Equestria: Agents of S.C.A.L.E

by Insanecrusader

Chapter Eight: The Night Mail (Declassified)

A few days earlier

Location: H.M.S Ascension, Director Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Quarters.

Twilight Sparkle sat in her moderate sized room reading over the latest status report when a knock came from the door.

“What is it Spike?” Twilight called, annoyed that she was being disturbed yet again.

The latest mission report was bad enough and Twilight didn't want to read over yet another report until she'd dealt with this one. A plan was formulating within her head when the knock at the door had derailed her train of thought. Her dragon assistant entered the room with a unicorn in tow; Twilight had be so wrapped up in mission reports that she'd forgotten she'd requested Agent Coltson.

“Agent Coltson, I forgot you were coming!” she shrieked.

Using her magic, the stacks of documents that littered her room, disappeared and a small calendar reappeared in front of her. She flicked through the pages frantically.

“Meeting with Celestia, weekend away in the Crystal Empire, plan next weeks check-list... ah yes! Thursday two-fifteen to two-twenty-seven; meet with Agent Stirrup Coltson.”

The calendar disappeared and Twilight looked to the clock on the wall; it was exactly two-fifteen.

“You wanted to discuss Cirrus?” Coltson offered after a few moments of silence.

“Ah yes, that's right! So? How is he settling in?” Twilight gestured for Coltson to sit.

As Coltson sat down on his haunches Twilight levitated over a tea set for two and began pouring.

“He is settling in quite well given the circumstances, he is progressing well despite not having completed the training.”

“My brother personally vouched for his performance in the field, I also read yours and Thunderer’s' debriefing files. It seems that neither of you are wrong, he's taken to S.C.A.L.E like a duck to water.”

“That certainly seems to be the case-”

“Can he handle another mission.”

“What!.. I mean.. Why?... Why so soon? He's barely been aboard Ascension.”

“Because The Order are stepping up, they're getting bolder and more dangerous. We can't go to Celestia or Luna about this and my brother says he can't help with the disappearance of Bright Spark.”

“Why Stormcloud?”

“He has potential and you're one of the best agents to train him. Do you think you can handle it?”

There was a pause and Coltson sipped his tea.

“I can handle it, yes.” He said finally.

“Good, I'll be briefing your next mission tomorrow.”

“Wait. You want Stormcloud and I on a mission tomorrow?”

“Yes, we can't be tardy about this one, timing is of the essence. There will be other agents with you to help you, but we need to get Stormcloud in the field more.”

“Director Sparkle, Stormcloud had barely been with S.C.A.L.E. I mean the training mission was fair enough, but I don't know if he should take on another mission before completing his advanced training.”

“He needs experience as well as training Stirrup and right now...” she sighed, “We don't have a choice, The Order have infiltrated a safehouse of ours and taken an asset. I'm generating a mission just now, it'll be ready for your briefing tomorrow. While we are on the subject of Stormcloud I want his training to be split between you and Thunderer.”

“How exactly will Thunderer train him?”

“I've already gone over the details with the guards at Tartarus. Thunderer although he won't admit it, needs S.C.A.L.E.”

“So why is he training Stormcloud?”

Twilight paused.

“Thunderer claims he can't remember what happened to him on the day of my brothers' wedding and my sister-in-law wishes him to be tried for his alleged crimes.”

“Which none of the Princesses have been able to prove, even Luna who can search through somepony’s memories.”

“As you know S.C.A.L.E. agents are subconsciously trained against Luna's dream powers, if these ponies can do it, then why not Thunderer? The reason I want him training Stormcloud is so that the two eventually become friends then hopefully Thunderer will open up to him. Failing that then we have another way of keeping an eye of Stormcloud”

“And what then? The issue with Stormcloud is something that needs monitored.”

“That is a problem for later, we have to focus on the problems we have now.”

“If you want them to be friends then why not move Thunderer onto Ascension?”

“Because through my studies, I have learned that if there is a will, there's a way. If Stormcloud ever asks to see Thunderer you are to deny him.”

“Then he'll look up to me less and not follow orders.”

“So lie and say that its above his clearance or something.”

“Director Sparkle I can't do that, its against my principles.” Coltson replied raising his voice.

“Stirrup you've been with S.C.A.L.E, since before I started it and you've followed my every order, everything I do, every order I give is for the good of Equestria!” Twilight raised her voice to a near shout.

