//------------------------------// // 9: Your Tuition at Work // Story: The Chaotic Touch of Harmony 2: Bonded by Fire // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// If there was one thing Berry College had, it was an abundance of land. Boasting over an impressive one hundred and five square kilometers, it was the largest campus any of the ponies had ever been to. It would be more accurate to say that only Alexia and Crimson had ever been to a post high school education center, but the fact still held true. The school’s buildings were so far apart from each other that it could be considered a mix of rolling grass hills and forest with a few bits and pieces of a school sprinkled around like too little salt over a soup. It was the perfect place to build research facilities without drawing unwanted attention. Carter knew of this from his time studying the local geography. The end of the line of trees put them parallel to the unoccupied gate guard kiosk. It had been occupied a few minutes ago, but Crimson and Conrad saw to it that the guards were permanently disposed of. The term ‘gate’ could only be loosely applied in this instance as there was nothing physically barring any possible road traffic save for a flimsy wooden bar that was currently in the upraised position. The main administration building sat in the distance and was directly visible from the side of the road from which everyone stood. He was wary of being spotted by the dozen Mions he could see off in the distance that were coming and going from the administration building. He crouched down next to a tree to briefly scan his team. Three of the four equines looked edgy to get started while Alexia appeared to be more patient. Loewy was just as eager as his furry friends due to his itchy trigger finger. Snake mirrored his squadmate. “Okay this is how this is going to go. He indicated to the ponies first. “You four are going into that building to find where the most critical structures are. Armories, testing sites, labs, anything of the sort. With ponies being welcome here, I doubt you’ll be attacked on sight so you should be able to just walk right on in.” Conrad was instantly against it. “You’re joking right? We just launched an attack on their police headquarters and you think they’ll blindly accept us as one of their own?” “You’re a resourceful bunch,” Carter replied with a bare hint of mockery, “I don’t care how you get the information, just get it. The rest of us will secure transportation. We’ll need it to traverse the bloated school grounds.” Tune faced the herd. Each of them shivered slightly from the freezing rain, but their eyes bore a determination to follow her into hell if need be. “Fine, we’ll get the info then raise you on the comms when we have it and are in a safe place to talk.” The trio of humans nodded and slunk out of the woods to creep along the fence lining the road. Alexia faced her mates. “Okay, let’s see if we can hide our disgust about not killing the imps on sight so we can slip in without anyone giving us a second glance.” Crimson eyed their equipment. Between Loki’s battle grade radio, their night vision goggles, and other equipment, they definitely didn’t look like civilians. “Any chance we can hide our gear without taking it off?” “Or do some more singing?” Loki asked hopefully. “I feel the itch to sing.” Conrad snorted playfully while nuzzling the green mare. Now that the humans were gone, he could be open with his affection. “It would be a welcome change from the Sirens, however I doubt Alex wants to try that aura thing again.” Loki pouted a bit before planting a kiss on his cheek before nuzzling him in return. The alicorn smirked at him. “It would be fun to do that again but alas, Thompson didn’t include Pack Rat’s addition into the new harness. But the perception scramblers on these harnesses have been upgraded to alter the appearance of our gear as well. We should be able to pass ourselves off as just heavily clothed ponies because the scramblers make our equipment look like part of the clothing and the goggles will look like hats. With the weather like it is, no one should think twice about it.” The silver alicorn felt one last thing was needed. “So long as we keep our stuff on. If you take your goggles off, it’ll return to looking like goggles to everyone else.” “Well let’s get it on then,” Loki announced boastfully while jabbing a hoof at the administration building. “To battle!” Alexia rolled her eyes at the green pony’s antics before walking out to be on the road and started walking towards the front building as if she belonged there. The others filed out of the woods and fell in step behind her. The princess’s horn lit up briefly to set her illusion to give her the appearance of a normal sized pegasus. I don’t know if the scrambler will hide the wing slits, so I better just go as a pegasus rather than have to explain why I’m wearing pegasus clothing. The herd passed Carter’s group who used the quartet as a distraction. As the federal agent hoped, the few other ponies and Mions near the parking lot zeroed in on them as Alexia set hoof on the overgrown lawn in front of the admin building. The individual was an eggshell white unicorn who had a badge cap on to signify her position within the college. The hat looked like it had been stolen off a police uniform. “Hold up there!” he shouted above the rain as he made his way over from the left side of the road. The unicorn was exceedingly overly muscled for his tribe and had a jawline that could cut glass. “Where are your identity badges?” Alexia tried to come across as bitter, but not towards the guard. “We’re new here, came in from—“ “Shannon,” Crimson finished for her while putting up a front of emotional pain. “A bunch of Mions saved us from an airstrike and said we should come here.” Conrad butted in so they would not sound like they had any clearly defined leader amongst them. “Yeah, said this is the place to be to get revenge on the hairless apes.” By now a few other ponies and Mions were taking notice of the herd. Alexia was glad that her alpha colors were being masked. The guard eyed the four carefully, but could not pierce the illusion. “You came at a bad time. We just got attacked by the military to the south and the campus is on high alert. You’re going to have to wait a few days for things to calm down.” Loki tsked loudly. “Just my luck. First they bomb my house and now they’re stopping me from joining the only group who I can turn to for any sort of future.” Alexia decided to get back in the act. “Why is a damn military attack even a problem for you? Isn’t that shit happening like every damn day?! How can you sit there and tell me that we came a bad time when every time is bad?” The stallion didn’t take kindly to being bullied by a bunch of newcomers. “Now you listen, and you listen good. It’s my job to protect this place and I won’t have a bunch of-“ Tune channeled a chunk of mana into her left foreleg and stomped down angrily. The resultant impact was dampened by her shoe and the wet soil, but it was enough to blast a square foot of mud away from her hoof. Most of the mud having been directed at the unicorn. “I will not stand here and listen to you deny me entry!” The small crater the soil stunned the unicorn in backing off. He was dumbfounded that a pegasus could do that kind of damage to the earth. A nearby well-dressed female Mion was impressed by the display and walked up behind the unicorn. The four newcomers took notice of her as she separated herself from the crowd and had a baby blue umbrella to keep the rain off. “That’ll be all Curtis.” The unicorn turned an abrupt about face after the woman’s voice snapped him out of his daze. “Minister Hazel?” He shook off his surprise. “Procedure is clear. We have to keep any new-“ “I said-“ Hazel interrupted tersely, “that’ll be all.” Curtis’s ears flattened at the implied threat. “Yes Minister.” He stepped aside for Hazel to approach the quartet, but kept a close eye on them nonetheless. “You’ll have to forgive my guard captain. He takes his job very seriously. Before I introduce myself however, why don’t we get out of the rain?” Crimson flicked her mane distastefully at the white stallion. “At least someone around here has manners.” Hazel chuckled mirthlessly and turned around to lead the group towards the administration building. Its exterior design was rather straight forward. It had two stories with plenty of windows along with a steeple perched on the roof with two chimneys on either side. There were also eight roman columns which guarded the front door. Hazel led them inside after shaking the water off of her umbrella. She deposited the article in an ornately decorated antique receptacle. As Alexia and Crimson expected, the entry hall was spaciously large and various hallways branched away from it. The red skinned and hairless Mion was enough of a reason for everyone else in the chamber to give them a wide, if polite, berth. The herd appeared for all the world to be an even mix of earth ponies and pegasi with