Pony of Interest: Names and Numbers

Irrelevant List

A light blue stallion with an unkempt, dark grey-blue mane stretched contently on the large bed, reaching out a wing to stroke the mare laying next to him. The pegasus with rainbow locks lazily opened one dark magenta eye, smiling at her coltfriend as his feathers reached her flank, lightly brushing against the cloud with a rainbow thunderbolt coming out of it. She teasingly batted his wing away, making him chuckle and retreat his wing, showing a winged yellow bolt on his own flank.

A light blue mare with wildly tangled and overgrown rainbow mane and tail sat in an empty train car, slumped over in the early morning light. Her unpreened wings barely shielded her from glancing eyes as she stared blankly at her own muddy back hooves resting against the ground.

"Move it, punk," a grouchy voice snarled from the opening door. The homeless mare slowly lifted her eyes to see two stallions confronting each other in the doorway, one a unicorn and one an earth pony. The one closer moved his mane slightly to show an apparatus with a barrel, a combustion chamber, and a trigger with a rope attached to it. These contraptions had been introduced to Equestria fairly recently, but had already become a common sight.

"You call that a gun?" the unicorn sneered with a cocky grin. "I'll show you a gun. You won't even see it, you'd be dead so fast."

"Chill out," a second unicorn said, shoving the first through the door. "Everyone's packing now, let the punk go."

The earth pony hastily went out the door as two more unicorn stallions came in.

"I told you we should have walked," the third groaned.

"Relax. We're getting a new shipment soon, we'll have firepower to spare." The first spotted the rainbow mare, who looked down and moved one of her forelegs so something at her side was pushed against her fur. He smirked. "Besides, if we walk, we don't get to meet new friends."

The unicorn reached out a hoof and grabbed a bottle of berry-flavored booze from the mare's side. Quickly and forcefully, the mare lashed out her own hoof, twisting it around his and holding it tightly. He looked at her momentarily, before she seemed to shake a little and abruptly let go. Pushing it off as normal for a probably deranged homeless mare, he pulled it away from her and set it down a few seats away.

"What, did your mother never teach you how to share?" the stallion sneered, his friends advancing on her. "Maybe we'll just have to teach you."

The ringleader sparked up his horn, but nearly instantly the mare bolted to her hooves and slammed her forehead against his, hearing a CRACK from the protrusion of bone. She quickly kicked out her two back legs, hitting a second and sending him into a window, making it crack in a spiderweb pattern. The third and fourth both began to use magic against the pegasus, sending her to the floor. However, to their complete surprise, they couldn't hold her there; she used her wings to push herself up a few inches, then shot all four of her legs out at full force, hitting their legs and making them stumble. The mare used her shoulder to ram one into the other, throwing them across the car and hitting their heads on the wooden portion of a chair. The ringleader had at this point struggled to a standing position, and the pegasus lunged forwards, pressing both front hooves against opposite sides of his neck, both strangling him and cutting off circulation at the same time. As the unicorn's eyes went wide and fearful, the blue mare's didn't change in the slightest, remaining cold and emotionless. It was only once his began to become cloudy and lifeless that the mare's hooves shook violently. She abruptly dropped the unicorn on the floor, swaying a bit before falling to it herself, curling into a quaking fetal position.

"Hey, could you get a statement from the homeless one? She's still here, refused to get any treatment."

"Alright."

A light yellow pegasus mare with flowing pastel pink hair trotted into a large room with many desks and seats, three pink butterflies on her flank being her most identifying feature. She passed by four bloody and bruised unicorn stallions, noting one had blood at the base of his horn as well as bruises around fatal regions of the neck.

The mare looked into the windowed-off room to her left, seeing a very unkempt but ultimately unharmed mare with rainbow mane and tail sitting in a chair against the wall, watching the floor intensely. Shaking her head, she pushed the door open and walked inside.

"You know, it would have made me helping you a lot easier to do if you had just a little bruising," the yellow pegasus said, voice surprisingly soft for a police officer. "I mean, I don't want you to be hurt, but it would have made putting them behind bars so they couldn't hurt anypony else less difficult."

The silent mare raised her eyes as the soft-spoken pegasus picked up a plastic cup and filled it with water, offering it to her companion in custody. "My name is Fluttershy. What's yours?"

The rainbow pegasus was silent for a moment. "You know, it seems like the only time you need a name is when you're in trouble." She finally pulled her head up to look full-frontal at the officer. "Guess I'm in trouble?"

"Maybe a little," Fluttershy reluctantly agreed. "You did attack other ponies. I saw the tape, and it looks like you spent some time in the service. But you don't learn how to fight like that as a Royal Guard, or the Wonderbolts, since you're a pegasus. Were you in some kind of special forces?"

The blue mare simply sipped out of the plastic cup, watching Fluttershy. Realizing this wasn't going to get her much, the officer decided to switch to a different tact.

"I realize it might be a little sensitive, but...well, do you need help?" she asked sympathetically. "I mean, you are living on the streets. I know a lot of ex-Guards, and making the transition back to normal life can be really hard." Again, her suspect was silent.

"But then again," she added, going over to an old television and flipping it on, showing security footage of the mare's ruthless attack on the quadruplet of unicorns, "some that I know did so many things they consider evil, they feel like they deserve the punishment. ...Is that how you feel?"

The yellow mare stared at the rainbow-haired suspect, who simply stared back, face carefully blank. It was clear at this point the pegasus in custody was not going to say another word. Still grinning sympathetically, Fluttershy called an intern by the name of Featherweight to take a picture of the mark on the blue mare's flank. She brought the picture back to a computer and scanned it through a database of documented Cutie Marks, trying to see if the homeless mare had been arrested before. Once the file was found and unsealed, she pulled up the arrest record. What turned up shocked her, as well as Featherweight, who was still watching.

"That mare is wanted in four different countries?" the colt asked, gawking. "Fluttershy, is she the angel of death?"

Fluttershy could simply shake her head in response.

Meanwhile, a pony came in, looking around. She spotted the blue pegasus and pointed to her. "I'm here for my client," she said, startling the rainbow-colored mare. She could barely afford her booze, never mind a lawyer of any kind! Still trying to process what was going on, the pegasus was led out of the Canterlot Precinct and into the street outside.

"Thanks for the help," she said, "but who's payin' for it?"

She stopped as two other ponies came up as well, surrounding her on three sides. "Our employer would like to speak to you," the first one simply stated, leading her away. Fluttershy trotted over to the door, but it was too late; her suspect was nowhere to be seen.

The three ponies led the somewhat anxious pegasus to the base of the palace at the heart of the city, cast in shadow even though the sun was high. Another mare was standing at its base, facing away from the approaching group. Usually the first thing to notice about her would be the fact she was a unicorn, but in this case, the homeless mare's eyes were drawn to a strange and intricate brace on the lavender mare's back right leg. It was made of metal, probably stainless steel. There were two thick bands around her hind leg, angled towards the knee with a few thin cross-beams between, preventing said knee from bending. There was another thick band around the unicorn's waist, connected to the others with the same thin beams, but hinges allowed the joint near the hip to move freely. It was also possible to see her Cutie Mark through the strange contraption; a magenta, six-pointed star surrounded by five smaller, white stars with the same number of points.

"Do I owe you money?" the pegasus asked, no longer apprehensive after seeing her host was handicapped. "I'm pretty much out at the moment, in case you didn't notice."

"You don't owe me anything, Ms. Rainbow Dash," the mare said, turning to look past her dark mane with stripes of magenta and violet, revealing purple eyes. The blue mare felt her eyes bulge slightly. How did she – ?

"Yes, I know your name," the unicorn said, turning to face the pegasus full-frontal, the back leg with the brace causing a slightly awkward limp. "Well, I know you've had several, but that's the one you prefer, yes? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone any of what I know about you."

"You don't know anything about me," Rainbow Dash muttered, shaking her head.

"Actually, I know exactly everything about you," the strange mare said. "I know about your time in the Wonderbolts, and the Shadowbolts afterwards. I know you began to have doubts about the work you did with them. I know that everypony who ever cared about you thinks you're dead or is dead themselves."

The unicorn paused, glancing away from the pegasus' eyes and past her head. "I know you've been trying to drink yourself to death for the past six months. I also know you've been unsatisfied with your lack of success and are currently contemplating more efficient methods.

"You can see clearly, knowledge is not my issue," she continued, reverting her gaze to her subject. She took a few limping steps towards the pegasus, who was now scrutinizing the unicorn through more cautious eyes. "My issue is being able to do something with that knowledge. That's why I called you here."

"Before I agree to anything," Rainbow Dash deadpanned, "I want to know your name."

