Foal Passby DuskShadowBronyChapters0- Prologue1- Hostage Situation2- A White Lie3- It begins0- PrologueAuthor's Note Oh boy, I can imagine the salt I'm going to get for crossing an amazing anime with mlp... and diapers... My apologies, in advance for those who hate diapers. But then again, why are you here if you hate it? If you do enjoy this so far, please be sure to upvote and favorite it. It helps much, much more than you would think. Remember to READ the description before reading this story, if you are not familiar with Psycho-Pass. 0- Prologue Prologue: Ponyville Marketplace, 6:00 AM A grey Pegasus streaked down the street, panting. A spell had prevented flight, meaning he couldn’t escape that way. He cursed to himself, ignoring the startled glances from passerby. Clutched to him was a shining golden idol wrapped in cloth. In and out. That’s what he had to do. But no, he got greedy, and went for something bigger. He didn’t even bother checking for alarms, as the unique coin he originally stole didn’t have any. The Pegasus used his wing to knock over a market stand, sending flour everywhere in a massive cloud. He used this distraction to turn left down an alleyway. He smirked a little at his cunning move, taking a second to catch his breath. This was yet another miscalculation, as he didn’t see the small pony right above him on the roof. “Crime Coefficent: One-Ninety. Enforcement mode: Padded Pacification. Please take careful aim and Pad the target.” There was a flash of light, and he felt something poof up on his flanks, so thick, he fell over… -- Council of Order Headquarters, 6:00 AM “Hey! Are you done with the report yet?” a red Pegasus called across the office. Her eyes were a soft blue, and her mane a soft, cherry-blossom pink. “Ugh. Quit yelling, Orchid…” a chocolate-brown earth pony with a blonde mane sat up at his desk. He had clearly been napping. “Give me a few minutes, I’ll finish it up.” “You know we have a break room for a reason, Chip.” She gave him a smile. “Yeah, yeah.” He went back to his Crystal Computational Device (CCD, for short), and continued typing up his report. Orchid blinked as she heard her Shard Communicator ring. It was a small crystal device, able to communicate over magic wavelengths. She glanced down to see a short text: ‘Grey Ghost has sent you a message: Situation under control. Heading back now with latent criminal and Padder Dusk.’ Orchid smiled. Her partner and his subordinate never failed a task. They made a good team. “Sent, I’m taking a break.” She looked up to see Chip yawning and trotting out the doors, a diaper hugging his bottom. Padder Chip. He was lazy, but always got the job done. As a Caretaker, she knew she had to be a lot stricter to the Padders, but it just wasn’t her thing. Orchid sat down at her desk again, sorting through some files. It had been pretty hectic lately, but she liked it that way. She noted that the crime coefficient readings of her team were still open. Even though she knew them already, Orchid still read them over. Orchid Blossom- Average CC: 42.1 Grey Ghost- Average CC: 79.0 Chocolate Chip- Average CC: 123.7 Dusk Shadow- Average CC: 299.9 Orchid closed the display boxes with a wave of her hoof, just as two ponies walked in. One, a Unicorn, had a grey body and bright green eyes. His mane was floppy and white. His Caretaker overcoat was slung casually over a shoulder, as he was writing notes into his Portable Crystal Comp. Well, he would normally be grey, but he was covered in a lot of white flour for some reason. Orchid decided it would be a story for later. Next to him was a very small pony, slightly smaller than a schoolcolt with a light blue-gray body. His eyes were a dark blue, his mane and tail having two shades of grey separated with a streak of bright blue. He was an Alicorn, but his wings were crippled, preventing flight. A diaper was on him, a foal’s one due to his size. However, despite his small body, an air of serious maturity hung around him. He was the smallest adult pony in the unit. “So, how did it go, Grey?” she asked the Caretaker. “It went decently.” He answered. “Dusk Shadow and I took care of things quickly.” “He had a one-track mind. He thought that just because he escaped the Caretaker, he was safe. I managed to get him while his guard was down.” The smaller pony spoke up. “It wasn’t an issue.” “Good. Now-“ “Report, yes?” Dusk placed a folder on her desk. “Done on the way back.” He was old-fashioned, preferring to hoofwrite most of his work. “Thanks.” She slid it into a cabinet. “Go on you two, take a break.” -- Break Room, Council of Order HQ 6:30 AM “Geez, that flour took forever to get out…” Grey grumbled as he poured some tea for Dusk and himself. “Pretty sure that we would have to call you White Ghost for some time.” Dusk gave a faint smile as he read the morning news. His diaper gave a faint crinkle as he moved. “Hilarious… I couldn’t even shower, or it would make it worse. I had to scrub it out. Dry.” Grey sighed, setting their cups down. Dusk’s was in a foal bottle, as per the usual regulations for Padders. “Speaking of dry, are you?” he decided to get back a little at Dusk's teasing. Dusk instantly blushed. “T-tch, don’t ask that like I’m a foal… I’m just a little wet, I don’t need a change yet…” He tried to keep his calm demeanor. “Okay, well, we don’t want you getting a rash, so don’t push it too far.” Grey warned gently, settling in a chair. Like Orchid, he wasn’t very strict with his Padder subordinate at all. If anything, he felt an obligation to take care of him. He couldn’t explain the feeling, but Dusk just seemed fragile despite his hardened exterior. Dusk chose not to comment, moving the newspaper closer to his