Chapter One: The New Losers
~BlackRoseRaven
The ivory mare sat with head bowed, her expression a mix of resignation and exasperation as the mature adult stallions on either side of her insulted and slapped at one another like foals. She ran her hooves slowly through her brush-cut white mane, sighing tiredly and wishing grouchily that these two would just stop arguing for once. Even here, in this enormous amphitheater filled with seats and tables where they were all given their missions by Hecate or one of her representatives, they couldn't manage to go five minutes without starting a fight.
At least no one was staring at them anymore, but then again, this kind of thing happened so often that everyone had gotten bored with the antics of her teammates. It still annoyed her, though... and then she looked grumpily up, her amaranthine eyes narrowing a little as she felt one of them accidentally smack her in the process of flailing at the other.
Immediately, the lanky zebra and the winged unicorn on either side of her quailed back, and the mare said grouchily: “Will you two just knock it off? Or do I have to bang your heads together again?”
They both mumbled apologies and dropped their heads sulkily, but at least they settled down a little, and the mare sighed tiredly before looking crankily over at the large, handsome, and somehow ridiculous winged unicorn as said hurriedly: “But don't think that just because I'm sorry I'm listening to you. I am clearly the one in charge of this little group, Cadence.”
The ivory mare scowled for a few moments at the stallion: sure, he was incredibly pretty, with his perfect onyx body – well, almost perfect body, one of his wings was shorter than the other – and the coiffed silver mane he spent an hour every morning on, and his gorgeous face and eyes like polished platinum... but he was also, well... “Yes, yes. I know, you want to argue with me because you're still angry that I am simply not attracted to you, in spite of the fact that I'm... all this.”
He gestured widely at himself, then proclaimed: “But we evil gods of darkness have always had such a pull with those of female persuasion...”
“Oh, oui, that's what y'all are, Moonflower.” remarked the zebra on Cadence's other side, and the larger stallion twitched before glaring furiously over at him. But the black-coated, white-striped zebra only reached up and calmly tipped his top hat back, grinning widely beneath his checkered bangs: an expression made more intimidating by the skull-like patterning over his face, and how his emerald eyes seemed to glow. “Y'all just the most terrifying cocodril in this whole damn bayou.”
“You shut up, La Croix. I commanded an army of the most evil and supercilious monsters to ever exist, I certainly do not need to listen to the... whining of some outcast Loa stripehorse!” retorted Moonflower, crossing his forelegs with a huff... and shifting self-consciously so he could try and hide his cutie mark of a pretty little white flower. “I was feared and respected! I... I was so feared, that Hecate herself-”
Both La Croix and Cadence groaned, turning away from the black stallion, but Moonflower only continued loudly: “She came and took me prisoner and put me on trial! As a threat to the worlds! As a threat to all the worlds!”
Cadence covered her ears pointedly as La Croix yanked his top hat down over his head and pulled his cape tighter around his body, as if he was trying to vanish in the material. But Moonflower only glared at them and leaned forwards, almost shouting: “Yes, me, Morpheus, the God of Darkness and King of Evil and Prince of... Bad Things!”
The mare did her best to block him out, glowering grumpily at the tabletop as other ponies in the hall glared at Moonflower, a few of them shouting at him to shut up. But Moonflower took this like he always did, raising his forelegs high above his head and snapping: “You can deride me all you want, but all of you are nothing but... but silly little-”
Then the double doors at the back of the hall banged loudly open, and the whole hall went dead silent, Moonflower freezing with his forelegs raised high, his features going pale. Only Cadence dared to look up with a wince as metal hooves calmly walked down the stairs, before an electrified claw reached out as Hecate passed and seized into Moonflower's head, making him squeal in pain before he was slammed face-first into the tabletop.
He laid prone, drooling a bit on the table as Cadence winced and leaned away, while Hecate only calmly made her way to the floor. She stood for a moment with her back to the hushed crowd as she studied the clipboard in her other claw, and then she turned around and said, without bothering with any kind of introduction: “Team A-100. You are being reassigned to patrol duties until further notice. You did not meet my expectations after your last evaluation.”
A few ponies near the front of the room shifted sheepishly, and Cadence smiled faintly and shook her head slowly. But all the same, she knew by now to trust in Hecate and that what they were doing here, what all these strange and supernatural ponies had become a part of, was far bigger than anypony's feelings.
There were two things in common with each and every person here, whether they were a pony, a griffin, or something else entirely: one, they had all survived great odds. And two, each and every person here was a misfit, an outcast: an Orphan.