"If you're looking for my actual name, you'll be disappointed," the unicorn honestly replied. "However, you may call me Twilight Sparkle. I've called you here to offer you something that I believe will help you much more than a psychiatrist or pills. I called you here to offer you a job...and perhaps, if you agree, a purpose."

The purple unicorn indicated with her head that Rainbow Dash should walk with her. The two set off towards a road a few paces away, into a throng of other civilians, milling about the large city. The pegasus was pleased to find she didn't have to slow down much for Twilight; she was matching the walk the somewhat impatient mare had set with little difficulty.

"There are upwards of five million ponies living in Canterlot. And none of them know what will happen next. Recent murder rates have put a pony living here dying every twelve hours."

The unicorn looked over the crowd, slowing her steps to a halt. "By the end of the day, one of these ponies will be dead."

"Bad things happen to ponies all the time," Rainbow Dash replied, looking out over the crowd herself. "You can't stop it."

"But what if somepony could?" Twilight asked, turning to look at the mare next to her. "Nearly 90% of all crimes are planned days, weeks, even months before. What if somepony could stop those?"

Rainbow Dash turned to look at the unicorn with half lidded eyes. "And how exactly would anypony do that?" Twilight glanced up at the sun for a moment before lowering her gaze back to her companion.

"I have a highly accurate list," she began, looking back over the crowd, as if scanning for one pony in particular. "A list of ponies about to be involved in horrible situations; murders, kidnappings, any violent crime you can imagine being planned out in advance. Most are simply ordinary ponies, and have no idea what's about to happen. Like her."

Rainbow Dash turned to look at the pony Twilight Sparkle had indicated with a tilt of the head. Standing at a nearby drink stand was an earth pony mare. She had a navy coat, and her mane was greyish-blue and styled with slight poofs. Her tail matched her mane in color, but was straight.

"Her name is Chilly Puddle," Twilight said, as the mare thanked the clerk and walked away. "And this week, she's the first pony on my list. I don't know for sure what is going to happen. She might be a victim, or she could be a perpetrator. Either way, she's going to be involved.

"What I want you to do is follow her, find out what's going to happen...and stop it from happening."

There was silence as the two mares gazed evenly at each other, each trying to gauge the other's response without giving one of their own.

"So what do you think?" Twilight Sparkle asked after a moment.

"Oh, I'll TELL ya what I think," Rainbow Dash growled, glaring at the unicorn. "I think you're a bored rich mare with way too much time on her hooves. I think you met that mare walking the same direction on the street, or she's your ex, or the mare your colt's having on the side, or something. But whatever the case, I think I'm done here!"

The pegasus turned to stomp off, only to be blocked by one of her escorts from earlier. The other pony tried to grab a hold of the rainbow mare, but she smacked a powerful wing across her face and flew off, leaving Twilight Sparkle looking after her.

"Tonight local police are looking for a homeless mare seen last leaving the Canterlot Precinct with a distinctly rainbow-patterned mane. She was originally jumped on the subway by a small gang of unicorn stallions, but she is now being considered a pony of interest in several cases from all across Equestria..."

Rainbow Dash barely listened to the evening news cast, only turning from the motel room's mirror to see a sketch of her on the TV (which was horribly inaccurate; her fur tone was much too dark and her mane spectrum was put in reverse). She awkwardly wielded a pair of scissors in her mouth and one hoof, chopping off extra hair from her tail and mane. By the time she was done, there was enough hair on the floor to make a wig, yet her mane was still neck-length and her tail was only a few inches away from touching the ground. The mare picked up a half-empty bottle of wine from the bedside table as an old movie came on. After taking a few drinks from it, she attempted to put it back on the table. Before she could hear it hit the ground or realize she missed the table, she had fallen asleep.

The pegasus colt next to Rainbow Dash sat up in bed, looking at the muted television intently.

"Soarin? What's up?" she asked, receiving no response. "Something happen, Soarin?"

Br-riiiiing! Br-riiiiing!

The phone abruptly pulled Rainbow Dash out of her dream and into a new day...and the wrong hotel room. She tried to reach over to grab it, only to find her neck had been tied to the headboard with a thick rope.

"What in the – ?"

Br-riiiiing! Br-riiiiing!

With a growl, she pulled the phone over to her ear with a forehoof. The other voice was a bit grainy through the strange contraption, but it was certainly identifiable.

"You need to understand, Ms. Rainbow Dash," Twilight's voice came, low and almost threatening. "I know the information I receive is incomplete at best, but I can assure you, it's never wrong. You need to know what it's like to be forced to listen to someone get murdered and not be able to do anything about it."

There was a sharp click on the other end, making Rainbow Dash throw the phone back down to its base. No more than a few seconds later, sounds of a struggle began to be heard from a door. It sounded like a mare and a stallion, glass was breaking and things were being thrown. Somepony was in trouble! The pegasus reacted quickly, looking around for something to get her off her own bed and into the other room. She grabbed the half empty wine bottle from the floor with her two back legs, flipping it to her mouth and smashing the base against the headboard. As the red liquid splattered everywhere and glass shards fell to the floor, she turned the jagged top half of the bottle on the ropes, sawing at the fabric. The struggles of the mare had begun to become less audible and further apart by the time the bind broke. She wasted no time in breaking down the door, landing in the other room with a thud. When she looked up, she saw a speaker, and from it she heard the dying sigh of a mare.

"12 August, 1508," the speaker gave a monotone date as Rainbow Dash looked past it with wide eyes to where Twilight Sparkle was laying on the bed with a newspaper, the braced leg stuck out to the side. The unicorn looked up as the audio reel next to her clicked to a stop.

"Too late."

Rainbow Dash panted, getting up from the floor and looking from the electronic speaker to the other mare in complete confusion as her adrenaline rush began to wear off. Twilight used her magic to fold the newspaper closed.

"As you can tell from the date, this recording is three years old," the unicorn said, pulling herself off the bed and carefully placing her braced leg on the ground. "A young mare was murdered in this room by her husband...because she was carrying an unwanted foal." The newspaper from before was levitated over to Rainbow Dash's face. The headline read Accidental Foal leads to Planned Murder. The pegasus took a slight step back as it was withdrawn and placed neatly on the bed next to the audio reel.

"You were too late for her," Twilight said, looking at the other mare from across the room. "Just like you were too late for your friend Soarin. You were halfway across Equestria when he was killed."

Rainbow Dash lived up to her name; faster than most mares could manage, she sprung up and exploded towards Twilight, knocking the unicorn against the wall by her neck.

"What the hell do you know about that?!" she growled, using her wings to lift herself and the mysterious mare up a few inches off the ground, putting as much pressure on her throat as she could.

"It's unfortunate, but it's the truth!" Twilight managed to gasp out, struggling for breath but not to free herself. "You left the Shadowbolts because they lied to you, but I promise you I never will! I truly believe all you ever wanted to do was help ponies!"

The pegasus abruptly dropped her captor with a snarl, causing her to land jarringly on her bad leg and fall to the floor with a thunk. Rainbow Dash landed a few moments later, panting angrily as Twilight let out a few pained gasps. Giving her a moment to recover, the tomboyish mare stormed over to the audio recorder, throwing herself on the floor and studying it.

"How the hay did you get your hooves on this?!" she asked, glaring at the tape. "This is special 'magic sonar' stuff they used since Celestia's reign in official government!" She turned to Twilight, who was just now getting up on her own four hooves as the rainbow mare's temper cooled. "But you're not government."

"No I'm not," the unicorn agreed, going back over to the bed and slowly sitting next to the pegasus. "I suppose you could call me...a concerned third party.

"You couldn't have saved that poor mare, or your friend," Twilight continued, looking intensely at Rainbow Dash, causing the mare to look straight back. "But you could have if you had known in time – and that's the other thing I'm offering you, a chance to be there in time!"

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, darting them between both of Twilight's, trying to catch a lie in even one. After giving the pegasus a moment to know she was completely serious, the lavender mare used her magic to conjure up a hologram of the grey-blue mare from the day before.

"It's not too late for her," Twilight emphasized as Rainbow Dash studied the mare's form. "You can help me stop whatever's about to happen to her. The question is, will you?"

Rainbow Dash watched the hologram long and hard. Chilly Puddle was walking in place, her real counterpart probably simply making her way to work on the streets of Canterlot, no idea something catastrophic could happen to her life at any moment. As the hologram looked up, seemingly straight at her, she made her choice.

"I'm in."

"What is this place?"

"The decline of Equestrian civilization."

Rainbow Dash turned to look skeptically at Twilight Sparkle in the dark tunnel they were walking through, lit only by the unicorn's magical magenta glow at the tip of her horn.

"The city closed nearly all its libraries," Twilight explained, using her magic to undo a lock and open a door, going inside. "Ponies have slowly begun to use technology like computers and phones brought over from the mirror world. It also brought us guns, unfortunately.

