//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: An Old Mare's Tale 
// by realbrickwall 
//------------------------------//

	Flash Burn both loved and hated flying into the lower quarter of Everfree. On one hoof, because there were no tall buildings, she was free to take any course she pleased as long as she kept her altitude. On the other hoof, what fun was a good flight without a few obstacles? Still, it was best not to endanger the civilians. As captain of the Day Guard, she had a reputation to uphold, even amongst commoners. She could feel the admiring gazes of the lower-class ponies as she left a blazing trail above them.
All that aside, she wasn’t out on a pleasure trip. She was hoping to find information on the notorious criminal Dark Blur, and her first stop was Shimmerstar Glassworks, where she hoped to run into one rather intelligent, informative, handsome colt with eyes that she could just get lost in sometimes, in order to ask him for information in a strictly business-like fashion. She had never actually visited the little shop, but years of patrolling and chasing criminals down every corner of the city gave her a near-perfect mental map of even the lower quarters. The belltower struck seven chimes as she landed in the square that the glass shop was located in. She saw an “OPEN” sign being flung out to hang in front of the shop window.
“Perfect timing” Flash Burn muttered to herself, satisfied. As she walked over, other ponies cleared out of her way, somewhat unnerved by the sudden presence of the Day Guard’s captain in their part of town. She ignored them and rang the little glass chime hanging on the window. “Hello?”
Out from behind a divider appeared a blue unicorn with the most exotic hair Flash Burn had ever seen. It was pale, but glistened like a prism as she walked into the sunlight. The unicorn had a pleasant, soft, but genuine smile as she leaned forward over the counter. “Good morning. How can I help you today?”
“I, uh…” Flash Burn coughed, “yes, I’m looking for a unicorn named Twilight Sage. Have you seen him?”
“Twilight? Oh, yes, I have seen him. Just a couple days ago, he stopped by and took me to dinner. I haven’t seen him since then, though, so I guess that’s not very helpful, is it?” The blue unicorn tilted her head and looked nowhere in particular.
“Wait, what?” Flash Burn took a tiny step back. “Twilight Sage, the royal advisor, took you out to dinner?”
“Why, yes,” the blue unicorn said returning back to the conversation. “He does that occasionally. Other times he just spends time here. Really, I like that better, but he insists that there’s a proper way to go on dates. Odd, since he’s never dated anyone before me. Maybe he reads books on dating.” Her eyes drifted off to nowhere again.
“Who…who exactly are you?”
“Who exactly? Why, that’s a very difficult question. I’m not sure that we can ever define ourselves exactly. We may strive for it in all our arts and creations, but I’m not sure we can ever know.” This time, her eyes never even returned to looking at Flash Burn.
The pegasus gave an exasperated sigh. “What’s your name, filly?”
“Oh!” the unicorn snapped back to reality. “My name is Shimmerdust. I run this glass shop now, but it used to belong to my dad. That’s why it’s Shimmerstar Glassworks and not Shimmerdust Glassworks.”
“Okay,” Flash Burn said, trying to keep herself from getting angry, “and how do YOU know one of Equestria’s most important ponies.”
“Oh, now, is anypony really more important than any other pony?” Shimmerstar managed to catch that Flash Burn was glaring at her intensely. “Well, he wasn’t always such a bigshot. He used to live down here, you know. We’ve been friends ever since we were foals. But the dating is a bit more recent, I suppose.”
Flash Burn looked down at her hooves. Twilight Sage really had a fillyfriend? They talked all the time, and he had never mentioned a fillyfriend. Though she had never really asked. In fact, most of their talking was composed of her trying to stammer out anything intelligible, and him trying to see if she was alright. The pegasus sighed.
“I’m sorry about that, I got a little lost in thought.” Shimmerdust didn’t respond. She was looking at nothing in particular again. Flash Burn rang the glass chime.
“Good morning! Welcome to Shimmerstar Glassworks.” Flash Burn raised an eyebrow nervously. Had the unicorn really gone that far from reality? “Hey…I’ve seen you before. Welcome back!” Flash Burn went slack-jawed.
“Look, can I just come inside?”
“Oh, of course!” Shimmerdust disappeared and reappeared in the door next to the window. “Did you want to take a look at my gallery?”
“Actually, no,” Flash Burn said as the unicorn closed the door behind her.
“Oh, shoot. Nopony ever wants to see my gallery.” Shimmerdust looked at the ground and thrust out her lower lip in a pout. Flash Burn tried to say something, but couldn’t get past the unicorn’s pathetic expression.
