Fairlight - The Frozen Heart

by Bluespectre

Chapter Eight - Gateway to another world

The frigid night air whipped past, cooling and reviving me. I may not have the speed of my feathered contemporaries, but my leathery wings did the job and swept me along effortlessly. To keep my profile down I kept to what little cloud there was, but I doubt there’d be many out and about star gazing at this hour. I was wearing my black tactical gear which helped cover a lot my body, although it didn’t do much to hide the white plume that trailed out behind me, nor my distinctly dragon-like wings. It didn’t matter too much though, Manehattan ponies never looked up. You couldn’t see that much above street level with all the bright lights anyway, and there was so much going on you’d likely trot right into somepony if you tried. Quite the lively place really. The smells and sounds of a city wafted into the air, forming a strange music of their own. It was the sound of the city, the beating of its deep and sonorous heart. Night clubs, bars, and in the distance fireworks popped and banged. There was always something for everypony in this city. Personally I loved fireworks displays, and the smell of sulphur on the air was something I’d always associated with the wonderful displays we used to have in Ponyville when I was stationed there. Some were magical of course, and those truly were amazing, but the more traditional ones still held a magic of their own. Some ponies hated the smell, very much like bad eggs I suppose, but I liked the whole ‘earthiness’ of the black powder, the fire and the clouds of smoke. I still couldn’t see much in the way of colour here tonight though. The flashes and bangs were usually accompanied by long rattles and… Damn, those weren’t fireworks! Right on cue, the TED burst into life.

“This is agent Dune, Snatch team Alpha.” the voice called. “We’re under fire and pinned down. We need back-up urgently. Location Manehattan watch house.”

A moment later, the call I half expected came in. “Nox? It’s Brandy. Where are you now?”

“I’m just south of the watch house sir,” I replied. “Altering course for it now.”

Brandy sounded concerned. Whatever was going on clearly hadn’t been anticipated, and now we’d been caught with our pants down. I could only hope we weren’t walking into a bloodbath.

“I’ve got more agents heading out there now,” he said quickly. “You have command when you get there, Nox.”

Command? Oh dear gods, that was something I didn’t want! It was good to be trusted of course, but memories of that damned warehouse were never more than a papers thickness away. I took a breath and huffed. I couldn’t let him down. “Yes, Sir,” I replied. I wasn’t far now, and put as much speed into my wings as I could. “Dune? Where are you and what’s the situation down there?”

There was a pause before the channel opened. Gunfire and shouting nearly drowned out the officer as she shouted into her microphone, “Not good, Nox, we’ve got a confused mess here. The watch house has been turned into a fortress. We’ve got at least four dead and another six wounded. Looks like the bastards were expecting us. We’re lucky to have any left at all.”

She wasn’t panicked, that was good. A situation like this needed a cool head. “What’s your location?” I asked.

“We made it back outside and are covering the alley behind the bank,” she replied. “I’ve other agents covering approaches to the watch house, but we’ve not many here. Once they realise that we won’t be able to contain them, there’s at least twenty in there and they’re all heavily armed. Watch your approach too, there’s one on the roof with one of those big multi barrelled things, it’s taken out two pegasi already.”

I nodded to myself. “Received. I’ll make that my first target. Keep your ponies out of range if you can, Dune, I know the building’s layout and I’ll do what I can. Backup’s on its way.”

Brandy had been listening and now his voice came back, full of authority. “Nox? Brandy. Don’t go in there on your own, stallion, it’s suicidal. We’ll be with you any minute now. Contain the situation and consolidate. Repeat, contain and consolidate.”

“Sorry, Sir,” I said into the TED calmly, “This was my home. These were my friends. I swore an oath to protect Equestria, the princesses, and that includes my old comrades as well as my new ones.” I took a breath, speeding my flight. “Nopony bucks with the watch.”

“Nox! Damn it all...” Brandy sounded oddly resigned. “Do what you need to do, but I’ll expect a full report at the end of this. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

The light show was in full effect by the time I arrived. Flashes of green light warred against yellow flashes, filling the air with the sizzle of magic and the hiss of projectiles. Bullets cracked off brick and concrete, splintering wood and making a sound like a soul in torment when they ricocheted off impenetrable surfaces. I’d half expected to see a mass of ponies darting this way and that, changing positions, shifting cover or looking for an advantage over their foe, but the reality was far different. The combatants on both sides were hunkering down, firing at anything and everything that moved even the slightest, or had taken to simply firing blindly towards where they believed their enemy to be. So far, nopony had stopped to look upwards. Nopony was firing at them from the skies, so every eye, every tiny scrap of attention, was focussed on what was going on right in front of them. With luck, they would continue to do so.

Sparse as it was, the cloud layer would be the best cover I could ask for. Wreathed in white, I pulled the mist in around me and glided ever nearer. Providing the mare on the rooftop didn’t look too closely, I would be in striking distance in no time. Another few yards, another few inches. The gunner on the rooftop had her full attention fixed on firing into the alley where Dune and her ponies were pinned down. Round after round snarled from her weapon, chewing up chunks of cobblestone and earth that had never seen anything more interesting in the last thousand years than countless hooves and cart wheels. Now, the modern age had come galloping in on the once peaceful land, and things would never be the same again. The wounds may heal, the memories fade, but the ground here would be forever scarred. The little chips in the stone, the small holes in the masonry, would always be waiting there to remind the viewer what had happened here. What was happening here. I had to bring this to a stop quickly, before somepony realised the agency fire was letting up. Second by second the intensity was falling noticeably, and sooner or later the proverbial penny would drop. Then, the blood letting would truly begin.

Flying vertically with as much speed as I could muster, the wind caught at my mane and roared around my ears. I rolled and banked into the cloud layer, twisting into a dive that brought me up behind the watch house gunner’s position. Landing as quietly as I could I slipped out the shocker device from its case, ready to incapacitate rather than kill the mare operating the huge weapon. I let the magic go and edged closer, I didn’t need everypony and his dog coming after me looking like some demonic beast from the pit. I could see the vibration shaking her forelegs now, the gritted teeth and the icy, staring eyes. I didn’t know who she was, but she was good - too bloody good. Alerted by some noise I hadn’t heard or a sense I didn’t understand, the mare suddenly whirled around and kicked the shocker from my magic’s grip, and then lunged for me, simultaneously drawing a short sword. Thank Luna I had mine, or I’d have been filleted on that wicked thing in an instant. She swung and stabbed, keeping the blade low and close. It was the result of hours of the kind of watch training I had endured over the years, and she’d been practising it well. The two of us danced around each other until she stumbled, slipping on a spent cartridge case. And in that instant, I was on her, bringing my blade to her throat.

“Brindle?!” I suddenly recognised her. Hidden beneath the tactical gear she’d looked like any other watch pony, but those terracotta eyes I recognised immediately.

“Bucking agency pony!” she roared. “You’ll get nothing from me!”

I snorted, shifting my stance. “Don’t need to girl, I know all about you and your pals. One chance; where’s Blaze?”

“Buck off,” she spat at me.

“Wrong answer.”

I brought the old truncheon across her head, knocking the mare out cold and adding yet another dent to the already scarred wood. The cables holding the roof mounted gun in place were next. Initially I’d planned to rip them out once I had a better idea of the overall situation, but the risk from leaving this thing here was too great. Who knew how many of Blaze’s crew were holed up in here, and the last thing anypony needed was to have this damnable creation coming back to life over their heads when they thought it was safe to emerge. Severing the cables I hoisted the huge weapon up with my magic and carried it into the back yard of the watch house, flaring my wings to arrest my descent. It was deserted. The only things left here now were the chill corpses of the dead, liberally strewn around. Some lay in the corners were they’d sought shelter, whilst others had been cut down in the open. All of those dead staring eyes gave silent testimony to the intensity of the fighting in this once mundane walled yard. Here on this forgotten front line, only death reigned now. A slight breeze lifted the grit and leaves, making them spin and dance, adding a surreal note to the background sound of gunfire that echoed around me. Even the ramp that lead down to the cells was dark with blood stains and, by the looks of things, was also devoid of life. It was a curious oversight by the defenders, but then the only way to get through the heavy steel door to the interior would be by either having the key, or cutting gear. The inside was probably bolted in any case. I tried my telekinesis to force the lock, but again and again the damn thing foiled any and all attempts. There was only one thing for it; I packed the lock with the explosive paste I’d managed to acquire from the armoury and stuck a length of safety fuse into it. One little flicker from the old Fairlight horn and it was sizzling away nicely.

It was always a good idea to keep away from explosives, particular when they were fizzing angrily, and so with myself tucked safely behind the corner of the main building I was oddly disappointed by the rather small ‘pop’ that announced the end of the lock. Better to keep things as quiet as possible I suppose, though with all the noise of the gunfire I could probably have screamed my head off and nopony would have heard me. Just as well too, as the massive door to the cell area was still as squeaky as I remembered from the last time I’d worked here. Some things never changed.I took out my pulse gun and checked it was ready. It was. I was breathing hard, unsure what I was going to face when I went in. As much as the explosive hadn’t made that much of a noise, inside it would have been a different story, and hard to miss to anypony with a working pair of ears. Kicking the door open I once again used the mirror to look for any opposition only to find the cell block corridor completely deserted. I expect everypony was out towards the front of the building and this area had been deemed secure enough. Careless? We weren’t talking about military trained ponies here, and in any case who in their right mind breaks in to a cell block? I took a breath and kept my guard up, keeping my eyes peeled. Other than the peculiar echoing of the distant gunfire, the cell block felt as cold and empty as… I froze. They weren’t completely empty after all. A cough and the sound of shuffling hooves on bare concrete drifted out, grabbing my attention. Whoever it was, they weren’t trying to conceal themselves at all. Perhaps they were prisoners caught up in this mess and were, in essence, completely innocent of the tragedy they were now a part of. I flexed my shoulders and moved forward quietly, peering around the corner into the cell’s interior. There were two of them, both wearing watch uniforms. I recognised them straight away as Corn Ball and Verdigris, two of the relief watch, and trusted officers from Mitre’s day.

“Hey! You’re not with the others are you? You with the agency?” one of them called out.

I stepped closer, wary of possible treachery. They could always have been left in here to lure in unsuspecting ponies then shoot them in the back. “I’m with the CBI, yes,” I said cautiously. “What are you doing in here?”

Corn Ball let out a deep sigh. “It’s Blaze, the new watch chief.” The greying stallion glanced at his friend, the pain of what he was saying clearly unsettling him. “She’s sold out and turned on the ones who swore to uphold the law and protect ponies. The first we knew about it was when the agency suits arrived to arrest her. A scuffle broke out between her and some of her cronies and the next thing we knew the shooting started. Those of us who tried to stop it are lying in the atrium, but there may be more.” Corn Ball grimaced. “The corruption has spread further than we thought.”

Verdigris walked up beside his companion and put a consoling hoof on his shoulder, looking closely at me. “You seem… familiar somehow. Do I know you?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Sir, I don’t believe I’ve had that honour. Agent Nox, at your service.”

Corn Ball spoke up. “Well, It’s damned good to meet you, Nox. Now, how about getting us out of here, eh? You’ll be needing help I imagine.”

I suddenly realised what he was suggesting and dismissed it immediately. “No, I need you to hold this area and help any I send back down here. Agency ponies will be heading this way any minute and when they do, feel free to help out any way you see fit. Until then…”

“Okay, Agent Nox, we get the picture.” The big officer snorted and scratched his mane in irritation.

“Yeah, Verdigris, you old fart,” Corn Ball sniggered. “You’ll get in the young fellow’s way, didn’t you know?”

“What?! Bollocks!” his companion snapped back. “I’m miles off retirement yet, you ancient mangy git.”

