Vox Veritas Vita

by HapHazred

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure
Length: 14671

A new pony posing as Gabby Gums is posting the secrets of everypony to newspapers worldwide. These are more than personality quirks though... these are secrets nopony can afford to get out. Somepony has to stop her before it's too late.

When a new Gabby Gums column is released on the Equestria National Paper, most ponies don't pay much attention… until the secrets she reveals become incredibly personal, dark, and dangerous.

Determined to stop her, Shining Armour and a group of detectives will join a mysterious pony, hiding behind a false name, Spectre, in order to catch her as things heat up down in Ponyville.

More tags may be added later on, because I'm indecisive. For now, it's adventure, though (because it's definitely not slice of life)

Pre-read by BlackFireGallop, and good advice, as always.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-12-22 11:16:17 UTC

Chapter One: Gabby's Return

The dark liquid swirled around her mug as Rarity carelessly fidgeted, her flanks starting to ache for sitting too long. She needed to move, to send some blood back into those legs of hers. Even so, she couldn't leave without seeing-

"Whoa! Watch it! Hey, coming through..."

...-Rainbow Dash.

The pair of them had a meeting scheduled for today. Rarity made sure she had meetings with all her friends regularly... although her colourful friend could hardly ever be called regular, except as a joke. Checking her watch, Rarity noticed that she was already half an hour late. She had to admit, she was improving, but even so, Rarity shouldn't bother arriving early any more. It was too frustrating.

Rainbow swam through the chairs, waiters, and customers, her wings knocking almost everything that could possibly be knocked over, as she bumped her way over to Rarity, sipping her third coffee nonchalantly.

"Hey, Rares'."

"Rainbow. I see you're punctual as usual." Rarity deadpanned sarcastically. Rainbow checked the sun, squinting until her eyes were barely slits.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that. But this time I have a good reason." she said, and dropped a newspaper onto the table. Rarity chuckled derisively as she picked it up.

"The Equestria National Paper? You read this drivel?"

Rainbow grunted. She knew about the ENP's reputation as much as Rarity, even if she wasn't prone to newspapers much. It's reputation mostly stemmed from it's rather controversial 'page three'. "It was given to me by a friend," she explained. "If I wanted to have anything to do with headlines, I'd go make them myself."

Rarity ignored her friend's ego attack as she read through the paper, unsure what Rainbow wanted her to do with it. Eventually, once Rainbow got bored of waiting, she rustled through the different pages until she reached the part she wanted.

"That column there."

"The gossip column? I really think I've had enough of those ever since-"

Rainbow nodded forcefully. She knew exactly where she was coming from. "That's exactly it! Look closer at the article!"

Rarity sighed, unamused by Rainbow's little game, and read on. Her jaw dropped as she read the contents. It was not a very flattering tale.

"Goodness! I never knew that was how Filthy got his fortune!" she exclaimed. "Forging an inheritance from his uncle... why, that's illegal!"

Rainbow bobbed her head. "Yeah, it'll ruin him all right. But that's not even the weird part. Read the end."

Her curiosity now thoroughly piqued, Rarity read all the way to the end. She had no idea how the paper had gotten a hold of that information, but she imagined it would have to be an incredibly powerful source...

Rarity stopped in her tracks when she reached the end.

"G-Gabby Gums?" she stammered. "But they stopped! The girls stopped! That's impossible!"

"I already checked out Scootaloo's place for clues." Rainbow told her, sitting down in a most serious manner, as if rifling through a filly's room was considered normal. After their previous encounters with a gossip column, it wasn't hard to imagine why. "Her room was clean. I was wondering if maybe Sweetie B-"

Rarity shook her head. "I haven't noticed anything Gabby related about her." she said. "And I'm dead certain this time."

Rainbow Dash frowned. She had a pretty good idea about what that meant for the column. Rarity was beginning to consider the ramifications of this as well.

"That means that there's another Gabby Gums." she said. Rarity swallowed, and read on.

"There's a bio about her." she said.

"I know. I read it."

Rarity's eyes followed the small printed words as they crawled across the page, taking in as much information as she could.

Gabby Gums is a pony dedicated to truth and honesty, and is one of the most reliable sources and writers in the ENP

Rarity growled. "That isn't true. Gabby was only invented a few months ago!"

"She's not being a very good 'paragon of honesty' if she's living under a fake name." Rainbow added. "It's hypothetical."

"Hypocritical." Rarity corrected.

"Yeah. I hope this garbage get's axed. Gabby messed up so many ponies lives, even when she was just three fillies and a school paper, not this new guy and the ENP."

"I'll make sure to bring he issue up with Twilight. We can't let another mistake like that happen again." Rarity said resolutely. "I can't stand that name."

"Me neither."

When the pair arrived, library was already abuzz with activity. It seemed that nopony had missed the morning's column, and all of their friends had a very personal stake in removing Gabby from the paper, even if it was just the ENP, a disreputable paper at best. Twilight herself had already set events in motion, much to Rarity and Rainbow's delight. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie were anxious to see the end of the column, although as far as Rarity could tell, Pinkie was mostly just there to be a part of the exitement.

"I've already sent a letter to Celestia, warning her about Gabby." she told everypony. "She was very understanding, especially when I explained what had happened last time something similar arose. It looks like my friendship studies are good for something after all."

"Can she do anything? I don't want t'see this all end in tears..." Applejack asked.

"Celestia said that this wouldn't be the first time she controlled the press. I'm sure she'll be able to remove the column."

"The good news is that the crusaders have nothin' to do with it, this time." Applejack went on. "The paper is based over in Canterlot, so they wouldn't have been able to send those secrets all the way there..."

"Not to mention, Scoots learned her lesson from last time." Rainbow added.

"Sometimes it takes a long time for children to take a lesson to heart." Twilight replied. "But even so, I have to agree: this Gabby is completely new."

Applejack growled as she reread the bio provided on Gabby. "Dedicated to truth, my flank. All she wants is t'cause trouble! She's a menace, ruinin' lives when it's none of her business."

Everypony clamoured in agreement. None of them could imagine anypony without a secret or two they absolutely had to keep: either for themselves, or more worryingly, for other ponies. If somepony were to cast a light on those secrets...

"Well, I'm glad it'll be over with soon." Rainbow declared. "I was worried that it'd be trickier to get the ENP to stand down, but I suppose that when you have two princesses on your side, there isn't much we can't do."

Twilight smiled. She had to admit, she hadn't expected things to go quite so smoothly. Most of the time, her problems got out of hoof quite quickly. Simply sending Celestia a letter was a liberating change of pace to her usual chaotic endeavours.

"I suppose that's that, then." she said. "I'm sure the Princess will send us a letter soon, so we might as well relax in the meantime."

Some ponies might be wondering what this new leaflet is, and what it is for. The answer is simple: this is a vector for which the truth may be found. Our column, formerly found in the Equestria National Paper, has been forced to relocate to an independant source in order to continue our quest for honesty. I am Gabby Gums, and I will continue to serve as a knight of understanding. If you are not content with the lies of your fellows, then read on. Today we have constructed an article focussing on our newly crowned Princess, Twilight Sparkle, who has attempted to crush us and the truth.

Twilight Sparkle was born, not to Nightlight and Moonshine, but to poor travellers who couldn't afford food. Not willing to care for a foal, they dropped Twilight onto the castle grounds. Her life was saved only thanks to Celestia's pity, who ordered her to be taken in by her adoptive parents, who were in a position to care for a second child, due in no small part to her large magical potential.

Unable to properly fit in with her family, she became an awkward and shy child unable to form relationships properly. It was not until much later that this unsociable pony was moved away from the crowds of Canterlot, again on order of Celestia.

We will leave it up to the reader to decide whether this loveless creature is worthy of being a princess.

The truth will set you free,

Gabby Gums

Rarity and Fluttershy looked up from the leaflet and at the door of the library, shut and locked. The curtains were drawn. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Twilight was not responding to Gabby's latest article well.

It had been two days since they had sent their request to Celestia. They had done exactly what Twilight had suggested: they had sat down, and relaxed. It had been a job well done, and they had managed to stop a rude and egotistic reporter from ruining ponies lives.

The day after, nothing had happened. Nothing at all. The ENP hadn't featured any gossip column, and Celestia had written back telling them that they had ceased communicating with 'Gabby'. It had been a normal day. Boring, even.

But today, a new leaflet had began circulating, and a few even made their way into Ponyville. Ponies had gobbled the news on their Princess up like it was candy, much to Twilight's distress, who had instantly retreated inside her library with Spike.

"I can't believe Gabby. How could she write something like this?" Rarity demanded, furious. "How does she even know, for heaven's sake?"

"Maybe she knows Twilight personally... maybe she's lying..."

Rarity shook her head. "Spike told me that she sent a letter to her parents about it. It's true." She shook her head in disbelief. "If even Twilight didn't know, how on earth could Gabby have any inkling about it?"

Both ponies went silent, and stared at the door. They had tried knocking and shouting, but Twilight remained impossible to contact.

