“Good morning.” That was the first thing Sweetie Belle heard as she opened her eyes. For some reason, her head was not on a pillow, but instead hanging limply with the only thing in front of her being endless darkness. The grogginess of sleep lasted only a moment when her head felt like it was being pulled up without her meaning to, causing adrenaline to pump through her system. She tried to turn her head but it refused to move at all. The young mare quickly realized that she was wearing a helmet of some kind, perhaps similar to the one Scootaloo wore when she was on her bike. But Scootaloo’s helmet didn’t have a hose in it that entered her mouth like this one did. Sweetie could feel it in her mouth now as it went down her throat, causing her to whimper in fear. She tried to raise her hands to remove the helmet only to find that was impossible.

Panic was building up inside her; she began to look back and forth in the darkness as she tried to take in what was going on. She was in some sort of chair that felt comfortable at first until she realized that her arms and legs bound to it in such a way that prevented her from even moving a finger. Sweetie could feel that her legs were spread apart just far enough for there to be no real discomfort physically. However, Sweetie could feel the cool air as it ran over her naked body meaning that her private area was exposed to anypony there. She tried with all her strength to close them but her efforts were in vain. Fearing the worst, she called upon her magic to do something, anything that might help gain her freedom. Yet as soon as she began to channel her magic, there was pain unlike anything she felt before. She had had headaches before, the kind that felt like your head was being split in half. The pain she felt now was nothing like that. It felt like her head was being set on fire, hit by lighting, in a metal press, and Celestia knew what else. She could feel sweat beginning to appear all over her body as she let out a muffled scream while the pain began to spread down her body. It only stopped when she could no longer channel her magic, leaving her panting in the chair.

“Tsk, tsk,” came another voice, one that was…familiar to Sweetie. She knew that she knew who it belonged to, even while she was in this state, but she couldn’t place it. What’s more, the voice sounded like it was coming from inside the helmet, for she could hear it clearly without a trace of being muffled. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, my dear. We went through a lot of trouble to get our hands on you. Truly our finest prize to date. It would be such a shame if you damaged yourself before going to market.”

“Now, let’s finish getting you ready for the Slave Maker 4000,” said the first voice. Sweetie let out a muffled cry when she heard this, not even caring that this voice sounded familiar as well. Slave Maker? What sort of nightmare was she in? Frantically, she began to thrash in her seat in a desperate attempt to free herself. However, for all her efforts, her flank would not leave the seat and her body barely twisted. She assumed it had to be because of some sort of restraint magic or the like. More terror piled on as she realized just how helpless she truly was in this situation.

Soon, she felt hands touching her, causing tears to fall down her eyes as she cried out for help. She prayed to Celestia, Luna, and even Discord for some miracle as the hands felt her up. Those disgusting hands had some sort of cream which they rubbed onto her fur. Sweetie had no idea what it was, but it tingled enough for her to notice in the areas they had finished. But that was nothing compared to what they did to her breasts. Before reaching them, one pair of hands vanished while the other pair fondled her roughly. Then without any warning at all, she felt a needle pierce her nipple. Sweetie cried out even more and on instinct she tried to use her magic to shove whoever was doing this away. Instead. she felt the pain again, only ten times worse. By the time the needle was removed, Sweetie had canceled her magic while feeling like she could pass out at any moment. The feeling of the needle in her other breast barely registered to her. She did feel them smearing that cream or whatever it was on her breasts, followed by attaching some sort of suction cups to her nipples. From there the two moved down her body only pausing to apply more of the lotion to their hands until they reached her pussy. Once again they inserted a needle into her, right above her clit before placing another suction cup in that same area and smearing the cream on her nether lips. After that they continued down to her hooves.

After they had finished, Sweetie felt a new horror. Whatever that cream was, it wasn’t just making her body tingle. Her body was beginning to relax. She could still try to move her body but she could feel her muscles becoming less tense while also warming up a bit.

“There now, all done,” said one of the two. “We are ready to begin the first stage.”

