searching for a window to escape through, and saw nothing. With rising fear, he again started to beat his hooves against the door, as flames grew higher and higher, devouring the walls and starting to attack the ceiling. "This can't be happening!"
With a loud bang, the door he had tried to open on the other side of the kitchen swung open, maybe due to the heat dislodging the lock. Maybe. It didn't matter, it only mattered only that now he had a way to escape from the burning room. He darted towards it, avoiding a couple of flaming puddles on the floor, running out of the kitchen. It didn't help: his hooves clanked on a metallic surface, as he he was on some sort of suspended metallic footbridge, while the walls around him were made of some sort of metallic and spiked grates. The door behind him shut, as a series of flames began to pour out from behind the grates.
"What the hay is all this shit!?" screamed the earth pony, as a flame darted out from behind the grates and burned his cheek. He yelped and stepped back, and yelped again when his rump hit the door: it was now cold and metallic, and when the stallion turned, he saw a metallic jail door behind him.
"Fuck, what was in the kitchen, some kind of fucking air drug?!" thought frantically the earth pony, beginning to run, his hooves clanking loudly against the metallic floor. The flames were all around him, but still held back by the grates at his sides, even if the metal was getting hotter and hotter every second. From above him, he noted a series of chains and hoofcufs dangling from the ceiling.
"Ok, my brain has officially gone! Fuck!" screamed the stallion, turning his head to see the jail door opening with a blast, and… running towards him. It was like if the wall behind him was chasing him. From behind the door, a series of chains sprang out, wiggling behind the stallion, as if they were trying to grab him. Camo screamed, trotting even more fast.
His head was getting numb due to the fear and fatigue, but finally he managed to see a simple, wooden door at the end of the path. Without even thinking about it, he jumped into it.
-oOo-
Solaris moved his eyes around: the rest of the ponies were relaxed in the dining room. High Winds was reading the old newspaper, Dahlia was examining a guide to the town with the two unicorn sisters, while around another table, Crow was bragging about his last feast, as an annoyed Metal Hooves listened to him. But Camo hadn't returned yet.
"This place isn't that big." muttered the stallion, heading towards the kitchen door.
And suddenly, it burst open as Camo Fall jumped out of it, smashing against the other stallion, slamming him to the ground.
"We have to get out of here!" he nearly screamed, before receiving a slap from the other pony.
"Geez, calm the fuck down!" growled Solaris, grabbing his fallen shades and putting them back on. Camo had a quick glimpse of a couple of green, slitted eyes.
"There is fire! And stuff! And…" started the stallion, before Solaris passed him and opened the door: the kitchen was the same as before. Slightly lit and extremely boring and dusty in appearence.
"Dude… you are tripping balls." commented Solaris, closing the door.
-oOo-
"What the hay?!" exclaimed High Winds, catching the attention of the unicorn sisters and the little filly.
"'Sup?" asked Fire Flower, raising an eyebrow. The pegasus didn't answer immediately, staring at the newspaper.
"Listen to this. The newspaper is like almost a year old. But listen to this." She finally managed to say. She cleared her troat and began to read: "Tragedy hit our little town this past morning, as the oldest flying ship of our town crashed in the swamp at the far side of the lake. Apparently, the driver of the flying ship, Caronte, in service on the ship from over twenty years, had pushed it directly into a storm, sure that the ship could handle it. 'He was pratically in love with the ship', declares Silver Wings, the chief of the airship station; 'He was sure that the old thing could resist anything. Turned he was wrong.' The old structure of the ship wasn't able to resist the strength of the wind, as the ropes and wood broke apart. The entire ship, and its all load of passengers, who we remember here, including fourteen adults and six foals, crashed in the swamp. Attempts to help] were useless, as all passengers died immediately. Only the back compartments of the underdeck part of the ship survived the crash. Unfortunately they were used only for luggage. The driverCaronte, who initially was believed to have fled the site of the crash, was found not far away from the area. Apparently, he hung himself with his own raincoat. It is unknown if he did this for what he had done, or for the 'death' of his only companion. It's rare for our town to witness such a tragedy, and from our organization, a condolence is sent to every family member involved in this incident." She concluded.
"What the hay is happening here…?" asked Winter Lily, her eyes wide.
-oOo-
Yay, progression!
Next episode, our courageous group of unlucky ponies will find a way to enter town, searching for explanation… finding something else though. Good or bad? You'll see…