//------------------------------// // Spies // Story: Time and Time Again // by Kawa //------------------------------// Agent Nocturne stood at a reasonable distance from the door to his queen’s chambers. He would’ve liked to come closer, but the Night Guards menacing in front wouldn’t let him, for they were very well aware that despite being sharply dressed in a crisp dark blue suit, the green pegasus stallion was not to be trusted inside the personal chambers of Queen Luna the Night. Or maybe it was because a sharp-dressed stallion was never to be trusted. The Night Guard had not a single feather to give. It was, therefore, to the surprise of both stationed guards that the lunar diarch would open the door just wide enough to pop her head through, and then proceed to do exactly that. “My guards”, Luna spoke with a regal voice that belied just under a hundred years of practice with regards to the ever-changing nature of spoken language and customs. “Kindly send for Mister Chaos. I would have words with him.” The guards could barely believe their ears but, ever professional, they kept their immediate reactions tightly restrained until the door had closed again. “I wonder if I understood her highness correctly”, the one on the left whispered to the other. “What do you suppose she meant by ‘having words’?” “Ours is not to wonder such things. I’ll go get the guy. We wouldn’t want to keep the lady waiting.” With that, the guard on the right nodded and trotted off. He had located his target in moments, as he had known all along that he would be very close already. “Red. The queen requests your presence”, the guard called out. “She… would have words with you”, he added with a distinctly foreboding undertone that wasn’t there when his employer had said it before. The target growled softly to himself as he stepped out of the shadows. “For Faust’s sake, Westwind, you know not to call me that while I’m on duty”, Agent Nocturne complained. The guard, for his part, sighed. “You don’t have a code name, Red. At least, nothing official. But what does it even matter what you want to be called? The queen is waiting! Come along.” Queen Luna looked absolutely gorgeous to Reddened Chaos’ eyes. This was the mare he had spent years climbing the ranks in her majesty’s secret service for. His heart beat in his throat as he entered that holiest of holies, to gaze upon the wondrous visage of his queen and mistress. “Agent Chaos”, the lunar diarch called out. “It may please you to learn that we have a mission for you to fulfill.” Though his lady’s voice was as silken sweet to his unworthy ears as always, Agent Nocturne silently cursed the day that his queen had learned to speak modern English. Still, she was his queen, so he lowered himself accordingly. Even if she too refused to call him Nocturne. “What would this mission be, my liege?” the pegasus asked with a trained smoothness in his voice. “Our sister has taken a new court historian. This pony, when asked of a certain event, somehow has details even we would have forgotten”, Luna explained. She paused to produce a small envelope which she floated over to Nocturne. “We wish to know how this so-called historian does it, but when we asked our sister about it she just smiled and said it was a ‘professional secret’.” Given the time of day, Luna slowly walked over to her bed as she spoke. “He does not seem to use a library, and has the answer within the hour. Find out how this pony does what it is he does, and you will be rewarded most handsomely”, the lady of the night said as she sat on the edge of the bed. Agent Nocturne nearly forgot to acknowledge his mission, lost in thought at his queen’s last words. A handsome reward and she was invitingly sitting on the bed when she said it. How could he possibly misunderstand such a thing? “Yes my lady”, the overly hormonal stallion finally managed to croak. He turned on the spot and briskly walked back out of his mistress’ chambers, unaware of the slight exasperation on Luna’s face, nor the faint grins that Westwind and Nightingale sported as the hapless secret agent passed them by. When he had gone out of sight, Nocturne opened the envelope. It contained a photograph of Pyrrhic Victory, his address in Canterlot, and a few scraps of biographical information. All it told Nocturne was that the target was an omnidisciplinary scientist with a particular focus on physics, which Nocturne felt didn’t very well mesh with his role as court historian, was the grandchild of one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, was