Project DYES

by Shadow Beast

Chapter 6: The Project

Thunder Sword and Gravity watched from the broken window as the train pulled into the station. They turned to their sleeping counterparts and prodded them, some more gently than others. The changeling yawned, stretched, and finally cloaked itself in purple. The two unicorns gathered their things and made their way to the door; the pegasus and griffin followed. The group made their way out of the station and back to Midnight's office, where all of the papers required for Gravity's immigration awaited.

"I guess I never really expected to find a good changeling," Midnight admitted. "Other than me, of course." He chuckled awkwardly as he opened the door to his office. He trotted across the room and made his way around his desk. "It should be around here somewhere..." he assured them as he began his search.

"Think you can do some pondering while you look?" Gravity asked the changeling ducked behind the desk.

His snout did not peek out from under. "Sure, but don't expect anything too immediate."

"So what's our goal here?" she asked, turning to the others as well. "Are we helping changelings or are we stopping changelings from attacking Equestria?"

"Sounds like a little of both," Thunder reasoned. "We saved you, and the other two stopped some changeling gang from terrorizing Canterlot."

"What about Gorman? Or Advantage? What line must they cross before they are our problem?"

"They've already crossed it," Midnight said, pulling a paper from a drawer in his desk and placing it on top with his magic. He grabbed a pen and set it down at the edge before beckoning Gravity over. "Sign your full name here," he explained, his hoof tapping near a bold line at the bottom of the document.

Gravity looked over the paper. "What exactly does this entail?"

"It's an agreement to act like a resident, be willing to remove your form in the presence of royalty or royal demand, and other stuff like 'don't feed somepony to death' and the like."

The griffin smiled and picked up the pen. "Seems fair enough." She scrawled "Gravity" on the line, spacing it such that the "y" was off the right edge and there was a large gap on the left. Without putting down the pen she looked up at Midnight.

He nodded. "You need your first name on there too. Hiding things isn't the pony way."

Gravity sighed. "I was worried you'd say that." She carefully scrawled out "Vertigo" on the left side of the line while Desert looked over her shoulder in curiosity.

"'Vertigo?'" He laughed. "Vertigooo," he sang. He ignored the glare she gave him. He couldn't ignore the punch to the stomach. The pain caused his legs to buckle and bring his body to the floor.

"Keep calling her 'Gravity,'" Midnight said. "Or she'll keep taking you down."

"Don't think I won't," Gravity added.

"'Vertigo Gravity,' huh?" Thunder said. "I don't mean to offend, but how did you get those names?"

Gravity sighed. "Chrysalis didn't like that I was a female changeling and a born leader. I could have ran that Hive, but she sabotaged me at every turn."

"I thought you looked up to her," Midnight said. "Followed every command like a trained dog."

"The alternative was always death," the griffin replied. "She sent me on impossible missions with the worst and stupidest of the soldiers. She let so many die just to try to disillusion me." She sighed and looked down at the floor. "And then she named me 'Vertigo' when I kept coming back." She looked back at Midnight, then to Desert who was helping himself up from the ground. "I hate that name. Only one changeling ever spoke it with a sincere tongue."

"Let me guess," Thunder started.

"You can't. You never met him." She turned to Midnight. "Is it even a him?"

"I think he was," he replied, rubbing his chin in recollection. "I guess he wanted to be like me."

"Oh, so he's dead as well." Her tone did not convey her hope’s defeat; the same could not be said of her face.

Midnight nodded with a frown. "Dead, but ultimately successful in his mission."

"What was his name?" Desert asked.

"His is not a name I like to mention around Midnight," Vertigo said, a worried frown creasing her beaked face.

"I will speak his name but only once," Midnight bargained. "If only to prevent any of you from bringing back memories I'd rather leave buried." He took a deep breath. "Mercy." He glared at Desert. "I don't want to even hear about the concept that shares his namesake. Call it 'sparing' or 'forgiving,' but never speak that creature's name." He looked over to Gravity and Thunder. "At this point, I'm not willing to say why. We're leaving him in the past." He focused on Gravity. "But his namesake should be a top priority among our goals."

