• Published 3rd May 2013
  • 12,927 Views, 946 Comments

The Dusk Guard Saga: Rise - Viking ZX



Steel Song is a lot of things. Earth pony. Uncle. Professional bodyguard. Retired. So when he receives a mysterious package from Princess Luna, he's understandably apprehensive. Things are never as they seem in Equestria...

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Operation - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hunter groaned out loud as he read over the report. Nothing, he thought as he looked at the scant pages. Absolutely nothing.

Well, he was forced to admit after a moment. Not entirely nothing. They had the warehouse where the golems had been coming from, and three more golems had been recovered. But as far as clues to the identity of whoever was running this little ring? Nothing.

The Night Guard had done a great job in Baltimare. A pair of pegasi had flown out of Canterlot the same night they’d had their tangle with the first golem, bearing the addresses they’d gotten from the ERS. The address on the shipping manifests had led them to a warehouse district in the southern section of the city. 322 Palomine Street, he thought as he read the report. Warehouse was empty, containing nothing of value. Inspection team found splinters of wood and a golem. Golem deactivated, examined. Hunter nodded to himself as he read over a quick description of the golem. It sounded functionally identical to the one that their team had engaged. They’d get a better report later, but for now he’d assume it was.

The warehouse had been rented, although the owner hadn’t been able to tell them anything about who had rented it. The lease had been handled remotely, the payments delivered by via unmarked envelopes, and he’d never once had contact with whoever actually used the property. He was able to put them in contact with a local delivery company that had been responsible for hauling the golem-crates to the nearest railway station, but the situation was similar. All their work orders had been paid in cash, submitted remotely, and the crates had been waiting out front when the crew arrived. Deliveries were handled the same way, the team simply picked up the crates at the station, transported them to the warehouse, and left them outside as instructed.

Unsurprisingly, the name on the lease and the delivery forms was completely fabricated, as was the address associated with it. The closest that the Guard had been able to determine from the paper used was that it had only been handled by a unicorn, which given the magical state of the golems they had encountered, only cemented the idea that a unicorn was in fact associated with the project.

Hunter finished the report and slid away across the desk. The next report down was from Los Pegasus. Again, the Royal Guard had done good work, and again the scenario was almost identical to the report from Baltimare. The crates had been picked up from the railway station by a local company that was operating under advance pay and instructions that were regularly delivered to their office, but always during closing hours. The result was much the same as well. They would deliver the crate to a rented warehouse—again rented in the same manner—and then a few days later pick up the crate and put it back on the train. When asked if they’d ever noticed anything unusual about the crate, the team had replied that it often seemed like it hadn’t moved, but as they’d sent different workers every time, it was rare that they were able to agree on that.

Hunter shifted through the rest of the reports. They all read similarly. False identities were used, each of them different. In each case the warehouse rented was empty, nothing more than a shell that held the golem. In several locations the Guard had staked out the warehouse, taking care to keep their investigations secret in hopes of catching somepony arriving over the next few days, but that would take time.

Plus, Hunter reflected as he set the last report down, with two other golems already plucked from the railways and the one found at the origin point in Baltimare, he doubted they would catch anyone. It wouldn’t hurt to try, and they could always get lucky, but anypony that went through this much trouble to stay out of sight probably wasn’t going to miss the report of a monster attack on the trains hitting every newspaper in Equestria. The newsponies got quicker everyday, and many newspapers had lightning quick marathon pegasi on their payrolls whose only job was to get news from one town to the other as quickly as possible. The golem’s masters had probably known about their cover being blown before the Guard had even found the warehouses.

No, they probably wouldn’t catch anypony. Then again, it couldn’t hurt, and they could get lucky. He leaned back in his chair, mind working to digest the different info he’d taken in. Steel wanted him to put the pieces together and track down whoever was behind this. It wasn’t quite woodland's tracking, but who was to say that his talent was just for the forests? He peered at the cutie mark on his flank. Tracking was just a matter of reading the signs. So what signs do we have here? He leaned back in his chair, looking down at his desk.

Music always helps me relax, he thought after a moment. He rose to his hooves, trotting across his small office towards the back wall where two instruments lay. Hunter stood there for a moment, deciding between the two instruments, and then picked up the strap of his saxophone in his teeth.

Tossing himself back in his seat, he put his lips over the mouthpiece, tapped his tongue against the reed, and started to play. Nothing complex, nothing he’d learned, just notes. A soft slow groove to help him think. One more reason to be grateful for the soundproofing Sky Bolt built into this place, he thought as the long notes filled the room. I don’t have anypony busting my door down to complain about this.

So what do we have, and what can we draw from it with this case? he thought as his hooves moved up and down the sax. He hit a wrong note and grimaced at the discordance, shifting his hooves accordingly.

