//------------------------------// // Stand For Everfree (1) // Story: Heart Forged of Iron // by Crack-Fic Casey //------------------------------// Fluttershy was fine. Really.  She watched Starlight and Pinkie circling each other like angry housecats and had no real, important opinions to share. She couldn’t possibly be impatient with their lack of patience, so she sat safely behind her desk in the back and desperately tried to finish her paperwork.  “If you really thought this was a good idea,” Pinkie snapped, mane trembling from anger, “then you wouldn’t be trying to hide it!”  “There are plenty of reasons to not talk about something!” Starlight snapped right back “And Twilight’s going to be unreasonable about this—” “You haven’t even given her a chance!” “We were best friends! Spike and I were the people that got her to re-engage with the rest of the world after…” she grimaced and shifted the direction of the sentence, “when she got to the university. I know her, and she’s not thinking clearly about this!”  “She doesn’t want to build weapons,” Pinkie said stubbornly, “and I don’t like doing that either—” “That doesn’t mean a thing to Iron Mage!” Starlight stomped, sending Pinkie skittering back a few steps, and sighed. “We have to protect ourselves. Look, just help me come up with a prototype before we talk to Twilight. Then if she shoots us down, we’ll know we did our best.” Fluttershy almost frowned as Pinkie slowly nodded. It was the same thing Starlight had done to get them to help with the Golem project; she’d been arguing for a prototype for a while, but the way she presented made it seem like she was the one compromising. Fluttershy wasn’t sure she wanted to start an argument with Starlight though, and if she were forced to verbally express an opinion she’d agree with Starlight. There were plenty of nice things you could do with suits like that besides hurting people.  “But, but,” Pinkie pressed, “we don’t weaponize it until after we talk to Twilight. Promise?” “I promise,” Starlight said. “Though there’s no point. The manufacturing facility won’t let me in anymore.” “Me either.” Pinkie kicked the floor morosely. “They’re just sooo boring.” Good, they’ve been getting my notes, Fluttershy thought. Having Pinkie Pie and Starlight Glimmer working in the same lab required a greater degree of supervision than Fluttershy was willing to provide.  The door swung open and Twilight Sparkle walked in. In addition to her usual shirt, vest, and bow-tie she wore a light-colored pith helmet with her Mark emblazoned on the side. “Hey girls! Do you have anything planned for today?” Pinkie said, “Nope we’re not planning any projects or prototypes or anything not that we’ve been lazy we just haven’t had much to do but you’re here so hi!” in one sentence without taking a breath, which always fascinated Fluttershy.  Twilight stared at Pinkie for a moment and then transferred that stare to Starlight.  “It’s nothing important,” Starlight answered.  Twilight nodded and ignored Pinkie’s deeply offended look. “Great, because I found a lead. Have either of you heard of the Pys-der?" She plunged onwards before they could say no. "It's a spider that hypnotizes its prey into its webs with flashing lights like Hypnotia does. The Everfree Lab has one, we just have to go and pick it up.”  Pinkie raised a hoof. “Why can’t we have it shipped here?” “The lab is closing down next week,” Twilight answered, “and the pony in charge has done a sloppy job recording their work. But I promise it won’t take more than the day to find!” “Um,” Starlight said, “Find the spider that can brainwash things?”  “Little things!” Twilight said. “Well, not by spider standards, but the birds it eats are much smaller than people!” “Uh-huh,” Starlight said. “Nope.” “They’re small by bird standards! More or less…” “More no.” “Starlight!” Twilight paused and lowered her voice. “Starlight, we need to figure out how her powers work. The lab is closing in a week and I need help going through the inventory. Besides, you wanted me to help you find a project that would help make Applied Sciences look good, and solving Hypnotia’s powers will do that.” Fluttershy shivered. It had been a week since AIM’s attack and it felt like they were everywhere. When she’d come back to Spark Industries after the attack the mood had been tense. There were new security checkpoints, and people were staring suspiciously at each other like they expected an attack to come at any minute. And to be fair, it actually could. Fluttershy felt nervous around the guards now, knowing that anyone of them could be a double agent.    