Chapter I: The New Captain

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The morning sun rolled over the horizon lazily, filling the green fields with light. The golden hue cast itself over the towers and buildings of Canterlot as the streets began to fill with ponies making their morning rounds. Post was being delivered, guards were patrolling and the very posh were making haste to their boutiques to prepare for their very posh days. The morning, however, was not kind to one pony in particular, who grumbled and rolled over in bed.

Twilight Sparkle, or Captain Twilight Sparkle as the story calls for, nestled the downy pillow as the light of a new day threatened to flood her room through thick, drawn curtains. In her sleepy state, she could already feel her head pounding and spinning as though a particularly loud circus were rolling through it. That was when the light of day suddenly exploded all over the room. She quickly drew her blanket over her head, moaning in protest, attempting to stay hidden from it a little longer.

Spike frowned at her display and rolled his eyes. She had always been so "up and at 'em" before the sun had even dared to crest the walls of Canterlot. Now, after so many early mornings and long days spent as magical advisor to the Royal Guards, she simply hated to get out bed. Stepping over books, inkwells and discarded quills, he moved to her bedside with brow knotted.

"Good morning, Twilight," he said, attempting to sound cheerful. "It's seven o'clock, and you are to be-"

"Go away," Twilight muttered beneath the covers.

Spike huffed a bit and grasped the covers in his claws. Tossing them away from the bed, Twilight cried out in protest. Not only from being so rudely interrupted and exposed, but for having to suddenly deal with so much bloody light! Shielding her eyes with her hooves, she tried to cover her head with the pillow.

"You're meeting Princess Celestia in an hour," Spike said as he crossed his arms. "You know how she hates to see you late."

"Please keep your voice down and exit this room quietly," Twilight's voice came, muffled by the pillow.

Spike rubbed his temples and groaned. He missed the old days when this routine were quite the opposite. When she was the one rousing him from bed for notes to be taken and checklists to be made. Ever since she had taken this blasted position, she changed for the worst. Muttering a few choice words beneath his breath, he snatched the pillow away from her head and tossed it to the ground with the covers.

"Why do you torment me?" Twilight asked as she rolled away from Spike, trying to find another object to keep her in the dark.

"I'm not tormenting you, I'm trying to help!" Spike exclaimed, scampering to the other side to face her. "You have to snap out of this rut you're in!"

Twilight opened her eyes slowly and stared down at Spike. She would have said something in protest but the stinging pain in her head made it hard to even think of a witty comeback. Her hooves went to her head as she sprawled out on her back and stared at the ceiling.

"Fine, I'm up," she said, giving in to the young dragon's demands.

"I'll fetch your armor, then, as well as something for that headache," Spike said, relieved she finally decided to get out of bed. He moved out of the room, leaving Twilight to slowly get out of bed. Her body protested with every movement as joints creaked. A yawn fell out of her as she hit the floor and moved towards the stand adorned with a mirror across the room.

Her mane was a wreck worthy of being condemned. Bags sat heavily under her eyes as she studied herself for a moment. Another throb in her head made her regret keeping her eyes open for longer than a moment. Her horn glow faintly as a brush came up and began to run through her hair, trying to straighten out the mess. Soon, Spike returned with a glass of water and a tablet, setting them on the stand for her.

She placed the brush down, content that her mane was going to be as good as it could get as the tablet and water floated next to her. Swallowing both, the glass hit the counter with a clunk as Spike fished out a rather regal looking hat and shiny breastplate from the closet nearby. Moving back to her, he set the hat down and began work putting the breastplate on for her, clamping it closed around her body and making certain the straps were cinched nice and snug.

The hat, filled with plumes of birds of varying colours, floated to her head and came to a rest. Studying herself in the mirror once more, she wished there were something she could do to make herself look less tired. A grunt shortly followed as she turned towards the door and moved begrudgingly out into the cursed light of day.

Canterlot was alive and bustling now, shops open and the smell of freshly baked goods wafting in the breeze. Twilight stepped briskly onto the familiar street and began her stroll towards the castle. Many of the castle’s citizens greeted her with polite smiles and nods, guards saluted proudly and little children galloped beside her laughing and playing.

Feh.

All the good cheer in the world couldn't slide the corners of Twilight's mouth upwards. Only polite nods, returns of salutes and tolerance for the incessant quipping and giggling of children was returned. Perhaps she was being far too grumpy; after all it wasn't their fault she had too much cider after work and stumbled through the streets shouting at nothing in particular only to wind up face down in her bed and curious as to how she'd gotten there this morning.

She had finally made it to the castle and, upon receiving salutes from the guards, the door slowly creaked open. The sprawling foyer of the castle lay before Twilight as she sleepily headed inside and up the stairs towards the throne room. Passing more guards meant more saluting, a practice which Twilight always grew tired of the moment it began. Mercifully, she had arrived at the throne room and was let in.

There upon the throne sat Princess Celestia whose eyes were running over a parchment. The sound of her chamber doors being opened made her glance over and smile a bit, seeing her pupil on time. The parchment rolled up in front of her, she set it down next to a cup of tea which was then brought to her and sipped lightly.

"Captain Twilight Sparkle, so wonderful to see you again," Celestia said cheerfully as Twilight knelt.

"At your service, your highness," Twilight responded, rising on Celestia's silent command.

"How are you feeling?"

Twilight cleared her throat a little. "Feeling quite well, thank you, your highness."

"You look absolutely ragged," Celestia said, giving Twilight a bit of a smirk and a side long glance.

"I apologize for my appearance, your highness," Twilight replied, half-heartedly trying to adjust her mane and breastplate in one go. "Been having trouble sleeping, is all."

"Twilight, I'm going to be frank with you," Celestia began with concern in her eyes. "You worry me. You used to be on time and organized when you were my student. Now that you have this charge of being the magical advisor, you've been distant, disgruntled and disorderly. It's disturbing to say the least."

"Again, I apologize, your highness."

"I don't need apologies, Captain, I need results. You're very good at your job, but these liberties you're taking simply cannot go on, despite you being my prized pupil and confidante. Instead of strip you of your rank and take you back beneath my wing, however, I feel like perhaps you could use a test."

"A test, your highness?" Twilight asked, now truly curious as to what this could be.

"A test to see if you perhaps have those traits that made you so invaluable as a student. Your organization, your impeccable timing, and the most important thing you lost, your kindness."

Twilight scrunched up her nose a bit, she was still kind! Just, perhaps to certain people. Important people! Bartenders and angry people with large pointy sticks being chief among them. Celestia cleared her throat a bit and continued on.

"Down in Ponyville there is a Watch that was formed just a few years ago after a string of mysterious kidnappings. The town is having kidnapping troubles again, but the Watch is far too disorganized and out of sorts that they just can't cope. That's where you come in; you're going to replace the original Watch captain."

"What happened to the other, your highness?" Twilight asked.

Celestia seemed to tear up for a brief moment before the smile returned to her face and she waved a hoof towards the door.

"Oh, nothing at all," she said cheerfully. "Retirement came up is all. Now, there is a room in the Watch house which you will be staying set aside specifically for their captain. You're set to arrive later today to meet with your fellow Watchmares. I know you'll do well, Captain. A change of scenery and a fresh beginning are going to be exactly what you need!"

"W-Wait, today?" Twilight stammered, approaching the throne a bit. "How am I supposed to get everything packed and shipped out today, your highness?"

"Oh don't worry, everything is already being packed up!" Celestia explained cheerfully.

Twilight nodded a little, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. So suddenly everything had changed for her. No longer would she have to perform inspections, attend terrible meetings and pretend to like her peers. Now she would have to perform inspections, attend terrible meetings and - oh blast it. Twilight rubbed her temples and grumbled. At least her headache had gone. Not that it made much difference given the circumstance.

With a polite nod, she turned to exit the throne room and the castle all together. Back out in the street, she plopped down and let out a slow sigh, staring at the ground. Ponyville, she thought, This had to a joke. Yes, it had to. Twilight was going to march into her home and instead of finding her things being loaded onto moving carts to be flown down to Ponyville it'd be something else. A party perhaps! Maybe it was a birthday she didn't know about.

Her heart sank, however, as she reached the door of her home and found the place nearly picked clean. Only a few items were being loaded up from the balcony, tossed into the back of waiting cart that read "Two Pegasi and a Cart" on the side. Twilight rubbed her eyes in disbelief, not only on the fact this was all happening, but also that they had been so efficient in taking all of her things.

"So, I guess we're leaving?" Spike said, coming up behind Twilight who nodded.

"We're going to Ponyville," Twilight said, turning and walking towards the door once again. "Apparently the Watch needs a captain to take the reins."

"Well that's great Twilight! It'll be a new place with new ponies to meet! You might like it."

"I will not like it," Twilight said sourly as she shut the doors of her place and slid the key beneath the doormat to leave it for good.

"You don't know that for sure," Spike said, scampering next to her as she walked back to the castle to find a chariot.

"I do know it for sure," Twilight said, letting out a sigh. "The Watch there has been through three captains already. Either they ran away because the posting is so horrible or they got themselves into more trouble than they could handle because of incompetence. Either way I'm not going there to make friends. I'm going there to set the place straight and promote one of them to captain so that I can come back here and return to my normal comfortable life."

Spike frowned, staring down at his feet and the paved road that passed below them. This was nothing at all like the bookish yet cheerful Twilight he'd known when he was first hatched by her. This Twilight was someone else; someone who simply couldn't find joy again. It hurt him to think she would be like this even amongst new ponies who could be friends.

The chariot cut the sky like a knife as it sailed towards the valley below. Ponyville could be seen clearly in the distance, getting closer and closer as they approached. It seemed a cheerful place, albeit homely. The homes and roofs and even the ponies seemed thatched and quaint. It was very much the opposite of the posh and glamour that made up Canterlot.

The chariot slowly descended towards the edge of town and touched down softly, the pegasi pulling it coming to a halt. Twilight huffed and stepped out of the back of the chariot with Spike and gave the pegasi a salute. Returning it, they turned about and took off back into the air. It had only been a few seconds standing about in the dirt and grass just outside of Ponyville and Twilight already wished this was all one big joke and the chariot was going to turn around or Princess Celestia was going to pop out from behind a tree and scream "gotcha!" obnoxiously.

She turned and looked at the town begrudgingly. Her mouth twisted in a bit of disgust at the rustic simplicity of it all. She had been living in Canterlot for so long that the "simpler things in life" she avoided as though the simpler things in life pertained to plagues and famine.

A tapping at her breastplate made her pull herself from her thoughts and look down to Spike who motioned towards the village. She still had a duty to perform. That headache seemed to be coming back to haunt her as well. Breathing deeply, she let out a steady breath and made her way into town.

The towns ponies milled about in what Twilight presumed was the town’s square. Stalls gathered about a fountain and shops with their doors wide open and inviting. Perhaps it wasn't so different from Canterlot after all? It seemed dirtier, yes, but it had a certain charm about it. Twilight's violet eyes turned this way and that as she observed the ponies until she found a pony in a rusty breastplate and a rusty helmet of copper and iron. The pink, disheveled looking creature stared at the ground, eyeing what looked to be bugs and muttering something about "moving violations".

"Excuse me, are y-" Twilight couldn't finish the sentence before the pink pony turned and went wide eyed. Twilight could have sworn all the oxygen in the world was suddenly consumed by the gasp the pink pony made. As quickly as the ordeal had begun, the pink pony took off in quite a hurry down the road, leaving Twilight and Spike to stand there dumbfounded.

Twilight muttered under her breath as her eyes scanned the town square. She was simply trying to ask where town hall was, not give someone a heart attack or whatever it was that just happened. Finally, her eyes rested on a small sign that hung from a tall building that read "Town Hall". All of a sudden it seemed rather obvious to Twilight as she rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs leading to the entrance.

Inside, she found the largely empty building to be a bit bigger than it necessarily needed to be. For such a small town, why would they need such grandiosity? She shook her head again, believing now questions like these were the reason why her head ached once more. At the end of the room was a desk where a pony sat, looking as though she were buried in a book on the desk. Twilight straightened her hat and moved to the desk with a polite smile.

"Can I help you?" the pony asked, sounding a tad upset that she was being interrupted.

"Yes ma'am, I'm Captain Twilight Sparkle, I'm here to let your mayor know that I've arrived in town," Twilight explained as the pony clicked her teeth and waved dismissively towards the set of doors to the right. Twilight stared at her for a few moments before she began to trot over to the doors and walked through them. Spike took this opportunity to sit in a chair just outside to wait for her.

The office was quite plain. The only thing that seemed to stand out was a portrait of a tan coated, white haired mare just above a fireplace that sat behind a sturdy desk. She noted the office seemed to be abandoned besides the sound of what she swore was snoring.

"Hello?" she called into the empty office before a thud startled her. The side of the desk suddenly slid out like a drawer, only far bigger. Inside was the same mare in the portrait, who was in the process of kicking off a blanket and rolling onto the floor hurriedly. Twilight noted the inside of the drawer also contained a small mattress and a pillow as well. As the older mare closed the drawer she'd been in, she quickly got behind the desk and rested her hooves atop it with a grin. The resemblance was uncanny between her and her portrait. The same smile and everything.

"Welcome to Ponyville," she said cheerfully. "You must be Captain Twilight Sparkle, the new Watch captain. I'm Mayor Mare."

Mayor Mare? Surely this was a joke. "Yes, I'm Captain Twilight. I came by to make you aware of my arrival as well as get the key to the Watch house. I also wanted to get directions to the Watch house and a map of the town if possible as well."

"Of course!" the mayor exclaimed, now rifling through the drawers of her desk. Produced were a key and a map that were soon slid in the direction of Twilight.

"Appreciated," Twilight said, stuffing both items into her breastplate to be held.

"You'll find the Watch house in a hollowed out tree just up the way, accommodations have been made all ready and I received word your things shall be arriving there in the morning."

The mayor paused a moment before looking around and waving Twilight closer.

"Captain," she said in a hushed tone. "You might want to be careful going there straight away."

"Don't be silly, mayor. As I understand it, nothing shall keep the Watch from their duty!"

"Of course," the mayor replied with a weak smile. "Do be careful then."

Twilight gave a crisp salute as the mayor waved meekly. Twilight turned to walk out the door as the mayor slid the drawer on the side of her desk open and hopped in, closing it promptly. Twilight's eyes lingered on the desk a moment before she returned back to the lobby to gather Spike and leave as quickly as they could.

"Well, how'd it go?" Spike asked as they walked back out into the town square of Ponyville.

"I honestly have no idea," Twilight said. It was true, she had no idea what just happened or even what she was expecting. She brought the map out from her breastplate, floating it in front of her. Her eyes went over it, until she found the squiggled drawing of a tree with the words "Watch House" scribbled seemingly hastily. It wasn't terribly far from here, but why it was in a tree was beyond her.

This, of course, was quickly filed under the questions she perhaps didn't want answered at all. Everything here felt backwards from the way they were in Canterlot. Rolling up the map and stuffing it back into her breastplate, she turned and began to walk down the road. Her eyes drifted from pony to pony, observing the goings on of the street around them. She began getting a feel for the road below her hooves. That was what she was always told. Feel the road beneath you and you'll never be lost.

She decided a detour might be in order. She didn't necessarily have to report in quite so early, and it would give the movers enough time to get everything put into her new office. She needed to observe the town just a little bit more. Get used to the way things moved and looked. Get used to that feeling of the roads.

Her trail took her around some of the places pointed out on the map. Sweet Apple Acres was the first place she passed by, a bit in awe of the sheer number of trees the land held. She wondered just what sort of crack team possibly farmed the area. It had to be dozens of workers coming in just to make a dent in it!

She and Spike continued down the road headed back towards town, observing a stream that ran by. Her walk would take her by what looked to be a rather tall shop in the distance. Outside were set many mannequins in elegant dresses that seemed far too stately and glittery to be for anyone that lived here in town. This town continued to become a curiosity wrapped within a riddle slathered by an enigma. It perplexed Twilight to no end how a place such as this could be anymore backwards.

Her journey finally ended as the sun was slowly beginning to sink. Her legs ached a bit and she was quite tired from the day, but she still had a duty to perform. The Watch house was in full view now, everything seeming to be quiet as she approached. Spike rubbed his feet tenderly while riding on her back. The walk had taken quite a toll on him as well, being a baby dragon after all.

"Well, I can say without that doubt this might not be as difficult as I'd thought," Twilight said.

"Why do you say that?" Spike asked, wincing a little.

"Well, this town is rather small," she explained. "Shouldn't take too many ponies to patrol. Low maintenance. I feel like this won't be near as bad as I was made to believe."

The door to the Watch house squealed open and it seemed the lights were turned off.

"I feel like this post might be quite a pleasant-"

"Surprise!" several voices came from the darkness before the lights were turned on inside. Twilight leapt back outside in surprise before she poked her head around the corner and stared inside.

There she saw ponies with coats of varying colours, including the pink one who had gasped and took off earlier. Dumbfounded, Twilight trotted back inside looking to each of them. The pink mare galloped towards Twilight with a giant grin on her face. This caused Twilight to shrink back just a little, wondering if this were some sort of backwoods ceremony she found herself wrapped up in. She also found Spike had taken off straight up the stairs at the opposite end of the Watch house.

"Were you surprised!?" the pink pony asked excitedly before Twilight found herself set upon by the other five ponies that occupied the Watch house. "When I saw you in town earlier, I thought to myself, who else here has shiny armor and a big fluffy hat. That's when I gasped and realized, you have to be our new Watch captain! So I ran all the way back here and told everyone you were here! Then the movers showed up. Then they left. I asked if they wanted to stay, but they said no!"

To say Twilight was befuddled would have been the biggest understatement to have ever been uttered in history. Her eyes went from the group before her to the desk where a giant sign hung that said "welcome!" in big blue letters. Her eyes then turned to a table that had a cake and various drinks laying around on top of it. She finally looked to the six ponies that stood before her.

"I'm Constable Pinkie Pie!" the pink pony exclaimed, hopping up and down. "And this is Sergeant Applejack, Sergeant Rainbow Dash, Corporal Derpy, Corporal Rarity, and Constable Fluttershy!"

Each pony waved as her name was called. Twilight didn't believe this group could become stranger than it had previously. She cleared her throat a bit, trying to buy herself some time to find words.

"Right, well," Twilight began, wishing those words found her faster. "I'm Captain Twilight Sparkle, your new Watch commander. The baby dragon that scampered past is my friend and servant, Spike. I know a small bit of what the lot of you do, but I'm certain it can't be any different than my old job."

There was a distinct silence in the room after she'd spoken. She took the silence as an opportunity to lurch a bit forward and close the door behind her. The awkwardness in the air was settling in quite nicely before Twilight moved towards the table laden with treats and drinks.

"Right," she said feigning a smile. "Why don't we get some of this cake, a drink and sit around and talk more about ourselves. I'd like to get to know the ponies I'll be working with."

This seemed to go well as they did so; each of them grabbing a slice of cake and a drink then setting them down and sitting in a circle. Things were quiet save the sound of the moist chocolate cake being devoured and the occasional obnoxious sipping of drink. Finally, Twilight decided to break the silence by looking to Applejack.

"So, Sergeant Applejack, tell me more about yourself," Twilight said.

"Ah, well mah family an' I have been in Ponyville fer a while," Applejack replied with a proud smile. "Mah Granny Smith founded Sweet Apple Acres an' we've been workin' th' farm ever since. In fact, I still work it when I'm off duty."

"Oh, that impressive farm must be the one I passed by earlier!" Twilight said. "I must say that's a lot of land. Must be quite nice though, all the help you have around and all."

"Help?" Applejack questioned, raising a brow. "Well mah brother Big Macintosh helps when I'm here, an' so does mah little sister Apple Bloom."

Twilight narrowed her eyes a bit. "You mean that huge farm is tended to by you, your brother and your sister? No one else?"

"Darn tootin' ma'am!" Applejack proudly said.

Twilight just stared at her in silence, unsure if she should press the matter further with the fact that was plain silly. "Sergeant Rainbow Dash, how about you?"

"I joined up after Applejack did," Rainbow Dash began, crossing her hooves. "Thought if she could do it, I could too. Besides, the Watch would need Equestria's best flyer obviously. When I'm off duty, I tend to the weather with other pegasi from Cloudsdale."

"Ah good, some bravado, that's refreshing!" Twilight exclaimed with a smile. "So, how is the weather looking?"

"Uh, well, some rain soon but other than that...sunny?"

"Lovely, Corproal Rarity, how about you?"

Rarity looked up from her cake and cleared her throat. "In my off time I design beautiful dresses and wonderful chapeaus. In fact that was the reason I joined the Watch. With Applejack and Rainbow Dash here, I figured they could use the sophistication. That and I need the money. While my lines of clothing are always glorious in every way, I simply cannot seem to sell my wares."

"How...mysterious," Twilight said, rubbing her head. This had to get better, right? "Corporal Derpy?"

The grey pegasus looked up from her cake, much like Rarity had, only with a muzzle covered in chocolate icing. "Well, I used to work as a mover here in Ponyville, but I was sacked after I delivered a few dozen couches to the wrong house. Then I worked for the post office, but I was sacked from that after I delivered a few dozen packages to the wrong house. Then I tried to be a baker, but I was sacked from that after I delivered a few dozen fires to the wrong house."

Twilight's mouth hung open before she shook her head and coughed a bit. "I take it there haven't been any bad deliveries since you've been here?"

"None yet, ma'am!" Derpy happily said, giving a sharp salute, albeit with the wrong hoof.

"Constable Fluttershy," Twilight said in exasperation.

"Oh, uhm, I'm nohufdhakf-" her voice trailed off as she meekly stared to the ground.

"Her name is Fluttershy, she works as a veterinarian of sorts in her off time. She also has this freaky ability to speak to animals. Trust me ma'am, this would have taken forever trying to get it out of her."

"I would have rather heard it from her, though," Twilight stated with a twinge of anger.

"Oh, no, it's quite all right," Fluttershy answered, nearly sounding like a whisper.

Twilight grit her teeth a bit, determined not to blow a gasket. "Constable Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie hopped up suddenly, excitement in her eyes. "I'm Pinkie Pie! Or, Constable Pinkie Pie when I'm working here! When I'm not, I'm baking yummy treats at Sugar Cube Corner with Mister and Missus Cake! In fact, I was there earlier making this delicious cake! Well, it was being made anyway, but I helped make it! It was for a birthday, but it turns out the family didn't want a cake so I just took it. That's why it says Happy Birthday, even though it's not your birthday!"

Pinkie continued talking without taking a breath. She yammered on further about the finer details of the cake. Twilight in the meantime stood up from her spot and walked towards the stairs at the end of the room behind the desk. What followed, besides the uninterrupted voice of Pinkie was hooves going up the stairs. They could swear that as soon as the door opened upstairs though, there was the distinct sound of a head being banged against a desk. Finally, Pinkie was quiet, smiling brightly and looking around the group.

Twilight returned shortly and rubbed her temples. It was night outside, she was tired and prepared to turn in for the night. All of these ponies were driving away what little bit of her precious sanity she still clung desperately to.

"Is there a night's watch?" she asked into the room, her head in her hooves.

"No ma'am," Applejack answered. "Never a night's watch on Sunday's. Only durin' th' week an' Saturday nights. Schedules posted on th' back wall."

"Very well," Twilight said. "You'll all report back here at eight in the morning tomorrow, sharp. Do not be late. No excuses, no days off. You'll be expected to be wearing your best uniform, that means polished breastplate and helmet."

"Ma'am?" Sergeant Rainbow Dash piped up.

"Yes, Sergeant?"

"These are our only uniforms."

Twilight ran her hooves down her face. "Very well, bring your uniforms in tomorrow morning, I shall inspect and find faults and those faults will be corrected tomorrow. Until then head home and get rest. We'll do everything official tomorrow."

The six ponies looked to one another as Twilight moved back upstairs. With a few shrugs, they dispersed and headed out of the Watch house, closing the door behind them. Upstairs, Twilight opened the door to her office once more and saw Spike busily unpacking all of their items and neatly putting them away. Twilight lifted the hat and breastplate from her body, both glowing pale purple with her magic. Setting them beside her new bed, she climbed up on top of it and groaned, finally getting off of her hooves.

"I'm guessing everything is going well like you predicted," Spike said with a smirk.

"Yes, Spike, I always enjoy hugging desks with my face," Twilight said sarcastically as she wrapped herself up in her blanket. "Let's finish all this up in the morning, Spike."

Spike placed his hands on his sides and frowned. With the shake of his head, he set up his bed and fluffed both the pillow and the small mattress in the basket. With blanket in claw, he settled in and stared up at the ceiling. Before he drifted off to sleep, he silently hoped to himself that Twilight would eventually get out of this funk and get back to her old self soon.

The pale moon sat low in the sky casting long shadows along the ground around Ponyville. Among the darkness ran a lone black cloaked figure, galloping across the town square towards a home with two candles burning in the window. The figure knocked once, twice, one -half times. A mail slot on the door was opened as two eyes peered up. The door opened to a dim room and another hooded figure who let the other off the street.

Inside the room stood many more hooded figures, about five of them. One of them, the most important of hooded figures, stood behind a podium with a banner that had a crescent moon embroidered on it. With the door shut, the figures gathered around the podium. The shadowy mare behind the podium looks around the group and frowns behind the darkness of her hood.

"Where is Shadow Five?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"You mean Sterlin' Silver?" a hooded pony spoke up. "He's got a sick one, he does. His little filly has come down with somethin', and the missus won't let him outta the house for nothin'."

The hooded mare placed a hoof on her head and sighed. "You do know there's a reason we don't use everyone's real names, right?"

"I thought it was because it's a stereotypical trope common among shadowy figures meetin' in a dark house," the hooded pony said again before another one next to him spoke up.

"Now that's just silly," she said. "Are you saying we're just like something out of a Daring Do novel? One of those shadowy cults on about getting shiny trinkets and summoning some sort of terrible curse? Next we'll be one of those technicolour moving pictures about vegetables and friendship you watch."

"Now who's being silly?" he replied with a frown. "All I'm simply saying is we're the existential personification of fictional characters."

"Enough!" the mare behind the podium cried, slamming her hooves into it. "We gathered to discuss our progress, not to discuss made up words!"

