Chapters The crack of the whip. Merciless symbol of dominion. When you heard it echoing off the cave walls, you performed or you suffered. Such was life for the unfortunate mares caught in the darkest secret of the Agents of Chaos.
Agent Snake called it "his herd", a term loaded with connotations of total dominance, particularly among the pegasi of Equestria. In a society that had long since advanced beyond the cruelties of the ancient past, such a concept was considered not only unacceptable but totally vile. And yet, hidden in the mountain of Canterlot, mares lived - and died - cut off from Celestia's sun in this "herd" of Agent Snake.
It mattered not what species they were, or their social status - if they were beautiful enough, they were abducted and brought into this "herd" under the dark cloak of the operations of the Agents of Chaos. Once "disappeared", they would remain in the dark, dank caves until they succumbed to the abuse heaped upon their bodies. None would escape alive until this most vile secret was uncovered in the fall of Agent Snake and the shadow enemy he lead...
It was in such a sorrowful situation that an earth pony mare named Lilly Withers found herself. Once, she was a stunningly beautiful mare, something of the Fleur Dis Lee of her day. Once, she was the mate of a handsome but ambitious Congresspony. And once, she foaled a colt in his father's image, that grew into a young stallion with a promising career in professional polo ahead of him... and ambitions to capture a princess.
The ambitions of both father and son was what would end the wonderful life Lilly enjoyed. She knew vaguely of the "connections" her mate had, and how they promised they would make her and her mate in-laws of Princess Celestia herself. Instead, those "connections" tore her life and family apart. As the maelstrom swirled around her, she wanted to speak to the authorities but dared not - she had been threatened with arrest and "execution in custody" by some of her mate's accomplices in the conspiracy to make her colt the mate of Princess Cadance.
It was thus she watched helplessly as father and son were divided, her mate resigned from his position in Congress, and both she and her mate went into hiding in the remote wilderness of Equestria, cut off from civilization and her son. There, both Lilly and her mate Strong Withers hoped they could remain, under the nominal protection of "Agent 21", who had been given a special assignment to guard them under orders from the head of the shadowy organization he belonged to.
Alas, such a fate was not to be. The last time she had seen "Agent 21" - going as he always did wearing a cloak and stockings so that neither Lilly nor Strong could see his real identity - was him leading four or five other stallions in invading their homestead, setting the entire property on fire and dragging her into captivity kicking and screaming, supposedly in retaliation for some "betrayal" Lilly had no idea about according to what the Agent told her. The last thing she remembered seeing of her exile life was her mate being attacked by the stallions wielding pitchforks and shovels - she could only assume he was dead now.
She was smuggled to and through Canterlot by night, being dumped into another nightmare under the hooves of Agent Snake in the caves of the mountain. The whippings, beatings and humiliation to please his sick desires were unrelenting, compounded by the decided lack of friendship exhibited among her fellow captives. It was a place where even hope seemed to wither and die, and nothing was left but a gaping abyss of despair similar to Tartarus itself...
"I've had enough of her! Throw her into solitary!"
It was thus Agent Snake commanded separation of Lilly Withers into solitary confinement, where you did not come out until you made the proper gestures of submission and obedience - bowing before him as if he were a ruler of Equestria. At least one mare decided she would rather starve to death than submit, and as Lilly skidded across the floor of the cave chamber the stench of death assaulted her nostrils.
Lilly ended up facedown, barely able to move due to the active starvation and dehydration she was suffering. Bruises, welts and scrapes covered her body, some freshly created from her being tossed into the chamber. She let out a mighty groan as she tried to turn herself over, pushing against the floor with shaking forehooves and her strength-drained body flipping onto its back seemingly entirely on her own willpower.
Lilly now went into an extended panting session - the effort to even flip over on her back seemed to be too much for her to take. All around her was darkness and the stink of death, and she was sure at that moment that she too would meet her end here, utterly alone and her fate unknown to anypony except her captor. The earth pony mare cried as she continued panting on the cave floor - it amazed her how many tears she could manage to shed even when she was convinced she had no tears left to cry.
The crying and panting continued for some time, slowly fading to mere echoes on the cave walls. All was silent for a moment, then a shy, quiet voice calling through the darkness: Lilly's name over and over again.
Lilly Withers recognized the voice - a fellow captive earth pony mare who's optimism and faith seemed to be unquenchable by even the direst adversity, and for that reason had been cast into solitary. Lilly guessed the two were laying in the same chamber, even though she lacked the energy to even try to feel out whether she could touch her fellow unfortunate.
"Posey... you're... alive?" Lilly weakly calls back.
"Yes." came the shy voice in a croak. "Near... end... though."
"You've... been... weeks..." Lilly replies.
"She... stronger... than... him... must... believe." Posey croaks out again.
"She?" Lilly asks, wondering who exactly Posey was talking about - the other mare thrown in solitary with Posey had already perished, and as far as Lilly could tell there was no reasonable hope of rescue other than the finality of death.
"Filly... in my... image... kindness... she... will... save us." Posey continues croaking.
