Chapter One: The Calm Before...
~The Calm Before~
During the day, Fillydelphia was a bustling industrial haven. Textile mills churned out processed fabric at breakneck speeds to meet the city’s demands. Savvy entrepreneurs maneuvered their way through the corporate battlefields of city’s private business sector. At night, it became a place of cool relaxation. Level bass tones from Filly’s sundry of jazz clubs gently joggled the walls of every building near them. Scented herbs, ranging from spicy to sweet and from sharp to flat wafted through the air, calming any wandering souls and enticing them to come investigate. Moist, chilled air rushed through the countless alleys and streets of the city, regulating its temperature naturally. Ponies had come to know Fillydelphia as a place to go when one wanted to make a clean start, the “City of New Beginnings”. The city provided a never ending supply of means for the inhabitants. Everywhere one turned a pony was needed to build this or fix that. The name of the game was opportunity, and the city always won. Opportunity was the city’s game, and it always won.
Opportunity, however, knows no bias. Like all of Equestria’s major cities, crime in Fillydelphia increased after the peace talks with the Emerald Kingdom. Changeling and pony kind had come to terms and vowed to live in peace. Though the tension would never settle, trade and free travel between the two nations were unbound. Both economies grew exponentially as technology and culture was shared. Every venue of society expanded… Including the illicit side of both nations.
Equestria’s criminal syndicates were real and very powerful; however, they were effectively suppressed by the nation’s military and international policies with other lands. But with the extremely neighborly relationship the Emerald kingdom and Equestria formed criminals from both nations now had new allies, rivals, and markets to infest.
Newer, more frequent threats called for improvements to military training on Equestria’s end. Basic training was now supplemented by simple field work and specialized training programs. Soldiers fresh out of basic were stationed in towns with high levels of malicious localized crime, allowing them to build experience as well as contribute meaningfully.
The wind roared overhead and the rain pounded down on the cobblestone streets while the night guards in their dark purple black armor patrolled.
At the edge of the city, the start of the slums, a dark shape sheltered itself against the backdrop of the night and storm. It crawled through dark alleyways and side streets, being careful to stay hidden and unseen, though it stopped moving when it came across a guard patrol that had decided to take a break and sit down.
Come on, come on. Move just a tiny bit to the left.
The creature lurked in the darkness. It crouched in the dirt and refuse, cloaking itself with the shadows themselves to conceal itself from even the most sharp eyed of observers. Unnoticed like a single tree in a forest, it waited for the patrol to leave.
It lay in wait for several minutes, the rain pounding harshly on the city but the guards still didn’t move. This is gonna be a long night, the creature thought with a mental sigh.
Corporal Eclipse stood stone straight as Lieutenant Commander Fleetwing drilled the squad leader and his team of five-- once again-- on the proper technique for bringing in a suspect for questioning. Eclipse was trying his best to keep his face from forming into a grimace, but with each word from the grizzled commander’s mouth he found his frustration growing. Sure, Jet Stream had sort of tackled a pyromancer into a petroleum storehouse, but she subdued him before the fireworks started. Did that call for the berating they were currently receiving? Probably. Was it necessary to split the squad up? Likely. But lining them up in the rain, outside of the station, just yell at them was too much in Eclipse’s opinion. As the onslaught of noise continued, Eclipse slowly began to tune the old soldier out.
“-- and that’s why Corporal Eclipse and PFC Jet Stream will be running tonight’s beat patrol of the economy housing district and its surrounding area by themselves!” Commander Fleetwing shouted as he stared at the line of soldiers. “Well? What are you all looking at? Frostbite, Havok, Raycaster, Basalt! Get the hay outta here! Eclipse, Jet Stream, You know what to do.” Fleetwing turned on his hooves and entered the massive Fillydelphia military outpost.
“Sir, yes Sir!” Eclipse and his squad shouted.
The older pegasus sneered at Eclipse as he walked away. “Luna’s little pet unicorn,” Fleetwing muttered under his breath.