I trotted out leaving the two veterans behind me arguing and completely oblivious to the fact I’d already left. I hoped they’d be okay, but in the deadly storm of chaos currently raging throughout the archaic watch house you could never tell what was around the next corner. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a loaded crossbow. I tapped the TED, “Brandy? Nox. The rear door to the cell block is open, and there’s two ponies in there on our side. Watch your fire when you go in, they’re sergeants Verdigris and Corn Ball.”

“Received Nox,” the reply came back. “I’ll pass it on to the assault teams. We’re coming in hard and heavy in five.”

I nodded. “Understood.”

The seldom used service steps up to the atrium were next. They were steep and narrow, used more for maintenance access than anything else, but they suited my purposes well. Years of accumulated dust and cobwebs so thick you’d need a builders trowel to remove them covered every available surface. A rusty lantern hung from the ceiling, seized onto its hook from years of corrosion, its wick and oil not having seen a flame for at least several decades. Of course, nopony ever bothered cleaning here. It was another reminder of how rotten and decaying things that were kept out of sight could truly be. I’d been brought up to believe that it was impossible to build something on top of bad foundations, that it didn’t matter how grand an edifice you built, as without a stable base it was undoubtedly doomed to fall. But now, after seeing everything I had so far in this life, I wasn’t so sure. What if the rot was the foundation? What if the countless years of slow decay, the accumulation of filth, rot and disease, had actually taken the place of the original foundation, replacing it with something that would maintain the outer public perception that all was well, but was in fact a whole different animal. We’d all known there had been some corruption in the Watch, but it had been glossed over, ignored and filed in the amorphous tray labelled ‘too difficult’. Blaze however, was on a different level altogether. Of course, she wasn’t a cause of the rot in the Watch, but more of a symptom. Low pay, unsociable hours, a populace who looked down their muzzle at you day after thankless day would grind down the best of us. Some didn’t make it to retirement, and those who did were often worn out from the endless night shifts, plodding from one street to the next. Maybe you’d be lucky, maybe you’d be the one who had the nice cushy office job, or perhaps you’d be the poor sod on the beat until one evening some fizzed up punk was just that little bit quicker than you were, and then it was only a cold hole in the ground to look forward to. Life would move on, but you? You would be forgotten, an image in a photograph that nopony ever bothered looking at any more. All the elements were there, waiting, and all it needed was that simple little push to send a pony over the edge. Dawn had been that push.

The top of the stairsended in a heavy wooden door that opened out onto the second floor, and Chief Mitre’s old office. Tentatively, I pushed it open, breathing hard and half expecting a bolt, blade, or blast of something equally lethal to greet me at any moment. The only thing that met me however, was a wave of ear popping sound. The rattle of gunfire resonating throughout the building was deafening and continuous. The hiss of magic and the occasional twang of a crossbow bolt made themselves heard occasionally, only to be quickly drowned out by the heavy and incessant boom of progress. Echoes of the past were everywhere in Manehattan, the old intermingling with the new as if it were trying to compete with the machinery of the modern age. But slowly, gradually, the city, even the world, was changing. Now, with the introduction of such lethal devices as I had seen recently, the future had come crashing down upon us like a tidal wave, sweeping us along helplessly into an unknown and terrifying future. Ponies killing each other was a rare event in and of itself, yet now those whose very job it had been to uphold the law and protect the innocent, had turned upon themselves so readily it boggled the mind. I reached up and adjusted my headset, silently thanking Brandy for allowing me access to the reactive ear defenders and light reactive eye lenses taken from the dead pony we’d recovered from the wharf warehouse. They worked amazingly well, filtering out the louder ‘pops’ and ‘bangs’ as well as dulling the bright flashes that flared around me like some crazed light show. It was no surprise the bloody flash bugs hadn’t worked for us as expected that day we’d raided the warehouse, but at the very least they’d be put to a positive purpose now.

The rumble of the heavier guns was making the floor vibrate beneath my hooves, sending small shockwaves up my legs. The brutal drum-roll followed me along the narrow, deserted corridor until I finally reached the landing. As I’d expected, the lobby below was in turmoil. Ponies were firing from windows and doorways, smoke and the scent of ozone from the high energy magic, hanging thick in the air. Papers, chairs, desks, and all the other paraphernalia I had come to associate with the Watch house, were now strewn everywhere as if some giant had picked up the entire building and shook it violently before dropping back down, a discarded snow-globe of the living. And the dead. And dead there were too. Groans from the wounded who had been left to fend for themselves mixed with the dire orchestra of death surging back and forth, whilst those lying motionless amongst the detritus of a once lively house of law lay silent and still, no more now than shadows lost in the flaring light. The landing were I was however, was totally devoid of life. So far I’d been undetected, but that was going to end now. Unstrapping my heavy cargo from my back, I hoisted the huge gun I’d taken from the rooftop and heaved it onto the railing, holding it fast with my magic. Gods, I hoped this was going to work…

With a deep breath, I filtered a trickle of the spirits power through me to amplify my voice. “Ponies of the Equestrian Watch, lay down your arms. The ones you are fighting are not your enemy. You have been lied to and manipulated for too long. Remember your oaths, brother and sisters: Honour, duty, and loyalty. This is what makes you special. The ponies of Manehattan depend on you, don’t turn on them now!”

“Who the buck are you?!” one of the ponies shouted up at me.

“Never mind that, just bucking kill him!” another yelled.

And all hell broke loose. Shit! So much for that plan… Bullets ate into the wood around me, splintering and shattering the ancient beams and tearing a chuck of meat from my shoulder for good measure. Wood, it seems, is not especially proof against these weapons, and I was beginning to find out the hard way just how proof my own hide was against them too. Blood seeped down my foreleg, but as nasty as it looked I didn’t have the luxury of time to worry about it now. Hah! So much for my negotiation course then! My eyes locked onto the weapon leaning on the railing. Now… Now it was time to do things the old fashioned way. Releasing enough spirit energy to shield me from the worst of the direct fire, I ducked behind the huge gun and flicked what appeared to be the power switch. Immediately a red light came on, bringing the thing humming to life. There was a hell of a wind up time on the motor, or so it felt, until a green light popped on showing it was ready. I took a breath, steadied myself, and then… hesitated. Despite everything, these ponies were still my colleagues, my friends. Could I just gun them down like they were nothing? I wasn’t sure, this wasn’t right! I couldn’t- And then that little voice in my head began to whisper, as soft as the gentlest breeze, reminding me with its silken tones that these buckers had already killed their own, that the names of the dead would never be forgotten. Nor vengeance satistfied.

Palm…

They had no qualms about killing agency ponies, and if they were linked with Blaze and the smugglers then they had no moral obstacles to overcome when it came to selling foals and mares for drugs and guns either. How could they do that? How?!

Twinkle Sky…

The suffering of innocents meant nothing to them. Locked in cages, covered in their own faeces and urine, quietly awaiting the hell that was to come. Until the mercy of death finally took them.

Lilly...

Did they see the children? Did they see the innocence of foals whose lives had been destroyed because these… these vermin wanted to line their own pockets with bits?! I could still see her eyes, her blind, unseeing eyes. They had forfeited any right to call themselves the Watch. Or ‘friends’.

Meadow...

Oh, dear gods, no. NO!

Shouting wordlessly I turned the weapon onto the ponies below and pulled the firing lever. A moment later the horribly familiar noise of humming and screeching filled the atrium with a barrage of smoke and death. I didn’t so much aim the thing as point it, but it didn’t make much difference. Those that didn’t run were turned into crimson paste, whilst others tried to take cover, finding that desks and chairs would provide little sanctuary from the stream of bullets tracing their way through their midst. The spirit inside me howled with unbridled ecstasy, revelling in the brutal sights and sounds of battle. Torn and bloodied ponies lay strewn across the floor, walls dripping with blood and entrails. It was over in a matter of seconds. Silence fell like a shroud, leaving only groans and coughs, but I knew it wouldn’t last. That few moments of firing had emptied the gun already, and I abandoned it, taking out my beam weapon and using the lull in the fighting to make my escape. Quickly, I turned and headed for Blaze’s office as those left in the atrium picked themselves back up. Sporadic fire suddenly erupted from farther back in the building, a stray shot clipping my hind leg and sending me sprawling across the floor. I swallowed, shoving a hoof against the wall and pulled myself to my hooves. I didn’t look to see how much damage had been caused, but a quick shake and I was off again. The wendigo spirit had a truly remarkable way of handling injury and pain I’d noticed, but I had the horrible impression I was going to pay for this later. For now at least, I could ignore it. As I ran I could feel the strange magic of the spirit channelling energy into the wound, feel its sting ebbing away almost as fast as it had come. But it was hungry. And with each moment, that rumbling need for nourishment grew, adding a fuel to its already insatiable need. Flasks of berry juice wouldn’t be enough this time.

Something moved in the corner of my vision.

My beam gun snapped off a shot, ripping through a stallion who appeared with a raised weapon from an office to my right. He shrieked and fell back, but I didn’t see if I’d dealt him a mortal wound. To the spirit however, the howl of pain and shock sent it into a near frenzy of delight. As much as the entity clearly enjoyed the experience, this time I was all too aware I was killing ponies I’d worked with not all that long ago. Warped and corrupted they may be, they had still been those I’d worked with and trusted.

And had betrayed you...

Occasionally I saw a pony lay down their weapon and raise their hooves in submission. These I left be; the agency would collect them and I had no time for them anyway. I was fixed upon my destination now - the Watch Chief’s office. Two ponies charged me, swords drawn as I reached the edge of the balcony in front of the office. My first swing gutted the nearest one, sending a spray of gore across his fellow who tried to spit me with his own weapon. I danced away, bringing my blade down on the hapless stallion’s neck, severing his spine and nearly decapitating him. The other lay writhing on the floor until I put a shot through his head to end his suffering. I didn’t stop to think. I couldn’t stop. The smell, heat, and intensity of the fighting set my soul on fire. Bullets zipped and howled around me, my energy weapon answering back, killing and maiming ponies that dared to challenge me. The spirit was lost in a raging fury now, screaming nearly out of control. It cried out for satiation, for a source of life energy it knew was near. And it was so near! I kicked open the door and stalked in without pause, breathing hard, sword low, my beam gun slung over my shoulder. Blaze… Blaze was there before me. She was shouting into her comms device until... she paused, lowered the device and turned to face me slowly, her face ashen.

“Hello Fairlight,” Blaze said quietly. “I had a feeling you’d be back. Returning from the dead seems to be a habit of yours.”

My voice rumbled low in my throat, “Blaze…”

I could hear ponies outside getting nearer and threw up a wall of ice, effectively locking the two of us inside the office.

“Quite the trick you got there, Captain,” the mare observed impassively. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.” She leaned back in her chair and raised her forehooves. “No magic, see?”

“Wanting to surrender Blaze?” I growled, my teeth itching furiously. “You disappoint me.”

Blaze snorted, tossing her mane. “Oh buck you, Fairlight. You know that’s not my style. I expect you’re wanting an exclusive interview with me now are you? Expecting me to spill the beans? A big expose on the whole crime family?”

“Not really,” I replied. “I know what they do, and I know what you did, but I’m guessing you don’t hold any love for Gates and Melon Patch though.”

She huffed loudly. “Of course not, those perverse bastards are the ones who commit all the depravity. I never agreed with that. Making drug money sure, but I didn’t involve myself in selling ponies for the sex trade.”

“Not what your little pal Jingo told me,” I retorted.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment, just a moment which told me all I needed to know. “Ha! Well, you got me there,” Blaze shrugged. “No kidding you is there, Captain?” She sighed, “I guess you’ll be wanting your big showdown here then will you?”

My resolve was strong, but as I looked into her sad, distant eyes, I felt my heart begin to waver. I lowered my guard, foolishly perhaps, but I had to ask, “Why, Blaze? For the goddess’s sake, why? Was it bits? I know the pay’s crap, every watchpony knows that, but you were one of the best. How the hell did it turn out like this?”

