> Ponyville: Paranormal
>  by locke_jaw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One: Interview with the Vampire. Well...sort of
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outskirts of Ponyville, 7:00 pm 

Luna’s moon glowed brightly. It illuminated the entire town with its full form. The breeze felt crisp tonight, a perfect time for an evening stroll. Soft chirping of crickets filled the air. And from a distance, echoing howls can be heard. 

A camera crew was trotting outside in the cool night. A portion of the town was caught in their footage. But they themselves were unseen. Standing at the center of their lens was the subject of their attention. 

It was an old stallion. He’s probably in his early forties, but his rugged features were still there. His mane that was supposedly black was now mixed in with strands of silver. His grey coat on the other hoof, remained the same. He was wearing a black suit; some parts of it were torn and ripped like he just came from a violent encounter. His tie was a bit loose, and some buttons on his white shirt were missing. 

His eyes looked weary. Their sparkle has long been gone and bags were forming underneath it. Black shades rested on his muzzle, along with a piece of band-aid. To complete the tired look, he’s also biting an unlit cigarette stick. 

“And that’s how why I have this on my snout.” He looked at the camera, tapping the band-aid gently with his hoof. He winced. 

“It still stings when I touch it. Those minotaurs hit harder than expected. So anyway, let’s get this thing going. You can turn the camera on now.”

“It’s already on.” The camera mare said.

“What?”

The stallion’s ears perked up. He furrowed his brows. 

“Since when?”

“Since we landed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“We thought you already knew.”

“Oh Goddesses.” The stallion said, placing a hoof between his face. He winced again. 

“Wait. That Celestia joke I told earlier, you got that on tape?”

“Yes.”

“Cut that out later.” He told the crew, his voice sounded nervous. 

The crew followed the stallion as he trotted towards a house on top of a small hill. The house by design looked unique. Even when compared to the already zany aesthetic of Ponyville’s buildings, this one slightly stands out. Its most distinct feature would be its dual color palette. The left side of the house was painted in varying shades of brown while the other, in varying shades of blue. 

The only consistent design on the structure was its windows, which has stained glass forming mosaics of clefs, as if to imply that its residents are musicians. And if one was still not convinced then the chimney will settle it for them, which took the form of an organ’s pipe. 

They stood near a shrub with its leaves trimmed in the shape of a quarter note. 

“So what’s the standard procedure?” The camera mare asked. 

“Oh you know.” The stallion replied in a casual manner. “We go in, we inspect if their premises is up to the E.P.I.C.”

“E.P.I.C?”

“Equestrian Peaceful Integration Code. Come on, you should know that by now. Once they pass inspection, meaning their lifestyle is up to code, we’ll leave them be. But not before wiping the memories of any accidental witnesses in the area.”

“Wiping their memories? How?”

“Standard issue vanisher ward.” The stallion replied while pulling something from the inside of his jacket. 

As he pulled it out, the crew focused the camera on his chest. It looked like a short metal rod. It’s about as long as a quill, or longer. On top of it was a smooth dark gem. And on its body lay several buttons and tiny knobs. 

“They got rid of the memory wiper now” added the stallion. “Those things give ponies a headache.”

“How does that work?” The crew asked.

“I knew you’d say it.” The stallion pushed his glasses back, covering his eyes. He fiddled with the ward’s buttons. Small beeping sounds came with every button press. Once the small tool was set, it let out a high pitched sound like it has charged itself. He pointed its tip at the crew. 

“Here, let me show you.” He grinned, gesturing for them to look at it. 

The camera centered its shot to the rod. Its gem started to glow. Another high pitched sound followed. And then everything glowed white. 

As the blinding light dwindled and everything went back to normal, the camera focused its view back to the stallion again. 

“So what’s the standard procedure?” The camera mare asked, unknowingly repeating the question from before. 

“Oh you know.” The stallion replied in a casual manner, again. “Same old, same old. Follow me.”

He proceeded to walk on the house’s doorstep. Music can be heard inside, although softly. He returned the ward back to his pocket. The camera took a quick glance at it before it was kept away, like it’s the first time they saw the thing. The stallion knocked on the door. 

The music coming from the house went silent. Hasty sounds of hoofsteps followed. The stallion stepped back as the door opened. A grey mare stood at the now opened doorstep. Her mane was dark and long and she’s wearing a pink bowtie. In her hoof was a fiddle, which makes her responsible for the music playing earlier.  

“Yes, how may I help you?” She said. Her tone sounded posh and sophisticated, like the ones from Canterlot. 

“Good evening, Miss.” The stallion greeted. “My name is Agent Rockwell and we’re from the Bureau of Secrecies.” He pulled out his badge from his jacket to show her. He also pulled a warrant from another pocket and hoofed it to her. 

“We’re conducting an inspection in your household to see if it holds up to the Equestrian Peaceful Integration Code. Can you tell us your name please?”

“Oh. Um, my name’s Octavia, Octavia Melody.” 

“Miss Melody.” Rockwell confirmed. “Is Miss Scratch in?”

“Well yes. But...” Octavia hesitated. She looked beyond Rockwell and straight at the camera crew. Their presence seemed to unnerve her. “Why is there a camera crew following you?”

“It’s new protocol.” Rockwell said flatly. “It’s for documentation purposes. We’re going digital now. But don’t worry about it, miss. None of the footage here will be released publicly. It’s purely classified information. Can we speak to Miss Scratch now?”

“Vinyl’s...” Octavia’s lips clenched for a moment before continuing. “Busy at the moment, unfortunately. But I can speak on her behalf if you want.”

“You’re a vampire too, right?” Rockwell asked.

“Well, not really, no.” Octavia replied, scratching her chin while looking away. “My Roommate is a Vampire. I’m just her donor, a partial one to be honest.”

Before she could continue, her eyes went wide at an unspoken realization. “But before that, please do come in! I’ll have tea ready in a minute.”

Rockwell quickly followed. “No tea for me, thank you.”

“I’d like one.” The camera mare said.

Rockwell shushed the crew. “No time for that. I just want this inspection to be over with so I can go home.” He pressed a hoof on his back, the sound of cracking bones followed suit. 

“Those minotaurs really did a number on me.” He groaned. 

“Minotaurs?” Octavia asked.

As the camera crew entered the house, they panned their shot all over its interior. It’s as zany as the view from the outside. The first room they appeared in as they entered was the studio. It was also divided into two parts. 

The left side looked more traditional, using decorations and furniture that is conventional to the high-end lifestyle. A hoof carved coffee table, polished wooden floor, imported vases, everything just screamed fancy on this side. Several instruments can also be seen on this side as well, such as the piano on the wall and the cello idly lying on a red recliner. 

Meanwhile, the right side looked so aggressively techno, as if it’s prepared for a party. The floor was laden with wires all connected to the soundboard. Records pulled out from their cases were lying around. There’re speakers attached all over the walls. And there’s even a disco ball hanging on the ceiling. Everything about the right side just screamed club-like. 

Rockwell pulled another object from his folder. It’s the files needed for the inspection with the accompanying fountain pen, all enclosed in a brown folder. He opened the folder and skimmed over the documents. He looked at Octavia. The glasses hiding his eyes made him look more stoic than before. 

“I’m going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to answer them to the best of your abilities. You don’t want to fail this one now, do you?” He said as he began roaming around the room.

“Of course.” Octavia said, starting to get nervous.

Rockwell ceased his roaming and looked back to Octavia. “Let’s start with the living quarters. Can you show us her bedroom?”

“Uh, I guess so?” Octavia seemed uncertain.



“We just want to make sure if her room has proper sun proofing.” Rockwell assured her upon noticing her hesitation. 

“Oh.” Octavia replied, now convinced of their intentions. “In that case, follow me then.” She led Rockwell and the crew to Vinyl’s bedroom.

“Does she sleep in a coffin?” Rockwell said to Octavia as her hoof gripped the doorknob. He was shifting his glance from the folder and back to her.

“In a queen sized bed, actually.” Octavia opened the door gently. “Coffins are far too restricting and claustrophobic for her taste. She prefers to roll on her bed in all directions. It’s a bit annoying to say the least.”

Octavia blushed and looked at the crew in panic, like she had just revealed something shameful. The camera turned to Rockwell. He seemed unfazed. He still continued checking his folder and looked back at Octavia in quick glimpses, just like earlier. 

Octavia remained quiet as she showed the room to the inspectors. She flipped up a switch. The room glowed bright. At first glance, Vinyl’s room looked tidy, like there’s nothing wrong with it. But upon closer inspection, anypony can tell that it was hastily cleaned. 

The blankets were folded messily.  The bed sheet doesn’t fully cover the bed. Some of her clothes can be seen underneath it. And there were a couple of filled trash bags behind the door to conceal them from unsuspecting eyes upon opening.

Octavia ignored her roommate’s clumsy attempt at tidying (although it’s obvious that it kind of bugged her a bit) and headed to the windows that were covered up in wooden planks.

“As you can see” she began. “We boarded up the windows and used thick curtains for good measure.” She held the red fabric at Rockwell to show its thickness. 

She trotted besides Vinyl’s bed and opened the nightstand. She pulled one of the cans stacked inside it and showed it to Rockwell. “We also stored some sealant now in case a hole or two was accidentally punched through the roof, again.” 

“Again?” Rockwell said softly that only the camera crew could hear. He shrugged it off like it’s nothing. He flipped a page from his folder while Octavia returned the can back to the nightstand. 

“Let’s talk safety.” Rockwell’s eyes remained to the folder as he exited the room. The crew let Octavia get out first before following suit. 

“The exit paths are clear.” Rockwell said while scribbling on his folder. “The sprinklers” He looked at Octavia, a foreleg pointing upwards. “Are they functional?”

“I see to it that they’re properly maintained.” Octavia firmly replied. 

Rockwell hummed silently to himself. He roamed around the house again. This time, he’s looking at all the sprinklers installed in the ceiling. Octavia and the crew tailed him. He stopped at the kitchen. He looked at Octavia while tapping the kitchen cabinet with his folder. 

“This cabinet’s a fire hazard by the way.” He said to her. 

“How so?” Octavia tilted her head as she asked him. 

Rockwell looked down to write something on his folder. From where the camera was standing, it seemed like he’s writing an ‘X.’ “It’s too tall for the sprinklers to reach once it catches on fire.”

He looked back at Octavia. “Can I see your emergency blood stash?” 

“Yes, it’s over there.” Octavia trotted to a small metal door next to the pantry. “Vinyl had this one specially done for her. It’s like a miniature vault that has its own cooling system, similar to a refrigerator’s.” 

Octavia had a bit of trouble pulling the door open. She had to use two hooves to pull the metal door that appeared to be several inches thick out. Once it did, it let out a hissing sound that was followed by some cold, white smoke. Inside the vault rested a couple blood bags just waiting to be consumed by its owner. 

“How many do you usually store?” Rockwell asked, pen ready to jot down. 

“About five bags or so.” Octavia looked at Rockwell, forelegs at the door. He nodded at her. She closed the vault. 

“How recent are they?”

“They were replaced three weeks ago.” Octavia answered while blowing hot air on her chilled hoof. 

Rockwell flipped another page on his folder. “Where do you keep your daytime kit?”

“It’s back in the bedroom.” Octavia gave a shy smile, realizing she’ll lead them back to the bedroom again. She jogged back to Vinyl’s bedroom. Rockwell followed her, keeping his normal pace. The camera crew matched Rockwell’s speed. 

As he and the crew reached the bedroom, Octavia was kneeling on the floor, shuffling through things from a box that appeared to be taken out of Vinyl’s closet. 

“I” Octavia cleared her throat. “We followed every word in the orientation.” She dragged the box to Rockwell. “As you can see” She grabbed an item from the box, identifying each of them. “She’s already set with a hoodie, a pair of sweatpants, and a newly purchased bottle of sunscreen.”

Rockwell picked the bottle of sunscreen up. He read the label silently. 

“SPF 100” he placed the bottle back. “Good choice.” He wrote in his folder again. “Let’s head down the main course.” 

