The underwater shielded vehicle slowly entered through a small opening in a rocky cliff. It then went up and was soon surrounded by lights. A plethora ponies, many in white lab coats, were working or walking around the large underwater cavern. They drove up onto a small incline, before Vinyl hopped out. She instantly ran over to the coolest thing around, a large blue vehicle, half submerged, covered in blinking lights and little domes. “Ohhhh, what do all those do?” she asked, pointing at the glowing bits.

“They glow and make it look cool, obviously,” a nearby unicorn said. He was quite old, with a graying mane and mustache. “Who are you?”

“She's with me,” Octavia said, trotting up behind her.

“Agent 0CD!” the pony said, letting out a soft gasp.

“0CT,” she corrected, looking up at the device. “What is this then, G?”

“Ah, this is the seapony express! A state of the art undersea vehicle, utilizing a number of special devices inspired by--”

She sighed. “Does it have my games?”

The unicorn huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, but--”

“Then that's all I needed to know. I'll figure out the rest when I use it,” she said before turning. “Vinyl, come. Bring the record.”

Vinyl nodded, though gave the disappointed unicorn one small glance and smiled. “Hey, if you ask me I think it's awesome! You can show me all the cool bits later, okay?” G preened at that. She then turned and galloped after the mare.

The two trotted through the long, metal halls of the undersea base, before finally coming out in a small room filled with electrical equipment and, to the DJ's delight, blinking lights. Ponies milled about, all wearing lab coats. A few looked up when they walked in, saluting Octavia and giving her curious glances. Then she saw it.

Across the room was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Taking up the entire wall, with FOUR massive speakers lined up, tall enough they touched the roof. She couldn't imagine how hard they must have been to bring in here. Between them was the ultimate entertainment system, with slots for everything from discs to old cubes. There was no choice, nothing she could do. She had to touch it. She galloped past Octavia.

“Huh? Wait, no, don't--”

But Vinyl was too fast. It took her all of three seconds to decipher how it worked, turn it on, then bring it up to max power. There was an ominous hum, and then the speakers erupted, sending out music so loud the other ponies in the room were flung back against the room. “Ohhhh yeah!” Vinyl said happily, adjusting the settings. Then her eyes caught the record she had been carrying. She slowly brought it out--

Just as the machine shut off. Octavia stood across the room, eyes wide and mane slicked back from the volume. The power adapter dangled from her hoof. “Don't. Touch. Anything.”

“But, but...” Vinyl slowly looked back and cringed. The ponies in the room were against the wall, their papers burying them. “Err, sorry.” Even a few desks had toppled over.

Octavia sighed and walked over, fiddling with the nobs and taking the record from her. “There, now go plug it back in, please.”

“But--”

“Please,” the earth pony repeated, her tone never changing.

“Right, ummm...” Vinyl's horn glowed and the cord plugged back into the wall. This time, the music coming out was much quieter. Soon, the record was inserted and Neon's music started to play.

“What is going on here? This mess! Such disorientation! Agent 0CT?” A pony suddenly burst from the hall, causing Vinyl's mouth to fall open in shock. The earth pony was blue, with a white mane. She was also wearing purple glasses quite similar to the DJ's. Photo Finish, one of the most famous ponies in Equestria.

“P-Photo Finish?” Vinyl squeaked, before looking to Octavia. To her surprise, the other mare was acting just as off. She had a goofy smile on her face, a small blush in her cheeks and kept staring at the floor.

“We, uhhh, well, this is miss Vinyl Scratch, daughter of--”

“Vinyl Scratch? Do you not think I can recognize one of the most famous up and comers in Equestria?” She looked over the unicorn and smiled. “No training, no expertise, yet chosen for such a dangerous mission.” She raised a hoof, touching Vinyl's nose. “You! Are you responsible for this mess?”

“E-err, y-yes,” Vinyl squeaked.

“Good! Marvelous, I love it!” the eccentric pony said, before turning to Octavia. “The music, why?”

“Err, well, ummm. H-her parents sent this to her. We're hoping it's the message her parents mentioned leaving behind, but so far it's just a music album.”

“Actually, it's all wrong,” Vinyl said, raising a hoof and drawing the attention of everypony in the room. Well, those who had managed to remove themselves from the mess.

