Another Member of the Band

Chapters

Endless Rejection
Endless Locks
Endless Introductions
Endless Stars
Endless Rescues
Endless Cover Up
Endless Tension
Endless Bears
Endless Curse
Endless Sentence
Endless Mistakes
Endless Resentment
Endless Concerts
Endless Politics
Endless Forgetting
Endless Ridicule

Endless Rejection

Adorabelle Beauty was the most gorgeous pony at Gifted Unicorn Academy, and she knew it.

Like all great beauties, this was due in equal parts to both nature and nurture. Nature had given her sparkly blue eyes, an adorably small muzzle, and a shiny white mane with two streaks, one blue and one gold. Under her nurture, she picked only the best looks to suit her style; her mane was bobbed, her tail long and luxurious. Her periwinkle coat was clean and her hooves and horn were polished. And then there was her outfits. Today she’d chosen a headband with several large clear rhinestones, a light pink long-sleeved shirt with darker pink hearts spotted about, and silvery thread wound about her tail to make something like a braid. It was an outfit designed to turn heads, and that it did. The pony at the desk next to her had been glancing at her all day. Or perhaps he was just looking anywhere but at the teacher.

Professor Rigid glanced at the clock and nodded. There were twenty minutes left in speech class. He sorted his papers and called the next victim.

“Chemical Formula?”

The pony next to Adorabelle stood up slowly, swallowing nervously.

Adorabelle leaned over and smiled at him. “Knock ‘em dead.”

Chemical Formula whipped his head around to glance at her. His green eyes widened; no doubt he was wondering why a beauty like Adorabelle would notice a plain-looking newbie. Adorabelle hoped she hadn’t distracted him too much.

“We don’t have all day,” Rigid hissed. Chemical Formula gasped and cantered to the front of the class. After he got there, his notes none-too-subtly floated off his desk to catch up with him. Sour Sweet snickered from somewhere in the back, and the filly sitting on the other side of Adorabelle, Test Tube, gave a strangled cry of dismay. Adorabelle felt her hair tugged, and she turned to see Test Tube, her horn lit and tears in her eyes.

“How could you?” Test Tube whimpered.

“Be quiet and listen,” Rigid snapped in her direction.

Test Tube turned to face the front again, but gave Adorabelle’s mane one more telekinetic tug. Adorabelle winced and tried to ignore it.

Chemical Formula was not a very good speaker. He mumbled and stammered and got his note cards mixed up. He spent most of the first half staring at his cards, or the floor, so Adorabelle stopped taking notes and tried smiling at him. It did encourage him to look at the class more.

When he finished, the class clapped politely. Chemical Formula sighed with relief and headed back to his desk. Professor Rigid’s quill flew across the grading rubric.

Chemical Formula sat down and turned to Adorabelle. “So how’d I do?”

There was a thunk as Test Tube pressed her face to her desk. Chemical Formula didn’t seem to notice.

“What’d you think?” Chemical Formula asked Adorabelle, his green eyes shining with anticipation.

Adorabelle smiled at him.

“Well, like, you know, I thought it was cool how you, like, had all those numbers… and stuff, and, uh, y’know, glue is cool…”

Chemical Formula’s face shifted to shock, then to annoyance. “I was talking about plastic.”

Adorabelle gasped. “Oh, uh, yeah, I was just, y’know, making conversation, totally…”

Chemical Formula leaned way over and scowled at Adorabelle’s notebook. “You haven’t been taking any notes!? You’ve just been scribbling!?”

“She does that all the time,” Black Snooty, the stallion in front of Chemical Formula, said as he turned around in his chair. “She doesn’t even know how to write.”

Chemical Formula looked hurt. “You didn’t even care, did you?”

From the other side of Adorabelle, Test Tube muttered miserably, “I care…”

Chemical Formula’s ears perked up at this new voice. He leaned forward to look around Adorabelle at the reddish brown mare who had spoken. He smiled. “Uh, hi. My name is…”

“Test Tube!” Test Tube blurted. “I mean, that’s my name. I heard yours earlier…”

“Oh, right,” Chemical Formula said, blushing. “Uh, I didn’t catch yours…”

“You… missed the first few days of summer semester because you were sick, right? You probably just missed my speech.” Test Tube smiled and tried to brush her thick bushy black mane into place, but it was a losing battle.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Uh, what was it about?”

The two chatted a little longer, signs of puppy love dancing in their eyes.

Meanwhile, Adorabelle screamed inwardly. Somehow, she’d once again managed to lose before she’d even started to play.

Adorabelle Beauty was the most gorgeous pony at Gifted Unicorn Academy.

But the ponies at Gifted Unicorn Academy knew that brains were more worthwhile than beauty. And brains were something Adorabelle had in short supply.

Endless Locks

Professor Whooves’ office wasn’t like the other professors’. Mostly because it was in the basement. Although considering his field of study, this was more from practicality than an insult.

The two mares stopped in front of the plain wooden door with a piece of paper taped to it proudly proclaiming: “Dr. Whooves, Chaos Theory and Unexplained Phenomena.” Romana threw out a hoof to stop Adorabelle, who started to protest, but then heard the reason they were stopping.

“It’ll be everything you’re always asking me for!” The speaker’s shrill voice wasn’t difficult to hear through the plain door. “Imagine what we could do with an energy source like this!”

Dr. Whooves sighed heavily. Adorabelle could just picture the sad, tired expression he’d be using. “You don’t really want me to study supercrystalline matter. You just want to start another project in Professor Rigid’s field of study, so that you can rub it in his face that he’s not allowed to work on it…”

“Why should you care!? And that… fool… is a gen-ed teacher! He doesn’t have time to look at rocks; he’s too busy grading papers by newbies!”

“He’s a gen-ed teacher because you gave him only gen-ed classes…” Another heavy sigh. “…And I care because, since you don’t actually want to do this project, you’re going to cancel it in a few weeks, and find a way to insinuate that I broke your experiment somehow.”

“You little busybody of a dirt pony…”

Adorabelle telekinetically slammed the door open. “IT’S MEEEE!” she shouted.

A force like a brick wall sent her flying, then her body locked up into a fetal position she couldn’t uncurl from, then some kind of sticky substance flowed onto her beautiful fur. All the while, high pitched screaming filled the room; hers and Romana’s were partial contributors, but neither was the loudest of them all.

“You mani- ow! –maniac!” Dr. Whooves shouted. There was more zapping sounds, and some slapping. “Get- a hold of- yourself- Safeguard!”

The screaming finally stopped. The glue on Adorabelle cracked, and somepony started rubbing cold lotion on her.

“Here, this should relax your muscles,” Romana said.

Adorabelle uncurled, cracking her limbs more than seemed natural. Dr. Whooves had one hoof on the chest of a shivering, wide-eyed, blueish-purple stallion Adorabelle knew too well.

“You aren’t even going to apologize, are you?” Romana huffed. “Jerk.”

“You can’t attack everything that walks into the room,” Dr. Whooves said.

Safeguard narrowed his eyes at Adorabelle. “It’s all her fault. She should know better than to barge in on an important conversation like that. Anyway, I was right to be startled when somepony barged in, because nopony should have been able to barge in, because I locked the…” he blinked and sighed. “You know what? Never mind. Just test her already.” He shuffled toward the basement stairs.

“And we’ll just forget about the supercrystaline matter?” Dr. Whooves called, an impish grin on his face.

Safeguard stopped, his shoulders tightening with anger. “Wither and die.”

“And a very happy Thursday to you too!” Dr. Whoove turned to Adorabelle. “Any other counter curses needed?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Adorabelle said, stretching her legs cautiously. “Just, y’know, wind knocked out of me and all. Most importantly, my designer sweater is still pristine; I was, like, so worried that gluey stuff wouldn’t wash out, y’know?”

“Seriously, don’t do that again.” Dr. Whooves shook his head. “Not smart to aggravate him. Too high strung. I’d feel sorry for him if…” He stopped and shook his head again.

“If he wasn’t such a jerk,” Romana said. “So… anything else you need for today’s experiment?”

“Duct tape.” Dr. Whooves stood on his hind legs and wheeled around. “Come on in. Complimentary tea, probably non-toxic.”

Adorabelle giggled and followed him into the lab.

Dr. Whooves’ lab was huge, sprawling, crowded, and not at all neat. One long, long wall was filled with mostly potion bottles of all sizes, colors, temperatures, and consistencies, but Dr. Whooves being who he was, there were also non-potions such as books, glowing orbs, crystals, and a small cage of spider-mouse hybrids he’d adopted after the biology class’ last disastrous experiment. A long table had more potions, blueprints, a rock polishing kit, a strange metal gyroscope-like contraption that was constantly rotating, a partially deconstructed pocketwatch, a huge pile of scrap metal, a smaller pile of unopened envelopes, and a plate with two and a half chocolate chip cookies left on it, among other things. One corner was almost completely occupied by his “portal machine,” with a huge metal ring to serve as the portal, a panel with many blinking colored buttons to navigate, and a giant hamster wheel. Presumably the hamster wheel was to provide manual power in case the building’s electricity went out; Adorabelle had never asked.

One wall was for the cells where Dr. Whooves’ test subjects stayed. Two were covered with curtains, while two were open. Inside one was what looked like a pretty normal hotel suite, except for the bars. The other had gravel at the bottom and a fishy smell to it, but was currently empty.

Adorabelle looked at the gravel-coated cell. “Oh… where’s Cepha?”

“His condition was declared stable,” Romana said. “He’s been moved to a hospital with a specialist who thinks he can turn his tentacles back into legs.”

“Oh… that’s good news, then!” Adorabelle beamed.

“For once,” Dr. Whooves grumbled.

“It’ll be nice to not have to maintain a large aquarium anymore,” Romana chuckled.

“And the Machination?” Adorabelle turned to one of the curtains. “Can I meet him now?”

“Ah, sorry…” Dr. Whooves came up and put a hoof on her shoulder. “He… he requested, as best as we can understand him, that he’d rather nopony look at him until he’s less… nightmarish.” He coughed. “His words, not mine. Speaking of… any news on Little Spark?”

“Nah. Dad said, y’know, there’s all this stuff about, like… psychological evaluations, and custody, and, like, nopony knows whether or not he’s an adult, and, y’know, that affects culpability and stuff… it’s gonna take, like, forever, and even when it’s over they might, like, just banish him or something.”

“That would be a shame.” Dr. Whooves turned to his large table, pulled open a drawer, and grabbed a roll of duct tape. “I don’t want to keep you forever. Just give me a minute.” He dove behind his portal machine. “Romana? Blue connects to green, right?”

Romana gasped softly. “No! Blue to blue, green to green! Why would I mix them?” She trotted over to the portal. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I just can’t find another blue- oh, here.” There was a ripping sound, then other sound effects associated with duct tape repairs. The metal ring of the portal device flashed a bright white, then steadily flickered into a picture of some bushes. It appeared they were going the Canterlot Garden Hedge Maze, and this was their doorway through spacetime to get there.

“Um…” Romana said.

“That’s the ticket!” Dr. Whooves leapt out from behind the machine, then turned to face the portal. “Ready, Adorabelle?”

“The… the ring’s glowing orange…” Adorabelle said.

There was a popping sound, and the picture in the hoop flickered between the bushes and some flames, looking like the story of Moses.

Romana and the Doctor screamed and frantically yanked at cables. The hoop stopped glowing, and the door vanished.

“H-how about we just walk to Canterlot Gardens?” Romana asked.

“Ah… yes… exercise…” Dr. Whooves panted. “Just let me get some things…”

He ran around the lab for another fifteen minutes, piling apparently random objects into a cardboard box. Adorabelle spent that time trying to figure out which liquid in the room was most likely to be tea, eventually deciding it wasn’t worth the risk. Then Romana scooped the box up in her telekinetic grip, and the trio headed back out.

***

Sadly, Safeguard was waiting for them at the hedge maze.

“I thought you said you were going to teleport,” Safeguard said, swinging a large pocket watch in their faces.

“I thought you said we’d die if I did,” Dr. Whooves replied.

“…Or is that what you were hoping for?” Romana asked. She set the cardboard box down by the entrance and began unpacking. “…Why did you bring this sandwich, Doctor?”

“Um… in case… something,” Dr. Whooves said. “I set up the Fluxometer on the west side.”

“I hope nopony stole it!” Safeguard shouted. “Why aren’t you more careful with the university equipment!?”

“Who the hay would steal anything right outside Celestia’s window?” Romana asked. “If they’re going to be that daring, you’d think they’d steal something more valuable…”

Safeguard and Romana grabbed pieces of equipment and wandered around a corner. Dr. Whooves smiled at Adorabelle.

“Why a maze this time?” Adorabelle asked nervously. “Why not another passage?”

“This way, if you find a door you can’t open, you can go try something else,” Dr. Whooves said. “The more data, the better. And don’t worry; the royal guard says the monster will stay in its cage for sure.”

“Wait- monster?”

“Of course! The maze monster. Haven’t you taken social studies?” Dr. Whooves shook her shoulder reassuringly. “Now don’t worry about it. It won’t be any different than our other test runs.”

“Except there’s a maze, and a monster,” Adorabelle said.

“No monster. I told you, he’s caged up!” Dr. Whooves started walking backwards. “I’ll yell when we’re ready!” He rounded the corner.

Adorabelle shuffled towards the start of the hedge maze. She peered around the corners, but she couldn’t see anything except the next turn. Was she being timed?

“Yell!” Dr. Whooves shouted.

“Okay!” Adorabelle shouted back.

“…I mean, we’re ready!” Dr. Whooves said.

“Oops.” It had been a joke. And Adorabelle had killed it.

“Start running!” Safeguard shouted.

Adorabelle bolted down the left passageway. She turned one corner and found a heavy metal door. With its giant spoke-door-handle-turn-y… thingy, it looked very much like a bank vault door and therefore sadly out of place. Adorabelle wondered how the heck they brought it to the maze. Well, it didn’t look like it could possibly latch shut; the locker-bar… thingy would probably just stick into the bushes. She attempted to telekinetically pull the door open, but it felt like her magic grip was slipping off of the bars, so she had to use her hooves to twist the vault’s handles. That done, she continued down the hedge passageway.

After somehow managing to head down the same dead end twice, she found a golden gate barring her path. She pushed it open easily and kept galloping.

The next golden gate had a huge iron chain wrapped around it, with a huge heavy lock holding the chain shut. Well, maybe if she shook the gate a bit, the chain would fall off. She telekinetically shook it; the lock clicked open, and the chain did, in fact, fall off. That was easy! She skipped happily onward.

The path forked, and each had a normal, wooden, bedroom-type door blocking it. She randomly chose left and started to telekinetically turn the knob.

“That one was locked, right?” Dr. Whooves whispered somewhere nearby.

Adorabelle jerked backwards when she heard that. There was a soft click.

“Oh no,” she whispered, yanking the doorknob with all her might. It was no use; it was shut tight. Luckily this was one of the ones where another path was right nearby. She pulled the right door open; as she did, it dissolved in golden sparkles, and a shot path lay before her. Three right turns later, she found a wooden door identical to the other two; this one, however, opened easily.

She wandered along into a right turn. There were now three choices in front of her. Casually, she peered down the left turn. Then down the lane in front. They looked equally bushy. She turned to the right.

The passage on the right wasn’t a passage at all. It was a dead end, with a cage in the center. A mass of brown fur lay at the bottom, growling vaguely. It looked like a crumpled fur coat with sound effects.

“Oh, hi!” Adorabelle walked up to the cage. “Are you the maze monster?”

Safeguard screamed from somewhere very nearby. “Does that girl have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever?”

The pile of brown fur stiffened. Two glowing red eyes peered out from inside.

“Er… no offense, but you don’t really look like anything… um, like, at all…” Adorabelle said. “Hey, Safeguard? Are you on the other side of the hedge?”

Safeguard yelped. “How did she know where I was!?”

“Seriously?” Dr. Whooves asked.

“Don’t get scared, I’m just curious is all.” Adorabelle looked down at the maze monster. “Since you’re, like, already there, could you, like, tell me more about the-”

The door to the cage slowly swung open, unlatched.

“Um… that, like, doesn’t seem good…”

“ROAR!” Shouted the brown fur.

Adorabelle screamed and galloped away. As she turned a corner, she saw a huge ball of brown fur right behind her.

“EEEE!” Adorabelle tried to plunge through a hedge wall and got stuck.

“What the… hay?” Safeguard asked.

“Should we just write this one off then?” Romana asked.

“Well how was I supposed to know she was *that* stupid?” Dr. Whooves asked.

“I can hear you!” Adorabelle shouted, kicking her hind legs. She hadn’t even made it halfway through the hedge; her shirt had caught on a branch and she couldn’t go forward. All she could see was bits of light on the other side, but like hay she was going back now.

Grumbly growls came from behind her, and a pair of teeth seized one leg.

Adorabelle screamed and kicked the monster’s face with her other leg as many times as possible. The monster responded by yanking her backwards through the hedge and dropping her on the ground. Adorabelle screamed some more, scrambled to her hooves, and fled down the nearest pathway.

Gates and doors confronted her at every turn, but she burst through without a thought as she streaked through the maze. Sometimes she slammed the doors behind her, but the monster just slammed them open again. Its pounding hoofbeats- no, pawbeats- got closer and closer.

Another gate loomed forward, this one with a huge, heavy chain about it and a solid padlock, just like the gate at the start of the maze. As she approached, she telekinetically shook it, but the gate seemed to be made of the same magic-resistant substance as the first door. Welp, here went nothing. She leapt over the fence.

Searing pain flamed through her hind leg as her graceful soaring ended in a snag. She tumbled to the ground on the other side of the gate, twisting into a fetal position to hold her hind leg, as though her touch would somehow make the pain less. A gash the length of her horn ran along the inside of her back leg. Dark red blood slowly seeped from the cut into the dirt. Her eyes widened and filled with tears. She looked up at the top of the gate; one of the pointy bits sticking up was red with her blood. Good thing she hadn’t worn a skirt today, or it would have been ripped. Wait, why was she thinking about that?

Then the sun was blocked as the mass of fur soared over the gate towards her, unfurling two huge wings. Adorabelle screamed and closed her eyes as she waited for the monster to eat her.

“Oh sweet merciful Celestia! Are you okay?”

Adorabelle opened her eyes again to see a huge orange pegasus with a dark, unruly mane and glowing red eyes. He was standing in the place the maze monster had been and was slipping off something that looked like a fur coat. A very familiar fur coat.

Adorabelle slapped him in the face.

“Ow! Hey, what the- ow!” he cried as she slapped him again.

“You stupid bully!” Adorabelle tried to telekinetically push him away, but he hardly budged- just too heavy. “ Why would you scare me like that? Look what you did!”

“I’m sorry! This wasn’t my flipping idea, okay?”

“Adorabelle!” Dr. Whooves trotted closer. “Are you all- ooh, no, no you aren’t.” He winced as he saw Adorabelle’s leg. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot…”

“No,” Safeguard said, approaching with Romana, “the idiot is the pony who thought she could just up and leap over stuff like some kind of hoppity dirt pony.”

Romana glared at him. “Don’t you think you might want to at least TRY to not let everypony know what a racist you are?”

“Here, let me see that closer…” Dr. Whooves lifted Adorabelle’s leg slightly. She gasped in pain. “Do you think you can walk?”

“Why?” Adorabelle said. “Why make a fake monster chase me? Was I too annoying last test?”

“We wanted to test if adrenaline would affect your abilities,” Safeguard said. “I had no idea you would act so ridiculously under pressure. Heaven help you if real monsters chase you.”

“Hey!”

“Romana, see if there’s a medic around,” Dr. Whooves said. “Safeguard, show us some of that extra-special magic you’re always bragging about.”

Romana ran off. Safeguard tossed his mane haughtily and started telekinetically dragging branches to the area.

“How are you feeling?” Dr. Whooves asked, stroking Adorabelle’s mane comfortingly.

“Better, I guess. It just startled me. It still hurts a lot…”

“Don’t worry, we can fix this.”

“Should you tell my dad?”

“It won’t take long, I promise.”

“Can I help?” The orange pegasus asked.

Dr. Whooves started to answer, but Safeguard shouted, “No! Absolutely not! Go back to the barracks or something!”

A purple glow enveloped the branches and leaves Safeguard had collected. With a burst of light, they turned into a stretcher.

“What, I can’t even help carry a stretcher?” the pegasus asked.

“No.”

“Yes he can,” Dr. Whooves said. “And I’ll help. Give that sparkly horn of yours a rest.”

Safeguard telekinetically slid Adorabelle gently onto the stretcher. As the orange pegasus approached to help carry it, Adorabelle got a good look at his cutie mark: a black padlock with a long winding chain.

“Oh, you have lock-powers too?” Adorabelle asked. “I have powers like that. I can, like, open any door… well, sort of. I have to kinda think they’re unlocked. I mean, like, if I know the door is locked I can’t open it, but if I don’t know… well, it’s complicated. The study is, like, blind or something, so I can’t actually learn which doors were actually unlocked, and which ones I unlocked. Um, so, like, how about you?”

The orange pegasus looked at his cutie mark and sighed. “Doors… that I shut… tend to stay shut until I open them. That’s why I’m here. We’re both part of the same study. Well, that and I owe the good doctor one. Otherwise you’d never catch me in that hot, smelly, stupid costume.”

“Like, totes awesome!” Adorabelle squealed, then winced as pain shot through her leg again. “I mean, like, the lock power part, not the stupid costume. It was really stupid.”

“There’s no need to be cruel,” Dr. Whooves whimpered.

“I’m Adorabelle Beauty.” She stuck out a hoof to shake.

The orange pegasus took it. “I’m called Iron Flight-”

“No, no, no, no, NO!” Safeguard shouted, startling Iron Flight backward. “I won’t have this! You stay away from that unicorn, you criminal scum!”

“Excuse me?” Iron Flight glared at him.

“And if I had had my way, you would never have left Tartarus!”

“Safeguard, please!” Dr. Whooves said.

“To think Celestia and that baby of a captain would trust you to protect our city…”

“Shut up!” Iron Flight shouted. “Just shut up you… you… loser!

All the other ponies gasped.

“There is a lady present!” Dr. Whooves shouted.

“Ahem,” Romana said from somewhere behind Adorabelle.

“Ah, make that two.”

“I couldn’t find anypony nearby,” Romana said. “We’ll have to take her to the castle.”

“Okay. Iron Flight, can you take the front?”

Adorabelle rose into the air telekinetically and was set on the backs of the two non-unicorns. The party set off, and the rider turned to look at Iron Flight.

“So, you were, like, in Tartarus?”

“Stop talking to me,” Iron Flight said.

“Why’d they let you out? Good behavior?”

“As if,” Safeguard snorted.

“More importantly, why were you in there in the first place? Did you kill somepony? Was my dad the judge? His name is Sterling Scales and-”

“Make her sto-op!” Iron Flight whined.

“Adorabelle,” Dr. Whooves said, “I’ll answer all your questions later. When you’re better. Okay?”

“Okay…”

***

Later, Adorabelle was lounging in the Canterlot Castle medical wing on a flat white bed, a thick cloth bandage wrapped around her leg. Everypony else had gone back to work. Dr. Whooves trotted up and set a small golden box by her head.

“The nurses said to take one every four hours and to seek further attention if you feel dizzy. Also no spellcasting for two days except small amounts of telekinesis. …Which for you means just don’t open any doors at all, even if you think they’re unlocked.”

Adorabelle lifted the lid and saw four postage-stamp sized chocolates. She licked her lips. “Can I have one now?”

“Sure.”

She telekinetically lifted one to her mouth and bit it in half. It was a bit too dark for her liking, but this was medicinal chocolate, not pleasure chocolate. She chewed and swallowed, then finished the other half.

“Yum. What happens if I take more than one every four hours?”

“You’ll be set on fire or something worse. It’s saturated chocolate for maximum magic restoration. Having an injury is a huge drain on unicorn magic, and the enchanted bandage is designed to suck your magic to that spot even more than usual, so you need to replenish. But too much at once is dangerous.”

“You’re, like, humorless. So… will you tell me about Iron Flight now?”

Dr. Whooves sighed. “It’s not really a nice story…”

“Ooh, goody! Tell me! Tell me! Please?” Adorabelle used her best puppy eyes.

“I don’t know if he’ll want me to…”

“You promised to tell me later, and he didn’t say no. Tell meeeeeee!”

“Okay, fine.” Dr. Whooves sat down. “After graduating high school, one of his professors invited Iron Flight on a jungle expedition to explore an ancient temple as a summer activity.”

“Ooh. Very Daring Do.”

“No, not at all, really. That place in the jungle had been a weak point in the space-time continuum for a while, and there was a spell of Grogar’s about the place, so the temple was built to-”

“Channel the power into an ancient ritual!”

“No. Real life temples are nothing like the ones in Daring Do books. This temple was built so that the spell would stop.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you know that pyramids are designed to provide maximum magic concentration at a specific point in order to facilitate an energy transfer, so this was a similar concept, except in reverse, with magical leylines that would direct the remaining spell energy to- ah, I see your eyes glazing over. Well, ah, suffice it to say that the temple was… um, a temple. I’m… not sure how much more I can explain without confusing you.

“Iron Flight had no cutie mark at the time. I believe he blamed it on being forced to move to a city with no skyball.”

“He’s from Cloudsdale? Ooh! That’s why his accent’s all, like, funky and stuff.”

“If you say so. But there are other cities with skyball teams…”

“Accent plus skyball equals Cloudsdale, y’know?”

“…Sure. But Iron Flight’s powers activated the temple curse, and he sealed the entire expedition party in Tambelon by mistake. There was a tribe of zebras in the area, who were a proud warrior race looking to get on the good side of Equestria, so they captured Iron Flight and shipped him to Canterlot for punishment.”

“That’s when he went to Tartarus?”

Dr. Whooves sighed. “Yes. Yes, he went to Tartarus. Don’t ever ask him about it again; it’s not a memory he wants to relive.”

“Well, like, I guess not… but I’m so curious!”

“Keep this up and maybe you’ll eventually go to Tartarus.”

“Thanks!”

“Nopony would believe Iron Flight when he said it was a mistake. So he was charged with several counts of Deliberate Cursing and was put in Tartarus, while several ponies, myself included as I had nothing better to do over the summer, did our best to try and break the curse and bring the expedition home. Eventually I suggested that since we’d tried everything, it was time we tried having the pony who locked them in unlock them again. It worked, and Iron Flight’s crime was reduced to Reckless Use of Powerful Magic.”

“Reckless use of- but he didn’t know he could do that! That’s not fair…” Adorabelle pouted.

“Honestly, I believe law enforcement was trying to save face. It would look bad to admit they threw a completely innocent pony into Tartarus. Better to pretend they were only a little extreme.”

“But… but how will he get a job? Everyemployer asks if their candidates have a criminal background…”

“Hence the post in the royal guard. I believe it was his special request, and it was granted. He’s happy with his life now.”

Adorabelle thought back to him in the garden. “He seemed angry with his life to me, y’know?”

“You can’t judge him from one encounter. Any more questions?”

Adorabelle stared at him blankly for a few minutes, frowning. “Hey, wait! That was an insult!”

“What was?”

“Saying I’ll go to Tartarus! That was mean!”

Dr. Whooves smiled sheepishly. “Oh, well, you did get it after all…”

“As soon as I can walk, you’ll be, like, so sorry!”

Endless Introductions

By the time Adorabelle made it back to the Gifted Unicorn Academy, it was time for evening classes. The campus was being swarmed with zebras and older unicorns; there were even a few pegasi and earth ponies. A small flock of griffins came in for a landing, causing Adorabelle to gape in awe. As part of its mission to cultivate intelligence in all fields, the GUA had decided to open its doors to non-unicorns who showed great academic potential, but because half of the school board and most of the alumni were still somewhat racist, they still weren’t allowed on campus when the ‘normal’ students were having class.

Maybe it had been a mistake to come back. Maybe he was already gone. Maybe she should have just headed to the prosecutor’s office by herself…

…No, there he was. She’d recognize that purple jacket anywhere.

Violet Edge lay asleep on a small white bench, his head on a thick legal book for a pillow. His coat was a soft gray, his black mane was parted around his horn, his tail lay alongside his body covering his flank. He wore a tattered purple jacket, patched at the elbows and coming apart at the collar. His saddlebag lay on the ground under the bench, black with a golden balance etched into the leather. Adorabelle had picked it out, of course; if she let Violet Edge have his way when it came to his wardrobe, he’d wear nothing but that purple jacket all day, every day. She’d only let him wear it today because he’d had an important test to take.

Adorabelle Beauty watched his chest rise and fall and took in the way his mane crumpled against his face before she realized what she was doing. She reached out and shook his shoulder gently. “Hey, Violet?”

Violet Edge sat bolt upright, his brilliant violet eyes wide with terror. “What!? How long have I been sleeping?” He saw a group of passing winged zebras. “Oh no…”

“Thanks for waiting for me,” Adorabelle said.

“I wasn’t waiting! I fell asleep!”

“I was, y’know, giving you a chance to pretend you, like, did this on purpose…” Adorabelle wondered if he noticed her injury.

“I should go,” Violet Edge said, stumbling onto the ground. “Oww…”

“Sleepy hooves?” Adorabelle asked.

“I’m fine!” Violet Edge said, wincing with every step. He telekinetically lifted his saddlebags into place, adjusting them as best as he could to hide his blank flank. It was an entirely pointless exercise, since everypony at school already knew about it and didn’t care.

“I can carry those, y’know.”

“No! Stallions carry books for mares, not the other way around!” He turned and saw Adorabelle’s annoyed expression. “I-I mean, if I was actually having trouble I could just carry them magically.”

“Okay…”

They started on their way, awkwardly trying to think of something else to talk about.

When they were halfway there, Adorabelle broke the silence. “Going to the criminal observatory with me tonight?”

“Whatever crime you’re planning, I’ll have no part in it.”

There was a pause. “Was that a… joke?”

“Was it funny?”

“Well, like, not really…”

“Then I guess not.”

Adorabelle huffed. “Just, like, answer the question.”

“But what are you doing there?”

“It’s Gemini.”

Pause. “Oh.”

Adorabelle waited again for an answer, but none came. They finished their trip in more silence. What did she expect? Violet Edge never came with her. Nopony did.

***

The prosecutors’ office had once been a grand mansion, setting it apart from all the other municipal buildings nearby. Past the wrought iron gate was a lush garden, mostly tulips for the summer, with a silver fountain in the middle. The mansion was several stories tall, the product of many generations of increasingly successful lawyers adding on to their clan’s home. The latest in the pseudo-royal line, Iron Hoof, had achieved the highest honor of them all as Celestia’s Attorney General.

“So, like, what are we doing today?” Adorabelle asked as they trotted up the wide marble steps to the front door.

“Library. I have to study.”

“You just finished your test-” Adorabelle started to open the door but stopped herself. “Um, hey, I’m supposed to not open any doors for, like, 16 hours or something. Be a gentlestallion?”

Violet Edge gave her an odd look, then approached the huge oak doors. He lowered his horn and frowned in concentration.

“You can, like, push it open-”

“No I can’t!”

The edges of the door glowed violet. They rattled slightly.

“Don’t, like, try to prove anything. Your guardian isn’t exactly standing behind the door watching-”

“You don’t know that!” Sweat ran to the end of a strand of his black mane. It trembled at the edge, then fell. The doors still weren’t moving.

“It’s actually easy if you push-” Adorabelle gasped. “Oh, wait, actually-”

The doorknob smashed inward. A stallion inside cried in rage and pain.

“I was mistaken,” Adorabelle whimpered. “Pull, not push.”

Violet Edge gasped and pressed one hoof to his mouth.

The door swung open slowly.

“Ooooh, I was mistaken twice,” Adorabelle squeaked. “Your guardian was on the other side of the door.”

Perfect Karma cut an imposing figure. He was broad shouldered and hard jawed, and his light blue coat was covered with a darker blue jacket, ostentatious with gold buttons and silver lace. His steely gray mane in a long ponytail matched his one gray eye. A black eyepatch covered where his left eye used to be, it’s leather strap making a harsh slash across his forehead. His cutie mark was a set of silver scales with a black sword pinning one pan in a lower position that the other.

His horn currently had a piece of door impaled on it.

Violet Edge cried out, sat down, and pressed both hooves to his mouth.

There was only one thing to do, and it had to be done fast.

Adorabelle dashed forward and bowed her head in submission. “I-I forgot doors open outward. I’m, like, so sorry.”

“Well you should be!” Perfect Karma flicked the piece of wood off of his horn, somehow managing to hit Adorabelle with it. “Not only has your reckless magic injured me, you have damaged a historic building and somehow managed to fail at your sparkly, unique, magical talent.” He narrowed his eyes. “I use the word ‘talent’ as loosely as possible.”

Tears filled Adorabelle’s eyes. “I-I’m so sorry…”

“You already said that. I despise redundancy.” Perfect Karma’s gaze snapped to Violet Edge. “Your summer schedule. Are you with this young hussy more than necessary?”

The young stallion lowered his hooves and stared at the ground. “None of the same classes… sir.”

“Good. The bar exam is approaching. Do not fail me.” He turned and strode away, stately in his bearing.

Violet Edge tipped to one side. Adorabelle rushed to catch him.

“Hey, like, don’t collapse now, m’kay? Let’s get you to the library…”

***

The prosecutor’s library used to be a basement and wine cellar. Most of the wines had been donated to various charity balls to make room for legal books, case files, and a few evidence lockers for special circumstances. Adorabelle and Violet Edge took one of the study tables, a heavy mahogany square table with suns and lions carved into the legs. The two velvet-padded stools had matching legs.

Adorabelle had a regular math book, a regular notebook, and a small abacus. She scribbled idly with a sparkly blue pencil in her mouth, her mind only half on her work and half on the young stallion across from her.

Violet Edge had two law dictionaries, a book of collected cases, and several loose case files scattered across more than his share of the table. His quill was twice as long as his horn and was a fiery gradient from red to yellow. Every now and then, the extra heavy quill toppled from his telekinetic grip, and Adorabelle nudged it back into place when she noticed.

Idly, Adorabelle started counting to one hundred on the abacus, staring at Violet Edge through the bars. His violet eyes scanned the pages with intense concentration.

“Cute, right?”

Adorabelle gasped and spun around. “I wasn’t- Oh, hi Mystic Faerie.”

The lavender unicorn mare smiled at Adorabelle’s reaction. “Hi, Adorabelle, Violet Edge. Classes going okay?”

“Everything’s set for a, uh, super summer semester!” Adorabelle beamed.

“And how did the test go?” Mystic Faerie turned to Violet Edge. “Don’t look surprised; Adorabelle wouldn’t let you risk ripping your dad’s jacket even more unless luck was needed.”

Violet Edge blushed and hung his head. “Not… terrible.”

“Oh, the semester barely started. How could you have a test this early?” The yin medallion around Mystic Faerie’s neck swung as she shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you did fine.”

“Got any cases?” Adorabelle asked, leaning her stool over to see what the young defense attorney was holding.

“Never happy unless busy,” Mystic said, holding up a thick stack of folders in her telekinetic grip. “Vandalism tomorrow, petty theft in a week. All good practice for when I finally get a newsworthy trial.”

“I’ll be there!” Adorabelle cheered.

“No, don’t be,” Mystic Faerie said, frowning and putting the cases behind her. “You’ll just keep falling behind in school if you keep skipping to watch me and your dad.”

“It’s real world experience; I have it cleared and everything. Don’t worry about me, y’know? Worry about your clients!”

“Oh, I do.” Mystic Faerie’s brow furrowed. “I’d… I’d better get back to work.” She turned to leave, her long brown mane and tail swishing as she left.

Adorabelle turned to Violet Edge. “She’s, like, your idol, right?”

Violet Edge winced. “Maybe not…”

“Stop changing your mind!” Adorabelle rolled her eyes. “Ugh, I mean, like, y’know, why do you think your, like, cutie mark won’t show? You’ve, like, wanted to be a defense attorney since you were, like, tiny and stuff. I know Perfect Karma will, like, kick you out of his house if you do, but, y’know, isn’t that totes what you want too?”

Violet Edge turned back to his case and kept reading. Adorabelle kept glaring at him.

A few minutes later, Violet Edge said, “Well, not all prosecutors are like my guardian.”

“I, like, hope you’re not so slow coming up with, like, counter arguments in court,” Adorabelle hissed. “Don’t be, like such a totes pushover.”

Violet Edge didn’t answer.

In fact, he didn’t speak to her for the next two hours, no matter what Adorabelle said. But she was used to his sulking by now, so when she finished her homework, she said goodbye and headed for the courthouse.

***

Adorabelle’s dad’s office was the real deal. Third floor real-estate, polished wood door, frosted glass window. A bronze plaque declared it the workspace of “Honorable Sterling Scales”, and Adorabelle squealed internally with pride every time she saw it.

She knocked on the door with three stately thumps.

“It’s unlocked?” The pony inside said. Or asked.

“If you’re sure!” Adorabelle nosed the door open, opting to avoid telekinesis altogether. Although Dr. Whooves had hinted that it might not actually make a difference as to whether her powers worked.

Her dad’s office was larger than Adorabelle’s bedroom at home. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with neatly sorted law books, case files, and family photos. The books were sorted by type, then by color, preferring visual symmetry to anything else. His desk was one huge flat wooden expanse, devoid of everything except his name plate, a pen-and-pencil set his boss had given him, and his gavel on a stand. The far wall was all window, giving a magnificent view of Canterlot. Half of the window went all the way to the floor, but the other half had a window seat with a purple velvet cushion. Sterling Scales was perched here, a book lying open in front of him. He turned to Adorabelle as she entered and gave her a sheepish smile.

“Oh, it’s you!” The chocolate brown stallion climbed down and walked over to her. Father and daughter embraced, and he stroked her mane and sighed wistfully.

“How was today?” Adorabelle asked.

“Oh… keeping up with the times.” Slowly, he pulled back to look at Adorabelle. “No murder cases, so nothing much to say.” He looked down and gave a start. “Y-your leg! Adorabelle, what-”

“It-it’s going to be fine, Dad, I mean, really…”

She had to tell him the whole story. His face went from panicked to distressed.

“I can’t believe… I can’t believe it,” he whispered. “I mean, Dr. Whooves, maybe, I suppose, that I believe, but Romana should have… I just can’t believe Safeguard of all creatures… he’s usually so cautious…” He stared out the window and his whispers trailed into silence. Adorabelle blinked her blue eyes worriedly.

She nuzzled her father’s ear a bit. “Aw, cheer up. It doesn’t hurt that much, really it doesn’t. And I’ll be better before you, like, even know what happened!” She smiled.

Sterling Scales turned to her and smiled as well. “So, then, Adorabelle, if there’s anything I can do…”

“Welllll, I know something very special you’ll LOVE!” Adorabelle put her head under her dad’s chin, letting her mane tickle him. “Y’know, it’s time for a new constellation, and-”

“No, Adorabelle! No!”

Adorabelle drew back in shock. Her dad’s expression had changed completely.

“Wh-what?” she asked.

“Adorabelle…” Sterling Scales took a deep breath. “I don’t think you should be going to the criminal observatory anymore. I’ve let this go on too long.”

“Wh-what?” she repeated. “No! No, you can’t! This is sooooo important! You need to come too, so you can’t ban me and-”

“It’s too late to do anything!” Tears appeared in his eyes, for all he tried to look fierce. “You’re not going to learn anything that can undo the past.”

“What are you talking about? You, like, think I’m just doing this to investigate or something? No! It’s about family-”

“Adorabelle!” Sterling Scales grabbed Adorabelle and pulled her close, pressing her head to his chest. Adorabelle let him, even if he was being rough. “You… you’re all I have.”

“No I’m not,” she said, slipping her head from his grip and stepping back to glare at him. “And I’m not gonna vanish or something if I go. Where’d all this come from?”

Sterling Scales turned away from her. “I… I could never make you do anything, could I?”

“No, and if you think I’m going to just-”

“But if you love me, don’t go.”

Silence hung thick in the air. Adorabelle glared at Sterling Scales’s back.

“I’m, like, gonna expect an apology for you being weird, m’kay?” She stepped backward toward the door. “And, like, I hope to see you there!” She slipped out and shut the door behind her. It was too heavy to slam.

Endless Stars

The criminal observatory was high in the mountains. Adorabelle took the trolley car and admired the beautiful forest as she soared overhead. She’d seen this several times before, but she liked looking at stuff to keep her mind off what she was about to do.

The trolley was large with several rows of vinyl seats. It was pretty full; besides two cops, one to drive and one to guard, and Adorabelle, there were several ponies in suits. Some had defense attorney badges, some police badges. There was also a handful of more normal looking ponies. One goth unicorn, about Adorabelle’s age, sat in the back, her black red-tipped mane hiding her eyes.

As they neared the observatory, the sun began setting, painting the forest in a blaze of orange. The criminal observatory looked black in the fading light; it was a tall metal tower with a glass dome on top. The trolley landed, and the small group disembarked, winding up the short dirt path to the high, chain-linked, barbed-wire-topped fence surrounding the observatory. A short policemare was waiting, her silver badge a perfect match for her cutie mark.

“Welcome to the criminal observatory.” She lowered her sunglasses briefly to get a good look at the arrivals. Adorabelle wondered if she took them off when it got dark. “The summoning will begin in one hour. We can check you all in during that time. Please remember that taking in or taking out unpermitted materials, objects, or ponies is subject to a penalty of minimum 3 years in the Canterlot dungeons. Often much, much more.” She waved her hoof at the crowd. “All right, no pushing, no shoving, we’ll all get there in time for the show. Line up all orderly like, and we’ll begin our search.”

Adorabelle slipped to last place in line, because she was sure she was going to cause problems this time.

The ponies ahead of her let themselves be checked by attendant unicorns and earth ponies who had scanners. They each passed through a magic-inhibiting gate and started up the outside stairs to the summoning room.

But when it was Adorabelle’s turn, she stopped at the gate and turned to the teal unicorn standing beside it.

“Um, like, I injured my leg and I’m on, like, magic draining medication. So, um… do I really have to go through?”

The unicorn looked mildly alarmed. “Aren’t you that filly who…”

A huge orange earth pony guard slid closer and pushed the mare aside. He turned to Adorabelle. “We have a nurse on staff in the observatory. I’ll be right back.”

The nurse appeared a moment later. She asked some questions, yelled at Adorabelle for not bringing her medical information, examined the injured leg, administered a few pills, and told Adorabelle to head through the gate and suck up to any pain that mightcome after, because Tartarus would freeze before a filly like her was allowed into the observatory with her horn undisabled.

Hence, Adorabelle was late joining the others on the observation deck.

From the nine circles of Tartarus to the panopticon of the dungeons to the spherical purification chambers above, roundness was a common theme to all the punishment methods in Equestria. The observatory was no exception. The top was a huge glass dome, the building itself a huge cylinder with a walkway for visitors running around the rim. The summoning chamber was so huge that Adorabelle could barely make out the features of the ponies standing on the opposite side, or beneath the walkway on the summoning floor. The stars were rising in the glass dome above, but the building was well lit by floodlights, pointed so as to not completely wash out the stars above with their brightness.

Some of the ponies who had ridden up with Adorabelle had wandered to another place on the walkway. One plainclothes detective, the goth girl, and an all-too-familiar attorney were still within talking distance. A tan guard with a shocking orange mane and freckles kept watch, as did several other guards posted at set places along the circle.

Adorabelle trotted up to the railing and hooked her forelegs around the top bar. She leaned over to get a good look at the summoning chamber floor. A pattern was laid out with golden strings; 19 circles with star shapes inside, arranged according to the current constellation, Taurus. Preparations for the sending ceremony were underway. Unicorns in the star-studded costumes of astrologers dashed about, adjusting the golden chains into place here and there and locking them into place with gem-studded pegs. Guards escorted the prisoners to their designated stars, while astrologers trailed behind with bags of sparkling dust. As each prisoner was, with varying degrees of force, pushed into place, the astrologer scattered a circle of powder along the edge of the golden circle, sealing them in place. Crossing that line would cause the crosser to be electrocuted, bringing extreme pain if not death. As a precaution, though, all the prisoners would be wearing horseshoes that were enchanted to be heavy to the wearer but not to the guards carrying them around. Not that Adorabelle could see them from so high up.

Taurus had previously been the sign for all minotaur murderers, but as of late it was considered ridiculous to reserve 19 perfectly good stars for the smallest minority in Equestria, especially with the star shortage and all. Now it just represented racial crimes: those who killed a member of another species. As a result, the current batch of criminals was far more diverse than normal.

Adorabelle looked around at her fellow watchers. The goth girl leaned over the rail also, quite a bit further down from Adorabelle. The detective had crouched down to lie on the floor and was flipping through some case files. The attorney was admiring his reflection in one of the metal pillars; Teflon Slick took great pride in his greasy, mousse-filled manestyle for some inexplicable reason.

Adorabelle felt her eyes glazing over as she waited for the preparations to be over. She glanced between the criminals on the floor, then perked up.

It wasn’t her main reason for being here, but morbid curiosity drove Adorabelle to pay closer attention to the criminals waiting for their banishment. She scanned the group for a griffon.

Yup, Terry was there. The small gray griffin wasn’t even trying to fight; as soon as he entered his circle, he collapsed, hiding his face in his metal sheathed claws. Adorabelle could almost hear him crying.

To take her mind off of her ex-schoolmate’s plight, she tried to see how many other criminals she could recognize. Before long, she perked up.

“I can name all of the murderers out there!” She grinned gleefully at the four ponies nearby. “Wanna hear me try?”

Goth girl and Teflon Slick ignored her. The detective looked up at her, confused.

“I don’t think so…” the freckled guard said, blinking. “Some of these have been here a while, you know…”

“Yes I can!” Adorabelle leaned over the rail and gestured downward. “Okay, like, I’ll start with that griffin, the pure white one. He’s Silver Feather, alias White Demon, and he, like, wanted genocide against ponies; he’s, like, stuck in ancient history, y’know? Wants a third griffin regime and all that. And he, like, killed an EIS operative, so, like, that’s why he’s here. That zebra is Octa… Octen… Octarian, I think; it’s, like, some weird name. His brother married a unicorn, and he was all racist and stuff and didn’t like mixed marriages, so he killed her and tried to tell his brother it was an accident and stuff. But it didn’t work. I mean, like, well duh it didn’t work, or he wouldn’t be here and stuff, but I mean it didn’t work to kill her, ‘cause magic and… magic love and stuff.” She squinted to try and make out the far side of the constellation. “And I think those two ponies at the end there are, like, co-collaborators who, like, killed this old rich griffin to steal his stuff. They, like, took this potion thingy to make them more courageous and stuff, but it made them too brave and so they, like, thought they could get away with murder, y’know-”

“Why in Equestria do you know all of this!?” the guard asked.

