Blaze the Pony Tale
Chapter 231: 224. The Loss of Faith - Part 7
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A couple of large crates appeared, each of them labeled ‘Hoofworks Limited’ with a logo of a metal mechanical hand shaking with a hoof.
“What’s all this?” Shining Armor asked, as he, a half a unit of guards, and two robed ponies all stood on a large open terrace, three pegasus chariots ready for takeoff.
They were all looking at Midnight, who’d made a large bubble of turquoise mana appear before poking it with his horn so it popped, to reveal these crates. He patted one of them before giving the team a smirk.
“Just a little insurance, from a good friend.”
“Hoofworks Limited…?”
Midnight peered around to see one of the guards, a pegasus named Spearhead, giving the label a closer look. He had a coat of tangelo orange, brilliant cyan eyes, his mane two shades of phthalo blue, and his cutie-mark was three spearheads.
“Score! Ain’t that the company of that inventor guy? I bought one of his vegetable peelers for my sis’s last birthday. He had some kind of slogan…?”
“Designed with hooves in mind,” Midnight recounted, the thoughts of his good friend lifting his spirits a little. “He is a genius! Which is why I commissioned from him the equipment in these crates a while back. Been saving them for just the right occasion.”
“What’s in them?” another guard hesitantly walked up, only for Midnight to bar his path with his wing.
“The contents of these crates are classified and their existence will remain secret,” Midnight stated, using his authoritative voice. “Once we reach our destination, only then will I reveal to you all what these crates are packing.”
“Uh- Yessir!” The guards saluted in response to Midnight’s authority when Shining Armor walked up to his friend.
“Midnight, I… don’t mind you bringing your own guys, but…” he pointed out the two robed ponies who’d arrived without saying a word except whispers to Midnight.
“They are Evening Hoods and thus their identities are protected secrets,” Midnight explained, sounding a little bitter, “but these two are among my most able agents and I trust them completely. It is their own choice, not mine, whether or not they are willing to share their identities with any of you.”
“Shining! Midnight!”
They all looked to see Cadance coming their way, as the Princess of Love approached her husband, embracing him, and he warmly returned the gesture. When they let go, they stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before sharing a tender kiss.
You’re a lucky stallion, Shining… thought Midnight, an ache in his heart making itself known as he looked at his two friends’ exchanges of love.
“Midnight?”
“Huh?” Midnight looked up to Cadance giving him one of concern and an understanding smile.
"Can we talk?”
“Uh, sure,” Midnight followed Cadance away from the team so she could speak with him privately. “Um, what’s up, Cadance?”
“Listen, Midnight…” Cadance looked at him with deep concern, “I heard about what happened between you and Celestia. I don’t fully understand, but I do know there are things you and her will have to discuss at some point. Now, don’t look like that. I can tell you don’t want to leave things as they are.”
“I don’t know, Cadance…” Midnight hesitated, “I… Well, some of the things that I said, I meant them, but…” – Midnight exhaled sharply – “It’s all just such a big mess right now.”
“Including how it is between you and Twilight,” Cadance brought up, causing Midnight to look at her like he’d just been told his mother died.
Tears almost shed from his eyes but he blinked them away, having cried a lot already.
“Midnight, you’re not the only pony who’s had to take a life in his line of work,” Cadance informed him, glancing over at her husband. “Back when he was the Captain of the Royal Guard of Canterlot, Shining Armor has had to… to kill as well, in order to protect the citizens.”
“He told me about that,” Midnight nodded but sighed morosely, “but Shining’s been through that only three times, and in those situations it was do or die, Cadance… I don’t have that kind of an excuse.”
“There’s a difference between killing to protect and killing to punish, Cadance.”
“Maybe,” Cadance paused a moment as she gave Midnight a debating look, “But the underlying motives are basically the same!
“Midnight, we’ve known each other for a very long time. I’ve known you since you were a colt, and the you who helped Shining Armor to stop Chrysalis and save Canterlot from the changeling invasion during my wedding. You have done more for Equestria than most ponies have done in their entire lives, and you’ve willingly made sacrifices in the pursuit of doing good and protecting others. Yes, a lot of it was thankless and sometimes you’ve had to make less-than-moral choices, but for all the lives you’ve taken you’re allowed to consider the lives you’ve saved!”
Those words reached Midnight as he looked at Cadance with a less bleak expression while she continued.
