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// Part 11: Secret Base Fun 
// Story: Constantine and the Eternal Night 
// by Jaysteeny 
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Chapter 11: The Secret Base

Trixie entered the door and collapsed under her load. She levitated the unconscious Pegasus off her back and laid him beside her. She reached out telepathically sent her comrade a message.
‘I’m on the ground floor. I need help. I have a prisoner.’ Even a unicorn as powerful as herself would find magic a labour after carrying a sleeping soldier, armour and all, half way across town to base. They decided to make their secret base in a fairly obvious and public place, so as not to arouse suspicion. It was the tallest building for several blocks with a pre-installed basement, but the base itself was below even this.
Suddenly she heard trotting coming towards her, and she thought it sounded almost…Excited? She opened her eyes and saw her comrade approaching, horn aglow carrying a stretcher. She lifted her head and tried to speak “Hey…partner. I need a drink.” She paused as a bottle was levitated over to her, and noticed her partner in crime had put down the stretcher and was checking their prisoner for injuries. Trixie noticed all of this was being done from the shadows, like they were hiding.
Swallowing, she continued “He was injured and asleep before I got there. There are more prisoners I left behind. I’ll go and get them as soon as this one is secured.”
The shadow nodded and proceeded to lift Anonymous Pegasus #3 onto the stretcher, before lifting the stretcher itself and carrying it downstairs. Trixie then climbed to her hooves and followed her companion, carrying the water bottle with her.
They descended the stairs, stretcher in tow, before arriving at the basement. It was a fairly plain room, books and boxes stacked here and there, with a few pro-Nightmare Moon posters decorating the walls. It was one of these posters that concealed the entrance to the base. If one were to simply tear it away, the spells used to conceal the entrance would immediately seal the hole in the wall, preventing entry to anything but a unicorn that knew where to look. The pony in the lead sent a pulsing beam from their horn to the poster, but despite its brightness did nothing to reveal their features. The beam spread across the surface of the poster, and it looked like it was now a rippling pool with the colours now slightly fused and blurred, its opacity cut in half. Trixie gave a shallow bow and went through, followed shortly by the stretcher. The leader looked from side to side and quickly followed, the portal disappearing behind them.
Trixie counted 413 steps that they descended before reaching the room. The lights suddenly came to life, showing everything the room contained. On the right side there was what appeared to be an armoury, with various weapons designed for a variety of situations and ponies, and several whose purpose could only be guessed. On the wall opposite the entrance, there could be seen the bars of several empty cages, in the form of a small prison. To the left, there was a table, a small refrigerator, several types of chairs (only a few of which had chains), what looked to all appearances to be a medieval torture device, and the door to the rest of the complex sealed with a magical lock. It also showed the leader of the group, a lavender mare with a purple mane, complete with pink highlight. It was only now that she spoke;
“Quickly Trixie, make our guest secure. He will be awake in less than five minutes,” she ordered, making her way to the armoury. She sensed that there was something wrong, and didn’t know how or what it was. After only a few seconds of searching, she saw the problem: In the midst of one of the sword shelves, there was a gap. She spoke again “Trixie, did you take a sword with you? Because I appear to be missing one, scabbard and all,”
“Trixie needs no armament, bar her magic! Though surely you would know that, Twilight Sparkle,” she responded indignantly. She set about removing his armour, piece by piece, and laid him upon the medieval-torture-table, securing him in place. Continuing, she said “Perhaps your assistant took it for cleaning, or sharpening? Had you considered that?”
“No, I had Spike run an errand over at the boutique. Rarity pays him in gems, you know.” She busied herself with levitating some of her favourite swords, inspecting them closely from pommel to tip, and practising her form. She had time for footwork later. “You said there were others, yes? Go and get them, I’ll keep him company.” She said, gesturing to the prisoner with a claymore. “And make sure none of them are damaged like this one, please?” She smiled as she heard Trixie huff and head out the door.
*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
The two ponies and one human waited while the gold-clad unicorn searched for traces of leftover magical energy. He trotted back and forth, looking confused one second, then excited the next and muttering occasionally. Finally he stopped, and his horn went out. All three of those waiting looked up expectantly.
“Well, magic was definitely used here. Anypony else would have assumed multiple unicorns because of the time signatures being so close together, but I was careful and saw the truth: Several spells, combined and cast simultaneously by one pony,” Golden Shield bristled with pride, awaiting praise. What he got instead, he did not expect.
“Great work cap, now find them.” Said George with an air of one pointing out a mistake made by his peer.
Golden Shield was unaffected by this comment, saying “Well, luckily for you, I can. They, along with a cupcake from that tray, left a very faint trail leading away from here. And before you point out that a cupcake, by measure of my earlier statement, would leave no such trail, after all the magic they’d already performed, well…Think of it like the smell of sweat after you’ve run a marathon,” He got nothing but a disgusted look at this, and was interrupted by the Doctor
“So what you’re saying is that it is like a cannon barrel, and is still hot and smoking, passing the heat into all it touches…Well, if one of our mysterious enemies can do this, and we know not their number, then we need weapons. Constantine, miss Dash? That’s what you need to do,” Rainbow nodded and George raised a hand. Knowing this gesture well, he answered what the questions would surely be. “Yes, you can have a sword and a gun. Rainbow Dash, you will get Golden Shield his rifle, a pistol and ammo for yourself and carry Constantine to the camp. Golden Shield and I shall make our way ahead, he’ll send up a flare when we’ve arrived. I won’t need a weapon. Now let’s move!” Inside, George was excited and apprehensive of riding a four-foot Pegasus. But if they could lug that armour around all day, what was he?
The answer: in for one wild ride.

(Authors notes) Well, I now know why not to use ficticious events to explain universal disturbances and disappearing friends. From now on pretty much everything is direct from Georges lips to my ears to my computer to FiMFiction.net. Be warned, chaper length is going to increase next chapter onwards, and as always, GOODBYE, PEOPLEZ!