Letters From C

Chapter 3

Sherclop froze in his hooves as he heard the conversation behind him. Did she just say Rainbow Dash? There was no way. Ms. Heartstone grabbed the ropes around Scootaloo's wings and pulled her into her face.

"Now listen her little filly," she seethed. "If Rainbow Dash or any of the Elements of Harmony cared about us, they wouldn't have let Chrysalis take over! So just stop saying that! You're going to get us all in trouble!"

She dropped the filly to the ground. She beckoned to the others with her barely purple tail and stamped off to the elevator. The Earthpony turned to Scootaloo with hot tears streaming down her dirty yellow face. I'm sorry, she mouthed. The Unicorn simply followed Ms. Heartstone with her head down.

As soon as the elevator doors closed in front of him, Sherclop walked to the young Pegasus' side and crouched down. She had her face buried in the floor and her little orange body was trembling. He placed a hoof on her shoulder, and the little filly looked up.

"Who are you?" she asked in quavering voice.

"Used to be Detective Sherclop Spade," he said wishing he could take the words back as soon as they escaped his mouth. "Walk with me, will you?"

"Where?"

"To breakfast."

"Sure."

Sherclop was surprised as the filly agreed to his offer so quickly. He sighed as he remembered these weren't the days they used to be. He offered her a hoof. She accepted it gratefully. Scootaloo followed Sherclop down the stairs. They finished the first flight in silence.

Scootaloo murmured, to his surprise, "I've been expecting you, Mr. Spade."

Sherclop stopped, shocked.

"Oh?"

"I received a letter yesterday. In my sandwich, oddly enough. It was written in all green ink. It said to be expecting somepony asking about Rainbow Dash."

"I assume you kno- knew her."

She nodded and squared her shoulders.

"Rainbow Dash was the mare I looked up to," Scootaloo replied after a while. "She was like a sister to me. My only family. Besides the other Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"Was this letter that you received, in your sandwich, from somepony who was addressed  as 'C'?"

Scootaloo looked equally surprised.

"Y-yes."

With every letter Sherclop received, on the outside next to the original to and from was his name written in green ink and the letter "C" below it.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders, you say?" Sherclop asked, rubbing his chin with a hoof. "Who are they?"

"The other two fillies with Ms. Heartstone. The Earthpony is Apple Bloom and the Unicorn is Sweetie Belle. We're not the only ones, but we're the original C.M.C."

A thousand question whizzed around Sherclop's head like parasprites.

"Are you alright, Mr. Spade?" Scootaloo asked, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

Sherclop steadied himself.

"Fine, fine. All's well. Miss Scootaloo, what position do you work in the factory?"

"Paper folder," Scootaloo replied dryly.

"Hmm. Will you join me for lunch?"

"I don't see why not. Ms. Heartstone won;t let me sit with her today since I brought up Rainbow Dash."

"Breakfast! We're going to be late!" Sherclop realized. "Talk while we walk. Why does Ms. Heartstone not want you to talk about Rainbow Dash?"

"Ms. Heartstone only doesn't want me to talk about her because the Changelings don't anypony to talk about her. Or any of the other Elements of Harmony for that matter. I think this reason is that the  Elements of Harmony are the only thing that can bring Chrysalis- Queen Chrysalis- down."

Sherclop thought he had read something about an Element of Harmony in the newspaper a long time ago. Long before the Changelings in fact.

"What are the Elements of Harmony?"

"An Element of Harmony lies in each one of six mares. Applejack was honesty, Pinkie Pie was laughter, Rarity was generosity I believe, Fluttershy was kindness, and Princess Twilight was magic or friendship depending on the way you look at it."

"And Rainbow Dash?"

"Loyalty."

"How are they dangerous to Chrysalis?"

"If they each have their necklace- or Twilight's case a crown-  and are together, they could defeat any bad guy. They turned Discord back into stone and awesome stuff like that. They even defeated Queen Chrysalis the first time she tried to take over Equestria, and I was there. It was so cool!"

"Right. Where are the ponies and the pendants?"

"No pony knows for sure. Hidden. Scattered. Or," Scootaloo's voice cracked. "Worse."

