Azure Blue finished reading the letter. It was now her job to do cleanup. She rolled her eyes. Some mare chasing after another mare. She read the name and address. Not going to be hard. Just me another pony should be enough.

A brown stallion poked his head in her office.

“Hey, you look annoyed. Who’s mess are you cleaning up this time?”

“Some dispute down in Ponyville. Speaking of, I need a partner for this, Dusty Trails.”

“I didn’t volunteer.” He looked around in faux-confusion.

“I wasn’t asking.”

“I guess I can help. I swear if I’m just lugging books this time.”

“Shouldn’t be like that, just need evidence of mail tampering and stalking.”

Dusty straightened up. “Really? How bad is it?”

“From what I know, a mare—Paint Spots—followed another mare down to Ponyville. One time offense. It led to an alteration by the town square. She’s in Ponyville jail right now.”

“Okay, let’s get to it then.”

The two hit the street and made their way to an apartment block by a college.

“Isn’t this some fancy schmancy art college?” Dusty looked around in distaste.

“Not relevant. Could be an art professor or something.”

They made there way up the stairs to the apartment door. 203.

Azure stopped in front of the door and pulled out a copied key from her saddle bags. With a click the door opened and revealed the apartment. It didn’t feel like a living space. The living room felt clean—no, unchanged, like everything had been meticulously left as it was from a certain date in time.

“I don’t like this place.”

“What strikes you as off?”

“Mess doesn’t feel natural. There’s not a speck of dust or crumb of food, but things litter the floor. Why?”

“Good point.” Azure moved through the room. Despite the feeling of offness, nothing else could be gleaned from the general areas. “I’ll take the first bedroom. You take the other one.”

Opening the door she was greeted with a mess of bottles and thrown blankets. Some of the bottles were empty, others weren’t. Just like the living room, the mess was strangely organized and well dusted. There were old stains on the floor, but they were long faded like somepony had tried to scrub them out. A note sat on the bed.

Azure pulled open the note.

I left your room exactly as you left it. I cleaned up the stains. I’m sorry for hitting you. You know I still love you right? It won’t happen again.

She folded the note and placed it in a bag before stuffing it in her saddlebags.

“Hey, Azure?” A voice shouted from the other room. “Could you come here?”

“On my way,” she shouted back. She made her way to the other bedroom. “What’s the… issue…?”

A map hanging on the far wall was the centerpiece of the room. Pins marked cities and towns with strings crisscrossing the map face. Notes were under every major city. Each one denoted whether she thought Berry Punch was there or not. Eventually they all collased around Ponyville.

Followed her parents’ letters. I finally found her.

The note was dated last year.

“What in Tartarus?”

“I know, that’s not all either.” Dusty pulled open a filing cabinet. “These are letters going back a year to when she found her. Each is, I think, an exact copy of every letter Berry Punch ever sent. That’s her name, right?”

Azure nodded absently. She flipped through the letters until she got to the oldest one.

Dear Mom & Dad,

I know it’s been awhile. Sorry if this is coming out of the blue…

The rest of the letter was standard fair, but the note at the bottom wasn’t.

I can see you again. It’s been so long. Maybe you’ll understand then.

Azure spotted a bound book sitting in the corner of the desk.

Skimming the entries in the book granted her a look into Paint Spots bitter and obsessive mindset. She had been trying to find Berry Punch the moment she left. Once she knew she was in Ponyville she started to scope out whether she had made any new friends. Minuette was one of them. She pretended to miss-send a letter, and used Minuette’s good nature against her to gain information. Mostly pertaining to Roseluck once she knew about her. Paint Spots’ descriptions of Roseluck dripped with resentment and jealousy.

Paint Spots wasn’t dissuaded at being rebuffed in Manehattan. If anything, seeing Berry Punch only seemed to make her obsession worse.

She doesn’t understand. I’ m not hurting her. I can’t hurt her, not in a way that matters. I love her after all. She knows that deep down.

Azure turned to open the next section of the filing cabinet. She discovered another long series of letters. This time, belonging to a mare named Roseluck. She could see markings and notes on the letters. Paint Spots flowing script outling as much information as she could gather about her.

She’s an obstcale. A temporary fling. If only Berry Punch could see that.

“Dusty, I need you to go down to the station and get a team down here. Or we’re going to be here all night.”

Dusty nodded and made his way out of the apartment.

In the meantime Azure gathered up everything she could in the apartment. She was a little shaken. This was supposed to be a simple case of mild stalking, and the more serious charge of mail tampering. Now she was looking at something much worse. Paint Spots last words in her journal proved the point.

It’s not love with Roseluck. She’s confused. Love hurts. It’s painful. Nopony else understands, that’s why they leave. Berry Punch is different. She’ll understand in time. I just need to convince her.

Author's Note

Just two more chapters left to wrap everything up! Sorry if the formatting isn't great on these chapters, I'm not at home at the moment. I'll fix it tonight when I get back! Pinkie promise!