Monster of Justice

Manehattan was the largest and most populous city in all of Equestria. It was founded almost three-hundred years prior to the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle and, having one of the richest histories of any city in Equestria and containing many recognizable and beloved landmarks, was a very popular tourist destination. Ponies and other equines would come from all over the world to visit what was basically the face of the east coast of Equestria.

Twilight Sparkle couldn't believe her eyes eyes as she and Fluttershy walked through the charred rubble and ruins that was once called Manehattan. She couldn't believe her ears as she heard the cries of small foals looking desperately for their parents and vice-versa, or the shouting of homeless ponies on the street corners, insisting that the apocalypse is among them while holding up signs that read "The End Is Neigh" as they always had. Nopony had taken them seriously up until now. She could still hear buildings that hadn't been destroyed overnight collapsing in the distance. She turned a corner and found a derailed train blocking the road. The nearest train track was about two miles away.

"What could have done this?" Fluttershy asked. That was the problem. Nopony had any idea what happened. One day Manehattan is the crowning jewel of the eastern coast of Equestria, the next day it's reduced to a pile of black rocks. Cities don't just explode overnight.

"Maybe a herd of dragons?" Twilight guessed as she inspected the buildings that still stood for any major structural damage. No dragons lived anywhere near the city, and even then, they usually keep to themselves. But what else could it have been? Before she could speculate any further, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the two, having apparently finished scouting out the land around the city for a cause to its destruction. "Did you see anything?"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered, blowing a few loose strands of multicolored hair from her eyes. She had been putting off getting her mane cut for a few weeks. "I found some huge footprints."

"Dragons?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Whatever it was, it was way bigger."

"Bigger than a dragon?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you sure it wasn't just something with really big feet?"

"Did you take any pictures?" Twilight asked. Maybe she could find a match in the library.

Rainbow Dash removed her saddlebag and started rummaging through it. "I put them in here somewhere. Did you find anything?"

"A lot of ponies in the medical tents got sick around downtown and I want to check that out," Twilight said. "It might lead to some answers. Wanna come?"

"Yeah, let me just... here they are!" Rainbow pulled out two photos and a camera from her bag and handed the pictures to her friends. Twilight and Fluttershy were astounded. Twilight had assumed that Rainbow meant that the footprints were larger than those of a dragon, not that the footprints were larger than an entire dragon. She had remembered seeing them on the train ride to the city, but only assumed that they were craters or dry lakes. The past summer was a scorcher. These footprints were larger than anything that could possibly walk, let alone exist. "Crazy, right?"

"What... what made these?" Twilight asked.

"And where is it now?" Fluttershy brought up a good point. It was likely that some kind of monster had destroyed the city. That monster was no longer in the city and Rainbow's photographs of its footprints showed that it walked away from Manehattan after it was done.

"That's... a really good question," Twilight said. She took the picture Fluttershy was looking at. "I need to find Spike! Princess Celestia needs to see these!" She trotted off with a determined look on her face. Something big was clearly going on.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy saw their friend out and conversed for a while afterward about what kind of beast could have dealt such damage to one of the greatest cities in the world. Fluttershy ended the conversation after Rainbow suggested that it was a collective hive mind of dragons that could reduce ponies to skeletons and shoot lasers out of its chest. That was as unrealistic as it got, but Rainbow respected her friend's wishes and changed the subject. She was about to suggest that they look for their friends when both of their stomachs gurgled very audibly at the same time.

Very rarely does such a phenomenon occur outside of anime, and the two knew exactly what to do about it. While scouting the area for any clues as to what happened to the city, Rainbow caught sight of a diner that had miraculously escaped the destruction of Manehattan untouched. She guided Fluttershy to the aforementioned diner and, even more miraculously, it was open for business!

"I don't even care that this doesn't make sense!" Rainbow declared as she opened the door for her friend. A bell sounded as the door swung open, alerting a waitress to their entering who guided them to a booth.

"Still, it seems kind of..." Fluttershy looked for the right word. "Convenient."

"Maybe Princess Celestia is setting us up for another adventure and we're supposed to be here," Rainbow said as she flipped through a menu.

"Maybe..." It certainly wasn't unlike the Princess to just bring them to the place and let them do what needed to be done. "But what about-?" Before she could finish her thought the waitress that seated them came up to them with a plate of pancakes and set it in front of Fluttershy. "Um... I haven't ordered yet."

"Times are tough," the waitress said. "We're giving out pancakes for free."

Rainbow threw her hooves into the air. "Yes! Awesome!"

"I'll be right back with a plate for you, sweetie," the waitress told Rainbow. She didn't get three steps away before Fluttershy screamed in terror. On her plate, stuck with the business end of a fork, was what appeared to be a dead rat that somehow found its way into her pancakes.

"What's this?!" Rainbow pointed at the rat.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. It's a toy. The kitchen staff have been doing that all day. They think it's the funniest thing in the world. I'm going to go give them a piece of my mind." She trotted off into the kitchen door. "Guys, did you hear her?! Best one yet!"