Lilly's mind was clouded by haze as a result of the dire condition of her body - she realized Posey was trying to tell her something, but what that was she couldn't figure out head or tail of it.
"We must... believe... elements..." Posey croaks out, and Lilly seems to feel a smile coming through the darkness of the caverns to her. They might die together, but at least Posey would ensure they would go out with hope...
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the night shift Guard Upper Class barrack block. Quiet and dark as per military code, the off-duty guards either slept or engaged in quiet reading while laying on precision-arranged bunk beds, pegasi on top, unicorns and earth ponies on the bottom.
On the bottom bunk of one of these beds Guard Upper Class Buck Withers. In the weeks since the incident at the award dinner, he had slowly been able to shed the mysterious shroud of rumor around him and become fully accepted amongst his fellow shift members. He was gently smiling in his sleep, feeling like for the first time in a long time he belonged here, that the Guard was his home.
The tranquility was disrupted by the slamming open door and streaming in sunlight at the head of the barrack room, disrupting the light sleepers and drawing attention of those reading. Most of them recognized the "intruder" - an afternoon-shift Lieutenant doubtless sent by the Captain of the Guard to summon a particular pony for a particular reason. Usually not a good one, either.
Without missing a hoofstep, the unicorn Lieutenant marches over toward the bunk Buck Withers was occupying and applies what was nicknamed "The Tumbledown Maneuver" - a hard and quick telekinetic yank of the underlying sheets designed to dump the pony on top of them to the floor in a quick manner, guaranteed to wake even the heaviest sleepers amongst the ranks.
Not surprisingly then, Buck finds himself on the floor facing upwards with his legs sprawled out, moaning as only a stallion rudely awakened could do. It takes a few seconds for him to respond to the Lieutenant's loud orders, which brings even more attention on the scene: "The Captain wants you at Canterlot Hospital ASAP. He'll meet you there - come in dress uniform."
As Buck tries to get himself up and comply with the orders, a quiet buzz breaks out among the others in the barracks: if Buck was being punished, why was he being summoned to a hospital instead of the Captain's office? Most of them chalked it up to the whims of the officers by the time the buzz died down and quiet returned to the barracks...
Buck spent the next half-hour or so in a haze, desperately trying to remember how to do his uniform correctly and sipping on the legendarily-strong "Canterlot Guard's Coffee Brew" to get himself awake. He traveled alone from the barracks to the hospital, squinting at Celestia's sun and wondering what in Equestria the Captain could want him for over there at that particular moment.
The daze was snapped when Buck saw a small gaggle of reporters clustered around the emergency room entrance, kept back by a few of his on-duty comrades. One of them spotted him and gestured to Buck.
"What's going...?" Buck asked his fellow guard, his mind still foggy.
"Head inside as quickly as you can. The Captain's waiting in there. He'll explain everything." the other guard answered, alternating between looking at Buck and the insistent gossip rag journalists. A gap just large enough for Buck to squeeze through opens in the ranks, and Buck slips through as fast as he can, using the narrowness of the gap and the emergency room doors to keep anypony else from following. Buck spots Captain Gibraltar waiting at the far end of the waiting lobby and proceeds over there, stopping in front of him with a salute.
"Glad you could make it despite the hour. These visitation windows are so short, you understand." Captain Gibraltar states cleanly.
"I still don't understand what you need me here for, sir." Buck replies with honest confusion in his voice.
"Earlier this afternoon, Lieutenant Steelwing's patrol squad spotted two earth pony mares dumped on the mountainside." Gibraltar begins to explain. "One mare was already dead by the time they were discovered, the other was unconscious and rushed to this hospital. The dead mare we have not yet been able to identify aside from being yellow-coated - between the shaved-off mane and tail as well as scorched flanks completely covering up her cutie mark, great lengths have been taken to conceal her identity for currently unknown reasons. The unconscious mare we identified as the Most Honorable Lilly Withers."
"My mother! I haven't seen or heard from her in years! What is she doing involved in all this?!" Buck exclaims as shock washes over his face.
"That, Buck, is the question of the hour. She's been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since she got here - not surprising considering the kind of abuse she's suffered. The doctors say her entire body is shutting down, so there might only be one chance to get any information out of her."
"Shutting down?" Buck asks, still trying to wrap his mind around what he was hearing.
"Dehydration, starvation, repeated beatings and abuse... even with an IV and an earth pony hardiness, it's hard to come back from that. Go up and visit her, Buck. It may be the last time you see her alive."
Buck's face turned very pale, but he nodded in response. He wanted to at least say goodbye to his mother, if nothing else...
The briefing could not have prepared Buck for what was waiting for him in the hospital room, though. Lilly, attractively slender in her prime, was now a textbook case of severe emaciation, her coat matted and dirty, her hopelessly-tangled mane and tail cut short by the hospital staff. As she lay in the bed, heart monitor beeping at a slow pace, it seemed the only thing keeping her alive was the IV fluid steadily dripping into the veins in her forelegs. She stared straight up at the ceiling, formerly sparkling eyes now glazed over and sunken with the apathy of those awaiting death.