Her assistant had left the room as the shouting started but Coltson sat there, he did not rise to Twilight, nor did he make a comment. He waited until she calmed before speaking.

“This isn't me Director Sparkle, I don't feel good following these orders. There has to be another way?”

“I'm afraid this is the best way.” Twilight looked away so Coltson couldn't see her tears forming.

She'd already divided her friends with one going into hiding, she couldn't do it again. Her agents would have to form the bonds of friendship themselves if S.C.A.L.E. were to achieve its goal.

“Stirrup you've been with me a long time and with Fury for even longer, when was the last time you had a break?”

“I've never taken one.”

“Well perhaps you should, go down to the Maribbean or the Summer Isles or Tahiti. Just... just somewhere where you can relax.

Coltson set down his tea as Twilight looked to the clock.

“You're dismissed,” she finally said.

The following day

Location: Briefing Room, H.M.S Ascension.

“Listen up everypony! A few days ago, The Order successfully managed to infiltrate a S.C.A.L.E. safe house and steal an asset of ours. Our sources aren’t clear, but it is very likely that Arrow Head is behind this. What we know for definite is that The Order have booked three carriages on the twenty-two-thirty to Fillydelphia. We believe they’ll likely be holding our asset in one of these three carriages and have mercenaries scattered throughout the train. Coltson as the highest ranking agent here, you’ll be leading the ground team on a Search and Retrieve mission.”

Agent Coltson stood up from his seat and walked to the front, Twilight followed suit and walked past Coltson.

“Wait here after you've briefed everypony, I'll give you the full briefing of the mission.” She whispered.

Coltson looked perplexed after all Twilight had briefed him that morning on what would go down that evening, but he merely nodded and continued to the head of the table.

Twilight exited the room to be immediately greeted by Director Righteous Fury.

“Is she ready?” Twilight asked.

Fury who had been leaning against the wall stood up before he replied to Twilight.

“Black Widow is ready, she knows the full brief, she's waiting for you and Coltson.”

“That'll be all Fury.”

Fury simply nodded and left Twilight by herself.

A while later she saw agents Hazzard, Stripes, Sabre and Stormcloud leave the briefing room. She quickly entered to find Coltson sitting at the side of the head of the table. Neither said a word as they waited. Thankfully the wait wasn't long and the door opened again as a mint green unicorn entered the room.

“Agent Heartstrings,” Twilight said acknowledging her presence.

“Director Sparkle, Stirrup,” she replied

“Lyra,” Coltson replied quickly.

Lyra took her seat opposite Coltson and leaned back casually.

“You're both here because both of you will be operating on this mission, but each of you will have separate roles. Coltson you'll board the train with the other Agents, as you know your job is to clear out The Order members in the passenger carriages. Heartstrings you'll be located in a radar box in the mail carriages. I assume you've done a dry run of how you'll fit.”

“I have, I can fit but I'll need two small air tanks with me.”

“Thats been taken care of. Both of you will have to work together on this one. Coltson the other agents can't know of Black Widows' involvement.”

“Why?”

“The asset they took was Star Bolt. He helped with the Maelstrom project.”

There was silence for a while as Twilight let the news sink in, both Coltson and Lyra had been involved with Project Maelstrom and knew what it meant.

“So failure isn't exactly an option then?”

The look Twilight gave in reply said it all.

“Lyra your mission is to take out the mercenaries in the mail carriages and retrieve our asset, you'll then prepare him for extraction.”

“How?”

“At milepost fifty-nine there is a TPO apparatus, the train will be going slow enough for Star Bolt to safely be exchanged.”

“How can you be sure?” Coltson asked.

“I've ran the calculations and conducted several experiments, Star Bolt will survive.”

“And what do I do after that?” Lyra pressed.

“You'll place a Trojan in the mail carriage and then return to the box for collection at Ponyville. The idea is that nopony sees you except the enemy.”

“Then what am I doing?” Coltson asked.

“You'll be the bait, we can pretty much guarantee that Arrow Head will do anything to get information from Star Bolt. Your team will distract him allowing Lyra to get in and out in a matter of minutes.”

“Seems simple to me what sort of firepower do they have?” Coltson asked.

“We don't know. What we do know is that Arrow Head normally carries some form of firearm with him so be cautious. Any other questions?” Twilight asked looking between the two.

