Forty, forty one, forty two… wait, did she forget that one? Now she’d have to start over again.
One, two, three… once again, Selune started counting the stars in Earth’s night sky. Even away from Equestria, Selune still admired the night sky, she still loved Earth’s moon. She would have spend hours and hours observing the sky, looking for which stars Equus could see, or if Equus itself could be seen from earth.
She would have, if she had time.
Unfortunately for her, the night was a fleeting thing. Her shadowy veil wouldn’t cover the area for much longer, and considering her task she had to make the most of her time.
She wanted her wish to be granted.
Selune jumped up, dusting herself off as she grabbed the sacks and the Bag of Holding that were laid next to her. She poked her head out of the bush, and thankfully no one was there to disturb her preparations.
Time to set the plan in motion, she thought. She focused her thoughts and placed her hoof inside the sacks, pulling out a pitch black latex suit with night goggles. This thing, these sacks, were impressive. Overpowered, true, but impressive nonetheless.
GOB, his somewhat sadistic nature notwithstanding, was clearly smart enough to be able to craft items such as this that could project a nigh infinite number of items to incredible accuracy. The only limitation was living things, which she wouldn’t summon either way out of principle. Perfect, she thought as she inspected her new spy gear. This would do nicely for this operation and camouflage her accordingly. Selune carefully looked the suit over, testing its elasticity, smiling as she found the size to be a perfect fit. She folded the sacks and the Bag of Holding, placing them in the slots of her utility belt for later use.
Slithering into the shadows, Selune moved from cover to cover, ever nearer to the place known as “Area 51”. Her horn glowed slightly, her eyes glowing as she cast a Far Sight spell. Through her night goggles, she saw what appeared to be a military facility for aircraft beyond the fence, just like the warning signs said. There were multiple hangars and storage rooms, but which of the hangars was it? Where was the flying saucer GOB was talking about? It could have been pretty much any of them.
Luckily for her, atomic energy and radiation left a pretty distinct mark, and a skilled unicorn like her could easily detect it. Though it seemed without a source, the radiation levels were more concentrated below the northeast hangar, by far the biggest one of them all.
With silent steps, Selune narrowed her eyes in grim focus. The guards she slipped past were a blur. Their faces, their expressions, their skin color, all inconsequential. Only their vigilance and their weapons mattered, only their eyes that observed the darkness around them, their flashlights illuminating the darkness of the night as they patrolled. They held their rifles tight, their hands twitching, their fingers ready to pull the trigger at the unseen threat.
Were they that scared of alien lifeforms?
It didn’t matter, they didn’t matter. Selune had a goal, and none would stand in her way, not unless they wanted to taste her magic. Their mighty aircraft, their guns, their bullets… they would all fall to her enchanting illusions.
The lights of cameras heading her way disrupted her thoughts. “Curses!” She said as she ducked behind some crates. Their surveillance network was a nag to get through. She’d have to disable it first, or otherwise throw them into disarray. It would also help provide a distraction should there be any complications in her mission. With skilled eyes, she tracked the source of the cables just 50 meters to her west: a carefully camouflaged storage house.
Sticking to the metal walls, Selune placed her ear on the side and heard blues music, together with a small humming sound. She touched the metal door with her horn and the interior of the room appeared in her mind. She saw a bearded man wearing a uniform, sitting at a desk, sifting through the cameras while looking for inconsistencies. Using her magic, she pulled a hairpin out of her hair and started carefully picking the lock. A few moments later she heard the satisfying clicking sound grace her ears, and she jerked her head, sighing in relief as the man hadn’t noticed her.
Like a snake, Selune crept through the door, closing it behind her. Patiently, she approached the man, and lunged from behind, placing one hoof on his mouth, and another tightly around his neck. The muffled complaints of the man didn’t register on her ears. She kept suffocating him until his flailing arms dropped, and his eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious.
