52: The Lower Bailey
Canterlot is gone. The entire city has been ripped out of the ground and plunked down in the valley like some grim trophy of conquest. That’s what it is after all, a conquest. He strives to remake the world to a time before the sisters ruled.
“Hurry, keep track of the little ones, we don’t want to lose any.” She says, motioning to the stallions.
The Element Bearers are gone. The Wonderbolts are gone. Most of the Royal Guard and EUP are gone. Anyone who would challenge his reign is being hunted down. This leaves only followers and sympathizers.
“I don’t think we can make it, the foals are too slow.” A Guard calls out.
“These are the last of the little ones from the School for Gifted Unicorns. The last of Princess Celestia’s students.” She says, “I will not leave them behind.”
The mines under the old city are vast, with intertwining passages. It would be easy for somepony to get lost down here. Or easy to hide. What ponies that could be found are being brought down here. A safe haven till a rescue can come. The magic there is old, older than Discord, maybe it would confuse his senses.
“They are getting closer.” A guard says.
Looking over her shoulder she lets the hood of her cloak fall. “I’ll buy you some time. Don’t waste it.”
The Diamond Dogs are driven by greed, they love their gems, love their crystals. Discord didn’t have to do much to convince them to work for him, just give them some gems. That and say they could have some of the diamond mines in western Equestria.
Running back towards the pursuers, her cloak flapping behind her. She is fast, faster than most would expect. The Diamond Dogs won’t see her until it is too late. Her horn lights as her rapier lashes out, felling two of the foul creatures. Using her speed and inertia, she leaps, rolling in the air, her hooves make contact with the curved surface of a wall as her speed and centrifugal force let her complete almost a full spiral down the corridor.
The dogs fall for it, they take the bait and start chasing her. Skidding to a stop she turns and lashes out again with her rapier. Another falls in a heap as the rest merely run over the body of their fallen comrade.
Pain lances across her side as a large rock hits her. One of the dogs has thrown it, hoping to slow her down. It stings but she can keep running. At the next cross section she makes a hard turn and stops again, backing up a few paces she charges forward. Lashing out with her rapier, the Diamond Dogs scatter. They had not expected her to change directions again. Two more fall to her blade, she is certainly taking a toll on Discord’s minions. If only the blade would work on him.
The blade. It’s her father’s blade. He had always wanted a son to carry on the family line. She remembers him so well. His bright red mane, his dark blue coat, he’s so noble. So proud. She would not dishonor him or the blade she carries.
The tunnel opens up into a large cavern, the cart tracks were destroyed, but she could see the ledge on the other side. Not slowing, she leaps. Tucking her forelegs tight to her chest, her hind legs power her with the force needed to clear the chasm.
She is about halfway across when he catches her. He grabs her by the neck, holding her over the deep pit. They both hang there in midair as he growls. “You are a pain in my interspecies parts that I won’t mention. I should just drop you.”
“Then do it. Because I won’t bow to you, I won’t serve you.”
“No, I prefer not to have to kill such things… go join your friends, see how they suffer, and watch how they fall to misery and hopelessness.” Laughing softly he speaks the curse as white light envelopes her.
For Five Score! Divided by Four!
Your memories removed, your body confused!
For your insolence you must pay,
Cast off to a land far, far away!
To scatter the six, just the start of my tricks!
Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak!
Forgetting everything and living like a fool,
You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!
*** Tanya ***
She wakes up with a scream, her heart is pounding, her hip hurts, and she could still feel his claws around her neck. Looking around in a panic she is panting hard. Sweat is dripping down her face like she has just been running for her life.
Dr. Ellis opens the door quickly, she is spending the night in Tanya’s apartment at the director’s request. Seeing Tanya’s condition she runs over and sits on the edge of the bed. “Calm down and breathe, just slow deep breaths.”
“Did they get away?” She asks looking around, then she blinks slowly.
“It’s probably fading now. Don’t worry, its normal.” Shaking her head, “What do you remember?”
“Running, trying to draw dogs away from…” Shaking her head slowly she sighs, “I don’t know I can’t remember.”
“That’s why I’m here. The dreams can be really traumatic. That was you remembering the moments just before you were cursed.” The psychologist says, “Every pony has it. It’s the first real realization that you were really a pony. Then either Discords curse, or maybe your mind itself buries it.”
