//------------------------------// // The Beginning of the End // Story: The Winds of Change: Loose Ends // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// The Beginning of the End "Scoots, stay here." Dash commanded, taking a glance at Jason, who was cradling the wing he wore around his neck in one hoof. "Morning, you've got wings, come on!" Dash continued, tossing the mare a gun. "All of you except Tank, try to keep this place locked down. Tank, sweep behind us, make sure we didn't miss him." Jason picked up his own, throwing the sling over his neck as he pulled the charging handle. He pulled a headset on, attaching the walkie-talkie to his sling. Dash did the same. "No time for armor. Everyone remember what he looked like?" He looked back towards a couple of nods. "Good, let's go." Jason raced down the train car, ripping open the door at the end. He stepped across the gap, catching sight of the swiftly moving railroad ties, and slid open the one to the next car. He shoved a pony into his seat, pushing through the isle as he caught sight of the unicorn, disappearing into the next car. "Everyone, get the fuck out of the way!" Jason yelled, his anger getting the better of him. "You're all in danger!" He added as an afterthought, watching as ponies quickly stopped staring and obeyed. His pace spread up, and he pulled open another door, then another. The next car was more orderly and quiet, though he seemed to draw a lot of attention. They had to be running out of cars; this wasn't a long train. ~This thing working?~ came a voice over Jason's headset. He assumed it was Twilight's. "Yeah." He responded. "Loud and clear." Another couple doors. Another sprint down a car, this time a dining one. Jason barreled through a pony delivering food, spraying the contents everywhere. He caught the guy with his magic, tossing him into a booth as the other two passed. "Dash!" Jason yelled back, pointing to an emergency door. "Both of you, cut him off!" He skidded to a halt at the door, pulling it open as the noises of the train suddenly became twice as loud. Then, the second door closed behind him and he was cut off. "How many more cars, Twilight?" He paused. "This is number four." ~After that, you've got… two and the engine. Luxury is the second car on this train.~ The sound of a few flipping papers was heard. ~I don't know why that would happen so fast, when we don't arrive for another hour and a half.~ "You're saying that he needs an escape plan." Jason filled in, moving to the next car and pulling his gun into his shoulder. He fired twice, ripping a couple holes in the far door as it closed behind the pony. "Possible hit, suspect may be injured!" Jason yelled over the line, hoping that Dash had hers connected. ~Roger that.~ His wife replied, and he let out a sigh of relief. ~Continuing with that in mind, touching down.~ With bated breath, he opened two more doors, finding the pony sprawled out in the isle, a wound in the back of his leg. He got up and limped a few paces away before tripping again, landing on his back. Then another shot rang out, whizzing past Jason's head. He teleported on reflex, appearing behind the pony. It took him a moment to take in his surroundings before he knocked the gun out of the guy's hoof, pushing his other hoof into his throat. "Got him." He said, pushing his other hoof onto the pony's snout. "Open your mouth!" There were a few murmurs of confusion from around him, but Jason ignored them. The pony grinned, shaking his head. His horn glowed, and Jason smacked it with his hoof. The magic disrupted, and Jason brought his hoof back again. He smashed it into the tip of the pony's horn, and with an audible crack a chunk broke off. The enemy screamed beneath him, more out of rage than in pain. "You fuck! As soon as you get off this train, you're not in whatever fantasy you lived in before! This is our territory, and we don't like trespassers!" Then, with a resolute crack of his teeth and the slamming of doors as Dash and Morning walked in, he convulsed. "Fuck!" Jason yelled, belatedly trying to pull their assailant's teeth apart. "Our shot at information, and he kills himself!" Morning gestured to the ponies around him, most looking scared out of their wits. "I'm sorry about this." He said. "Hopefully this is all you'll see of us in the next few weeks." The body floated in his magic, slowly trailing behind him as he walked down the train car. Things could probably have gone better. _________________________________________________________ Jason dragged the pony through the last set of doors, ignoring the fact that the corpse's head bounced across the gap. He'd at least flown it between the middle cars, saving the ponies there a sight. "Seems like the coms are working well." He said, letting the hoof he was holding fall to the