At the dawn of the day after the theft in the museum, Rarity was already up when the sun began to rise. She had contacted Sassy the night before to inform her that she would be taking the day off. Celestia and Luna had left her with a lot to think about, and she wanted to take the day off to organize her life a bit. Perhaps that was not something she could get done in a single day, but she could at least put some thoughts into perspective.

However, she would organize her life later that day, for she was dedicating the dawn to reading through all the data about the theft she had recollected the day before. She had asked Twilight, who gave it to her without a question. In the meeting the night before she had been the only one who didn't ask her any questions, so she guessed she would be a nice gray area amidst the rest of the Myths. She knew they were upset. They had every right to be, and Rarity wasn't about to neglect them that. For what she had read in the messages, the meeting had been constantly delayed due to her absence, and it cost Shining Armor and the girls lots of useful time in trying to locate her, which explained why they were finishing up as she finally arrived at the Headquarters.

So yeah, she wasn't about to complain for their... anger? Frustration? She wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that they were upset, so Rarity tried not to make the situation worst.

Twilight proved to her that despite that, no one held a grudge against her. She gladly invited Rarity inside her chambers and gave her all she would need to inform herself of what was going on. She gave a brief summary of the meeting and Rarity left. Twilight seemed tired.

Rarity played a copy of the recording she had been given. They had yet to identify whoever was under the masks of the thieves, and quite peculiar masks they were. In the black and white video, the men wore dark masks that covered all of their face and part of the neck, looking a bit like tentacles from Rarity's perspective. She paused the video. Each of the four men had halted at different angles that had allowed Rarity to check out the mask from all the sides. She looked over the shaped. They ended in spirals, looking weirdly disturbing for a reason she couldn't point out.

Hold up.

She leaned closer to her laptop screen. There was something in the back of the head of one of the thieves. It looked like a strap that attached the masks to their heads, but...

There was something in the strap.

She screenshot the panel and zoomed closer to the strap. It was blurry, but little by little, she could make out a word. A single word. And that lone word was enough to send a chill down her spine.

"Umbrum."

King Sombra. He was behind all of this. Of course, he was behind all of this! They knew he wouldn't stay put after they sabotaged his last plan, and he was meant to strike again soon. It had only been but a few weeks. She was surprised he had bitten back so soon. It now occurred to Rarity that the masks looked like shadows.

She checked the time. Almost seven. The girls must all be awake by now. Without wasting a single second, Rarity closed the laptop and ran off her room with the laptop tightly secured under her arm. Once in the hall, she knocked in the closest door she found.

Oops.

It was Rainbow Dash's, who didn't look too pleased with her sudden apparition. Rarity glanced into the room and noticed her laptop was open on her bed, and she seemed to be in the middle of a video call with no other than Soarin. Terrible timing.

"What's wrong, Rares?" Dash asked, sliding to block Rarity's view of her room. Rarity held back a smile.

Focused, Rarity.

"I found something in the video of the theft!"

Dash arched an eyebrow. "This early in the morning? You're still in pajamas,"

Rarity glanced down. She was right. That wasn't really a problem, for the only boy that lived around this area was Spike and, well... She doubted a dog counted. She had gotten straight to work after waking up and hadn't bothered to change into nicer clothes.

"Um, I had a... A lot to catch up to. You know, after my delay yesterday..."

Smooth, Rarity. Real smart of you to mention that once again.

Dash switched the arched eyebrow. "You sure had... Well, tell the other girls. Let's meet in the kitchen and talk about it over breakfast, alright?"

Rarity nodded. "Sure."

"Great. See you in a bit then, I have to finish this up..." and she closed the door with a slightly embarrassed expression Rarity couldn't help but giggle at. It had been weeks since she had started dating the Wonderbolt (well she never claimed they were dating but everyone knew they were) and her friend still was too embarrassed to admit the confident strong Rainbow Dash had a boyfriend. It was in her nature. Rainbow Dash hated being seen as vulnerable, but Rarity still couldn't understand why she thought relationships would make her so.

Shushing her giggles, Rarity rushed over to the next door and told everyone what was going on. Well, everyone but Pinkie Pie, who was already in the kitchen serving breakfast. She had woken up only Fluttershy. All the others were already awake or half-awake and she thanked God it had been sweet Fluttershy the one she startled with the knocking.

