~Agent Sweetie Drops~

...Well, that was weird. I wonder what she meant when she called me a talking homicidal flower? Based on some of that… well, I don’t know how she calls some of that porn, too much blood to be that. Her world has way too many fucked up fetishes. However, as I dwelled on what she could have meant by that remark, and “befriending the fuck out of it,” I decided it was probably best not to know. It was probably some other blood-soaked bullshit. Though I thought that gore stuff wasn’t one of her fetishes? I suppose I could just ask about it when she wakes up. Either way, I still have to get her to that training facility. Hopefully she turns out like that knuckle headed ninja one of my fellow operatives told me about. What was that anime again? Fishcake? No… Nabooru? Damnit, I know the name…

Ah, whatever. It’s been too long, I should probably meet up with that guy sometime, for some down time. Before that though, I had to deal with this idiot changeling. Hopefully she wasn’t so hopeless she’d fuck something up in her sleep.

Thankfully, the only thing that happened was her dormant body knocking the phone off the line. Though rather than get pissed, I was reminded that I had better call the other agents about everything that’s been happening. I’m overdue for a report anyway, especially after dealing with that amnesiac mint unicorn. I swear, the next human I meet is gonna kill me…

I rang up my partner, and waited for him to pick up. At least I had the luxury of knowing he wasn’t currently in the middle of a job this time.

After a moment he picked up. “Hey there, it’s been a long time, how have you been?”

“It’s been… pretty insane to be honest. I’ve got a whole load of problems, one of which is an ex-human changeling.” I replied, not bothering to hide how tired I was.

“An ex-human? How did that get here? Do you need help?” He asked.

“No fucking idea… I think she rambled some nonsense about a deal or whatever, but I was too busy worrying about her hopeless plans. Stupid drone thinks she can take on an Alicorn… pfft. As if.” I still had to roll my eyes at the idea.

“Seriously? That's one deluded changeling alright. But that mention of a ‘deal' worries me. If that's how she got here, who knows what else could come from it. I'll meet up with you in a while and start observing her from a distance. See you soon.” He finished with a serious tone.

“Good. I’m already letting her at some of the spells I know so she can at least defend herself, but having you around as a backup would be a great weight off my mind. At least then, I can focus on this amnesiac unicorn I found in the Everfree.” I said, genuinely thankful I could take my mind of the ex-human to some degree. I hung up the phone, before moving on to the drone before me. Still sleeping… Must have hit her head really hard. Hope she didn’t get a concussion. She’d be crushed that she couldn’t help anyone.

With a sigh, I picked her up and tossed her onto my back, heading to the very back of my shop to get to my private training facility. Once I got down there, I dropped the drone bodily onto the floor, and put together a quick dousing spell I copied from a Manehatten fire department to wake her ass up.

“OH FUCK! ...WHY THE HELL AM I A FISHPONY?!” She shouted upon waking up .As I stared, I couldn’t help but agree. She’d just turned into a merpony out of nowhere, whole dolphin tail and everything.

“That...is one fucking weird way to react to water. Hey wait, aren’t you supposed to be suffering from NEP still?”

“...Damnit, I’m stuck like this.” she replied after a look of concentration came and passed.

“Welp. Have fun with your new fishy parts. I have a friend I need to meet.” I said, turning around and walking out. I didn’t want to deal with that shit, but lucky for her, I had a pool down there. It was quite the journey without four hooves though… hehe. Well, if she can make it before that form dehydrates, maybe I’ll consider giving her more useful combat abilities. In the meantime, I’ve got a meeting with a friend to get to.

~Summer~

Come on *flop* it’s not that far *flop* you can do it *flop* Just one … more… *splash!* “Hah! That’s right, Nature! You can’t suffocate me!” I cheered in victory. Shocking bit of information, shouting like I did when I turned into a fish wasn’t exactly safe. I very quickly ran out of air, and had to double time it to the pool I thankfully noticed before I could suffocate. Yeah, not a pleasant experience. I mean… I could have DIED! And Bonbon left me to do just that! Though I can’t fault her for not knowing I could have, since I doubt she ever turned into a fish, but seriously. I might be hopeless, but you can’t just stick around for five seconds to help a guy out?

Okay, I’m rambling. I think I’ve got a concussion or something, my brain still isn’t on the right track… I wonder if I could use this state of mind against Discord? I’m thinking of some pretty chaotic things right now. Ooh! A few of them would be good revenge against Bonbon for leaving me to die!

