The Job. (Patreon)

 While I spent the day cloud sculpting link  and the evening with three wonderful mares link , other folks had less enjoyable tasks to do in my Equestria dreamscape.

  Corporal Trotter unlocked the door and entered his unlit apartment. Using his levitation he took a moment to light the gas lamp by the front door. Closing and locking the door behind him the changeling let out a long, tired sigh. It had been an exhausting day. On top of his regular duties some genius in the court had decided to schedule a parade of the Guard followed by a formal lunch in the main mess hall. So Trotter had spent most of the day either in his armor or in formal mess dress, and by now the regimental saddle had been chafing him for the last five hours. 

   
  While unusual, especially for single, enlisted troops, it was not unheard for a member of the Royal Guard to not barrack in the palace. So long as they had gotten permission from their superior officer and could arrive back at the main Palace Gate within five minutes of the alert bell off site housing was permitted. 

  
  As a result there had sprung up numerous apartments and boarding houses designed to cater to this market. It wasn't the greatest neighborhood in Canterlot, but being this close to the palace meant that the worse parts of society decided to conduct their business at a safer distance far away. As an added advantage a newly married couple had moved in next door and they were oozing enough love that it practically dripped through the wall. Which meant Trotter could enjoy basking in the exhaust emissions of their nightly sessions of romantic passion. Win, win!      

    Trotter's apartment was tidy, but rather spartan in furnishings. He possessed only a minimal amount of furniture with the exception of bookcases which still were not up to the task of handling the dozens and dozens of books that covered them and parts of the floor.   

    Tossing the daily mail on the small somewhat knackered dining room table he went and put the kettle on to boil water for tea so he could have it with the mushroom pastie he'd purchased for dinner from a street vendor on his way home.   

  With that task accomplished he began sorting the mail into piles of importance. He'd almost reached the bottom of the stack when he froze. There was a large manila envelope from the Curious Tail Book Store of Manehatten. The store had an excellent selection of treatises, grimoire, and other esoteric publications, but whenever he got written assignments they always came in envelopes from this establishments.  

 
  Rising from the table Trotter went over and casually looked out his third story window. Nothing on the street or surrounding buildings or rooftops looked out of the ordinary.  Closing the window he then drew the curtains. He then proceeded to check all of the privacy and security wards he'd discreetly erected; then he boosted them just for added measure. By this point the kettle was hissing so he went and made himself a strong mug of Green Boroughs tea. Then he returned to the table and opened the envelope.

  Inside there was a dozen or more printed pages listing the store latest acquisitions. Trotter took a moment to review the new titles in stock and noted a couple books concerning earth pony food preservation methods that might make for interesting study later. He noted their titles and then proceeded to carefully lay all the sheets out across the table.   

  Once he'd done that he checked his wards one more time. Satisfied that they were still strong he closed his eyes focused on casting the spell in his mind. As he did this the printed letters and symbols on the page began to squirm, stretch, move and transform. This continued for about twenty seconds. Finally Trotter opened his eyes looked down upon his next assignment. 

  
  Much to his surprise all of the pages actually had information related to the assignment. Normally only a handful of pages were actually related to the mission. The rest were just filler. Whatever this job his Queen had decided for him was much bigger mission than previous ones.  

 
  Levitating the pastie to his mouth he took bite and then set it down. Chewing on the mushroom stuffed pastry he proceeded levitate the tea cup and the first page of his briefing. Taking a long sip his eyes began tracking across the paper and the details of his new assignment were spelled out to him. 

  
  He got to the third paragraph when suddenly his mind lost control of the tea cup. It plummeted and shattered on the wooden floor. Trotter paid it no attention. His eyes focused on the words in front of him. Realizing that the paper was shaking from his lack of control he set back on the table. For the next hour his entire world was these pages.

  After his third time through reading them he pushed away from the table and began pacing his apartment. If he hadn't recently come to the attention of none other than his Queen link  he would've dismissed these instructions as either being procedural screw up of the first order, or a practical joke of the worst kind.   

  He returned to the table and once again scanned the orders. They were the same as they had been when he'd walked away. 

  
  I've been assigned with the task of developing, organizing, and conducting the discreet capture of an alicorn princess so that her Majesty may take her place! Thought the drone. Not only that but there will most likely be only a small window in which the capture and swap can occur. This mean my Queen will most likely have to be onsite while the operation is in effect. Having her teleport in afterwards may alert the enemy. If this goes bad...

  He resumed pacing his apartment; as he did details started forming and organizing in his head. No, no he could do this. This is what he'd spent his whole life training and preparing for. His Queen believed in him, or else she wouldn't have given him the mission. If she believed he could do it then he could! Doubt only clouded the objective!  

 
  Trotter retrieved a pencil and paper. He committed the important dates, objectives, and locations to memory, then he burned the orders on the kitchen range top and then washed the ashes down the drain.   
  He then began outlining a basic plan in his head and started noting it down on the paper under the guise of being an outline for a fictional novel. Trotter was known throughout the palace as being a rather bookish, pony with aspirations of being an author some day. Even if this document was somehow discovered before the operation the corporal was certain he could explain it away as being research for some tawdry, adventure story that filled the pages of various cheap youth magazines throughout the realm. 

  
  For the rest of the evening Trotter's attention was focused solely on his next job. While at the same time other ponies far away were trying piece together his last one.  

 
 To be continued.