Octavia’s eyes narrowed. “I beg your pardon?”

“Tell me about her feeding regimen.” Rockwell closed his folder.

“I see.” Octavia replied. She led Rockwell and the crew back to the kitchen. This time, they stopped in front of the fridge. Octavia opened the refrigerator, different kinds of food were lit in soft yellow light. As Octavia knelt down again, the camera mare focused the shot on an untouched slice of chocolate cake. 

“Vinyl’s blood diet mainly comes from the Ponyville General’s surplus of blood bags.” Octavia opened a compartment at the bottom part of the fridge, revealing a dozen’s worth of blood bags neatly stacked together. 

“The hospital has gotten so much blood donations that they don’t know what to do with them.” She continued. “So they just give them to the local vampires, with the proper paperwork of course. We get seven bags each week, one for each day.”

Rockwell grabbed a blood bag from the compartment. He noticed that the container was different from the standard issue bag hospitals use. There’s also no label of what type the blood was. 

“What blood type is this?” 

“A Negative.” Octavia answered. “She often chooses this variety because it tastes like-”

“Like Cabernet Sauvignon.” Rockwell finished. He hoofed the bag back to Octavia. 

“Which happens to be my favorite kind of wine.” Octavia replied, looking a bit amazed. “How did you know that, if I may ask?”

“We do a lot of surveys.” Rockwell sniffed his hoof that touched the blood bag, wondering if it caught the smell of raw blood. He let his hoof down. “Does she hunt?”

“Vinyl? Yes, she does. But only on a monthly basis. She just wants to get the kinks out of her system. The savage and rabid side of her vampiric nature, if you get the gist.” Octavia got up and closed the fridge. “In addition, she really doesn’t like the blood staining her coat. She says it’s really hard to get the red stuff off her white fur.”

“What kind of animal?” Rockwell asked, writing again. 

“Mostly deer. But I saw her take down a bear once.” Octavia sounded a little boastful saying the last part. 

Rockwell flipped another page. “You mentioned you were her donor earlier?”

Before answering the question, Octavia motioned Rockwell and the crew to take a seat at the dining room. “Please.” She offered. “You must be really exhausted after a long day’s work.”

“Good timing.” Rockwell took a seat adjacent to Octavia. He made himself comfortable on the chair and stretched his limbs to their limits, cracking sounds of bones can be heard. He let out a satisfied sigh. “Those were the only questions that required roaming around the house. These last few ones can be done here.”

“I’m a partial donor actually.” Octavia answered. “I give her a pint of my blood once a week.” She blushed upon saying so. “But it falls more on the luxury side than necessity. It’s the only way to make her wash the dishes and clean her room, so, there’s that.”

Rockwell began writing again. “Let’s talk cover. Occupation, what does she do?”

“She works as a Disc Jockey at the local club. She also takes other gigs such as playing for a wedding and other various events.”

“Does she have any fabricated illnesses?”

“We didn’t think of one at first. But after months of living here,” Octavia giggled. “The ponies were starting to think that Vinyl’s an albino with really sensitive skin. And after that, we just went with it.”

Rockwell flipped a couple pages back on his folder. The camera focused on what he’s staring firmly at. He showed it to the screen. It was a small photo of Vinyl clipped on the upper left side of the file. She’s a unicorn with a short, blue, spiky mane with streaks of a lighter shade of blue. And her fur’s white as snow. 

“Reasonable.” Rockwell said. “Are there any ponies aware of her true identity?”

“Thankfully, none” Octavia replied. “Save for me and her vampire peers of course.”

“Which reminds me” Rockwell quickly skimmed the pages of his folder. “Is she a member of a local vampire coven in Ponyville? Or a cabal perhaps?”

“Well...she is the leader of one. They currently have twenty members, including her.”

“So it’s a cabal then.” Rockwell concluded. And once more, was scribbling on his folder. “So what’s it called?”

“Bloodstep.” Octavia groaned, like saying the name has hurt her.

“How much time does she spend outside?”

It took a while for Octavia to answer this question. She’s looking at the ceiling while tapping her chin. She also started humming in contemplation. She looked like she’s deep in thought. Rockwell waited patiently for her reply.

“If I’m counting it right,” She paused, beginning to hum again. “I believe on average, she spends at least eight hours a day.”

“And the time she goes home?”

“She’s usually returns before five am.” This time, Octavia’s answer was quick.

“Punctual.” Rockwell complimented flatly. “What is the status of the vampire werewolf-relations in this town?”

A troubled look formed on Octavia’s face. It’s also mixed with doubt. “Mildly hostile, I guess?”

Rockwell’s ears perked up. “Hostile? Why’s that?”

Octavia looked at the direction on where Vinyl’s room was. “There were some...tensions...brewing between the two factions these past few days.” She turned her attention at the camera crew. The shot centered on her face.”And I fear it’ll get worse.”

“Who’s the instigator?” The camera focused back on Rockwell.

“The werewolves definitely struck first.” Octavia’s voice sounded pretty sure.

“Any skirmishes?”

“None so far.”

“Damaged property?”

“Ye-”

“Don’t answer that.” Rockwell cut her off. “Want me to do something about it?”

“Actually that would be gre-”

“Just kidding.” He cut her off again. “It’s not my job.” Rockwell ripped a piece of paper from his folder and hoofed it to Octavia. “I believe this concludes the inspection. Aaand you guys scored an eighty-one percent! You passed the inspection!” His happy voice sounded fake. 

“You followed most of the rules but still have some minor issues that needed ironing out.” Rockwell kept his folder back to his jacket. “I’ll return to the bureau and submit the results along with the footage for further evaluation. And once that’s done, we’ll be sending another agent here to give you some advice on how to boost your percentage up to ninety-seven percent.”

“Ninety-seven percent?”

“Nopony’s perfect. I’ll be taking my leave now. Have a nice evening, Miss Octavia.”

SLAM! The noise came from the basement door. Everypony was alerted and rushed towards the source of the sound. The camera’s view became shaky when it quickly followed the others. As soon as the camera stabilized, the screen centered its focus on an excited Vinyl Scratch clad in makeshift metal armor. 

“Octy let’s go!” Vinyl screamed, literally into Octavia’s ear. “We’ll be late for the race war!”

“Race war?” 

The camera focused at Rockwell. His stoic face was now replaced with a look of curious confusion.
> Chapter Two: A Wolf's Bane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m sorry.” Rockwell said, adjusting his glasses. “Did you just say ‘Race War?’”

“Introductions!” Octavia called out, clapping both her forelegs. “Vinyl, meet Agent Roc-”

“Yeah I know who he is.” Vinyl quickly replied. Her ears perked up, remembering something. “Shoot! Is the inspection today?”

“You already knew that?”The camera centered its view on Octavia. Vinyl, why didn’t you tell me? And please stop hypnotizing the agent! The camera panned back to Vinyl who has now lowered her glasses and was waving her forelegs slowly in front of Rockwell.

“You will pass the inspection.” Vinyl said in a soft but commanding voice. “You will pass the inspection.” 

“Miss, please stop flailing your hooves around, you look stupid.” Rockwell said. He looked unfazed, but clearly annoyed. “You already passed. But if that’s the way you’re dealing with B.I.S agents here then I’m afraid I’m going to have to penalize you.”

“You’re not going to penalize me.” Vinyl said, again, in a soft but commanding voice. “You’re not going to penalize me.”

Rockwell pulled out a notepad. “Strike one, Miss Scratch. Strike one.”

“Oh come on! That usually works.”

Rockwell looked at the camera. “Not anymore it’s not.” He adjusted his glasses, a small grin formed on his face. “Now tell me about this ‘Race War’ and why you look like you’re joining a junkyard crusade.”

The camera zoomed out its view, giving a full view on Vinyl’s body. She appeared to look like she’s wearing a badly made royal guard armor. Most of the materials on the armor come from everyday objects, like a metal tray that’s roughly dented to act as a chest plate. 

“I’ll explain it to you on the way.” Vinyl said as she rushed to the door. She gestured at them to follow her. “Come on we’re late!”

Rockwell and Octavia followed Vinyl and exited the building. The camera crew tailed them from behind. 

Once outside, the group was hit with the crisp night breeze. The night was bright from the full moon’s light, ideal for a stroll. Soft chirping of insects accompanied the gentle sounds of hoof steps. And from a distance, the howling sounds persisted. 

“So this is how it started, right?” Vinyl began. “Me and Octy are just living our lives normally. Well...as normal as we possibly could. You know, work, hang out, making the best of our conflicting schedules, stuff like that. And then these furry (Beeps) just (Beeped) everything up by punching holes through our hoof!”

“How’d you know it was the werewolves who did it?” Rockwell asked. 

“The holes are paw shaped, duh.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I had to walk around the sun beams like I’m in a maze before Octy here could patch them all up!” Vinyl’s voice was close to shouting when she said it. “But they’re not done yet, oh no. They even threw dozens of garlic at every open window they can find in our home!”

“It took days to get the smell off.” Octavia shivered as she remembered the event. 

“And that’s not the worst part!” Vinyl added. “I don’t know how they pulled it off, but they somehow managed to switch all our steel utensils with silverware!”

Rockwell snorted. 

“It’s not funny!”

“It kinda is.”

“Well it is kinda funny.” Vinyl partially agreed. “But not when it’s done to you!”

“Sorry.” Rockwell cleared his throat. “Please. Continue.”

“In response to their actions,” Vinyl said. “We did the most rational thing we could do.”

“Really, Vinyl?” Octavia chimed in. “Rational?”

“They fought us with fire, Octy! What do you expect us to do? Throw water at it?”

“Us?” Rockwell asked.

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl scratched the back of her head, remembering something just now. “Our house is not the only one they targeted. They also did the same thing to other vampire homes. It’s pretty much a large-scale operation.”

Rockwell lowered his glasses. “And the rational thing you did was?”

“Fight fire with fire!” Vinyl flashed him a toothy grin.

“Of course it is.” Rockwell said flatly.

“The very first thing we did was place bear traps on their doorsteps.” Rockwell grimaced upon hearing Vinyl’s words. 

“And then we unleashed a sack full of fleas into their houses.” 

“Where’d you get that much fleas?” 

“Vinyl’s friends...” Octavia said, putting emphasis on the last word. “Has connections that can hook you up with the strangest things if you got the bits for it.”

Rockwell replied with a curious hum. “Then what happened next?”

“And then we tossed burning wolfsbane on their windows. Yeah, that one pretty much set them off.” Vinyl flashed smirk, whether it’s for the terrible deed or the equally terrible pun, nopony will ever know. 

“So that’s what started this ‘Race War’ then.” Rockwell said, putting his glasses back up. 

“Pretty much.” Vinyl’s reply sounded casual, like what they’re doing right now meant very little to her. 

“Fortunately for the two factions,” Octavia said. “The only thing they seem to be doing now is engage in minor vandalism and shooting dirty stares into each other. But other than that, things are pretty much quiet in the Outskirts.”

“Until now that is.” Vinyl added. “We’re making our war official by taking the fight to the streets.” She licked her fangs in a menacing manner. “This is so gonna get bloody.”

Octavia looked at Rockwell with begging eyes. “Now that you’ve heard the full story of our plight, aren’t you going to stop it?”

“Stop it?” Rockwell grinned from ear to ear. “I’m watching it!”

Octavia slammed a hoof on her face. “Oh Celestia.” She groaned.

The gang, followed by the crew, entered in the only street that’s vibrant with life at this hour. The small and quaint town of Ponyville has no nightlife. Even the most late sleeping resident of the town turn their lights off the clock strikes ten. But to the town’s Outskirts, that’s when the fun begins. 

Night in the Outskirts looked entirely different from the rest of the town. It’s like another world in there. Nocturnal thestrals were seen roaming everywhere. Different buildings offering services that are not available in the day are open for business in the night. Along with the typical street light illuminating the street, the buildings have signs that provided lighting with all kinds of colors that can be found in a rainbow’s spectrum. It’s also the beginning of autumn. The Elm trees that stood near the street had their wilting leaves fall to the ground like ebony snow.