clothing that looked well made, but covered in rain and a bit of mud from Alexia’s display of power. “So,” Hazel said now that they were out of the rain and could take a moment to enjoy the heated interior. “What brings you all the way through a rainstorm to Berry College?” Loki was the one who piped up first. “Well after getting my hideout blown up by a damn air raid and the fact that I don’t trust humans any farther than I can throw them, I figured I’d sign up with you guys.” She scanned the room to see a handful of ponies walking to and fro, but the vast majority of the people present were Mions. “And it seems to me you guys aren’t going to try and spit on me any time soon.” Hazel nodded, but wasn’t really interested in anyone except for Alexia who appeared in the guise of a pink furred violet haired pegasus. “Well you won’t see that from us here. Why don’t you go over to the front desk and have the receptionist set you up with some lodgings and food before we find a place for you to work.” She centered her attention on Alexia. “But would you Miss, walk with me for a bit?” Tune leveraged all of her acting classes, which Thompson had insisted that she attend, to sound like a disenfranchised and ornery mare. “Sure, but I need some grub, haven’t eaten anything but brown bitter grass lately.” She turned to her mates. “Go on get out of here, I’ll catch up later so we can settle that bet.” Crimson upturned her nose and walked off as if she was insulted. “Barbarian.” Loki’s feral grin split her face before addressing Hazel. “You might want to throw some protein in that meal you’re going to give her. She’ll need every bit of it to survive that bet.” Conrad acted as if he was disinterested and stretched his wings a bit to get the blood flowing before taking to the air to join the two earth mares. The three of them acted as if they were companions of convenience rather than the mutual lovers they truly were. Alexia knew that as long as Loki wasn’t under close scrutiny, then she could move freely to gather the necessary information and return to Carter. Hazel cared little for the others. It was becoming rarer, especially in North America, but there were still quite a few ponies the world over who remained in hiding out in the wilderness. Some kept in touch with the outside world via radio or television, but some were so petrified of being captured and dissected that they were completely oblivious to the world’s events in the past three years. Hazel needed to know what the pink pegasus mare in front of her had been doing during all that time and how she could be of use. “Would you care to walk with me Miss-?” The disguised princess already had a name selected. “Clare Redfield.” The woman swept a hand towards the stairs on the far side of the chamber so Alexia would start walking. Both of them stayed side by side as they made their way past the dense crowd. “You can just call me Hazel. I keep an open door policy with all of our equine allies. Which I hope you’ll become.” The disguised alicorn used every ounce of willpower to keep up the act of a mare on the run. “I don’t know. You’re buddy outside said you were just attacked today, and I make it a habit of mine to stay out of trouble ever since this,” she unfolded a wing and waved it around a bit for emphasis, “-happened to me. And not for nothing, you guys seem to be neck deep in it.” Hazel tapped her chin as a wiry smile played across her lips. “We are merely fighting for what is right Miss Redfield. The truth of the matter is that humanity’s actions over the past few years have definitively proven that they are irrevocably xenophobic. Their hatred of both Mions and ponies is proof of that.” Alexia cast a narrow glance at Hazel as they started to ascend the stairs. Playing the part of a pegasus, she decided to simply fly above the steps while remaining close by so they could continue speaking. The alicorn was genuinely happy to have an excuse to use her wings, but had to keep a bit of a distance so her larger wingspan wouldn’t hit anything. “Well not for nothing Hazel, but taking over parts of the US and attacking cities and military bases isn’t exactly how I would win friends.” “That is assuming that humanity wanted to be friends with our kind,” Hazel replied with a touch of undirected hostility. She saw the pink pegasus giving her a scrutinizing expression. “The thing is, neither of us would ever be welcome in human society, so we have to make our own. And since humans occupy all of the world’s good land, then we have no choice but to take it by force.” Alexia decided to play ignorant of the dismantlement of Rome to the south. “You make it sound like you want to build your own civilization.” Hazel hid a smirk, thinking she was getting through the mare’s reservations. “We are merely preparing the world for colonization by our saviors, the Koridost. They will be the ones who build a superior civilization on Earth.” “Uh huh,” Tune replied, sounding less than convinced. “And just who are these Koridost anyway?” “You can ask Bellerod about them later if you wish, I’m more interested in you at the moment.” The pair reached the top floor. It was well furnished from its time as a college and had the smell of an older way of life. The décor was that of very early 1900’s to later 1800’s complete with oil paintings, end tables with real potted plants, and rugs covering hardwood flooring. Few people were in the north side of the hall at this hour so Alexia was able to keep flying next to Hazel without difficulty. The women kept speaking as she walked to her office. “I have never seen a pegasus able to move dirt and soil like an earth pony. Have you always been able to do this?” Alexia tilted her head to think. “Ever since I grew wings.” She saw a sign post for a rest room. “You mind if I go to the little girls’ room?” Hazel dipped her head in a slight bow. “Of course, its right over there. Take all the time you need to clean yourself up. I wish to continue speaking with you once you’re done.” “Well I at least owe you that much for letting me get out of the rain.” The mare dashed to the women’s room and found it was both empty and meant for only one person at a time. Perfect. She locked it and scanned the room for both magical and mundane camera or microphones. After finding neither she cast a sonic barrier around the walls, floor, and ceiling. Alexia did actually need to use the room for more than contacting her mates and stripped out of the soaked clothes so she could warm up properly and relieve her bladder. While tact would normally make her wait until the deed was done, Alexia knew the mission couldn’t wait and clicked her radio twice to signal her mates. Loki answered a few seconds later. “What’s the word mage?” Tune suppressed a sigh of relief as she sat down on the porcelain throne. “The big wig around here was impressed by my display of earth pony magic. I’ll try to pump her for information before I get out of here. How’s your end? “All it took was a library request and some—persuasion to get quick access to a detailed map.” Alexia knew better than to pry. "Well get back with Carter when you can. I’ll keep an eye out from here.” “Ten four good buddy.” As Alexia attended her needs, Loki and the others exited the south side exit where Carter was supposed to be procuring a vehicle. Without Alexia being present, Conrad assumed temporary leadership. At least he tried to, but the two mares were not used to taking orders from anyone outside of Alexia or Thompson. And the Director was only included in that very short list because it was their job and he had earned their respect. That wasn’t to say Conrad didn’t have their respect, it’s just that instinctually they only answered to their alpha. It was an instinct the mares tried to ignore for the sake of the mission, but found it difficult to do so. Crimson was nearing her wits’ end at being so close to so many Mions and being unable to act against them. All of these damned cultists and species traitors and I can’t do anything to them. While the pale yellow mare did her best to ignore the rising bile of being in such close proximity of several Mions, and cantered outside behind Conrad and Loki. The rain was a constant and unwelcome companion as the trio marched to the far end of the parking lot. Loki looked to Conrad who seemed to know where he was going. “What’s the four one one Acting Alpha?” He frowned at the green mare’s snarky tone. “Carter said they procured a white van and are waiting for us on the far west side of the admin building.” “So why are you the temporary boss?” Crimson remarked more tersely than she meant to. “Because I was her first mate that’s why,” he countered while turning a corner. “Besides, without Alex around we need to act quickly. I don’t like her being by herself.” Crimson frowned, but remained silent. Loki huffed at the rain more than the stallion. “Just saying we should have voted on it is all.” The effects of a non-alpha trying to assuming a leadership role over two strong willed herd members was not a well-documented on