“How?” She asked. I saw a single tear roll down the big pegasi’s cheek. “I told you before, Captain, Equestria is sinking into a pit of its own filth, and all I wanted was to take what I could before it was so far gone it took me down with it.” She closed her eyes and hung her head. “I didn’t want to be just another Dawn.”

The tension in the air was palpable. Magic seethed through my body, strengthening my muscles and joints, but it did nothing for the turmoil in my heart. Waves of emotion passed through me: memories of happier times, of Blaze and Dawn laughing and playing cards while the rest of the relief looked on, betting on who would win. They were both loved dearly by the ponies on her team, if not by the whole of the Manehattan watch.

I breathed in deeply. “Is there no other way? Blaze… if there is, please, tell me.”

The big pegasus mare shook her head with a little smile on her face. “Sorry, Fairlight, I’m not surrendering, and I know you won’t let me walk out of here either. You were the only guy I knew who took all that ‘honour’ and ‘duty’ crap seriously.” She smiled bitterly. “Nah, I suppose I’ve gone way too far down the rabbit hole to back out now, so you’ll just have to do what you have to do.”

I swallowed. “Please, Blaze, don’t do this…”

“Don’t do what?” she laughed. Dear gods, she actually laughed! “All good things come to an end, and perhaps all the bad things do too. But you remember what we always used to say, don’t you? Shit always floats to the top. The ones we trust today with all their fancy suits and fancy words are the ones shafting us tomorrow, while the rest of us are kept down in the dirt where we belong, right? It never changes. Nothing you, I, nor any watch pony in the whole of Equestria did would ever make a drop of difference to this midden of a world.” She closed her eyes and smiled faintly, the look of tension finally leaving her face. “Tell me, Captain, what’s it like, on the other side?”

I felt a shiver run through me as the reality of what the mare was saying began to sink in. “It’s all sunshine and wheat fields, Blaze. The sun’s on your back in a crystal blue sky, the trees are heavy with ripe fruit, and birdsong lulls you to sleep on a warm afternoon.”

She smiled, tears falling onto the debris strewn floor. “Sounds wonderful…” Blaze got up from her chair and took a sword down from the rack on the wall, giving it an experimental sweep. “Will Dawn be there?”

I nodded, trying to hold back my own tears. “She will be”

“Good.”

Blaze suddenly charge me, howling and swinging her sword. She was practised too, a flourish sending me back with a gash across a foreleg. She thrust forward and I blocked, dodging away as her next attack pressed in. Back and forth we clashed until the opening I was hoping for appeared. Blaze reared, her sword held high and she dived down on me screaming, the big eyes of hers wild and her wings flared. It was over in a heartbeat. The tip of my sword plunged through her defenceless breast and deep into her heart. She hung there for a moment and then, limply, the pegasus collapsed on top of me, her sword clattering to the floor. I grabbed her and carried her down, holding her as I did so. Blaze, the former Manehattan watch chief, lay dying on the floor of her office.

She shuddered and reached out a hoof toward the ceiling like she could see something I couldn’t. “Dawn?” Her eyes went wide. “Dawn! You’re here!” She gasped once, and went limp as her life escaped her.

I watched silently, as her life energy began to slowly seeped away, and I breathed it in. In some way it was as though I was keeping part of her inside of me alive, to remember her by. To the spirit, it was the taste of victory. I ignored it. My old friend would be with the herd soon, and flying once more with her beloved Blaze. The whole terrible scene was utterly heart rending, but oddly I felt a tinge of jealousy. I was still stuck here in the mortal world, tainted by the spirit and stained with the blood of countless ponies. At least Blaze and Dawn would be with the eternal herd. Personally, I wondered if I would ever be with my Meadow and Sparrow again. Had I become so warped, so utterly stained by the blood of those whose lives I had taken, that I could never be with my loved ones again? Did… Did I even care anymore? I felt a tear spill down my cheek and drop onto the still warm body of the mare whose life I had taken. Banging on the outside of the room caught my attention, and I lay Blaze’s head gently to the floor, placing a spare overcoat from the coat-rack over her face. She didn’t need to see any more of this shitty world.

“Nox! Its’ agent Dune, we’ve taken the watch house. Are you alright? We can’t get you on your TED.”

Damn it, I’d knocked the damned thing off in all the fighting. My horn flared with a magic aura and the ice began to melt around the door. Outside, Dune shoved hard and stumbled inside as it gave way. “Damn!” She recovered herself and looked up at me, her sweat matted mane stuck to her forehead. “Nox, are you…? Oh…” She took in the scene and stood to one side in silence.

I picked Blaze’s body up and placed her on my back. “Put all the dead watch together, Dune. Blaze should be with her ponies.” I took a breath, trying to keep my sanity together. “I want proper burials for them too. I think the city can spring for that, don’t you?”

She nodded, “I’ve got contacts, Nox, leave it to me.”

“Thanks, my friend.” I stared down at the floor, unable to meet her gaze. “I owe you one.”

I closed my eyes, letting the surge of emotional energy flush through me making my fur tingle. So… This was how it ended, was it? I had killed one of old colleagues and only the goddesses know how many more. In those few minutes of violence, the Fairlight I had been had been washed away forever in a sea of blood and death that I had taken to as naturally as a duck to water. Inside, part of me felt sick to my stomach at what I had done this day. The other revelled in it, singing with joy and the sheer exuberance of life - as I stared at a scene of death.I was the beginning and the end, the innocent child of my parents who had come into the world as pure and untainted as the first fall of snow. Now, I was the bringer of death, an echo of a people whom the princess had driven to extinction. And gods know, perhaps she was right to do it too. How could creatures like that, like me, live alongside ponies to whom the concepts of violence, of fighting and war, were simply unthinkable? It was no wonder the agency worked behind the scenes, living in the shadows. How many ponies were walking around today, blissfully ignorant of that undercurrent of horror which lay beneath the sugar coated frosting of modern equestrian society? How many had experienced it first hoof, only to wake in the morning having nothing more than a vague recollection of something ‘odd’ having happened to them and a bit of a headache? Memory alteration would only work so far, and one day, perhaps today, somepony would have seen what had transpire here and the bubble would finally be burst. Who knew? Who cared? I was beyond that now, the weight of the mare on my back reminding me with every step of what I had done.

Brandy and the others were already in the atrium, surrounded by innumerable wounded, prisoners, and a veritable sea of black clad agents. Thankfully somepony had had the sense to open what was left of the windows to let the smoke out, but fresh air in Manehattan was a rare commodity and there was little breeze to take away the stink that hung like an immovable miasma. I avoided the blank stares of the prisoners, ignoring too the grimaces of pain on the tortured features of the injured. I had seen more than enough for one day, if not a lifetime. Amongst this scene of misery the myriad medical staff were treating the most badly wounded, whilst in the distance I could hear the ringing of bells announcing the imminent arrival of yet more ambulances. They’d have a hell of a job keeping a lid on this disaster, but thankfully that wasn’t my problem. Mine was something a little more immediate. Ignored in the chaos, I slipped through the surging mass of ponies, finally reaching something I could never have imagined I would ever see here in the old watch house. Lined up like equine shaped sardines, the still and unmoving row of bodies lay cooling in the pale light, an island of silence surrounded by the low murmuring waves of life. One by one they were looked over by a doctor who barely even noticed my approach, nor the stack of body bags that had already been thoughtfully placed there. I tore my eyes away from them with a heavy heart. Gods, this was so surreal. I felt as though I were walking in somepony elses shoes, a dream that I could wake up from, brush myself off and go about my normal working day just the same as I always had. The eyes of a mare stared up at me, the glazed expression in those once vibrant blue eyes devoid of the familiar spark of life that we all took far too much for granted. There would be no more normal ‘working days’ for this girl, or for any of us now. How the hell could we walk back from this? How could Equestria ever return to normal? Oh, the authorities would try of course, washing their hooves of this atrocity right in the heart of one of their major cities, playing it off as an ‘unfortunate incident’ or such like. But the city would remember. It always remembered. As gently as I could, I lowered Blaze’s body beside those of her comrades. Stepping back, Brandy appeared beside me, the dark lines under his eyes speaking volumes about his mental state right now.

“Buck it, Nox, I don’t see how we can keep this disaster quiet, the place is a frigging bloodbath.” Brandy’s tone wasn’t so much accusatory as resigned. He looked at bodies, then over to the door where more medical teams were hurrying inside. “Innocents got caught in the crossfire,” the older stallion said quietly, “and we’ve got dead ponies all over the damned place. It’s going to take more than a few memory wipes to put this right.”

“Yes, Sir,” I replied. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No. No, I don’t suppose there is now. We’ll get the wounded treated, bury the dead, and hope to the goddesses that we can contain this mess the best we can.” Brandy looked down at Blaze’s body, “Wouldn’t give up, eh?”

I shook my head.

Brandy sighed. “I’m sorry, Nox, I didn’t know her personally, but… I know what it’s like to…” He rubbed his muzzle, closing his eyes. “You know what I mean”

I nodded. “I do, Sir.”

The older officer nodded towards the door. “Off you go, grab a shower and see to that orange mare of yours. I suspect you’ll be in for your own interrogation when you get back.”

I smiled faintly and trotted out to where Loofa was waiting with the sky chariot. I’m sure that guy could read minds. “I’m heading back boss,” he said pleasantly. “Jump in, you look dead on your hooves”.

I paused to look back at the watch house. The walls were pockmarked with bullet impacts and the black marks left by beam weapons, while splintered wood and smashed glass covered the ground like a carpet. For Celestia’s sake, what the hell had all this been for? What?!

“Boss?”

I climbed into the chariot and lay back, closing my eyes, willing the images away. “I’m tired Loofa. I’m so, so tired.” I felt absolutely worn out, wanting nothing more now than a wash and a clean bed. “Let’s go home.”

“Right you are, Boss.”

We lifted off the ground and were soon flying through the still darkened sky back to the facility and the waiting Tingles. Behind me, receding into the distance, the blackened and smoke filled memory of my past smouldered, a dark relic of what I had once called… home.

I’ll say one thing for the agencies facility, it came fully loaded with everything a pony needed - if you had a fairly basic list of requirements that is. The cafeteria here food was truly dreadful by most standards, but the other amenities more than made up for that. Well, almost… The particular amenity I had in mind right now was a hot bath, and the large communal ones at the facility could comfortably accommodate at least ten ponies at once. There was one for mares and one for stallions, naturally. Not that you could really see much anatomically speaking I suppose, plus the showers were mixed too, but there was something about a mare stepping out of a steaming tub that was considered taboo by many. So much so it had been a recurring theme in the old ‘stallions only’ magazines I’d read as a colt. The dog-eared and decidedly musty publications had been passed around at school so often the pages were often falling out. Those that weren’t, rather worryingly, stuck together with some ‘unknown’ substance. Gods, I really wanted a wash now! Fortunately with most of the agents still out on the watch house job, that evening I had the place to myself, and I couldn’t wait to sink into the hot water. Removing my barding, clothing and gear, I could barely resist the urge to jump in and had to force myself into the shower room to wash off first. I was I glad I did too. Apart from being against regulations, the thought of floating around in all the filth I had accumulated today was something that was disturbing to say the least. No, a good scrub, a decent amount of soap, and then my reward awaited. Thank the gods for the laundry team too, and they certainly had their work cut out for them this time. My barding and tunic were spattered from head to hoof with dark wet patches, innumerable rips, and scorch marks. I tried not to look too hard at the tainted water as it sluiced away the past few hours in a soapy slurry that gurgled down the drain and into memory. Memory… Ha! More like a nightmare. How many times had I… Suddenly a thought struck me, and a quick examination of where I had been injured revealed that where I had been hit was now miraculously all but healed. I stared in amazement at the clean fresh flesh that would, I hoped, regrow my fur to cover the bald patches. Apart from looking like I had a bad case of mange, looking at some of them I was amazed I was still alive at all. The spirit had certainly saved my life, but it didn’t make me invulnerable. I’d have to be careful in future to make sure I didn’t take my ability to heal lightly and put myself at serious risk of something beyond its healing abilities. I sure as hell wasn’t going to take to anypony else about it either; the last thing I wanted was the management here thinking I was some sort of bullet proof machine they could use to go on suicide missions.