all but married to another Element’s grandchild, and that he was the caretaker of one of the few changelings who had free passage through Equestria. It wasn’t much, but it’d do, or his name wasn’t Nocturne; Agent Nocturne. Finding a handy balcony in the castle, the pegasus jumped off, spread his wings, and silently soared down to the mid-lower levels of the city. The next morning, at Vic’s house, one almost completely unremarkable brown pegasus landed at the doorstep, clutching a small satchel and a magazine in his teeth. He knocked twice on the door and waited. Jennie was there to open up and let him in. “Hi, Chase! What’s up?” the exuberant earth pony asked. “I brought those special gems the Vicster asked for, and the latest edition of Animal Vegetable Mineral. I think they’ve a special on zebras this month”, Tailchaser replied as he put his cargo down. “Here’s the odd thing though. Is little Sixie still here?” “Yeah”, Jennie confirmed. “I think she’s still sleeping. I’m actually the first pony to get up today! What’s wrong?” “Hmm, yeah… y’see, Jen”, Tailchaser said in a careful half-whisper, “while I was on my way here, I couldn’t help but feel I was being watched.” “Oh, I know that feeling real well, Chase. In fact, I feel watched right now, but I’m trying to ignore them.” “No, this is different. There’s somepony out there, hiding... And it’s obviously not Sixteen. Could you tell Vic-20 that I won’t be around for a while?” “Sure. But what’re you gonna do? And what’s a Vic-20?” “No idea, something that I came up with just now. Doesn’t matter.” Tailchaser leaned in a little closer to Jennie. “I’m going to hide outside too, see if I can catch this other guy”, he whispered. “Good luck”, Jennie said as she hugged the big lug. When Agent Nocturne returned to Canterlot Castle to deliver his report, he was completely unaware that he was being trailed. When he approached the door to his queen’s chambers, his shadow bolted away to take an alternate route. “My queen”, Nocturne greeted in another bow. “Tell us, Agent Chaos, what have you discovered of this so-called historian?” the imposing Dark Queen asked. Behind her, on the balcony, a pegasus softly landed and carefully took position to listen in. “Not much about his methods, your highness. I’ve seen what it looks like, but I am no unicorn and can’t tell what it is. The target... he stands next to a device – I think it’s one of those teleportation recall beacons that some unicorns use – and then there’s basically just a flash and not much changes. At least not from what I can see at a safe distance.” “Just a flash and he suddenly knows things?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. Agent Nocturne nodded. “That’s all I could see. I hope to get a little closer so maybe I can, I dunno, take some pictures of his notes, perhaps?” “That would seem the most logical thing to do, my agent. We appreciate the effort you put forth for us. While you continue your mission, we shall try asking our sister more pointed questions.” Luna turned to the balcony to prepare for the raising of her moon. Before she could make the turn, the other pegasus had flipped off of the balcony and was soaring down and away, unseen by the queen and her agent. The pegasus chuckled to himself. As well-trained this Nocturne guy was, a remarkable bright green pegasus in a two-piece suit would never blend away in the late dusk as well as a totally ordinary dull brown one who almost never wore clothes and had learned all he needed from a couple of spy novels. It was, therefore, almost a given that when Agent Nocturne was on his way to Canterlot Castle the next day to deliver a new report, he was intercepted in one of the hallways. “I have you now… my dear Agent Nocturne”, whispered Stormcloud J. Tailchaser as he held the hapless agent in a half-hearted headlock. “I have no idea what you mean, dear sister”, Celestia said at the breakfast table. “I didn’t send any ponies after your employees.” “Still, my plan is thwarted”, Luna said with a hint of annoyance. “What was this… employee supposed to do anyway?” “He was to bring the information you continuously withhold from us, sister. About your historian.” “Mister Victory? Oh, that’s just time travel.” For a moment, Luna dared not continue drinking her tea as her sister’s words sank in. “That’s it?” Luna asked. “He has all the details because time travel? Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?!” Celestia remained silent for at least ten seconds, smiling to herself all the time. “Because it’s fun.”