//------------------------------// // 18 - Go Time Preparation // Story: Evergreen Falls // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Samhain - 19th of Harvestide (Nightmare Night), 4 EoH Hackamore Valley - Hackamore Valley Sam, June, Enox, and Violet trotted their way up the road towards the old quarry north of the observatory. Their hooves clicked against the two kilometers of crumbling pavement, and the two pegasi were miserable. I can feel that rain coming in… Should be flying. Would be faster. We could leave sooner. Be out of this… It’s not going to be a normal afternoon rain. I can tell. Sam silently griped, knowing June would be doing the same no matter how weak her weather magic was. It's at least a rainstorm, Sam added, looking to where she could feel the stormfront building, and grunting irritably as her view was blocked by a legion of cedar trees. “It’s going to rain soon,” June said out loud. “Vi, you mentioned you can maybe fly? Would you mind—” Violet shook her head, offering both pegasi an apologetic frown. “Sorry, I was able to slow a fall two days ago, but I still can’t fly. Getting closer though!” “I can’t fly either,” Enox commented. “Were you planning on carrying me, June?” “I probably could,” June admitted. “But I thought you’d just pull some alien jetpack out of your plot.” Enox harrumphed. “I would do no such thing! I like not lighting my tail on fire. There are more civilized means of personal flight, you know!” “I don’t know,” June said with a shy smile. Enox’s ears drooped. “Oh. Right. Uh, sorry,” she thought for a moment then suggested the logical idea. “Two pegasi, two ground dwellers. Why don't you carry me and Sam carries Violet?” Sam laughed, instantly grinning ear to ear and drawing everypony’s attention. “What?” Sam asked, frowning slowly. “I’m not an earth pony and her bones are made of titanium. That’s at least two hundred kilograms right there!” Violet nodded in agreement then paused, remembering observed pony behaviors. “Wait, uh… I’m supposed to do something here… Right!” Vi put on her best angry face. “Are you calling me fat?!” “No, just made of metal and heavy ass polymers,” Sam countered with a snort. “I don’t think I could lift you without using this thing.” She tapped the crystal in her chest then coughed awkwardly. “And uh… I haven't had much time to perfect just getting it to turn on. So, I’d rather not drop you a couple hundred meters.” “I would enjoy not being dropped several hundred meters,” Violet agreed. June swished her tail and flicked her wings. “I mean, do we all really need to go? I’m just trying to assess the collapse for myself. It feels like something my job requires I do? No specific instruction but—” “It’s totally a thing you should do,” Sam agreed. “But you’re right. We don’t need to go. We could go back home and you could fly over.” June looked to everypony. Enox shrugged. “I’m just here to spend time with you. But if you think we’ll get caught out in the rain I can wait for you to get back.” Violet nodded in agreement. “Me too. I’m waterproof, but I don’t like how rain feels. It’s all… Tappy.” June smiled thankfully and nodded back down the road. “I’ll see you at home then, okay?” Sam cleared her throat. “I’ll still go. It’s not CARE property but they might need a maintenance worker to help out. Caveins suck.” June nodded again and was about to say something when the radio clipped to her jacket blared a loud, long, impossible to miss, haunting alarm. Everypony flinched back from the sound, looking to the radio with a mixture of instinct and pain. The alarm sounded two more times before the speaker crackled to life. “Attention all personnel, this is Administrator Raven Inkwell. Director Grape Vine has been arrested. All work is to immediately cease and all personnel are to secure any active projects and return to your personal residences without delay. A full audit of all Site Activities will be performed in forty minutes. All personnel who are not at their residence, securing a project, or traveling to their residences will be detained and interrogated. All civilian contractors are to close down their businesses and return to their accommodations immediately. Remain at home until instructed otherwise by this channel and only this channel. Message will repeat every 10 minutes for the next hour.” Sam winced. “Oh… Oh no…” Enox huffed and rolled her eyes. “Idiot finally bucked up publicly, didn’t he?” June sighed and started to walk home. “Well, here’s hoping this doesn't take long. We got like, two days of food, right?” “Three if we stretch it,” Sam agreed. “I wonder what happened,” Vi mused, starting to turn around herself. “He seemed to get away with anything. Did they finally drop the hammer?” Sam shook her head. “He was arrested mid day. So… This is something