"I suppose we'll jut have to wait until she's ready to talk." Fluttershy commented.

It would be a long wait.

The press was inelegant and old, it's metal frame painted black to prevent corrosion, and slick with ink besides. The paper, cheap and pulpy, smudged easily until about half an hour after it had been used, but it had it's uses. Ever since the ENP had proven itself useless before Celestia...

It could be operated by one pony. One pony to write the article, one pony to set up the machine in the dead of night, and one pony to discover the secrets of those he needed. Twilight had been a good pony to start with: a Princess, and an adversary. That would attract attention. Soon, everypony would have the truth: as much truth as they could handle.

The pony in the dark hesitated briefly. There was no doubt that Celestia would view this as an attack on a princess, which would put him at odds with the Canterlot Guard... but really, what could they do against a secret underground printer nopony knew about? How could they stop ponies reading? They'd have to find 'Gabby' first. That wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Gabby Gums had been a brilliant idea: print the truth, and nothing but the truth. No care for feelings, for hurt, or consequences. Just the truth. It was appealing: it was righteous.

His teeth flashed in the dark as he grinned.

He lived for the truth.

Evening took it's sweet time to replace the afternoon. Private Eye knew full well how paperwork made time slow down to a trickle. At least he could console himself with having a case: and an interesting one, too. The ponies in the department were referring to it as the 'Rotten Gums' case. Private had already been called a dentist twice today, ever since he had been ordered onto the task force.

And now, he was sitting down again, on a chair even more uncomfortable than before, with three other ponies, all of them detectives, opposite a faceless pony hidden in the shadows.

He decided that he would be the first to speak.

"Okay... I know that now Gabby's gone and messed up a princess, we've been formally tasked with hunting her down... but seriously, who are you?"

Everypony was thinking the same thing... except for the shadow, probably.

"I'd rather keep my identity a secret for now. You can call me Spectre."

Private Eye grunted.

"That's a funny name to pick." he commented. "It sounds like something a five year old would-"

"Hey! Some ponies think it's cool."

Private Eye recognized that the voice was female. At least he knew that much about her.

"It's part of an experiment. I'll explain it later." she continued. "Anyways... I asked to be on this case because I'm really, really good at this. Celestia knows exactly what I can do, so... here I am."

Celestia herself, huh? Private Eye wasn't convinced, and if he hadn't gotten a formal document, double checked, right from the top, he wouldn't have believed that Spectre wasn't some kind of prank. He was a detective, though, and he knew how to ask questions. He asked his partner. He told him that Spectre was for real. He asked his captain. Same answer. Everybody agreed that Celestia had hoof-picked her to head up the task force.

Her hidden identity told him another important fact about Spectre: she was selfish. She was hiding.

"You just don't want to get attacked like the Princess. You think Gabby will-"

"Okay, so if I reveal my face, would you trust me any more? I mean, really, all you've got to go on is that I am dedicated to bringing Gabby down. She's mean, and evil besides. So can it, and let's get cracking." she snapped. Private Eye decided not to press the issue: her tone said she meant business, and arguing wouldn't have helped it: so long as Celestia was on her side, he was working for her.

"Okay, 'Spectre'... where do we start?"

Chapter Two: Escalation

The train station was empty, and the place felt eerie, lit only with the yellowish green lights that hung overhead. Shining checked the time: it was just past midnight. It had taken him too long to get the paperwork set up for this trip. He had a lot of responsibilities in the Empire, and a lot of things he needed to prepare before his absence.

His thoughts turned once again towards Twilight, and he angrily cursed Gabby for unleashing that secret upon her. It wasn't fair: despite everything, he had always considered himself to be Twilight's older brother, no matter what. And Gabby was going to get an unpleasant surprise when she found out that he had requested to rejoin the guard specifically to work alongside Spectre's task force.

Gabby had struck back at the guard almost instantly after the task force was formed. The Captain didn't have many secrets, thankfully, but it was still a nasty shock for him when everypony learnt that he had been bullied at school and had a drinking problem. Private Eye hadn't been so lucky.

Shining grit his teeth. Private Eye had been his partner on many of his old cases, and the two were fast friends. It hurt to see him suffer Gabby's wrath.

Private Eye had divorced four times in the past. Apparently, now this secret had outed, his current marefriend was keeping her distances. Private had been devastated. Shining already intended to come and help, but seeing his friend's predicament just gave him more cause to hunt Gabby down.

He made his way up to the streets of the city. Even at this late hour, there were still ponies bustling around, though fewer in number. It didn't take long to see the older pony he was looking for. Private Eye wasn't hard to spot, after all: in his early forties, he had an angry case of stubble and smoked constantly. Where there's smoke, there's Private Eye, Shining had often said.

"Looks like you made it at last." the detective grunted. From close up, Shining could tell he was exhausted, like he hadn't gotten a good nights sleep in days.

"Better late than never, right? You look terrible."

"Got kicked out of my house. 'Been sleeping at the office." he explained as they got into a carriage. "Don't tell the cap'n."

"I won't." Shining reassured. "Tell me about the case."

Private smiled. "We're working under some crazy pony named Spectre. She's a weird one: she hides her identity, no doubt to avoid ending up like me, and always turns up late to meetings. She's good though. All we had to go on to start with was that Gabby had to be using an independent press."

"Not a great start."

"Spectre narrowed it down a bit quite quickly. None of the reporters currently working for any newspaper fit. We've been asked to track ink shipments to and from Canterlot, as well as paper and parts. We've traced the specific paper used, and we're now investigating only a dozen possible locations."

Shining chuckled.

"You did that in only a few days?"

"She's quite something. I just wish I knew her secret."

"Secret? As in what she's hiding from Gabby?" Shining asked suspiciously. Private Eye shook his head, aghast at the idea.

"Celestia, no. I meant how she keeps on narrowing down the list. She works alone and just feeds us new data, and then we go and investigate in person, like an intermediary. It's unlike any sort of detective work I've seen."

"Oh."

Shining had to admit that Spectre sounded more than a little fantastical, like the sort of pony you read about in stories, able to make daring conclusions from the tiniest detail. There was no such pony, of course... there had to be a trick to it. Some clever method or ability Spectre had access to. Shining had seen ponies like Private was describing: they were called magicians, and they made the ordinary seem incredible and unbelievable.

"Maybe we'll find out later." Shining said. "If we catch Gabby, she might reveal her identity."

"It's a distinct possibility. But I've worked with her long enough to know that she's not the enemy."

Shining nodded. "Of course."

"About that... how is your sister doing?"

Shining sighed. "She's still not talking to me. I think she's a little resentful."

"Can't blame her, really. Adoption is a tricky subject, sometimes."

"All the time, actually. I was going to head by Ponyville after I'm done here, try to sort things out."

"I had a similar plan in mind myself."

"Yeah, I gathered."

The pair stopped talking as the carriage approached the police headquarters. They got out, fatigue just beginning to hit Shining like a train off it's rails. He yawned.

"If you want to sleep, I'd better warn you: the couch is taken." Private told him.

Despite the late hour, Shining chuckled.

Applejack tapped the door, causing it to swing inwards slowly. Twilight had unlocked it: apparently she was seeing people again, according to Rarity. She was still furious, though. Applejack wasn't exactly happy either: it had been hard working on the farm knowing that her friend was all broken inside.

"Twi? Hello?" she called.

"Up here. I'm coming down."

A few moments later, and Twilight was trotting down the stairs. Her mane was a mess: it must have driven Rarity utterly crazy. She saw the look Applejack was giving her and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I look awful, I know."

Applejack didn't respond to that: she couldn't think of a good answer. "I was going to get a coffee, and I was hoping you'd come with me? See how you're doing."

Twilight glanced outside hesitantly. "I suppose so. I can't stay cooped up in here forever, can I?"

"Nope."

Twilight flattened her mane down with her hoof and then the pair made their way outdoors. The atmosphere was far less stuffy than inside the library, Twilight thought. She had to admit that the fresh air was good. The restaurant was crowded, but it still wasn't hard to get a good seat, and the pair ordered a light snack and a drink to accompany their conversation.

"My parents... I mean, uhm, they send me letters every day." Twilight said. "I haven't opened them just yet."

Applejack could understand where Twilight was coming from, but it wasn't the right reaction to have. Applejack wished she could understand what her friend was feeling.

"They're just worried about you. I can't imagine that they were really forced into acceptin' you like Gabby's been writin'."

"But it feels like it! Things were always... strange. Like I was never quite there. I don't think they hardly noticed when I got sent to Celestia's school... I-"

Applejack cut her off. "Now I'm sure that ain't true. They've been your parents since you were born: they can't have not noticed when you left."

Twilight hesitated, Applejack's words ringing true. "I suppose that makes sense..."

"Gabby was mad at you for challengin' her, so she dressed up what happened to sound real' bad. It ain't, though."

"It's not bad that they were lying to me since I was born?"

"Well... sometimes the truth ain't really the truth, sugarcube."