After making sure everyone knew, Rarity went back to her bedroom and cleaned herself up, dressed up, and even put on a little makeup. After making sure she looked about as fabulous as always, though in a much more comfortable outfit to get to work, she walked out of her room with all her material balanced atop her laptop. It seemed all the girls had already left. In fact, this thought was quickly confirmed when she met the whole gang in the kitchen, talking over stacks of pancakes Pinkie somehow made land perfectly in their plates directly from the pan. Pinkie was going about her usual cooking business, and Applejack had joined her to slice up fruits for them to eat. Everyone had washed and gotten dressed properly.

Smiling as wide as she could in her still-embarrassed-over-last-night state, Rarity chirped:

"Good morning to all!"

Everyone glanced at her. Pinkie was the first to respond with one of her characteristically wide smiles. "Good morning, Rares!"

"How are you feeling?" Twilight asked. "Excited about what you have to tell us?"

"Well, yes!" Rarity beamed and placed all her stuff next to her stack of pancakes. "I am very proud of my discovery, in fact."

"It oughtta be good to wake us up this early," Rainbow Dash commented, her tone half-joking, half-serious. "If not you'll have the workout of your life."

"Save you threats, Darling!" Rarity giggled. "For I will blow your mind! And you were already awake."

"Rainbow Dash? Awake this early? Willingly?" Applejack snorted while cutting apples into little cubes. "What got you awake so soon?"

"None of your business!" Rainbow Dash shot back, sticking her tongue to the cowgirl.

"Defensive that fast?" Applejack arched an eyebrow. "I'm guessin' Soarin."

"It was definitely Soarin," Sunset smirked.

"Was not!" Dash fought back with a slightly embarrassed blush.

"Oh, it sure was." Twilight chuckled.

"You guys are the worst!"

Fluttershy giggled.

Rarity sat quietly enjoying the argument, deciding not to tease Rainbow Dash anymore claiming she had actually seen him on her laptop screen. Let her have her privacy. Pinkie Pie and Applejack, however, were more than willing to poke fun at their colorful friend, mimicking a couple dancing the tango while Dash yelled at them and the rest of the girls laughed at different levels. It felt nice to share moments like these with them.

"Oh my god, you guys, stop it!" Dash groaned, to which Applejack and Pinkie replied bursting out laughing.

"Why don't we let Dash breathe and have breakfast?" Sunset suggested when Pinkie Pie finished throwing pancakes across the room.

"Yes! Thank you, Sunset."

"We could also listen to what Rarity wanted to share with us while we eat," Fluttershy suggested.

Everyone as down and chose their favorite topping for the pancakes from the bowls in the middle of the table. Rarity had chosen a scoop of blueberries when she noticed the prying eyes staring at her. Everyone was waiting for her to start talking. Rarity cleared her throat before opening her laptop and, god, hopefully, they would find her discovery as relevant a she thought it was.

"I was looking through the recording of the theft. At first, I did not find anything out of place, but when I was looking at the masks they wore... Look at that," she turned the laptop to her friend so they could see the image she had. The picture was a little blurry, but one could still make out the word. Everyone squinted at the screen to make out what was written there, but Fluttershy, sitting the closest to her, was the first one to decipher it with a shiver.

"Umbrum!" she yelped.

"King Sombra!" Sunset said, bringing her hands to her eyes in frustration. "Of course! How did we not see this coming? We knew he would strike sooner or later."

"The real question is: What's he looking for?" Pinkie wondered, tapping a finger to her chin. "Why make such a display of magic only for some jewelry? Expensive jewelry, sure, but..."

"He was making a deal of a butt-ton of guns all for a tiny wrist hourglass," Dash mumbled. "If he was doing that, that hourglass must've been important."

"Maybe the same thing applies here," Twilight suggested. "Maybe he was only looking for one object. By stealing the whole exhibit-"

"He makes it harder to figure out what exactly he was lookin' for!"

Twilight nodded at Applejack. "Exactly."

"We'd need to get a full list of the stolen objects," Rarity suggested. "We won't get straight up the answer, but we could cross out any wrong options with a little research."

Dash groaned. "I already smell the paperwork coming."

"I wouldn't mind the research," Twilight happily stated. Pinkie rolled her eyes with a chuckle, her cheek resting on her hand.

"Of course you wouldn't."

"But how do we get the list of the stolen objects?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Easy: Twi can ask her big brother to give it to her," Applejack stated, but Twilight shook her head.

"I'm afraid I already asked Shining Armor. He doesn't have it. The museum staff was going to work on it and give it to the CPD today."

