The window sign for the Pin Family’s Bakehouse was casually flipped over to ‘open’ as the sun began to rise into the sky, covering Canterlot in a soft blanket of warmth. Inside the building, a small colt yawned loudly before opening the front door and stepping out into the city.

One of his daily chores while living and working under his father, the business owner, was to check the mail everyday. He never argued the fact that messages were hardly ever delivered two days in a row, but he knew his father would never stand for it.

The early bird gets the worm, his father’s voice echoed in his head. If we miss a bill, you, your mother, and I will be working for another pony for peanuts. This business has been in the family for years, and your grandfather almost lost the damn thing when I was your age. I won’t allow that to happen to you.

The colt rubbed his tired eyes as he continually tossed a key up into the air. Approaching his street’s community mailbox, he caught sight of one of his father’s many friends who also owned their own family establishment.

The pony in question was older than most living in the area, but his towering figure never let on that he was in need of any help. Wrinkles were few and far between, only appearing up around his soft, blue eyes.

The stallion closed and locked his section of the mailbox before turning around to meet the colt’s eyes. “Hey there, Roll Pin,” the brown-furred pony greeted with a smile. “How’s your father doing?”

“He’s doing alright, Mr. Cafe,” Roll Pin said as he stretched out his hoof, reaching for his family’s locked box with the key. He sometimes wished he was older for the exact reason of reaching higher places. Every morning it took him what felt like ages to open the mailbox.

Mr. Cafe chuckled. “Let me help you with that, Roll. I know how much of a hassle it can be sometimes.” He held his hoof out expectantly. With a sheepish grin, Roll Pin descended back to the ground and placed his keys in Mr. Cafe’s hoof.

“Thanks,” Roll said as Mr. Cafe opened his mailbox.

“It’s really no problem. My son used to need the same help when he was your age.” Mr. Cafe flashed him a smile before peering into the mailbox. His eyes widened as he pulled out a small letter that was sealed by the Ponyville wax seal.

Mr. Cafe’s expression hardened as he caught sight of the seal. Roll Pin cocked his head quizzically before Mr. Cafe quickly pressed the letter on Roll Pin’s chest.

Hastily grabbing it from the old pony, Roll Pin suddenly felt a pair of eyes looming over him. “Get this to your father at once,” Mr. Cafe whispered, all past joy seemingly gone from his voice. “No one else is to see this letter, you got me?”

Roll Pin swallowed heavily. The urgency in Mr. Cafe’s voice frightened him. “Is it something to do with the bakery?”

Mr. Cafe shook his head. “I don’t know yet, Roll. Please, just get it to your father at once. After that, tell him to meet me at the cabin.”

Roll’s eyes darted around, confused. “I-I.” He stammered before finding his voice. “Cabin?” he said. But Mr. Cafe was already trotting down the street. A long frown was plastered on his face as he went.

Mr. Cafe mumbled to himself, “I knew the Pin family was nothing more than a bunch of idiots…”

Four shadowed figures sat around a wooden table in a darkened, small room. Outside the locked metal door, two guards watched the hallway intensely for intruders.

All arriving at different intervals that morning, each making sure no ponies were following them, they were finally ready to start their hastily organized meeting.

“Alright, gentleponies,” the pony at the front of the table stood from his seat, looking around at the others. “It looks like we’re all here. Before we start though, I would like to thank you all for you continued support of this group. And I assure you all, there is nothing that we can’t fix here today.”

The pony looked around the room. When the figures nodded silently, he continued, “We’re going to stick to code names for this meeting, as some of us might think that we’re now being pursued.”

As the pony, code named ‘Intro Field’, began to take his seat, he heard the sound of another rummaging through their saddlebag. In a fast motion, an opened letter was placed on top of the desk. All the ponies’ heads turned to face it.

“One of our agents in Canterlot received this letter this morning from Ponyville,” Apple Crush said as the whole room respectfully listened. “It seems as though one of our collectors has been discovered.”

He picked the letter up and stood to his hooves. After clearing his throat, he began to read.

“Dear Mr. Pin, I’ve been put in an unfortunate position as of yesterday. A business in which I was funneling money from collapsed recently. After some investigation, I’m sure that a suit knows it’s my doing. I’m not asking for you to run and hide, for I am going to the safehouse located in the Zebra Tribes.