“I’m sorry,” she said coldly as she pushed him and the chair to the side. Inspecting the controls, she realised that shutting this thing down would cause far more trouble, as the guards would be on high alert, making it even more difficult to sneak past them. No, the cameras had to be functioning, if only pretending to do so. Her eyes shot wide open, an idea coming to her. She pulled out one of the sacks, focused, and grabbed a floppy disk from it titled “Time Alter”. Carefully, she placed it inside the computer handling the cameras. As long as the program ran, and until it was countered, the footage received by them would rewind every fifteen minutes, equal to the rotation of the guards. Even if she was seen by them now, there would be no alarm. The man was placed once again in his position, with head leaning forward. It would buy her a few more minutes should one not notice he was sleeping.
Resuming her primary task, Selune’s actions came to her calmly, as if guided by instinct. Her mind was an autopilot, and her eyes had blinkers. Once she faced the hangar doors she focused and teleported behind them, since opening them would cause way too much noise. She rushed to the nearest wall and ‘hugged’ her only friend in this mission, the shadows. But as she turned to inspect the room, she gasped in awe from what she saw.
“What in Luna’s moon?”
Behind the hangar doors was something she could only describe as a mobile miniature airport. An incomplete giant flying airship with four huge fans, each the size of a small house. On the side of it was an inscription in white saying “S.H.I.E.L.D”. All around it, humans were inspecting the giant aircraft and yelling orders, or handling huge cranes and other machinery, assembling the necessary parts.
This huge aircraft was surely not a simple feat, and more importantly to power up such a thing was pretty much impossible with their current technological level. This had already been confirmed when she had seen their rudimentary security systems. Which meant only one thing.
They planned on using the reactor from the saucer to create a power source for this craft. Selune couldn’t imagine how destructive the force of a flying airbase like that could be, or how destructive the wars it could wage would be, but it was surely something she couldn’t let slip that easy. Now more than ever she needed to steal that saucer. There would surely be an elevator, or stairs of some sort going to the lower levels.
~Ding!~
Turning her head to the source of the sound, Selune spotted the elevator ten meters to her right. With eyes darting left and right, Selune carefully made her way to it. Hiding on the sides she waited for the humans to get out, then used her agility to enter the box. Her horn glowed once more as she illuminated the number pad of the elevator, and clicked number 5 -the bottom floor- which judging by the multiple fingerprints, was the one mostly used.
The machine responded with a low metallic rumble as she descended deeper within the confines of mother earth. Selune tapped her hoof impatiently. Judging by the time and speed of their descent, she guessed this elevator went at least fifty meters into the ground. With each level taking around 10 meters, Selune couldn’t imagine what sort of secrets and technology the humans were hiding in here. The doors opened and Selune noticed the gazes of the guards turning at her, their mouths agape as they saw the incarnation of children’s fairytales. Even the scientists with the white lab-coats tampering with the metallic disc-shaped aircraft directed their attention to her.
This was it, her goal was straight ahead, glimmering in silver. She looked at the humans stunned by her appearance.
They were in her way. There was one thing clear besides the end of her subterfuge.
“THIS ENDS, NOW!”
A booming sound echoed through the halls as Selune launched a black cloud of glitter dust from her horn. She heard the confused cries of the humans who found themselves covered from top to bottom by sticky black glitter. Fortunately for Selune, security was hesitant to use lethal force as they were unwilling to risk friendly fire, or even risk ruining the experiments of the scientists who had worked so hard on them.
“Sound the alert!”
“Was that a friggin’ unicorn??”
“Where is it!? I can’t see anything!”
“Are we being invaded by unicorns now? SOUND THE DAMNED ALARM!”
“Eeew this is so degrading, get it off me please! Get it off, GET IT OFF!!”
Selune was never more thankful that parkour existed. Being agile, and with a principle behind her movements reaching the saucer was an easy task. She focused and emitted a magical pulse that pushed the scientists back. Opening the Bag of Holding, she hovered it in front of the aircraft.
“Command: Absorb!” She said as the aircraft quickly turned into a glowing mass of energy and entered the Bag of Holding.
“She’s taken the disc!”
“Use the tasers, tranq darts, DO SOMETHING DAMN YOU THIS IS MY LIFE’S PROJECT HERE!”
