//------------------------------// // Hit Hard: Targeted II // Story: Shine Of The Silver Sun // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Like the final puff of helium leaving a party balloon, Connie slowly breathed out and closed her eyes, sitting there slumped like a statue. The doctor peeked inside once again. "You can come in now, I think," Anvil nodded at him, "Don't say anything, just take care of the griffon." He nodded back, slowly walking to the patient. There wasn't much to do. After finding a real stack of bandages, a miraculously unbroken bottle of desinfectant, treating the wounds with trained precision, and pinning the more basic monitoring machines back to Cromach, the unicorn said: "I'm done, and the patient needs rest. I've administered a mild anesthesia since I don't dare use anything stronger at this moment. Now, can somepony tell me what happened here?" "Later," Anvil hissed at him, "You did good job, just leave us alone for now and I'll tell you the news in the morning." "Look here, miss private guard!" the unicorn objected, "I have a report to write about a breaking and entering, destruction of property, and-" "Useless, discard." The unicorn doctor regretted not being born as a pegasus for the second time tonight. "Contradiction, ma'am?" Anvil shook Connie again, much more softly, "We should let sir Cromach rest." "Leave," said Connie. Anvil wanted to know what happened. She was worried about leaving Cromach with somepony who looked less than barely sane. In the end, she decided not to push it. There was no imaginable way Connie was the real threat here. She walked out of the permanently unlocked door- bits of door hanging on one hinge. "Everyone, go about your business. We will inform you about what happened in the morning," she said quietly but firmly, "Weakling, Bubbly, you two stay here with me." The visibly bothered hospital night staff gradually scattered despite some mumbled protests. Back 'inside', Connie stood up, carefully walked over shattered pieces of furniture and medical supplies towards the softly breathing patient. Scarce sounds coming from the window demolished by Black Shield's career as a bullet reached up here only as faint echoes. Connie's brain cells slowly retuned one by one, realizing Crom would have to be moved soon because while the late summer night wasn't cold by any means, to someone recovering from such heavy wounds like Cromach it might be dangerous. She just wanted few minutes alone with him, even if he had no idea it was happening. Post-combat shakes finally fading away, Connie lay down next to the only remaining bed like a dog waiting for its master. "Connie?" her ears perked at the griffon's quiet question. She sprung up, staring at Cromach attempting to raise his head and give her a weak reassuring smile. She was still just trying to gather herself, so she walked up to him, sat back down on the floor, and put her muzzle on the pillow next to his head. "Thank you," Cromach continued. Connie whimpered, stopping when the griffon's talons caressed her ears and mane, "I've been watching from the start." "Hmm?" "This... Black Shield. Somepony teleported her inside my room. One moment she wasn't there and the next second she was right next to me. I wanted to call out for help but she was insanely fast, not confused by the translocation for even a breath. She silenced me, stabbed me with her tail and I lost control over my body. Minor paralytic venom, I guess," each word sounded strained, but it was clear Crom wanted to talk. "They fucked up so much... before and now again..." Connie muttered, "I can't forgive this. I just can't." Crom patted her head. "Come on, they couldn't have even heard a thing. I got a hoof pressed against my beak before I knew what was going on. Don't be too harsh on the newbies." "They caused all this. I... you don't understand. I can't think about one of them without wanting to rip something apart. When I saw the earthpony with her tail inside you I didn't want to hurt her at first. I only wanted to see all three of them hanged. Tortured, flayed, dipped in acid, and then hanged while begging for mercy. I can't control it. I can't." Cromach stared at the tearing up mare. Then he noticed a faint shimmer around a piece of steel frame from one of the broken beds. The metal bar was being squeezed into a flat edge. "I just wish you followed her and ended her threat once and for all. She wasn't lying about not wanting to harm me. It was more important than-" "NOTHING is more important to me than you!" Connie raised her voice, "Especially not some mutant zombie." Cromach chuckled, running his talons over her muzzle and cheek. "Connie, for all it's worth, you did a great job. If I wasn't here for her to use me as a hostage, you could have shredded her. But there's one good thing about it." "What could be good about you being turned into a pin cushion by some undead mare?" "That I now know exactly how you feel. Before Heavy Hoof, Blaze, and I started rebuilding the Order, Blaze and I got caught in an attempt to seize Griffon Empire throne. The Empire was controlled by three brothers - Emhyr, Vargaz, and Crowley. When Emhyr was killed