Twilight stepped outside her library, and took in a deep breath in and out, watching as her breath made its visual presence known to the world for a split second before ascending upwards, never to be seen again. She looked around at the service and weather ponies doing their jobs, preparing Ponyville for Mayor Mare’s speech later that afternoon.

After her little moment, Twilight began on her walk to the Ponyville Town Hall. ‘I wonder what Mayor Mare wants to tell Ponyville about,’ she thought to herself. ‘It must be important if she needs me up there too, though if it was important wouldn't she tell me what the meeting was for? Maybe she just forgot; after all, she is old enough to suffer from memory issues. Or maybe she’s sick? I’ve heard of some cases where an ill pony forgets to do something usual.’ Twilight’s thoughts began to quicken. ‘Maybe there’s something seriously wrong, and she can’t tell me otherwise she’ll be in serious trouble? Or maybe-’ Twilight couldn't complete the thought as she bumped into somepony.

Twilight looked up to see a dizzy old mare on the ground before her; turns out her legs were going as fast as her thoughts. "Sorry for bumping into you, Mayor Mare, I was just wanting to make sure I got here on time. After all, on time is late, and early is on time!” ‘Nice recovery, Twilight.’

"Now, now, no need to apologize,” the older mare said, dusting herself off. “Actually, it’s a good thing you’re early, I need to ask you something.”

“Shoot for it, Mayor,” Twilight said a little too enthusiastically.

“Do you think that I am a good mayor?”

"Mayor Mare, I know you are a good mayor, and you've been mayor for three terms in a row, so you must be doing something right. Why wouldn't you think you’re a good mayor?"

"Because, Twilight, the crime rates! They’ve been rising since my re-election!" the mayor shot a concerned look at Twilight as she grabbed the princess by her shoulders. “What if they blame me?”

"There’s been increasing crime rates in all of Equestria, if they’re gonna blame anyone, it would be Celestia." Twilight instantly froze, realizing what she had just said. “On second thought, they would blame the police! Or the High Commission! Or the Courts! Or-”

“Twilight, I understand what you mean,” Mayor Mare turned around and headed for the podium. “And yes, you’re right, it would make more sense to blame the federal government for national crime rates.”

Twilight let out a relieved sigh and followed the mayor to the podium. ‘Nice save.’

-~-~-~-

The surrounding area was filled with the population of the town, eagerly waiting to hear what Mayor Mare had to say. Perhaps she was announcing a new holiday? Or perhaps she was announcing the date of the annual Running of the Leaves? Or perhaps she was just going to talk about something nopony wanted to hear about, like crime rates.

"Citizens of Ponyville,” Mayor Mare announced, loud enough to garner the attention of the families in the back.

"There is too much crime for the Ponyville Police Department to handle, and it is becoming a serious issue, with criminals being more capable than ever to escape justice.” The audience looked concerned. The mayor cleared her throat. Twilight sighed.

“Not that there have been any escapes, that is!” Mayor Mare exclaimed, her voice faltering. “No no no! I just think that our department could use a little more help.”

A voice arose in the crowd. “Are you going to say we have to help the department, like any of us normal folk have the ability to catch criminals?”

Murmurs began in the crowd. Murmurs turned into shouting. Shouting could turn into a failed election; she had to act fast.

“Don’t be ridiculous, sir! I have taken the liberty to hire,” she glared at the crowd, forcing the shouting to return to murmurs. “To hire fifteen new policeponies from Manehatten, nearly doubling our police force!”

The murmurs fell silent as thirty-five officers in blue uniforms, each adorned with a star of either bronze, silver, or gold, marched onto the platform and stood in a row behind the mayor and Twilight.

“I have also managed to convince a private investigator to take up residence in Ponyville to aid our police force. Please welcome, Detective Sleuth.”

On cue, a light brown pony with a nearly-black mane approached the podium, seemingly out of nowhere. His grey trench coat nearly covering his entire face. Still, his piercing green eyes could be seen by everypony.

"Ponyvillians, do not be alarmed by my presence. I am here to help those of you in need of a detective. Whether your issue be theft or death, I will take the case," he stared menacingly into the audience. “If I think you’re innocent that is.” He turned around quickly, causing his coat to quickly flare up for a second, revealing his firearm, but not his Cutie Mark.

A couple hooves stomped as he walked away from the podium, but most of the audience was left looking around, almost as if they were concerned, or maybe even confused. He lined up at the end of the row of officers.

Twilight approached the podium and extended her wings; she wasn’t sure why she did, though. Perhaps she thought taking up more space made her seem more authoritarian.

Or she just got it from Celestia.

"Everypony, I am quite pleased with the mayor’s decisions on the recent crime epidemic, and I am sure that these new officers will help our community feel just this much more safe." She extended her hooves outwards to show just how much safer she felt. “And with that, this meeting is hereby dismissed.”

The crowd began stomping as Twilight turned to the grinning mayor, with the shifty private eye in the background, looking around. The crowd was talking amongst themselves as they were getting up when, suddenly, they were all silenced by a sound so loud one of the front windows shattered.

‘That’s weird,’ Twilight thought. ‘Shouldn’t both windows be broken if a sound was so loud it-’ Twilight cut off her own thoughts.

“Mayor, ge-” Twilight was suddenly silenced by another unexpected sound as she fell to the ground. “Oh sweet Celestia!” she screamed, her side searing, as the crowd began fleeing for their lives.

With another sound the Mayor joined her on the floor and let out a scream as Twilight’s friends came rushing to her aid.

“You can’t come up here,” a large officer said, pushing Rainbow Dash out of the way. “We’ll take care of this, you take care of cover.

“But she’s our friend! If you think that-” Rainbow was cut off by rapid series of loud sounds as the dirt began to fill with holes. She turned to the guard. “Okay maybe you’re right.” And with that Rainbow began helping her unprotected friends escape, but Applejack just watched as Sleuth jumped over the banister and ran into one of the nearby three-stories.

The gunfire quickly ceased, lasting only a few seconds — regardless, the dirt was peppered.

“Applejack, we have to go!” Rainbow grabbed Applejack’s hoof. “It could start again at any minute!”

“Rainbow, take care o’ Rares an’ Fluttershy, Ah wan’ tah see what this here detective is up to.”

“Okay, but, like… Promise me you’ll be careful, Applejack. I need to keep some kind of competition in this town.” Rainbow looked at Applejack, eyes filled with distress.

Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s shaking hoof. Or maybe it was her hoof that was shaking. “Ah promise.”

Rainbow just hovered there, staring at Applejack. “Okay. I trust you,” she said before helping the very distressed Rarity up out of the mud.

Applejack wiped her face and ran off after Sleuth.

Author's Note

This is sort of a revitalization of an old story I posted on this site almost three years ago on an old account. With this in mind, the story takes place some time post-coronation and pre-Starlight.

Please, provide any criticism if you have any, and I would love to improve this story as much as possible.