I’ll say one thing for the agencies facility, It came fully loaded. The cafeteria food was truly dreadful, but the other amenities more than made up for that. Well, almost…

This particular amenity was the hot bath which could accommodate around ten ponies at once. There was one for mares and one for stallions, naturally. Not that you could really see much anatomically speaking I suppose, plus the showers were mixed too, but something about a mare stepping out of a steaming tub, was considered taboo by many.

That evening, I had the place to myself and I couldn’t wait to sink into the hot water, barely resisting the urge to jump in. The water tickled my hooves and soaked through my fur, warming my skin. It felt amazing, the tension and stress seeping out along with the cold from my aching joints. I’d have to be careful not to fall asleep, it just felt so…good.

On the other side of the bathroom divide, I heard the gentle singing of a mare. A lullaby that made me close my eyes, the world beginning to drift away. Her song was one of peace and joy, love and all that good stuff.

The song finished and the voice called out, “Anypony there?”, I recognised it straight away.

“Tingles?”

There was a pause, “Are you on your own?”

“Yeah, theres nopony he-“, I began.

“Hang on a minute…”, she called back.

Water splashed behind the divider and I heard the clear sound of hoofsteps on tiles. I was still looking up at the ceiling in a half daze, when the sloshing of water against my face made me jump, “Tingles?!”

The mare pushed her way through the water to me and snugged up close, “This is nice…”

I gave her a little nudge, “Hey! This is the stallions bath, you’ve got your own next door”

“Oh put a sock in it Captain Fairlight, noponies here. Anyway, I can soon get out if we’re disturbed”

“’Disturbed’”, I echoed dubiously, hmmmm.

Tingles leaned back and sighed, “Did you do what you set out to do?”

“I did, ponies saved and…”

“What?”

“The watch house, Blaze, it was such a mess. They gunned down the agency ponies sent to take her in for questioning and all hell broke loose.”

“What happened to Blaze?”

I splashed some water on my face and glanced across at Tingles’ big green eyes, “I’m sorry, Tingles…”

“Oh…I see, right then…”

I know they hadn’t been friends, but they were still comrades nonetheless. The tangerine mare looked like she was struggling with some inner emotion I couldn’t feel.

“Cap?”

“Yeah?”

“Would it be okay if I hugged you? Just, you know, for a minute…”

I nodded silently. The mare reached a foreleg around my neck and pulled herself into my chest. Her body shook, her sobbing muffled in the steam and my fur. I stroked Tingles’ mane,

“I’m sorry love, I wish I could have done more, but she didn’t…”

“Stop calling me that…”

“…want to…wha? Stop calling you what?”

“You know what! Don’t call me something you don’t mean! Its cruel, damn it”

“I don’t know what you’re going on about!”

“You’re so bloody ignorant!”

“Tingles! For Celestia’s sake, please.”

She beat on my chest with her hooves and pushed me away, “I hate you! I bloody well hate you, you…you sodding, damned ignorant…HORSE!”

“Hey! Now hang on a minute!” I protested.

But, it was too late, the tangerine mare had stormed out of the bath in a whirling tempest of water and emotion. Mares! What the hell was going through her mind? I didn’t need this, not now, too much was going on and I just wanted to rest. Ah, damn it! It was too late now, the mood was ruined and all I wanted now was to get out, dry off and get to bed. Bloody Tingles…

Thankfully, the cleaners had sorted my room out whilst I’d been away. The mystery ponies we never met, or saw…weird that. Almost as weird at the fact that Tingles was lying in my bed!

“Hey! Now just a minute madam…”

“Shut up and get in, you’re causing a draft”

With a resigned groan, I hung up the last of my gear and climbed into bed with my back to her. Tingles leaned forward and lay her head across my neck.

“You don’t mind do you Cap? I’ll go if you want me to.”

“No, no its okay. I’d like the company, I feel a bit…you know. I want to…”

“I know Cap’, I can see it in your eye’s. You’ve seen things no pony should ever have to see, I think we both have to some degree.”

Her warmth against my neck and back relaxed me and I felt walls I’d never known were there, melting away, unleashing emotions to ebb and flow around my consciousness. Images, memories of what was, what had been and what I’d dreamed of, flooded me. It was like trying to hold in the pressure from a hose with your hoof, sooner or later…

“Fairlight?”

