3: SPF 40
The armory was five stories underground and under enough security to give anyone pause, save the alicorns of Equestria or anyone who knew how to bypass the antimagic ward.
Between cameras, guards, and three meter steel walls, the passage between the vault door made airport security seem like the front door of a welcoming grocery store. The elevator dinged four seconds before the doors opened and the three human guards met the four ponies with guns raised as the solders waited for the ceiling mounted camera to verify their identity on the private network.
The herd had only been down here a few times since construction was complete and it still unnerved the mares to stare down the barrel of two AA-12 shotguns two meters out of arm’s reach. None of them moved until the scanning lasers faded and the lights around the elevator went green, signaling the guards to stand down.
The guards resumed their posts and gave curt yet respectful nods to the herd as they moved past the checkpoint and twenty meters of cold concrete to the happily whistling earth mare quartermaster. At odds with her environment, the bright pink quartermaster was a cheery individual and waved Alexia down as the four ponies approached.
“Alex hey! So boss man finally dragged you guys back into fieldwork did he?”
Tune stopped at the ballistic glass window between her and the pink earth pony. “More like he was ordered to drag us back.”
“Such is the way of things,” she replied evenly as she checked each member of the herd into the system. “Okay, I have the requisition orders for desert load outs for two earth ponies and a pegasus already assembled and ready to wear. As for you Special Agent, I’ve had to customize your harness due to your—unique combo.”
Tune gave the pink mare a sarcastic eye as she waited for the vault to open. “You can just say because I’m an alicorn.”
The pink mare had problems with being too much of a conversationalist and found it very difficult to to keep her answer brief and professional. “Sorry ma’am.”
The Special Agent gave her a polite smile. “There’s no need to apologize. If anything, you should be praised for taking the initiative.”
The quartermaster’s sullenness evaporated into a bright smile. “Thank you your hi-.” She stopped herself and cleared her throat. Um, right this way please.”
While Brad and Marcy’s Enchantment Company had a very lucrative public front, a whole separate division of the company was exclusively oriented to military contracting to Section Nine. Alexia was the one to find the latest inventions waiting for her, although she was not aware of its importance until the quartermaster unlocked the armory’s vault door to introduce the team to what laid within.
The pink pony was as big of a technophile as Loki was and once the novelty of magic wore off over the past two years, she viewed all magic application for what it was: a discipline of science for technology to latch on to. That love of technology always brought a beaming smile to the quartermaster’s face when she was introducing new tech to the agents that came down to see her.
The four field agents found themselves in a room that spanned the entire underground story. Florescent lights lit up drab green metal racks of tools, weapons, and other gear for humans and ponies alike. Each rack was neatly packed next to the other and the various tools and equipment were all neatly organized and stored to maximize efficiency.
From the right side of the door and midway to the far right wall, were lockers housing all of the off duty agents. Most were empty due to the agency being hard pressed in the current world crises.
The pink mare was thrilled at the prospect of finally getting the chance to equip her beloved princess. Keep it together Gumball. Remember your job. Right now, I have to act as if she’s just another field agent, not the mare responsible for your freedom and saving you from a life in a concentration camp.
With that being said, that did not mean she wasn’t going to enjoy herself. She stopped near Crimson, who was closest, to speak to them again. “Where are my manners, I forgot to introduce myself,” she said fumbling for words. “I’m Pack Rat.”
Loki temporarily forgot the satchel she was putting together to giggle. “I didn’t know anyone wanted to change their name to a pony one.”
Pack Rat’s face was laced with confusion for a moment before realization dawned on her. “Oh no, that’s not my real name. Just my code name for the agency.”
Tune found that odd. “We were never given code names.”
Rat nodded knowingly. “Likely because of that perception scrambler you came up with didn’t make it necessary for you at the time. But after reading some of the equestrian books that the military released back to us, I found out that Equestria’s royal guard use something similar to this by enchanting their armor to make them all of their fur and hair identical. So I managed to do something similar to all of our equipment harnesses. Instead of making us all look alike, which would give us away too easily, they instead alter our colors and cutie marks to be random upon activation so no one will know who we really are.”
Conrad was both greatly intrigued and annoyed by the information. “Seems being relegated to training instructors has left us out of the loop for much of the department’s changes over the year.”
Pack shrugged. “Such is the nature of our profession. Anyway, since your back on in the need-to-know, I can introduce you guys to the latest gear!” The pink mare squealed inwardly with girlish delight at being in the presence of the royal herd.
The four other ponies lined up behind Pack Rat as she went to the racks holding unclaimed harnesses. “This one is tailored for earth mares.” She pressed a button towards the side of the rack and the steel rods holding it up moved away from the rack and down to shoulder level of the ponies. “Its called the EPM-UH-10.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Loki replied while casting a critical eye at the gear.
The pink mare grinned at the assumed compliment. “Its still an efficient acronym though. Either way, the UH ten comes with the standard polyester harness along with the scrambler enchantment I told you about. Given that your ponies, the enchantment feeds off your own mana, where as our human agents have a limited battery life of about ten hours or so.”
Loki was enamored by the idea of humans wielding magic. “How did we manage that?”
Pack Rat couldn’t have been asked a more enticing question and she beamed an even bigger smile. “Well I’d love to claim the transformer crystals were my own doing, but that belongs solely to the B and M Enchantment Company. But what I do know is that basically, mana is energy just waiting to be converted into some other form of energy. Now, while we ponies produce that naturally through our carbuncles, as you well know,” she explained while gesturing to Alexia. “Humans obviously do not.
She continued with a bit of a self-gratification. “But when has that ever stopped man from doing what can’t be done right?” While every pony in Trinity fully accepted, both emotionally and cognitively, as being a different species, they still mostly saw themselves as having human mindsets and desires. “So Brad, from the company, worked up the first prototype transformer roughly five months ago.” Rat started rummaging around in one of the human utility harnesses and taking one of the pockets apart to pull a crystal out. “Behold!” she announced proudly. “The biggest real step forward for magtronics; where pony magic and Earth’s technology are made one.”
The crystal was as small as a thumb, and was transparent sea foam green with copper wiring running all through it and small silicon chips completely encased in the jewel. From her own experience, Alexia easily identified the crystal to be a heavily modified reservoir crystal. It looks as if it was forged around the electronics instead of being implanted with it.
Pack Rat gazed upon it as if it was the Holy Grail. “As long as the battery holds out, this baby can make anyone mage. It might one day help stave off magic exhaustion.”
Tune and the others looked it over carefully, but the object never left Rat’s hoof. “Surely there has to be limitations to it. Having mana and actually making it do anything is two very different tasks.”
Pack nodded sadly as she replaced the crystal back into its home. “I guess of all people, you would know that most of all. Its capable of powering any enchantment within its power capacity and enables the use of some arrays, but anything else is beyond our reach at the moment.”
Crimson eyed the crystal until it was hidden again by the harness. “Its still a big step towards the integration of magic into our technology though. And what are Terrans known for most of all?” She said with dramatic flair, giving Conrad a wink in the process. The stallion huffed in pseudo indignation as the green pony continued. “Ingenuity my good mare. I have no doubt this will rock the world like the internet has.”
Rat perked back up. “All the more reason I wish I was listed as its inventor instead,” she replied with a smirk. “Moving on though,” she pointed out a few small pockets and satchels sewn seamlessly into the harness. “This eliminates the need for a noisy and comparatively ponderous saddlebag while granting some additional protection from blunt trauma or ballistics. Just don’t bet on it saving you though. We are not a full-on military organization after all, so the harnesses are just meant for utility, not outright protection.”
Pack Rat removed the harness from the rank and handed it over to Loki before pressing the buttons again to get a second harness for Crimson. The material was light grey and fit snuggly on their bodies with them being anchored at the points where their legs connected to their barrels. Without the need to physically hide their coat or marks, it left much of their fur open to the air in its minimalist approach. The only exception was along the spine where the harness tactfully hid the magtronics necessary to power the perception scrambler and the various pockets and detachable satchels along the sides.
Pack Rat’s cycling of the rack came to a halt mid-way through the point where the two earth mares were donning their equipment. “This is the PS-UH-7. Basically the same thing as the EPM, except its designed to be more comfortable and aerodynamic during flight. It also comes standard with goggles and a personal radio built into the frames of the lens. The range isn’t very far, but its meant for inter-team communications only.”
