Gallant True’s journal: 06/21/1969
Marvelous! Simply marvelous!
When I made landfall to the Southern Fillyppines several days ago, I had surmised that the multichromatic properties of Eucalyptus deglupta’s bark were magical in nature. Well, let the record state that I’m happy to have been proven wrong! The tree sheds patches of itself off at different times rather than the uniform pattern of other plants, and as each patch matures, it changes color. The result: a bark consisting of an interplay of several streaks of green, blue, purple, red, and various other colors!
Of course, this pales in comparison to the other discovery I’ve made about the plant. For some reason, its seeds are attracted to areas where the Spectrum and its beacon artifact lie. I’m not sure if Sarimanok has noticed, but I should really get around to informing him! He must be–
Creeeeaak… The sound of a door made Velvet’s hair stand on end. With a grace that surprised even her, she plucked a screwdriver from her bag and braced her back against a metal rack as hooves closed in. “I know cliffhangers can be murder,” Velvet muttered to herself, “but this takes the cake.”
She sprang into action, only to stop an inch from Daring Do’s face, her raised eyebrow blasting all the tension from Velvet’s muscles. Dropping the screwdriver, Velvet remembered once again that breathing was a part of her biological functions.
“Really thought you could take me out, huh?” Daring dropped a plastic bag on the floor and retrieved her journal, which had been left on the floor. “Points for trying, really.”
Sputtering, Velvet went from relieved to growing a cheesy grin. “I’ll take you out, alright. All night, any night, you name the time, Do Dare.”
“Do you kiss your fiancé with that mouth?” Daring flipped through the pages idly.
“Lips, cheek, neck, and other areas…”
Daring pursed her lips, but a small chuckle nonetheless managed to break through. “Glad to hear you’re in higher spirits today. You don’t do well as a broody and mopey housewife.”
“Eh.” Velvet crossed her forelegs. “I’m just happy I passed that wreckage of a burrito from last night. Is that what they serve in Tartarus?!”
“TMI, Velvet…”
Daring dragged a cardboard box from the corner and set her notebook down on it. Meanwhile, Velvet’s eyes scoped Daring’s body, and she cocked her head at the absence of reddish, feathery burns on the pegasus’ coat. “Where are your lightning scars?”
“Those weren’t scars. The buffalo in the medical tent said they’re called ‘lightning flowers’: broken capillaries under the skin. They clear away after a few days.”
“Huh…” Velvet cocked her head to the side, pouting in mock disappointment. “Shame, they looked cool on you.” Velvet scooted to the side, clearing her throat while patting the floor next to her. “So, what’s in the bag?”
“MRE’s.”
Velvet raised her hoof and grinned.
“They’re rations.” Daring crossed her forelegs, nipping Velvet’s next words in the bud. “They’re for eating, not bomb crafting.”
The grin transformed into a pout. “But those heating bricks! I want to blow shit up! Explodey Boom Things!”
“Use something else, Vel.” Daring’s tail flicked irritably. “Where we’re going, meals aren’t going to come easy.”
“Meals my ass.” Velvet rolled her eyes. “MRE’s…more like… Malodorous, Rancid Excrement. You could build a dirty bomb from those things.”
Daring chuckled. “Really?”
“Well, not that I know of…” Velvet glanced aside. “Wouldn’t surprise me if you could, though. I did make firecrackers from the heating bricks during my grad school days.” She scooted closer to Daring. “If you don’t mind a little heat, I could demonstrate…”
Daring cut off Velvet by taking a blueprint from her side and spreading it over the makeshift table. “Keep your pyrotechnics away from my blueprints. After we recover the next piece of Indra’s Bow, you can have your fun.”
Velvet rolled her eyes, but smirked all the same. “Spoilsport.”
Daring plucked a red ballpen from the saddlebag beside her and drew several rectangles on the nose of the airship. “Anyway, my hunch was right. The Indra’s Bow fragment is at the most forward section of the cargo hold, basically in the nose of the ship.”
“Meaning”—Velvet nudged Daring with her elbow—“it’s in the…bow of the ship?
“Shut up, you’re not funny. Anyway, that section has about six shipping containers. Trouble is, Volt’s elites are in there: ex-special forces spooks. These aren’t the kinds of enemies you can just mow down with a machine gun by the dozens.”
“So… we gotta find a way to draw them out then?” Velvet pointed to a labeled area of the blueprint with a hoof. “We can lead them to the kitchens nearby!”
