Mistrust, Science, and Recoveries
Captain Ember Flair pushed the last pile of paperwork away with a disgusted grimace. She sat in the Section Eleven Director’s office, and she hated every second of it. The elegant bookcases, the immaculate glass chessboard, the ancient fireplace with the beautiful mantle… it wasn’t hers. It shouldn’t be hers.
It had always been his…
She shook her head, pulling herself back into the present. Work. After the attack, Flair had found herself drowning in reports. Security reports, combat reports, repair reports, report compilation reports. They would not stop, and she was about ready to light the next file that somepony gave her on fire.
The attack had been swift, and the body count was small. The main casualties belonged to the griffon soldiers who had been eating in their mess hall. Suspiciously few ponies had been wounded, and Flair’s instincts told her that something was stirring even deeper below the surface.
She stretched her wings out and tried to crack her neck before—
A swift knock interrupted her, and the captain growled softly. “If it’s another damned report, I’m gonna…” she muttered to herself before clearing her throat. “Enter!”
The heavy wooden door swung open, and a blue unicorn stuck her head inside the room. “Ember?” Agent Amethyst Breeze asked.
“Ammy!” A smile split Flair’s face, and she waved her friend into the room. “Thank Luna. I thought it was another stack of paperwork…”
“Well, I can go get some, if that’s what you want,” Breeze said coyly.
Flair groaned. “Oh, hell no. I’ve been reading for five hours, waiting for the princesses to be ready for the interrogation of those captured ponies. The last thing I want is more numbers, and reiterations of the same story I’d just read a dozen times.”
“Let it never be said that Captain Ember Flair has made no sacrifices for the good of Equestria.” Breeze trotted inside and sat at one of the chairs. “At least the office is nice.”
The captain growled. “If you like it so much, you can have it. I’ll take my desk and my tacky cat calendars any day.”
Her friend chuckled. “Of course you would.”
Flair joined in with the quiet laughter, but then her smile faded. “But, seriously. What do you need, Ammy?”
The unicorn narrowed her eyes. “Okay. So, after the attack, Vlad and I finished compiling our information. We were getting ready to start investigating the new attack when one of Princess Twilight’s magic investigators got into contact with us. She’d been working over at the griffon airship during the attack, and she was finally able to get her tracking spell working. We found where the windigos came from, Ember.”
Flair nodded, leaning forward. “It was the ship, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” the other mare replied with a nod. “The windigos came to Equestria on the first airship, and Vlad ordered a full investigation of the ship. He actually let a mage onto the ship to track the source. We confirmed it. All the windigos had hidden inside one of their cargo bays. The ambient magic from their ship’s engine must have hidden them. That’s why it took so long to get our spells to work.”
“Shit,” Flair muttered. “So, that means that either General Chaput smuggled the windigos in, or they came from some other faction within the griffon hierarchy. That’s… not a pleasant thought either way.”
“No, it isn’t,” Amethyst agreed. She stared off at the burning fire and sighed. “First the windigos, and now traitors. I fought beside griffons and killed ponies, Ember. This wasn’t why I signed up. I don’t want this…”
“Me either, Ammy…” Flair shook her head. “Shit, I miss the old days. Running around in Prance with Dovey, trying to keep my head together in Zebrica with Blue, or tracking down security leaks and investigating possible spies here with you. Not having to worry about who’s on our side, ‘cause intel told us. None of this almost being killed by assassins on a bi-weekly basis bull. Just… life.”
The unicorn nodded. “Speaking of the director… did you two get a chance to talk?”
“Not since after the attack.” Shrugging, the captain continued. “Being here in his office doesn’t really help much.”
“No, I think not.”
Flair sighed. “It’s not the first time I fell for a superior officer, and it probably won’t be the last.” She shrugged once again. “Anyway, we have too much work to worry about love and other mistakes. Although…” She squinted at her friend. “I find it rather interesting that you were eating breakfast with the griffons this morning.”
Breeze flushed purple. “I… uh, we were about to work on the investigation, and—”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” She grinned lopsidedly. “You know, I’m already getting reports of rumors all around the castle concerning a certain budding romance that saved the griffons during the attack. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about—”
“No!” Breeze interjected abruptly. Her blush deepened. “It… it was just a hug!”
Flair chuckled. “Sure it was.”
“Really!”
“Uh-huh.”
Breeze looked over the top of her glasses at her partner. “Seriously.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you were in their mess hall in the first place.” She leaned forward once again.
“We were going to be working. Ivanov said that the general had encouraged him to work more closely with me, to make sure that… that…” Breeze’s voice trailed off. “Oh.”
“Aaaaaand there it is,” Flair said. “That bastard. I don’t trust him, not at all. Windigos on his ship, putting you in a place where you’re in the line of fire, making sure the princess was with him during the attack… He’s manipulating everything.”
“But is he the one responsible for the attacks?” Breeze asked.
Flair inhaled deeply. “Maybe. Maybe not. We can’t be sure.”
“So, what else is new with him?” The agent shook her head. “We never trusted him.”
“Yeah, but now? After all of this?” Captain Flair stood to her hooves. “He looks good, Ammy. He fought alongside both princesses, helped prevent attacks on Equestria, and is the only griffon leader who has even a lick of sense, or so it seems. That spells danger, at least to me.”
