Author's Notes:

Whoo boy. That took a lot longer than I wanted it to. So yeah, between getting sick twice, my old laptop exploding (freak lighting storm fried the components while it was connected to the charging cable. Actually fried a couple other stuff at my place, still mad about that), then having my knee give me issues that i needed to go to physical therapy and now have to go get it looked at more in depth. It's been tough trying to sit down for any extended period of time and get this chapter sorted out. But, here it is at last. I'm excited to hear what you all might think as the story is swiftly coming to a close. Yeah, this series of titles is not just for show, but don't worry, I will try to make all worth while by the end.

So, without further ado, enjoy, and leave some feedback if you can. I alway do enjoy that thing they call 'constructive criticism'.

It also wouldn't do if I didn't give my good friend Regreme his credit where credit is due. Great working with you as always, buddy, and thanks for editing, proofreading, and basically putting up with my finicky schedule.

The streets of Canterlot were abuzz with roaming rumors and outlandish hearsay. Yet, they all shared a common truth. Canterlot was once again the target of another attack from Visionary Dusk and his assailants. If ponies weren’t out in huddled groups among the streets for safety, they were boarding up their homes like a monsoon was about to strike. The fear and anxiety was spreading like wildfire, and the royal guard were stretched thin in their duties to both scour the city for clues and maintain the dwindling peace.

Inside the castle, things were no better. Castle staff whispered nervously to each other in the halls while guards rushed past them to their assigned stations. Deeper into the castle, a contingent of guards stood ready and alert in front of a set of double doors. Every so often, another guard would gallop up and exchange a few words before one of the guards nodded and opened the door to allow them entry.

One such guard, another messenger, hastened up the row of guards at the door and skidded to a halt a mere hoof-length away. She took a moment to catch her breath as the other guards waited patiently for her words.

Once settled, she snapped to attention and raised her right foreleg to her head in a salute, “Private Dazzleflash, reporting in from the garrison’s third brigade.”

“At ease, solider,” the first guard in front of her waved his hoof dismissively.

With permission to relax her posture a bit, Private Dazzleflash did just that and let her shoulder slump ever so slightly from the ache of having to run all the way here. With another intake of air, she was about to make her report to her superior when the unicorn stallion raised his hoof to silence her, and she half sputtered, half choked on her words.

“You are to make your way inside and report directly to the princesses in the war room,” the stallion sidestepped and moved to open one of the double doors that led to, presumably, the war room, “Once you’re done, take a moment to rest over by the front gate and then return to your brigade.”

The door creaked open further, and the shocked Private witnessed the organized chaos within. Many higher-ups were talking between each other while reading over documents and scrolls. Some moved swiftly from one station within the expansive room to another as they collaborated their reports on sections of the city that have already been searched. Though, through all of this, the little mare guard stood frozen as she witnessed the two alicorns of the sun and moon standing over a large central table. Their muzzles were buried in their work, and their backs were turned from the little mare as she tried to swallow a lump building in her throat.

With only her training to guide her hooves, she marched into the room, ramrod straight and beelined for the princesses that were pouring over the various scrolls that were hoofed over to them from other pony guards throughout the room. Seemingly like they had sensed her presence, the two alicorns looked over their shoulders to see the ridged march of the pony behind them. Private Dazzleflash nearly tripped over her own hooves once she saw this, yet she somehow managed to march the last few paces between her and the princesses she needed to be at a respectable distance and deliver her report. However, every last word in her vocabulary simply died before she could form a single sentence, having only realized at this moment, that this was the first time she had ever really spoken directly to the princesses herself. Any other time she had ever been in their presence was in a routine ceremonial formation or a passing, and very distanced, encounter on one of her patrols on the castle grounds.

The poor mare was blindsided with a severe case of anxiety, to the point that her hooves almost gave out from under her. Her mouth was completely dry, and every second she stood there felt like the royal sisters were condemning her under their watchful gaze. The rest of the room sounded like an empty chamber, where its only occupants were Private Dazzleflash and the two royal sisters that were locked in a deathly staring contest. Then, without warning, the princess of the sun lifted her right hoof with the quickness of a bolt of lighting striking the ground. Before, the poor Private Dazzleflash could realize it, the hoof was in front of her face. ‘This was it’, she thought, as if the accusatory hoof was about to lash out and engulf her world more than it already had. She only wished she had to chance to try that blueberry pie down on South Mane one more time before she was banished for wasting the princesses’ time.

“Boop!”

And just like that, the world began turning again. The war room’s other occupants seemed to not even noticed the event going on and were still shuffling and chattering about. Private Dazzleflash felt her nose involuntarily wrinkle up after having the sun princess’ gold clad hoof lightly bop her in the muzzle. With her senses slowly returning to her, the guardsmare crossed her eyes to look down the length of her muzzle and toward the gold clad hoof still hovering in front of it. She had to shake her head a few times to clear the rest of her cobwebs out of her head before she realized that she was still standing before her country’s rulers.

Snapping to attention and rendering a deep, apologetic bow, Private Dazzleflash announced herself, “Y-your highnesses! Private Dazzleflash, reporting in from the third garrison b-brigade!”

An almost whimsical giggle reached the private’s ears from above her, “At ease, Private Dazzleflash.”

Hearing the command, the guardmare immediately shot back up to attention. She saw Princess Celestia retracting her hoof and placing it back on the ground and realized what happened, much to her embarrassment. The little mare’s sheepish expression only served to give the solar diarch another reason to giggle once more.

Although the princess of the moon did not seem to share in the same humor. “I presume you have an update on your brigade’s status, messenger? Then, report,” the lunar princess coldly intoned.

This was what the guardsmare needed to have her training kick in again. Standing up a little straighter, she leveled her gaze between the two princesses and spoke with a neutral tone, just as she would have if she were speaking to one of her instructors back in basic training.

“Yes, your highness,” she spoke quickly, “The third brigade has finished sweeping the city’s North-east lower ring. There were no signs of the assailants on scene or having used the section as an escape route.”

The faintest of frowns crossed the solar princess’ face before it returned to its usual warm smile, “Thank you, Private Dazzleflash. We will add this intel to our resources to narrow down the search. Please, remember to rest up a bit before returning to your squad. And do not forget to stay vigilant, but safe. The pony we’re after is not to be underestimated.”

“Understood, your highness,” Private Dazzleflash gave another respectful bow before turning on her hooves and marched out of the war room.

As soon as the doors closed, the princess of the sun let out a deep, yet masked, sigh. The only one that was able to spot this little break in the sun goddess’ facade was the lunar princess right beside her. She watched as her older sister turned back around to the table behind them and followed suit.

Upon this table was a very large and very detailed map of the city that now hosted a citywide manhunt. On the map itself, many different markings in red marker were prominently shown in various locations. Many of them were bold ‘X’ markings, signifying locations that have been searched for Visionary Dusk and his assailants.

There was large circle in the south-western section of the map, being the marking that displayed the last known sighting of the assailants that appeared merely an hour ago. Arrows zigzagged in different directions from this particular marking, all of which were along different paths to possible directions that the princesses assumed that the assailants might of taken. Many of the ‘X’s were stemmed from these paths, but as they indicated, none were deemed right.

That was when the guard was ordered to perform a more extensive search of the city. All public and private forms of transportation had been issued a shutdown until further notice, a move in which the princesses hoped would limit the wanted creatures’ routes of escape. Although, they also had to remember that they certainly weren’t limited to their means of escape by any means, if their last infiltration into the city was anything to go by.

The princess of the sun solemnly gazed upon the map for a moment longer before levitating a red marker across the table. The red marker easily floated over the map in the princess’ steady grasp and came down to mark another ‘X’ in the north-eastern corner that contained that direction’s section of the lower ring. The marker lazily drifted to another corner of the table and dropped from Celestia’s telekinetic grasp.

“This is certainly troubling,” the princess of the night noted while looking over the map herself, “Even with their noticeable abilities, these assailants have once again slipped amongst the cracks.”

“That’s ‘slipped between the cracks’, sister,” the solar princess cheerily corrected the idiom.

Luna looked up at her sister and glared before turning her head away in a huff, “My point has still been made. There is also the detail of the attack itself.”

Celestia frowned again at her sister’s words. She was right, after all. The assailants had disappeared once again. It was troubling, not for the fact that they escaped, but that they seemed to have vanished without a trace after the incident occured.

A messenger with the initial report stated that the encounter took place along the border to the upper ring in the east. A small squad of guards heard the cries for help and rushed onto the scene. Like Luna had also noted, the attack was not like any of the other attacks Visionary Dusk has made. Of the ones that they could be certain of, every attack was precise, meticulous, and above all, gone unnoticed until after the fact. For Visionary Dusk’s assailants to stage a ponynapping in broad daylight, it just wasn’t adding up.

The messenger went on to report that the guards were able to hold their ground against the assailants, but suffered serious casualties. When it seemed like the assailants were about to finish off the squad, more guards came onto the scene. It was only thanks to the training by Sam and Captain Aegis Flare, the guards’ overwhelming numbers and new tactics in combating conduits slowly pushed the odds in their favor.

