//------------------------------//
// 27 - The Meeting 
// Story: The Crescent Pact 
// by Chromentazol 
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Aphelion slowly traversed the castle, a slight limp to his step as he gazed at the large stained-glass windows to his side. With Princess Luna's return, many of the images and symbols depicted made a lot more sense now, though they still felt strange to him. The young unicorn was still struggling to learn the true story of Equestria, or at least the official version of it. And although he had been taking great care in making sure to separate what he had been taught by his father to what he was learning now, his mind occasionally slipped into half-truths and propaganda from the Crescent Pact.

Today was the first day Aphelion was officially able to leave his bedroom, the doctor assigned to him judging the young unicorn able to get back to work. Excited at the prospect of finally being able to meet back up with everypony, Aphelion quickened his pace toward the meeting room. Steady had announced a few days earlier that the Princesses gave Misty and Sandstorm an official pardon, and that the two mares would join Steady's team with the specific goal to investigate the Pact's most recent actions. Aphelion was slightly disappointed to learn that Glaze was unable to join that team, instead having to remain as one of Celestia's personal maids, but he would still be able to see her often. Thinking about her, Aphelion felt his heart rate increase and his cheeks redden. Shaking his head, he focused back on this team that was going to take down the cult he was raised in.

And now, Aphelion was finally in good enough shape to officially join the team as well.

Finally reaching the meeting room, Aphelion took a moment to straighten his back and to take a deep breath. Voices were coming from behind, indicating the presence of the rest of his team. Opening the door with confidence, Aphelion took a step forward before jovially greeting the ponies inside...

Or, at least, that was his intention. Instead, as soon as he opened the door, a vase came flying right next to his face before smashing on the wall behind him, leaving a mess on the floor. Inside the room, Steady was sitting at the end of a large table, smoking a cigarette. The pegasus looked extremely tired. Across the table, sitting in front of him, Misty was holding a nervous smile as she struggled to maintain eye contact with Steady, though her gaze quickly shifted toward Aphelion when the door opened — and the vase came flying.

Behind her, Sandstorm was standing on her hind legs while holding a throwing position right next to an open window where the vase once stood. At first, she smirked before looking up at Aphelion. Her smile quickly faltered as she stared at the young unicorn with wide eyes, before grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, hi, Aph'! I was just the old fart that I also knew long-ranged techniques. I call this move 'The Homerun'. Pretty neat, huh?"

Blinking a few times, Aphelion slowly nodded. "... That's an interesting technique, I have to admit."

"... Sandstorm, you hear that?" Steady grumbled.

Sandstorm, Misty and Aphelion stood still, trying to listen to whatever Steady was referencing. After an awkward moment of silence, Misty raised a hoof. "I cannot hear anything, sir."

"Huh, that's weird," Steady began while exhaling a large cloud of cigarette smoke. "I can hear the sound of your salaries gettin' slashed in two already."

"Joke's on you, old man! We're not getting paid for any of this!" Sandstorm triumphantly claimed before sitting back down in her seat, right next to Misty. Her marefriend stared at her with visible annoyance, though Misty was unable to fully suppress a smirk.

"Anyway, seems like we got our last member. How're you feeling, kiddo?" Steady asked, his expression softening a little as he looked at Aphelion.

"I'm doing much better now, thanks. I was told to keep things slow for a week or two, but I should be able to work."

"It's... Good to see you, Aphelion," Misty added somewhat awkwardly. She struggled to maintain eye contact with him as she remembered what Celestia and Luna told her and Sandstorm. The two mares hadn't had the chance yet to have a serious conversation with Aphelion, causing Misty to hesitate on which tone to take with Aphelion. Should she talk to him as a friend? A colleague?

Sandstorm didn't have this issue. "It's been a while, dude! Like, a whole month since your house went kaboom. What have you been up to?"

"Well, not much. Coma, mostly," the gray unicorn casually said as he was taking a chair.

"Oh, yeah, I heard something about that. Must've sucked..." Sandstorm replied with a concerned expression. "That's because of your... Magical... Disease... Condition... Thingamajig?"

"Thaumic Atrophy. I pushed myself too far and paid the price, but at least, I was able to get some ponies out before it all came crashing down."

"About that," Steady interjected, "that's gonna be the topic for our first meeting as a full team. There's been some new development at the ruins. I'm afraid the Pact doesn't want us to sift through the remains."

"What happened?" Aphelion asked.

"An excavation team had been sent to search for survivors and for anything that could tell us more about the Crescent Pact's activities," Misty replied while levitating a file in front of Aphelion. "A small group of royal guards were also sent to ensure their safety. They... All disappeared yesterday."

"Disappeared?"

"Seems like it," Steady grabbed the cigarette butt in his mouth with his wing before throwing it in a fancy silver ashtray, carved with multiple sun symbols. "Pretty much no trace of the excavation team left. There were a few of the spears from the guard left on the ground. No blood, no visible signs of struggle. Celestia sent some unicorns to scan the area for traces of magic, but they've been moving slowly for their own safety. We don't know if it was some sort of artifact, or a trap, or —"

"It was my father," Aphelion cut Steady short. He sighed as he quickly scanned the file in front of him. "I've seen him use spells that allowed him to teleport a large number of ponies, even against their wills, across large distances before. Usually, he used that spell to bring me and a small group of maids and butlers when we had to visit other members of the Pact."

Sandstorm groaned. "So, what you're saying is that they could be anywhere in Equestria?"