Starlight sighed. “But why can’t we have interns do this?” “Because I want control over who knows what, at least until we have something we can use.” The room felt very quiet after she said that. Fluttershy crouched a little smaller behind her desk, and both Pinkie and Starlight looked uncomfortable. Fluttershy only remembered some of what happened, and she knew Pinkie didn't remember anything. Starlight was still very angry about it and she knew Spike was still bothered that he agreed to hurt someone. All of them were scared of Hypnotia. Twilight, being Twilight, didn't notice. She glanced between the two of them and looked mildly confused. Fluttershy wanted to explain how they felt, but... She's been feeling like this since she was kidnapped. She might even be worse. She'll figure it out. Twilight shrugged. “So you’re coming?” she asked with her charming smile. Starlight sighed. “Fine. Let me just find Fluttershy and we’ll be off.” “Um,” Fluttershy tried. She went unnoticed as the three mares walked out the door. Twilight was not completely fine, but at least she could admit it. She sipped her thermos as she listened to Pinkie and Starlight talk. Fluttershy had caught up to them at the train station and was either reading or hiding behind a newspaper.  Sunset Shimmer stepped into the train car and caught her attention. Twilight glanced back to make sure none of the girls were looking before she joined the agent. “Anything?” “No AIM signals yet. You?” Twilight shook her head. “My device picked up some SHIELD sending spells right when we left, but nothing else.”  “And you're sure you can detect them.” “Sunset.” Twilight fixed her with a look. “I’m me. They aren’t going to outsmart me with science.”  “Okay, okay.” Sunset slipped her receiver back into her jacket and looked at Twilight. She smiled. Twilight frowned. “What?” “Nothing, you just look a lot better than you have been for the last couple weeks.”  “Oh. Huh.” Twilight shrugged. “I guess having something like a plan in place is helping.” She had felt more on the ball while planning things with Sunset; just having someone to talk things through with had relieved so much pressure. “What about you?” Sunset snorted. “Busy. Hypnotia has really freaked SHIELD out. The medical staff has been going over me to see if there’s anything about my body that made me immune, because why would I understand what happened, oh and the councilor has been meeting with me to make sure I’m actually free— Getting permission to do this took some favors.” An immediate flash of guilt stormed her. “I’m sorry—” Sunset raised a hoof to interrupt. “It's okay. Even if we weren't friends, this is important. I’m just saying it might be hard for me to slip away and help in the future.”  Twilight blew her bangs out her face and looked out the window, watching the people walking by or staring at the train pass around Ponyville to reach her lab in the Everfree. For a moment, she wondered what it’d be like to live there, maybe working as a librarian, just having a normal life. Eh. It’d probably be too quiet. At least like this, I'm getting chances to really help people “I’m going to go back and keep an eye on the girls,” she said. “You keep watching the perimeter. Even if we’re unlucky and there’s an attack, we can figure out who the mole is and maybe save them.” Doctor Gloriosa Daisy wasn’t just fine, she was the most-fine pony who’d ever lived.  As she trotted through the ruins of the Castle of the Two sisters, she didn’t think about the labs closing, or where she’d go if they did. She was a scientist with not-mad aspirations collecting samples in a calm manner. She was in Everfree Castle because magic in the area tended to behave oddly. Some even suggested that the place was haunted, but that was just a story the Princess spread to keep people away from her sister’s grave. The truth was that the Princesses battle with the Nightmare had featured two Alicorns channeling immeasurable mystical energy, and the magic had dented the laws of physics a little. A similar phenomenon took place after the White Event elevated them to Alicorns in the first place, changing the nature of magic for a hundred years before things stabilized.  