Manehattan Project

“And it's funny how when somebody saves you, the first thing you want to do is save other people. All other people. Everybody. The kid never knew the man's name. But he never forgot that smile. "Hero" isn't the first word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

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Canterlot Castle

Canterlot, Equestria

Sparks stumbled towards the dais of the throne room, shoving his way through the courtiers and the party goers. To them, he looked like a homeless drunk, and he felt like it. His head was swimming and he hadn't shaven in a while. When he reached it, Princes Twilight and Princess Celestia were standing there "Princess," Sparks gasped "please, you have to listen to me. You need to evacuate the castle now!"

"On what grounds?" Celestia asked.

"There's a bomb," Spark said "I don't know what kind, but we think it's somewhere in the cereemonial throne room. It's part of an ongoing investigation which began with the poisoning of ten of your personal guard in Manehattan. The Canterlot Capall are behind it."

"The who?" Twilight asked "I've never heard of them."

"Nor did I expect that you should your majesty," Sparks said "please, listen to me. You have to get everyone out!"

"I don't think that we'll stop the Galla," Celestia said "on a mere whim. I'm sorry sir, but I do believe it is you who should leave the building."

"Please!" Sparks begged "you have to get everyone out! I don't know when it'll go off and I don't know who will set it..."

"Guards," Celestia said "please escort this pony out of the Galla, he's worse than Discord."

"Please, your majesty," Sparks said "at least let me use a phone to contact my ponies in the agency."

"Very well," Celestia said begrudgingly "I think there's one by that pillar."

Sparks rushed over and dialed the number to the HQ, a somewhat arrogant and haughty voice answered him back "Hello?"

"Bristle!"

"Sparks?' Bristle asked sitting up in his chair back in Ops at the HQ "how did you get out?"

"No time to explain," Sparks said urgently "I don't know how, but there's a bomb here."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a feeling that I got," he said hurridly "Vision was right after all."

"Who?"

"Swift Vision," Sparks said "remember? We interrogated him yesterday."

"Boss," Bristle said "you okay? I'll send some pony to look after you."

"No," Sparks said closing his eyes, and then opening them "don't send a medical orderly though, send Steele and Night. I need them here as quickly as possible!"

"Roger that," Bristle said "ten four boss."

As soon as he hung up the phone, Sparks walked back over towards the steps, when he reached the bottom of them, he raised his pistol and fired twice "Everypony listen up!" He said "out! Out, out, out, out, out, out!"

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"What the hay is he doing?" Steele said incredulously as he and Night boarded an agency helicopter.

"Sparks has his own way of doing things," Night said "sometimes, a bit on the melodramatic side."

"A flare for drama you mean?" Steele said grinning as he strapped on his Kevlar vest, Night was copying him and she looked up

"Of course," she said "I mean wouldn't you if you were in his position?"

"You mean," Steele said "constantly putting myself in harms way so that I could be melodramatic?"

"Exactly," Night said, now it was her time to grin.

"You know," Steele said as the helicopter rose in the air like an ungainly brick attempting flight for the first time "I want to know something?"

"Shoot," Night replied.

"How come you two never ended up together?" Steel asked "I mean, you guys would make some wonderful kids."

A now, familiar phrase came up to Agent Night's mind as she retorted "Wouldn't you like to know?"

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Canterlot Castle

Canterlot, Equestria

Celestia looked down at him indignantly. Both had were standing up and walking towards him. Twilight spoke first exclaiming "What are you doing?'

"Your majesty," Sparks said "I'm not crazy, you simply have to get every pony out of here!"

"What if we do?" Celestia said "what happens then?"

"My ponies will do a bomb sweep," Sparks said "it's possible that it might not..."

At that moment, an explosion rocked the entire castle. Sparks dived slamming his body into Celestia as he felt a hot searing pain in his left shoulder. He looked, and a piece of Celestia's throne was jabbing out about twelve inches. He was still in shock, so therefore, he could move and it wasn't too painful...for the moment. Ponies were screaming and blood was everywhere. Five ponies, apparently friends of Twilight galloped up to him "Are you alright?" one of them asked. She had three butterflies as her cutie mark and Sparks simply grunted as he stood up "I'll be alright," he said "You know Twilight?"

"Know her?" A blue Pegasi with a Rainbow cutie mark exclaimed "of..."

"Then get her out of here," Sparks said taking his good hoof and grabbing the unconscious body of Celestia by the Mane "I don't think it's over yet."

Suddenly, Sparks caught something in the air. The other ponies didn't because they hadn't spent hours in the lab room smelling different poisons. He caught one and he shouted "Get out! For the love of Celestia get out! Gas, gas, gas!"

They stumbled out of the throne room. There were several ponies laying injured on the broken tiles and shattered stained glass. Sparks knew that in a matter of seconds, they could be dead, because devastating as the explosion was, that was only temporary. Blindness, burning pain, heavy breathing or suffocation. That wasn't the way he would want to go. He looked at the ponies that were trotting next to him "You'll have to take Celestia out too," Sparks said "get as far away from the castle as you can. It's the new contaminated zone."

"The what?" asked one of the ponies who had three apples as a cutie mark.

"Just get them both out of here," Spark said and ran as fast as his injured limb would allow him too. He got back to the throne room and two ponies were standing there. Both were wearing filtration masks to protect them from the gas "Well," one of them said. He was the shorter of the two, but he recognized Specter and growled "You lied to me Specter."

"Of course I did," he said "I know who my boss is."

Reverent Wing walked over to one of the groaning ponies on the tile and shot him in the head "Don't look surprised," he said in response to Spark's outrage "you're next!'

With that both Sparks and Specter drew their pistols...and pointed them at Reverent Wing.

"Drop it Wing," Specter said "it's over and you're under arrest."

"Specter," Wing said raising both hands "what is this? Some kind of sick joke?"

"No Wing," Specter said "my name is Jade Specter, undercover agent for the Equestria Bureau of Intelligence. I've been monitoring you for the past six months and I have it all on tape. You're finished Wing. You're crime days are over and this is the last straw."

"Is that a fact?" Wing said and took his pistol and attempted to aim it at Specter, but before he could pull the trigger, Sparks pulled his. The bullet hit the gun and going through his hoof. Sparks, out of no lack of respect, shot him twice more in the knee caps. Wing went down and Specter cuffed him.

"I thought I caught something different about you," Sparks said "you wouldn't have helped me otherwise."

"We'll see in the report," Specter said hauling Wing to his hoofs and handing Sparks a spare mask "how come the gas hasn't affected you?"

"I think you're antidote is still having a little affect," Sparks said as he donned his mask "but also, I kind of got this chair leg protruding from my shoulder. The shock helped reduce the affects."

"And I thought it was simply your amazing stamina," Specter said grinning.