Following their exit from the house, Vinyl, Octavia, and Spyglass headed to a small chariot, which soon took to the air thanks to two pegasi flying it. Vinyl and Octavia had both assumed that the briefing would continue on the chariot, but Spyglass was oddly quiet once they were on.
For the next few hours, Vinyl and Octavia were quiet. The wind in the air made it difficult to talk, and the two of them were both tired. Fortunately, the chariot was large enough that both of them could lie down at any point, and there were naturally safeguards in place to prevent anypony falling out, barring unlikely aerial manoeuvres from the pilots. So the two ponies took the opportunity to rest, wondering what the next few hours of their life would bring.
Finally, the time arrived for the chariot to land. Vinyl had long lost track of where they were going, but through the darkness, she had seen that they had been flying over the ocean for at least the past hour. It was hard to guess the time, too, but she estimated it was roughly midnight. It was very dark and cold.
The two pegasi descended upon a small island, probably no larger than ten or so kilometres in diameter, heading along one side and then landing to the rear of the island. The island – it was probably inaccurate to call it so; it looked to Vinyl more like a very large rock – was covered in a light coating of snow as far as the eye could see. The pegasi had landed on a plateau raised higher than the rest of the island. Murmuring thanks to their pilots, Spyglass disembarked and lead Vinyl and Octavia about thirty paces or so away.
“Well? What do you think?” To both Vinyl and Octavia’s disgust, upon arriving at their destination, Agent Spyglass had lit a cigar and begun smoking. In spite of the open area the ponies were in, the smell and smoke of the cigar still permeated the air around them, leading to Vinyl coughing every now and then. “The Omega Zone may not look pretty, but it’s certainly secluded, isn’t it?”
“It’s a tad cold. You could have told us to bring coats, at least,” said Octavia. Vinyl nodded her agreement, shivering slightly as she did so.
“Sorry about that,” apologised Spyglass. “Agent 13’s last transmission mentioned that Baron von Darkhoof was using an abandoned CHIELD research station on this island as his base. Once you get inside there, it should be much warmer.”
“Sounds cool!” said Vinyl. Octavia gave her a look. “What do you want us to do from here, dad? Plant some explosives and destroy all signs that there was ever a rock here? Pilot a giant robot to defeat Baron von Darkhoof’s much lamer robot? Begin our intensive training for a dance-off with Baron von Darkhoof?”
“I like that last one,” said Octavia. “We can finally take those salsa classes we’re always talking about!”
“Good idea!” agreed Vinyl. “Did you pack my dancing shoes?”
Clearing his throat, Spyglass interrupted his daughter and her wife. “Unfortunately for you, Vinyl, your objectives are a bit more…mundane in scope.” He smirked slightly at his daughter’s ideas. Why didn’t it surprise him that they were all so out there? “Heading this way –” he gestured at a slope leading downwards from the plateau they were all on “- is the abandoned research station which Baron von Darkhoof is working out of. I can provide transportation for the two of you to get there, and then there are three things I’ll need you to do once you’re there.”
Vinyl gave a nod of understanding as Spyglass continued. “Your first objective is to discover what’s happened to Agent 13 – Stumblefeather. There could be any number of reasons for him not to have contacted us – he may have simply been unable to, he may have switched sides, he may have been discovered and killed…whatever the reason is, I want you two to find out. Should Stumblefeather have been compromised but is still – miraculously – alive, you two will also need to extract him.”
“What do you think the likelihood of Stumblefeather having switched sides is?” Octavia asked.
Spyglass thought it over for a moment, slowly breathing in the smoke from his cigar as he did so. “Perhaps… forty to sixty percent?” he suggested as he blew out a ring of smoke. “I don’t like that we haven’t heard from him for several weeks now, and Baron von Darkhoof using this place as a base is suspicious. This island is off all official maps, and the research station hasn’t been used for years.” He went silent, and his jaw tightened.
“You think Stumblefeather might have told Baron von Darkhoof that this island was available as a base, dad?” Vinyl asked.
Slowly, Spyglass nodded. “As a CHIELD agent, Agent 13 would have known about this place, and I find it unlikely that the good Baron would have found and taken over it without prior knowledge. As you’ve seen, it’s a pretty lengthy journey out here –and that’s with us temporarily halting weather activities in the area, in anticipation of the trip here. Normally there are vicious storms and heavy snowfall in the area – ponies don’t just find a place like Omega Zone on their own.”
“But…” Octavia bit her lip. “You said that Stumblefeather’s last transmission was what informed you that Baron von Darkhoof was using this base, yes? Surely he would not have told you where Baron von Darkhoof was if he had already betrayed CHIELD at that point!”
