Prologue: The Conception of Spectrum Cloudpuff
"I'm sorry Miss Yearling, but unless you somehow find a way to bring Daring Do back from the dead, you either find a new series that is equally as popular or we're going to have to drop you"
"But...! But..."
"No buts"
Yearling furrowed her brow in panic and melancholy, I mean, who would be happy after being told that their book series was on the decline? It wasn't necessarily her fault however, after a rather action packed adventure, she was on her way back home when she ended up having a really bad accident, resulting in an injury that dealt permanent damage. Although she didn't want to, A.K Yearling, also known as Daring Do was forced to quit adventuring for good. This put her in a dilemma though, because she was now forced to come up with new and original ideas for her book series, but considering that the Daring Do franchise was practically an unofficial autobiography series, she didn't really know what to do. It wasn't long until ponies began complaining about the lack of originality in her newest tales, fans began constantly talking about how repetitive the new books were and how similar they were to the first ones, so much so that ponies began writing articles about how Yearling was apparently 'running out of ideas' or 'losing her writer's touch', because of this her publishing agency were beginning to lose money, and now she was put in a position where she had to either make a new book series that makes as much of a splash as The Adventures of Daring Do or they would drop her.
"There's no need to jump the gun so quickly hehe..." the pegasus nervously chuckled "don't worry about it, I'll just... make a new series... yeah..."
The publisher, a middle aged pony named Ivory Spark, frowned "are you sure Yearling? The fans are starting to lose interest in your work, if you don't come up with a hot new idea you're through-"
"Okay!" Yearling snapped "I get it! Damn..."
Ivory gave a nod before putting on what looked to be a pair of reading glasses "I'm glad you do" she said before looking up again "anyway, I have a meeting with Malorie Blackmare soon, unlike a certain somepony she seems like a promising protege in the writing industry"
"Why? Because she's popular with all the urban foals?" Yearling snorted, causing Ivory to glare.
"My statement was not an invitation for more conversation, it was a gateway for your exit" although she wanted to give a snarky response, Yearling remembered that her position in the publishing agency was on the line, and she feared that if she pushed her luck with Ivory too much she would have it ripped from underneath her like a rug. So, instead she simply stood up, gave a polite bow and scurried out of the intimidating unicorn's office.
Her walk home was a drag, she was looking around her in hopes that she would find some sort of inspiration for this new project that she had promised, but said new project had to appeal to her fans "what about a romance story? Nah, they wouldn't like that... I could write one of those Y.A novels... but then they'd think I'm ripping off Blackmare's work... oooh, maybe a horror thriller? Nah, ponies would just compare it to Stephan Colt's work, and there's no way I'd be that good..." this internal dialogue went on for as long as her walk was, and it wasn't long until she was walking through her front door and entering her home, she was back in the comfort of her own home, back to being just Daring Do, the retired adventurer. The mare then slumped herself onto her bed, exhaling a heavy sigh before groaning. Writing was so much fun when she was just describing all of her adventures and reliving those moments through scrolls and novels, but now that she had to write her own books she honestly didn't know what to do.
The author's pondering came to a screeching halt when she heard something slam into her front door, most would have been freaked out, but she knew exactly who it was. She got up off her bed and walked to the front door, there stood a grey mare with a scruffy blonde mane.
"Hey there Ditzy" she greeted with a smile.
"Hi Daring! I brought your mail!" the clumsy mare grinned. Now, if one was told that the two were related they probably wouldn't believe it, but alas, there Daring was standing in front of her younger, and much dumber sister.
The mailmare dropped a huge pile of letters in front of her "It's mostly fan mail, I made sure to preview 'em and throw away the creepy ones, just like ya asked!"
Thank Celestia, the author didn't think she could handle another twelve page AhuizotlxDaringDo rated M 18+ fanfiction "Thanks Ditzy, wanna come in? I can make tea"
The mailmare shook her head "I wish I could, but if I don't deliver all of these letter by sundown my boss is gonna kill me!"
Daring chuckled at the other's predicament before nodding "It's cool, I'll see ya later, alright?"
Ditzy had already began hovering with a flap of her wings, before waving a hoof and soaring off "byyeee Dariiing!"
