BridgeWorld

[994AB Day 291]
Celestia could finally sigh in relief as she raised the sun.

She had wanted to raise it immediately when she first arrived in the middle of the night at the blast site, but that would have been unfair to the rest of the planet. Instead, she had to endure the agonizing tension in her heart as Guard, first responders, and civilian ponies struggled with the chaos of the devastation for hours.

But now the sun was up. Ponies could better see the disaster. True, it was disheartening, but it was also challenging. Ponies weren't unused to dealing with hardships. It was hardship that had prompted them to build the city of Manehattan in the first place, and even though the city had suffered a serious wound in mere moments, she knew they would all rise up to that challenge and rebuild.

And rise to the challenge, they did. With daylight and able to make out the details of how the debris was scattered and laid down, the organizers picked up in alertness and began directing their teams to better search for survivors and get them to aid stations, sift for evidence, and begin recovering and sorting property so that undamaged goods could eventually be delivered to their customers.

Fortunately, no homes had been affected, so there wasn't the anguish of seeing family members scattered about and desperately needing to reunite. But there were ships and their crews that had been affected, and the only upside to that was that the ships in port only had their night watch teams on board. Ship captains or ranking officers in charge had arrived in the middle of the night and had already been working at accounting for their crewmates as well as trying to locate and recover those who were not accounted for. With daylight, their tasks would now be much easier.

She settled down to meet with Commissioner Friesian Cob and her ranking Royal Guard onsite officer, Lieutenant Lame, after she finished raising the sun.

"Thank you for raising the sun, Princess Celestia," Lieutenant Lame said. "Our work will be much easier in the daylight."

"Agreed, Lieutenant," she replied. "I do wish I could have raised it earlier, but our treaties with other nations forbids it, even for emergencies such as this."

"Understood, Your Highness," Commissioner Cob said. "We'll take it from here. We'll find out the cause and search for those responsible to bring to justice!"

"Very well, Commissioner," she stated. "I'll leave it to you and the Lieutenant. If you have further need of me, you can reach me through the normal Guard channels. I do have other matters to attend." And with that, she lifted off into the air.

As she flew, she thought back to her encounter with Lucius, Fred Hummer, and Highflyer last night. With the pegasi dead from the fight, she considered, Lucius would most likely take their bodies to the Mane Industries Clinic. That's where I should start from. I know that they were involved with that explosion, but despite Matchbox being killed at the warehouse, Fred Hummer and Highflyer were very much alive immediately following the blast. Hopefully, Thomas and his family are okay, too.

However, the more she flew over the city, she slowed, feeling like she was forgetting something important. Then her eyes snapped open in surprise at seeing the Metropolitan General Hospital.

Of course! How stupid of me! I can't go straight to the MIC, she realized in shock. It's much too far away from the blast site to go visit first! I had better visit all the other hospitals and clinics which are closer in before I go there!

Several hours later, Celestia finally arrived at the Mane Industries Clinic. With the disaster being what it was, all of the medical facilities were in full emergency mode dealing with the influx of injured, dying, and dead ponies, and she spent most of her time ensuring the facilities were being supplied the resources they needed.

Checking in at the reception desk, Celestia learned that the MIC had been alerted to the emergency and were standing by but had not yet received any patients from the sites affected.

"I—see," she stammered, at a loss at how to proceed with finding out how badly Thomas Mane and his team were faring without potentially revealing their involvement. "So—no major problems yet?" she inquired.

"Nothing from the explosion that's on the news, no," the nurse responded. "Although there was an unrelated incident at Mane Industries last night. There was apparently an emergency there that resulted in Mister Mane and his wife being killed, as well as several Mane Industry staff also being injured or killed. We haven't reported anything to the press at this time. We're going to wait for the Headquarters to release any news regarding what happened. They're still in the middle of their investigations this morning."

"Thomas! And Mareta, both!?" Celestia exclaimed. She knew it was quite possible they were injured, even killed. What could've happened that let Fred Hummer and Highflyer survive but not them!? As I understood it, their equipment was even better than what the pegasi were wearing.

"Their son, Buck Mane, is here, too," the nurse told her. "He's alright and has been here all night. He was here for their passing and has remained to keep vigil over the others who were also injured."

"I'd like to see him, if he's willing," Celestia softly said.

"Princess Celestia," Buck said, greeting her with a bow as she entered. "I was wondering when you would be arriving."

"I'm so sorry, Buck," she gently told him. Their deaths—it's already greatly affected him! she considered. He—seems so much older now! "I was busy all night with the disaster at the Harbor and the warehouse where the blast had originated. I—was checking on the city's hospitals to ensure they could handle the situation. I only found out about your parents when I arrived."

