//------------------------------// // Case Twenty-Three, Chapter Ten: War Drums // Story: Ponyville Noire: Rising Nightmares // by PonyJosiah13 //------------------------------// The sun was rising, cresting over the waters of Horseshoe Bay, casting the cloudy sky a gunmetal gray. The burnt-out shells of the original boats bobbed in the water outside the pier, smoke still rising from their warped forms. Other ships had arrived from the shore, more police officers and military summoned by the sight of the flames and the continuing lack of any response on the radio.  Right now, all of the newcomers were staring at the garden of petrified statues in complete disbelief.  “Okay…” a silver-maned captain said slowly, slowly wandering around the cluster of ponies outside the death row block, inmates, invaders, and officers alike. He blinked at the drops of rainwater that were still hanging in midair, then turned to the three bandaged, exhausted ponies sitting nearby. “One more time, please.” “They smuggled a heart in and broke a bunch of inmates out. I stabbed the heart and broke time,” Daring mumbled, struggling to keep her eyes open. She swayed in place slightly, shaking her head groggily. Phillip was leaning against her, already asleep; Strider was fighting a similarly futile battle against exhaustion; his head pitched forward, causing his fedora to fall off onto the ground.  “Right,” the captain nodded. “So, does anyone happen to know anyone versed in time magic?” A sergeant looked up, his jaw dropping. “I think she might have a few ideas, sir,” he said, pointing.  Everyone looked up, then backed away, dropping to kneel as the great white alicorn approached the group, flanked by a quartet of her Royal Guards in full armor.  “Rise, friends. We need not stand on ceremony now,” Princess Celestia said with a wave of her hoof. “Detectives. I wish we could meet under better circumstances,” she added with a wan smile at the groggy trio.  “So do we, Princess,” Phillip mumbled through a yawn. “When’d…when’d you get here?” “We took a fast train just before sunrise,” Celestia explained. “We arrived just under an hour ago and checked in at the RBI headquarters. That’s when we heard of the breakout.” She looked around with a pensive frown. “It seems that we arrived just in time, pun not intended.” “We?” Daring asked.  “It took a bit of convincing to get her to come along,” Celestia smiled. “Though, honestly, the real battle was getting Colonel Shadow to agree to it. But I think she’s ready.”  Starlight Glimmer was slowly making her way through the chaotic debris of the prison, her head lowered but her eyes swinging from side to side, clutching her coat to her body. She wore a silver band around her head, the runes engraved into the surface glimmering beneath the muted sunlight. Tempest Shadow walked alongside her, head up and eyes forward, but one look at her posture made it clear that she was alert to everything around her. The bulges beneath her jacket marked the position of her throwing axes at her waist and the two castfire pistols in shoulder holsters.  “Morning,” Starlight greeted them with a nervous grin. “Wow, you look like you’ve been through the wringer.” “Feel like it, too,” Daring replied, shrugging her bandaged shoulder.  “Thank you for this,” Phillip Finder said, raising his hourglass amulet; the thing felt like it had suddenly transformed into a sack full of bricks, his foreleg was that tired. “Saved our lives.” “And many other lives,” Celestia added, nodding to the petrified figures surrounding death row.  “Well, provided that we get this spell right,” Starlight added.  “It will, Starlight,” Celestia encouraged her.  “Right, we’re just repairing damage to the laws of time and reality. What could go wrong?” Starlight asked with a forced, nervous laugh.  Tempest lifted a booted hoof and placed it lightly upon Starlight’s shoulder. Starlight looked over at her bodyguard and her smile turned genuine. She nodded, took a breath, and stepped forward.  “Okay, let’s start with…him,” she said, pointing at the frozen Swampfire.  Starlight pulled a sizable box of chalk from her pocket, extracted a piece, and crushed it to dust in her magic. She sprinkled the white dust in a circle around Swampfire, murmuring incantations as she did so.  Celestia and Starlight took up position on either side of the petrified agent, both of their horns glowing. Gold and turquoise energy blossomed from the ground within the circle, streaks of colored lights swirling around her like leaves in a vortex. They blended together into a cloud of sparkling white dust that settled over Swampfire’s body before evaporating.  Swampfire blinked and looked around, his eyes growing wider with every sight he took in.  “P-Princess?” he stammered out. “W-what happened? How did…what…who…where…why…how…” He slowly spun in place, staring at the petrified figures all about him, then settled his gaze on Agent Strider. “You, you…you…” The ASAC slowly sagged to the ground, holding his head in his hooves and mumbling to himself as he rocked back and forth.  “Well, I think we established that your spell works,” Celestia beamed at Starlight, who was looking very proud of herself.  