An Air of Danger
Duke and Frost were readying themselves up next to the sleigh before they moved out. They were given a team of three Crystal Pony stallions, Shining’s best, and everyone was equipped with the Hazmat suits they needed. The stallions gave Duke and Frost funny looks, but the men were largely able to ignore them.
“So you two are humans,” one of them asked.
“Yes,” Duke replied. “I’m Duke, and he’s Frost. What was your name again?”
“I am Agate Fire,” the stallion replied. “And my friends are Moon Rock and Ocean Sediment.”
“Right,” Duke said.
They had all been introduced earlier, but hadn’t gotten much time to get to know each other. The men couldn’t help but wonder how qualified the stallions were for the type of mission they were going on and weren’t sure they could entrust certain tasks to them. They were obviously very capable in the environment they would be going to, but the men had little idea of the training they had gotten.
Likewise, the stallions were unsure of how well the men could handle the regional weather. They had been out the previous day, but they didn’t stay out long. It was apparently due to a magical phenomenon on the mountain, but the ones the stallions had seen weren’t that serious. Though, if these warrior men, now famous across Equestria for their talent and bravery, had been as rattled as the stallions were told, it must have been something.
“Alright, I’m good to go,” Frost said. He loaded himself up into the sleigh and looked back. “Whenever you guys are done.”
“I’m done too,” Duke said. He looked to Agate. “You good?”
“If you are,” Agate said with a questioning look.
“I won’t be bothered by the conditions,” Duke said. “Just be ready. I may have to entrust to you a few specialized tasks.”
“My stallions and I can do it,” Agate said. Duke took his word on it and climbed into the sleigh.
The stallions finished up their preparations and loaded up into the sleigh. They filed in one at a time, making the best use of space as they entered. Duke and Frost kept their firearms away from the floor and stallions, preferring to keep them close after the encounter they had on the last trip. The stallions didn’t seem worried, but Duke and Frost were not intent on having a repeat of that little bit of trauma.
The sleigh got moving and the team looked directly ahead rather than back. Whatever was awaiting them wouldn’t wait for them to face it to rear its ugly head, and they wanted to be sure they saw it before it saw them.
As the sleigh bumped and slid, the team huddled together to discuss the mission. Duke and Frost led the discussion, as they were the leaders of the mission.
“Alright, boys, we’re going to the same mountain Frost and I hit yesterday to get any intel we can as well as take down the facility,” Duke said. “Problem is, the facility is already probably taken out by that black mist we saw. That only leaves the gathering of intel and anything else, which we would naturally have preferred to have done before the facility was destroyed.”
“That’s where the hazmat suits come in,” Frost said. The men had to raise their voices over the wind. “There could be gas in there that we don’t want to be exposed to. It’s highly toxic.”
“Yes, so if your suit is EVER compromised at any point, however small it may be, get out immediately,” Duke said. “No one needs to die when there’s no one to kill us.”
“Odds that someone survived?” Moon Rock asked.
“Not sure,” Duke said. “If they were exposed to the gas, they’re probably dead. We aren’t sure if there are any safe rooms or anything. If there are, then we’re opening them and anyone inside will likely end up exposed anyway and we won’t need to fight. So just take care that you don’t get yourself killed.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Moon Rock said.
“Unless Sombra comes back,” Ocean Sediment said. “Then we’re screwed.”
With the major details out of the way, the team continued to discuss the smaller things, like movement formation where the men took the center with two stallions behind and one in front. The men would be able to watch safely from the center and could shoot if absolutely necessary, though it would be safer not too. A tank could explode and throw shrapnel everywhere if they found themselves shooting bullets toward the wrong places.
In time, the team arrived at the mountain and started making its way up. They took more time than just Duke and Frost had, but only by a small margin, so they still arrived on time. When they were all up, the men radioed the sleigh and told it they were good.
“Let’s get in there,” Frost said.
“Get ready,” Duke said. The hazmat helmets went on and everyone slowly advanced into the cave mouth.
The cave was deathly quiet as the team walked in, gravel that appeared to be spattered everywhere crunching under their feet and hooves. It was dark, forcing everyone to pull out flashlights that they packed to see.
The first sight to greet the team’s eyes in the new light was exactly what they had been expecting; a dead gryphon, feathers scattered about and exposed skin appearing bloated and boiled. Its face betrayed the terror it felt as it died, trapped in an eternal scream with dried up foam coming from its beak.
