//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Culmination Of Actions Past // by NotanImportantPony //------------------------------// Sunset has walked through the portal. She was in between two different planes now. Under her feet lay a winding path and around her swam a kaleidoscope of colors. Ten cautious steps in and a weird prickling sensation washed over her skin. At first she flinched at the unexpected feelings but gradually she warmed up to it. The prickles weren't painful, but they weren't comfortable either. They felt like waves of stinging ice hurled around during a winter storm. One particularly intense wave caught her attention. Looking up from the ground Sunset saw a faintly glowing rectangle in the distance. It was the entrance to Equestria. The rectangular pane of white light was... smaller than she remembered it. But then again she had grown quite a bit since she tried to steal Princess Twilight... Sparkle. Former Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Element- tiara thingy. Sunset stood before the entrance to Equestria and violently shook her head to rid herself of those destructive thoughts. She had to go forward. She had to get back into Equestria, if only so she could help them. Sunset took a step into the portal. The tingling around her body increased. Now it felt like she was getting a massage. The world around her started to bend and warp. The four corners of the portals pane shifted behind her leaving her in a field of shimmering white light. Closing her eyes Sunset took the final step towards her home. But just for a moment, just before she closed her eyes. Sunset could've sworn she saw flames and smoke curling around the red skin of her taloned hands. Sunset’s smoking body was violently ejected from the portal where she skidded to a stop amidst a group of four ponies. With her eyes rolling and her ears ringing Sunset Shimmer could not see or hear a thing. But she could feel. She could still feel the last remnants of the portals tingling magic working its way out of her system. She could most definitely feel her head being wrenched to the side. Then she was only faintly aware of the tingling sensation that surrounded her head. A few seconds later she was aware of nothing. One month ago. It was just another day on the clock. Another monster down. Another world -and countless lives- saved. Another pay check. And once again, another ‘unofficial’ meeting. Former Special Agent Sweetie Drops wandered the halls of a forgotten tactility as she reminisced about the old days, the good days. Days where all she had to do was care about capturing monsters and not- not baking sweets. Sure, did she like her new lifestyle? Yes. But did it have the same pizzazz? No. Hence the fact why she was wandering a forgotten facility reminiscing about her ‘glory days.’ She stopped and ran her hoof over one particular spot on a janitor's door. Sweetie Drops looked at the number. Door 978. Sweetie Drops let out a slight chortle, 978 was the year of her birth. Leaving the sign behind Sweetie Drops opened the janitorial supply closet and entered it. The door closed behind her with a soft kiss of wind. She looked around the room for one particular object. Manticore Plush. Cute... But not it. A Celestial Bit. Sweetie Drops picked it up in her right hoof and looked at it. It was minted in 972. A keeper then, unlike the new gold plated nickle bits. Sweetie Drops turned to her right. A big red button sat out in an open space on a concrete wall. It rested under a clear cover that had, ‘For Use in Case of Emergency’ scratched into the plexiglass. On top of the cover Sweetie Drops could see some faint scratches. ‘That means you Wet Mop!’ She would decidedly not press that button. Besides if she remembered anything from basic Explosive Ordnance Disposal training it was that you never pressed the red button. Sighing, Sweetie Drops drooped her head and looked at the hoof prints imprinted into the dust. They led to the red button. She moved to the red button. Looking closer she could see that there was dust on the bottom edge of the button. She sighed. Of course they would do that. Looking at the button Sweetie Drops opened the cover then unceremoniously pressed it with her hoof. A snap and a hiss emanated from behind her. She turned around letting the plexiglass casing fall and protect its charge once more. The shelving unit that held the Manticore Plush had shifted back an inch. Sweetie Drops pressed against it and the shelf moved back on its own letting a rectangle of harsh white light fall onto a cold concrete floor. Sweetie Drops stepped into the room and closed the secret door behind her. The wait was killing her. Time was of the essence. In the amount of time that had been given to this project The Director could've greased a few hooves, averted disaster or brought down some corrupt nobles. This new project was quickly becoming a bother. So then, why was she wasting her time sitting in some ‘secret’ room beneath the middle of Nowhere? Sweetie Drops, that's why. After the ‘Special Agents’ gross mishandling of the Bugbear and its subsequent escape, Princess Celestia came to personally shut down one of the most productive agencies Equestria had ever known. Of course in that one year all evidence of the Agency’s existence was ‘destroyed.’ ‘All’ of its employees were fired and sent to various towns across Equestria to resume new lives with new identities. The Princess had a say in where some of her ‘little ponies’ ended up. Such was the case for one mare even though she didn't know it. That mare was the former Special Agent Sweetie Drops; the one responsible for the whole mess. Unfortunately given recent events like Nightmare Moon, Tirek, and Sombra; Celestia had seen it fit to re-activate the agency and ensure that it operated under her full supervision. But what she didn't know was that the agency was already operating outside her purview. And they were doing very well. Though that was to be expected given the less than noticeable lack of ‘Special Agent’ Sweetie Drops. However; given her recent performance and the even more recent projects the Agency had found itself understaffed. They tried the usual lineup, posters, house calls, applications, agent retrieval and re-activation. They were close to full strength but some project managers were begging for more ponies. They could get their precious ponies as soon as there were more. Hence the risky activation of ‘Special Agent’ Sweetie Drops. So far her progress was... less then desirable. Mainly she was late. Like two whole minutes late. It was unacceptable yet The Director really had no choice. There were more projects coming up and they needed to be staffed. A quick glance at the clock above the ‘secret’ door showed that Sweetie Drops was now two minutes and thirty seconds late. The Director let out a disappointed sigh. And the door finally slid open leaving a harsh rectangle of white light on the floor which was quickly obscured by the problematic pony. The Director sat up in the chair and prepared to give that little pony a good solidly prepared speech. For Sweetie Drops her ‘interview’ had begun as soon as she left her shop in Ponyville. She had followed the trail of clues to an out of the way building. She had found a way inside. Then she found the right doors. Overall, her performance was below that of a rather infamous wall eyed agent. It was a pity. Then again, all Sweetie Drops did was bake all day, she didn't practice much, except for that bugbear incident which was just about the only time she actually got to use her old skills. But when she sat down on the cold lumpy chair her superior turned up the heat. There were no polite introductions, there was only the cold clinical tone of a uninterested doctor. “Answer yes or no to the following questions. Your name is Candy Swirl. Code Name: Sweetie Drops. Alias: Bon Bon.” Sweetie Drops nodded cautiously. “Yes.” “Gender: Female.” A confident ‘yes’ came out of Sweetie Drops. It sounded much more confident than she felt. “Place of Birth: Canterlot.” “Yes.” “Date of Birth: Fall season; Year 978  of Princess Celestia’s rule.” Bon Bon paused and thought back. “Yes” “Height: 11 hooves or 44 inches.” Again there was a pause quickly followed by a confident sounding ‘yes’. “Race: Earth.” “Yep.” Her examiner let out an exasperated breath and recited the lines, “Please answer the question with a yes or a no.” In a very bored voice. Bon Bon quaked a bit under the rebuttal and squeaked out a mousy sounding ‘yes’. “Hair: Cobalt blue and Fuschia stripes.” “Yes.” “Eye color: Arctic Blue.” Bon Bon rested her forehead on the edge of the table and mumbled an affirmative. “Wife: Lyra Heartstrings.” “Yes.” There were no more questions, just a taut rope of silence as her superior’s words filtered through to her bored brain. She processed it then snapped the rope. “WHAT!” Sweetie Drops had leapt up off her chair in shock and anger. When she landed she leaned over the table to get as close as she could to her superior and gave him a piece of her mind. “Lyra Heartstrings and I are not married, hitched, or special some ponies! We are roommates nothing more then that.” Taking a deep breath to recover after her rebuttal Sweetie Drops sat down in her chair and stared at her superior. Said superior was busy wiping the residue of Sweetie Drops’ furious little tirade from her muzzle. That action went on for a couple of minutes, just to ensure that there was no trace of any slime on her body. Wiping the last of the residual spit from her muzzle The Director tossed the white handkerchief into the trash can at the far corner of the room. She made it with ease. Turning to her former employee The Director levitated a file out from under her desk and held it in the air. “Sweetie Drops, should you accept this mission you will be officially recalled to the Agency.” Sweetie Drops looked at the suspended file with a curious glint in her eyes then turned to face The Director. “What is it?” “That is classified information.” “Alright then,” Sweetie Drops reached over and tugged the files from her superiors magic grasp and smirked. “What’s in them?” Her superior let out a mirthless chuckle. “Congratulations ‘Special Agent’ Sweetie Drops,” the special agents head shot up as her superiors horn lit up in a golden glow. “The Agency is happy to have you back.” An odd squishing and cracking noise followed that statement. The sounds repulsed and nauseated Sweetie Drops. But they died down fast enough that she didn't lose her lunch. The voice she heard next was not one she was familiar with. “Special Agent Sweetie Drops. The Agency might be happy to see you,” Prince Blueblood sneered as he leaned into the light. “But I'm not.”