Earth. In addition with all of them still being loyal to their current alpha, namely Alexia, the two earth mares were finding it difficult to follow Conrad’s orders after he nominated himself as the temporary leader. All of this could have been avoided if Alexia had thought to name one of them the temporary leader, but none of them knew that aspect about themselves. Nevertheless, the two earth mares kept their peace as the van came into view. It was an old thing with worn paint and a grumbling engine that didn’t sound like it had many years left. Conrad scowled at it. Looks like the kind of vehicle I used to use for drug trafficking. The three men dared not show their faces less their non-red toned skin be identified by any passersby. The stallion pulled the sliding door and jumped inside with the mares following closely behind. The three men had been told to expect them, and that their appearance would be very different than before. Loewy and Snake were still wary of the equines until they deactivated their perception scramblers and resumed their normal appearance. Loewy felt most of his tension ease up as he whistled in amazement. “When Tune said you guys had some good camo, she wasn’t kidding.” Snake, who was sitting in the passenger seat, grinned at Carter who was eying the ponies with envy. “I bet you wish your agency had that kind of tech eh?” Carter said nothing on the subject and waited until the side door was closed to speak. “Where’s Tune?” Loki had no shame and shook the water off of her like a dog. Those around her attempted to cover their faces from the watery onslaught. “She’s keeping the boss around here busy and is trying to get information out of her.” The federal agent didn’t like the alicorn, but harbored no doubts about her loyalty to the States and humanity. “I trust she can keep her true loyalties secret. Did you find any useful information on the map?” Loki fished out a few copies of the charts she found and doled them out to everyone. “There are a few places simply called labs one through five. I did manage to find out that laboratory five is spiking its power consumption and has been ever since the Eighty Second started fighting in the south.” Crimson piped in next after she scanned the map to locate lab five. “I saw several dump trucks moving off towards that place a few minutes ago. But I couldn’t tell what was in them thanks to the tarps over the cargo beds. Loewy flicked some of the water Loki sprayed on him with a hand and tried his best to ignore mentioning it. “I’d say that’s as good a place as any to start looking. It may be a high traffic area, but I’m sure you guys can sneak in no problem right?” Crimson was unsure. “That depends entirely on whether or not there are ponies working there. We have bracelets that’ll let us go unseen by the Mions, but it doesn’t work against other ponies.” Carter shifted the van out of park and started driving towards the designated location. “Then you had better hope your stealth training is up to par.” Loki interposed herself between the two front seats. “You just be sure to get us in close without drawing attention. I don’t want to have to call evac when all we’ve got to show for our efforts is a map.” The van fell in line with a few other cars and trucks that were going in the same general direction as the lab. “Now that we’re inside the parameter, getting there is easy. Getting inside is the tricky part.” Alexia finished up with the bathroom and knocked on Hazel’s office door. It was of heavy oak construction, but that barely registered to the mare thanks to her shod hooves. “Come in,” announced the familiar voice of the Minister. Alexia did not speak right away. I hope deactivating the perception filter and reactivating it makes me look the same to her. The mare stuck her head in to survey the office in an attempt to look suspicious. Hazel was in the middle of talking via telepathy to the military commander of the college’s defenses when she saw the pony reveal herself. I’ll get back with you later Boomhaw. An important guest has arrived. Hazel severed the telepathic link with her subordinate. “Redfield. Would you kindly have a seat please?” Whew, good. I still look the same. “Um, sure. You got any grub by chance?” Hazel expected that request from a comment she heard earlier. “I took the liberty of having a couple bowls of dragon soup brought up here. Since you’re a pegasus, I had some beef thrown in as well.” The woman pointed to a large covered silver dish sitting on the left side of her mahogany desk. She lifted the cover to reveal two steaming bowls of a rather exquisite smelling broth. Alexia didn’t have to try hard to play the part of the hungry pony. “Dragon soup?” “We have a special fungus that we’ve recently begun cultivating. It tastes rather bland to us Mions, but I hear nothing but good things about it from ponies. Add some basil, a little garlic salt…” Alexia’s first instinct was to levitate the spoon, but she managed to catch herself before activating her hidden horn. Although the ivory spire upon her head would remain invisible, the azure glow it would emit would be seen through the disguise. Not to mention a floating spoon in front of a pegasus would draw some attention. The disguised alicorn sat in the larger of the two guest chairs and wrapped her forelegs around the bowl to bring it over. She sniffed it experimentally. The broth had an extremely heady aroma. There could be anything in this soup. She thought suspiciously. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me if there was some mind control drug in here would you?” The woman adopted a coy grin. “My, aren’t we the cautious one. I’ll admit we do have to use some methods of chemical persuasion on human aligned ponies every now and again, but there’s no need for that here.” “If its all the same.” Alexia put the bowl back on the desk. “I’ve lost my appetite.” Hazel’s tone of voice cooled. “If it will put your mind at ease I’ll eat from the same bowl.” The alicorn’s suspicion was on the rise. “Whatever drug you put in there could only be effective in larger doses than a spoonful or may not affect Mions at all.” When the woman’s eyes narrowed infinitesimally, Tune knew she was right. “It appears you’re no better than the humans. At least they have the decency to be hostile to your face.” The mare jumped out of her seat and turned to the door. “I’ll be leaving now.” Before she could open the door, an electric lock sealed the exit and the sound of a pistol’s hammer being cocked reached her ears. “I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere.” Alexia turned away from the door with a condescending smirk on her face. “So. This is how you get recruits huh? Either by drug or by force?” Hazel’s visage and tone of voice redefined what it meant to be snide. “You didn’t really expect us to believe a group of civilian ponies would just happen to wander past all of our northern sentries and straight to the College did you?” The silver mare huffed with indifference and dropped all pretense of being a noncombatant. “Maybe you should train them better then.” Hazel wore smugness as if it came naturally to her. “I believe they serve their function just fine. I’ve already given word to the campus to detain your companions. You may not be capable of joining the Link, but there’s nothing a few days of psychic persuasion can’t cure. Ponies usually last a week or so before they fully believe our methods are in the right. For you though, I’d say no more than ten days.” Alexia snarled hatefully at the threat. “So, is that how you force ponies into joining you? You wipe their minds until they see your ‘truth’?” “Not all of them,” Hazel replied mockingly. “It’s actually uncommon to have more than one or two be resocialized a month. Many just know which way the wind’s blowing. Even if we fail to fully destroy humanity, by the time the Koridost arrive, they will be too weak to mount anything more than token resistance. Our victory is assured.” The Minister stood up while keeping her pistol aimed right at Alexia’s head. A victorious toothy smirk creased her features. “And when that day comes, those brethren of yours who sided with us will be rewarded greatly for their allegiance. But don’t feel too bad. Even if it’s being forced upon you, you will still share in that reward.” “That’ll be the day.” Alexia gripped the pistol in her magic and forcibly wrenched it out of Hazel’s hands. Before the woman could even register that a pegasus was using telekinesis, Alexia flipped the pistol around and shot the Mion in the forehead. Alexia immediately scanned the room for any listening devices and found four. I bet there are a few more that I can’t sense. Tune shuffled her disguise to appear as a different pony, but kept the pegasus appearance. Then she guesstimated the distance between herself and the roof. Nothing like a blind teleport to elevate your blood pressure. I can’t go through the door because I’m sure she brought back up. With a flash of azure light Alexia blinked from the office and back into the