Moving Along
Malich sat behind his desk, watching the overly stuffy Donkey and Griffin before him reading over a few file's he'd prepared the night before.
Both members of the Federal Inquisitive Agency.The FIA had been a thorn in Malich's side for a long time now, along with the EPI (Enviornmental Protection Initiative), FEB (Federal Ethics Board) and the board of Federal Conflict Over-sites.
These two wouldn't have been a problem if it hadn't been for the fact that they were hand chosen, and directed, by none other than Arbiter Sparhawk himself. Most agents were easy to bribe and send on their way, these two knew the good centaur's wrath, and neither would be inclined to incite it for a million bucks.
"Mr. Islander." The Donkey stated slowly, looking up at him above her glasses, the way a mother typically does her troubled young. "Reading through your fleet formation reports show that your ships: Gamma III and Beta III hold no training or other substantial contingency in the event that Sigma III should be neutralized."
"Page 456, subsection 22." Malich stated helpfully. Causing the mare to slowly, carefully seek through the book.
'Sweet fucking Tapio this is torture!'
Malich had been sitting here for the past five hours, the first dealing with the legal and consent jargin that these two had to recited in order for their investigation to be legitimate, and the past four with them sitting there reading those damnable naval interception protocol booklets. He was originally planning to assign his PR board to handle the situation, but he couldn't trust them to handle the matter, all things considered.
To make matters worse on him, these two government bafoons had come in right after Radcliff came in with news about Elsa successfully extracting a parasite without killing either it nor the host. He didn't even get any details before another receptionist came in to inform him of their arrival!
Life just wasn't fair sometimes.
"So, have you considered the proposal yet?" Asked the Griffin, looking up at Malich with a slight quirk of the brow.
"I'm sorry?"
Now, Malich wasn't the most social guy in the world, but he knew an insinuation when he heard one. "The proposal from Lady Fatchitaz, of course. She proposed to you at the Centaur Palace just a few days ago, did she not?"
Malich wasn't a social pony, but he knew that such a question was asked for no other reason than to provoke him.
"No? That's a shame." The elder griffin sighed before going back to the booklet. "Arbiter Sparhawk was very interested to see if you were going to accept."
'Sparhawk. That son of a fucking bitch!'
"Inform your master that I have no interest in Lady Fatchitaz. She's a... umm... lovely young mare?" he forced out, nearly choking on the last three words. "But I'm afraid my heart belongs to my work for the time being."
'HA! Nice save.'
I know, right?
Elsa stood at a table, observing the aimless black, centipede like creature swimming around in the tank before her. It was amazing, truly a specimen who's soft flesh was worthy of her skilled magical cut. The black mare fought the urge to break the tank, grab hold of the parasite and dissect it right then and there.
"Hello beautiful," Elsa cooed softly, taking in the the marvelous sight before her, using her magic every so often to pet the parasite just above it's small, beady yellow eyes. She tingled every time she touched it, feeling the soft and inviting skin of the larva.
A timer went off to her right and a rather large injection of red fluid was cast into the tank. The parasite wasted no time in making straight for the right side of the tank and began sucking in the fluid through it's legs.
"I hope you like the lunch I made you, curtisy of the medical departments enhanced blood transfusion stocks." This wasn't the first Parasite she'd successfully extracted, unlike most, she didn't mind cutting open living being beyond repair for such a prize. It was keeping them alive that was the issue. The first two didn't take well to either prolonged exposure to air, nor basic water. So, she demanded a solution that was used to keep organs alive for transplant, climate controlled to keep the water at a pony's body temperature, and a tank big enough for the organism to swim freely in and observe.
Low and behold, the behavior of the parasite was remarkable, as expected, it swam about, attempting to find the organ it was meant to attach to. Though, this left the question of how long the parasite would survive. She wasn't completely sure if it was simply becoming docile or dying, but it was slowing down more and more by the minute.
Deciding to see if another feeding would help, Elsa pushed the button again. The creature greedily sucking in the red nourishment before going about its business swimming.
Deciding she needed to get back to work, Elsa returned back to the dissection table to find the already dead parasite she'd been disassembling for the past ten minutes waiting for her. Cold, lifeless, hardening and boring. She'd found the heart of the beast, as well as it's "brain", but no other organs were currently present. The lack of a excretion system was almost poof positive of every last cell consumed for nutrition was being used for sustenance and growth, though the need of a such a large brain was a bit puzzling to the young surgeon, and she made pleanty of research notes about it.
