My Little Operator

Canterlot
Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

Grey Vulcan stood before his class, observing them in silence with a stoic expression. "Good morning, class," he warmly greeted them.

The class collectively answered him back, "Good morning, Mister Grey Vulcan!"

"I have to go do some super secret government stuff to save the world and while I am gone," he nodded to the doorway and a Griffin stepped through the doorway after ducking to fit, "Mister Maximus Caeparius Osterianus will be your substitute teacher."

Maximus bowed before the class, "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, class."

Diamond Dancer raised her hoof; her enthusiasm almost threw her from her seat.

"Speak," he pointed a hoof at her.

"What kind of 'super secret government stuff'?!" she asked with a beaming grin.

"The kind of super secret government stuff that will keep all of you children safe," he smiled at them.

Hyacinth Bloom raised her hoof and waited for her teacher to call her. She spoke up when she was allowed to, "Please be careful, Mister Grey Vulcan."

"I will be all right, Miss Bloom," he assured her.

"Yeah, don't throw out your back or break a hip!" Diamon Dancer quipped. The whole class laughed with her.

Grey smiled and turned to the brown feathered Griffin, "Aren't they just precious? Make sure she runs a hundred laps around the school, ja?"

Diamond Dancer slumped over her desk in defeat, the consequences of her jeering far outweighing the brief laughter she got from the class.

Grey returned his attention to his class, keeping his eyes as mist free as possible, "Now, this may be the only time I allow this, but if you don't want to, I will understand." He stood on his back hooves and opened his fore hooves wide for a hug.

Skippy Sparkles was the first one to jump out of her seat and fly to her teacher and hug him tightly. The rest of the class followed suit all with big smiles. They ended their group hug and returned to their seats. Grey cocked his brow and smiled at the filly who didn't join them.

Diamond Dancer rolled her eyes and sheepishly made her way over to him.

He knelt down and hugged her warmly. "You may use your wings," he whispered in her ear.

She sighed and wrapped her forelegs around as much of his neck as she could, "I'll be on my best behavior."

"I would hope so," he ended their embrace and spoke to the class, "Max eats bad little colts and fillies, don't you, Mister Max?"

"For breakfast, lunch, and dinner," the Griffin affirmed.

"Alright, class, I have to go save the world now," he turned to leave.

Maximus saluted Grey, "Good luck, Colonel."

"Try not to eat too many of them, alright? I am rather attached to them." Grey smiled, placed a hoof on the Griffin's shoulder, then left out the door.

"How did it go?" Twilight asked as Grey Vulcan clambered into the Mustang.

"Heartbreaking," Grey droned, "Let's go meet up with Onyx."

Onyx walked down the street. The sun shone down on him, warming his black scales, a cool breeze blew came down from the mountain, and ponies stopped to look at him. Onyx was used to the looks, and frankly, he quite enjoyed them. By dragon standards, Onyx was a medium sized dragon, seven feet tall from horn to heel, with a twelve-feet wingspan, and a nine-feet-long tail. Being forty-three was nowhere to being middle-aged, in fact, in certain circles of the Dragon hierarchy, he would be considered, at best, a teenager.

He got a fairly decent workout from walking from the train station to the donut shop; he wanted to work up an appetite. Walking fifteen miles should do the trick. He was sitting in a front, dragon friendly, booth for about twenty minutes when he saw Thatcher walk in, after letting a lavender unicorn enter before him.

"Hey, Thatch," Onyx smiled, "How's it go" a bag of bits landed on the table cutting him off. A large bag of bits.

"Your six hundred bits," Grey grinned.

Understanding lit up Onyx's face and eyes, "I knew it!"

Grey slid down the booth and Twilight sat beside him.

"This is my associate, IQ," Grey introduced Twilight.

"So, we're playing that game still? Alright," Onyx reached over and held Twilight's right hoof and gently kissed it, "A pleasure to meet you, IQ."

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Glaz," Twilight flustered.

"'Mister,' I'm not nearly old enough to be called 'mister,'" Onyx pouted.

"We have somewhere else we gotta be so I'm gonna make this quick: are you in or not?" Grey asked impatiently.

"Is Mute still around?" Onyx asked as he stuffed a donut in his mouth.

"Yes."

"Will there be cuties?"

"Sure."

". . .What's the pay?"

"Doubled."

"Fuck yeah, I'm in!" Onyx exclaimed.

Grey turned to Twilight, "Go order a few donuts to go, please?"

"Oh, uh, sure," Twilight excused herself from the two.

Grey leaned over the table and beckoned Onyx closer. "We believe a terrorist cell is behind the attacks. They are getting bigger and bolder," he whispered.

'Gotcha, comrade. I'll get in touch with my contacts in the State Security Committee and share what they have," Onyx replied in a hushed tone.

"What are you two suspiciously whispering about over here?" Twilight asked with a sly smile.

Grey sat back in the booth, "He asked if you were single and I told him firmly, yet politely, to drop dead."

Onyx reared his head back and erupted into thunderous laughter. He wiped a joyful tear from his eye with a claw, and heaved a happy sigh, "Oh, Thatch, I forgot how funny you are. I haven't laughed like that in years." He finished off his glass of water and cleared his throat. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a business card. He slid it along the table to Grey, "Contact me when things are in order, da?"

Grey levitated the card with his yellow magic and hid it away in his suit jacket pocket, "Da." He stood up to leave.