“Fine, show me your gallery.” The unicorn bounced into the air, and grabbed Flash Burn by the tail. “Hey, whoa!” She dragged the pegasus back behind the divider. Flash Burn’s eyes were suddenly assaulted by shimmering colors. She had seen some glassworks at fancy houses in the upper quarter, but Shimmerdust’s gallery room was something else entirely. Glass vases framed by glass candleholders, glass bowls and plates, glass goblets, and tiny glass figurines lined most of the shelves. Glass statues rested on top of chests, and a glass chess set was lit by colors from a stained-glass window. “How…? Who…?”
“Lots of practice, and me,” Shimmerdust replied to the rhetorical questions.
“You said nopony comes back here? Then what do you sell?”
Shimmerdust sighed. “I may be an artist at heart, but that’s not my job. I sell lenses. Most of the lower quarter comes here for their glasses, those who can afford them. If I had competition, I’d probably go out of business.”
“Why don’t you submit your work to a gallery?”
“All the galleries are in the upper quarter, at least here in Everfree. And I can’t afford to travel outside the city, nor spend even a day away from my shop.” She walked over to the chess set and used her magic to rearrange it to a new setup.
“I’m so sorry,” Flash Burn said, moving closer. Shimmerdust smiled back at her.
“So, if you didn’t want to see the gallery, what did you want to come inside for?”
Flash Burn snapped back to reality. She had work to do. “Well, I was hoping to find Twilight Sage to help me with a criminal investigation. Since he’s not here yet, I thought I’d wait.”
“A criminal investigation? Are you with the Guard?”
Flash Burn looked down. She was wearing her gilded armor, and she could feel the weight of her helmet on her head. “Uh…yeah.”
“Oh, goodness, I’ve been a little rude, haven’t I? Or have I? How is one supposed to act when the Guard comes to visit? I mean, I suppose if one is under arrest, then it’s obvious, but…” Shimmerdust stared off into nowhere again.
“Why don’t you just do what you normally do, and let me know when Twilight Sage gets here?”
“Okay!” That instant, Shimmerdust began loudly singing an old mariner’s tune and used her magic to fire up the furnace. She was using a notably saltier version than the one Flash Burn had learned at summer camp.
“Maybe you can do-“ Shimmerdust was singing too loudly for Flash Burn to hear herself. “MAYBE WITHOUT THE SINGING!”
“Oops, haha, sorry,” Shimmerdust continued stoking the furnace. “I guess not everypony knows that version of the song.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be able to forget it.” Flash Burn was sure that the heat on her cheeks was from furious blushing, and not the nearby furnace.



Morning Glory heard the bell-tower in the distance strike eight times as she reached a public house called the Bucking Farmer. For the benefit of the illiterate, a picture of a young earth pony thrusting out her rear legs was painted on the hanging sign. The building had once served as a different sort of establishment, and the new owner seemed to be happy to keep the name. It brought in enough customers. Still, the new establishment’s reputation was solid enough that Morning Glory felt no shame walking in the front door.
“Good morning, Frothie,” Glory called to the back of the bar. A middle-aged mare in an apron appeared from below the bar.
“Ah, ma petite liseron!” The mare ducked back behind the bar and reappeared with an apron in mouth. She placed it upon Morning Glory’s back. “You are juste in time zis morning. I have to do ze brewing for mon petit today, so you will have to take of ze customers.” Frothie pulled the knot tight.
“That’s quite alright, Frothie. Have you seen my brother today?”
“Oh, non, he iz still out, I zink.” She trotted to the back room of the bar.
“Perfect.” Morning Glory retrieved a broom and began sweeping the inn floor. It would only be a matter of time before-
CRASH!
A dark grey pegasus with short black hair had plowed into one of the tables. He was doused in hot wheat porridge, and the customers with no more breakfast glared at him. He rose to his feet. “Ah, heh. I’ll get you new ones, guys.” He darted over towards Morning Glory. “I don’t suppose you can give those gentlecolts their breakfast on the house.” He gave her a big grin.
“Hurricane, from what I hear, you’ve been doing enough work to pay for it yourself.” The pegasus’ grin disappeared.
“Okay, I’ll pay for it later. Just get them their food before they decide to make trouble.” Morning Glory sighed, and then bit his ear and began dragging him to the back. “Ow! Ow ow owwwwww! Come oooonnnnnn!” She didn’t let go until they were in the back room.
“Do you know with whom I spoke today?” Morning Glory glared directly into his eyes.
“Uhh…the Princess of Equestria?” The pegasus grinned again.
“Besides her.”
“Sorry, not a clue.”
“CAPTAIN Flash Burn.” Hurricane’s shoulders dropped. “Do you know what she said? She’s been trailing a NOTORIOUS criminal named ‘Dark Blur’, and APPARENTLY, he lives in the lower  quarter.” Hurricane muttered something very quiet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“It’s THE Dark Blur,” he said just a bit more audibly, obviously put out. “They could at least get it right.”