Otherwise, they came from every walk of life: some were actual supernatural entities, like La Croix was. Others were ponies who had gotten themselves caught up in some kind of adventure, or struck by some twist of fate. They came from every possible place, too: here in this single, great hall, you could find demons from Helheim sitting alongside angels from Heaven and mortals from across the worlds... and as Cadence had been amazed to discover, there wasn't one single Equestria out there. There were dozens... maybe hundreds. Maybe even more than that.
As difficult as it was to believe, even this place had once been Equestria: long ago, the massive, mechanical castle-city they lived in had actually been Canterlot. Now it was as unrecognizable to her as the barren, dead wastes that covered most of this world...
Cadence smiled briefly, reaching down and silently touching the stain-like mark on her flank: it was little more than a hollow outline of a heart, her cutie mark looking almost like it had been wiped away like paint. Just like the rest of her body: here and there, there were streaks of pink, like the almost phoenix-like shape over her breast, but otherwise she had been... been burned away to what was almost a blank canvas, really.
Maybe that was why it had been so easy to accept the offer Hecate had given her: to stay here in Decretum, and be part of this secret civilization. Except, no, she knew there were many more reasons than just because she had been changed so much by the battles she had gone through: this world... fulfilled her, in a strange way. And no matter how she acted, how ruthless and evil she seemed... Hecate was doing a good thing here. An incredible thing.
They were the people who took care of the creatures in the dark; they were the ponies who made sure there were no monsters under foal's beds, who protected the worlds from threats they couldn't handle themselves. They were the ponies who acted as arbiters and negotiators between Heaven and Hell, and who stepped in when outside threats tried to influence any of the worlds that belonged to the ponies.
It made her feel proud, to be part of this. To be an 'orphan,' as they called themselves: Hecate called the place where they lived and trained the Orphanage for Wayward Youth, after all, so the nickname had kind of just stuck, even if a few of them were fortunate enough to have their entire families with them.
They shouldered an enormous responsibility, and they fought terrible things, nightmarish things, things that Cadence would have preferred to never imagined existed. Hecate was tough on them, and even their training and the regular examinations they went through could be life-threatening. And hell, sometimes there was even that homesickness, and Decretum could seem so loud, so bright, and so frightening even after all the years here when you looked around, saw all the gears, the thrumming fuel lines that pumped a terrifying black poison through them and all the puppet-like drones that calmly and constantly worked to keep the mechanical world functioning...
But there were wonderful things, too: there was journeying into other worlds, and looking with awe around different Equestrias that were never quite the same, always had their own quirks and uniqueness. There was the amazement of meeting other versions of yourself, who could look completely different or exactly like you... or well, in Cadence's case, like she had used to. And there was the sense of... of being part of something so much bigger than you, and doing something that was truly good for not just one nation and one people, but entire worlds...
Then Cadence winced a bit as Hecate said irritably: “Team 0-0, I have enough trouble with the self-appointed 'Irregulars' as it is. Perhaps all three of you could try and pay attention, since I see that once again, one of your members is absent.”
“My father... I mean, Sombra is being treated at the moment, for his condition.” Cadence said quickly, and she had to repress an awkward smile: she knew that Hecate knew where Sombra was. Hecate was the one who scheduled the treatment sessions that helped her father keep himself sane and stable, and by now, Cadence knew that Hecate kept track of every little detail. In all likelihood, she had scheduled them purposefully so they would always conflict with their meetings, knowing how difficult Sombra could find crowds to be.
Hecate only glared, however, keeping up her mask of contempt and irritation, but Cadence knew there was so much more to the Queen of Decretum by now. Maybe it was naive of her to think, but she thought that Hecate cared about every single one of them...
And then Moonflower rose a hoof and blurted: “I demand that I am made the leader of Team 0-0 in place of Cadence!”
Hecate tapped a claw against her clipboard for a moment, and then her horn glowed before she pointed a finger at Moonflower. The winged unicorn was blasted out of his seat by a powerful pulse of lightning, whimpering weakly as the top of his chair spun wildly in a circle from the force he had been hit with. “Request denied.
“Team 0-0.” Cadence and La Croix both sat quickly upright as Moonflower groaned loudly from the ground, half raising a hoof weakly to show he was still conscious and doing his best to listen. “Earlier today, I received a message from one of our benefactors requesting a seek-and-capture. The targets are high priority and considered to be a moderate threat level. They are to be incapacitated and restrained alive, then transported here for interrogation and holding.”
Cadence nodded quickly, then leaned forwards and asked: “Is there any information about their last location?”
“Class B.” Hecate answered, and although La Croix looked a little lost, Cadence nodded again: that meant the world was a relatively peaceful one. “Furthermore, we have an almost precise lock on them, and they're currently in an uninhabited area. There should be no threat of collateral damage and no contact concerns.”
