Canterlot, Capital City of Equestria
Fairway Plaza, Midtown

9:15 PM

Clop…clop…clop…clop…

A lone Solar Guardspony walked the streets on this night, with the echo of his own hoofsteps on the cobblestone street his only companion. Night patrol wasn’t a bad task per se, the Guardspony thought, it was just….unnerving to be alone in the dark, with his javelin and dagger as his only defense.

This Guardspony, a unicorn by the name of Azure Eyes, certainly would’ve preferred to be in his bunk, tucked in under a warm blanket with a soft pillow to rest his head on. However, he had drawn the short end of the straw tonight, and was assigned night patrol until ten o’clock PM. Even though it was only another forty-five minutes, he was starting to get a little frustrated at how slow things were going on this evening.

Grimacing, Azure Eyes kicked a stray piece of cobblestone to the side with his hoof, and looked up at the cloudy night sky. The dark clouds had persisted from a scheduled rainstorm earlier in the day, and he was sincerely hoping that it wouldn’t rain again on his way back.

Then, there was a series of rapid but faint rattling sounds, coming from his left side. Azure Eyes’s ears twitched at this, and he moved cautiously towards the source of the sound, a dark alleyway bordering on a tavern, devoid of activity.

Azure Eyes would’ve moved on, but something then made him pause. He could hear more faint noises coming from the alleyway, and he slowly readied his dagger. In the shadowed corner, he could see light coming from one of the wooden side doors. He drew closer and closer, drawing himself to the other side of the door to eavesdrop on the inhabitants, whose voices he could now hear clearly.

”I must admit…” a posh, refined voice said with approval. “The performance of these weapons exceeded my expectations. How many more of them can you provide?”

“This is all you get for now.” a second voice replied. It was masculine, with a tough, muscular tone to it. “Once you prove your value to the higher-ups, we’ll supply you with whatever you need as quickly as you need it. Until that happens, you’ll have to make do.”

“I see. Does your employer, this…Pant…” the first voice said, only for the second voice to cut it off sharply with a shushing noise.

“Ah, right. Does your employer…know how I may prove my worth?” The first one continued.

“Do what you’re told, and you won’t have to worry about a thing.” The second voice replied. “Now, are you certain you weren’t followed?”

The first voice scoffed loudly. “Absolutely. Not that it matters, anyway. With your resources and mine combined, we can bring about a new age in Equestria. One of strength, resilience, and absolute authority.’

”One thing at a time.” The second voice chastised. “We’ll be in touch….hold up.”

“What is it?”

Azure Eyes scrambled to conceal himself behind a pile of crates as the door swung open. Standing there was a tall, bipedal being, wearing green and gray clothing. A black, heavy-looking vest was worn over its shirt, with several unknown objects of various shapes and sizes attached to it. Clutched in its claws was a metal object, shaped like an L, with a black cylinder on one end.

Azure Eyes covered his mouth and dove down, hoping that the being hadn’t seen him. The being looked around for a few moments, like a hawk searching for a mouse, before it placed the object it carried into a holster. Azure Eyes took in a shaky breath, and peeked out to the side.

Next to enter the alley was an Equestrian, and judging by stature it was a unicorn stallion. Though he was wearing a cloak, and his face was covered, the image of his Cutie Mark, a Sun surrounded by flame, was only partially covered. Azure Eyes’s jaw dropped as he realized who it was. With a suppressed shudder, Azure Eyes sheathed his dagger and continued to watch.

“There’s nothing out here.” Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia, said with a huff. “Shall we continue our business?”

Azure Eyes breathed in and out, and he slowly began to move away from the crates towards the other end of the alley. As his hooves treaded ever so quietly, he could see the light of a streetlamp in the distance.

Suddenly, two muffled cracks erupted from behind him, and Azure Eyes fell to the ground, blood pooling from the back of his head and down his neck. The biped walked over to the crumpled form of the Guardspony, and then turned back to Prince Blueblood with a raised eyebrow of suspicion.

“You said you weren’t followed.”

“He must’ve been on night patrol. I know for a fact I wasn’t followed.”

“We’ll see.” The biped responded as he knelt down, looking at the two bullet holes in Azure Eyes’s helmet. “Looks like you need to clean up this mess before we proceed any further.”

As the Equestrian suppressed a shudder, the biped reentered the tavern, and with a brief flash of light, he was gone. Turning back to the body with his horn alight with magic, Prince Blueblood stowed the body in a nearby dumpster. Then, he sent a beam of light at the blood on the ground, scouring it away. With a satisfied huff, he teleported away.