Well, everything was carried out with as little contact as possible, he thought, running through a scale with his sax. The leases and shipments were all done through paperwork, with no face-to-face contact. So either the group wanted intense anonymity, or they were short hooved. Come to think of it ... He leaned forward, his eyes running over the various papers.

Bingo! The payments! He pulled the sax away from his mouth for a moment, eyes focused. The payments at the place in Baltimare were made biweekly, but the payments at the other places were made bimonthly. He sat back, sax again humming out notes. So it’s probably a small operation, otherwise they’d be making the far off payments more regularly.

He let the notes from his sax flow around him, cocooning him in a comforting sound. So if the only place that was paid biweekly was Baltimare, then they’re probably operating out of there, or at least nearby. It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it was something. His ear twitched as another thought occurred to him, and he set his saxophone aside for a moment, opening a drawer and pulling out the railway timetables he’d spent so much time pouring over. He picked up a pen, looking back and forth from the schedule to the reports and making little annotations.

“Crikey,” he said, sitting back. It all lined up. Every single payment outside of Baltimare had been made on a day when a connecting train had come in, the dates lining up cleanly enough that he could have drawn a map. The payments to the warehouse in Canterlot had come first each time, followed by Los Pegasus, Tall Tale, and Vanhoover on the western coast, and then looping over to Manehatten and Hollow Shades.

“Alright,” he said, sitting back and considering their next move. We’ve got a small team from the look of it, working out of Baltimare and using the railway as their method of both theft and transit. The problem was that Baltimare was a big place, one of the larger cities in Equestria, and home to a lot of industry. Between Horseshoe Bay being a major harbor for shipping—almost as much as Manehatten—as well as producing quite a few crops and metals, there was no shortage of places to look.

Or to hide. Hunter frowned as he sat back. The team might have even tipped their hoof already, between the news and the golems they’d secured. Whoever they were after could just vanish, pull up their entire operation and disappear.

Or could they? He could always cross-check the rail records and see if there were any consistent passengers from Baltimare on the dates he’d found. That could be a lead. There was the profitability angle as well. That could make it tricky to hide.

From what they’d seen, the only profitable theft so far had been the crystals from the caverns, and there was already an alert out on those. It would be difficult to sell them even in most international markets, not at a price that would make it worth the hassle. If they just up and vanished now, they were most likely taking a loss. Unless they’d already gotten the cavern crystals out of the country. But then why keep expanding the robberies? Robberies had increased after the Crystal Caverns had been robbed, which meant more golems, which meant a loss. So it still didn’t make sense, unless the robberies were somehow profitable. Which they weren’t under any circumstance he knew of.

So what else can they be up to? he thought, notes tumbling from his saxophone, forming a jazzy, unguided tune that meandered almost as much as his mind. Maybe if I took a step back, he thought, like Fetlock Holmes did in all his books. What was it he said? He scrunched his eyes up as he tried to remember the famous quote. Right. “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Well, he thought, hooves gliding up and down the saxophone. There’s definitely room for that here.

It was impossible that the thefts were making any sort of real profit. And they hadn’t been trying for a museum job, at least not that anyone could tell. They’d left too much evidence of their passing at the museum for anypony rational to attempt that again, so that was out. And the Crystal Caverns crystal still hadn’t shown up anywhere that the Guard had eyes or ears. So their motive can’t be money, he thought. At least, not in any immediate gain. So what else could be motivation here?

Could someone be testing the golems? Seeing what they were capable of? He shook his head, dismissing the idea almost as quickly as it had come. No, something like that would be much easier done out of the public eye, not in it, and even if the golems had stripped them of their funds, there were plenty of places to test the golems. He snorted and rolled his eyes. Tartarus, they could just use one of the warehouses they’d rented. No, that idea was out.

What about economic? He thought back to some of the conversations he’d heard at the diplomatic dinner. As near as he could tell, the ERS was a backbone of the Equestrian economy, providing everything from cheap transport to bulk shipping. The string of thefts had been negatively affecting their bottom line and their stock, and if enough ponies balked from a company that was suffering theft after theft, the results could send Equestria’s economy into a tailspin.

Then again, it would take more than just a few thefts. ERS would need to go completely bankrupt for such a scheme to work, and a number of other companies would need to suffer drawbacks at the same time. Complexity on such a scale would require the backing of maybe a government, and Hunter couldn’t think of any national neighbors who would harbor that kind of ill-will towards Equestria, or stand to benefit from it. The closest neighbor he could think of that even had somewhat less than glorious relations at the moment was Saddle Arabia, and they saw subterfuge as dishonorable. He’d put more stock in Diamond Dog tribes being behind it than the honorable Saddle Arabians.

