//------------------------------// // Operation - Chapter 4 // Story: The Dusk Guard Saga: Rise // by Viking ZX //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Hunter looked up from his breakfast as the door to the mess hall swung open, hitting the wall with a dull thump and admitting a familiar olive-green mountain. He grinned as Steel took a quick look around the mostly empty mess hall, noticing the two other members of the team who were still having breakfast before heading over towards him. “Hey boss,” he said, standing and giving a quick salute as Steel approached. “How was the family emergency?” For a moment Steel paused, his face showing confusion, then he returned Hunter’s salute, shaking his head as a small smile crept across his lips. “A family emergency?” he asked, sitting down—with a bit of stiffness, he noticed—across from Hunter. “Did my sister tell you that?” His slight bit of decorum for the day shown, Hunter sat back down and resumed eating his oatmeal, speaking between bites. “Yeah,” he said, pausing to chew. “And from the way you took off, I’m not going to consider any differently regardless of what you were actually up to. Although,” he said, cocking an eyebrow, “if it’s going to be a regular thing, I may start having to report you AWOL.” Steel laughed. “Then again,” Hunter said, considering his next words carefully as he dug around the bottom of his bowl for the last bits of cinnamon deliciousness. “If it’s going to make you laugh at my jokes a bit more readily, I may suggest for you to go AWOL more often.” He gulped the last bit of oatmeal down and then looked at his bowl in disappointment. The chefs here really did serve small portions. “In that case I’d best confine myself to official leaves of absence,” Steel said, his face taking on the same impassive look that the whole team had come to associate with him. Then one side of it lifted in a grin. “Especially since this team already has its hooves full with two troublemakers already,” he said, leaning forward. Hunter shook his head. “Careful boss,” he cautioned, waving a hoof towards where Sky Bolt and Sabra seemed to be engaged in a somewhat stilted conversation in Zebra. “Make too many jokes and the team won’t know what to make of it. They’ll think you’re a changeling.” He cocked his head to one side. “Or maybe just senile.” “Alright, alright,” Steel said, holding up his hooves in mock surrender. Then his hooves dropped and he was back in command. “Speaking of jokesters, how’s Nova doing?” Hunter shrugged and picked up an apple from his tray. “He went AWOL last night—but don’t worry!” he said quickly as Steel’s eyes flashed. “Turns out he was just off practicing magic; he snuck out to avoid Dawn since she’d confined him to bedrest.” “Any assigned punishment?” “Dawn’s got him assigned to do some work in the kitchen as soon as he’s back on his hooves.” Hunter said, crunching a bite from the apple in his hooves. Delicious, he thought as the juice ran down his throat. Nice and crisp. “That’s where she is now,” he said, feeling flecks of apple move around his mouth as he talked. “Dawn I mean. She took her breakfast and went back to the barracks to make sure he didn’t sneak out for more practice.” He waited for a moment, but Steel just nodded, staying silent. “Anyway, Dawn told me the cast will be coming off sometime tomorrow, and the rest of his injuries are already healed up.” Steel nodded. “Anything back on that address stenciled on the side of that golem?” Hunter shook his head, swallowing another bite of his apple. “Guard sent word to Baltimare yesterday morning, and an aide dropped off some papers when we were heading out for the morning routine.” He shrugged. “If there’s anything, it’d be in that stack. I haven’t checked yet. I was planning on doing that after breakfast.” Steel nodded. “Alright,” he said, glancing at the clock set above the door. “It’s almost six-thirty now. Tell everypony to meet in the conference room at eight.” Steel stood, pushing away from the table. “Alright, will do, boss,” Hunter said, giving him a lazy salute and almost dropping his apple. Steel trotted back across the mess hall, nodding at Sky Bolt and Sabra as he passed by them and then out the door. “Hmm ...” Hunter said, speaking out loud before taking another bite of his apple. “His sister says it’s a ‘family emergency’ and it was news to him, yet he heads out of here without even passing command.” He paused for a moment, thinking the situation over while he swallowed the last bit of his apple. Then a smile crept onto his face. “Well, Steel!” he