Virtue and Vice: Equestria

by enigmaMystere

Equus Tactics #39

The large lounge Winter leads them to proves to be quite comfortable in both appearance and function. The entire room seems to radiate a sort of warmth, despite the fire not being lit during the day. Paintings of the rising or setting sun can be seen on the walls, and there are a few instances of the mark of the Solar Diarch being engraved on a piece of furniture. The inhabitants seem to all be enjoying the room in their own way.

On one couch, a bit of a distance away from the others, curls a ball of both white feathers and golden brown fur. Every so often, the form shifts and a sharp beak can be seen just below a peering set of golden eyes before the ball curls up tighter, curls its wings around itself as it gets comfortable.

Much like in the Stealth team, this group also features two changelings that are in complete comfort with those around them. The first is a tall, lanky drone. His goldenrod chitin perfectly suits the room as he sits in front of a canvas, paintbrush gliding along its surface as he creates the beginnings of a beautiful landscape.

The second occupies herself with a game of chess. While not as tall as the drone, the pure white changeling cuts a striking figure as her silver eyes focus on the game in front of her. Tucking one translucent lock behind her ear, her horn lights up and moves her knight. The piece clacks down confidently as she smiles at her opponent.

Across the table from her, a dark red earth pony stallion smiles back with just as much confidence. His black mane gives him an overall dark color scheme to rival her light one. His short tail swishes once in thought before he nudges one of his own pieces forward, giving her a challenging look.

Finally, off on the last couch, a single unicorn mare sits. Her brilliantly spiked blue mane is just as noticeable as her trademark purple shades that reflect the light. In her lap, she works to bring the same shine to a curious blade. Obviously a custom katana, the slim blade is dark while its edge is yellow. A jewel in the handle and runes around it suggest more to it than meets the eye.

“Meet the team, Maud,” Winter says with a small chuckle. “Hope none of them scare you, because you’ll probably be hanging around them for a while.”

“Understood.” The mare seems a little distracted at the moment as she looks straight at the white nymph. Her nose sniffs every few seconds, as if smelling something quite interesting.

The fox between them notices this, purposely moving to stand in front of her. His eyes narrow slightly at her. ‘Win, this lady is acting strange.’ He pauses, considering the pony a moment. ‘Er… stranger than usual…’

Winter looks down at Mercury, then sighs. “Merc, you see the group we’re involved in?” He moves his hoof, gesturing to the inhabitants of the room. “No one here isn’t strange in some way.”

Still with her eyes trained on the nymph, Maud speaks. “Are you going to introduce me to them?” It’s true that nopony had noticed the small group enter, occupied as the rest of them already were.

With a nod, the stallion leads the mare over to the two playing the game of chess, deciding they were the least preoccupied. “Hey, Dior. Hydro. I want you to meet the newest addition to the team.”

The nymph turns to look at them, blinking in surprise. “So… this is the pony you were talking about, Solstice?”

A nod. “Maud Pie, meet two other members of the Tactics team.” Gesturing to the nymph, he begins introductions. “This is Diorite, and the stallion is Hydro Pump.”

As the nymph and stallion in question raise forelegs in greeting, Maud leans forward closer to the white limb. She sniffs once before commenting quietly. “Marble. Pure. Excellent sample.”

Quietly, Winter leans down to whisper in his fox friend’s ear. “Okay, yeah. This is new levels of weird.”

He looks up at him, smirking slightly. ‘Told you.’

Dior stares, slightly perturbed. “Yea… that’s what I made my body out of…” She clears her throat, sheepishly smiling. “So… I take it you’re into geology?”

Backing up a step to a more reasonable conversation distance, Maud nods, seeming ever so slightly more energetic than usual. “I grew up on a rock farm, so rocks are what I was raised to know. I’ve seen and studied many kinds, but never a being made entirely of rock. You chose a wise balance of appearance, density, weight, and stability in your marble.”

“I, uh… thanks?” She nervously laughs, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m not entirely rock, though. Gotta have certain items that rock can’t handle perfectly.”

As Hydro watches on with a small smirk, Maud continues. “True. Are you a geologist as well?”

Her brow furrows, the nymph having a bit of difficulty telling if it was a question. “I… no, but I’m a sculptor. I also… have a bit of an affinity when it comes to rocks and other geologic formations.”