“While you still have your mind, I want you to know that if there is anyone you should blame it would be the Apples,” said the second, his voice becoming somewhat darker. Sweetie tried to struggle again as she wondered what the Apple family had to do with any of this. She hadn’t seen any of them since she had left Ponyville. Last she had heard, Apple Bloom was learning from the zebras to improve her alchemy. Beyond that there had been nothing really going on. So why was she-

“Sweetie Belle is a slave,” came a mare’s cheerful voice. Like before, it seemed to be coming from inside her helmet, the only difference being that it seemed to vibrate within the mare’s skull, making it impossible to block it out as it talked. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Sweetie recognized the voice as her own! How they had been able to do that she had no idea. All she could do was sit there listening to the demeaning speech as if it were her own. “Sweetie Belle is a slave. Sweetie Belle loves being a slave. Sweetie Belle belongs to her Master. Sweetie Belle’s wishes are nothing. Sweetie Belle lives to be used by Master. Sweetie Belle is nothing without her Master. Sweetie Belle wants her Master to fuck her.” Over and over, the voice continued to speak without stopping or pausing. Sweetie Belle tried to ignore it, tried to block it out, but whatever this helmet was made it impossible no matter how hard she tried.

Then it got worse. The darkness in front of her was quickly replaced by an image of herself. She was naked except for a leather collar as she laid on a bed of straw. Around this image of her, Sweetie could see stone walls like that of a cellar or something similar. Her image looked like she was out of breath with a content smile on her face. The look in her eyes reminded Sweetie of how she looked at herself in the mirror after the first few dates with the one colt back when she was younger: the look of a mare who was in blissful love for the first time. She could see stains of semen on the mare’s mane as well as in the straw around her. Not wanting to look at such a perversion of herself, Sweetie tried to close her eyes…only to still see the image before her. It was like it was being sent directly to her mind with no way to block it out! To add to all of this, Sweetie was beginning to smell the scent of old straw around her as well as the scent of wet stone and the odor of sex. She could feel stimulation in her clit and nipples, enough to almost take her breath away. Not helped by the cream soaking her coat and the continuing voices. There was also a pleasant feeling running down her body, like contentment.

“Master, please use Sweetie Belle however you see fit. Sweetie Belle is nothing but a toy to be used. Please mark Sweetie Belle with your cum. Let Sweetie Belle lick it off the floor.”

The image then changed to another demeaning version of herself. Sweetie was now staring at herself, bent over with her flank sticking out towards her. The image of Sweetie was pulling her flank cheeks apart and her tail off to the side in order to give an unobstructed view of her pussy and ponut. Cum was flowing out of both holes and the image of herself was looking at her with utter bliss in her eyes. The scent of sex continued to fill her helmet while the stimulation to her body increased. Celestia help her! Had she not been bound to this chair, she was sure her hips would have bucked! What was worse, that feeling of contentment seemed to be growing stronger. How they were doing this to her, she had no idea.

“Sweetie Belle’s holes belong to Master. Sweetie Belle is nothing more than Master’s cum dumpster. Without Master’s cum, Sweetie Belle has no reason to live. Please, Master, fill Sweetie Belle’s holes with your cum. Let Sweetie Belle please Master with her mouth, ass, and pussy.”

Another image appeared before Sweetie, even more degrading. She now saw herself in a bathroom, hands bound behind a toilet and still very naked. Words hand been written all over her body. Things like ‘CUM LOVING WHORE’, ‘PUBLIC CUM TOILET’, ‘NEEDS MORE COCK’ and many more that were smeared with cum. Semen was running down her body and her holes while her tongue hung out from her mouth. The look on this mare’s face was that of pure bliss, far greater than the last image showed. Sweetie could smell the scent of an uncleaned bathroom all around her now along with an even stronger scent of sex. The stimulation to her body continued to grow powerful, causing her legs to shake uncontrollably while that content feeling grew more and more powerful.

“Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark was wrong. Sweetie Belle wishes she could change it. Sweetie Belle’s talent is being Master’s slave. Pleasuring Master and taking care of Master are the only talents Sweetie Belle needs.”

Sweetie was barely aware of what they were doing. They were controlling what she felt, what she saw, what she smelt. There was nothing she could do to stop that, but she had to try and fight back by protecting her mind. She would not let them have that. Summoning her strength, Sweetie began to focus on things that she knew were pleasant like being back home with her friends and family. She tried to think of having tea with Rarity, telling her about the city and that she might have a chance of getting a supporting role in- PAIN! Unbelievable pain was piercing through her body from her nipples and clit. Celestia, it hurt so much! At the same time, the image in front of her changed to that her herself covering up her body while looking like she was fleeing something. Sweetie couldn’t really tell where that Sweetie Belle was, perhaps on the street or something? All she could see was that her face no longer held that blissful, happy expression instead replaced with utter terror. While looking at it, that feeling of contentment was gone. In its place was a feeling of unnatural dread.