“I don’t care if they call you Little Miss Frou-Frou! When you told me that you were going to liberate your income from those who wouldn’t miss it, you promised me that you would remain undetected!” Morning Glory was backing the pegasus into a corner.
“I was gonna! And then they saw me, so I figured I’d have a little fun. It just…got a little out of hoof.”
“OUT of HOOF?!” Hurricane gave a panicked look towards his back. Nothing but walls and ceiling . “You are now one of the most wanted criminals in all of Equestria! The most influential military commander in all of Everfree has a personal grudge against you! They are going to find out where you live! WHERE WE LIVE! What do you have to say for yourself?” Morning Glory was breathing heavily.
“Hey, they still haven’t managed to catch me.”
In the main room, all the customers turned their heads as a horrid wail issued forth from the back room.
“No more,” Morning Glory ordered the crumpled heap on the floor. “Find a real job. If I ever hear one more word of this ‘Dark Blur’ character, our room will become MY room.”
“At least I won’t get kicked there anymore,” whined Hurricane as he tried to uncurl from his fetal position.
“Now, I have customers to attend to. Go wash up, pawn off anything you have to, and start looking for a real employer.”
“But-“
“GO!”
Hurricane blasted off from a standing start, leading a dark cloud sparking with lightning in his wake.
“I swear,” Morning Glory muttered as she spooned more wheat porridge from the kettle.


 
“Smack her croup and pull her hair! That’s how the captain treats his mare!” Shimmerdust and Flash Burn collapsed into giggles after the last verse of the latest sea shanty.
“Oh, goodness. I haven’t laughed that hard since…I don’t even remember.” Flash Burn wiped a tear from her eye. “Where did you learn all these songs?”
“Well,” said Shimmerdust as she moved a new glass bottle to a cooling rack, “my dad, Shimmerstar, wasn’t much for songs, but Granpappy North Star was still sailing when I was born. He loved spending time with me whenever he could return to Everfree.”
“Your mom must have been furious.”
“I bet she would have been.” Shimmerdust was still smiling, but Flash frowned a bit.
“I’m sorry, I-“
“It’s alright, I know. I never really knew her.” Shimmerdust rearranged the chess board once again. “So, I guess you grew up with two parents?”
“Well, yeah. Sorta. I grew up with a maid. My parents just stopped in once in a while. They were both very big in the military.”
“I guess we both followed in our parents’ hoofsteps.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” There was a short silence.
“So-“ Flash was cut off by the sound of a glass chime. Shimmerstar trotted to the front of the shop.
“Good morning! Welcome to Shimmerstar Glassworks.”
The voice from the front of the shop was male. “Shimmerdust, you don’t have to say that every time I visit.”
“Oh, hi Sage!” Flash Burn’s stomach turned to butterflies. She’d forgotten that she was awaiting the second-most awkward social situation of her life (nothing really compared to arresting her father for soliciting a prostitute). She briefly pondered fleeing before anyone could see her, but she remembered that she had a job to do. She was about to go up to the front before Shimmerdust appeared from around the corner again.
“Twilight Sage is here. You wanted to see him, right?”
“Ah, yes. Is he coming back here?”
“Yes.” There was a pause. The pause went on.
“Um…is he coming back here now?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t think so. The wheel on his cart broke, so he’s trying to drag it. It will probably take him a while.” Shimmerdust’s eyes drifted off.
“Oh, for the love of-“ Flash Burn darted out the front door. Twilight Sage was indeed trying to drag a one-wheeled cart, with books falling out continuously. “Let me help you with that.”
“Oh! Captain, what are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. How many books did you bring?”
“A lot. Uh-“ Twilight Sage stopped as he felt Flash Burn pushing the cart behind him. They both managed to get the cart inside the door, and then began picking up all the fallen books. “How did you know to look for me here?”
“The Princess told me where you were going.” They both walked inside to find Shimmerdust staring at the cart of books.
“Uh…Shimmer?” Twilight Sage stepped forward to nudge the other unicorn.
“Mm?”
“What are you doing?”
“I want to see if they’re reproducing in there.” She wasn’t even blinking.
Flash Burn walked up next to Twilight and leaned her head in. “You’ve known her longer. When she says stuff like that, is she making jokes?”
“I honestly never managed to figure that out,” he whispered back. They both waited for a bit before deciding to give her a push to break her line of sight.
“Oh, am I in your way?” Shimmerdust obligingly moved to the other side of the cart, and she resumed her staring.
Sage cleared his throat. “So, you said you were looking for me?”
