"Howdy." Finding the police station wasn't as hard as she feared. It was labeled, she just had to wander until she found it, which she had. "I--" She paused to let out a thunderous yawn. It was so far outside her usual time to be awake. "Hopin' to talk to whoever's in charge?"

The police mare squinted at the sudden pony asking to see the boss. "And who would I be saying is asking for him?"

"Blossom. Orchard Blossom." She grinned at the desk-bound officer. "A princess that wants to offer a hoof."

"He's already married, ma'am." She said it as if she were noting that the day was slightly overcast.

Blossom blinked rapidly. "Ain't mean that kinda hoof... Ah fight crime."

"Most vigilantes don't turn themselves in." She curled on herself and pulled out a set of hoofcuffs. "Very polite of you."

Blossom took a quick step back. "Ah just got here! Ain't done nothin' yet. I wanna help an' not be a problem, so ah came here."

The officer considered, letting the hoofcuffs fall from her grip to her desk. "Well... if you haven't performed any crimes... yet... allow me to remind you that it is not legal in this city for random ponies to arrest other ponies." She pointed at Orchard Blossom. "You aren't a police officer. You shouldn't be arresting anypony. That's our job."

"Right..." But... "Ah'm a princess. That change anythin'?"

She sighed with the force of suddenly getting a leak. "Yes and no. Princesses are permitted to place ponies under arrest." She hiked a brow just an inch. "But you shouldn't. Look, where are you from, exactly? Not from around here, obviously."

"Nope." She saw no point in arguing that. "Out on a farm, literal-like. I just wanna help without causin' no trouble."

"Well, glad you came in here and asked instead of marching out to do just that." She twirled in place and pointed to a map of the city, festooned with many colored overlays, each a bright shade. "Do you see that?"

"Right pretty?" Blossom inclined her head at it. "What about it?"

"Each color is a team of ponies, of us, out watching over it." She stepped up and tapped a red portion. "Each team knows their area. They know who belongs there, who doesn't. They know who causes trouble, the kind they tolerate, or don't. Now, we'll assume you know how to fight crime just fine. You still don't know that. You can't know that." She threw a hoof wide over the map. "It's a big city! You don't know all these ponies. You don't know what they live with. You hear shouting, but they could just be a married couple that have been yelling for years. Or it may be a pony that actually does need help. Would you know the difference?"

Blossom considered the map and its many hues. "Huh..." Did Canterlot have a map like that? Ponyville sure wouldn't, but she knew everypony in Ponyville. Ponyville was just one of those colors, in the end... "Alright... That just means ya should talk first."

"Pardon?" The officer turned back towards Orchard Blossom. "Talk first?"

Blossom nodded firmly. "Talk. Find out what's wrong, an' only after that do ya do somethin' 'bout it. Don't assume."

She smiled a little. "Good start. Now, let's be frank." Another pony at a desk perked up. "Not you, Frank. As I was saying... You're going to lose time. Not much for it. You have to find out what's going on first, and the situation won't just wait for you to do that."

Orchard Blossom danced in place, a little frown on her face. "I've helped ponies in Ponyville--"

"That patch on the map?" cut in the officer.

"Y-yeah, but Canterlot too! That ain't no small nothin'." Her worried expression gave way to annnoyance. "Ain't the first time I've been in no city!"

"Hold your horses." She held up her hooves placatingly. "Canterlot's a bit more like it. Look, if the guards there didn't throw you out... Maybe there is a way." Blossom smiled wide enough to squeak. "If you're ready to become an officer."

Her expression fell. "Pardon?"

"If you're on the force, then there isn't a problem." She nodded as if this was obvious. "You'll know all the rules, and how to follow them. You'll just be another of our officers, doing their job. And you wouldn't be a vigilante, so we wouldn't have to arrest you. Everypony wins!"

"Yay." She did not sound as excited as the officer. "There a lot to learn 'bout being a police officer?"

"Oh... yes." She nodded slowly with thought. "I had to go through the academy. Not as long as a fancy school. Figure 5 moons or so? Full time. Worth it." She polished the badge on her chest. "You learn a lot of important things. Now, if you came here to sign up for the academy, I can point you in the right direction."

"Huh..." She was looking at another major investment. Still, if she wanted to help ponies, knowing how law enforcement actually worked might help? "Alright... That sounds kinda good... How do ah start?"

"Due!" A stallion perked. "Got a maybe recruit for you." She pointed to the other desk. "Good luck."

"Thanks kindly." Orchard Blossom left the mare to return to her original work. The stallion was watching her curiously. Appraisingly? "Mornin'."

"Good morning to you!" He leaned left and right, looking her over all the more thoroughly. "So you want to join the police force?! An exciting path, but also a boring one. We manage to get both done at the same time! Tell me what attracts you to the force?"

"Name's Orchard Blossom." That wasn't the question asked. "Ah like helpin' ponies out. Done helped out in Canterlot, with all kinds of things, but ah don't want to be no trouble here if I lend a hoof."