The place may seem alien for a diurnal, but to the town’s “Citizen of the Night,” it’s home. 

The camera crew followed Vinyl as she approached the part of the street where dozens of thestrals flocked over. Standing in the middle was a group of ponies, all wearing glasses that hid the color of their eyes. 

“Silver! Parsley!” Vinyl called out. “Sorry I’m late.”

Two ponies from the group looked to Vinyl’s direction. The first one that took notice was a mare with silvery coat, her white mane tied in a bun. The second one was an olive mare with red flowing mane. Vinyl dashed towards them.

The camera mare opted to follow Vinyl but didn’t when she saw Rockwell and Octavia stop beside a crowd of thestrals. Excited chatter can be heard from the crowd. It’s like they’re a bunch of audiences in the bleachers, eager for something to happen. 

“What took you so long?” Silver said, sounding annoyed. She took a full look at Vinyl, her annoyance turned to amusement. 

“I was busy making my armor!” She looked at the group, realizing that she’s the only one wearing clothing. “Wait, where are yours?”

“Geez Vinyl.” Silver said, her tone mocking. “I didn’t really think you’d actually make one! It was just supposed to be a joke.”

Vinyl slammed a hoof on her face. “At least you brought your swords, right?”

The group unsheathed their blades in response. 

“Let’s do a headcount, shall we?” Vinyl’s tone was sarcastic. She raised a hoof and pretended like she doesn’t know their exact number. “One, two, why are we so few! Where are the other fifteen?”

“They’re at their jobs,” Parsley answered. “So they’re probably working?”

“Working?! Jobs?!” Vinyl snapped. “What about the agreement to set all our day offs to today?!”

“Whatever.” Silver rolled her eyes. “Can’t we just get this over with already? I’m meeting my coltfriend over at Whitetail in an hour.”

Vinyl was about to retort when a loud howl caught her attention. In fact, it caught everypony’s attention in the street. The camera focused its view on the source of the sound. Three colored blurs were swiftly hopping over the buildings, blue, grey, and purple respectively. The blue and the grey blurs dove to the ground while the purple chose to spin over a chimney first. A furry claw can be seen scratching the chimney’s surface as it swung around it, causing the bricks to crumble out with every spin. 

“My house!” The apparent owner of the damaged chimney cried out.

“Sorreh!” The purple blur roared as it followed the others into the ground. The voice sounded gruff but feminine.

The camera centered its shot on where the blurs had landed. Only this time, they weren’t fuzzy images that was too fast for an outdated recording equipment to follow, but were now taking the shape of the giant beasts ponies refer to as werewolves. 

The blue wolf approached the group of vampires. The grey and purple wolves followed. While doing so, their thick fur began to shed, their claws and paws turned back into hooves, they shrunk back to normal size. The blue and grey wolves reverted back to their pony forms save for the purple one, who was probably afraid of revealing herself to the homeowner from before. 

“So those are the werewolves, huh?” Rockwell commented from afar. 

“Yes.” Octavia replied. “The blue one is the alpha. I believe his name is Luminous, I forgot the last name. And the grey one is his daughter, Dusty.”

“What about the purple one?” Rockwell asked. 

“I don’t really know.” Octavia admitted. “She’s probably a new convert. It’s the first time I saw her with them.”

The camera focused on the two groups again. Its two leaders were facing each other now. All the ponies in the crowd went silent, even Rockwell and Octavia. The only thing that can be heard was the soft sound of leaves hitting the pavement.

“Bloodstep.” Luminous said, addressing Vinyl’s group as a whole.

“Ponyville Suburban Werewolves Society.” Vinyl replied, doing the same.

The camera mare heard a ripping sound beside her. She turned the camera to Rockwell, who was removing a couple of pages from his folder. He rolled the pages up and stuffed them into a small device that looked like a Griffon crafted crossbow, with the bow missing and was replaced with a short metal tube. 

“This is so gonna be fun.” He said, rolling the papers while his eyes were still glued to the two groups. 

“If you don’t mind me asking.” Octavia said as she stared curiously at the device that Rockwell held. “What’s that contraption you’re holding?”

“Dragonflare.” Rockwell replied, his eyes still on the middle of the street. “It’s a device that allows B.I.S Agents to send messages quickly using dragon fire.”

Rockwell looked at the camera mare. “Give me the memory shard containing the inspection footage. We might stay a bit longer here due to this little ‘situation’ so we might as well send the report in a single file while we’re at it.”

“Give me a sec.” The camera mare replied. Clicking sounds came out from the camera, like a part of it was opening. And darkness followed. For a few seconds, only blackness can be seen on the screen. There’s no sound either. A whirring sound played. The camera was on again, showing a moving image of Rockwell holding a green gemstone and shoving it along with roll of paper in the small device.  

“You’re back?” He said as he stared closely at the camera. “Good. Take a good shot of those two groups, okay?” He gestured at Vinyl and Luminous having a stare off in the street. “We might get some interesting footage later.”

The camera mare centered the shot on the two rival groups. All the ponies involved looked like resting predators. They stood on the ground in a relaxed state, but were ready to pounce at any given chance. No words have been said yet, but the tension in the air was already thick. The crowd lowered the volume of their chatter into soft murmurs, wondering what’s gonna happen next. 

Vinyl and Luminous opened their mouths, about to say something. BANG! A sudden explosion cut them off. They looked at where the source of the blast was. It’s beside the camera mare. It lit a green glow to anything near it. The camera turned to see Rockwell firing his device upwards. It shot up a stream of green fire that quickly disappeared into the night sky. Everypony’s stares landed on him.  

“Don’t mind me!” He called. “Nothing to see here. Hey! Don’t look at my strange device.” He said while pointing this flare gun at a curious thestral.

“Is that a camera?” Luminous looked at Vinyl. “Are you recording this?”

“That’s beside the point, Luminous.” Vinyl replied. “So are we doing this or not?”

“What do you mean ‘do this?’” He growled. “I’m here to bring peace between our groups! Even though you attacked us first, we’re still willing to put it all behind us if you’d just apologize!”

“You bloated fleabag!” Vinyl raised her voice. “Where’d you get the hairy balls to say that to my face when you’re clearly the first offenders! Mutts like you deserve to be neutered!”

“How dare you!” Luminous shot back. “Here I am offering peace and this is what I get!? You’re a disgrace to your kind!”

“The only piece you’re gonna get from me is my piece of (Beep), you glorified lapdog!”

“You overgrown mosquito!” Luminous roared.

“Aww yeah, they’re opening up their insult arsenal!” Rockwell rapidly tapped the camera mare’s unseen shoulder. “Quick! Raise the volume!” The camera took a quick glimpse of Octavia, who was now scowling at him.

“You filthy butt sniffer!”

“Solar rejects!”

“Pet killers!”

“You should be impaled on a stick!”

“Chase this bundle of sticks!” Vinyl threw an imaginary stick behind Luminous. He leapt into it with his tongue lolled out, thinking it was real.

“Luminous, no!” The purple one called. “The stick, it’s not real.”

Luminous stopped. He looked back to Vinyl, blushing. “I meant to do that.” He was met with skeptic eyes. “No! No! No, she didn’t fool me.”

“Yes I did.” Vinyl retorted. “I totally made you my (Beep).”

Luminous looked at the rest of his pack. “Dusty, Nightblossom! Help me out here! I’m running out of insults.”

“Nightblossom!?” The owner of the chimney shouted. “You broke my chimney!?”

“Luminous.” Nightblossom looked at her leader darkly.

Dusty only shook her head, smirking while doing so. “Mom is so gonna get pissed.”

Vinyl looked back as well. The members of her group reflected on her glasses. How the camera can manage to do that and not catch the image of a werewolf leaping from building to building, nopony will ever know.

“You guys should help out too. Just don’t get too close, you might catch fleas.”

“Why you!”

The other members of each faction joined in on the battle of insults. It erupted in a splatter fest of colourful curses and personal insults. The crowd went rowdy at the spectacle before them. Rockwell joined in on the cheering, laughing and rooting for every pony that unleashed the perfect insult that would finally make the other side shed tears. Octavia on the other hoof, cringed during the whole ordeal. 

“Can’t you do something about this!?” Octavia shouted at Rockwell’s ear. It’s the only way he could hear amidst the indistinct roaring of the crowd. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll do something.” Rockwell gave an assured wave. He approached a thestral collecting bits from his friends. “Hey there!” The thestral looked at him. “You guys doing any bets?”

Octavia dragged both her forelegs down her cheeks. “Why is everypony acting so childish!?” She groaned in frustration. 

“That’s it!” Luminous snapped. His voice was a mixture of pony and wolf. “You want war!? I’ll give you war!” He turned into his wolf form. The others followed. 

Vinyl unsheathed her sword. The others unsheathed theirs as well. “It’s now official you guys!” She declared to thestral audience, raising her sword. “Our Race War is now official!”

She looked back to the werewolves. The fur at the back of their necks was raised high. Their piercing yellow eyes were set on her face. Their claws detracted, the wolf pack growled at her menacingly. They’re now ready for a fight.

Vinyl ripped her armor off and donned a fighting stance. Her hooves were planted deep in the ground. She gripped her sword tightly, pointed it to the closest foe. The other members imitated her posture. All of them bore their fangs at the werewolves, hissing loudly at them.

The crowd roared loudly at how the events have turned up. From random cheers and mocking jeers, they have turned their slurred chatters into one unified chant. They were stomping their forelegs on the ground at the same time, pounding the pavement like a thundering drum. They cried ‘FIGHT’ repeatedly, all in unison. The street of Elm was no longer a street. It was now an arena.

The two factions remained in their place. None of them were moving an inch but were eager to follow the first one that will. The falling leaves from the trees continued their descent from above. All of their eyes locked on that single leaf going down in the space between them. Slowly, it swayed down. They continued looking at it, as if time itself was slowed when they did. It’s only a few sways away from hitting the ground. Both groups patiently stared at it.

And it landed.

That was the signal. 

The vampires and werewolves sprang from where they stood. The vampires ready to swing their swords while the werewolves dove in with both forelegs in front. 

Vinyl and Luminous were only moments away from clashing with each other when something dark rushed in towards their middle. They didn’t see any contact but they were hit with such force that they got knocked back several meters away, hitting the others from behind and they all rolled aggressively unto the ground. 

“That escalated quickly.”

The camera panned from the recovering vampires to Agent Rockwell, who was now standing between the two knocked out groups.
> Chapter Three: The Rules Suck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What were you guys thinking!?” Rockwell shouted at both groups. They were now recovering themselves from the blow, slowly raising their bodies up again.

Octavia released a drawn out sigh of relief. “Finally!” She said. She gave the camera a pleasant smile, as if a huge load was taken off her shoulders. “For a moment I thought he wouldn’t do anything at a-”

“This vampire to werewolf ratio clearly violates E.P.I.C’s Section C of the Vampire-Werewolf Antipathy Settlement Rules of Engagement!” Rockwell shouted, catching Octavia’s attention as well as the camera mare’s.

“I’m sorry.” Octavia said, her face a combination of panic and confusion. “What did he say just now?”

“Stay out of this Agent Rockwell.” Vinyl warned him.

But Rockwell stood his ground. He didn’t seem intimidated despite being sandwiched by two groups of deadly creatures who were hissing and growling at him threateningly. He tucked his unlit cigarette in his jacket pocket. And he looked back at Vinyl.

“Equestrian Peaceful Integration Code” He began, his voice as calm as still water. “Vampire-Werewolf Antipathy Settlement Rules of Engagement Section C clearly states-”

“Alright. I’ve had enough of this.” Nightblossom said as she pounced to attack Rockwell.

“Nightblossom NO!” Luminous shouted. “He’s a-”

But it was too late. The crowd gasped at the sight in front of them. Everything just happened way too fast that it barely registered in everypony’s mind. Nopony anticipated this outcome. The crowd spoke in soft murmurs, probably talking on how much brutality one can fit in a single moment. 