Daring soon dragged her huge pile of fan mail into her living room and decided that instead of stressing over her newest venture in fiction, she would spend the rest of her day opening fan mail. Minus the creepy stuff that had been thrown out, it was the usual, letters from adoring fans that looked up to her, harsh critiques from unknown critics, cool fanart from artists, adorable fanart from kids, it was the usual. She then came across a letter from a fan who's name she recognized, this fan often sent in letters to her and although Daring didn't know her personally, she often heard her name being spoken with high praise and always saw her in the press.
Dear A.K Yearling
Hey, it's me again! I just wanted to write to you because I finally got to read Daring Do and the Princess Heist, and even though everyone else seems to jack on it, I think it's one hell of an awesome book!
I've heard other ponies who claim to be fans say that they think your stuff is getting boring now, I don't think so, I just think you might be getting burnt out. I mean, if I had to write the same book series with the same characters over and over again, I'd get pretty bored too!
Basically what I'm saying is, don't be afraid to show us new stuff! You're like the only cool author out right now anyway, I tried some others, but they're either too cheesy, too boring or too sad, you're not! You're A.K Yearling!
Also, it might not mean much to you but even if everyone else decides to stop rocking with you, just know I'll ALWAYS be your biggest fan!
From, Rainbow Dash
Daring had to admit, learning that THE Rainbow Dash was a fan of hers, a dedicated fan no less, made her feel a bit jittery. The mare was a national hero, she was a respected flyer among many and she was basically a celebrity, and at the time, the Daring Do novels weren't as popular as they soon came to be, so knowing that such a... a legend read her books and was a fan of hers was more than humbling.
She decided to migrate to her room and finish off there, sitting at her writer's desk, but as she began writing response letters, her mind wondered back to that mare, Rainbow Dash. It was funny, despite being a hero and national treasure, she had come to learn that according to the press, Rainbow Dash was just a regular pony. If interviews were anything to go by, she was as humble as she was cocky, and although she had mystical powers, she liked reading and lounging about and was a fan of the Wonderbolts. It was more than awe inspiring, and it made the grey haired mare sit back and reminisce on everything she knew about the wondrous Rainbow Dash, Element of Harmony, helped save Equestria countless times, pulled off the legendary sonic rainboom, everything about her was so... unbelievable. Sure, Daring had been on her own fair share of adventures, but nothing on the level of what that multicolored mare had accomplished, that coupled with her surprisingly down-to-earth yet self assured personality...
She'd make a great story protagonist.
"She'd make a great- wait a second..." Daring placed her foreleg on the desk, resting her head against her hoof as her face became that of intrigue, she was right, Rainbow Dash would make a great protagonist! She had the memorable appearance, marketable personality as well as her achievements, if Daring were to say, write a book series about her, it would most certainly be a hit, especially with her core fanbase. However, she couldn't just write about Dash, unlike herself the sky blue mare didn't go by a pseudonym, and as far as everypony else was concerned, Rainbow Dash was a real pony, writing about her, especially without permission was the quickest way to get sued "well, I guess that idea's gone down the drain..."
Why not just make a Rainbow Dash inspired character, as opposed to actually writing about Rainbow Dash?
"Why not just make- woah..." a smirk soon developed on the ex-adventurer's face "I am on a roll today!" she grabbed her pencil, before sliding a spare sheet of blank paper on her desk, and then immediately beginning to brainstorm ideas for this new character. As stated, this character was going to inspired by the professional flyer, but not an exact copy, Rainbow was a pretty recognizable mare, so the last thing she needed was people realizing who she was based off of. She began writing different little notes about this character, she'd be a unicorn instead of a pegasus, she'd have light violet eyes instead of bright fuchsia, a light blue coat, but a few shades lighter than that of Rainbow's sky blue, a mane of color, but as opposed to rainbow maybe just... an array of soft colors? This character would be as cocky and confident as Rainbow Dash, but instead of being a tomboy, she would be more on the feminine side of things, preferring to be stylish and look nice rather than be 'awesome'.
By the time an hour had passed, Daring had filled her sheet full with notes and small sketches of this character, already excited to flesh her out in a potential story, who would she be? She was leaning more towards making her a detective or special agent of sorts, where would she work? She wanted a whacky name, something funny and crude, something like... "Ponies of Obscene Power... or P.O.O.P for short" she snorted, wow, she really had the sense of humor of a foal. Once she had a bit of space left on her sheet, the author then realized something about this character that she couldn't believe she failed to pick up earlier.
She had yet to give her a name.
