[The Derricks]

If this were Zee rather than Morning Glory she would have picked up on all of that. Or at least the underlying parts. But as it stands the filthy, tar-covered pony only notices that all of a sudden Jade isn't filthy and tar-covered anymore.

That's suspicious.

But!

Not the sort of change that the Pit would probably cause. The Pit only spawns nightmares.

Now, one might expect a pony to be unable to grab a hand, but that proves to be completely false. Morning Glory reaches up and places one hoof in Jade's hand whereupon our heroine will immediately feel a surprisingly powerful grip. It's almost as if her hand has been magnetized to the pony's hoof. Morning Glory is fairly heavy, but between her grip on Jade and bracing her other front hoof on the catwalk she's able to haul herself over the railing.

Just in time, too.

With a final groan of protest the rail breaks free and tumbles down into the smog.

Morning coughs a few times at the scent of the smoke. "You smell different," she wheezes. "You're carrying yourself differently, too. What happened to you?"