specific. That’s also not a standard Director Incapacitated procedure. That’s just a normal full site investigation and audit. I think—” Sam’s radio chirped loudly, indicating a message coming through on the encrypted maintenance channel used for urgent requests for repairs that might cause a panic if publicly broadcast. Sam winced, flexed her manipulator gauntlet to life, and pressed down the transmit button. “Technician Samhain here, I’m with Doctor Junebug, her assistant, and Enox. I can get to a clear location if required, over.” Sam let go of the button, then flinched as she heard Princess Luna’s voice reply. “Excellent. I wish to address the majority of your company, Samhain. I require you and June to come to Young Moon’s Hunting Lodge immediately.” June arched an eyebrow, waiting for the princess to say ‘Over’, but she never did. Sam sighed and squeezed the button again. “Your highness, I would be happy to. However, we just received direct orders from Administration too—” The radio squawked as Luna transmitted despite Sam speaking. “She’s with me, Samhain, and I am not asking you to come as any sort of member of CARE. I am asking you to come as the Crown Princess of Equestria.” Sam flinched enough for everypony to look at her in worry. Soldier senses are tingling… We’re getting recruited for something. I just know it. Raven’s voice came from the speaker a moment later. “Technician, you are to come as quickly as possible. Priority Black.” Sam nodded once. “Understood. June and I can be there in ten minutes.” June waved her hoof, gesturing to Sam for her radio. Sam shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t let you use this. Not when we’re absolutely going to be audited for anything we do today. I’d get fired. I can relay whatever you want to say though.” June, understanding entirely, cleared her throat. “If they want us, it’s probably for the Astrolabe, right? Vi is the one who wrote the code to analyze the runes. Do they need her too? What about Enox? She’s been a huge help. Also, Fluttershy.” Sam nodded and squeezed the button again. “Doctor June would like to know if you also need her assistant Violet, Enox, and / or Fluttershy, due to their involvement with her project.” The radio was silent for several long moments, then crackled as Raven answered. “We know we can trust everypony but this Fluttershy. What has she contributed?” Sam looked to June. June sighed. “I guess she hasn’t had time to read all of the reports yet? Let her know about the thing.” Sam nodded. “Fluttershy is confirmed to have been affected by the same shadow as myself by the Astrolabe. She’s been assisting with research to learn about herself, and is responsible for helping determine the range at which the Astrolabe can detect divergences in individuals from… Whichever universe it uses as its base. This was included in the last report.” The radio was silent for another few moments, before Luna answered. “She must come also. Do you know where she is?” Sam thought for a moment. “She’s back at the observatory, waiting for us to return so she can go on a dinner date with Violet. We can get her in five minutes, but without a way for Violet and Enox to fly, it will take us half an hour or more to get to you. Can you come to us?” More silence. “Return to the observatory basement,” Luna ordered. “I’ve been there before. I will shadow step and transport you here myself.” “Understood, moving out,” Sam said, deactivating her gauntlet then running her hoof down her face and moaning. “What’s wrong?” Violet asked, head cocked to one side. “Well,” Sam said as she began to jog down the road back to the observatory. “I don’t know about you, but there’s a critical emergency and I’m probably the only pony in town besides Raven’s body guards that she fully trusts and has military experience.” June frowned for a moment. “Okay, but all I know is archeology, ancient magic, and—” she frowned. “Um, I did pass a self defense class? That could be on my rec— Oh no!” Violet’s frown deepened. “Still don’t get it. All they know I can do is self augment my systems to—” The android flinched as it hit her like a ton of bricks. “Oh no…” Enox rubbed her forehooves together and flipped open a hidden panel on the back of her suit's left foreleg to start typing commands to her base computer. “Oh yes!”  ⁜ ⁜ ⁜ True to Luna’s word, she arrived in the observatory basement exactly five minutes after she’d made contact. Sam and company had been a few seconds late, a fact which Luna didn’t seem to mind. Sam was grateful for the reprieve. In her experience in both the military and corporate worlds “in five minutes” meant “ten seconds or you’re in the shit”. Luna had taken them to her old lodge, more specifically, to a small secure room which was probably a wine cellar in progress, given its lack of light other than a few lanterns and very obviously being in the lodge’s basement. The room was small, and Raven had set up an impromptu stage of sorts along one wall where she stood along with the wizard Primary Source. Once everypony had arrived, there was hardly any room to move, especially since the door was blocked by Princess Cadence’s assistant… And not only was Luna present but so was Cadence herself. I guess the shit could be being packed into this room like sardines with two Alicorns. Sam mused, sweating a little nervously. There was a Risk Category 5 thing held here, wasn’t there? We’re the only ponies who can possibly deal with it because the STF dudes are being audited by the 30 guys Raven brought with her. Buck me… Sam winced and shot Princess Cadence a glance over her shoulder. In case you’re telepathic, that was me being facetious, not an invitation. Cadence, being magically attuned to all things battle and love related through her alicorn magic, elected to wink at Sam just to get under her fur a little. Sam snapped her head back towards the front of the room and did her best not to think about anything at all. Raven cleared her throat. “Is that everypony, Princess?” Luna nodded firmly. “It is. The…not-filly Dew offered to contact Death for us. She can do that, somehow. Would it be a good idea?” “No,” Raven answered immediately. “Dusk recruited these ponies, or at least got them to come here. This is how she’s helping us.” Sam groaned audibly. “What breached containment and are we really the only ponies you can trust?” Raven sighed and turned to Sam. “The only people I can trust beyond a shadow of a doubt are currently in this room.” “Buck…” June swore under her breath. “Also, why?” Enox beamed Raven the biggest grin. “You really shouldn’t trust me, but thank you!” “I trust you to do the right thing when others will suffer if you don’t,” Raven clarified for the alien mare. “I also trust I will have to check all of my toilets for cling wrap when you leave.” Enox rolled her eyes. “I don’t repeat pranks… Also this is Luna’s pad. We’re cool.” Raven, professional as she was and dire as things were, frowned and looked at Luna. The princess blushed slightly. “She brought me a little hoof held game console when I was trapped on the moon. So the Nightmare repaid the favor, somehow? I cannot remember the specifics. I have little conscious memories of my time on the moon’s surface.” “She fixed my food replicator,” Enox clarified, “and I don’t prank friends unless they ask for it.” Wait… We could have just, like, physically gone to the moon and picked her up? Sam asked herself silently before flinching. Oh gods! She was still Nightmare Moon then! That means Enox ran her a Gamecolt… And the nightmare, like, played it. And enjoyed it. And they were besties… Sam took a long hard look at Enox. Note to self, do not anger the space mare. Raven nodded and began to address the room. “For the past several months, Administration and the Council have been actively investigating the actions and activities of Doctor Grape Vine. As of two hours ago, the investigation is completed, by way of murder. It is time to act on the information our investigation has uncovered.” Raven took a moment to mime taking off a hat, and putting another on. “That was me taking off my Administrator hat and putting on my Regent hat. Princess Celestia is indisposed, she’s speaking with the Zebrican Pharaoh at present. As such, I am formally handing all necessary military and civil powers to resolve this crisis to Princess Luna, in her name.” Sam winced and closed her eyes for a moment. Yep, now June volunteers us by accident… June raised a hoof. “Okay, so… What’s the crisis exactly? How can I help?” Sam’s ears flicked back. Damnit, June… Fluttershy squirmed awkwardly. “If you want a changeling’s help, I don’t know how to shapeshift yet. But I can do all of the pegasus stuff! Um, not too good though.” Princess Cadence reached across Sam with a hoof to give the yellow mare a comforting hoof on the shoulder. “It’s okay, you’ll be the mare in a chair for this thing.” Fluttershys’ wings twitched. “Um… My lawyer has advised that I do not confirm or deny any particular skills I may or may not have relating to accessing and or manipulating electronic and or magical systems—” Cadence rolled her eyes. “If you were still in trouble, you wouldn’t be here.” “Oh.” Sam arched an eyebrow. You know, she does seem the type to have spent most of her time at home playing with computers… And cats. Raven cleared her throat loudly. “Princess Luna has insisted on mobilizing you as a specialist force for a highly specific mission which will save, at minimum, the town. I, as Celestia’s Regent, have agreed with her plan. The five of you are hereby formally…” Raven trailed off frowning while