The monitors were silent. With all that had happened, it was the first thing Viridian Rain noticed about the room as she drifted amongst the various blinking lights and displays, shutting down the redundant ones and looking at others, seeing without seeing. It had come and in as bad a form as she had feared. A beautiful land turned to waste and the stirring shadows of the dead. And yet… she turns and smiles as she looks at the hasty checklist beside the master display.
Maripony.
Canterlot.
Stalliongrad.
Trottingham.
Fillydelphia.
Manehatten.
Baltimare.
Neigh Orleans.
The names of those saved practically glowed in her vision and she permitted herself a sigh of happiness and contentment. “It worked…” she whispers. “It worked.”
She shakes herself out of the moment and approaches a specific panel, a communications board glowing with readiness and indicating that it was ready to send her missive to anyone who could hear. She stopped a moment and closed her eyes, letting herself relive the last day… oh, how quickly that last day had gone…
<><><
“…and with all of that happening, literally through the door behind you, you’re sitting there and telling me that you know nothing of it?” The light was almost blinding in its intensity, reflecting off the waxy shininess of the table at which the cringing mare was sitting as Viridian leaned slightly into the light, letting it play off her snow-white mane. “Really, Miss Satin… do you imagine that I’m stupid?”
“N… no!” The older mare replied quickly. “I’d never…”
“You must, if you expect me to believe that you could be the personal assistant of the very president of Four Stars and somehow, be totally ignorant of everything that passed through his office.” Viridian withdrew her head from the light and began to walk around in a circle, just at the edge of the circle created by the overhead lamp. “You are either a very stupid mare, or a very poor personal assistant, or a liar. I think that you need to convince me of one of the first two, because I’m beginning to believe the third.”
“I… I’m… I’m not lying to you!” Satin declared with desperate fear in her eyes. “I really don’t know anything! He keeps everything very, very close to him! I swear, I’m… please… you must believe me!”
The hell of it was, Viridian believed her. The hell of it was, Viridian knew she was telling the truth, that she actually didn’t know about any of what the Ministry had begun to suspect. The hell of it was, none of that mattered, as the eyes she could feel through the window of the interrogation room proved. The hell of it was. Viridian had been here before and she let the darkness conceal the expression a soul-deep tiredness she wore.
“Perhaps you’re not lying,” she said after a moment. “Perhaps I believe you entirely. But you may also not know what you know, and there is a… way to find out what you know without knowing.”
Satin turned around in her chair, eyes full of absolute terror. “No! NO! I thought if I was truthful, you wouldn’t…”
“If you have nothing to hide, Miss Satin, you have nothing to fear,” the unctuous voice of the stallion whose eyes had been burning through the glass filled the room as the slightly overweight administrator pushed the door open. “But as you must realize, the morale of the population can hardly be sustained… um… with…”
He trailed off as Viridian stepped between him and the frightened Satin and just stared at him. He was actually noticeably taller than her, but Viridian had discovered through her life that being taller didn’t make others more courageous and she’d worked very hard on her stare.
“U…Undermare Rain, you know just as…”
“Get. Out.” The words were flat and calm but the administrator flinched as if Viridian had snarled it. “This is my prisoner, my interrogation. You will leave.”
“I…” He swallowed, took a shaky breath, and straightened. “No, I won’t. I have an order signed by the Mare herself to take this prisoner to Memory Collection immediately.” He reached back and pulled the order from a satchel bag, presenting it.
Viridian didn’t need to read it; by then, the Ministry Mare’s crayon scribbles were unmistakable to her. She enfolded the order in her magic, looked the administrator directly in the eyes, and a dozen tiny knives of power shredded the paper with no discernible effort on her part. “I see no order here,” she told him.
The stallion’s eyes widened and he took a step back what remained of his courage shredded just as surely as the signed order that was his security blanket. “I… I’ll…”
“You’ll do nothing,” she told him quietly. “You will go to Collections and tell them that Undermare Rain will be bringing them a prisoner when she deems it necessary. You will tell them that the Undermare could always arrange for them to test their own equipment if she wants them to. Then you will go and push papers. If you fail to do one of those things… well, everypony has family, don’t they?” She smiled pleasantly to him.
The stallion’s eyes got wide. “But… but... employees…”
“Yes,” Viridian interrupted coldly. “Which is why I have a niece that is lively and lovely, instead of dead inside. Scoot off, before I forget the special consideration Ministry employees enjoy.”
“Y... yes, Undermare Rain,” he replied timidly, turning around and exiting. Viridian sighed after him before she turned to look at a very stunned-looking Satin. “Now, where were we, Miss Satin?”
When she left the trembling mare in the care of Collections (who had learned to be very very timid around her) an hour later with a stern admonition to be gentle and take only the memories pertaining to the last week, Viridian permitted herself a small smile. She sometimes wished she could claim credit for the perfect bad cop/good cop drama like the one she’d used on Satin, but the truth was that the hapless idiots sent that were sent by Collections supplied the ‘bad cop’ on their own without any prompting or coordination. Almost without fail, their interrogator driving off a menacing pony come to collect them for ripping the memories out of their heads loosened the tongue of a prisoner; in the case of Satin, she innocently mentioned a large flow of non-construction expenditure authorizations between the president and various suppliers.