After Conrad retrieved his harness, Pack Rat moved over to an isolated rack that stood apart from the rest of the room and beckoned Tune to follow her. “Now, I never actually knew you’d ever return to fieldwork, but I couldn’t help myself from making a harness especially for you.”
The princess forcibly hid her sarcasm. “Not all that surprising. You would hardly be alone in that sort of thing.”
The pink mare concealed her goofy grin and opened the metal casing around the rack. “I present to you the A-UH-09. The only harness specifically designed for an alicorn—or for you seeing as you’re the only one,” Pack Rat added hesitantly.
“I get that a lot,” Tune replied lightheartedly. “I take it, this harness is a combination for unicorns and pegasi correct?”
The pink earth pony nodded. “Mostly. But I know you are the leading expert in magic arrays so I had a couple of friends of mine help program this while I crafted the hardware. I integrated a small onboard computer that can allow you to doooo this!”
Pack finished booting the harness’s computer and switched to the appropriate application. A few seconds later a very simplistic holographic array materialized around the harness. “Pretty snazzy eh? I also made sure you can wear this with your necklace.”
Tune couldn’t help but to coo at the sight and her delight was reflected in her eyes. Pack Rat felt euphoric at pleasing her princess. The alicorn walked over to fully inspect the hologram. “Have you tested to see if this can do what I think it can?”
Pack Rat was afraid of just that very question and she laughed haltingly, her elation deflated. “Well, to be honest I just finished putting that bit on there three days ago and have since been debugging it. But as far as a real test, then no.”
Alexia rubbed her chin in contemplation. “In theory it should work. All a chalk drawn array does is shape the mana into the proper configuration to achieve the desired effect.”
Loki finished donning her harness first and bounced over to comment. “Like programming right?”
The green mare had often times spoken to the members of the herd about hacking and computer related information that mostly flew so far over everyone else’s head that it might as well have been a passing satellite. Yet a few things stuck out to Alexia as her work with diagrams and their relation to spellweaving created various parallels. “Right, not only does the pattern have to be correct, but the medium itself has to work as well. That’s why I always try to use white chalk because it provides a neutral platform for most arrays, sort of like silicon for electronics.”
Pack Rat hummed at the different point of view. “So I was right, the pattern itself is like the software, while the medium is the hardware.”
Tune tilted her head in a half shrug half nod. “Eh, roughly I suppose.”
The pink earth pony handed the goggles over to the azure haired mare. It was a little heavier than Conrad’s own pair. “The standard unicorn harness also has a sort of radar if you will, that pulses small amounts of mana out away from you. The purpose is to detect any antimagic wards that may be nearby. This headgear will give you a visual warning when one is detected. That way you’re not caught off guard by the presence of one being in the area.”
Alexia hummed at the idea. The alicorn was still keeping the existence of a counterspell for the antimagic ward a secret. As much as I trust Thompson, I also trust him to tell his superiors about my counterspell. I think plausible deniability is his best defense if and when I reveal it. For the mission though, I think I’ll keep it active so the antimagic zones don’t affect me from here on out. She decided to focus more on the customized gift. “Well there’s nothing quite as exciting as being on the bleeding edge of technology. Let me put it on and give it a go.”
Tune’s harness took a little doing, but she managed to put it on and activate the integrated electronics by the time everyone else was ready to go. Pack Rat took two stylus pens out of Alexia’s left hind leg pocket that looked as if they had been taken from a touch pad. “These will take the place of your chalk. As you draw through the air, the onboard computer will map out the positions and will automatically tell the crystals where to project the lines. The center of the array will be your carbuncle, as I predict that might create even more effective results. But I have only a hunch to base that off of.”
The pink mare carefully twisted the top of each pen in her hoof. It was not exactly easy when it was meant for nimble human fingers or a unicorn’s kinesis. Nevertheless, spending two years with nothing but hooves have given Pack Rat, along with almost every other non-unicorn pony, enough practice to make it look as if it was no real difficulty. “You click the pen to make it stop and stop drawing like you would a real ink pen. And my personal touch on this is that if you twist this piece here to the left that will increase the thickness of the line, and turn right to thin it out.”
“Clever,” the silver alicorn commented with genuine enthusiasm. Her biggest concern up to that point was going to be that very issue, but Pack Rat had learned enough about diagrams over the past year to know line thickness played an important role in both conjuration and abjuration arrays, but less so in other disciplines. “Even if this only ends up as a partial success, this is still most impressive.”
Even though the alicorn’s magic had no effect on the cutie mark bearing earth mare, Pack Rat still felt exuberant at her princess’s praise. “Glad to be of service ma’am. Oh one last thing before I forget, if the pen breaks for any reason, you can simulate the pen with that unicorn illumination spell where the mote of light moves on its own. Brighter for thicker lines, and dimmer for thinner, I managed to link that up to the computer straight through the crystals instead of from the computer to the crystals. Don’t ask me on the ratios on that one, because I’m still working out the bugs. I just know it works, sort of. Plus it’s a little difficult to do when I don’t have a horn and all.”
The pink mare was caught between excitement at revealing her custom built creation all just for her princess, and chilling terror because her invention was not out of the prototype phase yet. It was not called the bleeding edge for nothing. Alexia couldn’t help but to fall into her role as princess for a few moments as she looked between invention and inventor with what Pack Rat perceived as a regal smile. “I think this is a marvelous creation. It really epitomizes what we Terrans hope to strive for does it not? Even if I cannot officially recognize your work, seeing as you’re using the agency’s tech, I must express my profound gratitude. Thank you for this marvelous gift.”
Pack Rat was grinning ear to ear at the praise and had difficulty speaking. “Well, I ah—I mean. It was—“ Her face flushed red at that embarrassment so she bowed low to Tune. “Thank you Princess! Thank you so much.” Words failed her beyond that single phrase, so she tried switching topics. “Actually, since you’re back on the in-the-know list and I made this thing entirely off the books, you can keep it if you like.”
“Truly?” I should be glad she was doing this for me instead of black market profiteering. “I would be honored to have it. I won’t mind being your guinea pig for some field tests,” she added with a wiry grin.
The joke made the pink pony stutter again after raising her head back up. “I-if I had known you were returning to field duty sooner I would have had it ready by now, but with so much to do-“
Alexia raised a polite restraining hoof. “I tease, I tease. Why don’t you help me put it on.”
The quartermaster blinked two times before realizing the joke and her good humor returned. “I’d be honored!”
The alicorn and earth mare were in the middle of testing the pens when Crimson’s phone bleeped a warning. She walked across the armory to find her alpha after silencing it. “Hate to break this up, but we’ve got fifteen minutes to be on the pad.”
Tune hummed in mild irritation. “We can resume tests later.” She replaced the pens into their pocket. “Thank you again for the equipment Pack Rat.”
“Not at all your hi- Special Agent,” she quickly amended now that she was no longer alone with Alexia. A thought struck her and she clapped her hooves together. “I can’t believe I almost forgot. Your requisition order also specified desert survival gear. Come with me.”
The quartermaster beckoned the herd to follow her down five rows of equipment to the appropriate section. “First thing up is hoofwear.” She waved off any questions. “Now I know what you’re going to say, and that you probably don’t like the idea of wearing horseshoes. Honestly I can’t imagine anyone who does. Getting something nailed into your hoof is not pleasant. Trust me I know.”
Crimson grabbed what she could only assume was a boot that went up just past her fetlock. She gave it a critical scan. It was a light grey cylindrical item that was very thin, save for the sole which was rubber with hollow air pockets. The soles were also thin enough for a pony’s hoof magic to still manipulate objects through it. Anderson was impressed. I don’t know much about foot—hoofwear, but it feels like it was designed with the desert heat in mind. Instead of laces, it had Velcro that was oriented so that the wearer could easily secure it with their mouth if need be. “Do you know how effective these are?”
Pack Rat shook her head. “I have not tested them personally, but I’ve heard some positive remarks from a few other operatives. Either way its better than having your frog burnt by sand. Not to mention it would raise your body temp if the frog isn’t protected.”