Selune jerked her head back and raised a telekinetic barrier, screaming as the magical feedback from the electric shock caused her to recoil despite having blocked the projectiles. Unfortunately she couldn’t just teleport to the surface, especially when she couldn’t focus, or see her destination.
She had to escape, and she had to do it now.
“Es Ist groβ. Es ist klein!” Her hooves shone with magical energy as she dashed, “Voxx Gott Es Atlas!” Jumping in the air she used the human’s heads as stepping stones, causing some of them to trip and fall. Thank goodness she knew how to parkour. With a final jump she landed, her hoof at the controls, in the meantime some of the humans had gotten partly clean from her glitter dust and were now firing at her. Gritting her teeth in anger, she used all her concentration to maintaining a kinetic shield until she heard the magic sound.
~Ding!~
Music graced her ears as Selune stepped back and pressed the zero button repeatedly. When the doors slammed shut she fell against the wall, placing a hoof over her chest and laying back as she tried to stop hyperventilating.
A blaring sound threatening to shatter her eardrums interrupted her moment of peace. The humans had finally sounded a base-wide alert, and now Selune was up against a thousand of them. Sneaking in and taking the saucer was easy, but sneaking out would prove to be a challenge.
The true heist was just beginning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fingers on the triggers, revolvers cocked, safeties off. About fifty humans were gathered outside the elevator, weapons ready. Beneath the commander’s black hair, his brown eyes locked on the elevator as he raised his hand, his white complexion visible in the electric lights.
“Ready…”
The humming sound of the elevator was heard coming up.
“Aim…”
Weapons were raised, grabbed tightly as they waited for the signal. The sound that would tell the commanding officer that it was time. He let his hand fall as he screamed the word.
“FIRE!”
The door to the elevator opened and a roar of fire and steel overshadowed every other sound, even that of the sirens, as guns blazed with killer intent. As their guns emptied and the dust around the elevator started settling, they heard it. The strangest sound graced their ears, reminding some of the obscure styles of pop that found itself in the countries of the east.
And then they saw it. An alien, an actual slimy, humanoid form with big black eyes and everything, was casually laying with elbows on the floor, bobbing its head as a black unicorn with white stripes, a maroon mane, and an eye on her flank stood on her back hooves with the alien beneath them. Then, to their surprise, the unicorn mare spoke; or sung, more precisely, while moving her hips back and forth.
Alien style”
“What in the world?” The commander backed down, scrunching his nose. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. This… this had to be a joke.
“I’m a girl who is warm and humble during the day
A classy girl who knows how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist!”
The mare trotted forward, rocking her flanks in circles, waving her hooves and clapping them together with a smug grin. She pointed at him, winking her purple eyes with a cheeky smile.
“You’re a guy
A guy who is warm during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy!”
“Just… just shoot her dammit! RELOAD ALREADY!” The soldiers shook as they were commanded back to normal. As they moved, the mare continued dancing and singing nonchalantly.
“Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey!
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey!
Now let’s go until the end…”
As they started shooting once again her form flashed with blinding light and turned into smoke that filled the room. The soldiers coughed and rubbed their eyes, trying to breathe.
“SEARCH FOR HER! SHE CAN’T HAVE GONE TOO FAR! COME ON MEN! DOUBLE TIME!!” Selune heard the commander’s voice and felt a jolt of electricity pass through her spine. She had to run, to make it to the open so she could teleport away, and to do that she had to find a safe spot to concentrate, away from the hail of bullets and the blaring sirens. An interrupted teleport spell could drain her out of mana completely, and make her fall unconscious.
Run, be silent, run, evade the flashlights, run, avoid the now-reset cameras, and run some more. Up until she jumped over the towering fences surrounding the facility, this was Selune’s course of action. It was what her body cared for while her mind repeated the same thing over and over again.
“Escape with the artifact, make your wish, Merc’s waiting.
Escape with the artifact, make your wish, Merc’s waiting.
Escape with the artifact, make your wish, Merc’s waiting…”
What did it matter that she was a thief? What did it matter that she had hampered the technological advancement of another species? Did it even matter that she humiliated them all?
