//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 - Into the Labs 
// Story: For the New Lunar Republic 
// by Moxypony 
//------------------------------//

	Moxi and Dreamcatcher entered the building slowly, taking each corner with the same caution they would when disarming a bomb, and it wasn’t long at all before they began to hear voices carrying from down the hall.
“Most projects are proceeding as planned,” echoed a voice from a chamber down the corridor from them, “with the exception of Black Dawn and the new project from the Fillydelphia branch, we’re having trouble picking up from where the last team left off without any of their technicians on hand…” 
“I am not looking for excuses,” replied a familiar, cold aristocrat’s voice, Moxi and Dreamcatcher exchanged a look of surprise as they recognized Radiant Sol’s voice, “and neither is her majesty. You will produce results or we will find somepony else who will. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir,” came the despondent voice of the first pony, and to Moxi’s horror the voice sounded closer than before, the pair were walking straight towards them! Dreamcatcher grabbed Moxi by the hoof and pulled her into a broom closet off to one side of the corridor and they listened as the aristocrat and scientist strode past. 
“Her highness has demanded that the new system be operational by the end of the month,” he said, nearly directly outside the room now, “I would advise you not to disappoint her, lest you suffer her… displeasure…”
Moxi peered out a crack in the door to see the scientist pony reach up to place a hoof against his neck, his face distraught. “Of course,” he said, giving Sol a short bow, “my life for the princess.”
As the lab pony turned to walk back into the facility, Sol watched him for a time, his face was devoid of any expression and after a few moments he turned to exit the facility. After a few steps, however, the aristocrat stumbled, barely catching himself before he would have fallen to the floor, he stood for a moment, clutching his head before shaking it off and continuing his stride to the entrance.
“He must still be injured from the battle,” Moxi muttered.
“Then now is the perfect opportunity to strike!” Dreamcatcher snarled, drawing his knife from its sheath, “Show him what it’s like to be ambushed.”
“We don’t have time for that!” Moxi shot back, “We have to find the information and get out of here before they find out that there’s anything wrong!”
“Haven’t you thought of how he’s going to reach to finding that all four guards at the door missing?” Dreamcatcher snarled, nudging the door open slowly, “He’ll alert the whole damned city to our location.”
Moxi growled, but couldn’t argue with Dreamcatcher’s logic. The unexpected arrival of the aristocrat threw a monkey wrench into their plan, Moxi nodded and let Catcher slip past to approach the alicorn. Dreamcatcher moved like a ghost, covering the distance between the ponies in a matter of seconds while his hooves barely made a sound against the floor. Catcher raised his knife and was about to send it driving down into the alicorns unprotected neck when the assassin let out an intense coughing fit, blood flying from his mouth to fleck the wall beside him as he dropped to the floor, clutching at his throat and coughing, a slow trickle of blood seeping from the side of his mouth. He saw Dreamcatcher standing over him and his eyes traced from the shocked earth pony to Moxi, still peering out of the broom closet. Moxi saw in his eyes, as they began to roll into his skull and he shuddered into unconsciousness something that she never expected to see from the assassin. Desperation.

Dreamcatcher stood over the unconscious alicorn for a few moments, in utter shock at what he’d just seen before he turned back to Moxi, the confusion on his face screaming his unspoken question, “Did you just see that!?”
Moxi left the closet and approached the fallen pony, as she neared him, his convulsions settled to normal breathing and he  slipped into simple unconsciousness. “What in Equestria,” Dreamcatcher said, terror in his voice, “was that!?”
Moxi shook her head, examining the fallen pony with interest. “I  have no idea,” she muttered, “but it seems to have made our job a bit easier, hasn’t it?”
“Is he dead?”
Moxi shook her head, “He’s still breathing, whatever that was, it wasn’t fatal… at least… not yet…”
Dreamcatcher gripped his knife more firmly, “then I suppose I’d better finish the job!”
The earth pony drove his knife down at the alicorn’s exposed throat, but a cry from Moxi stopped him mid-swing. “Wait!” she called, “Don’t be like her! Don’t be like them! He can’t defend himself!” 
Dreamcatcher shot her an aggravated look. “He’s an aristocrat and an assassin!” he retorted, “It’s not safe to let him live! I don’t like it any more than you do, but if we let him live we’re not only risking ourselves, we’re putting innocent necks in the noose!”
Moxi sputtered for a moment before finally looking down at the unconscious pony and speaking, “it’s not just the moral implications… There was something in his eyes when he went down, he looked afraid.” 
“If you’re going to let live anypony who looks at you with fear, Moxi,” Catcher snarled, “you’re never going to be much use as a soldier!” At the look on Moxi’s face Catcher finally growled and slipped his knife back into its sheath. 
“Thank you,” she muttered, and as she made to turn away from the alicorn something caught her eye. “What is this?” she said, crouching down beside the sleeping figure and examining his neck, there was a mark, the shape and size of a fairly large necklace or choker, but rather than indenting into the pony’s neck, the flesh was raised, “It almost looks like he’s got something… implanted under his skin…”
“Celestia’s a madwoman,” Catcher shot back, turning to travel further into the facility, “we can report it back to intelligence when we head back, but we don’t have time to worry about her lunatic rituals now.” Moxi lingered for a moment longer, tracing a hoof over the raised flesh before nodding and standing to follow Dreamcatcher.

The lab pony who they’d seen talking to Radiant Sol poked his head out at the sound of hooves rapping on the heavy metal door of the lab, only to have it bounced off the doorframe by a swift kick from Dreamcatcher.
“Told you knocking on the front door would work,” Moxi smirked, watching the scientist  slump to the floor.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, pushing the door open and peering inside for more guards or technicians, “I owe you five bits.”
The pair stepped into an observation room, windows lining the walls looked out over a number of operating theaters. Most were empty, save the bloodied tables with heavy leather restraints. Moxi gagged a little as they passed one theater which was not empty, containing a single unicorn in a lab coat dissecting a pegasus pony. She could just make out the bruising on the pegasus’ limbs, she’d been alive when they’d strapped her down… Fury boiled in Moxi’s heart, and she could see it on Catcher’s face as well, but both knew full well that the mission came first.
Dreamcatcher opened a filing cabinet and began sifting through the folders within, his eyes scanning quickly over the various projects being researched within the facility. His eyes widened more and more as he pulled more folders out of the cabinet, but Moxi had begun wandering further into the room, peering through the windows at the theaters below. 
“Empty night…” Dreamcatcher swore, Moxi turned to face him and saw him spread out a number of files on a table in the middle of the room, on which the researcher’s coffee mug still steamed. “Luna sent us here to find one dangerous research project, but I don’t even know which…” he looked up to stare at Moxi, his gray eyes wide in terror, “Moxi, if they Solar Empire managed to complete any of these, the tide of the war would turn in their favor in a matter of days!” 
“That researcher said that all the projects were coming along smoothly except for something called Black Dawn,” her mind was racing, but she kept her voice and body calm, “either way, just grab up all of the data, we’ll just have to find a way to shut this place down for good…” Her voice trailed off and she began looking through the various windows again, leaving Catcher to scan the documents further. She watched the operating theaters, some empty, others with unicorn scientists performing grisly experiments. Most made her stomach turn, but eventually she looked through a window to find a sight which made her hearth leap into her throat.
Lying on the operating table, her body wracking with visible agony, and her face twisted in pain and rage, was a blue pegasus whom Moxi recognized all too well. Moxi’s heart beat out of control with exhilaration, relief, and inconsolable rage, and she cried out, “Chillwind!”