Buck had to suppress a gasp of horror when he saw what his mother had been reduced to, speculations of fault dancing in his mind. He looked back down the hospital hallway at the Captain, waiting with an expression of sage patience on his face - a foreleg from him motioned Buck forward, and Buck turned his attention back to the hospital room. He inhaled a deep breath before taking the metaphorical plunge...
"Mother?... Mom? It's me, it's Buck. I came, just like the nurses said I would..." Buck says quietly toward the figure laying on the bed, hoping she could hear him.
The head moves slowly, weakly turning to face Buck. One slow blink happens before a smile dares to flicker across the mother's face.
"Son... son... over here." Lilly's voice responds, a weak, hoarse whisper barely understandable by Buck.
Buck dares one more look back at the Captain before entering the hospital room. A thousand questions are in mind, and to his frustration he must keep most of them caged - most, if not all, of them would probably never get satisfactory answers. He knows the starched Guard dress uniform and two bars of the Guard Upper Class must be making an impression on his mom, but what kind of impression?
"Mom, I'm... I'm... I don't really know what to say." Buck answers as he stops next to the bed, eyes misting as he speaks. He sits on haunches and gently raises a forehoof to lay on her mother's shrunken own, and another smile flickers across Lilly's face.
"Mom, where have you been?!? What happened to you?! Where's Dad?" Buck asks in quick succession, unable to let the most basic of his many questions come spilling from his mouth.
The mother's response is in the slow, hoarse whisper from before: "Son... I'm... proud... proud of you... I... I love you... and... I'm sorry..."
"Sorry? Sorry for what?" is the natural plea Buck gives.
"Sorry... I... couldn't... stop... them." was the answer in the same hoarse whisper from before.
"Them? Them who?"
"Your... father... was... one..."
Buck's shock is redoubled as he immediately leaps to the right conclusion: "An Agent? An Agent of Chaos?"
Tears begin slowly trickling down the mother Lilly's face as she pushes to continue speaking: "Yes, son... they... destroyed... everything..."
"What about Dad? Where is he?!" Buck now exclaims out, his expression clearly showing his worried impatience.
Lilly manages to shift her expression into teary grief and lets out one word between a few sobs: "Dead."
This additional shock causes Buck to reflexively jerk away from the bed. The enemy within called "the Agents of Chaos" had already destroyed the life Buck had enjoyed as a colt - now it had taken his own father from him without as much as a goodbye, and was likely the reason his mother was fighting for her life in this hospital bed! The despair and grief reared high over him, and he almost let it swallow him, but it was stopped by the fact that Buck saw his mother was yearning to tell him more.
Buck half-crawls back to the edge of the hospital bed, his face entirely pleading despair as he spoke again: "Mom, please, what can I do?! How can I help?!"
Lilly manages a slow, somber shake of her head as she replies in the slow, hoarse whisper: "You've... saved... yourself... too... late... for me..."
"Don't say that! You can't say that! The doctors have an IV going, you'll get through this! Mom, please, don't leave me!" Buck is pleading again.
"I'm sorry, son... I'm sorry..." Lilly wheezes out with the last of her energy, and her eyes close as she slips out of consciousness, only the steady beep of the heart monitor giving evidence that she was still alive...
In the hospital hallway, Captain Gibraltar shakes his head as he hears Buck's pleas for his mother to wake up echoing out of the room. He hadn't heard the finality of the heart monitor's flatline, but as far as he was concerned she might as well be dead - it was not likely anypony would get any more information out of her.
He had not shown fear of the Agents of Chaos before, but he did so now for the first time. It seemed their underground rampage was unabated despite the best efforts of him and his subordinates to root out the enemy in their midst. This enemy was a far more overarching menace than he had considered possible, and now he was truly afraid - not for Luna or the other alicorn Princesses, not for his subordinates, but for the innocent population of Equestria. He saw no good end, nothing except chaos and the end of harmony...
MEANWHILE, IN THE EVERFREE FOREST...
"Who goes there?!" a grey-coated pegasus stallion shouts at a cloaked figure below, crossbow weapon trained on the intruder from the watchpost of "Fort Chaos".
"Agent 21 of the Agents of Chaos. I bring a message from Agent Snake." the cloaked figure shouts back up, undeterred by the threat from above.
"You must prove your membership. State the first twenty digits of tau in backwards order." the grey pegasus exclaims back - this was the standard challenge of proof if an Agent of Chaos wanted to identify himself to other Agents, albeit usually silently whispered into ears instead of exclaimed in the depths of the Everfree Forest.
The cloaked figure complied, pausing slightly between each number to be sure it was heard correctly: "9... 6... 7... 4... 6... 8... 5... 9... 7... 1... 7... 0... 3... 5... 8... 1... 3... 8... 2... 6."
The grey-coated pegasus, sufficiently satisfied with the sequence of numbers, lowers his weapon before replying: "I am Agent P2. My comrade P1 is inside, I will disable the alarm system to let you in."
