BridgeWorld

[994AB Day 292]
Fiona knocked at the entrance, interrupting the conversation between Buck, Alfalfa, Lucius, and Flashfire. "Sir, a Lieutenant Gordon from the Metropolitan Equestrian Guard is here to speak with you."

"Thank you, Fiona," Buck replied. "Please send him in."

"I apologize for disturbing you, Mister Mane," Lieutenant Gordon said as he stepped into the burned-out office formerly belonging to Thomas Mane.

"Please, call me Buck," he said. "'Mister Mane' was my father. I'm afraid it's—going to be some time before I get used to being called 'Mister'," he said, looking about at the damaged room.

"I understand," Gordon said. "My condolences to you for losing your parents like this."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Buck said. "We're planning to make a public announcement about them in a few days or so, once the Royal Guard are finished collecting what evidence they can gather and we're able to get back up to an operational status."

"I came to speak with you about that, as a matter of fact," Gordon said. "That, and about the pony apparently responsible, a former Royal Guard named Matchbox, whom I was told, worked here?"

"We're still going through our inventory with the Royals, Lieutenant," Alfalfa broke in. "We're trying to pin down how much damage Matchbox did to us here."

"I see," Gordon said, jotting a note into his pad. "Far be it from me to step on the Royals' hooves, but we do have joint jurisdiction in this matter, especially as Matchbox was found to have been involved in some way with that massive explosion at the Harbor. We recovered his body at the warehouse site."

"Of course, Lieutenant. We know how this works," Alfalfa replied. "Flashfire and I were both in the Royal Guard, too. Unfortunately, Master Buck is being forced to wear his father's shoes in such short notice, and I'm primarily the manager for the Mane Household. Hopefully, Flashfire and Lucius can answer any questions you have regarding Matchbox and what was affected here."

"That would be helpful, yes," Gordon said. "I'd like to start with getting a timeline of events as they occurred."

"We've already gone through that with Lieutenant Cornwall. I would be more comfortable discussing this while reviewing what we've already gave him," Flashfire said. "I know that any discrepancies that come up during interviews are closely scrutinized, but please understand, Matchbox and those working with him had managed to get to our security systems and destroyed our recording crystals. All the accounts we're able to give are estimates and best recollections from our memories."

"Hmm. It sounds like Matchbox knew what he was doing," Gordon said, noting down the information given to him. "What was his actual assignment as a member of your company?"

"Much like he did when he was in the Royal Guard," Flashfire replied. "Security monitoring systems, as well as hoof-to-hoof combat. In the Guard, he had additional skills from being in our Special Forces Operations." Gordon's eyebrows rose at that.

"You mean like specialized tactics, infiltration, espionage, that sort of thing?" the Lieutenant inquired.

"Indeed," Flashfire stated. "You seem surprised."

"It is surprising!" Gordon protested. "Special Forces members are supposed to be screened for honesty and loyalty in order to get into such programs."

"That is a matter that has greatly concerned Princess Celestia of late, given how Jack Black was broken out of custody on his way to Canterlot," Alfalfa stepped in. "There were several former Royal Guard who were involved with that attack."

"Yes, I had spoken with the Princess before coming here," Gordon said. "She did seem rather tense while discussing what was found at the warehouse. A few former Guard going bad, I can understand, but this seems to be a much more serious matter. So, Matchbox would have knowledge about just where to hit you. What exactly did they get away with?"

"Several experimental chainmail suits that we were researching for their enhanced protection rankings," Lucius spoke up. "They were originally supposed to be to Royal and Equestrian specifications but had failed on their contractual requirements. However, we were looking into what we could make of them and hoping to find a way to make them reliably repeatable. You see, the flaws they exhibited indicated they have properties well exceeding normal protection rankings."

"How much more?" Gordon inquired as he scribbled.

"At least twenty times greater," Lucius answered.

"I see," Gordon muttered.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant, but you said that you recovered Matchbox's body at one of the explosion sites," Lucius said. "Was he still wearing that outfit by any chance? Do you currently have possession of it?"

"Yes, we do," Gordon answered.

"Then if you can, we'd like to get that back as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid the outfit has to be held as evidence," Gordon explained.

"You don't understand, Lieutenant," Lucius said. "The suit's protection rating isn't just twenty times, like Royal Guard rating is only ten times higher than non-enchanted chainmail. I mean twenty times on top of the Royal Guard ranking."

Gordon stopped writing and looked up at the kitsune in shock.

"And Matchbox was one of our personnel involved in the testing of the suits, so he knew exactly what was best to steal from us," Lucius went on. "Which means those who helped him steal them also know about that. And I doubt your evidence locker is a match to the vault they broke open here to get them. Just look at how easily they did here!"