"This particular building was sold to a bank that I control, which promptly went bankrupt. It's been in a bit of a limbo ever since, and probably will be for as long as it stands; according to anypony who cares to look up public records, it doesn't exist."

"Just like you?" Rainbow Dash asked, using her wings to fly over and in front of her unicorn companion as they began to ascend a flight of stairs, flying backwards to face her. "Seriously, I checked everything that could ever exist about a pony and you have none of them."

"Ms. Rainbow Dash, I realize I know much more about you than you know about me," Twilight flatly stated, making her way consistently (if not somewhat awkwardly) up the stairs. "I also know you will be trying to even out the scales as soon as you possibly can. But I must warn you...I'm an extremely private pony."

The pegasus smirked, turning around as they reached a larger area on the top floor of the library, several cases of books lined up neatly from wall to wall. There was a substantial area open, however, almost like a living area. In fact, upon closer inspection, there were some basic food and cooking supplies in one corner, as well as a table set up in the center of the clearing. Twilight made her way over to the table, picking up several small cards in her magic.

"We will most likely be able to create more personas for you as the need arises, but there is one persona that must be 'clean,' per se. It will most closely resemble your actual life, and you cannot use it except for very specific and dire cases,"  the lavender mare explained, setting one card aside. "Other than that, I have six personas for you at the moment, each completely unique. Any funds you need will come from a proxy corporation. We will have to mask your Cutie Mark quite often, but I can use my magic to assist with that."

"Besides that last one and the fact I don't know where the money's coming from, it's just like working with the Shadowbolts," Rainbow snorted, looking around. She stopped, spotting something on the wall. Flying over, she examined it closer; it was a simple cork board, but there were several written notes and photographs stuck on it, tacks being connected with lines of yarn tied to them. "Is this your list?" she asked. "The list?"

"Yep," Twilight responded.

"But you don't get names, do you?" the pegasus asked, looking at a line of written notes down the center. All of them were a sequence of nine numbers, broken up three-two-four. "These are social security numbers! They only started giving these out when ponies started being unable to earn their Cutie Marks because of a lack of opportunities."

"Yes, but they gave them to everypony still alive at the time as well," Twilight explained, making her way over.

"And all of them lead to a violent crime..." the rainbow mare mused, looking down the list. "So what do all these numbers represent?"

"Lost chances," the unicorn beside her answered sadly.

"...You know I could be a whole lot more helpful if you just told me where the hay you get these numbers from."

"It doesn't really matter where I get the numbers, all you need to know is that the next number that's up is hers." The magenta magic of the unicorn encased a photograph of Chilly Puddle, pulling it lightly off the wall and taping it to a cracked Plexiglas board on the other side of the table.

The slate blue mare trotted through the Canterlot streets, going about her lunch break normally. Little did she know, two other ponies were following her.

"Chilly Puddle grew up in Ponyville," the lavender unicorn told Rainbow Dash as they followed their current number. "She learned how to be a law pony there, knowing the crime rate had spiked and the demand for such jobs was going up as well. Unfortunately because of this, she never earned her Cutie Mark. She's currently single, and an assistant director attorney; she has the best conviction rate in her department."

"That'll earn her a few enemies," the pegasus commented, flying slightly above Twilight. "And we don't have the slightest clue as to when this 'bad thing' will happen?"

"It could be a week, it could be five minutes," Twilight nodded. "That's why we need to learn as much about her as possible. Unfortunately, you're going to have to do most of the in the field work."

"Roger."

"How do you intend to begin?"

"Slow way. Meet her, say hi, start a friendship of sorts to earn her trust."

"I'm a bit surprised you'd opt for anything labeled 'slow,'" Twilight commented. "But again, we don't know how long we have. I have to ask you what the fast way is, and if we can do that instead."

"Well, I need a few things for the fast way. Some way to watch her, some way to listen to her, and some way to track her."

"All of which I can provide," the mysterious mare smiled.

Step one: break into the subject's home and go through all their stuff. Rainbow Dash quietly opened the door to Chilly Puddle's home, looking around inside. Chilly had just recently gone off to work in the morning, so there was little to no chance of being spotted. She glanced about, trying to figure out where the most valuable information would be located. The home had things scattered nearly everywhere, but that was alright; if she made a mess, it would be masked by the mess that was already present.

Trotting to the other mare's room, the pegasus began to shuffle things around, looking for a safe or some sort of strong box Chilly might have hidden personal records in. Eventually finding it, Rainbow Dash used a paper clip at hoof to gently pick the lock and get inside. She shuffled through the records, taking pictures of them with a small digital camera Twilight had provided. Once she was done, she carefully put everything back in the box and locked it.

The blue mare began to look around for anything personal; photographs, jewelry or accessories, and most importantly letters. She found a few medicine bottles, but besides that nothing seemed too odd. She checked around briefly for a computer on the off chance the mare owned one, but unsurprisingly she didn't.

"Alright, Twilight," Rainbow Dash muttered to a small Bluetooth headset she had in her ear as she exited the room and closed the door. "Got any software for this cell?"

Step two: get ears and tracking. The rainbow mare stood just behind Chilly Puddle in line to get into the firm. As the slate-colored mare in front of her seemed to be wrapping up a call, Rainbow Dash pulled her own device out of her mane. She tapped on an option called "Bluejack," and looked through the list of names. Finding Chilly Puddle's, she selected it and a loading symbol came up. After a few moments, the message "FORCE PAIRING SUCCESSFUL" was displayed.

"Call you later, Mom!" the mare's chipper voice came from in front, as well as through Rainbow's earpiece. Chilly Puddle put her phone away and walked over to a group of ponies a few paces away.

"How's your case coming along?" her voice came again, even though she wasn't speaking directly into the phone. Rainbow Dash smiled. As long as that phone was charged and had a signal, she'd be able to hear everything the mare said to anypony. It also doubled as a constant tracking device, as long as Twilight could tap into the signal.

"Step three: get eyes. That camera I put in working?"

"Perfectly," Twilight responded, using her magic to type rapidly into a computer in their library headquarters. The camera showed their number walking around her home, talking on her cellphone, an empty plate showing she just finished a quick lunch break.

"Why'd you want us to use technology for all this, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked, watching as the magenta glow pressed keys in quick succession. "Can't you unicorns do pretty much everything with magic?"

"Most unicorns have only basic levitation, along with magic that relates to their talent," the lavender mare explained, continuing to tweak the camera settings from afar. "And even if that weren't true, everypony's magic has its own distinct wavelength, aura, color, and 'quirks.' It's nearly as identifying as a Cutie Mark. Not to mention me continuously using magic will simply be counterproductive.

"In comparison, even though most technologies are powered by magic since we have a less than adequate electric system in Equestria, its main properties are uniform, no matter who is using it, or for what. Usually any distinguishing factors about it are from the device, not the magic itself. For example, two phones have different numbers, but they use the same magical wavelength to communicate."

"I know it's a big case, but I can take care of myself. I'm not a filly anymore," Chilly Puddle said to her mother, who they couldn't hear. The mare was restlessly pacing around her home, continuing to swing one hoof even if she stopped.

"She's tough, that's for sure," Rainbow Dash said, scrutinizing the picture as Twilight made the camera follow the blue-grey mare. "But she's nervous about something; scared, even. Worst part is with that pony's job, nearly everyone could be holding a grudge!"

"Well, let's cut the list into personal life and professional life," Twilight suggested, getting up and limping over to the plastic pane around the table from where she had been sitting. She used her magic to move a few spare photographs around, dividing the board in two, Chilly Puddle's picture in the center.

"Well, for personal life, I'd say most likely is Klein," Rainbow said, moving a picture of a light blue stallion with a dark blue mane and tail to just below and to the left of Chilly Puddle's photo. "He's her co-counselor. They dated for a couple of months last year, but she broke it off."

"40% of murders do involve a past romantic relationship," Twilight nodded.

"Plus, he's a divorced single dad with partial custody, and his career was out-shined by Chilly Puddle," Rainbow added. "As for the other list..." she pulled off a picture of a white earth pony stallion with a two-tone blue mane and tail. "She's prosecuting Icy Drop right now. He's on trial for shooting his buddies in a sour drug deal, and stealing like half a million bits."

"That trial will be starting in a few minutes, won't it?" Twilight asked, looking at a clock; five minutes to one. "It might be wise to hurry on over."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Please. I can get there in ten seconds flat."

"I highly doubt – "

The unicorn couldn't even finish her sentence before the blue pegasus flew at top speed down the stairs, out the door, and to the courthouse, leaving a rainbow streak in her wake. When she skidded to a stop on the marble floor, she smirked and drew her wings in.

