Pain.
This is everything her body sensed as the purple mare came back to reality. Twilight slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the wooden ceiling of her bathroom. The room where she had suddenly lost consciousness, without any warning. She turned around on her belly, to stand up on all fours. Her head hurt immensely, she must had hit it hard. She wrapped a towel around her still wet mane before leaving the room.
It had been a few weeks after her 'promotion' to alicornhood and her coronation. Princess Celestia had ordered her to stay in the library for a while before they would plan anything that had to do with politics.
"Spike?", she called out for her personal assistant and adoptive brother.
No response.
"SPIKE!?",she yelled again.
Only silence answered her.
She had wanted to ask him what happened, but it seemed that he was absent. She wracked her brain about what happened, but it apparently had quit working for the moment.
"I need fresh air... I hope that wherever Spike is, he's okay..." she murmured to herself as she walked upstairs and out on the balcony. The moon hung in the sky, illuminating Equestria in a cold, silvery light.
Twilight sighed loudly.
Her mind wavered. She knew that she had been taking a shower, but abruptly passed out somehow. She desperately wondered about the reason...
A sharp wind rustled through the branches of her tree as dark clouds are covered the full moon on the sky. A rain drop fell on her snout and before her bleary mind could process this information the heavens had opened and it was pouring.
Puzzled at the sudden change in weather she headed back inside, still pondering how she had failed to hear word about a scheduled rainfall of this magnitude.
Suddenly, there was a sound like a piece of furniture falling over. The unicorn immediately cast a light spell to illuminate the dark interior of her library.
"Don't make it harder for yourself!", Twilight yelled dangerously as she fed the lighting spell more power, increasing its brightness.
"Whoah! Princess Twilight! I'm CPD Officer Crystal!", the intruder claimed loudly as he came out from behind the couch. In the glow of her light, she could make out all of the unicorn stallion’s features in front of her. Blue coat, black mane. A red, green and blue coloured crystal was visible on his flanks, marking his talent as a gem seller.
"I don't know you! How would I know I can trust you? Better I'll call the Royal Guards!", Twilight responded cautiously as she levitated a scoll of parchment and her quill to her side to write a note to Princess Celestia. It was night time, but Twilight knew that the Princess would never leave her hanging.
"No! Please, just listen-"
*CLIRR!*
Suddenly and in perfectly coordinated unison, every window of her library burst, a black-clad unicorn jumping through the windowframe. Two from the balcony, one entering through the window next to the entrance of the library, one breaking the window in her bedroom and the last kicking in the door of the library, five in total. In the light emanating from her horn, she was able to read 'SPAT' on all their suits. Her first reaction was an annoyed groan, seeing as they had just broken every last window and door of her home. She knew the SPAT, they were the ones who saved the wedding of her brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadance and subsequently prevented a Changeling invasion. Sometimes the SPAT is appreciated, other times they are seen in a less positive way because of their habit of leaving destroyed property in they wake wherever they go.
"S.P.A.T.! HIT THE GROUND, NOW!", one of them bellowed loudly, equipped with a similar weapon as the ones used by the SPAT during the Canterlot incident . The unicorn took aim at Crystal, who backed away in shock.
"Oh horseapples!", Crystal mumbled under his breath before making a dash to the door of the library, trying to escape the scene...
But before he could even make it out the door, the backside of a G36C smashed down on his head, held in a golden magical aura. Crystal let out a grunt of pain as he hit the ground with a dull thud, his legs spread out in every direction.
"What the... what are you doing here? I'm from the Canterlot Police Department! I was sent to look after Twilight!", Crystal exclaimed, almost whimpering.
Instead of answering his question, the unicorn slid a ring over his horn, blocking Crystal’s magical abilities with the newest toy in the inventory of the Independent Equestrian Special Forces Unit.
Taking off its helmet and balaclava, the armed unicorn revealed its face to Crystal and Twilight...
Two loud gasps accompanied the recognition of a familiar face.
Before them stood none other than Lyra Heartstrings, wearing the same uniform as the other members of the Ponyville division.
The SPAT is not biased regarding gender, and mares are fully accepted and integrated into the force… IF they pass the adamantine requirements and training successfully.