"I—interesting," Buck carefully replied. "Thank you for your condolences, Your Highness. For your information, Red Sovine died this morning, after Lucius brought Fred and Highflyer in last night."

"Yes, when we can, I'd like to speak with you and Lucius about what happened in more detail," she said. "For now, though, can you please give me an idea of what happened? Officially? Your parents were very close and dear friends to me, after all, as are you."

Buck looked at her sharply, then smirked when he clearly understood where this visit was coming from.

"Of course, Your Highness," he replied. "Apparently, we had—a—an employee who betrayed us. He broke into one of the vaults and stole some material that the company was still researching. Dad, Mom, and I were there last night, when the break-in happened, and Dad's office was torched, either to distract us or hide the thieves' identity. Fortunately, they were not able to get away completely clean. We IDed one of the ponies involved as Matchbox, who had been hired to be a security guard at the Headquarters some time ago."

"I see," Celestia said, nodding. "Well, the Crown will do what it can to help track him and any of his accomplices down, Buck. I'll send whatever available Guard I have to the Mane Industries office building to help with the investigation. Of course, there is the emergency that is tying up much of my staff right now."

"They'll have our full cooperation, Your Highness," Buck responded.

"In the meantime, is there anything I can help you with, Buck?" she kindly asked him.

"I'll—work with Alfalfa and Lucius to do the necessary funeral arrangements," he sadly said. "With Red dead, there's nothing to keep me here right now."

"Then, can I at least arrange to get you home?" she offered.

Celestia had no problem in getting a local cab to ferry them both to the Mane family mansion, and Alfalfa greeted them at the door.

"I understand there was an unfortunate incident at Mane Industries, last night," Celestia said as they entered. "Buck told me about what happened, officially. And I'd like an opportunity to get more details when you can arrange for a time to speak about them. But for now, how are you holding up?" she inquired.

"Quite well, considering," Alfalfa replied, leading them to Thomas' den. "Although I think now is probably the best time to speak about such things, seeing as a new issue has popped up while we were all busy."

"Oh?" Celestia and Buck both inquired.

"Oh, yes," Alfalfa said, pressing the latch to open the way to the elevator. "You're going to love this!"

Alfalfa was tight lipped on the ride down into the cavern, and Celestia was partially dreading the inevitable confrontation with Lucius after their argument last night ended so poorly. But seeing a griffon tiercel sitting alongside the kitsune when they arrived was not something that she had ever thought would happen. Buck's expression, likewise, was of utter shock.

The discussion they had barely touched on the dispute that existed between Celestia and Lucius, at least until the very end. Instead, there was a long discussion on what Robin had done and why he did it. But it also showed just how freaking brilliant the tiercel was to have figured out the secret hidden inside the mansion's office.

In the process, they had all decided to also come clean to Robin, telling him about how the Manes had been accosted the other night, how Thomas had elected to direct his energies to defending not only his family, but to seek for a way to protect the citizens of Manehattan from the likes of Jack Black. They told him of Jack Black's involvement in the production of the mushroom joke and how dangerous it was, both as a drug and as a highly unstable explosive. They told him how hard it was to track their hideout down. And how it was that Zucco was under the influence of the mushroom joke when he killed Robin's family. But that there was a great legal jeopardy for the Manes to be doing any of this operation.

During their explanation to him, Robin was simply astounded that the kitsune had been able to create devices that allowed earth ponies to not only fly, but to use magic as though they were unicorns.

"That's—that's just incredible!" Robin exclaimed, staring at Lucius in awe.

"Not so surprising, actually," Lucius replied with his customary grin. "The idea of artificial mana channels isn't a new concept. That's been around for centuries. All I did was design a method for Thomas and his family to redirect their natural mana from their hooves to power the wings and horns. The vision and audio enhancements are strictly technological and powered by conventional batteries, but with a few mana channels thrown in simply to control their functions. What's truly astounding was that Buck learned to duplicate kitsune magic, too! And moreover, he had started teaching his parents and friends. If only we had had a few more weeks to train, I dare say that Thomas, Mareta, and the others might have survived that blast."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," Robin said. "There's a difference between kitsune and unicorn magic?"

"Considerable differences," Celestia assured him. "Buck should not be able to do any of that at all, based on everything that we know of magic. The only thing that makes sense is Lucius' theory that the combination of Buck's young age and exposure to kitsune magic allowed him to make an inspired conceptual leap once he learned he could perform unicorn magic through artificial means."