"See?" she muttered into the Bluetooth. "Ten. Seconds. Flat."

"Now I know how you broke so many timed records at the Wonderbolt Acadamy," Twilight complimented. "Regardless, perhaps save that speed for emergency situations; your tail trail is pretty noticeable."

"Yeah, yeah," she murmured, watching as Chilly Puddle went through her stuff to make a few last second preparations. Klein came up behind her, and Rainbow Dash listened to the conversation through her earpiece so as not to be to close or too suspicious.

"Hey, do you have time to talk? Maybe over dinner or something?" the stallion asked. Chilly Puddle awkwardly shuffled a pace away.

"I've been really busy with this case," she said.

"Hey, are you alright? You've been acting a little – "

"I'm fine, thanks. I gotta get inside for the trial." The mare nodded her head politely and trotted inside the court doors.

"Suspicious, suspicious," Rainbow murmured, watching closely. Klein looked after her and shook his head, departing from the courthouse. Once she knew she wouldn't be recognized by anypony, the pegasus trotted inside the courtroom and leaned against the wall. The court apparently picked up from where it had left off during the last session, Chilly calling a witness to the stand. A pink earth mare with straight magenta mane and tail walked over to the stand, seeming a bit detached. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but notice the trio of balloons on her flank; strange a mare that seemed like her talent was something cheery would be so depressed. The normal witness questions were asked, and it all flowed along normally.

"When we got there, the scene was pretty bad," the mare said, seeming like she'd rather be anywhere else. "Five ponies were just dead on the ground. One managed to crawl ten feet over to a phone and call the police."

"Detective Pinkie Pie, when you spoke to Icy Drop, what did he say in his defense?" Chilly Puddle asked.

"His exact words were 'If I'd 've shot that poor bastard, I would've shot him right in the head, same as I always do. I wouldn't 've left him half dead, crying like a filly for his marefriend.'"

Chilly nodded her head, though she seemed a little irritated. "No more questions, your honor."

"Detective! You went a little off-script with that last bit of your testimony," Chilly irritably whispered as Rainbow Dash sat down outside the courtroom, listening to the small bicker a few steps away.

"No, if I was off-script, the writer would have changed my lines," Pinkie Pie retorted.

"...What?! Whatever, point is, you never told me about that conversation, and it could clear Drop's name!"

"What's it matter? We still got him."

"It matters because my job is to make absolutely sure the wrong ponies don't get locked up for something they didn't do!"

"Well excuse me for thinking we were on the same team," the pink pony sulked as she trotted past Rainbow Dash, head hung low. Chilly Puddle rolled her eyes and exited in the opposite direction.

"Looks like somepony threw a monkey wrench into her case," the blue pegasus remarked.

"Ms. Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice anxiously asked. "Are you still following Chilly Puddle?"

"No," she sarcastically replied, seeing the mare a few yards ahead of her, trotting through the light of the white moon. "It's not like I haven't been following her all day, why would I have anything else to do?"

"Then I suppose you've also heard she phoned the Canterlot jail. She's meeting with Drop...alone."

"Because that's a fantastic idea," the pegasus muttered. "Okay okay, just give me a minute to get some kind of weapon in case this goes sour."

"Please do so quickly; she's just entering the building."

It didn't take long for Rainbow to fly off to an area she kept assorted weaponry in. She grabbed a random object and stuck it in her tangled mane, listening as Chilly began to speak to the stallion she was trying to prosecute.

"Isn't my lawyer supposed to be here for this?" Icy Drop's voice came through the earpiece, loud and clear.

"Well, I can call him if you really want," Chilly Puddle replied with soft hoofsteps as Rainbow Dash flew back to the jail and began to pace restlessly outside it. "But I'm not here to try and get you to trip up; I'm here because I don't think you murdered those ponies. I think somepony else was in the house when that emergency call went out. Somepony needed to tell you what was said, and that means you weren't there, right?"

There was a moment of strained silence, as if Chilly were waiting for a response that Icy wouldn't provide.

"Is it somepony you're trying to protect?" Chilly asked.

"And what, you're going to help me?" Icy Drop's voice sarcastically inquired.

"The pony that knows what really happened must be somepony you care about," the earth mare quickly responded, the sound of her sitting down reverberating through the earpiece. "Is it your brother, Blue Bonnet?"

"Drop's got a brother?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight. "How did we not know about this?"

"Because I didn't check his case file yet," the unicorn replied, sounding a bit sheepish as she shuffled papers. "Got it now, though."

"Did he see the real killers?" Chilly Puddle pressed.

"You should leave this alone, mare," the convict warned in a low voice. Rainbow's ear twitched; she didn't like where this was going at all. "I can do the time, but those ponies are evil. They kill whenever they want because they're protected from on high. If you keep asking questions, they're going to kill me, and my brother, and probably you too!"

"Whoever these ponies are, you can trust me!" Chilly Puddle pleaded as Twilight gave a small whine of foreboding, obviously feeling this was going downhill fast as well. "We'll take care of you and your brother."

There was a pause, followed by Chilly giving a sigh. If Rainbow had to guess, Icy had shaken his head "no."

"If the killers are out there, I'm going to find them, whether you help me or not," she snipped, getting to her hooves. "It's my job to. Now why don't you – !"

The mare was cut off as Icy Drop gave some sort of yell and sounds of a struggle broke out. Rainbow Dash pulled the machete she had stored in her mane earlier out with her mouth and began to gallop towards the entrance. She could make out "Keep your damn mouth shut, or I'll shut it for you!" and Chilly gasping for air. A buzzer sounded and a few stallions grunted on the other end, struggling against each other.

"I'm fine," Chilly managed after a sigh, making the rainbow mare outside screech to a halt. Seemed as if the security guards took care of it. "Okay! She's okay, she's okay," she said, more to herself than Twilight on the other end, though a sigh of relief came through the phone.

"I'll give you one thing, Twilight," Rainbow said as the unicorn back at the library sat down shakily. "Whoever framed Drop is going to be coming after Chilly. And the only pony who knows who they are is Drop's brother."

New asset identified: Rainbow Dash. Reviewing information...

Important life moment identified. Accessing...

September 22, 1501, 07:14

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine."

Rainbow Dash was speaking into a phone, laying on a bed next to a pegasus stallion. "I'm over in Las Pegasus with Surprise. I'll see you soon, kay? Bye."

She hung up, double checking to make sure she operated the strange device correctly. Her companion chuckled.

"Surprise?" he asked.

"I had to say somepony that was a mare. Dad's a little overprotective, still thinks I'm a little kid," she replied, rolling her eyes before closing them. Soarin stretched out slightly, reaching out a wing to stroke his marefriend's side. She lazily opened an eye and batted his wing away, making him chuckle again as she smiled.

"Man, I wish this weekend would be longer," the mare sighed, leaning her head over to Soarin's shoulder.

"Well, it's only Saturday, we've got time," the Wonderbolt pointed out, looking over at the calendar.

"Yeah, two days. That's not a whole lot, since you're going to be going back to the Wonderbolts base on Monday. We're not going to get to see each other for two weeks, at least. And you know how I hate waiting!"

"Then ask me to stay, and I will. I'll quit," Soarin replied, stroking his wing across her side again.

"Alright, then quit."

"I already did."

Rainbow Dash moved her head off his shoulder and turned to look right in the stallion's green eyes, bemused. "What?"

"Yeah," he smiled.

"But...you love the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash retorted. "Why wouldn't you? They're the coolest, most awesome, most talented fliers in all of Equestria! How could you just...give that up?"

"I didn't want to take the chance somepony else would steal your heart away before I could."

Despite herself, the mare smiled at her coltfriend. "Nopony else is fast enough to catch up with it."

Soarin let out a laugh, but it was abruptly cut short when Rainbow Dash pressed her lips against his. Breaking the kiss several seconds later, she turned back to the phone. "This deserves some of Berryshine's wine!"

The ex-Wonderbolt rolled his eyes, glancing at the muted television. Suddenly he sat up in straighter, watching the device intently.

"Soarin? What's up?" she asked, receiving no response. "Something happen, Soarin?"

Rainbow turned her head to the television as Soarin looked around frantically for the remote. Her smile faded as she studied the picture; the camera had been pointed towards the sun, a special lens turning the blazing ball dark green. Darker spots were visible on the sun, forming the rough image of an alicorn with a flowing mane across its surface. The stallion finally found the remote and pressed the "Mute" button again.

" – have overthrown Princess Celestia and trapped her in the sun. The whereabouts of Princess Luna are yet unknown, though many speculate she's also been magically infused with her celestial body, the moon."

Soarin turned to Rainbow Dash, his eyes reflecting the confusion and concern she knew were in her own.