The group settled once more, turning their eyes towards the mare behind the podium.

"Now that I have your attention again," she said with a sneer showing through the shadow of her hood. "We are soon upon the day that Nightmare Moon will return to us to face her sister Princess Celestia and take the kingdom back. Night time shall reign eternal and we shall be holding all the cards."

"Excuse me?" a hooded stallion said, raising his hoof.

The mare groaned, knowing she was going to regret asking. "Yes?"

"Why do we want eternal night, again?"

"Because we're a cult of the night? It's a bit daft to be a cult of the night with the day time always hanging around."

"Oh yeah..." the stallion said as the mare behind the podium groaned again. This was far too simple, but these were the members she could get.

"I've been assured we shall have full control over all aspects of Ponyville once we have summoned Nightmare Moon," the mare behind the podium stated. "One she has returned, we shall rule over Ponyville, sitting comfortably while the rest of them suffer beneath the moonlight. Once the summer sun celebration has arrived, we shall have more than enough captives to perform the ceremony and bring our glorious princess back to her rightful place on the throne."

There seemed to be a general agreement and nodding amongst the other shadow figures in the house. The mare behind the podium let out a slow, steady breath, trying to keep herself calm. There were several other topics, such as talk of a bake sale or perhaps even a cook out, all of which were shot down due to it being rather difficult to get stains out of their cloaks. They would rather have clean hoods and robes for when Nightmare Moon returned.

The meeting was soon dismissed, leaving the hooded mare behind the podium to shut the door after making certain there was no evidence they had ever been in that house. Now on the street, she silently made her way towards the edge of town, ducking and dodging lights and any stragglers that might have caught sight of the suspicious pony, suspiciously dressed and skulking about rather suspiciously.

She soon reached a small cart on the edge of town and walked inside. All about the cart were posters and flyers promising prestidigitation and tricks to astound. The hood was hung up neatly on a rack as she came to a mirror and grinned at her reflection.

"They're all fools," she muttered to herself. "As soon as their goods are mine, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall perform her greatest vanishing act of all time!"

Her laughter filled the cabin but was quickly silenced by a yawn. It was late; she would laugh menacingly in the morning.

Chapter II: Cults and Mares and Kidnappings, Oh My!

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"Twilight, come on, get up!" Spike pleaded as he shook the bed. Contained beneath the sheets like a tightly wound burrito was Twilight, now groaning and muttering what Spike could only conceive were the usual threats of death and injury. Twilight poked her head out from the coiled mess, turning her bloodshot, purple eyes down to the baby dragon. As the world came into focus and stopped doing that wobbly thing she always hated, her eyes then trailed along the inside of the office. Sunlight came in through the window beside her bed, illuminating her surroundings.

"Spike, I don't have to get up," Twilight managed to say as she rubbed her eyes. "I don't have to get up because this is a dream. There is no way yesterday was real and that I am still in this blasted Watch house. I am going to go back to sleep now, and if you touch me or rouse me anymore, I'm going to show you just how interesting a dragon can look when it's turned into a frog."

Spike rolled his eyes as Twilight sank back into her bed. He grasped the sheets and managed to get them half way off of Twilight, who flailed around in protest.

"You have to get up, it's forty-five past and the other ponies are downstairs waiting on you!" he shouted, snatching more of the cover off of Twilight who bit down on the last remaining piece of fabric and tugged at it childishly. The two wrestled with the sheet before Spike couldn't pull anymore and was tossed onto his bottom.

Twilight relaxed once more as the sheet floated gently back down onto her body. She heard Spike give a huff and stomp off, content in the fact she had just been victorious. She began to drift back to sleep, the idea that she'll eventually wake up back in her own bed back in Canterlot at the forefront of her mind. At least until Spike returned.

Her mind compounded the next few seconds as though there were a small committee in her head mulling over the decisions. First came the cold, that was a bother that sent her flying out of her nice warm bed. Then there was the overall wet feeling that made her think a leak had been sprung somewhere in the tree. The overwhelming rage came then, eyes trained on Spike who held a bucket and attempted to conceal his laughter.

Several terrible thoughts swam in Twilight's head, several of which involved turning Spike into various objects like a paper weight or something more sinister, like tying him to a rock and doing research on gravity. It was all interrupted by a knock at the door, one Twilight thought to ignore until it came again louder.

"What!?" Twilight bellowed, her crazed eyes turning towards the door.

As it opened, Twilight peaked in from the crack and looked at the odd scene. "Erm, ma'am? We've been here since eight like ya said ya wanted us. Jus' wonderin' when we're gonna start though."

Twilight shut her eyes and took a deep breath. As the air left her body she sat down on the floor and nodded.

"I'll be there shortly," she said.

Applejack nodded and slowly shrank back out of the office, closing the door behind her. Twilight trained her eyes back on Spike who was still standing over the bed with the bucket. He braced himself for whatever she might do, but she simply walked on by and moved to the shiny breastplate she'd worn the other day and floated it to her to put on. Spike let out a sigh of relief and set the bucket down to walk to her and help out. With her strapped in, Spike snapped his claws and quickly ran to a locker that sat in the corner.

"I almost forgot!" he said excitedly, rummaging through the locker for a moment before producing a helm of copper and iron that looked much like the helms of the other ponies. This one, however, was adorned with three feathers of brilliant colours. Twilight frowned as she stared at it.

"The devil is that?" she asked incredulously.

"It's the official hat of the Watch captain!" Spike exclaimed, rushing towards Twilight with it in claw.

"It looks like a bird gave up on life, I'm not putting that silly thing on my head," she said now turning to the mirror in the office to make certain she was at least presentable through all the water. "I already wore that one hat for the princess, and only after she asked so nicely I couldn't turn her down. No more feathers, I'm sick of looking like a cockatiel trying to find a suitable mate."

"Twilight, it's tradition!" Spike encouraged, trying to pass the hat off to her again.

"It's bloody stupid and you won't be seeing me going about with a peacock's bottom on my head again!"

The door shut behind Twilight as she exited the office. Nestled securely on her head was the helmet of office. She'd forgotten just how persuasive Spike could be when he flashed those giant, wet eyes at her. Below the stairs she could see the various officers of the Watch milling about before Rainbow Dash caught sight of her coming down. Quickly, she swooped to the front of the group and puffed out her chest.

"Groupten'hut!" she shouted, the words practically spilling from her mouth as the ponies lined up. Rainbow Dash turned and gave a crisp salute to Twilight who had made her way down and moved in front of Rainbow Dash, returning the salute.

"Right, fall in," Twilight said as Rainbow Dash nodded and swooped to her place in line. Well, it was line-ish. It had line like properties. It was the kind of line you'd expect a three year old with too much sugar in their system and a box of crayons to draw rabidly on a wall. Not that it mattered much to Twilight, who rubbed her head looking over the sorry lot.

If she had to describe them in a word, she couldn't do it. There was no such word in the English language for what they looked like. Like a gang of lost puppies who decided to dress up and play "Copper". Their gormless expressions only served her point as she inspected each one closely, save for Fluttershy who crumpled beneath the judgmental gaze of Twilight. Returning to the forefront of the line, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Right, I know that yesterday was a bit odd and unsettling for a lot of you," she started, trying her best not to sound bored already with herself. "New captain, new rules and such. However, you're all members of the Watch, something to be proud of! You're not just average citizens, you're officers upholding the law! From what I've heard this is a town sorely in need of some law and swift, by-the-book action! Speaking of which, you all have your manuals right?"

The empty gazes and silence clued her in that they were utterly lost. Twilight's jaw hung open, trying to find words to say before Applejack clopped her hooves together and nodded.

"Oh right! I remember that thing! Got it th' day I arrived!" she exclaimed proudly. "Big book, 'bout so wide and so tall. Shoot, we're usin' mine to keep the desk down in the cells steady!"

"Th-The desk in the cells!?" Twilight sputtered.

"I'm using it to keep my house from wobbling!" Pinkie exclaimed bounding excitedly.

Twilight looked ready to explode and it hadn't even been ten minutes into this inspection. Sharply, she took a breath in and steadily released it, trying to focus herself and not go absolutely bananas. The group was now still, watching their new captain with trepidation. As she gathered herself, Twilight turned back to the group and pointed towards Applejack.

"Sergeant, retrieve your book," she said, the distinct sound of patience slowly being leaked like air out of a balloon heard.

"Yes ma'am!" Applejack saluted and moved out of line to head down into the cells. Twilight took this moment to bring herself down. It was barely after nine and all ready she was prepared to call it quits, send everyone home and drink until this nightmare went away. Kidnappings worked themselves out anyway, right? The kidnapper would eventually get bored with whomever they captured and Bob's your uncle, the poor sod is home.

Applejack swiftly returned with the book tucked in her breastplate. Twilight lifted it from her, floating it towards her covered in pale purple magic. Flipping it open, she shifted her eyes through the text to see rules for dress and appearance. More pages flipped furiously before she came to the point she was looking for.

"Article 4-9 stroke J subsection 4 paragraph iii line 1: Adherence to proper grooming and standards shall be upheld by every member of the Watch at all times!" Twilight stated as she looked back up to the group. "You all look like you just crawled out of bed and settled for whatever you set your hooves into first. Breastplates not polished, hats might as well be scrapped and made into something useful like bedpans and your truncheons look like twigs you snapped off a tree."

"Mine is a tree branch, ma'am," Derpy spoke up.

"Wh-Why!?" Twilight asked, the exasperation settling back in comfortably.

"They didn't have any more to hand out so Captain Boltrider told me to find a branch," she said.

Twilight swore by the end of the day her teeth would become powder from all the grinding and gnashing. Somewhere in her head there was a small pony with a lever and an alarm prepared to throw the switch and send her into a blind rage of spewing caustic words seasoned heavily with expletives. Deciding this would be bad in not only the first day but the first actual hour spent with the Watch, she looked to Rainbow Dash.

"Sergeant Rainbow Dash, please tell me we have sandpaper as well as polish and rags," she said.

"Yes ma'am, in the supply closet!" Rainbow Dash answered proudly.

"This is your task from now until you're done," Twilight said with a huff. "You will remove your armor, sit right where you are and you will sand the rust off that armor and then polish it until it's so shiny it hurts to look at! Clear!?"

"Yes ma'am!" the group shouted loudly.

"Good, Sergeant Rainbow Dash you're in charge until I return from patrol," she said looking to Rainbow Dash, who saluted.

As Twilight moved to the door, her mind laden with burden and strife, she could hear Rainbow Dash shouting at the others to move their lazy bottoms to the supply closet and get cracking on the armor. A relief, to Twilight, that at least someone had some zeal about them.

**********

On the edge of the Everfree Forest a mint coloured pony played gleefully in a rousing game of hide and seek. She giggled to herself as she stealthily plunged into a bush for cover. The sound of her friend counting down could still slightly be heard. Her eyes peered out from the bush and watched as her friend finished the counting and looked around confused as to where her friends went. She watched her gallop off in the opposite direction as her with a satisfied grin. It would be a while before she would be found, so she took the opportunity to relax.

A rustling caught her attention, however. Poking her head out from the bush, she looked around, wondering if one of her friends had gotten the idea to relocate. She saw nothing though, save for a light movement of leaves caught on a high wind in the trees. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Minuette, is that you?" she asked cautiously. Her worried gaze ran along the tops of the bushes before she sank back down into the one she was in. She tried to push it out of her mind before the sound came back and she rose once more with a frown.

"Hey! Quit messin' around whoever you are or else!" she shouted, fear being replaced by courage at whomever might be trying to pull one over on her. A long shadow stretched out beneath her though, making her eyes go wide and sweat form on her brow. A voice came as dark as night.

"Oh please, do go on," it said sinisterly. Before the pony could scream she was muffled and shrouded in darkness with nary a soul to have seen the deed carried out.

**********

Twilight ambled into the street of Ponyville, thankful not only for the air but also the serenity a small town could bring. It was almost enough to make her forget all about the chaos she'd just left behind. Almost. She was still a long way from her comfortable life in Canterlot, trapped in the drab sticks of a "homely" sort of town. In her mind, the only person she could even closely relate to by this point would be Corporal Rarity were she not so...snobbish. That was the word.

Her feet plodded along the dirt of Ponyville, proudly moving on her patrol. Absentmindedly she looked this way and that, not really for trouble, but more to give the rest of her body something to do. How could there be so many reports of kidnappings here? Who in Equestria would want to torment a rustic town like this?

Twilight's mind ran over the ideas of the why. Certainly whomever was responsible had their reasons. Generally these things were over money and a ransom note was sent or left at the scene. Twilight hadn't heard anything of the sort though. Three kidnappings in the last two months with no letter or clue as to who or even what was doing it. She stopped in her tracks and put a hoof to her chin. That was an interesting thought. Everyone was scrambling to find a "who" to put with the kidnappings, why not a what?

Twilight perked up a little and trotted off gleefully. That had to be it! This wasn't a case of who, but what! There was obviously an animal or some such capturing ponies and probably eating them! It was so simple! Her face soured a little, realizing she was actually happy at the thought that an animal could have been strolling through the town and devouring ponies.

She turned a corner and continued along, attempting to return to the more pleasant points of what it could all mean for her. Those ponies could turn up in a cave somewhere that belonged to a bear after a brief search. By that point the Watch would be at least looking competent enough to fool even the most trained eye. Before the week was up, she would be back in Canterlot with everything a distant memory here in Ponyville. It was almost too perfect to imagine!

Twilight continued her musings as she wandered the streets with no incident. Occasionally she would be stopped by ponies greeting her kindly and exchange a few words. Sometimes ask questions about what the average citizen knew or thought of the recent kidnappings. Most of what she heard were strange tales of shadow folk at night dashing in and out of the darkness and a tale about the old Mare in the Moon nonsense. This made her eyes roll so hard she thought she'd lose them.

Beyond the charming nature of these stories lay nothing but rubbish meant to scare young colts and fillies into doing their homework or not eating sweets before bed. Much to her chagrin, many of the ponies she encountered feverishly defended the truthful nature of the stories, saying that within the week of the Summer Sun Festival the Mare in the Moon would return to reclaim the throne.

As if some moon-lit tart could do that! Twilight thought to herself with a huff. She knew Celestia well, knew the kind of princess she was. Always smiling, but it was a devious sort of smile. Nothing inherently evil, just a plotting sort of smile. What was even more frightening to Twilight was she had never seen Celestia angry over anything. It was as though nothing got to her. She always had that same motherly tone to her. She could honestly have tacked on the wings and glued on a horn and Twilight was certain no one would question her status as a princess.

The hours had flown by as Twilight began to wind down the patrol in the mid afternoon. She felt she had a fairly good grasp of the town's layout as well. Of course hours of aimlessly meandering can do that to one's sense of direction. As she strode back, she wondered if Sergeant Rainbow Dash had also fed the Watch during her absence. The last thing she'd want to come back to was complaints of an unfair work environment and slave driving without proper breaks. Her mind was heavy again, an issue she'd hoped to correct with this stroll.

**********

The muffled cries of other ponies could be heard through the darkness as the mint coloured pony whimpered beneath a darkened hood. She had no idea where she was, only that she was now amongst others and she'd stopped moving. Suddenly, the hood was removed, revealing a dark room full of dark figures standing about. One of them shuffled towards her menacingly. It towered above her as she flattened against the ground and looked up with dewy eyes.

"Excellent work Shadow Four," it said sharply. The mint pony couldn't see eyes, but she could certainly feel them.

"Happy to help, Shadow One!" the chipper stallion quipped as one of the other shadows slithered next to him and gave him a hoof bump.

Trixie rolled her eyes behind the darkness of the robes and returned her gaze to the mint pony before her, who shivered on the floor with her hooves above her head. A wicked grin slid across her face as she watched the pony tremble beneath her feet before stamping one hoof beside the mint ponies' head.

"So sorry my dear," she said with a smirk. "I'm afraid you'll have to get used to the darkness. Try not to cause too much trouble though, eh? We need you as a pawn in our grand scheme to bring Nightmare Moon back into this world. With all of you well in hand, our glorious leader will summon Nightmare Moon and dip the entire world into darkness! Imagine a world filled with shadow! A world run by Nightmare Moon and we as it’s heralds! While you non-believers sulk about in your eternal night, we shall reign supreme with a monopoly on all the goods of Equestria! When night falls, the Cult of Shadows shall reign, and everypony will have no choice but to bow to our hooves and kiss them!”

Trixie cackled as the other two stared at one another from their hoods. One of them cleared their throats as she realized she had been posing this entire time as though a fanfare of menacing instruments would suddenly echo through the room. Perhaps she would have to bring that up at the next meeting and make certain it became a thing.

“So relax for now,” Trixie said from beneath the hood, grinning once more. “Enjoy our comfortable living arrangements."

The mint pony felt herself grabbed by the mane and dragged back into another part of the room. The sound of creaking metal and a slamming echoed in the vacant space. Beside her, she could feel the others next to her as they huddled together and tried to forget the terrible position they were in. As she moved to the bars to try to pierce the darkness with her eyes, she heard the shuffling of hooves against stone and the closing of a door off in the distance.

The mint coloured pony sank back and stared at the ground. This was the worst game of hide and seek she'd ever played.

**********

The road below Twilight rolled along as she moved back towards the Watch House. Her mind was once again heavy with plans and grumblings about her fellow officers. The overall feeling that she should simply say forget it and go find these ponies herself weighed most prominently in her mind. These were the same ponies hired on to try to prevent this very thing from happening, right? Well, all but Derpy it seemed. For all Twilight knew she showed up and began playing along before being promoted and settled in as one of the familiar faces.

The shattering of glass tore Twilight from her thoughts. Her eyes looked upwards from their gloomy gaze to see a gathering of rather angry looking ponies just outside of the Watch house. She was beside herself, trying to figure out just what was going on. Galloping towards the madness, she saw Rainbow Dash's mane poke up a little before a rock parted it and it sank back into the window.

"Watch it!" Twilight shouted, now trying to shove past the angry crowd and get in front of the door to the Watch house. The group undulated with her passing, a few grim stares and curses uttered her way as she stopped right in front of the door and turned to them. She could feel the hate that was thick in the air. She did everything she could to choke back the unease and look strong against this assault.

"I am Captain Twilight Sparkle, what is the meaning of this?" she asked sternly, trying her best to return the stares she was receiving.

"Somepony got taken!" someone in the crowd shouted, causing the rest of the crowd to back it up jeers of "yeah!" and "that's right!"

"So you decided it would be a good idea to just storm up to the Watch house and throw rocks through our windows?" Twilight asked.

"The Watch never does anything for us!" another voice cried followed by more cheering.

Twilight kept her cool. She was only here a day and didn't know the Watch that well, but she had a feeling that claim was not entirely unfounded. She instead decided to change her stance, see if she could shift this in her favor.

"So instead of filing a formal complaint, you just wandered right up here and started smashing windows?" Twilight asked, awaiting this response.

"Yeah!" the crowd cheered in unison before a single voice came out of it. "We tried before and nothing was ever done about it!"

"That's a lie!" Corporal Rarity shouted from the window, aiming an accusing hoof out to the crowd. "Not a single pony out here ever tried to go through the right cha-"

She was cut off by having to duck another rock that was thrown right at her head. The situation was grim for sure as the mob churned and looked as though they were getting ready to storm the building as well as run over Twilight. She then did the only thing she could think of at that point.

"Spike!" she cried over the shouting crowd. It made them back away a moment, unsure of what a "spike" exactly was. To them it may have been a very large and muscled pony that would enforce the law in their own way, but the sight of the baby dragon poking his head out the window adorned with a pot for protection made some of them sigh in relief.

"Wh-What?" he asked nervously.

"I need you to take a letter," Twilight said with a grin.

"Twilight, I don't think this is the right time," he said, reluctantly reaching for a quill and parchment.

"Dear Princess Celestia," the name had the right reaction once she'd said it, as the crowd looked to one another. "I wish to report, hmm, let's see here. I'd say about, fifty of you?"

"Forty-one, actually!" a helpful shout came.

"Yes, forty-one, thank you. Forty-one guilty parties for the crimes of destruction of public property, obstruction of justice, failure to file a formal complaint and, hmm. Is anyone hurt?"

"My stomach is kinda rumbling!" Pinkie's voice came from inside the tree.

"Does it hurt?" Twilight asked, regretting she had slightly.

"...Yes. Yes it does."

"Right, add injury to an officer of the Watch," she said, now turning her gaze back onto the crowd. They had largely dispersed, leaving only a few ponies milling about. The rest of the Watch peered out from the shattered windows, relief washing over them to see the crowd had moved on from picking on them.

"Well then," Twilight said, adjusting the helmet on her head. "Would anyone left over like to give a formal complaint and show us where it all happened?"

"Yes, please!" a voice came from a beige coated pony. Twilight saw her face and the tears that stained it, now giving a worried glance.

"Corporal Rarity," Twilight said.

"Yes ma'am?" Rarity spoke up from the window.

"Take the report then get ready, all of you."

"Ma'am?" Applejack inquired.

"We're going to investigate the scene of the crime," Twilight said with what could be counted as enthusiasm.

The paperwork process was long and arduous, a part of the reason no one ever filed a formal complaint. Twilight sighed a bit; were she planning on staying longer she might just have to revitalize this. Lucky for her and her brilliance, she wouldn't have to stay! As time dragged on, the mare who called herself Bon Bon described a game of hide and seek they'd been playing before they noticed the victim, Lyra, was nowhere to be found. Twilight felt bad, especially if she was right about a bear or some horrid creature attacking the other ponies.

Finally the report had been filed and the investigation was ready to get underway. The Watchmares gathered their armor and helmets that, much to Twilight's amazement, now looked decent enough to be considered a uniform. Lead on by Bon Bon and Twilight, the Watch house emptied leaving Spike to clean up the broken glass and rocks that lay about the floor.

The group traveled towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked on to see if there were any signs of a struggle or animal markings. She frowned, though, finding none. Perhaps it was a giant bird?

"You're sure you saw her take off this way but not enter the forest?" Twilight asked.

"Uh huh!" Bon Bon answered. "She dove into a bush around here while Twinkleshine was counting at the tree over there."

"Right, Watch, line up," Twilight bellowed as the Watch formed in front of her. "Who here has done a proper investigation?"

Much as Twilight expected, no one raised their hooves.

"We did do a class on it one time," Fluttershy spoke up giving a nod.

"How long ago?" Twilight asked, already certain of the answer.

"Um, I don't really remember."

Twilight was wondering just how many times she'd sighed in disappointment over this sorry lot. "Okay, investigation isn't that difficult. You're basically looking around for anything that might be out of place. Think about your environment and think to yourself that when something just doesn't look right!"

The group nodded, seeming to grasp the concept.

"So it's like a game of hide the muffin!" Derpy exclaimed.

"Exactly like that Corporal," Twilight said, figuring it better to go with it. "Now, Sergeant Applejack, you're with me. Sergeant Rainbow Dash take Constable Fluttershy and Corporal Derpy with you and see if you can see something from the sky. Corporal Rarity, you're with Constable Pinkie Pie."

"Delighted," Rarity said with a modicum of disgust, which made Twilight giggle on the inside just ever so slightly.

"Fan out, look around and see if there's anything that's out of place," Twilight said as the group took off and trotted away to search the area. Applejack made her way next to Twilight and looked at the others.

"What do ya think we'll find ma'am?" Applejack asked giving Twilight a sidelong glance.

"Animal tracks," Twilight said proudly.

"Ma'am?"

"Obviously whatever has been kidnapping these ponies hasn't been doing it for anything that anypony would want. To me that rules out other ponies wanting to kidnap somepony for ransom or what not. Logically, this only leaves wild animals who've come and..."

Twilight trailed off as she noticed Bon Bon staring at them quivering. Perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas to speak loudly of one's ideations on death and dismemberment by way of wild animals. Especially in front of those that might be a bit sensitive to it.

"Just follow me," Twilight said, moving towards the bushes on the edge of the forest. "We'll no doubt find tracks and anything else that might lead us right to a nest or den and to the rest of the kidnapped ponies."

And right out of this one horse town. Twilight thought to herself, gleeful at not only the pun she'd thought up but also the thought of heading back to Canterlot. Turning her focus down to the bushes, she pushed a few of them aside, looking around for anything that would possibly indicate a large, hulking creature snatched up the poor dear. She found nothing though, no snapped branches, no leaves out of order, even the bugs nestled within seemed undisturbed.

"Captain!" Pinkie shouted suddenly. "We found something!"

Twilight perked up and felt relief. Bear tracks, it had to be bear tracks. She trotted over, sure-hearted of the evidence. What she got, however, was something far stranger and indicative of something far more sinister. There, pressed into the ground were what looked like long drag marks. Twilight felt her heart sink as she stared at them. Wagon, yes, a wagon came through! Her eyes turned downward to her own hooves. They were the perfect spacing for a pony to have been dragged against their will.

"Captain!" Applejack shouted, galloping towards her. Twilight was shaken from her thoughts as the orange mare indicated towards her teeth. Twilight reached out a hoof and deposited in it was a black shred of cloth.

"Where?" she asked, almost sounding out of it.

"The bush back there, ma'am," Applejack said, pointing towards the area she'd just been searching.

Twilight tumbled back, the shred of cloth still in her hoof. Her eyes went from it to the drag marks back and forth for a few moments. Her mind swam, trying to piece this all together rationally. Twilight's pragmatic mind began to kick in and take over. The drag marks, suspicious cloth tangled up in the brush looking fresh and worst of all a lack of animal tracks. Her gaze seemed distant as she stared at nothing.

"Hey, Captain?" Pinkie said, poking her a bit. "You okay? Did you zone out? I zone out, like a lot, let me tell you. Sometimes I'll be sitting there and thinking to myself and then the next thing I know the whole day went by! Usually happens on patrol. I remember one t-"

"Constable," Twilight said flatly. Pinkie looked down to her only watch as Twilight pursed her lips and made a shushing motion with her hoof. "Sergeant?"

"Ma'am?" Applejack asked.

"Call Sergeant Rainbow Dash and the others back in."

Applejack nodded and trotted off to yell as loud as she could to get the attention of the flyers. Corporal Rarity moved next to Twilight and looked to the cloth for a moment.