Nightblossom gave a few whimpers before passing out. Her right hind leg twitched for a second or so before joining the rest of her limp body.

“B.I.S Agent.” Luminous continued, slamming a paw on his face.

“Now where was I?” Rockwell said, scratching his head. “Oh yeah.” He cleared his throat before speaking. “Equestrian Peaceful Integration Code...uh...Vampire-Werewolf Antipathy Settlement Rules of Engagement Section C clearly states that an average werewolf has twice the physical strength compared to a regular vampire. Therefore, in every regulated encounter there should be two vampires for every participating werewolf.”

Rockwell got the cigarette stick out again. He bit it in his mouth and didn’t light it. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the purple werewolf snoring softly on the ground. A look of regret can be seen on his face. 

“Alright.” Rockwell said lazily. His eyes still lain on the sleeping wolf. “Here’s the deal. It’s either you guys follow the rules established in situations like this or risk getting another socking from me.” He lowered his glasses to look at them, pointing a hoof at Nightblossom as an example. 

“You have two choices.” He added. “Fight a lawless ‘war’ that would result in unnecessary injuries and arrests that’d achieve nothing or...you would follow through match with slight regulations that will at least resolve something.” He shifted his stare from Vinyl to Luminous. “So what say you?”

Vinyl and Luminous looked at each other intensely. A look hesitation was carved on their faces but nevertheless they both agreed, by nodding silently. 

“Okay.” Rockwell said. “But before we begin, please note that these rules of engagement only applies if both parties agreed that they’re ensuing issue cannot be resolved by any method except through a violent encounter.” He shifted his stare at each of them again. “Are you guys really sure you can’t talk this out anymore?”

Luminous stepped forward. “I originally came here to reason with them but their leader acts way too childish despite her supposedly long age.”

“I’m still twenty-six you (Beeping) mophead!” 

“See what I mean!” Luminous pointed a paw at Vinyl as proof. “She literally sucks at leading.”

“So no more talking?” Rockwell asked again for further confirmation. “No more?”

“No More!” Both leaders cried.

“Eh.” Rockwell shrugged. “Suit yourselves. Let’s proceed with the rest of the rule then, shall we?” He suddenly stopped, as if to recall something. “But shouldn’t you guys be familiar with this by now? Come on.” He dragged on the last syllable. “Anypony here memorized and remembered the R.o.E?”

Everypony went silent. They all looked away shyly from the agent, probably afraid that he might ask them. Even the crowd who was freely chatting from the sidelines had zipped their mouths shut. Though his wolf form was double the size of a regular pony, Luminous looked small as he shrunk himself away from Rockwell’s question. The vampires, despite having their eyes concealed with their own personalized glasses seemed like they’re looking at everywhere except in Rockwell’s direction. 

“Octy probably heard something like that in the orientation.” Vinyl muttered softly, hoping the agent won’t hear it. 

Rockwell sighed. “Let’s just get this over with. Section A of the Vampire-Werewolf Antipathy Settlement Rules of Engagement clearly states that” He rotated his shoulder as he approached Vinyl. He groaned with every cracked his tense shoulder made. 

He swiped a hoof up at Vinyl’s scabbard. The sword glided smoothly upwards and lifted itself several inches into the air. Rockwell caught the blade in its handle. 

“Vampires are required to wield any weapon that does not exceed four point five pounds.” With his hoof, Rockwell weighed the weapon with his hoof, shaking it up and down in the air. His face contorted upon realization that Vinyl’s weapon went over the weight limit. He raised an elbow and struck it at the center of the blade, breaking the metal in half. 

“Hey! What the (Beep) dude!?” Vinyl cussed in anger. 

Rockwell weighed the sword again, shaking it up and down. Once satisfied with its weight, he continued. “As long as said weapon is not made of silver or coated in wolfsbane or any substance that can cause immediate death.”

He placed the sword a couple inches in front of his nose. He took a whiff of it. “Your blade’s made of silver, and it’s coated with” He took another sniff. “Yep. Wolfsbane extract. So nope, you’re disqualified.” 

“Give it back!”

He tossed the sword back to Vinyl. She caught the weapon, but juggled it in surprise, hoping none of the metal touches her skin. Rockwell did same with the other Vampires. He snatched their swords from their hooves. 

“Hey!”

“Give my sword back!”

They bore their fangs at him, hissing and snarling menacingly. But they all went silent when Rockwell tried to tuck his cigarette stick in his pocket again. He gave each sword an inspection similar to what he did to Vinyl’s. He shook and sniffed at them, giving his verdict individually.

He tossed Silver’s sword back to her. “Disqualified.” His tone sounded tedious. “What’s your name?”  He asked the blue mare standing beside Silver, tossing her sword back to her.

“Snowsworth.” She replied. 

“Disqualified.”

“Parsley, right?” He asked her while giving the sword back.

“Yes?” 

“Yours and what’s his name?” He said, gesturing at the orange stallion next to her. 

“His name’s Cliff Hanger.” Parsley answered.

“You guys are good.” Rockwell said while giving Cliff Hanger his sword back. 

“Nice!” The vampires cheered in unison, giving each other a high hoof.

“So what’s next?” Rockwell hummed in contemplation. He looked at the werewolves. His ears perked. “Oh, here it is. Section B of the R.o.E clearly states that werewolves participating in the battle must be in control of themselves. Feral combatants will be immediately removed from the conflict. And since you guys including Miss KO here,” He pointed again at Nightblossom. “Are still capable of speech and can transform at will, I say you’re all qualified.”

The werewolves’ looks were still as fierce as before. But their tails can’t help but wag at Rockwell’s declaration. 

“I already explained Section C earlier so let’s just move on to Section D, the most important part of the R.o.E. Section D of the Vampire-Wer-”

“Just cut to the chase!” Vinyl cried, voicing out the ponies’ frustration regarding Rockwell’s lengthy beginnings in announcing each rule.

“Can’t wait for the D, eh?” Rockwell looked at the camera and smiled knowingly. “Alright, I’ll give you the D.” There was some soft giggling coming from the crowd. Vinyl’s pale features seemed to darken while Octavia’s has turned scarlet. 

“Section D of the R.o.E clearly states that no civilian or private property shall be damaged during a conflict. Doing so will result with the battle ending early with no victor along with the arrest of all participants.”

“Alright.” Rockwell sighed. “Everypony got it?” He looked at both vampires and werewolves. “Everypony good?” Both sides muttered in agreement. Rockwell gave a concerned but soft hiss. “I’d really love to pit you all against each other but Section C clearly states that the ratio should always be one is to two and there’re only two qualified vampires so...” He scratched his head. His pose an attempt of looking apologetic. 

“I got this one.” Dusty said. She stepped forward, presenting herself. 

Luminous one upped her daughter. “No. I got this one.” 

“But dad!” Dusty whined. 

“You fight tonight, you’re grounded for six months. You got that?” Luminous warned her. “I’m in deep (Beep) already. The last thing I wanted to see right now is to see you get hurt. Your mom will probably kill me if you did.”

Dusty turned back to her pony form. “This sucks.” She stepped back behind her dad. An annoyed look was drawn all over her face. 

Luminous turned to Rockwell. 

“I’ll fight.”

“Alright!” Rockwell jumped. His movements became animated, almost giddy. He gestured the participants to get closer to each other. “Participants! Kindly step forward please and prepare yourselves!” He leaned to Luminous’ wolf ears, attempting an exaggerated whisper pose. 

“Hey. You better win. I’m betting good money on you.”

“You mother(Beeper).” Vinyl growled.

“Remember!” Rockwell jumped into middle, like a referee does in every match. “No killing allowed! Treat the rival party with dignity and respect! Use minimum force when participating! And always avoid destroying any private property or hurting any civilian okay!?”

“Okay!”

“And with that out the way,” Rockwell casually trotted to Vinyl and Silver, backwards. He snatched both their swords from the scabbards again. 

“Let’s get ready to rumble!”

He raised both of the swords and banged them together to make a sound similar to a bell. 

“Really?” Cliff said with a chortle. “You’re using that cliché?” 

“You know,” Rockwell backed away, slowly moving in to the crowd. “You really shouldn’t look at me right now.”

Luminous dashed into the unsuspecting vampires, leaving a gush of smoke in its wake. With claws at the ready he swung his foreleg behind him, gaining momentum. As soon as the two suckers looked back to their opponent, a quick blue blur flew into their faces. 

The crowd cheered as Luminous knocked both of them down in a single swipe. The vampires are now rolling in the ground, their weapons tossed up the air and landed on a roof. It’s now stuck there.

“Go dad!” Dusty cheered. 

Cliff Hanger got up first. He jumped up to the ground when Luminous took another swipe at him. While in the air, he looked at Parsley. She didn’t get up.

“Parsley!” He cried out. 

As he landed, he and Rockwell rushed to the downed vampire. Rockwell pressed an ear to Parsley’s mouth. He also held her foreleg up to check for a pulse. 

“It’s alright! She’s still alive!” Rockwell called. He then dragged Parsley out of the street and set her near the camera mare. 

“Alright.” Cliff looked at Luminous with murderous intent. He bore his fangs. He assumed the position of a predator about jump on its prey. His eyes glowed redder than ever. 

“No more Mr. Nice Guy.”

Rockwell whispered into the camera. “He called me out for using clichés, and yet here we are.”

“Kick his butt!” All the vampires shouted. The crowd was now rowdier than ever. Rockwell was with the other betting thestrals, discussing on which side would probably win. Octavia was still. She’s sweating beads, and was biting her hoof nervously. 

“Yeah!” Dusty shouted. “Kick his butt!”

Both participants followed their corners’ advice. They charged towards each other in blazing speed. When they’re only a few inches from clashing, they spun around to add more weight to their blows. Their swift and powerful strikes landed on both of their behinds, literally kicking themselves in the butt.

“Aughh!” Both corners slammed their hooves on their faces. The crowd burst out into laughter. 

They two fighters broke contact. They walked away from each other, caressing their rear end in pain.

“Head-butt!” Vinyl commanded from behind. 

Cliff looked at Vinyl for a brief moment. He nodded at her. Swiftly he turned into an orange blur, zooming straight into Luminous. He came from above him, forcing Luminous to stand on his hind legs in surprise. Cliff climbed up Luminous’s body and pulled his torso back, attempting to head-butt him. 

Luminous, not wanting to be the receiving end of Cliff’s attack pulled his torso as well. Together, both vampire and werewolf sprang their bodies back to do the hardest head-butt they could muster. 

SMACK!

Everypony groaned, feeling the fighters’ pain as well. Luminous and Cliff Hanger fell down in sync. Like a chopped tree, their bodies were cartoonishly stiff as they hit the pavement. 

They stayed there for a while, groaning in pain. A foreleg rubbing their forehead, hoping it would alleviate the throbbing sensation. There’s no way to know, but they’re probably staring at a group of imaginary birds flying above their heads. 

Luminous got up lamely, so did Cliff. As the two dizzy heads wobbled themselves up the ground, their corners were already shouting battle tactics at them.

“Sleeper Hold!” Vinyl advised loudly. Cliff shook himself awake and rushed to Luminous’ direction. He leaped mid run and spread his forelegs, hoping to grip his opponent’s neck. Luminous got up in haste after seeing Cliff jumping on him. He also did the same and spread his forelegs open, hoping to catch Cliff with his grip upon landing. 

The two were now choking themselves. One foreleg was wrapped on the neck while the other was forcing the foe’s foreleg from further strangling its owner. The two of them were on their hind legs again, struggling and awkwardly dancing on the street. The sounds of them suffocating were drowned out by the cheering of the crowd.  

“Use his own weight against him!” Silver cried. 

Both of them nodded. Even Luminous was following the advice of the enemy now. They dragged themselves to the ground. With nopony resisting, the fall was hard as it was fast. The first thing slamming the ground was their head. 