It’s coming together, she said to herself. We have the how, we have the what, we have the why, we have the who… but the question is when? She took a moment to stop by one of the many windows looking out over Manehattan, her eye immediately drawn by the shining white tower where the Ministry of Arcane Sciences had their emergency broadcast antennas. Unbidden, a broader smile stretched across her face. “White, straight, and pure… appropriate,” she said aloud, although to no one in particular.
“Whereas you’re white but not pure at all,” a languid voice purred into her ear as her mate joined her at the window, making sure to rub her sensuous curves, rippling with the lean muscle that advertised a Night Guard in her prime, along Viridian’s.
Viridian smiled and turned to kiss the thestral, giving her a light nuzzle. “I thought you were out babysitting some royals, love,” she purred back.
Razor Back laughed and swatted Viridian’s flank with her tail. “Naw, I let my newbies do it,” she grinned. “They’ve been working hard at this so they deserved a break. And I deserved some quality scholar mare, because I’m me.”
“Yes, you do,” Viridian agreed, swatting her flanks back. “It’s just like you to come all this way for a booty call.”
“It is,” Razor grinned, leaning in to give her ear a little playful nip and whispering lowly as she does. “Messages to convey, love.” The message delivered, she said precisely what anyone observing would expect. “Especially your booty.” She rubs their flanks together lewdly.
Viridian felt her cheeks warm at the pleasant feeling of her love’s flanks rubbing her own; even when putting up a front, Razor was uncomfortably good at being casually seductive. She leaned in and kissed the other mare, pressing against her with a sigh of enjoyment. “Everything aside, dear, I’m glad you’re here,” she murmured.
“Sent another one to the mind-buckers?” Razor asked gently, softly.
“Order signed by Pie,” Viridian confirmed, leaning into her beloved. “Wanted to tell her to buck off but… yanno…”
“Verde and Astrayl.” Razor nuzzled. “I could get one of the Princesses to look into it, you know. I’d just need to say something, plant the seed… captain of the Night Guard, you know. Sort of influential and all.”
“That requires subtlety, miss ‘you, sex, now’,” Vridian grinned briefly before her grin faded. “I might have taken you up on that a year ago but now, their intervention won’t be needed.”
Razor frowned. “You put a lot of faith in this contingency of yours.”
“My faith is in the ponies, not in the plan,” Viridian asserted. “Pale Ribbons, Verde, Astralyzenika, Mare Sparkle, Mare Applejack…” She looked into Razor’s catlike eyes tenderly. “…you. The plan is excellent but it relies upon the ponies that are part of it.”
Razor blushed. “Heh… you just like having this hotness in the sack.”
“Well, there is that,” Viridian admitted, giving her a light swat on the rump with her magic. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“You cut a horny little thing down, then you cuddled her back to self-confidence,” Razor replied seriously. “And that was the most anypony, except maybe Hoodwink or Luna, ever did for me. So…” She stepped out of the embrace and looked back over her shoulder, giving her flanks an alluring shake. “…care for a short break?”
Viridian grinned. “Don’t mind if I do.”
She trotted a little quicker to catch up to the thestral then walked side-by-side with her, nuzzling, getting a wing draped over her gently, and taking solace in the warm affectionate presence. Razor always offered the perfect subtext to get her left alone for extremely not-suspicious reasons, but it was hard to deny the fringe benefits: more than one fellow employee, stallions and mares both, had made no secret of the fact that they deeply envied her for the exotic mare with naturally sultry mannerisms. That the apparently sex-obsessed mare was Captain of the Night Guard, serving two Princesses of notable intellect who had no time for the simple-minded, slipped most ponies’ attention which seemed to suit Razor just fine.
As the descended from the Ministry, the whump-whump-whump basso beat that seemed a constant feature of the exclusive Hoodbeats nightclub seemed to vibrate the floor and Razor grinned over at her. “How can she still hear?”
“Noise-canceling headset,” Viridian replied with an answering grin. “Best money can buy. I think the management made her do it; it just wouldn’t do to have the million-bit DJ P0N3 going deaf.”
“A million bits?” Razor eyed her. “Seriously?”
“You don’t end up in the same social class as the prize-winning first chair cellist for the Canterlot Philharmonic by being just any DJ, dear,” Viridian smiled as they entered the stairwell going down to the nightclub, thankfully muted by the thick concrete walls for the moment. “Which is how she and Miss Contralto met.”
Razor got ahead of her and stopped her. “Miss Contralto? Octavia Contralto?”
“The very same,” Viridian confirmed. “What, do you know her?”
“Of her,” Razor replied, stepping aside and resuming their side-by-side talking as Viridian stepped forward. “Sorta hard not to; Princess Nyx attends practically every performance just to see her perform. So how’d you know…?” She paused and chuckled ruefully. “Oh yeah.”
“Believe it or not, I just did some observation and put it together.” Viridian smiled. “It’s always fun to see young love and especially two completely opposite ponies finding it.”
“Especially if those completely opposite ponies don’t mind the audience,” Razor grins, pushing the door open with a hoof—just in time for the room-shaking beat to cut off.
“Hey, hey, it’s Viri-di-in,” Vinyl Scratch exclaimed with a grin, reaching a hoof up to prop her polarized purple shades above magenta eyes. “And she’s got her booty! What’s cool, spyfilly?”
