Canterlot Castle War Room, One Hour Later…
Dusk

Alright, I may have undersold my little trip to Canterlot because as it turns out there’s plenty of other reasons to go… First and foremost, bringing Fizz there so she can be debriefed by the intelligence ponies. Anything she could tell them about the Storm King would likely be helpful, considering he and his entire entourage vanished while we were in the bunker. Second on that list would be debriefing the High Command, and judging by the immediate confrontation I had with Luna when we landed I was rather glad that I had brought Jellico along.

“So you think it has something to do with the fleet?” Jellico asked as we approached the War Room doors.

“That’s my best guess…” I replied as we walked in to the assembled members of the High Command.

“Good Afternoon Your Highness.” One of the officers said. “I’m Admiral Beatie, Chief of Naval Operations.”

“Can I ask what this is about?” I said as I sat down in one of the open chairs in front of the officers.

“What is this about?” Beatie said, almost snorting in amusement. “Why this is about you throwing protocols to the wind and hijacking all of our stellar assets!”

“Excuse me? Do you have a problem with my order Admiral?”

Beatie shook his head. “You never gave a damn order!”

Now it’s either that Beatie is playing stupid or we do have a rather serious communication lapse on our hands. “Jellico, what the hell is he talking about?”

“I have no idea… I gave your orders to Lieutenant Tarsus and told him to deliver them right before we left for the shipyard.”

“Lieutenant Tarsus? The same one who’s been missing for about a day?”

Now it was Jellico’s turn to look concerned. “Tarsus is missing?”

Beatie nodded. “He didn’t show up for his shift this morning. Same with a number of other officers. The Guard has been searching the city all day. Of course it’s rather convenient that you say that a missing officer was responsible for delivering these supposed orders…”

“Well if you didn’t notice Jellico was on the Endeavor and I was in the Storm King’s Citadel. How were we-”

“Hold on, you were where?”

“The Storm King’s Citadel. I sent a message while I was en route. Some mare picked up and said she’d deliver the message to you lot.”

Behind us I heard the door swing open. “Beatie, what’s going on?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” The Admiral replied. “Did you know that you’re grandson co opted our fleet for some task force?”

“As a matter of fact I did. I went over the orders just to make sure they on everything before they were sent down the chain. Why?”

“Because until the Prince arrived we had no idea that any orders existed.” Beatie explained.

“Who was supposed to deliver them?”

“Lieutenant Tarsus, one of the guards that was declared missing this morning. But if you’re saying that you saw them yourself-”

“Then why didn’t Tarsus get them to your office?” Gramps said as he finished. “Does anyone have this colt’s file? I know he took the post a few weeks ago but I haven’t met the Lieutenant yet.”

“We’ve got it right here.” Beatie said as he punched the Lieutenant’s portrait up onto the screens that lined the ceiling. For a second he was quiet, but when he looked at Gramps he seemed concerned. “I something wrong Meteor?”

I turned to see for myself and Gramp’s look of horror was clear as day. “Beatie, pull up a second file. You’ll find it in disbarred section. Stallion’s name is Sureshot.”

“Why exactly are we-”

“Just do it Beatie!” Gramps snapped. Almost immediately the picture of Lieutenant Tarsus was joined by an identical gunmetal grey unicorn. “Damnit… It’s Sureshot alright.”

“I thought he was reported as killed during the war with the Minotaur Kingdom?”

Gramps shook his head. “Read my report again Captain, because I said I presumed he was dead without finding a body. It’s either he’s alive and hasn’t aged a day or this has something to do with Euripides.”

“I’d be more inclined to go with the latter… Where was the Lieutenant last seen?” I asked.

“Uh… Says here the Market District after his last shift ended.” Beatie answered.

“Has anyone gone to check it out? Maybe ask around?”

Beatie shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “How long ago did we find that out?”

“About a half hour after the Lieutenant was reported missing.”

Now this is just outright shoddy police work. “You’re telling me that you’ve known where Tarsus was last seen, but no one thought to go ask around in the Market District if he’s been seen? Has the Guard’s standards to investigative work really gone that far down the drain?”

“Your Highness, if you haven’t noticed everypony in this city has been stretched thin for about a week. Those ponies need sleep at some point.”

“Fine, then I’ll go take a look.”

“Not dressed like that you won’t.” Gramps sneered.

I finally remembered that I was still wearing my dress clothes. “Alright then, what do suggest?”

***

Canterlot Market District, One Hour Later…

“I still don’t see how that’s any better…” Pumyra observed.

She was right. In the time it took for her to be called in and basically glued to my hip, Gramps went and found the most polished and decorated set of armor he could find. And just where he found this brass-colored monstrosity was beyond me. “Neither do I, but apparently looking like some ancient general is considered suitable… What is it the humans called those people? Romans or something like that?”