"Starswirl the Bearded was always fond of saying, 'I didn't know it was impossible when I did it'," Lucius quipped.

"Yes, he was," Celestia agreed, laughing. "And in most every magical breakthrough throughout history, the pony discovering such said something similar."

From there, the discussion went directly to what happened at the warehouse. Lucius played the recordings that had been transmitted to the mansion up until the time of the explosion. After that, only Highflyer's equipment was still functional in recording and communications, but the relays between the warehouse had been destroyed. His gear showed just what changes were evident in the muscle-bound white pegasus who had been working for Jack Black.

"Please let me see that recording of the fight before the warehouse again!" Celestia demanded. "I want to see that big pegasus that Thomas encountered."

"I have seen him before!" Celestia said, staring at a still frame of him for several minutes. She levitated a blank sheet of note paper to scribble detailed notes on his description to take with her.

"He's even bigger now, you know," Lucius spoke up, "and stronger. Way stronger!"

"I know," she replied, sighing. "I haven't forgotten what we spoke about, Lucius. There is merit to what you said. Likewise, there is merit as to why I had ordered you away from the fight. Fred and Highflyer being killed is proof of my argument. I was worried for all of you."

"Understood, Celestia," Lucius replied, grinning. "My point also stands in that they had sworn oaths to protect and defend Equestria from all enemies, foreign and domestic. That includes protecting Equestria's princess. Their oaths didn't end with retirement from the Guard."

"Agreed," she said, sighing. "To that effect, we do need to develop ponies, and other beings, who can work together to defeat such destructive forces that are arraying against us. Believe it or not, I do have a plan in the works to accomplish that. But that the possibility exists that even my preparations won't be sufficient, I agree that we should do more in that department. Just be aware, it is still problematic in how such units are put together. Because of that, the Crown is still unable to acknowledge some of those ventures, including this one."

"Because there are rogue elements from the Guard among us here, who are fighting rogue elements of the Guard?" Robin asked. "Guards who ultimately were responsible for allowing Jack Black to poison Zucco, and caused him to murder my family, and ultimately Buck's own parents, too? Guards who were supposed to keep Jack Black confined to his home, even with substantial evidence of his direct involvement in the earlier attempted murder of Buck and his parents?"

"Precisely," Buck replied.

"I—see," Robin said, growing quite to think about his choices. "Then I accept joining the Mane House in this venture, Your Highness! I'll be one of those 'other beings' you mentioned," he fiercely declared.

"Remember Robin, here, I'm not the Princess," Celestia firmly reminded him. "I'm here as a friend and that's all. But I hope you fully appreciate the gravity of such a decision, young griffon," Celestia warned him. "All hooves of Equestria, and all claws, talons, and hands of her allies, will be against you if you are found out."

"No worse than I've already suffered, Your Highness," Robin countered. "No more than Buck, here, has, too. My parents told me many tales of the griffon clan wars, how long-termed feuds got started when criminal griffons were sheltered by those of their blood rather than being rejected for failing to uphold honor above all. The rogue Guard who caused this are the dishonorable ones. Because of them, I not only lost my real parents, but I'm barely a day into being a fostergriff to Thomas and Mareta, and then I lose them, too! You can't know what that's like, Princess Celestia!"

You would be surprised, young one, at just how much I do know of familial loss, she thought.

"Well, those squits just don't know what kind of enemy they made tonight! I know they are well hidden among Guard who are honorable, and it will require a very careful hunt for us to be able to pick them out from the rest of the herd. But we griffons are made for just such hunts! Buck now has my talons as his own!" he vowed.

"Very well," she said nodding. "I wish you luck. You will most definitely need it, Robin. You will have nothing else to protect you because I cannot."

After Celestia left, Lucius stared hard at Robin, and continued to stare, making the griffon quite uncomfortable.

"What!?" the tiercel finally demanded.

"I wonder—" Lucius drawled. "With all that the Manes were able to do, I wonder what could you do with the outfit?"

"What do you mean, Lucius?" Buck asked.

"Think about it, Buck," Lucius said. "He's young, like you. Because of your flexibility, we were able to make three earth ponies into virtual alicorns—Thestral alicorns, at that—and using kitsune magic, on top! What do you suppose we can we do with Robin, here? A griffon-alicorn? Or even a Thestral-griffon-alicorn!?" he finished with a very toothy smile.

"NOBODY'S PLUCKING MY WINGS!!" Robin suddenly squawked, realizing what his words could imply.

"You marched in here uninvited, chick. There's always a price to pay," Alfalfa muttered, smirking. Then she looked at the kitsune "But you've got me rather curious, Lucius. What do you have in mind?"

