The Search for Con Mane

Over the next two days, things have really slowed down for Thunderblast, Spear, and Night Shadow, other than a couple of diamond store robberies. Finally, Thunderblast was fed up with not having any action.

“Night Shadow?” Thunder called out.

“Yeah?” Night said as he flew in and landed in front of Thunderblast.

“I say now’s the time to spy on Donut Joe. Nothing has been happening. I still want to find out if he’s that Con Mane guy.” Thunder said.

“I don’t know, Thunder. Spear really doesn’t want us to spy on him.” Night replied.

“Tell me, is Spear your father?” Thunder asked.

“No.” Night answered.

“Then why are you following what he says?” Thunder said back.

“Good point. Let’s watch him for the next few days. If nothing happens, we’ll have no choice but to accept that he isn’t Con Mane. Alright?” Night said.

“Okay. Meet me just after my shift tonight by his shop.” Thunder said back.

“Alright. See you later.” Night said, trotting away.

“See you.” Thunder said, returning to his post.

Later that night, just after Thunderblast’s shift ended, Thunder was waiting for Night Shadow at their meet-up point.

“Ugh… Where is he…” Thunder grumbled, looking up at a street clock he was standing under.

He then heard the sounds of hooves quickly moving. “Sorry I’m late, Thunder. I got lectured by Shining Armor.” Night said, running up to Thunder and stopping in front of him.

“It’s alright. You ready?” Thunder asked.

“Yep.” Night replied. “Where are we going to watch him?” he asked.

“From a rooftop. His shop closes in five minutes. Once he leaves, we can follow him, but from a distance so he doesn’t think we’re following him. Alright?” Thunder explained.

“Alright. Lead the way.” Night replied.

Thunderblast took off and flew up to the roof of a four story building across the street from Donut Joe’s shop, Night quickly following him.

After waiting five minutes, the lights shut off to the shop and Donut Joe soon walked out and locked the doors, pulling on them to check if they locked, before trotting down the street, little did he know that he was being followed.

“That’s our queue.” Thunder whispered to Night, slowly and quietly flying down to the street and following Joe from a distance.

The two followed Joe for a whole twenty minutes, before he went up to a house, unlocking the doors, and trotting in.

“Well that was a total bust. He was just heading home.” Night said, turning around and trotting away.

“Hey, it didn’t hurt to see what he was doing. There’s always tomorrow, Night.” Thunder said, following Night.

“Yeah, I guess.” Night said back. “I hope we can get something out of this.”

“I hope so too, because if we don’t we’ll never know who Con Mane is.” Thunder said.

The next three days went along, all with the same result. The two soon began to lose hope that they will find out if he’s really Con Mane.

“Ugh. Thunder, I don’t think we’re going to get ANYTHING out of this.” Night said, sounding frustrated.

“Me neither.” Thunder said, sighing.

The two were on the same rooftop they had started out from every night for the past few nights, they were on their fifth and final night where they would spy on Donut Joe.

Joe followed the same routine; turn off the lights, lock and check the doors, then trot in the same path on his way to his home, oblivious to Thunderblast and Night Shadow behind him. Something was different tonight, however. Instead of following the street, Joe turned down an alley. Thunder assumed it was a shortcut, but Night had a feeling this was something else.

“Well hello there, Donut Joe.” Said the voice of a large tan pegasus stallion, who was just slightly bigger than Thunderblast. He had a scar just above his eye, which was very visible, even from a distance.

The voice startled Joe, who stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to see the pegasus staring at him from down the alley. “What do you want, Scarwings?” he said back, sounding nervous.

Then, another pegasus, this time emerald green, and a dark grey unicorn, jumped out in front of Joe, trapping him in the middle.

“You know damn well what we want.” The unicorn said.

“No, boys, really. I don’t know what you want.” Joe said back.

“We want the amulet back.” Scarwings said to Joe, slowly approaching him.

Joe turned around to face the large pegasus, narrowing his eyes onto his.

“What amulet?” Joe said, acting innocent and smiling at the same time.