So that one was incredibly unlikely, which meant that the scheme had to be local. What other motivations would there be? The only outcomes so far to the thefts had been a slightly panicky public, lower stock options, a call for Celestia and Luna to step down—

He sat up, ears erect. Stocks were down, the company was in a bind, and one stallion had been calling for the Princesses to sell their shares! “It fits,” he said, setting his saxophone aside and looking down at the papers spread out across from him. “Golden Spike hires somepony to build the golems for him, sends his own company into a downward spin, and then buys up additional stock when the rest of the backers force the Princesses to withdraw.”

He sat back, stunned. It was bold. Risky even. Everypony at the diplomatic dinner knew how ruthless Golden Spike had become with his business acquisitions, the connection wasn’t exactly hard to make. But connections and actual proof … He frowned. Even if it was an appealing idea, it was just that. An idea, one that seemed questionable even looking back at it. Would somepony ever be that desperate? There were plenty of other ways to buy your way into a company, after all. Golden Spike didn’t seem short of funds.

He shook his head and picked up his sax once more. There had to be more to to it. Besides, while it fit some of the criteria for the thefts, it definitely didn’t fit all of them. Why would Golden Spike steal from the Crystal Caverns? What was the business tycoon going to do with multiple tons of magically reactive magical crystal? He certainly couldn’t use it with any of his businesses. Nor could Hunter think of a single reason why the businesscolt would attempt to rob a museum.

He began to play again, notes sliding out of the saxophone, this time recognizable as a faintly jazzy tune he’d heard performed once in a club, although he couldn’t remember the name. Something about time and hallways by some performers called One Up? He shook his head as the tune flowed out. The music is for focus, Hunter, he berated himself. Stay on task.

He sank back in his chair, eyes closed, mind alert. What about a revenge scheme? he thought, giving the idea the barest bit of a chance before shooting it down. Too misdirected, not enough actual revenge, unless someone hates a baggage handler. And there’d be a lot better ways to go about it.

Crystal market price fluctuation? He shook his head. Not a chance. The kinds of material that had been stolen were nothing somepony could influence the market with. Even in much more massive quantities, Hunter couldn’t see it.

But what if it was Golden Spike? Hunter frowned as the thought came up again. He’d have to move in the next few days, before the initial panic wore off concerning the golem. Once word got around that the thefts' source had been found, the wariness that had sprung up around the ERS would start to fade.

In fact, it didn’t exactly have to be Golden Spike, either. There were quite a few wealthy shareholders on the ERS board, several of them wealthy noble families with enough funding to at least purchase portions of the Princesses' shares. According to the few papers Hunter had perused, Golden seemed to have an unofficial alliance with many of them, or if nothing else a sympathy vote, as many of the newspapers had learned that only two votes—Mint and Radiant—had been against ousting the Princesses and their stock.

“Alright then,” Hunter said, sitting up and placing his sax carefully to one side. “Assuming that profit is the motive ...” he let his voice trail off. It was still a pretty far-fetched idea, especially for somepony like Golden Spike. But with the Royal Guard on their side, they could afford to do a little digging. Maybe see if he’d ever been accused of dirty business dealings in the past. Blackmail, extortion, or maybe backdoor dealings. Uncommon in Equestria, thankfully enough, but they still happened from time to time. If anything like that was associated with Golden, there’d be a record of it somewhere.

Hunter pulled a slip of paper from his desk and began the arduous task of copying down all the associated information into a more condensed form he could give to Steel. Minutes ticked past as he checked and double-checked his information, laying out his theory and each connecting point. At last, he sat back with a sigh, the pen dropping from his mouth as he looked up at the clock. Almost ten, he thought. I’ve been at this for almost two hours.

He sighed as he thought about how much he still had to do. He still needed to take Dawn and find out more about the enchanted crystals that were powering the golems. He felt a small shudder pass through his body. He didn’t like the idea that those golems might be driving somepony mad. The golems were bad enough, but somepony going insane?

Hunter grabbed his report in his teeth and headed for the door. Time to find Steel and pass this theory on, then I need to grab Dawn and—oh horseapples, I forgot about my lunch with Thistle! He frowned, mind working to find some way he could excuse himself from his work.

Drat it all, I’m going to have to bail on her, he thought as he headed out the door. Hope she understands.

* * *

Dawn gritted her teeth as Sabra’s hoof slipped past her defenses again, the light tap pushing her off balance and sending her tumbling to the grass. “How do you manage that?” she asked in frustration as she pushed herself up. “That’s the fifth time you’ve slipped past my guard.”

“Your balance is off,” Sabra replied, holding his body in the same position that he had been in when he’d pushed her over. “Kwato Mpole is about balance, as is Maji Kwato.