“Breaking from a downer day,” Viridian replied, trotting casually through the doors and catching Razor’s puzzled expression as she tried to follow the DJ’s odd vernacular. “Appreciate the cut. Got a table?”
“All kinds, ‘specially the kind that spins my wubs,” the white pony replied cheerfully. “Down for a taste? Got some wild scratches on the move.”
“Naw, I just need a table,” Viridian smiled. “How’s Tavi?”
“Outta this world.” Vinyl beamed. “Beltin’ out the classy tune-skies all day long. I’m thinkin’ I’ll even get her to lay some of that string on me, yanno, to give the scratch some punch, maybe some badflank smooth. Ya dig?”
“I dig,” Viridian confirmed with a laugh. “Well, keeping making love to your wubs; just don’t break our ears with them.”
“Righteous.” The DJ gave them a cheerful wave before going back to her mixing, spinning the tables and twitching the various levers on her control board with the delicate touch one usually saw in a surgeon. As Razor joined her at a corner table, close enough that their conversation would be drowned out by the noise but far enough that they could hear each other, Viridian caught herself nodding her head a little to the rhythm of P0N3’s work.
“So… translate,” Razor said, giving her an affectionate nip.
“She offered to let me sample some of her newest tunes on her mixing headset, I declined and asked after Octavia,” Viridian related, skipping to the part that she knew, from experience, her mate was actually asking about. “She expressed the desire to have Octavia come down and play her cello to give Vinyl some deep strings to work with, and integrate into her sound tracks to smooth out some of the discordant notes and give the base line a bit of a punch when it’s lagged behind the main melody.”
Razor eyed her. “Since when do you go in for music mixing?”
“Since I needed the cooperation of the headliner at Hoofbeats to get a place in the Ministry building where I could work on my little conspiracy,” Viridian replied with a shrug. “To get her cooperation, I needed to enter her world a little. Transforming from a curiosity into part of her personal landscape makes her forget about me and that ignorance protects us both.”
Razor shook her head and drew Viridian into a kiss. “It’s like you were born to do this kind of thing, instead of being a magitech nerd,” she purred. “And occasionally bucking your mare into incoherence.”
Viridian chuckled and leaned over to press gently against the thestral, nuzzling, only partly putting up a show for any possible observers. “The bucking is icing on the cake; the mare’s the good part,” she said sincerely. “So… you’ve got messages for me, love?”
“I do.” Razor kissed her before the solemn, businesslike seriousness of the Captain of the Night Guard overtook her demeanor. “The first is that Stalliongrad has Project Five Hammers on both rocket sled and skywagon in case they need to move it to safety in a hurry.”
“That’s good,” Viridian acknowledged. “It may never be necessary to develop it in full but the data has other useful properties. Next?”
“Verde says that one of her contacts spoke of a document drop from Four Stars to a zebra spy via courier,” Razor continued. “As she passed the message on, she’d gotten confirmation of the courier’s arrival and that he is indeed carrying documents. She’ll keep you personally appraised of the results.” At Virirdian’s silent nod, she continued. “Lieutenant-Colonel Ribbons confirms that the gun emplacements are ready for deployment at your discretion. Also, Mare Sparkle has put block-five improvements on all the megaspell detectors, especially her own.”
Viridian furrowed her brow. “Block five? Wasn’t block three only just last week?”
“Put Princess Nyx in the same room as her mom for more than five minutes and these things tend to happen,” Razor replied wryly.
“Ah,” Viridian nodded, pecking her love’s cheek. “Do continue.”
Razor, as was her wont, returned the light peck as an extended liplock with an insolent little grin before she complied. Her expression dropped into something grave and deadly serious, which Viridian had only seen a couple times before and in circumstances where blood was spilled—lots of it, and mostly at Razor’s hooves as zebra assassins learned just how useless all the hoof techniques in the world were against a thestral with liquid grace and a pair of razor-sharp wings. “I got the feed back from the listening device you had me put in that meeting between the Trio,” she growled. “Petri dishes, love… the Stables are bucking Petri dishes for Stable-Tec’s experiments.”
Viridian swallowed and felt herself pale slightly. “What ‘experiments’?”
“No idea,” Razor replied, those catlike eyes turning hard and reptilian, reminding Viridian strongly of a dragon’s fiercely predatory gaze. “But above all, they fear that Princess Nyx, who loves them like the sisters she’s never had, will learn of their crimes and that they will break her heart. Nyx Sparkle’s devotion to friends and family is absolute; only the worst sort of thing could shake her faith in them.”
Viridian nodded quietly. “Yes, I’ve had… indications that there was something very wrong in play.” She looked at Razor. “During the journey to arrange for the test of the Alishield Two and the Mark Thirteen in the Changeling Barrens, Nyx herself asked that Verde and Astra keep their ears open. Cee also confirmed hearing disquieting rumors, although she had yet to explore them at the time. Direct confirmation, though…” She shook her head. “Faust preserve us, love…”
“I can have them in front of Collections within the hour,” Razor offered, her expression deadly serious. “In... passable condition.”
Viridian took a moment to very seriously consider it. It would clear a problem from my radar immediately… but then she shook her head. “No, unfortunately I’ve got vastly higher priorities and unlike a megaspell sneak attack, we have some time to save any victims of Stable-Tec.”
“Higher priorities than stopping the victimization of ponies before it happens?” Razor stared at her.
