Masked Pony: Agent of SECT

by MagnetBolt

Chapter 1

I had a few ponies that were regulars in my shop, even in the off-season between the holidays. There were always foals, but they weren’t regulars as much as a convenient way to dispose of old and irregular stock -- I may have worked for the government in the past but that didn’t mean I was going to take the last bit from a foal’s pocket.

My better-paying regulars, on the other hand, came in two varieties. First, there were the ponies who found they needed chocolates and flowers for their significant other on a regular basis. I didn’t ask why, and I didn’t want to know.

The second type just ate candy as a regular part of their diet. They also tended to talk more.

“...simply dreadful!” Rarity sighed, as she continued speaking. Her usual order was already wrapped up and on the counter. She’d been telling me a story for ten minutes now. “I shall never get the honey out of my good beekeeping outfit!”

“You… have a good beekeeping outfit?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“Bon-bon, you should know better. It’s hardly as if I would have a bad one.” She laughed. “I had thought it would offer some protection against the Bugbear--” I shivered at the name. “It was half bee, after all.”

“Wasp,” I corrected, on reflex.

“Hm?” Rarity asked, looking up.

“Nothing,” I said. “So after you found the hive, you said Princess Twilight used a smoke spell to pacify the larvae?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t think I got that far…” Rarity frowned. I hadn’t actually been paying attention, but I knew how to handle the Bugbear. “But yes. I suppose I got distracted by thinking about my outfit. It was supposed to be a commission for Bumblesweet, but the honey will simply never wash out of the velvet trim.”

“But now you can make an improved version,” I suggested, smiling. “With all that experience from in-field use!”

“I suppose you’re right,” Rarity mumbled, mostly speaking to herself. “I could add more padding to the knees, and use a lighter mesh for the veil…” She tapped a hoof against the ground as she trailed off. “I must strike while the inspiration is with me! Wrap up my order, please.”

I pushed the plastic bag towards her, and she nodded, grabbing it and dropping the bits on the counter along with a generous tip before leaving, already pulling out a sketchpad to note down her ideas.

I shook my head. To be honest, Rarity was one of the least crazy ponies in town. Dramatic, but at least she’d only turned evil and insane once. I figured everypony was allowed one bad day.

“Are you gonna go and make sure the Bugbear hive is gone?” Lyra whispered, right into my ear. I jumped, almost going right into a tray of candied fruit slices.

“Where did you come from?!” I demanded.

Lyra grinned at me. “I came back to see you on your lunch break. It’s already past noon.”

“Stop trying to blow my cover,” I hissed. “I only told you because you’re my best friend! Do you know how much trouble I’ll get in if everypony knows?”

“None?” Lyra guessed.

“Wrong! I’ll get court-martialed! Worse, it’ll be a double secret trial, and I’ll end up banished to Stalliongrad without a winter jacket!”

“Princess Celestia wouldn’t do that,” Lyra snorted. Her expression faded as she saw my expression. “Would she?”

“You don’t want to know,” I muttered. “Lyra, promise me you’ll keep this a secret?”

“I’ll Pinkie--”

“Lyra. Just a regular promise.”

“Alright, fine, I promise.” Lyra sighed. “But shouldn’t you check the hive?”

“I’m sure Princess Twilight took care of it,” I said. “And even if she didn’t, the Royal Guard would have cleaned up whatever was left.” I bit my lip, looking out of the window. “I’m sure of it.”

I could picture a swarm of Bugbears, rising up out of the Everfree.

“I’m sure of it…”

---

I was in the Everfree within an hour, closing the shop and practically running for the edge of the woods. I had to know for sure, to make sure that the Bugbear and its hive had really been dealt with properly.

The Bugbear had been one of the largest threats to Equestria seen in a hundred years. It had been created in a freak accident when a unicorn had attempted to simultaneously corner both the honey production and guard-animal industries. It had been a narrow thing. If we hadn’t been prompt in dealing with it, half of the country would be covered in giant, hairy hives.

I trotted quietly along the obvious trail Twilight had left. She was the easiest pony to track in Equestria. Sure, Rainbow Dash left a rainbow contrail, but that faded after a few seconds. It was nothing compared to the path of destruction our Princess of Friendship managed to leave wherever she went.

“There it is,” I mumbled to myself, as I stepped over a fallen, burned log, careful not to catch my saddlebags or heavy belt on the ragged branches.

The Bugbear hive was almost as big as Ponyville's Town Hall, or had been before fire spells had collapsed it, the wax running and melting into rivers as wide as streets. It was going to take a while to check to make sure none of the larvae had survived. Ideally, it was the kind of job that would be done with magic, but that wasn’t an option for me.

