Shortly after the first defeat of King Sombra centuries ago, Princesses Celestia and Luna set up a number of organisations across Equestria to keep tabs on threats that may fly beneath their radar. One of which was the Eclipse Bureau - based in the Griffish Isles, Eclipse was composed of experts in the occult. Demonologists, paranormalists, hunters and sorcerers working in the shadows to keep the realm safe from threats the general populace were better off not knowing about.
When Princess Twilight Sparkle took the throne in the Sisters’ place, Eclipse’s efficiency only skyrocketed. For with the younger Alicorn’s new reign came an evolution of magic-based technology, thanks to her personal affinity for the sciences. This allowed the Bureau to pinpoint any anomalies anywhere in the world soon enough for them to be dealt with.
“Thank you, Princess Twilight,” Ruby yawned, watching the coffee machine fill a cup with steaming hot brew, followed by some milk and three teaspoons of sugar. “No more waiting for the kettle like a plebe.”
“Yes, it was utter torture,” Tarsis snarked from the sofa, using levitation to stir a spoon in her own mug.
Graham lifted a can of ColApple from the fridge, cracking it open with a talon. “The new tech beats having to head to the corner shop all the time.”
“I haven’t let technology change me,” Vanessa said with a shrug, sitting next to Tarsus and sipping a glass of blood. “If it isn’t broken, yes?”
Team Ruby was one of Eclipse’s many response units, operating from an unassuming apartment in the Cantersmith borough of Trottingham. While not the most delicate operatives, they still got results. Hence why they had yet to be discharged.
The four sat in the living room, enjoying their morning drinks. Tarsis blinked mid-sip, like something had popped into her head.
“Right, Flicker said she wants to speak with us first thing,” she said after swallowing. “Ruby, you got the potion?”
Ruby swallowed her coffee and nickered. “Crap, forgot to brew it. Sort it for us, would ya, Tar?”
“It’s your job, you get it.”
“Aw, but I’ve only just sat down!”
“Isn’t brewing the potion your responsibility?” asked Vanessa, holding her glass in her front hooves. “You’re the only one here who can brew it, after all.”
“She’s got you there, boss,” Graham agreed, knocking back a swig of cola. “You’re the most magic-y one.”
Ruby lifted her head back and groaned dramatically. She had got her there. She reluctantly got onto her hooves. “Fine, I’ll do it, because you all ganged up on me. I’ll be telling Flicker about this bullying in the workplace.”
“We’re not in the workplace,” Graham pointed out as she passed, getting a faceful of Ruby's tail.
“Very mature,” Tarsis said after her.
“That’s why you love me,” Ruby called back, crossing into the kitchen.
After another sip of her coffee, the cupboards glowed red and opened up. A collection of ingredients flew out to her, followed by a bowl, then a mortar and pestle. She wasn’t a fan of meticulously mixing the potion the old fashioned way, but like Tartarus was she going to relive the Blender Incident.
When she was done, she levitated a vial from the drying rack and poured the blue mixture inside, then carried it, the bowl and her mug over to the coffee table. “Shall we summon the demon queen?”
“We shall,” said Tarsis with a nod.
Ruby filled the bowl and zapped it with her horn before she sat back down on her chair. The four watched as a blue steam rose into the air, lingering in the centre of the room. A low, monotone beeping sound droned on and on.
“Aaaaany second,” Ruby murmured, tapping her hoof on the armrest.
Half a minute passed before the droning ceased, and a faint red blur came into view. “Hello? This is Director Flicker.”
“Alright, chief?” Ruby greeted, giving a lax salute. “Team Ruby reporting.”
“Ah yes, you’re coming into focus now,” the blur said, focusing to show the head of a red-scaled dragon in a black suit. “Team Ruby, hello. Well done on apprehending Sealight last night. Last thing we need is a copycat cult leader.”
“How is he doing?” Tarsis asked, getting a strange look from Graham. “I mean, is he in any condition to talk?”