The resulting beat was one of Eclipse's more miserable patrols. The cold rain pounded mercilessly on his skull despite the thick blue cloak he wore. In his mind, the corporal cursed his superiors and considered ditching the patrol. Eclipse shook those thoughts from his head as quickly as they formed. No, that’s just the kind of behavior everyone expects of me. I can’t let myself or my teacher down like that. He thought.
The guard stallion trotted close to his partner-- a pegasus mare-- as they scanned the streets for any signs of trouble. The salmon coated mare shook violently, tossing droplets of water off of her black weather cloak and all over the place. Her action was in vain, seeing as the downpour instantly replaced the expelled liquid with a fresh coating rain.
She grunted in frustration; most of it was directed at the terrible turn the pegasi chose to take this week’s weather in, but just a tiny sliver of her frustration was focused on a certain grey coated, purple eyed stallion trotting beside her.
Eclipse chuckled under his breath at the mare’s antics. “What’s the matter, Jet? This little stroll with your squad leader not to your liking?”
“What do you think? The bucking sky’s falling and were out here doing beat patrol!” she growled.
He shrugged his shoulders and continued trotting through the streets of the stormy city streets. Fillydelphia had been his home for the past month and a half. Even though visibility was nearly zero, Eclipse and Jet Stream navigated seamlessly. They’d memorized the city’s hotspots sufficiently. Both soldiers knew the position of every high-rise, fountain, and market area by heart.
Rain gave the slate colored structures around them a beautiful sheen, each popping out against the darkness like glittering spires of ingenuity. Alleyways cut endless fissures between the many firms and residences. Ever since Eclipse was posted in this city, he had been fascinated by it. Fillydelphia was a far cry from Canterlot. The nation’s capital was a pristine place of soft whites and regal golds; whereas this place was harsh and grey.
Something pinched at Eclipse’s awareness, causing the stallion to stop dead in his tracks.
"Did you see anything, Jet Stream?" Eclipse asked from underneath his dark blue cloak. Something was lurking nearby, skulking through the shadows. And he could feel it.
"Didn’t see or hear a thing." the mare responded. "Are you picking something up with your magic?"
"Possibly, continue the patrol. I'll meet up with you when you reach the next block." He narrowed his eyes and extended his senses as searched the shadows of the adjacent alleys for whatever was hiding about.
The mare nodded respectfully, "Be careful, Eclipse," Jet Stream said as she continued trotting. The mare bumped him with her flank as she passed him. “And don’t do anything stupid!”
Eclipse discovered the alley where he sensed the disturbance. The stallion peeked into the urban ravine, inspecting and scrutinizing every detail his eye could point out.
Well at least one of them is moving. The creature sank even further into the surrounding darkness as it narrowed its eyes. The real question is, why is he coming down here?
The alley was unnaturally spacious, even by Fillydelphia standards. Puddles of water trickled through the spaces in the worn down, uneven cobblestone of the alley. Banners, street lamps, and neon lights decorated the front of many buildings in the city, but the alleys were all the same. Rusted steel pipes, discarded furniture, paper and dumpsters where the closest things to decorations the space between structures ever saw.
It was at times like this that Eclipse cursed that shadow scrying was one of his weaker skills. If he were more skilled, then he could pinpoint what was shuffling around in the alley. I know I felt something around down this alley. The stallion shifted uneasily on his hooves.
He doubled his search effort, by moving boxes and debris aside. As the unicorn was trudging through the alley, he felt another pinch in the back of his mind. Using his mind’s eye, he let the shadows give him a vague view of all they hide from the world. His search through the alley yielded nothing. He knew something was off, but could spare the time lest his CO claim he was slacking on his duties.
"Hmm..." Eclipse exited the alley on the other side of the block. His face held an expression of confusion.
The shadows smiled as the guard left. Keep on walking. Nothing over here to see.