This was the part about writing new Daring Do novels she hated, making up names for things was hard, that's why in the most recent novel the main villain was called 'Thingamajig'. She then confidently huffed, as long as she continued on with this burst of inspiration, things should be okay. Like Rainbow Dash, she wanted a name that captured her color, but also one that captured her more feminine and girly nature, "synonym for rainbow... synonym for rainbow... oh" something then clicked in her mind, and she quickly wrote it down "Spectrum... yeah, Spectrum, that's colorful and pretty" she soon went back to pondering, now for a last name. She didn't want something similar to dash, that would be way too obvious, and she wanted Spectrum to be her own character at the end of the day, she wanted something equally as pretty as Spectrum.
"Okay Daring, what's soft? Cotton's soft, Spectrum Cotton? Nah... wait, clouds are soft Spectrum... Cottoncloud? Cloudcotton? No... Spectrum Cloud is too plain, come on brain... Cloudsomethin'..." she dropped her pencil, rubbing her head with her hooves "clouds are soft, come on Daring, you're a pegasus, you can literally touch clouds, you can do better than that... clouds are also fluffy, Cloudfluff? That's a little hard to say... wait, clouds are puffy, Cloudpuff- Cloudpuff!" Daring immediately perked once she thought of the name "Spectrum Cloudpuff, that's perfect!" it was a cute enough name that it matched her girly personality, but not so cute that it was egregious. The mare quickly jotted the name down, before looking back at the sheet, proud of the character she had made.
She felt a wave of inspiration and many different ideas flow through her head, something she hadn't felt whilst writing in a while, with an excited smile and giggle, she trotted downstairs to go grab her typewriter, oh ho ho, if Ivory wanted a good story, she was going to get a damn good story.
It had been a solid month since the meeting with A.K Yearling, a month since she had promised Ivory she'd return with a hit of a novel. Despite how seemingly harsh the black furred unicorn might have been with her, she honestly liked Yearling as well as her work, she remembered the first day she stormed into her office, begging for her to give her book a chance, and although she didn't appreciate the younger mare's abrasiveness she did, which was the best decision she had ever made. Yes, there was a little Indiana Pones inspiration here and there, but her story was so... interesting, fun to read and best of all, it was original. It was what Ivory had been looking for, everyday she had to review uninspired fantasy, Y.A and romance novels that the writer clearly only made with the hopes of it getting popular enough to where it became a film or something, so to have a book series that was dripping in originality such as the Daring Do franchise was enough for her to be fully on board with it.
Then, Yearling had gotten into an accident. Ivory visited the young mare as she recovered in hospital, according to her it was a flight accident that had taken place when she was returning from visiting family, however, Ivory wasn't convinced. There was no way a simple flight accident could have caused so much damage, right? Then again, she wasn't a pegasus, so maybe things just worked differently for them. From what she had gathered, Yearling (who was in incredible shape, much to Ivory's surprise) luckily hadn't lost the ability to fly, but could no longer add to much strain to her wings without them cramping and causing her loads of pain, this meant she couldn't fly too high up in the air, and she couldn't stay airborne for any longer than five minutes at most. At first, it seemed as though this wasn't going to affect her much, Yearling was a writer, not a stunt flyer, and according to the pegasus flight didn't play a huge role in her life anyway, she lived on the ground for a reason.
This changed when it came to her writing new stories. The unicorn wasn't sure why, but ever since the accident, Yearling's novels just hadn't been up to par with what they once were, the plot's were getting repetitive, the characters were no longer as likeable or memorable, and everything just seemed overall... uninspired. I mean for Celestia's sake she named her most recent villain Thingamajig! You can't get more burnt out than that.
As a result, the company began losing bits on the daily, ponies were no longer interested in Daring Do, even the die hard fans were beginning to move on, the higher ups were considered just letting A.K Yearling go, since she seemed to be more of a liability now. Ivory Spark refused to let that happened though, and insisted that she would make sure their once golden author would soon return to her writing glory. She hoped she was write, that Yearling would burst in with a new, original idea just as she had done all those years before.
As the blue eyed mare fiddled with her glasses and rand a hoof through her short white hair, almost on cue, her door flung open, startling her in the process. Before she even had a chance to question what was going on, a mare, who she had later identified as A.K Yearling, slammed a pile of sheets onto her desk with a heavy pant "I did it Ivory! I- whew- finally did it!" Yearling, behind her signature glasses, hat and cloak, seemed to be sweating and blushing out of exhaustion.
"Yearling? Did you run here? Please have a seat-" Ivory was almost immediately cut off by the rather excited mare.