With the added support and with more on the way, the assailants must have realized that their chance to escape was slipping away. One of the unicorn assailants moved to the front, stomped the ground and caused a weird earthquake, which in turn caused multiple pillars of concrete to spring from the ground. The guards had to move back or else get caught up in the massive display of force. The lapse in the fight must have been what they were aiming for as the griffon was reported to have thrown a couple of metal canisters between the guards and them. Unknowing of what they were, the guards had to fallback, and the canisters exploded into giant clouds of smoke that filled the streets.

By the time that the guards could regroup and the smoke had cleared enough, the assailants had disappeared. A search of the area was immediately ordered, and the messenger that was sent to report to the princesses brought all this to them. In the aftermath of the skirmish, it was reported that the assailants were never seen after the encounter, not by the guards, the local citizens, or anypony. It was like they vanished. This was what prompted the princesses to expand the search to the entire city in the end, and that is where they were left.

“What do you suppose may have happened, Luna?” Celestia finally asked after mulling over the details for several more minutes.

Luna stayed quiet for the time being, a look of pure concentration on her face as she scanned over the map.

“I am...unsure,” Luna finally relented, “If these attackers fled from the battle, then it should mean that somepony must have seen in which direction they fled. Yet, nopony saw hide nor hair of them after the battle. It is as if they vanished into thin air. They couldn’t have teleported, or else the guards would have found traces of a magical signature. Fleeing by hoof, and at least one other pony would have seen their escape. Are we certain that the city’s citizens have been interrogated?”

“‘Interviewed’, Luna. And yes, the garrison from that section had already interviewed any possible eyewitnesses. None of them saw the assailants leave the area,” Princess Celestia pondered.

“Then, where could they have fled to?” Princess Luna asked nopony in particular.

It was entirely vexing to be sure, as the princess of the sun tried to figure out the method of the mysterious disappearance. No magic was used, as far as they could tell, to teleport or slip by the guards unnoticed. They didn’t flee on hoof, or else somepony would have seen them right away. One was a griffon who could have possibly flown, but that left the other two unicorns. Sam has always demonstrated that conduits never needed to use just the streets to travel by. His constant antics and traipses about the city always wound up with him making a fair bit of use of the city’s rooftops and other high places. Yet, it still would have been hard to go completely unnoticed by anypony if the assailants used such methods.

A long, disgruntled sigh issued from the lunar princess as she eyed the map dolefully, “These assailants are most evasive. I’d say they’re akin to a pack of rats to the drainpipes.”

Celestia suddenly gasped and wheeled on her sister with a startled expression, “What did you say?!”

Luna had to back up a step to avoid her sister’s overbearing presence in her face before answering, “Sister, I know I am still grasping these ‘idioms’, but that’s no reason for you to, oh what was it again, Take flight from the handle?”

“No, it’s fly off-, nevermind that! I meant, what you said might just be the key,” Celestia rushed in a frenzy to flag down one of the guards within the war room. As soon as the first one saw her distress, the unicorn stallion bounded over and bowed before her highness, “I need the maps to the city’s underground sewer and drainage systems, especially ones for the area that the assailants were encountered today.”

“Yes, your highness,” the stallion bowed again and galloped away to procure his assigned quarry.

“Sister,” Luna asked in a questioning tone, unsure of what was going on, “What does what I said have to do with these maps you’ve asked for?”

The princess of the sun was about to answer when the stallion from before returned to the central table with the required maps in hoof. ‘That was quick,’ the princesses thought. The stallion bowed again and returned to his other duties once more. Meanwhile, Princess Celestia took the maps in her magical grasp and sorted through them till she found what she was looking for. Placing the smaller, sectioned maps on top of the large table with the other map, she quickly placed them in a sort of jigsaw puzzle of connected tunnels at their ends. Before long, the underground maps were overlaid on top of the city map and gave them a maze-like network of tunnels.

Princess Celestia took a moment to catch her sister’s attention before explaining and pointing out what she was talking about, “There, the site of the attack, sister. It’s surrounded by a large collection of drainage maintenance tunnels. Like you said, ‘rats to the drainpipe’, these tunnels were made large enough for even an average sized griffon to fit through.”

Princess Luna soon found herself realizing what her sister was starting to say, but frowned upon finding a contradiction, “I see where this is going, sister, but I may want to point out that this particular street does not have a place to enter these tunnels, if I am reading this right.”

The elder princess cocked a smug grin as she took up the marker from earlier in her magic, “Very true, but we must remember the report of the initial attack.” Gingerly outlining key points of the street map in marker, the princess marked positions of where the assailants, the guards, and key components were in the final minutes of the attack. “The guard’s report said that they were able to push the assailants back toward a side street between two buildings. They’d hoped to entrap then strike at the assailants once they had pushed them into the narrower street. Though before the signal to strike could be issued, the assailants retaliated. The guards were pushed back and then even further away when the griffon tossed, what Sam had mentioned were, ‘smoke grenades’ in the guards’ direction. Unknowing of what they were, the guards took cover, and the grenades went off and blanketed the side street in smoke.”

Luna watched as her sister marked the map even further with arrows to show the movements she described and another circle around the side street for the smoke grenade’s effect.

“We didn’t understand where the assailants had escaped to or how they may have done it in the first place,” Princess Celestia explained further, moving the sewer map back over top of the other, “But now, if we assume that the assailants couldn’t have left on the main street where the guards were, and that there is no tunnel entrance in the side street…”

It was Luna’s turn to gasp in realization, and she quickly snatched the marker out of her sister’s magic with her own and poured over the map, “Then, they could have only gone one way to avoid detection.” Luna was giddy as she followed the side street further back with her eyes and overlaid sewer map till she found the marking of a tunnel entrance. “Here! Just on the other side of the street! I’m sure with the commotion of the fight going on just on the other side, this street would be devoid of ponies that wished to not get caught up in the fight.”

In her excitement, the princess of the night overzealously circled the tunnel entrance more than a few times in the red ink. The two sisters looked over the map once more to confirm this entrance to be the closest to the side street on its other side and nodded simultaneously when satisfied on their confirmation.

“We must make haste, sister,” Princess Luna pranced on her hooves in anticipation, “These scoundrels may think they have gotten away, but we shall swiftly bring them to justice upon their capture!”

Though before the lunar princess could go galloping off, the solar princess moved to block her path with an outstretched wing. Luna gave her sister an incredulous look when this happened and gave a frustrated groan at being stopped.

“Sister, this may be a significant lead, but we have no proof that this is how they truly escaped,” Celestia reasoned while retracting her wing.

The younger princess rolled her eyes and argued, “But this is the most logical explanation we have. Strike while their backs are turned with as many guards we can muster! This is worth at least further investigation.”

“I agree,” Celestia nodded to Luna’s surprise, “but we can’t just send a legion of guards on a possibly false lead, especially when we would have to pull those forces from other search parties, opening up larger escape routes.” Luna quickly realized her error and began to ponder on what they should do. Celestia, already one step ahead of her, patted the lunar princess’ shoulder to bring her attention back upon her. “Captain Aegis Flare should already be at the scene of the attack, looking for any more clues that may have been missed. I was told that he also took Sam along with him as a means to help him identify any clues they may have come across in the search. I believe a messenger is all that is needed for this task, and we can relay our findings to have them search for this drainage entrance and signs of the assailants’ escape.”

Although disappointed that she would not be leading a glorious charge onto the field of battle like she had hoped, Princess Luna understood the need for this tactic and nodded in agreement. With their plan set, Celestia called for another guard within the war room to relay their plan to a messenger who would find the captain and the conduit. The guard gave a quick bow and exited the room quickly to perform his task.

“You said that the captain and Samuel were the only ones to return to the scene of the attack?” Luna suddenly inquired, to which her elder sister gave her a questioning look, “Do you think it wise on their part to investigate the scene alone?”

Celestia gave her sister a confident smile, “Of course. Sam is more than capable in defending himself and others, and has a surprising aptitude for deduction, even if he tends to have a ‘leap before looking’ attitude. Coupled with Captain Aegis Flare’s years of experience and discipline, I believe that they are just fine.”

Somehow, the lunar princess couldn’t help but feel a knot of anxiety twist in her gut. Even with her elder sister’s words, she couldn’t help but feel like something bad was about to happen, especially to the small investigative team.

Captain Aegis Flare leapt over the dirty water way separating the intersection of the confined sewer way underneath Canterlot that he now found himself in. Landing with a steady quartet of clacks from armored hooves, he circled in place and watched as both Twilight and Sam made the same jump without incident. Aside from the trio’s footfalls, the only sounds that accompanied them was the small trickles of water splashing into the grimy water that flowed and carried the waste from the city above, and the rhythmic, almost pulsating, beeping sounds coming from the device in Twilight’s magical grasp.

Sam checked his surroundings alongside the captain for any signs of danger before falling in step behind the pegasus guard. He held up his wire light spell matrix that acted as the group’s light source for the journey to get a better look at where he was going, and give the rest of the group the light they needed to manage their own steps.

They hadn’t expected to be led to such a grotty, isolated system beneath the city, but here they were. Earlier, back on the surface, Twilight struggled for a while on interpreting the tracker she had modified as they first started off. At first, it seemed to lead them in multiple different directions, and Twilight had to stop to make a few more adjustments. When she finally recognized that there was a pattern to the way the device operated, she figured out just how to interpret its readings, to an extent.