said, drawing out the word with a chuckle as he got up. “I think I’m going to have to ask you to introduce me to this mystery friend of yours.” Hunter set his tray on his back, balancing it with his wings so he didn’t drop anything as he made his way across the cafeteria towards Sabra and Sky Bolt. The pair were sitting across from one another at one of the longer tables, Sabra carefully guiding the energetic pegasus in her pronunciation of Zebra. The look on Sky Bolt’s face however, said that her mind was only half focused on the speech lesson. “At ease you two,” Hunter said before either of the pair could snap a salute. “Jambo, lu—luteni?” Sky Bolt looked at Sabra as she struggled with the unfamiliar word, and he nodded, making her face light up. “Jambo, luteni,” she said again, this time sounding much more confident. “I assume that was ‘hi, lieutenant,’ or something similar,” Hunter said with a smile. Sky Bolt nodded. “Hello actually, but you got the intent.” She looked back at Sabra and smiled. “Sabra’s been a big help.” “Ilikuwa ni furaha yangu,” Sabra said with a nod. Sky Bolt frowned in concentration, her face lighting up as soon as she’d deciphered his words. “Asante!” she said, giving Sabra a satisfied grin. Hunter chuckled at the pair’s antics. “Alright, you two,” he said. “Keep up the practice, but make sure you’re at the conference room in the barracks before eight.” The two looked up at him with inquiring expressions. “Steel wants to cover everything that’s happened,” he said. “Which means he’ll want summary reports from each of you on whatever you’ve been doing, as well as what you plan to do in the days ahead and what you’ll need.” “Are we going after whoever made that golem?” Sky Bolt asked, a glint of excitement in her eyes. Hunter nodded. “I can’t say for certain, but I would expect so.” He took a quick look around the mess hall but spotted no one. The Royal Guard wouldn’t be done with their morning workout for another fifteen or twenty minutes and food was all self-serve, kept warm or cold by heating spells. “I’d expect if we get anything we’ll be the ones to go after it though. After all,” he said, bending in close and giving the pair a wink. “We were the ones that caught it. See you at the meeting.” He pulled his head back and trotted off, depositing his dirty tray and dishes before heading for the barracks. He had just over an hour before the meeting started, he noted as he passed under the massive clock that hung over the mess hall door. It was time to take a look at the paperwork that had been delivered earlier. *        *        * “Attention!” Hunter said as Captain Song entered the conference room. Nova climbed to his hooves and stood at attention, although at a slower pace than the rest of the Guard thanks to his cast. He couldn’t even manage a proper salute, so he had to settle for nodding. Thankfully the captain took it stride, not even blinking as his eyes passed over him. “At ease,” he said before settling in the conference room's last chair. Nova sat back down, grateful to drop the awkward posture. There was a moment of silence disturbed only by the rustling of paper as Captain Song pulled a few files from his saddlebags, setting them in front of him. “Alright then everypony,” he said, looking up at the group. “I apologize for my absence last night. I had some …  personal business to attend to.” Nova saw Hunter’s eyebrows raise at the statement. Clearly there was more to the captain’s statement than he wanted to share. He pushed the curious thought away, focusing in on what he was saying. “In any case, most of you were probably grateful for the chance to get some rest,” the captain continued. “Although as I understand it some of you were a little less keen on it than others.” Captain Song looked directly at him, and for a moment Nova wondered if he was about to be dressed down. “In any case,” he said, looking away, “I do want to congratulate you all on your work so far.” He paused for a moment and then gave the team a smile. “Not only did we manage to figure out what was behind the robberies, but we managed to subdue it before it could escape and hurt anypony else.” He paused for a moment, looking back at Nova. “Which, I might add, was done at great personal injury and risk. For that,” the captain said, his eyes moving from pony to pony as he spoke. “You all have my thanks, and my respect. You’ve proven to me that each and every one of you are what I’d hoped you could be when I chose you.” Nova felt a swell of pride at his words. “That said,” he continued before anyone