"We're going to need an army to guard that thing!" Gordon whispered in horror.

"Your army won't be enough," Lucius warned him. "Matchbox had several unicorns and pegasi helping him with the break in here. They're still going to have their own suits. If they try to recover it from you, you won't be able to stop them."

"I can't afford to write down what you told me, either!" Gordon muttered, looking down at his notepad. "We already know Matchbox was a member of one set of rogue Guard. Jack Black had other rogue Guard working for him, some still active in the Metropolitan. We don't know who we can trust at this point!"

"Exactly," Lucius pressed him. "We can at least safely secure them, assuming we can keep any traitors in our midst from looking over our shoulders when we get them back. We have several vaults where we can select randomly where they wouldn't know which we're storing them in. But every Equestrian Guard knows where your evidence storage is, especially the bad apples."

"I—see," Gordon said. "I—don't exactly have enough authority on my own to check the suit out for storage offsite, and I doubt the Commissioner will look favorably on us trying to store it where it got stolen from in the first place."

"Then you'd better draft your army, Lieutenant," Flashfire grimly stated.

"And without blabbing on why we'll need to have that kind of security," Gordon sighed. "Getting that level of protection will also be—problematic."

"Will there be anything else, Lieutenant?" Alfalfa inquired as silence ruled for several moments.

"Yes, I—I had better get back to this interview," Gordon said, taking up his pencil again. "I'll still need the timeline, locations, and sequence of events as best as you can remember. And don't worry if you're off by a minute or two in your recollections."

Lucius started off with explaining that he, Thomas Mane, Mareta Mane, Flashfire, Highflyer, Fred Hummer, and Red Sovine were all working at the office building in various offices when the break in happened. Lucius said he just finished with his last set of tests and had locked the suits up in the vault when the power in the building went out. Highflyer, and Fred Hummer were with him. They all immediately knew something was wrong as the building has a very ribose backup power system designed to not allow power outages, and the power stayed off.

Flashfire stepped in to tell the officer that somepony had caused the building to go into lockdown, and the barriers wouldn't allow their staff to override to reach the security center in order to determine the cause. He tried to call Thomas Mane, but there was no answer in his office, so he contacted the Mansion and reached Alfalfa there.

Alfalfa then explained how she and Buck left immediately for the office building.

Lucius explained that by the time they all managed to get through the barriers from where they had been trapped, and they found the vault had been broken into. It was about then that they all felt the blast.

"Likewise, I was trying to get here to Mister Mane's office," Flashfire stated, "as I was too far from the Security Center to try going through all those barriers. This office was closer. I felt the blast that happened in the Harbor before I was finally able to reach the office here. At the time, I had thought the blast was what caused the office here to be engulfed in flames. I did what I could to put it out and discovered the Manes and Red Sovine had taken shelter from the fire. It was around that time that Alfalfa and Buck showed up. They let me know there had been a huge explosion in the city while they were trying to get here."

"Lucius and the others with him got here shortly after that," Alfalfa spoke up. "Master Buck, Highflyer, and Fred took his parents and Red to the MIC. I stayed here with Flashfire to do what we could to secure Mane Industries, while Lucius tried to track the thieves."

"It took some doing, with the blast at the Harbor and warehouse messing up scent trails something fierce," Lucius stepped in. "I had just traced Matchbox's scent to the warehouse when Highflyer and Fred caught up to me from the MIC. We all got there in time to see Princess Celestia start fighting what looked like some super strong pegasus." Gordon looked up sharply from his notepad at that.

"We all immediately stepped in to try helping her," Lucius continued. "Unfortunately, while trying to distract that guy from turning the Princess into paste, Highflyer and Fred were killed, and I got injured. I'm not sure where that pegasus wandered off to, but after the fight, I brought Highflyer and Fred back to the MIC."

"I helped Flashfire as much as I could here before going over the MIC to see how Master Buck was faring," Alfalfa spoke up. "We had called the Royal Guard, but with the blast sites, they were understandably a little busy. Mistress Mane was already dead when they left here, and I learned that Mister Mane had died while I was still here. Red Sovine was still lingering on when I arrived, and Master Buck indicated he wished to stay to oversee his recovery. Lucius got there with Highflyer and Fred and informed us of the goings on at the warehouse. Later, Princess Celestia brought Master Buck home to the Mansion."

"We've been working with the Royal Guard ever since this morning," Flashfire cut in, "as well as trying to restore our operations back into some semblance of order."

"Thank you," Gordon said, closing his notepad. "That's very helpful. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to consult with the lead investigator in the Royal Guard."

"No problem," Flashfire said. "I'll escort you down to the vault."