Just as I was about to step onto the road of yellow wax, I heard a branch break behind me. I spun, instincts taking over, my hoof lashing out at chin height. Before I connected with anything, I felt somepony grab my ankle and twist, and I was suddenly flat on my back with a hoof on my chest.

“Did you forget all your CQC training?”

I blinked up at the pony over me, her draconian wings casting her in shadow.

“Hoss?” I was stunned. I hadn’t seen Glee Club, my old boss, in… well, since things had gone bad and we went our separate ways.

“It’s been a while,” she said, stepping off of my chest and offering me a hoof. “No one has called me Hoss since Joe retired.”

“He always did like nicknames,” I said, trying to catch my breath for a moment. She wasn’t heavy, but she could just project force, the same way a cat could weigh almost nothing until they stand on your chest and feel like they’re crushing your ribs.

“You haven’t changed much at all, Sweetie. You came unarmed and unprepared into the very den of danger.”

I frowned as I stood with her help, looking at her. The batpony was the same as I remembered. She was still toned and almost impossibly strong for somepony with wings. Her dark coat concealed more than a few scars, though she was wearing a heavy oilcloth cloak that concealed even more.

“I didn’t come completely unprepared,” I said, patting my saddlebags.

“You would already be dead if I hadn’t stopped you,” Glee said, stepping past me. She grabbed a branch in her teeth and threw it at the solid-looking river of wax, the wood cracking the thin shell and revealing steaming hot wax underneath. The branch smoked and steamed as it was caught in the sticky wax, dragged under by the slow flow under the surface and vanishing.

“The wax takes years to cool completely,” she explained. “If you fell in, you’d boil alive without any protection.”

“Then I’m a step ahead of you,” I said. I took off my saddlebags, reaching into one before kicking them aside. When I turned back to her, I had my helmet in my hooves, and my old belt around my waist.

Glee smiled. “So, you kept your copy of the Generation 4 armor.”

The G4 armor had been developed only a few years before the return of Nightmare Moon, to provide a lower-profile alternative to the Night Guard armor we had been using. Only a few prototypes had actually been made, as it was exponentially more expensive than the enchanted armor the more normal branches of Princess Celestia’s armed services enjoyed. Until activated, it looked like nothing more than a heavy belt with an ornate buckle.

“What else was I going to do, sell it?” I asked, shrugging.

“Some would have,” Glee said. “I’m sure there are many ponies who would tell you it wasn’t healthy to cling to such a dangerous part of your past.”

“You’re not one of them, though,” I said.

She smiled faintly. “No.” Glee Club turned to look over the ruins of the hive. “The Elements did a fair job of tending to this already.” The way she said it was tinged with disappointment like she'd been hoping for some trouble. I'd shown up with my old gear, so maybe I had been, too.

“Did you get my message?” I asked.

“You’re not the only one that can’t let go of the past,” Glee said, stepping away from me. “I’m glad you’re doing well. You seem happier than you were before.”

“How have you been since…” I trailed off. Glee turned back to me, smiling again.

“There’s always a place for ponies with skills like ours. I’ve been doing what I can to keep Equestria safe.” She nodded to the hive. “Though sometimes it feels as if this is why Celestia disbanded our unit. Not because of Nightmare Moon, but because SECT’s methods weren’t needed in her Equestria.”

“What do you--” Glee’s head snapped up, and she shoved me back before jumping herself, a stick strand of webbing slamming into the ground between us.

I looked up as I rolled back to my hooves. A twisted form loomed in the trees above us, a monster with the front half of a pony and the back half of a huge spider, with eight glowing eyes to match its eight mismatched legs.

“Perhaps there’s some work to be done after all,” Glee said. “I hope you still remember your combat training, Sweetie.”

“It’s not something you can forget,” I said. I reached towards my belt with a hoof. I had to hope it would still work. The unit hadn’t been maintained in almost a decade. If the magical battery was damaged, nothing might happen at all. Or it could explode.

I steadied myself and hit the button on the buckle. The enchantments kicked into action, drawing mana in from around me, the belt vibrating as it waited for a command word.

“Henshin!” I yelled, the belt beeping in response as it accepted the command.

Magic surged around me, tingling as it settled around my body. I didn’t know enough about magic to have the technical details on hoof, but I knew it turned magic directly into a tough kind of cloth called Sol Fiber, strong enough to deflect blades and teeth.

I picked up the helmet I’d dropped, putting it on as the flare of magic started to fade, the Sol Fiber connecting to the tough metal and creating an airtight seal. The forest seemed to light up around me as the enchantment on the lenses of the full-face mask activated. As the armor settled around me, I felt stronger, faster. It was the Sol Fiber giving off magical energy, letting my own earth pony talents play with a larger magical reserve. It had always felt nice, almost addictive to some ponies, which was one more reason it had never been rolled out to the Royal Guard.

