Secret Agent: 0CT

Chapters

Breaking and entering
Mission briefing
New toys
Hostage
Charging
Alibot
End of the Mission
The funeral
Into The Castle

Breaking and entering

Vinyl stared, her mouth open in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes. “That's... that's your car?”

“Yes,” Octavia said slowly. “Is there a problem?”

“It's so... so...”

“Yes?”

“It's a piece of junk,” she finally said, staring at the sad example of a vehicle. The thing was covered in rust, paint chipped off, the bumper held on with duct tape and a huge crack in the back window.

Octavia just stared at her, eyes piercing through the unicorn with a look of borderline contempt. She motioned to the passenger seat.

Vinyl sighed and moved to the door, occasionally glancing at the earth pony. She wished her comment had got her yelled at. Instead, the way Octavia just looked at her made her feel small and insignificant. The door unlocked and she slid inside. She let out a shriek, looking around. “W-what? How... what?”

The inside was completely different. For one, it was clean, the seats were leather, electronic lights blinked on the dashboard and all the windows were perfectly clean and unbroken. “How... but it's... what?”

“A vehicle must be both tactful, and have all required necessities for the job,” Octavia said before sliding into the passenger seat. The car came on and they were off. “It also must not draw attention.”

“I'm sorry I called your car junk...”

“No need. It did appear to be junk,” Octavia said, giving another stoic, cold glance.

“Are you mad?”

“No, why?”

“Then why do you keep looking at me like that?”

“Looking at you like what?”

Vinyl shivered, those eyes seeming to pierce through her like a crystal javelin. “N-nothing. Just, err, d-drive I guess. I ummm... so, Equestrian Secret Service?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know my parents?”

“They were two of our greatest agents and working on a case to take down the Three Doctors. Unfortunately, we lost contact with them. We have reason to believe you can help us.”

“Oh. I see, so ummm... who are the three doctors?”

“Dr. Alicity, Dr. Caballeron and the mysterious Dr. Athruz.”

“Mysterious? Are the others not?”

“What? No. Well, yes he is. But no, that's part of his name. Anyway, they are earth ponies, dedicated to destroying the balance between our three breeds. They may, possibly, have a way to destroy unicorns, all unicorns, in the world. Possibly even the alicorns.”

“That... that sounds pretty serious.”

“Indeed.” Octavia drove wildly through the streets, driving through and around traffic easily. “Had we known what a great threat they posed, we would have sent more than just those two to stop them.”

“You didn't see them as a threat? Then why--”

Octavia sighed. “Dr. Alicity is a fool. You may have heard of some of his exploits, such as the great pink party that closed down Manehattan for a day?” Vinyl shook her head. “He's a brilliant fool, but a fool. A minor threat. Dr. Caballeron is another minor threat, caring more for money than anything else. Daring Do has always been able to defeat him, so he hasn't been too worrisome. The true threat is Dr. Athruz. He has found a way to gather the other two together, creating a threat far more serious than we ever imagined those two capable of.”

“That's a lot of information to take in,” Vinyl said softly, before glancing out the window. “Wait, this is... how did you even know where I live? I put a lot of work into making sure I was unlisted!”

Octavia pulled the car into the driveway and looked up at the rather humble single story home, the walls painted a soft blue. Everything about it screamed mundane and simple, no hint of the famous tenant who lived within. “Secret agent, dear. Come,” she said before hopping from the car. “Before your parents left, did they mention anything suspicious to you? Perhaps send you something, a gift? Something that seemed odd at the time?”

“Well, they did send me a...” She paused when they made it to the door, it was hanging ajar. “I... I locked it when I left. How--”

“Stay back!” Octavia hissed, quickly drawing her gun from her bowtie and lodging it into her mouth. She pushed the door open with a hoof, eyes quickly scanning to the left and right. The place was trashed, pictures thrown on the ground, vases broken, carpet torn up. Vinyl gasped and charged past Octavia, her eyes wide. She made it down the hall, turned right, and screamed.

“Those monsters! Those... those sick, twisted monsters!”

Octavia ran forward, scanning the area for any sign of the raiders, but the building seemed empty. She soon joined Vinyl, and froze. A turntable, with huge speakers, took up most the room. It was smashed to pieces, the speakers ripped out, casing torn off, and chunks of the once valuable machine scattered across the floor. The ceiling fan had even been torn from the roof, now balancing precariously from a single wire close to the entrance. The unicorn fell to her knees and stared, tears in her eyes. “Not... not Delilah. You bastards. N-now... now it's personal.”

“What about your parents?”

“Now it's more personal!” Vinyl growled and got to her hooves, turning to the right. Opposite the remains of the turntable was a toppled over case, holding hundreds of records, some not even opened. Most were spilled over the floor now. The unicorn's horn glowed as she quickly stacked them up, before finally holding a new one, still wrapped up. “Neon Light's new album. I didn't really know why they sent me it, they knew I already had one. They're usually pretty good about not sending me duplicates. I just figured they'd made a mistake or thought I wanted it as a collectible.”

“The only mistake they made, was fighting against the Three Doctors.”

The two whipped around. An earth pony stood in the entrance of the room, surrounded by three others. He had a dark gray coat and a deep five-o'clock shadow on her face. His mane was short and wild, streaked with dark and light grays. All of them had guns, aimed at the two.

“Caballeron,” Octavia said with a growl.

“That's Dr. Caballeron,” the stallion said with a snort. “We'll take that record now, if you'd be so kind.”

“Shouldn't you be off somewhere, getting your flank kicked by Daring?” Octavia asked, eying the gun ponies. “You know I can't give you that record.”

“I don't see how you could have any choice. There's no pony to save you this time, 0CD.”

“It's 0CT,” Octavia said with a growl. She took a few steps back, Vinyl moving with her. The earth ponies stepped forward, backing them up.

“Give it up. I have no desire to harm you. We need that record. Give it to me!” the doctor ordered, his eyes narrowed.

“Just how much are you being paid for this, Caballeron? Just how much is your conscience and integrity worth?”

“Enough to buy me a nice villa on the beach and keep me happy for the rest of my long, happy life,” he said casually. “Now, give it here.”

“You won't have enough to settle a malpractice suit when I'm done with you,” Octavia said, a grin forming on her lips. She shot a single bullet, up. The ponies looked up, just in time to see the dangling fan, its last tether severed, crash down on them. The mare then grabbed Vinyl and ran, bullets shooting by them. She leaped through the window, eyes closed as she did her best to shield herself from the crumbling glass.

Vinyl landed besides the mare, trembling and looking around. “W-what's going--”

“Come on!” Octavia ordered, galloping to the car. Unfortunately, two more vehicles had theirs pinned in.

“We're blocked in! How do we--”

“Just come!” the earth pony yelled as she slid inside. She began pushing dials. A purple field formed around the car the moment Vinyl slid into the passenger seat, the record held tightly in her magic. Bullets began bouncing off the shield, the four ponies standing in the window. They shot even as they scrambled out through the broken window.

Octavia put the car into reverse and slammed on the gas. They rocketed back, slammed through the two cars, before driving down the street as fast as the car would go.

“That, that was, I--”

“Don't worry, we're almost out of here.”

“That was AWESOME!” Vinyl yelled. “How did you--” The car shook as an explosion splashed against the shield, making it flicker a few times before disappearing. She looked out the back, her mouth falling open. “They have missile launchers!”

“Buck him!” Octavia shouted before turning a sharp right, another missile zooming past and blowing up some poor pony's mailbox. Behind them, the two damaged cars struggled to keep up, Caballeron driving one while one of his hench ponies dangled out the window, spraying machine gun fire after them. “Hold on!” The second car had a pony dangling out the window, loading a missile launcher. Octavia pushed a button and a metal horn popped out from the back of her car.

A small screen popped out from the dashboard, showing the view from the back window. She tapped on the second vehicle twice, red marks circling it. “Eat hot friendship!” A rainbow ray shot out from the horn, enveloping the car. Almost instantly it slowed down, began following the speed limit and the passenger got into the passenger seat, buckling up. Unfortunately, a moment later the horn was sprayed with machine gun fire, exploding out and sending smoke guzzling into the air. A small giggling pink mare, with the words 'We're experiencing technical difficulties' appeared on the small screen.

“Woo hoo!” Vinyl yelled, holding onto the door as the car veered heavily to the left, shoving her into it.

“Keep the record safe!” Octavia ordered before pushing a button.

“Shoop-shoop-bee-doo,” came out from the speakers. The car sped down the street before veering left again, this time leaving the road and driving onto the docks. Ponies galloped out of the way, yelling out a few angry curses but quickly running once the other car followed, still shooting at them.

“What are you doing?” Vinyl shrieked once the car swerved onto one of the long piers, racing towards the end.

“Trust me!” Octavia yelled, tapping on a few buttons and putting her pedal down on the gas as hard as it would go. Behind them, the window shattered as a few bullets finally made contact.

“Ahhhhh! We're going to die!” Vinyl yelled, the seriousness of the situation breaking through the cloud of excitement. The car hit the end of the ramp and dove towards the water, eliciting a scream from the unicorn. Right as it was about to hit, Octavia pushed another button and a blue shield formed around the car. They dove into the river and disappeared.

Dr. Caballeron slammed on the brakes, barely managing to stop his car in time. He leaped from the vehicle and stared into the blue water, growling and stomping his hooves. “You can't run forever! I'll find you!” he yelled.

“Boss, we need to go. The cops'll be here soon!” the other pony yelled.

Caballeron growled and gave the water one last glare, before galloping to his vehicle.

Vinyl took deep breaths, her heart pounding so loud she was sure Octavia could hear it. A wide grin was stuck on her face, causing her to start chuckling. “Heh heh. We did it. Can you believe it? We're alive! We totally did it!”

“We just got away,” Octavia said, before glancing to the mare. She didn't seem the least bit fazed. Their vehicle, surrounded by the blue barrier, slowly made its way through the water towards a destination she'd set. “Where's the record?”

“Right here,” Vinyl said, holding it up. “That was awesome! Do you get to do that everyday?”

“Only on the slow ones. Give it here,” the agent said, before taking the record. She peeled off the wrapping and frowned, pulling out the rather mundane looking record. “I knew I should have had a record player installed. We'll have to wait until we get back to base to play this.”

“Hee hee. So, if I stay with you, does that mean I can do more awesome things like that?”

Octavia just looked to Vinyl, her stony gaze not wavering in the slightest. “Perhaps. We still have a lot of work to do, though.”

Vinyl chuckled and then looked off in the distance, seeing two blinking lights. “What's that we're heading too?”

“That, dear. Is headquarters. I hope you're ready, because you're about to get an up close view of the Equestrian Secret Service.”

“Eeeeee! This is going to be awesome!”

Mission briefing

The underwater shielded vehicle slowly entered through a small opening in a rocky cliff. It then went up and was soon surrounded by lights. A plethora ponies, many in white lab coats, were working or walking around the large underwater cavern. They drove up onto a small incline, before Vinyl hopped out. She instantly ran over to the coolest thing around, a large blue vehicle, half submerged, covered in blinking lights and little domes. “Ohhhh, what do all those do?” she asked, pointing at the glowing bits.

“They glow and make it look cool, obviously,” a nearby unicorn said. He was quite old, with a graying mane and mustache. “Who are you?”

“She's with me,” Octavia said, trotting up behind her.

“Agent 0CD!” the pony said, letting out a soft gasp.

“0CT,” she corrected, looking up at the device. “What is this then, G?”

“Ah, this is the seapony express! A state of the art undersea vehicle, utilizing a number of special devices inspired by--”

She sighed. “Does it have my games?”

The unicorn huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, but--”

“Then that's all I needed to know. I'll figure out the rest when I use it,” she said before turning. “Vinyl, come. Bring the record.”

Vinyl nodded, though gave the disappointed unicorn one small glance and smiled. “Hey, if you ask me I think it's awesome! You can show me all the cool bits later, okay?” G preened at that. She then turned and galloped after the mare.

The two trotted through the long, metal halls of the undersea base, before finally coming out in a small room filled with electrical equipment and, to the DJ's delight, blinking lights. Ponies milled about, all wearing lab coats. A few looked up when they walked in, saluting Octavia and giving her curious glances. Then she saw it.

Across the room was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Taking up the entire wall, with FOUR massive speakers lined up, tall enough they touched the roof. She couldn't imagine how hard they must have been to bring in here. Between them was the ultimate entertainment system, with slots for everything from discs to old cubes. There was no choice, nothing she could do. She had to touch it. She galloped past Octavia.

“Huh? Wait, no, don't--”

But Vinyl was too fast. It took her all of three seconds to decipher how it worked, turn it on, then bring it up to max power. There was an ominous hum, and then the speakers erupted, sending out music so loud the other ponies in the room were flung back against the room. “Ohhhh yeah!” Vinyl said happily, adjusting the settings. Then her eyes caught the record she had been carrying. She slowly brought it out--

Just as the machine shut off. Octavia stood across the room, eyes wide and mane slicked back from the volume. The power adapter dangled from her hoof. “Don't. Touch. Anything.”

“But, but...” Vinyl slowly looked back and cringed. The ponies in the room were against the wall, their papers burying them. “Err, sorry.” Even a few desks had toppled over.

Octavia sighed and walked over, fiddling with the nobs and taking the record from her. “There, now go plug it back in, please.”

“But--”

“Please,” the earth pony repeated, her tone never changing.

“Right, ummm...” Vinyl's horn glowed and the cord plugged back into the wall. This time, the music coming out was much quieter. Soon, the record was inserted and Neon's music started to play.

“What is going on here? This mess! Such disorientation! Agent 0CT?” A pony suddenly burst from the hall, causing Vinyl's mouth to fall open in shock. The earth pony was blue, with a white mane. She was also wearing purple glasses quite similar to the DJ's. Photo Finish, one of the most famous ponies in Equestria.

“P-Photo Finish?” Vinyl squeaked, before looking to Octavia. To her surprise, the other mare was acting just as off. She had a goofy smile on her face, a small blush in her cheeks and kept staring at the floor.

“We, uhhh, well, this is miss Vinyl Scratch, daughter of--”

“Vinyl Scratch? Do you not think I can recognize one of the most famous up and comers in Equestria?” She looked over the unicorn and smiled. “No training, no expertise, yet chosen for such a dangerous mission.” She raised a hoof, touching Vinyl's nose. “You! Are you responsible for this mess?”

“E-err, y-yes,” Vinyl squeaked.

“Good! Marvelous, I love it!” the eccentric pony said, before turning to Octavia. “The music, why?”

“Err, well, ummm. H-her parents sent this to her. We're hoping it's the message her parents mentioned leaving behind, but so far it's just a music album.”

“Actually, it's all wrong,” Vinyl said, raising a hoof and drawing the attention of everypony in the room. Well, those who had managed to remove themselves from the mess.

“Excuse me?” Octavia asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, the first song. It was, well, it was the third song from his second album, Picking up the Pieces. It was the original version, the remix was the eighth song on his fifth album. The next song was off too, from a different album and not in the right order.”

They stared at her for a few moments, before Photo nodded. “I see. Yes, yes! A code! Marvelous! Go, we must log all zhe songs! Find out the code!” She then glanced to Vinyl. “Oh, yes. If you're hungry or tired, Agent 0CT?”

“Y-yes ma'am?” the earth pony squeaked, the red still in her cheeks.

“Go, take care. We will crack this code, work zhe magics. Go! Shoo!”

Octavia nodded, took Vinyl's hoof and galloped out from the room. Once they were out, she took a deep breath and calmed herself, face returning to the impassive, bored expression from before.

“I never would have guessed Photo Finish was a secret agent,” Vinyl said softly, before quickly imitating the mare's accent. “Zhe has quite zhe accent, no?”

She was rewarded by a soft hint of pink in Octavia's cheeks. “I-I haven't noticed. Come, we'll get you something to eat and a nap. When's the last time you ate?”

“I ate... ummm...” the unicorn frowned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten a real meal. With her parent's supposed deaths, she hadn't been able to look at food. Now that she knew they were alive, along with all the other excitement, she could feel hungry beginning to reel its head. “A long time ago. Food would be amazing.”

“Good, follow.” Octavia turned and trotted down the halls. They came to a large cafeteria, filled with ponies chatting over trays of assorted foods... if they could be called that.

To Vinyl's disappointment, none of the food looked particularly appetizing, most of the fruit having bruises and other marks, the cooked items greasy and graying and the vegetables she was certain were not supposed to have all those black parts. She settled for a slightly less bruised pear and a small slice of old, greasy pizza. Fortunately, she'd had worse. The best establishments were rarely open at four am. Her guide, on the other hoof, just grabbed a black coffee and the two quickly retired to an empty table. “Sooo... not hungry? Want a piece of pizza?”

“No,” Octavia said quickly, before sipping her dark drink. “I can't eat cheese, I'm allergic to dairy.”

“Ah, is that why you get your coffee black?”

“I get it black because coffee shouldn't be enjoyed,” she said harshly. “It should be so nasty and horrible tasting that your body will wake up just so you don't have to try another sip.” She glanced down at her cup. “Fortunately, the cooks her tend to agree on that policy.”

Vinyl snickered and took a bite of her pizza before grinning. “Hey, this may look nasty, but it's not half bad.”

“I'm sure the cooks will be delighted to hear.”

“Soooo, tell me about yourself. What makes a cellist put herself into the life of a secret agent?”

“My parents, mostly,” Octavia said with a shrug, before taking another sip of her coffee and cringing. “My mother was quite adamant about me taking over when she left off. Fortunately for her, I found the notion to be quite appealing.”

“Really?” Vinyl looked the mare up and down. “You hardly look like somepony jumping for joy at the notion of adventure and excitement.”

“You'll be disappointed to find our job is not quite how it appears in the movies. Almost all of what I do is quite boring, followed by pages of paperwork.”

“You do get to do lots of the car chases and shooting things though, right? Cause that was awesome! Oh, and do we get more cars? Ohhh, ones without all the bits exploded out?”

For a moment, just a hint of a smile formed on Octavia's lips. “Perhaps. I'm known to go through quite a few. I may have found the excitement... a tad exhilarating.”

“So, why me then? I mean, I get that my parents sent me that record, but I get the impression you don't intend to just drop me off when you find out what they said. You seem keen on keeping me.”

Octavia paused and shook her head. “You're clever. No, we plan to use you. Your parents well... they told if anything happened, to trust you. While not everypony agrees with such ideas, there are many who trust your parents immensely. I doubt your parents left you... completely unprepared for this day.”

“Huh? Well, I mean... I don't know about any super agent stuff.”

“You know self defense?”

“Well, yeah, my parents kept me in classes since I was--”

“How many other classes and fields did they have you study in? How many that didn't seem to make any sense at the time?”

Vinyl blinked a few times. Her parents had always been a bit... eccentric. They let her study what she wanted, namely to be a disc jockey, but they also hounded her constantly to learn all manner of different arts. She knew how to put together and use over a dozen different styles of magical and mundane weaponry, and while she wasn't a master, they did ensure she had years of self defense training under her belt. Not to mention the countless offensive and defensive spells they'd made her learn. “I'll... admit, I did have a bit of an odd schooling. But why else would--”

“We're also a tad undermanned at the time. Equestria games coming soon, and every deranged loony with a bomb thinks they can make their name by blowing up the princess. Frankly, until we know for certain that they have, or are close to having, the Horn of Sanctuary, we won't be able to dedicate more than a few agents to this. That's why I requested arrangements to allow your help.”