With some luck, the new princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, will take the blame on my behalf. I wouldn’t count on this though, as the suit might tell her before she makes this critical blunder.

I’ll stay in Ponyville until the train arrives to pick me up. It should be here on the afternoon you read this letter. Wish me luck.”

Apple Crush placed the letter back down. “The collector is being followed by a suit from Canterlot, it seems. I’m not sure what she means by Twilight Sparkle taking the blame, but it doesn’t sound good for us in the slightest. If anything, it might put even more force behind the investigation.”

“Horsefeathers,” Control Push hissed from across the room. “The ‘collector’ you’re describing is nothing more than a greedy whelp. Her whole job centered around delivering messages to our agents in the field discreetly through the use of dead drops.”

“I’ve been informed that she has been taking minimal funds from her town?” a feminine voice asked. “Has she been funneling the funds to us directly or through the use of another agent?”

“That’s the problem,” Control Push said. “She been sending the bits right to one of our higher ups.” He gazed back at Apple Crush and scowled. “It’s seems like she was never given a dead drop location.”

Apple Crush pointed at him accusingly. “Untrue, Control! She was given all the necessary information to make the drops. I think it was another pony who didn’t give her the right address!”

“Oh, now you’re accusing me?” Control leaned back in his chair. “I can’t believe you would think it’s my fault when the pony has been sending the funds right to your agent!”

Apple Crush slammed his hoof on the table, cracking it slightly. “Well, I don’t think it-” he began to bellow before being cut off.

“Enough, you two!” the female yelled. Her face was red with anger as she stared the two of them down. “We’re not here to argue on whose fault it is; We’re here to fix it.”

With a snort, Apple Crush speedily sat down in his wooden chair. Rubbing his now throbbing hoof, he glared at Control.

Control opened his mouth to retort, but was silenced by a glare from the mare across the room. He crossed his forelegs and grunted in submission.

Intro Field nodded. “We can’t let her get to the safehouse. She knows far too little about our operation to warrant the spending of the necessary bits to keep her hidden. The bits we’re paying her, as well as the bits she’s been bringing forward from Ponyville, are rather pathetic amounts.”

Control Push sighed as he rubbed his head. “Well, what agents was she paying off?”

“Only one,” Apple Crush replied. “That agent, thank Celestia, might be the answer to this very problem.”

“And the suit?” the mare asked.

“This agent should be able to get rid of both of them. And I’m sure he can make it look like an accident, with extra funding, of course…”

“The princess shouldn't be much of a problem once those two are gone. It’ll be a cold trail with nothing, if anything, to follow,” Intro Field assured. “And if the newly appointed princess, bless her soul, wants to put her snout to the dirt to find us… Things are going to get ugly.”

“That settles it, then,” Control happily chimed in before turning to face Apple. “Send your agent a letter pertaining to our situation. Send another package containing five-hundred bits inside. Promise him two-hundred after our problem is dealt with.”

Intro Field looked around the room at the now gleaming faces of his comrades. “It looks like we’ve came to a simple solution, gentleponies.”

The whole room nodded in agreement.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes flickered open from their deep, blissful sleep. She lifted her head from the bed it was leaning on and rubbing her tired eyes. Seeing the morning light streaming in through the window above Scootaloo’s hospital bed, Rainbow Dash was reminded that she was supposed to be working.

She sighed. “The doctor’s going to be mad that I didn’t leave…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

She looked down at Scootaloo, who was sleeping soundly in her bed, nuzzling the white bed sheets. Rainbow Dash frowned, “Why should I care if he wants me out of here? I’m not hurting her…”

A moment passed as she simply watched Scootaloo in her sleep. This shouldn’t have happened, Dash thought. Scootaloo doesn’t deserve this.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door creaking open filled the room. “You alright in there?” she heard the doctor ask as he pushed himself in with a tray of food in hoof. “I didn’t want to wake you two last night.”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head before standing up. “I’m fine, Doc.” He placed the tray of food on the nightstand before moving over to Scootaloo. Memories of the screaming match between the two of them flashed through her mind.

“Hey, Doc?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes?” he replied as he checked Scootaloo bandages. She subconsciously flinched when he touched her wrapped head; however, she did not wake from her slumber.

