Once A Shadow - From the other side

Perspective of Canter, agent of the Canterlot Intelligence Agency (CIA)
My job today is supposed to be simple, but of course, nothing is ever so simple. I'm supposed to interrogate a supposed changeling by the name of Hornet. Sounds easy right? Wrong. It's not easy because this supposed changeling is a member of the glorious Wonderbolts, and if they found out about what I was about to do...Gah, need to focus. Gotta keep my nerves in check, or I'll blow my cover. I trotted up nervously to the front door of the Wonderbolts HQ. I was suprised how big the place was up close. I went through the front door, and trotted up to the receptionist at the front desk. "Hello," she said with a gentle voice "and welcome to the Wonderbolts. Do you have an appointment?"

I put on a realistic fake smile. "Yes, I have a scheduled appointment with the Wonderbolts. I'm Clark Colt, by the way."

She glanced at the schedule book. "Ah yes, one of your associates at Equestria Daily came by a few days ago. I'll send one of the Wonderbolts here right now if you'd like to get started."

I smiled again, this time it was real. "Yes, I'd appreciate that thank you."

"Okay, I will be back in a minute, take a seat while you wait." I sat down as requested, waiting for her to return with hopefully the Wonderbolt I was looking for. And surely enough, luck was on my side. "Here is Hornet, sorry I couldn't get Spitfire or Soarin, but they were busy with other things."

"I understand," I said, standing up "Pleasure to meet you Hornet, I'm Clark Colt, I'm with Equestria daily." He came over to me and shook my hoof firmly.

"Likewise. Is there somewhere in mind you'd like to take this or do you want to just stay here?" He asked.

"I think we should find somewhere a bit more private, how about your room?"

"I think that'll do nicely, follow me."

As I followed him down the hallway towards his room, I could see all the prestigous awards given to the Wonderbolts. Year after year, until finally my gazing was interuppted by a gesture from Hornet to go in. We then both took a seat and I pulled out a pencil and a pad of paper. (the real one)

"So Hornet, I'll start off with something simple. What's it like being a Wonderbolt?" I asked.

"It's great, there's nothing like it. You wouldn't find a better job for me, even if it involved flying, which I love."

"How would you describe your teammates?"

"My team is an okay bunch, even though I'm not a bigshot like them, they still treat me like I'm a full member of the team. They do tend to be annoying at times, but you get used to it."

"What were you doing before you managed to land this once in a lifetime job?"

"I was in the Equestrian Guard, that's how I got picked. The Wonderbolts came through one day looking for new recruits, and they chose me."

"Have you ever done something you probably shouldn't have in your Wonderbolts career?"

"Well, there was this one time where I took a friend of mine to Las Pegas, we did a few things that I probably shouldn't mention, so I won't."

"Fair enough, how would you describe your daily routine?"

"My daily routine is fairly boring. Get up, have breakfast, do some training, cool off, then spend the rest of the day doing whatever I feel like."

"And what exactly do you do in your spare time, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, I usually spend my free time tinkering with things. I'm a bit of a repairman, although not many things in this place need repairing though."

"I see. Well, I think that's enough for now. If you don't mind I'm just going to proofread this, and then I'll come back to you." I said before standing up. I trotted up behind him and then proceeded to stab him with the truth serum.

Switching perspectives back to Hornet

"I see. Well, I think that's enough for now. If you don't mind I'm just going to proofread this, and then I'll come back to you." He said before standing up. He trotted up behind me and then out of nowhere attempted to stab me. Reacting quickly, I almost literally jumped out of my chair before turning around and facing him. He then sloppily lunged at me, and I used this to my advantage. I stepped to the side, grabbed his foreleg and wrenched the pencil out of his hoof. I then shoved him into a wall, dazing him. I picked up his 'pencil', which had partially faded from the struggle. I noticed that there was some mechanical parts in it, and realizing this I ripped off the fake wood coating and found a syringe, with writing marked truth serum. Figuring that I could use this to get some answers from him, I trotted up to him and stabbed it into his neck. The serum injected itself into his bloodstream, causing him to go into some kind of daze.

"Now," I said crouching down to his eye level "I want some answers. First, who are you?"

