Chapter Five: In Which Some Things Are Sorta Explained

Shining woke slowly, his thoughts swimming and blending, his mind muddled and hazy, his body feeling none too good. He shifted his shoulders and suddenly realized he could barely move an inch either way. Blinking to help his eyes adjust, Shining tried taking stock of his surroundings.

He was looking at a ceiling. A ceiling high above himself and the color of teal.

“Well, look who finally decided to join us.” said a voice.

Shining felt his world shift as he was suddenly brought up into a standing position. Well, he would be standing if he wasn’t tied to a table.

He could see the room clearly now. He was in Cadance’s office, but instead of Cadance sitting behind the big desk, he saw the foal sitter from before, dressed in a brown long coat. What was her name?

“Juno Eclipse, Captain Armor.” the pegasus said, her previous normal accent forgone for her actual, cool Trottingham accent. “Ex-Night-Guard.”

“I have some business to discuss with you.”

Juno got out of the chair and walked over to Shining.

“Listen, Captain,” she said in an almost breathy voice, sounding like she was trying to seduce him. “I have a problem that you and only you can help me with.”

“Yeah, is that why you’ve tied me to a table?” Shining deadpanned. “Kinky.”

Juno smirked, but the humor didn’t reach her eyes. “No Captain Armor, I’m afraid that isn’t what I’ve come here for. What I’ve come here for is your reputation and access.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“I need you to go to Canterlot, enter the Night-Guard’s headquarters, and plant a package there for me. They know you. They trust you. You won’t have a problem.”

“Why?”

“Those details are not important. These, however, are.”

Juno took a step back as Shining was suddenly turned so he could see Cadance and Chrysalis tied to two chairs and gagged.

“Here’s the situation, Captain.” Juno whispered in his ear. “If you don’t do this job for me, I’ll kill them both.”

Cadance and Chrysalis looked shaken and Juno grinned. This was too ea-

Shining began laughing loudly.

Juno jumped back, having stood too close to the unicorn and having had her ears assaulted by his mirth.

“Ha!” Shining cried. “You actually think I give a diamond dog’s left butt cheek about these two? One fed off my emotions and nearly killed me and the other cheated on me with the former. You killing them would be like a favor!”

Juno recoiled for a moment but quickly regained her composer. She still had her backup.

“Well if they mean nothing, perhaps this is of more value.”

Juno nodded towards somepony outside Shining’s field of vision and stepped back. A unicorn mare wearing a grey suit and a grey ski mask walked into his sight hold Lovebug tightly. The filly struggled against her captor, however ineffectively. Cadance and Chrysalis strained against their bindings.

“This lovely lady is Masque Espion.” Juno explained. “She’s here to motivate you.”

Masque suddenly pulled a butterfly knife from her pocket, rapidly unfolding it and held the blade against Lovebug’s throat.

Chrysalis and Cadance’s struggles doubled as they shouted, muffled by the gags in their mouths. Shining gulped.

“It’s simple, Captain. We hold all the cards. If you don’t cooperate, we shred them.”

Shining sighed and hung his head. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Juno smiled like a shark. “Wonderful.” she nodded to Masque, who put away her knife with a look of disappointment. “Now, Bennett will explain the rest to you downstairs. This whole thing shouldn’t take more than a day. And when it’s over, you’ll all be back together safe and sound.”

Liar. Shining thought.

“Sounds reasonable.” he said.

Somepony behind him sliced the ropes holding him up, dropping him to the ground. Rising, Shining made his way to the door, but paused just before exiting. He looked over his shoulder at Juno.

“If anything, anything at all, happens to my family, I will come back and I will kill you. If you run, I’ll chase. If you hide, I’ll search. If you fight, I’ll fight harder. You won’t escape.”

Shining didn’t wait for her reply.

******

Crystal Tower Offices

5:30 PM

“Take the gags out.” Juno said to Masque after Shining left.

The mare handed off Lovebug to Juno and using her knife sliced the gags from behind the mare’s necks, nearly cutting them in the process. Both gasped as the gags dropped away and both glared daggers at Juno, who sat on the desk, cradling Lovebug.

“Monster!” Chrysalis spat.

Juno nodded to Masque, who promptly smacked Chrysalis.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Cadance shouted, struggling against her bindings.

Juno smiled. “We will be as civil as you allow us.” she said while she fussed with Lovebug’s hair.

Cadance glared at her. The alicorn’s horn began glowing before suddenly popping and fizzling out. “What did you do to my magic?” she demanded.

“Simple, we switched your regular coffee cream with a specially made one laced with a poison that cancels out unicorn magic. Side effects include mood swings and odd cravings if mixed with coffee.” Juno giggled. “That worked rather well with you suddenly firing your nanny.”

Cadance blinked. “My coffee? Mood swings? This is all your fault!”

Juno nodded.

Chrysalis growled and her twisted horn began lighting up with magic before it to popped and fizzled.

“Of course we made sure to give you each a dose while you were out.”

“So what’s this all about?” Cadance asked.

Juno sighed and handed Lovebug back to Masque as she walked over to Cadance. Leaning close, she whispered. “If I told you, it would spoil the fun.”

Smirking, Juno took back Lovebug, who was still struggling as best she could, and left the office, nodding to Masque. The ski masked mare nodded back and sat on Cadance’s desk, idling playing with her knife as she stared at Cadance and Chrysalis.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Chrysalis asked her.