The quartermaster helped find the correct sizes before moving on to the next piece. “All of you will need CamelBaks and you two will need eye protection,” she directed her last comment to her fellow earth ponies as she withdrew the required pieces of equipment. They were long soft plastic water reservoirs that were wrapped in grey material. The two for Conrad and Alexia were thinner around the wings so they would not interfere with wing movement. All of them had ease of access drinking straws that could be secured by being tied into the mane, or wrapped around the neck.
“I’m sure you’re not going to be taking a helicopter all the way out to whatever desert you’re going to, so you can fill them up before you get there.” Pack Rat tapped her hoof on the ground as she gave it a second thought. “But just in case you don’t though, I’ll sign off a ten gallon water drum and I’ll throw in twelve MREs for you as well.” Conrad helped Alexia put her gear on while Pack Rat doled out the glasses. “All of the eye wear is glare resistant and darkens in bright light.”
Once everyone was situated Pack Rat gave everyone’s gear a once over. She checked to make sure all of the straps were tightened, the onboard enchantments were functioning properly, and that the CamelBaks didn’t have any leaks. “That should account for everything since you’re packing light.”
Having spent most of her adult life with a computer at her side, Loki felt naked without her personalized harness. This was a difficult thing to accomplish for someone who never wore clothing if she could help it. Unfortunately it was not designed for the sand and heat of the Sahara so she was forced to leave it behind in Thompson’s office whole would return it to the manor later. “Any chance I can get a laptop or something? I can’t be much of a network infiltration expert without one.”
The pink mare scratched the back of her neck. “For a desert environment? Hmm… I can’t guarantee if it’ll survive the heat and sand, but—“ The quartermaster ran over to a small collection of sturdy laptops, picked one and then brought it back over. “This little guy should be all you need.”
Loki sized up the one and a half inch thick computer and the ten by five inch screen. She scowled at the device as she did not favor anything she did not build personally. “I should be able to pull something off with this.” I hope.
Conrad finished checking his wings to make sure they could move freely. Once satisfied, he politely interposing himself between the pink and green mares. “You can inspect it on the way over, but we need to leave now.”
The quartermaster knew they were pressed for time, but she needed one last thing. “Of course, but if I can just get your electronic signature here to sign off on all your gear—” Alexia was not willing to be late for her first field assignment in years. As Pack Rat was withdrawing a smartpad from her shirt pocket, Tune magically gripped the stylus and signed off. “—rightio, well everything’s in order. See you when you get back.”
The herd was more pressed for time than they would have liked, and Tune tapped her left front hoof nervously as the elevator seemed to crawl its way to the roof. Loki was already inspecting her laptop, tsking in both agony and disgust every so often. Conrad leaned against the far wall in silent preparation for the mission at hand. Crimson was quietly typing out a text message to her parents to let them know the herd would not be returning tonight.
The silver princess was frightened at the prospect of the coming days. We’ve been so lucky thus far. But what if one of us gets hurt or—dies. Tune cast a worrisome glance at her mates, careful not to arouse attention towards her souring mood. She took a slow calming breath, but it only seemed to exaggerate her fears even further. We’ve lived together for so long, I can’t imagine life without them anymore. Hell, how am I going to live for hundreds of years after they die of old age and I still—
The azure haired alicorn looked at her near perfect reflection in the elevator doors. Having let her mane grow out to the point where she could see her bangs without a mirror, Alexia could see the herd’s colors in her hair if her bangs got jostled into her eyes. The pink, two toned crimson, and steel colored stripes in her bangs had become part of her identity over the past year and a half. They completed her self-image. So much so that she would feel incomplete without the three colors present whenever she imagined them to be missing. It was the thought of them one day vanishing from her mane that caused the pit of her stomach to go cold.
She mentally shook herself of the thought. No, I have to stay mission oriented. I can’t let this affect my ability to get them home safely. Try as she might, the shadow of her agelessness refused to depart.
A little voice in the back of her head gave voice to her fears. You may not live to see tomorrow, but you might live to see ten thousand years. No matter what you do, they will die eventually and you will endure.
Alexia shuddered, quickly masking it as being cold from the elevator’s air conditioning. The voice’s words brought the alicorn’s reflection back to the forefront of her mind. Most people couldn’t see it, but she could tell she was already slightly different than other mares, besides possessing both wings and a horn. The silver pony was slightly taller than any other mare, save for some of the more powerfully built earth mares who seemed to take on more muscle than should be possible. Her horn was definitely longer by almost a full inch. It may not seem like much to others, if they spotted the difference at all, but Alexia had seen pictures of Luna and Celestia. From that, she knew what form she would take one day. If I live that long.
I’ll just keep getting stronger with time and—Conrad, Crimmy, Loki—they’ll, they’ll all wither and die. And there’s nothing I can do about it. The silver mare was compounding her fears of loneliness to the point where her eyes were misting over, but the tears never fully came due to the elevator dinging loudly and the doors opening up to the warm late July night.
The roof’s helipad was brightly lit against the sleepy town of Trinity below it. Despite the rapid growth and Qubert Smith’s efforts, the town was not quite up to being alive with a serious night life. The buffeting noise of the descending helicopter masked Tune’s mostly successful attempts to bury her worries and assume the demeanor of team commander. With nearly everyone in Trinity always looking to her to fill the same role the Equestrian princesses do for their own country, it was easy to bury her emotions from the public eye when needed. But she was too easily readable to her herdmates, and all of them knew something was bothering her, yet could not act on it for the moment due to the job at hand.
The old Sea Stallion helicopter was a sight that almost brought a sense of nostalgia to the awaiting herd. The old aircraft was a familiar sight in Trinity, as it was the transport of choice by Section Nine because of how easy it was to modify them to comfortably seat both humans and ponies.
One of the pegasi roof guards ran ahead of the herd to open the passenger bay doors for them and the group ducked inside. The masculine voice of the pilot sounded through the headsets a few moments after the put them on. “Welcome aboard Spookums Airlines, this is your captain speaking. I wouldn’t get too comfortable, we’re only a connector flight.”
Conrad was midway through buckling himself in when recognition of the voice made him hesitate and clicked his helmet’s speech button. “Gill Highwind? Is that you?”
“Conrad?” The pegasi pilot leaned away from the instrument panels to reveal his navy blue coat and blonde hair. “Well I’ll be damned. So the boss man finally pulled you out of field retirement huh?”
Conrad chuckled as he trotted over to grab hold of Gill’s outstretched hoof. “Yea he did. But what about you? I didn’t know you were CIA.”
Highwind gave him an incredulous look before tapping his human copilot to contact the local air control for a flight plan. “What? You didn’t really think the government would let something like a weather control company operate without oversight did you? I’ll tell you about it once I get this bird in the air.”
The Sea Stallion took off and headed south to an Air Force base just west of the Rocky Mountains for a long distance aircraft. Loki was friends with Gill as well, but she reluctantly had to spend all of her time hardening her laptop and preparing it for network infiltration. The green mare reached into her mane and withdrew a memory stick and stuck it into the UBS port. Good thing Thompson came through with my new my toys. Now, let’s see if I can turn this rubbish of a trash-top into something useable.
Crimson was the only one actually sleeping. Between raising three foals, her growing medical career, and her studies, the pale yellow mare was taking any chance she could get to grab some sleep. Alexia sat in between the two other mares, with her head and left wing draped over Crimson. The alicorn felt the intimate contact helped dampen her fear of eventual loneliness. However her real terror was the shadow of lunacy such loneliness might cause hung over her mind.
She hugged her fellow mare a little tighter. Please, stay in one piece guys. I can’t live without you. Her eyes misted over at the gnawing fear, both for herself and for the safety of those she loved unconditionally.
Standing on his hind legs and leaning against the two pilot seats, Conrad was chatting away with Gill Highwind. “So when did the CIA recruit you?”
By now the aircraft was on autopilot, so the navy blue pegasus didn’t have to worry too much about flying. “I was already in the agency before my ponification if you can believe it. It started happening right in the middle of an op.” He leans over to punch his copilot in the shoulder. “In fact, Squeaker here was there to save my stubborn ass when my fingers stopped wanting to be fingers and I couldn’t control the chopper anymore.”
Conrad wondered how one would earn the call sign Squeaker until the copilot reluctantly opened his mouth. “You really should have just told the chief sooner. We almost got the ground team killed thanks to you.”
