//------------------------------// // 71. The ‘easy’ part. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equestria, Ponyville, Gallus- “Why don’t you take her up on the offer, I think I know her family well enough that she means well and definitely wants to be there for you. She’s also not forcing it and is waiting you to make that decision.” Twilight was once again in Ponyville working on an update on the situation that’s been going on for far too long now, what the update was about I haven’t the foggiest idea or clue. Hopefully it was something positive. “Everyone in Kuril’s family is nice… except maybe for Jaded, but she’s basically doing the ‘that one friend in particular’ thing on purpose like Discord does. At least Fluttershy tells me she’s not always causing problems, because the problems sometimes cause her. Before you ask, no, that wasn’t a misstatement on my part.” “I don’t know, would they really care that much about me?” I still had misgivings about going back to Kuril’s restaurant. “Gallus, Kuril immediately adopted a cursed parrot that was raised on a moving island of pirates at first sight. Kuril still sees Fizzle as one of her kittens even while she was taking part of the invasion with the Storm King and caused a lot of suffering. It’s kind of ridiculous how far she’s willing to go for anyone she’s willing to call one of her kittens, for example things got pretty insane when Kuril finally ‘legally’ adopted Velvet. The reindeer, not my mother… though I do wonder how those two would act in the same room. Anyway, Rein needed to send Equestria a ceasefire request because of something Kuril did, they are more terrified of her than they are of her daughter Jaded. That says a lot about Kuril considering Jaded’s reputation.” Having said that, Twilight pulled me into a tender hug. “If she wants you to come to her for help and family support, I think you would be happy having good people who actually want to earn that right for you to start calling them family. Just give them a chance. Kuril thinks you’re worth the effort to bother despite whatever trouble you may bring into her life, all of your friends think your worth that effort to be close to too.” “You’re just using me to get your mind off of the lambkin thing aren’t you?” Read my beak Twilight, drop the lambkin and changeling thing and hope it resolves itself within this century. “Yes, that’s true, but I’m also trying to help you open up to people who mean it when they say they want you around and will undoubtedly love you unconditionally.” Well, at least Twilight wasn’t lying to my face about it. “Don’t ever forget that I’m one of the people that cares about you Gallus, besides you are your own griffon and can make your own decisions. Even if you don’t take up the offer, you still have Gilda, Greta, Gruff and don’t forget Gabby has been trying to be a big sister to you lately with how often she keeps coming to Ponyville.” “Fine, so I might actually want a family… wouldn’t hurt to have that little guy Gavin as a nephew.” I sighed loudly and ran my claws under my beak in thought. “I’ll probably accept, but I will want to lay down some...” There was a flash and I felt something wrap around me. I was lifted up off the ground with a surprising amount of strength and heard a loud keening squeal as I was squeezed affectionately. “Yes, kitten get!” Kuril snuggled me close and licked the back of my head and my left cheek, then the crazy Abyssinian let me go and skipped away happily humming to herself. “Did that just… how did she even know that…? I don’t…” Did she just… “Yes, that actually happened and no that wasn’t your imagination.” Twilight looked as confused as I did about an Abyssinian managing to do a picture perfect replication of a unicorn teleportation spell. How did she even know to do that, where I was to appear exactly next to me or what I feasibly accidentally agreed to? This didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to continue spending time with Gilda’s family, but I sometimes felt like an intruder among them. I’m terrified of my new adoptive mother… and I somehow found that thought… comforting?! -Elhorn, Eastern Mountains Wulfgar Facility, Carbuncle- “Report, have you seen anything in the area… they should be scouting us out by now or already planning an attack.” I got the prize, now I was waiting for a trap to be sprung. “No sir, we haven’t visibly seen any Yellow Dog scouts from the Cooler faction. We’ve heard some mercenary movements, especially The Retrievers who were antagonistic during the Gravity Gorge acquisition. We haven’t spotted any of their ilk personally.” My men were well trained, but the fact that our prize managed to wreck several machines and take out entire groups without any weapons while on the run meant she was dangerous as much as she was an attractive prospect. I didn’t think for a second that she was a dumb animal despite how we were treating her and had her under heavy watch in case she tried anything. “We did get some odd smells from smaller beings in the area, I think one was a goat.” “Were the other animals known or unknown?” I asked with a hint of suspicion, because that might lead to some fun. I love a good fight, I’m fairly flamboyant, but what I wasn’t… was stupid. “Two unknown, possibly a sign of Devotindos pig activity… smelled too dirty to be sure though. A dirty pig going to ground is harder to trace than a clean one.” Considering my