ground. "Is he dead?" Rumble asked, peering out from around a small box stacked on some larger boxes. "Not by my hand." Jason replied, enjoying the fact that everyone knew what he meant. With the hand part, anyway. "But what does that-" "Go ahead and tell him, Scoots." Close enough, anyway. Dash walked by, pecking him on the cheek. "One down." She whispered, taking the seat she'd been in before. "That's an optimistic way to look at it." Jason replied, flopping down into a chair of his own. He stared at Morning for a moment, who had situated herself on Tank's lap. Dash seemed to have done the same, and quickly abandoned her chair, taking up a similar position on Jason. He hugged a hoof around her, as she cutely nestled her head under his chin. "I've got to say, in a lot of ways this is better than the military back home." "How come?" Tank asked, jerking as he received a playful poke to the side. "You can't bring your wife along, or anything like that. I mean, those are different circumstances, and we came into this in less than perfect conditions, but you know what I mean." He paused. "Women can get into the military though, but not in combat roles." "Why the separation?" The other pony inquired. "They don't want to have to worry about children or distractions. There was some study that showed men trying to save the women first in most scenarios, which might be some sort of instinctual thing. It seems to hold water, at least." "I actually kinda meant, why can't they see combat?" He asked. "Ah. I dunno. I mean, they'd have to pass the same physical tests as men, which is already kind of a disadvantage, but…" He sighed. "Whatever. I didn't mean to get into some stupid comment on the whole thing. Point is, I've got my wife here, along with my kid. I'm really glad things worked out that way." "And you're saying that under normal circumstances, it never would've?" Morning asked. "Yeah." He finished, a grin breaking across his face. He squeezed his arms around Dash a little tighter, and she giggled. "I just think it's funny that you come in here with a corpse, and then fifteen seconds later you two are all hugged up." Twilight observed, a pair of headphones leaving one of her ears open to sound as they covered the other. "What're you doing?" Dash asked, pointing at Jason's computer. "Just going over this guy's dialogue, trying to make sure that there isn't anything I can get from this." "Oh yeah, what'd he say?" Thunderlane asked, stretching his legs. "Just something about being in his territory, and then there's a clack and Jason exclaims that he killed himself. How did he do that, by the way?" "Some sort of poison caplet in his mouth." Jason replied, shrugging. "Maybe cyanide." "Well, whatever it is, it's annoying." Twilight pointed out. "Yeah." Thunderlane backed up. "I wish we had a little more information about this whole thing. I don't know what things were like when you were getting into classified stuff with Eravel, but you had a lot more to work from, right?" "Not really." Eravel said. "I guess I knew some stuff, but we were assuming that we could incite dissent among a population that may not have had much hope to begin with. That was more of a gamble, though. This is more of a dark room, where we have to try to step around all the broken glass." "You need to cool it with the beer, Eravel." Morning jeered with a chuckle, and the griffin frowned. "I'm not that far from the truth." He continued. "I'm not going to give up, or act like we don't have a shot, because we do. Who knows, maybe there's a keystone somewhere that pieces this whole thing together. But if that guy proves anything, it's that they have the cards. We could get lucky and be dealt a great hand, but the chances of that are slim. To continue the poker analogy, it'll be a bunch of small wins before we can have a shot." "Good to know you're looking on the bright side." Thunderlane muttered. The noise of metal on metal was heard farther down the car, to the words, "Found ya!" "I am." Eravel murmured. "We aren't the kind to not give it our all anyway, so there's no sense not sharing what we're thinking." "The worrying thing here is that they knew when we were leaving." Jason said, feeling all eyes land upon himself. "And get a guy on the same train in time. I don't know where they're getting their information, but it's worrying that they can get so much." ___________________________________________________________________________ The train coasted into the station, and Jason slid open the side door. The platform was sparsely covered in ponies, many of them walking alongside Jason as the train came to a stop. At least two dozen guards were assembled, along with various other staff members. Snow was falling slightly more heavily, illuminated by the station lights. The sun had long since