Agents of F.R.I.E.N.D.

by PeppyJoe

3. Magic

Five months ago...
Golden Stud pulled his jacket tighter as pushed the cab door shut behind him. He moved to the driver and handed over his fare—and a respectable tip—before giving a courteous nod and stepping back. As the transport moved away to find another customer, the aged unicorn looked around with a slight frown.

Manehatten had been a kind host to him on many occasions, but Golden could never consider it home. The buildings which now dwarfed him rose in every direction, and the intersection where he currently stood seemed more dilapidated than the ones he frequented in his visits. Several of the shops were boarded up, and most of the rest had iron bars over their windows. The whole area seemed rather seedy to him, and the brisk wind that disheveled his mane only bothered him further.

However ill at ease he may have felt, he had a job to do. The other nobles had said a messenger would do just fine, but Golden Stud did not believe in half measures. The committee had committed—he paused for a moment to shake his head at that—to the idea of an elite team of operatives and geniuses, and Golden intended to see it succeed. Recruitment was perhaps the singularly most vital part of that task, and no messenger could be trusted to perform it effectively. With that in mind, he scanned the nearby buildings for the correct address.

He didn't know quite what to expect, but it certainly did not begin with an unmarked plywood door so battered that one could hardly be convinced it had ever seen better days. Still, the numbering on the surrounding doors suggested that it was where he needed to go. After a quick glance in either direction of the road, Golden trotted across the cracked pavement and up to the door. It swung inward when he tried to knock, revealing a staircase leading downwards.

As he descended, the stallion began to hear a curious sound. It seemed almost like a faint thrum, but he could guess at neither direction nor source. At the base of the staircase, he met with another door. This one, however, clearly cared more about its appearance than the one above. It was a heavy-set metal frame with a solid paneling in the center, and a thick grate covering those panels. Golden knocked on the door and waited.

When no response proved forthcoming, Golden tried the doorknob and found it turned readily. He pushed in with his magic, but it did not open. He pulled, and still nothing. Finally, gripping it in his hooves and pressing his full weight against it, the door swung open. Immediately, the faint thrumming became a nigh-deafening bassline. Grimacing, Golden Stud paused in the doorframe to adjust his mane and jacket, steady himself, and then stepped inside.

The gold unicorn now stood in a large, open brick-walled room full of other ponies. Many stood in small groups, talking and laughing. A number had made their way to the center—a depression in the floor, which Golden could see from the vantage provided by the elevated area nearest the door—and 'danced' to the 'music,' both of which he considered to be highly relative terms. Seated at another raised area to his left, a red-and-blue-maned pegasus bobbed her head to the rhythm as she worked a DJ booth.

Approaching a grey-coated mare standing nearby, Golden cleared his throat. Then he realized he couldn't even feel himself doing so over the bass, and so he shouted, "Excuse me!" Nothing. He stood there politely for a moment, hoping to catch her eye, before he simply reached out and nudged her with a hoof. The mare did not even blink at him.

He moved on, and experienced similar results from several other ponies. He was about to give up and leave—and, he considered, he should have already, given that the pony he sought would never be here anyway—when a pony finally acknowledged him. The green stallion now facing him said "Eh?"

Relieved, Golden Stud shouted back, "I'm looking for a mare!"

"No bears in here, pal!"

"What?"

"None in here!"

Golden paused, frowning, before he stepped closer than he'd have preferred and shouted, "Minuette!"

The other pony's eyes widened in understanding, and he pointed to a blue mare seated behind the bar on the other side of the room. Golden shouted his gratitude before navigating through the crowd and taking a seat on one of the barstools.

The mare trotted over to him and leaned forward to be heard. "What's your pleasure?"

"I'm looking for a mare named Minuette! Know where I might find her?"

With a mischievous grin, she answered, "Just might. She in trouble?"

"I need to discuss an important matter with her! She is not in trouble. Am I correct in understanding that I've now found her?"

Still grinning, Minuette nodded. Shouting back, "Right, just let me close up shop! Most of these folks won't mind if they miss happy hour!" With that, she pulled a large purple gemstone from beneath the counter and set it on the surface for the stallion to see. She tilted her head forward and tapped her horn to it, directing a pulse of magic into the gem.

A soft light flashed out from the stone and filled the room. As it faded, so did nearly everything it illuminated. The ponies, the DJ booth, even the music all began to grow faint. After several seconds had passed and the light was gone, Minuette and Golden Stud stood in a silent, near-empty room. All that remained were a few confused ponies and the bar. Stunned, Golden leveled Minuette with a look that only made her grin widen and prompted a giggle.

"Don't worry, silly-billy! They weren't real!"

"Uh..."

