[At last, Anna pulled away from Acorn. She stood on tiptoe, whispered one last secret in his ear, then stepped backwards, away from him. She kept her hand on his mane as long as she could, and left it outstretched for several moments after the contact broke. Anna once again stood in the middle of the clearing, the middle of the universe. She gazed at the pony she loved more than anything, including herself. “Now,” she whispered. Immediately, Acorn sprung into action. He moved with a preternatural speed and agility; a machine of oiled muscle, a brilliant quicksilver torrent, a cascade of light and flesh and sound, a god. A god. He first ran to Jeanne Betancourt, grabbed the back of her jacket in his puissant jaws, and with one sleek movement of his head, tossed her over his shoulder so she landed perfectly on his back. She instinctively grabbed onto his mane as he began to race towards his next target. Minos was more than ready. As Acorn passed, the cat fluidly leapt onto the pony’s flank. He dug his claws in deep; Acorn bled; neither cared. Finally, Acorn turned to Dirk. Through his shades, Dirk saw Acorn’s horrifying face rushing towards him. Lips pulled back, mane whirling, eyes frothing, ears billowing, hooves pulverizing, legs pumping like the pistons in the engine of a hearse. One horsepower was more than enough to drive this h(ea/o)rse on his journey to the grave and back again. This was the n(e)igh-celestial body of an animal who would run into a burning barn, not out of stupidity, but out of defiance, out of refusal to believe that the flames could so much as singe him. Acorn had become Oak. Dirk was fucking scared shitless. But Acorn didn’t touch Dirk at all as he sped past. Instead, he precisely plucked the book from Dirk’s hands and continued on his thunderous way. Acorn held the paperback between his teeth as he galloped out of the forest, following the trail the Pony Pals had cleared. This… was a pony. This was a fucking pony. Again, the silence. Again, the stillness. Dirk and the three Pony Pals stood alone in the clearing, bodies tense, minds tenser. The stasis was finally broken when Pam walked over to Anna and put a hand on her left shoulder (being careful to avoid the mysterious shimmering fluid that was now falling from Anna in a steady trickle). Pawnee quickly joined them, grabbing onto Anna’s other shoulder. This wasn’t the Anna they had known, and had maybe loved. But whoever had now joined her in this body, Pam and Pawnee trusted them. “…Okay, what the fuck just went down just now?” Dirk asked. “I’ve seen some bullshit, but this is bullshit.” Anna shivered. The light pouring from her dimmed until it was just the faintest flicker that occasionally radiated from her eyes. The stump of her left arm was once again bare flesh; Pam began to remove her coat so Anna could cover it with a sleeve, but Anna shook her head and pointed at Dirk. “I want him to see it.” “Still don’t know what’s happening, but now I’m even more weirded out than I was before,” Dirk mumbled.] #DetectivePony