Her lips curling up into a rare small smile, the earth mare nods. “Wow. We should talk more later. I would like to see some of your work if your shell is an accurate reflection of your usual quality.”

The marble changeling smiles and moves to speak, but is interrupted by the unicorn sitting nearby. “Hey, Sol, who’s the chick?” She stands up, carefully laying the blade down on the couch behind her.

Looking over to the other unicorn, Winter smiles. “Hey, Vi. This is Maud.”

She stares blankly at him. “Maud? As in the word that means strength?”

“What am I, a dictionary?”

“It wouldn’t have helped.” The white mare grins at him. “It’s actually Germaneic.”

“Of course it’s a language I don’t know...” With a sigh, he manages to smile again. “Anyway, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

She shrugs. “Might as well, if she’s the new team member.” She turns to the other mare, smiling cheekily. “‘Sup? I’m Vinyl Scratch! You probably know me as DJ PON-3.”

Going back to her usual flat expression, the earth mare nods once. “I have seen posters of you in many of the cities I travel to. Even some farms near mine would play your music on the radio at times.”

“So you never listened to my music, yourself?” She taps her chin and frowns. “Shame. You look like you’d have enjoyed the trance music. Or maybe rock and roll.”

“Actually,” she responds, “from the ones I heard, I prefer your music that has… the most bass. I think ‘rock and roll’ does not do justice to actual rocks.”

She tilts her head to one side, ears twitching slightly. “That could be either dubstep or electronica. I’d have to listen to the song to be sure, honestly.” She shrugs, bringing her sword forward in her magical aura and smirking playfully. “So, I saw you sniff out Dior’s make. Think you could do that to this?”

Tilting her head as she focuses on the blade, Maud asks, “Just the blade or the handle as well?”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Either one! It’s all the same material, anyways.”

“Hmm…” bringing a hoof up, she lightly touches the blade and runs her hoof down it about an inch, “mythril, rare and tricky to farm. A magical metal few ever see. Small amounts of dusts, topaz and diamond mostly, added for sheen and color of the edge. Shows traces of occasionally having pure magic run through it, no stress lines, holding up well. You might consider reinforcing with cold iron later in its life. The magic resisting properties of that will help stabilize it and make it less prone to cracking or overloading under extreme stress.”

Vinyl stares blankly at the pony, her shades slipping down the bridge of her nose. “I… damn, you’re good.” She chuckles, pulling her sword back and putting it in a nearby sheath. “Surprised you didn’t say anything about the gem in its hilt.”

Maud rattles off immediately. “There isn’t much to say. An average sized ruby with high purity that has been made the focus for the magical energies of the weapon. Beyond that I am unsure, as I do not study magic.”

“Correct again.” She smiles, patting her on the shoulder. “Good on you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got something to go take care of.” She rushes off, waving over her shoulder at her. “See you in a few!”

Maud slowly raises a hoof as the DJ leaves, commenting to the others. “She was nice.”

“Yeah, Vi’s one of the friendlier members of the team,” Winter says. “Then again, most of the team is pretty friendly to begin with...” He glances over at the ball of white feathers and golden brown fur, and adds in a quieter tone, “Most of the team.”

Mercury huffs, climbing up onto the couch the mare vacated. He lays down, grumbling to himself. ‘Still don’t know how the chicken got on the team.’

“Sadly, personality isn’t one of the main things we watch for.” Winter sits down beside the fox as he responds. “Which might be a good thing, in a way. If we refused people because of how they acted, I’m pretty sure I’d have been thrown out by day three.”

His vulpine friend looks up at him, frowning deeply. 'Win, what did I say about thinking like that?'

“Right, right...sorry. Old habits die hard.” He rubs Mercury’s head, to which the fox leans in with a murr. Winter looks from the little guy to another being in the room that had yet to speak. “Hydro, you gonna greet the new girl?”

The red earth pony sitting across from Dior smiles. “Just watching and waiting for a good opening.” He gets up, walking over and offering a hoof to Maud. “Hydro Pump. Glad to see you and my wife were hitting it off so well.”

The mare looks at the offered hoof a moment before shaking it. “She’s interesting. You’re lucky.”

