It was another cloudy day, and the leaves were all gone. The winds were strong, and the cold nipped at Cheerilee. She was making her way to Rainbow Dash's house. Since she wasn't a Pegasus, she couldn't quite get to it, so she rang the bell, placed there for Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash saw Cheerilee outside, and flew down to greet her. "Hey, Miss Cheerilee, what's going on." So Cheerilee related the events of the past few days, and over time, Rainbow's eyes got wider. Cheerilee finally finished, and noticed Rainbow Dash's eyes filled with unadulterated rage. She was frightened, or she had never seen such emotion from the cyan mare.
"So that's why I need you. You're exceptional at pranking ponies. Which means you can get into and out of locations without being detected, correct?" Rainbow Dash nodded, a curious expression adorned her face. "Good, I want you to go to Canterlot. Slip this bug into Fancy Pants' mansion. There are three bugs. Slip one into his room, and slip another into Scootaloo's room. Then the final one will remain with us, but you need it to set them all up. Got it?" Rainbow Dash saluted, and flew off to Canterlot as instructed. All Cheerilee had to do was wait now.

:::

After half an hour or so, Rainbow Dash arrived at Canterlot. Great grey clouds were covering the sun now, and a fierce wind had picked up. Rainbow had to be swift. She had a job to do. She asked about where Fancy Pants' mansion was located, and found herself upon the front lawn. She marveled at the sight, but continued. She inspected the outside of the house, and found a hatch, used to get in or out of the cellar, in case of emergency. She squeezed through, thankful for her athletic, slender build, and crept to the door. The air smelled foul, and something squelched under her hooves. She tried not to think about the possibilities of what it could be, and continued, nearly gagging. She found the door, and stepped into the hall. She hovered a bit, before finding the study. Pushing open the door, she was met with a noise, which sounded like a snore and a pool emptying. She rolled her eyes, looking around. Fancy Pants had fallen asleep in his arm chair, a book in his hooves. She looked around, looking for a good location to place the device. She settled on a spot under the globe, and made her way out. It's a really good thing my wings aren't very noisy, that could've been catastrophic. She assumed his room would be upstairs somewhere, so she made her way to the staircase. Just when she reached it, she heard a loud noise, then realized that Fancy had adjusted in his sleep.

She searched the house for an hour, wondering how many rooms this colt had, and finally found the rooms. She hid one under Scootaloo's bed, at the very end, and went to place the other on. But when she got in his room, she saw something moving on the bed. It was his wife, Fleur. Rainbow started sweating, and snuck out slowly. After shutting the door, she bolted out of a nearby window, into the inky blackness of night.

:::

She flew back, and the sun was starting to rise. Rainbow finally found Cheerilee sitting at a table at a restaurant. She handed her the bug, and told her how it went. "Good, now to get Scootaloo. She won't like this, but it's the only way to catch him." The sun peeked over the horizon, as they made their way over to Fluttershy's. When they got there, Fluttershy told them that the Crusaders were most likely at their clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres. As they made their way there, a cold wind picked up, and small debris and hair flew in their faces. They got to the farm, and saw Applejack getting ready to start work. They greeted her briefly, and stated their business. Applejack immediately became straight faced, and lead them to the clubhouse. Once they reached it, they heard noises inside. Upon opening the door, they were met by three fillies, trying to comfort each other, to little avail. They saw Cheerilee and Rainbow Dash at the door, and stood up.

"Scootaloo, we need you to do something. We have a device that will help incarcerate your father, but we need you to do something. We planted bugs in your parents' house, but we need you to be there. If he tries to hurt or use you, the bug will record the sound. Then, we can take him to court. Do you understand this?" Scootaloo nodded slowly, then looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Look kid, I know you may not wanna do this, but we're gonna put your father away, hopefully for life. I know you're a brave filly, you just need to do this one last time." Scootaloo hesitated, then nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Do you promise?"

Rainbow Dash smiled at this. "I promise. This will all be over soon, just trust us. Come on, let's get you all some milkshakes."

They all made their way to Sugarcube Corner, where their friend Pinkie Pie greeted them. "Hi Dashie! And you've brought Miss Cheerilee! I hope you don't mind but I've got a big order and I have to make it so..." Pinkie's gaze fell on Scootaloo, who's frown upset the pink mare greatly. "Aww, don't frown. What's with all the gloomy McShroomy attitudes?" Cheerilee pulled the mare aside, and recounted the events that led her here. Pinkie's mane and tail deflated, and a sad look settled in her eyes.

"I c-can't believe s-someone would do that t-to a little filly like her..." The mare broke down, and Cheerilee only just escaped being drenched. She finally managed to calm Pinkie down, and told her if it wasn't much of a bother, she required six milkshakes as soon as possible. "Coming right up." Pinkie went about preparing the confections, and Cheerilee returned to the group. After their orders were received, they talked about the plan.

"Okay, Scootaloo, we're going to go over it again, the entire thing. We've set up listening devices in the house. One in your room, one in his. If he tries anything at all, we'll hear, and Rainbow Dash will be outside with Flash Sentry. You'll need to act as normally as possible, though. If he gets suspicious, who knows what he might do. But once we have enough evidence, which will include your body, and the sound from the bugs, we'll have everything we need to take him to court. You have to cooperate, and I promise you'll never have to go through this again."

Scootaloo nodded, and hugged Cheerilee. She smiled, and in return embraced the filly. "Alright, let's get this over with."

At the train station, they got their tickets and boarded the train. Once on, they tried their best to get comfortable, but they were too anxious. It was going to be a long night.

Author's Note

What will hAppEN NEXT?

Anyway, we're close to ending this, kind of. I've wanted to get more into this, but I really don't want this to turn into one of those "You have one million words to read" type things. I could do it, you know. Anyway, stay tuned for the case Cheerilee vs. Fancy Pants