No… Nobody did. She had a wish, and that wish had to be granted, that wish was more important than the humans. More important than their faces, their jobs, their stories…
~BBZZZING!~
She felt a searing wave of heat as a bullet grazed her cheek. As drops of blood dropped on the ground, Selune jerked her head back and saw a lone soldier firing at her. The sound of bullets would soon gather more attention, and she was close, so very close. Once more she tried running while raising a barrier behind her, but doing both taxed her concentration and she tripped and fell.
“AARGH!” The good news was she was now behind the cover of the rock formations she had tripped on. The bad news was she now had a wound in her back right hoof, and the soldier was approaching her position.
Grunting, she focused,pulled a morphine injection out of the sacks GOB had given her and slammed it in her hoof. As she peered beyond her cover there was another wheezing sound as bullets rained from the human’s weapon. Selune was breathing heavily, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she did.
Why
A clicking sound reached her ears as the soldier emptied his weapon. There would not be another chance: if he reloaded she’d certainly die. Gritting her teeth with determination, she jumped behind her cover. It was a young soldier, around his twenties, with tanned skin, wearing khaki desert-camo pants and a black military vest. He was trying to reload his assault rifle. Once he saw her he dropped his weapon and pulled a knife. Selune lunged at him, and the soldier’s helmet fell off revealing his black hair, and the two wrestled in the dirt.
Why…
She tried to muffle him but she could hear footsteps in the distance. Despite all that, despite the magic that this soldier had seen her cast, despite how overwhelming her advantage was, this one persevered. His honey brown eyes were locked into her as his knife came down, making yet another cut on her face.
WHY WAS HE SO PERSISTENT?
Of all the obstacles she had faced, of all the bullets she had avoided, of all the annoying things she had to face why was this one human going to such lengths? He wasn’t important to Selune, he really wasn’t! So why was he still fighting?!
Slamming his hand down she finally managed to pry off the army knife from him, and spun the blade his way. The young soldier froze as the moonlight gleamed on the knife. Selune saw within his now calm eyes the composure of a man who saw death coming his way, and yet stared back at the grim reaper casually acknowledging that his time had come.
And in that time the clock stopped for Selune. For the first time during this heist, she asked the question she ignored for so many other humans before him.
Who is this guy?
Unwittingly, her eyes noticed a small silver chain around his neck. It led to a locket that had a photograph of a smiling woman with wrinkles and grey hair.
“Don’t.”
His voice was a whisper, almost stuttering.
“Please...” Selune gulped as she was taken aback by his words.
“Don’t take it.” His eyes were no longer filled with fear, but a single wish, a single voice, a single desire to protect something more precious than his life, more precious than the stupid secrets he was bound by duty to guard. A treasure that was a hoof’s reach away from Selune.
As human and unicorn glanced at the knife, a single thought passed through Selune’s mind like a lightning bolt. A single terrifying thought that sent chills down her spine. An eerie silence filled her mind as it all became clear, and she awoke from her apathy.
She was going to kill him.
“What am I doing?” She said with wide-eyed shock to herself, her ears falling down, her breath cut short. After a pregnant pause, Selune’s ears perked as the sound of steps intensified in the background.
A blur, her hoof moved down, and everything went black for the young human.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Death is just a sea.
A sea that friends cross to join their loved ones on the other side.
There they join the heroes and villains of old, as new adventures, new mysteries, new challenges begin on the opposite side of river Styx.
That was not where Dennis Hackett was.
He heard the crackling and chirping of wood burning. The smell of fire reached his nose, and he felt its heat. Opening his eyes he was greeted by the rocky emptiness of the Nevada desert. He felt a small weight on him and noticed it was a small blanket that fell to the side as he sat up. Turning to the source of the fire he noticed “her”, the weird unicorn-zebra thing watching the fire with his back turned to him. Instinctively his hands searched around for his armaments.
“I took them…” Dennis heard a female voice coming from the unicorn’s side and stopped.
“And I wouldn’t try running or shouting if I were you. I’m reeeeally not in the mood to knock you out again… or turn you into a newt for that matter.” Dennis gulped. She knew magic, and no doubt was capable of realising its threats.