looking at Luna. “What on equis is the word for this? I don’t think anypony’s done it in centuries.” Princess Luna cleared her throat and uttered the words Sam had expected since the radio call. “I, Princess Luna, hereby call upon you as citizens of the realm to serve as Mares-at-Arms in duty to your Kingdom for the duration of no more than a fortnight.” Dammit! Sam’s wings slumped. Emergency full-on soldier? They’re not ready for this. I’m barely ready for this. “But I like having four legs?” Violet objected. “I don’t want arms!” Luna facehooved. “It means you’re soldiers now,” Raven elaborated. June groaned. “Well… At least it’s only for as long as a round of that crappy game.” Luna pressed her hoof more firmly against her skull. “She means a period of two weeks,” Cadence elaborated. “Mint? Why don’t you get everypony milkshakes. Help them calm down and focus a little more.” Mint nodded and stood up, prompting Sam to flinch, turn her head and quietly ask, “No offense. No kinkshaming, but… Just please get milk from an actual cow.” Mint giggled and conjured a speech bubble. [I assure you, I will fetch precisely what everypony will enjoy the most.] “She will, I promise,” Cadence added before looking up to Raven. “Please, continue. We’ve wasted enough time.” Raven smiled gratefully. “The five of you must be brought up to speed. Mister Source, please replay the scrying record for these mares.” Primary Source lit his horn wordlessly, focusing his entire being on his order’s specialty spell to condense the 3D illusion into a simple 2D projection, and preserve as much detail as he could given he’d already replayed it three times before. Sam watched as the wall behind Raven seemingly transformed into a view of a rather nice office with a purple carpet and fine walnut furnishings. The view showed the office from the top down, prompting Sam to squint at the seemingly familiar location. That’s Grape Vine’s office. I remember installing those shelves for him… He tried to grope my ass but missed, somehow. The sound of a door clicking drew Sam’s attention to the bottom left of the illusion. Two ponies walked in. One was the taller green-gray furred blue maned unicorn stallion Sam knew to be Grape Vine. The other was some random earth pony mare she’d never seen before, except perhaps in passing on the streets. “— care about the implications!” Grape Vine exclaimed, his voice distorted due to repeated reconstructions. “The fact remains that Safety Lock got out of the bunker. We have to assume he knows everything, he wouldn’t have left otherwise!” “He can’t know everything, everything, sir,” the mare said in that voice everypony uses with angry bosses. “We relocated the object notes when Luna began her efficiency improvements.” “Don’t care!” Grape Vine said as he sat down in the large overstuffed armchair he used as his office desk seat. “You were following Trixie Lulamoon for a month. We had no idea they’d moved her off the case and put Safety on it until last week. I thought he was genuinely here to audit the warehouses following the Wendigo statue incident. We don’t know where he’s been except for last week. We don’t know what he knows. What we do know is he has a good hundred pages of notes and documents in a folder and he left the bunker. He has to die!” The mare sighed and nodded slowly. “I suppose you’re right sir. But nopony in our circle is not being watched. When Doctor Junebug reported our work on the astrolabe as fraudulent—” Grape Vine held his head in his hooves. “I know… I’m amazed we had almost a month of time before that happened. I know nopony isn’t being watched. I know they know everypony. But we only need a few more days. If Safety reports in, they can stop us before tomorrow. We need to do something.” The mare nodded, then lifted a hoof to her chin in thought. “I think he believes I’m willing to betray us, sir. I may have a plan.” “Why does he think that?” “Because I gave a few false documents to my tail to get them to leave me alone for the hour I required three days ago.” Grape arched an eyebrow dangerously. “That’s why they are investigating the old lumber mill currently,” she continued. “I made them believe we used it for an arcane ritual recently. I used the free hour to prepare part of our escape plan.” Gape nodded, seemingly satisfied. “What’s your idea?” “We don’t need the tunnel anymore, do we? The one into the ruins.” “No… Are you proposing we leak the real site to Safety and collapse the tunnel on him?” “That is exactly what I am proposing, sir. He always carries his notes with him. If we bury him, we bury the notes too. That could buy us a week! It will certainly get us a day… What’s planned for Nightmare Night, sir? I’m out of the loop there.” Grape cleared his throat. “It's best if you remain out of the loop in case you’re