could respond. “We still have a lot of work to do. Hunter?” All eyes at the table darted to the long-maned pegasus, who nodded as his name was mentioned. “What did you find out about that golem?” “Well,” Hunter said, rising. “First thing. The other Guard had some of their best looking over it last night and they came to pretty much the same conclusions that Sky Bolt and I did. The golem itself is a pretty complex piece of work. It’s technically magical in nature, as the crystal in its chest is what gives it life. According to the unicorns who dissected its crystal core, Sky Bolt was spot on with her theories—” across the table the grey pegasus beamed in pride, “—regarding how it worked. The crystal was enchanted with a complex ‘Come to Life’ spell, which gave it its general rules of operation as well as its instructions, albeit simple ones. Sky Bolt was also right about the other crystal. It was a ‘magic battery’ of sorts, enchanted to regulate the golem’s energy usage as well as soak up ambient magic in order to lengthen the golem's lifespan.” “How long would it have if it couldn’t soak up any extra energy?” Nova asked, interrupting. Hunter glanced down at his paper. “At least an hour, although their report mentions that this could vary based on the quality of the crystal used.” He glanced down at the paper again. “According to this, the crystal that was used in ours wasn’t exactly a high quality crystal to begin with. In fact, it was the lowest grade that you’d want to enchant. They even warned that if given enough of a charge, it would probably react violently if broken.” He made a slight grimace as the words left his mouth that Nova caught the meaning of. It was a lucky thing that the battery hadn’t been set off by Hunter’s lightning. “Well, that may tell us something about whoever built it,” Dawn said, joining the conversation. “Specifically that they may be operating on a lower budget than what we would have expected.” Captain Song nodded in agreement while turning back to Hunter. “What about the core crystal?” “Fairly high quality for enchanting work, actually,” Hunter said. “The team noted that it was a bit of a surprise compared to the other crystal.” “It could be that they’re simply working with what they have on hoof in that case,” Sky Bolt said, leaning forward as everyone looked at her. “I know I’ve done that before. Simply used what I had to build something rather than going out and buying new stuff. That would match up with what Dawn suggested as well.” The pegasus nodded her head at the unicorn, her blue mane bobbing. “If that’s true,” Nova said, sitting up as an idea occurred to him. “You should check the crystals in that golem against the ones that were stolen.” The rest of the team looked over at him in surprise. When none of them said anything, he continued. “We know that there was more than one theft right? Which means there must be more than just the one golem, right?” Hunter nodded. “Yeah, in fact judging from the shipments, which I’ll get into in a moment, it looks like there are at least six of these things, maybe more.” Nova’s eyes widened in shock, and around him he could see that the rest of the group was reacting the same way. “They’re actually in the process of tracking two additional golems in transit right now. I warned them about how difficult they are subdue, so they’re planning on simply collecting them at the end, along with whoever comes to pick them up.” “That’s even better then,” Nova said as Hunter stopped speaking. “Once they dismantle those, we can compare the crystals in their chests to the ones that were stolen. If whoever is behind this did build them on the cheap, that could be one of the reasons that they’re after crystals.” He could see several members of the team nodding along with him. “That makes a lot of sense,” Hunter said, nodding. “I’ll ask them to check on it. If you’re right, that would at least be part of this mystery solved. Although they could just buy them—” “Maybe whoever they are, they didn’t want anypony tracking down purchases of crystals.” Sky Bolt said, cutting him off. “I know getting the batch I ordered for my workshop just a few weeks ago was a hassle. You either have to buy crystals in bulk and test them yourself or pay someone to test them for you. Either way, something like that is going to be remembered.” “Maybe they did,” Sabra said, his melodic voice surprising everypony. “It would not be hard to check I would think.” The captain nodded at Sabra’s words. “You’re right,” he said, looking between Sky Bolt and Hunter. “One of you