Once A Shadow - From the other side

This chapter changes perspectives from my OC Hornet, to an anonymous member of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency. (Because if I told you his name, I'd have to kill you ;D) His codename is Canter, and the rest of him is on a need to know basis. it's time for one of those 'Meanwhile in (wherever)' moments.

As the morning sun rose higher and higher, I trotted into the Canterlot Insurance Agency, one of the best insurance companies in all of Equestria. The building was just your average office block, made cheery with the addition of flowers on the windowsills. On the outside, it's just a normal office building. Nothing special about it whatsoever. But of course, that's what it was designed to look like. On the inside, down below the building itself is the headquarters of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency, Equestria's best of spies, black ops and intelligence officers. I'm a mix of a spy and an intelligence officer, although the details are all strictly confidential. I trotted through a secret door and into the main hallway of the the Headquarters. The hallways are bland colors of white and grey, with only the odd notice board sticking out. To my left and right fellow agents were already at their desks, working and sorting through files and files of possible intel. Normally I would have gone to my desk and done the same as the others, but not today. Today I get my first field assignment from the chief, J. Edgar Hoofer. Hoofer was a strong built, grey colored earth pony, with the symbol of the Intelligence Agency as his cutie mark. He was the longest standing operative in the agency, and everypony admired and respected him. As I walked into his office, he was filing some papers into a folder.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Oh, hey! come in, come in. You're Canter right?"

"That's me." I said. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, the time has come for your first field assignment. I'm sure you're very excited about this, but trust me, this will be no walk in the park. Sit down, and I'll give you a quick debrief. Over the years, we've gathered reports of ponies that have appeared out of nowhere, sometimes literally. What makes it even more weird is that most of these ponies have no cutie marks. At first we suspected that they were changelings, so we sent a special ops team deep into changeling territory to find information. They found some notes on the subject, but they were pretty much what we had as well. Some other evidence on the matter seems to prove that these individuals aren't associated with the changelings. A month or so ago, we caught a vague description of one of these anomalies killing a changeling. We went over the body and found out it was a changeling spy, apparently one of their best. We don't have too much information, but we have managed to put together a detailed enough description to get a match. the match is a pegasus called Hornet. He was associated with the Equestrian Guards, and is currently a member of the Wonderbolts. His full history is unknown, making the link between him and the mysterious ponies even stronger. We don't know what they're here for, and we don't know where they came from, but that's your job to try and find out. Your mission is to find this pony, find out what he knows, and why he's here. We've already provided a cover for you. You're going to be Clark Colt, a reporter for Equestria Daily. You'll be heading to the Wonderbolts HQ in Cloudsdale for an interview we've arranged. You'll interview each of the Wonderbolts until you get to Hornet, then you can interrogate him by whatever means necessary. if you get any answers from him that confirm our suspicions, we'll send in an extraction team to get you and 'him' out. Also, I don't want any of the other Wonderbolts finding out what's happened, so be sure to be quiet when you decide to interrogate. If anyone hears about what happened, it'll be all over the press, and you'll most likely be out of a job. Here's the file on Hornet, you can look it over when you get to Cloudsdale.This is your first assignment, so be careful. I can't overstate how delicate this assignment is. This pony has managed to kill the changelings best spy, I don't want to find out what he can do to you. Good luck, and serve Equestria well."

I stood up confidently "Don't worry sir, I will." As I trotted out of his office with folder in hoof, I kept wondering possibilities of who this mysterious pony might be. but suddenly my thoughts were interrupted as a voice called out to me.

"Hey, Canter! Over here!" I turned and saw my friend from the R and D department, Quick Fix, waving at me. I trotted over to him as he pulled out a watch. "I'm supposed to give you this for your assignment."

I smiled. "Gee, thanks. I didn't get you anything, sorry."

"That's okay. I'll give you a run through of what you'll get for the assignment. For starters, this watch. When you turn the dial anti-clockwise, you'll be able to pull the adjuster out. Doing so will activate a magical pulse signal, which will be linked to the extraction team. They get the signal, they get you out. Be sure to use it only if you need to. You'll also be getting a disguised interrogation kit, which has been made to look like a briefcase. inside you have some pencils, marked Soft Tip and Trusty Tracer. The Soft Tip contains sedative, which I'm sure you know what it does. The Tracer pencil contains potent truth serum, which you can use during the interrogation. To inject either, just stab them into the 'victim'. There is also two notepads, one small one and a larger one. the smaller one is real, the other is hollow and has a combat knife in it, just in case you get into a fight. I'd have also given you some cyanide pills, but that's just too cliche' for you isn't it?"

I chuckled "Thanks for the stuff, but I've gotta get going. You know, save the world, find a hot mare along the way..."

"Ha, yeah, you do that. Just come back in one piece, so I can hear about how you got rejected by every mare you found." Quick Fix joked.

As I flew out towards Cloudsdale, the weather was brightening up into a beautiful cloudless day. Good to see somepony was doing their job today. The flight to Cloudsdale was rather boring, but the great scenery and good weather more than made up for it. As I flew into Cloudsdale, I decided to pick up a cup of coffee before I went to my hotel room. After getting my cup of coffee to go, I trotted up to my hotel and was greeted by a warm and cheery cream colored unicorn. "Hello sir, and welcome to the Cloudsale Condo. Do you have a reservation?" She asked with a sweet voice.

"Yes, I have a reservation. It should be under Clark Colt."

She opened up the reservation book and scanned through the list. "Colt...Colt...Ah! Clark Colt, your room is number 32. Here is your key and have a nice day."

"Thank you, and same to you." I said as I moved over to the stairway. I walked into my room, sat down my briefcase and made a quick inspection of the room. I then went over to my briefcase, pulled out the folder mentioned earlier and sat down with my coffee in one hand and the folder in the other. After taking a sip of my coffee, I put the cup down and opened the folder.

Subject name: Hornet
Gender: Male
Age:Unknown
Date of Birth: Unknown
Hometown/Birthplace: Unknown, possibly Las Pegas
Blood type: Unknown
Affiliation: Wonderbolts, unknown force
Previous affiliations: Equestrian Guard
Appearance: Middle aged, red eyes, brown coat, red and black mane and tail. For more detail see photo (Disclosed with file)

Full history (collected data): First seen in Las Pegas, described by witnesses as 'a rebellious looking colt' .Signed up for Equestrian Guard one week later. Became associated with Wonderbolts weeks (month) later, after being picked out for distinguished flying trainng maneuvereres while training in the guard. Currently working for the Wonderbolts as reserve member and maintenance staff. Subject's personality is described as Courageous, witty and Tactical. Advise extreme caution for engagement. I flipped through his file multiple times, memorizing each detail in clarity. There were also files on the other Wonderbolts, but I wasn't concerned with them. My target was Hornet, and nopony was going to stop me from getting to him. After taking inventory of my equipment in the briefcase, I felt rather tired. I trotted up to my bed, got in, and dreamed about what being a spy would be like.