“GUAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!”
Babs Seed roared like an animal caught under a trap, crying out in pain as she managed to stand. It was the wrong place and the wrong time; the shock of a blast had caused a wall to collapse onto her and it took every ounce of her will to fight against its weight. Her bad lung was on fire, her legs quivered under the pain of the cold brick that fought to shove her to the ground, but she would not give up. A burst of adrenaline tore through her veins and gave her just enough strength to throw her head and back high to tip the wall off of her. Her legs buckled with a guttural cough but, despite giving what she thought was everything she had, she still managed to stand.
Can’t collapse on the little ones, can I?
Lying in the dirt beneath her were two foals, not much older than seven and probably brother and sister, locked in a fearful hug with their faces buried into each other. They waited a moment longer for the wall that wouldn’t touch them now before slowly and fearfully looking up at her with tears in their eyes. “Go on home, kids,” said Babs softly with a weak smile.
The duo scrabbled to their hooves and ran quickly down the street without as much as a glance back at her. Babs Seed managed to stand long enough to watch them scurry around the corner before collapsing to the ground and rolling onto her back, sucking deep breaths of air between haggard coughs. A pair of the R.E.A.F’s airponies quickly soared overhead, converging in the air and landing a short way up the street. From the look of things they were done the dirty part of their job and were just cleaning up now. The sounds of the air raid had subsided and been replaced with the low scattered drone of ponies as they cautiously left their homes. Of course, this meant they had either captured the thief or she had gotten away. Babs rolled to her belly and pounded the ground with her hoof, trying to beat the frustration out of her. It was over but it was also too late; the damage had been done and everything she had tried to prevent had happened. She had failed, again, and she punched the dirt beneath her over and over until her hoof was throbbing and then buried her face in the crook of her leg.
“I-is that…” said a low and thoroughly horrified voice in the distance.
“No…” said another voice with increasing desperation, “No, no no no it can’t be…”
“The smell…” said the first, “How did this happen?!”
It was the two airponies that had flown overhead. They had landed near something dark on the ground that she couldn’t make out from where she laid. All she could clearly see was a faint plume of smoke rising lazily from it and whatever it was, it was enough to absolutely sicken the pair. One had ripped his red goggles from his face and was just staring like a statue with a face twisted into silent horror, and the other was backing away and cringing with a hoof held over her eyes.
A blend of curiosity and concern gave her a jolt of energy and she was on her hooves and managing a light jog to take a look at the object of their nightmares. The instant she laid eyes on it up close she had to fight the urge to throw up. Whoever it had been was long gone, leaving only a scorched, gristly mess of singed fur and burned clothing that could barely be recognized as having once been a pony. Babs had to cover her nose; the acrid and almost sugary odor that rose up with the smoke was overwhelming. She immediately felt a burst of guilt coarse through her and she looked left and right at the two who had discovered the remains: two young pegasi that were barely out of their teens. Apparently one of the platoons consisted entirely of rookies that had never flown a real mission before; from the look of things these were two of them.
What a thing to find on your first mission. Poor kids.
Babs Seed was the first to admit she hated the R.E.A.F. and everything about them, but this was most definitely not the kind of thing these two needed to stare at any longer. “I need you two to round up your mates and secure this area,” she said as she flashed her badge left and right, “and don’t give me any of that trash about authority. Just go and do it.”
“But…” protested the one to the left, a yellow mare with a pink mane.
“Let’s do it,” said the other, a pale blue stallion with a purple mane.
The yellow pegasus looked ready to cry. “If it means you catch the skunk that did this to him, Inspector.”
“Promise. Send an officer my way, too,” Babs said quietly, “I’ll break the news.”
“Got it. Come on, Cotton,” said the stallion and the two quickly split up and flew over the buildings to her front and back.
