//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: On Her Majesty's Dragonish Service // by DinoDenver //------------------------------// “Princess Celestia is awaiting you, sir.” Royal guard opened door when he saw him approaching. “Thanks.” He answered as he entered the throne room. “Hey! Hey! Luna! Hey! Luna! Luna! Look! Luna! HEEEY!” “What is it, sister?” “Look how many bananas I can juggle!” Princess Celestia was using her magic to levitate about twenty bananas. “We're not sure if it is technically juggling, but it sure is impressive, sister.” But Luna didn't look like she was impressed. Princess Celestia's humor was pretty random, but over the years he grew to like it. “Princess Celestia.” He interrupted the sister talk. Few yellow missiles were fired at him, but with one swift move he dodged them. “You were expecting me?” “As agile as always.” Celestia smiled. “But you can't dodge my banana arsenal forever, one day I will get you!” Princes winked. “I'm sure you will, your majesty.” Spike smiled back. *** “So, can you tell me how is my pupil doing?” Princess Celestia asked, as they were going through castle's corridors. “Well, pretty good to be honest. She gets pretty well along with other ponies. And there I was worrying that it will take her long time to make some friends.” Spike replied. “Nonsense Spike! She is going to be a princess soon! It's obvious, that she can make friends easily! EASILY!” “If you say so, your highness.” Spike smiled. “I'm not so sure about this 'soon' part though.” Princess clearly wanted to say something more, but door opened before them. “S! How are you? How was the trip?” “Hi, A! Long time no see!” Replied Spike. “Shining Armor! Spike! Why are you using these silly nicknames?!” Screamed Princess. “Who had such a stupid idea?!” “Well, that would be you.” Spike looked at Princess Celestia with serious expression on his face. “That was my idea?” She was clearly shocked by this news. “Yes.” “Princess Celes-arghpfltrt...!” Shining Armor was interrupted by Princess Celestia. By Princess Celestia's banana in his mouth to be exact. In his throat, to be precise. “Tshhhhhhhhhhh! Are you crazy, A? Do you want to blow my cover?!” She looked around before staring into his eyes. Then she slowly took out the banana. “I'm really sorry, Pri...C! I'm sorry, C!” Shining Armor was a quick learner. “Oh, hi agent S! Didn't see you here in a while! Do you have a break from protecting Princess Twilight?” “Hello, agent D.” Answered Spike with a smile. “Good to see you. I think that Twi will be able to handle herself for some time. And I'm sure that few other agents were dispatched as my substitute, am I right, C?” Spike turned his head to face Princess. “...Maaaaybe.” Answered Celestia. “Good to hear.” Said Derpy. “And how is going the 'Whooves' case, D?” Asked Spike. “Rather smoothly, to be honest.” “I'm sorry, but we need to go, agent D.” Interrupted Celestia. “Agent S has a very important task and we can't waste time.” “Of course, C.” Answered Derpy and bowed a little. Princess Celestia, Spike and Shining Armor went through the doorway and then downstairs. “So what is my task exactly, C?” Asked Spike. “You will know soon enough.” Answered Princess Celestia, as they were going lower and lower. *** They were now going through another corridor. They were pretty far underground, lack of windows was one of the things that were reminding about that. "Is it soon enough already?" "I think, that you're supposed to know that, C." Said Spike. "You're clever, S. That's why you're one of my best agents." Celestia used her magic to open the door. "We're here." They entered the room. Or to be more precise: they entered a cavern, and pretty big one at that. But although it was a very big cave, inside was as bright as in daylight. Magic lanterns illuminated whole place, it was a spectacular sight. But even more amazing was the number of ponies that were in the room. There were dozens of them, probably even more than a hundred. And every one of them looked busy. Some were sitting at their desks, looking at some papers. Others were working with weird machines. Many were just going somewhere in a hurry. To their left, about twenty meters from them were biggest wooden desk in entire room. Behind that desk, on the wall, was map of Equestria and known world. On left and right side of the map were hanged big emblems of Equestria, each about two meters wide, five meters high. It wasn't separated by walls or anything like that, but this was Celestia's office. Spike knew that. After all, it wasn't his first time in Equestria's Secret Service headquarters. "What's all the fuss about?" Asked Spike. He knew that normally headquarters aren't this lively. "C, A, these are the reports you asked for." Orange colored pegasus was carrying few scrolls. "Thanks." Said Shining Armor as he magically picked the scrolls. "No problem." Said orange pegasus and flew away. "As you probably know, agent S, this commotion is caused by a problem." Celestia answered Spike's question. "I figured as much. What kind of problem, C?" "Big