"Come on, come on..."

Another book is placed in the ever increasing 'No' pile, placed on the table near-by. The wooden, pale purple bookshelves are scanned again for anything regarding precious stones. His tails flick from side to side in his frustration and urgency. The scarlet, white-tipped brushes threatened to knock over the globe with every swing. Frayed and abused hairs occasionally dropping as he turns all too sharply in the frantic movements. There's a lightness of step as he turns but a heavy plodding as he stalks the shelves.

"Come on! Breaking and entering isn't welcomed anywhere!" He bends low, he stretches high. Another check over his shoulder towards the front door before returning to the search.

Is he feeling warm? He pulls at his T-shirt collar while stepping back, looking at the top shelf. Weirdly well-organised these books. Either his eyesight was going or what he needed was simply not here. He pulls off his black shirt, dumping it on the table along side his weapon: a scuffed, well-worn object. Heat appears to have made small burns at the edges, dulling the shine. The 'blade' was clearly blunt yet shaped like a fox, the tail curling around as a handguard while the head made up the 'blade'. If it wasn't for the obvious wear and tear, you'd swear it was purely decorative.

He was running out of time.

The creature accidentally kicks over a stack of volumes in his haste, tripping over them. His eyes fall on a long scuff across one of the book spines. The mysterious medley of grass, muds from plenty of places and general grime with a pinch of who knows what permeated the lower legs of his jeans. It was like grotesque bellbottoms. He'd never really stopped to look before now.

This concoction was now smeared across a book spine.

He grabs his shirt from the table, attempting to wipe the stain away hastily. He seemed only to be spreading the dirt further, helping it penetrate the material it was bound in. He was about to consider trying to add some spit before:

"Hoo-hooo!"

"DAAAAAGH!" The mahogany eyes open wide as he jerks into standing, readying a fist at whatever made that noise. There's a clatter behind him, the book he held landing. His gaze darts around the room, up at the small bedroom atop the stairs, around the tops of the bookshelves before settling on a windowsill. An owl was sitting there, watching with saucers for eyes. The small lump of brown feathers seemed to be perfectly still but fascinated in the new library user. The bird wasn't going for him, no matter how long they stare at each other. The sounds of his breaths matched by the drum solo taking place in his chest. He calms slowly, all of his muscles relaxing as he turned back around to look at the top shelf.

That one maybe? All the other books on jewels had turned up absolutely nothing!

He moves to the ladder, dragging it over from one side of the room, grinding across the floor. The creature attempted to simply pluck the ladder up with one hand but only managed to embarrassingly struggle with it and reside to pick it up with his second hand. Ladder in place, finally he climbs up when the front door opens wide.

"And that's why we've got to be prepared for when this fox...arrives..." Both pony's stop in their tracks. This stranger is now clinging to the ladder with a python grip, imagining the gaunt expressions of disbelief that were likely burning into the back of his head. You can probably hear him start to crush the wood ever so slightly within his anxious grip. The two ponies and the baby dragon that have arrived stare, dumbstruck for a second. Imagine if Satan himself had actually walked into the room after uttering that related phrase.

"Twilight, isn't that-?" The dragon says, raising a purple claw. He couldn't finish the sentence, it seemed frankly too much of a coincidence to have actually happened.

The stranger steps down from the ladder, eyeing up the newcomers. He needed an exit strategy fast and only had the seconds of shock to form one. The best thoughts he had were out the window or through the new arrivals.

Well, the dragon looked adorable so he'd likely get through with only a nip. He'd seen dragons and this one looked like a cub in a costume. The green mohawk of spikes seemed oddly hilarious combined with those wide emerald eyes. He knew of hulking creatures with armoured scales, teeth like blades and powerful wings to saw over the landscape. The dragonling before him seemed tiny compared to even to other dragonlings. They bite, they have claws but he had an inkling this one was better suited to giving cuddles.

Has...Has this one been domesticated? Blimey! This is a tree. How has everything not burned down yet?

Stay on track! The Dragon's no trouble and the yellow pony? A puff of wind could deal with the shying creature as she pulls her face behind the pink fringe. If he kept himself large and scary, he could make them both cower.

It was the tenacity of the middle unicorn that concerned him. There was fear in those eyes for a moment before she lowers her head. Her face turns to a scowl; a nasty, hateful look. Her front hooves spread a little, her two-tone fringe moving slightly over her eye. That look of daggers seemed to be a concentrated beam. As the old saying begins: if looks could kill, the one from this little pony could blast holes through walls.