"My name is Light Hoof, but my codename is Canter." He said in a trance

"Okay, Second. Who are you working for?"

"I am working for the Canterlot Intelligence Agency under orders from J. Edgar Hoofer."

"Good, now why is the CIA after me?"

"We were following leads on anomalies that are 'not of this world'. We tracked you down after getting a match of your description from an incident not too long ago."

"What incident might that be?"

"We found a body of a dead changeling spy, there were two witnesses who gave a vague description of you."

"Alright, last question, what were you planning to do to me?"

"If I got any information out of you that confirmed our suspicions, I was ordered to call in an extraction team. To order the extraction team, you- AGGH! STOP ORDERING ME AROUND!" Shit, it seemed as if the truth serum finally wore off. He threw himself at me, knocking over a false noted pad with a knife inside. I quickly dived and picked up the knife, then slammed it into his back. He screamed out in pain as it pierced his flesh and drove itself into the back of his lungs. He went down onto the ground hard, his body spasming from pain. I bent down to him and whispered in his ear.

"Silent enim finis interitus est. Requiescat in pace." (Be silent, for death is not the end. Rest in peace.) I then shut his eyes and trotted out of the room with a slight sneer. As I came out of my room, Spitfire cam round the corner and saw my face covered in Light Hoof's blood.

"Oh my goodness Hornet, what happened?" she asked with worry.

"The Canterlot Intelligence Agency sent someone after me, they're trying to find out what I am, or used to be. His body's in my room, I had no other choice but to kill him. I need you to help me clean this all up. Can you do that?" I replied.

She gave me a serious look. "Okay, I've done this before, so I'll help you. First we'll need to dispose of his body, secondly we'll need to create a false report to give them. I'll handle the report, you can handle the body. Just put it in the magical disposal unit in the hideout. After that I'll help you clean up the blood. Got it?"

"Got it, now let's get to work." I went to my room and picked up Light Hoof's body by the back legs, and dragged him into the hideout. "Fuck, why does he have to be so heavy?" I grumbled and complained about how heavy he was until I finally reached the disposal unit. Now normally this thing is used to dispose of garbage and to be destroyed reports, so I was unsure on how it would cope with a body. As it turned out, it handled just fine. The body was disposed of forever. I then went back up to my room and started cleaning up the blood. About half an hour later, Spitfire joined me. "What the fuck took you so long?" I asked jokingly.

"Hey, YOU try writing a forged letter to the director of a secret intelligence agency. Besides, I said I'd help you, so I will." she retorted.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. Just out of curiosity, what did you write?"

"I said that the operation was unsuccessful, that he found nothing suspicious, and that he was going off grid until otherwise informed."

"Cool, now do you mind if you help me with this now?"

"Okay, let's get this done so I can shower. I've had a rough day."

"Ha! Says you. Ah well, I've got to take a shower too so yeah, let's get this done." After cleaning up the last of the blood and having my shower (to clean off the blood on me), I climbed into bed with Spitfire and looked at her lovingly. "I never asked you, what did you do with the picture of you I had?"

She smiled. "I'm putting it onto a special pair of dog-tags I'm giving to you soon. You can use them for the assignment in Griffin territory." She then kissed me as we fell asleep in each others embrace of trust and love.

Meanwhile in the office of J. Edgar Hoofer, a note was being handed to him by Quick Fix. It read:
Director Hoofer, I have found no information regarding the anomalies, subject Hornet was a dead end. I am going off grid, as the other Wonderbolts became suspicious of what I did. I will not be returning to work until the next message arrives on your desk. From Canter

Hoofer slammed his hoof on the desk. "Damn! I was hoping we would get something out of this one." He pulled out a photo from his desk of him standing next to a grey coloured pegasus in front of the royal palace in Canterlot. "Don't worry old friend, I'll find whoever killed you and bring them to justice, I promise you." He then put the photo back in his desk and trotted out of the room, leaving the note in the middle of the desk, never to be read again. What Hoofer did not know however, was that the other pony in the picture was in fact that changeling spy that I had killed, and that the real pony that the changeling had replaced had been dead weeks before that photo was taken. Hoofer would eventually find out about this, but not before him and I had a little chat with each other; and eventually develop an acquaintanceship, but that's a later story.