“What happens to Star Bolt when he's been extracted?” Lyra asked.

“I will meet him. Both of you will rendezvous at Ponyville station.”

“How will I know what Agent Heartstrings is doing?”

“Please Stirrup its Lyra or Black Widow,” she said slyly.

“You and Lyra will have closed link communicators, Coltson you'll have to change your frequency to speak to Lyra.”

“So my team are being led to find a fake asset? So we can bait away a dangerous criminal for Lyra to hide the real asset?” Coltson deadpanned.

“Yes those are your orders for this mission, you both move out in a few hours time. I assume you can work together?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

***

Location: 22:30 to Fillydelphia, Frontmost Mail Carriage

The box rocked violently for some hours, it wasn’t a new sensation that Lyra Heartstrings felt but the time that it lasted which made her uncomfortable. She was currently curled up within a small box, an air tank was held against her muzzle and every-so-often she’d emit a small amount of light from her horn. It was times like these that she wished she had her lyre to pass the time, but she had to make do with combing through her tail for split ends or counting how many hairs of each colour she had.

As she reached the eighty-seventh hair of her white streak she felt the box be levitate in unicorn magic, she savoured the weightlessness sensation for the few moments that it lasted and then felt the box be slammed down onto something, she then felt the box rock again as they moved on. She summoned the “Tell-me-time” spell and a small clock appeared in front of her; it read twenty-two-fifteen.

It was hard for many to believe that Lyra Heartstrings was one of few ponies to pass through the Baltimare University for Science and Advanced Magic with straight A’s, Lyra had earned herself the reputation of being a bit lazy, a slacker and had somewhat odd habits, such as the way she chose to sit. Lyra however knew different, she’d excelled in her natural magic classes because she learned to play the lyre, which she could do with her hooves while nearly every other pony couldn’t. She’d also had a knack for dancing and pushed her body hard, resulting in her slim build and flexibility, this was how she could comfortably sit inside a small cramped box for hours. It hadn’t been easy at University, she left after the first year to make a living and had spent all her free time finishing her qualifications.

“Well only an hour and fifteen minutes to go,” She thought, “Well better get this over with… one… two… three…”

***

Coltson watched as Stormcloud slowly drifted off into sleep, he personally hated drugging ponies but this was the only way he could privately talk to Black Widow, or Lyra as she preferred to be called. Stormcloud slowly sank his head as he went into a deep sleep, he nearly fell off but Coltson used his magic to prop him back up. He then proceeded to change his communicator to Lyra’s channel.

“Agent Heartstrings. Status report.”

“Well I’m still in the box, thankfully nothing has been placed on the lid this time.”

“Your orders are to move out in an hour, yes?”

“That’s correct Coltson, were you paying any attention in the briefing?” Lyra joked.

“Which one? I was told about three of them.” Coltson joked back.

“Well you know Twilight, you can’t argue with her organizational skills.”

Coltson cringed as Lyra referred to the Director by her first name.

“Anyway I’ll update you as I get on, just stay quiet and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Heartstrings out.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. Coltson out.”

***

Lyra summoned the clock again; it was nearly time. She pulled the air tank from her face and set it beside the other tank that was in with her, she then used her magic to pick the lock of the box and when she heard the clunk, she slowly lifted it. As she’d expected there was nopony around which wasn’t that surprising as she was in a carriage reserved for luggage only. The lid of the box slipped up and the mint green unicorn stepped out, she checked her surroundings and once confirming nopony was there she stretched out. After feeling her bones click and crack she pulled onto her rear legs and stretched her sides out.

“Agent Heartstrings is now in play.” she said allowed, knowing only Coltson could hear her.

From her mission directive, she knew she had three coaches to pass through excluding her current location. Lyra returned to all fours and slinked up to the adjoining coach, she cracked the door open and could see a few ponies tied up together, most of whom had bloody faces.

“Knocked out.”

She heard hoofsteps coming up the narrow corridor, she leaned into the slide and used the reflection in the window to watch her assailants. There was one earth pony and one pegasus both of whom were chatting to themselves, Lyra noted that the earth pony carried a pistol in his waist holster. The two ponies reached the end of the corridor and turned on the spot, they then began walking back down the carriage length.