Finally clean I tossed the now empty soap dispenser in the bin and edged over to the hot steaming bath. Slowly, I lowered myself into the embrace of sheer, unadulterated bliss. The water gently lapped at my legs, tickled my hooves and soaked through my fur, warming my skin beneath. Dear gods, it felt... amazing! All the tension and stress that had been building up within me hour after hour, now began to seep out of me along with the uncomfortable cold sensation from my aching joints. So, the spirit couldn’t fix everything then, eh? I yawned expansively; I’d have to be careful not to fall asleep here, but it just felt so… so… good… Suddenly my ears twitched. On the other side of the bathroom divide I could hear the gentle singing of a mare, drifting across the water. I recognised the tune, if not so much the words. It was a lullaby that reminded me of my distant youth, and a small grey foal dropping off to sleep as my mother rocked me in her forelegs. I had been warm, loved, and safe. Nothing could harm me here. Nothing could disturb the tranquillity of simply… being. Unbidden my eyes began to droop, the world beginning to slip away. Her song was one of utter peace and joy, of love and all that good stuff.

The song finished and the voice called out, “Anypony there?”

I recognised it straight away. “Tingles?”

There was a pause, “Are you on your own?”

“Yeah, there’s nopony he-” I began.

“Hang on a minute…” she called back.

Water splashed behind the divider and I heard the clear sound of hoofsteps on tile. I was still looking up at the ceiling in a half daze when the sloshing of water against my face made me jump. “Tingles?!”

The tangerine coated mare pushed her way through the water to me and snuggled up close to me. “This is nice…” she sighed softly.

I gave her a nudge, “Hey! This is the stallions bath, you’ve got your own next door. You know what they’re like here about stuff like-”

Tingles huffed, a green eye peering up at me lazily. “Oh put a sock in it, Captain Uptight. Noponies here are they? Anyway, I can soon get out if we’re disturbed.” She rubbed her muzzle against me and chuckled quietly to herself.

“‘Disturbed’,” I echoed doubtfully.

Tingles leaned back and sighed. “Did you do what you set out to do?”

I had to admit that being here with a mare, warm and comfortable after such a nightmarish day, was quite disarming to say the least. I closed my eyes and nodded. “I did. We rescued the girls from the island and…”

“And what?” Tingles asked as I tailed off.

“The Watch House,” I replied quietly. “Blaze, the agency... it was such a mess. Her goons gunned down the agency ponies sent to take her in for questioning and then all hell broke loose.”

Tingles nodded knowingly. I suspected she must have known something about what had happened, if not necessarily the details. “What happened to Blaze?” she asked.

I splashed some water on my face and glanced across at Tingles’ big green eyes. “I’m sorry, Tingles…”

For a moment she paused, her face taking on a distant cast. “Oh,” she said finally. “I see. Right then…” I know they hadn’t been friends, but they’d still been comrades nonetheless. To know that somepony you’d worked with for years was gone was something none of us wanted to consider, but it was always a risk. The tangerine mare looked like she was struggling with some inner emotion I couldn’t feel, and the she looked up at me once more. “Cap?”

“Yeah?”

“Would it be okay if I hugged you?” Tingles tried a smile that ended up as more of a tremble. “Just, you know, for a minute…”

I nodded silently as the mare reached a foreleg around my neck and pulled herself into my chest. Her body shook, her sobbing muffled by a combination of the steam and my wet fur. I stroked Tingles’ mane, “I’m sorry love, I wish I could have done more, but she didn’t-”

“Stop calling me that.”

“-want to… Eh?” I blinked in surprise. “Stop calling you what?”

“You know what!” Tingles snapped suddenly. “Don’t call me something you don’t mean! It’s cruel, damn it!”

I tried to stand up but my hind hooves skidded on the bottom and I only succeeded in half choking myself on the water. “I don’t know what you’re going on about!” I sputtered.

Ignoring my plight, the pegasus snorted angrily. I was in trouble here, but with no idea what the hell had riled her up I was floundering. And in more ways than one. Green eyes glared at me, “You’re so bloody ignorant!”

“Tingles!” I huffed. “For Celestia’s sake, please!”

The mare span in the water with surprising ease, but instead of getting out as I’d half expected, she beat wetly on my chest with her hooves before pushing me away. “I hate you!” she nickered. “I bloody well hate you, you… you sodding, damned, ignorant… HORSE!”

“Hey! Now hang on a minute!” I protested.

But it was too late, the tangerine mare had stormed out of the bath in a whirling tempest of water and emotion. Mares! What the hell was going through that blasted feathery mind of hers? Gods, I didn’t need this, not now. Too much had been going on and all I’d wanted was to get clean and have a relaxing soak after the day from hell. Of course, that was too much to ask for though wasn’t it! Ah, damn it! It was too late now, the mood was ruined and all I wanted now was to get out, dry off, and get to bed. Bloody Tingles…

Thankfully the ever vigilant cleaners had sorted my room out whilst I’d been away. Gods only know what they thought when they’d opened the door, but they’d done one hell of a job all the same. Apart from the usual empty bin, replaced toilet paper and soap, there was a distinct lack of ice, water, or musty bedding too. There was even a delightful smell of fresh laundry hanging in the air too which was very welcome indeed. Now that I thought about it, I never saw the cleaners. In fact, other than the suited agency ponies or medical staff, I barely saw any other staff at all. It was as if there was a secret army of unseen mystery ponies we never met, working in the shadows behind the shadows. Weird that. Almost as weird at the fact that Tingles was lying in my bed!

“Hey! Now just a minute madam-” I began.

As always, I never had a chance to finish. “Shut up and get in,” she huffed, “you’re causing a draft.”

With a resigned groan, I hung up the last of my gear and climbed into bed with my back to her, trying to ignore the furry mass behind me.

After a few moments, Tingles leaned forward and lay her head across my neck. “You don’t mind do you, Cap? I’ll go if you want me to.”

I closed my eyes. “No, no it’s okay. I’d like the company really. I feel a bit… you know. I want to…” I want to what? Gods, I didn’t know any more. My mind was all over the place and sleep was starting to pull urgently at the corners of my mind, and she was so warm...

“I know Cap’,” the mare murmured softly. “I can see it in your eyes. You’ve seen things no pony should ever have to see. I think we both have to some degree.”

Her warmth against my neck and back relaxed me far more that the bath ever could. I could feel the walls I’d never known were there, gradually melting away and unleashing emotions that began to ebb and flow around my consciousness. Images, memories of what was, what had been and what I’d dreamed of, flooded me. It was like trying to hold in the pressure from a hose with your hoof; sooner or later…

“Fairlight?”

I took a breath. “Hmmm?”

“It’s okay to cry, I won’t tell anypony.”

“I don’t want to cry Tingles,” I replied. “I want to sleep, that’s all.”

“Big ponies don’t cry eh?” the mare observed.

In answer to her words I felt my chest shudder and unexpected tears stinging the corners of my eyes. I kept my mouth and eyelids shut tight, not wanting her to see me like this. I don’t know if it was a culmination of the days horrors, or the way Tingles seemed to effortlessly cut through the barriers I threw up around myself, but whatever it was, I was beginning to come apart at the seams. Despite my efforts at keeping my emotions in check, I think she must have realised. I could feel her move behind me, the warm breath upon the back of my neck sending a shudder down my spine. The warm foreleg across my chest was the final key to the lock, and it opened the floodgates with a gentle silence. All my pain, my loss, the fear and sorrow of the disaster area that passed as my life, poured out in that instant. I cried. I cried like I never had, with my friend comforting me.

“Its okay love, I’m here…”

I turned over to face her and looked into those big green eyes. I didn’t know what to say, words had left me completely. All I could do was reach out and hold her, hold her like she was my last shred of hope for light in this damnable world of darkness. And there, hugging me to her chest like a distressed foal, she stayed and let me empty of all the suffering, all the misery and loss, until I finally fell asleep.

I slept like a log, devoid of dreams and wrapped in nothing but simple warmth and kindness. At sometime during the night, I eventually awoke, still in that deliciously warm embrace. Carefully, if a little sleepily, I

got up and went into the bathroom to wipe my face down and pour a glass of water. Climbing back in afterwards, I must have woken her up. Her half lidded eyes peering at me, a light smile on her lips.

“Can’t sleep?” she murmured.

“Better than I have been, you’re very warm,” I said honestly. I yawned. “It’s nice… to sleep next to somepony again.”

“Glad to be of service,” Tingles said chuckling.

“You know what I mean,” I mumbled.

Tingles shrugged. “Yeah, being psychic is one of my many talents.”

Oh gods, I didn’t want an argument now! “Tingles…please…”

Fortunately an argument was the furthest thing from her mind. “Sorry, Cap,” she smiled. “I’m just teasing. Want to talk for a bit?”

I wasn’t sure, but… “Yeah, do you mind?”

Tingles shook her head, “No. No, of course not.”

I took a deep breath and after another quick drink of water, poured out my heart. “I know this sounds weird, but this… this ‘spirit’, it speaks to me. The two of us, we’re one, but at the same time we’re not, like a split personality of sorts. I don’t know for sure, but it says we have to come together somehow, to ‘join’ properly.”

“You aunt said as much,” Tingles replied.

Good old Pewter! “I know,” I said, “but when Blaze threw me overboard, there was another voice. I haven’t really thought about it since then, I haven’t had much of a chance either, but it was there, strong and... authoritative.” I looked into Blaze’s eyes, she’d propped herself up on one foreleg to watch me. “When I fight, sometimes I can’t… I can’t control myself. I get ‘lost’ in the moment. The killing, the blood, the screams! I… Oh goddesses, Tingles, I think I’m losing my mind…”

She rubbed my forehead and gave me a small lick on the cheek. “You’re not losing you mind, Fairlight. I know you from the watch and you’ve always been one of the most reliable and stable ponies I know. This ‘thing’ you’re going through is something your ancestors went through too. They mastered it and so there must be a way. There has to be an answer, a book, a manual or something, something we just haven’t found yet.”

I couldn’t argue with her logic. “Maybe,” I muttered. “I don’t know where to start looking though. Besides, is something like that going to exist after a thousand years?”

“Your tribe’s books did,” Tingles reasoned. “Maybe there’s something in there?”

I snorted huffily. “I don’t know, it’s all blasted gobbledygook so far as I’m concerned.”

“What?” Green eyes peered into mine. “Don’t tell me you haven’t even read them yet?”

“Not in so many words…” I mumbled.

“Fairlight! Good grief!” She face hoofed, “Right, leave it to me then. I’ve got time to have a good look at them for you now anyway. I’ve been grounded for the next week until the doc okays me for flight again, so at least I’ll be able to do something useful.”

Oh bollocks! Whilst I’d been wallowing in self pity, I’d completely ignored Tingles’ own situation. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been at death’s door after trying to help protect me from that lunatic Wist, not to mention the way she’d drained herself of her own life energy for my benefit too. And now here I was, wrapped up in my own concerns without a thought in my head for anypony else. “Tingles, I’m so sorry,” I said quickly. “All I’ve done is moan about my troubles when you’ve got more than your own fair share. Are you feeling okay? What did the doc say?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Well, better late than never I suppose, but yes, I’m fine. The doctor said that he’s spoken to the mistress and by and large I’m back to normal, but they still want me to take a few more days out to get my life energy levels back to what they should be.”