“Why?” Came the question from him “Why did you do it? Why steal, and more importantly… why spare me?” The unicorn turned to him for a moment, then back at the fire.
“Come sit with me.”
“Huh?” Dennis raised his eyebrow quizzically.
“I said come sit with me.” Dennis obeyed the strange mare’s command and sat next to the fire, carefully keeping his distance from her. “I don’t bite you know?”
“No offense, but until I can get used to one of my childhood fantasies being real, let alone the wacky colors of your coat, I’ll be keeping my distance. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’ve kidnapped me.”
“Sorry…” the mare muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry for getting you into all that trouble. It’s not like I do this stealing business for a living.”
“You’re going to try the sympathy for the devil thing? Really? With all those fancy tricks I bet your life is sweet. I really can’t imagine why you’d steal.” Dennis turned, raising his eyebrow in disbelief.
“I think sparing your life warrants at least some sort of belief in what I say. As for my magic? Trust me, you don’t want to have anything to do with that if giant demonic centaurs are chasing you around to suck it all out!” Selune shook her head, trying to forget the times Tirek drained all the unicorns out of their magic. It was like losing part of your soul.
“Touche.” Dennis admitted, shuddering at the last one. Coughing, he tried to change the subject, “So what land are you from? There are no unicorns here as far as I know.”
“My homeland is called Equestria. We got all sorts of races that are considered myths here. Minotaurs, Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, Changelings, Yaks and more. The planet is Equus, it’s a long way from here. I mean, I haven’t even found stars that are familiar to me. Makes me think it’s on the other side of the galaxy.” Dennis started laughing a bit while shaking his head. This was way over his pay grade.
“Yea, the horse puns are endless in my land trust me. I bet you’ve never even ‘herd’ so many!” The two of them broke in laughter, and as they relaxed the tensions faded away. Dennis looked at the fire, not knowing what else to say. After a minute of waiting, Selune finally broke the silence between them.
“You look a lot alike.”
“Huh? Who?”
“The woman in the locket you have around your neck.” She clarified. Dennis blinked, a jolt of electricity causing him to check if it was still there. Searching, he found the chain was still around his neck and the locket had fallen behind his back. Inspecting it he breathed out and relaxed. A small warmth filled his heart as he looked at the picture of the woman with the toothy smile. Though age had taken much from her, and she now wore glasses, to him she was still beautiful.
“She’s my mother. She’s the only one I have left…” He said, holding the locket dearly near his heart. He stood there for a moment, his heart focused on the memories of those he loved. “Thank you, Miss…”
“Darkeye. Selune Darkeye.”
“I’m Dennis Hackett. Thank you for not stealing my locket,” he paused for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, “It’s one of the few things that helps me get through the routine of a soldier. Guarding top-secret projects apparently doesn’t give me much time for family visits.”
“You love her a lot, don’t you?” Selune turned her head to him, looking for something, or perhaps seeing something.
“She’s got Alzheimer’s. She often acts like she doesn’t know me, like I’m not her son. But even if that were true the kindness she raised me with will always make me feel like her son.” As he said it, his face contracted, the bitterness and anger filled his watering eyes.
“God damn this job!” Dennis slammed his hand down. Gritting his teeth as he sniffled, his shallow breaths were audible as he let his frustration water the sand. “Aliens, weapons, experiments and all this bullshit!” Selune remained silent, because she knew how that felt. It was by Merc that she had learned what it was to fight for money, to have your life be measured in cash.
How different was she now? How different was she than a thief getting paid in cash? How low had she stooped just to ensure a happy future for herself? She’d even used her own quirks and jokes for her own selfish desires…
She’d become a cold unfeeling tool of her own wish.
She understood that these were the harsh realities of worlds filled with conflict. The conflicts that drove brothers and neighbours to kill one another. The loss in the crime others called “battlefield” and the victory paid by the blood of the dead who fought for their loved ones. Selune’s mane fell on her face as she realised why this soldier fought, and once again it struck her like a thunderbolt how just an hour ago, she was ready to kill him.