Twilight frowned.

"Is that supposed to be farmpony wisdom?" she asked angrily.

Because Twilight was upset, Applejack let her comment slide, but she didn't approve of it one bit.

"Sugar, when your parents said they were your family, they weren't lyin'. That's what I mean."

Twilight didn't answer straight away.

"I hate Gabby Gums." she confessed eventually.

Applejack didn;t bother keeping her voice down.

"Gabby is a liar, plain an' simple. She's dressin' the truth up to make it look like a lie, and that's even more dishonest than the usual kind." she said, making sure everypony in the restaurant heard. A murmur went up in the crowd as they rallied around her.

"Well, if Applejack says so..."

"She is the pony of honesty..."

Applejack grinned. It felt like, even though she didn't know who Gabby was, that she had hurt her a little, and damaged her reputation. It felt like a victory.

"C'mon, Twi. Let's finish our drinks and head home."

Hello once again, dear readers. It warms this old heard to see that more and more ponies are embracing truth as a way of life: it is truly inspiring.

There are those, however, who seek to undermine our cause: the guards of Canterlot are trying to halt our presses and stem the honesty of this paper. Even in Ponyville, a local farmpony has committed a lie against us, a grievous crime, made worse by the fact that she is none other than the pony of honesty herself, selling the truth to cheaply undermine this paper.

It is for this reason that today, we will turn our scrutinizing gaze towards Applejack from Ponyville.

Applejack was born on Sweet Apple Acres shortly after her elder brother. She was a playful, but rather careless child.

Not long after their third child, both of her parents were killed by none other than Applejack herself, her clumsiness causing their barn to collapse on them. An accident brought about by her own stupidity, perhaps, but aggravated by lying to her brother and sister for the rest of her days and avoiding responsibility for her actions: and this is the same pony whom many in Ponyville regard as being most dependable.

It is the opinion of the author that those who preach honesty should not live a life of lies: Applejack is a hypocritical beast at best, but now that the truth is revealed, perhaps she and the rest of the Apple Family can move forwards, and embrace a new, clean existence.

Forever sincere,

Gabby Gums

The Truth Will Set You Free

Applejack dropped the paper, unable to breathe properly, catching her breath in short, sharp bursts. Light as a feather, the leaflet fluttered to the ground, oblivious of Applejack's torment.

Rainbow kept a firm eye on her friend. She had been dead set on being around for when Applejack found out about this. If there was a chance she'd end up like Twilight, Rainbow would be there for her. Gabby had gone too far this time... No, in fact, Gabby had gone too far when she decided she could throw ponies secrets around.

"I... how did she..." Applejack stammered, trying to organize her thoughts, chaotic though they were.

"I take it Gabby's not wrong?" Rainbow asked her, still half hoping that the leaflet was wrong. Applejack nodded, shell-shocked. Gabby was never wrong.

"She ain't" Applejack replied. Rainbow could hear the tremors in her voice. The memory alone, Rainbow reasoned, must be horrible to go through, considering the scale of what had happened, and the implications for the young farmpony. Applejack swallowed. "How could she do this? If my family read this..."

She paused, locking eyes with her friend. "It'll drive my brother... my sister away from me."

Rainbow would have liked to be able to reassure her, but the truth was she didn't know how. She was almost certain that Twilight and her family would be able to work their issues out over time, but Applejack would have to deal with all the guilt of making her and her siblings orphans. Rainbow had seen it happen to others since Gabby had begun writing again. Applejack might lose her family, and for Applejack, that was the most important thing in the entire world. The farmpony couldn't bring herself to say anything else. She had been prepared for anything but losing her family to a decade old secret.

It was up to Rainbow and her friends to fix this, Rainbow decided. Applejack was their friend, and they couldn't let Gabby tear her family up in the name of 'honesty'. Rainbow extended her hoof and put it around her shoulders. The bewildered pony didn't seem to notice.

Minutes dragged on, and Applejack was no closer to returning to her senses. She often spent long periods of silence, only to be broken by her rapidly mouthing theories almost tearfully. Rainbow eventually traded posts with Fluttershy, and turned and flew into the skies.

"I don't believe this..." she muttered darkly as she pondered what to do next.

"I don't believe this..." Applejack whispered, confused and uncertain.

Shining Armour reviewed their list of possible locations for the printer, careful to cross off the places that Private Eye's investigations had eliminated. He was amazed at how effective Spectre had been. Between her grandiose conclusions and seemingly miraculous deductions and Private Eye's masterful detective skills, they had eliminated over a dozen independant printers, some of which had been known for illegal activities for months, even years.

He wished that they had teamed up earlier, back when he was still in the guard.

Still, Spectre wasn't perfect. She wouldn't go outside, and she'd only be around for a few hours at a time, most often at night. And she couldn't interrogate. She was adamant at never, ever, showing her face, or even her voice, to any possible suspect. She was a strange one, that was for sure. Still, Shining couldn't argue with results, and what results they were.

"I have to hand it to her... she's really good." he said to himself.

Private Eye knocked on his door, causing him to spin around. Was this another clue? Had Spectre found more information for them?

"Spectre's back... finally. Her punctuality could use some work." he said. "Come on, she says she's found a development, and we need to explain to the rest of them where we'll be heading tomorrow morning."

Shining was on his hooves instantly. If they had just one more clue, they could find Gabby... and then he'd be able to put a stop to her rampage. Gabby's articles were becoming more egotistical every day. It was scary how she could bend facts, which she shouldn't by rights have access to, and make them into something evil.

"I'm down to three possible printers: using Spectre's clues and our own intelligence, we know the location of two. I was going to suggest to Spectre that we case the joint, grab names and faces, before we start a raid."

Private Eye raised an eyebrow.

"Going for a raid, straight off the bat? Well, I'm pretty sure that Spectre won't disagree... but going in horns blazing isn't your style, Shiny-boy."

Shining didn't respond as he passed through the doors into the briefing room. He wouldn't admit it to Private, but he was rattled: between his own sister and the element of honesty herself, he was beginning to get a little scared of Gabby Gums's mysterious ways.

He wasn't sure how damning they'd be... but he knew he didn't want his thoughts plastered on a leaflet for all to see.

The room was filled with the detectives on the case. Each of them was just as hopeful as Shining: most of them had either had secrets revealed or had the secrets of one of their family shoved down their throats. Gabby was ruthless to those who tried to stop her.

Spectre was there too, in the corner, shadowy as ever. She had escaped Gabby by being invisible: nopony knew that she was on the case.

"Hi, everypony. I've got some good news and some bad news." she said, making a point of ignoring Shining's attempts to provide her with the locations he had found. He eventually deflated, and he began to worry that whatever Spectre had discovered was probably going to hamper their case.

"The good news is that I've gotten one more clue: I've narrowed down her location."

Everypony smiled cautiously, except for Shining. He had already found three possible places. Something didn't add up.

"The bad news is, Gabby's moved. She's gone to Ponyville: probably to get away from us."

Shining winced as if he was going through a vaccination. He had been afraid of this for some time. Gabby would run from danger, of course... but Shining had hoped she wouldn't be able to sneak an entire press by them, or at least not this fast.

"Wait, how do you know this? We've been sure up till now that she was in Canterlot!" Private Eye countered, infuriated. He too had been encouraged by Shining's efforts, now rendered useless by Gabby's cowardly tactics.

"Well, the press still is. But the ink has changed, and she only targeted Applejack because of something she said in Ponyville, which isn't the sort of thing that would get all the way to Canterlot."

"And because of that, we're jumping to the conclusion that she's all the way out there?"

"Yeah, I am. There are so many reasons why I'm right, you have no idea. She's in Ponyville."

She paused for dramatic effect.

"So we're going to follow her there."

Chapter Three: Spectre Strikes Back

Big Macintosh, usually a rather mild pony, was not happy. There was a long list of things that contributed towards his current bad mood, and almost all of them had started with that accursed leaflet. At first Big Macintosh hadn't believed it, since it was almost certainly a lie. It was incredibly unlikely that Gabby could have found out about such a well kept secret if what she claimed was true. However, it had raised enough questions in his mind that he decided to take the matter up with Granny Smith.

She had confirmed it, shattering Big Macintosh's image of his sister forever. What followed had been a fight.

Applejack wasn't on the farm anymore. She had decided after their first encounter that it would be best if she stayed in town for a few days. Big Macintosh couldn't blame her, but now that his head was clear, it was obvious that leaving was the wrong thing to do. She shouldn't distance herself from her family, even if it hurt both her, and him.

Big Macintosh grit his teeth as he recalled some of the things he had said to her. He regretted every single one of them. Hindsight was a bitter beast.

Work had been harder without her the next day, but it had been manageable. What really made a difference was the empty seat at the table where she would usually eat, and the painful silences that Applejack would usually fill up with stories about her friends.

Macintosh was expecting a similar experience today: hard work only worsened by the shipment of apples he'd have to deliver to the town hall for some sort of charity event, and the absence of their best farmhoof.