grunt with a curious gaze, I motioned for him to continue. “We didn’t follow the scents like you asked.” “Good, you didn’t get led into a possible ambush. Double security and have all our best ears on the vents, because I think our prize is about to have guests… and we’re about to have hostages that we can actually play with. Note, that the Cooler faction has outside help in the area and spread it to all guards to be on high alert and to not go beyond the boundaries of the base. If a blizzard occurs, floodlights pointed inward within the walls” I started to stomp away and then stopped. “How goes the recovery efforts of my OO unit?” “Putting them back together again didn’t seem as viable as was rebuilding the lost halves, but both halves are fairly deadly on their own now. Yes, they can each turn into a bike separately sir, but flying is no longer viable though.” That was good news, the OO unit was one of the strongest machines I’ve ever seen and it would be a shame to retired such powerful malice. A wolf came running up and passes a note to the one reporting to me. “Wulfgar hopes we can prove strong enough to at least take out one of the Cooler faction heads that is bound to be in the area to lead the attack on our facility sir.” “Which is well within the scope of our plans.” I turned and stalked away, smiling at another possible fight with that vivacious bitch of a rocket knight. She had been quite tough, but she was only a halfway decent one at best. “Tell Wulfgar that there might be a true rocket knight in the making and it isn’t an opossum this time, one whose career I intend to end early before she reaches Axel Gear backstabbing levels of problematic to deal with.” Rocket knights were supposed to instill fear in all who face them on the battlefield and this one has yet to become world renowned for her prowess. She had time to grow stronger and I had patience to get revenge on her for my ear. Carbuncle always pays back insults, with interest. -Outside the facility and halfway up a mountain, Shanty- The facility be having a lot of flat land around it, it be hard to approach it from the ground and something be subtly changing about the all patrols. Couldn’t quite be putting my hoof on what, but it be feeling like something bad. “Are you ready for this Shanty?” Giving Ocellus a nervous glance, I nodded. “Sorry to say this again, but you are really quite heavy for being so small.” “I not be feeling upset by that, I know I be having plenty of muscle!” This was not going to be a good day for us, I can feel it me bones that the winds be shifting us towards chaos. I not be minding heading straight into a storm of trouble, but I be wanting to survive long enough to have some memorable legacies. Getting in was going to be easy. It’s the getting back out part, with or without Pom that wouldn’t be. I be preferring the ‘with’ option personally, but if we couldn’t do that then I would find a way to absolutely be ruining someone’s day completely. Preferably the person that be capturing Pom. “I think they might be on to us.” Well we still had to carry out the plan, but we didn’t exactly have anything resembling reinforcements beyond Hunt’s team. I passed the binoculars to Ocellus. “They are being far more alert now.” “Okay, that is concerning, thanks for bringing this to my attention Shanty. I still might be able to get us by their ears even if they are more alert for anything, the muffle spell works wonders when it comes to quiet study time and I can do it easily enough.” The plan Ocellus told us, if we could be calling it that, was for us to glide into the base after a distraction is caused by Hunt’s team and then get a good look around without being caught. We would be the ones to signal when we were ready to do just that. “We won’t be able to talk while under its effects though. We just have to watch out if they are sniffing around for us, we don’t have any rotten eggs on such short notice, so we’ll have to improvise to mask our movements if we move anywhere the patrols are going to pass through.” “Ready for this Shanty?” Smolder turned to me and held out her left claw, Ocellus turned into a blue version of Smolder and held out her right. “As I’ll ever be, let’s go rescue Pom aye!” This could possibly even be fun, I held out my hooves and they grabbed them to start lifting me up. They better not be dropping me, don’t think the snow was deep enough around here. -Deep inside the base, holding cell, Pom- The one way barrier was unusual, but unicorns did things like that with magic all the time. These guys somehow replicated that effect with technology. Notably they could pour water through the field, drop food through it too… food that didn’t need any scraps removed because you could consume it entirely. If you didn’t… well they weren’t going to drop the barrier and would just let me wallow with the rotten food if I didn’t eat it all. The reason I was thinking about this is the four guys in the corners of my cell with projectile weapons. They could shoot through the barrier and my wool, but I wouldn’t be able to do anything back to them. My bathroom accommodations were… a very small divot in the floor leading into a tube that obviously led to some form of waste disposal. I would not be able to fit into said hole since it was half the size of my hoof. The only way out was up through the small circular patch in the ceiling the energy barrier didn’t cover, but I had no clue as to