The Terror of Death- Secret Agent Mare
After Haseo had finished his conversation with Cadence, the first thing that he did was immediately take off towards his room. When he left earlier, didn’t even think he would be gone for too long. But after realizing that he had been gone for almost two full days, what he was worried about the most right now was that of Sapphire. The adept rogue couldn’t even begin to imagine what would be going on inside her head right now and was worried about how she would react the moment that the shadow pony realized that he was okay and nothing bad happened to him. Part of him thought that she would be scared half to death, while another part of him would think that she would be relieved to see that he was okay.
He got the answer to how Sapphire would react the moment that he opened the door. “Sapphire? I’m home-”
Haseo suddenly was bowled with enough force that it would have sent him through a wall if it hadn't of knocked him over first. And when he looked to the source of said force, he was met with a face full of tear stained umbrum filly. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Sapphire bawled as she clung to him, looking almost ten times worse than she had when he had first met her on the streets.
“S-sorry, Sapphire,” He said, tapping her on the shoulder and trying to calm her down. “S-someone really needed my help and before I knew it, I was teleported somewhere else entirely-”
“I dont care!” She whined, sounding like a four year old human child as her eyes quivered and leaked large black tears while she pouted at him. “You're the only being I have, I don't want to lose you Papa!”
“Hey, hey… Everything’s okay now… I promise I won’t go off anywhere on my own like that ever again, okay?” He told her, holding her close as her grip tightened. “I’ll always be here for you… and if I need to be somewhere, I’ll have you come with me. Okay?”
“Pinkie promise?” She asked, a dangerous glint in her eyes as she sniffled.
“Pinkie promise,” His words were a confirmation to the filly that he was really planning on making sure to keep his promise. As he slowly got up though, with Sapphire still clinging onto him, he began to realize that she wasn’t entirely by herself. In fact, BlackRose was passed out on the couch and Kite was seen lying against a wall that was close to one of the open windows on the left. What made it stand out though was that they looked like they just came out of a warzone. “Uh… were Kite and BlackRose trying to… help you?”
“...” Sapphire didn't comment as her tail turned into an arm made of black magic. Which in turn proceeded to reach for the door and shut it behind her as she continued to snuggle into Haseo’s chest. Possibly staining the shirt he was currently wearing permanently black with her tears. “Mine… will never… let go…” She seemed to also be muttering under her breath repeatedly.
“Oh boy. Sapphire must’ve put them through hell in order to try and keep her calm,” Haseo thought, realizing what must’ve happened after hearing Sapphire mumble to herself. Part of him wanted to get up and see if they were okay. But with Sapphire’s grip on him turning into what felt like the Incredible Hulk giving him a hug, that seemed to not be the case. Though, there was one thing he could tell her now that he thought of it. “Hey Sapphire, I’m going to be doing something in a couple of days and… well, I thought I would let you know in advance.”
Of course, the shadow pony’s reaction to what he said was not entirely what he expected. Especially if you consider the fact that her tone of voice immediately began to change. “Papa is forbidden from going without Sapphire…” She said, sounding suspiciously younger than normal as her mane and tail seemed to flicker between looking like Luna's but with no stars and a thick swath of midnight blue solid hair.
“That’s not what I was implying,” He told her in response. “Cadence told me that I needed to make up for the time I was gone, so she wants me to be Twilight’s bodyguard a couple of days from now. You know, with her being a new princess and everything.”
“... Sapphire no like Sparkle butt…” The filly stated as she gripped Haseo tighter, “But, Sapphire will protect papa as papa does his job for Love butt.” However, as she tightened her grip, that made the rogue flinch in pain as he looked like he was getting strangled. Something that she did not realize until after he mentioned it to her.
“T-too tight… C-can’t breathe…” He coughed, causing her to squeak and release her magic fueled strength. Which allowed for him to finally catch his breath as he looked back at her. “I’m glad that you want to come, but please refrain yourself that would lead to either Twilight or I getting in trouble, okay?”
“Sap- I-I mean, I understand daddy…” She said, looking quite embarrassed as the filly continued to snuggle into Haseo’s chest. Albeit from shyness this time as she calmed down, just a little bit. “Um, by the way… while you were gone, um…”
When he heard that, the rogue was not liking how this was going to go down. “Sapphire, what happened while I was gone?”
“W-when you disappeared, some strange ponies came looking for you… and I thought that when you didn’t come home… um…” Sapphire tried to think of how to word this, a suspicious look of somepony thinking they were about to be grounded coming across her face.