Babs couldn’t help but wonder what two ponies at such a young age were thinking joining the R.E.A.F. but immediately put it out of her head to focus. “What a mess,” she murmured quietly as she tried to understand exactly what had happened to him or her. It was clear a bomb had done him in while in mid-air, but how it happened was the question. The trigger in the nose detonated them when they hit the ground and it took a decent enough height to build the force to do it, a deliberate safety mechanism if she understood correctly. They simply weren’t the thing that just misfired in the hooves of a flier; it had never happened before. She fought the taste of bile in her throat and pulled what she thought was part of the load-webbing from the body, but instead dislodged a burned up but still recognizable flight cap. All too quickly it hit her who it had been. “Lieutenant Twitch,” she whispered quietly, anticipating just how badly it was going to end once Lightning Dust learned her wingpony was dead.
“Bring him down over here! The area’s secure!”
“Get Sandback and an IFAK here; I want the kid patched up NOW!”
Babs instantly recognized the gravelly tone as belonging to that captain that had visited her office the other day. The gray stallion flew awkwardly, with one of his comrades draped lifelessly across his back and being steadied by the mare from before, and slowed to a gentle landing. Babs Seed ran over and helped the mare lift the kid to the ground. He writhed in agony, clutching his shoulder just below the shaft of an arrow that had buried deep into his leg. “Hurts… it hurts…” he babbled deliriously with tears streaming down his face.
“Chin up, son. Be a stallion,” scolded the captain in a firm tone that managed to be caring at the same time. “The medic’s on his way, he’ll yank that out in no time. Stitch you up, put you on light duty, you’ll be fine.” He turned to Babs and nodded appreciatively, “and the mares like scars. Isn’t that right, Inspector?” he said as he nodded again for her to play along.
The young flier clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. “Yes… sir,” he hissed in an admirable attempt to hide the pain he was in.
The captain wiped sweat from his forehead and angrily muttered something under his breath with the stomp of a hoof. “We had her,” he growled and turned to face Babs, his age-weathered features twisted with anger. “We were this close and she got away.”
Babs threw a hoof over her mouth to cover her hacking cough, and answered the look of near concern from the captain with a gentle wave. “The thief had a bow?”
“Not her. Somepony from outside,” he said angrily as he shot a glare at the injured flier, “Got the kid good. Almost got me. Got behind cover and all we could do was watch her waltz out.”
“Somepony else did this?” Babs Seed stared off into the sky and watched a trail of smoke rising lazily into the heavens and thought for a moment until she realized the captain was staring at her, waiting for her to elaborate. “Silver Spoon. She’s been a constant thorn in our sides for a while now. She’s stolen, smuggled, sabotaged, even killed. But always alone. Always.”
A blue pegasus with a brown mane landed and unfurled a rolled-up piece of denim cloth that was filled with medical supplies. “Easy, Pinstripe,” he said softly, “You’re in for a world of hurt, so be strong pal.” The other flier watched this for a moment and gave a pleading glance to Babs to remind her of her promise.
“Captain,” said Babs as she put a hoof on his shoulder and led him away from the scene. She patted the last remaining bomb on his load-webbing. “Tell me. How sensitive are these things?”
“Not very,” he said matter-of-factly, “Not that you’d want to, but you can toss them around quite a bit. The trigger’s not even sensitive until you pull the pin.”
She exhaled heavily. “So an arrow wouldn’t set one of those things off?”
“Not a chance. It wouldn’t even penetrate the shell.” He continued to walk beside her silently until, like a light blinking on in a dark room, his eyes widened and he stared into hers. “Why?”
Babs Seed looked away and closed her eyes; she wasn’t good at this kind of thing. “Captain. I have some bad news.” She didn’t make eye contact again; she couldn’t. All she could do was lead him toward his friend until the captain spotted it and broke into a desperate run toward it. He stumbled and fell to his haunches to stare down at what was left of the airpony. Finding what was left of the flight cap and realizing who it was drained all the life from him and his ears fell flat to either side of his head. There was nothing left in him at that moment; all he did was stare down motionlessly and barely even breathe. After a moment Babs rested a hoof on his shoulder to try and comfort him.
“Go find something else to do,” he said in a heartbreaking frail ghost of his normally low voice, “I saw Featherweight, one street over. Maybe you can get some info from him.”