"Lyra?! What are you doing here?", a baffled Twilight inquired.
"My job. As for you , report in!", Lyra retorted sharply while securing her gun and strapping it to her side.
"Huh, what? I don't know what you are talking about!", Twilight replied, blinking in pure confusion.
"Calm down, rookie. She doesn't know anything about her position.", the unicorn captain with the name Sunny Bonds stitched on his vest interjected. He took off his helmet and balaclava, too, and the rest of the SPAT team followed suit. Their manes stuck to their heads due to the sweat and the heavy rain outside.
"What position?", Twilight insisted, "As the Princess of Friendship, I demand an explanation for your sudden, forced entry!"
"None of your concern.", another SPAT unicorn designated as Ferrum answered coldly as he looked at her, barely acknowledging her presence.
"The security systems of the library have been activated. We don't have much time!", Golden Plate announced, ushering the team on.
"Down to the basement, make haste!", the captain as he forced open the door to the basement .
"What about him? Knock his lights out?", Lyra questioned, constraining Crystal in a choke hold, who visibly paled at her emotionlessly uttered words. He only knew Lyra from seeing her around Ponyville, but he had never expected her to be so cruel.
"No, we take him with us.", the SPAT unicorn identified by his vest as Steel ordered.
"That's not how this works! You can’t simply force me!", Crystal exclaimed angrily.
"Bite me... and by the way, we're here under orders of the Solar Princess herself ", Lyra hissed coldly into his ear as she pushed Crystal up, before unstrapping her weapon to escort Crystal down to the basement .
"What do you expect to find down there? It's my basement! All you’ll find there are my chemical supplies and some private stuff!", Twilight stated matter-of-factly, her anger quickly approaching her boiling point. Instead of a reply, the youngest of the squad, Golden Plate, just grabbed her left forelimb and dragged her along downstairs with the others.
"Princess Celestia requested you come along. I don't know why, and she may as well have given an explicit order as far as I am concerned. Now move it!"
Twilight was about to insist on a proper answer, and maybe get some information regarding the involvement of the Princess in this matter at the same time, but decided against this course of action. The armed unicorns seemed completely focused on their mission, and she didn’t want to interfere any more than necessary. Especially if this really was some kind of national emergency.
Upon reaching the basement, Ferrum turned to a large wooden bookshelf, mustered it while strapping his weapons to his sides... and shoved a over a dozen books off of the shelf, absolute certainty and literally no concern for a civilian’s posessions.
"Hey! Those are ancient ! Be careful with them!", Twilight shrieked as she picked up the books with her magic and placed them on a table, finishing at the same time as Ferrum who had finally found what he was searching for.
A simple red button, hidden behind the books he had just shoved away. Activating the switch, the hidden door slowly gave way and revealed stairs descending into a room previously unknown by the inhabitant of the library.
She shakily managed to get out a "Wha-wha-what is that?", completely taken by surprise at the sudden opening of the concealed sub-basement.
"The emergency entrance to a facility of the Umbrella Corporation.", Silver Vest explained, standing next to her . Meanwhile the other SPAT members made sure nopony was behind the disguised door. Once fully opened, Lyra headed inside, followed by Iron Steel and Ferrum, weapons at the ready and checking the perimeter .
"The Umbrella Corporation? I know them! My friends and I use their medicine when we're ill. I mostly use it when I have a headache... but why is Umbrella under my library? What is this about?!", the young Princess grew more impatient with every passing moment. She wanted answers, NOW!
"Classified!", Sunny Bonds cut her off as he pushed her aside to walk past her, "Follow us!"
Twilight groaned in frustration. They completely ignored her position as a princess, despite being sent by Princess Celestia. She hesitated for a moment, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she followed the group downstairs.
The bottom of the stairs opened up into a large hall , clean concrete and rebars lining the walls and strong lights illuminating the scenery from above. It looked much like a storage room, and stacks of crates and smaller boxes surrounded the group of ponies.
All of them are bore the emblem of the Umbrella Corporation.
"Don't touch them!", Lyra rudely interrupted Twilight as the princess tried to open a crate . Shying away from the barked order, Twilight backed away and looked into the mint green mare’s eyes.
