• Published 31st Jan 2016
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Lifegiver - Meep the Changeling



Azur Lily, a young biomancy prodigy from Germaney, seeks to start a new life in Equestria.

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11 Something Wicked

Ember - 3rd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - Midnight

“Thanks again,” I sincerely thanked, levitating a few feet infront of my liberators as they made their way up the lower stairs, “for the mercy.”

“You can stop thanking us every ten seconds,” Lyra said in a tone which I was reasonably sure was irritation.

To be honest, I was intentionally repeating myself to try and work out if it was irritation. But then again, how else would I understand when I was irritating somepony? The space outside of the facility appeared quite sizeable. Who knew how many potential interactions there were!

I needed to work on my social capabilities.

“Ja, it’s getting a tad nerve grating,” Lily added.

“Ah, so that is irritation. Thank you,” I said cheerfully. “I’ll recollect that data for future conversation.”

“Smaller words…” Lyra groaned, before looking up at me irritably. “Hold on, are you still doing that to learn what irritation sounds like?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“I don’t believe you.” Lyra said giving me a bitter look. “I’m going to make you read a book on body language and facial expressions.”

Oh! Well, now that changed everything. Huzzah!

“I didn’t know there were scholarly works on the subject of nonverbal biotic communications! This will make everything so much easier.” I exclaimed cheerfully.

“Ja, it will,” Lily said as she reached the broken button at the bottom of the top stairs. “I understand you are happy to be free, but please, it’s after midnight. Bed time is now time...”

“Bed?” I asked, truly not knowing what he was-

“Oh! That thing you do where you seem to die for a brief period then self-resuscitate?” I asked him curiously.

“How do you not know what sleep is?” Lyra demanded, giving the broken stairs button a smack. “Colgate's a windigo! She sleeps, you have to sleep too!”

I shook my head. “I don’t do that… He didn’t ether. Perhaps your friend is abnormal.”

So she knew another of my kind? Interesting. Perhaps that’s why she allowed me to live.

“Why won't the stairs open?” Lyra groaned.

“The button’s broken,” I explained. “Only the top one works. Please, allow me.”

I set my guitar down, then floated up through the retracting floor, form distorting as I passed through the wood and returning to normal as I reached the other side and gave the button a tap. As the doorway groaned open I retrieved my cherished instrument.

I was too hungry to attempt taking an object through with me. Especially not my guitar. I didn’t want it to break because I couldn’t protect it.

“Well… Good thing you marked the button.” Lily said to Lyra as they began to come up the steps.

Lyra nodded. “Yep. We would have been waiting for backup if it weren't for you, Ember.”

Oh yes. That’s right. Matter is an obstacle to biotics. I was just trying to be polite and get the door… Save them the energy. Heh.

“Not a problem.” I said, hoping that was sufficient to satisfy the social requirement to thank people for thanking you.

It is hard to know if you are socializing properly when all you’ve had to learn from are talk shows on only four radio stations.

My two rescuers proceed to the main entry largely in silence. Presumably for reasons of needing to ‘sleep’.

I personally don’t understand biotics very well. All I had to learn from was the few days there were ponies in the lab, and then the fifteen years when the shifty-buggies were running their emotional energy farm here.

I had liked them. Nice creatures, rather kind, give off plenty of heat. Only well, it’s hard to learn about a species when your best example of it is a shape-changed insectoid pretending to be that species in order to utilise reproductive techniques to generate edible energy.

“Right, so,” Lyra began, “Ember, we need to get you introduced to my friends. That way they know not to hurt you if you blow your unicorn cov-”

“Buck it, Octy, you aren't gonna pick this anytime soon!” A voice exclaimed in what was definite irritation. “Just move over.”

It was pretty impressive to be able to hear that through the door. The speaker was either very loud, or very close to the doo-

“Dynamic entr-” the same voice shouted, a loud thud and crunch booming through the lobby as someone smashed into the door. “Ow! Okay, that’s one hay of a door.”

