It was mid afternoon over Ponyville. The sun had traversed most of the sky at this point and Celestia would soon set it under the horizon. A small dark blue unicorn with a pale pink mane trotted down Ponyville square. Having just bought herself groceries for the rest of week, she walked home and hummed to herself a happy tune. Rounding a corner, it wasn't long before she saw her house in the distance. Suddenly, her horn tingled. Knowing all too well what that meant, she focused her magic and casted a spell.

'Good afternoon Waters.' The voice of director Spice sounded in her head, as if he were just a thought. 'We have a new assignment for you. Directly from the princess.'

'I'm listening.' Waters responded, not skipping a step nor losing hold of her groceries in her magic.

'Suspect is Nova Bloom. A unicorn suspected of rogue activity. Adept at fire magic, currently residing in Ponyville and works at the power distribution plant.' Spice explained.

'Objective?' Waters asked, not really speaking but conveying her question as a thought.

'Track and survey suspect. Search and retrieve evidence at suspect's home for a definitive culprit of the Vanhoover hydroelectric dam sabotage. And unrestrained sabotage of the Ponyville power distribution plant using fire magic.' Spice explained. 'With definitive culprit of Ponyville sabotage being suspect, of course.'

'Unrestrained sabotage?' Waters questioned, a bit surprised.

'Yes. Feel free to get creative with this one, Waters. Seems to me, the more collateral the merrier.' Spice almost seemed to add a bit of emotion to that one. 'Dossier on suspect will be sent to you shortly.'

'Understood. I will begin my operations immediately.' Waters did not question her orders further, but Celestia really wanted this pony gone. With that, she could feel director Spice cut the connection. She soon entered her home, still humming the same tune. Seconds after she was inside, she received a mental image of Nova Bloom's file. As a mental image, it was in its nature to slowly deteriorate within one's mind. As such, Waters quickly made a separate mental note of the suspects address, what she looked like and her work schedule. She ended her shift at 6 PM. Looking over at the clock, it was 15 before 3PM. Waters had enough time for a quick search and retrieve.

About half an hour later, Waters was across the street from the suspects home. It was a humble little house, no bigger than her own. One story, probably four rooms; kitchen, living room, study/office room and one bedroom. Modest and homely, like most houses in Ponyville. As she walked over to the house, she magically scanned it for any kind of defensive magic. She found none and immediately she knew that this would be simple. Before she even reached the front steps of the house, she teleported inside past the door.

After the brief flash and existential crisis of teleportation, Waters was inside the suspects home. Again, the inside was modest and homely. A few feet in front of her was a doorway to her left which led into the living room and one to her right which led into the study. Further down the hallway there were two more doorways that most likely were the kitchen and the bedroom. Yep, exactly the same as her home. Not interested in either the living room nor kitchen, Waters went into the right doorway. Into the study.

The study wasn't much to write home about. It was small and there were a few knickknacks and trinkets but nothing noteworthy or valuable. At the edge of the room, right behind the window was a small desk. On top of the desk was a small white notebook with the words 'Manifesto' on the cover. Now that was interesting. Waters opened the small notebook and skim over its contents.

It was more or less almost like a diary of the suspect. It detailed her grievances with the city government of Vanhoover, the unfair hours and pay at the Vanhoover hydroelectric dam and some small time rhetoric about changing the way the Equestrian economy operated. It wasn't anything illegal and far from dangerous but definitely useful for Waters. She left it open to a random page and focused her horn on the page. After a few seconds she magically scanned the horn writing of the suspect and Waters was able to perfectly replicate the writing style. With that, she powered up her horn for another spell.

Waters focused harder, feeling the mental strain of her magic but she needed to strain herself. This kind of magic had to be absolutely precise. With her magic, Waters was able to begin moving the ink on the paper. It was very precise magic but Waters was good at precision. She lifted the ink off of the paper, leaving only minor splotches behind, and began to use said ink to rewrite the journal. It took her a considerable amount of time and a headache had set in well before she was done, but Waters had done it. She was expertly able to rewrite the journal using the ink already upon it. She took another 10 minutes to clean up the very few and minor splotches she had made but she was proud of her work.

Now the manifesto read more like a confessional journal and the ravings of a political extremist. In it, Nova Bloom confesses to deliberately using her fire magic to sabotage the hydroelectric dam. Citing the unfair hours and wages as her main reasons. Her hatred for the Equestrian government and the princesses. Her radical calls for a violent worker's revolution and that she would be the instigator of such an uprising. That she would soon commit another act of rebellion within the Ponyville power distribution plant. All made to look like the original horn writing of Nova herself. It was mad. It was perfect. With that, Waters headed for the bedroom.

The bedroom was similarly small and insignificant. A twin size bed sat idly by on one side of the room with several personal belongings strewn about. Nothing of particular stood out to Waters at first but then she spotted it. Just behind the closet, the gleam of a red sapphire gemstone. When she walked closer she felt it. Magic radiated from the gem. Opening the closet she saw what was undoubtedly a magic staff. It was wooden, seemingly made from two tree branches that were intertwined into one another. At the top, where the branches coalesced, a red sapphire gemstone was embedded into both. Serving as the meeting point of both branches.

"Oh mare! You just made this way easier." Waters couldn't help but exclaim. This was an enchanted staff of, Waters assumed, fire magic. You needed a permit to own such a thing and the legal ones did not have gems embedded into them. As gems magnified the magical power output. The dossier sure as hell didn't mention Nova having a permit! She had illegally enchanted and modified a magic staff adapted to one of the most restrictive kinds of magic! It was like finding the murder weapon being held by the murderer at the scene. She gently opened the closet door and enveloped her magic around the staff. She focused and her magical aura took the shape of the staff perfectly. She channeled it, the spell framework taking shape in her mind. She copied it, ley line by ley line, until her magic took on the same exact spell framework. Then she used just a bit of the imbued magic in the staff to imbued the spell framework. Then she was done.

It worsened her headache into a migraine but Waters couldn't help but smile. Her work here was done. With the manifesto and the staff now useful as clear evidence of a rogue pony, the princess would have all she needed to make this work. Humming to herself she made her way out of the house. Reaching the front door, Waters noticed that it was unlocked. That wasn't uncommon in Ponyville. Shrugging and not wanting to worsen her headache, she simply walked through the front door and closed it behind her. Now all she needed to do was tail this mare and she would be done for the day.

Author's Note

That's about half of the story done. I'm thinking of keeping it at about 6-8 chapters, already have an idea for the rest. I'll write more soon! I hope you guys enjoyed this thus far.