“You must stop letting your stomach cloud your decisions.” Daring moved Velvet’s hoof away from the kitchen area. “I like eclairs as much as the next mare, but if you keep that up, the only thing you’ll be eating is my dust.” Daring ignored Velvet’s quivering lips. “Besides, they’d notice the missing supplies.”
“Well, you’re no fun,” Velvet pouted, then drifted her hoof further down to the left side of the floorplan. “Anyway, if it’s diversions we’re looking for, we can lead them over here!” Velvet’s hoof traced a diagonal line over to the left bow of the ship.
“The port generator room?” Daring cocked her head. “Um… I don’t quite…”
“Why, my faithful student, weren’t you paying attention in class? No gold star for you.”
Daring raised a very unimpressed eyebrow.
“Right, right, sorry.” Velvet cleared her throat. “Lemme explain: the UK-2642 has four generator rooms—two in the bow, two in the stern. The airship has enough redundant power to keep flying as long as it has two working generators.” A cloud of magic plucked the ballpen from Daring’s hoof and pointed it at the room in question. “But this…” Velvet’s eyes sparkled in the glowing magenta of her horn, her face marked with a devilish grin. “…this one houses the only generator powering the weather modulator. It’ll be guarded, but if we can take this bastard out…”
Daring’s eyes widened. “…we put heat on the mercs. That could force them to relocate some of their comrades in the cargo hold!”
“Gold St—”
Velvet was cut off by a hoof pressed up against her muzzle. “Don’t say it.” Daring growled.
“Yes, well!” Velvet pushed Daring’s hoof back with the back of the pen. “Ready to blow some shit up?”
Daring rolled her eyes. “It’s like you get off on this or something.”
On cue, Velvet let out a deep moan. “There’s nothing a mare likes better than a hot, explosive climax.” She nearly danced in excitement, Daring watching her with a little wariness. “And it’s always better with a friend.”
“I don’t know what’s going to kill us first: your pyrotechnics, your libido, or your euphemisms.” Daring pulled Velvet back to Equestria. “There should be a shift change eighteen hours from now. That’s when we’ll look to make our move. In the meantime—” Daring arched her back and stretched her forelegs “—we have time to relax.”
“Oh, great! We’ll have an audience for later!”
“Fucking incorrigible, aren’t you?”
At three in the morning, the catwalks crisscrossing between the UK-2642’s air cells hid in the darkness, save for the occasional splash of light from fixtures above. It was a far cry from the warmly lit interior of the gondolas beneath. Clenching her teeth tight to stop them from chattering, Twilight Velvet wrapped her trembling legs around a girder, the iciness of the metal crawling into her fur. The propellers, the airship’s control surfaces, and the stray gusts of wind from outside—all these conspired to shake her off the metal beam and into the catwalks below. She couldn’t even remember how she got into this position, much less why she agreed to the plan. Hooves were for floors, thank you very much.
“Report in, Sierra teams.” From below, a mare’s voice filtered through a brief pulse of static, causing Velvet’s ears to twitch. She craned her head at the source of the noise: a walkie-talkie held by an aquamarine earth pony walking on the catwalk. Accompanying him was a silver griffon, his smooth facial feathers and anxious eyebrows betraying his youth.
“Sierra Pectus-Four-Two here,” the earth pony spoke to the radio, “nothing to report, over.”
“Psst, Do Dare.” Turning to face her friend, Velvet stuffed her nausea into the recesses of her mind and pointed at the two mercenaries. At least they had some modicum of warmth, standing under the glow of a solitary light bulb. As the earth pony turned back towards the light again, Velvet noted the firearm slung across his chest. A week ago, she would’ve called it a machine gun with a banana clip, but sticking around ponies like Daring Do had taught her a few things.
“Ah!” Tracking the earth pony’s AK rifle, Daring’s eyes seemed to twinkle despite the darkness. She was standing bipedally to Velvet’s left, bracing herself on a vertical girder with her left foreleg, her wings splayed for balance. A small smile crept on her lips as she unsheathed her trowel with her right hoof. “And since there are no gun shows currently in town…”
Velvet’s hooves twitched, and her fur stood on end. “So we drop on these guys now? I’m already sick of playing cat burglar.”
Daring shook her head. “Not yet. Let’s wait and see if anypony else is nearby.”
As Daring and Velvet scanned the surrounding darkness, the earth pony put his radio away and elbowed the griffon in the ribs. “Now’s not the time for cold hooves, Grigory…or cold paws, in this case.”
