Blossom landed atop the roof, her wings folding as she scowled. It was night, as it often was during her waking hours, but it wasn't as dark as it could be. The city abhorred the dark, and its bright glimmers didn't allow even a rooftop to be more than dimmer than the street level, not really dark. "We meet again."

The figure, her self-titled nemesis, stood tall on her hooves. "You have some nerve, facing me."

"It's mah job." Blossom huffed, directing a hoof at the troublemaker. "You done committed any crimes 'sides botherin' me?"

"I've done a lot." She took a step towards Blossom. "I've liberated the captive minds of dozens of ponies. I've helped the ones you don't have time to even think about. Where there are ponies the system forgets, I'm there."

Blossom hiked a brow at that. "Um... Thanks?"

"Thank you?!" The mare recoiled back the step she had taken. "I'm showing the city, the world that you're useless!"

"Nuh-uh." Blossom raised a hoof at the curious mare. "When there's real trouble, ponies are gonna want help, an' ahm there for 'em. If ya wanna lend a hoof to ponies that need less urgent help, um... good?"

"You're supposed to be angry," flatly insisted the costumed mare. "I'm outshowing you."

"It ain't a contest."

The mare blinked dumbly at Orchard Blossom's complete lack of ire. "Then what is it?"

"It's about helpin' ponies. Only one ah me. Can't do it alone." Blossom nodded, confident in this basic fact. "Even teleportin' 'round don't let me do that. If ya wanna help more ponies in a different kinda way, good. One thing though."

"What's that?" She was on guard, waiting for the other horseshoe to drop at any moment.

"Y'ain't a cop." Blossom curled a hoof at herself. "Don't be a vigalante. You'll get yerself hurt. Ya wanna lend a hoof to a pony in need, great. Don't go tryin' to stop a bad pony. That's our job."

She stomped on the rooftop. "You are kidding me!" She turned away from Blossom. "You know, I'm trying to get you fired, all of you. Each and every cop in every city!"

"Good luck." There was no anger there. "If ya talk the ponies into that bein' a good idea, maybe it is. If it ain't, they'll change their minds." Blossom shrugged with a little smile. "Just a cop, not a mayor or nothin'."

She looked over her shoulder, staring at Blossom for a quiet moment. It seemed to click into place as she aborted a chuckle. "I get it... Oh, I'm a moron." She turned back to Blossom. "You're not just a cop."

"Ah ain't?" Blossom looked herself over, dressed in police uniform. "Sure look like one?"

"Anyone can wear that." The mare waved it off. "You are a princess. If I get you fired, who cares? You're still a princess! The worst you have to worry about is what they make you princess of, big deal. Callous, not even thinking about any of the other pigs on the force. They don't have that option, royalty."

"What's a pig gotta do wit' this? We got pigs?" Visions of little pigs in police uniforms danced in Blossom's mind, confusing as the image was. "What'd they do, find criminal truffles fer us?"

"I'd pay to see that..." She strolled to the roof's edge. "Tonight's been fun, but I have ponies to rescue, and you have ponies to... hurt." She launched herself into the air, vanishing long before she reached the ground.

"Hmmph..." Blossom casually ceased to be on the roof, relocating herself to an alley facing a busy square, bustling with night life. She emerged with a smile. "Gotta job to do."

"Ma'am!" A pony hurried to her. "I hear somepony calling for help!" He waved wildly behind himself. "Down in a sewer cap!"

"On it." Blossom spread her wings wide, lifting into the air. "Show the way." She soared after the civilian to the sewer cap and landed next to it. "Anypony down there?"

A distant call echoed, far too much. Whoever was down there was in there a good way, and their words were little more than bouncing cris of distress. "Ah'm comin'!" She held up a hoof at the stallion that had led her. "You, make sure nopony else comes wanderin' in here. Can ya do that?"

"Um, sure, ma'am!" He saluted as well as a civilian could be expected to.

Blossom threw herself into the hole, straining her ears to get a better angle on where the sounds were coming from. "If ya can, keep shoutin'! Ah'm lookin' fer ya," she boomed back, hoping it'd encourage them. She darted down the wide tunnels, sharply turning left and right as she came to intersections. It smelled... Well, it was a sewer. It smelled of sewage, but she tried her best to focus on hearing and vision and tuning out smells.

It was a pity she could only teleport to places she'd already visited before, and she didn't even know where the pony was that was calling. She couldn't hop there. "Am ah closer?" A fresh cry, one of pain? Blossom put all her effort into powerful flaps to get closer. A pony, in pain? She wouldn't wait on that.

The sounds grew in volume abruptly as she burst into an intersection. Some of the pipes up ahead had fallen into an ungainly pile. A ladder leading upwards had collapsed with it, and under that mess, pained sobs. "Ah'm here!" Blossom landed in the putrid water with a splash. "Ah'm here!"

The echoes couldn't be entirely blamed for not hearing words. The pony, who could only be seen by their weakly twitching forehoof, was wailing in agony, not actually saying anything. Did they even know Blossom was there? She put aside those thoughts as her horn glowed, grabbing things off the top of the pile and throwing them aside as quickly as she could. "Ah'm comin'!"

With a hoof, she pressed the button of her walkie-talkie, her horn busy trying to free the pony. "11-80! Situation unclear."

There was some static. Had she spoken over somepony else? "Can you repeat that?" asked the dispatch.

