It was time to take Nightmare Moon's conquest to the next level, before the leaders of this world realized that we were here. Next stop: Camp Pendleton!
"There. See?"
"Yeah, I see him. Get the Savior dream ready."
Nightmare Moon and I were on top of a building just north of Oceanside, California. More precisely, we were on top of the Naval Hospital just inside the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. We had followed the 5 freeway to the south from downtown Los Angeles for about an hour, until we saw the distinctive Naval Hospital come up on our left side. I chose the location mainly because it was a prominent landmark that we couldn't miss from the freeway. Another good reason was the building's modern design and its open-air walkways. They made it easy to watch for people who were walking or standing alone, so we could kidnap and enslave them. The target I was watching that evening was wearing a set of light blue medical scrubs and a surgical mask hanging around his neck. He was staring out across the freeway and to the ocean beyond, while smoking a cigarette. And most importantly, he was standing alone in a darkened corner with no one else in sight.
Hope you got your nicotine fix dude, 'cause you're not finishing that cigarette.
One magical grab later, and the man was yanked up two stories then over the edge of the roof of the building. I didn't see or smell fresh cigarette smoke from the man, which worried me. So I looked back over the edge of the rooftop for his cigarette. Didn't want the burning embers to fall in the bushes and start a brush fire, after all. I found it fairly quickly, the glow from its end was easily seen in the dark. His cancer stick was lying on the concrete floor, in the same corner the man had been standing in. A thin line of smoke was still wafting up from its lit end. Satisfied that the cigarette wouldn't start a fire, I turned back from the rooftop edge to see how our new slave was doing. He lay there on the rooftop where I left him, completely limp and unmoving, with the Night Mare looming over him. Her horn wasn't lit, but I knew she had to be doing something to the man. With a bit of focus, I could tell that she was casting something: the same spell I used to monitor the Savior dreams. While the ebony mare watched over the male's dreams, I decided to keep looking for another victim on the walkways below. In my opinion, the more minions we had the better. All I needed was one person walking or standing alone, where no one could see them.
A light yet brisk sea breeze blew across the rooftop, which rustled the trees nearby and ruffled my fur. We were close enough to the ocean that I could smell the salt in the air. That autumn night was so crisp and clear, I could clearly see the ocean past the freeway and over the buildings near the Del Mar Boat Basin. To my left was a housing subdivision and Camp Pendleton's main gate; to my right was a shopping mall. From my earlier explorations I knew there was another housing subdivision behind the Naval Hospital. I could hear quiet and muffled voices below me, which got louder every time someone opened a door.
I had no problem finding targets to kidnap, there were people walking around everywhere I looked. The problem was, none of them were alone. They were either walking in groups or someone else was always standing nearby. If I snagged any of the people I was looking at, someone else would notice and we'd be discovered. So I kept watching.
Nothing. An hour of looking around, and no good targets. Looks like this guy will have to do.
I turned away from my perch at the edge of the rooftop and walked across the black tarred surface towards Nightmare Moon. She was still watching over our lone captive.
"How's he doing?"
"Not well. No matter how many times he passes the Savior dream, the shadow parasite can not fully subvert his mind. It is as if he is fighting the parasite, yet I can find no sign of him doing so."
"Uh, that's not good."
"No, it is not. However, I believe he has been subverted enough to lure others to us. He is a surgeon and not a soldier, so his use to us may be limited. I shall wake him."
A flash of magic from the dark mare's horn, and the surgeon's eyes fluttered open.
"Do you recognize who I am?"
"Yes, Mistress."
"Good. I require a private room within this facility. It should be in a discreet area so my associate and I can enter it without being seen. A storage room or other room that is rarely used would be best."
The surgeon turned to look at me, then back to the dark mare.
"I know the perfect room, Mistress. It has a door that leads outside that you can use."
"Excellent. My associate will return you to where we retrieved you from. Enter the room you have chosen and open the outside door. We shall find you."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Alright dude, hold on."
