As the plan of attack was being formulated, Pandora went about her business as usual. She couldn’t help but get a feeling of tension lately as the day the plan was to be set into motion. She tried her best to ease the stress, but this recent assignment had been taking up a lot of her time and she was unable to make time for her family and friends. Everyone involved with this project could fully understand and shared that feeling; this was to capture the most notorious rogue traitor in the Order’s entire history. Who wouldn’t be tense?
She was so agitated that she practically jumped from her seat when she heard a knock at the door.
“Enter.” Pandora said with her heart pounding. It started pounding even harder when the Secretary-General walked in. “Mandragora ma’am!” She stood up and saluted, which her superior returned.
“Headmistress Pandora, I won’t be long. I simply wish for an updated file on the plans.”
“Yes ma’am. Here.” Pandora actually walked over with the file. In the presence of the Secretary-General, Pandora felt it would be too informal to use her magic.
“Ah yes. Thank you. Now before I go, I have a favor to ask.”
“Yes?”
Mandragora reached into her bag and pulled out an object wrapped in cloth. “I want you to lock the contents of this package inside the manor vault. Level three security to be precise.”
“Level three? Is it that important?”
“It’s not so much important as it is dangerous. I saw its effects first hand and let’s just say that we are lucky the pony who used it wasn’t experienced enough in her magic. Once I got ahold of this, I studied it to the best of my ability, but my results where inconclusive. Until further notice, this is to be kept under lock and key.”
“I understand. Anything else?”
“I’ve gone over that request you sent me regarding the new agent and I am putting him under your responsibility. Whether or not you decide to include him into the plans is up to you. You are the clan leader so he answers to you.”
“Very well.”
AUDIO SURVEILLANCE, [NAME CLASSIFIED] FILE 07 (TUESDAY, 2:11 PM)
***
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***
I have to admit, I’m rather surprised with the turn of events in recent days. First Discord of all folks is reformed and now the Crystal Empire is hosting the Equestria Games. I’m sure the princess is ecstatic right now since things actually seem to be working out for everyone involved. For once, I would have to agree with her. But let’s get down to business; what’s today’s subject?
“Well then, what was life like after being promoted?”
Really, not that different. After the incident with Aroma, Howitzer kind of fell of radar. He was good at covering his tracks and every lead that we traced turned out to be a dead end. The case went cold for awhile.
However, we did gain a decently reliable ally. A pegasus mare by the name of Raptor.
We don’t normally hire outside help like mercenaries or privateers, but this mare is certainly a… unique case. She was fairly young, I believe about eighteen or nineteen, who used to be a sailor in the Royal Navy. Though young, she was very tough and very vocal. Anyway, we met her after Howitzer’s little stunt. She was caught trying to break into the clan manor’s vault, probably to steal something of value.
I was working on some paper work when this intruder was brought into my office by the Disciplinary Action agents. She had a greenish-orange kind of coat and a grayish-brown mane which was messy and noticeably dirty. It seemed like she put up quite a fight because both her and the guards that brought her in had cuts and bruises across their bodies, mostly their faces. One of the guards even had a black eye. When they brought her in, she had her muzzle tied so she couldn’t talk and all I could hear was angry grunts and muffles.
“Well what have we here?”
“We caught this mare snooping around the vault. We had to subdue her.”
“I see. And how exactly did she get in here?”
“We aren’t entirely sure. We’re checking all possible security vulnerabilities, but we haven’t found anything.”
“Hmm… Lock her up in the cells for now. I will interrogate her myself later.”
“Understood Headmistress.”
It took about an hour to finish my paperwork, but when I did, I payed a visit to the intruder. I could already tell this was going to be difficult. We have a sort of jail located in the sub basement levels of the manor so that if a prisoner does manage to break out of their cell, it’s harder for them to escape, especially if they are a pegasus. It’s not easy to break past security if they do, but what bothered me is that I didn’t see any guards stationed around the entrance. My instincts told me to be on my guard and I erected a barrier around myself to prevent attacks from behind. It’s a good thing I did too as it stopped a swing from a baton that would have severely damaged my skull.
Somehow, this mare was able to escape from her cell AND knock out the guards that were standing watch without alerting anyone outside. As much as I hate to admit it, I was actually quite impressed by that feat, though that really didn’t say a lot about security. She still tried to fight me with every intention of escaping, even though I’m pretty sure she knew she wasn’t going to. She fought pretty well, but there was no way she was going to break through my barrier and after she tried time and time again, she exhausted herself to the point where she couldn’t really struggle. After restraining her with my magic, I heard her talk for the first time and I noticed she spoke with a particular accent.