The brown stallion’s ears tried to flatten within his helmet every time the man’s voice cracked to a painfully high note. Gill was used to it and he paid the cracking voice no mind. “Yes, I know I was being stupid---and stubborn. But anyway, when I presented my book on weather control, I traded my time as a weather technician to get my pilot’s wings back.”
Conrad was sad to hear that. The two of them had started the weather control company with the thrill of bringing a new frontier of both business and science to Earth. The last Conrad knew; that sentiment had never faded from either stallion. “I was under the impression you loved your weather job. You’re not going to quit are you?”
Highwind slumped a little in his chair and stared out into the black night for the longest time. His answer did not come for a solid minute. “Con, switch to channel two.”
Both ponies did so for privacy. “We’ve spent enough time together to know each other well enough. And you know as well as I do that that we pegasi love to fly. Hell, love is too weak of a word. We were created to fly. It’s in our blood.” He shifted position so he could flare a wing. “I know you can feel it. We’re in the air, but not under our own power.”
Conrad felt his own wings begging to fly. It had been over a year since he rode in an aircraft, and that made his feathered limbs fidget even worse. “I’ve seen quite a few pegasi who might argue against it being in our blood, but I do feel it. I prefer to hover or fly instead of walking or standing when I can help it.”
Highwind did a double take at his friend’s admission while lowering his wing back down. “And I thought I had it bad.”
Conrad shrugged with his wings, if only for an excuse to move them. “I try not to think of it as a negative. But Alex-“ He turned back to look at his alpha. The mare’s wings twitched in what looked like restless sleep. “I’m not exactly sure with her, seeing as she’s only one third pegasus. But I think she’s got the whole package of all three tribes, quirks and all.” I’m not sure how she manages to balance the three.
Gill accepted the assessment of alicorn, if only to return the topic to himself. “I think I derailed my own point. But what I’m trying to say is that I loved the air back when I was still human. I’m a pilot through and though. I don’t think I’ll ever fully quit the weather industry, but the cockpit is my home, and the air is my backyard.” He paused in his speech to answer the airbase’s control tower query.
Conrad was about to leave him to it and return to his mates, but Highwind tugged on his tail to keep him there. After clearing matters up with air traffic control, the blonde haired pegasus spoke to him. “I don’t think I could ever fully quit the weather business. But I will always answer the call for a needed pilot.”
The brown stallion found the causality of Gill’s last comment a little off. He’s not one for random speeches. Before he could inquire further, the helicopter was nearing the pad and Conrad had to retreat back to the passenger compartment.
He found that only Loki was still awake. When the helicopter touched down, she woke up the other mares after putting her laptop away. A look of concern danced over both his and her face when they saw Alexia’s red rimmed eyes. The green mare asked what both were wondering. “Alex are you alright? You look like hell.”
The alicorn rubbed her eyes sleepily. The last thing she wanted was to revisit the source of her fear. “I’ll be fine. Just pre-mission jitters is all.”
Conrad and Loki searched their alpha’s face for a lie. Every member of the herd was an open book to one another, and that made them easily readable as well. However, they were pressed for time with the transport touching down and Tune was rubbing her face to wake up which made the search fruitless.
Loki decided to play it safe and thought of a way to raise her spirits as the group left the dossiers on the Sea Stallion to be returned to Section Nine. “I totally understand,” she said while bumping Alexia to her hooves and nudging her down the ramp with her forehead. “But Old Man Thompson wants us to show the brass we still got what it takes to lead the next gen agents. We can pull the big caper like the old days. Hell we’re not even in our thirties yet, this is our prime!”
The earth pony’s words did more for Alexia than she knew. “Thanks Loki. I needed that.”
Loki smiled, thinking her work was done for the moment and walked the silver alicorn out onto the tarmac as Conrad did the same with Crimson. The group managed to shake off most of the visible signs of their fatigue and meet with a well groomed and smart suited man waiting to escort them to a waiting C-130 Hercules. It was a large transport aircraft that could hold ninety soldiers with ease, so the thirty human paratroopers loading themselves into the aircraft was hardly a challenge for the powerful craft. The drab grey paint would have blended it into the night were it not for the well-lit tarmac. Its four engines were already whining as the pilots finished the preflight checklist.
The man in the black suit saw Tune take the lead and offered his hand to shake while shouting to be heard over the Sea Stallion’s engine. “Special Agent Tune. I’m Case Officer Mercer. I’ll be your handler for this operation.”
Alexia shook the offered hand, noticing it was curt and hard before the man led them towards the Hercules. “You’re coming with us?”
“Only so far as the carrier. I’ll be overseeing you from there.”
Loki took one look between the transport and Mercer. “Are you saying they’re actually going to land that big bird on an aircraft carrier?”
The Case Officer didn’t get a chance to reply because a voice to the green mare’s left answered for him. “It’s not fun to try, but it has been done before.”
Mercer was the only one who did not turn to see Gill Highwind had joined them. Conrad was puzzled by him being there. “Shouldn’t you be flying back home?”
Gill shook his head. “I’ve been assigned to be your pilot. The Bush will offer local air support, but Thompson wanted someone in house to do the personnel transport, and not tethered to the Navy’s command structure.”
Mercer was in agreement. “There are numerous people within both the military and the world over who are extremely opposed to allowing your kind to stay within society, or stay alive. We felt it was best to make sure your exfiltration pilot would not have any reason to—fail in his duties.”
The comment only made Alexia feel worse. I really shouldn’t be surprised. Humans can barely stand each other for petty differences, and here we are being a different species. Will everyone ever see themselves as Terrans? She huffed in mild defeat. I may not see it even with my considerable lifespan.
The group was the last to board the C-130. All thirty paratroopers were already sitting neatly in four rows towards the rear of the aircraft. Each of them eyed the ponies with glances mixed between indifference, amusement, irritation, and a large number of the soldiers found them to be adorable. It was only professional courtesy that kept the latter from trying to pet them as the ponies moved to the front of the aircraft.
Mercer strapped himself into a seat along with the herd plus one stallion. “Its going to be a long flight. I suggest you get some rest. We’ll have plenty of time to go over the mission parameters in the morning.”
Crimson’s fatigue returned in full force. “Sounds good to me.” With Conrad sitting next to her, the pale yellow mare leaned her head over and draped herself over him before promptly falling asleep.
The brown pony laughed inwardly as Alexia did the same a moment later. Well I guess its only fair since I mount them during pleasure time, they get to lie on top of me during sleep.
Little did he know, Tune cast a sleep spell on herself to escape her worries. He glanced to see Mercer was at odds with his seat. The man was trying to hide his effort in keeping his suit from developing wrinkles thanks to the five point harness. I think someone like him would have ended being one of the few of us who still wear clothes on a regular basis had he become a pony.
Loki rested her head on Alexia, having given up on the laptop in the interest of sleep. Of them all, she slept the deepest, completely unaffected by the flight’s noise and occasional turbulence.
The C-130 made its way across the world without incident. Almost everyone, save the pilots, took the opportunity to sleep the time away. Those who couldn’t sleep produced decks of cards or handheld games to toil away the time.
Three of them in particular were near the back ramp playing poker to keep their hands busy during conversation. The dealer was an overly muscle-bound woman who went by the nickname: Buttercup. It was not a name of her choosing. She cast a wiry grin at the private to her right before shifting it to the averagely built man with a snake tattooed on his harm sitting in front of her. “The game is five card stud. Twos, sixes, and one eyed jacks are wild.”
The private went by his last name only: Loewy. He took his cards and spied on them only to not like what he saw and tossed three of them back to the dealer. Why must she always make the cards I don’t have wild?
The tattooed private did the same, but only with two cards. “So what do you think the deal is with our special cargo up there?”
Buttercup finished doling out the first round of cards. “Why should I care? I raise fifty.” The soldier dropped one ten and two twenty dollar bills inside an upturned hat.
The tattooed man craned his neck to look at the sleeping equines before turning back to his hand. “You should. That one over there is the vaunted princess of ponies everywhere. In America anyway,” he added derisively.
Buttercup snorted disdainfully at the memory of seeing that on the news. “We don’t need some damned royal family. Why do you think we rebelled against the Brits eh?” Curiosity got the better of her and she made sure to rest a protective hand over her cards and the deck before stealing a glance at the ponies. “How can you tell its her anyway?”
