Still In The Dark

Chapter 9: The Brink

The streets were normally pretty busy around the Market District, but now that the gate were more open to ponies and the like, things had become even more hectic. It was a constant butting of shoulder to shoulder and side to side, and even the occasional odd grope. Finna and I had managed to stick close to one another as we made our way to the Baron District again for the tour we were suppose to give to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. I knew Charon and Noir planned to meet us their and I'd have to make sure Charon kept his cool, lest he burn one of them for saying something that might offend him.

Thankfully things cleared up as many tourists had no business in the Baron District and we were able to move quicker. By the time we arrived at the embassy I could see Charon and Noir sitting just outside, Noir seemed to have changed into a more sensible clothing. She now wore a deep aquamarine dress that hung just bellow the shins and had layered frills on each arm and around her neck, she also now had on one of her pairs of black knee high boots. Charon had simply decided for a deeper red button up and dark pants complete with a belt, it looked oddly contrasting to his usually formal wear.

"What's the occasion?" I chuckled as we walked up on the two.

"I thought we may as well look nice if were going to act nice." She dug around in a small bag and threw a change of clothes two me and Finna. "You're going along with this whether you like it or not." She said with a smile.

Looking at the new clothes I shook my head and sighed. "Alright let's head inside and while Twilight get's her friends we'll get changed."

As Noir and Charon spoke the the receptionist me and Finna went to get changed. "Does she normally pick your wardrobe for you." Finna teased nodding at the rest of my clothes.

I chuckled. "Sometimes when she's out she'll come back with whole sets she bought for me and Charon, then force us to try them on as show off for her." I grimaced at an earlier memory. "It's best just to go along with it, unless you like ending up bathing with chili covered soap." Her smile immediately vanished and she hurried along.

Rather than waste time on waiting for each other we decided to share the small restroom. I placed my jacket and shirt into the new clothes' bags, as I undid my belt I could help but spare a glance at Finna. Her slim figure and radiant coat looked good in any lighting, and the present dim glow of the single light made for a great accent. With a grin I shook my head and went about figuring out my new clothes. using the larger body mirror the two of us appraised our new apparel. Finna wore a dress similar to Noir's but it was instead a scarlet red that matched her highlights, a matching pair of amber earrings and ornate necklace had come with it. I had been given a pair of loose black cotton slacks and a scarlet dress shirt with cuffs. Mercifully Noir hadn't tried to guess our shoe sizes. With our old clothes tucked away we stepped back out into the hall.

"Your dress fit's very well, I know Noir has a good eye but it's still always impressive how well she can size things without physical reference." I had to really try not to stare, I didn't doubt Noir got such a close fitting dress intentionally.

"Your clothes look nice as well, I can certainly appreciate her fondness for coordination." She gave a small twirl and rested against my shoulder. "We'll need to remember to thank her."

"Absolutely." I smiled *Right after I hang her by the tail.*

In the main lobby Noir was talking with Twilight and her friends while Charon chatted with Spike. Hearing our steps their conversations stopped.

"Sorry about the hold up, we had to clean up a bit." I said.

"Darling you were so right about that dress." I managed to hear Rarity whisper to Noir who simply grinned.

"It's fine Noir and I we talking about the city and where we're heading." Twilight said waving it off.

"And we should be off before things get too busy." Noir said waving for Charon and Spike.

Noir had decided on our route and destinations, first was the Research and Development Labs away more into the BD. From there we would be heading to a more prestigious restaurant near the edge of the Market District. Lastly we'd be off the the very top of the city, the Director's Council and from inside, The Baron's Hall for Twilight's meeting with the man himself.

The R & D building was close enough to the embassy only about a few blocks,the outside gave onlookers view of about five stories. The inside however stretched all the way through the mountain and exited out into the Badlands. It is from the larger bays on the other end that the majority of our mobile forces are deployed if a civilian cover is not needed. The rest of the complex was an almost three miles long, and half a mile wide, with about 8 separate floors. Each floor was assigned a work project that would then be focused down by each rooms specialty such as construction and design or testing and analyzing. The walls were made form a steel alloy and the foundation was a mix of bedrock and granite, both ever limitless in the Badlands.

