Celestia's Finest: The Last Crusade

[userpay]

(at Twilight's door)
Brazen ***** an eyebrow at Twilight's somewhat panicky exchange with Spike. "Why do ah got the feelin this internal problem is ah good bit bigger than what we're led to think? Just... When things are under control we'd like to talk to her about three little hackers that we be thinking she's involved with. An maybe consider allowin some help if it's tech related. Love might be of some assistance."

----------------------------
(later on with the others)
"Ah still don't get why they sent him along this way, they don't think the threat is real?" Brazen shrugs his shoulders towards Star Chaser. "If he steps outa line ah can see about havin a chat with him. As to the Firebird... Ah don't know. Mayhaps another thing to ask Twilight about?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"That depends which trade off you want to take." As he spoke, Sniper pulled up his HUD notes and began looking them over. "The more secure we make the Firebird, the harder it will be to evacuate quickly if need be."

There had to be some middle of the road option. He just wasn't certain what.

Insofar as Caps Lock went, Sniper was reasonably sure that they could put together a solitary confinement cell is absolutely necessary. But he definitely wasn't going to verbalize that thought just yet.

A thought struck him: "Did any pony think to tell Song Weaver she has authority to deny any of Caps' requests? That should probably be her default position."

((OoC: Elbeyon, I'll get you a write up of Sniper meeting Robo Dog later. Probably tomorrow. Things are very crazy at the moment.))

[DigoDragon]

"So how do we get to Twilight in order to ask these questions? We might have to consider other options here to do without her."

[Miltonian]

Star Chaser seizes Brazen’s hoof. “Why wait?” she says eagerly, “Come on! He’s right downstairs.”

She composes herself and answers the more serious question. “Personally, I’d prefer a reinforced concrete garage with magical force fields on every nook and cranny, buuut I do realize how impractical that would be. But I don’t feel right leaving her exposed like that.” She sighs.

At the mention of Song, Star Chaser goes white. “N-no. It didn’t cross my...excuse me one moment.” She takes to the air and slams the door behind her.

“Apple Pie is entering the palace with a shipment of apples and other cooking supplies, over,” the gate guard reports.

[DigoDragon]

Rose slumps down in her chair. "Not even done with the first day and I'm already feeling like this mission is a snipe hunt," she says in a monotone voice. It seems her cheerfulness is bleeding away. She shuts off her phone and turns her comm on to check if the update is done. After that she just flicks her tail left and right every few seconds.

"Okay, so Firebird needs a garage or something. Caps Lock we have to babysit, but he's probably the easier issue to deal with. So, the three hackers; any more leads on what they are? If they're some kind of AI, do we think they are Twilight's creation?"

[userpay]

"Kinda need to wait for him to do somethi-" Then Star Chaser was rushing off. Brazen wasn't sure whether he pitied her or Song more at the moment.

"Well if they ain't her creations then she seems to know who they are. As to the Firebird... It seems strange nothings in place. Guess they don't have ah need for air units normally?" That or they weren't being forthcoming with details. The call out does make the earth pony ears perk, abet restrained by his helmet. Pies did sound good right about now...

[Miltonian]

After a few minutes of explanation, the options for storing the Firebird are common knowledge. The tower would be secure, but inescapable. So would the basement. The garage would be farther away and less secure, but in a pinch they could make a dash for it and escape rather easily. Or they could leave it where it is and hope Twilight's magic defenses can protect it against stray RPGs. And normally, the Castle of Friendship doesn't need to go on lockdown, so the exposed landing pads on the roof are fine for any traffic it receives. This is a special case, however.

However, as soon as the options are all on the table, the guards call in a disturbance in the halls. "All squads on level one. We've got two colts fighting in the hall. Repeat, Apple Pie and Caps Lock are fighting in the hallway. Please send an additional squad."

Sarge's voice blasts its way through the channel. "What in blazes do you mean, 'send another squad'? Are you telling me you can't handle two colts?"

"Sir, one of them is a descendant of Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The other is the terror of Canterlot Castle. We need all the help we can get."

[D.KnightSpider]

“Apple Pie is entering the palace with a shipment of apples and other cooking supplies, over,” the gate guard reports.

"Did any pony think to check the supplies or are we just accepting them at face value?" Sniper grumbled under his breath. This was part of the reason he hated playing defense: everything became a high stakes game of paranoia.

He closed his HUD and began pacing the floor. Along the way, he began filling the others in on his findings. They had the options: an empty room that required a high level teleportation spell, a guard underground garage and a massive basement with no entrance or exit.

"My recommendation would be the garage. I would rather not rely upon high level spells when the caster could very well become incapacitated.