“Again, I’m sorry for what I said to you the other day. I was just worried, you know?”

The doctor chuckled, “You should see what some of the other patient’s friends do to me when I can’t let them in. Sometimes I think about hiring some thugs to guard me all day.”

Rainbow Dash’s face broke out in a broad smile. “Uh, do you have a job opening in that area?”

“If I do, I’ll be sure to call you. Why do you ask?”

“I’m on thin ice with the weather team as is. I don’t think they’ll think too well about me not showing up.”

The doctor pulled out a fresh roll of bandages from his suit pocket. while unravelling the old ones from around Scootaloo’s head, he said, “Well, I don’t think they’ll have much of a reason to argue when you tell them you were with an injured filly.”

Rainbow Dash winced as the old bandages were removed from Scootaloo. A large, deep gash on the side of the filly’s head was clearly visible from where she was standing. No doubt it was where the speeding shingle embedded itself in her skull. Amazingly, Scootaloo kept snoring peacefully in her sleep. Rainbow Dash found it to be a strange combination of cute and disturbing.

“Don’t you think she’ll wake up?” Rainbow asked as she somewhat hid her eyes with a hoof, peering over from time to time.

He pulled off a long strip of the bandage roll and cut it loose with his teeth. “Not for at least ten minutes, no.”

“How can you be sure?”

The doctor glanced over his shoulder at her. “Remember that fight we had?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, Scootaloo is under a coma spell. If she takes on too much stress at one time, the spell forces her body to fall asleep for exactly twelve hours. It’s to make sure foals don’t hurt themselves. I think she was internally freaking out when we started going at it.”

A wave of guilt washed over Rainbow Dash as horror violated her previously cheery mood. The doctor noticed it immediately and put on his most reassuring smile.

“I think it’s my fault, really. I shouldn’t have came in barking like that. You obviously care a lot about this filly.” He directed his attention back to Scootaloo.

“I shouldn’t have came barging in.” Rainbow peered down at her hooves and sighed. “I didn’t mean for this to happen to her.”

The doctor began wrapping Scootaloo’s head with the fresh strip of bandage. “That storm came at a bad time, sure. But you ponies working in the sky had no clue it was going to hurt her. It’s no pony’s fault in that regard.”

But you don’t know the whole story… You don’t know how she got hurt, or who did it… I’m as much to blame as the storm. If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be alright.

“Well,” the doctor said as he rose to his hooves, derailing Rainbow Dash’s train of thought. “I’ll be back in here in a few minutes to give her breakfast. After that, I think it’d be a good idea for you to talk to somepony about where she’s being relocated.”

With a smile he pointed at the tray of food on top of the nightstand. “That’s for you.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Relocated?” she blurted out. “What do you mean?”

“She’s an orphan, Rainbow, she can’t stay here for the rest of her life. When her wounds are fully healed, she’s to be sent to another town or city, I think.” He shrugged. “You’ll have to ask that rude suited pony if you want more information. I’m not really well versed in the procedure.”

“W-what if the place is fixed back up?” The thought of Scootaloo being shipped off to another city sickened her. Her friends are here, she internally scolded herself. She shouldn’t have to move!

“The orphanage?”

“Yeah.”

The doctor shook his head. “After its failings here, I don’t think another one will be made and housed.”

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. “Well, how do I get her to stay? Do I need to talk to that dumb pony from Canterlot and beg?”

“She’ll most likely be moved. The only way I can see her being able to stay, is if she’s adopted, or something like that.” He quickly glanced over at the clock above the front door. With an apologetic look, he said, “I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I must get going. This hospital barely runs without me.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t try to stop him as he opened the door and left the room. Her mind was in a whirlwind of ideas. ‘Adopted,’ the doctor’s voice reverberated in her head. She walked over to Scootaloo’s side and stared down at her.

“I’m not going to let them move you,” she muttered. “You’re not going to go somewhere you’re going to feel scared… I want you to feel safe.”

A silent moment passed as Rainbow Dash opened and closed her mouth, unsure if she should say it. Do I deserve her? I’m the one who put her here…

Rainbow inhaled deeply before a new thought crossed her mind. “And I’m the one who is going to take you out…”

Author's Note

More character tags will be added as the show themselves within the story.

Sorry for the inactivity. I'll be getting back on track with this story.