//------------------------------// // Chapter 25 : Searching the Internet // Story: Friends With a Spy // by cakestealer //------------------------------// Vinyl awoke in the morning air of… their house. She opened her eyes sleepily and rolled onto her side. Her lime green alarm clock told her the time was 7:43. Why can't I just sleep in one day. She pulled open the purple curtains of her bedroom window. The morning light from outside shined into the room and Vinyl closed her eyes. Oh, that is so bright! My eyes are burned forever from that. Vinyl opened her eyes once she had moved away from the window and not surprisingly, could still see. She reluctantly pulled open her door and walked into the hallway. Down the stairs she went, slowly stumbling along. The dark brown front door, which had been replaced by P.O.N.E. after Cherry came flying through it, was there as always. Vinyl turned and lazily trudged into the kitchen. “Good morning Vinyl.” Octavia called. “Good morning.” Derpy repeated. “Good morning you two.” Vinyl said. She opened a cupboard and pulled out an english muffin. She put it in the toaster and started waiting for it to cook. “Today we have to investigate the blueprint we found.” Derpy said. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that!” Vinyl remembered. “Let's just try to stay out of danger you guys.” Octavia added. “I don't want any of us getting hurt.” “Octavia we got it. We’ll stick together and stay out of any big trouble.” Vinyl removed the english muffin from the toaster and put it on a plate. She went and sat down at the round table. Outside a bird chirped. Derpy spoke up. “Anywho, we need to figure out who this Steel Horseshoes guy is.” “How are we going to do that?” Octavia asked. “Well, P.O.N.E. has a database of almost all the citizens of Canterlot. We could probably find him with that. If not… then I don't really know.” Once they finished eating breakfast Derpy decided to contact P.O.N.E. She asked if they had received any new information from the different prisoners. She also asked if they could look up Steel Horseshoes on their identity database. Just a few minutes later she got a response. “Vinyl, Octavia, come look at this I got a response.” Vinyl and Octavia, who was holding a glass of apple juice, walked over. “What did they say?” Vinyl asked curiously. “Let’s see, Dear Ms. Hooves, we are aware that you and the new recruits assisted in getting a blueprint for the agency. This blueprint showed designs for a robot of some sort designed by a pony by the name of Steel Horseshoes. We looked up Steel Horseshoes on our database of the citizens of Canterlot and he was not found. We didn’t find a name match in any other kingdoms throughout Equestria either. Because of this we aren’t quite sure yet where to look next. If you find any new information let us know and if we find any new information we’ll let you know. Sincerely, a P.O.N.E. official.” “Ugh, what are we supposed to do now? If we don't have an identity match how do we find one?” Vinyl questioned grumpily. “Well, we may not have an identity match yet but I know how to find one.” Derpy said. “Okay, spill the beans then.” “I think we can do a quick search on the internet and we can figure it out.” Vinyl made a face. “What do you mean we just do a quick internet search? Wouldn't the agents at P.O.N.E. have done that already if it was that simple?” “Not quite. They like to rely on special high tech methods over at P.O.N.E. but I have a different idea.” Derpy pulled her laptop off the small coffee table in front of the fireplace. She opened it up and typed in her password amazingly fast. She searched up Steel Horseshoes on the browser and it came up with a bunch of normal pictures of Horseshoes made of steel. Derpy typed in anagram and clicked the enter button. She went on the first website and typed in Steel Horseshoes. It came up with a bunch of different results but Derpy pointed to one. “Here's hole tosses. If we take out the here's, doesn't hole tosses sound like a name?” “What in the world Derpy?” Vinyl said confusedly. “Now if we look up Hole Tosses let's see what we can find.” A bunch of results popped up. Some were pictures of a stallion in a cave or by a giant drill. Others were listings of different engineering jobs. “I think we have or suspect.” Derpy said while grinning. The shocked expressions on Vinyl and Octavia's faces were priceless. How did she even do that? How did she know that the right anagram was Hole Tosses? That’s crazy! I can't believe she found the guy by just doing whatever that was in like a minute! “How did you… ?” Octavia started. “You just have to learn some basic psychology Octavia. See, because he was so important to the project I assumed he had a fake name, but I asked anyway just to make sure. Then when I got confirmation it was fake I just used in anagram for the fake name.” “But how did you know to use an anagram and how did you know it was Hole Tosses?” Vinyl questioned. “Simply put, most ponies wouldn’t want to have to make up an entire new name so they use letters from their real name to make a fake one. Also, I knew it was Hole Tosses because all the other options didn't sound like names.” Octavia’s and Vinyl’s jaws had dropped open. Their eyes were wide. Who knew Derpy was that insanely smart? No wonder she's a spy. I bet she's one of the top agents at P.O.N.E., I mean if she isn't she definitely should be. Derpy observed their shocked expressions and chuckled. “It wasn't that big of a deal you guys.” “Are you kidding me? That was awesome!” Vinyl cheered. “I can't believe you're not a scientist or something Derpy. You clearly have the brains.” “Thanks Vinyl but I’m satisfied being a mail mare.” Octavia suddenly spoke up. “Well, now that we know who is actually up to things what’s the next step?” “Well, we have to find out where this guy lives. I think the best way to do that would be to go question some of the people he worked with.” Derpy clicked on one of the links and opened a page with information about Hole Tosses and a project he worked on. “It says here that he built some of the wind turbines outside Canterlot. Well, I guess Luna was right about that then.” “How do we get in contact with whoever built the wind turbines?” Vinyl asked. “It says here they have a manufacturing plant in Canterlot. The ponies there probably know about where Hole Tosses lives.” “Well, I doubt they’re going to tell us where he lives if we just go in and ask.” Octavia said. “Right, that’s why we have to be sneaky about it. We’re going to go there and ask about how we can get in contact with Hole Tosses.” “Sounds like a good plan boss.” Vinyl said. “Let’s go then! We know where to go so it’s just a matter of walking there.” “Here, let me just get an address for this manufacturing place.” Derpy scrolled to the bottom of the page and saw the address for the building. She closed down the laptop and turned to Vinyl and Octavia. “You guys ready to go?” “Yep.” Vinyl replied. “I’m ready.” Octavia agreed. They walked out the door and into the streets of Canterlot. They were even closer to the goal of finding out more about Project R.G.R.