Teflon Slick burst out laughing.

“You really are clueless, aren’t you, little rookie?” He gestured with one finely polished gray hoof to Adorabelle. “That little brat is the spawn of Judge Fickle himself. Most of the unfortunate souls here are here because of him, and she has never missed a single one of her father’s court cases.”

“Never?” The guard’s eyes widened. “But, but, didn’t he become a judge a decade ago!? What were you, seven?”

“Well, something like that,” Adorabelle said. “I’m, like, totally bad with numbers. Anyway, that unicorn is Stone Panther, and he had, like, this young zebra girl he’d orphaned in a border skirmish, and he, like, claimed he was all responsible and stuff and would raise her, y’know? But she did something he didn’t like, so he beat her and she got sick from being beaten and died and stuff…”

“All right, all right, I get it.” The detective closed his folder and stood up, then walked over to where Adorabelle was. He hung his hooves over the rail next to her and scanned the crowd of prisoners. He pointed to a unicorn mare standing to one side; her dark purple mane curled delicately over her beautiful forehead. “That one. You can’t possibly know her…”

“Oh, like, that’s totally easy!” Adorabelle squealed. “That’s Mise En Scene, the famous play producer! I love, love, love her story! See, there was this griffin who wrote plays in his home country, and this director, like, saw his plays and loved them and wanted to import them and stuff, but griffins have, well, y’know, a different sense of humor than us… blood is funny to them and stuff. So to make it sell well, y’know, Mise En Scene kept changing parts of it, and the griffin got mad, I mean like, REALLY mad, and decided to kill her but she killed him first…”

“That was way, way before your dad’s time as judge,” the detective said scornfully. “In fact, I’m not even sure you were born yet. How do you know who she is then?”

“Oh, easy. My BFF’s dad was a defense attorney, and he helped catch her. It’s, like, only natural that I’d, like, be totally on top of everything my BFF’s dad did.”

“No. No, it isn’t,” the guard said.

“But it’s, like, my favorite story because the only creature who died there deserved it, and it was this really cool mess that nopony could untangle, but Violet Edge's dad is –was-- like, soooo smart and he had this friend who was, like, a living lie detector and stuff and he knew who the criminal was and from there… well, the moral of the story is, like, just because a costume is normally worn by a certain pony, doesn’t mean that if you see that costume again, it’s the same pony. Or even a pony at all, y’know?”

“Um… if you say so,” the guard said. “Look, maybe you could just-”

“-finish? Oh, yeah, totally! That zebra there is called Blaze though that’s, like, not his real name ‘cuz his real name’s in, like, zebra-speak but the newspapers called him that ‘cuz he set this fire and-”

Something heavy slammed into Adorabelle’s head, and she cried out. Turning to the goth girl, she saw a thick book about vampires lying on the floor. Presumably it was the goth girl’s.

“This isn’t a game, you know!” the goth girl shrieked in an un-goth-like voice. “Those victims had friends and family who are still mourning their deaths, and some of those criminals do too! How could you be so insensitive!? Do you just come here every month to brag about how many lives your dad has destroyed!? Well!? Do you!?”

Tears appeared in Adorabelle’s eyes. She swiped them away with her hoof.

“I’m, like, so sorry-”

“You’d better be!”

“-but, like, give it another year, and Jet’ll be fine. Trust me.”

The goth girl gave a start. Then her mascara started to run. “Wh-wh-what…?”

“Aw, come on, Three Cheers, I know it’s you. The goth getup doesn’t fool me; you’ve been at too many sports matches when GUA faced off against Canterlot University. Of course I know you. And Jet was the star athlete of, like, all the CU teams, so of course I knew him. And of course I know what happened. I’m the one who sent you the card with the butterfly on it; I didn’t want you to be depressed about it, but, well… yeah, a piece of paper can’t fix that, I guess.”

Adorabelle turned to the summoning floor and found the young orange unicorn with a bright blue mane who stood in one of the smaller stars.

“You’re, like, actually really lucky. Your brother only tried to murder all those creatures because, like, ponies who weren’t him stuffed all this black magic into his head that made him all crazy and stuff. In other words, y’know… not his fault. And, like, that’s what stars have been doing for centuries. They burn outside influences. The starfire’ll get inside him and clean him out, burning the bad stuff without harming the good. Then he’ll be fine and can come home, no worse for wear.” She sighed and turned back to Three Cheers. “The ones who might be here for, like, ever are the ones who weren’t enchanted. This new stuff, the starfire that burns all psychological diseases, isn’t well tested. And it doesn’t always, like, work. Some of these ponies were just born crazy, and there may be nothing we can do, y’know?” Her voice got softer. “Sometimes we don’t even know what went wrong. Sometimes we put them up in the sky to burn, and don’t really know what’s wrong with their heads. We don’t know when they’ll come back, if ever… or if they’ll ever be the same.”

Three Cheers squeezed her eyes shut. “I know. I know that! I know I’m lucky, I just, I just…” She pressed her hooves against her eyes and sobbed. “I want… him… h-home…”

Adorabelle wrapped her forehooves around the goth pony and squeezed her tight. “Sh-sh-sh. It’ll be okay. Just wait; in a few years, it’ll just be a bad memory. You’ll see.”

She held her for a few more minutes. Then the guard tapped her on the shoulder.

“The princesses are here,” he muttered.

“Both of them?” Adorabelle pulled back a bit to look Three Cheers in the eye. “Okay. Ready to say goodbye?”

Three Cheers nodded, and hiccupped softly.

The two young mares resumed leaning over the rails to watch. Stately and regally, Princess Celestia marched to her place in the constellation matrix. Beside her was a smaller, pink alicorn, neophyte Princess Cadance.

“This is her first star summoning,” Adorabelle muttered to nopony in particular. “Like, what’s up with that? I hope Celestia won’t need replacing soon or anything…”

Celestia nodded to Cadance, who took a deep breath and lowered her horn. The constellation pattern started to glow blue.

Some of the criminals glared or snarled at Cadance. Others looked scared. Mise En Scene, characteristically, just smiled. Jet squeezed his eyes shut.

“I can’t look!” Three Cheers whimpered, covering her eyes.

Adorabelle stroked her shoulder. “You’ll, like, totally regret it if he misses seeing you.”

The golden circles around the prisoners sparked violently. Celestia lowered her horn, and the magic turned slightly turquoise. Flames shot up around the edges, leaping towards the sky above.

“If he doesn’t recognize you because you’re all, like, goth-wannabe and stuff, you’ll hate yourself forever,” Adorabelle said. “Wave.”

“He’s not looking,” Three Cheers said, leaning over to get a better view.

“He will.”

Jet opened his eyes, then widened them when he saw the flames. Panicked, he twisted around, trying to slide his hooves. His eyes locked with his sister’s.

Three Cheers leaned so far over the edge, Adorabelle wondered if she’d fall. “Jeeeeeet!”

Jet said something, but he was too far to hear. The roar of the flames blocked the sound, too.

Then the circle of flames closed in, turning each prisoner into a white hot ghost. The flames blasted up through the dome, blinding everypony with their brilliance.

Then they were gone. The Taurus constellation shone brighter than ever.

Three Cheers collapsed to the floor.

“Hey, hey, hey, I said don’t worry,” Adorabelle said, stroking her mane. “You’ll be here to welcome him home next year, right?”

Three Cheers nodded, not looking at her.

“And, y’know, he’ll be happier to see him if you don’t look all, like, funeral-style, y’know? Pink is better for your cutie mark, that red dye doesn’t work with your eyes, and you pull off miniskirts super well. And he’s gonna feel guilty enough for something that’s totally not his fault; don’t make him feel like he, like, ruined your life or something since you stopped cheerleading for no good reason. So have a special cheer ready for him, m’kay?”

Three Cheers stood up. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her eyes were crusted with long black streaks. “Somehow, I don’t feel up to making other ponies happy.”

“Well, might be therapeutic, y’know?”

“Thanks… for some of what you said.” Three Cheers turned to leave. “But you’re kind of a jerk…”

“Hey!”

Three Cheers looked over her shoulder, apparently surprised Adorabelle wasn’t following her. “Um, are you coming?”

“No, not yet.” Adorabelle gestured over her shoulder. “The stallion I wanna see is on Gemini.”

“Oh… wait, why are you here again?”

Adorabelle sighed and leaned over the rail again. “’Nother family member thing. Like yours.”

“Oh… oh! I-I didn’t know…”

“Yeah, you assumed I was here to brag about stuff my dad did. Like, totes rude.” Adorabelle didn’t look, but she heard Three Cheers walk away. She focused her attention on the astrologers below instead. The entire matrix had to be reconfigured for the new constellation; this would take a while. Meanwhile, Celestia and Cadance had retreated to one side and had their horns pointed at the sky. Slowly, very slowly, the Taurus constellation slid, often with the stars moving too close or far from each other, out of view. Just as slowly, the eight stars of Gemini crept up the side of the glass dome.

Adorabelle twiddled her hooves a little. She really should have brought a book.

After a moment, the detective shuffled over and coughed. “Um… your dad is Judge Fic- I mean Sterling Scales?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“I-I really admire him. I mean, him and his wife. I mean, all they’ve done to end slavery in Equestria. I mean, he doesn’t do that anymore, obviously I mean, but-”

“Destroying the livelihood of several upstanding citizens, threatening the economy of Equestria’s largest cities, breaking up families, making criminals out of-”

“Shut up, Teflon,” Adorabelle hissed without turning around.

“Oh, but I exaggerate. As I recall, True Beauty was the type of fanatical die hard who would spend years on end to move a single pony from one abusive environment to another, and your dad was her useless puppet.”

Adorabelle turned to glare at the gray unicorn. His permanent smirk seemed etched into his face. “Go back to Las Pegasus. Nopony likes you.”

Teflon Slick brushed imaginary dust off of his jacket. “Oh, what a biting retort! I have no idea how I can ever recover from a schoolfilly taunt like that! I suppose I am forced to admit my point was absolutely invalid, even though you didn’t address anything I said!”

Adorabelle’s cheeks burned.

“Leave us alone,” the detective said.

“Oh, hurrah!” Teflon Slick switched his Las Pegasus accent for an exaggerated peasant accent. “Oh, jolly good! The copper has arrived to save that helpless damsel in distress! I’m sure he’s the solution to all our problems! He just has to stand there flashing his shiny badge around, and the light will make all the evil evaporate!” He shook his head at them, grinning like a cat. “Watching the pathetic huddle into groups is… hmm, what’s a stronger word for pathetic?” He tapped a black leather shoe against his chin. “Hmm… powerless.”

“That must be, like, your worst nightmare,” Adorabelle said.

“What’s in the case file?” Teflon leaned toward the detective.

The law enforcer scrunched against the rail, pressing the folder protectively to his chest.

“I’ll warn you, you can’t get me to leave by promising me cherries,” Teflon smirked. “Careful, now; you don’t want to fall and get banished. Wouldn’t that just be karmic?”

“Go torment some poor client or something,” Adorabelle said.

“Oh, fine,” Teflon Slick said, turning to go. “I’ll just ask Shocking Snap for the pictures later. You really should be more careful where you bring that thing.”

He flicked his tail as he sauntered off.

“Stars, I hate that pony,” Adorabelle said.

“L-l-language,” the detective said.

“Um… like… which one? Hate?”

“No. The ‘s’ word. Not here. Not now.”

Adorabelle had never thought of the word ‘stars’ as a profanity. Mystic Faerie used it all the time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Celestia approaching the summoning floor.

“Ooh, ooh, we’re almost done!” Adorabelle leaned over to look for Cadance. She seemed to be sitting this round out; star summoning needed a lot of power, fortunately, since otherwise anypony who wanted a pet criminal could get one. Unlike Tartarus, the stars weren’t exactly hard to find, or even hard to open. They were just hard to reach.

Celestia lowered her horn. The golden chains glowed brighter and brighter until bright flames leapt up from them. The stars of Gemini flared in response, blazing like miniature suns. Adorabelle squinted, then gave up and just closed her eyes and waited for the pain to go away. For all the fanfare that had met her ascendance, Cadance clearly wasn’t as powerful as the alicorn now working her magic. Then again, celestial bodies of all kinds were Celestia’s talent.

The roar of the flames started to sound more like screaming. Adorabelle blinked her eyes open, hoping to see something. The entire summoning floor was blazing white, but a few ghostly shapes flashed past, vaguely pony shaped, their eyes and mouths wide as they plummeted to the ground.

Then with a loud hiss, the white flames climbed up to the top of the glass dome and vanished in a shower of golden stardust. Celestia was panting heavily, and the eight criminals of Gemini stood in their places on their respective stars.

No… seven. One of the stars was empty. The pony from that star must've needed an extra long uninterrupted starfire session. That happened now and again, though it seemed exceedingly cruel.

A nearby loudspeaker screeched, then a mare’s voice came through, announcing that visitation hour was starting.

A knot formed in Adorabelle’s stomach. Now was the time. Maybe she should have listened to her dad…

***

The visitation hall was plain gray metal. Adorabelle had a swivel chair in front of a thin metal table. In front of that was a glass window, and behind that, the holding cell for the criminal. A guard stood to one side, this one with a coat the exact same shade as his uniform. Adorabelle wondered if that was by design.

Next to Adorabelle sat a young stallion, probably not much older than Adorabelle. He had a green coat and a weedy yellow mane, and he alternated between chewing strands of his hair and twisting it with one hooftip. He had a white lab coat and a large medical clipboard.

“Um… like, do you need to do your evaluation first?” Adorabelle asked him nervously. “I mean, like, before I can talk to him?”

“Oh, hey, no girl,” the psychiatrist said, laughing slightly. “Nah, I mean, it’s just better if I watch him, like, interacting with regular ponies and stuff. It’s waaaay more natural, dig my vibe?”

Adorabelle wished he was somewhere else.

Behind the glass, the door opened, and the prisoner was brought in by another guard. The two guards undid the prisoner’s enchanted horseshoes and pushed him forward; he collapsed soundlessly, shutting his eyes with… embarrassment? Sadness? Or what?

Adorabelle didn’t know whether or not to cry.

The stars had not been kind to Bronze Coin. His formerly chocolate brown coat was now almost completely desaturated to pale gray. His mane was a wispy, sandy remainder of the golden locks he used to have; it looked like it was growing back after being burned off, and ashes were sprinkled throughout. Only his eyes stayed as green as ever, but any sparkling they did now was with tears.

He looked up at his niece without lifting his head. A smile struggled to cross his face, and his breathing became more heavy.

“Beauty,” he whispered. “My Beauty.”

“C-call me Adorabelle,” Adorabelle said. “Can you get up? …Yourself?”

For a moment, her uncle’s smile flickered. “For you.” He slowly sat up, then plunked his hooves, one at a time, on the swivel chair. With a heroic effort, he managed to pull himself up onto the seat. He pushed off the wall to turn toward Adorabelle, but he spun too far, looking mildly distressed as he swung past.

Out of the corner of her eye, Adorabelle saw the psychiatrist writing “sees dead ponies” on his clipboard.

Adorabelle whacked the pen out of his telekinetic grip with her hoof.

“Hey, man!” the psychiatrist said, “What’s that all about?”

“My name actually IS Beauty,” Adorabelle said. “I’m just not… y’know… that… Beauty.”

Meanwhile, Bronze Coin had steadied himself facing forward. He had both hooves pressed against the glass, and he seemed to be focusing really hard.

“You… you’re here… Again. Alone. Again.” Her uncle looked around. “Where is…?”

“Not coming.” Adorabelle rushed to change the subject. “So… um… how are you feeling? Like, are you okay and stuff?”

Bronze Coin broke into a slow, too wide grin. “Much, much better. So much. Less… um… anger.” His smile vanished, and he rested the tip of his horn against the glass. “Is this the year I can come home? Don’t say no.”

The psychiatrist wrote, “Delusional. Seeks to deceive others. Makes unreasonable demands.”

Adorabelle pressed her hooves to the glass. “I’ll talk to my father as much as I can, I mean totally. But… um… like… don’t… y’know… get your… like… hopes… up…”

Bronze Coin suppressed a sob.

“Oh, please don’t take this badly-”

“What the hay does he want from me!?” Bronze Coin pushed away from the glass and slid back, startling the guard. “What does he need to see from me!? I’m sorry! I said I was sorry!”

“No, no, please!”

“I don’t know why I killed her, Celestia knows I don’t.” Bronze Coin pressed his hooves against his head. “I don’t know how, and I don’t want to do anything like that ever again. Why is he doing this to me!? Why, why, why!?”

As he shouted these things, Adorabelle pounded on the glass, begging him to listen and to stop. The psychiatrists’ quill scribbled furiously.

Finally Bronze Coin lowered his hooves and stared at Adorabelle with wet eyes. “I can’t. I can’t… refuse you anything. Beauty.” He smiled and swiped a tear from his cheek. “So like your mother. So, so much like her.”

“Just stop,” Adorabelle whispered. She realized there were tears on her face now. “I don’t want to think about her now.”

Her uncle used his back hoof to push the swivel chair back towards the glass. He rested his forehooves on the table and sighed. “I… I know. It’s all my fault. My fault. Sorry… I can’t ever be sorry enough. I… understand.”

Adorabelle leaned forward. “I… I’m not mad at you. Maybe I should be, I dunno.” She brushed a lock of mane away from her face. “It’s too weird. You, like, totally wouldn’t have done something that stupid before, and you sure don’t want to do it anymore, so…” she sighed. “I wish… I wish you could be home and we could talk with dad and things would be more normal and then, like, maybe I’d know what to feel.”

Her uncle blinked. “That’s… a really weird thing to wish for, if I really am a murderer. I’d probably strangle you because I’d take you for your mom. Again.”

“I’m going to, like, strangle that psychiatrist for writing down ‘makes death threats’ on his sheet.”

“Hey!” the psychiatrist looked up. “Turn your aura down, sister!”

“Your accent is, like, totes dopey.”

The psychiatrist rolled his eyes and went back to writing.

Adorabelle turned back to her uncle and pressed a hoof to the glass. “There, see? That’s, like, a smile.”

“I missed you,” he whispered, setting his hoof on hers. “I’ve missed… everything. But you…” he sighed. “So much like her…”

Nopony said anything for a moment. Adorabelle was shivering and wasn’t sure if it was excitement, fear, both, or neither.

“How is school?”

It was a bit late to pretend this was a normal conversation, but Adorabelle played along. “Oh, totes good. New summer semester. Violet Edge is taking his bar exam soon, and then I’ll, like… um, well, my dream job is to be his, uh… paralegal.”

“You don’t want to be a lawyer?” He blinked at her.

“I, like, thought about it… but, y’know, it doesn’t seem, like, likely.”

“Your dad…” Bronze Coin swallowed, as if he nearly choked on the words. “Your dad felt the same way… about… her.”

Adorabelle nodded glumly.

Bronze Coin started to rock back and forth. “Your dad would do anything for her. Their love was so… I can’t believe I couldn’t accept it. That I still wanted her badly enough that… that I’d get so angry I could… could…” Bronze Coin started shaking. He pressed his hooves to his eyes, and his breathing got heavier. “It won’t go away. I still see her. Those blue eyes. Wide eyes. They wouldn’t close, couldn’t close. I set her on the floor, in a puddle of their blood… my hooves were shaking… for one moment, I felt lucid again, I wanted to scream, but-”

“Felt lucid again?” Adorabelle leaned closer.

“I just mean less angry.” Her uncle looked her in the eyes and held his gaze. “As much as I wish I could say it was just a spell someone cast on me… I can’t. Your dad must have told you, they scanned me and couldn’t find any magic matrixes or demon slugs in my head. Those things tend to be really obvious. It must have just been… madness.” He slid back. “But I guess, somehow, the sight of their dead bodies…”

“Wait.” Adorabelle sat back. “There was a dead body in the room that… wasn’t my mom’s?”

Bronze Coin blinked. “Oh. Oh, I-I must have remembered that sometime since our last visit, while I was… away.” He smiled sadly. “Stars do wonders for memories. Yes, I remember… there was another pony. A stallion.”

“There was another victim?” Adorabelle gasped. “You committed, like, double homicide? How could I not know this!? That’s totes crazy! Who the hay was it?”

Bronze Coin shrugged. “I didn’t know him; I-I don’t even think I’d ever seen him before. I guess… he tried to save her… and I reacted badly.”

“Oh.” Adorabelle stared at the floor. “So just a random pony then. That’s… sad.”

“No, no, he wasn’t random. I… I think I heard later…” he stared at the ceiling and tapped a hoof under his chin. “Ugh… what was his name… he was there for some reason- oh! Right!” He looked down and nodded. “He was your mom’s client.”

Adorabelle’s mouth hung open. “Which client?”

“Her last one. The one she was helping when… well…” Bronze Coin curled his forehooves under his body.

“What case was that? Do you have the serial number? I need to read it!”

“No number.” Bronze Coin stared at the ceiling. “Just the name the public gave it. I think it was… um…”

“What!? Tell me!” Adorabelle pleaded.

“Right.” Her uncle looked back down. “They called it the Missing Children Incident.”

Author's Note

Hooray, it only took me five huge chapters before I got around to hinting at what's supposed to be the main plot of the story. Kudos to all of you who read this far, and here's to more excitement in the chapters to come! ...Maybe.
Oh, the EIS organization was lovingly stolen from the hilarious and unparalleled Twilight Sparkle Gets a Free Salad by AestheticB.

Endless Rescues

Adorabelle walked extremely slowly once she reached her home street. She wasn’t sure why, exactly; it was either due to a dim hope that she’d meet Violet Edge going home, or because of a vague foreboding of what awaited her at home. She lived in one of the more moderately rich areas of town, where residents had the comforts of money and none of the downsides of fame.

She passed the Perfect family manor- one of them, anyway. It had been designed by an ancestor of Perfect Karma’s whose perfection had been architecture; like many buildings in Canterlot it had spires on top, royal blue and purple with golden decorations. It seemed to be made of a single enormous chunk of marble, even close up.

Adorabelle lingered in front of it for a moment, checking all the windows. Except for the window of the tallest spire, all were dark. But the porch light was on, so maybe Perfect Karma was just hiding from her.

Violet Edge was nowhere in sight. Hopefully he wasn’t still mad at her.

Sighing, she moved on to her own house. Her dad’s mansion was one of the smaller ones in the area, but it was still too big for just the two of them. It was more like a normal two-story house, all cream and brown with huge windows, but there was more of it.
After Adorabelle walked up the three slate steps to the door, she sighed heavily with the realization that she couldn’t just sneak in like she’d been planning. Resting her horn on the doorknob, she knocked resignedly.

After a few minutes, the door started to swing outwards, making Adorabelle stumble backwards across the porch and down one step. Her dad had a mug of what smelled like hot chocolate in his telekinetic grip, and his eyes seemed red, but dry.

“How… was the trip?”

Adorabelle swallowed. “Fine.”

Sterling Scales stepped to one side, gesturing Adorabelle forward with the mug. Adorabelle ducked under the floating dish and crept onto the irregularly shaped tiles of their hallway.

Sterling Scales sighed heavily. “And… him?”

Adorabelle pressed her face against his shoulder. “If anything… I think he’s g-getting worse.”

“That…no, it can’t happen. It shouldn’t happen. That’s not how it works. Not how it works at all…” Her dad trailed off. “Um, er… have you had a chance to eat yet?”

“Guess not.” Adorabelle lifted her head and swiped a hoof across her eyes. “Um… so… I’ll be in the kitchen, and…”

“There’s a sandwich for you. And you can have hot cocoa. It’s on the stove.” Her dad turned to shut the front door. “Um, will you be going out again?”

“Well, y’know, if I’m needed.” Adorabelle shuffled to the end of the hall, then turned around.

“Why do I know, like, nothing about how my mom died?”

“Why? What do you want to know?”

“Oh, I don’t know… maybe, like, the other pony who died?”

“Bronze Coin remembered him?” Her dad set the cup down on the floor in shock.

“Well, like, not exactly, but… he told me about him.” Adorabelle coughed. “And… about the Missing Children Incident.”

Sterling Scales just stared at her. Adorabelle wasn’t sure if he was shocked or not.

“He didn’t,” Sterling Scales said. “He should know better. How… why would he do this? You don’t need… what was he thinking?” He turned and knocked into the cup with one hoof. Fortunately, it slid forward without tipping, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I could just… I could just… I feel like going to the observatory to tell him…!”

“Please!” Adorabelle said, trying to smile. “He misses you so much and my mom would have-”

“Your mom would understand what is happening to us, so don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Sterling Scales stepped over the mug on the floor and approached Adorabelle. His eyes became soft, and he knelt down to look her in the eye better.

“What did he tell you?” he asked.

“Just the name… the newspaper name. He, like, couldn’t remember anything else.”

Sterling Scales sighed, this time with relief. “And that’s how it will stay.”

“Why? What are you scared of?”

“Adorabelle, listen! Whatever you think you’ll find, this has nothing to do with your mother’s death, and… and…” He studied the floor tiles. “Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now.”

The two sat in silence for a while longer.

“I… I understand,” Adorabelle said.

Sterling Scales hugged her. “Thank you.”

Adorabelle hung a limp foreleg around one of her dad’s shoulders. “I understand… everything.”

She gave her dad a moment, then pulled away. “So, um… like, thanks for the sandwich. I’ll take it to the breakfast nook.”

“Tell me before you leave, please,” Sterling Scales said.

The breakfast nook had an advantage over the other eating rooms in that it faced east, in the direction of the Perfect manor, and had large windows. Adorabelle settled on a small, cream colored, backless couch and munched the apple sandwich her dad had made.
She had finished the sandwich and was halfway through her cocoa when she saw lights go on in the front room.

Quickly, she drained the rest of her mug and cantered to the hall, pausing only briefly to switch her pink sweater for a navy windbreaker.

“I’m, like, going to the Perfects,” she called up the stairs.

“Please actually come home,” her dad half begged from his bedroom.

Adorabelle slipped out the front door. On her street, a lamplighter pegasus was supposed to take care of the streetlamps, but the current worker was a bit lazy, so everything was dark. Adorabelle lit her horn so that she could see a few feet ahead of her. Not that she was worried about getting lost on her way next door, but whatever.

The Perfect manor looked especially foreboding and fortress-like when it was night. Adorabelle leapt up the front steps and pressed her ear to the huge oak door.

Nothing. Oh well, that didn’t mean anything. Nothing. Something like that.

Adorabelle grabbed the door handle, a ring made of crystal, and pulled it open a crack. Now she could hear something.

“…turn out just like your weak, stupid, milk-and-water father. Is that what you want? Look at me! I said look at me when I’m talking to- what? Does the truth hurt? Are you a stallion or a filly?”

Adorabelle galloped down the hall, skidding to a stop as she reached the living room carpet. “Hi, Perfect Karma!”

Perfect Karma snapped his head to glare at Adorabelle, not even missing a beat. “And as for you-”

“Skipping that.” Adorabelle trotted across the carpet to where Violet Edge sat on the floor. He closed his eyes and wouldn’t look at her. She pulled him into a tight hug. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t, like, still mad at me.” She stuck her tongue out at Perfect Karma where he sat on a slightly throne like chair, or rather a section of the floor that had a throne back and arms. He gritted his teeth, and a vein on his forehead by one ear started throbbing. Apparently he’d given up on trying to yell at her and was beginning to accept her nightly invasions.

“Soooooo…” Adorabelle pushed Violet Edge back out of the hug and brushed a strand of mane from his face. “Now you, like, aren’t looking to me in addition to not speaking to me?”

Violet Edge took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

“Okay, like, that’s a start.” Adorabelle smiled at him, hoping for reciprocation.

Violet Edge turned to stare at a Perfect family portrait.

“You know what that portrait looks like. Stop avoiding me. I’m not, like, a cockatrice or a… um… basilisk…”

“Those are different names for the same creature,” Violet Edge muttered.

“Ha! Made you talk!” Adorabelle moved behind him and pressed her nose to the back of his head. “Now let’s see about bed for you, huh?”

She gently herded Violet Edge towards his room, which was in one of the two towers of the Perfect manor. They had to go up one normal flight of stairs, wide and fashioned from black marble, to reach the second floor, then through one living room and to the back of one library to reach the second set of stairs. This set was a spiral that was mostly hidden behind the wall and made of reddish brown wood that creaked.

Violet Edge hadn’t spoken to her once so far. Halfway up the second set of steps, though, Adorabelle felt lightheaded and stopped.

“Adorabelle?”

“I’m, like, totally fine…”

“And you’re just tricking me. Of course.” Violet Edge half stomped up the next few stairs, the sound echoing in the dark passageway lit only by a few glowing crystals embedded in the wall.

Adorabelle gasped and lay down on the steps. “Not s-so loud, please.”

Violet Edge came back down. “No, seriously, are you okay?”

Adorabelle reached up and nuzzled his cheek. “I’m fine if you are.”

“Ew, stop!” Violet Edge swiped a hoof across his cheek. A faint blush appeared; unfortunately for Violet Edge, color showed up especially well on light gray fur.

“I can handle it.” Adorabelle stood up and immediately swayed into a wall. “No, look, I’m fine and stuff…”

“It’s the front door, isn’t it? Perfect Karma locked it and you went and opened it anyway.”

Adorabelle gasped. “Oh my princess, I completely forgot! Ugh…”

“You really should go home,” Violet Edge said.

“It’s just a few more steps. Let’s hurry so I can get home faster.”

They finally arrived on the first level of the tower. The large, round tower was divided along a chord; the smaller, semi-circular part was the hallway and where they were standing in. It had two doors, one leading to the other half of the circle- Violet Edge’s room- and one leading to an outdoor walkway. On the far side was another staircase leading to the top floor of the tower.

The door to Violet Edge’s room was ajar. Both young ponies froze.

“I’ll check first!” Adorabelle dashed forward and pushed the door open. It was pitch black.

“We could leave,” Violet Edge whispered.

“From your own room?” Adorabelle swallowed and felt for the light switch. Her hoof brushed against the sharp protrusion. She took a deep breath, then clicked it on.

The room was empty. Adorabelle sighed with relief.

Violet Edge’s room had changed very little since Adorabelle had met him. Bookshelves lined every inch of the walls except the part where his desk and bed were. Violet Edge didn’t believe in getting rid of books, but the junior mysteries of his youth were now pressed flat against the backs of the shelves and hidden behind thicker nonfiction titles. There was a door to a balcony hidden behind the bookcases; Violet Edge had blocked the door one day, and Adorabelle had decided she didn’t need to know.

“She’s not here,” Adorabelle said. She moved to Violet Edge’s bed and started fluffing the pillows. In accordance with his name, his bedspread was purple- royal purple.

“You can leave now,” Violet Edge said. His steps were cautious, as though he thought the rug was going to explode. He carefully slipped off his jacket and brought it over to a tissue-paper lined box he’d left on the floor that morning. He carefully folded the tattered purple cloth, wrapped it up, and settled the lid on.

“So, like, will you wear those cute pajamas I bought you?”

Violet Edge closed his eyes in pain. “Never ever say that again.”

“What? Whyyyy?”

“It was cute when we were foals, but now we’re older and it’s weird. I shouldn’t even have you in my bedroom anymore…”

“It’s not weird to me, and it won’t be weird to you if you don’t let it be.” Adorabelle set the pillows back down. “I just saw some cute pajamas and I can’t stand to let cute clothes go unbought but they were guy pajamas and didn’t go with my dad’s chocolate coat…”

“Didn’t go with- for the love of Celestia, Adorabelle, please. It’s summer. I don’t need pajamas…”

“You, like, still have a quilt here.” Adorabelle peeled back the covers and couldn’t keep back a small gasp. There was something under the covers. Something small and plush. With a top hat.

“What?” Violet Edge turned toward her.

Adorabelle made herself smile sheepishly at him. “I, like, just remembered you might not have brushed teeth and stuff. I’m such a dweeb.”

“It’s not your job to remember. Don’t feel you need to be here when I come back.” Violet Edge trotted out of the room.

Adorabelle breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the teddy bear out from under the purple bedspread. No way could she let Violet Edge see this; she had to get rid of it somehow. She tossed it on top of a bookcase. It landed on its nose, and Adorabelle heard a loud honk that made her wince. She’d forgotten it did that.

No good; she could still see its limbs dangling off the top. She telekinetically fetched it down and hid it under the bed, managing to honk its nose twice more in the process. No, no, bad idea; what if Violet Edge looked under there for some reason? Not worth the risk.

Briefly, she considered moving the bookcase and tossing it outside onto the balcony. No, that would take too long.

Adorabelle scooped the top hatted bear into her mouth and trotted into the hallway. She could hear hoofsteps on the stairs. Her mind froze, and she chucked it in the direction of the staircase to the higher floor, on the other end of the hall, as far as possible. She had just enough time to pray it wouldn’t squeak again.

“Something wrong?”

The plush landed soundlessly, hidden in the shadow of the stairs. Adorabelle sighed and turned to Violet Edge. “Nah. S’all good. Ready for bed?”

“Oh, no, please, don’t…”

Adorabelle wrapped one foreleg around Violet Edge’s neck and awkwardly walked him into his room.

Violet Edge whined, “You’re not tucking me in again, and I don’t need a lullaby. I’m not a baby.”

“Mmkay. Just a goodnight kiss, then.” Adorabelle quickly pecked his cheek.

Violet Edge started blushing again. “Please go home and take care of yourself.”

“You too.” Adorabelle turned to go, then turned back to talk to him.

That was a bit much on her poor dizzy head, and she stumbled to one side.

“Are you okay?” Violet Edge had his forehooves on his bed.

“Dandy. I just, um, thought of something…” Adorabelle closed her eyes, pretending she was thinking, when she was really trying to make the disorientation go away. “So, like, have you heard of something called… the Missing Children Incident?”

“…Can you be more specific?”

Adorabelle opened her eyes to see Violet Edge snuggled under the covers. “It was the case my mom was working on, like, right before she died.” Violet Edge didn’t reply. “So, like, about when you first came to live here? Ring any bells?”

“No,” Violet Edge said a little too quickly. “Anyway, what you’re describing sounds like a kidnapping, and Perfect Karma only works with homicides.”

“Well, it’s like, a newspaper name, and, like, they always have to put a positive spin on things in the news, y’know? ‘Cause ponies don’t like downers, and it, like, doesn’t sell.”

“I would have been seven, or… nine… or something like that. At any rate, I can’t remember that-” He choked on the words. “…that… uh… name, I mean.”

“Oh, like, okay. I’ll be here for school tomorrow.”

“Or you could just walk there by yourself, without waiting for me, like normal ponies do.”

“Admit it, you’d miss me.” Adorabelle backed toward the door.

“No I wouldn’t.” Violet Edge pulled the covers over his head. “I’ve seen you every day of my life. You can give me a break once in a while.”

“Whatevs.” Adorabelle turned and stepped into the hallway.

Somepony had turned off the lights, and now it was pitch black outside the room.

Which meant somepony was awake. But Perfect Karma didn’t come near this tower if he could help it.

The door to Violet Edge’s room slowly swung shut behind her, making Adorabelle gasp. She could barely see anything. What if she went to the wrong staircase by mistake?

She started to light her horn, only to feel a stabbing pain near her ears when she did so. She let the light fade, but had just enough time to notice that the plush bear was no longer where she’d thrown it.

That couldn’t be good.

Adorabelle had never been more aware of just how dark a windowless, unlit room could get. There were four places for something to enter this hallway- Violet Edge’s door behind her, the two staircases on opposite ends, and the door to the balcony that was right in front of her. Nothing was going to come out of Violet Edge’s room, but if she turned to run towards one of the staircases, she’d be turning her back towards anypony- or anything- coming up or down. Which way was safest?

Maybe… it was neither.

Heart racing, Adorabelle dashed across the hall, flung open the door to the outdoor walkway, and dashed outside. At least here was starlight; she galloped across the purple bricks until she reached the middle, then turned to look back.

The moon was full, the Mare in the Moon smiling down, so it was easier to see. To one side was Violet Edge’s tower; Adorabelle had left the door half open, so she could still see the black void inside.

On the other end of the walkway was Perfect Karma’s tower, where his bedroom was. And he wasn’t likely to appreciate Adorabelle’s intrusion.

Yeah, okay, this had been a bad idea. What was she going to tell Perfect Karma? That she was scared of the dark? That was silly. No, she should go back downstairs and stop worrying. These decisions were so much easier to make when she could see.

She walked quietly over to the half open door of Violet Edge’s tower. She could hear her own heartbeat, and heavy breathing…

Wait. Was that her own breathing?

Adorabelle froze and held her breath. It was hard to make out from the pounding in her ears, but it seemed like… yes, she could hear something else. She stepped closer to the door, only a few feet away now. The sound got louder.

She had to be imagining things; she had to be imagining things. Swallowing hard, she lit her horn.

“YEEEARGH!”

Endless Cover Up

Adorabelle only saw two gleaming blue eyes before something slammed into her, making her stop her light spell. She screamed and stumbled back as she felt limbs wrap around her neck; twisting and ducking, she broke away and sped down the walkway. She’d almost made it to Perfect Karma’s door, when crack something wrapped around her foreleg. Instinctively she reared back, but the pull of the rope made her lose her balance and topple sideways, her hooves clattering against the vertical wall on the other side of the battlement. Her head flooded with vertigo as she twisted upside down. Her back slammed against the cold castle wall as three, four hooves flew into the air, touching nothing. She was falling.

The dark ground below faced her. She squeezed her eyes and clenched her jaw and-

With a harsh jerk, her head stopped. The rest of her body swung limply beneath her and swung as she tried to understand what happened. Dimly, she became aware of the thin strip of leather clamped between her jaws.

Her head spun as she collected her thoughts. A rope like… thing… had wrapped around her leg and made her stumble over the walkway’s wall. By all rights she should have fallen two stories and broken her neck, but she’d stopped, because she’d grabbed something in her mouth…

She wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. The very weapon her assailant had used to send her over the edge was now saving her life.

“Hey.”

Adorabelle’s awkward position meant she couldn’t help but look up. A dark face appeared, more like an absence of moonlight than an actual presence.

“He-ey,” the creature repeated in a high-pitched voice. A horrifyingly familiar voice. “Just admit you lost, little girl, and die. Die. Die already! I said-”

“Perfect Aim!”

It was Perfect Karma’s voice. The face vanished, but fortunately wasn’t letting go of Adorabelle’s rescue device. Assuming that was a possibility.

“Oh, hi… Dad.”

“What have I told you? As much as I appreciate the sentiment, you can’t just yell insults at your stupid neighbor whenever you feel like it. She’s probably made it home and can’t even hear you. Get inside before anypony sees you.”

“But Daddeeee…”

“Get back to your room! I mean it!”

Perfect Karma had no idea Adorabelle was even there. She couldn’t even scream for help, not without letting go and falling. Upset, Adorabelle tried mumbling for help instead, but the attempt sounded weak even to her ears.

Perfect Karma gasped. “What- how- what is that abomination doing here?”

For a second, Adorabelle dared to hope that he’d seen her.

“Like him, Daddy?” his daughter asked. “He went with my bear collection. He was in the basement.”

Oh, he meant the stuffed bear. Figs.

“You give that over here at once! You can never touch my stuff, even if-”

Honk! “He makes sound, too, Daddy!”

“You stop that!”

Honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-

“For the love of all things magical, stop! Stop! Stop!”

“Nooooo, give him back!”

Adorabelle couldn’t count on them noticing her, or on their willingness to help her. She pushed off the wall, then rocked to turn the momentum into swinging, just like a pendulum. Her eye was on a porch roof nearby; if she just got enough height and enough distance…

“He’s mine! Mine! Miiiiiiiiine!”

“No he isn’t- get back!”

Honk.

And then Perfect Karma screamed.

Adorabelle wasn’t sure she’d heard him scream in fear before. It startled her so much, she gasped.

Then she felt herself flung forward, and realized she’d accidently let go long before she was ready.

A wail escaped her as she soared towards the porch roof. She reached her hooves out and, with a thud, struck something solid.

Her hind legs were dangling beneath her. Her forehooves had made it, but the roof was pitched pretty steeply and made of slippery faux-gold. She could feel herself sliding.

“Help!” she screamed to the ponies on the walkway. “Please! Somepony! Help!”

Tears ran down her cheeks. It wasn’t going to work. Neither would be willing to help her; it was no use, and she was going to die-

Her hooves slipped and for one heart stopping second she floated in a void.

The next moment her hind legs hit the ground so hard she felt like they were being rammed up into her chest. She collapsed on one side, gasping in shock. Something warm was on one leg; her wound must have reopened.

She’d only fallen from one story up. Of course she wasn’t dead; why had she thought she would be?

Because she was an idiot.

She pressed her face against the grass beneath her and sobbed, more with sound than with tears.

Violet Edge was probably still sleeping peacefully.

***

The Puppet bounded through the air, reveling in his newfound freedom. His animatronic family members would never understand what this felt like; their brains were too small, and their programming too rigid, for them to even conceive of a world outside their little restaurant. But the Puppet was never like them; he could go anywhere, and he was always thinking.

He flew over the rooftops, sometimes soaring like a superhero, sometimes twirling around the spires that adorned the houses of Canterlot, and sometimes wheeling through the night sky in grotesque cartwheels. His long, thin body wound about like a snake. Sometimes he did handstands, but he never stood upright; his two legs tapered off into thin points instead of feet. After being confined in a tiny box for so long, he was loving the ability to stretch out once more. He would have cackled with glee, had he had a mouth that could move. Or vocal cords.

He slid down the side of a roof that curled up at the end, throwing him across the street, where he caught a flagpole, now empty, sticking from the side of a mansion on the other side. He paused for a second, dangling there from his enormously long fingers. This, he thought, was living. No pesky music, no idiot robots to ignore, no interfering night guards. Nothing but him, the night sky, the empty streets… and the mare in the moon.

The very sight made him gleeful. So did the sight of all those shiny, sparkly, painful, hellish stars in the sky. Those saccharine sweet ponies just loved to take anything they didn’t understand and kill it with fire, and now they had no choice but to turn on their own kind, since they’d destroyed everything else.

As he watched, a shooting star zipped across the sky. That would cause a lot of chaos; with any luck, he’d even be around to see it. For once.

The Puppet stretched one arm up and slowly curled four long fingers, one by one, over the rain gutter on the roof. In defiance of gravity, he flipped upwards, the tapered ends of his legs sweeping just over the tip of the peaked roof. Then he slid down the other side, folding his hands behind his head. His shoulders heaved up and down in what, had he had lungs, would have been a sigh. After hearing the exact same minute-long ditty on loop, unceasingly for goodness knows how long, it was refreshing to hear nothing but the sound of…

…crying.

The Puppet sat bolt upright and started wringing his hands, twisting his fingers into licorice. Yes, yes it was. Definitely was. Great Starswirl; how long had it been…?

Feeling shy for some reason, the Puppet slunk from rooftop to rooftop like a cat. The sound of sobbing got louder and closer.
At last, he crawled to the top of a navy plated dome and saw movement. He carefully lowered himself towards the street, his legs wrapped around the golden weather vane on top.

Curses. The tower itself was white; his black body would be far too visible against it. He had to content himself with clinging to the edge of the roof.

The crier was a unicorn. A periwinkle unicorn. Her mane was white, and- yes, it did!- it had a blue streak running through it. And her cutie mark was… was…

The Puppet leaned down a little farther than seemed safe. Yes, it was the very same lock. There was no possible way he could be mistaking it. It was her. After all this time? How had she escaped?

The unicorn shuffled slowly down the street, sobbing miserably. She trotted up the steps of a house- and it was even the same house!- and slipped in the front door.

The Puppet pulled back and wrapped his arms around the weather vane, idly braiding them between the metal bars. He’d long imagined what his first day of freedom would be like, but how could he possibly have anticipated…?

One thing was certain. His work wasn’t done yet.

The Missing must stay Missing.

***

Adorabelle’s dad shook her awake the next morning.

“Adorabelle, Adorabelle!”

“Wh-what?” Adorabelle blinked sleepily at Sterling Scales. “Am I late for school?”

“N-no, no, you aren’t.” The chocolate brown stallion took a few steps back. “I… I had to tell you immediately. You see… Cadance… made a mistake.”

Adorabelle gasped. “The star spells? Really? Did she? What happened? What-”

“One… one of the stars shook loose during the sending.” Sterling Scales closed his eyes. “It fell.”

“No…” Adorabelle breathed. “Did… is he… dead?”

“No.” Her father cringed. “They found the crash site. It… the purification chamber, it was damaged… and completely empty. All the stars are full.”

“Was it a jailbreak?” Adorabelle trembled with excitement. “Who was it?”

“They’re not releasing it to the public… please don’t look happy.”

“You, like, aren’t exactly the public.” Adorabelle leapt out of bed and started arranging her outfit for the day; what would match the mood of this historic event? The star summoning had gone off without a hitch for decades.

“But you are. And I don’t think you need to know either. Just… please, please, Adorabelle, stay safe. And don’t do anything stupid. And stay with Violet Edge as much as possible. And if you learn anything, anything at all, please, please, please…”

“Aw, come on.” Adorabelle settled on a blue gauzy scarf covered with gold glitter stars and a matching skirt. “I’m, like, not stupid. Of course I’ll go to the cops.”

“Promise me,” Sterling Scales said. His voice was practically trembling.

Adorabelle turned and kissed her dad on the cheek. “I promise that if I meet a murderer, or hear where a murderer is, I’ll go straight to the cops. Happy?.”

“Thank you.” Sterling Scales bent his head and pressed one hoof to his mouth. Maybe he was fighting tears.

“Don’t worry, m’kay?” Adorabelle finished tying her scarf, then slipped out of her room.

***

Adorabelle climbed in the window and landed with a clunk on the living room floor.

Perfect Karma dashed in and growled at her. “Was coming through the door not obnoxious enough?”

“Well, like, I can’t open any doors, so I had to come in the window.” Adorabelle dashed past him and up the stairs. “Edgy! E-e-e-edgy! Time for school!”

“He’s down here,” Perfect Karma said.

“Huh?” Adorabelle turned so fast she hurt her neck. “Since when?”

But Perfect Karma had left the room.

