The air was thick with fog, an incredibly cold fog that seemed to suck the heat out of everything it touched. This area had once been a swamp, but a freak snowstorm had turned it into a treacherous forest of mud, with deep ponds hiding just under the thin snow that wafted all around. 1st Airborne had tried deploying in force, but had only lost a good deal of war supplies in doing so. They had pulled back, and instead sent two of their best.
The unit they sent, of only two ponies, was their greatest weapon. These two fought together as if they were one, and had been instrumental in securing the remaining Night Guard installations.
1st Leftenant Flash Sentry, and Sergeant Mary Frosthorn. Decorated with the Medal of Waylay, and first on the list for Celestia’s Medal of Honour. They were on their way now, and were being briefed in an approaching helicopter.
The helicopter, hastily painted with the colours of the Wonderbolts, was one of the first of its kind. Finally, the airborne had a way to get around without relying on the clumsily converted dropships. It was primitive, and rather delicate to fly, but it did its job well. A bubble cockpit sat ahead of a skeleton-tail, and two skis on the bottom supported it on the ground. It was fast, and incredibly manoeuvrable. Southrop-Grumman had outdone themselves, and Spitfire had ordered hundreds of them. Valent Veil, the new owner of Southrop-Grumman industries, stood to make a huge profit.
Flash Sentry and Mary Frosthorn were crammed into the cockpit with the pilot, whom had their briefing for them. He had to shout it over the noise of the turbine. Outside, the ground of dead trees and fog looked almost alien. The sky was grey, the ground was grey, it was all grey.
“Your orders are to head west, and find the supplies left behind by us! Once you’ve done that, contact Doghouse and you will be directed to Location B. You’re going in without any weapons-we didn’t have any room in this damn thing, and it’s too risky to bring another! It’s treacherous footing down there, watch your step or you’ll find yourself six feet under water!”
“How far west?” Flash asked.
“Two miles!”
“Two miles?!” Mary exclaimed, “you couldn’t find a closer landing zone?”
“Lady, we already tried this once! You might as well be asking me to land on the ocean!”
The helicopter continued on it’s way, and the pilot drew back on the stick to slow it down to land. It pitched up, and the power of its rotor pulled back, slowing it enough for him to lower it down. As soon as it hit the ground, Mary and Flash were out. They had done this plenty of times before, and were eager to get started on their last outing.
“Good luck!” the pilot shouted, and spun his helicopter around to leave.
A few moments later he disappeared up into the thick fog, although the noise hung over the two for a few minutes longer.
“Two miles in this? They’ve pulled some shit before, but this is cutting it,” Mary complained.
“Nobody is shooting us Mary, we’ve got that at least,” Flash said, and prodded the moist ground with a booted-hoof.
“Yet, anyway,” Mary returned.
The two started off, and Flash was greatly thankful for the thick coats they had been given. Parkas, donated to the service by one Rarity. Their footing was, as warned, incredibly treacherous. Mary was a unicorn however, and was able to cast a magical light ahead of them that revealed what lay under the snow. Their pace picked up thanks to this, and their journey through the dead-trees of this once-wetland began in earnest.
“I really wish I had my gun,” Flash complained, as he glanced around for any threat.
“I’ve got mine, it comes built in,” Mary said, and tapped her horn.
“Lucky, mine doesn’t do magic,” Flash smirked back at her.
“You don’t…”
Mary grinned, “Oh. Oh well, I think it has a sort of magic of its own…” she said coyly.
Flash laughed and they continued onwards. They had been together for nearly a month now, and had gone to hell and back together. They had been there when the Airborne went into Location Y, and had been one of the first people to discover how deep their insanity went. They had all sorts of weapons programs, and thinking back on what he had seen, Flash shuddered.
Bioweapons, explosives of mass destruction, magical mind control, nerve-gas, they had even experimented with alicornium. He was thankful they had been foolish enough to strike when they did, had the Night Guard completed any of these weapons, it would have been far worse.
They had also been constructing a sister-ship to the Magnificent. They lacked the resources at present to do it, but the fact they had even considered such a thing was problematic. What if they had planned to destroy the first, using any of their experimental weapons, and replace it with their own?
They would have been unstoppable.
Flash felt something catch on his rear leg, and fell forward on his face into the snow. His wheel had apparently caught in something, again.
“Mary, a little help?”
Mary looked over, and lifted his prosthetic out of the hole it had caught in with her magic. She also cleaned it off, and levitated Flash back on his hooves.
“Thank you,” Flash said, and started forward again.
Mary nodded, and continued at his side.
Losing his leg had been, oddly, the best thing ever to happen to Flash Sentry. It had made him stronger than he ever had been before, and it made him see that strength. It’s as if all his self-doubt, and his worry, had gone with it.
The prosthetic still sucked however, and he decided to dismount it and continue three-legged. He folded it up and put it in the empty pack that he had been given.
Onward they went, and even the sound of their walking was absorbed by the fog. The silence hung over them, but together they felt no worry. They had taken on griffons together, a little creepy forest wasn’t going to scare them. After an hour or so of walking, they finally came upon a clearing, which looked to be their first waypoint. In the middle was the roof of a landing vessel, sticking up out of a deep swamp. Around it were scattered boxes, weapons, and other equipment.
“Part one…” Flash mumbled, and looked around for his radio equipment and gun while Mary gathered her own gear.
The group that had come before had apparently been assigned to set up base camp, and had brought all the gear needed for when the others arrived later. They had failed, quite spectacularly, when they realized how precarious the ground was around here. Helicopters had been sent to get them out, and thankfully no lives were lost.
They lost a landing barge, and a pair of light-trucks, however. Rather expensive equipment that now lay under the sludgy-waters of this swamp.
Flash found his equipment, and was relieved to find his rifle and crossbow had made it in intact. Normally he kept this equipment on him at all times, but had been on shore-leave with Mary for the last week. Location B had taken quite a lot of time for the brass to find, almost as if even the Night Guard wanted to forget about it.
Flash slung the rifle, and modified crossbow, over his back where they belonged. A short-range backpack radio, and longer range transmitter, were found nearby as well. He took the first on his back, and inspected the second to find it in surprisingly good condition.Flash set it upright, flicked it on, and then looked around for the generator that the first company had brought.
He found a power cable, and trotted along the ground to where it led.
It led into the water.
“Well, shit,” He mumbled.
He looked around and saw Mary rummaging through a medical box.
“Hey Mary, can you power a radio with magic?” Flash asked her.
Mary glanced back at him, and her horn pulsated with energy.
“I… guess I could.”
Flash felt her reluctance to be odd, but let it pass.