Typically parasites of this size had one half the brain size, yet this one had something the others didn't. A Parietal lobe had developed over the typical Optical and Cerebellum lobes. Perhaps it was because changelings used this as their primary telepathic link to the queen, she wasn't sure, but the lack of a Temporal lobe was very baffling.
Oh, there was a spece in the back of the brain for it, to be sure, but when she looked at it, it looked... rotted, somehow.
"All well." She blurted with a shrug. "That's the genetics department anyways, hopefully they can give me some info on it later."
"Oh no. Oh crap, oh hell." Silvia shook as she sat in a tree, Sin having not returned for two days. She did a sweep of ponyville to see if he was just staying with somepony else, but to no avail.
"Oh, Malich is gonna kill me! Why did that idiot have to wonder off and leave no trail?!" She chastised herself as she dove down and began combing the Everfree.
She spent hours upon hours searching for the stallion, avoiding weird chicken snakes, a giant kamara, a few timberwolves, and group of trees that grabbed painfully at her wings. All for nothing.
"Fuck!" She proclaimed, landing on a path that lead back to Ponyville. She was dead, she might as well bend over that tree stump right now and stick a tree branch up her ass and out her mouth to be roasted on an open fire. She could already hear it now. 'You had one job, Silvia! One fucking job!'
Though a small flicker of hope hit her when she smelt a faint trace of smoke. Her heart threatening to burst out of her chest, the griffin made like a bullet to the source of the fire. Silvia slowed her pace to a casual walk as she approached a small hut in the clearing.
"That's it!" She declared in whispered glee. "He must have snuck off to make that and live there. Gross and tacky, but it beats living in a makeshift tent."
Quiet as a mouse, Silvia crept along the blind side of the hut and prowled to the window. She peeked inside to find a cloaked, hooded figure messing around with something on a desk. Farther inspection made her recoiled in slight disgust and confusion. Tiki masks and other primitive and tribal decorations filled the hut. A long table with glass bottles of different color liquids stood on one side, another was full of different herbs and plants, with a long wooden tube sitting on the wall. Completing the picture of creepy woodland hermit was the giant cauldron that sat in the very middle of the hut, a small fire beneath to heat the liquid to boil.
Well at least she found him, the cloak was a bit longer and the hood was new, but no other creature in the country wore such a thing besides him. Satisfied that she'd found her target again, Silvia flew up and perched herself upon a near by tree branch to get a nice vantage point to ensure she never lost her target again.
"My goodness Applejack, might we rest for five minutes?" Rarity decried, lifting her hoof for inspection. "My hooficure is absolutely ruined! RUINED!"
"Aw pipe down, Rarity!" The applemare replied with a roll of her eyes. "If'n we're gonna find Discord, we can't be layin' down on th' job."
"But we've been walking for hours!" The alabaster unicorn wined dramatically.
It was true, the two had been wondering the countryside outside of ponyville for the better part of twelve hours. The grass was soft and green beneath their hooves at least, and the warming spring are was also a plus, things could be much much worse for the both of them.
Still, the sun was almost just behind the horizon and it would take them some time to get back home, perhaps it was time to finally head back.
"Oh thank goodness! I'm in desperate need of a spa bath."
Again, rolling her eyes, the cow mare and the fashionesta made way back to ponyville. Tomorrow, they'd check the area outside Grand Junction. Hopefully Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had more luck searching over at the Bottom Bog, provided they weren't attacked by the hydra, of course.
Celestia bit her lip in worry, as she watched the doors of her throne room. She didn't want to send the message, she really didn't, but she had to. Shining Armor couldn't be found, her Captain of the Guard was AWOL in a time of national crisis. What else was she supposed to do?
Hopefully, his second in command, Flash Sentry would be able to handle the coordination of the guard and search teams until he returned. If he returned, that is.
"You seem worried, Princess." Twilight pointed out, oblivious to the fury that was about to enter. "I'm worried about my brother too, but he's a big stallion. He can take care of himself."
"Twilight Sparkle, you are my friend, my ally and my most faithful student, you have learned a great deal in your life about friendship and many things about both science and magics." Celestia declared. "But there is a lesson you're about to learn that will be both shocking and very frightening about the concept of love."
"Love? Princess?"
Suddenly, the doors burst open with a loud bang. A furry of pink magic, revealing a sight that made Twilight both happy and fearful at the same time. A pink Alicorn, adorned with golden regalia strutted into the throneroom, her face a calm mask with eyes that betrayed the inner storm within.
"Cadance?" Twilight asked in disbelief.
Cadance paid her no mind, continuing her calm walk until she was just before the steps that lead to where Celestia sat. She asked a simple question, both the tone and subject made Twilight's shudder in disbelief.
"Where. Is. My fiance?"