Pumyra chuckled. “You’re asking the wrong cat.”

“Fair enough. Now where did the report say Tarsus was last seen?”

“Some place called Cliffside.”

If my memory serves Cliffside is an old bar that was redone after the attack on Canterlot a number of years ago. These days it looks more like a proper restaurant than a hole in the wall, but the appearance of a Prince still caught the attention of every pony in the establishment. The hostess seemed to be panicking the moment she saw me. “Oh, Your High-”

“Look, can we not do this now? I just need to speak with the bartender.”

The mare immediately stepped out of my way and pointed to the pale blue stallion standing behind the bar. He didn’t seem to pay much mind to who he was looking at, at least when you stacked his expression up against the other patrons. “What’s your poison?” The Bartender asked.

“I’m actually looking for someone.” I said as I fished a picture of the Lieutenant out of a pouch on my belt. “Tell me, when’s the last time you’ve seen Lieutenant Tarsus?”

“That’s not Lieutenant Tarsus…”

“Wait, what?”

“That’s Sureshot… My father used to tell me stories about him. Said he went mad after some new pony joined the guard years ago.”

“But you told some guards you’d seen him last, didn’t you?” Pumyra asked.

The bartender looked confused. “You two are the first to come to me asking if I’d seen that stallion.”

“Then what’s the truth here?!”

“Pumyra, stop.” I said, stepping between her and the counter. “He’s telling the truth… Which means we’ve been played somehow.” I fished out my communicator and flicked it on. “Admiral Beatie?”

“Beatie here. Have you found something?”

“You could say that… Listen, I need the names of the officers who reported that they met with this bartender.”

“Of course, just give me… What the hell? The report isn’t in the system anymore.”

“And I’ve got a good idea why… Shut down all external access to the defense mainframe and start sweeping it for signs of intrusion.”

“But that’ll blind us!”

“Then tell anypony that’s effected that they’ll have to contact the castle directly to get information for the time being. Sureshot was never confirmed as being here, and I’ve got a feeling that somepony is planting false data in the network. We’re being played Admiral, and until we know who’s responsible and why we to act accordingly.”

“Dusk, I think I found Sureshot.”

Looking out the open door to the street, Pumyra was clearly onto something. As we made our way outside it became clear that Sureshot was standing there, but he looked far from a prim and proper guard. What used to be a chest plate had been melted and seemingly fused to Sureshot’s chest alongside some sort of flashing implant. “Captain Sureshot?”

The pony perked up and finally seemed to recognize his surroundings. “I’m in Canterlot… How’d I get here?”

Slowly I made my way up to the former Guard. “I don’t know Captain. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Uh… There was a battle, and… Meteor. He left me for dead.” The stallion suddenly looked confused, before grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. “What have I done? I tried to kill a kid damnit! He was just a kid! And… Oh god, Celestia.”

I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit this had quickly crossed into weird territory. If anything Sureshot seemed to be suffering a mental breakdown… But why now? As suddenly as I came to that question a squad of guards surrounded myself and Sureshot with weapons raised. “Sureshot, let my grandson go!”

But Sureshot didn’t seem to care about the rifles that were pointed at his head. But as tears started streaming down his face I came to a conclusion. “Stand down, he’s with me!”

“WHAT!” Gramps roared from his spot at my side.

“I said he’s with me.” I calmly replied as I took out my communicator. “Endeavor, this Alpha One.”

“Go for Endeavor.”

“I need medical VTOL on my position. I have someone here I’m gonna need Faust to take a look at.”

“Acknowledged. Darkstar Two-Four Heavy is being vectored now, ETA is six minutes.”

“Understood Endeavor, Alpha One out.”

Gramps finally ripped me out of Sureshot’s panicked Grip and pinned me up against the wall of the bar. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

“Getting this stallion some help. Does Sureshot look like he’s all there to you? Or are you missing the glaringly obvious? There’s something seriously wrong with him, he needs help, and personally I want to know what the hell is up with that big-ass implant. I know you’ve got a problem with him having tried to kill you-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Sureshot wrapped Gramps in a bear-hug and buried his face in his shoulder. “I’m sorry…” Was all I could hear the stallion utter, but judging by the look of absolute confusion on Gramps’ face it was rather clear he didn’t understand what was going on.

And I’m being entirely honest with myself, I don’t know either.

***

HMS Endeavor, Two Hours Later

Faust met us in the hangar and immediately dragged Sureshot up to her ‘lab’. Myself, Pumyra and Gramps had been reduced to observers as she laid him on what looked like a morgue table and started poking and prodding away at the distressed stallion.

We stood watching for the better part of an hour and a half before Faust started putting what looked like electrodes on Sureshot’s temples, and hooked those off-white wires into some strange looking computer. “So… What exactly are you doing?”