by an unknown assassin, the noble families decided the heir to the Imperial throne would be his son. Vargaz, the leader of Imperial Black Ops, was supposed to be the young Emperor's guardian and teacher until he reached adulthood. Crowley, however, got possessed by Nightmare months before. Neither Crowley nor Vargaz were evil, they both wanted bright future and safety for their country and subjects, but Nightmare eventually twisted Crowley into a ruthless caricature of himself. He sought Blaze's help in controlling the Nightmare inside him in order to become immortal and give the Empire the same stability Equestria is enjoying under princess Celestia." He took a deep breath and continued: "I managed to uncover Crowley's schemes and warn Vargaz and the young Emperor in time. It all graduated in Crowley's attack on the Holy City, namely the Imperial throne room, where Crowley and his sympathizers staged a coup. Heh," Crom chuckled, "Blaze was captured by Crowley's forces earlier, but they underestimated him severely and he crashed Crowley's airship straight into the palace. You should have seen the look on Crowley's face. When he knew his well-intentioned takeover was doomed, he lost it completely and Nightmare took over. Blaze was the only one who could hold his own against a real god intent on wiping all of us out. When Nightmare realized Blaze was stealing its power to use it against the god, the floodgates opened and Blaze was struck with everything Nightmare had. He couldn't bear all that power, no one could. Even despite being a forcibly ascended alicorn, he would have been destroyed there and then, along with the rest of us." "What happened?" Connie asked, still confused about the story. "I happened. I stopped thinking. All that was repeating in my head over and over was that if I don't do something he will die... again and forever this time. So I jumped into the flow of power between him and Nightmare. I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what I was doing, I just wanted to be by his side, to either live with him or die with him. It turned out Nightmare wasn't expecting it, and Blaze transferred part of the cycling energy into me, enough to allow him to survive a little longer while balancing forces beyond the understanding of anyone. It bought us enough time for Vargaz to kill the busy Nightmare's host and banish Nightmare for some time again. The next time the god possessed somepony, it was Straw Basket, and you know that story more than well. What I'm trying to say... is that love is a crazy thing, it makes us do crazy things... and that I appreciate what you're feeling towards me." "Really?" Connie looked up at his face, not daring to hope. "Yeah. I know it might just be the morphine talking... but I need to griffon up. I've been insulting Blaze's memory by losing what he loved about me, and... and I think you're the right pony to help me regain it, Connie. I've been in a relationships with many mares and stallions before I fled to Equestria, but I haven't felt like somepony had my back no matter what darkness awaited before meeting Blaze... and now you. When they let me out of here, I hope I can become a real stallion again, and a good start to that would be taking you out on a date." "Uh-umm-mhm-uhhh-" Connie couldn't speak, she just nodded, tears streaking down her cheeks. She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. She KNEW it was just the morphine talking. She had told herself not to believe it back at the mansion where her drunken mishap started all this. No matter what, though, it still was the best thing she'd heard in forever. Crom's foreleg patting her slowed down and then went limp, signalling the anesthesia finally kicked in. Connie stayed there for few minutes, listening to his slow breathing. When her tears dried up, she wiped all remaining mess off of her face, and left the room. "Call the doctor," she ordered sharply to the trio standing on guard outside, "They need to move him to a new room." "Yes, ma'am!" they saluted as one. Astray turned to leave. "And you can be sure I'll remember this fuck-up," she hissed, magma-hot rage returning at the sight of the three faces, "for the rest of your life." The beast was coming back, the physical need to torture and cause screaming agony. She tamed it... ...for now. Thirty minutes later, Contradiction stood in front of the gathered night shift hospital staff. Anvil, Astray, and Bubbles informed everypony about the order to assemble in a lecture room used by and for students of Canterlot Medical University working in the Royal Hospital for school credits or internships. There weren't many ponies - Connie herself, three nurses, the receptionist guard, and two emergency doctors. The order trio had been commanded to return to their patrolling, and Connie was about to question the staff about how the hay someone could teleport into the hospital when the magical wards were supposed to make it impossible. Unfortunately, Connie had little to nothing to go on. "Is that everypony?" she asked the gathered few. "Yes, miss," the official hospital guard answered politely. He was a batpony usually working the night shift, and he was