freezing rain twenty feet above the roof. The alicorn dove towards the steeple to avoid the attention the flash of light would undoubtedly bring. The steeple itself was wide enough for her to hide behind while she clicked her radio to speak with her mates. “Guys, we got a problem.” Loki was just about to step outside of the van when the call came in. Everyone in the team heard it. The green mare stepped back from the door while Carter responded back. “What’s the situation?” Alexia was shivering from the cold rain, but she preferred it over the office she had just left. “The locals weren’t fooled. They’re on the lookout for us and will be on high alert.” Loki glanced at the others in the van. “Do we abort?” Snake scowled at the idea. “Like hell we do. My brothers didn’t die back there just for us to back off now.” Carter was more cautious. “If we try to fight our way in, we could be cornered, killed, or worse. I do not want to end up as some red skinned zealot.” Alexia decided to satisfy both sides. “Listen to me. Where are you guys right now?” “Lab five, just north of the old—” she checked the map to be sure, “Barnwell Chapel.” Alexia pressed herself against the steeple to stay hidden from a small flock of pegasi patrolling the skies. The grounds below were in uproar and one group of people started hunting for her immediately while a second group of guards were mustering to form search parties. The alicorn let the flock of three pegasi pass by her before using her magic to forcibly lull the third one in the group to sleep while pulling the falling mare’s identification helmet off of her and reeled it back in before the stricken pony’s wingmates could notice what happened. Tune got an idea and shared it over the radio. “Okay I got a plan. I’m going to lure everyone to the south with some personal pyrotechnics. When everyone’s attention is to the south, you guys sneak in the lab and pull what info you can.” Conrad was completely against the idea. “Alexia. We can’t risk that. You’d be all alone with no backup.” “I can handle myself Conrad,” she replied calmly. All I’m going to do is lure everyone towards me to keep their attention away from you. Give me two minutes to get started before you rush in.” Loewy knew the stallion was on the verge of jumping out of the van and flying over to his alpha. He placed a restraining hand on the pegasus’s withers. “We’ll call in the second evac choppers so they’ll be on standby. In the meantime we shoot up some lab coats and set this place up for an airstrike on our way out.” Carter didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. If she’s so bound and determined to throw herself into the fire, then we might as well make use of it. He joined back into the conversation. “We’ll move in sixty seconds. Make it flashy Zeta one.” Alexia secured the stolen helmet on her head and made sure the scramblers didn’t disguise it as well. “I can do flashy.” With the conversation over, Alexia focused on the necklace she always wore, and on the malleable gem it contained. Just need to make my contingency plan first. It took her thirty seconds to weave the spell she wanted into the gem. And my magic students thought I couldn’t mentally recreate an array. “Right, let’s get the show on the road!” Alexia looked down at the assembly of guards, both Mion and pony, assembling in the yard. The heavy rain and darkening skies cast them in that eerie gloom before what few streetlights the area had would be turned on. The sight of them made the alicorn’s visage become that of a predator. The azure crowned pony felt the urge to sing and she was more than happy to satisfy that urge. “My my, so much rain, so much water, so so very much hydrogen and oxygen. Just whatever shall I do with it all?” Tune’s smile turned venomous as a pale azure source-less light enveloped the detachment of forty guards while their commander barked out orders to form ranks. Alexia was quite familiar with the principle behind electrolysis. As a result, she required very little mana in splitting the water molecules falling onto the group of guards. Over the course of ten seconds, much of the water split apart into its two elements and were concentrated within the azure light. It took another five seconds before some of them started to notice the ground was drying out and the rain was thinning around only them. Shouts of surprise and alarm reached Alexia’s ears and that was when she pulled the thermal energy out of the commander and concentrated it into a ball. As she compressed the ball of thermal energy, it grew hotter and hotter. Right as the Mion commander dropped to the ground as a frozen icicle, the sphere had compressed enough to spark the hydrogen. The resulting explosion was so bright and loud that it momentarily brought pause to everyone on campus who was either outside or near a window facing the administration building. Flames licked at the roof of the building and danced across the thermal barrier surrounding the vengeful alicorn. She started singing again as she found a collection of Mions and ponies fleeing the scene. “Hush now little ones don’t say a word.” A second explosion wiped them from existence at the same time a third group caught her eye. “Momma’s going to buy you a mockingbird.” Alexia took to the air to get a better view on the parked cars. The rain tried to beat her back down to the ground, but she ignored the stress of trying to fly in the rain to continue her work. “And if that mockingbird won’t sing.” Tune lifted one of the sedans in her magic and surrounded it with a pocket of hydrogen and oxygen gas. “Momma’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.” The alicorn ignited the volatile gas and wreathed the car in flames. Then she used her telekinesis to throw it into the south wing of the administration building. She repeated this twice more with a pickup truck and a SUV in different spots so when the fuel tanks blew it would cause damage in multiple places. Before she could begin the next verse of her singing poem, the innate kinetic shields of her necklace flickered as three gunshots hammered into them, dropping all but the final barrier. Alexia utilized her larger wingspan to push herself further up into the air as two of the pegasi she had stolen the helmet from were closing in on her with two Mions on the ground firing assault rifles. Tune immediately summoned a massive kinetic bleed field. Everything within twenty feet of her slowed to an absolute crawl. She waved a mocking hoof towards the incoming pegasi. “Come on boys. I’m waiting.” Like smacking to a tub of molasses, the two pegasi’s snouts made it through the field before slowing down considerably. Unfortunately for them, the rest of their body kept moving and the duo nearly broke their jaws on a head on collision. Gravity pulled the two ponies to the ground below a few moments later. “Well it seems Hazel got the word out about my fake appearance faster than I thought she did. Suits me just fine.” Something heavy and wet started pressing down on her horn causing Alexia to look up. A vast pool of water twenty feet across and three feet deep was collecting in her kinetic field and it was getting large enough that gravity was winning over the spell. The collected water was fixating everyone’s attention on her as the oddity of its presence was too conspicuous to ignore. “Well now. Isn’t that just a big bomb waiting to happen?” A few bolts of light nearly hit her as several unicorns started firing on her from the ground. Alexia huffed and used her kinesis to open a hole in the pond above her head and flew through it to get on top. As soon as she was above it, she turned around to resume hovering. “I hope you bastards can swim.” With a snickering dark laugh, she released the kinetic spell, and the torrent of water fell upon those below. “Surfs up!” Loewy and Snake hide between Laboratory Five’s southern wall and the waist high shrubberies that flanked the side entrance into the building. The exterior was designed to look like part of the forest it was nestled in. It had trees growing all around and through the building. What few windows it had were completely dark from the outside thanks to some clever construction. All in all, the building looked to be nothing more than part of a highly condensed forest. Even the entrance was well hidden enough that they needed to look at the map to see where the door was located. Snake’s boots were up to his ankles in thick sticky mud and his uniform was completely drenched, but he temporarily forgot his discomfort at the massive explosion to the south. “Looks like the little lady is putting on a good show.” Loewy was more than a little frightened by the display. “I think she leveled a building with that one. I think I can see why the higher ups locked them away when the ponies first started showing up.” Snake scanned the nearby area to make sure none of the people either running from the explosions or standing there in stunned silence could hear their muffled conversation. Most of the noncombatants started to flee towards