“Hmmm?”

“Its okay to cry, I won’t tell anypony”

“I don’t want to cry Tingles, I want to sleep, that’s all”

“Big ponies don’t cry eh?”

I felt my chest shudder and tears sting my eyes, but I kept my mouth and eyelids shut tight. The warm foreleg across my chest opened the floodgates and all my pain, my loss, the fear and sorrow, poured out. I cried like I never had, my friend comforting me.

“Its okay love, I’m here…”

I turned over to face her and looked into those big green eyes. I didn’t know what to say, words had left me completely. All I could do was reach out and hold her, hold her like she was my last shred of hope for life in this damnable world.

Sometime during the night, I got up to wipe my face down and pour a glass of water. Climbing back in afterwards, I must have woken her up. Her half lidded eyes peering at me, a light smile on her lips.

“Cant sleep?” she murmured.

“Better than I have been, you’re very warm. Its…nice…to sleep next to somepony again.”

“Glad to be of service” Tingles said chuckling.

“You know what I mean”

“Yeah, being psychic is one of my many talents”

“Tingles…please…”

“Sorry, Cap, I’m just teasing. Want to talk for a bit?”

“Yeah, do you mind?”

“No, no of course not”

I took a deep breath and after a quick drink of water, poured out my heart.

“This…spirit, it speaks to me. The two of us, we’re one, but…at the same time we’re not, like a split personality of sorts. I don’t know, but, it says we have to come together, to join properly.”

“You aunt said as much”

“I know, but when Blaze threw me overboard, there was another voice…I haven’t really thought about it since then, but it was there, strong and authoritative.”

I looked into Blazes eyes, she’d propped herself up on one foreleg to watch me.

“When I fight, sometimes, I cant…I cant control myself. I get lost in the moment, the killing, the blood, the screams! I…oh goddesses, Tingles, I think I’m losing my mind…”

She rubbed my forehead and gave me a small lick, “You’re not, Fairlight. I know you from the watch and you’ve always been one of the most reliable and stable ponies I know. This ‘thing’ you’re going through is something your ancestors went through too, they mastered it and so there must be a way. There has to be an answer, a book, a manual or something, something we haven’t found yet.”

“Maybe…maybe, I don’t know where to start looking, though. Besides, is something like that going to exist after a thousand years?”

“Your tribes books did, maybe theres something in there?”

“I don’t know, its all blasted gobbledygook.”

“What, you haven’t even read them yet?”

“Not in so many words…”

“Fairlight! Good grief!”, she face hoofed, “Right, leave it to me, I’ve got time to have a good look at them for you now. I’ve been grounded for the next week until the doc okays me for flight again. Can you believe it?”

Oh bollocks! In my selfish self pity, I’d completely ignored Tingles’ situation. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been at deaths door after trying to help me.

“Tingles, I’m so sorry, all I’ve done is moan about my troubles and you’ve got more than your fair share of your own. Are you feeling okay? What did the Doc say?”

“Well, better late than never I suppose, but yes, I’m fine. The doctor said that he’s spoken to the mistress and I’m by and large back to normal, but they want me to take a few more days out to get my life energy levels back to what they should be.”

“Oh Tingles…you scared the bloody life out of me back then. Promise me, you’ll never do that again, okay?”

“You got it Cap, on one condition though.”

“Whats that?”

“You remember that you’ve got friends, ponies who…you know…”

“I know, Tingles…”

I reach forward and kissed her muzzle, “Thanks”. She made a little grunt and squeezed me tight, “Go to sleep now, my Captain, ‘Lord of the four winds’…pffff!”. She started laughing which set me off too,

“Pack it in! Good night, you tangerine pest”

“Good night to you too…love”

I lay there, my mouth hanging open. Goddesses, was I so stupid, so blind? Oh, shit…I was.

My hoof reached out to silence the alarm clock, only to knock the thing off the bedside table onto the floor. Swearing under my breath, I tried to move only to find an orange foreleg wrapped around my chest, a hind leg over my flank.

I tried to wriggle out but the more I did, the tighter she held on, murmuring in her sleep.

“Tingles…Tingles, wake up, I have to go, theres a briefing this morning.”