“That’s very touching,” Thunder spoke. “But forgiveness isn’t going to win this war.”

“Yeah, that buff guy commands a whole army, doesn’t he?” Desert chimed in.

“Only technically,” the pegasus explained. “His syndicate has dissolved into rival factions back in the kingdom. It’s forced us to tighten the borders and make sure trouble doesn’t leak into Equestria.”

“So he doesn’t have any griffins,” Gravity interjected. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any subordinates.” Thunder and Midnight turned to her, and Desert didn’t seem to catch on. “I’m sure you realized, Midnight, that I was chased onto that train.”

“And where you got that Hive gem?”

Thunder crooked his head toward Midnight. “Hive gem?”

Midnight shrugged. “It’s a gem from the Hive: a rock that absorbed the extra magics of those who lived in the caves above. It has a nice habit of shining bright green in the presence of a changeling.”

Gravity cleared her throat loudly. "I stole it from a pegasus that seemed very intent on stopping me."

"Where was this?"

"The old mansion... A few moments after I was reborn, Gorman and a pegasus found me." She scratched the back of her neck. "Well, it was just the pegasus. I easily subdued him and took his bag along with the gem. I probably would have finished him off with the broken lantern if Gorman hadn't shown up." She gulped. "He chased me across town, and I figured jumping onto a moving train was as good a plan as any."

"What'd the pegasus look like?" Thunder asked.

The griffin scratched her chin and squinted into her memory. "I think... I think he was green?"

"You think?"

Her tone grew more stable and defensive. "Dark room. Green light. As far as I could tell, Gorman was green too."

"But you're sure it wasn't a griffin?"

"They don't make fighters that small, pal." She shook her head. "And even if they did, no self-respecting Gorman would look at them twice."

"So not a changeling either? Not somepony who may have helped him with his weapon situation?"

"Yeah, it's not like he was using a glowing magic stone to track down changelings!" Gravity sassed. "It didn't light up for either of the jerks."

"In Thunder's defense," Midnight said. "It could be possible that the pegasus was a changeling that the stone simply didn't react to."

"A special case?" Gravity crooked her head.

"Very special, but very troublesome." Midnight cleared his throat. "The only changelings that a Hive gem might not react to are those who use a different kind of magic." His eyes glanced from one blank face to another. "Not unlike the darker magics that a particular pair of not-zebras might use."

Gravity gritted her beak. "Are you saying that Gorman and Advantage are..."

He held up his hoof. "It's just a theory. I never got a good chance to study Hive gems."

"It was a pony. Maybe it was green, maybe it wasn't. But it was a pony," she growled.

"And what about Advantage?" Thunder asked, changing the subject. "We still don't even know why they were on the train!"

"Because when I got hit I subconsciously screamed for help and they heard it. No more to it." Midnight stared around the room to make sure there were no more questions. "Anything else?"

Desert raised his hoof. "Is someone gonna teach me how to use this thing at some point today?" he asked, gesturing to the changeling spear leaning in his hoof.

"Let's go, dear." Gravity put an arm around him and they walked out of the office. "I'm sure they have papers to go over anyways."

Thunder turned to the desk and picked up the immigration form. "Well, she's not wrong." He reached in his saddlebag and pulled out a small piece of paper. "I'll just add my report to this form and we should have the entire mission labeled a success!" he said while clipping the extra sheet on. "Barring you becoming mostly dead for a while there." He looked up at his friend, only to see his purple jaw hanging open. The pegasus crooked his head. "Midnight?" The changeling's eyes stared through him. "I can exclude that bit if you want, I doubt the SRC cares..."

Midnight raised his hoof, shook his head, and finally closed his mouth with the hoof. "It's fine as is. Turn it in."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Thunder trotted out of the office. It was only when he was halfway down the corridor he realized what Midnight was upset about. He rushed forward and didn't look back.

Behind him, another pegasus made their way to Midnight's door. Its hoof knocked twice on the door before it opened.

