Aug
20th
2020
Plot Bunny Theater: S.M.I.L.E · 8:24pm Aug 20th, 2020
The agency known as S.M.I.L.E has been in existence in secret for a thousand years. Helping to fight, detain and contain entities and objects that would destroy Ponykind. It's agents are sworn to secrecy to preserve the peace of Equestria and many have paid the ultimate price in service to Harmony.
That said, S.M.I.L.E does far more than merely contain. They also study, observe, experiment and make hard decisions.
And die in the dark so that ponies can live in the light.
What are their stories? Their adventures? And the things they keep from going bump in the night?
Inspired by the SCP Foundation and other sources, what would S.M.I.L.E deal with? Be like? Without becoming too grimdark?
Maybe something like windagoes or similar?
I quite like the portrayal of SMILE in https://www.fimfiction.net/story/423497/mission-to-the-pony-planet
The Humanworld girls come for a visit and cause considerable comical confusion and consternation in the local agents.
Honestly, I mostly just have them fight monsters, and don't plan to go into the nitty-gritty of what happens to those monsters between their capture and their inevitable escape.
I do, however, have a scene mostly plotted out where (possibly ex-) Chancellor Neighsay is taken to Bon Bon's shop to have a chat and a drink. The recruitment pitch basically goes "you talk about the inequine menace? We have inequine menaces." The next exchange goes as follows:
Bon Bon, interjecting: I told you before, there's a difference between monster hunting and bigotry!
OC (at least in the sense that, say, Oliver's Mary and Rika are OCs): And my response is the same: it doesn't take much for one to become the other.
(Note, this is a callback to earlier story events involving the OC and what was at that moment much closer to Agent Sweetie Drops. And would have been much closer to murder had the OC been a pony)
What if they are just annoying little things like the parapsrites or things that are like, cartoon level harmful? Like a creature that eats icing off the cupckaes.
There a book about SMILE. In general they something in-between Men in Black and MI6 from bond movies with their own magic flavor.
Book also said that lots of M6 adventures orchestrated by SMILE who sometimes use them as a their own strike force.
Hmmm...
...perhaps they are, in their own words, "the only serious faction in the Equestrian Government, and perhaps the entirety of our world"...
...they proceed to take their seriousness so far that it circles back into comedy.
For example, a rubber ducky falls through some dimensional hiatus or other.
Anybody (or any pony) with any common sense would realize exactly what this is, namely a toy, specifically a bath time toy.
Equestria has their own rubber duckies, after all.
But...
Agent Scratch: Uh...sir...are the hazmat suits really...necessary?
Agent Sniff: Yeah, seriously? I mean, don't get me wrong, we gotta be careful, yeah, but these things really ride up on the ol' block and tackle area, y'know?
Agent X (such a professional that you can hear the emphasis. He also sounds like Patrick Warburton): I remember when I was like you two.
(Agents Scratch and Sniff look at him)
Sniff: Uh...sir?
Agent X (the sheer amount of Xperience weighs his name down): Young. Hopeful. Naive. (His eyes narrow...not that they can see this behind his shades) But that was...before.
Scratch: Uh...before what...sir?
Agent X (he'd have a toy line if he wasn't such an Xtra secret, Xtra special and Xtraordinary agent): I could tell you. (Mouth tightened grimly) But then I'd have to kill you. Wouldn't be the first time.
(He nods to the unimportant, nameless, and most certainly not X anything (Xcept his X-marefriend) agent nearby)
Agent X: Activate the Short-Range Tactile Disturbance Initiator.
Agent Not X-marefriend: Affirmative...you son of a mule...
Agent X: Care to repeat yourself, Agent?
Agent Not X-madly in love with him until she realized he acted like this even at home: No, sir.
Agent X: That's what I thought. Proceed.
Agent Certainly Not the X-love of his life who would still give him a second chance if he'd just ask, but NOOOOO, he's already married to his JOOOOOB... : Yes, sir. Engaging TDI.
(Agents X, Scratch and Sniff watch as Agent Not X-Anything activated the device)
Scratch: Hey, Sniff?
Sniff: Yeah, Scratch?
Sniff: ...isn't that just a stick she picked up from that ditch over there?
(A shadow falls over them, and they look up to see Agent X glaring coldly at them through his mirrored aviators)
Agent X: I'll have you know, Agent Sniff, that the Short-Range TDI is a finely-tuned instrument that has been in use for countless centuries. Nothing else in our arsenal comes even close to being able to measure the threat-level of a dimensional incursion, and-
(The end of the stick makes contact with the rubber ducky with a sharp jab)
Rubber Ducky: *SKWEEK*
(Immediately, Agent X has grabbed everypony in his forelegs, protecting them with his own massive body)
Agent X: (into his earpiece) CODE RED, CODE RED, I REPEAT, WE HAVE A CODE RED, HIGH-FREQUENCY SOUNDS EMANATING FROM INCURSION, AGENT X REQUESTING IMMEDIATE EVAC AND QUARANTINE OF THE AREA! SUMMON THE ROYAL GUARD, I WANT A CORDON OF AT LEAST THIRTY SQUARE MILES! SCRAMBLE ALL AVAILABLE WONDERBOLTS AND ESTABLISH A NO-FLY ZONE IN THIS AIRSPACE! SWEEP THE AREA, ANYPONY HERE IS TO BE DETAINED FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY AND GIVEN AN IMMEDIATE MEDICAL EVALUATION!
(To the Nameless Agent Not-X, Scratch and Sniff)
Just stay with me, all right?! Do not fall asleep, do not follow any lights, and whatever you do, DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY SHRUBS! I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY PROMISE YOU, DO. NOT. LISTEN. I will get you out of here, maybe even alive, but you have to stay with me!
(Into his earpiece once more) Escort the Princesses into the bunker and...what? I DON'T GIVE A FLYING HORSEAPPLE IF IT'S TWO PM AND SHE GETS GRUMPY IF SHE'S WOKEN UP! FIX HER A HOT COCOA, EXTRA MARSHMALLOWS, AND GET THAT FAT MOON BUTT IN THE DAMN BUNKER!!!
Scratch: ...hey, Sniff?
Sniff: ...yeah, Scratch?
Scratch: Dad was right.
Sniff: Yeah, we should have just gone into making stickers.
Nameless Agent Definitely Not X: (sighs dreamily) I love it when he's stern...
(And the Rubber Ducky just sits there, because, dimensional incursion or not, a Rubber Ducky is just a Rubber Ducky)
5340124
I'm thinking something along the lines of this:
I think they would be for handling stuff that's just to weird for Tartarus.