After they left, Lucius showed off a very toothy grin as he dug up a page from Thomas' desk. "I bet she'll be very appreciative of us throwing her under the Crown's wagon for a change!" he said as he started writing a note to Celestia.

Alfalfa and Buck saw he had written, "Get out of the road!" before it was rolled up and sent to the Princess with kitsune fire. The two ponies had to smirk at that.

Gordon reflected that their statements made a lot of sense, and they meshed with what he, himself, had witnessed. He recalled there had been some odd creature that vaguely looked like that kitsune, if one considered the distance, darkness, and chaos involved. And he had assumed the dark suited pegasi he thought he saw in the air alongside the Princess were active Guard trying to help keep the big white one she fought distracted, but it seems they were working for Mane Industries, instead.

Still, it will require another visit to Canterlot to confirm their involvement, he considered. Odd that she never mentioned them, though. I wonder why.

Flashfire introduced Gordon to the Royal Guard officer in charge of their investigation, Lieutenant Hoof Cornwall.

"To whom do I have the honor, Lieutenant?" Cornwall inquired.

"I'm following up some leads related to the explosions the other night," Gordon explained. "A warehouse that was also destroyed looks like it was the source of the material that wiped out the Harbor. It turns out that an earth pony stallion who was found dead at the warehouse used to work here, a former Royal Guard named Matchbox."

"Ah," Cornwall grunted, knowingly. "The same Matchbox, it seems, who was responsible for this, I assume?"

"Looks that way, yes," Gordon replied. "I'm told that this was the vault where several specialized chainmail suits, somewhat related to Guard armor, were stolen from."

"And a damn well professional job it was, too," Cornwall stated. "Well over a dozen unicorns had simultaneously applied their magic to this break in, and that was an impressive feat all in itself, given the vault door and bolts were all coated in null-stone!"

Gordon whistled in awe. "Then they must've had tools specially made to slip in the crack to attack the bolts?" he asked.

"That's what we think happened, yes," Cornwall said. "Tool marks on the vault door, the bolts, and the door-jam supports that theory. Probably specially made, thin hacksaw-like blades of some sort. We found a small mass of melted metal with traces of null-stone powder mixed in over there," he said pointing a hoof over to a couple Guard still running instruments over the area. "They likely melted their tools down to keep us from ever IDing them."

"A Diehoof 24-bolt, 22.5 ton, Quad-timed, Dual-combination," Gordon listed off the features of the opened vault door as he gazed at it. "Top of the line stuff. Not an easy thing to crack, but not impossible."

"Not for a determined team, no," Cornwall agreed.

"They did have several hours to attack her, sir," Flashfire said, "what with them activating our own lockdown systems against us."

"Hmm," Cornwall grunted in agreement.

"Well, that covers pretty much everything I can do from my end," Gordon said. "I'll send you what I have, Lieutenant, if you can reciprocate?"

"No problem, Lieutenant," Cornwall said, extending his hoof. "Good meeting you, sir."

"Likewise, sir," Gordon replied shaking the Guard's hoof before departing.

That evening when the Hayburger franchise closed for the night in Millstone, a small community nestled among the 27-league expanse between Manehattan and Fillydelphia, Short Order took the unsold remaining dozen or so precooked hayburger patties to the dumpster as he did every night.

The earth pony had just flipped open the lid to the dumpers and began pouring the patties into it. However, he noticed nothing was falling into the container from the box he held. Puzzled, he looked at the box he was holding and saw it was empty. Looking down into the dumpster, he confirmed there was none of the patties he was throwing out were there.

But then, he noticed there were numerous tracks of footprints in the snow laying on the ground leading down the alley. He felt the hairs of his mane start rising. The ground had been pristine when he came out of the restaurant on his way to the dumpster!

Setting the cardboard box down, he grabbed one of the numerous slats of wood littering the alley to use as a makeshift club and began cautiously following the tracks. Even more unnerving was the fact that all the tracks were clustered together, as if several creatures had marched in single file. They looked to have been caused by perhaps a dozen dogs, with many footprints overlaid one another in a confusing order as to which sets of prints were made first.

Taking the slat, he followed the tracks to the underside of a neighboring store's back porch. Peering underneath, he saw what looked like a spotted diamond dog. It looked back at him in frozen shock, caught in the act of taking a bite from one of the patties he had been throwing out. He nervously gulped.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered.

Then she was gone!

He blinked. She still wasn't there anymore.

He dropped the slat. Just then, it came to him. He recalled hearing about Princess Celestia asking anypony seeing a tall, tawny-colored spotted feline that resembled a diamond dog to contact the Royal Guard immediately. The description said the female creature was likely non-hostile but may be very frightened by ponies and no hostile actions should be taken against her.

"Oh, boy," he whispered. "I think I'm in trouble."