“Well, at least we can trust Vlad. And Vlad trusts Chaput, so—”
“But can we really?” Flair gazed into the fire. “I know that you like him and all, but Ivanov is still a griffon. What if he’s part of another, deeper ploy?”
“Ember.” Breeze walked over to her friend. “Vlad has been completely open, and I’ve gotten to know him pretty well. He’s the real deal.”
Flair lifted her front leg and rested her head in her hoof. “I’d like to believe that, but—”
“Eventually, we have to trust someone,” Breeze said quietly. “The princesses are working with the general. I trust Vlad. Maybe the possibility exists that Chaput and Vlad are actually on our side, like they say?”
“I don’t know…”
“Well,” She set a hoof on Flair’s shoulder. “I think they might be. And for now, they’re helping us, and they’re acting like they’re on our side.”
The captain shook her head. “It…”
“Ember, if you can’t trust them, then don’t.”
Flair glanced up in surprise to see Breeze staring at her.
“If everypony trusted them, we’d be open to betrayal. I know it’s hard for you, what with… all that happened back in Zebrica. So don’t. Don’t trust them. Keep an eye out, and warn us if you see something off. But as for me, I’m going to trust Vlad.”
The captain nodded. “Thanks, Ammy. I’m sorry for saying all of this to you. Things have been pretty rough.”
Her friend smiled sweetly. “I understand. Don’t worry about it.”
Flair grinned. “Well, I—”
The intercom on the desk beeped twice, and Flair lowered her head with a sigh. “If it’s not one thing…” She trotted over and pressed the accept button. “Captain Flair.”
“Captain,” said the voice of Flair’s secretary, “the head of X-4, Dr. Wing, has requested your presence down in the lab. He says that it’s urgent.”
She sighed again and nodded. “Okay. Tell him I’ll be on my way shortly.”
“Very good, ma’am.” The intercom cut off.
Flair turned to Breeze. “Duty calls, yet again.”
The unicorn nodded. “I’ll still be here. I’m going to try to analyze some of the aural patterns we documented on the ship and here after the attack. Maybe we can find a way to detect the windigos before they get to us next time.”
“Sounds good,” Flair replied. “And, Ammy?”
She looked up. “Yes?”
“I hope you’re right about Vlad.” Flair smiled sweetly. “He seems like he might be an okay guy, for a griffon.”
Breeze wrinkled her nose. “Well, thanks. I guess.”
“Also, youtwomakeanadorablecoupleokaythanksbye!”
And with that, Flair dashed out the door and left a confused Breeze standing alone.
~~~
Chuckling to herself, Flair trotted down the corridor toward one of Section Eleven’s more secluded laboratories. The clop of her hooves on the stone floors echoed through the cold hallway, and the captain shook her head ruefully. Several ponies snapped to attention as she passed. She nodded to them, and they resumed their hurried walks.
The hallway took a sharp turn to the left and ended in a large metal doorway. Flair pulled out an identification badge and scanned it beside at a small terminal. The door swung open, and a guard on the other side nodded to her.
After she passed through to the new part of the corridor, the entire decor changed. The walls went from ancient cobblestone to the blinding white of modern plasteel. Brilliant fluorescent lights illuminated the spotless floor, and the walls seemed to glow from the reflected light. Flair squinted and walked further.
She passed half a dozen doors, and, as she did, she heard the hustle and bustle of Equestria’s sharpest minds at work. Each individual laboratory had its own security outside the door, but the racket of machines and more than a few explosions or gunshots reached Flair’s ears. The captain smiled at the security cameras that provided complete coverage of the hallway from their perches beside the lights.
These labs had once been dedicated to pushing the limits of what science and magic were capable of achieving. When the threat of war had pressed down upon Equestria, the princesses had repurposed them to preparing for the worst possibilities…
And, thus, the X-Projects were born.
Flair ignored the first few laboratories that were differentiated from the earlier rooms by their enhanced security and posted guards. X-1, the first of the more heavily defended labs, was dedicated to the design and refinement of Equestria’s rifles. Production had moved slowly, and the existence of any firearms possessed by the pony military was still highly classified.
The second door led to X-2, which worked on enhanced battle-armor for ponies who would be involved with heavy combat. Flair didn’t know how their production was going, but, judging by the gunfire inside, they appeared to be conducting yet another round of testing.
X-3, the last door before her destination, was easily the most technical of the four primary labs. The scientists inside were busy frantically reverse-engineering Griffonian and Germane airship technology and attempting to apply it to Equestria’s own air fleet, which would soon enter production.
Flair smiled again as she came to the door at the end of the hallway. X-4 had been her favorite lab ever since she had been given security clearance to know about the X-Projects.
She trotted up to the terminal and pulled out her badge again. This time, she hoofed it over to the guard who stood at the door. He nodded solemnly to her. Flair pressed her eye up against one of the sensors so that it could take a retinal reading. The machine flashed twice, and a hoof panel popped out of the side of the wall. She scanned her print on it, and waited for the final test…
The door slid open, and the captain glanced quizzically over at the guard. “Wait, what about the blood sample?”
“Machines all went down two days ago, ma’am,” the stallion grunted. “Some kind of glitch in the system. They should be back up by tomorrow.”
