//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: The War Wagon // Story: Newborn Mare // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// “Look, I’m only gonna say it once!” Dash said, raising her hooves in the air. I grinned. “Oh? Say what, Dash?” I asked, innocent as can be. “I’m super jealous! There! Happy?” I chuckled. “Now, Dash. Why’d y’all be jealous?” I asked, shifting in my seat so it faced her more squarely. “Because, you have a working version of Captain America’s shield,” she said, pointing at me. “I mean. Come. On! How cool is that?!” I looked at the shield leaning against me. True to her word, Stephanie really did have something like Barricade Safety’s shield in her apartment: a film quality replica of Captain America’s shield. It even had one of those little certificates, “verifying its authenticity.” As Al sped us toward Discord, Twilight had talked Raritony through laying the spell on the shield. The second Raritony finished the spell, she nearly dropped the thing. As it turned out, the spell made the shield more like what everyone knew, and everyone knew that shield was heavy. Since I was the strongest, and had the surest hooves, I became designated shield-carrier. A fact that galled Dash to no end. “Won’t lie,” I said, smirking. “It’s pretty freaking cool.” “It better be,” Twilight’s voice said, in my ear. “It’s now effectively the shield from legend, or in this case, the movies and comic books, powered by humanity’s belief in it as THE shield.” In addition to getting the shield for us, Stephanie had also set everypony up with earpieces so Twilight, Erishy, and Pinkie could stay in contact. It worked well, so far, even if it got a little confusing when the girls at the hospital started talking amongst themselves. Still, it was better with us all in touch. “I told you I had it covered,” Stephanie said, securing her bodycam. “Sorry I didn’t have more.” “No,” Twilight said. “Just the one is probably best. If there were two, it’d diminish the spell’s power. See, sympathetic magic is-” “Can the lecture, Twi?” Dash asked. “I’m trying to get in my awesome-headspace, and it’s tough enough when RJ has the really cool thing that I don’t.” “Ya still doing that Earth-style mental shielding thing?” I said. “Hey, it’s Discord. If Pinkie’s plan doesn’t work out, I want a backup,” Dash said. “It’s okay, Dashie! I’m not offended. I’m only mostly sure my plan’ll work, too,” Pinkie piped in. “But I am totally sure I’m gonna take another nap, now.” Snoring sounded through our earpieces. I heard Sam whine worryingly. “That’s really starting to freak me out,” I commented. “Seconded,” Dash said. “I’ll, um, talk to the next doctor who comes in,” Erishy said. “Maybe they can run some tests?” “Yeeeeeah,” Twilight drawled, sarcastically. “Because running tests on Pinkie Pie worked so well for me, last time.” “She has Reid merged with her now. Maybe she’s more testable?” Erishy said. “Oooooo! Good point,” Twilight replied. “Ugh, now I wish I had my equipment with me.” “How’re we on time?” I asked, trying to refocus us on what was about to happen. “Fifteen minutes left, by May’s phone,” Stephanie responded. “Great, great,” I said. “You sure about this place, Steph?” “As sure as we can get,” Stephanie replied. “Out of everywhere in the city, this building has the most chaos manifestations near it. Then they spread out in this… kind of wobbly-looking circle.” Raritony chuckled. “Even in chaos, Discord makes a bit of order. It must gall him so.” “Or he gets off on it,” I said, shrugging. “Everything looks good on my end,” Stephanie said. “Are you ready for the body camera feed, Twilight?” “Erishy’s almost done plugging things in- Sir, we appreciate your help, but my friend does know what she’s doing.” I snickered. Twilight had been just as flummoxed as the rest of us when Erishy volunteered to hook up the equipment for the remote body cam. Raritony had even suggested we call her MacGuyver, from here on out. But, now Twilight was acting like Erishy had been in IT support for their entire friendship. I won’t lie, it was a relief to hear us rolling with these changes in each other. “And, Erishy says we’re all set on