The transit spell on the gemstone hidden deep in Bonbon’s bedside table rapidly transports her to the normal arrival pad, deep inside the Canterlot Mountain. She’s a little early for the meeting, but that’s not a problem- she has a little extra she needs to do today anyways.
So, she heads for the locker room. She may have become a pegasus, but her uniform should still fit- they’re designed for all three species at once, allowing the use of only a single factory line in their production. All she has to do is remove the patches on her uniform’s wing holes and she’s in business. She pops open her locker, removes the piece of clothing, and sets to work opening it for pegasus duty. Shortly, she has the patches on the floor of her locker when she glances to her side, to identify the pony that just walked in.
“Good evening, Night Light,” she greets the navy blue pegasus mare.
The mare blinks a couple times, like she can’t make sense of what she’s seeing. “... Sweetie Drops?” she eventually asks.
Bonbon nods. “That’s me,” she smiles, and starts putting on her uniform.
Night Light stares for a few more seconds. “But… A pegasus?”
The cream mare shrugs her uniform into place, folding her wings over it the way Night Light always does. “Yep. Apparently, that’s my reward for standing too close to a unicorn’s first attempt at a duplication spell… During a thaumic surge, with a previously undiscovered thaumatorium tear nearby.”
“A thaumawhatnow?”
Bonbon laughs. “Hey, that was my line! It’s on the list of mandatories- though it’s in the middle of town, so I haven’t dug it up just yet.”
The dark mare stares at her newly winged and more experienced friend. “You haven’t retrieved a mandatory?”
Her answer begins with a nod. “She only mentioned it this afternoon.”
“Ahh… That spell doesn’t happen to be recoverable, does it?”
Headshake this time. The RIS would find a transfiguration spell handy, even if only to pegasus form; earth ponies are very limited in what they can actually do, especially in an investigation. “Nope. The scroll was incinerated in the backblast- and she tells me she can’t remember what she did, either.”
Night Light rubs her chin with one hoof. “This unicorn doesn’t happen to be an agent, does she?”
Another shake. “No, she’s a civilian.”
“Figures.” She looks back at her locker, dropping her hoof to the lock. The RIS had managed to acquire a duplication spell some long time ago, though a single invocation requires as many as twenty unicorns working in tandem- and the duplicated item can’t be much larger than a hoof. If Agent Sweetie Drops’ unicorn had found one that didn’t require so many unicorns to be skilled in the matter- even if it required the power of twice as many- that’s something the RIS would simply love to get its hooves on. Then, she gets an idea. “You don’t happen to know this unicorn, do you?”
“Uh, yes?” Bonbon answers uncertainly.
“How well do you think she’d do in training?”
“Why?”
Night Light nods internally to herself. Her hunch was right- Bonbon not only knows this unicorn, but she’s close to her as well. “I was thinking of offering her a position,” she answers. “What’ll happen if we do?”
Bonbon remains wordless for a few long seconds. “Offering her a position…?” she eventually repeats, thinking. “I don’t know if she’d take it, but if she did, she’d probably be in the top ten percent- normally.” She shudders, staring at the back of her locker. “She got turned pegasus as well.”
Night Light winces internally, pulling out her own, fancier uniform. Though, given how stringent the selection criteria is, being a likely top ten percenter is a strong recommendation- especially coming from an agent in the top one percent, like Sweetie Drops herself. But if she had been transformed… Well, there’s only one way to find out. “Wanna offer it to her?” she asks. “I can handle the paperwork, if she’s interested.”
Bonbon goes wordless even longer this time. Here it is- the very offer Lyra has been waiting for for the last two full years. She’d applied a couple times, but never heard back. “Uh, sure,” she eventually answers. “I can offer it to her.”
The pause does not go unnoticed. “Something wrong?”
“No- it’s just that she’s applied a few times in the past, but never heard back. She’s been frustrated by that more than once- and now, of course…”
“She’s been transfigured,” Night Light finishes for her, to a nod, and glances at the clock. “I guess we’ll find out next time, eh?”
Bonbon then glances up at it too- and both mares shortly head for the meeting hall.
Lyra raises her eyebrow from where she’s stirring the pot of soup that’s going to be dinner tonight. The call alert tone had come over her comset, followed instantly by the odd feeling it gives her when it listens for commands. She knows it’s a lighter version of Zeus’ my-mind-is-your-mind device, which he calls a ‘neural link’- as a matter of fact, it’s the most powerful one he’d been able to pack into her comset. Even so, it can only read her instructions, but can’t actually send her anything through that link. As a result, when her command inquires after her caller, it answers her verbally- and she promptly accepts the call.
“Bonbon!” she greets her soup. “How’s it been?”
“Hey Lyra! The meeting went pretty well; I’m taking a ‘bathroom break’ at the moment, before I head for the office to tell them about the tear, and deliver our story for real. However, the offer has been made! You still interested?”
“The offer’s been made? What happened?”
“I ended up telling the abridged version to one of the other district managers- very nice, she is- and she made the offer even without knowing your name.”
“I always told you your recommendation was worth more than you thought,” Lyra informs the stove, as she turns it off; the soup’s done. “Sure, I’d love to- when should I show up?”
“Even with the whole transformation thing?”
She scoffs gently. “I’m a very strong pegasus right now, remember? The transformation thing isn’t going to present a problem.”
“Ahh. So, wanna we meet in the house in five minutes? Night Light is going to want to see you.”
“Can’t I just teleport myself in, once I get Zeus to help me get his stasis spell right?”
“How would you know where to go?”
“Oh, that’s the easy part. I’m sure Zeus has already triangulated that.”
“Ahh… there’s also appearances to maintain.”
Lyra winces at the sink. “Sure, I can do that. I’ll just talk to Zeus first- I’d rather his stasis spell offer us hot soup than a new hole in the kitchen and, oh, beaks.”
Bonbon laughs. “Yep, I’d prefer that too. I’ll let her know!”
And the line goes dead. Lyra chuckles lightly, before tapping her bracelet once, to connect to Zeus. “Hey Zeus?”
“Yes?”
“Could you help me with this stasis spell real quick?”
“What, afraid it’ll turn you into a griffin?”
Lyra laughs at her pot. “Not exactly, but I’d like to have hot soup to come back to.”
“Makes sense- it’s pretty hard to screw up, but could also be difficult to get right, yes. Do you mind if I stop by for that?”
“Sure!”
The line goes dead, right as an electric blue pegasus stallion blinks into existence in her kitchen, the thin web of white streaks in his golden mane seeming to twitch and shift as he does so. “Greetings,” he begins, bowing his head. “May I take it the RIS has finally extended their hoof?”
Lyra blinks at him. “It really is unsettling just how good you are with that,” she states.
He nods. “Congratulations. I expect a party would be rather inappropriate for the occasion, though.”
With another laugh, Lyra turns back towards the pot. “Oh yes. Anyways…”
“Zeus? Oh, um, I didn’t expect…”
Lyra chuckles at Bonbon’s reaction to finding Zeus relaxing in the family room with her. “Come on, I told you I’d have him help with the stasis spell- and it went perfectly, no beaks involved.”
Bonbon chuckles slightly. “So, uh…”
“He already figured it out,” Lyra informs her friend- and turns to look back at Zeus, her smug smile developing. “I’m sure he’d make a superb agent.”