That was a relief to hear: they were supposed to avoid making contact with ponies as much as possible. Not just to keep ponies from panicking or getting in the way, but also because Hecate had very strict rules about what they were supposed to deal with, and what they were supposed to let other worlds take care of themselves. They weren't there to solve every little problem, after all: instead, they existed to protect the worlds from problems that were outside the scope of what the average pony could deal with.
The ivory mare shifted a bit as she realized Hecate was still looking at her moodily, and Cadence wondered awkwardly for a moment if she'd forgotten something before La Croix rose a hoof and asked hesitantly: “Uh, Nanny Hecate? What kind of cocodril we be dealin' with here?”
“You are not team leader, La Croix. Do not speak unless I address you specifically. And for the last time, I am not your 'Nanny.'” Hecate said moodily, and La Croix cowered until Hecate looked down at her clipboard and answered moodily: “Your targets are demonic in origin. Two Wrath and one Pride, meaning they won't hesitate to engage you.”
Cadence nodded slowly: that worked for them and against them. They would be vicious fighters, but they likely also wouldn't flee, even if they realized that they were outclassed. Wrath demons, after all, loved nothing more than a good fight, and a Pride demon would likely refuse to admit defeat even after they tied it up and brought it back here to Decretum.
It sounded like a nice, simple mission, but Cadence thought Hecate still looked almost uncertain, and in her experience, the mechanical mare never hesitated. It made the winged unicorn feel nervous as she reached up and rubbed at the bird-like mark on her breast, before she asked slowly: “Are there any other parameters to this mission that my team should be aware of?”
Hecate looked across at her, then smiled thinly before she returned her eyes to the clipboard, replying coldly: “Yes. This is a personal request from one of our biggest supporters. It would be in your best interests to ensure your team performs far beyond what I would usually expect from the Irregulars. Is this understood?”
Moonflower glowered, while La Croix shifted uncomfortably, biting his lip; Cadence felt like she was somewhere between her two teammates, a little afraid, a little annoyed... but mostly unnerved. She didn't like to brag, but her team was by far one of the best here in Decretum: sure, Moonflower was a loudmouth, and La Croix could be a bit of a coward, but the black stallion had immense magical power and the Loa had a vast amount of knowledge about both alchemy and the realms at large.
And it wasn't like she or her father were ponies to be underestimated: she was the best fighter in Decretum, and her father could harness powerful dark magic on top of being the wisest stallion she had ever met. The four of them were Hecate's go-to team...
Well, okay. Maybe there was a few things they had to work on, and maybe their teamwork wasn't exactly the best in the world. Sure, sometimes Moonflower got carried away with his spells, and she had a bad habit of killing targets instead of taking them alive, and La Croix all too often got himself noticed when they were supposed to remain incognito.
They weren't perfect, there was that. But they were damn good at what they did, all the same. Hecate might scold them, lecture them, and even mock them from time to time, but she had never before actually hesitated to send them into any kind of mission...
No, there was more to this. This had to be some kind of test... and Cadence couldn't help but feel like her suspicions were confirmed when Hecate added grudgingly: “And as it is in my best interests to ensure your success, I've authorized your team for full equipment access. Thorn is waiting to brief you on the details of your mission. Your departure is in ninety minutes, so go and make your preparations immediately.”
Cadence saluted quickly, and then she winced when Moonflower rose a hoof and asked dumbly: “So does this mean we can go?”
Hecate slowly closed her eyes, looking pained, and Cadence hurried out of her seat and then seized Moonflower by the horn, making him wince as she half-dragged him up the stairs. “Thank you, Queen Hecate, we'll be ready to leave within the hour.”
Hecate only grunted moodily, watching the three make their way out before she shook her head in distaste and returned her eyes to the clipboard, saying icily: “Oh, yes, next is Team C-03. You terminated the wrong target. Explain in ten words or less why I shouldn't strip you of your status and reassign you to the weapon testing facility.”
Outside the doors, La Croix paused before pushing the side of his head against them, grinning widely as Moonflower finally shook off Cadence's hoof before rubbing vigorously at his horn, scowling sulkily at the mare. But she only glared pointedly back before opening her mouth... and then favoring La Croix with a dry look when he said gleefully: “Ha! Knew them damn ouaouarons weren't no damn good! They gonna get the boilin' pot, just you wait!”
Cadence sighed tiredly, rubbing slowly at her face before Moonflower complained: “For once in your life, can't you just speak like a normal pony?”
“And what, risk makin' you happy? We can't have that now, mon ami, now can we?” La Croix asked wryly, and Moonflower glowered at him moodily.
Before the two could start arguing again, Cadence quickly held up a hoof and interrupted loudly: “Hey, idiots. I need the two of you to behave yourselves long enough to go over to storage and see what Thorn has for us. I just have a bad feeling about this mission, like we should be taking it really seriously.”