"Princess C' taught me all about illusion magic, but I've been studying enchantment lately, and I figured, 'what better way to practice than by going back to basics and having some fun along the way! Plus, like they say, you want to make a good first impression for these sorts of things, and I'd say this one was great! So, what do you say; F.R.I.E.N.D.?"

"Ah. Ehm, that is-"

"Ooh, right, subtlety! I meant, 'What do you say, friend?'"

~ ~ ~

Soarin stepped onto the deck and into the fresh air just in time to see Fancy Pants finishing an adjustment to the helm. The two exchanged nods in greeting before the pegasus proceeded into the ready room. Inside, Knight and Turner were already stood around the table, speaking.

"-can try, captain, but... Well, even I've never worked with something that advanced. Nopony-" Turner went silent as the mare gave him a curt nod and turned to Soarin.

"I do hope you found time to practice what we discussed, but fortunately, Command has something bigger to worry about than a cracked castle." She paused for a moment. "The Baltimare Historical Museum has been robbed."

"How-"

"As I just told Time Turner, that's what we need to find out. The local authorities could find nothing incriminating. And, before you ask, there is a very good reason we're getting involved. The thief only took one item—the Celestial Stone."

Soarin blinked at her. Knight just groaned and pressed her face into her forehooves. "Honestly?"

Defensively, "I'm a stunt flier, not a history major!"

"Yes, and I'm a guard- Oh, for pony sakes, forget it. The Celestial Stone is the central component of the arcane mechanism used by Prequestrian unicorns to control the sun and moon."

Soarin glanced at Turner imploringly. "Look," the brown earth-pony sighed. "It's a powerful rock that let's unicorns focus huge amounts of magic. They could use it to cast powerful spells."

"Oh... Right, okay. So we're going to find the thieves before somepony uses this rock to do bad stuff?"

Knight just shook her head slightly. "That is the storybook summary, yes."

Soarin clapped his hooves together and gave his best attempt at a foalish squeal. Turner grinned broadly and leaned over to hoofbump the pegasus.

The mare stomped her hoof down and Turner froze before withdrawing his. Soarin silenced his gurgling and sat at attention. "We..." Knight paused, glancing suspiciously at the pegasus, as though expecting some new antics from him. She glanced away and he stuck his tongue out. "We are going to Baltimare now. Fancy Pants has set the course and we're at full speed, so we should arrive within two hours. I've instructed Turner already on what he needs to do. Soarin-" She stopped as she glanced at him and his fully-extended tongue.

Soarin just smiled lightly and looked up as she stood over him. "Mmpth-thm?"

"Soarin... Ah- That is, Soarin, you will be canvassing the area when we arrive. Somepony may have... might've seen something, and... we need- Soarin, stick that back in your head or, Celestia help me, I will tear it out!"

The pegasus complied, albeit slowly and with an exaggerated slurping sound.

"Right. Soarin, talk to ponies in the area and find out if anyone saw anything useful. Turner will be working with Minuette to identify anything of value on the scene. Simple enough?"

Giving a one-winged salute, Soarin answered, "Aye, cap'n!"

"Good. Then get out of here."

.....

Little under two hours later, the airship slowed to a halt over downtown Baltimare. It was a coastal city and much of its wealth came through its major port, but the locale still featured a number of high-rise office buildings and condos. Fancy Pants returned to the helm and took manual control, cautiously guiding the craft onto the roof of one such tower.

Soarin and Gilda both were gone before the ship landed; the former off to complete his mission, and the latter to find a particular restaurant known for catering to the carnivorous—she had heard great things about their blue crab.

Time Turner and Minuette were similarly eager to disembark, and their hooves were on the gravelly surface of the roof within a minute of landing. They raced to the access door, flung it open, and began their descent. Knight followed several minutes later, maintaining a much more sedate pace.

Still aboard the craft, Fancy Pants ensured the cloaking talisman was working and the anchor was down. He went through all the standard engine checks and made sure the air pressure was steady. Finally, he cast a quick spell to tether the top of the craft to the rooftop in an effort to ensure there was no danger of tipping.

Now confident that his airship was safe, he too disembarked. Blue crab does sound interesting, he admitted as he considered what to do with his time in the city.

.....

"I'm telling you, if you really want to get somepony out here to help, I could send the Aeros back there and conduct a sweep."

"Yeah, but then we're running down their charge for no reason. Why not just let me cast a simple categorical come-to-life spell and order all clothing articles in the building to come here?"

"Think of how many exhibits that would destroy!"