this end. Turn on your camera, Stephanie,” Twilight said. “Camera on,” Stephanie replied.” “Nothing yet… Hey! Yep, there it is!” Twilight sighed, audibly. “That’s a huge relief.” Stephanie smiled, turning to face us. Dash waved at the camera on her shoulder. “Hey Twilight!” she said. “Hey Dash,” Twilight responded, with a giggle. Stephanie turned back around, and her good humor faded. “Alright, my little ponies,” she said. “We’re here.” We rolled to a stop across the street from a massive, silver skyscraper. At ground level, it blended in with the other concrete and steel behemoths around it. Looking up, we saw a loose circle of candy-pink clouds, dancing what looked like a samba around the building. A more ominous looking, darker pink-purple cloud hovered directly above it. Al was the first out of the car. He jogged back to the fleet that had followed us and started barking orders at the men and women in tactical gear. Stephanie, Dash, Raritony, and I just stared up at the building. “I really hope the elevator works,” I said. Dash snorted. “Eh. Who needs it?.” “Excuse me for being born with sense, instead of wings,” I shot back. Dash snickered and punched my foreleg, lightly. “Tactical will set up a floor below you,” Al said, re-joining our group. “No. They stay down here,” Stephanie said, checking her gun for the umpteenth time. “This is Discord. All our intel says extreme caution. And I’ve watched the show, so I’m adding extra healthy paranoia on top of that.” “Stephanie,” Al said, smiling at Stephanie like she was joking. “You’re kidding right? Protocol for this sort of thing means we follow you all the way up, and establish a tight perimeter.” Sighing, Stephanie turned to her partner, brows pushed together. “Look, Al. I have to be the only one going in, as support. Can you imagine what that maniac could do with a whole squad at his disposal?” “You know what he could do to you, without it? Dammit Steph!” Al snapped. Stephanie jerked back, as did the rest of us. Several of the tactical squad slowed their preparations, obviously eavesdropping. Raritony, Dash, and I tried to take a healthy interest in anything but our FBI escort, but we were too close. We had a front row seat to the whole show. “We talked about this. We. Have. Talked,” Al said, leaning toward her with his hands on his hips. “And every time, you tell me, you… promise me, you’ll stick to protocol. Protocol that we have for a goddamn reason!” “Yeah, Al. Protocol for dealing with murderers, cults, psychos- human stuff,” Stephanie shot back. “Not chaos gods, magic, and talking freaking ponies!” She waved her hands in our general direction, but I doubt she actually saw us. “So you’re just gonna... cowboy up again,” Al said. “After everything that’s happened.” He shook his head. “Jesus, Steph. This isn’t a bunker of gun nuts, this is- I don’t even know what this is! What I do know is that ever since this whole thing started, you’ve been falling back on all your old habits. All of them. You’re gonna get in hot water, again! That’s if you don’t get killed!” “Al, don’t you get it? We don’t have protocol for this,” Stephanie said, exasperated. “You guys set up right underneath Discord, and he will turn you into a conga line of flamingos, dancing out the nearest 33rd story window. He could turn me into a yodeling rhino, for all I know!” “Which is why you need backup!” Al shouted. “Which is why I am the backup!” Stephanie shouted back. Chests heaving, Stephanie and Al glared at each other. “Look, guys…” I ventured. “Maybe now ain’t the time for-” Stephanie held up a hand, palm out to me. “This is between me and Al, RJ.” Nodding, I stepped back by Raritony and Dash. They made awkward faces at me; I whole-heartedly agreed with them. “Al,” Stephanie said, voice softer. “It’s just too dangerous. And there’s too much at stake. We need to give Discord fewer targets, not more. Please. I’m begging you on this.” Al’s lids hooded and he leaned back from Stephanie. “Alright,” he said, voice a bit tight. “Convince me.” “If things go sideways up there, I need to know a second line is waiting,” Stephanie said. “I need to know someone will be there to give this guy hell.” She