"Oh," Midnight said, looking up at his unexpected guest. "Have we met?"

The stranger smiled. "You don't remember me, Mask?" he said in a slightly deeper voice than the changeling. He nudged the door behind him with his hind leg. It swiftly swung closed behind him.

---

Gravity and Desert made their way outside to find a place to practice with the spear. Gravity's claws dug into the point of the weapon. Her horn appeared from her forehead, lifting the green ooze from the tips of her claws and placing it back on the spear edge in new places. She nodded for Desert to pick the weapon back up with his magic.

"It's now calibrated to be much weaker," she explained. "In case you miss."

Mirage scoffed. "Once I get the hang of this thing, that won't ever happen!"

Gravity smiled. "Now, I need you to focus. Think of the spear as an extension of your own horn. Hold the spear with your hooves." Desert took the handle into his hooves. The point shook in excitement. "Now aim for that green area that is the base of the tip. Just focus on it as though you're going to levitate it."

Desert squinted at the point of the spear. His horn lit up and the tip did as well.

"Good! Now try to fire a laser!"

The unicorn looked from the spear to a small patch of grass. His hooves lined up the shot as though the spear was a bow. The weapon glowed until it erupted in a blast of magic. The knockback threw the unicorn onto his back. He got up to find the blades of grass slightly singed. It gave him a large grin.

"Wow!" Gravity looked between him and the brown grass several times. "I didn't think you'd actually be able to do that."

"Please," Desert scoffed. "I'm a natural!"

He took the spear into the air with his magic and spun it around a full 360 degrees. He pointed towards the grass once again, and the weapon fired. He watched the green magic smite the grass, and heard the sound of his spear hitting the ground a couple feet behind him. He looked back at the spear to confirm how far it flew and turned back to Gravity with no expression. He slowly turned from her giggles to the weapon sitting next to the pavement and picked it back up.

"Well." He turned to the grass, intensified his grip, and blasted the exact blade without losing the spear twice. "This is a thing."

"Strange that you can do that," Gravity commented. "It's like the spear was made such that a simple unicorn could use it..."

Desert chuckled. "Yeah, I make everything look easy!"

---

Thunder knocked on the door to Midnight's office. The door opened to reveal two ponies instead of one. A green pegasus wearing silver armor stood between him and Midnight, holding what seemed to be a folder of papers. His brown eyes met the blues of Thunder Sword.

The cream pegasus smiled. "Hunter? What are you doing here?"

"Thunder! I'm just leaving, unfortunately..." Hunter shook the folder. "Got a lot of paperwork that needs re-filing." He turned back to Masquerade. "You can explain the contingency, right, Mask?"

He nodded. "Go on, Hunter."

The green pegasus trotted past the cream one and out the door.

"Of all the ponies that didn't join us," Thunder said, closing the door behind Hunter. "Why didn't Hunter join? He's SRC like me, a changeling like you... You'd think he'd be forced to work here!"

"I requested that he not join me here specifically," Midnight answered. "He's got a good job and with his horn destroyed, he can't practice shapeshifting so I went a step further and wiped the records of him even being a changeling!"

"Doesn't he still feed on emotions?"

Midnight shook his head. "For the time I kept up with him after the war, he seemed to be eating physical food and having a good time of it." He shrugged. "Hate to bring him back into all this. Besides, he's never lived in a hive like Gravity and I have."

"Fair enough, man," Thunder replied. "So what were you two talking about then?"

Midnight looked down at the desk then back up to Thunder. "There have been some, shall we say, oversights." He pushed his glasses back up his snout. "With Gorman here and his soldiers back in the kingdom, a lot of SRC are out there preventing any border problems. Another team has been sent to monitor Advantage and I've requested that no lethal force be used unless absolutely necessary. The common guards have no reserves to spare and even if they did, they are unfit for combat against 'anything I'm fighting.' Basically, their contingency is keeping us isolated from any soldier-type reinforcements."

"Think Desert and Gravity would want to know that too?"

The changeling shrugged a single shoulder. "I mean, Gravity doesn't know what kind of resources Equestria has and Desert... Well, he saved me by himself. Something tells me he wouldn't even care."