“MMmmmnnhhh”

Whatever that meant, she relaxed her grip and I was able to escape the furry clutches of the mare. Still, I tucked the covers back around her, wishing I could have had a little more time in the warm bed. Or was it being cuddled that made me so…oh for fucks sake, I had to get moving!

One quick trip to the crapper, a shower and a general tidy up and agent Nox was ready for action. My reflection in the mirror was no different really, except if I angled it just right, I could see a sleeping tangerine mare in my bed looking bedraggled. Hell yeah!

I grinned and allowed myself a brief chuckle of smugness.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be agent Nox?”, she said quietly, one eye half open.

“Morning my dear Pegasus”, I quipped, “A hard days reading awaits! See you when I get back paddling more bad guys”

“Take care Fa…Nox…play nice”

I stuck my tongue out at her and trotted off down the corridor, I hadn’t felt this good in ages!

The briefing room was packed, agents I’d never seen before were crammed in like sardines. A few faces I recognised turned to wave, Loofa, Brandy, Dune, quite a few in fact. What in Equestria was going on?

The pony at the front of the room tapped a stick on the lecturn,

“Order please everypony…Thank you.”

The officer nodded to the projectionist who switched off the lights and clicked a new slide into the magic lantern. A picture of a portal filled the screen, the silvery light of one in operation was clear. I’d never seen one working for more than a few seconds before the smugglers somehow pulled the plug. We’d never been able to get one working again afterwards and the smugglers we’d captured wouldn’t talk. Had they finally managed to get one working?

The pony on the stage cleared his throat, “Agents, this is a portal to the human world, the world they call ‘earth’. Some of you will already be aware of this, some not. The briefing paper and explanatory notes will give you more detail. Another briefing on familiarisation with this species will take place later today, details of each relief is on the board by the door”.

Briefing paper? Oh fuck, not again! I shifted my weight to check and…yeah it stuck to my bloody arse again. I just nodded.

“The humans are a type of ape, mostly hairless and come in various sizes and colours.”

The slide changed to show a number of hairless, monkey things standing on two legs. They were…naked…totally! Bloody hell fire, they must live in an inferno to develop without fur covering their hides. Some of them were different colours, height, and…hang on, no tail either! And look at how short that mane was! I started chuckling, a couple of others followed suit and the briefing officer banged the lectern irritably.

“May I remind you, that these creatures are responsible for the death and misery afflicting our homes?”

Silence fell, my jovial mood souring quickly.

“These beings are a surprisingly advanced race, using ‘technology’ rather than magical science. Quite the clever little things really, and quite, quite violent. You will all be more than familiar with the ‘earth’ weapons the humans smuggled into Equestria?”

The slide changed to show a number of firearms.

“These are examples of weapons made in the human world, for humans. You will need to familiarise yourself with all of these and their operation. Details are, again, in the briefing paper”.

Why? Know how to use human weapons?

“Thanks to a recent informant,”, my money was on Jingo, “-we have been able to re-activate a portal to the human world.”

General excitement rippled out from the assembled agents. This was new! We’d never managed to do it and now, now I had the distinct impression that the tide was about to turn.

“We have already sent a recon team through the portal, after extensive tests of course. They were able to recover a deal of intelligence, much of which is already in your packs”

You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, and not a very sharp one either.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, for too long we have been fighting the fires and not the cause of them. With what we have learned, supervision are confident that we can strike a significant blow to those who are behind the troubles that Equestria is facing. At long last, its time to take the fight to them”

A huge round of hoof stomping and cheers erupted around the room. So, this was it was it? We were finally going to be able to strike back. It may all be academic with scum like Gates and Mel still operating and of course, whoever their puppet master was, was still about too. However, we had to do something and it looked like this was it, I could almost taste the anticipation. There was no denying the determination in the faces of these ponies.

“The operation will be commence one week from today, meanwhile, you will each be assigned to a team and training leader. Operational requirements for this job are red, everypony. Nopony is to leave the facility until the operation begins. Comms are locked down except for priority channels. This is a major operation with cross border involvement, so its all one big happy family ponies. Team commanders, take charge of your agents. Dismissed”

We all stood and moved to the door, Brandy was waiting for me.

“All set?”

“Yeah, looks like this is the big one then”

“It is, at least for now. The first of many, or, I hope, the last”

He looked past my flank, wrinkling his brow, “You may want to read that”.