Sam and Aegis Flare followed her lead as she led them through the decimated side street, full of concrete rubble. They were eventually led out on to the next street over, which was just as deserted as the first.

It seemed the commotion from the fight had scared off the citizens of Canterlot on this street as well, but that suited the group just fine. as they maintained focus on the tracker’s heading. With Twilight leading the group, they eventually wound up in front of what looked like some kind of stone shed. by what Sam could tell. Sam was confused by this structure until Twilight explained that it was an entrance to the city’s underground sewer system. The human conduit had never seen anything like it before, but figured that it made sense for ponies, seeing as manholes and ladders would be difficult to use for the quadrupeds.

Sam was called upon to pick the lock on the steel entrance door at the captain’s request. Turns out that such structures were charmed to block all but the most powerful magical tampering, to keep unruly individuals from getting in without the proper key. A simple enough task for the conduit, as his abilities allowed him to bypass such restrictions with his magical resistance. Yet, as soon as he started to pick the lock, he and the rest of the group were surprised to the find the door already unlocked. Red flags sprang up in their minds as to what this could mean, and the tracker’s prompting only made it more clear that they were more than likely on the right path.

If none of that reassured that notion, then what they found on the other side of the door surely did. Down the flight of stairs, and in the darkness that the sunlight barely reached, Sam and the others could just make out the distinct coloration and material of concrete, as it sealed off the tunnels below at the end of the staircase.

Sam told the others to hang back while he checked it out. Descending the elongated steps with caution, Sam summoned his thaumium wires to create an illumination spell matrix. The light cast by its artificial glow helped the conduit to see what he would be working with and to spot any potential traps hidden in the darkness.

Now at the bottom of the stairs, and nary a trap to be encountered, he ran his free hand over the concrete structure and pulled it back to look over the minute dust of the material that his fingers trailed off its surface. He tapped on it a few times while putting an ear to its surface, happy to note that it seemed that there was no signs of life on the other side. With a nod of his head, he reabsorbed the light spell matrix to free up his other hand then stepped a few paces back up the stairs.

Twilight and Aegis Flare watched as the conduit shook his arms out to the side before taking a stance. It caught them off guard when he suddenly cocked both his arms back before shooting them forward, and a series of wires flew out to pierce the concrete structure. Backing up a few more steps, they watched as Sam yanked back as hard as he could, and the wires grew taunt. Cracks formed on the surface of the concrete wall, and it started creak from the stress of the conduit pulling on it. It didn’t take long afterwards for the wall to finally give way, and large chunks of it embedded with wire hooks came free, leaving a sizeable, jagged opening in its wake.

Sam carefully stepped down to the newly formed opening and checked the other side with another light spell matrix. It appeared that the scene was safe, as he called back and beckoned for his companions to join him. With the way clear, Twilight and Aegis Flare did just that and continued to follow the conduit down into the previously blocked sewer system.

“Blugh, it smells like a sewer down here,” Sam complained, pinching his nose from the slightly pungent scent that crept up on him.

They had been following the series of tunnels for a while now, switching over to the guidance of the tracker in Twilight’s magical grasp as she led the way to where it reacted to the strongest signal.

“That’s because we are in a sewer,” Twilight huffed, having already expecting this type of commentary, “The tracker indicates that the assailants used this route to make their escape from the surface, so this is where we need to go, too.”

“Ok, but I’ve got one more question. When’s the last time someone actually came down here?” Sam asked, pushing a little tremble into his hushed tone.

When all he got was a pair of confused looks from his companions, he couldn’t help but feel a little, fiendish idea creep its way into his mind. An idea that would no doubt get him into trouble in just a minute.

“What do you mean, Sam?” Twilight all but walked right into the bait, “The Canterlot Sanitation Crew inspect and maintain the city’s sewer systems regularly. If you’re worried about the sewer’s infrastructural integrity, you needn’t have to.”

“Oh, it’s not that I’m worried about,” Sam said casually, though made to look as if he was watching something in the shadows ahead, “I’m more worried about running into… ‘It’.”

Another round of confused looks met him, but there was a faint flash of skepticism from one haggard royal guard captain.

“‘It’?” Twilight asked once more, further walking into the humorous trap.

“Oh, yeah,” Sam replied, working to keep the smirk off his face, “You know, ‘It’. The poly-dimensional, killer clown creature that’s been feasting on the souls of innocent creatures?”

At this, Twilight’s expression shifted to match the captain’s in front of them of bored disgruntlement, “Sam, there’s no such thing as that.”

“Oh, but there is,” Sam suddenly stopped and turned on the unicorn, “No one really knows where ‘It’ comes from, but it’s definitely real.”

“...Wait a minute, you said that your world didn’t believe in the multiverse theory,” Twilight suddenly objected, thinking she saw through Sam clever ruse.

Sam only had to backpedal for a moment and shook his head, “Oh no, most people don’t believe, but there’s been too many coincidences of ‘It’ to just be written off.”

Twilight remained skeptical and pushed past the conduit to continue their trek. Sam rushed back to his place in front of the unicorn, but kept looking over his shoulder in a worried fashion. Noticing this, Twilight was starting to suspect that Sam may actually think that this ‘It’ character might actually be real and caused her to feel pity for her companion.

“Sam, there’s no need to worry,” Twilight tried to reassure the anxious conduit, “I’ve never heard of this ‘It’ creature and never have I heard of somepony getting hurt in these sewers.”

Sam snorted, “That you may have heard of.”

Twilight thought that the only way to quall the conduit’s fears was to further understand what he was afraid of. Thus, she asked for more details on this creature called ‘It’.

Sam took one more worried look over his shoulder before speaking in a hushed tone, “Well, legend says that even though ‘It’ doesn’t actually have a physical body, it takes on the form of a clown. Don’t ask me why, but that shit is still scary on its own. ‘It’ hungers for the souls of living and gets them just about anyway ‘It’ can. In my world, it always lurks in the sewers, watching and waiting until it spots the perfect prey.”

At this point, even Twilight was starting to feel a little creeped out by this creature’s description.

“Once it does spot its prey, it goes on the hunt. Though, it doesn’t hunt like you’d expect it to. ‘It’ has a sick and twisted way of going about it. First, ‘It’ will wait until they approach a storm drain, a sewer grate, or even a hole in the ground that leads to its domain. Then, it appears, in form of a clown. No one knows why, but it’s almost certainly works every time to draw its victim in if only in curiosity. ‘Hey!’ he might say in a weird, scratchy voice ‘You look a little lost!’.”

Sam’s recount was now starting to unnerve the poor unicorn and even gained the attention of the captain, who was starting to suspect something was off.

Sam’s hands began to shake as he continued his talk, “It wouldn’t matter if you talked back to ‘It’ or not. For some reason, you would feel compelled to stay and see to this strange figure before you. If you asked ‘It’ what it was doing, ‘It’s’ reply would go something like, ‘Why, I was just looking for a friend!’. Strange as it would seem, you couldn’t walk away, still compelled to know what was up with this figure in the sewer. ‘Do you like balloons?’, a strange question from a strange figure, yet you find nothing too odd about it. Again, it wouldn’t matter what you’d say, the stranger would just laugh at your reply and giddily chuckle ‘They’re amazing, I’d say. You want to know why?’.”

Twilight hadn’t realized it, but her heartbeat was quickening, and she found herself checking the shadows of the tunnels, just like Sam had done not long ago. In fact, she couldn’t help but wonder if the faint echoes she heard far off down the tunnels belonged to some benign stir of commotion coming from the surface, or from something more sinister and clown related.

“Twilight, you want to know why the balloons are so amazing?” Sam snapped the unicorn out of her trance with the serious sounding question.

The purple unicorn could only nod ‘yes’ as her voice was lost to some primal fear.

Sam looked her dead in the eye and spoke in a dark tone, “‘It’ would slowly reach out from his hiding spot, knowing its victim was paralyzed by an unknown source, reaching out until its icy, cold fingers wrapped around a limb in a death grip. ‘It’ would then smile with a mouth full of yellowed, razor sharp teeth and cry out ‘Because they all float! They all float down here. Just. Like. You!’!”

Something suddenly shot up and out of the water and ensnared the poor unicorn’s hind leg. It felt cold, hard, and spindly, as if they weren’t human, equine, or anything she knew. She tried to scream, but her voice caught in her throat, and she just stood there, frozen in fear. The thing around her leg squeezed ever so slightly to reaffirm its presence before slowly feeling like it was tugging on her, back toward the murky depths of the water. It was this final course of action that finally got the unicorn’s mind working again, and she squeaked out a near inaudible breath of fear, scrambling to pull her hoof out of ’It’s’ grasp. She tripped and fell and prayed that her friend would save her before it was too late, but all she heard was laughter. Sick, horrible...uproaring, jovial laughter?