How different you are to what I came to know you… What have they done to you? Twilight couldn’t help but think of the hours they used to talk when Lyra had the time.
Making their way through the hall, they finally spotted the vehicle they were looking for.
An electric train. Or rather, a simple wagon with an electric motor. The wagon sat on the only track, apparently used for quick transportation of equipment and personnel over greater distances. All in all, this part of the structure resembled an underground station more than anything else.
"Check the power!", Sunny Bonds ordered after they had entered the wagon. After a quick glance at the control console in the front of the train, Golden Plate replied with a simple "Power's out!"
"I got it ", Lyra exclaimed, putting her weapon aside and opening a hatch in the floor. Flashlight in snout, she jumped down to the now accessible underside of the wagon. She looked around and found the plug and socket, unconnected, and began to fumble them back together.
She stopped as she heard shuffling in front of her. It sounded like hooves dragging along the concrete floor. She hunched down to get a better look...
There. She spotted the grid of a ventilation shaft, the grating forced apart in the middle, a hole the size of a small animal. Aiming the beam of light at the mesh, Lyra could swear she saw movement inside the vent...
"What's taking you so long?" Silver Vest poked his head down through the hatch, catching the mare by surprise and making her jump. She shot Silver a death glare in response to his smug face.
"Gotcha!"
Instantly, she connected the plug and the socket , and pushed down the lever that spliced the train cart with the power line of the tracks.
A spark produced by the electric current scared an unsuspecting Silver Vest into a yelp of fear, drawing quite a bit of laughter from Lyra.
"The power's back on!", Golden Plate announced while trotting up to a red button, which resulted in the sound of hydraulics and the hatch closing automatically.
"We are ready to go...", Iron Steel stated, taking out his ol'reliable pipe to have a smoke during the train ride. Golden Plate activated the console and the engine started up and set the wagon in motion.
A bothered grunt drew attention from Twilight and Crystal, both locating the noise as coming from the mint unicorn . Lyra was trying to open a door on the side of the cart with her hooves, but it seemed like it wouldn’t budge. Swapping to her magic to try and turn the handle , she found that said handle was very stubborn and resisted even her best efforts.
Crystal and Twilight had both turned their heads towards Lyra when she turned around.
She hated it when other ponies stared at her.
"Looking for something?!"
"No...", Crystal evasively replied, turning his gaze away again quickly. Twilight on the other hoof just continued to stare .
"What's with that door?", Ferrum inquired, having noticed Lyra’s behavior.
"It's stuck and I can't open it.", the unicorn mare retorted.
"Let me handle this.", Ferrum got back at her, winking . The green equine stepped aside with a sceptical expression evident on her face while the bulky stallion took position at the side of the handle and bucked it with all his strength.
With a protesting screech the handgrip was sent flying through the inside of the wagon before impacting the far wall with a resounding clirr.
Immediately the door swung open and an unmoving stallion unicorn fell through the doorframe to the ground, causing Ferrum to jump in shock.
"Unpleasant surprise?", Lyra snickered, masking her own astonishment.
Ferrum just shot her a bewildered look, panting heavily. Iron Steel meanwhile trotted over to the unconscious form of the stallion. The new arrival had a plain sky blue coat and a short black mane and a cutie mark depicting a test tube filled with some sort of green liquid.
Iron Steel slapped the stallion on his cheek, making him grunt in discomfort.
His eyes fluttered open, and the stallion let out a yelp.
"Hey, everything's okay. Calm down." Iron Steel spoke in a reassuring tone, trying not to spook the pony.
He grabbed his flashlight, switched it on and held it in front of the sky blue pony's face.
"Follow the light." Iron Steel moved the electric torch from side to side . He could use his horn, but preferred to avoid straining his magic energy reserves unnecessarily.
Continuing his examination after his subject succeeded, Iron Steel put the flashlight away . "How many ponies do you see in front of yourself?"
"Just... one...", the stallion weakly replied.
"What’s your name?"
The stallion opened his mouth to answer , but uttered no words, his eyes growing wide with distress instead .
"I don't know...", the unicorn responded, his hooves reaching up to his temples to try and calm his aching head.
