Papers and reports,

They’re kind of boring,

But is some knowledge not worth having?

Because the base went on lock down last night, security today was even tighter than it originally had been planned.

With General August arriving at noon, they couldn’t have any mistake or mishap happen during her visit.

Because both of those incidents happened, the entire base was stressed out. Over the night, two Halifax bombers were shot down during their missions, along with a heavy fighter. The standard amount of damage also happened to the ones that returned, which was quickly patched up by ground crews as fast as possible. Base command wanted as many planes flying during August’s visit, to give the bugs something else to worry about.

The intelligence building had been saved from further destruction by the fire fighters, though parts of it still smoldered, so it was being partly used. A bunch of tents and new guards were brought in for a makeshift intel center, where the intel that was saved, could be sorted through and reorganized. The evacuation of everything had messed it all up.

Thankfully for Sparkle, he wasn’t assigned to any of that work. All of his work, though, was burnt and destroyed. His entire office was gone. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now but start again. He did however have his notes and the Changeling journal still, along with his brain and the two agents.

Watermark and Mythic were found to be fine, along with almost everypony else. Only two officers from the building had inhaled smoke, while one of the fire fighter ponies was burnt on the leg. All three were able to make a full recovery from the unicorn doctors.

Sparkle and the agents still ended up meeting at 0700 that morning, despite the night, and figured out what they were going to do. They were going to the supply depot again, but they were going to sort through whatever new and remaining documents there were that came from the 22nd. To make it simple, they didn’t take anything from the depots, so nothing could get destroyed again. The depots, along with all other high value buildings and hangers, now had armed infantry on the guard. The base didn’t want to tank a chance at another infiltration.

The thing about the infiltration was Sparkle didn’t think it was a Changeling that did it.

From what he and the two agents gathered so far, it seemed like there was a connection across a few points they had figured out. The Changeling journal mentioned the invisible death and red eyes, Gust’s prisoner mentioned a ghost, the pony who alerted the trench the night before the 22nd attack, and now the infiltration he witnessed last night.

Well, at least that’s what he originally thought. Giving it more thought, it didn’t make much sense if it was any other creature either. If it was a Changeling, it didn’t make any sense for there to be infighting among the Changelings. All Changelings on the front lines were enemy, any Equestrian, or just any bugs at all, were all banned from joining the Equestrian military, so any present were assumed to be an enemy. But that point brings up something else, what if it is Changelings and they’re a part of Thorax’s resistance groups?

That’s where it being Changelings doesn’t make sense, because if they’re Thorax supporters, why would they attack an Equestrian air base, specifically the intelligence building?

But then if you look at the other end, if it’s from the Black Stripes, why would they both cause an uproar at a trench line, but also commit high crimes against their own military by sabotaging their own intel?

This is where the situation gets muddy, because there’s evidence that supports it being Changelings, but also, ponies? At the least, allies, but with the whole burning building part, does that not rule that out? The trench part, if it was allies, could have been a mistake.

When looking at each individual part, it’s easy to see how it might be an ally for one part, but the enemy for the other.

But if you combine it all, you can throw it all in the trash by accounting for third parties. The Crystal Empire? But they’re allies, why would they still burn down their building. Olenia? The polar bears? They’re both a part of the Changeling Hegemony, plus the polar bears aren’t known for their stealth capabilities, and Olenia is fighting in the south and the ocean. There’s been no reports of any deer north of the Smokey Mountains.

Stalliongrad? They’re a possibility.

Yaks? Also no, they don’t have the stealth capabilities to pull stuff like that off.

It’s just hard to think all of these documented and witnessed incidents were separate incidents. There haven’t been any known weird occurrences like this until Luna had the Black Stripes arrive, but the Black Stripes were all accounted for. Well, accounted for in the sense they’re not accounted for. They disappeared just as easily as they arrived.

This is also just speculation that is written in Sparkle’s notes after he and the agents came up with possibilities of what the situation was, all of which he was going to report to General August. It just seemed like so much happened and so much was learned off of only a little information.