"It's called The Many Tales of Spectrum Cloudpuff, a novel series staring BOOM" she slammed a sheet on the desk which had a nice looking sketch of a pretty blue unicorn with multicolored pastel hair and a pompous smile "this gal! Her name is Spectrum Cloudpuff, she works as an agent at a government facility called Ponies of Obscene Power-"
"P.O.O.P for short...?"
"Absolutely! They solve mysteries and go and missions and stuff! It took me a whole month of nonstop writing but I finally finished the first book in the series, it's called 'Spectrum and the Alicorn Conspiracy', cool, ain't it? So! What do ya think?" she asked rather giddily.
Ivory picked up the sheets "well, it's certainly an interesting idea, but I'll have to read it first to have a full opinion-"
"Then read it! I'll just sit right here, I need to catch my breath anyway haha..."
Ivory watched as she sat back down on the chair ahead of her, the onyx pony sighed, looking down at the pile of papers on her desk. Yearling seemed so excited and confident in this new series, even more so than she was with Daring Do, and seeing as though the mare could be fired if she didn't bring in a new hit series, Ivory was more than willing to give it a chance. She picked up a sheet, which was not only labelled as chapter one but was also labelled page one, glad she didn't have to rummage for pages since they were in order, she put her reading glasses on properly and began reading the novel.
Hopefully it was good enough to be published.
Author's Note
And that's the prologue to this little story, sorry the ending might seem a little rushed, I just really wanted to get this out ASAP haha
I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
Chapter One: The Case of the Missing Alicorns
Equinia, a land where ponies lived in peace and harmony, well, as much harmony that could be found in a futuristic metropolitan country that is. The only real way to describe Equinia was a land of progress, a land where magic and science were one in the same, a land where technology had advanced to the point where, with the right amount of money, an earth pony could pull off the same tricks as a unicorn or a pegasus, granted they had the necessary gadgets of course, Equinia was filled to the brim with cities and towns, industrialism had risen to the point where it was rare to find a simple village or areas with an abundance of nature, regardless of where you go, you would always come face to face with either a corporate building or a factory of sorts. To put it simply, Equinia was about as capitalist as you could get, and whether or not ponies liked that was rather split.
In Equinia was a city called Hoof-Darby City, where our story will be taking place. Known as the capital, this title was rightfully given considering HDC was the center of all progress in Equinia. Most, if not all technological, scientific, magical and medical advancements happened here in this very city. Hoof-Darby was a surprisingly beautiful place, with gorgeous architecture and memorable landmarks such as the Statue of Emancipation and many others, it was a go to place when it came to those who wished to travel to Equinia. Currently it was a rather lovely day in HDC, after a week or so of terrible weather, Mother Nature seemed to have finally calmed down and given them a day of clear skies and cool breezes, it was still morning, around ten am to be exact, many ponies were just beginning their day, many were on their way to school, and some were still in bed, fast asleep and not planning to wake up any time soon.
Such was our main character.
In a nice looking middle class home close to the center of HDC, lay a young unicorn mare, tossing and turning in agitation as her alarm continuously went off nonstop, it seemed as though she was attempting to sleep through it, not wanting to get up at all, but with each annoying buzz from the square clock on her bedside table, this task was becoming more and more difficult. Seconds turned to minutes, until the mare eventually let out a guttural groan before finally shooting a violet beam at the piece of junk, inevitably destroying her alarm. A few seconds of silence passed before she sat up in her bed, her long and large multicolored pastel hair obscuring her face for the time being "time to get a new clock... for the twenty fifth time..."
She soon brought out the inner strength to slide out of bed, landing rather awkwardly on her hooves, the unicorn stretched, attempting to get any kinks and cramps out of her back before using her magic to throw her broken clock into the nearest trash can. Once done with this, she trotted her way into her spotless white bathroom, finally beginning her morning routine. She brushed her teeth, her eyes barely open during this before then going down to her kitchen to get herself something to eat, she was in a cereal mood, so she poured herself a bowl of Crispy Cookie cereal before eating, making her way to her living room in hopes of watching TV. In Equinia, one of the many technological advances was the introduction of the Flat-Screen Television, it was this square shaped piece of machinery that allowed you to watch shows and stuff for entertainment, this included animation, live action shows, movies and so much more. She levitated the remote control and began flipping through different channels, finally landing on some soap opera to pass the time.
