"Soarin' was needed. He was everything that Ponyville has been crying out for."

Police Commissioner Twilight Sparkle stood before a podium in front of the Town Hall where the late district attorney and former Wonderbolt, supposedly martyred in the line of duty, had once fought for justice by prosecuting the city's powerful underworld kingpins. Somber dignities, including the Mayor and other Wonderbolts, were on hand to honor his memory. A black funeral wreath framed a large color portrait of a handsome stallion with a wavy dark blue mane, a lighter blue coat, and a winning smile. Next to him in the picture was what anypony could merely take to be an apple pie. It was one of his trademarks to have one nearby at all times, and seeing it in the picture lightened the mood if only the tiniest bit so. Soarin' looked every bit a champion of justice in the photo, but Twilight had seen his other face. Quite literally. The commissioner hesitated briefly, before continuing.

"He was...a hero. Not the one that we deserved. No, Soarin' was the hero that we needed. Nothing less than a white knight, shining even brighter than, dare I say it, my own brother, Captain of the Royal Guard. And always, he shone even in Ponyville's darkest hours. But I knew Soarin'. I was...his friend. And I know that it will be a long time before somepony inspires us the way that he did." Twilight shuffled her notes together, anxious to finish her speech and get down from the podium as soon as possible.

"I believed in Soarin'."

The words caught in her throat. She prayed that the ponies gathered in front of her would think that she was simply overcome with emotion. Celestia help them if they could guess what was really going through her mind. That was a secret, she thought, one that she shared only with one other mare, a mare who had sacrificed her own legend to ensure that Soarin's would be preserved. She was a mare whose face Twilight Sparkle had never seen. Ponyville's true dark knight.

As she stepped down from the stage she'd spoken from, Twilight looked out once more at the crowd that was now stamping it's hooves in applause for her. Is she watching us? she wondered, her eyes scanning the crowd. Where is he now?

And will Ponyville ever see her again?