//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Secret // Story: Secret Search // by computerneek //------------------------------// “I have to ask, who helped you yesterday?” “Who helped me?  With what?” “When you caught…  him, somepony was running a perception filter for you.  Who…?” She trails off, looking across the breakfast table at her new friend. Lyra eventually straightens out her smile and lowers her covering hoof.  “You noticed?” “Uh, yes.  Why else would you be so hard to notice?” She smirks.  “It falls into the category of more-secret-than-the-basement.” She raises an eyebrow.  “Then my original promise covers it, unless you’d like a repeat performance.” “So, as long as it’s not, say, Tirek powering that perception filter, nopony finds out?” “Uh…  There’s a few other ponies I’d also have to tattle on…  But the list isn’t long.” “I’m not on that list, am I?” She lets out a snort of laughter.  “Nah, you have to be a threat to Equestria to get on the list.” “So, ponies like King Sombra or Queen Chrysalis, right?” “Ahuizotl is on the list too.” “Wait, he’s real?  Does that mean Daring Do is too?” “Shoot.” “I take it that’s secret as well?” Her ears droop.  “Yep.” “Don’t worry, it’s safe with me.” “Ahh…  But don’t tell anyone, please?” “No problem.”  She glances at the door.  “My catching you won’t cause you trouble, will it?” She shakes her head.  “Nah- that carelessness is going on his record.  That’s what I was out doing all night.”  She smiles. “Meanwhile, I might even get credit for the recovery.” Smirk.  “Nice.” Smirk.  “Very.” Smirk.  “Extremely.” Smirk.  “Superbly?” Smirk.  “Um…” “Somehow, I don’t think that counts,” Bonbon chuckles. “Excellently?  No… um…” “But back to my question.  Who was helping you?” “Oh?  Um, nopony was.” “Nopony.  So I imagined a powerful perception filter?” “Uh, no.” “So, who was helping you?” Her horn lights up…  and grows brighter. And brighter. “Uh…  that’s an aural augmentation spell, right?”  She sounds distinctly worried now. She smiles- but her horn doesn’t stop glowing brighter…  Until it finally holds steady for a second and drops back down to a dim glow.  Then she points at her doppleganger, the one that just appeared next to her. “She was?” Bonbon blinks a couple times.  “Wait, there’s two of you?” Both Lyras put on exactly the same exasperated expression, and speak simultaneously.  “Of course not.” “But…  But the only other thing it could be is the self-projection spell…” “Problem?”  It’s somewhat disorienting the way they’re perfectly synchronized. “That spell has been lost for centuries.  Even Celestia herself doesn’t know it!” The new Lyra turns to trot off into the living room, while the one seated at the table smiles.  “It has been, yes.”  Her horn glow fades to nothing. “Wait…  You found it?” Smirk.  “In a chest in the basement of the tower of Starswirl the Bearded.” “What?  But that was…  Wait. You know the Secret Searcher?” “The what?” “The Secret Searcher…  Oh, right, you wouldn’t know.  The RIA knows about the exploits of Daring Do; we’ve even got a few agents tailing her, helping intercept some of the more dangerous traps she gets herself into.  She’s too valuable as a treasure hunter. “But there’s a second treasure hunter that’s been scouring the nation.  While Daring inevitably runs into somepony or another, this second hunter- nicknamed the Secret Searcher- never runs into anypony.  At least twice, Daring penetrated a temple or something…  only to find the treasure was already taken. “Starswirl’s Tower was one of those.” “Ahh…  They never took off their cloak in those woods, nor named themselves…  only gave me the book and told me where it had come from.” She looks down at the ancient book landing on the table next to her, surrounded by a familiar golden aura.  “I got all the spells I used to catch… him from it.” Bonbon gazes at it for a few seconds.  “Oh… Um, I think I can get away with not reporting that…  Where do you keep it, anyways?” The book lifts back into the air, once again wrapped in Lyra’s doppelganger's magic aura, and follows the pony back into the living room. “The basement,” Lyra answers.  “It’s the safest place in the house, what with all the security spells I have down there.” “The basement?  But… But there’s no security spells there!  I checked!” “You assumed I only had one.” Bonbon freezes still.  “Wait, what…?” Lyra glances down at her bowl; they’d finished their salads already.  She levitates them over to the sink as she hops out of her chair. “Let me show you?” Bonbon hops out of her chair as well.  “Is it a different button…?” “Nah.  We start by going into the first.” “Ahh.” They walk in silence for a few seconds. “So, what’s in it?” Bonbon asks. “I’d rather not discuss it outside my wardings,” the answer comes, as Lyra presses the hidden switch to open the hidden door.  “I haven’t had a chance to set up security spells on the rest of the house just yet.” They trot casually down the stairs, then Lyra leads Bonbon straight to the floor in front of the fridge.  