The D.S.P.I.

by DungeonMiner

Orientation

Of all the places Silver thought his new life would begin, this one was fairly low on the list.

Here he was, once more, in the most boring hallway in Canterlot, and in front of the most boring door in that hallway. The only differences today, however, was that he wasn’t guarding the door. Actually, nopony was guarding the door, and Silver could not remember a time when it wasn’t under some kind of watch. Yet here it was, completely unguarded.

The hallway wasn’t empty either. He had never seen so many ponies in this forgotten section of the castle. Eight other ponies were here, including three pegasus ponies, three earth ponies, and three unicorns, including himself. Many of them were cautious at first, but as time passed, it became obvious they were all here for the same reason, and conversations began in earnest.

It started with small talk. “So what brought you here?” “What do you think this is?” all sorts of pointless talk that certainly did not impress the guard. In fact, he didn’t speak to anypony at all. Not consciously, of course, but his guard training had simply taught him that silence was better than wasting time talking. You couldn’t hear anyone sneaking up on you if you were having small talk with your buddy on the other end of the door.

Of course, it really helped that nopony was really talking to him. He stood in the back, watching as the others all looked to the mysterious door and each other as they whispered and spoke with each other. Nopony noticed him, was all.

Well, that wasn’t perfectly true. One of the earth ponies did notice, and kept giving him dirty looks across the hallway.

Silver couldn’t figure out why, though.

“Hello?” a voice called him as a hoof gently poked his side.

He snapped to the source, and saw a coffee-colored, pegasus mare with a dark blue mane and equally dark blue eyes stared up at him. “Oh! Sorry, I...I just wondered if you heard me?”

The mare’s voice was as soft as the Princess’ own silks, and flowed like honey off of warm toast, and Silver would be lying if he said that she didn’t immediately grab his attention. “Um...no, sorry...I was...off in my own little world,” he admitted.

“I was just asking about you,” the mare said. “Like your name?”

“Dust,” he replied. “Silver Dust.”

“Silver?” she asked, smiling. “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Silk Star. Neon Kick and I were just talking about what we used to do before...well...this..”

A unicorn sauntered up behind her. The slightly shorter stallion wore a white jacket against his dark grey fur, and wore an obnoxiously large pair of sunglasses, even though they were inside and he probably couldn’t see the end of his snout, much less anypony else in the hallway.

He gave Silver a nod, and waited for him to speak.

Silver nodded. “Well, I used to be a guard,” he said, simply.

“Oh, a guard?” Silk asked, interested.

Silver nodded. “It wasn’t what I thought it would be,” he said, not really eager to share more than some slight dissatisfaction.

Neon the unicorn nodded. “Tell me about it,” he grunted. “I thought that following my dreams and becoming a musician would open up a world of opportunities and all that jazz. Instead, all I got was ‘Oh, he’s not as good as DJ PON3!’”

Silver’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with being compared to DJ PON3?”

“If it’s the original? Nothing,” Neon said. “She was a pioneer in the field of electronica. No, the problem came when she handed off the mantel to that one mare, and all she did was copy the first one.” He sighed. “It’s sad, the name of one of the great musicians of the world has become a bastion of stagnation and plagiarism.”

Silk raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like you feel rather strongly about this.”

“Who doesn’t?” Neon asked. “The original DJ PON3 was a musical genius. Her stuff is basically considered classic. The crime here is that, for nearly the past two hundred years, her name is dragged through the dirt by every single one of her successors, and yet, somehow, she’s still one of the biggest names in the entire industry and everypony holds her up like some kind of expert on music, when all this one had done is copy the original’s style!”

And he went on.

And on.

And on.

Silver couldn’t believe how much this unicorn had to say on the matter. He just continued to rant and rant on the degradation of the PON3 name, and the horrendous injustice on how “the latest in a long line of thieves” had become the standard for a genre, before becoming a benchmark for the industry.

Silk gave Silver an apologetic look.

Luckily, Silver was a guard. He had years practicing a look that seemed interested, while being incredibly bored. The best part was, he would be able to recall any simple information without having to commit it to memory.

Silk however, was at a disadvantage. She had no such training, and had no choice but to smile and nod her way through the conversation.

Fortunately for her, the dragon came to her rescue once again.