[994AB Day 293]
"Yes, they were there," Celestia replied to Lieutenant Gordon's question. "Not my finest moment, since they died. It's a Royal Guard matter, though."

"I understand, Your Highness," Gordon stated. "It's just that I did recall seeing something like that kitsune, and their statements confirmed it, although I didn't see any pegasi there except the one you were fighting."

"They did help, but at a severe cost," she said. "I'm still angry that they disobeyed orders to clear out of there, but technically, they were civilians and not members of the Guard anymore. Despite their needless deaths, Highflyer and Fred Hummer are heroes. They will be receiving a hero's burial, as will others who were involved at Mane Industries."

"Good evening, Princess," Alfalfa greeted when she opened the door. "The usual tea-time?" Celestia smirked.

"Yes, if you would please," Celestia replied, as the mare invited her in.

As usual, there wasn't anything said as they rode the elevator down. When they arrived, she saw that Lucius, Buck, Robin, and Flashfire were all in attendance.

"Clever girls," Celestia said, using her magic to levitate Lucius' note back to the kitsune.

"Thought you'd like that," Lucius replied, grinning.

"So, you've mostly managed to survive one mission that's gone bad, and mitigated what you could from it," she stated to the assembled beings. "But just remember, all it takes is one mistake for the Crown to come to grind you all into the dirt. This is the very thing I warned Thomas about not even three weeks ago."

"Well, I have information for all of you," she added. "The Guard have the recording crystal Matchbox was wearing. Fortunately, the video portion was damaged, but they were able to pull up the audio exchange."

"That shouldn't be too damaging," Alfalfa said after thinking about it. "We were using codewords for our names throughout the operation. And we were using modulators to distort our voices, so they can't trace us through voice recognition spells."

"Except for when Mareta called out to Buck for evidently knocking Jack Black into the mushroom joke," Celestia countered, making everypony wince. "Fortunately, Buck's name happens to also be a common explicative. So, it would appear that, for now, they are assuming her surprise was just that. One mistake! You left them an extremely valuable and damning piece of the puzzle. They just don't know its significance. Yet! Let that sink in."

"We will never forget, Your Highness," Buck said after several moments of silence.

"When I'm here in this capacity, I'm Celestia!" she snapped at him. "You most assuredly don't want the Crown to be here! The Crown is not your friend! I am!"

"I meant no disrespect, Celestia," Buck quickly said. "Old habits."

"No offense taken," Celestia replied, returning to her gentle demeanor. "But be careful of 'old habits'. They're the source of making mistakes. Especially in situations like this. So, what's the next play in your board?"

"Are you sure you want to be here to hear it?" Lucius asked. Celestia glanced over and smirked.

"Still the clever girl, little fox," she said, smiling at him. He flashed a toothy grin back at her.

"We've got to get that suit of armor back," Buck firmly stated. "Gordon knows how dangerous that thing is. He'll be expecting somepony to come for it sooner or later. But the later we wait, the more likelihood that somepony else will find out what it can do."

"Which means he's liable to do what he can to make retrieving so much harder," Alfalfa said. "Booby trap it, coat it with null-stone dust, Lo-jack it, spike it to the shelf. That sort of thing. It's what I would do."

"And we've only got Buck who's fully rated on these suits," Flashfire said. "Alfalfa's wing is still on the mend. Lucius is, too. I'm not anywhere near proficient at flying. And Robin's too new for any of this."

"Breaking in and out of the Metro Equestrian Guard precinct isn't a one pony job," Buck said, walking about the platform. He looked at the kitsune.

"Lucius, how good is your invisibility?" he asked. "Can you still pull it off with just one tail?"

Lucius looked back at his tails. The bandaged one shakily lifted on its own, and he hissed in pain before letting it drop back to the floor.

"My magic is still at full strength," he replied. "It's just that I can only do one magical function at a time with needing to use one tail to telekinetically support my injured one. If I have to levitate something or do anything else, I'll have to drop my invisibility. What do you have in mind?"

"I've got an idea," Buck said, grinning.

"You know, that expression on a non-kitsune is—rather worrisome," Lucius muttered.

"We're shorthoofed as it is with that mess out there, Gordon!" Commissioner Friesian Cob all but yelled at the lieutenant. "We can't spare Guard to set traps for boogyponies! Besides, they'd have to be crazy to even think about pulling off a heist at an Equestrian Guard precinct!"

"Sir, we already know that Matchbox had at least a dozen unicorn accomplices when they broke into Mane Industries and stole the suit that he was wearing. They've got several more like it, according to the ponies working there, and I've seen the vault where those things were stored! I only wish the place where I bank at had security as good as Mane Industries does, and yet the thieves were successful with breaking in there!"

