One for the Money

The girls were nervous between looking out the window and their clocks. They knew that the trains usually ran late all the time and that train was no exception. Luckily it was only the average late time of around five or ten minutes, so they wouldn't really get penalized for being late to meet the man who sent them to steal the painting, transport the painting, and who was to take the painting off their hands; for a large sum of cash and a free meal at their restaurant meetup location of course. In the business he was referred to as the "fence".

They were to meet the fence in Canterlot's top restaurant for lunch. It was a restaurant served only the mega wealthy and the political elite of Canterlot. Lunch and dinner for four ran well into the hundreds of bits and barely anyone was alive when the wine they serve were made.

"There it is girls, Canterlot!" Trixie announced in awe as the familiar skyline of the city appeared in view. it took them a half-hour from the outskirts of town to reach the downtown train station.

***

"Alrighty, Flash," Shining Armor started as they were driven in a black SUV to the downtown station. "Because of rules about high-profile cases, we cannot discuss the case in public and more importantly in the train. So, lets go over this case. 1: The security system was not recording. Now why was that?"

"Because the thief's cut the cameras?" Flash answered. In the academy he was taught to think like a criminal, so the first thing he would of done was find and destroy any security systems first.

"Usually, but no. The Museum curator forgot to reset the camera's recordings so the cameras were out of tape when the incident happened. More often than not the victim inadvertently makes the investigation a whole lot harder for us," Shining answered.

Shining's questioning continued."Number two: The thieves had a getaway car. We just found it. How do you think they would of gotten rid of it?"

"Dump it in the ocean," Flash replied. Since Vanhoover was seaside and the bay was a pretty large place, the only logical explanation was to dump it in the vast bay.

"No, even if they did that would leave evidence. The car was found burned within the last few minutes so chances for finding clues are little to none at this point."

"So they were effective in covering their tracks?"

"No. what was left of the car indicated that it caught on fire itself. The thief's were lucky that it didn't explode."

"3: There was a chip attached to the painting which led the authorities to a hotel room, and according to the police on the ground they were playing a audio from pornography over it, fooling the police to believe that they were performing intercourse in the hotel room. How can you broadcast something without having your location traced?"

Flash thought long and hard. He had the answer on the tip of his tongue but could not say it. At least until remembered the proper way to say it and not it's abbreviation

"Citizen band radio!"

"That's my boy!" Shining Armor rejoiced as he extended his hand out for a fist bump.

They continued to go over the case with more questions and explanations of the clues until they arrived at the station. The files were returned to the briefcase and that briefcase was handcuffed to Shining's wrist.

The investigators arrived at the station minutes before the train was set to arrive. Their drivers were next to them on the platform armed with sub machine guns, and were expecting anything. Maybe even running into the thieves themselves.

"Lets go, girls" Lighting Dust commanded, and the girls made their way to the nearest door as the train was arriving at the station.

The steam was blowing everywhere as the doors swung open. Without letting the passengers get off first, Shining Armor entered the train and took a empty window seat near the door, luggage in one hand and his newspaper and briefcase in the other hand.

Everyone else crowded out, while the three were desperate to get out. They were the first ones out of the cabin and into the smoke.

Trixie was out of the steam with out incident.

Lightning Dust (and the painting) made it out as well.

Sunset Shimmer, however, ran into someone in the smoke. It was the person who you would expect she would run into.

"Flash?" Sunset asked when the smoked cleared. Sunset was on top of him on the ground.

"Sunset!? Huh, I always remembered you liked being on top."

Both laughed as they helped each other up. They had a few good minutes before the train left, so they decided to catch up.

"So what are you doing these days, Sunset?" Flash asked. Trixie and Lighting were looking on from the other side of the plat form and hiding by some crates mortified. Mostly because of the investigator bureau goons next to Sunset.

"Well, I became a freelance....writer?"

"Not surprised. You never liked being stuck in one spot. I'm a investigator in the kingdom's guard," Flash announced with pride.

Sunset was cool outside. Inside she was a nervous wreck. She connected the dots and assumed he was on the case of their theft.

The girls were motioning her to leave him.

Shining Armor knocked on the window to get Flash to hurry up.

"Well that's my que, Sunny," Flash said. "Will we run into each other again?"

"Yes, maybe sooner rather than later."