“You’ve saved lives, Midnight! Saved them from corrupt individuals who were hurting them in some way or other. Blackberry Hossmane was corrupt and he hurt hundreds of ponies. Yes, he took the coward’s way out rather than be a stallion and answer for his wrongs, but you still gave him a chance to be a better pony rather than just kill him. You are not accountable for his choices, and you made a plan of action regardless of the outcome to handle his company and his employees.
“His innocent employees may have lost their jobs but you made sure that each of them would be taken care of. You could’ve just taken it all down and left them all jobless but you considered the ramifications of it, and they’re all gonna be fine!”
Midnight looked down, a tad sheepish, when Cadance held his cheek to make him look at her.
“I’ll talk to Twilight. I’m not promising anything except that I will convince her that you and she need to talk and resolve the tension between you for yourselves. The first fight between special someponies is often the hardest, no matter what they’re over, but I have felt the love between you two and as bad as you think it might be, I have faith in you and in Twilight, that you can overcome this. But you have to overcome it together.”
That one finally got Midnight to shed tears, feelings mixing up inside, as he didn’t know what to say. On one hoof, he was still afraid of how bad it all felt, but on the other he was touched and just a little more hopeful.
Then Cadance surprised him again by kissing him on the cheek, and then saying, “Take care of Shining, Midnight, and the both of just come home safe and sound.”
“…I’ll make sure Shining gets back to you in one piece, Cade,” Midnight promised as he smiled a little bigger this time, and Cadance smiled warmly back.
“Alright, it’s time to get underway,” Shining Armor came over, “I cast weightless charms onto your crates, Midnight, and had somepony tie them to the chariots.
“I’ll see you soon, Cady Bug…”
“I’ll hold you to that, Shiny. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Shining Armor gave his wife one last kiss, holding her wing with his own and reluctantly letting go as he and Midnight parted from Cadance and moved to join the rest of the team.
As he got close to one of the chariots, Midnight paused and then looked up to one of the castle towers, to the balcony outside Celestia’s chambers. He didn’t see her but he had a feeling she could see him. He stepped onto one of the chariots, and announced, “Alright! Pegasus Chariots, prepare for takeoff!”
The pegasus guards who were pulling the chariots raised their wings, itching to take flight, as the passengers all made sure they were aboard a chariot, some of them making sure the tethers to the crates Midnight was bringing along were secure, until one by one a passenger of each chariot signaled they were ready.
“Let’s go!” Shining Armor called out, and one by one the pegasus guards took a running start, pulling their chariots and passengers… and taking flight off the edge of the terrace!
In no time at all, all three chariots were airborne, and as they took to the sky, Midnight gave one last look to the City of Unicorns over his shoulder.
Watching them take flight, Celestia just stood there. The moment Midnight had peered up to her balcony she’d ducked so that he wouldn’t see her. Then she’d slipped back inside, and was now watching her nephews and their team leave through a slip in the curtains.
Every word he’d said to her, every word she’d said to him, at first she’d pretended as though she were dealing with a spoiled child… up until he said those horrible words. Then the words after.
It finally drove the spike into her stubborn skull, and in flooded the realization that Midnight was right.
She had manipulated him.
Sure, it began with wanting to provide him a purpose, but in retrospect she now acknowledged however good her intentions were she’d had set him on a path of spying and killing, carrying out the cloak and dagger business so she would not have to.
I did make him a weapon… she thought as tears slid down her cheeks as she leaned against the wall, wallowing to the floor.
“Sister.”
Celestia didn’t look up to see Luna looking at her sister languish in self-pity.
“Tia… I won’t pretend to understand the choices you made regarding Midnight. I don’t deserve to, not after the things I’ve done. Even after all this time since I’ve returned and was freed from being Nightmare Moon, every once in a while there’s somepony who is afraid of me in some form or other.
“And when I am reminded of the monster once was, I am also reminded of the terrible things I did as Nightmare Moon. Even though I wasn’t exactly in my right mind, I made those choices and others suffered because of them. I may never be free of Nightmare Moon’s memory and perhaps I shouldn’t be. As painful as it is, it has granted me something I did not have back then, something that might have prevented me from ever having become Nightmare Moon in the first place.”
Although her sister did not ask, Luna was glad to see Celestia peer over at her in question.
“Humility, Tia,” Luna answered solemnly. “The one thing I am thankful to Nightmare Moon for is how her legacy has humbled me. I still appreciate recognition and admiration from our subjects but I now appreciate them not because I feel I am entitled to it but because I earn it through efforts honest and sincere.