Flair raised an eyebrow. “Well, okay then. Thank you, Sergeant.”
“My pleasure, ma’am,” he replied as he looked back down the hallway.
The captain trotted through the now open door and was greeted by the sound of shouting. The corner of her lip twitched. “Ah, science at work…”
She rounded a corner in the short hallway and opened the first door to her left. As she stepped inside, she was met with the familiar sight of the main room of X-4.
The far wall was lined by nearly twenty computer screens. Right now, they were all asleep, displaying the insignia of Section Eleven. To the left was another wall, this one lined by whiteboards. Scribbles in red, green, and blue filled all available space, depicting equations and spells that Flair couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Squiggly red lines crossed out half of the work, and the words No! No! Not that many! obscured the work that had been beneath them.
“—and if you can’t even manage to make this work, how the tartarus are we supposed to get the diagnostic subroutines online?” A nasally voice pierced the air, and Flair looked at the center of the room to see a stocky red unicorn with a bitter scowl standing next to a suit of armor that was draped over a mannequin.
“I-I’m sorry, Dr. Vial…” replied a short unicorn mare with a blue coat and a white and pink mane. She shied away from the other pony, and her horn flared to life.
The third of the four-scientist team scowled as he adjusted the suit of armor. “Vial, calm yourself,” he said in a thick Germane accent. A sheen of sweat covered his green coat, and he shrugged his white lab robes out of his way so that he could access the armor more easily. “We just need to isolate the error, and—”
“There should have never been an error, Flurry!” Dr. Vial boomed. He tossed his messy golden mane out of his eyes. “Serenata must have messed up her incantation somehow! If you two would just pay attention…”
Flair’s eyebrows rose as the first scientist continued to berate the other two. She slowly walked over to the far wall where two familiar ponies waited. Knight-Captain Dovetail and Agent Fortune leaned against the wall, watching the action. Dovetail shook her head, and Fortune shifted uncomfortably on his hooves.
The stallion saw his boss moving toward him and sighed in relief. “Captain, thank Luna you’re here… I don’t think I can take much more of this.”
“What’s going on, Fortune?” Flair asked.
The light green analyst shuddered. “I have no idea, but it’s your problem now!” He nodded to Dovetail. “Have fun you two. Try not to strangle him!”
Before Flair could reply, Fortune trotted out of the room and headed for the entrance. Flair looked toward the Knight-Captain and pursed her lips. “Should I be angry at him, slightly miffed that he just gave me some kind of nasty duty, or just confused?”
“Well, you’re always confused,” Dovetail replied, smiling lopsidedly. “But you’ve gotta respect his tactical sense. He was only here to escort me because I needed an Agent, and now he’s got somepony to cover for him. That retreat was masterful.”
“Great. Miffed it is,” she replied to her old friend. “I take it that Vial is being, well, vile again?”
The Knight-Captain rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he’s never been described in that way before… but, yes. He certainly is.”
“—one simple enchantment! One!” the angry unicorn spat. “That took fifteen minutes to prepare, and…”
Flair shook her head. “Ah, great.” She looked at the center of the room again and saw the suit of armor that was the focus of the ponies’ attention. “Is that why you’re here?”
Dovetail nodded. “It certainly is. I needed to get the suit reconfigured. The basic design is for an average sized mare, so it was a bit big on me. I grabbed the nearest agent and dragged him in here so we could fix it.”
Eyeing the scientists, Flair snorted. “I’m not an expert in magically magical armor of magicismness, but that doesn’t look like they’re resizing it…”
“Your mastery of language never fails to amaze,” Dove said dryly. “And, no. They grabbed it and said that they had ‘upgrades’ to do. They’ve been at it for almost half an hour now. I tried to tell them that I needed to leave, but Vial doesn’t seem to be capable of listening.”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure that I cast it exactly how you wrote it…” the blue mare named Serenata said in her quiet Itailian accent. She pulled out a clipboard and squinted at it through her square-rimmed glasses. “Yes… yes… yes…”
“And the injectors functioned exactly as designed,” Dr. Flurry growled in his deep accent. “I don’t think our implementation was the issue.”
“Well, actually—” Vial began.
“Okay, I think this has gone on for long enough.”
The five ponies in the room turned to see a light lavender pegasus come trotting into the room. The leader of X-4 shook his head at the scientists. “I leave for lunch, and this happens. Nice.”
“Dr. Wing!” Flair called out.
The physicist turned and gave a smile to his old friend. “Hey, Flair. Good to see ya!” He winked at her. “I’ll be with you in just a second. Lemme just clean this up.”
Vial threw his hooves into the air and sat into a seat beside the monitors. “Maybe you can find the issue then.”
Dr. Flurry cleared his throat. “We’re trying to add the painkiller module to the Mark Three suit. Something went wrong, and the device is delivering one hundred and thirty-seven times the right amount. It’s a lethal dose.”
Humming to himself, Dr. Wing trotted over to the white-boards. “Let’s see…” He grabbed one of the dry erase markers and hummed to himself as he looked over the calculations. “The physical side looks cool… no issues there.”
“Told you,” Flurry muttered to the huffy Dr. Vial.
