In Pursuit of...

Chapter 3: Investigations and Revelations

Rainbow Dash smirked when she heard who was calling her name. It seemed the EDF colt was suddenly in need of some assistance. How ironic.

She turned around and acknowledged Nimbus.

“Well, well. Look what the Manticore dragged in.”

Nimbus growled under his breath. He reminded himself he was only doing this for the good of Equestria, and because his team was now officially compromised. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.

“What’s the matter? Want to say something? Apologize, perhaps?” Rainbow Dash pressed.

“No,” Nimbus said, gritting his teeth, “I just need… your help.”

Rainbow simply stared at him for a few moments, then broke down, guffawing wildly.

“And you expect to get that without an apology?” she laughed. Nimbus felt the sarcasm in the air was so thick he could cut it with a knife.  Rainbow suddenly stopped laughing and stared straight at Nimbus.

“Apology first.”

“What?” Nimbus asked, “the safety of Equestria may be at stake and you want an apology?”

“Yes she does,” said Applejack, stepping up to Rainbow Dash’s side, “and if you’re not gonna give it, none of us is going to help you.”

Nimbus gulped. He wasn’t expecting to work with everyone, and so far he wasn’t off to a good start. He felt there would be a lot of pride-swallowing in this group. He grated his teeth and mumbled.

“I apologize.”

“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked teasingly, with a hint of a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Nimbus said aloud, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you earlier.”

“Goody!” Pinkie Pie said, showing up with the rest of her friends. She appeared a little shaken; the announcer’s booth had been right up next to the action. Otherwise, though, she seemed fine. After her little exclamation she looked around and noticed what was going on. “I mean, not ‘goody’ really, because Princess Luna just got taken, but ‘goody’ because it looks like we’ve got a new friend!”

Nimbus’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “Uh, well I’m not- you see, I- um…”

“Welcome to the club!” Pinkie said, wrapping her arms around Nimbus and practically squeezing the life out of him in a massive hug, popping his helmet off.

“Why thank you,” Nimbus said hoarsely. “It seems like a lot of… fun.”

Pinkie relaxed her hold and Nimbus dropped to the ground like a sack of feed.

“How about some introductions?” Pinkie asked.

“Sure,” Nimbus croaked, “why not?”

Pinkie introduced the ponies one-by-one. “This is Twilight Sparkle,” she said, indicating a purple unicorn, “she’s really smart, and helpful.”

Twilight dipped her head, and Nimbus saw her purple horn glow. “Cool,” he thought to himself.

“This is Applejack,” Pinkie continued, pointing to a golden-yellow Earth Pony.

“Howdy!” the pony said. Nimbus recognized her as the one who’d demanded an apology from him. She seemed nice enough.

“Rarity and Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, standing next to a white Earth Pony and a pink and yellow Pegasus, “and of course, you’ve already met Rainbow Dash,” she said.

“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” she finished, suddenly bouncing forward and planting herself right in front of Nimbus’s face. “So who are you?”

“Nimbus,” the orange pony said.

“Welcome to the group, Nimbus!” said Twilight. “I hate to cut things short, but we’ve got some work to do.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nimbus said. He liked Twilight immediately. She seemed to have an almost militaristic sense of duty. She obviously liked to get things done. “Do you know anything about this… Eclipse fellow?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Twilight. “In all of my books about the history of Equestria, I’ve never come across that name before. He looked a lot like Nightmare Moon, though.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” said Fluttershy, quietly.

“Do you think there might be any connection?” Nimbus pressed.

“I don’t know,” said Twilight, “but let’s see if we can find something about it in the library.”

“Your library?” Applejack asked. “No offense to you, Twilight, you’ve got a mighty purty collection of books, but you’ve been through almost all of them. If you haven’t heard of Eclipse before, you probably won’t find anything.”

“Not my library,” Twilight said, grinning determinedly, “the royal library.”

Nimbus picked up his helmet and attached it to his side. It was time to get some work done.

…

As the group of ponies, plus their latest member, walked into town, the sky was starting to clear already. Eclipse had darkened the skies here, but evidently was now too far away for his power to reach the kingdom. Canterlot was safe, for now. Passing the many bakeries and food markets which had prepared for the Gala, the ponies’ noses were assaulted by the most wonderful scents. Rarity’s stomach growled.

“Whew,” she said, “I know we’re kind of in the middle of possibly saving all of Equestria again, but can we get a snack?”

Twilight’s stomach growled as well, “yeah, I think you’re right. I could use something to eat before I study.”

“Where to?” Nimbus asked, sounding a little less grumpy than earlier, “I’ve never really been around here before.”

“Definitely the High Flight café,” Rainbow Dash said before anyone else could say anything.

“What’s that?”

“It’s where the Wonderbolts stay while they’re in town,” Rainbow responded, “and the food’s positively super!”

“Well, it’s okay,” Fluttershy said, “but I’d like to go.”

“Okay!” Rainbow said, jumping up into the air and taking off down the street. She made it about halfway down the street when she realized her friends were still walking, and scooted back.

“Eager much?” Nimbus said, unable to resist a jibe.

“The jealousy here is so obvious,” said Rainbow Dash with a grin. “Too bad you can’t hope to be that fast.”

“I don’t have to be,” Nimbus snapped, taking Rainbow’s words a bit seriously, “my technique makes up for everything.”

“Chill out,” Rainbow said, “I was just joking.”

Nimbus was still sore from his forced apology earlier. His ego had taken a serious bruising, and he still wasn’t sure he could forgive Rainbow for it. Perhaps someday later, but now was too soon.