His ears twitched as he detected the soft sound of hoofsteps, distracting him from his somber thoughts. He craned his neck to see the road clearly, his already large frame giving him a satisfactory view on the lone pony that was trotting towards the farm. It wasn't hard to mistake the orange coat and straw mane for any other pony, even if she had left her hat at home.

Macintosh narrowed his eyes. There was something else, as well... something that was hard to see, hidden in the trees.

He knew that Applejack would be looking for Applebloom, no doubt to try patching things up like last time. He'd best leave that hornet's nest well alone, and speak with Applebloom on his own later. She'd have to forgive her sister eventually, but he was aware that their own bond of trust had been far stronger than his own with his sister, despite their closeness.

He decided to go after whatever was hiding in the trees instead: it could be a thief, or somepony concerned with Applejack. Macintosh had a hunch that it was the latter.

Getting closer to the tree in question only confirmed his suspicions: after all, he had seen the pony in question in his trees a fair bit, so it wasn't an unfamiliar sight. Rainbow Dash finally noticed the taciturn stallion watching her, and waved.

"Uh... hi." she said, realizing how suspicious she looked. "Um... me and the girls just wanted to make sure she was doing okay, so..."

"Eeyup." he replied, ever a pony of few words. He turned his head back towards the farm. Applejack had been accosted by her furious younger sister, and the two were now in a heated argument. Not much different from last time.

"Man. Looks like her and Applebloom still haven't made up, yet." Rainbow commented, observing the scene from afar. Big Macintosh was hardly surprised: even now, he still resented his sister for hiding her secret for so long. Not to mention, Applebloom was incredibly sad about never getting to know her parents, something Big Macintosh had at least been able to do. Applebloom just didn't understand the pain that Applejack was going through, and probably never would until she was older.

"Nope."

"You think they'll be okay?" Rainbow asked. She was anxious to get a positive answer.

"Eeyup." he replied. It was true: Applejack and Applebloom were model sisters, and they would eventually forgive each other... but it would take time, and Applejack would have to stop running away from them and return to the farm.

Rainbow sighed, relieved. "Well, that's something. I suppose you know them best, after all."

Glancing at Applejack and Applebloom one last time, the pegasus nodded to herself, satisfied by something she saw. She grinned at Big Macintosh. "Can I leave you to take care of her, then?"

"Eeyup."

Rainbow leapt off her branch and extended her hoof. After a brief pause, Big Macintosh decided that he would oblige, and bumped hooves with her. Then Rainbow Dash left, her observations complete.

Shining Armour stepped outside into the street.

The thought occurred to him that he had never been to Ponyville before, even when Twilight moved there. They had only ever met at Canterlot, or in the Crystal Empire, when Twilight was visiting. Shining wondered if it was all that hard for Twilight to imagine that she had been abandoned by him, and her family. He winced as he realized that he hadn't done much to make Gabby's work difficult. For heavens sake, even Cadence had visited at least once.

It had been a full day since he had arrived in Ponyville with Spectre and Private Eye, and things had been going very slowly indeed. Spectre was all but missing, and stuck in an unfamiliar town, Private Eye and himself had lost their edge. He had tried to get a hold of ink shipments from Sofas and Quills, but Ponyville was basically at a crossroads between Canterlot, Appleoosa, Manehattan, and a dozen other places. Ink, paper, and printer parts could have arrived from any direction. It would take weeks of regular police-work to locate a possible location without Spectre's seemingly magical skills, or a new development, something to latch onto, another clue, perhaps...

The town was bustling. It seemed that nopony knew the task force had arrived yet, which was probably a good thing. It meant that maybe Gabby would be less careful. As far as Shining was concerned, the longer they stayed hidden, the better. He raised his nose into the air: there was a party this evening at the town hall. He wondered if perhaps Gabby might make an appearance...

A flash of purple caught his attention, almost invisible in the crowd. Shining widened his eyes, trying his best to identify the pony he saw.

If it was Twilight...

He wasn't sure what he would say to her. Possibly something along the lines of:

"I'm sorry I lied to you, but you're still my little sister." he muttered to himself, as if to Twilight herself.

He sighed. If the purple pony had been Twilight, then she was gone now. He'd have to wait until later to cross that particular bridge.

One afternoon later, the party had begun, a cautiously civil affair, since more and more ponies were beginning to get more than a little anxious due to the so called 'Veritas' leaflets that were currently in circulation. Thoughts begun to emerge: what secrets does my friend have, and what would they do if they found out mine? Despite knowing everypony for years, living in a closely knit community as they did, Gabby's leaflets had cast a pall on the evening.

Private Eye was waiting for Shining impatiently. If they missed something because his partner was late, it could cost them the case. He still needed to get back at Gabby for ruining his relationships... possibly forever.

He knew some ponies in the crowd from the newspapers: there was that fashionista unicorn, the pink bubbly one... he was also sure he had caught a glimpse of that Wonderbolt wannabe, the rainbow maned one. It was hard not to recognize them, being the elements of harmony. Of course, Applejack was missing. Private Eye wondered if Shining's sister would make an appearance... if she recognized her brother, that might spell trouble for the investigation.

He was nudged in the side roughly, causing him to take note of Shining, who had just arrived. He was holding a leaflet.

"Rats. What's in it this time?" Private asked.

"Nothing deadly for the case. Just something about two ponies being unfaithful a while back. It's bad, but it won't affect us." Shining said.

Under usual circumstances, Private Eye, being a rather gruff and inelegant pony, might have joked. Today, though, that particular leaflet hit a nerve, reminding him of his own personal life.

"I... see. Well, we'd better pay attention to the crowd. I'm willing to bet Gabby is here, looking for anypony to write about next."

"Which should, if our assumption is correct, remove anypony who isn't here from our list of suspects." Shining completed. "Maybe that in conjunction with our other tricks will get us a lead."

Private Eye nodded.

"Sounds about right. I just want to know where Spectre is, though."

Shining looked around. "I've got a feeling we won't have to wait long for an answer." he said, as if she were standing right behind him. "She's just late to the party is all."

"Her punctuality really could use some work." Private repeated.

They stopped talking, and waited.

Something was bound to happen. Any detail they saw, any thing Gabby might see, might be used in her leaflet the next day. Any such clue could be crucial.

A deep, loud, tapping noise stole their attention away from them, and their eyes turned towards the stage. Mayor Mare was tapping on a microphone, about to give a speech. She looked very grave indeed, as if addressing a funeral.

This is it!

"Attention, everypony. I'd like to thank you all for attending this charity festival: you're making a lot of ponies very happy by being here tonight." she said. "I'm afraid I have some news concerning Gabby Gums, who you are no doubt familiar with by now."

Private Eye frowned. Was the Mayor being blackmailed? Could Gabby even do that? Hold somepony's secrets over them like some sort of weapon? It didn't seem all that far fetched.

"Gabby has written horrible articles on several of our community. For what I am about to do, there is a strong chance that I will be next, but for Ponyville..." the Mayor swallowed, "...For Ponyville, I am quite willing to assume responsibility for this. I give you now... Spectre."

Shining's jaw dropped as the older mare stepped back and drew the curtains aside, revealing the shadowy cloaked figure he had come to recognize as the incredible leader of the task force, Spectre herself. Her face was customarily invisible, but Shining was sure that for the first time in forever, he could make out her eyes. They were large and piercing, flashing back and forth across the room, scanning everything.

Shining could almost imagine those eyes scanning his soul.

"Hi everypony. 'Sup."

"For those that don't know about the task force ordered to apprehend Gabby Gums, Spectre was put in charge by Celestia herself." Mayor Mare continued. Spectre nodded, and stepped forwards.

"Yeah, that's me. Anyway, I want to talk to Gabby." she said.

What is she thinking? Revealing ourselves to her is madness!

"I want to tell her that I'm ready to come out of the shadows if she is. I know exactly what you're doing, Gabby, and it's all about hurting other ponies to make yourself feel better. It's stupid and it's childish and you're missing the truth completely. You've just made yourself a smarter variety of lie." she said, gathering momentum. "And we know you're in Ponyville, too. We're monitoring all ways out of here. You've done goofed, Gabbs'. You've cornered yourself in Ponyville and there's no way out , so how about you step forward and admit to everypony that you're a liar and a cheat?"

The crowd was absolutely silent as Spectre waited. Shining was grinding his teeth in frustration. Spectre was being reckless.

Spectre smiled, but nopony could tell.

"Well, keep on hiding, then, you yellow bellied coward. I'll wait for you to unveil all of my secrets tomorrow, huh?" she chuckled, and stepped back behind the curtains. A murmur went up among the crowd, utterly bemused.

"I had never heard of any 'Spectre'."

"Challenging Gabby is folly! She'll just write about her next!"

"What's the point in having a secret identity when somepony can know all your secrets?"

Shining glanced over at Private Eye.

"Watch the crowd. If anypony looks suspicious, make a note. I'm going after Spectre."