“I thought I was balanced,” Dawn said, leaning her weight onto her rear hooves and lifting her front hooves from the ground.

Sabra shook his head. “You are now,” he said, shifting his weight. “But when I strike ...” His foreleg pushed out. Dawn adjusted her hooves, catching the foreleg between then and—Sabra gave a small push to one side with his captured leg, and Dawn toppled over for a sixth time.

“This is becoming embarrassing,” Dawn said, climbing to her feet again. “I swear by Celestia’s mane, I used to be good at this.”

“Your form isn’t bad,” Sabra said calmly, balancing himself on one hoof. “But your balance is. When I strike, you shift your body, and lose your center. To properly execute Kwato Mpole, one must have perfect balance.”

“Alright then,” Dawn said, drawing herself up. “How do I go about achieving perfect balance?”

The door to the barracks slammed open behind her and Hunter rushed out. As usual, he had his silly looking Stetson on his head, the dark brown surface clashing with the dry straw of his mane. He also had a mouthful of paper, and he was looking around and blinking against the morning sun.

“Have either of you seen Steel?” he asked, his voice muffled.

“He went to speak with Captain Armor of the Royal Guard,” Sabra said, still balancing on one hoof.

“Ah, ok,” Hunter mumbled, his head darting left and right. “Guess I’ll try the Royal Guard barracks then, thanks.” The pegasus took wing, rocketing away into the morning sunlight as he flew off.

“I wonder what that was all about?” Dawn said, looking back at the Zebra.

Sabra shrugged. “I’m sure we will know soon enough.” He cocked his head to one side. “So, shall we practice balance?” Dawn nodded, and Sabra dropped to all four hooves. “Now,” he said, drawing one leg up. “To begin, do as I do,”

Dawn followed, her thoughts already focused back on her practice.

* * *

“Golden Spike?” Steel said with surprise, looking up from the that Hunter had handed him. “You think it’s him?”

Hunter shook his head, mane flipping around his shoulders. “Not for certain,” he admitted. “It’s just a theory. But as I see it, he stands to gain the most financially from the thefts.”

“It can’t be him,” Captain Armor said, drawing Steel’s attention back to the unicorn whose office they were all seated in. “We already checked. Unless he’s hiding well enough to avoid a Guard investigation, its not him.”

“You already checked?” Steel looked across Captain Armor’s desk. “Why’d you do that?”

Armor sighed. “Because he’s been accused of dirty dealing before, and every time he’s come up clean.”

“Who by?” Hunter asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all,” Armor said with a smile. “It’s a good instinct. Anyway, usually he was accused by old business rivals,” he said with a wave of his hoof. “Ponies that he’s bested in the market or taken over. He’s actually been subject to several unofficial investigations, and one official, but in every case he comes up clean. But ponies keep accusing him, about once a year like clockwork.”

“If he’s clean, why all the accusations?” Steel asked, his brow furrowed.

“Simple jealousy,” Armor said with a shrug. “Golden’s a bit of a rising star in the business world, and he’s done that because he’s good at being a businesspony. He offers ponies deals that are really good, and then they take them, only to find that they weren’t as good as they thought because the market's just gone into a slide, or the price just doubled, or something like that. But when it comes down to it, he’s straight as an arrow.”

“Huh,” Hunter said, sitting leaning back in one of the office's plush purple chairs. The whole office had a royal purple-and-white theme going to it, the design of which made Steel feel like his own office was downright spartan with its muted browns and wooden tones. Even Armor’s desk looked more alive, decorated with picture frames of friends and family, and of course most prominently his wife.

“So who made the official complaint?” Hunter asked after a moment.

“Two other members of the ERS board actually,” Armor said, leaning forward. “It was one of the first big investigations we had after I was promoted to Captain. I saw them at the diplomatic dinner the other day. Mint Tam and Radiant Twist.”

“Wait, those two?” Hunter said, ears standing up. “I talked with them, they seemed pretty nice. What was the complaint about?”

Armor shrugged. “Same as all the others mostly. They just accused him of using dirty dealings to steal a good chunk of their father’s share in the company and driving him to an early retirement via illness.”

“Did any of it hold up?” Steel asked.

Armor shook his head, one hoof on his helm where it rested on his desk. “No. The investigation was quite clear on that. Golden gave Greenback—their father—a good deal. One that at the time, at least as the judge explained it to us, was pretty fair. He simply couldn’t take advantage of it all, and ended up losing out. Golden gave him a straight deal, one that required an equal amount from both him and Greenback, but Greenback couldn’t keep up with it and ended up having to sell half his share in the company to Golden, and then he left the rest to his daughters when he retired.”

