"Right, get me some of the bottle over there!"
"Which one?" Rockhoof asked, looking in confusion at all the various bottles on display.
"The one with the purple liquid in it!" Meadowbrook replied, waving her hoof. "Hurry! We ain't got all day!"
Rockhoof grabbed the bottle in his teeth and ran over to Meadowbrook, depositing it alongside the desk at which she worked, but also on it, or else the bottle and the mixture would have gone smash on the floor. Not a productive outcome, if I do say so myself. And that would have been very serious if that had happened.
For the focus of the operation that was being carried out was absolutely vital. Colonel Peterson had been their critical target ever since they had learned he was in charge of Project 722, and capturing him had become a priority. They had succesfully ambushed his convoy and taken it down, but he had been hit by mistake by a stray bullet, and as a result had needed to be taken back to Hayseed Swamp for urgent medical treatment. Stygian had been sent upstairs to prevent him from doing anything stupid (he had, after all, been questioning why they were expending so much effort on saving a member of the enemy force), and as such it was down to Meadowbrook to try and repair the damage in front of her.
She glanced over to the heart monitor that had been crudely rigged up a few days before. "Good, he's stable," she said. "Pulse is good, flow is good, vitals look good-"
"The only problem is the giant bullet hole in his chest," Rockhoof interrupted. "That needs fixing."
"That is precisely what this potion was supposed ta do," Meadowbrook replied, before she lifted Peterson's head and adjusted it in such a way that his stomach access was clear. "Here we go."
Just then, Rockhoof noted swirls of dark smoke around Peterson. "Meadowbrook? I think he's being mind controlled."
"Why?"
"There's whisps of dark some all over the place," Rockhoof replied. "And that' the calling card of somebody that we know very, very, well."
Meadowbrook, having finished adding the chemicals, immediately mixed together another concoction with her potion skills (doubly impressive when you remember that she was an Earth pony), and added this to the amount of stuff that was building up in the potent mixing chamber that was the human stomach. All that remained was that they had to let it work, and that could take a while. To this end, both ponies took turns to watch the prone and injured soldier and ensure his heart or anything else kept working, for if it stopped working that would spell disaster, as their mission would all be for naught.
Meadowbrook took the first shift, which allowed Rockhoof a chance outside in the sweltering heat. He sighed as he looked about him, when suddenly he heard a voice from nearby.
"Rockhoof?"
Rockhoof glanced up to see it was another pony resident in the village, who was the owner and operator of the telegraph office. "Oh, hello. Is there news for me?"
"Indeed," he said. "I bring a very good telegram indeed. Admittedly, it took a little bit of translating as I don't speak Old Horse, but the gist of the message is that the Mighty Helm are on their way to help however they can."
Rockhoof's internal spirits lifted. The Mighty Helm were his old band of warriors, and to have them by his side again would yield them a considerable advantage. "That is fantastic news," he said. "Wire them back, and tell them that I can be found at the big tree near Hayseed Swamp."
"Very good, sir," said the pony, and he trotted away, ready to collect more telegrams.
Rockhoof was left collecting his own thoughts and feelings. The world did move in mysterious ways, he thought, and this was certainly a good sign for him. But what of the others? How had they gotten here and how were they doing?
Rockhoof was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts by Meadowbrook appearing. "Rockhoof?" she asked.
"Yes?" Rockhoof replied.
"Ah have good news. Major Peterson's awake. Ah had Stygian cover him whilst Ah told you the news, but he seems oddly... compliant."
"That's weird," Rockhoof said. "But I suppose that's the way the money goes. Let's go and interrogate him, and see what we can learn. I'd love to see what Project 722 is hiding from us, in this dark place."
When the two ponies re entered the building, and crossed the threshold that divided the outside world of Hayseed Swamp from the inside world of Meadowbrook's tree (also known as a door), and closed it behind them, and engaged the air conditioning system above them in the rafters. That sentence is a fragment, so let me try again.
When the two ponies re entered the building, and crossed the threshold that divided the outside world of Hayseed Swamp from the inside world of Meadowbrook's tree (also known as a door), and closed it behind them, and engaged the air conditioning system above them in the rafters, they were now totally isolated from the rest of the world. The Colonel, for all his reputation, seemed to be sitting there quite amicably, and was even trying to strike up a conversation with Stygian (who, unfortunately, didn't seem to be getting the memo on that front).
"Meadowbrook?" Stygian asked. "The prisoner was entirely cooperative. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"We can take it from here," Rockhoof replied. As Stygian trotted away, Rockhoof turned his attention back to the Colonel. "Start talking. When did you first get involved in all this?"
"Well," the Colonel replied, "my first real encounter with any of this was on the night of 25th February, 2019. I was working late night at NORAD, tracking signals and other airborne objects, when suddenly the monitors lit up with crazy energy frequencies. I diverted an armoured unit to investigate, and the report they came back with talked of skeletons, a winged horse, and a large cat creature on top of a pyramid."
"That wasn't the end of it, though. It wasn't long until we started getting a lord more reports of these strange horses around the country, and around the world. The pattern was that most of them looked like the horses from a Hasbro television show. After the train crash in the Bayou, I was put in charge of a branch of the military that was dedicated specifically to studying this phenomena, called Project 722."
"Why the name?" Meadowbrook asked.
"Want to divert to public's attention away from something? Give it a boring sounding name." The Colonel paused, before continuing. "Anyway, we found ourselves being contacted by a mysterious entity who only referred to himself as 'The Benefactor'. We never saw his face, or learned his real name, but we got a directive from the White House to let him have full authority over proceedings. Then it all goes a bit hazy."
Meadowbrook suddenly made a connection. "When ponies, or indeed people, are mind controlled under Equestrian magic, a common side effect after they are released is that they cannot or struggle ta recall the events that occurred whilst they were under the effects of mind control. Ah'm not sure this lead is gonna help us."
"I'd be fully prepared to help out in any way I can," the Colonel suddenly said. The entire room abruptly fell silent as he did so.
"Sorry?" Rockhoof asked, looking confused. "What did you say?"
"I'd be fully prepared to help out in any way I can," the Colonel suddenly said again. "I may not be able to recall what happened, but I have extensive tactical knowledge, and there's a lot of useful data on my helmet uplink."
Just then, a dark cloud swirled into the room, and a strange voice laughed. "Loyalty has its rewards, Colonel Peterson!" the voice said, ominous and dark in its manner. "So does betrayal!"
The Colonel had no time to react before an energy pulse blasted through him, killing him instantly. His body fell to the floor with a bang and lay prone and still.
"You killed him!" Rockhoof shouted.
"What is this? State the obvious day?" the voice continued. Stygian suddenly appeared, having heard the commotion, as the voice continued.
"From your actions, all I can see is that you and your fellow Pillars are cowards! Lowly lickspittles! You must be emulating those wastes of flesh you call Princesses, for you are as feeble and useless as them! I am ripping this world asunder, and you do nothing! I see you hiding in that tree of yours, weak and pathetic. I am here, in this world. FACE ME, IF YOU DARE!"
The ponies looked at each other, worried and concerned. "That was the Pony of Shadows," Stygian said.
"Indeed it was," Rockhoof growled. "If he has that sort of power in our world, any of us could kick the bucket at any moment."