//------------------------------// // Gabby's Big Shot Part 1 // Story: Gabby's Misadventures in Maretropolis // by Pen Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter One: Gabby’s Big Shot Part 1 Like any other day in the city of Maretropolis, everyone continued to talk about heroes. They were the next big thing since Celestia herself became ruler and that's saying something about pony society. The Power Ponies blew everyone's minds when they first appeared in Equestria. They were the ones that inspired so many to come out of the woodworks and appear in their light. However, not everyone sees it that way. There are some ponies, griffons, dragons, and other species that see this as a problem and worry that things are changing too fast or hate the idea of some of us wanting to be a hero. However I see this as opportunity to do good, but most ponies, specifically my boss despises the idea of me even thinking about it. Speaking of which… “Gabby dear, can I see you in my office please?” “R-Right away ma’am!” I answered. Yep, that dorky griffon carrying blank papers for the printer in a somewhat decent suit… Yeah that's me. My name is Gabby, and I’ve been working for the Maretropolis News Station for about a year and a half now. And obviously, I'm a griffon in case you were all wondering. I have dark grey feathers and fur with just a dash of white under my belly. As for the pony, calling for me is… my dictator boss Front Page. She’s an earth pony that’s in charge of the newspaper that I work for, The Maretropolis Times. She can be a kind pony… when she wants to be. But whenever she has a task for somepony, she expects results. Nothing half-assed because to her, that would just be seen as poor quality for a newspaper who’s in charge of trying to keep the city’s civilians informed. There is just one… little detail that no pony knows. She hates me, and not because I suck at the job, which I don’t! But mainly because I'm a griffon who wants to be a hero. Of course, just as I was barely able to get in through the door and set everything down, I heard her say something that caught my attention. “Gabby, I believe I have an assignment that might be a perfect fit for you. Though, it may be a bit hard to accomplish.” “Really? What is it?” “Well, alongside the news that we report the power ponies, there’s been a rumor that there’s a different kind of hero going through town,” She said. “But before I go further… let me ask you something. Do you remember a couple of the co-workers that helped trained you on the job when you first came here? The brothers, Flim and Flam?” “Uh, yeah who could forget those two.” I said, trying not to roll my eyes at the mention of their names. “There’s a reason why I said that this assignment is hard to accomplish,” I heard Front speak again. “I gave the same assignment to them. To try and uncover the identity of this newfound hero. Yet, all they did was give me fake names and false conclusions… which lead to them having to pack up their things and being let go. I don’t tolerate falsehoods with the stories we publish given how so many tabloid ‘journalists’ can come up with a fake story and use it to slander someponies reputation. With that in mind though, do you still want to do this anyways? There will be a significant increase in your salary if you complete this assignment.” I wasn’t too sure at the time, but I took in a deep breath and sighed before looking up back at Front Page. “I'll… I'll… I'll take it.” My boss smiled, shortly before moving a manila folder across to the edge of her desk. “This is all the info we have according to witness accounts from the police. There are no photos of him, so be careful. This ‘Gunvolt’ might be more elusive than you might think. I have faith in you though that you can succeed where… others did not.” I nodded, getting a chill up my back, slowly backing up towards the door of my bosses office. When I hit the back door, I was frantically trying to grab hold of the door handle with my right claw and wanting to get out of there before she would try to snap at me and ask questions like ‘Why are you just standing around!?’ and such. Though, I wasn’t sure what to really think of this. True, it was my first real assignment, but aside from the folder she gave me, I did not have a lot of information that I could go off of for this ‘Gunvolt’ figure. ‘Oh dear Celestia, please don’t tell me that she gave me this expecting for me to fail!?!’ ‘No, no! Stop thinking that! There’s gotta be someplace where I can start. Hmm… maybe I can find a lead from the case file once I’m back at my desk.’ Is what I initially thought and I was about to make my way there, the smell of coffee filled my nostrils and I couldn't help but make my way over to the break room. At the time, the only thing on my mind was getting a cup of coffee. However, that just as I was about to reach over and grab the coffee pot, a blue aura surrounded it and floated past me and over to a blue stallion with a blonde mane and tail, wearing a black suit with and white tie. “Oh, uh… my apologies, were you wanting some? I can just wait until later.” “Uh, you did see me reach for it before you took it right?” I said, glaring at him, when I was clearly in front of him. “S-sorry!” He said, before putting it down and just rushing back to his desk. I could only sigh as I grabbed a cup of water instead and made my way back to my desk. Only pondering how I was gonna catch Gunvolt on Camera. Or for that matter, where do I even start? I kept thinking about it as I wrote an article about a local zookeeper accidentally letting the Chimpanzees out of their enclosures. It was pretty funny actually as they pulled his mane out. I'm hoping that it'll at least get featured next to the main article, but