“Oh, nonsense.” Moonflower rolled his eyes, then he smiled and calmly polished one front hoof against his chest, raising his head proudly. “We are the very best of the best. The cream of the crop. No, Hecate simply is too prideful to admit how she desperately needs our help right now to impress her backers or the... council or whatever it is that she works for.”
“I wouldn't say she works for 'em. You ain't seen it, but Nanny Hecate, she got a lot of friends in high places who want to keep her happy much as she wants to keep them on her side.” La Croix replied with a nod, and then the zebra spirit hesitated before turning his eyes to Cadence and adding: “And I know you ain't stupid, Cygne, and I know Hecate was bein' a little... étrange, even for her... but maybe Moony be half-right 'bout this.”
Cadence shifted a bit, and then she reached up and rubbed slowly at the side of her head, sighing quietly and mumbling: “Maybe you're right. Look, I'll meet up with you in about half an hour, okay? It shouldn't take any longer than that for me to get Dad.”
The two stallions traded looks, then they both shrugged before Moonflower encouraged: “Say, even if you're right, don't you like a challenge? And really, what could possibly have more magical powers than a god of darkness like myself?”
“That whole stick of yours ain't gotten old at all.” La Croix said wryly, and Moonflower huffed at the zebra before the Loa sighed and added finally: “But again, he ain't entirely wrong, either, much as that pains me to say, cher. 'Sall gonna be bien, just wait and see.”
The ivory mare bit her lip for a moment, and then she grumbled and nodded, saying resignedly: “Fine, just... get yourselves to Thorn, alright? We don't have a lot of time to waste either way.”
The stallions nodded back, then La Croix gave her a tip of his hat as Moonflower made an exaggerated bow, and the Cadence sighed and shook her head with a wry smile before she turned away. Sure, they could both be complete idiots, and they almost never got along... but she wouldn't change a thing about them, either. Moonflower was arrogant, boisterous, and parroted every fancy word and title he heard, and La Croix was obnoxious, a little sleazy, and rude, but they were also trustworthy, and optimistic, and good ponies. Better ponies than her, really...
Cadence smiled faintly as she slowly strode through the sterile halls of the massive compound that housed all of the training and strategy facilities. She tried to keep her eyes focused ahead, her thoughts on the mission, but instead she felt like her mind was wandering, thinking about the life she'd lived before she'd ended up here in this weird place, with all this weird people...
She'd been... 'normal' once, for the lack of a better word, since she had been a Princess of Equestria. She'd been married to a handsome, cheerful stallion, and she'd had all sorts of friends and admirers, and she'd lived a good life...
But that life hadn't lasted very long before she'd found out certain truths about herself. Before she'd discovered that she wasn't just some pony who had been found by the princesses, she had lived a life a thousand years ago, until her father had put her into a long, deathlike sleep to save her from the monster that had poisoned him. To protect her, like he had always protected the Crystal Kingdom and the ponies within it, even though he'd only been rewarded with pain and suffering.
King Serenite: or as he was now known, Sombra: but really, Sombra was a disease, an infection, a poison that had turned her loving, wise and wonderful father into a beast. And yet even with his mind, his heart, his very soul corrupted by evil, her father had still saved her life, at the end of the day... or at least what lives she had left.
Cadence smiled faintly, glancing down at herself for a moment before sighing softly: for her, living and dying were unfortunately a little more complicated than for your average pony. She had died at least five times over the course of her life, but every time, she'd gotten back up. But every time she came back to life, she changed a little more, reverted towards becoming... she still wasn't sure.
Her father had told her the story many times: a star had fallen from the sky one night, and landed in front of him. But in the crater, he had discovered a foal, whom he had adopted and named Cadenza.
He had never cared about where she had come from: to him, she had been a gift from the Heavens. He had taught her the difference between right and wrong, good and evil: he had explained to her why she should care for others, and strive to live a life of virtue, and mercy. He had loved her more than anything else in his entire kingdom, but to her? He had been her entire world. He had meant everything to her, and to this day, he still did.
But before she had fallen to Equestria, she had been something else entirely. A Swan Maiden, her kind had been called: a ruthless, cruel prototype for the Valkyries, the guardians of Heaven. She had strange memories of those times, memories that usually only rose to the surface when they were triggered by others who had a link to her fabled past.
Hecate had known what she was, though, or at least she'd had enough of an idea. In fact, Hecate had been the one to personally train her and mentor her, teaching her the little she knew about her past, and about the Valhalla of the present day. Cadence had been amazed to learn that one of Hecate's benefactors was none other than the Queen of Heaven herself, and shocked to discover that, thanks to the many changes and conflicts over the years, the Queen of Heaven was no goddess or angel, but a demon.