Offering a friendly, falting smile across his white muzzle, he inches towards the table with his things on. The time to leave should have been a minute ago but this would have to do. He didn't think he'd be able to get through this middle pony. A window, it will have to be.

What the heck did he do to her?!

"Yes Spike, it's him." The purple mare answers. Both Spike and the yellow mare slide behind Twilight as her horn begins to glow.

"Ha, right!" The Stranger laughed nervously, black-furred hand scrambling on the table for his things while keeping both eyes on the horn. He clutches his possessions to his chest, edging slowly around the unicorn and inching towards the stairs leading up and - hopefully - out. "I'm not looking for trouble so I'm gonna leave. Sorry about the mess."

His paw lands one spot too far for the unicorns liking, clearly. In one burst of light from her horn, the mare snares the stranger in her magic. The purple energy wraps around him and forces him back against a bookcase. A few volumes clatter to the floor with the impact. The fox grimaces then looks from the staircase to freedom back to the unicorn stepping towards him.

"You are not going anywhere!" Twilight declares. The gang of two behind her cheer with relief.

"Yeah! Nice one Twilight!" Spike congratulates, moving to Twilight's side.

"Is it safe now?" The yellow mare whimpers from behind, emerging slowly. It was as if a startled rabbit had checked to see if the nasty wolf had gone yet. Behind the triumphant but still distressingly serious Twilight was where the fox hoped he could be right now too. He could handle something slobbing with anticipation to eat him or something but the dirty glares he was getting from the mare just gave him chills. They were fascinating to him but this wasn't the time to chat.

The Stranger Fox inspects his bonds. A little wriggling in the glow of her magic wasn't getting anywhere. He was held in a really tight grip. Looking to Twilight, it seemed like she could probably keep this up all day. Or at least until some officials turned up. The library offered little in the way of opportunities to distract but if his arms where hugging his chest, what go would they be?

There was only one other thing for it. If he didn't look like a monster before, he would now.

"Look, Twilight, was it?" He asks as the purple glow holding him in place began to falter. "I don't know what I've done to get you so mad at me but I really can't stay."

The fox closes his eyes, shutting them tightly with to concentrate. Twilight's magic falters and fades, the glow loosening. In response, Twilight pushes harder. Sparks fizzle from her horn, a grunt through gritted teeth as she fights to maintain the grip on the stranger. Something was simply snatching the magic right out of the air, she could feel it. Her power was vanishing faster than she could replace it. The violet grip turned to a lavender haze, Twilight's horn fizzling to a stop as she pants heavily, her head drooping to the floor.

She saw Spike rush to the stairs, watching her: "He's getting away!"

Twilight's head jerks back up. Before she could move, the Strange Fox's voice rings out through the library:

"Sorry for the mess!" There is then the noise of something large slamming into the ground outside, the foxes shadow on the frosted window pane as he picks himself up and bolts. He must have jumped from the balcony.

Twilight turns to the yellow mare quickly: "Fluttershy! You know animals! What do you know about that fox?"

"N-n-nothing" Fluttershy stammers. "No fox around here wears clothes, apologizes for a mess or has two tails."

"Two tails..." She mulls that around for a moment, finding that it didn't match anything specific. She must have absorbed the contents of every book in here by now but nothing immediately clicked with a fox with two tails. "Then we need to read up on them. I've never heard of somepony dissolving a spell like that." Twilight begins scanning the bookshelves herself, pulling relevant ones as she sees them then handing them to Spike.

"We need to be careful if we're to take him in."

~~|~~

Bright daylight slowly makes the street in the town, keeping everything warm while various ponies trot past on their own business. The buildings were all built from brightly coloured wood, randomly spaced along the street towards the town square. There was quiet, flowers being watered, a couple of mares chatting to each other as their children bounced and chased each other around their hooves. Pegasi swoop overhead to deal with each and every wayward cloud in the sky, bursting through each one, coloured blurs streaking through the white puffs.

The Fox clashes to earth. He lands on his paws, his knees instantly buckling under his own weight. He finds himself slamming delicate hind quarters into the ground with considerable force. A pained whimper and he begins to rise, shaking all the while. He straightens and arches his back, hearing a few too many clicks to deem himself fully healthy. With an awkward hobble that subsides at it's own sluggish pace, he moves off into town past the onlooking ponies around him. He slips back into his shirt.