"It's barely eight in the morning," Sunset claimed, glancing at her wristwatch. "The museum is not open to the public yet."

Rarity pondered for a while. They had a lead on the situation. The more time they allowed to pass by the lesser chances they had to find Sombra with whatever it was he was looking for. They didn't know what exactly he was after, and there was no easy way for them to get that list anytime soon, for if not even the Curator had that list ready, then-

Rarity perked up. Maybe Shining Armor didn't have the list yet, but...

"I know Curator Cobalt!" she yelled, breaking the girls from their debate over how to proceed. Pinkie stopped mid-chew to look at her along with the other girls. Rarity blushed at her outburst but continued. "I know Curator Cobalt," she repeated, calmer. "I have designed for him and his wife for quite a handful of occasions. Maybe I could go to him and see what I can get from him."

"That's genius!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"It is!" Sunset approved.

"I'll go to his office as soon as I can, I'm sure he'll have me."

"Yeah, but first maybe you should think of finishing those pancakes before they get cold," Pinkie pointed her fork at her stack of Pancakes. Rarity laughed.

The team was back on track.

"Cobalt! I heard about what happened," Rarity entered the office of the middle-aged man with a warm, sympathetic smile. "I brought my favorite mint tea and some biscuits. Do tell me all about it, Darling."

Cobalt seemed puzzled. "Miss Rarity, it always is a pleasure to have you." He stood up to receive the kisses on his cheek. "But how did you found out about it? I thought it wouldn't be of public knowledge to at least that's what the Captain of the CPD told me."

Without missing a beat, Rarity took a seat in front of Cobalt. "I've got my connections, Darling. Connections are everything. I just so happen to know the Captain and I'm pretty close with his younger sister."

"It really is like you knew the whole city, dear," Cobalt smiled at her. Pouring the hot tea on her little plastic cups, meant for travel Rarity smirked at Cobalt.

"I know more than what it seems, Darling," Rarity offered him a cup which he gladly accepted.

"Thanks. And I believe you."

Rarity glanced at his hand. His palm was wrapped in a white bandage tied at his wrist, partly concealed by the sleeves of his jacket. She politely pointed it out.

"Were you harmed? Were they violent?" Rarity asked in a worried tone, already knowing the answers to those questions but trying to see how much he would let slip. Cobalt glanced at his hand and flexed his fingers.

"No, they weren't. In fact, it is quite a weird story. See, I was..."

Rarity listened closely to Cobalt's story trying to pick up any details they didn't know yet, but for the time being, their conversation was but a retelling of what she knew already. She put real effort into trying to calm Cobalt's nerves: he loved the museum and the situation had him close to collapsing. However, the tea was already over but she had yet to learn anything actually useful for the case other than the name of the middle school.

"Whatever could be on interest for them in there, after all?" Rarity tried, pushing the subtlety line a little.

"You mean besides the incredibly costly jewelry and Reinassance suits?" Cobalt arched an eyebrow.

Rarity made a gesture with her hands. "I mean, it's clear they did something to confuse you, didn't they? I mean, they must have drugged you or something. Maybe they were interested in something in particular of the whole set?"

Cobalt seemed to think it through. "Something more interesting, hmm..." Cobalt made a perplexed face. "No, it couldn't be... Could it?"

"What's up, Darling?" Rarity asked, eager to hear whatever he had recalled.

"There was this piece... This ring. It was a ring from a legend... The Mighty Knight. Told the story of a knight who had a magic ring that made him faster, braver, and stronger. He was invincible and a loyal man to the King. He accomplished many incredible feats," Cobalt had printed a sheet for her which he had given her. Eagerly, Rarity read it. It was the story, much more detailed, Cobalt was telling her. "However, his ring got stolen an eventually lost from history. It's a child's tale though... Who would believe such things as magical rings?"

More people than you think, dear Cobalt.

This must have been it. King Sombra must've known about this legend and believed what it said, and honestly, after all the things she had seen in her life, she believed it as well. Maybe that was what attracted the leader of the Umbrums. What led him to steal the whole display so a single ring would go unnoticed by anyone.

"It may be a child's tale, Cobalt," Rarity said. "But I do think you should tell the police. Who knows, maybe they can track down this folklore enthusiast."

Cobalt nodded. "I'll do that."

Rarity showed him the paper. "Can I keep this? The story seems captivating."

"Of course, Rarity, you can keep it. I think I'll call the detective now..."