Okay, come on Summer. Focus. You can’t just sit here in the pool blankly staring at the floor as you sink to the bottom like you’re dead. You’ve gotta do some… Oh hey, is that Bonbon freaking out? Maybe my death-like staring at the floor is scaring her. Time to move!

I quickly jolt into action, bolting to the surface like an arrow out of a crossbow. Wow, these fins make me swim really fast… Wheee! I’m a rocket fish! And I just slapped Bonbon in the face with my tail, and flopped against the ceiling. Ow. Despite the pain though, I couldn’t help but focus on the fact that I just slapped bonbon in the face, trout style. That thought alone brought back memories of Don’t Laugh challenges on Youtube, and I laughed my tail off on my way to impacting the floor. Right next to Bonbon, whom appeared to be shocked to the point of unresponsiveness.

“Well, that happened. Hey Bonbon? Is being slightly delirious one of the symptoms for NEP? Just curious, because I think I’m going bat-shit insane.” I asked casually after I abruptly stopped laughing.

“...Fuck this shit, I’m out.” she said, turning around again and leaving.

“Noooooo! Don’t leave me again! I almost died last time!” I whined. “...And you didn’t answer my question!”

“UGH! JUST SHUT UP!” She promptly slammed the door shut. Welp… That went well. I guess I should just get back in the water and try not to suffocate.

Phew. I think that nap really helped. Now my mind’s clearer, though I can’t really remember much… I do remember a near death experience, but that’s about it. Hmmm…. Why does everything feel so… wet? Looking around, I catch sight of… my… tail…

“Okay, when did I decide to go sleeping with the fishes?” I asked myself out loud, mostly to hear the joke as my coping mechanism. After a few minutes to get used to being a fish, I looked around at the surface. Bonbon was up there, staring at me from the top with a stern look.

“So… what happened?” I asked when I came up.

“You went And I quote, ‘Bat shit insane.’ And for the record, yes. Delirium is part of NEP, but it’s never that bad.”

“Oh. Well, now I know not to let myself eat anymore bad emotions. In any case… I think NEP’s worn off, so I could probably turn back now.” I said. I backed off into deeper water before letting my magic flare - Heh… felt good to have it back - and easily returned to my base form. With that breather out of the way, I pulled myself out of the water.

“That’s better. I think I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic in there.” I said with a satisfied stretch of my hind legs. “Anyway, where’s the shooting range? These spells you gave me would best be tested on actual targets.”

“Just this way.” she said, promptly leading the way. What I saw when we got there blew my mind though. It looked like something out of Tron. Things here looked too high tech for Equestrian society

“Holy fuck, I just walked into a Tron bunker.” I uttered out loud.

“A friend of mine put this training room together. It has multiple settings, but I think stationary targets will do for now.” Bonbon said and trotted to a small panel next to the door. After pushing few buttons I saw several small crystals, jutting from the walls and ceiling, light up. Right after that several floating archery targets digistructed in multiple places in the room, starting from about halfway across the room till the very end. I was too busy gawking at how badass this whole experience was to shoot at anything though. After a few moments of that though, I felt a slight sting on my flank that made me jump with a high “EEP!”

“Focus, you’re down here to train, not gawk at my shit.” Bonbon called from the console. Grumbling, I recalled the spells Bonbon had given me knowledge of. Mostly it was the basics of elemental magics I could use in various ways. First, there was Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth. Then there were the secondary elements, Shadow, Light, Poison, and Force. As for attacks, there’s a few basic ones the four primary elements can be tied to. The first is the channeled one, that basically generates a stream of the element, or avalanche in Earth’s case. The next level is the bolt. Don’t really have to explain that one. then, there’s the condensed explosive form, which is like the bolt, but it explodes. So it’s kinda like elemental rockets. The last one is the Nova, which in Gamer terms is the AoE cast, centered on the caster. Each primary element has their own awesome effect, but it’s advised I don’t use the Earth element while there’s something like a roof over my head. I found it somewhat amusing that Earth had more potential for collateral damage than Fire, but then again, no forest fire could compare to the damage an Earthquake could cause and fire is easy enough to control, as long as you treat it right.

