8. First mission
Eastin stretched as he yawned, waking up from well-deserved rest, and opened his eyes to look at still sleeping Filly.
Smile crept on his face as he recalled everything that happened during past two years, majority of which E spent together with the pegasus mare. He knew he would probably never made it this far without her. He got over his shyness issues and, while still kind to others, E had no longer problem with fighting his friends seriously during training. He also gradually got better at using his powers, and now the headaches only came when he overworked himself. Still, whenever they happened, Filly changed her usual slight aggressive behaviour to a really sweet caring one, which made it so much easier for him to bear through them. Of course, she was careful to not show that side of herself in front of others, even though it was rather well-known fact that they were together, like Cant with Crys, and Mane with Cloud.
That didn’t happen until few months ago. While Mane got a crush on the white pegasus for a long time, and few times complained to E, Trot and Cant how his bad luck seemed to constantly prevent him from asking her out on a date (or rather, what was the closest to pass for a date on a military-scientific outpost on a flying island, meaning a walk by the lake), Cloud was really oblivious to his feelings. Finally Trot, who was tired of hearing Mane bitching over and over again about that, convinced E to help him drop the two of them by the lake after he knocked them out. Considering that they barely managed to return in time for training next day, and had twigs and leaves in their manes, the plan worked. So, now there were three couples among soldiers - “Agents.” E corrected himself, remembering that ever since many armed ponies came about to serve as guards, the Director started to call them by this ‘rank’ - and Hoof, the one who tried the most to get laid, was not part of any of them, much to amusement of everypony besides him.
All those thoughts evaporated from the earth pony’s mind as he regarded the mare that lay by his side, admiring the curves on her body... a noticing that she wasn’t sleeping at all. E frowned at the familiar sight of her staring blankly at the wall next to bed. It happened from time to time, and for some reason it worried him greatly, despite Filly telling him every time that it was nothing.
“What are you thinking about?” E asked, hugging her from behind.
She twitched, startled, but quickly relaxed as she realized that it could only be him.
“Good morning,” Filly replied simply.
“Filly...”
“Look, seriously, it’s nothing.” she interrupted him angrily, although she softened up after a second. “Sorry, but I just doze off for no reason when I’m not doing anything, and you seem determined to make a big deal out of it.”
“I’m just worried about you.” E told her, munching on her ear.
“I kno-aaah.” Filly reply turned into moan, enjoying the treatment, but once E attempted to move his lips down on her neck and his hoof down her body, she swiftly turned around and pinned him to the bed. “You seem to forget yourself.”
“You guys totally did it!” Hoof accused them half an hour later when they met up with him and Los on the way to the Briefing Room.
“Did what?” Filly asked him.
“Don’t try to play innocent, I can tell by E’s mane.” turning to the other colt, he asked: “Dude, you’re such a wimp. Can’t you be on top for once?”
E didn’t bother replying, already knowing that Filly would kick Hoof in the balls. He watched unmoved, as she did her infamous kicking that happened almost every week, although only to Hoof. E couldn’t even remember when exactly was the last time she kicked anypony else there. As he became much more confident in himself, Filly also grew nicer to others. And while she was still far from being the friendliest pony around, the pegasus wasn’t so hasty anymore with hurting others just because they offended her, with the exception of Hoof, of course.
“How can you trot normally?” E heard Filly ask.
“After all the ballkicking you’ve given me, I’ve got BALLS OF STEEL!” Hoof shouted.
At least, she wasn’t for as long as E was around. He did hear from others than when they had separate training schedules, she was actually more violent than she used to be before they got paired together. That worried him a bit, but knowing her past... E was just glad that they mostly had the same training sessions these days.
Shaking his head of those thoughts, he entered the Briefing Room, feeling excitement at the prospect of this meeting.
They were about to be send on their first real mission!
Well, first for everypony save Crys and Cant. Both of them have been a part of Project Eclipse far longer than any other agent, and were frequently sent on missions, although E didn’t know much about them due to the whole thing being classified.
Everypony was already there, including the Director and the Counselor, so the four ponies quickly took their places behind one of the desks. Glancing around, E saw his own eagerness to finally utilize the skills and abilities they mastered over those two years in the field, fighting any creature that posed threat to Equestria, reflected on the faces of his friends. For Los this was hardly a surprise, since he was always battle-thirsty. Hoof was probably happy about prospect of leaving the Island, which could give him a chance to meet some mares that didn’t know him and hence he would have a chance with them. Mane and Cloud chuckled earlier as he and Filly entered, probably coming to the same conclusion that the uncouth unicorn came to, guessing by how the other earth pony winked at him, before returning their attention to the Leaderboard. Trot and Balti were deep in conversation, both of them whispering no doubt about the mission, with the mare glancing disapprovingly at her brother for coming a little late. E briefly wondered if she and Trot would end up together at some point, before he turned to look at Crys and Cant. The two senior agents were, unlike the others, calm with barely visible agitation from the stallion.
“No small wonder at that.” E thought as he glanced at the Leaderboard.
