She hadn’t had time to finish the upload. It was a bare thing, only a few percent hadn’t been sent. It was enough that Ability probably wouldn’t get annoyed at her but still not the full report, which could reflect poorly on her depending on what happened next and what wasn’t sent.

No matter what went on back home with what she’d sent she was still going to follow the two guards. They were her last realistic potential source of information about the missing spy, Skylark, without finding his actual body. So, despite initially wanting to stay well away from the spotlight, Swift found herself trailing the two stallions deeper into the heart of the city.

The further in that they took her the more obvious it became that the city was old. Where the wide outer rings had been filled with vast sprawling suburbs and the center had been turned into a vast verticalized urban industry and shopping center, the innermost ring of the city was a proper fortress of antiquity. The entire area was surrounded by a curtain wall made from cloud bricks, and on the inside were many buildings built in much the same way spaced out along wide avenues. Many of the buildings were held together by columns, one of the staples of pegasi architecture from before the Hearthswarming event.

What the grand wall had been built to defend against originally was anypony’s guess, but whatever it had been was long gone and now it was merely a prestigious artifact of a bygone age. Their records showed that everything outside of it was built after the founding of Equestria proper, but she was getting ahead of herself — they’d arrived. The two had led her to a small building near the wall that looked to be unused.

“This doesn’t look like a guardhouse, sirs,” Swift said. She knew where the main guard post was from all of the ponies that had given her directions earlier, and the small shed she was looking at was not it.

“I’d be ashamed to live in Cloudsdale if it was,” he joked, “but if you would please step into the building, there are a few things we need to deal with here before proceeding to base.” The guard looked serious, trustable, and as far as she could tell he wasn’t lying, but all of those could be faked.

“After you.” Swift invited. The first stepped inside, and the second guard frowned but didn’t say anything as she followed the first in. The inside of the room was as bare as the outside. Inside was only a small table with a quill in a pot of ink and two floor mats, though they were thankfully of a color other than cloudstone grey.

“Please, sit. I was being a bit vague with the truth before and I apologize for that, but there is much to discuss before we go anywhere.” The stallion said after sitting down. He continued only after she followed the instructions with a politely confused look. “You have been looking around for one Bow Hothoof since last night. You said he was a friend, correct?”

“Um… yes?”

The guard pulled out a small notebook notebook after she answered the first question. That their conversation was going to be recorded wasn’t very surprising to Swift. However, she did find it interesting that the interview wasn’t being conducted at their headquarters.

“Good, good. Now, how did you meet Mr. Hothoof?”

“Oh! We met in school in Manehattan. He was looking to go into medicine while I was going for maths and business.” She replied.

“And you kept in contact…” he gestured for her to elaborate.

“Using the mail. He was always the more social of the two of us, so he’d send the first letter and then I’d send one back and everything took months to arrive.”

“Alright, and did he ever share with you anything that might lead you to believe that he had any enemies? Somepony that might wish him harm?”

Well, at least it’s now a safe assumption that he’s dead.. “There was this group of jocks that bullied us in school, but that stopped after graduation…” she trailed off.

“Anything else? Did he mention any strange behavior or occurrences? Anything at all?”

“Well, now that you mention it. He said that that giant burst of rainbow light was his kid! Isn’t that cool? But he also said that after that he saw some mystery ponies looking about for a few weeks after when he picked his kid up. Say, do you know where she is? I haven’t seen her since she was a foal.” Swift was panicking but she didn’t — couldn’t —let it show. All she had to work with was the last two years' worth of reports from Skylark and her fake but supported background alongside incomplete knowledge of the situation. There was a group of crazies trotting around and setting associates of Bow Hothoof on fire, what seemed like a rather serious quiet investigation into the matter, and massive paranoia from apparently everyone involved.

She was pretty sure she knew the who and the how of the matter, but not the why. And now she was stuck being interrogated by somepony who may or may not have had truth-telling equipment with them.

“Did he describe any of those ponies that he saw?”

“No, not as far as I remember at least.”

“Do you still have the letters that he sent you?”

“Unfortunately, I do not.”

“Alright,” he sighed, “one last question: would you be willing to appear in a court of law to confirm for a jury what you’ve told me?”

“I, um… Maybe? When would that be?”

“We don’t have a firm date, but sometime in the next five years is realistic if the current pace of this investigation keeps up.” He replied with a wry smile.

“I don’t see any reason not to, then. All of my present and future ventures should be well wrapped up by then!”

“Thank you, there’s not many ponies around here that are willing to do the same. Now take this“ —he said while passing her a small steel circlet— “I’ll explain what it is later, but for now you need to keep it somewhere out of sight. I’d suggest that spacial bag you have”

“Can’t I just put it on?”