Their headquarters was a small flat rented out to them by a middle class carrot farmer sympathetic to their cause after one of her family had been targeted by Gabby. It was small, sure, and cluttered too, but it served their purposes well. A huge map of Ponyville was pinned to the wall, several locations crossed off and others circled in red, some of the more likely sources to investigate. Files littered the floor.

Shining knew that Spectre would have to arrive soon. She knew where they were: how could she not? She knew every other Celestia damn thing about this case.

The door opened, sliding over a coat that had been in the way. Private Eye wasn't known for his cleanliness.

Shining Armour growled as he recognized the mare in the doorway.

"Rainbow, please leave. This is Guard business." he snapped, his usual mild manner gone.

Rainbow Dash stood stock still, as if she had been caught raiding Celestia's cake stash. Shining Armour soon registered why, and how she knew about this place to begin with.

It can't be... for heavens sake, how can *she** be Spectre?*

The pegasus caught his accusatory glare with wide eyes.

"Oh, shoot. I thought you'd still be with Private." she confessed.

"You? How can you be Spectre?" he asked.

"Don't tell anypony else."

"How?" Shining repeated.

Rainbow sighed, and hung up her cloak on the back of a chair. The jig was up, and it was time for her to explain everything.

"Okay, well, to start with, let me tell you about a little trick I picked up." Rainbow began.

This better be good... Private Eye will have a fit when he finds out an untrained civilian interfered on our case.

"A few months ago, Twilight noticed that I could... sort of subconsciously register information whilst I was flying." she said. "I used that to pass an exam, with my friends help. Full marks, too."

"Sounds too good to be true."

"It kind of was, and wasn't. After the first week, everything was fine... but later, I found I couldn't turn it off. I'd end up seeing things whilst I was flying, and knowing way more than I knew I should, like other ponies passwords, secret crushes, what they read, what they do... everything."

Rainbow took a deep breath, knowing that this was probably the part that would be hardest to explain to Shining. "I kept quiet about it because I didn't want ponies knowing I could figure out all their secrets just by flying overhead. I mean... if it were anypony else, I'd be scared of that."

Shining scrutinized her face, desperately trying to see any signs of deception... but found nothing. The story had to be true.

That's how she was able to write off certain locations for the press without even investigating... she just flew overhead once and... saw everything she needed to.

"So why become Spectre? Didn't you trust us? I'm the prince of the Crystal Empire, for Celestia's sake, and Twilight's brother! I even thought that we might be friends!"

Rainbow looked like she had been stung. "I did want to tell you guys... but I was... I was..." she began, stammering, finding it difficult to find her words. "...I may have been a teensy bit scared of Gabby."

"Is that all? You were scared? What sort of secret could you possibly have to hide?"

"Uh... I really don't want to answer that." Rainbow replied sheepishly. Shining groaned. Of course, everypony had a secret to keep. Still, that didn't explain everything...

"So why stand in front of a huge crowd and announce your presence to the world?"

"It's a test." Rainbow explained. "Well... I need to figure out if Gabby Gums is... omniscient. Or at least figure out what her limits are."

"You want to know if she has the ability to publish the secrets of somepony who's identity she doesn't know."

"That's right! So far, she didn't know Spectre existed... or shouldn't, at least. So, if my secret get's published tomorrow, I'll know for sure."

"That's awfully risky." Shining warned. Rainbow nodded in nervous agreement.

"Yeah... I spent most of today working up the nerve for it."

That was understandable, at least. Now Shining knew why she hadn't been there all day...

"I was also getting some help from a buddy of mine... or rather, a buddy's buddy. He's a photographer, and I had him take pictures of everypony during the charity tonight."

"Can you trust him?"

"Yeah... he hates Gabby with a vengeance. In fact, he knew the very first Gabby Gums. He's the editor of the school newspaper. Featherweight."

So that meant they had a list of suspects... a very long one, too. "I assume that if Gabby responds to your challenge, you'll know if she was at the event."

"Yup. If she responds, she was there. If she knows my secret, then she... uh, really, really scares me. And this is me we're talking about."

"And then we're all done for anyway, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Are the pictures on their way?"

Rainbow nodded, pausing as she counted in her head. "He should be here in about... a minute."

Shining realized that must be her special eye skill at work again. Quite impressive, even if it was just a special method of storing memory. Absolutely perfect for detective work, too.

"You do realize that Spectre is a ridiculous name, though, right?"

Rainbow harrumphed, annoyed. "A friend of mine liked it."

"Is she five?" Shining asked with a smile. He rather enjoyed watching Rainbow squirm.

"Scootaloo is seven."

Shining Armour chuckled to himself. Now that he had gotten the surprise of discovering that his sister's lazy friend was Spectre, he was beginning to relax again. His ears flicked around: he heard somepony come up the stairs.

The door opened once again, this time with Private Eye and a stick thin kid in the doorway. The kid held a camera in his hooves: he was probably Featherweight. Private Eye took one look at Rainbow and frowned.

"What in Celestia's name is she doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well..." Shining began, "...she's Spectre."

Private Eye looked over at Rainbow, then back at Shining again.

"We're all bucked, aren't we?"

Chapter Four: Indignation

"She called me a liar... she called me a liar?!"

The pony in the shadows roared in anguish and rage, throwing the heavy tools and papers from his table, letting them clatter to the stone floor with a damp crash. His eyes flashed bright green as he fixed his gaze on his paper and pen. He grinned like a wolf stumbling across his injured prey.

"I am the only honest pony left in Equestria!" he declared, and began working on his next leaflet. Halfway through, he began chanting.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire... Liar, liar, pants on *fire*..."

Once again, thank you for picking up my humble leaflet. It's time to spread some truth.

Last night, I was challenged by a pony with a heart as black as night. Hiding in the shadows like a coward, she dares to lecture this paper on the values of honesty. If she cannot find it in herself to face the hard and brutal truth, then perhaps it is time for her to step out into the light so that we might see her for what she truly is.

As for her allies, we shall now see just how reliable they are. Mayor Mare is in cahoots with this upstart in condemning me. A mare who has a past more checkered than a chessboard.

Mayor Mare has lived her youth without a single penny to her name, unable to remain in one spot for any length of time. This 'responsible leader' didn't even have the courage to keep her own foal for herself, and instead threw her away, unable to take care of her own child. Is this the fate of Ponyville if she can no longer care for you? To be thrown away as if we never even existed?

Her hypocrisy knows little bounds, as she later demonstrates when she takes up the mantle of mayor of Ponyville, despite being unable to care for her own family, using her title to finally steal a good life for herself: a life she has taken from the hooves of honest ponies.

This leaflet does not condemn Mayor Mare. Instead we simply let our loyal readers judge her merit.

As for Spectre herself, I offer this ultimatum: either emerge from the shadows, or I shall begin to  unleash the secrets of Equestria, harbored by Celestia and Luna themselves, upon the nation, in one week. If you don't wish to have your country broken and divided by the dark history of the country, and have some loyalty to the ponies around you, it would be best to comply with the truth, and allow yourself to find the light at last.

Lies are your only chains,

Gabby Gums

Private Eye threw the leaflet down in front of Rainbow Dash, sitting nervously in a corner.

"Well, I hope you're happy. You just made her mad." he told her. Rainbow gulped.

"Yes, but... did she find out... my secret?"

Private Eye snorted. "No. You were safe. The Mayor, on the other hoof, is in tears."

Rainbow wasn't sure whether to be relieved her secret was safe, or be downcast that the Mayor had been targeted. She picked up the leaflet and read it.

"At least we know she can't read minds. That's nice to know." she said. She gaped when she reached Gabby's ultimatum. "Oh, crud."

"Oh, crud, my flank. You have no idea how angry you'll have made the Princesses. We have one week before I get fired by Celestia herself for gross incompetence."

Rainbow snorted.

"Okay, I may have acted without consulting you guys first, and sure, Celestia may be a bit upset with how things have turned out, but I was not gross. There were kids in the crowd, for sky's sake."

Private Eye didn't even know how to respond to Rainbow's misuse of the term.

"...It was a joke?" Rainbow supplied. "You can laugh if you want."

"No." Private snapped, and then turned to the huge collection of pictures they had set up during the night. He yawned. None of them had slept. Rainbow had acquired a set of dark bags under her eyes, and so had Shining. Private could only imagine how bad he looked now: between him sleeping on a couch for a few days back in Canterlot and now this, he was probably beginning to look like a zombie.

"How about you cut trying to lighten the mood and use your supposed 'eye magic' on these pictures?" he said. Rainbow sighed, and got to her hooves, swaying slightly.

"Okay, okay..."

She glanced at each of the portraits. Featherweight had done a wonderful job... now then, how many had she seen? How many didn't 'fit'? She took a red marker from the table and crossed out several ponies.

They weren't reacting right. Like they didn't care.

Twelve faces were crossed out in a matter of seconds. Private Eye was forced to accept the truth: this was indeed Spectre, even if she was also a lazy, good for nothing pegasus. Private Eye couldn't help but be a little disappointed: he had hoped for some kind of super genius, straight out of those books his second wife liked to read. He supposed it was because he had built up an image in his mind about what Spectre was going to be... obviously, he couldn't be entirely satisfied.

