//------------------------------//
// Agents in Action 
// Story: Demons Are Forever 
// by Metool Bard 
//------------------------------//

"Hey, uh, Bon-Bon?"

Bon-Bon flinched as she felt a slight tap on her shoulder.  Out of instinct, she spun around and aimed her ankle brace, only to see Minuette flinching from her harsh gesture.  The sight of this was enough of a jolt to bring her back to reality.

"O-oh.  I-it's just you," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I-I'm terribly sorry about that.  I must've zoned out for a minute there."

"Well, zone yourself back in, Bon-Bon.  We kinda need you right now," said Minuette. "Look at this."

Bon-Bon looked down at where Minuette was pointing.  Several large pawprints lined the ground.  She leaned down to get a closer look.

"Hmm.  I see what you mean," she mused.  She lifted her left foreleg and glanced at her compass. "These tracks are leading north-by-northeast.  We should follow them."

"We should?" asked Lyra, raising an eyebrow. "How are some animal tracks gonna lead us to this secret library, Bons?"

"I'm not sure they will," Bon-Bon admitted, furrowing her brow. "But if this is what I think it is, it might lend some credence to Lady de Lis's story and give us a better idea of what's going on around here."

"Well, I can't say I disagree with that sentiment," said Moondancer. "Though if I may ask, Ms. Bon-Bon.  What do you think this is?"

Before Bon-Bon could reply, a loud roar echoed across the mountain.  Bon-Bon's eyes narrowed.

"That," she answered simply. "C'mon, before the trail grows cold."

Lyra swallowed. "Um, I'm suddenly thinking that this isn't a good idea."

"If you truly thought that, you wouldn't have come on this mission in the first place," Fleur stated bluntly. "Besides, it's too late to turn back now.  Unless, of course, you want to be lost forever in these mountains."

Lyra pouted and gave Fleur the evil eye. "S-stop trying to scare me, you jerk.  You'll never convince me to abandon Bon-Bon."

"I'm merely stating the facts, Ms. Heartstrings," said Fleur with a shrug. "It's your own fault for taking them so personally."

"Maybe I wouldn't take things so personally if you weren't such a cu—"

"Whoa!  Easy there, Lyra," Minuette interrupted. "Let's all try to get along here, yeah?  We're all in this together."

Lyra sputtered before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Fine," she relented.

Without another word, the five mares trekked onward, following the trail of pawprints the best they could.  In a matter of minutes, Bon-Bon stopped dead in her tracks and ducked behind a nearby rock.

"Get down!" she hissed.

Quickly, the rest of the team followed suit.  One by one, they each poked their head over the rock.  All along the mountainside, there were several ferocious beasts roaming about.  Each of them had pale white fur and strange orange crests on their foreheads.

"Um, Bons?  What are those things?" Lyra whispered.

"Yetis, by the look of it," said Moondancer, adjusting her glasses. "I've read plenty about them in my studies.  I-I never thought I'd ever see one up close, though.  They're supposed to be extremely rare."

"They also don't typically hunt in packs like this," Bon-Bon said darkly. "Plus, their caves are usually at higher altitudes.  This territory should mean nothing to them, yet they're stalking around as if on patrol.  That's not typical yeti behavior."

"Meaning, what exactly?" inquired Lyra.

Bon-Bon tapped the button on her ankle brace and unfurled her crossbow. "We're about to find out," she said, taking a sleep bolt from her quiver. "Get ready for a fight, everypony."

"One step ahead of you," said Fleur, arching her back and pawing the ground. "Dr. Colgate, do you think you'll be alright babysitting our civilian friends?"

Lyra snorted and turned to Moondancer. "Are you gonna let her talk to us like that?"

Moondancer pressed her glasses against the bridge of her nose, causing them to shine. "If Lady de Lis doubts my combat prowess, then all I have to do is prove her wrong.  Perhaps you should do the same."

"I'd listen to her, Lyra," said Minuette with a shrug. "Don't worry.  Our chances here don't look too bad."

"I-I'm not worried," Lyra sputtered. "You think I can't take those guys on?  I'll kick their flanks into next week, no problem!"

Fleur sighed. "You're not fooling anypony with that false bravado, Ms. Heartstrings."

"Quiet, all of you," Bon-Bon hissed, aiming her crossbow. "I need to concentrate."

The others obliged.  After a few seconds, Bon-Bon lined up her crossbow with a nearby yeti.

"Alright, after that first one goes down, we move in," she stated. "Sync?"

"Sync," Fleur said with a nod.

"Sync," replied Minuette.

Lyra blinked. "Um, what?"

"Just think of it as another way of saying 'roger that,'" explained Minuette.

"Oh, then, um, sync.  I guess," said Lyra with a shrug.

"Sync," said Moondancer, adjusting her glasses.