Vinyl froze and stared at the mare, a low blush in her cheeks. “You... you requested? But--”

“Your parents are great agents, I trust them implicitly. If they said to get your help, I'm going to get your help. Besides... more often than we'd care to admit, basic civilians have saved all of our flanks. First the Nightmare Moon incident, then Discord, not to mention the whole Crystal Empire. Frankly, I think it's part of a plot by the princesses to drive the upper levels of this organization mad.”

“Oh, I could see that,” Vinyl said with a chuckle. “I know she's a princess, but I have a feeling Celestia just loves a good prank. So, what's with this Horn of Sanctuary, anyway? What makes it so important?”

Octavia sighed and took a deep gulp of her coffee, causing her to shiver and close her eyes. “Are you familiar with the Tree of Harmony? The Crystal Heart?”

“A little. They were in the news a few times. Why?”

“Well, they are artifacts, ancient ones. Powerful artifacts that even the alicorn princesses can't create or damage. They aren't the only ones. Daring Do has managed to--”

“Wait, you do mean Daring Do as in the books, right? I mean, aren't tho--”

“No, those are real. It's actually a fascinating method she uses. She goes on her adventures, and then just writes how they happened. With, ahhh, leaving a few important details out at times. But, as I was saying. These artifacts are dangerous and powerful. They were all created, according to belief, by the ancient Hooftek Empire.”

“Yeah, cities of gold and all that jazz, right? They did a cartoon about it a few months back, right?”

Octavia cringed and nodded. “Yes. Though... according to our research much of that was fake. However, these ponies were supposedly far beyond anything we could imagine. Legend has it that they were all alicorns and that ponies, such as us, only came into being after a great war between them, that broke them into their base components. Namely, unicorn, pegasus and earth pony. If the myths are true, they created dozens of treasures beyond anything we could imagine.”

“Like the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony?” Vinyl asked with a shrug. “But aren't those things like, all good and require a pony to be pure of heart and all that?”

“Fortunately, many do. Unfortunately, items such as the golden rings of the Fortress of Talicon don't have such fail safes.”

“The what now?”

“Never mind. My point is, we have no way of knowing if this is the true Horn of Sanctuary, or a fake. If it's the former, we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong hooves.”

“I... see, so what does it do, exactly? This horn?”

Octavia sighed and looked to the table. “There are many legends, with no direct proof of which is true and which is not. At its weakest, it is said to create an impenetrable shield that not even all the magic in Equestria could penetrate. At its strongest, it holds all unicorn magic and, if destroyed, that magic will go with it. Meaning no more unicorns.”

Vinyl shivered, then glanced back to Octavia. “But... you're an earth pony. Wouldn't that mean you'd be safe? It's not like you'd lose anything.”

Octavia didn't even blink, she just stared at Vinyl with that calm, bored expression that made her feel two inches tall. “We'd lose plenty. All three magics are pivotal for the sake of our nation. Without unicorn magic, there would be no way to raise or lower the sun. When I said all unicorn magic, I meant all unicorn magic. Even that held by the alicorns.”

Vinyl shivered again, nodding. “B-but this is just worst case, right?”

“Yes. In the event it is the true horn, and they find it before us, that is the worst case scenario. Best case would be they have an impenetrable shield that no force in all the world can hope to break. Could you imagine how such a tool could be abused?”

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl sighed and poked her pizza, not quite feeling hungry any more. “So... I guess we'd better win then, right? Find it before them?”

“Yes. I, for one, will not allow them to have a chance of finding it. Unfortunately, your parents have seemingly disappeared during their search, so we must now chase whatever clues they left for us, and hope we find this horn before the Three Doctors do.”

The unicorn nodded. “Okay then! Let's go! They have to have deciphered the code or whatever by now, right?”

“They'll call us when they do. My advise, get some sleep. We don't know--” Her bow tie began to beep, making her pause. “Or they're already ready for us. Come along.” She got to her hooves and trotted off.

Vinyl grinned before taking her tray, discarding the refuge and tossing it with other dirty ones. She then galloped after the mare, grinning widely. “This is going to be awesome! So, do you think we're going to get a bunch of gadgets and awesome thingies?”

Octavia nodded, slowly. “Yes. I imagine we will get plenty of gadgets. Perhaps even a few 'awesome thingies' as you so eloquently put it.”

“Eesh, so uptight. Come on, smile a little! Prance! Or do I have to use... the accent?” Vinyl cleared her throat before doing another imitation of Photo Finish. “Come! We go! Save Equestria and make, zhe magic!”

The earth pony's cheeks flared red and she lowered her gaze. “S-shut up, you aren't doing it right. I-I'll kick you!”

“There's a reaction!” Vinyl said happily, before bumping the mare's flank with her own. “You're wayyyy hotter when you're angry then when you're all calm and reserved. Trust me, I know all about hot.”

Octavia hmphed. “I severely doubt that.”

Vinyl blinked and then glared. “Hey! You don't think I got that, but I did!”

To Vinyl's disappointment, Photo Finish was not the pony to give them the assignment, instead it was a golden maned, red coated pegasus. Which meant she didn't get to see Octavia getting embarrassed and floundering about.

“Once we realized the steps for the code, we figured it out easily,” the pegasus said as the screen behind him showed a map of the world. Three red dots appeared. “They were obviously coordinates. Unfortunately, there are three possibly locations they could be directing to.” He pulled out a pointer and pointed to them each individually. “Here, right off Baltimare. Here, left of Vanhoover. Then, finally, here, which we believe to be the most likely location.”

Octavia groaned. “Right off the Griffin lands.”

“Exactly. Underwater as well, which means--”

“Eeeee! Do we get to use the flashy machine with all the buttons?” Vinyl asked quickly, her eyes lighting up.

The stallion chuckled and gave a nod. “Yes, with all the flashy buttons. Now, we have permission to go through their waters... on a civilian 'pleasure trip'. You two will be wealthy and eccentric mares, engaging in dangerous honey moon activities which involve deep sea diving and--”

“Wait, honey moon activities?” Vinyl asked.

“Oh, yes. All secret agents must pretend to be married, as per article seventeen of the world wide espionage agreement,” Octavia said quickly.

“W-what? Why?”

“Because otherwise the secret agents would try to hook up with every pretty young pony they could, jeopardizing the mission after nearly falling in love with them,” the pegasus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “It's happened far more often than we care to count, not to mention the number of secret agents we've lost after they fell in love with a rich billionaire on one of their missions. It really makes sending solo agents a bother, since we have to be sure we can afford to lose them after they inevitably fall in love with one of their contacts, the pony they're protecting or worse, an enemy spy. The sheer number of paperwork I've had to--”

“I get it,” Vinyl said, before glancing to Octavia. “Soooo, dahling,” she returned to Photo's accent. “Shall we depart? We must make, zhe magic! We go!”

Octavia blushed and rolled her eyes. “What exactly are we looking for, sir?”

“We do not know. These are the most direct coordinates, however. Whatever was left there, must be a clue to where they are. You cannot fail at this mission, do you have any questions?”

The earth pony merely turned and walked away, motioning Vinyl to follow. The unicorn giggled softly as they walked, excitement billowing within her.

“Soooo, does this mean we get to the cool stuff now? Ohhhh! Can I get like, a pair of headphones that are also net shooters and can hack computers and stuff? Ohhhh! Or a record that turns into like, a giant robot!”

Octavia stopped for a moment, before smiling. “We'll see. We'll stop by the lab, first. Come along, 'dear'.”

“Ohhhh! Am I going to get a horn ring too? My mom is going to freak when she sees it!”

Author's Note

Okay, this story will be going on a brief pause. It turns out I've been wanting to work on the third book of my avatar story a lot more than I thought I did, to the point where this story has been pretty hard to write. If I keep writing like this, I'll end up rushing it and making it nowhere near as good as it could, or should, be. As such, I'll be taking a brief pause so I can work on the story that has my attention lately, so that when I get the excitement out, this story can be my main story, not 'the story stopping me from writing the story I want to write.' I figure a few chapters in the avatar story will be enough to get the excitement out, so you shouldn't have to wait too long, hopefully. Thank you all for your patience.

New toys

“Ohhh, what's this?” Vinyl asked as she nudged a small metal horn.

“That is an artificial horn. Here, allow me to demonstrate,” G said before gripping it and popping it onto a nearby earth ponies forehead. A moment later the horn glowed and some nearby papers lifted into the air. It only lasted a few seconds before they were dropped. “One of Dr. Alicity's confiscated devices.”

“Confiscated?”

“Ah, yes. We've confiscated dozens of his inventions over the years.” He took the horn and put it back on the counter. “This could be useful, but sadly not in its current state. It has to be powered by unicorn magic, but all the gems inside don't allow for a stable energy crystal, so it can't hold a charge for more than a few seconds.”

“Ohhhhh. How'd you get it?”

“I'll answer that,” Octavia said quickly. “He was attempting to kidnap one of the Elements of Harmony. A miss... Fluttershy, I believe. I went in, personally, to ensure that nothing went out of control.”

“Wait, out of control?” Vinyl asked softly. “He was going to kidnap a pony. Wasn't that out of control enough?”

“Normally, yes. Except his planned attempt was during a get together with a miss Rarity. Now, she took one look at the horn and decried it as crime against fashion. Then his glasses, and his suit. Said the evil mad genius look was quite out of style. Nearly made the stallion cry, actually. She then spent the next three hours upgrading the poor stallions wardrobe.” She paused for effect. “He did cry when he saw the bill. I procured the horn during the confusion. It was quite simple.”

“He sounds like an idiot,” Vinyl mumbled, before her eyes went wide. “What. Is. THAT?!” Across the room, filled with all manner of strange gadgets, laid the most glorious device she had ever seen. One so breath-taking she had to stare for a few moments in awe. One that she was only stopped from touching by every pony in the room lunging to block her way.

A big. Red. Button.

“Don't touch that!” G yelped, before getting knocked aside by a well placed hoof. Octavia struggled, holding onto the mare's tail but being slowly dragged along the floor.

“But... but I must! Big... red... button...”

“That's the point, it's a trap!” G said, before galloping forward to block the way, pushing against her chest. “If you touch it, the magic within will explode and blow up the entire lab!”

That made her stop. “What? It's a bomb?!”

Octavia sighed and let the mare's tail go. “No. He's being over dramatic. It is, however, dangerous. It's a defense system used to capture spies. Another device used by Dr. Alicity and... probably one of his smartest ones.”

“Why?”

“He put it in his underwater base with the words 'Self-Destruct' written over the top,” G said with knowing nod. “When agent 0--” A glare from the earth pony made him pause. “--one of our agents touched it, she was zapped with over a dozen sleep spells. She only barely managed to escape and set off the real self-defense system.”

“What was the real one?”

“A better hidden, even redder button,” Octavia said softly. “This was recovered from the rubble. The fact the enchantments are still on it was quite impressive and we've been working on duplicating the spell array. For an earth pony, his... unique methods can be quite powerful.”

Vinyl nodded and frowned. “Are all these things just gadgets you stole from this Alicity? Come oooon! You're all like, the secret service! Where are the stuff with the glowing lights and magic and awesomes?”

“Ah, of course,” G chuckled before walking over to another counter and lifting up a small, brown box. “I figured you'd say something like that, so I had some of the boys whip up this.” He popped open the box and revealed... a pair of her glasses.

“Well, I guess they are pretty awesome. But I was expecting something flashier.” Vinyl nudged the ones on her head. “I already have a pair.”

“Oh no no, try them on,” G said.

She lifted them up and quickly switched the glasses out. “AWESOME!” A small interface had appeared on the right of her vision. All the ponies she saw were now outlined and had a small text box appearing besides them, with minor details. “Octavia, you hate artificial sugar?”

“You can navigate the menu on the right with your magic,” G said, before the earth pony could answer. “They have a number of special features. X-ray, magical sight, infrared, night, all the important visions. It also has a rather large database, can shoot lasers--”

“Wait, lasers? How?”

“Just set it to L-mode and--” He let out a yelp and ducked as a red beam of light shot out over his head, leaving a hole in the wall behind him. “Don't do it now!”

“Heh heh. Sorry. What else?”

“It's set to implode if anypony tries to tamper with the magical interface, and appears like normal glasses on anypony else. It also can access a communication network, though I'd avoid using it when incognito. It's not quite silent.”

“Awesome!”

“And a rope comes out from the right earpiece.”

“Wait, wh--”

“Agent 0CT, I've got something special for you.” He pulled out an even smaller brown box. Inside was a small, black bowtie. “We've worked all the kinks out this time.”

“Oh?” The earth pony tied the bowtie on, before pulling a gun from within. “So no more emergency jettisoning?”

“None. We're hoping we'll be able to set up a vehicle using the same technology soon, but we've still got a while to go before we're at that stage. If our friend in the little blue box would just let us--”

“Civilian,” Octavia said, motioning to Vinyl.

“Oh, right.”

“Heyyyy! No fair! I already know more than I probably should, what's a little bit more?”

“You don't have clearance,” Octavia said before turning to trot away. “Is the Seapony Express ready for us?”

“Yes. It was freshly fueled. If you want to--”

“We will, come along Vinyl.”

The unicorn nodded, slowly pulling out a long length of rope from behind her ear as she walked. “Just how much is there...”

Vinyl was in heaven. The two were sitting inside a large, spacious metal room, with a big glass window in front of them. It allowed them to see out into the sea. Even though there were no lights outside the ship, it seemed as light as day out in the ocean, the glass enchanted to allow everything to be perfectly viewable. They were currently passing over a beautiful blue coral, as large as the castle in Canterlot, if not bigger. Fish of all colors and sizes swam around them, ignoring the large, silent submarine as it passed.

A massive whale, large enough to swallow the ship whole, passed by in front of them, the ship's censors making the vehicle slowly weave around the massive creature. It's tail sent powerful currents around, rocking the submarine slightly. The ship then passed through a school of small, rainbow colored fish that sparkled like jewels, the fish brushing against the smooth, curved surface and scattering, only to regather after a few moments.

Neither of the two noticed any of these magical sights. Instead, Vinyl was sitting in the passenger side, pushing the dozens of buttons and twisting each of the knobs. They twinkled and flashed different colors, enticing her with their siren call of 'push me, push me!' Octavia had disabled the controls on that side, so she had nothing to worry about. The ship was now on auto pilot, so there was nothing much to do aside from amuse themselves.

The earth pony had her own method of amusement. The ship held one of the most best size-to-power ratio computers in the world, easily able to react and automatically pilot through almost any problem they encountered. Even better, it could adapt and follow the movements of its pilots during situations it wasn't prepared for, to learn how to react to new threats as they came.

So she used it to play Cupcake Clicker, one hoof resting on the console while the other tapped over and over on the screen, cupcakes flowing across the screen like a tidal wave of the sugary sea. She absorbed cupcakes from across the universe, alternate dimensions, even from the past and future. All cupcakes were hers to control. To wield. To sell. She was the Cupcake mistress.

She flipped to another game, letting it play in the background, and began setting up little cupcake and pancake towers to fight off bunnies as they tried to invade her garden.

“I never would have thought you played those kinds of games,” Vinyl said, peering over from her side of the ship. “I imagine you more of a chess player, or some kind of lover of like, sim empire.”

“I prefer a game I can finish in thirty seconds or less,” Octavia said absentmindedly as she clicked on the screen, sending little pies across the field, burying a few bunnies in their sweet goodness. 'Massive Cavities!' flashed on the screen. “The kind of games I can drop in a second without worrying about something going wrong.”

“Still, baker vs bunnies? I thought you'd be wayyyy too uptight to enjoy a game like that.”

“Mmmm, quite. Don't worry dear, I do not intend to indulge myself on mindless nonsense for quite the extension of time you do.”

Vinyl blinked a few times, then grinned wickedly. “Ohhhh? Then... you won't mind if I do this.” She reached out and closed the Cupcake Clicker game with a quick push.

The earth pony froze, staring at the screen. Her voice came out calm and slow. “I'd just gotten my new rocket ship unlocked and was using the sun as a giant stove...”

“Well, I guess it's a good think you only want to spend a few seconds-- AHHHHHHH!”

“We're almost to the border,” Octavia said, lightly tapping on the screen so her games saved, then closed. She glanced over to the passenger side. “Comfy?”

“Mmmmmmffff!” Vinyl growled into her duct tape gag, wiggling in her sheet. She was completely strapped down, unable to move more than a centimeter in any direction. To make the entire thing worse, a small chiming bell had been put in her lap. With a big, metal button that was just begging to be pushed. And the poor unicorn was helpless to ding it. Oh, she'd tried to use magic, but every time she got the slightest glow to her horn, Octavia would reach out to flick it.

“I'll take that to mean you're ready to be a good little... newly wed?” The earth pony stared into her eyes, seeming to pierce her all the way to the core. She nervously gulped and nodded, trembling slightly.

“Very well.” The removal of the duct tape was far from pleasant, eliciting pained and angry yelps from the mare as pieces of her fur were yanked out. Before she could ring it, Octavia stole the bell and locked it in the dashboard. “If you're good, you can have it later.”

Vinyl let out a low whine, before slowly nodding. “Fiiiine...”

“Good. Now...” Octavia flipped a few buttons on the console, and the lights began flickering wildly. Some of the screens and knobs were absorbed into the console, leaving a much simpler panel. Devoid of any weapon systems.

“Why all that?” Vinyl asked with a sigh. “What about all the buttons?”

“We're honeymooners. Half those devices could never be explained. Once we pass through customs, we'll be able to bring them back. For now though...” A few more knobs were pressed and a loud, shrill shriek filled the air.

“Unidentified vessel. This is the Griffon Coastal Defense. Identify yourself.”

Octavia took a deep breath, before her eyes lit up. A goofy grin flashed on her lips as she flipped another knob. “Ohhhh, look! Bluebell, it's the coast guard! Hiiiiii! Can you hear us?” Her tone made Vinyl stare in shock. She sounded like a college student on spring break, occasionally giving out little giddy giggles as she talked.

There was a pause on the other end, then slowly the voice returned. “You are broadcasting in griffon lands. Please come to the surface or we--”

“Ohhh, no problem! Hee hee, we'll be up in a moment! See yah then!” Octavia said before pushing even more knobs and their vessel began to rise.

“What... what was that?” Vinyl asked, wide eyed and agape. “Bluebell?”

“Yes, Bluebell. My name is Inky while we're here. We're a newly, and happily, married couple. Do you understand?” Her tone and glare brooked no negotiation.

The unicorn slowly nodded. “Y-yes Inky. So I should--”

“You should keep quiet as you can. Got it?” Octavia said with a sigh. “Let me do the talking, and everything will be fine.”

Vinyl sighed, but gave a grudging nod. The vessel rose to the surface and bobbed along on the water. A huge ship floated ahead of them, blocking out the sky with its size. Across its side a large golden griffon outline had been drawn. Within moments there was a loud tapping from above. “Here we go,” Octavia whispered, before forcing another goofy grin and trotting towards the back of the ship. She climbed up the ladder and opened the latch, before sliding down.

A second later a griffon, so large he could barely fit through the hole in the top of the submarine, climbed down after her. “Now, this is a routine check, do you have all your paperwork?”

“Mmmm hmmm!” Octavia said as she practically skipped across the ship, before picking up a small folder and holding it out. She paled slightly, though kept the grin on her lips. The griffon was staring at Vinyl with wide eyes.

“Vinyl Scratch!” he said, his beak hanging open. “I never thought I'd see you in one of my examinations! Holy buck, what are you doing here? Is this some kinda prank? Did the boys set this up?”

Vinyl smirked and quickly held a hoof up, making Octavia freeze. “Nah, just had to get out for a while. You know how it is. I'm surprised to find a fan all the way out here, though. I didn't think my beats made it all the way to these lands.”

“Are you kidding me? We loooove techno out here!” The griffon paused for a moment before chuckling. “Well, some of us do. I've even been to one of your concerts. I was on leave, about three years ago at--”

“Wait, you don't mean Diamondhoof Stadium, do you?”

“Yeah! I was in the high seats!” The griffon's chest feathers ruffled with pride.

“Daaaaang. And you're still a fan? Heh heh. I thought I'd lost most of them a year and a half ago during my uhh... little phase.”

The griffon coughed and shook his head. “No, no. Well, I mean, I didn't like... a lot of your stuff then. But since you've been returning to your roots, your stuff has been awesome. I got your newest CD, 'Remixing what Discord mixed up.' Hey, I don't suppose you'd mind taking some photos for me and the guys? They are never going to believe this.”

“Hey, for a fan? Anything.” Vinyl waved her hoof horizontally. She then glanced to Octavia and blushed. “Ohh, but ummm, can you do me a favor?”

That made the griffon tense up. “What?”

“Don't let any of this leak to the press, okay? I just.. you know.” Vinyl waved her hoof slightly and sighed. “Ever since... I don't know if you heard about my parents and the plane crash...”

“Errr, no I hadn't...” The excitement began to drain from the griffon.

“Yeah just... I needed to get away for a bit, you know? This whole trip is supposed to be incognito. I just needed a little time to get away from all the paparazzi and ponies busting down my door constantly. I know you gotta tell your bosses and coworkers, but can you keep all this on the low?”

The griffon nodded. “I'm sorry I just... I had no idea. We hadn't heard anything about that. Yeah, just give me your paperwork and I'll see what I can do.” He took the folder from the stunned earth pony and started going through it.

“Hey, I can still sign some things and... maybe on the way back I can swing by. I'd just rather keep it kinda quiet for now. If the media finds out, I'll have dozens of ponies tracking me down and prying into my thoughts. I don't think even going to the moon could keep the media away.”

“No, I understand. Listen, do you think you could get a group photo with some of us? It would really mean a lot to us.” He paused for a moment. “Bluebell? Honey moon?”

Vinyl nodded and smiled. “Yeah, you know how it is. If I go under my real name suddenly everypony--”

“No, no. I understand. So, think you'd be okay taking the picture on the ship?”

“No problem. I don't think we could fit more than two of you in this vessel of mine. Thanks, mister...?”

“Ironclaw. Tightbeak Ironclaw.”

“You're pouting,” Vinyl said softly.

“I am not pouting,” Octavia muttered in annoyance.

“You keep messing up on your games and you have an angry scowl on your face.”

“My face has not shifted into any such thing.”

“Fine, the corners of your mouth are just slightly more downwards than normal. Come oooon. It all worked out, didn't it?”

“Yes, it did. I am quite happy with the results.” Octavia clicked the screen quickly.

“No, you're not. You're tapping the screen harder than before, and your tone is slightly deeper. Come on, if you're mad, just tell me. I'm sorry I messed up your plans.”

“I am fine.”

Vinyl took a deep breath and nodded. “Very well. You've left me no choice.” She cleared her throat and darted up behind the earth pony, gripping her shoulders. “0CT, dahling,” she said in her best Photo Finish impression. “The rage, you must release! Such anger, ferocity, no! Is not appealing, no no. Tell, tell! Forgive, yes.”

Octavia blushed and turned to the unicorn with a slow, angry glare. “She does not talk like that.”

“Ah, but it got you to look at me, no? Now tell! Anger, yes? Release!”

Octavia growled. “It was a very, very good plan. I could have handled the situation, but you decided to jump in. Who knows what could happen now? If the doctors realize where we are, they--”

“They'll send somepony to kill us, and you'll kick their butt. Right?” Vinyl grinned and moved back. “I got you protecting me, so what's the worst that could happen? Another awesome chase with explosions and jumping and more awesome? I fail to see the down side.”

Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes. “I know what I'm doing. I'm not sure I'd be able to save you from yourself, let alone from the doctors. I am in control, so you--”

“Ohhhhh, I get it,” Vinyl said knowingly, gently stroking her chin. “You're a control freak, aren't yah? The moment everything isn't going the way you expected it to... BAM! Suddenly you rage and just start pouting?”

“I do not pout.”

“I could take photos of you pouting and we could ask Photo for her opinion on them?” Vinyl flashed an even wider grin, cocking an eye.

The mare's eyes widened considerably. “Don't you dare you... you... disc jockey!”

The unicorn stared in shock for a few moments. “Was... was that supposed to be an insult, or are you just calling me by my job title?”

“I... well... yes.”

She struggled not to laugh. “Y-you're kind of bad, hee hee, at insults, aren't you?” Vinyl leaned in closer and grinned wickedly. “For example... if I was going to call you something, I'd say you were... an uptight spinster.”

Octavia just stared at the mare flatly. “It seems your ability at delivering insults is just as sufficient as my own. Joy.”

“What? Heyyy! That was an awesome insult!”

Octavia returned to her games. “I am uptight, and I am unmarried. Ergo, I am an uptight spinster. Why would I be upset about being called one? By that logic, you should be upset about being called a disc jockey.”

“What? It... no but... You're supposed to... because it... you aren't supposed to admit to being uptight or a spinster! You're supposed to deny it and get mad!”

“The ponies you spend time with must surely be a joy if their cognitive abilities are as well developed.”

Vinyl glared. “Are... are you calling me dumb?”

“No. I am calling you childish.” Octavia tapped away on her game.

“You... it... I should unplug your game!”

“It's hooked into the main reactor. Unplugging it would be a useless endeavor. You are welcome to try, however.”

Vinyl frowned and kicked the ground a few times. “Well... that just... guhhh!” She stormed off to her seat, dropping in it and glaring. “I hope you run out of cupcakes.”

“If I did, I would merely start scanning an alternate dimension until I came upon a sufficient quantity. I've already devoured two as it is.”

Vinyl stared for a few moments. “Just... how long have you played that game for?”

Octavia paused for a moment and hummed. After a while she shook her head. “A very, very long time. I have a lot of--” The ship shook, nearly sending the two from their seats. Octavia looked around wildly as alarms started going off. Her games quickly saved and closed on their own, as she tapped on the console.

Vinyl stared outside, but she couldn't see anything, no matter how she squinted. The sea ahead was completely empty, not a fish or even air bubble in sight. The water was pressing in on them from all sides, trapping them alone under the sea. She began to quiver as her mirth and excitement began to evaporate. “W-what has us?”

“I don't know. I have it under control.”

“What has us?!” Vinyl shrieked again as she felt panic rise within her. There was nothing out there. Nothing. That left only one explanation. The submarine had failed. It was going to explode, or implode, something. They were going to sink to the bottom, and die. Who knows how far under the sea. She felt her breathing quicken as her hooves gripped the seat.

“Relax,” Octavia said firmly, before reaching out and gripping the unicorn's chin and forcing her to look in the eye. “I will find out what has us and I will get us out. I won't try. I will succeed.” There wasn't a hint of doubt in the mare's voice, as if she was stating a fact. Just like that, Vinyl felt the fear leak away as the earth pony's eyes stared intently into her own.

“I-I know. I'm not scared.”

“Good.” Octavia went back to the console. Suddenly one of the speakers came along and a loud hiss filled the air. A moment later a voice came through.

“Well well well, looks like we caught quite the little fishy, didn't we?”

The world outside distorted for a moment, though it was near impossible to see with the water. Then, a massive black hole, somehow managing to stand in stark contrast to the dark blue that surrounded it, appeared in front of them. From the hole sprouted eight black tentacles, two of which were wrapped around the ship. It began pulling them in, deeper into the hole as lights began to appear across the darkness.

“Hope you don't mind us putting a little end to your pleasure cruise. Be prepared to surrender, or ready to swim.” The voice crackled off.

Octavia growled. “Vinyl. No matter what happens, I need you to trust me and follow my directions, okay?”

She nodded quickly, though she stared as they were slowly absorbed. Just what had they gotten themselves into?

Author's Note

Here we go, another chapter! Hope you all enjoyed. I'd like to ask my readers something. How do you feel about my Vinyl/Octavia? Namely, I don't feel I do them very well, but I'd love to hear all of your feedback.

Hostage

The two looked out the view ports, wary of any danger. Their submarine was now resting in a large, empty metal room. There were little puddles of water everywhere, but aside from that it was empty. A raised platform, against a round sealed door, stood opposite them. Large, domed lights were built into all the walls, filling the chamber with their glow.

Octavia's hooves lightly tapped on the console as all the lights flickered off. “Don't tell anypony who we are,” she mumbled. “There's no knowing what kind of foul, evil tricks they'll use to make us talk.” She paused and looked to Vinyl, her eyes calm and cold. “If... they try torture, lie. Don't try to hide the truth. Just try lying and lying until eventually you can't hold the truth in any longer, and hope they won't believe the truth when they hear it.”

Vinyl paled. “I-I thought you said--”

“I'll get us out of this. But I don't know how hard it will be. Remember, your parents lives may depend on your silence.” The mare sighed. “For now though, we play along. Act as the good little hostages. Trust me, I promise I'll get us out of this.”

Vinyl slowly nodded. The large, round door opened and three ponies, with guns in their mouths, trotted out. They surrounded the submarine before one of them yelled out. “Come out! Now!”

Octavia sighed. “Here we go.”

The two slowly opened the latch, put their calmest faces on, and climbed out from the top of the vehicle. From there, they slowly made their way down the side, sliding down the slick metal. They were surrounded, but untouched. A blue maned pegasus smiled. “Surprised one of you didn't try to hide on the ship.”

Vinyl gulped nervously, though Octavia just stared with unwavering calmness. The pegasas slowly led them up the platform and through the metal door. Vinyl let out a gasp at the horror that filled the halls.

The walls were covered in a strange, thick black goo. Parts of it had solidified, giving it a strange, glossy appearance. It sent shivers down her spines as she thought back to all those alien movies she had seen in the past. Was it possible they had been abducted? Could Octavia save them from aliens?

The floor was, fortunately, clean of the substance, as was most of the roof. Every hall had the stuff coating the walls and, as they passed a few rooms, she could see that some of them were covered from top to bottom in the substance, with little white eggs nested about. She looked to Octavia. “W-what is this place?”

The earth pony just shook her head, her face slightly paler than usual. They were led through the ship and, just before the unicorn felt her nerves might snap, stopped outside another large, metal door. “Keep a civil tongue in your mouths,” one of the ponies said. “You are coming before our queen.”

The door opened and they gasped. The room was large enough to hold three of their submarines, easily. However, it was completely covered in the black gunk and, sitting on a throne of the stuff, was something quite like a pony. It was as large as one of the princesses, with a black carapace instead of a coat. It had both wings and a horn, though the wings were thin and clear, light blue. Holes were pierced all through the creature's hooves, horn and wings. Aside from the throne, all that were in the rooms were a few consoles run by a few miniature versions of the queen, and a large view port that allowed them to see outside into the ocean.

“A changeling vessel,” Octavia said softly, before biting her lip. “We're in far more trouble than I'd thought.”

“Why? How's this worse than normal pirates?”

“Oh ho!” The pony like creature said as it slowly stood up. “It's been so long since we've had... guests. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Chitin, pirate queen. You have trespassed in my waters, little ponies. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“These are the griffon lands,” Vinyl said quickly, before cringing at a glare from Octavia. “Sorry.”

“Ah yes. I will admit they do hold a... considerable force here. But do not allow that to confuse you. I am the ruler here. There are no griffons here to save you.” The ponies around them flashed for a moment, before appearing as miniature versions of the queen.

Vinyl gasped. “Wait, you're the creatures that invaded Canterlot! I saw it on--”

“Canterlot?” Chtin frowned and shook her head. “Queen Chrysalis performed that, not I. My methods are far... far more subtle. Not to mention effective.” She slowly licked her lips. “Before I am through with you, we will feast on a banquet unlike any before! Mwa ha ha ha ha!” The mare cackled and reared.

Vinyl gulped and looked to Octavia. “You got a plan, don't you?”

“I... I'm working on it.”

“There is no escape! Now, my children!” Chitin slammed a hoof down. “Go, make our guests... comfortable. They have a long journey ahead of them! Mwa ha ha ha!”

Vinyl gulped and shivered, her mind envisioning all the horrors and terrors that now awaited them.

“Would you like another daiquri?” a small changeling asked as he lightly shook a small metal mixer in his hooves.

“Hmmmm? Oh... yeah, in a few moments...” Vinyl purred, nuzzling into her pillow. She was now laying on her stomach on a delightful massage table, her back being kneaded by an adorable little changeling with a slightly larger fang. She called him Nibbles. Another changeling was gently fanning her with a fan while still another was feeding her fresh fruit from a bowl. “I swear you have magic hooves...”

“Mmmm hmmm, I get a lot of experience, miss Bluebell.”

“So, Inky, how are you doing?”

“I'm fine,” Octavia grumbled, resting on a full body pillow while her hooves were gently filed.

Soft music filled the room, one of the changelings playing a small harp. The notes gently tinkling into her ears, as if to massage her head from the inside. “I don't suppose you have a steam room?” Vinyl asked, gently nestling her pillow.

“No, but we can see what we can do,” the drink mixer said. “Is there anything else you'd like?”

The unicorn hummed for a moment, before grinning wickedly. She motioned one of the changelings over and whispered into his ear. After a few moments he nodded. He then slowly inched over to the dreary eyed Octavia, before changing forms in a flash. Photo Finish stood in his place now, or at least as close as the changeling could do with the description.

She started massaging the mare's back. “Your friend said this form would satisfy you best...” the now-mare said as she leaned in and gently nipped the earth pony's neck.

Octavia blushed and pulled away. “Stop! Hey, I'm not--” She froze in mid sentence and stared. It was all the opening the changeling needed, before she leaned in and kissed the earth pony on the mouth. For a second the agent went limp... before shoving the pony away, bright red. “I... am not interested in ANYTHING like that!” She glowered at Vinyl. “And YOU! That was a nasty...” She stared at Photo for a few moments, who had a happy, dreamy look on her face. “Stop that!”

“But your emotions taste so good...” Photo whined, giving soft little doe eyes. Almost immediately all the changelings in the room shifted into versions of the eccentric earth pony.

Octavia stared with wide eyed horror, her face bright red. One of them gently massaged her shoulders. “Miss Octavia, we can do anything you desire. Be anypony you want... all we want is a little love...” The pony gently nipped on her neck as the others moved in to gently massage her hooves.

Vinyl stared, mouth hanging open a bit and color flooding into her cheeks. Her little harmless prank was starting to look not quite so harmless. A small flare of jealousy filled her stomach as she realized Octavia might just give in to their little temptations. Though, a part of her admitted she wouldn't mind watching the show.

“EVERYPONY OUT!” Octavia finally screamed. “Or I'll buck every last one of you in the head!”

One of them raised a hoof. “Buck as in kick, or buck--”

“KICK! OUT!” she screamed before gripping the drink shaker and throwing it at the nearest one. The ponies yelped and ran. Vinyl tried to crawl out with them, but an angry, icy tone made her stop in mid step. “Not. You.”

The unicorn gulped nervously, before slowly walking back towards the mare and smiling. “Heh heh. That was kinda awesome, right? Like a dream come true?” She gulped and stared into the earth pony's eyes. Big mistake.

The mare just stared, her expression unreadable and eyes sharp enough to cut stone. “I-it was just a joke! Come on, I'm sorry. You gotta admit though, it was pretty hot. You'll have stories you can tell, too. I mean, how many ponies have an experience like that?” She shuffled nervously from hoof to hoof. She wished the mare would just say SOMETHING, anything. Yell, scream, threaten. Bop her on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Instead, the mare just stared.

“Come on, I'm sorry. I was just being playful. I thought it would be funny, you know? Say something, please?”

“...”

“Listen, it'll never happen again. I promise. Please forgive me?”

“...”

Vinyl moved closer and reached out, booping the mare on her nose. “Boop! Heh heh... heh... Come on, please? I'm really, really-- eep!” She was gripped around the head and pulled in close, the other mare glaring into her eyes.

Octavia pushed in and kissed the unicorn, making the startled mare's mane stand on end as the agent held her there, lips together. Then her tongue reached out and slowly stroked along her lips, making her shiver. Then it ended and the earth pony pulled away, staring in silence.

Vinyl just stared, her mouth slowly falling open and unaware that her glasses now dangled from only one of her ears. “You.. it... h-how did you... what? Why would... how...”

She leaned in, her cold, empty expression never changing. “I'm one of the changelings.”

Vinyl stared for a few moments as realization dawned on her. “Wait... what?”

“She asked me to do this if you caused any problems. We switched on the walk out.”

“WHAT?!” Vinyl blinked and stared. “N-no way. But... hah!” She quickly tried to recover. “I-I knew it! I knew there was no way Octavia was that good a kisser, eh heh...” The unicorn struggled to keep her cool, her face bright red. “I'll give her props. As pranks go, that's a pretty awesome one.”

There was a small hint of a smile on the mare's lips. She leaned in and whispered. “So, you think I'm a good kisser?” She then trotted by, walking out the door.

Vinyl froze and stared for a few moments. The color drained from her face. “Wait... did you just... you can't have... HEY!” She shrieked and chased after her. “I-I was joking before! You kiss like a wet fish!”

“Mmmm hmm. I'm going to go get some of the hay sandwiches they mentioned and see if I can find a way for us to get out of here. Come along if you want.”

Vinyl huffed angrily, but trotted after the mare. She couldn't get the blush to leave her cheeks though, her thoughts keep fluttering back to that kiss. Sure, she'd made out with a few mares in her time, who hadn't? But she'd never imagined Octavia to be so... passionate during such an act. Especially as a prank. It was a bit jarring.

She couldn't help it. She couldn't wait to find out how else this 'agent' managed to surprise her.

The changelings were truly, truly wicked creatures. The two found that it was easy to get back to their ship, but leaving... that was near impossible. The creatures didn't stop them physically, they were far more subtle.

Just to get to the ship they had to weather a storm of sad, doe eyed changelings who just stared with trembly lips, asking if they did something wrong, why did they have to go, offering chocolates, fruits, anything they desired. Then when they finally got to the ship, they amped it up.

They'd take on the most adorable forms they could, kittens, puppies, fillies, anything and everything that could stare at them with big, wide, adorable eyes of pure sadness. They'd never been able to actually make it up the ship, no matter how they tried. There was just too much adorable impeding their way.

They were allowed their own private room, however, that were devoid of the black gunk that covered the ship. They had two soft beds that felt like clouds, but even those comforts were starting to wear thin. “How are we supposed to get out of this?” Vinyl whined into her pillow. “Why can't they just be mean, or snide, or try to fight us?”

“Because they feed on emotions, namely love. Affection, adoration, all those help them as well,” Octavia muttered. “If they just held us prisoner, they'd have nothing to feed on. So instead they have to use--”

“I know what they're doing! It's evil and unfair!” the DJ snapped. “It wouldn't be so bad, but I know they need us. Ugh, if it wasn't for my parents being in trouble I'd probably want to spend a week doing this. Why don't they just like, start a resort or something?”

“Oh, there are already a few hives that do that,” Octavia muttered.

Vinyl blinked a few times and stared. “Wait... what?”

“Plenty throughout Equestria. Small ones, but they're there,” Octavia mumbled.

“Wait, what? Since when?”

“We're not quite sure. An investigation started soon after Chrysalis appeared and tried taking over the kingdom. Once we knew what to look for, thanks to her assault, it really wasn't difficult to find the other hives spaced around our kingdom.” She paused for a moment. “There is a registry, but little to no attention is drawn to their race.”

“Isn't that kind of dangerous?” Vinyl asked nervously. “What if they try to take over?”

“They feed on positive emotions. They literally have to keep us happy if they wish to survive. Besides, their hives tend to be quite small and manageable, so the princess has been more than willing to offer them the same freedoms and rights as any other pony. So long as they don't try their own rebellion.”

Vinyl slammed her head against her pillow. It puffed. “Is it really okay telling me all this? Isn't it like... top secret?”

“Not necessarily. Technically the fact that changelings live in our kingdom is public knowledge. So long as you're willing to navigate the red tape required, and have the right access, you can even find out if a certain pony is a changeling. Very few ponies try, however.”

“Why?”

Octavia sighed. “Again, changelings feed off emotion. They can feel you, taste you. They know just what you're feeling, when you're feeling it. Namely, what keeps you happiest. So long as they help tend to your needs, you'd probably never notice they were feeding off you, and you were sleeping longer.” She paused and gave a dry chuckle. “I doubt many mares or stallions would try ruining their relationship with the pony who manages to always know how to keep them happy. I hear they make excellent lovers as well.”

Vinyl chuckled and rubbed her chin. “I could imagine why. Won't they kill a pony eventually though? I mean... eating too much?”

“Rarely. As far as I know, they can gorge themselves, but they'd have to be actively trying to kill a pony to get to that extreme. Usually a pony just gets very tired and they have to tend to them and pamper them a while until they recover. The worst problem we tend to have with them is theft, but the princess has been working to keep that under control. Their hive mentality tends to make it less of a problem, since they'll usually help each other and pull resources, rather than risk drawing attention to their hive by committing crimes.”

Vinyl nodded. “I... guess. So, what about these ones then? Why don't they do the same? Or do it in griffon lands?”

“Territory disputes, possibly? Maybe they're afraid of getting captured? Though, they could be a different breed of changeling. Perhaps they have always lived under the sea. This craft they have seems to be designed for them.”

“How do we get out then? They're just too... cute to fight. Maybe we could negotiate with their queen? Work out a trade? Offer to send ponies here?”

“I doubt many ponies would be willing to allow themselves to be captured, even if it was a basically free spa trip,” Octavia said dryly.

“At least if it's this hard to leave,” Vinyl muttered. “Maybe we could make a run for it?”

“Doubtful. They're feeding on us as we speak. If we leave the room, they'll know and we'll have a herd of kittens and puppies sitting on the ship, waiting for us.”

Vinyl sighed. “Well, they feed on love, right? Then... they have to understand it! If I tell them I'm doing this to save my parents, they--”

“Will happily turn us in to the doctors in return for a plethora of hostages.”

The DJ groaned and rolled onto her side. “There has to be SOMETHING we can do. We can't just wait here for us to be saved, they--” She sat up suddenly, eyes widening. “Wait. Maybe they can help us!”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, we have the coordinates, right? They have this nifty invisible ship and all. Why not have them help us grab whatever it is we're looking for?”

“And if the horn is there?”

“How will they know what it is? Besides, they seem like nice ponies. What's the wo--” Vinyl froze and shook her head. “Do you have a better idea?”

Octavia sighed. “We'll give it a shot. Maybe they could help.” She jumped off the bed and glared. “But let me do the talking. Understand?”

Vinyl nodded, a wide grin on her face. “Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior.”

Getting the changelings to take them to their destination was easy. Though, during the slow trip to said destination, they couldn't help but notice more changelings were gathered along the halls towards their ship, as if waiting to pounce and adorify them if they tried making another break for it. Vinyl couldn't help but feel as if she was one of the luckiest hostages ever. But being a hostage, was still being a hostage. Even if their destination wasn't there, they had to return home eventually. Her parents still needed her.

It would, however, take a few hours to arrive at their destination, so she was allowing herself another delightful hooficure. She'd even decided to go all out for once, was using a rather hunky stallion as a pillow, while another fed her grapes. Finally, she had the cutest little mare tending to her hooves, making sure they were perfect. “You know, if you all moved to land, you could probably make a looooot of bits with your own little resort.”

“We don't need bits,” one of the creature's said. “All we need is you.” One of them began to gently stroke her mane, making her eyes close slightly.

“You'd have dozens, even hundreds of ponies coming for service like this, too. Especially if all they needed to give was a bit of affection.” She giggled softly, before chewing another grape.

Then suddenly she was on the floor, the bowl of grapes on her head, the changelings sprawled out, glasses tossed aside and her little cushion flown across the floor. Lights shown across the room, flickering red and white. A few seconds later she realized alarms were going off, pounding against her head like a hammer. “W-what?”

The changelings groaned and picked themselves up, before hissing. “Return to your room!” One of them yelled, as the three ran out.

She stared, then rolled her eyes. “Buck that.” She got to her hooves and galloped out, running down the halls and past scrambling changelings. The ship rocked on occasion, slamming her into the walls as she ran. She barely managed to make it to the main room, his sides aching and bruises over her cutie mark.

“What, what's going on?” She gripped the door frame as the ship shook again. Octavia was already in the room, staring through the view screen.

“We're under attack,” the earth pony said roughly. The ship shook again, though the mare barely moved, her hooves ground firmly into the ground and unmoving. Vinyl wished she could do that, but instead she had to hold onto the door frame to avoid flying into the wall.

“Who? Why? How?”

“It is impossible,” Chitin said angrily as she stared through the view port. “There is nothing out there! My children and I would feel it!” The ship rocked again, moments before the sound of tearing metal filled the air.

“Well, something is launching torpedos at us!” Octavia hissed, before pointing. “There!”

Vinyl squinted and, after a few moments, made out a small white blur in the distance. It only appeared for a moment, before two fast moving small blurs shot out, and the original blur disappeared. Moments later the ship rocked as the torpedos crashed into the hull.

“Impossible, how can they know we are here? Our vessel is invisible!” Chitin yelled, though there was an inkling of fear in her voice.

“The doctors,” Octavia said softly.

“Alicity again?” Vinyl asked nervously.

“No. Whoever it is must have tracked us here, and there is only one pony I could think with such resources. This is the work of Dr. Athruz.”

“What? How could--”

“We need to get to our ship,” Octavia said firmly.

“What? No!” Chitin howled angrily. “You'll--”

“Do you have anything capable of hitting a ship moving like that?” Octavia asked, just as angrily. The queen merely lowered her gaze. “That's what I thought. Our vessel is equipped to fight such things.”

“If... if I allow such a thing, you will return? Yes?” The ship rocked again, sending Vinyl and Chitin sprawling. The view screen cracked and water began leaking in from a small hole across the room.

“No.” Octavia stood firmly, never wavering as the vessel rocked.

“Then no, we--” Another shudder rocked the ship, making it veer to the right sharply.

Octavia leaped across the room and gripped the changeling by the chin, forcing her to look eye-to-eye. “You will take this vessel to the surface and leave fighting off this threat to me. You will lose us, but more importantly, you'll live. Unless you really want your hive to meet their deaths, crushed under the sea?”

Chitin gulped softly. “But... w-we need you. We need food and--”

Octavia sighed and smacked the creature across the face. “You'll need nothing if we all die here! Now do what I said if you want to see tomorrow!”

The creature stared, slowly lifting one of her hooves to her face. Then, with a shudder, she nodded. “Very... very well. You may leave.”

The ship rocked again, more violently than any of the previous ones and slammed Vinyl into the wall. She didn't even have time to gather her senses before she was dragged by her hoof through the halls.

Water was spilling in through a number of the rooms as the changelings worked as hard as they could to seal the leaks, spitting out black gunk that stemmed the tide. Unfortunately, it was only a temporary fix and more damage was happening by the moment. Only Octavia helping to support her kept the unicorn from toppling over with every sharp rock of the ship.

The hanger was soaking wet, the water nearly stomach deep as water spilled in from a dozen places. The two skipped the stairs, leaping over the railing as the door closed behind them. They landed in the water, just in time for another shudder to stir the water up, sending Vinyl spinning around, finally slamming her into the ground.

She laid there, dazed and choking as water filled her lungs. She tried to move, but her body rebelled and fought her making each gesture difficult. Then something gripped her withers and pulled her up, back into the fresh air. The unicorn coughed and gasped at the same time, trying to purge all the water from her system while simultaneously filling her lungs with air.

“Come on!” Octavia ordered, but didn't let go. She half dragged, half carried the mare to the vessel. “Go!”

The water sloshed around them from all sides, but Vinyl took a deep breath of precious air and gripped the ladder on the side of the submarine. She started climbing up, holding on with ever rock and shake to avoid being thrown off. She made it to the top and gripped the hatch, lifting it up.

Then the wall behind them exploded. Water shot into the room as she threw herself flat, barely managing to hold on through the initial torrent. Fortunately, the majority of the force hit their vessel, pushing it forward as it ground against the metal floor. It let up after a few moments and she quickly yanked the hatch up, revealing the inside. “Octavia, I got it! Come on!” She turned around to reach out a hoof to her friend, and froze.

Octavia was gone.

Vinyl turned and looked into the waters, scanning the rapidly filling room, but Octavia was nowhere in sight. “Come on you dang mare, where are you?”

The water already covered half their vessel, she didn't have much time. Then it clicked. Her horn glowed and the glasses sprang to life. The world turned dark, everything losing its color. Then she saw it. The bone-form of Octavia, limp in the water, near the back of the room. Vinyl didn't hesitate, jumping from the ship and paddling as fast as she could, grabbing the mare and drawing her to the surface.

“Come on, come on!” the unicorn yelled, shaking the mare. The water was freezing, already she could feel parts of her threatening to numb. But she refused to let go, shaking the mare while holding her above water.

Octavia started coughing and hacking, shaking her head for a few moments before she was released. “What... ahhh! Vinyl, let's go!”

“Yah think?!” the unicorn hissed as the two started swimming back to their vessel. The currents were strong, but they gradually made progress and pulled themselves into the ship. They fell in through the top, Vinyl crashing into the ground and Octavia only barely managing to close the top in time, though water puddles now covered the ground. She locked it before collapsing onto the ground besides the mare, groaning. Taking a well deserved break and panting for air.

“Thanks.”

Vinyl chuckled. “Think... nothing of it. It's what friends do. I... I don't think I ever want to go to the beach again.”

Octavia chuckled. “I gotta agree.” The ship rocked again, slamming them into each other. They groaned and unscrambled, though blushes filled their cheeks. “I... I need to get this ship going. Right.”

With sore, frozen muscles, they managed to crawl into their seats and lock in. The hum of the engines soon restarted and lights flickered on.

“So, what's the plan? We couldn't take on the giant tentacle ship, how are we going to fight this?” Vinyl asked.

“That thing snuck up on us. This ship doesn't have that advantage.” Octavia said cooly. The stony firmness had returned to her eyes as she pushed a button. A single torpedo shot out, blasting a final hole in the bay doors. They glided through it, quickly turned around.

The larger vessel was no longer hidden, three of its eight legs having been blown off. It was slowly surfacing, though torpedos continued to blast against its surface. The small, white blur appeared for a moment and Octavia pushed on the console. Their own torpedos shot out, intercepting the other vessel's and causing a large explosion between them.

The earth pony slowly began to grin. “Now we get to have some fun.”

Charging

Vinyl gripped the dashboard and stared out the window. The massive changeling vessel continued its rise, though it was no longer being impeded by torpedos. Octavia kept her hooves on the console, tapping away as she glared into the ocean.

“Where is it?” Vinyl asked softly.

“I don't know. It seems to be using the same cloaking spells that the changeling vessel was using.”

“Don't we have anything like that?”

“Of course. However--” She tapped on the console and the ship suddenly surged forward, moments before letting loose two torpedos. They surged forward, colliding with two more that seemed to materialize out of the water. They exploded instantly, rocking a small, white vessel around a few times. It continued its speedy rush through the ocean, disappearing after a few moments. “It's not perfect and takes a lot of power. Power better used on our shields and maneuverability”

Vinyl looked over at the mare and shivered. That strange look had returned to the mare's face. Her lips were slightly curved, her eyes filled with a happy gleam. She gasped lightly.

“You're... you're loving this!”

“What? No I'm not!” The ship dove to the left, rocking them in their chairs. A few moments later the sound of launched torpedos filled the hull. “I'm just working to keep us alive!” Her breathing was getting fast and sallow.

“Oh my gosh, you're loving this! It's exciting you, isn't it?”

“No! Shut up!” Octavia's cheeks were burning red, moments before the ship shook and a small alarm went off. “Stop distracting me! Do you want to die?”

“I knew it! I knew there had to be a reason for you wanting to be a secret agent! It gets your jol--” Vinyl shrieked as the entire ship rocked violently. “I-I'll be quiet.”

“Please do!” Octavia said as she flipped a few knobs. There was a glittering aura outside as torpedos crashed against it, lighting up the outside. A second later the aura spread out in a wide circle. As it spread, it collided with a small, white blur, lighting it up for a few seconds. “Gotcha.” She slammed her hoof down on a big red button, moments before three torpedos shot out from the vessel.

They collided dead center, making the vehicle slow to a near halt. “We won!” Vinyl said happily.

Then the vessel turned towards them. Something shot out from the back of it, torpedoing off in the distance. The main body of the submarine, however, rocketing towards them.

“Buck buck buck!” Octavia hissed, pushing on knobs and buttons, sending out two more torpedos, after which a large red X flashed over the screen. They collided with the missile, but didn't fully stop it, only reducing its size by a third.

“Fire more torpedos!”

“I don't have any more torpedos!” Octavia hissed, before pushing on a few more knobs. “Fine! Eat sun power!”

“What?”

Octavia lifted up a plastic panel and slammed her hoof down on the big red button underneath. A moment later the computer screen turned white, with an outline of a black sun inside. The sun quickly filled up, from bottom to top, with yellow. Once it finished, a massive yellow beam shot out from the front of the ship. The light was so bright it blinded the mares, forcing them to look away.

It took nearly a minute before Vinyl could see again, blinking away the great glowing spots of light in her vision. Ahead of them, the water was bubbling violently and the missile, or what remained of it, was nothing more than a small clump of metal, melted into a ball of slag and still glowing red hot. Lights around the ship began to dim or shut off, leaving them hanging in the water as power was diverted from unimportant systems.

Vinyl stared. “That's... that's a heck of a weapon.”

Octavia didn't respond.

The unicorn turned to look, gasping softly. The earth pony was sitting in her chair, her breathing fast and shallow. Her eyes were wide with excitement and her mouth was open slightly, lips curled in a grin. “Hey... Octavia? You okay?”

Vinyl slowly unhooked herself from her seat, jumping jumping up. She walked towards her friend, reaching out with a hoof. “Octy? Are you-- ahhhh!”

Octavia grabbed the mare and pulled her in close. Their lips touched as the earth pony held her there. Vinyl's vision seemed to explode a second time as her knees gave out, the other mare's passionate embrace draining her strength and confusing her senses. She was eventually released, though her knees had long since given out and she fell over with a yelp.

It took her a few seconds to regain her composure, even more for her to be able to breath again. She slowly rolled onto her back. “That... the buck... how... what? I mean... what? What was that?” She could still taste the mare on her lips. She tasted oddly like kiwi.

“It's a rather powerful weapon, still in testing. It's fueled by the power of Celestia, though far too dangerous to use anywhere aside from a place with massive cooling. For example, under the sea. Notice how the water is still boiling and the metal from that missile hasn't cooled yet? It's drained most of our power, however. We should be back into full operations within ten minutes, for now we can only move at ten percent speed or so.”

“What? No. I mean, yes. But, I mean, you kissed, how did, why did--”

“Ah, sorry. I get a bit... excited sometimes. During periods of conflicts. I hope I didn't startle you too badly.”

“W-what? No. I-I wasn't startled,” Vinyl lied and felt her lips. She swore she almost lost her tonsils there. “I just didn't think, how did you... do you kiss all the mares like that?”

“I usually work alone.”

Vinyl nodded slowly. Feeling returned to her legs slowly, allowing her to roll over and stand. “I... I see...” She licked her lips as another thought popped into her mind. “I ummm, how was I?”

“How were you what?”

“Errr, my kissing?”

Octavia shrugged. “I didn't notice.”

The unicorn stared. “You... didn't notice?” The earth pony had returned to her standard form. Face blank, steel eyes, indifferent lips. That nearly sucked out her tonsils. “I... I wasn't ready! If I had been, I could have rocked your world!” Vinyl said with bright, red cheeks. She looked around, trying to find her glasses. Seemed they'd fallen off during the embrace.

“Mmmm hmm.”

“I could. I'm an excellent kisser,” Vinyl said heatedly. She glared at Octavia, mentally fuming. How could the mare be so passionate one moment, then completely indifferent the next? It was infuriating! Kinda sexy, but infuriating!

“That may be. But I've been trained by professionals.” Octavia stared absently out into the water, scanning for any threats.

“Wait, professionals? You mean like... mares of the evening?”

Octavia turned to her and just stared with a cocked eyebrow. Vinyl instantly felt like a complete idiot, though she couldn't figure out why. Just that look was enough to crush her confidence.

“No. Professionals. It's part of basic training. I'm surprised your parents never had you learn the techniques.”

“The... the techniques? Y-you're kidding, right?” Vinyl turned scarlet.

Octavia turned back to look out into the ocean. “No. All agents must learn a number of sexual arts on top of our other duties. A charismatic pony is one who is able to get important things, such as well guarded documents or secrets, better than an uncharismatic one.” She paused. “Or convince a pony to turn against their current loyalties. Every pony in the agency could probably blow your mind in a matter of seconds.” She then chuckled, dryly. “Even your parents.”

“N-not funny!” Vinyl shrieked, face burning with embarrassment. She glared at the earth pony with scorn. “I don't need special training or any of that. I learned from experience, not a single mare or stallion I've been with who wasn't satisfied.” She smirked with pride.

“Oh, very well then.” She tapped on the console a few times and sighed. “We have at least another ten minutes before the ship is ready.” There was a momentary pause and she glanced back to the unicorn. “If you wish, I could help train you in some of the techniques of the agency. You never know when they'd be useful.”

Color flooded back into Vinyl's cheeks as she just squeaked. “T-train me? But... but I--”

“If you're frightened, that's fine. It might be a bit much--”

“Hey! I-I can handle anything you can dish out!” Vinyl said defiantly before finally finding her glasses and sliding them on. She felt her confidence return slightly.

Octavia shrugged. “Are you sure?” Her voice was dry and devoid of emotion, making Vinyl shiver again. She felt her confidence slowly ebbing away.

“Y-yeah. I'm sure. Come on, show me how to make out.”

Octavia nodded and turned around. She reached out and gripped Vinyl by the shoulders and pulled her in. A mere inch from their lips touching, the earth pony smiled. A cold, confident smile. “You know, for one who speaks so loudly, you sure are gullible.”

“H-huh?” Vinyl stared, then her cheeks turned brilliant red. “You... you mean... t-that whole agent training was a lie?” She pulled back quickly, her ears burning with shame now.

“Oh, no. It was quite true. I'm just nowhere near qualified to teach lessons. I was curious if I could make you go along with them.” The smile she gave was cocky. It warmed Vinyl to the core, making even more heat hit her cheeks. She turned her back and dropped into her chair, crossing her hooves.

“You're... you're a flank. Just... are all secret agents like you?”

“Only the best ones.” Octavia's face became serious once again and she stared at the screen. After a few more minutes, the lights came on and the vessel began its movements through the water. She glanced to the unicorn. “You aren't mad, are you?”

Vinyl glared, but slowly a smile spread across her lips and she shook her head. “Nahhhh. Yah got me, fair and square. You play dirty though, you know? With that poker face of yours, nopony would guess there's a little prankster hidden, just waiting to come out.”

“I used to play poker all the time,” Octavia said with a smile. “I even foiled a few plots with it in my time. I never lost.” She then frowned. “Except to agent D3-R. Her poker face is unbreakable. Not to mention her trick with the eyes.”

Vinyl chuckled and shook her head. “So... how did you meet my parents? I mean, you knew them, right?”

Octavia locked up, just for a moment. “It's... not important.”

“Come onnnn. You can tell me. I promise not to tell anyone. Pleeeeeeease?”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Pretty please.”

“No.” And so they continued, back and forth until Octavia finally let out a frustrated growl. “FINE! You insufferable little prat! I'll tell you if you just shut your mouth!”

“Eeeee! Okay!” Vinyl's hooves quivered with excitement as she leaned back and waited. “Start from the beginning.”

“I got captured, they saved me. The end.” Her voice was, for the first time since Vinyl had met them, filled with emotion.

“I... what? What happened?” Vinyl said gently, inching a little closer.

“I... I screwed up. I gambled and I lost...”

“But you said you never lost.”

“It wasn't cards! I gambled with lives and I just... I just...” Octavia's hooves trembled and she shook her head. “Enough. I'm not talking about this.”

Vinyl gulped softly. “But--”

“I'm NOT! Talking about this! Keep prying and I'll get the duct tape again!” She slammed her hooves down on the console in frustration, making the unicorn jump.

Vinyl slowly nodded, before lowering her head. “Sorry...”

Octavia ignored her for a few minutes, allowing them to glide through the water in silence. Finally, she shook her head. “I'm sorry too. It's... not your fault. You're just nosy. I was betrayed by someone I thought I could trust. Literally shot in the back.”

She gulped and looked to the side. “I'm sorry... I... I won't betray you though.”

The mare shrugged. “I doubt you will. Don't think I'm some damaged filly, letting one betrayal make me never trust another pony again. I just don't like talking about it.”

Vinyl slowly nodded. But she couldn't resist. “Were you and the other pony close? I mean... emotionally?”

Octavia sighed. “Are you going to keep pestering me until I tell you the full story?”

“No.” Vinyl paused. “Probably.”

The earth pony shook her head. “We were friends. Not for a long time, but long enough. We'd met in the agency. We were on a mission to... take down Doctor Athruz. It was before he was seen as a real threat...” She lightly tapped on the console, though she didn't push any of the buttons. “There was an... incident. We had to split up. He went down to disable the engines and I... I had to try to save the hostages.” The hoof ground into the console as the mare grit her teeth.

“Were... the hostages okay?”

She nodded. “Yes. I... I saved them. I then ran down to try to help him.” The earth pony shook. “The... the engine had exploded. A good chunk of the ship was underwater. I saw him... I mean. I thought I saw him. I thought he was dead. He fell into the water and... and I galloped after him. I tried to grab him, but he fell out. He was covered in so many burns. The water was--” her voice cracked, making her pause for a moment. “--freezing, I knew I couldn't go after him.”

“He... he betrayed you by dying?” Vinyl asked softly. “I don--”

“He faked his death,” Octavia growled. “He'd been working with the doctor all along. Once I sent in the message that he had died he...” She slammed a hoof down on his console. “I had the doctor cornered, but he was there. I asked how he survived, he said he got lucky, but we had a job to do. I was so happy to see him, I didn't question it. I just galloped past him. Then... he shot me in the back. Next thing I know, I'm a hostage and 'guest' of the doctor. He was there, working for the doctor then, making sure I stayed in my cell.”

Vinyl slowly nodded, gulping softly. “Then... my parents saved you?”

“Then your parents saved me. Had I not been so easily distracted, I could have captured the doctor then. We wouldn't even be in this situation now, if not for my mistake.”

The unicorn smiled and adjusted her glasses. “I guess. But hey, it's not all bad.”

“Oh? How?”

“Wellllll. If you hadn't, my parents might have never met you and you'd have never met me,” Vinyl said with a confident smirk. “Now we'll rescue my parents and take this doctor down, so a little screw-up won't have mattered. And let's be honest here, your life could definitely have used a little more Vinyl.” She crossed her arms and nodded knowingly. “You're wayyyyy too uptight normally.”

The earth pony snorted. “I suppose. Since we have met, you have truly saved me from some boredom and intelligent conversation.”

“Exactly.” Vinyl flashed a cocky grin, before blinking. “Hey, wait a minute! I have plenty of intelligent conversations!” A wicked smile crossed her lips. “Or maybe--” she switched to her Photo Finish accent, “--you prefer ah talk like zis? Shall we speak of, as dey say, zee magics? Zis water, it is fabulous, no? So bland, so wide, empty, spacious... we love its! Now, sub, we go!” She wiggled her hoof in a wild gesture towards the glass.

Octavia blushed a light red. “She doesn't talk like that...”

“Oh, but zhe does. An now, so do I! Yes, zis is truly the way ah shall talk now. Yes! The magic, it flows through me. Later, perhaps, you can learn even better ways of making zhe kisses and lovels! Yes! I love it!”

Octavia growled. “If there was anything in here not nailed down, I'd hit you with it.”

“Such violence, such rage! Such complete disrespect for your superior! I love it! Now, we must save zhe world before making zhe face of zhe kisses, yes?”

The earth pony gave her an angry glare, before rolling her eyes and turning back towards the screen. “Truce?”

“Oh hoh? So no more of the kisses, the flirtations the making me blush? No, I think--”

“Truce or I start talking about how YOUR parents kiss.”

The blood drained from Vinyl's face. “Truce is fine...” she squeaked.

Octavia let out a fresh yawn, one of dozens she'd had so far. “We're almost there.”

“Huh?” Vinyl sat up quickly. “I'm awake! What?” She wiped from drool from the corner of her mouth.

“... Anyway. We're almost at the coordinates. It should appear any moment now...” Octavia said before motioning at the view screen. They were skimming above the ocean floor, only a few meters above the rocks. Unfortunately, there was really nothing to see BUT rocks.

“Sooo... where is it?”

“I don't know,” Octavia grumbled as she glanced to her computer screen. “We should be entering the area... now.” She turned to look outside as the vessel slowed.

“There's nothing here but rocks. A lot of rocks.”

“Well... this does cover a moderately sized area,” Octavia said gently as the vessel began turning to the left.

Vinyl sighed and looked out, but she couldn't see anything. Slowly the ship continued to turn, going over the area again and again. It wasn't long before Vinyl's eyes began to get heavy. “Do you mind if I--”

“Go ahead,” the earth pony mumbled.

Vinyl got to her hooves and trotted towards the back of the vessel. There was a small cot built into the wall, the padding practically nailed to it. She closed a small screen, allowing her a startling amount of darkness. The unicorn then dropped down and sighed, stretching out before peering out the small view port over the window. She froze, her eyes bulging. “Hey, Tavi?”

“What did you just call me?”

“You'd... there's nothing on our left side, right?”

“Port? No, there isn't anything but rocks.”

“Then you're really going to want to come see this.”

“Vinyl, I don't have ti--”

“Octy just get back here!” she shrieked.

The earth pony froze, before jumping from the chair and dashing to the back. She peered out the view port and, after a few seconds so her eyes could adjust, gaped. “That's... but ho-- of course! Those clever psychopaths!” She galloped back to the pilot's seat and flipped the knobs.

Vinyl chased after her. “What is that? How could we miss that?!”

The window in front of them dimmed and turned completely black. “Chameleon spells. Designed to fool magical sensors. A subtle design. It also makes sneaking up on them more difficult, though I imagine that is a moot point now.”

“Why?”

“Because that vessel we fought likely returned here, and alerted them to our presence.” Octavia's brow creased. “Things are looking up, slightly though. This means they didn't track us down, they were reacting to the changeling vessel entering their territory. They might not know who we are. Yet.” She flipped a switch and the lights in the vessel turned off, enshrouding them in darkness. They slowly drifted in the sea, from side to side.

Vinyl slowly crawled back to her chair, sitting down and looking around nervously. The only sound was the gentle hum of their engines. The darkness seemed to press in on them, enveloping the two like a thick, impenetrable blanket. Despite her attempts to stop it, she could feel her breathing quicken and her body began to tremble, fear gnawing at her heart as they drifted in the sea of nothingness. It was so blank and empty, she could almost believe they were the only thing in the universe.

A few moments later and they could see it. It started as a faint light, etched out against the blackness of the world. Glowing underwater fungus became more visible as their eyes adapted to the darkness. When their eyes fully adjusted, it glowed as clear as day, a thin crevice in the darkness, lined with the glowing fungus and going deep into the ground.

“Clever,” Octavia whispered.

“What is it?” Vinyl whispered back, as if their raised voices would break the spell and make the fungus disappear.

“A clever trick. A cave lined with glowing fungus. If we used our lights or magic, we'd never have seen it. The chameleon spell to hide its presence as well. It's so small that it wouldn't draw much attention.” The vessel began slowly drifting through, entering the glowing maw of the world. Inside, the cave was lined with the glowing fungus, making it simple to navigate. “Your parents are brilliant, I don't know how they managed to find this place...”

“Yeah. But why send us here?”

“I don't know yet,” Octavia whispered as she lightly tapped on the console. Ahead, the fungus was growing more sparse. The vessel slowly came to a stop before the screen turned black. Then, white outlines of the rocks and tunnels appeared ahead of them. “The magic works here. I'll be going in as quiet as I can, so no lights. There's no telling what we'll encounter, so keep alert.”

Vinyl nodded and leaned back in the chair, watching the screen. They slowly glided through the tunnels, barely squeezing through some tight spots. Octavia's hooves remained steady and still as she navigated through, eyes constantly zipping left and right.

They turned a corner in the tunnel and shared a gasp. Vinyl stared with wide eyes. “Is that a--”

“Yes,” Octavia whispered.

There wasn't any fungus now. Instead, giant glowing fish swam through the massive, open chamber. An underwater castle, made of coral and rock, stood in the back of the chamber. It was surrounded in a sphere of air, keeping the water at bay. The castle itself seemed to glow, its stones a pearl white and glimmering in the sea, likely what gave the fish their glowing properties.

“That's not a normal castle,” Octavia whispered softly. “That's a castle of the Hooftek Empire...” She looked down and frowned. “I was right.”

“Huh?” Vinyl looked down as well, and groaned. There was a little white ship, laying just inside the bubble. From here they could easily see a small hatch opened in the top, meaning whoever had been inside, had left. “So we're not the first ponies here.”

Octavia nodded as the vessel slowly drifted down to the sea bed and landed on the ground, just outside the air bubble. The vessel rumbled for a few seconds, before sliding along the ground, straight in through the barrier. Vinyl held her breath, half expecting the bubble to pop, but it remained undisturbed by the pressure. The earth pony took a deep breath. “I don't suppose telling you to wait he--”

“Not a chance.”

“No, I didn't imagine it would. Come along. It's time for an adventure.”

Alibot

“This is soooo awesome!” Vinyl said as she walked, looking around with excitement.

“We're still outside,” Octavia muttered with a roll her eyes.

“Yeah, but our hooves aren't even wet! We're underwater, about to see things nopony has ever seen before, how can you NOT be excited?”

“The problem is, ponies have seen this before. Your parents, most likely. The doctors, as well. We could be walking straight into a trap...” Octavia glanced back towards the other ship besides theres. “Correction, this is definitely a trap.”

“Yup, so come on! Let's go spring it!” Vinyl said before galloping ahead.

“Vinyl, don't!” the earth pony yelled. The unicorn ignored her and slammed into the massive doorway into the castle. To Octavia's amazement, it opened. Without any explosions, darts or even a pitfall. She galloped after the DJ. “Are you daft? You could have been killed! What if they'd lined the area with explosives!”

“Explosives? Parry the thought!” A loud, excited voice called from above them.

“Oh buck,” Octavia said with a groan. She looked into the room. Then she face hoofed. Dr. Caballeron was standing on a raised platform. However, the two ponies besides him annoyed her far worse. Judging by the look on his face, they annoyed him just as much.

“What is that?” Vinyl asked in hushed tones.

“That, Vinyl... is Dr. Alicity and the Secretary.” The doctor was a white-coated earth pony with a golden mane, wearing a tight white lap coat and golden goggles. The other was a red and white coated unicorn with a black mane. She wore glasses and had a bandage covering her cutie mark.

“Not them. That. Wait, how did you even notice them?”

“Huh?” Octavia blinked and looked down. “Oh. My eyes automatically seek out the most annoying thing in the room. It's how I notice you so easily.”

“Cool!” Pause. “Wait, hey!”

Standing under the platform was a twelve foot tall alicorn robot. Its eyes were glowing red and its massive wings seemed to be crafted from diamonds. “You rebuilt the alibot? I would have sworn you'd given up on that piece of junk by now,” Octavia muttered.

“Hah! Shows what you know! I never give up on anything!” Alicity yelled as he pointed an accusatory hoof. “There will be no tricks this time! No alicorn with weird magic to break its magic cells! No... cutie mark crusaders to run a muck and push all the buttons and break everything! This time, agent 0CT, my alibot is invincible!” The stallion pulled out a small remote controller.

“Your invincible robot is controlled with a... RC remote? Did you salvage that from an old remote-controlled car?”

“Hah! Of course not!” the stallion said proudly.

“It was a remote-controlled helicopter,” The Secretary said.

“Enough!” Alicity roared, before glowering down at them. “No more, Agent 0CT! You've stood in our way for the last time!” He poked and prodded the controller a few times. Caballeron just face hoofed and shook his head, moving away from the other two.

The giant robot began to lift its head, staring down at the ponies with giant, glowing red eyes.

Vinyl grinned. “That is awesome! Tell me it has rocket arms!”

“Hah! What a feeble use of imaginary thoughts!” Alicity raised a hoof. “It doesn't only have rocket arms, it has a rocket horn!” He pushed a button on the controller and suddenly the robot leaped into the air. It's arms shot out from its body, as its head lowered and the horn shot out as well.

“Awesome!” the DJ yelled.

“VINYL!” Octavia screamed, grabbing the mare and yanking her back, out through the door. A moment later the exit behind them exploded, filling the bubble with dust as stones and debris flew over their heads. The earth pony held onto her friend, barely managing to navigate the way as rocks the size of cars rained down on them. After many long, painful seconds of running for her life, the rubble stopped falling and the mare nearly collapsed. “Don't... ever... encourage him.”

Alas, it was too late. “Tell me the giant robot has laser vision!”

“Of course,” Alicity said with a smirk, before poking some more buttons. Octavia shrieked and grabbed Vinyl's hoof, dragging her along as the robot started shooting fiery laser beams after them.

“Who's side are you on?!” the earth pony mare shrieked as she hid behind a massive piece of rubble. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“Oh, come on! This is a giant robot! It's awesome! Ohhhh, do you think it has a giant sword, too? That would be amazing!” The piece of rubble they were hiding behind was suddenly split in half, as Octavia's mouth fell open. The alibot stood over them, its wings formed into a long, diamond blade which had sliced through the stone. “AWESOME! Do you think it has a--”

The words were cut off as Octavia covered the unicorn's mouth with a hoof. “No! It does not have it! Stop encouraging him! We need to get past him! Not make him unveil its transformations or something stupid like that!” She yelped and covered her own mouth.

“In fact, it does have transformations! Alibot, transform!” Alicity yelled before pushing the button.

The Secretary face hoofed. “Sir...”

“Why can't I just shoot this idiot...” Caballeron said with a groan.

“Silence!”

The alibot went still as it began to shift and fold in on itself. Within a few moments, the alibot turned into a... tank-sized drill.

Octavia stared for a few moments, before face hoofing. “Is that everything?”

“Yes! Now fear my ultimate robot! It is undefeatable, unbreakable, the perfect--” He began rambling his victory speech, making the others shake their heads.

Vinyl pulled away from Octavia and tapped her glasses. She aimed at the platform and after a second, laser beams shot out from her face, striking the base of the supports.

“Impossibly aerodynamic, comes in thirty-five different colors, works with--” The platform shook under the doctor, as he paused. “What was that?” The platform shot to the side, teetering haphazardly on its side. The earth pony toppled over the edge, but one hoof managed to latch onto the rails. “Ahhhhhh! Secretary!” He looked around wildly.

“I'm down here, sir,” the mare said with a groan from her position on the ground. “Ow...”

“Help me! I don't wanna die!”

“It's not that far a fall,” she muttered.

Caballeron was holding onto the platform, above the other doctor. “Give me the remote!” he yelled, holding out his hoof.

“Pull me up!” Alicity screamed.

“Give me the remote and I'll pull you up!”

“It's like a fifteen foot drop,” The Secretary muttered. “You might twist your ankle...”

“Fine!” Alicity held out the remote, which the other pony took.

Caballeron burst into laughter. “Heh heh. Now, good bye, doctor.” He kicked with a hoof, sending the pony toppling down below.

Alicity screamed as he fell, his hooves flailing. He landed on the ground a few moments later. “Can't... go on...”

“Sir... please get up,” The Secretary said with a roll of her eyes. “You're fine.”

“But... but that hurt.”

“It's about to hurt a whole lot more!” Caballeron yelled, one hoof wrapping around the rails while the other poked the buttons. “Now, alibot! Destroy them all! Mwa ha ha ha!”

“... They can't be this dumb,” Octavia said with another face hoof. “Vinyl, would you?”

“What? But it's just getting good! Who knows who's going to betray next?”

“How could you?!” Alicity yelled, pointing a hoof at the betrayer. “We're a team!”

“You're a fool, Dr. Alicity!” Caballeron yelled, as the alibot turned back into its alicorn form. It slowly turned around, towards them. “With your precious robot under my control, we no longer need you. You useless, stupid foal! The horn is mine! AHHHHH!” He shrieked as the platform toppled forward, from another laser blast of Vinyl's glasses. He landed on the other doctor, sending the remote crashing to the ground. It shattered, sending bits of plastic everywhere.

The alibot's eyes began to glow bright red. “Controls disengaged. Entering elimination mode.”

Alicity squeaked and stared up at the robot. “Oh... oh dear.”

“What's elimination mode?” Octavia called out as she slowly inched back behind cover.

“That's where it boots up the sensors and runs it's destruction program. Eliminating every living thing within sensor range.”

“WHY WOULD YOU HAVE IT DEFAULT TO THAT?!” Caballeron roared as he got to his hooves.

“It, it seemed like a good idea at the time! After those school fillies broke the remote and--”

“Elimination mode activated.”

“We should run now,” Alicity said before grabbing the Secretary's hoof and running out of the castle, towards the stacks of rubble.

Caballeron looked up as the giant robot glared down at him. With a squeak, he started after them. “Wait for me!” Lasers slammed into the ground behind him, narrowly missing.

“Hey! This is our rubble hiding spot! Find your own!” Octavia snapped, ducking behind another rock before a laser could take her head off. “Dr. Alicity! How do we stop this crazy thing?!”

The robot picked up large pieces of rubble, tossing them aside as it searched for the ponies amongst the destroyed rocks. The stallion gulped and peered over, before ducking behind more rocks. “I don't know! I removed the self destruct feature after the mark two!”

Vinyl grinned and shot up. “Oh! I know!” She jumped onto one of the rocks. “Eat hot laser!” Her glasses glowed for a moment before a laser shot out, straight into the alibot's face. It took it head on, its horn glowing. A moment later... the glasses poofed into ash, leaving nothing but a long coil of rope to fall on the ground. She stared. “What... was that?”

“The alibot absorbs magic!” Alicity yelled.

Octavia yanked Vinyl's tail, pulling her back behind cover right before a laser hit where she had been standing.

“This isn't as fun anymore,” the unicorn said with a gulp. “So, think we can run past it without getting killed?”

“Probably not, come on!” Octavia grabbed Vinyl's hoof and dragged her behind a new hiding spot. The alibot appeared over where they had been, before looking confused.

“Ah hah, I've got it!” Alicity yelled, making the robot turn its head towards his hiding spot. A second later their protective rock was vaporized, leaving him and his secretary exposed. “E-eep.” He scrambled away.

“What is it? What's the plan?” Octavia screamed.

“There is one weak spot I developed for it! However, knowing that the princesses would obviously try to use their magic to defeat it, I was smart enough to ensure that magic wouldn't work on it.” He nodded proudly. “And, as I knew they might try to force me to defeat it, I made sure it couldn't be stopped by an earth pony, either! Only a pegasus can exploit the one weakness I left!”

For a second there was nothing but the sound of many hooves smacking against their owners faces.

“All we are is earth ponies and unicorns you daft nut job!” Octavia yelled. “The royal guard is filled with pegasi, too! Not to mention the princesses can fly! What's wrong with you?!”

“Oh. Huh, I guess they-- AHHHH!” The robot's sword cut through his hiding spot, revealing him. He turned and ran. “Its back! There's casing on his back! If you can blast it off, you can hit the control board beneath it, disabling it! HELLLLLP!”

The alicorn bot leaped over the doctor, landing in front of him and blocking his way. He turned to run, but the robot jammed a hoof down in his path, before pulling him back to its body.

“Sir!” The Secretary yelled, as her horn began to glow. Pieces of rock and stone were picked up in her magic as she readied herself to throw.

The robot paused, looking up at her. “Secretary! Run!” Alicity yelled. “I designed it to capture the princesses! It's attracted to magic!”

The unicorn stared at the robot bearing down on her, before flinging the rocks. They bounced harmlessly off its armor. The alibot then tossed Alicity aside and charged after the mare, who turned to run.

With the robot's back to them, Octavia narrowed her eyes and looked at the back. There, on a small plate between where it's wings had been, she saw the words 'Do not touch'. She face hoofed, but smiled. “Okay, I've got an idea. Secretary, keep it distracted!”

The unicorn kept running for her life, the robot plowing through rubble as it chased, knocking aside rocks the size of cars. Octavia glanced to Vinyl. “I've got a plan. If it doesn't work I--”

Vinyl gave the mare a shove, pushing her against the wall and making her freeze in surprise. “You're not the only one who gets excited by danger. I got this one.” She leaned up and gave the earth pony a kiss on the lips, before galloping towards the machine.

“What? STOP!” Octavia screamed, her eyes widening as her mouth fell open. “You don't know what you're doing!”

“I'll be fine!” Vinyl yelled, before her horn started to glow. She gripped some rocks in her magic, before hurtling them at the robot. It paused for a moment, before starting to turn. She took the few seconds she had, leaped into the air and gripped its tail with her front hooves. Her back hooves wildly kicked until she got a nice solid foundation and she pushed herself up, climbing the tail.

The alibot turned its head around, before standing on its back hooves. It then flipped all the war around, reversing its position so she was now on its stomach, dangling from the tail. “O-oh dear.” Its hooves reached out to grab her. “AHHH!” She kicked her back hooves out, pushing against the metal hooves. She let the tail go and gripped one of the limbs with her hooves. Without pausing, she lurched forward and her hooves shot out. They connected with the small 'Do not touch' plate, shattering it. The plastic fell apart, revealing the board within.

Unfortunately, the alibot's hooves grabbed her before she could smack the control board, slamming her down into the ground. She gasped for air as the robot stared down at her, its eyes glowing red.

Gunshots split the air, one after the other. Slowly, the robot's eyes began to dim and then, after a few seconds, it fell over onto its side. Vinyl stared up, her eyes wide as she saw the bullet holes through the control board. “H-how?”

“As I was saying,” Octavia muttered as she slowly trotted forward. “Alicity is an...” She glanced to the stallion. “Idiot. If a pegasus could break through it, chances were my gun could too. Are you okay?”

“Oh... fine. Heh heh... ohhh. Next time I think I'll wait for you to tell me the plan.” She closed her eyes and laid back. “Soooo. Does this mean we've won?”

“No. There's still one more doctor. Athruz is in there, waiting.” Octavia turned to glare at the castle, though the first chamber was a complete wreck, with large chunks of stone falling apart through the holes.

“I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, Agent 0CT,” Dr. Caballeron said with a smirk. “You haven't captured us yet, we-- oh.” He went silent as the gun was leveled on him.

“It's been a long day, don't think I won't shoot you. Vinyl, see if the rope from your glasses survived. It should have jettisoned when the glasses were... vaporized.”

The DJ nodded before galloping over to where she had lost them. Within a few minutes, all of the ponies were tightly tied, grumbling angrily as Octavia held her gun on them. All their gadgets were removed, even Alicity's goggles. She then held the gun out to Vinyl. “Take this.”

“Huh?”

“I'm going in.”

“But--”

“Somepony has to watch them and make sure they don't escape. You'll need this to keep them under control.”

“But--”

“Vinyl, I know you want to run off and follow me. But we can't, not this time. Somepony has to watch them. I need you to do this for me, please,” the earth pony said as she nudged the gun to her.

Vinyl looked down at it, before slowly gripping it in her magic. There was something in the earth pony's voice, actual emotion. Fear. For her. “I... I understand. Fine.”

Octavia nodded. “Thank you. I will be back before you know it. With the horn.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” With those words, the earth pony turned and galloped into the castle, leaving Vinyl alone with their prisoners. The DJ watched her leave, chewing her lower lip nervously. She could do this. She... had to do this. Twenty minutes passed, with no sign of the mare and her pacing back and forth. She finally glanced at the prisoners, then the castle “Buck this.” She reared up and galloped towards the castle. “I'm coming!”

End of the Mission

Vinyl groaned as the world began to, painfully, come back into focus. She stared at herself across the room. For a moment she locked up and was about to call the mare out on the disguise... until she realized she was staring into a mirror.

A mirror that revealed herself being tied up, along with a special secret agent and two others across the floor from her. “Octy! Mom! Dad!” Her parents were tied, back to back. Her father was a white coated stallion with a light blue mane, far better tamed than hers. Her mother was white coated as well, but with a pink mane. Had she the time, and not being held prisoner and likely about to die, she'd have leaped up and given them a massive hug. As it was, all she could do was feel relief and joy as a pressure was lifted from her heart. They were alive.

“How pleasant of you to join us, Ms. Scratch,” Octavia's voice said, though it wasn't from the one behind her. Vinyl looked up higher into the mirror and cringed. There she was. Her captor, wearing Octavia's appearance like a coat. She was sitting in a large wheeled chair and leaning back. “I was a little worried my trap might have been a bit too... rough on you.”

“What's going on?” Vinyl asked softly. She tried wiggling free of her bonds, but all she managed to do was roll onto her side. “Why are you doing this?”

“Is it not obvious?” the mare asked with a roll of her eyes. “Are you ponies really so clueless as to have not yet figured out who I am?”

“Oh, no,” Vinyl said with a shake of her head. “I know you're Dr. Athruz. I meant more the why you're after the horn.”

She froze for a moment. “W-wait, you know who I am?”

“Well, yeah, it's kind of obvious with the whole attacking us and stuff. And the disguise.”

“But... but I had a whole dramatic reveal planned. You were going to gasp and be shocked and I was going to look awesome and amazing.”

Vinyl nodded slowly. “Oh... I could pretend I didn't figure it out?”

“Vinyl!” Octavia snapped.

“What? I'm sure she's put a lot of thought into this. You know how much it sucks working on a show and then having your big number ruined? It's heart breaking.”

“She's quite right, you know,” her father said with a sigh.

“Fancy,” her mother said with a shake of her head. “We've known for quite a while who she is.”

“Of course, Fleur. But our daughter has only just met this mad woman. It's only fair she gets the whole experience like we did. Minus the torture, of course,” Fancy said with a nod.

“Well... I suppose she deserves at least that. Do carry on, miss Athruz.”

The mare nodded. “Good. Now! I'm sure you have been-- wait, what? How did you two figure it out? I told you I was his assistant!”

“It really was quite obvious, dear,” Fleur said with a sad, gentle tone. “We just didn't wanna say anything because you really were quite adorable pretending to be your own assistant. The cackling laughter gave it away.”

“But... but I had both Dr. Caballeron and Dr. Alicity fooled!”

“Well, of course,” Fancy said with a shake of his head. “But Caballeron would believe a bunny was a dragon if you paid him enough. And Alicity would believe a bunny was a dragon so long as he was kept busy on one of his little devices. They're hardly Sheerlocke Holmes.”

“I... see...” the mare said as she leaned back. She then glared at Octavia. “Did you at least not figure it out?”

“Not really until a few minutes ago. The disguising yourself as me thing kind of made a lot of things more obvious...” her voice got low and dangerous. “Far, far more obvious.”

“I didn't think that disguise would still work on you, but I thought it was worth a shot. Now, as I was saying. You thought I was the assist... no, you know what? Never mind,” Athruz shook her head. “There's really no point to it, the moment is ruined. My dramatic reveal is just not happening. I had it all planned out and everything...”

“Oh, but I have no idea who you could be, truly you're just one of the foot soldiers of Athruz!” Vinyl said encouragingly.

“No, no. I appreciate the effort, but no.” She then glanced down before smiling. “Now! As I was saying before. Now that you all know who I am and there is no point in spelling it out, I want that horn. The power in it can be quite... useful.”

“You'll never get away with this, Dr. Athruz!” Octavia yelled as she started wiggling about in her ropes.

“Oh, but indeed I will.” She jumped from the chair and trotted towards Vinyl. “You see, because you brought me the perfect little gopher to grab it for me.”

“What? Why me?” Vinyl asked nervously as she stared up at the mare. “You're a unicorn, why can't you grab it?”

“Because, little mare... I'm not of royal blood.”

“What?!” Octavia hissed.

“Oh yes,” Athruz said with a chuckle. “Did you think it was just coincidence there are so many white-coated nobles with bright manes? Your little princess has quite a few descendants throughout that city.”

Vinyl gulped. “H-hey. That's really old news. If I'm related, it's only by like... fifty or sixty generations ago. That can't really matter, can it?”

“You have the blood of an alicorn in you, no matter how weak it is,” the mare said with a smile. “It doesn't matter. I don't need you to activate the horn. I just need you to get past the defenses and grab it for me.”

Vinyl gulped and shook her head. “O-oh yeah? Why not have my parents do it?”

“Because I can't trust them to not let the other die to keep the horn from my hooves,” the mare said with a roll of her eyes. “Agents are always so... troublesome like that.” She then grinned again. “But... I imagine you'll be a lot easier to control. Get me the horn, or your parents and marefriend die.”

“Wait, marefriend?” Fancy said suddenly. “You never told me you had a marefriend. Vinyl, when did this happen?”

“She means Octavia,” Vinyl said with a nervous chuckle.

“When did you two hook up? Ohhh, I see how it is,” he said with a soft sigh. “The thrill of adventure, the chases through the street...”

“Having to try and assassinate each other,” Fleur added.

“Oh, can't forget that. No, I understand. Romance is bound to brew. But Octavia, I thought you were trying to--”

“Your daughter and I are NOT an item!” Octavia hissed, glowering at all four of them, despite them being on either side of her. “We are merely working together to save the world. That does not mean we're dating.”

“We did kiss though,” Vinyl added. “Twice.”

“Oh dear,” Fleur said with a soft chuckle. “How was it?”

“I think I'll have to try some of these make out lessons she mentioned. They were--”

“STOP IGNORING ME!” Athruz roared, hopping up and down. “You! Vinyl! Do you want your friend and family to die?!”

“No...”

“Then you will get me the horn!”

“Don't do it!” Fancy yelled. “If this mad mare gets her hooves on it, there's no telling what she'll do! She could become unstoppable.”

“She'd probably kill us anyway,” Octavia added.

“That too. You can't trust her!”

“I really should gag you ponies next time,” Athruz grumbled. She then moved to the chair and, after a few seconds, it began beeping. She pulled back and the cushions had rolled down to turn the chair into a small, rather cushiony box. Complete with timer. “Now, I'm going to give you one chance, and one chance only. Grab me the horn, or this bomb will go off, killing everypony here.”

Vinyl gulped and stared at the mare. Suddenly she seemed far more threatening than she had a few minutes ago. “So... all I have to do is grab the horn and bring it here? That's it?”

The mare nodded. “That's it. Once I have it, I don't care what happens to them. I'll leave, you'll leave, everypony will live happily ever after. No bomb. A happy ending all around, no? If you don't... I leave, the bomb will stay, you'll all die.”

“Fine...” Vinyl said slowly.

“Don't!” Octavia hissed. “She'll kill us anyway! We—”

“Don't worry, I've got this under control,” the DJ said nervously. “You swear, right? Promise? Cross your heart?”

“Of course,” Athruz said. “My word is my bond.” A small, black horn formed out of the mare's forehead. A moment later a green beam of energy shot down and broke the ropes binding Vinyl.

Vinyl jumped to her hooves. “Good, now I--” She stopped at the sight of Athruz now holding a gun in her magic, aimed at her parents. “I'll go get you that horn.”

“Of course you will,” Athruz said with a smirk. “Just remember. Happy endings all around. Now go.”

Vinyl nodded slowly as she slowly walked out the door. She paused and looked around. Second floor, third hallway. Of course. She really had to start looking for things starting from the center or right side of the room. She took a deep breath and made her way towards the stairs. She paused and a grin formed on her lips. She knew how she could save them all.

She wondered how the evil doctor hadn't figured it out on her own.

She felt the gentle hum of magic again as she trotted into the chamber holding the horn. She let out a soft sigh as she stepped forward, feeling the magic stroke against her flesh, poking at her. Testing. She circled the podium a few times, nervously eying it. Was that really the secret? Just a little alicorn blood? There had to be thousands of ponies with such a history. Sure, the princesses didn't have much of a reputation of being... mares gone wild now, but they were old. Real old. You don't live that long without having a few thousand descendants.

Heck, there were rumors that half the unicorns in Canterlot were related to them. She took a deep breath and reached out to the horn with her hoof. “Come on... nice and easy...” She pulled back and gently rubbed her hooves together. “Nice and easy... slow...” She reached out again. “Ah, buck it.” She grabbed the horn and yanked it out of the air. There was a light sizzling, but that was it. “Huh. That was easy.” She turned and started trotting towards the stairs.

The ground began to rumble as she made it to the first step. “Oh... oh that's not a good sound.”

She galloped up the stairs, holding the horn tightly to her side as she went. She felt almost like a knight of old, carrying a great lance on her side, barely keeping it from touching the floor. Whoever designed the horn had to be compensating for something.

She made it to the first floor and the sound of flooding water drew her attention. She pushed open the front door and gasped.

Caballeron, Alicity and The Secretary were gone, but that wasn't the bad thing. The other ship was gone, but that wasn't the bad thing either. The problem was the barrier was now full of small little holes. Water was pushing in through the holes, slowly widening them as it went. Even worse, the field was wobbling under the pressure of the water, as if it was some kind of fabric. Who knew how long it would last before collapsing?

She turned and galloped up the stairs, only able to take them two at a time without risking the horn stabbing into the ground. She smiled though as she trotted down the hall. This could work. She had a plan.

Vinyl gripped the horn in her magic as she came closer to the door. She slowly slid it over her head and posed. Okay, this could work. She took a step forward, and her head refused to move. “Oy!” she hissed and glared up. The tip of the horn had stabbed into the roof, through it, like it was paper. It took her a few seconds to pull it out, it was almost as if the building didn't want to let go. Finally though, she managed to pull it free and lowered her head, keeping it just above the ground so she wouldn't have any more accidents. Okay, NOW it would work.

She took a deep breath and used her magic to swing the door open and charged in. “Ah hah! Fake Octy, it's over!”

The mare in question stepped back quickly, her eyes wide. “W-what? What are you talking about? Are you trying to impale me with that?”

“What? No!” Vinyl said as she raised her head as high as the horn would allow. “It's time I neutralize your bomb! Ah hah!” Her horn glowed and... nothing happened. “Huh?” She looked up at the massive golden horn on her head, nudging it with her hoof. “Come on. Work! Errr, hold on one second.”

Athruz sighed and shook her head. “You fool... do you really think I'd of let you grab it if I thought for one moment you could use it?”

“I... I ummm... yes?” Vinyl said with a sheepish grin, before nudging it a few times with her hoof. “Errr... isn't that why you want it? To use it?”

Athruz chuckled softly and shook her head, before leveling the gun on her. “Of course not, you silly little mare. I want to destroy it!” She fired once. The bullet clipped off the horn, ripping it off Vinyl's horn with a loud clang. It flew through the air a few feet, before impaling itself through the wall outside in the hall.

Vinyl wobbled from side to side, her ears ringing from the sound of the gun and the sharp blow to her horn. “I... I didn't... l-like that at all...”