Rainbow circled a few faces that she remembered looked suspicious. Anger and indignation were the emotions she was looking for.

It's a good thing the event was so late at night... I can assume most ponies went straight to bed, so they didn't go telling anypony else about my challenge. That means that Gabby Gums had to be there.

She scrutinized each picture: one of them had tried to wreck Applejack's family, tear Twilight from her parents, destroy Mayor Mare's reputation... which one? Even she couldn't tell somepony that heartless just by glancing at their face. She needed a reaction.

"Private, do you have any good ideas about how to goad a reaction from Gabby?" she asked, thoughtfully.

"You mean troll her?"

Rainbow hesitated, then grinned. "Yes, exactly that."

"Calling her a hypocrite seems to hit a nerve. Have you read that last leaflet? She sounds like she's two planks short of murdering everypony with a meat cleaver."

On second thought, maybe we shouldn't provoke her too much...

"Well, getting her to kill ponies with a sharp knife in public would be an effective way of catching her, I guess..."

"A bit unethical, though." Private Eye admitted.

"Well, I'm game if you are." Rainbow told him with a smile. If she kept a careful eye out, she would notice if anypony tried to cause trouble, not that she had difficulty in finding alarming situations even before her photographic memory.

"I'll figure something out." Private Eye promised.

Oh, boy.

Shining Armour let his hoof fall, once, twice. Three times.

He heard movement from inside. Would Twilight have figured out it was him? Was she going to lock the door?

The door opened. Instead of Twilight, Shining came face to face with her little purple dragon, Spike. Shining remembered him: helpful little guy, a bit clumsy. He sort of reminded Shining of himself back in his younger days in the guard: always tripping over in front of the Captain, and even worse, Cadence.

"Hello, Spike. Is Twilight-"

"She's upstairs." Spike provided. He seemed sympathetic. He probably knew better than anypony... anydragon... what Twilight was feeling. The guy must have incredible mental resilience just to be in the same room with her twenty-four/seven. Shining knew better than to stick around when Cadence was on the war-path, after all.

"Thanks. Is she doing all right?" he asked, dropping his tougher, Guardpony guise and replacing it with his kinder, gentler side, the one he used when dealing with Twilight, and Cadence.

"She's doing better, I guess. She's stopped eating all the ice cream, at least." Spike told him. "And she lectures me about it..." he muttered darkly.

Shining felt he should have laughed, but he was too nervous. He stepped inside, the library feeling unusually oppressive for such a cheerful building.

"Twilight? Hello?" he called.

He saw his sisters head pot out from around a corner. She widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh! It's you!"

Shining tried to smile, but found it harder than it had always used to be.

"I wanted to see how you were. You haven't been answering any of mom's letters."

"I know."

They stood apart, keeping the empty room between them. It was Shining to take the first step towards bridging that gap.

"Do you want to talk?"

"I want to know why you never told me!" Twilight asked weakly, as if Shining's presence sapped all of her energy away. "I understand why mom and dad never said anything... but we told each other everything!" she exclaimed. "Except that isn't even true, is it? You never told me about you and Cadence, who were my only friends back home. You never told me about joining the guard. I had to learn that from Celestia."

Twilight struck a nerve when she mentioned the guard.

"I didn't want you to worry about me..."

"You never tell me anything! It's like you treat me like some kind of stranger." she snapped. "Maybe Gabby isn't so bad after all."

Shining rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly exhausted. "Twilight, just stop. We never meant to hurt you, we just wanted you to feel accepted... always."

His words seemed to gain a little traction. He decided to press his advantage. "I know we made some mistakes my not telling you from the start... but we're your family, and nothing some stupid leaflet can say will ever take that away."

Twilight seemed to mellow slightly. Shining smiled. "C'mon, don't make me get Cadence to do a love spell on you just to get you to talk to me."

Twilight narrowed her eyes, even though she was obviously amused. Shining almost felt like jumping up and down: he had almost gotten Twilight to smile.

"You wouldn't." she hissed.

Shining held his hooves up in mock surrender. "It was a joke!"

Twilight unfolded the leaflet that she had gotten a few days ago. She looked at the words written down, and then over at Shining. She knew she couldn't stay away from her family forever... at least not her brother. But the leaflet made the whole tale sound so pitiful... like her parents had been forced to bring her in.

"Will you tell me what really happened, then?" she asked, tossing the leaflet away. Shining nodded.

"Sure thing, Twily."

Rainbow Dash couldn't quite believe that if she had been wrong, Gabby would have plastered her most shameful secret for the world to see on a piece of paper, ruining her life with a few pen-strokes. What if things had turned out differently?

She needed air.

Trotting around outside, she had left Private Eye alone to look for any important details on their remaining suspects... and despite her diligent work, there was still a lot of them. He'd be working for a good long afternoon, still. And then there was their plan.

The angrier I make Gabby, the worse I make my life if she ever finds out who I am.

What if she was found out? Gabby might have tipped her hoof slightly at the charity, and she might be cornered in Ponyville, but Rainbow couldn't deny that she had just glued a target on her forehead. Her forehead, and Shining Armours. And if she was really, really unlucky... her friends might be targetted next. In fact, how long before the other elements of harmony would have to suffer Gabby's tortured gaze?

Rainbow went cold. Was it really just a matter of time before Gabby went straight for her? For Rainbow Dash, not Spectre, the ghost detective that was chasing shadows.

She needed apples.

The orchard was nice this time of day. The soft aroma wafted through the air, carried by the soft breeze. When Rainbow finally arrived, she quickly raided one of Applejack's trees, ruthlessly satisfying her hunger, and also calming her mind with the sweet comfort food.

Maybe I should just have stayed out of this whole mess...

Rainbow had to admit that the risk far outweighed the benefits to herself. If she just kept her head down, Gabby might overlook her. Instead, what was she fighting for? A few lies her friends kept?

She rested her head against the trunk of the tree, and closed her eyes.

"Raidin' my crop again?"

Rainbow knew that it was Applejack. She didn't even have to have flown, her eyes recording all the information she would ever need, to know that Applejack had been hovering around the outskirts of the Acres, waiting for an opportunity to see her two siblings and grandparent.

"I was hungry." Rainbow told her.

Applejack gave the tree a sharp tap, causing one of her fruit to fall onto her hat. With one swift movement, she threw her head up, and caught the apple in her mouth. She began chewing instantly. She needed a bite to eat herself.

"Fair 'nough."

Rainbow had seen her sometimes whilst flying. She could practically read Applejack's mind even before she had begun registering information with her subconscious method, and her sight told her all she needed to know about her friend. She was in pain.

Rainbow knew that Applejack had figured out that Big Macintosh had come to terms with her past, from the relaxed sag in her shoulders from yesterday, the tightened corners of her mouth, and her upright ears. And yet, she hadn't returned to the farm. Applejack still couldn't face her sister, whom Rainbow had seen from the skies.

Flattened ears, twitchy eyes, tensed muscles. Those aren't the sign of a happy filly.

"Granny told me it weren't my fault." Applejack told her, without warning. Rainbow's wings fluttered. Her peripheral vision picked up signs of regret, of haunting. This was a confession. Rainbow instantly chastised herself for using her sight so blatantly on her friend: it didn't seem honest to read her on purpose. Now that she was aware of what she could do, it felt like reading her diary.

"You were a filly, back then. I don't think many ponies could blame you." Rainbow answered back.

"I know. That's what I'd been tellin' myself for the past eight years. But when I look at their pictures sometimes, I feel all guilty." she said. "And now, I'm going to lose my sister. It's just one mistake after another."

"Applebloom will come around eventually." Rainbow said. "I promise."

It wasn't an idle promise, either. She had seen it. She couldn't tell Applejack, of course... if she did, then that would make everypony afraid of her, wouldn't it? She'd be as terrifying as Gabby. Knowing the secrets of others was an unnatural gift.

Still, Applejack knew that there was nothing more reliable than a promise from Rainbow. She felt relieved, somehow, despite her uncertainty.

"Thanks." she said gratefully. "Y'know, I can always tell when you're tellin' the truth. I can read you like an open book."

The pegasus got to her hooves and spread her wings wide.

Hoofprints smaller than an adults to the left, crushed grass, memories of a bright purple ribbon...

"If you want to go talk to Applebloom, I bet she's in her treehouse." Rainbow conjectured. It would be accurate. It was almost impossible to describe exactly how she knew, but she was right, and there was no doubt about it, like a hundred tiny details pointing her in the right direction. Applejack gave her a puzzled look.

"Also, I didn't know you could read." Rainbow added.

The young stallion, trudging through the streets with a bundle of posters and a can of glue, was not a pony of great means. He had a work overload, a lazy disposition, and a gaggle of friends with personality disorders. Somehow, though, despite all of these traits, he was not related to Rainbow Dash. In fact, he had never even formally met her. He was completely unknown to the world, and had been hired to do a job that nopony else was ready to do.

