Western Indian Ocean, 2012
The three mares checked their equipment as a battle chariot was prepared to transport them ashore. The ship cruised along slowly, although this close to the South African coast, even in the middle of the night, trying to be any more covert would probably draw more attention.
TMS Ponyville had formerly been a US Navy destroyer. The doorway technology was still not able to transport a five hundred foot warship to Equestria, so it was permanently homeported on Earth at Rota, Spain with a few other vessels, most of them from the United States.
The ship’s spacious helicopter hangar had been converted to accommodations for the embarked pegasus air unit. While Scootaloo would have been able to fly ashore by herself, she couldn’t carry both her friends. Besides, the chariot would allow them to bring more equipment.
The sailors seemed curious about the three mares but understood the need for security and did not approach. That was fine—it gave them more room to talk.
“Do we have everything we need?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Weapons, check,” replied Scootaloo.
“Communications, check,” said Apple Bloom.
“Supplies, check,” noted Sweetie Belle. “Let’s go.”
The pegasi pulling the chariot made a few checks of their own and after getting clearance from the flight deck controller, they spread their wings and lifted off into the night.
While the ship was obvious, the small chariot would not draw too much attention. It had been made of radar-cheating material, not that there was much electronic coverage on this section of coastline. They were coming in clandestinely, which meant no marker lights. The ponies flying wore night vision headgear.
While it didn’t involve the government directly, South Africa might be a bit concerned about a foreign operation on their soil. Sometimes these things couldn’t be helped, and the only thing to do was simply not get caught.
The money trail had led to a South African mine. While the connection was not exactly clear to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, it was to somepony, and that was reason enough.
“Ah still don’t understand why they’d put the office underground,” grumbled Apple Bloom.
“It’s almost like they were building a supervillain lair on purpose,” remarked Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle studied the blueprints carefully. They had to get down the mine shaft and then figure out how to collect incriminating evidence. She was still thinking it over when the chariot bumped down to a landing.
“Thank you gentlecolts,” said Apple Bloom. The Navy fliers said a farewell and took off for the ship.
The three of them picked up their gear and made for the mine entrance. They had been dropped off inside the security perimeter, and had to be careful of guards.
The mine was closed at the moment, but using the main elevator would still draw attention. Apple Bloom prepared a rappel rope for herself and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo preferred to hover.
The ride down was quite long, and the rappelling gear had generated a lot of heat through friction by the time they reached the office level, more than two hundred feet below the surface. The rest of the mine ran more than a thousand feet deeper than that.
With help from Scootaloo, the two ponies on the line swung over to the side of the shaft and found the manual override for the elevator doors.
After passing through another set of doors that sealed out the dank environment of the mine, they found themselves in the office. It was a dark, but the lights of a few computers ran. The task after that was fairly simple. They planted a logger in every keyboard they could find. The devices were borrowed from the American NSA. They consisted of small bits of conductive material that picked up the individual signal each keystroke made and recorded them. When the logger was retrieved later, the signals would be compared to each keyboard manufacturer’s system of input, and once a match was made everything the logger had recorded could be read as plaintext.
And there was the hardest part of the operation—coming back to get the loggers. They had to get in undetected twice.
Getting back up the shaft the first time was tricky enough. A small rachet device was clipped to the rope. Concentrating hard, Sweetie cast a come-to-life spell that slowly began to reel herself and Apple Bloom towards the surface. The unicorn was panting with exertion by the time they got there.
She had time to rest, though. They would have a few days of downtime camping in the South African wilderness.
• • •
Singapore, 2011
“Are we ready?” asked Scootaloo.
“Yep,” answered Sweetie Belle nervously.
“Ah suppose,” said Apple Bloom.
“Let’s go.” The three of them walked into the terminal dispatch building. It served as the headquarters for one of the largest shipping centers on earth. Cargo from across the world passed through. The trio of mares approached the receptionist.
“Good morning,” said Apple Bloom in a professional voice. “We spoke earlier. The three of us have come to take delivery of a container.”
It took a moment for the woman to realize who she was talking to. Apparently, she hadn’t been expecting ponies. “Right, we’ll get that for you.”
The containers were the primary method for shipping goods worldwide. Most were metal boxes about eight feet wide, eight and a half feet high, and twenty feet long. The particular container that the trio of mares had claimed was not actually theirs.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” muttered Sweetie quietly as the human arranged the paperwork.
“Princess Celestia said she’d give us something easy for a first job,” Scootaloo said. The three of them chuckled quietly. Nothing so far had been easy, but at least they were reasonably prepared. It had taken a lot of effort and hard work before they felt ready for anything the Princess could ask.
“You can meet the truck outside,” said the receptionist. The ponies thanked her and left the building. In a few minutes, a truck pulling a trailer with a container on it appeared.
Getting back in the taxi they had arrived in, they directed the driver to a warehouse complex in another part of the city. The container truck dutifully followed.
The loading docks outside the warehouse were abandoned at the moment. The container trailer was backed up to them and the truck unhooked. A bored-looking stallion in a small delivery truck waited nearby.
After seeing off the taxi, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle cracked open the container doors. Inside were several pallets of Chinese Yuan bills.
There had been some east-Asian crime moving into Equestria, but hopefully taking out a piece of the cash flow would slow it down. With the help of the driver, they got the money transferred into his truck. It would probably be taken to a safe location to be disposed of.
“Well, that wasn’t too difficult,” noted Apple Bloom. “Easier than Ah was expectin’.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we just had to get fake IDs, spoof the port inventory system, convince the company we were legitimate, and make off with the loot.”
“It still worked,” pointed out Sweetie Belle.
The three of them slapped hooves on a job well done. It was clear that they had what it took to succeed. The future looked bright.