“Like stopping another attempted assassination of the Princesses,” Viridian retorted sharply, enough that there was a minute cringe from Razor, one that required many years of loving and being with the mare to spot. Viridian felt a brief flash of guilt at that and nuzzled the thestral gently. “I’m sorry, love. I’m… not used to being challenged and accepting it gracefully.”
“It makes you kinda hot, actually,” Razor gave her a cheeky little grin but the way she leaned into the nuzzling bellied the bravado. “So what do you mean, another attempted assassination?”
“Details are still developing,” Viridian replied, kissing her and getting the expected liplock and a hoof, straying down her side in a highly inappropriate albeit welcome way. “But intelligence indicates that they learned their lesson from the first attempt: we adore our Princesses and will lay down our lives for them. So the theory in play is that their next attempt will be less subtle and on a scale large enough that a Big Macintosh can’t save them by throwing himself in front of the shot.”
“Like, a megaspell?”
“It seems likely,” Viridian nodded. “Their stealth enchantments are unparalleled and the balefire burst weapons they’ve been known to use for tactical strikes are highly miniaturized. Moreover, the zebras are well aware that the Princesses would sacrifice themselves for their little ponies, and may count on them throwing themselves on the grenade, as it were.”
Razor contemplated this as Viridian nuzzled lightly into her mane and gently stroked one of her wings. “It’s not just the attempted assassination,” she surmised.
“No, it’s not,” Viridian replied quietly. “The conventional war is going badly for Zebrica after their disaster at Stalliongrad, and they lost a crack invasion force to Mare Dash and the prototype monitor the Ministry of Wartime Technology had positioned off the Barrens coast. There’s only one way to retrieve the situation, and that is a massive decapitation strike of extreme violence. It’s why R&D pushed so hard on the Mark Twelve, Alicorn Mark Two, and Mare Sparkle’s Induced Metamorphosis Potion: we need options to deter attack and deflect it when it comes.”
“And all without involving Mare Pie at all.”
“Hmm?” Viridian looked at her lover.
“You’re keeping Mare Pie out of the loop,” Razor repeated. “And working bucking hard at it, and you’ve been doing it for a long time. Why? Is it about Collections?”
Viridian looked steadily at her, and Razor looked steadily back. After a moment, Viridian exhaled and inclined her head very slightly, surrendering to the moment. “It’s about Collections, but not about Collections,” she told the other mare. “In the first place, ripping memories away from ponies is evil. There’s no way to soften this; ripping them away is simply straight-out evil of the worst kind. But it’s the second point that’s the serious issue for me: the Ministry is doing evil to ponies pointlessly.”
“Pointlessly?” Razor’s eyes went wide.
“Pointlessly,” Viridian confirmed heatedly. “Every advance, every attack anticipated, every technology stolen, every agent put in place, every scrap of intelligence collected, every picture assembled; every one of them came from traditional methods of intelligence-gathering. But we continue to hurt ponies by the hundreds, by the thousands to get information that’s bucking useless. And that, my love, is why I hide my efforts from Pinkamena Diane Pie: her brilliant idea is hurting ponies to get useless information, and mine is using my Goddess-damned brain to get information that’s actually bucking worth something.”
Razor leaned up and drew her into a gentle kiss, molding her lithe body to Viridian’s and folding her wings forward to enfold her with their soft leathery warmth. “I understand,” she said simply, adding a soft nuzzle, rubbing her cheek against Viridian’s.
Viridian relaxed into the embrace and kissed her mate back. “Thank you.”
“Heh, nothin’s free gorgeous,” Razor chuckled, her voice turning smoky with sensuality. “I expect a good bucking tonight for being such a good little batpony for my scholar mare.” She paused, her look and voice softening. “I do love you.”
It was approximately this moment that ‘Here Comes the Bride’ with a masterful baseline throb-beat made the bench they were seated on vibrate. Razor blinked and looked over at the grinning DJ. “Hey DJ… you’re about ten years late!”
“Yo, for real?” Vinyl looked surprised and began to grin. “Wicked, baby. Let me spin somethin’ special for ya, in belated celebration.”
Razor swallowed hard at the DJ’s wickedly delighted grin. “Uh oh…”
<><><
Viridian was pretty sure she’d never heard the oddly trancelike song, with a generous baseline vibrato that had clearly been slipped in by the amazingly skilled DJ but it had been [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpfrof5R3nM][oddly appropriate] for her relationship with the vivacious thestral presently walking unsteadily, looking thoroughly stunned, against her.
“Remind me to kill her,” Razor moaned. “When the world stops spinning, that is…”
“C’mon love… it was an innocent mistake,” Viridian nuzzled her as they walked through the brisk twilight air of Manehattan in autumn. “She couldn’t possibly know that thestrals are extremely sensitive to high notes.”
“No excuse,” the other mare grouched, nuzzling back. “So, I was thinking… Scarlet ain’t around, is she?”
“Not at the moment no,” Viridian shook her head. “She had to supervise the first run of the Mark Nine Special at Solar Forge. Zebrica is beaten but to break them, we need to get Ruby Pommel and her fellow crazies in quality machines.”
“I hear she’s got some great flanks,” Razor grinned.
Viridian hit her lightly. “Razor, she’s nearly fifteen years younger than you!”
“Youth is tasty,” Razor returned with a laugh, kissing her. “So, fifteen years younger… and she was the star at Colthav, huh?”
