Ponytropolis III, Part 1

Early Next Morning...

Tech stared at his laptop with bloodshot eyes, watching the multiple different camera feeds. "Come on... There has to be something..." he said, carefully watching each one. He then let out a gasp, remembering that some feeds cut out when the killer drove passed. "That's it..."

He quickly got up from his desk and ran over to a bookcase, full of various types of books; story books, history books, but mostly tech books, and even a few maps of the city. The latter of which he grabbed and headed to his bed. After unfolding the map of the city, he laid it out on his bed.

"So, the explosion was... here..." he said, using a marker to circle the spot where Blitz and Citrus were murdered.

He then went back to his laptop and rewound all the city cameras in the area to the exact time and hit play. When one cut out, he paused and marked it on the map, connecting the two points with the marker.

"Oh, I do think I'm onto something," he said with a smile.

Sunset Shimmer left her room on the 4th floor and rubbed her eyes, making her way towards the stairs. It was early and she wanted breakfast in the Dining Room. As she neared the stairs, Ginger bolted passed her.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Asked the orange mare.

The brown mare turned 180-degrees and ran backwards, a big smile on her face. "Surprise is back!" She cheered, before turning back around and running out of the hotel.

Sunset chuckled and shook her head. "Crazy couple," she said as she made her way into the Dining Room for some food.

Tech burst into Celestia and Luna's room. "I know how we can find the one behind all this!" He shouted. The room was empty. Sighing, her ran over and opened the doors to their bedroom. "I know how we can find the one behind all this!"

Both sisters, let out soft yawns and rubbed their eyes as Celestia sat up, the bed sheets rolling off her bare breasts.

"What is it, Tech?" She asked.

The stallion, stared at her before snapping back to reality. "I know how we can find the one behind all this!" He repeated for a third time.

The alicorn went wide-eyed. "How?"

"Call a meeting in the garage," Tech said with a proud smile. "I need to set up." He then ran out of the room.

Twilight let out a yawn as she woke up and stretched.

As she was getting out of bed, Rainbow burst through the door. "Twilight!" She exclaimed, making Twilight yell and fall to the floor. "Garage! Quickly!"

Letting out a groan, Twilight looked at her. "Rainbow!"

"Tech may have found the leader of the gang." Dash then took off.

Letting out a gasp, Twilight stumbled to her feet to get ready. As she did, she heard Midnight get up as well.

"They find the killer yet?" She asked.

Twilight shrugged. "Maybe. This could be the break we've been waiting for."

"Well, I'm coming, too," the black mare said as she began to get dressed as well.

All the commotion had awoken Aqua, who let out a cute yawn. When Twilight and Midnight had finished getting dressed, Twilight looked over at her first pet. Her eagerness faded as she began to think about what if something happened to her while she was out fighting.

She then looked at Midnight. "Get going. I'll catch up." Midnight nodded and took off as Twilight made her way to the blue mare. Sitting down on the bed, Twilight took a deep breath. "Aqua?"

The mare rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Yes, Mistress?"

"I'll most likely be going out now to... fight this new gang... And, if anything happens to me..."

"Nothing'll happen to you," Aqua said with a reassuring smile as she rested her head on Twi's shoulder.

"We know nothing of this gang. Who knows how tough they are? Bottom line, if anything happens to me... I want you to watch after the girls... Okay? Keep them safe..."

Aqua looked into Twilight's eyes and saw she was serious. Nodding, the two hugged.

"It's been fun, mistress..." the blue mare said with a sad-ish smile. "Please, come back..."

"Oh, I have no intention of leaving you girls..." After another second or two, Twilight pulled away. "Well, be good," she said with a chuckled before getting up.

Aqua smiled back. "You bet."

The two locking eyes for another second before Twilight ran off after Midnight.

Twilight ran into the garage and found a spot in the group beside Midnight. The present members were Chrysalis, Dune, Flora, AJ, Pinkamena, Celestia, Luna, May, Dawn, Rainbow Dash, Trixie, Lightning Dust, Kyra, and Twilight and Midnight. A table was set up in front of them all and Tech was standing on the other side.

"We're all here now," Celestia said, seeing Twilight arrive. "You may begin, Tech."

The stallion nodded. "Alright, well, I watched all the cams and every time one lost its feed I marked it down on this map," he said, unrolling the map to show a route had been drawn out. "The scary thing is, if we follow the line back to the starting point, we find ourselves here. At this hotel."

Twilight went wide-eyed. "So, it has to be an Elemental?"

"Yes," Tech said with a nod. "But, don't worry too much. Everyone in this room are trusted the most by Celestia and Luna. But, the next step is finding out who the killer is, which... I can also do," he said as the garage door opened and Surprise walked in, looking around.

"O, I don't think I've been in here before..." she said, spinning around as she looked at all the cars.

Ginger ran in after her. "Damn, your fast."

The white mare then saw the group and gasped. "A group meeting!" She cheered, quickly running up and standing behind Twilight.

The purple mare eyed her before looking at Ginger with a shrug. The brown mare shrugged back and stepped up beside Surprise.