"Then that's my cue to leave," Rarity smiled at him, standing up. "I'm glad we could spend some time. You should come over to my place with your wife, so we can mingle a little more. I'd love to see her again."

"That sounds delightful, Rarity," Cobalt smiled. "I'll see you soon."

When Rarity left the office she walked out of the hall and into the corridor of the administration area of the museum, making sure she was on her own, she sent a voice note to her friends.

"Girls, I think I found it. I'll be right back. Wait for me at the Headquarters."

"You're from ATIDA, aren't you?"

Rarity almost screamed. She looked in the direction of the voice a hand placed over her mouth with the other still holding her phone. Behind her, a woman that looked a couple years older than her stood in cargo pants and a dirty-green colored shirt. Under her adventurer hat flowed a long, messy hair going from black to light grey. Rarity thought she knew her from somewhere but wasn't completely sure. For now, she wanted to play it off. Had this woman really mentioned ATIDA?

"I'm sorry, ma'am, whatever are you talking about?"

The woman chuckled. "There is no need for you to play the fool, Rarity. I know well who you are. Or shall I say what you are?"

Rarity shivered, unexpectedly uncomfortable at the presence of this woman. She seemed like an archeologist of some kind. Her outfit was a little cliché, but at least it seemed to transmit just the right message to the viewer. Rarity couldn't help but wondering that was intentional or not.

But... What was she even thinking about? This woman seemed to know her and her secrets, which was much more worrying if her outfit was or wasn't cliché. Get your priorities straight Rarity.

Cautious, Rarity took a step back trying to get her phone back into her purse as quickly as possible without it looking like she was getting ready to run away. She was skilled enough to run in heels. But in those boots, this woman could probably catch up with her in mere seconds. Her powers were out of the question and of course, she didn't want to make a scene. All her pondering came to an abrupt halt when the woman laughed, sincere, sounding actually amused at her tension.

"Relax, miss. Your secret is safe with me," She pointed to a door just behind Rarity. "If you follow me, I think I could have some information that might help you."

Rarity doubted. She seemed sincere enough, but Rarity knew better than to trust just like that anyone. She was a woman. However, she couldn't erase the feeling that she had already seen her face, but her memories refused to reveal the secret behind her identity, putting her in a more vulnerable position when this woman seemed to know about her. Still, too curious to what this woman was referring to when she mentioned information. She just had to be extra cautious. If anything weird happened, she was confident enough to confront her and run to safety.

"Alright..." Rarity replied. The woman smiled, looking genuinely amused at her discomfort, and walked past Rarity, opening the door and walking inside before she had the chance to utter another word. Rarity followed suit.

The office had bookshelves along two parallel walls, filled to the brim with thick books. The desk, which looked more like a table than a desk, was sitting in the middle with a stack of equally thick books, sepia parchments, and all kinds of interesting trinkets lying around a laptop. Behind the desk, the windows were covered by heavy curtains matching the earthy colors of the rest of the room, curtains that allowed little light inside. It seemed to add up to the old-fashioned charm of the place.

Rarity ran a finger over a standing globe, caressing Asia where there were multiple marks over the pristine golden surface. This confirmed her suspicions. The woman was most likely an archeologist or a professional of a similar area, for it seemed she traveled a lot. In fact, those little marks were all over the globe, like signaling the places she had visited. Rarity glanced up at the woman, and only then noticed her hat had a lot of holes in one side.

The woman met her eyes. "Why don't you come closer?" she was looking through the stack of books. "I believe you are familiar with The Mighty Knight already..."

"Were you listening to my conversation with Curator Cobalt?" Rarity approached as told, distracting herself by examining the gadgets all over the desk. "It's not very polite to spy."

"I wasn't spying, I just happened to be in the right place- Ah! here it is," she took a book from the stack, and Rarity flinched when the books threatened to fall off. The woman caught them just in time before they fell on Rarity with a funny, apologetic look. "Oops. Anyway, you've got a good lead with that child tale, but I have something better that will save you a lot of time. Here, look at the cover."

Rarity obeyed, curious about the book the woman held for her to see. The scripture was not one she understood, it appeared to be written in old English in a complicated gothic-like calligraphy, but just bellow the foreign title there were seven smaller drawings of different objects: a bow, a locket, a pair of spectacles, a flask, a sac, an hourglass, and a ring. Rarity blinked and looked over the last two again. They seemed oddly familiar. What was this about? Rarity raised her head, meeting the patiently waiting woman's eyes.