Quick as a flash, Lyra slid the door open as quietly as she could she tiphoofed up to the two ponies at a speed Rainbow Dash would’ve been jealous of. As she closed the distance, she opted for less stealth as she’d near raw power to take down both ponies. She noted both ponies walked side by side and she knew how to use that to her advantage. Lyra flattened her hooves and then sprung up, placing her forehooves on the flanks of the pegasus she rotated ninety degrees and brought her hindlegs around the neck of the earth pony. While she sailed through the air she grabbed the pegasus in a headlock using her forehooves and squeezed all four of her legs tightly. The two ponies who had been taken by surprise were quickly dragged to the ground and Lyra proceeded to hold them there as they both tried to scramble away from her. After a short while both bodies went limp and Lyra loosened her grip, a few feathers fell in the air as she stood up.

“Piece of cake.”

She removed the pistol from the stallion and tossed it out of the window, she heard the clatter as it hit the window-frame on its way out, but the sound was soon dominated by the train beginning an incline. Lyra turned on the spot with a smug grin on her face, she moved to the door connecting the two carriages and slowly slid it open. She heard the click of the gun pointed at her head.

“Damn it,” she sighed.

***

Arrow dropped the bucket of water over Star Bolt once more. He smiled as the light show made Star Bolt scream in pain. Arrow threw the bucket to the side, he was now out of buckets hopefully Star had come to his senses and would talk.

“So Mr Bolt. Infact, do you mind if I call you Star? I mean we’re practically friends, I think we should skip the formalities.”

Star merely panted in reply.

“So Star why don’t you tell me about your work with S.C.A.L.E? We both know why you were kept in a safehouse so why don’t you tell me how you got there?” Arrow sat on his haunches.

“I told you… I stay there because of what I can do, I-”

“Star we both know that’s not true. You weren't always able to do that. You studied at the Baltimare University for Science and Advanced Magic under Professor Infinity Lutece?”

That caught his attention, Arrow could see the way Star looked up at him, that moment of recognition.

“Yes.” Star whispered.

Arrow got up and leaned towards Star, “What was that?”

“Yes!” Star shouted in Arrow’s ear.

Arrow rocked back onto his hind legs from the din.

“Oh finally we’re getting somewhere.” Arrow said through gritted teeth.

Arrow was finding this tedious, there were easier ways to get this done, Arrow looked to the sawn off shotgun located on a workbench by the wall. He picked it up.

“Do you want to play a game Star? Because I certainly do,” he loaded two shells into the barrels. “Here’s how it works, you tell the truth, and I won’t make your head explode.” Arrow placed the barrels near Star’s head.

Arrow was not stupid, he knew if the barrels touched Star he could be electrocuted, he also knew he couldn’t kill Star; his boss wanted him alive. But Star didn’t know that.

“You studied advanced magic mainly focussing on carrier spells and how to convert their energy. Yes!”

“Yes!” Star replied looked straight at the barrels.

“You were offered to work on a project by Twilight Sparkle. Correct?”

Star nodded, beads of sweat flew off his face as he did so.

“Tell me about Project Maelstrom.” Star’s eyes went wide. “That’s right I know of Project Maelstrom and I bet you can never guess who told me about it?”

Star was silent, Arrow wasn’t surprised. Few ponies knew of Project Maelstrom, it was one of S.C.A.L.E’s many dark secrets. Arrow nudged the barrels closer.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Arrow rolled his eyes, “Very cliched. Let me remind you.”

In one quick movement, Arrow tossed the shotgun in the air catching it by the barrels he then swung the butt around striking Star across the face. A few sparks flew as the gun made contact, which only added to Star’s pain more.

“Remember now?” Arrow said as he flipped the shotgun to hold it normally.

“I worked on Maelstrom, I was told it was to help provide free power to the six main cities, it-”

“It wasn’t actually for that, was it?”

There was a pause, “No, my brother said it was for something else.”

“Ah yes, the great Alpha Bolt. I forgot you were brothers,” Arrow leaned in again, “he was very vocal on the matter.”

Star lurched toward Arrow, Arrow leapt back in fright.

“Well,” he said once he’d composed himself. “It seems you do have a pair after all.”

“Now why don’t you tell-”

There was a knock at the door. Arrow sighed.

“This better be good.”

A large pony entered the room along with a smaller pony with a black eye.

“We have a problem.” He said in a deep voice.

Arrow turned back to Star.

“Guess it’s to be continued.”

