//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: READ THIS STORY TO [REDACTED] INSTANTLY 
// by darf 
//------------------------------//

It wasn't often you found yourself out on the same assignment twice in one week—barring localized temporal interference, which, to be fair, there was a lot of in proximity to the Agency and its goings-on.

Lyra was more put out than Bonbon about the whole thing. She pouted the whole way to Ponyville, verbalizing most of her complaints without regard for whether or not they received answers.

"Why are they sending us to scour the locals for information like a bunch of greenhorns?" she asked, tapping her hoof impatiently in the back-seat of the carriage transport. All black painted, black windows, and black stallion pegasus pulling the thing in front. It was more conspicuous than cozy, but nopony wanted to debate the aesthetics of camouflage with the Director. Or anything, for that matter.

"Your horn is green, as a matter-of-fact," Bonbon said, nose deep in her pile of notes. "Besides. It just means they trust us. They didn't want anyone else to handle the investigation since we already know so much about the anomaly."

"The book, you mean."

Bonbon shrugged. "It might not even be a book, at a strictly atomic level. We might be talking about a living organism that reconfigures itself to look like a book."

"A [REDACTED] book."

"'Illicit romance' is the technical term. But, yes. A [REDACTED] book."

Lyra sighed and looked out the window, which was pointless given they were painted black instead of tinted. Somehow the finer points of two-way glass were also not on the organizations list of issues to address. Still... if she tried really hard, she imagined she could see some trees. Or a bird. That was sort of nice, at least.

"Remind me why we're doing this again," Lyra said.

"To ensure the safety of Equestria and all its occupants."

"From a [REDACTED] book?"

Bonbon shrugged again. She looked up from her notes and tilted her head to the side.

"You never know. The average pony could be carrying a lot of pent up... energy."

"Something we wouldn't know anything about."

"No. Of course not."

"Hmm."

When the carriage stopped at its destination, Bonbon and Lyra exited wordlessly. Before the carriage had drawn away, they were blurred lines in the crowd, somehow blending in despite their businesslike attire. Nopony seemed to notice them as they came, and nopony noticed them as they went, or as their carriage lifted back off and disappeared into the night's sky. Late afternoon, at least.