face. “Hmm... Troubling. All Area crime rates have been increasing… I hope this doesn’t become a trend, and it’s just a random spike.” “Yeah…” Grey frowned. “The department’s already worked up enough as it is.” “Hey, did you hear?” Dusk set the paper down. “There’s a rumor going around that there’s this vigilante pony…” “The one hog-tying criminals then putting them in public places to shame them? Yeah.” “Yeah, him, but that’s not the main point. Some say that despite him committing criminal acts… He can keep his Crime Coefficient within normal values. So any scheduled mandatory scans won’t reveal him.” “That’s ridiculous, the system works as it is. We haven’t had anypony get through it.” Another Caretaker, this one a griffon with a black and white body, came up to them. He had overheard their conversation. “Still, it’s a scary thought, if someone found a way to beat the system.” Grey looked over at the Caretaker. “Good morning to you, too, Dust.” “Sorry. Just haven’t been getting much sleep.” He took a sip of his tea, glancing over at Dusk. “Hey, now, where’s your manners? You should always greet your superiors.” Dusk narrowed his eyes a bit, but spoke in a calm monotone. “Good Morning, Dust.” “Tch. You should learn to respect-“ “Stop.” Grey stood up, face-to-face with Dust. “He’s my Padder, not yours. You have no jurisdiction as long as I’m around him.” “Hmph.” Dust backed off, eyes mocking. “You’re too nice. It’ll come back to bite you.” With those snide remarks, he headed off without looking back. Grey was about to ask Dusk if he was okay, before his communicator went off. It was yet another call-to-action. However, the entire team was requested for this one, marked as a Level-A priority case. He quickly read over the text message. “Blue Earth Pony… goes by the name Torrent… Crime Coefficent 301…hostage situation…” “Sorry, break’s over.” He said to Dusk. “Let’s go.” 1- Hostage SituationSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.2- A White LieChapter 2 For a moment, time seemed to stand still, then Torrent kicked a nearby chair over at Chip. Caught off-guard, Chip took a step back, just what Torrent needed to rush forward and tackle him to the ground. Chip grunted, the Pacifier sliding across the ground. “Dammit!” Orchid rushed into the shop, drawing her Pacifier. “Don’t move!” Torrent ordered, holding Chip down by the throat threateningly. “That won’t work.” Orchid fired a quick blast from her Pacifier, knocking Torrent off Chip. He rapidly regressed, shrinking into a tiny foal, fast asleep. A small puddle spread as Torrent wet, his now-blank newborn mind not remembering how to hold it. “Did you really think that you would be faster than a Pacifier shot?” Orchid sighed, picking the foal up, cleaning him quickly with wipes from her diaper bag, then padding him up, popping a pacifier in his mouth. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore, little one.” Chip was already up by now, untying the hostages, reporting the situation to Grey. “It’s handled, Grey, you can head back up. We had to use the Pacifier. Dusk has a light injury, but it’s only a bruise.” “All right. Hang on, can you move what’s blocking the trapdoor? It’ll be faster that way.” came the reply. “I got it.” Orchid noted a large wooden crate full of cider bottles over the trapdoor, pushing it out of the way, the trapdoor swinging open a moment later. “Thanks.” Grey said, before moving over to Dusk, who just barely got untied. “Dusk, are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine.” Dusk accepted Grey’s hoof to help him up. “Sorry, that didn’t really go as expected.” “It’s all right. Just as long as you’re unhurt. You tried your best, some unexpected things just happened.” Grey checked Dusk’s bruise, but Dusk waved him off. “Really. I mean it. I’m fine.” “Let’s head back for now, we’ve done our part.” Orchid called to her team. “The cleanup is up to the Guards, but we should head back for the interview with the ponies that knew him.” “Hold up.” They were stopped before reaching the shop exit. It was Snowfall, one of the hostages. “I wanted to thank your team.” “It’s no issue.” Orchid smiled at him. “We were only doing our jobs, there’s no need to thank us.” “Oh, but there is. You took down a criminal without anypony getting hurt. It’s a good thing that the Pacifiers judged him.” “Well, yes, that’s the point of the Pacifiers, to judge a pony before or after committing a crime.” Orchid nodded. “Ah, of course. Latent criminals and all. For the better of society, yes?” there was something about his tone that seemed almost sarcastic. “Yes…” Orchid answered, noting that the rest of her team had caught it, too. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.” “I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.” He bowed politely as they walked off. “What was with that guy?” Chip asked as they climbed into the cart. “Dunno.” Dusk waited until Snowfall had turned the other way to draw his Pacifier and aim it at him. “Crime Coefficient: 21.2. Under 150. No enforcement needed. Trigger is now locked.” “It’s nothing.” Dusk slid the Pacifier away. Despite saying this, and everypony having heard the Pacifier reading, an air of unease hung in the cart all the way back to Headquarters. -- Headquarters “Thanks.” Orchid took the last of the reports from Grey. “Now you two had your break interrupted last time, so go ahead and just relax for a bit now. Dusk, you should have that bruise looked at.” “It’s just a bruise!” Dusk shook his head. “Guys, you’re totally overreacting.” “Okay, if you insist.” Orchid gave him a soft gaze. “Go on, you two. You’ve earned a rest.” “Thank you.” Grey nodded. “Come on, then, Dusk.” Dusk slid his paperwork