"Hmm," Buck hummed in thought. "I think I see what you mean."

"WHAT!?" Robin screeched at him.

"Easy, Robin," Buck laughed. "It's all cosmetic. It's the outfit that makes it possible. But to make him look like a Thestral would be a tricky operation, Lucius. It's not like we could simply sandwich his wings with a pair of painted metal sheets."

"Give me a few minutes," Lucius said, getting up out of his seat to go over to the whiteboard.

"More like, 'give him a few hours', Robin," Alfalfa grumbled. "Let's get you upstairs and something down your gullet. You're probably starving by now, and you'll be passed out from hunger if you stay here to wait for him to be done."

"Gyah!" Lucius suddenly exclaimed. "Do you folks have any idea of how hard it is to write these equations with just one tail!?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea!" Robin chirped, looking back at the kitsune.

[994AB Day 292]
"Lieutenant Manes Gordon from the Manehattan Guard to see Princess Celestia!" Sharp Quill announced, as he was escorted to the throne.

"Good morning, Lieutenant!" Celestia greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Apologies for bothering you, Your Highness," Gordon said as he bowed to her and received her acknowledgment to rise. "Might I suggest we clear the room? I have a matter to discuss with you that may possibly involve some high-level Royal Guard operations going on in Manehattan."

"I—see?" she inquired. She knew the Lieutenant was already quite aware of the Royal Guard's involvement where they were working alongside the local Guard on determining the cause of the blast and bringing the perpetrators to justice, as well as her own involvement at the warehouse. To what other Royal Guard operations could he be referring? she wondered. And it's not like there was any "high-level" operation going on related to the investigation, or anywhere else happening in Manehattan that I am aware of. "Very well, Lieutenant. Sharp Quill, could you see to it that the Court is cleared? And send for Captain Armor, please."

"At once, Your Highness!" Sharp Quill responded before putting out the usual announcements for the public to depart. As standard, one of the Guard at the door quickly departed, running to fetch their commander.

While they waited, Celestia spent the time making small talk with Lieutenant Gordon, inquiring as to his health and family, et cetera, to which he reported all was well. Likewise, he asked how she was faring after the incident and her fight at the warehouse. She was able to assure him that she suffered no adverse results from the fight.

"Manes! Longtime, no see!" Shining Armor called out when he entered the Court. "How's retirement working for you?"

"I might not be in the Royal Guard anymore, but I'm hardly what you call 'retired'," he groused good naturedly. "Are they keeping you buried with enough paperwork, yet?"

"Yep! I'm a paperwork zompony, now. Freshly back from the dead," Shining Armor shot back. "So, what brings you to disrupt the Royal Court, today? Not that I would ever object to you doing so. Please! Disrupt it some more! PLEASE!"

"It has to do with the explosion we had in Manehattan the other day," Gordon told him, causing all joviality to end between them. "In addition to the main blast centered at the Harbor, there was a secondary explosion that ripped through the heart of the warehouse district, to end at one particular warehouse. As the Princess is aware, we found several ponies who were killed outright by the blast. We—also had a few anomalies—that night. The Princess, herself, encountered one such when she arrived to help. Another anomaly—was an earth pony found dead, near the remains of a unicorn mare—or—what was left of her."

"I was certainly surprised by the strength of that pegasus," Celestia spoke up. "He was far stronger than he should have been. But there was something definitely—off—about him, too. Not to mention, he looked familiar, for some reason."

"Could he have been one of those you've got us looking for?" Shining Armor inquired.

"I'm—not sure. He didn't fight like he had been the Guard," she said, frowning. "He was—entirely bestial—barely seemed aware of me, but when he was, he was brutal, fast, and incredibly strong. Still, I've got inquiries searching for any record of him. If he had been, they should find out who he is. Unfortunately, despite his light coloring, it didn't help that it was so dark. The few times I was in a position to get a good look at him were those times that I was too busy fighting him to spend time trying to pay attention to those details."

"We're hoping the survivor we found can answer some of that," Gordon said. "He was found outside of the remains of the warehouse with severe injuries to—uh—to his posterior—apparently caused by more than a dozen or so stun bolts."

"Hmm, a little excessive," Shining Armor grunted. "Guards are trained to shoot only three or four bolts into any region of a pony's body as more than that increases the risk of unnecessary internal injuries."

"Well, he suffered a ruptured colon, among other injuries, and that is a potentially life-threatening problem," Gordon continued, reading from his file. "The doctors are optimistic he'll pull through, though. Based on his identifying features, he's a one Shetland Hoofley, a down-on-his-luck pegasus who turned to being a smalltime crook a few years back. He's rarely ever been involved in anything major, until now."

