Cloudchaser pulled the blindfold off of Derpys eyes, she was sitting at a table across from Lyra. On one wall there was a one sided window, and the other were blank, painted with a metallic grey, not quite silver.
"The hoofcuffs Cloudchaser." Lyra gestured to Derpys hooves
"Care to explain why I was arrested?" Derpy asked curtly once they were off
"Easy, you had something we needed." The stallion that was in the arresting party gave Lyra the journal "Thank you Ethan." She turned back to Derpy "Admittedly our methods weren't… the most elegant, but we believe it's effective."
"But that journal is mine!"
"Relax, you'll have full access to it, in fact," The unicorn took a deep breath "We were wondering if you would work with us on this certain case."
"Are you insane? You arrest me to give me a job offer? You cause my family to panic about something they have nothing to do with? "
"Look it is extremely important that we know what's going on, Ponyville is in danger, no, Equestria, all of Gaia is in danger and the answer to saving it is in this journal , and if you don't cooperate everything could be destroyed!" Lyra snapped
"You say that as if I know what's going on but I am as in the dark as you are, if not more! I want some straight answers, nothing has made sense since the blackout and I'm starting to doubt it ever will!" Her eyes went crossed as she got frustrated "Uh oh."
She flew around clumsily , knocking over furniture, crashing into walls, kicking ponies in the face, until Cloudchaser struck her in the back with a tazer.
Derpys whole body felt numb, she tried to get up, but her legs wouldn't allow it
Lyra sighed, "Take her to confinement."
Cloud chaser poked Derpy "You gonna be able to walk?"
"auuugh dohn hink po"
"I'll take that as a no." She picked her up and flew out the door. "I really need to turn down that tazer
Derpy couldn't see, where she was going, everything was to blurry, the walls were a bluey grey, that much she could make out.
Eventually Cloudchaser kicked a panel in the wall, whoch opened a door which was either very discreet or Derpy just couldn't see it, she really couldn't tell which.
After setting the mailmare down, Cloudchaser gave her some pills
"These should help with the dizziness." They white pills fell to the ground and the periwinkle Pegasus rolled her eyes "Here." She shoved them into Derpys mouth, then dragged her onto the bed, and with one swift movement, she left the room. the door closed and Derpy began to feel drowsy
Those were sleeping pills she realised as the world went black.
Derpy awoke to a gentle tapping sound. Early morning light filtered through a narrow window that bordered the ceiling. The room Derpy had slept in was small, just big enough so it was comfertable. On the wall opposite the bed Derpy had be plopped onto, there was a dark pine desk with an alarm clock on it, but otherwise it was clear. The walls were plain, painted the same shade as the hallway she had been dragged through. The grey Pegasus had slept on top of the sheets, which were now strewn everywhere. The comfeter was a rather dazzling shade of midnight blue, whereas the other sheets and the pillowcase were a sterile white. It was a very nice room, and Derpy felt fully rested for the first time in a week.
There was another gentle tap at the door, and this time a stallion walked in.
He looked about sixteen, probably an intern trying to work his way up to the top. His coat was dark blue, lighter than the sheets, and his mane was a brown mop, that looked neat yet unstyled. His horn was glowing as he leveitated a clipboard, which rather helped the official look he was trying to pull off, with his purple eyes looking out from behind black rimmed glasses, and his too-big labcoat. But despite the major clothes change, Derpy recognised him as the stallion that had been in the team that arrested her.
"Hi!" he fidgeted with his clipboard "I'm Ethan, I will be the pony that, well, um, is working with you while" He cringed "case butter is ongoing."
"Case butter?"
"Cloudchaser and Flitter, the ponies that arrested you, are talking to Lyra about getting the name changed, in the mean time I can answer any questions you have."
"What is case butter and why in Celestias name is it called case butter?"
"Except for those, it's very confidential, I'm just an intern, I'm not allowed to know that stuff, very few ponies actually know about it."
"Why did they put you on a case and not let you know anything about it?"
"Well, I asked to be put on it as soon as I found out Pinkie was…" He turned bright red "Never mind"
"What about Pinkie?"
"Nothing."
"What about Pinkie?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Oh I get it. You have a crush on…"
"Don't tell Lyra! I'll get kicked off the case and I have wanted to be on it since I got this internship, before Pinkie got involved!"
"If you don't know what it is than how did you know Pinkie was involved?"
Ethan shrugged "Figured it out, it was a guess really."
"And if very few ponies know about it, how did an intern find out about it."