Sighing, she looks down, “I was hoping it was a mistake. I was hoping it was just some prank or joke.”
“You know it isn’t. Now you’ll need to understand and be aware. Since you’ve had the dream you’ll now start suffering from a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Taking Tanya’s hands gently, she squeezes them. “There are a few triggers that are common to it, but the most is the curse itself.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“Five score divided by four.”
The words send shivers down her spine. She could see Discords eyes looking into hers. Turning her head she gulps heavily.
“That’s about as bad as it’s going to get for you likely. Other things might bring back memories, but those words will cause an instinctual response. You just need to be aware of them.”
Nodding slowly she sighs. “I need to have a shower. And thanks again for the help.”
“If your character and personality are anything to say about things, I think you’ll make a great mare.” Smiling the doctor heads back into the living room to wait.
*** Fire Streak ***
The rain is coming down beyond heavy with visibility nearly zero. Most of the runways are closed just for safety reasons. All flights were on listed on delay and no takeoffs are allowed. Only two-five right, and six right were open. Two-five is being used for heavies only. Six is being used for small commuter flights.
Lightning strikes and horizontal rain bands have staff worried about accidents. The storm has rolled in off the Pacific with frightening speed. Air Traffic Controllers are working furiously to divert any and all traffic they can.
One ATC however likely panics at the sight of a transponder signal on a collision course with the tower. The signal is heading in fast, and its track would have it hit the tower somewhere at the upper deck level.
Fire Streak can hardly see the tower lights. He knows that the observation deck is ahead somewhere, but the rain is bad, even for a pegasus. Finally, at less than fifty feet he sees the lights and pulls up to land. One of the supervisors is shocked when the cartoon pony trots in and shakes himself off.
“Cpt. Fire Streak, 520th Air Police. Sorry to bust in uninvited but the storm is just horrible.”
“Your one of those things?”
“Yep, I’m a thing. I’ve been assigned to this sector, with a flight of other ponies to help keep your airspace safe from pegasi ignoring flight safety rules.”
“I… I thought it was a joke.” The supervisor says, “Like the whole UFO thing.”
“Nope, UFO’s are fake, magical talking ponies are real.” Fire shakes himself out again and huffs.
“So… what do you need?”
“A towel, and coffee… a big cup of hot coffee…”
Turning he trots up the stairs to the tower central and looks around. Most people think the tower itself houses all the radars, but in reality, all the tower handles is taxi, approach and take off radars. Longer range radars are handled at another location.
Looking around the approach control he chuckles softly. Since there are almost no aircraft landing, due to the storm, approach control is actually quiet for a change. It is a perfect time for him to get to work.
Sitting down he waits until the supervisor comes in with his towel and coffee, and he finally does one last dry off. “Ok. To start with, we are going to be assigning 2 pegasi slow movers to the tower. They won’t get in the way. Their job is simple. If approach control is having problems with a pegasus flying across the approach lines, one of them will go out and have words with them.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep, hopefully over time we won’t be needed. For the near future though. We’re just here for flight safety. Now myself, and a few others will be working with regional air control. Our job will be to intercept the pegasi further out who are causing problems, flying to close to airliners and such.”
“Who’s bright idea was this?”
“Discord’s, he sent us here. So we are just trying to do our best to stop problems and cut down on the chaos.”
“Sir, we’ve got a big problem.” One of the operators calls out and looks back at the supervisor.
“What’s going on?”
“We have an inbound, 4133 Heavy, Russian IL-76 in trouble.” The operator says.
“Put it on speaker.” He says, walking over.
“… ay again, this is 4133 Heavy, requesting immediate landing clearance, we are at 20 minutes of fuel. We cannot divert.”
“There’s no way he can land in this safely.” The supervisor says, “Let him know the situation here.”
“4133 heavy, this is LAX approach control. Runway 25 right is the only heavy runway we have, wind is from the north up to 40 knots, visibility is 50 feet at best. If there is any chance you can make it to San Diego.”
“Checking. Negative, Fuel calculations are coming up short for that.”
“High Winds, how far out are you from LAX?” Fire asks over his coms.
“I can be there in 3, what’s up?” Comes over the radio.