So to start with, I focused on Fire, since it was the element listed as an affinity in my UI. My affinity for fire made it so that element cost half as much magic to cast, and it’s easier to cast fire magic. As well, I can learn how to control it faster than the other elements since it comes naturally to me. The first thing I did was build up the magic in my horn, before steadily binding certain molecules of the air to the magic. Then, step two, I started vibrating those molecules to create a fire. The faster they vibrate, the hotter the fire. Once I felt heat radiating around my horn, I felt a small sense of urgency to cast the spell, but I held back. I needed to make sure this wouldn’t overload, or die as soon as it was cast. After checking to make sure the magic was stable, I took aim. And finally, I cast.

“Good job, you have pretty good control. But you need to work a bit on your aim.” Bonbon complimented after I’d managed the cast. Looking up, I found burn marks on the wall a few degrees to the upper left of the target I’d fired at.

“Well, good to know my old accuracy rating still stands. I definitely need to improve on that. For now though, I think I’ll make sure I can cast the rest of those elements.”

Training went like that for about the rest of my stay in there. Stability and magic control, I found, were another affinity to add to my perks menu since I had no problems with them at all. Nothing blew up, or failed to cast and my aim got progressively better as I got used to using my head to do so. However, the problem came when I tried to apply an element I didn’t quite understand. Poison was a difficult one to cast, due in part to the fact that it’s effect had a massive drain on my magic for as long as its effect remained. The element essentially made sure the spell’s effect didn’t die the second its work was finished. And that meant a massive drain on my magic. Bonbon advised that I avoid applying any secondary elements for now, at least until I have a greater mana reserve. For now, though, I should aim to refill. Another hour or so at the Apple farm might do just the trick.

Once I was on my way with my disguise thrown back on, though, I found Twilight and Spike walking by with Fluttershy hot on their heels. Oh boy… Looks like it’s time for that party.The party might fill me faster than the Apple Farm would. With a friendly smile, I approached the trio.

“Heya.” I greeted simply. I didn’t want to run my mouth like Spike and Fluttershy at this point, because it might push Twilight over the edge. She was more annoyed by my third appearance, but was thankful I chose not to bug her about helping her. She didn’t respond to me as we walked on, but I was fine with that. I was content to hear tales of how Twilight once freaked out about a pencil box, to the point of ignoring Spike when he’d found it. Poor guy. Still, at least Twilight learned to at least consider others if she’s asked for help looking for such things in a freak out, or at least as far as I’ve heard from Spike’s tales of his life. Who knew Twilight had so many embarrassing stories? No wonder she was eager to ditch Fluttershy in the show.

Once we were at the library, Twilight started to make the excuses she did in the show to ditch both me, and Fluttershy, so I just shrugged and headed off to the right. Spotting the window I had decided to enter by, I stopped and took a cautious look around. Nopony was out and about at the moment, so I took a deep breath and designed my second disguise. A green coated pegasus, with a mane of a lighter shade of green and yellow done up in a ponytail, with golden eyes and a talent for music.

Just to be extra safe though, I looked around once more to see if there was anyone that saw me change, but thankfully, there was nopony. Cheering for my luck, I used my wings to get myself up to the window, and quietly slipped in. It was still pretty dark in there, but thankfully, I could see in the dark. There were plenty of ponies here, and a lot were looking at me. No way I could switch disguises here. Again, praise my luck, I ended up near the staircase up. So, I could easily just head up, saying I had to use the bathroom or something if anyone asked, and switch up there. I just had to chuckle at my luck though it was almost like some story where the author highly favored their character or something… I just hope Lady Luck wasn’t about to come and demand a refund though. I need to be-

“SURPRISE!”

...Well fuck. Maybe I should have just traded horn for wings in my favored disguise… Damnit, I really need to work on my foresight. Well, I need a plan.... I could probably slip upstairs while Twi’s busy dealing with Pinkie. I’ll have to go quick...

I promptly start making my way casually up the stairs like nopony’s business, acting like I belong here. On my way up, I start thinking about what I’d say to anyone that asked. Once I was out of sight though, I immediately switched my disguise back to my preferred one, changing as fast as I could. I smiled in comfort once I was safely disguised as my recognised form. But then I sensed something weird… it kind of reminded me of a soda, but with a metallic bite to it… though some part of me associated that taste with shock. But where was it coming...from…

As I turned to find the answer to that question, I found its source. Fluttershy was staring at me from the top of the staircase with her jaw dropped. I quickly put 2 and 2 together, and groaned to myself.

“Well there’s Lady Luck’s refund…” I muttered.