Though, in Haseo’s mind, he wasn’t entirely too worried about it. “Don’t worry about it. I was supposed to help Cadence with the preparations for the Equestria Games inspection, so it was probably some ponies looking for me and wondering where I was. She did… kind of yell at me for disappearing too so yeah.”
Sapphire just looked away, deciding to let Haseo believe what he wished. “Love butt is weird, I don’t like her either…” She then said, pouting a bit.
“Well, she’s the reason why you can be with me,” The rogue’s comments were followed by him tapping Sapphire’s nose with a finger to try and get her to chuckle a bit. “But let’s not worry about that… besides, I think we got some cleaning up to do back inside.”
“It’s late, why don't we take a nap? It's a lovely time for a nap, why don't we go sleep on the roof? The stars are pretty tonight… please don't make me clean!” Sapphire rambled.
“My bad. I said that under the impression that Kite and BlackRose were going to help. But…” That left Haseo to scratch his chin for a moment as he thought of something else. “Let me do something else first, then we can sleep on the roof alright?”
Sapphire purred as she cuddled against Haseo’s chest, looking forward to being able to have personal time with him now that he had returned from wherever he vanished to. She had no intentions of sharing him with anyone for a long while and she was going to exploit her looks to make him dote on her as much as possible within that time span. She was going to punish him with dark magic weaponized cuteness for making her worry so much.
And Haseo was completely okay with that.
When Kite finally woke up from his slumber, he began to notice a few things. One, there was a blanket over himself as well as BlackRose. Second, most of the stuff in the room had already been cleaned up from the disaster that was taking care of Sapphire while Haseo was missing.
Speaking of which, as he got up, he noticed a rather big leather bag on the table in the center of the room. One that was attached with a note.
Dear Seabus and Tessa,
I’m extremely sorry for having to put the both of you through the hell that is watching over Sapphire. Someone just happened to ‘summon’ me while I was on my way to go help for the Crystal Games and I just got back recently. I’ll be taking her off your hands so you two can get some much deserved rest. In the meantime, I hope the amount of bits that I left behind for you two will be enough to compensate since there’s about two thousand bits for each of you in there. I’ll catch you guys later. I gotta make up the time I was absent by watching over a book princess.
Sincerely,
Ryou
“Prick...” Kite grumbled, going back to sleep disgruntled.
Few days later…
The town of Ponyville was rather quiet and peaceful this morning. Many ponies were trotting out and about in order to get some food from the market or meet some of their friends that were in town. For one earth pony though, she was spending her morning organizing a few of the homemade candies that she made into jars, a cardboard box by the base of the table she was sitting by. Just before she looked up to hear her roommate speak to her.
“Hey Bon Bon, I’m going to be meeting Octavia and Derpy for lunch,” The mint green unicorn named Lyra told her in response. “Would you like to come with us?”
“Uh, n-no thanks Lyra,” The earth pony chuckled, before looking back at her. “I got my hooves full at the moment.”
“Alright, well, let me know if you want anything from Sugarcube Corner alright?” The unicorn said, trotting outside and closing the door behind her. The mare waited for a few moments first, before reaching down and pulling out what looked like a metal suitcase from inside the box. Some of the packing peanuts falling to the floor as she opened the case. Pulling out what looked to be a hoof-sized mirror that shimmered at seeing her reflection, before showing a silhouette of what looked to be a stallion in the background.
“Agent Drops to Agent Furlong, checking in,” The earth pony now said with confidence, glad that the windows were sealed tight and that the home that she and Lyra lived in was considered as ‘secure’ in the eyes of S.M.I.L.E. Otherwise known as the ‘Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria’. “Cover is still maintained, nothing is out of the ordinary as of right now.”
“Good to hear,” her boss at the agency, Furlong, replied back. “I’m afraid though that Alpha Hoof has a new matter that he wants all of S.M.I.L.E. in order to look into right now.”
That had the mare blink for a moment, looking around the room as she tried to comprehend what she just heard. “Agent Furlong, could you please provide some clarification. There hasn’t been anything abnormal in Ponyville since the ‘Magic Duel’ incident.”
“And I remember how much of a cover up we had to put in place for that one,” The stallion told her. “Agent Drops, this matter though is to be taken as priority one. Reports from Agent Charlie and Foxtrot have brought forth something that has come to life. A creature that was present during the time of the ‘Sombra’, ‘Magic Duel’ and ‘Reformation’ incident and is just as powerful as the Elements of Harmony. Perhaps even stronger.”
