Strictly Confidentialby StrumfreakChaptersMANTICOREAgents 41 and 28Suspicious ActivityMANTICOREPonyville, an Innocent town full of carefree, happy, colourful ponies that spend their days enjoying life, and spending time together. Peaceful and quiet to the newer of residents, but a disaster zone to those who’ve been there long enough to notice all the major troubling events that have occurred in the town. Often enough large scale disasters had been handled solely by the legendary elements of harmony. Many that had ever threatened the peaceful town had been defeated by them in some way or another, but they can’t always be around to stop every disaster; including small scale ones like robbery, assault, or vandalism. That’s where M.A.N.T.I.C.O.R.E comes in. Militarised Agency Nationalised Towards Intercepting Criminal Offenders Rebelling in Equestria; a secret organisation set in multiple bases among Equestrian landmarks. They sit below the towns and those with the qualifications to be amongst the ranks of their agents are quietly taken from their homes, interviewed, and trained to become secret agents, or as some would call them, spies. Those who choose not to join with the agency have one hour of their memory wiped and are returned to their previous locations. Those who are implemented into the organisation are bound by a code to ensure they follow orders without question and keep the agency a secret. Failure to abide by the code would result in very severe consequences, in some cases, death. Due to the nature of their job, most of the agents, if not all of them, tended to not become too attached or make bonds with others, and rather chose field work over office work in order to avoid social scenarios. The majority of field jobs just involved undercover patrols, and if trouble arose, they could intervene and try and stop it, but if they couldn’t stop trouble from developing, they could arrest the perpetrators, even if that meant using brute force to do so. Other field jobs needed more qualified agents with the stomach to do some dirty work, ranging from doing whatever it takes to extract information from and apprehend a target for as long as necessary, to even assassinating targets; Though jobs like that rarely sprung up. When initiated, Manticore set up bases primarily underground in most locations, creating easier means of potential agents to travel between their homes and nearest base through underground access tunnels built into household objects. Although agency leaders see it as a rather risky approach to allow their agents simple access to the base, with the increase of crime and the need to distribute more field assignments, they had to think of easier and faster, but safe ways to travel between their homes and work. With so many ponies now being involved in field work it wasn’t uncommon for them to mistake another agent as a criminal citizen while they were apprehending a real criminal, which led to the agency having to fire several agents to maintain some control, most of which were never seen in their respective hometowns again. Most agents just assumed upon being discharged from service the agency would order them to take residence in another town in order to make sure they’d have no further contact with relatives and friends that they could potentially reveal any information about the organisation to. Not all ponies are removed by the agency by order however, and instead request to leave on the same conditions as the other agents that are forcefully removed, however as they are not being removed by request they are not given the same privileges as those discharged, which would mean nothing could being provided for them at their new designation, and that they had to rely on their own income; this option was only ever followed through by agents who couldn’t handle the job, or didn’t have a strong stomach for the more gruesome jobs. It is still unknown how or why Manticore was created, nor who the original founder was, and for an unknown reason, the leaders of the agency preferred to keep it that way, drowning out as much interest in the topic among agents as possible, but this often led others to become more curious as to why they were trying so hard to keep it a secret, but the agency quickly picked up on agents investigating further and dealt with them personally. Although they didn’t catch every pony with an interest, and that led them to discover more than they were safely allowed to know, and if they were to be discovered, would put their own life and the lives of their friends in jeopardy. *** Two houses in Ponyville, in almost perfect unison, buzzed to life with morning alarms coming from bedside tables. For a few seconds nothing happened, until in both households, hooves reached out from under the blankets to turn off the alarms, one Aquamarine in colour and the other a light creamy colour. They pressed down on the top off their alarm clocks, almost hard enough to break them, clearly out of frustration. Both figures rolled over under their blankets, attempting to get just a few more minutes of sweet sleep, before the alarms burst to life a second time, forcing them to sigh, throw off their blankets and sit up, before rubbing their bloodshot eyes and turning the alarms off again. Lyra and Bon Bon both slipped out of their respective beds, a little shaky while still waking up, before both letting out a yawn, and walking out of their bedrooms to face the light of another morning. As the sun shone on their eyes from their open windows they flinched and shunned their eyes momentarily, before again walking forward and sighing. Upon reaching their kitchens, Lyra walked towards her fridge, while Bon Bon walked towards some appliances on her bench, flicking on her automatic coffee making machine. Lyra opened the fridge and surveyed its few contents, shrugging and pulling out a donut from a box of assorted flavours before walking to her table and sitting down to eat it, while Bon Bon walked towards her food cupboard, pulling out a bag of some sort of trail mix, filled with a variety of different flowers, grains, and hay clippings. While Lyra ate her donut slowly she dug a small groove into the wood of her table, as if waiting for something to happen, while Bon Bon pulled out a travel mug on the signal from her coffee machines completion, which poured into a small jug under the machine, which Bon Bon then transferred to the travel mug. She took a quick sip before sitting it down next to her mix, and walking over the entrance to her lounge room, where she picked up her saddlebag and made her way back to her kitchen bench. Lyra took the last bite of her donut before looking at the clock on her wall, and watching as the second clock ticked down the last few seconds to 6:30. “Well... duty calls...” she said, getting up and starting to walk over to her own lounge room, and stopping in front of her main couch. Bon Bon had just put her food and coffee into her saddlebag, and tightened it around her body before looking at her own clock to see it strike 6:30. She let out another sigh. “Well... Time for work...” She said before turning around to look at her sink. Lyra moved her hoof to the side of the couch, feeling the front of the arm rest, before finding a seal, and opening it. Behind it rested a blue button, which she pressed, causing a small clatter of noise inside the couch, sounding like machinery rotating and clanking together, before the middle of the couch sprung up with a puff of steam, and a large pod popped out and opened for her. Bon Bon opened the doors under her sink, only to find a bunch of pipes though to direct the drains around. “Oh, silly me...” She said with a small giggle before closing the doors. She reached up to her faucet and turned it all the way around, until she heard it click, before turning it back. After a short clatter of noise sounding similar to that of metal banging together, she opened the sink cupboard again to find a steel platform was there instead of the original group of pipes. Bon Bon grinned, stepping onto the platform, and closing the door to become surrounded in darkness, before small lights illuminated the cupboard below her on each corner of the platform, as it began to lower like an elevator. Lyra stepped into her own pod, closing the door and sealing