one." "Can you be more specific?" "Of course." Celestia rolled her eyes. "We're suspecting, that somepony is trying to mess with weather." "How?" Spike was surprised. "Controlling weather is a task that could be handled either by powerful magic, on a level of alicorns or ancient dragons, or by labor of many pegasi ponies..." They approached Celestia's desk. "Is that even possible?" "Well..." Celestia sat down and grinned. "Now this is a comfortable chair. I think that this is the most comfortable chair. It was worth going all this way." "We're not entirely sure, S." Shining Armor decided to answer Spike's question. “We've received reports of weather anomalies.” “What kind?” “Spontaneous lighting strikes.” Answered Shining Armor. “To be honest, A, this doesn't sound so anomalyish to me.” Spike looked rather puzzled. “These things happen.” “That's true, but these don't hit random targets. It's more like they are controlled by someone.” “Controlled?” Spike was even more surprised. “And why do you think they are controlled?” “Well... for one we've got reports of lighting strikes hitting same exact spot multiple times. And agent B got hit by one of these lighting bolts.” “Buahahaahaha!!!” Spike got little too happy about Blueblood's misfortune. “Serves him right, I don't like this dick.” Spike wiped the tear from the eye. “Did he got anything?” “Not really...” “Incompetent dick.” Spike grinned, then looked at Princess Celestia. “No offense, C.” “Oooooooooh... THAT CHAIR!!!” Duties of the head of sercret service absorbed Princess entirely. “Well, S, we all here share your feeling about B...” Started Shining Armor, trying to keep his voice down. “Is he dead?” “No, he's in hospital, currently in coma.” “Darn it.” Spike didn't looked pleased. “Better that than nothing I guess.” “Well, maybe we're not as passionate about B as you are, but it sure is nice to not have him around.” Shining Armor started to walk. “But we have work to do, come with me, S.” “Later, C.” Said Spike as he followed Shining Armor. Princess didn't say anything, as she still was melting on the most comfortable chair. *** Spike was looking at his reflection in the mirror. Young drake was wearing a fancy tuxedo with a red bow-tie. "Now this is what I call classy." Spike winked to his own reflection. "Yeah, you look nice, S." Agreed Shining Armor. "Nice doesn't even begin to describe it. I look awesome. But there's one thing missing." He snapped his fingers. "That's what I'm talking about!" "Tell me one thing, S. We know each other for a long time." "Very long." Agreed Spike. "Tell me, why are you using magic so rarely?" "I don't want to depend on it too much. And I use it more often than you think, A." "For the mustache, I suppose?" "You bet!" Spike stroked his mustache. "It's just too awesome." He stopped for a moment and looked Shining Armor in the eyes. “But you know, I just don't want to accidentally use magic around Twilight.” “I guess you're right... I forgot how hard it must be for you to act like that around Twilight and her friends.” “Well, it's hard at times.” Spike noticed distressed look on his friend face. “But don't worry, A. I do practice using magic quite often and I have some magic tricks up in my sleeve. You don't need to worry about Twi.” “I know pal, I know.” Shining Armor and Spike did a bro fist bump. Or bro hoof bump. It's rather hard to tell when one of them has a fist and one has a hoof. “But back to the mission: do you have any questions, S?” “About mission – not really. It's clear I should start in Cloudsdale and then take it from there.” Spike crossed his arms. “Simple spell will take care of walking on clouds, but how do I get there in the first place?” “You're gonna love this, S.” Shining Armor smiled from ear to ear. “I have to say, C really went all out this time.” “Go on.” “Just follow me, Q will show you your new toys.” *** “Hello, Q!” Shining Armor was the one to start conversation. “Hi, Q!” Spike also marked his presence. Rather old looking unicorn pony in a lab suit, with a gray mane and tail and only slightly darker coloration, turned his head around to face them. “Finally! I thought you'll never show up.” He looked rather angry. “You're always doing this, S. It's getting on my nerves.” “Sor-” “Just messing with you, S.” He turned around and started walking across the room. “Come on now, you'll be pleased with what I've got for you.” Spike and Shining Armor followed Q without any questions. He and his team earned respect of many agents. S and A included. They approached table at the middle of the room. “Well, let's start with these.” Q used his magic to levitate small wooden case with gold hinges and lock. “Standard writing set. Three quills, phoenix ones, according to your preferences. One scroll of paper and of course bottle of ink. As always, ink contains strong dormitive.” “Looks like nothing new here.” Said Spike as picked up one of the quills. He really liked phoenix ones. “It may look like it, but we worked pretty hard on this toxin. Now simple stab with the quill should put an adult