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" she asked, giving Twilight a concerned look.

"I'm going to be stuck here, Corporal," she said before laying back and staring up at the sky. "I'm going to be stuck here forever with you lot."

"We should throw a party then!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping up and down excitedly. Twilight ran a hoof down her face, the thought of another party or any sort of joviality escaping her. Bon Bon, in the meantime, was still standing by, trying to figure out just what was going on and if she'd made some sort of grand mistake going to the Watch instead of hiring someone to find her friend.

As the pegasi landed, Twilight had gotten up and was now in the process of rubbing her forehead. If she'd had fingers, she would certain be pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"All right," she said finally. "This is what we're going to do. Tomorrow we meet eight o'clock in the morning once again. You bring your truncheons and your manuals. You bring those helmets and breastplates, nice and shiny. I want you to keep working on them. Tomorrow we're going to go by the book. Tomorrow we're going to make officers of the law out of all of you."

She got to her hooves and nodded to Sergeant Rainbow Dash before turning to Bon Bon and wandering over to her.

"Watchdismissed!" Rainbow Dash belted out as the Watch scattered in their various directions.

"Ma'am?" Twilight said as Bon Bon looked to her with a weak smile. Twilight pursed her lips and exhaled sharply. Dealing with friends and family, investigations, all of it was awkward and uncomfortable to her. Bon Bon wiped her eyes and shrank a little.

"A-Apologies Captain, I just hope she's okay," Bon Bon said as Twilight nodded.

"Don't worry ma'am, we'll find her," Twilight said with an assuring nod and pat of her hoof on the mare's back.

With that, Twilight escorted Bon Bon back to her home and made certain she was safe. As she headed back to the Watch house, she stared down at the ground in thought. The animal thing was a pipe dream; this was serious though. Someone actually capturing ponies for some purpose. It was time to learn a thing or two. Her walk came to a trot as she quickly came to the lit up Watch house and opened the door.

Inside, Spike was tidying up the last of the glass and rock that was spread around on the floor. She was amazed at just how much the tiny dragon had gotten done.

"Spike, I need you to gather all the materials you can concerning the Watch," she said as he tossed the broom and pan aside.

"What's up?" he asked curiously.

"We've got an actual case on our hooves, and if I'm going to train these ponies then I need to know just what they need to be trained on. I'll need the manuals, every version of them. I'll need paper, ink and a quill. I'll also need coffee, lots of it."

Spike happily nodded and set off to his work. Twilight in the meantime climbed up the stairs removing the helmet which she regarded with a sneer. As the door opened, her helmet and breastplate were set to the side and she sat down behind the desk. She was prepared to do exactly what needed to be done, even if it took her all bloody night.

Chapter III: Close Encounters of a Shadowy Nature

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Twilight Sparkle snorted loudly as a knock woke her from her sleep. A line of drool snapped as it was broken between her lips and the Watch manual she'd been determined to study. She frantically tried to find a clock or some indication of the time it was. The lamp still burned on her desk and as she sleepily looked towards the window she saw the sun hadn't come up yet. It was still the middle of the night. Behind her, she heard the snores of Spike who muttered and turned over, clutching his blanket tighter. Twilight rubbed her face and looked back to the door.

"Come," she said silently as the door squeaked open slowly. Through the crack, Applejack popped her head in curiously.

"Evenin' ma'am, thought you'd gone to bed," she said before walking in fully.

"N-No, I was up going over a few things," Twilight said looking to the book that had become her pillow temporarily. Only on the first chapter and she'd already drifted off. She ran a hoof along her mane and sighed. "What about you, what are you doing here so late?"

"I'm on night's watch ma'am," she said with a grin. "I came in for a quick break before patrol an' saw fresh coffee along with th' light comin' from th' bottom of yer door. Thought somethin' was wrong."

"Nothing wrong, not exactly," Twilight said now focused on the drool stain she left behind.

"I got a bit before I start another patrol, ya'll got somethin' ya need off yer chest?" Applejack asked moving to the front of the desk with a look of concern.

"Well," Twilight began, her voice trailing off trying to figure out if she should.

"Ya'll can trust me, Cap'n," Applejack nodded firmly.

"I just have no idea why I'm here, Sergeant," Twilight said. "Princess Celestia sent me here thinking that I’ll still be really good at keeping things in tidy order and making schedules and organizing. I just don't feel like I am anymore. I have no idea how to do anything of a police nature, I even fell asleep trying to read the manual in hopes it would give me some guidance. Now I've got nothing but a headache and a bunch of ponies I know nothing about and have no direction to give them. It feels like you and Sergeant Rainbow Dash are the only ones I can count on, but that's not enough."

"Well ma'am, yer not th' first they sent here from Canterlot," Applejack said, trying to be as comforting as she could.

"What did the other captains do?" Twilight asked, now genuinely curious.

"At first there was Cap'n Midnight, he formed the Watch on order from the Princess after all the kidnappin's a year ago. He fell down a well. Then there was Cap'n Shines, she was a good one, jus' a shame about th' manticore gobblin' her up. Then there was Cap'n Boltrider who was th' last one. He got done in by his wife."

Twilight winced at the grisly tale of the last few captains before her. "That's rather unsettling."

"To be honest ma'am, we weren't expectin' another cap'n to get assigned to us," Applejack said.

"Well, here I am now," she said bringing her eyes back to the desk. "For who knows how long. I was so certain this was an animal attack or something."

"Well, Constable Fluttershy prolly woulda told us if it was an animal."

"Of course," Twilight replied thinly, exasperation washing over her. She rested her head on the desk and idly rubbed her head. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Applejack turned and began to walk towards the door. She halted as soon as she got to it though, and turned a bit.

"Sergeant Rainbow Dash an' I are here if ya'll need us, ma'am. Don't you worry none, we'll figure this case out."

"Oh, Sergeant," Twilight said, looking up to her for a moment.

"Ma'am?"

"I'm assuming with the night watch, you won't be here tomorrow, will you?"

"No ma'am, at least one day for recovery."

"Right, of course," Twilight said.

With that, Applejack was out the door and down the stairs leaving Twilight in her office with her head still on the book. What she hadn't wanted to say all this time she let out to someone she'd only known for a day and a half. She hated admitting when she was in over her head, but this was different. At one point she wouldn't have been this disorganized and all over the place. Of course, she wasn't facing a kidnapper then.

If this were the old days, she'd have read every last book she could get her hooves on about the Watch and know it front to back. She would know every last detail of how to work a job like this and wouldn't feel as lost as everyone else she seemed to work with. She felt like she was being swallowed alive by some terrible, remorseless creature. Her hooves moved to her face as her eyes turned back to the book in front of her.

She would have to figure something out. Go by it step by step until she got her groove back. She had to keep in mind just how important this all was. Ponies were missing, their lives were in her hooves as well as the rest of the Watch. That thought alone was enough to frighten her a tad. It was the way things were though, no matter how terrifying it may seem that they were what would stand between injustice and society crumbling around them.

Hours soon began to crawl by as Twilight flipped through the book. With every page, information was devoured by her brain. She felt renewed again! She felt like this would be it, that she would no doubt learn all she could. She seethed with a new purpose. Each bit of new knowledge planted in her mind as she tore through the book. She took a sip of the cool coffee next to her and recoiled. She'd need a fresh cup to continue. With a nod, she grabbed the cup and took it with her downstairs to refill it.

Twilight felt herself suddenly jostled from sleep by tiny clawed hands. She blinked and snorted, her head rising from her desk once more, another line of drool snapping between her and the book. Letting out a sudden, unintelligible grunt, she slammed her head down onto the book and released a muffled scream. Spike, through all this, recoiled in the thought she might try to throw him again.

"Spike," she muttered from the book.

"Yes, Twilight?" he asked, looking for the nearest convenient cover.

"What time is it?"

"Seven-thirty in the morning."

Twilight looked to Spike as he recoiled again. She had bags beneath her eyes and her hair was completely frizzed. To Spike, she looked like the kind of pony you see hiding in a dark alley wondering whose head would look the best for her collection. It was possible Twilight felt that way as well given how exhausted she was. None of last night had gone the way she wanted and she was no closer to figuring out what to do with the day. There was evidence to go over, but it wasn't very much. A torn piece of cloth was the equivalent of finding a discarded wrapper in Twilight's eyes. Still, she couldn’t discredit it.

After some grooming and making herself somewhat presentable, she popped on her breastplate and begrudgingly rested the helmet on her head. With a nod of affirmation in the mirror, she turned to head down the stairs. Sergeant Rainbow Dash was already downstairs and waiting. She fluttered into the air and puffed out her chest to give a sharp salute which Twilight returned in kind.

"Ma'am, good to see you up this morning," she said still floating in the air.

"You as well Sergeant, how did you sleep?" Twilight asked, trying to at least feign interest and some modicum of friendliness.

"Like a foal, ma'am," Rainbow Dash answered sharply.

Twilight nodded before letting out a long yawn, grabbing a cup of coffee to aid her in waking up. She turned to see the door opening as the miracle liquid ran down her throat with a lovely warming sensation. Fluttershy made her way in meekly, being greeted by an eyeroll from Sergeant Rainbow Dash and a nod by Captain Twilight. She nodded and sat off to the side silently before Twilight moved over towards her and cleared her throat. The response given was Fluttershy promptly standing up and nervously giving a salute.

"N-No need for that Constable, merely coming over to see how your evening was," Twilight said, wondering just what the pony wasn't afraid of.

"It uhm, it was fine," she said, shrinking away a bit.

"Oh, come now Constable, no need to be shying away from me," Twilight said, finding it in herself to sound cheerful. "After all, we're working together here and it helps to know one another a bit, eh?"

Fluttershy nodded, now staying quiet and curled up in her own little ball. Twilight held her smile somehow as she turned away and walked back to the desk. She turned her eyes up towards it, noticing the big "Welcome" sign she'd seen from the night before was still hanging up. Her mouth opened and closed as though words were desperately trying to climb out. All she could do was point at it and look back to the two officers with her.

"Oh, that's been there, ma'am," Rainbow Dash said. "It wasn't just hung up because you were coming in."

"Why do we have a welcome sign on our front desk?" Twilight sputtered.

"Constable Pinkie Pie added it; said it would make people more welcome when they walked in."

"Does it?" Twilight asked desperately.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Not sure, ma'am. I think most people ignore it when they come in. If they come in."

Twilight groaned as the door opened and Corporal Rarity along with Corporal Derpy walked in. Twilight turned her eyes to the giant clock just above the desk, taking note it was five minutes till. She took another sip to calm her frayed nerves before the door swung open to streamers and balloons flying in. Constable Pinkie Pie grinned wide as she strolled in and greeted the Watch with a bright cheer of "Hello!"

With everyone now assembled, Rainbow Dash did her usual of lining everyone up and calling them to attention. Twilight finished up her coffee and took over, stepping in front of the group. She looked them over for a brief moment, taking note they'd actually brought their truncheons (or tree branch in Derpy's case) and manuals stuffed in their breastplates.

"Well, it seems everyone is here and on time and has brought what I asked them," she began. "Which is good, because that means we can go straight into our lesson for today. You all managed to get your uniforms in order and looking somewhat decent. You look like the Watch, but now you need to act like the Watch."

"Yes ma'am!" they said.

"We're going to go over proper procedure for arresting a suspect. Corporal Derpy, Sergeant Rainbow Dash, front and center. Right, now turn to face the group, good. Sergeant, the Corporal here is your suspect. It's suspected she stole food from a vendor, now, show me the proper way of dealing with this."

Rainbow Dash nodded and in the blink of an eye she tackled Derpy to the ground and was pulling at her mane. Derpy flailed beneath her, trying to wiggle out from under the mare as she cried out from her mane being pulled. Twilight smacked herself on her forehead with her hoof at the display.

"Right, break it up!" Twilight shouted as Rainbow moved away from Derpy, who was tenderly rubbing her head. "Sergeant, you cannot be serious!"

"She stole ma'am, that's a pretty big offense!" Rainbow Dash replied proudly.

"I said she was suspected of stealing, not that she had actually stolen anything! For all you know you just attacked an innocent person on their way to take flowers to their sick Gran! Now they're going to get to their Gran and have her worried about the bruises and distinct lack of hair in one part of their mane!"

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash said before picking Derpy up and setting her right on her hooves. "Apologies ma'am, have a nice day and say hello to your Gran for me."

"Oh, it's quite all right," Derpy said, still rubbing her head.

"This isn't quite the point I was getting at, Sergeant," Twilight said with a sigh. "Back in line, Corporal Rarity and Constable Fluttershy, you're up."

Derpy and Rainbow Dash fluttered back towards the line as Rarity and Fluttershy took their place. Twilight thought for a moment before grinning and nodding.

"We'll do something simple. Rarity has just had something stolen from her shop, Constable Fluttershy, you're patrolling when she flags you down to tell you. Show me how you handle the situation."

Rarity and Fluttershy stared at one another for a moment before Rarity suddenly flopped onto her back dramatically and began sobbing.

"Oh officer!" she mewled. "It's so dreadfully terrible! All of my dresses were stolen from me and taken for some nefarious ne'er-do-well's plot! No doubt to take over all of Ponyville with high fashion!"

Fluttershy blinked for a few moments at Rarity who beckoned her to do something.

"O-Oh, that's terrible," Fluttershy muttered, eliciting groans from her peers.

Rarity stared back at her blankly before she spun onto her stomach and reached up to pull Fluttershy down to her level. "You must help me, officer! For if I do not get those dresses back I will surely lose my shop and my poor sick mum will kick the bucket! She's all I have left in this cruel world! Please, officer! Plu-lee-hee-hease!"

"Um, o-okay," Fluttershy said meekly before Twilight let out a grunt.

"While not as violent as Sergeant Rainbow Dash's approach, still not good enough Constable," Twilight said, rubbing her temples. "Far too timid, you need to be able to question somepony about what happened. Get some leads, find some evidence, something!"

Twilight felt proud of herself there, sounding a bit more like a true copper. Granted, she was really going off of what would make sense at the time, but she decided to cash in early before she got in over her head with questions.

"Sergeant Rainbow Dash, go over proper procedure when handling the general public if you would be so kind. I will perform a patrol to make certain something else hasn't happened while we've been here."

Rainbow Dash saluted crisply as they got their manuals out to the proper pages. Twilight could use this opportunity to not only patrol, but also find a quiet place to read herself. As she looked about, she noted that Ponyville seemed less lively than when she'd first arrived. Perhaps after so many kidnappings ponies were finally staying indoors unless necessary. A twinge of pity came over Twilight for a brief moment before she shook her head and trotted off to find herself a tree.

They weren't in short supply, the trees. But there had to be the perfect one that offered that proper balance of shade and light. She came upon what looked to be a park and grinned, finally, a nice place to settle down and relax. The manual floated out of her breastplate and settled on the ground before her. Resting herself on the ground, she flipped through a few pages to get to the chapter the others were working.

Her eyes ran along the page, focusing on the contents of the rather dry read. The information was certainly useful, proper use of truncheon, simple questions to ask during investigations of theft, kidnappings, vandalism, even public displays of indecency whatever indecency meant in a society that often lacked clothing. It all seemed rather interesting, enough to give her a bit of a twinge at the back of her head. It was a twinge she hadn't felt for a while. A need to learn things, a desire to know everything in and out.

She felt her heart start to race as that feeling overwhelmed her. Time started to slip by and the world fell away beneath the tree. Page after page was read, her eyes streaking over every word. There was a smile on her face, a genuine happy smile. All good things must come to an end, however as the sound of a stick breaking behind her brought her away from the book. She looked around trying to place the sound, behind her were a few trees and bushes but nothing much else. Another snap made her get to her hooves, however.

"Who's there?" she demanded. She scanned the trees and bushes, trying to find some sign of life. Seeing nothing, however, she planted herself back onto the ground and huffed a bit. She continued to read until another snap brought her right back to her hooves and looking for movement around her. She packed up the book, sliding it back into her breastplate and slowly backed away nervously. No one could possibly be daft enough to try and capture her, right?

Another snap of twigs caused an eruption of magic to fly from her horn into the area. The bush smoked from a hole now dead center of it. Up from the hole poked a mouse who seemed to be shouting at her and shaking its little fist. If Fluttershy had been here, she would no doubt be disappointed in the creature's potty mouth, but Twilight could only assume the horrid things spewing from the tiny maw. She quickly apologized and trotted off, certain the mouse had said something to the effect of "Swear on me mum I'll deck you!"

Twilight was a bit frayed, now looking about the town for any sign of a creeping shadow or pony with a crooked eye and more scars than strands of hair. She saw nothing, but the feeling of eyes on her was undeniable. She walked along the road with a frown on her face back towards the Watch house. Something was awfully wrong.

**********

As Twilight passed by the buildings and homes, a black robed pony was pressed against a wall trying to keep out of sight. A slow sigh escaped from beneath the darkened hood as it made a mad dash towards the park where Twilight had been. It looked around and saw no one around before peering down into the bushes.

"You alright, Shadow Four?" the hooded figure asked seeing the other pressed as close to the ground as possible without actually digging a hole.

"She nearly took my head off!" Shadow Four exclaimed.

"Thankfully she didn't, I'm going to need you for tomorrow!"

"Is it time for step two, Shadow Three?" Shadow Four asked with a grin, sliding within the darkness of the hood.

"As soon as Shadow Six makes the last 'napping tonight," Shadow Three said. The two of them gave one another a pat on the back as they galloped away before someone caught them. After all, two hooded figures chuckling to one another beneath a tree in the middle of a park would be more than enough to put anyone off.

**********

Twilight finished the patrol and began to return to the Watch house. The patrol had done wonders for her nerves, though there was still the nagging feeling of eyes and the world peering down onto her. She had managed to find other places to stop and read, but every time she stopped she was certain someone was watching. It was comforting to at least be back at the Watch house. As the door open, Twilight trotted in and took a breath to say something.

"Stop right where you are!" Fluttershy shouted suddenly, startling Twilight and making her stop right where she was and sit right down. "O-Oh! Sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to give you a fright, only practicing."

"No no, it's fine Constable, that was very good," Twilight said still stunned from the shouting. The group gave her curious gazes before Rarity cleared her throat.

"Ma'am, are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"Yes, just a long patrol, lots of questions asked about our kidnapper," she said with a slight smile, hoping none of them caught the sudden nature of the answer or the high pitch she'd just used.

"We were just finishing up," Rainbow Dash said, changing the subject with a proud grin.

Twilight nodded, looking over the other ponies. They certainly seemed to have worked up a sweat and looked worn in. In her mind, this was how a proper copper looked. Rugged but gentle, almost like the burly gentlecolt at a seedy bar who kisses the hooves of ladies daintily. She was very pleased despite the overall feeling of nerves attempting to uncoil. She looked up to the clock; another day had passed her by it seemed. With a nod, she turned back to them and was quite surprised by the next words that tumbled out of her mouth.

"So, what is everypony doing afterwards?"

The group looked stunned and stared silently at one another.

"Well, we were thinking of going to The Dancing Mare, save for Corporal Rarity who has night's watch," Rainbow Dash said, finding a cure for the sudden case of slack-jaw.

"Is that a bar?" Twilight inquired a bit too happily.

"Yes, it's a cider bar just outside of town," Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight swooned to herself. She hadn't had a drop of the good stuff since she'd left Canterlot and it would be just the thing for those frazzled nerves. A lovely drink, a team building experience, a chance to get to know her colleagues a bit better. Dear Celestia, what was she thinking? Only this morning she'd wanted to string them all up and now she was prepared to go and drink with them? Oh, right, that was the key word. Drink! The answer to many of nature’s quandaries.

"Suppose I'll slip out of uniform and, erm, join you then," Twilight nodded and turned to trot up the stairs gleefully. The other ponies looked to one another, exchanging worried glances. They felt as though their Captain had been replaced somewhere along the way. With shrugs being passed around though, they too made their way out the door save Rarity, who made her way back to the desk and began to go over her Watch manual.

The Dancing Mare was the sort of place where one would expect the panes of glass to be replaced after every drink service from bodies flying through them. The truth of the matter was despite its appearance as a dive bar, it was a rather relaxed atmosphere. Of course, the bar owner keeping a few unicorns around adept at shearing a sheep from five hundred meters with nary a glance was always a good deterrent from fights breaking out.

Twilight had made her way down the rough path to the bar, taking note of the rather rustic look. She could practically smell the cider in the air, making her head swim. She felt lighter than air entering the establishment, though that could have been the thick atmosphere of musk and testosterone. The other Watchmares flagged her down to a corner table as she entered. With a smile, she crossed the room towards them, attempting to avoid the other patrons.

"Hullo Cap'n," Derpy said with a lazy salute.

"Evening all," Twilight said, climbing neatly onto the bench next to Pinkie Pie and resting her hooves on the table. "Shame Corporal Rarity couldn't join us."

"She never comes out with us when we do these get togethers," Rainbow Dash said with a snort.

"Oh?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Says these places are, how'd it go?" she asked herself before primping her hair and affecting the best impression of Rarity she could. "Full of nothing but ruffians and beasts looking to take advantage of some poor inebriated mare!"

The group gave a chuckle, Twilight joining in awkwardly.

"Well, she does seem a pony of high standards," Twilight said with a nod, trying to make the awkward go away. It did with the appearance of the waitress who giggled and twirled her mane.

"Hey! Welcome to the Dancing Mare, what can I getcha?" she asked in a bubbly tone.

"Five ciders!" Pinkie exclaimed as though she fed off the mare's bubbly nature.

"Five ciders, you got it!" the waitress exclaimed before sulking off muttering something about a bloody dunderhead or some such.

Twilight looked about at the patrons of the bar, taking note of the number of ponies she'd seen during her patrol the other day. It seemed to her that the ones speaking the most of Nightmare Moon's return were here and from the looks of things already sauced. This made her grin inwardly. What made her grin outwardly was the cider suddenly slid in front of her and the bubbly waitress storming off in a hurry.

She grasped the handle with her hoof and took a deep smell of the amber liquid. It was practically heaven within a cup. Before she could even get a drop inside her waiting mouth, Rainbow Dash rose her mug skyward.

"To our new Captain!" she shouted, which lead Twilight to halt and be part of the toast. Finally she could drink deep from the elixir of life she held. It was pleasant at first, everything she could have hoped. That was until the bite hit. It was like being sucker punched by a boxer then thrown down a cliff to add insult to injury. She coughed and twisted her face as the burn clawed all the way down her throat. This, of course, meant laughter roared around the table before Pinkie Pie rose her mug.

"To Applejack and her family's amazing cider!" she cheered, which had them all taking drinks of their cider and Twilight attempting to right herself from the unsteady feeling it gave her. She continued to cough and stand from the table to go find a washroom. Her everything felt like it was either tingling or on fire, so when she bumped into a black cloaked stallion, she thought nothing of it. Neither did the black cloaked figure, who ducked into the back of the bar swiftly after the encounter.

From the washroom, Twilight coughed and hacked, trying to get water out of the tap and splash it in her mouth and on her face. It was nothing at all that she'd expected, it tasted so foul and bitter. She had always been used to perhaps, softer ciders that you have eight of before you feel the world properly spinning beneath your hooves. She groaned and continued to splash water on her face in hopes that would have some effect other than getting her very wet.

**********

The back door of the bar opened and into the night stepped the bubbly waitress that had served Twilight and her colleagues. She sulked and pressed herself against the back wall with a sigh, staring up towards the moon. She examined it for a few moments, before a shooting star streaked just above it.

"Berry Punch, just what are you doing here?" she asked herself with a sigh. "You should have moved when you had the chance. Gone to Manehatten, become a star, not have to act like an idiot just to make other idiots feel good about themselves."

Her eyes came down from the moon before they rested on a cart. The back had barrels resting on it that she identified as the cider they pumped into their patrons every night. She curiously turned her head and walked over to them. That was off, generally it was here earlier to drop off the barrels before drink service. It was only when she got closer that things got decidedly dark.

She tried to scream, only to find a hoof over her mouth and herself tossed into the back of the cart. She managed a scream before hitting the back of the cart. That was when things got especially dark and fuzzy for poor Berry Punch. The last thing she remembered was the cart being pulled away.

**********

The scream had echoed into the bar, causing Twilight to burst from the washroom. Her associates were already crowding out of the door and she with them. They looked around the darkness before a shadowy figure bolted from the trees nearby. Rainbow Dash was the first one to go flying towards it, only to go soaring right through it. She looked about confused before another broke out from the trees and took off towards the town.

"Sergeant! That way!" Twilight cried out as Rainbow took flight once more to go after the hooded pony. Twilight and the others scrambled into the street to give chase as well but with Rainbow's speed it was like a snail catching up to a cheetah.

"Captain, what now?" Fluttershy asked.

"You and Derpy get in the air, see what you can see and if you happen to see Rarity get her back to the Watch house to hunker down in case of a riot. Pinkie, you stay here and question every last person in this place, I want names, what they saw, heard smelled, the whole bloody thing! I'll chase after the Sergeant."

Without a word they flew and galloped in their different directions. Twilight turned her eyes to the sky to watch a rainbow trail streak the sky and headed after it.

Rainbow Dash soared above the rooftops nearly taking them off as she tried to keep up with the pony on the run. Every twist and turn saw Rainbow slowing down and quickly trying to regain her speed. This pony was good at evasion, but Rainbow Dash wasn't so quick to let go. She flew just above the pony and glowered.

"Stop, in the name of the law!" Rainbow shouted before the pony turned another corner. She grit her teeth as she slowed and turned harshly. Her wings burned as she cut the air with them. No more alleys though. Nowhere for the pony to run. Rainbow flew straight at them, the distance closing fast before suddenly a puff of smoke erupted right before her face. She let out a shriek, trying to stop quickly but simply couldn't.

Suddenly, she felt the ground being dug up by her hooves as they were dragged along it. She tumbled wildly before crashing straight into a pile of crates. As she groaned, she caught sight of a black robed figure trotting out of view. It wasn't soon after Twilight came into her field of view and placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"Sergeant!" she shouted. "Sergeant, are you alright?"

"I'm not sayin' anything until the three of ya stop yelling," Rainbow uttered before her eyes went wonky and her head fell back onto the ground.

