Realm of Equestria, City of Canterlot

Canterlot Palace, Royal Chambers

Though the sun had set and Day Court had ended hours earlier, Princess Twilight Sparkle remained awake. She had been invited to Canterlot at the request of Princess Luna, something that had surprised the newly-coronated Princess.

Luna had long presided over the Night Court on her own, but since her return, and Tirek's recent defeat, she had admitted to Twilight that she needed help with her duties.

As such, Twilight now sat beside Princess Luna, each on their own throne, listening to the courtiers relay requests, favors, or disputes for the two of them to unravel. Of which, there were fewer than Twilight expected.

Luna had told Twilight before the Court began that the Day Court presided over more public issues such as commerce, established laws and municipal legal matters, issues for larger cities, and personal disputes. The Night Court, on the other side of the spectrum, dealt with more internally sensitive issues, such as criminal matters, national defense, and issues from Equestria's more outlying towns and settlements.

Many of these "national defense" cases were mostly requests for a platoon of Guards to be stationed at a specific town, building permits for new forts and defensive stations, and blacksmiths seeking royal approval to sell weapons such as swords, as used by the various Guard corps. Despite the title of "national defense", Luna had also said, they rarely became seen on the national scale.

Luna would have to rescind that feeling, she would later admit as a dark-green coated unicorn stallion burst into the court chamber, out of breath. The Lunar Guards were going to intervene, when Luna raised a hoof, signalling them to step back.

"Princesses, I beg for your audience!" he breathed raggedly.

"Please, calm yourself." Luna said, as she and Twilight walked over. "What is the matter so dire it has made such a display necessary?"

The pony nodded, and sat down, breathing heavily for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"My name is Gray Root. I'm the mayor of the colony of Thorne's Glade, near the north-western edge of the Everfree Forest." he said once he composed himself. "About five weeks ago, the townsponies began to notice several odd events around town."

"Such as?" Twilight asked.

"Well, some of our harvest, like clockwork every time we reaped the wheat fields, would go missing. It varied from time to time how much was taken. And we all chalked it up to wildlife from the forest going at it while our backs were turned."

"But then the fruit harvest was gotten into as well. Eventually, we decided enough was enough, and a couple of the lumberyard workers decided they would find out who was behind it."

"So they set out a fresh bushel of wheat as bait, and waited till dark. Later that night, we heard several loud cracking sounds, a strangled scream, and then...nothing. In the morning, we found those workers. They'd all been...killed."

There was a volley of whispers of disbelief and horror. Root composed himself and continued.

"Those poor folks had holes blown right into their chests, and one got one in the throat. Our doctor, Healing Salve, pulled these...things out of them once we retrieved the bodies, after we got our courage back."

"That was three days ago. We gave those workers a proper burial, and we held a town meeting to decide what to do going forward. I volunteered to come here and tell you all about this myself, and...well, here we are."

Twilight, whose face had gone pale, looked to Princess Luna, who came forward and was handed a small cloth bag. Inside were three small, conical objects, though all three were warped and cracked.

"Thank you for this report, Mayor Root." Luna said. "You may rest assured that Princess Twilight and I will investigate this matter personally and bring these cutthroats to justice. You have our word."

"Thank you kindly." Root replied. "If there's anything else you need from me, I'll be at the Fairway Hotel here in Canterlot."

As the remainder of Night Court passed without any further incident, Princess Luna brought Twilight aside to a smaller meeting room.

"This is quite unheard of in Equestria." she said quietly. "Whoever killed those three workers must be dealt with, and with haste."

"I agree." Twilight replied. "But those objects don't belong to any kind of weapon known in Equestria. I mean, we have bows and arrows, but these objects are not arrowheads, that's clear enough."

"And whoever possesses this unknown weaponry is ruthless enough to murder three ponies over a bushel of wheat." Luna continued, standing up and heading for the door. "We must tread lightly and quickly. Will you stay here in Canterlot for the rest of the evening? We'll head to Thorne's Glade in the morning with Mayor Root, along with as many Guards as we can take."

"Alright." Twilight nodded. "But my only concern is that we're diving right into this with little preparation to go around."

"That is a good point." Luna sighed, sitting back down. "How about this...we'll do some combined research on what these objects might be", she said while holding up one of the conical objects to her eyes. "And what purpose they are used for. Hopefully we can find some kind of countermeasure to whatever weapon produced them."

Twilight nodded, and as the two Alicorns headed for the Canterlot Archives, Twilight felt a small shiver run down her back.

====
North-western Equestria

In the Mountains south of Thorne's Glade

At the entrance to a large cave, near a mountain pass and on the edge of the forest, several ponies of different kinds were hard at work, moving crates into the cave. Some of the crates bore the sigil of a hammer and sickle, others a flag of stars and stripes, and some others bore the image of a broken red crown.

The ponies worked quickly and quietly as a nearby supervisor, a unicorn carrying a clipboard and a cargo manifest, catalogued each crate and its contents before motioning them forward and into the cave.

"Quartermaster, status."

The unicorn turned to see a bipedal being wearing black and green, with its face hooded approach and cross its arms in question. The modified AK47 assault rifle on his back and a Diamatti pistol at his waist completed the image of a human Soviet soldier, specifically a Spetsnaz operative.

"Everything is accounted for, so far." the quartermaster replied. "We've got seven crates from both sources, packed each with a multitude of weapons and ammunition, along with the tools to service, and guides for training."

"Not only that, our benefactor sent over a large shipment of grenades, and we'll start training to use them once they are unpacked."

"Good." the soldier said. "Proceed."

"If I may say, sir…" the Quartermaster continued. "Do you think that we took too much of a risk killing those three lumber workers? The locals already recovered the bodies. They could use the bullets and be led right to us."

"As you are well aware…" said a new voice, stopping the soldier from responding. A second human figure, wearing a back suit and crimson tie, came into the light. "Your kind has not developed firearms, and I doubt they will anytime in the near future. Their attempt to catch us was pitiful, and they paid the price. Keep working, and report to me once all the crates are in storage."

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." the Spetsnaz soldier and the Equestrian replied. As the suited man returned to the darkness, the human soldier helped bring the last crate in. As the area became cloaked in silence, the human in the suit smirked, a rare expression of emotion.

"The Equestrians thought they had seen the last of me...not anymore. Soon, I'll set this world and Earth ablaze, and turn this pitiful "cold war"...into a furnace. Just you wait and see, Celestia...just you wait."

Author's Note

Yeah, Black Ops - Cold war is here. I actually chalked up an hour of play earlier, and it is quite like my favorite COD, the original Black Ops. So, I finished this chapter as a result.

And yes, the man in the suit is the former King Sombra, but he's become far more deadly and powerful...and I'm not just talking about magic, if you get what I mean.

Next time - CIA Agent "Dragonfly" delivers a report to Hudson and Weaver, and the crew (Mason, Woods, Bell, Simms, Park, Adler, and the Requiem Strike Team) learn of their newest target, the arms dealer known as the Emissary.