“I’m not familiar with this creature,” Glee said, stepping back. “Be cautious. It could be more dangerous than it looks, and you seem to have put on a few pounds since we last met.”

“I make candy!” I said defensively, though my objections were cut short as the monster dropped down between us, the Spider-pony hissing through a mouth full of fangs dripping with venom. It was definitely not the most attractive monster I’d ever seen, but they couldn’t all be half-succubus sirens.

The monster turned to Glee, so I did the only thing I could think of and kicked a rock at it, the stone smacking into its bulbous rear end with a satisfying sound, right near the big marking it had of a bunch of flowers. I wasn’t sure what kind they were - every time I tried to strike up a conversation with the experts in town, they ended up fainting at the sight of their own shadows. They had lived here longer than I had, though. Maybe they just had some kind of PTSD from the biweekly monster attacks.

The spider-thing spun around and focused on me, forgetting about the batpony. Not normally what I wanted from a monster, but I wanted to show Glee that I hadn’t gotten soft. I probably wanted to keep her from getting eaten, too. Might be nice to return the favor from where she’d made sure I hadn’t boiled alive in wax.

The spider charged me, lunging with those dripping fangs. I dodged to the side, and was thrown back by its powerful legs, landing on my face like an idiot.

I got back up, blushing and trying to make it look like I’d meant to do that. I hadn’t been this sloppy a few years ago.

Spider legs raised up and slammed down towards me like scythes. I was ready for them, bracing myself against the ground and rearing up to deflect them aside with my forehooves. The armor sparked and smoked as stressed Sol Fibers leaked magical energy.

As the legs deflected to my sides, the body of the spider-taur was left exposed. I dropped back down to all fours and turned, kicking up and back as I spun. My rear hoof slammed into the joining between soft pony flesh and hardened chitin, the armor releasing a small magical charge that left a burning hoofprint in the monster as it stumbled away.

“It takes a little bit to get back into the groove,” I said. The monster growled and circled around me, wary now that I’d actually hurt it.

Its maw opened, and it spat a ball of webbing at me. I instinctively tried to bat it aside with a hoof. I realized my mistake when it clung to my leg like a leech, the weight and impact twisting me until my hoof hit the tree behind me, webbing splattering against it and gluing my foreleg to the trunk.

“I’m not impressed,” I said. “I can break--” I tugged at the webbing. My hoof stubbornly refused to move. “I can definitely break this…” I grunted and pulled harder, bracing my back legs and putting all of my weight into it.

I couldn’t break the webbing.

The spider-pony lunged at me, suddenly on top of me while I was struggling to free myself.

“I am just not that into you,” I mumbled, trying to keep its fangs away from me. This close, there was something strangely familiar about the spider, but I couldn’t quite place it while I was distracted by the imminent threat of death.

The monster lunged, and I used my trapped hoof as a pivot point, lifting myself into the air and kicking the tip of its chin. The spider’s face slammed into the tree, the trunk shattering and freeing my leg.

I was pretty sure I heard half-sarcastic clapping from Glee. I chose to ignore it for now. I knew I was being sloppy, but that happened after a few years of being retired.

“Okay,” I said, backing away quickly to give myself some space. “I think it’s time to finish this up, now that I’m warmed up.”

The spider-pony pulled itself free from the tree, shaking its head. It was dazed, eight eyes blinking out of rhythm. The trick to fighting most monsters was that there were two distinct stages to it - first, you find their weak spot, then you hit it with massive damage. You couldn’t just punch a lich to death, for example. You had to find their phylactery and destroy it, or it’d just pop right back up and tell you about how awful your mistake was.

I’d gotten a pretty good look at the monster, and my earlier attack was still bothering it. The legs and back carapace were tough, but the front half was soft and squishy.

Plus, I really was getting warmed up. It was all like riding a bike - totally awkward and something ponies really weren’t suited to, but you could learn if you put a lot of effort into it and you were willing to spend a year or so falling on your face like an idiot.

One of the things I’d learned was how to jump good. It wasn’t as easy as you’d think, if you didn’t have wings. The enhancements in the G4 armor helped.

I leapt into the air, easily clearing roof height of the average thatched-roof cottage. I needed to get off of the ground to use this attack. As an earth pony, I could channel magic through my hooves, but if I tried to channel too much, I’d end up grounding myself out. Setting up a large imbalance and hitting something, though, that would ground the energy right through it.

I twisted in the air, my rear hooves glowing as I did a backflip.

“Jawbreaker Kick!” I yelled, as I came down in a flying kick, hitting the spider pony on its vulnerable, fuzzy chest. There was a crack like lightning, and an immediate smell of ozone and burning metal.