“No, I imagine you wouldn't...” the fake Octavia said with a smile, before motioning to her parents. “I am a mare of my word, however. I'm leaving with the horn. You can leave... soon enough,” a grin formed on her lips. “Now move.”

“Wait. I want to know one thing before you go...” Vinyl said as she slowly circled around the mare, moving opposite her. “Why do you want to destroy it? You're a unicorn. If some of the legends are true, you'd lose your magic. How could you possibly want that?”

The mare snorted as she slowly circled towards the door. “Oh, you make one large flaw in your guess, Miss Scratch.” Her eyes glowed green for a moment, before her skin seemed to melt away. Within a few moments the pony was no longer a pony at all, instead she had a glistening black carapace. “I'm no unicorn, I'm a--”

“Bug pony!” Vinyl said quickly.

“I... what? N-no. A changeling. You...” she stopped for a moment. “What? You know what changelings are. You have to. I could feel you on a vessel with them. You're the reason I could even find the vessel!”

“Oh, right. The lil bug guys. What's your deal, anyway? I mean, why come after the horn at all?”

The changeling's eyes twitched. “You... you think... I'm destroying the horn to destroy the magic of your precious unicorns and alicorns. Without them to defend you, your kingdom will be ripe for the picking. Queen Chrysalis may have failed, but my hive will succeed! Without your precious magic, you'll--”

“Queen Chrysalis?” Vinyl asked before tapping her hooves a few times.

“The changeling queen in... in charge of the recent invasion on you ponies.”

“When was this? I really don't remember anything like that.”

“W-what? But... your princesses were dethroned. Your capital imprisoned.”

“Really not ringing any bells.” Vinyl tapped her hooves a few more times. “How long did it last?”

“Well, I honestly am from a different hive, but I believe it only lasted for a few hours. By then--”

“Wait, it was only an hour invasion? That's... kinda lame. I mean, as invasions go. Were there a lot of deaths?”

“I... don't think so. We try generally not to kill ponies, at least not unless we have to. The property damage I'm sure was astronomical. How can you not know all this?”

“Oh, I did. Well, I do. I've just been distracting you,” Vinyl said before ducking.

“Hu-- aghh!” Athruz fell face first as her legs were knocked from under her, Octavia's bound legs sweeping her back hooves. The gun went off, embedding another bullet in the wall behind Vinyl. The unicorn charged forward, smacking the gun out of the changeling's magic before driving her own hooves down on the changeling's head.

“Hiyah! Hah, see, you're not the only one who can fight dirty!” Vinyl said before gripping Athruz's head, slamming her into the ground and sending her skidding against the floor. She dashed to Octavia's side, tugging and yanking on the ropes with her magic. They resisted the effect, making her sigh and do it by hoof. “Seems she used different ropes for you. How you holding up?”

“A bit rope burned, but okay,” Octavia said before getting to her hooves. “Get your parents, I'll deal with Athruz.”

Vinyl nodded, only giving the earth pony a sparring glance before galloping to her parent's sides. She tried her horn again, but it didn't work, so she went back to doing it by hoof. Within a few moments they were all unbound and free. “Okay, we need to go. The place is going to--” A loud crash cut her off and the ground rumbled. “Correction, is collapsing. Let's go!”

“The horn!” Octavia hissed, motioning towards it. Athruz was tied up in... a rather painful looking position, and on the earth pony's back. “Get it, then we can go.”

Vinyl sighed but nodded. Her parents moved to grab it, trying to pull it from the stone in their magic. It refused to budge. “It's not coming out,” Fancy said.

“Here, let's try it together,” Vinyl said. The three combined their power, tugging on the horn. They pulled with all their might, sweat sliding down their foreheads, but it still refused to move. “It's... like the castle itself is trying to reabsorb it. Octy, it's not coming out.”

The earth pony growled, before glancing down the halls. “Leave it. There's no telling how long we have.” She took a deep breath. “If we die here, the location dies with us. They can send some other ponies to get it.” She galloped down the hall, the changeling making whines with every powerful step.

“You heard the lady,” Fancy said, before giving a gentle motion with his hoof. His wife and child nodded, taking off after her.

The first floor of the building was slowly filling with water, making them splash as they ran. Outside the building was far, far worse. Octavia stopped at the door and gulped.

“Oh no...” Vinyl whispered. The water was already deep enough they'd have to swim.

“Alicity and the others... I... I left them out here,” Octavia said softly, her eyes wide.

“Huh? Oh, no. They already got out. Ran off with the sub and everything. See?” Vinyl motioned towards their own submarine. “Ours is the only one there.”

The earth pony froze for a few moments, her eyes twitching. She then grabbed the unicorn by the withers and shook her violently. “YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?! I GAVE YOU ONE JOB!”

“Not to ruin this adorable little quarrel, but I believe we have more important issues to attend to,” Fleur said before motioning towards the submarine. “We need to swim.”

Vinyl nodded, before glancing towards Octavia. “I'll take the changeling.”

“What? Not a chance.” Octavia said quickly. “You're still a civilian, if anypony can--”

“Unicorn. I can haul her behind with my magic.” She motioned towards her parents. “All of us, actually. Between all of us, I think we should be fine. Their agents, too.”

The earth pony nodded. “Oh. I suppose that is... adequate.” She reared up, sending the changeling crashing into the ground.

“Ow! You did that on purpose!”

“Yes. Yes I did.” Octavia jumped into the water, cutting through the water as she struggled to keep her head above.

Vinyl nodded, then glanced to her parents. “You know, you really should have told me about all this ages ago. We're having a loooong talk when we get home. Being a secret agent rocks! Aside from the nearly dying part.”

Fancy nodded. “Indeed. We didn't want you to feel obligated to join us. Now, shall we?”

Vinyl nodded, before her horn began to glow. The changeling was enveloped in three different sets of magical auras and tossed, unceremoniously, into the water. She bobbed a few times, before finally stabilizing with her withers mostly out of the water. She hacked and coughed. “You did that on purpose!”

“No. No we did not,” Vinyl said smoothly. “But I kinda wish we had.” She then dove into the water and swam.

It was madness. The icy water pushed in on her from all sides as she tried to head forward. She couldn't hear anything but the sound of rushing water and all around her more of it continued to create little streams and currents, making it near impossible to swim, keep her head above water and focus on keeping the changeling floating as well. Even worse, when she was above water she could see the bubble protecting them from the ocean.

The holes were getting bigger and some of the areas were pushed in so far they were close to touching the castle itself. The entire thing could burst at any moment, popping like a balloon. They had to move fast. She let out a startled yelp as her hooves were suddenly pulled out from under her and she was dragged under, pulled by the current. She barely managed to right herself and come up for air, hacking and coughing.

With great effort they finally made it to the submarine. She was the last one in, the changeling being dropped on the roof, and her parents pulled her up with a few grunts. The three then collapsed on the top of the vehicle. “G-gotta keep moving...” Vinyl grumbled as she looked to the hatch. It was closed. She felt a chill. “Octavia, I didn't see her come on, whe--”

“Inside, she closed it behind her. Keep most the water out,” Fleur said breathlessly, before hauling herself up and pulling the hatch up. “C-come on, let's go.”

The changeling was unceremoniously dropped inside with a yelp and the others more fell than climbed in after her. But, soon enough, they were all inside and the hatch closed behind them.

“Strap in,” Octavia ordered from the front of the submarine. “Tie the changeling to something.”

“W-why?” Vinyl asked as she got to her hooves. She was cold, tired, bruised and wet. She didn't want to have to do that ever again, especially not while dealing with the little changeling brat.

“This bubble looks ready to pop. When it does, we'll be going with it,” Octavia hissed as she pulled on knobs and dials. “I'm doing the best I can to dig us into the ground, but this ship isn't built for digging. It's barely meant for land movement at all. The current will toss us around like a leaf.”

Vinyl nodded and started strapping the changeling down. She did her best to keep the creature from being jostled around too heavily when they moved. It required her to stuff the creature into an over head compartment, but her father was happy to help.

They then quickly took their seats, Vinyl noted with a bit of annoyance her father took the passenger one, besides Octavia. But now wasn't the time to get miffed about who sat where, so she quickly took her seat and strapped in.

“Okay, everypony ready? Here we go!” Octavia yelled before hitting a few buttons. Nothing happened.

“Ummmm... so... what now?” Vinyl asked softly. “I kind of expected something to happen...”

“We wait,” Octavia muttered. “The shield will break soon enough. Then we'll have all the time in the world to regret the decisions that brought us to this point.”

“Wait? Regret? Why would we--”

The shield chose that moment to finally collapse. The submarine rocketed forward like a missile, spinning around erratically as it was sent towards the castle. It stopped just short of slamming into it, a glowing blue aura around the vehicle stopping it. The stop only lasted for a moment before the water pushing on them pushed harder and the ship sailed out, through the walls and into the castle.

From there, Vinyl had no idea what was happening. They spun, rocked, bounced, flew, glided and sailed through the water, taking out walls and floors as they went, the water and rocks beating on their shields from every angle as they were shaken erratically in their seats. The unicorn held onto her seat as her bindings threatened to give out.

Then, just as fast as it started, it was done. The submarine dangled upside down, they groaned in their seats and, fortunately, managed not to throw up. The submarine slowly rotated itself back to the right position, allowing them a few minutes to catch their breath.

“So... we all still alive?” Vinyl asked slowly. She received quiet agreements from the others, as well as a pained moan from the back. “Good... Octy, how are we doing?”

“Not quite sure yet,” the mare said softly as she looked out the window. All that remained was darkness. “Lights are covered. We're buried.”

“How deep?” Fancy asked.

“A few inches, a few tons? I have no idea,” Octavia muttered. “The shields are holding but they won't last forever.”

Vinyl nodded. “Wonderful... what do we have?”

Octavia gulped and slowly tapped on the screen. She let out a soft sigh. “No torpedos. All we have left is the sun beam.”

“Sun beam?” Fleur asked, her eyes widening. “They finished it? It works?” Pause. “It's on this submarine?”

“Yes, yes, yes and yes,” Octavia said as she tapped. It took a few seconds but she gently reached her hoof over the yellow button. “This could be dangerous.”

“Trapped in a confined spot and using a beam with the power of the sun? How could that be dangerous?” Vinyl said, her voice leaking with sarcasm.

“We should be safe from that. But we'll only be able to move at a fraction of our normal power. Anything else we run into... well...” She glanced down at the console. “Well... there is still one other thing I could do if we have to. But it would fry half our systems. We'd be dead in the water.”

“Do we have a choice?” Fancy asked as he eyed the button.

“Not particularly, no,” Octavia grumbled before she pushed the button. Vinyl managed to cover her eyes before it blinded her this time, but even behind her hooves and eyelids she could still see the bright yellow light. After a few seconds the glow was gone and she removed them.

The way was clear. Sorta. The water was boiling and the rocks by them were red hot. The ship began to ease forward. Then a loud, sickening gravely sound echoed through the air. “What... was that?” Fleur asked nervously.

“The shields are still up. That didn't come from... oh.” Octavia stared out view screen. The water was still illuminated by the glowing fish which were, hastily, making their way out the only exit. Unfortunately, they were also illuminating the very long, and lengthening, crack in the side of the wall. Said wall began to rumble and shake as rocks began raining down from above. “It appears the cavern is beginning to cave in.”

Fancy nodded as their ship slowly inched its way forward. “Will we be able to make it out in time?”

“At this speed, no.”

Fleur coughed a little nervously. “And you mentioned one way we could?”

“Well, if I over drained the power cells. They wouldn't survive it for long, but it should buy us enough time to get out of here,” Octavia said as she stared at it. “We'll lose our shielding though.”

Vinyl nodded. “So... why aren't you then?”

“Because G will kill me if I break this vessel on my very first mission.”

Vinyl and her parents gave each other a small look. They then turned to the earth pony and yelled in unison. “DO IT!”

Octavia cringed, before slowly nodding. “Very well. If you insist... if he gets mad, I'm blaming you three.” She then pushed some more buttons. A red light came on and the screens all went blank. After a moment even the red light went off, the only light now coming from outside the ship. “Here we go.”

The ship took off, hurtling through the water and barely avoiding a boulder three times its size. Octavia tapped on the controls and used a small lever, navigating the ship around the dangerous rocks and then barreling into the small opening. Though the lights on the front of the ship only gave paltry visibility, the glowing fish navigated their way.

Midway through, the red light started going off again. Octavia ignored it, sweat beading on her forehead as the vessel navigated through the tight opening. Rocks fell down around them, bumping against the vessel's hull while the caverns collapsed around them. The others couldn't even breath, just waiting and watching the mare as the vessel went.

Then, just like that, they were out. The walls disappeared around them and the open waters greeted them on all sides. The three unicorns let out a soft, relaxed breath.

Then the lights went off and the ship died. They continued flying forward for a few feet, before their momentum finally gave out and they began to slowly sink.

Vinyl took a deep breath. “So... what now?” She said into the darkness.

“Now? G kills me,” Octavia mumbled before there was the sound of glass breaking, followed by a sudden snapping sound.

“What was that?” Vinyl asked, trying to keep all the panic out of her voice. The darkness somehow began to feel a whole lot... darker. She struggled to hear the source of the glass, but there was no rushing water.

“Emergency flotation. We'll float up to the surface. I don't know how long it'll take... but hopefully we can get some help there.” Octavia went silent for a moment. “Or we'll float, lost at sea, until we eventually die of starvation and thirst.”

“You're as optimistic as ever,” Fancy said with a chuckle. “We've survived though, that's the most important part. And the horn is...”

“Buried under millions of tons of rocks and water?” Vinyl offered.

“Yes, quite,” Fancy said with a hum. “I'm sure it'll be fine until we can find a way to retrieve it...”

Octavia let out a soft sigh and the ponies just sat there in silence, watching and waiting for the surface to appear. Finally, the earth mare spoke up. “I suppose they'll invent some new digging machine. Maybe they could get the sea ponies to help. Surely they'd have something of use.”

The DJ snickered. “Maybe we can get another alibot to dig it out. That's the third, right? A fourth would have to be an underwater model. AND have a drill.” She burst into laughter when she saw Octavia shake her head. Then she paused. “Hey, I can see you! It's getting brighter! We are going up!”

“Of course we are. We're... we're... oh buck,” Octavia said as she leaned forward to stare out the view panel. Vinyl saw it a moment later.

The all too familiar submarine that they had fought before. The one they had wasted all their missiles on. The one that had been besides theirs but mysteriously disappeared once the doctors and The Secretary escaped. It was surfaced, gently bobbing in the water, as if it was waiting for them. Octavia let out a curse. “What weapons do we have?”

“Do you still have your gun?” Vinyl asked nervously.

“Not as such, no.”

“Well, the submarine has to have them, right? I mean, in a lock box or something?”

“Yes... but they're locked in an electric safe. For safety reasons. Without power...” Octavia trailed off.

“Who's bright idea was it to lock the weapons in a safe like that?” Vinyl asked with a groan.

“G,” the other three ponies said in unison.

“It's in case the ship is disabled by some kind of evil device that saps the power and gets boarded,” Fleur added. “It's assumed, in such a situation, that the ponies will be heavily out numbered and have to sneak around. Leaving safes that can't be opened leaves an agent plenty of time to sneak up on said guard, knock them out, steal their uniform and then shove them into a compartment. That, and many of the weapons we use are often times... experimental.”

An angry shout came from one of the overhead compartments.

“Of course,” Vinyl muttered, eying the ship. “So... it's probably out of missiles though, right? It launched half its mass at us earlier.”

“Yeah. It should be as unarmed as us.”

“Except it works. And likely had accessible weapons,” Vinyl said softly. She didn't receive a response. Slowly the submarine popped out onto the surface, bobbing up and down a few times before stabilizing. Vinyl took a deep breath. “So... what now?”

“Now? We wait,” Octavia muttered. They didn't have to wait long. There was soon knocking on the hatch.

“Come out!” Caballeron's voice pierced through the hull. “If you could move, you'd be firing at us already. So either move your flanks out here, or we'll pop these balloons of yours and send you down to a watery grave!”

Vinyl gulped. “Can... they do that?”

Octavia slowly nodded. “Indeed. The... safety balloons are magically enchanted and stored. But, once they're active, the magic dissipates. They're just supposed to get us to the surface. Popping them would be possible. With a harpoon, at least. A knife would take too long.”

“You think they have a harpoon?” Vinyl asked, her eyes widening slightly.

“We're talking about deranged evil megalomaniacs,” Fleur said with a roll of her eyes. “They probably have a different harpoon for each day of the week. But, if that's all they have, we'll be fine. It's guns that we have to worry about.”

Vinyl nodded. “Mom, dad. Wait here. They don't know we've got you, so--”

“They knew we were prisoners there,” Fleur said slowly. “They'll know you wouldn't leave us there.”

“They don't know we found you, though,” Vinyl said quickly. “Just... wait here. Octavia, me and you. Let's do this.”

The earth pony slowly nodded. “Indeed. Her plan has merits. Hide. We'll see what we can do. If there's nothing... perhaps the element of surprise will help us.”

Her parent's faces turned grim, but they slowly nodded. Vinyl and Octavia shared a somber look, before nodding. “This has been a great adventure, agent 0CT. Happy you could do it with me.”

Octavia nodded and slowly smiled. “Indeed. It has been... quite a little trip.” She looked up the ladder and went up first, shoving the hatch open.

Vinyl followed behind her and gulped. It was the worst of both worlds. Caballeron had a harpoon gun. Aimed at them. “So, you and Dr. Alicity work out your differences?” the unicorn asked as she slowly looked towards the other submarine. Her eyes widened slightly as the corners of her mouth threatened to turn up.

“No. He's still a simple minded fool,” the earth pony snapped. “But we've come to an agreement, for now. Never thought we'd see your ship bubbling up to the surface like that,” he motioned over the side. Two yellow balloons had inflated around the rim. “What happened? Where's Dr. Athruz?”

“Inside, tied up and in the overhead compartment,” Vinyl said with a smile. “Do you wanna go check?”

“Not particularly.” He turned the gun towards the balloon, making Vinyl jump.

“Wait! What are you doing? Stop!”

“And give up such a valuable opportunity to eliminate both the great agent 0CT and that other fool? I think not. The only ones who'll know where that blasted castle is, is me and Alicity. I can remove him next, easily enough.” He slowly backed away, not moving the gun.

“W-wait, there's no need for this. What'll Alicity say if he finds out you blew up the ship like that? He's in the sub, right?” Vinyl said quickly. “He might not let you in.”

“I'm merely doing what has to be done. I--”

“I'll pay you!” Vinyl suddenly said, stomping a hoof down.

That made the earth pony freeze as greed passed through his eyes and he moved his mouth a few times, as if counting. He then shook his head. A grin formed on his lips. “Nah, I can make more than you could ever hope to pay me. That castle is a treasure trove.”

Vinyl sighed, and then took a deep breath. She considered telling him it collapsed, but she doubted he'd believe her. A new idea formed in her lips, making her smile. “Okay, how about this. If you shoot that gun, Octavia is bound to try to run into the submarine to save Athruz. She'll probably succeed. But you'll be risking my life and hers. That'll make me angry. You'll be unarmed. I, on the other hoof, will have a fresh new harpoon that I'll yank out of the floatations, the easier to ram up your--”

The stallion's face paled and the harpoon gun suddenly changed directions towards her as he kept backing up.