extremely embarrassed that both Black Shield and Connie snuck in under his nose. "Good. Now, sir Cromach told me the attacker teleported inside," she was interrupted by gasps all around, "The window was closed when I snuck in, and she was too big to get inside unnoticed through it. The Order guards I commissioned didn't see her get inside either. Granted, they didn't see me as well, but the intruder was fairly noisy in her movements in comparison. That is why I believe Cromach's witness that teleportation was the means of getting inside. The intruder was an earthpony, though, so somepony must have translocated her instead." "That is impossible," the batpony guard shook his head, "The hospital is protected by barriers blocking outside telekinesis on all windows and doors, and anti-teleportation measures all over. Even if any of the barriers were forcibly destroyed, alarm spells would have woken up everypony and called the guards from the nearest guardhouse." "Well, I forced a ground floor window open fairly easily and no alarm went off. The attacker obviously got inside without any problems either. How do you knows the spells are still working?" One of the unicorn doctors raised his hoof, and his horn flashed. "All the magic is in place. Is it possible it was temporarily disabled?" "You tell me," Connie rolled her eyes. These guys obviously had no clue what could have happened, "Could someone forcibly disable the protective barriers as well as the alarm spells?" "Definitely not," the guard shook his head, "The spells are contained by runes hidden within the hospital. Those are inspected, maintained, or upgraded monthly by high-ranked wizards from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The head of the hospital should have the official certificate of internal safety somewhere." "So, the best of the best mages in Canterlot certified this place should be safe. Someone at a celebration attended by both princesses managed to use a paralysis spell on all the visitors including the alicorns. The spells are still here, or likely here again after being temporarily disabled. Hmm, is there a way of disabling the protection spells in case of misfire or something?" Connie asked the guard. "Not as far as I know. The security staff cannot do it, the head doctor cannot do it even in the case of patients being in danger. If such situation arises, the CSFGU wizards have teleportation circles in the nearby buildings so they can get here instantly. They must be the only ones able to stop the barriers from working, if that." Connie sighed, frowning. She put two and two together, connecting the wizard nearly killing Cromach at the mansion somehow to the School for Gifted Unicorns. Unfortunately, the school doubled as research quarters for the best wizards of Equestria and a political powerhouse. She couldn't just barge in and start shaking ponies by the neck. She needed to think, and each minute that passed only gave the enemy another chance to strike. *** "Good stitching," Black Shield commented, lying yet again on Secret Seeker's operating table. Her encounters with the black and white unicorn were ending unpleasantly repetitively. On the other hoof, Seeker was becoming really good with his magical ebony needle, "The necromancer in the sewers definitely had a much worse-maintained golem." "Chill Touch was insane, that's the long and short of it. She always wanted power, and always ended up outshadowed and humiliated in some way. I have no doubt some sort of revenge was her reason for creating the corpse abomination." Shield wanted to ask about Seeker's past at first, but her thoughts slipped back to Contradiction. She had given Seeker the stolen blood samples and reported what happened. In response, Seeker told her some basic details about the Order of the Silver Sun, Cromach, and his aide Contradiction. After thoroughly cleaning the operating table, Shield returned to her reading. "Do you think this Contradiction could stop you?" "Me? Based on what I saw in the mansion she's dealing well with the thaumic suppression syndrome, but she isn't overly dangerous. I have ways of dealing with strong telekinesis." Shield narrowed her eyes. She had thought the same thing after the theft, but the Contradiction she'd met in the hospital was vastly different. Shield had asked Seeker to show her how powerful her undead body was, resisted some of his spells, and crushed some of his magical barriers. Contradiction was definitely way stronger, but infinitely less durable than Shield. However, if she was prepared and maybe warned, she might be able to stop Secret Seeker. How to get a message through, though? The spell hadn't prevented Shield from saying her name and divulging the nature of her intrusion to the hospital. Seeker wanted Shield to stay unnoticed or at least unimpeded, and the control magic let her say all the things she otherwise wouldn't. So, the spell would allow her to do or say things which in her mind were be helpful to her mission. What she needed to do was get the right command from Seeker, and then act upon it. "What did the test of the rings with Chill Touch show, master?" "Not much, she didn't really touch me. The