“We have an emergency here. Get over here, and get every pegasus in the area in the air.”
“What you thinking Fire?” Fleetfoot calls out over the coms.
“Hey Fleetfoot, can you make it to LAX in under ten minutes?”
“Probably, if I break some speeding laws.” She calls back.
“We need to create a storm break, civilian transport aircraft is coming in, in a massive storm here. I don’t know if we have enough to do it, but we might just be able to give them a small window.”
“On my way.”
Looking back to the supervisor, Fire takes a breath. “Ok, have them configure for landing but loiter at the 25 mile marker, we’ll see if we can give him a window for landing, but it will take us 10 minutes.”
“What are you talking about?”
Pulling down his goggles Fire turns. “Just give us 10 minutes, we might be able to open enough of a hole over the runway and for 5 miles out to let him land. We just need a little time.”
Turning, Fire takes to the air. He isn’t sure that weather control is possible on a storm this size. They just need a window, though.
*** Velvet ***
“Okay Velvet, you’re up.” The LT calls out.
“Ok I have all the supplies I need on hoof. I’m just going to do some recon, see if I can coax her out without causing too much problem. Anypony else have a question?”
The SAS Major looks at me sternly, “What is with the horse words? Anypony? Why can’t you just say anyone?”
“Simple, because I’m not a one, I’m a pony. Count yourself lucky I’m not a smurf… though I think ponytastic and ponyrific are words too…”
The LT covers his mouth. He knows full well I am giving the SAS a hard time.
Eric calls over from his position at the radio. “Ponylicious?”
“I’m the V to the e l v and e t, and ain’t no pony out there with a family like me, I’m Velvetlicious.”
The SAS officer looked stern, “Are you going or not?”
“Oh yeah, did you want to join me?” I say, turning towards the forest.
“Most definitely. I’ll put an end to this myself.” He says, picking up his rifle.
“Ok, follow me.” I say, lighting my horn and teleporting.
I have to turn down my coms. The volume he is using to yell at the LT with is just ear splitting. At the same time it proves to him yet again why traditional tactics with a unicorn won’t work.
“Wow, if I did that to a US officer, I’d be in Leavenworth right now.”
“No one saw you come in did they?” Beth asks, looking scared.
Henry chuckled, “Nope, she teleported. I could hear the SAS officer screaming about it over the radio. I still want to know what a wa…”
Magically I closed his mouth. “Nope, no you don’t. That’s a really impolite word to use.”
Beth giggles softly, “You sounded like my mom there.”
“Well I am a mom. I have a son and a daughter back in Equestria, and three foals I’m fostering right now.”
“You don’t look that old.” Beth says.
“And now I feel old.” I say with a giggle. “I still feel 25, though I’m not actually sure my pony age.”
“So what’s the plan?” She says softly.
“Well first, I brought some P-rations.” I say, unloading my bag. “Also some MRE’s for Henry here. If you want to try an MRE you can, but the P-rations are great. I also brought water, batteries, and a USB power charger.”
Quickly Beth goes about replacing the batteries in the lights, while I plug in the digital devices.
“So what is a P-ration?” Beth calls out as she works.
“Short for Pony Ration. It’s something the military came up with. Since we have different diet requirements than humans, they created a different meal set for us. Unfortunately humans can’t eat it. The core of the meal, or about 60 percent of the pack, is alfalfa cubes. These are base roughage to fill us up and help with digestion. It’s then supplemented by high energy and vitamin enriched alfalfa pellets. After that comes the fun part with different kinds of jams, jellies, fruit chips, fruit pies, cookies, drinks, and more.”
“The military makes that for ponies?”
“Why not, and Henry, change kit.” I say tossing him the bag.
Opening it up Henry looks inside the bag and laughs. “Ok, ma’am, remember I’m a medic. When I say the following, I need your flank for a second. I have a set of injections for you. It’s vaccinations for different pony illnesses.”
Blinking she looks at her butt then at Henry.
“Trust me, he’s seen lots of them.” I say, laughing.
Walking over Henry gives her the shots.
“Umm, ow.”
“Baby, you’re better than that.” I say laughing.
Sitting down Beth starts munching on some of the Alfalfa Bits, and instantly we see that look we all know. It is the moment when we all realize just how good it is.