“Now then, magic!” Wing said happily as he moved to the other side of the board. His lopsided grin faded as he saw the red marks that had crossed out some of the magical equations. “Oh. This part is very not cool.” He sighed. “What did I tell you guys about writing over each other’s work? This is not pretty, at all.”
Serenata nodded. She said something to Flurry in a hushed tone.
Vial shook his head. “I told her to let me handle it, but—”
“Sere, you’re in the blue, right?” Wing interrupted.
“Yes, sir,” the mare replied. “I did the first computations, and—”
“And she was wrong,” Vial finished for her. “I fixed it in red.”
“Yeah…” Wing muttered as he looked over the smudges. “I’m pretty sure Sere was right in the first place. You mucked it up, Vial.”
“Yes, I… wait, what?” the unicorn said as he leapt to his hooves. “That… that’s impossible!”
“Right here.” Dr. Wing pointed. “That? Did you forget your one minus gamma-five terms again, Vial? C’mon, you’re dealing with a spell that couples to hoofedness. Making such a fuss over elementary crap. Drop the coupling terms, screw up the amplitude. Science, colt! Sere had it perfect earlier.”
The other stallion’s eyes widened. “How… I…”
“Just adjust that, and recast,” Dr. Flurry said to Serenata. The younger mare nodded, and her horn glowed with golden power. The suit of armor was surrounded by energy, and Flair heard the distinct sound of air hissing. A loud crack filled the air, and a display panel on the mannequin glowed green.
Serenata nodded happily. “That did it! That’s the perfect dosage.” She smiled over at Dovetail, her golden eyes glimmering behind her glasses. “We should be ready for the fitting now.”
“Finally…” Dr. Flurry muttered.
Dovetail trotted forward, nodding her head. “So, what does all of this do, exactly?”
Dr. Wing strode over to stand beside her. “Okay. So, you know how our suits feature adaptive multi-shield technology?”
“Vaguely…” the knight-captain replied.
“Well, our sensors figure out where constant attacks are hitting the suit, because those suck and drain the power. And stuff.” Wing shrugged. “We figured that if we could detect that, we could find out where we have suit ruptures. That led to a thought about making some kind of diagnostic spell, and, to make a long story short—”
“Too late,” Dovetail muttered.
“—we took the first step by making an automatic pain-killer injector.” Dr. Wing smirked. “Also, I love that movie. And, anyways! We’re going to have these babies standard-issue in the next generation of suits that come out next week.”
“Next week?” Flair asked.
Dr. Flurry grunted. “Yes. We’re almost ready. Just need to knock the issues out of the shields, finish the diagnostics, and work out the bugs in our new heads-up-display.”
Dovetail nodded. “Good. Now, can I please get this sized correctly? I have a meeting in about half an hour.”
“It shouldn’t take that long,” Wing said. “We have a machine that’ll do the adjustments. All we need are your measurements to punch into the computer. Vial here will handle that.” He looked over at the unicorn who stood staring at the whiteboard and shaking his head.
Flair smirked. “Well, I’m glad it won’t take long. Have fun, Dovey.” She winked at her friend before trotting over to whisper in her ear, “and try not to punch him too much, eh?”
Dovetail growled.
Dr. Vial turned around with a scowl on his face. “Very well. Come with me please, Knight-Captain.”
“Of course,” the mare replied. She narrowed her eyes and shot a burning glare at Flair, but the other mare didn’t pay any mind.
The doctor and the knight-captain left the room, and Dr. Wing breathed a sigh of relief. “Luna, that bastard gets annoying.”
“Blaming his mistake on Sere,” Dr. Flurry said. “How long until we get a new medical doctor? We asked for him to be transferred, yes?”
“We probably won’t get one,” Wing replied. “He might be a pain, but he’s one of the best when it comes to his field. Just don’t tell him that. He doesn’t need an even bigger ego.”
“If I may…” Serenata said quietly, “he seems to… overstep himself.”
Dr. Wing nodded and shrugged. “Well, yeah. But that’s why I’m here to put him in his place and fix his shit!”
Flair chuckled. “It may not make you feel any better, but I’m glad that the incompetence is shared in all departments. At least I don’t have to deal with all of it on my side.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Wing mumbled. “Anyways, what can I do for you, Captain?”
The mare’s eyes widened. “Uh, you’re the one who called me down here.”
“I did?” Wing squinted. “When?”
“Like, ten minutes ago,” Flair replied.
The physicist narrowed his eyes briefly and then shrugged. “Huh. Guess I must have slept since then.”
“So, you didn’t call me down here?” she asked carefully.
“Not that I recall…” Wing nodded to himself. “Although, now that I think about it, I do need you for a few things…”
Captain Flair made a mental note to check on the discrepancies in X-4 before saying, “Well, I’m here now. What’s up?”
Wing grinned. “C’mon. I’ll show you.” The stallion dashed toward the hallway and jerked his head to the side. “This way!”
She allowed a smile to slip over her face as she followed the enthusiastic scientist down the hallway. The voices of Dovetail and Dr. Vial came from one of the nearby rooms, but the two pegasi walked past. She coughed twice. “So, Wing. How are things working with Sere here? I know she’s pretty new and all.”