That made Agent Sweetie Drops blink. A creature that is just as strong as the Elements? That was unheard of. “What is this being?”
“We believe that it is the same creature that was referred to in the old pony tales as ‘The Terror of Death’. He may look ordinary, but when Agent Easy tried to use one of the gadgets that we use to determine how much magical power he has, the device shattered. He’s had to have several stitches on his hooves ever since,” The name and that alone sent a chill down the mare’s spine, just before her boss picked up right where he left off. “Not to mention that one of the nobles in Canterlot believes that he’s responsible for the death of his dog. Which… seems unlikely. But given how it was severed into pieces and put in a heart shaped box, I say that sounds like something he would do.”
“With all due respect Agent Furlong, are you trying to give me a briefing or make me want to throw up my breakfast?” The earth pony then asked him.
“Getting straight to the point now, are we?” The stallion responded. “Alright. One of our field agents picked up that its likely that this ‘Terror of Death’ is currently posing as Princess Twilight’s escort for the Princess Summit. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to gather information on the subject and try to capture them alive. They’ll be boarding the friendship express at one o’clock this afternoon. We’ll be providing more information to your hoofpack, so keep that on you at all times. Furlong out.”
Meanwhile…
“So let me see if I can get this straight…” The adept rogue spoke up as he looked back at Twilight. Ever since he and Sapphire had arrived here a couple of minutes ago, he had been helping both her and Spike pack everything they needed for the Princess Summit. All while Sapphire was watching. Haseo himself though, was using the time in order to be able to ask Twilight about everything that he missed. And what he was told kind of surprised him. “You and your friends had your cutie marks swapped, you had to make a new spell and that evening, you became a princess?”
“Pretty much, though the spell part was harder than it seemed,” Twilight explained to him, having to adjust her newfound wings for a moment. “My original plan was to use the element of magic in order to come up with the spell, but instead, I had to use Gorre.”
“Uh, why Gorre, if you don’t mind me asking?” The rogue asked, recalling Twilight’s Avatar that she had unlocked during the course of the ‘magic duel’ and when AIDA infected Trixie.
“Well, that’s the thing,” Spike now interjected as he now walked over, holding what looked like the Element of Magic in his claws as he gave it to Twilight. “When we found out it was missing, after we fixed the whole ‘switching cutie marks’ mishap, Twilight thought she simply misplaced it. But after looking throughout the library… and subsequently, throughout Ponyville, we’re beginning to think that it was somehow stolen.”
The idea of that alone baffled Haseo. Yet, Sapphire herself had something else on her mind to say regarding that. “What I can't comprehend… is how you can formulate a spell as complex as the one maintaining my physical appearance and turn into an alicorn, yet not set up a proper burglary alarm. Haven't you even thought once that it might be a good idea to keep a legendary artifact of power more properly protected?” She said with a slight deadpan, her face looking slightly drained of life at how she felt about the situation.
“Hey, we always lock the doors to the library and make sure to close everything up,” Twilight said in response. “Besides, we aren’t ruling out other possibilities.”
Of course, while they were speaking, that was when they heard somepony else speak now as everypony turned to the stairwell. “What kind of racket dares to disturb the slumber of Trixie?!”
That just had Haseo stare at the mare for a few moments, recognizing her from when the magic duel happened, before looking back to the newly deemed princess. “Could you care to explain?”
“Twilight had Trixie stay over and wanted to help her while she was recovering,” The dragon added. “Not to mention that she’s temporarily staying here until she can be able to afford herself a new wagon.”
“Why thank you for speaking in Trixie’s place…” The azure mare spoke sarcastically as she trotted down the stairs and looked at him for a moment, before noticing Sapphire. “Oh hello.”
Sapphire tilted her head at Trixie, before turning to Haseo. “Daddy, who is the strange new pony?” She asked while pointing at the light blue mare. “Is she one of Sparkle butt’s servants?”
“No, she’s…” Twilight soon interrupted before Trixie could say anything, trying to not act embarrassed for how Sapphire described her. “She’s a friend. I’m just letting her stay here until she can get back on her hooves.”
“Oh… I thought she was like one of those ponies that Love butt keeps around, my bad.” Sapphire shrugged before climbing onto Haseo’s shoulders using her ethereal mane like a giant tentacle.
“Love… butt?” The unicorn asked.
“She’s talking about Cadence,” Twilight replied, before looking back. “Trixie, this is Haseo and his… well, that’s Sapphire. They’ll be helping me with going to the Crystal Empire today.”