the east, leaving the two soldiers alone to guard the exit. “I think you should focus more on the fact that she didn’t use that power to break out. Morality is a virtue few people with real power possess.” His companion nodded in agreement. “…I suppose so,” he said at length. “I can’t wait til we manage to harness that kind of power for ourselves as well. You heard about the new magitech coming out of Trinity right? I heard the brass is looking to weaponize magic with it. Give it a few years and rayguns will be standard issue.” Snake sighed and dipped his head for a few moments. He stared down at the muck he was crouched in as rain rolled off his helmet in rivulets. His carbine remained tightly held in his gloved hands. He thought about which of his friends might have died in the initial distraction. As much as it may seem otherwise to an outside observer, he was quite fond of Buttercup. Snake squinted his eyes shut, and resisted the urge to remove his ballistic goggles to wipe his eyes. “Loewy… I’ll be happier when we can beat our swords into plowshares again. Don’t look forward to building instruments of death because you want to use them. Build them to protect yourself, your friends and family. And when all of this is over, if it ever is, I’d rather have a magic toaster than a magic gun.” Loewy couldn’t help but to glance at his friend every now and again from his vigil over the emptying fields in front of the door. “Where did that come from?” Snake looked back up at the fields to watch a few Mions racing towards a car to head down south. “Just thinking out loud. Pay it no mind.” With Carter watching over the van, and keeping an ear out for any calls for assistance, the three remaining ponies used aggressive stealth to press deeper into lab five. It was a tactic mostly consisting of killing or otherwise incapacitating everyone they came across with as much silent finesse as possible so no alarms were raised. It was Conrad’s philosophy of ‘if we kill everyone we come across, then there’s no one who can raise an alarm’. Currently, the stallion was peeking around a corner where three Mions and two ponies walked the halls. These guys sure are acting like they don’t care what’s going on outside these walls. Do they truly not know, or are they so absorbed in their own work to care? When one of the ponies entered a room he pulled his head back into the side hall where he and his fellow mates were taking cover in. Both earth ponies were dragging the last body into a storage closet where ten more were hidden. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would do for the time being. Loki said the biggest room in this lab is in the center of this hallway. No doubt that’s where we can tap the computers and jack up any experiments their conducting. He turned to the green hacker. “We move as soon as the last pony turns away from us. He shouldn’t care about three more sets of hooffalls unless he turns around.” Despite both mares’ instinctual resistance to his orders, the commands were sound enough for the earth ponies to ignore the feeling and comply. As the last pony left the hallway, Conrad made a cutting motion with his left foreleg and all three of them burst out of their hiding place. Thanks to their bracelets hiding their forms and the sound of their hooves and wing flaps, the group followed Conrad to what was only called Chamber A-23. A keycard from one of Loki’s victims popped the door open with a hiss of escaping gasses. The trio rushed inside so the open door wouldn’t raise any suspicions. What laid within made them stop dead in their tracks. The ponies found themselves standing on the third tier catwalk of a very large room that stank of old sweat and bile. Directly below them sat an enormous blood red slug like monstrosity that easily dwarfed an Abrams tank ten times over. Eggs of various sizes from that of a watermelon to that of an adult man either hung from the ceiling or were cradled on the ground. Each one was transparent and the figures within chilled the ponies’ blood. Each and every egg contained a Mion identifiable only because of the red scaly skin and the bony spines protruding from the zealots’ forearms. The massive slug had feeding tubes injected at various points in its body while a dozen Mions and four pegasi monitored its status. Conrad recovered from his disgust driven shock and pulled the mares to the far side of the catwalk that was rarely used. Crimson found her voice upon arrival. “What the hell is that thing?” Loki was more curious than repulsed, and eyed it carefully. “I think we just found the queen imp.” The body of the queen slug rippled from its bloated midsection that traveled towards the back and resulted in a mostly transparent black egg being ejected. A machine quickly snatched up the egg and placed it within an incubator which was little more than a giant pair of steel tongs that kept the egg firmly attached to the ceiling. A pair of tubes was implanted into the egg to make sure it had plenty of nutrients and to facilitate respiration. Several camera sensor pods scurried around the room on ceiling mounted guide rails to inspect the raised eggs while the living caretakers inspected the more mature eggs on the ground. The room itself was ovoid in shape and dominated the rest of the building with its two hundred yard length from end to end. Loki turned back to Conrad with Crimson doing the same a second later. An entire conversation passed silently between them in the space of a few seconds. It was an act only possible from the three of them being so tightly knit together that this particular decision ended with all three of them speaking at once. “Torch it.” Loki glanced over at the main computer terminal on the far east side of the room. Without the need for orders, she started creeping her way over so she could hijack the computer to implant a wiretap. Crimson looked around and saw the chilled oxygen tanks sitting behind a dense steel grating with warning labels and paint barring access. The tanks were situated near the back of the room and away from the entrance they had come in from and even further away from the eggs. Conrad gave Crimson a brief nod before both took off like a shot. Crimson vaulted over the side of the catwalk and fell fifteen feet onto the giant slug and slid on her hooves towards one of the unicorns inspecting a weeping sore on the creature’s flank. He glanced up just in time to receive a face full of hooves and was crushed under the heavy earth mare. Without missing a beat, she leapt off her victim to put all four hooves on the ground. My favorite place to be. Searching with her innate earth pony magic, Anderson could feel the living roots of the trees beneath the floor. “Perfect.” Gathering up a sizeable chunk of mana, she reared up and slammed into the ground. The earth slowly began to rumble and quake. A larger second dose of mana caused the floor to heave and the chamber floor cracked and splintered, much to the bewilderment of the caretakers. Over a dozen thick roots burst out of the ground and either skewered them, or knocked the caretakers off their feet. Conrad knew which ones Anderson would leave to him and danced through the air to finish off anyone the pale yellow mare left lying on the floor. The cultists never stood a chance. The only truly intelligent people there were the ponies as the caretaker Mions were little more than biological robots under Hazel’s indirect command. Only one of the Mion aligned ponies was spared during the attack and that unicorn was currently struggling to breath in the constricting roots that firmly locked the purple mare in place. She tried to formulate a spell to help, but all of her bolts of magic sailed past the blitzing pegasus and the earth mare shielded herself with dense roots to block the unicorn’s line of sight. After the last of her coworkers were picked off by the plants and lone stallion a thin branch grew off her restraints and wrapped tightly around her horn, making any spellcraft immensely painful to attempt. In the space of a few minutes she was all that remained besides the eggs and birthing queen. While Anderson’s tribe was barely affected by low mana levels, Crimson still felt she was well below half after performing such draining spellwork. She expended a bit more mana to bring the single survivor lower to the ground so she could stare at the unicorn mare without craning her neck. She made sure to keep the purple pony’s horn tightly wrapped so she couldn’t use magic to resist. “Looks like we got ourselves a live one.” Conrad fluttered down to land next to his mate. The unicorn cast a baleful glare at both of them. “You’re with the human government aren’t you?! You should be siding with us, not them!” “Funny,” Crimson glowered. “We were going to say the same thing about you. You do realize this abomination behind me is grotesque right?” He pointed a wing at the massive slug as it birthed another egg. The captured mare tried to spit in his face, but Conrad smoothly dodged the flying spittle. “Of course it is. But