"He's okay...", Iron Steel declared as he trotted back to the team leader, "...but it seems that the security measures had a much stronger effect on him. Princess Twilight? Could you take care of his amnesia ?"
Twilight's ears perked up at the mention of her name. "Yes, I could, but it would be a very invasive process, intruding into his brain... and he’s in a very vulnerable state right now..."
Her expression fell. " I'm afraid of permanently damaging his mind. The process involves copying all his memories into my own mind, then sorting through his memories, but without a little background to guide me it will take pretty long and might not yield any results at all..."
"So in fact, you can't?", Iron Steel cut her off.
"Not right now, I am afraid...", Twilight hung her head.
"Buck, then we need to wait until the effect of the gas subsides..."
"What gas?", Twilight inquired, picking up on the subtle detail. Just as before, the armed unicorns ignored her , instead wordlessly leaving the train cart as they arrived at their destination. The unit moved through another hall filled with stacks of boxes, escorting their two captives but leaving Twilight to follow on her own. Coming to a halt in front of a solid metal gate , she lost her temper.
"I demand AN EXPLANATION FOR ALL THIS!!! WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING ME?!" Twilight almost reached volume levels similar to the Royal Canterlot Voice, but the only reaction she gets out of Sunny Bonds is a raised eyebrow.
Her ears drooped at the realization of what she had just done. "I'm sorry... Captain Bonds... I…"
Sunny Bonds let out a heavy sigh. She would never stop bothering him unless he gave in and told her about the mission. But he didn’t intend on completely inducing her on all the details.
"Alright, listen. Here’s the thing, I am gonna tell you, but you must NOT relay any of this information to anypony else. Absolute nondisclosure, have I made myself clear?", Sunny Bonds insisted, "All of this information is highly classified."
"I'll never tell a single soul! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She went through the motions as she spoke.
The captain shot her a funny glace before continuing. "Okay, these are the facts. Two hours ago, an alarm went off in the underground facility. The security systems activated, hermetically sealing off all exits. The same systems also released a nerve gas to knock unconscious anyone near said exits, including you. Are you aware that Princess Celestia has invested large amounts of bits in the Umbrella Corporation ?, Sunny Bonds explained while Golden Plate got to work on opening the door with various codes he tapped into console next to the door.
"Yes, I knew she was involved with Umbrella. Why do they have security systems like that though? What are they developing in this facility that rectifies the use of nerve gas?!"
"That’s top secret. We just received orders for an S&R. We are supposed to enter the compound and rescue as many ponies as we can. She also asked for us to bring you along, to help us if need be."
"Way ahead’s clear!", Golden Plate broke up the gathering as the door began to open. The unicorn had the codes to every door at the site, but was not instructed which code was associated to which door. For a brief moment there was a faint smell of decay, but nopony paid attention and it faded too quickly to get noticed.
"So you are here to rescue survivors?"
"Yep."
"Princess Celestia ordered you here? Do you usually receive orders from this high up?"
"No, we are independent. We are a private security force and provide our services for a fee, like assuring order in chaos situations, or offering personal protection. However, if there's an issue concerning national security, like bug queens trying to overthrow the government, we step in without a contract. This is the reason the Solar Princess allows us to carry the weapons we do despite their immense power . Using combat magic over a longer period of time would leave unicorns exhausted. So we use simple levitation magic to use these firearms.", Sunny Bonds clarified, "But like I said, this time Princess Celestia gave orders, and she explicitly asked for you to be brought along."
"I understand... but what exactly are these weapons? Wouldn’t crossbows be more effective? I don’t mean to insult your choice of weaponry, but they look rather unimpressive, unlike anything I have ever seen."
"After one of our missions, some smart minds invented strong armor. Can withstand crossbow bolts. So we upgraded our arsenal to have an upper hand when facing armored foes. These are far more effective than crossbows, rest assured."
"No problem. I've always been curious regarding your field tactics in a situation like this." Twilight gave a satisfied smile.
"Okay, we have a job to do. Move out!", Sunny Bonds commanded as he took out his weapon, a modified MTAR21 with a grenade launcher mounted below the barrel. The rest of the squad followed and took position at the doorframe, ready to advance as a coordinated team. Twilight stood back behind Lyra, who was keeping an eye on the disabled Crystal and the unknown stallion.