Babs’ lip curled upon hearing the name. “Maybe I can,” she said with a snarl. She turned and headed for the next street, leaving the captain to deal with things. As she moved she passed a crumbling building and a pair of ponies, a family, staring unmoving at the wreckage. Seeing that, seeing those two foals nearly buried alive, even seeing those buggers in the air force so torn up over things, all of these had lit a fire inside of her. This didn’t have to turn into this. This could have been so easy. She could have come here alone, or even with a couple of guards as backup, and taken Silver Spoon on that captain’s vague Intel alone, never mind the information Featherweight could have provided. He was the Queen’s ears; he had those changelings, heaven knows how many, at his beck and call and able to imitate ponies to near perfection. This entire town would never have been touched if he had brought the things he heard to her instead of running to Lightning Dust like the sycophantic little scud he is, knowing he’d get more attention if Silver Spoon went down in a blaze of fire.
And he’s gonna pay.
There he was. Around the corner in the center of a street, standing tall in his unbuttoned jacket and gangly teeth, barking orders to what must have been the local mayor and a group of townsponies. Doing exactly what he did best: sucking up the glory and credit like a creamy-white little sponge and letting everypony else pick up the tab. Babs Seed walked up behind and tapped his shoulder, and as he turned to look she reared back and punched him in the face as hard as she could. He twirled off-center and flailed to the ground like a marionette tossed through the air, but Babs wasn’t satisfied. She pushed past the townsponies, most of them fleeing as she attacked and scooped him from the ground with a hoof under his belly. With all her might and a dry cough she threw him to the side of the road, sending him tumbling head-over-haunches and into a stunned heap on the ground. “It’s gonna happen,” she said in cruel anticipation after coughing into her fetlock.
Out of nowhere one of the townsponies leaped onto her and held fast as another pounced from the side, their combined weight being enough to wrench her to the ground. A third and fourth jumped from behind and pinned her down. “Well, whaddaya know?” she said to herself. She should have known his bugs would be nearby. Their disguises were perfect to the naked eye but their bodies simply felt off when touched; cool and lifeless like the fakes they were.
“You… ass!” he spat in pain and disbelief as he slowly stood.
Babs twitched once and tried in vain to pull free. “I gotta bone to pick with you, Featherweight!”
“No kidding. You’re looking to start something with me?!”
“As sure as you were born I am,” she said with a cough, “How ‘bout call off your little minions and we have it out like real ponies?”
“No, thanks,” he said with a devilish laugh. “Maybe next time you’ll pick on somepony your own size? As for now, well, give her the works, boys.”
One of the ‘ponies’ that held her down cackled into her ear in a dissonantly high-pitched tone that belied it’s appearance and Babs clenched her eyes shut in anticipation. The first strike came, but to her surprise she wasn’t on the receiving end; the one holding her front leg down was kicked off of her and enveloped mid-air in green flame to land unconscious in it’s true form. Not a second later the changeling on her back was torn from her and hit by a nasty dull thud as somepony struck it. Somepony had her back and she managed to shake free, tearing one changeling from her with her free leg and hurling the other from her with a vicious buck. Two royal guards, no doubt local patrol, stood in front of her and stared down Featherweight’s bugs, ready to pounce in a second if they tried to attack.
“Have you two lost your minds?!” hollered Featherweight in a frightened mockery of a confident tone. “Need I remind you I answer directly to the Princess herself?!”
“Don’t give us that; we just saved your life,” said one of the guards.
“What do you think Captain Rumble would do to you if he caught wind of this?” said the other, who pointed to Babs as he spoke, “That’s his fiancé you were about to lay a beating on!”
Featherweight’s eyes shrank to pinpoints and his mouth gaped open, releasing a terrified hiss and he slowly began to back away. Babs tried to take the opportunity and lunged for him, but the two guards grabbed onto her and held her back while Featherweight turned and ran down the street with his bugs in close pursuit.
“Whoa! No, Sarge! No!”
“He’s right! The creep is commissioned by the Princess!”
Babs Seed took a deep breath and nodded, and the duo loosened their clutch on her and stepped back. “Pavot? Harrier?!” she said as she looked back and forth between their faces and was both surprised and relieved to see a couple of members of her old unit. “Th’heck are you two doing here?!”
Harrier pulled the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue. “Could ask you the same question, Sarge.”
