“What?” workers of the Second Department couldn’t believe in what their chief had just said.
“Two teenagers were brutally murdered almost in the center of Canterlot, and no one haven’t seen it?” Grace exclaimed.
“I know, it’s shocking, but it’s not the main problem now,” Hidden Path said. “Look at the way those two were killed.”
“… Dear Gods, it’s…” Dim Silhouette spelled in trembling voice. “Their injuries are almost like the injuries of the dragon killed near Dodge City weeks ago!”
“Yes. Now you understand? The thing able to kill a dragon without any serious efforts is now in Canterlot. And, judging by the facts, it is disguised as a pony.”
“You think it was our suspects?” Cloudbreaker surprised. “But we saw that all nine of them were in Ponyville that night!”
“Yes!” Razor Edge supported. “We’ve personally checked for it!”
“It is true, so… Considering this circumstance, there are only two possible explanations: first, the suspects have subordinates, and their group is larger than we thought, second, we have two or even more groups of invaders here.”
“What? Several groups? More invaders?”
“These are the only possible logical explanations.”
“Each of them only makes the situation worse,” Grace shuddered.
“And it’s getting even worse – the Diarchs learned about those murders and the incidents near Dodge City,” Hidden Path said. “They demand answers. We have no other choice, we need to find out what stands behind all this as fast as we can. We have to do it for the sake of our homeland.”
Meanwhile, in the Team One hidden base…
“Have you finished it?” Edez asked Max.
“Finally, yes,” biologist responded. “It took a while after when we received that information from other Teams, but… Bluve and I have managed to create the treatment for everyone!”
“That’s good… It was pretty unexpected to learn that the powerful spirits and leaders of the shape-shifters can be affected by the same condition as alicorns…”
“Yeah.”
“Still, it’s unusual that we help local bad guys too.”
“According to Team Two, even the worst acts of shape-shifters might be not as harmful as the consequences of the condition when the leaders reach their magic power peak.”
“A live bomb of extreme power… Damn, even in the history of all the Union there were not so much of such things.”
“Nevertheless, Edez, the most important issue now is who would “give” those six the treatment. To make it work it has to be injected in the body. There’s no other option but sneak in the royal apartments just to do it. We have to form a team! Or several teams to do it!”
“Indeed. Let’s see… Well, there is one option to optimize it. In two days there will be a festival in the Canterlot Castle. There would be princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance. And, considering that the festival program contains lots of various performances, Discord would probably be there too. Thus, we can make four injections in one expedition. Affi and Bluve would be the best candidates for the job. They have specific experience, so it would be easier for them.”
“And what about princess Twilight and Chrysalis?”
“I’ll be the one to make Chrysalis the injection. However, to sneak in the Hive would be a difficult job even for me, so I’ll ask Kor for support. And what about our princess… I suppose you are the one for this job.”
“I guess so… Well, we all will start at the same time?”
“Yes. In two days, in the evening.”
Five ponies, two mares and three stallions, gathered in a dark room. Four of them were in high-tech camouflage suits, the fifth was wearing an ordinary guard’s uniform.
“Everyone know the plan?” asked the leader, huge arsenic stallion.
“Yes,” other ponies responded.
“Teleport to the Castle and remain undercover with invisibility shield on. Find Discord, distract him, stun and make the injection. Then wait until all princesses went to sleep, sneak in and make the injections,” the yellow mare said.
Her marine-colored comrade gave a nod and said “Yes.”
“Teleport in the Hive, sneak in her bedroom while she’ll be sleeping. I stun her, you prick her,” big brown stallion said.
“Wait until she’ll be sound asleep doing the regular job, then sneak in and inject,” bronze stallion with scars on his face said.
“Good. Well, activate the teleportation. May the luck be with us.”
“Right!”
Tall stallions and mares typed a short command on their on-hoof support computed devices and disappeared in dim flashed of light. The last stallion saluted them before they were completely gone and then with a murky smile on his face left the room.
Soon after this he was in the Castle of Friendship. He went to see the princess to tell her that the time of his watch had come. Princess greeted him and told him that she might stay up longer than usual since she wants to finish one project. The bronze stallion said that he understands and left the room in order to start patrolling.
In four hours, princess still was working. The night guard had already checked all the Castle from basement to attic for two times, took extremely tired princess’s assistant to his bedroom and helped him with some bedtime preparations, prepared some stuff for his colleagues who will arrive there in the morning. Eventually, princess finished her job and slowly went to her bedroom, yawning on her way. The night guard wished her good night and continued his go-round.
When the third round of the patrol was complete, he checked the princess’s bedroom. He gently opened the door and saw that purple alicorn has been sound asleep. She was very tired, so her sleep was really deep – it seemed that now she would not react even on a cannon shot. Still, one should be careful.