She smiled briefly: even when she thought about that now, some part of her got so... so angry. Valhalla had lost so much of its former glory, traditions had been forgotten, ancient pacts and feuds were no more...
But the better part of her, the positive, pony part of her, believed firmly that it wasn't all bad. Things had changed, but if Helheim and Heaven had ended their eternal war, that was a good thing, wasn't it? Hell existed for a reason, after all... or at least, that was what Cadence sorely wanted to believe. Not just because of the optimist in her, but because she wanted to believe that the universe made sense, that there was balance in all things, and most of all, that a place like Helheim didn't exist solely because some vile goddess took her greatest pleasures in hurting people.
Cadence shook her head briefly, then she came to a stop in front of a set of armored doors, looking up as a crystalline eye at the top of the frame swiveled to stare down at her. She smiled uncomfortably at it, then cleared her throat before saying lamely: “Hi.”
A bright light washed quickly over the mare from the crystal eye, and there were several loud clicks before the doors slid smoothly apart, revealing an enclosed bridge beyond.
The mare hurried over this, wincing as the doors slammed closed behind her: she didn't think she'd ever get used to all of the mechanical marvels – and terrors – of Decretum, but thankfully, it was only Hecate's facilities that were so coldly synthetic. The entire world was a mix of technological paradise above desolate, poisonous wasteland, but the Orphanage barracks and the residential departments both felt a lot more... alive, really. It was hard to think of a better word than that.
Cadence paused for a moment, looking out through one of the glass walls of the bridge and over the city of metal and neon lights that sprawled for miles in every direction. Here and there, massive trolleys and trains ran smoothly back and forth through between the towers of glass and steel, and enormous flying machines that stayed aloft by massive turbines and jet engines rolled slowly through the air, beneath the dark clouds that were almost always present in the sky.
It was beautiful, in an eerie way, and Cadence smiled faintly before she shook her head quickly and turned to head onward. Most of the Equestrias she had been fortunate enough to see didn't have anything like this: electricity, and magic-powered technologies, sure, but while crystals charged by magic provided much of the energy for many of these mechanical marvels, the technology itself was nothing but metal and gears and microchips.
And the strangest thing of all was that everything here worked with a sense of... well, harmony. Not just order, not just a sense of organization and that everything had a place, but they all worked together, in tandem. Considering the fact that the inhabitants came from across the span of countless worlds, it was incredible... and something that never failed to inspire Cadence, every time she thought about it.
The heavy doors on the other side of the bridge slid open, and the winged unicorn strode into the whitewashed halls of the medical building, the mare smiling a little as she made her way down the busy halls. Maybe it was because there were more ponies here, but this place always felt so much warmer, so much nicer than the other facilities.
It wasn't a very long walk, at least: in only a few minutes she reached the familiar ward, quietly slipping around the corner and smiling a bit wider as her eyes drifted past the other few ponies here for checkups or treatment to the peaceful sight of her father.
The stallion was resting back in bed, his front hooves resting on his chest, his head bowed and eyes closed. He looked almost like he was sleeping, and she hated to disturb him and interrupt his treatment, but all the same...
Cadence quietly tiptoed closer, and then she blushed a bit when his eyes opened: calm, dark eyes that looked up at her with gentle wisdom. His compassionate gaze always soothed her, reminded her of the past; reminded her of why this was all worthwhile. “Mi amore.”
“Hey, Daddy. How are you?” Cadence asked softly, sitting by her father's side and giving a small smile to him: even if now his coat and shaggy mane were now black as night, and his horn orange and curved and thrumming with dark energy, he was still her father. And she believed with all her heart that one day, they would completely undo the evils that had been wrought upon him.
But for now, they relied on two things to keep the corruption at bay: one was the large, humming machine her father was currently hooked up to by several large tubes, and the other rested on the table beside the bed: a metal 'backpack' that could be harnessed tightly on to her father, built to withstand the toughest combat and powered by the same poisonous energy it extracted from his body.
Unfortunately, the portable purifier wasn't strong enough by itself to keep Sombra's body completely cleansed: he still required regular, heavier treatments here in the facility, or the poison that ran through his body would start to overwhelm the purifier and cause it to short out after too long. That was something they had discovered the hard way.
Cadence softened, then reached up and silently took one of her father's hooves, and he smiled at her softly as the mare asked: “Do you think you can handle a mission, Daddy? I mean... have you regenerated enough?”
Sombra chuckled quietly at this, and then he gave a kind smile, squeezing his daughter's hoof gently. “I'll be fine, mi amore. And if Hecate is giving us this mission now, that means it's both urgent and she has confidence that I've healed enough to handle it. I trust her judgment.”