As she ate, the mare could feel something crawl up her back and relax on the top of her head, sighing, she swallowed her mouthful before finally speaking in her usual slightly raspy voice "get off Siphon, I'll feed you when I can", Siphon was a cream colored Boa Constrictor with white eyes, he looked down at his owner with a curious head tilt, letting out a small, barely audible hiss at what she had said. Considering the type of mare she was, a snake, especially boa constrictor should have been the last pet she would have wanted, but the story of how they came to be was better to be told another day. Once she finished her bowl of cereal, Siphon slid off of her head, allowing her to go clean her dish before going back up to the bathroom to fully clean up.
The mare took a brush and finally began fixing her long and colorful locks of hair, once it had been brushed out of her face, her large violet eyes with curly long eyelashes were revealed. She washed her face, moisterizing her light pastel blue coat before then tying a portion of her hair into a ponytail, allowing the rest of it to flow gracefully downwards, after she properly curled it of course. She made sure not to forget to style her tail either, and with a flip of her hair and a cute wink to the mirror, she went into her bedroom to really start the fun part.
Siphon slid his way into the bedroom, hissing his disapproval when he saw her begin her makeup. See, his owner, a young mare named Spectrum Cloudpuff, was incredibly finicky when it came to her appearance, so much so that she was known for spending up to hours just trying to figure out what to wear that day, and makeup was a whole different issue, she was the type who wanted everything to match, because in her words, "I'm too stylish to not look my best!". He feared that he would never get fed if she took too long, so he stuck his head up and began hissing some more, much to Spectrum's dismay.
She was in the process of applying some dark blue mascara when she turned her head and shot Siphon a pout "have some patience you long worm, I'll feed you when I'm done!" she huffed, before moving on to eyeliner. Siphon didn't like this answer however, and soon began wrapping himself around Spectrum's leg, occasionally poking her cutiemark, a tri-colored rainbow with two clouds at each end. Spectrum, finished with her makeup, stood up with a huff "get off my leg Siphon I have to get dressed" she frowned, opening her closet to reveal an array of different clothes and accessories "I think I'll wear a saddle today with my usual scarf, or is that a bit much?"
Oh no, when she started questioning things that's when she took the longest "maybe I'll- eep!" Spectrum squealed when she felt a nip on her flank, and almost instantly levitated the snake and glared at him "did you just bite me?" when he retorted with an innocent hiss, she sighed, gently placing him down before grabbing her signature pastel purple scarf and wrapping around her neck before turning around "come on you oversized worm, it's feeding time"
The two made their way into the living room where Siphon's snake home was in, it only took a few minutes before the cream colored boa constrictor was happily swallowing dead mice. She sat back on her couch with a sigh and was about to relax for a little bit when she suddenly perked up, realizing something. She quickly looked at the living room clock, her eyes widening into saucers when she saw that it was ten forty five.
She had fifteen minutes to get to work!
Spectrum quickly sped to her bedroom and grabbed her purse as well as her laptop bag, then picking up her phone and charger, she went back down to the living room, before yelling, "see you after work Siphon!" and soon running out of the front door. She could have taken a bus, but she had checked bus times on her phone and the next one was forty minutes away, what is a phone? Well, a phone is a small screened device that allows you to do pretty much anything you want on it at just a tap of your hooves or a swipe of your magic, you can download different applications onto it, play games, contact people via phone calls, watch videos and more, it was surprisingly powerful despite its small size. Speaking of phones, Spectrum brought hers out and noticed she had a few missed calls, some from her mom, and some from a few co-workers and friends, she winced, they were probably wondering where she was.
See, although being rather reliable in terms of the work she got done at her job, Spectrum's biggest flaw was her laziness and her tardiness, you'd think someone with an ego as large as hers would do her best to be at work on time just to show everyone else up, but as much as she loved being the center of attention, she loved sleeping just a tad bit more, hence why she had a pretty bad habit of being late. Luckily, Spectrum had been a member of her school's track team when she was younger, meaning she had a bit more stamina and speed on her than the average unicorn, so, she was just about able to arrive at her workplace in time.
Her workplace was a tall government base, specifically made for a group known as the Ponies of Obscene Power, which was heavily guarded. No one really knows why it's called that (isn't obscene a bad things? Why would you name the best of the best obscene of all things?), but no one wanted to question it, considering it was the President who chose the name. The building was black and had a large unicorn head perched at the very top, there were heavy gates and fences everywhere, as well as guards everywhere. Spectrum then brought out her mirror, quickly fixing anything that may have gone wrong with her appearance as she was running, before flipping her hair and confidently trotting to the entry gate.
