Journey Into Darkness

They found a wagon behind the library and, though it wasn't in mint condition, he assured her it would fit their needs nicely.  She helped him into the harness and followed him down the street to the Everfree Forest.  They walked in silence for a while and it wasn't until they were well past Sweet Apple Acres when Twilight began to ask the questions that had been bothering her, “Where are you from?”

“Ganymede is one massive metropolis and, while we possess no magic like Equestrians, our technology is unsurpassed.  As such, we've taken it upon ourselves to protect and defend the denizens of less-advanced systems, such as Equestria.  Equus Sapiens, while being an intelligent and sentient race, are generally unaware of the other races and systems in your portion of galaxy.”

“If you've taken it upon yourselves to protect us less-advanced beings, how is it that all of this escaped your notice until now?”

“Well, think about it.  Do you have the ability to predict crimes?”

“No.”

“Neither do we.  For all of our technology and abilities, we never know that there's going to be a problem until one arises, at which time we work as quickly as we can to correct the issue and make sure another never occurs again.”

“How do you do that?”

“Usually, after an incident, an agent will be stationed on-site to prevent anything further.”

“Does that mean, after you're done, you'll be staying here?”

“It's a strong possibility.  Why do you ask?”

She shook her head, “Just curious.”

The heat around Sherloch's shuttle had dissipated over the night and she had no problem approaching it.  Sherloch adopted his human form and slipped from the harness without bothering to unbuckle it.  She followed him to the entrance, what he referred to as an airlock.  With a loud click and hiss, it opened, revealing a messy, dimly-lit, and cramped space within.  Ever curious, Twilight wandered in, her hooves clanking loudly against the metal floor.

Sherloch busied himself in the back of the shuttle, gathering whatever equipment he needed while Twilight perched in one of two chairs in the front and began to poke around.  A small lever-like construction was bolted to the floor but, she discovered upon nudging it, it was actually quite loose and wiggled a bit.  Screens, buttons, and gauges covered the console before her and, experimentally, she pressed one of the buttons, a large green one.

The shuttle suddenly came to life as lights on the console flashed first green, then yellow, and finally, red.  The high-pitched whine from the night before returned as several other lights above her head began to flash red.  There was a loud pop as sparks began to fly.  Startled, she yelped and tried to edge away, torn between fear of what she had done and wonder at what would happen next.

Sherloch appeared next to her and opened a tiny compartment by the seat.  He gripped the red lever inside and slammed it into the down position.  Immediately, all of the lights on the console winked out and the noise died away.  He turned to glare at her and she lowered her ears, blushed, and grinned sheepishly.

“Don't touch anything.”  He said in a stern voice.

Twilight's blush deepened.  She hadn't been spoken to like that since Princess Celestia had found out she had used a rather potent love spell to manipulate the citizens of Ponyville.  She didn't have her ignorance or desperation to blame for her actions now and that make the embarrassment all the worse.

“Right,” she confirmed, climbing down from the chair, “I'll just...be outside...waiting.”

“Very good.”

She sat under a tree as he carried out armloads of equipment, some of which she had never seen before.  She recognized the cameras but she didn't know what to make of the large black boxes or shimmering glass plates that he loaded into the wagon, “What are those?”

“Surveillance equipment.”  He replied simply. “Monitors, Computer Towers, Photovoltaic panels.”

“And those are?”

“Photovoltaic panels absorb solar energy, energy from the sun...”

“I know what solar energy is.”

“...and transfer it into electrical energy, allowing me to power my equipment.”

“But what do you do when there is no direct solar energy to power your equipment?”

From inside the wagon, he withdrew a heavy silver box, “A battery, for storing power.”

“You know, we may not be as technologically advanced as you humans, but that doesn't mean we're completely backwards.  We do have some technologies.”  She pointed out.

He frowned a bit as he stared at her.  Finally, he returned the battery to the wagon, “My apologies.  I'm used to dealing with races as advanced or more so than the humans.  To deal with a less-advanced species is kind of a culture shock.  I don't mean to offend but I don't know what technologies you do possess.”

Twilight took a deep breath, “We have cranes and welding torches, windmills and...”

“Let me stop you right there.”  Sherloch held up a hand to stop her, staring up at the sky.  “The weather looks like it's going to turn.”

She stomped a hoof, “That's right, the pegasus ponies did have a storm scheduled for today.  I  completely forgot.  We should go.”