back into a folder, following Grey out. “After all that, you probably need a change, right?” Grey asked softly. “Um… yeah…” Dusk answered awkwardly. Even if Grey hadn’t asked, it was obvious, his previous wet diaper even more soaked, sagging a little on him. “All right, let’s get you cleaned up, then.” Grey led his subordinate to the bathroom, using his magic to lift Dusk onto the changing table. “Now just hold still and it’ll be over quicker.” “Gah… So embarrassing…” Dusk groaned. “No matter how many times… it’s still so embarrassing…” “I know, I know.” Grey assured him, untaping the used diaper and tossing it away, beginning to wipe. “Just try to relax, okay?” Dusk blushed as Grey cleaned him. “Yeah… that’s easier said than done.” “Almost done.” Grey took out a new diaper, sliding it under Dusk and powdering liberally. “And… there you go.” He patted the diaper after taping it up, making it crinkle. “Th-thanks…” Dusk was still blushing as he was helped down from the changing table. “Let’s take a bit more of a break, then go and question that pony’s relatives… Torrent, was it? I want to know why he did what he did.” “Same here…” Dusk nodded in agreement. “When I looked in his eyes, there was anger, but also desperation. I think he had a reason to do what he did… it doesn’t make it right, at all, but he definitely didn’t just decide to do it out of the blue.” “Orchid is handling some background research. When she’s done, she’ll brief us on him. I’m sure she’s working on a folder of some sort right now.” They walked back out, taking seats in a break room. They both were quiet for a while, before Dusk spoke up again. “That pony, Snowfall… I just got some sort of vibe from him. It was like the kind of vibe I had when we caught that vigilante. But that pony had a crime coefficient of over 150. Snowfall didn’t. Am I overthinking this?” “I felt that, too… but the Crime Coefficent is never wrong. It never has been wrong so far.” Dusk sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Tired?” Grey asked. “You’ve been through a lot for one day.” “We all have.” Dusk shook his head. “You’re the one that got kidnapped and held hostage.” “I’m fine.” Dusk insisted. “Come on, Orchid’s probably finished up by now, we should go.” -- Interrogation Room “So you’re Torrent’s…” Grey looked through the folder. “Sister.” The silvery grey pony answered. “Silver Stone.” She was quiet for a while. “I just can’t believe he’d do this…” “Am I correct in saying your mother is hospitalized?” Grey asked Silver gently. “Yeah… She’s been in Ponyville General for years… we’ve been trying to get her to Canterlot’s best hospital, but… we never could get the money. I never thought he’d do something like this…” “I understand why he did it. But he still committed a very bad crime…” Dusk spoke up. “As you know, we had to regress him. His actions and state of mind brought his crime coefficient over 300.” “I know…” Silver looked away, and the room was quiet for a while. “Did… did he hurt anypony?” Grey was about to answer, but Dusk cut him off. “No. He didn’t hurt a soul.” Dusk made he was facing the way so his bruise wouldn't show. “I knew it…” Silver looked a little relieved. “I knew he wouldn’t hurt anypony for real…” -- Team 1 Office “You didn’t have to do that, you know. He did hurt you.” Grey said to Dusk, as they organized their interview notes. “She needed comfort. I gave it.” Dusk answered simply. “Besides, it was just one punch, nothing compared to what my father gave me.” Despite his light tone, he tensed a bit, as always, at mention of his father. “Easy now.” Grey spoke softly to Dusk, calming him down. “You did the right thing, Dusk. But you need to take care of yourself, too.” “That’s not part of my job.” Dusk responded. “I just wanted her to leave on a high note. She’s going through enough, she doesn’t need any more added on her plate.” “All right. You did well, Dusk. Really. Now you need to get some rest. I know you’re dead tired. Come on, let’s get you to bed. If you want to get work done efficiently, you can’t be so tired.” Dusk reluctantly complied, letting Grey lead him to Team 1’s sleep room, used for Caretakers and Padders to sleep. Caretakers had normal beds, but Padders had oversize cribs. In Dusk’s case, however, there was a standard foal crib. Grey set Dusk in there, tucking him in. “Good night, Dusk.” “Good night, Grey.” -- Unknown Location “So… how did it go, Master?” A purple Pegasus asked a pony as they trotted into the room. “It went well.” The pony answered. “Thank you, Lily.” “Did you find anypony you were interested in?” she followed after the pony, headed to a board filled with pictures of other ponies and notes.” “Yes, in fact. Two. I’m sure they’ll be quite useful when the time comes. For now…” the pony donned a mask and cloak. “I believe it’s time to make our move.” “You mean that one?” Lily asked, getting a mask and cloak of her own. “Yes. Everything is in place for the next stage. We need to make our next move. Have you made the preparations?” “Yes sir. I’ve done what you asked, we should have no problems. Even if we do, I’m sure we can handle it. I’ve made some failsafes, just in case.” “Good work, Lily. I knew I could count on you.” The pony praised, smiling a little behind the mask. “Now come on. We’ve got work to do.” The moon shone down on the two cloaked ponies as they headed out of the building, their cloaks flowing like water in the night. In the distance, was the shining city of Canterlot, and in the center, the Council of Order Headquarters. 