herself in, and with another hiss of steam from outside the pod, it began to descend into the couch and below, before the couch cushion closed back over the top and the pod illuminated with a blue light. Both transports seem to take equally as long as the other in terms of travel speed, but it was only a matter of minutes before the pod and platform stopped moving and the lights illuminating them faded, leaving them in complete darkness. Out of nowhere only seconds later, automatic doors, fashioned much like garage doors opened upward, to reveal a bright white light, warming them up as it passed over their cool bodies. As the doors opened all the way, Lyra’s pod popped open with a hiss of steam, allowing her to extend her hooves and jump out, before giving a light stretch. Further down past a row of more home/base transport destinations, Bon Bon walked out of her own transport, looking around a little, before turning left and making her way to her own office. Lyra on the other hand, walked forward, into the vast facility that was, MANTICORE. Agents 41 and 28Lyra was never surprised by how much Equestria had advanced in the field of technology and resources. The Ponyville base was the second biggest of the MANTICORE facilities. It came with everything an agent would need to be the best they could be, from physical combat training to teaching the art of torture and interrogation. Agents didn’t choose their field of work, but were rather assigned to a job by the agency based on their talents and abilities. They ran them through instructions and set them up with the prerequisites, and agents would be sent out on missions. Lyra had found her profession in the fields of sniping and spying on targets. She tracked targets down from afar and profiled them while keeping a list of their actions in search of evidence for crimes. Once she’d completed her job, and found evidence against the pony in question, she’d file her report and another agent would be sent out to interrogate the subject. In the meantime while she wasn’t spying on targets, Lyra had a comfortable office job where she’d sit and do basically whatever she pleased. After walking through the large complex of halls and rooms, Lyra pushed open a door bearing her name and walked in to her office. It was a round white room, with a desk on one side of the room covered in paper and files and a small black device. On the other end of the room was a soft leather couch, a coffee table in front of it with a few magazines and a projector on it, and a white bored sitting in the middle of the room in front of that. She happily trotted into her office, kicking her door shut behind her and listening as it locked, before walking over to her couch and jumping onto it. She sat up on her flank and laid her neck on the top of the couch, before kicking her legs across to the table and relaxing. She used her magic to switch on the projector on the coffee table on, and watched as it buzz to life, as a light shone from the lens, projecting a rather poor quality video onto her whiteboard, while noise played from the speaker on the roof of her room. “Gadgets and devices everywhere... you’d think that someone could make a movie with some decent quality...” Lyra mused with a small giggle, before using her magic again to levitate one of the magazines on her table to her hooves. “Issue number nine? I’m a bit behind... There has to have been four Play-Pony magazines since I bought an issue...” She said opening the magazine. Lyra surveyed many of the models in the book, purposefully looking for mares. She loved the way their bodies looked, all curvy and cute in their sexy and seductive poses. Not really bothered by her own sexuality, she’d let her mind run wild while she thought about all the things she could do to them if she was with them. “Ooh, Milky Way... as abnormal as those are, they’d feel damn awesome pressed up against my body...” She said as if trying to speak to the picture, fantasising about Ponyville’s milk-mare. For some reason even sex didn’t intrigue her as much as the thought of being able to play with her massive breasts. She flipped the page again, listening to the film progress, before frowning. She could have sworn she was hearing moaning. She lowered the magazine and to her surprise saw the film had progressed to the main characters of the movie engaging in oral foreplay. She’d never watched porn at work before, but offices were sound proof, so she didn’t really feel inclined to stop. “Hmm... Who woulda know that this movie had a sex scene in it?” Lyra asked rhetorically before dropping the magazine beside herself on the cushion to watch the movie with a new found interest in it. Her enthusiasm was short lived though as the sound from the movie cut off completely and a voice emitted through the speaker of her office. “Agent 41?” The voice called, echoing through the room slightly. Lyra snapped to attention at the call of her number and dropped off the chair to all fours, quickly running to her desk. Before reaching it she slung up the small black device in her magic field, bringing it in front of her. “Agent 41? Miss Heartstrings?” The voice rung again, sounding a little more serious. “Yes! Yes I’m here!” She announced, replying by speaking into the black device. “Ah, Agent 41. Have you processed your last report?” The voice asked. “Uh... the one about that donut maker guy who stole a big recipe?” Lyra asked, very unsure on what her last report had entirely been composed of. She heard the voice sigh in disappointment through the speaker. “The report on Donut Joe’s involvement in the Cake’s stolen recipe; they need that recipe back so they can prepare baked goods specifically for the crowning this weekend.” Lyra thought for a moment and remembered filing a report two days ago, but couldn’t put her hoof on if it was that one. “I... I believe I filed that one two days ago.” She said. “We haven’t received it yet. I want you to follow up the analysis crew and find out its current status. We need to send out an agent to collect evidence soon.” The voice instructed. “Yes boss,” Lyra replied. “Anything else?” “That’ll be all agent. Carry on.” The voice said, before the radio connection cut and the speaker returned to its original function, playing the video again, which in the time it had been on mute, had progressed much further. Lyra jumped with fright as the room was filled with loud screaming and moaning. She suddenly realised she’d left the film on, and ran around to the projector to see what was happening that would make everything get as noisy as it was. Her eyes went wide with interest as soon as she saw the mare in the scene being pounded by a stallion with a shaft almost twice the size of her leg. “I should definitely watch this scene... after I check on that report...” She said with a sigh as her enthusiasm dipped and she switched off the projector. On her way to the door she stopped at her desk, opening one of the drawers and pulling a folder out of it with her magic. It was labelled as classified, and Lyra, even though no one could see her, was being very careful with the folder and trying to keep it as obscured as possible, even as if trying to hide it from herself. “Might as well kill two birds with one stone while I’ve got work to do...” Lyra said slipping the folder into a backpack on the floor under her desk. “I know they’re hiding something...” She said to herself as she walked towards the door to her office. “I just have to find out what...” With that Lyra left her office, but couldn’t stop herself from feeling extremely edgy with the folder on her, and made sure the door locked tight before getting ready to venture the facility to the analysis bay. *** Bon Bon didn’t exactly enjoy walking through the Manticore Base to get to her office. It was far too big, which made her edgy. The fact that the massive facility was concealed underground made her even more nervous to walk through. Part of the facility had already collapsed once after an Urca-Minor had walked straight through town and stomped too hard on areas of the ground. While it gave her the constant fear that the facility could collapse if not well monitored, this also led Bon Bon to constantly assume that even though the facility was low enough underground, somepony could likely discover them