"What is this?"

"The Amulets' Book," she replied, opening it and searching through the pages for something in particular. "I found it a while back among the remains of a destroyed library dating over four centuries back. It's a study of seven objects people called The Amulets, hence the name," She finally seemed to find what she was looking for and showed it to Rarity. It was a page-sized drawing of the same objects in the cover but they looked much more detailed. Rarity identified the ring. The woman pointed at each one. "The Bow of Wrath, the Locket of Lust, the Spectacles of Envy, the Flask of Gluttony, the Sac of Greed, the Hourglass of Sloth, and the one I think you're currently familiar with... The Ring of Pride."

"The deadly sins?"

"Named after them for the powers these magical objects give the bearer," the woman allowed Rarity, now sitting in a chair in front of the desk, to take the book and look closely at the image. "Their origin is unknown, but the date back to hundreds of hundreds of years. Take the Ring of Pride for example. It enhances the bearer's memory, strength, flexibility, and resilience, as well as their confidence. This allows faster learning of knowledge and skills. It is this same ring the one that appears in the legend you have in your purse, the one that turned the knight into what he was. As the legend says, the ring was lost and we lost its trace until I found it."

"You found it?" Rarity asked. "Are you an Archeologist?"

"I am," she smiled, her chin resting in the back of her hands. "Though people rather call me a Treasure Hunter in my books. Of course, most people see me as well as fiction."

That was the comment that finally tied things together in Rarity's mind.

"Daring Do! You're Daring Do, aren't you?" It had been a long time since she had seen any copy of the books or the movies. Twilight and Rainbow usually kept it between themselves, for they didn't want to bother the ones who weren't interested.

The woman, Daring Do, nodded. "My real name is Yearling, but yeah, I am. And just like you, Rarity... I work for ATIDA."

Rarity was surprised. No one had told hear about that. Did the other girls know? Did Dash and Twilight know? If she knew, Rainbow Dash must've gone crazy knowing the adventures of her favorite book series were real. Were they? She had too many questions that would be left unanswered because there was one that actually (kinda) related to the situation Rarity had to ask:

"Are you an agent as well?"

"No, I'm not," Daring Do (A. K. Yearling? She wasn't sure which one was correct) shook her head. "I'm an outside worker for the research and investigation department. Do you think all those magical runes and cool artifacts just happen to appear within ATIDA's reach? With my abilities as Archeologist and my pseudonym of Daring Do, I investigate everything ATIDA ever needs to know and bring in the information to the Department. All of this while still maintaining a normal life as your average novelist," she smiled, apparently proud of her speech. Rarity was speechless. She really had to ask the others about this and if they didn't know then inform them of everything. However, for now, there were more pressing matters.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, two of my friends and squadmates are fan of your works," Yearling smiled fondly, pleased at this comment. "You were talking about seven amulets... Perhaps do you have any idea where the others might be?"

"All of them, no, I don't know," She started flipping through the book again. "They all disappeared at different periods, either after being stolen, lost, or their bearer banished under suspicious circumstances. This book has a magnific recount of every apparition of each Amulet all over history. A passionate work. Ah!" she finally found what she had been looking for and showed Rarity the page. It was the hourglass, awfully familiar for Rarity now that she saw a bigger, more detailed picture. She had seen the hourglass. The recordings of the cameras at the Pyrite Gala had been deleted before Twilight could recover much, but they did get a clear shot of the object King Sombra was making a deal for. It was that hourglass. "I believe you've seen this before..."

Rarity lifted her gaze to meet Yearling's. "The Pyrite Gala. King Sombra left with it and we couldn't retrieve it. Are you telling me King Sombra has the Hourglass of... Sloth?"

"Not him, but someone who works for him," she nodded. "Hear this:" she began reciting struggling to verse the words in the paper. "The Hourglass of Sloth dates back to the 9th century, and first belonged to a baker in a small town in a far corner in Ireland. The Hourglass of Sloth allowed it's bearer to freeze time for a whole hour, thus allowing the bearer to ensure the unfulfillment duties or fulfill them seemingly faster. An incredibly useful tool for later bearers like thieves, and overall criminals. Usually, they froze the world for an hour, without people noticing."

"Was the whole world frozen?"

"It's not specified, really, but don't you think this modus operandi sounds awfully familiar?" Yearling arched an eyebrow.

Rarity nodded. "The theft at the bank. They froze the place for a whole hour and left without a trace."