“See what I was having problems picking it?” Another voice asked, sounding far quieter than the other. “Who built this door? Thestrals?”

Lily turned to give Lyra a…sarcastic look?

“So, that’s our backup?” He asked.

Lyra opened her mouth to reply, only to be drowned out by a loud snap of energy.

Whipping my head to look back at the still standing door I could see rather odd patterns in the thaumaturgic ribbons which rippled away from the door. I was used to spells having shockwaves, but this one looked… Rather unrefined.

“I’m going to say yes,” the louder voice grunted.

Lily walked up to the door, turned the knob to adjust the bolt, and opened it.

“Ladies,” he greeted.

The wood paneling on the other side of the door had melted, revealing the steel behind the paneling. That was rather odd, wood was supposed to burn, was it not? How did it melt like that?

I drifted closer to inspect the door as Lyra and the group of five mares outside began having some sort of conversation. I’d have listened, but this was seriously wood that had melted, an anomaly far more interesting than biotic vocalizations.

On closer inspection, this particular arrangement of matter was indeed wood, or at least, had been wood. Whatever the spell used on it had been, it had most certainly included some transmutation effects as the melting point of the carbon within the wood clearly had been lowered, as if the wood had been heated to thirty-five hundred degrees, it should have ignited.

Their conversation got a bit louder and more urgent. It was rather irritatingly distracting. I almost told them to go away so I could science this properly, but that would have been rude.

Now, in theory, every component of wood could melt under the right conditions, but being a compound of drastically different components, it shouldn’t be able to melt, but rather, combust. How the spell prevented the oxygen in the air and within the wood from oxidizing the cellulose was of far more interest. I didn’t even know how you would go about doing that. A pity, as this spell would be rather useful if you wanted a hole in a building but also to not light it on fire.

Yet, there had to be far many less energy intensive methods to quickly put a hole into a structure than melting wood. Which apparently, was a thing that was possible. As evidenced by the delightfully perplexing hardened ribbons of formerly molten carbon which had formed a beaded stringy pattern as they ran down the door’s face.

Perhaps the pattern of the carbon held a key to understanding how this particular effect had been achieved? It seemed to have been forcefully pushed away from the center of the effect for some distance before gravity pulled it down the surface of-

“Hey!” Lyra exclaimed, waving a hoof in front of my nose. “I’m trying to explain to them that you’re friendly and nice. Could you help?”

“This wood melted.” I said, pointing to the intriguing anomaly of chemistry. “I’ll happily help with whatever you just said, but at the moment I need to understand this.”

“Sonic blast,” the loud voice from before helpfully informed. “Highly focused, high frequency soundwaves.”

“Wait, the wood melted?” Lily asked, turning to look at the door before exclaiming. “Who the buck even invented a spell that would do that? Why not just break it? It’s wood!”

“Ahhh! So many rapid overpressure/underpressure waves at a great volume, focused into a beam. Yes, that might do this. Thank you.” I exclaimed turning away from the now explained anomaly with a content smile.

A somehow less white than Lily mare with a spiky two tone blue on other blue mane rolled her eyes behind a pair of violet tinted glasses. “It’s called Rule of Cool. Yeah I could just break it, but it’s not as awesome, or tactically advantageous. It distracted the hell out of Ember there, right?”

Oooo. Yes. Good point! If a wooden wall suddenly melted nearby me I would most certainly have been too distracted to fight anything coming thru the hole. That was quite brilliant!

Science was now sated. I could now socialize as norms required.

“Okay,” Lyra said, sighing irritably, “now that Vinyl's explained how she melted the door-”

“Vinyl?” I asked, eyes widening as everything clicked.

The name! The voice! Purple hued glasses! It couldn’t be? Was it?

“Are you Vinyl Scratch? The songwriter and Disk Jockey?” I asked eagerly.

She flashed me a smile. “Heh, Lyra said you had a radio. You like my music, huh? Well you can’t possibly be half bad then.”