She finished gathering her supplies, found herself a shotgun, and met Flash at the radio, he explained the situation, to which she simply laughed.
“Well of course our generator is under-water, meaning we can only use the long-range radio once before setting out. Out of contact with headquarters, barely certain of where we’re going, and with limited ammunition.”
“Of course,” she said sardonically.
Flash shook his head, and fiddled with the radio dials as Mary concentrated her energy powering the transmitter. When he hit the correct frequency, he picked up the microphone.
“Doghouse, this is F/M, we have reached the first waypoint. The generator is a bust, and we will be out of communication if we proceed as planned. Request advisement, over.”
Static, and then a barely-audible reply.
“Continue as planned. Location B is a further two miles north of you, you will find entrance to an under-ground bunker near a large metal radio-array. Do not approach the array, or they will know you are coming. Understood?”
Flash sighed, deeply, and then spoke into the microphone.
“We copy that, F/M out.”
Flash tossed the microphone at the radio, and Mary ceased powering it.
“Sounds like Twilight’s radar, I thought the Night Guard had abandoned that idea,” Mary noted.
“We thought a lot of things,” Flash said, and checked the bolt on his gun.
He dropped the short range radio, since apparently it would be useless, and instead stuffed a shotgun into his pack. If he couldn’t bring communications gear, then at the very least he could bring more gun. They took all they could from the weapons and supplies at the base point, and then set off. Finally armed, they went at a much faster pace.
Flash also found a piece of metal he was able to haphazardly attach to his prosthetic. Now it glided on the ground like a ski, and was far easier to handle in this place.
As they went, they both started to hear a strange humming sound. While it creeped them both out to no end, they had gotten used to strange things being found at these Night Guard installations. That something weird was around, was proof-positive they were on the right track.
The egg-heads at home certainly had a lot of interesting prototypes to go through. The Night Guard had been wasting a whole lot of resources on pie in the sky inventions, but here and there was something that had actual use. That helicopter they came in on was based off some of this work, and they would soon be using airplanes on a wider scale as well.
If only the Night Guard hadn’t hoarded all this technology to itself, lives could have been saved. If they had conventional airplanes at Waylay, it would have given them a way to contend with the Saddle-Arabians more easily. If they had helicopters, they would have been able to move around far easier.
Flash Sentry did not like Thestrals at this point in his life.
“Why don’t we just bomb the whole place and see if anyone comes out to breath? We’ve got the place surrounded, I doubt they have enough supplies down there to last long,” Mary said.
“The brass thinks if we drive them to that sort of desperation, they might use some of their prototype weapons against us. We have to surprise and crush them one at a time, or they’ll cause trouble,” Flash replied.
Wisdom that he mostly believed with. As much as it made sense, it was hard to care about that when one was wading through weather as terrible as this, and in order to attack an installation with unknown defences.
“So why not send hundreds of us in, why just the two of us this time?”
“You saw that landing zone, they just can’t get them in here well enough,” Flash replied.
“So send Pegasi, I don’t get it Flash, this whole thing reeks.”
Flash saw her point. If they knew where Location B was, why not just send a hundred Wonderbolt Pegasi to breach it?
Radar.
“Mary, I think I understand it now. If they think the Night Guard was experimenting with radar here, they would see pegasi coming from miles away. So they have to send in a ground unit, but they can’t send in many. So they sent their best,” Flash explained.
“That’s us, huh? Life was a lot simpler when I was just another medic.”
“Let’s just get through this shit and then enjoy some leave. I know a great spot in the Crystal Empire,” Flash said.
They redoubled their pace, and the humming grew along with them. The fog seemed to clear slightly as well, and in the distance a grey structure slowly became visible, cutting upwards into the sky.
“Well, that must be the radio-array, now where’s the entrance to this thing?” Flash wondered, and paused to better get his bearings.
Then he had an idea.
“Mary, how deep can that spell go?”
“Pretty deep, why?” She asked, and looked at him curiously.
“Go as deep as you can,” Flash said.
Mary grinned at him.
“That’s my line,” she said, and pointed her horn at the ground.
The top of the ground changed, as the bluish blur that marked what was below moved downwards. There was a lot of rock, some more rock, and then… a hallway.
“Bingo.”
Flash and Mary traced the hallway, and followed it in a zig-zag pattern around, careful not to step in anything dangerous. Their work was slow, but eventually they found a staircase that went up a level, and traced that upwards two more times. When they had eventually found the end of the tunnels, they found themselves standing before a large metal door, cut into a rocky outcropping. The door was quite well rusted, and covered with years worth of grit and mud.
It was marked, quite simply: “B”.
“So uh, how do we get in?” Mary asked, and tapped the door gingerly with her hoof.
Flash laughed, and simply gestured at his forehead.
“Right…” Mary said.
Mary waved him away from the door, and stood back herself with her hooves planted firmly in the ground. Her horn pulsated as she charged the energy needed, and then released it all forwards in a blue beam of pure magic power. It splashed onto the doors metal surface, and pushed it inwards while also melting the metal. It only took a few seconds for it to totally give-way, and it collapsed inward while releasing acrid smoke into the air.
“Good work, you’ve outdone yourself!” Flash said, and waved the smoke away with his hoof.
Mary had her eyes closed, and appeared flush. Flash, somewhat worried, came to her side.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Mary sighed, and shook her head. “Yeah, I just gotta make sure I don’t burn-out. I’ve used this alicornium more than any other pony has. I’m making history here.”
“You’re good to go though, right? I hate to lose you, Mary,” Flash said.
Mary hugged him, which came as somewhat of a surprise and he awkwardly accepted the embrace.
“Not today Flash, not today.”
Flash regained his composure, and looked into the hole Mary had blown into the door. The inside of the facility was incredibly odd looking. Normally they had found concrete bunkers, but this one was all metal. There was no light inside, but a faint humming emanated outwards.
“Fire up that horn Mary, we’re going in,” Flash said, and leapt through the hole.
Mary went in after him, and as a pair they slowly crept down the entrance stairway. It was a strange place, this Location B. Everything was metal, and the stairs were far too narrow for their quadrupedal selves. Neither had ever seen anything like it. Along the roof they could see florescent light tubes, but none were on. There looked to be televisions built into corners, here and there, as well. Not a sound was made by them.
They came to a set of doors at the bottom, but these were simply pressure-doors. Flash slung his rifle around his back, and turned the wheel locking it while Mary watched.
“This place doesn’t feel right Flash, it doesn’t feel…”
“Equestrian?” Flash suggested.
“Exactly! Something about this place, the height of the doors, the spacing of the stairs; this place wasn’t built for ponies.”