if they dug down enough. Despite her fears though, she enjoyed her job; much more than most of the other agents. Bon Bon excelled as a master of disguise and interrogation. She was one of the best in her field, and had never failed a field assignment, but to her the best part about her job in her opinion was that she would be the least at risk to being found out, as nopony would ever be able to remember her from just seeing her in one of her disguises. Although she was a very powerful interrogator, Bon Bon didn’t quite enjoy that side of work too much, because for one thing, it meant dirty work, and Bon Bon preferred to keep her hooves clean where possible. That didn’t mean she was afraid to get them dirty though if need be, but interrogation required many components and stages to work properly, the first of which was of course capturing a target and having them hidden and immobilised. This was Bon Bon’s least favourite part as it often led to Bon Bon being on the receiving end of near sexual encounters. It was in her opinion the most effective method of getting a subject alone with her, but it was also one she despised, due to the fact that every target she had tried it on, including mares, had fallen for it all for the sole hope in their minds that they could get laid. It was just a deep seeded knowledge in her mind that anyone would do anything they wanted to or somepony else wanted them to do, if it could get them laid. The last mission she had completed had required her to apprehend the famous fashion designer Hoity Toity, and make him confess to stealing designs from Carousel Boutique. The reason she’d had to do that was because the owner of the store, Rarity, had filed a complaint with Ponyville police that her dresses and designs had been going missing, and another agent who had been spying on the boutique for quite some time, had noticed Hoity Toity visiting for a few hours and leaving almost twice a day for a week. After luring him into a false sense of security, drugging, and interrogating him, Bon Bon had found out he’d been coming to Ponyville on a regular basis and having sex with Rarity, before stealing her unfinished and finished designs from her wardrobes. She thought it was actually one of the easiest cases she’d ever solved, but it just proved her point even more. It disgusted her that anypony could go to the lengths some of the criminals she had dealt with in the past had gone to, just for sex. Bon Bon kept walking through the facility, trying to clear her mind of the past assignments she’d dealt with, and remembered as she approached the hallway leading to her office that she had another assignment likely coming in soon. She hadn’t had one in a week at least, and the free time had given her plenty of space to finish filing late reports. As Bon Bon opened her door and walked into her room, a robotic voice greeted her from the speaker in her office, and the door shut and locked automatically behind her. “Good morning Agent 28; Automated Voice Office Maintenance System at your service. How are you?” the voice asked, with a few small gaps between the words. “I’m wonderful Avoms. Any messages for me today?” Bon Bon asked as she walked into her office and placed her saddle bag on the desk to one side of her room. She much preferred to call her automatic voice system Avoms to make conversations easier. “Yes, you recently received a message from Manticore Control; they would like you to visit them. They may have a new assignment for you.” Avoms explained. Bon Bon sighed, and looked at her bag. “Avoms, could you keep my coffee warm for me until I get back?” Bon Bon asked out loud. “Of course Agent 28. Please place it over near the automatic heater.” Avoms said. Bon Bon grabbed the travel mug out of her bag, and placed it next to a small box on the opposite side of the desk, before the section the box and mug were on lowered into the desk, and another section of the desk slid over it. “I knew it’d be useful to get that installed,” Bon Bon said to herself with a grin. “Thank you Avoms, I’ll be back soon.” Bon Bon said, before walking back over to the door and pushing it open. “Of course Agent 28. I’ll shall inform Manticore Control that you are on your way.” Avoms informed her, before closing the door for her as she walked out. “Oh how I love experienced employee benefits,” Bon Bon said with a giggle as she walked down the hallway to make her way to the bases control centre. Suspicious ActivityNearing the Analysis bay after a short trek through the facility, Lyra tried to focus on the report she was about to check up on. She could remember that she definitely filed in a report involving Donut Joe, but struggled to remember what she surveyed to fill out the contents of the report. She focused as hard as she could on the days she had been assigned to follow and spy on him. Unable to think straight or put her hoof on precise details, Lyra turned around another corner and saw the analysis bay up ahead of her. She figured that if the report hadn’t been processed she could simply double over the details and confirm it... or at least she hoped it’d be that easy. She also looked at her saddle bag containing the mysterious folder she had pulled from her desk, and double checked that it was securely closed. She didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it, considering even she felt nervous whenever she looked at it. Lyra walked through the large opening to the analysis bay, and looked around it, once again finding her interest being captivated by the size of the facility. The room was composed of two floors, and was directly connected to Manticore Control by a door at the other side of the room. The majority of the room was filled with many rows of desks; they were all covered in folders, being read over carefully by several ponies to make sure the details were all precise and made sense together. It was undoubtedly the largest and most populated area of the facility, next being Manticore Control. Lyra, trying to ignore the scenery and keep her mind on track, trotted over to the side of the room where the staircase to the second floor was located. Looking through the bars of the staircase at all the ponies working, she thought she saw the doors to Manticore Control open. She diverted her gaze towards the doors, just to get a glance to be sure, as she had never been inside the control centre for the base, nor even seen inside it. Only the best of the best field agents had that privilege. Nearing the top of the staircase, Lyra could barely see more than light inside and a silhouette of another pony walking in, but didn’t have time to focus on any real details before tripping over the next step up and smacking her chin on it. As she collapsed onto the staircase one of the two bearings holding up a step under her broke away, causing the whole step to fall and clash against the ground. The room was generally quiet with only the sound of papers moving around, being stamped, or stapled, and the occasional sound of some chatter, so the sound of a large metal step hitting the ground caused ever single pony in the area to turn their heads to look in the direction of the noise, but Lyra was too dazed to care about stares, and saw only a blur as the door to Manticore Control shut closed. Lyra grunted in disappointment and bought her hooves to the stair under her torso, pushing herself up. She did her best to not stagger as her vision returned, and took a large step to get over the newly created gap, being careful to not trip and fall into it. Trying to ignore the stares from the many ponies in the room, Lyra waited until they lost interest, before walking some more. Almost as soon as she reached the top of the stairs another pony who had rushed over to investigate the noise stopped in front of her, blocking her off. “What the hell was that noise?” he asked clearly having missed the fiasco. “I tripped over... nothing to worry about, but I’d get somepony to check on those stairs,” said Lyra, before trying to make her way past him before he intervened again. “Wait! You’re agent 41, right?” the stallion asked Lyra. “Who wants to know?” Lyra asked the stallion eyeing him carefully. She didn’t trust agents she hadn’t talked to, let alone seen before. “I’m Lucas. I was assigned to check over your last