Arrow followed the larger pony out into the next carriage.

“One pony is our problem, Quick?” Arrow asked raising an eyebrow.

“There’s more than one, I found this on him.”

Quick retort tossed Arrow a black wallet, inside was a photocard and a silver medal. Arrow read the inscription.

“So the Strategic Centre for Aid and Law Enforcement are here, well now its a party. Go and round them up!” Arrow barked.

Arrow turned to the few ponies who had been in the carriage before Arrow had started talking to Star Bolt.

“Guard him in there, nopony gets in without me. Understood?”

The ponies nodded in agreement
***

Lyra could feel the cold metal against her head, she was being guided forward into the next carriage where a few more ponies stood around. They looked at her and her captor in a look of surprised panic. There was one sight above all other that caught her attention, there was a unicorn tied to a chair, one she recognised all too well; Star Bolt. Lyra took a few deep breaths.

“Four ponies in total. One behind me with a gun aimed at my head. One pegasus near the stacked boxes, appears unarmed. Two other earth ponies; one by Star, the other near the door. Outgunned and outnumbered.”

She looked at Star who was still tied to the chair, he looked like he’d been soaked with water. There were bruises across his face and upper body.

“Assume Star Bolt is out of commission. That makes it one on four, plan of action?”

Lyra allowed a few deep breathes, her mind geared up as the adrenalin pumped through her.

“Step one; remove gun.”

Lyra reared up nudging the gun further into the back of her skull, she’d taken the owner by surprise, he’d never have a chance to pull the trigger.

“Step two; disable pony with sudden blow to the head.”

With her left hoof she swung it backwards and connected with the pony’s face. Lyra, now on her hind legs jumped and rotated her right hind leg connecting with the pony’s face again. He fell to the floor.

“Step three; avoid pegasus, use control of speed to my advantage.”

Lyra heard the flutter of wings and the rush of noise behind her. She ducked down and pushed her hind hoofs against the door, she watched as the pegasus flew overhead as she glided along the floor. The pegasus slammed against the door.

“Step four; re-evaluate situation, convert plan of action.”

The pony near Star Bolt pulled out two knives and was making for Lyra. Lyra twisted on the floor and locked the charging pony in a scissor maneuver, she clenched hard and the pony dropped the two knives he was holding his mouth. Lyra caught these in her magic, she threw one to where Star Bolt was sitting, making sure it passed against the rope binding him. The other she threw to the other earth pony.

“Step five; reduce variables.”

While all this had been happening the pony and unlocked a crate and was withdrawing a sub-machine gun. The knife caught him in the trigger hoof, the force of the throw pushed the pony back onto his hind legs and pinned him against the wall. The gun clattered somewhere near him.

“Step six; increase pressure, incapacitate pony. Remember pegasus.”

In one final swift move she clenched her legs once more and the last breath escaped, she felt the weight press against her. She let go and returned to her four hooves. She was then winded and thrown forward. She knocked Star Bolt over and the chair he had been sitting on. Lyra turned to see the pegasus rear up to strike her face with both hooves.

“Step seven; drastic action.”

She lunged her hind hoof straight hoof straight up catching his stallionhood. The pegasus fell to his side in the fetal position. Lyra stood up.

“Shit.”

That was all she had time to stay as the pinned pony raised the submachine gun once more. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. In all her training as a Black Widow agent Lyra had never made an escape, and now she was staring at the pony who was about to gun her down.

“Get down.” A soft voice said, she couldn’t tell if it was her own, but she obeyed.

Lyra ducked down as another pony stood up, this was followed by a blinding light. Lyra had heard this sound before, not too long ago in a hospital ward. She kept low as the electricity flowed all around her. She heard a slumping noise and she looked up to see her hero.

“Thank you Star.”

He looked weak, that was no surprise, he’d clearly been tortured and he’d most likely dispensed the last of his magic defending her. She dived under him and jacked him up taking the weight of his hooves. Lyra began to move over to the TPO apparatus, she had six minutes by her count for the drop.

“Its okay I got you now.”

They weren’t okay, as the room went quiet she could hear ponies talking next door.They were going to enter the carriage. Lyra was in no condition to fight and neither was Star Bolt, she only had one choice and it was a dangerous one as far as the mission was concerned.

“Agent Coltson, I need your help. Now!”

