"Right this way please," said Brown. Rainbow Dash hopped down from the balcony rail and trotted behind the two earth ponies. She wasn't looking where she was going, instead awed by everything else in the room. The two ponies stopped suddenly and Dash ran into them.

"Sorry," she said. The ponies didn't say anything. Pink reached out and pressed a small round button on the wall. A large rectangular part of the wall sunk in and split in two, like doors. Inside, there was a small room lined with mirrors and a handle going around the room. The two ponies walked in and Dash followed. They turned to face the doors and Dash copied, confused. The doors slid shut and a panel of buttons revealed themselves.

"Identification please," asked a voice coming from the room. Dash jumped a bit then stared at her hooves and coughed, trying to hide that the voice had startled her. Brown took a small card out from her black suit and placed it against the wall. There was a beep and Pink pressed one of the buttons.

"Welcome, Agent," said the voice. Rainbow Dash felt strange, as if she was falling at a strange pace, but she was still on the ground. She went into a balancing stance and looked wide-eyed at Brown and Pink.

"What's happening?" she asked. Brown started laughing, but Pink hit her with her hoof.

"We're in what we call an elevator," she explained. Dash's confused look told her that she needed to explain further. "It takes you from one floor to another."

"Isn't that what stairs are for? Or wings?" asked Dash. Brown shrugged.

"This is easier," she said. The elevator came to a halt and the doors reappeared and opened. They were on the main floor of the PIA. Dash walked out of the elevator behind the two ponies and followed them across the floor.

"So who did you say we were going to go talk to?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Her name is Lighthouse. She is the leader of this organisation," explained Brown. "She has a proposition for you." The two ponies looked at one another and shrugged.

"What was that?" Dash demanded.

"What was what?" asked Pink.

"That look you two just shared." The two ponies looked at one another again.

"Yeah, that! What was that?" Pink sighed.

"When we say a proposition, it's really more of a demand. You don't really have much choice in the matter," said Pink.

"Choice in what matter?" whined Dash. She was sick of not being told any answers

"You'll see," said Brown. The ponies all walked together across the entire room. With all the cubicles and other ponies in the way, it seemed to Dash like it was taking forever. Bored of walking, she began flying a few feet off the ground behind Pink and Brown.

"How big is this place?" Dash complained.

"Pretty big. This is the headquarters of the entire PIA. Most of the other branches are much smaller," said Pink.

"Where are we anyway?" asked Dash.

"You sure have a lot of questions," said Brown.

"She has a right to. I mean, she woke up in the middle of the night to find agents Hooves and Stormcloud in her house. If I was in her situation, I would have questions too," reasoned Pink. Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered everything that had happened that morning. She remembered coming into the kitchen and finding Derpy, then being attacked from behind. Her head started thumping painfully again and she had to stop flying.

"Why did you have to attack me?" she asked.

"It was for your own good. And the good of the PIA," said Brown. They finally arrived at an office. The door and surrounding walls were made of glass, but there were wooden shutters that shut the outside commotion out from whatever was inside. Pink knocked at the door.

"Excuse me Lighthouse, but we have Rainbow Dash her." Pink opened the door slowly. Inside there was a small desk near the back of the room. Sitting behind the desk was one of the most stunning ponies that Dash had ever seen. Her shining white coat and light blue mane radiated the pure goodness of her heart. Dash was shocked to find that not only did she have a unicorn horn, but wings sprouted from her back as well. Rainbow Dash found herself looking at an alicorn.

"But how…" asked Rainbow Dash. She had thought that alicorns were rare, but recently, she had been seeing more and more of them. The pony laughed.

"You must be Rainbow Dash then, come in." Dash trotted in, not noticing that Pink and Brown shut the door and left the minute she did. She took a seat on the other side of the desk.

"We meet again, Rainbow Dash," said a somehow familiar voice from the back corner. Dash's head jerked to look behind her. As soon as she saw the pony, Dash leaped out of her chair at flew at him. Her hooves collided with the chair as he had jumped out of the way just in time. A hoof-shaped bruise already occupied some of his face and his emerald green eyes stared curiously at Rainbow Dash.

"Whoa there," he said just as Dash was about to pounce at him again.

"You're the pony who broke into my house and attacked me!" she shouted.

"Yeah, sorry about that. My name's Stormcloud. Nice to meet you properly," he said. He held out a hoof toward Dash as a greeting. She turned up her head and went back to her seat, watching him wearily.

"That's not very nice Rainbow Dash," said another voice. Dash looked behind her again. Derpy was sitting in the other back corner holding a half-eaten muffin.

"Derpy," Dash said flatly. Derpy smiled and took another bite from her muffin.

"That's me," she said. She pulled up a chair and sat beside Rainbow Dash. Stormcloud did the same, but sat a bit further from Dash, watching her with the corner of his eye. Dash looked back to the white pony.

"You are Lighthouse then, I guess?" she asked. The white pony nodded and smiled.

"Good, now that we're all acquainted, we can begin," said the white pony.