report.” He informed her. “Lucas? Really? No fancy number or codename?” asked Lyra. “I’m not a field agent... only field agents are numbered.” Lucas replied. “Right...” Lyra said with a nod, realising she still hadn’t entirely learned the system for labelling agents, “and how did you know I’m agent 41?” Lyra asked giving him another strict look. “It’s right there on your bag.” Lucas said, pointing his hoof at the small patch on the bag labelling ‘Property of agent 41’. Lyra turned her bag away from him at the very mention of it, trying to hide it behind herself to drown out interest in it as fast as possible. Still trying not to get distracted, and having easily found the pony she needed to through a chance accident, she got right to the subject at hand. “Anyway, about the report... Manticore control contacted me saying it hadn’t been sent through yet... any reason why?” Lyra asked expecting a decent answer. “Well, I was ready to go over your report, but there was a problem...” Lucas started, before Lyra interrupted. “Which was?” Lyra asked quickly, as if wanting to deny as fast as possible that there could be anything wrong with her report. Feeling a little nervous now, Lucas gulped and answered Lyra. “There was nothing in the folder... the whole thing was empty.” He said, almost wanting to flinch at Lyra’s facial reaction. “What do you mean there was nothing in the folder?!” Lyra asked, almost yelling at the nervous stallion. “I spent a week putting that report together! Do you have any idea how long I sat on the rooftops of Canterlot and Ponyville following Joe, travelling between them constantly, all because Canterlot’s spies were deemed too inexperienced to perform the job?” Lyra asked, again not putting any effort into keeping quiet, arousing the attention of many other workers in the room. Lyra again a little embarrassed that she’d attracted the attention of every pony in the room, turned her head away from them looking Lucas directly in the eyes. “Where did my report go Lucas?” she asked him calmly, but strictly. “I...”-Lucas took in a deep breath before continuing-“...I think it was stolen” he said, flinching in fear that Lyra might get angry at him again; but Lyra was far to shocked to scold him or even speak once she heard that. ‘Who would steal a report?’ she asked herself in her mind. Her eyes went wide for a moment as she tried to consider a few ponies that could have taken her report, but she just didn’t know enough other spies; let alone any who would want to steal from her. For the few second she was in a daze, Lucas began to try and call her back to reality. “Agent 41?” he asked waving his hoof around her face. Lyra was distracted heavily by confusion and thought, but she awoke very quickly to the sound of her number being called. “Are you alright?” Lucas asked her. “I’m fine... but... but I don’t understand who would steal a report? Is there a mole in the agency or something?” Lyra asked considering another possibility. “If there was a mole in the agency why would they steal something as simple as a report on a donut shop owner stealing a recipe?” Lucas asked her in a way that seemed rhetorical. Lyra did have to admit it didn’t sound very plausible. “But that assignment came straight from a member of manticore control, it had to be important for some reason!” Lyra exclaimed, intent on figuring out why someone would steal a report. “I only said I think it was stolen though! It might not have been; it could have simply been misplaced.” Lucas said trying to ease her mind, but Lyra still wasn’t convinced. “I filed the report two days ago... it would have turned up by now,” she said frowning, and sighing. “Either way if that reply didn’t turn up, then that means I’ll have to file another one...” Lyra concluded, very disappointed that a lot of her hard earned free time was going to be taken from her. Lucas wanted to try and help, but being in his position, there was nothing he could do to assist her. He’d already attempted to search for the report, but even he had no luck finding it. “I’ll send a message to Manticore Control about the loss of your report... I’m sure the next time they can get someone else to do it.” Lucas said, trying to ease some of the weight she’d just put on her shoulders; he knew by the level of stress in her reaction that it must have been a large report. “Thanks kid...” Lyra started, “But I think I want to talk to them myself... I have something I need to take up with them.” Lyra said, shifting slightly as she did. “You want to talk to the leaders in Manticore Control?” Lucas asked shocked, “They’d never let you! Only top rated field agents can do that and even they have to be lucky to do that. I’ve barely ever seen an agent go through that door or come out of it.” Lucas said looking over at the door at the side of the room that led to the control centre. “An agent just went in a few moments ago!” Lyra exclaimed, wondering if he’d been paying attention to it in the last five to ten minutes. “That’d be the first time since two months ago that another agent has been in there.” Lucas told her. Realising her chances of actually seeing the Manticore Leaders was slim, Lyra instead thought of a new idea. “If I can’t speak to them directly I’ll send them a message too; do you know the names and message bank addresses of the Manticore Leaders?” Lyra said, rather embarrassed that she didn’t know. “Only Chiefs Pike, Hoofman, and Harvey; there’s a few more leaders, but I don’t know who they are. Pike and Hoofman have been around the longest since the last leaders passed away, but I think cheif Harvey has only been in for around a year.” Lucas informed her. “How do you know this stuff?” Lyra asked curious as to how he could know so much about his leaders that he’d never met. Lucas shifted nervously, and whispered to her quietly. “I may have found some password hidden, confidential folders located in the bases data centre...” he said before Lyra interrupted quietly, yet sternly. “You hacked the bases network?! Do you have any idea how stupid that is?! That line of network is still being built and is very sensitive! If you had been caught...” Lyra went to finish but was interrupted by Lucas. “But I wasn’t! I printed their profiles by hacking the classified data section. It’s still a very primitive system and easy to understand.” He explained. “But why?” Lyra asked, wondering why anyone would risk their lives. “Because I don’t trust the leaders... they’re so secretive! They keep everything hidden and refuse to share any information on the assignments they send to agents, and why they need those tasks done... This place used to be about control and order in Ponyville, my job was incredibly easy, but over the past 2 weeks, since the royal coronation was announced, they’ve been handing out assignments nonstop!” Lucas pointed out. “Crowning a new Equestrian ruler is a HUGE event! I’m not surprised they’re dishing out assignments left and right...” Lyra said expressing her doubt in what Lucas was saying. “But the assignments are completely unrelated to the coronation! There’s not a single one that has anything to do with the princesses, or the competitors! And don’t tell me you don’t think they’re up to something... what about that folder in your bag that you’ve been hiding? Does that have anything to do with them?” Lucas asked, but barely able to finish his sentence before Lyra picked him off his feet and pressed him hard against the wall with her front leg to his neck. “How do you know about that file?” Lyra asked, not realising she’d raised her voice again, but by this point the others in the room were ignoring her as best they could. Lucas was in a fair amount of pain from being slammed against the wall, but managed to get out another sentence through the pressure on his throat. “We should... take this conversation... Elsewhere...” he squeezed through his lips almost sputtering. Lyra frowned, not liking that he knew something about something she’d been trying to hide from everyone, but knew that someone would get suspicious if they kept the conversation going much longer. “Follow me...” Lyra said reluctantly, releasing the pressure on his throat, and letting him fall over and cough a few times, before he got up and trotted after her as she moved on ahead of him, walking towards a door on the side of the room ahead of them both.