“Excuse me?” Octavia asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, the first song. It was, well, it was the third song from his second album, Picking up the Pieces. It was the original version, the remix was the eighth song on his fifth album. The next song was off too, from a different album and not in the right order.”

They stared at her for a few moments, before Photo nodded. “I see. Yes, yes! A code! Marvelous! Go, we must log all zhe songs! Find out the code!” She then glanced to Vinyl. “Oh, yes. If you're hungry or tired, Agent 0CT?”

“Y-yes ma'am?” the earth pony squeaked, the red still in her cheeks.

“Go, take care. We will crack this code, work zhe magics. Go! Shoo!”

Octavia nodded, took Vinyl's hoof and galloped out from the room. Once they were out, she took a deep breath and calmed herself, face returning to the impassive, bored expression from before.

“I never would have guessed Photo Finish was a secret agent,” Vinyl said softly, before quickly imitating the mare's accent. “Zhe has quite zhe accent, no?”

She was rewarded by a soft hint of pink in Octavia's cheeks. “I-I haven't noticed. Come, we'll get you something to eat and a nap. When's the last time you ate?”

“I ate... ummm...” the unicorn frowned. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten a real meal. With her parent's supposed deaths, she hadn't been able to look at food. Now that she knew they were alive, along with all the other excitement, she could feel hungry beginning to reel its head. “A long time ago. Food would be amazing.”

“Good, follow.” Octavia turned and trotted down the halls. They came to a large cafeteria, filled with ponies chatting over trays of assorted foods... if they could be called that.

To Vinyl's disappointment, none of the food looked particularly appetizing, most of the fruit having bruises and other marks, the cooked items greasy and graying and the vegetables she was certain were not supposed to have all those black parts. She settled for a slightly less bruised pear and a small slice of old, greasy pizza. Fortunately, she'd had worse. The best establishments were rarely open at four am. Her guide, on the other hoof, just grabbed a black coffee and the two quickly retired to an empty table. “Sooo... not hungry? Want a piece of pizza?”

“No,” Octavia said quickly, before sipping her dark drink. “I can't eat cheese, I'm allergic to dairy.”

“Ah, is that why you get your coffee black?”

“I get it black because coffee shouldn't be enjoyed,” she said harshly. “It should be so nasty and horrible tasting that your body will wake up just so you don't have to try another sip.” She glanced down at her cup. “Fortunately, the cooks her tend to agree on that policy.”

Vinyl snickered and took a bite of her pizza before grinning. “Hey, this may look nasty, but it's not half bad.”

“I'm sure the cooks will be delighted to hear.”

“Soooo, tell me about yourself. What makes a cellist put herself into the life of a secret agent?”

“My parents, mostly,” Octavia said with a shrug, before taking another sip of her coffee and cringing. “My mother was quite adamant about me taking over when she left off. Fortunately for her, I found the notion to be quite appealing.”

“Really?” Vinyl looked the mare up and down. “You hardly look like somepony jumping for joy at the notion of adventure and excitement.”

“You'll be disappointed to find our job is not quite how it appears in the movies. Almost all of what I do is quite boring, followed by pages of paperwork.”

“You do get to do lots of the car chases and shooting things though, right? Cause that was awesome! Oh, and do we get more cars? Ohhh, ones without all the bits exploded out?”

For a moment, just a hint of a smile formed on Octavia's lips. “Perhaps. I'm known to go through quite a few. I may have found the excitement... a tad exhilarating.”

“So, why me then? I mean, I get that my parents sent me that record, but I get the impression you don't intend to just drop me off when you find out what they said. You seem keen on keeping me.”

Octavia paused and shook her head. “You're clever. No, we plan to use you. Your parents well... they told if anything happened, to trust you. While not everypony agrees with such ideas, there are many who trust your parents immensely. I doubt your parents left you... completely unprepared for this day.”

“Huh? Well, I mean... I don't know about any super agent stuff.”

“You know self defense?”

“Well, yeah, my parents kept me in classes since I was--”

“How many other classes and fields did they have you study in? How many that didn't seem to make any sense at the time?”