"IQ," the lavender unicorn turned to the dragon who called her, 'Don't be a stranger," he winked playfully.

Twilight blushed slightly and trotted after Grey.

After an hour of silence, Twilight felt the urge to ask, "What was your deal at the Wonderbolt's Academy?"

Grey munched on a donut caught in his magic, "What do you mean?" he returned without removing his eyes from the road.

"You barely said anything and kept your distance from her as if she was going to bite your head off or something."

"Ah. I, uh, hate heights. Being up in the clouds made me woozy."

"You were clutching the armrests pretty tightly on the plane. . ." Twilight mused.

"If the Mother had wanted me to fly, she would have made me a Pegasus. That's all I'm saying," Grey replied defensively.

Twilight smirked and picked up the top dossier to read.

Name: Vinyl Scratch

Callsign: N/A

Alias: DJ Pon-3

Age: 24

Place of Birth: Manehattan

Height: 5' 4"

Weight: 249 lbs.

Background: Vinyl Scratch is a prodigy when it comes to electronics and music. A recent graduate of Manehattan Institute of Technology, with a Masters in Electronic Engineering. She doesn't have any combat experience, but she had contributed many gadgets to the Equestrian Army to make ends meet when her DJ career was first starting off.

Psychological Profile: Miss Scratch is rather taciturn but loves making music. She is cooperative, collective, and calm under pressure.

Training: Manehattan Institute of Technology: Masters in Electronic Engineering, 4th Degree Black Belt in Hoof-fu

Relevant Experience: Multiple awards and certificates for Hoof-fu

Notes: While she does not have any combat experience nor training, Vinyl Scratch is an avid martial artist and a fast learner.

Twilight set the folder down and picked up a second.

Name: Rarity

Callsign: N/A

Age: 29

Place of Birth: Prance

Height: 5' 6"

Weight: 234 lbs

Background: Miss Rarity is a private military contractor and fashion designer. The Equestrian Army recently reached out to her to see if she was up to the task of creating a bullet resistant material, and she delivered. "Dragon Weave" is twenty times stronger than steel.

Psychological Profile: Miss Rarity, while prone to dramatic outburst, is kind and generous. Her accent and speech often construe her as uptight and haughty, but that can not be further from the truth. She dislikes getting her hooves or coat dirty, yet she would walk a mile in mud to help a friend. Her attention to detail borderlines obsessive compulsive. While she is rational, when pushed to the extremes, she has been known to have mental breakdowns.

Training: Twenty years of kickboxing

Relevant Experience: Creation of Dragon Weave, multiple lightweight kickboxing championships

Notes: We believe that coupled with Team Rainbow electronic engineers, her expertise with fabrics could help with the development of stealth cloaking technology for clothing.

"Rarity? I have heard of her. She is world famous," Twilight commented.

"Looks like she is going to have to use a disguising spell. You should, too, now that I think about it. In fact, I am using one now. Black is not my natural color," Grey spoke.

"Really?"

"Seriously."

"Hmm," Twilight thought about disguising herself. It was not too difficult of a spell and lasted for a long time. She picked up the third dossier and read it contents.

Name: Applejack

Callsign: N/A

Rank: Sergeant Major

Age: 28

Place of Birth: Ponyville

Height: 5' 7'

Weight: 250 lbs.

Background: Applejack is the middle child of three siblings. She joined the Ponyville Defense Force at eighteen when she saw how the Changelings destroyed and ravaged her home. She helps out with the family apple orchard and is a handymare of sorts around Ponyville.

Psychological Profile: Applejack is truly the definition of pragmatic. She believes that "honesty is the best policy." She is hard working, strong, and dependable.

Training: Ten years with the PDF, A class license

Relevant Experience: Basic and Advanced PDF training, ten years inactive duty

Notes: N/A

"She seems like an excellent candidate," Twilight commented.

"About as good as any meat shield," Grey remarked darkly.

Twilight's jaw dropped.

"Sorry, video game talk," he chuckled. He cleared his throat, "So, are you going to do that spell now or later?"

"I like being purple," she frowned, "but I know it is for my safety." Her horn glowed as she focused on the spell.

"Not just for your safety, Twilight, but for your fam" he stopped to stare at the new mare beside him. She was magenta, with a long golden mane that hugged her face, and spectacular bright green eyes. He was lost in his memories.

"Grey," he heard her speak from the depths of his mind and his heart melted, "Grey!"

A loud blaring horn brought Grey back to his senses, and he swerved in time to miss the truck. The car skidded off the road and did donuts in the dirt before coming to a stop.

Grey Vulcan slumped against the steering wheel.

"Grey?" Twilight called to him gently.

"Change," he croaked.

"What?"

"You can't! Look! Like! Her!" he turned to her with grief-stricken eyes and tears streaming down his cheeks, "It's bad enough you sound and remind me of her!" He stormed out of the car and walked over to the wooden fence he nearly broke down. He rested his forehooves on the top of the wooden post, drawing deep breaths to calm himself down. "It's. . . not her fault. . ." he whispered to nopony in particular.

Twilight dispelled her disguise, but before she could step out to comfort her former teacher, a picture in the driver's visor caught her eye. A picture of a red stallion, holding a white bundle that had a small, maroon snout stick out of it, with his arms around a mare. . . a mare that looked exactly like her disguise.