3- It beginsChapter 3 “Please remember to go to your monthly Crime Coefficient checkups!” a light blue Unicorn mare smiled and waved at the family that left. “Thank you for participating in the anti-stress therapy!” She glanced at the clock. It was late, and about time for closing. She trotted to each door, checking the locks, accessing the Crystal Database, entering in some necessary times and data, before logging off. As she did so, she heard a noise coming from one of the storage areas. Frowning a bit, she turned the lights back on, moving over to the wooden door. However, just as she got to it, the door banged open, and a flurry of movement knocked her over. “Listen very carefully.” She heard a male’s voice speaking, her sight obscured by the pony’s body. “Unless you want your little secret to get out, you’re going to do exactly as I say.” The Unicorn gave a faint gasp. Who was this stallion? Did he really know something, or was he bluffing? He had to be bluffing, right? As if he read her mind, he spoke again. “I know what you’ve been doing to the patients.” “Okay, okay…” she shook her head. “What did you want me to do?” He got off her, letting her get to her hooves. However, he was wearing a cloak and mask, obscuring his features. “You’re going to access the database, and switch around some data. You can do that, right?” “Y-yes, but who and why?” she asked cautiously, as another pony entered behind him, also with a cloak and mask. “For the better of others.” He passed her a stack of papers, with photos and names. “I want you to change their Crime Coefficients to high values. But not too high. Any value from one hundred to two ninety-nine is fine. Please try and make it fast, we do not wish to spend too much time here.” His voice remained calm, smooth, and with little emotion. “Fear not, I will not harm you as long as you continue to work with us.” “All right…” she reluctantly pulled up the Crime Coefficent database, glancing down at the first paper. She began working through them, one by one. “I don’t see why this is such an issue for you.” The mysterious stallion’s partner spoke up, her voice that of a mare. “You’ve been going against protocol as it is, using your own methods, testing various ones on the patients. None of them are regulation.” “I- it’s because I don’t think the regulation methods work!” the Unicorn looked up at the smaller masked pony. “It’s in the best interest!” “But even if your methods are better, they would never be implemented, would they? The system doesn’t work like that.” The stallion spoke again. “No… they wouldn’t…” she looked down. “What if I told you… I could make your ideas into a reality?” he watched her through the mask. “That’s- that’s insane! You’d have to destroy the entire system!” she shook her head. “A solid system can only be changed by destroying and rebuilding it.” He held out his hoof. “Join us… and we can make this unjust system history.” -- One week later… “No! My Crime Coefficent was under 100! I swear!” a yellow stallion begged as he was hauled to an Order Patrol carriage. “Please! You’ve got the wrong guy! I WORK for you guys! There has to be some mistake here!” The crowd murmured as they watched. Recently, it seemed that incidents like this were rising up all over the city. It was causing more than just problems with Council workers, it was causing the citizens to start to distrust the Council. If Council workers were latent criminals, then how could they possibly protect the general public? The atmosphere of the city was completely different. It was tense, and overly quiet, most ponies keeping their eyes down and hurrying to their destinations. “It’s going quite well, isn’t it?” the cloaked stallion from before watched from an alley. “Yes, Master.” A group of ponies answered in agreement. “I never expected it to work this well, Master Snowfall.” Lily smiled. “The Area Stress rates have been going steadily up… at this rate, we can move onto the next stage.” “Please remember not to use my full name.” he removed his hood, glancing down at her. “Ah- forgive me Master, I forgot.” She bowed her head in apology. “It’s quite all right. I know it was not intentional.” He turned back to watch the ponies passing by for a while. “Come on, my friends. We shall prepare for our next movement. Everything is proceeding perfectly as planned.” -- Council of Order HQ “I can’t believe this…” Orchid sighed. “There’s been another Council worker detained…” “We can’t even go out in public anymore without ponies glaring at us.” Dusk was reading the news on his screen. “They don’t trust us anymore… some of them even ignore or resist anything we say. At this rate…. We won’t be able to keep order.” “Or we’ll have to Pacify everyone.” Grey rubbed his eyes, tired. The entire department hadn’t gotten much sleep in a while. “I don’t like the idea of that either… it’s not how the system should work…. It was meant to protect others… not this… not whatever this is…” “It doesn’t help that all this is increasing our own Crime Coefficents.” Chip lowered his head. “It’s stressing everyone out… If it keeps going like this, we’re going to have to change the standards of Crime Coefficients.” “The system’s never changed ever since implementation… you should be careful, if others heard you talking like that…” Orchid warned gently. “It wouldn’t end well.” She took a breath to calm herself. “The most we can do now is continue with our jobs. If we focus on the negatives, it’s only going to cause trouble for us.” “She’s right.” Grey nodded. “It’s the most we can do right now. We just have to try all that harder to keep order, and bring things back under control. If we can do that, then we don’t have to worry about this anymore.” “I suppose you’re right but… I just have a really, really bad feeling about all of this…” Dusk spoke in a quiet tone. “Something… big is coming. I can sense it.” It would only be a day until his intuition proved correct.