“Oh, Tingles…” I closed my eyes as the full realisation of just what she’d sacrificed for me, hit me with all the subtlety of a flying brick. “You scared the bloody life out of me back then. Promise me you’ll never do that again, okay?”

She paused, but seemed to relent. “You got it, Cap. But on one condition though.”

“What’s that?”

Tingles smiled, “That you remember you’ve got friends. Ponies who… you know…”

“I know, Tingles…” I reached forward and kissed her muzzle. “Thanks.”

She made a little grunt and squeezed me tight, “Go to sleep now, my captain. ‘Lord of the four winds’…Pffff!” She started laughing, which to my surprise, set me off too.

“Pack it in!” I chuckled. “Good night, you tangerine pest.”

“Good night to you too… love” She gave my ear a gentle nip and snuggled into me once me.

I lay there, my mouth hanging open. Goddesses, was I really so stupid? So blind to what had been right in front of me all along? Oh, goddesses… I was. Still, things could always wait until the morning, and I felt myself drifting off to sleep once more.

If I dreamed or not, I couldn’t say. I was warm, safe, and happier than I had been in as long as I could remember. Lying there in my happy state, a few more hours would have been just the balm my soul needed - until I awoke with a start to the urgent ringing of the bloody alarm clock. I reached out to silence the damnable thing, only to successfully knock it off the bedside table onto the floor. Swearing under my breath, I tried to move only to find an orange foreleg wrapped around my chest, and a hind leg over my flank. I tried to wriggle out, but the more I did the tighter she held on, murmuring in her sleep.

“Tingles…” I said quietly. No response. I tried again, “Tingles, wake up. I have to go, there’s a briefing this morning.”

“Mmmmmnnhhh…”

Whatever that meant! Still, at least she relaxed her grip long enough for me to be able to escape the furry clutches of the tangerine pest. Once successfully extricated I tucked the covers back around her, wishing I could have had a little more time in the warm bed. Or was it being cuddled that made me so… Oh, for bucks sake! I gave myself a hard shake and threw some water on my face. I couldn’t stay here all morning, I had to get moving, not lingering here no matter how warm it was - or how good she smelled. Forcing myself away from temptation, I turned my attention to my morning ablutions. One quick trip to the crapper, a refreshing shower and a general tidy up, and agent Nox was ready for action once again. I stood there, checking my teeth and the slightly weary expression I seemed to be sporting out of habit as much as anything these days. The reflection staring back at me from the mirror was no different from normal I suppose, except if I angled it just right, I could see a sleeping tangerine mare in my bed looking decidedly bedraggled. Hell yeah! I grinned and allowed myself a brief chuckle of smugness.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Agent Nox?” she said quietly, one eye half open.

“Morning, my dear pegasus,” I quipped. “A hard days reading awaits! See you when I get back from paddling more bad guys.”

“Take care Fa-” Tingles yawned and smacked her lips. “Nox, I mean. Play nice, hmm?”

I stuck my tongue out at her playfully but she’d already vanished beneath the duvet like some furry sea monster slipped down into the briny depths. I smiled broadly. Today I felt unusually happy, not to mention optimistic, although exactly why I wasn’t too sure. But whatever the reason I left my room with a spring in my step and trotted off down the corridor to the morning meeting. Passing a picture hanging on the wall I caught a glimpse of my grinning reflection, the stupid smirk of a stallion acting like a colt half his age. Bah! Who cared? Good gods, I hadn’t felt this good in ages! In fact I think I was still smirking to myself when I joined the queue heading into the briefing room. There weren’t many smiles with this lot, oh no, that would be far too much to expect! It was certainly packed out again, but this time with a large number of agents I’d never seen before. Glancing over my shoulder I saw even more heading this way, and before I knew it we were being crammed in there like sardines. A few faces I recognised turned to wave: Loofa, Brandy, Dune - quite a few in fact. What in Equestria was going on?

The officer at the front of the room tapped a stick on the lecturn, “Order please, everypony. Thank you.”

He nodded to the projectionist who switched off the lights and clicked a new slide into the magic lantern. After a few moments adjusting the focus, a picture of a familiar stone arch filled the screen drawing every eye in the room. There was no mistaking one of these things - it was a portal, the silvery light of one in operation was as clear as day. Personally I’d never seen one working for more than a few seconds before the smugglers somehow pulled the plug, but it was a sight I’d never forget. Unfortunately we’d never been able to get one working again afterwards, and the smugglers we’d captured wouldn’t talk. Considering the sort of dullards we brought in, I suspected they didn’t have a clue how they worked in any case. After all, you don’t have to know how to make a carriage to pull one, do you? Had they finally managed to get one of these things working? By the looks on the expectant faces of the audience, they were thinking the exact same thing.

The pony on the stage cleared his throat. “Agents, this is a portal to the ‘human world’, the world they call ‘earth’. Some of you will already be aware of this of course, some not. The briefing paper and explanatory notes will give you more detail, and you are advised to read them at your earliest opportunity. Another briefing on familiarisation with this species will take place later today, and details of each relief is on the notice board by the door”.

Briefing paper? Oh buck, not again! I shifted my weight to check and… yeah, it was stuck to my bloody arse again. I just nodded.

“The humans are a type of primate,” the officer continued, “mostly hairless, and come in various sizes and colours.”

The slide changed to show a number of hairless, monkey-like things standing on two legs. They were…naked… totally! Bloody hell fire, they must have evolved to live in an inferno to survive without fur covering their hides. Some of them were different colours too, varying in height, and… hang on, no tail either! And look at how short that mane was! I started chuckling, a couple of others following suit leading to a general rumbling that was quickly quashed by the briefing officer banging the lectern irritably.

“May I remind you that these creatures are responsible for the death and misery afflicting our homeland?” he snorted. Silence fell, my jovial mood souring quickly. Satisfied he had regained control of the meeting, the officer continued. “These beings are from a surprisingly advanced race, using ‘technology’ rather than magical science. Quite the clever little things really, and quite, quite violent too. You will all be more than familiar with the ‘earth’ weapons the humans smuggled into Equestria recently?” The slide changed to show a number of ‘guns’. “These are examples of weapons made in the human world, for human use. You will need to familiarise yourself with all of these and their operation. Details are, again, in the briefing paper”.

Why? Why would we need to know how to use human weapons? My mane was bristling now, I didn’t like the way this was going.

“Thanks to a recent informant,” the officer stated, “we have been able to re-activate a portal to the human world.” My money was on Jingo as that ‘recent informant’. Looks like we’d hit the jackpot with that one, and I think the others knew it too. A general sense of excitement rippled out from the assembled agents as ears twitched, tails swished and a low murmuring broke out. This really was news! We’d never managed to do get one of these things fire up, and now, now I had the distinct impression that the tide was about to turn. “We have already sent a recon team through the portal,” the officer explained. “After extensive tests of course. They were able to recover a good deal of intelligence, much of which is already in your packs.” You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, and not a very sharp one either. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, for too long we have been fighting the fires and not the cause of them. With what we have learned, supervision are confident that we can strike a significant blow to those who are behind the troubles that Equestria is facing.” He took a deep breath, pausing dramatically. “At long last, it is time to take the fight... to them.”

A huge round of hoof stomping and cheers erupted around the room. So, this was it was it? We were finally going to be able to strike back against the pedlars of death and misery at their very core, or more specifically their suppliers. If we could take them down it would doubtlessly hit the wider criminal organisation hard, but at the back of my mind I had the horrible impression that it would only be a temporary victory. If I was being cynical I could say that it may all be academic anyway, what with scum like Gates and Mel still operating out there, and of course whoever their puppet master was, was still about too. However, we had to do something and it looked like this was it. I could feel the spirit stirring, and I knew why - I could almost taste the anticipation in the air. There was no denying the determination in the faces of these ponies. Whether this was temporary or not, it would be the first real chance to strike back at the filth who had been causing such pain for out people. We needed to stop being the victims.

“The operation will commence one week from today,” the officer stated. “Meanwhile you will each be assigned to a team and training leader. Operational requirements for this job are ‘red’, everypony - nopony is to leave the facility until the operation begins. Comms are locked down except for priority channels. This is a major operation with cross border involvement so it’s all one big happy family, ponies. Team commanders, take charge of your agents. Dismissed.”

We all stood and moved to the door, Brandy was waiting for me. “All set?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, looks like this is the big one then.”

“It is, at least for now.” He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders. “The first of many, or, I hope, the last.” Brandy glanced past my flank, wrinkling his brow before adding, “You may want to read that.”

“What? Oh!” I pulled the briefing paper off my backside and slipped it into my bag. Brandy rolled his eyes and I smiled apologetically, “Sorry about that.”

“Never mind…” The older officer gestured towards the doorway. “Come on, we need to get you to the first briefing.”

Another briefing?! Good grief. I looked behind us and frowned. “Where’s everypony else from our team?” I asked. “It’s not just the two of us is it?” I was only half joking, but I noticed how Brandy’s eyes avoided mine.

“No…” He grimaced slightly, making my neck twitch in alarm as he said, “It’s actually just you. There is nopony else.”

I felt my heart leap in my chest, “What?!”

He didn’t reply, instead leading me off down a side corridor away from the main throng as if to emphasise the gravity of what he’d just told me. Oh great, I thought bitterly, a one-pony mission, andwith me as the poor sod doing it too no less. Sure, I’d done things as a solo operative before, but I’d had backup just around the corner in case things got too out of hoof. Unfortunately for me though they always seemed to. Not that this wasn’t going to be interesting of course, I’d just prefer to have a little tedium now and again – there was less chance of being shot that way. Personally, I think I was my own worst enemy here; I’d always preferred working alone, and I’m damned sure Brandy knew that as well, but the thing is I was always aware of being part of a wider team. Knowing you had effective backup nearby in case the guano hit the proverbial was always to be welcomed, even if you never actually needed them. This time however, I wasn’t sure having ‘backup’ was even going to be an option.

“We need to get you familiarised first.” Brandy’s voice sounded a touch distant, but that deep professional tone was still very much in evidence all the same. “You are not to say anything to anypony about working alone, Nox, do you understand?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good,” Brandy replied. “Those who need to know already do. As for your mission particulars, they will be covered later, but for now you will be joining the others as just another agent.” He lifted his head. “I don’t think I need to say why we’re keeping your involvement quiet, do I?”

“No, Sir.” I felt my heart sink, but the wendigo part of me began to sit up, paying rapt attention to this new and intriguing situation. It knew something was happening and was listening intently to every single word. What exactly this ‘something’ was however, didn’t matter to the spirit. Like a shark tasting blood in the water, it knew its prey was near. Trying to ignore it, I concentrated on the matter at hoof. From what I’d heard so far I don’t think it was just the whole wendigo aspect that had Brandy and the top brass keeping me under wraps. That would have been a touch difficult after the incident at the statue. No, I think there was some other angle to this. A mole in the agency, perhaps? After the incident with the watch it would have been more surprising if they hadn’t tightened security. One bent officer was bad enough, but half the watch had been in on it, or at the very least the majority of shift Blaze had on duty the day of the raid. From what titbits of information I’d been able to glean, it appeared that those officers who hadn’t been one of her gang when the agency had arrived had either been tied up or, as in the case of the two senior officers I’d encountered in the cell block, barricaded themselves in rooms awaiting help.