The front entrance was surrounded by a three foot metal fence, four armed soldiers were on constant patrol with regular swaps every six hours. From the roof two sharpshooters would swap every five and rotated around four hand picked soldiers. I had to grab Pinkie Pie by the collar of her shirt just before her face touched the fence.

"If the massive amperage and voltage didn't kill you the soldiers would." I scolded. "Even with us you have to be careful with sudden movements, this facility houses some our most important equipment. The snipers on the roof can take the wings off of a fly from 200 yards, they'd get you before the electricity did if you even tried to touch it."

When her expression sunk I gave her a light pat on the back. "Come on, just remember to stay close and don't touch anything unless you ask first."

I didn't have to show the guard any kind of ID, a quick scan revealing me as me and we were all allowed pass. The ponies eyed every detail of the complex, it's chrome walls glaring back. A simple memory rune acted as a hand scanner, and with my clearance entry wasn't a problem. Inside we were greeted with an immediately cooler and inviting environment, the complex's individual heating and cooling system for each room allowed for ideal conditions with any and all experiments as well as comfortable working conditions for the various races within.

Even with no glamorous fanfare to our arrival the ponies capability of being in awe was once more demonstrated, it was obvious they never expected a facility as advanced as this. It was somewhat my fault for the more advance appearance, from the various times I aided in the design and planning for many of the buildings in The Brink, I had attempted to give them as much of a sci-fi look as possible, the end result was a satisfactory cross between space age living and steampunk simplicity. The R&D building in particular was a favorite of mine, with it being the forefront of technology on the continent it had every modern appliance you could think of. Despite what many would think of us for our militaristic reactions, we put a large amount of our time and focus on increasing the quality of life for our citizens. Things such as plumbing and electricity were essentials and had already been in development upon my arrival, with a few simple pointers and some reverse engineering it was only a month later The Brink had it's first power station.

Twilight and Rarity took a quick interest into the electric lights and appliances, as much of Equestria's technology was solely dependent on magic and therefore unicorns. Applejack amusingly took an interested in the small scale hydroponic gardens lining the sides of the lobby. With a whistle I had their attention as we approached the secretary.

"Good day Foster." The middle aged dog said setting down a steaming cup. "I assume these are our guests?" She said waving a massive paw towards them.

"Good day to you as well Mrs. Pawsworth. And yes these are the representatives from Equestria, me and my associates were informed there was a tour appointed for today." I responded politely.

"Yes you're right on time, Dr. Gail will be with you in a moment." She push a button on an intercom behind the desk. "Will Doctor Gail report to the lobby, Doctor Gail."

I gave her a small smile and nod before letting her return to her drink.

Turning to the others I waved them closer. "Once we get into the lower levels I ask that you mind your volume, many of the experiments and testing being conducted here are rather volatile. The first few levels will be rather low risk so don't worry about it too much at first, but any time you pass by a red marker line you are to use total caution until you leave. If you have any questions as either Dr. Gail or a scientist who isn't in the middle of an experiment, please also keep in mind many things here are classified so you may have some questions we cannot answer."

Before any of them could as me a question I heard the ding of an elevator, on the left side of the lobby the the door slid open to reveal a tall and rather lanky gryphon. He was currently wearing an oddly clean lab coat and slacks, the feather on the tip of his head looked as though they had been singed not to long ago.

"Sorry about the wait everybody, a colleague of mine was having a rather difficult time stabilizing some compounds." He said wiping away some of the soot from his feathers.

