The sun was rising over the silent streets of Canterlot, bathing the darkened cobblestone roads and buildings in the warm glow of the morning light. On any normal day the citizens of the city would slowly be beginning their daily routines. The morning paper would be delivered, shops would open, and the streets would be filled with the gentle ambience of hooves and voices. The adults would go shopping or to work, the children would go to school or play in the streets, and everything would seem right in the world.
If only today was a normal day.
Something terrible had happened in the wee hours of the morning. The streets were overrun with panicked guards trying to take control of the situation, and in a cluttered office in the palace a lone royal guard was pouring over the evidence and reports from the incident last night. It had been a couple of days since she had slept, but she had to keep going. She had to figure this out before things got out of control. Reports from the guards last night all appeared to add up: the two that had been arrested by Rumble were the bait, allowing for a third to sneak into the catacombs beneath the palace and steal the princess’ crown.
“‘Cept it just don’t add up. Just doesn’t make any sense.” She said softly to herself as she stared at the reports from the princess and various sentries that were spread out before her.
The door to her office swung open and a pegasus of the royal guard entered. “Boss?” he said softly as he leaned his spear against the wall.
She didn’t even hear him. She was too engrossed in her work to even be aware of his existence.
“Inspector.” He said much louder and more firmly than before. He waited in silence for a moment longer before his patience wore thin and he hollered. “Babs!!!”
“What?!” Babs Seed yelled back, having finally lost her temper at the interruption. She turned to face him and, seeing who it was, her tone softened with an apologetic sigh. “What is it, Starlight?”
Starlight pulled his helmet off and rested it over the blade of his spear, and wiped his forehead dry. “Boss, those two we caught last night? The Cake Twins? They aren’t talking.”
Babs rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Since when do you do interrogations, Starlight?”
“I don’t. Not normally. I just wanted to see if I could get anything out of them before they were shipped off to Blackmiller Pen.”
“Please tell me ya got somethin’. A name. A place. Anythin’ at all.”
Starlight’s cold expression already told her exactly what he had gotten out of the duo. “The pegasus told me about the time he found a caterpillar, and assured me it was how Equestria was made. And the unicorn was…” he trailed off with a loud swallow and dug at the floor with discomfort, “Eager… to be interrogated.”
“How eager?”
“She uh, gave me advice.” He said with a cringe. “On torture. Graphic advice.”
Babs shuddered softly and stared at him for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh.
Starlight walked a lap around Babs Seed’s office and marveled at the mess she had generated in her obsessive session. Numerous empty coffee cups from the guard’s lounge were strewn about and papers were scattered everywhere. At the foot of her desk were a number of candy bar wrappers, the kind that contained caffeine, left in a neat little pile. He nudged her out of her stupor, “When was the last time you slept?”
She sucked a deep breath through gritted teeth, taking a moment to fight off her exhaustion to think about her answer. “Since that murder in… in… what was that town called again?”
Starlight stomped his armored hoof against the floor. “For the love of all things… BOSS! You are only one pony! You can’t do everything!” He flipped the folder on her desk shut, burying most of her reports beneath its cardboard cover, but she immediately flipped it open once more and glared at him. “Saddleton, boss.” He said while fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “One was murdered, one wounded. No big loss. From what I heard they were real scumbags and finally picked the wrong pony to screw with.” He patted her shoulder and closed the folder once more, and gently rested his hoof on hers when she went to open it again. “Besides. I saw the air force scrambling this morning. They’re taking care of it, so go and get some sleep before you drop dead.”
She rolled her hoof and lifted his off the table, and stopped to hold it for a moment. “All the more reason for me to take care of this. I have to find that thief before Lightning Dust does somethin’ drastic.”
He looked into her eyes as if he didn’t want to say what was on his mind. “A little late for that, boss.” He said softly. “The princess is not happy. Neither’s the Queen. I haven’t seen her this angry since… ever. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”
“What about Featherweight?” said Babs with a note of desperation in her voice. She let go of Starlight’s hoof to reach for her coffee and grimaced as the lukewarm liquid rolled across her tongue. “It’s ‘cause of me that little weasel was taken alive back when he was a Rainbolt. Go ask him if he has anythin’.”