"I think I'm the one who's lucky." The silver nymph smiles, reaching over the board to rustle his black mane. "Even with the treaty, it's hard for someone like me to find that special somepony." She moves her bishop, smirking coyly. "Checkmate."

Flinching, the stallion turns, confirming what she said. “Heh, you won’t win next time.” He grins at the nymph.

She chuckles, picking up the glass pieces and starting to put them away. "Probably. You were distracted, after all."

Looking at the board, Maud comments to no-one in particular. “If you would have moved your rook on your last turn, you would have saved yourself.”

Blinking and looking back at the board, Hydro raises an eyebrow. “Huh… I’ll have to pay more attention next time…” He looks back at his wife. “Even if you’re the reason I get distracted half that time.”

She blushes softly, poking his nose with her queen. "Careful. You know how I am when it comes to affection."

“I knew what I was getting into all those years ago.” He nuzzles her with a grin before turning back to Maud. “This doesn’t bother you, right?”

She retains her flat expression. “Couples always do affectionate things. It’s to be expected. It shows a healthy relationship.”

The fox watches her say all of this without the slightest inflection. He turns to his friend, frowning solemnly. 'I can't even make a joke, here. I honestly don't know if she can be with someone, or how that pink pony said she'd be happy to help.'

The blue unicorn shrugs and answers absentmindedly. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He’s taken to staring across the room at nothing in particular. His small friend looks at him, then follows his line of sight, wondering what he's looking at.

However, a particular ball of feathers and fur doesn’t see it that way. A harsh voice calls out to the fox. “You better not be staring at me again, fuzzball!”

Blinking, Winter glances down and realizes he and Mercury had been staring at the wall above where the ball of feathers was sitting - and, up until that point, apparently sleeping. The unicorn sighs. “Go back to sleep, Gilda. Nobody’s staring at you.”

'I wasn't, but I am now.' He smirks, eyes narrowed as he fixes his gaze on the ball.

“Come on, Merc. Don’t antagonize her,” Winter says quietly so as to not be overheard by anyone but who he was speaking to.

Seeing the two speaking, the ball uncurls to reveal a griffon with light purple tips on some of her face feathers. “He better not be bad-mouthing me again…”

He grins at her, tails swishing contentedly. 'And what if I am? It's not like you'd know, dodo.'

“Merc...” Winter warns out of the corner of his mouth. “...you’re making it hard for me to keep a straight face.”

Predatory eyes narrow at the two. Dior watches their debate from the sidelines, slowly growing concerned. “Should we stop them?”

“No need,” Winter interrupts her. He chuckles. “Doesn’t matter how angry she gets, she can’t assault us unless we strike her first. She can be as moody as she wants.” With that, however, he gives the little fox a light tap on the back of his head. “Seriously though, Merc, knock it off. Trash talking your teammates leads to problems, no matter the reason.”

He huffs, turning away to stare at the tome on the couch. ‘She started it. I was just returning the favor.’

“One party angering another party who responds in kind is how wars get started. So be careful about how you ‘return the favor’.”

Mercury looks at him, ears twitching slightly. ‘So you’re saying I should eat her food stash when she’s not looking?’

A hoof quietly connects with a face as Winter sighs. “...just...ignore her. Don’t do anything to her, and unless a mission requires it, don’t go near her. If I hear about you causing her any problems, you’ll be getting in trouble, just as she would if she caused any such problems for you.” Deciding to go for a possible distraction, he picked up the book his friend had been carrying around. “You want to practice now? I think we’ve introduced Maud to everyone on the team barring Gilda and Flick...and I don’t think we should bother Flick while he’s working.”

He leaps to his paws, grinning widely in excitement. ‘Yes! I want to get better with the number we can do!’

With a smile, the stallion got up as well. “Then let’s go somewhere else and help you get better. No reason to stall improvement, right?”

‘Right!’ He jumps onto his friend’s back, waving at the gray mare. ‘See you later, Stone Pony.’

Bidding his own more comprehensible goodbyes, Winter carries the fox out of the room, leaving the rest of the team to their own devices - literally, in some cases. As soon as he was out of the room and around the corner, Vinyl turned into view and entered the room, missing him by a matter of seconds.