Spyglass let out a harsh, gruff laugh. Or it might have been him coughing on his cigar smoke; it was hard to tell. “You’re too optimistic, Octavia,” he chuckled, his voice devoid of humour. “Agent 13 could easily have betrayed us, and the transmission telling us of this base is all part of a trap, or a misdirection. Nothing is certain at this stage… which is why I need you two to find Agent 13 and determine his status.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Octavia asked Vinyl. “Am I too optimistic?”
“Your second objective,” continued Spyglass, denying Vinyl the opportunity to respond to Octavia, “is to discover what Baron von Darkhoof is up to and whether he presents a credible threat to Equestria. Find out what he’s using this complex for, and what his next move will be.”
“Does he have…I dunno, a particular M.O., or something like that that we should anticipate?” asked Vinyl. “I mean, we’ve only met him twice – first time he was after that stupid flower for immortality or something dumb like that, and the second time he was…a pirate? For some reason? Am I remembering that right?”
“All we know is what Agent 13 has told us about Darkhoof,” said Spyglass. “I don’t know what you know about Darkhoof, but according to our dossier on him, he’s basically got delusions of grandeur. He feels like Equestria owes him – like all the other idiots out there – so he’ll do what he can to get personal power.”
“Do you have anything in there about why his name is so uninspired?” Vinyl asked. “Or why his plans are all so dumb?”
“Heh. I’ll make sure we add those to the file once this is all over,” Spyglass said. “Anyway, according to Agent 13, after escaping from the guards who should have captured him after that pirate business, Darkhoof has pretty much been lying low. There’s some bits here and there about him gathering resources and making contacts – apparently he was working for that terrorist organisation, COBRA, for a while –” Vinyl and Octavia shot each other panicked looks, wondering what this meant “- but no major crimes until moving to this base. Still, between 13’s sudden silence and the apparent need for an island this large, I wouldn’t be surprised if Darkhoof is ready to make whatever power play he has.”
“Well, whatever he’s going to do, Octavia and I will stop him from doing it!” exclaimed Vinyl. “Even if he’s planning nothing worse than a tea party!”
“…Wouldn’t we be in the wrong then?” Octavia asked. “After all, bursting in and stopping something innocent such as that without evidence would be fairly immoral.”
“You’re right, Octavia!” said Vinyl. “If Baron von Darkhoof is planning a tea party so big that he needs an entire island to host it, and he’s been planning it for years, it’d be super dumb to stop it when we could just gatecrash it instead!”
Everypony was silent for several moments.
“Anyway, the outcome of your second objective will affect whether or not your third objective is necessary,” continued Spyglass. “I’m sure you can both guess what it is: if you discover that Baron von Darkhoof’s plan presents a viable threat to Equestria, the two of you are to stop him from executing his plan, by any means necessary.” Vinyl thrust a hoof into the air. “Yes, Vinyl?”
“Even if we have to die to stop him?” she asked.
“Well, I’d like to assume that the two of you are both competent enough to stop Darkhoof without anything as dramatic as that,” said Spyglass, smiling a crooked smile.
“Okay…but what do we do if we have to die?” Vinyl asked. It was hard to tell whether or not she was joking.
“You two will find a way,” said Spyglass, coolly puffing on his cigar as he did so. “You always do.”
We’ll find a way…to die? Vinyl wondered.
“What do you think the odds of Baron von Darkhoof being a threat to Equestria are, anyway?” asked Octavia. Now that Vinyl had reminded her of the potential risks of the mission, she was feeling a little nervous.
Spyglass put a hoof to his mouth, thinking it over. “Well, we haven’t seen Baron von Darkhoof pose a real threat in the past, but then again, considering the resources that can be found in the research station…” He went silent for a few moments, thinking it over. “I would say somewhere between zero to one hundred percent chance?”
“Bloody brilliant,” sighed Octavia. “Well, are those all of our objectives?”
“Yes,” confirmed Spyglass. “Do either of you have any further questions? If not, I’ll give you your transportation to the base and then head off.”
“Do we need to worry about guards, or any opposition in particular?” asked Octavia. “So far you have only mentioned Darkhoof himself, but I would be surprised if it were just he and Stumblefeather in this base.”
“Yeah, we got reports from Agent 13 about that a while back. Baron von Darkhoof hired out a bunch of mercenaries and recruited some of those old COBRA guys – again, he apparently was working for them, or their boss, or something like that,” Spyglass explained.
“Great, so we’ve got to worry about some generic thugs while we’re sneaking around in there,” Vinyl said. She shivered slightly in the cold before adding, “What else?”
“The research facility was cleared out before it was decommissioned, so there’s no threat of any of the pre-existing items that were there being used,” said Spyglass. “But as for what Baron von Darkhoof might have set up in there? No idea. If Agent 13 would contact us we’d probably know, but for now…you two will have to deal with any problems inside the facility on your own.”