“I-it’s just…chyort!” the griffon stammered in a thick Thrussian accent and grimaced. “I really wanted to give him the necktie.”
“Bleh, you’re right. We didn’t do enough.” The earth pony shrugged. “But what can you do: he bled out from the cut horn and Sleet wanted us to regroup in the airship stat.”
At the earth pony’s words, Velvet’s stomach twisted. The guard’s body from yesterday flashed in her mind, and a quick glance back at Daring revealed the pegasus’s hooves tightening their grip on the catwalk.
Both mercenaries exited from the island of light, making their way to another bulb directly under the Daring Duo. “You remembered to give Ivory the photos, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Good.” The earth pony grinned. “She’ll appreciate that. She needs to find ways to keep the newbie port authority guards in check. Think of it as a stepping stone toward impressing her.”
“You do realize she’s forty-three and I’m twenty-seven, right?” The griffon sighed while keeping one claw on his shotgun. “Gulf is too wide.”
“Not necessarily. You’re roughly the same age as her in pony years, actually.” The earth pony stretched his legs a bit. “Of course, that means by the time you’re bald and gray–” He paused, his eyes surveying the griffon’s coat. “Well, grayer than you are now, Ivory will still have ten to twenty years more to her.”
The earth pony paused for a moment, then approached the griffon. “So if you do make this work, make your time together count. It’s not every day you meet somepony like her.”
Daring pivoted her head towards Velvet, interrupting the eavesdropping. “Screw it.”
“Wh-what?” Velvet breathed out. She shook her head and tapped her temple. The vibration of the airframe must’ve been getting to her brain. “We’re gonna jump on them now? What about our original plan?”
“Wait, dammit, not what I meant.” Daring covered her forehead with her right hoof. “I mean unscrew it.”
“What do you… Oh.”
Velvet peeked over the side and squinted at the light bulb shining down on the two mercs. One of her front hooves shielded her eyes from the bulb’s harsh glare, cerise clouds coalescing around the casing. Channeling some sensory spells into her levitation, Velvet felt around the bulb and jostled it ever so slightly. Arcs jumped from the socket to the foot contact and tickled her brain as her telekinesis swiveled the bulb a few degrees. With the right technique, a bulb could be jerked out of its socket without snapping its base off.
“Lights out.”
Darkness flooded around the two mercs. They darted their heads around, rearing up on their hind legs and drawing their weapons. The griffon muttered long strings of sentences; Velvet wasn’t sure whether the quaver in his voice came from fear or his Thrussian dialect. Quickly, she levitated the light bulb out of the merc’s field of view and stuffed it in her messenger bag. She’d have to play with her new toy later. There were still bullies in the playground, and these two were out for more than just lunch money.
With her free hoof, Daring pointed at the earth pony while looking straight into Velvet’s eyes. Velvet got the message, focused on her target, and coiled her legs like a spring. Just as discussed...
“Get my six, Grigory.” The earth pony aimed through the sights of his rifle. His leg muscles tensed as he bit his lip. His breaths were deep, but steady—a far cry from his hyperventilating comrade.
“Sh-should we call them in?!” the griffon asked.
The earth pony glanced at Grigory. “Not yet. Let’s do a sweep first.”
The earth pony went back to his rifle, pivoting his aim left, then right. The wind howled through the catwalk for a second as he repeated the maneuver. His grip on the weapon seemed to loosen after that.
Then he looked up.
“CALL TH–”
Velvet’s hooves made contact. The earth pony’s snout shattered. His back legs crumpled as he was thrown back with a sickening lurch, Velvet landing atop him with a loud “Oof!” She grunted and rolled off the earth pony’s body, struggling to regain her hooves while Grigory spun around and pointed his shotgun at her.
A dark yellow blur flashed past.
Velvet gaped as Grigory clutched his throat and gurgled, blood streaming from his neck and staining his claws. He staggered forwards, feeble attempts at words escaping from his beak. Behind him, Daring emerged from the darkness, the muscles in her scowling face barely moving as she yanked Grigory’s head feathers backward and fixed her grip on her trowel. Daring glared into Grigory’s shrunken irises, her eyes as piercing as her weapon.
The trowel sank through the back of his neck. Grigory’s limbs spasmed once, then hung limp.