“He’s still unconscious,” Flicker explained. “The physicists deduced he will be until at least tomorrow. They also reported an abnormally low amount of blood, as well as two puncture marks in his neck.”
Eyes wandered toward Vanessa, who innocently glanced up at the ceiling. Flicker sighed and pinched between her eyes.
“Well, he’s not dead or a ghoul,” she went on, “so it’s just a matter of waiting. In fact, that’s why I wanted to speak to you - Ruby, Tarsis; I want you two to interrogate him.”
“Us, ma’am?” Tarsis asked.
“He’s your catch,” said the Dragon, “and I doubt our regular tactics will get through to him if he’s as stubborn as your report says. Besides, you two are more than qualified.”
Ruby grinned. “I’ll be bad cop.”
Tarsis rolled her eyes. “Just let us know when he’s awake. We’ll be ready.”
“In the meantime,” Flicker said, “I have another assignment for you, regarding the attack in Princess Park last month. Our S.M.I.L.E. correspondents have narrowed down the suspect - we believe it to be a weretimberwolf.”
“Called it,” Graham chirped, raising a talon.
“Tonight is a full moon,” the dragon continued, “so I want you four to go to the park and see what you can find. If there is indeed a weretimberwolf, apprehend it. Alive if you can, and preferably with minimal property damage. And for Twilight’s sake, try to avoid any civilian casualties.”
“We only nearly killed Sealight,” Ruby remarked, her smirk dropping as she watched smoke blow out of Flicker’s nostrils. “We’ll sort it out.”
“Good, I'll expect your report tomorrow morning," the dragon said, before her image began to fade. "Flicker out."
With the conversation over, Ruby opened a window to let the smoke creep out of the apartment.
"Well, you all heard the boss," said Tarsis, after a sip. "We've got a weretimberwolf to hunt."
"I've been itching to give those new bolts a go." Graham rubbed his claws together with a smirk.
Vanessa tilted her head. "Did she not say to bring it in alive?"
"Relax, they're non-fatal."
"I suggest we prep ASAP," said Tarsis, "so we're not in a hurry out the door tonight. For once."
"And who's the one always locking the door behind us?" Ruby gave the Changeling a knowing smirk.
"You just make sure the anti-were charms are with you this time," grumbled Tarsis. "I'm not reliving Braystol anytime soon."
"Amen." The Unicorn hopped off her chair and trotted off through a door. “I’m still craving lettuce.”
Ruby's bedroom looked like a small tornado had gone through it. Which it had, once, and Tarsis loved teasing her about it. The bookshelf was a mish-mash of Daring Do novels, Power Ponies comics and worn tombs on dark magic and curses that were long overdue back at the Eclipse HQ’s library. On the wall was a poster of Star Swirl the Bearded that she got from a museum exhibit as a filly. Hanging next to it was a picture of her next to Princess Twilight Sparkle, both beaming like proper dorks, with the Alicorn’s signature in the corner.
She approached the unmade bed, her trenchcoat draped across it. She reached into the pocket and pulled out the black ring she got from Sealight. Pursing her lips, she struck it with another beam of magic. Still a ring and not a teacup.
Definitely wasn’t a fluke, she thought, putting it back in. I’ll see what Flicker makes of it later.
She went to her desk and grabbed her quill in her magic. She set out four sheets of paper and began scrawling magic circles onto them. The anti-were charms, once activated by a bit of magic, would keep the wearer safe from werecreature infection for twelve hours. More than enough time to capture a weretimberwolf. She took her time meticulously drawing every symbol, every curve, making sure they were perfect. A bead of sweat trickled down her face.
Just how Twilight showed you…
After what felt like hours, she released her magic and her quill dropped onto the desk. She rubbed a hoof on her horn, which almost throbbed from how hard she concentrated, but the four charms were complete. She lifted them in her magic and trotted out of the room. She could hear Graham tinkering with his crossbow behind his bedroom door. Vanessa was draped across the sofa, nose deep in a book. Tarsis had moved to an armchair, using levitation to flip through a folder of information about the weretimberwolf she’d requested a while back.