Still, with this money, I can buy myself coffee for a month...

One lick of cheap glue later, and the wall was ready to be plastered with Spectre's message. He had to admit, the idea of being on the recieving end of Gabby's wrath after she read this thing was more than a little scary. He didn't mind too much, however: if Gabby was after his own set of secrets, she'd have to navigate a confusing past filled with misadventures that, whilst memorable were rather plain and dull. No abandoned ponies on the doorstep for him: he was quite ordinary.

There was a kind of justice in what he was doing, too: Gabby battled the world through papers and and word of mouth. Spectre and her goons were doing the same thing.

Disgusting, what Gabby did to the mayor...

He did not like the secretive newsmare. He never liked the gossip column, in fact. He slapped his last poster onto the wall with a satisfied smile.

Let's see what Gabby does when she reads this... preferably from afar.

Mares and Gentlecolts,

We are posting these signs all over town in response to Gabby's latest tyrannical ultimatum. We wish to make the world understand one important fact:

We don't care.

There will be no surrender before the end of the week. We are of course impatiently waiting to see if Gabby will go back on her word and post our secrets before the initial deadline.

Or would that make Gabby a liar?

We will we watching,

Spectre

Once night had fallen, a lone pony hissed and spat as he tore down one of the insulting posters, already beginning to figure out plans for his revenge.

Chapter Five: Pony of Secrets

Once again returned to the dark lair, the pony who called himelf Gabby slammed the poster down onto a blackened table, hissing all the while like a boiling kettle.

"...Those insolent foals... how dare they criticize me... " he muttered angrily under his breath. "How dare they!"

They knew. Somehow, they knew that he didn't want to use his trump card: to publish all the secrets those morons on the throne kept hidden away. What kind of world would he live in without the Princesses on the throne? It was too soon... too soon...

He snarled, and pulled a small book from a shelf, sliding it open. If he couldn't reveal the secrets of the Princess sisters, then he'd sure as Tartarus write about every other pony in Ponyville.

He began to cackle.

"Fluttershy... what do you think will happen to your animals when they're taken from you, hmm? The musician... ha, yes, that is one secret too many, you lying tramp. Those filthy Cakes... Liars! They're all liars!"

He got to work, screaming something between a wail of agony and a maddening laugh.

"Liars!

Rainbow Dash realized rather painfully that the room they were in was far too small to accomodate both her and Private Eye, a rather bulky pony. Featherweights room was quite adequate for a child his age, not to mention slight frame, but two other adults made the situation untenable.

Rainbow winced as she recalled her first encounter with a small toy brick she had stood on. Those little things hurt.

"Okay, Featherweight. You told us to come here... what do you have for us?" she asked. She already knew why Featherweight asked them to come to his house instead of their headquarters: school began in a half hour and it was a long walk to Carrot Top's house.

The colt pulled out a few pictures he had taken. They were of all the ponies that weren't at the charity event. All those ponies that were in Ponyville in secret, and that Featherweight had found.

"I got everypony, I'm sure of it. Some of them were hard to find, too... but nopony can stay hidden forever."

Private Eye chuckled as he rifled through the photographs.

"Ever considered a career in the guard, kiddo?"

Featherweight beamed. Private raised his eyebrow as he pulled out a few select pictures.

"What in the hay is that thing?" he asked, amazed. Rainbow chuckled.

"Oh, that's Zecora. She lives in the forest, though, and I'd have noticed for sure if ink and printer deliveries went in there. It's not her."

Rainbow had decided to consider that Gabby might have been hiding during her stunt at the charity ball, especially after she had almost been unmasked. It was a possibility she didn't like to consider, since it meant that the suspects on her wall would get company soon, but Shining had eventually managed to convince her otherwise.

Private Eye pointed at another pony.

"Who's that?"

"She's called Lyra. Come to mention it, it doesn't surprise me too much that she was in hiding. Lyra is a bit of an odd bird."

Private Eye shrugged. "Well, we'll get back to that later. I was working a bit on my own, lately... trying to figure out more about Gabby's 'power'.

Rainbow frowned. She didn't like the idea that Gabby might be using a spell, or something... although given the circumstances, it seemed awfully likely. For somepony to get the darkest secrets in Equestria... it boggled the mind. It would either take incomparable patience, or access to sources beyond imagination.

"I decided to look at ponies with access to the kind of information that is being published. That means guards, doctors, and... Discord."

Rainbow already knew that it wasn't Discord: Celestia had been quite adamant on that point when she had asked permission to lead the task force.

"Why guards?" Featherweight asked.

"Well, they can get into Canterlot library. Celestia's secrets would probably be kept there, I'd imagine."

Rainbow nodded. "That makes sense, but I haven't seen any guards around town, and no sign that one was here recently." she said. "Doctors, on the other hoof..."

Featherweight piped up, a little concerned. "My dad's a doctor... does that mean he's a suspect?"

Rainbow fluttered her wings, her memory sliding around into place. Featherweight's father... slight, pale... he had been at the event... but it wasn't him. He didn't fit. No ink, no printer parts... he was most likely clean.

Rainbow rubbed her eyes. If she had just missed some crucial detail, then maybe her whole investigation would fall apart. It was risky... too risky. She had been feeling very tired lately, and she had been using her eyes far more often than usual. What if they were getting weaker?

"Uhm... I don't think so, kid." she placated. To Private, she added: "Any other doctors you can think of?"

"I have a list." he said. "All practising doctors in Ponyville."

"What if Gabby is just a really good spy?" Featherweight asked.

Or if she really is magical?

"Then we'll have to rely on my eyes instead." Rainbow said. She yawned. How early was it? Early enough for Gabby to have not posted one of her accursed leaflets yet, that was for sure.

"Here." Private grunted, handing Rainbow the list. "Anypony you can cross off?"

Just about everypony, unfortunately.

Rainbow rubbed her eyes again. They must be bright red by now. She'd look like she hadn't slept properly in days...

Everypony froze as they heard somepony come up the stairs. Featherweight panicked.

"Oh no! It's my dad! If he finds out I'm working with you guys I'm done for!"

Rainbow and Private Eye both looked around for someplace to hide. Whilst they weren't afraid of Featherweights father, they were more afraid of what would happen to the kid if Gabby found out he was working with them. She didn't seem the type to care about hurting children. She had hurt pretty much everypony else, after all. Why not a child?

Private ducked under Featherweight's quilt, and the young colt threw a few pillows and bags over him to avoid looking suspicious. Rainbow dove out the window, using her wings to hold herself aloft. The door opened.

Featherweight's father was a tall, slender stallion, as pale as his son but with a rather reddish mane. Rainbow scrutinized him: as a doctor, he would have access to the sort of secrets Gabby liked to publish: births, deaths, genetic heritage...

There were a few holes in the theory, though. The very first published secret was how Filthy Rich had gotten his fortune, which had nothing to do with medicine. Could Gabby have come by that secret on her own?

Rainbow groaned inwardly. She disliked Private Eye's method of theorizing. She preferred to trust in what she saw, but her eyes couldn't fix everything.

Her eyes scanned the stallion before her, her peripheral vision taking in all the details the rest of her eyesight could not. Every subtle movement, every smile, every micro-expression.

He's a perfectly sane and happy pony... if a little annoyed.

"Featherweight, you've got to come down and help out around the house sometime," he chided his son. Featherweight chuckled awkwardly, hoping that his father wouldn't notice the rather conspicuous lump under his quilt.

"Sorry, dad. Homework... and stuff."

More like police-work...

"Well, that's all right, I suppose," his father replied. "Can I see?"

Featherweight swallowed nervously. "Oh, I've just finished. It's just math: I can do math."

The doctor smiled. "Then you won't mind help prepare the dining room for your uncle this evening?"

"Not at all."

I guess that's our cue to leave...

Featherweight glanced at the window, almost apologetically. Rainbow imagined he wanted to continue helping them. In any case, his assistance had been invaluable: between his pictures and knowledge of Ponyville, he had advanced their case greatly. Private Eye, especially, had benefited from his knowledge.

Once the pair had gone, Private Eye threw the quilt off of him.

"Horseapples, that kid needs to wash more," he grunted. Making his way to the window, he held his hoof towards Rainbow Dash. "Help me down, would you?"

Both ponies trotted down the streets together, Private Eye still going on about his theories. Rainbow did her best to listen, but fatigue was catching up to her, and she could swear that she was sleepwalking some portions of the journey.

"Gabby being a doctor is the only solution that makes sense: after all, I can't think of that many other ways somepony would learn that Mayor Mare abandoned a child.

"Yeah, but I've been keeping an eye out on everypony, and nopony fits. Redheart is too bust: she works all night and doesn't have access to any sort of printer. Doc' Needle sleeps like a log. I catch glimpses of him sleeping from his window on fly-overs. And Featherweight's dad looks completely normal."

