Talk...

[multaekappae]

 "Well I don't know, who the hay are you?" Hualpa frowned at the red unicorn. "Are they still picking up people from random points in time and dropping them off elsewhere?"

"Hua..." Atoc muttered.

The yellow furred llama switched her glare to her brother for a long moment. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine." With her jaw set resolutely, she turned her head to examine the passing bookshelves.

"I think you're talking about Brad Rayberry, Mr. ..." Stompson left the sentence hanging, question implied.

"Oh, are you looking for mister–" a nearby pony stared, before several ponies raced past, headed for the library entrance.

"...like they just stepped out of the Eqs Files."
"...swore one of them is dressed as Faux Smoulder."
"...to get an autograph before they're completely mobbed."

Atoc waited until another few pockets of ponies and assorted other quadrupeds ran past before approaching the red stallion. "We were, um ... that is... " he eyed Hunter, but the blue unicorn seemed to be very amused by the sight of two perplexed suit-clad ponies at the library entrance surrounded by screaming and cheering quadrupeds.

"Our village was... destroyed, and ... um, Ako and her friends... well, there wasn't really anywhere around we could go to. So we... uh, went with them. And then later we met this zebra who had plenty of room and was willing to take care of. Oh. Uh, we were just kids when our village was destroyed, more than a thousand years ago, if you catch my drift." The reddish llama rambled.

It was at this point that Cain realized the random pony who had previously spoken was still following them, and in fact seemed to have continued talking – without waiting to see if anyone was paying any attention. "...couse his best work, in my opinion, was 'A Rose for Equinity', but tastes will of course," the gangly stallion sniffed, adjusting a pair of worn and tape-repaired spectacles, "...differ." He looked up at the the diamond dog, who was still negotiating the building designed for ponies, while avoiding the continuing trickle of ponies toward the door, providing support to the broken griffon, and trying desperately not to step on anypony.

"One supposes that would have been very interesting, had self been paying attention. Apologies, did pony indicate where author Rayberry was currently positioned?"

"Oh, he's probably just finishing up a speech in the reading room about the Equestrian Space Program." The pony pointed a hoof toward a set of double doors, above which was a large banner displaying the author's name and a message of a similar topic.

"Nation of Equestria has a program for the exploration of Space?" Cain's head tilted.

The pony looked wistful, "Not yet, but maybe someday..."

Behind the pony, Stompson rotated his hoof vertically around the side of his head while lolling his tongue and crossing his eyes. The technician resolutely ignored his antics.

...click...

[multaekappae]

 The slide mechanism pulled back smoothly, placing the ammunition was like poetry. Sharp Shot lined up the scope as she prepared the punctuation.

---

Primeval frowned.
[Anomalous readings detected]
[Querry: Nature?]
[Report: Anomalous reading is anomalous, no further inference is currently possible]

Golden Scales frowned. "Hey, Sh... 'Inspector," He began. "That friend of yours looks little odd, is she–"

"Primeval is an eohipus, and Riptide is a kelpie." The dark gray pegasus interrupted, ears flicking in annoyance. 'Why does he always have to ask unrelated questions while I'm trying to concentrate?'

"That's not what I–" the unicorn's response was interrupted by the report of a gun firing.

---

The gunmare took her time, lining up a perfect kill. Best to start with the old one, he was starting to look a little cautious – bad news for a pony in her line of work.

---

"Nn–"

The lavender proto pony's irises shrank so quickly they seemed to disappear.
[High velocity object detected, inbound, from the area of the anomaly]
[Query: Trajectory?]
[Calculating... most probable course leads to lethal impact with pony: Golden Scales]
[Alert: priority order, activate psionic focus]
[Warning: use may cause residual damage]
[Override: Priority 1, Protect Herd]
[Psionic Lens Activated, attempting kinetic inversion]

"–nno... ?" Sharp paused, heart rate elevated, and tilted his head to stare at the small cylindrical object suspended in the air.

For his part, the elderly stallion seemed as perplexed from his perspective. The bullet had stopped inches from his chest. A quick glance showed that the weird lavender mare in the silvery getup was staring intently at the projectile with an expression he recognized. "Good work, lady. Thanks." He nodded, absently, eyes flickering over the stacks looking for

---

Sharp Shot swore under her breath, quickly but deliberately reloading. How the hornless pony had noticed her shot, let alone stopped the bullet with what didn't look like any magic she'd ever seen was beside the point. Shot has just enough time to find out if this mysterious mare could stop two bullets in a row...

---

The Inspector shook his head, "Everypony get behind cover n–"

Bang

[Warning: second projectile dete–

Sharp With stood, helping Golden Scales back onto his hooves. 'I... I did it. Paradox be damned, I actually...' his train of thought derailed as he glanced up to see Primeval falling to the floor, a look of vague surprise tinged with annoyance frozen on her face, with a single red spot in the middle of her forehead.