“Charms’re ready,” she reported, setting them on the kitchen counter. “Don’t let me forget ‘em.”
“Thanks, Ruby,” said Tarsis, not looking up from the notes. “Once Graham’s finished with whatever he’s doing, we’ll go over the game plan.”
“I wouldn’t stress it too much.” Ruby entered the kitchen area and used her magic to open a cupboard and retrieve a biscuit. She munched on it as she continued, “We’ve handled werecreaturesh before, and weretimberwolvesh’re ash bashic ash they come. Won’t be that bad.”
Ruby and Tarsis’s screams cut off when they bounced off the roof of the parked carriage and landed on the pavement. Something told the Unicorn it wouldn’t be that much better if they hadn’t been tossed clear across the two-way road.
“Won’t be that bad, will it?” Tarsis grumbled through her teeth.
Ruby got to her hooves and shook herself off. “Really? You’re doing this now?”
At sunset, the four had made their way to Princess Park, just a quick underground train ride from Cantersmith. They kept their coats tucked away, passing themselves off as civilians out for an evening constitutional. Once there, it was just a matter of acting casual until moonrise, when they donned construction worker uniforms and cleared out the park of civilians for "important repair work." The creature arrived about twenty minutes after midnight, and all they had to to was give Graham a clear shot to hit it with those special bolts of his. On the way there, he boasted that their tips were made of enchanted metal to pierce the werecreature's hide, and were even coated in a potion that would temporarily revert the victim back to normal.
The only issue was giving Graham a clear shot.
“It was such a simple plan,” Tarsis lamented as she peered past the carriage. “What in Tartarus happened?”
“I think it all started when Van went off her head when the thing turned up,” said Ruby, leaning above the Changeling’s head. They could see the weretimberwolf, its branches black and its eyes glowing red, its razor-twigged paws swatting at Vanessa. The Batpony kept darting around it in the air, hissing with pure hatred. Like a monster cat trying to catch a danger butterfly.
“I know vampires and therianthropes are natural enemies,” groaned Tarsis, “but she said she had a lid on this!”
“She also said she wouldn’t watch you sleep, but she kept that up for about a week after,” Ruby remarked, then added in a bad Roamanian accent, “I’ve never smelled Changeling blood before.”
“You two okay?” asked Graham as he perched on the carriage roof.
“A bit shaken,” Tarsis reported, “but we’ll live.”
“Van’s doing a good job keeping it busy, but it’s still far too aggressive.” The Griffon turned and looked at the two still fighting around the park. “These bolts won’t work unless I get a shot within a few metres, and there’s not much point if it just shakes them off before they can get working.”
“And I don’t think it’s gonna get tired anytime soon,” added Ruby. "Unless…"
"Unless…?" Tarsis repeated.
"Oi, Van!" the Unicorn called. "Pretend you're injured!"
"What?!" Her three teammates gawked at her.
"If it thinks you're hurt, it might stalk you for the kill!"
"And that'll give me time for a good shot!" added Graham, catching on. "Make it think it's won!"
"You're both insane," Tarsis muttered.
"C'mon Tar, I'm onto something here," Ruby muttered.
"It does make sense," admitted Graham.
"I am not letting this brute defeat me!" Vanessa spat.
Ruby rolled her eyes. "You're pretending to lose! Just pretend it got a hit on you!"
The Batpony let out a defiant hiss.
Tarsis sighed and looked up at her. "You heard her, Vanessa--play possum. That's an order."
Vanessa bared her fangs in a scowl. "Do not make me have you regret this."
The Batpony swooped down toward the weretimberwolf, who swiped at her chest. Her fur was ruffled at best, but she let out a pained screech and awkwardly lowered to the ground. She stuck out a wing and twitched it to make it look broken. As expected, the monster began to slowly creep up to her, preparing for the killing blow.