“That silver and blue one’s got wings and horn. As far as I know, there’s only one person who has both. I’ll match your fifty and raise fifty more.” He tossed several crumbled bills into the pot.
Both the dealer and Loewy met the ante. Buttercup snorted scornfully at the comment. “You make it sound as if those things are actually people Snake.”
Snake eyed her carefully but said nothing. Loewy increased the bet by twenty five. “I don’t see what the big deal is with you BC. Shouldn’t you be up there trying to pet them and give them kissy faces?”
Buttercup was sorely tempted to plant a fist on his mouth, but her revenge was in the cards so she let it slide for the moment. “I might as well. Those things are just one step up from being pets.”
Snake laid his cards face up. “I call. Straight, jack high.”
Loewy tossed his cards to the dealer. “I got nothing.”
Buttercup smirked. “Two twos and three nines, full house.”
“Bah,” Snake growled as he tossed his cards on the deck in front of her. “I wouldn’t go calling those ponies pets if I were you.”
She scoffed at him while raking in her winnings. “I’ll say it to their damned faces. Stupid government’s giving them way too much freedom. They need to be kept under heel.”
The other player made a sound of disbelief as he took his new cards. “This coming from the woman who marched at the front of the pride parade,” he said mockingly.
This time she actually did punch somebody, and her victim was glad he was wearing a combat loadout so the impact would only leave a bruise instead of a dislocated shoulder. “You know damn well what I mean,” she hissed. “Those things aren’t human.”
“They used to be,” Snake commented offhandedly while checking his new cards and tossing one away.
Buttercup gave up a card while casting him a scathing glare. “You don’t really believe those lies from the media do you? There ain’t no way those things used to be human.”
Loewy pulled out a photograph depicting a man fleeing from the cameraman. A bright green tail and aqua fur ears were clearly visible. “So I guess this is just a Photoshop then huh?”
She grunted dismissively while upping the ante again. “Fifty in. Loewy, you should know by now that computers could make Godzilla look like he was having tea with Slayer.”
“I took this picture myself Buttercup,” Loewy declared a little too loudly.
“Yeah?” she responded accusingly. “And everyone knows you love doctoring photos for blackmail. So that pic isn’t worth the paper its printed on. I’m telling you guys, these ponies are nothing more than some jacked up social experiment on top of a Skynet invention with a cute face. I went to the science fair last time it was in Kansas. I saw both that green one and the silver one on stage claiming they were robots during the main exposition.”
I’m shocked to know you actually went there willingly. Snake thought to himself as he dumped more bills into the pot. “Don’t you think they would have lied about their origins? Saying you’re a robot is easier for people to believe than saying you were magically turned into a different species.”
Buttercup added more bills. “Raise sixty. That’s because they were trying to create conspiracies man. You get people from different areas saying the same thing came from different sources and people will never know what to believe. But I know for a fact that the science fair was the first we had ever seen one of those robot horses in public. That truth was snuffed out of the airwaves faster than greased lightning. I even had all of the video from my computer erased.”
“I see you, and raise another twenty.” Loewy dropped more bills in the pot while giving Buttercup an admonishing stare. “You could just ask them.”
She met the ante. “Lot of good that’ll do. You saw that suit they were talking with earlier. I bet the spooks made sure they were programmed to lie about it all. And I’ll tell you another thing. That silver one didn’t have wings when I saw her at the fair, nor on TV with Fitzgerald. There’s no way a flesh and blood creature just up and grows wings like that. I’m telling you she’s a robot that got upgraded for obeying her masters.”
Snake looked at her as if he was beholding a moron. “Or it could be—ya know. Magic.”
She returned the expression back at him. “You’re not going to tell me magic is real are you? I guess you still fantasize about Hermione and-.”
“Say another word, and I’ll tell the company about the layers incident.” Snake very calmly interrupted her.
Buttercup snarled at the prospect. “You wouldn’t dare!”
The nearby lieutenant was sick of the conversation keeping him awake. The droning engines were possible to ignore since they were a constant sound, but the talking was highly disruptive to him. He bent around the center isle to stare them down. “Save the bickering for tomorrow night or I’ll have the three of you swimming laps around the Bush.”
A round of affirmatives silently rang out from the players and they packed up the winnings and cards. Buttercup flashed Snake a “this isn’t over” face before trying to grab some sleep.
Snake brushed it off and tried to catch some sleep. Loewy took one last look at the ponies. I’d still like to get a chance to talk to one of them before making any real judgments.
It was well into the afternoon by the time the C-130 was flying over the far western edge of the Sahara Desert. The herd had a light meal scant twenty minutes ago and plenty of water before the cargo doors opened up. Loki and Crimson were strapped to Conrad and Alexia respectively.
The alicorn was not happy. I haven’t really been exercising my wings enough for this. So why did I say yes? The intimidating desert below and the prospect of Crimson’s added weight dragging them both down to a gravity induced death was not doing the mare’s nerves any favors.
The jump light on the side of the ramp was blinking yellow for three seconds before switching to a sold green. Mercer’s voice yelled in her ears via radio. “Operation is a go. Jump!”
Not willing to let it seem that a winged pony was afraid of jumping out of an aircraft in front of the herd, thirty paratroopers, and her Case Officer; Alexia tightened telekinetic grip on the pale yellow mare and jumped out of the Hercules. Conrad and Loki were right behind them, hooping and cheering at the adrenaline rush.
The silver alicorn reeled Crimson in so both mares could wrap their legs around each other. Tune angled them so her nose would be slightly below the horizon then opened her wings to ease into a glide. Despite the added weight and the looming fears in the back of her mind, the feel of the wind in her mane, the speed, and the call of the air reinvigorated the alicorn’s mood. However, there was one thing putting a damper on the moment. Anderson’s death grip on Tune’s neck and waist was sapping her strength and making it hard to breath, let alone fly.
“Hey uh Alex.” Unlike her winged kin, Anderson was heavily influenced by her earth pony nature of not liking to be off the ground. She could handle being in an aircraft without issue, but with nothing more than Alexia’s wings being the only thing between her and plummeting to her death, the earth mare was on the verge of a panic attack. “Any chance we can go slower, or land?”
Tune struggled to fill her lungs, let alone speak. “Crimmy, loosen up will ya? I can’t fly right if your pressing too hard on my ribs.”
The pale yellow mare paled even further when she glanced at the sand dunes whipping by at over fifty miles per hour as Alexia leveled out a few hundred feet above the deck. It was an act of extreme willpower that Crimson loosened up a bit. She closed her eyes and held on for dear life. “Tell me when its over okay?”
Loki was thoroughly enjoying herself. The green mare kept trying to act like it was roller coaster ride and threw her forelegs out while cheering. “Woo yeah! Damn samurai, you’ve got to take me in air the more often.”
Conrad looked over to his wingmate, who was less than twenty feet away to his left, and saw the sorry state Anderson was in. He pitied Alexia, but there was nothing he could do for her at the moment. The group needed to fly seventy miles before landing, and then walk the last twenty on hoof.
“Glad you like it,” he said returning his attention to his passenger. “I just might take you up more often when we get back home.”
The flight was gruelingly long for both Crimson and Tune, but the alicorn managed to stay airborne for an hour. Alexia was not in bad physical shape, but she had not trained herself for either marathon nor heavyweight flying and was flagging badly. Even Tune’s earth pony side couldn’t prolong the inevitable and she started trying to slow down and descend at the same time. Anderson alarmingly noticed the impending crash and promptly freaked out.
Crimson had been hearing Alexia’s breathing was ragged for some time, and she could tell they were falling at a speed far too quick to be healthy even with the silver mare’s attempts to slow down. “Alex. I know I wanted to land, I really really do; but not this faaaaasst!”
Anderson barely cleared the sand dune before finding the tether holding their harnesse together had been cut loose by Alexia’s magic and her legs were telekinetically pulled off of the alicorn. Crimson hit the sloping sands at twenty miles per hour and rolled down the dune while barely remembering to tuck into a ball. Tune barely had the strength to clear the next sand dune and make sure she would roll along her side so her horn wouldn’t get caught in the sand. The alicorn barely managed to fold her wings in tight before gravity fully claimed her.
Conrad dove down to catch up to the two mares rolling down to the bottom of the dune. “Loki, I’m going to cut you loose so you can help Crimson. I’ll go after Alex.”