“Sere? Oh, she’s doing great.” He opened one of the other doors and held it open for Flair. “She’s letting herself get pushed around by Vial too much, but I think that’s just her shyness. She just graduated from Princess Twilight’s University for the Exceptionally Gifted when we tagged her for the program. Now she’s working with ponies who get to put fancy letters after their names, and I think it’s intimidating her. She just needs to realize just how full of shit Vial is, and she’ll be golden.”
The captain snickered. “Good. So, you’re grabbing ‘em pretty young now, aren’t you?”
The new room was almost as large as the other one, but the furnishing was quite different. A highly advanced magical fabricator sat in the far corner, churning away as it converted raw matter and ambient energy into what looked like a long weave of black fabric. A tall black locker was tucked away against the wall, locked by a high-tech magic-computer.
“Sere’s an exceptional case,” Wing said as he trotted over to the locker. “She has a degree in a very specialized field of advanced micro-magic theory. By the time she graduated, she was taking classes just from Princess Twilight. She’s not a particularly strong spellcaster, but she has the most precise manipulation I’ve ever seen, and she can cast spells that are exact on the molecular level. That is some awesome crap right there. And with what we’re doing here, we need awesome crap.” He punched a code into the keypad, scanned a hoof, and leaned over so it could take a retinal scan. “Here, take a look at this…”
As Flair trotted over, he reached into the locker and pulled out a vaguely familiar suit. Flair gasped as she recognized the newest powersuit.
“This, right here, is the mark four suit.” Dr. Wing set the sleek black armor onto a nearby table. “You may not believe it, but we accomplished this by basically taking the last iteration, ripping it open, and putting better stuff inside.”
“Wow, really?” Flair said with an appreciative chuckle. “I’d never have guessed…”
“Yeah!” Wing pointed at the front of the suit. “Like this part! More armor plating to stop the bad ouchies, and a big-flank battery to enhance hitting power! Wha-pow!” He mimed punching something with his front hoof. “We’ll be putting in the painkiller injectors in a few key areas, and we’re also trying to take a look at other places to enhance the armor without hampering mobility. Which is not exactly as easy as telling Vial that he’s an idiot, and that’s a fact.”
“Mmm,” Flair agreed. She eyed the shining metal, and something caught her attention. She cocked her head to the side and pointed at two black boxes on the sides of the suit. “What are these?”
He laughed in a mock-evil voice. “Oh, Captain, my Captain… this is the best part. These are our take on saddle-mounted weaponry. The next generation of our artifact-rifles will feature specialized stocks that allow them to lock into the suit itself. Look mom, no hooves! And the coolest thing about it? Do ya remember how you had that dot thingy on your heads up display?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, we did a thing. A very fancy thing. Two words.” Wing tapped his head. “Mental. Commands.”
Flair inhaled sharply. “No way…”
“Yes way!” He tapped the suit several times. “Basically, we take the neural connections that are inside ponies’ noggins that let them use their natural magic, like weather stuff, or horns, or growing things, and use it to aim and fire the weapons. We couldn’t manage it last time, since we didn’t have Sere, but now we can pull it off! Sort of.”
“Wait, what do you mean, ‘sort of?’” she asked.
He shrugged. “Weeeeeell, it’s not perfect. At all. We need more testing, but we’re on the right track. But it’s gonna be awesome!”
Flair chuckled. “I bet. Anything else?”
“Strength, armor, shields, HUDs, weapons, painkillers… I think that’s it for this one,” Wing finished. He lifted the suit and put it back into the locker. “Oh! And one last thing. With Sere over here, we can manage to finish in hours some enhancements that took us weeks back when we were working out the kinks. That’s part her, and part us pulling our heads out of our flanks and doing things right the first time.”
She trotted over to him and took a look inside the locker. “Got any other cool toys in there?” she asked.
“Just another two or three suits,” he replied. “However…” Wing glanced over at the table. “I do have one other thing to show you.”
The two pegasi moved toward the large oaken table in the center of the room. Flair glanced down to see a small metal box sitting on the edge. Wing grabbed it and reached in through the open lid. He pulled out a black amulet attached to a red cord.
“What is that?” Flair asked.
Wing’s eyebrow rose. “This, Captain, is bullshit.”
“You may need to be a bit more descriptive,” she replied dryly.
The doctor sighed. “Okay. Those pony jerks who attacked the castle earlier today were immune to some magical spells. These,” he said, indicating the box that was stuffed full of the amulets, “are why. They generate a localized field of… we’ll call it bullshit.” He nodded. “They generate a localized bullshit field that screws with how magic works. It makes it so that any direct-effect spells, like variations of sleep and incapacitation spells can’t affect the wearers.”
The captain stood silently, processing the information. “That… doesn’t sound good.”
“No. It’s not.” Wing tossed the amulet into the air and caught it again. “The problem is, these babies wouldn’t stop the important spells, like the ones that light things on fire. They only hit the direct-affectation incantations, and that means bad things.” He met Flair’s eyes. “Something didn’t want us taking these jerks alive. They wanted us to have to kill them.”
“And it almost worked,” Flair growled. “Dove and I couldn’t take captives. The only survivors were the ones that attacked Princess Celestia.”
“Exactly.” He nodded vigorously. “I get the feeling that she wasn’t actually a target. From what I read over lunch, it seems like she was just there by accident.”