stared at Al. “Al, you’ve been with me this whole ride. I don’t trust anyone else more. But, if you’re a floor below me, following protocol, I’m worrying about you. Because Discord likes nothing more than messing with the rules. And what’s protocol, but rules? Trust me, okay?” “She’s right,” Raritony piped up. Al looked at her. “You can’t treat Discord like… well, like something rational, “she continued. “He isn’t.” “He makes everything crazy,” Dash added. “And you guys’d… well, you’d kinda be an easy target. No offense.” Al frowned. He looked at me. “Well? You got your two cents?” I shrugged one shoulder. “Like I said back at the hospital. Keep it simple. You put a backup team up there, it ain’t as simple, and it’s more folks could get hurt. Sorry, Al. That’s the truth.” “Al, please,” Stephanie said. It drew his gaze back to her. “Stay down here, and hold the perimeter with the backup team. Because if we go down...” She shrugged. Al sighed, and rested his hands on his hips. He looked up. “Goddammit,” he muttered. He looked back at Stephanie. “Alright. Fine. But I’m going on record that I don’t like this.” “There’s a lot of that to go around,” Twilight said. “Thanks, Al,” Stephanie said, smiling gratefully. He waved her off, facing the squad, who watched him. Raising his eyebrows, he yelled, “Well, you all eavesdropped enough. You know what to do! Do it!” They scrambled, which got a laugh out of me. “Worse than a freaking sitcom,” Al grumbled. Turning back to Stephanie, he said, “Intel says nobody’s come, or gone, from this building since everything started.” “Well. That doesn’t make me feel any better,” she said, cinching her bulletproof vest tight around her. “Or me. It’s not supposed to,” Al replied. “Be safe in there, Chase.” “Don’t let any bad guys out, Beharie,” Stephanie said. They smiled at one another, and parted ways. Al striding purposefully toward the tactical teams, as Stephanie came to join our group. “Sorry about that,” she said, looking sheepish. Raritony shrugged one shoulder, and smiled reassuringly. “It’s fine, darling,” she said. “Pre-Discord-fight jitters and all.” “Yeah,” Dash agreed, flying up to pat her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You had to make things right with your bud- we get it.” Stephanie grinned at us lopsidedly. “Can I go on save the world missions with you guys all the time?” “Sure thing,” I said, sliding the shield onto my back. “We’ll even get ya a brightly colored t-shirt that says ‘honorary pony’ on it, so bad guys don’t get confused. Now, c’mon. We’re dallying.” Unholstering her weapon and holding it at ready position, Stephanie nodded. I took the lead with Raritony and Dash just a little behind me. Stephanie watched our backs. We crossed the quiet street without incident. The dancing parking meter didn’t so much as look at us. I took it as a good sign, and lengthened my stride. I peered through the floor to ceiling windows near the revolving door, and saw a normal-enough looking lobby. There was a bank of elevators, and a large, wooden security desk. Just the first stop before we were face to face with Discord again. “A-hem.” I turned to Raritony, who was looking at me expectantly. Dash was grinning next to her. “What?” I said. “I’m not trying to delay us any further, but… you do have the shield, RJ,” Raritony said. “And, well, you did perform that marvelous speech, back when we were fleeing the bunker.” “Yeah! Raritony told me all about it,” Dash added, excitedly. “C’mon. I wanna hear a stirring RJ speech.” Twilight cleared her throat. “You know, a few… well-placed words would help further the magic in the shield…” Sighing, I rolled my eyes and tilted my hat back so I could see everyone better. “Alright y’all. This is it,” I said, meeting each of their eyes. “I don’t like speeches. None of us like  Discord. Let’s go kick his ass.” Turning, I strode purposefully toward the door. “Not exactly ‘let slip the dogs of war,’” Raritony commented, not quite aside. “You kidding? That was awesome,” Dash said, flying just above and behind me. “Total Commander Hurricane material.” Stephanie snorted. “Go Team Applejack.” And with that rousing support, I led us inside.