Once Agent 21 was inside, he was introduced to Agent P1, who seemed quite eager to have a third set of hooves around: "A fellow Agent is always welcome at Fort Chaos. What news do you bring from Agent Snake?"
Agent 21, who the other Agents could see was an earth pony even under the cloak, extracts a scroll from inside the cloak and gives it over to P1, who opens it using his "wing-fingers" to undo the snake-pattern seal and unroll the scroll. The message itself is ciphered, doubtless to prevent its contents from being compromised should it fall into the wrong hooves, so P1 has to decode it mentally before he can read it out loud.
"'Message from Agent 1'...'Commendations to Agents P1 and P2 for Operation Smoky Mountain'..." P1 begins reading out.
"Agent Snake was very impressed with that." Agent 21 cuts in. "Luring that red dragon near Ponyville to cause a panic with the sleeping smoke was a stroke of genius!"
"Well, considering it was done with flying our tails off ahead of the dragon's flame breath with some of its treasure, it wasn't without its risks. But considering it almost worked, it was effort well worth it." P1 affirms, P2 adding in an eager nod as P1 is speaking.
"Hmph, that's all well and good, but surely I was sent here to do more than just give you two a pat-on-the-back message." Agent 21 continues.
"That's right, there's more to the message... uh, let's see..." P1 answers, carefully scanning the unrolled scroll for the point he stopped reading.
"Another assignment?" P2 offers as a guess to the rest of the message.
"Yeah, let's see...'Cooperate with Agent 21 on hit on Ponyville jewelry shop, then cover 21's escape back to Canterlot. Avoid confrontation with Element Bearers if at all possible.'" P1 reads out.
"That's an interesting set of instructions. I hope you have a plan, 21." P2 comments.
"Oh don't worry you two, I do indeed have a plan. All I need is your weaponry to carry it out." Agent 21 reassures the two pegasi Agents.
"Done. When do we strike?" P1 asks as he lets the scroll roll itself back up.
"Tomorrow night." Agent 21 answers, starting an evil chuckle that spreads to the other two Agents. In Fort Chaos, more trouble for Ponyville was brewing...
"There's our target, fellow Agents. The jewelry store next to the joke shop. According to my intelligence, it is owned by one Lemony Gems. As the marefriend of a traitor to our cause, she is a worthy target of attack."
"What's the plan, 21?"
"We break in, you two steal what you can carry, then drop fire grenades behind you while I make a run for it out of town. I'm going back to Canterlot on hoof, got unfinished business there."
"Fair enough, all we need to do is get out in one piece. Plus, I sure wouldn't mind ruining the night of those Element Bearers in the process."
"What are we waiting for then? Let's get started!"
It was thus that Agent 21, wearing the usual cloak disguise so that even his fellow Agents couldn't figure out his identity, and Agent P1 snuck across the Ponyville main square to the elaborately decorated windows and door of the Ponyville jewelry store. Agent P2 didn't participate in the break-in, but instead stayed in the hiding spot, pointing a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher out into the square. P1 had some of the same incendiary grenades used as the launcher's ammo in a sack attached to his flank, ready to be pulled out and tossed to cause fiery destruction.
Agents 21 and P1 reached the front of the jewelry store undetected, and 21 turned to buck the door open. The attack connects, triggering both a shrill alarm and an almost-explosive shattering of glass. Quickly 21 and P1 leap over the shattered glass into the store proper; once inside, 21 begins smashing the display cases while P1 tosses an incendiary grenade through what looks like a doorway to a backroom, the device detonating with a satisfying "whoomph", followed by the crackle and dancing lights of fire spreading across the floor.
"Stairs! Hit the stairs leading up!" 21 shouts, and P1 lobs another incendiary grenade at the far end of the store, where there could be seen stairs leading up through an open doorway. The grenade explodes in front of that doorway, setting the floor on fire and blocking use of the stairs in the process - the two Agents are certain anypony up there is trapped and unable to stop their rampage.
With smoke and heat filling the main area of the jewelry, P1 scoops up any loose jewelry he sees on the floor and leaps to smash through one of the plate glass windows as he runs at full gallop back to the hiding place. He spares a look back to see 21 taking off in a different direction, also at full gallop. Already ponies, mostly pegasi with cloud water reserves marked for firefighting, were converging in the town square to fight the fire.
As soon as P1 returns to the hiding spot, Agent P2 starts loading the grenade launcher, as per previous instructions, while listening to a panting P1's orders: "The pegasi have to stay on their clouds to direct the water where it's needed. Blast 'em down, then hit the crowd that gathers around 'em!"
"Got it!" P2 exclaims, looking through the launcher's sights as several pegasi move clouds over to prepare to fight the fire. Once the pegasi have their clouds in place, P2 fires off one blast at a random cloud with a pegasus on top of it, then quickly followed by a second blast at another cloud controlled by a pegasus. Upon impact, the launched grenade blows the cloud apart, dumping the target and a large shower of rain to the ground. Besides being disruptive to the firefighting operation, it causes further agitation in the gathering crowd.