"Get out of my office, Gordon!" Cob did yell this time. "You want to guard the evidence locker? Guard it yourself! But don't even think of putting in any overtime for it, mister! You're on my clock right now, and you'll be on my clock until your shift is done! Now, get back to work!"

"Well, they heard that all the way over at the evidence locker," Paddock muttered as Gordon joined the detective waiting outside Cob's office. "So, what now, rookie?"

"Like he said, if we want to guard the locker, we'll have to do it ourselves," Gordon grumbled. "So, that's exactly what we're doing."

"'We'!?" Paddock exclaimed.

"'We'," Gordon confirmed.

"Roadapples," Paddock softly muttered.

"Come on," Gordon said, taking the lead, "We've got some gear to put together before getting set up for tonight."

"Wonderful."

"All units check in," Buck commanded, looking over the precinct from the building across the street three hours after sunset.

"Torch ready," Flashfire stated, standing beside Buck and Robin. Only Buck was in the fully augmented suit with unicorn horn and Thestral wings. Flashfire wore a normal mutated suit modified for unicorns, and Robin wore a normal mutated suit that allowed his natural wings to be used. It had been judged too early to send him out into the field with the experimental arrangements Lucius had dreamt up just yet.

"Mail Truck still standing by," Alfalfa reported from the armored vehicle parked in an alley a few streets down from the precinct. "For your information, the package has been delivered well before closing time, so—"

A series of clicks on the communications channel indicated that Lucius was still waiting outside the evidence locker, patiently waiting for an opportunity to go in.

"Roger that, Toothy," Buck responded. He paused to glance at Flashfire and Robin before giving his status report. "Graywing online," he finally said, taking the ill-fated codename his father had used on his first and last mission.

"As is Grayson," Robin growled, carrying a large empty metal container on his back. "May I fare as well in battle as you had, Graywing," he stated, staring at Buck. They nodded to each other.

"Now, we wait for them to open the package," Buck said, sitting down to wait.

"Okay, Rookie! Hold your horses. I'm here!" Paddock grumbled at Gordon as he came in sight of the lieutenant.

"About time, Paddock," Gordon growled. "Remember, they were able to cut through the bolts of that vault door like they were shaving a beard. How well do you think that roof will hold up to ponies who can do that!?"

"And just the two of us against how many unicorns are we talking about, again?" Paddock inquired as they opened the door and stepped in. "Not to mention who or what else they might have working with them? Earth ponies? Pegasi? Other creatures?"

"That's why we've got all those recording devices hidden in there and around the building," Gordon reminded him, closing the door behind them and locking it. "Even if they take us out, there's going to be evidence left behind."

A series of clicks went out over the communications link.

"We heard, Toothy! Thanks!" Buck quietly responded to the code that Lucius sent. "Think you can locate and light them up?"

Another set of clicks sounded.

"Roger that," Buck acknowledged.

"Good thing we anticipated something like that," Flashfire muttered to Buck and Robin.

"Okay, colts and fillies! Looks like the audience has been kept waiting long enough, too. It's showtime!" Buck said, spreading his wings and launching up to glide over to the precinct building, followed by Robin. Flashfire fired off a grappling line that bit deeply into the masonry of the MEG station. After securing his end of the line to the roof he was standing on, he ziplined over to join Buck and Robin.

"Staking out our own evidence locker all night long?" Paddock grumbled, adjusting his night vision goggles. "You know, Rookie. This is going to get real old, real fast."

Sparks suddenly erupted from the ceiling. Some sort of beam was clearly burning through from the roof and cutting around a large chunk of concrete to make an opening.

"Or not," Gordon sardonicly replied, simultaneously ripping his nightvision off and getting his crossbolt ready and taking aim at the action going on up there.

However, just before the beam had finished cutting around to complete the opening, Paddock suddenly and loudly grunted in pain and fell at Gordon's hooves.

"Wha—?" Gordon exclaimed just as an enchanted stun bolt from a crossbow struck him behind the ear and he dropped.

"In-n-n-thfkinghorn!?" Paddock groaned.

Gordon couldn't do much other than be a passive observer from that point forward. The concrete chunk was finished being cut out and lifted to allow a dark figure to drop down into the space and land on the top level of one of the several sets of shelving filling the room, looking all the world to be a batwinged pegasi.

A Thestral!? Gordon wondered. So, they are real!

Only for the lieutenant start to become unnerved when he saw a gray glow light up a horn on the figure's head. A matching glow emanated from the items on the shelf that they had come for.