He now had the tall task of moving across town without being seen. Or at least raising further alarm. Invisibility is never there when you need it. Today would have been fantastic for the ability to become more of a spectre than a sore thumb but alas. Ignoring everyone and hoping that they ignore you seems to be the best course of action right now. Just keep up the pace. Don't stop for anything, just keep going. However, he towered over every single pony here and was bright red in colour. Red is the most visible colour of the spec-

Something pink was hopping up and down in front of his face when the stranger stopped grumbling in his head. It's strange, wide grin; it's untamed pink mane and it's wide, excited eyes meeting his while he walks on. The pony was managing to bounce up and down along with him.

"Hello! I've not seen you here before! And I don't think I'd forget a face not that I do miss a face ever but I'd never forget a face like yours so that must mean your new. What's your name?" She stares expectantly at him with each moment of air time. The fox thinks, biting his lip a little. Well, what could she do with the information? He's probably got wanted posters all ready anyway.

"Tyro." He reluctantly lets the pony know, with a cautious look over the shoulder. "Now, I should really be-"

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" She replies, now bounding in circle around Tyro like an orbiting rubber ball. Her high pitched voice sing-songing through almost everything she was saying. "Welcome, welcome, welcome to Ponyville!"

Pinkie stops hopping on the spot to extend her forelegs in a large ta-da, complete with bright confetti flittering to the floor. Tyro couldn't help but question every aspect of the creature behind the grin. Like where the confetti came from when Pinkie clearly had no sleeves. Or even how that candy floss mane seemed as springy as the pony herself. He was snapped back into the urgency of his situation as she peers around at something behind Tyro, waving a hoof.

"Twilight! Fluttershy! Spike! Come meet my new friend over here! Come an' meet, Tyro!" She looks back, only to find a Tyro-shaped pocket of nothing where there used to be a fox. She stares at it for a moment, possibly hoping Tyro would just appear once more or maybe just figuring out what happened. But Pinkie took this in her stride, understanding completely very soon. A grin spreads across her face.

"I love hide and seek! I'll count!" And with that, Pinkie speeds to the nearest wall and covers her eyes. "One, two, three, four."

~

"Oooohh! There must be something we can use in these." Twilight says as the three of them gallop past Pinkie. Several books float in her magic, hooves pounding over and over as they gallop onwards.

"Magic doesn't work. Could Applejack round him up?" Spike suggests from behind the stack of books in both arms while his tiny legs keep up. It didn't sound like too bad a plan actually. If she couldn't secure the fox then Applejack could easily run circles around the fox. One strong rope and she'd have him easily if she could keep up with timberwolves. She'd be able to have things done before this Tyro hurt anyone.

"Good idea. Go find Applejack, she'll be at her store. Quickly!" Twilight urged, watching Spike meander to the side at quite a speed, heading towards the market stalls with the piles of books still in his arms. The two mares push onwards, reading and running after the fugitive fox. They peek around the volumes in order to check whether they're avoiding every pony in their way. A few trips and bumps into the occasional wandering pedestrian as they continue after the the large fox turning heads.

"Uh, Twilight?" Fluttershy asks suddenly. "How do you pronounce this?"

Twilight moves the book from Fluttershy to in front of her, closing the others. She canters to a stop, followed by Fluttershy, her eyes scanning the symbols expertly.

"Ki..kits...kistuneh? Kitsoon? Kit, kit...It's an old language. I'm a little rusty." She explains, placing the other books in a pile while she attempts to decipher. The book seemed more of a diary created from scraps of paper and details. Notes were drawn and written between them, the page full of scribbled diagrams and sketches. Twilight tries her best to read the only alien part of the page, looking over the ornate, brushstrokes lining the paper.

As Twilight mutters to herself, Fluttershy watches somepony storm past with a lasso over their head.

~

Tyro could hear hooves behind him. Well, that's the purple and the yellow ones from before, right. They seem to be keen to collect a bounty maybe? There might have been several bounties on him but this didn't look like a place where he'd gain another. He wasn't looking to find out just what he could get from here. Maybe a little more picking up of the pace should lose them.

And then he found that his face was scraping along the ground. The change was instantaneous. And painful! He had a moment of confusion, catching up to a point where he was aware of what was happening again. His weapon drops to the ground, slipping from his hand beside him.