"It turned out to be nothing, must've been a rat or something..." Eclipse looked over his shoulders again. Felt off though.
The silver maned stallion’s gaze was drawn to the sky in haste to find his quarry. His final survey of the area turned up empty hoofed. Eclipse snorted in annoyance, now, with both his and Jet Stream’s time wasted, he aimed his focus at locating his partner and regrouping as soon as possible. Eclipse shut his eyes and let his mind meander through Filly’s serpentine alleyways in search of Jet Stream’s profile.
Bingo. Eclipse’s shadow stepped out into the moonlight as its owner called for Jet Stream. The instant that the pegasus’s ears detected her squad leader’s voice she whipped around, discovering that Eclipse was trotting to her. Eclipse swiped a lock of his mane out of his face before speaking. "All we have left is a sweep through the economy housing district then we're done."
Jet Stream shivered. "Can't stand that part of town," she said with a frown.
"Keep your opinions to yourself on that subject, everypony isn't fortunate,” Eclipse growled. He glowered at the mare trotting next to him for a few seconds before turning his attention to the roads. The scene shift was almost noticeable when they passed into the gated low income section of Fillydelphia.
The well-kept buildings gave way to ratchet apartments and dirty roads. The concrete walls were plastered with vibrant paint, some representing one of the city's small time gangs while others were just some punks' attempt at original art.
The sweep of the slums was always the most eventful. In just this night alone, they had stopped a mugging and a carriage theft. Thankfully, nopony had been hurt and the retrieval teams could pick up the criminals in a timely fashion.
The creature departed from the wet alleys, and progressed on to the wet street, a dark black cloak protecting it from the rain and concealing its face and body from any passerby’s as it walked towards a seedy, dirty looking bar a couple buildings over.
The street itself was in disrepair, its surface cracked and large chunks missing. The buildings were just as bad. Most of their windows were cracked, missing, or covered up by something and had various gang symbols and messages on their foundations.
Almost there...
"Well, that's it, we're-" Eclipse felt a familiar pinch in his mind. Feels like before.
"Corporal?" Jet Stream looked at the stallion skeptically.
"Nothing. Good work out there, head on back to the outpost. I'm going to grab a drink. Dismissed!"
The mare nodded and left his presence.
The strange creature walked through the bar doors and walked up to the counter. "Whiskey and any meat you might have." It spoke without looking up, placing a few bits on the worn and stained counter as a glass and plate were set in front of him.
Eclipse let his mind's eye guide him. He tracked the familiar feeling until he came to an old, rundown, shady-looking bar. Following the feeling, he entered the establishment. The bar chatter shut down completely once Eclipse entered the building and for a moment everypony simply started at the dark cloaked unicorn trotting past them. There was very little darkness in the bar, but enough for him to be able to point out the signals he was receiving.
Inside, the tables were in shoddy condition and the seats weren’t much better off, with multiple stains and deep scratches in them. The patrons mostly kept to themselves, nursing drinks of their choice.
Nonchalantly, Eclipse took a seat at the counter and grinned at the barkeeper. "A screwdriver," he said before looking past the other patrons and at the pony receiving his drink near the end of the counter.
The creature next to the guard briefly flashed its eyes in its direction and th. That's the same guy as before....
Eclipse threw the hood on his cloak back and shook his grey and silver mane, increasing its volume. The barkeeper slid him his drink, obviously not too happy about the guard disturbing his establishment, but the barkeeper's frown soon became a smile when he saw the tip Eclipse left.
He stared at the cloaked pony to his left for a moment. The bar’s weak illumination made it much easier to feel around with his mind’s eye. Yeah, he's who I felt skulking around the alleys. No doubt about it. He gave his prey a "gotcha now" smirk before sipping at his drink.
The creature noticed the guards gaze linger on him a second too long. Got to get out of here. It stood up, having not even touched its meal or drink and walked toward the door.