Thunder nodded. "Good point." He took a step closer to the desk. "So with eyes on Advantage and the border, who do we go after?”

"Our job was never meant to be a clean up crew," Midnight explained. "Gorman is hardly a threat without his weapon or army, and Advantage and I are at an agreement. There is no need to pursue them as targets."

"Yes, but Gorman clearly has it out for Desert's changeling girlfriend. You really think just ignoring this guy is the answer?"

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that first sentence," he replied in an almost deadpan voice. He continued with a less monotonous tone. "As for the alleged ignorance, I just think this team needs to be doing what Celestia and the Colonel asked of us. We were brought on to find changelings and so that's what we should be doing."

"And what of Advantage?"

"Advantage is mostly harmless. Stay on their good side and we'll be fine."

"Dare I ask what would happen if we got on their bad side?"

"We die, Thunder." Midnight chuckled. "We most certainly would die."

"Your smile is scaring me a little bit." Thunder backed up. "So where's our next mission?"

Midnight shrugged. "I was going to see if Gravity had any ideas."

"But we know where Advantage is and we could probably track the griffin if we just--" Midnight put his hoof up, but Thunder ignored it. "Just get back to Appleloosa! We could stop these guys before they become bigger problems!"

"Advantage doesn't want us interfering with their hive. Gorman will not be easy to track and is smart enough to leave some traps behind. Frankly, Thunder, I do not want to watch this team literally die just as it's starting to form something... awesome."

"Did someone say 'Awesome?'" Desert's voice called from the now open door. He trotted inside with his spear at his side and Gravity following closely behind. "What'd we miss?"

"Not much, Midnight and I were just talking about what steps to take next," Thunder explained.

"Any ideas, Gravity?" Midnight asked.

She smiled. "Yeah, let's go Gorman hunting. I can't work with my head over my shoulder all day."

Everyone else joined her in looking at Masquerade and smiling. "Can we have an objective that doesn't involve wanting to murder people?" Midnight pleaded.

"He started it!" Desert said.

"Gravity started it," he corrected.

Gravity stepped forward. "And I want to finish it. Now. Let's go back to that mansion and look for clues."

"That's... Not a bad plan," Masquerade admitted. The more he thought about it, the more strongly his head nodded. "Yeah, let's do it!"

"Hold on!" Desert screamed, stopping everyone in the room. "We can't just trot right into a spooky old mansion! Not without a cool mission name!" He looked around at the stare, glare, and state of confusion. "I'm serious."

"How about 'Operation: Shut up, Mirage?'" Thunder said, maintaining his glare as he stepped towards the door.

"We're just looking for clues," Midnight said. "It doesn't need a name." He left his desk and joined Thunder at the door. Gravity soon joined them.

"Well," Desert said, turning back towards his teammates. "Can we at least come up with a cool team name on the way there?" He joined them as they trotted out the door.

---

Advantage looked at the pony's body on the ground, then back to the wretcher who brought the twins out here. This particular wretcher was a trusted member of the community, one who had been with the pair since the beginning. He trotted up to the pony, flipped it over, and tapped on the silver body armor with his right hoof. It looked up to them with its large, blue eyes.

"Look familiar?" he asked them.

"Friends don't wear armor," Lesser said.

"It's a soldier, Advantage! Chrysalis tried it, now the ponies want us dead too!"

"Why must you waste all our time?" Superior asked him.

"Are you seriously turning a blind eye to an obvious threat?!" the changeling screamed, beating on the armor with his hoof.

"Our friends don't know fear." Lesser and Superior turned from the changeling and trotted back into the dark woods.

As the zebras made their way back to the clearing, they found fewer and fewer pairs of friendly eyes. Bushes rustled in the direction of the dead pony, and the changeling beating it still. Advantage squeezed their hooves together.

We will get through this.

Far too many are leaving...

It will be alright.

Whispers upset the flow of the air.

It's him, isn't it?

The one called 'Disadvantage?'

Upsetting our balance.