Why was he on the floor? He was running, wasn't he? Why are all the ponies here out to get him? Why not just leave him alone? Since when were small horses able to cause such harm?

He finds that his ankle had been tied to a rope and this peach coloured pony in a cowboy hat was now around his feet, adding more layers of rope to his ankles to bind them together. A hard tug yanks his ankles together.

"You be a might bigger than the critters I round up but I guess yeh ain't no different." She said through clenched teeth, pulling the rope nice and tight.

"Look, I'm not a threat to you." He pleads.

"Can it, fox! You ain't goin' no-wheres. My knots don't undo!" She said, eyeing Tyro up and clearly finding little threat in the trapped fox.. "Now you gonna play nice?"

"Nope! Sorry! I can't stay here!" Tyro raises his ankles into the air, takes in a breath then releases it. It bursts forth as a ploom of fire that engulfs his paws, burning through the rope quickly as if it was simply tinder.

"What in the hay!?" Applejack ducks low as the flames dissipate over her hat. A hoof on her head keeps her headgear in place while she slips backwards, stepping away from the heat. With nothing but ashes remaining of the lasso, Tyro rolls to his paws, grabbing his strewn weapon from the ground, working back into a quick pace.

It's at this point that we get Twilight's half-absorbed shout from behind everything: "Applejack! He breathes fire! Be careful!"

His muzzle aches in protest for being smashed against the ground. His face seemed to be stiffening a little from the pain and bruises taking hold. Tyro skids to a halt, soothing his face while jerking his head one way then another for a place to hide. Standing out in the open was a stupid move, clearly. He should have been doing this from the start. He was making sure he still had teeth on the side on his mouth his sight landed on when it struck him. Why not move behind the houses? This place is like a hamlet, the only cover is there. If it was a city, he could hide anywhere but this town was too rural and open to hide in plane view. Maybe one of these homes will have an open window or something to hide. Applejack was storming straight for him with the other two following on behind, hooves thundering towards him. He makes a beeline for the nearest house, leaping straight over a largely oblivious grey pegasus fussing over a mailbox.

Applejack easily makes the same jump, brushing the pegasus' saddlebag on the way over in the pursuit for Tyro.

Fluttershy looks ahead between the multitasking Twilight and the pegasus. The collision course was imminent. She had to act in an instant!
"Twilight!" She warns! It was all she had for that amount of time.

"Huh?" Twilight does look up from the book, sees the imminent crash and lets out a fantastic scream, Each and every hoof is dug into the ground with all the effort she could. Fluttershy even takes to the air, the journal Twilight was reading falls from her magic's grasp. Fluttershy wraps her hooves around Twilight's middle and pulls back, joining in the frankly silly pantomime of simply attempting to stop. Dirt was kicked up, both mares shut their eyes and made their peace with their fate. She was able to skid to a halt just close enough for the cross-eyed gaze of the pegasus to meet her full in the face. The unicorn smiles sheepishly, feeling anxious about being so close to the wall-eyed expression of the pegasus: "Um...Hi Derpy!"

Derpy Hooves breys, her wings flapping in the excitement: "That was funny. Can you do it again?"

~

Applejack rounds the corner into the backyard of the house. Other than an empty clothes line, nothing was here. Perhaps a tree or he ran for the hills out into the distance. The rolling fields of green would tire him out trying to run over them, any filly could tell you that. A pegasi could spot him and get him back easily.

Unless he climbed the tree? Applejack approached it with caution. That fox had breathed fire. You didn't have to sit near a hiccupping Spike after too many ciders to understand how dangerous throwing fire around could be. Lost a hat and half her tail, she wasn't looking to lose the rest. Her eyes were centered on the leaves above as she moves underneath. One whiff of brimstone or smoke or anything, and she'd back away. If she got the chance, she'd buck that fox all the way to the ground!

Nothing! The tree's limbs were bare. Nothing with teeth, weapons and breathes fire up there.

"FOUND YOU! You're it!" Pinkie? Applejack wheels back around to see Pinkie Pie looking right up at the fox, balanced on a window-sill far above her. He watches him silently motion for her to keep quiet, go away or both. Kinda funny in a way. "You know, you're pretty good at this. It took me all of five seconds to find you. That's a new record! How about we play again!" Applejack and Tyro's eyelines suddenly converge as the fox looks up. He visibly panics, as so he oughta. It was a one-way trip to Canterlot if she caught him. He seems to consider giving Pinkie a whack with the silvery weapon his his hand still but clearly shakes his head at the thought. She didn't know what she'd do if he had but it wouldn't have been pretty.