“Right now I’m trying to determine how early on this neurological damage started…”

“I’m sorry, but neurological damage?” Gramps asked.

Faust nodded as she punched away at her device. “He’s had all the control implants placed and is definitely suffering the effects of long term use, but the scar tissue on those is so old I can’t tell when they were put in. The only way to tell is to scan Sureshot’s memory engrams to see where the degradation from the implants start.”

“Faust, that doesn’t answer the question.” I pointed out. “We don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

It took Faust a moment before she understood what I said. “Oh, right… Well, the Imperium had control implants they would use on slaves and criminals that proved hard to control. Plant them in various spots in the body and bind themselves to the host’s nervous system. They can be shut off and turned on at will to allow an individual with the controller to effect direct control over all of the subject’s functions, basically turning the individual into a drone and turning the body into a prison. You’re trapped in your own body with no control over anything. However long-term use can cause severe neurological damage, and in many cases the overuse of the implants led to the subject’s mind breaking. From what I can tell Sureshot is right on that edge, but the receiver implant has failed… Probably because it was overtaxed trying to control Sureshot, the holoemitter that’s been stuffed in his chest, and what looks like some sort of data module.”

“Out of curiosity, what’s on that data module?” I asked.

Faust deftly tossed me a tablet displaying all the records of Lieutenant Tarsus. “It seems that was linked to the defense mainframe. Once the receiver died, it lost its ability to link to the mainframe.”

“Which would explain why Beatie couldn’t find any of the files related to Tarsus when I called him… Sureshot was probably bait for a trap.”

“Then why not spring the trap anyway? We were exposed and right where we were meant to be.” Pumyra pointed out.

“It probably wasn’t a trap. Euripides was probably trying to send you a message.” Faust replied before her eyes caught something on her screen. “Or maybe he was just throwing out his trash so we would find it and see what he’s capable of.”

A hologram of Faust’s readout started glowing in pale blue light over the table that Sureshot was lying on. “Faust, you’re gonna have to explain what this means.” Gramps admitted after studying the data for a few moments.

“For starters Sureshot has had these implants in his body since he was at least sixteen, and they’ve been functioning constantly since around twenty five… Which would’ve been about a year before you met him Meteor. That would also mean that Euripides was trying to kill you before you and my daughter became involved.”

“I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Look, can you get that shit out of Sureshot?” I asked.

Faust nodded. “I’ll have it all removed within the hour, and I can repair a decent amount of the neurological damage. But there’s damage I can’t fix, and I sure as hell can’t fix the decades of psychological trauma that Sureshot has been living with. Honestly I don’t think he’ll be able to be left alone, at least until we can make sure he’s stable.”

“What is he going to need?”

“A damn good therapist for starters, and a caretaker. Meteor, if you’re thinking-”

“Of what, taking him in? Not a good idea. It doesn’t matter what the reality of his situation is I’ve got too much bad blood for Sureshot. But I’m not going to let him suffer as a casualty in a war that I’ve been stuck in since I was a child. If he needs a place to live, a therapist, a caretaker, anything, I’ll make sure he gets it.”

“That’s rather noble of you Gramps.” I observed.

“It’s also the right thing to do… Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go make arrangements for Sureshot’s care.”

Gramps quickly left, leaving Pumyra and I alone with Faust. “Seems like he’s got a lot to think about…” Pumyra observed.

“Meteor has good reason to think.” Faust replied. “Anyway, now that you two are here and the reason you came is dealt with I have a favor to ask.”

“Uh… Ok, shoot.”

Out from the shadows behind Faust two figures stepped into focus. I recognized Dawn immediately, but I definitely don’t remember a second Thunderan coming back with us. “This is Bengali, Dawn found him while doing reconnaissance for me.”

I immediately turned to Pumyra. “Do you know him?”

“I’m pretty sure I’d remember a Bengal cat.” Pumyra admitted.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t remember Bengali. One of the problems with multiverse travel is ending up in the right time, which is nearly impossible without an anchorpoint.”

“Wait, he’s from a different point in time too?”

The cat nodded. “If the stories my parents told me are accurate, it’s been about twenty years since you left Pumyra.”

“Look, this is giving me a headache.” Pumyra snapped “What do you want kid?”

“Straight to the point… Alright, the King has been missing for a few years, and I need your help to find him.”

“But why us?”

Bengali seemed to develop a look of concern, and for entirely good reason. “Because I believe that he’s being held by Mumm-Ra.”

Author's Note

Well there's a cliffhanger ending now, isn't there? This is actually as far as I've gotten with writing before going in to do a rewrite on the next few chapters. This also is going to act as a jumping off point to another short story I'm planning, Lost and Damned, which will examine part of Sureshot's recovery now that he's in friendly hands.

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker