//------------------------------// // Inquiry - Zecora // Story: The Parasprite Project // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// "Open the doors for us, Guard. The Princesses are waiting for us." "Yes, sir." "Mares first into the courtroom." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both Pinkie Pie and Zecora looked around in amazement as the doors into the castle's grand courtroom were opened and Captain of the Guard Gibraltar escorted them inward to take their places in the witness box. The vaulted space was buzzing with curiousity and anticipation, those watching mostly members of the press and academics eager to learn more about the behavior of the parasprites and Everfree Forest creatures in general. Pinkie Pie looked around for any familiar faces, but only recognized two - Lieutenant Crispin, already in fulldress and sitting in the witness box, and Princess Celestia herself watching the proceedings from a private box high up on the back wall. Princess Cadance, though neither Pinkie nor Zecora recognized her at the time, was beside Celestia to the right in the private box, and the third seat in the box to Celestia's left was reserved for Gibraltar himself. Pinkie raised a hoof to give an eager wave, but she saw Celestia shake her head a moment and went back to her proceeding. As soon as Pinkie Pie and Zecora made it to the witness box, subjected to uncomfortable camera flashes the whole time, Gibraltar proceeded up to the private box. As he took his designated seat, he could see the central figure of the inquiry board - some kind of academic figure, Gibraltar had to guess - levitated with unicorn magic a gavel, banging it down several times to calm the buzzing crowd. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Thank you gentlestallions and mares. We will now take public testimony for the Board of Inquiry of the Ponyville Parasprite Pestilence." the gavel-banging unicorn stallion states as the crowd buzz fades, only identified by his "Chair of Board of Inquiry" placard in front of his central position. The watching Captain Gibraltar rolls his eyes at the official title of the inquiry board - "pestilence" was not a good word to describe what had befallen Ponyville, but the alliteration seemed to have been carefully crafted for maximum media attention. The old Guard Captain gives a sidelong glance at Princess Celestia, who returns a reassuring smile - obviously she would not hesitate to intervene if something happened she did not approve of. "As per standard protocol, all testimony is being recorded for archival purposes." the board chair continues, pointing the levitating gavel toward a unicorn stallion facing the witness box. This stallion, a Guard Lieutenant by the name of Xergraphos, had a unique talent of being able to "record" and "playback" images of certain events, which made him invaluable for jobs such as this one. Gibraltar watching from the private box couldn't quite tell if the Lieutenant's presence made the mares in the witness box even more uneasy, but was sure it probably didn't help things. "The Board of Inquiry calls Zecora the zebra to testify in public witness." was the next statement of the board chair, and Zecora hesitated just a moment before rising from her sitting position and moving to stand at the edge of the box facing the array of the inquiry board members. Gibraltar could sense her normal confidence wavering - not surprising considering all the attention focused on her. "Your name, for the record please." Lieutenant Xergraphos says to Zecora. "Zecora of the Forest Everfree... that is my name, you see." Zecora replies, her voice with an unusual hesitation. The rhyming immediately produces exchanges of strange looks among the inquiry board members as well as quietly spreading amusement among the watching crowd. Captain Gibraltar and Princess Cadance share the exchange of strange looks, while Princess Celestia snickers between them. "Did you know about the rhyming?" Cadance asks Gibraltar in a stage whisper. "Celestia didn't tell me anything, otherwise I would've told the head of the board to get a written statement instead!" Gibraltar replies in the same stage whisper. A moment passes, and both Cadance and Gibraltar look up at Celestia's amused chuckling and share a sigh - obviously Celestia had kept the fact to herself for the sake of her amusement at the public reactions. "Ma'am, is the rhyming really necessary for this?" the board chair was asking Zecora when Gibraltar returned his attention to the proceedings. "It is a curse of the poison joke you see, passed through the generations down to me." Zecora answered, the closest she offered to an apology. The confused and skeptical looks reappeared on the inquiry board members, as well as on Captain Gibraltar and Princess Cadance. None of them could quite tell whether she was telling the truth or merely attempting to dodge the question, but it would be more trouble than it was worth to go on a tangent to find that out. The proceedings pause as the board members engage in hushed conversation between themselves for about half a minute. Finally, the board chair speaks to offer an explanation for the pause: "We've agreed to accept written testimony in place of oral, to facilitate the proceedings. Hopefully that will be an acceptable alteration to protocol considering the circumstances." Celestia, who could tell that the board chair was speaking to most of all, gave a subtle nod back down from her position, and with Zecora also nodding in agreement, a silent breath of relief spreads over the board members - rhyming would not obstruct their progress after all... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEANWHILE... Lieutenant Typhoon, a grey pegasus stallion, nervously looks around to make sure nopony else is watching. He didn't need any awkward encounters with any of his fellow Royal Guard members right now, considering the sensitive nature of the meeting he was going to be involved in. Although covered by his position as one of Lieutenant Captain Aten's inner six and Aten's own orders assigning him to cover the section of the city the meeting would be conducted in, it was still a fairly risky encounter that could expose everypony involved as Agents of Chaos. Typhoon spares one last look before ducking down a darkened ally, whereupon he sees what seems to be a unicorn levitating a birdcage, the glowing magic a sickly green color. As Typhoon approaches, the unicorn goes onto his haunches and crosses forelegs in an X shape. "Nice to see you, X. You have them?" Typhoon asks in a whisper. Agent X, in his unicorn disguise - which Typhoon already knew about because X "replaced" an unliked subordinate of Typhoon's - points toward the levitating cage. Typhoon can just barely make out through the glow several small spherical shapes inside the cage, and immediately smiles in glee - both Aten and Agent Snake would be most pleased. "Good work as always. I'll escort you to Agent WA, she's waiting to take the transfer." Typhoon explains. Agent X grunts in affirmation, and both stallions share evil grins - neither Canterlot nor the Wonderbolts had a clue that the "Swarm of the Century" would soon be ready to strike again...