Chapter 19- Arms Race
"Is anyone here?" A voice called outside the library called. A single fore hoof was used to open the door and peek inside. The Mayor looked around, wondering if it was too early to be let in. "Twilight?" The Mayor asked, raising her eyebrows at the view. All of the humans and the Elements of Harmony were inside, having breakfast. Or at least, she hoped so... It was a bit messy, and it was oddly quiet.
"Oh, good morning Mayor," Twilight said, turning to look at the door. Walking over to the door, Twilight bowed her head in greetings. "What brings you by so early?"
"Oh hello Twilight Sparkle. I have several things. First, this is for Pinkie Pie. I tried to visit her at Sucarcube Corner, but the Cakes mentioned she had not been home all night.... You should have told them you had a sleepover with the humans," Mayor said to Pinkie.
"It just came up!" Pinkie Pie said. The Mayor walked over to Pinkie and handed her a deed. It named both Pinkie Pie and Dan Mandel as owners. Dan raised his eyebrows, wondering why both their names were on the deed. He had asked only for Pinkie to have the name.
"Well, at least that is out of the way. Congratualtions to you both, you are new home owners," the gray hair mare said with a smile. They both earned it.
"Congrats you two. Now all ya need is some home comfort," Applejack said, smiling at the two. Pinkie moved to hold the deed into her chest, trying to hold back from crying. Dan moved a hand to pet her on her right shoulder.
"Now then, I am afraid for bad news," Mayor said, turning to look at the others.
"Is this about the Dam and Quarry?" Twilight asked, lifting her eyebrows.
"Well, actually no. This is much worse," The Mayor said to shake her head to the sides. "We fear robberies took place in Ponyville during the comotion." Phoenix narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Dan. The black hair human nodded to the lawyer.
"Do tell," Dan said, crossing his arms on his chest. Nate pulled out his notebook and his pencil to start joting down notes.
"Well, we are still checking things. In the panic, a lot of ponies had taken their belongings with them," The mayor said, moving her left hoof to adjust her glasses. "But we know for sure other things had been stolen." She moved to take out a peice of paper from her saddlebag.
"Lets see, things defintely reported stolen: A large tub of jelly. The maps of Ponyville, including to the areas around it. Mostly things like geographical. Various types of tools, mostly taken from the blacksmith, the carpenters, the furniture builders, and the gem workers. Also, the quills from the sofa and quills shop have all been taken-"
"Those fiends!" Twilight cried out, narrowing her eyes. "I need those for my backups!"
The Mayor raised her head from her list, not sure how to take the interruption. "Er... Ink bottles and other witing tools have also been reported missing," She stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Also, have any of your books been taken?" The odd question made the mare six raise an eyebrow or two. A thief in Ponyville was unheard of. Nate was busy jotting things down.
"Um, no, I have been around all morning Mrs. Mayor. While some ponies stopped by when Twilight was saving the day again, none of them were taken," Spike explained. Phoenix knew something was up, but he just couldn't put his fingers on it.
"Let me guess- Books from the Quarry, the blacksmiths, the carpenters, and the map makers have been taken," Dan added, moving both arms to cross on his chest. The Dovahkiin turned to look down at Dan. Oh, something was up.
"Why, yes. They were taken," The Mayor said, lifting her head up to look at Dan. "How did you know?"
"Because its what I would do," Dan said, moving to stand next to the Mayor. "May I?" He asked, moving a hand out to look at the list. She complied, giving the list to the human and giving him some space.
"What do you mean?" Asked Soma. If it was something Dan would think of, it was nothing good.
"To all parts of a plan, you have to prioritize your objectives. Let's say revenge, just as an example," Dan said as he read through the list. "Your first question is not when, the how, the why, or even the where. Its the what. What can I do to hurt my enemy. Then, you do reaserach. Find out their habits, maybe they have a weakspot. Then you make the plan to strike. Assuming you did every thing right, your plan will be well executed," Dan said as he handed the list over to Nate.
"Dan and I came to the conclusion that these attacks on Ponyville were not actual attacks. Just one big diversion. At first, we thought it was to keep us seperated to be able to attack Soma and Dovahkiin. But it looks like the diversion was just to cover up the thefts," Phoenix said. He brought his left index finger to open up his shirt a bit.