“What? Oh!”, I pulled the briefing paper off my backside and slipped it into my bag.

Brandy rolled his eyes and I smiled, “Sorry about that”.

“Never mind…Come on, we need to get you to the first briefing.”

“Where’s everypony else from our team? Its not just us two is it?”

“No…its actually just you, there is nopony else.”

“What!”

Oh great, a one pony mission, this was going to be interesting. I know I kind of liked working alone, but I was always aware of being part of a team and having backup nearby. This time, I wasn’t sure backup was going to be an option.

The training room was beginning to fill up and before long a unicorn agent stepped up to the stage and placed slides onto an overhead projector. More of the weird furless monkey things appeared…‘humans’. I didn’t like the look of them, there was something off about the way a creature could have no fur, feathers, scales…no anything. They also had short tentacle like protrusions, ‘hands’, on the end of each foreleg. Similar ones at the other end too. The hands allowed them to manipulate objects a lot better than hooves, that was clear, however the trainer explained that magic didn’t exist in their world but that, thankfully, ours would still work. To a ‘degree’, he said. Now that was worrying.

The worst though, was yet to come. When passing through the portal, we would be transformed to resemble the ‘humans’, the same way they resembled us when they entered our world. How the hell this happened was beyond me and was not even touched upon, so I guess it was either a secret or not deemed to be important to what lay ahead. A simulator had been designed courtesy of the hub labs to help us ‘adjust’ to the sensation of walking on half the number of legs.

The trainer for this was none other than Doctor Bunsen, who waved at me enthusiastically from the other side of the room. I just smiled and tried to blend in as much as possible. Brandy sniggered and gave me a sidelong glance, “Friend of yours?”

“Goddess knows…” I replied.

“So glad everypony could make it!”, she exclaimed happily, as if we had much choice in attending in the first place, “This amazing magical gadget will allow your mind, your senses, to see, feel and even move, like almost any creature you can imagine. Just think of the possibilties!”

Doctor Bunsen held the device up and seemed to be expecting something, a round of applause? Somepony actually clopped their hooves together, slowly. I kind of felt sorry for the good doctor, but she soldiered on regardless,

“I need a volunteer…”

I could see everypony cringe away, trying to make themselves as small, and as ‘unpickable’ as possible, until Bunsens electrifying gaze landed on me…bloody typical.

“You sir! Come on now, don’t be shy, don’t be shy…”, she waved a hoof encouragingly. Fuck it, I had no choice, and besides, we’d all have to sooner or later. At least it got it over with.

I think the worst part was all the other ponies eyes looking directly at me, not a few sniggering behind their hooves. Well, this was all fan-bloody-tastic, thanks Bunsen!

The disturbingly cheery doctor produced what I can only describe as a sort of silver helmet, studded with lights which flashed different colours. It looked like a converted mixing bowl and on further inspection, even had the handles! A strap of some kind was dangling either side of it which Bunsen thoughtfully tied up for me.

“Comfy?”

“Yeah!”, I said sarcastically, knowing full well that the doctor wouldn’t likely pick up on it. She didn’t…

“Great! Okay, now we need to plug this in here…put these here, oh…”

“’Oh?’”

“I nearly forgot, can you put these goggles on too, please?”

I complied, pulling the things over my eyes. I was now in complete darkness, the helmet covered my ears too which was suprisingly disorientating.

“And….we’re off!”, shrieked Bunsen as a bizarre world or images appeared around me. It was something I’d never experienced before, like being in a foals game but actually being there…

I looked down at my hooves but, they’d gone! Replaced with those pink sausage things that dangled at the ends of my forelegs. Everything was wrong, my joints, my muscles, even my eyes. Goddesses, I felt sick with the sensation of bodily wrongness. What was even weirder was my spine. I was stood on my hind legs, but rather than balancing on them as I had before, this was as if…as if I was meant to stand like this.

“Try taking a step, Nox” Bunsen said excitedly, I think she was enjoying this. I wish I was.

The ground rushed up to hit me in the face, although thankfully it didn’t hurt and the impact was, well…weird. A few tentative steps and I was soon getting the feel for this artificial body, my…’hand’ things were proving quite useful too. If I swung them with my forelegs ever so slightly like a pendulum, they helped me keep my balance when moving. They were also really good for carrying, lifting and so on.