The night guard silently approached the sleeping alicorn and stood near the headboard. He took quiet, but deep breath and began the operation. From under his armor he took a small plastic bottle, opened it and brought it to princess’s face. She smelled the substance in the bottle, fidgeted, but then suddenly went limp, just like a ragdoll. Bronze stallion closed the bottle, put it back under the armor and took an injector. He put the device to alicorn’s neck and pressed the button. One weak muffled sound – and a dose of special support treatment was in the pony’s circulatory system. Very soon the treatment would spread across all the organism and penetrate all the cells. Fluxes of magic energy would be stabilized, and no one would ever worry about probable dangerous conditions.
“Excuse me, Your Highness,” the night guard whispered, “but, I suppose, you will oversleep no matter what happens.”
And he left the bedroom quietly.
Meanwhile two huge pony-like figures in cybernetic suits were approaching the chambers of queen Chrysalis. They faced with a problem: they planned to get to the necessary place from the outside of the Hive, but it turned out that the habitation of changelings constantly rebuilds itself: doorways open and close in mere minutes, bridges and corridors appear and fall apart. It made the orientation within the structure extremely difficult – the only anchor point researchers could use were the queen’s chambers, because they were among few places coordinates of which remained constant. Thus, stallions could lead the way, but they had to adjust it all the time.
The patrols of changelings’ guard were everywhere. If not the suits, researchers would be detected in no time. Invisibility shield, sound and vibration suppressing, local-scale gravitation distorters to enable them to walk on walls and ceiling and levitate for short periods of time – they had to use all kinds of tools that were built in the suits.
After three hours, stallions finally reached the entrance to the chambers. It was heavily guarded: about eighty mighty soldiers watched the queen’s rest. And, no doubt, there were magic traps. Hard task, but not impossible. Absolute suppression and invisibility would make them imperceptible even for the most precisely adjusted traps. The only thing they need was time: they had to move slowly and quietly so that not a single trace would be left. Their sizes made it even more difficult, but both of them had dozens of years of military practice. Moving carefully and watching each step, they passed by all the guards and left all the traps untouched.
Surprisingly, there were no doors on the way – only some veils, which, by the way, researchers passed without any problems thanks to visual distortions caused by absolute suppression field and invisibility. Well, either doors were only for emergencies, or queen preferred to sleep in places with thorough ventilation. Nevertheless, it made their task easier.
Finally, they were in the royal bedroom. It was a huge dark room with many various things and decorations. Queen’s bed was in the center. Big and oval-shaped, it was a vast plain for average pony or changeling, but it has the perfect sizes for the queen, which – and now it was the most important – made it easier to reach her.
One of the stallions switched the absolute suppression off and released his claws. He slowly approached the bed, touched queen’s neck and froze in this pose. He stood like this for three or four minutes, then he gave his colleague a sign. He switched off the absolute suppression too and took the injector. He approached the sleeping queen too and with a swift move injected her the treatment. Chrysalis made loud snorting sound and twitched. The changeling guards alarmed. Something bad might be happening to the queen right now. About fifty of them ran in the bedroom. Stallions heard the clatter and stepped aside from the bed. When guards ran into the room, they saw how two huge figures in dark metal costumes appear from nowhere and in a moment vanish in flash of dim light. Surprisingly, queen hasn’t woken up: she till was twitching, but all the noise didn’t seem to affect her. Eventually, she calmed down. Guards quietly left the room and start to look for the mysterious dark giants. But they have never found them…
At the same time in Canterlot Bluve and Affi were doing the most important part of the operation. Three princesses and one spirit should receive the treatment. All the circumstances and the need to remain undercover caused serious limitations, which couldn’t be avoided. It would be the greatest test for their skills and will require them to show what they mastered and what they are able to do.
While the sun hasn’t disappeared behind the mountains yet, researchers arrived in Canterlot. The city was full of bright colors and various noises: it was the Fall Farewell festival, the last warm days of autumn before heavy cold rains and then snowfalls start. The celebration was in full swing: ponies in costumes, decorations and installations were everywhere. The whole city was turned in one giant fair. The main festive area were the Gardens of the Castle. Today the marvel of the art of landscaping was opened for everyone: one could met nobles from rich and known from ancient times families, farmers from small villages surrounding the capital or even a minotaur tourists from another continent. All creatures were friendly to each other, since everyone wanted to have good time before cold winter with its long nights. Incredible variety of everything and everyone.
… which made it easier to blend in a crowd.