Neither of them knew what they had gotten themselves into yet...
Neither of them knew yet what they had gotten themselves into...
"Ferrum, lead the way.", Sunny decided. Ferrum acknowledged the command by sliding his night vision goggles over his eyes and entered the darkness in a single swift move. Weapon at the ready, he intently observed his surroundings, each step routine honed by practice and drill.
An almost inaudible shuffling from his left side caught his attention, but an immediate glance revealed nothing but cold, empty floor...
Twilight though heard the sound, too... but before she could say anything, bright light flooded the room, eliciting a groan from Ferrum as his eyes were suddenly subjected to the enhanced brightness of the ceiling lamps.
The rest of the group quickly followed suit, noticing the sudden change in building material: The walls were made of gray polished and reinforced iron, and added in windows showed pictures landscapes, creating the illusion that they were in a surface building instead of a secret underground facility.
"The Halon gas has dissipated.", Iron Steel reported, taking readings from a pocket analyzer. Halon was not normally found in the atmosphere, as it caused unconsciousness or even death, supplanting oxygen in the air.
"Good.", Sunny Bonds absentmindedly replied while circling the room.
"The perfect illusion.", Crystal whispered as he looked at one of the fake windows. Twilight had to agree. Hadn’t she known she was several hundred metres below the surface, she would have assumed to be in a normal building...
"Guys, I need help with this!", Silver Vest exclaimed, trying to pry open the doors of an elevator. Sunny Bonds came to aid him, followed by Golden Plate. Together, they finally managed to create an opening.
Impenetrable darkness greeted their gazes. Iron Steel took out a flare and threw it down the elevator shaft...
After a fall of several dozen metres, the flickering light hit the top of the elevator car with a resounding clank.
"I think we‘ll have to use the stairs...", Iron Steel remarked dryly as he looked down the shaft.
The metallic stairs vibrated under the heavy steps of the ponies. Twilight panted hard, struggling to follow the well-trained SPAT unicorns. Crystal slipped regularly when Lyra shoved her weapon into his back. The mysterious stallion meanwhile could feel a nasty headache advancing.
"We follow that sign.", Golden Plate proclaimed, pointing at a marker on the wall. "If we cut through the labs it’ll take us directly to the Red Queen! I’d assume she has already taken notice of us." The layout of the whole facility had been studied in advance of the operation, and every corridor, path, room and door was present in the unicorn’s mind, despite the fact that The Hive had more than thirteen stories, including living quarters for the employees.
Where said employees were was still baffling the squad. They still hadn't encountered any bodies even though they had moved a fair bit into the compound.
"Who’s the Red Queen?", Twilight curiously asked, shivering at the thought of a changeling queen or an equally frightening prospect.
"The Red Queen is an advanced artificial intelligence that controls and monitors everything in this facility."
"A... what?" Twilight didn’t quite follow the explanation.
"Do you know what a computer is?" Golden Plate decided to go back to the basics and work from there.
"I know, but I have never used one of them before."
"The Red Queen is a computer, only smarter, far more complex and to some extent self-aware."
"Ahh... okay. So it’s like an automated housekeeper."
They got interrupted by the unknown stallion who was having a hard time trying to keep his balance.
"Are you alright?", Twilight asked worriedly, stretching out her hoof to support him lest he fall over.
"I... just remembered my name... it’s Spyglass.", the swaying unicorn replied as he continued to rub his forehead.
"Well, then... hello Spyglass. Nice to meet you." The purple mare held out a hoof and smiled widely.
"Hello, Princess Twilight-", he began but got cut off immediately, "No formalities, please. Just call me Twilight."
"Hello, Twilight. It's my pleasure." Spyglass shook her hoof politely. "But I still can’t figure out what happened before you pulled me into the train car."
"Don't worry, it'll come back soon enough."
"Move it. Nopony cares about what you do and don’t remember.", Lyra interrupted their chat, walking past and shoving Crystal along in front of her.
As the group reached the laboratories, they were confronted with a gruesome scenery.