Sherclop wanted to ask another question, but he couldn't force the filly to bring up anything more personal things. They had already gone down all 9 flights of stairs and reached the lobby. There once was a nice lobby, small library, a small kitchen, and laundry room. The changelings had knocked down all the walls and taken all the furniture out. They placed a dozen tables with two benches to the table and a small oven and counter where Ms. Key worked endless hours preparing meals for everypony in the Key Apartments Possible Danger Facility #0001.

Scootaloo and Sherclop approached the counter. Ms. Key turned to them with a weak smile. With a yellow hoof she wiped sweat from her brow.

"Good morning Mr. Sherclop. Miss Scootaloo."

"As to you too, Ms. Key. Anything left?"

"I'm afraid we only one tray left."

"Scootaloo can have it," Sherclop nodded.

At the same time Scootaloo smiled, "We'll share."

Ms. Key lifted a tray with pink magic. A bowl of dry oats, a stale bread crust, a browning apple, and a glass of brown water. Scootaloo dipped her head, picked up the wooden tray with her mouth, and trotted away.

"Have a nice day Ms. Key."

"As to you too, Mr. Sherclop," Ms. Key finished their morning routine.

Ms. Key pulled the actual last tray in front of her and bit into the wormy apple. Tear formed in her blue eyes as Sherclop turned away. He sat with Scootaloo at an almost empty table. As Sherclop ate his oats realized she wasn't so little after all. She was probably around thirteen. Scootaloo was fragile looking was all. Her bones jutted out of her dirty orange coat. her young back bent under the weight of a responsibility she should never of had to deal with at this age. And on top of that loss. Loss of her mentor and guide in this world. Rainbow Dash, was also supposed to guard Equestria. She probably felt betrayed.

"Scootaloo?"

"Yes?" she asked her purple eyes looking into his like a shattered purple glass.

"Did you have any family outside of Rainbow Dash?"

"Mom died when i was born. Dad died a year later. He was drunk and he tried to drive a boat. The boat the family reunion was on. No one survived. Luckily he left me in a chicken coop and accidentally brought a sack of flour instead of me. Though sometimes I don't feel lucky," she said waving her hoof around the room. "That's where Cheerlie took me into her foster care."

She covered her face with the long wisps of her pink mane and busied herself with pulling a worm out of her half of the apple.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. You asked the question," she said tossing the worm expertly into a Changeling's armor.

The Changeling screeched and danced around the room. Everypony tried not laugh as he howled.

"You? You're the Prankster Poltergeist?"

"Who?"

"The one that pranks the Changelings!"

"Shh! Not so loud." Scootaloo smirked. "Prankster Poltergeist, eh?"

"You're legendary around here."

"I had no idea."

"Alright you slugs! Since one of you thinks it's funny to assault a Changeling! Unless you 'fess up then ya'll be going to work early!" Gruesome shouted.

Lieutenant Gruesome was the boss at Possible Danger Facility #0001. Gruesome wasn't his real name, and Sherclop doubted anyone actually remembered his real name, but that's what everypony called him behind his back. It didn't matter that everypony didn't remember his name in front of him because he commanded everyone call him sir. Yes sir this, no sir, that. Without a word Scootaloo got to her hooves and fell in the designated line. Sherclop stood in the middle of the line. In silence they exited the building.

Sherclop wrinkled his nose as the smells of what used to be Manehattan reached his nose. Now they called it Changehattan. Not only was Gruesome a pile of Horse-apples, he was also not very creative. Gruesome fell in next to him.

"I warned you," he grumbled in his crude language. "No more funny business."

"I wouldn't do something to make my fellow ponies suffer," Sherclop responded. "Sir."

"I will find evidence to link you to this and when I do you would have wished you were never born."

Gruesome hurried ahead. He stopped and angled his ears towards a large steel gear that had fallen from the clock tower above in the taking of Manehattan. Gruesome shook his head and began yelling at someone at the back of the line to hurry up. Sherclop risked a glance in the direction Gruesome had looked. A filthy white hoof was being dragged into the shadows of the trash covered alley. Sherclop looked towards the factory before someone noticed him and he got in trouble. Stuff like that happened all the time around here. He sent a quick prayer to Celestia and entered the doors of the factory.