I picked the surgeon up in my magic and carried him over to the edge of the rooftop. Once there, I gently lowered him down to the walkway I had taken him from. Fortunately, the walkway was still empty so the surgeon's reappearance was not seen. As soon as I let him go, he reached down and picked up his cigarette. Somehow, it was still lit. He took a couple of puffs, stubbed the butt out on the bottom of his shoe, then went inside the building. Nightmare Moon could easily track the shadow parasite wherever it went, so she simply followed the surgeon as he walked across the building. On the far side of the rooftop, the two of us peeked over the edge just as our minion opened a door for us.
The two of us jumped off the rooftop before he whispered out to the night air.
"Mistress?"
We landed quietly on the walkway right in front of him. To his credit, the surgeon didn't even flinch.
"I am here. Now, show us this room you have chosen for us."
The surgeon held the door open for us, then closed it once we were inside the dark room. A click from the light switch, and the room was brightly illuminated. It was a medium-sized room, maybe 20 feet square with plain white walls. The only other exit was a single door on the other side of the room. On either side of the door were large windows, but they were covered in blinds so no one could see inside. The room was adorned with four empty hospital beds; two on our left and two on our right. Tracks for hospital curtains ran across the ceiling. Currently, the curtains were drawn back against the walls giving the room an open feeling. The room smelled a touch dusty, but seemed clean otherwise. Beyond our own footsteps, I couldn't hear anyone else.
"This is a spare room that is only used when the hospital is full. Right now, the room is unused. Will it do, Mistress?"
"It seems to be big enough, but there is no privacy. We shall be discovered as soon as the door is opened."
The surgeon walked to the far right corner of the room. He grabbed the edge of a curtain and dragged it towards the left wall, until it blocked our view of the door.
"Is this better?"
"Yes, it is. Your next task will be to discreetly lure soldiers to us, one at a time. Give them any excuse you can think of, but do NOT reveal our presence to them. Do you understand?"
"Yes...Mistress."
The surgeon turned away and walked around the curtain. I then heard the door open and then shut. This left the ebony mare and I with nothing to do except await his return.
A few minutes later, our wait was over. The lock on the door clicked open, and we heard someone rush into the room. A moment later, the curtain we were standing behind was yanked aside! To our dismay, we were not greeted by a single soldier but two very angry soldiers pointing guns at us! They were wearing what looked like desert camouflage caps and uniforms, with black belts and a gold badge over their left breast.
"Freeze, Military Police!"
"Don't move...whatever you are!"
Aw, shit!
With a thought, I popped up my shield and prepared for a firefight. However, Nightmare Moon had a different plan. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn into her mist form and streak toward the soldiers. The two men were standing next to each other, so her non-corporeal form was large enough to completely cover both men minus their boots. Suddenly, their weapons fell out of the mist cloud and clattered against the hard floor. Moments later, their limp bodies slumped down to the tiled surface and did not move. One of them began to lightly snore. The dark mare reformed into her equine form and shouted at me.
"Where is the surgeon?!"
In answer, a klaxon began to go off.
"Ran for the alarm, obviously."
"Strewth! I was certain he was under our control.
"We had best give these two shadow para...sites..."
The Mare in the Moon's equine ears must have picked up the same thing my feline ones had - several pairs of boots, running this way. Or maybe she heard it as sets of hooves, as I didn't think she had ever heard the sound of boots on tile before. Whatever she heard, it meant that guards were coming this way -- and fast.
"Or perhaps it is best that we retreat, immediately."