Every lab was a separate, spacious room, the windows made of thick bullet-proof glass reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The doors worked like air locks, hermetically sealing the exits and limiting access to the select ponies who had the required permissions. To the nothing comes out fact... the grisly aspect of this being the perfectly contained murky water that completely filled the rooms. Indistinct objects float through the darkness...
A few small holes at corresponding cracks in the thick glass hinted at somepony trying desperately to smash the glass. Water poured out from the holes in unsteady streams.
"By Celestia...", Twilight took a sharp breath and covered her snout with her forehooves in shock.
"That’s the only direct way to the Red Queen. I think this", Golden Plate pointed at the flooded rooms," will cost us time..."
"Lyra, Ferrum. You two go look for a way through the labs that isn’t flooded.", Sunny Bonds decided. Lyra and Ferrum acknowledged the command and quickly trotted off.
"What happened here?"
Sunny Bonds turned to face Spyglass who had put forth the question. Letting out a heavy sigh, the commanding officer set to explain. "Five hours ago, the Red Queen went out of control for reason unknown, locked down every way in and out of The Hive and flooded the facility with Halon gas from the fire extinguishing system, killing everypony inside the facility at the time as far we know. We are not only here to look for and rescue possible survivors, but also to shut down the AI and find out why a computer as advanced as this one malfunctioned."
Upon hearing this, Twilight started to tear up. More than a hundred ponies dead. She hoped that some had managed to survive but she knew chances were slim.
"Why... how did this happen?"
"We don't know, but we hope to find out soon. This might not have been a technical fault, and if there are ponies involved we will locate them and hold them responsible."
Crystal was listening carefully when he suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head to the side, he spotted the lifeless body of a mare slowly hit the glass. Crystal let out a yelp of fear and jumped away from the transparent barrier, while Silver Vest and Iron Steel had already taken point, aiming their weapons at the corpse in the flooded lab. The dead mare looked almost peaceful, floating in the water like an unborn filly.
Twilight's eyes widened in shock before a loud sob escaped her mouth. The objective part of her mind recalculated the chances somepony survived and told her they were even worse than she had previously assumed. Spyglass looked at the mare, horrified as well, but nevertheless turned to the purple alicorn princess.
"Are you okay?"
Twilight swallowed down another upcoming sob and looked at him, but before she could even say anything, Spyglass wrapped her up in an embrace, trying to calm her down. After an awkward moment, the mare returned the hug and held on tight.
"Feel better?"
"Yes, thank you...", Twilight whispered, giving him a wavering smile as they let go of each other.
"Captain?", Golden Plate announced, "I think I found an alternative route."
"Go on."
"We could pass through the dining hall and take a detour around the labs, which are out of the picture obviously."
Crystal slipped out of his thoughts as his attention was subconsciously directed at a ventilation shaft in the ceiling of the corridor. Listening carefully, he could almost make out something apart from the usual silent sound that moving air produced, something that didn’t belong there…
A something that sounded dangerous, though he could not put his hoof on what made his fur stand on edge...
Crystal could swear that there was subtle moaning and groaning carried by the metal shaft, but just as he was about to notify the others of this…
"Sir!"
He seized in shock at the sudden voice. Lyra and Ferrum had returned from the perimeter check but brought bad news...
"All the labs are flooded, without exception. We need to find a different way.", Lyra reported, pointing behind her down the corridor they had come from. "What the…" She raised an eyebrow questioningly when she spotted the floating body against the glass wall. Ferrum meanwhile avoided looking at the dead mare and instead suddenly seemed to have developed an enormous interest in his own hooves.
"Then we follow Plate's suggestion. We’re already behind on the schedule! Let’s move it!", Sunny Bonds urged them on, "Lead the way, Plate."
Golden Plate nodded and headed off in the direction of the canteen, the rest of the group trailing behind him.
"Poor bastards...", Lyra murmured, giving the dead body behind the glass a last look before turning away.
The mare's body in the flooded room hit the transparent wall again, her eyes snapping open and a hoof making contact with the glass…
"Team, take point and prepare for breach!", the SPAT leader ordered, hoof stretched out towards the door to the dining hall, "As for the others, wait for the all clear!"