“Whomever I need to be.” she said, her Prench accent thick. She then smiled at Chrysalis. “Although, I must say I enjoyed being you.”

Chrysalis scowled. “Truth was with me last I remember. Where is she? What have you done with her.”

Masque took her time taking a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it with a silver lighter she took from the opposite pocket. The took a long drag from it and then leaned forward to blow the smoke in Chrysalis’s face. The changeling went into a coughing fit as Masque just leaned back.

“She is somewhere where she can cause no trouble.” the unicorn said as she began slicing a peach with her knife.

******

Truth’s head whipped around as the door opened. A single pair of hooves clopped on the floor as a pink pegasus Truth initially mistook for Cadance entered holding Lovebug in her hooves.

“Here,” the mare said, her accent pegging her for one that hailed from Trottingham. “I do believe you are the nanny.”

Truth mutely accepted Lovebug, who had been struggling in the other mare’s grasp. She calmed down as her little black eyes settled on the changeling’s face.

“I’m afraid she doesn’t like me much.” the mare said playfully.

“What’s going on?” Truth asked the mare.

The mare’s voice suddenly became cold. “Nothing that needs concern you.” She turned and left the room, the door slamming and clicking locked behind her.

Truth stared at the door for a moment before Lovebug’s coos brought her attention back to the filly.

“Hush little one. Everything is going to be fine.”

*******

Juno made sure to lock the door securely. She tucked key into her overcoat as she walked away. One of her stallions, Two Guns, greeted her at the end of the hallway.

“Sir.” the black-clad stallion nodded as he fell into step beside her.

“How’s securing the building going?” Juno asked.

“The building is ours, sir. All the civilians have been rounded up and secured on the thirty-first floor. Teams have completed their sweeps and all other floors are empty of personnel.”

“Number of civilians?”

“Thirty exactly. Not counting the high values.”

“And guard response?”

“They’ve surrounded the building but seem unsure of what to do. Theo says he’ll be able to get ears on them soon.”

“Good.” Juno said as she pushed open a door. “Get back to that hallway and guard that room. If the nanny wants anything you call two more in for back up before you even talk to her. Got that?”

Two Guns nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Juno nodded and continued forward. She entered a large open room with several tables piled high with food and drink. A few hallways branched off, leading to the stairs or offices. Several ponies, most armed, milled about, idly chatting or eating.

Juno rolled her eyes and sucked in a breath. “Lock! Load! Front and center!” she shouted.

Everypony in the room jumped and immediately began going about like they were actually doing something. Two near identical stallions came forward, each gunmetal grey with oil black manes and tails. They had a splotch of bronze over either their left or right eye. Their cutie marks were matching bullets. When they stood next to each other, it gave one the impression of a pony in front of a mirror.

“Yes, Boss?” they said in unison.

“Show me what kind of armaments you’ve procured.”

The twins nodded and walked over to a table that had been cleared of food and drink. Several metal cases stacked beside the table. Lock, who had the splotch on his right eye, moved behind the table while Load, who’s splotch adorned his left eye, stood in front. As one they began opening the cases and placing their contents on the table as they listed them off.

“We’ve gotten all the best goodies, Boss.” Lock said. “We’ve got your silencers."

“Your loudeners.” Load added.

“Your grenades.”

“Your bandoliers.”

“Your huge ass magazines.”

“Your rifles.”

“Your shotguns.”

“Your scopes.”

“Your chewing gum.” Lock held up the flavored rubber.

“And this is for shooting down helicopters.” Lock said as he hefted a larger launcher with the cone-shaped rocket sitting in the end.

Juno smiled. “Oh, I don’t think we’ll need that one just yet, but it’s good to have it. Good work boys. Here, have a cookie.” she pulled the pastry from her pocket and tossed it to the two, who began scrabbling to get it before the other.

Why bother when they were surrounded by other treats? Well, when they had first taken over the building, Juno had stolen all the good cookies for herself.

Juno smirked at the brothers and began striding over to the elevator. She entered and pressed the button for the floor she wanted: floor thirty-eight. What’s on floor thirty-eight?

“Computor and Vault.” a cool automated voice stated.

Juno exited the elevator and navigated her way through the maze of humming technology until she found her techie, who was busy tapping away at a keyboard.

“Got anything for me, Theo?” she asked.

Theoretical, or Theo for short, looked up from the screen he had been watching. He was a short and thin sky blue unicorn with a pair of gold rimmed glasses perched on his nose. His cutie mark was a book and pencil.

“I’ve got about three levels of encryption and a SpitfireWall with about five or so ‘fail-safes’.” he made the quote with his hooves. “And after that I’ve still got around four links to find and lock down so they can’t be interrupted as well as introduce a virus to mask our tracks and wipe the security footage when we’re done."

Juno stared at the unicorn and then just shook her head. “In equestrian, Theo.”

The unicorn sighed. “In about an hour, I’ll own everything on this side of the op.”

Juno smiled and patted Theo on the back. “Good boy.”

“Less if I have the pass code.” he nagged.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Juno got up and began making her way out of the room.

Thing were going ever so smooth so far.

Author's Notes:

So anyway, Zecora will be in the next chapter.....