the job needs to be done. I would think a couple of killers like yourselves would understand that.” “Killers?” Crimson spat back menacingly. “We wouldn’t need to take on such a title if your red skinned friends weren’t trying to bring down civilization.” The prisoner was surprisingly belligerent for someone who was at the mercy of the two CIA agents. “Oh come off it. I’ve heard it all before. Kill me if you must, but every pony who sides with the children of the Koridost knows they are in the right.” “Sure they do,” Crimson replied tersely. Yet before she could say anything more the slug let out a horrific screech and thrashed about, pulling the various cables and tubes out of its body. The rear half of the slug’s skin seemed to peel away from the body to reveal forty long thin snaking tentacles that attempted to slam down on the pair of intruders. Conrad and Crimson fled just as the mass of flesh smashed against the crumbling floor, the captive mare was crushed under the attack that further fractured the already shattered ground. Both ponies balked at the mountain of muscled flesh that slithered out of its nest to crush the two ponies before it. Conrad could have flown up into the rafters, but that would leave Crimson alone with the beast, and he didn’t believe he could carry her and outrun the giant slug at the same time. Anderson barely squirmed out of the way as five tentacles lunged for her legs. She barely managed to jump to the side and used one of the tree roots to block a sixth attack. “We didn’t do anything to it yet. What pissed it off?” Loki, who was still at the computer console with three scientists lying at her hooves typed frantically into the terminal. She heard Crimson’s query through the radio. “Um, I think that was me when I activated the termination protocol.” The brown stallion couldn’t help but hesitate to speak. “You what?!” Twenty tentacles lashed out at the dodging and weaving airborne target. Yet for all of his agility, one tentacle lucked out and wrapped around his hind legs as he attempted to flee. Anderson saw the creature lift him higher into the air with the intent to slam him down into the root covered broken floor. “Conrad!” She scrambled out of the way from three flaying tendrils and a dozen more as she raced to get underneath the stricken pegasus before he collided with the broken terrain. Halfway to the ground, the tentacles holding onto Conrad started dissolving and was reduced to smoking hole riddled meat by the time Crimson dove to catch her stallion. Anderson spun as she kicked off so she could wrap her legs around him as his shoulders collided with her. The force of the impact between him and the ground cracked several of Crimson’s ribs and the jagged floor carved into the flesh on her back. The impact dislocated Conrad’s left wing at the shoulder and tore some of the ligaments. Both ponies cried out in pain, but they were drowned out by the monstrosity as it unleashed a furiously pained death knell as the dissolving tissue sloughed away like a melting glacier. The tendrils tried to attack again, but the anchors lost their strength as they necrotized and was only capable of making thirty blackening tentacles drop on top of the two prone ponies. Loki finished implanting her network tap just in time to witness her mates’ collision with the broken ground. “Shit!” The green mare slung her satchel back on and rushed over to where she saw her lovers get slammed to the ground. The grass green mare raced over to her mates, slipping on the mass of liquefying meat and slime. She clicked her radio mic on with her tongue. “Snake, Loewy. Code red three, I repeat code red three!” Snake primed his weapon and unstuck himself from the muck while Loewy responded. “Sit tight and keep the radio comms open so we can track you, we’re on our way.” Snake switched channels to link his communication through Loki’s radio and out to mission command. “Hotel Actual this is Baker Five, come in over.” Loewy kicked the door open and swept the hallway, seeing no one alive thanks to the ponies’ previous efforts, the pair ran further inside. “This is Hotel Actual. What’s your status Baker Five?” came a clipped and calm masculine voice. “The package has been delivered and we have causalities, requesting immediate evac at this location.” The building lit up with yellow warning lights and a jarring klaxon alerting the staff and security personnel of an intruder resounded through the halls. “Roger Baker five. ETA three minutes.” Snake thanked whoever the commander was that ordered a second pair of Black Hawks to remain on station to retrieve his team rather than be stationed further away. A few seconds after he ended the conversation, the pair came to the end of the hallway. Loewy got there first and peeked around the corner. Snake slid up behind him and checked his carbine to make sure it was ready to fire. Loewy kept looking down the other hallway while making several hand signals to Snake that read “Ten hostiles. Five Mions. Five ponies. Two unicorns, one pegasus, two earths. Area clear of friendlies.” Snake tapped Loewy’s shoulder to convey his understanding and pulled two fragmentation grenades. He stepped around Loewy to get the distance of the enemy who was gathered around one of the doors as they formed up to perform a breeching maneuver, pulled the pins, cooked the grenades for two seconds, and then threw them down the hall. Both men ducked back behind the corner and waited until two explosions shook the hallway. The paratroopers wasted no time and jumped out to clean up what the grenades left behind. All but the two earth ponies and one of the Mions had fallen to the grenades. All three were shot down before they could either flee or shoot back. The laboratory was already on high alert from the death of the slug queen after Loki activated the termination protocol. As a result, three more security ponies and seven more Mions burst down from the second floor on the stairwell to the two humans’ left flank. The paratroopers started firing immediately, focusing on the Mions first so they couldn’t shoot back. The one unicorn in the group tried to rip Loewy’s carbine out of his hands while Snake gunned down the last Mion. Thinking quickly, Loewy kept his left hand tightly wrapped around the gun barrel so the unicorn couldn’t turn it around and shoot him with his own weapon. The trooper pulled his pistol out with his right hand and fired four rounds, two of them perforated the unicorn who relinquished her hold over the weapon upon death. Through it all, the two earth ponies charged in and closed the distance to get within hand-to-hand combat range. Snake’s carbine clicked dry as he tried to fire upon the charcoal grey stallion bearing down on him with hatred in his eyes. The trooper remembered his sparring matches with Loki while on the U.S.S. Bush. Remember Snake, on average an earth pony like me is going to be physically stronger than a human. So don’t try to go into a contest of strength with us. You’ve got hands and a good head on your shoulders, use them. The combat engineer assumed a low fighting stance with his left leg seemingly too far out and an easy target. His fists moved out to either side to maintain balance. Right as the earth pony started to spin on his forelegs to deliver a buck to the man’s knee, Snake moved to counter him. Instead of taking the hit or jumping backwards like his opponent expected, Snake’s hands snapped forward and wrapped his fingers around the pony’s back hooves right before impact. The man pulled the hooves over his vulnerable knee and used his wide stance to leverage his whole body strength to lift the heavy earth pony up and over his head in roughly the same direction of the spin to slam him down on the ground behind him. Snake utilized his advantage to give him time to draw his combat knife and spun his legs to the side while dropping his elbow on the stallion’s back. The first impact winded the stallion who struggled to get back up, but the elbow drop pinned him back down and the knife in the back of his head put him down for good. Loewy was on his back with the earth mare trying to pummel him from on top, but the man got his right leg under her and kicked her off before emptying his pistol in her as she tried to race back towards him. The paratroopers got back up on their feet to reload. Loewy’s helmet pinged his right ear to tell him the direction where Loki’s radio, and hopefully Loki herself, was located. Snake scanned the hall and saw more reinforcements coming from the direction they needed to go. What the hell is this place, a barrack on top of a lab? Both men stood on either end of the main hallway and opened fire as they slowly cut their way through to Loki’s signal. One by one, the Mions in front of them fell to grenades and bullets. Snake pushed his way into the birthing chamber while Loewy assumed overwatch in the hallway. What he saw chilled him to the bone just as much as it did the ponies before him. Over a hundred eggs were turning grey as the humanoid beings within