Silver facehoofed once more. 

Cliff and Luminous slowly got backed to their senses. Both their faces were facing each other, lips just inches away from touching. Their eyes popped out when they realized that their heads were resting on each other’s foreleg. They quickly separated and dry heaved in disgust. The crowd laughed so hard that coughing can be heard.  

“Triple backflip!” Vinyl commanded yet again. 

Cliff looked at Vinyl and nodded once more. His face can’t maintain to open both eyes now. But he still endured and leapt midair. He extended all of his legs and spun his body around. Forelegs, hind legs, forelegs, he aimed himself towards Luminous. 

Luminous just got back on four legs when he saw the approaching Cliff Hanger tumbling towards him. He stopped flipping when he’s now in front of Luminous. 

BONK! 

Luminous gave Cliff a sharp jab straight to the face. Every muscle on Cliff’s face shuddered like ripple on water. Slowly, he backed off. Every step he took was a wobbly one. He turned around to his fellow vampires. He gave them a dumb look before kneeling. And then he kissed the ground.

Rockwell was laughing so hard that he can only manage weak wheezes now. “Boy, these guys are wimps! At least I bet my money on the right one this time!”

A stream of green fire came from above and went inside Rockwell’s jacket. His face that was drunk from laughter earlier turned stone-cold. He adjusted his glasses before reaching a hoof inside his jacket pocket. He pulled out the flare gun got the message out. He hid the gun again and unrolled the message. He read what’s inside silently.

“Oh look.” He said, opting Octavia to read the message as well. “HQ wants me to resolve the Vampire-Werewolf hostilities.” He also got his notepad out.

“So you will follow it right?” Octavia said, getting hopeful. “Because it’s a direct order right?”

“I’m telling them,” Rockwell loaded his newly written message to the flare gun. “To go suck my (Beep).” He fired his gun again. But nopony noticed, all eyes were on the fight now. 

Octavia was appalled. “You can’t just do that! You’ll get in trouble!”

“Oh believe me, I can.” Rockwell hid the flare back to his jacket. “My side is justified here. This is my third mission for the day and I’m really tired. I just stopped by here for a moment to earn money on some street fight. But other than th-”

Another message came. 

“That was fast.” Rockwell got his gun and pulled the message out. He read in silence again.

“What does it say?” Octavia asked.

“Still the same order but now with an incentive.” He kept his gun while still staring at the message. “That is some sweet, sweet deal.”

“That’s it?” Octavia raised her brows in disbelief. “Just like that?”

“Uhuh.” Rockwell trotted towards the street. He gently pushed away the thestrals that’s crowding up his path. It took him a while to get through the thick wall ponies but he managed eventually. 

“Hey!” He stretched a hoof upward, waving it wide. “Hey! Fight’s off!” 

All eyes were suddenly upon him.

“WHAT!?” Everypony sung in disbelief. They’re like a disappointed choir, singing a crescendo of disgust. 

“But we’re winning!” Luminous cried.

“Yeah I know.” Rockwell replied flatly. “Fight’s off.”

“You can’t just stop the fight!” Cliff Hanger pleaded. “I still need to beat him!”

“So sorry, buddy.” Rockwell’s words may seem apologetic, but his tone was flat, like before. He looked at the crowd in all direction and shooed them away with his hoof. “Fight’s off guys! Thank you for attending!”

There was some grumbling coming from the crowd. They made their dislike on Rockwell apparent. Some thestrals walked out of the gathering while mumbling unpleasant things to the agent. Others just stood there, procrastination being the glue that bolted them to the ground. 

“But he hit my marefriend!” Cliff pleaded once more. 

“Hey Nice Guy.” Rockwell retorted. He raised his voice slightly, he’s not getting annoyed. “I thought suckers like you have super hearing? I said” He lowered his glasses, showing Cliff his narrowing eyes. ”Fight’s off.”

Cliff hissed aggressively at Rockwell. He assumed a fighting pose. Rockwell didn’t even look at him. He just looked sideways, tucking his cigarette stick back to his jacket. Everypony took a step backwards upon seeing Rockwell do it. Now wary of his next actions, they’d rather stay away from it. Even the now conscious Nightblossom whimpered at the sight. 

But Cliff remained from where he was. He just stood there and glared his eyes at the agent that even Vinyl had to shove him away. Surprised at why she did it, he gave her a confused look. Vinyl didn’t speak a word. She stared at him silently while pointing a hoof away, signalling him to leave the street. Cliff spat on the ground in front of Rockwell before dashing into a blur. 

Vinyl scowled at Rockwell before following Cliff. The other vampires did the same. Snowsworth also attempted to spit at Rockwell. But the spittle she produced didn’t fly far and instead swung like a thread down her chin. 

Rockwell got the cigarette stick back and bit it in his mouth. “Now that’s over with.” He said while looking around. His eyes landed on the thestral from earlier, the one that was collecting the bits from the bets.

“You there!” He called the thestral. “Hey you! Give me my money back! Don’t fly away! Imma get you!” He raised a shaking hoof up the sky. “I know where you live!” 

Rockwell looked at the camera. He breathed a frustrated sigh. “So anyway, did you get all of that?” He asked the camera mare. 

“Yes.” 

“Send me a copy later. I may submit it to Equestria’s Funniest Home Videos. Minus the clips where I’m in of course. And the poster’s name left blank. Because you know...Boy, I didn’t really expect we’d see slapstick in that kind of qua-”

“Cliff no!”

Vinyl’s was low. But it’s clear enough to assume that she’s not far away when she cried. The camera immediately panned its shot straight to the source. The screen centered in on a rooftop, the one where Parsley and Cliff’s swords landed earlier. 

Cliff Hanger was standing at the top. His hoof held his sword like a spear. He aimed it at Rockwell’s direction, but the Agent just gave Cliff a bored look and didn’t move an inch. This added more into Cliff’s anger. He threw the sword at him. 

With his vampiric strength, the sword flew as fast as an arrow, or faster. It now has the destructive powers of a ballista’s projectile. The sword’s sound was a high pitched wail as it flew at sonic speeds towards the Agent. Rockwell only smiled. 

With practiced footing, Rockwell daintily slipped to his side. His movement was smooth, waltzing sideways at the approaching missile. The sword passed in front of him, just inches away from his snout. The sword hit the ground. Its impact was so strong that huge chunks of dirt and concrete were sent flying. Everypony nearby ran away to avoid getting hit by the debris. The camera’s lens now has some smudge of dust on it.

Rockwell looked back at Cliff. He flashed him a smug smirk. He raised a hoof and lifted a joint upward, asking for more. Cliff roared with rage. He pulled a second sword and threw it to Rockwell. 

But this time, Vinyl intercepted. She dived straight at him as he threw the sword, changing its directory. Instead of zooming towards Rockwell, it was now headed to Octavia’s. 

“Octy!” Vinyl cried, getting up as fast as she could. 

The camera focused on Octavia. She stood there like a deer in the middle of the road. The sword was fast approaching her, merely seconds upon impaling her. She closed her eyes and hid behind her forelegs. 

The sword hit the ground. Dirt and concrete came crumbling upwards. Along with the falling leaves, it was also raining debris. A pink hoof appeared at the corner of the screen. It was coated with spit and it slathered the sticky fluid all over the shot. The hoof then wiped it with a white hoofkerchief. The grime was now gone. It focused back on where Octavia was standing. 

She was gone. The sword hit nothing but the ground. 

“Agent Rockwell!” Octavia gasped. The sound came from behind the camera. She turned around to see a panting Octavia resting on Rockwell’s hooves. 

“You saved me.” Octavia said between breaths. 

“Lady, since when do bare hooves provide cover against sharp blades?” Rockwell quipped. 

There was a dripping sound coming from Rockwell. Like a leaked faucet, it hit the concrete slowly, drop after drop. “What was that?” Octavia asked, just noticing the sound. She looked at Rockwell’s shoulder. A large fabric was slashed away from his jacket’s sleeve, exposing the grey fur underneath. And it was damp with blood. 

“Celestia!” Octavia quickly got up from Rockwell’s clasp. “You’re hurt!”

“No, it’s me who’s hurt.”

“Is that blood?” Silver said. She was standing below the house on where Cliff was. Even at a distance she can still smell the scent of blood, like a shark. 

“Everypony get outta here!” Vinyl shouted at her fellow vampires. “And don’t look at the blood!” She glared at Cliff. “And as for you, let’s have a little talk.” Gripping Cliff at the withers, she looked at Octavia before leaving. She gave a relaxed sigh. And she and Cliff turned to blurs. 

“Somepony send help!” Octavia cried in panic. 

“Nah don’t worry about it. It’s just a scratch.” Rockwell waved a hoof dismissively. He just realized that it was his wounded foreleg he moved. He winced in pain. “I’m much more worried about my suit. Do you know how much this cost?”

“How much?” Octavia asked. Her voice sounded shaky.

“It’s a secret.”

Octavia gave a nervous giggle. Rockwell, who was amused by the sound of her giggling, started laughing softly. Octavia slowed down her giggles, easing it down into a stop. Then she burst out laughing. But this time it’s genuine, lacking the poise and sophistication the grey mare usually wore. She laughed, she snorted, and she panted, like she’s unable to control herself with the all sudden mirth. Rockwell, who was caught in Octavia’s infectious laugh, laughed hard as well. The wound on his shoulder gushed hard like a scarlet geyser from strenuous muscle exertion. 

“What’s with all the ruckus?” A voice cried out. 

The thestrals, who were too lazy to leave earlier, finally had the motivation to flee after hearing that voice. The camera panned on a white pony followed by a dozen night guards marching on the streets of Elm. Rockwell and Octavia ceased their laughing when they saw the new arrivals.

“Mayor Inkwell!”
> Chapter Four: For A Normal Activity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mayor Inkwell!” Octavia cried as if in reflex. The camera switched to where she was staring focusing the shot on the mayor’s tiny form. Her black mane that was tied to a bun was a bit messy. The black-rimmed glasses that she’s wearing covered a pair of baggy dead fish eyes. She was slightly slouching when she approached Rockwell and Octavia.

“Ohh, so that’s what she looks like.” Rockwell said to himself. 

“What is going on here?” Mayor Inkwell said. Her voice sounded tired. She looked at Rockwell, eyes focusing on his open wound. “And is that stallion bleeding?”

Rockwell hummed mockingly. “Very observant of you, and what else do you see?”

The Mayor was a bit taken aback at Rockwell’s patronizing reply. Her scrunched snout was evidence of her reaction. 

“That suit.” Her tired eyes suddenly opened wide as she canned him from top to bottom. “You’re an agent from the bureau, aren’t you?”

“Very good!” Rockwell replied, his tone still condescending. “Now do another one, let’s make it three.”

Mayor Inkwell did her best to straighten her form before replying. “May I know what brings you here in our little yet peaceful town?” The sound of her voice has more energy in it than before. But it also sounded nervous. 

“I don’t think I can call this town peaceful if there’s a ‘race war’ going on Ma’am.” Rockwell said, raising a foreleg to do an air quote at ‘race war’ part. 

“Race war!? Here!? In Ponyville!?” Mayor Inkwell exclaimed, her voice sounded more nervous than ever. 

“Yes, yes, and yes. Look...” Rockwell groaned before continuing. “As much as I love to discuss this semi-serious matter with you, I don’t think my wound is on the same boat with me. Because as you can see,” He showed the Mayor his gushing wound. “I’m still bleeding.”

Mayor Inkwell’s perked up. “Oh my goodness, I’m really sorry! We should take you to a hospital, fast!”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Rockwell shrugged her offer. “I can take care of it myself. All I need right now is a place to crash. Is there an inn near here or something?”

“Our house has a spare bedroom that’s specially reserved for guests. You can rest there if you like.” Octavia said. 

“Does that mean I’m spending the night with you?” Rockwell followed his joke with a laugh. “It’s just a joke!” He motioned the camera to focus its shot on Octavia’s reddening face while roughly brushing her mane. “Look at her, she’s all flustered!” 