"So, how do we find the killer?" Asked Celestia, eyeing the two newcomers before looking at the stallion.

"All we need to do is look at the first cam to go off and match that time with the camera in the lobby of this hotel and bingo. We got us a killer."

He then began pulling up the hotel camera feed on his laptop as Dune spoke up.

"Celestia, ma'am?" Asked the stallion.

"Yes, Dune?"

"I'm getting kinda bored just standing around... May I do a quick patrol around the block?"

The white alicorn hesitated and bit her lip. "Uh... Just, uh... Do not leave your car and do not stop unless you have to..."

Dune nodded and leaned in to Flora. "I know you're bored, too. Come with?"

"Oh, hell, yes," the mare replied, following the stallion to his car.

"We'll text you if we need you, okay?"

Dune nodded as Flora climbed into the passenger seat. "I'll keep my phone on," he said, before getting into the driver's seat.

The garage door opened up before Dune and Flora drove off. Meanwhile, Tech was looking at the lobby camera feed, rewinding it a little nd playing it. He soon let out a gasp and went wide-eyed.

"What?" Asked Celestia, getting worried. "What is it?"

Tech eyed her before turning the laptop to face her. It showed Dune about to leave the hotel. The time's matched up.

"No!" Celestia yelled, running to the garage door and out into the street. The others followed her as she held her head. "Shit!"

"We're going after him," Twilight said, putting a hand on the alicorn's shoulder. "We need a way to track him, though..."

"Already on it," Tech replied, carrying his laptop over to them. "The camera's are still up so it's pretty easy. Looks like he's headed to the mall." The group began to head to their cars when Tech gasped. "He's got Flora."

Everyone stopped moving before Tech looked at Twilight. "I'm riding with you," he said, quickly making his way over to her.

"And, we're coming, too," Surprise said with a smile.

"I don't think so..." Dash said as she stood by Twilight's car.

Applejack then remembered how the white mare was able to shoot the exact same spot at the target with three different bullets. "Let her come... And, give her a gun."

"Are you insane?" Asked Dash. "Give her a gun?"

"I already have one," Surprise sang, pulling hers out and aiming it at the sky.

"Whoa, careful with that," Ginger said, quickly grabbing her mate's arm and forcing her to lower it. "Where'd you get that, anyways?"

Twilight rubbed her head and sighed. "We're running out of time. Let them come." She then looked at the two alicorns. "You two have to stay. Nothing can happen to our leaders..."

Both sisters looked at each other and nodded.

"You are right," Celestia agreed. "Luna and I will wait here."

Twilight smiled and ran to her car. As the group drove off, Rainbow punches the ceiling of the car.

"Hey," said Twilight, eying her. "Careful."

"How could we let this happen?!" Yelled Dash. "It's bad enough that it's one of us, but... the one we were looking for was right under our nose this whole time!"

"Don't worry," replied Twilight. "He won't get away with this."

The cyan mare covered her face with her hands and sighed. "How could he kill Blitz and Citrus? A-And then act so normal?"

Tech could barely watch the feeds on the laptop as he was extremely nervous. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell and began typing up a text.

Looking back, Dash gasped. "Tech, don't!"

"But, I have to warn her!" He yelled.

"If Flora's phone goes off, Dune'll know it's us. He was just at the meeting."

"But, she's my sister!"

"Dash is right," Twilight agreed. "And, don't worry... Nothing'll happen to your sister... I won't let it."

The group soon pulled up to the mall, spotting Dune's empty car by the sidewalk.

"He's here," Dash said, getting out and cocking her gun.

As the Elementals began to disembark from their vehicles, a stallion stepped out of an alley across from the mall. Twi spotted him first and gasped when she saw him raise a rocket launcher.

"Everybody, move!" She yelled.

The group all began scrambling to get into the mall as fast as they could when the stallion launched the rocket. May got out of the car first and an away, looking back.

"Come on, sis!" She yelled.

Dawn quickly got out and began running when their car exploded. Pieces of debris scattered about as a large metal piece bounced off Dawn's head. The mare collapsed as a trickle of blood ran down her face. The stallion who fired the rocket smiled and disappeared into the alley.

"No!" Yelled May, running over to her. "Sis?!" She cried, kneeling down beside her.

Trixie watched them before looking at Lightning Dust. "You go with Twilight. I'll help them," she said, receiving a nod from the pegasus. She then ran over to May and knelt down, quickly grabbing Dawn's wrist. "Oh, thank god... She's still alive. But, we have to get her to the hospital right now."

"W-We'll need to take your car..." May said through tears.

Trixie nodded with a smile. "That was the idea."

May smiled back and scooped up her sister, following Trixie to her car. Lightning watched them drive off before looking at Twilight. The purple mare gave her a light smile before heading towards the mall.

"This is it, everyone," the purple mare replied, pulling out her gun. "Don't let your guard down... Anything can be waiting inside for us..."

"Great confidence boost, Twilight," Dash said as she raised her gun.

Twi took a deep breath before the group entered the mall.