“Through humility, I have found a stronger sense of patience and understanding, of being a good listener and of compromise, and it has made me a better princess. You might have experienced something similar in how you were forced to banish me to the moon for millennia, but overtime as you’ve ruled alone you’ve become accustomed to ruling alone.
“You make decisions and assume they’re the best course of action, even if they’re decisions made on the behalf of others. Decisions where they could have their own differences of opinions.”
Those words resonated with Celestia as she thought, She’s right…!
“I don’t exactly approve of how Midnight acted towards you,” Luna went on, “but nor do I approve of how you blamed him, for the suicides of Hossmane and Chrysalis. They made their decisions, misguided and selfish as they were, but don’t forget that despite his involvement where they were concerned Midnight has acted and done the best he can in his obligations, even while under stress from personal issues, and yet he is not allowing them to impede him in carrying out his duties.
“Could things have been done better? Many things could have been done better, Tia! But, as they say, such is life! We go through life stumbling along the way and making mistakes. Either we learn from our mistakes and strive to do better or we go around in circles making them all over again.”
Luna knelt down beside her sister, placing her hooves on Celestia’s shoulders, “Now you can continue to sit here in the dark feeling sorry for yourself over the mistakes you’ve made, you can obsess over how you could have done things better, and you can hate the way things are with every fiber of your being, but you might as well start hating life while you’re at it.
“Regardless of the situation, you have the choice to learn from your past mistakes and do better in the future. Even if that seems harder than it sounds, remember that you have friends and family who love you and support you and want for you to be the best you that you can be. But none of that makes a difference unless you yourself have the will. So tell me, Big Sister…”
Celestia finally looked at Luna, and in her face she saw neither judgment nor disappointment. She saw only love and encouragement.
“What do you want to do?”
The tears welled up, her heart swelled, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore as she sniffled, “L-little Sister…!”
Luna hugged Celestia close, resting her muzzle atop Celestia’s head as Celestia let it out and cried. Cried out of a mixture of emotions bubbling up and coming out in the form of sobbing. Guilt, Sorrow, Appreciation, Humbleness, Joy, and a little Frustration and Hope in there as well.
Sombra watched from the doorway, smiling at Luna and Celestia, thankful to the former for helping his wife tear off the bandage and bleed out the infection. He then looked out the window and just barely caught the expedition team before they vanished in the distance.
Feelings of unease and worry filled him, wishing he’d said something to the closest thing he’d ever had to a son after that confrontation in the throne room. But he was so conflicted with his emotions he wasn’t sure what to say at the time nor did he trust himself to try without prolonging or escalating the strife further. As disappointed as he’d found himself in his wife and his apprentice, Sombra found he was even more disappointed with himself.
Leaving the sisters to patch things up, Sombra ventured down the halls as he thought, Whatever happens, Midnight, I know you’ll do us proud…
Hours later, the team landed at their destination, the energem mine. Located to the far southeast of the town of Appleloosa, safely obscured in a natural bowl at the foot of the Macintosh Hills, with additional magical security measures to insure its location remained anonymous to all but authorized personal, such as distractor spells, security wards, and a cloaking barrier. The mine had seemed like a Goddess-send when explorers working on behalf of the crown discovered it four years ago, purely by accident when one of them, a geologist examined what she thought was a piece of quartz… only to realize she was holding an energem the size of a chicken egg!
Further exploration, examination, and prospecting yielded tangible evidence the exploration team had stumbled upon a cave system where the walls were practically made of pure, untapped energem!
After reporting the discovery back to Canterlot, Princess Celestia had ordered a mining operation to be established immediately, but due to the utterly priceless worth of the stuff that was to be mined, she’d also ordered the operation, along with anything and anypony involved, to be classified at the highest level. In almost no time at all, the mining operation was underway, with dozens of miners and guards, all with backgrounds that had checked out, working fervently to mine as many energems as quickly and as safely as possible.
Now?
Looking at the operation, the team, led by Shining Armor and Midnight, were crestfallen to see several bodies of ponies, both miners and guards.
“Sweet Mother of Celestia…!” said one of the team-members, a guard, “What happened here?”
“…Changelings,” Midnight stepped forward, concentrating his horn before releasing a ripple of mana that spread across the area. He sighed in relief before addressing everypony, “It’s okay. No life energies nearby aside from the local wildlife and ourselves.”
“Why’d you do that, sir?” Spearhead asked.
