Post by waxworks on Jan 19, 2014 20:58:10 GMT
"The hay," growled Galvanic as the sudden explosion of hooves out of the building rocked the foundation and sent the inside of the saloon into a panic. Rivet was staring blankly at a wall, a good indicator that she was both surprised and particularly frightened. The large pegasus grimaced, looking from the door to her friend and back. So that was Sentinel, she thought. He certainly was a large pony, probably the largest she'd seen, and it suddenly made sense why both Streamlined and Chronicle had been so interested in not running into this particular pony.
A soft moaning of some of the ponies that had been near the shattered table came up, and that seemed to be sufficient to snap the minty unicorn out of her fearful trance. She quickly trotted towards the confused and panicked patrons, and began checking them for injuries in her usual routine. Satisfied that her friend was free of catatonia, Galvanic burst through the saloon doors and threw off a circular scan as fast as she could. A moment later and she was in the air above the saloon, a small dust storm swirling about where she'd taken off from.
The large pegasus hung in the air, her wings beating a steady rhythm while she narrowed her eyes, trying to find some telltale sign of where either of the two had gone, but it was no use. They were out of sight in entirety. She had to give them this, Stream's family could move fast when they wanted to. This also explained why the bartender had been so hesitant to talk to them. She toyed with the idea of apologizing to him as she land back on the sandy thoroughfare with a whomp, but discarded it. A good bartender could've at least tried to signal them.
"You're very welcome," came a mechanically nonchalant voice from the doors of the saloon, as Rivet appeared and slowly left a waving cowcolt that had a bandaged hoof, and a buffalo with a similarly wrapped horn. She came up alongside Galvanic and looked at her dispassionately, "did you find them."
"No," said Galvanic with a softened grunt. "Well great, we've lost our detective and our only lead."
"Was that Sentinel. He was much larger than I expected."
"Yeah, and that's our advantage. A pony that big can only fool us once, next time we'll know what to watch out for."
"I think maybe next time we should be careful about how loudly we announce our intentions," said Rivet thoughtfully.
"Yeah... yeah..." Galvanic sat in the dust and closed her eyes in thought. They'd lost track of their one recovered sibling, and they had no sign of Collier Blitz. What was that Sleuth had said? If he was in his mine there was no chance of finding him. Well she certainly couldn't blame him for attempting to be unreachable. She organized her thoughts around. While she wasn't a professional detective, she could puzzle things out just as well. Sentinel was here in Appleoosa. He was there, waiting for them specifically, she was certain of that. That meant he had to know that's where they were going, it couldn't have just been luck, going by how many siblings and locations there were. Considering then that their decision to go had been fairly spontaneous, it meant he couldn't have been here very long either, and if Collier were as difficult to find as Chronicle suggested, he certainly couldn't have been located in such little time.
She also let another thought roll into her mind. Appleoosa. Had Sentinel been here before? She discounted that theory as well. If he hadn't known two of the siblings had been in Ponyville, there was no reason to assume he'd know one was in the middle of a featureless desert. Also it was an impossibility that he could've gotten the information out of Map Exploration either. Alarm bells. Loud ones. Galvanic went into her saddlebag quickly, and pulled out the document with the names and locations on it. She ran her eyes over it a few times, nodded, and then ate it.
Rivet blinked slowly, mildly confused and concerned. "What are you doing."
"That big pony doesn't know where the others are. I'm sure of it, Stitches. And Chronicle didn't know either. Only our old friend knew, and by destroying the list that means only we know. This isn't a mystery anymore, this is a spy thriller. We've got to be careful, we've got to be stealthy, we've got to be suspicious."
"We've got to find Collier," said Rivet helpfully.
"Yeah, if for no other reason than to tell him to keep him away from 'big brother'."
A soft moaning of some of the ponies that had been near the shattered table came up, and that seemed to be sufficient to snap the minty unicorn out of her fearful trance. She quickly trotted towards the confused and panicked patrons, and began checking them for injuries in her usual routine. Satisfied that her friend was free of catatonia, Galvanic burst through the saloon doors and threw off a circular scan as fast as she could. A moment later and she was in the air above the saloon, a small dust storm swirling about where she'd taken off from.
The large pegasus hung in the air, her wings beating a steady rhythm while she narrowed her eyes, trying to find some telltale sign of where either of the two had gone, but it was no use. They were out of sight in entirety. She had to give them this, Stream's family could move fast when they wanted to. This also explained why the bartender had been so hesitant to talk to them. She toyed with the idea of apologizing to him as she land back on the sandy thoroughfare with a whomp, but discarded it. A good bartender could've at least tried to signal them.
"You're very welcome," came a mechanically nonchalant voice from the doors of the saloon, as Rivet appeared and slowly left a waving cowcolt that had a bandaged hoof, and a buffalo with a similarly wrapped horn. She came up alongside Galvanic and looked at her dispassionately, "did you find them."
"No," said Galvanic with a softened grunt. "Well great, we've lost our detective and our only lead."
"Was that Sentinel. He was much larger than I expected."
"Yeah, and that's our advantage. A pony that big can only fool us once, next time we'll know what to watch out for."
"I think maybe next time we should be careful about how loudly we announce our intentions," said Rivet thoughtfully.
"Yeah... yeah..." Galvanic sat in the dust and closed her eyes in thought. They'd lost track of their one recovered sibling, and they had no sign of Collier Blitz. What was that Sleuth had said? If he was in his mine there was no chance of finding him. Well she certainly couldn't blame him for attempting to be unreachable. She organized her thoughts around. While she wasn't a professional detective, she could puzzle things out just as well. Sentinel was here in Appleoosa. He was there, waiting for them specifically, she was certain of that. That meant he had to know that's where they were going, it couldn't have just been luck, going by how many siblings and locations there were. Considering then that their decision to go had been fairly spontaneous, it meant he couldn't have been here very long either, and if Collier were as difficult to find as Chronicle suggested, he certainly couldn't have been located in such little time.
She also let another thought roll into her mind. Appleoosa. Had Sentinel been here before? She discounted that theory as well. If he hadn't known two of the siblings had been in Ponyville, there was no reason to assume he'd know one was in the middle of a featureless desert. Also it was an impossibility that he could've gotten the information out of Map Exploration either. Alarm bells. Loud ones. Galvanic went into her saddlebag quickly, and pulled out the document with the names and locations on it. She ran her eyes over it a few times, nodded, and then ate it.
Rivet blinked slowly, mildly confused and concerned. "What are you doing."
"That big pony doesn't know where the others are. I'm sure of it, Stitches. And Chronicle didn't know either. Only our old friend knew, and by destroying the list that means only we know. This isn't a mystery anymore, this is a spy thriller. We've got to be careful, we've got to be stealthy, we've got to be suspicious."
"We've got to find Collier," said Rivet helpfully.
"Yeah, if for no other reason than to tell him to keep him away from 'big brother'."