should check that as well. Preferably you Hunter, as Sky Bolt’s going to be busy over the coming days.” He sat back. “Any other thoughts on the crystal scenario?” “I have one,” Dawn said, leaning forward. “Is there any idea where or by whom these crystals are being enchanted?” “Hey, yeah, good point,” Sky Bolt said, ears standing up. “Those things take a while to make!” “Exactly,” Dawn said, nodding in agreement as she looked at the rest of the group. “For example, the enchanted crystals that are currently being created for Sky Bolt’s projects took both time and money to create. The crystals for her boilers, for example, have been worked on for the last few weeks by teams of talented enchanters to a phenomenal cost.” “I didn’t realize that it was so hard to enchant crystal,” Nova said with a frown. “What makes it so difficult?” Dawn turned towards him. “Enchanting a crystal is a strenuous process as the crystal’s structure itself must be modified both physically and magically by the enchantment being placed on it. The more complex the enchantment, the more stress is placed on the unicorn enchanting the gemstone,” her gaze left Nova’s as he nodded, moving around the table. “This is one reason why actual enchanted gemstones tend to be small and simple. They are much easier to create.” “What about larger ones?” Hunter asked. “They take more time and effort, on an exponential scale,” Dawn said. “And if a unicorn pushes themselves harder than they should creating one—” she gave a little shudder. “They burnout?” Nova suggested. “Worse,” Steel said. “They go mad.” Nova felt a small shudder move through his frame. No wonder Dawn looked somewhat disturbed. “There isn’t much research done into it, as most unicorns are far too careful.” Dawn said with a small shake of her head. “Most of what we know comes from the early days of crystal experimentation, as nowadays there are stringent security measures. However, what we understand is that if a unicorn exerts too much energy or pushes too hard, whatever spell they are using begins to resonate. The result is feedback, which can—” she gave another small shudder, “—break the pony's mind.” For a moment silence reigned around the table as everypony thought about it.  Then Sabra spoke up. “Can one recover from it?” he asked. Dawn nodded, much to Nova’s relief. The idea that a unicorn could go mad by performing too much magic struck an uncomfortable chord with his own fears. “With proper treatment, a unicorn afflicted with crystal madness can recover. It’s just ...” Dawn paused for a moment. “Difficult, as I understand it. Apparently the act of using magic becomes addictive.” “Which in turn makes me all the more worried about your initial question,” Captain Song said. “And it means we need to ask somepony about how long it would take to enchant crystals of this size. If these other golems turned out to be enchanted with crystals taken during the robberies ...” the Captains voice trailed off as one by one each of the ponies made the connection. “We could be dealing with somepony completely crazy,” Nova said, drawing back his lips in a grimace. “Exactly,” Captain Song said, turning towards Dawn. “You can work on checking into that, collaborate with Hunter as needed.” He waited for both of them to nod. Dawn floating a quill and piece of paper from her saddlebags and making a series of small notes. Her action made Nova feel a bit self-conscious, as he took a quick look down at the empty table in front of him. Then he gave a mental shrug. If he needed to bring something, there was always next time. “Anything else of note to report on the golem?” Captain Song asked, looking at Hunter. The tan pegasus shook his head. “Very well then, next I want to hear from Spec Sky Bolt,” he said, looking at the small grey mare, who gave a grin. “What’s the status on our equipment?” “The Hummingbird and the armor sets are both on track to be done in about a week, maybe a bit longer.” Sky Bolt said without even looking at any of the notes in front of her. “Fortunately I put in the order for some of the more hard-to-produce parts quite early on. Oh and,” she said, her face lighting up, “I would like a chance to examine that battery crystal in detail, or at least get a full report on how it works.” She looked over at Hunter, who nodded before she continued. “Anyway, The Hummingbird only needs a few more pieces to be installed, most of it heavy stuff that I’ll need a unicorn for—” “I can help with that,” Nova said, surprising the group as he spoke up. “I can’t do much else until my leg's out of its