restorative magic inside the rings didn't exactly come to play," Seeker sighed, "I couldn't give her too much freedom to act, though. Even low-tier wizards are dangerous when left unchecked." "How about somepony who could hurt you but couldn't prevent you from teleporting away afterwards?" "What do you have in mind?" "The Contradiction mare. You saw what she did to my body when you transported me back here. If you say she'll never be able to use magic, you can just let her rip your leg off while a contingency spell returns both of us here in an instant. On top of that, I have no doubt she'll be looking for us now that we've targeted her boss. I think she has a serious crush on him." Seeker rubbed his chin. "That isn't actually a bad idea. You are learning something from me, earthpony. I think I have good enough way to tap into the rings' power to recover from a harsh wound. Yes, let's do it. Knowledge sometimes requires sacrifice. Do you have an idea how to go about it?" "I can trail her. Give me a way to contact you so that you can teleport to me quickly." "Won't she notice you?" "I am bigger than a well-built earthpony, mainly in one spot you like," Shield stuck her tongue out at Seeker who facehoofed, "but I'm also a trained guard. Secret surveillance is basic training for us. From what you said, the Silver Sun order only offers combat training and the law knowledge or utility skills official guards learn must be supplied by police of guard instructors later. She shouldn't be used to somepony following her. We can attack her when she is alone." "Alright," Seeker agreed after thinking for a moment, "Just keep these things in mind - we definitely need to avoid witnesses, and our goal isn't to kill her... for now. Of course, if you find a completely out of the way spot we can get rid of her and her presumed investigation as well as testing the rings out - two birds with one stone and so on." Shield nodded, lying down on the floor deep in thought. When Seeker returned to his work with Cromach's blood samples, she tore a page out of the book about magic she was reading, her tail secretly taking a pen from a workbench above her. Her attempt to write 'A guy named Secret Seeker is behind all this' was stopped just as the command to write it with her mouth emerged in her mind. She needed some seemingly unrelated, but guiding, words. There was an obviously important book Seeker was working with all this time into which she peeked once before being forbidden from doing it again. However, what Seeker wasn't aware of, which clearly showed he was used to working alone, was that when he was deep in thought he tended to speak to himself. Shield smiled, and scribbled a single sentence. Word by word, and two numbers. Hoping Contradiction's brain was as good at thinking as it was at crushing things telekinetically, Shield slipped the note into her book about simple magic she knew Seeker would never open again due to it being way below his level. She still needed one final little thing, however, because there was no way the control spell would allow her to simply give the note to Contradiction. Perhaps she should push her new helpful nature further? "Got any chewing gum, master?" "What is it now?" Seeker turned away from his project, clearly annoyed. "My mouth just feels so... dry," she licked her lips, giving Seeker a steamy gaze, "Something soft wouldn't go amiss... or something hard." "Are you actually trying to make a move on me?" he asked, now suspicious. "I've just had my ass kicked into Tartarus and back by another mare. My pride is down in the dumps. I'd like to know I'm at least better at something than the damn Contraception mare or whatever her name was. Something your totally-not-for-enjoyment enhancements are good for. Perhaps as a soothing reward for my ego for my successful mission, hmmm?" "That is unusual. How about after I'm done with this," he nodded to his workbench, "for tonight?" "Don't you want to know how much better it's going to be when I actually want it," Shield took a deep breath, bracing for the bolt of pleasure she knew would come, "maaaaaster." Shield's tail whipped her flank loudly. "You know, it's been a long and trying night. You do deserve something, and the tests take time anyway," Seeker dropped his robe, stepping away from the bench. Shield nodded towards the clean steel table in the middle of the room where she'd been stitched back together a mere hour ago. "Up there, and on your back, master," she made a show of licking her foreleg slowly. When the unicorn climbed up and spread his legs, Shield's muzzle went to town on his crotch with more gusto than she would have ever expected herself to muster. She told herself it was because she needed to cement his trust in her, to be allowed to get away with small transgressions against the spell. To keep a stallion's balls empty so that his mind would follow. Deep down she knew, though, especially after seeing the pegasus golem in the sewers, that what the controlling magic did to her whenever she served Seeker was the only pleasure she had left. There was no possible good ending to her story, and she needed all the little victories she could get.