"Look, I'm still able to contact the princess. Just hang on, and I'll write her. I'm sure she'll have an idea of how-"

Ding. Knight lifted her hoof from the brass bell on the counter, and looked long-sufferingly at Minuette and Time Turner. The unicorn mouthed 'Oh,' and put away the parchment and quill. The brown earth pony just stood next to a sleek silver briefcase and grinned abashedly. After several brief seconds, a matte grey unicorn stallion in a simple blue jacket opened a door behind the help-desk where they stood, and approached.

"I'm sorry, but the museum is closed right now for an extensive cleaning. We expect to be open next week."

Knight withdrew a badge from her mane and held it up. "We know about the robbery, sir. We're here to follow up the investigation."

The stallion leaned forward and squinted at the badge for a moment, and then turned his gaze on Minuette and Turner who were bickering in hushed tones. With a sigh, he nodded. "Right. Yes, well, in that case, follow me. I am Knowledge Touching, the chief curator of this establishment." He tapped the name tag worn on his lapel—'Know. Touching'—and turned to lead the group down one of the adjoining hallways.

"On your left here, you'll see a collection of cave-pony fossils. These are replicas of actual remains found in the caves beneath Hayshire, but what's so curious about them is that thaumic-dating estimates these ponies were here a thousand years before the Migration.

"Ah, and these are some of the griffin armaments which we believe were recovered after the two-forty-one skirmish. They were donated anonymously to the museum nearly eighty years ago, but their authenticity is not in question. And naturally, we offered to return the weapons to Griffindor, but their government was kind enough to let us keep them.

"And over here, one of the first unified tribal flags flown over Equestria. This particular version was only used for a few months before a great windstorm relocated the pegasi settlement. The other ponies assumed them gone for good, and made a new flag to reflect that. It was something of an embarrassment when the pegasi returned a week later."

This continued for several minutes as the curator guided the team through the museum at as fast a pace as he could manage. Finally, they reached a room—'Relics from before Recorded History'—blocked by police tape. He ducked under it and the others did the same. Along the walls and in display cases were an assortment of old helmets, lances, gems, and sets of armor. In the center of the room stood a small smashed-in hexagonal display case mounted on a pedestal, and above it, an open skylight.

Knight stared up at the hole in the roof. "Your most valuable display is protected from the outside world by two layers of glass?"

"That skylight is reinforced, I'll have you-"

"It's open."

"Hm?"

"The skylight is open, not broken. It doesn't need to be reinforced if you leave it unlocked."

"Yes, well... Regardless, we typically have a guard posted on the roof." Knight raised an eyebrow, and Know lowered his head slightly. "He's on paid vacation for his exemplary performance. We hadn't bothered to find a part-timer to fill in."

As their captain recounted the finer points of management to the curator, Minuette and Turner surveyed the crime scene.

"There really isn't much to look for," the latter noted. "It's obvious what happened—just a quick smash-and-grab."

"Granted. But that doesn't mean they didn't leave something incriminating. Get the aeros going. I need to think." Minuette began pacing around the room.

Turner, meanwhile, cracked open his briefcase. Inside, six small bronze devices sat dormant. He pulled one out and held it up to check for faults. The device was an intricate clockwork flying machine, comprised of dozens of tiny gears and moving pieces. It had three different rotors facing outward from the center, but all angled upwards. He withdrew a milky white gemstone from a fold in the briefcase and inserted it into a slot on the device.

Immediately, the half-hoof-sized craft took to the air and began buzzing around the room. It cast a focused light (the same color as it's gemstone) on different areas.

The curator looked on in awe. "What is that thing?"

Turner glanced up at him briefly before returning his attention to the briefcase, where he proceeded to put white gems into two more craft and let them fly. "They're arcane-enhanced rotary-operated flying machines. Aeros. They do all sorts of simple tasks, but right now I've got them working on CSI."

Minuette paced over to the central display and frowned at it. Etched into a marble plaque outside the glass, a short inscription described the contents of the exhibit.

The Celestial Stone
A powerful gemstone of unknown origins, the Celestial Stone has been an object of study and wonderment for a millennium. The gem is capable of focusing and amplifying the magic directed into it, allowing for more complicated and more powerful spells to be cast. Its most famous known use was with the pre-Migration unicorns, who channeled their combined power to move the sun and moon. The gem, which remained a possession of the Platinum bloodline after the Migration, was lost when Celestia and Luna arrived and demonstrated their power over the celestial bodies.

Some scholars speculate that the gem was hidden away by one of Platinum's descendants. Others suggest that the princesses ordered it buried so that neither their ability nor necessity was questioned. Whatever the case, archaeologists discovered the gem in 904 C.E., sealed beneath the basement of a collapsed manor near Canterlot Mountain. It has been a prized possession of the Baltimare Historical Museum since that year.