“No, no, no!” Mayor Inkwell cried, urging the camera to focus on here again. “We can’t have you staying the night here in some measly quarters!” She gave Octavia a flat stare. “No offense, Miss Melody.”

Octavia smiled at her with teeth tightly gritted. “None taken.”

She looked back at Rockwell, seemingly unfazed with Octavia’s reaction. “We have a manor on top of that hill located at the end of the outskirts. It hasn’t been used in a while but its accommodations are still intact. Blurry here will get the keys for you.” She turned around towards the line of night guards escorting her. She stared at the purple thestral standing at the end of the line and gave her a nod. The mare seemed to understand the gesture and proceeded to fly away from the group. 

After agreeing to continue their talk tomorrow, both Rockwell and the Mayor’s groups went on their separate ways, but not before Rockwell asking directions to the manor. The walk towards there was mostly silent, with Rockwell ripping a part of his shirt off while Octavia helped tie it to his shoulder to prevent more blood from gushing out from the cut. 

Once they have reached the bottom of the hill. Blurry, the thestral the Mayor asked to get the keys to the manor met them there. She didn’t say anything throughout the entire encounter and flew as quickly as she came afterwards. 

“Is this the place?” Octavia said as they approached the manor. The building stood alone in the vast patch of grass covering the hill. The camera zoomed in on the structure. From a glance, it’s easy to assume that this place was abandoned. The windows were coated in dust and cobwebs, the walls took on a moldy color of greyish green, and the lawn was untrimmed to the point of concealing the porch from any onlooker nearby.

“It is a manor, isn’t it?” Rockwell replied.  

“Indeed it is. But saying that it hasn’t been used in a while is akin to calling the elderly kindergarteners.”

Rockwell snorted at Octavia’s analogy. “Well, yeah. It may look old and dusty, but I’d rather bleed out in there than here.”

“Oh right! Sorry.” Octavia quickly trotted towards the manor’s door that’s at least three ponies high. The jingling of the keys as it entered through the keyhole was the only sound that broke the eerie silence of the night.

“I never knew we had something like this in Ponyville.” Octavia added. When the lock made a clicking sound, she pushed the door open with both her forelegs. Pushing a wooden door open that’s three times her height with a single hoof proved to be difficult. 

As they entered the place, they were immediately greeted to a living room that has been glazed grey with dust. The entire room looked like a grimy beignet. There’s a group of webby seats facing the equally webby fireplace. The camera looked up and saw chandeliers that were almost wrapped up with ashen nets that it looked more like a beehive than lighting ornament. The stairs was caked with so much dust that it can be mistaken as a layered baking tray. And as the camera moved around, it noticed an old phonograph perched on top of the drawers that had powdery white threads hanging on it, making it look like a circus tent for ants. 

“It’s like a scene taken straight out of a horror picture,” Octavia commented upon observing the manor’s interior. 

“Except it’s not haunted. I’m going to sit over there for a bit.” Rockwell said as he approached a couch that’s facing the fireplace. He took off his jacket and shirt and placed them on its armrest. He then hopped on the couch, creating a large dirt cloud with his landing. He gave a satisfied sigh after stretching his body on its dusty cushion.  

“Thank you for coming with me here by the way.” He said to Octavia, who was still roaming around the living room curiously. “You can leave me now if you want. I can take things from here.”

“But what about your wound?” Octavia stopped her trotting. “I think it still needs some disinfecting and stitching.”

“Yeah I can do that later. This is a really long day for me so let me just close my eyes for a second or two...” Rockwell said, mumbling the last part. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Octavia. “What about your marefriend?”

A look of confusion formed on Octavia’s face. “I beg your pardon?”

Rockwell lowered his again. “The vampire, isn’t she your marefriend? Won’t she be worried that you’re still not home at this hour?”

Octavia’s face turned red for the second time tonight. “M-marefriend? Where did you get such an absurd idea!?” Her stare shiftily switched between Rockwell and the camera.

“I dunno,” Rockwell shrugged from his couch. “Her calling you nicknames, you acting so worried about her. Octy?” He chuckled. “I just had a feeling that’s all.”

“And just those to hold on to, you immediately assumed that we’re, we’re...” Her face was now redder than an apple’s. “Well, I have never! We’re just friends, do you understand!? Friends! Friends that have happened to live together, or vice versa.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with a hoof. “Good gracious, what prompted you to say such things in the first place anyway?”

“Distracting myself from the pain.” Rockwell casually replied. “The method usually works. But now that we’re talking about my wound again, it’s starting to lose its charm. Do me a favor and go to the bathroom, will you? There might be painkillers in the medicine cabinet and hopefully some needles and a spool of thread.” 

“Alright don’t move; I’ll be back shortly,” Octavia said as she jogged to the next room. The camera didn’t follow her and chose to record Rockwell instead. The only sign of her departure was the sound of hoof steps slowly fading away into the other room. 

As the camera focused its shot on Rockwell, a soft snoring sound can be heard coming from him. The camera moved the center of its focus from Rockwell’s face to the wound on his shoulder. The ripped part of the shirt that was used to temporarily seal it did its part. Save from the red stain soaking the fabric, the bleeding has mostly stopped. 

A loud ‘fwoom’ sound suddenly came out from the fireplace. And all of a sudden, everything in the room was lit with a soft orange glow. The camera followed the source of the sound only to find out that for mysterious reasons, the fireplace had an actual working fire. 

This elicited a gasp from the camera mare. She focused the camera on Rockwell again. The stallion didn’t seem to have noticed the rise of warmness in the formerly chilly room. A pink hoof was about to reach out to his shoulder in hopes of rocking him awake but it instead focused on the sound of hoof steps coming from the next room. 

“I’m going upstairs,” Octavia called as she approached the dusty stairs. “There’s only the dining room and kitchen here. And there seems to be a giant hole above the dining room, I can’t say that one’s intentional.”

“Wha-?” Rockwell rose up from the couch. “Oh, you lit the fireplace already? Nice.”

Octavia trotted back to the living room and checked out the newly lit fireplace. “I didn’t do it.” She looked at the camera mare. “Did you?”

“No!” The camera mare quickly answered. There’s a hint of panic and confusion in her voice. 

Octavia tilted her head. “Then who did?”

“I don’t know!” The camera mare’s voice was more frantic than ever. “It just ignited all of a sudden!”

An annoyed sigh escaped from Octavia’s lips. She placed a hoof on her face before replying. “Look, we don’t have time for fun and games right now. There’s a wounded stallion among us and he needs our help. Why don’t you follow me upstairs? Let’s get some medicine for the agent.” 

“But I’m telling you the truth!”

Octavia glared at the mare. “Just come with me please.”

Each step the mares took created creepy creaking noises from the stairs. The same thing happened when they passed through the hallway. No matter how gentle their steps may be, the sound would always be there to give them goosebumps. They were a bit relieved when they reached the master’s bedroom located at the end of the hallway. The room has suffered the same dusty treatment from below; even the queen-sized bed looked like a giant square dough. But at least the wooden floor was not creaky anymore. The camera mare followed Octavia as she went straight to the bathroom. 

“Oh look,” Octavia said in a drab tone as she laid eyes at the medicine cabinet that appeared to have not been opened for years. “I’m assuming it’s either empty or all of its contents are expired.” 

She opened the cabinet’s door with her hoof, revealing to the camera that there’s nothing inside it. “It appears to be the former.” She looked back at the camera. “Let’s go to the other rooms. If we’re certain that this place is totally out of supplies, I’m rushing back home to get our first aid ki-”

The medicine cabinet shook violently, urging Octavia to cut herself off and look back at it. 

“What was that?” Octavia looked back to ask the mare. She attempted to open the cabinet again, only to see it brimming with supplies such as bottles of medicine, shaving kits, toothbrushes, toothpastes, and other things a pony needed to start the day. 

She quickly closed the door, rubbed both her eyes and opened it again. The stack of supplies was still there. She closed the cabinet once more and looked back at the camera again. Her face looked paler than before. 

“Are you seeing this?” She said to the mare. 

The camera itself nodded up and down in response. 

She opened the cabinet again. But this time, slower. The supplies resting inside were still there and appeared to be untouched.  

“This is impossible, are our eyes deceiving us?” Octavia cautiously grabbed a bottle of painkillers from the corner of the cabinet. She looked at the bottle closely. “This is real. It looks real and it feels real. And I could have sworn it was empty a moment ago.” She looked back at the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of disinfectant, a pack of cotton, and a small suturing kit. 

Once she got all that she needed, Octavia stared at the camera again. “I think we should leave this room. It’s getting eerie around here all of a sudden.”

The camera nodded again and once more followed Octavia’s lead. And as they exited the bathroom, they were faced with another unsettling sight. The bedroom that previously looked like a desert of murky white dust was now clean and well lit. Even the bed looked brand new with its freshly changed sheets and glistening wooden frame. 

“Oh, Celestia.” Octavia muttered, fear evident in her voice. “This place really is haunted! Go! Go! Go!” She quickly dashed out of the room on all fours, leaving the medical supplies behind in her panicked escape. The camera followed her as fast it could, although it’s at the cost of its shots happening in rapidly shaking motions during the entire ordeal. 

“I’m going to assume you’re not kidding about the fireplace earlier!” Octavia said to the camera mare as they zoomed through the hallway in no time. 

“No I am not!” Came the camera mare’s reply. 

As the Octavia reached the living room she spent no time leaping on the couch to where Rockwell was resting to immediately wake him up. 

“Agent Rockwell wake up!” Octavia screamed at Rockwell’s face all the while shaking him. “This place is haunted we’re getting out of here!”

Rockwell woke up in extreme pain when Octavia gripped both his shoulders tightly while holding him. “Ha? Haunted? Whaddya mean haunted?” He mumbled, still feeling groggy from his brief nap. 

And out of nowhere the phonograph from before whirred to life without anypony touching it, it played a sharp distorted sound. From the looks of it, the record that it was currently playing was old and broken, adding another layer of fear in an already scary atmosphere. 

“See that!?” Octavia pointed at the phonograph. “Let’s leave this place before they’ll get us!”

As those words escaped Octavia’s lips, the three ponies high wooden door quickly slammed itself shut. A metallic clicking can be heard afterwards, signifying that it locked itself as well. 

“Oh no.” Octavia sounded as if her soul just left her body. “We’re trapped!”

Rockwell gave another groan from the pain that Octavia was causing due to how tight she gripped both his shoulders. He pulled the wounded leg off of her hold. And due to the fear she’s currently experiencing, she didn’t even notice it. 

“Geez.” Rockwell scratched his head, he sounded like he’s not having any of this. It’s like he’s not even scared at all! “Would you relax for a bit?” He trotted slowly from the phonograph and pulled its needle away. The highly unsettling sound finally stopped. “We’re not haunted.” He continued. “I’ve been haunted before and this is not it. A mouse just probably landed on the phonograph or something. It’s purely coincidental.”

“But the door!” Octavia replied, still unconvinced. 

“Aren’t you following the news? It’s the start of the windy season. A strong breeze might have pushed it back into a close. And the force of the impact triggered it to lock itself as well, also a coincidence.”

The chandeliers suddenly lit up, revealing the once old and dusty room now looked as if it had just been renovated recently. Everything was spick-and-span. The windows were free of grime. The floors were so clean that they now act as mirrors. And the chandeliers that looked like giant hives from before were now restored to their original golden forms. The old and abandoned look was no longer there. It was now replaced with a room worthy of hosting high-end parties, a royal ball even.

Octavia went behind Rockwell with the camera mare in tow as if to hide for cover. She pointed at the golden chandeliers now lighting up the room. 

“How about that anomaly!?” She screamed right into Rockwell’s ear. “Can you explain that?”