"I see," Shining Armor muttered. "Anyhow, the other anomalies you were speaking about, Manes?" he inquired.

"Yes, the earth pony," Gordon said, resuming his report. "He was found dead, but I don't think the blast was what killed him. Autopsy showed he had died from some kind of smoke inhalation. Otherwise, his body was in pristine shape. This, despite him being found inches from the very messy remains of a unicorn mare who had a set of null-stone bolos wrapped about her throat and head, but where the blast almost certainly caused her death!"

"How is that possible!?" Shining Armor exclaimed.

"Unknown," Gordon replied. "But he was wearing what seemed to be a variation of Royal and Equestrian Guard chainmail—but one that was completely dark gray, with none of the usual enchantment for disguising the pony."

"A Dark-Ops outfit!?" Shining Armor asked.

"Nothing that should be there," Celestia steadily said while dreading what was going to soon be revealed. "Were you able to ID the pony?" she asked.

"That's just it," Gordon said. "He was a retired Royal Guard, named Matchbox."

"MATCHBOX!?" Shining Armor exclaimed, having to sit down from the shocking news.

"You knew him?" Gordon asked.

"Yes, I did. Or at least I thought I did," Shining Armor replied. "He was a good, disciplined, competent earth pony, bit of a daredevil. Had good instincts for knowing when and how to draw out enemy attention and could switch from making himself the hunted to becoming the hunter in a heartbeat. Was a great asset to whichever team he was assigned to."

"Hmf," Gordon grunted. "In addition, we found a VA recording crystal with an encrypted portable transmitter in his suit," he added, and Celestia closed her eyes. Any second, now…. she fearfully thought.

"Unfortunately, the video portion of the crystal was damaged," Gordon told them. Celestia opened her eyes to stare at him.

"It took some doing, but I was finally able to pull up the audio recording," Gordon continued, apparently unaware of the tells she was giving off. "I have a transcript made from it," he said, letting her take the folder while he prepared the crystal to run in the player. She read along as the audio played and allowed Shining Armor to stand beside her to read it, too.

"Okay, colts and fillies, we're all on live TV! So, behave yourselves. Graywing, how do you read?" male voice #1 [~~unknown~~Cardinal]

"Loud and clear, Cardinal," male voice #2/[Graywing].

"Cardinal to all units, report!" male voice #1 [Cardinal]

"Graymare online," female #1 [Graymare].

"Grayson online," an indeterminant voice #1 [Grayson].

"Blackbird good to go," male voice #3 [Blackbird].

"Hummingbird lives again," male voice #4 [Hummingbird].

"Kitt is rolling along," male voice #5 [Kitt].

"Okay, that accounts for all the little birds and the cat. What about you folks back at the Lair?" male voice #1 [Cardinal]

"Mother Hen's got eyes and ears on everypony. Toothy's so happy he's grinning up a storm, so watch out for lightning." female voice #2 [Mother Hen]

"Graywing, going IR. I have numerous targets on several levels. Um—twelve that I can count. There's a sizable warm object in there, too." male voice #2 [Graywing]

"Blackbird concurs. At least three guests are wingers. By the way, no outside wanderers in view, so no unexpected party crashers are anticipated at this time." male voice #3 [Blackbird]

"Lair concurs. We suspect that what Graywing and Blackbird are seeing is the punchbowl. And it looks like it's finally starting to cook. I'm afraid we're out of time, sir. There's no time to call in the professionals." female #2 [Mother Hen]

"Then it's up to us. Graymare, Grayson, on me!" male #2 [Graywing]

"Kitt, Cardinal, Hummingbird, move in to assist!" female #2 [Mother Hen].

"Roger that!" several voices blended simultaneously.

"RAMMING SPEED!" male voice #5 [Kitt]

"Dammit! Mother Hen! Graywing's got his hooves full with our big white friend, but I've got another rogue rooster along with a chick coming at Graymare and me!" male #1 [Cardinal].

"No! No! NO! NO!! NO!!!" male #6 [unknown]

Sound of explosion.

"Roach! Walter! There's a mudpony with Guard gear hiding among the shipment crates in here along with those pegasi! Get over here and help me track him down!" female #3 [unknown]

"Stay with Graymare, Cardinal! The big white hope is dope, now." male #2 [Graywing].

"Roger that!" male #1 [Cardinal].

"JACK!!!" female #4 [unknown].