“Sweetie Belle can’t live without Master. Master is everything to Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle never wants to be apart from Master. If Sweetie Belle is not by her Master’s side, Sweetie Belle has no reason to live. Sweetie Belle will kill herself if she cannot please Master.”

The image changed and the pain vanished along with it. Panting, Sweetie Belle saw herself riding a stallion who had his arms behind his head. Pleasure was returning as was the feeling of contentment. Her own voice continued to talk about how much she loved being some stallion’s personal fuck toy. There she stayed.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes as she awoke from her sleep. Her mind felt a little fuzzy from the dream she just had, the memory of which was already quickly fading. While the fleeting bits were familiar to her somehow, the sex slave did not try to hold onto them. She had not been ordered to remember her dreams nor would they help serve in her ability to please her master. Such personal things were not needed by a slave like herself.

Slowly, she rose from her spot curled up on the floor at the end of her master’s bed. Master Spike had offered his bed to both her and Mistress Ember while he slept on either the couch or on the floor. Mistress Ember had refused, saying that the bed was too soft for a dragon or something like that. Sweetie Belle remembered that Master Spike had seemed confused about that for some reason while Sweetie Belle paid it no mind. It was not her place to question her betters, only to serve them. As for Sweetie Belle, it was unthinkable for a slave to sleep in her Master’s bed without the Master present. She had offered to service the Master until he slept, but for some reason he refused her yet again. It was very odd. Master Spike seemed like such a kind Master but, he had not used her once. Was he afraid that her skills would not be enough to satisfy him?

Getting to her hooves, Sweetie looked at the bed where her Master laid. Master Spike laid on his back, a tent forming beneath the ruby red sheets. She stood there, staring at the area where she knew was an erect cock waiting as she tried to think about what she should do. Master Spike so far had refused all of Sweetie Belle’s attempts to please him. He might not want her to take care of his desires now. However, her training had told her that a good slave always wakes up her Master by tending to his needs. Needs that were very clear at this moment. Servicing those needs was something expected of a good sex slave. Sweetie Belle was a good sex slave. She had to service him before he grew angry with her. She needed him to know she really was here for his pleasure alone. If only Master knew how good her body felt.

Without another thought, Sweetie Belle touched the sheets to her Master’s bed with her hand before moving under them. Slowly, she made her way up moving across Master Spike’s body as she swayed her hips. Sweetie Belle knew no one could see it, but it was expected, just like how letting her nipples lightly touch her Master’s body was expected as she moved up until she reached her destination hidden underneath Master’s boxers. Using her hands and mouth, Sweetie pulled them down until Master’s cock was as free as it could be underneath the sheets. With her nose less than an inch away, she studied the meaty rod that belonged to her Master. Shape was different from those she had had before. Unlike a normal stallion’s, this one did not end with a flat head, but instead ended with a point, like a spear. Its color was a fleshy pink with barbs running along the sides. But the smell it gave off was no different than the other stallions she had serviced: masculine. A scent that was so familiar to her it caused her mouth to water instantly.

So gently she kissed the head before doing what she had been created for, her entire reason for being: pleasing her Master.

Normally, Spike would have awoken to the annoying sound of his alarm clock buzzing endlessly until he got up and turned it off. Instead it was the shifting of his mattress that awoke the drake. With eyes refusing to open at the moment, Spike laid there trying his best to return to dreamland where one of his fantasies was waiting for him. He couldn’t remember what it was other than he would rather be there than getting up. Perhaps one of dreams about Mina or Rarity, for he could almost feel a more feminine body as it glided over his. It could be that there was something important he needed to do today. Sometimes he woke up early when he knew he had a big test at the academy or there was something important going on that needed him to get up for. For that he blamed Twilight and her research projects that needed to be done before the sun rose. While his mind was still foggy from sleep, Spike was able to recall that he wasn’t in the academy anymore, nor was he still Twilight’s assistant. No shrill voices, neither instructor nor surrogate mother, hollering at him to get up. Was there something important going on? He couldn’t recall at the-