The world seemed to have snapped back into focus as Twilight took stock of the situation. Her heart was still hammering against her chest, and she found that she was not actually getting any closer to the water’s edge than she had originally started. Looking back to her hoof, the little unicorn finally identified what it was that had ensnared her hoof in the first place. Wrapped carefully around her hind leg was a knot of silvery, metal wire that emerged from the water. Following the faint outline just below the surface, she found the strand slinking back up out of the water further away from her and up to the finger of the wire conduit it was attached to. Said conduit was nearly doubling over with laughter, which only further pushed the unicorn to come to terms with what actually happened.

She looked up at Sam once more and saw he was still snickering while looking at her with joyful mirth in his eyes. She wanted to be mad. Hell, she wanted to be furious, but at the same time, seeing that carefree spirit allowed her to calm down a little more herself, knowing that she was in no more danger than any other time Sam had pulled a prank like this on her.

Of course, not everyone was laughing. No, there was one among the group that found nothing about the situation to be humorous in any way, shape, or form. Sam found himself suddenly assaulted from behind. The feathery appendage that was used as the weapon made a resounding smack across the back of the wire conduit’s head. It was surprising how much force could be put into such an attack, but the intention of it was for more than just causing pain. The distraction was enough to cut off the conduit’s laughter in an instant, as he was now rubbing the sore spot the slap caused and turned to face the perpetrator of the assault. Somehow, he wished he hadn’t, as the fury of a thousand hounds of hell stared back. Cappy was pissed.

“What the buck is wrong with you?!” the infuriated captain hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

Sam tried to respond in the most dignified way he could, “Uh…”

The captain wouldn’t be having it though and flared his wings aggressively as much as the cramped tunnels would allow. “No! No, excuses!” he continued his harsh whisper of a tone, “Take a look around us and tell me where you think we are.”

The odd request was met with an equally confused look from the wire conduit, though he did as the captain asked. The tunnels remained as damp and stinking as the last time he checked, so he wasn’t quite sure what the captain was getting at.

The captain became impatient with Sam’s lack of awareness and finally blurted out the answer, “Have you really forgotten why we are down, human? We are in the middle of hunting down three extremely dangerous criminals and their leader, Visionary Dusk, who is among Equestria’s ‘Most Wanted’!”

“Come on, Cappy. Of course I knew that,” Sam said, trying to brush the accusatory glare off in a wavering tone.

Aegis Flare’s anger grew even hotter, “Then, you also knew how dangerous it is to be giving away our position with your idiotic antics when we have no idea if they could be just down this tunnel?”

Sam suddenly realized how stupid his little prank had been, and just how much danger he put himself, Cappy, and especially Twilight in if this were true. Thinking back to his friends in Memphis, he knew Natie would have been disappointed in him, or more accurately, thrown him across the tunnel and into the wall before shooting him up with a couple thousand volts of electricity to help sink the lesson in. He wasn’t trying to be malicious or uncaring, and he tried to speak up to explain.

“Ok, that one’s on me. I just-”

The captain furiously stomped his hoof to cut him off, “Shut up! I said I don’t want to hear excuses, human.”

“W-wait a second, captain,” Twilight cut in, after having finally recovered her heartbeat to a normal pace, “Please, it was just a joke. I should have seen it coming, knowing Sam.”

Twilight suddenly found herself under the piercing, scrutinizing eye of the captain and blanched.

The deathly glare only softened a bit after the captain realized who he was misdirecting his ire toward, “Be that as it may, Miss Sparkle. I will not simply overlook the human’s blatant disregard for our safety because it was simply a ‘joke’.” The captain redirected his fury back on its proper target and redoubled his anger, “I’d have you detained and thrown in the dungeon if it weren’t for the fact that I still need you here for Miss Sparkle’s protection, but know this, human: You and I are going to have a very long and serious discussion about this when this is over.”

The captain gave one last snort of anger before turning around to follow the darkened sewer shaft to its next fork. Sam lingered back as he went over the captain’s words in his head.

The captain was right and he knew it. To the wire conduit, it was just a harmless prank, and a way to break some of the oppressing tension that was suffocating them in these narrow enclosures. Though in reality, he could have easily just put the lot of them in extreme danger. It didn’t help when he also realized that that meant that he would have been solely responsible if Twilight had come to harm if the assailants ambushed them during his little prank. The shadows deep into the network of the underground sewer felt a whole lot more sinister and foreboding in the conduit’s mind right about now.

“Sam,” a gentle hoof came up to rest upon the conduit’s side as he looked down to the distraught owner of the voice.

He couldn’t look at her directly and opted to look just over her shoulder as he spoke, “Sorry, Sparks. That was careless of me. It won’t happen again.”

“No, it’s okay,” Twilight tried to reassure the conduit, “Look, I’m fine, and the assailants haven’t attacked, so that must mean that they’re still a ways off. Don’t let this get to you.”

“Don’t mean that it was right. I was just trying to lighten the mood, you know, to... Cappy’s right, I need to focus,” Sam said dolefully, then hardened his expression into a more serious fashion.

Though before he could walk off to catch up with the captain, he felt Twilight’s hoof tug on his shirt. Looking back, he was surprised to find a sympathetic gaze returned onto him. Twilight knew more about Sam’s endeavours than any other pony and quite a few of his quirks and mannerisms. She didn’t always catch on as quick as she liked to, but she could tell when something like this was bothering him and why. She saw the slight tremble in his free hand and how he tried to slip it into his pocket without her notice, how he continued to try and look past her to avoid looking directly into her eyes. Plus, the neutral expression he wore to try and mask his true feelings. He was scared, and Twilight could probably guess why, which also led to why he had tried to distract himself with the prank in the first place. She was determined to stay by his side more than ever, not just to help bring the bad guys to justice, but to make sure that Sam, her friend, wouldn’t have to suffer anymore pain or trauma at their hooves.

She slowly let go of the conduit’s shirt, but continued to stare up at him in an expression of solidarity. No words were needed to understand the implied promise, though Sam was reluctant to accept it at first. He eventually gave in and allowed the unicorn’s feelings to fully wash over him and give him just that little peace of mind he had been needing. Their moment was up though, as they came to realize that the captain was patiently waiting on them from down the tunnel at the next fork. Twilight hefted the tracker back up and turned it back on before motioning that she was ready.

The two caught up with the captain swiftly, and they resumed their navigation of the sewer tunnels in a more peaceful silence. Yet, the tension was beginning to mount again, especially when they had been following the guidance of the tracker in Twilight’s telekinetic grasp for what felt like hours now. Every corner they came to was met with a cautious scouting by Sam and the captain to make sure the coast was clear before they could move on. Just as the tension was reaching a breaking point, they had come across a new discovery. The tracker Twilight lofted about began to chime more rapidly. Unsure of what it meant, but suspecting the cause, they all became more vigilant and careful of their movements.

The investigative trio had just rounded their next corner when they happened upon their next clue. The tunnel was unremarkable in and of itself, but unlike the many they had been exploring so far, there was a distinct difference in this one. A staircase, much like all the one they had used to enter the sewer system in the beginning, had a streak of mid afternoon sunlight streaming in from the maintenance entry doorway where the door was cracked open.

All the other entries they had passed beforehand had their doorways meticulously secured shut and blocking out all light from those points, so seeing something like this so out of place was certainly a new development. Twilight’s tracker gave even more confirmation that this was indeed the way they should explore, as the tracker’s chimes became even more frantic in pace.

The group moved slowly, and Sam reabsorbed the thaumium wire light he had been using to light their way to give them the extra bit of stealth they needed. The noisy tracker seemingly grew louder with each step they took toward the staircase as it echoed around them in the reverbating tunnel, and the purple unicorn grew anxious in whether it was safe to keep using it at the time.

“Sparks, shut the tracker off for now,” Sam whispered over his shoulder.

Heeding her friend’s advice, she quickly disabled the device, and the tunnel was now devoid of the rhythmic sounds that came from the device. The captain was first to reach the staircase, and he carefully inspected it for any signs of traps before even considering ascending. Sam did the same, his own experiences reminding him to watch out for near-invisible tripwires, or the faint gleam coming off of the metal casing of an IED, or even the flashing red dots of security cameras hidden in the shadows. Be it thanks to their vigilance or sheer dumb luck, they encountered none of these dangers as they ascended the staircase and headed toward the promise of daylight. Twilight could feel the increased tension in the air and stuck as close as she could to her conduit companion.

Their pace slowed to a crawl as the captain sidled up against the wall as he came even closer to the door. Seconds ticked back in agonizing uncertainty for what laid ahead, making each of them restless.

Aegis Flare finally stepped up to the final step of the staircase and flattened himself against the shadow of the door. Sam fell in right behind him, along with a nervous unicorn in tow, and worked to keep his breathing in control. The captain looked over his shoulder once to make sure the other two were where he needed them before he creeped up to the veil of light that obscured the outside.

He squinted against the harsh light and peered into the world outside. When he stood there for some time, the wire conduit grew anxious and carefully slipped up behind the pegasus.

“What do you see?” Sam asked in the quietest whisper he could.

The captain leaned back just enough to answer, but kept his gaze on the world through the crack, “Canterlot… An older section, most likely somewhere in the lower ring. Judging by how far we’ve walked, my guess is on the western side of the city.”

Sam absorbed the information quickly, but wanted more, “See any signs of the D.U.P. wannabes?”