Flash swung the door open, and pointed his rifle inside.
“So who was it made for?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said.
They continued on through the porthole, and Flash began to notice what Mary had already. The door was oddly tall for a pony, and oddly narrow. The halls were oddly tall as well, a great deal of space had been wasted digging them this way. Why make the halls of an underground facility any taller than you had to?
After a bit of walking, unsure of where they were going, they came across a bulletin board. Mary studied it while Flash kept watch with his rifle.
“Well, you’ll be glad to know that bring your child to work day is next Tuesday, and that staff are going to be getting a raise for their diligence.” She said.
“That’s nice.”
Mary cleared her throat and continued.
“There’s nothing of any major consequence, but there’s a list of room numbers. The two that seem important are A-1, command and control, A-4, Security and Communications, and C-1.”
She turned to Flash, and adjusted the light the deepen the shadows in her face.
“Project Mirror”
“That’s… ominous. We’ll head to CnC first, maybe get some power on around here.” Flash said, and looked down the hall.
At the end it split, with one side marked A, and the other B.
“That’ll be us,” Flash said, and led Mary down towards the A hall.
When he rounded the corner, he had a thought. They had heard no alarms, despite the fact that the radar topside was being powered. Why would you have a radar watching over your facility if you weren’t even going to care if someone blew up the front door?
For that matter, where the hell was the staff? They hadn’t expected much, if any, resistance, since most of the Night Guard soldiers were pressed into action at Canterlot, but they had expected somebody.
“Mary, what was the date on the board back there?”
Mary thought about it for a second, and then her eyes lit with surprised realization.
“984.”
Seventeen years. This place had been abandoned for that entire time. If that was true, there was a chance that even the Night Guard had forgotten it existed. That would certainly explain why it had taken so long to locate.
“Mary, why the hell would the Night Guard have left this place alone for seventeen whole years?”
Mary had no answer, and just shuddered with cold fear.
They continued on through the dark, Flash keeping his rifle pointed forward, and ready for anything. Mary fell behind him, and cast her light forward into the void. They passed quite a few rooms, each with a window to the hallway. When they looked inside, they found each had a matching chair and desk, and nothing else. Their doors had once worn the name of whoever made those offices their own, and they were all scratched out.
Except for one.
Archer.
“Well shit, if he’s connected to this, than we’re in for some fun,” Flash said, and tilted his head to look in through the window.
Then, noticing that there were a few papers on the desk, he smashed it. The sound of the breaking glass was nearly deafening in the total silence, and seemed to echo down the cavernous, dark, hallways for eons.
Flash picked one up, and read it.
Things may not go well tonight. I fully suspect that Luna is preparing some sort of trap, but I cannot let this opportunity go to waste. I have a chance her to kill Celestia, and take the capital, and murder those filthy changelings, in one fell swoop. My forces are prepared, and will move at nightfall. I have my own tricks, we will see who’s are superior.
Your position however, is not with us. You are to go back to Location B, and prepare Project Mirror. I may need to leave in a hurry. Contact me as soon as it is ready.
The destination is of no concern, just not here.
The only other paper was a bizarre list.
Eleven Six Seven F: Eden: Safe: No Magic
Eight Four Nine B: Arrakis: Critical Danger: No Magic
Seven Five Eight C: Void: Critical Danger: No Magic
Five Eight Five A: Void: Critical Danger: No Magic
Five Two Two A: Molten: Critical Danger: No Magic
Six Two Eight A: Carbonia: Atmospheric Danger: No Magic
“He’s here,” Flash mumbled, and pocketed the papers.
“Who is?” Mary asked, as she stared into the abyssal hallway beside them.
“Archer is. We can finally capture that bastard and stick his head on a pike. He poisoned a princess, you know,”
Mary nodded, she had read the reports as well.
Flash led her down the hallway again, and they soon reached its end. Another door, but this one was already open. An eery blue light, and quiet hum, leaked out from inside.
Flash looked to Mary uncertainly, and then strode in with his rifle ahead of him. He quickly took in the room, and was astonished at what he found.
Dozens and dozens of machines, looking like televisions attached to typewriters, ran along many desks along the outside of the room. In the centre a large metal monolith, silent at the moment, stood. The humming, and blue light, came from one of the machines. Flash approached it uncertainly, and looked at it.
It was a video feed of some room, in the middle of which a bizarre looking contraption, supported by dozens of wires, stood. It looked almost like a gateway, although he had no idea what that entailed.
“I am way too young for this shit,” Flash mumbled, and looked around the room for anything else important. Mary walked in as well, and stared at the central monolith.
“What the hell is that?” she wondered openly.
Flash glanced over at her, and then noticed, thanks to the light of her horn, that the far side of the room was actually a window. He approached it, and found that there was a metal shield just behind some thick glass. There was also a switch, which glowed a faint red.
“Well, in for a bit,” he said to himself, and flicked it.
The room suddenly came alight, and the rest of the machines came on as well. They were both blinded by the sudden light, and deafened by the noise. When Flash could see again, he looked out the window. The steel cover had retracted, and the rooms contents were visible in all their glory.
Another of those portals, far larger than the one on the screen, in a gigantic concrete room. It was large enough to fit a smaller airship through, and dozens of ponies could march through it side-by-side.
“But what’s it all for?” Flash wondered, and leaned on the metal overlook to consider.
“Flash…” Mary said behind him. Flash glanced over, and saw her looking at one of the many monitors.
“Flash, we’re not along here. I can see… somebody,” she said fearfully.
Flash darted over, and looked into the screen as well. She was right, the view was of yet another portal room, except in this one a figure was moving around. Dozens of small machines were attached to this portal as well, and the figure was darting between them, occasionally looking back at the portal itself. The figure was clearly a thestral, and they both had a pretty good idea who it was.
It halted at one of the machines, and scratched its head as if confused. Then it looked straight back at the camera, and drew a weapon.
A moment later it destroyed the camera, and the monitor turned to static.
“That’s not good…” Flash said, and glanced out into the hallway.
How far was he from them? He knew this place, they didn’t. That put them at a decided disadvantage.
Then the power went out, and they were bathed in darkness again.
“That’s worse,” Flash said, and pulled Mary behind him as he drew his gun.
“Flash…” Mary said.
Flash grabbed her hoof in his own, and her touch calmed his panic. At least if they went down, they would go down together.
Flash spared a glance back at her, and gave her a weak smile, “We may both be terrified, but we’ve got together. Even in the dark, that counts for something.”