Spike’s eyes opened wide as he felt his boxers being pulled down as well as the feeling of a mare’s hands and muzzle. Staring at the ceiling, his brain seemed to fry as he tried to think about what was going on. Then he felt it, the soft lips of a mare kissing the tip of his morning wood before engulfing it in her muzzle. Spike could feel the warmth of a mouth encompassing his shaft while a tongue wrapped around it. Sweet Celestia, he hadn’t felt relief in days, a lover in months -- this was heavenly! He basked, letting the electrical, silken vinyl tingle up and down his cock. Oh that is it, suck it suck it suck it! What a lovely dream. His hand shifted down, and he felt something unmistakably solid. He wasn’t dreaming, was he? As he felt the vibrations of a low moan, Spike grabbed the sheets of his bed and quickly pulled it off. His eyes widened as he saw Sweetie Belle there, turning her eyes to look at him with a gaze of longing with her mouth full of his meat stick. He stayed like that for only a moment as her tongue slid around his dick to caress it with devotion before letting out a panicked scream. In mid scream, Spike began to back up quickly, his member free of Sweetie’s mouth before standing up. Sweetie looked confused for a moment as she looked at Spike, now standing on the bed with his body pressed against the wall.

Then she suddenly smiled. “Sweetie Belle understands. Master Spike would prefer it this way.” The mare then began to move closer to Spike, crawling on all fours while her flank swayed back and forth. Her tail also swished to fan the scent of her arousal. Sweetie’s mouth was partly open allowing her tongue to hang out slightly in order to give her a more animalistic appearance.

“What the fuck’s all the screaming about?” came a voice as the door to Spike room opened. A moment later Ember stood at the threshold as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with one claw while the other was under her shirt scratching her belly. She looked at the scene before her first with sleep infused indifference before the shock of the situation took hold. Her mouth hung open while her wings extended.

“Mistress Ember,” said Sweetie as she paused and turned her head to look in the direction of the blue dragoness. “Would you like Sweetie Belle to pleasure you as well?”

“It’s not what it looks like,” blurted Spike as he held up both hands. However, he wasn’t sure she would believe that given the fact that his boxers were now hanging from his ankles with a nude mare just a few feet from him. He had been on a couple of cases where he had seen ponies in similar acts make the exact same statement: husbands caught in bed with their mistress during an investigation, teens too young to be doing this sort of thing caught halfway in the act or worse, and the list could go on. None of those times did Spike believe them nor did any of the ponies he worked with. So why should Ember believe him now?

Ember merely slapped her forehead so loudly that it made Spike wince. As her claw slid down her face she gave Spike a look of disgust. “You are a fucking dragon,” Ember growled as she marched to the bed and grabbed Sweetie Belle by the wrist. Sweetie barely made a sound as she was then yanked off the bed before being dragged across the room. “Next time this brainwashed pony tries something like this, remember that and do what a real dragon would do. And in case you don’t know what that is: KICK HER THE FUCK OUT OF THE BED! By the Bloodstone you’re stronger than her. Act like a dragon instead of a prissy pony!” With that, Ember exited the room before slamming the door behind her.

It took several minutes before Spike exited his bedroom fully dressed in his uniform. Normally it would have taken him a minute or two tops but the recent incident made things difficult causing Spike to stumble with each button. It disgusted him to admit it, but part of him wished Ember hadn’t entered. That Sweetie Belle would have continued since it had felt so good. Thoughts that caused Spike’s stomach to turn in more ways than one. The very idea that he would even consider using one of his old friends in such a way in this situation was not something he was proud of. Not to mention that he swore an oath to protect and serve, not take advantage of others in their time of need. Or the fact that this wasn’t of her own free will, that somepony had cast a spell or something on her to make Sweetie act like this. It may feel great now, but how would she react in the future?

When Spike finally left his bedroom it was to see Ember pacing around Sweetie on the other side of the main room. Sweetie had her head down with her ears flat against her head while sitting on her knees. As for his other new housemate, jets of smoke were coming out of Ember’s nostrils. As soon as they became aware of Spike’s presence, Ember offered him only a brief glare while Sweetie’s head lifted up and her expression became sultry again. Before either of them could say or do anything, Sweetie moved so she was on her back again with her legs spread wide.