“Wow, you can’t eat this stuff?” She says, looking at Henry.
“Nope. However I did eat it when I was a unicorn so I know the taste.”
“Well what’s the plan? What’s to happen to me?” Beth asks.
“Well, a diplomatic group is apparently going to be landing in London tomorrow. Around the same time two helicopters from the 56th Rescue Squadron will be landing near the castle. They are from Lakenheath Air Force Base. The US Military has several squadrons there. They are going to pick us up and bring us to 10 Downing Street.”
“10 Downing? Really?”
“Uh huh, there we get to plead your case.”
“Oh that’s not going to make some people happy.” Beth says.
“Nope, that’s why you have a Ranger protection detail.”
“Oh, I brought something fun.” I say, smiling and breaking out the puzzle and gears.
“NOOOOOO!” Henry says…
Giggling softly, I look to Beth and start teaching her the basics of… fundamentals.
*** LAX ***
The formation of pegasi hit the clouds hard. The fast movers go for the clouds to clear a path for the plane. Once the gap is created, the slower flyers dig into the clouds and keep the gap open. There are only four fast movers and eight others available.
The storm is just too massive and they don’t have a lot of time. Just two minutes after Fleetfoot had arrived, the Il-76 heave's into sight. However, the fact that they could actually see it is a good thing. The visual range has been extended out to about 2 miles.
Breaking off from cloud clearing, High Winds lives up to her name. She pulls up beside the plane and is able to create a powerful counter wind, lowering the cross wind to safe levels. The odds of the aircraft will land safely is going up.
The pegasi will be needing to raid an IHOP after this, big time. The aircraft begins its final, as it does, the pegasi let the storm close behind it and put more effort into the area over and around the runway. As the area of control shrinks, the amount of effort they are able to put into keeping the plane safe increases.
When the planes wheels hit the ground, it is a light drizzle and only a ten knot cross wind. Well inside safe levels. The crew can handle it from here. Without even waiting for a word of thanks, the pegasi break off and head for the closest IHOP. They are just starved.
Quietly, under the cover to the storm, the aircraft is moved into its hanger. If the pegasi had been aware of its cargo, they wouldn’t have left. They would have ripped the plane apart with their own hooves. A large brown bag is handed off to the customs official, the prices for five inspection tags.
The mares, the foals, would all be on the market in a few days. They will be sold on the deep web to those who have the money to pay for their own piece of Equestria. What happens to them then would be up to their new owners.
One of their big prizes, and a big ticket item for the auction is something truly special. A little griffin cub, likely it was visiting Equestria with its family when the curse happened. Her head feathers are a light golden brown with brown around her eyes. Her fur is a medium brown, with dark brown wings. It is her eyes, though, that is why she would command such a high price, they are a deep emerald green. She is still tiny though, slightly smaller than Dinky.
Curled in a little ball, she shivers, her huge eyes dart around the small box looking for some clue as to why this was happening. She wishes she could see outside. She wishes she knew where she is. She wishes she was safe at home in the Ukraine, with her parents. She has no idea why she has turned into this. Why they had taken her from her village.
*** Tanya ***
Walking into the office, Tanya looks around. She is expecting everyone to be looking at her, but in reality, everyone seems just to be doing their normal work. Heading over to her desk, she checks the boards.
“Hey Tanya, sleep well?” Anthony asked, throwing a paper ball into the can.
Shaking her head she sighs, “Nightmares.”
“Oh, the dream. Do you remember yours?”
“No, and I don’t want to hear those words either.” Tanya shakes her head, “So what’s on the board?”
“Intel has a shipment of special cargo coming in from Russia sometime in the next few days. Customs are on alert for that. We have one infantry corporal AWOL for the last three days, they just turned 25 four days ago, and haven’t called in. We have a rape and murder of an army administration officer. It’s been a busy night for cases.”
“Apparently.” Tanya says, “Who’s on the rape case?”
“Midge’s team, they left about an hour ago.” Anthony says, “Have you told your family yet?”
“Ugg no… I can just hear my sister now. ‘oh, my boyfriend of the moment is into the ponies, to bad it’s the polo kind, ha, ha, ha.’”
“Ever think of taking up polo?” Anthony chuckles before ducking.