“Damn… think anyone got out?” Frost said.
“Nothing we can do for them now,” Duke replied.
“Even they didn’t deserve that kind of death,” Agate said. “Although I suppose they did plan to do that to us.”
“Let’s keep moving,” Duke said.
There were more and more bodies as the team advanced further into the cave. Not all of them had been killed by the gas, though. They could see who was killed that way from dried up foam in beaks, but a lot of them were so slashed up and crusty from dried blood that you might not think they were gryphons. And still worse, some were so physically mutilated and deformed that the only identifying factor for their species was whatever was left of their beak.
The general, eerie silence of the cave augmented the disturbing scenery with the occasional noise here and there. They sounded mechanical, like machines that had survived the attack, and consisted of an occasional clank or crack from further in the cave. The bodies were all frozen, both in time and in actuality, as the cold air had frozen many of the bodily fluids that had once been draining out of their natural orifices and wounds.
The team continued to advance through the cave until they finally reached what appeared to be the true base of operation the gryphons had planned to launch from. It was impressive, considering where the gryphons were and what they had to work with; they had smoothed out the ground, brought in tables and chairs and other furniture items, and there were technological instruments that one would never expect to find deep in a cave inside a mountain in a frozen wasteland.
Frost whistled. “Ain’t this something?” he said. “What kind of stone is this mountain made of?”
“We don’t generally keep track of mountains we don’t concern ourselves with,” Moon Rock said. “Though I suppose this is evidence that we need to be watching everything from now on.”
“Can you tell?” Frost asked.
Moon Rock lowered himself to look at the floor. “It looks like it’s a whole lot of granite with a few other things thrown in here and there,” he said. Duke gave him a curious glance. “Rocks are my special talent.”
“Well, we’ll be using other talents here,” Duke said. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.”
The team moved as one through the facility, looking over and through the contents of the desks and tables strewn about. Documents lay across the floor, probably from when that Sombra magic came through.
At any given time, there was at least one incredibly mangled gryphon body in sight. Most of the time, it was two or three. Sombra’s magic left no survivors, that much was certain. The blood from the incident had soaked into a number of documents, rendering them totally unreadable and unusable.
The crystal ponies collected up most of the documents they found, as they had some saddlebags equipped on top of their suits for just this occasion. The ponies were quick about grabbing anything that looked readable so that it could be checked out later, as they didn’t have the time to actually go through most of what they found. It had really turned out to be something of a potential intel goldmine.
“Man, these guys were gonna go all out on your city,” Duke said.
“They were,” Agate said. “I’m glad we got you and came out here, even if Sombra took care of it.”
“You think Sombra knew about this?” Ocean asked.
“Why would he help you if your rulers killed him?” Duke asked.
“It used to be his city,” Agate replied. “He probably doesn’t want to see it destroyed, since he would still see it as his.”
“Didn’t we just say he’s dead?” Frost asked.
“He is,” Ocean said.
“So how does he still decide to protect his property?” Duke asked.
“Because he’s still floating around,” Moon Rock said. “I’m not a magister, so I won’t pretend to know what’s going on, but long story short, he’s dead but he’s not.”
“Frickin’ magic,” Frost muttered.
Duke saw a stack of documents underneath a gryphon and pushed the body away with his foot. The stack was largely stained dark red and brown with dried and frozen blood, but there were a few salvageable pages. After checking them over to see if there was any context he could use, he tossed them in his own pack.
“Hey boss, come here,” Frost said.
Duke walked over to his partner. “What is it?” he asked
Frost shoved a body off a table where it was slumped over. “Check out these vials,” he said. Frost picked one up and handed it carefully to Duke. “See what’s inside?”
“I see exactly what’s inside,” Duke said. “But it doesn’t look like Chlorine.”
“No?” Frost asked.
“There’s something, but I don’t know what it is,” Duke said. “I’ll wrap it up and take it back.”
“Got it,” Frost replied. Duke may be able to figure our what it was, because there was something different in this vial.
“What did you find?” Agate asked of Duke.
“Something new,” Duke said. “There’s a very faint light disturbance inside this vial, so there’s something in it.”
Agate walked up and asked Duke to look at it. Duke complied and showed it to the crystal pony, who observed it carefully.