Once other ponies attempt to rush to the aid of the fallen pegasi, P2 begins firing grenades at random angles into the crowd. The explosions trigger an immediate panic, bystander ponies stampeding away in fear of the impacts happening around them. The two Agents of Chaos switch back to attacking the pegasi in the air, so focused on hitting their targets that they don't notice something zooming up behind them...
The impact knocks both Agents flat, the grenade launcher tumbling away and P1 temporarily becoming disoriented. When he recovers, he sees his comrade rolling around with another pegasus, each trying to gain advantage of the other - in the darkness of night, the opponent is only seen in backlighting, but the rainbow colors of the mane and tail are enough for P1 to identify the assailant.
He looks over at the scene of the fire, noting to his alarm several ponies approaching the position at high speed. He scoops up the grenade launcher, fires a round at the ponies coming toward him, and swings it round in the direction of the struggling P2. It connects with the rainbow-maned opponent, knocking her off P2 and allowing him to recover.
"Forget about it P2, we need to get out of here!" P1 exclaims, seeing ponies coming their way again.
P2 only needs one look to realize the truth of his partner's statement; he scoops up the bag of stolen jewelry nearby and takes off. P1 fires the last round of the grenade launcher at the oncoming ponies, then tosses the device itself in their direction as they try to dodge the grenade impact. The last thing P1 sees as he zooms into the sky is the launcher squarely knocking a pony down upon impact.
The two pegasi speed through the clear night air, taking evasive paths to throw off any tailing ponies, back to the Everfree Forest. All they can hope is that 21 managed to get far enough fast enough to avoid getting caught...
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE IN PONYVILLE...
Agent 21 was galloping through empty streets, looking back at the commotion created by his comrades every now and then. 21's objective was the direct connection road leading from Ponyville up to Canterlot - most ponies took the roughly parallel and faster train route, but the road still had some value for commercial traffic and as a visual guideline for fliers, usually Royal Guard soldiers on patrol. 21 didn't have to worry about the patrols or checkpoints along the road - forged passes would take care of that detail. What he was worried about was the landmarks he would have to pass on the way out of Ponyville.
He had to pass by the Golden Oaks Library on his way out of the town, and the candlelight in the window confirmed a scenario he dreaded - facing Twilight Sparkle, perhaps with help from her baby dragon assistant. The whole point of his mission was to get out as fast as possible - even being delayed by her could lead to his capture and failing the mission Snake had sent him on.
As he rounded the front of the library, he held out hope he wouldn't be spotted, but the sudden flash of light in front of him confirmed he had indeed been spotted. 21 skidded to stop in front of the teleported Twilight Sparkle and Spike, the former with a fierce expression and the latter in a "put up your dukes" pose.
"Out of my way, filly." 21 exclaims, returning the fierceness under his cloak.
"I don't know what you're up to, but it can't be anything good. And we're going to stop you, right here and now." Twilight replies.
Agent 21 doesn't even bother trying to respond, just moves to try to get around her. Twilight moves to block again, and the two go back and forth for a minute. Finally, 21 tries to run off in a different direction, only to get yanked back hard by Twilight's magic. As soon as he'd been dragged back, Spike leaps on him, trying to claw through his cloak.
Spike gets a few tears in before the Agent of Chaos bucks him off, but the distraction allows Twilight to come up and "flash" the Agent in the face with a spell. While wincing from the light, he gets knocked down by a kick from Twilight. Both Twilight and Spike pounce on him, and briefly the three brawl rolling around on the ground.
The brawl continues for a minute without either side gaining a clear advantage, then 21 manages to kick Twilight off by hitting her in the belly, causing her to crumple down in pain. Shortly afterward, he flings Spike off again, sending the baby dragon into the side of the building - the impact only stuns Spike, but it ensures Agent 21 can get back on all four hooves and take off again.
21 risks another look back to see Spike walking over to Twilight, who is still on the ground clutching her stomach from the sucker kick she'd received. He then shifted up to see the pegasi in the firefighting effort to save the jewelry store. It gave his shaken confidence some comfort to see the plan was still going as expected. Now, all was forward, with the next stop Canterlot...
Agent 21 did not fear the trip on hooves to Canterlot. After his artful escape from Ponyville, he rested for the night in a clump of bushes just outside the patrol range of any Royal Guards along the Ponyville-Canterlot road, then at first light of Celestia's sun started up the path to Canterlot. 21's objective was to make it to the main gate of the city by sundown, then proceed from there to the final objective Agent Snake had given him...
He didn't fear interference from the patrollers. The road, which roughly paralleled the train route between Canterlot and Ponyville and ran atop a natural ridge up the mountainside of Canterlot, was lightly patrolled by squad of guards, nominally independent of the command in Canterlot but getting supplied by them, based out of a pair of customs checkpoints placed along the route. The guards lacked proper equipment to do much more than patrol the road and perform customs checks, and its membership was generally composed of guards out of favor with the current upper-level administration but unable to be discharged or transferred elsewhere.