“Not against a thestral, Flash. You can’t… see them in the dark, it’s a sort of magic that only they know. You can’t see them unless they’re wearing armour, or you know they’re already there.”
Flash sighed, just his luck. All the thestrals he had fought thus far had been quite heavily armoured, and fought conventionally. That explained why this hadn’t come up. He knew they fought well in the dark, but hadn’t thought it extended this far.
“You can’t use magic to break this?”
Mary shook her head, and pulled out her shotgun.
“Alright, buck this. We’re leaving. The place is abandoned, they can send in a battalion of regulars to clear it out.”
No you’re not
The door slammed shut, and Flash gestured around frantically with his gun, with Mary at his back. He cursed that damn monolith in the centre of the room, it blocked their line of sight and created shadows that played with their perception.
Was he even in the room?
Flash glanced at the window, and noticed that the portal down there was still emanating a weak blue light. It was dim, but better than what they had in here.
“Mary, get on my back,” Flash said, and holstered his rifle.
Mary didn’t hesitate, and quietly clambered on Flash’s back. Flash gestured at the window, and she understood his plan.
You can’t kill what you can’t see, Ponies. I can.
Flash flapped his wings open, and Mary simultaneously blew out the window with her shotgun. Flash caught the slight glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, a figure staggering backwards, as he leapt forward and out the window. His flight was precarious, but he managed to hit the ground inside with some semblance of control. Mary quickly dismounted, and Flash drew his rifle again to the sound of glass shattering against the ground. Mary sent up a fireball for good measure, and the control room was taken by a fiery inferno.
“There’s no way we’re that lucky,” Flash said, and backed into the dim blue light created by the portal, with Mary at his side.
“Flash…” Mary said, worry dripping from her voice.
Flash glanced at her, as he kept his rifle pointed towards the burning control room.
“What is it?”
Mary pointed to her horn, and Flash squinted in the dim light to see what the problem was. It didn’t take long for him to figure it out.
It was black.
“Mary, your horn…”
Mary swallowed fearfully, and nodded.
“I’m at the end here Flash, I can’t do that again,” she said.
Cut off from support, without magic, and hunted by an insane monster. Flash glanced around for some escape, and spotted an open doorway a few dozen yards away.
Do we run, or do we stay here and hope he comes for us? Flash wondered.
Archer knew the facility, and would be able to flank them. They didn’t, and were alone in this giant room. It was better than the last spot, but still untenable.
Flash made his decision.
“Run.”
Mary didn’t waste any time after he had said that, and galloped at the doorway. Flash followed her. They leapt through the doorway, and Flash quickly closed the pressure door from the other side.
Mary pointed her shotgun down the pitch-black hallway. They didn’t even have magic light to guide them anymore, and neither could so much as see their hoof in front of their own face. Flash, however, had a few flares for contacting a landing party. He lit one, and stuck it in a uniform pocket so it would light the way ahead. It took their eyes a few moments to adjust to the red light, and Flash swore he saw someone dart behind a far-corner just then. Perhaps it was just the shadows playing with him… perhaps not.
They were in a long hallway, with the letter C in great yellow font on the side. Two open doors were on either side, and a break further ahead led down two hallways.
“Mary, how come this hasn’t happened before? You’ve used plenty of magic before, more than you have today. Back on Waylay, in Canterlot…”
Mary sighed.
“If we get out of this, I’ll tell you all about it.”
The sound of a door closing put their fur on end, and they silenced themselves. Flash silently gestured at the open doorway on the left, and Mary darted in there with Flash just behind her. Flash extinguished his flare just before entering, and put his back against the wall with his shotgun drawn. Better that, at this range, than his rifle.
Hoofsteps against metal echoed down, slowly growing louder.
“Ponies, you realize I can see in the dark, right? The dark is mine, and you have come into the lions den. Just give yourselves up, or die tired.”
The hoofsteps continued to grow louder until it sounded like Archer was just down the hallway. He paused there, and spun the magazine of his gun. The clicking noise seemed almost deafening in the silence.
“Oh ponies, you’re all cowards. You come here, to my home, for what? Loyalty to some puppy-eyed demigod? Celestia is a farce, give it up!”
He continued on his way, and his hoof steps receded into the distance. The sound of another door opening, and then closing, gave way back to silence.
Flash finally exhaled, and slid to the floor on his plot. He lit the flare back up, quite thankful for its red light.
They were apparently standing in a locker room, with a few rows of those in-between low benches. Along the far walls empty racks for weapons lined up, and a sign announced where they were.
C-1B EMBARKATION ROOM STAGING
“Embarkation for what?”
Mary stood up, and turned to Flash.
“Don’t you get it? Project Mirror? I think they were trying to use emulate the magic of the Crystal Mirror somehow, except with technology instead. But why stop, it seems like a fine idea…”
“Perhaps,” Flash started, and used his rifle to help himself up, “they didn’t like what was on the other side.”
That idea did not lighten their moods. After a quick inspection of the lockers- all empty- they quietly crept back outside into the hallway. At the end, they glanced down each way, and wondered which would be wiser.
A or B, both were marked quite clearly. A seemed the obvious the choice, but that seemed to have been the direction Archer had been heading.
Flash decided to take the long way around, and led them down the B hall. It quickly led them to a series of steps, and then to a door. Flash opened it as quietly as possible, and closed it behind them.
They were in yet another hallway, and started creeping down it without any pause. To either side were a long series of doors and windows, and they looked inside them as they passed. Long rows of desks were lined up before wide white-boards, it looked like a schoolhouse for the damned. Flash paused before one of the windows, and took a good look at what was on the board.
It was an outline of one of those machines from the control room, broken into parts. Curiously however the typewriter attached to it had buttons far too small for any pony. Not even with a dialing-wand, like on some of the more expensive typewriters, could anyone hope to operate it.
If that room was creepy, the next was terrifying. Along a few dozen metal tables were plastic mock-ups of bodies.
They were not pony bodies.
“Celestia save us all,” Flash mumbled, and forced himself onwards. Mary was glued to his side at this point, and they were both terrified out of their wits.
Then they suddenly became under an auditory assault as an incredibly loud screeching wailed through the hallway. Mary discharged her shotgun by accident, and blew-out the window to the room of horror. Flash could barely see, his vision blurred as his brain wilted under the assault on his senses.
He thought he saw something move, and shot it.
Then the sound stopped, and when he could see again he saw that he had put a slug into the letter B along the wall. Then a voice came through the same system that had broken into their heads.
“Oh you poor ponies, getting frightened by now I expect? I’m not going to make it easy for you, oh no. Silence is a weapon, and so is noise. I will not let you get too used to either. This facility has been rigged with an active non-lethal disabling field, I just call it a bat screech. I will find you, or I will drive you mad.”