Midnight looked at the bodies solemnly, “There might have been a chance one of these bodies was a changeling lying in wait and in disguise. My life-sensing spell didn’t react except to us, but something’s still bothering me…”
“...What’s that?” Shining Armor was afraid to ask.
“I read the files on this mining operation during the flight here,” Midnight said as he continued to slowly gaze over the environment.
He saw several small construction wagons, serving as makeshift offices for the paper-pushers involved in the mining operation, mining and guard equipment such as pickaxes, shovels, spears, hard-hats with electric lights installed, armor pieces, guard helms, among other tools, scattered about, a U-shaped rail extending out from the mouth of the cave whose belly served as the mine filled with the riches of energems, a couple mining carts, one still on the railway the other apparently having been thrown off the tracks, a dead earth pony mare nearby it, apparently having died of blunt-force trauma to her head.
“This mine has been active for the last four years,” Midnight explained, “During that period, there have been few incidents, even fewer injuries, but never any deaths, every precaution was taken to insure the miners’ safety. For the most part, the staff has been consistent aside from maybe almost a dozen changes in the mining teams and the guards providing security. In fact…
“The last change in the staff… was the guard in charge of security, Lieutenant Cheat Code, who assumed the position of the mine’s security chief six months ago after the last one was involved in an accident that left him unable to carry out his duties.”
“So then… what’s the problem?” Shining Armor asked, unsure he liked where this was going.
“Look around,” Midnight waved his wing, inviting the team to take a harder look. The guards looked sympathetic while the two Evening Hoods were unreadable. “There are only eleven corpses, and only a few of them are miners. The staff for the operation numbered about thirty miners, ten office workers, and twenty guards… but there are no changeling corpses. And I don’t see Lieutenant Cheat Code’s body anywhere.
“We would never have heard that this mining operation and its location were compromised if the one confirmed survivor hadn’t made it to Appleloosa and sent word of what transpired. Four guards were sent to Appleloosa to confirm the survivor was legitimate and not a changeling in disguise. It’s only the survivor’s recounting of the incident what happened here that offers any evidence that changelings were behind the attack.”
“That is strange but don’t forget,” Shining Armor gave his friend a raised brow, “Chrysalis had information, apparently so vital, that she killed herself to insure we’d never be able to pick it out of her brain.
“Whether or not she knew what was going on around here, whatever she knew was related somehow.”
“That is true…” Midnight considered, rubbing his chin while wiping the sweat from his brow with his wing, still troubled, “it’s just… we do not have enough pieces to this puzzle and there are still questions, like…
“Who compromised the location of this mining operation, and why? Why did the changelings attack this mine, and why now? What’s changed, what’s spurred the bugs into action after all this time since their queen was imprisoned? I mean… Is it possible this was just a random attack or…”
“Or what? Please, Midnight, enough with the suspense!” Shining pressed wearily.
“Or… could this be merely the prelude of something even worse yet to come?” Midnight sighed, looking apprehensive. “Either way, we have to get to the bottom of this, and we start…”
He turned to look into the darkness of the mine’s cave entrance as he lamely said, “by going in there.”
He stood there, knowing the rest of the team was looking into that same darkness as well, and let that sink in a moment before he lit his horn and levitated the crates he’d brought along over. He willed the crates’ nailed lids open as easily as cracking open a walnut under his hoof but before he revealed the contents, he faced the team with a look that said he meant business.
“The contents of these crates are classified. Unless all of you swears never to reveal what I’m about to show you, I’m not gonna bring the contents out. The equipment I have here is meant to give us an edge in this undertaking but due to certain circumstances I cannot allow unwanted eyes or ears to learn of this equipment. I’ve already placed special charms on this equipment to guarantee it is returned to pre-set coordinates by sundown today, which is in six hours.
“I mean it! You will tell no one of this equipment, not even Princess Celestia!”
That statement caused whispers among the team but Shining Armor responded, “Not even Princess Celestia?! Midnight, what do you have in these crates?!”
“You will agree. Or I’ll send these crates and the equipment away,” Midnight said in a tone inarguable. “Make no mistake, this equipment could very well save our lives if we are attacked by enemy forces. But I will not risk its existence becoming common knowledge, and right now? My circle of trust does not include Celestia.”
Shining Armor was troubled by that statement. Sure, he knew at the moment, Midnight and Celestia were not on good terms but for him to outright say he doesn’t trust her…
“Alright,” Shining Armor sighed as he looked to his guardsponies, “As a Prince of Equestria, I issue this gag order onto all of you – Whatever Prince Midnight Blaze has in these crates, you are, under no circumstances, to reveal the existence of the equipment or anything about it to anypony… If you break this gag order, you will be court martialed and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Is that understood?”