“So when Mint and Radiant are blocking his attempts to get Celestia and Luna to sell their stock, they might not be doing it to defend the Princesses,” Hunter said. “They might just be looking to stop Golden’s expansion.”

“I can’t say much about that,” Armor said, spreading his hooves in front of him and shaking his head. “But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it. Mint and Radiant, from what I remember, are both quite shrewd themselves. Also ...” he said, leaning forward and motioning towards them with his hoof. “This is off the record, but I wouldn’t put it past them to be holding a grudge towards him. They pushed for his investigation pretty hard.”

“Doesn’t sound like anypony could blame them.” Steel said, thinking of his own parents.

“No, not really,” Armor said. “But back to the point, if it was going to be somepony inside the ERS that was behind this, I wouldn’t expect it to be Golden. And not just because we already checked. From what my officers have told me, Golden is a very hooves-on type of pony. He’d have to be in the thick of it.”

“This is exactly why we need a closer intelligence network,” Steel said, drawing the conversation back to what he and Armor had been discussing when Hunter had arrived. “Had we known about that to begin with, we might have come up with completely different ideas.”

Captain Armor nodded at him. “Yeah. I’ll talk to Star Shot tonight and see what she says, but I think you’re right. A central intelligence division that serves all three divisions would keep us from juggling information.”

“Exactly,” Steel said, looking down at the small note that had kicked off the entire conversation. “And the less of that the better.”

“So what about Mint and Radiant?” Hunter asked, drawing the two Guard Captain’s attentions back to him.

“What about them?” Steel asked.

“Well,” Hunter said, shifting his head to one side as if he wasn’t quite sure he should be speaking up. “If the best profit motive I can find for the crimes is for someone to be taking over the company when the stock is cheap, wouldn’t those two fit into it?”

Steel shook his head. “Wouldn’t work.” Both Armor and Hunter looked at him in surprise.

“Why not?” Hunter asked.

“Simple,” Steel said. “Golden, by virtue of some process I don’t understand, has first choice of any stock that comes up for sale. They’d only be helping him gain more control of the company, and they’d know that.”

“Oh,” Hunter said, sitting back with a look of disappointment on his muzzle.

“Don’t feel too bad, Lieutenant,” Armor said. “You’ve suggested what took my own Guard a few days to work through, and I never even heard them suggest that Twist and Mint could have been behind it.”

“Doesn’t hold water though,” Hunter said with a shake of his head. “Well, back to going starkers trying to figure it all out.”

“You should ask Nova if he’s got any ideas,” Steel suggested. Hunter shook his head.

“I already did,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Punk told me if it was past selling things for profit then he was out of ideas. Well,” he said, tipping his hat. “If you don’t mind ...” his voice trailed off as something on the desk caught his eye.

“Hang on a mo,” he said, stepping forward and looking down at the open folder on the desk. “That’s the note I got that turned me onto the crystals.” He turned, looking up at Steel. “And another note with that same sign. You guys know who it was?”

“Well,” Steel said, mentally drawing himself up. “Sort of. As it turns out—” he began to explain, watching as Hunter’s expression grew more and more dumbfounded.

“So,” he said as he finished. “As you can imagine now we really need to know what’s going on, because if the last note is anything to go by, these robberies are important. Somehow. Possibly not in the way we think.”

“Well,” Hunter said, a stunned look on his face. “I’ll be gobsmacked. As if I didn’t think this was important enough already, now you’re telling me that it might just involve the fate of Equestria?”

“Maybe,” Captain Armor said, leaning forward. “I’ll admit I have a hard time seeing it myself.”

“Huh...” Hunter said, still looking slightly dazed. “I guess I’ll get back to work. Maybe I should take a closer look at one of my other ideas.” He snapped a quick salute. “Permission to go chase a new starkers theory, boss?”

“Granted,” Steel said, returning the salute and watching as Hunter trotted out of the room. Then he looked down at the report Hunter had left, still sitting in front of him. “Well,” he said, standing. “That should go for me as well, I need to go see how my mechanic is getting along with a few projects.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to Star Shot tonight—we’re having an officers meeting anyway—and get back to you tomorrow morning. I do have one question though, if you don’t mind, Captain.”

“Not at all,” Steel said, slipping the report into his saddlebags. “What do you need to know?”

“Where,” Captain Armor said, staring at the door, “did your Lieutenant get such an interesting accent?”

* * *

“Are you sure this is going to work this time?” Nova asked, eyeing the boxy helmet with uncertainty.

“Better than last time if nothing else,” Sky Bolt said, tapping the helmet with her hoof to make certain the epoxy had set.

“That doesn’t exactly reassure me,” Nova said, fighting the urge to back away. “I’m getting tired of being a test subject.”