“Bombs away!” The green mare saluted and hit the release on the tether. She fell to the sand giggling cheerfully. She rolled down the dune with the laptop tucked in her legs so it would avoid getting damaged and went forty five feet before coming to a rest next to an extremely dizzy Crimson. Seeing that the pale yellow mare was not in pain, Loki flopped on her back, laughing at the roll down the hill. “Now that was some serious fun. I can’t believe we’ve been missing out on this kinda thing back home.”
Anderson was trying her best to keep her breakfast in her stomach. “I’ll pass on that source of fun thanks.” Once the world around her stopped spinning, she gave herself a once over. “No broken bones, and no damaged or lost equipment—except for having sand everywhere,” she growled with a twitching eyebrow. “I think I’m good.”
Loki jumped to her hooves and shook herself like a dog to try and dislodge some of the sand in her fur. “Great! Boss mare fell down way over that way. If she’s hurt we’ll need you to help fix her.”
Anderson watched Loki happily trot towards the alicorn’s crash site whistling a merry tune. “She is one crazy mare.”
Sand. Sand, boiling heat, along with aches and pains ruled Alexia’s world after she finally came to a halt at the bottom of the next dune over. Her wings were a mess in both stinging fatigue and ruffled feathers from the fall. I really should have cut down on the caramel apples, but they are just so damned good. Throw some almonds on them; maybe double dip the caramel after the nuts… Maybe stick my hoof in the cameral dip and skip the apple… I could really use some caramel right now.
Tune’s brief dreams of sugary delight were banished by the sound of feathers ruffling on air. She kept her eyes shut so the blowing sand would get into eyes since the goggles had been wrenched out of place on the way down. “You look like hell Alex.”
The stallion gripped her harness in his mouth and helped pull her to her hooves. “I feel like hell.” Conrad helped cleanse some of the sand out of her mane and tail while she used her magic to put her goggles back in place. “Thanks Conny.”
“No problem. We should get moving soon though. We don’t want to stay in one place without shade.”
“I can fix that in a minute.” Tune inspected her wings by trying to unfold them, but the hour long flight with over double her normal weight had left them so sore she couldn’t even fully extend them. “Ow.” She cringed in pain before folding them back into their normal resting place. “That could have gone better. How are you’re wings holding up?”
Conrad flexed his feathery appendages to ease out the stiffness that was starting to settle in. “Not too badly. You really need to learn how to ride the thermals better. You were exerting yourself far more than necessary.”
Tune’s fear over losing a herdmate had soured her mood, causing her to take the comment personally. “Yeah well you try juggling magic studies, training cadets, motherhood, East constantly begging me for public appearances, trying to keep your coat and mane as perfect as possible so you look good on camera, and then tell me to throw in advanced flying techniques.” Tune snapped while struggling to keep her hooves from shifting too much in the sand.
He assumed Alexia to be a rather stable individual, and not prone to emotional outburst. As such, he was taken aback by the venom in her words. “I know it was a rough landing, but I think you did rather well considering we were living the soft life up until yesterday.”
She wasn’t sure if he was patronizing her, or being sincere. She decided to take it as a complement and hung her head apologetically. “Sorry, I’ve just been under a lot of stress.”
Before he could comfort her, the two earth mares arrived with Loki shouting a greeting. “Hey ho Silver! You’ve given me the itch to get a dune buggy.” Crimson grumbled about an extremely uncomfortable itch of her own.
Alexia shook off her irritation and adopted the demeanor of mission leader. She ignored her physical condition to bring things into order. “Maybe later Loki. Right now,” she faced Conrad, “since you’re still able to fly, I want you to go up and find us a path through the dunes. Be sure not to go too high or you might get spotted by any possible patrols.”
He nodded as he fell back into the mission at hand. “I’ll try to keep the summits between us and the sun.”
He took to the air, giving Tune the chance to face Crimson. “I want you to double check both of our physical states, make sure our fall didn’t cause any injuries we can’t feel.”
The medic was going to suggest that anyway and dipped her head in obedience. “Since neither one of us are limping or bleeding, I’d say we’re in decent shape. But if its all the same let me check you first then.”
Alexia nodded her compliance before switching to Loki. “Get Mercer on the horn. Let him know we didn’t make the LZ and we’ll be behind schedule.”
“Got it boss.”
With the orders given, Tune let the pale yellow medic give her a full visual inspection. Anderson started with the wings, careful not to put any unnecessary strain on the silver mare’s tired muscles. The alicorn winced as her left wing was pulled partially open. With the situation back under control, Tune dropped some of her commander’s air. “Sorry about this Crim. I should have tried to find a shallower dune to crash on.”
Anderson tutted her alpha’s apology away as unnecessary. “Honey, I’m just glad to be back on solid ground.” Both mares looked down at the sand. “Well, solid enough. And it was partially my fault for not getting over the whole ‘flying while not in an aircraft’ thing.’ I should have trusted your abilities more.” The silver mare smiled weakly at her mate’s reassurances while Crimson gently tugged on her wing. “Does this cause any pain or discomfort?”
The azure haired mare hissed as pain lanced down the entire appendage from tip to shoulder. “Yes, please let go.” The medic did so which allowed her to refold her wing against her barrel. “I think I took a hard hit on the way down.”
“Well it doesn’t help that your wing bones are hollow. I need to check for a fracture.”
By the time Conrad and Loki finished their tasks, Crimson’s examination was mostly complete. Loki muted her microphone now that her conversation with Mercer was over. “What’s the prognosis doc?”
“Boss girl here has a sprained left wing and a few broken feathers on each.” She faced her alpha. “You’re lucky it was sand we landed on instead of the mountainous forests back home.”
“My legs are still fine, and we need to walk the distance anyway.” Tune cast an opaque shield above them to provide the group some much needed shade.
“Well it’s a good thing too. You’re in no shape to fly for at a minimum of twenty four hours,” Anderson announced. “And only after you let me finish plucking these broken feathers.”
With yelps of pain at each feather being pulled, the alicorn listened in on Loki’s report. With their shafts broken, the mana bled away from the ruined feathers, causing them to turn grey and brittle after being detached from their owner. The vanes decayed so rapidly that they were reduced to ash within seconds, leaving only the crumbling shafts.
The trio of mares gave the event barely a momentary glance before returning to their conversation. Only Alexia’s feathers decayed in that fashion, and only when the feather is broken and plucked from her wing. It gave Conrad a start the first time it happened, but a quick talk with Twilight said it was normal for an alicorn’s feathers.
Loki tried poking the spellbound sunscreen, but her hoof moved right passed it as if it was air. “Mercer said our timetable needs to be kept on schedule. We’re going to need to book it to make up for lost distance.”
It came to no surprise to the lone stallion. “If we can maintain a brisk pace, this shouldn’t be too difficult thanks to this shade spell of yours.” He eyed the blanket of tan color mana that spread out in an arching hemisphere roughly seventeen feet in diameter. The surface seemed to dance and swirl as if it was a mirage of sand. “That’s not going to be too taxing it is?”
Tune scoffed while blowing her long bangs out of her eyes. “If there’s one thing I have too much of, its mana. Let’s move out.”
As the equines followed after their alpha, the desert welcomed them with all the kindness it was known for.
Heat. Relentless, oppressive, and omnipresent. The Sahara was known for many things, and mercy was not one of them.
Even with the magical sunscreen and decent supply of water, the trek across the burning sands of the Sahara was anything but pleasant. The pounding heat of the mid afternoon sun pounded away at the ponies. The desert seemed to laugh at Alexia’s magic, for the sun did not just press down on them from above. It came at them from every angle imaginable.
The sun’s rays bounced off the pale dunes around them and slipped under the arrogant shield and pelted the equines with heat that was only compounded by hot sands beneath their hooves. Crimson looked worriedly at the sunscreen. That thing is making me think we’re in a pissin’ oven.
As if that were not enough, the inexperienced desert travelers were hammered by windblown sand. The gritty course particles got everywhere, niggling away at the ponies as they trekked across the endless dune sea.
Loki bent her neck to the right and kicked the side of her head to knock some sand out of her ear. I could really use that dune buggy right about now. She turned to Alexia who was trying to just focus on putting one hoof in front of the other. “Hey magic mare, got any ice spells by chance?”