“Done!” The one being who hasn’t spoken this whole time finally steps back from his easel, grinning wide. “This should do well with that unicorn couple…” He trails off as he turns around, staring blankly at the gray mare. “Uh… hey, there.” He quickly recovers, smiling warmly at her. “So what brings you to these parts, Miss…” He trails off, gesturing to her and pointedly ignoring the unicorn waving for his attention.

She regards the drone flatly. “Maud Pie. I’m your new teammate.”

He chuckles, stepping forward. “I’m Flick. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Maud.” He bows politely, never losing that winning smile. “I take it you’re related to Pinkie?”

She blinks, tilting her head slightly and looking curiously at him. “Yes, she is one of my younger sisters. How do you know her?”

“Met her at a wedding.” He shrugs, turning his gaze to her clothes. “Interesting choice of attire. Most ponies don’t wear much, from what I’ve seen.” He moves to the side, his finished painting following behind him. “Most that do are trying to give some kind of message. What are you going for?”

She stays quiet for a few seconds before responding. “Simple, practical, allows free movement, hidden pockets.”

“So,” he props his painting by the hearth and turns to her, “not a statement as much as a toolbelt for your body.”

“Boulder said he liked it and it matched me perfectly,” she responds.

Vinyl throws her hooves up in the air. “Is everyone purposely ignoring me?”

“No.” Flick glances at her, an eyebrow quirked. “I just felt it necessary to chat with Maud, first. What do you need?”

“Where is Sol?” She holds up a small folder. “I have something for him, and he’s not in his office. The big guy out front said he didn’t leave.”

“He probably went to the training room with his fox friend, then. They’ve been going there a lot lately.” He looks back to Maud, smiling warmly. “So, are you a fan of landscapes?” He misses the annoyed unicorn’s expression as she trots away.

Maud nods once. “I like unusual rock formations the most.”

The goldenrod drone blinks, tilting his head to one side. “Rock formations? What about the sky? The rustle of leaves in the wind?”

“Those can be nice,” she clarifies. “I can tell the most from rocks, though, so they are what I like best.”

“I suppose that perceptions do define what one prefers to see.” He taps his chin, walking over to one of the bookshelves behind the other changeling. “What one might find horrifying,” he nods discretely towards the nymph, “others can find beautiful.” He holds up a foreleg, trying to pretend to be secretive while his other forehoof points towards the red stallion.

Maud nods even as Hydro comments. “You know, being yellow doesn’t exactly let your movements be as subtle as you think they do.”

“I know.” He smirks, patting the top of his head. “I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.”

Looking upward at the hoof, the stallion waits until it is raising up for another pat before sliding over against Diorite. He smiles at Flick. “I was, I was just surprised at being the subject of one of your philosophical creations instead of your artistic ones.”

“Now you’ve been the subject of both.” The drone sits on a wingback chair, smiling warmly. “Which did you prefer?”

“They’re both fine to me.” He nudges the nymph next to him lightly. “I prefer the results whenever you use Dior for the artistic variant.”

She gives her stallion a lidded gaze, gently stroking his foreleg with a hoof. “You do like my form quite a bit, don’t you?”

Flick grimaces slightly, turning his head away. “Yea… I could’ve lived the rest of my life without the images that brought up…”

Ignoring the drone’s discomfort while Hydro and Dior begin to nuzzle, Maud questions Flick. “Do you only paint things that interest you or do you do commissions?”

“I do both, actually.” He laughs shyly, nodding towards the opposite corner of the room as he moves towards it. “May I ask why?”

She follows him. “Mother and Father have expressed before that they do not have a good picture of me as an adult. I thought one of myself and Boulder would be good to get them as a present.”

“Sounds like a splendid idea.” He taps his chin, looking her over a moment. “So when did you want me to make it by?”

“Whenever you can. This new job is the only thing on my schedule at the moment.” She looks down at herself, then back up to him.

“Well, I think I can have it done in an hour, if you have one to spare as well.” He turns to his easel, sorting through the brushes and paints underneath it. “I’ll just need the specifics before I can start…”

---

Vinyl travels through the halls connecting the rooms, frowning deeply. “I hate how these things aren’t labeled…” She moves from door to door, open each one in order. “Bathroom, closet, generator… parts. I wonder if Hydro was working on that?” She ponders this as she opens the next door.