"It's quite alright Doctor. My name is Elijah Foster and I am here representing Division 8, these are my associates Sir Charon, Noir Leva, and Finna Jera." The three of them saluted. "Behind us are the representatives from Equestria. Princess Twilight Sparkle, her assistant Spike, Ms. Rarity, Ms. Applejack, Ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie, Ms. Rainbow Dash, And Ms. Fluttershy." I had to stop for a breath.

"Well is a pleasure to meet you all, and you in especially Mr. Foster. Much of our work would not have been possible without you." He said reaching out with a claw.

"The pleasure's mine. Now, where would you like to begin? I can't imagine there is much time in you're scheduled to show us everything, so we may begin wherever you like." I said shaking his claw.

"First I thought we might begin with labs 1,3, and 4 as they show the majority of our infrastructure and culture in terms of our living conditions." He waved for us to follow him.

The first 5 labs were accessible on the main floor, these 5 were mostly focused on bringing ease to industry and home life with things such as AC, electricity, appliance, shipping, and such. Dr. Gail lead us into Lab 1.

"As you can see every scientist, every engineer, and every laborer gives even the simplest task their all. We pride our selves not only on our efficiency but our ethic as well, everyone you see around you steps into this building with the knowledge that their work will make life easier on those around us. This entire laboratory is devoted to find new and innovative ways for improving life at home and on the job. Simple appliance's such as dishwashers, ovens, and even beds can be made much more efficiently and still maintain quality with the machines we create here. Various resistor cables are made for our more specific electrical needs, depending on the amount of current that is needed for more complex devices such as drill for mining, or coils for boiling coffee. No device can simply be pumped with electricity and not risk hazardous detonation" Gail said as he pointed to there workers running some manner of test on multicolored wires, some of them popped while the others remained in tact.

"Each and every product is thoroughly tested and checked before their finalized designs are cleared and distributed to larger manufacturers. Should any design not meet their required specifications they are sent back to their designated design teams for reanalyses and redesign."

Twilight cleared her throat and raised a hand. "What is the main source of power anything on the small side such as lamps or "drills", I am aware that your larger machines use the power from "substations" but surely a simple desk light can't utilize that much energy without risk?"

Gail glanced at me and I nodded. "The majority of our handheld and operated appliances use what is called a lithium battery, which is a small power cell that uses the chemical reaction between lithium and a caustic solution to produce electricity is smaller amounts. The larger quantity of rare earth metals in the Badlands leaves us with no shortage of components for the casings, and with deep earth mining lithium is found in large quantities as well."

That seemed to satisfy her curiosity, and as it was the only question the rest of Lab 1 seemed rather dull. Many of it's inventions came from plans I had given them, so none of it was really new to me. It wasn't until we reached Lab 4 things took a more interesting turn.

"Awesome." a quick comment from Dash summed up the lab pretty well. Massive wind turbines where being spun by five larger gryphons who each wore wing extenders to give them the ability to whirl up large swell so of air. The combination of wind runes and electric stimulus allowed for an astounding output of force, without excessive taxation on the users body.

"In this lab more of our advance products come to life, the large turbines you see behind me are what power this entire city. 25 of them have been constructed strategically around the outer borders of The Brink and into the Badlands to provide us with power. Their durable design and alloy hull allows them to withstand the elements just fine, and much of the wildlife has no interest in them meaning they require little more than regular maintenance." He then pointed to the suited gryphons.

"A little further down and you will see the production of the Aero-Enhancement Suit, while not specifically classified their exact functionality is not within my grounds to give. I can however tell you that they provide our long distance reconnaissance teams with approximately five hours of additional flight, or alternatively a short window of enhanced speed and maneuverability." I couldn't help but grin at both Twilight and Rainbow's hungry expression.

"I believe that sums up the first part of our tour." I said as we filed into and elevator.

"You are correct, we will now move on to the more interesting aspect of our research." He said with a humorous grin. "We will now be moving to labs 12 and 13, more commonly referred to as our aviation department."

I was slightly worried I'd have to hold Rainbow back but Applejack seemed to take the initiative for me.