“Yeah, her and Scarlet’s anti-machine emplacements.” Viridian shook her head in silent amazement. “This has been the most intellectual war I’ve ever read about, dear heart. Chemistry answering chemistry, magical innovation after innovation, invention of machine after machine and then another machine to counter the first. Even the megaspells have turned into a contest of who’s smartest about making it and deploying it.”
“Not that it’s a fair fight.” Razor grinned fiercely. “It took Sparkle what, two seconds flat to pop out a detector array after Peace’s epic buckup?”
“About that, yeah,” Viridian agreed as she leaned idly against her mate, enjoying the soft touch of a wing in return. “Never seen such a motivated mare in my entire life and I’m told she has to be tranquilized so she sleeps after Nyx stops by for mother-daughter bonding.” She smiled tenderly at Razor. “Love is strength, and the Princess of the Night is her entire world.”
“Aww, you say the sweetest things.” Razor leaned up and kissed her cheek, adding in a whisper. “And you taste sort of sweet too.”
Viridian blushed deeply. “Razor!”
The thestral giggled. “What, I can’t proposition you anymore?”
“Oh, no I love being propositioned by my sexy batpony.” Viridian grinned. “I just don’t want you to go rocketing into the air again, no matter how hilarious that is.”
This time, Razor blushed deeply. “You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”
“After you ricocheted off the ceiling the sixth time?” Viridian’s grin widened. “Nope.”
Razor sighed dramatically. “You know when I was encouraging you to let your bad mare out? I didn’t mean that you should unleash her on me.”
“You?” Viridian shook her head and nuzzled into the other mare’s mane. “Not on you, love. Nor family, nor friends for that matter. The bad mare is for…” she sighed. “…special circumstances.”
“Special circumstances like an imminent threat to innocent ponies?” A zebra-accented voice inquired from behind them.
It said something about their varying reaction times, and how they reacted, that Viridian projected a magical barrier between Razor and the owner of the voice before she even processed who the voice belonged to but even with the fast-as-thought reaction time, she still just barely intercepted the razor-sharp wing of her mate. A moment later, her well-organized mind matched voice to face and she smiled as she turned around. “Hello, Astraylzenika.”
“Hi Aunt Viridian,” the young mare smiled, the distinctive zebra accent fading noticeably. “Good evening, Night Captain Razor Back. You’re faster than ever, if that’s even possible, and a better fit for my aunt with every passing day.”
Razor gave her a suspicious look as Viridian removed the field. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s supposed to mean that the slutty little minx from the stories has become a loving, loyal, dedicated mate to an aunt I’m extremely fond of,” Astra replied bluntly. “In addition to being one of the few Equestrians who can dice with a zebra operative trained in their damnable hoof techniques.” She looked at Viridian. “Auntie, I trust Razor informed you of the courier we discovered?”
“She did, among other things,” Viridian nodded. “You intercepted him?”
“And Verde cajoled his package out of him then hoofed him off to Ruby by way of apology.” Astra grinned. “Though it’s hard to decide whether Golden Shine—the courier’s name—or Ruby was happier with this.” Her grin vanished into something scarily grim. “Long story short: we found a shipping manifest that narrows the time window to tomorrow or the next day. Verde’s already called for all hooves on deck; I know she doesn’t technically have the authority but ponies are more likely to argue with Razor in a bad mood than tell Verde where to get off.”
Viridian permitted herself a brief grin of pride before she swallowed it and matched her expression to Astra’s. “That’s why she’s there: to make this sort of call,” she said. “When do the batteries arrive?”
“An hour ago,” Astra said. “I would have told you sooner, in time to countermand, but I couldn’t find you. Collections thought you were supposed to hang with them, some admin is up in arms about something you did, Mare Pie is so shit-faced it’s not funny, and you had Razor with you this time. Nopony else has the courage to try and monitor you.”
“Which is all the better, now that we’ve found ourselves at a critical stage.” Viridian grimaced. “This is happening much faster than I thought it would. I’d hoped to have at least another two days to maneuver MWT technicians with balefire bomb experience into the fast-response units at Stalliongrad and Happy Valley.”
“You could always have your sister bull-rush the technicians in,” Razor suggested, dropping her normal attitude of sensual playfulness to be the Night Guard commander. “Scarlet is very good at that. Barring that, having everypony ready to bunker up if a bomb is found. Sparkle isn’t stupid; Happy Valley can deflect the most powerful megaspell either side has without a shield and it’s next to impossible to smuggle one in under her defenses.” She held up a hoof to forestall the question. “I read Nyx in, as much as I felt able to. She’s going to take care of arranging for Happy Valley to stay safe and then move to Stalliongrad to supervise any further defensive actions.”
Viridian opened her mouth to speak but Razor beat her to it, stopping her with a kiss. “I know you didn’t want that…”
“It’s not just what I want, love,” Viridian interrupted, nosing her mate. “I told Twilight that I’d set her daughter as off-limits for my grand schemes. I promised her that I wouldn’t involve Nyx or have somepony acting for me involve her… and now that promise is broken. I set great store by my honor, and always doing what I say I’ll do. It’s why Collections is so terrified of me: I promise, never threaten.”
“You shouldn’t have made a promise you couldn’t keep, Auntie,” Astra said. “I don’t know her as well as you, of course, but even I know how hard it is to give Princess Nyx the runaround. I’ll bet she picked something up, noticed something, asked the question that couldn’t be evaded, or something like that.”