“Well, it isn’t what’s inside that’s making that light,” Agate said.
“What?” Duke asked.
“There’s a protection spell on it,” Agate explained. “I think you’re right, there’s something in there. And it has been enchanted so that if it gets out, it won’t spread. Whatever it is, probably a weapon like that other gas we’ve heard about, they didn’t want to take any risk in it getting out.”
“Maybe all the vials here are like this,” Duke said.
“Doubt it,” Agate said. “Otherwise, they would have protected most of the area. This spell isn’t that expensive. Whatever is in there is very particular.”
“Well, that’s just fantastic,” Duke said. He was carrying what was probably an even deadlier weapon in his bag now.
“So why do the gryphons want to fight the crystal empire?” Frost asked, checking through a dozen stacks of paper near a map table.
“We support Equestria, have since our return to the world,” Moon Rock said. Frost didn’t ask what returning to the world meant. “Their enemies are ours, and ours, theirs.”
“Good friends, then,” Frost said. Moon Rock nodded.
“Any reason why this kind of attack would happen to you and not a place like Canterlot?” Duke asked.
“Easier target and setup,” Ocean said. “We’re a more sparsely populated region, so it’s easier to stay hidden if you’re willing to risk the wilderness. Plus, we don’t have walls or natural protection except the weather, so it wouldn’t be hard to walk in.”
“Sounds like you ought to build a wall,” Duke said.
“With what?” Agate asked.
“Ice,” Duke answered simply. “Pull some Game of Thrones shit out there, build a four hundred foot tall wall.”
“Loved that show,” Frost said.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Agate said. “I’ll run it by Prince Armor.”
“Sirs, this area appears to be clear,” Moon Rock said. “Should we move further in?”
“Yes, we need to be thorough,” Duke said. “Just be quick.”
The team advanced through more of the cave and found a long corridor. On either side was an occasional doorway, through which the team could see ruptured tanks where there was a particularly high amount of gas.
“Looks like we found the source of the death,” Frost said. In each room were even more bodies strewn about, ripped up by shrapnel from the exploding tanks and chemically burned by the gas that followed. “That can’t have been a good time.”
“Duke looked into a couple of the rooms. “These are just storage areas,” he said. “We’ll leave the rest and hit the end of the hall. I see a big door.”
“Copy that,” the ponies all said. Frost simply nodded.
They reached the end of the hall and found a large metal doorway, but there was no handle. It was an automatic doorway, which opened up as they all approached. The following room was small, but still big enough to fit the whole team.
“Should we bunch in?” Agate asked.
“No,” Duke said. “This looks like a decontamination chamber. The other side will be clean, probably, even if destroyed.”
“Enemies,” Agate said.
“Yes,” Duke answered. “Frost, you and I will go first. You boys watch this side, we’ll get you when we’re done.”
“Roger that,” Agate said. The ponies set up security from behind in case of any unwanted visitors.
Duke and Frost entered the chamber and Frost pressed a red button on the side, closing the door behind them. Both men raised their weapons and pointed them forward as the decontamination chemicals flowed over and around them, taking care of anything that might have stuck to them. When the ventilation turned on, they mentally prepared themselves to run in and gun down any gryphons they saw. All unknowns here were to be considered hostile, given the use of the facility.
Someone on the other side seemed to have heard the men entered the chamber. “Thank the heavens, someone came to take us home!” a voice screamed.
“Maybe now the incessant whining will end,” another voice said. “This guy has gotten on my nerves.”
The decontamination chemicals stopped flowing and the doors began to open. Without hesitation, the men rushed through the door, greeting three very surprised gryphons and one unknown being sitting in the middle with a bag on his head. The gryphons had lab coats and knives on their legs, clearly combatants.
Duke and Frost fired well-placed bursts into each enemy gryphon, turning their terrified expressions into expressions of shock and then emptiness. When the three gryphons were down, the hooded being made panicked noises and tried to move, to which Frost responded by coming around and hitting him with the butt of his rifle.
“Get down!” Frost yelled, pointing the barrel straight at the being.
“Ow!” the being said. “Watch it you blithering idiot!”
Duke looked at the being; it had hooves. “Are you a pony?” he asked in disbelief.
“What do you think I am?” the pony replied.