“Oh come on.” Sky Bolt said, letting out a short laugh. “It’s not that bad.”

“Says you,” Nova shot back, rolling his eyes. “You’re not the one who’s been wearing the darn things.”

“Well, we need to test them on you,” Sky Bolt said, picking the helmet up. Nova clenched his jaw, one ear twitching as the latest helmet dropped down around his horn and over his head. “Besides, it’s hardly safe for me either. You almost cut me when you chucked that last prototype.”

“Again, not my fault. It made me angry. And I was already on edge after the one before it.” Nova said, stepping back as the crystal helmet settled.

“You mean the one that made you break down in tears?” Sky Bolt teased, grinning at him.

“Yes.” Nova said, his voice and ears both flat. “That one. Thank you ever so much for reminding me about it. Because I’d forgotten, but really wanted to remember.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Sky Bolt gave him an embarrassed grin. “I should probably stop taunting you when you’re wearing a test helmet anyway,” she said, backing up. “You know, just in case it’s not working yet. Don’t want to get turned into a frog.”

Nova rolled his eyes. “Sun’s still up. Most likely I’d just set your mane on fire.” Sky Bolt gave a nervous laugh and ducked behind a workbench, wings visible for a moment before they folded and vanished from sight.

“Anything yet?” she called out, her voice echoing across the shop space.

“Aside from a little annoyance that we’re still at this? And maybe at the fact that you’re hiding? No,” Nova said. “Nothing.” He paused for a moment, the heavy crystal weighing down on against his head. “Wait,” he said after a moment. “I think I feel something.” He paused. “Yep, definitely feel something.” He stood in silence, waiting.

“Well, what is it?” Sky Bolt called out in frustration. “Are you sad? Angry? Anxious?”

“I’m—I’m—I’m sweating!” He let his voice go silent.

Sky Bolt poked her head up over the edge of the workbench, eyes wide at first, but then as she saw him they narrowed. “What?” she asked as he started laughing.

What do you mean what?” Nova said, shifting the helmet against his damp mane with his free hoof. “I really am sweaty, this workshop is getting hot.”

“So you’re irritable?” Sky Bolt asked. Then she frowned. “Is that even an emotion?”

“No, I’m not irritable,” Nova said, flicking his ears at the question. “At least I think no more than normal.”

“Not feeling angry? Sad? Depressed? Enamored?” Sky Bolt asked.

“No, no, no, and what?” Nova said, pulling his head back. “No!”

“Wow, you sure know how to make a mare feel special,” Sky Bolt deadpanned as she walked closer, still scrutinizing him with her eyes. “So I can’t say it’s improved your charm.”

“Oh, hah-hah,” Nova said, rolling his eyes. “But seriously, I don’t feel any different.”

“Really?” Sky Bolt asked, looking surprised. “Well then keep it on for a bit.”

“Aw, really?” Nova said, face turning down in disappointment. “For how long?”

Sky Bolt shrugged. “It shouldn’t take too long. All we really need to do is see if the dampening crystals I interlaced are enough to keep the emotional feedback from building up.” She tilted her head. “Since you’re not experiencing any problems yet, you could probably try using your magic again, especially if its emotion based.” Her brow furrowed. “Is magic really like that?”

“Apparently yes,” he said. “At least it’s worked for me once it was explained to me.” He took a breath, preparing to cast a simple practice spell that Luna had shown him, one designed to test how much emotion he could infuse into a ball of light. Then he paused. “Are you sure you want me to try this already?” he asked, his mind flipping back to the embarrassing break-down he’d suffered earlier.

“Yeah, I think so,” Sky Bolt said. “Last time we tried, you were already acting a little funny, but so far you seem pretty you. If you cast spells for a little while—say ten minutes—without problems, we should be good.”

“Are you sure?” Nova asked, nervous as he watched his horn light with a familiar yellow glow.

“Well yeah, if you’re not wigging out or even feeling funky in ten minutes, then any rebound effect you’re getting is small enough that you’re coping with it.”

“Not really what I meant,” Nova said as he increased the small amount of power he was sending to his horn. “But ok, here goes.” He could feel a small nervous pit gnawing at him as he pushed more magic into his horn, and he couldn’t tell if he should be worried about it or not. If he was rebounding already, wouldn’t it be a natural inclination to worry? Would that just make it worse?

He focused his thoughts elsewhere as the spell began to take shape. What kind of emotion should he focus? He definitely wasn’t going to try sadness again. A small shiver ran down his spine as he remembered how quickly he’d broken down. No, he thought as the yellow ball of magic took shape in the air. I’m not going to try that one again.