“Way ahead of you, boss. Apparently his bugs are following the thief right this second, but he won’t say where. And yes, I reminded him it was you who chose to arrest him instead of letting the captain beat him to death. All he said was, well, I don’t want to repeat it. It was disgusting.”
Tired, frustrated, and defeated, Babs buried her face in her forelegs and almost cried out. She already knew this was going to get ugly, and as much as she hated to admit it there was truly nothing she could do to change things. Babs Seed had been in the royal guard for years, and she had not felt so utterly and completely useless since being injured in the Crystal Empire. It was that same injury that damaged her lung and had her declared unfit to serve in combat, and caused her to be pulled from Captain Rumble’s personal unit and placed into Canterlot’s Criminal Investigation Department. Although it was just a desk job no doubt given to her out of some sense of pity, she had made the most of it and dedicated herself to protecting the citizens using evidence and non-violent tactics to track down criminals instead of the brute force the main force of guards preferred. This time she had failed; Featherweight was undoubtedly working with that nutcase Lightning Dust, who was perfectly willing to go to any extreme imaginable to get the fastest results possible. Of course she saw success, she would probably have the thief in time to be home for lunch tomorrow, but at what cost? Babs was confident that with the time and right Intel she’d be able to bring the thief in without the collateral damage.
“Are you alright, boss?” said Starlight’s compassionate voice.
“What do you think about this, Starlight? This case, I mean?”
“Me?” he said uneasily, and gestured at his spear and helmet in the corner. “I’m just a sentry, boss. A spear-carrier. I don’t know anything about this end of things.”
“Exactly.” She said, mustering the will to smile. “I need an outside opinion. Any opinion. One from somepony that ain’t an ‘expert’. And I trust you, Starlight. Always have.”
His snow-white face flickered with a faint smile of his own from the compliment. “Well…” he began and trailed off, but continued when she motioned for him to go on, “I think what happened is, is three Rainbolts came into town. Two acted as bait and led the guards on a wild goose chase, while the third slipped inside in the confusion and grabbed the crown.”
“And that’s the consensus of what happened.” Nodded Babs, “But it just don’t add up.”
“How do you mean, boss?”
“A lotta little things.” She said. “And it’s all about the little things. First off, it’s just not how they do things. I’ve never heard of them just… sacrificing a couple teammates like that.”
“They’re criminals, boss. Real fanatics, too. They blame Her Highness for everything that happened, as if it was her fault Princess Celestia died and Princess Luna tried to go Nightmare Moon all over again. You honestly think they care if they lose a couple of teammates?”
Babs looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I do, actually. They’ve never done anything like that before. Even Featherweight praised their boss for how she looks out for them. And it’s not just that, either. It’s the timings. Here’s when the crown was stolen.” She held up one report for him to read and then another, “And here’s when those two were arrested. Almost two hour’s difference. Either they had one heck of a mess-up, or—”
“—or they weren’t working together.” Finished Starlight. “You can’t think that, boss. Who else would be stupid enough to steal the bloody crown from the princess?”
“Somepony who was able to slip through Canterlot undetected and into the palace through a secret passage nopony seemed to know about. Somepony that definitely didn’t need a distraction. Somepony who just happened to pick the same night as those two Rainbolts. Maybe even planned to use ‘em as scapegoats.”
Starlight picked up the notes Babs had compiled over the last few hours. “You can’t be serious, boss…”
“You know what I think? I think somethin’ big is gonna happen. I don’t wanna believe it either, and believe me, I’d love to see the Rainbolts brought down once and for all, but if somethin’ big is happenin’ and we’re wastin’ our time chasin’ our tails like dogs…”
“Babs.” Interrupted Starlight. “Listen to yourself. You’re—”
“This thief knew exactly where she was going, Starlight. She knew too much to have put it together from simple reconnaissance. Somepony with a lotta knowledge about the palace tipped her off. If we’re busy chasing the wrong ponies, this informant is still out there. What if he or she is an insider? What if he or she is in the palace right now plotting their next move?”
“Get some sleep.” Said Starlight forcibly after patting her shoulder. “You aren’t thinking straight, and don’t deny it. You’re even slurring.”