She is greeted with a surprisingly dark room. She cautiously steps inside, hoping that her eyes would adjust for just a moment before noticing how clearly she could see. The mare huffs, passing by sparring dummies, targets, and item-launching crossbows. “I still find it hard to believe the princesses found this much mythril… just to keep everyone else inside the castle safe…”

She turns into the secluded area on the other side of the room and stops, staring blankly at the scene before her. She almost has to cover her eyes from the sight of the ice-pelted wall, the bright colour contrasting immensely with the dark mythril her eyes had only just now gotten used to. In the middle of the room, beside what looked like a small cannon with a slot to insert gems, stands the stallion she had been searching for and his fox companion. The latter barks at the former, his tail wagging excitedly.

Vinyl slowly walks forward, sidestepping avoid a frozen dummy as she approaches the duo. “What is the deal with you guys and ice? Seriously, you never seem to practice against any of the other elements…”

Winter turns in surprise at the voice, but chuckles when he sees who it is. “Hey, Vi. Sorry about that. What can I say? We’re just a couple of cool guys.”

She quirks an eyebrow at him, pulling her shades off and resting them above her horn. “How long have you been hanging around Volt, Sol? I think he’s starting to rub off on you.”

“What’re you talking about? I make puns all the time. And besides, I’d rather not have any stallion doing any sort of rubbing on me.”

‘He has a mare he pines for, for that, in his fantasies.’ The fox chuckles, shaking his head. He is swiftly rewarded for his comment by a light smack from an annoyed, and lightly blushing, stallion.

The white mare shrugs, reaching back towards her katana’s sheath. “Whatever you say, dude. Oh, and I’m certain kitsune using fire is a myth.” She pulls out a letter, turning to him with it. “Just saying, you probably don’t want a fox-cicle.”

“Don’t worry, we’re careful as can be.” Winter puts a smile on and does his best to forget the recent conversation as he takes the letter. “What’s this?”

“Princess Celestia just came by with it.” She scratches the side of her head. “Told me to give it to you, ASAP.”

The stallion frowns. “‘ASAP’ is never good.” He starts opening it. “Just for me, or for the whole team?”

“I think she wanted you to read it, first.” Vinyl shrugs nonchalantly. “Sorry, I’m just doing what she asked. I know nothing else about it.”

“It’s fine. Thanks for bringing it. I’ll let you and the rest of the team know if it involves you.” With a thankful smile, he finishes opening the letter and begins reading.

Mercury, meanwhile, leaps onto his back, craning his neck to read over the unicorn’s shoulder. ‘What’s it say, Win? Did we win the lottery?’ He pauses, brow furrowing slightly. ‘Does Canterlot even have a lottery?’

“Probably none that are legal. Now hush, I’m reading.” The stallion’s eyes flicker over the page, taking in every word. He sighs. “Well, we’ve got a new job. And it’s apparently an urgent one, too.”

“An… urgent mission?” The mare next to him frowns, concerned. “When’s the last time we had one of those?”

“Whenever it was, it wasn’t long enough ago for us to have another.” He starts heading for the door, Mercury along for the ride on his back. “Let’s get the whole team together before we get the files. Might as well tell everyone at once.”

When they return to the den, they see Flick in his corner, painting their newest recruit as she sits before a bookshelf, a pebble held up to her chest with a hoof. The drone rarely glances at her as he works, apparently working from memory as he uses his oil paints to finish rendering the image he’s going for.

Maud seems to make the perfect model, standing still without moving a muscle. Hydro and Diorite have moved to a nearby couch, laying down together and simply watching the goings on. Gilda seems to lack an interest as she files her talons to smooth points, though the facade is slightly lessened as she glances up at the painting’s progress every so often.

All activities are interrupted as Winter steps into the room and calls for attention. “Form up, everyone! We’ve got an urgent mission on our...” He hesitates. “...whatever limbs we may have.”

Dior rolls her eyes, staring at him with a wry smirk. “You can just say that we have an urgent mission and avoid any faux pas, that way.”

His eyes roll as well in response. “Fine, then. Urgent mission. Emphasis on urgent, so if you aren’t listening yet, start.”

Various sets of ears flick in response, Hydro voicing what the others don’t. “To the meeting room?”

“I don’t see a reason to bother as long as you’re all able to pay attention either way. No distractions of any sort.” Winter shoots a look at Gilda. “Including you. Put that talon file away...wherever you got it from.”