faded. He could see the lights of buildings floating in the air, trailing into a light fog that had formed. It was much more impending than the small town of Ponyville. A guard walked up and saluted, and Jason stepped off. "Sergeant Dust, Reporting for duty, Sir!" He yelled, becoming silent once agin. Jason turned to look at Dash, who shrugged. "At ease. Who's orders brought you here, soldier?" Jason asked. "We were already stationed here before the disappearance of princess Luna, Sir!" "I hope you know that neither you or your men will have a primary role in this mission." Jason said, failing to keep a grin from his face as Dash nuzzled teasingly at his side. He pushed her away, and she giggled, coming bad for a second attempt. "We're just stationed here as subordinates, so it's completely up to you to give orders. No fighting, no big deal." "I'm glad you're-" He laughed as Dash tickled him with a wing. "Will you stop that!?" She narrowed her eyes, smirking. "You can't hope to stop me, especially not once we get out of public!" She exclaimed, reaching down and picking up Scoots with a hoof, laying the filly over her head. "And with my Scootahat, your chances are nil!" "I knew you got more from the buffet car than a sandwich." Jason replied. "Your sugar high is worse than your daughter's." "Sir." The soldier said, and Jason returned his attention to Dust. "We should go to Headquarters." "Yeah." Jason replied, trying to act like a respectable leader. "We should." _______________________________________________________ "Wow, spared no expense." Jason breathed, looking around the high ceilings of what appeared to be a hotel lobby. "It's really convincing, for a fake hotel." Tank continued. "It's real." Dust said, gesturing around. "The place is supposed to open in several months, and the owners were more than happy to let us rent it out." "Really?" Jason asked. "Did you offer a lot?" Dust shook his head. "The CEO of another hotel chain was killed or kidnapped last week, and I guess they assumed that it could become a pattern. They lent us this place for a fair price and we made sure it stayed believable and underground. To everyone that it may concern, this is just a construction project nearing completion. For those watching what declassified developments there are, this city looks like it's going downhill fast. A hotel being built" "What do you know?" Dash asked, shifting Scoots around on her head with a giggle from the foal. "Just what Princess Luna told us, which wasn't a whole lot. She went into what the guy's weaknesses were, but other than a few things, she said that she just didn't know that much. We were stuck pursuing all the leads that we could find, and nothing ever panned out. Whenever we started to get somewhere, things would just end. We hit a wall on everything." "Any prisoners?" Eravel inquired, shifting the gear he had insisted on carrying around on his back. "No." Dust replied, looking away. Jason couldn't tell if he was embarrassed or frustrated. "But we can worry about that tomorrow. I'm sure you're all tired. Just go over to the desk for your rooms." There was a murmur of agreement, and the group walked over to what Jason assumed was the front desk. It was ornately carved, and shone brightly despite the dim light. The pony was probably a guard without his armor, and he regarded them with some amount of relief. "Rooms for you all are on the seventh floor." He said. "We've got them all cleaned up, so just pick one that you like and pack away whatever you chose to bring. Everything in the train will be moved to HQ on the eighth floor, and will be set up at your leisure." Jason picked up a ring of keys from a bowl, nodding to the pony in thanks. The rest of his team followed suit. ___________________________________________________________ "Well, if I wasn't in shape before now, seven flights of stairs will definitely do the trick." Tank said, breathing heavily. "Come on, Tank." Eravel responded, hopping up the last few stairs. "It's not that hard." "Says the one in a lighter weight class with wings." Tank muttered sarcastically. "But I'm just so brittle." Eravel replied, donning a feminine voice. "Think of all the things that could happen to little old me." Tank broke out in laughter, shoving at what little of Eravel he could reach. "You bastard." Eravel chuckled. "I call this one!" He yelled, stopping to unlock the door and look inside. "No I don't!" Jason walked by the open door, peeking inside at the unfinished interior. Dust handed him a map of the floor, and Jason looked it over. He passed the next couple doors and stopped at the third, finding a key with the corresponding number. "This one should be connected to another room, Dash." He said, as the door swung open. "Wow." Dash murmured succinctly. She wandered inside, as Jason