Adorabelle leapt down the remaining stairs and stumbled after him. “Hey, where’s Violet Edge then? Hey Edgy!”

She found him in one of the mansion’s grand halls. The ceiling was extra high, and there was a bridge between two of the second story hallways arching over the first floor.

Violet Edge was staring intently at a book lying on the floor. A string was tied around it, and led all the way up to the bridge, where a certain grinning mare sat. Her short, light blue mane was frazzled and unkempt; her coat was the same shade as Perfect Karma, her father’s; her cutie mark was a wildly lashing whip.

“Aw, Aimy, what are you doing now?” Adorabelle asked.

Perfect Aim giggled hysterically. “Fishing for ehhhhhhgies!”

“Adorabelle…” Violet Edge said. Sweat ran down his forehead. “I can handle this.”

“Noooo, I’ve got it.” Adorabelle dashed forward and grabbed at the book, but Perfect Aim jerked it away from her. Adorabelle reached out to it telekinetically.

A small object clunked Adorabelle between the ears.

“Naughty naughty.” Perfect Aim wagged her hoof. “Leave the bait alone!”

“Is that book really so important?” Adorabelle asked Violet Edge.

“Of course,” Violet Edge whispered. “It’s my guardian’s copy of Black’s law dictionary.”

“Oh, but, like, I gave you your own for your birthday, remember?” Adorabelle brightened. “It’s in your room. BRB!” She skittered towards the second floor staircase before Perfect Aim could throw something at her.

“Wait, no!” Violet Edge’s hoofbeats pursued her. “It’s okay, it’s not like Perfect Aim is strong enough to, um, reel me in or anything-”

Adorabelle made it to Violet Edge’s room and pushed the door open. She gasped.

“Oh, boy,” Violet Edge whimpered.

One of the bookcases had been tipped over, scattering important looking books everywhere. Behind the bookcase was the balcony door, ever so slightly ajar.

Tears tickled Adorabelle’s eyes. She turned and flung her forelegs around Violet Edge’s neck.

“No, no, please…” Violet Edge said.

“You do care about me,” Adorabelle sobbed, swinging Violet Edge slightly. “You knew I was in trouble and went to save me. You’re a real knight in shining armor, you really are!”

“No I’m not!” Violet Edge shouted right in Adorabelle’s ear. This startled her into loosening her grip, and Violet Edge slipped out and glared at her.

“But…”

“A real hero would have run out to the walkway where you actually were, not some stupid balcony.”

“You used your telekinesis to catch me, and that’s why I didn’t die!” Adorabelle smiled.

“You didn’t die because you fell hind legs first from less than one story.”

“No, you helped, I’m sure you did.” Adorabelle levitated the bookcase upright again. “And now I can return the-”

Violet Edge screamed in rage and stormed out of the room.

“Hey, what did I just say- oop!” Adorabelle realized her mistake. In her shock, she nearly let the bookcase topple over again; she quickly fixed it before following Violet Edge.

Violet Edge was at the bottom of the spiral stairs. Adorabelle took a few steps down so she could see him, then telekinetically yanked his tail to pull him back.

“You, like, can’t walk around Canterlot naked. It’s too rustic. Please come up and we’ll pick a cute outfit.”

“Go on without me. You’re the one with an actual gift.”

“Aw, Edgy, don’t be like that. You know average girls are more magical than average boys. There’s, like, no shame in being average.”

“I’m not average and you know it. Let go of my tail.”

“Well, like, not all gifts are magical, and yours is, like, legal awesomeness. Okay? So stop being such a total, like, drama queen and get up here.”

Violet Edge glared at her, but came upstairs.

“Oh, yeah, before I forget, my dad says I have to stay with you all day long.”

“Oh, ha ha, no he didn’t.”

“Did so. Because a criminal escaped from the stars because, like, Cadance messed up her first star summoning, so we have to be all safe and stuff.”

Violet Edge froze. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nup. Serious as, uh, Sunday. The day. Not the ice cream. Which isn’t serious.”

Violet Edge slapped his forehead. “Why me?”

***

Of course she didn’t really get to follow Violet Edge around all day because they didn’t have any classes together. Adorabelle had been under the impression that they’d get to watch Mystic Faerie’s vandalism case, but first Violet Edge had insisted that it wasn’t useful enough to him to be worth skipping class over, and then Mystic Faerie sent them a telegram saying it had been settled out of court.

So Adorabelle, being the dutiful child that she was, waited eagerly for Violet Edge at the door to the cafeteria.

While she waited, she took a seat by the side of the cafeteria door and closed her eyes. She had another spell she could use almost instinctively; it was a listening spell of sorts that let her hear everything in a room as though she were nearby, and it let her process everything she was hearing simultaneously. Security guards and bodyguards and ponies of that ilk used it to keep an ear out for suspicious characters; they had better filters. Adorabelle just sort of took in everything.

“I don’t know, maybe materials engineer,” Chemical Formula was saying. “I was always fascinated by the different plastics used in my toys…”

“Y-you didn’t melt them or anything, did you?” Test Tube continued.

“Oh, ha ha, no… um… they were kind of collector’s items…”

“I have a set of Button Eye toys.”

“Oh! I like Disguise Bots.”

Then, in another part of the room…

“…have to discuss our costumes,” Twinkleshine was saying. “Hope you’re not in a lurch…”

“Oh, it’s fine, fine, totally fine,” Minuette replied. “Waterfire looked lonely anyway. See you… tomorrow?”

Still elsewhere…

“Of course I’m not bitter. She only stole my idea and took credit for it and threw me under the buggy. But I’m sure it’s just because they don’t teach manners in Trottingham, and it’s not fair to expect anything else from her.”

“You’re so Sour that nopony likes you.”

“Hey, Sugarcoat! You’re not exactly the poster child for having tons of friends!”

“Heeeeeeey!” Lemon Zest interrupted. “Check out this sick new beat I got!”

Drum solo, probably played on the tabletop.

“Some friends I could do without,” Sour Sweet grumbled.

“How dare you hurt my ears with that obnoxious heavy metal nonsense!?” Black Snooty shouted from somewhere far from when Lemon Zest’s voice came from.

“That’s not heavy metal,” Lyra said from yet another place. “That’s an isolated drum beat. You can’t call it anything yet until you put something on top of it.”

Then, the voice she’d been waiting to hear.

“…looked identical to my dad in every way, except that I had a horn, so they were doomed no matter what they did. Had my mom claimed me, they both would have been kicked out, so my dad claimed me instead, since they couldn’t prove I was the child of his owner, just that my dad had a relationship with a unicorn… which, as a slave in a supremacist house, he still wasn’t supposed to do, so he had to leave, but only me and my dad instead of our whole family… hence the ‘Edge’. They lived on the edge, and it came to bite them.”

“Your dad was an earth pony?” Sunny Flare asked. “I suppose that’s why your magic is so… ahem…”

Adorabelle sprang to her hooves and trotted over to where Violet Edge was sitting with a small bunch of pre-law students. “How did you sneak in without my noticing?” she demanded of her friend.

“Sneak, nothing,” Crystal Clear said. “We went in invisibly.”

Violet Edge glared at Crystal Clear.

“Hey,” Sunny Daze said, “I did not agree to that! How is anypony supposed to see my beautifully coordinated outfit if they can’t see me?”

“Well, I’m, like, here now, so-”

“These seats are taken,” Argumentation blurted out.

“All of them,” Sunny Flare said. “Everywhere.”

“Except in Canterlot University,” Crystal Clear said, doing her best to look down her nose at Adorabelle even though she was sitting down and Adorabelle was standing. “So go eat lunch there, where the fluff-headed beauties go.”

Violet Edge sunk his teeth into a sandwich and left them there, trying to avoid eye contact.

Adorabelle swished her tail angrily. “Hey, CU has lots of smart ponies who just wanted to, like, do sports and stuff too. Also, like, our school has a rep for being full of rude snobs.” In an especially cutesy voice, she asked, “Wonder why?”

“It’s not snobbery if it’s true,” Crystal Clear said. “And you, my dear, have the absolute worst academic performance of anypony in this school, and it is quite frankly a disgrace.”

Violet Edge finally stopped biting his sandwich. “Somepony would always have to have the lowest performance…”

“Not in every single subject.” Sunny Flare tossed her short purple mane with contempt.

“I’m, like, good at history and, uh, writing…”

“No you aren’t, you idiot,” Argumentation said. “We’ve all seen your ‘writing’, and we all know it’s just scribbles designed to look like you’re paying attention. Also, any of these girls sitting here could give you a run for your money on beauty if they weren’t too busy with more important academic pursuits.”

“Oooh, bad move,” Adorabelle said sympathetically.

“What are you talking about!?” Sunny Flare stood up and held her drink threateningly over the unwise stallion’s head. “Say I’m more beautiful than her, or I ruin that lovely silk jacket you have on!”

Argumentation flattened his head against the table. “Mercy, please!”

Adorabelle took the distraction as an opportunity to sweep one foreleg around Violet Edge’s shoulder and try and pull him away.

“No, please,” he whispered. “I like these ponies and your dad didn’t literally mean we have to be together constantly…”

“But I need to talk to you,” Adorabelle whisper-whined.

Violet Edge sighed and scooped up his lunch tray. They retreated to an empty table in the corner.

“What is so incredibly important?” Violet Edge muttered bitterly.

“Oh, well…” Adorabelle had lots to say, but wasn’t sure how to bring it up. It was more like she wanted to use Violet Edge as a sounding board than that she wanted him to know what she had to say. “Um… what’ll you do if the criminal contacts you?”

Violet Edge stared blankly at her. “The one from the failed star sending?”

Adorabelle nodded.

“…Go to the police?” he deadpanned.

Adorabelle rested her head on her hooves and sighed. “I, like, wasn’t totally sure…”

“I thought you promised your dad-”

“I promised him that I’d tell the police if a murderer contacted me. And, like, you totally figured out who the escaped guy is, amiright?”

Violet Edge swirled some salad leaves around. “…Well, escaped convict must have come from Taurus, since that’s the constellation that was being sent…”

“And?”

“And your dad was specific that you and I needed to stay together, not just that you shouldn’t be alone…”

“And?” Adorabelle prompted.

“…so that narrows it down to cases where your dad was the judge, and my guardian was the prosecutor.” He lowered his eyelids. “Which is almost all of them, so I don’t see-”

“But my dad knows I’m not stupid and would totally have too much sense to follow directions by, y’know, total creeps. But he was, like, totally freaking out, so… who on Taurus would I be most likely to trust?”

Violet Edge’s eyes grew wide again. “Terry.”

“And Terry isn’t a murderer, because his victim didn’t die-”

“Yes she did and I’m sick of hearing you say that.” Violet Edge stabbed his salad forcefully, which naturally made his telekinetic grip on the fork slide off, and the implement clattered to the table. He flinched, then tried to pretend he hadn’t.

“Nooooo, Dahlia isn’t dead, silly. She’s just hiding. I totally would know if she was dead; we’ve got that psychic twin link going on.”

Violet Edge put his head in his hooves. “I don’t even know where to begin…”

Adorabelle pet his head comfortingly. “Take it piece by piece.”

“Okay. One, you two aren’t twins. Two, you don’t have a psychic link. Three, that’s a really stupid reason for thinking somepony isn’t dead. Four, if you two are really such awesome friends as you keep saying, why would she go into hiding and not tell you?”

Adorabelle grew sober. “Well… I’ve been thinking about that, and I guess… I mean, I can totally keep a secret, but it, like, somehow didn’t occur to me it should be secret so I’ve been talking about how she’s just in hiding since, like, I first heard the news… if she had told me then, I would have stopped talking about it, and it would have been all suspicious and stuff. There! That proves it!”

“Stop it. Your logic makes me cry.” Violet Edge pressed his face deeper into his hooves.

Adorabelle giggled.

“But that’s beyond the point.” Violet Edge lifted his head again. “Please tell me that even if Terry contacts you, you’ll still go to the police.”

Adorabelle’s shoulders sagged. “I… I guess.” She stared at the table. “Oh, and, like, speaking of things I shouldn’t do…”

“You invited me over here to talk about your own projects again?”

“I need to investigate the Missing Children Incident, and I’m hoping you can help.”

“Well, hope no more. What do you expect that I can do that you can’t?”

Adorabelle twirled a strand of her mane in her telekinetic grip. “Well, I, like, wanted you to ask your guardian if-”

“No.”

“Aw, come on…”

“Didn’t your dad also tell you to not investigate this?”

“Yes, and that’s why I totally have to!”

She waited for Violet Edge’s witty remark. But he just took a mouthful of salad and wouldn’t look at her.

Finally he asked, “Why?”

Adorabelle started whispering. “The Missing Children Incident was the last case my mom ever worked on. I don’t know where she was in it- if the trial had or hadn’t happened and stuff- but her client was with her when she died. My uncle didn’t know him, or anything about the MCI.”

“MCI?”

“‘Missing Children Incident’ was getting totes clunky. Anyway, my dad freaked when I learned about the incident, and was totally intent on keeping me from learning more. Ten years or so after the fact.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“Whispering is for secrets. So why would my dad be scared of me investigating anything?”

“If he thought you would be in danger…”

“Right. It’s almost like he thinks the case… would kill me. Like it killed my mom.” Adorabelle inhaled slowly. “But my uncle had no connection to the case… like, at all.”

Violet Edge continued his blank stare. “Wait… you think your uncle is innocent?”

“Worse. I think my dad knows he’s innocent.”

Violet Edge drew back. “You are… what? Okay, in the first place-”

“Whisper!”

“No! I’m not whispering! In the first place, isn’t your dad’s talent ‘justice’? Wouldn’t letting his innocent brother be punished for a crime he didn’t commit be kind of against his talent?”

“Well, yeah, but, like, family confuses him. He’s only equine. That’s why he won’t judge cases that involve his family or friends.”

“Fair enough,” Violet Edge said through gritted teeth. “But second, what makes you think the case necessarily had to do with your mom’s death? Maybe it was just really dangerous. You know literally nothing except the name!”

“Still dangerous ten-something years later?” Adorabelle countered. “He’s not normally that paranoid.”

“This is your dad we’re talking about, Adorabelle. He’s afraid of his own shadow.”

“Nooo, that would be Safeguard… literally.”

“Stop changing the subject. This is a stupid train of thought that you’re on and I hope you disembark before you crash.”

“Ooh, cool metaphor.”

Violet Edge rolled his eyes. “Maybe accept that your dad is older and wiser than you for once.”

Adorabelle slumped and rested her chin on the table. “You never want me to have fun.”

“Yes I do.” Violet Edge shuffled his empty dishes around his lunch tray, apparently looking for some food to distract his eyes with. “Which is why I want you to leave me alone and find other friends. I’m a stick in the mud and everypony knows it.”

“I know, but I think sticks are cute.” Adorabelle leaned forward and booped him on the nose. “I’m weird that way.”

“Ow.”

“Some stallion you are; that didn’t hurt and you know it.”

Violet Edge’s cheeks flared red, and he slid his lunch tray off the table and caught it with wobbly telekinesis. “See you after school?” he muttered.

“I hope I don’t have to go to the hospital after testing again. I, like, totally hate to make you wait…”

It was only after Violet Edge left that Adorabelle remembered she’d forgotten to get food for herself. Oops. She could grab some apple chips on the way out, anyway. Nothing Violet Edge had said had changed her mind. She totally still wanted to meet with Terry, and was totally still investigating the Missing Children Incident.

Especially why her dad was so keen on keeping it from her.

Endless Tension

Unfortunately for Adorabelle's first plan, the news came in the middle of Professor Rigid's class that Terry had already been caught. Classes and examinations with Doctor Whooves were cancelled as far as she and Violet Edge were concerned; going to see their ex-friend seemed more important.

Adorabelle wanted to run all the way to the precinct. But she didn’t know the way, and also Violet Edge didn’t run. So instead she weaved ahead, behind, and all around Violet Edge as they walked.

“Where did they catch him? What was he doing? Is he okay? Was he hurt? Will he… you, like, aren’t even trying to answer my questions, are you?”

“No.” Violet Edge turned to glare at her. “Why do you think I know what happened to him? Mystic’s telegraph was nothing but ‘Terry caught. Hurry to precinct.’”

“Aw, dang. If only she wasn’t, like, so concise all the time…”

They walked in silence for about a minute when Adorabelle changed her tactic.

“So, do you think he was injured? Where do you think they caught him? Do you-”

“Sto-op!” Violet Edge whined.

Adorabelle stopped and walked quietly to one side of him.

It was approaching rush hour in Canterlot, and the streets were filled with ponies on their way home from work or headed towards entertainment. Elite ponies in fancy clothes, heads held high, working class members in union regulated, color-coordinated T-shirts, small-town visitors in nothing at all, and small clusters of teenagers in some of the more outstanding fashion trends.

Adorabelle was bored and decided to try a new topic. “You, like, didn’t know Terry that well, amiright?”

“Why do you say that?” Violet Edge seemed genuinely surprised.

“Oh, well, I mean, like, I only knew him at all because, like, he was Dahlia’s boyfriend and stuff. And, well, you and Dahlia… Like, she was kind of rude to you and stuff, right?”

Violet Edge gritted his teeth. “Don’t. Want. To talk. About it.”

“Aw, I told her to cut it out-”

“It. Didn’t. Work.”

“You could have said something-” Adorabelle stopped abruptly, partly because she was about to walk into a lamppost. Mostly, though, she realized her mistake. Admitting that Dahlia’s words bothered him and asking for help would both have required admitting that he wasn’t Perfect. Something which, needless to say, was completely against everything his guardian had taught him to be.

Out loud, Adorabelle wondered, “Why do you do everything your guardian tells you to when he’s so mean to you?”

Violet Edge froze. “Not so loud! You might give somepony the wrong idea.”

Adorabelle wove around the lamppost. “It’s not a wrong idea, though.”

“Yes! Yes it is! Perfect Karma is…. strict… but that is not the same thing as being mean. Look at you; your dad can’t bring himself to punish you for anything, and now he doesn’t even have the authority to stop you from visiting a murderer!”

“We went over this. I don’t think my uncle is-”

“My point remains.” Violet Edge prodded her in the shoulder to keep her from missing their turn. “And how did we even start talking about this, anyway?”

“Oh, like, it made sense in my head.”

Violet Edge snarled out a sigh. “Fine. Can we play the quiet game for the rest of the trip?”

“I lose. I don’t like that game.”

Violet Edge gave another snarly sigh. “Look, just turn right at Marshall Avenue and you’ll be there. Skitter ahead now.”

“Nooo, Dad said we have to stay together!”

“…Until Terry was caught, which he is.”

“He didn’t say that!”

They argued until they reached their destination.

“Ooh!” Adorabelle squealed as soon as she saw it. “Look at it, look! There’s pillars and a cool glass dome and-”

“Haven’t you already been here?” Violet Edge asked.

“Well, like, yeah, but each time I came and left through the tunnels.” The police force had a special system of tunnels, remnants of the Crystal Mines, that they used to get to crime scenes faster than on hoof. It was supposed to be a secret, but Adorabelle had discovered it by accident one afternoon.

“Oh, Mystic Faerie is by the door,” Violet Edge said.

“Ooh, goody!” Adorabelle ran up to the lavender mare.

Mystic Faerie was pacing nervously. She sat down and gnawed on her front hoof, anxiety tightening her eyes.

When she realized this, Adorabelle stopped abruptly.

Violet Edge turned to her. “What?”

Adorabelle dashed up to Mystic Faerie. “Noooo! What happened? Is Terry dead? What’s wrong?”

Mystic Faerie turned to Adorabelle, her eyes wide. “Oh, it’s you!” She smiled nervously. “No, Terry’s fine…” Then right back to worried. “Well… uninjured.”

Adorabelle hesitated. “Sooo… the problem is he, like, still has to go back to his star because of the first murder, right?”

“Oh, it’s worse-”

“Look who’s home from school.”

The three ponies looked up to see the glass door swing open, revealing Perfect Karma.

“I could do without most of you.” He managed to glare at both Adorabelle and Mystic Faerie with just one eye. “You, Violet, will find this exceptionally educational. In. Now.”

The trio followed Perfect Karma inside, past the entrance hall with its stylish glass ceiling, down a set of wide stairs, through a meeting room with a map pricked liberally with pins displayed on one wall, to the narrow white hallway where most of the crime labs were.

Adorabelle didn’t get to come here very often. Unicorns in lab coats and earth ponies in police uniforms scurried back and forth, sometimes carrying evidence. Adorabelle peeped through one door, hoping to see multicolored test tubes and elaborate glass contraptions. Turned out to just have some big off-white boxes. They probably analyzed stuff that was stuck in them.

“Ah, oh… Sir Karma. Um, and… son?”

Adorabelle turned to see Clinical Cause greeting the group. The aging unicorn was tall and slender, though due to the way he walked with his head tilted one way or the other, it wasn’t always obvious. His aqua mane was lined with new white and gray streaks, and his coat had faded to grayish mint from the years and the stress. His pale colors made the blood stains on his lab coat stand out all the more.

“Ward,” Perfect Karma said. “We’ll see if he’s worthy to be a son of mine in time.”

“I have… preliminary results on… her.” A shudder rocked Clinical Cause’s entire body, and even when it was done his knees were still knocking. “So… curious?”

“What do you mean, her?” Adorabelle blurted out. “Her? There was a murder? Who died!? Tell me tell me tell meeeee!”

She fought back tears. It was too early to cry. Without waiting for an answer, she charged past the ponies and started slamming doors open. “Where’s the autopsy room? I need to see! Please!”

“That’s a broom closet,” Perfect Karma said with a smirk.

Adorabelle squirmed between two prosecuting attorneys headed the other way. “Please don’t let it be…”

“No! You don’t want to look!” Clinical Cause shouted.

“Adorabelle!” Mystic Faerie and Violet Edge shouted in unison.

“I wanna know!” Adorabelle slammed one last door open and gasped.

A pony lay on the table. Adorabelle could only see the top of her head, but she knew that short dark mane, that pastel pink streak, and those navy blue ears.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, stepping closer. “I do know her, I do know her…”

Officer Jewel Eyes.

Hesitantly, she walked around the rim of the autopsy table, taking in everything.

Adorabelle had seen pictures of corpses, naturally. Case files were full of them. But they’d always been small and low resolution, and it had never been a pony she recognized.

The navy blue unicorn lay flat on the table. The first thing she noticed was her torn open chest. Deep slashes ran from her neck to her stomach, oozing blood and internal organs. In some places Adorabelle could see all the way to the white bone beneath.

The periwinkle unicorn suppressed a shudder and forced herself to take in the rest of the victim. A thick cone of dark purple metal surrounded her horn, which meant two things: one, her horn had been cracked, and two, since the police put the cone there to keep her magic from leaking out, she must have died fairly recently. Compared to the rest of her body, her legs were all untouched. The oddest thing, though, was her forehead. A set of red, bleeding puncture wounds ran all around her head, just over her horn. They seemed to form two lines. Adorabelle cocked her head and took in more views; there was another set of two dotted lines under her chin.

Jewel Eyes had been a cop specializing in jewel thefts and other robberies, so Adorabelle hadn’t seen her in court very much. But Adorabelle had seen her in civvies. Waiting outside the Gifted Unicorn Academy. To pick up her little sister.

A little sister named Dahlia.

The door slammed open and Mystic Faerie rushed to Adorabelle’s side. “Are you okay?”

“I said out, you demon spawn! OUT!” Perfect Karma’s blue aura surrounded Mystic Faerie. She slid two inches toward the door before the spell broke in a crackle of sparks.

“You don’t know how to treat a lady,” Mystic Faerie huffed. “Come on, Adorabelle. We can talk about it.”

“I wanna hear the autopsy results,” Adorabelle pleaded.

The result was three blank stares from the adults. Violet Edge probably would have been giving her a blank stare, too, but he was too busy curling into a fetal position.

“It… it won’t be pretty,” Clinical Cause said.

“I know,” Adorabelle said, letting her voice grow soft. “I saw. I want to hear the end of it.” Time to do some shameless pleading. “It’s the only way I’ll sleep okay.”

Mystic Faerie backed off. “If you need anything, or feel overwhelmed… don’t be a hero, just come to me, I understand…”

“I know.” Adorabelle didn’t know why they were so insistent that she leave the room. Sure, Adorabelle was scared somepony she knew had died, but it didn’t look *that* horrific.

Mystic Faerie smiled comfortingly and closed the door, leaving the other four alone.

“Get up you fool,” Perfect Karma hissed, nudging Violet Edge with his hoof.

Violet Edge whimpered.

“If the fluffbrained filly doesn’t think it’s a big deal, you don’t either.”

Violet Edge lifted his head and tried to look at the victim. He suppressed another whimper and shut his eyes.

Perfect Karma telekinetically grabbed the collar of Violet Edge’s jacket and hoisted him into the air. Violet’s hooves were barely touching the ground.

“Hey!” Adorabelle cried. “Stop it, please! It’s just his dad-”

“I’m not an idiot, Adorabelle!” Perfect Karma set Violet Edge down none too gently, leaned closer, and started whispering to the young stallion.

Adorabelle looked over her shoulder to see if Clinical Cause planned on helping. Nope; he was looking at the corpse through his X-ray tube and making more notes. Adorabelle knew he knew, though; his hooves were shaking more than usual.

“Report. Now.” Perfect Karma shoved Violet Edge towards the table. Violet took a few shaky breaths; now he looked too scared to blink.

Adorabelle slid next to him, put one forehoof around his shoulder, and nuzzled his cheek. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. “It’ll be over soon. You don’t have to-”

“H-here!” Clinical Cause shoved his X-ray tube almost into Violet Edge’s eye. “Um. Look, uh… I-I’ll tell you what you’re looking at.”

Violet Edge took the thin yellow tube in his telekinesis and stared into it like his life depended on it. Adorabelle had caught a glimpse of the inside of the tube as it passed in front of her; the dark screen told her that it was off, and Violet Edge was basically covering his eyes with it.

“And? Your news?” Perfect Karma interrogated Clinical Cause.

Clinical Cause turned a page of his clipboard and gulped. “Um, first of all, this isn’t going to sound very… I-I mean, it doesn’t… it’s not…”

“What?!” Perfect Karma demanded.

“Ulp. S-so, um, victim was definitely slashed to death. Which, uh, you can tell.”

“Griffin claws?” Perfect Karma asked.

“Yes… um, maybe. There’s a few… well…” Clinical Cause chewed a corner of the paper nervously. “Er… um… slash patterns… there’s something off. See, griffins have four claws…”

“And what? This doesn’t?” Adorabelle asked. “Ooh, maybe it’s a dragon or a-”

“There’s well, uh, it’s complicated. See, um… the pattern… The slashes made with the left paw come in sets of four. The slashes made with the right, though… have no pattern at all. Um. And there’s fewer of them. It’s, um, like he was only… using one finger. On the right. For, um, some reason.”

“Why?” Violet Edge turned from the metal tube, being careful not to look at the corpse. “Was he holding something?”

“Maybe… don’t know.” Clinical Cause turned another piece of paper over. “The, uh, odder thing...”

“The dots?” Adorabelle asked.

“Must have been grabbing her by the head,” Perfect Karma mumbled.

“No.”Clinical Cause gasped. “I mean, maybe! Um. Good guess. Ah, yes. But, um… the weird thing is… all the dots line up. Um. And there’s two sets, and…. well… data indicates…” He took a deep breath. “Don’t hate me. I can’t think of… It really seems like…”

“Just finish it,” Perfect Karma said.

“It… looks like… a set of teeth.”

Perfect Karma lowered his eyelid. “Griffins don’t have teeth, fool.”

“Long, sharp teeth. Predator teeth. Um, the wounds are too small and long to be the claws that made the, uh… other s-slashes.”

“Long enough to, like, go in her skull on the top and come out the bottom?” Adorabelle squeaked. “Oh, Jewel…”

“It… seems consistent with a dragon bite, really. Well, sort of. Um, er, there’s a problem with that.” Clinical Cause’s hooves shook so much he dropped the clipboard. He leaned back against the table to steady himself, then continued. “Any dragon with teeth long enough wouldn’t have claws so short. And, uh… vise versa.”

“Not to mention there was NO DRAGON at the scene at all!” Perfect Karma shouted.

“I know! I know!” Clinical Cause dropped to the ground, quivering. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want it to be like this, I just thought I-”

“No! This is unacceptable! Take another look and get me a revised autopsy report, stat! One that makes actual sense.” Perfect Karma’s horn flashed briefly, making a snapping sound. “Violet! Filly! We have other evidence to examine!” He turned and strode out of the room.

Violet Edge scurried after him gratefully. Adorabelle gave Clinical Cause a sympathetic shrug and followed.

“Two hours, Clinic!” Perfect Karma shouted without turning. “Now we're going to the evidence room. Don't slow me down."

They went down a short ramp, then up another, finally arriving at the evidence room entrance.

Adorabelle had never been here before, either. She wasn’t sure what to feel, really; on the one hoof, this was her life’s dream- or one of them, anyway. It was like a trip to a theme park. On the other hoof, a dutiful public servant had just been brutally murdered…

The entrance was a small room lit with fluorescent lights. A desk ran from one end of the room almost to the other, dividing the space in half. Behind the desk was a huge picture mirror and several devices, most with blinking crystals on top. The door was straight ahead: a state-of-the-art blast door with a magic-imprint scanner next to it.

Behind the desk sat two young stallions in desk chairs. One wasn’t even as old as Adorabelle; he was a pale mint color with a small tuft of dark brown mane. His chin rested on the desk, and he was staring straight ahead, his blue eyes not looking at anything at all. He looked a bit spaced out.

The other stallion looked about in his late twenties. He was tannish brown with a jet black mane that wasn’t well combed. He wore a lighter tan trench coat and had a pencil behind one ear. He was stroking the younger officer’s head, as if his junior was a puppy.

“Open the door,” Perfect Karma said.

The younger one didn’t move, but the older officer snapped his head in their direction. “Gumshoe at your service, sir!” He tried to snap a salute, but just hit himself in the head and fell over.

“That isn’t what I asked for. Fool.” Perfect Karma stepped up to the desk and lowered his head to glare at the mint colt. “Open the door.”

The mint colt still didn’t move.

“I call he’s dead and been taxidermated,” Adorabelle said.

“You- what? Ew!” Violet Edge scooted away from her. “First, that isn’t a word. Second, you… what.. that’s just… no!”

“You will answer when I talk to you,” Perfect Karma told the colt.

The young officer finally moved. But it was to turn his head towards where Gumshoe had been before falling over, which was away from Perfect Karma.

“You little-”

“Deepest apologies, sir!” Gumshoe popped up briefly before falling over again with a thunk. When he rose into view again, he had a cable wrapped around his muzzle and neck. “Er… uh… doing maintenance on the… uh… s-security device.” He waved a hoof over his shoulder at one of the blinking crystals, making the cable sway where it attached to the wall. “Th-that’s why I picked this up, uh, sir.”

“Why is that incompetent police chief hiring brain-dead fools like this?” Perfect Karma sighed.

“Oh, he’s not brain-dead, sir, he’s just-”

“I was talking about you.”

The mint colt had started tapping the table with his hooves, like he was looking for something.

“Ooh, he’s blind!” Adorabelle said. “And deaf! That’s better than being dead, so good for him!”

“Adorabelle,” Violet Edge hissed. “Don’t say rude things like that.”

“But it’s true!”

“How can you tell?”

Adorabelle giggled. “Duh. If he wasn’t deaf, he’d tell me so.”

Gumshoe finally managed to unwind the cables. He put one forehoof protectively around his junior officer. “It’s temporary. He’ll be back to normal soon, but until then I’m helping him watch the evidence room.”

“By which you mean you’re doing his job for him?” Perfect Karma said.

“Er… yes… sir.”

“What do you mean, temporary?” Adorabelle asked. “Like, only blind and deaf for now…?”

“Another 6 hours, I think.” Gumshoe lowered his head. “It’s… a long story. I’m keeping him company because he gets nervous if he thinks he’s alone.”

“Oh, that’s even better for him,” Adorabelle said, smiling.

“If you’re really doing your job, why is the magic scanner offline?” Perfect Karma planted his hoof firmly on the blue crystal screen next to the door. “How is anypony supposed to get in?”

Gumshoe gulped. “T-the chief, he said no new ponies…”

“Your fool of a chief will just have to deal with it.” Perfect Karma leaned closer, glaring at the officer with his single eye. “Which of us do you find scarier?”

Gumshoe looked down and bit his lip.

Adorabelle didn’t understand the hesitation. She’d seen Chief Blackclap in court before, and he was an affable, cheerful older pony, even if his appearance was a bit intimidating. Perhaps it was different to be his employee.

Violet Edge also stepped up to the desk. “This is important. We’re going to be prosecuting the griffin who murdered Jewel Eye-”

“What?” Adorabelle said.

“J-Jewel Eyes…” Gumshoe turned pale. “I wish…”

“Wishes are for fools,” Perfect Karma snapped. “Door. Activated. Now.”

Violet Edge turned to Adorabelle and softly said, “Can’t you just open the door?”

“Like, does that door look unlocked to you?” Adorabelle gestured to it. “It’s got a touchpad next to it. And it, like, opens from the bottom with, like, mechanisms and stuff; I mean, I’ll never touch the actual door, so, like, I don’t think it would even work with my powers…”

The touchpad started to glow blue.

“Oh, goody! Now it’s open!” Adorabelle sent a spark of magic to the gemstone. The door started to rise, and Violet Edge headed toward it.

“You don’t have clearance!” Perfect Karma blurted.

Adorabelle gasped, and the door instantly dropped back down to the floor. Violet Edge screamed and tumbled backward, narrowly dodging the mass of falling metal.

“And I didn’t even activate it yet…” Gumshoe said.

“And even if it was, the keypad doesn’t work that way.” Perfect Karma’s eyebrow was raised; whether intentionally or not, he looked impressed. "I was just using my magic to try and turn it back on."

“Oh..." Adorabelle said. Then she worriedly turned to Violet Edge. He was still lying on his side, staring into empty space and breathing too fast.

The grinding of machinery distracted her. She looked back at the door and did a double take.

An unnaturally muscular mare stood under the door, holding it up effortlessly with one hoof.

“I heard screams,” she said apologetically. "I thought I'd have to break the door open, but it seems like it's not offering any resistance. What happened?”

“Huh-what?” Adorabelle asked. "Oh.... did I break it....?"

Gumshoe turned to the control panel. One red crystal was flashing. He sighed heavily. “Yes, it’s broken. You damaged the mechanism; now it’s just a huge slab of metal.” He turned to the gray mare and smiled. “Good thing you’re here, or everypony would be trapped inside.”

The cyan mare blinked, then smiled sadly. “Thank…”

Perfect Karma slipped under the door, brushing past the strong mare and making her gasp.

“I-I’d better make sure the chief knows it’s not our fault,” Gumshoe said, patting the mint colt on the head three emphatic times. The mint colt whimpered and started crying; as if in response, Gumshoe tugged the colt’s forehooves like it was some kind of code.

Adorabelle returned her attention to the young stallion on the floor. “Hey, Edgey. Going to be okay?”

Violet Edge hadn’t moved, but his breathing seemed more regular. He swallowed. “I-I think so.”

“Well, like, stop lying there like a tipped cow. We get to see the evidence room!” Adorabelle squeaked with excitement as she lifted Violet Edge to his hooves. The two young ponies ducked under the blast door.

“Thank you, miss…” Adorabelle said to the mare as she slipped past.

“Cinder Block. You’re welcome.” Once everypony was safely in the room, Cinder dropped the door, which shut with a loud bang.

“EEEEE!” Adorabelle screamed as she looked around. “Look at all the lockers!”

The main color of the evidence room was the purplish blue of special metal that resisted enchantment without effecting it; Adorabelle recognized it as the stuff Doctor Whooves made door handles from when he wanted to force Adorabelle to use her hooves instead of telekinesis. Each locker was a few feet taller than a normal pony and had gemstones embedded in them. Adorabelle assumed they were to mark whose locker was whose, since each had a different pattern.

“This is soooo amaze!” Adorabelle raced straight to a locker and yanked it open.

Everypony screamed, some in fright, some in warning, some in annoyance.

“Ooooh, look at all this stuff!” Adorabelle yanked a cardboard box out and started lifting pieces of evidence, all neatly bagged in plastic, into the air with telekinesis. “I had no idea there were so many kinds of evidence! Bloody knife, soda cup, crushed plant, wedding ring, soil sample... ooh, I wonder why they grabbed this alarm clock?”

“Y-you idiot!” Violet Edge screamed.

Adorabelle dropped everything to the ground in shock. The alarm clock went off.

“You complete and utter imbecile!” Violet Edge shouted over the annoying, plastic-muffled buzzing. “What part of evidence don’t you understand, you, you, you! You can’t touch it! What is wrong with you? What? Do you know nothing about-”

“You’re done now.”

This new voice made Adorabelle turn around. She gasped and started crying.

Chief Blackclap had looked smaller on the witness stand, and he hadn’t even looked small then. He was fully a head taller than Perfect Karma, had broad shoulders, and was clearly muscular. His fur was black, and his white mane curled upward except for one dangling strand that zigzagged across his forehead like a lightning bolt. He wore a loud orange jacket with two rows of shiny gold buttons, a red tie with a gold moon clipped to it, and a pair of small square purple shades. Behind the shades, his green eyes sparkled with amusement. He put one hoof around Adorabelle’s shoulder.

“Now, now, my dear shrinking Violet,” he said, stroking Adorabelle’s mane soothingly. “You can hardly blame her for being curious. This is fascinating stuff, after all.”

Adorabelle wanted him to stop petting her. But that seemed rude after he’d stood up for her.

“I, for one, think the blame obviously lies in whoever left their very important locker hanging open.” He turned, pushed the door slightly closed, and lowered his glasses, examining the gemstones. “Let’s see…”

“I-It was locked,” Gumshoe said. “I can attest to that-”

“Shut up.” Blackclap pushed his shades back up his nose and closed his eyes. “Sin and a shame. Flatfoot is normally so careful…”

“Fool.”

Blackclap’s face turned into a snarl. “Excuse me?”

Perfect Karma smirked. “I called you a fool. Want me to explain why?”

Cinder Block snuck as quietly as she could to hide behind some evidence, and succeeded at neither endeavor. Gumshoe pressed himself against the evidence room door, apparently hoping to hide.

“I-I didn’t know they were supposed to be locked,” Adorabelle squeaked. “There’s no, like, combination locks on them and the metal doesn’t-”

“Shut up,” Blackclap repeated, not even looking at her. The chief of police and the top prosecutor slowly approached each other, like old west bandits getting ready for a shootout.

“Fool.” Perfect Karma’s smirk turned into a full-on sneer. “Should listen to others once in a while. She nearly told you the answer. Call yourself a brilliant detective? What do you make of her cutie mark?”

Blackclap whirled around and frowned at Adorabelle’s cutie mark. “Same as her mother’s.”

“In form only.” Perfect Karma wagged his hoof at Blackcap tauntingly. “This little pony can unlock anything, as long as she believes it’s already unlocked.”

Blackclap frowned at Perfect Karma. “Why… haven’t you told me earlier?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure if he should be whispering or not.

There was a pause.

“Because we’re mortal enemies, you fool! I’m not going to have a lovely chat with you about my neighbor’s obnoxious daughter!” Perfect Karma rolled his eye. “I don’t have time for this. No time at all. Where are those two annoying homicide cops?”

There was a loud crash from somewhere nearby, and a scream of terror. Perfect Karma and Blackcap’s eyes widened; then, in surprising unity, both sighed and rested their heads on one forehoof, mirroring each other’s posture.

“That’s them,” Blackclap said, the anger in his voice evaporating.

“This is going to be a long day…” Perfect Karma moaned.

The two older stallions started towards the sound. Cinder came out from her hiding place and followed.

Adorabelle gasped and flounced over to Violet Edge. “The door, like, totally made me forget. What’s all this about Terry being the bad guy again? Like, why would you think that?”

Violet Edge sighed. “I was afraid of this. Look, you saw the autopsy; Jewel Eyes was obviously slashed to death, and the only other pony there… who isn’t even a suspect, mind you, was, well, a pony. Ponies don’t have claws.”

“But why would Terry kill Jewel Eyes? He, like, only killed Dahlia on accident-”

“Okay, believe whatever you want,” Violet Edge snapped. “But you know why nopony believed it was an accident?”

Adorabelle froze. “Oh… right. Jewel Eyes was a witness… and she said it wasn’t.”

“Among other elements of circumstantial evidence,” Violet Edge whispered.

“But… but…”

“I can’t believe anypony could read about as many murders as you and still be a wide-eyed idealist. Nopony could be so gullible as to-” He paused, then turned his head aside. “Okay, I do know somepony- someponies are that gullible. Never mind.”

“Hey, like, don’t insult-”

“Do you want to meet the homicide cops or not? This is important to me too.” Violet Edge wove around Adorabelle and headed down the row of lockers.

Adorabelle huffed and followed, swishing her tail with fury.

They rounded the corner to see a small disaster zone. Evidence and loose papers lay scattered all over the floor. A white mare in a police uniform was zipping around, trying to scoop things up without stopping and mostly just scooting them to other parts of the room instead. The detective Adorabelle had seen at the observatory was there, too. He was lying on the floor in an unnatural position, halfway between rolling from his side to his back. His eyes were worried, but he wasn’t trying to move.

“Um… guys?” he was saying.

“Angel Star! Goody Shoes!” Perfect Karma roared.

The white mare tried to freeze, but tripped over a cardboard box instead. Then, apparently trying to pretend she’d meant to do that, she continued the tripping motion as she turned around. She dashed up to Perfect Karma and held out her forehoof. “Angel Star. Professional detective. Parkour expert. Employee of the month. Pleasure to work with you.”

Perfect Karma looked at Angel’s outstretched hoof with disdain. “You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? I’ve got no interest in having my leg torn off. I've seen you in court; I know what you do to ponies whose hooves you shake.”

Angel scowled and pulled her hoof back. She flipped her blond bangs to the other side of her head. “Whaddaya want?”

“G-guys?” Goody Shoes tried again.

Chief Blackclap steamrolled over whatever Perfect Karma had been about to say. “We want that evidence back in the box, and we want you to not make our department look incompetent. Do I need to call you to my office?”

“It was Goody Shoes’ fault!” Angel Star whined.

Goody Shoes winced. “Please, sir, I-”

“Small correction,” Perfect Karma said. “You want the department to not look incompetent. I think it looks pretty nice this way.” He smirked.

“S-s-sir?” Goody Shoes pushed up with one forehoof, then gasped in pain.

The white jacket he wore made it easy, even in the brief moment he’d given them, to see the crimson and purple stain under his leg.

Adorabelle gasped. “Y-you’re hurt!”

“F-fell on a sample vial…” Goody Shoes gritted his teeth. “Th-think I poisoned myself… sorry…”

“Well, why didn’t you say something sooner?” Perfect Karma snapped.

“Too much talking…”

“I-I’ll go get a medic!” Gumshoe turned and started to run.

Chief Blackclap casually stuck out his hind leg. Gumshoe smacked straight into it and rolled backwards.

“We are not going to get a medic,” Chief Blackclap said. “Do you know why?”

“You want me dead?” Goody Shoes didn’t sound particularly upset at this.

“Because medics are unicorns,” Chief Blackclap said.

“Oh, well, actually-” Adorabelle said.

“And unicorns think the best solution to every problem is to point their horn at it. But we know better, don’t we?”

Perfect Karma laughed. “Oh, really? You think this is the best time for this? The Princess will be oh so understanding why your subordinate has to die.”

“I-I’ll go-” Violet Edge started.

“No.” Perfect Karma put a hoof on Violet Edge’s shoulder and forced him into a sitting position. “I want to hear this chief’s train wreck logic.”

“Good. I want you to see this, too.” Chief Blackclap examined the wound. "Purple Veil. Death won't come for another 45 minutes. Plenty of time. All right, my little ponies, front and center.” Chief Blackclap sat down and clasped his forehooves together. “Now, one of our own is injured completely of his own incompetence. What he lacks, you must make up for. Because we are a team. Understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Angel and Cinder chorused.

“And are the medics part of our team?”

Well, duh, Adorabelle thought. They all work for the same justice system.

“No, sir, no!”

“Right. Because they are unicorns. They don’t know what the word ‘team’ means; each is a team unto themselves. They think they don’t need us. Well, does the earth need unicorns?”

“No, sir, no!”

Adorabelle’s jaw dropped. She looked at Violet Edge to see if he was hearing this. He looked distressed too.

“Then get together and come up with a plan that does not use unnecessary beings!” Blackclap clapped twice, the sound echoing off the lockers.

The two mares saluted. “Hail Manehattan!”

“Hail the Jubilee!” Blackclap replied.

“And all hail the earth!” all three said.

They turned towards each other in a tight circle and whispered.

“Wh-wh-wha?” Adorabelle whispered to Violet Edge. “I thought… they’re acting like…”

“What do you expect?” Violet Edge whispered back. “They’re all ex-Manehattan Youth.”

“But… but the whole point of this was to reform them, right?”

“Make no mistake,” Perfect Karma said, narrowing his eye at the proceedings. “They will always be our enemies.”

“But…”

Angel took off like a small rocket. Cinder Block followed as fast as she could, which was not very fast.

“Beautiful,” Perfect Karma told Blackclap. “One of your men is dying on the floor, and you make a speech.”

“It was all of one minute, and I had forty-five.” Chief Blackclap pulled a pocket watch from his jacket. “What do you want to bet my team can fix this faster than your healing unicorns could, even with the speech?”

Adorabelle turned to the only earth pony who hadn’t moved. “Hey, uh… Gumshoe?”

“Mmm?”

“So, like… why aren’t you helping? Is the Youth a mare-only thing?”

Gumshoe turned to face the wall. “No.”

Adorabelle stared at him a bit longer, waiting for an explanation. When she didn’t get one, she sighed. “Ooooo…kay… uh, let’s change the subject. So, uh, like, I know it’s not a sure thing, but two pairs of shoes… I mean, uh… you and him are both named-”

“Stepbrothers,” Gumshoe whispered.

“Ooh.” Adorabelle looked over her shoulder at Goody Shoes. “And, what, you don’t like him? Did your dad, like, cheat on your mom or some-”

“All our parents are dead,” Goody Shoes said. “I can hear you, you know.”

Adorabelle spluttered. Before she could manage a coherent apology, something landed on her back. Adorabelle screamed and collapsed to the ground.

