When Swift was told how she would be making her way into Equestria, her first guess as to the method was decidedly not getting launched out of a submarine while inside a torpedo. She had thought she might be jumping from a plane, or taking an easily sunk boat to a remote part of the Equestrian coastline, or even anything just slightly less insane than what was happening at the moment. It could’ve been worse, if only a little, she supposed. They could’ve sent her in a missile.

She couldn’t see out of the repurposed explosive at all, but the techs had promised her that she’d get onto the pier. She just had to trust that they’d done their job well enough to get her there in one piece. The fact that they’d measured just about everything about her before the modifications was not helping her doubt in the slightest. They were probably just doing that so they could get away with making the fewest changes possible. It's not like they even pretended to install a safety harness or anything.

The seams were welded back together over her prone form when they had reached final approach on the harbor. Evidently, she would be cutting her own way out of the capsule. The only other thing in the compartment was an oxygen mask helpfully provided so she wouldn’t asphyxiate halfway to shore.

After a few more minutes with just the soft hum of the electric motor for company, the torpedo tilted up sharply. Swift was thrown against the back of the cramped compartment as ballast was expelled and buoyancy soared. Suddenly, the acceleration stopped and Swift’s stomach dropped out from under her.

The landing left much to be desired. The metal hull crashed against the concrete of the docks, and released a terrible screeching as the two ground each other down and mashed her face into the bottom of the compartment.

As soon as the rumbling stopped, Swift started cutting her way out. While it was true that most ponies would be hiding away right now she needed to move fast before either the city guard or some other nosy pony found her. She kicked the small cutout up and away and tossed her briefcase out of the hole before jumping out herself. Her ears were greeted by the loud droning of a watch siren blaring out across Manehattan Bay.

She couldn’t see anybody in the vicinity, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a force about to appear from behind the brick storehouses blocking her sight lines.

There were many small chunks of metal and concrete scattered everywhere on the pier around and behind the torpedo. Fortunately for her, the area was only lit by a dim yellow glow coming from a few intermittently placed lamps and the few bright stars that could be seen in the moonless night sky. She’d be able to see anyone coming close before they saw her. Further out on the water a few boats were starting to burn as whichever boarding parties were successful destroyed the opposing vessels.

Looks like the griffins have the upper cla-hoof in this engagement. Hopefully they aren’t here to raid though. I don’t need more people chasing me through the streets.

Swift ran around to the front of the torpedo and began pushing it into the shallow waters of the dock, where it would wait for her signal to detonate the sensitive materials onboard the techs didn’t rip out when they converted it. Although the rut it had formed wasn’t too deep, it had exposed a rougher surface that Swift was now struggling to push against. The friction wore on the already abused metal, but thankfully the weapon was both built sturdy and a little bit quieter going back across the concrete than it had been coming in.

When the vessel started to tip backwards into the water, Swift gave it one final push and looked down. She saw the splash when the torpedo sank was surprisingly small, but Swift didn’t want to linger. The longer she stayed in one place the higher the chances were that she was found. She could also definitely make out a light and voices getting closer from the far end of the docks.

Swift galloped over into the shadows between the dockside warehouses, briefcase in tow. Looking over her shoulder she could see the squad completely now. There were two pegasi with spears and a unicorn following her not twenty meters back. They were gaining on her, but slowly.

“Halt! Stop resisting and-“

“Save your breath Spring, they’re not giving up".

“Don’t worry cap! I’ve got this!” Yelled pegasus two.

Seconds later a bright flash backlit the entire scene around her, and Swift dived to the left. In her peripheral she saw a pale blue light smash into the cart beside her. The air around her cooled rapidly, and ice erupted from the cart in all directions sending her sliding into a wall.

Swift stumbled forward despite the impact, but the loss of control had cost her the lead she had over the pegasi.

She ran through the wide but clogged passages between the storage buildings. At the next intersection she darted left and then right again when she got the opportunity. The rune lights of the ponies above her illuminated the way, but only barely. Everywhere tools, crates, and carts were strewn all over the ground, straining her ability to maintain her pace and dodge around all of the obstacles.

She jumped over a crate in front of her and ducked low as she saw a grey spell bolt fly over her head and fly off into the night sky. Right. I’m in Equestria; the Land of Magic. Of course some stupid port guard can cast two combat spells and keep chasing me. Why would I ever think otherwise?

Soon she would reach the housing district outside the docks. She could actually see the divide just a little bit ahead. At some predetermined line the brick buildings rose up to three stories and their walls became strapped with small, dirty, windows and rusted fire escapes. The side streets bloomed all along the main avenue and instead of being filled with crates and tools were instead covered in graffiti and broken glass.

With one last look back, Swift didn’t see the unicorn or his light anywhere in the shadows behind her. Hmph. Maybe he couldn’t keep pace after that second spell after all. She kept running anyways.

Swift heard the whooshing of air over wings and whipped her head forward to face the noise. She had only barely enough time to deflect the spear point up and away from her throat with her metal case, but not enough to dodge the pony wielding it.