“Actually,” I explained, “I find your music to be decent. Certainly not bad. However if I recall correctly you are wed to Octavia Melody, correct? Could you introduce me? I’ve been studying her compositions for the last twenty years and-”

Vinyl's ears fell along with the corners of her mouth, forming what I believed was a frown. Oh dear… I hadn’t intended to hurt her feelings. She wasn’t a bad musician, I simply didn’t enjoy her preferred genera.

I also noticed that the gray furred black maned earth pony mare standing next to her had puffed out her barrel a bit and was giving Vinyl what I believed to be a smug look.

“I’m Octavia,” the gray mare said with a polite smile. “I must say, it’s a surprise to hear anypony under thirty prefer my music to Vinyl’s. Oh, cheer up love. You have legions of fans.”

She said giving Vinyl a light elbowing to the shoulder.

I held my guitar out in front of myself and floated to a position where the best composer alive could reach it. “Would you sign my guitar, please?” I pleaded giving her an eager smile.

Before Octavia could respond, a white furred, pink maned unicorn at the back of the group- No, her ribbon patterns were all wron-

Ah! That’s why!

A shifty-buggy currently dressed as a unicorn at the back of the group laughed. “Right, so with no idea who we are, this Windigo’s first reaction on being freed from a prison, isn’t to try and eat anyone, but to ask for an autograph. Heh. I think we’re good here.”

A windigo, currently projecting the form of a blue and white unicorn mare nodded in agreement.

How had I missed her? Especially since Lyra had mentioned knowing a windigo. I waved happily at her. “Hello! Thank you for existing, and thereby providing evidence that members of our kind can be nice too!”

“Yeah, she seems nice,” my kin commented.

Lyra groaned and held a hoof over her eyes. I believed this gesture conveyed frustration.

“Okay, so you were looking at the bucking door the entire time. I’ll have to introduce everypony ag-”

“Well in her defense, the wood is melted.” Lily interrupted, pointing a hoof violently at the damaged door.

“Yeah!” I agreed. “Do you have any idea of the chemical complexities involved in getting wood to transition to a fluid state instead of combusting and converting into gasses?”

Lyra gave the two of us a death-glare. “Yes! It’s weird. But we have important things to do! So, to repeat, Ember, this is Vinyl, Octavia, Colegate, Meep, and Bon-Bon. We work for Princess Luna's personal guards and as a Spec-Ops Unit, Lunar division.”

Lyra said more, but as soon as she mentioned Bon-Bon, the radio advertisement for a candy shop owned by a pony also named Bon-bon played in my head, replacing everything she said with the overly catchy advertising jingle.

Sweetie Drops Candies, we sell candies… And that’s all!

“Okay,” I said as Lyra stopped talking, so she wouldn’t get mad again.

“Right,” Lyra said, sighing in relief, “so, again, As Cole said-”

“I’ll spare you the third time saying it, Lyra,” Cole interrupted with a smile. “Ember, was it?”

I nodded.

“You’ll be staying with me for a week,” Cole said in a matter of fact tone. “You seem like a nice person, but I want to be sure you are before we let you loose to do whatever you like. Also, it will give you an opportunity to learn how ponies work to better pass as one.

“Trust me, most ponies will be very afraid of you. So you’ll want to pass as a unicorn, and I can help with that. And you need help because you’re floating a foot off the ground, and unicorn’s can't do that.”

“They can’t?” I asked in surprise. “But I’ve seen them levitate objects with more mass than their own bodies! Surely a unicorn can exert enough force to hold themselves aloft!”

“Eh, we can,” Vinyl said giving me a shrug. “Well, some can. It’s just harder to do, takes more mana, and you’d be afraid of dropping yourself making it hard to focus on maintaining the spell. Cuz fear.

“But yeah, some of us do it. If you want to pretend to be one who does, put an aura around yourself while floating.”

I nodded and quickly gave my body a unicorn-like light blue-green aura.

“Yeah like that.” Vinyl confirmed.

