New Moon Rises (MLP Quest)

((A/N: NOO! The dreaded triple post!))

The chance to disrupt more of their side-operations is tempting, but you decide that if you're going to settle this, than you need to strike for the heart of the matter, and there's only one place with enough room for that. "We go for the warehouses then," you state firmly, "Trixie needs to get to the bottom of this – and possibly dole out some much-needed punishments."

"Yes!" Chromia gives a little cheer, hopping into the air, "I knew you'd like my idea!"

"Assuming your… assumption holds true," you reply, smirking at the enthusiastic bat pony, "then if they have packed up here, Trixie assumes they are packing up elsewhere – and the only place they have enough room to pack everything to would be the warehouse district, no?"

"Assuming they even want to keep anything," Shining replies, none of Chromia's amusement finding its way into his voice as he turns to you, "And even if we do find them, what are you hoping to get?"

You raise an eyebrow, "Answers. What else could Trixie be after?"

"Answers to what?" Shining asks back, "To whatever happened to that fillie's parents? To whatever they did to you? Or is it something else?"

You force yourself not to backpedal from the glare of the larger stallion, and instead just frown at him, "I can assure you that the third one-" Is all me.

The captain cuts you off, "See, thats the thing – you can't assure me of anything. They did something to you, and whatever happened down in that basement proves that you don't have the only say in some of this."

Your frown sharpens into a glare, "Trixie has it under control."

"I don't need you to tell me you have it 'under control'," Shining shoots back, "I need you to tell me that whatever is going on in there isn't going to get us all killed."

You take a deep breath before you reply, "Whatever-" you almost say 'she' before you catch yourself, "-it is, Trixie can assure you it has only acted in Trixie's best interests. And at the moment, that includes you."

Shining considered you for a moment longer before stepping back with a nod, "Lets hope that lasts." He's scared of us. Or for us – not sure which.

You watch Shining walk away in silence before something drive you to speak, "Captain Armor," the captain pauses, looking back in your direction as you continue, "Thank you for trusting us."

The guard blinks in surprise before giving you a smirk and a shrug, "It's worked out so far – and my sister likes you. Its the least I can do."

Chromia draws up next to you as you both follow after the captain, "Ma'am, you know I'd trust you after almost anything at the moment, but, uhm…. Are you sure you're alright?"

You roll your eyes at the question. You're getting sick of ponies asking that, "Trixie is fine," you give the wayward spy a quick glance, taking in her worried look before adding, "Perhaps still a little drained after that… outburst."

"I've got your back, ma'am!" Chromia brightens up as she snaps off a salute, "You focus on resting up."

"Gladly," you reply as the two of you move to catch up with the captain.

The walk to to the Warehouse district takes long enough that by the time the three of you come to a stop by the small contingent of guards awaiting you outside the maze of storage structures you're feeling like you might be up to some magic – assuming your 'guest' behaves. No promises.

"Captain," the lead guard of the contingent salutes quickly before continuing, "We've swept the entire district for any anomalies and we've found something… strange."

You raise an eyebrow at that, "Strange how?"

"Most of these warehouses have some form of magic security," a unicorn guard steps forward, as she starts to speak, giving the captain a quick salute, "Lieutenant Rose, Sir – I was in charge of the ground survey team. One thing you need to understand is that most wards aren't actually stealthy – being obvious is actually a design feature. Its a way to warn unicorns off, sort of like a 'beware of dog' sign."

"Did you find a ward where there shouldn't have been?" you ask.

The guardsmare shrugged, "Yes and no – the point is that a stealthy security ward is unusual; so when we got a return-ping on our active scan in a location where we detected nothing passively..."

"You knew you had something worth looking at," Chromia finishes for her, grinning, "Oh – lemme guess, abandoned warehouse?"

"Yup," Lieutenant Rose replies with a nod and a smirk, "The funny part is that if they'd just rented the place and gotten a normal system, we'd have never noticed. They were too paranoid."

"Or they couldn't afford to risk other ponies knowing they were there," Shining suggested as he turns to the unicorn, "Show us."

The warehouse in question turns out to be buried deep inside the district, a half-dozen of its look-alike neighbors spread out around it in all directions. And, like its neighbors, your target was a decidedly dilapidated structure, "This place looks like it should be condemned."

"Yet the lock is brand new," Chromia quips as she examines the nearest door, "And really nice too, because I mean – wow. This is a really expensive lock," the spy turns to you, hope written across her face, "Can I pick it? Please?" You turn to Shining, who give you a curt nod. That's all Chromia needs as she does a quick hoof-pump, "yes! I never get to do this sort of stuff in the field. Just need a minute," Out from under her wings, she pulls out a pair of slender metal tools that she promptly slips into the lock, deftly controlling them with her wing claws as she carefully plies the lock, "Almost got it… come on..." there was suddenly a soft clip and Chromia jumped int o the air with a loud cheer, "Yes! Getting caught by you has been the best thing ever!" She then promptly notices you and Shining smirking at her while the other guards look at her in confusion, "Hehehe..." the mare chuckles nervously as she lands, "...sorry."

Shining just shakes his head before turning to Miss Rose, "Lieutenant, if you would do the honors?"

The unicorn mare nods before gesturing two other guards to flank the door as the other guards take up positions off to the side, before she steps in behind one of them, wrapping the door knob in a golden sheen of magic. She stays like that for a moment before announcing, "Wards down – go!" The door is carefully pulled open as both guards flanking the door rush in before Rose lights up a translucent barrier and leads the rest of the guards in a moment later.

After another minute, she sticks her head out of the door, "Looks all clear – Sir, you're going to want to see this."

Confused, the three of you head into the warehouse and after a few steps in you have to stop. "This… is not an evil lair."

"Still cool though, right?" Chromia replies from next to you as you both stare around the space.

Statues. Altars. Entire stone colonnades. All around you, artifacts of every flavor and size imaginable are strewn around in something only vaguely resembling order. As you slowly pace forward, you find that a space at the center had been set aside for smaller items – here, tables were covered in artifacts of silver metal and black glass and tucked into a corner was a table laden with massive stacks of tomes that you have no doubt Twilight would be salivating over. Wait a minute… this is my stuff! At least, I think it's my stuff.

"Stars and stones, its like they dismantled a Daring Do set," Shining mutters as he looks around the space.

"More like what a Daring Do set is based on sir," Rose replies as she steps back from examining a crate, "Initial scans say that all of this stuff is old. Really, really old."

So much to examine – but where do you start?

[ ] Examine the stoneworks – some of them look ritualistic A clue to our current state, mayhaps?
[ ] Check the artifacts – ancient amulets and daggers could hold some arcane powers useful, and more portable then a building.
[ ] Look over the table – nopony does work like this without notes The steps to any of their rituals would be invaulable
[ ] Skip it all – you have people to interrogate Oh, more chances to scare my wayward flock!
[ ] Write-in