This went on for some time until Bunsen finished her demonstration, or rather mine as the resident guinea pig. The helmet powered down with a high pitched whine and the real world came back into focus once again. Thank Luna for that! It was stomach wrenching, jumping from one ‘body’ to another, but if this was going to help us in the human realm, then I was all for it, nausea or no. Probably best to take a sick bag though, because if the simulation was this bad, I was sure the real thing was going to be even worse.

The rest of the week went by with incessant briefings, weapon drills and of course, hours in the simulator. By the end of it all, it was hard to remember whether I was a ‘human’ or a pony. I’d found myself trying to pick up a bottle of water in the canteen with fingers I didn’t have, later I’d tried to run on just my hind legs, much to the amusement of the watching ponies. Thankfully, the rest of were getting the same treatment and, as well as we all know, misery truly loves company. And miserable was what we were, all of us were heartily sick of the drills until the final day came with our last briefing.

Brandy was waiting for me outside my billet when I emerged, still bleary eyed.

“Mornin’…”, I yawned, trying to wipe sleep from my eyes. The dark unicorn leaned forward and picked something off my face.

“Hold your hoof out”

“What?”, I said doing as he asked.

Brandy placed a long green hair in my hoof, “Trying a new hair colour, agent Nox?”

I blushed, making the senior agent laugh quietly, “Come on, we need to go.”

We headed in the opposite direction to the briefing and training rooms, out toward a building I’d never been in before. Security was always tight here but nopony ever mentioned it, or asked about it. Truthfully, the whole place was so security conscious anyway, it hadn’t really registered with me until I was standing at the door presenting my ID card.

The door swished open, the guards waving us through. It was bright inside, which was typical of the agency. Not suprising if you considered walking around in sunglasses even indoors, was standard practice. I kept mine on habitually now, not out of any fashion sense, but more because I was sick to death of the stares my eyes drew.

I’d managed to hold onto the reactive light eye lenses which we’d recovered from the wharf ‘incident’ and they were great. They’d allowed me to get the drop on the goons at the statue, but they didn’t alter my eye colour in any way, just darkening when subject to bright lights. The reactive ear defenders worked along the same lines with sound, amazing considering these were made by intelligent monkeys.

We entered a large room which was in complete darkness, save for a spill of light from around the door we’d just entered through. Brandy touched his TED,

“Lights please”

A low humming changed into loud clicks and pings as row after row of lights came to life, illuminating the massive object in the middle of the room. The elaborately carved stone, arched and inlaid with silver, was quite beautiful in a strange way. Architecturally, it was most impressive, standing upright on a dais, three steps leading up to it from the front and rear. Various contraptions sat on tables next to it churning out rolls of paper which just seemed to be designed to display zigzag lines. Probably meant something to somepony…

“This it?”, I asked.

“Aye, it’s a beauty isn’t it?”, Brandy smiled looking up at the arch, ”Picked it up from the warehouse job you were involved in at Shire Wharf. Thing is, we’ve managed to get this one working.”

“How? The watch tried everything to get one of these going and the ponies we picked up wouldn’t say anything. Goddess knows, we tried.”

“Mmmm, you’re right”, Brandy ran a hoof over the edge of the portal, “You know why?”

I shook my head.

“Because there was a suggestion in the brains, a threat, not to disclose anything about the portals. The suggestion was magical and buried, buried deep. It took our specialists only up until recently to discover a way to defeat it, but they did. In actual fact, you know the pony who gave us what we wanted to know.”

“Jingo”

Brandy stomped a hoof for emphasis, “Got in one”.

“So, any particular reason you’re showing this to me now. I mean, we’ll be going in as a team, won’t we?”

The agency stallion hung his head for a moment and turned to face me. I sighed, shaking my mane, “We’re not…” I said quietly.

“No. Fairlight, this is what you were picked by the Mistress to do, this is your time.”

“My time? What about everypony else?”

He nodded, “The others are going in ten minutes before you and through a different portal.”

“I don’t understand and I’m not sure I’m going to like the answer either”

Brandy looked a little sad, “Probably not. You see, the agency are going in to assault a human run complex which we believe is used to store and distribute the weapons coming into Equestria”

“And?”

“Its not the full story. Theres another building, one which our scouts found and isn’t widely know about outside of agency supervision. Its used to manufacture drugs, Breeze and Ryetalin. Theres…theres something else too”

“Slaves”, I said dejectedly.

