//------------------------------// // Inquiry - Pinkie Pie // Story: The Parasprite Project // by GJT_Productions //------------------------------// "I wonder how Twilight deals with that earth pony's exuberance, Captain..." "I wonder how anypony deals with that exuberance..." "You'll see, you two. Just sit back and watch." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Both Captain of the Guard Gibraltar and Princess Cadance look up at Princess Celestia's knowing grin, then back at each other with confused looks. They exchange shrugs before returning attention to the proceedings. "Your name for the record please." Lieutenant Xergraphos was saying to Pinkie Pie, the unicorn once again "recording" for the proceedings. "Pinkamena Diane Pie, you can just call me Pinkie though." Pinkie replies without missing a beat, the eager smile unphased on her face. "Right." the chair of the board of the inquiry affirms in deadpan, unimpressed or unmoved by Pinkie's energy. "We need you to explain to the board how you managed to know exactly how to deal with the parasprites, knowledge that does not seem to be possessed by anypony else." "Well sure, but is this going to be a full exam or a pop quiz?" Pinkie asks, prompting a facehoof from the board chair and a twitter of chuckling that passed through the witnessing crowd. Princess Celestia watching from her private suite also joined in the chuckling, while Gibraltar and Cadance again exchanged confused looks. The board chair levitates the gavel in front of him to bang it down a few times, trying to restore order to the proceedings. This took a few seconds as the twittering laughter was stubborn in subsiding, not to mention the eager reporters scribbling down notes for their gossip rags to repeat. "Well this is going well." Gibraltar comments deadpan, pointing to the reporters hard at work. "Never mind about them, Captain. I'm sure Aunt Celly won't let them get too out of hoof." Cadance replies reassuringly, and Celestia's smile seems to affirm the truth of Cadance's statement. "Well sir, I learned about the parasprites and how to deal with them from my father." Pinkie Pie begins eagerly explaining. "You see, I come from a family of rock farmers, and all the ponies around the area I grew up farmed rocks instead of, say, apples. Naturally as a curious little filly I asked why we farmed rocks instead of something we could eat." "And what was the answer you got?" the board chair asks. "My dad told me a little story about my Granny Pie, and how she got accepted into his family. Like me compared to the rest of my family, she was very different from those around her. Not only was she a brightly-colored pegasus among earth ponies, I also got her energy and enthusiasm!" Pinkie continues explaining, grinning all the while to further emphasize her point. "I see." the board chair comments, using his unicorn magic to scribble something using a quillpen on parchment laid in front of him. "Granny Pie is your father's mother, I'm presuming?" "Mm-hmm." Pinkie replies with a small nod and a smile. "Understood, continue on." "Right, so anyway before my Granny Pie arrived in the area the ancestors of my family would try to plant crops after farming out all the rocks they could in a field. But every year, a swarm of those nasty, greedy parasprites would swarm over the fields and eat all the crops! It was bad times, the ponies never had enough to eat! And nopony knew how to keep them away from the fields!" "Yes I see, continue on Pinkie." "Well, one year with everypony dreading the oncoming parasprite swarms, a young pegasus mare comes flying into Rockville, claiming that she knew how to prevent the parasprite swarms from eating all the crops. Nopony took her seriously at first, of course, but when the swarms came she lead them away playing the instruments the same way I did in Ponyville." "So she taught you how to do it? That's how you knew what exactly to do?" "Mm-hmm. My family still farms rocks only out of tradition, but there are other farmers that are able to farm crops because of my Granny Pie leading the parasprite swarms away elsewhere. It wasn't long before she was accepted and married my grandpa, and that's how Equestria was made!" "'How Equestria...'? Never mind..." the board chair shakes off in confusion as chuckles spread again, this time both through the witnessing crowd and other board members as well. "Am I done now?" Pinkie asks with hopeful perkiness as the board chair continues scratching pen on parchment, letting the chuckling subside naturally this time. "Almost. I just need you to check over that the reports of the particular method are correct, don't leave until after Lieutenant Crispin gives his testimony." the board chair answers. "Okie-dokie artichokie!" Pinkie exclaims eagerly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well that worked out reasonably well." the watching Princess Celestia affirms with a smile, looking at her adoptive niece as she speaks. "I dunno, Aunt Celly, the Captain looks concerned for some reason." Princess Cadance replies, pointing to a Captain Gibraltar with great concern on his face. "Captain, something wrong?" Celestia asks, causing Gibraltar to be snapped out of his thoughts. "Sorry Your Majesties, I just can't stop thinking Aten is up to something while I'm not watching. I can feel it, like a sixth sense." Gibraltar replies with great honesty in his tone of voice. "I don't think Aten would have time to get into trouble with his workload. And even if he tried anything, you would be able to get back to your office before the afternoon shift changeover." Cadance states reassuringly. "Well, if you say so..." Gibraltar replies again, the uneasy expression still prominent on his face... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEANWHILE... Sadly, the confidence over not causing trouble was misplaced, mostly because the window of opportunity was used to execute already-laid plans. At that moment, both Lieutenant Typhoon and the disguised Agent X were slinking through the streets of Canterlot, the former covering the latter under secretly-crafted orders from Aten himself to prevent exposure. They would rendevous with Agent WA - Misty Fly of the Wonderbolts - near the cloud "elevators" to the pegasi colony above Canterlot, done in order to prevent Wonderbolt Captain Spitfire from catching on to the real reason why Misty Fly had volunteered to perform a supply run usually done by a more junior member of the stunt flying organization. "So glad you're here. You have them?" Misty Fly says as she sees the two armored stallions approach, the pegasus mare wearing a Royal Guard dress uniform both to help hide her identity and prevent bystanders from getting too curious about what she was doing there. "Yes indeed." Lieutenant Typhoon replies, pointing to the covered birdcage levitated by the sickly green magic of Agent X in a unicorn disguise. Misty Fly gives a skeptical look in the direction of the Guard stallions as she uses a forehoof to lift part of the sheet off the birdcage and take a peek at the parasprites inside. She jumps back, the sheet falling back in place, as the parasprites inside chirrup back at her. "Surprised, huh? Considering how the press has been playing them up like dragons, I don't blame ya." Lieutenant Typhoon comments. "I still don't know, I mean, we are going to release these at a show where Princess Celestia is watching..." Misty Fly states, the unease clear in her voice. "If you do your job according to the instructions given to you by our leader, you will be in a position to execute the next phase leading to the whirlwind." Typhoon replies, the phrasing just cryptic enough to block out understanding by anypony that wasn't already an Agent of Chaos. Misty Fly's expression suddenly brightens up, as if a realization had dawned on her, and then she gives a determined glare as she shares her enlightenment: "Of course, that's when the invitations can be sent out. The Captain won't be able to do anything during that time frame." "Exactly. Now be careful with that cage, don't let the little guys inside out!" Typhoon warns as X using unicorn magic floats the birdcage to a position where Misty Fly can reach out with feather fingers to take it. "I thank you, my fellow Agents thank you, and the chaotic one thanks you. Now I must go - the Captain will wonder what I'm up to if I take too long." Misty Fly says with a politely sinister tone as she turns to leave. Lieutenant Typhoon and Agent X share Misty Fly's sinister grin as she leaves with the concealed parasprites. The following Wonderbolt show would be one that nopony watching would ever forget...