Angel landed in front of her, a few leaves in her mouth.

“Nice touch, using the spikehead as a stepping stone,” Chief Blackclap said.

“H-hey!” Violet Edge said. “Y-you… she’s… she’s a filly, you can’t hit a-”

“Accident,” Angel muttered, trotting over to her partner. She spat the leaves on the ground in front of him. “Silverleaf. Oral use.”

Goody Shoes stared at the leaves, then started to scoop them up with his tongue.

“Three minutes.” Chief Blackclap snapped his watch shut and tucked it back in his pocket. “Now, how long do healing spells take again? Ten? Fifteen?”

“We did it!” Cinder shouted as she rejoined the group. “Hooray, us!”

“And do you know how you did it?” Chief Blackclap said, smiling. “By working together. Friendship is a more powerful magic than any of those cold-hearted unicorns can ever hope to wield.”

“All hail the earth!” The three ponies gave each other high hooves.

“N-no!” Adorabelle scrambled to her hooves. “No, this isn’t how it works! Stop it!”

The officers’ expressions turned frosty. Chief Blackclap stood up at his full height and stared down at her.

“Stop what?” He smiled broadly, clearly amused. “Are you opposed to… teamwork?”

“No!”

“I guess, then, what you don’t like is… friendship?”

“No, no that wasn’t it…” Adorabelle was trying to remember why she’d objected to this line in the first place.

Oh, right. Racism. “You shouldn’t shut the unicorns out just for being unicorns!”

“…Even though self-reliance was actually faster? You want us to risk lives in the name of racial inclusion?” Blackclap’s smile was absolutely radiant.

Adorabelle opened her mouth, but Violet Edge stepped on her hoof, so she said ow instead.

“Don’t argue with him,” Gumshoe whispered in her ear. “You’ll never win.”

No, of course she could win! Nopony liked racism, right?

She took a deep breath and readied more arguments.

“No, please, don’t feed the parasprite. You’ll regret it. Really.” Gumshoe pulled back from her ear.

“Speaking of self-reliance,” Blackclap said, turning and pointing to Goody Shoes. “You. My office. 10:30.”

Goody Shoes scrambled to his hooves, then lowered his head in shame. “Sir.”

“And you-” Blackclap whirled around and pointed at Gumshoe next. “My office… 11:00.”

“What?” Violet Edge almost shouted, startling Adorabelle. “But what did he do?”

“Exactly.” Chief Blackclap swished his long white tail affirmatively, and Adorabelle noticed he’d stained the tip red. “Well, Karmy, I suppose I’ll leave you to do your oh-so-important clean up duty. I hope you learned something today.”

The two exchanged sneers as Blackclap passed on his way out.

“Please… do right by Jewel,” Cinder Block said as she, too, started leaving. “She was… my partner. Nicest unicorn I'd ever met…”

“Yes, yes, we’ll see justice is done.” Perfect Karma waved her off. “Now, what black mark of misfortune made you two the investigators again?”

“Th-there’s only so many homicides in Equestria,” Goody Shoes stammered. “There-there isn’t-”

“That was a rhetorical question. Where are the results of your investigation?” Perfect Karma looked down at the floor and sighed. “I mean besides the obvious.”

The two white detectives looked at each other and winced.

“Uh… I’ll start picking that up,” Angel said, going slower this time.

“Me, too!” Goody Shoes scooped up a bag of clothes.

“Me, three!” Adorabelle trotted over. “Ooh, look, blood samples!”

“Um…” Violet somewhat self-consciously righted a cardboard box. “Me fo--AHH!”

Everypony looked over at him. Violet Edge suddenly became interested in studying the pattern of gems on the nearby locker. “Oh, uh, nothing, it was nothing, I’m just a bit high-strung. Heh.”

“What is it? Tell meee!” Adorabelle leapt to the location and saw what was under the cardboard box. For the second time that day, she was too shocked to move.

“Wh-where did this come from?” she whimpered, looking at the bagged evidence.

“A few feet from where the victim fell,” Goody Shoes said.

“It had her hairs on it, and some of its fur was in her purse,” Angel continued. “She probably brought it there.”

“But… how?” Adorabelle whispered to herself.

It was a bear. A very familiar bear.

With a top hat.

Author's Note

A.k.a. The chapter where I remember that Perfect Karma's catchphrase is supposed to be 'fool'.

Sorry I uploaded my chapter one week late (she said to her nonexistent audience). The original plan was to upload one chapter every Saturday, but I've missed as many deadlines as I've made.

Oh, and where did that week go? Three words: TVTropes. Philip Finder.

Endless Bears

Adorabelle scooped the bear up n her hooves, bringing it closer to her. Same blue bug eyes, same black bowtie…

“What?” Angel asked. “Do you recognize it?”

Adorabelle’s breathing grew more ragged. She set the bear down and turned to face Perfect Karma.

“You… you…” Adorabelle pointed at Perfect Karma. “This is all your fault!”

Perfect Karma’s eye widened. “You- what? I don’t-”

“Adorabelle,” Violet Edge said. “Please stop and think about what you’re saying-”

“You gave this bear to Jewel Eyes, and it’s, like, dangerous. And you knew that and did it anyway!” Adorabelle trembled with fury.

Perfect Karma blinked at her. “I have no idea what you’re going on about.” He turned back to where Goody Shoes sat open-mouthed. “Ignore her outburst and keep working, fool.”

“I saw this bear! It’s yours!” Adorabelle shoved the evidence sack in front of Perfect Karma’s face.

Perfect Karma shoved it aside. “All right, I admit my daughter might have a bear like this in her collection somewhere.”

“You have a daughter?” Goody Shoes asked.

“Too sickly to leave the house, most days,” Perfect Karma said. It was the standard line he used, and if Adorabelle wanted to keep invading his house without fear of being arrested, she’d have to keep her mouth shut. Not that anypony would take her word over the word of the most revered prosecutor in the nation, but Perfect Karma had more important things to do than squash rumors.

“Oh… sorry.”

“Don’t pity her,” Violet Edge mumbled darkly. “She’s happy enough.”

“To return to the point, I don’t actually pay that much attention to what she has.” Perfect Karma shrugged. “I can’t say for sure.”

“But you did see this bear! Last night! Aimy brought it out to you on the walkway, you fought over it. You took it from her!”

“You saw this, then? You actually saw me holding it?”

Adorabelle paused. “Uh. Well. No, I didn’t. B-but I heard it!” Adorabelle reached over and squeezed the bear’s nose through the plastic. Honk. “It makes sound, like that!”

“Lots of things make that sound,” Angel said.

“Exactly.” Perfect Karma stepped closer to Adorabelle. He stared down at her, his face a mask. “So unless you want to officially file murder charges against me, I suggest you let this issue drop.”

Unwanted tears blurred Adorabelle’s vision. “F-fine then! I will!” She tossed the bear to the ground and stomped off, sobbing.

“…Was that supposed to be a taunt?” Perfect Karma asked, amused.

“Adorabelle!” Violet Edge shouted.

Adorabelle stumbled as far away as she could until she banged her head on a locker. Then she sat down and cried.

Then she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “Why are you crying?”

Adorabelle sniffed and wiped a hoof in front of her eyes. “Oh, Violet…”

She pulled her comforter into a hug.

“H-hey!” Violet Edge said.

“I’m scared,” Adorabelle said. “Wh-what if I’m right and you’re living with a murderer?”

“You’re wrong, so don’t worry about it,” Violet Edge said. “You’re taking this wild notion of yours way, way too seriously.”

Adorabelle stiffened.

“Don’t get mad…” Violet Edge said.

“Th-that’s right!” Adorabelle pulled back and held Violet Edge’s face in her front hooves. “I remember! I couldn’t see Perfect Karma because I was, like, dangling below them. But you were on the balcony! You saw the bear!”

“I didn’t say that!” Violet Edge jerked backward and tried to extricate himself from the hug.

“But didn’t you?” Adorabelle pressed.

Violet Edge turned to study the lockers again. “I’m not answering that, okay?”

“What? Does that mean you did see it?”

“Who cares?!”

“I care! Please tell meeee!”

“Why do you think this somehow proves something?”

Adorabelle brushed a white strand of mane behind her ear. “That night… I heard Perfect Karma scream. Like, in terror. And, well, like, I’ve never heard him do that… y’know, ever. This is something totes serious.”

“…And? So?”

“And then Jewel Eyes gets…” Adorabelle swallowed. “Slashed up and stuff, and she’s somehow holding the bear. D-don’t you think it’s creepy?”

“Um… no. No, I don’t.” Violet Edge folded his hooves in front of his chest. “There’s so many holes in your logic I can barely start. First: you can’t prove the bear is the same as the one Perfect Karma had. Second-”

“Oh, shut up. I get it. You think I’m, like, a drama queen.” Adorabelle turned away from him.

“Okay, fine. You want to know what I really think?” Violet Edge spun her around. “I think that Perfect Karma decided the bear was too dangerous to have around for… some reason, I don’t know what. So he gave it to Jewel Eyes because she’s basically the only unicorn on the force and he doesn’t trust earth ponies because he’s racist. She promised to take care of it. And then… then something happened- I’m not saying Terry’s innocent- but Perfect Karma doesn’t want to say anything. Because having anything to do with this would, well… be…”

“Imperfect,” Adorabelle said. “So, are you going to tell anypony?”

“What!? No!” Violet Edge’s brilliant eyes widened in horror.

“Whaddaya mean, no? You can’t just hide stuff like this!”

“It doesn’t matter! Why would it?”

Adorabelle rolled her eyes. “Like, duh. Maybe the bear killed Jewel Eyes and Terry is innocent. You can’t just-”

“Oh, right, the bear can do that now.” It was Violet Edge’s turn to roll his eyes. “This is wild speculation on your part. I’m sure forensic has already checked for any enchantments; if the bear was actually capable of such a thing, it would come out in the investigation.” He took a deep breath. “And… why do I have to be the one to make him…” His voice grew quiet.

The unspoken words hung in the air: “Why do I have to make him angry? I’m the one who lives with him.”

Adorabelle stared at him for a moment. Then she flung her forehooves around Violet Edge’s neck. “I’ll protect you. Please don’t be scared of him…”

“I didn’t say that!” Violet Edge cried in frantic protest. “G-go back to being mad at me, please!”

“Are you going to tell me about him?”

“No. There’s nothing to tell. You jump to conclusions too much.” Violet Edge gently unhooked Adorabelle’s hooves for the second time in as many minutes. “Let this drop. Please?”

Adorabelle was no longer sure whether she should be angry at him, or sad for him. So she just trotted past him.

“H-hey, where are you going?” Violet Edge asked.

“Back the way I came… I hope.” Adorabelle wished the rows of lockers were less identical. “I mean, like, if I can’t prove it with my testimony, or your testimony, then I need another way…”

She turned into a hallway between two lockers and found Angel boxing up the last of the evidence.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked as Adorabelle walked up.

“Oh, like, fine and stuff. So, like, where’d Perfect Karma and Goody Shoes go? …And the other guy, um… Suede Shoes?”

“Gumshoe.” Angel folded the flaps of the box inward. “The two brothers went for their appointments with the chief. I think Perfect Karma was getting something from his office.”

“Oh, hey, wait, can I see that before you take it away?”

Angel blinked. “Like what?”

“The bear. I want to see if I know it or not.”

“I guess…” Angel reopened the box. “Don’t take it out of the plastic, and don’t mess with it too much.”

“Telekinesis okay?”

“It’s a little late for you to start caring about that,” Violet Edge grumbled.

“When’d you get here?” Adorabelle asked, looking over her shoulder.

“I… thought you wanted me to follow you?”

“Well, uh, you are totes not going to like this.” Adorabelle shuffled through the evidence for the stuffed bear. Muddy scarf, bloodstained uniform, small camera…

“Uh, before I forget,” Angel blurted. “You know not to take anything I said seriously, right?”

“Huh?” Violet Edge said. “What stuff?”

“That whole ‘earth doesn’t need unicorns’ thing. I mean, I don’t want any hard feelings. I mean, uh, well… I thought you might think it meant… uh… what I’m trying to say is…”

“If you didn’t mean it, why did you cheer it?” Violet Edge replied frigidly.

“I don’t mean you’re bad or anything. We just mean your magic is kinda, well, just sparkles and stuff. It’s extra. Like streamers on a scooter. It’s cool and stuff but we don’t need it.”

“Oh, I get it. That’s why Manehattanites keep kidnapping unicorns and chopping their horns off to graft to their own high-ranking officials! Because it’s completely useless!”

Angel snarled. “That’s not the same thing and you know it isn’t.”

“No, no I don’t.”

“Found it!” Adorabelle scooped the bear into her telekinetic grip. She took a deep breath and focused on the bear’s nose.

“W-w-what are you going to-” Violet Edge started.

Honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-honk-

Something struck Adorabelle’s face. Hard. She screamed and dropped the plush bear.

Angel gasped. “H-how could you? She’s a mare!”

Violet Edge pulled his hoof back. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

“Why would you hit me like that?” Adorabelle sobbed. Her cheek still stung. “How could yooooo?”

“You were trying to- if you kept doing that- you were the one who thought that-”

“Well what was I supposed to do?” Adorabelle snapped. “You wouldn’t tell me anything so I had no choice!”

“Don’t be an idiot. There’s other ways to test besides-”

“And that’s all I am to you? An idiot?” Adorabelle pressed a hoof to her cheek, hoping there was no mark.

Violet Edge leaned forward, his eyes wide, his expression distraught, his mouth looking about to form words of comfort, of apology.

Then he froze. Slowly, he pulled himself back. His mouth shifted to a grin that looked either a bit too forced… or a bit too maniacal.

“Yes. You’re an idiot.”

Adorabelle blinked at him. It was getting harder to breathe; her sobs were taking over her lungs.

“I hate you!” she shouted, galloping off for the second time that day.

This time, she had slightly more presence of mind to look where she was going. She headed to the evidence room door and paused just long enough to lift the steel door.

When she left, she saw the mint colt still sitting at the desk, staring straight ahead again. He was crying too; long trails of tears that flowed down his muzzle and pooled on the gray wood beneath him.

Adorabelle swiped a hoof across her eyes. No matter how bad her day was going, at least she wasn’t in silent darkness like he was. Hesitatingly, she started towards him.

“Um… hi?” she whispered. The colt didn’t acknowledge her; the 6 hours probably weren’t up yet.

Slowly, she lowered her hoof towards his mane. He stiffened when she made contact, then pulled away.

Okay, so maybe he only let Gumshoe pet him, and there was some kind of code they had. Or something. But that was okay.

Adorabelle had another idea, although she wasn’t sure it would do her any good. She had to find out where that bear came from in the first place. The manufacturer was probably a good place to start.

Unfortunately, since the plush bear had had no tag, that would mean her first stop was with a stuffed bear expert.

And she only knew one.

***

“It’s meee!” Adorabelle cried as she flung the Perfect manor door open.

Nopony was there. Adorabelle felt her cheeks growing red.

“Helloooo?” She trotted up the stairs.

Perfect Karma was in an office on the second floor. A thick law book and a few photos hovered around his head. He was writing something with a peacock quill but wasn’t looking at the paper.

When Adorabelle trotted in, he glared at her and put the photos face down on his desk. “Violet Edge said to tell you that he doesn’t want to talk to you tonight.” A smile tugged at his lips. “A fact I couldn’t help but commend him on.”

“You’re evil,” Adorabelle said.

“You’re childish. Are you leaving now?”

“Nope!” Adorabelle swished her tail and left. “I’ve got, like, important stuff to do.” Then she paused and peeked over her shoulder. “But, uh… thanks for showing me around, I guess.”

“I thought you might come in handy in case there was anything Chief Blackclap felt like keeping from me.” Perfect Karma began picking his photos back up. “You didn’t disappoint.”

Adorabelle felt chills run down her spine. She didn’t want any compliments from him.

“I’ll be done in a bit!” She dashed back out into the hallway and headed for the tower staircase.

When she reached the hallway, she paused outside Violet Edge’s room. Did she or didn’t she…?

She nosed the door open. Violet Edge was already in bed, reading a law book. He took one look at her, then shut his eyes.

“You, like, can’t pretend to be asleep with a book in front of you,” Adorabelle said, stepping closer. Her voice grew quiet. “I’m totally sorry. I, like, shouldn’t have said I hate you and stuff…”

“Go away.” Violet Edge’s voice was quivering. “I don’t like you.”

Adorabelle rested her head on his pillow, then pressed her muzzle under his ear.

“I said cut it out!” Violet Edge jerked back and nearly hit Adorabelle with his book.

“Stop lying to me,” Adorabelle whimpered. “You totally like me, and that’s, like, why you want me to think you don’t. Because you think you’re, like, bad for me or something.” Adorabelle nuzzled him again, and this time he didn’t resist. “But I can’t be happy when you aren’t. That’s, like, how friends work. So, like, stop trying to push me away. It’s too late for us, y’know?”

Violet Edge’s expression looked like a mix of horror and sad. Then he set the book on the floor and turned to face the wall.

“I… I need to get some sleep,” he whispered.

“Okay.” Adorabelle backed out the door. “See you in the morning?”

No reply. Adorabelle pulled the door shut, then turned towards the upward staircase with a sigh.

No use delaying the inevitable. If she wanted answers, she knew where to go next.

Slowly, cautiously, she crept up the stairs to the second floor of the tower, wincing at every creak. Higher she went, entering the dark shadowy realm above.

A bit belatedly, she remembered that she wasn’t injured today and so she shouldn’t have any trouble using her magic. She lit her horn and swept it around the vacant hallway as she arrived on the landing.

The highest floor of the tower and the farthest corner of the manor was nothing like the rest of the house. The wallpaper was old, faded and ripped. Red and black stains streaked across the walls, sometimes attempting to form pictures: hearts, flowers, and what looked like a dead stick figure pony bleeding to death. Holes had been punched in the walls, too, and half the carpet was scorched.

Adorabelle didn’t come here very often, and especially not at night. The overhead lamp had been smashed, and there were no windows. If anything happened to her magic-

“BEARSPLOSION!”

Adorabelle gasped as several small soft objects struck her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow.

Nothing came. “Heeey, you aren’t Edgy! That’s not very nice!”

Adorabelle opened her eyes. Several stuffed bears lay at her hooves- brown bears, black bears, rainbow bears, bears both big and small. But no top hats.

“You’re, like, not very nice either, Aimy. If I had been Violet Edge, I’d be, like, in a panic attack.”

Perfect Aim crept from the shadows into the bright beam of Adorabelle’s horn. She was wearing a pink frilly nightdress for some reason. She scowled at Adorabelle. “That was the point.” She started to pick up her attack bears.

Maybe Perfect Aim was in one of her less psychopathic moods today. Her sanity waxed and waned, after all. Adorabelle cleared her throat. “Aimy, I need your help.”

Perfect Aim gave a start, then giggled hysterically. “Does it involve my Edgy?”

“Nope.”

“Good. I’m not helping you get him, Miss Stickyhooves. He’s mine, get it? Miiiiine.” Perfect Aim threw open the door to her room and tossed the bears inside. “Come on in. There’ll be ca-ake!”

Adorabelle kind of doubted that, but followed Perfect Aim inside anyway.

The walls in Perfect Aim’s room didn’t look as horrible as the ones in the halls, but that was because you could barely see them. Or maybe ‘bearly see them’ was a better way to put it, since every inch of walls had shelves attached, and every inch of shelf was covered with stuffed bears, except where furniture was, and the steel panel on the wall.

The bed was much larger than it needed to be for such a small mare and had a tall metal box holding it up. Adorabelle’s current theory was that Perfect Karma had had it shipped in from a sanitarium, since it also had a remote to move the head and foot up and down that normally only hospital beds had.

A small pink tea party table sat in the middle of the room, with four heart-shaped stools. Two bears sat at the table, one pink and smelling of strawberries and one in a long white wedding dress. The tea set was a bit mismatched, with some pieces cracking and others, well, made of plastic.

Perfect Aim hummed to herself as she set the bears back in place. Then she trotted over to a small oven on top of her dresser and pulled out a pan filled with a lumpy brownish-purple substance.

“Oh, is that new?” Adorabelle asked.

“Mmm-hmm.” Perfect Aim beamed. “Daddy finally let me have my own baking station. I need to practice if I’m going to be a good housewife for my Edgy, after all.” She set the pan down on the tea table. “I call this violet velvet cake.”

“Um, like, don’t forget to turn the oven off…” Adorabelle squeaked nervously.

“Oh, yeah. Don’t want my bears to burn.” Perfect Karma clicked the knob on the oven. “Soooo, do you wanna taste test?”

Adorabelle looked at the unappetizing cake and wondered if it was deliberately poisonous, or just accidentally. “Um, like, don’t you want to save some for Violet Edge?”

“Ooooo, good thinking!” Perfect Aim pulled a ninja star out of her top dresser drawer and flung it into the pan, breaking the cake in half. The table trembled and the bears fell over.

“So, um, about bears.” Adorabelle wanted to leave. “Like, you know that bear you had last night?”

Perfect Aim slid half of the violet velvet cake onto a flowery plate. “Yuppers.”

“Where’d you find it anyway?”

Perfect Aim trotted over to the panel on the wall. “I snuck down into the basement and nosed around. Daddy has soooo many things stored there. Going down…” She pressed the button on the wall next to the panel, and the dumbwaiter door slid open.

“Do you know where it came from?”

Perfect Aim slid the cake into the dumbwaiter and pressed the button again. The steel box slid out of sight. “Maybe I should have sent Edgy a bear to go with,” she giggled.

“Um, like, maybe, but about the other bear-”

“With the top hat?” Perfect Aim trotted back over to the table and took the teapot’s lid off. “Dunno how it got there, it was just there.” She dunked the tea bag up and down; Adorabelle had just enough time to see that she’d drawn a pony’s face on the bag. A face with an eyepatch. “Drowny time, burny time…”

“Was it, like, familiar?” Adorabelle leaned closer. “I mean, like, nopony knows more about stuffed bears than you.”

“Like hay they do!” Perfect Aim reared into the air excitedly. The sudden movement made Adorabelle stumble back. Perfect Aim walked over to a basket of bears on the floor and started digging through it. “I’ve never seen that top hat, or that microphone, but the bug eyes and everything else make it obvious.” She pulled a bear from the pile; it was black with yellow eyes, but it did look like the same maker. “Wanna know who makes them?” She giggled.

“Yes! Please tell me!”

“You’re not gonna liiiiike it,” Perfect Aim cooed.

“What’s not to like?”

Perfect Aim wiggled her shoulders. “Okay, okay. I guess I can tell you, if you promise to bring me back a bear when you investigate.”

“Done! Now tell me!” Adorabelle was practically dancing with suspense.

“Teddy Ursa.”

Adorabelle stopped dancing. She sat down hard and stared blankly at Perfect Aim.

“No, no, it couldn’t be. That’s, like, too much of a coincidence…”

“Why would I lie to you?” Perfect Aim put the bear back in the basket. “I mean, even if you took my Edgy with you, I wouldn’t get to see his reaction.”

Adorabelle hugged herself to try and stave off the sudden chill she felt. She was beginning to realize why her dad didn’t like her to investigate things.

Teddy Ursa was the pony who’d killed Violet Edge’s dad over a decade ago.

Endless Curse

Author's Note

Now with a character list so you can keep track of everypony.

Endless Curse

“Hey, Violet Edge?”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you about your dad’s death?”

“No.”

“Oh, uh… okay then.”

Adorabelle and Violet Edge walked down the hallway of the prosecutor’s office. The Attorney General had left his family portraits in place, but in between where space allowed he added photographs of the recipients of the King of Prosecutor’s trophy.

Adorabelle paused in front of a portrait of Perfect Karma. It was taken pre-eyepatch and his mane was less gray. Odder still, he was smiling. Oddest of all, he was cradling the shield-and-sword that made up the KoP award lovingly, as if he actually cared about it. In later pictures he looked bored or unappreciative. It probably didn’t help that the only reason he ever didn’t win the KoP trophy was when somepony else had an unnaturally high profile case that year.

Then she turned back to Violet Edge. “Okay, like, it’s not really about your dad. I wondered where Teddy Ursa was.”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Violet Edge didn’t even turn around.

“What? Don’t care? Really?” Adorabelle scrambled to catch up with him. “What I, like, totally don’t get is… you took your dad’s death super hard, but you, like, don’t care about the murderer at all. You didn’t even care that he got out on probation. I mean, like… why aren’t you more mad at him?”

Violet Edge stopped walking and squeezed his eyes shut. “Justice… was… served. I can’t… I can’t complain.”

“Why? Is it because Perfect Karma was the prosecutor on that case, too, and if you complained that he didn’t get a harsh enough sentence-”

“No!” Violet Edge’s eyes snapped open. “The justice system is one of the most beautiful instruments of civilization. Everything I’ve worked for is to uphold and protect it. There’s nothing wrong with it, so…” He took a deep breath. “So I can’t complain. I really can’t.”

Adorabelle paused. “But, like, there are things wrong with it, sometimes. That’s why your dad was a defense attorney.”

Violet Edge sighed. “I… I know.”

Adorabelle moved closer to him, letting her mane touch his fur. “If your dad was here… what would he say about Teddy Ursa?”

Violet Edge stiffened and his eyes widened with horror. “I’m not talking about that!”

Adorabelle stumbled backwards. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry.”

Violet Edge huffed. “Let’s just find your dad already.”

They made it to Iron Hoof’s study at the end of the hall. Adorabelle knocked on the warm red wood door.

A muffled voice came through the door. “Name? Business?”

“I’m King Arthur seeking the holy grail,” Adorabelle said.

“…What?”

“Is Sterling Scales there?” Violet Edge called.

“Oh, sorry. Come in.”

Iron Hoof’s study was a blue haven in a mostly-red house. The walls were a dark periwinkle at the bottom and subtly flowed into light turquoise near the ceiling. The carpet was a sandy tan, the curtains a shiny rippling royal blue. The furniture was all black, from the marble desk to the obligatory bookcase to the frames around his diplomas and important newspaper articles. In one corner of the room was a cylindrical tank full of moon jelly fish that undulated up and down like tiny ghosts. Sterling Scales was resting on the black couch near the wall; he kept a wary eye on the jelly fish.

Iron Hoof sat behind his desk, telekinetically writing on strips of paper. Then he carefully rolled each strip into a spiral and put it inside the bingo cage sitting next to him. The attorney general certainly couldn’t compete with Perfect Karma or Chief Blackclap in terms of imposingness, but he cut a fine figure nonetheless; his gray coat was always complemented by his black or navy suits, and his light blue mane was always professionally styled. His cutie mark was a scale with a sword laid across the two pans, with an unrolled scroll behind the whole thing.

“Golden Shield… I don’t know.” Iron Hoof looked up. “Can you think of anypony else?”

“Whatcha doing?” Adorabelle asked.

“Ah, Adorabelle. Greetings.” Iron Hoof gestured to the bingo cage. “As you can see clearly see… Well, ah ha ha, I guess it’s not that obvious, is it? Short version: nopony has exactly been leaping at the opportunity to defend our current… concern.”

“Terry. You… you mean you need a defense attorney for Terry,” Violet Edge said.

“Right.” Iron Hoof shrugged. “And Equestrian law prevents us from holding a trial without providing the defendant with proper legal counsel. I’ve… run out of ways to incentivize ponies, to be honest. It wouldn’t be fair to assign him an attorney who isn’t even trying... or worse, is actively hoping to lose.”

Sterling Scales draped his forehoof over his eyes. “It’s cruel. Cr-criminal. You can’t force them to represent him, please; I couldn’t possibly judge such a… c-coliseum event.”

Iron Hoof stared grimly ahead. “I know. I feel like I’m… like I’m picking ponies for the Rainbow Factory. Starburst must be a sociopath to take that so calmly. Ah, there I go changing the subject again…” He cranked the bingo ball a bit.

“Perfect Karma is the prosecution, and he’s never lost,” Violet Edge said. “Why are you even worrying about it?”

“I can’t go into court assuming one side is going to win,” Sterling Scales said. “Also, the trial should be about whether Terry is worthy of punishment, not the… not the…” he closed his eyes.

“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet,” Iron Hoof said. “Let me read the strip of paper and… well, let’s just wait and see.” He pulled the spiral of paper that fell into the bingo cage bucket. He slowly unrolled it in his gray telekinesis. “Hmm. Primrose…”

The door burst open and a lavender blur streaked into the room. Mystic Faerie collapsed against the black marble desk, panting heavily.

“Are-are you okay?” Sterling Scales got off the couch.

“How did you get in here?” Iron Hoof asked.

Mystic Faerie tilted her head up. “S-sorry. I only just decided…” she swallowed hard. “Terry. Have you picked somepony to defend him yet?”

Iron Hoof looked at the bingo cage and winced. “Er, uh…”

“I volunteer.”

Violet Edge’s eyes widened. Adorabelle felt like the beach room had become the arctic.

“N-no, not you,” she squeaked.

“You can’t do this!” Violet Edge said.

Mystic Faerie turned to them and gave a winning smile. “Why not? Don’t tell me you’re superstitious.”

“The curse is real!” Adorabelle squeaked.

“Twelve defense attorneys, all dead within a year of winning a murder trial, is not a coincidence!” Violet Edge shouted.

“Teflon Slick isn’t dead and it’s been over a decade!”

“But he’s, y’know, Teflon Slick!” Adorabelle rolled her eyes. “He’s probably immune to Smooze too.”

“Black Coffee isn’t dead either.”

“Not been a year yet,” Violet Edge hissed. “You can’t do this. I won’t let you.”

Mystic Faerie started scowling now. “You are not the boss of me.”

“Daddy! Tell her she can’t do this!” Adorabelle whined.

Sterling Scale stammered. “But she… I don’t…” He turned to Iron Hoof with a helpless expression.

Iron Hoof circled his desk and shook Mystic Faerie’s hoof. “We appreciate it, Miss Faerie.”

“Thank you.”

“B-but…” Adorabelle blinked tears away. “I don’t want you to die. Please.”

Mystic Faerie sighed and put a hoof on Adorabelle’s shoulder. “This curse has to end sometime, doesn’t it?”

Violet Edge dashed out of the room.

“Hey, wait!”Adorabelle ducked under Mystic Faerie’s hoof and galloped after him.

She followed him until he dashed into the stallion’s restroom. Then she stood outside, wondering if it was weird to wait and hoping he was just crying and not about to kill himself.

The curse had started as random newspaper speculation, just a series of strange coincidences. When the fourth attorney died, ponies had started getting edgy.

The fourth one had been Adorabelle’s mom, True Beauty.

After that, the evidence became more solid. It had taken a while to recognize it for what it was; some died in accidents, some in unsolved murders. Multiple times, the murderers in individual cases were caught, tried, and locked away, so it wasn’t the work of a single serial killer. The only thing the defense attorneys had in common was that they lived and worked in Canterlot and had successfully defended a murderer sometime in the last year or so. …All the defense attorneys who had successfully defended a murderer. Except Teflon Slick, nopony had escaped the curse, ever since that first bloody incident.

And it was the DL-6 incident, when Violet Edge’s father was killed.

That did it. That absolutely did it. Adorabelle knew exactly how she was going to spend her evening.

She dashed back the way she came and rammed straight into Iron Hoof coming the other way.

“Ow, ow, your horn hurts,” Iron Hoof whimpered, stumbling back and rubbing his chin where she’d poked him.

“Ooh, sorry. So sorry.”

“Where did… Violet Edge surprised me, running off like that.” Iron Hoof looked over Adorabelle’s head. “Is he okay?”

“Dunno. Maybe. I have a super important question-”

“Nope.”

“B-but you don’t even know what I was going to ask.” Adorabelle swished her tail angrily.

“Your dad already asked me not to tell you anything about the Missing Children Incident, and I’ve informed all my subordinates to do likewise, so don’t try to ask them.”

Iron Hoof never did anything halfway.

“Oh, like, that’s okay. It wasn’t about the Missing Children Incident. I just want to know the address of-”

“I’m also not telling you where Freddy’s is.”

Adorabelle’s eyes widened. “Freddy’s? Freddy’s what?”

Iron Hoof opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then he leaned against the wall and groaned. “Forget I said that…”

“Can’t. Ever.” Adorabelle grinned like a cat.

“Please don’t tell your dad.”

“Daddy says that when somepony says not to tell your parents something, that’s a clue you should tell your parents.”

“Of course he did.” He rubbed his eyes with one hoof.

“But I promise not to tell if you do one little thing for me.” Adorabelle stepped closer. “I want to know Teddy Ursa’s address.”

Iron Hoof took his hoof away. “Teddy? That… that’s not a very good idea.”

“You wouldn’t have let him off the star before he was cured, right?” Adorabelle asked. “And I don’t mean his home, I mean his old toy shop.”

“The other crime scene, then?” Iron Hoof paused. “I… I still wouldn’t go there. It’s in the chocolate district, so it’s not like you only have Teddy Ursa to worry about.”

“Okay.” Adorabelle turned to leave. “Guess I’ll just have to wander through the whole chocolate district looking for it…”

“No, no, don’t do that.” Iron Hoof spun her around. “I don’t care if your dad is a pathetic disciplinarian. I can enforce the rules when he’s too weak to do it himself, so if I hear you’ve been in that area at all-”

“What? You’ll make me sit in time out? This is, like, y’know… out of your jurisdiction.” Adorabelle smirked.

She shouldn’t have done that. Iron Hoof lifted her into the air with telekinesis and started down the hall.

“Ow, let go, please, you’re hurting meeee,” Adorabelle wailed, flailing her legs in the air.

“I consider that a threat that I can legally act on under the authority your father entrusted me with,” Iron Hoof snapped, throwing open the door to a board room. He set Adorabelle in one of the chairs. “And you will stay here until your dad agrees with me what needs to be done!” He slammed the door shut.

Adorabelle whimpered and felt her ribs. He hadn’t broken them when he grabbed her, at least. So she got off the stool and opened the door. Iron Hoof had left, and she didn’t feel any need to listen to bullies. She’d just have to get the address from a library directory or something.

It wasn’t until she’d left the prosecutor’s headquarters that she realized Iron Hoof had been trying to lock her in. The thought made her giggle. He’d never learn.

***

The chocolate district of Canterlot didn’t even look like part of the same city.

In a sense, it wasn’t. It was a totally different shelf of the mountain than the one most of Canterlot occupied. A few mountain paths of various quality levels were all that connected them together.

Before the chocolate factory, it used to be known as the commoner’s district or the “freepony” district, back when it was still okay to call ponies names like that. Back when mass slavery was openly acknowledged and racism was encouraged instead of fought, the aristocracy of Canterlot only allowed unicorns and slaves of unicorns to live in the main city. The chocolate district was built for everypony else.

While recent earth pony and pegasus immigrants were now allowed to move into main Canterlot, and technically there were no laws to stop current inhabitants of the chocolate district from moving out, nothing had really changed.

Adorabelle had never been here before, but she’d seen lots of pictures. Her mom had kept an album of them; she called it the “final evidence.” That is, the final evidence against the notion that Canterlot was no longer racially segregated. Things hadn’t improved since her mom’s time, from the looks of things.

The streets were littered with garbage and half of them weren’t paved. Skyscrapers huddled together for warmth, their muddy windows dark. Stores stacked on top of stores as if they were play sets put away by a careless foal.

Adorabelle held her hoofdrawn map in front of her with telekinesis. She’d picked a sunny yellow dress and dark blue hair gems to wear today, but now she was realizing how much it made her stand out here. She’d often heard the fashion advice that going without clothes in Canterlot meant you were either poor or a tourist; she was having trouble believing exactly how poor the poor ponies actually looked.

She passed something that looked like it had bygone aspirations of becoming a playground: a field of dirt with a park bench and a rusty dome-shaped jungle gym. A young mare sat on the park bench, looking like she’d nodded off sitting up, her coat and mane the same dusty shade of yellow, her feathers spread awkwardly against the peeling white paint. Under the jungle gym sat two fillies, one pegasus with a coat the same color as the older filly, and one dark red earth pony. They had marbles sitting between them, but their eyes were fixated on Adorabelle. They seemed neither happy nor sad nor angry; they were just staring.

Adorabelle shuddered and wished she could just keep looking at the map the whole trip. Everything about this place just seemed fake, like she wasn’t in the real world anymore. Ponies couldn’t live like this.

She trotted up a steep, rocky path winding out of town. Two stallions sat lazily behind a fruit stand full of mediocre produce and clouds of flies; they whistled when she passed.

“Hey, rich girl?” one said. “Take an old stallion’s advice and skedaddle home. You really don’t wanna be here when the mare in the moon comes out.”

Adorabelle just walked faster.

She finally neared the end of the map. Past several boarded up shops, there was a small river with a simple wooden bridge. She crossed the bridge when she came to it and found her destination.

Teddy Ursa’s Emporium (with a name like his, saying what it was an emporium of was a bit redundant) was a strange shop built right into the mountainside. A green door was recessed into the mountain, with a large display window next to it full of dusty bug-eyed bears. Two more windows floated over the store sign, the only indication of a second floor. Both had curtains drawn.

Adorabelle looked in the display window. Nothing but bears. And a cash register. Unless Teddy Ursa could turn into a bear, which wouldn’t surprise her that much, he wasn’t around.

She knocked anyway. When nothing happened, she pushed the door open.

A bell clanked at her as she pushed her way in. She looked up and saw a bizarre wind chime hanging by the door; it looked like it was made from scrapped gears and other weird pieces. The same bent oval piece occurred over and over.

Adorabelle squinted. The bent ovals looked a bit like… jaws.

Suppressing a shudder, Adorabelle turned to examine the rest of the shop. It kind of reminded her of Perfect Aim’s room, but it was better organized and had less variety. Nearer to the floor were bears just like the one involved in the current case. They seemed to only come in brown, black, and white. Higher up were more elaborate bears; they were bigger, came in more colors, and wore different clothes. They were all different; there was a ballerina, a doctor, a granny, some bear in a tux. Their eyes were different though; they didn’t look natural. They were black with colored lights in the center, a different color for each bear. In fact, as Adorabelle watched, some of the colors shifted.

“Hi.”

Adorabelle gasped and turned towards the sound. It seemed to be coming from near the cash register.

“Hello.”

“H-hi?” Adorabelle called back.

“Hi.”

“Where- who are you?” she stepped closer, slowly.

“Hello.”

Adorabelle put her hooves on the counter and leaned over.

Lying sprawled out on the floor was a strange unbearlike abomination. Its body was a sphere, with blue and red stripes on the top half. The bottom half was dark blue, leading into two navy blue legs with long brown feet on the ends. It had two thin pink rods sticking out the sides of the ball; one was connected to a sign that said ‘balloons’ and one was wrapped around, well, a balloon. Or a plastic model of a balloon, anyway.

And then there was the head. A perfectly spherical head with the same blue and red stripes on the top and a propeller sticking out above that. A head with two huge round blue eyes and rosy cheeks. A head with a red triangle for a nose, and a mouth filled with huge, white teeth.

“Hi.” There was no doubt the sound was coming from the strange toy.

“I… I know what you are.” Adorabelle leaned closer. “You’re a human, right?”

“Hello.”

Adorabelle smirked. “You, like, don’t know anything else to say, do you?”

The toy was silent. Then it sat upright, blue eyes staring into Adorabelle’s soul.

“Do you know what happens when the lights go out?” it asked.

Pain exploded behind Adorabelle’s head. She cried out and fell to the ground; she managed to make out a fuzzy brown shape slowly approaching her, before darkness overcame her vision.

Endless Sentence

“Please let her wake up… please let her wake up…”

Adorabelle blinked her eyes open, her vision still fuzzy. “Daddy?”

A loud gasp startled her. She blinked a bit and made out a pony’s face, a bit too close to hers. He was brown with a chin slightly fuzzier than the rest of his face. In between some spikey, straw colored bangs and a blue baseball cap was a horn, which surprised Adorabelle a bit.

“You’re awake.” The brown pony pulled back onto his haunches and bit his forehooves. “I was… so scared…”

Adorabelle looked around. She was lying on a patchy green couch, and on the ceiling was the world’s most boring chandelier, which had four lights but only one working bulb. A fireplace was on the opposite side of the small room, full of black logs and… something metal. Against one wall were two barrels, one of bears and one… well, one that was labeled “Kindling” but was actually full of cream-colored plush bunnies. The bunnies didn’t match anything in Teddy Ursa’s shop, and not just because they weren’t bears; they had… teeth. So many teeth, it looked like their heads were sliced apart near the bottom and teeth went all the way around. But they had the same huge, white, soulless eyes. Adorabelle decided she didn’t want to look at them anymore and looked at the other wall. It looked like his sewing station- work table, bolts of fabric on the wall, etc. But closer to the ceiling was a shelf with five stuffed animals. Only one of the animals was a bear; there was also a blue rabbit, a yellow… duck?... and two foxes, one red and one white. They looked like part of a set.

“How’s your head, miss?”

Adorabelle looked at the brown unicorn. “Ugh… I just got knocked out and woke up with next to no brain damage. I guess that means I’m totally an investigator now…” She felt her head and found a small lump. It hurt more to touch it than Daring Do books had lead her to expect. “You’re… Teddy Ursa?”

The brown pony nodded. For a former murderer, he looked pretty terrified of Adorabelle. In fact, he just didn’t look much like a murderer at all; he had a cutie mark of an adorable teddy bear, and even though he had to be in his thirties or forties, his face just looked coltishly innocent.

“Why did you hit meee?” Adorabelle whimpered.

Teddy Ursa pulled on his baseball cap brim nervously. “I’m sorry. I don’t… I th-thought… you surprised me, and I thought you were… um… a ghost.”

“A ghost?” Adorabelle blinked. “Then… then… you don’t hit ghosts on the head, you idiot! I mean, like, what were you trying to accomplish?”

Teddy Ursa whimpered. “I didn’t know what to think. I was scared…”

“I don’t even look like a-” Adorabelle paused. “W-wait, did you… did you think I was my mom?”

Teddy Ursa looked up and blinked. “Who?”

“True Beauty. My mom. We, like, look identical and stuff… nothing?”

Teddy Ursa shook his head.

“Then, like, why’d you think I was a ghost?”

Teddy Ursa picked up a black bear that was lying face down on the floor next to him. He hugged it to his chest before continuing. “Because nopony ever comes here.” Pause. “Also because I thought the door was locked.”

“Oops.” Adorabelle rolled onto her stomach. “So, um… hey, like, if you’re a unicorn, why do you live in the chocolate district?” Maybe it was best to not talk about the murder just yet.

Teddy Ursa looked down at the bear in his forehoof, as if expecting it to tell him the answer. Then he walked over to the barrel of bears and pulled out a white one as well.

“When I was little, I got my cutie mark in making special bears.” He tossed the white bear to Adorabelle. “Hold.”

Adorabelle caught the bear in her telekinesis.

“In your forelegs.”

Adorabelle shifted the bear to her chest and hugged it.

Soon, a wave of warmth washed over her. Joy bubbled through her heart, and she couldn’t keep from smiling.

“The stuffing… it holds emotions, like sponges. Every bear I sew. It’s not really a spell I can teach, I just know how.” Teddy Ursa walked back to th couch and sat down. “The white bears I stuff… stuffed… with lots of love and happiness. And when you squeeze them, the emotions come out.” He tossed the black bear from his foreleg up into his telekinetic grip. “The black bears are empty, but when you hug them, you can pour in any negative emotions… sadness, anger… loneliness.”

“What about the brown bears?” Adorabelle set the white bear on the floor and sat up.

“That… that was a bad idea.” Teddy Ursa gnawed his lower lip. “I… I was hoping I was ready to make bears that stored something more complex. They were supposed to take in memories… copies of memories, mind, while they were still fresh. And when you squeaked the nose, you could play them back.” He levitated some brown bears over. “But, well… I don’t think it worked. I guess because it’s easy to vividly feel an emotion, so you can put it in. But it’s not easy to vividly remember something.”

“I, like, really need to know about that.” Adorabelle pulled one brown bear into her own grip. “See, I was, like, wondering… did anything bad happen? Are they… dangerous?”

“D-dangerous?” All the bears Teddy Ursa was holding fell to the floor. “Oh, Celestia, I hope not. They just… they just aren’t very effective. They ended up being an unwanted hybrid of white and black bears; all your emotions pour in when you hug them and come out when you squeak the nose. …but someponies like that, I guess, so I kept selling them. Wh-why would you say they’re dangerous?”

He seemed too on edge. “Oh, like, nothing. I just… wondered.” Adorabelle paused. “Hey, wait, you, like, never answered my question. Why do you live here? Isn’t it, like, bad for business?”

Teddy Ursa froze. “It wasn’t about business…” Tears appeared in his eyes. “Not c-completely. I… I’d read about this place… the children don’t have many toys, you know? I thought… I felt… like they needed me. And my talent.” He picked the black bear back up and hugged it. His tears vanished. “But nopony comes anymore.” He swallowed. “They all blame me…” He raised his hind leg, showing Adorabelle the emerald-encrusted band around his ankle. “And house arrest means I can’t go to them. Takes all my strength to stick my head out of my upstairs window.”

“But… but how do you live? I mean, like, food and stuff…”

“My sister’s my appointed keeper. She comes once a week with new groceries.”

“That’s… that sounds sad. And, like, dangerous.” Adorabelle tossed the brown bear back towards the barrel, but it tumbled off the top. “So, like, how long till that bit’s over?”

Teddy Ursa blinked. “Not sure…”

“Didn’t they tell you?”

“I don’t know…”

“Or, like, send you a letter?”

“Mailpony stopped coming. Sister sometimes brings stuff, when she remembers.”

Teddy Ursa was starting to rock back and forth, hugging the bear tightly to his chest, so Adorabelle tried to think of something happier to talk about. Her eyes fell on the five plushies on the far shelf.

“Hey, like, why do you have foxes and a bunny?”

Good choice. Teddy Ursa’s eyes lit up, and he practically leaped over to the shelf. “You haven’t met the Freddy Fazbear Five? Let me teach you!” He scooped them into yellow telekinesis and made them dance up to Adorabelle. “This is Freddy, the friendliest bear you’ll ever meet.” He pushed the top-hatted bear up to to Adorabelle. “He’s the lead singer and he loves children. Next up is Bonnie the bunny.” He held out the blue bunny. “He loves to rock out on his guitar, and he’s super strong, too!” Next was the yellow duck. “This is Chica the chick.”

“Not a duck?”

“Not a duck. She sings duets with Freddy.”