Vinyl blinked a few times. Her parents had always been a bit... eccentric. They let her study what she wanted, namely to be a disc jockey, but they also hounded her constantly to learn all manner of different arts. She knew how to put together and use over a dozen different styles of magical and mundane weaponry, and while she wasn't a master, they did ensure she had years of self defense training under her belt. Not to mention the countless offensive and defensive spells they'd made her learn. “I'll... admit, I did have a bit of an odd schooling. But why else would--”

“We're also a tad undermanned at the time. Equestria games coming soon, and every deranged loony with a bomb thinks they can make their name by blowing up the princess. Frankly, until we know for certain that they have, or are close to having, the Horn of Sanctuary, we won't be able to dedicate more than a few agents to this. That's why I requested arrangements to allow your help.”

Vinyl froze and stared at the mare, a low blush in her cheeks. “You... you requested? But--”

“Your parents are great agents, I trust them implicitly. If they said to get your help, I'm going to get your help. Besides... more often than we'd care to admit, basic civilians have saved all of our flanks. First the Nightmare Moon incident, then Discord, not to mention the whole Crystal Empire. Frankly, I think it's part of a plot by the princesses to drive the upper levels of this organization mad.”

“Oh, I could see that,” Vinyl said with a chuckle. “I know she's a princess, but I have a feeling Celestia just loves a good prank. So, what's with this Horn of Sanctuary, anyway? What makes it so important?”

Octavia sighed and took a deep gulp of her coffee, causing her to shiver and close her eyes. “Are you familiar with the Tree of Harmony? The Crystal Heart?”

“A little. They were in the news a few times. Why?”

“Well, they are artifacts, ancient ones. Powerful artifacts that even the alicorn princesses can't create or damage. They aren't the only ones. Daring Do has managed to--”

“Wait, you do mean Daring Do as in the books, right? I mean, aren't tho--”

“No, those are real. It's actually a fascinating method she uses. She goes on her adventures, and then just writes how they happened. With, ahhh, leaving a few important details out at times. But, as I was saying. These artifacts are dangerous and powerful. They were all created, according to belief, by the ancient Hooftek Empire.”

“Yeah, cities of gold and all that jazz, right? They did a cartoon about it a few months back, right?”

Octavia cringed and nodded. “Yes. Though... according to our research much of that was fake. However, these ponies were supposedly far beyond anything we could imagine. Legend has it that they were all alicorns and that ponies, such as us, only came into being after a great war between them, that broke them into their base components. Namely, unicorn, pegasus and earth pony. If the myths are true, they created dozens of treasures beyond anything we could imagine.”

“Like the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony?” Vinyl asked with a shrug. “But aren't those things like, all good and require a pony to be pure of heart and all that?”

“Fortunately, many do. Unfortunately, items such as the golden rings of the Fortress of Talicon don't have such fail safes.”

“The what now?”

“Never mind. My point is, we have no way of knowing if this is the true Horn of Sanctuary, or a fake. If it's the former, we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong hooves.”

“I... see, so what does it do, exactly? This horn?”

Octavia sighed and looked to the table. “There are many legends, with no direct proof of which is true and which is not. At its weakest, it is said to create an impenetrable shield that not even all the magic in Equestria could penetrate. At its strongest, it holds all unicorn magic and, if destroyed, that magic will go with it. Meaning no more unicorns.”

Vinyl shivered, then glanced back to Octavia. “But... you're an earth pony. Wouldn't that mean you'd be safe? It's not like you'd lose anything.”

Octavia didn't even blink, she just stared at Vinyl with that calm, bored expression that made her feel two inches tall. “We'd lose plenty. All three magics are pivotal for the sake of our nation. Without unicorn magic, there would be no way to raise or lower the sun. When I said all unicorn magic, I meant all unicorn magic. Even that held by the alicorns.”

Vinyl shivered again, nodding. “B-but this is just worst case, right?”

“Yes. In the event it is the true horn, and they find it before us, that is the worst case scenario. Best case would be they have an impenetrable shield that no force in all the world can hope to break. Could you imagine how such a tool could be abused?”

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl sighed and poked her pizza, not quite feeling hungry any more. “So... I guess we'd better win then, right? Find it before them?”

“Yes. I, for one, will not allow them to have a chance of finding it. Unfortunately, your parents have seemingly disappeared during their search, so we must now chase whatever clues they left for us, and hope we find this horn before the Three Doctors do.”

The unicorn nodded. “Okay then! Let's go! They have to have deciphered the code or whatever by now, right?”

“They'll call us when they do. My advise, get some sleep. We don't know--” Her bow tie began to beep, making her pause. “Or they're already ready for us. Come along.” She got to her hooves and trotted off.