0- PrologueAuthor's Note Oh boy, I can imagine the salt I'm going to get for crossing an amazing anime with mlp... and diapers... My apologies, in advance for those who hate diapers. But then again, why are you here if you hate it? If you do enjoy this so far, please be sure to upvote and favorite it. It helps much, much more than you would think. Remember to READ the description before reading this story, if you are not familiar with Psycho-Pass. 0- Prologue Prologue: Ponyville Marketplace, 6:00 AM A grey Pegasus streaked down the street, panting. A spell had prevented flight, meaning he couldn’t escape that way. He cursed to himself, ignoring the startled glances from passerby. Clutched to him was a shining golden idol wrapped in cloth. In and out. That’s what he had to do. But no, he got greedy, and went for something bigger. He didn’t even bother checking for alarms, as the unique coin he originally stole didn’t have any. The Pegasus used his wing to knock over a market stand, sending flour everywhere in a massive cloud. He used this distraction to turn left down an alleyway. He smirked a little at his cunning move, taking a second to catch his breath. This was yet another miscalculation, as he didn’t see the small pony right above him on the roof. “Crime Coefficent: One-Ninety. Enforcement mode: Padded Pacification. Please take careful aim and Pad the target.” There was a flash of light, and he felt something poof up on his flanks, so thick, he fell over… -- Council of Order Headquarters, 6:00 AM “Hey! Are you done with the report yet?” a red Pegasus called across the office. Her eyes were a soft blue, and her mane a soft, cherry-blossom pink. “Ugh. Quit yelling, Orchid…” a chocolate-brown earth pony with a blonde mane sat up at his desk. He had clearly been napping. “Give me a few minutes, I’ll finish it up.” “You know we have a break room for a reason, Chip.” She gave him a smile. “Yeah, yeah.” He went back to his Crystal Computational Device (CCD, for short), and continued typing up his report. Orchid blinked as she heard her Shard Communicator ring. It was a small crystal device, able to communicate over magic wavelengths. She glanced down to see a short text: ‘Grey Ghost has sent you a message: Situation under control. Heading back now with latent criminal and Padder Dusk.’ Orchid smiled. Her partner and his subordinate never failed a task. They made a good team. “Sent, I’m taking a break.” She looked up to see Chip yawning and trotting out the doors, a diaper hugging his bottom. Padder Chip. He was lazy, but always got the job done. As a Caretaker, she knew she had to be a lot stricter to the Padders, but it just wasn’t her thing. Orchid sat down at her desk again, sorting through some files. It had been pretty hectic lately, but she liked it that way. She noted that the crime coefficient readings of her team were still open. Even though she knew them already, Orchid still read them over. Orchid Blossom- Average CC: 42.1 Grey Ghost- Average CC: 79.0 Chocolate Chip- Average CC: 123.7 Dusk Shadow- Average CC: 299.9 Orchid closed the display boxes with a wave of her hoof, just as two ponies walked in. One, a Unicorn, had a grey body and bright green eyes. His mane was floppy and white. His Caretaker overcoat was slung casually over a shoulder, as he was writing notes into his Portable Crystal Comp. Well, he would normally be grey, but he was covered in a lot of white flour for some reason. Orchid decided it would be a story for later. Next to him was a very small pony, slightly smaller than a schoolcolt with a light blue-gray body. His eyes were a dark blue, his mane and tail having two shades of grey separated with a streak of bright blue. He was an Alicorn, but his wings were crippled, preventing flight. A diaper was on him, a foal’s one due to his size. However, despite his small body, an air of serious maturity hung around him. He was the smallest adult pony in the unit. “So, how did it go, Grey?” she asked the Caretaker. “It went decently.” He answered. “Dusk Shadow and I took care of things quickly.” “He had a one-track mind. He thought that just because he escaped the Caretaker, he was safe. I managed to get him while his guard was down.” The smaller pony spoke up. “It wasn’t an issue.” “Good. Now-“ “Report, yes?” Dusk placed a folder on her desk. “Done on the way back.” He was old-fashioned, preferring to hoofwrite most of his work. “Thanks.” She slid it into a cabinet. “Go on you two, take a break.” -- Break Room, Council of Order HQ 6:30 AM “Geez, that flour took forever to get out…” Grey grumbled as he poured some tea for Dusk and himself. “Pretty sure that we would have to call you White Ghost for some time.” Dusk gave a faint smile as he read the morning news. His diaper gave a faint crinkle as he moved. “Hilarious… I couldn’t even shower, or it would make it worse. I had to scrub it out. Dry.” Grey sighed, setting their cups down. Dusk’s was in a foal bottle, as per the usual regulations for Padders. “Speaking of dry, are you?” he decided to get back a little at Dusk's teasing. Dusk instantly blushed. “T-tch, don’t ask that like I’m a foal… I’m just a little wet, I don’t need a change yet…” He tried to keep his calm demeanor. “Okay, well, we don’t want you getting a rash, so don’t push it too far.” Grey warned gently, settling in a chair. Like Orchid, he wasn’t very strict with his Padder subordinate at all. If anything, he felt an obligation to take care of him. He couldn’t explain the feeling, but Dusk just seemed fragile despite his hardened exterior. Dusk chose not to comment, moving the newspaper closer to his face. “Hmm... Troubling. All Area