The unicorn then threw himself at Joe, hoof aimed out to give him a devastating punch to the head, only to be stopped by Joe grabbing his hoof, and swinging the unicorn above him, and into Scarwings.

Night Shadow and Thunderblast watched in awe from behind a dumpster.

“GIVE US THE AMULET!” The emerald green pegasus yelled, running up to Joe and throwing a punch, Joe moving his head to the side, then grabbing his wing and twisting it. “GAAAAAH” he screamed as he fell to the ground.

“I’d rather not.” Joe said, smirking down at him.

“HOW DARE YOU HURT HIM!” Screamed the unicorn, as he levitated Scarwings off of him, dropping him next to Thunderblast by accident, and running up to attack Joe.

Scarwings looked up and saw Thunderblast and Night Shadow watching the whole thing go on. “Here to help Con Mane, are we?” he said to them, smirking evilly.

“Uh, no. Just watching.” Thunder said, grabbing a trash can lid and smashing it into his face, sending him backwards.

The sound of the trash can lid smacking Scarwing’s face distracted the unicorn enough to focus on Thunder and Night, running back to attack them, while Joe dealt with the other pegasus.

“HEY! Who are you guys?” Joe yelled at them, wrestling the pegasus.

“Long story, Joe.” Night said, who was pinned down by the unicorn.

Thunderblast picked up Scarwings by his tail, and swung him around like a helicopter rotor, then into the unicorn, knocking him off of Night.

While the two struggled to get back to their hooves, Thunder and Night helped Joe take out the other pegasus, hoofcuffing him to a pipe.

“I could have handled them, you know!” Joe said angrily to the two.

“We still helped, YA KNOW!” Thunder said back.

Joe sighed. “You’re right, and thank you for that. Now, you two should probably get out of here.” He said, turning around and continuing down the alley.

“Hey, wait!” Night said, trotting up next to Joe, Thunder close behind. “Just tell us who you are already, Con Mane.”

Joe’s eyes shrunk some at this, looking back at Night, before continuing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said.

“Yes you do. Admit it already.” Thunder said, trotting on Joe’s other side.

“Fine. You know what?” Joe said, stopping and turning around to face them. “Fine. You got me. I am Con Mane. I was the guy that saved you three. There, you happy? Now go.” He said, turning back around and trotting faster down the alley.

“Wait, stop.” Thunder said, coming up next to him again. “What is going on, Con Man-.”

“Call me Joe.” He angrily said.

“Okay… What is going on, Joe? Who are these ponies?” Thunder asked.

“You don’t need to know that. You’ll spill it out to everypony.” Joe replied.

“No we won’t, we promise!” Night said.

Joe didn’t reply for a couple more minutes, leading them out of the alley and onto an empty street where he looked around, and turned to face them.

“Fine, but not right now. I want you two to meet me at my shop tomorrow at noon. I’ll explain everything.” Joe said, before trotting down the street.

Thunderblast and Night Shadow watched him disappear down the street.

“Well… Now we know.” Thunder said to Night, grinning.

“Yeah… I feel bad for following him and asking so many questions though.” Night said, who wasn’t smiling at all.

“Oh come on, if we didn’t follow him, for all we know those ponies could have killed him!” Thunder said back.

“I guess you’re right… But still.” Night replied.

“I know. But hey, at least we’ll know what’s going on tomorrow. See you tomorrow, Night.” Thunder said, turning around and flying away.

“See you…” Night said back, lowering his head some, then slowly walking down the street.

One long and sleepless night later, Thunderblast and Night Shadow sat down outside Donut Joe’s shop, waiting for Joe to come out.

“So… Do you think he’ll actually tell us?” Night quietly said to Thunder.

“It sure sounds like it.” Thunder replied, also talking quietly.

One door to Joe’s shop opened, and the tan unicorn stallion trotted out to Thunder and Night.

“So… You guys really want to know what’s going on?” Joe asked them.

“Yes, we would.” Night replied.

“Okay… But we can’t talk here.” Joe said, looking in different directions.

“Where do we talk then?” Thunder asked.

“Come with me.” Joe replied, leading them into the shop and to the back.