“I’m sorry…” she started, and Dennis saw the mare’s tears fall to the sand along with his, “I know how it feels to fight for money, I know because I’ve met someone exactly like you.” She wiped her tears and moved her mane away so they could look eye to eye.
“You have?” He asked, and Selune nodded. She extended a hoof, reaching out for his hand. Dennis hesitated and retracted it a bit, but Selune was patient and showed no signs of aggression. His mouth was half open, and he was conflicted. Finally, he gave in and let her have it.
The two of them felt an eerie warmth as hoof and hand joined in together. It was then that Dennis understood, it was then that it dawned on him.
“This person you were referring to... Are you in love with him Selune?”
She nodded again. “He’s a mercenary for hire. Young, passionate, reckless…” She caressed his hand with a smile, “Yet... considerate with a brilliant heart.”
Dennis shivered as the words struck a familiar chord. “So… What now?” He started “I can’t go back without that saucer, and something tells me you’re not going to give it.”
Selune frowned, his words ringing true. “I need to achieve my dreams.” She had a wish, a wish that was still important, but something was nagging her, a dirty little worm was eating her from the inside. Something that told her - no obligated her - to do something about this human.
Selune put a hoof in her mouth and looked up at the night sky as she thought. The stars were endless, so beautiful, so many galaxies, so many precious gems she wanted to take home. Her mind flew for a moment as she thought of the reaction of other ponies if she did that, and then, she found it.
Her eyes gleamed as she flicked her hoof in the air. “I got it!” She said, “Here’s what we’re going to do…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Come on mare, MOVE IT!” said Dennis as he tightened his grip on the rope. Pulling it, the alien mare behind him was forced to comply. With mouth tied shut, horn covered in cloth, a blindfold on her eyes, and a knife under her neck she couldn’t make as to cast a spell without him instantly killing her, let alone run and escape.
Selune kept being dragged by the human and heard multiple humans run towards her, multiple weapons and triggers being armed. Dozens of steps were heard storming around him with guns ready.
“Hey weapons down! I caught her!” Dennis yelled at his comrades once he came within range.
“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE SOLDIER!” The commander came rushing from the crowd of soldiers that gathered around Dennis. He was furious and his uniform was ruined, partly in his own frustration to find the mare that mocked him before.
“What happened here?”
“Commander George Priestjohn. I, Dennis Hackett, have caught the thief, sir! She was exhausted and she couldn’t use her fancy tricks to escape anymore.” Still, the commander kept his thoughtful frown, not entirely convinced by his explanation.
“Then why did you go all alone? And why did it take you so long?”
“I tried to contact you sir, but she kept throwing her fancy magics at me. She had this weird sack and kept pulling things out of it!”
“Where’s the saucer?”
“I… I don’t know sir. One moment I was fighting with her, the next she zapped her belongings and they were gone.” After a moment of silence the commander spoke.
“Secure the mare! I want a watch on her twenty-four/seven! Move it!”
“YES SIR!”
As the mare was directed into the facilities she had hoped to escape, from the commander motioned Dennis to stay. When he realised they were alone he turned to him.
“Well done, Corpotal. You did a great thing today. No matter what, I’ll never forget that. The stunt you pulled off today was risky, but you have my respect. If there’s something you need, just tell me.”
“Thank you, sir. I don’t need much, I joined to help my mom, and I’ll always want to help her however I can.”
“Well, no matter what happens after this, I think with your skills you deserve a promotion.”
“You honor me, sir.”
“Nonsense… with the amount of effort you put to salvage this you deserve it. Well, off you go now, I’ll call you in the morning to report what happened.”
“Yes sir!”
Dennis watched the commander leave, no doubt getting ready to question the alien that he had ‘arrested’. A smile spread on his lips, the truth being known to him, that the mare he had brought to them, was nothing more than an illusion.
He turned towards the borders of the facility, saw a small twinkle and smiled, remembering the name of the strange unicorn that helped him make his life just a little bit more bearable.
“Thank you, Selune Darkeye....”