The guard ponies shared troubled looks but then faced Shining Armor as they saluted and nodded their compliance, and Shining Armor turned to face Midnight, “Please don’t make me regret this…”
“Relax, this equipment is strictly non-lethal weaponry,” Midnight waved a dismissive hoof, Shining Armor flinching.
“Wha- Gu- Weapony?!” Shining Armor echoed as he watched Midnight levitate out the contents of the crates revealing them to be…
“Saddles?”
Midnight smirked, “Not simply saddles. Guards, fall in. Let’s get each of you outfitted with one of these.”
The guards hesitantly obeyed as they approached, standing in line, when Midnight counted them and then counted how many of these strange saddles he’d brought. “Okay, there’s eight of you, and seven saddles, so…”
He pointed to Spearhead and a unicorn guard standing next to him, “You two shall remain outside. Gather the dead, and place them…”
Making sure the crates were empty, Midnight’s horn glowed as he furrowed his brows in concentration. Everypony watched in awe as Midnight’s aura enveloped the crates… and they disintegrated!
Each crate, each wooden plank, each nail holding them together, came apart. Not just into their individual pieces but each one was reduced into dust-like particles, Midnight beginning to sweat as he worked whatever magic he was doing. The team watched, amazed, as the cloud of particles swirled together, like a dust-devil, before it was bunched up… and before their very eyes formed a wooden platform with raised walls about three hooves tall.
Midnight gasped, his magic letting go, and the framed platform fell to the ground with a loud thud but remained intact, as Midnight panted like he’d just sprinting.
“Midnight, you okay?” Shining Armor went over and placed a hoof on his friend’s shoulder.
“I-I just need a moment,” Midnight nodded as he scrunched his eyes shut in an effort to force out the fatigue from his mind. He gathered himself as his heart steadied, and then he addressed Spearhead and the other guard he’d been talking to. “This platform, place any dead ponies you can find on it. They deserve to be taken back where their loved ones can give them all a proper burial. And say their final farewells.”
“Yessir,” Spearhead and the unicorn saluted when Midnight levitated one of the saddles over Spearhead.
“Put this on, and six of you strap on one of the rest of the saddles,” Midnight instructed.
The guards obeyed, as Spearhead and six more, three pegasi, two earth ponies, and a unicorn, secured the saddles around their barrels, right onto the backs of their armor. They were odd devices, a long brown strap held a metallic base to their normal plating, but on the saddles’ sides were two bulbous glass tubes, rubber belts inside coiled around metallic posts. Whatever mysterious power source lay inside these saddles powered the belts, generating arcs of blue electricity that filled the bulbs. Each of them fed into a big set of big red wires that snaked up a folding metal boom, hinged at the base and midway to provide motion, and on top of these booms was a lengthy protrusion, a golden coil wrapped around a tube that pointed over the shoulders of the guards
“These are crazy!” commented Spearhead, as the protrusion mounted on the device appeared to track his eye movement to aim wherever he was looking. “What are they?”
Midnight grinned, proud of his friend’s work on these devices, “They’re called Zapper-Saddles. Non-lethal weapons that fire concentrated pulses of electrical energy to stun a target. All you have to do to fire a pulse is look at your target, and think as if you were about to pull the trigger of a crossbow.”
“Um, Sir? Considering what we might be up against, wouldn’t… lethal weapons be more-” a guard hesitantly tried to ask but Midnight cut him off.
“My friend has a strict policy about his work and I’d never ask him to break that policy,” Midnight was uninterested in complaints. “Besides, if there are changelings in the mine, these weapons will allow us to capture them alive without risk of killing them. Which mean perhaps we might be able to interrogate them for further information of whatever plans they might be scheming and in turn maybe allow us to prevent further bloodshed.
“That is our mission and what we are here for."
Those words helped dash away some lingering doubts Shining Armor had and he smiled proudly at his friend when Spearhead spoke up.
“You got it, Sir! So uh… all we have to do to fire these things is think…”
No sooner did he make the mental command, did his saddle’s discharge point let out a high-pitched chirp and launch a narrow zig-zagging bolt of electricity from the discharge point’s barrel. Given that Spearhead was making eye contact with Midnight, the artificial lightning bolt attempted to blast the alicorn right between the eyeballs with no care for his alliance. The screaming white-hot bolt of ions was barely blocked by a shield made of mana, scattering the powerful blast and causing Midnight’ mane to frizz.
