Daybreak trotted merrily down the corridor, dragging her new best friend along by a length of chain.

“Is this really necessary?” Stronghooves protested weakly, tugging at the collar around his neck and blushing.

“Hey, do you want to look like an escaped prisoner?” Daybreak rounded on him, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, no, but…”

“Then stop whining!” She grinned, giving him a wink. “The more authentic we make this look, the sooner you can get your enhancements back, okay?”

“Say whatever you like, there’s nothing about dragging a prisoner to the Enhancement Chamber that’s going to look authentic.” Stronghooves huffed. “Still...thanks for doing this for me. It means a lot.”

“Well, I just couldn’t bear to see a pony as sweet as you all cooped up like that.” Daybreak beamed. “I couldn’t call myself a good guy if I let something like that happen, now could I?”

“Finally, somepony in this crazy building who understands.” Stronghooves chuckled, nuzzling her flank. “And you are good, Daybreak. The absolute best.”

Daybreak glanced back at him, raising her eyebrows. She still hadn’t lost that cheeky grin.

“I...erm...of course, I meant that...that...um...you’re...a pleasant pony to be around, naturally!” Stronghooves corrected himself, going red and glancing down at his hooves.

She rolled her eyes as she looked ahead again. “Damn it, you’re adorable.”

Stronghooves smirked as he raised his head to look at her once again. This is going far too well. Surely there’d be some complication, something he hadn’t foreseen, something that was going to land him back in that cell again with nopony to save him.

It was at this point that the two Operatives from earlier rounded the corner, coming face to face with Daybreak and Stronghooves.

Here we go…

“What the fuck are you doing with that prisoner, Daybreak?” The earth pony growled, cocking his head.

“Oh, you know, my powers were feeling a bit wonky, so I figured I’d drag him along with me and tie him up outside the Enhancement Chamber while I get a top-up!” Daybreak replied.

Stronghooves facehoofed. Daybreak was a terrible liar. That was cheesiest, most unconvincing grin he’d ever seen.

“Don’t lie to me.” The earth pony shook his head, advancing on the two of them. “You’re going to give this…this…terrorist...his powers back, aren’t you?” He narrowed his eyes dangerously.

“Well...not exactly...wait, terrorist?” Daybreak looked around at Stronghooves, who shrugged.

“I might have killed two or three Operatives who were trying to hurt my sister.”

“Oh…” Daybreak turned back to the earth pony, growling. “That’s not terrorism, asshole! That’s him taking care of his sister!”

“We’ve already had this conversation.” The Operative shook his head. “I don’t like the things that the Count or Silver Tongue are asking of us, but we’ve got to follow orders. As long as there’s a chain of command, we don’t have a bunch of magic super-soldiers running around Equestria without anypony to give them sensible orders.”

“I don’t know whether you remember this,” Stronghooves raised his head, “but I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard. I’ve spent years giving orders to ponies, and you know damn well that the guard’s been more efficient under me than it’s ever been.”

“So you’re telling me that you’d make a better head of this programme than the ponies who developed and funded it?” The earth pony cocked his head. “You’ve killed a whole bunch of Operatives already! What the fuck makes you think you’re qualified?”

“I have morals.” Stronghooves replied evenly, looking the earth pony in the eye. “You know damn well why I did what I did, why I wouldn’t ask any of you to do the kind of stuff Rolling Thunder and Silver Tongue are trying to pull. I’ll never ask you to put your orders before your family.”

“Look, it’s not as simple as that…” The Operative protested.

“Why not?” Stronghooves asked. “This programme and the ponies who are part of it are going to shape Equestria and the world around it for years to come. Hell, maybe even centuries. How we start this operation is going to dictate whether we grow into the greatest heroes anypony’s ever seen, or the worst villains in history. Are you going to let ponies that are motivated only by money call the shots on something so important?”

“He’s not a bad stallion.” Daybreak put in, turning to the Operative. “We need more ponies like him, one way or another.”

“But…” The Operative looked between the two of them, before looking back at his compatriot for help.

“They’re right, mate.” He shrugged. “I don’t wanna admit it, but Stronghooves knows what he’s talking about. I know you saw him take down one of your buddies...but Silver and Thunder are way worse.”

“I know they’re right. I just...fine…” He relented. “What’s the plan?”