"Somepony help us!" Twilight cried into the night, looking around frantically for anyone that would come to aid them.

**********

Berry Punch felt the cart slowing as she started to regain consciousness. She was still confused, unsure of where she was and who she was, but the familiarity with the rough treatment she received in being pulled from the back of the cart reminded her. She took a deep breath to scream, only to find it muffled by a hoof over her mouth, shoving the burlap sack on her head into her mouth. She struggled against it, trying to get it out before she felt wood beneath her hooves.

The wood soon turned to cold stone before she was dropped onto it and the sack lifted from her head. Before her stood several menacing figures and behind her she could hear the whimpering of ponies. Her eyes tried to adjust to the lack of light before the figure just in front of her stepped out with a grin.

"Excellent work Shadow Six, I wish the other members were as efficient and silent as you," Trixie said with a grin, glaring down at Berry Punch. "As for you my dear, welcome. You are the final piece to the puzzle, the final pawn to be set upon the game board. It is through your capture that we shall bring night time eternal, and rule Equestria!"

She laughed maniacally as she rose into the air and posed. Behind her the other cultists made instrument noises with their mouths that sounded somewhat evil, or at the very least what they believed evil sounded like. It would have to do though as Trixie returned herself to her hooves and turned around.

"Throw her in with the others," she said as she walked through a door with the others in tow save for the one that had dragged her down there. That one dragged her further towards a set of iron bars and threw her in with the other ponies, one of whom Berry Punch identified. As the shadowy pony locked the gate, the door at the end of the room was opened and it disappeared from sight.

"L-Lyra?" Berry asked quietly.

"Yes," Lyra responded, sitting off on her own in the corner of the cell.

"You were the one they got yesterday, I heard all about it!" Berry cried, crawling towards her. "Are we going to be okay?"

Lyra turned to look at Berry with a slight smirk. "Matter of fact, I think I can get us outta here."

**********

Applejack rose slowly from her bed hearing a noise outside. She blinked sleepily, having rested off and on during the day. Peering out the window resulted in seeing nothing though, the moon was far too dim though she swore she saw something like a shadow moving. She grabbed a lantern and began to move down the stairs dangling it from her teeth. The sound of the creaky door downstairs opening made her tense up.

She took it slow, one step at a time, trying not to make any noise and point the lantern in a different direction, hoping to catch whoever just wandered in off guard. No one should be up at this hour. She steeled herself as every muscle in her body went tight. Dryly she gulped, sweat beading on her forehead as she knelt down just slightly.

"Hold it!" she cried out, leaping from the stairs and down to the floor hard, looking prepared to charge at whomever may be in front of her. Her eyes squinted past the light of the lantern to see the surprised look upon the face of her brother. He quirked a brow and rubbed his head curiously.

"B-Big Mac?" she sputtered.

"Eeyup," he answered.

"What in the hay are ya'll doin' up so late?" she asked.

"Deliverin' cider. Didn' get a chance to earlier what with all the apples needin' harvestin'."

Applejack put a hoof to her forehead and shook it. "Well shoot, I thought you was tryin' to break in here like you was one of them kidnappers. I forgot all about th' cider delivery."

"You should get some rest Applejack, you look exhausted," he said stoically.

"Yeah, should get rest, got a busy day ahead of me I'm sure. G'night big brother."

"G'night," Big Macintosh called up to her. She could hear Applejack talking to Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, who had gathered at the top of the stairs, explaining it'd only been Big Macintosh. He stood downstairs in the living room for a few moments until he heard the closing of doors upstairs. With a hefty sigh, he reached down behind him and grabbed the black cloak he'd stuffed in the corner.

Chapter IV: Cops and Barons

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Twilight shuffled through the streets of Ponyville slowly. Rainbow Dash was on her way to the hospital, thankfully, but that wasn't the forefront of her mind. Granted, she was concerned, but the disappearing pony was a neat trick. It was one she was very familiar with when it came to magic. A shadow of oneself, sort of like a reflection in the mirror. The kidnapper had magic on their side, which was going to make this especially tricky.

She felt her mind laden with even more of a burden as she came to the Watch house and saw a mob of people standing around. It didn't look like the violent sort though, rather an orderly mob milling about. Twilight waded through them and came to the door to open it up.

The Watch house was full of patrons from the bar. Ponies of all shapes, sizes and colours were standing around, some speaking to the other officers. Rarity sat behind the main desk, a quill floating in front of her and scribbling furiously as papers were piled next to her from the other ponies frantically taking down statements. Twilight looked around with her eyes glazed over, stumbling through the crowd.

She climbed up the stairs and entered her office, shutting the door behind her. Spike was still up, rubbing his head and grumbling to himself before he looked up and noticed Twilight. Quickly, he ran from his bed and hugged her around the leg. With a tired smile, she pat him on the head as he pulled away and frowned.

"It's a mess down there!" he exclaimed. "One minute it was quiet as can be then the next it's full of ponies sounding like they're trying to tear the walls down!"

"Yes, there was another kidnapping," Twilight said moving to her bed and flopping down on it. "Sergeant Rainbow Dash tried to apprehend the suspect, but she wound up getting injured."

"I-Is she going to be okay?" Spike asked.

"I believe she will be. She says the only thing she hurt was her pride, but the doctors are going to give her a look over and let us know."

"What about you, Twilight?" he moved to her side and hopped up onto her bed, resting a worried claw upon her shoulder.

"I saw the kidnapper in the bar," Twilight said dryly. "The cloak looked like it matched the cloth we found at the last crime scene. I'm certain of it. But I was too wrapped up in my own little world to even be bothered to say a word."

"It's okay Twilight," Spike said trying to comfort her. "For all you know, it could have just been a pony in a black cloak. I mean, that's a thing, right?"

Twilight placed her pillow over her head and groaned. The noise from downstairs was grating, but what grated her most was her own mind that refused to shut down. She could have stopped the kidnapping from ever even happening. She could have prevented this. Rainbow Dash wouldn't be injured, another pony wouldn't be missing and there would at least be a lead on the case that got more monumental by the second.

She turned in her bed and put the pillow next to her. Spike hopped down as Twilight did the same and moved to the door of her office. From it she stared down at the ponies sitting about from the bar and gave a sigh. She moved down the stairs half way and cleared her throat.

"Everypony!" she shouted. "Please, let's have some quiet! Please, thank you. Now I know a lot of you are astounded by what just happened, but I assure you we will be looking into the matter. Unfortunately my officers need their sleep for an investigation in the morning. If you believe you have something relevant to the case, please give your details to Corporal Rarity at the desk, beyond that go home and be with your loved ones. They need you. Constables Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Corporal Derpy, you may go home once you're done with that last statement. Corporal Rarity, I'll want that report before you leave tomorrow morning."

"Captain, what about Sergeant Rainbow Da-" Fluttershy had been cut off from the door slamming. She turned a worried glance to Derpy who shrugged a bit and got back to work.

Downstairs had quieted to a mumble as Twilight drug herself to bed once more and lay staring out the window next to it. Spike, lay in his bed as well, looking towards her for a moment before he turned over and wrapped himself up in his blanket.

"Goodnight Twilight," he said, but received nothing but empty air. Looking towards the ground, he huffed through his nose and settled into his pillow.

**********

"You have all done well," Trixie said from her darkened hood as she stood proudly behind the podium before the crescent moon banner. "We have the last capture we need. By tomorrow, this town will be in a shambles until our knights in shining armor ride into town to save them all."

A hoof was raised and begrudgingly met with Trixie's exasperation.

"Who?"

"Shadow Three and Four you dolt!" Trixie snapped. "They're supposed to be the most savvy ponies when it comes to sales this side of Equestria. I have no doubt they'll dupe everyone tomorrow and we'll have everything we need. With phase two complete, all that would be left is Shadow Six delivering to us the food stocks of Equestria. Then on to phase four at the Summer Sun festival five days from now when we summon Nightmare Moon back to this world and take our rightful places by her glorious side!"

The remaining two shadowy figures cheered as Trixie put her hoof to her head. In retrospect, that speech would have been far more impressive had it been done in front of a group and not two other ponies. Perhaps next time she decided to form a cult it would consist of more members for the maximum desired effect.

**********

Spike rolled over in his bed and glanced up towards Twilight's. He blinked, taking note she was already gone. Frantically, he looked around the office to see through the pale light of morning if he'd overslept or not. His eyes landed on the clock on Twilight's desk and squinted to read it. The hands said it was seven in the morning, a full hour before she'd needed to be downstairs.

Springing from his bed, he looked around nervously for anything that she might have left. He finally spied a note just sticking out of a book on the desk. He picked it out of the book and slid into the office chair for a moment.

"Dear Spike," he read aloud. "I have gone to the shops early this morning to get something. Do me a favor and head down stairs and wait for myself and the others to arrive."

Spike set the note down and looked to the door. He hadn't met the other members of the Watch nor had he been downstairs. He'd never had the need to. He rubbed his head, curious to know just what she'd wanted from him. He moved to the door and peeked down the stairs with trepidation. Twilight had been acting so distant and strange last night, what on Equestria could she possibly be planning for him? The door creaked open a bit further as he made his way down the stairs.

As he took it step by step, the front door of the Watch house opened and in came Fluttershy, trotting along. She didn't trot for long however as the sight of Spike half way down a step and staring at her caught her attention. There was silence as they both stared and made no intention to move. Spike finally made the move and settled down onto the step he'd been in the middle of trying to get to. The silence took a turn for the awkward as they both continued to stare. Finally Spike gave a slight wave.

"H-Hullo," he said. "I'm Spike."

Fluttershy's eyes went wide as Spike watched a smile creep along her face slowly. Awkward turned into uncomfortable before there was a sound like air slowly leaking from a balloon. Spike brushed as his scales for a moment until it happened. Before he could even make another move she was flying towards him and suddenly on top of him. He collapsed down onto the ground with Fluttershy right above him.

"Oh my gosh! I've never seen a creature like you, what are you?"

"A baby dragon?" Spike said, now well and truly scared.

"Oh my! I've never met a baby dragon before! I mean, you just don't see them that often, you know? I usually know all of the critters around here, but you, I mean you're just, wow! You're amazing! And you talk! This is wonderful!"

Spike couldn't help but feel his ego start to swell from the praise. His fear was quickly replaced with confidence as his arm went back behind his head and he started inspecting his claws. His whole body took a much more relaxed look, despite being beneath the pony.

"Well what can I say?" he asked with a sly grin. "We dragons are just so impressive after all."

Fluttershy was prepared to gush more, but the squeal of the front door opening caught her off guard as well as the awkward gaze given by Applejack. Ah, there was that awkward feeling again. Spike shuffled out from beneath Fluttershy and smoothed out his scales as Fluttershy turned from Spike blushing furiously.

"Sugar cube, I know ya'll like animals, but don't ya'll think bringing 'em to work an' pinnin' them down is just a little weird?" Applejack asked pointing her hoof to Spike.

"Oh, but Sergeant, it's a talking baby dragon named Spike!" she protested.

"Hiya!"

This elicited a look of surprise from Applejack. "Well butter mah biscuit. He really does talk. Where'd ya'll come from?"

"I came here with Captain Twilight, except for the most part I hung around upstairs and cleaned up the place.

"How come I didn't see you last time I was up there?" Applejack asked, curiously.

"I dunno, I sleep on floor behind the desk."

"Now that I think about it, I do recall hearin' a light snorin' sound. Thought th' Cap'n was jus' stuffy though."

Spike chuckled as Applejack turned her gaze to the clock. Almost half an hour had gone by and she had begun to wonder where her fellow Sergeant was. Behind her, the door opened as Corporal Derpy and Constable Pinkie Pie walked in. She knit her brow, taking note that the mood had shifted a bit from the last time she were in the office. Silently, she tried to figure out what exactly happened during the previous day she'd had off that was making everyone so somber.

That was when the door opened once more and Captain Twilight Sparkle walked into the room. Everyone got to attention out of respect, to which Twilight responded with a dismissive wave of her hoof. On her back were two saddle bags that sagged from their contents. As she walked before the desk, Applejack noted she too looked forlorn and exhausted. Not that it was all that different from any other day, but it seemed worse somehow. As the bags floated to the side and onto the floor, the sound of metal and wood knocking together could be heard.

"Sergeant, get everyone in order," Twilight said flatly.

Applejack nodded, calling the group to fall in and then to attention. She spun and gave Twilight a salute. Saluting her back, Twilight stood before them as Applejack trotted over to the front of the line where she belonged. Twilight looked to all of them before her eyes turned to the ground.

"Sergeant Applejack, I'll go ahead and get you up to speed with what happened yesterday," Twilight began. "Last night during a staff outing another kidnapping happened at the very bar we were in. I even bumped into the kidnapper but didn't do anything about it. As a result Sergeant Rainbow Dash flew after what we believed the kidnapper was, but now we believe it was all a distraction. Because of this we believe we're dealing with multiple kidnappers as well. Now last night, before Sergeant Rainbow Dash got herself hurt, Corporal Derpy made the observation that there was a cart leaving the scene."

Applejack frowned suddenly, but said nothing as Twilight continued.

"She said she couldn't identify it other than a cart being pulled away in the darkness, however in the frantic nature of last night she didn't have time to chase it down to question it. Luckily, she did have a chance to see where it was going. That leads me to today. I realize I've been training you all up to be proper officers of the law, but we're going to have to go from the crawl phase to the run phase a bit quicker than I wanted. I've just gotten back from a local smith and retrieved a few things."

With that the first saddle bag slid open and up floated a handful of smooth black wooden sticks. Each one had a grip for the teeth and they each had a sheen about them. Floating over to each of them, they all took hold as Twilight nodded.

"Those are your new truncheons," she said. "Hopefully we won't be needing them though. Now, our second matter of business, Spike?"

The baby dragon wandered over in front of the group nervously. He gave a small wave before the second saddle bag was opened and out of it floated a breastplate and helmet. They were both his size, but beyond that there was something rather different about the breastplate. There was something attached to it. This made the group in front of Twilight stare at it intently as to figure out what seemed off.

"You all by this point have had the chance to meet my assistant Spike. Due to last night's accident however, I cannot afford to merely keep him as assistant to myself. Therefore, by the power of my withheld office, I hereby conscript Spike into the Watch and grant him the rank of Lance Constable. With this title, Lance Constable, you are entitled to the following: One iron breastplate with sterling outer shell which you will keep shiny at all times. One copper and iron helmet which you shall wear in times of duty so as not to get your melon squashed. One Sapper Mk II truncheon that was lovingly crafted by our local smith, Smith. And one manual which you will read front to back twice over until you practically breathe the words."

Spike was in awe as he held all of the pieces together in his claws, trying to find the words. Surely he couldn't be conscripted into this dangerous game just like that, could he? Twilight continued on.

"Now, the oath shall be taken," she said as the Watch came to attention, chests puffed out and a salute given. "Raise your right hand and state your name."

Spike did exactly as he was told.

"Lance Constable Spike, do you swear to uphold the laws set down by our Princess Celestia here in this town of Ponyville? Swear unwavering fealty to its citizens? Swear that even under penalty of severe bodily harm or death that you shall protect them from all threats of an unlawful nature? Swear that even should a manticore swoop down with slavering jaws and horrid gnashing teeth upon you that you shall stand tall and fight for your town, your Princess and your honor?"

Spike gulped at the grim oath he was suddenly finding himself taking. "I-I do."

"Good, now, as you can tell, Lance Constable Spike had a badge attached to his breastplate, all of you will be getting badges with badge numbers. Something I noticed Captain Midnight wanted to implement but never got around to doing. Mr. Smith has told me that he's willing to give each of you a star and number to wear proudly on your breastplate. All you need to do is see him and he'll attach them to your breastplate. You will each go out on patrol, making sure that you stop by to get those done except for you Corporal Derpy, you're coming with me to where you saw that cart stop last night."

"Yes ma'am!" Corporal Derpy shouted and saluted.

"Lance Constable Spike, you're to get into uniform and begin your first duty of the Watch by sitting at the desk and assisting citizens who may wander in. When you're not doing that, you're to be cleaning this place up. When you're not doing that, you're to be reading your Watch manual, am I clear, Lance Constable?"

"Crystal, ma'am!" Spike shouted and saluted clumsily, obviously not used to having to call her by anything but Twilight nor holding several pounds of stuff in one arm while saluting.

"Very well, fall out," she said as she made her way towards the door, shooting Derpy a look for her to follow.

The Watch filed out of the Watch house and into the street en masse as Derpy lead Twilight in the direction of the building she'd seen the cart moving towards. In the meantime Sergeant Applejack turned back towards both Constables Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and rubbed her chin briefly.

"I realize th' Cap'n wants us to go on a patrol, but it don't feel right with Rainbow Dash in th' hospital," she said with a soft sigh.

"I know! I really wanna see her!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"It wouldn't hurt if we did that now, would it?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean, it would only be for a little bit, then we could get our badges and go on patrol."

Applejack pondered for a few moments before turning her eyes back up to the town of Ponyville. It seemed much more quiet than it usually was, a steady decline she'd noticed since the first kidnapping a month ago. Hardly a soul on the streets, barely anyone running the stalls that dotted them and the ponies that were out were dashing from one building to the next. Applejack nodded and beckoned the other two to follow her.

"I think we've got enough time."

**********

Berry Punch stirred on the chilled stone beneath her. Stretching herself out, she felt her joints crackle and her muscles sting from the rough night's sleep she'd somehow managed to get. Her eyes fluttered open and adjusted as best they could to the dim light that poured from a small window in the corner of the basement room as well as what filtered through the bottom of the door at the end of the room.

There wasn't much else to the room besides the door and the window. The rest of it was bars, stone and the other ponies that had been captured. As far as she could tell she was number six, and while she couldn't identify the others, the one she'd met last night was in the process of digging at a corner of the bars.

"How's it coming, Lyra?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's coming," she muttered as the spoon dug beneath the bars surrounded by a dull blue glow. Berry looked down at the corner where it seemed the stone was weakest. She saw what the pony was doing, digging down in between the rocks to loosen at least one stone in the hope that the others would come loose as well. She rested herself down next to Lyra, staring at the work she was doing.

"Think it'll work?" Berry Punch asked desperately.

Lyra simply grunted in response, though it seemed more dismissive. Taking the hint, Berry Punch sighed and looked towards the dirty window in the corner and spaced out, diving back into her mind. Before she could delve very far however, she saw shadows pass by the window and stop. Her eyes widened as she scooted back quickly and started tapping on Lyra's back. The mare grumbled and turned her attention towards the window as well, her mouth dropping and the spoon making a clanging noise against the rocks.

"Everypony, wake up!" Lyra shouted as the others sleepily looked up. She shot a hoof towards the window excitedly. That was when they heard the muffled sound of the door being knocked.

**********

Twilight and Derpy banged on the door again impatiently. Twilight looked around the property, taking in every bit of the large house before them. Her purple eyes ran along the roof and down the gutter run offs. Every bit of the home seemed out of place for some reason; it seemed moneyed. Her eyes then fell on the window beside the door. Two candles sat in it, melted to the lip they both sat on. She looked over to the other windows that she could see and found nothing. Another curiosity.

The door soon opened, Twilight snapping her eyes back forward to take in the sight of a very posh looking pony. The stallion greeted them with a bright smile and adjusted the garish red tie with a dollar sign proudly displayed upon it. Twilight began to silently make her own judgment of the stallion, the foremost of these judgments being this had to be the most foppish pony she'd ever met.

"Ah yes, the Watch," he muttered with a voice that could be described as sounding distinctly bored. "What can I do for you fine mares, today, hmm?"

Twilight was already prepared to arrest him simply on principle but instead straightened herself up and cleared her throat. "Yes sir, I'm Captain Twilight Sparkle and this is Corporal Derpy Hooves, we're here on an investigation."

"An investigation?" the stallion gasped. For a moment Twilight could swear it was genuine fear until his visage turned to a smile and he offered a hoof inside. "Anything I can do to help this fair town, please do come in!"

"Thank you, and your name, sir?" Twilight asked as a notepad and quill produced themselves from a small pouch that clung to her breastplate, floating before her.

"Filthy Rich, but please, you just call me Rich," the stallion replied and began laughing the sort of laugh only a moneyed individual can gain. There was nothing to it besides a sort of vapidity. It made Twilight cringe slightly.

"Right then Mr. Rich, my Corporal here tells me there was a cart at the scene of a kidnapping last night and that cart came here to this residence."

Twilight watched Filthy Rich carefully as the news sunk in. She narrowed her eyes trying to watch for any sort of reaction. The lines of his face didn't twitch or move, his eyes didn't even bolt around the room. Either he was good at this sort of thing, or there was something more going on here.

"Of course, that was an Apple family cart," he said with a grin.

Twilight knotted her brow. "Apple family? As in Sergeant Applejack's family who runs Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Oh yes, they make the cider in town. I pay them quite handsomely for barrels of the cider that they make for my private stock."

"So that was a delivery of cider last night," Twilight stated, scribbling a few things down in her notebook.

"Correct, true a little late but I'd imagine with the way you work your Applejack she barely has enough time to perform her duties on the farm and help out her family."

Twilight glowered at Filthy Rich for a moment before turning her eyes back to the notebook and scribbling a few more things in it. Clapping it shut, she floated it back into the pouch and smiled to Filthy Rich.

"D'you mind if the Corporal and I have a look around, Mr. Rich?" she asked.

The two stared at one another for a few moments, silence passing save for the poking of items that Derpy had taken to doing while the questions were being asked. She was already looking around, though it seemed less for evidence and more for what to nick and later claim that she had no idea how any of it got into her breastplate. The staring match finally broke when Filthy Rich gave another of those hollow laughs and shook his head.

"I don't see why not, Captain, be my guest," Filthy Rich said with a smile. Nodding, Twilight moved to Derpy who'd already gotten a rather expensive looking item in her hooves and knocked it out of her grasp to take her around the house for a look.

Twilight noted that the house was exactly what she'd expected it from the outside. Full of expensive items that looked like they belonged more in a museum than inside of someone's home. Paintings by prominent pony artists such as Charles Moneigh and Pablo Pegcasso littered the walls of one room Twilight believed to be a study. She had to focus though, this wasn't a sightseeing tour, this was an investigation.

Each room was gone over painstakingly by Derpy and Twilight, more so by Twilight, as Derpy was still in the process of finding things to accidentally put into her breastplate. So far, though, nothing seemed to scream of suspicion.

They'd soon gone through the upstairs and were on their way back down before Twilight spied a door they hadn't passed through. She canted her head having not seen it just beneath the stairs and pushed it open. Below was a darkened staircase that lead to what looked like a basement. Twilight strained to see before her horn lit up to light the way. She turned back to Derpy and waved for her to follow her down.

The air was thick down in the basement and cobwebs of all sorts spanning the ceiling. Derpy stayed close to the glowing horn until the darkness was pushed away by the dim light of day coming through dirty window slits. Twilight's horn powered down as the two officers looked around. It seemed like nothing but crates and barrels. Tucked away in the corners of the room seemed some tables and chairs that upon closer inspection, Twilight noted, had no dust lining the tops. She canted her head and turned to look back towards the barrels Filthy Rich had claimed to receive last night.

Her hoof ran over the rough wood top, only to come back with no dust on it. She looked between the barrel and the furniture for a few moments before her eye caught something just ahead of her in the dim light. A section of the stone wall before her seemed...off. That was the best way for her to describe it. Her mouth opened to say something but instead she took a few steps towards it.

It was like the wall, but this specific portion had been painted over for some reason. Granted, she was in a rich pony’s home and what they did with their paints and their stones was their business but it didn't make it any less out of place. Her hoof ran along the rough stone wall slowly, moving to what looked to be an indentation. She dug a little into it, now running her eyes along what looked like a solid line dug into the stone.

Just behind the wall the desperate cries of the ponies were unheard thanks to the stone simply echoing their voices back. They pleaded and banged on the iron bars trying to get someone on the outside to hear them. The cacophony of voices bounced about the room before suddenly one of them threw a rock right towards the oak door and hit it squarely.

Twilight recoiled from the wall as the knock was right in her ear, her face having been planted against the stone a moment ago. She was certain she'd heard something up to that point but the knock simply confirmed it. She began to feel along the wall around the entrance, trying to see if there was some trick to opening the wall. Her hooves slid about the coarse stone hoping to find one loose or perhaps a lever. All she got though, was a clearing of the throat behind her.

She turned to lock eyes with Filthy Rich who stood at the bottom of the stairs with a bit of a grin and Derpy who was disposing of wingfuls of items back into their boxes with a sheepish grin on her face. Filthy Rich didn't seem concerned with the pegasus though, more on Captain Twilight who stood before him.

"How unfortunate you had to find that," he said, gesturing towards the wall.

"What is going on here, Mr. Rich?" she asked with a frown.

"Unfortunately I can't let you leave," he said with a grin sliding across his face. Twilight lowered herself a bit as Derpy reached with her wing to the shiny new truncheon she'd received. "At least not without telling you about that little gem."

Twilight's eye twitched as he let out another hollow laugh. "What?"

"This home used to be an illegal cider running house, Captain," Filthy Rich said with a grin. "That room back there was where they kept the still and all of their ill gotten gains back in those days. Long since abandoned, though sometimes the place settles though and you can hear things moving back there. Gets creepy sometimes -- especially when I'm down here trying to find something."

Twilight straightened herself up and looked Filthy Rich over searchingly. The story was like dairy in the sun, it stank and it was completely off. She shifted a bit on her hooves before looking to Derpy who'd slid the truncheon back into its loop. Twilight then gave Filthy Rich a curt smile and nodded stiffly.

"Well, I suppose that just about does it for our investigation, Mr. Rich," she said and offered a hoof to allow him up the stairs first. They made their way up the stairs, closing the door behind them and enveloping the basement back in its dim light.

*********

The ponies desperate crying and shouting had calmed significantly, getting tired from expelling so much energy. Only Berry Punch and Lyra continued beating against the bars and shouting, their throats tight and dry from doing so. Soon they too were quiet as the shadows returned to their window. The six of them stared up at the window with hopeless gazes before Berry Punch took another rock off the ground and tossed it from her mouth up to the thick window.