“Um… Isn’t she-” Before she could finish, Twilight used her magic to yank the unicorn closer to her, before whispering something in her ear. Whatever it was, it made Trixie’s eyes widen as she looked back at the filly. “Um… You know what, Trixie thinks she has some things to do in her room. Have a good trip, Sparkle!” With that, the unicorn raced upstairs and slammed the door behind her.
“Hmph, she didn't have to act like I was going to eat her for her magic. Pony meat doesn't taste good anyway.” Sapphire said with a bored expression, totally misreading the situation. Which had Haseo let out a sigh and Spike himself, raised a claw in order to say something, before deciding to keep it to himself.
Twilight herself, was more focused on the clock though as it read ‘12:45pm’ on the wall. “We should probably get going to the station now. Spike, do you have the tickets?”
“Right here!” He told them, holding an envelope with four tickets inside. One for each one of them, including Sapphire.
“Alright, let’s get going.” The princess replied, while Haseo volunteered to help with her luggage as they began to make their way towards the station. The wait at the station wasn’t entirely that long, but it felt a bit uncomfortable since out of nowhere, many ponies started coming up with pencils and notepads asking for Twilight’s autograph like she was a celebrity. Something that didn’t quite make her feel comfortable as she hurried to get on the train, with Haseo and Spike following her shortly afterwards.
But before the train could leave the station, Haseo had to hold the door open for somepony that needed to get on board the train at the last minute. A cream colored earth pony that looked to be carrying some kind of briefcase. Whatever the reason, they looked to be rather high personnel considering that they had their own personal suite in first class.
As the train was moving, there was a knock on the door as two ponies stood outside the door. One was a mare and the other was a stallion as the mare spoke up. “Hello there, would any of you like some concessions? Perhaps take an order for lunch?”
All that did was remind Haseo of the one thing that he did not have yet as he looked back at the waitress. “Would you happen to have any soup on the menu?”
“Why yes, our daily special today is Tomato soup.”
“Can I have a bowl of that, please?” He asked politely, which was later followed by one of the mares writing down the order before heading back to the other cars, while the stallion went towards the front. Just before the door to their room closed though, Haseo heard something whistle past him for a moment. But he thought that it was just one of the fillies on board cracking open a window and just left it be.
But not Sapphire, she stared as her eyes became slits at where the sound came from before scooting closer to Haseo in where she was sitting, covering up her displeasure with her hunger. However, the change did not go unnoticed. “Um, are you okay… Sapphire, right?” Spike asked, looking through his bag to see if there was anything that could somehow help her. “I think I packed a couple of snacks in here in case we were hungry.”
“What kinds of snacks?” Sapphire asked, dodging the question that was asked before food was mentioned.
“Chocolate chip cookies from Sugarcube Corner,” He said, placing a paper bag that had the logo of the Sugarcube Gingerbread house on the front. “Pinkie Pie gave them to me this morning as a way to say good luck with the summit.”
Sapphire took one look at the cookies and nabbed three with her hooves as she began to nibble on them hungrily, visibly enjoying the cookies. Haseo himself was glad to see that she liked them, though, after a bit, he was beginning to think that something was taking a bit too long with the soup and he wanted to go get up and see what the issue was.
Yet, before he could be able to do so, that was when the waitress from earlier returned. “I-i’m so sorry for the long wait,” She frantically apologized, placing the bowl of soup on the table for him and handing him a spoon. “We accidentally had your order mixed up with somepony else that was on the train.”
Sapphire eyed the waitress suspiciously, before sniffing the soup. And after confirming that it was safe went back to eating her cookies, not giving anyone an explanation as to what she was doing. Haseo himself wanted to ask if there was anything that was wrong, but after a bit, he just focused on having his soup. After all, this was going to be a long train ride.
“Agent Drops to Agent Furlong and Command, do you read me?” Bon Bon spoke inside her personal cabin once she made sure that the entire area was secure and that nopony was listening.
“We hear you loud and clear, Agent Drops,” She heard her boss speak on the other end of the line, along with the murmurs of some of the other agency members nearby. “What’s the situation?”
“I’m onboard the train as we speak, but…” The mare held her breath for a moment, shortly before letting out a sigh as she continued to speak. “All current attempts to subdue and capture the subject have failed.”
“W-what?” Her boss responded, sounding rather baffled by the statement that he just heard. “What do you mean that it failed? What gadgets have you used?”