“I need my powers back, and then we have to find a way to wrest the operation from Rolling Thunder’s hooves. I get the impression that there’s more to the Operative Programme than he’s telling us.”

“Who’d finance it without the Count?” The earth pony cocked his head.

“Money Bags and Red Herring are still major investors, plus we’ll have Silver Tongue.” Stronghooves frowned. “Maybe when he sees that we’re going to do far better than his father, he’ll come around.”

“So you mean we’ll intimidate him into funding us?” The stallion narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“No, I mean we’ll take the project over and appeal to Silver for help. If he’s not interested, we’ll let him go. Simple as that.” Stronghooves shook his head. “I haven’t got ulterior motives here, my friend. All I’m interested in is making sure that Equestria is safe and patching things up with my sister, okay?”

“Fine! Fine! I wasn’t suggesting anything!” The Operative put his hooves in the air defensively. “I was just wondering what you meant!”

“Okay.” Stronghooves nodded. “Look, I’m sorry for snapping at you. I just need help if we’re going to do this.”

“Right.” The Operative nodded. “I’m sorry for getting pissy with you too. I’m just trying to not piss anypony off, that’s all.”

“Yeah, yeah, great sexual tension, guys.” Daybreak smiled. “So how about we hit the Enhancement Chamber so we can give this cutie his powers back.

“I...erm...wouldn’t mind…” Stronghooves chuckled, going a little pink again.

Cutie? Me? What the hell have I gotten myself into…

Daybreak gave a happy little squeak, leading the three of them down the corridor to the express elevator. “You said you used to be an Operative, right Stronghooves?”

“Yeah, I was the first.” He nodded. “The Count chose me because of my background. I guess they were checking to see if shooting somepony with a beam of pure magical energy empowers you or blows you up.”

“Huh…” The earth pony whistled. “I guess somepony had to do that job.”

“Yeah, and who better than the Captain of the Guard, huh?” Stronghooves chuckled as they came up to a set of heavy metal double doors. “I mean, that wouldn’t lead to any problems if I got splattered all over the wall, right?”

“The more I find out about this, the more crooked it seems.” Daybreak shook her head, pressing her hoof against a metal plate. A pulse of magic shot up her foreleg and the doors slid open, satisfied that Daybreak was who she claimed to be.

The four ponies stepped into a large circular operating theatre. A sizeable chair with an adjustable back sat in the centre of the room surrounded on all sides by carts full of medical equipment. Atop them lay stacks of research notes and instructions for the scientists performing the operation. The operating floor was surrounded on all sides by seating, allowing for interested investors and curious researchers to watch the transformation process for themselves. Directly overhead was what looked like a brass model of the solar system, a dozen multi-coloured diamonds interspersed amongst the large metal rings.

“Well, there it is…” The earth pony grunted, taking in the scene before them. “Now...who knows how to work this thing?”

“Search me.” Daybreak shrugged, unclipping Stronghooves’s collar and tossing it aside with a clang. “Look through some of those notes. There’s gotta be an instruction manual or something around here.”

“Yeah, ‘Super-soldiers for Dummies: How to turn a zero into a hero in five easy steps.’” Stronghooves chuckled, trotting down the stairs and pulling some documents aside. He started to read through them, looking for anything that would give them some insight into how to use the ridiculous machine hanging above them. What he found, however, was a list of planned patients for the procedure. It seemed that about fifty ponies were intended to receive the enhancements in total.

Seems pretty standard...wait, what the hell?

“There’s something wrong here, guys.” He called out. The others looked up from their own search.

“What is it, Stronghooves?” Daybreak cocked her head.

“Rolling Thunder’s name’s on this list...and look at the bill of materials for his transformation. It’s far longer than anypony else’s.” He frowned, holding it up for the others to see.

“That confirms it.” The earth pony breathed, glancing at the others. “The Count’s up to something.”

“Silver’s probably in on it, too.” Daybreak put in. “You were right, Stronghooves. Still...what the hell do all of these materials mean?”

“Obviously they mean that whatever he does to himself, it’ll elevate him above the rest of us.” Stronghooves frowned.

The unicorn pulled the bill of materials out of Stronghooves’s grip, looking it up and down. “You guys see if you can get the procedure started. I’ll check this out.”