“Lemme go ya wretched winch!”
“You really should learn how to pick your fights more carefully..”
“At least I do fight and not hide behind a fucking barrier like a lil’ coward!”
“Big words. And not very convincing ones considering you have no energy left from your constant punching. Quite arrogant if I might add.”
“Oi! Put me down and I’ll show ya arrogant ya lil’ bi-”
I had enough of her mouth so with a swift motion, I slammed her against the steel bars of the cells. I guess I slammed her a little too hard as she passed out right then. I made sure she was properly restrained putting on hoofcuffs, tying her wings, and placing a muzzle mask to keep her quiet. Then I gently tossed her back in her cell. I called for security and medics to tend to the knocked out guards and I made sure to have several active guards take their place. After making sure everything checked out, I came back down later after she regained consciousness and began a proper interrogation. She remained defiant regardless of being surrounded by dozens of guards. I had to respect that.
“Who are you working for?”
“Meself.”
“How can I be sure you’re not lying to me?”
“Why should I care what ya believe?”
“Then what was your reason for breaking into the manor?”
“Greed, pretty much. I’m down on my luck right now and just wanted to find something I could sell.”
Those of us that perform interrogations, including myself, are trained in lie detection. Most of that involves paying attention to facial features and voice: we do certain things involuntarily when we lie like looking away from those we talk to, twitching our eyes, straining our voice, and so on. In the case of pegasi and unicorns, we pay attention to even the slightest movement in the wings or even the smallest sparks of the horn, which act out of nervousness or arrogance. And yet, as I interrogated her she displayed none of the tell-tale signs of lying. Either she was extremely good at controlling herself when lying, or she was telling the truth.
“You said you were down on your luck. Might I ask how and why exactly?”
“And just why should I tell me life story to the likes of you?”
“Because if you don’t, you won’t get fed.”
“Oh for fu- Fine! I used to sail with the Royal Navy, okay? Worked for a year before I quit just awhile ago. Jus wudn’t quite I thought it was. Happy?”
I raised my eyebrow at this new piece of information. “Royal Navy you say?”
“Aye,” she said with a smirk. “Always been a dream of mine. Ever since I was a lil filly, I always had an interest in sailing across the ocean.”
“What made you quit?”
“Like I said, wudn’t what I thought it would be. I was enticed by the stories me grandpappy told me about his days out at sea, hunting pirates, serving the nation, and all that jazz. He’d always take me out ta sea on his schooner and sometimes let me take the helm. But… The actual Navy didn’t live up to my expectations. Mostly had me doing other stuff grandpappy never talked about like cleaning. Didn’t pay well either. For every bit I earned, the capt’n made a hundred more, that ain’t no way to make a living. Capt’n ‘imself was bit of an arse too.”
“How so?”
She just glared at me before she answered. “I don’t wanna talk about it too much, but let’s just say he wudn’t a very good capt’n. One who wasn’t above fraternizing with his female crewmembers, treating ‘em like objects. ‘Sea is no place for a mare’ my arse.”
“I think I see now. Look, I have something I want to discuss with my colleges. I will talk to you again tomorrow.”
She glared at me again, gritting her teeth. “So wot you goin do with me, huh!? Just gonna leave me in this cage like some dirty animal!?”
“With that kind of attitude, that’ve very tempting. But no, I have something else planned, something that might benefit us both.”
Her ears perked up. “Keep talking.”
“Like I said, I will talk to you tomorrow about it once we have come to a decision. Until then, just try to relax here. You will be fed in an hour and your restrains will be laxed a bit. In exchange however, you will have to behave a bit because I don’t really like your tone right now and if you try to escape again, I will give a much heavier penalty. The only reason I haven’t already turned you over to the authorities is because I have an idea for you that, like I said, may benefit us both.”
After glaring at each other for a few seconds, she sighed and laid back in her seat. “Fiiine. I’ll be good for now, just hold up your end of the bargain.”
I spent some time talking with a few of my fellow agents about the idea that I had and while some were reluctant, they were willing to give it a chance. The next morning, I came back down to her cell to discuss my offer. True to her promise, she’d behaved the entire time I was gone and I think she calmed down a bit since. When I found her in her cell, she was simply snoozing.
“Wake up!” I shouted, banging on the bars.
She grumbled and got off her cot as I had the guard unlock the cell. I gestured her to come out of the cell, which she did confused. The guard escorted us through the manor and into the kitchen.
“So uh, wot we doin?” Raptor asked concerned.
“Brunch. I had an appointment today that got cancelled last minute so I decided to use this to discuss our arrangements. I don’t suppose you’ve ever had gourmet cooking?”