“I... do, too.” Cadence admitted after a moment, and then she squeezed her father's hooves gently, adding: “But even if I trust her, I trust you more. If you don't think you've spent long enough, I can request medical leave for you...”
“No, no. There's no point in that.” Sombra replied gently, giving her another encouraging smile before he asked softly: “Is our mission a capture or a rescue?”
Cadence smiled a little in return, impressed as always at her father's perceptiveness before she nodded quickly, silently rubbing a hoof gingerly along one of his forelegs, careful to avoid where the tubes were plugged into his body by the large, multi-headed needles. “A capture. But something seems... off to me. Hecate said that part of the reason we were being given this mission was as some sort of test...”
“Trust your instincts.” Sombra reassured, and Cadence gave her father an entertained look. “It's true, Cadence. Your instincts are strong.”
“Just because they're strong, doesn't mean they're good, Daddy.” murmured Cadence, shaking her head briefly before she sat back a little, gazing at him softly. “My instincts are part of what make me do... things I'd rather not.”
But Sombra only shook his head with a soft laugh, then he said quietly: “Now, mi amore. There's no need to start thinking about that nonsense. After all, I could say much of the same thing about myself... but when the corruption in me lashes out, it's no more my fault than when the Swan raises her head in you.”
Cadence blushed a little, but she nodded and smiled briefly. Her father always knew just what to say to make her feel a little better... and to stop her from veering off into uncomfortable territory. “I.. I know you're right. And I know we don't have a lot of time, either. Probably only an hour or so to get ready, and that's assuming Moonflower and La Croix haven't gotten lost on the way to see Thorn...”
Sombra simply gave his daughter an amused look, and she shrugged and mumbled: “Well, it's true. They're not the brightest, Dad. And they don't get along all that great, either.”
“They work hard, though. And no matter how they might act, we all trust each other, don't we?” Sombra said pointedly, and Cadence nodded a few times before the old stallion carefully sat up, asking gently: “Mi amore, do you mind...”
“Of course not, Daddy.” Cadence leaned back, hitting a button on the machine to turn it off. As it whirred slowly down, she turned back towards him and quickly but carefully starting to pull the tubes free from her father's forelegs and body. He flinched only a bit as each long, multi-pronged needle was pulled free from his flesh, and Cadence did her best to keep her smile on her face in spite of the fact that she couldn't help but shiver when she thought of all the pain and effort her father went through, just so he wouldn't get sick and hurt people...
She didn't know if she could handle it herself; Horses of Heaven, it was hard enough to handle just... this. Her father didn't deserve this, and yet he bore it stoically, refusing to show the pain she knew he felt, never complaining about how often he had to waste his mornings, if not entire days down here in this sterile place, surrounded by a thousand ponies and yet so alone in the crowd-
“Cadenza?” Sombra gently brought her back to her senses, and the mare blushed a bit as she looked awkwardly at the stallion, smiling lamely. But he was unfettered, simply smiling kindly at her before he asked gently: “So what do you suspect?”
“I... Hecate said the threat level should only be moderate, and I know she wouldn't give us bad information on a real target.. but I think we might be in for some sort of special test. I doubt she'd use another team from the Orphanage, because we all know each other... but since she mentioned her backers are involved and this is an evaluation...”
“You suspect that we should be prepared for a challenge, likely from powerful opponents.” Sombra finished, and Cadence nodded hesitantly. “Then we should treat this as seriously as possible. Whether or not your suspicions are correct, Hecate is trusting us. And the people who support Hecate and Decretum are the same people who support our Orphanage. We should do nothing less than our very best for them.”
Cadence smiled a little, and Sombra tilted his head as the last tubes were removed from his body before the mare murmured: “I wish I was more like you, Daddy. I just... hate imagining that we were more similar when you were out of your mind than you are now.”
“When I was out of my mind, I couldn't even form coherent sentences, mi amore.” Sombra shook his head, and then he reached up and gently embraced his daughter with one foreleg, closing his eyes and bowing his head against hers as she hugged him fiercely back. “You are not a monster, Cadence, no matter what you might feel at times. You are loving, compassionate, and my daughter. You are not ruled by the Swan.”
Cadence shifted a little, and then she closed her eyes and nodded a bit, murmuring: “I... I know. I just feel it inside me, and... I don't like how easy it is to forget, or to give in. And I don't like how... how good it feels.”
“We all have our demons, Cadenza. Our true worth and valor shows in how we handle them.” Sombra said gently, and then he smiled a little, grasping his daughter by the shoulders and pushing her back. “Do you mind lending another hoof?”