Maybe laughter this time, he thought, closing his eyes and focusing on the uplifting feeling he’d gotten earlier when swapping jokes with Sky Bolt. Worried as he was, he could feel a smile crack across his face as some of the memories boiled to the surface. That’s it, he thought, focusing on the feeling that made him want to laugh. Just focus on that and— he willed the emotion into his magic, pushing it through his body in a wave. A faint tingle ran through his horn as his magic shifted in feel. Where before his magic was—well, it just was, he couldn’t really put words to it aside from being a feeling—now it felt almost buoyant.

Nova opened his eyes. An energetic looking light blue ball of light was bobbing in front of him, twitching this way and that as he tried to keep a grip on it.

“Is it supposed to be doing that?” Sky Bolt asked, eyeing the vibrating ball of energy warily.

“Yeah, I think so,” Nova said, tilting his head and moving the bright blue orb around him. “I’ve never tried this particular one before, but it feels ...” He paused for a moment. "Right. It feels right, like it worked.” He turned towards the grey pegasus. “Got any jokes?”

“Jokes?” she asked, giving him an odd look. “You sure you’re ok?”

Nova rolled his eyes. “I charged it with laughter. So far I feel fine, but I want to see if I can give it a boost.”

“I didn’t know spells needed laughter.” Sky Bolt said.

“Neither did I until just recently,” he said, watching as the blue began to fade back to his own yellow magic. “So, you got a joke?”

“Um … yeah. Alright. What do you get when a pegasus gets his coat singed off by a lightning bolt and hides in a cloud bank?”

“Um ... ” Nova said, still looking at the yellow-blue ball of light. “I don’t know?”

“A flasher fog!” Nova snickered at her words, and then chuckled as the mental image jumped to mind. Inside he could feel the swelling feeling that laughter brought, and he channeled it into his magic, grinning as the orb once again began to grow a brilliant, bright blue.

“Feel anything yet?” Sky Bolt asked, moving up next to him and looking at his eyes. “Any strange feelings or surges?”

“No, nothing yet, and I’m pumping laughter into this,” Nova said, chuckling at his own words. “That sounds really odd.” He looked back up at the bright blue orb, vibrating with a vivid energy. “These crystals can’t reflect just one emotion right? They’ll reflect anything?”

“Anything that you’re feeling.”

“Well,” Nova said, pulling his eyes away from the dancing orb. “I feel good right now, a little bit like laughing, but I’m not feeling like I was earlier.”

“Alright, well, go ahead and drop the spell and lets see what happens.” Nova complied, feeling slightly disappointed as the happy blue light vanished. “Feel any different?” Sky Bolt asked him as he stood there in silence, gaze wandering the workshop.

“No, not really,” he said after a moments introspection. “I don’t feel like breaking out in random giggles, if that’s what you mean.”

“No laughter at all?”

Nova closed his eyes, probing inward. He still felt fine, better actually than he’d felt when they’d started, but that might have been because of the missing pit of nervousness no longer chewing into his stomach. “I feel fine,” he said, opening his eyes. “No urge to break out laughing, no inexplicable giggles or feeling like everything is hilarious.” He looked at Sky Bolt and nodded. “I think it worked!”

“Really?” Sky Bolt asked, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. “So it’s a success? We’ve cured you of that awful sense of humor?”

Nova snorted. “Well, now I want to laugh, but that’s not the helmet's fault.” He gave the crystal a tap with his hoof. “So can I take this off now?” he asked as the helmet slid on his head, tapping the base of his horn. “It’s not exactly a good fit.”

Sky Bolt shook her head, her blue mane flipping around her head. “Not yet, I need to be certain. Keep it on for another few minutes.”

“Drat,” Nova said, adjusting the warm crystal against his scalp. “So am I just going to stand here for ten minutes then?”

Another shake of the head. “Naw, you can give me a hoof with some work on The Hummingbird,” Sky Bolt said, taking wing and motioning for Nova to follow her across the workshop with one hoof. “Or to be more precise, you can lend me some magic assistance, since one of your hooves is a little wrapped up right now. It’ll help with the test anyway.”

Nova shrugged. “Alright,” he said, trotting after her and over to the hull of the airship. “What do you need me to do?”

“Well,” Sky Bolt said, darting behind one of the superboilers they’d installed earlier. Thick rubber hoses were connected to it at various points, hoses she’d directed him to connect earlier while he’d been waiting for her to finish another prototype helm. The hoses had been flat then, but now they were swollen, filled with water. “Double check to make sure these hoses are turned off will you?”

Nova turned towards the far wall where the thick hoses were connected, helmet sliding around on his head. He tried to steady it with his magic, only to roll his eyes as his magic slipped off of it. “Right,” he muttered, pausing to steady the helmet with his front hoof. “Resistant.”