At the gate stood a dark blue stallion with a soft yellow mane and light blue eyes, upon seeing him, she grinned, his name was Flare Beam, he was one of the newly recruited guards, meaning he wasn't as rough around the edges. The unicorn approached him with one of her infamous charming grins "hey there Flare, 'sup?"
Flare looked at her and returned the smile "hello there Ms. Cloudpuff, good to see you again"
She let out a scoff "how many times to I gotta tell you that you don't have to call me that? We're the same age dude, I'm not some old lady"
"Hm..." Flare began, seemingly pondering for a bit before nodding "you're right, it's not like you're much of a lady anyway, sorry Spectrum"
The mare froze, furrowing her brows at the small smirk that had slapped itself onto his face, she let out a huff of disapproval, before shutting her eyes and looking away "you keep saying that slick nonsense and I might have to tell Dusky that the handsome valiant Flare Beam might not be that great of a guy, won't I?" she opened a shut eye, just to see his once cocky expression had faded into a more embarrassed and bashful look. With an almost innocent smile, she waited for him to open the gate for her, and once he had, she skipped inside, not forgetting to shoot him a teasing wink as she did so.
Flare huffed, one day he'd beat her at this.
Inside of the P.O.O.P headquarters was a lot more simple than one would assume from a government facility, from just looking at the rooms and decoration, one could assume that it was a simple office workplace instead of a building that harbored some of the strongest tech and ponies known to ponykind, but Spectrum preferred it that way rather than the over the top cyperporn often present in movies. As she trotted down the hall, she was greeted by many of her co-workers, Spectrum was pretty popular at her workplace, being as stylish and has boisterous as she was, it was almost impossible not to like her, sure sometimes she could become more of a braggart, but it was manageable. She continued to walk, planning to just go to the prep room to check her schedule for the day, before she was stopped by a voice she heard behind her.
"Oh, there you are! I've been looking for you all over!"
Spectrum turned around, only to see a mare approach her with a agitated pout. The mare had a dark pink coat with bright blue eyes, she was a pegasus with a long mane made up of soft pinks, blues and purples that was kept in a scruffy bun, her cutiemark was a test tube filled with a purple substance that was surrounded by sparkles. She wore a purple sweatshirt with round black glasses.
The unicorn grinned upon seeing her "oh, hey Dusky!"
Dusky, also known as Duskglow Radiance, better known as simply Dusk, was one of the many researchers that worked for P.O.O.P, infamous for her intelligence and knowledge, she was one of the most respected workers there, despite being relatively young compared to all the other researchers, she also happened to be Spectrum's best friend, although she didn't seem too happy with her at the moment.
"Where have you been? Did you wake up late again?" before Spectrum could even finish, Dusk continued "oh whatever, it's not like it matters, did you get a memo about the meeting today?"
"A meeting?" Spectrum brought out her phone, scrolling through her Emails and text messages "shoot, nah, I think I forgot to give our boss my new number and email"
Dusk sighed, shaking her head "honestly, what would you do without me Spectrum?" she then brought out a printed sheet of paper with text on it, "all those who work for P.O.O.P are to meet in the assembly hall at eleven thirty on the dot today, boss says it's incredibly important"
"Everypony who works for P.O.O.P? Damn, it really must be important, nothing I can't handle though" Spectrum shrugged, it was about a half hour before the meeting, so there was no need for them to rush.
Dusk raised a brow "considering you couldn't even give your boss your new email and phone number, I dou21bt you can handle this Spectrum" she said haughtily, unable to contain her amusement at Spectrum's angry yet slightly embarrassed pout. The pegasus skipped beside her friend, as the two began to walk and converse, trying pass the time before that supposedly important meeting.
It had been about a half an hour, Spectrum and Dusk, as well as pretty much everyone else who worked for P.O.O.P, save for a few guards had since entered the assembly room, they were all murmuring, curious as to why they were all gathered there that day. Sure, meetings weren't an obscure thing, but they were usually very specific, guards only meetings, researchers only meetings, agents only meetings etc., rarely was it a meeting in which everyone had to gather regardless of title or status. The room was dimly lit, save for a bright spotlight being shone at the podium in the middle of the assembly room, the room instantly going silent once they saw who was taking over the meeting. The boss.