A click, and then silence.
“I really regret not calling in support now,” Flash said and shook his head clear.
He, reluctantly in the silence, ran the bolt of his rifle to chamber another round. The sound of the shell crashing against the metal floor seemed it could wake the dead.
“Mary, how long until you can use magic again?”
Mary grabbed Flash’s shoulder and spun him around to face her.
“Never, Flash, that’s what I was going to tell you. This alicornium… has had some effect on me. It’s slowly become more, and more, pronounced. If I use magic again, I’m afraid I’ll die.”
Flash shook his head in disbelief, “What? That’s impossible, ponies have used alicornium before, and longer than you have! Can’t you just… get rid of it, if it’s that bad?”
“No unicorn has ever used it like I have, not in our history anyway. It’s… had some sort of conflict with my horn. Look at it Flash, look at it!”
She pulled him close, and forced him to stare at her horn. It was black, and jagged all over.
“I can’t get rid of it because it’s inside me now! I wanted to tell you, but it’s all top secret. It’s… in my blood now.”
Her eyes were also glowing green.
Flash wondered if he was going to wake up soon.
“Alright, alright! No magic.”
Flash turned away, and looked down the hall. There had to be some way out of this, something that they were missing. This couldn’t possibly be the end for them. It wasn’t… good enough.
As if poetically timed, the flare he had been using for illumination flickered and failed. Flash panicked, and frantically reached into his uniform for another. He sighed with relief when he found a lit the second one, and noted that left him only one more. When he lit it, he found Mary had stepped away a few feet.
“Coming?”
Mary took a second, and then turned to him. Her eyes were glowing green, enough so that they pushed back the red light of his signal flare.
“Yes, we are.”
Flash squinted at her, and wasn’t sure who was looking back at him.
“We?”
She scowled at him, and gestured forward.
“Lead,” she commanded.
“Mary, are you okay?” Flash asked worriedly.
Mary gripped her head, and grimaced in obvious pain.
“I can handle my own problems! Now lead, or I will!” She yelled.
Flash turned, and marched down the hallway. His mind was screaming at him with terrifying ideas, but he did his best to bury them all. Something was clearly wrong with Mary, but that would to wait until his other impending doom was dealt with. Archer was out there, somewhere in the darkness, and he was hunting for them.
They passed quite a few more of those rooms before arriving at the next hallway-junction. None of them held anything as terrifying as the last. They mostly seemed to have outlines of technology that seemed just beyond Equestria’s reach. A plane, shaped quite similarly to the Phoenix craft, was on one. Another had details of an impressive looking tank, and another showcased an automatic rifle similar to the ones being built in Southrop-Grumman. The only difference was there didn’t seem to be any way to fire it, unless the tiny switch behind the magazine was that.
Flash shook his head, trying to clear all the buzzing inside of assorted fears. He looked down each side. Both sides were marked C, and he turned back to Mary for advice.
She was clutching her head in pain, and Flash looked on with concern.
“Are you okay?” Flash asked again.
Mary looked at him, squinting through the pain, and he noticed her eyes were no longer glowing.
“It’s the… alicornium… Flash, I think it’s alive!”
Flash darted over and caught her as she began to fall. She was shaking quite severely, and covered in a cold sweat. Her coat was quite damp with perspiration.
“You… what?!” Flash exclaimed, and she then forcibly pushed him back.
“Oh it is, and it likes what it has found. We have a great future together, her and we. Together we will rule this world,” Mary said, and then stared daggers at him with her eyes once more glowing green.
“Lead us out of here, pawn.”
Flash stared back at her, and raised his shotgun at her.
“No. Let her go, and then we can talk.”
Mary laughed at him, “you wouldn’t kill the one you love most, now while we are inside her. The only reason you are still alive, is that we have decided to use you as a hostage. If she fights us, we hurt you!”
To prove the point, Mary’s horn flashed green, and shot a bolt of electricity into Flash. It stung every nerve in his body, and for a moment all he could do was seize in the hallway. When the pain stopped, Mary smiled.
“So lead us, fine soldier. We will protect you from our common enemy, and perhaps when we are out of here, you can be allowed to live as a servant.”
Flash reluctantly lowered his rifle.
“Well, I don’t suppose you can just teleport us out?”
Mary, or whoever it was he was looking at, frowned.
“No, this facility has been magically sealed. Fear not however, for this Archer will soon know our full power,”
It gestured forward, and Flash turned to continue leading down the hallway. He kept his rifle close, despite the promise of protection, just the same. Mary seemed to be… unsure, as she walked behind him. Her head kept shuddering, and now and then she would rapidly blink her eyes. Mary was fighting in there, although Flash had no idea if she would ultimately prevail.
At the end of their current hallway, and down a staircase they found another door. Flash quietly opened it, and they entered the C section again. They appeared to be in a different segment of it however, and there was a decided widening of the hallway. Two tracks were imprinted into the floor was well, and led off into the distance.
“This isn’t getting us any cl-“
Flash became assaulted by that noise again, and was forced to drop his gun and cover his ears, so powerful it was. It was a terrible pain, biting into his mind regardless how hard he tried to shut it out. Despite all his strength, he couldn’t help but crawl into a fetal position.
After a seeming eternity, it silenced. Flash hadn’t realized as such until a voice crackled through the air once again.
“Getting tired yet? You could just surrender, and save yourselves the pain. By the way, that last door was alarmed, I know where you are now…”
Archer dropped the microphone, and Flash grimaced at another sharp wail as it hit the floor. Then, silence.
“Good, let him come to us. We should find a defendable position, and fight him directly.” Mary commanded, and strode forward down the hall.
“Where? What possible defendable pos…”
Mary opened a door, and gestured inside.
“Very well then,” Flash said, and followed her into the room. He closed the door behind him, and took a look around.
The rail on the floor led to another one of those portals, although much smaller than the primary one. On the far side of the room a glass window looked over it, beside which a pressure-door stood.
“That must be the control room. I wonder how many of these they have…” Flash wondered, and found his eyes transfixed on the portal. An odd looking mesh of wires, curling around and encircling a central steel circle.
Mary had already gone to the other side of the room, and opened the pressure door. She was half-way through when Flash noticed her.
“Mary, what ar-“
She closed it.
“I’m saving us both, you fool. Get against the wall,” Mary ordered through a radio inside.
Flash did as asked, reluctantly.
“Now kill your flare.”
He did that too, and then total-darkness took over the room. He waited, since that was basically his only option at this point, and listened. A faint tapping slowly began to grow louder in the distance, and now and then a creaking could be heard from outside.