Agent 21 knew he could easily dupe these disaffected and unempowered Guards with fake identifications, among other things. With the Canterlot-Ponyville ground route being a convenient "dumping ground" for the politically unfavored and too much confidence in the direct defenses of Canterlot, this part of the Guard made a notable weak link later exploited by the Changelings in setting up their invasion of Canterlot, and now would allow another attack of the Agents of Chaos...
EARLY THE FOLLOWING EVENING...
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Guard Upper Class Buck Withers asks as he stands in front of the desk of Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor.
"Yes, got some bad news for you." Shining Armor replies somberly, using magenta-colored magic to levitate up a sheet of parchment from the desk. Buck frowns as the parchment is levitated in front of him, then a combination of shock and dismay spreads across his face as he begins reading the parchment.
"She never regained consciousness, Buck. Shortly after noon today, her heart stopped and the medics couldn't restart it. She's gone, Buck, I'm sorry." Shining continues as he lets the parchment drop back onto the desk.
Shining is silent as Buck stares down in dismayed grief at the death certificate with his mother's name on it laying on the desk - he remains silent as he could see Buck trying not to break down in front of him. Nevertheless, a few squeezed-out tears manage to trickle their way down the face anyways.
"Request... request one week's leave, as per... per regulations." Buck finally manages to force out.
"Granted, but you'll still have to work tonight." Shining replies, and when Buck's questioning expression falls on him, he continues on with "I don't have anypony to replace you because of the staff shortage. I even asked the Captain to hold a pony over from the afternoon shift, but he said that would be against regulations. Sorry Buck, there's nothing else I could do to help."
Buck gives a disbelieving glare at Shining's meek expression as the former gently grabs the parchment off the table with his mouth and puts it in the duty bag slung at his side. The disbelief continues, which seems to compel Shining to speak again: "For tonight, I've put you to guarding the main gate of the city. Should be quiet there, you'll have plenty of time alone with your thoughts."
Buck's continued disbelief in his expression is obvious indication that Shining's assignment has not proven the sincerity of his words, but at least it keeps any accusations caged in his mouth. He just leaves the office, not even waiting for any formal dismissal orders. As soon as Buck was out of the office, Shining blows out a loud breath.
"Secretary?" Shining asks, turning to the grey-coated unicorn quietly scratching quill pen on parchment on a small desk to the side of Shining's own.
"Yes, sir?" the secretary replies, not even looking up from his work.
"Clear my schedule for tonight. I've got a sense I'm going to need it that way. And have Lieutenant Skyver please summoned to my office." Shining answers.
"Yes sir."
Guarding the main gate into the city was not a glamorous job. With the drawbridge over the small but fast stream running in front of the gate raised and the gate itself closed and locked, the guards there were to prevent admittance until Celestia's sun rose in the sky again. Besides a pair of guards stationed between the gate and drawbridge, there were two more pegasi posted atop the gate, to prevent anypony from simply trying to fly over the wall. However, with very little for them to do, they had an annoying tendency to doze off, leaving only the two ponies on the ground as a real defense.
Buck was at his place, alone. He sometimes glared over in annoyance across the road, where his partner in the duty was supposed to be - he had not shown up as he was supposed to, and with Buck cynically assuming the pegasi atop were already dozing off he feared he was alone. He also thought his CO had a lot of nerve putting him in this situation.
Buck's thoughts were flitting from place to place again. He thought none of his foalhood life was still around - his friends and extended relatives having disowned him for what his father did helping him, the same father betrayed and killed without so much of an opportunity for a goodbye, and now his mother thrown into a nightmare she had not managed to survive. The only relationship he still had from before he joined the Guard was Lemony Gems, and she obviously couldn't be here now to help him.
He hated it all. And he hated Shining Armor for being the ultimate reason he was in it. But before he could slip back into the old pattern of hatred, his conscience rose up and gave a metaphorical slap to the face. It reminded him his life had been destroyed not by the virtuous brother of Twilight Sparkle but by the scheming and depraved ponies who wanted him gone, for whatever their twisted reasons. It was them that he should be hating, not his CO.
Very quickly Buck was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of galloping hooves. In the faint moonlight he could definitely tell it was not somepony in royal employ. Before Buck can even call out, the cloaked pony makes a mighty leap over the stream to land beside Buck.
"State your identity and business, intruder." Buck firmly states, leveling his pike in front of the intruder.
"I am Agent 21 of the Agents of Chaos." the cloaked intruder calmly states, turning to face Buck with red eyes glowing under the cloak and pushing Buck's pike aside.
"You freely admit you are an enemy and a traitor?" Buck challenges.
"Yes, because for you it does not matter. Your end is my business here." was the Agent's smooth, sinister reply.
"And what in Equestria is that supposed to mean?" Buck continues to challenge.
The Agent lets out a low chuckle (of bemusement, it seemed to Buck) before pulling back the hood of his cloak.
Buck received another shock at the face that was revealed underneath, and how much it seemed to have changed from the last time he saw it. The eyes glowed an evil red - an effect Twilight Sparkle would later see on a corrupted Trixie wearing the Alicorn Amulet - and the voice was what we would call "demonic", not like the one Buck remembered him having at all. Buck later remembered seeing a red-glowing outline of something attached to the neck, but couldn't make out what that something was.