“Nah, I can’t say I have.”
“We have some excellent chefs here. Please have a seat. Care for some tea?”
“Uh, sure.”
Once we were settled down and had our food brought to us, I talked about what I had planned.
“A hired hoof you say?” Raptor said in between bites.
“Yes. I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed with how you handled yourself and remained strong despite the predicament and since you didn’t cause too much damage, I’m willing to overlook your charges. In exchange, I would like for you to do some work for our organization. As a former sailor, I trust you know how to fight and are used to traveling?”
“Uh huh.”
“We are looking for special artifacts, very special relics that are extremely valuable, yet are not worth a single bit. The problem is we have our hooves full with other arrangements and these artifacts are not easy to find, let alone bring back. If we have you do it, then we can focus all our attention of the current matters.”
“Wot you gettin at?”
“Seeing as how you’ve traveled the ocean, I would like for you to seek these artifacts and bring them to us.”
“Wot’s in it for me?”
I tossed her a silver bit, which as you know are worth about fifty common bits.
“Keep talking…”
I then used my magic to hand her a small bag, full of silver coins worth up to five thousand bits. I could practically see her drool as she gaped like a little foal with her new toy.
“And there’s plenty more where that came from. The better job you do, the better you get paid.”
“Yep. I’m sold.”
She turned out to be quite useful and quite reliable with the high priority jobs. For the first twelve years or so, she did jobs isolated in Equestria until she saved up enough money to purchase a ship of her own: a frigate which she sails proudly with a crew she gathered to this very day. Here, she extended her work to privateer business and worked for the Order internationally, not just in Equestria and therefore broadened her work range.
“Have you ever had any problems with her jobs? Like say, did her cover ever get blown?”
I guess in a manner of speaking, early in her privateering she brought back an important shipment for us and she met with me, saying some other ponies looked at her with strange looks. That they were suspicious of her cargo as it didn’t match what was normally carried. I remedied this by suggesting her writing a famous book series starring a character based off herself, only more idealistic and romanticized. I think you know the one. Anyway, this had the benefit of putting my long time writing skills to use AND throwing suspicion off of her. See by doing this, anypony who sees her with her shipments and cargo will think she is just a fan who is taking her fan antics a bit further.
I do believe our time is up today. Come back another time and we will discuss more.
***
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AUDIO RECORDING END (2:39 PM)
Four hours later…
“Enter.”
The door to Pandora’s office opened and in came two mares.
“Ah as much as I love the ocean air, It’s nice to take a break at land once in awhile. Hey boss.”
“Hello Raptor. And Serenade! Haven’t seen you since that time at the Gala, you big pop star you.”
“Yeah, the tour took a little longer than anticipated. Nice to see you, old friend,” Serenade said giving Pandora a big hug.
“So, what’s the occasion?”
“I’m here on business right now actually. First off, I learned from Ceres that we’ve got a positive identity on our journalist friend and, well, it’s interesting to say the least. I also just got an update from Andromeda that we may have a possible hideout location for our target.”
“No fooling?” Raptor exclaimed raising an eyebrow.
“I can’t confirm this info however and by now, it could be abandoned. You know how Howitzer operates.”
“That I do,” Pandora replied. “Still, we should consider it. This piece of information is too juicy to ignore. We can catch up later, but right now, I would like for you to inform Minerva as soon as possible if you haven’t already.”
“I can do that right now. By the way whenever you have the time, there’s a new restaurant that just opened up not that far from the castle. You should bring your husband too.”
“I might do that, thanks.”
Serenade took off to do her job as Raptor remained in the office, taking out a package and putting it on the desk.
“Another one?” Pandora grinned.
“Aye. This one was pretty tough to get back. Had some trouble with Griffon Armada on the way back. Good ol Valkyrie handled herself like a champ as usual, but I will need a little extra for repairs this time.”
“How does thirty-five hundred sound?”
“Reasonable I guess.”
“By the way, I didn’t know you had a son,” Pandora said writing the check.
“Uh, how’d you come to that conclusion?”
“Personal friend told me when he found out. So what else are you not telling me?”
“Look, I would rather not talk about it. My son and meself aren’t really on talking terms. Personal matter.”
“Alright fine. I was just curious is all. Here you go.” Pandora handed the check to her business partner.
“Aye, many thanks.”
“What’s your next plan?”
“Probably goin back to Manehattan to celebrate with the boys a bit before picking up my next assignment.”
“I see. Well, have fun. When you have the time, be sure to talk about that Armada skirmish. Could be useful for your next novel.”