"BUCK! What did you DO!?" female #1 [Graymare]

"What he had to, Graymare! This is a killing situation! You know it as well as Grayson does!" male #1 [Cardinal]

"Sorry, Graymare, It was either give him a hard landing or a soft one. I am surprised that mare dove in after him, though." indeterminant voice #1 [Grayson].

"AhAIYEEEeeee!" indeterminate #2

"What th—?" male #7 [unknown]

"Shoot it! Just shoot!" male #8 [unknown]

Sounds of struggle.

"Two needle studs out to pasture, Kitt. It's just you and your mare playing tag now." indeterminant voice #1 [Grayson]

"Roach! Walter! Where are you guys!?" female #3 [unknown]

"Mother Hen, you said that the mixture shouldn't react to seawater, right?" indeterminant #1 [Grayson]

"Not anymore than it's liable to explode on its own, no," female voice #2 [Mother Hen]

"Needlemare down." male #5 [Kitt]

"Then the important thing is to get rid of this stuff, right?" indeterminant #1 [Grayson].

"I see what you're thinking about, Grayson. I say, go for it!" female voice #2 [Mother Hen]

"I just hope it doesn't mess up the fish in the harbor," indeterminant #1 [Grayson].

"That is a valid concern, Grayson. But it's one better left to worry about later. In the meantime, you've got an earthpony coming at you, Grayson!" female voice #2 [Mother Hen]

"I'm on hi—ooof!" male voice #4 [Hummingbird].

"Woah! Tough hombre," male voice #4 [Hummingbird].

"You've got that right," male #9 [unknown].

"Relax, Hummingbird. I've got this." indeterminant #1 [Grayson]

"'Hummingbird', huh? Good name for him. He has to be like the lightest pegasus ever to hit me. And who are you supposed to be? Because you sure as Tartarus not a Thestral alicorn! But I have to say, it's a good costume for Nightmare Night." male #9 [unknown]

"I'm Grayson. And as for you, the nightmare has only just begun." indeterminant #1 [Grayson]

"Real cute comeback, foal. Points for that. Too bad it's not going to save you from me stomping all the roadapples out of you." male #9 [unknown]

sound like a hammer hitting an anvil.

"Wha—?" male #9 [unknown]

"Uhh—arrgh!" male #9 [unknown]

"Hmmf! Impressive, foal. Good trick. But you fucked up. I don't know how you pulled off that wing trick, but you've revealed you're just a unicorn, and I know how to beat unicorns!" male #9 [unknown]

"Huh!?" male #9 [unknown]

Sound of something getting hit

Sound of something getting hit

"Th-th-at's—impossi—" male #9 [unknown]

"We did it—!" male #2 [Graywing]

"GET OUT OF THEEERRRRE! GET OOUUUTTTT—!" male voice #3 [Blackbird].

Tremendous sound of explosion—end of recording.

"I—I—I don't know what to say," Celestia softly said, greatly disturbed. She closed her eyes as tears fell from her eyes, knowing what her duty dictated her next action to be.

"There was no Royal Guard operation here," she sternly told Lieutenant Gordon, glaring at him. "Official or otherwise." Gordon looked to Shining Armor, who shook his head. He sighed.

"I was at least hoping that it was a deep, unofficial action," Gordon whispered. "Even one unofficially sanctioned that I'm not supposed to be aware of would have been better than none at all."

"I have to agree with the Lieutenant, Your Highness," Shining Armor said. "Whoever they are, this certainly sounds like a well-equipped, highly trained, very disciplined team. And I can't imagine Matchbox joining up with any such group who wasn't at least sanctioned to some degree. Everypony on the aggressor team are using codewords to identify themselves, they never seem to drop their real names, which means they don't trust whatever encryption they're using for their transmissions for some reason, and that 'Blackbird' seems to have been flying CAP for them outside. Interestingly, I'm having a hard time telling which one seems to be in charge, other than possibly the two mentioned at whatever base they were working from. For the onsite members, at first, it seems 'Cardinal' is nominally in charge, then later, it seems to be 'Graywing'. Too bad there was no video to go along with it. I have to wonder what prompted that later guy to comment on 'Grayson' looking like a 'Thestral alicorn'. But whoever the invading team was fighting, it sounded like they had some trained agents among them, as well. Just not as good. Like they possibly had a mix of former Guard and civilians."

Shining Armor took possession of the transcript while Celestia spoke with Gordon.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you even that as an excuse," she said. "There have indeed been too many former and active Guard, both Royal and Equestrian, who have gone rogue. We're currently in the process of trying to find and weed out such and locate any former Guard who have decided to abuse their training. You have the full authority to hunt down and bring all parties involved in this incident to justice, Lieutenant Gordon. Be aware, that when you do find them, they are to be brought before this Court!"

