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// Chapter 25: Welcome to the HERD 
// Story: Never Lucky 
// by Ferris the 1st 
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When I pictured a super secret agency's headquarters, I pictured an underground cavern filled with top of the line equipment. What I did not expect was an old, dusty room sequestered in a portion of the castle that nopony went to. I'll admit that the fact that we had to go through the castle didn't help my nerves and sometimes I felt like somepony was watching me. Then we entered this place.

It was barely bigger than Martial's office and most of the space was taken up by various filing cabinets. The far wall seemed to be dedicated to some form of conspiracy wall with various lines of thread shooting back and forth between pictures. I had also been expecting to meet some more of the HERD, but it was just the gathering of Stroke, Martial, Glass, and myself. Apparently Dawn had been called away by Princess Celestia to oversee something.

In the meantime, Martial and Glass decided to give me a basic rundown of the HERD's history. The entire thing had been composed in secrecy after the Monster Hunter's Agency had been disbanded due to redundancy. With most monsters cataloged and countermeasures in place, it wasn't necessary. True, it had only happened a few short years ago.

Then the problems of today began. After the return of Princess Luna, a power balance that had been tediously tended to by Celestia began to tip. With the threat of enemies coming out of the wood works to fight against Equestria's rising power, the HERD was founded by a small group of ex-hunters with extraordinary talents and a drive to protect their home.

Back then, groups of small, mercenary bands were the main thing that the HERD had to deal with, but as time passed, the threats began to grow. Soon, it was more than a hooffull of agents could tackle and the recruitment began. Before long, they had turned into a small army of ponies with a mission: keep Equestria on top of all threats. The unfortunate part was how difficult it was to organize all of them, so sudden threats like Tirek and Discord caught them by surprise.

Eventually, the founding members of the HERD had retired and left it in the hooves of veterans. By that time, the group had grown large enough to have bases of operation in most large cities around the nation. Now I was joining this crazy group of ponies.

After giving me a brief history of the place, Martial started explaining to me about how they were organized. The different talents of the ponies in the HERD forced the group to start researching cutie marks to militaristic goals in contrast to the more academic, philosophical studies. Among these studies, the managed to classify themselves into certain groups: Seers, Fighters, Investigators, Builders, Defenders, and Specialists.

Seers, as the name implied, tended to have talents that allowed them to see things that most couldn't. This ranged from magical auras to brief glimpses into the future. Agent Glass actually fell under this category, holding the ability to briefly view individuals she'd seen before on any reflective surface.

Fighters and Defenders fell under similar categories with their classifications blurring a lot. Defenders were usually big ponies who could withstand significant physical punishment and were scattered among Royal Guard stations quietly. In the same vein, Fighters were those that could deal out a lot of damage in fights. Martial Cadence turned out to be from the small group that blurred the two.

Investigators tended toward those that often had “hunches” that could put them on the right track. While they lacked the foresight of the Seers, Investigators could find that needle in the haystack if they really wanted to.

Builders ranged from physical to magical capabilities, but worked together to create structures or siege engines that were nigh indestructible. The physical builders were among some of the most innovative individuals you could find and could construct a keep out of sand if they wanted to... or so I was told. Meanwhile, magical builders usually could be found weaving spells into the very stonework their fellows were putting up.

Finally there were the Specialists. The group of ponies that worked in the HERD that either couldn't be classified or held an ability that could be a part of every category. According to the other ponies in the room, this was the category my talent fell into. Already I'd shown that my luck could affect a lot of things while out on missions.

After that long winded explanation, it was Silent that brought us to the real problem, “Talents strange. Hard to study. Two things certain. Trigger and limit.”

Martial nodded, turning her gaze on me, “Silent is correct. While our own researchers have been hard at work trying to unlock the secrets of our talents, we've only been able to determine those things. Each talent has a trigger that activates it and a limit to what it can do. For example, my own talent is triggered by a fear response. It gives me three seconds of unparalleled combat abilities, but after that I'm left weak for several minutes.”