“No,” Aegis Flare answered back curtly, “Not from this angle at least. We’ll have to move out there to get a better look of the rest of the surroundings.”

“Let me go out there first,” Sam suddenly insisted.

This time, the captain turned his head fully around to eye the conduit. He saw a determined expression that brokered no compromise for this request. He could see that Sam was trying to win back his trust, and it was at least admirable. The captain thought about it for a second, then decided that he could trust the conduit in the task to take point. He backed away and down the steps to allow Sam to move up into position.

Twilight was bewildered by this entire exchange, and how serious the two acted before her. She wanted to raise an objection in Sam’s defense, that he shouldn’t have to go out into the unknown first, but the pressure of the situation gave her pause to consider her actions. So, she was left to watch her friend nervously as he inched ever closer to their only exit.

Sam was especially tense as he moved up to the metal plated door. He didn’t know what he expected to see on the other side, but he carefully peeked through the crack, just as the captain did, to get a better idea. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the change in illumination and the blurry shapes that populated his vision to come into focus.

The first thing he noticed was the distinct lack of the hustle and bustle of the city’s ambience that he had come to associate with its inhabitants. There was not a pony to be seen along the deserted street that the maintenance entry tunnel exited out onto. Across the street, there were no gothic architecture that most of the city’s buildings emulated to fill the expansive empty lot surrounded by chain linked fence, though it wasn’t exactly bare either. It was a lot more cluttered with piles of scrap, junk, and broken clutter almost half his height.

However, further beyond that stood a lone building, looking like it had seen far better days. Graffiti covered most of the lower walls, and a good portion of the windows were shattered. The building itself looked nothing like the rest of Canterlot’s architecture, being made of faded red brick and looking like it had withstood a good chunk of time and the elements. Something about it didn’t sit well with the conduit, and he couldn’t shake the feeling like it was more important than it let on.

All of those thoughts would have to wait though, as the wire conduit had to finish out his current task of confirming the scene to be safe. Tilting his head in every direction he could to see as much of the world outside as the crack in the door would permit, he found the shabby looking street to look safe enough from his inspection and slowly brought his hand up to widen the gap in the door to move out into the light. The door creaked a bit too noisily for Sam’s taste, but he just had to hope that no one was lurking on the other side and waiting for him to emerge. Once he felt that the opening was wide enough to squeeze through, he did just that and slipped out into the daylight.

Fearing an attack, the conduit summoned a few wires to hover about his right arm, and he moved to the closest hiding spot he could see. A dumpster just to the right of the sewer entrance and up against an adjacent building gave him adequate cover as he checked his surroundings again. Nothing seemed to have changed as he moved to his hiding spot, which he was grateful for, though he kept himself on high alert as he observed the rest of the terrain that he previously couldn’t see.

He found most of the scant buildings in this section of the city to resemble the first that he saw. Far more sturdy look in structure, it was like they were built to withstand more over time. Most of them looked deserted, with very few signs of any ponies having been in or around them in a long while, just like the street itself. Luckily, this meant that Sam was more than likely alone, as far as he could tell, and the lack of any ambush helped reassure him of that notion.

Seeing as the coast was clear for the moment, he pondered on how he was going to let the others know that it was safe for them to come out. An idea suddenly took hold in his mind, and the wire conduit wove some metal threads between his hands. The wires soon took on the shape that Sam desired, and he was left with a wire frame of a human hand. Satisfied with his work, he attached a few wires to where the wrist would be and flexed the puppeteer like strands attached to fingers. The wire hand moved as he commanded, and he found the right patterns he needed to make it gesture in a simple ‘Follow Me’ fashion.

He let the hand fall from his own and used the wires attached to guide the hand out from his hiding spot and back toward the sewer entrance. Since he didn’t want to poke his head out and risk exposure, he contently guided the wire appendage by feel back along the path he took and felt the dull thud of it coming into contact with the door that led back into the sewer. Without having to even look, he carefully slipped the hand in through the entrance just enough that he was sure that the others could see and moved his puppeteering hand in the same motions that he had just practiced. He did it twice and, just as carefully, reeled the wire appendage back toward his hiding spot.

He was glad to hear the creak of the sewer door and a pair of hooves growing closer as he brought the wire hand back into his palm. Not even a second later, the captain and Twilight Sparkle rounded the corner of the dumpster and ducked in behind it, just like Sam had did.

“That was really creepy, you know that, Sam?” Twilight mentioned as she worked to calm her breath from the short, yet quiet sprint.

Sam smirked, knowing exactly what she was referring to and raised the wire hand in his own between the two of them, “I could have used a real one if you had liked.”

Twilight shivered as she tried to dispel the morbid image from her mind and hoped that Sam was only kidding.

“Did you notice anything out here, human?” the captain spoke up in an attempt to get them back on track.

Sam shook his head with a frown as he replied, “No. No signs of Dusk or the wannabes. As far as I can tell, they’re nowhere around here. Hey, Sparks. You still got that tracker on you?”

Said device had been hoisted along and still hovered in a veil of lavender magic from the unicorn behind her. She understood what Sam was asking and brought the device back to in front of her to manipulate it. Easily flicking the dial back over, the tracker lit up once more and produced a higher pitched tempo than it did back down in the sewers. Intrigued by this new development, the other two gathered around as the unicorn fiddled with the device to make sure it was functioning properly.

“I-I can’t say for sure, but I think this device is telling us we’re getting really close to the source of its focus,” Twilight explained as best she could, “Wait, the signal is definitely stronger than it was originally.”

The unicorn swept the device from side to side and observed how the signal grew stronger when it was faced in a certain direction. Sam and Aegis Flare grew more guarded as they also interpreted the perceived meaning.

“Hold on, I want to check something,” Twilight said as she pushed past the two to peek out from their hiding spot.

Sweeping the device out over the street just beyond the protection of their cover, she was shocked to find what she found as of the results. She quickly pulled the device back to behind the safety of the cover and looked to the others with an alarmed expression. “I think I know where Visionary Dusk is hiding now. Or at least, the source of the focus in the tracker.”

Sam and Aegis Flare gasped in surprise and silently urged the unicorn to hurry up and tell them.

“Ok, I’m not a hundred percent sure,” Twilight tried to sound a little more confident than she was, “but by the tracker’s readings, that building across the street has given off the highest reading out of everything else in the immediate area.”

“Fucking hell!” Sam hissed in anger, “Those asshats have basically been living next door this whole time?”

“Wait, calm down, Sam. This is all just speculation on my part, since I’m not sure if that’s tracker is telling me,” the little unicorn said in an attempt to placate her friend.

Sam clenched his fist and took a deep breath to help calm his mind. He knew she was right, but the thought of their enemies possibly being just a quick jaunt across the road from them made it pretty hard for him to keep his cool.

Though at the same time, Twilight was contemplating a new thought that crossed her mind. Carefully peering around the dumpster to view the abandoned looking building on the over side of the empty lot, another twinge at the back of her mind made her focus on it with more scrutiny. She couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something about the place she was looking at at this very moment. Like she should know something about this place, but her mind couldn’t connect the dots.

“Is it just me, or does anypony else feel like this place is familiar in some way? Like, this place, or that building in particular, remind you of something?” Twilight asked her companions as she rounded herself back behind cover.

Captain Aegis Flare was unsure how to answer this, as he had no idea what the unicorn was talking about. The building in question was unremarkable in every facet he could think of. So trying to distinguish any defining features seemed pointless, especially when he held no memories of such a place like the unicorn apparently did. Choosing to ignore it with a shake of his head as it had little to do with the task at hoof, he opted to ask her a more important question, “Miss Sparkle, is there any way that you can check to see if Visionary Dusk and his assailants are actually in that building? Maybe even get a clearer reading on that device?”

Twilight retreated into her thoughts for a moment to run through any ideas that could help answer the captain’s question. Each one that was brought up was immediately shot down, as she either didn’t have the necessary materials or references for spells that could help her in this situation.

“No, captain,” Twilight disheartenedly shook her head, “I hate to admit it, but I’m actually not very adept at scrying spells, and this tracker can really only give me the direction and strength of the signal from the source of the focus we have in it. Though, the reading I’m getting off of that building is far stronger than everything else along the path we’ve been tracking, which leads me to believe that that building may, in fact, be where the source is. Or put simply, one of the assailants that the shard of concrete came from.”

Aegis Flare mulled this over for a minute. This was probably the best answer he was going to get, but it certainly wasn’t the most desirable answer. It left far too many other questions in its wake. Were all of the assailants in the building now, or was it just the one and the others were lying in wait somewhere in the surrounding environment? If the assailants were here, was Visionary Dusk as well? Was this building guarded or have traps? Would it be wise to investigate further to gain better confirmation? Or was all this perhaps just a dead end? All these and more made Aegis Flare ruffle his wings in agitation as he pondered on the best course of action he should take.

His moments of thought were suddenly interrupted by a quiet gasp that came from the lone unicorn in the group. This also drew Sam’s attention, and he worried that she saw something that he might have missed that now put them in danger. His senses were on high alert, wire sprang out to encompass his arms, and he inspected the area around them feverishly to spot the hidden danger. However, he found nothing of the sort around, above, or behind them, and he thought his friend had just been seeing things in the shadows.