The two of us ran for the outside door. The dark mare blasted it off its hinges, then we ran through the smoking opening and out to the walkway outside. I heard shouting in the room behind us as we took to the air, and we quickly disappeared behind our invisibility spells. As we flew off, I took a look behind us and saw Military Police exit through the destroyed doorway. One looked over the railing, probably to see if we had jumped down. The rest split up to run down either side of the walkway, wrongly guessing that we had run away down one side or the other. Too bad for them, we could fly and we were already long gone. Once Nightmare Moon deemed us to be far enough away, she and I landed in a nearby field to discuss our ruined plans. We both agreed that it was too early to head home, and we wanted to try the same plan again. The surgeon's actions were too strange, there had to be something wrong with the man. I suggested an area in Camp Pendleton called Mainside, an area northeast of the Naval Hospital that my internet research said contained shops and offices and headquarters for many of the units stationed at the base. Nightmare Moon agreed it was a good location, and hoped that we would have better luck there.
This was not to be the case.
We found plenty of soldiers to capture, but the one we grabbed also had troubles with her shadow parasite. She led us to a dark alley behind an abandoned building, then left to lure another soldier to us. To no one's surprise, she returned with Military Police instead. This time we left before we were seen, and dejectedly made our way north along the 5 freeway and back home. However, when we reached the San Onofre gate (the northernmost Camp Pendleton gate on the 5 North) we decided to make one more attempt.
We shouldn't have bothered. The soldier we snagged wouldn't accept Nightmare Moon's orders, no matter how many times he went through the Savior dream. We left Camp Pendleton for the last time that evening, completely defeated.
It was a bit after 4 in the morning when we arrived back at the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles. As was our usual, we landed on the outside observation deck and opened the door leading to the 69th floor. One trot up the staircase to the 70th floor, and it was a simple matter to open the hidden trap door that led into Nightmare Moon's Moon Palace. I watched my Queen fly up through the open door, then with a quick flap of my wings I was inside and next to her again. As Nighty was closing the trap door, I heard a voice through the sliding door leading to the throne room.
"She's back!"
I turned to look at Nightmare Moon, only to see her looking past me towards the throne room. I figured she had also heard the voice, so I waited. After a few moments, her head turned to look at me. I could only shrug; I had no idea what was going on, either. The ebony mare said nothing, but merely turned and walked towards the throne room door. As always, I followed. Once we were both in the throne room, I slid the door closed behind me. I could hear voices and whispers coming from farther in the room, but from where I stood I could only see the back of Moony's throne-couch. As soon as we walked past the back of the throne-couch, the Moon Mistress turned left then stepped up to the dais. I was then able to look at the room and see what was going on.
A bunch of bronies were sitting patiently on the bean bag chairs that sat in front of the dais, and consequently Nightmare Moon's throne. This was quite strange, as they were usually spread around the throne room doing their own thing. I looked around at the rest of the room, hoping to make sense of the situation. I was standing at the front right corner of the dais, facing the bronies. Nightmare Moon's throne couch was to my left, sitting upon the back of the dais. The bronies were sitting in bean bag chairs in front of the dais, directly in front of me. The chairs were placed four to a row, in four rows. Most of the chairs were being used, with a few empty ones spread out among the group. I wasn't interested in counting them, so I moved on. Beyond the bronies were the video game consoles: a table which held two small widescreen monitors and a number of consoles. Controllers and wires were piled all over the table and boxes stacked underneath. A few folding chairs were set up in front of the table. To my right and behind the bronies were a few tables with board games stacked on them. Some of the board games were set up and looked to be in the middle of a game. Another table was stacked with soda and cups and snacks. The Dagorhir gear was piled up against the far wall. The bronies had brought in a lot of crap to play with, but the only bronies I could see were sitting in the bean bag chairs. I could not remember any other time that ALL the bronies were waiting for us when we came home. Usually they were busy playing games or eating.
Now that I think about it, they ignored ME when I came home. This is the first time Moony has left and returned while the bronies were staying here.
I admit, that revelation left a bad taste in my mouth. But instead of staying pissed, I ignored it and simply walked up upon the dais. In front of all of those annoying bronies, I sat down on the throne-couch next to Nightmare Moon. They could be as disrespectful as they wanted, but I knew I had a place with her that they could never get. Immediately after I sat down, one of the bronies spoke up.