"Hrmph!" Rainbow Dash got up from her seat and prepared to confront the waitress and kitchen staff herself.

"Rainbow Dash, please don't," Fluttershy urged her friend.

"Somepony's got to-" The door swung open and the bell ringed. Into the diner walked a strange looking stallion in a fedora and trench coat. The fact that everything about his appearance, from his mane to his coat, was entirely monochrome added to his strangeness. He seated himself at the booth behind Fluttershy, looked through the menu, and began doing what can only be described as "audible thinking".

Another day, another case, Rainbow and Fluttershy heard. 'Course, I wasn't being payed for this one. This job was a little more personal and a little more important than the typical fare. I could already see the headlines. "Manehattan Razed Overnight!" The fillies nodded to each other and got out of their seats.

As I looked through the menu I was approached by a couple a' dames. I would have assumed that these dames were to take my order were they not so recognizable. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were their names. Bearers of the Elements of  Loyalty and Kindness respectively. Almost certain of what they were here for, I-

"Excuse me," Fluttershy said nervously. "Are you the one, um... narrating?"

"What?" the stranger asked flatly. "Narrating." Could she have been referring to my inner aside?

"Yeah," Rainbow said just as flatly. "She is. How are you doing that?"

The stranger removed his hat, revealing himself to be an earth pony, and looked to them. "Don't know what to tell you, kids. You're the first to ever complain 'bout it. I assume you heard the part about me knowing why you're here?"

"We did," Fluttershy confirmed.

"Fantastic!" The stranger got up from his seat and shook the girls' hooves. "Name's Grayscale. I'm a private detective. And you're Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Big fan a' your an' your friends' work. World-saving, Wonderbolts, apples, artistry, growing wings, and a very unfortunately short lived career as a model."

"Thank you," Fluttershy smiled and looked down at her hooves.

"Yeah, we've done a lot of stuff," Rainbow said. "Do you have a point?"

"You two've got more expertise in stuff than most anypony else in Manehattan," Grayscale stated the obvious. "I could use that kinda expertise in my investigation."

"Investigation of what?" Rainbow asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"Of Manehattan!" Grayscale declared. "In case you haven't noticed, the place's kinda fallen apart."

"We've noticed," Rainbow said.

"It's hard not to," Fluttershy added.

"Right. See, I've got a theory. Word's been spreadin' around that a monster came and wrecked the place in the night." He guided the two to the door. The bell ringed as he held the door open for them.

"Because there was one!" Rainbow said. "I took some pictures of its footprints! They're huge!"

"Really?! Do you have the photos on you?! Can I see them?!" Grayscale quickly approached Rainbow Dash. His eyes widened. His black pupils shrunk in their grey irises. A large, toothy grin stretched across his face that revealed his grey gums.

"I gave them to Twilight. She's probably showing them to Princess Celestia." Rainbow backed away a bit and stretched out her wings a bit. Grayscale's sudden burst of interest and startled her. She looked over to Fluttershy, who looked even more prepared to fly for the hills.

"Oh. Well, back to my theory," he immediately shifted back to a calm demeanor. "I think that not one, not two, but possibly three monsters wrecked this once beautiful city last night."

"And you think they're out in the wild right now?" Fluttershy asked. She looked around, as if the monsters were all around her.

"They aren't here, that's for sure. I can prove it too! Follow me, kids!" He then trotted off in the direction of downtown with Rainbow Dash in tow. Fluttershy watched them gallop away for a second, took a deep breath, and reluctantly followed them.

Downtown was the epicenter of the destruction that befell Manehattan. Buildings that weren't completely collapsed were scorched a deep black. Most of the roads and pavement had fallen under what was supposedly the weight of giant monsters. It was impossibly hot there, as if the flames that burned the buildings still raged on. Nopony else was there. Just Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Grayscale.

The detective pointed out signs of an all-out war of the gargantuas. Claw marks of varying size and shape were engraved into the surrounding buildings. Some were small (relative to the others), some were gigantic. Some looked like bite marks. He pointed out how the scorch marks on the buildings seemed to follow a random pattern. They would go on in straight lines for hundreds of yards, stop for a few hundred more, then continue on. The scorch marks seemed to vary too. Some were large and destructive, some were smaller and more concentrated.

"See that building? With the top half missing?" He pointed to what was left of a very large and formidable skyscraper.

"Where's the rest of it?" Fluttershy asked.

"Uptown," Grayscale answered. "I think one of 'em threw it at another. Don't know what the heat is, though."

"It could have something to do with the ponies who have been getting sick around here," Fluttershy pointed out.

"We should tell Twilight about this! Come on!" And Rainbow Dash was off again in search of their newly winged friend. Fluttershy started after her. She moved about ten feet before she ground to a halt and thanked Grayscale.

"Hey, don't mention it, kid," he tipped his hat as he saw her off. He walked away from the scene in the opposite direction and started thinking to himself.

They were good kids alright. Excitable. Though a little bland. 'Course, that coulda had more to do with the writing than anything else. As I saw them off I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd see them again...

Now where in the hay was that diner again?