Cole nodded. “That’s true… Didn’t think about that. Anyways, you’ll need help adjusting. So, do we have a deal?”

I rolled my eyes. “Well if I say no, you kill me. So yes. Obviously.”

“Heh,” Lyra chuckled. “You have to love her bluntness. We wouldn’t kill you if we didn’t have to though. After all, we could always just lock you back in the lab.”

Oooo… That would suck.

Octavia gave Lyra a dirty look. “She listens to classical music, plays an instrument, and has a clear personality, unlike all of Cole’s other relatives. We won’t be hurting her.”

I gave her a grateful smile, and noticed the group of ponies nod in agreement. Good, I seemed to be safe.

Additionally I appeared to be relatively liked by these individuals. Perhaps I could continue to associate with these ponies and acquire friendship status. Then I’d get to perhaps one day play a duet with Octavia!

“Thank you. I enjoy existing.” I thanked sincerely.

“Wait a minute,” Vinyl asked, looking at me over her glasses, “you said you’ve been studying Octy’s music?”

I nodded.

“But you play a guitar.” She said simply.

I nodded again. “Of course. It was the only instrument to turn up in the lost and found.”

“How do classical pieces even sound on a guitar?” Vinyl asked curiously.

“You encounter a motherbucking friendly windigo, and your first question for her is about music?” Lily exclaimed in shock.

“Dude, she’s not hurting anypony, obviously nice, and I literally have sleepovers and parties with my best friend, who is also a windigo,” Vinyl pointed out. “Besides, she’s been stuck in there for what, three decades? It’s not like she’d know anything about her own kind.”

“What she said.” I agreed, mimicking Vinyl's voice as I jerked a hoof in her direction to mimic her attitude and mannerisms.

Octavia’s eyes widened for a second. Vinyl blinked and turned to look at Colegate for a moment then back to me. “Alright, so, maybe I don’t know everything… How come you can shift your voice and she can’t?”

“Our powers seem to vary from individual to individual.” I answered. “As for how my music sounds, I discovered that I can perform classical music utilising the style ‘Mane Metal’ to achieve excellent sound on a guitar.”

“Y-you turn my music into metal?” Octavia asked, looking an odd combination of impressed and upset.

Vinyl grinned at me in a way which made me question the structure of pony anatomy. “Alright, that makes up for before. Heh.”

Deciding an example was in order, I slid my guitar into position, and once it was in my grasp, coated it in the usual illusion. Unlike my counterpart, I had to touch something to change it’s appearance, but the armament in their eyes as the battered instrument seemed to reverse-decay to pristine condition before glowing with eldritch fire was consolation enough for me.

“Here’s your song, the Count of Tuscany.” I announced before sliding smoothly into the overture.

It was a complex piece, starting slowly, looping through simple sequences of notes which slowly came faster and faster, in ever increasing complexity. Exactly how Octavia wrote most of her pieces. It was like she wanted to write rock and metal, but had to compose classical numbers for some reason.

From the first note to the end, all of her composing was present. It was the foundation for my own art, a slight increase to the tempo, a note or three added to allow my one guitar to keep the proper tune, the occasional little bit of flair, and of course, a few simple aura tricks around myself and the guitar to make a little light show.

Nothing major. I was still quite hungry, but I could spare the energy to impress a music goddess.

I continued playing until the note just before the lyrics began, flared the note, let it hang in the air for a few breaths, then stopped letting the illusion fade away. I didn’t have the energy to do that for the full twenty minutes.

“I-I hope that’s not as disappointing as you seemed to think,” I started giving Octavia a small grin.

“Oh no. It’s not even remotely disappointing!” Octavia exclaimed eagerly. “You preserved the music! Translated it flawlessly! I-”

Octavia looked over my shoulder at a very… Damaged? Upset? Ah, no, tired! Yes. Tired.

Octavia looked over my shoulder at a very tired Lily and cleared her throat. “Um, perhaps the six of us should adjourn to Meep and Colegate’s home. Lily appears to need to sleep quite badly.”