"How did your conquest go, Mistress?"
"Not well, sadly. Our mission tonight was a complete failure."
A collective gasp was heard around the room.
"Mistress, how could this be?"
"We are uncertain. We applied the same tools that have worked for us in the past, without fail. The soldiers seemed to be under my control, but they all immediately betrayed me.
"At this time, we cannot reliably subjugate the soldiers of this world and we are uncertain how to proceed."
Another brony spoke up.
"Can't you just ask nicely to see who's in charge? The soldiers may not help, but maybe their boss is easier."
Several other voices immediately attacked the speaker.
"That's just stupid."
"Really? Just ASK them to give up?"
"No wonder you suck at D&D, Howard."
While the bronies slung insults at each other, I was trying to remember something. The suggestion reminded me of something else...something we did....
Ah, the 'briefcase' trick. That's it. We just asked to see the people we wanted to see, and had a good cover story. But would it work within the military hierarchy?
"HOLD!"
For once, the bronies quieted down at my command.
"The idea IS pretty stupid, sorry Howard. But we might be able to use the concept as part of a larger plan.
"Does anyone know if a soldier can just ask to see their supervisor?"
One hand went up, and I pointed to the owner.
"Yes?"
"I served a tour of duty in the Army. And yes, anyone can get a meeting with their direct report. Depending on the reason and their schedule, you may have to wait a couple of days."
"What could you say to get an immediate, private meeting?"
"Hmm. You could probably say you had a personal issue you needed to talk about. It would get you a private meeting, at least."
That would work.
I turned to Nightmare Moon, who was looking at me curiously. Lucky for her, I had just worked out a plan.
"We can use the 'briefcase trick', my Queen. Take one of the soldiers we've enslaved, and ask them if they would take you to see their direct report; basically, their boss. And I mean 'ask', as we already know what happens when we order them."
"I have not yet forgotten tonight's failure. Are you certain that this plan will work?"
"If our minions will do what we ask, then yes. Enslave the direct report, then just repeat the same process over and over until we get to the commanding officer of the base. Once he takes our orders, the base is ours."
"And if MY minions do not do as we ask?"
I ignored the implied rebuke. As far as I was concerned, they were my minions as much as hers.
"Then we're no worse off than we are now."
"I see.
"Very well then, we shall use your plan. As it is too late to make an attempt this evening, we shall return tomorrow evening instead.
"In the meantime, let us socialize and relax."
I spent the rest of the evening playing the My Little Pony Monopoly game with several bronies. I picked Rarity as my playing piece, and came in second to the brony playing Pinkie Pie. After a nice day of sleeping and cuddling with my big plush and cuddly ebony alicorn buddy, she and I left her Moon Palace just after dusk. Once again, we followed the 5 freeway south for about an hour until we reached Camp Pendleton. On the way, we discussed our plan and decided to start with the surgeon at the Naval Hospital -- but only if he was at work that evening. As soon as we arrived and landed on the roof of the hospital, Nightmare Moon called to her minion. Fortunately for us, he was in the hospital that night. However, he informed us he could not get free of his duties for another twenty minutes or so. The Night Mare decided that she would wait. I wandered around the edges of the rooftop, looking for another victim we could enslave. But that night, security was much tighter than it was the night before. Armed guards were on all of the exterior walkways, and they were keeping an eye on everyone that was walking around. So yet again, it looked like we had to rely on this one minion. A minion that had already betrayed us once. I was beginning to wonder if my plan was going to work, or if it would backfire on us like the last one did.
Twenty-five minutes later, Nightmare Moon informed me that her minion was ready. He exited the building and onto a bridge that led to the parking garage next door. I couldn't see anyone watching him, so I hauled him up to the roof with my magic.
"There you go. I hope we didn't disrupt your evening too much."
"I can spare a few minutes, Master. What do you need from me?"
Here we go.
"We'd like you to bring your Mistress to see your direct report. Can you do that for us?"