“Not by accident…” she muttered. “If Chaput was involved, then there aren’t any accidents.”
Shrugging, the doctor put his amulet back into the box. “If you say so. I’ll stick to magic and science things. They’re a tiny bit less likely to be lying to your face. But just a tiny bit.” He smirked.
Captain Flair smiled. “I guess. So, is that all?”
“Yes… actually,” he replied, “no. I lied. There is one other thing, and then I’ll let you go.”
“Oh, you’ll let me go?” Flair asked dryly. “Didn’t know I was a prisoner.”
“Science!” Wing exclaimed with a chuckle. “But, really.” He cleared his throat. “Are you familiar with Codename: Endgame?”
As she heard the words, Flair felt the hairs on her neck stand up. She shivered. “Yes.”
“You know that I have top security clearance, because science,” Wing said, “so it shouldn’t surprise you that I took the liberty of familiarizing myself with reports like this. Griffon nukes. What the hell.”
Nodding, Flair glanced up at him. “Of course. What about them?”
“Well, there’s something really screwy here.” Wing rapped a hoof on the table. “Okay. So, the first nuclear weapons in the world were made by the Germanes like, ten years ago. They tested them in the desert, and built a small-ish stockpile. The report indicated that Griffonia probably got their nukes from Germaney, but there’s an issue.”
Flair stood silently as he continued.
“Germaney made uranium-based nukes. To put it in words that actually make sense, they used uranium that they refined from naturally occurring deposits to create their bombs. It’s a long process, but it’s worth it if you can blow shit up. However, the Griffonian nukes are plutonium based, or so the agent who found them out reported. Now, either the agent is full of it, or we have a massive problem.” He shook his head. “Germaney never tried to go for plutonium. You can’t just refine plutonium like uranium. It’s a by-product of a bunch of stuff, and they’d need nuclear reactors to make it.”
The captain clenched her jaw. “So, you’re saying… that Griffonia made its own nukes?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the big thing.” Waving a hoof, Wing shook his head. “I figured that they’d probably made their own. Griffons like taking things and all, but they trust their own work way more than anypony else’s. No, the issue is that their possession of plutonium devices, which had only been created by one lab in Prance before now, means that they have nuclear reactors. And, if the report’s right, they have a shit-ton.”
“But what does it mean?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Captain, I think our reports of Griffonia’s production capabilities are way off. If they have nuclear reactors, then they have massive power generation capabilities. We haven’t heard jack about this before now. And if we missed some massive freaking reactors somewhere in their territories, what else are they hiding?”
“Shit,” Flair swore. “You’re right. How the hell did we miss this?”
“Probably because your analysts aren’t scientists, and they were to busy saying, ‘Holy crap, nukes!’” Wing waved his hooves above his head and pretended to scream. “Not fun.”
“No. Not fun at all,” the captain agreed. She eyed the black maned scientist. “Wing… can you look into this for me? I mean, the whole nuke situation.”
“Way ahead of you, Cappy.” He nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and… are we sure that all of their nukes are out in this storehouse area that the agent is reporting?”
She shook her head. “Of course not.”
“What if… what if they have one here?” he asked quietly. “Dmitri is bucking nuts, by all accounts. He brought a frickin’ huge ship to our capitol and smacked an enormous anti-magic bullshit field on it. We can’t scan it. We can’t get inside. We can’t do jack. What’s to stop him from having a nuke or three inside, for just in case?”
Flair exhaled deeply. “Nothing…”
He met her gaze. “Methinks that we may want to start thinking about… the possibility of bad things happening soonish.”
~~~
Captain Flair rapped twice on the wooden doorway to a large room in Canterlot Castle. A pair of guards stood beside her, watching her every move. The mare grinned at them as she waited for—
“Enter!” a refined voice boomed.
Her smile widened as she stepped into the glamorous quarters. Soft music played, and the gentle evening sunlight washed through a large stained-glass window on the other side of the room. The walls, covered in portraits and tapestries, were illuminated by several lamps scattered around, and the desk below the far window was occupied by a tall unicorn stallion.
Director Blueblood turned to face Flair, and she saw him smile as he met her gaze. “Ah, Captain! I’m glad to see you!”
“You too, Blue,” she replied. She trotted over to him as he stood to his hooves and pulled him into a hug. “You doing better?”
He pulled back slightly as she made contact, but then slowly returned the embrace. “Yes, very much so.” The hug ended, and he gestured at the large bandage on his chest that poked out from under his suit. “Magic is actually very effective at fixing wounds, I have discovered.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, a smile upon her face. “That’s good to know. I’ll keep that in mind if you ever get stabbed again.”
Blueblood wrinkled his nose. “No, thank you. I don’t intend to make this a repeated experience.”
“Eh, ya never know,” she said with a shrug. “As the poet said, ‘Shit happens.’”
“Indeed.” The stallion chuckled. “So, is this a social visit, or is it work related?”
Flair grinned up at his handsome face. “Social. I had some time to kill before the princesses needed me, so I figured I could check on how you’re holding up.”
“I will say, I’m quite glad for the company.” Blueblood nodded toward his desk. “I’m not cleared for any labor so far, so I’m working in secret on some paperwork and other fun things.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “This is my least favorite part of all my jobs, and it’s the only bit that I can even try to accomplish right now. Oh, irony.”
