//------------------------------// // A Perfectly Good Idea Indeed // Story: A Pegasus Horn // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// After a full day of getting kicked out of various news offices, the trio decided that they needed a new plan again. Preferably, they needed a plan that, if it failed, would not contribute further to the growing bald spots on their rear ends. Unfortunately, coming up with said plan was proving to be far more difficult that they had thought. Eventually, their hunger got the better of them, and they decided to put off brainstorming until later. They all looked through the saddlebags for their supplies. As they did, Feldspar decided to see if there was anything to eat in her new saddlebags. Unfortunately, all she saw was a bunch of boring papers. She did see the shine of a piece of plastic buried in a side pocket on the bag. She reached into the side pocket and pulled out a couple ID cards. Both were printed with royal seals and the title "Equestrian Intelligence Service: Chief Investigator," and both were printed with pictures of their owners. "Hey look! I found some new disguises!" Kind face took the cards for herself and looked at them. "Feldspar?" Kind Face looked back and forth several times between Feldspar and the cards. "Where did you get these saddlebags?" "Oh, I found em on the train. Why?" "You just found them? You didn't take them from anypony?" Feldspar shook her head. "Nope! They were just wedged into a corner. Why?" Obsidian tried to look over Kind Face's shoulder at the cards. "What are those?" "Well, they look like those fake ID cards you can get pretty cheap at Las Pegasus. My aunt still has a few left over from some of her characters." He finally saw the pictures on them. "You think those are fake?" "I'm pretty sure, although I haven't exactly seen a real one before." He stomped his hoof and looked at the ground. "Great. That means those two really were reporters." "You know them?" "Yeah, sorta. I only met them once. Why?" "Hello, I'm Sunny Skies, and this is my assistant Moonlit Night and our trainee Dusk Dawn. We're here to inspect your facility to see if it's up to code." The secretary looked down at the trio in front of her. The pegasus who had introduced herself matched her badge, and the earth pony apparently hadn't been issued a badge yet, but something seemed off about the unicorn. "According to your badge, aren't you supposed to be female?" "What!?!" The unicorn took the badge in his blue magic and acted surprised. "And I just got this reissued too. Why did they change that?" He grumbled to himself, "and this is the third time this year I've had to get it corrected too..." The secretary eyed them all suspiciously. "Aren't you all a bit short to be investigators." "Yep," Sunny Skies cheerily responded, "It makes getting into places a lot easier." Moonlit Night rolled his eyes. "Most of the time..." The secretary looked over the ID badges again, then at the three before her. She glanced back and forth between them several times before finally handing them back and typing something on the computer. She squinted at the monitor, then back at the three again, then at the monitor again. "EIS agents... reporting directly to the princesses," she mumbled to herself. Turning back to them, she gestured towards the back room. "Wait here so I can tell my boss. He'll get one of the workers here to show you whatever you need to see." "Hey! Muck, Mud, over here. I need you to do something." Mud Slinger and Muck Raker stepped over towards their supervisor. As they did, News Flash took them aside into his office and gave them their instructions. On one side of the desk stood Quartz, Gneiss, and Masquerade. On the other side, Lawful Good took notes. "So, you believe they came here to Canterlot?" As Gneiss and Masquerade nodded, Quartz pulled the newspaper photo out of his saddlebags and levitated it over to the officer. He had made sure to cut it out so that it wouldn't have the headline and article attached. "That's them." Lawful Good examined the photograph. "Is that the kid from the..." "NO!" The officer jerked his head up at the sudden outburst from Gneiss. "I'm sorry," she added. "He is. It's just that the article about him was so..." She stumbled trying to find the right word. "The article was an attempt at petty revenge, and Obsidian got caught in the crossfire," Quartz explained. "None of it's true, and we're afraid that it might have been the reason he and the others left." The officer nodded. "Good to know. We'll keep an eye out. And don't worry. I'm sure they're just fine." Just after they left, another officer came into the room. "Excuse me sir, we've got a tip from The Horse's Mouth. Mind checking it out?" "Of course. Meanwhile, would you mind giving copies of these to the others. We've got a missing foals case." The two traded papers and headed out. "So here are the presses, where we print out more than 200 sheets per hour. Once the paper quota is met, the plates get taken over there to the hellbox for recycling, and the next day's plates get put into the machine..." This had to be a punishment. There was no other explanation. Hard hitting reporters, Muck Raker and Mud Slinger, reduced to tour guides for a couple foals with government ID badges. It was flat-out obvious that they must have "borrowed" their parents' cards just so they could get a free tour. Even if their age wasn't proof of that, their constant taking pictures was. Fortunately, it was only a matter of waiting. "So, we do have one more question." The purple one held up a tape recorder while Mud Slinger surreptitiously rolled his eyes. "Are you the one who released that story about the colt roughly a month ago?" The police officer stepped into the secretary's office. "Are you the one who sent in the tip ma'am?" The secretary nodded. "Yes. My boss has a couple of the office workers stalling them right now." "And, just to be clear, you're saying a few foals stole the identities of a couple high-ranking royal investigators." "That's correct. The ID's on the badges checked out, but the ponies were definitely too young to have 20 years of service to the princesses."