"Then, I would have to conclude that we've all been exceedingly lucky, Your Highness," Gordon said to her. "From the exchange between this 'Grayson' and 'Mother Hen', the source of the explosion at the harbor was most likely caused by something that was flushed into the sewers from the warehouse, and that it was probably some residual amount still in the pipes that ignited and blew out the warehouse. I have no idea how much was originally there, but if that full amount had exploded before 'Grayson' had sent it down the drain, then there would've been thousands or tens of thousands of ponies dead in the homes surrounding that end of the warehouse district!"

"I have good reason to believe the substance we're speaking about was mushroom joke, Lieutenant," Celestia told him, and Gordon suddenly sat down in shock. Even Shining Armor looked sharply at her in surprise.

"Sweet—Celestia! You're kidding!?" he whispered in utter shock.

"Moreover, I recognize the voice of your unknown 'male #6'," she grimly told him. "A criminal who had escaped Royal Guard custody nearly three weeks ago while enroute to this Court: a unicorn named Jack Black."

"Ja—Jack Black, huh?" Gordon inquired, slowly getting over his shock. "Yeah. Yeah, I recall that name. Now, that you mention it, I do remember there was concern he was mixing up some mushroom joke. But, given the devastation at the Harbor, plus the stuff had to have been partially diluted by the time it exploded, how much are we talking about!?"

"When you finish piecing the vat back together that was in the warehouse, we might have some idea, Lieutenant," she grimly told him. Gordon's eyes grew enormous at the possible implications. He looked again at his copy of the transcript and another element caught his eye as possibly significant.

"I remember seeing how thick the walls of that vat were! Wide enough for a pony to stand on the edge! 'Dove in after him'?" he quoted, tasting the phrase. "And right before that, 'Grayson' says, 'it was either give him a hard landing or a soft one'. Could he—have knocked Jack Black INTO the mushroom joke!?"

"If so, then we might not see Jack Black ever face justice," Celestia sighed, "but perhaps he has finally faced his karma."

"And might I suggest that it could have been Matchbox who was this 'Kitt'? It's been quite a while since I last saw him, but 'Kitt's' voice sounds a lot like the tone and cadence of how he spoke, not to mention the apparent cat-mouse he's alluded to be playing by 'Grayson'. That was Matchbox's shtick, after all." Shining Armor offered. "'Needles', and variations of the word, are frequently used as code words for enemy or hostile unicorns. 'Kitt' mentions that he had incapacitated 'needlemare' just moments before the explosion. At the same time, 'female voice #3' desperately calling out to 'Roach' and 'Walter' to come help her, those could be the 'needle studs' that 'Grayson' claims to have taken down."

"Those ideas jive with my suspicions, too," Gordon said, nodding thoughtfully at his copy of the transcript as he used a pencil to update his notes. "Thanks, Shining. Do we have any idea of where Matchbox went after he retired?"

"He went to work at Mane Industries," Celestia spoke up before Shining Armor could.

"This thing itches!" Robin complained after they zipped up his suit with his wings inside and had him walk around a bit for the suit to settle about his body.

"We never tried hooking the mana channels to pegasi wings up for remote controlling Thestral wings before, so there are bound to be adjustments we'll have to make," Lucius told him. "I just want to see if the concept is a valid one. Just give it a try and spread your wings."

"…How do I do that?" Buck asked.

"Think of how you drive a self-propelled wagon," Lucius explained. "You just have to conceive of it as an extension of your own body. In the circus, you were binding your wings, but here, they're also free for you to use."

Robin blinked at that, then the Thestral wings unfurled as if he had been born with them.

"Whoa! Would you look at that!" he whispered in wonder. Then he saw Alfalfa moving and stretching out her Thestral wings. Like Robin, Alfalfa had elected to try the experiment as well.

"Wait, you said you've never done this before, so how is she doing this so quickly!?" Robin demanded.

"I drive all those carriages you saw downstairs," Alfalfa said, flourishing her wings. "This sort of thing is old hat to me."

"…Oh."

"So, you really think he can do unicorn magic, too?" Buck asked after he and Flashfire finished suiting up also.

"It depends," Lucius said, grinning. "Griffons have similar cloud walking and weather manipulation abilities as pegasi. You're neither unicorn nor pegasi, but the artificial mana channels allowed you to use those skills. It may be possible for Robin to learn them, too. The math seems to hold up, but it's his mind that will be the barrier he has to overcome, just as your mind was yours."

"Wait, you said, 'the math seems to hold up'," Robin said. "What if your math is wrong?"