The impact blew us away from each other. I rolled as I landed, getting up on my hooves. The spider wasn’t so lucky. Its whole body looked cracked and broken, glowing from within like a coal. It twisted and turned in pain, hissing and spitting, before collapsing in a heap.

“Huh,” I muttered. “Usually monsters explode-” before I even finished the sentence, there was an eruption of black smoke from the monster.

No, not quite black. I could see something else. Points of light, like a slice of the night sky. There was a whistling, wailing sound like wind rushing through a narrow gap, and the smoke collapsed in on itself, condensing into a shard of blue-black metal as long as my hoof, hanging impossibly in the air for a moment before collapsing to the ground, right next to-

“Daisy?” I blinked. The flower pony whimpered, as if still in the grip of some awful dream. I stepped towards her, but Glee got there first, picking up the metal shard.

“She should be fine, in a few hours,” Glee said, holding the shard up to the light. In the shadows it cast, I could still see stars.

“What is that?” I asked, slowly approaching.

“A piece of Nightmare Moon’s armor,” Glee replied. “Left behind after she was cleansed by the Elements of Harmony, like a fragment of an eggshell left after a dragon has hatched.”

“Did it turn Daisy into that monster?” I asked, checking the pony. She seemed fine, despite having been a spider-thing a few moments ago. She just looked exhausted.

“It still has some of the Nightmare’s power,” Glee nodded. “It found what she was afraid of, and the fear consumed her body and mind.”

“That’s horrible,” I shuddered. “It must have been what Gerson was after. The GOC would love to get their claws on something like that.”

“Yes, they would,” Glee agreed. “Good work, Sweetie. I’m taking the shard.”

“We should give it to the guards,” I said. “Or Princess Twilight.”

“No,” Glee said. “This is going to go to a greater purpose.”

“Ah, what a joyful scene,” said a voice from above. I looked up just as Gerson landed behind Glee. “A touching reunion between comrades.”

Glee looked back at him, then threw him the shard. He caught it easily in a talon.

“What are you doing?!” I demanded. “They can’t have that!”

“I’m joining the GOC,” Glee said. “The shard is a little gift for my new friends.”

“It’s a fine dowry indeed,” Gerson said. “Have you reconsidered my offer, Sweetie?”

“What are you talking about?” I yelled. “Hoss, you know what they’ll do with that!” I tried to rush past her to Gerson, and a bat wing snapped out and hit me in the face, knocking me flat on my flank. Before I could get up, she kicked me in the gut hard enough that I felt it through the armor. She was even stronger than I remembered, and I was coughing and trying to catch my breath even as I avoided a follow-up attack that would have crushed my helmet and the head inside it - a head I was very fond of.

“If she’s not joining us, she has to be removed from the equation,” Gerson said. He pulled out a weapon that seemed to be some cross of a magic wand, a few crystals, and a trigger mechanism from a crossbow. I wasn’t sure what it would do, but it’d probably be deadly.

“No,” Glee said. “She was a part of my unit, I’ll take care of her.”

She stepped closer, between me and the deadly weapon. I swallowed, watching her closely. I had the G4 armor, so I had an advantage. Maybe. I was out of shape, and she’d always been faster and better trained than I was. I was going to have to fight at the highest level I’d ever managed in my life. I had to strike first, to try and get the momentum. I threw a Thousand Strong Stampede Kick.

She twisted around it and her wing came down in a Night's Child Lash.

I countered with Pomegranate Cross.

Glee threw a Black Moon Howl.

I jumped over it, and my mind went blank. She had no openings. Nothing I could even start to attack.

I was totally boned.

I landed right behind her, just in time for her to lash backwards with a Manehattan Lowtown Suprise and kick me hard enough to send me flying, spinning end over end. Sky. Ground. Sky. Ground. Sky. River of wax.

My face hit the wax and I went under instantly, smashing through the thin solid crust and into the liquid, boiling wax below.

Comments

[Spellflame]

Cool

[PonyofEntropy]

Interesting read. Added to the read list. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Bloody_Tofu]

Ohh go on.

Tracked!

[DoomManta]

“I’ll end up banished to Stalliongrad without a winter jacket!”

She'd be a good influence on Disposition Matrix. Probably. And hey, what better time to think about moving to a colder climate than after getting boiled alive?

[hypervelocity]

“Then I’m a step ahead of you,” I said. I took off my saddlebags, reaching into one before kicking them aside. When I turned back to her, I had my helmet in my hands, and my old belt around my waist.

I think that's supposed to be hooves?

Ah, it wouldn't be a Rider series without the first monster being Spider themed.

[Basilisk]

It's got promise. I'm interested to see where this goes.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Welp. Time to go destroy the Shagohad Nightmare Shards.

[Herald of Opera]

10319542
Or a divekick finisher. (Get bent Tendou)