“Bleagh, paperwork,” Flair agreed. “I swear, I have no idea how you do it. I almost suffocated from the sheer mass of paper in your office. Dump that on top of your government work and having to run your family affairs… no. Eww.”
“Ah, Captain. You understand now.” He gave a small laugh. “So, how are you enjoying my job?”
“Probably about as much as you enjoyed that spear through your chest,” she growled. “Although, you at least got the bonus of being kissed by a hot mare because of it.” She flipped her mane and batted her eyelids at him. “I didn’t get squat.”
Blueblood cleared his throat. “I take it that the administrative tasks aren’t quite your cup of tea?”
“Bah, fine,” Flair said. “Ignore my flirtations, ya big meanie. No, they certainly aren’t. I’d rather leave those to handsome stallions who are not me.”
“The weight you must bear for us,” he remarked dryly. “I wonder how you manage it.”
“Oh, I just think of your sweet flank, and I do fine,” she replied sweetly. Her eyes never left his face as she tried to gauge his reaction.
He ignored her. “I will say, I’m glad that you were there to take the reigns, as it were. I can’t think of another pony who I would trust more.”
“Oh, you do care!” Flair crooned. “For a second, I thought that—”
“Captain…” he interrupted. “Please…”
“Please what?”
He sighed. “Please... stop. I can’t do this. You know my feelings, and—”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving him off. “Blue, you’re my friend. Not anything else, unfortunately. And with that title comes the expectation that I’ll be flirting with you incessantly. Forever.” She batted her eyelids.
“Ah. So, it’s not genuine?” he asked.
A smirk crept across her face. “Not unless you want it to be.”
“Very well.” Blueblood nodded. “Friends…” he said, savoring the word. “Hmm. It’s been a long while since I really had a friend, you know.”
“Really?” Flair’s eyebrows rose. “I find that hard to believe.”
“No, don’t get me wrong. I have acquaintances, family members, admirers, and have had a lover or two, but…” he gazed off at the far wall. “It’s been quite a while since I had time to have a friend. Work, life, duty, honor, everything… it all piles up.”
She looked at him. His lips pursed, and his head lowered slightly. “I understand,” she said softly. “It’s easier to face it alone sometimes. You don’t have to worry about somepony else. No commitments on top of everything you already have. You can focus on what you need, and only that.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “But… I wonder sometimes.”
“Maybe…” she said.
Blueblood met her gaze. “Maybe it would be easier…”
“With somepony else,” their voices said in unison.
Blueblood cleared his throat and nodded. “Indeed.” He gazed at her, and a smile crept across his face. “Well, Captain, I—”
A swift knocking at the door interrupted them, and the two ponies turned to see one of the guards poking his head inside. “Captain Flair?” he asked.
“Yes, Corporal?”
He nodded. “I just received word from the princesses. They said that they require your presence down in the sublevels. They said to tell you…”
She perked her ears up.
“...that it’s time. He’s awake.”
Flair inhaled deeply. “Thank you, Corporal.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded to her before ducking back out the door.
“I suppose we’ll have to finish this another time,” Blueblood commented wryly. “It wouldn’t do to keep the princesses waiting.”
“No, it wouldn’t…” she said. “But we do need to finish this talk, you know. We’ve got some stuff to work out.”
“Of course.” The stallion bowed. “Captain. I shall see you soon.”
“Oh, you can bet on that,” Flair muttered as she turned to walk toward the door. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the pony traitor awake in his cell in the depths of Section Eleven.
“You can bet it all on that...”
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Nukes... Nukes... *Walks in to bomb shelter and seals it up.* Not coming out till it's over.
I hate Bullshit Fields. They are a pain in the horn.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
1:13_12/11/2015
6626288 It's funny because Fallout 4 just came out
...nukes?
*strangled screaming*
1111now.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/when-sh_t-hits-the-fan.jpg
You have to wonder what the notation for a spell would be... What would it even need to include? Power, structure, and...? Don't make me think of writing down a spell. Plz nu.
Anyways, because it wouldn't be me if I didn't do this...
You know what you've done.
Well...you definitely are making me question things. Is Wing really Wing? Are one of the scientists a Changeling? What the heck is going on here?
I know one thing for sure. You're definitely enjoying the paranoia and conspiracy...
Griffons and Nukes... that doesn't bode well for anyone :|
BRING IT ON!
Nice job, nice job!
NUCLEAR FIAPOWAH!
I wonder how many people realize Wing is actually from A State of Darkness.
So there's weird things happening with orders around the X-4 lab on the same day the blood-test station just happens to be broken. I'm sure that's nothing to worry about.
Wing is awesome. I loved the humour in this chapter, it's exactly my cup of tea
So, blood sample machine not working for scan, and Wing not remembering the invite. More things to add to the fishy list.
Anyway, answers time! Unless another plot twist happens. Let's hope it's someone else's plot they twist every time, otherwise it would get quite annoying. And painful. Unless they are into that kind of thing.
It seems everyone is big on Luna swearing around here...
Someone's probably already said this, but this is very suspect, considering the false order to come down. After all, nothing hapens in any story without a reason.
Also, Captain, my Captain.