Pavot brushed the dust from Babs’ coat and took her hat, gave it a solid shake, and put it back on Babs’ head. “Sheesh. I thought you had a desk job now.”
“Enough coddling!” said Babs in protest, pulling away to straighten her hat. “And I’m not a sergeant anymore. And me and the captain aren’t together anymore neither.”
Pavot scoffed and patted Babs’ shoulder. “Yeah, but he’d have still beat that little rodent into next year and back.” She smiled devilishly, “Sarge.”
Babs sneered at the cheeky brown earth pony. She had always had a sarcastic streak in her, even back in their days together in the academy, and it managed to be refreshing despite everything that had happened. “Thanks, you two. I mean it,” she said softly.
“So what happened?!” said Harrier, sounding quite anxious as he spat his toothpick to the ground and gestured at the smoke in the distance. “Since we’ve been posted out here in the boonies we’ve been completely out of the loop.”
“There was a robbery. In the palace,” said Babs. “I’ve been following the case since it happened. ‘Course, Featherweight managed to track the thief but went straight to major Mental-Case instead of me.”
Pavot shook her head, “No wonder you wanted to rough him up.”
“She got away, too,” said Babs as she nodded in agreement. “Now we’ve got an airpony dead, one with an arrow stuck in his leg, and heaven only knows how many civilians buried under rubble. With nothin’ to show for it but blood on our hooves.”
“This is bad,” said Harrier, making no attempt to hide his concern.
“Real bad. We’ve got a thief, one who always works alone. Suddenly she has no less than two allies helping her out. One shot arrows at those airponies that had her cornered; another managed to set off one of their bombs while it was still on the poor guy’s belt. How, I don’t know, but somehow.”
“Like, from a distance?” said Pavot, her ears perking straight up as a thought came to mind. “Harrier, what about the redhead? The one in the vest?”
“You’re right!” said Harrier with a stomp of his hoof. “And I saw her come into town just yesterday.”
“What are you two talkin’ about?” said a hopeful Babs. “You got somethin’?”
“A few months back…” said Harrier, before trailing off and looking at Pavot. “Right?”
“Yeah. Three sounds right.”
“A pony came around these parts. A refugee from overseas; a real rough looking yellow thing with a red mane. She carries around a… a gun. That’s what they’re called, right?”
“A gun?!” said Babs angrily, “And you didn’t think to confiscate it?!”
Pavot chuckled nervously. “We didn’t even know what it was at first. Never seen one before. By the time we did know she had brought in a couple of local scumbags with it, looking to collect the reward money. She was bounty hunting for us, so we kind of just looked the other way.”
“Oh no…” Babs said quietly. “I think things just got a lot worse. I always figured chaff from that dump of a country would end up over here eventually, but I never figured something like this’d happen. What’s her name?! Address! Tell me everythin’!”
“It was… uh…”
“Uh…” groaned Pavot with mild frustration, “Something to do with flowers, I think.”
“She’s a mystery, Sarge. Doesn’t socialize, doesn’t speak, nothing. We don’t even know if she lives in this town or not.”
“Find out. If you remember, or get anything else, come straight to me.” She put a hoof on each of their shoulders and brought them in close like a huddle. “Don’t you two breathe a word of this to anypony else, got it?”
“Our lips are sealed,” said Pavot, and Harrier merely nodded and ran his hoof across his mouth.
“Somethin’ big is gonna happen, I can feel it. Stay lively you two. And for heaven’s sake, watch each other’s backs.”
“Count on it, Sarge.”
Babs nodded and managed a smile. She turned and hurried down the street, intent on commandeering the fasted transport she could get her hooves on to go back to Canterlot. Nothing added up; she had a lot of work to do to try and make any sense of things. One thing she knew for sure: her mystery redhead opened up an entirely new set of possibilities. She knew Silver Spoon had been overseas as well. It was possible, though very unlikely, that she had brought a partner over from the get-go and kept her under wraps. The way she had continually out-gambled the royal guards time and time again was proof she was more than clever enough to do it. Then there’s the archer: bows were basically unheard of in Equestria. The crystal ponies had used them against the Equestrian forces during the invasion, but with only marginal success at best and to her knowledge none were brought back.
Too many questions. It just don’t add up.