“No problems,” said Vinyl smugly, “Octavia and I broke into a casino vault together. Compared to that? This’ll be a cakewalk.” She held out a hoof to Octavia, who bumped it. Simultaneously, both ponies gave out a quiet, “Yeah!”
“You two robbed a casino?” Spyglass asked.
An awkward silence fell over the small group.
“Moving on,” said Octavia hastily, “do you have any floor plans, or design documents for the facility? I would rather not have to search for a map of some kind once we enter the building.”
Pausing for a moment to throw his cigar stub away into the snow– something which Vinyl and Octavia both disapproved of, but knew better than to say anything about – Spyglass reached into his coat and brought out a folder. How he fit so many items into his coat was a mystery which Vinyl and Octavia would never solve. “These will be out of date since Darkhoof moved in, but these should give you something to start working off,” said Spyglass. He knelt down and opened up the folder on the cold snow, presenting an intricate set of design documents.
“The facility was mostly built underground, both to help disguise the building’s true nature to outsiders and to help insulate the island from anything that might go wrong in the lower levels,” explained Spyglass, pointing to a diagram. It showed a full view of the research facility, with five levels going underground. “Now, obviously we don’t know where Baron von Darkhoof is, but –”
“He’s on the bottom level,” said Vinyl and Octavia simultaneously.
“…How in Equestria could you know that?” asked Spyglass, put off by the statement.
“It’s simple,” began Octavia before gesturing to Vinyl to continue.
“Bad guys always have their headquarters on the bottom or top floor of a building,” said Vinyl. With her manner of tone, it was easy to picture a pair of glasses on her muzzle as she continued to lecture and explain. “That way, it’s more of a challenge to get there. Plus, they wouldn’t be one-dimensional antagonists if they didn’t follow something as formulaic as that.”
“…I want to argue against that, but I can’t deny you’re correct,” said Spyglass. “Anyway, as for the rest of the building –”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” said Vinyl, waving a hoof dismissively. “We know where Baron von Darkhoof is; we’ll work out the rest on the way to him.” Octavia shrugged.
“Vinyl’s fairly correct,” she agreed, “now that we know where Baron von Darkhoof is, the rest should all fall into place. These things usually have a way of working themselves out.”
Spyglass scowled as he put away his folder, although whether it was due to his explanation being cut short or the cold wind that had just started up was unknown. “Any more questions?” he asked. Vinyl raised a hoof. “Yes, Vinyl?”
“Why did we need to land on the island before you gave us the briefing? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to brief us in the air, so we could have begun the mission as soon as we arrived?” Vinyl pointed out.
Spyglass smacked himself on the forehead. “I knew there was something I needed to do while we were in the air!” he said. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“A lot of good that does us now,” muttered Octavia under her breath.
“If we’re done with the briefing, follow me back to the chariot,” said Spyglass. “There’s one final bit of wrap-up we need to deal with, and then you two will be on your own.” The three ponies walked across the snow to their transport, shivering all the way. The snow was falling a bit harder now - great for Vinyl and Octavia’s infiltration, but terrible for their health.
The two pegasi who had flown the chariot had been having a coffee break whilst the others were undergoing the briefing, but upon seeing Spyglass heading back, they both stood to attention, alert as ever. Spyglass gave them a brief nod of acknowledgement, then retrieved a cardboard box from the chariot which Vinyl and Octavia conveniently hadn’t noticed whilst they were travelling in it.
“Your transport to the facility is in here,” said Spyglass, lightly throwing the box to the snow. As he spoke, the two pegasi were reattaching the relevant harnesses and straps from the chariot to themselves. “From here, you two are going to be on your own. We’ll be returning here at 1200 hours to pick you two up from what should hopefully be a successful mission.”
“Twelve hundred hours?” Vinyl wondered aloud. “We’re supposed to live on this island for over two weeks?”
“Actually, Vinyl, twelve hundred hours is over a month,” said Octavia.
“I know!” said Vinyl, astonished. “Over two weeks!”
Ignoring Vinyl and Octavia’s comments, Spyglass finished off with, “Goodbye, and good luck.” He turned to the pegasi and seemed about to say something to them, but hesitated. After another moment, he jumped from the chariot to the snow, walked over to Vinyl, and hugged her. “Stay safe, alright?” he said. In spite of the danger the mission posed, and the potential outcome of it should Vinyl and Octavia fail, this was the first time all night that he had a hint of worry in his voice.
“Always, dad,” said Vinyl, a smile upon her face. He kissed her lightly upon the forehead, and then offered a hoof to Octavia, who shook it.
Returning to the chariot, Spyglass gave the two ponies a salute, followed by a command to the pegasi to take off. Vinyl and Octavia stood back to give their wings a bit more room, and then watched as they ascended, disappearing into the snowy night within seconds.
Vinyl and Octavia were now on their own. It was time to begin their mission.