Also, not-subtle-at-all Wing insert.
Also, there should be plasma guns added. Just Saiyan.
Also, Wing: 1.bp.blogspot.com/-hWwRl0BZADA/U9d4QlCGWTI/AAAAAAABXd8/pnfGC0uogdU/s1600/1822.png
edit: Sere is kind of an awkward abbreviation. Looks like "serene" but it isn't, and kind of sounds like "Ceres" without an s. Then you wonder if it's supposed to be like "Sears" or something closer to "Sara". It just leaves one hanging. Just wanted to get that out.
Doc Wing from project X. SW reference?
...changelings.
It's totally changelings.
Also, your description of the labs was giving me fallout vibes. Maybe I've just been playing so much FO4, I thought. Then the nukes were mentioned and I started looking around for Vaults.
Oooo, so many weapons. And lies and misdirection all around. What is true and what it not?
BTW... SCIENCE!
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AgathaGirlGenius3_8.jpg
I really liked all that chat about technology and Dr. Wing's personality.
War... war never changes.
Also it's totally changelings.
Does Luna still exist? Where's button? Three chapters... The next one decides it.
a vary interesting chapter so much going on.
a vary good chapter I enjoyed the read.
6626884
So I'm not the only one who got a serious Fallout vibe from that?
6627032 no. No you aren't.
6626819 No, Doc Wing being me. :P
6626874 D'aww. Well howdy. :P
6627042 That too and I knew that. But the useage of you in the X project seems to not be a coencidence...
A Star Wars reference aside of the X archives and the Iron Man ones.
Gotta watch out for them bullshit fields, they're everywhere
6626884 I agree, and they gotta be in the X-Project labs already, can't be coincidence that the blood tests are down
Is this just gonna go straight to Fallout? Because that's what it seems like.
Nukes?
Break out the Bolos!!!
orig11.deviantart.net/4b79/f/2010/323/e/4/bolo___we_are_already_in_hell_by_shimmering_sword-d336pwn.jpg
Y'know what you Equestrians need? A live Windigo.
Yes, yes, I know. Evil spirits of hate and rage are evil, but bear with me here; they are... living(?) things like anything else so it's possible you may be able to, um, "coerce" one into not doing whatever it is the rest of them are doing. (Or at least convince it to tell you things you don't yet know...) And since they can apparently get in and out pretty easily, that could give you a leg up on pretty much everything else you're trying to do!
Plus, who doesn't want a Windigo roommate?
“Machines all went down two days ago, ma’am,” the stallion grunted. “Some kind of glitch in the system. They should be back up by tomorrow.”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
...and nukes?
saddle mounted weapons?
............war.
war never changes.
Well, I'm opening a Vault for the comment section. Anyone else want to join me?
I smell changelings.
Is there an X-23?
I'm getting a Fallout Equestria vibe from all of this. And I like it
soooo essentially power armor thought the pain killer dispensers are from somewhere else
Also blood tester broken and wing calling flair down and not remembering it.
OHAI CHANGLINGS or docc is abutt and giving us a red herring
Excellent chapter. Lots of science, yay. Perfect timing with the nukes, fallout 4 just came out.
This reminds me of Halo where the would kidnap children and train them to wear Spartan suits XD
Sounds a lot like Halo...
derpicdn.net/img/2012/12/4/172558/large.jpg
After this chapter I'm starting to imagine this story as a really good AU prequel to Fallout Equestria in which its war with the Griffons rather than the Zebras that led to the apocalypse.
6628003 I would agree with that completely. Though, in all fairness, I do tend to just fall asleep suddenly from overwork, so the pony character exhibiting some of the same random crap wouldn't be completely out of line. Or maybe, this is a red-herring itself. lol I'm already inside Docc's mind.
If Button isn't wearing one of those suits for real at some point, I will be rather disappointed!
6630954
Actually the auto pain injectors might of been in the fallout equestria fanfics too lazy to check all 500000 words XD
also theres nothing wrong with it as long as you remember to add the two step goodbye
I really like Wing's way of explaining Science! things.
6637804
It's actually based on the real Wing's way of explaining science! What I told him about how I write his character is this:
Basically, I take a super-genius. Then I put him in a room full of normal people/ponies. There, he has to explain super complicated science to them in a way that they can understandify it. (Basically what happens whenever he tells me science stuff.) So, he does the only logical thing: He talks to them like they're in 6th grade. However, he adds in sarcasm and expletives, so it seems like he's talking to adults, even though those adults are basically kids. But, because of the sarcasm and bad words, they don't care how he explains stuff. It's just fun to hear it, even if it makes very little sense. That's how the "bullshit fields" came about. Wing has said stuff similar to that to me in the past.
Wing has quickly become one of my favorite characters to write.
6639793
I couldn't help myself. 
Thanks for the cookie *om nom nom*.
Here, have a follow in return.
Should be "too busy"
Common homophone error. The correct word is "reins".
Gun magic is best magic.
Bwahahahhahh. I died
6684117 I'm totally nine weeks late, but thanks for your love. :P
6627146 badass
I understood that reference.
The blood test machines are down?
The one test that might see through changeling tricks? (Assuming they can transform their retina, here! At least we’ve seen a blood test for ichor!)
Not suspicious. Nope. Not at all.