“Yeah, nosy little thing got it in her head to research train schedules,” Razor snorted. “It took her, like, fives seconds flat to pick up on something and drag my flanks off to explain. There wasn’t much I could do… but I’m not sure I wanted to keep my mouth shut.” She gave Viridian a level look. “Love, the zebras are going all-in. You know it, and I sure the buck know it too. They fear Nightmare Moon for idiotic reasons, but objectively speaking, she is the greatest threat to them and their plans in all of Equestria. She commands the love and loyalty of any pony that knows her. One of the most brilliant pony scholars in hundreds of years gave her an education and a lust for learning that’s unprecedented. We’ve long suspected that her special talent gives her the power to deflect a megaspell without assistance. We couldn’t create a more perfect trump card, and now that trump card is in the game.”
She kissed Viridian gently. “It had to be done, love. It had to.”
Viridian took in a deep breath and nodded, kissing the thestral back, letting the kiss get deeper for a few wonderful moments, before breaking it and running a hoof through Razor’s mane. “You’re right,” she acknowledged. “It had to be done, and if I tell Twilight the truth, she’ll accept that her daughter’s determination was the only culprit here.”
“Well, I’m bucking glad we’ve got that kind of firepower,” Astra commented. “So, do you have any instructions for me to give out? Bed is gonna be wherever my marefriend is when I finally bean her with my frying pan to stop her hyperactivity, so I’ve got time to carry word.”
“You carry around a frying pan to bean Verde with?” Razor blinks before grinning evilly at Viridian. “You don’t say…”
Viridian gave her a light smack to the rump. “Focus,” she said sternly, albeit with a little smile. She then looked at Astra. “Nothing more than my original instructions: let the bulk of the Steel Rangers go in the front as the distraction. You’re there to look for the bomb, Verde goes in the side to flank them. I’ll be on the channel, listening and directing, and Colonel Pale Ribbons is in command of the gun battery, designated ‘Gunslinger’.”
“I’m surprised Mare Pie isn’t going to steal the microphone from you,” Astra snorted. “The babbling idiot can’t help herself.”
“I’ve made arrangements to ensure that she can’t interfere,” Viridian told her niece. “Her staying on the sidelines, helpless to stop me from saving Equestria from the zebras and her, is vital to Bastion. When the time comes, I have a solution to Mare Pie and when the solution is implemented, I can get back to being an undermare to a worthy Mare.”
“Do you have anypony in mind?” Razor grinned and bumped flanks with her.
“If you’re not careful, I’ll nominate you,” Viridian grinned back and returned the bump. “I’m used to being under you, so it’ll be familiar.”
Razor had the good grace to blush, although it was more delighted than truly embarrassed. “Yeah, you better remember it!” She declared with a fierce fanged grin. “My little subbie scholar.”
Now it was Viridian’s turn to blush and she was about to retaliate when Astra coughed pointedly to get her attention. “Auntie, I think you ought to get home and rest,” she said. “You can’t arrange anything better than it’s already arranged, and now things are simply a matter of moving the pieces into place and making them ready.”
“You realize there’s not going to be much resting going on, right?” Razor grinned.
Astra looked steadily at her. “Night Captain, I don’t care what you do,” she said seriously. “As early as tomorrow, everything might change. Everything. Most of Equestria, the parts outside the protected areas, may be obliterated and thousands of ponies with them. The way we’re preparing for Four Star’s end game could mean that we call upon a gun crew to outright kill a train full of innocent ponies to save Manehattan. Our search teams could miss a megaspell and an entire city could die… Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, Baltimare, Trottingham…” She looked directly at her and added in a dead voice. “…Canterlot. My aunt has done everything a single pony could possibly do, but a wounded animal cornered is a wounded animal that strikes out with great violence and desperation.”
And there it was, laid out plainly, truthfully, and bluntly. The even recitation of what tomorrow could bring caused a great and heavy silence to fall between the three as they looked down, each alone in their thoughts.
“So we’ll rest and make ourselves ready,” Viridian finally said, gently breaking the silence. “I have faith in you, niece, and in my daughter.” She leaned down and kissed Razor. “And in my mate.”
Razor met her lips and smiled into their kiss, unfolding a wing to rest on her side affectionately. “It’ll be a piece of cake,” she purred.
Viridian chuckled and looked at her niece. “If the end of my plans comes tomorrow, we will be victorious. If the end of my plans comes the next day, we will be victorious. Do you believe that, Astraylzenika?”
“You know I do, Undermare Rain,” Astra bowed her head deeply. “Good luck. Love ya, Auntie Rain.”
“I love you too, niece,” Viridian smiled warmly. “Give my love to my daughter a well.”
“Oh, that’s the least of what I plan to give her, once she’s been properly… immobilized…” Astra grinned and with another dip of her head, trotted off into the gathering night.
Razor laughed and gave Viridian an affectionate nip. “Yeah, that there’s your little sister’s daughter alright,” she said, leaning against Viridian as they continued on their way towards home. “Still can’t believe somepony was foolish enough to let her play with explosives.”