Vinyl grinned before taking her tray, discarding the refuge and tossing it with other dirty ones. She then galloped after the mare, grinning widely. “This is going to be awesome! So, do you think we're going to get a bunch of gadgets and awesome thingies?”

Octavia nodded, slowly. “Yes. I imagine we will get plenty of gadgets. Perhaps even a few 'awesome thingies' as you so eloquently put it.”

“Eesh, so uptight. Come on, smile a little! Prance! Or do I have to use... the accent?” Vinyl cleared her throat before doing another imitation of Photo Finish. “Come! We go! Save Equestria and make, zhe magic!”

The earth pony's cheeks flared red and she lowered her gaze. “S-shut up, you aren't doing it right. I-I'll kick you!”

“There's a reaction!” Vinyl said happily, before bumping the mare's flank with her own. “You're wayyyy hotter when you're angry then when you're all calm and reserved. Trust me, I know all about hot.”

Octavia hmphed. “I severely doubt that.”

Vinyl blinked and then glared. “Hey! You don't think I got that, but I did!”

------

To Vinyl's disappointment, Photo Finish was not the pony to give them the assignment, instead it was a golden maned, red coated pegasus. Which meant she didn't get to see Octavia getting embarrassed and floundering about.

“Once we realized the steps for the code, we figured it out easily,” the pegasus said as the screen behind him showed a map of the world. Three red dots appeared. “They were obviously coordinates. Unfortunately, there are three possibly locations they could be directing to.” He pulled out a pointer and pointed to them each individually. “Here, right off Baltimare. Here, left of Vanhoover. Then, finally, here, which we believe to be the most likely location.”

Octavia groaned. “Right off the Griffin lands.”

“Exactly. Underwater as well, which means--”

“Eeeee! Do we get to use the flashy machine with all the buttons?” Vinyl asked quickly, her eyes lighting up.

The stallion chuckled and gave a nod. “Yes, with all the flashy buttons. Now, we have permission to go through their waters... on a civilian 'pleasure trip'. You two will be wealthy and eccentric mares, engaging in dangerous honey moon activities which involve deep sea diving and--”

“Wait, honey moon activities?” Vinyl asked.

“Oh, yes. All secret agents must pretend to be married, as per article seventeen of the world wide espionage agreement,” Octavia said quickly.

“W-what? Why?”

“Because otherwise the secret agents would try to hook up with every pretty young pony they could, jeopardizing the mission after nearly falling in love with them,” the pegasus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “It's happened far more often than we care to count, not to mention the number of secret agents we've lost after they fell in love with a rich billionaire on one of their missions. It really makes sending solo agents a bother, since we have to be sure we can afford to lose them after they inevitably fall in love with one of their contacts, the pony they're protecting or worse, an enemy spy. The sheer number of paperwork I've had to--”

“I get it,” Vinyl said, before glancing to Octavia. “Soooo, dahling,” she returned to Photo's accent. “Shall we depart? We must make, zhe magic! We go!”

Octavia blushed and rolled her eyes. “What exactly are we looking for, sir?”

“We do not know. These are the most direct coordinates, however. Whatever was left there, must be a clue to where they are. You cannot fail at this mission, do you have any questions?”

The earth pony merely turned and walked away, motioning Vinyl to follow. The unicorn giggled softly as they walked, excitement billowing within her.

“Soooo, does this mean we get to the cool stuff now? Ohhhh! Can I get like, a pair of headphones that are also net shooters and can hack computers and stuff? Ohhhh! Or a record that turns into like, a giant robot!”

Octavia stopped for a moment, before smiling. “We'll see. We'll stop by the lab, first. Come along, 'dear'.”

“Ohhhh! Am I going to get a horn ring too? My mom is going to freak when she sees it!”

Author's Notes:

Okay, this story will be going on a brief pause. It turns out I've been wanting to work on the third book of my avatar story a lot more than I thought I did, to the point where this story has been pretty hard to write. If I keep writing like this, I'll end up rushing it and making it nowhere near as good as it could, or should, be. As such, I'll be taking a brief pause so I can work on the story that has my attention lately, so that when I get the excitement out, this story can be my main story, not 'the story stopping me from writing the story I want to write.' I figure a few chapters in the avatar story will be enough to get the excitement out, so you shouldn't have to wait too long, hopefully. Thank you all for your patience.