MANTICOREPonyville, an Innocent town full of carefree, happy, colourful ponies that spend their days enjoying life, and spending time together. Peaceful and quiet to the newer of residents, but a disaster zone to those who’ve been there long enough to notice all the major troubling events that have occurred in the town. Often enough large scale disasters had been handled solely by the legendary elements of harmony. Many that had ever threatened the peaceful town had been defeated by them in some way or another, but they can’t always be around to stop every disaster; including small scale ones like robbery, assault, or vandalism. That’s where M.A.N.T.I.C.O.R.E comes in. Militarised Agency Nationalised Towards Intercepting Criminal Offenders Rebelling in Equestria; a secret organisation set in multiple bases among Equestrian landmarks. They sit below the towns and those with the qualifications to be amongst the ranks of their agents are quietly taken from their homes, interviewed, and trained to become secret agents, or as some would call them, spies. Those who choose not to join with the agency have one hour of their memory wiped and are returned to their previous locations. Those who are implemented into the organisation are bound by a code to ensure they follow orders without question and keep the agency a secret. Failure to abide by the code would result in very severe consequences, in some cases, death. Due to the nature of their job, most of the agents, if not all of them, tended to not become too attached or make bonds with others, and rather chose field work over office work in order to avoid social scenarios. The majority of field jobs just involved undercover patrols, and if trouble arose, they could intervene and try and stop it, but if they couldn’t stop trouble from developing, they could arrest the perpetrators, even if that meant using brute force to do so. Other field jobs needed more qualified agents with the stomach to do some dirty work, ranging from doing whatever it takes to extract information from and apprehend a target for as long as necessary, to even assassinating targets; Though jobs like that rarely sprung up. When initiated, Manticore set up bases primarily underground in most locations, creating easier means of potential agents to travel between their homes and nearest base through underground access tunnels built into household objects. Although agency leaders see it as a rather risky approach to allow their agents simple access to the base, with the increase of crime and the need to distribute more field assignments, they had to think of easier and faster, but safe ways to travel between their homes and work. With so many ponies now being involved in field work it wasn’t uncommon for them to mistake another agent as a criminal citizen while they were apprehending a real criminal, which led to the agency having to fire several agents to maintain some control, most of which were never seen in their respective hometowns again. Most agents just assumed upon being discharged from service the agency would order them to take residence in another town in order to make sure they’d have no further contact with relatives and friends that they could potentially reveal any information about the organisation to. Not all ponies are removed by the agency by order however, and instead request to leave on the same conditions as the other agents that are forcefully removed, however as they are not being removed by request they are not given the same privileges as those discharged, which would mean nothing could being provided for them at their new designation, and that they had to rely on their own income; this option was only ever followed through by agents who couldn’t handle the job, or didn’t have a strong stomach for the more gruesome jobs. It is still unknown how or why Manticore was created, nor who the original founder was, and for an unknown reason, the leaders of the agency preferred to keep it that way, drowning out as much interest in the topic among agents as possible, but this often led others to become more curious as to why they were trying so hard to keep it a secret, but the agency quickly picked up on agents investigating further and dealt with them personally. Although they didn’t catch every pony with an interest, and that led them to discover more than they were safely allowed to know, and if they were to be discovered, would put their own life and the lives of their friends in jeopardy. *** Two houses in Ponyville, in almost perfect unison, buzzed to life with morning alarms coming from bedside tables. For a few seconds nothing happened, until in both households, hooves reached out from under the blankets to turn off the alarms, one Aquamarine in colour and the other a light creamy colour. They pressed down on the top off their alarm clocks, almost hard enough to break them, clearly out of frustration. Both figures rolled over under their blankets, attempting to get just a few more minutes of sweet sleep, before the alarms burst to life a second time, forcing them to sigh, throw off their blankets and sit up, before rubbing their bloodshot eyes and turning the alarms off again. Lyra and Bon Bon both slipped out of their respective beds, a little shaky while still waking up, before both letting out a yawn, and walking out of their bedrooms to face the light of another morning. As the sun shone on their eyes from their open windows they flinched and shunned their eyes momentarily, before again walking forward and sighing. Upon reaching their kitchens, Lyra walked towards her fridge, while Bon Bon walked towards some appliances on her bench, flicking on her automatic coffee making machine. Lyra opened the fridge and surveyed its few contents, shrugging and pulling out a donut from a box of assorted flavours before walking to her table and sitting down to eat it, while Bon Bon walked towards her food cupboard, pulling out a bag of some sort of trail mix, filled with a variety of different flowers, grains, and hay clippings. While Lyra ate her donut slowly she dug a small groove into the wood of her table, as if waiting for something to happen, while Bon Bon pulled out a travel mug on the signal from her coffee machines completion, which poured into a small jug under the machine, which Bon Bon then transferred to the travel mug. She took a quick sip before sitting it down next to her mix, and walking over the entrance to her lounge room, where she picked up her saddlebag and made her way back to her kitchen bench. Lyra took the last bite of her donut before looking at the clock on her wall, and watching as the second clock ticked down the last few seconds to 6:30. “Well... duty calls...” she said, getting up and starting to walk over to her own lounge room, and stopping in front of her main couch. Bon Bon had just put her food and coffee into her saddlebag, and tightened it around her body before looking at her own clock to see it strike 6:30. She let out another sigh. “Well... Time for work...” She said before turning around to look at her sink. Lyra moved her hoof to the side of the couch, feeling the front of the arm rest, before finding a seal, and opening it. Behind it rested a blue button, which she pressed, causing a small clatter of noise inside the couch, sounding like machinery rotating and clanking together, before the middle of the couch sprung up with a puff of steam, and a large pod popped out and opened for her. Bon Bon opened the doors under her sink, only to find a bunch of pipes though to direct the drains around. “Oh, silly me...” She said with a small giggle before closing the doors. She reached up to her faucet and turned it all the way around, until she heard it click, before turning it back. After a short clatter of noise sounding similar to that of metal banging together, she opened the sink cupboard again to find a steel platform was there instead of the original group of pipes. Bon Bon grinned, stepping onto the platform, and closing the door to become surrounded in darkness, before small lights illuminated the cupboard below her on each corner of the platform, as it began to lower like an elevator. Lyra stepped into her own pod, closing the door and sealing herself in, and with another hiss of steam from outside the pod, it began to descend into the couch and below, before the couch cushion closed back over the top and the pod illuminated with a blue light. Both transports seem to take equally as long as the other in terms of travel speed, but it was only a matter of minutes before the pod and platform stopped moving and the lights illuminating them faded, leaving them in complete darkness. Out of nowhere only seconds later, automatic doors, fashioned much like garage doors opened upward, to reveal a bright white light, warming them up as it passed over their cool bodies. As the doors opened all the way, Lyra’s pod popped open with a hiss of steam, allowing her to extend her hooves and jump out, before giving a light stretch. Further down past a row of more home/base transport destinations, Bon Bon walked out of her own transport, looking around a little, before turning left and making her way to her own office. Lyra on the other hand, walked forward, into the vast facility that was, MANTICORE.