blacked and died as the termination protocol moved to destroy all of the evidence. His eyes drifted downward as the ping told him Loki’s signal was below and to the right. What he saw was a limping pegasus being pushed forward by Loki who had Crimson slung over her back as they tried to stay ahead of the rising tide of black pus like fluid that rushed out of the slug’s main body and the hundreds of eggs to coat the floor. Loki was bound and determined to get her mates to safety. The stench of acid eating away at wood and metal filled the air. Snake noticed the eggs scattered around the room had melted or were otherwise flooding the other entrances to the upper catwalks except for the ones near the oxygen tanks. Slinging his carbine onto his back, the combat engineer pulled out a satchel charge and a remote detonator while running down the length of ovoid room. As soon as he had his explosives out of his bag and tucked into his armpit, he sprinted all the way around to the far end of the chamber that was clear of the acidic slime. He was much faster than the injured ponies and was able to reach the ground floor before Loki and Conrad could. As soon as he was on the ground floor he removed a small breaching charge and blew off the lock guarding the tanks and threw the satchel charge into the midst of the containers. You can solve anything with the right application of explosives. Once done, he bolted over to Loki who was pushing Conrad along trying to keep his hindquarters off the ground. He couldn’t fly with a dislocated wing and the slug queen had broken one of his hind legs and sprained the other. Loki was thrilled to see the paratrooper. “We need to get to a medevac pronto. His back legs are messed up and so is a wing.” The engineer looked to the brown stallion who was unable to stand due to his injuries. “Don’t worry buddy, I got ya.” He snatched the pegasus up into a fireman carry over his shoulders. He made sure the stallion was mostly secured by his forelegs while trying to minimize contact with his back ones. “Let’s get out of here!” Loki followed after Snake who briskly made his way back up to Loewy who was firing off several shots at targets further down the hall. He turned back when he heard both boots and hooves heavily clanging against the steel catwalk. He noticed the wounded ponies with a grimace but said nothing on the topic. “Bastards are trying to surround the exit. Give me a second.” He pulled two more grenades off his belt and tossed them on either side of the hallway. Then he grabbed three white smoke grenades off Snake’s belt and chucked them into the passage. “Carter says he’s right outside the exit with the van. Choppers are creating an LZ on the northwestern fields.” Snake and Loki nodded in acknowledgement. Loewy spied Loki’s night vision goggles and tore his helmet off. “Let me borrow those.” “Ah, sure,” Loki bent her head forward so he could take them off and placed them over his head. The goggles didn’t fit right and his eyes were too small for them, but they worked well enough for the task at hand. “Stay close and follow me.” He finished reloading and popped out into the hallway as the smoke became dense enough to obscure everything. The three Mions down the opposite way and the two bunkered down in the direction of the exit were firing blindly. Loewy picked off the ones behind him now that he could move into a better firing angle and shot the ones in front with precise accuracy. He waved Loki and Snake forward. “Move, move, move!” They got halfway through with Loewy picking off anyone who got in their way when Snake turned to Loki. “How far along is the package?” The mare used every bit of her field experience to keep from panicking at her mates’ injuries. “I-I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to check its progress. But it could be anywhere between ten minutes to an hour.” Freeing his hand for a moment, Snake pulled his remote detonator and adjusted it to a timed fuse before clicking the button to arm the device. “This place is going sky high by then.” Loewy was down to half a magazine of ammunition by the time they reached the exit. He peeked out to see two unicorns with their horns aglow. The paratrooper barely retreated in time before acidic magic could burn his head off his shoulders. “Damn it. We lost our exit.” Snake freed his hand again to get on the radio. “Carter, where the hell are you.” “Right outside.” Loewy heard a roaring engine outside and cries of alarm. He readied his carbine and burst out of the sizzling door. At that moment a charging white van flattened one of the unicorns barely seven feet from the door. Loewy capitalized on the surprise and shot the last unicorn. Carter jumped out of the driver’s seat and slid over to the passenger compartment to open the side door. “Get in, hurry!” The others needed no further prompting and clambered inside. Once her mates were safe on the seats, Loki got back on the radio. “Zeta one, Zeta one. Come in.” Alexia’s winded and strained voice answered back. “This is Zeta one.” Loki sighed inwardly in relief that her alpha was still alive. “We’re bugging out. LZ in the far northwestern fields of the campus.” A short pause elapsed as the alicorn tried to catch her breath. “Okay, I’ll be there shortly.” When the transport convoy made their entrance, they did so in a big way. Two Viper helicopter gunships locked onto the paratroopers’ transponders and roared in to protect the white van as it was being chased down by three stolen Humvees. The gunships’ nose cannon fire ventilated the three pursuers as if they were tissue paper. Except for lab five, the gunships moved on to lay down rocket barrages on the other nearby laboratories. Some of them were destroyed by secondary explosions as volatile storehouses were cooked off while others suffered extensive damage from the barrage. Unfortunately for the campus, the helicopters’ arrival was poorly timed as most of their forces were down south trying to locate Alexia who had disappeared ten minutes ago. Carter carefully slowed the van to a halt near the Black Hawks so the lightly flooded grassy fields didn’t cause him to skid out. The group piled out right as a brilliant azure flash lit up the darkening evening sky directly in front of the first transport. Tune was barely able to stand and her coat was half covered in blood, in addition an unconscious male Mion was with her lying on his back. The alicorn was so exhausted that her wings drooped to the ground and she couldn’t raise her head up. She couldn’t muster the strength to walk, but she could at least remain standing. Two paramedics from the second helicopter ran over to help her. Alexia barely shouted over the rain and chopping blades of the transports to be heard. “Take him too, he’s a prisoner.” The medics were dubious about taking a Mion alive, but his unconscious form made it a little easier for them to accept her request. As much as she wanted to be in the same transport as her mates, the medics wanted to get out of the battlefield quickly and took both her and the Mion to the helicopter along with Carter. Everyone else on the team went in the first Black Hawk. Tune slumped in the stretcher of her transport and was provided an oxygen mask to which she blearily accepted. The convoy took off and headed back towards Atlanta with the Vipers close at hand. The princess was exhausted, soaked down to the bone in freezing water, and was barely able to stay awake long enough to notice the medics removing her equipment and clothing to check her over for wounds. The action caused her to chuckle lightly. Heh, glad I don’t care about being nude, or this would be awkward. The mare had several lacerations and abrasions across her body, some of them serious. She had acid burns in her mane and tail, but luckily only her hair and fur took any real damage from that. She also had burns along her left flank and belly, but they were minor. Once she was dried off from the rain and her wounds patched up, the medics covered her in a thick blanket to ward off the cold air in the helicopter. Alexia was drained. Not just from a physical standpoint, but an emotional and magical one as well. She laid there in the stretcher reliving the past hour. Hazel’s taunts about psychic manipulation pained the princess as she laid there with the clear oxygen mask on her muzzle. Just how many brainwashed ponies did I kill today? How many believed in the Mion cause without having to be manipulated? Could they have been saved? I don’t even know how much this psychic mind zapping left of their old selves to be restored. She was too tired to feel angry and could only muster enough strength to be considered a little peeved. Damn imps aren’t satisfied brainwashing themselves, they have to do it to ponies as well. She turned away from the ceiling of the aircraft towards the Mion sitting on the back end of the passenger compartment. He was heavily restrained by multiple plastic handcuffs on both his wrists and ankles along with a sack over his head to keep him from seeing anything. Not