***

“Alright I’ll buy you some time.” Coltson said.

He was tucked in his compartment that he had been sharing with Stormcloud, he could hear the members of The Order moving around outside. He’d received a distress call from Sabre and Hazzard a few moments ago, he would’ve left his hiding place but doing so would have compromised his cover. He could hear heavy hooffalls outside. He summoned a knock-out spell and slid the door open quickly. He saw a zebra carrying Stormcloud along the corridor, quickly Coltson fired his spell, sadly it missed and ricocheted on the wall. The zebra dropped Stormcloud to the floor and launched at Coltson.

Coltson used his telekinetic grip on the door to slam it shut on the zebra's forehoof, the hoof flailed in its wooden grip before the door was wrenched open. Coltson had nowhere to go.

“Should’ve stayed hidden Agent Coltson, Arrow Head is going to be pleased that you are here.” A voice said before a spell hit him in the chest and he was knocked unconscious.

***

“Do you trust me!” Lyra shouted over the sound of the passing surroundings.

“Yes!” Star Bolt shouted in reply.

It was too dark to make out anything past the ballast.

“Twilight is coming to get you, just stay where you are and don’t panic!”

“Lyra I’m scared!”

“Star Bolt you have been through far worse than this!” She turned him around to face him, “You are one the bravest ponies I know,” she whispered into his ear.

She pulled back and then planted a kiss. She tried to forget the feelings she’d once had for the stallion, it had been a year since they’d last met and Lyra had been clear on her emotional state. She pulled back from the kiss and seeing Star in a confused state, she pushed him into the net. The net swung outwards with Star barely clinging on, a ringing sound could be heard and then Star suddenly disappeared.

Lyra smiled to herself.

“Black Widow to Agent Coltson, asset has been extracted.”

There was no reply, which was very unlike Coltson. She shuffled her hooves as she debated whether to move down the carriage and find him, but the mission came first. She couldn’t comprise herself. Then she heard it; the loud distinctive bang of a gunshot. It was close so Lyra ducked down and rolled behind a seat, she quickly looked around to see if she hadn’t fully incapacitated the ponies in the carriage. None of them moved. More gunshots followed and a few sounds of bullets penetrating wood.

Lyra looked up from her hiding position just as Arrow Head entered the carriage and closed the door, he had the shotgun unholstered and was looking around the carriage.

“Fuck!” He shouted loudly.

He must’ve realised that Star had escaped, either in his anger or for some other reason Arrow turned around and fired both barrels through the wooden door, splintering it as the bullets passed through. Lyra moved across from her hiding place, Arrow Head completely unaware of her presence. Arrow head then moved from his position at the door, he rolled to the side until he was level with Lyra. There was a few moments of silence as the pair stared down at each other. The silence was broken when a metal clinking noise could be heard. Lyra with all her experience knew it was a sleep grenade, however Arrow didn’t. He was drawing out a gun with his forehoof as he looked to the sound. Lyra was quick. She thrust her right forehoof forward and struck the gun out of Arrow’s hoof. With her left hoof she struck Arrow in the muzzle, he toppled over and Lyra pounced on Arrow, she punched both hooves at Arrow’s stomach winding him. She darted quickly escaping the hissing gas.

As she passed the many ponies on the ground she tore a rag from one of them with her magic. Lyra snuck out of the door making sure to hold the rag close to her muzzle as the gas filled the carriage. She walked back along the carriage to her box in the leading carriage. She discarded the rag out of a window and folded herself up as she closed the lid of the box

***
The train roared passed Twilight, she watched as the mail drop snatched the pony. She waited for a minute after the train had passed, she watched as Star Bolt sparked off from the net. In the brief instances of light she could make out a pony moving on the other side of the tracks. No it couldn’t be another pony, only two ponies knew of the actual mission briefing. Twilight kept low as she snuck up the mail drop.

She watched as the other pony crept up to Star Bolt before the other pony got close, Twilight sprung from her hiding place and caught the other pony, who happened to be a pegasus in her magic.

“Director Sparkle?”

“Agent Sabre?”

Twilight dropped the pegasus to the ground.

“I’m sorry I thought you were somepony else.”

“Director why are you here?”

“I’m afraid that’s classified.

“Twilight?” Star called from the postal net.

Twilight sighed as her cover was blown. She could hear Star Bolt scramble inside the net.