“No you idiot!” snapped Ember as she glared at Sweetie while Spike moved to the kitchen area. “I told you you don’t have to do that!”

“Master Spike entered the room,” responded Sweetie Belle as she shifted her position so that her spread legs were in the direction of Spike. “Sweetie Belle is Master Spike’s slave. Good slaves always present themselves to their Masters. Good slaves hide nothing from their Masters. Sweetie Belle wishes to please her Master however Sweetie Belle can.”

As Ember began to look more irritated, folding her arms while glaring at the unicorn, Spike opened up the fridge. “How about I make us some breakfast before I eat out- head out!”

“Sounds alright I guess,” said Ember with a sigh. The male drake could hear her moving to the kitchen area, moving a chair as he rummaged through what he had. “Just toss me a pile of gems.”

“Actually I was thinking of making us all something nice,” replied Spike as he pulled out an assortment of items. “For Sweetie Belle, my world famous buttermilk pancakes.”

Ember snorted, not even trying to hide it as Spike raised an eyebrow. “World famous? Never heard of them before.”

“As for us dragons, buttermilk sapphire pancakes,” continued Spike as he set down a bowl of chilled sapphires in front of Ember. As the dragoness looked at them, mouth open as drool began to drip from her maw, Spike crossed his arms while smirking triumphantly. Nopony or dragon could ever resist a plate of his pancakes when he added sapphires. Well, when he served them to ponies they usually spat out the gems before pocketing them. But the point was that they were good! And judging by the way Ember’s stomach growled, they were just what the doctor ordered.

“Screw the pancakes or whatever the hell you call them. Just give me the gems!” With that, Ember tried to swipe the gems off the counter. While she was fast, Spike had read her intent and managed to reach them just in the nick of time to pull them away. That wasn’t the end of it as Ember nearly lunged across the counter trying to reach the pull. Spike had to stop her by placing a claw on her face and holding her back.

“Just give me ten minutes and we’ll have breakfast, ok?” Ember said nothing to that. She did stop struggling and sat back down looking more than a little irritated, something that Spike shrugged off. It wasn’t anything to get too mad or annoyed over, especially when he considered everything she had been through.

While not in the blink of an eye, Spike managed to make several stacks of pancakes in complete silence before setting them on the counter. The stacks meant he and Ember had small chips of sapphires in them along with slightly larger nuggets in a way that would make some think they might be blueberry pancakes with blue sprinkles mixed in. As for Sweetie’s plate, it was as plain as any plate of pancakes could be. Only he had remembered that Sweetie liked whip cream on hers as well as butter as long as it wasn’t on the top. Hopefully remembering these details would have some effect on Sweetie. If not, well, at least she would have pancakes the way she had liked them.

Why was he thinking about her almost as if she was dead?

When the first batch came out, Ember looked at it with some level of apprehension. “Why the fuck is this so soft?” she asked as she reached out to touch it with her claw. Spike said nothing at first as she slowly slid her finger across her food, frowning more and more as she did so. “Wait, is this fluffy pony food? What kind of dragon eats pony food?”

“It’s food,” muttered Spike. “Maybe you should try it before you complain.” Ember looked at him for a moment while Spike set down a fork and knife in front of her. Saying nothing, only narrowing her eyes a bit, Ember picked up the top pancake with her bare claw to bring it up to her mouth. As the pancake flopped about slightly Ember took a savage bite out of it, throwing back her head like she was a wild animal taking meat off a carcass. Slowly, she chewed her food with hostile eyes until they suddenly brightened. Spike nearly took a step backwards as her eyes seemed to sparkle with delight before cramming the rest of the pancake into her mouth. A sound of joy escaped her throat as she quickly swallowed the rest.

“Bloodstone,” she cried out before grabbing another one with her claw. “I never thought anything so soft and weak looking could taste so good!” Her eyes then widened after saying this while her cheeks turned a darker shade. Quickly she folded her arms while trying to look more composed. “I mean, it’s ok-ish for pony food mixed with gems, maybe… in a pinch...”