“Scheduled weather patterns, how interesting.  I would like to know more but, you're right, we should go.  This equipment is sensitive and the rain would damage it.”

l-l-l-l

The first rain drops had started to fall by the time Sherloch had set the last of his equipment and supplies in the library.  He sat down and began to sort through it all, counting each bit as he went.  His Computer towers, of which there were five, went into one pile.  His monitors were set into another.  Boards of letters were stacked before him  Twilight brought several tables for him to set the equipment upon and he handed her a stack of Photovoltaic plates with the instructions to carefully carry them to a corner of the door.

She saw that he had returned to his human form and was attaching wires between the towers and the monitors.  The boards of letters were set before of each monitor  and was attached to the adjacent tower.  A final set of wires ended in the battery but nothing was attached to the battery to power it

He glanced at her, “As soon as it stops raining, I'm going to set up those solar panels.  Then, we can get to work.  While we wait.  Why don't we have something to eat?  If I recall correctly, you didn't eat more than a few mouthfuls for breakfast this morning and I haven't eaten anything.”

Twilight's stomach growled in response and she blushed again, “I guess I am a little hungry.”

He smiled and began digging in a large box, finally withdrawing a pair of large brown packages and a canteen of water.  He tossed one of the packages to Twilight.

“What is this?”

“Remember those Meals Ready-to-Eat that I mentioned?  That's one of them.  Red beans and rice with cheese, wheat bread, and peanut butter.  Over three thousand calories, more than enough to satisfy the largest human.”

“And what about ponies?”

“I'm certain that you'll find it meets your needs well.”

“What do you have?”

“Meatloaf in brown gravy.”  He replied, opening the package.

“Meat?  How could you eat meat?  Why harm another creature just to satisfy your own hunger when there are plenty of plants and grasses you could eat?”

“You wouldn't understand.  Human physiology dictates that we must consume meat to satisfy our need for the mineral, iron, and the necessary amount of protein our diet requires.  I know that iron and protein can be found in plants in larger quantities but, the enamel  that covers our teeth is too thin to allow us to eat plants constantly.  Our teeth would wear down faster and we would, eventually, starve to death.  As such, we must have a varied diet of vegetables, fruits, grains and meat in order to keep at our best health.”

Twilight snorted.  She was beginning to like humans in general, and this human specifically, less and less.  She watched the way he heated the packet containing the main dish and listened to his instructions carefully.  She slid the packet into the heating bag and carefully added the water.  The predicted chemical reaction began almost immediately and the bag began to heat and steam.  She waited until he signaled her before she opened the bag and removed her packet.  Carefully, she tore open the packet.  Inside was a slab of something that looked nothing like the described red beans and rice.

“Are you sure this is beans and rice?”

“That's what was written on the packet.  Give it a try.”

She hesitated before taking a tiny bite of the slab and chewing thoughtfully.  Much to her surprise, it actually tasted quite good.  She took a second bite, then a third, and, then, it was gone.  She looked about her, wondering if it had slipped from her hooves but it was nowhere to be found.

“Something wrong?”

“It's gone.”  She replied, sounding somewhat disheartened.

He laughed, “You don't have to sound so depressed.  It's not the end of the world.  Try the cheese, it's even better.”

She found the small packet and immediately used her teeth to tear it open.  Holding it with her magic, she squirted the soft delectable treat directly into her mouth.  She repeated the process with the peanut butter and, finally, the dry, dense, slice of bread.

She fell back and curled her legs against her distended belly.  For her, this was a large meal which had quite satiated her hunger.

“Better?”

She belched loudly in response.

“I'll take that as a yes.”  Sherloch replied with a wry smile.

She giggled and rolled on her side, “That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it.”  He replied sarcastically.

“I'm sorry.  I meant...”

“I know what you meant.  While it isn't the best gourmet fare, it is palatable and appetizing.  It's a purposeful food, designed to keep soldiers going in the field for long periods of time.  They can be kept in the worst conditions for the longest time and still be as edible as the day they were made.  Take these for instance.  How old do you think these two particular MREs are?”

She shrugged, “A few weeks?”

“I received these when I first enlisted in Ganymede's military, nearly twenty years ago.”

She froze, her eyes slowly drifting to her stomach, waiting for the tell-tale quivers of illness.

“Don't worry.  The package was sealed up until you opened it so it hasn't been contaminated in any way, shape, or form.  Trust me, little pony, despite it's age, it is perfectly safe to consume.”

“All the same, I do hope I don't wake up tomorrow with my head in the toilet.”

“Unfortunately, we won't be sleeping much tonight.  There is far too much work to be done.  We have to set up surveillance cameras all throughout the town , which I really need your assistance on.  We need good locations to place these cameras where they will be both hidden and have a wide visual range.”