However, a few moments later, Azure Eyes’s head and forelegs were thrown over the rim of the dumpster, as he struggled to orient himself. The impact from whatever he was it with hadn’t killed him, but it had rung his bell quite harshly.

With a fierce groan of pain, he lit his horn and sent up a flare-spell into the night sky, which exploded in a flash of white light, like a firework. Azure Eyes howled in pain as he pulled himself out of the dumpster and towards the plaza, dragging himself using only his front legs.

Thankfully, even through his distorted vision, he could see several sets of legs rushing towards him, and he could faintly hear his fellow Solar Guards calling out for a doctor. As he was hoisted up onto a stretcher, his right leg fell to the side before he slipped into unconsciousness.

====
Canterlot Hospital, Intensive Care Ward

Three hours later…

Princess Celestia, one of the two Royal Sisters of Equestria, looked on with uncertainty clear in her eyes, as Azure Eyes was wheeled out of the surgical ward to a recovery room down the hallway. While Azure Eyes’s helmet had spared him the worst, the impact ahd sent fragments of metal into the back of his head. While she had been assured that they looked worse than they appeared, Princess Celestia wasn’t so sure.

“Your highness?”

Celestia turned to see Doctor Verdant Glade, Canterlot’s best surgeon, walk towards her. His hospital scrubs were faintly stained with blood, and as he removed his gloves, he gave off a sigh.

“I have good news and bad news. Azure Eyes will live, but he’ll likely need physical therapy to recover fully.”

“And…the good news?”

“That was the good news.” Doctor Glade replied. “The bad news is that whatever weapon our mystery attacker used was powerful enough to shatter our Guardspony’s armor, and penetrate deep enough that it was dangerous to remove…whatever these things are, without risking further physical damage.”

Glade handed the Princess a pair of small metal objects. They were once perfectly conical, but had deformed slightly from the impact.

”There were no witnesses, I assume?” She asked after a few moments of inspecting the mystery objects.

“As far as we know, there were none.” Glade sighed. “If you’ll excuse me, Princess, I have other patients to attend to.”

”Very well.”

As Doctor Glade bowed before leaving, Princess Celestia sat down and exhaled deeply. It seemed to her that there was far more bad news than good. Along with the fact that their attacker’s identity was still unknown, things were not looking good on this particular day.

As she began to walk out of the hallway and towards the stairs that led to the main entrance, Princess Celestia’s mouth turned downwards into a deep frown, a rare show of her negative emotions. After Tirek’s defeat, she had done her very best to keep a passive and serene face for the public. In private, she still felt partially responsible for not dealing with Tirek herself, before he became a threat to all Equestria.

She knew it was wishful thinking, as Tirek had been stopped and reimprisoned in Tartarus by the Element Bearers, but it still weighed heavily on her that she was unable to protect her subjects by herself. She was truly grateful to have Twilight Sparkle and her friends as Equestria’s foremost defenders…but what did that leave for Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna?

As she exited the hospital, and began walking back towards the Royal Palace, she did her best to push those thoughts to the back of her mind. She was so lost in thought, that she didn’t notice the six Guardsponies that had begun to escort her arrive.

”Princess, are you alright?”

Celestia snapped herself back to reality, and assured the guard that had spoken that she was fine, but preoccupied by the attack.

“If I may speak freely…” the Guard replied. “You don’t look alright, Princess. It seems to me that something’s bothering you deeply, and I imagine that recent events haven’t helped much. You should get some rest.”

”Corporal, I think you should mind your mouth towards the Princess. You’re in no position to do so…” the lead guard said indignantly, only for the Princess to raise a hoof to stop him.

”With all due respect, the corporal was only looking out for my health, and making a proper observation.” she replied. “I find no fault in him for doing so.”

”My apologies.” The lead guard replied. “I didn’t mean to…”

“All is forgiven, my little pony.” Celestia nodded, doing her best to smile. “I will be in my chambers, and I would prefer not to be disturbed. Please divert all reports regarding to the attack to my sister or my secretary.”

“Yes, your highness.” The Guards replied as one. Princess Celestia teleported away in a flash of golden light, and the Guards began their walk back to the barracks. However, from a nearby balcony, Prince Blueblood watched this unfold with an air of distaste. The Pantheon’s emissary, Caine, had been very clear that there should not be any loose ends for them to deal with. Blueblood had already made certain that his alibi was airtight should he be questioned, and the weapons Caine had provided were securely stashed in his residence’s vault.