An idea sparked in Daring’s mind. “Wait, hold on!” she cried, running off towards the shop.  The others followed her to the shops until she stopped at a single body laying on the ground, the snow around her painted dark red. The still-bound Brick Wall stared up at the sky, the blood running from the gunshot wound in her gut.  Celestia and Starlight looked at the wound, then at each other. “Can you help her?” Daring asked.  “I can’t make promises,” Celestia replied sadly. “She may have died before you stopped time.” “We still have to try,” Starlight added.  “And we will,” Celestia nodded.  Once more, Starlight sprinkled a circle of crushed chalk around Brick Wall’s body as Celestia gently untied her and had one of her Royal Guards secure a valve bandage over the wound, sealing it tight on three sides. Celestia and Starlight lit their horns and energy swirled around Brick Wall’s body, colored lights reflected in the still-wet blood.  “Come on, come on,” Daring breathed.  The colored energy grew into a snow-like cloud and slowly descended over Brick Wall’s body, settling on her form before disappearing. For a moment, she was still, then her chest began to rise and fall with low, wheezing noises; with every inhalation, the bandage crinkled as the air sucked it tight to the wound, while each exhalation sent air hissing out from the unsealed side. Her eyes darted about in confusion, pain, and fear.  “Easy, easy,” the Royal Guard medic assured her, kneeling at her side as other ponies rushed off to find a stretcher. “We got you.” Brick Wall nodded, wincing even as relief passed over her face. Daring and Phillip both sighed, some of the weight that they’d been carrying evaporating in a moment.  “I believe that we can handle things from here,” Celestia smiled kindly at them. “You should go and get some rest. I think you need it.” “Thank you, Your Highness,” Phillip said through a yawn.  The three of them dragged themselves down to the pier and took a boat back to shore. A cab took them back to their hotel. They shuffled through the lobby to the elevator, took it up to the third floor, and crawled to their room. It took Daring three tries to insert her key into the doorknob.  The two perfectly made beds beckoned them, more tempting than an ambrosial banquet, though it had to wait until they doubly locked the doors, inserted the security chain, and jammed the doorknob with a broomstick and some rubber doorstops. Their coats, vests, and hats were discarded onto the floor as they made a final effort to the goal. All three of them were asleep before their heads hit the pillows.  Their dreams were filled with the music of raindrops on the window and the embrace of a cool wind. None of them stirred until the next morning. The streets of Ponyville were cleaned of any sign of snow or slush and the evening was filled with the music of songbirds, beneath the regular sounds of the city: the growling of car engines, dinging of trolleys, and overlapping voices.  “See Winter Wrap-Up went off ripper,” Phillip commented as they flew over the streets, heading southeast from the train station.  “Just glad we missed the song,” Daring replied, taking a breath of the chilly, sweet-smelling air.  “Ugh, don’t mention that,” Phil grimaced. “Now that bloody thing’s gonna be in my head for a week.” Daring chuckled as they landed at the front step of 221 Honeybee Bakery Street. “Home at last,” she sighed, reaching for her key.  The day’s edition of the Foal Free Press lay on the front step The headline on the front page proudly declared in bold, “PRISON BREAK AT CLOVENWORTH--LOCAL DETECTIVES ON SCENE!” Daring frowned at the headline as Phillip picked up the paper.  The story contained within the pages would contain the major talking points of the past week. The hijacked ferry had been discovered abandoned off the coast to the west of Manehattan. The trail of the thirty-seven inmates, including all twenty-two of the Family members that had been imprisoned there, had quickly gone cold.  Brick Wall had recovered from her gunshot wound and was determined to return to work. She and the officers and other staff that had survived the breakout happily credited their survival to the bravery of Agent Flame Strider, Phillip Finder, and Daring Do, and the magical prowess of Starlight Glimmer.  Swift Judgement had been interrogated for her involvement but had given up little. A closer investigation into her movements eventually revealed that she had used contacts in the Manehattan mafia, carefully cultivated from her time in the Organized Crime unit, to smuggle in weapons and equipment on behalf of St. Goldleaf’s cultists. Letters and phone records had even revealed that she was responsible for planning the theft of the Harmony Island Ferry from the docks, and her position as the SAC had allowed her to subtly mislead the investigation.  After suffering a complete nervous breakdown on Clovenworth, Swampfire was currently on mental health leave, and Strider had gleefully reported that scuttlebutt was that he was working on transferring to a smaller, quieter field unit where ponies didn’t turn up in alleyways with their hearts torn out of their chests and insane cultists didn’t stop time.  “Not like he was much help anyway,” Daring had snorted to Strider on the platform of Grand Central Station that afternoon.  “Agreed,” Strider nodded.  “You sure you don’t need us here?” Phillip had asked. “I just need to clear a few things up here…and convince the higher-ups that I’m not insane,” Strider sighed with an eye roll. “Stupid psych evaluations. And after that, I’ve been thinking I should go back to Canterlot for a while, stay with my family.” “You find anything…” Daring cut in.  “You’ll be the first to know,” Strider nodded.  “Aces,” Phil said, gripping Strider’s foreleg. “My best to Jett and Snow.” “I’ll tell ‘em you said hi,” Strider smiled, clapping Phil on the shoulder. “And you two should try to take some time off after this. Get some rest. We all need it after this.”  The train whistle had sounded, announcing its departure south. After their final goodbyes, the two of them had jumped onto the train back home.  The two stepped into their home and closed the door behind them, the purple wards built into the walls briefly flashing as they reactivated. For a few moments, they were still, listening to the music of the city outside: the song of night birds, the grumbling of car engines, and the gentle wind through the trees.  Nothing out of place. No sign of intruders or that they had been followed. The two of them simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.  Phillip flipped open the Foal Free Press and placed it on the coffee table next to the chessboard. An entire page had been dedicated to mug shots of the escaped inmates, thirty-seven faces scowling up at him. He slowly scanned them over, committing each to memory and updating his mental files. He lingered on Tinderspark’s hideous face for a moment as a recalled heat washed over his body.  Daring Do glanced over his shoulder at the familiar faces, her scowl intensifying with every moment. Her wingtips twitched a few times as her gaze panned over the escaped Family members.  “You’re scared,” Phillip observed without looking up.  “My former…siblings,” Daring said, the distaste evident in every syllable. “Are all just as good as me. Some of them might even be better.” She swallowed and breathed out. “And they’re all experts at fighting dirty. It’s not just us. It’s all of our friends. Our family now.”  Phillip put down the paper and pulled his wife into an embrace. She hugged him back, the tightness of her embrace revealing her fear.  “I’m scared, too,” Phillip whispered. “But we’re not giving up, right?” “Right,” Daring nodded. “We just have to keep going. Keep fighting. It’s all we can do.”  They held the hug for a few moments more, then slowly separated. It was at this moment that Daring noticed a telegram waiting on the hall table with their mail. She scooped it up to read. “It’s from this morning,” she reported, opening it up. She scanned over the words, and a smile grew across her face at the message within.  Got the approval from the Princesses. And she said yes. She’ll get out tonight. Beacon. She signed her name on the document and put the pen down with a sigh.  “Congratulations,” Gentle Guide smiled at her, unlocking the silver band around her foreleg. Warm sensation flooded through her body as her magic was freed; the feeling of energy rushing into her horn was almost overwhelming. After so long, she’d nearly forgotten that it was there.  “Don’t,” she replied, turning away from the desk towards the sally port. “It’s more than I deserve.” “I hope you change your mind on that,” the officer replied, watching as she headed out. The first door of the sally port buzzed open. “Stay safe out there.”  She didn’t answer as she proceeded through the first door, which shut behind her. Another buzz sounded as the exterior door unlocked and she pushed it open into the yard. She paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath of the cold night air before proceeding down the passageway, the chain-link fences on either side of her rattling slightly in the wind. She glanced over one shoulder, briefly thinking of the Licorice Twins. They’d be out on parole tomorrow. A fair deal for this.  She reached the metal doors at the end. Another CO stared at her for a beat, then nodded and opened the iron doors.  “Thank you,” she nodded and stepped across the threshold of Frostback Prison, officially marking her transition from inmate to free mare.  Almost free.  A mare in a bomber jacket was waiting for her next to a dark car, fiery mane in a tight bun. She stared impassively at the former inmate as she approached.  “Last chance to change your mind,” the general stated simply. “We’ll be going after your--” “They’re not friends. Or my family,” the inmate cut her off sharply. “They’re criminals that need to be stopped.”  The amber eyes studied her for a moment, then she nodded. “Bright Sparks. As of this moment, you are a special asset for the Protective Pony Platoon in its mission to combat terrorism. You will serve Equestria to the best of your ability. You will obey all orders given to you without question or hesitation. Do you understand?” Bright Sparks stood up straight and raised her right foreleg in a salute. “Completely, General Fire.” Beacon Fire smiled grimly and returned the salute. “Welcome aboard.”