This was not the case, as he turned to address Twilight, only to find her staring directly toward the building that was the focus of their deliberation with a wide-eyed shock and disbelief. “It’s this place,” she said cryptically, “I know what it is! I’ve read about it in my ‘Historical Landmarks of Canterlot’ studies. I know most ponies don’t remember this, as the practice only happened for a few years, but just over two decades ago, the royal research teams of Canterlot didn’t always centralize their studies within the Canterlot Academy nor the castle research facilities.”

Both Sam and the captain listened intently to Twilight as she recited her extensive knowledge on a seldomly read topic.

“The lack of accommodating space greatly frustrated those that just wanted the chance to see their research and projects come to fruition, so a compromise was reached by the High Magus Council. Researchers and scientists were given a couple of branching facilities that had been refurbished from old, vacant office buildings within Canterlot to conduct their studies, and experiments that would have otherwise needed days, or even weeks, of waiting before a lab in the castle or academy’s labs were freed up for use.

“The science and magical research communities were eternally grateful for this compromise that allowed more ponies to press on with their research. However, the High Magus Council couldn’t effectively monitor these sites as thoroughly as the more confined castle or academy labs. They may have lacked the stringent oversight of the Magus Council, unlike the academy or castle facilities, but it was concluded that so long as each facility was kept up to code under the magic and scientific research regulations, and were submitted to regular audits by the council themselves, the ponies who utilized these facilities could be afforded this lax oversight. Most everypony was happy.”

Twilight’s expression, which had been rather optimistic as she spoke, turned somber.

“This lax view in oversight turned out to be the foundation for a tragedy that befell Canterlot and the research community as a whole… It’s a little ironic, if it turns out that this facility is indeed Visionary Dusk’s hideout. This facility is where that same pony was found to have been conducting unethical and inequine experiments on a living pony, ultimately k-killing her in the process. It apparently made the headline news for weeks after the incident.”

The sudden reveal of this new information made the captain and Sam grow slack-jawed in surprised disgust. Sam could feel his hate for the mad scientist growing even more and wishing he could just wrap his hands around the bastard’s neck.

However, Twilight’s tale wasn’t completely over, “From what I recall from reading on the matter, which believe me was very little, all the outlying facilities’ researchers were ordered to cease all research, experiments, and testing and were subjected to investigation. It turned out that other researchers were using the facilities for other illegal practices and were stripped of their licenses, but none were as grievous or malicious as Visionary Dusk’s murder. The High Magus Council found that the lack in more thorough oversight was what gave way to the rampant wrongdoings and the ultimate tragedy, and all the facilities were shut down. The last thing I know about this incident is that when Visionary Dusk was put on trial for his crimes, the High Magus Council unanimously voted in favor to Princess Celestia’s counsel of banishment from all Equestrian territories.”

The depressing tale left the group in a state of silence to soak the information in. It was sick and twisted how this had all come full circle, but this time, captain Aegis Flare would not allow such a dangerous individual to have anything less than imprisonment for life.

“Welp, we ain’t getting our answers sitting on our asses here,” Sam suddenly blurted out with a light clap of his hands.

The wire conduit made to stand up from their crowded hiding spot and proceeded to stealthily hop from what little cover to cover between him and the marked building to get a closer look. At least, that was his intention before being bodily tackled back into their first cover by a flurry of clanging armor and fluttering feathers.

The unexpected pounce took him by surprise, and Sam accidently banged his head against the side of the dumpster, generating a loud bang that echoed into the streets very loudly. Twilight, and the captain who had been the one to tackle the now momentarily dazed conduit, winced at the unintended noise and feared that they might have just blown their cover to the assailants that they were trying to stalk.

Poking their heads out into the street and scanning their surroundings, they were relieved to find no such signs of someone having heard the commotion, especially by the ones they were tracking. With the crisis averted, the two ponies turned to face the recovering conduit with varying degrees of displeasure.

“Damn it, Human! What in Tartarus were you thinking?!” Captain Aegis Flare hissed angrily at the conduit pinned beneath his hooves.

“Hey, you’re the one that wanted to know if Visionary Dusk was in there,” Sam argued calmly, like what he was about to do had no need to cause such alarm, “No better way to do that than to get up in there ourselves and check.”

The captain growled in annoyance at the conduit’s nonchalant explanation. He had to take a moment to back off and recompose, which allowed Sam to wiggle his way out from beneath the captain’s grip and sit up properly.

Once the captain calmed down, he leveled the conduit with a contemptuous glare and retorted, “And what was your insane plan this time to do that, human? Walk up to the front door and knock to see if anypony’s home?”

“Do I look like the girl scouts to you, Cappy?” Sam replied with a smirk, although the joke was lost on the ponies, “Look. As far as I can see, no one’s appeared by the windows of the building or around the other buildings around here. Believe me, I’ve been keeping an eye out for even the slightest movement. My guess is that if Dusk or the D.U.P. wannabes are anywhere in there, they’re at least not on this side of the building where we can see them, and more importantly, where they can see us.

“The place looks pretty big anyways. Four people in a place that big makes it easier to pick a spot further inside to set up shop, away from prying eyes. I bet you anything we won’t be seeing them outside regardless, since I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be broadcasting where I’m hanging out if I were a mad scientist hiding out in my country’s capital’s backyard. Nah, it’s like how me and the gang have our hangout set up back in Memphis; Secluded enough in a big city, unsuspecting in appearance, and most importantly, hard for someone to accidentally peek out and get spotted.”

The two ponies were both surprised and astounded by these insightful observations that their companion had made, each time pointing out each part that related to the area on or around the building he was referring to. Captain Aegis Flare was especially amazed by how each point was well founded, and he had to look at the building himself once more to see how he missed some of them in his own deductions. All that being said though, he felt the conduit’s near reckless approach was far too hasty and sloppy to execute without proper planning, something that he should have seen coming with the conduit involved.

Nonetheless, the captain had to concede that the conduit’s deductions held merit. “It certainly meets the criteria of the new base of operations we had been speculating Visionary Dusk would use,” Aegis Flare admitted, tapping his chin with an armored hoof, “However, that doesn’t mean that this research lab is where the assailants and Visionary Dusk are hiding out.”

“What about that concrete pillar on top of the lab?” Sam asked in a taunting tone.

The two ponies looked at each other and then practically threw themselves around the dumpster to look up at the lab once more. Just like the conduit said, almost inconspicuously jutting out from the left most corner of the roof, they saw it. The oddly geometric, slate-grey pillar of concrete that seemed to jut out and point away from the roof was there, just like Sam had said. It was a wonder how they missed it, but with all the other damage and deformities to the building itself and the piles of scrap and junk surrounding it, it just barely blended in with the aesthetics. Though now, it was hard to mistake as anything other than one of the concrete pillars that they had seen used by the assailants as a means to leap across vast distances. The dilapidated lab that stood as just another ruined building among the neglected street took on a more sinister aura that the ponies almost swore they could see. The sight filled them with equal parts fear and solace as they continued to gaze upon the structure.

Twilight thought she was prepared for this. She thought she could be another guardian against the ones that had threatened her friends and family. Yet, now that she was so close, all the fear she had tried to suppress was quickly overwhelming her. She couldn’t help but remember the times that she was left helpless at the hooves of Visionary Dusk and his assailants in the past. The attack on the throne room, the raid on the Geode Caverns, and especially when her friend, Pinkie Pie, was nearly made a victim of their horrid crimes.

Whether by her choice or not, she was made useless in each of those events, and each time, it took another chunk out of her confidence to stand up to these criminals. Her knees felt weak, and her heart began to beat so fast and hard that it felt like it was trying to break out of her ribcage out of fear.

The captain was of another opinion on the matter entirely. He too felt like his heart was racing at a million miles an hour, but for an entirely different reason. The hairs of his mane on the back of his withers started to stand up and press against the rigid interior of his armored helm. It wasn’t fear that drove this reaction though, but discontent.

He felt his frustrations come to a boil at his failures from having not been able to put a stop to these criminals sooner. His sense of duty only served to spur on his anger, wanting nothing more than to march on up to the building and bring the cowardly unicorn and his accomplices to justice by any means necessary. However, he knew what they were capable of, and knew the limits of his abilities against such opposition.

He looked up and behind himself to the human conduit that was eagerly cracking his knuckles while staring determinately at the abandoned research facility. The captain feared that even with the human conduit’s help, they would not be enough to effectively subdue the assailants that could potentially be hiding out within the research facility’s decaying structure.

Weighing his options, Aegis Flare finally came to a decision on their course of action. “I hate to admit it, but good work, human.” The words certainly caught Sam off guard, and both he and Twilight had their attention drawn away from the abandoned lab to hear out the rest of what the captain had to say, “Your’s and Miss Sparkle’s deductions and contributions have given me enough to accept that this lab is suspicious enough to warrant a closer inspection.”

Sam mentally cheered at the captain’s agreement, and that they would soon be busting in doors like the FBI. Well, not so much busting in doors, but at least breaking into the foreboding structure to weed out and kick the assailants’ collective asses. At least, he was excited about that prospect, until good ol’ Cappy decided to rain on his parade.