Brandy left me outside the training room and walked away, leaving me to to file in with the others. It was beginning to fill up quickly and I managed to grab a seat before it became standing room only. Fortunately we didn’t have long to wait either. Not long after the last of us entered the door was closed and a unicorn agent stepped up to the stage, carefully placing a selection of slides into the magic lantern. The lights went out, and the images of yet more of those weird furless monkey things appeared – the ape-like ‘humans’. I didn’t like the look of them at all, there was something ‘off’ about the way a creature could have no fur, no feathers, no scales, no... anything. They also had short tentacle like protrusions, or claws of a sort, on the end of each foreleg. There were similar ones on their hind legs too. I flicked through the documentation to the correct page and mouthed the word that had been printed next to each body part. ‘Hands’. Didn’t monkeys have paws? I shrugged to myself and listened to the briefing as well as referring to the documentation. Apparently these ‘hands’ allowed them to manufacture and manipulate objects a lot better than hooves, that was immediately apparent, however the trainer explained that although magic didn’t exist in their world as such, ours thankfully, would still work. Until he added, “To a degree.” Now that was worrying. The worst part though, was yet to come. When passing through the portal we would be magically ‘transformed’ to resemble humans, the same way they resembled us when they entered our world. How the hell this actually happened was way beyond my pay grade and was not even touched upon, so I guess it was either a secret or simply not deemed to be important to what lay ahead. What really caught mine and everypony else’s attention was when it was announced that a ‘simulator’ had been designed and set up for us courtesy of the hub labs, ostensibly to help us ‘adjust’ to the sensation of walking on half the normal number of legs. The trainer for this was none other than the enigmatic Doctor Bunsen, who waved at me enthusiastically from the other side of the room. I just smiled weakly, trying to blend into the background as much as possible.

A stallion next to me sniggered, treating me to a knowing sidelong glance. “Friend of yours?”

“Goddess knows…” I replied dismissively.

“So glad everypony could make it!” Bunsen exclaimed happily as if we’d all attended there for a jolly good wheeze and a few rounds of wheatbeer. “This amazing magical gadget will allow your mind, your very senses, to see, feel, and even move like almost any creature you can imagine.” Her eyes lit up brighter than the projector. “Just think of the possibilities!” Doctor Bunsen held the device up and seemed to be expecting something - a round of applause maybe? If she had been she was going to be disappointed with this miserable lot. My heart went out to her. For bringing in a device that was quite obviously the culmination of an unimaginable amount of highly skilled work, the poor creature was met with absolute silence - until some kindly soul took pity on her and clopped their hooves together. Slowly. I kind of felt sorry for the good doctor, they were one hell of a tough audience. But give her her dues, she soldiered on regardless, in fact I think I had actually begun to warm to her to a degree. That was, until I heard those dreaded words…

“Now then, for this next part I’m going to need a volunteer.”

I could see everypony cringe away, trying to make themselves as small and as ‘unpickable’ as possible, until Bunsen’s electrifying gaze alighted upon me. Bloody typical!

“You sir!” the mare announced. “Come on now, don’t be shy, don’t be shy…” She waved a hoof encouragingly, beckoning me up to the stage.

Buck it all! I had no choice now, did I? And besides, we’d all have to do this sooner or later. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to get rid of the butterflies that had taken up residence there all of a sudden. Still, at least it got it over with quickly I suppose. I think the worst part of all of this though was the horrible knowledge that every eye in the room was looking directly at me, and more than a few of the normally emotionless swine were sniggering behind their hooves too. Gods, how I hated anything to do with ‘audience participation’. It was the main reason I avoided going to pantomimes whenever possible, and especially sitting near the front row at the theatre. For some inexplicable reason ponies who were after something, selling something, or otherwise wanted to pester some poor sod into doing something nopony in their right mind would do, without fail made a bee-line for yours truly. And now, here I was yet again. My ears felt like they were on fire and I was damned sure I was blushing too, which was yet another reason I preferred to avoid the spot-light. Well, this was all absolutely fan-bloody-tastic so far, wasn’t it! Thank you so bloody much, Bunsen.

Up on the stage the disturbingly cheery doctor quickly produced what I can only describe as a sort of silver coloured helmet, studded with lights which flashed different colours seemingly at random. It looked for all the world like a bunch of Hearthswarming fairy lights glued to a converted mixing bowl which, I noted upon further inspection, even had the handles still attached! A strap of some kind was dangling either side of it which Bunsen thoughtfully tied up for me.

“Comfy?” she asked toothily.

“Yeah!” I replied sarcastically, knowing full well that the doctor wouldn’t likely pick up on it. I wasn’t wrong either. She didn’t…

“Great!” the doctor chirped. “Okay, now we need to plug this in here… put these here, and... Oh!”

“‘Oh?’” I said a little alarmed.

She nodded. “I nearly forgot, can you put these goggles on too, please?”

Slightly relieved I complied, pulling the ungainly looking things over my eyes. Light vanished completely, and I was plunged in complete darkness. Taking in account that the helmet covered my ears too, the whole effect was surprisingly disorientating.

“Annnd…. we’re off!” shrieked Bunsen, as a whole new world of imagery burst into life around me from the darkness.

Dear goddesses in their bloody heaven, what was the hell was this?! It was… It was amazing! Trees, grass, blue skies… It was all here like a scene straight out of a holiday brochure. Even the musical sound of birds singing nearby seemed so natural it clashed horribly with the part of my brain desperately trying to remind me that none of this was real, and that I was in fact still stood on the stage before a load of inquisitive agents. This was like nothing I’d never experienced before, like being in a foal’s game but actually being there. It was extraordinary, and yet so real. I looked down at my hooves but... they’d gone! I stared in horror at what had replaced them and felt my stomach lurch. Instead of my neatly trimmed and oiled hooves, what hung there now were those pink sausage-like things that I’d seen on the slide, dangling there at the ends of my forelegs. Or what should have been my forelegs. Everything was wrong: my joints, my muscles, even my eyes. Goddesses, I felt sick with the sensation of bodily wrongness, my brain rebelling against all the sensory overload. But what was even weirder, if that were possible, was what had happened to my spine. I was stood on my hind legs, but rather than balancing on them, this was as if… as if I was meant to stand like this. All the time! My heart was racing, but throughout it all I kept trying to remind myself that this wasn’t real, that I wasn’t ‘really’ here at all, and that it was all an illusion created by magic. It wasn’t helping much.

“Try taking a step, Nox.” Bunsen’s disembodied voice spoke in my ear excitedly, snapping me out of my disorientated state of confusion. I think she was enjoying this too. I wish I was.

I tried lifting my hind leg and the ground rushed up to hit me in the face, although thankfully it didn’t hurt and the expected impact was, well… ‘weird’ to say the least. A moment later I was on my hooves again, and tried once more.

“Don’t think about how, just allow your body to move on its own,” Bunsen said chirpily. “You’ve walked on your hind legs before and this isn’t so different. Just let yourself relax, let your mind go free and simply go with the flow.”

‘Go with the flow,’ eh? Ha! The loopy old lunatic had probably been practising this for weeks, and yet expected me to get the hang of it in a few seconds, did she? Right then, I’d show her! Hopefully. I took a deep breath, cleared my mind, and put my best hoof, or rather ‘foot’, forward. A little bit of jiggling around, a touch of wobble, and I looked down to see that… I was still standing upright! I tried again with the left one with the same result. A few more tentative steps and I was surprised to find I quickly getting the feel for this artificial body. Although I was moving rather slowly, the sensation of gravity, of momentum, and how everything moved in concert, felt like it was all slotting into place. My ‘hand’ things were proving quite useful too. If I swung them with my forelegs ever so slightly they helped me keep my balance when moving, rather like the pendulum on a clock. On Bunsen’s prompting, I soon discovered they were also really good for carrying, lifting and so on. Not being able to use my magic was a bit weird, but given enough time I could probably get the hang of this. Unfortunately I was beginning to develop the horrible sinking feeling that I knew where this was all going to end too, but time would tell I suppose. Shrugging off my concerns I followed the nutty professor’s directions, throwing myself into this odd new world until the ‘demonstration’ came to an end. As the resident guinea pig, I can’t say I was sorry to get back to being myself once again either. The helmet powered down with a high pitched whine and I removed the goggles, allowing the real world to slam back into focus once again. Thank Luna for that! It was absolutely stomach wrenching jumping from one ‘body’ to another, but if this was going to help us in the human realm then I was all for it, nausea or no. And the human realm was our destination alright, of that I had no doubt. Probably best to take a sick bag though, because if the simulation was this bad I was sure the real thing was going to be one hell of a lot worse.

The rest of the week went by with incessant briefings, weapons drills and, of course, hours in that blasted simulator. By the end of it all it was becoming hard to remember whether I was a ‘human’ or still a pony. At one point I’d been in the thing that long I’d found myself trying to pick up a bottle of water in the canteen with fingers I didn’t have, and later on I’d even tried to run on just my hind legs, much to the amusement of the watching agents. Thankfully the rest of us were getting the same treatment and, as well as we all know, misery truly does love company. And miserable was what we were; after day of this all of us were heartily sick to the stomach of the incessant drills and training, until it was announced that ‘tomorrow’ would be our last briefing before the mission finally began. Brandy was waiting for me outside my billet when I emerged, still bleary eyed and feeling like I’d been battered black and blue during my sleep.

“Mornin’,” I yawned, trying to wipe sleep from my eyes.

The dark coated unicorn leaned forward and picked something off my face. “Hold your hoof out.”

“What?” I said groggily, doing as he asked.

Brandy placed a long green hair in my hoof, “Trying a new hair dye, agent Nox?” I blushed, making the senior agent chuckle quietly, “Come on, we need to go.”

And go we did. We headed in the opposite direction to the briefing and training rooms, out toward a long low building I’d never been in before. Judging by the number of armed guards lurking outside security was pretty tight here, but as to why or what was inside the rather plain looking structure that needed such a high level of protection I had no idea. Nopony ever mentioned it, nor had I bothered asking about it either, but there was no real mystery about it. Truthfully the whole agency facility was so security conscious anyway that all the armed guards, check points and barriers ended up simply blending into the background. In fact it hadn’t really registered with me where I was until I was standing at the door presenting my ID card for inspection. Mind you, I was so knackered from the incessant training I could have been walking off the edge of the world and not noticed until I was floating away into the depths of space. Thank the gods Brandy was there to point me in the right direction, otherwise who knows where I would have ended up. Back in bed would have been nice… Unfortunately for me, it seemed fate had other plans. The dappled grey stallion lead the way as the doors swished open on well oiled hinges, the guards waving us through without exchanging even a single word. It was brightly lit inside too, which was typical of the agency of course, but a touch much for my bleary eyes. All the bright lights, sky lights and white washed walls made the place shine like the inside of an ice cube on a sunny day. It wasn’t all that surprising if you considered that walking around in sunglasses, even indoors, was standard practice. I kept mine on habitually now, not out of any fashion sense particularly, but more because I was sick to death of the stares my eyes drew. Today though, they were a godsend. I yawned again, trying to hide it from Brandy. Gods, one of these days I might actually get a decent nights sleep and wake up feeling refreshed in morning, but such simple pleasures always seemed to elude me no matter how much I tried. Mind you, when you have something big and furry next to you that seems to think you’re a life-size plush toy, sleep isn’t always an option. Oooh, my aching ribs!

I patted my pockets, checking that I hadn’t left anything behind in my room. It all seemed to be there, including one of my most prized possessions, but I’d keep that under my hat for now – metaphorically speaking of course. I’d managed to hold onto the light reactive eye lenses which we’d recovered from the wharf ‘incident’, and they were absolutely fantastic. They’d helped me to get the drop on the goons at the statue but they didn’t alter my eye colour in any way, just darkening when subjected to bright lights. The similarly reactive ear defenders worked along the same lines with sound too, which was amazing considering these had been made by a race of intelligent monkeys. As they say, it always pays to be prepared. Unfortunately I wasn’t prepared at all for what happened next. I followed Brandy into a large room which was in complete darkness save for a spill of light from around the door we’d just entered through. A moment later my colleague tapped his TED.