"And even better, without unnecessary harm to bystanders."

"They risked over a dozen little children when they shattered the case and didn't seem to care," Rarity grumbled.

"The thing is they avoided any other unnecessary damage and confrontation, which makes for an effective method," Yearling leaned back. "Believe me, I would kill to have no confrontation on my adventures."

"Do you happen to cross a lot of trouble?"

"Let's say wild cats are the least of my problems."

"Of course..." Rarity kept scanning the book. "Does it say anything about who gets frozen? The four men were totally capable of moving about, and I doubt all of them could've held the Hourglass at the time."

"It does, in fact," Yearling looked over another page. "it is absurdly wordy, but it says that the Hourglass ONLY spares the bearer. However, as stated by later owners, if a person was touching the bearer at the time of the time-freeze, neither of them got frozen. So, as long as you're touching the bearer, you should be spared."

As long as you're touching the bearer, you should be spared.

"The hardest part of this whole business, however," Yearling sighed. "Is that these Amulets can be inflicted with magic and change shape. These are only their original forms. The last register of the Bow of Wrath says that it was actually a crossbow. The bearer can select a shape for the Amulet with just a little trick of magic, and so, these Amulets could easily be lost track of," she absent-mindedly flipped through the pages of the ancient book. "Somewhere here it says that if the Amulet wasn't used after a long period of time it regained its original form, but I couldn't be able to tell you what shape they've adopted now."

"Oh, do not worry, dear. This information is more than helpful. It's a true blessing."

It was. Meeting Daring Do in the flesh had been quite an interesting encounter to have, but it meant her investigation had progressed at a rate she hadn't thought it will, and so the encounter was not unappreciated at all. If anything, Rarity was glad she had encountered the novelist. Adventurer. Archeologist. Rarity wasn't sure which was the correct term to refer to the woman and she still doubted whether to address her Yearling or as Daring Do. If anything, both names surely were part of her. Just like with Rarity herself. She was Rarity and Erato, a fashion designer and a Myth agent; a regular citizen but a heroine at the same time.

She sighed.

What a shame she had forgotten that for a moment.

Rainbow Dash was flabbergasted. If anything, Rarity knew she had caught her friend by surprise this time as she stared at her, eyes wide as saucers, and jaw hanging enough to let into her mouth a tennis ball.

"Are you f*cking kidding me."

Twilight glared disapprovingly at her crude selection of words but decided against pointing it out, shocked herself. It isn't every day you find out your fictional hero is not really that fictional, nor that the author of your favorite book saga is in fact said hero, neither that said author-hero works in the same place you do. Quite a shocker, dare she say.

"I am not," said Rarity, from her seat. "I saw her with my very eyes and she confirmed it. A.K Yearling is Daring Do and she works for ATIDA."

"It is great and all, but can we focus on the actually important part of this whole business?" Sunset pleads from her seat. "I have class in like two hours."

"I am offended, this is important," Rainbow Dash huffed. "Do you know how long I've been a fan of Daring Do?"

Applejack jabbed Dash in the gut with just enough force to try and knock some sense on her. Dash huffed.

"Oh, alright, sure I GET your point Sunset," Dash rolled her eyes and focused back on her job. "You've found the lead about the robbery?"

"Hourglass of Sloth..." Fluttershy muttered. "Now that's something you don't hear every day."

"As if we didn't have enough magic trinkets to worry about already," Applejack grumbled, taking a look at the images Rarity was displaying on the screen from her laptop. Yearling had given her a virtual copy of the Amulets book's passages. "Now we have seven more we don't even know where to find."

"And they took the Ring of Pride as well," Sunset sighed. "This only seems to get more complicated with each passing second."

"But it is a good enough place to start, don't you think, darlings?" Rarity said in hopes of bringing up the mood. They were being quite gloomy, had something happened while she was out? "Is something the matter? I thought you'd be more excited."

"It is great news, Rarity," Twilight replied, trying her best to put on a smile. "We've all just had restless days. We're just tired."

Oh, of course. Now she remembered that just before leaving she had seen Rainbow Dash and Twilight heading for some extra training. She took a quick detour from her explanation to ask her friends what had happened. Applejack had had an argument with Granny Smith over something regarding the farm, Sunset had spent her whole day bent over a desk trying to finish all her delayed schoolwork, and Fluttershy had to leave work early which earnt her a scolding from her boss. As for Pinkie, who had been suspiciously quiet the whole time, she was staring intensively at her laptop screen playing over and over again the video of the robbery. She had yet to comment on anything.