“Alright, alright!” The dragon said, stepping through the mysterious door and into the hallway. “Show of hooves, are you here?”

Nine hooves went into the air as silence covered the small herd of ponies.

A quick count and Spike was satisfied. “Good. You’re all here. Now, before we go any further, I am to give you one last chance. If you want to leave, now is the time. After this there will be no chance. The information beyond is far too sensitive and one way or another, you won’t get out of this in any way other than a body bag. I’ve made you aware of the risks before, but, as Celestia is fond of reminding me, my organization needs to be absolutely sure that you want to be here. So, leave now, or forever hold your peace.”

No one said anything.

“Good! No cowards here!” Spike said with a nod. “Now, if you follow me,” he said, disappearing back into the door.

The ponies began to follow, filing through the door, but Silver would once more be lying if he said he did not feel comfortable going through the forbidden doorway. Much to his surprise, however, beyond the door was just another, simple hallway.

“Alright, fillies and gentlecolts,” Spike said, leading them further along into the hallway. “You are about to enter the most secure, and secret facility in all of Equestria.”

Silver couldn’t help but wonder how the secure the facility could be if you could access it through a hallway that was under guard by a single pony in the capital of the country.

And then, just as they were reaching the middle of the hallway, Spike stopped, and commanded the small herd to stop behind him. He reached into a pocket on his belt, and pulled his package of cigarettes. “Name: Spike the Dragon, with nine others.”

A gem above them hidden in the usual darkness, began to glow softly, and a green light flooded over all of them. “Confirm identity, please?” A soft, intelligent-sounding voice called from it.

Spike sighed as he heard the voice, and wistfully patted the still strange firearm at his side. It lasted less than a second, however, before he shook a new cigarette free. Holding it up, he studied the end for a second, before he shot a jet of green flame into the air, lighting the cigarette while the brightest flames licked the gem in the ceiling.

“Dragon fire identified. Confirmation complete. Welcome back, Commander,” the voice recited before the floor beneath them began to shift and drop.

Silver nodded. “Alright, you got me on that one.”

The floor dropped fifty feet into the ground, and it was filled with the excited chatter of seven ponies as they watched the hallway disappear above them.

Silver and the earth pony that had been glaring at him stayed silent, of course. The former for his training, the later for his intense glaring at Silver as they went deeper and deeper into the great Mt. Canterlot.

The hidden elevator slowly came to a stop, revealing a large room with a large, silver cylinder, coming to a soft, sloping point at either end.

“Meet the first marvel of your new home, the subterranean train, or the Subtrain, as some of the brains are calling it,” Spike said, before puffing his cigarette, which Silver realized did not smell like tobacco. “All aboard, everyone, this won’t take long.”

“An underground train?” Another pegasus said as she looked up at the great bullet-shaped vehicle. “Where does the smoke go?” Her coat was a soft gold color, and her eyes were light green.

“It runs on a mix of electricity and magic,” Spike answered, as he led them into the train. “No coal, and no smoke. Which is fine, since coal would not be a great enough of fuel for the speeds this thing will reach. Now stop gaping and get in here, Amber.”

She nodded, before following after the dragon as the herd began to file into the train.

Once everyone had taken a seat, Spike moved to the front, and hit a few buttons on a console. “Hold on, everypony,” he warned, before the train suddenly shot forward, flying through the darkness of the tunnel beneath the city.

It took a few moments for the ponies inside to adjust to the speed, but once they did, Spike walked back into the cabin. “Anytime now, Mandible.”

The earth pony that had been glaring at Silver looked up at the dragon with a raised brow.

“That was the deal,” Spike said. “You reveal yourself willingly or I drag you here in chains.”

The earth pony sighed before growling. “Fine...Let’s let the cat out the bag.”

A flash of green flame engulfed the pony, and one of the other earth ponies screamed like a filly when a changeling took his place.

Panic rippled through the train car. The mares screamed, the stallions panicked, and all eyes fell on the changeling. “My name is Mandible,” he said, sounding disgusted with the ponies around them.

And there was silence in the car for a very long time.

“Hahaha!” The laugh rang out in the car, and all eye fell on Silver. “That’s why you’ve been giving me those looks!” He laughed. “Long time, no see, Prisoner.”