"11-80." Blossom grunted as she hefted several large stones free slowly. "Citizen pinned. Underground. Sewers... Attempting rescue... Assistance requested..."

"Copy that. Location?"

Blossom looked around wildly. There weren't street sights in the sewers, were there?! "Ah dunno! Um... Let me..." She set down the large stones. "How ya holdin'?"

The cries had quited. The pony, a stallion in clearly rough shape, wasn't screaming, but also wasn't looking so well. Blossom had it on good word that their hindleg should not bend quite that way... "Can ya hear me?"

"Y-yes," they croaked out, eyes clenched shut. "Yes... Yes... Yes!"

"Civilian is awake. Not sure if ah should move 'em." Picking them up felt like a clear end to the problem... If it didn't hurt them more than they already were. "Please advise."

"Do they have any back injuries? Is the location safe?" The dispatch sounded like they were going down a list, as if that was far from the first time they had to give that advice.

"Sir?" Blossom leaned in over them. "Ah know it hurts, but can ya tell me where it hurts? How's yer back feelin'? Ah'm right here."

"Don't go." He reached towards Blossom, but it was a feeble attempt at best. "Feels like I was... I was crushed... Um..."

While the stallion tried to gather his words, Blossom took a fresh moment to look around. "Dispatch, looks like part of the ceiling collapsed with the ladder, what injured 'em. Can't say fer sure if more will come down or not." She was many things, an engineer was not one of them. "Also ain't sure how medical ponies will get down here 'less they're a pegasus." The ladder sure wasn't going to be carrying any of them.

"Alright. If they're conscious and not sounding like their back's been hit, moving them's the best we can do. We can't leave them in a dangerous position. Do you have a stretcher?"

Blossom frowned at that. A stretcher was not standard police gear! "Ah can pick 'em up nice and gentle. Ah got magic, ma'am."

"Then use it, nice and easy. Keep them steady."

Blossom nodded, turning her attention back to the stallion. "Did ya hear that? You alright with me pickin' ya up? Ah'll get ya somewhere safer. We'll go to the hospital."

"Please..." His hoof fell to the cement floor. "Please..."

Blossom wrapped her magic around the stallion entirely, but decided against picking him up at all. She instead wrapped a wing around him. He felt colder than a pony should be. "Ah think he may be in shock," she shouted into the walkie talkie. "Headin' to the hospital! Over." She ceased being there, and so did he. They appeared in the waiting room of a nearby hospital she'd visited before, startling some ponies, but... "Ah gotta 'mergency!"

Nurses swarmed the scene, after their own confusion. They hurried the stallion up onto a stretcher and wheeled him away for treatment. One stayed with Blossom. "We've got this from here, officer. Thank you for getting them to us." She coughed into a hoof. "Try to avoid teleporting in... Unless it's an emergency, which this qualifies as... Just...for the future. We have other ponies in delicate conditions and we don't want to give them any shocks."

Blossom nodded to the nurse. "Yes, ma'am." She pressed the button on her radio. "11-41, transport successful."

"Roger that. Were you injured?"

Blossom looked herself over. "Just a little rattled, but no, ah'm fine. Ah'll get back t'work." She nodded at the unseen voice, then smiled at the nurse. "Keep up the good work."

"You too." The nurse gently shooed Blossom away. The two guardians of the city had their different duties to fulfill.

Blossom walked out of the hospital, waiting until she was out of sight of too many ponies before she vanished, having to get back on patrol.

"And that's how my night went." Blossom sipped from the tall glass, enjoying the dark powerful libation within. "What a night."

"I do say." Fancy took a soft draw of his own glass. "It's a good thing you were there, Blossom. That poor stallion would have done... far less well without you." He set a hoof on her shoulder. "We're all a little luckier to have you around."

Blossom smiled at the kind words, leaning in for a little nose-rubbing against Fancy. "Stop that..." It turned into a brief kiss and she sat down, floating her glass to a small table. "How'd your night go?"

"Nowhere near as exciting." Fancy waved it away. "A little function about an anniversary."

"Which one?" Blossom pulled over a cookie to chew on. "Who?"

"What," corrected Fancy. "An opera house I happen to favor. It's older than I am, in fact. I was quite happy to be part of its celebratory function, but no ponies were saved tonight, unlike you." He chuckled softly. "Still... It helps bring in the bits to keep that place open for, hopefully, a generation or two longer."

"That's still helpin'," she assured with a smile. "Yer doin' yer part."

"We all have our place. Oh, your... brother?"

"Hm? Big Mac?"

"That's the one. Fancy leaned in a little. "Are they feeling better? You mentioned they were feeling out of sorts."

"'Bout that..." Blossom coughed into a hoof. "A few things have changed..."

"Do tell?" He raised a brow high. "I am listening, and interested."

"Alright, list." Blossom began tapping her hooves with each. "They're a 'she'. They go by Joanamac, Big Joanamac. Big Mac works fine."

"Huh." Fancy inclined his head slowly. "Well... That is their decision. Will you be upset if I say I was happy with them the way they were? It is their choice, of course."

Blossom lifted an ear. "Ah ain't done. She's a mare, an' looks it, but she's still big, an' she..." Blossom began to color darker by the moment. "She still had a bigger... You know... than either of us..."

Fancy blinked slowly. "Pardon?"

He would be unlikely to know how that worked unless he ran into Joanamac personally.

Author's Note

Blossom deserves a chapter, dangit. We were looking away form her for a while.

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