Once the horrific incident of terror was over, Midnight threw such a stink eye in Spearhead’s direction, causing the tangelo pegasus to chuckle meekly in apology while a few other guards stifled some chuckles at the hilarity of what had just happened. Even Shining Armor couldn’t resist getting a case of the giggles.
“These are not toys, gentlecolts…” Midnight narrowed his eyes at them to razor edge, “They’ll still knock your asses out if those energy pulses hit you good enough, so save them for the changelings, please!”
“Alright, you heard the pony, boys,” Shining Armor got it out of his system as he took charge. “Spearhead, you and Red Hex stay out here, gather the deceased, and keep an eye out.”
“And you can contact us with these,” Midnight raised his hoof, a turquoise bubble blowing up and then popping to reveal a metal case he levitated to the ground and opened it. Inside were four disc-shaped devices, each with two buttons, a compass-reading on one side, and what looked to be a speaker on the other, with a gemstone set in the middle.
“My friend’s not the only inventor. These are communication devices I’ve put together. I call them Communechoes, or Echoms for short.”
“Communechos?”
“Echoms?”
“How do they work?”
Midnight levitated one of the devices to Spearhead and his unicorn partner Red Hex, “Hold onto one of these and contact us if something comes up. Press the lower button and talk into the speaker, we’ll all be able to hear you.”
“You made these, Midnight?” Shining Armor levitated one to examine it closely.
“After a mission in the Forbidden Jungle… went south due to miscommunication via walkie-talkies, I wanted a more reliable means of communicating over long distances,” Midnight explained. “I tinkered with an idea of communicating without relying on technology by using a similar concept but different in nature. Radio signals can be scrambled or intercepted, telepathy can only be done by beta-level unicorns and it’s complicated to establish telepathic links to earth ponies and pegasi, even using beta-level unicorns as telepathic relays.
“Finally, after going over multiple possible alternative means, I found exactly what I needed” – he levitated one of the devices and pointed to the gemstone set in the middle – “in these! There all kinds of energems, based on actual gem types, what makes this mine so valuable are the variety of gems to be mined.
“But this specific type of crystal resonates sound waves with other crystals of the same type! I experimented with it and found that, using magical methods, the sounds spoken into one of these… resonance crystals echo to other crystals, which vibrate the sounds from the first crystal to an audible range that can be heard if the sound vibrations are amplified just so.”
…
…
…
The blank faces told Midnight his explanation was going over the heads, so he sighed, “Alright, simply put: Whatever you speak into one of the devices echoes to the rest of them, as long as they are within range of each other.
“And before you ask, the range is determined by each resonance crystal’s purity. I chose the purest crystals I could get my hooves on for these things, so in this case? Roughly thirty miles, and even better, the ranges can be relayed between two of the devices outside each other’s range as long as a third is between them to chain the ranges together.”
“Will they still work underground?” asked one of the guards, “Sometimes communication devices can be disrupted by natural causes, like being underground or weather conditions.”
“That is correct,” Midnight pointed to the guard who’d spoken up, “but that’s in the case with technological communications, using radio broadcasts, transceivers, and receivers. These devices transmit sound with magic. Their only limit is their range, but these are prototypes.
“When any one of them is used to contact someone with another, all Communechoes within range receive the transmission instead of the specific pony you want to talk to. In this case however, that could very well be an advantage.”
“I see what you’re saying,” Shining Armor nodded as it dawned on him, “constant communication with all members of the team holding one of these devices, and whenever one of needs to inform the others we’ll all hear instead of needing to relay it anyone else.”
“But unless we can help it, we are not going to split up after we go in,” Midnight held up a forefeather. “We have a map with a general layout of the mining tunnels, but there is always a chance we stumble upon natural caves or tunnels and could get lost. Hopefully, the only excitement we’ll have is finding a group of changelings, incapacitating them and bringing them back for interrogation.”
“Alrighty then, Spearhead, Red, like I said before,” Shining Armor repeated, “remain out here, gather the deceased, and if anything happens contact us with the device.”
“Yessir,” they saluted and got to work, making for the nearest corpse.
The team, comprised of Shining Armor, Midnight, six guards outfitted with Zapper-Saddles, and the two Evening Hoods Midnight had brought along, stood together as they faced the mouth of the cave before they ventured in towards the belly of the beast.