“We’ll return to the castle, gather up a brigade, and return here to conduct our raid,” Aegis Flare stated firmly, getting ready to lead the way back to the castle now that they were on the surface.

Luckily, the dumpster they were hiding behind was placed just a few scant feet from the entrance to a side street that led directly away from the research lab’s sight. There wasn’t much cover between the two points, but going off of Sam’s deductions, they wouldn’t need it to avoid being spotted as they escaped. Aegis Flare reasoned that once they were far enough away, he could fly up and make mental notes of the abandoned lab’s location and use that to guide the brigade of guards back to conduct the planned raid.

Sam barely caught up in time with his thoughts to finally protest against the retreating captain, “Woah, hold on, Cappy! We can’t just leave here.”

“What are you talking about, human?” Aegis Flare asked and swiftly brought himself back to behind the cover of the dumpster.

Sam flashed a winning grin as he spoke proudly, “We’re already here. Why not kick some ass? All we need to do is sneak inside, make sure they’re there, and then set up to take them down fast and hard! This’ll work, I bet you they won’t even see us coming.”

“Sam, no! It’s too dangerous!” the fear stricken Twilight said after finally finding the courage to speak up again.

“She’s right, human,” Aegis Flare agreed, cutting off Sam’s protest just as he was about to object, “We’re too underprepared for one of your reckless plans. We need to regroup and gather up our forces to do this properly. You also haven’t forgotten that your top priority in all of this is Miss Sparkle’s safety, have you? How are you to protect her by dragging her right into an unknown, and potentially, dangerous location?”

Sam realized how right the captain was right, and how stupid he was for forgetting such a simple detail. In all honesty, he just assumed Twilight would have just stayed behind while they went in. Or better yet, now that he remembered another detail, he would send her back to the castle regardless, thanks to their deal.

Sam smiled triumphantly, and spoke once more, “You and I will be the ones to go in then,
Cappy. Twilight can return to the castle and get the other guards-”

“No!” Aegis Flare stomped and flared his wings resolutely, “No, human. It’s far too risky to go in blind like this. We would have no idea of what kind of defenses they may have set up, where they are hiding, and if they are lying in wait to ambush anypony that steps hoof inside. Think about it, what if they do have some sort of trap lying in store for any who get inside? While we’d be dealing with sorting through those traps, Visionary Dusk would know we were there and slip away before we reached him, again. We need the support of the other guards to cordon off the area to prevent such an event. Surely, you can agree with that?”

Aegis Flare brought up a valid point, and Sam would be kicking himself if he let that heinous unicorn get away a second time. Yet, with each passing minute they didn’t at least check to confirm he and the D.U.P. wannabes were even in the abandoned lab, there was another chance that they could be slinking off through a backdoor undetected.

Sam’s thoughts raced to come up with a winning argument that would change the captain’s mind, or at the very least, give him another option to work with. That last line of thinking was just what the wire conduit needed. A clever idea wormed its way to the forefront that worked around all the captain’s other reasonings. Sam had to fight hard to keep the smirk away that tried to weave its way onto his face.

“You know what, Cappy? You’re right,” Sam admitted, defeatedly putting hands up in surrender, “It’d be too dangerous for us to try and waltz right in there and hope to catch these guys off guard.”

The sudden turnabout in Sam’s resolve gave the two ponies pause. One, out of relief that her friend was finally reigning in his suicidal impulsiveness. The other, in cautious skepticism, knowing that there had to be more to the human conduit’s words than he was letting on. Sam watched their expressions and anticipated their reactions. He wasn’t very surprised to see either, but he had to keep his momentum going if he wanted his plan to work out.

So, the wire conduit chose his next words carefully, “We’re gonna need the backup, that’s for sure. If anything, it’d sure make me feel better knowing we’ve got all our bases covered and keep those asshats from slipping away. Although, wouldn’t it also make sense to keep an eye on the lab until the rest of the forces arrive? What if Dusk and his goons escape while we’re not looking? Or, they start setting something up that one of us could have witnessed while the others were away? We can’t all go back to get the guards then, and I’d surely want to know of any developments if something happens here while we were gone.”

The captain wanted to grind his teeth at the human’s logic. He knew what the human was trying to do and where this line of reasoning was going. The benefits of having an observer to survey the area for such things as Sam suggested made sense, and that was the worse part. If Aegis Flare continued to argue now, he’d be wasting what precious time they had that he would need to gather the necessary guards to enact a proper raid.

“So, I know it’s a difficult task, but someone’s gotta do it,” Sam falsely sighed, “In that regard, I volunteer as tribute to stay behind and hold the fort down til you get back.”

“Absolutely not, human! I know what you’re up to. You think by sending us away, you’ll be left here alone to do as you please, including infiltrating the facility to hunt Visionary Dusk down on your own,” the captain surmised as he caught on to the human’s ruse.

“Sam, no!” Twilight cried out in alarm.

Sam figured the captain would catch on, but he concluded that if he kept this up for just a little longer, ol’ Cappy would have to cave and would be left with no other choice but to either accompany him into the figurative hornet’s nest, or more realistically, rush to return to the castle and gather up his guards to come back before Sam could do anything reckless. Either way, Sam knew the argument was coming into his favor, and he would have his way, unless a certain purple unicorn stepped up to address the captain.

With a determined look on her face, she brought a hoof to her chest and spoke out, “Captain, if you’ll allow it. I’ll stay behind to provide the necessary reconnaissance of the research facility.”

That one statement floored Sam with the force of a two ton boulder. It seemed it also affected the good captain in the same way, and both struggled to get their words back in order to protest the outrageous proposal.

Twilight beat them to the punch and offered her reasoning on the situation, “I know I’m no match for these assailants, and with no way of knowing what kind of spells Visionary Dusk has, I wouldn’t know how to counter him with my own magic effectively.” The little unicorn lowered her hoof from her chest and looked off to the side in shame. “But I don’t want to sit by and let them hurt any more ponies if I can do something about it, even if all that something is is just being a lookout until you two get back with reinforcements.”

Sam tried to regain control of the situation, but his previous bravado was slipping into nervous straw grasping, “Hey now, don’t sell yourself short just yet, Sparks. What you’re saying takes a lot of guts to admit. I can respect that. It’s just that, uh… this isn’t something I think you should be doing. Yeah, that’s right! What if those asshats spot you before you have a chance to escape. Sorry, Sparks. I don’t think you should be the one to-”

“No, I agree with Miss Sparkle.”

Another round of surprised looks fell on the one that interrupted the wire conduit. The good captain accepted them with little reaction as he offered a compelling compromise.

“You were right, human. I would prefer if we had somepony to stay behind and provide intel for me and the forces that I return with on any developments that might occur while I’m gone.”

“Woah, woah! Hold the phone, Cappy!” Sam tried, but ultimately failed, to keep his composure in check while he disagreed, “You seriously can’t be thinking about leaving Sparks here by herself. What was that crap about ‘not letting civilians get involved with this conflict’ back at the castle? You’re seriously going to just throw all that out the window just because you think I might do something stupid?”

Twilight was glad to have been recognized as a potential asset in this situation, but not if it meant that her decision was going to cause contention between her friend and the captain. She wanted to stay and help more than ever, but seeing how adamantly Sam was against the idea made her reconsider her position. Luckily, there was another pony besides her in this situation that held another idea that would offer just the right compromise to all of this.

“Your ideas are far too reckless for me to leave you here alone, human. That is why I put my trust in Miss Sparkle to handle this task to the best of her abilities,” the captain explained before gaining an uncharacteristic smirk on his face, “Though, seeing as I can’t just leave her here unguarded should Visionary Dusk’s forces spot her and attack, she would still need your protection. That is why you will remain here as her guardian while she provides reconnaissance until I return with reinforcements.”

Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was dirty, underhanded, and cheating, just like he would have played it. The good captain knew Sam wouldn’t try anything dangerous, so long as he had Twilight to hold his attention and to protect. He certainly didn’t like the idea of this tactic, and it felt wrong to be using the poor unicorn in such a way. However, if it meant that the wire conduit would be too preoccupied with ensuring her safety, he wouldn’t have a chance to do something stupid in his absence. It gave him quite a bit of reassurance, seeing the fuming expression on the wire conduit’s face as he struggled to come up with a counterargument to this decision.

“Miss Sparkle.”

“Y-yes?”

The captain rested an armored hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder as he spoke, “Be careful and stay safe out here. Do not take any unnecessary risks and just focus on watching for any suspicious activity in the area. I’ll return as soon as I can, and if you can do me one more favor? Keep an eye on the human, and make sure he doesn’t try anything foalish.”

His orders given and a silent nod in return from Twilight, the captain readied himself to make a break for the side street they had considered earlier, though not before giving one last warning glance back at the human. Sam could only scowl back over his crossed arms and grumbled silent curses at the pegasus captain before he left. The last they saw from him was his tail as it disappeared around the corner to the side street, and they were left to listen to his fading hoofsteps.