"All kinds of things?" He was looking her over with a new energy. "What kind of things?"

"Well... When a pony gets lost, or forgot somethin' at home, or some bad pony's makin' trouble, I'm right there to help." Orchard stood with pride. "If they need some reach, or muscle, or speed, or rescuin', ah'm ready to help."

"You're a regular handymare." He nodded slowly. "But a police officer isn't that. We are peacekeepers, first. Now, if a pony's in danger, that we do, unless it's more a firepony's thing." He curled a hoof to his chin. "You got wings and a horn. Both work?"

"Um, yes?" Orchard pulled an unused pen off a desk and brought it to hover in front of the officer as she flapped her wings, both ready to go. "See?"

"Huh. Now, problem is, you're asking to be 'everything' when officers are 'some things'." He brought his hooves closer together with the narrowing of scope. "Ponies don't expect us to be everything, and we can't be. I saw you on television, didn't I? In Canterlot, naming a new princess... Oh! Weren't you a night princess? Why are you here now?"

Orchard sank to her haunches. "Well, actually, ah'm real beat... but I had to come when the trains were rollin'."

"Let's shelve this." He patted Orchard on the shoulder. "If you're serious, come tomorrow, at night. We police? We don't sleep. Alright, that's a lie. Of course we sleep, but the station here is always open, just with different ponies. Tell them Due Process told you to swing by to talk about maybe joining. For now, go sleep. That's an order."

Orchard blinked. She had not expected an order, and he was not a princess! "Um..."

"If you're an officer," he reminded, wagging a hoof, "Then you'll have a rank, which'll start lower than me. You being a princess doesn't change that. If you sign up, you're signing up to respect the rank you're given. So, consider this the first test, and follow my order. Go sleep. Do you already have a place picked out?"

Her pensive face was answer enough. "Tourists, alright... Here." He snapped up a map in his mouth and brought down a hoof to pin it to his desk, drawing a line. "Just go... this way... And here." He drew a circle. "Lots of places there. You can get a hotel if you're still thinking about it, or go for an apartment if you plan on staying a while. Either way, go get some sleep. Be back tomorrow, after you're rested."

"Thanks kindly." She glanced away and back at him. "If I can ask... has anypony else wanted to do this?"

"Hm? What? Be an officer? Of course!" He pointed to his badge. "I'm one of them! Happy to say there are ponies ready to protect their fellow ponies."

"Yes, 'course... I more meant to just go out an' get involved, like I am." Orchard fluffed up her mane gently. "Oh, ain't gonna go there, sorry." A thought had arrived in her sleepy brain. "Now that I've been around here, ah can go home, to Canterlot. Ah'll be back tomorrow though, fer sure."

That got a squint out of Due Process. "Canterlot's more than a day's ride away, miss. If you headed there right now, you wouldn't be back in time."

"Princess trick." She winked emphatically, maybe a bit too much so. "I'll be back, promise that. Even if it's just to say nah."

"Appreciate that." He tipped his police hat at Orchard. "Now, what you were asking. Do ponies come in here all the time thinking they can save the world? Happens. Ponies with big dreams, and bigger ambitions, as if they could somehow fix it all!" He drew his hooves back from their exploded toss to land in front of him. "We have to break them of that notion in the academy. We're just ponies, like anypony else. There's only so much any one of us can do, and learning where that line is? That's important."

But before Orchard could turn away, he put a hoof in front of her. "Doesn't mean that feelin's not important. A good officer wants to make the world a little better. That's what we're here for, so other ponies in this grand city can do their own part without fear. That answer your question?"

Other ponies gave out noises of approval, but they were busy with their own paperwork.

"It does..." Orchard was still a quiet moment, just the sounds of ponies working hard in their office. "I'll be back, promise." She trotted out of the building.

Due Process shook his head at where Orchard had been. "I give it fifty fifty odds she'll even show up again."

"Don't be harsh on her." The original mare was sorting papers and putting them away. "She seemed nice, and eager."

"Nice and eager does not a police officer make." Due shook his head. "She'd probably snap in half trying to get through the academy."

"Let her decide if she wants to try." She hopped up into her seat. "For now, we got our own work."

"No arguing that." The station forgot about its strange police applicant for the time being.

Outside, Orchard took flight. The city had fewer pegasi than other ponies. It was, mostly, an earth pony city, so she didn't have much competition going straight up. It was funny in a way. She had expected flying in that metropolis to be even harder than Canterlot, but nope... "Time to go." She imagined a top down view of the hotel she was staying at. "Blink once..." It was dream logic. She was, Orchard Blossom, born of a dream and a little fragment of it followed her back.

She was over Canterlot, looking down at the hotel just as she imagined it. She was there. That it should have taken longer to get there meant nothing in dream logic. She arrived, and that's all there was to it. She landed in front, folding her wings. "I'm home!"

Author's Note

Pop pop, got two wisdom teef removed, but that's no excuse for a day off. People are counting on me, like you! Enjoy!

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