“Scarlet bored is infinitely more dangerous than Scarlet with explosives; everypony knows this,” Viridian laughed. “Seriously, though… I love my sister dearly but I’d have never imagined she’d be so good at what she does. I mean, I thought books were some kind of mortal enemy to her, and she starts popping up with clever ideas like sheathing AP shells in alloys and fixing the instability problem with a monitor by making it extremely deep-draft.”
“And pushing for the fast-runner branch of armored research?” Razor smiled and nuzzled under her chin. “Ponies can surprise you, love, even ponies you know well.”
“Or ponies you thought you knew well…” Viridian nuzzled her back. “Did any of us ever think Pinkie Pie would become a maniac, Twilight Sparkle an excellent mother, or that Applejack could ever give up her family farm, even to her little sister? For that matter, did any of us ever think that a little mothering would make Nightmare Moon a sweetheart or that those crazy yet innocent Cutie Mark Crusaders would be engineering the ponypies Stable-Tec is up to?”
“Those aren’t things anypony can predict,” Razor pointed out. “Although Pinkie has always been a maniac… just a harmless and annoying one. Princess Luna really appreciated that first Nightmare Night, the idiot running around dressed like a chicken and playing the ‘scared filly’ to the hilt.”
“Better times,” Viridian said quietly, a bit wistfully. “When we were young and stupid and more than a little innocent.” As she spoke, the background sound of a rumbling engine and treads on cobblestone grew louder and a heavy artillery tractor rumbled by towing a gun battery, a long-barrel weapon with its heavy bracing struts drawn up for transport. She took a breath and let it out, letting her eyes linger on the passing symbol of the soon-to-be-implemented plan. “Times long passed, sadly,” she said softly.
“Everypony has to grow up sometime,” Razor shrugged. “I sorta like leaving all the ponypies from being young behind.”
“Eh, I’m just being melancholy,” Viridian chuckled and kissed the thestral. “Have I told you how awesome you are today?”
“Not yet,” Razor grinned. “So go on… tell me that I’m awesome today and that you want to drag my flank off to the Black Hoof and buck me till we can’t walk.”
Viridian laughed at her mate’s smug grin. “You’re awesome, love, and I want to drag your flank off to the Black Hoof and buck you till we can’t walk.”
“Well, it’s not a BDSM club but suite 17 at Tenpony should work for the bucking.” Razor winked playfully at her. “See ya when you get to the top!”
Viridian didn’t do anything but laugh a little as the peppy thestral did an overly-fancy leap into the air, spreading her wings as she jumped, and giving her flank a naughty shake before taking wing up the alabaster sides of the swanky apartment building that its snobby residents called ‘Tenpony’ and its important residents called ‘Ministry of Arcane Science Emergency Broadcast Station Three’.
Early on in her residency, the impeccably-dressed doorstallions and entirely symbolic security had throw attitude at her, even knowing she was the Undermare of Morale and the mate of the Captain of the Night Guard. Mare Twilight Sparkle helpfully reminding them that the Ministry of Arcane Science could always find a janitorial position for them if being polite was too hard had settled their hash; now, the worst she got was a gimlet eye and a strained ‘Good Evening, Undermare’ as she passed.
The greeting from a certain amethyst-colored mare who was waiting unexpectedly on the other side of the doors was considerably more pleasant. Dressed in a beautifully-tailored and utterly practical business outfit, that somehow also managed to flatter every inch of her sscholarly doesn’t-get-enough-sun thinness, Twilight Sparkle smiled broadly as Viridian stepped into the lobby.
“Undermare Rain,” she said pleasantly. “Good evening.”
“Mare Sparkle.” Unlike the way she acted around her own mare, Viridian unhesitatingly bowed her head to the aging unicorn. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Tying up some details before I need to head back out to Maripony to supervise the IMP tests,” Sparkle replied. “And stop that; I’m not royalty.”
“I respectfully disagree,” Viridian said sincerely. “Will our business last long enough for a small meal?”
“Well…”
“If I asked Spike, would he tell me that you’d remembered to eat today?” Viridian grinned at her.
Twilight colored very slightly. “Well, no, but…”
“Then I’m going to feed you before a disgruntled dragon finds out I let you leave without food in you,” Viridian interrupted her with a wider grin. For some reason, banter about Twilight’s known habit of forgetting rest and food in pursuit of her duties always felt natural enough that Viridian felt comfortable breaking her overly respectful attitude towards the Mare. That they both knew that Sparkle’s right hoof dragon would indeed scold Twilight for not eating, and Viridian for not force-feeding her, just made it all the more natural.
Twilight smiled at that and conceded with a nod and a twitch of her head towards a small food stand. “I don’t have time to sit, but if it’ll save me from the wrath of my Number One Assistant, I’ll let you buy me something.”
“Deal.” A quick purchase later and they were walking down the service stairs towards the lower levels of Tenpony, enjoying daffodil wraps. Viridian swallowed a bite and looked at Twilight. “So why’re you here, Mare Sparkle?”
“Checking the functionality of the Alishield Two generators,” Twilight replied. “More importantly, though, I want to be sure the EBS is ready since you’ll need it as a relay for when I bring down the Ministry of Morale network.”
Viridian barely stopped herself from staring at the other unicorn in astonishment, but only just barely. “I… didn’t realize my plan was that obvious…”
Twilight gave her a tiny smirk. “Only to the Mare of the MAS,” she said. “I know how the network functions and…” She took in a breath and let it out. “…and I know my friend Pinkie.” The amethyst unicorn stopped and looked over at Viridian sadly. “I owe her so much, I owe all of them so much. I can’t believe I’m conspiring with you against my own friend.”