“Aye. The place my daughter and ex-wife would have ended up in. According to intel, the humans have been keeping the females there in a brothel. We think its because the risk of allowing non-humans out into the wider population, even as slaves, could tip off their authorities, thus risking their operation.”

“Sounds plausible”, I mused, “not sure you’d want to keep all your eggs in one basket though, one mistake and you lose the whole lot”

“True, but then we believe the sex trade hasn’t been going on that long, initially it was drugs and guns in exchange for gems. When the gems started drying up, we started seeing the first kidnappings. We spoke to some of the local diamond dog leaders who claimed the last of the gems had been stolen from their mines by a single mare. We’re looking into that now, but don’t expect we’ll find many leads, the dogs are as thick as two short planks”.

I chuckled, “You can say that again, but at least they don’t eat them.”

“Eat them!? Oh! That little dragon in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, I saw him quite regularly, works in the library”

“Well at least we don’t have to worry about dragons. This is a sweep and clear mission. Go in, destroy the drug making and weapons construction equipment and, if you can find them, get those ponies back”.

“Priority and secondary targets?”

“Officially? Taking the place out is the primary objective, the ponies second. I say they can stick that up their arses. Fairlight, get them out of there, for the goddesses sake, I don’t want any more of our people to suffer. What those bastards did to my…”, he shook his mane, closing his eyes and took a breath, “…never mind, at least we got to them before they were sent there.”

I reached out a hoof to console Brandy, “I’m sorry my friend, how are Carnation and Flax?”

The agent neighed quietly and looked me in the eye, “A lot better, thanks to you. I don’t think things will ever be as they were with Carny, she blames the agency for what happened to her and Flax.”

“But that’s ridiculous!”

He rounded on me, “Is it? Its not the first time agency ponies families have been targeted. Someponies trying to send a message, Fairlight, and not a pleasant one at that”.

I had a sudden image of a tangerine and green mare. Brandy seemed to be able to read my mind.

“Don’t worry Captain, the doctor has advised Tingles to sit this one out. She was furious, but understood that her weakened condition could put us all in danger.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and yet, I was struck with a feeling that this was wrong, that she should be involved in something as important as this. My desire to protect her shouldn’t interfere with her making her own decisions and doing what she felt was right. My bloody past was clouding my judgement, was I wrong? Didn’t I trust her?

“Fairlight? I know what you’re thinking, I’m not stupid”

“Sir?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean, and no, there’s nothing clandestine behind Tingles not going on this mission. The doctor genuinely feels she needs a while longer to recuperate. Apparently, good bed rest is the best cure, I presume you are ‘allowing’ her to rest Captain?”

He raised his eyebrows and treated me to a wry grin.

“Of course! Bloody hell Brandy, you’ve got a mucky mind”

“Says the pony with the green hair on his face”

I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment, “Look, never mind that, tell me more about this mission.”

“That’s about it really. You’re on your own as we don’t expect any resistance following the initial assault.”

“You’re using the others as a decoy?”

“In a word…yes, although you will not repeat that to any of them. Understood Captain?”

“Yes sir”

Brandy trotted over to a locked side room and waved me over as he flicked the lights on inside. The room was full of guns, body armour and weapons of every description and size. He ignored them, his attention focussed on the table in the centre of the room. On it sat a large wooden box, plain except for that it was covered in magical wards. Three large black X’s were painted on the side.

The stallion held his ID card over the box and the lid clicked. A quick flare of his horn and the lid was floated off and he beckoned me over to look inside.

“You like?”

“Oh…fuck yes…!”

The box held six M.A.D’s. These were banned in Equestria, but we knew that somewhere, some existed still as a deterrent from foreign invasion. I should say, that we…suspected. None had ever turned up, but the description was all too accurate. Small purple and green spotted egg’s, looking very similar to dragon eggs, but each one had a deep green glow. Moving my horn near them, sent it wild with that strong itch I got whenever an intense magic field was nearby. These things were insanely dangerous.

“Brandy, where the hell did you get these? What are they for?”

“For you, of course. The human installation needs neutralising and these will be the best way to achieve that result.”

“Goddesses Brandy, you want to start a war? You set these off and you could wipe out an area the size of a city block!”