1. Crystal
2. Fillydelphia
3. Manehatten
4. Canterlot
5. Eastin
6. Trottingham
7. Hoofington
8. Baltimare
9. Los Pegasus
10. Cloudsdale
Sometime after E’s Augmentation, the Director decided to abandon the points system, and instead have agents now be measured by their overall efficiency for different aspects of their training, like combat prowess, stealth, strategy, logistics, and so on. Due to that, Mane managed to advance to the third place on the list few days ago. After the loss of his eye (for which E still felt guilty), the tan pony became determined to show others that he was as good as before, and doubled his efforts in training. And while Cant was among the first to congratulate him for getting better, and wasn’t by any meaning begrudging to the other earth pony, he was slightly unhappy with being further away from Crys on the list.
A quiet grunt brought E’s attention back to the Director, who was standing by the opposite end of the room along with the Counselor.
“Now that we’re all here,” the black unicorn started, glancing a bit disapprovingly at the four agents for their two minutes late arrival, “let us begin.”
Now everypony ceased any chatter there was and looked at him as he cast a spell on the wall behind him, making it display the map of Equestria. There were five spots marked on it: near Galloping Gorge, Smokey Mountain, a bit west from Los Pegasus’ Lee Mountain, Foal Mountains, and the last one between the Badlands and Macintosh Hills.
“The marked areas are locations of temples of the old Diamond Dog Empire.” the Director continued. “As some of you know, their Empire, which was built deep below Equestria, collapsed due to unspecified reason over two thousand years ago. Judging by the precision that was used in creating the few remaining ruins that were discovered, Diamond Dogs themselves had to degenerate to what they are today, as they couldn’t have created all of that as they are now. Nonetheless, the objective of your missions will be to break into each of those temples, and find these.”
Once again, his horn flashed, and the image of Equestria was replaced by a picture of a small, oval stone, that was shining with gentle and dim purple light.
“It’s called the Harmony Orb, a source of powerful magic. We have one in our possession, from the temple under the Foal Mountain, and we’ve used it to power up spells that created substances with which you’ve all been Augmented. Now, we’ll get the other four. Agents Manehatten and Trottingham, you’ll go to Galloping Gorge; Cloudsdale and Baltimare, Smokey Mountain; Hoofington and Los Pegasus, Lee Mountain; Fillydelphia and Eastin, you are left with Badlands.”
The prospect of going into place literally named ‘Badlands’ wasn’t that much appealing to E, but the general idea, of going into long forgotten temple of Diamond Dogs sounded exciting. Not to mention taking from it an Orb that hosted great powers.
“Wait,” voice of Mane pulled him back to reality, “what about agents Crystal and Canterlot?”
“They will scout the location of our next target.” the Director replied, before he once again flashed his horn. “The temples are located underground, but all of them have a tunnel leading to the surface, hidden in caves and protected by gates. You’ll need to get passed them, which I don’t think should be a problem for agents of your caliber. The temples themselves are small buildings made out of metal and stone, and in the center of them, there’s rotunda with a small shrine that contains the Orb. The temple has many stone statues of Diamond Dogs encased within its walls, on which an ancient spell has been placed that causes them to be animated if somepony gets near to the shrine, and attack him or her.”
“So we will have to make our way into the temple, snatch the gem, and then get out with it and our lives intact?” Trot asked. “Sound easy.”
“I hate to point out the obvious, Director, but how are we gonna get to those places?” Cloud interjected.
“We have a transporter device that we can use to send you there.” the Director replied. “You will all be equipped with a small rune that you can put on your wrist, which will allow you to communicate with us and other agents, and will let us teleport you back.”
That had surprised E a little. He knew that the Director was adept in the craft of runemaking, but to create a rune that was both a communication and tracking device, that would required a lot of effort.
“Should we expect any Diamond Dogs in the area?” Balti inquired. “Those are their temples, after all.”
“We do not know.” the Director told her. “But if that happens, you are trained to deal with them. Is everything clear?”
“Yes, sir!” the eight ponies that were given their objectives replied.
“Good. Report to the science lab section in twelve hundred. You are dismissed.”
Canterlot waited patiently for others to leave; so that he and Crys could learn their mission. He hoped that it would get him further on the Leaderboard, closer to her. While she didn’t seem to care that much about his position, she cared about hers. Even with equally determined Filly to be the best, Crys still managed to hold her place on the top of the list. Cant didn’t want her to be with somepony much weaker than her, so he always tried to keep up with.
Once everypony left, the Director pointed his horn at the wall again. This time, an image of a big city appeared, which is buried within the sand.
“So that’s where he wants us to go...” Cant mused, recognising that place.
E, like almost every other agent, felt slightly uncomfortable as they stood in attention before the strange, big device, that formed a small, round chamber, into which they were supposed to enter. The only ones that seemed to be completely calm were Crys and Cant, but they apparently traveled using this teleporter few times already.
“Can’t we use this to travel directly into temples?” Hoof asked.
“No, the teleporter cannot send anypony underground.” the Counselor replied. “There are also few other limitations to this device, but we’ll talk about them later.”