“Not to mention that wasn't part of the agreement,” The Secretary said from behind Caballeron, making him flinch. She stood by the hatch of the other submarine. “Agent 0CT, Vinyl. You two are welcome to surrender. You'll be our prisoners, but your alternatives are not quite looking as... comfortable as you may like. I'd suggest taking what's offered.”

Caballeron cringed. “They have Dr. Athruz in there! If we sink the vessel, think of what we could do. Without him around, we--”

“Betray him like you tried to us? I think not,” the mare said with a sigh. “Agent 0CT. Our offer stands. Surrender or sink. How long do you think you can stay afloat without your vessel? If it's sinking doesn't take you with it.”

Octavia opened her mouth to say something, but then shook her head. “No. You definitely have us. We surrender. We throw ourselves upon your mercy.”

The mare looked quite shocked for a moment. “Wait, really?”

“Yes. Completely surrender. We've lost, you've won.”

“Well... I... indeed. Caballeron, go and gather Dr. Athruz.” She motioned him forward.

The doctor stared back, barely able to hold the gun. “But--”

“You have a harpoon gun. I still have my hoof gun. Do it.”

The stallion growled, but slowly stepped forward. He kept the gun trained on Vinyl, but she merely moved aside as he made his way to the hatch. He slid down quickly, and she pretended not to hear any loud clunks a moment later. “So, you have a hoof gun?” she asked sweetly.

“Indeed...” The Secretary said slowly. “Why?”

“Just wondering. Hey. Octy, those balloons. How many shots from a hoof gun would it take to break them?”

“Well, it really depended on the model,” the earth pony said slowly. “But most hoof guns wouldn't be able to deal a sizable amount of damage. A harpoon is more a danger because it's large and all those jagged edges could puncture and tear through multiple pockets. A bullet, well...”

Vinyl nodded. “So... still, sink, but slower?”

The Secretary looked amused. “And what, pray tell, does any of this have to do with anything?”

The DJ grinned. “Welp. I'm offering you and Dr. Alicity the opportunity to surrender!”

The mare stared for a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. “Really? Why ever would I do that?”

“Because of the griffon scouts that have been flying towards us for the last few minutes and are finally within range with their own guns,” Vinyl said before giving a wave. “Not to mention the ship that's likely behind them on its way.”

The Secretary froze for a moment, before slowly looking up. She then yelped and jumped into the hatch. A moment later the submarine disappeared under the waters. Octavia face hoofed. “Why did you tell her?”

“Hey, she offered to let us surrender. I figured it was the only right thing to do...”

“Don't know how we're going to explain this to their guard...”

“Easy. We captured pirates!”

Octavia took a slow sip of her coffee as she kept her eyes closed. She was in a small, ventilated office back at headquarters, letting the thoughts of her previous mission roll over her like a small tidal wave. They'd won. The horn was... not in their hooves, but not in any villains hooves either. All thing considered, that was as good as they could hope for some days.

Unfortunately, there were far too many loose ends for her preference. The changeling had been captured, but it was quite likely there was an entire hive of her sort. There could be hundreds, even thousands of Dr. Athruz's out there. Just waiting for the right time to strike. Dr. Alicity had escaped as well, though he was a less worrisome threat. If he managed to find a way to get the horn, they could likely slip under his nose and use the very method to steal it.

Then there was the international incident with the griffons. Vinyl's... reputation had managed to alleviate suspicion for just long enough for them to throw a minor concert and then escape back home in the confusion(the DJ even got a new pair of glasses out of it). However, the submarine had ended up in the griffon's claws and it was only a matter of time before somepony figured out this 'civilian pleasure voyage' was something far more important. Still, it became the princess' problem then, not hers. They still had to find a way to retrieve the horn, without the griffon's knowing. Now that would be another headache she was happy wasn't hers.

There was one final thing she found her mind trailing back to. Vinyl herself. The mare's parents were saved(which was signaled by a very long hugging session the moment they were out of griffon lands), not to mention outed as secret agents, and the horn was taken care of for now. Her job was done. She'd finally return to her old life.

A small part of the earth pony would miss her. Sure, she was... insane. Wild. Probably a bit dangerous. Definitely exciting. But Octavia liked all those things. Sadly, she imagined both the mare, and her parents, would take this time to begin a well deserved retirement. She let out a soft sigh.

The door to the office opened, making her glance up. A light blush filtered into her cheeks when she saw the mare stepping in. “Agent 0CT! Your report, it has been read!” Photo said as she tossed the folder onto the desk. “A decision has been made!”

“Decision?” Octavia asked softly, staring up at the mare with wide eyes.

“Yes! The hive of Dr. Athruz could still be out there! The destruction! The chaos! We cannot have it!” She waved her hoof wildly as she spoke, before slamming it down. “It must be found! You must find it!”

The earth pony nodded. “I... I see. I will get on it immediately.” She started to get up, but the eccentric mare shook her head.

“No! Not you! No help, no back up, no good!” She then motioned behind her. “A team. Yes! I love it! Say hello to your new partner.”

Octavia's mouth fell open and she stood up so fast she knocked her coffee over. “WHAT?!”

Vinyl stood in the doorway, smirking through a pair of red glasses. “Say hello to special agent V1N. I just know we'll have the, ahem, 'majiks'.”

The earth pony collapsed into her chair and rested her face on her hooves. “I need a drink...” Though, a small hint of a smile was hidden behind those very hooves.

The funeral

Ponies dressed in black suits walked somberly by the twin graves, slowly paying their respects before moving on to their seats. The sky was dark and overcast, fitting considering the somber reason for gathering. Some ponies cried, some stared with blank, detached stares and far too many just watched with borderline indifference. One mare, dressed completely in black with a thick veil, sat in the front and watched in intense silence.

Normally the mare, known to her friends as Vinyl Scratch, though by many others as DJ-Pon3, was the epitome of excitement and energy. However, today she felt broken and beaten. She watched the tombstones, the ones that marked the empty graves of her parents, with an unwavering gaze. Even as the tears fell down her face, she refused to look away, as if scrutinizing the stones would make them disappear and her parents return.

Instead, the pastor droned on about how simple and short life could be, how the great always die young, how they were now in a better place. Vinyl didn't care, toning the pony out as she watched. Once the pastor finished, soft music began to fill the cemetery and one by one the ponies walked by her and gave their simple, practiced words of comfort. As if telling her how sorry they were could make the pain dampen or even disappear. A few of the less tactful ones even congratulated her on her fresh inheritance.

She longed to run at the grave stones, pound on them, to just say buck everypony else and make a scene beyond any before, though she forced herself to remain calm. Not for her sake, but for her parents. Their deaths were horrible and heartbreaking, she refused to make their final ceremony one to match. Once the final ponies finished their 'comforts', she quickly turned and trotted away, not caring when ponies called out to her. She'd done her duty, these ponies could go buck themselves if they thought she'd stick around at some morbid family get together.

She made her way to a small fountain, a damaged, ivy covered statue of a one winged pegasus dribbling a small trail of water from its mouth. She sat back against it and flung her veil to the ground, letting her neon blue mane free. She looked up at the statue. She even considered, for a moment, tearing off its other wing in her rage, but quickly abandoned the thought. She wondered if that was how it lost its first one. Instead, she dropped down, sat against the back of the fountain and sobbed. She wished she had been on that plane with them.

She didn't know how long she cried, but she was broken from the trance by a small bottle being pushed against her knees. “Here,” a woman's voice said.

Vinyl looked up to see another pony, wearing the same thick veil she had.

“What is it?” Vinyl asked, looking down at the bottle, before popping the cork and sniffing it. Just the smell made her cough as it assaulted her nose.

“It'll take the edge off,” the mare said. “Trust me, it makes it all hurt less. You'll need it before the day's done.”

“T-thanks, but I can handle it myself,” Vinyl mumbled, popping the cork back in. She wasn't going to get drunk and make a fool of herself on the day of her parents remembrance. At least, not until she got home.

“Oh, it's not for the funeral,” the mare said softly, before a small hoofgun with a silencer floated out from her veil, the end aimed at the unicorn. “It's for this. It may sting a b--”

“Drop it, Secretary,” another voice said from behind the black figure.

“0CT, of course,” the mare growled and slowly turned. Vinyl took the opportunity to dive to the left and throw the jar up, slamming it against the veiled pony's face. It shattered and drenched alcohol over her. The gun went off, embedding a bullet into fountain. “Mother bucking! Gahhh!” The mare shot wildly, getting off two shots before the gun was shot from her magical grip.

Vinyl looked up and saw an earth pony. It took her a few moments to recognize the mare, but it was definitely one of the members of the band. She still had her black bowtie on and her dark gray mane was combed back, undisturbed. A gun was held in her mouth, now missing one bullet.

The black garbed mare turned and growled. “Agent 0CT, I should have known. Just can't keep your hooves out of other pony's business, can you?”

“Don't move, Secretary. You're coming with me, like it or not.”

“I've told you before, my name isn't--”

“I said don't move!” the mare ordered, grinding a hoof into the ground. Vinyl stared up at the gray coated pony before finally scrambling behind her.

“What's going on? Who are you ponies?”

“Vinyl, I need you to listen to me and keep calm. There's a--” Agent 0CT let out a shriek as suddenly smoke filled the air, blocking her view of Secretary. She backed away and leveled the gun, but when the smoke was gone, so was the mare. “Damn it, she got away!”

“What's going on?” Vinyl asked again, looking around. “She pulled a gun on me, why would she—”

“There's no time for that,” the earth pony said before the gun disappeared into her tie, somehow, then she turned to Vinyl. “You need to come with me. Your life, and the lives of your parents, depends on it.”

“W-what? But my parents are--”

“Your parents are alive. Prisoners of the three doctors. You're going to need to help us if you ever want to see them again. Will you help us?”

“Who... who are you?”

“Octavia Melody, ma'am. Better known as agent 0CT, of the Equestrian Secret Service.”

“If I come, my parents will...”

“We can save them.”

“Then yes.” Vinyl held out her hoof. “I'll help.” Looking back, she'd realize that was the moment everything changed. Be it for good, or bad.

Into The Castle

Vinyl shoved the inner door to the castle open, though technically it was the outer door after the renovations the alibot had made. She looked around warily.

The place looked rather nice, with polished marble walls and steps, no dust and clean stained glass windows. There was a small, almost soothing hum in the air, caused by the magic coursing through the walls and floor. “Wish I had a place like this. Self cleaning would make it so much easier...” she muttered as she steeped deeper into the castle.

The room she entered had multiple doors, some leading forward and to each side. There were also curved stairs that led up to the second floor. The walls were blank, aside from the thick glass and mirrors that seemed to line almost every wall. To her surprise, there wasn't a single statue or portrait anywhere. Plenty of places where they could have been, though. She could almost make out the indents where they would have once hung, though the walls showed no sign of wear and tear.

She took a few steps forward, looking around. “Okay. First floor first. Locked doors,” she said with a smile before trotting around the room clockwise. They all opened to large, empty rooms until she came to the one opposite where she entered and directly between the stairs. “Hah!” She turned and gave it a buck. Magic coursed through her hooves before shooting up her legs. She went flying across the room, landing in a heap of pain, face first. “O-ow... o-okay. Time to... try another way...” she said with a groan before getting to her hooves.

Vinyl hummed as she looked around. She finally settled on one of the mirror, grinning wickedly as she reached for it, before shaking her head. “No no. Seven years bad luck. Best not to tempt fate.”

“Oh? But you're so very good at it,” Octavia said from behind her.

“Don't worry, Octy. I've got this. I ca-- Octy?” Vinyl turned around and leaped, tackle hugging the mare. “You're okay! I thought you'd gotten captured of blown up or fallen down a well!”

The mare paused and stared down at her with a cocked eye. “Of course not. I was merely indisposed. Come on, let's go.”

“Woo hoo!” the unicorn said happily, before pausing. “Wait, so you aren't going to tell me to run, or hide, or wait for you to come back?”

“Would you rather I did that?” the earth pony asked with a cocked eye.

“What? No! Of course not! So, where to? The locked door, right?”

Octavia slowly nodded. “Yes. The horn is down there...” She pulled out a small blue orb and held it to the door. A moment later there was a click and the door swung open.

“Cool, where'd you get that from?” Vinyl asked with a grin, before frowning. “Hey, where'd your tie go?”

“I lost it. I got this up stairs. I had to deal with a few... unmentionables, but we should have a clear way through now. Dr. Athruz is indisposed.”

Vinyl nodded as she trotted down the steps. Fresh torches had been lit as well. The steps were the same marble as the rest of the castle. She looked around as she went, gently nibbling on her lower lip. “You sure it's down here?”

“Yes. I can guarantee it.”

“How? Did they tell you? Who'd you fight up there?”

“Dr. Athruz. It's been dealt with.”

Vinyl nodded and sighed. “So ummmm... all we gotta do is grab the horn and get out of here, right? Nothing else?”

“Nothing else. We grab it and go.”

“Sooo... what happens to the barrier outside when we get the horn?”

“It'll likely dissipate soon after we grab the horn. We'll have to move fast to get back to our submarine. Assuming you want to live.”

Vinyl slowly nodded as they came down to the bottom of the steps. She let out a soft gasp.

The chamber they entered had mirrors on all three walls, reflecting the contents of the room. A single white podium stood with a golden and gem encrusted horn, long enough to put even the princesses' horns to shame, hovering over it. In fact, it was long enough that most ponies would have had to duck before going through the door. She sighed and moved forward, feeling another tingling sensation as she stepped closer. “Is... that it?”

“Yes, now take it,” Octavia said. She stood at the bottom of the steps, not stepping into the room. “Well?”

Vinyl moved closer to the hovering horn. She reached a hoof out towards it, before pulling back. “Are... are you sure? I mean, shouldn't we prepare first? Study it? Find out a bit about it?”

“No! Just take it and let's go!” Octavia hissed.

Vinyl sighed and reached out a hoof, the tingling increasing. She pulled her hoof back again. “I... I don't know. Are you sure? I mean, if it's this easy, why didn't others take it?”

“Only a unicorn can go past the enchantments blocking it. It has to be you. Go! Hurry, we don't have forever!”

Vinyl reached out and paused again. She blinked a few times and pulled a hoof back. Slowly she backed away from it. “Something about it... doesn't feel right. Are you sure? I mean... they had a unicorn with them, didn't they? Dr. Alicity's assistant was a unicorn. Why couldn't she do it?”

The mare sighed. “Because her blood wasn't right. Hurry, we don't have much time. Dr. Athruz won't be gone forever. I only knocked him out.”

Vinyl nodded and took a step forward. “F-fine... after this, let's go get some pizzas, okay?” She gently ground a hoof into the ground.

“Whatever you like. Once the world is safe we'll get a hundred pizzas.”

“With extra cheese?”

“Whatever you like.”

“Can we get some sundaes too? Hey, we can split a banana split! Extra whipped cream?”

“Sure. I love whipped cream. Now grab the horn so we can go.”

Vinyl slowly nodded. She then whipped around and lunged forward, tackling the mare into the ground. Octavia let out a startled shriek, shaking her head. “Vinyl, have you gone mad? What are you doing?”

The unicorn glared, her horn glowing. “Octy's allergic to dairy.” She shot down a beam of red magic into the mare, making her scream. “I know over a dozen offensive spells. Who are you?”

“I-I am O-Octavia, you fool!” the mare screamed. “I wasn't listening to what you said! I-I just wanted you to grab the horn!”

Vinyl glared. “Fine then, answer a few questions.” She didn't move from her position, her hooves pinning the mare down. “If you're the real Octavia, you'll have to remember them.” She leaned in close. “What was it that led to our truce?”

Octavia glowered. “Vinyl, we don't have time for this, just--”

“Answer the question or I start zapping...” Her horn glowed threateningly.

Octavia sighed and tried to think for a moment. She slowly nodded. “Your... parents.”

Her hoof slackened slightly. “What about my parents?”

“We had to call a truce to save them.”

Vinyl blinked and slowly nodded. “Oh...” A grin flashed on her lips as she jammed her hoof down on the mare's throat. “Where's Octavia? Don't think just because I'm not one of them secret agents I won't snap you like a twig. I've been through more training than any pony has a right to.”

“Grrk... b-but V-vi--”

“Don't. I've not an—”

Octavia's eyes glowed green before she sent a blast of green energy into the mare, sending her hurtling backwards. Vinyl landed on the ground with a groan, her eyes little swirls as she tried to refocus. “W-wha... was the... license on that carriage...” she said softly.

Octavia growled and got to her hooves, trotting down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom step, letting out a curse. “Very well, Vinyl. You've figured it out. I'm not Octavia.” Her voice got deeper and harsher. “But that doesn't matter. If you ever want to see your precious little agent 0CT again, you'll grab the horn and give it to me. If you don't she di-- eep!” The earth pony found herself suddenly trampled by the mare.

Vinyl's horn glowed with magic as she began shooting small balls of energy at the earth pony. “Where is Octy?!” the unicorn roared as she gripped the earth pony by the shoulders and slammed her into the stairs, again and again. After a few powerful, crushing slams she let the mare regather herself.

“Up... up stairs... just... ohhhh... my h-head...” the mare whined, her eyes little swirls.

“Up stairs where?” She lifted the pony's shoulders again.

“S-second floor, locked door, t-take the gem, it unlocks the door!” the mare shrieked, motioning to the gem on her hip.

“Good,” Vinyl said, before stomping on the mare's stomach one last time for good measure, taking the stone in her magic and galloping off. She ignored the moans from below. She took the steps three at a time, practically leaping as she ran, panting lightly by the time she made it back to the main floor. She paused for a moment, before slamming the door shut behind her. “Hopefully that'll lock her up long enough.” She then turned towards the spiraling stairs that led to the second door. “Okay. Don't worry Octy, I'm coming!”

She galloped up the next batch of stairs, only tripping once as she ran. The next floor had three hallways heading deeper into the castle and making her shake her head. She could see half a dozen doors down the nearest one, though the hallways branched off to the right. “This'll take forever...” She hummed for a moment. “OCTAVIA! OCTY! TAVI! MARE WITH THE UP TIGHT FLANK!” she called out, before listening. She waited for the sounds of indignation or anger. But there was none. A cold brush of dread went down her back. “Please be okay...”

She galloped through the hall, shoving open doors and looking into each room as she went. The rooms were all empty, just mirrors, stone and windows. There were plenty of locations where portraits likely once hung, but now they were all gone. The first hall was completely devoid of any locked doors, so she ran to the second. On the third door she slammed face first into it when the knob refused to turn.

Vinyl took a few steps back, dazed and confused. She then shook her head and smiled. “Hah! Gotcha! It's always the middle door... or hall.” She pointed her hoof accusingly at the door. “Now open!”

The door didn't move.

“Oh. Right.” She held the stone aloft. “Now open!” There was a moment for the stone to glow, then the door clicked and slowly opened a few inches. She shoved it open.

A moment later the world exploded around her and she was sent hurtling back against the wall, collapsing on the ground. The world blinked in and out of existence and she saw Octavia walking down the hall towards her.

“You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you? Silly agents...”

The world disappeared into blackness.