"No, come on!" she pleaded, trying to find another rock. The sound of the door shutting upstairs and the sight of the shadows disappearing made her drop it though. She fell to the ground in a heap, eyes locked onto the window as she breathlessly mouthed the word "no" again. Her head slowly moved to the ground as her eyes slid shut. She felt her cheeks turn hot with tears as they slowly slid down her stained cheeks. She whimpered softly, not certain if her heart could sink any lower than it already felt.

Lyra placed a hoof on her back for a moment before turning back to the corner of the prison she'd been working on. Floating the spoon back in front of her, she picked and dug at the stone once more. The other ponies wept quietly and hugged one another, their chance at salvation having just walked away.

**********

Twilight frowned as she and Derpy walked away from the house and back into the sunlight. Twilight watched the ground rolling beneath her feet as they wandered back onto the street. Her mind mulled over what'd just happened, thinking about everything she'd seen.

"Well," she said. "You were right about where the cart went. We'll have to make sure tonight we spend extra time along that patrol route, maybe even have a sentry posted. One thing's for sure though, that Mr. Rich is suspicious."

"Well he is rich, Cap'n," Derpy said. "They've got their own set of rules and laws they abide by."

"Doesn't make him above common laws though," Twilight stated with a nod. "You've got tonight's watch, correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I'll want you posted on a cloud somewhere nearby and watching the streets carefully. The second you see someone or something creeping around in a black robe you scream bloody murder and knock them on their flank."

"Shouldn't we be doin' this proper like?" Derpy asked with a facetious grin.

"We've got no time for proper I'm afraid. We can't afford another kidnapping. Just make sure whoever you nick off the street isn't too hurt and can be questioned."

"Yes ma'am," Derpy said giving a sloppy salute.

Twilight rolled her eyes back forward, only to see Sergeant Applejack moving down the street ahead of them.

"Sergeant!" she called as Applejack stopped and turned towards them.

"Howdy Cap'n, how'd the investigation go?"

"Rotten, but we may at the very least have a lead," she replied. "What do you know about Filthy Rich?"

"That old fussbudget? He does business with my Granny Smith when zap apple harvest time comes. He also buys up a few barrels of our cider."

"Yes, we discovered this after we took a look around his basement and found some fresh ones," Twilight said.

"Fresh? Last night fresh?" Applejack asked.

"Sergeant, do you know something?"

"Not that I was keeping it from ya'll or nothin', but my brother came in late last night after makin' cider deliveries."

Twilight narrowed her eyes a bit. "Your brother."

"Yes ma'am, Big Macintosh, he makes the deliveries and does much of the work on the farm while I'm here."

"Is there a way we can bring your brother in to see if he saw anything?" Twilight asked.

"Shoot, I reckon I can pull him away, no sweat," Applejack nodded firmly.

"Good, go do that now and bring him back to the Watch house, Sergeant," Twilight said as she turned to Derpy. "Corporal, get up on a nice perch somewhere and see what you can see. Keep an eye out over the town, eh?"

As Derpy saluted and flew off into the sky, Twilight turned and trotted off down the street. A nagging feeling at the back of her head told her this was going to get far more interesting than it needed to be. If only she had seen the subtle hint of smoke just on the horizon to know how correct she was.

Chapter V: Snake Oil

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Twilight opened the door to the Watch house only to be amazed by the sudden turn everything had made inside. No longer did it feel old and stuffy like someone's Gran's house just after the dog died. Now it felt vibrant, grand and clean. The wood of the desk looked as though it was polished nicely, the emblem for the Watch could be seen clearly with all the tarnish gone and the obnoxious "welcome" sign was discarded. It all looked professional.

Spike looked down from the front desk to Twilight and gave her a bright smile, seeing her reaction. He closed the Watch manual and scrambled down from the desk. Walking to her, he saluted smartly and had a grin on his face.

"Welcome back, ma'am, I've done everything you asked!"

"Yes, I can see that Spike, very well done," she said, nodding and still looking around in amazement.

"Oh, Captain, you had a letter from the princess come in," Spike said, reaching down into his breastplate and pulling it out. He unrolled it and read over it for a few moments. "She says she wants a report sent on how things are going here in Ponyville."

Twilight reeled a bit. At best she had one or two leads but nothing was concrete quite yet. She put a hoof to her head and rubbed it gently, trying to figure out what exactly she was going to say to the Princess. She knew she'd have to choose her words carefully. That was when she frowned. When did she become concerned? She canted her head upwards as that thought took a stranglehold on her brain.

She had been planning this whole time to do everything she could to dump this problem any way she could and get back to Canterlot. Now the thought of doing something like that made her shiver though. The tugging on her breastplate by Spike snapped her back out of her mind as she looked down to him standing ready with quill and parchment in hand. Reddening for a moment, she cleared her throat.

"Dear Princess Celestia," she began. "It has only been three days since I was sent here to Ponyville. Thus far there have been two more kidnappings. I believe, however, we may have a few suspects and leads for the case. Most of the citizens here believe these kidnappings have something to do with the Mare in the Moon myth, though I naturally have my doubts. I am keeping my mind open, however. As for the Watch themselves, so far we have had one injury, Sergeant Rainbow Dash. We've also had one addition, Lance Constable Spike. Would request possible plan to incorporate more members into the Watch as the current numbers simply do not stack up to what is required of the current case load. Signed, Captain Twilight Sparkle."

"So that reminds me," Spike said, finishing up the letter. "Am I getting paid for this job?"

Twilight frowned a bit. "Suppose I will have to pay you. You can take a fifth of what I make. I believe that's the proper amount for an LC."

Spike gave a bit of a cheer, having never really worked for pay before and with a plume of green flame the message was carried away into the air.

The front door opened as the message swirled its way through a window. Twilight was greeted by the sight of Applejack walking in with Big Macintosh in tow. He looked about as though he'd never seen the inside of the Watch house before. Either that or it looked miraculously different to him. Twilight moved towards him, studying him for a few moments. She could see his name sake wasn't purely ironic and that he was quite big as well as strong. Given his height, she thought, he could very well have been the hooded pony that knocked into her last night.

"Big Mac, this here is Captain Twilight Sparkle," Applejack said with a gesturing hoof.

"Delighted," Twilight said offering her own hoof.

"Eeyup," answered Big Macintosh, giving it a hardy shake.

"If you'll follow me over here, please," she said as she turned and walked to a room off to the side. The door opened revealing that room itself was bare save a table and two chairs set off to the side should the company need a chair. Twilight took a seat on the ground, resting her front hooves on the table and watching as Big Macintosh took the spot opposite her. Applejack in the meantime shut the door behind them and moved to the back of the room.

Twilight pulled from her pouch the trusty quill and notepad and set them on the table. Her eyes then settled onto Big Macintosh, studying him once again. She watched carefully as he looked around the silent room with the same stoic face he'd carried since he arrived. She wasn't entirely sure of him, straining over every detail until the clearing of her throat cut the silence.

"Last night you were out and about, correct?" she asked, keeping her gaze on him.

"Eeyup," he responded.

"Out fairly late?"

"Eeyup."

"What about the bar, make a stop there?"

"Eeyup."

Twilight began to feel her patience thinning a bit, expecting more than the answers she was receiving. "Is that all you can say?"

"Nope."

"Big Mac don't really speak much," Applejack said from the back of the room as Twilight looked to him again.

"He'd best find it within himself to start speaking because right now he's looking really good for a kidnapper," Twilight said, making sure her eyes never wavered from him. She watched his reaction to the kidnapping rap placed on him and could swear she'd seen him squirm a bit. This boded well.

"Big brother?" Applejack questioned, now settling her own eyes upon him as shifted slightly.

"I was makin' deliveries last night, I stopped at th' Dancin' Mare then made my way to Filthy Rich's place."

"Do you remember the time?" Twilight asked.

"I dunno, I didn't have a watch," Big Macintosh said as Twilight marked down a few things in her notebook.

"So you don't know when you arrived, I'm guessing you don't know when you left, when you got to Filthy Rich's home or even when you got home."

"It was about ten at night when he got home, ma'am," Applejack spoke up. "I know cause he scared th' daylights outta me comin' back so late."

Twilight nodded, scribbling more notes down before her gaze shifted back up to Big Macintosh, who was now looking like he was trying to invent a dance that involved tiny movements while sitting. This only made her smile devilishly. Not that she was getting enjoyment out of tormenting her colleagues big brother, but because of the break this could cause in the case.

"Well, according to the official report, several eyewitnesses, including the bar staff, place you at the bar around eight-fifteen to offload six barrels from a cart of ten. The last barrel got into the stock room about eight-forty, give or take. So why don't you take me through the next hour and twenty minutes?"

Big Macintosh looked ready to bolt out of the room as he cleared his throat. "I unloaded the barrels and walked off down the street to Filthy Rich's to give him the other four barrels then headed home."

"Don't lie to me, Macintosh," Twilight said in a low tone. "I've done that route before on a patrol. From that bar to that house is ten minutes, cart or not. It would have taken you about ten or fifteen minutes to offload last four barrels. Then the walk from that side of town to Sweet Apple Acres is at most thirty minutes. The way I see it, you still owe me another twenty minutes at the least, and let me tell you, a lot can happen in that span of time. What were you doing between eight-forty and nine o'clock?"

It was now that Twilight noticed Big Macintosh had all but silenced himself and turned his head away defiantly. Inside Twilight's head, a small victory party was being held as she knew she had him. Outwardly though, she kept same stern look she'd been giving him all night. She felt like grinning, just to show her defiance but a quick look to the horrified expression Applejack was wearing and the small glint of a tear running down her cheek brought Twilight down fast. The celebration was over.

Now all she could feel was pity welling up inside of her. She had been so adamant to pin this on Big Macintosh she'd forgotten all about the fact that this was Applejack's brother sitting right in front of her. She felt an absolute heel as she removed her helmet and ran her hoof through her mane, trying to find a way out of the awkward situation. The silence couldn't last forever, thankfully for Twilight, as a pounding on the door gave everyone a fright.

"Yes?" Twilight asked dryly.

Spike poked his head in and turned his eyes to Twilight urgently. "Captain, you gotta come here!"

"Is this really necessary right now, Lance Constable?" she asked with a huff.

There was a sudden sound filling the office and the room they sat in that sounded a lot like a steam whistle. Twilight planted the helmet back on her head and sighed, hefting herself away from the desk. Of course it was necessary. This town was full of crazies. As she moved to the door, she turned back to Applejack who kept silent but nodded, knowing just what the look was for. With that, Twilight walked out letting the door shut and leaving the brother and sister within.

Applejack stood in the back of the room for a moment, simply out of trying to come down from what had just happened. She wiped away the tears she'd suddenly shed and found herself now moving around the table slowly and planting herself in front of Big Macintosh. Her eyes were still wet as she gazed up to her brother. He, in the meantime, was trying to avoid eye contact with her were it at all possible.

"Big Mac, look at me, please," Applejack said as Big Mac reluctantly gave her a sidelong glance. "Please, it's yer sister Applejack talkin' to ya'll now. Just let me know what's goin' on. Forget fer two minutes I'm a member of th' Watch an' jus' talk."

Big Macintosh turned his eyes to the desk below him as they began to water as well. His sister's words resonated inside of his mind as he put both hooves to his head and began to openly weep. He hated crying in front of his sister, being the big brother and all, but this was one of those times it simply could not be helped.

"I'm sorry, sis," he sobbed. "I only did it to protect you an' th' family. Ya gotta believe me!"

Applejack reached over with a gentle hoof and stroked his mane, trying to calm him. "You know I trust ya' big brother."

Big Macintosh nodded, raising his head to finally look Applejack dead in the eye.

**********

Twilight galloped along the street towards a plume of smoke and the sound of a steam whistle crowing in the air. Her hooves carried her to town square where a mechanical cart was parked and a crowd of ponies circled it. Stragglers were clamoring towards the mob as Twilight slowed and frowned a bit, trying to figure out just what all of this was about. If it was a kidnapping, this was possibly the most overt kidnapping she'd ever seen.

From the cart rose two stallions, both very tall with coats of a pale yellow. Twilight took them in curiously, both with straw hats and vests. They were the sort of stallions you'd see peddling merchandise out of some gimmicky cart in the middle of a...oh. Twilight placed a hoof against her forehead. That was exactly what was happening, wasn't it?

"Well would you just look at the crowd, brother of mine?" the mustachioed one said.

"Looks like a lot of long faces in the audience if you ask me!" the other said.

"Seems like this is just the town we've been looking for!"

"Why, my brother, you can't possibly mean it!"

"Yes, just the town to use our particular brand of anti-kidnapping necklaces?"

The crowd gasped and muttered amongst itself as green magic sparked from both of their horns. Up from the middle of their cart rose a box, which then flung open. Contained within, hanging delicately from gold chains were emerald necklaces glittering in the sun. Twilight felt she'd seen more than enough of this display and took this opportunity to push her way into the crowd.

"Now, who wants one?" the stallion with the moustache asked. "We guarantee satisfaction! One hundred and ten percent kidnapping proof necklaces!"

The crowd began churning as ponies tried to force their way to the front. All of them with screams of "I'll take five" or "shut up and take my bits" and so on. Twilight finally muscled her way to the front and glared at the two stallions. They seemed to catch onto being stared at, however, now turning their attention to the armored purple mare and offering a hoof to her.

"How about you, miss?" the clean shaven stallion asked with a grin. The crowd had silenced upon seeing Captain Twilight before them. Memories of reports being sent to the princess still fresh in many of their minds.

"I'd ask what you think you're doing here in Ponyville and who you are," she said sternly.

"Why, I guess my brother and I just aren't famous here in Ponyville!" the pony with the moustache said. "For you see, he's Flim!"

"And he's Flam!" the clean shaven pony said suddenly.

"Together, we're the world famous Flim Flam Brothers!" they said together, striking a pose that was only really performed in front of large crowds or a mirror to get just right.

"How apt," Twilight said dryly. "And I suppose you're here to swindle the good ponies of Ponyville out of their hard earned bits in lieu of a tragedy."

"My dear lady!" Flam gasped.

"Captain," Twilight corrected.

"Captain Lady!" Flim said as Twilight huffed.

"My brother and I are here to bring protection to Ponyville!" Flam claimed proudly, offering a hoof to in the direction of their necklaces. "With these, nopony will be captured again, and that is our solemn promise to our consumers!"

The crowd muttered among themselves, not seeming to buy it. Twilight in the meantime quirked a brow, pleased to see that her fellow ponies didn't seem to be buying the sales pitch. It almost made her laugh, though their unwavering smug looks stifled any joy she got out of the situation.

“Perhaps there’s a way we can prove these wonderful things work?” Flim said.

“I’m sure there is, brother of mine!” Flam replied.

“Why we just happen to be wearing our product, aren't we, Flam?”

“We certainly are, Flim, and we’re both still here!”

This got the crowd muttering a bit louder. This was always the tricky part when it came to crowds. It seemed the more they muttered, the more hive-minded they became. Twilight was well aware of this fact of nature and thought quickly to try and cull the crowd back to the side of reason and sensibility.

“That’s all well and good,” she said with a slight smirk. “But I’m afraid I can’t allow you to sell anything to anypony without a proper license.”

Flim and Flam looked to one another with a smirk.

“Why my dear Captain Lady, I’d like to know under whose authority?” Flim asked defiantly.

“My authority,” Twilight said proudly, puffing her chest out. “I am Captain Twilight Sparkle of the Ponyville Watch and the law in this town. If I say you need a license to run a stand or a herring to walk backwards down the street in the middle of the night then the last thing I expect is lip!”

This was met with uneasy whispers in the crowds of ponies trying to figure out if that was a law or not and they had been unaware. Twilight rolled her eyes to the chattering behind her and climbed aboard the cart of Flim and Flam, giving them an incredulous glare as she awaited their response.

“We had no idea this would be such a hard sale,” Flim said.

“Indeed, we had figured this was a free trade sort of place, but as you wish Captain Lady,” Flam said.

They offered beckoning hooves to a curtain that hung over the side of the raised portion on the cart. The curtain was drawn, showing off several framed licenses and other papers. Some of them seemed rather excessive in nature. One that stood out was the “Allowance to trade glances while working a stall on a full moon while wearing hats” from Fillydelphia. Twilight winced as she’d read over that one, feeling slightly relieved she hadn’t been sent there to maintain order over such arbitrary laws.

Flim and Flam stood by, awaiting the confirmation to go ahead. The crowd in the meantime had thinned significantly. Many were ponies not wishing to wait around for something so silly and scampered back home. Twilight continued to run her eyes along the papers before leaning back and looking to the faces of the brothers.

Her eyes narrowed slowly before she got down from the cart and walked into the silent crowd. They parted, making way for her to pass before turning their attention back to Flim and Flam, who were more than happy to shake the whole thing off and once again present their merchandise.

“So who wants themselves a nice necklace that guarantees you’ll never be kidnapped a day in your lives?” Flim said.

“Why if they weren’t for the customers, I’d buy twenty!” Flam added.

The remaining crowd of folks more or less got on board immediately with shouts of “shut up and take my bits!” and “I’ll take twenty!” filling Twilight’s ears. An exasperated sigh tumbled out of her as she made her way back to the Watch house. It was an effort for her eyes not to roll out of her skull at how superstitious ponies seemed to be around here. A far cry from Canterlot to be certain.

As she entered the door, now far away from the insanity of the merchants and the ponies that remained, she pressed her back to the door and sank slowly to the floor. This day was half over, she just had to remember that important bit. Soon she’d be kicking down a door, rescuing ponies and being a giant bloody hero to boot. That lifted her spirits a bit. She came off the floor and moved to the interrogation room she’d left Big Macintosh and Applejack sitting in.

As she did, however, the atmosphere seemed different. She looked to Applejack, who was wiping tears from her eyes and seemed a shade lighter than before. Her eyes then moved to Big Macintosh who was even more dour than when she’d left. She settled down across from him, crossing her hooves on the desk and cleared her throat softly.

“So, I take it something happened,” she said, trying to cut the uncomfortable silence.

“Go ahead, brother,” Applejack said shakily.

“I just wanted them to be safe,” Big Macintosh muttered, sounding as though he were ready to burst into tears himself. “I was told that if I joined our farm would be safe when Nightmare Night came back. We’d have all the food we needed so long as I helped them and nothing bad would ever happen. They were threatenin’’ me, Granny Smith and my sisters.”

“Wait a moment,” Twilight said. “They threatened you because of Nightmare Moon’s return?”

“Eeyup.”

“Why do I keep hearing this nonsense about Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked sternly.

“It’s the way ponies are ‘round here ma’am,” Applejack said. “Ya’ll won’t find many that don’t believe in it.”

“You gotta believe me, please!” Big Macintosh pleaded.

Twilight rested a hoof on her head and sighed softly. “Alright, so you’ve been kidnapping ponies for Filthy Rich and taking them to his home so he can hold onto them. Is he the one behind all of this?”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh said as her nervously glanced around and leaned forward. “There’s six of us including me. The lead pony is a mare. I’ve never seen her face, she keeps it hidden, but near as I can tell she’s a unicorn. She’s the one bent on us kidnapping these ponies and usin’ them for this ritual to bring Nightmare Moon back. Filthy Rich is holdin’ onto ‘em.”

“We need to get in there and rescue those ponies,” Twilight said as she rubbed her chin gently. “Until then, I’m afraid you’ll have to remain here under our custody, Big Macintosh.”

“No, I can’t!” Big Macintosh urged, now looking quite panicked. “If I don’t show up tomorrow night they’ll do somethin’ I just know it! They’ll know somethin’ is wrong and somethin’ might happen to my family!”

Twilight was taken aback just as Applejack had been from his reaction. This of course being the first time Applejack had ever seen her brother get so emotional over something, or indeed raise his voice that loudly. Silence fell on the room again as Twilight composed herself and cleared her throat.

“That could be an issue,” she said.

“What if we use him?” Applejack asked. “Why, he could be our inside pony!”

Twilight ran a thoughtful hoof under her chin. “That’s actually not a bad idea, Sergeant. We could use all the information we can get at this point. Perform admirably and I might just be swayed to look the other way on your charges. Until then I believe we’re done here. Sergeant, if you’d escort him home and grab Corporal Derpy while you’re about it. We’ll be paying Mr. Rich a visit.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Applejack said with a salute.

Twilight opened the pouch for her notebook and floated it in front of her as Applejack and Big Macintosh left. She hummed to herself as she jotted down a few things from the talk she’d just had. A mysterious figure controlling a cult of five other ponies. Big Macintosh was one, Filthy Rich was another, that only left the other four. Twilight stood and walked to the front door of the Watch house to take a step outside. Fresh air might do a bit of good to clear the head and shake the cobwebs loose.

As she stood outside, the sound of the cart of Flim and Flam pulling up to her made her suddenly wish she’d stayed inside and taken in all that nice stuffy air to shake out the cobwebs. They still looked incredibly smug despite, what Twilight assumed, were shoddy sales after her own song and dance. The cart creaked to a halt before her and she stared at them sternly.

“I believe you’ll be happy to hear we’re leaving for now, Captain,” Flim said with a smirk.

“The ‘for now’ part is disheartening, but at least you’re done swindling ponies out of their bits,” Twilight said incredulously.

“So droll, Captain, but don’t you worry,” Flam said with the same grin as his brother plastered on his face. “We’ll be back.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as they sputtered away on their cart. She felt relief however, glad that not everyone in Ponyville had been duped by such a shoddy business practice. That relief faded as soon as she caught sight of two ponies passing right in front of her wearing those necklaces. That was when she decided fresh air was vastly overrated and headed back into the Watch house to prepare for the visit they would pay Filthy Rich.

**********

Corporal Rarity sat in front of the a table just outside of Ponyville’s premier cafe. She rubbed her tired eyes, trying her best not to yawn. She was joined by Constables Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, who were enjoying a lunch break from their patrols. They were, of course, the same constables that banged on Rarity’s door not long ago and shook her from a lovely dream involving ice cream and a hot bath. Instead they brought her out to look at ghastly necklaces and two sales ponies that could not only do with a fashion makeover but perhaps some tips on actual entrepreneurship.

“I honestly do not see what makes these horrid necklaces so special,” Rarity said with a huff. “They look absolutely awful too, like they were made in a shop.”

“But you make your dresses in your shop,” Pinkie Pie said, tilting her head to one side.

“That’s different sweetie,” Rarity said. “I actually hoof stitch every seam and you can see the love and attention that’s in every last bit of thread. These are just wretched.”

“Do you think they actually work?” Fluttershy asked, watching another pony walk by staring at their necklace.

“Of course they don’t!” Pinkie Pie said. “I mean that would be like saying your hat keeps you from falling down cliffs!”

Fluttershy looked up to her helmet for a moment in thought.

“Well, if those snake charmers think they can just swoop in and steal business away from me, they’re wrong,” Rarity said. “Anypony who’s anypony will want what I’ve got cooking up for the Summer Sun Festival anyway. They’ll forget about those stupid necklaces and go straight for the quality and care that only Rarity can provide them.”

"You could sell it to that pony over there!" Pinkie said with a giggle. "Black in this heat has to be really hot!"

"Yes, very hot," Rarity said before she broke away from her thoughts. She turned her attention quickly to a set of bushes in the distance where a black cloaked figure was moving towards the edge of town. She nearly tumbled over as she got to her hooves and looked to the others.

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked, shrinking behind Rarity nervously.

"I say we rush 'em and give 'em a good whumpin'!" Pinkie Pie suggested as she pulled her truncheon from its holder.

"No, we should follow them," Rarity said with a nod.

"Why?" Pinkie asked.

"If we can figure out where they came from, we'll figure out where the kidnapped ponies are!" Rarity said with a grin. "Then we whump them, drag them back to the Watch house with the kidnapped ponies and that’ll be that!”

"That sounds like a worse idea," Fluttershy said, peering around Rarity and watching as the figure nonchalantly strode along the back roads.

Rarity put a hoof to her mouth to silence them as she began to walk calmly towards the bushes the figure had just emerged from. Pinkie Pie bounded along soundlessly as Fluttershy tried to cling to Rarity as best she could. They crept along, stopping every once in awhile to press themselves against a wall and peer around it like they'd read somewhere in a mystery novel. Fluttershy slowly leaned up to Rarity’s ear.

"Where do you think they’re going?"

"Wherever it is, I have a bad feeling about it," Rarity said before the three of them slipped out of their cover and continued towards the shadowy pony. They were quickly running out of buildings to hide behind as the pony halted just before the entrance to the Everfree Forest. Rarity craned her head out, watching as the pony looked around suspiciously. Rarity nibbled on her bottom lip nervously before the pony sauntered into the forest and disappeared into the thick brush. Releasing a sigh of relief, she leaned back into the cover she and her companions had taken.

"We should leave," Fluttershy said through chattering teeth.

"It's just the Everfree Forest," Rarity said turning her head back towards the forest entrance. Her nerves began to take hold as she stared into the deepening darkness that lay before them. Suddenly she'd regretted putting on such a brave face and now having to stick by her word. Without a word, Pinkie Pie merrily skipped out of cover and bounded towards the entrance of the forest. Rarity then wondered if the pink pony knew just what subtlety exactly was.

Rarity turned back to Fluttershy and nodded, slipping out of the cover. Pinkie Pie had stopped just short of the forest entrance and bounced in place waiting for them. The three of them stared into forest as though it were a gaping maw prepared to close shut the moment they entered. Rarity took a gulp and moved her hooves forward to enter the forest with the others in tow.

Chapter VI: The Unusual Suspects

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There were a few things, Corporal Rarity thought, that she distinctly hated most about the Everfree Forest. Foremost in her mind was the fact that no matter what time you entered the forest, it always seemed like it was midnight. The thick trees above them blocked out all light from the sun giving it a very eerie feel. The second thing that made her hate the place was the unnatural way the shadows would shift and move. It made it very difficult to tell if the miasma in front of her was a bush or some horrid creature with twenty arms and seven mouths that thought she looked particularly delicious.

The third reason, and the crux of the matter, was how dirty everything was. This was also supposed to be her recovery day to rest and relax, perhaps pamper herself with a day at the spa or even more shopping. But no, she was now hoof deep into the bowels of this horrid forest! She wondered if there was a sort of higher power pushing her along and having the best laugh in the world at her misery.