Both the conduit and unicorn fell into an awkward silence for a time. Sam fell back against the wall opposite of the dumpster and slid down it until he sat with his knees tucked into his chest and laid his crossed arms on top. Twilight wanted to try and cheer Sam up with some idle conversation, but his frustrated, distant gaze directed at the metallic surface of the dumpster suggested that he was not in the mood for such. So, the silence persisted, and Twilight tried to keep herself busy by doing the task she was trusted with and periodically peeked around the cover of the dumpster to watch the research facility for anything suspicious. Unsurprisingly, nothing changed in the half dozen times she went to survey the area.

“Alright, no point in sitting here all day,” Sam suddenly announced as he got up to his feet and stretched, “Hold down the fort here, will ya, Sparks?”

Twilight turned to see her conduit friend limbering up and wondered just what exactly he meant by that. She was startled when she suddenly realized his intention as he scooted over to the corner of their cover to check the surroundings and tense up like he was about to jump out into the open.

“Sam, no! Get back here!” Grabbing ahold of the ends of his sash in her teeth, Twilight yanked back the surprised conduit and moved to block his path.

After suring up his footing, Sam fixed the unicorn with an annoyed expression, “Come on, Sparks. I gotta get in there.”

Twilight slammed a hoof down, though careful not to make too much noise, “No! Captain Aegis Flare specifically said to wait until he and the other guards return.”

“Relax, Sparks. Cappy won’t mind if I just slip in there for a few minutes,” Sam exhaled loudly through his lips dismissively, which seemed to annoy Twilight a bit.

“I’m not letting you go in there. It’s too dangerous,” Twilight proclaimed defiantly.

Sam was itching from the overabundance of anticipation he was feeling and wanted desperately to at least investigate the research facility to ease his mind. That’s why, ever since the captain left, he had been thinking of a way to get past Twilight so he could do just that. Hopefully, the plan he had come up with in that short amount of time would work.

Putting on a calm demeanor, Sam smiled and worked his charm, “Easy there, Sparks. I’m not going in there unprepared or anything. Besides, it’s better that I go in there now, before Cappy gets back.”

Curiously, Twilight mulled over Sam’s words before bringing up an obvious question, “Why would it better if you did that?”

“To gather up intel, of course,” Sam replied like it was the simplest answer.

Twilight was confused even more by how this made sense. She was doing just the same from behind the safety and cover of their somewhat dingy hiding spot. Why couldn’t Sam be satisfied with the same?

Seeing the unicorn’s confusion, Sam went on to elaborate what he hoped would be the convincing statements he needed, “Alright, just look. You know I trusted you when you jury-rigged that tracker of yours to lead us to this location and vouched for you when Cappy wanted to send you away at the beginning.” Twilight couldn’t help but wince at remembering her deceitful ruse with Sam against the captain. “All I ask is if you do the same for me while I go check out the inside of that lab.”

“But why do you have to go in there when Visionary Dusk and his assailants could be in there?” Twilight asked in retort.

“That’s just it, Sparks,” Sam shook his head for emphasis as he replied, “They could be there, just as much as they could not be in there. You said it yourself, that tracker of yours can only do so much in finding the source of that concrete shard we put in there. For all we know, it’s just picking up some residual reading left behind from whichever guy that shard belonged to. Hell, it might even just be pointing to that ‘jump pillar’ on the roof for all we know.”

Twilight looked over at the forgotten tracker she put down a while ago by her hooves and gave a grimace as she realized how right Sam was. She only had so much time to reconfigure such an unknown piece of technology, and even her scanning spells could only tell her so much about its make-up and assembly. In the end, she had only basically crossed her hooves and prayed that her modifications would work, which they did, to an extent. There was still a lot of room for error and her lack of in-depth knowledge on conduits, even with Sam’s tutelage, left her with only best guesses on how the device worked after her modifications. She had to concede to Sam’s point on that, but that was still no reason why she should allow her friend to put himself in potentially harm’s way.

Lucky for Sam, Twilight was easy enough to read on what she was thinking at that moment, and he knew exactly what she would say. He almost felt bad for having to trick her like this. So, to help convince her that his plan was worthwhile, he brought up a few more insightful points.

“Without definitive proof that Dusk and his crew are hiding out in that lab, all we’re going off of is just a hunch. What if it turns out that this is all just a dead end and no one's inside? We’d just be wasting our time on a simple guessing game and lose valuable time on a wild goose chase. I’m not saying that this wouldn’t be dangerous, but I know I’d feel better knowing we got the right place to crack down on when Cappy gets here with backup.”

It seemed that Sam’s words were starting to sway the little unicorn to his side. Yet, there was still that lingering doubt at the back of her mind that worried her for her friend’s safety.

“What if they are in there, Sam? What if they spot you or you accidentally run into them?” Twilight tried one last time to voice her concerns.

“Pfft, I’m two for two against these guys. If anything, they should watch out if they run into me,” Sam answered calmly, “But, if it’ll make you feel better, how about this? I’ve done this sort of thing before. I’m actually usually the one who goes in first to scout out the D.U.P. outposts with my friends back in Memphis, since I’m the one without really flashy powers to give me away. So, I won’t go in there looking for a fight. I’ll stick to scouting only and avoid running into anyone while I’m in there. Believe me, I can do this.”

Twilight saw the flash of determination in Sam’s eyes as he confidently proclaimed his words. It wasn’t hard for her to believe that he was telling the truth, but it didn’t help to quash every last one of her fears. She just couldn’t bear the idea of one of her friends getting hurt at the hooves of Visionary Dusk. Those fears soon took a backseat when Sam knelt down in front of her on one knee and clapped both his hands on her shoulders. He looked at her with a reassuring smile which seemed to echo his own confidence into her and gave her a bit more trust in the wire conduit’s words.

“Ten minutes, Sparks. That’s all I need,” Sam whispered in a soothing tone, “In, out, and I’m back here to let you and Cappy know if we’ve got the right place.”

It seemed that was all that was left needed to finally sway her mind into agreeing with Sam’s plan. She lifted her forehooves and brought her body in closer to Sam’s until they were locked in a warm and encouraging hug. Sam reciprocated the action and wrapped his arms around the purple pony as well.

“Come back safe,” Twilight whispered over Sam’s shoulder into his ear as she gave him a firm squeeze with her hooves.

Sam broke from the hug first and gave Twilight another smile, “Hey, this is me we’re talking about. For real though, I promise.”

He jumped back up to his full height and turned around to take another look around the dumpster to watch the street. Once satisfied that he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, looked over his shoulder one last time and flashed Twilight a grin.

“Ten minutes, Sparks. I doubt I’ll need more than that. Though just in case, if I’m somehow not back before then, head back for the castle and get Cappy to hurry on his way back.”

Twilight didn’t like those foreboding final words Sam left her with before he ran off to sprint across the street. Something about it gave her pause and made her spine shiver, as if they were a grim premonition.

Twilight tried distracting herself with watching as Sam snuck his way under the chainlink fence from a hole in it that he created by absorbing a small section of it. Once through, he dove for behind the closest pile of junk between him and the fence. Twilight couldn’t help but be impressed by Sam’s dexterous movements as he hopped from one piece of cover to the next, with hardly any time spent out in the open. It soon came down to the last piece of cover, which consisted of a broken looking magitech refrigerator fallen on its side, and then a short stretch of open space between the conduit and the research facility.

Twilight’s feelings turned to fear once again as she alternated her focus back and forth between Sam and the abandoned lab. Every little shadow in the building’s busted out windows looked like a figure hiding in the darkness and overlooking the lott in front of it, or more specifically watching Sam as he made his way closer to its grounds.

Twilight wanted to call out for Sam to come back, but her voice was failing her, and if she did, she might risk exposing herself or Sam. She would have ran out after Sam to bring him back herself, but she knew she couldn’t move as swiftly or with the agility that Sam had performed with and would be risking the same type of exposure with this idea as well. For now, she just had to believe that Sam knew what he was doing and would make it to the building without incident.

Her prayers were answered as she gasped when she witnessed Sam vault over the fridge and sprint the last thirty meters between him and the research lab. There was no explosion of magical energy raining down on Sam, nor the same being done with concrete, so Twilight released the breath of air she unconsciously held as she watched the entire event unfold.

She had to squint, and even then, it was hard to tell exactly what the wire conduit was doing at the far left of the building’s front. He seemed to be crouched down low and moved carefully along the front of the building, only popping up for a few seconds in front of a window whenever he was directly below one. He reached the center portion and the boarded up, main entrance’s doors, but completely ignored them and kept moving toward the right side of the graffiti covered building, repeating his pattern with the windows as he went.

Nearly to the corner that rounded the side of the right side of the building, Twilight watched stressfully as Sam looked like he stopped in front of some kind of indentation and held there for the longest time. The little unicorn gasped once again as she realized that it was a service entrance that the conduit had stopped off in front of as he opened the door that led to the inside. Another bout of uneasiness shot up in Twilight’s mind as she watched her friend disappear behind the door and closed it off behind himself, sealing away her view from what might be happening inside.

The only thing keeping her from forgoing all her instinctual fears of staying away from the foreboding place was repeating the same phrase in her head that ‘her friend will return before she knew it’. Just to give herself something else to do and focus on something else, she thought back to what Sam had told her before he left.

With a time limit that she could work with, she did the only thing her mind could come up with to use it for, “...nine fifty-nine...nine fifty-eight...nine fifty-seven...nine fifty-six…”