“First attempt was with a knockout dart, but the dart ricocheted off of his shoulder plate and hit a waiter that’s in the front of the train, second one was with a small laxative to try to lure the subject to be in an isolated area, but that got served to another customer,” Bon Bon sighed in response to that. “Now the pony we classified as ‘Lucky Rose’ has been stuck in the mares room for the last hour and a half.”
“Did you try the sleeping pills?” Agent Furlong now asked, shortly after hearing a whisper from somepony else behind her.
“I was going too, but I bumped into somepony else and they mistook the sleeping pills for the complementary breath mints that the staff hand out after somepony has sushi from Neighpon,” The agent replied. “That stallion is passed out in his cabin right now.”
“Damn… Is there anything we can do to find out more about him? If current attempts on board the train haven’t worked, then perhaps you use the train for reconnaissance.”
“Well, the only thing that I can make out is that there’s a filly sitting right next to him. It could potentially be his daughter-” Mere seconds after saying that, it sounded as if a loud pitched screech went off, before there was complete silence. “Furlong? Agent Furlong, are you there? Come on… please don’t tell me that the spell on this thing wears off today. I just got this last week.”
Manehattan
“What do you mean we lost contact with her?!” Agent Furlong shouted as several unicorns were scrambling to try and cast the long range communication spell.
“I don’t know, but we’re trying to re-establish contact right now, Agent Furlong!” One of the ponies that was behind the channeling desk told him as another pony soon joined the stallion.
“Is everything alright, Agent Furlong?” The stallion turned to see the Alpha hoof standing right behind him. To which, Furlong immediately saluted before explaining the situation to him.
“We’re working to re-establish communications with Agent Sweetie Drops right now. Our spell somehow got cut off and we’re working to fix that now-”
In a matter of seconds, there was something new on the monitors in front of them. This time though, it showed the close up shot of a young filly. Before it turned into the equivalent of a shadow demon less than a second later as it glared at everypony in the room with glowing slit like eyes and repeated three words over and over. “KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!!”
“WHAT THE BUCK!?!”
“Sapphire, you alright?” Haseo asked her as he noticed her nuzzling against his side. Almost looking as if she was about ready to fall asleep.
“Hmm? Ah, yeah I just managed to get rid of a fly buzzing around us. That’s all~” Sapphire purred as she rolled unto her back displaying her small belly to him like a cat. Prompting Haseo to pet it, before looking back at Twilight and Spike. The baby dragon had already fallen asleep while Twilight looked to be staring out the window and pondering something that was on her mind.
“Twilight? You doing alright?”
“Hunh? Wha-?” It took a moment for Twilight to realize that the adept rogue was talking to her, before letting out a sigh. “S-sorry, I was just thinking. I’m… kind of a bit nervous.”
That had him a bit curious for a moment by what she meant as Haseo took a moment to inquire. “Nervous about what exactly?”
“Well… this is my first official meeting as an actual princess. Not just as an accomplice of Princess Celestia,” She said, gritting her teeth for a moment as she looked back at him. “And with everything going on right now, from the fact that AIDA’s still out there, having to learn new magic from the grimoire you gave me and now this? I’m just a bit nervous that I might… well…”
The adept rogue himself didn’t need to hear any more of what she said. Instead, he just said two words. Two words that completely match what Twilight was thinking in that moment. “Screw up?”
Twilight immediately nodded in response. “Exactly. I’m worried that I would somehow screw up my first official meeting as princess. I mean… wouldn’t you be nervous if you were in the same position I’m in?”
“Ehh, maybe,” The adept rogue shrugged. “But then again, I would try to have a bit more self confidence to make sure that your doubts and worries don’t weigh it down. As long as you just be yourself, you’ll do fine.”
Sapphire snickered as she glomped Haseo’s hand which was petting her belly, having enjoyed the belly rubs but still amused by the conversation. “I can assure you Sparkle Butt that as long as you don't do anything too stupid you will be fine… your mentor and the others would protect you after all.” She then commented absentmindedly as she stared intently at Haseo’s thumb for some reason.
“Sapphire, this is supposed to be a summit between the princesses, not a council of war,” Haseo deadpanned. “But she does bring up a point. As long as you just stay calm and relaxed, you’ll be alright.”
“And not do anything too stupid?” Twilight then repeated what Sapphire said, all while Haseo shrugged for a moment.
“Well, I wasn’t intending to phrase it that way,” He told her and let out a sigh. Still scratching Sapphire’s belly before noticing that the filly was staring at his thumb like if a cat thought that it was some kind of chew toy. “Um, Sapphire? Are you doing okay?”
“... fingers…” Sapphire muttered as if contemplating something. “Would be useful if I had fingers…?”