“Grab your go-bags. We’re up.” Their team leader calls out.
“Call, boss?” Anthony says, getting up.
“No, I just wanted to make sure you have your bags.” She says, looking at him heading for the elevator.
Tanya giggles, shaking her head and picks up her bag. She heads for the elevator, with Anthony pulling up the rear. “What’s the call?”
“Call came in to the base switch board about twenty minutes ago. Police are en route now. We’re meeting them there. It is an open cellphone call. The operator at first thought it was a pocket dial until she heard the crying.”
“Who’s phone was it?” Anthony asked as they head out of the elevator for the garage.
“Burner phone, it was registered to one D. W. Duck.”
“That’s a new one, usually its M. Mouse.” Tanya says with a smile.
“Since people don’t need to put any real name on them, they just plug in whatever they want.” Shaking her head, the Team leader huffs. “All the companies really care about or verify on the accounts is the four digit pin. The name, address, everything else can be fake.”
“You up for this Tanya?” Anthony asks, looking back.
“I’m fine.” She says, hopping into the driver’s seat of the car.
The call came from a small storage facility, just off the highway. The noise of constant traffic probably covers any sounds from the place. Not to mention the fact that it is all but empty. It is a long term storage location so people often pack and leave things there for months, if not years, on end.
There is no staff on hand. Instead, there is simply a phone number to call. Security seems all but non-existent however. Drawing their guns, just to be safe, they follow the cell tracker to a storage locker in the back. The large door is locked by a heavy keyed padlock.
“You’re up Tanya.”
Kneeling down, she breaks out her lock picking kit. If they have to reseal it and wait, it is better than just cutting it off. It only takes her a few seconds to pop the lock. Backing off, Anthony kneels down and slides the snake camera under the door, now that it can be lifted enough.
“Whatcha got?”
“No trip wires, no alarms, there’s a barrier blocking the rest. I can’t see further than the first few feet, looks clear.”
Pulling out the snake, the police open the door. The team takes partial cover on either side of the door, just in case. Handguns ready in case something is hidden in there.
The room is obviously not being used for long term storage in the conventional sense. It is a five by ten storage room. About three feet in is a heavy cloth divider, or screen, on a metal stand placed to prevent anyone from the outside from easily or quickly seeing what was inside.
Anthony moves up slowly to the divider and pushes it out of the way. A low bed has been set up in the back of the room. A small single bed, complete with sheets and pillow is there. Tied to it is a young pony, its body fur a grey color, with almost a green tinge to it. Its mane is a faded red, almost brown. The colors don’t look natural on a pony, or at least on an Equestrian pony. Its cutie mark, a strawberry and grapes has faded too.
Beside the bed, set on the floor, is a bowl of oats and some water. There is no running water in here. The only excuse for a toilet is the floor drain that has its lid pried off.
“Damn it, get an ambulance here, now.” Anthony calls out.
Tanya came forward, “Ruby.”
“You know her?” Anthony says, looking over.
“No, well yes but no… what did I say?”
“You called her Ruby.”
“That pony thing, her name’s probably Ruby then.”
“I’ll undo the locks, find that cellphone, we might be able to get some answers off of it.” Tanya says, getting to work on the locked collar around her neck. “Don’t worry Ruby, you’re with friends now. You’re safe.”
Anthony does a sweep with his on phone, using a scanner app and kneels down pulling out the burner from under a bag. “Got it.”
“I’m going to want a rape kit done on her.” Tanya says.
“Leave everything as is. We are going to fall back and watch the building. See if anyone comes or goes.” Their team leader calls out. “Tanya, go with her to the hospital see if you can find out who she was in her human life.”
Nodding, Tanya looks as the ambulance crew heaved the young mare into the stretcher. She is conscious but isn’t really responsive.
“Is she a crystal pony?” Anthony asks.
“I don’t think so, but mental stress can hurt any pony according to the information Velvet gave us.” Tanya responds, getting into the back.
The EMT’s slam the doors shut. The ambulance pulls out, heading for the hospital on base. While they could just as easily bring her to a normal hospital, most humans still have no idea about ponies. Base hospitals, at least, could access information on them easier.