"They threw the book at you, Flank Thrasher! You were put away for a long, long time! How did you get out of prison?" Buck exclaims, his face clearly showing disbelief at what his eyes were seeing! The reveal had succeeded in getting his guard down, and the Agent would go in with the strike...
The Agent begins pacing back and forth, always careful to keep Buck's pike shoved aside, speaking as he paces: "It doesn't matter how I got out. You see this, Buck? It's a power, a power growing within me. Just like the power of chaos is growing. Are you frightened yet?"
"No!" Buck exclaims in defiance.
"You should be. Oh, but you should be!" the Agent continues on, pacing continuing without even the slightest pause - deliberately done to continue unnerving Buck. "The power of chaos will never be stopped. Harmony will end, the chaotic one will rise, and Equestria will fall! And in that faith, I have the power to destroy you!"
The Agent leaps for Buck's throat, knocking away the pike and causing it to roll into the stream nearby. The two earth pony stallions go down rolling, Buck now worried of being knocked into the stream and over the nearby falls to death or grievous injury.
The noise of the struggle is supposed to prompt the pegasi above the gate to come down to help Buck, but there is no movement from them - out cold sleeping, as usual. Whirling in the low light, Buck realizes he is without help or his weapon and has to improvise a defense.
Both stallions are dizzy and Agent 21 rises to four hooves in order to reorient himself. This gives Buck opportunity to work off his loosened helmet and hurl it at the Agent. The helmet deflects off at an awkward angle and goes into the stream, quickly to be lost over the falls. Buck tries to get onto his hooves, but the Agent charges like a bull and pins him on his back, forehooves going on his neck.
"It didn't need to be this way, Buck! We could've been in this together, just like old times! But you betrayed us, and now you must die Buck Withers!" the Agent exclaims, spitting in Buck's face and with murderous intent in the expression.
Buck, deprived of air, wriggles in vain to get free of the choking pin. The world around him starts to grow blurry and even darker, but before he can pass out completely a white pony-like shape in a glowing purple bubble passes the corner of his vision and the choking pin comes off!
Gasping for air and disoriented, Buck never sees what happens next, but he sees a flash of purple, more sounds of struggle and finally hears his opponent shouting as if he had fallen down the cliffside parallel to the waterfall of the stream. His vision is still swimming several seconds later when a blur of white, blue and purple moves into his sightline and asks if he's alright.
It takes several more seconds of coughing and trying to focus before Buck can respond with a nod. He hears the voice of his immediate superior in the background, apparently berating the pegasi that had been asleep on the gate. A purple glow surrounds him, giving him an assisting lift back on all four hooves. It is only then that he recognizes that it was Shining Armor's intervention had saved his life!
"Thank... thank you, sir." was all the breathless Buck could say at the moment.
"Had a hunch you might get attacked out here. Turns out I was right, now I'll have to wait on what Lieutenant Skyver finds out from the pegasi atop the gate." Shining Armor replies, looking in the direction where the Agent of Chaos had been punted over the edge.
"Sir, what about...?" Buck tries to ask as he continues trying to get in air to his aching lungs.
"Your partner? Another Agent - broke rank after being dismissed to his post, currently AWOL somewhere in the city. Lieutenant Vesper and his bat ponies are looking for him now." Shining Armor explains.
"Sir?" a voice sounds from above. Buck and Shining Armor look up to see Lieutenant Skyver peeking down from the posts atop the gate.
"Ah, go ahead Lieutenant." Shining Armor replies while continuing to look up.
"Just as you thought, napping on duty. I recommend court martial for the both of them!" Skyver shouts back down, referring to the two pegasi that were supposed to be watching atop the gate.
"Very good, have them confined to quarters and make sure to leave all the paperwork on my desk. I'll attach the motion for court martial on my incident report." Shining replies.
"Understood. Anything else, sir?"
"Have Lieutenants Aldebaran and Stratocumulus send two ponies each from their respective squads to cover the gate here. I'll stay here until you can get those ponies to relieve us."
"Yes, sir!" Skyver replies with a salute before flying off, slowly tailing the two loafing pegasi to make sure they actually went back to the barracks as they should.
When Skyver is gone, Shining looks over at Buck and blows out a big sigh. The exchange of looks shows both of them knew how close it had come to another Agents of Chaos victory here, only thwarted by Shining's intuition and careful planning.
"Sir, should I...?" Buck asks Shining, pointing a forehoof at where he was supposed to be stationed.
"Yes, go back to your post. We'll worry about your equipment later, nothing we can do about it until relief arrives." Shining comments, taking the spot across the pathway for the watch.
Buck Withers shuffles back to his post, but can't help but spare a glance over the precipice, wondering what had happened to his old friend that had gone over to "the dark side". He also wondered about the "growing power of chaos" - what exactly did it mean? Was there yet another plan by them in place, somehow and some way? Was he supposed to die as part of that plan? What would happen to him anyway? So many questions, and yet no answers for any of them...