"Come down from there!" Applejack calls out.

Tyro drops from the window sill, onto Pinkie.

~

Twilight pulls away from under Derpy as Fluttershy landed again. Derpy Hooves was still chipper all though was disappointed she didn't get to see the amazing, two-pony floorshow again. She took off to carry on into the air.

Twilight snatches up the journal. It was now roughed up a little; dirt dusting the cover, a few superficial scratches and a dent on the spine. It was a catastrophe to behold. They may as well have been deep gashes in a family pet according to Twilight's pained reaction. She wipes the cover off with a hoof, inspecting the damage intently. The post-mortem only made her curse herself for being so careless with an old journal such as this. It was history, it was a one of a kind. And apparently the only lead on their fox. However, she could hear hooves galloping towards her.

"Twilight! It's Pinkie! She ain't right!" Applejack had the pink pony slumped over her strong back, face hanging close to the ground with her eyes closed. She was inert and quiet. Distressing and peculiar, to say the least, for the pony that would throw a party anywhere with the slightest excuse. That innate Pinkie Sense must have slipped for once.

"Is she dead?" Twilight asks, moving in for a closer inspection. She was breathing, which was good. Twilight raises one of Pinkie's hooves then let's it go. It immediately falls back down as if Applejack was carrying a remarkably lifelike doll. Pinkie murmurs something about sprinkles, limply waving her hoof in a formless gesture.

"Nah! She's sleepin'." replies Applejack, "Fox fellah leapt on her an' did somethin'!"

"What exactly?" Twilight tries giving Pinkie Pie a jab in the side. Nothing. Pinkie didn't stir but she did very kindly ask the doughnut to wait his turn in the sternest way her tired slur could manage. She was truly out for the count, whatever this Kitsu-thing did. This was eery...It was cats chasing dogs. It was checking a list only three times. It was Rarity rolling in mud.
Somethings simply shouldn't be and a quiet, sedated Pinkie Pie was one of them.

"I dunno. All he did was put a hand on her head. Ever heard'a ju-ju that does somthin' like this?" Applejack asks.

"The book mentions energy a lot...Maybe it's a leaching effect?" Twilight proffers, opening the journal again and flicking back to her previous page.

Applejacks' face fills with concern: "Like a vampire?"

"Almost."

"Well then!" Applejack said, drawing herself to full height, "We gotta vampire to find! No pony sucks mah friends blood and get's away with it!"

"Energy."

"Whatever! He's gettin' away!"

~

Brighter greens gave way to darker tones. Denser plantlife and a foreboding aura to the place. The shadows were thick. You could stare into them and be certain something was staring back. The wild, overhanging leaves met with the tangle of bushes and ferns. The mood seemed grimey as if heading into a swamp. The maw of Everfree Forest gave no indication of what sat in the dense overgrowth, not that it seemed a pony - or fox - was not welcome in anyway.

"Charming..." Tyro mumbles before giving a quick check behind him. He'd gained a good lead on those ponies. He could easily lose them right here in this forest.

A streak of colour catches his eye as it blurs past his vision. He spins and follows it, coming across a blue pegasus hovering in front of him. She had this self-affirmed little smirk on her face. The wind-ruffled quiff of her main was rainbow coloured. He couldn't think of anyone other than sport players that did anything like that. If the cocky little madam had dyed it, at least she paid the same care to her tail. Her eyes were darting from him to something surrounding him.

Tyro looks, spotting more pegasi moving into a cordon. They kept their distance but were clearly not going to particularly close individually. None of them seemed any bigger than the blue one so, there wasn't anything to worry about, right? Tyro's odd weapon was raised. He grips the handle like a batter rearing up for a pitch. He keeps as many of the pegasi in his sights as possible while he spreads his paws out a little, dropping his stands to keep him stable. He lowers his shoulders, tails swaying gently behind him absentmindedly.

"Easy..." The blue one commanded. "...Now!" All at once, the pegasi charge in from all angles. Tyro swings his weapon through the high speed streaks of colour fruitlessly. He turns, carving an arc through a red streak, only finding his blade sail through nothing. The pegasi keep swirling, darting and avoiding the fox, kicking up wind while Tyro severely menaces the space around him. A hoof flies at his hands, hitting hard to knock his weapon free. The blunted blade lands in the dirt, too far a way to simply reach while pegasi swarm him. Another hoof strikes his cheek, then his stomach. Then a final shunt into his chest staggers him backwards.