“True, but our scouts have taken measurements Captain, if you set these up, according to plan, the blast radius will cover the site and that alone. The humans have set their operation up in a remote area which suits us nicely for this job.”

“Is there no way we can liaise with the human authorities, Brandy? Surely they have something akin to the watch or the agency there? Could be invaluable allies for us.”

“We’ve sent envoys already, Captain. The authorities seemed to have enough problems of their own and dismissed our attempts at communication as fantasy stories. Maybe a different approach is needed, but if this works we could potentially shut them down completely.”

“You believe that?”

“No, but I have to have hope. At least until we can find a way to shut down the portals, and thats something the hub quacks are looking into. Bunsen thinks she may have found a way to interfere with their magical wavelength, but how do you get this countrywide?”

I nodded, it was a quandary and one being addressed by ponies far better qualified than myself. This job was something I was qualified for, one that would involve wading fetlock deep in gore, if not deeper.

Celestia fuck me, ‘Magical Annihilation Device’, M.A.D for short. You’d have to be insane to go near one, let alone use one. I wondered if my magic alone could be enough, but if our magic was reduced over there, it probably wouldn’t be. Would these things even work there?

Brandy clopped me on the forehead, “And here’s your instructions and briefing. Plus, a little something from the Mistress. Oh, and you’ll find these a lot easier to read if you don’t sit on them first.”

He smirked and I frowned back at him before shrugging my shoulders in resignation. The cheeky sod, he must have seen me walking out of the briefing with them stuck to my arse. It was probably all round the canteen too…agh!

Brandy and I spoke for a while longer regarding the specifics of the plan, the timings, gear load outs. It was suprisingly detailed. I really didn’t like using the agency ponies as bait, but they still had a job to do. They would be using engineers to plant their explosives and bail out the way they’d come in. Due to the proximity to the portal, they were using lower yield devices.

A lot seemed to be riding on unknowns too. The number of humans on the other side, likely response to any attack and so on. It was all a risk, but one the planners had genuinely done their best to make as foalproof as possible.

Brandy and I walked out and shook hooves before I trotted back to my room and a quiet study of the documents and briefing. Tonight, I’d have to say goodbye to Tingles, I prayed I’d see her again. This mission, reading the documents…it was a lot riskier than I’d initially thought. We were unused to the ‘human’ bodies and I hoped to the good goddesses that the simulator was as accurate as we’d been told. The scouts, whoever they were, were not from our facility and as this was a joint op with ponies from across Equestria, command and control was going to be an issue.

I’d asked Brandy about this, “The agency don’t know about what i’m doing, do they? This is an Equus job.”

He’d nodded, “Keep your distance from them Captain, they have their orders and you have yours.”

“And if it all goes to shit?”

“Improvise”

That had ended that conversation, and now I was making equipment lists, checks and ensuring I had enough flasks with me to get me through this, and back. It was getting late and I yawned feeling my body crying out for a nice relaxing sleep. Speaking of which, I thought I’d heard the door open behind me.

Two long equine forelegs draped themselves over my shoulders, the neat little hooves…hang on! Whats this!

“Fairlight, you okay?”

“I’m fine! What have you got on your legs?”

“These? My socks, it’s freezing in my room, the thermostats playing up again”

“Good grief Tingles…”

She looked down at the long black and white striped socks covering her hooves and knees, “What? They’re just socks…”

Oh goddesses, why me…

The day arrived. The teams had a final briefing and, for show, I’d been there too. I even thought I’d seen Warlock across the room from me looking as happy as ever. I still had no idea what had happened to him, although I had a sneaking suspicion why.

We all trotted off to the equipment stores and for our respective assembly areas. Brandy met me in the high security building where my ‘special’ equipment was waiting.

My kit was the usual loadout of black combat gear, webbing and packs. Flashbugs, assorted other toys, the pulse gun, PDW, this list went on and on. The MAD’s fit into a small pack along with a timer and remote detonator, they’d thought of everything. I had too, a good amount of the silver life giving liquid had been delivered to my room in time to top up my flasks. My shortsword, complemented the issue gear and I felt ready for anything.

Brandy clopped me on the shoulder, “Got everything Nox?”

“Aye, looks like everything but the kitchen sink sir.”

“Fully charged?”