Here, it takes her a quick pattern of hoofstrokes on the small tiles to pop the door open… The trapdoor, with another staircase leading down from it.  Lyra draws a breath as Bonbon descends with her, and her horn glows. “Something wrong?” Bonbon asks. “No.  Rather, my alarm spell doesn’t know you’re allowed…  There.” The switch she uses to close the door from underneath is quite visible, before they proceed downstairs, into… “Another kitchen?” Bonbon asks confusedly. “A magic-free kitchen, actually,” Lyra smiles.  Earth pony appliances aren’t magic free; they’re just engineered carefully to work off of earth pony magic.  They’re not very efficient, effective, or easy to use, and are very expensive. Bonbon raises an eyebrow.  “How much did it cost?” She smirks.  “I made it myself- another book, don’t remember where it came from, told me how.  But this isn’t where I keep the books- rather, that’s downstairs, along with these things’ power source.”  She trots across the room again. “You have three kitchens…  Downstairs? You have another secret basement?” “Well of course,” she mutters.  “Agents like yourself might look for the first, and maybe consider the second; the third, they’ll never even suspect.” “Now you’re going to tell me you’ve got a fourth, aren’t you?” She shakes her head.  “Nah, that’d be overdoing it.  Now, to open this third one, I reach through with my magic to hit the switch.”  She glances at Bonbon. “Sorry, it was an extra security measure. I’ll see what I can do about adding some method by which an earth pony can get in.” With an audible hum, the floor in front of her descends an inch or so and slides smoothly off to the side, away from them…  Revealing another staircase down, with the other Lyra standing on it, hoof on a switch on the wall. Bonbon looks at the other one for a couple seconds.  “I still can’t get over the fact that there’s two of you,” she states. The two Lyras look at each other. “There aren’t,” the one with Bonbon states.  “There’s me, and a magical projection of my mind.  It’s the self-projection spell- I’m just in two places at once.”  She scowls at her doppelganger. “I just wish the projection wasn’t so limited in its magic usage.” As the two ponies head downstairs, the projection dissolves smoothly into vanishing golden mist.  A casual strike at the switch closes the door- which whooshes shut and clunks definitively into place. “What happens when that runs out of power?” “It’s difficult to open without power, but I can manage it.  I keep the generator well supplied down here, though, so that should never be a problem.” The two mares trot down the stairs. “Oh, now this looks more like a workshop.  Though…” Bonbon looks around.  “May I ask what you were trying to make…?” She shrugs.  “One of everything in that book.  Most of it seemed to be kitchen appliances- with tons of variations on the same theme.”  She trots over to a strange smoothed box.  “Like this thing... it’s supposed to cook perfect rice every time.” She raises an eyebrow.  “Does it?” Scowl.  “Haven’t had a chance to try it.” “Ahh…”  She picks an object.  “What’s this?” “Not sure what it’s supposed to do.” “Okay.  So…” Lyra glances around the room.  “Just about everything left down here- instead of upstairs- is here because I haven’t found a use for it.” It takes a few hours for Bonbon to look at everything.  During this time, Lyra managed to rig up a hidden switch by which the earth pony of the two could open it, and finally disappeared somewhere.  Bonbon doesn’t know where- she’d been looking over the desk, near the staircase up, when she vanished. Unicorn aside, she isn’t examining all of this stuff for any particular need- rather, she’s also interested in the possibilities.  If this ‘electricity’ stuff can be used to make an oven that heats food without getting hot itself- Lyra had mentioned it, and even demonstrated- then who is to say it can’t be used to augment her own stealth? Oh- Lyra also reappeared at some point, though she’s not certain exactly how, and headed upstairs to prepare lunch.  Good thing today’s an off day at her shop, perhaps. Unless… No, she hasn’t been notified of any tasks- “Bonbon?” She turns around; she hadn’t heard Lyra coming down the stairs.  “Ye… s?” She blinks; she could have sworn that doorway hadn’t been there before…  and now it’s gone again. So, she’s got another secret room. “I think somepony wants to meet you upstairs…  she’s molesting my alibi right now.” “Alibi?” “It’s what I call the magical projection.” “She?  I hope it’s not-” “No, I don’t mean that kind of molest.  Seems there’s something very important she needs to tell you.” “She’s letting you even realize she’s there?  Wow.” “Uh…  It seems word of my catching him has gotten around, so they’re allowed to ask me where you are.  Oh, it seems she’s curious how I caught him while I was in the middle of a demonstration in Ms. Cheerilee’s class.” Bonbon chuckles.  “Do you want to tell her, or no?” “They don’t know any of the specifics of the spell, right?” “Only thing we know about it is that it produces a magical duplicate of a pony, and that it was lost long ago.” “So, nopony knows how much power it takes?” “Huh?  