• Published 22nd Aug 2015
  • 3,301 Views, 255 Comments

Fullmetal Pony - Leoshi



To get back what they've lost, siblings Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor embark on a quest to obtain the legendary Alicorn Amulet.

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0.1: A Moment of Stillness

The glow of his horn quickly faded to darkness. The crack of hardening ice sounded and echoed, then fell to silence in short order. It was a perfect maneuver. After all, it wasn't as though he, or his team, were new to this sort of thing. They were masters of their craft, a fact that clearly hadn't been passed along to the poor soul who had come knocking.

As the echoes of cracking ice faded away, the unicorn stepped back and recovered his victim's fallen radio. He sparked his horn to minimum levels, just enough to give him light to see by. He carefully dismantled the radio, taking the extra step to destroy individual components as he spotted them. However, he left the cord that ran between the box and receiver. The wires inside were good materials.

After a moment, his work was finished. He stood up, worked out a crick in his neck, and gazed into the fearful eyes of his latest victim. The poor fool hadn't even had time to gasp. The unicorn wondered (not for the first time) how it must feel, to be frozen solid with a scream still clawing its way up his throat. An unfortunate side-effect of his method was that he could never ask his victims. Dead was dead.

"Well, that's one less we have to worry about," he mused, allowing his horn's light to fade. The hall was once again cast into darkness. For a moment, he debated what to do with the body before choosing to leave it where it stood. He made his way up the building, not bothering to hide the corpse. It wouldn't matter, anyway; as long as he and his team completed their tasks tonight, the dead pony in the hall would just be the first of many.

The next several flights of stairs were uneventful, except for the rare window that hadn't been boarded up. Unfiltered moonlight streamed in, but he made sure to duck beneath the sills to avoid being seen. With so much at stake and the goal so near, it wouldn't do to get careless now.

Minutes later, he arrived on the top floor. He slowly entered the nearby room, enduring the harsh creak of the neglected hinges. Both of his companions were waiting for him, standing just beyond the reach of the moonlight from yet another exposed window.

Winter Frost, the mare to his left, spoke first. "What was it?"

"Just another curious beat officer. I had to stalk him for a while to make sure he didn't inform his superiors."

Winter Frost heaved a relieved sigh. Stress visibly drained from her shoulders. "Good. I really don't want to deal with another prison cell this week."

To his right was Frigid Drift, who was far more impatient than worried. "So how about it, Whiteout? Can we keep going, or what?"

With a confident smile, Whiteout slowly nodded his head. "Yes. We shouldn't need to deal with any more delays. With our glyphs in place, we can finally accomplish what we've suffered so much to achieve."

"Spare me the speech, old man," Drift moaned, "or I'll add you to my list."

Whiteout didn't bother to reply. He had long-since grown accustomed to the pegasus' brashness. Instead, he waited a few seconds before clearing his throat and continuing. "The patrols are likely closer together, thanks to our scrape a few nights ago. Don't be stupid; watch for patterns and use any openings you can find. Coordinate with each other, and don't you dare lose any glyphs. If we're going to make this work, we need as many contact points as possible. You both have your radios?"

Drift nodded, lifting a wing to expose the lightweight variant that Frost had made. Frost, in turn, pulled out her own from her saddlebag, using the chance to also double-check its connections. She had always been a talented unicorn, though sometimes her desire to be careful got in the way of progress.

Whiteout nodded. "Good. I'll give both of you cover, then stay back and deal with whatever comes my way. You two use the mist to infiltrate the castle. Tell me the instant you're done, or if you run into trouble you can't handle."

For the first time, Frost showed the confidence that made her so dangerous. "What are they gonna do, blindly fire more nets at us? They'll have much bigger things to worry about pretty soon."

"Awh yeah," Drift agreed. He smiled wickedly. "That's what I like to hear."

Whiteout nodded again. "You each know what to do. Our mission begins soon, so get in position. And be smart about this."

Whiteout turned and exited the room to the persistent sound of rusty hinges. Darkness swallowed him once more, but he needed no light now - the last stairway was directly in front of him. He made his way up the final few steps and out the far door, emerging on the rooftop. Now fully exposed, he broke into a careful trot, keeping his head low and his horn dark. A moment later saw him near the edge of the building, where he could clearly see the streets below and the castle further away. Its own spotlights could almost put Luna's moon to shame.

He spared a moment to glare at the palace. This is it, he mused. Tonight, the nightmare will finally end. Maybe I can find some rest once this is behind me.

He looked down, spotting the hidden glyph he had carved into the stone of the roof earlier that night. He kept his eyes fixed on it as he pulled out his own radio and powered it on. The headset slid over his ear, and the mouthpiece wound beneath his snout at a comfortable distance. Winter Frost was an excellent engineer. "Test, test. Can both of you hear me?"

A soft crackle sounded in his ear. "I'm here," came the voice of Winter Frost. "Frigid is nearly done."

A second crackle soon followed her voice. "I read you, old man. We're in position."

Whiteout allowed himself a smile all his own. It would have been chilling to anypony who saw it. "Excellent. Prepare for some noise, and take off in ten seconds from...now."

Another pair of cracks sounded in his ear. Whiteout looked away from the glyph and down the side of the building. From a window just one floor down, he could barely see the edge of a hoof, its owner poised and ready to push out into the night sky. Doubtless, his other partner was crouching low, psyching herself up for being carried. He was immensely proud of them both.

Eight seconds left. He pulled back and looked at the glyph once more, setting his hoof across its face. His horn sparked to life. A similar glyph, a circle carved into his fetlock, reacted to the first. Both began to glow, and then two seconds later, the lights of all three winked out.

One second later, an explosion rocked the street below. A water main had violently expanded as it froze over, filling the block with cold steam as thick as a snowstorm. Similar blasts of cold fog expanded from nearby blocks, the pressure allowing them to be expelled up into the air. Five seconds later, the entire street was cloaked, as was every building for several blocks.

"Go," he ordered. Below him, a telltale whoosh sounded as wings cut the air. He could barely see the shadowy figures of two ponies taking to the sky, one being held beneath the other, before losing sight of them entirely.