After a couple minutes in the elevator and a rising feeling the door opened to reveal a rather large hanger and and opening to the outer edge of the mountains that surrounded The Brink, the hanger it'self was the length of two football fields, as wide as one, and it's ceiling was a good eight floors above us.

"The avionics division owns the largest facility in The Brink, both testing and deployment of our advanced crafts happens in this vary hanger." He pointed to a row of doors on the left then right. "Each of those doors leads into smaller stations for more fine tune experimentation and development occurs. The finished craft are then store either hear or on site at two key outposts in the Badlands, they are kept on constant stand by and ready for a moments notice deployment."

As soon as he had finished talking the roar of four rotary engines filled the hanger, what had appeared to be a large platform was now seen for what it really. None of us could really comprehend what we were no witnessing, even me. The monumental form of a B-29 was now taxiing from the hanger and towards the runway outside, the massive bay door began folding up as every mechanic and engineer began cheering and celebrating. I had to steady myself at the site.

The manic form of a goblin dancing towards us dragged me back to reality, and before he could say a word I lifted him up and cheered with him. This went on for a few minutes as the others finally managed to bring their heads out of the clouds.

"Sprocket you mad little goblin! How in the holly hell did you manage... that!?!" I shouted ecstatically.

Sprocket a four foot high goblin with the body of a troll and the mind of Steven Hawking. He was the Department Head for avionics and with good reason, he was a genius plane and simple. During the first month I had spent in this world, Sprocket and I had become good friends and constantly spoke about the various things humans had made. Soon he fell in love with the idea of planes, but in both my civilian life and military service I'd had the least experience with aircraft compared to anything else. With a bit of magic I was able to draw up everything I could about the B-29, but it was only what I had learned from school and brief talks with the mechanics at the bases I had been stationed at.

But if what we had just seen was real, it was more than enough for him to make it work.

"It wasn't easy I'll tell ya that Eli, between a poorly made blueprint and some memories there were times I didn't think I could do it." He put his bulky little hands on his hips as he watch the shining metal frame begin to rise into the air. "Five years in the making, but it was worth it. For the past century the airship has been most revered achievement anyone has ever accomplished in terms of transportation." He let out a small chuckle. "I think I'll hold that title for a few years, whaddaya think?"

I could only run my hands through my hair.

"I owe you more money don't I?" Charon said from behind me.

I couldn't hold back my laughter, and pretty soon everyone was laughing and congratulating the little goblin. Still having work to do Sprocket excused himself and buggered off back into the hanger.

The Doctor straightened his suit before speaking. "I believe this demonstration has been more than enough to explain what this department is striving for." He waved us back into the elevator. "For the final part of our tour we will be descending to Labs 20 through 30, Armaments." I grinned.

As the elevator began to move down Twilight and her friends chattered excitedly about what they had seen. Noir and Charon struck up conversation with the Doctor.

"That thing was one of your designs?" Finna asked leaning against me.

I wrapped and arm around her and leaned my head against hers. "Yep, it's called the B-29 Superfortress. It's one of the most famous bomber class aircraft in my world, it sadly earned it's fame from on of the most horrible deeds my kind ever committed. But I'm hoping I can give it a more positive future in this world, with it being so far ahead of it's time it should have a long service life." I knew with its creation others would follow, but I did truly hope it would see more us than it did for humans.

"You're people are frightfully powerful, it is heartening to hear you wish to bring light to a dark place." She sagely added.

"I just hope we can make it happen, I honestly thought I'd never see something as momentous as this in my life. I always thought the plans I made and gave away would never come to fruition in my time here." I hugged her closer. "I wonder what else we can make happen."

"For now I believe our actions in the coming events will cause greater change than we can anticipate, it's best we ensure that change comes as we will it to be." She said as the door pinged open.