Whatever the case was, shifting through more papers and documents at the supply depots wasn’t as fun now. Everything they were going through now had little connection to the assault of Chicoltgo or the 22nd. Maybe they shouldn’t have requested all of the documents pertaining to the situation and kept them all within one room. I’m sure they either broke a code of some form or were the reasons one would be created.

At this point, it was already past midday and there had barely been anything new the three learned about.

Because the intelligence that was useful was destroyed, they had resorted to looking through stockpile sheets and requests for equipment. It was an idea from Watermark to try and search for any specific requests made for more supplies for the arrival of the Black Stripes.

Their only leads with that ended quickly when it came from a commander of the 22nd, but they were also one of the ponies that complained about the Black Stripes after they were gone. Since there was still a possibility that they could be a double agent, their name was written down for the report.

“Captain,” Mythic looked up from their documents, “I know that this task was requested to be small and produce little noise, but at this current rate, even after your report turn in, if we continue to go over every document like this, we’ll be here for months,” Mythic raised up some sheets of paper and spread them out while pointing at the other piles they had, “Us three won’t cut it anymore if your commander wants this done quickly.”

Sparkle looked up from his own piles of documents and stared at the ones Mythic held up. Sparkle suppressed a sigh as he rubbed his head.

They had so much useless information to go through now that their main sources were gone. What they were doing now, truly was the whole needle in a haystack. There wasn’t time to get the accounts from more soldiers or the complaints the 22nd had, or wait for more letters to come out of the division, August was here today.

Sparkle shook his head as he finally sighed, “Alright, we’ll work for another hour, but after that, we’ll need to spend what remaining hours we have to formulate all thoughts and notes we have for the report. Detailed. Everything written down and copied,” Sparkle looked around the area for a typewriter or something that could make that task easier, “That way we can all carry it in the event SOMETHING does happens to them, or us. We still never ruled it out as being a targeted attack against us. If it’s the Black Stripes, that’s all the more reason to get it to the general, if it’s Changelings- Well, I guess that’s what the war is for.”

Watermark spoke up this time, “Sir,” He pointed at the clock that was nearby, “Don’t we need to prepare for the general arriving?”

Sparkle looked over at the mentioned clock, which made him release a relaxing sigh, “Oh, thank the gods.” Sparkle took a deep breath and stood up, stretching, before he looked at the two agents, “Never mind, you can go get food now. I’ll wait for you two to return before going myself. I don’t want any of these documents getting burnt. Once we all return, we’ll start finalizing our findings into a report. I won’t be there for her arrival anymore because of security changes.”

Mythic and Watermark were both quick to put their stuff down once Sparkle said that. Once they had left, Sparkle got back to work with his own documents, going over them one page at a time.

Of course, nothing showed up in what he went over, that was expected, but he was still working. Once it became around the time that the other two should return, Sparkle began working on his own notes, writing down what few new things there were, but also what he had discussed with the others. He wanted to make sure they had a good start to the report so they had as much information to turn in.

Once the agents returned, Sparkle took that opportunity to also get food. They hadn’t brought anything with them as it was normal to eat at the mess hall. Sparkle had been eating at his office the past few days, but since the incident last night, the base command was restricting officers from eating elsewhere, or at least taking mess hall plates and the like with them.

Because of that small restriction that was in place, Sparkle was quick to eat his food once he arrived at the mess hall. He didn’t waste time chatting with any of the other ponies.

As soon as Sparkle finished, he took off from the dining hall, back to the storage depot.

Though it was a nice break from the tedious work he had been through the past few days, Sparkle was already refreshed from lunch and ready to work on the report once he arrived back at the depot. He walked into the room he and the two agents were using and really brought the mood up as he sat back down and prepared to begin.

After a few grueling hours of combining everything the three had learned, writing everything out, typing it out again and copying it across multiple copies, they finished.

