Foal Pass

Chapter 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.