“Lights please”

A curious low humming sound quickly changed into loud clicks and pings as row after row of lights came to life along the ceiling, illuminating the massive object in the middle of the room. I closed my eyes and sighed inwardly. The elaborately carved stone, arched and inlaid with silver filigree, was quite beautiful in a strange way. Architecturally it was most impressive, standing upright on a dais with three steps leading up to it from the front and rear. Various contraptions sat on tables next to it churning out roll after roll of paper which just seemed to be designed to display zigzag lines. It probably meant something to somepony…

“This it?” I asked.

“Aye, it’s a beauty isn’t it?” Brandy smiled, looking up at the arch. “Picked it up from the warehouse job you were involved in at Shire Wharf. Thing is, we’ve managed to get this one working.”

My ears pricked up. “How?” I asked in surprise. “The watch tried everything to get these things going, and the ponies we picked up wouldn’t say a thing. I don’t know whether it was because they were all thick as two short planks or what, but it was like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.”

“Mmm, you’re right about that.” Brandy ran a hoof over the edge of the portal, his expression unreadable. “You know why?” he asked cryptically. I shook my head. “Because there was a spell implanted in their brains,” he explained. “It was a block, placed there so as to prevent them disclosing anything about the portals. The spell was buried way down in there, buried deeper than anything we’d ever encountered before. It took our specialists months to discover it, let alone find a way to defeat it, but they did. In actual fact you know the very pony who gave us the key to finding out what we needed to know.”

“Jingo,” I answered reflexively.

Brandy stomped a hoof for emphasis, “Got in one.”

“So, any particular reason you’re showing this to me now?” I asked. “I mean, we’ll be going in as a team, won’t we? Surely it won’t just be me on my tod, right?” The agency stallion hung his head for a moment and turned to face me. Damn it all… I sighed, shaking my mane, “We’re not…” I said quietly.

Brandy shook his head. “No. Fairlight, this is what you were picked by the mistress to do. This is your time.”

“My time?” I asked, nearly choking. “What about everypony else?”

He gave me an inscrutable look, nodding towards the portal. “The others are going in ten minutes before you, through a different portal.”

A different portal? I frowned, “I don’t understand, and I’m not sure I’m going to like the answer either.”

Brandy looked a little sad for a moment, as If he knew something I wasn’t going to like hearing. “Probably not,” he said confirming my suspicions. “The agency are going to launch an assault on a human run complex which we believe is being used to store and distribute the weapons coming into Equestria.”

“And?” I prompted.

“It’s not the full story.” Brandy took a deep breath. “There’s another building there, one which our scouts found and isn’t widely know about outside of agency supervision. It’s used to manufacture drugs: Breeze and Ryetalin. And there’s… there’s something else there too.”

“Slaves,” I said dejectedly.

Brandy nodded. “Aye. The place my daughter and ex-wife would have ended up. According to intel, the humans have been keeping the females there in a brothel. We think it’s because the risk of allowing non-humans out into the wider population, even as slaves, could tip off their authorities, thus risking exposure of their entire operation.”

“Sounds plausible,” I mused. “Not sure you’d want to keep all your eggs in one basket though. One mistake and you’d lose the whole lot.”

Brandy nodded. “True, but then we believe the sex trade hasn’t been going on that long. Initially it was drugs and guns in exchange for gems. When the gems started drying up, that was when we began seeing the first kidnappings. We spoke to some of the local diamond dog leaders who claimed the last of the gems had been stolen from their mines by a single mare. We’re looking into that now, but I don’t expect we’ll find many leads - the dogs are as thick as bricks.”

I chuckled, “You can say that again, but at least they don’t eat them.”

“Eat them?!” Brandy asked in surprise. “Oh! You mean that little dragon in Ponyville?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I saw him there quite regularly. He works in the village library along with Celestia’s pet project. Little beggar scoffed enough gemstones to buy half of Canterlot.”

Brandy huffed loudly. “Well at least we don’t have to worry about dragons on this one. This is a sweep and clear mission, Nox. Go in, destroy the drug making equipment and, if you can find them, get those ponies back.”

“Priority and secondary targets?” I asked.

“Officially? Taking the place out is the primary objective, the ponies second.” The dappled grey’s eyes became as hard as diamond. “I say they can stick that up their arses. Fairlight, get them out of there for the goddesses sake, I don’t want any more of our people to suffer. What those bastards did to my-” He shook his mane, closed his eyes and took a breath. “Never mind, at least we got to them before they were... sent there.”

I reached out a hoof to console him, “I’m sorry my friend. How are Carnation and Flax?”

The senior agent neighed quietly and looked me in the eye. “A lot better thanks to you. I don’t think things will ever be as they were with Carny, she still blames the agency for what happened to her and Flax.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” I exclaimed.

He rounded on me, “Is it? It’s not the first time agency ponies families have been targeted. Somepony’s trying to send us a message, Fairlight, and not a pleasant one at that.” I had a sudden image of a tangerine and green mare, the smoking hole in her chest rising from her still body. Brandy seemed to be able to read my mind as he reached out to me. “Don’t worry, Captain, the doctor has advised Tingles to sit this one out. She was furious about it of course, but she understood that her weakened condition could jeopardise the mission, putting us all in danger.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, and yet I was struck with a feeling that this was wrong, that she should be involved in something as important as this. My desire to protect her shouldn’t interfere with her making her own decisions and doing what she felt was right. Damn it all, my blood soaked past was clouding my judgement here, but... was I wrong? Didn’t I trust her?

“Fairlight?” Brandy’s eyes loomed large in my vision. “I know what you’re thinking, I’m not stupid.”

“Sir?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean, and no, there’s nothing clandestine behind Tingles not going on this mission.” Brandy frowned at me, “The doctor genuinely feels she needs a while longer to recuperate before she can return to operational duties. Apparently good bed rest is the best cure in her case, and I presume that you are allowing her to rest, Captain?” He raised his eyebrows and treated me to a wry grin.

I blinked in surprise, taking a step back as I suddenly realised what he was suggesting. “Of course!” I squeaked. “Bloody hell, Brandy, you’ve got a mucky mind.”

“Says the pony with the green hair on his face,” he retorted.

I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment. Clearing my throat I tried changing the subject. “Look, never mind that, tell me more about this mission.”

Brandy shrugged. “That’s about it really. You’re on your own as we don’t expect any resistance following the initial assault.”

“You’re using the others as a diversion?” I asked.

“In a word, yes, although you will not repeat that to any of them.” Brandy looked at me seriously. “Understood, Captain?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

Brandy trotted over to a locked side room and waved me over as he flicked the lights on inside. One by one the magically powered lights popped into life, reflecting brightly off the gleaming items neatly arranged in the numerous racks and hangers that lined the walls. My eyes went wide in shock - the room was absolutely brim full of guns of every description and size imaginable, and then some. Alongside these lethal devices hung sets of body armour, swords, crossbows, and the kinds of weapons that would give anypony nightmares just thinking about them. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. Dear Celestia, there was enough here to outfit a whole army! It was no wonder they had this place so secure, and I suspected it was being used as an overflow for the main armoury, but to my surprise Brandy ignored this treasure trove of death, his attention instead focussed on the table sat in the centre of the room. On it sat a large wooden box, plain except for that it was covered in more magical wards than you could shake the proverbial stick at. Three large black crosses were painted on the side warning anypony even thinking of tampering with the magic here that any attempt would likely result in being turned inside out in the blink of an eye. My horn itched horribly, the magical aura given off by the highly dangerous spells making my eyes water. It didn’t phase Brandy though, the stallion confidently walked up to it, held his ID card over the box, and a moment later the lid clicked as the wards deactivated. A quick flare of his horn and the lid was floated off to one side.

He beckoned me over, smiling wryly. “You like?”

I looked inside and felt my heart leap in my chest. “Oh… Oh, hell yes!”

I think my eyes must have been as big as dinner plates right then. I’d heard about them, read about them in books and seen the pictures in old training manuals, but I never dreamed I’d see one in real life, let alone a whole box of them. That being said there was no doubting what these were, the magical field surrounding them was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before and it was all I could do to stop myself from reaching out to touch one to just make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Mind you, considering what they were, that would not be a good idea. The box before me held six ‘M.A.D’s’:tiny, innocent little packages of unimaginable explosive power.Ostensibly these had been banned in Equestria a long, long time ago, probablyafter their last use in the great war with the Legion, but I’d always suspected that somewhere some still existed in hidden armouries as an unspoken deterrent against foreign invasion. Everypony in the Watch knew about them from the lists of ‘Banned Articles’ we were required to learn during basic training, but they’d been like the proverbial hen’s teeth. None had ever turned up, at least to my knowledge, but the description was all too accurate. They looked for all the world like small purple and green spotted egg’s. In fact they were very similar to dragon eggs in their general appearance, but that was where the similarity ended. Each one of those lethal little things emitted a distinctive emerald green glow that spoke volumes about what it was we were really dealing with here. Moving my horn near them sent it wild with that strong itching sensation I experienced whenever an intense magic field was nearby, and as exciting as it was to see a piece of history sitting there before my very eyes, there could be no doubt that these understated egg-like devices were insanely dangerous.

“Brandy, where the hell did you get these?” I whispered. “What are they for?”

“For you, of course,” he replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “The human installation needs neutralising and these will be the best way to achieve that result.”

I swallowed, licking my lips that had gone dry all of a sudden. “Goddesses, Brandy, you want to start a war? You set these off and you could wipe out an area the size of a city block!”

He nodded. “True, but we’ve already taken the possibility of collateral damage into account during our initial assessment of the target. Our scouts have taken full measurements of our objective, Captain, as well as the surrounding area. If you set these up according to plan, the blast radius will cover the target site and that alone. Fortunately the humans have set their operation up in a remote area anyway, no doubt to keep it out of sight of their own authorities, and that suits our purposes very nicely.”

“Is there no way we can liaise with the human authorities, Brandy?” I asked. “Surely they have something akin to the watch or the agency there? They could prove to be invaluable allies for us if we play our cards right.”

The older officer nodded, but his expression said it all. “We’ve sent envoys already, Captain. The authorities there seem to have enough problems of their own and dismissed our attempts at communication as nothing more than fantasy stories. Maybe a different approach is needed, I don’t know, but either way we can’t wait any longer. If this works we could potentially shut them down completely.”

“You believe that?” I asked sincerely.

“Not really,” Brandy huffed. “These kinds of problems are like ant hills – you can deal with what you see on the surface, but the rest is buried deep down out of sight and will just keep on coming back again and again unless you dig them out from the bottom up. But I have to have hope, Fairlight. We all do. At the very least we can throw a spanner in the works until we can find a way to shut down the portals for good, and that’s something the hub quacks are looking into as we speak. Bunsen thinks she may have found a way to interfere with their magical wavelength, but how you can get it to work countrywide I have no idea”

I nodded. It was a quandary alright, and one being addressed by ponies far better qualified than myself in such matters. This job however was something I was qualified for, and one that would involve wading fetlock deep in gore, if not deeper. Celestia buck me sideways, ‘Magical Annihilation Device’, or ‘M.A.D’ for short, was a disturbingly accurate acronym - you’d have to be insane to go near one, let alone use one of the damned things. I began to wonder if my wendigo magic alone could be enough to get the job done without the need to resort to such drastic measures, but if our magic really was ‘reduced’ over there like they said, it probably wouldn’t be. Now that I thought about it, would these magical explosives even work in the human realm? Suddenly Brandy clopped me on the forehead, bringing me out of my ruminations. “Here’s your instructions and briefing, plus a little something from the mistress. Oh, and you’ll find these a lot easier to read if you don’t sit on them first.” He smirked knowingly and I frowned back at him before shrugging my shoulders in resignation. The cheeky sod, he must have seen me walking out of the briefing with them stuck to my arse. It was probably all round the canteen too...