“No, I’ll explain later. Now follow me, we should be going to headquarters now.”

He didn’t answer my questions. Did he not hear them or does he know something?

In the time it had taken Swift to pack the magical accessory into her briefcase, the first guard, who still hadn’t given her his name yet, had been waiting outside for a while as she worked the locks. As soon as she stepped out he looked at her questioningly to which she just shook her head and sighed. Immediately after, they all took off toward the city center and the guard station within.

***

If she had expected the city guard’s main base of operations in the city to be in any way stylistically distinguishable from the nearby buildings she would’ve been disappointed. The only thing that stood out in the old city district was the governor’s palace which was placed on a layer of clouds above the rest and had clearly sucked out the inspiration from all of the Pegasi architects of the time.

Before she entered the guard center she saw a gleaming bastion of white cloudstone, its pristine exterior maintained not by paint but by the incredible purity of the clouds used in its construction. Massive rows of columns supported four ascending layers of rooms on their scroll-like toppings that eventually gave way to an extensive series of domes and towers. She had only seen a single side of the monumental structure, but it was more than enough to impress her.

Once inside, their little group approached the noticeably long help desk where Swift saw the first guard hoof over his notebook. “Make sure this gets to Bright quietly.” He whispered as they passed. “Con, I’m sure you have more important work to do. Don’t let me keep you from it.”

“Thank you, sir. It was my pleasure to help.” The other guard saluted. “Yeah, more important work—like sleep.”

The first guard chuckled at his colleague’s response while he turned back to Swift. “Please miss, follow me.”

Swift tilted her neck at all the peculiar choices being made but followed anyway. She had already accepted their deals and gone along with them so far, if she backed out now that they were entering the guard post proper it would be highly suspicious, and potentially reason to see her as some sort of collaborator with the arsonists.

They passed through a lightly stained wooden doorway into a hallway leading back past several other rooms with various markings. Some were meeting rooms, others mere office spaces for the various sections. The few rooms she could see into were nothing special, just some desks with a few small trinkets scattered about.

Soon she followed him all the way into the processing room. “Isn’t processing only for criminals? Are you arresting me?”

“Yes and no. We’re only here to keep the facade propped up that you’re actually being arrested in connection with a different case.”

Swift paused for a moment, “And I suppose that’s why we’re in here alone?”

“A good supposition there. I need a few more questions answered before I put you into witness protection and we officially ignore that this ever happened.”

“So you’re going to disappear me?” Swift took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, “okay then. Ask away.”

“Special talent?”

“Stunt flying. Especially where speed and fire are involved.”

“Occupation?”

“Accounting.” The guard looked up and squinted at her. As if he couldn’t quite believe that the bashful young mare in front of him worked a job so far removed from her talent.

“Are you sure about that? You could’ve fooled me.”

“Quite positive”

“Hobbies, and whether anypony knows about them.”

“Music, no. Learning, yes. Magic, no.”

“Magic? Interesting choice of pastime for a pegasus. Anyway, I need to know about your connections, creatures who know you and may be expecting to be able to contact or meet you.”

“None that I’m aware of now that Bow’s… not going to be sending any more letters.”

“None?”

“My family’s all dead, I never made too many friends, and the only one I kept up with is…” she sniffed, “dead. He’s dead too. He’s dead. He died in a fire.” While she had intended to only give up that half-truth and move on she had leaned into the emotional outburst. Sadness and bad memories were running rampant by the time she finished speaking.

“They died in a fire… She died in a fire…” She mumbled, oblivious to the guard attempting to calm her.

“I. I, I. I’m fine. Everything is fine. It's not real.” Swift rasped, more trying to convince herself than the pony in the room.

“Are you… better?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes. Just, give me a second?” She choked out.

“Certainly, take as long as you need. I’ll go bring us some water.” Swift didn’t pay any attention to him. It had been weeks since she had seen anything that wasn’t real. Yet the phantoms of her past, of that moment, kept coming back to her. Whenever an emotion breached the surface there was always a chance that she’d see something — and for a moment she’d be back there.

The people back home had tried to help her, but nobody knew what was wrong. The only thing that they’d settled upon was trying not to provoke the flashes by not bringing up anything related to the fire — of which she was a constant reminder. The hope was that by ignoring her and not triggering the flashes that she might get over whatever the issue was. It hadn’t worked yet.

Before the guard returned, Swift managed to get over the worst of the disorientation but the feelings lingered. “Here, take a glass. You look like you need it.” He had arrived with a small tray carrying two water glasses and a very heavy-looking storm cloud alongside four thin folders.

“It’s very appreciated, good sir.”

“Mind telling me what that was about?”