Eclipse waited for it to exit the building, before getting up and following. He exited right behind the cloaked pony. "You sir, stop!" he called.
It stopped in its tracks. "May I help you?" It asked in a decidedly male voice.
"Actually, maybe you can help me understand why you were skulking around the alleys outside of the economy district."
The creature’s eyes widened slightly underneath its hood, but Eclipse was unable to see this.
“I was mugged and knocked out. I guess they dragged me to that alley for some reason.” His voice was completely emotionless.
"Unlikely. If a mugger knocked you out, I doubt you would have been left with enough bits to afford dinner and a drink." Eclipse's mane was soaked and sticking to his coat by this point. "And meat at that." Eclipse slowly advanced on the cloaked creature. "I need you to get down on the ground, front and back legs straight out."
The creature took a step back from Eclipse. "Trust me. You don't want to do this right now."
"Is that a threat?" He continued his advance. Eclipse was almost within legs reach of the creature. "I suggest you get down on the ground, now!" He barked.
Damn it I just got into this city. Oh well, maybe I'll try Manehatten again. The creature threw its cloak into the guard's face. “You brought this on yourself.” It threw a jab towards the guard's head as it said this.
Eclipse scrambled to remove the cloth from his face as quickly as possible. With the obstruction cleared, he could see finally see his assailant.
The creature was like a pegasus in form, but its eyes were slitted like a cat's or a dragon's and were a cool azure while its coat was a dark grey. His legs were a snow white, while a black mane rested on its head and Eclipse caught a glimpse of a red and black tail.
The surprise of the creature’s strange appearance was enough to cause the stallion to almost forget any form of defensive maneuvers. In the last moments however, Eclipse jerked his head to the side, causing the blow to tear the flesh on his cheek. He hissed in pain as his foe withdrew his hoof.
Damn he’s fast. The creature reared up on its hind legs, taking a bipedal stance. It put up its hooves and lashed out with a vicious one- two combo.
Eclipse easily ducked under the first strike, but the creature’s quick hook caught him in the side. Luckily, he was already braced for the blow. Biped fighting... this guy isn't just some street thug.
The unicorn hooked his foreleg around his assailant’s exposed leg. While the creature was off balance, Eclipse put all of his strength into his back legs, throwing himself into a full body tackle and slamming the creature to the ground. The solid impact forced the air from his lungs and hopefully dazed his opponent. He tried to find his balance, but the rain wasn’t helping.
The creature's forelegs ignited as black flames wreathed his hooves, vaporizing rain into stream as it landed on his morphing appendages. When the ethereal flames dissipated, his forelegs were replaced with strangely textured arms harboring wicked claws at the end of long, dexterous digits. Taking advantage of Eclipse’s situation, he took a vicious swipe at his chest.
What the buck? A changeling?! Eclipse panicked.
There was no way he could avoid the strike at this range. The changeling's sudden transformation escalated the situation from a simple takedown to assault with deadly magic authorizing Eclipse to retaliate with his own spells. But there was more to it than that. The moment the creature's limb had gone up in flames and shape shifted, the unicorn was filled with a rage he hadn't felt in years.
Scarily sharp, precise claws ripped at his chest, but before they could cause any real damage tendrils of darkness halted them, slowly pulling the extremity away from him. The burning wounds leaked crimson as the stallion panted from his near death experience.
Eclipse summoned more of his magic and formed a shadowy club above the changeling's head. He swung the conjured weapon, hoping to knock his opponent out and avoid any killing. Despite his feelings, he'd bring it in alive if he could.
Though pinned, the changeling was not defenseless. Faster than the guard could react he jerked his head to the side, avoiding the blow and kicked the one of the guard’s back legs out from under him. Using the falling pony’s forelegs as leverage, he threw his head forward in a barbaric headbutt. The guard’s forward momentum, coupled with the force of the blow, was enough to send the him reeling. Speckles of the unicorn’s blood fell from his muzzle onto the changeling’s chest.