“Not at all.” Cadence smiled, nodding and slipping quickly past her father to the other side of the bed. She picked up the large, rectangular machine off the table, grimacing a bit at not just the weight, but the large prongs that stood out of the bottom of it, like teeth...
And as she always did, no matter how hard she tried not to, Cadence looked at her father's back and shivered a little: it was lined with surgical scars and small pieces of metal that helped affix the purifier, and there were two large, metal-rimmed holes where the device literally plugged into him...
Sombra cleared his throat, and Cadence blushed a bit before she quickly shifted the device in her forelegs forwards, mumbling an apology as she carefully fitted it into place. She was as gentle as possible... but he still flinched as the purifier clicked loudly into position.
The stallion shook his head quickly with a grimace, then quickly slipped on the straps that formed the harness, locking and tightening them against his body to make it as comfortable as possible while doing his best to ignore the initial pain of the purifier gearing up.
Sure, he couldn't say that it was precisely a comfortable life he lived... but that wasn't to say it wasn't a good life, either. After all, he was alive, and he had his mind back, and he had his daughter. And even he was still cursed and saturated in darkness and shadow, he could at least use his powers for the good of ponies everywhere. To not only protect people, but to help dismantle whatever machinations and evils of Valthrudnir's remained.
He looked towards his daughter, and softened at the sight of the white mare: there she was, thinking and worrying again. She reminded him of when he had been younger, trying to take the weight of all the world on his shoulders, making every tiny mistake into a tragedy and promising each and every time it would be the last he'd ever make.
The stallion smiled despite himself, then he reached up and gently squeezed Cadence's shoulder, bringing her back to reality before he said: “We shouldn't keep Thorn waiting. And I'm sure you'll want to check over our equipment recommendations yourself, as well.”
“Yes, of course.” Cadence nodded quickly, blushing a little and slipping to her hooves. She hesitated a moment, and then turned her worried eyes back to him as Sombra absently shifted a little to try and adjust the purifier to a more comfortable position... but it only took a smile from her father to reassure her this time, and remind her that they had business to attend to.
Cadence led her father out of the ward and back towards the bridge, the mare doing her best not to look too often back at the stallion. But Sombra kept his head high, smiling pleasantly to the ponies they passed, greeting the few people he knew here and there, every now and then pausing to share a little bit of conversation with others: it didn't matter who or what or how strange they were, Sombra always had a moment to spare for someone. And Cadence could only envy her father's kindness: even knowing they were all friends and allies here, she still tensed up every time she saw a demon.
They made good time all the same, and crossed back into the training facility without any incident. The halls were empty, as they almost always were: not because they weren't busy here, but because every person here knew their place and their job. No one loitered, and the idea of being late was foreign and intolerable: Hecate and her administrators were extremely strict when it came to matters of work and productivity.
Unfortunately, those lessons never managed to sink into everyone's heads: somehow, Cadence was unsurprised when they reached the equipment storerooms and found La Croix and Moonflower tugging a cloak back and forth between themselves, one satchel half-packed and several others simply sitting in empty disarray around the two.
Cadence cleared her throat loudly as she and Sombra stepped in through the open doors, and Moonflower and La Croix both looked at her dumbly before they gave almost identical embarrassed grins, hurriedly dropping the cloak to the ground as Cadence asked dryly: “I guess that you guys have been working hard, huh? Organizing, going over everything...”
La Croix shifted lamely, and Moonflower cleared his throat before he touched his own breast, saying plainly: “None of this is my fault.”
Cadence only looked at him for a moment as La Croix glared at the handsome stallion, and then the white mare sighed and shook her head, muttering: “You know what? We don't have time for this right now. Guys, come on, clean up this mess and get your usual things together while I talk to Thorn.”
“Here, let me help you.” Sombra offered, walking forwards with a smile, and Cadence gave her father a faintly-amused look before she turned to head across the room. Her father was such a good stallion... maybe too good, really, she thought, as she walked past the rows of widely-spaced shelves and storage units towards the rear of the area.
There was an electronically-locked door and a heavy, break-proof window in the back wall for the requisition officer to safely stay behind, but today, she saw Thorn Blackfeather was out of the back room, apparently taking inventory as he jotted notes on the clipboard floating beside him.
Cadence halted near the stallion and cleared her throat loudly, doing her best to smile, but she always felt a little apprehensive around Thorn. Hell, everyone did, she thought: he wasn't just a very strange unicorn, he was also Hecate's son, and probably the one thing the mechanical mare ever showed a hint of affection for.
