Siblings

by Undermine

Chapter 3

"What do you mean you have to do paperwork first?" Rainbow shouted at the detective. They were in Twilight's library after she offered the detective to use it as their crime base. Both Rarity and Applejack were in the room as well. Rarity was sitting at one of the tables set up, her head buried in her arms, and Applejack was standing almost underneath Rainbow Dash, who was four feet in the air staring angrily down at the detective.

"Look, miss," said the detective, "you have to realize that this is more complicated than it looks. We are talking about a county-wide search for both the fillies and the kipnappers. I need to arrange meetings with the Royal Air Force and-"

"Can't you just tell them to suit up and fly out? Wouldn't the fact of three missing kids give 'em enough of a boost to get out there?"

"We can't just 'suit up and fly out.' We need to file a search warrant with chief detective, and that could take a day or so to get in."

"We don't have a flippin' 'day or so'!"

Twilight started to chime in, "Rainbow, I think you should calm down a bit-"

Rainbow didn't acknowledge Twilight and shouts, "All you ponies ever see is paperwork and statistics, but you can't see that there are now three families who are completely devastated and will be for a long time because you guys won't get off your asses and get out the damn door!"

"Rainbow! That's enough!" Twilight's voice seemed to boom over Rainbow's. She turned around and looked her straight in the eyes. She took in a deep sigh and landed on the ground.

"You know what, fine. Piss off and do your paperwork." she turned away from both the detective and Twilight. She stopped in front of the evidence table. She overheard Twilight's voice behind her.

"I'm terribly sorry about that. My friend can be very...vocal at times."

"Don't worry miss. I been around ponies experiencing this type of trauma before. Now, if you will come with me for a moment, Miss Sparkle, I need to know the best way to contact your brother." The front door to the library opened and closed as the two headed out.

Rainbow looked down at the contents of the evidence table. There were only three clear bags, each with a separate ransom note inside. Rainbow picked up one of the notes with her hoof. It had the same message as the other two. She placed her other hoof on her forehead. Surreal. It's just all surreal. She looked back at the note, which was right in front of the desk lamp.

She noticed something interesting on the upper corner of the page. It was a vague outline of a corner of some sort of box with a sort of design in the center. She put the note down and pick up one of the other notes and held it to the light. This time the vague outline was on the bottom corner of the page and had the same box corner with the words "NIMBUS" and "SERVICES." She picked up the last note and held it against the light. The vague box corner was there on the other side as well along with the words "CUMULO" and "WEATHER."

"Hey Rarity! Come over here, check this out." she called to her unicorn friend. The white mare raised her head from the table quickly and trotted over to Rainbow. Applejack followed behind.

"What is is, dear?" she asked before looking down at Rainbow's hooves. "Why do you-"

"I know that you're gonna not like looking at it, but I need-"

"Get those things away from me!" she shrieked.

"Look I know that they have the note on them, but I need your magic to-"

"How could you possibly show those blasted things to me after what I've been through! How could you-"

"RARITY!" Rainbow yelled at the top of her voice, "Listen to me! There's some sort of watermark in these notes! I need you to calm down and work with me!" Rarity starred coldly at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow now said more collectively; "I need you to hold all three of these up against the light so we can see what the watermark says."

Rarity did not speak as she lifted the notes out of Rainbow's hooves with her magic. She avoided as much eye contact with the words on the note as she held the notes in front of the light. After a few seconds of re-arranging, she managed to fit the watermark into place. It read:

Half of a small graphic of a cloud lies underneath the text.

"Well, I'll be..." said Applejack, "Isn't that Equestria's largest weather company?"

"Was," said Rainbow, "It was until about ten years ago. I remember seeing adverts in the paper for it when I was a filly. It's now the Cloudsdale Weather Service."

"What's the watermark of Equestria's retired weather company doing on three ransom notes?"

"Wait a minute," said Rainbow. The cogs in her brain began to turn. "I've seen the same type of watermark on the papers I see at work. I remember asking Cloudchaser about it. She said that they print the paper especially for the company."

"Hold up," said Applejack, "I'm following what yer saying and all, but yer saying that the watermark was made only for the company. If that's the case, then where did this paper come from?"

Something clicked in Rainbow's head. "From the old Cumulonimbus offices."

Rarity's cold look turned into intrigue. "Are you saying that the notes came from the same place?"

"That is exactly what I am saying."

"Does that also mean that the old offices are," suddenly, Rarity felt a similar click. She looked at Rainbow Dash. "are where the kipnappers are hiding out?"

"Yeah. That has to be. That building been abandoned for ten years now. It's been on sale for eight years, but the property is too expensive for any other business to afford. From what I've known, that place has been empty ever since it closed down."

"Until now," said Applejack. She looked at Rainbow Dash. "Well, now that we found this clue I reckon we tell the detective right away."

"No," said Rainbow Dash, "no, that's not what we are going to do. They'll take too long. "

"Well Sugarcube, what other option do we have?"

"We have the clue that we need, and I actually know where the building is,"

Rarity puts a hoof on her head, "I don't like where this is going."

"Now all we need to do is take this matter into our own hooves."

Applejack copied Rarity, "Ah knew you were gonna say that."

Rainbow set the last of her supplies on the table. She wanted to make sure she had enough food to last the trip, but didn't focus on packing water. After all, she only needed to fly up to a cloud and take a drink. She took her saddlebag and emptied out its previous contents.

On the ground lay two stale hay-sandwiches and two Wonderbolt tickets. She remembered what she was going to use them for. She stood still and stared at the object. Rainbow took in a deep breath. I'll be coming for you Scootaloo. She pick up the hay sandwiches and threw them in the trash bin. She placed the tickets on the table. I'll be coming.

Rainbow packed her bag with her supplies and left her home. The night air was brisk and small clouds dotted the sky. She flew into town and stopped in front of Town Hall. There were two other ponies there as well: Rarity and Applejack.

"You girls ready?" she said quietly to them.

"I'm still uncertain on how you got me to agree with this." said Rarity.

"Look, it's either this or waiting for paperwork," Rainbow replied, "besides, none of you are objecting to saving your sisters, right?"

"No Rainbow, we're not," said Applejack, "but what about you? You've been the most defensive pony out of this whole case, but you've lost none of your kin. Why are you so adamant about this?"

Rainbow looked at both of them, then down at the ground. "Because of Scootaloo. She's, uh, she's my number one fan," she said sullenly.

The two looked at Dash perplexedly. Applejack broke the silence, "Alright, where are the old offices at?"

"It's right under Cloudsdale. I know a path that can take us right to it in no time."

"Alright then. Let's head off."