Allowing Grigory’s body to slump to the floor, Daring trotted to the still-breathing earth pony and delivered another coup de grace, this time through the side of the neck. Velvet winced; the darkness hid the blood from her eyes, but not her ears. She could hear it splatter on the floor. If Daring was trying to spare her from extra carnage, it was too late for that. “Cocksuckers,” Daring spat.
“Holy shit…” Velvet whispered as she got up and surveyed the bodies. “Glad I’m on your side!”
Ignoring that, Daring sheathed her trowel and began rummaging through the pouches in the earth pony’s vest. “Here.” She tossed a walkie-talkie to Velvet, who caught it with her magic. “We have to move. Their squadmates won’t be far behind, and they’ll know something’s up when these guys’ radios go silent.”
After placing the radio in her bag, Velvet took out the light bulb and focused a beam of magic onto the filaments, crackles escaping from the bulb and into the outside air. A glowing magenta cloud began to glimmer inside the bulb, causing Velvet to smile to herself. This might work nicely. Just gonna fiddle around with the halogenation process…and that should do it.
“Whatcha got over there?” Daring eyed Velvet for a second.
“Just a little something to knock out the mercs in the cargo hold. Same principle with that light bulb spell in the train.”
Daring raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, right…” Velvet folded her ears. “You didn’t see it. I was in the dark and in the john when I cast that spell.”
Daring raised both eyebrows.
“Whatever, I’ll explain later.” After Velvet returned the bulb to her bag, she gestured her hoof at the mercenaries. “So what about the bodies?”
In response, Daring peered over the edge of the catwalk, then grabbed some grenades and the last magazines from the earth pony’s body. Now that it was picked clean, Daring grunted and slung the body over her shoulders, maneuvering it in a way to avoid the blood, before tossing it over the edge. Velvet cantered to where Daring dropped the corpse, catching a glimpse of it tearing a hole through the canvas and going quietly into the night.
“Don’t mind me,” Daring remarked. “Just taking out the trash.”
Just as predicted, the rest of the way to the port generator room had few mercs around, and Velvet and Daring were thankful to find only a team of five inside the generator room itself. In addition, Daring seemed to be in a similar position to Velvet—unable to use her new toy. The plan didn’t call for volume at this phase, and the AK rifle lacked a silencer. Playtime would have to proceed in some other way. It was a good thing Velvet had other instruments to keep her occupied.
A pair of magic mists levitated two alligator clips into Velvet’s line of sight. Sitting in front of a control panel, she squinted at the clips and scratched them across each other, her face brightening in sync with the light blue sparks that arced between them.
“Beautiful…” Velvet licked her lips, then glanced behind her. Daring climbed back up the ladder to the catwalk, having disposed of the last mercs. There was a little bit of blood streaked across the front and left shoulder of Daring’s shirt—probably from the last unlucky sap who laid eyes on her.
The radio dangling from Daring’s side crackled to life.
“Windshear-One-One, this is Bridge.” A familiar mare spoke. “What’s your status?”
Daring glanced at the radio, before looking back at Velvet, mouthing, “Well, shit.”
“Windshear-One-One, do you copy–”
Daring flicked a switch on the radio, cutting Bridge off. “Boring conversation anyway… Well, it would have been a boring conversation.”
Not a second later, Velvet elbowed Daring in the calves.
“Agh! What’s the big idea?” Daring flared her wings and glowered at the sitting unicorn.
“Sorry, but I can’t use my magic for this next bit.” Velvet offered up the alligator clips, levitating them closer to Daring’s face. “You’ll have to do it for me.”
Daring folded her wings back down and crossed her arms. “You’ve got a pair of hooves. Use 'em.”
“Consider it a limited time offer.” Velvet smirked. “It’s not all the time I let someone other than Night Light turn me on…”
Daring glowered at Velvet for several seconds, sighed, and rolled her eyes. Without another word, she sat beside Velvet and took the alligator clips with her hooves, but then she frowned when she squeezed the clips open.
Velvet snickered at Daring’s confused look. “Weird, right? I had to loosen the springs.” Velvet tapped her horn with her hoof. “You gotta defang the alligators before you let them bite your appendages.”
Daring huffed, then clamped the clips onto Velvet’s horn—red one first, then the black one. “They still look fanged to me. Remind me again why we’re doing this?”
Velvet winced as the metal teeth dug into the thin skin on her horn. “Agh…you know teleportation drains me. Remember the train? I’d like to not go five or ten minutes without my magic when mercs are running around the halls. This…” Velvet pointed at the alligator clips on her horn. “…will give me just enough energy to have my soufflé and eat it too.”