The boss was a tall, middle aged unicorn mare with a light red coat and an even darker crimson main, which has been brushed to stick upwards, she had hazel eyes in which sat dark bags underneath, On the top of her head sat a pair of dim shades, ones that Spectrum remembered her wearing more often than not. She wore a professional military garment on, complete with the badges and lack of creases or wrinkles. The boss was named Blitzkrieg, she was known for being strict, harsh and straight to the point, she was a no nonsense mare who didn't accept anything less than the best, so of course Spectrum was prone to getting into trouble with her. Blitzkrieg had a presence that simply couldn't be ignored, once she entered a room you knew she was there, even if you couldn't see her and she didn't say a word, she was an intimidating mare, and was also damn good at her job.
Blitzkrieg adjusted her tie a little, before making sure her was on and clearing her throat, "ahem, thank you all for gathering here on time, as you can see today I had the intention of speaking to the entirety of the faculty here at the Ponies of Obscene Power headquarters, I would appreciate you don't speak as I'm speaking, so if you have anything to say I suggest you say it now" when nopony spoke, she continued "I'll just cut straight to the point, President Olympia and Vice President Elysia have both gone missing"
A collective gasp took over the room, the president and her sister had gone missing? How could that even be? When she saw them slowly become more panicked, Blitzkrieg silenced the room with her voice "the general public does not know yet, and we hopefully plan for it to stay that way until the two are found in order to avoid mass panic or, heavens forbid, nationwide anarchy, for the time being, I and the other higher ups of the P.O.O.P secret service will be handling decisions pertaining to the way this country is ran, not only that, but security will be heightened around the facility and the researchers, special agents and detectives will be required to focus all their resources into this case, any questions?"
Spectrum was the first to raise her hoof "any idea on who even took them? It'll be pretty difficult for us agents and detectives to attempt to solve this if we have no leads"
"Wow, an intelligent question from you Spectrum, that's a first, but you are right, a lead would be useful in this case, however we don't seem to have any for the time being, the main theory is some sort of terrorist group may have kidnapped them, specifically a group bent on anarchy or domination of Equinia of sorts, considering they went out of their way to snatch both of our alicorn leaders, doubling the power on their side"
See, the reason this was such a big deal was because alicorns are a rare group of pony that belong to a single bloodline dating centuries back, these ponies are most likely to be leaders wherever they reside, mostly because of the sheer amount of power they hold. No matter how advanced technology becomes, nothing made by ponies will ever amount to the magical power held by alicorns, their magic is so incredibly strong and almost unbeatable that they're said to be the descendants of gods, it's one thing to have an alicorn on your side, but two? This was certainly a dilemma that needed to be solved as soon as possible.
Blitzkrieg sighed "depending on how long they stay missing, we may have to put the entirety of Equinia into a nationwide lock down, we've already sent agents abroad to the Luminous nation in order to protect First Lady Allure and her newborn Grace, just in case they go after them too" she then looked up at the crowd with a serious glare "until we choose to make an official statement to the public you are not to say a word to anypony outside of this organization about anything you heard today, anypony caught spreading this information around will be terminated from their job as well as have their memories wiped along with whoever you told, understood?"
When she saw collective agreement, she nodded "good, everypony apart from the researchers, engineers, special agents and detectives are free to leave" once she said that, a mass group of ponies got up and began leaving the vicinity, leaving Spectrum, Dusk and their co-workers in the assembly room with Blitzkrieg, when everypony had left, the boss ordered the remaining group to gather closer to the front row of seats "now, as I stated in the meeting, you guys will be required to focus all of your energy and resources into this case, engineers, you will be tasked in building stronger weaponry for us in the event that we may suffer through an alicorn attack, researchers will be tasked in finding ways to weaken an alicorn and or defeat them for the same reason, and special agents and detectives will be required to work together in order to find out what is even going on in the first place, this is not negotiable, if you prefer to not do this then you are free to quit, just know your memory of this meeting will be wiped if you so choose to"
Despite the insane amount of pressure in this, Spectrum was over the moon! To be tasked with such a high profile case was more than an honor, she could finally prove herself to those around her and herself! Ever since she was a little filly and she began using magic for the very first time, her biggest dream was to join an organization just like P.O.O.P and protect the very country she grew up in, so to see that her dream of doing so was finally coming true was beyond thrilling, the stakes were high, they had limited time, the lives of thousands were on the line, it was perfect, it was exactly what she had dreamt about. She knew it was weird, happy that something so catastrophic had happened, but she liked to believe her reasoning made it a little less weird.