“Right.” Daybreak nodded. “Stronghooves, why don’t you just sit down in this chair and we’ll see if we can work this out, okay?”

“Okay…” Stronghooves smiled nervously, laying down in the chair and allowing his hooves to be shackled into place. “Just try not to blow off too many limbs, okay? I might need them later.”

“You’ve got it.” Daybreak winked back, strapping his hooves tightly in place before backing up. “Okay, so who here remembers what the hell happened when we came in to get zapped?”

“Well, I remember that a unicorn fired a charged shot into that big crystal array up there.” Stronghooves nodded at the brass rings. “That’s definitely got something to do with it.”

“Great!” She nodded, giving Stronghooves a confused look. “I can’t cast spells!”

“I can!” The unicorn in the stands put his hoof up, still reading over the bill of materials.

“Great, now all we need to know is what the hell kind of spell we need to use.” Daybreak chuckled, flipping through the pages. “Any ideas, Stronghooves?”

“Looked like a pretty simple magical pulse to me. I’m sure if our friend here just channels magic into the machine, it ought to do the trick.” The Captain shrugged. “Of course, if you can find anything better than that, something that won’t blast me to pieces for example, I’d love to hear it.”

“Nope. Instructions don’t specify a spell.” Daybreak sighed, ears flopping back. “I guess we’re just going to have to try the magical pulse. Feeling confident?”

“With my new best friends all around me like this?” Stronghooves smiled. “Never better. Just...again, not too many limbs, please.”

“Relax!” Daybreak smiled with mock confidence as the unicorn stepped under the machine. “We’ll take good care of you, cutie!”

“I trust you guys.” Stronghooves grinned back.

I just wish I trusted that thing not to blow up in my face…

The unicorn’s horn flared, and an arc of purple magic leapt between him and the outermost crystal. The arc cast itself from one crystal to the next like an arcane game of connect-the-dots, before finally striking the pure white gem in the centre of the rings, right above Stronghooves.

“Good luck Captain!” The earth pony bellowed as the room filled with the roar of magic. “Try not to die, okay?”

“I’ll be sure to fill out a malpractice waiver if I do!” Stronghooves laughed back, before gazing up at the bright gem right above his head.

Well, time to see if I made a massive mistake…

The stream of magic arced between the gem and Stronghooves’s horn, and a bright light filled the room, engulfing the Captain in all the colours of the rainbow. The other assembled Operatives put their hooves up in front of their faces, their eyes already beginning to heal the retinal damage they suffered.

When the light finally died away, Stronghooves was laying on his back, panting desperately. Daybreak rushed over to him, checking his pulse.

“Are you okay, Stronghooves?” She murmured, pushing his blond mane out of his face.

“I’m...great…” Stronghooves answered, eyes snapping open. They were glowing bright blue.

I feel wonderful...even better than before. They’ve clearly refined the transformation technique since I underwent my procedure…

He glanced down at the shackles holding him in place before tugging on them experimentally. The metal bent and snapped easily under his duress, and a triumphant grin played about his features.

“I think we’ve just learned how to perform the transformation for ourselves.” He chuckled, pulling himself out of the chair and giving Daybreak’s cheek a nuzzle.

“That’s probably just as well…” The unicorn nearby cocked his head, frowning as he returned to the papers. “I think I’ve just worked out what Rolling Thunder wants to do, and it’s not good.”

“What’s his plan?” Stronghooves trotted over, wiping his brow and trying to stop himself from shivering.

“Well, the bill of materials is kind of an...enhanced version of the transformation you underwent just now.” The unicorn explained. “Except...I think that if you channeled magic through these materials...very rare metals, the lot of them...you could link to other Operatives using the crystals as an aerial.”

“So what, he could talk to everypony who’s joined the Operative programme?” Daybreak cocked her head, frowning.

“Worse than that.” The unicorn put the papers down, eyes wide. “If the Count undergoes this transformation, he can control us. All of us.”

“Well then, perhaps it’s time to put the Count’s little scheme to an end.” Stronghooves growled. “I won’t allow any mind control silliness in my city! Somepony, help me get my sword back! I think it’s time we put a stop to this scheme once and for all.”

And once the Count’s out of the way, I can search for Sky properly. This time, there won’t be anypony to stop me.