Alexia shook her head. “That would be a really bad idea.”
The others looked at her in disbelief. The dark red haired earth mare voiced the shared concern. “Are you sure the heat’s not getting to you? She said ice, not fire.”
“I heard what she said,” Tune halfheartedly growled back. She was angry more with herself for crash and beyond irritated by the sweltering desert that was so hot, no sweat clung to her body. All of it evaporated the moment it left her pores. It was so bad that the metallic invisibility bracelets threatened to cause burns so everyone removed the fetlock burners and sat them on top of the CamelBak. “Ice doesn’t just come from nowhere, I have to dump the thermal energy somewhere to make ice and that would mean making the air around us even hotter.”
“Wouldn’t all this wind blow that heat away?”
The bleary alicorn looked at Conrad for a few seconds as if regarding him for the first time. The desert was cooking her brain to the point where higher logic was nearly impossible. “Umm--- Maybe?” She blinked, but her eyes couldn’t manage to do them in sync. “I didn’t think of that.”
Loki flopped on the ground next to her. “Could you do it fast? I’m sorta dying here.” Her tongue lolled out her mouth in an otherwise comical fashion.
The green mare’s words cut straight through Alexia’s sluggishness and terrified her. Tune’s synapses started firing again as she saw her mate on the cusp of heat stroke. She dropped the sunscreen to focus on gathering her magic to try and pull the thermal energy out of each pony and send it into the sand and out into the air.
The effect was immediate and the group felt much cooler, but the surrounding air and ground became even hotter than before. Loki yelped from the conflicting energies as Alexia tried to push the heat out of her green mate, but the thermal imbalance tried to force the energy to go right back in. “Eoowwiiee! I’m awake I’m awake!” She was on her hooves in a second, glad that her boots separated her from the ground.
Tune cut the spell off leaving everyone refreshed and the wind carried most of the boiling air away. Crimson felt a cold induced shiver run down her spine. “This can’t be a healthy way to cool off.”
Alexia reformed the sunscreen. “I may have been a bit overzealous,” she admitted hastily. “We need to get off the sand or it might start melting our boots.”
Not wanting to even question such a claim, the mares ran several meters further along the path while Conrad simply took to the air. He raced to be adjacent to Alexia. “We should rest some time soon. We’ll be at the location in less than forty minutes if we resume our original speed.”
Tune shook her head. “We shouldn’t let our guard down so close to the objective. There’s no telling if they send patrols out or not.”
Crimson was in agreement and scanned the crest of the dune they were standing beside. “We have to assume they do. And we’re going to suffer heat stroke if we don’t get out of the open soon.”
Loki took a long drag of water from her CamelBak. The water was almost scalding her tongue thanks to Alexia spellwork, but the green mare sucked it down anyway until she was panting for breath. “Ya know with all this lack of sweat. I think I miss being furless… But I’m not sure yet.”
The earth mare’s moderately nonsensical phrasing did not go unnoticed, Alexia most of all. In the corner of her vision, the alicorn’s long bangs hover low enough that she could see the pink stripe in her hair. For the briefest of seconds, she imagined it fading back to its original azure. “We can’t linger anymore.”
Eager to see something other than the unending trackless sands, the herd followed after the galloping princess. Anderson’s prediction of a heat stroke only confirmed the alicorn’s own pressing anxiety. Just hang on a bit longer guys.
Conrad and Anderson shared a knowing look with each other as their alpha’s distress threatened to become detrimental to her ability to lead. With a nod to the red haired mare, Conrad pressed forward in to be side by side with Tune while Crimson kept an eye on the flagging Loki. Alex is running from more than the Sahara.
The pegasus saw she was suffering emotionally, and could guess at the source. Stop grieving for us when we’re still here Alex. He hoped she would not fall apart before he had time to confront her with this, but the mission had to come first.
While ever mindful of succumbing to the elements of the merciless desert, Tune was bound and determined to get to the objective. Mercer said the only activity the satellites detect are the irregular deliveries going in and out by cargo truck. I bet they actually don’t send patrols because that could be detected.
Thirty minutes into the run, Alexia cut off her sunscreen and trudged up the last sand dune. “This should give us a view of the target area.”
The four equines saw the early evening sun cast the small collection of camouflage tarps in a rather anticlimactic light. The facility seemed more like an abandoned World War Two supply depot more than anything else. From their ground side view from on top of a smallish sand dune, they were able to peer beneath the camo tarps roughly two hundred and fifty meters away.
The whole area was nestled in a large flat track of sand with only one last dune between the tarps and a vast stretch of flat sand beyond it. At a distance, the depot looked for all the world to be abandoned. Nothing moved save what was disturbed by the dying down wind. Unfortunately details were difficult to come by at such a distance. Conrad and Loki scanned their surroundings and found nothing that would hint at the presence of any patrols or stationary guards. The green mare wanted to get out of the baking sun, but avoiding a bullet wound was also high on her list of priorities. She tapped Tune with a hoof. “Place looks empty. What do we do?”
Alexia’s muzzle scrunched in contemplation after shuffling behind the crest of the dune. “Intel has it that this place is getting irregularly timed shipments, so it can’t be truly abandoned. I bet there are a few traps or alarms if anyone tries to approach the facility.” A superior smirk creased her face. “Gather up, I’m going to teleport us to that collection of barrels on the far side.”
The herd huddled around their alpha as the alicorn popped her head back over the dune to get a visual on the supply cache to pick a destination. Better go ahead and weave in my ward against antimagic fields. The last thing I need is to get cut off.
Tune’s horn radiated a nearly blinding azure light as she weaved the spell into being. In a flash of blue light and a slight clap of air, the four ponies disappeared from behind the dune and rematerialized in the middle of a large collection of rusting oil drums. Once the non-alicorns recovered from the teleport, they automatically spread out to carefully search the area.
The depot was of moderate size. Fuel drums lined the entire perimeter, save for the front gate. The containers were either bone dry, or filled with ruined lubricants. The barrels were typically stacked three high, but several breaks in the form of toppled cans allowed the three searching equines to map the area. Tune remained behind to try and program in a Mion detection diagram in her harness’s computer.
The depot had several structures including a single barracks and two separated five car garages with an additional seven open air repair stations for tanks. Both former criminals noticed several old vehicles were still present. Three partially broken stripped-down halftracks sat in the garages while two Tiger tanks sat on the open repair bays.
One of the last two structures was an armory that Crimson explored briefly after risking a venture from the fuel drums. It was two stories tall and was still crammed with munitions ranging from tank rounds to small arms and ammunition for the ten eighty eight millimeter anti-aircraft guns that were cooking in the arid climate around the depot.
The final structure looked to be the command center, but was structurally unsound thanks to the half dozen holes left behind by Allied bombing from almost a century ago. There was nothing to suggest that the depot had been touched by anything other than sand save for the very feint single line of tire tracks. Leading up to the center open space of the depot, but then turning around and leaving.
Conrad was the first to return to Alexia with news. He could tell right away that she was having some difficulty getting the holographic diagram working, but he ignored it to give his report. “I checked out the garages and the camo tarps. Nothing looks like its been touched since the war. Tools, engine parts, and the garages in general are covered in sand. If there is anyone here, the only sign of it would be the tarps. They look old, but I can’t believe the desert wouldn’t have ripped some of them off by now. As it is, the entire complex is still fully covered by them.”
Loki bounced over a tipped over barrel as the pegasus was giving more details about the mountings holding the tarps in place. “Whoever resecured them used old pikes and rope and it all looks like it was done by the Germans, but I just don’t buy it.”
Tune nodded as she digested the information. “Loki, boot that laptop and write down his findings while you tell me your own.”
“Righto!” The green mare was thrilled at finally being in some real shade again, and the wall of fuel drums kept the sand laced wind from depositing more granules into her fur and mane. She sat on her haunches and spoke while waiting for the computer to wake up. “All of the fuel drums here are empty or filled with gunk. There’s no way the gas Thompson’s intelligence team discovered is being stored in these things.”
She rapped a hoof on a nearby empty barrel to emphasize her point. “The CC’s trashed. It’s a wonder the thing is still standing after all this time. The tanks in the yard won’t be moving any time soon, as the engines and main guns have all been sabotaged; likely from the retreating Germans.”
