//------------------------------//
// [3-3] Holes 
// Story: Seattle Seapony 
// by dNihil 
//------------------------------//

"...but guess what?  I was able to get away from them.  You know why?  I grew legs.  Right then and there, I just willed it, and pop!  Suddenly I had legs!  So I ran away from them.  I ran really really fast and I managed to outrun them.  I don't know what happened to them then... and I don't know what happened to me.  I think I got really tired and fell asleep on the street."  Cala paused for a moment, considering her story.  "Yep, that's about it.  Next thing I knew, a big, stoopid zebra was trying to wash me, but you guys already know about that."

Everyone at the table stared at her with a range of emotions.  Willy bore an amused smile.  Renée looked baffled at the tale.  Peyton had a distant look to her, with a sick frown on her face.

"Does anyone else here see the giant, gaping holes in her story?" Renée said.

"You've got quite the ego, Cala," Willy said.

"You think she made all of that up?" Renée asked him.

"I didn't!" Cala said.  "Everything I've told you was real things that happened to me.  I didn't make it up."

Peyton got up and left the room, saying, "I think I'm gonna go clean up that mess."

"You did!  I think you did!" Renée said.  "Explain to me, then... how was it that you saw rain outside that whole time when it wasn't really raining?"

"Oh it was raining outside, Miss Holland.  I saw it with my very eyes; it rained constantly until I left.  Then it was dry."

"Well, I haven't been to your apartment, but we haven't seen any rain around here since... at least since the disaster."

"I can back that claim," Willy said.  "It's your word against ours."

"I don't believe you."

"Alright, how about a point that interests me, personally," Renée said.  "How were you able to get out of the pool after you dove in and it began to kill you?  How did you survive that?"

Cala sighed in exasperation.  "I went over this.  It chewed me up and spat me out.  Why?  Because that's what water does!  Water is evil!  It doesn't want to kill me; it just likes to see me suffer."

"That doesn't make any sense.  Water hasn't done that to any of us."

Cala squinted at her for a moment, before saying, "None of you are seaponies."

Willy laughed.  "The curse of those who made it.  Our greatest strengths are also our worst weaknesses, sometimes in the most literal way possible."

"Let's try a different angle," Renée said.  "What do you think happened to everyone?"

"Well... I dunno.  I guess I've been thinking that they all went on, like, a vacation or something.  They left because the apartment got flooded, and left me behind because I'm a seapony and I can deal with water.  Well... that's not as true anymore as I thought at first."

"Think back to the start, though.  Even before you flooded the apartment, you said you were calling for your mother but she never came.  Why's that?"

"Um... ugh, I don't know!  She was asleep or something.  I just had to make do on my own."

"Go over what happened after you woke up in the bathtub that morning in explicit detail."

Cala groaned.  "Fine.  First, I looked at my reflection in the water, and I got happy seeing what I was.  I noticed the floor was flooded, so I decided I would leave the bathtub.  I first went out to the kitchen to find my mom making breakfast, but she wasn't there.  I heard a door close behind me, and I turned around and went to my mom's bedroom, looking for her.  But she wasn't there.  I got really sad after that, and then... I don't know.  I think that's when I had that idea about where she went, and I just went off to get myself something to eat.  When I started eating, though, I heard—"

"Okay, stop," Renée said.  "You said you heard a door close behind you."

"Yeah...?"

"And you're absolutely sure you were the only one there?"

Cala paused, shocked at that.  "Woah, yeah.  That is really strange, isn't it?"

"And you said you don't remember what happened in the bedroom?"

"... ... ...No.  I, actually.  I don't remember what happened.  At all."  She stared wide-eyed at Renée.  "That's kind of spooky!"

Willy chuckled.  "Wow, you're pretty good at that, Renée."

"So there must be only one explanation for this," Renée concluded.  She rubbed her hooves together and giggled:  "Ghosts!"

Cala screamed.

"Woah, wait a minute!" Willy shouted, silencing the room.  "We still don't have the full story here."

"You're right!" Renée said.  "Cala, do you remember in the bathroom, when you were trying to get the drain plug... and it just fell into your lap?"

"Ghosts, ghosts!" Cala shrieked.

"No!" Willy said.  "There's something else.  I should have mentioned this earlier, but... Cala was mumbling things when I found her on the street today.  Really strange, almost cryptic things."

"I was?" she said.

"You were.  There was one thing in particular that you were saying, though... it was... gosh what was it?  Oh, right.

"'This is retribution for having rent the aegis null'."

Cala paused at that.  She gulped, her body beginning to quiver.

"Those aren't words that a girl her age should know," Renée said.

"That's not all," Willy said.  "There were other things, too.  She was mumbling about... a unicorn.  A toy.  Green.  The name 'Harper' popped up a few times as well.

Cala started to giggle.  She looked manic.  "This... this is... ... ...heeheeheehahahaha!  Retribution of the aegis!  Aaaaiiieeee!  Retribution for rending the aegis null!"

Peyton walked into the room.  "What's going on?!"

"This is retribution for having rent the aegis null! Hahahahaaaah!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Harper!"  Cala chanted.

"She's losing her mind!" Renée said.

"Ghosts!  Harper!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!"

"What have I done?!" Willy said.

"Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Ghosts!  Mmfoas gphostes ghoph..."

Everyone looked at Peyton.  She stood behind Cala, her forelimbs wrapped around the filly's muzzle.  Cala stopped chanting, now just trying to breathe.  She let go and Cala gasped for air.

Cala started coughing.  At first it was just a dry cough, but then it built up and started to sound grating.  Everyone winced as she started to practically hack her lungs out.

"Well, that's officially the strangest thing I've ever seen," Willy said.

"Are you alright?" Renée asked.

Cala finally stopped and moaned out, "mmmfgrh... bring me some pain pills."

Peyton laughed.  "Are you addicted to those things, or something?  Sounds to me like you've already had enough to last a lifetime pain-free."

Cala chuckled, though it sounded more like a rasp.  "Addicted?  It's only been, like... a week.  That's not enough time to become addicted, right?"

Renée gasped.  "No!  Oh, sweetie, you didn't know?  It's been over a month since the catastrophe happened!"

Cala looked at her.

Renée looked back.

"Well, it's official," Willy said.  "On top of being a hydrophobic seahorse, scarred to Hell and back, and bat-shit insane, our newest member is also a drug addict.  Does anyone have anything else to add before we call it a day?"

"Yes," Peyton said.  "I vote we keep her in a kennel as a pet.  She can be the group mascot."  Renée laughed at that.


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