captured when you go to set our trap. I know who my tail is. I can give them the slip, or kill them if needed. I can also fetch muffled breaching charges from the armory. I will have the tunnel wired and the explosives hidden by illusions by midnight. I will wait as long as needed, but be certain he arrives after midnight. Tell him we’re planning a ritual or meeting… No. No tell him that it will breach at the witching hour. Spin him some sob story about not knowing what we were up to, let him know putting an empty mana crystal on the podium could contain it for a few days. He’ll buy that, he’s the hero type. He walks in, never comes out. We have our time.” “Yes sir,” the mare agreed. Sam rolled her lips, reflecting on the name. Safety Lock… Didn’t he sign my reimbursement checks? Back when I was getting those, at least? Yeah. He did. Shit… Another good soul lost to organized crime. Sam looked down, giving the stallion a moment of silence, even if nopony else in the room would. Source let his horn’s glow fade as he released the spell. “I’ll need a moment before I show the other records,” he informed, sitting down and producing a flask from his robes marked ‘Aspirin Infused Water’. “This spell is most taxing. I do not believe I will be able to show these again today, no matter what circumstance may arise.” Raven nodded sharply. “I understand, and I appreciate your services, Master Wizard,” she said as the image fully faded. “To give him time to recover, I will progress to our immediate concern: Grape Vine’s conspirators have brought an unknown malicious entity of an unknown classification to the brink of escaping an ancient First Kingdom prison.” Sam sighed, having already slipped back into the role of a mare who gets thrown into the thickest of the horseapples. Fluttershy let out a terrified squeak which could only be classed as adorable. Violet tilted her head, wondering what she could do about this. June yelped in fright, jumping to her tippie hooves. “What the buck do you think we can do against anything they couldn’t kill!?” Enox quietly began to type into her wrist computer again. “Large…X-Pulse…” She murmured to herself. Raven chose to address June. “Simple. We’re quite certain this entity is the one linked to the Astrolabe. Which Princess Luna currently has on her person. You are to enter the ruins, locate its pedestal, and replace the device in the hopes the ancient containment is reestablished.” June, still looking at Raven, turned half way and pointed both of her hooves to the two motherbucking alicorns sitting behind her. “And they aren’t doing this, why?” Luna bent her neck to look June in the eye as best she could. “Cadence and I will be engaging the beast in arcane combat to buy you this opportunity. You are the only ponies we can trust due to what limited knowledge we have of our foe. Raven, please tell them of its history.” Raven lit her horn to project a simple illusion, a still depicting Sam’s fillyhood abduction. “As per your own report, in the 907th year of the Solar Era, an unknown shadow entity re-routes an extrauniversal…thing…resulting in Samhain’s abduction and subsequent implantation with what appears to be a Harmony Crystal, albeit with some distinctly archaic differences. The purpose behind this is unknown. Theorized to be experimentation involving fate manipulation, because it’s next notable appearance…” Raven shifted her illusion of the night sky and moon as it was 4 years ago when Nightmare Moon returned onto the wall.  “... was at the Dawn of the Era of Harmony, when again an unknown entity interfered with the ties of fate in an attempt to neutralize the Elements of Harmony by invalidating its Bearers. Its efforts prevent four of the six fated Bearers from assuming their destinies as Bearers,” Raven said, playing the illusion forwards through several slides showing complex arcane signatures that non-unicorns simply had no chance of ever understanding. “The entity’s efforts are largely in vain as the Elements locate the next most suitable Bearers instead.” Raven changed her illusion again, this time to show a series of images together, depicting Celestia and Luna’s brief kidnapping by magic vines, the near-collapse of their universe due to a malfunctioning portal, Silkwing’s feral rampage, and Tirek escaping from Tartarus. “Its signature can be found surrounding all of these events,” Raven explained. “It has been reaching out to pluck the strands of fate with the clear intention of bringing harm to Equestria.” She paused again to expand the illusion of Silkwing’s escape while dismissing the others, then allowing Silkwing’s killing of Apple Brandy to play out, pausing the playback when a dark oily stain leaked from her shadow and vanished into a crack in the floor. “See that void in the image data?” Raven