“So… what, like a Red Minotaur drink, only magical? Do you do roadside service as well?”
Velvet stuck out her tongue as Daring tried to get the second clamp more firmly placed. “Only for my Night Light.”
Once the clips were set in place, Daring stood up and leaned back on the railing. Velvet could see Daring’s eyes gravitate to a collection of blinking red lights hidden away near the turbines and support beams. “Bowing out so soon?” said Daring. “I thought you were going to detonate the charges.”
“Nah, just that one.” Velvet pointed at a gray brick tucked beside the door to the generator room, it too sporting a red blinking light. “I’m gonna couple my teleportation with that baby’s blasting cap. As for you…catch!”
A flick from Velvet’s hoof launched a dark green remote from the floor. Daring spun around just in time to catch the device with her wing.
“Parting gift from me. I’ve set the bombs to detonate one at a time with each press. It’ll keep the mercs off my tail longer. Just…try not to set off the last one unless you really need to. ‘Desperate times’ only.”
Daring inspected the device, then grinned. “Desperate times call for Explodey Boom Things? I can work with that.” She slid the device into her shirt pocket and began to walk away. Before she could disappear down the ladder, Velvet spoke up again, but the smile had disappeared from her face.
“You won’t hurt River Rapids, right?”
Daring hung her head, only the end of her muzzle visible beneath the brim of her helmet. “I’ll try, but… Shit happens.”
Velvet swallowed the lump in her throat before giving a shaky nod
Before she could say any more, a burst of static from Velvet’s walkie-talkie. “Sierra Teams, be advised.” Velvet could hear the anxiety dripping from Bridge’s voice. “I’ve lost contact with Sierra Pectus-Four and Windshear-One-One. Anypony have a visual?”
“Bridge, this is Sierra-Pectus-Four-Three.” A stallion’s voice joined in. “We got blood on the catwalk over here.”
Velvet and Daring looked at each other.
“All patrols, converge on the port generator!” Bridge’s voice commanded. “We might have a situation!”
Velvet took a deep breath. “Oh, here we go…”
Daring got on her hind legs and drew her rifle. “This is it, Vel. Once you blow that door up, you’re on your own.” She paused, but didn’t look back. “Dying is against your course requirements.”
The pegasus took cover behind one of the girders on the ceiling, keeping her weapon trained at the door. Meanwhile, Velvet got on the floor and put her hooves to her head. Her brain buzzed and her horn took on a slight glow as she worked to convert more electrical energy into magical energy. Not too fast, though: that would be a one-way ticket to soft-boiled egghead.
Several murmurs and hoofsteps seeped through the walls and into Velvet’s ears. She squeezed her hooves and bit her lip, trying her best to suppress the churning fear bubbling from the back of her mind.
“Do I at least get extra credit?” Velvet’s ears folded as she faced Daring with a toothy grin.
Daring chuckled. “Not unless you know how to restart your own heartbeat.”
Velvet laughed, but the action lacked any of its normal mirth. Shit was about to go down.
The door flew open; Velvet’s pupils shrank. Arcs of blue electricity danced across her horn, which pulsed a deep magenta while Daring lined up the sights of her rifle. The signal on the explosive charge changed from red to white.
Then light filled Velvet’s vision.
White gave way to black. Velvet grasped her head with her hooves and curled into a ball just as a booming rumble snaked its way across the floor and up her skin. After only a beat, Velvet bolted upright and vomited. Teleportation plus electric sparking plus a deluge of electric energy flowing into her horn plus the shockwave of her handiwork? Was this what it felt like to jump into the event horizon of a black hole?
Well, that, and the burrito was that traumatizing.
“Oww…fuck!” Velvet spit out the acrid taste in her mouth while her brain jackhammered just behind her horn. Velvet clenched her teeth and rubbed the base of her abused appendage. “Brilliant plan, Twilight…”
It didn’t take long for the alarms to start blaring and the emergency lights to start strobing. Velvet stayed on the floor for several more seconds, trying to catch her breath before rising up again on shaky legs. Her horn glowed cerise, and then took on a whiter, more luminous glare. Still have my magic, though. Velvet exhaled and smiled. I really am a genius!
The flashlight spell revealed rows upon rows of metal tables and chairs, some of which were jostled out of place by the explosion. To the right was a counter topped with food displays; to her left, a door leading to the hall. She couldn’t teleport directly into the cargo hold or her cover would be blown too soon.