The pegasi assemble, watching him carefully for any sudden moves.

Panting, Tyro turns for the forest. The blue pegasus with the rainbow mane blocks him before he can move. He considers charging them just a she's flanked by the rest of the team.

There's a dark curse uttered under his breath. He reaches for a chain around his neck. It's a blotchy, old looking necklace chain that he pulls over his black, triangular ears and shaggy hair then out from his T-shirt. On the end of the chain is a small, orange gemstone that throbs threateningly. The metal that the stone is seated in has been warped and scorched, much like his weapon. You might have been able to tell that they used to look like tails once. He holds the pendant in his palm and points it right at the ground. The pendant glows and belches fire into the ground from the stone in the centre. Like a furness belching into the ground, the tremendous heat spreading from the strong glow. The heat blackens the dirt, leaving a thin, charred crust of soot where there was once grass. Tyro points the pendant at the pegasi.

"This is a warning! You lot can just hand me back the Tail and I won't roast you, clear?" The pegasi back off a little. Clearly, he had their attention. He wouldn't really hurt anyone, but as long as that never came through on his eyes, there's a chance he could blag through this. After all, it was more than simply fireworks and glowing sitting in his palm. It was practically a tiny volcano. They all seemed to back way behind 'Rainbow Mane', for some reason. He had them quaking but they weren't getting out of the way.

"Did you not hear me?" Tyro barks at the pegasi. "I got a pretty big range with this thing."

He could hear galloping behind him. Oh no, not more witnesses! Hopefully, he wasn't making a massive scene and wouldn't have to go all 'super villain' here just to be allowed to move on. He had a job to do. He just turns his head to-

The blue pegasus zips towards Tyro within a second. In his momentary lapse of attention, the kick from 'Rainbow Mane' hits him right in the stomach. All air is squeezed out of his lungs with the force of the blow, leaving Tyro to flop to a crouch, wheezing. His arm is only just managing to keep the pendant aimed upwards while shaking. Within a flash of colour across him the pendant is snatched from his hand. As he coughed hard, he looks up to see the blue pegasus wearing the pendant around her neck.
"Ain't so tough! I dunno how the guards at Canterlot has so much trouble. I barely broke into a sweat!" The boasting from the pegasi was met with grumbled curse. "What? You you feelin' bad after I beat you?"

"Rainbow Dash! Get away from him!"

The pegasi look up to see the arrival of Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack, breathless from chasing all over town.

"Don't worry Twilight." Rainbow Dash assures, a smirk across her face as he points a hoof to her defeated opponent. "I got him right where I-"

As Rainbow Dash can only see a fox shaped space of nothing. They all look in different directions for him. Nothing towards town, nothing towards the hills. However, the clothes the fox had been wearing - a pair of jeans and two types of shirt - lay strewn along the path into the Everfree Forest. The jeans lay on the road and the black shirt was draped over a bush. "Shoot!"

"Oh, *gasp*, no..." Twilight breathes, puffed out from the sprint. "We, lost him."

The fitter Applejack seemed to be able to handle the sprint better despite the weight. She wasn't sucking in air like
"Is everypony OK?" She asks.

"It's not us you need to worry about!" Rainbow Dash answers, throwing jabs into the air. "That fox never stood a chance. He never saw me coming! He was like "I'll burn you with my necklace!" and I was like "No way!" and then I downed him in one hit one he lost his swordy-thingy!"

"Swordy thingy?" Applejack inquires.

"Burn you with his necklace?" Twilight presses further.

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash raises Tyro's pendant with her hoof by the chain. Heat was rising from it as if it had been baking in the sun.

Applejack looks over the forest, eyeing up the strewn clothes with a frustrated huff.
"I think we lost him now. That forest'll need more than just us to look through it and even with the pony-power, we can't afford to lose anypony."

"We might be able to find out more about this fugitive from these belongings. He might also come back for them so we'll have to make sure they stay somewhere secure. We could get a second chance to catch him." Twilight discerns. "Take the necklace back to the library and can someone pick up his clothes too?"

Rainbow Dash turns up her nose: "I'm not touching them. They look like they fit in with the place."

Author's Note

Version 1.3
- Greater attempt at characterisation and setting up hints of character conflict to continue in later chapters