As everyone stepped out I made sure they noticed the red stripe that lined the entryway. As we stepped into the the lab I got a good look at the most recent prototypes. In the various enclosed chambers all manner of weapons were being tested and looked over. Gail brought us over to the observation window of a nearby chamber. Inside young drake stood in full plated combat armor and was rather eagerly and extensively testing what looked like a new rotary gun. The engineers on the other side scrawling notes and taking quick pictures. Gail took a small dossier from a cabinet attached to the chamber.

"The ARC-133 (Automatic Rotary Cannon) is an experimental alternative to the mounted rotary gun utilized by current Brink forces. The ARC-133 uses a smaller caliber round, lighter alloy frame, and has a noticeably slower firing rate than it's mounted counter part. The primary advantage and purpose of the ARC-133 is it's handheld utility. Should a physically adept unit be available the ARC-133 is able to function as a more terrain versatile area suppression and eradication weapon when compared to it's mounted counterpart." Gail read before returning to file.

"I want it." I heard Charon whisper.

Continuing down the line Twilight continued documenting everything she saw, not that it would do her any good.

The last display was one I had been waiting to see, a flamethrower.

Inside the chamber stood another dragon, he was fully covered by fire resistant plating. I could see the looks of confusion on their faces, up until the dragon pulled the trigger. A torrent of flame exploded from the the nozzle of the weapon bathing the other side of the chamber in a searing white flame. Even through the enchantments and tempered steel we could feel the nearly unbearable heat, the dragon inside quickly cut the fuel and stopped the fire. The rapid shift form burning to freezing made all of us shiver, apart from Charon. Looking back into the chamber I saw the drake was leaning against the wall panting heavily. The engineers look to him with concern, but between a grin and a thumbs up they sighed and went back to their notes.

With a grumble a some more singed feathers Gail took out another file.

"The TAS-104 (Thermal Area Suppressor) uses a combination of iron oxide, aluminum powder, and a few additional reactive compounds, to create a material recently named thermite. The body and tank are made from Pugneum alloy, it’s incredibly thermal and impact resistant.” I could hear Charon’s heavy breathing.

As Gail was about to speak up again the intercom pinged. “Dr. Gail and company, please report to Sub Level 6.” The voice spoke.

“Odd I wonder what this is about?” Gail said before slotting the paper away. “Well it’s best not to keep anyone waiting, come along.”

With slight disappointment from our group we headed once more to the elevator.

“What’s Sub Level 6?” Twilight whispered standing next to me.

“Heavy Containment, it’s where the most puzzling or troubling items are held. If something is deemed too dangerous or too much of an unknown it’s store their until we can at least get a handle on it.” I felt the elevator begin to slow.

“Members of Division 8 I believe you may already know this but to your guests, you are to touch nothing, no matter how ordinary it may seem.” Gail said with a serious expression.

“We understand.” Twilight said, a bit nervously.

As the doors opened we were greeted by a long concrete hallways with bright wall lights and multiple metal doors.

Gail lead us wordlessly down the hall, we passed by a number of observation windows each letting us view ever stranger scenes. In one we saw a hazmat group prodding a strange looking head, i didn’t recognize the creature. It’s face seemed to never rest on one form, it’s eyes and mouth constantly moving across it’s skin and it’s nose inverted again and again. Through another a stranger glowing ball gentle flew in orbit or a scientist trying to take notes on it’s various markings.

“This place don’t feel right.” Applejack hummed looking into a room containing a large plant that was currently biting at a guard from behind it’s cage.

“Not surprise,” Charon said never taking his eyes off the ground ahead of him. “this place is hold many evil things. Cursed cadavers, and haunted objects barely scratch the surface.”

“You are correct sir.” Gail said. “The feeling you all may be experiencing is no doubt coming from the Singing Bones.”

“The what?” It wasn’t often here was something in The Brink I didn’t know about.