Eclipse stumbled back, gripping at his bloody muzzle with a hoof. He growled at the changeling as it moved to get back to its hooves. Fueled by growing rage, he jumped onto the changeling again and delivered a vengeful back hoof to the side of his face. The blow connected with a solid crunch, forcefully snapping its head to the right. He’d seen that if he gave this thing any breathing room, he’d try to kill him. Without hesitation, Eclipse followed up with his other hoof, slamming the changeling’s head into the wet cobblestone.
His vision was swimming, and he was unable to form coherent words. Eclipse had done his best to knock the changeling out, but its natural hardiness and thick skull kept it awake. "Whhhhhbllzzz...." He managed to mutter.
Seeing as he was still coherent enough to mumble, Eclipse decided to finish the encounter in the most appropriate way he could think of. He narrowed his eyes on the changeling and called to the shadows. In less than a second, a deathly looking club made pure dark darkness hovered over his opponent’s head.
“AHH!” He yelled as he swung the club. The sudden boom of thunder drowned out the crack of the blow against the changeling’s skull. His limbs hung limply as the unicorn lifted him onto his back.
Eclipse breathed heavily as he carried the creature back to the economy district’s outpost. He wanted to call it a changeling, but he was taught that the insectoid creatures would revert to their natural form when knocked out. Eclipse glanced back at the thing on his back. Its clawed appendage had reverted back to the white pony hooves it had before, but the rest of its body still looked like a pegasus. It didn't make any sense to the stallion.
The trot back to the outpost had been arduous, but it was finally over. Eclipse stepped through the doors of the fortified building and immediately dropped the creature on the floor. "Changeling," he called out, "found him stalking the alleyways. When I confronted him, he assaulted me. I was forced to incapacitate him."
Several guards came and lifted the unconscious creature and hauled him towards the outpost’s prison cages. Fleetwing, Sigil, and Cypher stood in the lobby, staring at the strange creature as it was dragged away.
“Isn’t that-” the earth pony started.
“-Yeah that’s him, Cypher.” Sigil said, cutting him off.
Fleetwing ruffled shifted his wings and snorted before turning to the other officers. “I’ll have the guards transport him back to the central hold and clear us a time block for the interrogation of our newest prisoner.” He sneered at the unconscious prisoner, attempting to burn a hole through its body with his eyes.
“Sigil, get us back to Central,” the pegasus commanded.
The unicorn mare levitated three golden medallions off of her specially made armor and floated them over the two stallions. Sigil cut her magic, letting the disks drop to the ground, each landing with a sharp ceramic ring. All three nodded, indicating that they were ready for transport. Sigil and Cypher smashed their medallions, releasing the spells trapped within and being swallowed by light. The spell started as soon as it ended, leaving empty air where the two soldiers once stood.
Fleetwing snuck one final glance at the pony Eclipse captured, before slamming his hoof down on his medallion. He vanished in a flash of light, yet his voice still lingered behind. “Enjoy your last moments. You’ll be in Tartarus soon enough.”
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Huh, a hybrid.
I must say, I'm really loving what you got so far here. And the little section separators were a nice touch.
3968783 Thanks!
Well, I have to admit that this looks interesting! I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it.
3972086 Thanks for the compliment!
Interesting.
I have yet to find a story that starts like this catch my attention quite this way.
In other words, I don't normally like the kind of story that this one seems to be, but this one looks promising.
Well then, this is shaping up perfectly. I see this fanfic going places, like my favorites.
3972985 Thanks a lot!
3972727 What do you mean "this type of fic?"
3973060
It seems almost like a detective/PI/cop fic.
3980829 Really? Huh. We never really had that intention when we wrote it. Let me try and clear up any confusion. This is not going to be a detective fic. I'm curious. What part of it gave you that feeling?
3982610
This and the fact that your main character is a guard. With how he acts, it just screams investigative drama.
If it's not clear: I am eager to read more. I like this.