Once all written and confirmed facts were laid out first, they had then moved onto the less clear information, which was when their opinions and thoughts regarding the incidents came forth. When the half-known things were finished up with, they moved onto pure speculation and debated with each other what might be behind the incidents and what that might mean.

They used as much time as they could, until Sparkle’s meeting with the general came by.

With everything they had worked on for the past week, now written down and ready to go, all three went to go meet with the general.

“And we have copies for you as well. We can make more if need be, but all three of us currently have full copies of the whole thing,” Sparkle said as he stood before General August.

General August Fon Eisenstadt was sitting at a desk, within the command center of the base, which had been given to her to use for the visit.

She had been paying close attention to the entire report Captain Sparkle and the two SMILE agents presented. Due to their in-depth knowledge of the report, it was easy for them to speed through the entire thing while being clear. They basically know every point by memory.

One of the copies had been given to August at the start of the report, that way she could follow along better.

As the report came to an end, Sparkle stood there and waited for any question or response from August she might have, but August just took a quick skim through the report once they finished. Once August finished flipping through it, she closed it and leaned into her chair and sighed. She flipped the report over, making sure nothing was missed on the back of it, before turning it right side up.

“Captain Sparkle,” August said as she sat up in her chair, “I’m going to need you to come with me to Whinnyapolis for a meeting I’m having, and you two,” August looked between the three in the eyes, “I can’t disclose anything else about it,” August paused for a moment before looking at Sparkle, “Are all of the reports you have made regarding your investigation with you?”

“Yes Ma'am. All current copies are with us,” Sparkle answered. After answering, the two agents took out the reports and notes they had, indicating they did have them.

“Can you verify all the contents of a copy is correct for me?”

The request was odd, which prompted a look between the three.

“Just a single copy. How long will that take?”

Sparkle looked down at one of his copies, “Well, not that long, a few minutes?”

“Do that real fast.”

There was another moment of awkwardness between the three before Sparkle said, “Yes Ma’am,” He then started scanning over the document he held.

“Just one,” August repeated.

For the next few minutes, the three quickly scanned over a single copy, ensuring all the contents of it were indeed correct. August was silent the whole time as she looked over the copy that was before her while the other three quietly spoke to one another as they verified the contents.

After the contents were verified, Sparkle held up the copy they went over, “This one is correct.”

August shoved her own copy forward, indicating for the others to take it back, “Destroy the rest but that one.”

There was a moment of shock from the request, but Sparkle calmed himself, “Destroyed?”

“Magic, fire, chemicals. Whatever you deem necessary to destroy all documents but that verified one. In fact, we can go outside right now and you can do it for me. Can you?”

“Well-”

“You do have a working horn, correct Captain?”

“Right now?”

August stood up and walked around the table and stood with the three, “Captain, I’m going to make arrangements with your division commander to transfer you to the 5th Strategic Command.”

This also came as a shock to Sparkle as he securely held the verified report, “Excuse me?”

“The rest will be explained in Whinnyapolis. You will be under my direct command from here on out, but don’t worry, a promotion will come along with it,” August smiled as she told this to Sparkle, who was still in a bit of shock from the announcement, “Now let's get to it! We got some papers to burn!”

With that, the four went outside, along with some guards, and found a nice spot to burn away the extra copies of the report. Sparkle was able to do it with his magic, but August also had Mythic give it another blast of magic once the burned remains were mixed around, ensuring a thorough burn!

After that, August made sure that the three stuck together with the remaining report, guarding it, along with having some armed guards follow them as they went to gather their stuff. August had them go get what items they had to bring with them to Whinnyapolis since that was her next destination. Today.

Sparkle didn’t have much himself though, as he lost it when his building caught fire. It did make packing easier though.

Author's Note

This chapter kinda feels off / not my best?

It wasn't really even supposed to be a chapter but i started writing some stuff that was going to transition into the main stuff I had planned to write, but it turned more so into its own thing that didn't have a good vibe to transition from, so here's this unplanned chapter!

Also thank you M2 for the last line of the top quote.