Thorn glanced towards her, surveying her with his deep, dark eyes. His features were implacable, any handsomeness he might have had sapped by how distant and intense he always seemed. His steel-silver mane hung to his shoulders at his sides, while the longer back was pulled into a tight ponytail, and his coat was a dark, rich sapphire, mostly covered by a heavy black cape trimmed in gold that draped down one side of his body. It left his right side almost completely uncovered... and his mechanical right foreleg completely bare to the world.
Everyone knew the story: when Thorn had been a foal, he had gotten stuck in a set of enormous gears, and they had chewed his leg apart. Hecate had barely been able to save him, and she had replaced the missing limb with the segmented, armored foreleg. Cadence could never help but stare a little at this every time she ran into Thorn: it had large pistons standing out of the oversized shoulder and hummed strangely as it moved with surprising dexterity.
Thorn sighed a little, and Cadence winced and looked hurriedly up, smiling awkwardly at him and doing her best not to shiver: the other thing about Thorn that always bothered her was the fact that he wore a ring around his horn with Hel's symbol on it. The sight of it just made her itch...
She quickly forced a smile, however, asking him politely: “Did Moonflower and La Croix ask you for equipment recommendations?”
“They did not.” Thorn replied in his dry, to-the-point way: Cadence didn't think he was nice to anyone apart from Hecate. “Do you want your personal equipment as well?”
“I would appreciate it.” Cadence replied with as best a smile as she could manage, bowing her head to the unicorn. He only looked back at her in his calm, measuring way before he nodded and turned away, the electronic door buzzing open to let him pass.
Cadence sighed, then glowered moodily over her shoulder as she heard the sound of Moonflower squawking and La Croix aggravating the situation, like he always seemed to need to do. But when she looked back at them, she saw her father was at least mediating things between them and keeping them at work.
The ivory mare shook her head slowly, then shifted impatiently, trying to peer through the window into the back room beyond. But there wasn't much to see: either the glass distorted everything more than a few feet away, or there was just a blank wall behind the little booth.
Cadence crept closer, leaning down to try and peer through the little slot at the bottom of the window, and then she winced when the door opened, hurriedly straightening and trying to look as casual as possible when Thorn strode back out, carrying several enormous cases with telekinesis. He only gave her a mild look, then set these calmly down in front of her. “All your equipment, plus what's been recommended for this mission. Anything else?”
“Uh... Hecate said you would be able to tell us a few more details on the mission, I think.” Cadence said after a moment, and Thorn looked at her for a few moments with his dark, creepy eyes: his gaze just cut right through her, and the mare shifted uncomfortably.
But then he nodded moodily before glancing past her, saying dryly: “I don't think either of us have the time to wait for the rest of your team to stop whatever they're doing, however”
“That's alright. I'm team leader, I can brief them afterwards.” Cadence replied in a more professional voice, raising her head and nodding quickly.
Thorn seemed to appreciate this, nodding back after a moment before he reached up and absently adjusted one of the large brooches that held his cape on. “Very well. You and your team are being sent to a Class B world, and the targets have been located in an environment where collateral damage will not be a concern. You are to capture all three targets alive and have them transported here: in the event that you fail to capture them, you will attempt to pursue.”
“And in the event of mission failure?” Cadence asked steadily: she didn't believe her team was going to fail, but she also knew that underestimating whatever test Hecate had planned for them would end in utter disaster.
Thorn studied her silently, and then he gave the smallest of smiles, little more than a curl of his lips at the corners. “Good. I'm glad that you seem to understand this is not a normal mission.
“I'll confirm some of your likely concerns: your targets work directly under Hel. Your combat will be recorded and evaluated, and the targets will be making their own reports to Hel and Hecate after you capture them. The mission will be considered a failure if you fail to retrieve at least one of them alive.” Thorn replied with a shrug. “They've been told to attack you the moment they see you, however, so don't try and make contact. I would recommend a full assault or an ambush.”
Cadence looked down meditatively, then she nodded slowly before saying finally: “I'll take your advice into consideration. Can you tell me anything at all about the targets? I was told they were... Wrath and Pride, right?”
“Two Wrath, one Pride. Second tier. That's all I'm permitted to tell you.” Thorn replied with a shrug, and Cadence gave a brief smile: that was good to know. Well-equipped second tier demons were dangerous, but they should be able to handle it... except that still feels... too easy.
She nodded again after a moment, then said politely: “Thank you, Thorn. I uh... I won't keep you or anything, though, I know you're busy around here.”
Thorn only shrugged in response. “Of course. Let me know if you require any other supplies.”
Cadence smiled, turning her eyes towards the large equipment boxes, and Thorn studied her for a moment before shrugging again and turning away. He just hoped that Hecate's confidence in the Irregulars wasn't misplaced... because if they weren't as strong as his mother hoped, then there was no way these little ponies were going to come back alive from their test.