"Alright, on my mark," said Bon-Bon, steadying her foreleg. "Ready..."

Lyra swallowed a large lump in her throat, her heart pounding a mile a minute.  Fleur let out an angry snort and pawed the ground.  Minuette cracked her neck.  Bon-Bon narrowed her eyes and slowed down her breathing, waiting for the right moment to strike.  Once it presented herself, she flexed her hoof.

"Mark!"

The bolt struck its target, causing the yeti to fall to the ground.  Except once it did, its body was engulfed in green flames.  The other yetis noticed this and immediately shed their disguises, revealing a swarm of changelings.  Straight away, they noticed the ponies and let out angry rasps, charging down the mountain.

"Here they come!" Fleur hollered. "Let's move!"

Without further warning, she and Bon-Bon leapt straight into the fray.  Several beams of solid pink energy erupted from Fleur's horn, cutting down changelings left and right.  Some of the changelings fired back with their own magic, while others donned the appearance of their opponents.  Bon-Bon charged at one of her own clones and clocked it in the face before landing an uppercut on another nearby changeling.  She and Fleur stood back-to-back as the changelings surrounded them.

"Humph.  Do these cockroaches honestly believe this is a fair fight?" Fleur scoffed.

Bon-Bon shrugged her shoulders. "I find that doesn't typically matter in this line of work."

"Mmm, of course," Fleur concurred. "Let's just focus on exterminating these pests, shall we?"

Bon-Bon didn't respond.  She instead spun around and kicked one of her own doppelgängers with her hind legs before engaging another one in hoof-to-hoof combat.  Fleur decide to ignore this as she put up a magical barrier, deflecting several incoming magic bolts.


***


"Whoa!  Yeek!  Hot potato, hot potato!"

Lyra zigged and zagged around the barrage of changeling magic raining down upon her.  She tried to get up close to land a few punches, but she was quickly frightened away by the ones opting for a long range assault.  After running around in circles, she spotted a pony that looked like Bon-Bon within the swarm.  She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yo, Bons!  Over here!" she hollered. "Oh, thank goodness I found you.  I could really use some help right now."

The pony turned and gave Lyra a wicked grin.  Instead of blue, its eyes were bright green and glowing.  It galloped towards Lyra and opened its mouth, bearing several sharp fangs.  Lyra blanched.

"Crap baskets," she whimpered, bracing herself.  But just before the changeling could reach her, a beam of translucent pink magic knocked it aside.  Moondancer ran up to Lyra, adjusting her glasses.

"Lyra, you have to be more careful," she scolded. "These are changelings, remember?  They can take our shape."

"I know what changelings are, thankyouverymuch," Lyra grumbled. "I-I just panicked a bit, that's all.  I'm fine."

Moondancer sighed. "Regardless, perhaps we should stick together, if only to avoid confusion," she said. "Speaking of which, have you seen Minuette?"

"Um, not really," Lyra said sheepishly. "Things were really touch-and-go once those changelings came for us."

Moondancer's brow crinkled. "Mmm.  Troubling," she mused. "I know she was a member of that HUB organization, but from how she describes it, she never really saw any combat.  We should probably make sure she's okay."

Lyra looked behind Moondancer and arched an eyebrow. "Uh, I think that's her over there."

Moondancer whipped around and looked where Lyra was pointing.  Sure enough, there was Minuette, staring down a single changeling drone.  Minuette smirked.

"Let's do this thing," she said, closing her eyes.

Before Moondancer or Lyra could move a muscle, the changeling flew towards Minuette at full speed, its fangs open and ready to strike.  A faint golden glow emanated from Minuette's horn as the changeling got closer and closer.

"Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineten!  Red light!"

Minuette's eyes snapped open, and the changeling suddenly found itself frozen in midair inches away from its target.  Not even its wings were moving.  Minuette grinned and fired a beam right into the changeling's chest.  Strangely, the changeling didn't move or even react to this attack.

"Green light," said Minuette.

After another pulse of magic from her horn, the changeling was sent flying back.  Moondancer lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.  When she put her glasses back on, she noticed another changeling firing a blast of magic at Minuette.  She gasped.

"Minuette, behind you!" she shrieked.

Minuette turned around and snickered. "Heh, nope!"

In the blink of an eye, she and the changeling switched places.  In its confusion, the changeling was struck down by its own spell.  As Minuette brushed herself off, more changelings came flying at her.  She let loose another magical pulse from her horn, and this time, several clones of her appeared out of thin air and charged for the swarm.  Moondancer's jaw dropped as she watched the Minuette clones fight the changelings.

"S-such amazing power," she exclaimed. "Lyra, have you ever seen Minuette do something like this?"

"Can't say that I have," said Lyra. "Then again, she did manage to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  Looks to me like she's doing just fine."