Epilogue: The Oncoming Storm
A sunset funeral, improvised and sparsely attended. Such would be the final commemoration of Lilly Withers, former wife of Congresspony Strong Withers.
As wife of a Congresspony, Lilly had right to be buried in a reserved spot in Canterlot Valley National Cemetery, the official burial site for any and all ponies that had worked in the government or military of Equestria. But the previously-reserved spot, intended for Strong Withers with the possibility of his wife being buried alongside him, had been revoked and repurposed for another pony after Strong's disappearance. In the end, it took a direct order of Princess Celestia to restore the spot to its original purpose, and the ceremony needed to be done quickly because of fears the Agents of Chaos would sabotage the gravesite.
Guard Upper Class Buck Withers would be the only one of his family in burying his mother at that site. His father's fate would never be completely determined, but most likely he had been murdered and left to rot somewhere in the wilds of Equestria's arid southern reaches. His other relatives were steadfast in their refusal to attend the funeral - they refused to forgive the disgrace Buck's father had caused the family, prompting rumors that they had their own secrets to hide.
Buck was not completely alone, however. Lemony Gems, his current marefriend, volunteered to be a pallbearer in the funeral despite dealing with her own loss of the damaged jewelry store in Ponyville. Diamond Rose, another mare that Buck had previously been in a significant relationship with, also volunteered to be a pallbearer. Lieutenant Skyver, Buck's immediate superior, accepted the request of Captain of the Guard Gibraltar to be the third pallbearer, while Buck himself would be the fourth and final one.
The funeral was mostly attended by members of the Canterlot Luna shift of Royal Guards, including its commanding officer Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor, although there were a few other attendees, most notably Captain Gibraltar himself. Gibraltar and Shining Armor faced each other in salutes at the head of the honor guard as the casket and its bearers passed between the rows of saluting ponies.
The casket was carried between two metal poles which had been threaded through loops on the sides, the poles being carefully balanced on the withers of the carrying ponies. Because of this arrangement, the pallbearers had to walk down a ramp leading down to where the casket would be laid, then carefully and simultaneously lower themselves onto the bare ground in order to safely place the casket. Once the casket was in place, the bearers would have to get up and walk backwards back up the ramp, an awkward and somewhat embarrassing move made necessary by the lack of turning room down in the hole.
A pair of unicorn Lower Classes would then travel down the ramp and remove the carrying poles for later reuse while a "Support and Comfort Officer" (roughly equivalent to a chaplain in the human world) read a few words about the deceased earth pony mare "returning her spirit" to the world and that "all those that knew her could take comfort in the fact" that she was now one with "the ground we all tread upon".
Buck Withers said a few final good-byes as the "Harmony Banner" - an update of an old ying-yang like design involving stylized versions of Princesses Celestia and Luna that had become adopted as a national symbol after Luna's return - printed on a white cloth was draped over the closed coffin by the Support and Comfort Officer. Buck then placed a bouquet of the flower his mother was named after on top of the banner, and with great reluctance walked back up the ramp one last time. Dirt would soon cover over the casket and all upon it, and he would not see his mother again...
Gibraltar and Shining Armor were side-by-side as the grave was filled, watching Buck and Lemony Gems holding each other in a shared grief while Lieutenant Skyver ordered most of the other soldiers back to their regular duties in order to give the grieving the appropriate private space.
Shining had not spoken a word during the entire ceremony, but now his tongue became loosened as he turned to face his Captain: "Sir, I have to ask, when is this going to end? When is this madness, this death and destruction going to stop?"
Gibraltar slowly turns to face Shining back, and the tiredness and weariness is all too evident in his eyes. Shining knows the much older stallion has seen and experienced many things he hasn't yet, and he had better listen well to the answer Gibraltar was going to give him.
"I think the better question, Shining, isn't when is this going to end but how is this going to end." Gibraltar starts in a slow, almost sage-like tone. "There is a storm coming, I can feel it deep in my bones. I don't know how or when, but I know its coming, and it will bring fire and chaos in its wake. And we all need to be ready for when it hits, Shining. We all need to be ready."
Shining turns away to look at the sun gently being guided down by Celestia at that moment, and he had to wonder, for the first time in a while, if this situation would take an intervention from her sister and friends using the Elements of Harmony to finally solve the problem for good...
LATER THAT NIGHT, IN THE MINES BELOW CANTERLOT...
"What's the report, Agent 4?"
"Agent 21 is dead, Snake. He never regained consciousness."
"Oh, what a pity, he would've been excellent for 'the big show'."
"'The big show'?"
"They sow the wind, soon they will reap the whirlwind. Operation Whirlwind is ready, a storm to sweep through the castle and revive the chaotic one. All we need is a sign, some kind of omen, to show when we spring our attack."
"How many can we summon for this operation?"
"Enough. Any sacrifice will be enough if it is for the cause of reviving the chaotic one."
"... Of course, Snake."
"Just you wait and see, Agent. The chaotic one will rise, the shining one will fall, and harmony will be finished in Equestria!"
The Captain of the Guard was indeed right in a storm coming. But the only question was, when would it come?