The Changeling hissed.

“Alright, alright,” Spike said, taking a drag on his cigarette. “Settle down. Silver, you’re not a guard anymore, and Mandible, you’re getting your pardon.”

“At the cost of freedom,” he muttered.

“If you keep muttering, you can leave,” Spike said, drawing the pistol at his hips, “but we’ve been over what that means.”

“Yes, yes,” the changeling muttered. “Still don’t get why you wanted me to tell everyone?”

“Because they’re going to have to get used to scares,” Spike said simply. “On your first mission you’re going to meet such terrors that you may very well go mad from it all. I figure if they can’t handle a changeling, then they might as well not show up at all.”

“So what are we facing?” Silver asked.

Again the eyes went to the guard.

Spike raised an eyebrow expectantly. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Ever since we’ve met you, you’ve told us that we’re going to be facing great dangers, and all sorts of other things, but you haven’t actually told us what we’re facing.”

Spike said nothing, looking at Silver before the same, intelligent voice from the hallway spoke up. “We are approaching the station. Please hold on until the train has come to a full stop.”

Spike turned back to the control panel. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

===ᐁ===

The train silently slid into the station, leaving the total trip at no more than ten minutes.

Spike left the train first, followed by Mandible, a healthy gap, and finally the other eight passengers lead by Silver.

The station itself, was huge, a massive platform that dwarfed the train that pulled up next to it. The room began to curve around the track, forming a strange half-circle that domed at the ceiling. However, what really got the attention of the small herd was the massive shield that hung on the far wall.

The thing could have been wielded by a giant, and a troll could have hidden behind the giant, steel sign. A large, stylized, golden bird against a purple and white field with a blue border, and a six pointed star sat at the bottom of the shield. Other than that, the only markings on the shield were the four letters engraved in the upper rim of the shield. “D.S.P.I.”

As the herd all stood, staring at the massive shield, Spike spoke up. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, welcome to the Department of Supernatural and Paranormal Investigation. We are responsible for the security of Equestria against various supernatural threats. Have any of you heard of the Elements of Harmony?” he asked.

A couple of hooves went up.

“They started this,” he said. “Not directly, and not to the level of depth or secrecy as we do, but they started this. On the night they stopped Nightmare Moon, they laid the foundation of this department…”

He hesitated a moment, before sighing. “I just wish they could have seen it…”

There was silence for a moment, before he began again. “It is now your duty,” he said, “to defend Equestria against the secret threats and dangers that we face from day to day. You will be facing vampires, ghosts, zombies, lycans, maybe even an imp or two if it’s a bad year.”

Neon raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what? Zombies don’t exist!”

“You think they don’t,” Spike said, “and that’s because of the Department. Everything we do is to ensure that no one suffers from the terrors of the night. Nopony needs to die because of those things. Understand?”

Silver blinked.

A part of him felt like this was some great joke. Zombies and all that didn’t exist. Of course they didn’t exist, and he was familiar enough with the idea of hazing the newbies, and was beginning to smell that faint, suspicious scent of a prank in the making.

And yet, between the circumstances of meeting this strange drake, and the political authority that backed him, made him unsure. He knew all the codes, he had the reputation, and the confidence he wore facing anypony he came across gave him such a sense of terrifying power, that Silver was sure the Department was genuine.

Even if the presented mission and enemy were not.

“Is this a joke?” Neon asked, anger just barely held back by his confusion.

Apparently Silver wasn’t the only one who was unsure.

“Are you seriously joking with me? I quit my job for this!”

Spike took another long drag on his cigarette, before he flicked the butt away. He took a deep breath, even as Neon growled at his feet.

And then, in a single, swift motion, he dropped, coming to eye level with Neon Kick, even as the unicorn tried to back away in reactionary fear. His large, green, glimmering eyes stared into the reflective surface of Neon’s shades, and in a low, dangerous voice that almost made you feel the fangs in his mouth, said “I am not joking, and I am very tired of ponies asking me if I am. Understand, Rookie?”

Neon nodded, backing away from the angry, and very dangerous dragon. “Yes, sir…”

With a snort that shot more smoke into the air, Spike stood again. “Now, let’s begin the tour, shall we?”