Lily nodded. “Ja… Und I’m too tired to not sleep here, even considering everything that’s happened today… How the buck are you six not tired?”

“I’m a little tired… But I’ve been gone longer and longer without sleep since I got my powers.” Cole commented.

“I had some of Coco Bean’s coffee once,” Meep said simply. “Haven’t been tired since.”

“How does that even make sense?” Lily demanded irritably.

“Coffee brewing cutiemark plus potion making degree equals making the everloving shit outta a cup of coffee.” Lyra commented. “And the rest of us are Vampires, so yeah… We sleep like, once a month.”

Everypony nodded.

I realized I had to ask what ‘vampire’ meant, but before I could, Lyra sighed, and an odd look of what was probably apprehension filled her face. “Right then… Meep, can you open a portal for me? I need to report all this.”

The shifty-buggie nodded, her horn glowing a dull green and shedding a rather odd energy wave I was unfamiliar with. Odd. This could be quite interesting to study.

A vortex of green energy swirled to life around Lyra’s hooves, the mare slowly sinking into the… Oh neat! The energy patterns were forming a sort of tunnel! I had to try-

“Good luck.” The shifty-buggie wished to her comrade.

Lyra nodded, vanishing into the space-time bridge with a delightful ribbon swirl.

It was neat to get to see the current patterns of spells I didn’t know. A nice change of pace from the simple repeating ones in the lab.

Cole nodded and laid a hoof on my shoulder, a gesture which while affectionate, felt odd. Had I ever been touched before? No I don’t think so.

“Come on,” she said, “let’s get going.”

“Alright.” I agreed, falling into step behind her and deciding not to complain about how slow walking was.

Lyra Heartstrings - 3rd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - Early Morning

Sometimes, even if the darkest of moments, I enjoy having a little power. Not physical power. Running, jumping, magic, that’s all fun and stuff, but nothing beats having a bit of real power every once in awhile.

The power to portal directly into the Lunar Court without consequence.

The power to tell nobles to sod off.

The power to be taken seriously by one of your nation’s most powerful rulers.

The only downside is that to use the power, I had to say something very specific, which had to be absolutely true.

“Everypony leave! This is a matter of national security!” I announced loudly and firmly as I stepped out of the portal.

Just once, I’d like to get to get them to GTBO so Luna and I could say, catch a movie or just hang a bit. She was a nice pony when allowed to be herself and not ‘Ms. Prefect, the Military Leader’.

“Now!” I added urgently, pointing with one armored leg towards the doors as the dozen or so nobles angrily packed up their gear.

They quickly hurried out of the hall, leaving a thing or three behind. Probably because my quick gesture showed off the blood stained and cracked status chestplate off pretty clearly.

Princess Luna’s eyes widened as she noticed my armor’s damage. “Chrysalis's survived inside one of the remaining Sapphire changelings, didn’t she?”

I shook my head. “No, Luna… It’s… It’s worse.”

Luna shifted on her throne, frowning in that regal way of ‘hers’. She wasn’t Luna right now. Right now she was ‘the Princess’, the mask she wore for the sake of public appearances. The version of herself which ponies believed her to be, not her actual self.

This wasn’t news for the Princess. This was news for Luna. The real Luna. The one who wasn’t tangled up in political dramas. The one my friends and I sat down and played games with.

“Then deliver your report,” Princess Luna, “so we may respond as quickly as possible to this threat.”

I shook my head slowly, ignoring her confused and hurt look. “Luna, I- This isn’t… I do have a real actual thing to report, and it’s important. But it’s not for Princess Luna, it’s for Luna. I need you to drop the political mind set.

“If I tell this to you right now, I’m afraid you'll make the wrong decision. You were just in court, you were trying to be the Luna everypony believes you are. That’s the wrong mare for this. I need to talk to the blind mare who joined her city’s guard. I need to talk to the first mare to become an Alicorn. I need the mare who single hoofedly stopped the Second Changeling Crusade.