Agents 41 and 28Lyra was never surprised by how much Equestria had advanced in the field of technology and resources. The Ponyville base was the second biggest of the MANTICORE facilities. It came with everything an agent would need to be the best they could be, from physical combat training to teaching the art of torture and interrogation. Agents didn’t choose their field of work, but were rather assigned to a job by the agency based on their talents and abilities. They ran them through instructions and set them up with the prerequisites, and agents would be sent out on missions. Lyra had found her profession in the fields of sniping and spying on targets. She tracked targets down from afar and profiled them while keeping a list of their actions in search of evidence for crimes. Once she’d completed her job, and found evidence against the pony in question, she’d file her report and another agent would be sent out to interrogate the subject. In the meantime while she wasn’t spying on targets, Lyra had a comfortable office job where she’d sit and do basically whatever she pleased. After walking through the large complex of halls and rooms, Lyra pushed open a door bearing her name and walked in to her office. It was a round white room, with a desk on one side of the room covered in paper and files and a small black device. On the other end of the room was a soft leather couch, a coffee table in front of it with a few magazines and a projector on it, and a white bored sitting in the middle of the room in front of that. She happily trotted into her office, kicking her door shut behind her and listening as it locked, before walking over to her couch and jumping onto it. She sat up on her flank and laid her neck on the top of the couch, before kicking her legs across to the table and relaxing. She used her magic to switch on the projector on the coffee table on, and watched as it buzz to life, as a light shone from the lens, projecting a rather poor quality video onto her whiteboard, while noise played from the speaker on the roof of her room. “Gadgets and devices everywhere... you’d think that someone could make a movie with some decent quality...” Lyra mused with a small giggle, before using her magic again to levitate one of the magazines on her table to her hooves. “Issue number nine? I’m a bit behind... There has to have been four Play-Pony magazines since I bought an issue...” She said opening the magazine. Lyra surveyed many of the models in the book, purposefully looking for mares. She loved the way their bodies looked, all curvy and cute in their sexy and seductive poses. Not really bothered by her own sexuality, she’d let her mind run wild while she thought about all the things she could do to them if she was with them. “Ooh, Milky Way... as abnormal as those are, they’d feel damn awesome pressed up against my body...” She said as if trying to speak to the picture, fantasising about Ponyville’s milk-mare. For some reason even sex didn’t intrigue her as much as the thought of being able to play with her massive breasts. She flipped the page again, listening to the film progress, before frowning. She could have sworn she was hearing moaning. She lowered the magazine and to her surprise saw the film had progressed to the main characters of the movie engaging in oral foreplay. She’d never watched porn at work before, but offices were sound proof, so she didn’t really feel inclined to stop. “Hmm... Who woulda know that this movie had a sex scene in it?” Lyra asked rhetorically before dropping the magazine beside herself on the cushion to watch the movie with a new found interest in it. Her enthusiasm was short lived though as the sound from the movie cut off completely and a voice emitted through the speaker of her office. “Agent 41?” The voice called, echoing through the room slightly. Lyra snapped to attention at the call of her number and dropped off the chair to all fours, quickly running to her desk. Before reaching it she slung up the small black device in her magic field, bringing it in front of her. “Agent 41? Miss Heartstrings?” The voice rung again, sounding a little more serious. “Yes! Yes I’m here!” She announced, replying by speaking into the black device. “Ah, Agent 41. Have you processed your last report?” The voice asked. “Uh... the one about that donut maker guy who stole a big recipe?” Lyra asked, very unsure on what her last report had entirely been composed of. She heard the voice sigh in disappointment through the speaker. “The report on Donut Joe’s involvement in the Cake’s stolen recipe; they need that recipe back so they can prepare baked goods specifically for the crowning this weekend.” Lyra thought for a moment and remembered filing a report two days ago, but couldn’t put her hoof on if it was that one. “I... I believe I filed that one two days ago.” She said. “We haven’t received it yet. I want you to follow up the analysis crew and find out its current status. We need to send out an agent to collect evidence soon.” The voice instructed. “Yes boss,” Lyra replied. “Anything else?” “That’ll be all agent. Carry on.” The voice said, before the radio connection cut and the speaker returned to its original function, playing the video again, which in the time it had been on mute, had progressed much further. Lyra jumped with fright as the room was filled with loud screaming and moaning. She suddenly realised she’d left the film on, and ran around to the projector to see what was happening that would make everything get as noisy as it was. Her eyes went wide with interest as soon as she saw the mare in the scene being pounded by a stallion with a shaft almost twice the size of her leg. “I should definitely watch this scene... after I check on that report...” She said with a sigh as her enthusiasm dipped and she switched off the projector. On her way to the door she stopped at her desk, opening one of the drawers and pulling a folder out of it with her magic. It was labelled as classified, and Lyra, even though no one could see her, was being very careful with the folder and trying to keep it as obscured as possible, even as if trying to hide it from herself. “Might as well kill two birds with one stone while I’ve got work to do...” Lyra said slipping the folder into a backpack on the floor under her desk. “I know they’re hiding something...” She said to herself as she walked towards the door to her office. “I just have to find out what...” With that Lyra left her office, but couldn’t stop herself from feeling extremely edgy with the folder on her, and made sure the door locked tight before getting ready to venture the facility to the analysis bay. *** Bon Bon didn’t exactly enjoy walking through the Manticore Base to get to her office. It was far too big, which made her edgy. The fact that the massive facility was concealed underground made her even more nervous to walk through. Part of the facility had already collapsed once after an Urca-Minor had walked straight through town and stomped too hard on areas of the ground. While it gave her the constant fear that the facility could collapse if not well monitored, this also led Bon Bon to constantly assume that even though the facility was low enough underground, somepony could likely discover them if they dug down enough. Despite her fears