"We were attacked by a manticore, and we can only guess something made it angry enough to attack us," Soma said.
"But we were left completely alone at the Apple farm," Dovahkiin added.
"All that, just for quills?" Spike asked lifting his eyebrows. Twilight was starting to peice things together.
"Was my botique a target?" Rarity asked, lifting her head. Phoenix shook his head to the sides.
"Phoenix is right. The things taken have a much more sinister plot," Dan said. He turned to walk back and forth to lower his head in thought and explain things. "One of two things can explain this logically. Sometimes in a revenge plan, you have to weaken your enemy..." He stopped pacing, turning to look at the Dovahkiin and Applejack. "You said you can make weapons and armor, but you need materials. I imagine also tools. With no maps to find steel or minerals, tools to make them, or resources to make designs for weapons-"
"With all the things stolen, I am unable to do anything...." Dovakiin said, dawning on him just how important all those things were. In Skyrim, those things were taken for granted. Applejack turned to look at the Dovahkiin. She knew he was looking foward to showing off his skills.
"Couldn't that mean... With all that stuff, they can make thier own weapons?" Nate asked, lifting his head for a second. He was busy sketching them all, least their faces. Rarity turned to look at Twilight, who nodded.
"More than likely, both," Twilight said. "Its all so.... so..."
"Diabotically clever?" Dan asked.
"I was going to say a Dan thing to do," Twilight admitted. "But yes, its shrewd."
"Who is doing all this?" The Mayor asked, also understanding how bad this was.
"We suspect Changelings," Pinkie Pie said. Her normal smile was gone, and she looked a bit mad. No one steals Dan's ideas.
"Oh my, we had a hard enough time fighting the Changelings on even grounds. But if they get weapons and armor..." Flutteshy said, looking at the others.
"It means that they are slowing us down and making themselves better!" Rainbow Dash finally chipped in her two bits.
"How long before we can get replacement tools?" Dovahkiin asked, moving to step to the Mayor.
"Well, the blacksmith and carpenter tools should not be too hard to replace, but certain tools they used require a permit or license. These are professionals, and certain tools are not avaliable to the public. Reporting those tools stolen will not look good for them. As for the map makers and gem users? Those will be harder. Those are only made by order, since people do not buy tools for gem polishing or crafting by bulk," The Mayor responded. "Replacement maps shouldn't be hard either. The workers know where to find mateial they need anyway... But the best stuff is away from town, we already took the nearby resources."
"Maybe I can send a letter to Princess Celestia, explaining what happened. She should be able to get the tools and resources we need," Twilight said.
"Good, so its not too bad. I'm more worried about the Changelings. Were they always this clever? If so, why strike now?" Soma asked, lowering his head in thought.
"I agree with Soma, I think someone is pulling their strings. Someone knew how to make a bomb that would weaken the dam," Phoenix said.
"I hate to say it, but they are right. It could be that last time we defeated them out of arrogance or us being underestimated- And now they simply decided to take proper measures against us. But yes, they never shown military precision to be able to strike at so many places at once," Twilight said.
"Write the letter Twilight. I have a plan. They took maps, right? So they should be heading to the spots with the best resources. We need to have them watched," Dan said.
"Like a steakout?" Soma asked. "Does that mean we are splitting up again?"
"Do you have any better ideas? Besides, we need to give time for Dovahkiin to make anything. We also have no idea if this was their actual plan or not. Pick up the pace junoir," Dan said. Soma lowered his head a bit and frown. As much as he hated to admit it, he still needed more experience in this kind of thing.
"You do not have to be so mean Dan," Pinkie Pie said. She walked over to give him a hug. "Its not that bad," she said to kiss his cheek. "We got our own house!"
"It could be I'm making this worse than it is, but the facts add up," Phoenix replied. "What worries me more, is that who ever is planning this, is hardly stupid. Smart opponents make you fight yourself, and right now all we can do is guess. "
"Spike, take a letter. Let's see what Princess Celestia thinks about all this."
__________________________________________
Otacon picked up his head to see the first wave of Changelings returned. It was Team Three. Otacon was sitting down on a tree root, looking over his notes.