“Wait a minute,” Frost said. “Have we seen him before?”
“Take the hood off,” Duke said.
Frost did as Duke said and pulled off the hood. What they saw surprised them even more than the fact that anyone survived the attack by Sombra’s magic; it was that guy, Prince Blueblood, they had tried to rescue in Saddle Arabia.
“What the Hell are you doing here?!” Frost asked
“I was kidnapped, no thanks to you,” Blueblood said.
Duke frowned. “If you wanna get out of here, you do as we say,” Duke said.
“As if! I am a prince!” Blueblood said.
“Then feel free to leave, prince,” Frost said. “There’s just about a fifth of a mile of deadly chlorine gas and God knows what else in the way of you getting to the deadliest wilderness in the region.”
Blueblood frowned. “You wouldn’t leave me here.”
“You still haven’t answered why you’re here,” Duke said gruffly.
Blueblood huffed. “They have held me for some time, you know,” he said. “They told me that if I could help them get into cities undetected and make life easier for them, that they would let me go.”
Duke and Frost blinked and stared. “What?” both men asked.
“I can’t stay here any longer, don’t you get it?” Blueblood said. “They have deprived me of all that I need.”
“So they starved you?” Frost asked, steadily growing angry.
“No, I had food and water,” Blueblood said. “I never had a bath, they shoved me around, locked me in rooms. I must leave!”
“So because they mistreated you a little, you were going to help them spread chlorine gas through the cities,” Duke said more than asked. “You traitorous son of a bitch…” he muttered.
“I only helped them a little,” Blueblood said. “I only told them enough to be able to get in, I didn’t do anything that would get them in.” Duke remained calm through the ridiculous statement, taking in a deep breath.
“You little-“ Frost began.
“They needed me elsewhere, thankfully,” Blueblood said.
“Elsewhere?” Duke asked.
“They said they needed my magic to develop something new,” Blueblood explained. “Something deadlier than what they have. I figured that what they have is already very deadly, so a new thing wouldn’t matter.”
“You helped the enemy for a bit of comfort,” Frost said. He still couldn’t believe his ears.
“You’ll still answer for what you’ve done,” Duke said. “You betrayed your country, and I’m sure you’ll receive a fitting punishment.”
“Punishment?!” Blueblood yelled angrily. “I am a prince! My life is far above the peasants.”
Frost had had enough. “Duke, we can’t get him out with all that gas,” he said. “I think we’d best leave him here and send in a new team to get him with the gear they’ll need.”
Blueblood froze. “You know, Frost, I think that’s our only option,” Duke said. “But before we go, I have one question for the prince.”
“What?” Blueblood asked, fearful of being left behind.
“What did you help them develop?” Duke asked.
“I don’t know. They said something, it started with ‘V’ and something came after,” Blueblood said.
Duke frowned. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to remember while you wait for the new team to come get you.” The men turned around and walked away.
“No! Don’t leave me here! I didn’t do anything to you!” Blueblood shouted.
“We’ll send a team with an extra suit to come and get you,” Frost said with a wave.
The men walked into the decontamination chamber, ignoring the pleading of the prince. He would survive in there, and the crystal ponies would send in a team to get him. It would give the men time to inform Prince Armor of how exactly the gryphons planned on getting in and how they gained the information they needed, and Armor would take it from there.
The men walked out of the chamber. “You good? We heard your weapons from out here,” Moon Rock said.
“Damn, those things are crazy,” Ocean commented.
“It’s good,” Frost said.
“We have an HVI in there, Prince Blueblood,” Duke said. The ponies wore shocked expressions. “We’ll send a team to get him later, one equipped to get him out.”
“Shouldn’t we try now?” Agate asked.
“We’ll explain on the way,” Duke said. “For now, let’s go and get this information back. That vial we found might be a lot worse than we expected.”
“Copy that,” Agate said.
The team made its way out of the cave and down the mountain to the sleigh. As they sped back to the city, Duke pulled out the vial and looked at it. He had a bad feeling about what was inside it, but he wouldn’t know until they had it analyzed. Hopefully the gryphons never finished making whatever it was.
“You alright, boss?” Frost asked.
“No,” Duke said, gripping the vial. He put it away. “No, I’m not alright.”
The ride back went in relative silence, the screams of the damned unheard in the frozen wastes of the north.