Donut Joe trotted around the back room, and seemed to be looking for something. “I can never keep track of where that damn button is.” He said, looking in every nook and cranny. “Ah. Here it is.” He said, moving a box and pushing a red button, which made a small hole open in the floor with a staircase.

“Woah.” Night said as he watched the staircase open up.

“Follow me guys.” Joe said, trotting down the stairs, Thunder and Night close behind. The staircase lead into a very long and straight tunnel, which took them under the streets of Canterlot.

“Where does this go?” Night asked.

“You’ll see.” Joe said, giving out a small smile.

It was a whole 15 minutes before the tunnel ended at an elevator, which went further down into the ground. Joe pressed the button, and a minute later, the elevator doors opened, and the three got in.

After another minute, the doors opened to reveal a large high-tech lab, and a master computer.

“Welcome back, Con Mane.” The computer spoke in a mare’s voice.

Joe trotted in, Night Shadow and Thunderblast slowly walking behind him, looking around. Suddenly, a robotic arm with a gun dropped from the ceiling, and aimed a red dot onto Thunder’s chest, scaring the two.

“Easy, they’re with me.” Joe said, trotting back towards them, now wearing a fancy black suit.

The robotic arm raised back to the ceiling, causing Thunder and Night to catch their breath.

“So. Where were we?” Joe, now Con Mane, said. “Ah, yes. But before we start, please, have a seat.” He said, pointing to two chairs at the center of his lair.

Thunder and Night took a seat, Con Mane sitting down across the table from them, then pressing a button causing metal straps to come up and wrap around their hooves, trapping them.

“Are these nessicary?” Thunder asked, struggling some.

“Just want to be safe.” Con Mane said, smirking at them. “Now, what is it you want to know?” he asked.

“Well… That night when you saved us. Why did those ponies kidnap us?” Night asked.

“Those ponies… They’re working on a huge plan to throw Equestria into chaos, and most likely take it over.” Con Mane said. “Their plan is to either impeach or assassinate the princesses, and by doing that, they want to kidnap and kill royal guards, which is why they kidnapped you guys. I was assigned to steal the Alicorn Amulet from the Canterlot Museum of Natural History, and it’s part of their plan. That’s why those ponies last night tried to steal it. If they get their hooves on it, there’s no stopping them.” He explained.

“You mean the thing that Trixie used on Ponyville that one time?” Thunderblast asked.

“Yes, exactly.” Con Mane said, using his magic to levitate it over to the table, where he let it hover above the table so they could get a good look at it. “Here it is. The one and only Alicorn Amulet. It’s in safe hooves….for now…” he said.

“You know… We could always help you foil their plan.” Thunder said, offering to help.

“Yeah, we could help… That is… If you want the help…” Night chimed in.

“Sorry boys, I work alone.” Con Mane said, walking over to a small glass tube, and putting the amulet inside of it, then sealing it.

“Come on… You needed help last night with those three ponies, you really think you can take down more of them?” Night said.

“Yeah, but I didn’t have my gear then. I was a sitting duck.” Con Mane said, sitting back down across from them.

“It wouldn’t matter. Fancy gadgets can’t save you all the time.” Thunder said.

“Sorry. I work alone.” Con Mane said, getting back up and going over to his computer and typing on it, leaving Thunderblast and Night Shadow still strapped to the chairs.

“You know, you could at least let us go!” Night said, frustrated.

Con Mane then pressed a button, and the straps went back into the chairs, freeing them.

“Come on, Night. He doesn’t need our help.” Thunder said, walking back to the elevator.

Night Shadow stood there for a moment, watching Con Mane type onto his futuristic computer, before turning around and walking towards Thunder, who was in the elevator holding the doors open. “Good luck, Con Mane.” He said, getting into the elevator.

Con Mane stopped typing and turned and looked at him, almost as if he didn’t want them to go, but he knew he couldn’t let them help him. Con Mane then continued typing on his computer. After that, Thunderblast and Night Shadow went their own ways, after walking for 15 minutes down the tunnel, not making one peep.