Twilight trotted to a corner of the library and withdrew a rolled bit of paper.  She returned to Sherloch and spread the paper over a table, “This is a map of Ponyville.”  She motioned to the hoof-draw icon of a tree, “We're here.  In the center of the square, here,” she moved her hoof, “is a fountain.  It's not very tall but there's nothing near it so the camera will have a three hundred and sixty degree view of the entire square.  Here,”  Her hoof moved again, “is the Town Hall.  The pinnacle is over ten meters in height.  That would be a good spot, don't you think?”

Together, they went over the entire map, marking off areas that might be good for mounting his cameras.  Outside, the rain gradually slowed and stopped.  Sherloch noticed this and pulled another of his odd-looking devices from his saddlebags.  Twilight took up the map and followed him out into the town.

The storm had chased the other ponies, including the guards inside so the town was practically abandoned.  They moved about unhindered and unknown by the populace.

“How difficult will it be to hide these cameras?”  She asked him

He pulled something small from the device and held it out for her inspection.  The camera was roughly the size of a bottle cap and included a small antenna for transmitting images back to the computers at the library.  He returned the camera to the device and levitated it.  With a hiss, the device launched the camera through the air, where it collided with the top of the fountain and stuck fast.  Watching where the camera landed closely, she noticed a tiny red light begin to dimly flash.  She was dumbstruck.  Nopony would ever notice it up there unless they landed directly atop the fountain  and knew what to look for.

She followed him to the various points they had marked off, marveling each time he attached another of his cameras.  From the Town Hall to Carousel Boutique to Sweet Apple Acres, they attached their cameras.  At the farm, he chose the weathercock on the hayloft atop the barn.  He returned to his human form and raised the camera launcher.  Moving about, he muttered to himself, trying to check his angles.

Finally, he returned to her, “I can't get a good angle for a launch.  I need to get up there.”

“I'll see if I can find a ladder.”

“No need.  There's a school of thought that states we humans evolved from apes.  Apes are the best climbers on our mother planet of Earth so it makes sense that I'm able to do this.”  Immediately, he turned and leaped into the air.  He clung to the drainpipe and quickly scaled it, making not a sound.  He swung onto the roof and fired his launcher before leaping to the ground, he rolled, returning  to his pony form before he was on his hooves.

Twilight realized that her mouth was hanging open and closed it, “That was amazing!  How did you do that?”

He quickly hushed her, “Keep your voice down.  Do you want to wake up all of Ponyville?”

Her ears dropped, “Sorry.  But, still, how did you do that?”

“Years of practice.”  He replied, taking off at a trot.

She followed behind, “Are we done?  What do we do now?”

“Now that all of the cameras are in place, we wait.  Before we pack it in for the night, I'm going to set up proximity alarms around the library as an extra security measure.”

“I could erect a shield around it, if need be.”

“I'd rather you didn't unless we absolutely had to.  I don't want the populace to be too worried.  Besides, I'm not sure if your magical shield will affect the cameras' transmissions or not.  I'd rather not take the chance.”

She nodded in understanding.  Once back at the library, he picked up four assemblies, black boxes on stakes, and went outside.  She followed him back outside and watched as he set up the sensors, one on each corner of the library's property, “Is there any chance something small, like an squirrel or a bird, might set them off.”

“No.  Their set to ignore anything weighing less than fifty pounds.  If a pony or...something else...steps between any two of these sensors, it will trip an alarm.”

As he turned to go inside, she watched the way he moved, the way the muscles rippled beneath his coat.  A hot blush crept up her cheeks and she fidgeted, pawing at the ground,“That's enough, Twilight Sparkle,” she chastised herself quietly.  “He's a human, not your type, not even a pony.  He probably has some kind of disease that's deadly to ponies.  He's probably not even interested in you.  Get those thoughts out of your head."

“Did you hear me?”  He asked, suddenly appearing in front of her.

She shook her head, “Sorry, I was kinda lost in my own thoughts there.”

He rolled his eyes in annoyance, obviously not used to repeating himself, “We have a few hours until sunrise.  I recommend we get some rest.”

She sighed heavily, banishing the sudden thought of sweaty intertwined bodies and a distinctive lack of rest, “Right.”

He frowned briefly, noticing something in the tone of her voice.  But, he shrugged it off with a grunt and turned, going back inside.

Twilight sighed again.  Was this how lonely she was that she would look at a male of another species, an alien species, and be aroused?  How pathetic was that?

She knew it was pathetic.  But that didn't change how lonely she was.