Just as Velvet started forward, the sound of hoofsteps and rattling gear leaked from the other side of the wall. Velvet scampered behind a nearby column, deactivated her flashlight spell, and held her breath. Don’t open the door. Don’t open the door. For Celestia’s sake, don’t open the door…
“Tango in the port generator room!” a voice called out.
“Take her out before she grounds us!”
“Delta-Six is down!”
“Light, take point! Hit her with the thunderhead grenades!”
The sound of distant gunfire and the occasional grenade drowned out the droning of the propellers. The mercs were taking the bait. Velvet didn’t realize that she’d curled up on the floor until after the mercs’ hoofsteps faded into the distance. Her breaths returned as she got up and peeked at the door.
Celestia had answered her prayer.
No time to rest, though; the job wasn't done yet.
Velvet surveyed the room one last time with a weak flashlight spell. Making sure the coast was clear before she headed to the door, she noticed that her tail had snagged on something behind her.
She whirled around. The something, it turned out, was a food cart. Not much to write home about…
…except this particular cart housed several rounded cylinders inside sealed plastic bags. It was these that made Velvet’s eyes shimmer and the corners of her mouth turn upwards.
Eclairs! Come to Mama, sweet children...
Her eyes darted left and right for a second, Daring’s words suddenly echoing in Velvet’s mind. “We are not raiding the kitchen for eclairs!”
And yet…this wasn’t the kitchen per se—just the dining room.
Velvet grinned as she smacked her lips.
Pulsing red lights and blaring sirens all conspired to beat Velvet’s senses to the floor as she cantered through the dark halls. Behind her, gunfire continued to erupt from the generator room and echo down the halls. She breathed a relieved sigh. Better there than here!
After passing by a door to her left, she rounded a corner. At the far end of the corridor, a short set of stairs disappeared down another corner and into bright, billowing light. Velvet had to narrow her eyes to prevent the glare from searing her retinas.
Her canter slowed to a creeping walk as she hugged the wall, her fur brushing against the paint and a nearby fire extinguisher. Peeking from the corner and crouching downwards, she could see the bottom margin of a brilliant blue corrugated metal box inside the room below.
Velvet lay on her stomach to get a better view of the cargo hold. Light bulbs studded the ceiling, while two shipping containers—both parallel to the stairs—lay close to the loading bay doors at Velvet’s left. To her right, another container stood perpendicular to the others, the words “TRISTAR CONSTELLATION INCORPORATED” printed on its rusted red exterior.
Huh, not a guard in sight. Maybe the bulb wasn't necessary after all…
The entire ship rocked. A pounding boom reverberated through the walls. Metal groaned above Velvet as she hugged the corner and dug her hooves onto the linoleum floor. Her eyes and mouth squeezed themselves shut. She was never gonna get used to that. Maybe she should’ve packed in less C-4. If the gondola doesn’t hold, they were all royally screwed.
“Hope the colts over there take care of that port generator situation.” A stallion’s voice echoing from the other side of the room caused Velvet’s eyes to shoot open. There was no perturbation in his inflection, not even a shaky breath at the end.
“You think it’s them?” a mare replied. She sounded nearer to Velvet than the stallion, but other than that, her voice might as well have been a gender-swapped version of the first pony.
The stallion let out a half-scoff-half-chuckle as Velvet’s heart began to race. “You seriously don’t believe that Wave Rider fellow, right? Two ponies coming out on top against an entire platoon? It’s probably just sky pirates. We are carrying some pretty valuable cargo.”
“Sky pirates would hit us with triple-A from the outside, Tradewind.” Velvet sucked in a breath, then slowly peeked around the corner as the mare continued. “The port generator room is in the bowels of the airship. We’ve got a rat.”
Two ponies walked into view from the right: a dark purple earth pony in bluish-gray fatigues just by the stairs, and a feces-colored pegasus at the other side, near a second entrance. After scratching the bulky goggles on her forehead, Dark Purple faced Shit Stain Tradewind just as she was waved off. “Paranoid as always, eh? You know Wave Rider likes to tell stories. Now keep your eyes on the entrance… If there is a rat, we’ll find 'em.”
Dark Purple kept her eyes on her partner and snorted. Meanwhile, Velvet’s eyes were directed to something else: a ring sticking out from a pouch on Dark Purple’s vest, the words “M28 SMOKE” partly visible on a cylinder inside. Where Velvet’s mind was going, though, she didn’t need the ring or the spoon. Direct detonation was where it was at.