Archer was coming.
Flash held his gun tight, and closed his eyes. Better to have them closed, than to allow the dark to play tricks on them. He felt a light, and opened his eyes to see Mary illuminating herself in the control room with her horn. A pale green light, and she seemed monstrous as she stood there bathed in it.
Outside the hoof steps grew into a cacophony relative to the silence, and then halted outside.
“It’s no use hiding, ponies!” I’ll check every room one by one!”
The door creaked, and then slammed open. It just missed Flash as it flung against the wall, and then a shadow flew into the room.
“Oh sweet foolish pony, you think that glass will stop me? Come out here, or I’ll come in there!” Archer threatened.
Flash tried to spot the source of the speech, but all he could see was darkness.
“No, I don’t. That’s not what I’m worried about though. What is this place, if I may ask?” Mary said.
Archer laughed. He was so close Flash could feel his wings agains the air, but even still could not see him.
“This place? This place is my greatest achievement. There are worlds beyond ours, little pony, and thirty years ago I was sent through a portal to one. What I found astonished me, and inspired me. They have such technology… such weaponry . Their hearts as cold as the blackest night, and those on the other side war without end. It was… Beautiful.”
Flash thought he could make out the source, and slowly raised his rifle at it. He was just in time for Archer to fly to the other side of the room.
“I took what I could in my mind, but there’s so much more! If we could just return there again! Imagine what we could achieve, but that is quite beyond your naive little pony mind, isn’t it?”
“You’re talking about the crystal mirror, aren’t you? I did not know there had been parties sent through it.” Mary said.
Archer laughed again.
If Flash hadn’t thought so already, he would by now think Archer was quite insane.
Mary looked to Flash through the glass.
“He felt a tearing at his mind, and forced to the floor as he felt his mind ripping out of his body. Quickly, a single thought filled it to the point where he couldn’t breathe.
“Eight Four Nine B, What does that mean to you?” Mary asked Archer.
“The creatures there… were not friendly. Wait, hold on, what are you talking about?! Archer yelled.
He fired his gun at the window, and the flash illuminated his shadowy form with it’s report. Flash fired up at him, but only managed to hit his wing. Archer cried in pain and fell from the air, just as the portal lit up with an odd blue light.
An explosion of energy shot out of it, and then an almost liquid-looking blue shape formed in the centre. It seemed to slowly be shifting to form an image.
“Clever pony, using my own weapon against me! I know what’s on that world however, and you do not!” Archer shouted.
Flash saw him them, standing a few feet away, bathed in the eery blue light created by the portal. He raised his gun, and ran racked the slide.
Archer fired first, and hit him dead in the chest.
“Should have brought an automatic!” Archer yelled, and swooped over. He kicked Flash’s shotgun away, and tossed him against the wall.
Flash’s vision was fading, but he was able to see the room through blurry eyes. The portal had completed forming, and through it he could see a landscape of sand. Something was running at it as well, something black and jagged.
“Shut it down, shut it down or we’ll both die!” Archer shouted, and flew up into the air.
“Oh no, only one of us is going to die here!” Mary shouted after him.
Archer fired towards the control room, but his shot was deflected by a magical shield. He then looked back towards the portal, and fired the rest of his magazine into it.
It was not enough, and whatever was coming was only angered. A high-pitched screech came through, and then a winged creature, almost like a bat were it not for its dozen limbs, came flying through the breach. It flew straight at Archer, and slammed him into the roof.
Mary watched, grinning, as they fought. Archer struggled in the grip of the thing, and managed to get himself free. The creature chased him, and he fired back with a fresh magazine.
With his remaining energy, Flash picked up his rifle, followed their path carefully, and fired.
The creature fell from the air as it’s life instantly left through a large hole in its head. Archer, his arm stick in one of it’s many claws, went down with it.
Then the portal shut off, and Flash’s eyes were stung by the white-light that suddenly bathed the room. He coughed up some blood, and tried to stand.
He didn’t have the strength, and fell back into a pool of his own blood.
“Flash!” Mary shouted, and leapt through the control-room window. Flash rolled over to see her running towards him, without the green in her eyes.
“Flash, Flash stay with me!” Mary yelled, and slid to his side. She cradled her head in her hooves, and looked to his injury.
There was a hole in his chest, and Flash only had minutes to live.
“No, no! I won’t let this happen!” Mary yelled, and her horn sparked with energy. She pointed it at Flash, and his wound began to close.
“Mary… you can’t… the alicornium…”
Mary frowned with effort as she focused on healing her love.
“I have it at bay… for now. I’m going to pass out soon, and I don’t think I’m going to be myself when I wake up. Flash…”
Mary paused, and Flash felt a stream of tears flooding from her face and onto him.
“Flash… you can’t let that happen. Don’t… don’t let me wake up!”
Flash groaned as he tried to protest, but found only pain when he tried to speak. The pain was receding though, and he could feel his strength returning. His whole body was awash with magic, and it felt like he was being reborn.
His prosthetic popped off, and he rolled his head to look down there.
He had a new leg.
As soon as he noticed that, Mary yelped, and flopped to the floor beside him. Flash quickly stood up, and looked to where Archer had fallen.
He was not in good shape, and was no threat to them. Most of his arm had been torn off, but he would live if taken to a medic, quickly.
Then he turned to Mary.
Her horn was entirely black now, and the base of it was glowing red. Her eyes glowed green, even as they were shut, and sparks of magic flew over her fur.
Flash cried out in pain and anger, and threw aside his rifle.
“I won’t do it, and you can’t make me!” He shouted up, as in protest to the unjust god that had put him into this position.
Then he looked at the portal, and something in his mind clicked.
The alicornium appeared to be controlling her through magic, using her horn as a gateway. This explained why the other races had never experienced this- no horns. They could control the alicornium, but it couldn’t control them.
The world beyond the mirror had no magic though…
Flash raced past her, past the monster, and past Archer. He leapt through the window into the control room, and frantically looked over the controls.
“Eleven Six Seven F, Eleven Six Seven F, Eleven Six Seven F…”
He found a set of dials, which turned to a series of three numbers and one letter. He quickly turned it to that code, and flicked a red switch beside it.
The portal exploded with another burst of energy, and Flash jumped outside to grab his rifle. He pointed it towards the swirling blue vortex, ready for anything as it began to take form.
When it did, he lowered it, and beheld perhaps the purest form of beauty he had ever seen. A meadow of flowers lay on the other side, and just beyond was an enormous canyon. It seemed to go for miles, and at the other end a rock at least twice as high as the canyon was wide, stood up. It was all bathed in an orange evening sun, and fluffy clouds moved along the sky.