Spike merely rolled his eyes at this as he walked over to feed Sweetie who was still on the floor. Carefully, he set down the plate next to her before telling her that this was her breakfast. The white mare looked at it and, for a brief moment, Spike that he saw a bit of the old Sweetie Belle in her eyes. That look of excitement that Rarity would have when seeing something fabulous or desirable. Maybe it was there or maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see. Regardless, what Spike saw next made his heart sink. Sweetie rolled over onto all four and bent over the plate so that her flank stuck up into the air. While a fork and knife had been presented to her, she instead ate her food without even the use of her hands like a dog or cat would. With every bite she took, both Spike and Ember could see her shaking her flank as if to ask them to take her even now.

“Well don’t you look like crap.” Spike blinked when he heard the voice of one of the city’s finest detectives, By-The-Books. A decorated officer of the department for many years, the aged brown unicorn’s mane and mustache had grayed considerably since the first time Spike had met him. Dressed in dark blue dress pants, a white short sleeved shirt and blue tie the stallion sat at his cluttered desk with the newspaper in his hands.

How he could tell that Spike looked like crap the dragon had no idea since his eyes never seemed to leave the newspaper. He felt like crap as well. For several hours Spike had been walking around the city to every pawn shop he knew about as well as stopping at a few he discovered along the way. While many didn’t have anything he was looking for, not even in the back, he had found six full sets of dragon armor in the city. How long they had been there and who had sold them was not the sort of information they were willing to give out for free, meaning he had to buy the armor as well as pay some additional interest. So if Spike wanted to continue with his case he would need to bring Ember along to see if she could spot which set of armor belonged to her. He felt anxiety when he thought about how he was going to cover next month’s rent.

Along with that, Spike had stopped to meet with this one dragon who was a contact of his named Shiv. Shiv was purple like him, but far thinner with a form that reminded Spike of a snake that had grown arms and legs with eyes that always seemed to look in every direction other than in front of him. As Spike asked him if he knew about any new players in town, the dragon had slid his body alongside Spike’s until his two inch fangs were right next to Spike’s ear.

“Always new players, copper,” Shiv had hissed into Spike’s ear. “Always somepony out there looking to make a dishonest bit. All I know is hearsay…for now. Come back to me in a couple of days and I might be able to get you a list.”

“Looking for unicorns in particular -- any news on those?”

“Ain’t met nobody new yet…” Spike had gotten tips and such from Shiv before, almost every time getting some good intel. So he knew that whatever he got would be helpful; either getting closer to whoever hurt Sweetie, or being able to rule them out. However, Spike was worried about Shiv. While he was always careful to keep his neck out of too much trouble, there would be the chance that he might end up attracting too much attention.

Trying his best to shake off these thought, Spike moved to Book’s desk. “How you’re able to know that I’ll never know,” he commented in as friendly a tone as he could.

“Experience,” replied the older stallion as he flipped the page of the paper. “Been doing this job long enough to read a pony like I’m reading this here paper. Wouldn’t be much good at my job if I couldn’t. I could tell by your footsteps; you’re tall, but not tall enough to have that big a gap between strides and a heavy landing, so either you’re stomping like a tantruming brat, or you’re plodding sad about something. You got closer than usual before saying hello, so you must be lower on energy than usual, and since it’s still early, gotta be in your mind, not your body. Policework’s all about the details, drake -- fine print, what’s said and sometimes even what’s not there. About your concern, you still need to find proof, but it does let me know when I’m on the right track.” Book then lowered the paper to give Spike a closer look. “So, anything you want to talk about?”

“Nothing really. Just some unexpected house guests with one of them being an old friend. We got to a rough start this morning, that’s all.” Spike knew from his time on the force, as well as a few times back when he was living with Twilight, that the problem with lying was keeping the lies straight. So often did a lie come back to bite a suspect in the flank that it had been drilled into his head. Because of this, he knew that if he wanted to keep Ember and Sweetie from being found he would just be honestly vague. And it seemed to work! Book simply shrugged as he went back to his paper.

“Heard you sent a note to station,” said the older stallion as his eyes scanned the paper. “Decided to take a look at the report the uniforms made and, well, sort of interesting. Looks like you might have stumbled onto a drug ring or something. There were two set of tracks found at the scene leading in and out of the building. While one of them was a standard model with thousands like it all over Equestria, the other looks custom made. Or at least that’s what I’m getting from the photos. Add that with the fact that they were meeting in an abandoned building that hasn’t been sold and we have a recipe for conspiracy.”

Spike’s ears perked at this as he moved closer. “Really? So the department is looking into this?”