"Not exactly. This spell — Arcane Highway, he called it, can only target specific locations due to its complexity... Usually, a powerful circle engraved on a floor somewhere in the world that acts as a sort of magnet. Without it, there's a pretty high chance of sending the ponies to a random point in Equestria, which I don't think my father would do."

"Which means he must have gone to another one of the Pact's bases," Misty added. "Do you have any idea where your father would go, Aphelion?"

"It depends on what he plans on doing with the ponies he captured. I know of a few other bases belonging to the Pact, but I never knew their exact location or addresses. Usually, my father would just take me along with him when necessary, without telling me where we were going in Equestria... Or even beyond, for that matter."

"So, we're stuck," Steady grumbled. "Even if we knew the exact location of the captured ponies, we're in no shape to raid one of these bases..."

"We just need to find the right approach," Misty replied while thinking. "We could try and infiltrate said base. Besides, I don't think our team's role is to raid places. We should leave that type of job for the royal guards, right?"

"Guess so. Even if it's boring as buck, we got a great track record for sneaking into places. Ain't that right, Aph'?" Sandstorm asked the gray unicorn with a wide smile.

"... Well, it was going more or less well. You even found somepony to act as bait," Aphelion replied with a deadpan expression.

"Wait, did we... Oh, right. Yeah, uh, sorry about that," Sandstorm looked to the side with a nervous smile.

"That's... Something we wanted to talk to you about, actually, Aphelion. We owe you an apology."

"Listen, kids, you can deal with your personal issues after this meeting. I don't care for your personal drama," Steady said while reaching for another cigarette.

Sighing, Aphelion looked at the two mares in front of him. "Steady's right. Let's keep that for later, if that's fine with you two."

"Yeah, fair enough," Sandstorm shrugged. "I know a nice bar not too far from the castle. First round's on me."

Nodding, Aphelion then turned back toward Steady. "Right. So, we need to find the location of those Pact bases, correct?"

"That'd be a great start. You sure you don't remember anything about where they could be?" Steady asked before putting the cigarette in his mouth, its end magically lighting itself up causing Aphelion to tilt his head. Noticing his surprise, Steady winked. "Special cigs, imported from the Dragon Lands. Working for the princess has its perks."

"I can see that. Anyhow, I'll have to spend some time trying to remember any details that could help us, but there's one I have a lead on. It was another mansion, though smaller than my father's. I only went here once for some fancy dinner, but I do remember looking through the window and seeing snow."

Misty lifted an eyebrow. "Snow? Did you see anything else?"

"No, which was surprising. We were in the middle of summer, and yet, that mansion was surrounded by snow as far as the eye can see. No trees, no roads, no houses... A frozen wasteland, basically."

"That's... Interesting," Steady mumbled. "You sure it wasn't on top of a mountain, or something like that?"

"No, unless the top of that mountain was both immense and totally flat."

"Must be somewhere in the arctic north, then," Misty said. "Though that doesn't help us pinpoint that mansion's location that much..."

"Yeah, and that's assuming that's where all those missing ponies went," Sandstorm leaned back in her chair. "That's, like, one random house amongst however many the Pact has."

"Well, it's a lead, I s'pose," the crimson pegasus said as he closed his eyes to think. "... I'll check the archives, see if we got anything about a random mansion on the sea ice."

"Good idea. I'll, uh, try to see if I can remember anything else in the meanwhile. My head is still a bit fuzzy because of the coma... Hopefully, some things will come back to me if I think about it enough."

"You do that, kid. Well, then, we can't really do much more without more intel, so meeting adjourned. See you guys same time tomorrow," Steady replied while getting up from his chair.

"W... Wait, what can we do until then?" Misty asked.

Shrugging, Steady glanced at Misty. "I dunno. Just make yourselves useful without causing too much of a mess, alright?"

"Maybe we can also investigate that spell my father used?" Aphelion scratched his chin with a hoof. "My father's good at magic, but he never really came up with his own spells. If we can figure out how his Arcane Highway works, maybe we can use it and see these 'magnets' linked to the different Pact bases ourselves."

"That's a good idea. I can help you with that!" The pink unicorn replied, smiling.

"Psh. Nerds," Sandstorm muttered before receiving a playful elbow from her marefriend into her sides. "Anyways, while you dorks do this boring 'reading' and 'research' stuff, I'll go and have a look at those ruins myself. Maybe the Pact forgot something there?"

"Actually, you two need to stay in town for now," Steady looked at Misty and Sandstorm. "The princesses still don't know if we can fully trust you yet. Can't leave town without an escort. Either a royal guard, Aphelion or me."

"Lame," Sandstorm shrugged. "I guess I'll just go take a nap or something, then."

Just as Steady was about to reply, a guard suddenly knocked on the door before opening it. The royal guard, a yellow stallion, quickly glanced at the remains of the broken vase on the floor in the hallway before looking at the group inside the meeting room. Clearing his throat, he spoke with a stern voice. "Princess Luna wishes to see Sandstorm in her quarters. Is she here?"

The yellow mare, in return, raised a hoof. "Yeah, I'm here. What does she want?"

"Please, follow me there. She requires your presence as soon as possible."

With a last shrug, Sandstorm rose from her chair. "Welp, guess I got something to do, after all. Misty, Aph', let's meet back up at sundown for that drink."

"Alright, see you then," Aphelion said.

"Just don't cause Luna too much trouble, please," Misty asked before quickly kissing Sandstorm.

"No promises," she chuckled before leaving the room.