what was above me and I didn’t feel like making a move that would make them shoot me. The ceiling above me was metal, so a bark breaker would weaken it enough for me to break through it with my hooves, but I might end up trapped in whatever room is up there. Provided that there even is a room above my cell. This cell had to have ventilation or else I would have suffocated by now with all the panic breathing I did once I woke up in this bubble. The barrier was not something I wanted to touch more than once, getting zapped once was enough to know that it would be difficult to create a hole in the ceiling and climb up through it without touching the edges of the barrier. Usually when you hear of prison cells in stories, you have incompetent guards and simple methods of escape. In this situation… these guys had a fairly competent people watching me at all times and my holding cell was exceptionally designed on top of that by already being almost inescapable. What kind of prisoners did they have before me that would require a cell like this to be made in the first place? What did they seriously expect me to pull off here? I think they are overestimating my intelligence, my abilities or everything about me. I needed a miracle to even pull off what I’m thinking of doing without being shot. I would have to bark breaker straight up in the center of my bubble to weaken the ceilings materials the barrier didn’t cover, it would take a few seconds to actually hit the frequency needed to deal with the materials above my head. I would have to subsequently jump to cling to the ceiling, physically punch a hole through it or use a bark blast on the weakened material to shatter it. Once there is enough room I’d pull myself up if there is a room above me, if there’s dirt above the metal, then I would have to start digging as fast as I could. All of that would take me time that I wouldn’t have before I become painfully neutralized by the guards. Even if I succeeded in doing that I could just be climbing into another cell with an active barrier there too or, knowing my luck, I would end up climbing straight up into this places cafeteria for an awkward moment where all the guards are having lunch. I had no idea what time it was or how long I’ve been in here. I wouldn’t know until they allow me at least some form of relief from being watched by at least five attentive guards at all times. All the actions I needed to do meant I needed about thirty seconds with no one paying any attention to me whatsoever, but these guys weren’t willing to give me that much privacy. I could do it in ten with a quick Dancing Flame breathing technique. Makes me wish I had the same kind of literal firepower that my Tian does when she’s using Dancing Flame, I’m still using a heavily modified version of it to my own ends and liberally mix it with Fleet Cunning Doe and Cow Kenpo. I remember when Tianhuo thought that teaching me those breathing exercises would be good for keeping me calm and level headed. Well they were certainly helping me now… as much as they could anyway. I just inhaled and exhaled, steady my breathing, steady the rhythm of my increasingly frantic heart at the thought of escape being so close and yet so far. Just keep calm and think things through, do not go full lambkin panic mode and light myself on fire. Like Tai Lung escaping from a nearly inescapable prison built specifically with him in mind, all I had to do was bide my time and wait for a specific opportunity to act. The thought of Tai Lung was very anxiety inducing, given I almost died facing him. I wished I could go to my happy place right now, but my happy place was quite literally worlds away and being cared for by all my beasties. My happy place was safe, I most certainly was not. I looked at my hoof and shifted my wool down to cover it… hmm... -High above the Eastern Mountain Facility, Shanty- This be really high up, but I eventually be wanting an airship so I better not become afraid of heights. Ocellus transformed to look like a blue Smolder to help with the slow drop down onto the buildings below. The Retrievers hadn’t launched their distraction yet, but they better be doing it soon or else we would be having more trouble than the guards on the roof to face. We already be losing altitude, Ocellus and Smolder didn’t have the energy continue lifting me higher. “What’s taking them so long?” Smolder grumbled as we continued our fall towards the roof. “Can we be aiming for that wolf?” I be point my right hoof at someone standing on the edge of the roof looking at something. An explosion be going off below. “Doing it, the distraction is happening now.” Ocellus stated and be moving her wings around with Smolder and I pulled back my rear hooves. We dropped our glide steeply towards the scruffy looking wolf raising her weapon to be shooting at something distant. Ocellus and Smolder let me go and I flung my rear legs forward to come slamming down on her chest, she be dropping her weapon and be falling backwards with me on top of her. She didn’t be having time to figure out what was happening as I brought both my hooves around into the side of her head knocking her out. Ocellus and Smolder landed on the roof and looked around. Ocellus quickly changed back to being herself. “Look for a way inside there has to be one here somewhere up here.” Ocellus quietly whispered. We be thankful nobody else was being on the roof, another explosion sounded