that he could so long as my sleep spell holds. He said he wouldn’t try resisting it so it should last for a day or so. We’ll see. Her body craved sleep but she felt the need to give a message and raise a weary hoof in the air to get one of the medics’ attention. She didn’t have to wait long as the one by her side gently clenched the outstretched hoof and took his helmet off to listen when he realized she wanted to speak. “Keep him sedated at all times, don’t let him wake up for anything until I can handle him.” The request was odd, but he nodded after a moment. “I’ll pass it along.” With her message given, the alicorn folded her leg back under the blanket and passed out. Dim lighting, sterile sheets, and rhythmic beeping greeted the silver mare to the waking world. The land of the living decided to harshly remind her of the dozen wounds that stitched all over her body. She found herself lying on her back with her left wing slightly pushed from her barrel by the gauze that kept her side from leaking blood. A weight was pressing down on the mattress to her left and the pony blinked her eyes to get them to bring the green and pink lump into focus. Loki was the only one of the herd to come out of the operation unscathed. The earth pony knew Alexia was nowhere near in danger, but she still wanted to remain by her alpha. The bed was large enough that Loki was able to sleep next to Alexia without risk of pressing against her injuries or falling off the side. Unlike Tune, Loki was sleeping on her belly and her head was next to Alexia’s withers. Smiling, Alexia started rubbing the quietly snoring mare’s mane. A faint grin crossed over the grass green pony’s muzzle as she awoke from her light sleep. “Hey mage,” she said drowsily. “Hey green bean. How bad is it?” Loki knew she meant the entire herd rather than just her own injuries. “Well, you got off with some minor blood loss and a few cuts and bruises. I had to forge a mana crystal and feed it to you so you didn’t suffer too much from magic exhaustion.” Alexia’s grin widened. “Thanks.” The pink crowned pony leaned in and stole a long kiss on Tune’s lips. Both mares relished the love they shared. Loki pulled back to speak after nearly two minutes. “The others are hurt, but nothing permanent. Conrad’s got a dislocated wing and a broken leg. The docs patched him up and he’ll be fit to fly within a few weeks. Crimmy was a bit worse off than him,” Loki’s tone darkened a bit, but did not lose its joviality. “She’s got a few broken ribs and some bad cuts along her back. She ended up with sixty one stitches, but the medics say any scar tissue should be invisible under her fur. Lucky for her she’s an earth pony.” Loki puffed her chest out with pride. “Had she been anything else catching Conrad like she did would have broken her back.” “Are they awake?” Loki got off the bed to check the others who were also in the same room. “No. They’re still out of it from the anesthetics. Plus it’s been ten hours since we got back. Even if the drugs were gone they’d be too tired anyway.” Alexia felt guilty over them getting injured and it showed on her face. I should have been there for them. I should have found some other way to distract the locals so I could have been there to protect them. Loki could read her alpha like a book and climbed back up on the bed to nuzzle the alicorn. “Don’t get all mopey on me.” She raised Tune’s head with the tip of her hoof. “You did what you had to do, and you did it well. We got the wiretap in and the head office is falling over itself with the amount of data we pulled from there. We did it. We got a ton of research information on the original strain of the plague. Plus Snake left a little surprise for them on the way out. Blew the last lab Berry College had to hell. Or so I’m told.” The fact that the mission was a success alleviated much of Alexia’s ill-at-ease. “Be honest with me. Are Conrad and Crimmy going to be okay?” Loki scooted up to rest her forehead against Alexia’s. “I promise you. We are still whole. A bit banged up sure, but we’re still in one piece.” Alexia wrapped her forelegs around the green mare and pulled her in as tightly as her injuries allowed her. “Thank you Loki,” she exhaled a shuddering breath. The green pony returned the affection and nuzzled her beloved alpha. “I needed to hear that so very much.” The green mare pulled Alexia onto her side so Loki wouldn’t have her weight pressing down on her bandaged form. Wrapped up in her mate’s embrace, Tune drifted off to sleep again. Loki never left her side and ignored the mild discomfort of their tangled limbs and held onto the silver mare until she too left the waking world. The following morning stabbed Alexia in the eyes with such brilliance that it burned away much of her drowsiness before she could even sit up. That action was currently impossible thanks to the green mare still wrapped around her. She would have liked nothing better than to continue resting with her cherished mate, but the open window and the early morning sun refused to let her do so as the light came from directly behind Loki. I could just cast a spell to draw the blinds, but I really should address the matter with the prisoner before someone tries to interrogate him. Alexia lightly kissed Loki on her muzzle before carefully detangling herself and dropping to the floor. The green mare slept through it, much to Tune’s relief. She needs rest as much as any of us. The silver alicorn’s first thought was to check on the rest of the herd. Conrad was asleep on his side with both hind legs in casts with his wing in a sling. The steady rise and fall of his chest along with the rhythmic pulse of the various life sign monitors told the princess that he was otherwise unharmed. Crimson was lying on a customized bed. With several broken ribs and stitches all over her back, the bed had parts of it lowered so that the earth pony could still sleep on her back, but the stitches were not in direct contact with anything so the fabric wouldn’t pull on them. It wasn’t comfortable, but the bed served its purpose. Alexia hung her head at the state her mates were in. Its my job as alpha to protect you guys. And look where that got us. Loki’s words danced in her mind. No! They aren’t children. I can’t coddle them and we live a dangerous life. I- Her rant halted before it truly began. I did my part didn’t I? I drew the campus’s attention south and away from them. The alicorn had not been told what caused their injuries yet. I can only hope that my efforts kept these injuries from being life-threatening. And that they forgive me for not being there for them. Tune sighed and briefly nuzzled and kissed her two injured mates before withdrawing to the adjoined bathroom. After answering the call of nature, she remained there to make a call of her own. So as to not disturb the herd, Tune summoned her tome within the walls of the bathroom. There she found Twilight was available and gladly opened communications. After a few minutes, the purple pony appeared with a tired but happy expression. That smile faltered as she looked around the room. “Alexia! How’ve—you—why are you summoning me in the bathroom? That question was quickly forgot as the lavender mare saw Tune’s bandages and bedraggled appearance. “Alex what happened to you!?” Tune wanted to rub the back of her neck, but it was still sore from a glancing gunshot wound. “I ah—had a bit of a run in with some cultists and went a little overboard and got reckless.” Twilight gave her a sardonic look. “I’d tell you to be more careful, but that would fall on deaf ears wouldn’t it?” Alexia whinnied mirthfully while covering her mouth with a hoof. “I suppose it would. But with my line of work, even careful can end badly.” Sparkle hummed before letting the matter drop. “Well you seem to be in a good mood so I take it your herd is still intact.” The silver mare’s face fell a bit. “As Loki put it, we’re pretty banged up, but we’ll pull through. Crimmy’s going to end up with scars most likely.” Twilight frowned sadly. “Pass along my condolences will you?” Some of Alexia’s good cheer returned at hearing her mentor’s compassion. “I will. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” Twilight hummed in thanks before cocking her head to the side. “Since you’re on business, even if you are convalescing at the moment, I doubt you would call me if you didn’t have something important to ask.” Acting as if her hoof had been caught in the cookie jar, Alexia nodded sheepishly. “You know me too well Sensei. I do have need of your expertise at something.” Chuckling at her fellow alicorn’s embarrassment, Twilight’s mood lifted. “Well you know I’m always happy to help you. What do you need?” Tune took a breath to steel herself. “I need Discord’s spell, or at least have it cast on one person.” Sparkle gasped at the request. “You’re not talking about the one that turned you into a pony are you?” Alexia nodded. “The same. It’s for a Mion that surprised me with a wish to defect, if you can believe it. Former secret service agent Menville.”