The impact sent the both of them sprawling backwards across the street. She tried to flare out her wings to gain some control over her landing, but her current disguise didn’t have any. The guard landed on top of her barrel and wasted no time taking advantage of his position to rain blows down on her face. The cobbles dug into her back worse than any flat surface ever could, and far worse than the hard mats she’d had in the gym.

“Give up! You can’t get away now!”. It was the confident one from earlier who only ever seemed to yell. Maybe he can’t hear very well. I’m right here and he’s still screaming. Still, Swift wasn’t going to break out any retorts. She was going to have to discard the disguise once she reached the safe house and she’d rather not discard the voice along with it.

Off to the sides of where she was, Swift could barely see the spear and her case through her raised hooves and the sweat slipping down into her eyes. If I can get him off me and get—In one movement the guard surged through her hooves and clamped down on her throat.

Most ponies would’ve panicked in this position — actually almost all prey species did. When she went through training there was an actual week in the real world where everyone had taken turns getting pinned and choked and otherwise restrained by the instructors just to wean them off the instinct. The instructors had called it ‘Actionable Instruction for Duress Situations’, everyone else just called it AIDS. Nonetheless, the experience was, if not appreciated, useful here.

The guard wasn’t even putting that much effort into choking her, but that was probably mostly perspective. The pressure that would be required to crush a regular trachea would be far less than the metal replacement she had.

Swift barely noticed the force pushing down on her lessen as the guard reached back with a wing and started fumbling around with one of his saddlebags. Inside she could hear the clacking of wingbinding clips and the clinking of hoofcuffs as his primaries struggled with the brass buckle keeping them closed.

Convinced that she was more than a little preoccupied with not being able to breathe, the guard looked back at the latch for just a second. In the moment he looked away, Swift released her grip on the guard’s left leg and punched up into the side of his neck, shaking his grip on her. The guard wobbled for a moment before she twisted her hips beneath him and rolled away.

Immediately she jumped to her hooves and made a beeline for her case. Just behind her she could hear heavy breathing and the clinking of mail and metal on stone. Suddenly the racket was replaced by the flapping of wings. Swift redoubled her efforts herself ahead of the pegasus. If she could end the fight quickly she might be able to flee the area before any more guards found her.

Swift bit down on the case’s handle and felt her flat teeth gouge into the well sanded wood of the bite guard. Immediately she planted her forehooves and kicked back behind her before momentum carried her forward into a summersault. Her hooves landed squarely on her opponent’s jaw with a crack, and sent her sprawling onto her back.

Letting go of the case, Swift rolled up into a low crouch and looked at her opponent. The sight brought Swift both elation and dread, but she quickly smothered the emotions behind a mask of calm professionalism. The good part was that the guard had fallen unconscious, which wasn’t very surprising given how hard the blow was. She also saw his barrel rise and fall as he breathed, which was great. The concerning part was the amount of blood coming out of the crater in his jaw.

She trotted over to the one saddlebag she could get to without moving the pony’s back and pulled out everything inside. She’d found herself with a small first aid bag, a couple of different colored flares with a launcher, and an apple.

First she pried his lips apart and pulled the jaw into some semblance of a normal shape from the inside. Then, from the bag she took a wad of gauze and wrapped the apple in it and stuffed the whole thing into the guard’s face.

Swift stood up and grabbed the red flare. After a few seconds of waiting she didn’t see or hear any of the other guards. She looked down again at the flare gun then up to the injured pony in front of her and sighed at her hesitation. “You came here to protect your friends, to be a better person, and look! You’ve already mauled somepony bleeding into unconsciousness,” she paused, “No. Don’t look at this like that — he’s alive and you’re free. That’s the best you could’ve hoped for out of this”. I’m still a monster though. Always and forever, her thoughts whispered.

Swift lifted the barrel skyward and pulled the trigger. She didn’t wait to see what happened next. She ran off into the alleys and side streets of Manehattan’s dockside district, and she kept running long after the red light in the sky had burnt itself out.

***

“Captian Boulder, are you okay? I saw you fall down there after the slowing spell.” Everyone in the force knew he shouldn’t have been doing this anymore. Really none of them should’ve, most of them hadn’t even finished training yet and were doing quasi-apprenticeships with ponies with experience.

“It’s — I’m fine Spring,” he panted, “just exhausted. I don’t, ah, have the stamina I used to.” He wouldn’t have blamed Boulder if he stopped there and took a break, yet he kept walking. Spring liked that about the light blue unicorn; it made working under him a lot more pleasant than some of the more surly officers.

“I saw Spark fly off to the right before I dropped down. I’ll go give backup if he needs it. This spy seems to be more prepared than what the Griffins usually send.”

“No, stick with me. Like you said, the pony we’re chasing is better than most that the department has caught recently. If we move in one by one we’re putting ourselves in greater danger than if we go —” Boulder cut himself off as a red flare lit up the sky just a street or two away. “— together.” He finished.

They bolted towards the street under the light with nothing but the knowledge that whatever had happened, it probably wasn’t good.

Author's Note

Have a good night and a happy New Year!