Adorabelle pushed Chica and Freddy’s faces together. “Can I ship them?”

“No, no, no!” Teddy Ursa pulled them back apart. “You can only ship the foxes. Freddy and Chica are just friends.”

“Okay, so, like, who are the foxes?”

“If such a thing was possible, they are even cooler than the Fazbear crew.” Teddy Ursa set the first three plushies lovingly on the floor and held out the two foxes. “This is Captain Foxy and first mate Mangle.”

“Hey, wait, are these just your toys?” Adorabelle said. “I mean, like, I heard that Freddy… uh… had… a location?”

Teddy Ursa blinked at her.

“Freddy’s? Does Freddy’s mean anything to you?”

Teddy Ursa gasped joyfully. “You mean the pizzeria! Freddy Fazbear’s pizzeria! The most magical and fun place on earth!” He looked even more like a child, from the way his eyes shone. “That was my brother-in-law’s pet project. He wanted to build a fun place for kids to play, and… and…” Teddy telekinetically gathered all five plushes to his chest and hugged them tightly. “When he asked me to design the publicity team, I was over the moon!”

“Oh, wow, you know about Freddy’s!” Adorabelle bounced on the couch. “That’s so awesome because I totally need to go there because I think my mom and this other guy were killed there and I want-”

The plushies all fell to the ground as Teddy Ursa stared at her in frozen horror. “No. No, please, please, not again…”

“Again?” Adorabelle leaned forward eagerly. “Why? What do you know? What-”

Teddy pressed a hoof to his mouth and stared at the floor, tears streaming down his cheeks. Then he grabbed Adorabelle’s shoulders, making her squeak.

“What happened? Is Freddy’s okay? They didn’t arrest Clockwork, did they? Please tell me… tell me they won’t shut it down l-like, like, like-”

“I don’t know! Please let me go!” Adorabelle scrambled to the far side of the couch, away from Teddy. “I’m sorry, I’m totally sorry, I didn’t want to upset you, please…” She swallowed. “Right. You were, like, on your star when my mom died. You wouldn’t know…”

“What happened?” Teddy Ursa’s voice was softer now. “Please say they’re okay…”

“I-I don’t know. I, like, only just learned that Freddy’s existed; I wouldn’t know if it closed.” Adorabelle paused. “Oh, but, like, I’m pretty sure nopony named Clockwork was arrested any time in the past ten years.”

Teddy Ursa sighed. “Thank goodness.” He wiped his eyes. “Could I… ask you to check for me?”

“What about your sister?”

Teddy Ursa winced. “My sister, Plushie Shell… and Clockwork Heart were basically made for each other. Almost literally; ponies thought they’d be married while they were still kids. And… they were, but their divorce was… very messy. And Plushie Shell is scary when she gets mad, and, uh, I can’t afford to make her mad at me, since she’s, well, all I have. So… I’m scared to ask her about him.”

“Oh.”

“I get newspapers, but apparently nothing newsworthy is happening there. I write letters, but… my sister delivers them, and, well…”
“This seems inequine.” But then he did murder somepony-

-Hey, wait, why was she making friends with him?

“Why did you kill my friend’s dad?” Adorabelle asked.

Teddy Ursa cringed. “It was… it was stupid.”

“No, stupid is for things you say and, like, tripping and stuff. Not for murders.”

“I had nothing against Violet Eyes!” Teddy Ursa turned to the side. “He’d just got done defending my cousin, when nopony else would stand with him. Violet Eyes was… I owed so much to him. I was going to give his son a bear; that’s why they were here.” He inhaled sharply. “You… do you know what happened next?”

“Not really.” She’d been waiting for Violet Edge to find the courage to tell her in his own words.

“Come here.” Teddy Ursa waved his hoof and walked out the door.

Adorabelle followed him to a small hall. On one side was a stone staircase, on the other a set of doors with the word ‘condemned’ spray painted on in red.

“I took them down to the storeroom, because I had a special bear just for Violet Edge.” Teddy Ursa gestured to the two heavy metal doors. “My brother-in-law Clockwork Heart had this new-fangled thing he’d designed called an 'elevator'. It’s a box for ponies that goes up and down. He was going to install one in Freddy’s, but before he did the construction he wanted to test it in my shop. I let him. I can’t say no to him. That was a little dumb.” He pointed to the ceiling. “It has gears up there… or something. I never really understood it. But when we went down, well, something bad happened and the box stopped moving. We couldn’t go back up. We were buried alive.”

Adorabelle shuddered.

“There’s lead in these mountains, so even if I did know how to teleport or send messages or… whatever, we couldn’t. My shop… used to be… busy… so we were pretty sure somepony would notice soon enough. But nopony noticed, so we started getting… paranoid.” Teddy Ursa inhaled slowly. “I t-try not to remember any of it. See, the reason why it was condemned… I didn’t know this until that very day, but the mountain doesn’t just have lead. That far down, it also has this mineral called Sirenite. Heard of it?”

Adorabelle shrugged.

“Apparently it radiates energy that makes ponies… kind of… lose it.”

“Oh, yeah, we learned about that in history class,” Adorabelle said. “Like, apparently it was a thing back in pegasus warrior days where they would, like, take prisoners of war and trap them in caves full of Sirenite and wait until they went crazy. Then they’d make a prisoner exchange and wait for Tartarus to break loose.”

Teddy Ursa swallowed. “L-like that. Well, I… I had a tub of water down there; I used it for *I’ll think of something later*. But I was thirsty from being trapped…” His breathing got ragged. “The tub was built into the wall. Near a huge Sirenite deposit. The water was… st-steeped in the stuff.” Tears appeared, again. “Ponies… sometimes go mad just from being next to Sirenite, and I just.. I sw-swallowed it down…”

Adorabelle hugged him. “Please don’t cry. It’s not your fault-”

“If it’s not my fault, why am I being punished?” Teddy Ursa pulled away and rested his hooves on the wall. “Why does everypony blame me? Why do they hide from me? Why did I have to lose five of the best years of my life, in space? Why am I trapped in here? Why-”

Adorabelle dashed back into the room with the couch, grabbed several black bears, and telekinetically pushed them against Teddy Ursa.

“I shouldn’t have told you about that.” Teddy Ursa grabbed a few of the bears in his forelegs and squeezed them. “S-sorry. I just… I just…” He rested his head on the bear’s heads. “Violet Edge… shouldn’t be fatherless. Nothing I’ve suffered is worse than that.”

That was debatable, but Adorabelle was just glad he wasn’t yelling anymore.

“I always was taught… I thought that good things happened to good ponies, and bad things to bad ones.” Teddy Ursa set most of the bears in a sitting position against the wall, but kept cradling one. “If… if it really isn’t… this… all this wouldn’t be happening if I wasn’t really… bad… right?”

“Oh, you’re a Karmite?” Adorabelle asked.

“I don’t like that word anymore. Not since that prosecutor.”

“Me neither. I mean, like, I know it’s a religion and ‘karma’ means something else to most ponies, but to me it’s the jerk who lives next door and likes to yell at my dad.” Teddy Ursa had a blank look on his face. “Perfect Karma. Um, the guy who lives next door to me. Hey, like, was he the prosecutor in your trial, too?”

Teddy Ursa leaned his horn against the wall and shut his eyes. “Right, that slimeball.”

“Slimey? I thought you were guilty…”
“Yes, and that’s the problem! I was guilty and everypony knew it. I was ready to admit it. But…” He took a deep breath. “I’m… getting too worked up over nothing. I should calm down.” It sounded like he was ordering himself around in the absence of a psychologist. “I mean, nothing bad happened. I got what I deserved. He just… ugh. Some of the evidence got changed around for no darn reason; anything ambiguous disappeared, or changed slightly.”

“Really? You sure?” Adorabelle leaned forward. “I’d, like, heard rumors that Perfect Karma is obsessive… like, he needs all the evidence to be perfect. But, like, you’d think your testimony would be enough.”

Teddy Ursa winced. “I don’t remember any of it, really. Soon after I swallowed the water, I blacked out.” He paused. “Also, Perfect Karma claimed my memory was just playing tricks on me, and the evidence hadn’t changed. I guess… I guess… I can’t say he’s wrong.”

“Oh.” Adorabelle felt sulky. “Hey, wait, like, if you can’t call yourself a Karmite, what will you call yourself?”

“I don’t know. Do-gooder is supposed to be degrading…”

“What about a Christian?” Adorabelle beamed.

Teddy Ursa stared at her. “That’s something else… I think that’s those crazy ponies that worship Megan.”

Adorabelle’s beams stopped shining. “No! No we don’t! Megan brought Christianity to us, but she’s not who we worship!”

“Oh, I-I didn’t know,” Teddy Ursa squeaked. “Don’t get mad…”

Adorabelle huffed. “Sorry. I just, like, get tired of hearing that.” That wasn’t a good first impression. “But, like, Christianity is awesome and stuff! See, there’s this human named-”

“I-I don’t really… believe in humans,” Teddy Ursa said.

Adorabelle blinked. “Wh… wh… whaaaa? But, but, Megan was here less than a century ago, and like-”

“I believe in Megan, but she’s the only one we’ve ever seen,” Teddy Ursa said. “I mean, the whole idea that there’s another world out there, full of sentient beings like us, and that Megan’s the only one we’ve had contact with… It’s just too much to believe.”

“What about Danny and Molly?”

“That’s just further proof. Danny and Molly aren’t always around when Megan is, right? I’m pretty sure they’re just enchanted apes… I mean, that’s what science says, right? They’re magically abnormal apes? And when a female develops abnormality, we think we’re seeing Megan, and when it’s male, or there are two females… wait, are you okay?”

Adorabelle felt her eyes fill with tears. “Humans are r-real, I know they are.”

“Oh, gosh, I-I’m so sorry, please don’t cry.” Teddy looked around slightly frantically, then pressed a black bear into Adorabelle’s chest.

Adorabelle felt her eyes dry up, and the upset feelings that had hurt her so much a second ago suddenly felt far away, like they’d been banished to the stars.

“This feels like cheating,” Adorabelle said. She wasn’t ready to stop being upset yet.

“Anyway…” Teddy Ursa turned away. “You… you only came here to talk about murder, didn’t you?”

“It, like, sounds morbid when you put it that way…”

“But is it true?”

Adorabelle set the black bear with the other bears by the wall. “Oh, like, I also need a bear for Perfect Aim.”

“Is that… another Perfect?”

“Mmm. Karma’s daughter. Huge fan of your work.” Adorabelle pulled a small pink wallet out of a pocket in her yellow dress. “How much?”

Teddy Ursa swallowed. “If you… if you promise to bring me the news at Freddy’s, it’s free.”

“Oh, well, like-”

“There is literally nothing I want more right now… except freedom, which you can’t get me. And bits can’t pay for news.”

Adorabelle returned the wallet to her pocket. “Oh, like, okay. That’s, like, totally, um, sensical.”

“I used to give the black and white bears away all the time,” Teddy said. “I made my money on the custom bears.” He scooped up one bear of each color in his telekinetic grip and hovered them in front of Adorabelle. “Which one?”

Adorabelle hesitated. Black made the most sense, but Perfect Aim already had one of those and it didn’t seem to be doing her much good.

Or maybe it did, and that was why she was so calm when Adorabelle went to visit her.

“Do these things… y’know, wear out?” Adorabelle asked.

“Well… I think they do get less effective over time… but it’s not really a-”

A loud clang of wind chimes cut them off. Teddy’s eyes widened.

“Hellooo?” There were hoofsteps upstairs. “Where’s my favorite baby brother? I brought food…”

“Oh, like-”

Teddy Ursa rammed a black bear into Adorabelle’s open mouth. “Sh-sh!” he whisper-shouted. “Hide. Quick. Now!” He turned and scrambled up the stairs. “Shelly? I… I thought you weren’t coming for another two days!”

“Well… I just wanted to bake some bunny cookies, and I need someone to share with. There’s too many for just me and my baby.” There was a clashing, chomping sound. “Okay, okay, just one more, sweetie.” The chomping sound continued, but now with the sound of cookies being crushed. This amused Plushie Shell apparently, since she started laughing… much more hysterically than the situation seemed to call for. But then, Adorabelle couldn’t see what was happening, and maybe normal moms just laughed at everything their children did… she hardly knew.

Oh, right, she was supposed to be hiding. She turned toward the elevator. Might as well kill two birds with one stone… Well, it said ‘condemned’ but she just would rush back up if she felt the Sirenite making her mad. She just wanted a look…

With her horn, she pulled one of the shiny metal doors to the side, not quite sure what she was expecting to see.

The elevator was a total letdown. It just looked like a broom closet with no brooms. She walked inside and looked around. He’d said there was something that went up and down, but she couldn’t see-

As soon as she let go of the door, it slammed shut, leaving Adorabelle in complete darkness. And then the floor started falling. Adorabelle screamed and dropped to the ground. She didn’t want to be here; she was an idiot for coming; now she was falling and-

The floor stopped. The doors slid open.

Adorabelle swallowed. This was it.

The room was lit with a single dusty bulb, giving everything a spider-webbed look. The walls were the pure grayish-green stone of the mountain. Adorabelle’s view was blocked by several very high shelves; they formed a kind of maze that she wove through, sometimes stopping to push boxes out of the way. One shelf had nothing but bolts of fabric in various states of decay- some moth-eaten, some merely faded. Another shelf had boxed up bears with shipping labels on them. Apparently Teddy Ursa did mail orders.

The boxes varied in how easy they were to push; some had only stuffing, others had metal pieces in them.

At last, Adorabelle reached the back of the room… and saw it.

Blood.

A thick dark brown stain, forming a puddle as big as Adorabelle’s bed. Did ponies really have that much blood inside of them? One of the edges of the stain was irregular, like something had taken a bite out of it. The blood pooled against the wall that, Adorabelle assumed, Violet Eyes had fallen against when he died. There were lighter patches where his body had been… and a smaller patch right next to them.

Clinical Cause had just started his job around the time Violet Eyes had died. According to him, when the police got there, Violet Edge was lying next to his father, snuggled right near where the wound was as though trying to block the flow. He was so still, and so covered with blood, that police reported it as a double homicide. They covered both of them with a plastic sheet, and Clinical Cause had come to take a look and oversee the removal of the body. He’d tried to pull the little colt away from his dad.

And then Violet Edge had opened his eyes. His brilliant violet eyes were full of reproach.

“Why did you have to wake me?” they said.

That was how Clinical Cause described it. Adorabelle believed it; there were days when she looked at Violet Edge and saw the same thing.

“Why did I have to wake up?”

Tears blurred Adorabelle’s eyes, and she turned away. She should probably leave…

…Through her streaked vision, Adorabelle thought she saw something yellow dash between two shelves.

Adorabelle quickly wiped a hoof across her eyes, but the golden creature was gone.

“Hellooo?” Adorabelle called, stepping closer to where she’d seen the thing.

A rustling of boxes answered her. Adorabelle froze. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The rustling stopped. For a moment, there was silence. Then, a soft whisper:

“S… A…V…E…T…H…”

“That’s not how you spell Safety Dance!” Adorabelle giggled and finished walking towards the source of the sound. “Silly misspeller…”

A pair of soulless eyes met her. Adorabelle gasped softly.

A pile of soft brown fuzzy fabric lay on the floor. On top was a bear head with empty voids for eyes and a black scary mouth…

…It was just a mascot head and Adorabelle was being silly. This lighting made everything creepy.

She picked up the head and gasped again. There was a note under the head, on top of the fabric.

And it had her name on it.

“Beauty: always wear when investigating. –Vigil.”

…Well, it seemed like a silly request, but if you couldn’t trust random scraps of paper, who could you trust? So Adorabelle picked up the fabric and shook it. It turned out to be a fuzzy costume, kind of like footie pajamas. She unzipped it in back and slipped it on; it was very cozy, actually.

Last step, the bear head. Adorabelle hesitatingly picked it up and slowly slid it over her head, wondering if her horn would fit.

She needn’t have worried. It was a bit tight, and the eye holes were a little small, but otherwise it was a pretty good fit. Wagging her new bear tail happily, she went back to the elevator and hopped in.

After the elevator reached the top floor, she remembered why she’d gone down there in the first place. Oops.

The doors slid open once she reached the top. And now there was a pony on the stairs that she hadn’t seen before.

She was a light purple unicorn with a long dirty blonde mane. Her eyes were a soft green and heavily lashed. A baby sling was wrapped around her chest, but it wasn’t a baby she was carrying. It had long ears and bug eyes and perpetually snapping jaws.

“Ohhh, you,” the mare said, curling a forehoof protectively around her plush bunny. “Your dad was a liar, do you understand me!? My dearest plushtraps came first, and the last survivor shall be the heir. Not. You.” Her eyes narrowed. A bit of foam appeared at the corner of her mouth, and she licked it off.

Adorabelle took a step backward, hoping the crazy lady would go away.

“Right, you should be scared!” The mare shook her forehoof wildly. “We talked about this! Go haunt the pony who actually killed you! His shift should be starting any minute now… “

“Sh-shelly? Who are you talking to?” Teddy Ursa appeared at the top of the stairs.

Plushie Shell pulled her blonde mane out of her face and tossed it over her shoulder, but it was just the right length that it cascaded back down to block her eye. “Can’t you see him, dummy?”

“I’m a she…” Adorabelle muttered. Her voice was weird and echo-y.

Teddy Ursa looked at Adorabelle, then at Shelly, then back to Adorabelle once more before finally fixing his gaze on his sister. “I don’t see anything.”

Plushie Shell blinked rapidly and dramatically for a few seconds. Then she sighed exasperatedly. “And you wonder why you’re such a loser!” She stomped upstairs, treading on two of Teddy Ursa’s hooves as she passed. Teddy managed to smile and wince at the same time.

Adorabelle walked up to the foot of the stairs and looked up. “Mind if I borrow this?”

Teddy Ursa looked down at her. “It… oh Celestia. Adorabelle, are you okay?”

“Oh, like, sure!” Adorabelle slipped the mascot head off and let it hover just over her head.

“O-oh, it’s that costume, not the… where the hay did you find that? I’ve been looking everywhere…”

“It was just, like, sitting out in the open.” Adorabelle’s voice got quiet. “And it, like, had my name on it…”

“It does look almost cute on you,” Teddy Ursa said. “Please, take it. Clockwork Heart will be happy to see it again; he was so…” His expression went blank for a second. “Um…” He shook his head. “It’s been a… bunch of years… things get muddled; I don’t remember where I was going with this.” He sighed. “Um… so, yeah, let me draw you a map to Freddy’s. Uh, what color bear did you want again?”

***

Teddy Ursa finally managed to get his older sister to leave. Then Adorabelle left, carrying a tissue-paper wrapped bear and a map to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in her telekinetic grip.

And then it turned out to be night. She must have been unconscious for longer than she thought.

Her horn light did nothing while she was wearing the bear costume, since her horn was tucked inside. So she had to navigate by the moonlight. Why weren’t there any streetlamps?

At least the streets were deserted.

Freddy’s was much nearer to regular Canterlot than Teddy Ursa’s shop, but it was still technically in the district. Adorabelle had been to that region; a number of pretty high quality shops were there, generally chains that could afford the blow to their reputation that being in the chocolate district normally dealt. Also, cheap rent.

They were all closed now, of course. Adorabelle probably wouldn’t get to actually go to Freddy’s today, but it was on the way home, and she just wanted sooo badly to see what it looked like and where it was.

Studying the map became more critical now. Past a cute boutique she’d have to visit when it was open (ooh, summer hats!), past a fancy candle store…

And then she heard the music. Soft at first, then growing louder as she walked closer, faster.
Let’s try to make it right,
Don’t wanna start a fight,
And we’re do sorry if we give you all a little fright.
We’re not so scary if you see us in the daylight!
You’ll be so happy just as long as you survive the night!

Around the corner, and-

There. There it was.

A long building covered in purple stucco, with one huge picture window (curtains drawn) and a set of double-doors with gleaming gold handles. The roof was tall and dark brown, with blue letters that spelled the restaurant’s name and a cartoon bear face painted on it.

Entranced, Adorabelle headed for the double doors and reached out her hoof to push… when she saw the closed sign.

And closed signs meant locked.

Dang it.

Well… maybe there was an unlocked back door. She circled around, past a set of purple dumpsters (that was a thing?), around to the back of the building. There was another door there, this one a dark yellow, heavy duty and unassuming. Tentatively, Adorabelle twisted the silver handle.

Slowly, she pulled it open to reveal a dark hallway. The floor had reddish-pink carpet, and she thought she saw a flickering light way, way down at the end. But that was all.

And with the bear head on, she couldn’t use her light.

This was a bad idea… she should go home… it was getting late…

But before Adorabelle knew quite what she was doing, all four hooves were through the door.
Which then slowly creaked shut behind her, cutting off the meager light from the starry sky and officially sealing her in Freddy’s.

Author's Note

Well, it's been over ten chapters and under 50,000 words, but we've finally made it to Freddy's!

...And lucky for you, the chapter title didn't mean that this chapter consists of a single 5,000 word sentence. The temptation was there, though.

Endless Mistakes

Adorabelle had not thought this through. The hallways was completely dark except for the dim red light of an exit sign above her and a flickering light down the hallway that was-

The light at the end of the hall shut off, leaving her with only the exit sign. Never mind…

“*squawk* Hello, Hello! *squawk*”

The sound made Adorabelle jump.

“*squawk* Hello, Hello! *squawk*”

It sounded like a parrot with its head stuck in a tin can.

“H-hello?” Adorabelle responded.

“*squawk* Hello, Hello! And welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s pizza, the most magical restaurant you ever did see!”

The voice had changed. The squawk still sounded tinny, but the rest sounded… equine. A bit fuzzy, but equine nonetheless.

“You are currently near the emergency exit, so unless there is an emergency of a fire-slash-wild magic-slash monster attack nature, I must urge you to return to the party room where you came from. Keep walking in that direction if you need the restrooms. At the far end is the show stage, where you can watch the greatest show on earth! Thank you and remember to smile, you are having a ball at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza!”

The whole time it was talking, Adorabelle was creeping closer to the sound. Then the nose of her bear mask hit a wall.

“Oof.” She stretched out a forehoof and ran it over the wall; she could feel a seam of wallpaper, slightly curling. Walking carefully on three legs, she took a few steps forward.

Then the lights snapped on in a room off of the hallway. Like a moth, Adorabelle darted gratefully to the door and peered inside.

It was a room with shiny pink wallpaper and two long white tables. Rows of striped metallic paper hats lined the tables. On the wall directly opposite Adorabelle hung some paper dolls, about as tall as her, with paper plates for heads, decorated amateurishly with crayon. To the right was a wall covered with a… well, it kind of looked like a mirror, but the reflection was all grayed out and fuzzy.

Oh, she knew what that was. They had them in the police department too; they were magic mirrors. Somewhere there must be another mirror that displayed the reflection the mirror was supposed to be displaying.

Satisfied, she turned her head to see, for curiosity’s sake, what the pony with the other mirror would see.

Her eyes bugged out.

Hunched against the wall was a giant purple bunny, twice as tall as Adorabelle. It was on all fours, but the front paws looked like hands with the fingers chopped into pieces. A red bowtie rested under the bunny’s chin. It’s mouth was hanging open, revealing a row of spaced-out teeth shaped like little white tombstones. Its eyes were wide open- no- had no eyelids, were glowing slightly, and had round black pupils with slight violet irises. Its ears looked broken in the middle and the tops of them were bent over.

Adorabelle trotted closer to the behemoth. It looked like a statue of… wait, what was that bunny’s name? It was the wrong color, but…

“Bonnie?” Adorabelle asked.

As if in response, a soft sound echoed through the room, like a soft female moan. Adorabelle looked through the room to try and see the source of the sound.

The mirror was working like a normal mirror again. She could see her reflection; the bear costume looked cute on her, but for some reason her eyes weren’t lining up with the mask’s eyes or something; they looked like empty black sockets.

She turned back to the purple bunny and reached out a hoof towards the ears.

The rabbit’s hand shot out and hit her in the throat. Adorabelle only got a second to gasp before the creature’s fist closed around her windpipe, making her squeak in pain. Slowly, the rabbit rose to stand on its hind legs, lifting Adorabelle into the air until her legs couldn’t touch the ground.

Adorabelle started flailing; she kicked at the rabbit’s legs with her hind ones, and her forelegs scrabbled at its arms. She couldn’t breathe; the world was turning pink…

They were glowing pink, sparkling pink. The pink glow got brighter until she couldn’t see, and then in a flash, everything was dark again.

But Adorabelle could still see Bonnie’s white, glowing eyes. She saw them until she finally lost consciousness for the second time in as many days.

***

Adorabelle’s brain felt fuzzy when she woke up. Something was poking her in the back… it felt like a box corner.

Everything was completely dark. She wiggled her legs a bit; they were fine at least. Her chin still hurt from where Bonnie had bopped it, and her throat hurt some.

Moaning, she twisted her body and tried to stand up. She could feel a small pile of boxes and some brooms. Maybe this was another elevator.

In anticipation, she pressed her body to the ground in case the thing started falling, and then she heard music.

It was a piano, a jaunty tune and very well played. It made her think of saloons in the Old West. And it was coming from the floor.

There was something under there; a basement level or something. And the closet didn’t seem to be moving, which meant there had to be another way down there.

Adorabelle lifted herself back to her hooves and felt her head spin a bit at the change in elevation. Feeling along the wall, her hoof brushed against… yes, it was some kind of strange sphere attached to the wall! She pressed it eagerly.

The door swung open. The sphere was a normal doorknob.

That was disappointing.

The hallway in front of her was poorly lit by light bulbs that weren’t even trying. The floor was made of black and white tiles; the walls were pink… and badly torn. A baby gate stretched across the hall with a sign saying “Pirate’s Cove Under Construction. Employees Only.”

Adorabelle stared blankly at the sign, wondering if there was any point in heeding that warning when she’d already invaded the restaurant. Then she decided she might want to check first and see if there was anything worth disobeying the sign for, so she looked up and tried to see further down the hallway.

Wait, there was something. Down the hall. Something had moved; she hadn’t seen what. It had looked bipedal, but not tall enough to be the homicidal rabbit. And it hadn’t had ears.

Adorabelle instinctively lit her horn, only to be blinded when the light went nowhere but inside the mascot head she’d forgotten she was wearing. Ouch.

When she blinked the red blotches out of her vision, she saw the creature peek at her again. It certainly didn’t have any ears, but it was more a silhouette in the bad lighting, and ducked away as soon as it saw her.

That did it. Adorabelle leapt over the fence and trotted down the closed hallway, her hoofsteps clacking on the cold tile.

About halfway she noticed something strange on the wall. It looked like a portal to a ship, but instead of a window, it had a green plastic tunnel that bent down and vanished. There was lots of inexpertly applied duct tape crisscrossing it in many directions and wadded in sticky clumps along the metal rim. A handwritten sign above the portal said “No, seriously, we weren’t kidding, it’s closed. Please return to your party room/main stage/parents. Thank you, and remember to smile! ~Record Scratch”

Adorabelle made a mental note to investigate that later, but the bipedal creature was her main priority, and it hadn’t ducked through there… the duct tape was better proof than any spiderweb. So she trotted down the second half of the hallway.

There was another baby gate here, but it was lying against the wall instead of blocking the hallway. There was a right turn here, so Adorabelle took it; not far after the turn was a set of double doors, designed to be pushed open with a cart, each with a round window a little too high for Adorabelle to see through.

“Probably the kitchen,” Adorabelle said to herself, out loud.

As if in response, the pots and pans inside clattered.

Adorabelle took a step back. “H-hello?”

The doors flung wide, and a yellow blur leapt at her. It’s blue eyes were wide, but it’s orange beak was wider, showing its many Bonnie-like teeth.

Adorabelle closed her eyes and screamed for a solid ten seconds.

Then she ran out of breath and stopped, and realized the other creature was screaming too.

And it was screaming words.

“New friend! New friend! New friend!”

Adorabelle opened her eyes to see the creature was now hopping up and down, its long orange legs compressing like a grasshopper’s, its long yellow arms flapping at its sides like wings, and an apron on its front fluttering up and down.

Adorabelle watched the strange creature a little longer, letting her head bob up and down in time with the duck-like thing’s rhythmic jumping and wondering if she should run or just wait for it to finish.

The lights flickered out, so that all Adorabelle could see was the creature’s glowing eyes with blue irises. When they turned back on, the duck stopped and stumbled backward, its beak still hanging open in what now looked like an astonished expression since no sound was coming out.

“New friend?” Adorabelle repeated, shivering a little.

With an extra loud grinding of gears, the yellow creature straightened its legs so fast that it wobbled back and forth when it was done. “Yes! You! We’re so so so so happy to have you here!” During all this talking, its beak didn’t even close completely; the two halves of its beak just bent an inch closer and an inch back, looking more like a hand puppet than an actual rigid beak. Then its long arm snaked behind its back and brought out a small pinkish-purple object. “Mister Cupcake says hello!”

Adorabelle examined the toy. It had a silver wrapper, a plastic candle with a fake flame sticking out the top, two black eyes, and a grin. Eyeballs and teeth did not belong in baked goods.

“Hello?” she said. “Um, like, you’re the duck I think?”

The yellow creature didn’t freeze, because it hadn’t been moving when Adorabelle asked the question. But it didn’t move for another ten seconds; Adorabelle counted.

“Chick. Chica. I’m a chick.” It’s voice sounded lower and its beak didn’t move.

“OMP, I’m sorry!”

The creature still didn’t move; just stared at Adorabelle with its black-rimmed, blue-eyed stare.

Adorabelle swallowed.

Then Chica bounced into the air again and tucked the cupcake behind its back again while in midair. “Come on come on come on! We have a Welcome to Freddy’s party all ready for you!” She bounced backwards through the swinging doors, which swung shut too fast for Adorabelle to see the inside of the kitchen.

The hall lights chose that moment to shut off, but Adorabelle could see the kitchen was still bright. She trotted forward and nosed the kitchen door open, taking in the shiny steel tables and shiny pots and knives and-

Adorabelle screamed and pulled her head back out of the door. That purple rabbit that attacked her was in there too!

She had to run, but which direction? Back the way she came? No, further down the hall. She dashed blindly in that direction, unable to see anything in the dark. She hit a wall- no- a door. She yanked it open and stumbled across slippery tile. She could hear clunking, clanking footsteps behind her.

The light came on, revealing two sinks, a large mirror, and two restroom stalls.

She’d let herself run into a dead end.

Clump, clump, the steps came closer.

Window, there had to be a window, there just had to be. She scrambled to the back and looked around wildly.

She was in luck; there was a ventilation duct in the ceiling, with the grate hanging half off, and it was even the right size for her!

A loud pounding on the door made Adorabelle’s heart jump. Following her heart, she threw a stall door open and climbed on top of the toilet tank. If she stretched, she could almost… yes, she could just get her forehoof up into the air duct. Now if she could just-

Sharp spikes dug into the top and bottom of her hoof. Adorabelle screamed and pulled away, losing her balance and falling back against the stall wall, only managing to catch herself by throwing her front hooves out to the floor. She couldn’t see her forehoof through the costume, and couldn’t feel anything either.

The pounding had dropped to just knocking. “New friend? Are you there?”

It wasn’t a voice Adorabelle recognized, but it sounded too calm for her to be scared of it. But first; she had to check her hoof. Wiggling, she unzipped the zipper under her chin and slipped her forehoof out, and couldn’t keep back a small gasp of shock. Her right forehoof was bleeding, the flesh pushed back from several little puncture wounds. The sight made her feel like crying.

“Is something wrong?” the calm voice asked.

She slid her hind legs onto the floor and limped towards the bathroom door, letting the empty costume sleeve drag across the tile. “Who are you?”

“I’m Bonnie. Please come out. I can’t go in the girl’s restroom.”

Beat. “But, like, you have a girl’s name! And a girl’s voice!”

“Ugh… Everybody says that… my voice only just started sounding girly; I swear!”

High-pitched laughter came from outside. “Keep telling yourself that, Bonnie boy!”

“Daddy says I’m a guy!”

Adorabelle was scared to open the door, so instead she started washing her forehoof. The water stung and flowed red into the drain.

“Can you come out, new friend? Please?”

Adorabelle shut the water off; her hoof was starting to throb. “You, like, tried to choke me to death!”

“No! I would never do something like that!” Bonnie sounded truly hurt.

“Then, what, you have a twin or something?” Adorabelle was blotting the blood onto paper towels.

“No…”

“You’re the purple bunny, right?”

“Right…”

“You grabbed me by the neck until I, like, fainted. I thought you, like, wanted me dead or something!” The wastebasket was beginning to overflow with bloody paper towels; Adorabelle hoped something this macabre wouldn’t freak out the staff.

There was silence outside. The pain of the cuts on Adorabelle’s hoof was starting to spread up her leg; she used her other forehoof to press the injured leg against her body, somehow thinking that would make the pain stop.

Then she heard the sound of crying.

Adorabelle swung herself to the side so she could face the restroom door and telekinetically pulled it open.

Bonnie stood outside, his face in his broken-up hands. “I d-did it again…”

“Bonnie means well,” Chica said, hopping up and down behind the rabbit, “but he doesn’t know his own strength. He was just trying to pick you up because he was happy to see you.”

“Really?” Adorabelle asked.

Bonnie slowly lowered his hands, revealing dark trails under his eyes. Then he froze.

“What’s wrong with your costume!?” he screamed, making Adorabelle jolt. “Put it back on!”

“You didn’t take your costume off, did you!?” Chica had stopped bouncing and just stared at her, mouth gaping in horror or because it had no choice but to gape.

“But I’m bleeding!” Adorabelle cried.

“You’re leaking!? All the more reason to put it back on!” Bonnie reached out for her.

Adorabelle scrambled backwards. “No, wait, please give me a sec!”

“Do it now!” both creatures screamed.

Adorabelle wiggled her leg back into the costume and zipped it back up. Her forehoof was still throbbing. “There, it’s done!”

Bonnie and Chica relaxed. That is, they leaned backward and dropped their hands to their sides. But both still had their eyes wide and their jaws open.

“Thanks; you really can’t have your costume off at night.” Well, Bonnie’s jaw seemed to work just fine.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” Adorabelle said. “Something in the vent hurt me…”

“A what?” Chica said.

“Y’know, bandages and antibacterial stuff…” Adorabelle hugged her hoof to her side again.

“What are those?” Bonnie asked. “Are they for fixing you?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Oh! They’ll be backstage then,” Bonnie said.

“Yupperoni!” Chica cheered.

Adorabelle blinked at them. “Hey, like, I just remembered… aren’t there supposed to be, like, more of you?”

She was met be wide-eyed blank stares.

“Freddy? The guy the place is, like, named for?”

“Ohhhhh, Freddy!” Chica gave a bound into the air. “He’s always on the show stage; I’ll show you!” She bounced off to one side.

Adorabelle slipped between Bonnie’s legs and followed Chica to a hallway much wider than the one blocked by the baby gate. In fact, if she turned her head, she could see the exit sign where she started this whole misadventure. Chica headed in the opposite direction, though, towards a wide doorless doorway. The room was dark, but Adorabelle could see a row of movie theater style seats in profile and silver strands of starry tinsel hanging from the ceiling.

Then the area in front of them glowed pink, and in a flash of light and shower of sparkles, Bonnie materialized in front of them.

“Gyah!” Chica fell backwards and kicked her legs frantically.

“The power went out, remember?” Bonnie said.

Chica’s legs froze. “Oh. Oh right. Sorry, he’s not on the show stage then. He must be fixing the generator backstage.”

“I’d better go help him,” Bonnie sighed. “Chica, your cupcakes will burn if you don’t look after them.” In another flare of pink light, Bonnie vanished.

“Oh, yeah, don’t wanna lose the cupcakes.” Chica pushed herself into a sitting position and sang softly to herself. “Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty…”

“Can I go meet Freddy?” Adorabelle asked. “I wanna see if he has something to help me…”

“Sure; you can find your way backstage by yourself, right?”

“I’m, like, not too stupid to know where ‘back’ is,” Adorabelle said. “I’ll come eat cupcakes when we’re done, mmkay?”

“Sounds joyidelic! Have fun meeting a new friend! I know I have!” Chica walked normally for once as she headed back towards the kitchen.

Adorabelle trotted into the huge room. A few rows of plush theatre seats were in the back, but most of the room was carpeted with a plush purple that any interior designer worth their salt would have said was a very bad idea. Smaller squares of various carpet samples were scattered about the area and stacked up against the wall. At the far side of the room was the promised show stage, currently home to a guitar stand and two microphones against a cloth backdrop depicting what looked like the surface of the moon. On the wall to the left of the show stage was another huge mirror; on the right of the show stage was a very impressive piece of playground equipment shaped like a pirate ship, with a steering wheel, climbing ropes, slides, and a spinning tic-tac-toe grid embedded in the railing. It made Adorabelle want to relive her childhood. The area was fenced off with velvet ropes like banks had; the velvet was the same purple as the carpet.

Adorabelle found a short set of steps in front of the show stage and trotted up; her hooves thumped nicely on the hollow wood. Then she poked her head behind the backdrop.

The immediate eye-catcher was the shelf at the back filled with heads. Slack-jawed, empty-eye socketed bunny, chick, and bear masks. That stared into her soul.

Adorabelle tried to force herself to look away. There were some rolled-up backdrops, there was a bucket of props, there was a wall full of creepy masks…

…and something smelled horrible. Metallic, maybe. She coughed and put a hoof over her nose. “Freddy?”

A soft moan answered her. This sound continued, getting louder and more staccato.

Adorabelle held her nose with her injured hoof and limped with the other three.

The shelf wasn’t at the back of the room, she realized; it was in the middle, and the other half was behind it. She wove around, trying not to let the creepy masks unnerve her, and took in the other half.

“Oh, there you are!” she said happily.

Sitting on a workbench, slumped to one side, was a big brown bear with a top hat. He was sitting in a more human position, with his arms bent at awkward angles. His arms and legs looked different from Bonnie’s and Chica’s; their limbs had had small gaps around the knees and elbows, but this creature didn’t; they were solid tubes that seemed able to crumple up to bend, that were capped by a hemisphere to which the hands and feet were attached. Black splotches were all over the bear’s brown coat, so much so that Adorabelle almost didn’t notice his bowtie. He had blue eyes, but one of them was falling out.

“Hi, Freddy,” Adorabelle said, limping closer. The moaning didn’t stop. “Chica says I’m the new friend. Are we friends?”

Nothing coherent came out.

Adorabelle looked around the room more closely, trying to avoid the stares of the creepy masks. “I’m hurt… do you have a med kit?” She saw a set of tools bolted to the wall, but nothing with a red cross.

The bear’s groans shifted to sounding more like sobs.

“Aw…” Adorabelle turned back to Freddy and reached for the back of his head. “There there; I’m sor-”

When her hoof made contact with Freddy’s head, the dangling eyeball came loose and rolled across the floor. The bear gave a strangled, muffled cry.

“Oh-OMP, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Adorabelle knelt down and scooped the eyeball up into her telekinetic grip. “I can fix this, I hope I can fix this…” She fetched a screwdriver down from the wall of tools and moved to face Freddy more full on.

The bear got quiet for just a moment.

“Shhh, don’t worry, I’ll make it better, it’ll be fine.” Adorabelle lined the screwdriver up.

Freddy whimpered.

Adorabelle plunged the screwdriver up the empty eye socket, wiggling it around to try and find a groove. Freddy’s cries turned to wails as she struggled to manage the tool. She tried to move it with her hoof and realized why; for some reason, the screwdriver felt like it was stuck in a tub of play-doh or something.

“Dang it; let me try again.” She braced herself with her hooves on Freddy’s chest and used her mouth to yank the screwdriver, pressing hard on the bear in the process.

The screwdriver was stuck in well, so she pulled back. More fluid was dripping from Freddy’s mouth, and he’d finally stopped making sound.

“What are you doing?”

Adorabelle whirled around so fast she slid on the wet tiles and landed on the costume’s nose, which fortunately prevented her own nose from being hurt and just put pressure on her horn and forehead. “Oof.” The liquid on the floor smelled horrible too. She pushed herself back up and saw Bonnie staring at her.

“Oh, Bonnie, I’ve broken Freddy and I can’t fix it and I’m so sorreeeeee,” Adorabelle sobbed.

Bonnie didn’t react beyond jerking his head from one side to the other. Finally he said, “Oh, that’s not Freddy.”

Adorabelle blinked her tears away. “He’s… he’s not? What is he?”

“Just a spare. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him.” Bonnie leaned back and folded his arms. “I… I hate to say this… but Freddy says he doesn’t want to meet you now.”

“Aw… why?”

“Dunno. He’s antisocial. It’s one of his bad times.” Bonnie walked over to Adorabelle. “Want some cupcakes?”

“Do I!”

She followed Bonnie out of the room, leaving the broken bear silent and motionless.

Author's Note

Happy witching hour (for those in the same time zone as me) on a Happy Halloween, and a happy first birthday to Another Member of the Band! Yup, I started writing this story on Halloween last year. ...And it's taken me the whole year to get her to the place advertised in the story description. Well, here's to a faster paced next year!

Endless Resentment

“We are achieving maximum sprinklage!” Chica exploded into a leap, clanging against some pots and pans.

Adorabelle dumped more sprinkles on top of the pink-frosted confections. “OMP, these are going to be soooo tasty!” She picked up a cupcake in her telekinetic grip.

“Wait, wait,” Bonnie said. “Can we sing the song first?”

“Song?” Adorabelle asked.

Chica nodded, her broken beak flapping as she did. “It’s kind of your birthday, I mean, it’s your first day here, right?”

“Aw, well…”

Chica pulled a microphone from behind her back, probably from the same place where she got the cupcake. Which apparently was nowhere. “Get your hooves up! Party’s starting out right now! Everypony everypony get down!”

Bonnie was dancing, probably. At the moment he was doing something weird where he was pointing his finger at random places, but it almost looked like dancing.

“Time to make a wish, better make it right now! It’s been so long, but today is your birthday party!” Chica swayed to the music.

Adorabelle knew this song, naturally, so she joined in on the chorus. “Make a wish! It’s your birthday!”

Chica and Bonnie froze. They remained completely motionless and silent, their eyes boring into her. It was like they’d just been turned to stone, but unlike stone, Adorabelle knew they had the potential for sudden movements at any time. And that was what was unnerving.

“U-um…” Adorabelle squeaked.

Chica launched herself at Adorabelle, causing the unicorn to tip her chair backwards to escape, but Chica landed on top of her, her toothy beak less than an inch from Adorabelle’s face, her heavy body pressing down, the pointy joints in her knees digging into Adorabelle’s ribs. “You sing!?”

Adorabelle couldn’t speak. Out came a wail.

“No, you were singing, I heard it, I heard it!” Chica pressed her hands to the sides of Adorabelle’s mask; thankfully the mask was sturdy enough that Adorabelle didn’t feel it. “You can sing in our band!”

“What band?” Adorabelle cried, panicked. Then the words registered with her. “Wait, like, you’re not mad at me?”

A high-pitched giggle emanated from Chica, who only visually indicated she was laughing by using her hand to hide her gaping beak. “No, silly! Why would we be mad at that?”

“Y-you jumped at me, like, super fast and it was scary. I thought you were attacking me…”

“Oh, we don’t attack,” Chica said.

“Foxy,” Bonnie muttered.

“What?” Adorabelle turned toward Bonnie.

Chica coughed raspily. “I-I mean, we really don’t attack, really; we may pick ponies up when they do stuff that’s against the rules but that’s not really an attack.”

“I attacked…” Bonnie whispered.

“That was picking him up. By the leg. Not your fault for squeezing too hard.”

“Um… like… can you get off me?” Adorabelle asked Chica. “You kind of hurt…”

Chica squawked and fell off to the side. “Oh no! I hurt you? I didn’t mean to!”

“It’s okay, really, just don’t climb on top of me again please.” Adorabelle rolled over and stood up. Then her head jerked in shock. “OMP, what time is it?”

The two animatronies shrugged.

“Aw, I’m gonna be, like, super late and dad will be worried…”Adorabelle started packing the cupcakes in a pizza box. “How many can I have? Can I have four?”

“You can have all of them!” Chica said. “But where are you going?”

“Home for the night. Oh, but, like, I promise I’ll come back again!” Adorabelle scooped the box into her telekinetic grip and started for the kitchen door.

“We hope so,” Bonnie said. “We’re best friends, right?”

Adorabelle turned back and smiled. “Yeah… friends. I like that.”

Chica rattled like she was about to explode and then sprang up into the air. “Yay! Friends are the best!”

Adorabelle giggled. “Sooo… like, I think I can tell my way out from here, but…”

“Oh, if you get lost, you can always ask the parrots!” Bonnie clumped over to the kitchen door an pushed it open. He pointed to a small alcove in the wall holding a silvery parrot.

Adorabelle gasped and scurried over to it. On closer inspection, she could make out every fiber in its beautifully crafted metal feathers. It’s beak was made of a light blue metal, and its eyes were made from emeralds. “It’s soooo adorable!” she squeaked.

As soon as she spoke, the bird’s eyes glowed, and it jerked upright and twitched from side to side. It lifted its wings slightly and turned its head towards her, opening and closing its blue beak. “*squawk* It’s sooo adorable! Can I buy twenty, mommy? *squawk*”

Adorabelle pulled back in surprise. The voice sounded just like Chica’s. “Wh-what did it say?”

The parrot jerked its head again. “*squawk* What did it say? *squawk* What do you mean what did it say? It’s a homicidal robot! Who cares what it said? *squawk*”

The voice had changed again. The question at the start had been in the voice the parrot had used when Adorabelle had met it earlier in the evening, before getting knocked out, but the rest of the speech had been in a deeper, more hollow voice.

Adorabelle turned to Bonnie, who was hanging his head. Suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder, and she screamed.

“It’s just me,” Chica said. She steered Adorabelle a few feet away.

“Why did that thing mention homicidal robots?” Adorabelle whimpered. “It… it didn’t…”

“That was a very mean pony who said that,” Chica said. “There was… an accident, and that very mean pony thought it had been done on purpose.”

“What kind of accident?” Adorabelle asked.

“It’s just… it’s called the Bite Incident. B-but daddy said it was all okay, and we’re punishing Foxy for it, so don’t worry about it.”

“Ohhh.” Adorabelle’s eyes widened. “Is that why Pirate Cove is off limits?”

“We don’t want to talk about it,” Chica said. Her black-rimmed eyes looked earnest.