“Right now, Equestria needs Luna Solarus, not Princess Luna,” I said, making damn sure my tone conveyed the seriousness behind my words.

“Why?” Princess Luna asked with a concerned barely-there frown.

“Because if I tell you this as anything other than adventurer to adventurer, there will be lost meaning, and there can be absolutely no miscommunication tonight.” I informed.

I saw the shift. It’s subtle, but if you know Luna, you can see it. Her eyes harden, her posture straightens. Her face takes on a kind, but observant expression. There she was. The real Luna.

“I take it I should shut off the emotion tracking spell Celestia and I share?” Luna asked with all do seriousness.

I nodded. “Your sister is a great pony for domestic policy, but we both know that every time she is involved in combat, things go teets up almost instantly…”

Luna sighed. “I was having a nice night…”

Her horn barely glowed for the most split of seconds. Celestia would no longer be tracking Luna’s mood, at least, not till she let the spell start again.

“I’m sorry…” I apologized, ears drooping.

Luna stood up from her throne and trotted over to me, standing at a comfortable distance. “What did you fight tonight?” She asked.

“A windigo.” I replied.

Her eyes narrowed.

“It was crazed, nearly feral, and very powerful. It’s dead.” I expounded. “I’ll tell you everything, but first; There was a second windigo. She seems to be reasonable, non hostile, and well, person-like. She’s currently staying with Cole for observation, but if you’d rather we des-”

“I trust your judgment, and your capabilities to solve problems in the field,” Luna said dismissively. “If I didn’t, you wouldn’t work for me, much less be my friend. If you believe she’s fine, then that’s the end of it. What else happened tonight?”

I nodded. I honestly didn’t expect she would think that way on the matter. Well, thank goodness for miracles.

“Second,” I continued, “I promised Lily I would do everything in my power to ensure he keeps his property, so-”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Did he commit an act of treason?”

I shook my head quickly. “No! Far from it, he saved my life- Wait a minute, Lily owns that lot via Land Grant?”

I had sworn he’d purchased the right to use the property, if he actually owned that lot, wait a minute… Wasn’t Germaney a Democratic Republic? Did he even know how property rights worked in a sane form of government?

Luna nodded. “Yes, Twilight decided it would be best for legal reasons to give him ownership of the land- Oh… The two of you fought a windigo in that old hotel. Was it brought in, or spawned? Are we dealing with a cannibalistic serial killer?” She finished, giving me a look mostly angered, but also a little ‘yay maybe I’ll get to do something!’ie.

“I bucking wish!” I exclaimed. A serial killer would make things so much more simple. “Luna, Lily and Scootaloo spotted a windigo in the old building when he went to inspect his new holdings… Uh, right, some pony will need to tell him that the land is his actual property… I don't think he knows how a grant works…

“Lily was directed to me as somepony who could check the building to see if it was a monster or a prankster, and… The building is nothing like what it appears to be. The walls are steel, covered in a stone veneer and fully warded to the point where Cole couldn’t get in, not even through an open door.

“It’s a fortress. I think it could withstand considerable bombardment, mage, artillery, doesn't matter. It’s quite possibly more fortified than your personal keep, Luna. Worst thing is though… We found a hidden basement, that’s about a hundred meters below ground, and made into a proper bunker.”

“Ah, I see,” Luna sighed. “One of those Tribunal facilities I keep hearing about. Of all the things I missed during my banishment… That… That is the most, personal.” Luna said bitterly.

I winced. If she felt bad for being unable to protect her ponies from them…

“No. This belonged to a different group.” I said, using my magic to take the banner I had brought with me from my saddlebag and unfurl it. “It took me a while, because, well, I had to remember from history books I read as a filly, but this banner… It’s not a Tribunal banner, but the red triangle design, that is! This is a separate banner, based on the Tribunal styling.

“And I pulled it off the wall of a dual purpose arcane slash scientific laboratory, built inside of a bunker, a hundred feet below the single most secure building in all of Ponyville. Upside, the bunker has long since been abandoned, three decades have passed since it was in use last. Downside… Is what it was for.”

