//------------------------------// // Chapter 73. Are you feeling nervous, are you having fun? // Story: Becoming Fluttershy // by Hope //------------------------------// I sat at the laptop while Twilight stepped through magical exercises, laying in her bed. She was juggling pills, testing herself to see how many she could hold up at once, in a complex pattern. I could see through their cameras, as my friends were riding in a black suburban, on their way to the location they were pretty sure contained Discord. “Look, I’m only gonna say it once!” Dash said from off screen. “Oh? Say what, Dash?” RJ asked, full of fake innocence. “I’m super jealous! There! Happy?” RJ chuckled. “Now, Dash. Why’d y’all be jealous?” RJ’s camera went dark as she moved something in front of it for a moment, and in Rainbow’s camera I could see the brilliant red, white, and blue of a round shield catch the light. “Because, you have a working version of Captain America’s shield,” she said, pointing at RJ. “I mean. Come. On! How cool is that?!” RJ smirked, shifting the shield, the way it moved betraying how heavy it had become once enchanted, making RJ the only pony capable of carrying it in battle. “Won’t lie,” RJ said, smirking. “It’s pretty freaking cool.” Twilight was watching the TV as she juggled pills, smiling. “It better be,” she said into the USB headset mic she wore. “It’s now effectively the shield from legend, or in this case, the movies and comic books, powered by humanity’s belief in it as THE shield.” The ear buds that Stephanie had provided us with, hooked up to radios, were much better than relying on cheap cell phone microphones, and I could hear everything clearly without any echoes. “I told you I had it covered,” Stephanie said as her own bodycam video came up on our screen from the front seat of the SUV. “Sorry I didn’t have more.” “No,” Twilight said. “Just the one is probably best. If there were two, it’d diminish the spell’s power. See, sympathetic magic is-” “Can the lecture, Twi?” Dash asked. “I’m trying to get in my awesome-headspace, and it’s tough enough when RJ has the really cool thing that I don’t.” “Ya still doing that Earth-style mental shielding thing?” RJ asked. “Hey, it’s Discord. If Pinkie’s plan doesn’t work out, I want a backup,” Dash said. Pinkie Reid fiddled with her microphone adjusting how far it was from her mouth with precision while tucking her cell phone into the pocket of her cargo shorts. “It’s okay, Dashie! I’m not offended. I’m only mostly sure my plan’ll work, too,” She chimed in. “But I am totally sure I’m gonna take another nap, now.” Then, looking like she was surprised by what she'd said and with a moment of panic filling her eyes, she collapsed onto her side and started snoring. Sam, RJ’s dog, walked over to Pinkie and licked her cheek, whimpering sadly. “That’s really starting to freak me out,” RJ commented. “Seconded,” Dash said. I walked over to her, and carefully moved a pillow under her head, before brushing her curly mane out of her face, trying to keep my emotions in check. “I’ll, um, talk to the next doctor who comes in,” I said softly. “Maybe they can run some tests?” “Yeeeeeah,” Twilight drawled, sarcastically. “Because running tests on Pinkie Pie worked so well for me, last time.” “She has Reid merged with her now. Maybe she’s more testable?” I offered, pleading with the universe that Pinkie Reid was okay, even though I didn’t ever pray. . “Oooooo! Good point,” Twilight replied. “Ugh, now I wish I had my equipment with me.” “How’re we on time?” RJ asked. “Fifteen minutes left, by May’s phone,” Stephanie responded. “Great, great,” RJ said. “You sure about this place, Steph?” “As sure as we can get,” Stephanie replied. “Out of everywhere in the city, this building has the most chaos manifestations near it. Then they spread out in this… kind of wobbly-looking circle.” Raritony chuckled. “Even in chaos, Discord makes a bit of order. It must gall him so.” “Or he gets off on it,” RJ said, shrugging. “Everything looks good on my end,” Stephanie said. “Do we have all the live feeds up, Twilight?” Twilight looked to me, and I checked everything one more time, making sure all the video feeds were active and we didn’t have anything left to do. Then I nodded to her. “We have visual from all four of you,” Twilight said, grinning. I was helping. This was proof, I was doing everything I could, and ignoring the pills I’d been fed fifteen minutes ago which were helping me ignore the pain in my ribs from my little flight. Stephanie smiled, turning to face the back of the car and Dash waved to us. “Hey Twilight!” she said. “Hey Dash,” Twilight responded, with a giggle. Stephanie turned back towards the windshield, and her good humor faded. “Alright, my little ponies,” she said. “We’re here.” The cameras captured the building, a massive skyscraper, abandoned as far as anyone could see, with ominous strange clouds hovering above it, pink and purple