"There," the figure simply said, pointing. Instantly, two grapples shot down, one to snare the bulk of the chain mail suit, the other to snag the matching helmet. Once that happened, the figure's horn lit up again, and a cutting beam shot out to slice through the shelving around the chainmail suit until the section of shelf was cut away. Then the suit and the chunk of shelf fell away to dangle on the wire. Immediately, the figure did the same to the shelving on which the helmet was sitting while the suit was hauled up out of the room. The helmet was soon following it out through the hole in the ceiling.

The figure turned its head to look down at Gordon and Paddock.

"Clever girls," he (the figure certainly sounded like a male) said to them. Then his horn lit up again. This time, several locations started glowing about the room. Then those items began moving toward the figure, including one from Paddock and himself, and Gordon realized, to his horror, that those were the recording devices he and Paddock had set about the space to capture this very action! All of them ended up going into a pouch that the figure carried in his hooves. Then the figure spread his batwings and smoothly glided up and back out the hole in the ceiling.

Then another grappling line shot straight down to impact on the floor beneath the opening. Gordon puzzled at that, but then he saw that something had grabbed it, something he couldn't see or make out, and the line was withdrawn along with whatever it was that was holding onto it.

On the roof, Robin helped Lucius the rest of the way out of the room.

"Just a moment," Lucius said, dropping his invisibility, and he used his free tail to scan for any recording devices and several locations about the roof lit up, like as what had happened earlier in the evidence locker. Buck didn't bother with making his horn glow this time as he used it to simply reach out and grab the glowing objects and pull them all to him and gathered them to join their like in the pouch he carried. After that, he tossed the pouch into the prepared shielded and null-stone lined locker that they had placed Matchbox's suit and helmet. Once the pouch was inside, they closed it up and sealed it. Then Robin took off with it.

"See you back at the lair, Graywing," Flashfire said and he ziplined back to the other building. Once the unicorn was safely over, Buck used his horn to ignite the zipline into melted slag that fell as BB sized grains to the ground below.

Lucius then climbed onto Buck's back and Buck launched off into the night sky.

A few minutes later, Flashfire joined Alfalfa where she had parked the armored vehicle, and they were soon speeding down the darkened roads and out of the city proper.

"…And those missing recording devices are coming out of your pockets!" Commissioner Friesian Cob was screaming at Gordon and Paddock as Princess Celestia stepped into his office. "AND WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT ARE YOU TO NOT KNOW AN OCCUPI—!" Cob was fully livid by now before he realized who it was. "Ah-ah-ah-!" he began stammering.

"You know, these late-night wakeup calls to your fair city are starting to become a bad habit, Commissioner," she sweetly greeted him. She looked over at Lieutenant Gordon and Detective Paddock. Paddock was rubbing his horn with a hoof, clearly in pain from something.

"M-m-my d-deepest ap-apologies, Your Highness!" Cob quickly stammered. "I wasn't aware it was—!" She waved him off with her hoof.

"Now, as I understood, from all the yelling, that these two had informed you of the need to provide sufficient Guard to protect the evidence locker, is this not so, Commissioner?" she inquired.

"Uh-uh-uh—yes, Your Highness," Cob meekly replied.

"I see," she said, and stared at him. For several seconds. He was beginning to sweat.

"And as I further understand it, from all the yelling, that you did not have sufficient Guard on hoof to set up a proper surveillance of the precinct due to the ongoing emergency caused by those explosions, am I correct?"

"Uh—y-yes, Your Highness," he answered.

"Then why are you yelling at them for being unable to stop the thieves on their own?" she sweetly asked. "This is apparently the same group that had broken into Mane Industries to steal those experimental suits, and they had a vault to protect those things with! It sounds to me, from all the yelling, that these two did the best that anypony could be expected to do. That they were overmatched is no fault of theirs. We'll just have to track down the thieves through any recording systems that you have of the break in."

"Um, that's a problem, Your Highness," Lieutenant Gordon said, speaking up. "There aren't any. We had numerous devices planted about, but they—somehow—found them all and got away with everything."

"Interesting," she said, narrowing her eyes at all the ponies there. "So, not your ordinary level of competence in our thieves, then? Then, it's even less of a reason for you to be upset with your officers, Commissioner. These are not the run-of-the-mill bank robbers you normally deal with. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Uh—yes, Your Highness," Cob sighed.

"Good," she finished and turned to leave.

"Uh—Your Highness?" Cob inquired. "H-how d-did you hear about this?"

"An anonymous tip, Commissioner. Good night," she said, smiling, over her shoulder as she walked on out.

Gordon's hearing barely picked up Celestia's whispered, "Clever girls," before the door shut behind her. His eyes snapped open wide.

"That's quite the dark day you've got going on, Celestia," Alfalfa said as she opened the door to the waiting princess.

"And good day to you, too," Celestia countered, smirking. "A far better outcome for this operation than the last one, I have to say."