though, she enjoyed her job; much more than most of the other agents. Bon Bon excelled as a master of disguise and interrogation. She was one of the best in her field, and had never failed a field assignment, but to her the best part about her job in her opinion was that she would be the least at risk to being found out, as nopony would ever be able to remember her from just seeing her in one of her disguises. Although she was a very powerful interrogator, Bon Bon didn’t quite enjoy that side of work too much, because for one thing, it meant dirty work, and Bon Bon preferred to keep her hooves clean where possible. That didn’t mean she was afraid to get them dirty though if need be, but interrogation required many components and stages to work properly, the first of which was of course capturing a target and having them hidden and immobilised. This was Bon Bon’s least favourite part as it often led to Bon Bon being on the receiving end of near sexual encounters. It was in her opinion the most effective method of getting a subject alone with her, but it was also one she despised, due to the fact that every target she had tried it on, including mares, had fallen for it all for the sole hope in their minds that they could get laid. It was just a deep seeded knowledge in her mind that anyone would do anything they wanted to or somepony else wanted them to do, if it could get them laid. The last mission she had completed had required her to apprehend the famous fashion designer Hoity Toity, and make him confess to stealing designs from Carousel Boutique. The reason she’d had to do that was because the owner of the store, Rarity, had filed a complaint with Ponyville police that her dresses and designs had been going missing, and another agent who had been spying on the boutique for quite some time, had noticed Hoity Toity visiting for a few hours and leaving almost twice a day for a week. After luring him into a false sense of security, drugging, and interrogating him, Bon Bon had found out he’d been coming to Ponyville on a regular basis and having sex with Rarity, before stealing her unfinished and finished designs from her wardrobes. She thought it was actually one of the easiest cases she’d ever solved, but it just proved her point even more. It disgusted her that anypony could go to the lengths some of the criminals she had dealt with in the past had gone to, just for sex. Bon Bon kept walking through the facility, trying to clear her mind of the past assignments she’d dealt with, and remembered as she approached the hallway leading to her office that she had another assignment likely coming in soon. She hadn’t had one in a week at least, and the free time had given her plenty of space to finish filing late reports. As Bon Bon opened her door and walked into her room, a robotic voice greeted her from the speaker in her office, and the door shut and locked automatically behind her. “Good morning Agent 28; Automated Voice Office Maintenance System at your service. How are you?” the voice asked, with a few small gaps between the words. “I’m wonderful Avoms. Any messages for me today?” Bon Bon asked as she walked into her office and placed her saddle bag on the desk to one side of her room. She much preferred to call her automatic voice system Avoms to make conversations easier. “Yes, you recently received a message from Manticore Control; they would like you to visit them. They may have a new assignment for you.” Avoms explained. Bon Bon sighed, and looked at her bag. “Avoms, could you keep my coffee warm for me until I get back?” Bon Bon asked out loud. “Of course Agent 28. Please place it over near the automatic heater.” Avoms said. Bon Bon grabbed the travel mug out of her bag, and placed it next to a small box on the opposite side of the desk, before the section the box and mug were on lowered into the desk, and another section of the desk slid over it. “I knew it’d be useful to get that installed,” Bon Bon said to herself with a grin. “Thank you Avoms, I’ll be back soon.” Bon Bon said, before walking back over to the door and pushing it open. “Of course Agent 28. I’ll shall inform Manticore Control that you are on your way.” Avoms informed her, before closing the door for her as she walked out. “Oh how I love experienced employee benefits,” Bon Bon said with a giggle as she walked down the hallway to make her way to the bases control centre.
Suspicious ActivityNearing the Analysis bay after a short trek through the facility, Lyra tried to focus on the report she was about to check up on. She could remember that she definitely filed in a report involving Donut Joe, but struggled to remember what she surveyed to fill out the contents of the report. She focused as hard as she could on the days she had been assigned to follow and spy on him. Unable to think straight or put her hoof on precise details, Lyra turned around another corner and saw the analysis bay up ahead of her. She figured that if the report hadn’t been processed she could simply double over the details and confirm it... or at least she hoped it’d be that easy. She also looked at her saddle bag containing the mysterious folder she had pulled from her desk, and double checked that it was securely closed. She didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it, considering even she felt nervous whenever she looked at it. Lyra walked through the large opening to the analysis bay, and looked around it, once again finding her interest being captivated by the size of the facility. The room was composed of two floors, and was directly connected to Manticore Control by a door at the other side of the room. The majority of the room was filled with many rows of desks; they were all covered in folders, being read over carefully by several ponies to make sure the details were all precise and made sense together. It was undoubtedly the largest and most populated area of the facility, next being Manticore Control. Lyra, trying to ignore the scenery and keep her mind on track, trotted over to the side of the room where the staircase to the second floor was located. Looking through the bars of the staircase at all the ponies working, she thought she saw the doors to Manticore Control open. She diverted her gaze towards the doors, just to get a glance to be sure, as she had never been inside the control centre for the base, nor even seen inside it. Only the best of the best field agents had that privilege. Nearing the top of the staircase, Lyra could barely see more than light inside and a silhouette of another pony walking in, but didn’t have time to focus on any real details before tripping over the next step up and smacking her chin on it. As she collapsed onto the staircase one of the two bearings holding up a step under her broke away, causing the whole step to fall and clash against the ground. The room was generally quiet with only the sound of papers moving around, being stamped, or stapled, and the occasional sound of some chatter, so the sound of a large metal step hitting the ground caused ever single pony in the area to turn their heads to look in the direction of the noise, but Lyra was too dazed to care about stares, and saw only a blur as the door to Manticore Control shut closed. Lyra grunted in disappointment and bought her hooves to the stair under her torso, pushing herself up. She did her best to not stagger as her vision returned, and took a large step to get over the newly created gap, being careful to not trip and fall into it. Trying to ignore the stares from the many ponies in the room, Lyra waited until they lost interest, before walking some more. Almost as soon as she reached the top of the stairs another pony who had rushed over to investigate the noise stopped in front of her, blocking her off. “What the hell was that noise?” he asked clearly having missed the fiasco. “I tripped over... nothing to worry about, but I’d get somepony to check on those stairs,” said Lyra, before trying to make her way past him before he intervened again. “Wait! You’re agent 41, right?” the stallion asked Lyra. “Who wants to know?” Lyra asked the stallion eyeing him carefully. She didn’t trust agents she hadn’t talked to, let alone seen before. “I’m Lucas. I was assigned to check over your last report.” He informed her. “Lucas? Really? No fancy