“Can’t you just make a pair of claws or hands with your magic?” Twilight then asked, before pondering to herself and realizing that there was something that she wanted to ask the filly. “Speaking of which, there was something I wanted to ask you, Sapphire. Is your magic like normal magic or does it go by a different name, Sapphire?”
“Uh…” Sapphire froze at the question, knocking her out of her pondering before she glanced up at Haseo, a look of concern and worry on her face as if asking if it was ok to say anything. Who in turn gave her a reassuring nod as a way to say that it was okay for her to tell her about it and that there wasn’t a need for her to be nervous. Gulping Sapphire turned to face Twilight and with her voice barely above a whisper she muttered “d-dark m-magic?”
For a moment, Twilight just looked back at her, looking as if she was either having trouble hearing Sapphire or trying to contemplate something. That didn’t turn out to be the case though. “Well, that seems… reasonable I guess. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”
“Was there any particular reason why you wanted to ask?” Haseo then followed up.
“Mostly it was out of curiosity. That and I was just trying to think of a way to make light conversation while we were waiting for the train to pull into the station.” The alicorn shrugged. Ironically though, just as she said that, an announcement could be heard all across the train.
“Attention passengers, we are now reaching the Crystal Empire. Please stay in your seats until the Friendship Express has come to a complete stop before attempting to leave the vehicle. Thank you and have a very nice day.”
“Well, looks like we don’t need to wait about that anymore,” Haseo smiled. “Sapphire, can you wake up Spike? I think we need his help with the luggage once we step outside.”
“O-okay!” Sapphire said nervously, glancing towards the doorway before leaping off the seat and walking over to Spike to wake him. Tapping him on the shoulder as the dragon slouched out of his slumber and rubbing his eyes.
“Uhh… H-hunh? A-are we there yet?” He yawned, before noticing Sapphire nearby. At first, he thought that she was going to scare him again. But this time around, it didn’t really seem that way. “O-oh hey, Sapphire. W-what time is it?”
“Time for us to be getting off this train soon.” The adept rogue spoke up. Before looking back towards the previous car as he helped guide them to the doors as the train began to slow down. From there, he could see a couple of familiar faces waiting at the station for them. Two in particular being that of Radiant Hope and also Sunburst, who both seemed to be waiting rather patiently for their arrival.
As they got off the train though, that was when Haseo noticed something to his right. The same briefcase pony from before. Yet, she seemed… bewildered by everything going on. Though, what caught his attention was that she was briefly glancing at him before looking back to the main platform of the train. Something that could be seen as rather suspicious.
“Good afternoon, Princess,” Sunburst addressed Twilight as they walked on in. “I see that you made it here safely.”
“Indeed,” Twilight nodded her head. “I was glad to have Haseo and Sapphire along for some company though.”
“Yep,” The rogue stated, before looking down at the shadow filly that was next to him. “And Sapphire was on her best behavior now, wasn’t she?”
“... I did nothing... to Sparkle butt or her companions…” She said, glancing away as she hid behind Haseo.
“KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!! KILL YOUR SANITY!!”
“FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!”
“Right,” Haseo nodded his head, before looking back to see the cream colored mare again. Only this time, she looked to be having trouble navigating the surrounding area. “Um, Twilight? Would you happen to know that pony over there? I saw her boarding the train from Ponyville and I think she’s kind of… lost.”
After he finished saying that, that was when Twilight looked in the direction that he was pointing. But when she saw the mare, part of her was caught off guard. “My gosh, that’s Bon Bon. She’s a candy maker back in Ponyville that provides sweets for the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner. What’s she doing here?”
“Perhaps she’s trying to see how ponies like her candy here?” Spike then asked, “I mean, that case she’s holding probably has some sample of those taffies she had been working on recently.”
In the adept rogue’s mind, this kind of made sense. Those who owned a small business would sometimes try to seek new customer bases as places to expand their business. Given how the Crystal Empire is still seen as practically ‘new’ to the rest of Equestria, it was likely that Bon Bon was here for that reason. “That might be the case. Hey Radiant, can you help her out? Maybe show her around the empire?”
“I can do that,” The unicorn nodded her head, pointing a hoof to Spike and Haseo as they both picked up some of the luggage that they had on the train. “I was only asked to help with greeting and handling anything you might’ve brought with you, but it appears you have that covered.”
As Radiant left in order to go help Bon Bon, that was when Haseo looked back at Twilight and smiled. Bowing a bit to her as he had his arms point in the direction of the castle. “After you, Princess.”