crime rates have been increasing… I hope this doesn’t become a trend, and it’s just a random spike.” “Yeah…” Grey frowned. “The department’s already worked up enough as it is.” “Hey, did you hear?” Dusk set the paper down. “There’s a rumor going around that there’s this vigilante pony…” “The one hog-tying criminals then putting them in public places to shame them? Yeah.” “Yeah, him, but that’s not the main point. Some say that despite him committing criminal acts… He can keep his Crime Coefficient within normal values. So any scheduled mandatory scans won’t reveal him.” “That’s ridiculous, the system works as it is. We haven’t had anypony get through it.” Another Caretaker, this one a griffon with a black and white body, came up to them. He had overheard their conversation. “Still, it’s a scary thought, if someone found a way to beat the system.” Grey looked over at the Caretaker. “Good morning to you, too, Dust.” “Sorry. Just haven’t been getting much sleep.” He took a sip of his tea, glancing over at Dusk. “Hey, now, where’s your manners? You should always greet your superiors.” Dusk narrowed his eyes a bit, but spoke in a calm monotone. “Good Morning, Dust.” “Tch. You should learn to respect-“ “Stop.” Grey stood up, face-to-face with Dust. “He’s my Padder, not yours. You have no jurisdiction as long as I’m around him.” “Hmph.” Dust backed off, eyes mocking. “You’re too nice. It’ll come back to bite you.” With those snide remarks, he headed off without looking back. Grey was about to ask Dusk if he was okay, before his communicator went off. It was yet another call-to-action. However, the entire team was requested for this one, marked as a Level-A priority case. He quickly read over the text message. “Blue Earth Pony… goes by the name Torrent… Crime Coefficent 301…hostage situation…” “Sorry, break’s over.” He said to Dusk. “Let’s go.”
1- Hostage SituationSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
2- A White LieChapter 2 For a moment, time seemed to stand still, then Torrent kicked a nearby chair over at Chip. Caught off-guard, Chip took a step back, just what Torrent needed to rush forward and tackle him to the ground. Chip grunted, the Pacifier sliding across the ground. “Dammit!” Orchid rushed into the shop, drawing her Pacifier. “Don’t move!” Torrent ordered, holding Chip down by the throat threateningly. “That won’t work.” Orchid fired a quick blast from her Pacifier, knocking Torrent off Chip. He rapidly regressed, shrinking into a tiny foal, fast asleep. A small puddle spread as Torrent wet, his now-blank newborn mind not remembering how to hold it. “Did you really think that you would be faster than a Pacifier shot?” Orchid sighed, picking the foal up, cleaning him quickly with wipes from her diaper bag, then padding him up, popping a pacifier in his mouth. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore, little one.” Chip was already up by now, untying the hostages, reporting the situation to Grey. “It’s handled, Grey, you can head back up. We had to use the Pacifier. Dusk has a light injury, but it’s only a bruise.” “All right. Hang on, can you move what’s blocking the trapdoor? It’ll be faster that way.” came the reply. “I got it.” Orchid noted a large wooden crate full of cider bottles over the trapdoor, pushing it out of the way, the trapdoor swinging open a moment later. “Thanks.” Grey said, before moving over to Dusk, who just barely got untied. “Dusk, are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine.” Dusk accepted Grey’s hoof to help him up. “Sorry, that didn’t really go as expected.” “It’s all right. Just as long as you’re unhurt. You tried your best, some unexpected things just happened.” Grey checked Dusk’s bruise, but Dusk waved him off. “Really. I mean it. I’m fine.” “Let’s head back for now, we’ve done our part.” Orchid called to her team. “The cleanup is up to the Guards, but we should head back for the interview with the ponies that knew him.” “Hold up.” They were stopped before reaching the shop exit. It was Snowfall, one of the hostages. “I wanted to thank your team.” “It’s no issue.” Orchid smiled at him. “We were only doing our jobs, there’s no need to thank us.” “Oh, but there is. You took down a criminal without anypony getting hurt. It’s a good thing that the Pacifiers judged him.” “Well, yes, that’s the point of the Pacifiers, to judge a pony before or after committing a crime.” Orchid nodded. “Ah, of course. Latent criminals and all. For the better of society, yes?” there was something about his tone that seemed almost sarcastic. “Yes…” Orchid answered, noting that the rest of her team had caught it, too. “I’m sorry, but we have to go.” “I hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.” He bowed politely as they walked off. “What was with that guy?” Chip asked as they climbed into the cart. “Dunno.” Dusk waited until Snowfall had turned the other way to draw his Pacifier and aim it at him. “Crime Coefficient: 21.2. Under 150. No enforcement needed. Trigger is now locked.” “It’s nothing.” Dusk slid the Pacifier away. Despite saying this, and everypony having heard the Pacifier reading, an air of unease hung in the cart all the way back to Headquarters. -- Headquarters “Thanks.” Orchid took the last of the reports from Grey. “Now you two had your break interrupted last time, so go ahead and just relax for a bit now. Dusk, you should have that bruise looked at.” “It’s just a bruise!” Dusk shook his head. “Guys, you’re totally overreacting.” “Okay, if you insist.” Orchid gave him a soft gaze. “Go on, you two. You’ve earned a rest.” “Thank you.” Grey nodded. “Come on, then, Dusk.” Dusk slid his paperwork back into a folder, following Grey out. “After all