The feeling of hooves tightening around her waist made her stop and shoot a look back to Fluttershy. The poor pegasi’s teeth chattered loudly as her eyes rolled around the scenery, constantly on the lookout for anything that could possibly leap out at them. Rarity knew that feeling all too well, but also couldn't help but feel the strong need to shake Fluttershy off of her.

"What's that?" Pinkie Pie asked as she stopped dead in her tracks.

Rarity turned her gaze to a hut sitting in the middle of a clearing. To say it made her uncomfortable was a gross understatement. She could swear the air around the hut was like a wall and as dark as a creepy cellar. But, much like the cellar, she knew this is where they needed to be. She felt Fluttershy clutching tighter and shivering.

"W-We sh-should get th-th-the others!" Fluttershy squeaked.

"We've come too far for that now," Rarity said, trying to feign bravery. Her own body protested, wanting nothing more than to turn right around and blaze a trail straight back to Ponyville to grab the Captain as well as the others. Instead, she put a hoof forward and pulled the shaking Fluttershy along, trying her best to keep up the facade.

"Should we just burst in and take 'em?" Pinkie asked.

"There could be more than the one," Rarity said. "This might be their headquarters after all. We should observe from a window, try to get all the information we can and then head back to get the rest of the Watch."

They crept as slowly as they could to a window of the hut, avoiding every fallen branch and dead leaf they could. The air seemed to grow colder the closer they drew to the hut. Even Pinkie Pie had gone from happy-go-lucky to nervousness from the change in atmosphere. Pressing themselves to the outside of the hut, they craned their heads up to peer inside the dim hut.

They could see several rather frightening things. Masks hung from the walls, each of them staring right back at the Watchmares, which unsettled Rarity to no end. From the ceiling, bottles dangled motionlessly, each a different colour and shape. The real clincher was the cauldron that sat bubbling unattended in the middle of the room. The fact that it was unattended and the three of them could see no rooms off to the side where someone might have slipped away to perhaps grab a pony and drag them out to cook them, worried them greatly.

"Right," Rarity managed as they slid down the wall and back to the ground. "I believe we've seen enough. We should be getting back to the Watch house right now."

The snapping of a twig made them halt as their eyes locked on the shadow of a pony glaring at them with burning golden eyes. The very glow seemed menacing enough until the pony decided to raise up and shout in what sounded like a strange, guttural language. If Rarity could have turned pale, then it's possible she would have. Instead, she'd decided this would be the proper time to faint. As the world went dark for Rarity, the last thing she saw was a blur of yellow and pink streaking towards the pony and a shrill voice crying out over the air.

"I swear, I'm gonna wreck you!"

**********

Captain Twilight flipped through her notebook, lost in her own thoughts at her desk. The testimony collected thus far along with the evidence pointed straight to Filthy Rich, but something was still off. She couldn't put a hoof on it, but the events of the past few days made her wonder if Filthy Rich was the type of pony to kidnap willy-nilly for some darker purpose. He had pull, being a moneyed pony, but it didn't make any sense. Someone had to be pulling the strings.

The who was what killed her though. The idea of there being a mastermind was very worrying. They had to be someone quite charismatic to lead someone like Filthy Rich as well as Big Macintosh to do these sorts of things and to make bold promises like the one made to Big Macintosh. Bringing in someone's family was downright disgusting. It made Twilight's skin crawl to know there was someone out there who could do such a wretched thing. All just to perform some sort of crazed ritual and bring an everlasting night? It was all preposterous.

A knock then came to her office door.

"Yes?" she asked, not bringing her eyes away from her notebook.

"Ma'am, we're here," Applejack said, sliding in with Corporal Derpy in tow.

"Excellent," Twilight said, now closing the notebook and sliding it into the pocket of her breastplate. "Are you both ready? I'm not sure just what we're going to encounter when we get there."

"Don't you worry ma'am," Derpy said with a grin. "We're more than ready."

"No picking at things while we're there, Corporal," Twilight said with a huff.

"'Course not ma'am."

Twilight nodded, albeit tentatively and followed the two out of her office. She sank back into her mind as they went down the stairs and out of the Watch house. If there was ever a time to focus, now would be it. The idea that they could be wandering straight into a hive of kidnapping cultists sent a chill down Twilight's spine. She set her jaw firmly though, prepared to face whatever they found and do their job. That's what this was now, nasty business, but a job nonetheless that had to be done.

Ponies cleared the way as they stepped through the streets as though they could sense the air of business about the three of them. The large home came into view as they stepped up to the door. Twilight banged on the door loudly before turning her eyes to the window she'd previously seen candles in. The lip of the window was clean. Even the wax that had poured over from the candles that once sat looked as though it'd been tidied up. The door swung open as Twilight tore her gaze from the window to the annoyed looking visage of Filthy Rich.

"Why Captain, I wasn't expecting you back so soon," he said with a grin. "Ah, and dear Applejack, how's the family?"

"Not here for idle chit-chat I'm afraid Mr. Rich," Twilight said sternly. "We just came across a new bit of testimony that puts you in a rather tight spot. You see, we weren't sure if it was coincidence or not that a cart was pulling away from the bar just after a pony went missing. Now, however, things are starting to look rather bleak for you. We know that cart was headed here and we know it offloaded a pony. So why don't you come clean with us and maybe I won't let Corporal Derpy here knock you about until I get tired."

"My goodness Captain, so hostile!" Filthy Rich exclaimed. "Even after I told you there are no kidnapped ponies here."

"We'll see about that," Twilight said with a huff. "You're going to show us that secret room of yours, this instant."

Filthy Rich didn't flinch, which worried Twilight. This was generally the part of an investigation where the bad guy would make up some excuse and try to book it out a window or even roll on some other partner they had just to make them seem less guilty. Filthy Rich, however, was calm and collected. Twilight hated that.

He silently offered a hoof inside and let the Watch file in. Closing the door, he then lead them down into the basement. Nothing had changed since the morning, everything looked exactly as it had been with a stone not out of place. Twilight stared at the stone wall impatiently as Filthy Rich fumbled around.

"Now, I'm certain the stone to open it is somewhere around here," he said. "I don't go in that often, you see. Cave ins remember?"

"Today, Mr. Rich," Twilight bellowed.

Suddenly a stone on the wall sank beneath the pressure Filthy Rich applied to it. The sound of gears and iron creaking to life echoed along the walls as the stone shifted upwards. Dust billowed and swirled in the air, revealing a wooden door tucked neatly into the stone. Twilight moved to the door and shoved on it. The hinges groaned before something got it stuck.

"Allow me ma'am," Applejack said, walking to the door and turning around. Rearing her hooves up, she slammed them into the door, causing it to fly open and one of the hinges to detach from the wall.

Captain Twilight quickly moved past Applejack and into the room where she lit up her horn. There in the darkness, all she saw was the far side of the small room totally caved in. Her mouth dropped open, stunned at the site. She had been so certain of everything only to find emptiness. Moving to the other end of the room, her eyes ran over the collapsed stone, still stunned from what she was now presented with.

"Satisfied, Captain?" Filthy Rich asked from outside of the room.

Twilight gritted her teeth as her blood began to boil. "No, actually, Mr. Rich. You've done something. You've moved them, clearly! Somewhere between this morning and now, you have moved them and I'm going to find out where. You're going to come down to the Watch house with us, Mr. Rich. It's iron bars for you until you decide to tell us where they are!"

"Again, so hostile Captain, I'll come with you of my own accord," Filthy Rich raising his hooves to show he wasn't about to fight back. Twilight narrowed her eyes sharply, glaring intently at Filthy Rich.

"Move," Twilight muttered as she took the lead and marched up the stairs with Filthy Rich in tow. The basement was still again as the upstairs door slammed shut, making the collapsed stone wall warp and jiggle slightly.

Twilight lead the way as Derpy and Applejack walked to either side of Filthy Rich. Ponies that stood in the streets began to mutter to one another as they passed by, most of them laying their eyes on Filthy Rich. Twilight looked about as windows and doors began to open up for ponies to watch as he was paraded towards the Watch house. This was something she hadn't intended on happening. In fact, this was the last thing she had wanted.

A spectacle like this would only draw attention, which would only lead to problems. Twilight still had no idea who the other members of that shadowy cult were. In fact they could be watching at this very moment in time without her knowing. She felt uneasy at the slack-jawed stares and whispers until they finally made it to the Watch house.

The door opened and shut slowly, offering sanctuary from it all. Twilight spun around to the three ponies and glared right at Filthy Rich, who still seemed far too calm for all of this. Silence fell until the pattering of feet from behind the desk filled Twilight's ear. She shifted her gaze down to Spike who looked between her and Filthy Rich.

"Lance Constable, if you would fetch the keys for the cells downstairs," Twilight said, now looking back to Filthy Rich.

Spike nodded and moved back behind the desk. After a moment, he grabbed the ring of keys and jingled them a bit before Twilight walked to the stairs just at the back of the Watch house. They twisted around, leading to the basement and the dank air of the cells below. There were six cells down below that lined the walls. Within each was a small wooden bed with a dingy mattress and what could be considered either a ball of cloth or a pillow, depending on how desperate one was.

At the end of the room, much to Twilight's wonder, was a poster nailed to the wall. The poster was quite colourful, indeed, being the only colourful thing amidst all the gray and brown. She could only think of Constable Pinkie Pie as the only pony who would install such a happy picture. As she stared at the poster of a pony playing with a kitten, Twilight could only think to what end did it serve? Either this was Pinkie's way of bringing light to something dour, or she was some sort of genius of rehabilitation and it was to remind incarcerated ponies of what they were missing out on beyond their barred homes.

Spike fiddled with the keys before finding the proper one that opened it. The rusty iron let out a groan as Spike opened the door and Filthy Rich entered the cell. Closing it swiftly, Spike locked the cell door as Filthy Rich smirked and sat down on the floor. Twilight strolled up to the bars and looked him over, still unsettled by his demeanor.

"You'll be staying in there for a bit until I come back to ask you a few questions," Twilight said.

"Please, take your time Captain, I'm in no rush," Filthy Rich said as his smirk curled into a grin.

Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine. "Lance Constable, keep an eye on him."

Spike saluted as the other three walked up the stairs and into the fresh air of the Watch house's ground floor. Twilight lifted the helmet off of her head and slumped to the floor, letting it come to a rest next to her. She rubbed her face gently as Applejack and Derpy circled around her, both sharing worried glances.

"Er, ya'll okay, ma'am?" Applejack asked.

"No, I'm not," Twilight said with a sigh. "Do you remember our discussion earlier, Sergeant?"

"Oh, right," Applejack nodded and looked to the ground.

"I'm trying to figure out our next move," Twilight said with a sigh. "We've got Filthy Rich, what we need now is a confession."

"Big Macintosh could come in an' confirm it's him," Applejack said with a firm nod.

"Big Macintosh couldn't tell us who the leader was. I don't think it'll be that simple," Twilight said rubbing her face.

"What about his voice?" Applejack asked.

"Too flimsy. We need a confession," Twilight said, her eyes now falling to the floor. She felt like a wreck. This crash course into law and order was making her wish she'd left after all. She had barely an idea of what she was doing even after reading the Watch manual. She shook her head, trying to get her mind back on track. There was no time to mull over what should be or how things could have been handled.

Her mind was rattled once more, however, by the door suddenly flying open. Pinkie was the first through the door with Rarity on her back. She was followed by Fluttershy, who looked to be trying to shove the two of them into the safety of the Watch house as quickly as she could. They tumbled onto the ground in a heap of iron and colour; the noise filling the Watch house. Twilight reeled a bit, taking note of their fearful expressions.

"What in the hay is going on here!?" Applejack demanded, looking over the mess of ponies.

"Scary!" Pinkie Pie managed between gulps of air. "Everfree Forest! Robes! Outside! Nicked 'em!"

"Outside?" Twilight questioned before moving to the door and peering out to the orange daylight of the setting sun. There, sprawled out lay the figure of a pony outlined by a black hooded robe. Twilight blinked a few times before turning back to the Watchmares. All she could manage, however, was a sputtering and a hoof pointed to the pony at her door.

"We saw that pony go into the Everfree Forest," Fluttershy said, catching her breath and her courage.

"So we followed them!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "And then things got really scary! And then Rarity fainted! And then Fluttershy flew at the pony and started wailing on them! And then we ran as fast as we could here with Rarity! And the-"

"Yes, I believe I can ascertain the rest, Constable," Twilight said before a thought struck her. "Wait, you mean Fluttershy did this?"

"W-Well we couldn't stop to ask for questions," Fluttershy said meekly. "I mean, Rarity tumbled over and I sort of, um..."

Twilight went slack jawed as Fluttershy sank to the floor. The words escaped her once more. Just when she believed there were no more surprises left for the Watch to deliver her, they brought up another one. Twilight stood still as a statue, still pointing her hoof to the figure lying just outside the door.

"You did this?" she asked sharply.

"I'm sorry, Captain," Fluttershy said with a bit of a squeak at the end.

"D-Don't be!" Twilight exclaimed. "Constable, you captured a member of the cult! This is the breakthrough we've been waiting for!"

Fluttershy picked herself up from the ground and stared back to Twilight in awe. The realization it seemed, had just hit her.

"Oh my gosh, I did, didn't I?" she asked to no one in particular. She suddenly leapt into the air and cheered, thrusting her front legs upwards in victory. Her small victory dance came to a conclusion upon noticing the strange looks she received from everyone standing around her. Blushing a deep red, she shrank away slowly.

Twilight turned to the hooded pony outside of their door and canted her head to one side. It looked as though in their panic, they had dragged the poor pony all the way to their door. She took in a gulp, steeling herself and put a hoof to the hood. The other ponies gathered around curiously, clearly curious as Twilight what lay beneath. A neighbor by chance? Celestia?

Twilight bit her bottom lip. In her mind all she could see being under the hood was some pony with a leathery face and an eye patch. Or even worse, some terror of the deep with tentacles pouring out of every orifice. Each of them writhing around searching for something to choke the life out of. Her imagination ran rampant before she quickly threw the hood back. That was when Twilight found herself face to face with something she hadn't expected at all.

"What is she?" Applejack asked.

"She's a zebra," Twilight said.

"Is her face always like that?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, Constable. Well, probably not the tongue hanging out of her mouth. I've read a book about them. She's certainly a long way from home. It looks like you whumped her good. We might as well bring her down to our cells and have her rest there. Gently though, the last thing I want is brain damage on a suspect."

Applejack saluted and moved to the fallen zebra. With the help of Pinkie Pie, she hoisted the zebra onto her back and moved towards the stairs. Twilight turned her attention to Derpy and thrust a hoof out towards Ponyville.

"Corporal, go ahead and get back up on your cloud," Twilight said. "If something is going to happen, it's going to happen while we have that cultist locked away."

"Yes ma'am!" Derpy exclaimed and flew out of the Watch house towards the sky. Twilight turned back to the others and turned an eye to Rarity.

"As for the rest of you, go ahead home and make certain Corporal Rarity gets to bed," Twilight said as the others saluted. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie took it upon themselves to carry the limp body of Rarity out the door, leaving the Watch house empty. Twilight sighed and rubbed her face before removing her helmet and setting herself down in front of the still open door. She shut her eyes slowly, feeling the cool breeze of evening air wash over her.

The sound of a rusty squealing cell door and hooves returning up the stairs brought her away from the fleeting moments of relaxation and back into the real world. Applejack now stood in the doorway that lead to the cells, resting her eyes on Captain Twilight. The two sat in stark silence, time feeling as though it were crawling. Twilight cleared her throat awkwardly and looked to Applejack. Her expression softened a bit. Somewhere in Applejack's eyes, Twilight could see the twinge of betrayal.

"Sergeant," Twilight said.

"Ma'am," Applejack said.

Twilight nipped at her bottom lip. "He had a good reason, there's no doubt about that."

"With all due respect, ma'am, I'd rather not," Applejack said, turning her eyes to the floor.

Twilight dug at the wood floor of the Watch house and stared at it. Finally, the sound of hooves approached her as Applejack slipped outside without a word. The door to the Watch house glowed a dull purple as it shut slowly behind Twilight and she sank to the floor. Her body ached from the day finally catching up. Her nerves felt frayed as she sat in the stillness of the Watch house, a yawn welling up and expelling itself from her.

The day had been long and tedious. It felt like for every turn the kidnapping case was taking, there was another wall to climb over. Twilight's tired gaze shifted from the floor to the desk at the other side of the room. She stared at the symbol of the Watch. The shield with two ponies juxtaposed. Across the top read 'Ponyville Watch' and along the bottom was scribed 'vigiles custodes'. Twilight recognized the old language of Pony Latin, translating it in her mind as 'Watchful Protectors'.

That was the last thing she felt like. It was the closing of the third day for her. She felt that things should be going better. Somewhere in her mind tugged the feeling that she was simply doing things completely wrong. Perhaps not a feeling so much as a knowledge that things had been buggered from the beginning and the blame could only really be placed on her.

She looked to her shaking hooves and put them beneath her body. Her solution had always been simple for this sort of thing. Drink until the scalding daylight came pouring into her window like hot coffee in her lap. She hadn't drank since she came here. Sure, she'd attempted to, but the cider offered was like a science experiment gone horribly wrong. She felt cool beads of sweat form on her coat as her mind turned to the sweet amber nectar that had once seen her through hard times.

How cruel, it felt to her, that she couldn't wrap herself in that security blanket again without condemning her taste buds to genocide. Her lids grew heavy and slid shut, making her doze off for a moment before she snorted loudly and snapped out of it. Sleep would be next on the objectives, just after she checked in with Spike and had him come up for bed. Her helmet glowed a dull purple as she floated it next to her and headed for the stairs.

That was when a knock at the door stalled her hooves. She could feel a twinge of annoyance crawling along her body as muscles tensed and a sharp sigh left her nostrils. She set her helmet hastily on her head, knowing it was crooked but not quite finding it within herself to care. As she made it to the door, she flung it open and gave her meanest glare to whomever it was banging on the Watch house door.

"I-Is this a bad time?" Bon Bon asked, now backing away from the door. Twilight blinked a few times, realizing what she'd just done. In her exhausted state she'd forgotten one of the chief rules to being a member of the Watch. Be courteous to citizens, until they break the law.

"Oh, not at all!" Twilight said. "Please, do come in."

Bon Bon smiled and gave a nod, sliding her way into the Watch house with two saddle bags across her back. "Have you found anything out about Lyra? I heard a bunch of ponies talking about Filthy Rich being brought here under guard."

Twilight furrowed her brow, trying to place the name until it hit her. She felt incredibly heartless now, having forgotten the poor mare standing before her and the fact she was missing a friend of hers. Twilight reached up to remove her helmet and run a hoof along her mane slowly.

"Well," Twilight said. "Unfortunately we don't have anything yet. At least, we haven't found them, but we might be making headway. We'll have a better answer in the morning."

Bon Bon nodded, turning her eyes to the ground. "I thought that would be the answer."

"I'm sorry," Twilight said. "I wish I had more for you."

Bon Bon closed her eyes as a tear formed and ran along her cheek. Twilight shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how one dealt with a crying mare. Her whole time in Canterlot had been spent dealing with stallions who would be chastised the second they showed an ounce of weakness to their peers. This was an entirely different beast. It wasn't to say Twilight was necessarily heartless. But one's heart tends to forget how to show emotion when it goes ignored for a bit. She didn't want to embrace the mare and make things even more awkward, though she didn't want to seem entirely too cold.

Twilight looked to her hoof until an idea struck her. Reaching it towards Bon Bon, she patted her on the shoulder, trying to make it as comforting as possible. Bon Bon seemed to respond, however, wiping away her tears and sniffling slightly. Twilight retracted the hoof and tried to put on a comforting smile as Bon Bon turned her gaze to the Captain. A few moments drug by laboriously as silence filled the air.

Bon Bon turned and reached into her saddle bag. She rifled through it until she pulled a small white envelope from it. Twilight stared down at the envelope curiously as Bon Bon motioned for her to take it. It glow a faint purple, being pulled from the mare's mouth and to Twilight's eyes. On the one side of the envelope was a nondescript wax seal. On the other side, however, was the most interesting bit.

"Do not open until the night of the Summer Sun Festival?" Twilight read aloud.

Bon Bon nodded before silently moving to the door of the Watch house. Twilight looked between her and the envelope floating next to her before Bon Bon slipped out into the night without a word. Twilight felt exhausted again, feeling as though her brain was going to bubble over and explode. Somewhere in her mind, a tiny pony had just thrown their hooves up in frustration and buggered off for the day.

She stared blankly at the door, still trying to grasp just what had transpired. The entire visit was spent attempting to avoid an awkward situation only to find herself smack dab in the middle of one. Her eyes moved back to the letter, still floating next to her and read back over the words. She wanted to open it now, but wasn't terribly certain she should. Not without first soaking the letter in something in case it was a trap.

She wobbled, her tired body was catching back up and she could feel her lids weakening beneath the weight of sleep. A yawn tumbled out of her as she floated the helmet next to her and neatly placed the letter in it. This would be a mystery to solve later. If it happened to blow up somewhere in the middle of the night, it may not be an entirely bad thing. Hospital food could be good and she would get all the rest she could ever want.

Always a silver lining, Twilight thought as she made her way towards the stairs once more.

**********

High above Equestria, and indeed the planet, the moon sailed across the stars slowly. It was an unimposing celestial body if there ever was one. More than happy to simply travel across the Equestrian skies and then go on about its time when the sun was summoned to take its place. However, along the darkest corners of the moon slithered something sinister. A darkness lashed at the light as it churned. Were the moon alive, it more than likely would not have been very pleased by the umbra gliding along its surface. Indeed, it would most likely have been quite cross.

The shadow moved unchallenged though. Whipping about like a snake striking, it soon began to take shape. Were anyone outside, they would have seen quite a sight as the shadow began to cover the face of the moon. First the shadow formed a neck. Next the twisting black mass formed a long nose and mouth. From there came an eye staring towards the planet below. Then came the ear and long horn adorning the forehead.

It was equine in shape to be sure. No one would bother to argue that fact. But to any who believed in the tale of the Mare in the Moon and were looking to the heavenly sphere, they were not exactly going to hang around to argue any facts.

Chapter VII: Questions, Queries and Inquests

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Dreams were a funny thing sometimes. They could be so aloof one moment until the next, when they shifted into some horrid version of the world the dreamer left behind once their head hit the pillow. Twilight Sparkle was unaware of her tossing and turning in bed, as well as the fact she was halfway off her bed. To her, she was standing upon a craggy outcropping in the middle of a maelstrom. Beneath her surged an ocean of lava and above her the sky boomed with the roars of thunder and streaks of lightning splitting the clouds.

She wasn't sure by what dream logic she was brought to this terrifying place. All she knew was an insatiable urge to get away from something looming ever closer to her. She couldn't catch a glimpse of it directly. Only in snippets through a wispy shadow could she see the abomination shambling closer and closer. Her eyes frantically ran around the scenery, trying to see a way out.

She slipped suddenly, catching herself on the slick rocks, trying to pull herself up. Her hooves slid as she pulled with all of her might, feeling the heat from below rising up. The creature inched close as Twilight desperately tried to pull herself up. That was when she stared up into the twisting darkness of the shadow and saw from it her own head poking out. Eyes wreathed in flame, the other Twilight twisted their head around before shouting in an unnatural voice.

"Wake up!" it demanded. With that, a wisp of darkness whipped at Twilight's body, her grip collapsing from the pain. She fell for what felt like an eternity, the lava getting ever closer. The heat felt as though it was going to scorch her body.

**********

She let out a sharp yelp as her body smacked into the wood floor beneath her bed. Above her stood Spike holding a lantern, giving her a worried look. She let out a groan as her tired lids slid open to take in the very fuzzy surroundings. Through the pale light of the lantern, she could see she was not drowning in lava as her dream had suggested. That was a good start at the very least.

"Spike?" she asked, turning her head towards him. "What time is it?"

"It's six in the morning," Spike said. "I just got an urgent letter from Princess Celestia though. She says she needs you back at the castle immediately!"

"Did she say why?" Twilight asked dryly, groaning as she got to her hooves.

"Something about a newspaper?" Spike said with a shrug.

Twilight ran her hooves down her face before moving to the mirror across the room and brushing her mane. She leaned forward, trying to get a better look, only to find what stared back was not pretty. Bags weighed heavy beneath her eyes. Her overall appearance made her look as though she'd spent the night crumpled away somewhere in an alley. Spike moved to her side, bringing along her breastplate and helmet. As Twilight did everything she could to not make herself appear like a vagrant, Spike set to work cinching up the armor and straightening the plumage of the Captain's official hat.

"There's a chariot already waiting for you outside," Spike said as Twilight nodded and rested the helmet neatly upon her head.

"Make sure you slide the prisoners downstairs some breakfast, I have plans for them," Twilight said. "Also, if I'm not back before the rest of the Watch get's here, tell them to perform a standard patrol and get those badges put on their uniforms. Also, if you would, pick up a card somewhere along the day for Sergeant Rainbow Dash."

Spike gave a crisp salute as Twilight returned it in kind and moved down the stairs and out the front door of the Watch house. The cool chill of morning air ran along her, making her yearn for the feeling of her warm bed sheets. She moved to the chariot and boarded it, settling in with a sigh. The team of pegasi dug into the ground and bolted forward before soaring into the sky. Twilight put a hoof to her helmet and shivered. If nothing else, the cool morning would wake her up before she got to Canterlot and met with Princess Celestia.

She looked over the lip of the chariot towards the horizon, watching the sun began to crest lazily over the horizon. She watched as a glow from Canterlot Castle began to slowly fade and disappear. Twilight wondered often if Celestia got tired of having to raise the sun and the moon. Much to her own amusement, she wondered if there was ever a time an inexperienced Princess Celestia got it backwards and had the moon come up in place of the sun. The universe obviously had a sense of humor, after all.

**********

It wasn't long before the chariot arrived at Canterlot and parked itself just outside of the castle grounds. Twilight hopped down and made her way to the castle gates, receiving a salute from the guards out front. She had suddenly remembered one of the things she despised about coming to the castle. All of the salutes you had to return. Made one's foreleg get tired simply from doing the motion over and over again.