I gave a snort, “To the fill level, including the pulse gun.”

Brandy nodded, “Sorry I can’t come with you my friend, the Mistress has something else planned for me”

“Anything exciting?”

“Don’t know the full details yet, but its important. If I can, I’ll talk to you about it when you get back.”

The doors at the back of the large room banged open, followed by angry shouting and a tangerine mare running full tilt towards me. One of the guards raced after her, grabbing her around the neck and taking her to the ground.

Brandy and I rushed over, “Tingles!”, Brandy shouted at her, “For the goddesses sake, what are you doing in here!?”

She ignored him, trying to buck the guard off her back, “Goddess damn it! Let me up!”

I waved off the guard, “Its ok, she’s with us.”

The guard was not impressed, “She kicked Sunny Days in the face! He’s going to need medical care after this. That mare’s a fucking menace!”

Brandy walked over to console the bedraggled agent, “Its alright agent Race, leave her with me, you call the medics for agent Days and get him looked at. I’ll take care of things here”

She reluctantly nodded and stalked off, saving a final glare for Tingles as she did. The tangerine mare for her part, stood up and brushed herself off.

“YOU!”, she bellowed at me, “You upped and left without a bloody word! Goddesses Fairlight, don’t you think I’d have liked to have had the chance to see you off? I thought I meant more to you than that! We’re partners for Celestia’s sake”

“I didn’t want to worry you, and rightly so! Look at the state you’re in, you should be taking it easy like the doc said to”.

“Oh, fuck the doctor! Don’t be so bloody self righteous Fairlight, you’ve really hurt me by doing this, don’t you realise?”

Tears started to well in her eyes, “I’m not a stupid foal you know, I realise this mission is dangerous and…and what if you don’t come back? What if the last time I saw you was last night and I never got a chance to say…goodbye?”

I went to put a hoof on her shoulder but I didn’t get a chance. Like a streak of orange lightning, he foreleg whipped round and her hoof smacked me across my muzzle.

“Damn you! I hate you Fairlight!”

She lunged forward and grabbed me in a bear hug, squeezing so tightly I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. Tingles sobbed into my mane, her whole body wracked with spasms of grief,

“I hate you, you bloody idiot…”

I nuzzled her neck and put my forelegs around her with a little nip on the ear, “I didn’t want to wake you and say goodbye, because I’ll be home soon. The table at the bar will be waiting for us”

She released her grip and looked at Brandy, “You’d better not have sent him on a suicide mission Brandy, or you’ll be going to the herd to get him back, yes?”

He gulped and took a step back, the tangerine Pegasus meant business. With a quick shake of his mane, he checked the time and trotted to the control panel.

“Its time, Captain.”

A few presses of the buttons and my horn began to itch like crazy. The portals frame glowed with a white light and seemed to implode suddenly, the space inside now swirling with a deep silvery white shimmering energy. I’d seen one of these before, when the beautiful white unicorn walked through and ordered her goons to gun down my friends. The memory stirred a feeling of apprehension and excitement, I wanted to do this, to bring the whole sickening affair to a close. If indeed it could be.

I walked over to the ramp, looking at Brandy on one side of me and Tingles on the other.

“Don’t think of it”, I warned her, “I want you here for when I get back, understood agent Tingles?”

She nodded and our eyes met. The deep green eyes shimmered in the light of the portal, patterns dancing across her coat. By Celestia’s grace, she was so beautiful. My traitorous heart was pounding so hard I thought it was burst, and not from anxiety over the mission either.

Agent Tingles stepped forward and pulled me into a kiss which, although surprising me at first, I melted into. Our lips crushed against each others, her tongue hungering, breath warm and feminine. I hugged her tightly and we finally, heart wrenchingly, had to part.

Tingles nuzzled my neck and I gave her ear a little lick, “One last thing…?”

“Hmmm?”, she sighed.

“Socks” I whispered into her ear with a cheeky grin.

She whinnied and clopped me on the shoulder, “Pervert!”. I laughed, and re-adjusted my gear one last time.

“Come on then hero, you’ve got a job to do. I’ll be waiting…”, she winked and as I climbed the steps gave me a playful slap on the behind.

Brandy shook his head in dismay, “Good luck Nox, Goddesses bless you.”

With a wave of a hoof, I stepped into the light, and into the unknown.