Her horn took on a cerise glow as she focused on the pouch’s velcro flap. Show yourself, my little baby…
In a single motion, the grenade ripped out of the pouch and bounced on the floor. Dark Purple winced.
“Shit! Hit the deck!”
Light gray smoke swirled around the landing near the stairs. Velvet stood up, looked behind her, then plucked the fire extinguisher from the wall with her magic. Velvet’s hooves tingled when they made contact with the extinguisher. A strange choice of weapon—Velvet made a mental note to ask Daring to teach her how to shoot—but it would have to do.
Dark Purple’s silhouette darted its head around. “Close contact!” she spat out, her voice audibly trying to maintain its composure. “Deploy thermals!”
“Roger that. Following your lead.” A third voice, a stallion, replied from the left. Dark Purple slid a pair of goggles onto her eyes, drew her shotgun, and stood up on her hind legs. Velvet shrank away from the corner, her heart pounding in sync with her breathing. Hopefully, those “thermals” didn’t do what she thought they did.
Dark Purple jerked her head left, the glimmering blue lenses of her goggles almost bug-like as the mare zeroed in on her position. “Whiskey Squad, on me! Tango spotted!”
Velvet zipped into cover. Pellets pinged off the nearby walls. The shotgun poured out rapid, but focused, shots. Velvet shielded her face from the debris and shrapnel flying around.
The shooting stopped. The stairs clanged repeatedly as hooves charged upwards, closer and closer to her position. The voice Velvet assigned to Dark Purple sounded out, her shadow apparent on the far wall as the pony lowered her gun and started digging into one of her pouches. “Flashbang out!”
Velvet leaped out of the corner and shouted the adrenaline out her lungs. She swung the fire extinguisher sideways and into Dark Purple’s temple, a resonating thwack ringing out. The stun grenade flew from Dark Purple’s hooves as she reeled back, falling face-up and backwards down the stairs. Velvet transferred the fire extinguisher into her magic and sent it hurtling like a projectile right into the downed pony’s face.
Glass cracked. Her goggles perforated her face.
“AAAGH!! SHIT!”
Dark Purple’s scream barely registered in Velvet’s mind. What did register, on the other hoof, was a new batch of gunshots coming from her left. “Laying down suppressive fire!” The third voice called out. “Nightshade, move in and pull her ass back!”
Velvet looked down, her vision narrowing around the edges and at Dark Purple’s dropped gear. Pulsing with adrenaline, her trembling forelegs snatched the stun grenade, barely keeping it in her hooves as tracers zipped through the smoke cloud in front of her.
Okay, okay, just as Daring taught me. Velvet cupped the black pipe-shaped grenade with her hooves, placing the left one on the ring. Twist...pull...and release!
On the last word, Velvet lobbed the grenade to the left of the smoke cloud, where the third merc’s muzzle flash strobed. The spoon flung away, disappearing into the cloud as Velvet retreated back up the stairs and hit the deck, covering her ears with her hooves.
Blinding white flashed in the room. A boom hammered into Velvet’s eardrums. There was an undertone of tinnitus, but Velvet pushed that aside. The firing had stopped, replaced by the third voice’s anguished groaning. Velvet swallowed the bile trying to form at the back of her throat.
Velvet’s hooves felt light and numb as she leaped down the stairs and into the smoke. Taking a left, she raised the extinguisher with her telekinesis, extended it out to the side, and galloped past the third mercenary. One hoof clutched his machine gun; the other, his eyes. He was in Velvet’s left field of view for only a second.
A wet crack—the clothesline extinguished its target.
“She’s breaking out of cover,” a fourth voice—probably Nightshade’s—called from behind, causing Velvet to look behind her.
“Another one?!” Velvet turned a right corner just as rifle fire zipped behind her. Something hot and hard punched through her tail, causing Velvet’s face to boil. “Oh, for fuck's sake! I know everypony likes a hot piece of tail, but come on!”
Tradewinds popped out of the corner of a shipping container. He raised his rifle, hoof on the trigger.
But Velvet’s horn was quicker.
Velvet’s magic squeezed the lever on her fire extinguisher. White, suffocating clouds engulfed Tradewinds, his coughs barely audible over the spray.
It wasn’t long before he met the same fate as Dark Purple.