that never really happens. Mainly because of a certain mare always going out of her way to kiss ass to the boss and basically get her stupid articles featured. That Mare's name is Silver Spoon, and she started working here about three months ago and somehow she's been getting more recognition for her articles when I've been here longer than her. She's considered to be the best photographer in the business since Front Page's time, but it's mainly because she's both, rich and honestly very hot to pretty much anyone. However she has this look on her face that makes me want to punch her. I decided to take a look at today's article and I could only groan. “Mare harasses security guard at local mall!? Come on! I've could of done that!” I could only groan as I looked up and saw Silver Spoon trying to flirt with that stallion who ditched with the whole pot of coffee and ran off… Wait a minute… Did he just? He flat out ignored her? This was a first, since almost every stallion ogles Silver Spoon and who could blame them, she has the body I've been trying to get, but it looks like the new guy is just a plain old jerk. Not that Silver Spoon is any better. ‘Oh great, she's coming this way…’ “Gabby~ Tell me, did you read Pen's article about about the Princess Twilight adopting a little filly~ It's tots adorbs!” She said, leaning over my desk. “Mmhmm,” I just nodded. Personally, I was not in the mood to handle this. My boss was one thing, but Silver? She’s somepony completely different. And she really gets on my case when I least expect it. “Good morning to you too, Silver.” “Come on Gabs~ I did tell you that you can call me Silvy~” She replied, looking me over before she noticed one of my files on Gunvolt. “You should probably go and change, I mean you’ve been wearing that suit for two days now.” ‘Oh no.’ I noticed where she was getting at right now. “Look, Silvy. I already have been having a rough morning so far, so could I-” “Nope, nope, nope… I won’t have any of that, come with me, I have a spare suit you can borrow and some deodorant for your feathers.” She replied, grabbing me by talons and dragging me with her against my will. “No no, t-that’s no necessary!” I tried to tell her, really wanting to get back to my desk. However though, what I said did not seem to have an effect on her as we turned around the corner. And she surprisingly pushed me against the wall and her expression completely changed. “Oh. My. CELESTIA!!! You actually got the Gunvolt case!? I'm so jealous of you!” She said, prancing around like a little filly. It was really surprising actually and a bit embarrassing since she pushed me against the wall like stallions do with mares when confessing. “Y-yeah I did…” I stammered. “T-though, I’m k-kinda a bit nervous if I’m to be honest…” “Why, you've got like, the most amazing case ever! I've been trying to get that case for weeks, but the boss said that I had to assist Pen with his latest assignment.” She explained hugging me tightly as she kept ranting on and on about how she wanted that assignment. “R-right,” I told her, gasping a bit for air. “Didn’t you hear about what happened to Flim and Flam when they tried to do this though?” “Yeah… who do you think ratted them out Gabs~” She said, lightly tapping my beak and winking at me. “It isn’t right for ponies to make false stories you know… I want real truthful stories out on our paper's. Not some phony lies you know.” Huh… well, if she put it that way, then maybe this could somehow… work? “O-okay… w-would you happen to k-know where I can start looking?” “Sure, but first… let's get you outta that smelly suit. You are still adorable, but you stink.” She said, covering her nose as I tried to hide my blush from her embarrassing me out in the open. We continued to make our way to the locker rooms as some ponies, and griffons snickered behind me. Something tells me that this is going to be the rest of my morning. Some time later… “Silver, are you sure that this is the right place?” I asked, looking at the front of the giant building that was the Maretropolis Police Station. I had seen pictures of the place all the time whenever one of the ponies on the team covered events that were held at town hall, but I did not expect for it to be so big up close. “Hey, if you want to find him, the best place to look is where the action happens. And that's our beloved police station.” She explained, as the two began to make their way inside. Upon stepping in, we were greeted by the sight of a few ponies waiting in chairs to be called up for something while in the background, several officers slammed a stallion to the ground. Presumably for not listening to them… that and he smelled like hard cider. Though, as I looked away, that was when the stallion at the front desk asked a question. “Hello. Welcome to the Maretropolis Police Department. Is there something I can help you with today?” “Yes, I was wondering if we could speak with the captain for just a few minutes.” Silver Spoon asked, smiling at the stallion as I rolled my eyes. Like I said, always trying to kiss ass, but at least she's got good intentions. “Um, I’m sorry, but the captain’s is on call right now so…” The pony at the front desk looked back at us, before asking a question. “Are you two here for a school project or something? If so, I can have one of our other officers assist you-” “No, we're employees at The Maretropolis News Station, and we are trying to learn more about a specific case that only the captain knows.” I replied, trying to honest without giving too much away. However, the pony simply shook his head and was about to tell us to leave. However, before he could, a young filly with a green fur and black mane came racing out down the stairs from the detective's department. “Clover