“I do solemnly swear that I will protect the citizens and the land of Equestria against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Said Babs softly. “That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to Her Majesty Queen Twilight Sparkle, her heirs, and successors according to law.” She finished by pointing to the corner, where a mannequin wore her old suit of armor.
Starlight whistled in true awe. “You’ve got to be the last bloody guard in all of Equestria to have kept the old gold mail. And the only guard in history to have ever memorized the oath.”
“Just the old one.” Said Babs. She gestured at her black armor, which had been laid out carelessly near the door. “Never liked the new oath we took when we switched over to the black armor.”
“Hey…” said Starlight in a cautionary tone, “Be careful who you say something like that to.”
“I already lost what mattered to me in the Crystal Empire,” she murmured, “what worse could be done to me?”
“Boss…?”
“Never mind, sorry. Just rantin’. Pay it no mind. Point is, is I’d be betrayin’ the vow I believe in if I just let it go.”
“You aren’t letting it go, boss!” said Starlight with anger seeping out in his words. “It’s just some sleep!”
“Just get me some more coffee, Starlight. And somethin’ to eat.” She looked at him for a second, at the stubborn frown on his face that refused to waiver. “Please?”
Starlight exhaled loudly. “Sure, boss.” He said in a voice rich with disapproval.
She paid him no mind as he walked slowly past her, letting his boots stomp loudly as he went, and let the door slam behind him. Normally Babs Seed appreciated Starlight’s attempts to look out for her: she and he had watched each other’s backs since the day they met in basic training, and even though they weren’t even in the same unit the habit had stuck. Now was simply not the time. She knew she was beat, but that was not going to stop her from clinging on until the absolute bitter end. She opened the folder in front of her and started once more at the beginning.
BANG BANG BANG!
The loud knock startled her and sent her papers twirling to the floor. “Oh for— It’s open!” she yelled as she fell to the floor to retrieve the rogue documents. The door opened and she looked up to find a gray pegasus at the door. He wore the R.E.A.F’s flight suit and goggles, with a captain’s emblem on his leg and a scowl beneath a bright orange mane that looked ready to crack his face. “Yes?” said Babs, her frustration lost to genuine curiosity for what one of them could possibly want with her.
“You’re from Broncton, aren’t you, Inspector?” he said in a gruff, unreadable tone.
“No. Manehattan.” She saw that her response had no effect on his expression, and she couldn’t help but wonder. “…Why?”
“My mistake.” He said, “I just found out I’m headed there for tomorrow morning. I was hoping you knew of… some good vantage points.”
“Don’t they tell you that sort of thing during your…” she began to trail off as she came to realize why he may be going there, “…briefings?”
His miserable expression never once changed or waivered. “Never hurts to have a little extra Intel, does it Inspector?” As abruptly as he had come he turned and walked out the door.
She threw her documents haphazardly across the table. There was nothing in them; no reason to believe the thief might be going there. Her gut, on the other hoof, was telling her to take the chance. It was the only lead she had, the only chance she had to take control of the situation, and if she could get this thief first she could stop the air force from doing something drastic. She dumped one of her desk drawers out and tore through the contents to find a schedule of every train in Equestria. A quick glance at the schedule and the clock told her she had ten minutes until a freight train from Vanhoover to Fillydelphia passed through Canterlot. She had to assume no passenger trains would be leaving the city due to the incident in the palace, and she would have no trouble jumping on or off of a moving freight train. This one would get her as close as possible, and she’d run the rest of the way on hoof if she had to.
He said mornin’. Gotta make it there by mornin’.
Babs ran past her armor to the closet and, after a quick check to make sure her badge was in one of the pockets, threw her long coat over her back and her hat on her head. She didn’t want anypony to know who she was until she got close enough to make an arrest. She tore out the door of her office and almost knocked Starlight off his hooves, spilling the coffee but managing to snatch in her mouth the paper bag of whatever he had gotten her to eat. “I’ll eat n’ sleep on the train!” She said between clenched teeth.
“What train?!” he yelled from behind.
She didn’t have time to stop and explain herself. She ran as fast as she could through the halls of the palace, ignoring her blast-damaged lung that was already aching in protest and focusing on the faint smell of fresh vegetables and oatmeal from the bag lunch that swung beneath her nostrils.