The Corporation

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...