"Team Three reporting, bomb did the trick on the dam. Unfortunately, we had no idea that the ponies had a fail safe," the spy said. Otacon proceed to debrief the spy. Curious... The ponies themselves saved the day there. Only one human on site though. Shortly after, Team One arrived. More of the same, one human on site and the yellow pegasus had been the one to defeat the monster.
Just what was going on? The doctor wondered if he should have included the ponies in his calculations, but according to the notes it was the humans that were super powerful. He only hoped Team Four was alright. He watched them take Trixie away.
Team Two finally arrived, nodding to the doctor. Otacon frowned. Another fail safe? How paranoid were these ponies? At least there were more humans there. A single bomb saved the day though... This meant the other side had explosives. Not a good sign. The other changelings begun to rest, moving away from the engineer to leave him to his battle strategies.
All the planning and work for nothing. While he had not planned to kill any pony, he doubted that ponies or humans were dumb enough to let themselves die by something that could have been seen coming. If he ordered these attacks at night, he worried that there would have been casualties.
Soon enough, King Aurelius arrived with his entourage. Otacon stood up, moving to nod to meet him. The King and his crew had not bothered to transformed, using their own wings to fly. "How was the negociations?" Otacon asked.
"Well enough I suppose... The Diamond Dogs are hardly, intellects as it were. But they do habor a grudge against the ponies. However, they will not join us just yet. They wish to wait to see how well we can do on our own. They do not wish to join a fruitless side," King Aurelius said.
"That makes sense. Did you send for the reserves?" Otacon asked, moving his left hand to adjust his glasses.
"Yes Dr. Otacon. There is good news though. The Diamond Dogs do posses a forge and metal smith shop. While they prefer gems, they do work with metal. They have agreed to let you work with their equipment as a good will intention," The King said. "Of course, they need some of their own tools and weapons looked after."
"I think I can handle that. I will need assistants to work a forge. And I am glad we won't have to build our own smithery. Teams One through Three have returned. I am afraid that there was not much results though," Otacon said. He wanted to guage how the King reacted.
"Did they fail?" King Aurelius asked, lowering his head to look at this changelings.
"No King. They all did exactly as I told them. But, the plans had an unexpected hitch. While we hoped for the humans to step in and save the day, the ponies eneded up doing the saving. The humans managed to save the the town from the rock slide, and they used a single bomb. It was almost as if the ponies anticipated the attacked and took counter measures. Had I known that the water resevoir was empty or that the rocks would end up in a quarry, I would not have bothered with those plans," Otacon said.
"I see... That is a shame. But we did learn something from it. We should not underestimate the ponies. Also, we have least gathered allies. Did you get the tools you needed?" King Aurelius asked. So long as the good doctor got what he needed to make weapons, then it was worth it. None of his Changelings had been lost either, so that was also good to know.
Both turned to look at the direction of marching. Fake earth ponies were making their way back into the meeting point. They carried shovels, picks, hammers, delicate instruments, writing tools, and books. Otacon smiled, glad for the books. He needed those more than anything, he had no idea if his physics and sciences work in this realm.
"Doctor, it looks like your Tetra Blitz was successful to a point," King Aurelius smiled.
"I am glad they returned with no problems," Otacon said with a sigh. His first mission as a commander, and while not a total success- The critical objective had been achieved. "Why did you take so long to get back?" Otacon asked.
"Forgive us Champion," the Changeling comander said. Otacon wasn't sure how to feel about being called Champion. The King had named him Champion of the Changelings, so it made sense he would have to get used to that title. "We had to make sure we got the things on your list, with a few extras. One of the changelings went into city hall. He found the current registry of Ponyville residents in a census, along with their occupations. Also, we were careful not to get followed. You were correct, the diversion strikes made nopony notice us."
"That's great news actually," Otacon said impressed. They did not appear evil, so he was going to give his saviors the benefit of the doubt for now. He also wanted to learn more about the humans first to decide. Could they be allies? "You've done well. There is nothing like knowing the enemy like knowing their jobs. I will have to read the books first while I make my way to the Diamond Dogs."
King Aurelius smiled. It appears that just having the doctor around was making his troops smarter.