cast.” “That’d work,” Sky Bolt said, ignoring Dawn’s look of disapproval. “We can do that today actually.” “What about the armor?” Captain Song asked. “If it comes right down to it, I’d rather see the armor finished before the airship if that’s at all possible. If we tackle another golem, I want us all to have more protection.” “The armor will take at least a week or two at the current rate,” Sky Bolt said, even as Steel started shaking his head. “Getting the actual armor itself made won’t take an extreme amount of time, but getting the harmonics down right has been taking time.” “Make that your number-one priority then,” the captain said. “Don’t bother with any training or anything else, cut your free time if you have to. We need that armor yesterday.” Sky Bolt nodded. “If I do that I should be able to get it done in maybe four days. I’ll need to pull each one of you aside to get sizing measurements though.” “I believe I can assist you with that,” Dawn said. “Good,” Sky Bolt responded, one ear flicking as she looked down at her paper anyway. “I was going to need your assistance to check the crystal resonance anyway and make sure we don’t get a feedback buildup with your natural magic.” “If that’s the case,” Dawn said, pointing across the table and straight towards Nova. “Then you should test Nova. His natural magic is much more powerful than mine.” Nova shrugged as all eyes again turned to him. “Why not?” he asked. “I’m already going to be helping you with your ship anyway, so I’ll be in your shop.” He raised his cast above the table. “This isn’t coming off until tomorrow at—” “Maybe tomorrow,” Dawn said. Nova frowned at her and then continued. “Anyway, tomorrow at the earliest, so it’s not like I can be doing much else that isn’t magic related.” He dropped his cast wrapped foreleg back below the table. “Awesome!” Sky Bolt said with a grin. “Alright then captain, I should be able to get most of the major work done on The Hummingbird today, and yes,” she said, cutting him off before he could speak, “I know you want the armor to be the priority, but if I get my boilers installed today I can start the process of making sure the system works right, most of which is waiting. I’ll install the boilers and other heavy equipment today, and then I’ll start on the armor while I run the checks. Otherwise I’m adding days' worth of time onto my schedule.” Captain Song appeared to digest the information before nodding. “Alright spec, I trust your judgement. Anything else you need to bring up?” Sky Bolt rolled her eyes back in thought and then grinned. “If I’m going to be spending the next few days in the workshop, I’m going to run out of tunes pretty quick. Any chance I can get somepony to stop by a record store and pick up a few dozen new grooves for me?” she asked, tilting her head towards the captain, raising her eyebrows. “Nice try, but no,” Captain Song said, rolling his eyes. “You’ll need to do better puppy-dog eyes than that to get me to agree to something like that. My niece has you beat.” He turned towards Nova as Sky Bolt sat back, blowing one bang out of her eyes in disappointment. “Alright Nova, what about you?” the captain asked, turning towards him. “How’s the magic training going?” Nova smiled despite himself. “It’s been … interesting,” he said. “I’ve gotten better with my magic though, and I think—” he paused for a moment, eyes darting down, back towards his cutie mark. I can be more than a thief. “I think,” he said, looking up, “that I’ll be a lot better with the team now.” The captain’s eyebrows raised slightly, but otherwise his face remained expressionless. “I’ve been studying some real spells,” Nova said, feeling a swell of confidence inside of him as he spoke. “Mostly defensive at the moment, as I’ve got a decent amount of offensive spells covered already.” “Anything in particular I should know about?” Captain Song asked, leaning forward. Nova shook his head. “I can put up a decent sized defensive bubble, and I’m also working on a reflective shield that should come in handy, although the components are a bit tricky.” “Components?” Dawn asked, looking at him in confusion. “Bad choice of words,” Nova said, shaking his head and gesturing with his free hoof. “Magical balances might be a better word for it.” “Ah,” Dawn said, a look of impressed recognition crossing her face. “Emotional magic. An advanced magic indeed.” “Yeah, sure,” Nova said. “Anyway, I’ve got a few I’m looking at, although some that I’ve found might be better suited for Dawn rather than me.” “Get me a list and summary of each spell