"Insofar as Caps Lock goes: Sending Brazen in to terrify him may be our best bet."

At that point, the alarms went off about Caps Lock and Apple Pie. Joy. Sniper sighed.

"Brazen, you're up. We should double check on the Process as well to make certain no pony takes advantage of the confusion."

Sniper grabbed his gear and prepared to depart.

[Elbeyon]

Love will follow after Scope.

[DigoDragon]

"I could... check the... supplies..." Rose sighs as she left behind in the room, talking with herself. She gets up and follows the crowd.

[Elbeyon]

Love pops her head back in. "Did you say something?" She'll wave for her to follow.

[DigoDragon]

Love pops her head back in. "Did you say something?" She'll wave for her to follow.

"I didn't complete my thought," Rose answers, "About Scope's issue with the supplies."

[Elbeyon]

Love lights up under her armor. "Oh!" She starts walking with Rose instead of Scope. "What is it honey?"

[DigoDragon]

"No, just to go check what's being brought in, like Scope insinuated," Rose explains.

[Miltonian]

Sniper arrives just in time to see the door slide open and Twilight Sparkle stumble out, eyes half-closed and mane an absolute mess. A dragon about as tall as Princess Luna (when he stands on his hind legs) pushes her from behind. With his tail, he drags a cart loaded with three, metal boxes that look almost like suitcases. “You’re not allowed back inside until you get some sleep. Your project will still be here when you’re rested up.”

“Pfft. I’m fiiiine Spike,” Twilight insists. She tries to lean backwards and dig her hooves in, but can’t muster the strength. “Just get me more coffee. This is a critical stage in their...” Her head droops and eyes close, but a moment later she jerks upright. “development.”

“Then I’ll put them on sleep mode! Now get some sleep.” Spike’s eyes fall on Sniper and narrow suspiciously. Twilight has not noticed him. “Hey...I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

-----

Rose and Brazen arrive in the entry hall to a scene that Discord would be proud of. Two guards are fighting to restrain a light-brown earth pony colt from leaping on a dazed and giggling Caps Lock. “Let go of me!” The colt demands. He twists and turns and slips from their grasp. Caps Lock takes to the sky a moment before iron hooves strike the floor where he was.

“Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!”

The earth pony’s cheeks turn bright, bright red. “Come down ya coward!”

A cart of apples, flour, sugar, and other baking goods lies unattended at the door. It looks like the guards were in the middle of an inspection when all this began.

-----

Love turns back to her work. Refreshingly, the guard are very good at documenting evidence. There are about three letters in total, the first demanding Twilight’s surrender so she could be ‘re-educated’ on her place in the proper order of things and with steadily escalating threats from there. They were all sent in the mail with a false return address, different each time.

[DigoDragon]

“Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta kiss me!”

"Okay, it's not even been an hour and there's already trouble?" Rose asks. "Caps, what were you doing?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper performs a salute upon finding himself underneath Spike's gaze. There wasn't any point in getting on the bad side of a dragon. Tartarus had taught him that.

"Lt. Sniper Scope, EDF. Harrier Squad has been reassigned following the death threats against Princess Twilight Sparkle. We're here to assist and protect until the culprit is caught." Time to play his trump card. "There's been a minor scuffle at the perimeter. Between that incident and Caps Lock presence, it seemed prudent to check in."

He was still adjusting to his new equipment. The weight difference alone was enough to throw him off. But with the new HUD, lenses and visors, it was almost an entirely different existence.

[userpay]

Brazen grins and shuts his faceplate with a click. "Lets rock n roll." He leaves his gearbot in the command center with Love for the time being. The earth pony did not want the colts getting ahold of any of that. Especially Caps Lock. He'd probably be blamed for all the things Caps would do after getting his hooves on military grade gear.

Brazen looks over the scene briefly, least things didn't look to messy just yet. "Enough play time you two, git down here Caps Lock and both of ya explain what's going on." He growls keeping half an eye on Apple and ready to interpose himself between the two.

Spoiler

Show

intimidate (skill 14) (3d6)[14]

[Miltonian]

Brazen's presence intimidates Apple Pie into subsiding. The brown colt trots over obediently and sits, cheeks still bright red. But Brazen has no effect on Caps Lock. He grins and waves from the safety of the air. "Hey! Don't believe we've met, so it's kinda rude to call my by my first name, doncha think?"

Apple Pie glowers at him. "What he said don't bear repeatin' in polite company, beggin' your pardon sir, an' I took offense to it." His accent isn't nearly as pronounced as Applejack's or Brazen's, though still enough that, when he grows up, his looks and voice will charm plenty of mares.