colt to sleep in less than five seconds.” “Now you're exaggerating a little... Ouch! Q! What the...!” Shining Armor was now taking a nap. “I have to admit, pretty impressive.” Spike wasn't worried, he knew Q wouldn't do something that would harm his friend. “For how long will he be asleep at work?” “Well, it depends, but it's between three and ten minutes. And him being A, I'd say it will be closer to three minutes. Little too short to get him in any trouble.” Q raised his head and looked at Spike. “Let us continue.” “As you wish, Q.” “I know you don't like this kind of weaponry, but these are our new throwing knives.” “Well, they don't usually lead to very noble fights... But they come in handy sometimes...” “They sure do, S, they sure do. We've changed them a little to better suit you.” Q grabbed one of them from the table. “We've made them from material much lighter and harder than steel, diamondium. It's state of the art.” “Whoa, it's almost weightless!” Spike couldn't believe, that he had throwing knife in his claws. It felt like quill he was holding few moments earlier. But his eyes weren't deceiving him. There it was, dark gray throwing knife. “It feels well balanced, but does it even fly properly with such a little weight?” “Good point, S, as always.” Q praised Spike. “It's too light for normal throwing it like normal throwing knife. It has to be enhanced with magic. Throw it more like missile, without rotation, with greater velocity.” Q demonstrated, knife almost reached target. “Well, maybe you should try.” Spike looked at the knife in his hand. He enchanted it with magic and threw. He hit exactly in the middle, perfect throw. These knives really were something and Spike knew it. “Now try to put a little more strength and aim for this pony armor.” Encouraged Q. Spike picked up another knife, looked at the target and with one swift move he threw the knife. Hole in armor was the obvious reason for Spike's dropped jaw. “I knew you'll find this impressive.” Smirked Q. “In your tuxedo there is room for eighteen of them. Three in each sleeve, with fast and easy access, each in it's own pocket, and twelve in inside pockets, as reserve.” “I don't need this many!” Protested Spike. “Why would I need eighteen throwing knives, Q?!” “Don't lament, you're carrying around much heavier things.” Q had a point. “But look at this, you're gonna love it.” He grabbed a dagger and showed it to Spike. Spike looked at him, not really amused “Q, what exactly am I going to love about this?” REALLY not amused. “You know, that I hate daggers. They're so not in my style. I don't like assassinations and backstabbing...” Q forced dagger into Spike's hand. “I see... you didn't make this, did you?” “We didn't. We received this artifact about three weeks ago, and as soon as I saw it, I knew you will love this.” “Enchanted blade. This is really uncommon... to say the least. I don't know what to say, Q.” “Don't say anything, just activate it.” Spike did as he was told. In one moment dagger grew bigger, much bigger. It wasn't dagger anymore, but a one-handed sword. Spike could easily control size of the blade with his magic. “Thanks, Q. I really LOVE it.” “No problem, S. That's what I'm here for.” Q was always modest. Almost always. “Uhh...” Shining Armor got up slowly. “I feel like...” “You're awake at last!” Q scolded him. “I almost thought that we will have to look at the most awesome thing without you.” “You've got something more, Q?” Spike was surprised, there was nothing left on the table. “I sure do, and let me tell you, your mind will be blown.” Q smiled wide. “But for this one we will have to go to royal dockyard.” *** Spike was amazed every time he visited royal dockyard. He was amazed how inappropriate that name was. Royal dockyard? There were hardly any ships build there, workers were spending most of their time on maintenance. It was more of a hangar. Hangar full of airships. Somepony could be overwhelmed by sheer amount of airships, but each one of them was a sight to behold. Closest to exit, and kept ready at most times, were Equestria's warships. There were about thirty battle cruisers, each of them required a crew of over half a hundred of ponies. With armor protecting whole ship, dozens of canons and countless places for archers and mages to attack from they were almost impossible to destroy. The mere presence of an airship like that could change the tide of battle. Although times were peaceful now, it wasn't always that way. So it didn't surprise Spike, that vast armada of warships were ready to deal with potential threat. Further in the back there were some more airships, much less lethal for a change. It was like a little museum of aviation. One could find here anything, from old fashioned hot air balloons to the state of the art, steam powered airships. But centerpiece of this collection were two ships: Full Moon and Rising Sun. The very first two airships ever built in Equestria. And they were sight to behold. In the meantime two unicorns and a dragon approached the door with “Authorized personnel