“Relax,” Rockwell said as he leaned his head away from Octavia, gently rubbing his ear that was screamed at. “The power’s back up. Although I can’t believe that a small town such as Ponyville have buildings that run on elec-”

Rockwell let out a surprisingly uncharacteristic shriek. Octavia did the same, but they’re not looking in the same direction. The camera panned itself to where Octavia was looking. The furniture in the living room levitated upwards. They hovered slowly in the air, switching their bodies left and right as if looking for the right spot to land. The mare holding the camera didn’t scream, but the shivering motion of the camera was proof enough that she too was scared. 

“Do you believe us now!?” Octavia cried right into Rockwell’s ear again. 

Rockwell gave her a funny look. “Believe? That my shirt and jacket disappeared?”

“Wait, you’re not screaming at the furniture floating without the assistance of magic?”

“Whaddya mea-” Rockwell looked above and saw the floating furniture. “Oh that. Yeah, I think we’re dealing with real ghosts here.
> Chapter Five: Cow Says Boo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rockwell and Octavia were now sitting in the dining room, the latter still shaking nervously while the former had a napkin wrapped around his neck and was enthusiastically gripping his knife and fork. Numerous objects were being levitated in the now covered dining table. Candlesticks, ornamental flowers, bottles of condiments and several plates were placed in front of them. 

“See?” Rockwell said while looking at Octavia. “They weren’t moving things around the house to haunt us, they’re just being hospitable!”

Octavia didn’t reply. She didn’t even bother looking at him, still shivering from the fear. Rockwell rolled his eyes at what the mare was doing. 

“Oh grow a spine will you?” He looked above the table, to where the objects were still magically floating without magic. “Hey, you two! Get down here and introduce yourselves! This ought to calm her down.”

Octavia quickly turned to Rockwell, her face paler than before. “Th-there’s two of them!?”

“Since “They’re” is a pronoun and not name, so yeah,”

The panicking mare leaned in close to Rockwell. Both her hooves were gripping at his suit, her eyes bulging to the point of popping out. “How is that supposed to calm me down!?” She whispered loudly to his ears.

Rockwell slowly lowered Octavia’s hooves down and eased her back into her chair. “Just look at their forms, you’re definitely gonna get a kick out of it.” He gave the mare a small and confident smile to give his words proper assurance. 

All the objects floating above the dining room gently set themselves down on the table. Two popping sounds followed after, revealing two glowing white figures hovering above the ponies. The one on the left was a unicorn mare with a purple mane. While the other one was blue-haired pegasus stallion. He looked like an angel with his wings opened wide. Only their upper bodies signified that they were once ponies. Their lower parts where the hind legs were supposed to be were replaced with an apparitional tail. 

“I-I see what you mean,” Octavia said. There’s less nervousness in her voice now.

“I apologize for not showing ourselves sooner.” The pegasus ghost said. “It’s just that it’s been a while since we had guests come over in the manor. Oh!”

The camera suddenly centered its shot to the flinching Octavia, then back to the ghost.

“Where are my manners?” The pegasus continued. “I’m Cirrus Skies. And the mare next to me is Violet Garden.” The ghost mare greeted the two ponies with a courteous nod. 

“My name’s Agent Rockwell of the BoS. And this mare right here is Octavia Melody. We also have a camera crew. It’d be best if you don’t mind them.”

“Oh, okay,” Cirrus replied. “How about we move on to dinner then?” He gestured Violet Garden to start moving the dishes again. 

“Yes please!” Rockwell exclaimed. 

Once everything has been properly set, Octavia had her stares bouncing between Rockwell and the Ghosts before timidly raising the metallic bowl covering the dish served for her. It appeared to be empty, leaving a look of confusion on the mare. She leaned close to Rockwell again, about to whisper something. The camera leaned closer as well to hear what she’s about to say.

“There’s nothing in here,” Octavia said, now doing a proper whisper. 

“Of course there’s nothing in there,” Rockwell replied matter-of-factly. “You have to ask them what you want first.” Rockwell hummed in contemplation as if he was deciding which food he’s going to pick in a menu. 

“Can I have a dozen spring rolls please?” He finally answered. “Deep-fried, about half the size of my hoof and filled to the brim with homegrown vegetables?”

Cirrus nodded in acknowledgment and gestured a spectral hoof at Rockwell’s plate. The steam then started coming out from the metallic bowl and it started to smell of something thoroughly fried in oil. Rockwell opened up his dish and saw the exact thing that he just ordered. A dozen deeply fried spring rolls about half the size of Rockwell’s hoof were carefully stacked into a small pyramid on his plate. 

“Dinner is served.”

“Neat!” Rockwell said while gently blowing the rolls before picking them up.

Octavia leaned to Rockwell once again. “How are they able to do things such as this?”

“Don’t ask me,” Rockwell replied with partially chewed food in his mouth. “Ask them. I just keep things secret here, not explain them.”

Octavia looked at the ghost ponies, her face begging for an answer. Their reactions were the same as Rockwell’s. “We don’t either, we just do,” Cirrus said. “So what can I get you?”

“Oh. Um,” Octavia paused for a moment. “I’ll just have what the agent’s having, I guess.” She said with her hooves gingerly hitting each other. 

Cirrus then looked at the mare beyond the camera. “What about you? Same same?”

“I’ll have fried ice cream please.”

---

“So Cirrus,” Rockwell said, now on his last three spring rolls. “How long have you guys been staying here?”

“Around a couple of years, I think,” Cirrus replied. He and violet were sitting on the seats in parallel to their guests now. “Violet was the first one to occupy the manor. I just arrived a few years later.”

“Funny.” Rockwell placed a half-eaten roll back to his plate. “Because the mayor didn’t mention you at all.”

The camera suddenly focused its shot on Violet, who just conjured something with her hoof. It appeared to be an Ouija board and a shot glass. She positioned the board to face Cirrus while navigating the glass from letter to letter. 

“The ghost mare.” Octavia pointed out with her spring roll. “She’s trying to tell us something.”

“A Ouija board? Really?” Rockwell said, his tone condescending. “Ghosts nowadays just use chalk and miniaturized blackboards.”

After interpreting what Violet was saying using in her board, Cirrus looked back at the two ponies to finally relay what she was saying. “Violet said that there’s a good reason behind that. Also, chalk runs out easily and dirties up the floor.”

Once Cirrus has finished saying the last line, Violet gave Rockwell a stern glare while tilting her head. 

“If it’s not too personal,” Octavia looked at Cirrus while partly raising a hoof. “Can I ask why she’s using an Ouija board instead of talking to us directly?”

Rockwell looked at the camera with a knowing smile, as if he’s about to break something. “Aren’t you glad we brought an everymare here with us?” He turned back again to look at Cirrus. “Tell her C.”

“So uh,” Cirrus looked up the ceiling while scratching his ghostly chin as if to gather his thoughts. “Ghosts who just materialized recently usually take a while to redevelop their speech back so they mostly resort to talking through other means of communications such as Ouija boards and whatnot.”

“How long does it take to develop your speech back?” Octavia added. 

“A couple of decades, I guess,” Cirrus answered. “We’re already dead so we don’t really bother keeping count.” Violet silently nodded to what Cirrus was saying, implying that she agreed as well. 

“I have another question if you don’t mind.” Octavia shyly asked this time. “Do you know the reason why you materialized?”

“Ah yes.” Cirrus’ tone sounded more certain on this one like he knows the answer to the question. “We ghosts do tend to return to the corporeal realm due to some unfinished business. And once those businesses get finished, only then will our souls find peace and transcend into the ethereal realm. I don’t mean anything on this but we’d rather not tell the reason of why we’re still here save for the BoS agents helping us with our cases.”

“Oh!” Octavia’s ears perked. “Of course, of course. I’m sorry.”

“Which reminds me,” Rockwell joined in, now sitting in front of a clean platter. “Who’s the agent assigned to you again?”

“That would be Agent Storm,” Cirrus replied. “I had him handle both our cases.”

“Storm?” Rockwell hummed approvingly. “Good fellow. A bit stoic, but he’s a great agent. He’ll definitely solve your cases in no time.” 

Rockwell’s attention was diverted to Octavia’s direction. The camera focused on the direction Rockwell was staring at and was presented with an Octavia donning a large smile carved on her face. 

“What’s up with that dumb smile?” Rockwell said to her. 

Octavia became aware of what she was doing and turned scarlet. She quickly turned away to hide her blush. “I do apologize.” She turned back again, fur back to her normal shade of grey. “The realization just struck me just now. But I can’t believe that I’m actually conversing with a real ghost!” She squeed at the end of her line. 

“Says the mare who’s dating a vampire.” Rockwell teased.

Octavia slammed a hoof on the table. “We’re just friends!”

“Anyway...” Rockwell looked back to the ghosts. “Back to the question that got us here. Why isn’t the mayor aware you’re here again?”

In response to Rockwell’s question, Violet quickly moved the shot glass around her board again. 

“Like I said, this is Violet speaking by the way.” Cirrus clarified. “Violet stumbled upon this manor four years ago. And that also happened to be Inkwell’s first term as mayor. And when she came to inspect the place, Violet did all her best to welcome her. So she tidied up the place just like she did moments ago.”

Octavia winced slightly. “Honestly, I don’t see that turning out well for her.”

“It didn’t,” Cirrus said, confirming her comment. “And just like you, the mayor thought that Violet here was a ponetergeist trying to haunt her and ended up running away for dear life. And because Violet hasn’t gotten back her voice yet, she can’t really explain herself to the mayor properly. Because of that incident, she hasn’t visited the manor since. But it’s not all that bad really. At least nopony was bothering us here. Fast forward a few years later, I arrived and registered her to the Bureau’s Spectral records, had the same agent handle both our cases and here we are, living peacefully since.”

Rockwell gave out a contemplative hum before speaking. “That justifies most of it, I guess. But why would the mayor bother sending ponies here now? Octavia’s home has room for me to stay in, I’m pretty sure the local inn has a lot to spare too. Why send me in this building specifically when she knows that there are ghosts occupying the place?”

“You’re making it sound like she’s hiding something from you.” Octavia retorted. “What if she just assumed that the ghosts already left a long time ago? And she thought that manor has better accommodations than all of Ponyville has to offer?”

“Even Princess Twilight’s castle?” Rockwell shot back, accompanying his reply with a playful smirk.

“She doesn’t have that kind of authority.”

“But what if I wanted to sleep in the Princess’ castle?”

“But she doesn’t have the kind of authority,” Octavia repeated. Her ears twitched. She’s starting to look annoyed.

“Well yeah. But I really wanted to sleep there.”

Octavia took a deep breath before responding. “As I said before, she doesn’t have tha-”

“Why are you defending her anyway?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Rockwell playfully bit a piece of roll. His eyes still lingered on her while doing so. He appeared to enjoy getting a rise out of the mare. “She insulted your house earlier. I like to take it as a hint on what her opinion is to the local populace. Surely you must at least have taken offense from what she said.”

“Don’t act childish, Agent Rockwell. I prefer my judgments to be morally unbia-AHH!”

Octavia suddenly cried out of fright while looking up above the ceiling, exactly to where the hole in the roof was. The camera focused its shot on where she was staring, only to get briefly blinded by a white flash of light. A large crashing sound then followed after. It landed on the dining table, ruining everything that was placed on it.

“My Goddesses!” Octavia shouted. She can’t be seen by the camera due to a large cloud of dust that covered all four corners of the screen.

“My spring rolls!” Rockwell exclaimed, following suit. A pained mooing sound came from the ruined table as if to reply to their shouting. Once the smoke finally cleared, a brown cow was lying on the shattered pieces of wood that were once the dining table. It didn’t move, probably knocked out from a fall that high. 

“What in Celestia’s (beeping) flank just happened here!” Rockwell said to nopony as he dusted his suit off. 

“I’m really sorry about this, Agent Rockwell. The aliens in Everfree tend to do this kind of thing to us from time to time.”

Octavia looked at Rockwell as if asking for confirmation. “Aliens!? In Everfree!?”

“They drop cows on our roof at random intervals,” Cirrus added. “I think they’re playing some kind of prank on us.”