She weaved her way into the castle proper, moving down the hall towards the princess' chambers until arriving at the large solid doors that towered above her. She gave a firm knock before the echoing voice of Princess Celestia beckoned for the door to be opened. She walked to the throne before doffing her helmet and bowing to Celestia.

"Your highness," Twilight said.

"Ah, Captain Twilight Sparkle, so glad you could make it this morning," Celestia said with a smile on her face. "Though looking worse for wear if I'm honest."

"Rough day and night, your highness," Twilight said.

"M'yes, so it would seem," Celestia said moving from her throne to a nearby window that looked out to Canterlot. "Apprehending Filthy Rich was a bold move on your part."

"You heard about that, your highness?" Twilight asked.

"Do you receive the Ponyville Express, Twilight?" Celestia asked.

"N-Not to my knowledge, unless someone is stealing our mail."

"It's the newspaper down in Ponyville. Often filled with boring news one would hear after simply walking three feet out of one's door. Still, sometimes they run the most interesting of stories."

Twilight gulped, a sinking feeling starting to fester inside of her. "O-Oh?"

"Yes, including a very interesting one just this morning. A certain Captain of the Watch that paraded a certain Mr. Filthy Rich through the streets of Ponyville and threw him in irons. Honestly, you have to appreciate their tenacity despite the bias."

"Your highness, I assure y-" Twilight was cut off by Celestia raising a wing.

"I know you would not purposefully do something to jeopardize the investigation. It's partly my fault after all. I sent you into Ponyville without much instruction beyond find missing ponies. I didn't have the time to mention the finer details. You see, that was no simple business pony you sent down into your cells. That was the head of their Chamber of Commerce, you sent down into your cells. A very well liked head of their Chamber of Commerce. Do you see where the problem lies?"

Twilight nodded slowly as Celestia turned. The sudden harshness in the alicorn's voice made Twilight shiver. It was almost like being scolded by someone's mother for running in the house. It was made worse by the fleeting scowl Celestia had worn before her face softened.

"Y-Yes, your highness," Twilight said.

"Good, now if I were you I'd head back to Ponyville before a riot forms to free Mr. Filthy Rich," Celestia said. "I'd imagine the mayor rising quite early to exercise her right to free him."

"Your highness, he is not innocent," Twilight said.

"Of course he isn't, he's a business pony," Celestia said with the slightest hint of a smirk. "But the true question is, do you have evidence to prove it?"

Twilight flapped her mouth open and closed. Celestia was right. The best they had was a wall-eyed witness. Celestia rose and nodded with a soft smile appearing on her face.

"I'll do everything I can, your highness," Twilight said.

"I know you will, but do take care of yourself," Celestia said. "I would hate to think you would wear yourself so thinly so quick. I'd also remember that bit about the newspapers. It may come in quite handy."

Twilight gave a respectful salute to her mentor, which was returned with a bowing of the alicorn's head. Twilight turned and plopped the helmet back onto her head. The doors to Celestia's throne room opened and closed behind her. Twilight would have to hurry. Especially if what Celestia had said was true. If there was going to be a riot, it would be a massive headache and possibly more damaged windows. A blow to the Watch they simply could not afford, quite literally.

**********

The chariot sailed out of Canterlot as Twilight stared down to the town of Ponyville. Her mind was fraught with worry. She didn't see any smoke coming from a building which was a relief. She nipped at her bottom lip nervously, wondering if Filthy Rich had already wiggled his way out of her grasp. As the town drew closer, she narrowed her eyes, trying to see if the Watch house had become a warzone yet.

There, outside of the front door she saw a surging horde of towns ponies. Their cries began to fill Twilight's ears as the chariot flew overhead. Twilight spotted the glint of metal which looked to be the Watch standing in a row outside to keep the crowd from turning uglier than it already seemed.

The chariot turned and swooped to the ground, coming to a stop near the crowd, who turned back to watch Twilight hop down from it. She narrowed her eyes as the crowd parted to allow her passage. It felt like she was doing a lot of this recently. Crowds of ponies always having their eyes on her as she walked through them and accepted whatever dubious stares they decided to give her.

"What's going on now?" Twilight asked as Applejack gave her a salute.

"Mayor's inside ma'am," Applejack said.

"Lovely, any particular reason there's an angry mob of ponies at our front door?" Twilight asked.

"Believe it has to do with that article in the paper, ma'am," Applejack said.

"Of course it does," Twilight said with a sigh. "Nothing is broken, is it?"

"No ma'am," Applejack said.

"Keep the peace out here then, I'll go and speak with the Mayor," Twilight said as Applejack moved aside to let her in.

Opening the door to the Watch house, Twilight wandered in to the sight of Spike standing on the front desk with keys in his clawed hands. The Mayor, it seemed, was stamping her hooves and growling at the small dragon.

"Give those keys to me or let Filthy Rich out of your cells this instant!" she snarled.

"Giving orders to my Watch now?" Twilight asked as Spike's face lit up, pleased to see the Captain return.

"I'm well within my right after you so swiftly dragged him off to jail," the Mayor said, spinning around on her hooves to face Twilight.

"Mr. Filthy Rich is down there until I have answers, Mayor," Twilight said.

The Mayor's face turned sour. "What answers are you trying to find? Are you insinuating he is behind the kidnappings?"

"A trusted member of our Watch saw a certain cart that was used in the kidnapping of a certain Berry Punch parking next to his home," Twilight said.

"So you believe just because that cart stopped right in front of his home, that he's guilty?"

"I thought that would be obvious," Twilight said with a grin. "We also have witness testimony who saw the transaction happen."

"Who is this witness? They're obviously lying to you!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I can't give up that information and you know it, Mayor."

"All right then, Captain," the Mayor said. "Explain to me how it was that on that same night, Filthy Rich was in his office at Town Hall approving this year's budget for beautifying Ponyville?"

Twilight's eyes fluttered as that news hit. It seemed all too ridiculous to her. Big Macintosh confirmed for certain that it was Filthy Rich who he delivered to. That was when her brain actually took over. She couldn't recall asking him directly that it was Filthy Rich that collected the mare. The Mayor quirked a brow as Twilight brought a notepad and quill out and began to flip through a few pages. Her eyes ran through the questions, seeing nothing at all save for he was holding them.

Twilight looked to the Mayor curiously; she didn't look like she was lying but these days it was difficult to tell.

"I'm going to need proof," Twilight said.

"I figured as much, so I brought along a few forms," the Mayor said jamming a hoof in Spike's direction. "That thing has them."

"I'm not a thing!" Spike shouted down at the Mayor with a glare.

"Lance Constable, if you would please," Twilight said as Spike lay the keys down on the desk and grabbed a few pieces of paper. He crawled down to the floor and brought them to Twilight who picked them out of his hand and looked them over.

"The first page as you'll see is a sign-out sheet that I have to approve," the Mayor said, coming to Twilight's side. "He signed out at eleven o'clock that evening. Hours after the kidnapping."

"What about lunch or dinner?" Twilight asked.

"He had it brought to him," the Mayor said.

Twilight looked back to the paper and shuffled through a few of the others. "What about these?"

"These are proofs of signature, he signs everything in the same way," the Mayor said. "As you can see his signature on his sign-out sheet is the same."

Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. Either someone was extraordinarily good at forging signatures, or this case had taken a sharp left down Buggery Avenue. The whole thing was rotten, there had to be something painfully obvious she was missing. Perhaps something Big Macintosh had missed or a question she had failed to ask. Her mind swam as the papers were plucked out of the air by the Mayor who tucked them into the collar she wore. Twilight shook herself out of her sudden trance and looked to the Mayor.

She could feel Filthy Rich slipping away as the conversation went on. Nothing made sense anymore. Filthy Rich couldn't have been in two places at once, for certain. What was there to be done? What could she do? That was when the thought popped into her mind.

"I want to test this out to make sure these aren't a forgery," Twilight said as she moved towards the stairs leading to the jail cells, the notepad still floating by her head.

"Is this really necessary, Captain?" the Mayor asked with a scoff.

"It's more than necessary, Mayor," Twilight said as she descended the stairs.

"This would be over a lot faster if you simply let him go, he's done nothing wrong!"

Twilight remained silent as she brought herself to the cell where Filthy Rich sat staring at the bars and grinning.

"Hello, Captain," he said.

"Mr. Rich, how are we today?" Twilight asked with a smirk.

"Well, I'd rather be at home, if I'm honest," he said. "Hello Mayor, sorry I'm not in today."

"Don't worry Mr. Rich, you'll be out soon enough," the Mayor said as Twilight wrinkled her nose.

"Mr. Rich, I'm going to need you to sign your name on this," Twilight said, tearing a piece of paper from her notebook and floating both it and an ink pen to him. He looked to the two of them now coming to settle on the floor. With a shrug, he took the pen into his mouth and set a hoof onto the paper. With a few quick dashes and strokes, he set the pen down and looked back up to Twilight. The pen and paper both floated to her eyes as the pages stuffed into the Mayor's collar followed suit.

She looked between the two, agonizing over every detail. Every swoop and stroke of the pen was analyzed right there by Twilight. Much to her dismay, however, the signatures both matched up perfectly. She looked to Filthy Rich curiously, wondering if he was secretly some sort of time traveler or could clone himself in some way. There was no other explanation.

"Spike," Twilight said dryly. "Get the keys."

Spike opened his mouth to speak but a look from Twilight made him frown and march up the stairs. The Mayor took the papers back from Twilight and stuffed them back into her collar. Filthy Rich stood up and moved to the bars with a grin on his face.

"This mean I'm being let go?" he asked.

Twilight stayed silent, staring right back at him as Spike came back down the stairs with keys in hand.

"Open it," Twilight said and backed away.

Spike looked down at the keys in his hands and sighed. Fumbling through them, he found the one of the cell of Filthy Rich and unlocked it. The metal hinges groaned as they opened and he stepped out with a smile.

"It does feel good to be out," he said as the Mayor nodded.

"So sorry it had to happen like this, Mr. Rich," she said. "I imagine the new Captain just got a bit antsy though."

If Twilight could kill someone with a stare, she more than likely would have been charged with double homicide as her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. This was a rage she simply couldn't hold in.

"It's quite all right," Filthy Rich said. "Just a slight mistake. Besides, I can look past it for when the budget for the Watch comes up."

Twilight felt her teeth pressing together in her mouth. The two of them began up the stairs with Twilight in tow. Spike closed up the cell and quickly followed suit. The Mayor and Filthy Rich both walked to the door as Twilight settled herself in the middle of the Watch house and stared at the two of them. The door opened to a roar of cheers as Filthy Rich waved to the crowd.

"Just like that, he's being let go?" Spike asked, coming to Twilight's side.

"Not in the mood, Spike," Twilight hissed between her teeth.

Spike crossed his arms and huffed, watching Filthy Rich push past the rest of the Watch and into the throngs of ponies who were happy to see their star citizen among them once more. The Watch filed into the door with the crowd now dispersing and shut it behind them. If nothing else, it silenced the cheers. Twilight glared past the ponies that now stood in front of her, burning a hole into the door.

"S-So," Pinkie Pie said.

"Er, yeah," Applejack said. "Is there somethin' y'all want us t'do ma'am?"

That was when the distant sound of a steam whistle echoed outside. That was also the moment Twilight's nerves shattered. In a huff, she stormed towards the door and flung it open in a blur of purple magic. As she got outside, followed by the rest of the Watch, she found herself just in time to see the cart of Flim and Flam pulling up to the crowd that surrounded Filthy Rich and the mayor. The two stallions hefted themselves from their seats and doffed their hats to the crowd.

"I say, brother of mine, seems we've got quite the turn out for our return to this fine town," Flim said.

"I'd dare say this is the best turn out we've ever had," Flam replied.

"We're not here for you!" a voice from the crowd shouted, followed by a few supportive remarks.

"We don't need those ruddy necklaces!" another voice cried.

Flim and Flam exchanged worried glances as the crowd seemed to churn and move. It wasn't until Filthy Rich brought himself to the front of the crowd that they stopped and watched. Filthy Rich stared up to the two stallions curiously as the crowd watched with bated breath.

"What sort of necklaces are these?" he asked, the crowd now starting to move in around him.

"Why, they're anti-kidnapping necklaces my friend," Flim said.

"Guaranteed to prevent you from being pinched by some ne'er-do-well!" Flam said.

"And they work?" Filthy Rich asked.

"Why sir, my brother and I only offer the finest quality products!" Flim said. "It is our solemn promise to our customers that every last Flim and Flam product be one hundred and ten percent effective. If they're not then we promise a full money-back guarantee and we'll eat our hats!"

Filthy Rich placed a hoof to his chin, his eyes squinting as the wheels in his head turned. "How do you know they work?"

"Well I'm wearing one, as is my brother Flam," Flim said.

"I'd imagine some of the crowd is wearing theirs as well, am I right?" Flam asked as the crowd began to look to one another and nod. There was a general mumbling about the group until Filthy Rich cleared his throat and brought silence to them once more.

"Well, I suppose you can't argue with results," he said. "I'll take two, one for myself and one for the lovely Mayor."

The crowd stood stunned as they witnessed Filthy Rich digging into his collar for a few stray bits and handing them over to Flim and Flam. The crowd began to roar amongst themselves before surging forward and practically flinging money towards the two stallions in a sudden need for their wares.

Twilight let out a huff as she turned to move back into the Watch house. She thought it a brilliant move since Flim and Flam sounded as though they were ready to launch themselves into a song and dance routine. The rest of the Watch shuffled in behind her, watching their Captain intently. She rubbed her head tenderly, trying to focus.

"Constable Fluttershy," she said, finally.

"Ma'am?" Fluttershy said.

"I want you to come with me down to the cells," Twilight said. "We're going to get answers out of that zebra and I would quite like you present. Hopefully she has the information we need to get that swindler back in our custody."

"What would you like the rest of us to do, ma'am?" Applejack asked, stepping forward.

"Patrol, but keep your eyes and ears open," Twilight said. "Someone is pulling strings that should be best left untouched. While you're all about it, get those badges too."

Sergeant Applejack gave a salute and lead the Watch back out into the streets. Constable Fluttershy watched them leave, giving a nervous squeak as she turned towards Captain Twilight. The two of them stood in silence across from one another for a passing moment until Twilight decided to simply turn and head down the stairs.

Fluttershy followed closely behind, still seeming very guarded in the presence of the Captain. Twilight wondered briefly why the Constable was so nervous. Certainly the 'shy' part of her name was a give away to her overall silence, but to be this big a bundle of nerves made her question why she ever joined the Watch in the first place. Of course, the Watch as a whole was filled with enigmas.

Lance Constable Spike teetered on a chair at the desk within the room of cells. He hastily leapt from it and gave Twilight a salute as she entered the room.

"She hasn't said anything yet, ma'am," he said. "Just let out a few groans and mumbling something about a yellow and pink ball of pain."

Twilight turned her gaze back to Fluttershy who shrank and blushed a deep red. "Thank you, Lance Constable. If you'd open the door to her cell and leave us, please. We'll be questioning her here. Leave the key and see about tidying up the upstairs."

Spike saluted once more and set off, snatching the keys from the wobbly table. He came to the cell containing the zebra and opened it up, the creaking of the hinges causing the still cloaked zebra to stir. Spike tossed the keys upon the table and scampered up the stairs, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to approach the opened cell. Twilight looked down to the zebra that lay on the floor. She wondered if Sergeant Applejack had merely deposited her there, or if in the middle of the night the zebra decided the floor favorable to the bed.

"Hello?" Twilight said, poking a hoof at the zebra. "Come on, time to wake up."

The zebra wiggled, looking a bit like a dog having a dream about chasing a car before speaking. "I am not prepared to wake, I am not done eating this cake."

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged confused glances before Twilight planted her hoof into the zebra's sides once more and pushed her. The zebra smacked the Captain's hoof away, quickly rising up on all fours and looking around her surroundings in a daze. Fluttershy took this moment to cower as the truncheon in Twilight's holster slid free and floated in front of her. Twilight gave a snort as the zebra glared back into her eyes.

"All right, anymore sudden movements and I whump ya," Twilight said calmly. "What's going to happen now is you're going to come out here to this table, we're gonna sit down, I'm gonna ask you some questions and you're going to give up your kidnapping associates. Got it?"

"Are you out of your mind?" the zebra roared. "I've done nothing of the kind!"

Twilight was taken aback for a moment. She'd once heard of zebras and their strange habit of speaking in rhyme. It made her wonder just how conversations went between zebras, if they continually spoke in rhyme or if it was simply to appear mysterious to foreign ponies that came to their lands to write books about a strange, new world and laugh about it quietly when they left. She focused herself back on the task at hand, truncheon still at the ready and Fluttershy still a quivering ball of fear behind her.

"Lurking about the shadows in a black robe doesn't sound like normal behavior to me," Twilight said.

"You believe I was lurking, but think again, my presence served another end," the zebra said.

Twilight canted her head slightly. "What end?"

"Perhaps we should go and take a seat, then we two can properly meet."

Twilight gave a nod as the truncheon slid back into her holder. As she moved towards the table, the zebra caught sight of Fluttershy who gave her a slight smile. The zebra in the meantime recoiled slightly, remembering all too well the spinning murder-top that came flying at her in the forest.

"I see you have brought your beast, you ponies still do not trust me in the least," the zebra said, reluctantly moving to the side of the table opposite Twilight. The Captain turned her gaze back to Fluttershy, still unable to fathom just where the pegasus got the courage to go flying towards a stranger in the middle of a dark forest.

"Yes, well, no need to worry over her," Twilight said, trying to keep a straight face. "Why don't we start with your name."

"I am Zecora by name, spells and incantations are my game," she said.

"Right then, Ms. Zecora, you start by telling me what you were doing outside of the Everfree Forest skulking about in broad daylight," Twilight said, bringing her notepad to a rest on the slanted table.

"I was out of my hut to find a flower, investigating a rather queer bower," Zecora said. "When I heard a loud noise echoing in the air, it sounded quite close and gave me a scare. So I traveled to the edge of your town, looking to see what was going down. When I saw the two stallions at their cart, I took it upon myself to part. The folk of your town are quite suspicious, they believe no matter what I act seditious. So I cling to the shadows and to my forest, only coming to town to see your florist."

Twilight sat astounded by the entire story told in rhyme attempting to figure out just how to translate it into coherent notes. "And why should I believe you?"

"I have no reason to give your town such woe, even if they treat me as a foe," Zecora said.

"Afraid that's not good enough," Twilight said. "From the sound of things you have all the reason in the world to kidnap those ponies."

Zecora smiled, unsettling Twilight a bit.

"Uhm, excuse me," Fluttershy said suddenly.

Twilight turned her gaze back to the yellow pegasi. "Yes, Constable?"

"If it's okay with you, ma'am, can I try something?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight looked her over a moment before offering her hoof towards Zecora. Fluttershy stepped out from behind Twilight and moved to Zecora slowly. The zebra, in the meantime, watched the pegasus carefully, the pounding of her head still prevalent from the beating received. Fluttershy nipped at her bottom lip as she stood across from Zecora. That was when, Twilight noted, something was happening.

"You wouldn't lie to the captain, right Ms. Zecora?" Fluttershy asked as her face turned distinctly serious. Her wings spread outwards as her eyes went wide. There was a feeling in the air of complete and utter oppression as Fluttershy glared right into blue eyes of Zecora. Fluttershy's eyes seemed on the brink of bugging out while Zecora seemed on the brink of spilling every dirty secret she knew of. As sweat began to pour down her brow, she finally managed to speak.

"Please, call off your eyes, I assure you that I tell no lies!" Zecora exclaimed.

Fluttershy straightened up and brought her wings back to her side. The oppressive feeling in the air was gone in an instant. Twilight stared at Fluttershy with mouth agape, trying to place a hoof on what exactly just transpired. Fluttershy made her way back to Twilight's side with a satisfied smile on her face.

"She's telling the truth," Fluttershy said.

Twilight wasn't certain of the validity of a staring contest being used as some sort of lie detector, but the raw and untamed power behind those eyes just didn't seem like something one would try to argue against. Zecora quickly tried to find her composure, running her hoof along the inside of the black robe she wore.

"That pony of yellow and pink is no joke, a glare from her would make a stallion choke," Zecora said as Fluttershy bashfully dipped her head down and reddened. Twilight set her quill down and cleared her throat.

"Do you think you could excuse me for a moment?" she asked to Zecora with a bit of a smile. The zebra nodded, eyes still on Fluttershy. Twilight turned, taking the pegasus with her up the stairs. Upon reaching the top, Twilight turned to Fluttershy with a distinctly blank expression.

"Constable," she said calmly.

"Yes ma'am?" Fluttershy said.

"What did you do?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, it's um, well," Fluttershy stammered. "It's called 'The Stare' ma'am. I use it only when I have to when my animals aren't behaving. I don't like using it though, I mean, I always feel bad afterwards."

"The Stare?" Twilight said.

"Yes ma'am," Fluttershy said.

Twilight placed a hoof on the side of her head and nodded. "Right."

"Ma'am, if I may?" Fluttershy said. "She doesn't seem like the kind to kidnap. Sure, she has her reasons, but I think she may just be misunderstood."

"I think you might be right, Constable," Twilight said with a nod. "Evidence points more towards someone here in Ponyville. Nothing has entered the Everfree Forest near as we can tell."

**********

Lyra grunted as she was magically lifted into the back of a cart and dropped carelessly onto the other kidnapped ponies. Trixie lifted a shroud into the air and covered the cart neatly as the ponies whimpered quietly to themselves. Silently, Shadow One moved to the front of a cart where another robed pony stood hooked up to it.

"You are to head into our second site in the Everfree Forest," Trixie said firmly. "Do not stop for anything."

"Yes, Shadow One," the robed mare said with a nod before taking off towards the forest's edge.

Trixie turned back to the house of Filthy Rich and stared up at it with a sneer. The door opened slowly, allowing her to enter and wait silently for his return.

**********

Captain Twilight and Constable Fluttershy returned to the cells where Zecora sat in silence staring at the picture of the happy pony playing with the kitten. She turned her gaze back to the pair with a slight smile as Twilight sat back across from Zecora and placed her hooves on the table, making it wobble about.

"Ms. Zecora," Twilight began. "Have you seen anything strange these past few days?"

Zecora tapped her chin in thought. "Nothing that I can recall, except your ponies coming to brawl."

"Right, yes, we do apologize for the rough treatment, of course," Twilight said. "You see, Constable Fluttershy was afraid you might have harmed our Corporal Rarity. She leapt into action, so to speak."

"Then no," Zecora said flatly.

Twilight stared back down at her notes with a sigh. A few moments of silence passed as the notebook floated in front of her eyes and she flipped through them. Deep in her mind there was a debate raging over if she should let Zecora back to her hut without a fuss or keep her locked away tightly here in the cells. She agonized over her notes before letting out a sigh and set the notebook back onto the table.

"Suppose that's all I need, then," Twilight said. "Ms. Zecora, I do apologize for all of this. I'd like to accompany you back to your hut if that's all right and perhaps take a look around?"

"I would be more than happy to have you, perhaps then you will be satisfied that I am true," Zecora said.

"Right then, Constable, I'll be back later," Twilight said. "Make sure you go and get your badge put on your uniform. Afterward, I want you up on a cloud and watching over the town."

"B-But I'm scared of heights, ma'am," Fluttershy said.

Twilight stared at her blankly. "You're scared of heights?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You can fly and you're scared of heights."

"Yes ma'am."

"...Dismissed, Constable," Twilight said with exasperation. With a hoof, she motioned for Zecora to follow as the three made their way to the top of the stairs. Spike sat at the desk, watching them curiously. That was until Twilight turned to him and he rose from his seat to give her a salute.

"Lance Constable, see to it the cells are all tidy and locked up, will you?" Twilight said.

"Ma'am," Spike said, hopping down from the chair behind the desk. He snagged a nearby broom and set off down to the cells while Twilight lead Zeocra to the door.

Much to Twilight's dismay, Flim and Flam were still outside flinging their wares to ponies. Filthy Rich looked as though he were getting into the act as well, advocating the flimsy sales pitch of the necklaces being one-hundred percent effective. It turned Twilight's stomach to think of it. That was when the crowd seemed to take a different turn. All it took was one pony to set off a panic.

"It's that weirdo from the woods!" the mare shrieked loudly and took shelter behind a nearby stallion. The crowd quickly surged to the sides of the cart, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Zecora. Twilight gave a groan and rolled her eyes. If Zecora was still her suspect, she found it difficult to blame her for performing such evil acts.

"Everypony calm down," Twilight said, stepping towards the crowd. "She is not here to harm anypony. She is under my custody."

"She has the Watch under her spell!" a voice cried from the crowd.

"She does not!" Twilight demanded.

"You see folks?" Flim spoke up. "The Watch is under a spell! The only thing that can save you from not being kidnapped is one of our patented necklaces! Tell your friends!"

Twilight felt her blood beginning to boil over. She was prepared to march towards the cart until a hoof landed on her shoulder. She turned to see Zecora, who shook her head and began to walk off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Twilight glared back towards Flim and Flam who waved with smug grins. Huffing through her nose, Twilight went after Zecora, walking next to her as they headed for the forest.

"It is kind of you to defend me, even if you do not believe my plea," Zecora said, her eyes turned to the ground.

Twilight nodded slightly, unsure of what to say. As they went along, other ponies who weren't at the gathering swiftly hurled themselves inside of buildings and homes to get away from the gaze of Zecora. Twilight felt a twinge of guilt, wishing she hadn't had to parade Zecora around like this, especially after being as pleasant as she turned out to be. She tried to quell the feelings. Shroud them in a hard-bitten visage only a trained copper could put on. She wasn't a trained copper though, nor could she hide how she truly felt.

Her face sagged as she watched the ground roll by beneath them. What could she say to the zebra at this point? It felt wrong, certainly, but there was nothing she could honestly say or do to change the minds of an entire town. Twilight groaned internally, her eyes soon coming upon what looked like fresh tracks laid into the ground. She halted suddenly, Zecora turning to look at her curiously.

Her eyes were wide, trying to take in everything she was seeing before her. Fresh cart tracks leading into the Everfree Forest. Her head turned sharply.

"Zecora, how often do carts from Ponyville run through the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked.