Viridian reached over and patted the Mare’s shoulder. “You know that as much as I loathe her, I have no plans to harm her, right?” She turned and looked ahead as they entered the maintenance room with the massive shield generators humming quietly. “What she’s done can never be forgiven; that she did it while drugged and out of control is worse. But part of the plan is removing her, and because of all you’ve done for Equestria, she will not come to harm.”
“You’d kill her if not for me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Of course I would,” Viridian replied.
Twilight sighed. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t give you an excuse.”
“Oh, but you did,” Viridian corrected her with a small smile. “You gave me an excuse to save her life and do her no harm. She’s useless dead but as a living pony, however disgraced, she can still make Equestria a better place.”
Twilight took the last bite of her wrap, chewing it contemplatively as she checked over the generator wiring. She finally smiled a little as she looked at Viridian. “You’re good.”
“I’m also truthful.” Viridian took the last bite of her own wrap. “So do you mind if I ask who you plan to use for your first subject?”
“I don’t mind.” Twilight’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Test Subject T1X13. I can’t give you her name, but I’ll tell you that if it works, she’s a pony I wouldn’t mind giving that kind of power to.”
“Intresting.” Viridian considered trying to figure it out, then decided not to; she’d find out in good time and she didn’t have any doubts about Twiight’s judgment. “So do they check out?”
“They do,” Twilight confirmed. “I won’t need you for the EBS, I’ve already got a technician on hoof there. But thanks for the snack and give Captain Back my best.”
“…oh, yes… she’s uh…”
“...waiting for you?” Twilight blushed a little but managed a knowing grin that Viridian would have never suspected she had in her. “Well, don’t keep her waiting on my account I’m sure the Tenpony staff would be annoyed with you if they had to make repairs after Captain Back dragged you all the way up to the twentieth floor.”
Viridian stared at her. “…did you just poke fun at me about my mate?”
Twilight blushed harder. “Um… I… I guess…”
Viridian grinned fiercely. “I can’t wait to tell Spike… he’ll be so proud of you.”
Twilight fixed her with dim look. “I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of making quips, puns, jokes, and other humorous statements.”
“Yeah, try to tell that to Spike,” Viridian snorted. “See you after the dust settles, Mare Sparkle.” And before Twilight could answer, she’d teleported herself up to the door of the occupied suite. She raised her hoof to knock, when the door whipped open and a very strong pair of thestral hooves dragged her inside. Viridian found herself pinned to the bed inside with Razor’s face mashed against hers.
“You’re late,” she growled.
“Mare Sparkle,” Viridian countered.
Razor considered this and pulled back. “OK, you’re forgiven. But now your mate gets some mare or you get to sleep on the couch.”
“We don’t have a couch,” Viridian pointed out.
“We do have a floor.”
“Point taken.” And she mashed her lips against Razor’s. “One last sweet moment before the world ends.”
<><><
Viridian reached forward and flipped the switch on her communications panel, taking a breath to impose some calm on her and some evenness to her speech.
“My friends, my allies, and my fellow Equestrians. This is Viridian Rain, Undermare of Morale, transmitting this message on a broad band to reach everypony that can possibly hear it. As Luna’s moon rises, we have seen a dark day in our history, in the history of all the world. In response to the skill and valor of our regular army forces and the victories they have won of late, the Zebircan Empire has attempted a total annihilation of our nation, the extermination of all of us and the murder of our beloved Princesses. A beautiful and pristine land lie wasted, irradiated, and ashen from the holocaust of balefire megaspells. Tens of thousands are now dead for having done no wrong but to be ponies and living in Equestria. It is cold comfort indeed to tell all of you that are hearing me that our own megaspells have destroyed their capability to do this ever again and I will say, if they can hear this transmission, that we have many more weapons and all are poised to do unto you what you have done unto us.
“And yet in this darkness, there is light. The Three Thrones remain unblemished and our Princesse are safe. The moon and sun shall rise unmolested, and our beloved Princess of the Night is yet our shield and our guardian. In Fillydelphia, we are wounded but the great gears of earth pony ingenuity and industry yet turn and will turn for centuries yet. In Manehattan, the wicked schemes of cowards and traitors have dome to naught through the courage and intelligence of vigilant soldiers and although there is a scar in our landscape and in the hearts of thousands, millions are now safe. Though the fire of the zebras rained upon it, Stalliongrad remains stalwart against the tide, and Trottingham and Baltimare as well. There are yet safe places for those that survived, and they will remain stalwart against that terrible night that our enemies have sought to impose on us. Our will remains unbroken and we will win through. Our goodness and virtue remains unsullied and we will prevail. We who serve you the common pony remain forever your servants and forever faithful to you. And so let us rally ourselves and move towards a brighter day that lies beyond the valley of the shadow of doom where we find ourselves now. Under the aegis of the Thrones, with the weapons of our wrath turned upon any who would harm us or the innocent, we can rise again.
“The lamps are indeed going out all over Equestria and if we fail in this, they will never be lit again. But there is hope; there is hope. Forever vigilant in the service of the Three Thrones and of each pony that lives under them, I leave you with this: there is hope.”
Author's Note
Razor Back is copyright the user ObsidianPony