Golden Plate put in the door code and advanced through the opening door with the rest of the squad. They prepared to spread out and secure the perimeter, but stopped in their tracks when they realized one disturbing fact.
The dining hall did not exactly look like you’d expect.
Instead of tables and other furniture, the enormous room in front of them contained rusty, metal containers, dozens of cables and pipes protruding from the outside of each and every one of them and emitting a faint humming sound. A small display indicated their status, simply reading "Environment Stable", but not disclosing the purpose or contents.
"Where we are? This is not a dining hall!", Ferrum confusedly stated.
"But that's what the plan says! Dining Hall B!", Golden Plate retorted, consulting one of his several maps.
"Let me look at that.", Sunny Bonds interjected and grabbed the map.
Meanwhile, Crystal drew own conclusion regarding the ‘mislabelling’ of this area of the facility, and the thought was distressing to say the least.
"Maybe the Umbrella Corporation is hiding something... something you were never supposed to see. Something that they want to never see the general populace.", Crystal voiced his concerns, looking the Captain and back to the containers.
Sunny Bonds gave Crystal a glare, not indicating whether he considered this for even a moment but instead ordered Ferrum and Lyra to stay with him and secure their entrance point."
"Sir, there are no Halon residues in the air...", Iron Steel informed the others after checking his device.
"Then there may be survivors. Twilight, Spyglass, Plate, Steel and Vest, come with me.", Sunny Bonds declared, leading the small group further into the hall.
Twilight's mind was racing with unanswered questions. What was the Umbrella Corporation doing hundreds of meters below the surface in a secret facility? What was it that had to be kept so secret? Why did Sunny Bonds issue commands to her as though she was a simple civilian? His status as SPAT captain made him lower-ranking than her being a princess, after all...
Another question forced its way into her mind: What was inside those containers? The monitors indicating their condition had small lights to them as well, but the blinking was oddly rhythmical, similar to an unheard pulse…
Each container had a small window, just big enough to peek inside.
After a few seconds in which her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out a lot of thin pipes connecting to and apparently sustaining a somehow living thing with a brownish-translucent liquid, though neither looked like anything she had ever seen. The only indication the creature was indeed alive was a noise like enormous lungs breathing in and out slowly but steadily.
"With all due respect, princess, I said 'Stick together'.", a voice next to her interrupted her train of thought, making her jump in surprise.
"I... I'm sorry..."
"Every action I take and order is first and foremost directed at the safety of my team, possible survivors and of course, yours. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.", Sunny Bonds stated flatly while looking her dead in the eye.
She looked down at her hooves and tried to avoid his glare. "I'm sorry... it's just that... I am curious and at the same time terrified of finding out what happened here..."
"I understand that. Now, please follow me."
The only thing Sunny Bonds really hated was incompetence, but he didn’t think of the alicorn under his care that way. She just was... oblivious of the tactics and strategies employed by the SPAT. She was visibly surprised by their effectiveness as a team, only being accustomed to the basic tactics of the Royal Guard.
The Royal Guard was trained to keep the Princesses safe and defend them in case of an attack, as well as being prepared for the possibility of open, large scale warfare. But they were unable to seize control in case of a terrorist attack, due to their strict hierarchy and centralization of command. Every time they so much as tried to ended in disaster.
The SPAT on the other hoof would be more than able to guard the Princesses, but they preferred to stay independent. Being organized in small groups or cells with short chains of command, they made use of well coordinated squad-style guerrilla tactics. Their individual skill and superior training came in handy when unconventional situations got out of hoof. The SPAT specialized in tactical entries, hostage rescue, acquisition of high risk targets, rapid intervention and others, going through harsh training to be ready for any assignment they were put on. Their operations were kept secret from the population, as well as their current deployment sites.
Both SPAT and Royal Guard had their right of existence, but there was no doubt which military branch was better trained.
"What’s in these boxes? What’s this whole thing about really?" Ferrum paced, only stopping momentarily to look at a container. Crystal sat on a metallic crate, looking at his two guards while deep in thought. He had to get rid of the ring on his horn, feeling defenceless and exposed without his magic.
"Do I look like a clairvoyant?", Lyra retorted, not really wanting to know what Umbrella had been up to down here…