"Not often," Zecora said.

Twilight's body began to shake, her mind quickly piecing everything together in a flash. Her body moved before her mind could manage the words 'run' to be screamed to Zecora. The startled zebra picked up her hooves and chased after Twilight. She was nearly a blur through the trees, galloping along the path as quickly as she could, keeping a sharp eye on what was ahead and the tracks below her.

Zecora soon fell out of her mind as her legs pumped swiftly. Mud and dirt kicking up along her coat and tail. She lowered her head, trying to get as much speed and momentum as she could. Something was being moved, and she had a good idea what it was. This could be her one and only chance.

Ahead of her she could hear a soft trotting on the path and the squeak of wheels. She pushed herself harder, trying to gallop faster. The path began to wind until it straightened and she saw it. The black cloaked pony pulling the cart looked back to the blur of lavender and iron hurtling her way.

"Halt!" Twilight cried out as the cart took off as well. The chase was on as both mares galloped for all they were worth. Their surroundings rushing by as fallen logs and rocks were dodged, the cart bounding into the air with every little bump. Twilight could see the cloth that covered it bobbing up, revealing the payload. She had been right.

The ponies in the cart began to scream as they were tossed around. Twilight began to inch her way closer and closer to the cart. She panted heavily, feeling luck that her advantage was the fact the cart was heavy. Suddenly the path began to wind again. The cart rolled onto one wheel as the mare guiding it turned sharply. Another wave of terror laden cries filled Twilight's ears. She pleaded with her legs, no matter how much they stung to continue. She bargained with her lungs that no matter how they burned for oxygen, they continue. She even made a deal with her brain that she would rest it all if she could just reach the cart.

Another turn saw the cart careening carelessly on one wheel. Twilight looked past it to see another straight away. Her chance was now or never. She was close enough to make it. She could do it. Her horn glow brightly as she leapt into the air. With a magical boost, she landed onto the edge of the cart, grabbing the cloth in her teeth to hold on. She pulled herself to her hooves as steadily as she could and looked ahead.

Her eyes filled with a sudden horror and the realization a sharp turn was quickly coming up. The mare turned. The cart turned. Captain Twilight with the cloth still in her teeth, however, was not so fortunate. She flew through the air into the tree line, cloth leaving her teeth as she screamed. Her mind raced, begging whatever lofty being were watching over her that this not be the end.

Her body smacked hard into a tree, the shock of pain running through her body, causing whatever air was still in her lungs to escape. Gravity then took over, dragging her down to the ground with a harsh thud. There on the muddy ground, the cloth slowly floating down around her, she stared at her umbral surroundings as they swirled and became darker.

She felt a cold chill run through her body like ice being pumped through her veins. As her head throbbed in a dull and fleeting pain, something felt as though it were pushing its way in. A voice, dripping with darkness. It rattled about her skull as it spoke one simple word.

HELLO.

That was when the world fell away.

Chapter VIII: Love, Death and Other Things

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Sergeant Applejack let out a sigh as she kicked the dirt beside the blacksmith's shop. There was much weighing heavily on her mind as her eyes sat on a particular patch of green grass. Beside her was Corporal Rarity, watching her with some concern. The two of them were without breastplate, finally getting their badges put onto them. Rarity took it upon herself to move to her friend and place a hoof upon her shoulder gently. Applejack looked back to Rarity and gave a smile, the kind of smile that seemed racked with pain despite the attempt to curl the corners of her mouth into some form of happiness.

"Applejack, you know you can talk to any of us, right?" Rarity asked.

"I know, I jus' need time t'think, ya know?" Applejack said, her eyes returning to the patch of grass.

Rarity followed her eyes to the patch of grass and sighed. "Maybe if you just say what's wrong, you'll feel better?"

"I'm not so sure if that's a good idea, Rarity," Applejack said.

"Nonsense!" Rarity said. "I know I'd feel worlds better if I let out everything I was feeling on a good friend."

"It's just a bit more personal than all that," Applejack said.

"I won't say a word!"

"Well, I don't know."

"My lips are sealed."

Applejack let out a sigh and turned her head back towards the blacksmith. He seemed to be hard at work firing the metal and too busy to be listening. Applejack leaned over and placed a hoof over her mouth, whispering low into Rarity's ear.

"It's Big Macintosh, he's gotten himself in this cult business."

Rarity's eyes went wide as that news dropped on her like a bomb. "Wh-what?!"

Applejack waved her arms around, trying to get her to quiet down. "Rarity, consarnit, shush! This is serious!"

Rarity blushed deeply, looking around to see who heard before returning to her hushed tone. "I-I'm sorry Applejack, but you're certain?"

"He confessed t'me after he was brought in fer questioning. Th' Cap'n woulda put him away were it not fer me sayin' we should use him t'spy on 'em."

Rarity's mouth flapped open and shut, trying to figure out what to say. 'Sorry' just didn't seem like enough and going into some speech about never abandoning your family or friends seemed like too much. The best she could muster was the hoof placed on her friend's shoulder.

"I'm sure the Captain has good reason..." Rarity trailed off, still fumbling with words.

"She did, but I'm still worried about him," Applejack said. "I don't want nothin' bad t'happen to him."

The two of them sat in silence, staring back to the patch of green grass on the ground until the pounding of hooves approaching caught their attention. Rarity was the first to react by unleashing a scream unfortunately close to Applejack’s ears. Approaching the two of them quickly was Zecora, her black robe billowing in the breeze. Rarity took shelter behind Applejack quickly.

"She's come to finish the job!" Rarity cried as Applejack got to her hooves and glared.

"Please, you pony folk, make haste!" Zecora shouted. "Your captain was in a very dangerous chase!"

"What'd ya'll do to th'Cap'n?" Applejack growled. Zecora came to a grinding halt, digging her hooves into the ground.

"You misunderstand, for it is not me, you must hurry and you will see! Your captain was chasing a cart of ponies, guided by one of this cult's cronies! She was thrown from her chase, after making great haste. I and the others brought her back here, but for her health is what I most fear!"

Applejack looked to Rarity, who was now peering around the orange mare.

"Show us where," Applejack said.

*********

There was a distinct gloom that surrounded Twilight. It seemed still, but from the corners of her slowly opening eyes she could swear there were things moving. A groan escaped her, though it felt odd. She felt lighter than usual, but all the while heavier. Her legs moved as though they'd been filled with lead but they carried no weight. She blinked her eyes, trying to see past the blurred darkness ahead. She couldn't tell which way was up, nor if she was even down to begin with. It was all strange.

"Am I dead?" she asked not expecting to get a response. When one came, it chilled her to the bone. It was the sound of coffin lids being slammed shut in a deep and dark tomb.

NO, NOT AS SUCH. A SHAME IF I AM HONEST. I WAS QUITE LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME COMPANY. THINGS DO TEND TO GET LONELY IN MY LINE OF WORK.

Twilight felt her body react to the voice, curling up tightly.

"Who's there?" Twilight asked. "Why can't I see you?"

YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO PERCEIVE WITH YOUR EYES.

"What's that mean?"

THAT I CANNOT BE SEEN. FOR BEING SO GOOD WITH MAGIC, YOU ARE QUITE RUBBISH AT THE WHOLE PERCEPTION THING.

"Very funny," Twilight said dryly.

FORGIVE ME FOR BEING SO BLUNT. IT IS NOT OFTEN I HAVE SOMEONE SO LIVELY TO SPEAK TO.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked, trying to get up once again, or so she thought.

I BELIEVE YOU KNOW ME.

"So you are, Death," Twilight said with a sigh, the darkness shifting again out of the corner of her eye.

CORRECT.

A pause came. Twilight felt herself roll over to stare up at the sky. At least she assumed it was sky. Much like her surroundings, it was more of the twisting darkness that enveloped her. A wealth of emotions ran through her mind, almost as though she were going through the stages of grief for herself all at once.

"Just like the others," Twilight said.

THE OTHERS?

"The other Captains," Twilight said. "Died trying to help."

YOU ARE NOT QUITE DEAD YET.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else, then?"

I AM.

Twilight felt her head begin to sting. “I think I hit that tree harder than I thought.”

NO, YOU HIT IT AT THE APPROPRIATE VELOCITY IF YOU ASK ME.

Another sting came to Twilight’s head. “Are you always this way?”

YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY. IT IS NOT OFTEN I VISIT IN PERSON. I AM MISSING MY SHOWS, AFTER ALL.

“Lucky is the last thing I feel.”

THEN WHAT DO YOU FEEL?

“Pain.”

THEN IT WOULD APPEAR MY PRESENCE IS NOT NEEDED AFTER ALL. BE SEEING YOU.

********

It was a dull stinging pain that Twilight felt as her eyes tried to focus. She could barely see through her half-closed lids. There were many shapes and colours playfully flying about her limited visions. It was comforting to at least be able to see that, however, and not the unforgiving darkness that was oblivion. She could even hear sounds with her own ears, though they sounded distant.

"...warglshelf..." was one phrase she was certain she'd just picked up.

"...sivofraud..." there was another.

Twilight decided to try to pick herself up in her groggy state but found her limbs quite useless. Through her still ringing ears, the noises around her seemed to grow louder as more shapes and colours darted about before her eyes. It was all quite fuzzy, but at the very least she could identify a face that peered down at her with a distinctive rainbow mane.

"...s-sergeant?" Twilight managed.

"Yes ma'am," Rainbow Dash said.

"...what?" Twilight asked.

"Well I was on my way out to get back to the Watch house when Sergeant Applejack and Corporal Rarity brought you, along with some weird pony thing they called a 'zebra'," Rainbow Dash said. "Brought in a bunch of other ponies too, from some cart that was turned over not far from where you were laying. From the sound of things, I missed all the excitement while I've been here."

Twilight's mind strained to remember everything that had happened before the near-Death experience. She could recall a cart, then a lot of running, followed by a lot of flying. Beyond that, it went hazy and she wasn't certain of much before the moment she woke up. She finally felt her body able to move, but regretted doing so after the stinging pain of her fall hit her.

“Where am I?” she asked with a groan.

“You’re at the hospital, ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s weird though. The ponies that were kidnapped were the ones that brought you into town.”

Twilight let out what seemed to be a sigh of relief, but it could have just as easily been one of pain.

“That’s it then,” Twilight said. “I saved them, thank goodness.”

“Ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said. “I realize I’ve been in here a while, but what the hay has been going on? Just yesterday all I heard was something about Filthy Rich.”

Twilight nodded and recounted the last day’s worth of news. Rainbow Dash seemed stunned, as though she hadn’t expected so much to happen in her absence. The capture and falsely accused Zecora, the indoctrination of Spike, the fact there was a talking dragon even in the Watch, Filthy Rich; all of it made Rainbow’s head spin.

“That’s a lot,” Rainbow Dash said, running a hoof through her mane.

“It’s been rather difficult being a mare down,” Twilight said as she huffed and looked to the ceiling. “Going to only get more difficult with me being here now.”

“We can handle it, ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said with a firm nod.

Twilight brought her eyes once again to Rainbow Dash and silently stared at her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them. They had performed admirably up to this point. Twilight, however, simply felt the Watch wasn’t ready to run out on its own and start solving mysteries without her there to hold their hand and make sure they don’t go rushing into traffic to pick up a shiny bit. The performance seen during their classes were enough to make her realize they had the skills but no idea how to apply them.
The creaking of her room door opening cut the silence, causing both of them to see who was wandering in. The doctor looked between the two, a chart floating in front of him. With a practiced smile, he nodded to the two of them and closed the door behind him.

“Ah, Captain Twilight Sparkle, so good to see you awake,” he said. “Here I was thinking we would have to call up the meat wagon.”

Twilight took a moment to glare at the doctor before turning her attention to Rainbow Dash. “Sergeant, do me a favor. I need you to gather up the Watch and bring them here. They’re going to have to question those ponies that had been kidnapped. While you’re about it, tell Lance Constable Spike to send out a message to Manehatten, Phillydelphia, Los Pegasus, anywhere that has had trouble with merchants selling false products or kidnappings. Also I need the Watch’s records of prior captains and their notes. Every single record. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am!” Sergeant Rainbow Dash said giving a crisp salute. She moved past the doctor and out the door. As it shut, the doctor returned his gaze to Twilight.

“Perhaps you should consider taking it easy, Captain?” he said as he moved to her bedside and draped a hoof on her head. “You did just try to violently hug a tree.”

“I assume I’m going to be here awhile,” Twilight said, clearly not happy with that little revelation.

“At least until we’re sure you’re out of the woods,” the doctor said as a pen came from his coat and scribbled a few notes. “It’s not every day we have someone wake up so soon and form such coherent thoughts after an accident! We want to make sure there’s no lasting damage.”

Twilight grumbled again. “How long?”

“At least two days, you fortunately didn’t break anything but rest is required,” the doctor said as he hung the chart off a hook at the end of Twilight’s bed. “Try to think of it as your big chance to get away from it all!”

“Fantastic,” Twilight said sarcastically, rolling her eyes in the process.

“It’s not all bad,” the doctor said, now fluffing Twilight’s pillow. “Besides, everything gets better with smiles!”

The doctor turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts. She looked about the still room curiously. It was rather plain, as though the decorator had been having a rather depressing day. A glint in the corner caught Twilight’s eye, however. Turning to see what it was, she noticed her breastplate and helmet set off to the side. The helmet was in disarray, most of the plumage torn and the breastplate itself was badly dented.

Twilight thought back to the cart chase, rubbing her head tenderly with her hoof. It was a miracle the hunk of polished steel she’d been wearing kept all of her insides right where they belonged. Her eyes focused on the badge that had been welded to it. Thoughts ran rampant through her head as she then turned to stare at the ceiling. All she could do was wait for the others to arrive and for her to turn the hospital room into her makeshift office.

********

Filthy Rich felt there were two universal truths. The first, there’s a customer for everything you can think of. The second, customer is often another word for sucker. It was this underhanded practice that got him the lovely house for him and his wife and child, to live in. He excelled at it, even off the side of a rickety cart in the middle of a one-horse town. The money couldn’t swoop in fast enough as Filthy Rich gave side long glances to both Flim and Flam every so often as though he were expecting a thank you.

Filthy Rich had only known the brothers previously as Shadow Three and Shadow Four, and knew that they had certainly spoken a big game when it came to sales. He recalled them going on about how simple it would be to trick the average, gormless citizen of Ponyville with their fancy gimmicks and nigh prestidigitation when it came to sales. Claims that, as Filthy Rich had seen, were nothing but so much smoke and mirrors.

When a lull finally hit, and a majority of Ponyville seemed quite satisfied with the purchases and dance routines the brothers performed, Filthy Rich had a moment to converse with them.

“Some world-class sales ponies you turned out to be,” he snarled.

“How were we gonna know this town had some hotshot Watchmare?” Flim asked as he counted their gains.

“She nearly tanked the whole operation,” Flam added, also counting their gains.

Filthy Rich huffed and tapped his chin. “She is a bit of a spitfire.”

“Putting it lightly,” Flim said.

“More like a snake,” Flam added.

“Either way, you’re lucky I was around to bail you both out!” Filthy Rich snapped. “If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be through three dance routines and four songs before you made even half of those bits.”

“We thank you from the bottom of our coffers,” Flam said, rolling his eyes.

Filthy Rich scoffed, frowning as he turned his gaze back to Ponyville. He watched the townsfolk mill about with their newly acquired purchases dangling from their necks. He couldn’t help but grin. Besides the bumbling, this phase of the plan had gone off without a hitch.

He began to wring his hooves until a rainbow streak cut the sky in half, making its way towards the Watch house. An uneasy feeling sat in the pit of his stomach, taking note of the gleaming armor and hat only worn by those upstanding members of the Watch.

That was when the three of them heard it. From across the way, a colt dragging a cart behind him shouting at the top of his lungs as ponies flocked to him.

“Extree, extree, read all about it!” he cried. “Kidnapped ponies come home! Captain Twilight Sparkle from bumbler to hero! Extree, extree!”

Filthy Rich felt that sinking feeling dig a hole in the pit of his stomach. Panicked, he looked to Flim and Flam who were now in the process of hurriedly getting their cart together. Filthy Rich stammered, trying to get words to come out, but finding nothing on the end of his tongue. He was in awe, not only of the ponies he had once harbored being discovered, but also at how quickly Flim and Flam seemed to be packing up shop.

“H-hold it!” he said. “Just what do you think you two are doing? We need to find Shadow One right now! She needs to know about this!”

“Great idea!” Flim said.

“You go find her, we’re gonna not be around when you do!” Flam said.

Filthy Rich leapt from the cart as it all closed up and watched as Flim and Flam made a hasty exit out of town. He fumed, feeling his teeth start to grind together. He stamped the ground with an angry grunt as the little wagon disappeared over the horizon. With a huff, Filthy made his way to the newscolt and eyed the papers that sat in the cart. The large, dubious print that read “Twilight Saves Ponyville” mocked him.

“Paper, mister?” the colt asked.

Filthy got an eyefull. There was a picture of Twilight being carried by the ponies they had kidnapped. He felt his eye twitch uncontrollably and his blood start to boil. Suddenly the plan was all falling apart. All the hard work was swirling away rapidly down a drain.

“Hey pal, ya read it, ya buy it!” the colt insisted. A few bits were carelessly tossed in his direction from Filthy Rich as he took the paper from the cart and hastily moved towards an alley way. Unfolding it on the ground, he took in the story of the daring chase as described by a certain Lyra Heartstrings. The heroic rescue as accounted by a Berry Punch. The dramatic trek back to civilization as witnessed by one Golden Harvest.

Filthy Rich staggered back and plopped down onto the ground. Wearily, he turned his eyes skyward and rubbed his face just in time to see the rainbow streak through the sky again, followed by two other bodies in glinting armor. He rubbed his temples as panic began to settle in. This could go in one of two ways, he thought. The first way, he could be identified and spend the rest of his days in a rock quarry. The second way, he could be facing the wrath of Shadow One, who he was very certain was some sort of demon beneath the black robes he always saw her in.

Both ways were certainly less than ideal.

********

Twilight sat up in her bed as each member of the Watch stood before her at attention. She felt surprised by the quick response at how everyone showed up, even Derpy who she knew had been on patrol all night. Or at least she assumed she’d been on patrol as opposed to falling asleep on that cloud last night.

“Ma’am, Watch present and accounted for,” Sergeant Rainbow Dash said offering a salute.

“You’ve got Spike working on those letters and files, correct?” Twilight asked.

“Yes ma’am.”

“All right then,” Twilight said. “Watchmares, as you can tell I am currently not in any position to go out on patrol with all of you. You will all need to be my eyes during this investigation. I recovered the kidnapped ponies, but this means nothing if we do not catch this cult before they move on to some other town. This is going to mean strict patrols of main and side roads, increased presence in the town. This means no more snoozing in the day, no more lollygagging and no more seven hour breaks just to throw a party, Constable Pinkie. Until further notice, we will need to monitor Flim and Flam, Filthy Rich as well as the Mayor for suspicious activity. They’re our best leads. Sergeant Rainbow Dash, you and Constable Fluttershy are in charge of town patrol. You’ve got wings, use them.

“In the mean time, Corporal Derpy and Constable Pinkie Pie, you will be in charge of questioning those ponies in the other room. Get all of the information out of them that you possibly can. Don’t press too hard, however; some of them have been away for quite a while. Sergeant Applejack and Corporal Rarity, I understand Zecora found you two headed this way. Since you’ve become acquainted, I want her to take you out into the Everfree forest and see if you can figure out where that cart was headed and anything else you might find while you’re there.”

Twilight tapped her head for a few moments. The plan was sound, at least in her head but there was still the nagging feeling that something was going to go topsy-turvy. She needed more eyes. For the most part, the Watch was good at their jobs, but there was still the fact there were so few of them. Twilight nibbled at her hoof suddenly, frowning as the gears in her head spun wildly trying to churn out what was bugging her so much. The six standing in front of her looked to one another curiously before Twilight finally nodded.

“Right, I suppose that will have to do for now,” she said, sounding less confident than before. “Take copious notes and make sure you give them to Spike to compile into a report for me. Dismissed.”

They saluted and walked outside of the room, leaving Twilight to once again lay back and stare up at the ceiling. Once outside of the hospital, they gathered in a circle in silence, only gazing around at each other. Finally, Applejack spoke up in the middle of the group.

“Does anyone else get that feelin’?” she asked.

“You mean the feeling like there are eyes on you at all times?” Pinkie asked.

“No, I mean, sometimes, but jus’ th’ feelin’ that th’ Captain ain’t all she’s cracked up to be.”

“She did only arrive a few days ago,” Fluttershy said.

“But all this fussin’ about discipline an’ note takin’, we ain’t had none of that with Captain Boltrider or any of th’ other Captains,” Applejack said.

“I remember when I first got here when Captain Shines was alive,” Derpy said kicking the ground. “She gave me my first truncheon.”

“It was a stick, darling,” Rarity said. “Either way, she doesn’t know a thing about us and yet she orders us around so brutishly!”

“Come on now,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s not be hasty here. Like Fluttershy said, she’s still pretty new. She’ll come around.”

“Did she even visit you once?” Pinkie asked suddenly.

“W-well no,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I mean, we all visited you a couple of times when you were in there! I even threw you a big party until everyone got thrown out cause of that silly fire code about not having fifty ponies in a room that only has a maximum occupancy of four.”

“I’m sure she was busy, these have been a really weird couple of days for all of us,” Rainbow Dash said as Rarity turned to look at Applejack who was now staring at the ground.

“Reckon yer right, RD,” she said. “It has been a really strange few days.”

“So, why don’t we all do what we need to and we’ll bring this up when she’s feeling better?” Rainbow Dash asked. The group seemed to agree and split off in their separate ways.

Rarity galloped to Applejack’s side and placed a comforting hoof on her. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Applejack said. “Jus’ need to get this investigation underway and get my mind off of all this stuff.”

“I can do the investigation if you want, why don’t you talk to your brother?” Rarity offered with a smile.

“Y’all sure you can handle it?”

“Of course, go see your family,” Rarity said. Applejack nodded and smiled in kind before giving Rarity a hug.

“Thanks, good luck with Zecora,” she said before trotting off.

Sergeant Applejack moved down the road dragging a heavy heart. She greeted the other ponies who waved and smiled but she simply wasn’t into it. Her mind was moving from one disaster to another. Chief of them being her brother Big Macintosh. Ever since she’d discovered her brother was one of the cultists, she couldn’t shake this feeling of her family finding out and disowning him.

His reasons, crazy as they were, seemed sound enough. Trying to protect everyone from Nightmare Moon’s return, was noble. But the way he went about it was what tore her up inside. Soon the farm was in view and the sight of trees shaking violently caught her attention. He was out there tending the fields, much like he always did when Applejack was working. She winced, knowing she would have to talk to him at some point.

Her mind told her she had every intention of simply going into her room and thinking more about it, but her body had other ideas. She moved towards the apple trees, following the sound of hooves slamming into their trunks to shake them loose.

Big Macintosh seemed surprised to see his sister as she came through the trees. He almost seemed to shrink a little as she approached.

“Y’all here to arrest me now?” Big Mac asked in his usual stoic manner.

“No, I’m not,” Applejack said. “I’m here to jus’ talk.”

Big Macintosh looked her over a few moments curiously. His eyes nervously darting from one side of her to the other as though he expected Watchmares to descend upon him. He sat on the ground across from Applejack silently, the only sound to be heard being the chirping of birds and the occasional gust of wind.

“Y’all have a meetin’ tonight, right?” Applejack asked finally.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac answered.

“Y’all know we got them ponies back, don’t ya?”

“Eeyup.”

“I’m worried somethin’ is gonna happen to ya,” Applejack said, turning her green eyes to Big Mac.

“Eeyup.”

“Dagnabit, Big Mac, will ya jus’ talk to me?”

Big Macintosh looked to the ground, his ears flattening.

“Please, jus’ talk to me,” Applejack said as she wiped her eyes lightly, feeling tears welling up suddenly.

“I’m sorry,” Big Mac said.

“Sorry ain’t gonna bring them ponies half their year back!” Applejack shouted suddenly. “What were ya thinkin’? Nightmare Moon or not, we’re a family! We woulda survived all this and y’all know that! But you had to go an’ do some fool thing like gettin’ wrapped up in all this!”

Big Macintosh said nothing, his eyes towards the ground. Applejack adjusted her hat and decided this possibly wasn’t the best point to start waving hooves accusingly.

“I’m sorry big brother,” she said. “I jus’ don’t like secrets bein’ kept in th’ family like this.”

“I hated keepin’ them from y’all,” Big Macintosh said. “But I got so wrapped up, I wasn’t thinkin’ about anythin’ but us. Jus’ wanted nothin’ to happen to th’ farm.”

“But kidnappin’, joinin’ some cult and lyin’ about it, it jus-”

A twig snapping caught their attention. There among the trees stood Apple Bloom, her eyes big and watery as tears ran down her cheeks. Her lower lip quivering and her body looking like it was beginning to follow suit. Silence fell on the three of them as they stood in an awkward sort of stand off. Finally, Applejack took a step towards her sister.

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack said.

“Why Big Mac?” she asked, her voice wavering.

Big Macintosh didn’t answer, he instead flattened himself to the ground as though he were trying to disappear.

“Apple Bloom, listen to me,” Applejack insisted.

“Why would you do that to someone?” she pleaded.

“Apple Bloom, jus’ come here an’ lets talk about it.”

“I hate you!” Apple Bloom cried and dashed off into the orchard.

Applejack reached a hoof out towards her sister just as she took off and sighed. Turning her eyes back to Big Macintosh, she could see him covering his head with his hooves. Moving to him, she would place a gentle hoof on him until he suddenly grasped at her to hold her closely. Applejack simply stroked Big Macintosh’s back gently as she watched tears fall from him to the ground.

Pony Watch

by AppleBandit

Chapter I: The New Captain

Chapter II: Cults and Mares and Kidnappings, Oh My!

Chapter III: Close Encounters of a Shadowy Nature

Chapter IV: Cops and Barons

Chapter V: Snake Oil

Chapter VI: The Unusual Suspects

Chapter VII: Questions, Queries and Inquests

Chapter VIII: Love, Death and Other Things