you’re considering by tomorrow morning,” Captain Song said, giving Nova an approving nod. “Aside from that, keep practicing. With both your magic and your combat training.” He then turned to Sabra, who had been sitting quietly for nearly the entire meeting. “Sabra?” he asked. “Anything to report?” The zebra shook his head. “Only that my skills continue to improve, and that I have yet to find the answer to my question. To be fair however, I have not been asking lately. Oh, and I will need to acquire another Fimbo, or at least a replacement.” Captain Song looked at Sky Bolt. “Any chance you could whip up something for Sabra that would serve as a new staff?” He asked. Sky Bolt nodded. “I can think of a few things off the top of my head. Got any specifications?” she asked, looking at Sabra. “He can give them to you afterwards,” Captain Song said, cutting the discussion before it could begin with a clop of his hoof on the tabletop. “Is there anything else, Sabra?” The zebra shook his head. “Not at this time. I will continue to train and prepare myself as before.” “What about responding to magic attacks?” With these words, the captain leaned forward. “Have you had any success there?” Sabra frowned and shook his head. “Hakuna,” he said. “If it helps,” Dawn said, tossing her head. “I can give you some assistance, but,” she said with a frown, “my own magic skills are not as offensively based as some. Your best bet may be to ask some of the other Guard to help you.” Sabra gave her a polite nod. “Asante.” “Alright then.” The Captain looked down at his papers and then up at Dawn. “And now, last but not least,” he said. “Dawn. Anything to report?” "Nothing outside of optimal progress,” she said, sliding a sheet of paper across the table to him. “We’re on track to continue to increase our workout schedules until we’re at the pace you asked be set. I’ve spoken with the mess hall cooks and they’ve agreed to procure select ingredients in order to meet our team nutritional requirements—” “Nutritional requirements?” Sky Bolt asked, her ears standing straight up. “Like what?” “Well,” Dawn said, folding her ears back in annoyance at the interruption. “Most of you have probably noticed by now a marked improvement on your physical structure. Muscles, reflexes, endurance, and so forth.” Nova looked down as Dawn began to explain the training. She was right, the last few weeks had been a nightmare at first, but he could see a marked improvement in himself. He’d never considered himself out of shape, but the last few weeks had taken what muscle he had and toned it, tightening it into whipcord. Even at the peak of his game when he’d been a thief, he doubted he’d ever been this fit. “—so with all of these exercises and the strain that they put on your bodies,” Dawn was saying as Nova let his attention shift back, “after a certain point the simple fare that they serve in the mess hall will not be sufficient to give your bodies the nutritional energy that they need. So we are establishing a secondary set of supplements to your diet, widening the array of offerings at the mess so that all of you stay healthy.” “Yeesh,” Sky Bolt said, sticking her tongue out it disgust. “When you say it like that it makes it sound like we’re going to be fed some sort of processed food bar.” “Well,” Dawn said, brushing a strand of her mane back. “I have considered that, as it would be the most easy solution—” “What?” Hunter said, sitting forward and slapping his hoof down on the table. “No way. I outrank you, and as your lieutenant I forbid you to even think about that again. The only way we’re eating anything  close to a ration bar is in mission, when it's absolutely unavoidable.” He pounded his hoof on the table again. “We’ve got cooks and chefs here, the least they can do is give us some decent grub,” he said, looking around the table for support. “All in favor?” “It’s not a democracy, Hunter,” the captain said, rolling his eyes as he leaned forward to enter the discussion. “That said, I happen to agree with you.” He turned to look at Dawn. “There is no way we’re making portable food rations a part of our daily diet.” “Well,” Dawn said, putting her lower lip out and pouting slightly. “Any other option would certainly cost more—” “Then go that route,” the captain said, and Nova felt his stomach give a little sigh of relief. “We’ve got a huge budget, and I’d foot the bill myself if I had to, just to get some decent tasting food.” Dawn sighed in defeat. “Very well. I will draft up a list of reasonable alternatives, if you’re going to insist.” She made a