First, researchers had to make injection to Discord. After the end of the celebration it would be practically impossible to track him, so they and to find and lure him out now. To find the spirit was the easiest part – everyone could spot large varicolored noodle floating above everyone. To lure him was way more laborious task. And there was only one pony who could do it better than anyone…
“Anti?” the spirit surprised when he saw familiar yellow mare in the crowd. “What a coincidence! I didn’t expect you to show up in Canterlot.”
“Hello, Discord,” yellow pony responded. “Well, I didn’t plan to go here, but princess Twilight required some magic items for her research, and capital is the only place near Ponyville where it’s possible to buy them.”
“I see.”
“So I bought the necessary items and decided to use free time before my train to walk around the city and enjoy the festival. And, to be honest, I didn’t expect you to be there too.”
“Well, how I can resist the possibility to freak out so many creatures, especially foreigners, in mere few hours?”
“Well, you wouldn’t be yourself if you gave another answer…”
“Exactly! I see you understand me better and better each new day… I like it!”
“Well, thanks…” Affi blushed.
“Oh, and snacks here are good too. Especially the odd ones that tourists bring.”
“Speaking about the snacks… I saw one stall with food of my homeland near this site. Do you want to go there with me?”
“Why, of course! It would be great!”
“Then follow me!”
They moved towards the entrance, but then Affi suddenly turned to Discord and said:
“You know, I feel a bit uncomfortable with so many creatures around… Maybe we can go somewhere closer to the hedge, where it’s quieter, so we could chat freely?”
“Well, this way we’d make a long detour, but I don’t mind. Let’s go!”
Researcher and spirit headed to the outskirts of the Gardens, and in few minutes they were alone among the greenery. Crowd’s noises came from the side, but they were relatively quiet and distinguishable. Thanks to the trees and bushes around no one could hear them as well.
And see them too.
Affi seized the moment and stunned Discord with mental pressure attack. Discord fainted and fell on the bushes. Right after this Bluve, who waited in this remote area of the park, turned off the invisibility shield and injected spirit the treatment. “In three supramoments in the Castle,” Affi said to the biologist before she put the shield on.
In few minutes Discord woke up.
“What was that?” he exclaimed.
“Um, I’m sorry, but…” Affi muttered, “… but that’s because an old raven’s nest fell on your head.”
“What? Raven’s nest?”
Saying no words, Affi just pointed to large bunch of sticks, feathers and rubbish near the spirit’s legs, which supposed to be the nest.
“Oh…” Discord spelled and sighed. “How embarrassing…” he covered his face with his paws.
“Don’t worry! Everything might happen! Besides, no other creatures saw it.”
“Still, it’s embarrassing.”
“I wouldn’t say…”
“There’s no need to hide it. It was ridiculous and funny, right?”
“… I’d say unusual and bizarre.”
“You are very polite pony.”
“Thanks. Well, shall we head to the snack stall?”
“Right!”
Eventually, they left the Gardens and got to the food court Affi was talking about. They had some healthy but nutritious snacks, and then Discord took Affi to the railway station. They parted near the entrance. The spirit returned to the Gardens, and researcher rushed to hide in some back alleys near the station. From there she teleported to the Castle at the appointed time.
Now the only thing they had to do is wait.
Five hours had passed. The festival had finished, and ponies went to their homes. Princesses of Equestria were no exception. After the celebration they were very tired, so Celestia and Cadance went to bed almost right after the end of festival. Luna had some work to do, and couldn’t have the rest he needed now.
However, for researcher there were no problems.
While princess of the night was heading to her chambers, a strange thing happened: a pony dressed in dark armor-like suite appeared from thin air right in front of the alicorn, then took a gun-shaped device and put it to the alicorn’s chest. The pony in suit pressed the trigger button, and princess fainted. She fell on the floor, and strange pony vanished.
Luna woke up in few minutes. She barely remembered what happened, but for some reason she felt even more tired. Nevertheless, she managed to do the work she planned and get the deserver rest after it.
To deal with other two princesses was even easier: royal bedrooms were protected by no guards, but few magic traps. With absolute suppression field, invisibility shield and gravitation distorters to get around them was simple. The only thing that – just like in case of Edez and Kor – it required some time. However, in twenty minutes Affi was standing near sleeping Celestia, and Bluve – near sleeping Cadance. In mere seconds princess of the day was stunned by the mighty mental pressure attack. Bluve, in turn, used the same trick as Max. The last two princesses were practically unconscious, so researchers quickly made them injections and teleported away.
“The mission is completed,” Affi messaged to Max, standing with Bluve on the top of a rock above the city. “All princesses and Discord have received the treatment.”
“Very well. And thank you. You may return to the base. Edez and Kor are already here.”
“Understood. We’ll be there in a moment.”
“Good. Well, one reason for worrying less…”