“Probably the same place you ponies keep your hoof files.” She stows the tool away grudgingly before sniffing once. “And why single me out anyway? Why not painter boy over there?”

“Because I just finished.” Flick quirks an eyebrow at her, placing his brush in his art case. “I actually was paying attention.”

“Whatever.” She waves him off, facing Winter once more. “What are we doing for this trip?”

Winter moves across the room and sits in the wingback chair, the other members getting up from their own spots to get closer. “I haven’t read the full file yet, but the letter the Princess sent mentioned a diamond dog slaving operation near Appleloosa.”

The expressions of everyone in the room harden, even Maud’s normally stoic one. Talons clench and tails flick as everyone gives him their rapt attention.

Lighting his horn, Winter focuses his magic on a premade runic circle etched on the paper. Once it recognizes his magical signature, there’s a brief flash of light, and a folder containing more papers appears in the air beside the letter, also floating in his telekinesis. Without hesitating, he opens it and begins to read from the first piece of paper.

“‘There have been various reports of disappearing ponies in the town of Appleloosa,’” he reads aloud. “‘We suspect that this is the work of slaver diamond dogs, who have hijacked the operations of a nearby mine that was working to dig up a vein of soul gems. The disappearances were slow at first, but in recent days, all the townsfolk have vanished for one reason or another; most of them are unaccounted for, while others claim to have fled while they still could. Any ponies who have travelled to Appleloosa since the disappearances began have vanished as well.’”

“Wait, what?” Vinyl interjects, surprised. “It’s a whole town of Apples. Couldn’t they have just fought back?”

Winter shrugs, looking up at her. “Either they didn’t, or they tried and failed. The disappearances were slow at first, so maybe they didn’t realize what was going on until all who remained got taken at once.” He frowns. “But...if this is an ‘urgent mission’, why didn’t they contact us earlier?”

‘Beats the Tartarus out of me.’ The fox paws at the corner of the page, lacking the ability to turn it. ‘Is that all the info on them?’

The unicorn flips to the next page with his magic. He blinks, and slowly his face begins to pale. “...that’s...bad.”

The silver nymph frowns, tapping the cobalt unicorn’s shoulder. “What could possibly be bad? We’ve handled more dire missions before, haven’t we?”

“Spit out what’s got you so worked up and stop leaving us in suspense.” Gilda crosses her arms, already getting tired of waiting.

Unable to figure out how to form his thoughts into a coherent sentence, Winter just turns the paper around so the rest of the group can see it. On it is a picture of an orange earth pony mare, wearing a Stetson over her blonde ponytail mane. Below is a single, hard-hitting word: ‘MISSING’.

Maud blinks, her eyes widening slightly. “Applejack...”

Vinyl, surprised by this, turns to the gray mare. “You know her, too?”

“Pinkie introduced me to all her friends when I came to visit,” she responds. “Applejack made good cider, and her grandmother chose excellent rocks for muffins.”

Ignoring the obviously questionable diet choice, Hydro interjects. “Shouldn’t one of the bearers going missing have been bigger news? I understand keeping it from the public, but at least you’d think you would hear something from the guards around here about search parties.”

Mercury grabs another picture from the folder, holding it up in his mouth for them all to see. It is another picture of the missing mare, this time boarding a train. If the time and signs are to be believed, she went towards Appleloosa the day before, confirming what they all feared.

“No wonder it’s urgent…” Dior bows her head, hooves trembling against the soft carpet. “If they took her, the Elements are essentially powerless…”

“Then we take her back.” The goldenrod changeling stands, the playful spark in his eye gone. “And everyone else they took, as well.” He turns to their leader, saluting smartly. “Tell us what we need to do, Solstice.”

The stallion’s response is low, but loud enough to be heard. “We need to leave for Appleloosa five minutes ago. That’s what we need to do.” Standing up, he stuffs the folder into a pair of saddlebags leaning against the wall. “Grab your stuff, kids. We’re going on a vacation.”

Comments

[Raybony]

Interesting, so we are experiencing different Arch's for each team at different time lines, that sounds interesting........Wait a minute. Vi is on the tactical group?......No of fence Vi, but you don't seem that organized when it comes to planning. That looks more like Octavia/Fiddlestick's job.