number or codename?” asked Lyra. “I’m not a field agent... only field agents are numbered.” Lucas replied. “Right...” Lyra said with a nod, realising she still hadn’t entirely learned the system for labelling agents, “and how did you know I’m agent 41?” Lyra asked giving him another strict look. “It’s right there on your bag.” Lucas said, pointing his hoof at the small patch on the bag labelling ‘Property of agent 41’. Lyra turned her bag away from him at the very mention of it, trying to hide it behind herself to drown out interest in it as fast as possible. Still trying not to get distracted, and having easily found the pony she needed to through a chance accident, she got right to the subject at hand. “Anyway, about the report... Manticore control contacted me saying it hadn’t been sent through yet... any reason why?” Lyra asked expecting a decent answer. “Well, I was ready to go over your report, but there was a problem...” Lucas started, before Lyra interrupted. “Which was?” Lyra asked quickly, as if wanting to deny as fast as possible that there could be anything wrong with her report. Feeling a little nervous now, Lucas gulped and answered Lyra. “There was nothing in the folder... the whole thing was empty.” He said, almost wanting to flinch at Lyra’s facial reaction. “What do you mean there was nothing in the folder?!” Lyra asked, almost yelling at the nervous stallion. “I spent a week putting that report together! Do you have any idea how long I sat on the rooftops of Canterlot and Ponyville following Joe, travelling between them constantly, all because Canterlot’s spies were deemed too inexperienced to perform the job?” Lyra asked, again not putting any effort into keeping quiet, arousing the attention of many other workers in the room. Lyra again a little embarrassed that she’d attracted the attention of every pony in the room, turned her head away from them looking Lucas directly in the eyes. “Where did my report go Lucas?” she asked him calmly, but strictly. “I...”-Lucas took in a deep breath before continuing-“...I think it was stolen” he said, flinching in fear that Lyra might get angry at him again; but Lyra was far to shocked to scold him or even speak once she heard that. ‘Who would steal a report?’ she asked herself in her mind. Her eyes went wide for a moment as she tried to consider a few ponies that could have taken her report, but she just didn’t know enough other spies; let alone any who would want to steal from her. For the few second she was in a daze, Lucas began to try and call her back to reality. “Agent 41?” he asked waving his hoof around her face. Lyra was distracted heavily by confusion and thought, but she awoke very quickly to the sound of her number being called. “Are you alright?” Lucas asked her. “I’m fine... but... but I don’t understand who would steal a report? Is there a mole in the agency or something?” Lyra asked considering another possibility. “If there was a mole in the agency why would they steal something as simple as a report on a donut shop owner stealing a recipe?” Lucas asked her in a way that seemed rhetorical. Lyra did have to admit it didn’t sound very plausible. “But that assignment came straight from a member of manticore control, it had to be important for some reason!” Lyra exclaimed, intent on figuring out why someone would steal a report. “I only said I think it was stolen though! It might not have been; it could have simply been misplaced.” Lucas said trying to ease her mind, but Lyra still wasn’t convinced. “I filed the report two days ago... it would have turned up by now,” she said frowning, and sighing. “Either way if that reply didn’t turn up, then that means I’ll have to file another one...” Lyra concluded, very disappointed that a lot of her hard earned free time was going to be taken from her. Lucas wanted to try and help, but being in his position, there was nothing he could do to assist her. He’d already attempted to search for the report, but even he had no luck finding it. “I’ll send a message to Manticore Control about the loss of your report... I’m sure the next time they can get someone else to do it.” Lucas said, trying to ease some of the weight she’d just put on her shoulders; he knew by the level of stress in her reaction that it must have been a large report. “Thanks kid...” Lyra started, “But I think I want to talk to them myself... I have something I need to take up with them.” Lyra said, shifting slightly as she did. “You want to talk to the leaders in Manticore Control?” Lucas asked shocked, “They’d never let you! Only top rated field agents can do that and even they have to be lucky to do that. I’ve barely ever seen an agent go through that door or come out of it.” Lucas said looking over at the door at the side of the room that led to the control centre. “An agent just went in a few moments ago!” Lyra exclaimed, wondering if he’d been paying attention to it in the last five to ten minutes. “That’d be the first time since two months ago that another agent has been in there.” Lucas told her. Realising her chances of actually seeing the Manticore Leaders was slim, Lyra instead thought of a new idea. “If I can’t speak to them directly I’ll send them a message too; do you know the names and message bank addresses of the Manticore Leaders?” Lyra said, rather embarrassed that she didn’t know. “Only Chiefs Pike, Hoofman, and Harvey; there’s a few more leaders, but I don’t know who they are. Pike and Hoofman have been around the longest since the last leaders passed away, but I think cheif Harvey has only been in for around a year.” Lucas informed her. “How do you know this stuff?” Lyra asked curious as to how he could know so much about his leaders that he’d never met. Lucas shifted nervously, and whispered to her quietly. “I may have found some password hidden, confidential folders located in the bases data centre...” he said before Lyra interrupted quietly, yet sternly. “You hacked the bases network?! Do you have any idea how stupid that is?! That line of network is still being built and is very sensitive! If you had been caught...” Lyra went to finish but was interrupted by Lucas. “But I wasn’t! I printed their profiles by hacking the classified data section. It’s still a very primitive system and easy to understand.” He explained. “But why?” Lyra asked, wondering why anyone would risk their lives. “Because I don’t trust the leaders... they’re so secretive! They keep everything hidden and refuse to share any information on the assignments they send to agents, and why they need those tasks done... This place used to be about control and order in Ponyville, my job was incredibly easy, but over the past 2 weeks, since the royal coronation was announced, they’ve been handing out assignments nonstop!” Lucas pointed out. “Crowning a new Equestrian ruler is a HUGE event! I’m not surprised they’re dishing out assignments left and right...” Lyra said expressing her doubt in what Lucas was saying. “But the assignments are completely unrelated to the coronation! There’s not a single one that has anything to do with the princesses, or the competitors! And don’t tell me you don’t think they’re up to something... what about that folder in your bag that you’ve been hiding? Does that have anything to do with them?” Lucas asked, but barely able to finish his sentence before Lyra picked him off his feet and pressed him hard against the wall with her front leg to his neck. “How do you know about that file?” Lyra asked, not realising she’d raised her voice again, but by this point the others in the room were ignoring her as best they could. Lucas was in a fair amount of pain from being slammed against the wall, but managed to get out another sentence through the pressure on his throat. “We should... take this conversation... Elsewhere...” he squeezed through his lips almost sputtering. Lyra frowned, not liking that he knew something about something she’d been trying to hide from everyone, but knew that someone would get suspicious if they kept the conversation going much longer. “Follow me...” Lyra said reluctantly, releasing the pressure on his throat, and letting him fall over and cough a few times, before he got up and trotted after her as she moved on ahead of him, walking towards a door on the side of the room ahead of them both.