and bruised blue. “I really hope the elevator works,” RJ mumbled as agents barked orders and the building loomed massive in front of them. Dash snorted. “Eh. Who needs it?” “Excuse me for being born with sense, instead of wings,” RJ shot back. “Tactical will set up a floor below you,” Al, one of the agents, said from off camera. “No. They stay down here,” Stephanie said sharply. “This is Discord. All our intel says extreme caution. And I’ve watched the show, so I’m adding extra healthy paranoia on top of that.” “Stephanie,” Al said incredulously. “You’re kidding right? Protocol for this sort of thing means we follow you all the way up, and establish a tight perimeter.” She sighed, and her audio cut out. Tense silence covered the airwaves until a loud “Dammit Steph!” I could see as Raritony turned, catching the scene on her camera, the agents facing off, Steph unwilling to budge on something, Al furious. They were almost nose to nose, arguing urgently, until Al stepped back and gestured to the armed squad behind him. “Which is why you need backup!” Al shouted. “Which is why I am the backup!” Stephanie shouted back. Chests heaving, Stephanie and Al glared at each other. “Look, guys…” RJ ventured. “Maybe now ain’t the time for-” Stephanie held up a hand, palm out to her. “This is between me and Al, RJ.” They went back to arguing more quietly, but Raritony could hear better than our microphones, and spoke up. “She’s right,” Raritony said, reluctantly. Al looked at her. “You can’t treat Discord like… well, like something rational, “she continued. “He isn’t.” “He makes everything crazy,” Dash added. “And you guys’d… well, you’d kinda be an easy target. No offense.” Al frowned. He looked at RJ. “Well? You got your two cents?” RJ sighed. “Like I said back at the hospital. Keep it simple. You put a backup team up there, it ain’t as simple, and it’s more folks could get hurt. Sorry, Al. That’s the truth.” “Al, please,” Stephanie said. It drew his gaze back to her. “Stay down here, and hold the perimeter with the backup team. Because if we go down...” She shrugged. Al sighed, and rested his hands on his hips. He looked up. “Goddammit,” he muttered. He looked back at Stephanie. “Alright. Fine. But I’m going on record that I don’t like this.” “There’s a lot of that to go around,” Twilight said from her hospital bed, looking at the IV in her arm. “Thanks, Al,” Stephanie said, smiling gratefully. He waved her off, facing the squad, who watched him. Raising his eyebrows, he yelled, “Well, you all eavesdropped enough. You know what to do! Do it!” They scrambled, and RJ chuckled while the group split up, Al clapping Stephanie’s shoulder with one hand and wishing her luck bitterly. Her bulletproof vest went on, and finally all four cameras turned on the glass doors of the skyscraper. “Sorry about that,” Steph told the others. “It’s fine, darling,” Raritony said. “Pre-Discord-fight jitters and all.” “Yeah,” Dash agreed, flying up to pat her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You had to make things right with your bud- we get it.” Stephanie grinned at us lopsidedly. “Can I go on save the world missions with you guys all the time?” “Sure thing,” RJ laughed, sliding the shield out of view and onto her back. “We’ll even get ya a brightly colored t-shirt that says ‘honorary pony’ on it, so bad guys don’t get confused. Now, c’mon. We’re dallying.” Unholstering her weapon and holding it at ready position at the bottom of her bodycam view, Stephanie nodded. RJ took the lead with Raritony and Dash just a little behind her. Stephanie watched their backs as they crossed the street, ignoring a parking meter that bounced like a pogo stick, and then looking in through the lobby windows. It looked ordinary enough, there was a bank of elevators, and a large, wooden security desk. “A-hem.” RJ turned towards Raritony, who was looking at her expectantly. Then at Dash, who was also grinning. “What?” she said. “I’m not trying to delay us any further, but… you do have the shield, RJ,” Raritony said. “And, well, you did perform that marvelous speech, back when we were fleeing the bunker.” “Yeah! Raritony told me all about it,” Dash added, excitedly. “C’mon. I wanna hear a stirring RJ speech.” Twilight cleared her throat. “You know, a few… well-placed words would help further the magic in the shield…” I giggled a little, covering my mouth with a hoof. Sighing, RJ turned to face them all more firmly. “Alright y’all. This is it,” she said. “I don’t like speeches. None of us like Discord. Let’s go kick his ass.” Turning, she strode purposefully toward the door. “Not exactly ‘let slip the dogs of war,’” Raritony commented, not quite aside. “You kidding? That was awesome,” Dash said, flying just above and behind her. “Total Commander Hurricane material.” Stephanie snorted. “Go Team Applejack.” And so, they opened the glass doors and walked inside, as I held my element tight to my chest, heart racing.