Anderson arrived last with a plastic bottle in her mouth as she navigated the toppled barrels with more grace than Loki did. She lowered her head to place the bottle quietly at her alpha’s feet so she could speak. “Found this discarded water bottle in the barracks.” Alexia used her kinesis to bring it up to her eyes which immediately fell upon the trace of water at the bottom. “I know the tarps keep this place relatively cool, but there’s no way liquid water could stay for long around here.”
“This means someone was here very recently,” Tune replied with a satisfied grin. “Excellent find.” She turned to Loki. “Did Mercer say there’s been any recent activity in the area?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t say anything, but then again, I didn’t ask.”
“Ask,” Tune commanded. “I will operate under the assumption that there hasn’t been unless you tell me otherwise.” Loki nodded her understanding and backed away to speak away from the conversation. Tune faced her other two mates. “Keep an eye out while I finish this divination diagram. If this is just a meeting place, I need to see if there might be someone still nearby. But I don’t want any surprises if someone comes back.” Hopefully I’ll be able to get the stupid thing done by nightfall.
The ponies broke up to leave Alexia in peace while keeping watch over the area. Tune pulled the two electronic styluses out of her pouch again and stared at the infernal things with a glare that could boil paint. I’m so used to drawing on a hard surface that writing on thin air is a serious pain in the flank.
Her aching wings had settled down to a dull throbbing discomfort. The silver mare’s mastery over her telekinesis was to the point where she could gently massage her stiff muscles while still being able to focus on the two pens. However that was mostly because she was used to drawing arrays with up to ten pieces of chalk at a time.
“I love the idea of a computer assisted holographic array, because that will allow me to conjure one up in an instant, but I still have to enter in correctly or its worthless.” This is probably just a meeting place and the Mions are using some other location out in the desert to house the lab itself.
She reactivated the hologram with the outer ring appearing a foot in front of her by default so she had a frame of reference. She started painting in the first dozen lines to exacting specifications. But it never hurts to be thorough. I’m going to drop a scan for a five mile radius and see if anything pops up.
An hour passed with nothing to do but stand watch as Tune tried to learn how to draw on air. Loki was becoming rather bored at that point as Mercer assured her that nothing had slipped in or out of the facility within the past twelve hours. She looked to her fellow earth pony for amusement, but Crimson was in the middle of combing her tail. The green mare blinked in dumbstruck amazement for a moment before speaking. “You brought a hair brush with you?”
Anderson looked up from her work, with the grooming implement in her mouth and carefully placed it in a side pocket so she could speak. “What? There’s nothing here. We’ve triple checked everything and the place is empty. There's not even any footprints around besides our own. I just thought with having nothing better to do than twiddle our nonexistent thumbs, I’d get rid of some of these tangles.”
Loki shrugged. “I hear ya. I don’ know what the mage hopes to find with the array. This is probably just a rendezvous place.” She stood up and arched her back to stretch.
Conrad had been listening in on the conversation from on top of stacked barrels. Whenever he wasn’t flying, he preferred to be on raised platforms or furniture. “You guys don’t think we might be sitting on top of an underground facility by chance do you?”
Both mares gave him a quizzical look with Crimson huffing in amusement. “No one is dumb enough to make an underground complex in sand. That’s just stupid.”
He waved an indignant hoof in the air. “You don’t honestly believe the desert is nothing but sand between here and the mantle do you?”
“Of course not! But I also know sand is way too unstable for that kind of construction.”
As her two mates bickered, Loki’s tail twitched. She froze for almost four seconds until her tail twitch a second time. She twisted around to grab it in her forelegs. “Somethings coming.”
Anderson stopped mid-sentence and both other ponies turned towards Loki. “What?”
The green mare looked at her twitching tail. “Something’s coming!” She let go of the awry appendage and jumped up two stacks of barrels to pull Conrad off the stack of barrels and down to the dirt.
“Heeey!” He grunted in mild pain and surprise as he hit the ground. He blinked a few times to get his eyes refocused. “Give me a warning before you do stuff like that wouldja?”
Loki’s answer came in the form of grumbling machinery under their hooves and the large empty marshaling area opened into a yawning tunnel where a heavy laden flatbed truck grumbled out from underground.
The ponies ducked behind the wall of fuel barrels and peeked out from breaks in the drums. They went unnoticed by the driver of the first truck and the three that came after it. As soon as the fourth truck left the broken down security gate, the large trap doors closed back up. A massive fan revealed itself from the sealed off part of the nearby barracks and kicked up a small dust storm to conceal the doors with a layer of sand. The equines ducked behind the rattling stacks of barrels, trying to protect themselves from the sandstorm. After two minutes, the fan receded back into the barracks and the depot fell silent once more, save for the distant sound of grumbling engines.
Conrad popped up out of cover and smirked in the direction of the trap doors and jabbed Crimson in the shoulder. “Ha! Called it.”
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Now I won't be able to sleep
Oh God how I love this story
I just like to point out how horrible this typo got.
A genuine pig is very different from a guinea pig.
Bad pre-reader missed a lot of errors this time too.
I'm very curious exactly what role all these side characters you're mentioning here and there will do. The marine who found the machine that made clouds I get, but not the Russians nor the three soldiers introduced here. I can just hope none of them do anything stupid, like actually think they're robots.
I had decided to take a drink of cola during this sentence.
That was a bad idea, because it was followed by this one.
And then I choked on a mouthful of Dr Pepper getting stuck between my nose and my throat due to sudden laughter. Thanks.
3030707
You're welcome.
3029506
They'll at least think they're cute robots.
fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/070/7/2/sweetie_bot_by_mel_the_shadow_lover-d4sgat8.jpg
3029161
Who needs sleep when thar be ponies about!
We expected the lab to be underground, I'm kinda surprised that that idea wasn't vocalized earlier.
Alexia's difficulty using the airpens are precisely the reason true artists will never use such a thing in real life. Still, much props to Pack Rat for the idea. It would have been impossible to draw stable diagrams on sand!
Keep going! ;)
Magitech :D. Digital magic :D. I'm loving this story more and more. The mechanics of magic fall close to my personal head canon for magic general. :D
3029506
The Russians will somehow make Alexia a religious figure or create a religion centered on Alexia later in the story, I think?
The soldier may be another one who will create an opposite faction to that, maybe?
If the author wants to give us spoilers I'm sure he will (un-)confirm these theories.
:3
2995414
I guess that makes sense...
Sense.
So, this story, so far so good, its hard these days to come over a story that actually creates.. well, if not really possible, but at least plausible situations, its even harder to find a story that is at the same time original(-ish), well written(good grammar), (semi-)realistic and a sequel.
And this is all of them, in one way or another.
Good luck with this one <3
i love your two stories, over the past two days I read the first one than through this one and i can't wait for more. Very good job with the whole story in general. I shall give you 5 mustaches
3038671 Or the Butch lesbian may find herself with hooves in short order...
Discord said 4 million over the course of several years, so the changes are still going on.
And the ponies have already set her up as a deity, she just chooses to ignore the religious implications of it, while begrudgingly accepting the royal status.
Discord pretty much guaranteed it when he made her the catalyst of pony conversion survival.
3057671
Anything could happen!
On the topic of spellcraft and programming yes the are great comparisons since for programming in different languages you need the right compiler to test it. Thus with magic you need the right form and the right material. I just felt like saying stuff about it here even though the story does a good enough job.
As frustratingly wrong Buttercup is, it's very sound logic based on the evidence she has. I can certainly see myself thinking the way she does in her shoes.
And... Loki has Pinkie Sense. Wow.
did you perhaps mean drab green? because drag green would be fabulously odd.
I'm trying to figure where in Algeria they're at, because the mission briefing made it sound like the target was one of those nasty goddamn Western Saharan refugee/militia camps that the Algerian junta maintains to screw with the Morroccans, but then we get all this Nazi crap, whereas the Afrika Corps and Fifth Panzer Army never operated southwest of Kasserine, for the very good reason that nothing of strategic relevance exists that far south and west. The Germans operated within a hundred miles of the sea, and then only to protect their flanks. The logistics dumps hugged the coast for the very good reason that hauling supplies overland devoured fuel like a sonofamule.
THEY ARE SITTING RIGHT ABOVE GIANT UNDERGROUND FACILITY!!!
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I haven't doubt for a second.