dismissed the guard. Scoots brushed between their legs, hopping up onto the bed. The filly bounced a few times, letting herself fall onto her side after a few. She sank in after a moment, making Jason wonder just how soft the bed was. He dropped the stuff he'd brought in the corner, separating Scoots' little saddlebags from the mix. "This is almost as good as clouds…" Scoots exclaimed, trying to move before she realized that she was stuck. Dash extracted the filly with a hoof, setting her on all fours. "When did you get so heavy?" She asked. "'Bout the same time I figured out I was taller than Rumble." "I hope you know how much it sucks to see you grow up, in a lot of ways." Jason said, laying down on the bed. "I can't believe how much you've changed." "Oh!" Scoots yelped. "Measure my wingspan again, Dash!" "I thought you'd forgotten about that." Dash replied, grinning. "It's been almost two months without a mention. Maybe a little more, even." "I wanted it to be an obvious change." "Fine, I'm pretty sure I have a tame measure in my stuff." Dash said, getting up. "Why?" Jason asked. "Because I like to measure things." She replied. He couldn't tell if she was joking. Either way, she walked back with a tame measure, and gestured at Scoots to spread her wings. Jason and Dash both swallowed hard, and Dash extended the metal tape, holding it at one end while Jason extended it the rest of the way. He was left with a number he couldn't compare. He didn't remember the first measurement. "Is this good?" He asked. "What is it?" Dash asked back, looking worried as well. "Three feet nine inches, give or take." He said. That seemed small, but their wingspans were ridiculous anyway. And Scoots was tiny. Dash looked relieved. "That's six better." Scoots seemed completely aware of that fact. "They did grow!" She hollered, hopping into the air with a flutter of the things. Both adults let out a sigh of relief. "Can I go show Rumble?!" Dash yawned. "Tomorrow, Scoots. It's after midnight. Growing fillies need their rest." She poked at Scoots, sending the orange foal onto her back. Dash took the opportunity to dig her hooves into her soft belly as the foal tried to push her away. "Apparently I'm going to have a rival in the sky pretty soon, huh?" Dash asked, tickling harder. "Dash! Stop, I can't-" Dash let up, allowing the filly to leave. "We'll set up your room tomorrow. Try to get some sleep." "Wait." Scoots said, trotting over to the window and parting the blinds. "Woah…" "Lights?" Jason asked, peeking through. It'd been a long time since he'd seen much of a city, and this almost made him feel as if the train had brought him back to Earth. "God, that's a sight I've missed for a while." "Familiar?" Dash asked. "A little." He replied. "If we ever get back to Earth, we'll have to make it a point to see New York at some point. It's spectacular." "Didn't you say you lived near some other big cities?" "Yeah, I guess." He said with a shrug. "But San Francisco is just a blip on the radar compared to New York. When this is all over, we should make a bucket list." "We should. I'm sure there's a lot that I could show you around Equestria as well." "I'd like that." Jason replied, pulling himself into bed. "Now stop stalling Scoots. Bed." He watched her trot by and disappear into the other room. Dash shook her head. "I do not have that kind of energy." "Only occasionally." Jason replied, grabbing her with a hoof and pulling the cyan mare into a hug. "I can still be angry if I hug you back, right?" She asked, as Jason threw some covers over her. "We'll discuss it tomorrow." Jason replied, reaching to one side to turn off the bedside lamp. "Night, Dash." "Watch me almost remember this in the morning." She replied quietly. Jason chuckled. "And so my entire strategy for ending arguments is laid out." "I have trouble staying angry when I'd much rather sleep against you." "I would act smug, but I'm kinda the same way." Jason replied, closing his eyes and pulling her tighter against himself. He felt himself drift into sleep quickly, happy thoughts passing through his mind for a change. He had a lot to be thankful for, and at the moment he found himself able to push such things to the forefront of his mind. For the first time in a while, he shared a dream without strife or trials, one expressing the joys of what he had accomplished, and what he still dreamed to do. He felt optimistic, confident in himself and his team. Confident in his luck, skill and friends, and the ability they had to pull him through. The final ark of drama was just beginning, and while he didn't know where it would take him, he knew where he would end up. Just like this, with Dash and Scoots, a team full of guys he loved like brothers. And most importantly, peace of mind. Today marked the beginning of the end.