The two of us I spoke for a while longer regarding the specifics of the plan: the timings, gear load outs, the layout of the buildings, and so on. Despite my earlier reservations it quickly became clear that a serious amount of work had gone into the planning of this mission and I was relieved to see just how well thought through and detailed it was, quite unlike what I had been used to in the watch where briefings had a more ‘loose’ approach to them. Not so here. Maps, floor plans, estimation of numbers, choke points, ambush points – it was all here in extraordinary detail. I wasn’t sure who these ‘scouts’ were, but they’d earned their pay in spades for this job and had more than earned my respect. The part of the plan that didn’t sit right with me however, was the diversionary aspect of it. I really didn’t like seeing the agency ponies as bait to draw the humans away from what I was up to, but I took some comfort in the knowledge that they still had a job to do irrespective of mine. According to Brandy the agents would be using engineers to plant explosives in key locations around the main production plant whilst the others provided overwatch. Once that was done they’d all bail out the way they’d come in, leaving the explosives on a timed fuze. Brandy’s twist to it was that they would hold their position as long as possible to give me time to play my part – even if they weren’t aware that I was even there. I sighed inwardly. A lot seemed to be riding on unknowns here, but it was only to be expected considering the extraordinary nature of this mission. The number of humans on the other side was noted as ‘estimated’, the likely response to any attack was ‘uncertain’, and so on. It was all a risk, a big risk, but one the planners had genuinely done their best to make as foolproof as possible. The rest was up to us.

Unexpectedly, and rather embarrassingly, my stomach decided to intervene in the proceedings and began to rumble loudly, reminding me that I hadn’t had any breakfast this morning. Noting my gastric orchestra warming up in the background, Brandy took it as the cue to wrap things up. And I was glad of it too. My mind was reeling with the massive amount of information I had to digest, but I’d have to do my best to take it all in and make sense of it. After all, my life and that of who knew how many others depended on it. Gods, no pressure then! We walked out and shook hooves before I trotted back to my room, breakfast tray balanced on my back, and a mercifully quiet few hours study of the documents and briefing papers. Tonight I’d have to say goodbye to Tingles, and I could only pray I’d see her again. This mission, reading the documents… it was a lot riskier than I’d initially thought. Had we bitten off more than we could chew here? Was it all simply too ambitious? I hoped I was worrying unnecessarily, but we were going to an alien world for goodness sake, and whichever way you looked at it we were relatively unused to the ‘human’ bodies we’d be ‘morphed’ into. Simulators were all well and good, but somehow I doubted the real thing would be quite as congenial. I hoped to the good goddesses that Bunsen’s simulator was as accurate to the ‘real deal’ as we’d been assured. I turned the page and looked at the names of the senior officers. From what Brandy had told me this was a joint operation with ponies from all across Equestria, so command and control was potentially going to be an issue. I’d asked Brandy about this too.

“The agency don’t know about what I’m doing, do they?” I’d asked. “This is an Equus job, right?”

He’d nodded. “Keep your distance from the others, Captain. They have their orders, and you have yours.”

“And if it all goes to shit?” I’d asked.

Brandy’s answer had been simple and to the point. “Improvise.”

That had ended the conversation like hitting a brick wall at a full gallop, and now here I was making equipment lists, checking I had memorised floor plans, and generally cramming as much information into my poor tortured brain as equinely possible. Just as importantly I took the time to make sure I had enough flasks of life energy with me to get me through this, and back. Luna, however, had already seen to that potential problem. It had been her ‘gift’ for me that she’d left with Brandy. I peered inside at the silvery liquid, quickly screwing the lid back down before I was tempted to take an experimental mouthful. Hopefully it hadn’t been extracted from a certain tangerine coloured source this time. I rubbed my eyes as a yawn escaped my lips. It was getting late, and I could feel my body crying out for a nice relaxing sleep. Speaking of which, I thought I heard the door open behind me. Lifting my head up, two long elegant forelegs suddenly draped themselves over my shoulders, the neat little hooves… Hang on! What the hell was this?!

“Fairlight, you okay?” Tingles asked sleepily.

I blinked in surprise at what I was looking at. “I’m fine!” I squeaked. “What have you got on your legs?”

“These?” she asked. “My socks of course. It’s freezing in my room, the thermostat’s playing up again.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed. “Good grief, Tingles…”

She looked down at the long black and white striped socks covering her hooves and knees, genuinely perplexed by my reaction. “What? They’re just socks.”

Oh goddesses, why me…? I kept my mouth shut and tried to ignore the way she snuggled in beside me, the socks rubbing up against my fur. And the way my heart felt like it was going to burst.

The day we had all been expecting finally arrived. The teams had a final briefing and, more for show than anything else I suspected, I’d been there too. I even caught a glimpse of Warlock stalking across the opposite side of the room from me, looking as happy as ever. I still had no idea what had happened to the miserable sod, although I had a sneaking suspicion why he’d been reassigned. After a few minutes of pep talks everypony trotted off to the equipment stores and from there to the respective assembly areas, whereas I slipped off down a side corridor with my own destination in mind. I pushed the steel door open and heard it clang shut behind me. For some reason the metallic sound made goosebumps begin to break out along my forelegs and I could feel my heart beating loudly, my breathing a lot heavier than usual. It was just starting to rain, the sky overhead an ominous steel grey, echoing the chill tingling down my spine. The normally busy facility felt eerily empty today, the sensation of being alone pressing down on me in a way that gave me pause. It was an unusual experience, and one I wasn’t altogether comfortable with either. I was used to working alone, I’d patrolled some of the darkest streets in Manehattan at night and it had never bothered me at all, but now… now I wasn’t so sure. I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and walked up to the guard room. Brandy was already waiting for me inside the high security building, along with my ‘special’ equipment. My kit was the usual loadout of black combat gear, webbing, and numerous packs, all loose fitting so that it could adjusted ‘on the other side’. Flashbugs, assorted other toys, the now familiar pulse gun, a PDW - the list went on and on. The M.A.D’s fitted neatly into a small padded pack along with a timer and remote detonator. I’d studied the instructions and knew their use like the back of my hoof, but it was still an odd feeling to have them mere inches from my skin. By the looks of things though, the agency boffins had thought of everything. Thankfully I had too, and I attached my pack containing the silver life essence provided by the princess. My shortsword complemented the issue gear and I felt the spirit stirring inside me, flushing the last of my doubts away. I could do this. I could do this. Ponies were relying on me, and I was going to bring them home. I was going to bring them all home. The spirit rumbled it’s approval, a pair of blue eyes glowing in the darkness of my soul, and I felt a smile spreading across my face. For once, I felt ready for anything.

Brandy clopped me on the shoulder. “Got everything, Agent Nox?”

I nodded. “Aye. Looks like everything but the kitchen sink, Sir.”

“Fully charged?”

I gave a snort. “To the fill level, including the pulse gun.”

Brandy nodded. “Sorry I can’t come with you my friend, the mistress has something else planned for me.”

“Anything exciting?” I asked.

“Don’t know the full details yet,” he replied with a shrug, “but it’s important. If I can I’ll talk to you about it when you get back.”

Well, at least he was expecting me to come back, so that was positive! I turned to the archway when suddenly the doors at the back of the room banged open, followed by angry shouting and a tangerine coated mare running full tilt towards me. One of the guards raced after her, grabbing her around the neck and taking her to the ground.

Brandy and I rushed over. “Tingles!” Brandy shouted at her, “For the goddess’s sake, what are you doing in here, girl?!”

She ignored him, trying to buck the guard off her back and near scarlet with rage. “Goddess damn it! Let me up you lout!”

I waved off the guard, “It’s okay, she’s with us.”

The guard was not impressed. “She kicked Sunny Days in the face!” she snorted. “He’s going to need medical care after this. This mare’s a bucking menace!”

Brandy walked over to console the bedraggled agent. “It’s alright, Race, leave her with me, you call the medics for Agent Days and get him looked at. I’ll take care of things here.”

The furious guard reluctantly nodded and stalked off, saving a final glare for Tingles as she did so. The tangerine mare for her part stood up and brushed herself off. “YOU!” she bellowed at me. “You upped and left without a single bloody word! Goddesses Fairlight, don’t you think I’d have liked to have had the chance to see you off? I thought I meant more to you than that, you selfish sod! We’re partners for Celestia’s sake!”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” I said reasonably. “And rightly so! Look at the state you’re in, you should be taking it easy like the doc said to.”

Tingles nickered loudly. “Oh, buck the doctor! Don’t be so bloody self-righteous, Fairlight. You’ve really hurt me by doing this, don’t you realise that?” Tears started to well in her eyes making my heart cry out to her. “I’m not some immature filly you know,” she sniffed. “I realise this mission is dangerous and… and there’s a chance that…” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “What if you don’t come back? What if the last time I saw you was last night, and I never got a chance to say… to say goodbye?” I went to put a comforting hoof on her shoulder but I didn’t get a chance. Like a streak of orange lightning, her foreleg whipped round and her hoof smacked me right across my muzzle. “Damn you!” she roared. “I hate you, Fairlight! I bloody hate you!” Tingles lunged forward and grabbed me in a bear hug, squeezing so tightly I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. Sobbing into my mane, her whole body was racked with spasms of grief. “I hate you, you bloody idiot…”

I nuzzled her neck and put my forelegs around her with a little nip on the ear for good measure. “I didn’t want to wake you and say goodbye,” I said gently, “because I’ll be home before you know it. Our table at the bar will be waiting for us for when I get back, and then it’ll be my turn to treat you to a night out. Okay?”

She released her grip and looked at Brandy, her large green eyes wet with tears. “You’d better not have sent him on a suicide mission, Brandy, or you’ll be going to the herd to get him back. Do you hear me?”

He gulped and took a step back; the tangerine pegasus meant business and he knew it, regardless of his rank within the agency. With a quick shake of his mane he checked his pocket watch and trotted to the control panel. “It’s time, Captain.”

The press of a few buttons, the turn of dial, the throw of a switch, and my horn began to itch like crazy. Before me the portal’s frame slowly started to emit a low hum, a white light building within it’s centre, spreading out until it reached the stonework. In a soundless flash of blinding light it seemed to implode suddenly, the space inside the archway now swirling with a deep silvery shimmering energy like some enormous mirror. I’d seen one of these before, when the beautiful white unicorn walked through and ordered her goons to gun down my friends. The memory stirred up mixed feeling of apprehension and excitement that made my hooves itch. I wanted to do this, to bring the whole sickening affair to a close, and they had chosen me to be the one to rescue the innocents these filth had taken. Failure was not an option. I walked over to the ramp, looking at Brandy on one side of me and Tingles on the other.

“Don’t think even about it,” I warned her, noting how her eyes were locked on the portal. “I want you here for when I get back, understood, Agent Tingles?”

Reluctantly she nodded, and our eyes met. Those deep green eyes shimmered in the ethereal light of the portal as swirling patterns of otherworldly magic danced silently across her sleek coat. By Celestia’s grace, she was so beautiful. I swallowed. My traitorous heart was pounding so hard I thought it was burst, and not from anxiety over the mission either. As I stood there, Agent Tingles stepped forward and pulled me into a kiss which, although surprising me at first, I melted into light butter in a hot skillet. Our lips crushed against each others, her tongue hungering, her breath warm and feminine. I hugged her tightly until finally, heart wrenchingly, we had to part.

Tingles nuzzled my neck and I gave her ear a little lick. “One last thing?” I breathed.

“Hmmm?” she sighed, nuzzling me.

“Socks,” I whispered into her ear with a cheeky grin.

She whinnied and clopped me on the shoulder, “Pervert!” I laughed, re-adjusting my gear one last time. “Come on then hero, you’ve got a job to do,” Tingles smiled. “I’ll be waiting…” She winked cheekily, and as I climbed the steps she gave me a playful slap on the behind.

Brandy shook his head in dismay, “Good luck, Nox. Goddesses bless you.”

With a wave of a hoof, I stepped into the light. And into the unknown.