Leaf! Get back here this instant, you promised to behave!” An officer in uniform came rushing down the stairs in pursuit of the green filly. “Try and catch me!” She said out loud as she ran around my legs. Even if it was a little bit annoying, she was just so adorable that I couldn’t shake her off. At least that was until… this happened. “Hey, kid… watch for my- TAIL!!!” I shouted, stumbling backwards as I grabbed my tail and tried to rub it gently, but because of that I ended up bumping into Silver Spoon, and the two of us fell down, knocking down a vase with marbles that was on the counter and they fell all over the place as visitors and other officers slipped on them. Before we knew it, the filly fell on the ground, but not because she slipped. She actually fell over laughing at everyone and even one of the ponies being brought in for questioning started mumbling about killing that filly. However the officers that were with him took him away. “Oww… You okay Silver Spoon?” I asked, climbing off her as she stood up rubbing the back of her head and adjusted her glasses a bit. “Sorry, wasn’t expecting that to happen.” “It’s fine… It was an accident, but I think perhaps you should take a shower. The deodorant did not help as much.” She said, covering her nose with her hooves as I merely groaned. The filly sitting next to me only snickered as I tried to cover my blushing face. Today was just not my day. However, her snickering stopped as the shadow of stallion behind her towered her completely. “What’s going on here?” “Hehehe… Um… Nothing Daddy.” Clover Leaf replied sheepishly as she slowly turned to face the furious unicorn stallion. Just as he was about to say something, the stallion chasing her before stood next him. “Forgive me, Captain… I was… Trying to get her to stay with the other kids in the playroom, but she she threw clay at my eyes and ran for it.” The officer explained, saluting his captain, but he didn’t look all too please as he just let out a sigh. That was, until he looked at both of us. “And what about these two?” “I don’t know sir, I just got down here.” He explained, but then the officer from the front desk peered out from behind his desk with a dictionary. “I do sir… they came in a few minutes ago.” The other officer replied. “I was just about to show them out.” ‘No, no! Not good, not good!’ Is what I thought initially as Silver Spoon helped me up. “That won't be necessary,” He then said, using his magic to pick up all the marbles that had spilled everywhere and his little filly. “Lead them to my office. That way I can talk to them in private.” I could only raise my brow as we followed the Captain, before he threw all the marbles in a disposable bin. It was impressive that he was able to get them all at once. I could barely pick any up with my talons. Still it was odd that we’re going to his office just like that. “Captain Stellar Stars, how have you been?” Silver Spoon asked, and my eyes widened a little because she knew him. ‘Huh, I didn’t think she knew him.’ “Are you taking those Yoga classes we talked about Stellar? Because the last thing we want is for your wife to complain about your weight issues.” All I did was gasp, covering my beak with my claws. I couldn't believe that she had dissed a captain in the police station no less. “Silver Spoon, are you crazy!?” I whispered into her ear as I grabbed her shirt collar. “Silver, while your concern for my health is noted, I would liked to ask if there was any other reason why you are here?” He added, before turning towards where I was standing. “And more importantly, who’s this griffon with you? A friend of yours?” “Now I know you don't like me bringing visitors with me when I come to visit you and you adorable daughter, but actually need a favor from you. I was wondering if you could lend a helping hoof with this file on the elusive Gunvolt? Gabs here is doing an article to find and reveal the identity of who this, mysterious pony is~?” She explained, dozing off for a moment before bring herself back. “Yes, so if there's anything you can give me that'll be very helpful?” I asked nicely, still a little nervous talking to an officer that leads this precinct. “I'm sorry, but there isn't anything I can give you that you don't already know,” The captain replied. “All we have are just accounts from eyewitnesses. We don’t have any photographic evidence. All things considered, this Gunvolt might not even exist unless we have actual evidence to serve as proof.” I began to think to myself. ‘Things just keep getting more and more difficult. This Gunvolt guy is a lot more crafty then I originally thought. Still, why DO I HAVE TO DO THIS CASE?!?’ Just as I was about to say something, I felt a hoof brush against my talon before feeling pressure on top of it, a lot of pressure and I ended up squawking in front of the captain as Silver Spoon stepped forward. “Captain Stellar, I know its a lot to ask, but Gabby is a hard working Griffon and is determined to work on this assignment. Are you sure there isn't anything you can do for us?” The captain sighed to himself, placing a chin to his hoof as he seemed to be pondering something. Though, after a moment or two, he finally let out a small breath and looked back at us. “Well, if that’s the case, I think there’s one thing I can do… Silver, can you get one of the brochure maps from out in the lobby?” “Alright, thanks Captain.” Silver Spoon replied, grabbing me by my claw and pulls me out towards the doors of the office before I could even get a chance to say goodbye to Captain Stellar Stars. “Hang on you two-” Was all I heard as the earth pony dragged me out of the precinct, taking one of the brochure maps he mentioned in her mouth. All I knew was that this was gonna be a very, very long day.