"Oh, the pain," she said flatly. "Please spare me, mighty beast, for I have broken my wing or something."
Graham silently took to the sky, loading a bolt onto his crossbow. Tarsis took the form of a Pony-sized spider and quietly scuttled toward the beast.
"Limp!" Ruby mouthed, lifting a hoof off the ground. Vanessa rolled her eyes and began hobbling away from the weretimberwolf on one front leg.
The weretimberwolf snarled, its fangs bared as it hunkered down for the final pounce. Suddenly, it let out a howl of pain and started galloping wildly around the park. Tarsis was up next, shooting thick webs at the creature's paws to keep it pinned in place. That only served to make it more irate. But in minutes, it began to slow, its actions getting sloppier with fatigue. And when its head drooped and its eyes stopped glowing, the twigs began to fall off its body, along with the arrow.
"That did it," said Graham, stowing his crossbow. Tarsis scurried over and flashed back to her normal form. Vanessa trudged up, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"Now let's see who our beasty is," said Ruby as she trotted up. The four watched as more and more branches fell off the creature, and the more its form shrunk, the more their faces fell.
Until they were left with looks of pure shock and horror as they stared at the ground.
"Sweet Boreas," breathed Graham, "it's a kid."
Laying limp in front of them was an Earth Pony filly, who looked old enough to only have recently gotten her cutie mark. Graham immediately cut the webbing with his talons and put his ear against her chest.
"Her breathing is steady," he sighed, feeling that lump in his throat fall back down. "She's just unconscious."
"Oh, thank Luna." Ruby wiped her forehead.
"I didn't know it was a foal," muttered Vanessa. "Such unacceptable behaviour…"
"As long as she's alive," Tarsis assured her. "Still, she'll get a full analysis at base."
"Stop!" The team looked around, and spotted a Pony approaching. "Please don't hurt my daughter!"
An older Earth Pony stallion skidded to a stop in front of them, his chest heaving from his heavy breaths. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t hurt her, she isn’t doing this on purpose. She’s got this disease and-”
“Whoa, slow down there, mate,” Ruby interrupted. “We’re not gonna hurt her.”
“Your daughter indeed has a disease, known as Therianthrophy,” explained Tarsis. “It’s contagious, so no doubt she caught it from another.”
“But… is there a cure?” asked the stallion, looking at the filly. “I don’t want her to live like this forever.”
“Our researchers have discovered a cure,” the Changeling went on. “We’re going to take her to our base and administer it, then monitor her for a few days.”
“Researchers? Base?” The stallion shook his head and got himself between the filly and Team Ruby. “No, I can’t. I can’t just let some strangers take her away. Especially when she’s so vulnerable.”
“I understand, sir, but-” Tarsis began, but Ruby held up her hoof to stop her.
“Look, mate, we don’t normally do this,” she said, “but since these’re special circumstances… we can let you come with us. You can see for yourself that your daughter’s in good hooves, and you can help her answer some questions about how she became a big raging beasty.”
The stallion looked at her with hopeful eyes, while her team just had faces of unsure surprise.
“We probably have to wipe your memory of you bein’ there when we’re done,” she added.
“I don’t care,” the stallion said sternly. He carefully hoisted the filly onto his back. “As long as my little girl is cured and safe.”
Ruby grinned and pressed the emblem on her coat, causing a portal to appear. “In that case, if you’ll just follow the nice Changeling, my good sir.”
“Flicker’s going to lose her mind when she finds out,” the Changeling pointed out.
“You let me worry about Ol’ Fireface,” Ruby assured her. “Let’s just get the kid fixed up, yeah?”
Tarsis was quiet for a moment, then she gave a curt nod. “Right.” She led the stallion through the portal, followed by Graham and Vanessa.
Hope Sealight’s up and about now, thought Ruby as she passed through. I’ve some questions for him.