Manehattan Project

"It does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and the moon, nor does it take sharp ears to hear the thunderclap. Wisdom is not obvious. You must see the subtle and notice the hidden to be victorious." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"Sparks," a voice from the darkness urgently whispered "Sparks! What in the hay are you doing here?"

Sparks groaned and tried moving his head. He was tied to a chair and couldn't open his eyes "Where am I?"

"In the Canterlot Capall HQ," the voice said "I gotta get you outta here."

The pony started cutting his ropes and Sparks collapsed on the floor.

"It's worse than I thought," the voice whispered.

"Really now?" Sparks said "I thought I just cracked my head open while pole dancing?"

"Come on," the voice said "let's get you out."

The pony dragged Sparks through a series of twisting passages and corridors which went unnoticed by Sparks. Trying to blink his eyes open Sparks asked "Who are you again?"

"A friend Agent Sparks," the pony said. He was dark grey, strongly built, and had a short cropped mane. His eyes were brown and his stride was quietly confident. The pony quickened his place a little "I can get you out of the complex, but you have to help yourself once I get you clear."

"How long was I in there?"

"About three days," the pony said "you don't remember?'

"No," Sparks said "should I have?"

"That must have been the serum they injected you with," the grey pony said "it's an antidote to the gas which they flooded the room you were in with when they kidnapped you."

"What about the other agents?"

"Agent Night is safe, as were the rest of your team. Reverent Wing only wanted you and he predicted that you would send them out so as to try and save as many lives as possible. He also figured that you were preparing more for a bomb blast rather than a simple gas leak," the pony said. They arrived next to a dumpster behind one of the houses in downtown Canterlot. The grey pony set him gently down "I think I should go back," the pony said.

"Nope," said Sparks grunting with the pain of getting up "because..."

At that exact moment, the radio which the grey pony was wearing squawked "Specter, come in, Specter." Specter plucked the radio from his jacket and raised it to his lips "Specter here," he said "come in Con."

"We have an escaped prisoner," the voice on the other end said "Agent Sparks has escaped from his cell. We need all ponies who are not in essential duties to assist in the pony hunt."

"Roger that," Specter said "ten four, Specter out."

"What's up?"

"They're looking for you Sparks," Specter said grinning "now do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

"Punch me eight times in the face," Specter said "then shoot me."

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Manehattan Central Police Station

500 E 200 South

"Where the hay is he?" Agent Steele slammed his hoof against a filing cabinet.

"Patience Steele," Bristle said sipping a cup of tea "and be nice to the filing cabinet. It is an innocent victim and did absolutely nothing to disrupt the progress of this case."

"How the hay was he taken from directly under our noses?"

"Who Sparks?"

"Nah," Steele exclaimed "a Changling!"

"Okay, okay," Bristle said "it was quite simple actually. There was a storm drain in the basement of the warehouse. It wasn't built with it in, but simply added on by our bad ponies and connected to the existing sewage system."

"You still haven't answered my question Bristle!"

"Alright," Bristle said "after reviewing several sewage and survey maps I've concluded that the only way they could've gotten him away quickly was through helicopter or by boat. Since, we are assuming that these were the Canterlot Capall then it was probably by helicopter."

"Wouldn't that be pretty obvious in Canterlot?" Night asked with curiosity wrinkling her forehead "I mean, they're a pretty common sight here in Manehattan, but not so much there. They'd stick out like a sore hoof."

"Not if they landed on the outskirts of the city," Bristle interjected "if they're about five, maybe, ten miles out, you wouldn't see, let alone hear one of those birds as they landed. These guys are pretty well trained Night. They're not your amateur pie bakers here."

"Pie bakers?"

"Well," Bristle said "I was thinking since they cooked this all up that I'd use a..."

"We get it Bristle," Steele interrupted "so you think that they're in Canterlot?"

"Somewhere there," Bristle said "but that's a safe bet. I mean, the only reason why they'd have their own ponies here would be to damage our capabilities as an agency with monitoring their branches of operations here."

"I'll contact Shining Armor," Steele said "he'll assist in the ponyhunt for Special Agent Sparks. Also, Night if you're ready and able, I want you with me. We got ourselves into this mess with Sparks and we sure's hay not leaving it without him."

"Yes sir," Night said nodding in agreement.

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Canterlot Castle

Canterlot, Equestria

The streets were crowded with ponies that evening, Sparks didn't know why, but he guessed that there was some sort of function going on, maybe a party at the palace or some other formal function. There were many ponies dressed up, through deduction, he decided on the latter and went inside. Reverent Wing looked through his binoculars with his second in command, Specter standing by him "Well, well," Wing said "good old predictable Sparks. Did he buy your story Specter?"

"Pretty sure he did boss," Specter said grinning wolfishly  "guess he's not as smart as those reports we got from the boys in Manehattan."

"Don't be too sure," Wing said "I've had a few tussles with old Sparky back in my younger days. He never caught me, but he also meddled quite a bit in my personal affairs."

"I see boss," Specter said "cigar sir?"

"No thanks," Wing replied "I gotta concentrate on the happenings down below. The Grand Galloping Galla goers are gonna get a nasty surprise."

"What do you mean sir?"

"Remember that bomb we planted in Celestia's chair?" Wing asked.

"Sure boss," Specter said "I remember."

"Well," Wing said "it's not your conventional bomb. We placed a deadly airborne toxin in there, so that when it goes POOF!, everyone playing dress-up down there'll get a nasty surprise."

"How does this serve the interests of the Capall?"

"The Capall? Oh right," Wing said "in reality, it doesn't. I just used their political motivations to get me what I wanted. Think of all the chaos which will be caused by this one, blast! Old Shining Armor will have his shiny rear full of problems. His precious Candace and even his sister Twiley-Wiley or whatever they call her are gonna be so full of gas that they my pass out, and die instantly. Great thing is? I gots the antidote in crates stashed all across Canterlot. When the time comes, I'll announce that I have it and the Royal Treasury will basically be my own personal pocket book."

"So," Specter laughed "you're playing both sides aren't ya boss?"

"Yeah," Wing said "and the very famous, renowned, and respected Special Agent Jolt Sparks, will be the one who sets off the whole shebang."

"So why kidnap him boss?"

"Why," Wing said "to bring him here! You really didn't think we'd interrogate him did ya?"

"I thought we would boss," Specter said "thought maybe, uh, he could give us some valuable information about what N.E.I.S. has on us?"

"Good thinking Specter," Wing said "that's why you're my second in command. Now, the reason why you're not the top pony around here is because I'm the one with the brains of this outfit. Look, I knew that Sparks wouldn't tell us a thing, he's too well trained for that. That's why I had you feed him the false story about how long we kept him, and also about the ponyhunt. I knew that he'd be still dazed from not only the antidote, but also from the knockout drug we gave him on the flight over here. In reality, he was only in our special company for a couple of hours."

"You're right boss," Specter grinned "that's why you're the number one pony!"

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Sparks stumbled in the bright and well lit room of party goers. Ponies with whom he'd never seen or met before were quietly chatting and drinking. Soft violin music was playing in the background and there was an horderves table. He felt his side. Ironically, and strangely, he felt his gun at his waste. For some reason, Wing had left it there. It was a little too convenient and it made Sparks suspicious. A butler walked up to him "Sir," he said rather snobbishly "I believe that there was a dress code for this function?"

"Sorry I didn't get the memo," Sparks said shoving past him "could you tell me where the Princess is?'