Situation detected. Locating asset...

Current date/time: September 25, 1511, 11:34

Rainbow Dash peered through a set of binoculars from a rooftop, looking into the office building across the alley. Chilly Puddle was sorting through papers of cases, when a knock came at her door. She quickly shoved papers into a folder as Klein stuck his head in the door.

"You went to see Drop alone last night?!" he accused. "Are you insane?!"

"I wanted to give him one last chance to give me an accomplice, cut a deal, you know?" the mare awkwardly defended herself, putting more papers in the folder. Klein seemed still irate, but softened after hearing her justification.

"He give anyone up?"

"Um, no. Figures, right?" Chilly Puddle got up from her sitting position, her folder balanced on her back as she approached the door. Klein didn't move. "Uh, I'm late, do you mind...ya know?"

"Oh, pft, right, sorry," Klein said, stepping out of the way. The mare nodded to him and trotted out.

"Looks like our girl's trying to find Blue," Rainbow commented through the Bluetooth.

"And she's blocking out Klein," Twilight responded, scrutinizing the stallion pasted on the fractured plastic. "Suppose she thinks he's involved? Drop did make a comment about them being 'protected from on high.'"

"I don't doubt it," the rainbow mare deadpanned, looking back through her binoculars as movement in Chilly Puddle's office caught her eye. "Especially since he's nosing around in her stuff."

"Wha- really?!" Twilight asked as Rainbow watched. Klein was shuffling papers around, skipping over some as if he had seen them before. He found one particular paper and picked it up. Squinting through her binoculars, she saw the paper had a picture of a blue stallion, most likely Icy Drop's brother.

"Yeah, and he might be working for the killers," she growled, letting the optical device drop from her face. "He just found a document on Bonnet. We need to get to this guy before somepony else does first."

A school bell rung in the dreary afternoon, followed by the sound of ponies chattering. Not fillies and colts, however, but nearly full-grown stallions and mares. Rainbow Dash was standing impatiently just outside the gates of a new "adult school," founded recently to help ponies learn how to do other jobs if the one their talent specified was hard to obtain or simply unnecessary in the changing Equestria.

The pegasus mare scanned the heads of the exiting students, trying to spot one particular stallion out of a hundred or more. Finally, sauntering towards her, she saw Blue Bonnet, saddlebags full of books. She noted his Cutie Mark was two interlocked horseshoes, one silver and one gold. Trying not to seem suspicious, she wandered over to the threshold of the gate, waiting for the earth pony to approach her.

"Hey, Blue?" she asked. The stallion turned to her, seeming suspicious and confused. "I need to talk to you for a sec."

Blue Bonnet didn't stop to question who she was or why she wanted to talk; he just flat out ran in the other direction. Swearing under her breath, the mare gave chase on her own hooves, keeping her pace just slow enough that her rainbow trail wouldn't show. They ran around corners, down sidewalks, and through alleyways, all the time dodging around random civilians; that is, until Blue Bonnet nearly got run over by taxi carriage in the streets. Rainbow came up behind him and tackled him onto the sidewalk, grabbing onto his saddlebag to stop him.

"Would ya jush lishen?!" she growled through her teeth, clenching the strap. "I've got a message from yer broder!"

"You don't know my brother!" Blue protested, yanking his bag free with a sudden turn on his hooves.

"Ack! Well, not exactly, but I know what you saw! And there are other ponies looking for you too!" She trotted around so she was facing him head on. "You need to come with me, or I don't know what the hay'll happen to you!"

Blue Bonnet took a hasty step backwards, looking around wildly for anypony nearby to help him. He spotted a small group of construction workers just over Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"Hey! Somepony help me!" he called, taking a step past her. "This mare's trying to pull me into a cab with her!" he called. The pegasus rolled her eyes with a disgusted scoff, pulling out her cellphone with her wing and slipping it into Blue's saddlebag. The construction workers advanced towards the pair, prompting Rainbow to lightly shove Blue Bonnet away, making him retreat into a nearby building.

"Hello, boys," she cockily greeted as the construction stallions formed a semicircle in front of her. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the stallion she had been chasing ran down a flight of stairs inside the building to a basement.

"Seems the cell phone loses signal while underground," Twilight noted, her horn fading from glowing as she magically tried to locate the device. "When Bonnet comes out again, we'll be able to find him using it."

Rainbow glanced over at her, eyes half-lidded. "Really?" Twilight turned to her, brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"Look, if Drop's right, I'm going to need a hell of a lot more than just a cell phone to deal with these guys."

The lavender mare swung one of her front hooves in the air awkwardly. "Um...yeah, about that. I don't really like firearms that much."

"Well, neither do I, but if somepony's gotta have 'em, I'm gonna make sure it's me. Now show me how to use that computer to find my friends from the train."

"...It'll be faster if I do it," the unicorn replied, limping over to the keyboard and using her magic to type. "Why them, though?"

The pegasus smirked. "I think they might have just what I need." Her coworker simply gave her a quizzical glance before going back to the computer.

"Alright, found them."

An assault rifle was levitated in the air, inspected by the ringleader unicorn stallion from several days before.

"How's this one, Dad?" he asked. An older unicorn glared at him.

"Are you planning on buying that? Put that down; I'm half tempted to kick your ass for the sellers."

As the stallion hastily put the gun back, the door opened. A blue pegasus mare walked in, rainbow locks getting tossed over her black saddlebags as she turned her head towards the stallions. "Hey boys. Seen the mare's room?" The unicorns flashed confused glances between each other as the mare locked her eyes on one in particular.

"Hey, remember me?" she asked, making the ring leader turn his head to her. "I was on the train, just a couple days ago? I know, I was a wreck."

"You know this mare?" the elder stallion asked. As the unicorn turned to stammer a response, Rainbow looked on the table.

"Holy hayseeds, that's a lot of gu- "

When she took a step forwards, all the unicorns around her drew their guns and pointed them at her. She looked around, spotting the one nearest her holding his gun sideways.

"You ponies took a safety class for those, right?" she asked. "'Cause you're holding that the entirely wrong way. You can't aim it, and the shell casing is going to probably hit you in the eye. See?"

Using her lightning speed, the mare knocked the gun to face upwards, causing the stallion to fire out of shock. The shell casing hit him square in the eye, causing him to lose his concentration and drop the gun. Rainbow caught it in her mouth and spun, using her tongue to pull the trigger and shoot out the kneecaps of two of the unicorns, making them fall to the floor. Her ear swiveled behind her just before she got on her front legs and bucked backwards, hitting the now unarmed stallion behind her. Using the last of her ammo, she shot the knees of the elder unicorn before firing on the horn of the ringleader. His magic fractured with the tip of his horn, and he was left defenseless.

Spitting the empty gun into her saddlebag, she used her wings to scoop other firearms into the pockets, among them the assault rifle, a grenade launcher, shotgun, gas gun, and a few small pistols of different kinds.

"I'll hold onto these until you decide to stop being idiots," she said. Securing the straps, the mare began to walk out the door. "Thanks boys!" she called, rapidly exiting the building. The last stallion standing turned to his father, nearly mortified.

"Who the hell was that?!" the elder unicorn demanded.

"Ms. Rainbow Dash," Twilight's voice came over the Bluetooth as the pegasus trotted down the sidewalk in the soft glow of night, "I've finally received a signal from your phone."

"Good, that means we can find Blue Bonnet and figure out who's going after Chilly?" the mare asked, glad things finally seemed to be looking up for the first time that day.

"Sorry to bring down the optimism I'm hearing, but we have a bit of a situation; somepony else got to him first. Listen."

"Aw, Blue," a new voice spoke, a mare's, but deeper than Twilight. Its cadence sounded vaguely familiar. "You were gonna tell him aaaaaall about us, huh? Shoulda known better."

"Are you hearing this?!" Twilight frantically prompted. "Please, you must act quickly; they're heading towards the unused mountain path to Ponyville, probably to dump his body after they finish!"

"Already there," Rainbow replied, taking off at speeds comparable to a train. Working her wings furiously, she sped towards the area where Canterlot connected to the mountain.

"Hmm, how should we do this, sis?" the deeper mare asked again. "I think we should put two in the back of his head, make it look like a 'gang thang,' as Pinkamena would say."