“But… but why is the parrot repeating it if you don’t like it?” Adorabelle asked.

Chica spun Adorabelle around so she was facing Bonnie again. “Tell her, Bonnie boy!”

“Oh, these parrots are the most amazing thing ever,” Bonnie gushed, petting the parrot and nearly knocking it off its perch in the attempt. “One of the employees built them; they can repeat everything you say and they never forget anything! And you can even make them recite one of the Freddy Fazbear crew’s stage shows, word for word. Just say the line of the show where you want the play to start from, and they’ll be off!”

“Why was Chica’s voice on it? And who’s the, uh, hello guy?”

“Because the parrot can only remember a few different voices, so it’ll just play it back in whatever Fazbear crew member has the voice closest to yours.” Bonnie paused. “What hello guy?”

“The, uh, guy who, like, gives the directions? Is that Freddy?”

Bonnie's ears stood up straight. “Oh ho, no. Freddy’s got a super deep voice. Nah, that was Record Scratch; he built the parrots, so he put his own voice in them.”

“Can I play with them?” Adorabelle stepped closer.

Bonnie and Chica stepped back. “Sure,’ said Chica. “We’d better clean up the kitchen for tomorrow.”

“Don’t hesitate to ask us if you need help!” Bonnie waved.

Adorabelle turned back to the parrot. “You’re so beautiful.”

“You’re so beautiful,” the parrot chanted back in Chica’s voice.

Adorabelle giggled. “Why thank you.”

“Why thank you.”

“Stop repeating whatever I say.”

“Seriously, stop that; it’s creepy,” Adorabelle giggled.

The parrot’s eyes gleamed, and it started jerking again. When it spoke, it was in yet another voice Adorabelle didn’t recognize, higher pitched than the other boys voices but still masculine. “*squawk* Seriously, stop that; it’s creepy… Go entertain some kids or something… I can’t work with you staring at me like that… Steel Flight! They’re doing it again!”

Adorabelle gasped. She knew that name, she was sure of it. But where…

Wait, was it the soldier Doctor Whooves had helped out of Tartarus? No… that was Iron Flight. But maybe he was a relative of-

Oh, ohhhhh, now she remembered. Now she had a lead and she could follow it, just like her mom!

This glee she felt from this revelation lasted until she got halfway home from the restaurant.

It was then she remembered that somehow, caught up in the excitement of befriending robot animals, she’d completely forgotten to ask about the Missing Children Incident. That dampened her spirits for about five minutes, and then she realized that just gave her an excuse to go back tomorrow. Then she skipped the rest of the way home.

***

“This. Is. A happy little ditty,” Adorabelle sang to herself as she dressed herself for school. “I. Know. The music isn’t pretty. I. Know. The words are not so witty. Anyone can sing this song!”

She felt colorful today, so she slipped on a light silk shirt with pink and yellow flowers and wove matching ribbons into her tail. Now for one extra-special touch.

She opened her jewelry box and pulled out a case with two round lenses decorated like a color wheel. She’d found these in her favorite boutique, and the employee had shown her how to put them on. Opening her eyes wide, she levitated them into the air and poked them in, flinching a bit.

After she realized it didn’t hurt, she took a good look at the mirror. Instead of blue, her irises were now striped every color of the rainbow; it looked magical, and Adorabelle smiled to herself. Maybe the ponies at school would notice her enough to talk to her now…

“Adorabelle?” her dad called. “Can we… walk together? Perfect Karma wanted to talk to me.”

Adorabelle scampered down the stairs to find her dad waiting, holding two blueberry bagels in his telekinetic grip. He gave a little start when he saw her. “A-Adorabelle, you… say something…” He looked terribly pale.

“What?” Adorabelle said. “Why so scared?”

Sterling Scales took a deep breath. “Your… your eyes…”

“Oh, like, those are just contacts,” Adorabelle said. “I explained this to you back when I wore the green ones…”

Her dad came closer and put his hoof behind her head, scrutinizing her. “…For my peace of mind, please take them off.”

Adorabelle sighed and telekinetically pulled them out. “See? Blue.” She put them back on.

“I wish you wouldn’t wear those…” He extended one of the bagels to Adorabelle, who took it in her mouth and munched it. “These disturbing fashion trends… if they truly understood…”

With a mouthful of bagel, Adorabelle mumbled, “You’re wearing the grey suit today, which is, like, perfect for you, but where are the cuff links I bought for you? They totally make the outfit-”

“-too tight around my ankles,” Sterling Scales finished. “I’m saving them for a more special occasion; I promise I’ll wear them, Beauty…”

The two ponies stepped outside and crossed the short distance to the Perfect family home. The castle-like manor sparkled in the early morning sun.

“Did Perfect Karma say what he wanted?” Adorabelle asked before stuffing her cheeks with more bagel.

“I… imagine it has something to do with the prosecution of Terry,” Sterling Silver said, shrugging his shoulders and taking the door knocker. “The trial will be soon…”

Adorabelle tapped her dad’s shoulder. “Don’t, like, let him say anything mean to you, okay? And tell Iron Hoof if he does?”

Sterling Silver dropped the knocker limply, which rattled against the heavy oak door. “I… I won’t let anything affect my judgment, whatever Perfect Karma says. Don’t worry.”

The door swung open, and the light blue stallion fixed his one eye on Sterling Silver. “Ah, good. Now while your daughter plays manservant and helps my ward…” He turned his attention to Adorabelle, and his eye widened and his face grew pale.

“What-” Adorabelle started, but that was as far as she got before the door slammed in her face. She blinked for a few seconds.

Then she heard a clang, and the high-pitched whine she’d heard far too many times in Doctor Whooves’ lab, the sound of a crystal being overloaded with magic to the point of explosion.

Adorabelle looked up; one of the towers of the Perfect manor had a slot in it, from which pointed a cannon barrel, glowing with green energy. She screamed and jumped back; a blast of green light landed right where she’d been standing, blinding her.

“They’re just contacts!” her dad wailed. “It’s not him! Please don’t-” His pleas were cut off with a cry of pain.

Adorabelle stumbled blindly to one side, but a concussive blast knocked her back; she landed painfully on the pavement, her vision restoring just enough to see her dad also lying nearby, his body crackling with green energy.

“Take them off,” her dad pleaded. “Take them off, take them off…”

Adorabelle telekinetically ripped the lenses out and tossed them forward. “Stop shooting us!”

The same click that began the attack came again; through her blotchy vision, Adorabelle saw the cannon barrel telescope back into the slot.

The door slammed open, and Perfect Karma stomped out. He pounced on top of the contact lenses and ground them to powder.

“No!” Adorabelle screamed. “Those were so cute-”

Perfect Karma yanked Adorabelle into the air, holding her throat in his telekinesis. “This. Was. Not. Cute!”

“Set her down,” her dad begged. “I’m sorry, it was my fault, I should have know you… should have seen… she was…”

“And why?” Perfect Karma thrust Adorabelle away so hard that she staggered. Perfect Karma’s one blue eye fixed onto Sterling Scales, and his voice got quieter. “Why would you know?”

Sterling Scales studied the street pavement. “It… it wasn’t really a secret. Just… not information ponies… really want to know…”

“What are you talking about?” Adorabelle snapped. “Why do rainbows make you go nuts?”

“Shut that annoying filly up,” Perfect Karma said, “and then join me in my study!” He slammed the heavy door open, strode through, and slammed it shut again.

Adorabelle stared at the colorful dust that used to be her contact lenses, then at the slightly dented sidewalk with light green steam still floating up off of it. She turned to her dad. “You… are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine…” He rubbed his forehead and eyes and winced. “Just a headache… kind of an eye ache actually… and it stung, but not anymore… I think… it might later… I don’t know…”

Adorabelle nuzzled him on the cheek. “Thanks… thanks so much.” She brightened. “Hey, dad, can we use this to prove Perfect Karma is evil? Can we press charges?”

Sterling Scales snapped his hoof off his eyes, revealing a puzzled look. “We… I mean, we could, but I think that would be in bad taste.” He looked up at the tower where the cannon had come from. “I mean… he might be able to claim self-defense. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same, I mean, if for some reason I bought a cannon in the first place, maybe. That is… we were all scared of him…”

“Scared of who?” Adorabelle asked.

Sterling’s eyes widened, then he shook his head. “I’ll… tell you when you’re older.”

“I’m, like, almost an adult; how much older do I need to be?”

The door creaked open, and Violet Edge poked his head out, his brilliant eyes wide. “I thought I heard… I did! That was a cannon! What the hay happened?”

Adorabelle scampered up to him. “Y’know, the norm; your guardian’s psychotic and all that.”

“But he fired a cannon!? In broad daylight!? What will he tell the neighbors?”

“They ARE the neighbors, nitwit!” Perfect Karma shouted from somewhere inside.

Meanwhile, Adorabelle had noticed what Violet Edge was wearing, and anything she’d been about to say flew out of her head. “I thought I, like, told you twenty times a day for a straight week, no pants! Especially not pants that don’t match your suit jacket!”

Violet Edge visibly cringed. “There’s… a debate tournament with students from Baltimare…”

“And if they give you any grief about your blank flank, the lawyer club will swoop in on them and give them a hard time because they love you.” Adorabelle gently pushed Violet Edge back inside. “I’m not kidding about the swooping part either; Steel Quill will, like, sic hawks on them and stuff.”

“Ohhhhh Celestia I hope not,” Violet Edge said. “…I can walk up a set of stairs without you pushing me, you know.”

Adorabelle slowed down and let Violet Edge go up ahead of her. When they reached Violet Edge’s room, Adorabelle saw a fluffy piece of white fabric crumpled on the bedspread.

“Hey, like, what’s that?” She levitated it into the air. “A… cravat? Real silk? I, like, don’t remember buying this…”

“I… g-got it when I went to buy the pants,” Violet Edge said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t remember until I got home what you told me about white and grey…”

Adorabelle blinked dramatically at Violet Edge. “You… bought a piece of clothing?”

“Don’t act so shocked! You didn’t literally buy all my clothes for me!”

“Um, like, yes I did.”

“Wh-what about my dad’s jacket? Or that frilly thing…”

“Okay, like, yeah, I didn’t buy those, but neither did you. And you, like, totally outgrew everything Perfect Karma bought you, except that dumb tie I had to return…”

“I-I…”

“While you, like, come up with your rebuttal, I wanna see how it looks.” Adorabelle deftly whipped the ends of the cravat around Violet Edge’s neck, tying it snug but not too tight. Then she tweaked the three layers of ruffled white fabric, making sure they were all even, and stepped back to see the full effect.

Slowly, her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she inhaled.

Violet Edge quickly stammered out, “I can take it back if you don’t—”

“SQUEEEEEEEE!” Adorabelle shrieked. The windows rattled, and cries of pain came from the two stallion downstairs and Perfect Aim upstairs.

Violet Edge winced and flattened his ears to his head. “Th-that really hurt! Don’t scream like that!”

Adorabelle started nuzzling Violet Edge behind the ears, making him grumble in protest. “That cravat is so totally adorable I cannot contain myself! It’s the only accessory that can make you even more perfect than you already are!”

Violet Edge was quiet. Then he muttered, “Stop, just stop…”

“Violet Edge!” Perfect Karma called from downstairs.

“C-coming!” Violet Edge shook himself and wove away from Adorabelle’s grip, then slipped out the door.

Adorabelle started to follow him, then froze. She’d nearly forgotten something. She turned and opened Violet Edge’s top desk drawer and pulled out a framed picture.

The shot was over ten years old, so the colors were a little neon. Also the shot was tilted. There were three ponies sitting around a picnic table. The first was Violet Eyes, who had the same coat, mane, and eye color as his son. He wore his dark grey man long and in a ponytail that trailed over the sleeve of the less-tattered reddish-purple jacket he wore. He was resting his cheek on his forehoof and smiling, leaning over in a way that made his cutie mark clearly visible: a single violet standing tall against a red rising sun.

The second pony was the reason Adorabelle had decided she needed to look at the picture. A blue-gray pegasus stallion was hovering over the picnic table, his wings too blurry to see. His electric blue mane was a tousled fright that made Adorabelle want to reach into the picture with a hairbrush, and his tail looked singed. His cutie mark was hidden by his wings and his eyes were closed, and he looked like he was laughing. But Violet Edge had mentioned his name once or twice; after all, Steel Flight had been his dad’s best friend.

The last pony in the picture, naturally, was Violet Edge, still a skinny little colt. He had on a dark grayish purple sweater and an adorable red bow tie, and he was the only one looking at the camera. The most jolting thing of all, though, was the expression on his face. He was smiling. Not a half-smile, not a smug smile, not a sad smile. An honest-to-goodness glad-to-see-you kind of smile.
Adorabelle wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him smile like that outside of photos.

Looking at him made her feel sad, so she looked at the pegasus instead. Steel Flight… that was the name the parrot had mentioned. She didn’t know much about him and had no idea why he’d have been at that restaurant; from the stories she’d heard, she’d thought his talent was being a lie detector, but the voice coming from the bird had made it sound like he needed to… stop someone from doing something creepy?

But there was no better way to learn about things than to ask, so she tucked the picture into her glittery pink saddlebag. Then she headed downstairs to find Violet Edge.

***

Adorabelle stumbled out of the revolving door.

“No, come on, just a few more rounds!” Doctor Whooves said.

“Too dizzyyyyyyy…” Adorabelle whined, collapsing against the table of gadgets. A metal dish tumbled off the table and clattered to the floor.

Romana gasped. “Be more careful!”

“Look at all this lovely, lovely data,” Doctor Whooves cooed, petting the machine next to the revolving door. It was busy spitting out reams of paper with zigzags on it. “And we didn’t even have to leave my office! This is certainly promising.”

“Please tell me we don’t have to do this again,” Adorabelle said from the floor.

“We’ll probably be doing this for a month or so,” Romana said.

Adorabelle wailed.

“Oh, please don’t cry,” Doctor Whooves said, kneeling beside her and petting her mane. “If it helps, you can go slower next time… or maybe we can switch directions every once in a while…”

“Or, like, I can just start thinking it’s locked all the time and then it won’t move…”

“I wish you wouldn’t.” Doctor Whooves stood back up. “Want to feed the spider mice? Will that make up for it?”

Adorabelle thrust herself up onto her hooves. “Ooh, would I!”

Doctor Whooves held out a jar of tiny protein pellets. Adorabelle levitated it over to the tank of eight-legged mice and shook a handful into the dish. Two mice abandoned their webs and scurried over, their long white legs in incredible synchronization, and nibbled the brown pellets with tiny teeth. Adorabelle squealed with joy. “I want some of these at home!”

“Maybe when we have time to try and breed nonpoisonous varieties,” Doctor Whooves said.

A copper box fastened to the wall dinged. Romana trotted over and opened it, pulling out a letter. “Oh, look, the Rainbow Factory got back to you.”

“Did they say yes!?” Doctor Whooves bounded over like a colt on Christmas.

Romana slid the letter out and looked it over. “No, no, and no.”

Doctor Whooves curled his lips into a pout.

“What’s that about?” Adorabelle turned away from the mice.

Doctor Whooves sighed. “I was hoping they’d loan me some rainbows for an experiment. They’re remarkable absorbers of chaos magic, you know. But Starburst is very picky about only letting Rainbow Factory scientists do anything involving rainbows…”

“Also they have none to spare,” Romana said, folding the letter back into the envelope. “They’re critical to maintaining the balance of magic in our world, after all. And Starburst is obsessed with only making the exact amount necessary, no more, no less. I think he’s a little OCD.”

“Meanie,” Adorabelle said. She cocked her head; the super important question she’d had this morning had literally only come back into her memory this moment. She needed to learn to use a notebook. “Oh, hey, I don’t suppose you’d know what makes a pony’s eyes rainbow?”

Doctor Whooves shrugged. “Contacts? Though I don’t know where you could buy such a thing…”

“I do. I, like, had a super cute pair but Perfect Karma smashed them because they scared him for some dumb reason.”

Doctor Whooves frowned. “I don’t know why he would…” His eyes widened. “Oh, what if he… Could it truly be…?”

“Ooooh, what is it? Tell me!” Adorabelle hopped up and down.

“It’s… not really a story for young girls,” Doctor Whooves said.

“Adorabelle reads murder files for fun; she can handle creepy stories,” Romana said.

“Yes I can; please tell me!” Adorabelle turned puppy eyes onto Doctor Whooves.

Doctor Whooves melted. “Not the puppy eyes, please… I’ll talk…”

“Yay!” Adorabelle settled onto one of the stools.

“There’s a… I guess you could say a rumor about a pony with rainbow eyes. You know how eyes are the windows to the soul?”

Adorabelle nods. “That’s, like, why they turn red or, like, dragon-like when there’s demons in your soul?”

“Exactly. Well, what do you think would happen if we could… extract the soul of a pony from their body and put it inside the body of another pony?”

Adorabelle cocked her head. “Um… like, the eye color would change?”

“Exactly,” Doctor Whooves said again.

“Ooh, ooh, so the rainbow eyed pony was, like, an amalgamation of lots and lots of ponies?” Adorabelle beamed.

“Er… not exactly,” Doctor Whooves said. “Well, I suppose, in a way. You see, the thing about pony souls is, they don’t actually come all in one piece. Um, that is, they can break apart… and the fragments don’t do quite the same thing as the whole. You can actually extract small pieces and just leave the pony you took them from… incomplete. Like they-”

“The Grim Reaper!” Adorabelle squeaked excitedly.

“Um…” Doctor Whooves’ expression went blank.

“He was, like, a dark mage from, like, fifty or more years ago, and he had a cutie mark in soul-stealing spells and he was, like, obsessed with collecting them, but all his victims were affected differently. Some were, like, comatose, others were cold and gloomy, and others were total jerks. And that’s, like, why they had so much trouble catching him, because his trail was so confusing and stuff. I have a history book that’s all about him; it’s soooooo cool!”

Doctor Whooves blinked. “A-ah yes, him. Yes, yes, you’re right; taking small pieces of souls from ponies can have wildly different results like that. But the important part is, our magic comes from our souls, both our power and our talent, and by surgically removing relevant pieces of souls and grafting them to his own, Torture Chamber could give himself all kinds of fantastic powers-”

“Torture Chamber!?” Adorabelle leaned closer, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Who is that!?”

Doctor Whooves groaned and put one hoof to his forehead. “Ah… Another long story, I’m afraid. Back when the Blessing was still controlling most of Canterlot, but was underground and pretending it wasn’t in order to escape Celestia’s notice, Torture Chamber was… a pony rumored to work for them. And they rumored the Blessing would send ponies who defied the natural order of unicorn supremacy to Torture Chamber, and he’d use them in his experiments. He was supposedly more monster than pony.” He gestured over his shoulder at where the giant aquarium used to be. “Cephalopony was one of his experiments. He apparently wanted to transform ponies into animals without using magic… I mean, with using magic, but without using a transformation spell. Such a thing is, as you’re well aware, much harder to reverse.”

“Wait… where’s Torture Chamber now?” Adorabelle asked. “I haven’t seen anything about him in the papers, or the court records, or anywhere.”

Doctor Whooves winced visibly. “Actually, no one knows. Around the time the Blessing’s headquarters were raided, we found his lab, but the experiments there were… in a bad condition, unfed and untreated. Those who could talk said he’d stepped out and hadn’t come back. None of the captured Blessing members knew where either… and I don’t think they were hiding anything. Even the Blessing was afraid of him.” He shrugged. “Rumor is he had a lab in the Everfree Forest, but naturally nopony is eager to go looking for him there, especially since no one knows where it is. And for all we know it’s in a pocket dimension or something; the Blessing had access to extremely sophisticated technology, and because nopony wanted to be the one to tell Torture Chamber ‘No,’ he borrowed their toys liberally.”

Adorabelle got quiet. “Oh… that’s why Perfect Karma tried to shoot me with lasers.”

“He what?” Romana had been cleaning up, but this proclamation apparently caught her attention more than the spiel about evil ponies.

“Perfect Karma was, like, in the Blessing, right?” Adorabelle asked.

“Um, well, obviously, nothing’s been proven or he wouldn’t be where he is now,” Doctor Whooves said. “The Perfect family was well-connected with them, but I believe he claimed he just attended meetings because relatives would be suspicious if he didn’t, and didn’t participate in any of their criminal activities.”

“Still might have warned us about what they were planning,” Romana grumbled.

“He said they didn’t trust him with much information, and passed a polygraph,” Doctor Whooves said.

“Those things are lame,” Adorabelle said. “They, like, stopped accepting them in court and stuff.”

“Yes, but at the time of the investigation, everypony thought they were the bees knees because we didn’t fully understand how the polygraph spells worked, and because Perfect Karma is seen as a hero of justice, nopony feels a need to question him about it a second time,” Doctor Whooves said.

“And even if they found out he was in the Blessing now, the public would probably think everything he’s done since then has made him worthy of forgiveness,” Romana said. “I hope he doesn’t get in trouble over the cannon; if you know why it’s not that unnatural of a response…”

Adorabelle bit her lip sulkily, but before she could say anything, the door cracked open.

“Hey, Doc,” said a white pegasus in the gold uniform of the Royal Guard. “Safeguard wanted me to bring an amulet to you. He says you need to run some tests.”

“I have a science club meeting in an hour…” Romana said.

“You can go home; I don’t mind,” Doctor Whooves said, smiling at her. He turned to the guard. “And I’m glad he trusts you more now, Iron Flight.”

Adorabelle wondered how Doctor Whooves could recognize the orange pegasus when he was in his guard uniform and looked white.

Iron Flight rolled his eyes. “Tartarus he does. If he asks, I wasn’t here, okay? I need to head back…”

“Oh, but you must come for tea and catch up!” Doctor Whooves said.

“Can’t. I’m heading out on a secret training mission later today.” Iron Flight pulled a package and an envelope from his saddlebag and handed them to Doctor Whooves.

Doctor Whooves took the package in his hooves and the envelope in his mouth, then awkwardly hopped backwards like a bunny until he crashed into the table and dropped both items. “Ah, uh, that wasn’t one of my better ideas,” he said while Romana laughed.

“I need to go pack,” Iron Flight said. “When do you think you’ll be done? I can ask another private to pick it up then…”

“No, I’ll be happy to deliver it myself; Safeguard would probably prefer it be done in pony anyway. Good luck on your training mission!”

Iron Flight nodded and slipped out.

“Hey, wait!” Adorabelle scampered after him, telekinetically scooping up her saddlebags as she left. She stopped just long enough to call over her shoulder, “Thanks for everything Doctor Whooves; see you tomorrow!” Then she dashed to catch up with Iron Flight.

“Don’t ask him to describe Tartarus again!” Doctor Whooves shouted after her.

Adorabelle caught up to Iron Flight in a now deserted school hallway. “Iron Flight! Iron Flight! Iron Flight!” she screamed repeatedly.

“What the hay do you want?” Iron Flight whirled around and glared.

Adorabelle skidded to a halt. “Hey, like, I know this is a long shot, and Flight is such a common surname and stuff but metals aren’t normal for pegasi and I’m following any lead I get for the Missing Children’s Incident, I mean, like, not very fast because I messed up last night but-”

“Be brief or go away,” Iron Flight said.

Adorabelle frowned, then pulled Violet Edge’s picture out of her saddlebags. She pointed to the pegasus in the middle. “This is Steel Flight. He was a friend of my friend’s dad and I wanted to know what he has to do with-”

Iron Flight somehow managed to look even angrier. “Do not show that stallion to me. I never want to see his ugly mug again.”

Adorabelle stepped back. “Oh, like you do know him.”

“He’s my father and a louse,” Iron Flight said. “And that other stupid earth pony is an even bigger louse.”

“Hey!” Adorabelle glared at him. “That’s my best friend’s dad and they loved each other very much-”

“Oh, how cute. Too bad he was a loser.”

“I thought they were, like, best friends and solved cases together and stuff.”

“Aha hah, oh Tartarus yes my dad solved cases for Violet Eyes. That limp-wristed defense attorney would keep going on and on and on about how he wouldn’t succeed without Steel Flight. And yet, for some reason, Violet Eyes thought he could keep all the money he earned from his clients, even though Celestia knows we needed it. Worse, Violet Eyes knew we needed it. Selfish, greedy, loser.”

Adorabelle was on the verge of tears. “But, like, it’s not like Steel Flight didn’t have a job…”

“And every cent from it went through our selfish evil mother. She was so selfish and evil, Steel Flight actually wanted to divorce her. Can you believe it? And so he went to his very best lawyer friend for a professional opinion, and do you know what that lily-livered filly said?” Iron Flight adopted a falsetto and started wringing his hooves. “‘Um, uh, um, uh, there’s no way a stallion can divorce a mare, it’s just not done, um, uh, and you’ll lose and I don’t get paid if you lose.’” Iron Flight glared down at Adorabelle. “And so what do you think my dad did next?”

Adorabelle just shook her head. “It’s not like that…”

“Ran away. Up and ran away, leaving four kids who needed him to the whims of the mom he knew was selfish and evil.” Iron Flight was shaking. “And that, little girl, is all anypony needs to know about him.” He turned to leave.

“But… like… how do you know he ran away?” Adorabelle asked.

Iron Flight growled and turned around. “Look, he had the night shift at that dumb pizza place he worked at, but his boss said he never showed up and he’d never missed a work shift before. We never saw hide or hair of him after that. It is not. Rocket. Science!” He slapped the picture out of the air, and it smashed on the ground.

Adorabelle screamed and dove to pick up the pieces. The frame was ruined, but the picture inside was, thankfully, safe.

She glared up at Iron Flight. “How could you!? This isn’t mine! It’s my friend’s!”

“Then don’t take stuff that belongs to other ponies,” Iron Flight hissed.

Tears appeared in Adorabelle’s eyes and she turned to run away, holding the pieces of the frame in her telekinetic grip.

Endless Concerts

Several classrooms of the GUA had been cleared out for the debate tournament against visiting Baltimare students. Anypony who wasn’t up for an event loitered in the cafeteria, reading, chatting, and grazing on the light salad bar. A couple of students were even playing foursquare in one corner.

Adorabelle frisked gaily through the crowd, earning some stares and glares from GUA students who recognized her. She made her way to the back corner, where Violet Edge was sleeping sitting up, a pile of disorganized moot court cases notes in front of him. His partner, Silver Quill, was reading a book on cross examination techniques and didn’t even look up when Adorabelle approached.

“Violet Edge!” she squeaked when she got close enough.

Violet Edge’s eyes snapped open in a panic. “I didn’t miss it, did I!?”

Adorabelle turned to Silver Quill.

“Fifteen minutes,” he said, still not looking up.

“Wh… oh, y-you’re Adorabelle,” Violet Edge said, blinking sleepily. “So that means you’re done helping Doctor Whooves?”

Adorabelle nodded. “I’ll totally be cheering you on for the final round of the day!”

“Spectators aren’t allowed yet,” Violet Edge said. “That’s tomorrow.”

“Oh, well… I’ll, like, be ready to hug you when you’re done.”

“Please don’t.”

“W-well, like, that wasn’t what I wanted to talk about anyway!” Adorabelle telekinetically pulled two golden tickets from her saddlebag into the air. “So, I was looking at the concert tour schedule for the Dreamstars-”

“I am not going to one of your stupid concerts,” Violet Edge said, glaring at her. “I’m in the middle of a debate tournament-”

“It finishes before then-”

“-and I’ll need every spare moment to prepare for future rounds and to be well-rested, Adorabelle. I don’t have time to watch some stupid musicians-”

Adorabelle’s lawyer heritage took over, and she slammed her hooves down on the table, making several ponies look her direction. Except Silver Quill, who still didn’t look up. “Like, you should let me finish! It’s not a concert like, y’know, normal stuff. It’s for a children’s hospital and-”

“Objection!” Violet Edge shouted back, banging his own forehoof on the table. “You could just donate money to the charity without buying tickets for a stallion who doesn’t want them!”

Some ponies laughed at the outburst.

“LET. ME. FINISH!” Adorabelle shouted. “It’s an event for children, and it’s a collaboration show between the Dreamstars and the Pirate Rangers!”

“I told you, they’re called the pirate sentai-” Violet Edge’s eyes widened. “They’re… coming… here?”

And suddenly, Silver Quill found the conversation interesting.

“Yup. It’s a live stage show and they’re going to be fighting the evil ninja ponies from the future. I think.” Adorabelle levitated the ticket over to Violet Edge. “The Dreamstars are just doing the musical numbers. I knew you’d just die to see it!”

Violet Edge was trembling with excitement as he clutched the ticket in his forehooves.

Silver Quill gave Adorabelle a look like a hurt puppy.

“Aw, there’s one for you too,” Adorabelle said, pushing the ticket toward him.

Silver Quill telekinetically grabbed the ticket, practically wagging his tail. “It’ll be the best night ever!” he squeaked, attracting the attention of a few GUA students who were no doubt wondering if such a joy-filled sentence could actually come from Silver Quill.

“Y-you have your own ticket, don’t you?” The tone of voice sounded less like Violet Edge didn’t want her to miss out on such an awesome experience, and more like Violet Edge had suddenly realized that he’d agreed to go on a date.

“Of course!” Adorabelle reached into her saddlebag to find it, and saw broken picture pieces. “Oh…”

Well. Time to see how much goodwill the tickets had bought her.

“Um… um… V-v-Violet?” she whimpered.

“You lost it?” Violet Edge asked.

“No… it’s… it’s something else…” She swallowed. “Um, like, y’know, I was t-trying to learn more about the Missing Children Incident, and kinda got, like, sidetracked… uh… so, like, it took place in Freddy’s, and apparently, um, Steel Flight used to work there, and… and… and I wanted to learn more, and I wanted a picture of Steel Flight to present to people…”

Violet Edge stood up in his chair and stared down at Adorabelle. “What. Did. You. Do?”

Adorabelle felt her eyes fill with tears as she levitated the pieces of the broken frame over to Violet Edge. Her vision was too blurred to see his reaction.

There was tense silence. She felt the picture being pulled out of the air and let Violet Edge take the pieces.

“How… how could you?” Violet Edge whispered darkly.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“What were you thinking!?” Violet Edge pounded on the table again. “You just stole something that belonged to me so you could show it to ponies!? What if it had been ripped or lost? It’s all I have left from him, you irresponsible, incorrigible, m-moronic child!”

Adorabelle rested her head in her forehooves and bawled. “I-I-I’m so, so, so…”

“And what? You think that makes it okay? That you said you’re sorry and so I have to forgive you? That you can make these things go away by just saying a few words? Go away!”

Still sobbing, Adorabelle stumbled to her hooves and did what he ordered.

***

Adorabelle wandered around the GUA building for two hours before she started vaguely looking for Violet Edge. She finally found him by a statue of some general; he and Silver Quill were talking with Perfect Karma.

Adorabelle decided she should listen to their conversation to check if it would be a good place to interrupt, so she closed her eyes and cast her listening spell, focusing on the trio.

“I assume you didn’t let such shoddy logic stand?” Perfect Karma was asking.

“We dragged it into the daylight in cross examination, and disemboweled it during our next-” Silver Quill tried to say.

“Let Violet Edge answer for himself. I want details, not idiotic analogies from inferior disciplines.”

Adorabelle opened her eyes to watch Silver Quill’s reaction, half expecting him to draw his sword then and there. But instead he just lowered his ears and sulked.

This was totally a good time to interrupt. She walked over slowly, her ears lowered. “…Violet?”

“Not now,” Perfect Karma said. “Or ever.”

Adorabelle ignored him and looked pleadingly at Violet Edge. Violet turned away and wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Silver Quill telekinetically pushed Adorabelle to one side. “At least let them finish…”

Adorabelle felt tears pricking her eyes again, so she let herself be steered away. “You gonna go back?”

Silver Quill’s face curled into a snarl. “Clearly my testimony is invalid.” He paused, and his face softened slightly. “Also, clearly I’ve been overly focused on this tournament…”

Adorabelle giggled and pressed her nose to his ear. Then she went back to frowning. “Do you think Violet will ever forgive me?”

Silver Quill looked over his shoulder. “This is kind of a reoccurring problem with you…”

Adorabelle felt like she was going to cry again. “I can fix the picture…”

“He’d appreciate it more if he was reassured you would stop stealing his stuff.”

“I was, like, just b-borrowing it…” Adorabelle rubbed her eyes.

Silver Quill coughed. “Um… you still going see the Dreamstars…?”

Adorabelle looked at Violet Edge. “Only if he wants to go with me.”

“Let’s… wait until Perfect Karma’s done talking with Violet to ask him…”

“Perfect Karma isn’t like your parents; he just silently disapproves.” Adorabelle looked over and saw that Perfect Karma was smiling and nodding in approval at Violet Edge. That was rare. “Now seems like a good time…”

“Isn’t that what you thought last time…?” Silver Quill asked, but he followed Adorabelle.

“Your progress is more than adequate; continue on this path, and perhaps you too can carry the Perfect heritage,” Perfect Karma was telling Violet Edge.

Violet Edge’s eyes widened; this was high praise from his guardian. He bowed his head politely. “Thank you, sir.”

Adorabelle decided the best course of action was to hug Violet. “Sounds like it went well.”

Violet Edge tensed in her embrace and said nothing.

“Please don’t still be mad at me…” Adorabelle said. “I’m so so sorry, and I really want to go to the Pirate Rangers show together because I know how special it is to you…”

Perfect Karma rolled his single eye. “I hope engaging in such juvenile entertainment won’t affect your progress in the tournament tomorrow,” he said.

“Then you’ll come?” Adorabelle hugged Violet Edge tighter.

Violet Edge sighed. “Don’t steal my stuff ever again. Understand?”

“Okay.” Adorabelle let go. “Let’s go change into cute concert-going clothes!”

“But…”

“You can’t go to a concert in a suit, silly.” Adorabelle herded Violet Edge on the path back to their mansions. “Meet you there, Silver?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Violet’s debate partner said.

***

It took a half hour shopping trip to find an outfit Adorabelle deemed suitable for Violet Edge to go to a stage show in, but they still made it in plenty of time for the show to start.

The Sunshine Coliseum dated all the way back to the diarchy. It had been destroyed in Nightmare Moon’s rebellion and again during the invasion of the Seventy Red Vampires, but always rebuilt better than before.

This incarnation kept the classic columns on the outside, some made with stone from the original building, with a modern setup on the inside.

Considering the unique performance planned for the night, it was odd to see a crowd filled with starry eyed fangirls, cosplaying Floaters, and families with small children.

A pony dressed in silver plastic armor with a face-concealing visor wove over to Adorabelle and Violet as they entered the merchandise vending hall. “Isn’t it great?” said Silver Quill, his voice muffled by the costume. “They even have models of all the robots for sale.”

“This is, like, an Equestrian summit or something,” Adorabelle said, bouncing up and down. “I mean, these pony groups normally hate each other.”

“That’s a little strong…” Violet Edge said.

“Anyway,” Silver Quill said, “Ready to shop?”

“I’d better use the little filly’s room before the show,” Adorabelle said. “You two go ahead.”

“Signal us if you can’t find us,” Silver Quill said.

“Like, the seats are next to each other, so if I don’t come in time for the show, like, don’t worry about it. Go ahead. I’ll find you.”
Adorabelle waved her male companions off and waded through the crowd towards the bathrooms.

Naturally, the line was long enough to stretch outside the door. So Adorabelle decided she didn’t need it that badly anyway and wandered off.

A purple door with a gold star on it attracted her attention. Something special was sure to be behind it, so she pushed her way in.

Bare-bones metal structures, spare spotlights, and sections of signs greeted her. A shiver ran down Adorabelle’s spine. This was backstage! Maybe she could meet the stars!

She tiptoed in, listening to her tiny hoofsteps echo. Listening sounded like a good idea, since she was technically infiltrating. She closed her eyes and cast her listening spell.

A moment later, she heard a very familiar voice singing to himself.

“Time for the main attraction, the story must be told…”

Adorabelle bounced up and down excitedly. Silver Strings! The real, live, Silver Strings!

“Da da da… something, um, old…”

Adorabelle dashed into a maze of boxes, hunting the elusive popstar. For a while, he switched to just strumming on his guitar.

“Some colts get satisfaction break. King. The. Mold… sounds good.”

Adorabelle found herself going in circles around a single, giant box. She paused, confused. Where the heck was he?

“La la la.. taking action…”

Adorabelle pressed her ear to the giant crate. Yup. For whatever reason, Silver String’s voice was coming from inside the box.

“…some colts are just gold…”

Adorabelle telekinetically lifted the box into the air, revealing a yellow earth pony with a copper mane that melted filly’s hearts, holding a red guitar.

“Augh!” he whirled around at Adorabelle, eyes wide.

“Eek!” Adorabelle screamed in response, dropping the crate again. The resulting crash hurt her ears.

After a moment, Silver String asked, “Um, you still there?”

Adorabelle nodded vigorously for multiple seconds before catching herself and saying “Mmm-hmm.”

“Um… mind letting me out?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Adorabelle telekinetically lifted the crate back up.

Silver Strings was cradling his guitar gently when he came back into view. He scrambled out from under the box. “Th-thanks. How embarrassing…”

Adorabelle set the box back down. “Oh, like, no worries; I’ve made stupider mistakes.”

Silver Strings stared at her. “Wait. Who are you?”

Adorabelle struggled to come up with something that didn’t sound stalkerish. “Um, so, like, I’m a huge fan of the Dreamstars in general and you in particular and the backstage door was unlocked so, um, like… it made more sense to wander in at the time…”

Silver Strings sighed. “Well, I can’t complain since you saved me, but maybe you should leave before security catches you. Mirror Dreams is super fussy.”

“Yeah, like, everyone knows he’s an obnoxious diva, so, like, that’s why everyone likes you better and stuff.”

Silver Strings turned aside, hiding his face with one hoof. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

“Oh, we do, we do!” Adorabelle cooed. “You are adorbs and you play guitar so awesomely and you’re so passionate and your voice is like an angel’s. Except you don’t sing anymore, not since the first album. Why not? Is Mirror Dreams afraid because you’d be a better lead singer than him?”

“No, no that’s not it,” Silver Strings said, looking slightly panicked.

“Are you sad because your brother left the band after that?”

“No! I mean, yes, but…” Silver Strings whirled around, suddenly looking angry. “Look, I have a show to prepare for. Get out of the backstage area and find a seat!”

“Oh… you’re right… like, I’m so sorry…” Adorabelle backed away. “I’ll be cheering for you?”

“Just get out.”

Adorabelle sadly wove her way back out of the box maze.

“Adorabelle!” called a familiar voice.

Adorabelle made her way toward it and found her cousin. “Oh, hey, other Silver! How and why are you in here?”

Silver Quill shrugged, the cape on his cosplay costume flowing dramatically. “Seemed likely you found a way to worm in where you didn’t belong. So I had Violet Edge distract the security lady while I went to look for you.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you to care about me,” Adorabelle said.

“What are cousins for? But let’s hurry; I don’t want to miss one single second of this show.”

The two unicorns pushed their way out of the backstage area and were approached by a disheveled Violet Edge; he had strange red markings all over his face.

“Oh no, you look… that’s… lipstick…” Adorabelle levitated a cloth out of a pocket and started rubbing it off. “How the hay did you get so much lipstick on you?”

“Let’s just say that if I ever see that cougar again it’ll be too soon,” Violet Edge said. “And I am never, ever distracting people for you again Quill…”

***

“Let’s go, let’s gokaiiiiger!” Adorabelle sang to herself as the trio headed home after the concert. Adorabelle was frisking happily between the two debate partners, unable to contain her joy. “That was the very best thing ever! Did you see how dreamy the Dreamstars are? And your pirate ranger things were so epic and beat all the bad guys!”

“High caliber special effects,” Violet Edge said, “I’ll give them that.”

“You don’t know how to loosen up at all, do you?” Silver Quill said. “We can tell your heart was soaring inside that cold exterior.”

Violet Edge looked like he was in pain. “Let’s talk about the debate rounds tomorrow, please?”

Adorabelle stopped. “Oh, like, I just remembered an errand I had to run. I’ll see you two tomorrow in mock court finals?”

“Failure is not an option,” Silver Quill said.

As the sun started setting, Adorabelle wove her way through the streets of Canterlot, down the winding bridge to the chocolate district and Freddy’s. For safekeeping she’d left the costume in a hollow tree she’d found on her way home the night before. Yes, her house was theoretically more secure from thieves and the like, but if her dad saw the costume he might know she was investigating the Missing Children Incident, and he’d want to stop her. No, it had to be this way.

The soft golden fur enveloped her like a second skin, but the headpiece she just carried next to her in her telekinetic grip; she didn’t like how it made her magic feel and it was getting dark and she’d need a light.

The sun vanished by the time she heard that familiar jingle.

Let’s try to make it right,
Don’t wanna start a fight,
And we’re so sorry if we give you all a little fright.
We’re not so scary if you see us in the daylight!
You’ll be so happy just as long as you survive the night!

Like before, Adorabelle pushed her way in the unlocked back door and ran in through the dark halls. “Bonnie? Chica? Hello?”

A moment later something purple wove into her field of vision so fast Adorabelle gasped.

“What are you doing!?” Bonnie shouted. “Put your costume on!”

“Oh, but, like, I have most of it.”

“That’s not good enough! Hurry! Put on your head before someone sees you!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Adorabelle stuffed her head inside the annoying plastic construct. “But, like, what are you worried about? Who’s going to see us?”

“The kids might,” Bonnie said. “When they come back, anyway. And that would be bad because they think we’re animals and if they saw what we really were under our skin, they might freak out.”

“Oh… like, that makes sense I guess.”

“Okay, so do you want to help clean the restaurant? Sorry, no cupcakes tonight, just cleaning, but we can still make it fun!” Bonnie said.

“Oh, but, like, I wanted to ask before I forgot like I did last time.”

“Ask what?” Bonnie cocked his head with a loud creak of gears.

“It’s… like… not a very happy thing to talk about, but, like, do you know about the Missing Children Incident?”

“Well… I mean… sometimes kids wander away from their parents.”

“No, I meant a specific one. Something where, like, kids were led away and, like, never found again.”

Bonnie didn’t move. Didn’t blink. He was as motionless as a statue. He stayed that way for so long that Adorabelle actually started doubting whether he’d ever moved in the first place.

Then Bonnie lunged at Adorabelle and grabbed her shoulders.

“Eeek!”

“This is perfect,” Bonnie said, apparently not registering her terror. “We need you to talk to Freddy so you can join our band, and you need to talk to him so he can tell you about it. It’s more the thing he knows and cares about. But first, we really need you to help us clean one hallway. Please?”

“Please let go of me. You’re hurting meee,” Adorabelle whined. Bonnie’s grip felt like clamps.

“Oh, oh dear, I’m so sorry.” Bonnie let go immediately. “But I also need an answer. Will you help us?”

“Of course! It’s, like, only fair, since you’re my friends and all.”

“Great!” Bonnie vanished in a flash of purple sparkles.

Adorabelle wondered if the excitable rabbit expected her to teleport after him. That wasn’t happening; Adorabelle had attended a teleportation workshop at GUA and didn’t move the whole time. Never mind the difficulty in following someone else’s teleport.
Well, at least she knew one spell she could use. Closing her eyes, she cast her eavesdropping spell, letting her awareness spread throughout the restaurant.

She heard several things. A loud, regular thumping that was probably Chica bouncing up and down and mechanical voices squawking ‘Hello, hello!’ were the only ones she knew the origin of, though. The other ones were… heavy, scared breathing… someone playing piano… a music box… a sulky growl… and… and what was that? It was high pitched and whiny and sounded like… numbers. Someone saying distorted numbers. Or was that words?

“Was I too fast?”

Adorabelle snapped her eyes open, ending the spell. Bonnie’s face was less than an inch from her own, his white wide eyes staring into hers.

“Eek! Don’t do that!” Adorabelle said.

“Do what?” asked Bonnie, his teeth snapping so close to Adorabelle’s mask’s muzzle she could feel the air moving.

“Y’know, like, get so close! Personal space and stuff!” Adorabelle then realized she was capable of backing away, so she did.

“Oh… sorry.” Bonnie straightened up. “Chica told me I should have walked you over instead of teleporting.”

“Yeah, like, that would be helpful.”

“Getting used to a new friend is so hard,” Bonnie said.

Adorabelle followed Bonnie through the darkened hallways to a place closer to the show stage. Chica was rubbing the wallpaper ineffectively with her yellow hands. She turned to Adorabelle when the pair approached. “Yay! You came back! I wasn’t sure you would!” Chica said.

“Why wouldn’t I? We’re friends aren’t we?” Adorabelle said.

Chica bounced into the air. “New friend! New friend!!”

Adorabelle smiled at the display. “Okay, so, like, what are we cleaning?”

“The wallpaper is stained. We need to replace it,” Bonnie said. He too started scraping vaguely at the wallpaper with his fingers.

“Oh, like, if you let me take off my headgear I can-”

“No, you can’t do that!” Bonnie says.

“Okay, okay… but, like, surely there’s something sharp around here we can use,” Adorabelle said. “Scraping with blunt fingers, is, like, kinda silly and inefficient. I’mma gonna check the backstage area for tools; BRB.” She dashed through the huge doors of the theater; the plush purple carpet muffled her hoofsteps, and the wooden stage amplified them. The backdrop was still the moon; she’d have to remember to ask Bonnie or Chica what kind of show that was later.

The masks were now pointing random directions instead of staring directly into her soul, so that was some comfort. The spare Freddy she’d broken last night was now in pieces on the table. The fur on the costume had lots of holes in it like an army of moths had attacked it, revealing the bare plastic underneath.

After poking around, Adorabelle found several sharp implements, mostly screwdrivers but one legitimate paint scraper. She brought the wealth of tools back to Bonnie and Chica.

“Hey, like, look what I-”

Bonnie and Chica both fell to the ground and curled up in tiny balls.

Adorabelle blinked at them. “Um… like… are you okay?”

Chica just whimpered and rocked back and forth. Bonnie said nothing.

“Oh… like, you aren’t afraid of screwdrivers, are you? I’m, like, not going to take you apart, I promise…”

“His tools…” Chica whimpered.

“But, like, they’re not going to hurt you by themselves,” Adorabelle said. “Please uncurl and tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing good’s ever done with those,” Bonnie says. “No one who wields them is ever nice to us.”

“Not even Steel Flight?” Adorabelle asked.

The animatronics didn’t say anything for a while. “He was nice…” Chica said.

“They shouldn’t have taken him…” Bonnie says.