that, you probably need a change, right?” Grey asked softly. “Um… yeah…” Dusk answered awkwardly. Even if Grey hadn’t asked, it was obvious, his previous wet diaper even more soaked, sagging a little on him. “All right, let’s get you cleaned up, then.” Grey led his subordinate to the bathroom, using his magic to lift Dusk onto the changing table. “Now just hold still and it’ll be over quicker.” “Gah… So embarrassing…” Dusk groaned. “No matter how many times… it’s still so embarrassing…” “I know, I know.” Grey assured him, untaping the used diaper and tossing it away, beginning to wipe. “Just try to relax, okay?” Dusk blushed as Grey cleaned him. “Yeah… that’s easier said than done.” “Almost done.” Grey took out a new diaper, sliding it under Dusk and powdering liberally. “And… there you go.” He patted the diaper after taping it up, making it crinkle. “Th-thanks…” Dusk was still blushing as he was helped down from the changing table. “Let’s take a bit more of a break, then go and question that pony’s relatives… Torrent, was it? I want to know why he did what he did.” “Same here…” Dusk nodded in agreement. “When I looked in his eyes, there was anger, but also desperation. I think he had a reason to do what he did… it doesn’t make it right, at all, but he definitely didn’t just decide to do it out of the blue.” “Orchid is handling some background research. When she’s done, she’ll brief us on him. I’m sure she’s working on a folder of some sort right now.” They walked back out, taking seats in a break room. They both were quiet for a while, before Dusk spoke up again. “That pony, Snowfall… I just got some sort of vibe from him. It was like the kind of vibe I had when we caught that vigilante. But that pony had a crime coefficient of over 150. Snowfall didn’t. Am I overthinking this?” “I felt that, too… but the Crime Coefficent is never wrong. It never has been wrong so far.” Dusk sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Tired?” Grey asked. “You’ve been through a lot for one day.” “We all have.” Dusk shook his head. “You’re the one that got kidnapped and held hostage.” “I’m fine.” Dusk insisted. “Come on, Orchid’s probably finished up by now, we should go.” -- Interrogation Room “So you’re Torrent’s…” Grey looked through the folder. “Sister.” The silvery grey pony answered. “Silver Stone.” She was quiet for a while. “I just can’t believe he’d do this…” “Am I correct in saying your mother is hospitalized?” Grey asked Silver gently. “Yeah… She’s been in Ponyville General for years… we’ve been trying to get her to Canterlot’s best hospital, but… we never could get the money. I never thought he’d do something like this…” “I understand why he did it. But he still committed a very bad crime…” Dusk spoke up. “As you know, we had to regress him. His actions and state of mind brought his crime coefficient over 300.” “I know…” Silver looked away, and the room was quiet for a while. “Did… did he hurt anypony?” Grey was about to answer, but Dusk cut him off. “No. He didn’t hurt a soul.” Dusk made he was facing the way so his bruise wouldn't show. “I knew it…” Silver looked a little relieved. “I knew he wouldn’t hurt anypony for real…” -- Team 1 Office “You didn’t have to do that, you know. He did hurt you.” Grey said to Dusk, as they organized their interview notes. “She needed comfort. I gave it.” Dusk answered simply. “Besides, it was just one punch, nothing compared to what my father gave me.” Despite his light tone, he tensed a bit, as always, at mention of his father. “Easy now.” Grey spoke softly to Dusk, calming him down. “You did the right thing, Dusk. But you need to take care of yourself, too.” “That’s not part of my job.” Dusk responded. “I just wanted her to leave on a high note. She’s going through enough, she doesn’t need any more added on her plate.” “All right. You did well, Dusk. Really. Now you need to get some rest. I know you’re dead tired. Come on, let’s get you to bed. If you want to get work done efficiently, you can’t be so tired.” Dusk reluctantly complied, letting Grey lead him to Team 1’s sleep room, used for Caretakers and Padders to sleep. Caretakers had normal beds, but Padders had oversize cribs. In Dusk’s case, however, there was a standard foal crib. Grey set Dusk in there, tucking him in. “Good night, Dusk.” “Good night, Grey.” -- Unknown Location “So… how did it go, Master?” A purple Pegasus asked a pony as they trotted into the room. “It went well.” The pony answered. “Thank you, Lily.” “Did you find anypony you were interested in?” she followed after the pony, headed to a board filled with pictures of other ponies and notes.” “Yes, in fact. Two. I’m sure they’ll be quite useful when the time comes. For now…” the pony donned a mask and cloak. “I believe it’s time to make our move.” “You mean that one?” Lily asked, getting a mask and cloak of her own. “Yes. Everything is in place for the next stage. We need to make our next move. Have you made the preparations?” “Yes sir. I’ve done what you asked, we should have no problems. Even if we do, I’m sure we can handle it. I’ve made some failsafes, just in case.” “Good work, Lily. I knew I could count on you.” The pony praised, smiling a little behind the mask. “Now come on. We’ve got work to do.” The moon shone down on the two cloaked ponies as they headed out of the building, their cloaks flowing like water in the night. In the distance, was the shining city of Canterlot, and in the center, the Council of Order Headquarters.
