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The truth must be brought to light!1,537 words
The truth is free... well, only five bits.1,571 words
The truth can be twisted1,588 words

The truth can be twisted

Scoop Story read the note again. It had been delivered by a changeling who had shrugged when he asked who had sent it.

Meet me in Ponyville, the truth must be told.

His flank tingled, right where his cutie mark was. "Honey? I think we might have a job." Scoop had called out to the mare of his dreams.

Snap trotted into the main cave of their little home. "What? You don't mean-"

"Yes, there is another mystery." Scoop was on his feet, one hoof raising to circle around his special somepony's withers while the other lifted, gesturing in the direction of 'fate'.

A wing snatched up the paper and Snap Shutter read the missive. "Ponyville? Oh this will be nice, we should pack for cool weather." The mare kissed Scoop's cheek and, like that, plans were made.

The journey felt like years, they had been forced to travel to Dodge City and then via the railway to Ponyville. "Why are you using blue ink to mark all over the nice map?" Snap poked Scoop with a wing as he was marking their journey with a dotted line. "Oh, and now you have smudged it."

"Ar rarr irr rrirriari- I don't know, it just seemed important to the story to lay it out." Scoop spat the quill out halfway into his sentence, the words prior to then coming out as gibberish.

The train gave a jerk and a shunt as it began to slow. "Ponyville! Ponyville next stop!" A conductor called.

"That's our stop." Snap looked out the window at the nearing town. She paid some attention to her collection of cameras. She had her basic, or Snapper as she called it. Then she had her favorite, the nighteyes camera that could take pictures in the dark. They had been joined by the newest toy, one she had saved up for. "My little Sourcerer." She stroked it gently with a wing, it could take pictures of magic.

Scoop was wearing a trench-cloak that hid most of his features, particularly with the matching hat. "Now, we need to find our informant."

"Hi!" The pair were greeted the moment they got off the train. "You look new, welcome to Ponyville!"

Both ponies turned to look at the mailmare who had greeted them; the fact they were a mailmare was interesting, did she send the message? Scoop was brooding even as Snap stepped up to the mare. "Hi, we are just visiting, my special stallion is looking for some inspiration for his new book. Somepony told us they had a great idea for it."

Muffins blinked her eyes. "Do you have something in your eye? You are winking a lot…" She tilted her head to the side as her own eyes seemed to scatter, looking at each of the two visitors.

"Oh, oh yes! Inspiration!" Scoop strode forward but it seemed the mailmare's eyes had decided that he wasn't interesting, they looked at everything but the stallion right in front of her nose.

"You are a writer?" Muffins caught back on to the conversation and looked around. "Nopony I know of has mentioned inviting a friend to town, you should ask around though!" She picked out the letters from the bag before her, securing them in her saddlebags.

"That's not our contact…" Snap nudged Scoop in the side as she whispered to him. Louder, the photographer said, "That is a great idea, let's go!"

Pulled away by one of the mare's wings, Scoop was reluctant but went with Snap's evasion. "What? She was just about to talk!"

Snap sighed. "No, she didn't know anything, probably a few changelings short of a hive."

Muffins watched the pair wander off, talking to themselves. Casually, she reached into her saddlebag and nosed at something. "Two strangers just arrived, they know something. Somepony must have talked." She nosed the object again and the cheerful smile hadn't even left her snout.

"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie. New in town? I bet you are! You look like you need a party!" Scoop and Snap both froze as they were assaulted with words that, try as they might, neither could fully understand, it was like the pink mare was talking faster than the world itself could properly take notice.

"Oh, uh, no! We are looking for a friend. They sent us a letter-" Scoop was trying to be circumspect but Pinkie cut in.

"That asked you to meet me here and I could tell you," Pinkie deepened her voice, "the terrible truth!" Both reporters blinked. "That was me, sillies. I thought it was important, there are lights out at the old castle of the two sisters. Last time there was something going on out there it was-"

"Nightmare Moon…" Scoop cut in, his eyes going wide as saucers.