"Easy to have a good outcome when you don't have stuff blowing up in your face," Alfalfa said.

"True," Celestia agreed. "Is it too late to do a debriefing or do I have to come back after I've raised the sun?"

"No, we're all still up," Alfalfa said, inviting her in. "They're downstairs discussing how they're going to have to redesign one of the shielded rooms to have an airlock so that they'll be able to work on cleaning up Matchbox's suit from all the null-stone dust and disable the trackers they put into it and the recording devices."

"The Royal Guard finished collecting the evidence from the HQ this afternoon and cleared the way for us to resume normal operations," Buck told her as they all sat about the platform. "We were able to get in and out with no problems tonight, and just finished storing the shielded box down below. They never saw Lucius there with them the whole time, and he knocked them down with a couple of enchanted stun bolts just as we cut through. With all that layered shielding between them and the precinct, we don't have to worry about anypony being able to trace the tacking signals to us before we disable them."

"I'm impressed that you caught all their recording devices," Celestia said. "Apparently, they had several stashed about, ready to pick up your images."

"That's not all," Lucius said. "I managed to get the recording crystal they recovered from Matchbox, too! They might have copies made stored someplace, but not the original."

"That will certainly be helpful to keeping your identities concealed," she agreed. "Other than tracking down that pegasus I fought, I think it might be a good idea for you to lay low for a while."

"I agree—" Buck said through his yawn. "This night job load of roadapples is starting to cut into our public performance. We've got a major news conference to deliver at the HQ to announce my parents' passing. And we have to publicly throw Matchbox under your Royal Wheels," he grimly said to her.

"I understand, Buck," she sadly said.

"It's even worse for the fact that Matchbox was married," Alfalfa said. "His wife shouldn't have to go through this. Can't we get her any sort of witness protection?" Celestia took some time to consider the problem.

"Not without a huge risk to revealing what really happened with Matchbox," she finally said. "Funding for that sort of thing is too easily traceable."

"If funding is where the danger lies, then how about we do it?" Buck asked. "Matchbox and his spouse at least deserve that much, especially given what we're going to do to his reputation."

[994AB Day 294]
Dandelion was absolutely horrified and devastated at the news this morning. During a presser at Mane Industries that announced that Buck Mane would be the new CEO in wake of his parents' deaths, her stallion was identified as being actively involved in the murderer of Thomas and Mareta Mane as well as a number of ponies who had tried to stop him at Mane Industries. Matchbox was posthumously declared a traitor to the Crown, and a terrorist, who died when he set off the explosion that had wrecked so much destruction on Manehattan. And now all of Equestria knew of her stallion's crimes! It wouldn't be long before her neighbors would be kicking in the door.

She ran for the exit of her apartment, only to come nose-to-nose with a fox-like predator already there waiting for her.

Dandelion slowly came to.

What was that—? she wondered as she tried to think. Then she gasped at seeing she wasn't in her home. She didn't recognize the room at all.

"Welcome back, my little pony," Celestia's regal voice said from behind her.

Dandelion looked around in shock. It was indeed Princess Celestia sitting there, apparently waiting for Dandelion to regain her composure. There was also that fox-like creature, who was sporting a cast on his left rear leg, and a bandaged right foreleg for some reason. Not to mention, the young Buck Mane—son of the couple her mate had supposedly murdered—was there, too!

"Pr-Princess Celestia! Mister Mane!" Dandelion exclaimed. "Honestly, I didn't know what Matchbox was planning! I swear!"

"We know, Dandelion," Buck Mane spoke up as he stepped forward, a flag of Equestria which had been folded in the manner of State funerals balanced on his back. "And we are all so very sorry for the lies and deception that had to be told about Matchbox."

"Wh-wha-what!?"

"You've been married to Matchbox for many years, have you not?" Celestia inquired. "You married him while he still worked as a Royal Guard?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness," she squeaked.

"Then you know of the existence of—operations that would be considered 'off the books'—requiring very deep covers for those involved and intense secrecy needed to keep its members safe?" Celestia pressed.

"Yes, of course!" Dandelion responded.

"Then know this, Dandelion," Buck Mane said, removing the flag from his shoulders and hoofing it over to her, "Matchbox died a hero, alongside my parents, and alongside three more colleagues who also died, in a desperate operation to try to save an innumerable amount of pony lives. I know this because I was there as well. That operation—you've no doubt heard about—was not entirely successful. Manehattan will be picking up the pieces for years yet."

She gasped in horror at the revelation.

"But our failure was greatly mitigated," Buck went on, "in no small part by the brave and selfless actions taken by Matchbox to keep hostile actors engaged while the rest of us attempted to dispose of the deadly material stored in that warehouse before it blew up. Matchbox was a mentor, a comrade, a friend to me and my parents. And more over he was a hero. I truly wouldn't be here alive today if it weren't for him.