No- why?  Worried they’ll think you’re powerful?” She smirks.  “Uh, something like that, yes.” She tilts her head.  “What is it?” “Well…   You know how I’m a relatively weak unicorn, right?” “Everypony knows that.” Smile.  “What if that was to be a farce?” Snort.  “I’ve got a better chance of flying unassisted to Cloudsdale than that being a farce.” She raises an eyebrow slightly, but lowers it back down a second later.  “They’re in the kitchen… Here, watch this.” Lyra’s horn glows slightly…  and Bonbon notices the light suddenly becoming stronger, the darkness somehow not quite so.  Then she feels a little tingle travel down her spine… and a glance at Lyra confirms her suspicion.  Her eyes traveled straight past her, then snapped back- exactly the effect she’d been trained to expect when working with somepony under a perception filter.  Lyra then, with a blink of golden aura on the wall, swings the final secret door open to their living room… Their very dark living room, which she can still see clearly in.  Nevermind that Lyra’s horn isn’t glowing at all. Once into the living room, with the door securely closed behind them, they share a smile and walk around to the kitchen. “You’re sure you know where she is?” “Yes.” “But you won’t tell me?” “Yes.” “Really!  It’s urgent!” “As you’ve said.” “Can you please tell me where she is!?” “Yes.” “Pl-  wait, what?” “Yes, I said.” “Uh…  so, where is she?” “She’s here.” “Huh?” Bonbon smiles at the exchange, then steps forwards, mindful of the perception filter.  “Fancy hearing a new voice,” she states clearly. “Something happen to… him?”  She shudders slightly. The dark blue unicorn mare, who had been pacing impatiently back and forth behind Lyra’s alibi, turns towards the new voice- and her eyes lock onto Bonbon.  “You’re…?” “Agent Sweetie Drops,” she states, gazing calmly back into the other mare’s eyes. The mare nods.  “Ah, yes… Um…” She shifts to the side- and Bonbon’s gaze follows her.  “Um… Yes. Yes, something happened to Molester.  Some mare caught him molesting an agent yesterday, and he got revealed.”  She shifts in the opposite direction. “Molester?” Bonbon asks. “Heh, yes, that was our nickname for him…  We could never prove it, though, he always used the fog.  Until he met a civilian unicorn that could see straight through it…  Apparently, she used his own magic inhibitor on him.” She shifts again.  “Is it just me, or…?” “Or can I see you?”  Bonbon smirks. “Yep.” “Oh…  um… did you already hear, or…?” Lyra starts snickering. Bonbon glances at her and turns back to the agent in front of her.  “I suppose you could say I heard about it…  I mean, I did only submit the report against him last night.” Her eyes go wide, like dinner plates.  “Wait… you’re the one he got caught…?” Bonbon nods.  “And Candy Stripes here-” she motions towards Lyra, still covered in the perception filter- “is the one that caught him.” “Oh…  Uh… I guess the fog is kinda useless here, isn’t it?” “Don’t lower it, though,” Lyra states- expanding her perception filter to cover all four ponies, rather than lowering it.  “Never know when somepony’s looking in the window. Salad?” Three bowls of tasty-looking salad land gently on the table next to them, carried by her alibi’s magic. “Uh…  it really is something important…” “Something you can tell her over a meal, right?  Seriously, you’re clearly famished.” The blue mare shrinks away, attempting to cover her showing ribs.  “I… I don’t think-” “Actually,” Bonbon interrupts, having spent the last few seconds tapping a hoof on her chin.  “The rules clearly state that the Contact Corps are allowed to reveal themselves to individual agents…  and the time buffer for slowdowns can easily cover a meal, right?” The mare’s stomach growls in time with Bonbon’s last word.  “Uh…” Lyra glances between the two.  “Or do you have somepony else to inform as well?” She scowls at the floor.  “No… It’s just… sorry. I’m just… new.” Bonbon trots over and ruffles her mane a little.  “Don’t worry, we’ve all been there… Or, at least, I have.” “What?” “Candy Stripes isn’t an agent,” Bonbon states simply.  “Yesterday’s report was the first the RIA’s heard of her.” Her eyes go wide.  “B-but outsiders-!” Bonbon shakes her head.  “You’re forgetting the sidekick clause.  Agents are allowed to select reliable sidekicks from outside the RIA- and those sidekicks are then allowed to witness any information delivered to the agent in question.”  She smiles. “She’s mine.” “Sounds like a convenient clause,” Lyra mutters. Bonbon looks back at her, her smile growing.  “Oh yes, it most certainly is convenient.”  She turns back forwards.  “So, is it something so important it has to be discussed right away, or can we discuss it over a meal?” Her stomach growls again, and she glances sheepishly down at it.  “Uh… what about…?” She looks towards Lyra’s alibi. “She’s a magical projection,” Lyra states.  “She doesn’t eat.” As if to prove her point, the alibi disintegrates into vanishing golden mist once again. “Oh.”