asked coldly. Everypony nodded together. “I— I saw that in the vision the astrolabe showed me,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Me too,” Sam added. “I can’t forget it. It’s…more and also less than the tendrils.” “Yeah,” Shy agreed, shivering. Raven smiled thinly, satisfied. “ That is the signature of this…entity when made visible through magic. Keep it in mind,” she said as she turned towards Primary Source. “We’ll skip showing them Grape Vine blowing the cave, for your sake. But please play his arrest.” The wizard closed his eyes and cast his spell again, his chest immediately shuddered, sweat began to drip from his brow as the illusion filled the wall. The door to Grape Vine’s office burst open in a silent explosion, sending shards of wood flying across the office. The renegade doctor was behind his desk, packing saddlebags with camping supplies. Trixie Lulamoon stepped through the breach, flanked by six STF agents in full combat gear. Sam’s ears parked. Get ‘im, hon! “Hooves down, horn dark. Now!” Trixie bellowed in a good attempt at Canterlot Voice. Grape Vine took no time to think and fired a blue-white bolt of magic at Trixie. She ducked and the bolt struck an STF agent, melting a hole through his tactical vest and dropping him with a screech of burning lung. The remaining agents returned fire instantly. Shotguns thundered. Rifles cracked. Spells crackled. Grape dove behind his desk, finding shelter behind the steel-backed oak. He arced several spellbolts over the desk, striking nopony but starting a fire in the hallway. Trixie ducked, fast-crawled around the desk, and fired a thin ray of light from her horn. The stun spell struck a silver shimmering field Grape manifested, sending it bouncing into the floor. Grape rolled to get behind his chair, sitting up for cover from Trixie’s spells. A shotgun slug separated his skullcap from the rest of his cranium with a sound much like dropping an anvil on a coconut. “Buck!” An STF agent swore, throwing their shotgun down. “Who packed lethals?” Trixie asked calmly. “I— I fired that. Shit. I grabbed the wrong gun…” The agent lamented, putting their head in their hooves. Trixie stood up and moved to Grape’s body to examine it. It hardly seemed necessary, given the stallion’s brains were currently staining the white wall gray-ish-beige-pink. “It’s not your fault Wire,” another agent said, putting a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “They look the Princess-damned same. We should put a green stripe on the non-lethal loaded ones. Or something. Anything. Or at least store them separately… Actually, can we include the quartermaster in the audit today because what the buck?” “That’s a good idea. I’ll pass it along,” Trixie said, finishing her inspection. “The brain stem is intact. I think we can get a necromancer to revive him if we can get the brain scooped up. Somepony find a spatula and some tupperware. I think we have about twenty minutes. I’ll call the necro.” Then, right when nopony was looking at the corpse of the late Doctor Grape Vine, an oily mess of tendrils bled from the open wound, oozed down his side, and vanished behind the splintered desk. Raven nodded to Source who ended his spell and promptly sat down to have another deeper swig from his flask of aspirin tonic. “By the old fates, if only this was the hooch everypony thinks it is,” he muttered under his breath. Sam winced. Cadence above… Is that actually just aspirin juice? His poor liver. “As you hopefully realized,” Raven said knowing full well that some of the nuance could be easily lost on the temporary troops, “the entity linked to the astrolabe was either controlling, augmenting, or had replaced Doctor Grape Vine. We don’t know, and we will never know because his soul could not be recalled. It was…missing. Our necromancer is recovering from burnout trying to scrape what we did recover.” Raven cleared her throat. “Yes, before you asked, we asked Dusk to double check. She claims he never existed. We both know he did. So she’s on that. Which leaves us here, knowing this thing below us has been attempting to break free of its own accord for at least five years, if not almost a century. It was unsuccessful until its ally, Grape Vine, was able to remove the astrolabe from its resting place. As this thing has been contained for ages without being able to persuade or mindjack anyone into freeing it… Luna, Cadence, and I have a limited amount of patience for fate-twisting entities. Its existing containment methods certainly work, but we will be reviewing and patching them once the situation stabilizes.” Sam nodded firmly. “Seems reasonable. It’s been there for what, 12,000 years?” “Possibly way longer,” June admitted quietly. “If Medeis sealed it away… And he pre-dates…” Luna blinked twice. “Medeis? Who— Oh!” she