"Oof!"

As soon as those words left Lyra's lips, one of the changelings kicked a Minuette clone in the gut.  Suddenly, all of the clones went flying back, as if they all were struck by the same kick.  Each of the clones dissipated, leaving only one Minuette behind at the mercy of her attacker.  Lyra smacked her forehead.

"Me and my big mouth," she groaned.

Moondancer didn't pay this any mind.  Instead, she teleported right to Minuette's side and fired a blast of magic from her horn, shooing the attacker away.

"Are you alright, Minuette?" she asked.

Minuette moaned and gripped her stomach. "G-guess I got a bit too cocky.  That's never something you want to happen while using quantum projection."

"Hold on, I'll heal you up," said Moondancer.  Her horn glowed a gentle pink as she leaned over Minuette's body. "It's going to be okay.  Just relax."

Minuette smiled. "Thanks, Moondancer."

Moondancer smiled back and continued to use her healing spell.  Suddenly, she saw a dark shape charge for her out of the corner of her eye.  Before she could respond, a beige blur came out of nowhere and punched the shadow away.  She looked up to see Bon-Bon standing tall and panting heavily.

"You never *pant* want to let your guard down," she said, giving Moondancer a wry smirk.

She then perked up as she heard a sinister roar behind her.  When she whipped around to see what caused it, her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.  Hovering above the battlefield was a large bearlike creature with four arms, insect-like wings, and feral red eyes.  A yellow and black striped stinger protruded from its hindquarters, and it was pointed straight at Lyra.  The very sight of the creature shook Bon-Bon to her very core, and the fact that it was target Lyra made things even worse.  She narrowed her eyes and snorted, slinging her grappling hook from her shoulder.

"Get away from her, you bugbear bastard!" she bellowed.

The bugbear ignored Bon-Bon and instead descended upon Lyra, who was running like mad.  Bon-Bon charged at full gallop, swinging her grappling hook over her head like a lasso.  Just when she closed the gap, she tossed the hook up into the air.  It managed to snag itself in the bugbear's open jaw.  With a hearty yank, Bon-Bon pulled the rope with all her might, plowing the bugbear into the cold, hard ground.  Before it could recover, Bon-Bon leapt up onto the creature's stomach and placed her hooves around its neck.  Even as the creature reverted back into a changeling, she squeezed its throat with all her might.

"If you think I'm going to let you lay one paw on Lyra, you've got another thing coming, buster," she snarled. "Tartarus is too good for a heartless beast like you.  I'll end your life with my bare hooves so that you'll never hurt anypony ever again.  Now go to sleep and never wake—"

"Bon-Bon!  What the buck are you doing?!"

Lyra's voice rang in Bon-Bon's ears, causing her heart to freeze.  Slowly, she turned around.  Lyra was standing right there, shaking like a leaf and staring at Bon-Bon in what could only be described as fear.  Bon-Bon released the changeling's throat and walked up to Lyra.

"Lyra, I—  He was—  I just—  You were going to—  I didn't mean to—"

Bon-Bon tried several times to apologize, but she was unable to form a coherent thought.  Tears marred her vision as she hung her head.  Just then, she saw Lyra get pelted by a snowball.

"Back off, dock-hole!  You wanna hurt Bon-Bon, you'll have to go through me!"

Bon-Bon whipped her head around and gasped.  There was the real Lyra, holding several snowballs with her magic.  The faux Lyra snarled and charged, only to be pelted by more snowballs.  This only served to slow it down as it continued its advance.  Bon-Bon simply watched the exchange, her mind reeling from what had just occurred.  Just then, Fleur bounded in out of nowhere and dispatched the changeling with a spell.  Once the changeling was disposed of, she shot Lyra an angry glare.

"I thought you said you could handle yourself," she growled.

"Hey, I had everything under control!" Lyra roared back.

"You were throwing snowballs!"

"Well, I'm sorry I can't shoot laser beams out of my horn like you can!"

"Oh, is that why you've been spending the entire battle running around like a buffoon?!"

"You know what?!  Why don't you bend over and kiss my—"

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!"

Both of them turned to Bon-Bon, who was inches away from bursting into tears.  Lyra winced.

"Geeze.  I-I'm sorry, Bons," she sighed. "A-are you okay?"

Bon-Bon shook her head and sniffled. "N-no..."

Lyra was about to walk over to Bon-Bon when a pink forcefield flew up in front of her.  She turned to see Fleur standing before her, blocking a magic blast.

"Perhaps we can save this for after the battle," she said.  She then let out a muted groan. "Which may be some considerable time."

Lyra looked up, and her pupils dilated.  A wave of changelings descended upon the ponies, each of them firing blasts of magic or letting out powerful rasps.  Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out.

"Alright, time out!"