With a sniff of superiority, he headed back inside his manor, closing the doors behind him, but he barely concealed a devious smile.

“Soon, all Equestria will be in fear of me, and what I am capable of.” he thought. “I suppose I should play the part I have been given for now, but when the time comes…”

”I do hope to see my aunts off…personally.”

====
Planet Earth
Tara, Ireland, United Kingdom

About 0500 Hours…

As the sun rose over the rich, green fields and pastures, a gray van drove along a dirt path towards a large farm in the distance. Livestock of various kinds could be seen coming out of barns to graze, and a few fieldhands were also present to guide them.

Inside the gray van, a brown-haired man with a noticeable scar on his face, wearing tinted aviator sunglasses, turned the wheel to exit the roadway. His attire, a worn brown leather jacket with cargo pants and combat boots, certainly wouldn’t help him blend in should it be necessary.

The man at the wheel, CIA agent Russell Adler, came to a stop and parked the van, before turning off the engine with a flick of the keys.

”So, you’re sure he’s here?”

Adler turned to see fellow CIA agent Frank Woods, open the van doors before climbing into his wheelchair.

”Yeah, he’s here,”Adler replied. “Park’s kept tabs on him ever since he dropped off the radar, just in case we needed him again. She didn’t say what kind of welcome we’d be getting from him, though.”

Woods scoffed and rolled out of the van and onto the ground, the grass slick with dewdrops. After glancing around the area, he turned back to Adler with a raised eyebrow.

”Why’d he come all the way here, then?” Woods gave a light scoff. “To get a taste of the quiet life?”

“You could say that.”

Both Adler and Woods stopped at hearing the sound of a pistol being cocked from behind them. As they slowly turned around to face the new arrival, Adler gave a small smile.

“You’re a hard man to find, Bell.” he smirked. “But farming, really? A man with your talents?”

“It’s decent, peaceful work.” Jonathan Cameron, better known by his old CIA alias, Bell, replied, his 1911 still leveled at Adler’s head. “Why are you here? You should’ve realized that I’m not exactly fond of you guys anymore, not after what happened between us, Adler.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about that.” Adler replied. “I’m surprised you didn’t stay dead after I shot you in the shoulder.”

“Well, I lived. Ain’t that a bitch.” Bell replied, holstering his 1911. “What do you want?”

“We need you back, Bell.” Adler said. “We’ve got an opening on our team, and you’re the best option we have at the moment. It wasn’t easy finding you, just so you know.”

“Why’s there an opening in the first place?” Bell raised an eyebrow. “There’s plenty of people at the CIA.”

“Long story.” Woods interjected. “Did you see the news about the failed attack at the Capitol building?”

“I did.” Bell crossed his arms. “I take it you had some sway in that?”

“Yeah.” Adler sighed. “We did, and one of our team members gave everything he had to make sure of that. Look, despite all that happened between us during our hunt for Perseus, just know that we wouldn’t have come to get you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

Bell was silent for a few moments, but then he spoke quietly enough that only Adler and Woods could hear him.

“…I’m listening.”

====

“So…that’s the story.” Woods finished. “Pantheon may have lost its leader, but there’s still plenty of ‘em left out there, along with whoever formed it in the first place.”

Bell pursed his lips, thinking over what he had just heard. Thanks to Park, he knew that Jason Hudson was killed, Alex Mason was missing, presumed dead, and Woods had been crippled by a man named Menendez, but other than that, Bell was out of the loop.

Not only that, this Pantheon organization sounded worse than Perseus, if that was even possible. Granted, Pantheon hadn’t been on the cusp of obliterating half of Europe through Operation Greenlight like Perseus had been. Granted, Pantheon hadn’t gotten that far just yet, meaning there were still cards left for them to play.

Bell sighed loudly, and called over to Adler, who was smoking a cigarette nearby. After he extinguished it, Adler raised an eyebrow.

“So, are you in?” He asked, not knowing how Bell would respond. Thankfully, Bell sighed and extended his hand.

”I’m in.” Bell replied. “I take it that I’ll be briefed on the way?”

“Yep. Any further questions?” Woods asked.

“Just one.” Bell smiled. “What are we waiting for?”

Author's Note

And here, we, go!