3- It beginsChapter 3 “Please remember to go to your monthly Crime Coefficient checkups!” a light blue Unicorn mare smiled and waved at the family that left. “Thank you for participating in the anti-stress therapy!” She glanced at the clock. It was late, and about time for closing. She trotted to each door, checking the locks, accessing the Crystal Database, entering in some necessary times and data, before logging off. As she did so, she heard a noise coming from one of the storage areas. Frowning a bit, she turned the lights back on, moving over to the wooden door. However, just as she got to it, the door banged open, and a flurry of movement knocked her over. “Listen very carefully.” She heard a male’s voice speaking, her sight obscured by the pony’s body. “Unless you want your little secret to get out, you’re going to do exactly as I say.” The Unicorn gave a faint gasp. Who was this stallion? Did he really know something, or was he bluffing? He had to be bluffing, right? As if he read her mind, he spoke again. “I know what you’ve been doing to the patients.” “Okay, okay…” she shook her head. “What did you want me to do?” He got off her, letting her get to her hooves. However, he was wearing a cloak and mask, obscuring his features. “You’re going to access the database, and switch around some data. You can do that, right?” “Y-yes, but who and why?” she asked cautiously, as another pony entered behind him, also with a cloak and mask. “For the better of others.” He passed her a stack of papers, with photos and names. “I want you to change their Crime Coefficients to high values. But not too high. Any value from one hundred to two ninety-nine is fine. Please try and make it fast, we do not wish to spend too much time here.” His voice remained calm, smooth, and with little emotion. “Fear not, I will not harm you as long as you continue to work with us.” “All right…” she reluctantly pulled up the Crime Coefficent database, glancing down at the first paper. She began working through them, one by one. “I don’t see why this is such an issue for you.” The mysterious stallion’s partner spoke up, her voice that of a mare. “You’ve been going against protocol as it is, using your own methods, testing various ones on the patients. None of them are regulation.” “I- it’s because I don’t think the regulation methods work!” the Unicorn looked up at the smaller masked pony. “It’s in the best interest!” “But even if your methods are better, they would never be implemented, would they? The system doesn’t work like that.” The stallion spoke again. “No… they wouldn’t…” she looked down. “What if I told you… I could make your ideas into a reality?” he watched her through the mask. “That’s- that’s insane! You’d have to destroy the entire system!” she shook her head. “A solid system can only be changed by destroying and rebuilding it.” He held out his hoof. “Join us… and we can make this unjust system history.” -- One week later… “No! My Crime Coefficent was under 100! I swear!” a yellow stallion begged as he was hauled to an Order Patrol carriage. “Please! You’ve got the wrong guy! I WORK for you guys! There has to be some mistake here!” The crowd murmured as they watched. Recently, it seemed that incidents like this were rising up all over the city. It was causing more than just problems with Council workers, it was causing the citizens to start to distrust the Council. If Council workers were latent criminals, then how could they possibly protect the general public? The atmosphere of the city was completely different. It was tense, and overly quiet, most ponies keeping their eyes down and hurrying to their destinations. “It’s going quite well, isn’t it?” the cloaked stallion from before watched from an alley. “Yes, Master.” A group of ponies answered in agreement. “I never expected it to work this well, Master Snowfall.” Lily smiled. “The Area Stress rates have been going steadily up… at this rate, we can move onto the next stage.” “Please remember not to use my full name.” he removed his hood, glancing down at her. “Ah- forgive me Master, I forgot.” She bowed her head in apology. “It’s quite all right. I know it was not intentional.” He turned back to watch the ponies passing by for a while. “Come on, my friends. We shall prepare for our next movement. Everything is proceeding perfectly as planned.” -- Council of Order HQ “I can’t believe this…” Orchid sighed. “There’s been another Council worker detained…” “We can’t even go out in public anymore without ponies glaring at us.” Dusk was reading the news on his screen. “They don’t trust us anymore… some of them even ignore or resist anything we say. At this rate…. We won’t be able to keep order.” “Or we’ll have to Pacify everyone.” Grey rubbed his eyes, tired. The entire department hadn’t gotten much sleep in a while. “I don’t like the idea of that either… it’s not how the system should work…. It was meant to protect others… not this… not whatever this is…” “It doesn’t help that all this is increasing our own Crime Coefficents.” Chip lowered his head. “It’s stressing everyone out… If it keeps going like this, we’re going to have to change the standards of Crime Coefficients.” “The system’s never changed ever since implementation… you should be careful, if others heard you talking like that…” Orchid warned gently. “It wouldn’t end well.” She took a breath to calm herself. “The most we can do now is continue with our jobs. If we focus on the negatives, it’s only going to cause trouble for us.” “She’s right.” Grey nodded. “It’s the most we can do right now. We just have to try all that harder to keep order, and bring things back under control. If we can do that, then we don’t have to worry about this anymore.” “I suppose you’re right but… I just have a really, really bad feeling about all of this…” Dusk spoke in a quiet tone. “Something… big is coming. I can sense it.” It would only be a day until his intuition proved correct.