Oh no you don't! the rainbow mare thought with a snarl, picking up speed. She landed her hooves on the rugged terrain a hundred yards or so ahead of where she would first see Blue and the unidentified mare turn the corner to reach the path, letting friction grind her to a halt. Wings still outspread, she turned and grabbed the grenade launcher in her mouth, turning it towards the path. As a last second thought, she pulled out a ski mask and pulled it over her face before taking up position, using her front hooves to steady the launcher, mouth on the trigger. As soon as the small group came into view, she fired, sending a tear gas grenade right at them. It hit a dark grey mare right in the forehead, knocking her out cold on the ground. One other mare she couldn't see clearly was quickly overcome by the gas, coughing and trying to stumble away. Throwing the launcher back into the open saddlebag, Rainbow charged in and through the cloud, grabbing Blue Bonnet and a dropped wallet on the way. Several hundred yards away, she touched down again, pulling off her mask. The stallion she rescued looked around in a frenzy of horror.

"What the hay did you just do?! You're crazy, you know that?!" he accused, making the pegasus roll her eyes as she turned to examine the wallet. "We're both dead once they get up! Do you know who they are?!"

"Well, I do now," she commented. What she was holding turned out not to be a wallet at all. It was a police badge.

"Cops. Come on, let's get you someplace safe."

Rainbow Dash watched from afar, staring at the group of cops plus one from the night before. They were at Doughnut Joe's on a pre-work stop. From what she could tell, the leader was a mare with dark grey fur and a darker grey mane. According to her badge I.D., her name was Marble Pie, though she heard her friends call her "Inkie." Second in command was the pink detective from a couple of days ago, Pinkie Pie. The third of the triumvirate seemed younger and less experienced; she was dark grey, and her mane was slightly lighter. She'd heard her called "Blinkie," though this could have simply been a nickname. Using a camera, she took several pictures of the flat-haired group of earth ponies, noting a family resemblance and common second half of their name; though not always true, some families kept a common name among its members. Surveillance complete, the pegasus quickly exited the area, making her way to a small park not too far away. She quickly spotted the mare with the leg brace, standing near a food vendor. Trotting over, she caught the unicorn's attention.

"Just what the hoofin' hell have you got me into?" Rainbow asked.

"Quite frankly, I have no idea," Twilight responded, sounding a bit surprised. "I hired you to help me figure that out."

Pulling the camera out with a roll of her eyes, the rainbow mare showed her some of the pictures she took. "I think it's a group of corrupt cops. Looks like Marble's on narcotics. She and 'Blinkie' or whatever her real name is get word of a deal, go in, steal the drugs, bits, and kill any witnesses."

"And then they get Pinkie Pie to frame other ponies like Icy Drop for the murders," Twilight concluded.

"Correctamundo. Seems like Chilly's their next target. Or maybe not, I don't know. Hay, I don't know anything anymore, 'cause you won't tell me where the hay you get these numbers from!"

The unicorn hesitated, catching a sigh in her throat and letting it out reluctantly. She glanced up at the slight clouds covering the sun before bringing her gaze back down, looking first off to the side, then right at Rainbow.

"When Princess Celestia was overthrown, you were in a hotel in Las Pegasus. But I...I was here, studying magic. I didn't even know until the sun was going down... You see, until that day, I'd spent all my life reading about magic and practicing it tirelessly, even using that magic to acquire a large savings. But that day...it seemed I'd never really been doing anything with it at all." She bowed her head slightly and began to walk down the path with her awkward limp, Rainbow following.

"After that day, ponies were scared senseless. If somepony could seal an otherwise immortal alicorn in the sun, who knew what they could do to the commoner. They wanted some way to be protected, some way that would be flawless. The royal guards found that by tapping into the unique magic inside every pony, they could collect information from their sensory experiences without influencing or harming them at all. Not to mention microphones and cameras of all sorts could add to the database. But they couldn't sort through it all by themselves. They needed a source of magic much more powerful, and less...sentient. It was originally intended to pick out terrorist attacks alone, before they could be enacted. When they finally got a spell and system to work, they had to keep it secret from all but a select few, or it might be altered or used incorrectly."

Rainbow Dash turned to her. "So how do you know about it? You hack in with your magic?"

"...I made it." she answered. Though her stride didn't stop, Rainbow's did, halting the same time her brain did. Shaking her head to clear it and resolving to ask questions later, she trotted after the purple mare.

"There was one problem with this spell, though," the unicorn continued, keeping her stare straight ahead. "I designed it to stop the next world-changing event...but it also saw every other planned crime. So I had to teach the source of magic I was using to divide what it saw into two lists. Relevant and irrelevant. Anything that would cause massive loss of life or threaten our way of life were relevant, so those were given to the royal guards."

"And the irrelevant?" the pegasus asked.

Twilight paused, as if ashamed. "Every night at midnight...all memory of that list is erased. It was only after I gave the scrolls to the royal guard that I realized how big a mistake I made. That list chewed at my conscience like nothing you would ever imagine, driving me nearly to madness."

"So where is this power source you tapped into? Can't you go there to get the list?"

The unicorn beside her gave a wry chuckle. "No, Ms. Rainbow Dash. That source of magic is far beyond my reach, or that of anypony else. And don't suggest taking back the scrolls; who knows where they are now. But the magic itself, what truly makes up this...what I call a 'machine,' for lack of a better word, is everywhere. Watching us with every eye, listening with every ear."

"And you gave yourself a way to communicate with it," the pegasus accused, stopping her stride and narrowing her eyes at the unicorn. Her associate turned to her.

"I gave a spell of unimaginable power to royal guards that might not hold to their original intention in a few years; I figured a mild counter-spell could be useful. So I used a sort of 'back door' to reach it."

"To access that irrelevant list," Rainbow concluded.

Twilight nodded. "Just a social security number, but it was enough. Any more and somepony could find out and I'd lose the little ability I have."

"And we don't have any idea why it picked Chilly Puddle?"

"It wouldn't be pointing her out to us if it wasn't seeing something," the unicorn assured her accomplice. Rainbow shook her head.

"I don't know if I can protect this mare," she truthfully said. "I can't see the big picture here."

Twilight nodded, looking down and away for a moment. "I offered you a job, Rainbow Dash," she replied, returning her eyes to the level of the impatient mare beside her. "I never said it would be easy."

The unicorn limped off, Rainbow staring at her retreating form blankly, pondering this new information. And more importantly, what to do next.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was climbing the steps to the precinct, passing a coworker on his way out.

"Hey, Fluttershy!" he greeted. "You hear about your friends from the train a couple of days ago?"

The pegasus cocked her head. "I don't believe so. Why? Did something happen?" The stallion chuckled.

"Them and the ringleader's father tried to buy some guns. Get this; they were shot with their own merchandise."

The canary mare gawked, amazed at this piece of news. "They're not dead, are they?"

"No, nothing like that. Embarrassed as hay, though. Apparently, they were taken out by one 'rainbow mare.' If that's slang for what I think, I'd be embarrassed too."

Her coworker departed, leaving Fluttershy standing on the steps, confused and brain turning over in high gear. Rainbow mare, hm? Perhaps... shaking her head free of the thought, she decided to focus on the day before her instead of dwelling on that.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice came over the phone. "I'm afraid I have some bad news... Icy Drop was stabbed to death in his cell last night."

"What?!"

"They're trying to cover their tracks."

The rainbow mare squinted through her binoculars, watching Chilly Puddle working into the rainy mid-morning without any idea of what had happened to her suspect the night before. "They must be going after Chilly next," she growled.

The earth mare's phone rang, making the pegasus' ear twitch. Chilly picked up, but didn't have a chance to greet the caller.

"You wanted to meet," a gruff voice more stated than asked, sounding familiar but not quite enough to place. "Three blocks north, two east, on the corner. Twenty minutes." A click sounded, followed by the dial tone. Looking around quickly, Chilly threw her phone back into her mane and grabbed a cup of water, downing it and throwing it away before exiting her office. Rainbow's eyes bulged.

"Twilight," she managed, letting her binoculars drop to around her neck as she felt a chill that wasn't rain, "It's happening right now!"

Jumping off the roof and landing softly in the alleyway, the blue mare took off running down the sidewalks, using a different route to get to the same corner without Chilly seeing her. When she was a few hundred yards away, she stopped, taking out an assault rifle and waiting for the mare she was observing to go into the run-down alley. Creeping along the wall, Rainbow poked her head out just enough to see into the area and aim the rifle in one hoof, a rope tied around the trigger for easier aiming and firing.

"Hello?" the slate mare called, looking around uncertainly as water splashed on cobblestones. "Are you here?" She paused and turned full circle, breath coming out in steam in the chilly air. "Hellooo?"

She stopped, facing towards the hiding Rainbow Dash. Behind her, Marble Pie and "Blinkie" dashed out. Rainbow raised her gun to aim as the navy earth pony turned towards them.

The mare loosened up slightly. "You kept me waiting, Marble. We don't have time for this, you know!"

The watching pegasus lowered her gun in complete confusion. She knew these mares?

"What's the problem?" Marble asked with a growl, making Rainbow realize she had slightly lowered her voice for the phone call minutes earlier. "Drop's dead!"