"Okay, I'd better rephrase that, very few ponies know what it is, including me, the only ponies I know are on it are Lyra, Bon Bon, Caramel, Cloudchaser and Flitter, even though it is the top priority case"
"I didn't know that any of them worked here."
"That's kind of the point isn't it?"
"I guess."
"What else do you want to know?"
"Where am I?"
"This room is used for ponies that stay at work late and need a place to sleep, we have about five of these, but they can be locked from the outside if necessary, when ponies are taken into confinement."
"Oh, who usually stays here?"
"I think it's best we wait before I tell you the names of every pony that has ever worked here."
"So what exactly is this place anyway"
"R.I.F.T. HQ. R.I.F.T. being an acronym for research institute for fissures in time."
"Right, and what exactly does R.I.F.T. do?"
"Well we study Extraterrestrial objects and beings."
"Extraterrestrial beings? You mean like aliens?"
"In theory, yes, I mean,we try to find and contact alien species, and we would be responsible form studying them. If we found any."
"How exactly did you get an intern ship here anyway?
"It was offered to me, Bon Bon came over to my house about a week after I moved to Ponyville and offered it to me."
"When was that?"
"About six months ago."
"So you've lived in Ponyville for six months, But I've never seen you on the mail roster "
"That's because this is a secret agency, we have to be very discrete."
"Why is this a secret agency anyway? so you look for alien life, what's the problem?"
"Well some of the secret stuff wouldn't be secret if I told you would it?"
"Suppose not."
"Alright, if that's all your questions, would you like to get some breakfast?"
Derpys stomach growled as she remembered that she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday
"Yeah, I'm starved! You kind of interrupted me going to dinner."
"So you can tell it's me then?" He grimaced
"Yeah, just a bit."
The breakfast severed at the R.I.F.T. canteen was nice and filling, and didn't lack in taste or quality,it consisted of a fruit salad, a juice box, oatmeal, and (to Derpys delight) a nice warm chocolate muffin.
It was gone within five minutes.
"Wow, you really weren't kidding when you said you were hungry." Ethan blinked
Derpy giggled than burped "Pardon." she giggled again
"Alright, Lyra wants to see us as soon as possible."
"What is Lyra deal anyway? Why doesn't she like the Doctor?"
"Which doctor?"
"No, I don't think he's a witch doctor."
"No,not witch doctor, which doctor!"
"Wait, which witch are you using?"
""Which!"
"I told you, he's not a witch doctor!"
"What doctor?"
"The Doctor!"
"Which doctor?"
"He's not a witch doctor!"
"Oh for crying out loud! who are you talking about?"
"The Doctor!"
"Who's the Doctor?"
"I don't know!"
"Then why..." he groaned "Let's go see Lyra."
This time when walking to the interrogation room, Derpy could actually see where she was going, which was quite a relieve, seeing where she was going, she was glad to see that the walls actually were the bluey grey she thought she had seen, although it looked a lot nicer than she thought. The floors consisted of large white, rectangular tiles.
When they reached the interrogation room, Lyra was sitting at the other side, Bon Bon was nowhere to be seen, although Cloudchaser and Flitter were standing behind Derpy, enough room so she didn't feel uncomfortable, but visibly ready to spring into action at a moments notice, and they clearly were Cloudchaser and Flitter this time, they didn't have the helmets on.
"Alright I'm going to be frank here."Lyra sighed "You're either going to be cooperative or your not. I personally think that if you were
cooperative and told us all you knew than we could all be out of this mess quicker."
"That's the thing, I don't know anything!"
"So you're not going to be cooperative."
"No I just..."
Bon Bon walked in "Lyra, there's something you should see."
Lyra laughed in an awkward fashion "I'm kind of in the middle of something here Bon Bon." She hissed through her teeth
"Yes, but this is kind of important."
Lyra brushed her bangs back, frustrated "Is it vitally urgent?"
"Yes! Trust me, if I didn't tell you immediately you would get really annoyed at me later."
"You're probably right." Lyra nodded casually "So what's the problem?"
"Look for yourself." she shoved a red shape at Lyra, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. when she opened it, her questioning look turned to one of confusion,the alarm.
"What did you do?" She turned quickly to Derpy
"What... I... Huh?"
"Bear in mind that I am remaining very, very calm. What did you do?"
"I don't know what...uh...what?"
Lyra lowered her head in frustration then shoved the book at Derpy "Read it."
Derpys eyes widened "I don't understand!"
On the page where the Shadows of Ponyville entry used to be, there was nothing.
Nothing except a simple two lined paragraph in the dead centre
I'm not dead
Let's have a party.