Tanya runs her fingers through the mare’s neck and scratches behind her ears softly. “It’s ok Ruby. I’m here. I may not look it yet, but I’m a pony like you.”
Closing her eyes Tanya rubbed her face against Ruby’s. She isn’t sure what to do in this case. There is no textbook on this. The only thing she could hope is that closeness and contact might help her.
*** Anthony ***
Walking into the lab Anthony looks at the phone in pieces. “Whatcha got?”
“Standard LG throwaway phone. Pulled some prints off the screen, there is also saliva on the screen. Running that now.”
“Saliva on… she tongue dialed… then she hid the phone. Smart girl.”
“Who?”
“Pony we brought in. Tanya’s with her.” Anthony says, smiling.
“Oh yeah, how’s Tanya holding out? She got her tail yet?”
Shaking his head Anthony chuckles, “Doesn’t happen till tonight.”
The computer beeps and both looked up at the screen. “Finger print match on the back of the case to a LT Rick Manning. Well I guess we’ll see if he’s manning up to this.”
“Oh god no… leave the jokes to Tanya. That was just bad.” Anthony says, covering his face. Grabbing the printout, Anthony heads up to the office. This case is starting to annoy him.
“Let’s hear it.”
The team leader was one Emma Watson. Before jokes are made, she’s heard them all and even made a few herself. It’s her own fault however. Her whole reason or interest in being a special agent comes from Sherlock Holmes books. On this team, she isn’t some sidekick following Holmes around, she is the…
“Yes Boss.” Anthony puts the paper down in front of her. “One Rick Manning, he’s a LT reservist with the US Army. He works part time as a building contractor. Army has him as a supply management officer. Age 32 so he didn’t change.”
“Well bring him in for questioning.”
*** Grigory ***
“So what do we feed the bird cat thingy?”
“Catfood, fish, if a pony dies in transit, just hack it up and feed it that.” Grigory says. There are enough stories of griffins eating horses.
“We are overlanding them now to their final cities.”
“Good, no mistakes. The boss was less than happy with your progress.”
Hanging up the phone Grigory gets back to cleaning his gun. One must always keep their weapon in the best condition. Their life could depend on it someday.
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6180494 The hardest part is, how to treat people. how to put it into words that others will understand..
6180616 don't worry, it gets better as we go, and many of those things are "fixed" in later parts. we just haven't gone back and fixed the first ones yet.
And here comes badass Tanya. I wonder why the poor pony is always portrayed as some sort of secret service agent or something. I don't remember a single story with her being what she was shown as in the show.
I wonder if I should make a joint chainsawing ceremony for Grigory and mr. Hanger, or Cliff deserves a separate one...
6180827 I think separate ceremonies would be best. Both deserve them. I'll take Mr cliff, you can have Grigory
This is getting real dark...Though, I'm not sure if the dark tag will fit.
Also, no one check the cargo in airport? What the fuck?
6180885 Argh, you taking the best part!
Oh well, there were some good candidates later. I'll take them.
6180915 Oh, I'm quite certain you would prefer taking Grigory, cliff may be the boss, but Grigory is the one locally in charge. He will certainly deserve it.
6180914 Bribes run the economy, you know. As usual.
6180922 He already does. That fine gentleman is on the top of the list from the moment he's been named.
Yet, he's just a henchmen in the end.
6180914
A large brown bag is handed off to the customs official, the prices for five inspection tags.
Nope, the customs official apparently didn't check the boxes. Just looked inside a large brown bag, then handed over 5 inspection tags. I wonder what was in the bag?
6180929 Cookies, duh.
6180929 And the army was supposed to have agents watching and spying in secret...yet, nothing is noticed?
6180967 Yep, by the time they "catch" the bribe it's to late. A system only works when everyone does their job.
6180997 Sigh...Either way, the situation seem bleak.
But, it is magical talking ponies we're talking about, so I guess there will be certain circumstances...
ok Tanya is looking like she may enjoy the change that is after she gets past the P T S D.
if I am guessing right they better get some real pony help for Ruby she has given up and is going full pony and not in a good way.
and really K C some of the names.
a really good chapter.
Harts Fire
Well. I can only say one thing.
Called it.
In give this scene
and 
And yes, ufo's are not real. They were identified long ago.
Oh damn, they were working faster than let on.