After previous attempts in order to apprehend her target had all but failed and being cut off from her boss at hidequarters, Agent Sweetie Drops was rather thrown off guard by everything. Yet, when she arrived in the crystal empire, that was when things got a bit weird. First, there was the fact that she had to change the objective of her mission from capturing the target to learning more about it instead. That way she at least had something to report back to Agent Furlong. Secondly, upon arriving in the crystal empire, what she saw seemed flat out bizarre. Multiple ponies weren’t just dressed funny, but some of them carried weapons out in public and acted as if this was normal.
Fortunately though, she did get a bit of unexpected help though from a mare named Radiant Hope. Somepony that Princess Twilight knew and who noticed that she needed help getting to know her way around the empire. Of course, it wasn’t just knowing her way around that Radiant helped her out with though. Because she also explained a lot of things about the empire too.
The most important one to her though… was that this ‘terror of death’ actually had a name. Haseo. She was also told that the alias of him was one that Sombra had used to frame him long ago, but to the S.M.I.L.E. agent, she wasn’t entirely convinced. After all, she did not know if this Haseo was capable of magic and used a spell that would make her say such good things about him.
So there was only one practical way that the mare could get the answers that she was looking for. Reconnaissance. Using an empty and hidden alleyway, she pulled a pair of binoculars out of her hoofpack. One that had an enchantment that would allow for her to hear the conversations of other ponies from long ranges as she looked back to the princess and the rogue from her vantage point.
At first, the conversation that they had seemed to consist mostly of small talk. But after what felt like twenty minutes, the princess soon asked something. “Haseo… there’s something I would like to ask you about. I feel that it would be better to talk about it here than when we were on the train.”
“What’s that?” He asked her.
“It’s… about AIDA.”
“AIDA?” Sweetie Drops said to herself. There was never any recorded monster in the S.M.I.L.E. fieldbook that went by that name. It sounded more like an acronym for a death metal band from Germaney than anything else. “Could this be… something new?”
“Oh? What did you want to know about it?”
“W-well… after seeing what happened when it infected both Sombra and Trixie, I had been doing some thinking and I was… wondering something. Since it’s been referred to as if it was an infection, is there like any sort of way that you could tell if somepony’s been affected by it?”
“Well. There are only a few things that I can think of. But it honestly depends on the severity. AIDA, if taken care of immediately like with Trixie, can be seen as if it was something that could be seen as a single case. But if a pony has been affected with it for longer amounts of time, than it’s all the more likely that it could spread to other if not taken care of immediately.”
“Like the Feather Flu?”
“Kind of. But it's much worse. AIDA would cause those who have been affected to act the opposite of their normal personality. Taking things that they would worry about to themselves internally and exploit it,” There was a pause in the conversation, before the rogue thought of a good comparison. “Say for example, you have a pony that’s a champion at a particular sport or game, but internally, they fear of losing and being stripped of their title. AIDA can use that insecurity to take control. Giving that pony power, but exploiting that insecurity to make them increasingly violent. Even towards others that consider him as friends.”
“T-that sounds awful!” Sweetie Drops murmured to herself, before noticing something. As the two of them continued, the young filly that was with Haseo had repositioned herself towards the window. In one instance, she looked in the direction of the agent. Forcing her to hide behind a trash can. But when she looked back up, the filly had disappeared.
Unknowingly though, she wasn't really gone.
“You know, it's not nice to spy on others.” A young feminine voice whispered into Sweetie Drops’ ear. Slowly, the mare placed the binoculars away and turned around. A shadow like demon was behind her and immediately used its magic to grab her and pin the mare to a wall before the agent could do anything. “Make a scene and you will regret it.” The shadow demon ordered, its blazing blue eyes staring into hers. “Now then, why are you and your buddies tailing papa and Sparkle butt?”
Sweetie Drops herself struggled in the beasts grip, barely able to make out a sentence. “T-terror of d-death…” She croaked, before looking back at the shadow being. “T-thought to b-be… m-m-monster… C-can’t b-breathe...”
The shadow demon loosened her magic’s grip just enough so that Sweetie Drops could breath, but not enough that she would be able to scream. “Well, I will inform you right now… he is far less a monster than you ponies.” It hissed in its feminine voice, visibly angred despite its amorphous form at Sweetie’s statement. The mare attempted to struggle, moving her legs as she dropped her hoofpack. Some of the supplies that was in there spilling out onto the ground.
Though, there was one moment that threw the shadow demon off guard. “Sapphire, what are you doing?”
