//------------------------------//
// The Job 
// Story: Zipporwhill P.I. and the Show Stopper 
// by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof 
//------------------------------//

Zipporwhill sat at her office desk, staring out the open window.  There was not enough space for a proper breeze to blow in, but she could still feel the cool air, and smell the ocean as it blew in from the harbor.  The radio was on, broadcasting a cloudball game between a team of griffons and a team of hippogriffs, but she was not really listening to it.  It was more just for some background noise than actual interest in sports.

Most of her attention was focused on the latest bit of graffiti.  Under one hoof, it was nice to look at something other than the dirty red bricks of the neighboring wall, and the artist was very talented, especially since they were able to do it in a single night.  Under the other, however, while she was not familiar with the mare portrayed, Zipporwhill was fairly certain that said mare's backside was nowhere near as proportionally large as portrayed, and the artist had been very explicit in their detail work.

From his pet bed in the corner, her dog, Shadow, lifted his head.  His eyes focused on the door, staring at it, as his ears perked forward.

With a flap of one wing, Zipporwhill sent her chair spinning.  The mare shut the blinds, turned off the radio, and grabbed her fedora before coming to a stop.  Leaning back in the chair, she placed her back hooves up on the desk, and placed the hat on her head, glasses peaking out from just under the brim.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and in walked a zebra mare.  Except this zebra was different from any other that Zipporwhill had seen before, which, admittedly, was extremely limited.  Her stripes were not the typical black that most zebras had, but more of a light golden color.  From her long, stylized mane to her hooves, and from the tips of her lips to the end of her tail, stripes of gold streaked through the white coat.  One long ear gave a flick, black studs glistening in the light.

"Are you Zipporwhill?" she asked, looking at the pegasus through blue tinted lenses.

"Yes, ma'am," Zipporwhill confirmed.  With one of her pinions, she lifted the brim of her hat, revealing her grass green eyes.  "And you are?"

The zebra mare ran a hoof down the front of her blouse before stepping further into her room.  The lines which made up the her cutie mark, a stylized tree of some sort, were of the same golden color.

"My name is Zerrin," she announced as she approached.  "I am the owner of Gold Sugar Soda Company."  Reaching the chair, she sat down.

"You mean those fizzy, sugary drinks in the bottles?" Zipporwhill asked.  It had been something that she had discovered when she first arrived in town, looking for a place to live and set up office.  Small glass bottles of liquid kept on ice.  They were really sweet, and the bubbles made the tongue tingle.  Very popular, especially with the tourists.  Quite a variety of flavors too.  She had tried a few of them herself.

A tingle of excitement suddenly shot through the pegasus as a thought occurred to her.  If the owner of a big company was here, that could only mean one thing: industrial espionage.

"Worried a rival company is going to steal your formulas?" she asked, leaning forward.  "Need a pony to make sure none of your employees are corporate spies?"  She tried to hide her excitement, but could feel her wings twitching at her side.  Not only was the possibility exciting, but it could be a massive step forward in her career.

"No," Zerrin stated, dashing the excitement with a single word.  "I have taken some measures to protect our recipes, of course, but considering that I am only selling in Baltimare, I doubt other beverage companies are going to see me as much of a threat at this time."  She then leaned forward and lowered her glasses, revealing her red eyes.  "Which brings me to a more immediate issue, and the reason I'm here."

"Oh?' Zipporwhill said.  Moving, she sat up properly and leaned over her desk, giving the zebra mare her full attention.

"For a while, I've been getting menacing letters.  'Shut down the business,' 'stop making sodas,' 'go back to your homeland,' things like that.  No threats of violence or such, and there have been no attempts at sabotage.  As such, it is not a very high priority to the police, and I normally don't take them seriously myself.

"Have you heard of the upcoming Baltimare Trained Animal Show?"

Zipporwhill nodded.  She had heard about it quite a bit.  Although, it was more a competition than a just a show.  Creatures would be showing up with their pets, performing tricks for the audience to show off how intelligent, skilled, and well trained they were.  There would be judges, and the best would get awards of some kind.

"Well, I am the one sponsoring the event," Zerrin announced.

"And providing refreshments," Zipporwhill suddenly blurted out.  Her eyes narrowed as she smirked.  "Hundreds of creatures from all around Equestria, some of which will be very wealthy, all in one place, trying out your soda."

"Precisely," the zebra confirmed with a smile.  She leaned back, smile growing wider.  "I was even able to get Former Princess Celestia as one of the judges.  If I can get her to like my product, not only will I be able to expand distribution to Silver Shoals, but quite a few others will be interested as well."

That was impressive, and pretty much true.  Although she had given up the throne and title of princess years ago, Celestia had been a part of ponies' lives and their leader for generations.  As such, she still had quite a lot of public influence, whether she liked it or not.  There were articles in the newspaper about what she was up to, and during her last visit to Ponyville -- the adoptive home of the current ruling princess, Twilight Sparkle -- there were still ponies and others that were watching and talking about what the former ruler was currently doing.

Which suddenly made something occur to Zipporwhill.

"Doesn't that mean you're a threat to the tea industry, then?"

That got a snort and eye roll.

"I sincerely doubt anyone is going to drink soda first thing in the morning, or on particularly cold winter nights," Zerrin stated, "and I doubt they are planning on making a type of tea to drink cold."  She gave another snort.  "Who would even want that?"

With a sigh, she leaned back into her chair.

"Still, this is a very important event for me.  I need it to go as perfectly as possible."  Her eyes narrowed as she turned serious.  "Which means I need to take all the precautions I can.  That includes the possibility that whomever sent the letters shall attempt to sabotage the show, publicly humiliating me, and thus ruining my chances of expansion."

"Uh-huh," Zipporwhill said.  She leaned back in her seat, thinking about what all she had been told.  "And... am I going under cover as a contestant, or working openly as security?"

"Open," was the reply.  "I would very much prefer if we could discourage any attempts to cause trouble to begin with rather than catch someone in the act."

That got a nod as she considered it all.  Basically, it would simply be a single day of security work, that may or may not have something happen during.  She would have to stay vigilant, just in case.  Perhaps go in early in order to check things over before contestants and spectators arrive.

Bonus, it means that she would get to spend the entire day around animals.  And get paid for it.  Even if nothing happens.

Still, she could not show too much excitement.

Zipporwhill turned toward Shadow, who had been watching the entire conversation from his bed in the corner.

"What do you think?"

The dog shifted his forelegs, his tail thumping against the wall as it wagged excitedly.

With a nod, Zipporwhill returned her attention to Zerrin.

"Alright, we'll take the job."