“Huh!? What!? Who!? What are you talking about?” Adorabelle asks, excited.

“Oh… they just took him away one day and he took over,” Bonnie said, a shudder running all through his mechanical body.

“But who’s they? Where’d the take him? And who is italicized he?” Adorabelle asked.

“Just some ponies, out of the restaurant, and don’t want to talk about it,” Chica said. “Can we go back to fixing the wallpaper?”

“You can’t say ‘just some ponies.’ What did they look like? Male or female?”

“Adults,” Chica said. “They didn’t work here.”

“What color?”

“Dunno.”

Adorabelle stared at Chica in frustration.

“Don’t look at me like that. We’re here to entertain children; we don’t pay attention to adults.” Chica unfolded into sitting on the floor instead of rocking around in a trauma ball.

“Okay… then… like, where did they take him?”

“I said, out of the restaurant.”

Adorabelle sighed. “Well did they mention where they were going?”

“Maybe. Ask the parrot.”

“Oooh, I forgot!” Adorabelle turned to look for a parrot. “How do I ask it that?”

“Say a phrase that was uniquely said at that time and he’ll repeat some of the conversation.”

“Okay… but… like, what phrase should I say to it then?”

“Dunno.”

Adorabelle wheeled around angrily. “How can you be so unconcerned about your friend and caretaker getting kidnapped!?”

Chica looked hurt. “It’s not like we don’t care. We were very sad that he was leaving.”

“Then why didn’t you do anything or even pay attention!?”

“We were disabled at the time,” Bonnie said, the first sentence from him in a while. “Steel Flight had been about to start maintenance so we were all lying on the floor, unable to move, some of us partially disassembled, and in a dream-like state so we wouldn’t feel pain. The fact that we even noticed anything about this and realized it was wrong says something about how scary it was.”

“Oh.” Adorabelle paused. “I… I’m so sorry for being mad at you…”

“It’s okay.” Chica waved a hand dismissively. “If you can find Steel Flight again, we’ll all be very happy.”

“Do you, like, think it’s related to the Missing Children Incident?” Adorabelle asks.

“It happened way before the MCI,” Bonnis said, uncurling and standing up. “So maybe or maybe not.”

“Freddy’ll explain I hope,” Adorabelle said. “Meanwhile, let’s get scraping.”

She took a screwdriver in one hoof and started rubbing it on the wall. Bonnie and Chica did likewise.

About five minutes in, Adorabelle hit a groove. Confused, she rubbed at the place more, tracing the scratches hidden by the wallpaper. It was a letter W.

With more resolve she scraped even harder and uncovered the word “know.” Then an I before that. I know.

Unfortunately there was nothing after that. Just the two words alone.

“Hey, like, there’s something here,” she told Bonnie and Chica.

“Mmm-hmm,” said Bonnie, unconcerned. “The wall gets scratched up by accident a lot. Don’t worry; they’ll be invisible with paper over them.”

Curious, Adorabelle worked a little longer. She found other long, deep gouges, like someone was driving knives into the walls… no, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t nail holes either; they were kind of curved.

And then she found the words again. I know.

By the time she’d finished scraping the entire hallway, she’d found those same two words 23 times. She also noticed that the gouges occurred in a specific pattern, four in an arc and one lower and to the side.

“…Bonnie? Chica?” Adorabelle asked.

“Yes?” Bonnie said.

“Is there… like… y’know… something with claws in the restaurant?”

Instead of answering, Bonnie stared at his own hand. “I don’t see any…”

“What about Freddy or another animatronic or, like, something else? I dunno.”

“Oh…” Bonnie said. He stared at Adorabelle with his lidless eyes for a second, then went back to wallpaper scraping.

“Answer the question,” Adorabelle said.

“If we had claws, wouldn’t we be using them to take the wallpaper off instead?”

“But what about other creatures?” Adorabelle repeated. “Do they have sharp claws?”

“Foxy has a hook on one hand and claws on the other,” Chica said.

“Oh, did he make these then?” Adorabelle gestured to the wall. “Why ‘I know’ though? Oh, wait, let me guess…”

Along with Chica, she said, “Dunno.”

“Okay, like, maybe Freddy’ll be more…” Adorabelle had to stop herself from saying “more helpful” but she was starting to get annoyed at her unobservant new friends. She told herself it wasn’t their fault; they were kind of childlike in their way. They weren’t like ponies. “So is it time for that now?”

“Maybe. He really doesn’t like socializing; he got moody after… well, after MCI actually,” Chica said.

“I’m dying to know about this… where is he now?” Adorabelle asked.

“Should be on the show stage,” Bonnie said. “If not he should be back there before too long.”

“K, thanks,” Adorabelle said, heading back to the show stage.

The show stage was a lot darker than last time she’d checked; the light over the stage had suddenly gone out. This resulted in her sliding badly on a carpet sample, but she managed not to fall.

“Hello? Freddy?” she asked. There seemed to be a dark figure on the stage that wasn’t there before.

“Scram,” said a growly voice.

Adorabelle started. “Freddy? Is that you?”

Nothing. Adorabelle leapt lightly onto the stage. “Hey, like, look, I’m a bear like you!”

The dark shadow looked a bit more defined up close; it had the bulgy body, head shape, and top hat of the spare bear she’d seen backstage. It just growled darkly in reply to her.

“Aw, like, don’t be like that…” Well Freddy was certainly a sight different from the other animatronics.”I need to talk to you about being in the band.”

There was a heavy sigh. “Fine. Let me hear what you can do.”

“Yay! Do you have a keyboard?” Adorabelle asked.

“Duh. To the left.”

“Hey, like, I can’t see in the dark, okay?” Adorabelle said, turning to examine the shapes on the side of the stage. There was indeed a shape that looked like a keyboard stand, so she made her way over to it. “Okay, so, where’s the on button?”

The bear shadow moved over. “Here. I’ll do it.” He poked the keyboard hard, and a red light came on.

“This would, like, be much easier if the spotlights were on. Can you turn them on?”

“After hours, only the security guard operates them,” Freddy said.

“Oh… like… oh well…” No light, no magic. This wouldn’t be an easy concert. Adorabelle sighed and put her hooves on the keys, plinking around a little to get a feel for where the notes were and how wide the keys were.

“Any time you’re ready,” Freddy said.

“I’m ready for Freddy,” Adorabelle said, liking the rhyme.

“That was horrible. Just play.” Freddy said.

Frustrated, Adorabelle began pounding the keys in her favorite angry song. She slipped up on only a few notes.

“Well?” she asked Freddy when she was done.

Freddy just hopped off the stage and wandered out the door without a word.

Adorabelle stared after him, unmoving. Such rudeness seemed so unaccountable that it seemed like there must be an explanation.

The light flickered on and off while she was waiting; the security guard was stingy with electricity apparently.

After several minutes, Freddy returned, leading Bonnie. As they passed through the doorway, the light in the hallway revealed Freddy’s face more clearly. It was pretty much what Adorabelle had expected; light brown fur, black top hat, eyes sunken into the mask with black rims. The color of the eyes made her start though; they were an odd bluish purple that she was pretty sure eyes could not be. They almost looked like they had a gradient.

“Now we’ll see how well you play with a band,” Freddy said as the two animatronics climbed onto the stage.

“You’re going to be great,” Bonnie said, walking over to pick up a red guitar. “You know ‘All Through the Night’?”

“The Megan Melody? OMP, I love all of those. I have a songbook of them.” Adorabelle hopped up and down happily.

“Great; it’s a fun number. Really speaks to us,” Bonnie said. Then he tapped his foot. “One, two, three, go!”

Adorabelle followed along, matching her chords with Bonnie’s in sounds like a musical thunderstorm.

“All through the night, although it’s frightening, even though there’s lightning, we’ll keep pressing forward,” Adorabelle sang.

“We’ll keep pressing forward,” Freddy echoed in a deep bass voice.

At the end of the song, Freddy said, “You didn’t mention singing.”

“Oh, like, sorry… slipped my mind…”

“We already have two singers,” Freddy said.

“Oh, lighten up, Freddy,” Bonnie said. “You can’t keep an angelic voice like that out of our band. She’s a dead ringer for Megan’s voice!”

“I don’t even know where to begin…” Freddy said.

“Take it piece by piece,” Adorabelle said instinctively. Then she paused. This felt familiar.

“Okay. One, three singers and two instruments is ridiculous. Two, nobody ever said we were obligated to accept everyone who can sing well. Three, scholars debate which lines ‘should’ be sung by Megan anyway. Four, and most important, you have no idea what Megan’s voice sounds like because all voice recording technology was lost when Discord’s chaos magic rewrote the laws of nature and brought G1 to an end!”

Adorabelle stayed quiet. This was a conversation she’d had before, not only a few days ago, but many times over. The words were different but the template was the same. But that had to just be a coincidence…

“Look, like, I don’t care if I sing; I just love music and all that stuff…” Adorabelle said.

“You need to let her sing, Freddy,” Bonnie said. “She’s beautiful. The kids will love her.”

Freddy was silent.

“Please?” Bonnie said.

“I… I think I get it…” Adorabelle used her nose to steer Bonnie to the backstage where she was relatively certain Freddy wouldn’t hear her.

The masks were all facing her again. Adorabelle shivered and turned her back on them, trying not to think about the horrible empty eyes boring through her and into her soul.

“See, like, I think Freddy is being silent now because he knows we’re right and doesn’t, like, want to admit it, y’know? So just give him some space and let him, like, pretend it’s all his idea when he’s, like, finally ready to admit it, okay?”

Bonnie stared at her, his jaw dropped. “You’re a genius, Adorabelle!”

“Aw, shucks,” Adorabelle said, blushing slightly. “Let’s go back and, like, talk to him about other stuff, okay?”

Before this night was over, she needed to learn something, anything, about the Missing Children Incident. The stuff about Steel Flight was cool but sounded like a dead end, since there was nothing there to investigate.

When Bonnie got back out on the show stage, he suddenly froze. “I need to take care of something,” he said in an odd monotone, teleporting out of sight.

Adorabelle turned to Freddy. “So, like, thanks for giving me a chance.”

Freddy didn’t say anything.

Adorabelle sighed. “Um. Sooooo… I don’t, like, know a good transition to this, but… I, like, really need to know something about the Missing Children Incident. Bonnie and Chica said to ask you.”

Freddy seemed to be keeping up his regular pattern, but Adorabelle waited patiently.

After a solid two minutes, Freddy said, “Five children weren’t being watched very carefully. Someone led them away. A witness said he found one of them in the air vent, dead, with the message ‘purple stallion’ written on the wall near him in blood. The investigators found the message, but not the corpse, and that ventilation duct was too small for a non-child to crawl into. The other four were never found.”

It was now Adorabelle’s turn to stay silent for a minute. Those poor kids. Their poor families. Tears rose to her eyes.

“Do you… know who they were or what they looked like?” she asked.

Freddy just lowered his head into his hands. Soon he started shaking, and uttering odd groans.

Adorabelle sat down next to him and put one foreleg around his shoulder. She had no idea what to do or say.

After a while, Freddy’s mechanical facsimile sobs subsided.

“Did they ever find the purple stallion?” she asked.

Freddy’s voice is even more monotonous than before. “They thought they did, but they were wrong. A mare proved that. She said she knew who the real purple stallion was and tried to get him to admit it in court, but it didn’t happen. Then… things… happened, and then nothing happened. No arrest was made. They stopped investigating the case.”

“You don’t know why?” Adorabelle asked.

“No. No one tells the animatronics anything.”

Adorabelle turned her hoof-drape into a hug. “Maybe we can fix it.”

Freddy snorted. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s not too late. We can still learn who it was and prove it. Those kids can still have justice.”

“Sounds effective,” Freddy said sarcastically. "Because the justice system was soooo helpful the first time..."

“Hey! Like, I’m trying to help.”

“I don’t want it. You know nothing.”

“That’s not my fault! I was, like, seven or something when the MCI happened. And, like, it’s not like Bonnie or Chica can help either.”

Freddy stood up, knocking Adorabelle’s hoof aside, and folded his arms. “They are pivotal. Without all of us working together, we’d fail even more than we do, and you’ll be no help at all, I can tell.”

Adorabelle blinked; he’d lost her completely. “Okay, like, let me prove that I can help. If you can tell me the name of the witness, I promise to contact him within the week.”

Freddy said nothing.

“You, like, don’t even know the name do you…?” Adorabelle said, more disappointed than smug.

“…He was one of Steel Flight’s sons. The shy one.”

Adorabelle blinked. “Oh, another Flight? Probably not Iron Flight though… hmm. Too bad he hates me or I would ask him…” she sobered up. “Um… what about the child he found?”

Freddy shifted his weight. “Witness gave some details. Unicorn colt. Light grey coat, dark grey mane, blank flank. Nothing distinct about him except…”

Adorabelle leaned closer. “Except…?”

“…the eyes. That’s how the witness knew he was dead; the eyes were open. And they were the most vibrant violet he’d ever seen.”

Adorabelle stared at him. “Wait. What… what was the child named?”

“Violet Edge.”

Endless Politics

Adorabelle didn’t really remember going home; it was all kind of a blur. She didn’t even realize that she was running until she found herself struggling for breath while yanking open the Perfect manor door. But run she did, all the way up the stairs and into Violet Edge’s room. She paused at the door, terrified of what she’d see when she opened it.

“I have mace,” Violet Edge said from inside.

Adorabelle threw the door open.

The light grey stallion with a darker grey mane, no cutie mark, and the brightest violet eyes anypony’d ever seen was standing by the door, a can of spray glitter Adorabelle had left accidentally held in a shaky telekinetic grip.

“Adorabelle, don’t scare me like that! I thought you were Aim!” Violet Edge said, dropping the can.

Adorabelle wrapped her forehooves around Violet’s neck and held on tightly. She tried to fight it, but she started crying.

For a while, Violet Edge just stayed stiff as a mannequin. “Adorabelle?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” Adorabelle said, nuzzling his ear a little.

“What’s wrong? Why are you doing this?” Violet Edge said, sounding truly confused.

Adorabelle nuzzled him a little longer to buy time while she wondered just how much to tell him. He’d probably fret if she told him she was visiting a restaurant after hours where ponies had died. But she also needed answers.

“Like… don’t be mad… Or weirded out… but, like, I was afraid for a moment I imagined you or that you were a ghost…”

“What.”

“It’s, like, a long story I guess,” Adorabelle said. “The short version is… I… I was, like, trying to learn about the Missing Children Incident…”

“Why?” Violet Edge sounded tired, not mad. “I already proved your line of logic about that case was stupid.”

“Well, like, I don’t listen very well,” Adorabelle said.

“At least you’re self-aware.” Violet Edge untangled himself and moved to sit at his desk again.

“Hey, like, I need to finish answering your question,” Adorabelle said.

“I can listen and look at case notes at the same time.”

“But, no, like, listen, I heard one of the victims was grey with dark grey mane with no cutie mark-”

Violet Edge turned around and stared at Adorabelle. “You thought I suddenly became dead ten years ago because of that? Lots of colts fit that description.”

“And had brilliant violet eyes.”

“…Still not that…”

“And was, like, literally named Violet Edge.”

Violet Edge shifted to a blank stare. “You sure?”

“Very sure.” Okay, some might dispute whether Freddy counted as a reliable source, but Adorabelle didn’t.

“And this was a victim who… died?”

Adorabelle nodded. “Like, literally the only one confirmed dead was Violet Edge. The rest were just… well… Missing.”

“And… where is the body now?” Violet Edge asked.

“Vanished when the witness left to fetch the cops,” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge sighed with relief. “Then that has to be ponyfeathers. I mean, I’m obviously alive.”

“Mmm-hmm…” Adorabelle said, unconvinced.

“…Why? What do you think the reason is?” Violet Edge asked, still clearly unnerved.

“Oh, like, I dunno.” Adorabelle hugged Violet Edge one last time. “I, like, have the name of the witness. Mechanical Flight. Any bells ringing?”

“I mean… yes. That’s another one of Steel Flight’s sons. The second one,” Violet Edge said.

“Did everypony really think Steel Flight ran away?” Adorabelle asked.

“…You heard about that?” Violet Edge said.

“I mean, like, yeah. That… that was what I learned when… um.” Adorabelle didn’t feel like reminding Violet Edge of the broken picture frame just yet.

“Well… my dad thought differently. So did Starburst. But because Starburst thought it nopony believed them…” Violet Edge said.

“Starburst?” Adorabelle said. “You don’t mean… the owner of the Rainbow Factory?”

“Yes. He was Steel Flight’s old boss.”

Adorabelle blinked, stunned. Non-Cloudsdale ponies had little chance to learn the truth about the Rainbow Factory because it was so shut up and secretive, but there were legends and campfire stories that couldn’t be disproven, and there were a few deaths here and there that were reported as accidents but were thought to be something else…

“But, like, what did he and your dad think?” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge sighed. “Steel Flight was a mechanical genius. I don’t just mean that was his cutie mark; I mean that nopony could match him in skill. He designed safer and more efficient machines for the Rainbow Factory. Well, Perry Pierce in the Chocolate Factory apparently was jealous.”

The Chocolate Factory was Canterlot’s version of the Rainbow Factory, with a few differences. No one could definitively name anypony who died there. That was because nopony ever came in or went out of the Chocolate Factory except for Perry Pierce himself. At the same time, word on the street was that if a loved one needed money more than they needed you, Perry Pierce would pay top dollar for more… workers or test subjects; no one was sure.

“Is that what your dad thought then? That, like, somepony sold Steel Flight to the Chocolate Factory? Who?”

Violet Edge shrugged. “Could have been anyone. Slavers roam the streets with butterfly nets in the chocolate district, and Steel Flight did have the night shift after all. He would have been out at the most dangerous times…”

“He vanished from Freddy’s, though,” Adorabelle said.

“How would you know that?” Violet Edge said, startled.

“Well, like, I asked someone who was there,” Adorabelle said lamely.

“Who?”

Adorabelle sighed. The cats were all out of the bag now. “I went to Freddy’s and talked to the animatronics.”

Violet Edge blinked at her. “What.”

“It’s, like, the truth,” Adorabelle said. “They told me they saw Steel Flight taken away, but they were, like, half-unconscious and couldn’t do anything about it.”

“How could they tell you anything? They were glorified puppets!” Violet Edge said.

“No, like, they really talk and hold conversations. They do talk kinda funny though,” Adorabelle admitted. “Did you ever go to Freddy’s back then?”

“A few times. I didn’t like it; the robots were creepy. But it was a good place to meet…” He paused. “…Steel Flight.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Adorabelle said, studying his face like she could somehow find out what Violet was hiding from her.

“But they couldn’t talk except when they were acting their skits and things,” Violet Edge said. “They weren’t intelligent.”

Adorabelle stuck her lower lip out. “You think I’m lying.”

“Nnnnot per se…” Violet Edge said.

“Or, like, an idiot,” Adorabelle said.

“Okay, I don’t know. Maybe they updated them since I was there then.” Violet Edge stared at the ceiling in thought. “So assuming they’re telling the truth, Steel Flight was abducted while in Freddy’s… but that doesn’t make sense. They’re supposed to have a night guard there I think.”

“A night guard? For a pizza place?” Adorabelle said, confused.

“Because the animatronics were cutting edge technology that were likely to be stolen,” Violet Edge said. “At least that’s what they claimed but they didn’t seem very cutting edge to me…”

“So the guard didn’t stop it. Maybe he was taken out.” Adorabelle tapped her chin. “But then, like, why wouldn’t you just wait until Steel Flight left...? Unless… OMP…” Her eyes widened.

“What?” Violet Edge asked.

“The pony who sold Steel Flight… was the night guard,” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying “That… is sounder logic than I normally hear from you…”

“So, like, you think I’m right?”

“I think that’s not the only possibility, but it had merit, I guess…” Violet Edge said.

“OMP,” Adorabelle said, shaking with excitement. “I, like, can’t wait to keep investigating-”

“Why?”

Adorabelle stopping shivering. “Like… what do you mean ‘why’…?”

“Steel Flight is gone,” Violet Edge said, his expression blank. “If he’s really at the Chocolate Factory, knowing who sold him won’t help. Perry’s never suffered any legal action for anything he’s done ever; everypony knows how he likes to shut production down whenever he’s threatened and too many ponies depend on the medicine he makes for it to be worth the risk of investigating rumors.”

“You think he’s above the law?” Adorabelle asked.

“I didn’t say that. I do, however, think bringing him down is beyond the abilities of a spying little high school filly.”

“But, like, I need to try,” Adorabelle said. “And… and it’s not just for Steel Flight. Like, what if there’s other ponies this night guard has sold? What if the MCI is connected to him? Like, aren’t you even a little curious?”

“No. That’s all ten years ago.” Violet Edge turned back to his homework.

“You’re just scared because, like, you may be dead or something,” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge stiffened slightly so she knew she was right.

“But, like, not knowing doesn’t make it not real…” Adorabelle said.

“I don’t want to talk about this right now…” Violet Edge said, his voice soft and tired. “I have to study for debate finals…”

“Oh… okay. Yeah. That’ll be cool. I’ll be there to watch.” Adorabelle kissed him on the cheek. “Night and sweet dreams. Don’t stay up all night studying please. It makes me sad to see you doze off everywhere…”

“Night,” Violet Edge said vaguely.

***

The day of the massive field trip to the Counsel of the Immortals began with the mock court finals. When the announcement came of Violet Edge and Silver Quill’s victory, Adorabelle nearly tossed Violet Edge into the air with joy, but because she wasn’t quite that powerful she settled for smothering him. He wasn’t as resistant as normal; he even seemed ready to cry with relief that he’d won.
Then they joined the lucky field trippers from all majors in the grandiose GUA amphitheater, all marble columns studded with gemstones. Safeguard, their escort for GUA attendees, gave them a speech about the history of the three immortals, Starburst, Perry Pierce, and Cherry Jubilee, how they became immortal, how they’d used their powers, relationship to Celestia etc. It honestly was stuff Adorabelle knew already because it wasn’t like she was going to miss out on cool celebrity gossip, even if these three celebrities were ones that the public would like to forget.

“Most importantly,” Safeguard said, “I want all of you to display proper decorum. No unnecessary sounds or movement; clap for those who arrive when appropriate, but we are here to observe proceedings, not to comment. Don’t let the bad behavior of others drive you to respond in kind. Understood?”

Every unicorn nodded. Adorabelle wasn’t sure why this was necessary; most of them learned back when they were five that talking out loud at public functions was a no-no.

“Then let’s get ready. Your carriages await; please board according to the number you received in your invitation.”

Adorabelle huffed in annoyance as she and Violet Edge joined the flow of ponies headed for the street around the college. “Carriages. Like we can’t just walk to the castle.”

“It’s about appearances,” Violet Edge said.

“And, like, that’s the problem. It looks so snooty,” Adorabelle said.

“I guess there’s a fine line between dignified and snooty…” Violet Edge admitted.

Riding in the earth pony pulled carriages made the trip only mildly shorter, especially since there was now suddenly lots of traffic. Canterlot Castle was probably more impressive to ponies who didn’t grow up in close proximity to it with the social status that got them invited to a moderate amount of royal things, but the Royal Meeting Chamber was still impressive. The whole room was made of white and purple marble with columns and alcoves and other lovely architectural things. The lower floor had the seating for the Princess and had switchable thrones and other furniture for whoever was petitioning or meeting with Celestia at the time. On the second level, high above the nobles' heads, was a ring of coliseum-like seating for audience members. All kinds of important events, both diplomatic and domestic, happened here.

Princess Celestia's pink throne with a sun emblem was empty for the moment. Princess Cadance was in attendance too and a bit more prompt than her senior; her throne was new and not as tall as Princess Celestia’s, and it was white just to be in contrast to Celestia’s pink throne.

“How annoying,” Sunny Flare said loudly.

“What’s annoying?” Adorabelle said.

“Those two.” Sunny Flare waved her hoof at Princess Cadance. The young mare was hanging around the edge of the royal hall, probably awaiting her official entrance. She was awkwardly talking with a blue-maned unicorn guard. The GUA students were seated far enough away that their facial expressions couldn’t be made out, but they both clearly wanted to talk but were afraid to.

“So, like… what’s annoying?” Adorabelle blinked at the law student.

“The way they’ve been holding each other at leg’s length for so many years,” Sunny Flare said. “They were on track to getting married even when they were still teenagers, to the point where there were rumors their parents would arrange an early marriage for them. And then suddenly they’re doing that disgusting thing where they both obviously still like each other but they refuse to get together.”

“Oh, and, like, you’re friends with them and sad that they can’t be happy or something?” Adorabelle said.

“Well. No.” Sunny Flare coughed. “But you have to think about all of Equestria as well. Marriage is even more magical than friendship and the union between them would have generated a lot of magic that… ah…” She withered under Adorabelle’s judgmental glare.

“Okay, like, I’m going to tell you why they’re so distant because, like, your dad or whoever skipped that part when they were teaching you their politics,” Adorabelle said. “You, like, know the story of the Hearts and Hooves day princess?”

“The princess who lost her kingdom because she couldn’t stop looking into her beloved’s eyes? Everypony knows that,” Sunny Flare said.

“Okay, and, like, archeological evidence is sketchy on that one but, y’know, G2 so who knows, but some ponies thought it was, like, a dire prophecy, a warning. So, like, when Cadance ascended into the princess of love someponies thought that, like, maybe she shouldn’t have any coltfriends at all…”

“They’re the minority,” Sunny Flare said.

“But, like, then something happened something like a decade ago where Cadance was fillysitting somepony… or Shining was, or both were; the gossip magazine was kinda sketchy,” Adorabelle admitted. “But, like, anyway, they were busy looking into each others’ eyes, and the filly wandered off somewhere and was never seen again.”

Sunny Flare didn’t say anything.

“So… like, now Cadance believes the prophecy and is scared.”

“Your sources hardly sound credible,” Sunny Flare said.

“Gossip magazine was, like, a bit of a stretch I guess…” Adorabelle said. She looked to Violet Edge for validation, but he just sunk further into his seat and shot her a look that said “Leave me out of this.”

The crowd stirred with whispers and cries of concern. Adorabelle peered down to see Princess Celestia and Starburst enter side by side like old friends. The cream-colored stallion with a blood red mane nodded cordially to Princess Celestia and kissed her hoof; his large dark sunglasses hid any trace of emotion. Then he joined his very small pegasus entourage. A blue-white pegasus stallion was fiddling with what looked like some kind of jointed child’s toy and clearly wishing he was anywhere but here; Starburst whispered some things to this nervous pegasus, who nodded frantically.

The anxious murmurs turned to wild cheers from a small section of the audience. Adorabelle looked around at her fellow GUA students, who all looked confused; why didn’t they realize this wasn’t the occasion for cheering?

A small entourage of ponies was filing in, all earth ponies, except for four unicorns carrying a golden litter covered with deep red velvet cushions and bordered with living flowers. Sitting on the litter was a white mare with a mane that matched her cushions. She waved and blew kisses at the cheering earth ponies as she was carried in. When the unicorns stopped and kneeled to let her off, the section of earth ponies cheering stood up and at attention while the mare stepped off to take her place with the other Immortals.

“Hail Manehattan!” the mare said, saluting her fans.

“Hail Jubilee!” they all shouted back.

Then all together they said “All hail the earth!” The devoted followers continued to cheer wildly while Cherry Jubilee once more blew kisses at them, her eyes moist.

“Look at her; she’s even pretending to cry,” Sunny Flare whispered to the ponies in her general vicinity. Other GUA students stirred and whispered at the fanatical display.

“Shhhh,” Safeguard said. “Don’t sink to their level.”

Adorabelle hugged herself and shivered. She’d heard stories of Manehattan fanaticism but it was so different seeing it right in front of her in the present day.

And yet it seemed so fun to be part of a group that loved each other and their leader instead of being stuck over here with the dry, emotionless intellectuals.

All the Immortals took their seats but the chocolate brown throne for Perry Pierce was still completely empty.

“Late again…” Cherry Jubiliee muttered… into the sound amplifier crystal on her collar that carried her voice through the whole room.

The mistake made Celestia’s lips twitch into a mischievous smile.

“The truly great are never late, my poor little truffle filler.”

Adorabelle looked up to see a grey-purple unicorn stallion chilling on the ceiling, his horn glowing faintly white. He wore an impeccable black and white business suit and top hat and spun a black cane topped with a golden ball in his telekinetic grip. As soon as he had everypony’s attention, he jumped onto a marble column and slid down it like he was grinding a rail, then jumped off at just the right moment to land on top of Celestia’s head, where he took a moment to laugh with glee before somersaulting over to his brown throne, which he took a bite out of.

It wasn’t like anypony at all from the GUA had to be told not to cheer for Perry Pierce. The greedy confectioner had briefly enjoyed fame as the not-so-secret leader of the not-so-secret unicorn supremacist political manipulators called the Blessing. But around ten years ago, when it became apparent that the unicorn supremacists were going to lose the Secret Wars to the Manehatten Civilian Militia, Perry threw every Blessing member under the carriage without a single hesitation. At which point it turned out that nearly every member of the Canterlot nobility was involved to some degree with the Blessing and no one single member, except possibly for Perry, knew about or was responsible for the full scope of atrocities the Blessing committed, so most of them weren’t prosecuted or were slapped on the wrist and kept under surveillance, but the bitterness wasn’t going to be fading any time soon.

Celestia stood to give the standard speech. “Immortal friends, we gather here before those ponies we protect and support-”

“I call Little Spark. Ha ha,” Perry Pierce said.

Cherry Jubilee stood up, her face tight with rage. “You can’t do that, you pompous fool!”

“Just did.” Perry Pierce stuck his tongue out at her.

“Children,” Starburst scoffed.

“I’m not the stallionchild, he is!” Cherry Jubilee said. “And we of the earth will not stand for you stealing such a precious resource-”

“Precious? What do a city of dirty farmers need with an unlimited energy reserve?” Perry said.

“Maybe if you didn’t lock yourself in your house your whole life you’d know why we need it so much,” Cherry said.

“To fry the popcorn in the fields to save a step?” Perry said, smirking.

Cherry folded her forelegs and smirked back. “You’re just jealous because we still have farmers. How’s that famine working for you?”

“We may have no fruits but I let them eat chocolate,” Perry Pierce said with a shrug.

“Shhhhhhhhhhh….” Starburst said, waving his hoof dismissively. The two warring factions just stared at him blankly; if Adorabelle hadn’t known better she would have sworn the pegasus cast some kind of spell on them. Starburst then turned to Princess Celestia. “Your Highness, if Little Spark is going to end up with any of us, I submit it should be me. Not only are we experienced with… entertaining the suffering… but Mechanical Flight has a proposal for a machine which will maximize the output from Little Spark while minimizing the damage to him-”

“Oh, sure,” Cherry Jubilee said. “Because only pegasi know how to use lightning, is that correct?”

Cherry’s loyal followers started booing and hissing. Adorabelle realized that a good chunk of them were in police uniforms.

“I never said that,” Starburst said, completely unruffled. “However, the Rainbow Factory has a greater need for an energy source-”

“You don’t need anything except pretty colors and the corpses of your own race,” Cherry Jubilee said.

Starburst lowered his head in what looked like an unseen glare. “I’d appreciate it if you keep your accusations to fact-”

“Then tell us. Better yet, let’s hear it from your chief mechanic.” Cherry stood up and planted her hooves on either side of the nervous pegasi’s head. “Tell us, Mechanical Flight, why do so many workers in your factory mysteriously die? Hmm? We’re wait-”

“Help me! Help! Anypony!” Mechanical Flight wailed.

Princess Celestia yanked Cherry away with her golden telekinesis, but Mechanical Flight was shivering, twitching, and still talking and whimpering to himself.

Starburst glided over and held Mechanical Flight’s head gently but firmly in his hooves. “Sh, sh, sh, it’s okay,” he whispered. “Calm down. You’re fine.” Then he said to Cherry Jubilee over his shoulder, “You ought to be ashamed of such tactics.”

Naturally, telling off the glorious leader got him more boos from her followers.

Adorabelle was on the edge of her seat. The last name matched… and he was definitely shy. He may even have inherited the mechanic job from his dad. Was this the witness Freddy had mentioned?

She looked at Violet Edge to try and gauge if he was as excited as she was.

“What the hay are you smiling about?” Violet whispered angrily at her. “This is a disaster.”

Oh. Fair.

“Ahem, may I approach the immortals?”

Adorabelle whirled around to see Doctor Whooves trotting from the audience to the dais where the immortals were seated, a small sound amplifying crystal strapped around his neck.

Somehow his mere appearance was enough to set off Cherry’s crowd of admirers. “Boo! Hiss! Get off the stage, Jewel Heart!” they all screamed.

Cadance stood up abruptly. “Citizens of Equestria! What does it say about ourselves that we feel the need to criticize all who don’t agree with us as somehow traitors to their kind?”

“Oh, but he is oh-so-much a unicorn-wannabe.” Somehow while the attention was off of him Perry Pierce had migrated to clinging to a marble column like a koala. “You want to know how much?”

“I’m coming here to try and say-” Doctor Whooves said, valiantly attempting to ignore Perry.

In a snap of white light, Perry Pierce teleported in front of Doctor Whooves and stuffed a large chunk of chocolate in the professor’s mouth. “It’s rude to interrupt. I was going to tell them the hilarious story of how you were so desperate to be seen as a unicorn, you actually married one of my concubines and tried to pass off my unicorn offspring as your own! As if!”

The resulting rage and mockery from Cherry’s side was predictable, but the GUA students became more restless than ever too.
“Doctor Whooves did that? Does he really have self-hate like that? Did anyone really believe his unicorn daughter was biologically his?” students muttered to each other.

Doctor Whooves spit out his block of chocolate. “As I was saying, my team and I have a solid history curing ponies with unique disabilities-”

“Cure him?” Perry Pierce says. “And I guess if you found the last of the flutterponies you’d rush to finish their conversion into a helpless Breezy?”

“That’s the exact opposite of what I’m trying to do!” Doctor Whooves says. “Little Spark was a healthy, happy pony before a freak accident made him a monstrosity and I just want to help him—”

“And cheat Equestria out of such an irreplaceable resource?” Cherry Jubilee said. “But we should expect such warped priorities from a traitor to his race.”

Unperturbed, Doctor Whooves said, “Why, Cherry, Perry, I’m so glad you can agree about something for once.”

The two warring immortals stared at each other warily.

“I’ve already made my decision before this counsel anyway,” Princess Celestia said, standing up. “I just found this argument amusing.”

“Your highness!” Doctor Whooves said, annoyed.

“When you’re immortal you need to get your kicks somehow,” Perry Pierce said, having migrated to standing on the underside of a balcony.

“Do I have to come up there and teach you what a chair is!?” Cherry Jubilee shouted at him.

“Little Spark will be placed in the care of Doctor Whooves. Equestria will not be a society that benefits on the backs of unfortunate individuals,” Princess Celestia said.

Apparently unrehearsed, most of the audience including Cherry’s followers burst out laughing. Even Starburst face-palmed at that comment.

“Equestria will not be a society that deliberately takes advantage of unfortunate individuals,” Celestia tried to correct, but the damage was done.

“Thank you your highness,” Doctor Whooves said, kneeling.

“Don’t thank me. I expect much progress from you in return,” Princess Celestia says.

“Naturally.”

Adorabelle clapped at the decision and then was disappointed to realize no one was joining her.

“Who’s Little Spark…?” Herbal Remedy whispered to the general vicinity.

“Y’know, like… the Cursed 5 member from Las Pegasus who was made of electroplasma?” Adorabelle said.

“But why isn’t he just in jail then…? Did he help save the world?” Minuette asked.

“Like, not exactly,” Adorabelle said. “He was, like, deemed not accountable because he was crazy from his mutation I think?”

“Why did those two clowns nearly turn Equestria into a laughingstock over a single weirdo from Las Pegasus?” Sunny Flare said, annoyed.

“The answer is in the question,” Violet Edge muttered darkly. “Apparently forever young means forever immature…”

Adorabelle grabbed Violet Edge’s foreleg. “Hey, look.” She pointed to Mechanical Flight, who, after whispering briefly to Starburst, got up to sneak out of the counsel room as best as he could when all eyes were on the center area.

“What about him?” Violet Edge asked.

“We, like, need to follow him because he’s the pony who testified he saw your corpse,” Adorabelle whispered.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding…” Violet said, looking pale.

“This is our chance!” Adorabelle tugged Violet Edge out of his seat telekinetically and wove her way to the stairs connecting the audience seating with the main floor.

As she exited the main auditorium to the small platform outside the upper level seating, she could see the entire hallway from above. Some press ponies were already congregating, the ones who for whatever reason weren’t already in the counsel room taking pictures and notes. As Adorabelle watched, Mechanical Flight darted into view and looked around like he was trying to find a place to hide.

“Hey, hold up Mechanical!” Adorabelle shouted, waving to him.

Mechanial Flight spun around and stared at Adorabelle. His eyes widened with horror.

Then he bolted down the hallway.

“Hey!” Adorabelle shouted. “After him!”

“Or maybe leave him alone,” Violet Edge said.

Adorabelle didn’t listen and jumped down the steps several at a time before launching herself off the bottom one, her hoofbeats echoing in the large marble hallway as she pursued her prey. The pale blue pegasus kicked himself into the air and darted into a small side passageway. Adorabelle swerved after him and paused, annoyed, at the realization that this was a tower with three flights of stairs winding around and around the interior wall. Mechanical Flight got to skip all of them and rise straight up.

Darned if she was going to lose him when she was already so close. She galloped up the stairs, slowly but surely gaining on the fleeing witness, until she pounced, jumping from one side of the staircase to the other and seizing Mechanical’s tail in her mouth as she passed.

The pegasus screamed as he was taken down. “Help! Help! Somepony! Please!”

“I’m, like, not going to hurt you,” Adorabelle said.

Mechanical Flight was shaking so much he looked like he was having a seizure. “Don’t unlock me again! Please! I’ll do anything!” There were actual tears in his eyes as he folded his hooves in a praying gesture.

“Un… unlock…?” Adorabelle said.

And then she made the connection. Mechanical Flight had witnessed the Missing Children Incident. That meant he must have been cross-examined by…

“No, like, True Beauty is my mom. She’s the one who can unlock pony’s hearts. I just unlock, like, normal physical locks.” She watched the pegasus continue to quiver. “I… I’m sorry… if she hurt you…”

“Every time I saw her horn light… heard her order me to tell the truth… I felt something snap inside me and everything j-just came spilling out…” Mechanical Flight swallowed loudly.

Adorabelle struggled to be empathetic, but she had a hard time believing her mom would deliberately hurt anypony… right? “But, like, I’m not her, I’m me,” Adorabelle said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You slammed me into the stairs…”

“I’m not going to hurt you anymore,” Adorabelle said. “Please, I, like, just want to know about-”

Mechanical Flight suddenly froze up, his eyes fixed on something over Adorabelle’s shoulder. Adorabelle looked behind her to see Violet Edge coming up the stairs.

“Why… do you… keep running… off after… silly leads…” Violet panted.

“No,” Mechanical Flight whispered to himself. Then, louder, “No! Go away! Please!”

Violet Edge stopped dead. “What…?”

“It’s not my fault you died!! Please don’t haunt me! Augh!” He wriggled out of Adorabelle’s grasp and ran up the stairs.

“Hey!” Adorabelle said, starting to follow, when a cream pegasus landed on the stairs blocking her path.

“Why are you harassing my chief engineer!?” Starburst spread his wings to block Adorabelle’s ascent.

“Oh, um, like, I know this looks bad…” Adorabelle said.

“ ‘Looks’ bad. How cute.” Starburst deadpanned.

“Hey, like, it’s not my fault I happen to look like a pony that traumatized him and I didn’t know that!” Adorabelle said, stomping her hoof. “Or that my friend looks like a ghost that traumatized him. Or that he’s easily traumatized period.”

“And yet you continued to question him instead of letting him leave when you saw you were tormenting him?” Starburst said. “And you literally pinned him down. And you don’t see a problem with that.”

Adorabelle hung her head. “I just… I like…”

“What possible excuse do you have?” Starburst said.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Adorabelle’s eyes blurred with tears.

“A little late for that.” Starburst snorted. “I’m going to go see if I can calm him down. Don’t follow.” He took off.

Adorabelle stared at the steps. “You think like… maybe one day I’ll mess things up less?” she asked Violet Edge.

“Maybe if you stop vaguely wishing to be a less impulsive girl and start working on actually developing impulse control,” Violet Edge said. “What the hay did you gain from that?”

Adorabelle rubbed one foreleg against the other. “Well, like, now we know that you and the dead pony are the same…”

“We know nothing more than we did before!” Violet Edge said. “Mech was a nervous wreck! He may have just seen somepony who looked like me!”

“…Mech…?” Adorabelle asked. “Wait. Mechanical Flight is a Flight, so, like, didn’t you two know each other back when your dads were friends? Would he, like, really mix you up with somepony else…?”

Violet Edge cringed. “I… I barely knew of Mech’s existence. He shut himself in his room all the time and the few times I saw him it… wasn’t pretty.” He paused. “Mech didn’t really have a happy childhood… or a happy adulthood.”

“Oh…” Adorabelle said sadly.

“But why are you so bent on learning more about this incident? I…” Violet Edge placed a hoof on his chest. “I’m breathing. I have a heartbeat. Isn’t that enough to prove this must be a mistake?”

Adorabelle stared at her hooves, thinking of one of the few things her mother taught her so many years ago. “It’s our duty to unravel every contradiction, no matter how trivial or inexplicable it may seem.”

Violet Edge stared intently at Adorabelle, his eyes fearful and a little sad. Like he was saying “And what if you unravel me with it?”

Adorabelle threw her hooves around Violet Edge’s neck and pulled him into a hug. He didn’t reciprocate, which was normal enough, but he was limp as a ragdoll.

“I’ve, like, got a different idea,” Adorabelle said. “What if I, like, show you to Freddy and ask him to explain this? Like presenting evidence to witnesses?”

“Freddy’s is still open?”

“Okay, like, TBH I’m always going there, like, after sunset and stuff.” Adorabelle shrugged. “They seem like they get lonely at night so, like, y’know.”

Violet Edge gently pulled back. “And the night guard doesn’t stop you or anything?”

“I’ve, like, never seen him. I dunno where he is.” Adorabelle touched Violet Edge’s hoof. “So. You in?”

Violet Edge stared at her hoof. “This is so stupid…”

“Please?” Adorabelle said. “We need to know.”

Violet Edge sighed. “Okay… if it’ll make you act more normal after that.”

“I’m never normal.” Adorabelle gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you so much.”

***

Going to Freddy’s in the daytime was very weird. So was walking around in the chocolate district with Violet Edge.

“Not wearing clothes was a kind of smart move I guess,” Adorabelle told Violet Edge as they crossed the bridge.

“I never had clothes growing up, really,” Violet Edge said. “As weird as it is without my jacket in the rest of the world, here it would feel weird wearing things…”

“Oh, like, right… I keep forgetting you used to live here, back when…” Back when his dad was alive. No need to bring that up…

It was when Adorabelle reached the hollow tree where her costume was stored that she realized a fundamental flaw in her plan.

“Um… like… Violet… Freddy’s a bear, so, um…”

Violet Edge blinked. “R-right… I knew that…”

“But, like, he’s a nice friendly bear and I promise he won’t hurt you,” Adorabelle said, placing her forehooves on his shoulders. “Do you trust me?”

“Do you want the honest answer…?” Violet Edge asked.

Adorabelle huffed. “Okay, fine; I’ll, like, ask Bonnie or Chica or something, but I think Freddy’ll be the only one who can help. Normally I’d say close your eyes or something but if your eyes were closed the most distinct feature would be hidden…”

“Closing my eyes doesn’t make me feel safer,” Violet Edge said. “It just makes it worse because now I can’t see what I’m trying to escape.”

“But, like, we’ve come too far to turn back now…” Adorabelle whimpered. “What if I stand between you and the bear?”

“Why would that make it better!?” Violet Edge said.

“This can’t happen,” Adorabelle said. “Bears are not that scary Edgyyyyy… especially not cute bears.”

“I’ve yet to see a cute one…” Violet Edge muttered.

That did it. It was time for immersion therapy to prove him wrong.

Adorabelle telekinetically shoved the empty golden Freddy head in Violet Edge’s face.

Even for someone like her so habituated to not thinking plans through, this was an exceptionally ill-thought out plan. She wasn’t sure what exactly she expected to happen, but Violet’s reaction was not it.

Violet Edge reared on his hind legs, a strange, garbled scream echoed from his mouth, and in a flash of light from his horn, he suddenly fell limp on the ground, his brilliant violet eyes still open but seeing nothing.

Adorabelle dropped the head and let it roll away. She dove to Violet Edge’s side and desperately checked his vitals. He already felt ice cold to the touch, making her scream in dismay, but she held to his wrist like their lives depended on it, and before long she felt his heartbeat. She sobbed with relief, but he still felt cold, and his eyes still looked empty.

Adorabelle lay near him and wrapped her forehooves around his neck, like she could warm him with her embrace and love him back to life. “Please don’t die… please don’t die…”

She felt like she lay there for an hour but it was probably only a minute or two; anxiety that there was something else she should be doing to help him made her almost ill, but she was scared to leave him like that in the Chocolate District for fear he’d wake up only to be swallowed by the equine predators that prowled the streets if she wasn’t there to protect him. Carrying him was out; she had no idea if she’d just make it worse, even if she could sustain a telekinesis spell strong enough to carry him long enough for her to get somewhere important.

Then, slowly, she felt warmth return to him. She hugged him tighter, smiling through the tears. “Edgy?”

His brilliant violet eyes blinked, and focus on Adorabelle’s blue ones. They widened with surprise.

“Edgy!” Adorabelle nuzzled his ears happily. “I’m so happy you’re awake and alive and I’m so so so sorry and I’ll never do that again…”

“Do what?” Violet Edge looked confused.

Adorabelle paused. “Um, er…” No; bringing the costume up might cause the same thing to happen again. “You don’t remember the, uh, five minutes before you fell unconscious…?”

Violet Edge just stared at her, looking nervous. “Who… who are you…?”

Adorabelle’s ears slowly flattened with sorrow and horror. “Edgy….?”

“And…” Now Violet Edge looked really scared. “And who am I?”

Author's Note

Happy Halloween (It's still the witching hour where I am; it still counts...) and happy 2nd birthday to AMotB.... wow, that's almost depressing. Hopefully next year will be more productive...