Private Eye nodded. "Okay, sure, fine. But how about anypony connected to those ponies?" he asked. "They could gain access to their files... that sort of thing."

"That's a lot of suspects."

Private Eye nodded. "Yes, but less than the whole town, which is what we're looking at for the moment! I think we've reached the limit of what you can do with those eyes of yours. It's time we fall back on my experience as a detective."

"I'm still pinpointing the location for the press. If we just continue on that angle, we can get her," Rainbow countered. Private Eye sighed.

"Well, there's no reason we can't do both."

Rainbow Dash harrumphed. Her mood was awful today, and she knew it.

"I guess. I'm going to get back to HQ and take a long nap. I think I need one."

Private Eye looked at the dark shadows under her eyes, and nodded. "I agree. I'll clear a space on the couch whilst I work through the possible suspects we gained."

That sounded like a good plan, as far as Dash was concerned. This was Private Eye's arena now.

If I hadn't let my identity slide earlier, I'd still be scrabbling in the dark. I really should have trusted Private and Shining from the start...

"Okay."

They then finished their trip in silence, their thoughts turning to more mundane matters.

Dammit... what time is it?

Rainbow's eyes snapped open, her memory flooding back to her like a cold shower. The warm sensation of sleep made every movement uncomfortable. Her mind slowly locked onto the gentle force applied to her shoulder.

Shining Armour...

The unicorn was leaning over her, gently shaking her awake.

"Wh-what? Do you have a lead?" she asked. She was back at their headquarters, above Carrot Top's house. Private Eye was there, too. He was poring over some documents and scribbling notes down, barely paying attention to the pair.

There was another pony there, too.

"Rainbow, somepony is here to visit you." Shining said with a smile. Rainbow widened her eyes, at the same time amazed and shocked. The pony that stood before her was none other than Princess Luna herself.

"Oh... uh, hi."

Very smooth, Dash. Very smooth.

The Princess smiled. "Good day to thee, Rainbow. We— I came to review your progress. Since it is our secrets that are apparently on the line."

Rainbow paled. She wasn't sure what to tell her... after all, they didn't have a definite lead on Gabby, and until they recieved a significant breakthrough they'd just be crunching numbers until they found a location. It was hardly inspiring stuff.

"Uh... well..." she began.

"I've been reviewing likely suspects for Rainbow Dash, your majesty." Private Eye told her, generously stealing the spotlight. "And I'm cross referencing them with ponies without alibis, thanks to Rainbow's special skill."

Luna brightened. "That sounds like progress to me. Does anypony stand out?"

Private Eye's face fell slightly. Rainbow garnered that he had been less than successful.

"Well, not so far. All the doctors are clean, as far as we know. Their relatives don't really fit the profile we're looking for, or live away from Ponyville." he said. "And since Rainbow has confirmed that Gabby is here..."

"I see." Luna said, a little more worried. "I wish I could be of assistance, but it seems out elusive culprit is a dreamless thing."

Rainbow Dash frowned. "Dreamless?"

"Yes. As you know, I am the guardian of the night and all sleeping ponies. I am entrusted with their dreams, hopes, fears... and secrets."

The pegasus went cold. Did that mean Luna knew?

The Princess smiled warmly, picking up on Rainbow's unease. "I meant nothing by it, aside from the fact that you and I are very much alike, young Rainbow."

That required some explanation, Rainbow thought. How was she like a thousand year alicorn princess who raised the moon every night?

"How so?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Your eyes give you power over those you see, much like myself. Their secrets are yours, and unlike this Gabby Gums, you are wise and kind to keep them," Luna explained. "I am glad that it was you blessed with this ability, and not some other."

Rainbow pondered that. It was true: she knew a lot more about her friends than she probably should. She could see their reactions before they said anything, and tell when they were lying. Coupled with a little investigative know-how and there wasn't much you could hide from her...

But she wasn't like Gabby, or Luna. She couldn't purposefully delve into the secrets of the ponies around her. She had been just as surprised as anypony when Applejack's secret had been revealed, or Twilights. They were all in the past, after all, and Rainbows vision couldn't see that far. Nopony could see that far.

"Do you know if there's a place where medical documents are kept?" Rainbow asked, a thought forming in her mind. "Specifically, dated records. Old ones."

"There are a few places. Medical records are always stored in individual hospitals, though. The sort of place you are thinking about sounds more like the Canterlot Legal Archive."

Rainbow frowned. "I was hoping for medical documents," she confessed, but what Luna said gave her an idea. She turned to Private Eye. "Can you hold the fort for a bit? I want to fly with Luna for a while."

Private nodded. "Sure thing. I might have to pop by Featherweights house later though. We left the pictures he took there, since we left in such a hurry."

Rainbow groaned. "Yeah, yeah, sure thing. I may be onto something."

The flight was peaceful, the skies unencumbered by the turmoil on the ground. Rainbow could see signs of distress here and there... Fluttershy's cottage was active, the Cake household was being turned upside down...

"What happened?" Rainbow asked. Luna handed her a small pamphlet.

"Oh," Rainbow muttered, reading it through. "Whoa. Fluttershy had to put down an entire family of animals? I can imagine that'll upset some ponies around here."

"She was doing them a kindness, I'm sure," Luna said. "Not many ponies will agree, however. It's often considered a legal offence."

Rainbow's heart stopped at the mention of the word 'legal'. Slowly but surely, the gears were turning in her mind.

"What about... let's see... Mrs. Cake concealed an abortion from her husband. That would leave a legal paper trail, correct?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, although they're confidential, of course."

"Yes, sure, but what if it was a long time ago? Eventually it gets moved to the archive, right?"

"Yes... it does."

Rainbow's breath was halted. Could Private Eye be right about Gabby being some sort of official, just looking on the wrong trail? Not in medical records, but legal ones?

Come to think of it, an inheritance was a legal affair. Maybe that would explain how Gabby knew about Filthy's dirty money... Adoption too... all of it left legal documents.

"All of it gets stored? Including Equestria's national secrets?"

"No. My sister told me for the few times she felt the need to be... less than honourable, she destroyed all evidence, in order to protect the names of the ponies involved in Equestria's defence."

If all the evidence was destroyed, then could Gabby have simply been... bluffing?

It made sense... with no way to contradict the claims, and with a solid reputation for honesty, there wasn't much Gabby could say that wouldn't be instantly believed. It was hypocritical to the extreme, however... fighting dishonesty with slander and libel.

"If it's all right with you, Princess, I need to get to Canterlot," she said. Luna nodded.

"Of course. Let's alter course—"

"Eh, I'll get there faster on my own. Thanks for the talk, though... and please tell Private I may have an idea."

The Canterlot Legal Archive looked like a prison... a holding place for the dark documents of the world. The justice system and administration had evolved to be flawless these days. There was a record of everything. Criminal offences, insurance, ownership... nothing anypony did honestly wouldn't leave a trail of words behind them.

It was almost laughable. For following the system, and complying with the law, most ponies were being punished for being liars. Rainbow strolled into the building, wondering what kind of madpony would think that her methods were justified.

"Can I get a list of your employees, please," Rainbow asked. Only a moment afterwards, she realized that she had let her identity slide. Her horror was quickly replaced by relief when she realized that the pony behind the desk sported massive glasses.

I bet she can barely see the hooves in front of her face.

"That'd be the employees from... how long ago?" the mare asked her. Rainbow raised her eyebrow.

"What? You're not gonna' ask me for ID, or something like that?"

"What good'd that do me? Employees are public citizens hired in the law sector. They wear badges: everypony has a right to know who they are."

"In that case... all of them. From the past twenty years."

The mare gaped.

"Twenty... that's a whole lot of 'em. You'll have a long evening of reading on your hooves, young lady."

Not if I read them whilst flying...

"I'll be fine."

It took a while for the names to be pulled up... but eventually, all the papers were in front of Rainbow on the desk. It was a good few inches high, and complete with photographs of the workers, too. There had to be ponies of all sorts in there... lawyers, janitors, secretaries...

"Thanks a bunch, miss."

Rainbow left, and instantly took flight, keeping the pages firmly between her hooves. If she flew quickly, she could be back at Ponyville in an hour... and be done with these papers too.

She began flicking through as she soared across the fields.

There are so many...

She concentrated on flying and let her peripheral vision do the rest. Names and faces started creeping into her mind, and she slowly started to piece together how many of them were relevant.

I might need to go over the list a few times to be sure...

Rainbow finally put the last page down. She had flown all the way back home, and what she had found hadn't pleased her.

It wasn't because there weren't any leads or suspects in there: in fact, there was somepony who had been on leave just when Gabby Gums started writing. Somepony who was currently in Ponyville, visiting family.

It wasn't because it was somepony she knew and cared about. She had never even met this guy before in her entire life, so there was no conflict of interests there.

The reason the name and face scared her, was because he was currently at the very same house that Private Eye had left their investigation notes in.

"If he goes anywhere near Featherweight's room... he'll know all about me, and who I am," she muttered. "And then I'm done for."

Chapter Six: Face to Face

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