He dropped his rifle, and went to Mary. He picked her up and, bipedal, approached the portal. He looked at her, at her sweet face. The light from the other side lit it, highlighting every fine detail.
She woke, and looked at him with half lidded eyes.
“Flash… I can’t… hold it off for much longer… You have to end it.”
Flash gently turned her head towards the portal.
“I’m going to, but not for you. They say that ours is the only world of magic. I choose to let you live. Mary, I love you. I could never hurt you, so instead I give you paradise.”
Mary looked at it, and then weakly put a hoof to Flash’s face. She understood, and looked into his eyes as tears streamed down both their faces.
“I love you, Flash.”
Her eyes flashed green for a moment, and then she grimaced with effort to suppress it. No more words needed to be said, and they shared one final kiss. Flash leaned down, and stuck his his hooves through the portal, cradling her in them gently. It felt strange, as if they were miles away.
He laid her down on the soft grass, and then backed away. She smiled at him, one final time, before the portal dissolved back to blue.
Flash plonked himself on the metal floor, and for a few moments did nothing but stare into that swirling vortex. Whole other worlds, perhaps with other people in them. Even Mezza Luna had turned away from this project though, despite such enormous promise.
Perhaps that world was the only good one they ever found.
Flash got up, and stumbled a bit on his legs. Having a fourth again was quite strange. It was the truest gift of love any pony had ever received. Mary had saved him, and indeed made him stronger.
“Well, time to finish this shit,” Flash said to himself, and strode over to Mary’s medic bag. He dragged it over to Archer, and reluctantly dressed his wounded arm. He was in living condition, and a good dose of horse tranquilizer made sure he wouldn’t cause any trouble anytime soon. Flash grabbed his rifle from the ground, holstered it, and then slung Archer over his back.
He was heavier then he looked, but not too bad. Flash lit his last flare, and walked out of the room. The darkness of the hallways no longer scared him, and he quickly was able to backtrack Archers route to level A. When Flash opened the door to there, he found a faint blue light leaking from a nearby doorway. Curious, Flash approached, and found the place announced on the all outside.
“SEC-COM”
Flash laid Archer against the wall, and walked inside.
Dozens more of the monitors from the control room were at the far end, all of which were on and displayed images of the hallways. An empty gun-rack ran alongside one wall, and on the other a silent machine stood waiting. Flash approached it, and took a closer look.
There was a switch beside the standard binary keyboard, which he flipped on. The screen flickered to life, and a dull green text greeted him from behind a very dusty plate of glass.
PROJECT MIRROR RADIO-RELAY. TYPE FREQUENCY AND ENGAGE MICROPHONE, OR INSERT COMMAND DISK.
Flash cocked his head at it, and then put his hooves on the keyboard. He tried the standard Wonderbolt emergency frequency, and then heard a whining screech as some ancient machinery began to move elsewhere.
FREQUENCY LOCKED. NO DATA-RELAY DETECTED. USE MICROPHONE FOR VOICE COMMUNICATION OR RESET SYSTEM.
Flash looked around, and found a microphone sticking out of the side of the machine. He picked it up, and engaged it.
“Doghouse, doghouse, this is…”
Flash paused, and swallowed back his sorrow.
“… F. Mission accomplished, the town fletcher is secure. Do you copy?”
Some static, and then to his great relief a voice came through. Somewhat garbled, but audible.
“F/M this is over-watch, I assume you’re using the emergency channel due to loss of standard contact equipment. How are you contacting us? That signal is extremely powerful.”
“Over-watch, Location B is operational, but a little rusted. Fletcher was using it for… something. Request immediate extraction and debrief.”
Somewhere out there was a very quick conversation, and then Flash got his reply.
“F/M, did you say Location B is operational?”
“Yes.”
“F/M, you are to proceed immediately outside. Everything you saw, heard, or did today is classified at the highest level. You will be taken to a deep-cover facility for debrief, and all leave is hereby suspended. As of this moment, you are no longer in the airborne, is that understood?”
Flash was about to reply when there was a crash on the other end, and another voice came through.
“Flash, Flash this is Echo! Don’t let them get their hooves on that facility, you have to destroy it! Don’t let Archer’s hubris…”
Static.
Flash slammed the microphone back into the machine, and cursed. The damn Night Guard wanted their toys back, and he would be damned if they would get them.
How the hell was he going to keep it from them? It wasn’t like he brought any high-explosives. He took a look around the room for anything that might be of use, and found the station Archer had been using to watch them. He had a seat with a good view of all the cameras, on a rather nice rolling chair, and nearby on the counter was a switch marked “Active Protection.” Nearby was another.
“Lights.”
Flash grumbled, and flicked it on. If only they had found this room to begin with.
Of course, by this time his eyes had gotten used to the dark, so when the lights did came on they stunned and stung him. He grimaced and covered his face, and when he was eventually able to force his eyes open again, got a much better look around.
On the counter was a circular object, almost as thin as paper. He glanced at the radio-relay, and back to it.
There was a thin slot in the front of the radio-relay, so Flash picked the thing up and slid it in there.
FREQUENCY LOCKED. NO DATA-RELAY DETECTED. USE MICROPHONE FOR VOICE COMMUNICATION OR RESET SYSTEM.
Flash flicked the power switch on and off, and then it started up again.
PROJECT MIRROR RADIO-RELAY. DISK DETECTED. POSSIBLE COMMANDS: ARCHIVE, SECURITY, OPERATIONS, COMMUNICATIONS.
Flash, being a curious pony, clacked through the motions of typing in ARCHIVES.
ERROR: CORRUPT ARCHIVES. 3 ENTRIES AVAILABLE, 341245 CORRUPT
The first one came upon the screen, and he digested the information greedily.
April 17th, 982.
Cadet Echo
Once again, no success. There are 259974 potential waypoints for us to find, and each one has a great probability of bringing forth some horrible doom. We’re losing lives down here, but still Archer tells us to press on. The technology he was able to bring back was impressive, but can any technology really be worth this level of risk? Why is this not enough, why do we need even more?
LEFT EXIT, RIGHT ENTRY 2
Cadet Echo? Echo was a member of the Night Guard, but for her to have been around during this meant she would have to be 35 years old by now. She certainly didn’t look it.
Flash clicked on the right pedal.
November 16th, 983.
Research Director Archer
Mezza Luna demands that I stop “playing god," she thinks that this place is a threat to national security! What absolute folly, is she of such a small mind that she can’t see beyond a few worthless lives? Nothing is too much to sacrifice for my goals here, nothing!