chuckled. “You’re mispronouncing it. It’s Mead-ees, not May-deu-ice. He was most insistent that we not use the linguistically correct pronunciation. He found it ‘Overly masculine and unnecessarily tongue twisting’.” June frowned and turned to look at Luna oddly. “But… But aren't you… You’re only three thousand, right?” Luna huffed. “I would say two thousand, given I was not conscious for a third of my lifespan. But, yes. My sister and I learned magic from a personality-construct he left behind, which I repaired. Was… Was he the archmage who worked beneath the palace?” Luna frowned and sat back, distantly pondering days long gone to connect the puzzle pieces. “He made the astrolabe, signed it and everything,” June answered. “It’s all in my reports.” Luna’s eyes brightened. “Then I fully believe we can contain this threat if it cannot be slain. His construct was but a toy, and yet the good it did my sister and I… Raven, they understand the threat. Proceed to the plan.” Raven nodded and cleared her throat. “With Cadence’s help by way of taking us to the Crystal Empire to make use of some specialty equipment, we have determined this thing can only directly affect an individual once. All of you have been influenced by it, so it can do nothing to you directly anymore.” Enox raised her hoof. “What did it do to me? Give me a sense of empathy, an understanding of ethics, and—” Raven smirked as she remembered having a little fun a few hours earlier. “When we attempted to check its ability to use or manipulate dark magic, the simulated signature collapsed. Dark Magic appears to be anathema to it. I then thought about seeing what would happen if we simulated it interacting with you specifically, Enox. It wouldn’t go near you. As a dark magic aligned creature, we assume it can only harm you through physical means. You’re safe from manipulation.” Enox nodded in satisfaction “Good, then our party mage won’t be useless,” she commented. “Let’s see, we have a bard, a fighter, a mage, a barbarian— no offense Violet, and then the weirdo playing a homebrew class that everyone insists doesn't fit the setting except it super does if you bothered to read the setting’s old lore… Good party comp, fairly balanced. No healer but I got stims for days. We got this!” Everypony looked at Enox like she was an idiot, except for Luna who quietly whispered. “You’re hereby invited to my O&O nights.” Sam slowly shook her head. Nevermind. No one actually competent would compare this to a board game… Okay, sure, wargaming is used for planning strategies and anticipating the enemy, but sometimes it, just… Damnit Enox. We need to, you know what— Sam cleared her throat. “Girls, I know you’re trying to stay positive, but try and focus a little on handling a dangerous situation. Think about what you can do, try and anticipate exploring an old ruin for real. Jokes are fine, but we’re going to really do this too.” June bit her lip. “Fair enough… Thanks, Sam.” Sam nodded. “Just doing my old job.” Raven refocused. “Tonight there will be a blood moon. Notes recovered from Safety Lock imply a high chance the creature will attempt to break free tonight. Cadence and Luna will keep it in place as long as possible. They too have been affected by it, Luna when kidnapped with Celestia, Cadence that one day she was… Erm—” Cadence rolled her eyes. “I had an afternoon where I wasn’t in the mood… Don’t be a prude.” Raven blushed lightly. “Are you really… All the time?” “Always. I’m an embodiment of love and passion for almost all things,” Cadence snorted dismissively. “Luna always wants to make life like a dream, Celestia always wants to be the beacon of life and hope, and poor Twilight wants to be everyone’s friend. We can’t help what we bond to. It consumes us. Since my ascension I have literally been horny all the time, never satisfied, ever, or done. Does it suck? Yes. Can I do anything about it? Yes. I can have plenty of lovers on standby. I want to love everyone, physically, romantically, and platonically. I have an infinite amount of passion for everything, all at once, always. I want to paint every vista, build every stock car, shoot every gun, go shopping at every mall, knit every scarf—” Cadence took a breath to recenter herself and stop thinking about everything she wasn’t getting to do by being here and doing this. “For six hours, I felt none of that, and just wanted to curl up with some chips and watch TV. My mantle-required nymphomania and autistic-tier passion for almost all activities, events, hobbies, and other nouns being disrupted is absolutely an influence on me by another power.” Sam flinched and resolved to be much less judgmental and supportive of Cadence as a pony in the future. “So,” Cadence finished, “Luna and I will keep that thing in its cell. You girls