Rarity felt a lump on her throat.

Her friends were all just as busy as she was, trying to balance their normal lives with their job at ATIDA, and after so long, it could really put a tool on people. And yet, Rarity had failed to realize this. And had even gone to the extent of shielding behind her career. Way to go, Rares...

They continued the meeting and Rarity relayed all her information for them, but stopped there.

"But how about you think about it with the pillow? We can pick up where we left tomorrow," Rarity suggested and no one refused. Slowly, everyone stood up and walked out of the conference room, Sunset complaining about how she could only take a short nap before heading to night classes.

"Why don't you just call in sick?" Twilight suggested, and Sunset looked at her weirdly.

"Who are you and what have you done to Twilight Sparkle?"

Rarity giggled at the exchange, but quite soon found herself alone in the conference room. She perked up when she noticed she wasn't actually so alone. Pinkie Pie had failed to leave the room, still staring at her screen.

"Darling, whatever are you doing with that video?"

For the first time in the night, Pinkie Pie tore her eyes off the screen. She turned to Rarity and pointed to the screen. "Come take a look."

Rarity obeyed and slid with calculated precision closer to Pinkie Pie sitting in the spot to her right. Her bubbly friend, strangely serious, showed her a shot of the four men where the front of their shirts were widely visible. They were light of color in the black-and-white recording, and the sleeves had been recklessly rolled up. That wasn't much what had caught Pinkie attention. It was the fact that the one that seemed to be the leader, judging by the way he spoke to his three companions, wore a pitch-black wristwatch with shiny details that Rarity guessed were made of solid gold.

"Quite a flashy watch for a thief, don't you think?" Pinkie hummed, tapping a flashy purple glitter pen on pouty lips.

Rarity nodded in agreement. "Indeed. The details seem to be gold," she arched an eyebrow. "But what does that even have to do with the matter at hand. Darling?"

Pinkie leaned back on her chair, pondering, her pen now taping her chin. "Well, didn't you mention something about the Amulets changing form?"

Rarity let out a small gasp. "Pinkie, you're genius!"

"I've been told so!"

Rarity hugged her friend and Pinkie gladly returned it. She had no idea the warmth that single gesture shot through Rarity's chest. Maybe Twilight was right all along and it only took a while for her friends to forgive her. So she melted into the embrace, smiling widely against Pinkie's shoulder, and her friend didn't question it for a second, a hugger herself that would take any chance to jump into a hug with anyone she appreciated.

It felt good to be back on track with her favorite girls in the whole world.

Rarity and Pinkie spent a little longer in the Conference Room discussing this new discovery come cappuccino Pinkie whipped from the kitchen real quick. They went through the virtual book in Rarity's tablet for a long time reading everything there was regarding the Hourglass of Sloth.

"WATCH OF SLOTH!" Pinkie had yelled. "Thou have been baptized as the Watch of Sloth from this day on!"

And so they wrote down notes about the Watch of Sloth, breaking into little debates about its abilities and whatnot, trying to advance as much work as they could over the course of a couple hours. At one point, Rarity perked up with the idea of checking the few recording they could obtain from the Pyrite Gala infiltration and after giggling over the recording of Rainbow Dash's and Soarin's dance, they found a clip of the men with which King Sombra had been making a deal. Four men. And when they compared them with the ones from the theft, they found out that these four men had surprisingly identical body shapes and hair colors to the ones from the museum.

"Caballeron," Rarity read after a quick trip over their files on the past mission. "A low profile contrabandist that has amazing luck to evade justice. He was the one who was selling the Hourglass to King Sombra that day."

"It seems our shady friend decided to make some friends as well," Pinkie hummed and Rarity chuckled at her choice of words. Shady was an understatement for this wretched man. And she doubted they were 'friends'.

"Look! Miss Yearling has some history with him. His name appears on multiple of her reports."

Pinkie gasped. "WAIT. What name did you say?!"

Rarity arched an eyebrow. "Uh. Caballeron, darling."

Without a warning, Pinkie sprung to her feet, spilling leftover cappuccino over the table, staining some of her notes. She took Rarity's hand and dragged her out of the Conference Room, ignoring her pleas and pulling her towards the elevator that connected the lounge to their rooms. Rarity had a couple seconds of the way up to recover before Pinkie pulled her out of the elevator and dragged her to the third door on the right. Twilight's door. Before Rarity could do anything to stop her, Pinkie knocked furiously on the door, startling the light daylights out of Rarity.