After smacking Tradewinds out of commission, Velvet turned right again and stopped under a light bulb. Her telekinesis transferred from the fire extinguisher to the light bulb above her, allowing her dependable weapon to stop, drop, and roll on the floor. As the bulb flickered and fell from its socket, Velvet couldn’t help but grin like a mad-mare.
“All this messed-up crap just to change a light bulb!” An artery in Velvet’s temple nearly burst. “Is this the setup of some cruel joke of yours, Celestia? I guess we can chalk this up to another bright idea?”
Sparks sprinkled onto Velvet once the bulb broke free. The bulb flickered, then darkened. Velvet pranced in place and scoped her surroundings, the sweat dripping from her temples and legs. No one was around, save for the still writhing Tradewinds.
No reason to rest, though.
She yanked the saddlebags off her back with her magic, then plucked her own light bulb out. The magenta magic inside churned and sloshed, like a pet seeing its master. Still alive, thank Celestia! Velvet’s eyes twinkled as she carried both bulbs in her magic. "Now go fulfill your destiny!"
Bluish arcs jumped from the socket to the One Bulb to Rule Them All just as its electrical foot contact entered the socket. Cerise clouds on Velvet’s horn swirled in concert with the ones on the bulb. She squinted. She was close.
“Aaaaaaand…done! Now I gotta–”
A maroon flash flooded the side of her vision. Velvet jerked her head right. That light didn’t come from her horn.
Velvet’s eyes reflected off Nightshade’s goggles.
"Motherfu—"
A bolt from Nightshade’s horn launched Velvet backward. Her back slammed into a container, denting it and sending a gong bouncing around the room. Velvet groaned, streaks of Nightshade’s magic still snaking through her body. Before Velvet could even so much as cough, Nightshade lit her horn again, a firestorm surging in her eyes and deep, almost exhausted ragged breaths escaping her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Nightshade looked up and frowned. Her horn flickered, but that was it.
Velvet grinned and lit her own horn in response. Hah, she’s firing blanks! Somepony forgot to stock up on Red Minotaur!
Azure electricity twisted into Nightshade’s body. She fell on her knees, the empty submachine gun she tried to magically reload falling to the ground. As her screams bounced around the containers, Velvet canceled her electric magic and surveyed the light bulbs above her. The magenta light from the One Bulb pulsated faster and stronger. Cerise wisps arced from the socket, through the wires on the ceiling, and into the One Bulb’s neighbors. They too began to strobe magenta.
“See you later, Night…uh…whatever your name is!”
Taking her saddlebags with her magic, Velvet galloped to the second entrance—the one Tradewinds had been guarding just a minute ago. She had only made it two-thirds of the way when cerise light billowed from behind, mingled with the cacophony of shattering glass. Hooves still light from adrenaline, she quickened her pace and glanced behind.
The One Bulb had shattered. In its place, a cloud of cerise magic, with the occasional arc of electricity, began to spread through the room. One by one, the other bulbs followed suit, the cloud growing outwardly with each broken bulb.
When Velvet reached the safety of the airship’s corridors, she peeked through the corner. Through a space between two containers, she could see Nightshade attempt to stand. Deep breaths gave way to coughs. Her legs trembled as more of the cerise cloud swirled around her and entered her airways. Her face contorted into a mixture of anguish and fury as she glared back at the retreating Velvet with seething hate.
She slumped onto the floor and closed her eyes.
Velvet’s chest tensed for a few seconds, then relaxed, releasing the longest breath she had ever held. Every other muscle seemed to relax as well, though the adrenaline high, not to mention the muscle aches, were still around. Bask in it, Twilight. Bask in it…
She’d have to wait for another minute to allow the knockout gas to decompose. It should be enough to keep the mercs out of commission for an hour—at least, according to on-the-spot calculations. Maybe it would be prudent to lock the mercs inside one of the containers before searching for the artifact...just to be sure.
Velvet sat on the floor and allowed her saddlebags to fall from her magic, retaining only a pair of heavy-duty bolt cutters. Her magic extended the foldable handles, her mouth uttering clicking sounds in an admittedly pathetic attempt at mimicking a reloading gun. “Note to self,” muttered Velvet, “ask Daring to teach me how to shoot. It’s not fair for her to wield the only penetrator in this relationship."
She peeped through the corner again. The cloud had nearly dispersed.
Her legs shook slightly as she got up, cracked her neck, and raised the bolt cutters to eye level.
“Time to get to work.”