"The problem is Klein, you idiots! He's onto us. He knows about Drop and maybe a few of the others. I can take care of the files at the office, but you need to get rid of him. Tonight."

Rainbow Dash's brain was working overtime. A few of the others? Get rid of Klein? Suddenly she realized Puddle hadn't been a victim at all. Grinding her teeth together, the pegasus reared up –

A barrel of a gun was suddenly pressed to the back of her neck, near the base of her skull. The rainbow mare immediately froze, sighing and dropping to all fours, the firearm splashing in a very shallow puddle. A pink hoof reached around and grabbed the gun, before the pony behind her pushed her forwards.

"Lookit who ey found," the dreary Pinkie Pie managed around the gun in her mouth, catching the attention of the other three mares, leading her hostage over to them. "We got a shpy. Big guns, too. Well, maybe jush the one."

The mare turned and bucked Rainbow, forcing her to the ground in the center of the small circle while throwing the gun on her back over to Marble before resuming pointing her pistol at the hostage. The pegasus glared up at them from the wet ground, but Marble had turned to Chilly.

"You know this mare?" she asked. Chilly shook her head in relative confusion. The grey pony turned her purple gaze to the mare on the ground, looking her up and down. "You're not a police officer. Did the cartel finally grow a pair? Send somepony to try to take us out?"

Growing serious, the mare leaned over threateningly, hissing from behind her teeth; "Who the hell are you?"

That, Rainbow thought, is a very good question. Off the top of her head, she couldn't think of any accurate title for this little crusade job she had. She shrugged and shook her head, saying the first thing that came to mind.

"A concerned third party?" she tried, chuckling awkwardly. Marble smirked and nodded, before turning and bucking her hostage in the jaw. The combination of the muscle needed to be law enforcement and the natural strength of the earth pony race sent Rainbow Dash reeling.

"Take care of her," Chilly coldly ordered. "And get rid of Klein tonight. Make it look clean, of course. Oh, and Marble...don't screw this up if you don't want to get taken care of the same way Drop was. I can look after myself, you know."

The mare's retreating hoofsteps echoed in the wet alley, and Marble squinted after her with a small amount of contempt. Turning back to Rainbow Dash, she grabbed the rifle in her mouth and slammed it down on the pegasus' head, making her instantly black out.

Several hours later, Rainbow Dash slowly awoke to a splitting headache. Shaking her head slightly, she looked around, finding she was hogtied in a police cart. There was a steel cage on all sides of her, and a wooden floor beneath. Sitting up, she realized she wasn't in Canterlot any longer. She was being pulled along the edge of a dark forest, a small town on the other side, where she noticed the sun was setting. Finally turning to her escort, she spotted that she was being pulled by the flat-haired pink mare, wearing her official police vest and belt. She trotted quickly, but looked actually quite depressed.

"Nice place," Rainbow managed, her voice still sounding strained from the blow to the head. Pinkie Pie didn't even turn around.

"It's the Everfree Forest, just outside of Ponyville," she moped. "Good thing you like it; you're going to be here for a long, long time."

The pegasus in the back smirked. Yeah right. Deciding to bide time with conversation, she asked a question that had come to mind when she first saw the sad pink mare.

"I'm curious," she began, "was there a point you knew you'd be a bad guy?"

Pinkie Pie hung her head lower, glaring over her shoulder at Rainbow. She shook her head and turned back to the road. "I woke up one day and realized I was paid to guard a bunch of meanies from the castle who were taking stuff from ponies left and right. So I said 'what the hay.'"

The rainbow mare's smirk widened. "I don't believe it for one second," she replied. "'Cause you know, I've been watching you. And your heart's not really in it. Marble does it for money, but I think you do it because you love your sister. Or sisters, if 'Blinkie' isn't really her name."

"It's Limestone Pie," Pinkie corrected. "Why's it matter anyway?"

"About the sister thing? Now I know her real name AND that she's your sister."

"Ha ha," Pinkie sarcastically laughed. "I meant about doing it for money or because they're my sisters."

"Oh. See, that's why I'm going to let you live."

Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder, and actually began to chuckle. Soon she started all out laughing, Rainbow joining in. When they both calmed down, Rainbow thought Pinkie's hair seemed a little less flat, poofing up a bit as if it were repressed cotton candy.

"Oh, that's funny," she said, sounding a little more chipper.

"Glad you thought so," Rainbow said, still grinning widely. "But seriously, I've been thinking of sticking around Canterlot for a while. And if I do, I'm going to need a pony inside the police. You might come in handy."

"Heh, so I'm working for you now?" Pinkie asked with a smirk.

"Yep," the pegasus affirmed. "But I do have two rules. First of all, you hurt anypony at all, and I will kill you. I don't really like to kill ponies, but I found out a few years back that I'm very good at it. And second, you've gotta be more careful. For example, if you're going to put somepony in the back seat of your cart..." the mare turned and pulled a flash grenade out of her mane, "Ya halfta search 'em properly!"

Using her tongue to pull out the pin, she threw the grenade through the bars of the cage and in front of Pinkie's hooves. It exploded with a bright flash, making the mare yelp and stumble. Tripping over a rock and down a slight hill, the mare lost control of the cart, sending it crashing into a tree. The metal cage broken, Rainbow squeezed out, using the bent bars to pull the ropes off her hooves. Once that was straightened out, she went over to the stunned and dizzy Pinkie Pie, detaching her from the cart. Using a wing to remove the officer's gun from its holster, she pulled the earth pony to her hooves.

"That vest the bulletproof version, officer?" she asked.

"Y-yes?" Pinkie Pie groggily replied. Rainbow smirked devilishly.

"Good." Letting go of the mare, she flipped the gun to her mouth and shot several rounds into the back of the pink mare's vest, sending her to the ground, the massive vibrations on her core knocking her out. Satisfied, Rainbow Dash stowed the gun in her mane and took off flying, back towards Canterlot.

A certain lavender unicorn paced back and forth as well as her handicapped leg would let her. She hadn't heard from Rainbow Dash since the confrontation in the alleyway that morning, and it was already almost dark. They had found and destroyed the mare's phone, making tracking her impossible, not that she would have been able to do anything about it. She was just starting to accept the worst –

A phone chirped in the library, catching Twilight's attention. Immediately, she picked it up with her magic and pulled it to her ear, knowing there was only one pony with that number.

"Where the hoof have you – "

"No time, Twilight," Rainbow's voice came, along with the clopping of hooves on stone. "We were wrong. Chilly's not a target, she's a ringleader, and they're going after Klein!"

"I'll get his address right away," Twilight said, sitting down at her computer and rapidly using her magic to pull up the stallion's information.

In the early night's glow of the moon, Limestone Pie stood at the corner of a block, waiting. She didn't have to wait long, as her elder sister galloped over, a cart with a burlap sack in the back attached to her waist.

"Klein's up there," Limestone told her sister. "He usually goes to the gym, so I got a buddy up there watching. The place is a dump, there's no doormare, no cameras, nothing."

"Makes our job easy," Marble commented, pulling a few pistols out of the cart. "Let's take him out in the lobby. And after that, we give the shooter a head shot a block or two away."

"Yes sir, ma'am, sir," the younger said, taking a pistol from the other mare. Marble nodded and pulled the strings of the sack, opening it and revealing a mare inside. "Who's she?"

"I dunno, shome ex-con Klein put behind barsh," Marble shrugged. The two mares lifted the third up, using a rope for reigns to keep her quiet and where they wanted her, with a gun pointed at her as added incentive. All three crept into the building and up the stairs, glancing around to make sure they weren't spotted.

"Get the lightsh," Marble whispered as they neared the elevator. Limestone nodded and trotted to the other side of the hall, hitting the switch and shutting off the lights.

"Talk to me," Marble muttered into her radio to the accomplice upstairs.

"He's coming down now," a stallion replied, watching as the door to an apartment opened. Klein walked out, stopping to look behind him.

"Coming, Shady Daze?" he asked.

"Just a sec, Dad!" a colt called back. Shortly after, a small pony with a light blue coat and dark blue, two-toned mane trotted out. He had a baseball in his mouth, making his father chuckle.

"Damn," the watching stallion breathed into the radio. "He's got his kid with him."

"What a washte," Marble smirked, turning off the radio. She turned to the ex-con she was holding hostage, placing the gun in her mouth. "You're about to kill a stallion...and his son."

Limestone awkwardly shifted from hoof to hoof, watching her sister go into that maniacal mode she hated so much from across the way of the elevator. Over the quiet stammering of the hostage mare, she didn't hear hoofsteps approaching her from behind until a gun was to her head and a hoof was over her mouth, forcing the pistol she had been holding to the ground.