only” sign. Shining Armor opened it and they went through. *** Two royal guards looked surprised by their sudden appearance, but when they realized who just came in they only bowed. “Sky, there you are.” Q spoke to navy blue unicorn. “Bring the Dragonfly here.” “Yes, sir!” Sky Sailor immediately galloped away. “Dragonfly?” Spike raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, C gave it that name personally. She said that it would be a nice pun on you being a dragon that could not fly.” “I appreciate her attention to details.” “Yeah, whatever you say.” Sky Sailor was back with a rather peculiar vehicle, unsteadily approaching them. “We used to call it BMV, Barely Moving Vessel. I still think that this is pretty accurate.” “That doesn't sound too awesome, if you ask me.” “I didn't ask you, S. And it is not polite to interrupt somepony older than you.” Q turned his head to face the Dragonfly again. “Where was I...? Ah, yes. Barely moving isn't totally accurate, as it strongly depends on pilot's magical abilities. When we gave the prototype to Princess Luna we couldn't believe what she was able to do with it. She couldn't either. She kept that prototype for herself, I don't think you need anymore advertisement than that.” “I don't.” Agreed Spike. “Too bad, because you'll get it anyway.” Continued Q. “This is our newest airship. To keep it afloat we used a special gas, that is lighter than air. But in case of emergency hot air should suffice.” “In case of emergency?” Spike decided, that it was good idea to interrupt Q. “Well, if you had to rapidly decrease altitude there is a possibility of releasing gas to the atmosphere. If you combine that with ship's engines it will give you pretty fast dive. Of course after that you'll have to replace the gas with hot air if you don't want to integrate yourself into landscape.” “So how can I avoid becoming part of the scenery?” Spike was sincerely interested in acquiring that knowledge. “There's a burner that will heat up the air. Everything is described in user manual, I don't want to get in too many details.” Q grunted. “Control instruments are Sky's original idea. I have to say, that this kid did a great job. It would be great if he could focus on one thing for more than five minutes. Anyway, ship is moved around using magic enchanting devices. For example when you apply magical power to the ones used in this ship they suck air on one end and throw it out with great force on the other end, thus creating movement.” “I've read somewhere about devices like that.” Protecting Twilight was rather boring task most of the time, so Spike often read books just to kill time. “That's great. Now, get in there and show us what you've got.” “Maybe I should look at the manual first?” “Real colts don't read manuals, get in there and fly. It's pretty intuitive.” Q pressed Spike. “I sometimes read the manual...” Shining Armor stated hesitantly. “Princess Luna didn't read it.” Said Q. Nothing more was needed to convince Spike. Cockpit of the vessel was pretty impressive, many gauges and blinking lights. Spike didn't know what are they for, but it didn't discourage him. He started with applying little magical force, flying around slowly. Controls were really intuitive, Q didn't lie about that. Spike soon started to go faster, turn tighter. He really enjoyed it, no wonder Princess Luna didn't return the prototype. “Hey, S!” It was Shining Armor this time. “I don't want to spoil your fun, but we don't have all day.” “Yeah, I know.” Replied Spike, as he landed in front of Shining Armor and Q. “Let's get the paperwork done and I'll be on my way.” *** Princess Luna looked through the window, at the vessel that was now flying with great speed in direction of Cloudsdale. “I have to ask you something, sister.” She started. “Anything.” Few bananas fell to the ground as Celestia turned her head to face Luna. “I know, that Spike is your good friend, and he is reliable. I agree, that as a dragon, a creature of great magical power, he is more than qualified to be Twilight's personal guard.” Luna turned around and looked in her sister in the eyes. “But don't you think he isn't really suitable to be a secret agent?” “I don't follow you.” “I mean, come one! He is a dragon! How can he be stealthy? How can he blend in with the crowd? He can act like one man army, but this doesn't make him a good material for a spy.” “It doesn't make him good material for a spy.” Answered Celestia. “It makes him PERFECT material for a spy. And he can blend in and be stealthy as well as all my agents. Did you see that mustache?” “Now I'm even more worried about our secret service.” Luna sighted. “But at least you could give him vehicle that doesn't stand out this much.” “Oh, sister. What would that change? He is a dragon, it's not like he could just blend in anyway!” Celestia laughed. “...Now I don't follow you, sister.” “And it is one seriously cool vessel.” “With that I must agree.” Said princess Luna and two sister looked through the window at the vanishing point, that was Equestria's number one secret agent.