"Pinkie! Twilight was exhausted just now, you shouldn't be doing this to her this late!"

Pinkie ignored her and continued knocking.

"Pinkie Pie!"

The door burst open. A groggy looking Twilight Sparkle was clumsily putting on her glasses as she stared at her friends like they had grown a second head each.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, her voice showing only the slightest of irritation. "Pinkie, if this is one of your midnight baking contests against yourself and you're trying to drag Rarity and I to judge for you, I swear to god-"

"Why must I always be the one to be at fault?!" Pinkie asked, jokingly offended. Twilight shot her a look and she giggled. "Yeah, I guess you do have a point. But no. This is far more important!"

"What is it?"

"I need to take a look at your Daring Do books!"

Rarity tilted her head in the same direction than Twilight, but before either of them could question her, Pinkie began to explain.

"Rares and I were looking over the case some more. One thing came to the other, and... Well, does the name Caballeron ring a bell to you?"

Twilight sighed. "Pinkie, all of this over a fictional character?"

Rarity was even more confused now.

"He isn't fictional!" Pinkie exclaimed, making her way uninvited inside Twilight's room. reluctantly, Rarity followed. "Just like Daring Do wasn't! He was the one King Sombra was making a deal with a the Pyrite Gala! The one with the stubble."

"Rarity, what did she drink?" Twilight wondered, and Rarity found herself jumping to Pinkie's defense, who pouted at Twilight. In the far corner of the room, Spike was soundly asleep, apparently too deep in slumber to be woken by Pinkie Pie's antics.

"She did not drink anything but cappuccino, darling," Rarity shrugged. "I am afraid she is telling the truth."

"See?!"

Twilight rubbed her temples. "You know what? I am not even surprised at this point. What, tomorrow I'll wake up and Spike will be Cerberus, really, so if anything I am just curious... What does he have to do with the case?"

"I was just getting there!"

Dash appeared on the threshold of Twilight's door, clad in shorts and a tank top, fuming. "Could you three lower your voices?! Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"But it is related to the theft at Canterlot Museum!"

"We agreed to continue that tomorrow, I am too damn tired right now!" Dash groaned. "If you'll be discussing this on your own, then at least shut it!"

Pinkie frowned and pouted. "You are no fun! Did you fight with your hubby or what?"

"Now you-"

"Hey!" Rarity cut in the discussion before it could escalate. The door across from Twilight's opened and a very disheveled and hat-less Applejack stepped out, staring at the scene with half-awake eyes. Rarity awkwardly chuckled. "Now, Pinkie, dear, Rainbow Dash is merely sleep-deprived and in a bad mood because of that. Let's try to lower our voices and let her rest for the walls are pretty thin. Deepest apologies, Rainbow Dash."

"Thank you, Rares," Dash flashed a fleeting smile before walking back to her room, yelling: "Off I go! 'NIGHT!"

Pinkie continued pouting. "I think she needs a vacation."

"Don't we all?" Applejack arched an eyebrow, before yawning. "Y'all found a lead on the theft?"

"Wanna join us?" Pinkie switched her pout for a wide smile. Applejack shook her head.

"I am too tired as well, so I'll just catch up with yer investigation tomorrow. See ya," she yawned again before retreating back into her room. Now left alone, Twilight and Rarity stared back at Pinkie, who dedicated them the widest of smiles. Twilight closed the door of her room and sat down on her couch.

"Now, take a breath and tell me what you found."

Pinkie giggled, apparently amused at the ruckus she had caused between the girls, before plopping down on the couch to begin her explanation. As she made her way to the couch as well, Rarity couldn't hold in a giggle. God how she missed this.

Author's Note

NOW. I know this took over three months to come out and I am sorry

I had... A little writer's block. I guess the situation caught up to me. So I had to push through this chapter painfully, but in the end, here we are!

Let me know what you think of this chapter and the story, it really does motivate me a lot!

THE BIGGEST PART OF THE PLOT HAS BEEN REVEALED. Well, what do you think? We already knew a thing called "The Watch of Sloth", mentioned by Sombra in the previous arc. And, oh, are there seven?! And they stole the Ring of Pride? But what will happen now? I wonder

Do tell me your theories! Things are beginning to get even more complicated. Rarity herself seems to be struggling with a dilemma, all while they're trying to comprehend their actual situation.

Until next time!

-Midday Giggle