The clatter of metal on tile brought the attention of Marble, who saw her sister held hostage by a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane. Rainbow Dash shook her head at the earth pony, who pulled the gun out of her hostage's mouth and pointed it at her head. Both parties backed away from the elevator and behind something to hide themselves. The number above the elevator doors began to slowly count down, Rainbow and Marble holding guns to their hostages and watching with anticipation. After an eternity, they heard a ding, and the doors opened. Klein was offering words of encouragement to his son as he tossed the ball up and down.

Trying to catch the ball in his mouth, he missed and it went bouncing off towards Rainbow Dash and Limestone. The pegasus used a forehoof to stop it, and Shady Daze trotted over. Bending over to pick up the ball, his eye followed the hoof to the face of the pegasus it belonged to. She managed a grin around the firearm in her mouth, and Shady grinned back. Picking up the ball, he galloped after his father and out the door. Once the two males were clear, Rainbow and Marble advanced towards each other, keeping their hostages in front of them as both shields and swords.

"Let her go," the pegasus mumbled around her weapon. Marble simply smirked.

"I can't do that. If I let her go, my friendsh and I'll go to jail."

The stallion that was upstairs burst out of the stairwell, but Rainbow was much faster than him. She spun just her head and shot out one of his front knees, quickly reverting the gun back to Limestone's head before he even hit the ground. Marble snarled, keeping the gun trained on the innocent mare's head.

"Drag your friend outshide, and take him to the hoshpital," Rainbow murmured, "right...now!"

Limestone felt herself shoved out of the way by a front hoof as Rainbow trained her weapon on Marble's head. Limestone obeyed immediately, managing to put the larger stallion on her back and struggle out the door. Marble narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Rainbow Dash as her sister got out of harm's way.

"I think I'm just gonna kill you and this mare," she growled, starting to press the gun's barrel against the random mare's head harder. "I can make it look like you killed each other. Then, for threatening my little shishter, I'll kill your family, and your friendsh too."

"I don't have any friendsh," Rainbow Dash evenly replied. "I don't have any family left either. And see, to me, thish ish funny. Because I went all around the planet looking for bad guysh...but it turnsh out there were more than enough of you right here all along."

Outside, a mare was walking along the sidewalk. Two flashes inside an apartment building caught her eye, making her stop and scrutinize the door. No more than two seconds later, a mare ran out and nearly crashed into her, stumbling but continuing to run down the sidewalk. Shaking her head, the bystander hurried away, not knowing what took place and not sure she wanted to.

The next morning, Chilly Puddle was in the courtroom, staring at a long sent text to Marble inquiring about where she was.

"Ms. Chilly Puddle?" the judge asked, making her jerk her head up. "Do we need a no-cell phone policy in the courtroom?"

"I'm very sorry, your honor," she awkwardly apologized, standing up and walking over to the evidence table. "But I would like to have the defendant tell the court what happened in her own words. The following tape is the emergency call she made to law enforcement."

An impartial law pony put the tape in play. There was a moment of silence, but when it was broken, it wasn't a frantic plea for help.

"And get rid of Klein tonight," Chilly's voice rang out across the courtroom, her conversation with Marble from the day before playing loud and clear. "Make it look clean, of course. Oh, and Marble...don't screw this up if you don't want to get taken care of the same way Drop was. I can look after myself, you know."

Chilly began to frantically look around the courtroom, confused. Her gaze stopped moving when it locked on a certain blue pegasus, leaning her rainbow hair against the back wall. Rainbow Dash smirked triumphantly as the earth mare's expression changed from confusion to complete horror. When the audio reel stopped, Rainbow turned and exited the courtroom. A police pony walked over to the slate mare to arrest her, reading her rights.

Outside and a block away, Pinkie Pie somewhat nervously glanced around, on edge ever since yesterday afternoon and hair once more flat. She could still feel the several bruises on her back from where the bullets had struck her vest. Stepping into a garage, she attached herself to a police cart lest she need it. After she strapped herself in, she felt a gun pressed to the back of her head; her own gun, ironically enough.

"Hey there, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow's cocky voice came from behind, the rainbow mare having come up while she was occupied. "You ready to get to work?"

The pink mare sighed, dropping her head slightly. "Oh, what's the use? I'm good as dead now anyway. It's just a matter of time until the gangs come after me. Or the police who police the police."

"But nopony knows you're involved," the pegasus replied smartly. "I made sure of that. Beshides, they'll be too busy looking for Marble. The police are going to think she ran, and the gangsh are going to think she went into witnessh protection or whatever we call it."

"Is that where she is?" Pinkie asked hopefully. "Witness protection-or-whatever-we-call-it?"

"Mmm...no," Rainbow replied. "She's in the bag I just put in your cart. She didn't give me a choish but to shoot her with your gun, so that'sh a bit of a problem. Don't know how you could talk your way out of that. Sho you're going to take a day trip, but I'm not along for the ride thish time around."

The earth pony bit the inside of her cheek, tears welling up behind her eyes. She sighed, almost seeming as if her colors were draining. "Where am I going?"

"Hell if I care. Take her shomewhere nice. Maybe Ponyville...where no one'sh going to find her for a long, long time. I'll be in touch."

The pegasus withdrew Pinkie Pie's gun from its owner's head, placing it in the police cart. With a smirk and a nod, she flew off, leaving Pinkie Pie with the cart and badly-hidden body. Screwing her eyes shut, she fought back the tears that threatened to consume her as she started to trot off.

Twilight Sparkle sat at the outer edge of Canterlot, looking out over the ledge to the rivers and forests at the bottom of the mountain, shimmering in the sunlight. Rainbow Dash slowly walked over, ending up standing just behind her. The unicorn turned to her pegasus associate.

"You have a choice to make," Twilight said, looking up at Rainbow.

"Let me guess. Your 'machine' gave you another number?"

"The numbers will never stop coming," the lavender mare emphasized. "You should know that in advance." The blue pegasus nodded, pondering the implications of a never-ending job.

"Why me?" she asked, looking out over Equestria as well. "Why not somepony else?"

"...I've been watching you for a very long time, Rainbow," Twilight explained. "We have more in common than one would think from a glance. For starters, as far as the world's concerned, we're dead." She managed a small and wry grin, causing Rainbow to smirk as well. However, she regained a stone-faced expression as she sat down next to Twilight.

"You programmed the machine to delete that list...and now you're trying to save it. So...what changed your mind?"

Twilight slowly swept her gaze over the landscape below, as if weighing how to answer that question. "Let's just say you're not the only one who's lost somepony."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the mysterious mare, but didn't pry further. For now, one revelation at a time would do.

"If you want to leave, I can supply you enough money to get as far away as you need," Twilight offered, not meeting the other mare's eyes. "You could disappear."

Disappear. She could go back to living day to day, no one knowing who she was or even caring. Life would certainly be simpler that way.

"...What if I want to stay?" she asked, turning to face the unicorn.

"Sooner or later both of us will probably end up dead," her companion replied. "Actually dead, this time." Rainbow's eyes quickly went from being fully open to half lidded, looking at the other mare with a combination of annoyance and skepticism. Twilight turned to see and rolled her eyes.

"I told you I'd tell the truth. I never said it would be pleasant."

The pegasus smirked, nodding and looking back over the landscape. That certainly was true. She'd been nearly killed more times in the past week than she had been in a long, long time. And even though Twilight seemed unwilling or unable to do much field work, the right enemies could probably find and track her magic and get to her as well.

Sooner or later, both of them probably would wind up dead. But then again, as far as anypony else cared, they already were.

"If you could just start talking to me, I would really appreciate it," a certain, soft-spoken officer said as the sun began to reach its peak.

"I'm not going to snitch on my friends!" Limestone Pie growled, being led into a police cart.

"Oh, no, I guess I wasn't clear. You can tell the D.A. about them," Fluttershy corrected herself, flying beside the earth pony. "But I want to know about the pony that stopped you."

"I don't know anything about her. Just some rainbow mare, alone."

"Well, if you could tell me all about what you don't know about her and where I can find her, that would be really helpful," the canary mare smiled, attaching herself to the cart. Little did she know, mere steps away, a blue pegasus was listening to her conversation. Courtesy of Twilight's magic, her mane was currently blue with red stripes, so as to avoid suspicion from her rather unique hair color.

Looks like Detective Fluttershy's going to be on my tail, she thought, turning and beginning to trot away. That'll make things interesting.

As she walked the city streets by herself, for the first time in a long time, Rainbow Dash felt like she was doing something worthwhile with her life. And even though she didn't have anyone beside her at that moment, she felt as if she was walking with somepony. Somepony she knew by no name.

No name other than "The Machine."