Luna raised a hoof to stop me. “Lyra, are you telling me that a pro-Tribunal organization has been operating in Ponyville, as little as thirty years ago?”

I nodded. “Yes. And worst of all, judging by how much money had to have been poured into the lab, they are not a small group. Also, they were-”

Luna grit her teeth hard enough for me to hear them scrape together. “Celestia! You… You incompetent… Urgh! Ponyville… That’s how. It’s in Ponyville, her precious little community that is always exactly how she remembers it from fillyhood! Nothing could ever be wrong there!”

“Luna, calm down. Please. There’s more.” I pleaded.

“Every single time something horrible happens, it’s always something from just after I was banished!” Luna growled. “I know she's a pacifist, but could she not allow even her guards to regularly-”

“Luna!” I barked. “They were breeding super soldiers using windigos!”

Luna stopped her rant dead.

“Excuse me?” She asked in a tone that was deadly serious, but pleaded for me to have been joking.

I honestly wished I was joking.

“They were force breeding unicorns, and infusing them with an essence derived from windigoes,” I said bitterly. “To get better windigoes to use, they… They allowed the unicorns to grow for a year, and then ate them alive… Then destroyed the resulting windigo to use as the essence to infuse the next foal with.”

“Come again?” Luna asked, eyes narrowing dangerously.

“This group, killed foals. To breed better unicorns. Because they are a supremacist group.” I repeated, bile rising in the back of my thro-

The left side of Luna’s jaw pulled, as if she were having a stroke!

I could see the entire left side of her face pull back into a boiling, wrathful, livid, hateful sneer. I literally saw her bare teeth sharpen as her left eye darkened, pupil narrowing to a slit, for a brief terrifying moment, during which Luna scored a thick line in the marble floor with a long slow, jerky drag of her hoof.

Luna grit her teeth, took a deep breath, exhaled, and with an extreme amount of effort, the transformation reversed itself.

“Proceed.” Luna prompted in a strained voice.

All of Luna’s knights knew the truth behind Nightmare Moon. Tartarus, Celestia herself didn’t know everything. It was probably best she didn’t.

Dark Magic isn’t inherently evil, but it has a price for every spell. Luna wanted more power than her sister, and she got it. But only when enraged to the utmost extreme, where she would then seek nothing else but to destroy the target of her anger, only for the power to leave her as the life left the source of her wrath.

I flinched at the barely controlled rage of literal doom. “I’m not sure I sho-”

“Lyra,” Luna said bitterly, “it was brought on by righteous fury. You saw that. I’m still in full control. You’ve already told me the worst. Now tell me the rest so I can get to work on finding these monsters, and introduce them to the eternal darkness they have wrought.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. She’d contained it. She’d heard the worst of it. She had the authority and means to do this properly.

“Alright, here’s the whole story.” I began.

Trottingham, Kimblewick Provence, Equestria - 3rd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - Afternoon

The guardposts placed at each entrance to the city of Trottingham, are a lonely place. Five roads lead to the storied city, three rail lines, and dock at both rivers all provide places by which one might enter the city. Yet only two roads, one rail-line, and but a single dock ever saw constant use. The other paths, and thus the other guardposts, were places a pony could work where hours, or even whole days on occasion could go by without one pony needing their ID checked, or their cargo inspected.

At these posts, a guard could expect long, dull hours of nothing. The ‘UDPs’ or ‘Urban Desert Posts’ were loathed by those who became guards for reasons of duty and honor, while being beloved by those who became a guard for reasons of benefits and salary.

For another sort of pony, they were more than beloved. They were necessary. They were free secure locations of which one could be certain nopony else would enter for ten hours a day. A location where someone could perform a second job, with nopony the wiser.

As Celestia’s sun began to cast lengthy shadows, a guard in Trottingham’s southern road guardpost raised a messenger gem to her lips, and spoke.