“What was that?” Sky Bolt called from the depths of The Hummingbird’s hull.

“Nothing,” Nova called back as he reached the box that the hoses had been coiled. With barely a thought, the large wheel valve began to glow a faint yellow, the metal creaking as Nova pushed against it. It was shut tight.

“You’re good!” he called out. “The water’s off!”

“Okay!” There was a hiss and a spray of water from the airship as one of the hoses was disconnected, snapping back to land on the concrete floor of the workshop, water emptying from its length. “Can you roll the hoses back up as I disconnect them?”

Nova nodded although he knew she couldn't see the motion. “Alright!” he called. The hoses themselves were designed to be wrapped around circular wheels for easy storage, and it was a quick matter for Nova to wind the first of the now free hoses back into its place while squeezing the water out the free end to dribble across the workshop floor.

“Alright, how are you feeling?” Sky Bolt asked, landing next to him as he finished winding the last of the hoses. “Tense? Nervous? Angry? Sad?”

Nova shook his head, causing the helmet to rattle back and forth. “Aside from some slight annoyance with how this thing fits, I feel fine.”

Sky Bolt’s face lit up in a wide smile. “Really? So the double-refraction lattice is working?”

Nova stared at her for a moment. “I have no idea if those words mean anything,” he said at last. “But I’ll assume yes.”

“Excellent!” Sky Bolt said, punching a fist into the air and then looking down at him. “Oh, you can take it off now.”

“Finally,” Nova said, lifting the helmet from his head and tucking under his foreleg. “That thing was a little too warm. The armor's not going to be like that is it?”

Sky Bolt shook her head as she reached forward, taking the helmet from him. “No, it won’t be,” she said, tilting the helmet and her head to one side to take a look at it and scowling a little when she saw the sweat on the inside. “You’ll be wearing the armor over a specialized bodysuit. The explanation is a little complex, but the bodysuit will help regulate your own magical field as well as a bunch of other things. And I didn’t design it,” she said, catching his impressed look. “Not entirely. It’s a holdover from another project that’s who knows how old. The Princesses dug it out after they heard about my armor designs. I did however, make a few modern improvements,” she said, giving a small grin.

“Anyway,” she called over her shoulder as she took wing, flying back towards the workbench where the rest of the crystal sheets they’d cut were scattered. “I won’t be making the bodysuits either. At least, not alone. The Princesses know some pony around here whose talent is armor crafting, so he’s going to bring his little team up and help me put the stuff together.”

“How long will that take?” Nova asked as he trotted up to the workbench where Sky Bolt was already examining the inside of the helmet, making notes on a piece of paper.

“Well,” she said, spitting the pen out and flipping the boxy helm over. “Probably only a couple of days once I get everyone's measurements. We won’t get the crystals for a few more weeks though. The enchantments take a lot of time.”

“Enchantments?” Nova asked. “I thought this was armor that was supposed to be magic proof.”

“Oh, don’t worry, the crystals won’t negate that. They’re part of a side project. We won’t need them to use the armor.” She turned her attention back down to the helmet. “Anyway, I’m going to take a closer look at this and run a few stress tests. If you could go find Dawn for me, I’d really appreciate it. Come back with her, she’s going to need to take your measurements along with everypony else's.”

“Ah, lovely,” Nova said, rolling his eyes and laying his ears flat as he made his way towards the door. “More time under the care of our resident medic.”

“Oh relax,” Sky Bolt called after him as he walked out the door. “You did just fine under the care of the resident mad engineer!” The door swung shut behind him, cutting off any other responses she had, and Nova rolled his eyes as he wandered down the hall in search of Dawn.

Back in the workshop, Sky Bolt shook her head as the purple unicorn wandered out. “Mad engineer just doesn’t have the same ring to it as mad scientist,” she said to herself as she tapped the helmet with a few tools, making note of any tones that it made. “But he’ll love it when his armor is done anyway.” She grinned as she thought of what the finished products were going to look like. Even without the crystal enhancers, they were going to be very potent indeed.

Even better, a brief bout of creativity the night before had given her one last stroke of inspiration for the project, something that she could apply to Nova and Dawn’s armor if it worked. Satisfied with the helmets integrity, she turned her attention to the project she’d been focused on the night before, skimming through papers on the workbench until she found one that was relatively unmarked. Grinning, she plucked a pencil in her teeth, making rapid strokes of her first new design.

Nova, at least, was going to get a little something extra with his armor.

Author's Note:

I've got admit, I kind of feel bad for Hunter sometimes. Sure, Steel has plenty to do with budgets, team management, etc. But poor Hunter? He spends a good part of his time everyday slamming his head into a wall that is the investigation. Poor guy.