Minuette stared at the writing for a minute before rearing up and proclaiming "I've got it!" Everypony turned to stare at her, but she didn't much care. Instead, she turned to Time Turner and said, "I need one of the blanks, right now!"

As the earth pony complied, Minuette began focusing on exactly what she needed to do. Illusion was one of her strengths, undoubtedly, but she needed to build an illusion spell into... well, she didn't exactly know what field she was getting into. She planted her feet firmly—one of Celestia's first rules; 'you never know when that spell is going to send you flying'—and her horn began to glow as she weaved a simple Gello's Ghost spell into a more complex one of her own design. She focused on the magical field surrounding her and mentally isolated each one. Me, of course. Turney, Knight, Knowledge... None of them. That leaves...

She finished the spell and a bright blue flash pulsed from her horn, momentarily illuminating three distinct forms. Being the focal point, Minuette had the best view, and looked again at Turner. "That did it—do you have the blank gems?"

The brown stallion held them out—a collection of three clear crystals—and Minuette nodded before tilting her horn forward and tapping each one in turn. As she did so, she channeled the spell she had just cast into each of them, along with the basic navigational matrix she had long since memorized. The gems' clarity faded, replaced with a soft pink color.

Turner put the gems into the remaining three aeros and let them fly. The ponies watched in anticipation as the devices buzzed around the room, sweeping different surfaces with their light. After a minute, one of them illuminated a large form near the pedestal—Minuette recognized it immediately as what she had seen before. Within another minute, the remaining two aeros had flown over to the pedestal and illuminated two other forms. All three were blurry and indistinct, but the machines swept their light across them repeatedly and a clearer image gradually took shape.

"Griffins..." Knight muttered, stepping around one of the images. In fact, three ghostly griffins now stood around the pedestal. One had its talon inside the glass case and seemingly gripping an object, but nothing was visible there. The other two griffins faced outwards, looking down the hallways.

Turner looked to the unicorn mare, sharing a smile at their success. "What is this? What did you do?"

"This gem we're after focuses magical energy, right? Just about every sentient being has an innate magical field. When the thieves touched the gem, it activated. What you're seeing is their 'afterimage' at the instant that happened."

Knight clopped a hoof on the tile floor. "Good work, Minuette. I'll contact the Baltimare travel office and tell them to hold any griffins traveling in groups of three. We'll also need a photographer in here so we can get images to their office and posters in every port and station in Equestria. They can't hide from us now."

Author's Note:

And with that, it seems the game is afoot. Or ahoof. Whichever you prefer.

Also, I wanted to note that chapters will probably be paced out more evenly after this. I'm looking at a once-a-week timeline, but if I specify a day, I'll never ever be on time. Of course, if I were inclined towards shameless self-promotion, I'd remind you that favoriting is an excellent means of finding out when there's more. Liking and commenting doesn't help with that, but it helps with your soul. Do the right thing.

Fortunately for you all, I'm not inclined towards shameless self promotion.

Comments

[MrAskAPirate]

Knowledge Touching

Well that's kind of a weird name, but I can see how it...

'Know. Touching'

... y-you mad genius, you!

[Corsair]

So, Time Turner and Minuette get to be Fitz and Simmons, and Fancy Pants gets to be May. The others don't seem to fit into S.H.I.E.L.D characters directly, but Knight is obviously the team leader, Soarin seems to be the operative and Gilda? Need to see more of Gilda to place her.

[PeppyJoe]

5443328
I'm not actually trying to mirror the S.H.I.E.L.D. team with these characters, really. There are absolutely some similarities in all the comparisons you drew, but I'm not reinventing any of the characters already established from the show or trying to draw unnecessary parallels (i.e. Fancy Pants isn't secretly the Cavalry (as friggin' awesome as that would be (I might need to revise my notes now... Cavalry Pants deserves to be a thing))). That being said... I definitely do see Minuette and Time Turner as having something akin to the Fitzsimmons dynamic. Those two were my absolute favorite on the show, and I felt that a scientist-duo fit nicely into this story as well. Their individual personalities are very distinct, though, and that'll be better explored in future chapters.

5443336
Glad to hear you're enjoying this. I really am too!

[VNilla]

Tell Border Patrol to stop all griffins; the thieves might split up to avoid suspicion.

[PeppyJoe]

5443504
I had taken that into consideration, but ultimately decided against it because I had established Baltimare as a major commercial and transit hub. I'm sure that it could have been done from a logistics standpoint, but at the same time, it would tie up a lot of trade and risk an international incident. Or at least, that was my justification for the decision from Knight's POV. Hopefully it wasn't a mistake!

[FrostTheWolf]

Good chapter so far!

[VNilla]

5443590 When major magical objects get stolen, loss of trade and and international incident aren't the concern; someone having a possible reusable magical nuke is.