Swift shuddered. “I’d rather not. I don’t want to think about it.”

“On behalf of Cloudsdale and the ponies investigating the attacks you have my thanks for being truthful throughout this expedited questioning. Please, take out the band I gave you earlier. We have one last thing to finalize.”

The way this works is pretty simple. I’m going to give you a couple of options.” The stallion continued while Swift worked to open her luggage.

“Options?”

“Yes, options. Why is everypony always so surprised about there being options?” He groused. “You get to choose between being a barmare in Las Pegasus, a blacksmith’s apprentice in Vanhoover, or being a weather pony in Appleoosa.” On the table he spread out three file folders and kept one for himself.

Swift quickly browsed the file folders one at a time and then leaned back with a contemplative look. “And the band is going to change me to match with whichever one of these that I choose?”

“That’s correct.”

There’s not much in here that I can use after this situation blows over. Being a barmare would allow her to get some gossip, and being a blacksmith would be a potential in on the Equestrian rearmament effort. But gossip wasn’t what either Ability or the higher-ups sent her here to get, and there were no real prospects for moving up in the world in either of those positions. Becoming a weather pony might allow her to eventually move up the rungs of the civil service, but there was only so high she could go as a foreigner in a backward town in the middle of nowhere like Appleoosa.

She paused while she contemplated her complete lack of experience in any of the offered jobs. Nobody would know anything and doubtless Ability would ask her to do something even slightly less useless with herself. “What’s in the fourth folder?” she asked. She shook her head slightly to refocus and shove the emotions out of her thoughts.

“It’s your final option, but it comes with some… prerequisites.”

“Go on.”

“You’re going to have to have three things. Proof of Equestrian birth and citizenship, a good-looking photograph, and a sword.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.” He replied, as his tone almost turned the statement into a question.

“What would I be doing?”

“You’d be applying to be an officer in the EDF.”

“I take it this isn’t a typical offering for witness protection.”

“It isn’t, but we’re down on the number of ponies we’re supposed to send to officer training and there are precious few ponies who meet the requirements. All of the elites here have already sent a child and they’re only obligated to send one. Normally we’d see a few more average local recruits, but with the arsonists terrorizing the city nopony wants to leave their families.”

I can admire their dedication to their families, but it puts us on the governmental side of things in a hard spot.”

“Well… I suppose if we need ponies that badly I can lend a helping hoof.”

“How thoughtful of you.” He deadpanned. “Do you have the required items in the bag as well?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Bring them over and then I can send you on your way.”

The next half hour was spent going over paperwork and getting the circlet enchantment working properly. It was a finicky little thing to set up but it apparently had a perfect record. If they trusted it not to get her killed she supposed she could put some faith in the device. She’d still be keeping a blade with her wherever she went though.

***

“Alright everypony. Before we go in, I’ve been compelled to ask: do any of you have any questions about this operation?”

“Eh? Nope, grandma.” came the only response.

“Is anypony not ready?” She asked. Nopony responded that time, but only because somepony stepped on the previous talker’s hoof. None of them were quite ready yet, but they were workable.

Alright. You twelve, search past the offices near the interrogation rooms. If she’s not there, break into groups of three and spread out. They should still be in there and if they aren’t they won’t have gone far. The rest of you are with me. We’re going to records. This is supposed to be quiet. If there’s only one guard subdue them, but if there’s more or they call for help you retreat. When they wake up the barracks this is done and you scatter. We regroup at the base in three hours. Now move out!” she concluded in a loud stage whisper.

Any bystander would’ve seen the eighteen ponies walk out of the sidestreet and toward the side wall of the guardhouse, but there were no bystanders to see them. The curfew had been in place for over a month, and while it was effective in its purpose, it would not help the guard that night.

***

The mare looked up from her book as several ponies entered the room. They closed the door quickly and made their way to the common room, minimizing the view out onto the shops outside. The few with filled saddlebags made their way into the back while the rest spread out over the room. They may have been fresh recruits, but that didn’t mean that they were dumb enough to be followed back to base.

“I see two fewer ponies here than when we started. What happened?”

As she listened to her subordinates’ retelling of events, she pondered what would come of tonight. They’d successfully stormed the guard headquarters, understaffed and late as it was, with minimal casualties and achieved most of their secondary objectives. Yet they had failed to capture the pony they were after for the second time that night and she was sure that now that they had had ample time to run a search would be no more fruitful.

Their leader was bound to be displeased by their failure, but this setback was a mere annoyance — not something that would derail their plans. A notice would be put out to their contacts elsewhere and they’d find the featherless freak eventually.

Wherever and however they hid.

Author's Note

I ran out of time to write a proper fight scene, so you get the before and after instead. Sorry.