“Thinking about it,” muttered Book as he pulled a pad of paper closer to him and began to write something down on it. Most likely making a note of something he saw in the paper. “The officers on the scene think that it might be a bunch of teens having some fun. Happens all the time. Find some vacant lot or building that’s no longer in use and they flock to it. Trouble I’m having with that theory is are the tracks. Each of those costume wheels cost more than you and me make in five years combined. So we’re talking about somepony in high society, maybe Manehatten or even Canterlot, heading out to Dragon Town to meet with somepony they would consider a commoner. Not the type of get together that usually happens unless something illegal is going on.” Book then stopped writing, jerking the pen to another detective on the force. “A few of my colleagues think this might be a case of star crossed lovers meeting in secret. Poor place for a lovers meeting when there are plenty of parks in and around the city. And if they were looking for sex, they both would have had to have passed that one motel not too far from where you live. Doesn’t make it impossible, just far more unlikely.”

“So you’re going to ask for the case?” asked Spike.

“Already did,” replied Book as he went back to reading the paper. “Just waiting for the chief to give me the all clear. Seeing if they can spare me for what might be a wild goose chase and all that. If I hear anything else going on in Dragon Town I’ll let you know. All the same, if you hear another going on in Dragon Town-”

“You’ll be the first to know,” finished Spike honestly. While Spike wanted to handle this on his own to keep Sweetie safe from as well as to honor Ember’s request, he wasn’t really a trained detective. By-The-Book was a seasoned detective for longer than Spike had been alive, solving more cases than he could count. While he doubted that that building would be used again by the criminals, it would be in everyone’s best interests to tell him. Plus if he kept in contact with Book, then there was a chance he might find out more about the case from his side. After all, weren’t two heads better than one?

This seemed to be enough for Book who then folded the paper in half as if to focus on one article in particular. A scowl appeared on his face as he leaned in closer to his desk. “Well now, isn’t this interesting.”

“What is it?” asked Spike as he moved around to get a better look. The article was small, having only a single picture of a unicorn stallion at a dig site. Foregoing reading the article title, Spike went straight to the body which was very small. All it said was that Jet Set of Jet Zeppelins Inc. was opening up a new factory outside of the city which promised many new jobs with the latest equipment on the market. To be honest, Spike was a bit disappointed by this. The way Book had spoken made Spike think that it was some big time politician pulling a fast one or something. It was just a boring article to fill space on a slow news day. “What’s the big deal?”

Book shook his head as he pulled over a paper to make another note. “You really have to pay more attention to the paper if you ever want to be a good detective. Several years ago, Jet Set held almost complete dominance in the zeppelin industry. Able to hang with the Canterlot elites every day, enjoying the good life, yadda-yadda... Then he ran into a bit of bad luck, made bad investments, and starting getting more competition with the Crystal Empire. That’s when they came out with those crystal engines: smaller and more energy efficient so that their zeppelins could fly faster. Cheaper too so you can see why ponies wanted them over Jet’s. A few months later, some of my friend down in Canterlot began to tell me some things off the record. That Jet Set was writing checks that bounced to both them fancy establishments in Canterlot as well as some of his business deals. While that was going on, the papers were talking about him laying off hundreds of employees and safety issues began popping up all over the place due to cutting corners. Last time he was in the paper was two years ago when an illegal cargo was found on one of his zeppelins.”

This caught Spike’s interest. “What was it?”

“A rare, exotic insect,” replied Book as he set down his pen. “A breed of locus that makes parraspites look like they’re fasting. Only they don’t eat food, instead they swarm over things with a lick of magic and devour that. Don’t care if it’s alive, they’ll eat it while its kicking up a storm and screaming for help. More magic they eat the harder they are to kill, too. Not hard to see why they’re illegal in Equestria. But there are those collectors who would pay millions just to have one despite the risks. From what I remember, Jet wasn’t prosecuted since there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he knew about the damn bug. All he got was a fine that, admittedly, left a black hole in his bank account.” Book then stood up and began to walk away towards the chief’s office. “Now I can’t help but wonder how he was able to open up this new factory.” He dropped the folded paper right at Spike’s feet, the image of a brand new building with smokestacks poised behind the named stallion.

Author's Note

Thanks to Kalash93 and Koekelbag for their help