"What? No. I was going to say Rarity was looking for some curtains. But before THAT, NIGHTMARE MOON!" Pinkie's voice raised louder and louder until she was shouting.

Snap and Scoop tried desperately to quieten the mare down. "Where is it?" Scoop asked, trying to pin down the one thing, apart from sub-atomic particles, that never can be. "Where is this castle?

Pinkie blinked, she had been hustled between two houses and she loved how Scoop's cloak seemed to hug the shadows. "Oh, I can show you… I don't suppose you have another coat do you? Mine is in the wash."

As the three ponies bounced out of Ponyville, along the path that led to the Everfree Forest, none of them noticed the gray-winged shadow they had gained.

"What is up with this town?" Snap Shutter gestured at the pink pony who was, right then, running between trees in the Everfree Forest and… laughing them into submission. "They are either crazy or deficient."

"It is a ploy, it has to be. Nopony is this crazy." Scoop had to admit that the forest was spooky, but it did set off his coat perfectly. The fact that Snap had a wing over his back, hugging tight to his side, was simply a bonus.

"Here we are!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place, her last song was the best one yet and she went back to humming it between words. Lightning speared down, illuminating the huge ruined castle. Of course, Pinkie giggled at that too.

Scoop strode up to the front door and froze, he could hear voices.

"Tia, it just isn't fair that you get the holiday this time." They were mid conversation and Scoop had immediately recognized Princess Luna's voice, although she was speaking in a much more relaxed manner than he had ever heard before. "I mean, mine was just over…"

"Lulu, you took a whole millennium." That was Princess Celestia's voice! "You know the spell, can you just work it, please?"

There was a deep sigh. "Alright, but I am totally going to tell everypony you went crazy and I had to exile you." Luna's voice slowly got harder to hear as the sound of gathering magic was heard.

"Snap, Sourcerer! Now!" Scoop held out a hoof but was shoved out of the way by a dashing pegasus. Denied the chance to take the picture himself, Scoop instead pushed the door wide just as the blast of white shot into the sky.

"Got it!" Snap exclaimed, doing a spin in place.

"Who is there?" Luna's voice grew angry immediately, and a little worried.

A blur of gray landed behind Snap and Scoop, two big wings halting any hope they might have for escape. "Princess Luna, the two I spoke of. Their informant was Pinkie Pie… she ran a little too quickly to catch." Muffins was glaring at the pair.

"The camera." Luna held out a hoof and Snap sighed deeply, she held out Snapper to the alicorn. The Princess of the Night knew how such devices worked, she opened the back and exposed all the film inside. "Now, what to do with… I know you. Scoop Story… I don't suppose there is any way I could bribe you not to write about this?"

Scoop looked defiant, he had faced down princesses before, although the Princess of Love had been a lot nicer about trying to intimidate him, even letting him publish his first big conspiracy. "The truth must be free!"

"Then there is nothing else for it. Agent Muffins, kill them both and dump their bodies." Luna began to turn, giving the softest of sobs.

"WAIT!" Both Scoop and Snap cut in, even as the gray menace behind them took a step closer.

"Look, when I said the truth… okay, you know what we did with the whole changeling invasion thing?" Scoop was rubbing a hoof in the dirt. "Well, what if we did that again? Even got a forward by Nightmare Moon herself?"

Luna turned back, eyes calculating. "Two stories. I want you to write about my history, real one." She grinned, with her sister gone to the sun, things would be much more relaxed.

Scoop sighed and gestured to Snap. "Hay, I worked hard to keep her from destroying the picture!" Luna's head snapped around to the duplicitous pegasus. "Please Your Highness, that spell looked… wow."

"My sister kept the freedom of the press to… manageable levels. I think she will be surprised when she gets back." Luna grinned and spread her wings, catching up the two investigators.

"And what would this other book be about?" Scoop would write the princess twenty books if it meant he got to tell the truth.

The Moon and Other Tourist Sites

Author's Note:

Well, this happened. I was sitting here, thinking of Luna and Celestia on holiday, then I wondered, what would happen if Luna's thousand year exile was just a 'little break'. Of course, Scoop Story was the best pony to send in to find out!