Gloriosa reached out with her magic, feeling the plant life around the castle. Oh, there’s a hole in the northwestern wall! Something was growing under the wall, breaking apart the stone, and it was just down the hall! Gloriosa turned the corner and saw a pair of Wall-nuts growing underneath the wall, the ultra-tough wood breaking the stone apart. Patches of moss grew across their side and up the wall, and some scratches on the floor told her that animals had been getting in as well. She tapped a button on her forehoof, and her saddlebags came to life. Artificial limbs had only recently become commonplace, but they still allowed Earth Ponies greater versatility than they’d ever had before and were now the standard at places like Spark Industries. The enchanted metal limb stretched out from the top of her saddlepack and began to clear away the loose debris as she looked for seeds. The Wall-nuts were the best part of her presentation and she was running low. Without them— There was a lack of sound. It wasn’t a silence marked by animals and other noises stopping; it was like there had been a sound and then something retroactively decided there wasn’t.  Gloriosa turned. She thought she could see something shifting in a corner, something small but very much alive. She held her breath, afraid of frightening it away. She moved closer, sliding her hooves across the floor to keep her hoofsteps from alerting anyone.  The light from her helmet revealed an odd patch of nothing. It was a very black, very present nothing, a shadow in three-dimensions. It twitched forwards in the light, stumbling end-over-end to land at her hooves. It tried to sit up.  Gloriosa bent a little closer, trying to get a better idea of what it was. Despite its very odd appearance, she didn’t feel threatened by it at all. It stretched upwards as if it were trying to reach her.  There was a hoofstep outside, and the shadow twitched closer to her face. A sudden panic gripped her, not at the bizarre creature at her nose but at her bodyguard. I can’t let him see it! She brought the arm down, hurriedly urging the creature into a containment pod. The ease of which it was captured escaped her notice, as the fact that she had no reason to hide it.  Once the creature was out of sight, her mind eased. If she’d had a moment longer to think about that her life might have turned out differently, but her bodyguard entered and her train of thought rapidly jumped tracks.  Blockhead was a friendly Unicorn with an unruly brownish-red mane and white fur. His father had been a miner and he’d inherited a very compact, muscular physique. He was friendly, enthusiastic about things even if he didn't understand them, and incredibly handsome. “Doctor Daisy? Are you wrapping up?” “Uh— Yes!” Gloriosa Daisy declared. “Almost! Just give me a minute more, please?”  “Sure.” Blockhead twisted his head, getting the cricks out of the gloriously thick neck of his, and moved to peer out the window. “So, you’re almost done with your plant-growing project thing?” “Oh yes!” Gloriosa beamed as she haphazardly shifted through the debris on the floor. “it's going to revolutionize the construction and save the labs!”  “Huh.” He used his field to fiddle with his collar, trying to loosen it. “Isn’t it a little too late for the labs?” “It’s never too late!” “Yeah, but like… almost everyone else found work somewhere else and stuff.” He suddenly looked nervous. “Not that I don’t appreciate it! But I have gotten a pretty sweet offer to pilot ‘assorted vehicles’ for some rich guy out west. I don’t know what an assorted vehicle is yet but I can’t wait to give it a shot!” “That’s… yeah,” Gloriosa said, “I’m... sure you’ll do great. But these labs were my first real break. I can’t just give up!” She shuddered, and unbeknownst to her the shadow she’d found shimmered in response. “I have to make this work, no matter what it takes.” He nodded. “Well, I heard that some kind of bigwig was going to be here to collect samples in a couple of hours. Maybe you could show—” Gloriosa grabbed his face with both hooves and pulled it down to her own. “What!? When!?” “...In a few hours?” Blockhead said again. “If you hurry you might be able to present your… science stuff? Science stuff to them.”  “Yes!” she could do this! Glorisosa's mind was a whirl with possibilities, matching the shimmering her shadow made from inside her pack. His eyes darted from side to side. “Um… you’re welcome?” “Right! S-sorry.” She took a step back and cleared her throat. “But you’re right! All I have to do is show my plant armory and we’ll have all the money we need! I can do this! Come on!” Gloriosa rushed out of the castle, scarcely aware of the terrain around her. She barely noticed Blockhead keeping pace behind her, and she’d certainly forgotten about the shadow she’d collected in her pack. There's no reason to worry, she told herself. Everything's coming together. I got this.