“Wait you know that pony? Should his magic be giving off that much lightening? He needs help!”

“Agent Sabre!”

Sabre, who was about to fly to Star stopped and looked at Twilight.

“This is an asset of ours; Star Bolt.”

“But I don’t understand...”

“How would you like a promotion?” Twilight said suddenly.

“A promotion?”

“Yes I need ponies for a private detail, you now know about Star Bolt and with your mission experience you’ll be perfect for guarding him.”

Sabre was given little chance to reply as Twilight pushed her towards Star Bolt.

***

Rainbow Dash watched as the last two guards loaded the final crate into the back of the aircraft, she dismissed them and pressed the button to raise the ramp. She then pressed a smaller button beside it and spoke into the intercom.

“Okay Agent Thunderlane, take us back to Ascension.”

“Copy that Commander Dash.”

She took her hoof off the button and flew over to the crate which contained Lyra Heartstrings. She quickly flipped the locks and the lid for the box opened revealing the mint green unicorn tucked up into a small ball. Rainbow offered her a hoof and Lyra stepped out and began stretching.

“Good work Lyra.”

“Yeah thanks,” Lyra replied as she stretched out her hind legs.

“I thought Director Sparkle was going to be here?”

“There was a complication, she found Agent Sabre and Star Bolt so she’s been dealing with that.”

“We’re still in Ponyville aren’t we?” Lyra asked, changing the subject.

“We were, those boxes we found turned out to contain guns and ammunition so we had to count it all. Now we’re heading back to Ascension.”

“I thought we would have stayed a few days, I really wanted to see Bon Bon again.”

“I know how you feel, but this is how we live now.”

Rainbow Dash would’ve looked out of the window had there been one, but sadly there wasn’t. It had been five months since she’d last been in Ponyville and before that it had been touch and go. She heaved a heavy sigh and lay back on some boxes, it was going to be a long trip home.

***
Location: H.M.S Ascension

Hours later.

“Twilight… We need to talk about The Order.” Rainbow Dash said as she laid back her chair opposite Twilights’ desk.

Twilight sat behind her desk and placed her forehooves together, she knew it was bad news she’d seen the reports and had been there herself.

“The Order are getting braver and bolder... The recent attacks? I think this is the beginning of something much bigger than we anticipated.”

“I’m putting plans in place for if it gets worse, but I’m hoping to get rid of the threat before it gets out of hoof.”

“There was an awful lot of guns on that train for this to be something small.”

“And those guns are now ours.”

“They’ll make more you know. We have a lot of agents now Twi, we need to act against them now!”

“No.”

Rainbow Dash sat up in the chair.

“Twilight last year we lost a research base and had a single pony rise against us, and look at us now a year later, I mean one pony broke into a safehouse and took an asset of ours. They nearly broke Star Bolt! Imagine if they reconstructed Maelstrom and got the same effects again. We need something now Twilight.”

“I’m working on it!” Twilight shouted slightly irate.

“Well work harder or let me do something, you’re doing everything by yourself Twi.”

Twilight sighed, she used her magic and pulled something that Rainbow Dash couldn’t see from where she sat. A folder was dropped onto the desk, there was nothing special about it only that it came from Twilights’ secret drawer.

“You know that cube we found a few years ago?”

“That blue one?”

Twilight nodded.

“What has that got to do with it?”

“I’m setting up a research lab to discover these things we keep finding, the trouble is there’s only one pony who knows about these artifacts. Well at least one pony who is likely to help us-”

“Wait are you talking about who I think you’re talking about?”

“Open it and find out.” Twilight replied cooly.

Rainbow Dash opened the folder to find a mugshot of a pony she knew all too well.

“I want you to do it Dash, she’ll listen to you.”

Rainbow Dash studied the photo carefully.

“How can you be sure?”

“She has before.”

Author's Note:

Ok this was the last chapter we had waiting in the queue to be published last year

Discord: dear Celestia! Last year?

Yeah... Its been awhile

my tablet is being very temperamental right now so if you see any errors, BLAME TECHNOLOGY

as always- If its not insane its not worth your time!

Comments

[Insanecrusader]

So yeah... For those who still care or are just now joining us, What do you think?

Give me your honest opinion.

[Insanecrusader]

for anyone coming from the struggling authors group:

this is NOT my current work and it should be known that im adding this to the critique list because it's the longest story i have published