met a meta?

[multaekappae]

"Ah... mister Stompson, I have to ask; have we met before?" Scribble gestured between himself and the unicorn. "Like... have we..." Another odd gesture to Cain-9 and Ako, and then to Hunter. "...met before?"

"Before?" Hunter trailed off, mumbling. "Sure, I mean, twice... in the writing class."

Scribble's eyes widened, and then he listened to what the reporter had said, slapping a hoof over his face. "No, I mean, have you met all of us together before?"

"Oh," the green pony replies. "Ohh...." he nodded in understanding. "Absolutely not." He shook his head.

"Then ho–"

"On the other hoof, anypony willing to dive deeply enough into the incident reports of Ponyville could have noticed the second biggest blunder in the history of the Torchwhoof Institute, the unexplained appearance of the Deep Queen – which could have started an intentional incident if the whole fiasco hadn't been buried so deeply. Not to mention the other individuals running around at the time." Stompson muttered, rummaging in his bags to produce a number of clippings and a manila folder conspicuously marked 'Confidential'.

"Considering how deeply all of this stuff was covered up, it seemed like there was a huge story behind everything." The stallion eyed the three travelers. "But after two days, everything dries up, and it's like the individuals involved don't exist anymore... like they are nowhere in the world..." he let the words linger as he gave a lamppost just to Cain-9's left an intense and penetrating stare.

"I spent three months trying to dig up anything – anything – more about  the incident. The only thing even remotely interesting was when that herbalist lady... Zimbabwe–"

"Zecora," Scribble corrected.

"right, Uhura, had adopted two wards of the state. Two llamas, no known family history, no history at all to speak of." Hunter shrugged, "Not that unfortunate things don't happen, and not that there aren't places in the world a lot less friendly than Equestria..." He scratched his neck, "...bu-uut, I was kinda desperate for some kinda story, and so I did more research. Nobody'd heard of anyllamas like these kids in living memory. Eventually I started digging back into old history, and I found a group who seemed to match most'a their characteristics... and then about nine hundred years ago their entire population is wiped out by a meteor strike."

The unicorn blinked, frowning. "Are you starting to see how none'a this adds up? But there still wasn't enough to produce a story... but I kept an eye out for any news following up any of those leads. Eight years, not a single whiff. A normal pony would have given up years ago, I'm sure." He buffed a hoof against his barrel, obviously contemptuous of 'normalcy'.

"...but perhaps I've already said too much." Hunter glanced left and right, "We should continue this conversation indoors, and I need more caffiene, in any case."