“So the question, Rookie,” Glass cut in, “is what your trigger and what your limit is. To be honest, we have no bucking idea what either of them could be for you. All the missions you were sent on beforehoof were supposed to help us narrow it down, but it seems so... random.”

I shrugged slightly, “Well, that might be a big problem. As far as I can tell, it is just random. That's why for the longest time I avoided anything that could trigger it.”

“Then we search,” Silent interjected, “high and low. Your talent is vague. Possibilities endless. Luck. Messenger happens upon patrol. A seamless passage found. Large scale. Curious, does it work in fights?”

I made to shake my head, but paused as I thought about it, “Err... maybe? When I stopped the robbery of Donut Joe's, it just triggered in such a way that looked like a fight...”

“Then we start there and work our way outwards.” Martial stated.

**

I hated every idea that came out of that mare's mouth. An hour after that became our plan I was unfortunate enough to find myself on the receiving end of Martial's prowess. She'd been effortlessly applying her hooves to every part of my body imaginable. A few came much too close to my pride for my liking.

“...I feel like you're not taking this seriously, Lucky.” she deadpanned.

“Gee, thanks,” I snarked as I wobbled to my hooves, “you get punted around by somepony several times your better and tell me how you fair. Look, this isn't working.”

She paused, sighing as she slid out of her combat stance and flattened her ears in irritation, “it would help if you had some idea of how it worked! You effortlessly took down an armed pony before, so where is your luck!?”

“He was trying to kill me, Lieutenant! You're just using me like a punching bag!”

“...He was trying to kill you, hmm?” she asked with a cold detachment. I actually shivered at the way they slid out of her lips. Before I could ask what the crazy mare was thinking, she stepped away from me. In a flash of practiced movement, she shed her armor, revealing her full form to me. I saw her cutie mark, a blade surrounded by shields before I noticed where she was going.

The room we'd selected was once a dining room that had long since been forgotten. Wide open with towering pillars, it would allow her to easily fly at top speed. Various pieces of equipment lay in a pile near one of the doors for when we moved up in the training.

...Or that was the plan.

Martial went for the one thing that made me dread her more than anything else. The slim, silver lance that served as her primary weapon almost seemed to mold to her hooves. It had been a long time since I'd felt this same fear and back then it had been an illusion.

“What are you doing?” I asked quietly.

“...Killing you.” she stated just as quietly.

I'd become stupidly accustomed to the sensation of time dilation in the face of mortal danger. A few months ago, I would have passed out just from her voice at that moment, but now I stood there with my eyes widening as she moved. I watched her wings snap out and flash at her sides, shooting her forward with the tip of her weapon aimed at my chest.

I wanted to believe that she was pulling my leg, but there was that hardness in her eyes. I'd seen that look as she mercilessly struck down members of the syndicate back in Los Pegasus. She wasn't joking. Her aim was true and she meant to kill me.

I felt something snap inside of me. It felt like a taunt string had settled in my chest and the pressure had finally broken it. She shot forward and I turned to try and run, but there was a strange... sense of correctness to the motion as one of my legs tilted and caught on the knee of the other. I fell.

Wind whipped across my shoulder as I whirled around, pushed into a full spin by the airflow as a wing clipped one of my ears. I reached out to find something to stop myself only to find my hoof catching a similar feeling surface.

Martial gave out a noise of surprise as I caught her hind hoof, arresting a portion of her momentum. I was still blinking in surprise when she twisted sharply, her eyes alight with a light that matched the sheen of her weapon.

Whack, whack, WHACK!

	Three sharp blows rained down on my, striking my skull, shoulder, and knees as I fell to the ground. I groaned as I looked up at her, watching the light leave her eyes after a breath. Then she too collapsed, panting and looking like she'd just run a marathon. Despite all this, she was starting to laugh.

“What in Tartarus is so funny?” I groaned out as my head throbbed.

She continued to laugh, “I think we found at least one of your triggers.... now let's see how far its limit goes. We'll go again once I've recovered. You should be proud. Not many can trigger my talent these days.”

“I'll get right on the pride when I can feel my hooves again...”