"But—there was a tremendous cost—and not just the risk and cost of our lives, but to all our reputations, too," Buck added. "We had all accepted Princess Celestia's stipulation that if any of us were caught or killed, the Crown will disavow our actions. Even so, we were able to hide the involvement of all those who died, except for Matchbox. His body was found and recovered by the Manehattan Equestrian Guard before we could get back to him."

"You see, that operation is still ongoing," Celestia told her. "And due to the nature of the deep cover used, the Crown cannot publicly acknowledge your husband's true actions. Quite possibly not ever. Other loyal ponies involved would be at needlessly put at risk if the Crown were to do so. So much so, that the Crown cannot even provide you the proper compensation to which you are entitled, nor can it afford you the effort to put you into witness protection that you should also be allowed."

"But—but if that's true," Dandelion whispered, "then that means—there are problems within the Guard, itself!"

"Indeed," Celestia grimly stated, nodding her head. "If the rogue elements within the Guard found out that the Crown was providing you compensation of any kind, they would be alerted as to what Matchbox was really about and put the ongoing operation at risk. You are very intelligent to realize it this quickly, Dandelion. You are indeed a credit to Matchbox's choice as mate."

"But there is a way around that," Buck said. "Mane Industries will be footing the cost of the insurance and Guard retirement compensation that you deserve for his sacrifice, as well as administering the witness protection. This way, no rogue elements hiding in the Guard will ever find out about him or you."

"And while the Crown has no choice but to publicly demonize your husband's reputation, know this, Dandelion," Celestia said, putting her hoof to her heart, "we, who know the truth, shall never forget. A grateful nation will always remember, even if it can never speak of it."

"So—what happens to me?" she nervously asked.

"The pony known as Dandelion decided to suicide at hearing the news of her stallion," the fox-creature said, speaking to her for the first time. "Her body was recovered and buried in an unmarked grave. You, however, have arrived in Ponyville today to answer a job opening for which, as I understand it, you are eminently qualified for," he added with a toothy grin.

"I'll take it from here, Lucius," Celestia chided him.

"Of course, Princess," he responded.

"'Lucius'?" she inquired.

"A friend," Celestia told her. "Sometimes he can be a little abrasive, but his heart is in the right place."

"All the better for Celestia to know where to aim for when she wants to—" his muttering was abruptly cut off with a feathered appendage slapping him on the back of his head.

"I hope he wasn't rough when he knocked you out this morning," Celestia said as she guided Dandelion out of the room, leaving Buck Mane and the mysterious 'Lucius' behind. Dandelion was astonished at what she saw when they stepped outside into the daylight. It gave her some idea of what they had planned for her.

"Oh, no, I only got to see him for a moment before I woke up here," she replied. "I didn't feel anything between then and now."

"That's good to hear. Kitsune magic can sometimes have odd effects on ponies," Celestia said. "Welcome to Ponyville. Come, I'll introduce you to Mayor Mare and get you settled into your new life here."

"Isn't—aren't they coming with us?" Dandelion inquired, looking back at where they left.

"No, it's important you're not seen with them," Celestia explained. "It's all part of the security arrangement. There is still an unavoidable and unfortunate risk since ponies can never permanently change their appearance. You disappearing as Dandelion and showing up here will be suspicious enough. However, there are factors that we can use to mitigate that.

"Normal witness protection procedures would not have me involved in settling a pony into their new life in any way," Celestia continued. "Even so, such a change in procedure will not allay the suspicions of somepony looking for you. But the lack of Crown financing will. This sort of thing doesn't come cheap. Even my own personal expenses would take a noticeable hit if I were funding this—and yes, there are Crown Treasury agents constantly conducting oversight of my personal finances, believe it or not, and word might get out where rogue elements could piece the puzzle back together again well enough to trace you here.

"But with Mane Industries hoofing the bill, it hides any Crown involvement. And for the same reason, it's important you are not seen with anypony from Mane Industries right now. If the enemy were to guess their involvement, the ongoing operation would again be at risk, along with you," she finished.

"It all sounds like some story from a Pones Bond movie," Dandelion said.

"Where do you think Ian Fetlock gets all his story ideas, from?" Celestia asked, smirking. "Not to mention, it's important that Ian never figures this one out, either," she added, giggling.

Along the way, Celestia pointed out several sites and points of interest until they reached her destination at the town hall.

"Princess Celestia!" the gray coated mayor exclaimed as they entered her office. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Good afternoon, Mayor Mare," Celestia said, "I understand there is currently a job opening for a schoolteacher still in effect? Please allow me to introduce to you, Miss Cheerilee…."