“We’re here!” said Rainbow excitedly, walking into a bright blue two-story building. As Nimbus stepped inside, a rush of cool air hit him in the face, and he realized just how hot it had been outside. Coming in here felt good. The ponies took their seats at a booth, and Nimbus pulled up a stool and joined them. Shortly, a waitress came over and took their orders. As Nimbus was in the process of ordering a “Bolt from the Blue Burger,” a loud thump sounded from upstairs.

“Excuse me,” he asked the waitress, “what’s that noise?”

The waitress looked up at the ceiling as the thump sounded again. “Oh, that? Probably the Wonderbolts. They’ve been struggling with something up there all morning.”

“The Wonderbolts need help?” Rainbow asked, concerned. “Count me in!” She shot up out of her seat and raced for the stairs. The others followed. Nimbus was the first to reach the top, alongside Rainbow Dash. At the top, they turned down a hallway and saw Spitfire and Fleetfoot, Wonderbolts two and three. They seemed to be struggling with a door.

“Hey!” Rainbow said, “you guys need anything?”

“Thank goodness,” Spitfire said, looking at the approaching ponies, “more help. I’m afraid simply having more hooves on the job won’t do too much, though.” She recognized Rainbow Dash approaching.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Same to you,” Rainbow said. “What’s the trouble?”

“We left some of our equipment in our lead’s room,” Spitfire said, “but he locked it. We can’t get in.”

“I think I can help,” said Twilight, “If you’ll allow me.”

“By all means,” said Fleetfoot, stepping aside, “if you know how to open this door, I’m not stopping you.”

Twilight looked closely at the door lock, squinting and murmuring to herself. Finally, she turned to the Wonderbolts.

“This is a Safecloud lock,” she said, “made by a small group of Pegasi in Cloudsdale. They’re impossible to open, unless…” her voice trailed off, looking around.

“What is she up to?” Nimbus whispered to Applejack.

“To be honest, ah have no idea,” the pony said, “but ya get used to it.”

Nimbus shrugged and went back to watching Twilight go about her business. She stuck her face under a nearby dresser and let out a cheerful “aha!” She lifted a single, whitish-blue feather out from under the dresser with her horn’s powers.

“A feather?” Spitfire asked, “but how does that-?”

“Watch,” Twilight said, inserting the feather into the lock. The structure suddenly began to emit a blue glow, and then a click sounded. The door creaked open.

“And we’re in,” said Twilight. “I studied these locks for a while,” she explained, “they won’t open unless they come into contact with a feather from the owner.”

“Twilight,” said Pinkie, “you rock!”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

“Thank you so much,” Spitfire said, “now we can get our equipment.”

Twilight suddenly had an idea. “Excuse me,” she said to the two Wonderbolts, “but why did you have a new lead flyer today?”

“It’s funny you should mention that,” Spitfire said, standing in the doorway, “Soarin’ actually came with us to Canterlot, but yesterday he was gone. He left us a note saying that he was sick, and that he’d send for a replacement. Sure enough, the new pony showed up just yesterday afternoon. He never told us his real name, just had us refer to him as ‘one.’ We had our suspicions about him from the start. After today’s events, it seems we were right to be suspicious.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, and that reminds me- did any of you know about this ‘Eclipse’ before today?”

“Nope,” said Fleetfoot as Spitfire shook her head, “never heard of him. He looked an awful lot like Nightmare Moon, though. Maybe they’re related.”

“Wait!” said Nimbus, “Eclipse called Princess Luna ‘sister.’ You might be right!”

“But how can that be?” Rarity asked, “the only known relative of the princess is Princess Celestia.”

“Right,” Twilight said, “the only known relative, perhaps, but who’s to say Eclipse wasn’t related to her at some point?”

Rainbow Dash could barely contain herself. Princess Luna had just been snatched by an evil, probably mythical pony and all anyone was doing was standing around and talking. She desperately wanted some action, but forcibly restrained herself.

“Do you know anything else about the pony that replaced Soarin’?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m afraid not,” answered Spitfire, “and we have to get back to report this to Soarin’.”

“We can help you carry the gear out if you want,” Pinkie offered.

“Could you?” asked Fleetfoot with a smile, “that would be great!”

The two Wonderbolts led the way into the room, and the other ponies followed. Everything in the room appeared to be in pristine condition. Not even a speck of dust was present. This unnerved Nimbus, who checked to the left, right, and behind upon entering. Something definitely didn’t feel right here.

As they were gathering up uniforms and other belongings, a loud thump sounded from the closet. Nimbus’s head quickly snapped around.

“Anypony in here, please tell me that was you,” he said, slowly. Nobody answered him. In fact, no one was even close to the closet. Nimbus approached the door warily.

“Guys, I think there’s someone in here,” he said.

Spitfire came to his side. “You might be right. Here,” she said, nudging Nimbus aside, “allow me.”

She attempted pushing the door open, but it didn’t budge. “Ehm, Twilight-“ she said, glancing back at the purple Unicorn, “you wouldn’t happen to have that feather handy, would you?”

“Well of course,” said Twilight, placing the feather in the lock. Nothing happened.

“This won’t work,” she concluded, a tad unnecessarily, “this is the wrong kind of lock.”

“We don’t have time to look for a lock,” said Fleetfoot, “so what’ll we do now?”

“Manual entry,” said Nimbus, stepping to the door and raising his back hoof. “Stand back, guys.”

Nimbus pulled his hoof back, and, like a spring, released it, crashing right into the door. The lock popped off of the door, and it swung open, hitting something on the other side. Whatever the door had hit uttered a groan.

“Oops,” said Nimbus.

Spitfire came closer and peered into the dark, waiting for her eyes to adjust. When they finally did, her gaze rested upon something bundled up on the floor.

“Oh no,” she breathed, “this is not good. Not good at all.”