A thought then popped into her head "yo boss?"
"Yes Spectrum?"
"If we solve this, can I get a raise?"
Everypony in the room slowly turned their head to face her, before Dusk quickly hit her on the back of her head "you idiot! We just got told that our alicorn leaders were kidnapped and the first thing that comes to mind for you is whether or not you get a raise after this? Read the room!"
Spectrum defensively pouted and rubbed the back of her head "it wasn't the first thing on my mind! I was just curious!"
Blitzkrieg blinked, before heavily exhaling "we'll see when we get there Spectrum, you are all dismissed"
The ponies quickly left the assembly room, not speaking a majority of the time after, the news they had been given was too unbelievable, and now tasked with potentially protecting the country against either alicorns or a crazed terrorist group, it was all too much. For the rest of the day, the P.O.O.P headquarters was eerily silent.
When work had finished, Spectrum decided to try and trot home as quickly as she could, she needed time to think over everything she had been told today, after finally giving Blitzkrieg her new number and email, she had received a message informing her that at six am the next day, her and other members of a specially picked squadron were going to be sent to investigate the Starlit Palace, the official residence of both the President and the Vice President. So not only did she need to get as much sleep as possible, but she also needed to find somepony willing to take care of Siphon for the day. As she walked down the bustling streets of HDC, she could smell strong toxins in the air, this was expected in a metropolitan city with factories scattered everywhere, but this time it was extra strong, luckily, she didn't have to ponder for too long, because she soon came across the cause of the issue.
The local news station had seemingly been demolished, the building was in shambles and there was police and ambulances all over the scene, concerned and somewhat terrified, the unicorn made her way over to the nearest officer she could find "um, hello there? May I ask what happened here, it seems-" once the cop got a good look at her, he waved a hoof, snorting.
"It doesn't concern you dollface, nothin' to worry ya pretty little head over"
Upon hearing what he said, Spectrum's face scrunched up in disgust, as much as she appreciated compliments, and loved receiving them, something about the tone of voice this stallion was using seemed more like he was being condescending as opposed to flattering towards her, and if there was one thing Spectrum refused to allow happen, was to let some male talk down to her as if she didn't work for the most important organization in the country as a literal special agent. the unicorn used her magic to open her purse, bringing out her wallet and proudly showing off her identification "as you can see, sir, my name is Spectrum Cloudpuff and I work as a special agent for Ponies of Obscene Power, I assume you've heard of the recent... debacle, so unless this was a simple accident, knowing what happened here could help forward our case, so I'm going to need you to comply and tell me what happened"
Had it not been for the fact that she was attempting to look as serious as possible, Spectrum would have smiled and fell into a fit of proud giggles, she never thought she could be so... badass and stoic! Hell, she sounded a bit like Blitzkrieg for a second there, which was definitely a good thing in her book.
The stallion stared at her for a bit before awkwardly coughing "I... apologize ma'am, um, there seemed to be an attack here, witnesses claim that they heard a loud explosion before the whole building collapsed"
"Are you saying somepony planted a bomb here?"
"That seems to be the case ma'am"
"I see, thank you for letting me know, I'll be on my way now" she put her stuff back in her purse before quickly trotting passed the sight. So, in less than a few days, the President and her sister had been kidnapped, and now there seemed to be an attack on the news broadcasting station of all places? There was no way that was a coincidence, she brought her phone out and quickly jotted it down on her notes, making sure to bring it up tomorrow when she met with the other agents, whatever was going on, it seemed like the perpetrators wanted to tear the city down from the inside, so they had to fix this before it got any worse.
Heaven knows what they would do next.
Author's Note
Wow, two chapters in such a short span of time????
Don't get used to this or you're gonna be very disappointed when I start fucking off and only updating once every six months lmaooooo
Fun fact, as you can tell I wanted Equinia to be slightly more on the realistic side of things (well, as realistic as magical talking ponies can be) because I think in the way fantasy and magic is unbelievable to us, a land of technology and science where Pegasi don't control the weather and TVs, phones and laptops exist is probably unbelievable to Equestrians lol
Also, Dusk's design is indeed based off of Gen 3 Twilight's-
And yes Siphon is this universe' Tank
Anyway, hope you enjoyed ^w^
P.S: No I am not sorry for naming the company poop and no I never will be