are going to take the key back down to the lock and close that door. Got it?” Sam cleared her throat. “Since we’re the only ponies you can trust with the job, and the tunnel collapsed, I assume we’re teleporting in?” Luna shook her head firmly. “No. The city’s defenses are active. I attempted a shadowstep. Cadence attempted a teleport. Her teleportation was interdicted. My shadowstep activated a war construct. Which followed me out, forcing me to destroy it. We will be asking Sky Trigger to blast an emergency entrance. It will not be stable. You may be trapped below if it collapses after you… But it’s the best we can think of with the time we have.” Sam viscerally recoiled with all the force of engineering. “Buckin’ whae?” June sighed and shook her head. “Blood moons do all kinds of magic weirdness. We have till nightfall. Then however long they can buy us.” “I could burn a hole in for us,” Enox commented off hoof. “Then we don’t have to involve Sky, who may not be secure.” “Mmm, I suppose you could. I forgot your vessel is armed. We’ve already had him start with the emergency drilling,” Raven commented before her eyes widened. “Oh… Oh we forgot to check him! There’s just been so much to do. Girls, get loaded up and get to the quarry. We’ll meet you there and confirm Sky isn’t compromised.” “What gear?” Violet asked, her ears perking. “Can I get a cool helmet like your guards have?” “Yes you can,” Cadence answered, frowning as she looked at June. “As for you… You’re going as the pony who can read the ancient street signs and control panels. I wish I’d thought to bring some of my old armor. We have similar builds, so it would fit you if magically shrunk. I don’t think anything in the armory will accommodate your teats… Nice choice to have them out galactic style for your marefriend’s sake, by the way. I can sense the affection. It’s adorable!” June blushed bright red. “Oh… Uh… Thanks?” The door opened, prompting both alicorns to briefly light their horns, ready for battle… But it was only Mint, returning with a serving tray of various treats and a large duffle bag. Mint set the duffle bag on the floor, then began passing out the snacks. A bottle of 10W30 gear oil garnished with a bit of brass lathe trimmings for Violet. A small pink heart shaped lava cake for Fluttershy. An off brand knock off salty trail mix bar for June which she knew full well was only sold in one bodega in Canterlot near where the student dorms were. An unidentifiable squishy thing for Enox which was probably jello based. And a strawberry milkshake for Sam with a note on it reading [I’m certain you are aware that some mares will happily agree they are a ‘cow’ if pressed. I don’t think you wanted that, so this is milk from a female Bos taurus. Yes the scientific name is necessary, as cow is also the name of the female sex for many mammals, including:] Sam stopped reading to look Mint in the eye. “You’re pedantic as heck, but thank you.” Here’s hoping this isn’t my last meal… Sam thought before taking a sip of what might be the best shake she’d ever had. Holy hell! If it is, it is a great one. For Raven, she’d brought an espresso-brandy triple triple, and for the Princesses, she presented an entire god damn pizza and two Champion’s Chalice Calorie Cherry Cheesecake shakes. For Source, she had a heavily redacted bottle with a single pill in it. For the headache. Mint smiled and conjured a speech bubble at the front of the room. [Princess, I packed some of your armor you’d given me for emergencies. I have taken the liberty of bringing a set down for June, as her dress size indicates she will not fit in standard STF armor.] June huffed and crossed her forelegs. “I’m just a little chubby because I’m a nerd and watch sports instead of play them! I’m a size 19! That’s not big. How the buck do your vests and flack skirts not fit a 19?” Raven bit her lip. “They do, but at that size, the plates would be too far apart to properly protect your ribcage, belly, and hips. Also, Mint… How?” “I keep telling everypony she’s practically perfect in every way, but do they understand what that means? No!” Cadence huffed irritably. “Should I just start saying she’s magic and the only thing she ever bucked up was burning a roast?” Mint’s ears drooped. [That roast was fated to burn. I tried so hard…] Sam cleared her throat and stood up. “Well… June has armor, Enox has been presumably inventorying her own armory this whole time—” “Məˈk beɪ,” Enox corrected, still tapping away on her computer, but now tilting her wrist so Fluttershy could see and nod approvingly. “Whatever that means,” Sam continued, turning to Princess Luna. “Would you kindly take us to an armory so we can go down there and kill ourselves a shadowy little bitch?” Luna simply smiled, took Sam’s hoof, and stepped into the shadows.