“Oh!” Flash Burn gathered her helmet from one of the benches. “I’m actually on an investigation. You’ve probably heard of ‘Dark Blur’?”
“You mean ‘The Dark Blur’? That’s what your first report said he called himself.” Flash Burn blushed. She knew Sage was smart, and that was why she was asking him in the first place, but he shouldn’t have a better memory of her reports than she did.
“Yes, well, either way. I am trying to figure out where he might base his operations. You’re pretty smart, I thought you might be able to figure it out.”
“Ah, well, I suppose I can try, but I doubt I can do anything your Guard can’t do. Shimmer, dear, could you grab me a piece of paper?”
“But there’s so many right here,” Shimmerdust intoned in a voice that sounded far away, still focused on the pile of books.
“A blank one, dear.”
“Oh! Okay.” Just like that, the unicorn trotted off and retrieved a paper from a drawer.
Twilight Sage pulled a pencil from his pouch. “Now, Everfree is roughly a series of concentric circles.” He drew near-perfect circles on the paper. “All of The Dark Blur’s targets have been in the upper quarter. Here here here and here, mostly.” He drew tiny dots. “Now, The Dark Blur used to work low-profile, meaning he would want to have a minimal distance from target to base of operations, so there’d be less chance of being spotted carrying stolen goods. If we draw these lines…and these circles…a few triangles. Aha! Yes, there’s a single common area that makes sense as a starting point. And, why, it’s right here!” Sage dropped the pencil and looked at Flash Burn, whose mouth was agape. “Brilliantly done, Captain! You must have already narrowed the search down. I knew I’d be no help.”
Flash Burn searched for words. “I…well, yes, I…what?”
“Oh, Captain Flash, that’s impressive. I’ve never known anyone to be as good as my Sage at these things.” Shimmerdust pressed uncomfortably close to Flash Burn.
“Okay, okay!” Flash Burn pushed the unicorns away. “Enough funning. I had no idea he was here. I was just looking for you, okay?” The other two looked crestfallen.
“Oh, sorry Captain. I forgot how much running my mouth put you off.” Twilight smiled apologetically.
“It what?” Flash Burn inclined her head in, as if she had trouble hearing.
“Well, every time we talk, I start blathering, and then you start stammering and fly away.” Flash Burn blushed. So he HAD noticed.
“Look, that’s…I don’t not-like you, okay? I just…it’s hard to explain.”
Shimmerdust rubbed her head against Flash Burn. “It’s okay if you’re a bit shy. Twilight’s really shy, too. Did you know he never even took his novels to a publisher?” Twilight’s face instantly contorted like he had just been pinched in a very uncomfortable place.
“Novels?”
“Darling, I’m begging you, please don’t tell her.”
“You haven’t even mentioned them? Sage, how could you?” Shimmerdust dropped into a pout. There was a short moment as Sage attempted to keep himself from looking, but it was no use.
“Fine, you can tell her about them.” Shimmerdust bounced back and spun to face Flash Burn.
“Ever since we were little, Sage has been writing about a powerful unicorn wizard who goes around and saves Equestria. He’s such a brilliant hero. When he got out of school, he started to compile the old adventures into actual novels, and added more complex themes and nuanced side characters and everything. It was a complete overhaul, really. But Wonderbolt stayed the same. He’s kind of a big ham, but it’s really fun to read.” Sage was blushing, and Flash Burn turned to address him.
“Wonderbolt?”
Sage sighed. “When you’re the only unicorn you know with no magic, you really get some ridiculous fantasies.”
Flash burn reached a hoof out towards his shoulder, but the space was quickly occupied by Shimmerdust. “Oh, come on, honey, you do have magic. I should know.” She nudged him with a knowing smirk.
“Yes, please, dear, embarrass me even further in front of the Captain. I don’t think she yet knows enough of my secrets.” Sage rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Oh, okay. Well, Miss Flash, when we’re alone, we-“
“I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!” At that point, the two unicorns seemed to notice that Flash Burn was blushing vividly and had her helmet tilted to hide her eyes. “I’m sorry, Captain, if we made you uncomfortable.”
“I…I should go. Investigate.” Flash Burn turned to walk out the door. Finding herself thinking about what her crush and the exotic mare might do in their alone time was much more than uncomfortable. Besides which, the morning was wearing on.
“I hope you can stop by again soon, Miss Flash.”
Flash found herself standing in the town square. “Okay,” she muttered to herself. “I think I need to go find somewhere to cry. Then I’ll get to searching the area.” She was about to take off to the sky, when she saw a familiar dark cloud with lightning burst from the door of a bawdy-looking public house.
Flash narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. “Or maybe I can make somepony else cry.”