“Scared Shadow.” She whispered, as if afraid in spite of there being no danger of her being overheard.

A heartbeat passed, and a voice came from the small sapphire dodecahedron. It rolled, and bubbled, as if the words were emissions of gas bubbling up through molten rock. “Tee-arr-gee-four, you are late with your report. I trust your cover has not been compromised.”

“No sir,” the mare replied, nervously tucking a strand of pale blue mane back into her helmet. “My report is late as I took the time to confirm a rumor which will be of great interest to you, sir.”

“Then deliver your report.” Scared ordered firmly, in the tone of a stallion who had no time to waste on the trivialities of conversation.

The mare nodded, a gesture meant more to reassure herself than to convey something to her handler. “I have three items, and I shall save the interesting one for last, if it pleases you sir.”

“It does. Begin.” Sacred ordered, tone harshening.

“One of our Forgers reported that he produced a passport for a TR, sir. I can confirm that TR-A0 is back in Equestria. She has apparently spent the last four years in Neighpone, and prior to that had been staying in Drake. Regardless, she is back within reach and was last seen in Las Pegasus.” The agent reported happily.

“I see. I presume you would like to be recalled if she is re-captured?” Sacred asked casually.

The way her face curled into a cruel but delighted smile would have told anypony able to overhear her that this was a matter of personal business for her.

“Greatly, sir,” the mare replied.

“If this item of interest pleases me, then I shall grant your request.” Sacred informed. “What is the next item?”

“Our benefactors within Trottingham University have acquired a sizable plot of land in the Loping Mountains. The acquisition was under the table, and the land is not only remote, but has been donated to our cause, sir. We can begin establishing a safehouse, base of operations, or training grounds as soon as you wish sir. Though as the area is small in size, it may not be suited to any industrial purpose.” She reported.

“Understood. Send the details along our usual channels. I will instruct you as needed. Now, this item of such interest that you delayed your report a full four hours. Tell me, what is so… Intriguing?” Sacred demanded, tone conveying the same sort malice and threatening presence as an enraged father to their child.

The mare gulped. “I assure you sir, this is worth the delay, and I did not dare inform you before knowing if there was any truth to it. It seems that the recent Equestrian skirmish, specifically the Battle of the Badlands, many Equestrian soldiers, and even Celestia herself received care from a Germane Biomancer.

“This Biomancer has apparently immigrated to Equestria. There is some issue with finding out the specific gender, and their name is either Azur, or Lily, however they have been awarded the title of ‘Lifegiver’ by the soldier class. It shouldn’t be too difficult to locate him or her.

“I am certain you know why I wished to verify this information first, sir.”

“Oh, yes. I do.” Sacred said in a tone normally reserved for conveying sexual pleasure. “You have done well. I will not have you terminated for your lateness, and as promised, if we recapture A0, you may participate in her execution.

“I will send you new orders shortly, I require more genetic material and a distraction to reduce the number of Guard in Ponyville which will soon be necessary. For now, answer this question; Some other TRs are…nervous about taking on their assignments. They insist that with how different most ponies appear, that having so many of the same face in the outside world will lead to suspicion, and cause… problems.

“As one of my agents with years of work, what might you say to these individuals?”

The mare rolled her eyes. “Ponies don’t notice it. I’ve stood side by side with two other TRs in public on assignment before. The average pony is too busy to notice or care, those that do are seen as crazy, and told simplistic explanations such as ‘they are obviously sisters’ or ‘some ponies just look alike.’ The modern pony is weak, the safety provided by their nation means they do not look for danger in their daily lives… Exception to Ponyvillians, naturally.”

“Naturally.” Sacred agreed.

“They are not like us. They are weak, foolish, and untrained. There is nothing to fear from them.” G4 finished.

“Thank you, G4,” Sacred said in a pleased voice. “As fire and flame.”

“We are one,” the mare finished reflexively.

“Return to your duties.” Scared ordered firmly.

The messenger gem’s glow faded to nothingness. The clandestine conversation was over.