There was a nod of assent, and the herd followed the dragon as he walked inside the small door beneath the shield. Once inside, they were met with the sight of a mare.

In pieces.

The body of a mare sat at a desk, typing away as her head sat in a jar of a green-tinted liquid. “Hello, Commander,” the head said as it sat in the jar. “Good to see you again.”

Spike nodded, even as the ponies behind him gaped with an open mouth. “Good to see you too, Caramel.”

The head bobbed in the liquid, perhaps a nod, before the body stood up, holding a sheet of paper in her hooves. “Another letter from the Princess,” the head said. “Another complaint from a citizen who now knows too much.”

Spike sighed, before taking the letter. “Alright, Rookies, this is Caramel Crystal, better known as the Headless Horse. She is in charge of all internal affairs. If you have any problems with requisitions, you speak to her. Any questions?”

The ponies still gaped.

Caramel’s head shook in the liquid, and she returned to her working, typing away. “Have fun with the tour, Commander.”

Spike nodded. “As you were.”

She continued to type as the dragon led the others further into the complex. “Our first stop is the main room,” he said, leading them forward through another door. A large cylindrical room, with a soft dome for a ceiling. Large arches stood against the sides, each labeled with large painted words, marking off rooms like “Quarters,” “Mess Hall,” “Armory,” and a few others.

Just as they entered, they met another mare, and, thankfully for the herd of ponies, she was all in one piece.

“Ah,” Spike said, before holding out a claw. “Everypony this is Velvet Storm, she’s the more...public face of our Department. She’s the one who meets with the Princess whenever we need something.”

She gave a salute. “Hello Commander. Is this the new Alpha team?”

“Hopefully,” Spike said. “I have to show them around.”

“New ponies?” a voice said behind the herd, and they turned to see a mare floating behind them.

Neon Kick leapt up into the air, screaming at the sudden appearance of the ghost.

“Siren,” Spike greeted. “Rookies, meet our resident ghost.”

The ghost saluted. “Sweetie Belle, Codename: Siren. Specter Class ghost, ready and willingly to serve!” she said with a smile.

“The sooner you get used to her the better,” Spike said, “it only gets stranger from here.”

“Have they seen Fluttershy, yet?”

Spike shook his head. “She’s still not back yet, but I’m sure they’re going to talk. First, though, we have to give them the tour.”

"Fluttershy?" one of the ponies asked.

"Resident vegetarian Vampire," Siren explained as she walked on the air above them. "It's a long story, now come on, you guys only have so much time!"

===ᐁ===

The tour was a long one, to be sure. The entire facility covered almost a mile of floor space, and Silver still hadn't seen it all. The "dock" and the personal rooms of the Commander and this rumored vampire were off limits for now, but Silver was sure he'd become very familiar with them given time.

He walked up to his room, a simple room with a steel door and his name on a plaque that could slide off the door with ease. He was sure it was some kind of sign in and of itself, but he did not linger on it. He needed rest tonight for the training that Spike warned them about at the end of the tour.

A quick look around revealed a bed, a desk, a television set into the far wall, a video crystal player, a bookshelf, lights, and a thousand other little diversions he could entertain himself with.

At the very least the dragon was honest. Anything they wanted was theirs while they were here, however long that may be.

As he lay down on his new, and very comfortable bed, the last words of his new Commander rang in his ears.

“Here is the sad truth of the matter, Rookies. You were not picked because you’re the best. You were not picked because you are the chosen ones. You were picked because no one will miss you, and you will save the world for it.”

And that was the last thing Silver heard as he slipped into the soft embrace of sleep.

Comments

[ArchAngelGundam]

In the type of situations they deal with, sad but true. Still, Sweetie Bell and Fluttershy are still around, they're dead, but they're still around. So, yeah? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.

[djthomp]

Hmn. It's tempting to ship Silk Star and Silver Dust just from the get go (StarDust is a great ship name), but I'm probably jumping to conclusions a bit.

Ahh, well that explains the character tagging. I was wondering if we might be getting Flutterbat, but forgot to mention that in my comment last chapter. Agent Siren probably puts a stake in my other theory, though I suppose that's not an absolute, two centuries is a lot of time for a forced non-physical relationship to fade away. Feels like it's probably wrong, though.