A golden pulse rippled across the sky, washing over the changelings and freezing them in place.  Everypony turned to see Minuette and Moondancer approaching.  Minuette took a deep breath and let it out in a strained sigh before speaking.

"Okay, I think we're all reaching our limit here, in more ways than one," she said. "We need to send these guys packing and get ourselves sorted out."

"I take it you have a plan to do this, Dr. Colgate?" asked Fleur.

Minuette looked at the hoard of changelings, and then over at Moondancer. "I just might," she said with a coy smirk.

Moondancer gulped. "Wh-why are you looking at me like that?"

"Look, this is going to feel very strange.  I'm just saying that up front," said Minuette. "Do you trust me?"

Moondancer blinked. "Wh-what?"

"I said do you trust me?"

"W-well, yes.  I suppose.  You are my friend after all.  But—"

"No buts, Moondancer.  Just prep an offensive spell and I'll do the rest."

Minuette then positioned herself behind Moondancer.  She gripped Moondancer's tail with her left hoof and wrapped her right foreleg around her barrel.  Moondancer couldn't help but arch an eyebrow.

"Um, Minuette?  What exactly are we doing here?" she asked.

"It's a little trick Pinkie Pie told me about," said Minuette with a wink. "Just trust me and ready that spell."

Unable to say anything, Moondancer merely complied.  Moondancer stared up at the changelings and licked her lips.

"Alright, time in!"

Another pulse rippled across the sky, and the changelings continued their descent.  Minuette aimed Moondancer's horn at the oncoming swarm, and a distinct twinkle flashed in her eye.

"Say hello to my friend Moondancer!"

Without any further warning, she turned Moondancer's tail like a crank.  As she did so, Moondancer found herself firing spells from her horn at a rapid staccato pace.  Minuette adjusted Moondancer's body like a cannon turret, sweeping across the entire sky.  The changelings fell to the onslaught, and those that avoided the attack were scared out of there wits.  In a matter of moments, the entire swarm flew off into the mountains.  Once the last of them had disappeared, Moondancer's horn was smoking.  Minuette released her body and blew the smoke out.

"Whew.  That was a bit too close," she said, wiping some sweat from her brow.

Moondancer stared down at her hooves and shook her head, her mouth agape. "H-how did that happen?"

"Not a clue.  But then again, it's usually not wise to question Pinkie Pie," said Minuette. "More importantly, looks like Fleur's hypothesis holds a bit more water.  Something is drawing changelings to these mountains."

"And I'm positive that something is the Lesser Key," said Fleur darkly. "Which is all the more reason we should get moving and find it before those insects do."

Minuette raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure that's wise, Lady de Lis.  Not after a fight like that."

Fleur huffed. "Oh, please.  That was hardly a substantial workout for me.  I can keep going."

"I'm not talking about you."

Fleur blinked for a moment and turned to Bon-Bon.  She still appeared to be in a state of shock, tears falling from her eyes and staining the snow in random intervals.  Fleur bit her lip.

"Oh.  Um, yes.  Quite," she said sheepishly. "I, suppose we can wait for Sweetie Drops to recover."

"I think we all need some time to cool down and process everything that just happened," said Moondancer. "Plus, we may have a lead."

She pointed to the unconscious changeling that Bon-Bon had strangled.  Minuette trotted over to it and checked its pulse.

"Good call, Moondancer.  This guy's still alive," she said. "It sure would make exploring the mountain easier.  But that can wait for when it wakes up.  For now, let's just take a break and sort things out, yeah?"

Fleur sighed. "Very well.  I'll stand guard, in case they come back."  She then turned to Lyra. "As for you, Ms. Heartstrings.  It appears you need a lesson or two in self-defense.  I would be willing to teach you a few—"

"Save your breath, ponce," Lyra spat. "I told you, I can handle myself."

"Yes, and you demonstrated that quite well," said Fleur sardonically.

Lyra huffed. "Just leave me alone."

Fleur shrugged. "As you wish.  But as a former Royal Guard, I refuse to allow you to get yourself killed."

With that, she sauntered off.  Lyra rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hoof.

"I really want to know, Minnie.  How did you and Bons stand working with that snob?" she asked.

"Eh, she's not so bad once you get to know her," said Minuette. "Right now, let's just go over what we know."

While all this was going on, Bon-Bon was off in her own world.  She looked down at her hooves, and then over at Lyra.  For a moment, she could see Lyra's mortified face staring back at her.  She choked back a few tears and stared back at her hooves.  Her brain was tying itself into knots, and her heart felt like it was being pulled down by an anchor.  Many thoughts and emotions raced through her mind, and she found it increasingly difficult to deal with all of them at once.  Then, as if to protect herself from the pain, she conjured up another flashback, and her thoughts were whisked away to the past once again...