note on her paper, quill flying through the air in a dull-orange glow. “Aside from that, and—” she nodded her head at Nova, “—recent injuries, everything is progressing well. The medical facilities I have been given are adequate, as is the equipment.” “What about your own training?” Dawn frowned. “I do the morning exercises with the rest of you.” Captain Song shook his head. “Not good enough. Starting tomorrow, I want you to start sparring and practicing with the rest of us. Clear?” “Clear, sir,” Dawn said, making another note with her quill. “I have nothing else to report.” “In that case, this meeting is done unless anyone else has anything else to add,” the captain said, standing and picking up the papers in front of him. “If not, then dismissed.” Nova stood, glad to be able to stretch at least three of his legs. He watched for a moment as Captain Song said something to Hunter that was lost in the sudden clamor of the team getting out of the room, and then turned to follow Sky Bolt towards the workshop. Time to see what she needed him to do. *        *        * “So you still have that note then?” Steel asked as he followed Hunter into the small office that had been set aside for the Lieutenant. “Of course,” Hunter said, walking around his desk and carefully sliding his chair. “I couldn’t just toss it after it helped me solve a starker of a problem. Still never did figure out who it was from though,” he said, shrugging. “I remember you saying that,” Steel said as Hunter pulled the drawer open. “And I should have thought to look at this sooner.” “Well, you can look all you want now, boss,” the pegasus said, pulling a small slip of paper from the drawer and setting on the desktop. “Thanks.” Steel stepped up to the desk and spun the note around with his hoof. The paper was plain and nondescript, along with the text.  There was absoultely nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. The purple slashes forming a heart however … those tickled his mind, the same way it had when he’d first heard Hunter describe it. Something about it looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. “You mind if I borrow this?” he asked, looking up at Hunter. The pegasus shook his head and kicked back into his seat. “Not at all, you’re the boss. Although,” he said, picking up the guitar and idly strumming a few chords. “I am curious what you’re going to do with it.” “I’m going to go ask someone about it,” Steel said as he slid the note into his saddlebags. “Something about this note bothers me, and I think—” he paused as he took one last look at the stylized purple heart. There was just something about it. “I think I might know what it is. I just need to talk to somepony specific first. Somepony who might be able to tell me more about it.” “Alright, well if it turns up anything, let me know,” Hunter said as he set the guitar aside and looked at a small stack of papers sitting on his desk. “And I’ll let you know if anything in this stack is relevant.” “Sure thing.” Steel said with a nod. “At ease.” *        *        * “Captain Armor?” The white unicorn looked up in surprise as Steel spoke his name. “Captain Song, what a surprise!” Shining Armor said, exchanging a  quick salute with him. “Please, take a seat!” Steel complied as the stallion sitting across from Captain Armor slid over to make room. The mess hall was full of Royal Guard, all of them eating breakfast after their morning exercises and getting ready to go on duty. The current group, Steel knew, would be group A, while group B was currently working out, and have breakfast after group A had left for duty. “So, what can I do for you?” Shining asked, levitating a bite of oatmeal towards his face. “Do you need to borrow some of my ponies for something?” “Actually, one of my team might,” Steel admitted. “But that’s not why I’m here.” He pulled the slip of paper from his bag. “I’m here,” he said, sliding it across the table, “because I wondered if you recognized this.” He pulled his hoof back from the note. Captain Armor looked down, his brow furrowed, and then his jaw dropped. The magic glow around his spoon faded, sending it tumbling to the tabletop. “I was right then,” Steel said as the note was lifted in a purple glow. “I knew I’d heard of that symbol before.” Captain Armor nodded. “You do realize, captain, that this note needs to be shown to the Princesses immediately? There’s only one other time that we’ve received a note from the Violet Heart.” He looked down at the note held in his telekinetic grip. “And that nearly ended in the defeat of Canterlot.”