off and all the lights around the facility went out for a few seconds before coming back on. “Hey guys, over here.” Moving quickly over to Smolder, we found the opening we needed. Ocellus quickly and carefully pried the grating open with her magic and motioned us to climb in. She closed up the grating behind her and I watched them fly down a ladder leading into a room with spinning fans. “This is some classic spy thriller stuff huh Ocellus? Entering through the rooftop air ducts like pegasus spy extraordinaire Brilliant Findings.” I clambered down the ladder after them. “Yeah, but I currently don’t want our situation be anything like those adventures. Considering one of the books ended with him losing a kidney, having to regrow half a wing back and two shattered legs. I like the stealth aspects and all the weird gadgets like the funny exploding hoof polish gag, but it’s a bit too detailed for me when it comes to the injuries and violence.” I had no idea what Ocellus was talking about, much less Smolder. “Not to mention a disguised Gangly Grog almost got him too drunk to fight properly, that part was a bit too real and scary… like all of this.” “Kind of wished we had some of his gadgets or a spy like him.” Still a bit lost here Smolder, I watched her strike a pose. “I’ll have you know that you’ll find my name to be quite brilliant. Brilliant Findings at your service.” “Hello, magic, changeling, I practically have everything required to be an excellent spy Smolder... though I would prefer a nice and safe teaching job away from doing crazy stuff like this. Maybe I can work at the school of friendship as a linguistics teacher or a therapist.” Looking at some of the nearby large spinning fans, Ocellus turned to Smolder. “Also, this is real life Smolder. Imitating anything in those books without the kind of training Brilliant had is likely to end poorly.” “Rarity acted like she was a detective from one of her books and that worked out didn’t it?” Smolder was also looking at the fans and the various ways we could from this room. There was one door leading out, a mop, a bucket and some cleaning supplies nearby. I don’t think we would be doing well to be outing that we were here, so we wouldn’t be touching that door. “It was clothing that was the main piece of evidence against the guy, of course it worked out.” It seemed like Ocellus was as easily distracted as Smolder was, it was getting way off track now and it be irritating me. “Rarity wasn’t about to let a soiled piece of clothing go unnoticed and she has a really great eye for detail.” “Shouldn’t we be focusing on other things… like saving Pom from these guys?!” They both be give me weak grins as I nearly be shouting as I glared at the two of them. “Right, sorry Shanty, let’s get back on task Ocellus. We’ll talk later when we’re done looking around and possibly finding Pom, also when we’re not in the middle of a base full of competent wolves that are better armed than the ones in Gongmen certainly were.” Smolder nodded to the both of us. “I don’t think anybody heard Shanty, the fans in here are kind of loud.” “Okay… I choose… that one!” Ocellus pointed at a fan and levitated the mop over to herself while looking at the spinning blade. “Really Ocellus? That will never…” As Smolder was stating it, the wooden shaft of the broom was quickly rammed between a pair of blades and the fan be stopping immediately. It left us plenty of room to squeeze by the blades. “How is that broom not a pile of splinters?” “Remember hearing about the time the Cutie Mark Crusaders somehow bought an industrial sized hairdryer for pets? I did some light reading from the manual they had for it, which those three never bothered to even look at, I noticed the fan blades here have a similar cut off system in case of accidents.” Ocellus calmly walked between the fan blades with a blasé attitude and we followed despite the blade looking like it was straining against the wood of the mop. “If the pet hairdryer were ever set in reverse and sucked up a pet, it was less likely to end in tragedy because of the safeties installed in it do this exact thing. Starting muffle spell now, nobody will be able to hear us move. But if they notice something shaking or shifting about in the vents… well they can still see and smell us.” We eventually found some more vents leading further inward until we were above a corridor. As we be going over one of the gratings and looked down, we noticed that the wolves were all running around in a slight panic. Ocellus looked surprised by something she heard, she motioned us forward until we were in a darker part of the vents and she spelled out ‘POM’ in the air with her magic. -Escape sequence, a few minutes earlier- The room rumbled, the guards became distracted. Pom’s eyes snapped open, she exhaled sharply, fired a bark breaker straight into the ceiling and crouched down. Her wool rippled, becoming thicker around the upper half of her body as the lower half became thinner. Within a moment’s notice all the guards immediately aimed their weapons at her and readied to fire. A second explosion sounded out and the lights went out in the room for a few seconds. Within ten seconds, there was a round hole in the ceiling and rubble covered the floor. Pom, standing upside down on the ceiling of the room above, had some sweat sliding up her forehead. The steam filled room, to her embarrassment, was currently full of showering wolves.