“Now, remember to stay calm, everypony.” Crys told the rest. “While the teleported is perfectly safe, it can have cause nausea and aching if the pony starts to panic. So stay calm, and relax. Don’t think about anything, you do not want to end up like Yanhoover.”
“Wait, who?” E asked, confused and a bit scared. “And what happened to Yanhoover?”
“They don’t know; they never found the body.” Cant answered.
“What?!” E thought.
He must have made some really ridiculous face, because everypony started chuckling.
“There was no Yanhoover, E, don’t worry.” Mane told him, laughing.
“You guys are assholes.” the youngest earth pony said quietly, angry that he let himself fall for such obvious lie.
“Enough of this chatter.” the Director ordered as he trotted into this part of the lab. “Everypony has their Beacon?”
E glanced at his left hoof where, on his wrist, was a small rune strapped on like a watch.
“Good.” the dark unicorn said once everypony nodded. “Before you will be sent on your mission, I have one bit of news for you. The Counselor and I found a way to enhance the abilities you acquired through the Augmentation Process.”
E’s eyes went wide; and his weren’t the only ones. He was recalling what the unpleasant process had done to him and Filly; however, the others seemed to be excited at the idea. The Director waited a few seconds for the murmuring that arose to simmer down before he continued:
“However, we have enough resources to perform secondary surgery on three ponies. As such, we will have to choose the best candidates. I want you to bear in mind that you performance during this mission will determine who will be chosen. However,” he added in much more sternly voice, “fightings within team, or any other act that would hinder anypony chances, brings danger to the mission, and as such, will not be tolerated. Understood?”
Everypony nodded, none of them wanting to cause harm to another agent. They were a team.
“Good. Then let’s get on with it.”
E hissed at the strange feeling, so much unlike his blink ability, which allowed him to teleport in short distance. Once his eyes opened - he kept them close once the chamber became brighter - the earth pony found himself within vast emptiness of Badlands, with the Macintosh Hills right behind him.
“You’re okay?” he asked Filly, who was standing next to him.
“Sure, just a bit itchy.” she replied, and within next second, she soared into the air. “I will scout ahead if there is any cave among those hills and rock.”
E nodded, knowing she didn’t need to be told ‘be careful’, or any of that. He watched her fly and began trotting towards the direction she took, while wondering how exactly the Director was going to ‘enhance’ their abilities.
“As if they weren’t dangerous enough...”
Cloud glanced around the area surrounding Smokey Mountain, recalling how it got its name because of a dragon that once slept in cave near the top of it for one hundred years, which resulted in covering pretty much all of Equestria in smoke.
“You know, I’m gonna bet that the doors leading to the temple are somewhere in the cave where that dragon used as his vacation house.” she told Balti, who nodded.
“It’s the first place that comes to mind.” the unicorn agreed, glancing down from the edge of the cliff. “Be a dear and check that for me, will you?”
Cloud saluted, and flew towards the top, which was close from where the teleporter had send them, hoping that there was no dragon here this time.
“Well, this is convenient.” Trot observed.
“Yep, right behind you on that one.” Mane agreed with his partner, as the look directly into the entrance of the cave, which they appeared in front of.
Both of them grinned as they walked into it.
Cant shielded his eyes from the wind and sand as they arrived.
“This place never changes.” he muttered as he made sure there was none of those creatures around. “I’m kind of getting sick of coming here.”
“Well then, you should be glad that we are to spy what’s inside the city, instead of just observing what’s outside of it or capturing specimens.” Crys told him, slightly amused.
“Perhaps I should.” Cant replied, nuzzling her head briefly. “But, truth be told, I am glad to do anything if together with you.”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, as usual, before they concentrated on mission at hoof.
“So, I’ve been thinking...” Hoof started as he looked around, almost as soon as they found themselves somewhere on the east side of Lee Mountain. “perhaps once we find this orb, we could hang out in Los Pegasus?” not hearing any response from his partner, to which he got used to, Hoof continued: “I mean, think about it: all the mares, the casinos, the mares, the parties... did I mentioned mares?”
He turned to Los and saw, to his confusion, that the bulky pegasus was staring at him with wide eyes.
“What? Do I have something on me?” Hoof asked him, glancing down on his chest.
His jaw fell.
“What the fuck is this black shit all over my coat!?”
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something tells me that the black stuff is not supposed to be there, and that this is where they start going crazy
EDIT: have you been watching Star Trek recently? the teleporter reminds me of a TNG transporter Pad
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c7/Transporter2.jpg/250px-Transporter2.jpg
2422158 well, truth to be told, this is just another joke out of Red vs Blue. Whenever the charecter that I based Hoof on went through portal, teleporter or whatever, he came out covered in black stuff.
Love this story, but it does make me a bit chronologically confused as to when it occurs.
2422495 Two years has passed since the last chapter.
2422549 What I meant was in a greater time line, i.e. when in the history of Equestria does this occur.
2422556 Oh,before Luna and Celestia rule, seeing that the description indicates that it takes place way back in time.
Yeeaaay!!
2422556
If I remember it's hundred or two yeas before Sisters