-------

Spike blinks. "Caps Lock...? Who's...?" His scales turn a shade of lighter purple. "Oh. That pony. The one who gave Discord silly putty." He continues pushing Twilight up the hall. The alicorn has fallen asleep on her hooves. "Well, I'm putting her to bed. And then I'll take a nap myself." He continues to drag the cart along behind with his tail. Useful thing, that. However, one of the suitcases jostles loose and looks like it might fall. Spike's attention is elsewhere, however, so he won't be the one to stop it.

-------

Twilight's schedule for the next week only has one item on it: Project Starlight. Twenty four hours a day every day is devoted to this one goal and there is no end in sight.

[DigoDragon]

"Your reputation proceeds you. That's enough to get to the part where you should get down and behave yourself," Rose says.

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock pauses and thinks about that for a moment. Then, with a shrug, he lands and plops his flank on the floor. Right next to Apple Pie. The other colt scoots a few inches away. Caps Lock scoots closer to him. Apple Pie returns this with a punch to the shoulder. "Ow!" The pegasus rubs the spot, but the pain doesn't make his grin go away. He scoots closer and tries to put a wing around Apple Pie's back.

[DigoDragon]

Rose steps between the two. "Oi. You two stay a minimum of one yard apart," she threatens. She looks to the Apple.

"No more punching."

Rose then turns to Caps. "No more scooting into other pony's personal space."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Hold up!" Sniper called out. "You're going to lose one!"

He moved forward, pointing at the pending package. He didn't attempt to touch it. Who knew what would happen if Spike turned around to find him wrestling with precious research?

Lassie the Robo Dog apparently had other ideas. Whether through a general failsafe or a misinterpretation of Sniper's gesture, the verbal canine speed forward in an attempt to intercept the precarious package.

[userpay]

"Right." Brazen scoots the two apart and plants his own metal covered flank between them. "So there ah reason yer calling ponies you don't know bad things Caps Lock? Kinda in ah busy place fer somepony like you. " Brazen looks sidelong at him.

[Miltonian]

"Hmm?" Spike says and turns, but not in time. Lassie the robo-dog, however, catches it on her back. Spike's eyes go wide and he snatches it up and sets it back on the cart. "Thanks," he says, "They're pretty sturdy, but I don't want to explain to Twilight why one of them got damaged. She's had enough trouble with them as it is." He sighs. "They're...kind of a gift, I suppose. She wants to have them ready in time for the anniversary of the day they first found the Elements and beat Nightmare Moon. It's less than a week from now."

He snaps a claw. "Oh hey! She wanted me to tell you that Chrysalis' charges are being read tonight and all the news stations will be broadcasting it. You might have missed the announcement, considering how busy you are."

------

Apple Pie looks satisfactorily chagrined at his behavior and rubs his mane with a hoof. Caps Lock's gaze drifts away from Brazen and Rose and towards the farm-colt. His wings rise slightly, as if he's debating whether or not to take off, and he seems a little breathless from the fight. "Pfft. I wasn't insulting him. Just asking what sort of pies he liked to make."

Apple Pie's face brightens, angry and embarrassed. "An' I said I could make any sort of pie. Even chocolate, which isn't much like a pie an' more like a cake in my 'pinion. Then he..." He pauses and his face turns a few shades redder.

[DigoDragon]

"Like, can you make chocolate mousse?" Rose asked, losing her sense of focus momentarily. "It's made in a tin, so it's like a pie, isn't it? At least I think so."

[userpay]

Brazen pops the faceplate of his helmet, looking between the two. "And then he what?"

[Miltonian]

Apple Pie looks at Rose, bewildered. "Y-yes I can."

"Ooh! I want to try some!" Caps Lock calls, "Can I try some?"

"I can make some special. Just for you," Apple Pie mutters. At Brazen's question, he blushes again. "Well then, he..."

"I asked him if he ever used whipped cream!" Caps Lock interjects, "And he said yes." He giggles. Apple Pie looks fit to murder him again.

[DigoDragon]

"Okay, what's so funny about using whipped cream on a pie?" Rose asks. She was sure she missed some kind of innuendo here.

[Miltonian]

Caps Lock appears by Rose's side and pats her on the shoulders. "Absolutely nothing, candy-cheeks. And I, for one, am truly sorry for laughing. It was immature and unbecoming of me." The words are right, but it's very doubtful whether or not he intends them sincerely.

Apple Pie glowers. "Let's just say that he's a pervert an' leave it at that. I don't want to repeat it with everypony listenin'."

The guards exchange glances and walk away, whistling innocently.