Lucius tilted his head in thought.

"Then you go boom and take the Manor out with you," he concluded.

"What!?"

"Don't worry," Alfalfa said, patting Robin with her artificial Thestral wing. "He's kidding."

"…Maybe…." Lucius said, his head tilting the other way.

"Maybe," Alfalfa agreed as she led a suddenly unnerved Robin down into the training area.

Buck smirked at Lucius as he followed, but the kitsune was still tilting his head back and forth.

"You think he's kidding?" Flashfire asked Buck in a whisper.

"Maybe?" Buck replied with a shrug. "With Lucius, you never know."

"That's why we're not giving him a unicorn horn just yet," Lucius called out. "We don't want him phasering the moon out of orbit from down here!"

"Good point," Flashfire said, nodding.

"Okay, we're not going to do anything fancy," Alfalfa said to Robin and Flashfire. "We just want you two to work on getting control on your wings. Simple motions and stretches for now. Afterward, we'll work at getting your magic to flow through the cables to give you lift."

"So, let's start with just spreading them out," Alfalfa instructed, but Robin was distracted, looking at Buck and off to his side, then back to Buck. Very quickly, it soon became apparent he was alarmed at something.

"Now, that's very interesting," Lucius said from above them. "Buck, I think he sees you!"

"Yeah, I think he does, at that!" Buck said as he faded away and reappeared several yards closer to Robin.

"I—I saw something," Robin said. "I saw you split in two, with one of you walking toward me!"

"Interesting," Buck muttered. "Lucius, is there anything about griffons being immune to your illusions?"

"Not that I've ever heard," Lucius said. "At least, not inherently. They should be just as susceptible to us as you ponies are. Mind explaining that, Robin?"

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, looking uncertainly between the kitsune and Buck.

"Buck was getting set to prank you," Lucius told him, "so he was using kitsune magic to throw an illusion that he was still standing over there while using invisibility to sneak up on you."

"Kitsune? Kitsune! Oh! Ha! Good one!" Robin exclaimed, laughing. "Oh, that's right! You wouldn't necessarily know about that! As part of the circus life, my family toured with several different troupes. That included PT Barnum's Circus."

"Wait! Pent Tail Barnum!?" Lucius suddenly exclaimed. "You worked with Pent Tail!?"

"Yeah!" Robin happily said. "Of course, every circus has their own secrets, but part of the fun is learning to see through various tricks and misdirections. It was a real challenge to learn to see through her tricks."

Lucius whistled. "This chick has stood in the shadow of greatness, Buck!" he said, grinning. "Pent Tail is a legend! I've seen several of her performances in my youth! Such a shame she retired. It's been, what—? Five years now, I think. Never found out why, though."

"She grew another tail," Robin said, shrugging.

"Oh—that would do it," Lucius said, understanding.

"What's that?" Buck asked.

"She was a gobi. Now she's rokubi," Lucius explained. "When kitsune advance, we grow another tail, but we kind of also undergo a new life cycle. We—change—our personalities and outlooks, seek out new pursuits and goals. The changes can be rather drastic. She—essentially outgrew any interest in circus life. Who knows what's she doing right now? Celestia might or might not. Even close friends won't probably know."

"Sounds like a rather sad way to live," Alfalfa said.

"Well, we usually live for a few centuries at a time between advancing," Lucius said, grinning. "Most of the friends we make in one phase will have passed on anyhow before we grow new tails, so it's much the same for us. But, with Robin able to see through some of our kitsune illusions, that might be helpful for me to figuring out that problem Thomas asked of me: making a technological solution to seeing through illusions."

In the late afternoon, the phone rang.

"Mane Manor," Alfalfa said, answering it.

"Get out of the road now! The Royal Wagon is rolling straight for you!" the voice from the other end of the call said.

"Understood," Alfalfa replied. "Thank you, Yo—" but the caller hung up before Alfalfa could finish speaking, startling her. "I—see—" she muttered after setting down the hoofset.

"Who was that, Alfalfa?" Buck inquired when he walked by the still stunned mare.

"A—a friend?" she wondered. "Or perhaps—a former friend—whom I believe wishes to remain anonymous. But she issued a warning: 'get out of the road now, the Royal Wagon is rolling straight for you'."

Buck stared at her.

"Well—we knew this was going to happen," he finally said with a sigh. "How well was 'Operation Torchwood' conducted?"

"Lucius, Flashfire, and I ensured it was completed," Alfalfa reported. "We can only hope it's leakproof, Master Buck," she added, and he nodded in understanding.

"Well, nothing we can do about it but wait…."