The shadow demon seemed to go completely rigid, its whole amorphous form seeming to freeze in place as it slowly started to shrink to the size of a filly… but maintaining the form it had when it snuck up on Sweetie Drops. “U-um…”
For a moment, the rogue looked at the mare. Until he looked at her pack and noticed some of the things that spilled out onto the ground. Including what looked to be a leather case as he opened it up. “Hunh… Twilight says your name is Bon Bon, but right here, it says your Sweetie Drops,” The rogue replied, before looking back at her. “Would you care to explain yourself?”
At first, the mare seemed to not budge at all, especially with the tight grip on her. But that was when he said something else. “How about this… I’ll have Sapphire release you from her grip, and in exchange, you’ll tell us the reason why you have been following us. Because I’m pretty sure by now that you don’t have any candies in that pack of yours.”
The agent grit her teeth, before reluctantly nodding her head. She did not have any other options in order to get herself out of this situation, so she had to take this deal if she wanted to make sure that this filly did not attempt to kill her. “F-fine. I-i’ll talk.”
Sapphire glared at Sweetie Drops with her glowing ethereal eyes for a moment, before glancing back at Haseo and dispelling her grip. “I dont like this pony, daddy…” She grumbled as she sulked her way over to Haseo.
As she did though, Sweetie Drops though began to explain why she was asked to ‘follow’ him without spilling out too much information that could be deemed as ‘classified’. She told them that her superiors heard rumors of the ‘Terror of Death’ and were concerned that it was a new kind of monster that could be a threat to Equestria. At first, her superiors wanted her to try and capture him, but after a few mishaps, she decided to instead just gather information to report back on anything that would be concerning.
All of this though… was new to Haseo. “So, let me get this straight… Your boss thought that I was a threat, but did not know for sure?”
“T-there wasn’t much information at the time that they reported me on it. All they had to go on was the sightings of you in Ponyville and something about a butchered dog in a box given to a noble.” The words from the second part had Haseo look back over at Sapphire, before asking her a question.
“And you’re sure that’s what he deserved?” All that did was have Sapphire shudder for a bit, causing him to sigh as he looked back at Sweetie Drops. “Okay then… You’re free to go.”
“R-really-?”
“On the condition,” Haseo interjected before Sweetie Drops could finish what she was saying. “That if your superiors really want to get to know me, have them at least invite me to wherever you guys are located at so we can have a civilized conversation. I’m more than willing to talk to you as long as you don’t try to pull anything on me. Also, you don’t mention anything about what you just saw with Sapphire… Do you understand?”
The agent nodded her head again, before looking back at both of them. Though, that was when she saw something that Sweetie did not expect for the so called ‘terror of death’ to do. He actually returned her bag and even go as far as to channel some kind of energy to mend the scratches she sustained from Sapphire. “Alright. Looks like we’re in agreement,” With that, he began to walk back towards the castle with Sapphire right behind him. “Have a good evening… Bon Bon.”
The last thing Sweetie Drops saw of the two of them being Saphire morphing into the form of the filly she saw in the window with Haseo as she glanced back and mouthed “I have my eyes on you…” before they exited the alleyway.
“Well, I think that went well,” Haseo said to himself as he looked back at Sapphire, the moonlight filling in the main hall of the castle as he walked back towards Twilight’s room so he could go on his night shift. “Aside from you pinning her to a wall.”
“I don't trust the ponies still…” Sapphire pouted. “She smelled like the bad ponies that were looking for you that I... dealt with.”
“Whatever the case, I don’t think we would need to worry about her for a while now,” He let out a sigh of relief. But as he got closer to the door of Twilight’s room, something… seemed off. He would expect for Twilight to be asleep, but instead, he heard hoofsteps coming from inside her chambers. “Sapphire, be on guard. I think we might have an intruder.”
The adept rogue immediately began to stay silent, approaching the door with one of his DG-X pistols drawn while Sapphire waited on the opposite side. He placed a free finger to his lips, a sign for her to stay silent as the door opened. A few seconds later, a pony with a cloak over their face slowly began to make their way to the center of the room.
“Well, this was too easy…” The mare spoke to herself as the sound of magic and a shimmering cyan aura formed around her head to adjust her cloak. “Now with the crown, nothing can prevent me from setting my plan in motion-”
That was when Haseo made his move, arming his weapon as the clicking noise startled the pony. Her hood moving backwards to reveal a yellow fur unicorn with cyan colored eyes and a mane that looked to resemble a burning fire. “Hold it right there.”