“The Bones are an odd assortment of what we can only assume to be collar bones, the have been fused together from different species into a horn like instrument. It constantly makes noise even with no one playing it, even in a vacuum it can still take effect so long as you remain in it’s range of manipulation.”

“Manipulation?” I asked.

“The the uneasiness you feel means you are within range, should you then hear it’s sound, you would have seconds before it takes hold. Once you hear it’s true sound you will feel compelled to remove you’re own collar bone, where upon self removal it will appear on the instrument.” The ponies and Spike covered their ears. “Don’t worry, the object it’self is held within a metal safe half a meter thick with cotton padding.” The dropped their arms, but the weariness remained.

Taking a turn down the hall we came to the head researchers office, a one Dr. Steiner.

“Dr. Steiner, you wanted to see us I assume.” Gail said as a large chair spun around to reveal the lithe figure of a Merpony.

“Yes Gail, I had been informed about our guests by Director Takhama.” She said standing.

Dr. Steiner was about 5”6 with murky grey fur and segmented scales on her arms, legs, and face. Her tail was finned and wide and held a similar color. “I must speak are with your group alone, and then see them off. You are excused.” Her tone was curt but urgent, and Gail didn’t press the issue.

With a polite nodded he left.

“Charon.” Steiner said, drawing his attention.

“Ma’am?” He asked.

“Due to a number of quiet recent events, your groups plans have changed. You are all to depart to the Dragon Lands first and foremost on you’re mission.” She said before reaching into her desk, she pulled out a small gem that gave off a wisp like orange glow. “With a new Dragon Lord in power things have begun to the grow even more unstable as of late, and the conflict’s caused by a larger influx of immigration has not made things worse. Threats of war have already been made to Equestria, The Changeling Hive, and the Diamond Dog Operators.”

“That was fast.” I scoffed. “I know things immigration has been an issue lately, what with a large increase in the populations within the Equestrian pact. But war?”

“I’m afraid so Foster, the new Dragon Lord a youth named Ember sent a message request our immediate assistance. A number of clans have already begun preparations to attack the homesteads developing in their kingdom. Ember however wishes to find a more peaceful solution that won’t draw the ire of every race on the planet.”

“Not that we aren’t grateful for being kept up to date, but why were we called down here for this message?” Noir asked, a question I my self was wondering.

“Because I prefer to give orders to my agents in person.” I felt my blood run cold. I saw Charon’s posture straighten, Finna bowed her head, and Noir instantly realized who she was talking to.

“I don’t get it.” Rainbow asked glancing between us.

I straightened up quickly and faced them. “Girls, meet Director Takhama.” Their eyes widened.

She laughed. “I apologize, as you see I am both a Director for our Baron and the acting head of all of our cities studies into the unknown, and when I heard you had arrived it seemed like the perfect time to update you on our situation. Seeing as you are all to be traveling into a region largely unknown to us I have also taken it upon my side to accompany your Division.” She said once more sitting her chair.

I tried to find words but nothing came forward.

“As Ms. Noir was once a member of our Intelligence department and you yourself Mr. Foster are the acting Intel Specialist for your Division I see no group more qualified to accompany. What with you both having more than substantial training in one another’s roles the combination of mind and body.” She nodded to Charon. “Should ensure this operation goes accordingly.”

“Hang on, you’re both spies.” Rainbow asked pointing to the two of us.

“Kind of.” Noir said. “I use to work as a gatherer of sorts where as Eli here is more a an archivist, I get it he sorts through it.”

Be it rather plain for an explanation it seemed to be enough.

“So where does that leave us from here?” Charon asked.

“Well you seem to have been shown a large amount of the work we do here, so I believe it’s best we move onto the next part of you planned events.” She said looking to me.

“Well after our tour of the facility we had a reservation for diner before bringing Princess Sparkle to meet with the Baron.” I said.

“Wonderful, I was rather hungry myself. Let’s be off then.” She said once more standing and leading us out.

I certainly wasn’t about to ask anymore questions.