I will find this world, and I will learn their secrets. They have lived in a world of war for a thousand years without end, and it has made them strong. They have technology the likes of which we can only imagine, and weapons that could destroy our entire worlds military in a heartbeat. I will bring us to this future, whether we like it or not.
He really was insane.
Flash clicked again, for the final message.
September 18th 984
Command Message to all staff.
Location B, and the Mirror Project, are hereby shut down by order of Mezza Luna for reasons of national security. All material relating to Project Mirror will be destroyed, and all staff will be re-allocated to Project Magnificent. The base itself will be mothballed, pending formal destruction.
Any foreign material is to be destroyed immediately, and any coordinates collected must be burned. Any deviation from this order will be met with execution.
So that was it. This place was too much even for Mezza Luna to handle, and she had it shut down. She must be incredibly desperate now to have ordered Archer to start it up again.
A truer sign of their victory against her they couldn’t ask for.
Flash hit the left pedal, and then thought on his next move. He typed SECURITY in.
SECURITY OPTIONS: ACTIVE DEFENSE, PASSIVE DEFENSE, LIGHTING, DOOR ALARMS
WARNING: ONE ALARM ACTIVE- C17
WARNING: FRONT DOOR BREACH
WARNING: INCOMING AIRCRAFT
Flash swallowed, and went back again. This time he typed in OPERATIONS
OPERATIONS: SELF-DESTRUCT, PORTAL CONTROL, RADIO TELEMETRY, STAFF LIST
WARNING: OPERATIONS TERMINAL NOT RESPONDING. PORTAL CONTROL INACTIVE.
Finally, Flash had found something simple. He typed in SELF-DESTRUCT.
CONFIRM DESTRUCT, HOOF-SCAN REQUIRED.
Flash sighed, and felt his hooves warm on the keyboard.
NON-AUTHORIZED
Flash rolled his eyes, and quickly darted out of the room. He dragged Archer in by his teeth, and awkwardly picked him up. Then he looked at the screen, and realized what he was doing.
He would never be able to see Mary again. This place was his only gateway to her.
Maybe the Night Guard could be trusted with this place, now that it was under new leadership?
Flash sighed.
“Nope.”
Archers hooves flopped onto the keyboard, and an alarm klaxon began sounding throughout the facility.
AUTHORIZED. SELF DESTRUCT INITIATED. TWENTY MINUTES TO SELF DESTRUCT, OR CANCEL WITH OPERATIONS TERMINAL.
WARNING: OPERATIONS TERMINAL NOT RESPONDING.
PLEASE CONTACT TECH SUPPORT FOR HELP
Flash took Archer back on his back, and ran out. With the lights on, he was much more able to navigate, and soon slid around a familiar corner. He ran past the control centre, still on fire, and back through the way he and Mary had come early. Not wanting to stay any longer than required, he flew up and out of the entrance. He kept on flying, and headed for the waypoint he had started from. After what he imagined was nearly twenty minutes later, he dove to the ground and buried his head in the snow.
A deep rumbling in the ground heralded an enormously loud roar, which brought with it a powerful shockwave that pushed Flash along the ground. The breath was sucked out of him, and for a few moments he felt like the heat at his back might light him on fire.
Soon enough though, it all stopped. His ears were still ringing, but he was alive. So was Archer, who groaned in his drug-addled sleep. Flash picked him up, and then heard a buzzing coming from the air. Thinking it just to be an after-effect of the explosion, he flapped his wings back up into the sky.
There was a trio of helicopters waiting for him, each of which had a thestral manning a machine-gun sticking outside the side of the cockpit. Two turned their guns towards him, while the third stared right at him. A bull-horn attached to it blared to life and yelled at him.
“FLASH SENTRY, LAND IMMEDIATELY AND RELEASE YOUR PRISONER.”
Something was obviously fishy about these thestrals, so Flash simply hovered in the air. They couldn’t fire on him- not if they wanted Archer alive.
“FLASH SENTRY, WE WILL NOT ASK AGAIN.”
“Go to hell!” Flash shouted back.
The two gunners looked to their pilots, and had a quick conversation. The one on his left grinned, and squeezed his trigger. The gun exploded to life, and sent a dozen or so rounds over Flash’s head.
“RELEASE YOUR PRISONER.”
Knowing how twisted the thestral’s mind was, Flash would rather die than let the corrupted elements of the Night Guard get him back.
“I will release my prisoner to the proper legal authorities, and that sure as hell isn’t you!”
The helicopters turned, and flew away. Flash felt rather proud of himself, until he saw an airship-frigate break through the fog and stop a few hundred meters ahead of him.
“What is with today?!” Flash complained, and looked up at the bulwark.
Something flew down from it, and came towards him. Flash tried to think of some escape, but there was nothing.
“Flash!”
Flash knew that voice… it was Echo.
“Flash, I knew you would do the right thing! Follow me!” Echo said, and flew a circle around him.
Flash did as asked, and quickly flew up on the deck of the ship. He flopped there, despite himself, and rolled Archer off his aching body.
“Been a long day?” Echo asked, and bent down to check Archers pulse.
“You could… say that.” Flash replied.
“Well, it’s over now. You did good out there, and managed to hold of Mezza Luna’s people long enough for us to get here. This was a rigged game from the start, Flash.” Echo said, and helped him up.
“She wanted you to find this place, and capture Archer. There was a plan in place to extract him, kill you, and then return in force to this facility. They were going to take their last stand here, but needed to be sure it was safe. If they had sent their own people to investigate, we would have followed them. I’ve been in deep-cover with them for a while now, good thing you called when you did.”
“Why?” Flash asked.
Echo shrugged, “because she wants power, I guess.”
“No,” Flash said, and forced her away, “why us, why Mary and I?”
Echo shrugged again, “because you're the best, and killing you would have been a nice bonus?”
Flash, for the first time in seemingly forever, laughed.
“By the way, where’s Mary?” Echo asked.
The humour was immediately sucked out of Flash, and he looked at Echo sullenly.
“Gone.”
—
When Mary awoke, she opened her eyes, and found herself laying in a field of flowers. The events of last few hours were hazy, all she could really remember was darkness. She came to on her wobbly hooves, and took a quick look around. Her heart skipped a beat as she did so, for she found she was being watched.
Three silver alicorns, as tall as Celestia, stood only a few feet in front of her. The view behind them was almost as stunning as they were, but her eyes couldn’t stop staring. Their eyes were great black beads without irises, and seemed to eerily see through her. Their manes seemed to be made of light itself, and streamed off them into the air.
They smiled.