Endless Forgetting

It took several minutes of hugging, sobbing, and apologizing before Adorabelle managed to calm down enough to explain things to Violet Edge. During the whole thing he just looked weirded out and wouldn’t hug her back. At least one thing was the same.

“You…” Violet Edge stared at Adorabelle. “Are we siblings or a couple or…?”

“Um…” Adorabelle realized she had a sitcomish opportunity to tell him that what she wanted to be reality was real. “It’s, like, it’s complicated. I love you so much but you usually act cold…”

“Oh.” Violet Edge stared over Adorabelle’s shoulder. “I… I’m kind of a jerk.”

“Oh, like, no, you’re fine…”

“But… but you’re so beautiful, so… why didn’t I want to accept you as my girlfriend?” Violet Edge furrowed his brow in concern.

It wasn’t exactly a compliment; he seemed more interested in learning more about himself than he was in telling Adorabelle how he felt about her. Adorabelle still felt the need to nuzzle his ears in response anyway.

“I think it’s, like, you didn’t think you were, I dunno, worthy of me or something…? Which totes makes zero sense, because you’re, like, a super intelligent attorney wannabe while I’m, like, a total ditz…”

“I’m a what?” Violet Edge said.

“Um…” Adorabelle pulled back. “An attorney is, like, um, a guy who argues…”

“I… I think I remember factual information,” Violet Edge said, looking puzzled. “I just don’t remember who I am. And, um, not that I don’t appreciate your company… it means a lot to have a friend, given what just happened… but… is there anyone more unbiased that I can hear about myself from?”

Adorabelle blinked. She’d never really thought about that. Violet Edge’s guardian was a no. Maybe her dad? Was he biased?

“Okay, like, I think I know somepony. You’re coming home with me!”

“Thanks.” And then Violet Edge smiled. It was a little worried, but it was still more genuine than Adorabelle remembered seeing on him in, well, pretty much forever. “I’m sorry for giving you so much trouble…”

“Oh, but, like, it was my fault,” Adorabelle whimpered. “I’m not sure what exactly I did but I know it was something stupid…”

“Is it… safe to ask what?” Violet Edge asked.

“No, like, probably not; let’s hurry to the courthouse.”

She and Violet Edge cantered back into the main district of Canterlot side by side.

“Do all of these places, like, look familiar?” Adorabelle asked.

“The place where we were before looked more familiar, but this one looks more beautiful,” Violet Edge said.

“Hmm. Maybe, like, you reverted to being a child, because, like, you live here now, but you lived there then.”

“Please use clearer nouns; I’m losing you…” Violet Edge said.

“Sorry. Look, like, we’re here,” Adorabelle said, scampering up the steps of the courthouse. She turned to look at Violet Edge. He had a vague, thoughtful look on his face.

“Something wrong?” Adorabelle asked.

“I know this place… I was here a lot… I think…” Violet Edge said. Then he brightens a little. “My dad! My dad works here! Do I get to see him?”

“Er…” Adorabelle winced. “He’s… um… not here right now, but, like, you get to meet my dad.” She paused. “So if you remember your dad, do you remember other stuff, like, your name and stuff?”

“I mean, I already know my name is Edgy because you told me so,” Violet Edge said.

“Oh, um, like, oh no no no, that’s just my nickname for you. Please try and remember your real name,” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge closed his eyes. “Um… Edgy… Edge… Violet… Purple.” His eyes snapped open wide. “Purple…”

“No, like, colder,” Adorabelle said.

Violet Edge’s breathing suddenly sped up. “Purple… Everything purple…” He slowly leaned over to one side.

“No!” Adorabelle dashed over to grab him as he fell.

“I’m dying… I’m dying… I’m dead…” Violet Edge closed his eyes and let himself go limp.

“No no no! You’re not! Please don’t do this!” Adorabelle cried, tearfully hugging him. “Help! Somepony! Medic!”

“What’s wrong!?”

Adorabelle looked up to see one of the detectives she’d met a few days ago staring at her anxiously. She honestly had forgotten which one he was by now. Wordlessly, she held out Violet Edge’s limp body, and the police stallion’s expression shifted to horror. He lay Violet Edge on the ground and moved Adorabelle’s forehooves over the prone pony’s heart. “Do you know CPR?” he asked.

“M-mostly,” Adorabelle said.

“Well don’t if you don’t know. I’ll be right back.” The detective didn’t run away; he bounced. And he didn’t even bounce like normal ponies; he used only his hind legs, his front hooves being apparently for balancing. It would have been funny if the situation wasn’t so serious.

Adorabelle fretfully moved her hooves around Violet Edge’s chest, trying to remember the right position. Nothing would work. Edgy would die and it was all her fault multiple times over. Why was she so stupid and reckless?

A loud thump behind her made her start and she turned around to see the detective, perched precariously on his hind hooves, with a huge bundle of a light orange flower with fern-y foliage clutched in his forehooves.

“You take the petals off to give to him; I’ll hold his mouth open,” the detective said. “Telekinesis is better for these.”

Adorabelle obeyed, stripping the petals in seconds.

“We only need two flowers to start… I kinda overharvested…” the detective said, rubbing the back of his head.

A few seconds after swallowing the petals, Violet Edge started to stir.

“He’s alive…” Adorabelle sobbed.

“Best not wake him yet,” the detective said. “That didn’t go over so well last time…”

“Last time?” Adorabelle said, confused.

“Oh… I guess you wouldn’t know,” the detective said. “This is actually how Mr. Edge and I met. Sort of. I mean, we knew each other before because we were in the same building so often, but…”

“Oh. Wait.” Adorabelle pressed her ears against her head, embarrassed. “Which one are you again…? I met so many of you at once that you all kind of blend together…”

“Gumshoe.” Gumshoe seemed a little hurt at being forgotten.

“Oh, right, the one petting the mint colt. Is he fine now? Did he really stop being blind and deaf?”

Gumshoe nodded. “He’s fine… until he messes up again. Like all of us.”

Adorabelle tilted her head, confused.

“Anyway, back to the original topic, one day I found Mr. Edge wandering around the city memoryless and took him back to the station for a talk. Eventually his guardian found out and snapped him out of it though, but we’re still friends.”

“Oh, like, that’s wonderful! I worry a lot he doesn’t have enough friends,” Adorabelle says. “Wait. Snap him out of it? It’s, like, reversible and Perfect Karma knows how to do it?”

Gumshoe paused. “I guess I just assumed memory retrieval spells were something all unicorns learned…?”

“No, like, not even close. Outside telekinesis and light there’s no spell that all unicorns know,” Adorabelle said.

“Oh… you guys are not nearly as impressive as you make yourselves out to be then are you?” The question didn’t even seem pointed, but that was probably because Adorabelle wasn’t in the category of ‘arrogant unicorns.’

“I mean, like, every unicorn knows a few spells beyond that but we don’t all share a spell list. Except in the GUA and other ponies whose talent is, like, just magic, but they’re all high level unicorns who can learn lots of spells and stuff like that.” Adorabelle stroked Violet Edge’s forehead, arranging his gray mane around his horn.

“They? Not you?” Gumshoe asked, cocking his head.

“What do you- oh… yeah, the other ponies at GUA are high level unicorns, but not me really. Actually, a lot of unicorns there are just smart, like Edgy, not powerful. But I’m not that either.” Adorabelle sighed. “I was just born with one trick and I’m allowed there so they can study it. I’m not really one of them…” She met Gumshoe’s eyes. “You’re, like, a little like me too, aren’t you? You stood off to the side when the other police were doing their friendship thing and the chief punished you for it didn’t he? Why?”

Gumshoe rubbed his scruffy black mane. “It’s simple, really. I learned early on that nopony in the Manehattan Youth would really stick their necks out for me when it mattered. And if they won’t do anything for me… I don’t want to do anything for them.” He looked to the side. “Simple as that.”

Adorabelle would have pressed for more details, but Violet Edge suddenly stirred.

“Edgy?” Adorabelle asked as he opened his eyes.

“Where am…” His eyes widened and he flipped over. “The debate finals! What am I doing here!? I’ll be late-”

“Oh no, no, no.” Adorabelle stuck out a hoof to stop him. “No. Like. Those already happened. You won. It was awesome.”

Violet Edge stared blankly at Adorabelle for a moment, then slowly turned to Gumshoe. “Did I…?”

Gumshoe nodded slowly.

Violet Edge pressed a hoof to his forehead and closed his eyes in pain. “Stupid, stupid…”

“Wait, no, don’t be mad at yourself!” Adorabelle whimpered. “It was my fault. I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s not. It’s mine. Stupid…”

“It’s none of your faults,” Gumshoe said. “Adorabelle didn’t know and you can’t help it.”

“Can’t help what?” Adorabelle asked Violet Edge.

“Don’t explain if it’ll trigger it again,” Gumshoe said.

“I’m not a baby,” Violet Edge snapped. Then he sighed. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that… You’d better get back to your job or you’ll get in trouble.”

“If you’re sure you’re okay,” Gumshoe said.

“I’m fine. We’re going back to my guardian now.” Violet Edge pushed himself into a standing position. “Take care of yourself.”

Gumshoe nodded and headed back down the sidewalk.

“If I do seize up again, just fetch Perfect Karma; he knows how to deal with it discreetly,” Violet Edge said as they headed for the courthouse.

“But, like, what happened?” Adorabelle asked.

Violet Edge waved one hoof vaguely. “There’s this traumatic thing that happened when I was little. You remember it right?”

Violet Edge was probably talking about his dad’s death, so Adorabelle nodded.

“Apparently it was too much for my little colt brain to handle, and I cast a memory erasing spell on myself reflexively. Self-induced amnesia, the doctor called it. And if I try too hard to remember it or if something forcibly reminds me of it, it happens again.”

“Oh,” Adorabelle said. “That’s why Aim keeps throwing, um…”

“Bears.” Apparently the word wasn’t enough of a trigger right now.

“Right… she throws bears at you to try and make you helpless and/or to try and get you to forget everything so she can ‘remind’ you that you’re a couple or something?”

“Who knows how that girl’s mind works? I can only assume,” Violet Edge said. “And it worked. A lot. There’s lots of moments when I first moved in with Perfect Karma where my memory’s just a perfect blank. Not everything comes back when I recover.”

“I’m so so so sorry I made you forget the debate finals…” Adorabelle said.

“Why? What did you do?” Violet Edge paused. “No, on second thought, better not.”

“No,” Adorabelle agreed. “But it wasn’t an accident. It was me being stupid…”

The two hurried through the courthouse, winding up the stairs to Adorabelle’s dad’s office. Sterling Scales usually had a general idea of where Perfect Karma would be; even though they weren’t exactly coworkers, they were both some of the only ponies who worked exclusively on murder trials.

“Oh… wait,” Adorabelle said as they grew nearer. “Is that why when I asked if you knew of the MCI when it was happening, you just stammered oddly and said no? Because you have so little memories of that time period that you don’t remember what happened then?”

“Kind of,” Violet Edge sighed.

Dark suspicion festered in Adorabelle’s heart. If Violet Edge didn’t remember that time very well, maybe he was somehow involved in the MCI. Maybe this wasn’t even the real Violet Edge. What if Violet Edge died in the Missing Children’s Incident just like Freddy said and this was somepony else with Violet Edge’s memories? Was that even possible? That sounded like a question for Doctor Whooves. Too bad she’d have to wait until tomorrow to ask…

Or, wait, wasn’t it the weekend? She totally couldn’t remember anymore; the week just all blended together.

When the pair reached Sterling Scale’s office, they could hear arguing.

“I really think she does dislike her condition,” Sterling Scales was saying.

“We can’t always get what we want,” Perfect Karma replied.

“It just seems cruel to keep her locked up, stuck in her own insane mind, when just a year or two in the stars would cure her,” Sterling Scales continued.

There was a loud bang, a sound Adorabelle would recognize anywhere: the definitive sound of a lawyer slamming authoritatively on a desk.

“And you should know, shouldn’t you!?” Perfect Karma said. “That’s why after your own brother was there for two years, you went according to the psychologists’ judgement and signed off on letting him come home. Go on and admit it, Sterling; you’re no different than me. You and I both know that sometimes you have to stuff your skeletons in the closet to save face, even if they still have flesh on them.”

“N-no, no, no, it wasn’t like that, it wasn’t like that!” Sterling Scales sobbed.

Adorabelle slammed the door open. “It’s me!” she called out happily.

Perfect Karma was half standing on Sterling Scales’ desk while Sterling curled up in his chair, tears in his eyes. When Adorabelle entered, Perfect Karma scowled and backed away.

“Why are you bullying my dad?” Adorabelle asked.

“We’re having a heated discussion. That’s different,” Perfect Karma said.

“Well, like, your ward lost his memory again so go outside and help him,” Adorabelle said.

Perfect Karma snapped to attention. “What!?”

“Exactly what I said. And, like, next time tell me that I can accidentally make my best friend turn into an amnesiac by showing him a bear, okay?” Adorabelle frowned at him.

“Adorabelle…?” Sterling Scales said, confused.

“You are not allowed to know about that!” Perfect Karma shouted at Adorabelle.

“Too late. Now stop talking and help him before he forgets the debate tournament.” Her voice abruptly grew softer. “Please. It’s all my fault…”

Perfect Karma walked past her and out Sterling’s office door to where Violet Edge sat in the hallway, resting himself against the wall.

“Adorabelle, what happened?” Sterling Scales said.

Adorabelle ground her hoof into the red carpet nervously. There was no way she could tell her dad the whole story. That would require admitting she’d been to Freddy’s and planned to keep going there.

“I was trying to help Violet Edge get over his fear of bears, so I showed him a bear, and that triggered a self-memory wipe,” she said.

Sterling Scales’ expression grew serious. “What bear?”

“Just, like, a bear I found around.”

“Where did you find it? Do you still have it?” Sterling Scales was actually starting to look panicked.

“Hey, like, what’s the problem?” Adorabelle asked.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“But like, if I tell you where I found it, will you tell me why it’s important?” Adorabelle asked. “Quid, like, pro quo and all?”

“No, not ‘quid like pro quo and all,’ because families are not economies,” Sterling Scales said, coming out from behind his desk to circle Adorabelle. “I’m your father. It’s my job to protect you and keep you safe. And part of that is not giving you ideas.”

Adorabelle glared at him. “And, like, you’re also a brother, and part of being a good brother is not abandoning him to Tartarus in the sky because there’s something you’re hiding!”

Sterling Scales’ looked shocked. “I’m not hiding anything!”

“You literally just got done saying you had to hide things from me!” Adorabelle shouted. “Is Perfect Karma right? Could you have let him come home, like, eight years ago and just didn’t?”

Sterling Scales slinked back behind his desk. “It’s more complicated than that…”

“How so?” Adorabelle said, her tone accusatory. “Tell me!”

“I…” Sterling Scales’ ears drooped. “I… I can’t…”

“Well, like, then you’ll have no problem with me telling Bronze Coin this new news.” Adorabelle flounced off. She kept expecting her dad to telekinetically drag her back, or at least call out to her, but nothing of the kind happened and she made it out of the office without him doing a thing.

Iron Hoof had a point; he was kind of weak…

***

The initial wave of visitors to the new arrivals from Gemini was receeding. This time, Adorabelle only shared the ride up the mountain with two detectives, an elderly mare that was probably someone’s mother, and Teflon Slick again. There was no getting rid of him.
Adorabelle fretted a little that Bronze Coin would be mad at her for not visiting the other days of the week, but when he walked into the visitor’s cell and looked up at her, he broke into a sad smile.

“You’re back,” he said. “My gosh… so beautiful…”

The psychologist scribbled some notes.

“H-hi,” Adorabelle said. “Sorry I haven’t been around… I’ve been busy…”

“I… I know you must be…” Bronze Coin swallowed, looking like he was fighting tears.

Adorabelle looked at her uncle, so deep in gloom it warped his entire body. Maybe the real reason her dad hadn’t stopped her was because he knew full well it was an empty threat. How could she tell him “by the way, you could come home now, but my dad is making you suffer more than you have to because of reasons he won’t tell me?”

“Busy with what…?” Bronze Coin continued.

Adorabelle glanced sideways at the psychologist, wishing he wasn’t there. But maybe she could phrase this vaguely.

“I’ve been, like, learning more about the Missing Children Incident, trying to fill in the gaps, hoping to learn something…” Adorabelle felt herself tearing up. “Something to bring you home…”

“Heh.” Bronze Coin rubbed the tears from one eye. “You’re so much like your mother.”

“But dad’s being a pain and he won’t tell me anything and he, like, turned the prosecutor’s office against me too,” Adorabelle said. “And he won’t even tell me why he’s being a pain.”

“What do you know, though…?” Bronze Coin asked. He stared at the floor. “Do you know… who I…?”

“No,” Adorabelle said, wanting to get off this topic as fast as possible. “Well, like, not exactly, but I learned who one of the witnesses is…” Violet Edge would take too long to explain so she skipped that part. She didn’t even know what the deal was there. “Oh, and I learned one of the victims wrote the words ‘Purple Stallion’ on the wall, so, like, that narrows it down.”

“Pur… purple…?” Bronze Coin’s eyes widened.

“You remember—” Adorabelle started.

“Shush!” Bronze Coin held one hoof out to Adorabelle in a ‘stop’ gesture while he held his forehead with the other, eyes squeezed shut in concentration. “Purple… purple… all I see is purple…”

Adorabelle nodded and then realized he couldn’t see her, but didn’t want to break his concentration.

“His… his voice… he said…” Bronze Coin suddenly started.

“What? Who is he? What did he say?” Adorabelle said, leaning closer.

“I don’t… I don’t remember a name or a face or anything… just… just purple… everything looked purple… and he said…” Bronze Coin inhaled shakily. When he spoke, it was very slowly and carefully. “‘I’ve never tried this on a pony before, but aggression is aggression. 15 should do it.’” He looked at Adorabelle expectantly.

“That’s all?” Adorabelle said, double-checking.

“The rest is a blank until I r-realized what.. what I’d… done…” Bronze Coin shudders and rests his head in his hooves.

“B-but it sounds like you were just the victim of a spell! It’s not your fault!” Adorabelle said.

“Adorabelle… I… I wanted to believe that for so long, but for my treatment to work I can’t believe lies…”

“But what if it’s not a lie?” Adorabelle said.

“My brain was scanned soon after I was arrested and nothing was found. There’s no known spell on record that can alter brains and be removed without a trace that fast.”

“But what if there was a new one? It sounded experimental. Maybe. Because, like, he said he’d never tried it on a pony.”

“No, stop, stop, stop!” Bronze Coin grabbed at his head. “It’s not true, it’s not true, I’m just a monster and that’s all I’ll ever be because they don’t know how to fix me!”

“That’s not true!” Adorabelle said, trying to shout over her uncle’s ramblings. When it didn’t work, she pushed herself forward towards him, nothing on her mind but reaching out to comfort him, to wrap her forelegs around him and tell him it would be fine…

When her comforting hug was met with panic, Adorabelle thought maybe she should be angry. Here she was, trying to give her uncle some physical contact to calm him down, and he was staring at her and trying to squirm away like Violet Edge, like he thought something was wrong with her for doing such a thing, but she was to confused at his reaction to be mad.

“Adorabelle, get back!” he shouted.

“Why—“

And then she felt a sharp pain in her neck, causing her entire body to tingle like it was falling asleep, and she fell limply to the side, her body no longer responding. She’d been hit by this a lot when she startled Safeguard; it was a spell to interrupt nerve signals. Standard issue for prison guards.

As she fell her face pointed towards the window between the prisoner’s cell and the visitor’s room, and she saw the psychologist staring incredulously at the glass separating them. An oddly shaped hole was melted into it.

An Adorabelle shaped hole.

She’d completely forgotten about the glass in her haste to make sure her uncle was okay. And so she’d… walked right through it.

She hadn’t known she could do that.

***

Adorabelle had no idea how Safeguard managed to hear about the incident, but he did. Before she regained any feeling in her limbs, he appeared to whisk her away to a small examination room in a Magical Anomaly Containment Unit facility. This wasn’t the first time Adorabelle had been to MACU, given her anomalous talent, and it wasn’t the first time the MACU head Safeguard had wanted to interrogate her.

The first had been the day of her GUA entrance exam. She’d failed every bit of the test miserably and the testers had locked themselves in a nearby room to, probably, discuss how they were going to break the news to her, and Adorabelle had gotten impatient and yanked the heavily locked door open to ask if they were finished yet.

Some of them had panicked, while others had the presence of mind to not make much of it, but Safeguard was contacted, and she’d gotten an impression of just how dangerous her powers could be.

Now here she was again, with Safeguard circling her, looking on edge.

“You just stepped through the glass,” Safeguard said. “Did you have any notion that you could do that?”

Adorabelle shook her head vigorously. “I’ve, like, never done anything like that before and, like, I wasn’t planning to, really. I’m sorry I broke it.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Safeguard said. “This is a new facet of your powers we’ve had no indication existed before.”

“All I’ve ever done before was locks….” Adorabelle said, fiddling with her hooves. “Like, what does this mean?”

Safeguard sighed. “I don’t know.”

The next few hours were spent in interviews and analysis. Some of the workers were familiar, some not.

By the time she got out, woozy from drawn blood and other samples, it was very dark. She looked up at the stars and sighed; she really needed rest, but she promised Freddy she’d tell him about what Mechanical Flight had to say, so there wasn’t much help for it.
Then again, Mechanical Flight probably wasn’t returning to Cloudsdale right away, since Cloudsdale was clear on the other side of Equestria this year. Maybe instead she could find out where Mechanical Flight was staying and actually gain some useful information. Something besides his vague fearful shouts.

Where to start on such an investigation? What would her mom do?

Make Mechanical Flight cry if his reaction was any indication… no. No, that wasn’t right. Her mom wasn’t that bad.

That established, Adorabelle set a course for the palace to try and pick up some gossip. Starburst and Celestia were such friends; surely she’d hear something about where he was staying, right…?

Unless of course it was so late that he was already gone and everyone was asleep…

Adorabelle got as near the castle as seemed safe without looking like a creepy spy and circled around it, looking as best as she could like a tourist or an insomniac out on a stroll. Meanwhile she lit up her horn in her eavesdropping spell, focusing on searching for the names and voices of the two Rainbow Factory workers. The babble of voices was hard to pick apart, but she kept searching for ten minutes, then twenty…

“Have you seen Mechanical Flight?” Starburst’s voice asked somewhere in the castle.

Adorabelle paused and checked where she was. Not only could her spell hear Starburst, she could see Starburst hovering near the castle wall, talking with a guard.

“Or a cyan unicorn mare with sparks in her mane?” Starburst pressed. “Because I’m scared he went with her…”

“Do you mean his wife?” the guard asked.

“Yes! Yes I do! Oh drat…” Starburst kicked off the wall above the guard’s head and flew off towards Canterlot. “Thank you!” he called over his shoulder to the guard.

“Not that direction…” the guard halfheartedly called after him. Then he sighed. “Dang it.”

“What was that creep asking about?” another guard asked the first one.

“Looking for that electric mare who came up earlier hunting her husband down. Said he needed to spend a night with her because he kept dodging her while he was in town. What a weirdo…” the guard said.

“Didn’t she attack him when she saw him though?” the other guard asked.

“It wasn’t an attack; she just shocked him a little. Pegasi have that happen a lot I’m sure and anyways, they really are married. She carries the certificate around with her because apparently ponies don’t always believe her…”

“I guess if he married her he must like it…” the other guard said.

“Yeah… anyway, I was trying to tell Starburst that they went to the south, but he just flew off to the north because I guess he thinks he knows best or something. Think I should bother chasing him?”

“Nah; it’s none of his business what his employees are into,” the other guard said.

They then started talking about hoofball scores; Adorabelle ended her spell and galloped off to the south.

This was an even longer shot than wandering around the castle, probably, but after she got a fair distance from the castle she started her eavesdropping spell again, trying to hear Mechanical Flight’s voice. He had to be somewhere here. Probably a hotel, so she wandered around an area with lots of inns.

There wasn’t really anypony up this late. There were some parents comforting babies and other small children and some other insomniacs, but it was mostly pretty quiet. Ideal for hunting down a single pony… unless of course he was asleep. That was always a possibility. Maybe the guard was wrong and he really did just have a nice evening with his wife; Starburst seemed worried and she couldn’t imagine Mechanical Flight being comfortable in a room with a mare but… yeah, on second thought, she didn’t believe he’d just had a nice evening with his wife. Adorabelle found herself walking faster.

“Please leave me alone…” Mechanical’s voice whimpered.

Adorabelle snapped to attention and raced towards the source of the sound, arriving outside a small motel.

“Alone?” said a different voice, female, but grating. “Alone is what I’ve been for nearly a year because youse keep hiding in that little factory of youses. And now youse back, youse gonna give me some attention, comprende?”

Adorabelle found the door the voices were coming from. This was tricky, since the motel door was obviously locked. Well… maybe it didn’t latch correctly. She told herself this was completely possible as she pressed her full weight on the door.

She stumbled in and shouted “It’s me!” before the two screams of the ponies inside drowned her out. She had enough time to briefly take in the small room, with Mechanical Flight hoofcuffed to the bed and a slim, sexy blue unicorn mare standing on the bed over him, when the mare turned to her and lit up like a firework. A lightning bolt surged from the mare to Adorabelle, too fast to dodge.
Screaming, Adorabelle fell to the floor, writhing in agony as the electricity shook her whole body. Finally it stopped long enough for Adorabelle to breathe.

“Whadda youse doing, scaring us like that?” the mare demanded. “Youse just turn around and get back out, youse hear?”

Adorabelle lay there, twitching, sobbing. Her original plan of barging in and saving Mechanical Flight now seemed foolish.

Mechanical Flight had shifted slightly to stare at her; there was pity in his eyes, but he made no move to even express disapproval.

Adorabelle tucked her legs under her but didn’t stand up yet. “I-I’ll tell the cops.”

“Tell them what? That I reflexively and nonlethally shocked somepony who barged into my locked hotel room? Yeah, the only pony getting a charge will be youse, creep girl.”

Dang it, she was right; this was breaking and entering. What had Adorabelle been thinking? Oh, right, the all-purpose excuse: “I’ll, like, just tell them I thought it was my room. Like, my powers are on record; Safeguard will bail me out.”

The blue-grey mare lowered her eyelids. “Youse bluffing; what powers could youse have that’d make youse special enough to have a hotline to Safeguard?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Adorabelle said, smiling angelically.

“Not working. Out.”

Adorabelle looked at Mechanical Flight again. The poor stallion was just as twitchy as ever and being electrocuted probably didn’t help, but he shrunk away from her compassionate expression. There was only fear in his eyes. “Y-you should j-j-just leave…” he whimpered. “It’ll be… it’ll be easier on… on everyone…”

Adorabelle folded her ears back. She couldn’t leave him like this, but she hadn’t even bothered to come up with a plan; she’d just barged in without thinking and now maybe there was nothing she could do anymore…

What would Freddy and his friends do in a situation like this…?

And like that, inspiration came to her. Instead of leaving, she dashed into the small bathroom and slammed the door.

“H-hey!!” she heard the mare shout. There was a loud hammering on the door and the power flickered, but the latch held. “Whadda youse doing? Youse can’t hide in there forever! Get out!”

Ignoring her, Adorabelle assessed the small bathroom. The ventilation shaft she was hoping for was right above the toilet, but the spool of dental floss, probably left by a previous guest, gave her inspiration too. She quickly tied the floss around the doorknob, trying to make it so that a good hard tug would open the latch too, not that she had time to test it.

“Oh, that’s how youse wanna play? I can wait,” the older mare said.

Adorabelle climbed onto the toilet and telekinetically pulled off the grate on the air shaft; it was a good thing she was skinny and small. Taking the floss in her telekinetic grip, she climbed inside, careful to let the thread unwind as she crawled.

“Look, I’m sorry for being so scary,” the electric mare said unconvincingly. “If youse come out now, I promise not to hurt youse, okay?”

Adorabelle squirmed along until she was next to a grate in the bathroom next door; she hoped no one was staying there. Pulling this new grate off, she lowered herself into the next door bathroom. Then she quietly nosed open the door.

She was in luck; the next door room was indeed empty. The floss was running low on lead though, so the next part would have to be fast. She lit her horn to make the way clear, then jerked the floss hard. At the same time, she dashed out the motel door back onto the balcony and ran back to Mechanical Flight’s room, with the door still open.

“Ha!” she heard the electric mare saying from somewhere in the bathroom. “Youse shoulda known better than to hide in a metal tube! I’ll turn youse crispy on the count of five unless youse surrender!”

Adorabelle dashed as quietly as possible to Mechanical Flight’s side. “Where’s the key?” she whisperd to the wide-eyed stallion desperately.

Instead of answering, he just tugged his hoof away. The hoofcuffs didn’t just unlock; they fell into several separate links like a magic trick.

“Five, four, three, two…” the mare counted.

Adorabelle grabbed Mechanical Flight’s forehoof and half-dragged him out of the hotel room as the mare counted to one and all the lights in the motel started flickering.

Neither checked to see if they were being pursued; they just ran. Through the quiet streets, past motels and shops into a residential district and out again.

Finally they stopped on a small high-rise shopping street for breath. Adorabelle guided Mechanical Flight over to a small bench, where he collapsed, shaking, sweating, and sobbing. Adorabelle tried to stroke him comfortingly but he flinched away from her touch, so she just sat there awkwardly wishing there was something she could do.

When Mechanical finally spoke, it was to whisper, “She’s going to kill me…”

“No she won’t,” Adorabelle said. “We’ll go to the police-”

“No no no no no no no!!” Mechanical Flight screamed.

Adorabelle reeled back in shock. “Wh-why not?”

“She’ll just kill me even more then!” Mechanical Flight said, stumbling off the bench with wings spread wide, ready to take off at any moment. “Nothing will stick! She really is my wife and so she really can do that!”

“No she can’t!” Adorabelle shouted back. Then, softer, “No, no, like, it’s still illegal to hurt you even if you two are married-”

“You don’t know Shocking Snap like I do,” Mechanical Flight said, trembling again. “She’s even been arrested before and it didn’t work. She was out in a few days. If I accused her of something she didn’t do then nothing but pain will come from that.”

“Something she… didn’t do?” Adorabelle cocked her head. “Wait, uh… did you want to be there or not?”

“I was… careless….” Mechanical Flight bit his lower lip. “I should have stayed closer to Starburst, and then we could have just gone home and not run into her…”

“That wasn’t the question,” Adorabelle said.

Mechanical Flight hid behind a lamppost. “Please don’t unlock me! I don’t want to talk about it!”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Adorabelle said. Why couldn’t he just let her rescue him? What was his deal?

Mechanical Flight stayed behind the lamppost, shivering.

“You… you really don’t want to leave her, do you?”Adorabelle said.

“It’s never about what we want, is it?” Mechanical said. “We just endure what we have to. What we’re given. We can’t just run away.”

“…We?” Adorabelle asked. “You mean, like, you and me?”

“Stallions,” Mechanical Flight said, slowly going back to her side. “You’re the ones with all the power so we go and do what you want.”

Adorabelle leaned away from him. “N-no, not like that. I’m not powerful. Where’d you get these ideas?”

Mechanical Flight sat next to Adorabelle, as far away as possible. “My dad and Iron Flight and Starburst are some of the bravest stallions I know and they know they can’t fight mares. My dad knew you can’t even run away. I learned from them.”

That was sad… Wait. “Huh? You don’t think your dad ran away?” Adorabelle said, blinking. “But Iron Flight said…”

“That’s what they all said.” Mechanical Flight started shaking. “Maybe they didn’t get it or maybe they were too scared to face the truth, but that’s what they all said.”

“Scared to face what truth?” Adorabelle said.

Mechanical Flight wrapped his forelegs around himself like he was trying to hold himself together. “That… that place… killed him. All five of them. Those monsters. Those sick, twisted machines…”

“What? You mean Freddy’s and Freddy?” Adorabelle said.

“You’ve seen them,” Mechanical Flight said, getting twitchy. “You must know if you’ve seen them. They’re nothing but killers.”

“N-no, no they’re not!” Adorabelle said, panicked.

“Oh, they are, they are. Built to kill. To rip and shred flesh from bone. Without remorse.”

“Stop saying that about my friends!” Adorabelle cried.

“But it’s the truth. That whole place was nothing but death.” Mechanical Flight turned aside. “That’s why it had to go.”

“…go…?” Adorabelle felt sudden dread in her stomach.

“Yes.” Mechanical Flight seemed calmer now. “It’s all burnt to ashes now. I stopped them. No one has to die anymore.”

Adorabelle started shaking. “No… no… you didn’t… you didn’t…!”

Mechanical Flight had a peaceful smile on his face. “It’s over now… Everyone is free…”

Adorabelle shook Mechanical Flight by the shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “What is wrong with you!? You killed entirely innocent creatures in some kind of sick attempt at justice! They aren’t the monsters! You are the monster!”

Mechanical Flight’s expression turned to one of fear, but Adorabelle could see no guilt in his eyes. He was just anxious because a female was near him. Of course.

Adorabelle pushed him away and ran towards the bridge to the chocolate district. It had to be a lie… it couldn’t be true…

When she reached the bridge, she slowed to a stop. Something was there that wasn’t before: a shimmering, translucent, silver barrier.
Then she cursed herself for stopping. If she hadn’t, then maybe with her talent she could have made it to the other side.

“Chocolate District’s closed for the night.”

Adorabelle screamed and whirled around to find Starburst and Mechanical Flight standing behind her. “D-don’t do that!” she shouted at them.

Starburst had one wing around Mechanical Flight like the latter was a baby chick. “My apologies; I just wanted to thank you for finding him for me.”

Adorabelle shook with fury again. “He said he burned down Freddy’s!” She pointed accusingly at him and he flinched away.

“N-no… no I didn’t…” Mechanical Flight said.

“Yes you did! Less than an hour ago!”

“She lies!” Mechanical Flight whimpered, pressing tighter into Starburst’s side.

“Shh,” Starburst told him, talking like a mother with an infant. Then he turned back to Adorabelle. “You must have misunderstood. If anything burned down tonight there would’ve been more of a fuss. I flew over the Chocolate District earlier and there were no flames, or smoking ruins.”

“But…” Adorabelle said.

“Shh,” Starburst said, but harsher this time. “It’s very, very late and my engineer is incredibly stressed out; now is not the time for this. We’re all going to go home and get some rest; if you have any further complaints you know where to find us.” Starburst tried to wave Adorabelle away.

Adorabelle slunk a little ways, then turned and said over her shoulder, “Hey, what do you mean the Chocolate District is closed?”

“Prissy unicorns block the bridge when it’s late enough at night because they’re convinced if they don’t, criminals will go over the bridge and kill them in their sleep. Or so the story goes,” Starburst said.

“I’ve never seen it before though…” Adorabelle said.

“It only goes up at 1 AM and little fillies like you have no business being around here that late anyway,” Starburst said. Then, pointedly, “Speaking of which…”

Adorabelle hung her head. “Yeah… I… I guess it’s late…”

Starburst guided Mechanical Flight away, then looked over his shoulder. “We really do owe a lot to you. What you did was very brave.”

“Or maybe just stupid…” Adorabelle muttered darkly to herself. Somehow, realizing that the pony she rescued might be just as twisted as the one she rescued him from dampened any joy she might have felt from being the hero.

She pressed one hoof against the barrier. “I’ll come back tomorrow,” she whispered to it.

At least tomorrow was Sunday and there were no school activities this time…

Author's Note

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore...

Endless Ridicule

While Chemical Formula and Test Tube continued to talk, Adorabelle wiped her tears with one hoof and looked up hopelessly at the teacher. Professor Rigid glanced at the clock. He glanced at the grading rubric. He telekinetically pulled his inhaler out of his desk drawer and shook it vigorously.

Adorabelle waited for him to finish taking his medicine. The class, restless, started chatting softly.

Professor Rigid put the inhaler away and started sorting his quill pens by color.

Adorabelle coughed. “Professor?”

Rigid’s ears perked up, but he pointedly kept looking at his pens.

Adorabelle stood on her desk, hind legs on the chair. “Hey, professor! Are you going to wait until class is over and then tell me I’ll have to do my speech next class day, then when that day comes you’ll claim I get an F because I didn’t give a speech?”

“What?” Rigid asked, looking up. “Are you claiming you’re actually… ready?”

Sour Sweet snickered.

“As if she’ll ever be,” an unidentified student on the far side of the room whispered.

“Well, like, duh! Today’s the due date, amiright?” Adorabelle picked up a sheet of paper. “I’ve got my speech right here!”

The class giggled.

Professor Rigid smirked. “Well, although I did clearly say that the speakers were only allowed to use 3x5 index cards, I do realize somepony with an intellect as shining as yours can’t possibly be expected to understand things such as units of measurement and, anyways, I’m sure you can’t possibly do without the full text of your speech right in front of you, so it will just make the experience that much less painful for everypony involved.” He flicked one hoof at the front of the class. “Your platform awaits.”

Adorabelle felt her ears burning. “But, like, you said that I had to have everything, like, all written out and stuff-”

“Is that really your speech topic? ‘Random things my professor said’?” Rigid pulled out his grading rubric. “I can’t say this fulfills the requirement.”

Adorabelle pressed her ears against her head. It was no use. It never was.

The class was laughing, but Adorabelle didn’t really blame them much. It was no secret that Professor Rigid hated his class, his job, and each and every one of his students; it probably felt good to see him picking on somepony else.

Adorabelle shuffled to the front of the room and looked at her classmates. Some looked annoyed, like Black Snooty; others, like Sour Sweet, looked ready to pounce. From the far right of the room where she leaned back in her chair, Lyra projected the image of a green hand making some arcane, human gesture; Adorabelle thought it was called a ‘thumbs up’. That was encouraging at least, so she smiled at the mint unicorn.

Adorabelle then looked down at her paper, cleared her throat, and began to read.

“So, like, after the three tribes were united and stuff, racial tension turned from warish to diplomatic-like…”

“Diplomatic-like?” Water Fire whispered to Moondancer, blinking.

“That’s what she said,” Moondancer grumbled back.

“…but everypony wanted to keep things segregated… and, y’know, the races were still used to enslaving each other and stuff…”

“Did she literally write down ‘and stuff’, you think?” Chemical Formula asked Test Tube.

Adorabelle huffed. Nopony was talking during the other speeches.

“Adorabelle,” Professor Rigid said slowly, as if talking to a child, “your topic was supposed to be ‘Recent Developments in my Field of Study.’ How in Equestria is this connected to legal matters?”

Snickers rose, as did Adorabelle’s color.

“Well, uh… I have, like, a special emphasis on race relations, y’know…”

“Fine, let me ask another question.” Rigid tapped his quill impatiently. “How in Tartarus can this possibly be considered RECENT?”

Adorabelle jumped back. “Uh, y’know, I thought I should…” she squeaked. “Eep. Get everypony… acquainted… with, y’know… background?”

“We already know all this!” Sour Sweet shouted. Several other ponies gave consent.

Adorabelle looked down at her piece of paper. “S-sorry… uh, can I say it anyway?”

“No,” Professor Rigid said. “If you don’t have any modern news to share, sit back down.”

“I do!”

“Then skip to it!” The light-blue coated professor dug his quill into his desk as he started writing zeros all over the paper.

Adorabelle fought back tears. She skimmed her paper.

“Okay, um… well, following the cold war between the Blessing in Canterlot and the Manehattan Peace Corps, Manehattan had all these kids who, like, didn’t know what to do with their lives except be soldiers, and Canterlot had all these adults glutted on power who needed to be restrained and stuff.”

“Did she call them adults?” Water Fire asked Moondancer.

“Quit talking to me.”

“Also, Celestia wanted to harness the magic of friendship.” Adorabelle gestured dramatically. “Friendship… between races!”

“Boo!” Black Snooty said.

Many students rolled their eyes.

“So that’s how she enacted the Canterlot-Manehattan-EU Division of Labor act! Adorabelle beamed. “From then on, the federal law enforcement branches were split. The police was one branch, and would be manned by earth ponies from Manehattan. The prosecutors were the other, and they-”

“-were already split because that’s how it works!” Black Snooty shouted.

“-would be all the unicorns and traditional ponies,” Adorabelle finished. “So-”

“Adorabelle,” Professor Rigid said, “how old is this piece of legislation, again?”

“Um, something like, uh… ten years?”

“I ask again.” Rigid cleared his throat. When he spoke next, he was screaming. “How. Is. This. RECENT?”

Adorabelle blinked. “W-well…”

“You mean to tell me that literally nothing has happened in the field of law or race relations in the past ten years except this one reorganizational memo? No new laws, no new crime fighting technology, no… stupid quota… things?” Rigid rolled his eyes. “For heaven’s sake, Adorabelle, the purpose of this speech was a chance for you to tell students something they didn’t know, and there’s not a single pony in the room who didn’t know this.” He turned to the crowd. “Is there? Anypony?”

“I don’t think Twinkleshine did,” Lyra piped up.

Twinkleshine was admiring her reflection in a window pane. “Er, what?” She jerked back around. “Uh, yeah, that’s right! I-”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rigid said. “She probably just never thought about it.” He started making cursive Fs across the paper. “But then, I suppose there really isn’t anything you know that the class doesn’t.”

Adorabelle’s tears evaporated when they reached her burning cheeks. That did it. She wasn’t getting an F because the teacher couldn’t keep from interrupting her. Was she?

“Well, like, y’know… I know lots of things.” Think, think, think! What was something nopony else in the class knew? Something only she could figure out? Something… oh, yes! This would impress Rigid for sure! “I could tell them what’s really in your inhaler. I don’t think anypony knows that.”

Rigid looked up with a jerk. “But neither do you!”

“Wanna bet?” Adorabelle beamed. “The Perfects are my neighbors, or at least Karma is. Grand Dame Tasha is there every time she’s out on parole.” Also she’d sorta-accidentally grabbed one of his spares (thinking it was something else), read the label, and showed it to another student so she could learn what it was.

Rigid’s lips started twitching, unsure whether to scowl or snarl. “You… you…”

“Hey, Herbal Remedy!” Adorabelle reared on her hind legs to look at the young stallion in the back of the class. “What was that stuff you told me about yesterday?”

“Repulmonary Aziosparkleamide-” Herbal Remedy answered without apparently thinking, never taking his eyes off the leaf he was drawing. Then he gave a start. “Hey, leave me out of this!”

Some of the class gasped. The rest widened their eyes. Some looked at Herbal Remedy, some at Adorabelle, and some at Rigid.
Rigid threw his inkpot at Adorabelle.

She gasped and dodged, but then Rigid came after her with his ruler, telekinetically slapping the general area, sometimes colliding with her muzzle and ears.

“You- prying- little- filly!”

“Stop it!” Test Tube shouted, standing half on her desk. “You’ll get in trouble!”

Rigid poked Adorabelle in the nose once more for good measure, then scowled deeply at her. “Get out. All of you. Get out!”

After this quickly-becoming-traditional dismissal, everypony fled gratefully.

***

“Wow, your speeches are always so exciting!” Lyra gushed.

Adorabelle had been walking down the hall alone when two unicorn mares suddenly flanked her.

“I don’t get it,” Twinkleshine said. “What’s repummel… er…”

“It’s, like, lung reconstruction stuff,” Adorabelle said. “Like, when a pony is turned into a spider or, like, a frog or something, their lungs change, and sometimes it gets messed up when they turn back.”

“Ew!” Twinkleshine said. “Who would want to be a spider?”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Lyra said. “Maybe he was cursed…”

“…to be a frog forever and ever until he received true love’s kiss!” Twinkleshine sighed. “Of course, we know that’s not true…”

“…or he’d still be one!” Lyra finished.

All three girls giggled.

“I see Minuette!” Lyra called. “Hey, wait up!”

The two galloped off without another word to Adorabelle. That was okay; they weren’t exactly friends. Just classmates who were polite to each other. Which was as close as Adorabelle had ever gotten to anypony in her school.

Adorabelle had an odd twenty minutes to kill before her after school project, so she wandered towards Memory Chamber.

Behind two doors made of shiny pink metal was a room two stories tall. The walls were lined with pictures, all different sizes and shapes, with frames in every style and color. They all showed previous students engaged in various activities, from science experiments to grand displays of illusions to environmental projects. There were also some study parties, because only in the GUA was a group of ponies reading books considered a treasured memory. The newer ones were photographs, the older ones were paintings. A movable ladder made of warm brown wood let ponies get closer to the pictures higher up. Adorabelle took a few steps up and telekinetically swung the ladder to the far wall.

Then, since she was alone, she swung herself back and forth a few times. She wasn’t quite an adult yet.

Finally she let herself come to a stop in front of the graduation pictures. These were all the same size, framed in gold. She swung to one near the beginning of the photographed section; these photos were a bit too boldly colored due to imperfections in the image reproduction spell popular in the time period.

There they were, all three of them. Right next to each other, no less.

Two of them were stallions, nearly identical to each other. Both had chocolate coats and white manes with gold streaks in them. One had his eyes closed, laughing; the other had the same sheepish grin he wore every day Adorabelle came to greet him. Her father had always been more… reserved, while his twin brother had always had some kind of wild scheme cooking. In their academy days, her uncle was known as her father’s evil twin.

That wasn’t funny anymore.

The third pony was right next to them, and her dad had one foreleg around her shoulder. He’d liked to describe them as “college sweethearts, who got lost for a while.” Everypony always said Adorabelle looked just like her mother, and Adorabelle could see the resemblance. She had the same periwinkle coat, the same bright blue eyes, and the same mane, albeit with no gold streak. It didn’t show in the photo, but even their cutie marks were identical: a blue-and-yellow, heart shaped, open lock.

Of course, with her mother, True Beauty, it referred to her talent for discovering the truth. When she spoke with ponies, she knew how to shatter the locks on their hearts that they used to hide their secrets.

Adorabelle’s cutie mark was a bit more literal that that. Speaking of which…

“Adorabelle!”

Adorabelle whirled around and fell off the ladder. Fortunately she’d only been a few steps up, and landed on her hooves.

“You okay?” Romana asked, closing the pink doors behind her.

“Dandy,” Adorabelle said. “Sorry I’m late…”

“Late?” Romana cocked her head to one side. “Why would you say that?”

“You… you, like, wouldn’t come looking for me otherwise, right?”

“You’re not late; we just finished our previous experiment early.” Romana’s Canterlot accent was far stronger than most ponies Adorabelle knew. “Come on, then. The Doctor will see you now.”