“Wait, that’s illegal,” Rockwell said as he pulled out a cigarette stick from his jacket and lit it. He took a generous huff from the stick and let out a puff of smoke. “Goddesses, I may have to talk with the agents in charge of the landing site there.” He takes another huff again. “What a pain.” 

“You have a what in the Everfree forest!?” Octavia trotted closer to Rockwell. “How is it that we, the citizens of Ponyville were not aware of this?”

“We’re the Bureau of Secrecies,” Rockwell said casually while looking at the two ghosts levitating the unconscious out the manor. “It’s what we do. We’re literally everything and nothing at the same time.”

He quickly turned around to look at Octavia, as if he was reminded something through her face. “Speaking of secrets,” Rockwell pulled out his vanisher ward and showed it to her. “Here, I want you to see this. It’s a funny little device called the vanisher ward. It’s supposed to erase a specific memory out of somepony’s mind by flashing this gem right at their faces. Earlier versions of these needed the user to whack the stick to their targets’ heads to achieve full effect. Whether or not the memory was wiped out because of the spell or because of the sheer strength of the blow is still debated by scientists to this day.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes on the metal rod that Rockwell was holding while slowly backing away from him. “You’re not planning to use that on me, are you?”

“Oh, I will.” Rockwell's response was quick, opting for Octavia to do a nervous gulp. “In due time but not right now, not when I’m still in town. You’re so fun to be around that I can’t just get rid of you that quickly. My work here would feel a lot longer if I did.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Octavia replied, confusion evident in her voice.

“Okay!” Rockwell clapped his hooves. “Pack up your things, thank the ghosts for dinner, we’re heading out!”

But as soon as Rockwell took a huge stride from his foreleg a rather obvious sound of bones cracking ceased him from continuing his enthusiastic strut. He groaned from the pain while gently caressing his back. “After a brief power nap. We’re leaving after a brief power nap.”

Octavia stared at Rockwell with a worried expression. “Can’t we just wait for tomorrow to go there?”

“No time.” Rockwell slowly trotted to the direction the ghosts have gone to. “They might leave the planet soon. And we can’t have that now, can we? Hey Cirrus? Do you mind if I use one of your bedrooms?”

“It felt very weird to hear you say something like that,” Octavia said. “How can you make something so big seem so small?”

Rockwell chuckled softly before replying.

“That’s what she said.”
> Chapter Six: Timber
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The camera mare followed Rockwell and Octavia as they slowly trotted through the beaten path leading to Everfree Forest. Both ponies appeared to move a bit sloppy, probably due to their brief nap from the mansion before setting out for the landing site. 

“Those have got to be the softest beds I’ve ever laid my back on.” Rockwell said as he stretched his body while walking. He gave a satisfied sigh every time his body made a cracking sound from his stretching. “I would’ve loved to stay there for a while but ten minutes will do for now.”

“So what are aliens doing here anyway?” Octavia asked, ignoring Rockwell’s previous comment.

“Exploring, mostly.” Rockwell replied while twisting his shoulders. They made a soft cracking sound in every twist he made. “They’re the new sailors of the space age, discovering new planets in their interstellar voyages. It just happened that our planet was one of the ones they discovered first.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes at the agent. “They’re not here to invade us, are they?”

Rockwell has now ceased his stretching and continued to trot properly. “Well contrary to popular belief, most aliens we encounter here are as diplomatic as they come. It’s either their societies are so advanced to they’re above from committing such primitive urges or they just don’t want to provoke our leader here who literally harnesses the power of this system’s sun. I’m guessing it’s the latter but the result’s still the same which way you go.”

“So what are they really doing here in Equestria?” 

“As long as it doesn’t violate our non-interference policies, they’re allowed to quietly study us from afar. But it’s also at the cost of trading some of their knowledge to us. We don’t have much appeal to them in terms of technology so they’re more likely to study our biologies, anatomies, physiologies, and other science-y stuff like that instead. They did express an interest in our capability to do magic though. But Celestia is so protective of that stuff that the only info they’re getting out of is nothing but a single salt lick of the real thing.”

“Why?” Octavia tilted her head, unable to notice the small cottage that they just passed. “Don’t they have any?”

“Nope.” Rockwell replied quickly. “Which is the main reason on why they have such advanced technology. Unlike us, they don’t have magic to lean on to so they’ll have to resort to other means. Which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Some of the stuff that we confiscated from the more ‘rowdy’ ones are so useful that they have integrated themselves smoothly into society. Take your toaster for instance; never in my whole life would I think that slightly burnt bread would taste so good. But these guys did it, and now we have it.”

“So what alien race did you confiscate the toaster from?” Octavia’s voice sounded like it’s oozing with wonder and curiosity.

“That’s a secret.” was Rockwell’s reply, which left the mare looking annoyed and frustrated.

The group were now standing at the entrance of the forest. The camera focused its shot right on the thickness of the woods. Varying shapes of trees and shrubs filled the forest. Some appeared to form the shape of a spiral while some glowed softly in the dark. But the light from these plants was not enough light up this large and mysterious forest. There are certain parts of it due to the way the trees were positioned made them look like giant maws gaped wide, awaiting for the next victim to unwittingly enter into it.

The camera proceeded to center its shot to Rockwell and Octavia, with the latter giving the agent a worried look.

“Ah, Everfree Forest.” Rockwell declared after taking a deep breath. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. Good to see nothing’s changed.”

“You’re not expecting us to go in without a plan now, are you?” Octavia’s tone matched the look on her face. 

“Of course not. Don’t be silly.” Rockwell said reassuringly. “My methods may be brash but they’re not suicidal.” He pulled out his dragonflare as well as his pen and a blank scroll. He scribbled a few words on the scroll before rolling it and shoved it into the flare gun’s compartment.

“Because you see,” Rockwell glanced briefly at the now curious Octavia before he continued what he’s doing. “Every BoS field agent is issued with a map that allows them to navigate through dangerous Bureau zones safely. And that includes Everfree. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my map with me right now since I’m not expecting to go here in the first place, so I’m just going to message the agents stationed there to provide me a guide to through this maze of anomalies.”

Rockwell raised the gun upwards and pulled the trigger. Green fire flew off the barrel and swiftly flew into the forest’s skies. The camera tailed its movement until it no longer can be seen. Its show then went back to Rockwell who was looking at the flare as well. 

“I think we should build a campfire while we wait.” Rockwell said as he turned around to face Octavia and the camera. “You know, just in case.”

“Good idea.” Octavia replied. “It is starting to feel a bit cold around here.”

The two ponies silently split up as they gathered some twigs and branches from the forest’s ground to use as wood for the campfire. Once they’ve found enough, they gathered around and joined them all together, while leaving some to use for later. Rockwell pulled out his lighter and picked up some dried grass from the ground. He lit them up and placed them at the center of the pile of twigs and branches. He blew on the smoking grass gently until a small fire raged forth to life. The agent stepped back after and joined the two mares as they sat quietly in front of the crackling fire.   

It took a while before somepony said something, as they were all busy savouring the warmth of the campfire to themselves. 

“So...” Octavia began. 

Rockwell looked back at Octavia, breaking off from his trance. “So what?”

“What are your thoughts regarding our current situation?”

“Oh.” Rockwell replied, his tone indifferent. “I think some marshmallows would’ve been great right now.”

“Seriously?” Octavia seemed offended at Rockwell’s response. “After all we’ve been through tonight that’s the only thing you can think of?” She stood up in an attempt to add more effect to her words. “Marshmallows?”

“Wait,” Rockwell scratched his head in confusion. “What did we go through?”

“In one night, we got secret organizations, thrown in the middle of a race war between supernatural races, haunted by ghosts in a seemingly abandoned mansion, and became targets of an extraterrestrial practical joke.” Octavia’s voice sounded like it’s about to lose its composure any second now. “Doesn’t that overwhelm you? Even in the slightest?”

“Nah.” Rockwell shrugged. “For me that’s just Tuesday. But it must be one heck of a Tuesday for you, huh?” He grinned.

Octavia sat back down. A hoof rested on her forehead while slowly shaking it in disbelief. 

“Apparently.” She said matter-of-factly. 

“Stay with us a bit longer and you’ll definitely see more.” Rockwell quipped.

“Good grief how do you keep calm during all of this?” Octavia looked back at Rockwell with questioning eyes.

“I’m guessing you were just hit by it now, huh?” Rockwell said. His grin still remained. “This sudden realization, about how big the world really is? And the fact that you seem so small that you don’t think you really matter anymore?”

Octavia raised a hoof in an attempt to silence the agent. “Please, don’t make this worse for me. The way you speak about those things casually since the moment I’ve met you must have numbed me from really truly grasping it. But now that we’re here, sitting on this campfire silently has allowed me to do a bit of self-reflecting. And in doing so it just hit me. It’s like what you said. I do feel quite small right now. It’s like my status as a well known musician both here and Canterlot has faded away like writings on sand. How do you cope with this? Is there a way to get a semblance of my significance back?”

It took a while for Rockwell to respond to Octavia’s question. His formerly stoic face has now begun to slowly contort into one full of wrinkles. He looked like he’s desperately trying to hold in his laughter. And apparently that’s what he was doing. 

“You should hear yourself, right now.” Rockwell’s face was now starting to turn red. A bit of a snicker here and there would escape his mouth. This annoyed the heck out of Octavia. 

“Is there a way to get a semblance of my significance back?” Rockwell said while doing a bad impression of mare’s posh accent. “Oh boy...I’ve seen a lot of ponies breaking down from an existential crisis...but yours just took the cake! It’s so flowery, so robust, so bucking hilarious!”

That was the point where Rockwell let everything out. He laughed so much to the point that he’s now tearing up and pressing his sides. Octavia could only huff and look away, trying to hide her annoyed blush from the agent after he did an impression of her. 

“Well?” Octavia replied, making her frustration evident. “Is there?”

“Of course not.” Without any transition at all, Rockwell’s violent laughing fit instantly switched back to his formerly stoic self. This took Octavia by surprise, perking her ears in the process. “You’ll just have to deal with the fact you’re nothing but a worthless piece of cow dung that won’t matter in the long run. But still,” He gave a small snort. “Pretty funny stuff though, what you did that is.”

Octavia pouted and crossed her forelegs. “At least my suffering can be used for the amusement of others.”

“Oh you’re a riot girl!” Rockwell gave Octavia a soft slap on the shoulder. “Remind me to poke fun at you later. Because laughter is the best medicine and all that jazz, and I still have some aches that I need walk off of so, yeah.”

“Well considering your nihilistic outlook on life, is that the reason why your methods are so carefree that they may as well be described as ‘childish?’” Octavia shot back while giving Rockwell a sharp look.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it as ‘childish.’” Rockwell replied defensively.

“So far as I can tell, it is.” 

“To you, maybe.” Rockwell shrugged. “But on a regular workday, I’m as normal as the agent standing next to me. But there are also times when I meet someponies that I just can’t help but make fun of.”

“And I’m assuming I’m one of those ponies?” Octavia replied, sounding unimpressed.

“Oh you’re in the list alright.”

“I see.” Octavia said her tone now sarcastic. “But look, can’t you take this mission a tad seriously? At least for now? Vinyl’s livelihood and mine is at stake here.”

“At stake.” Rockwell giggled. “Because she’s a vampire. Good one.”

Octavia slammed a hoof on her face, probably regretting what she just said. The camera mare on the other hoof, let out a small laugh from her Rockwell’s observation. “Okay, okay, I’ll try.” Rockwell assured Octavia. He straightened himself up in an exaggerated manner. He hardened his stoic face even more, making his features look like a parody of himself. He then looked at Octavia. “This is my serious face, see?”

Octavia doesn’t look entirely convinced at the agent’s antics. But it did elicit another giggle from the camera mare. Rockwell took notice of it, as he was now staring beyond the camera, right at the mare holding it.

“You like it huh?” Rockwell said to the unseen mare. He then proceeded to stiffen up his face more, making the girl laugh harder. Octavia can only give the two a disapproving look as they continued fooling around the campfire.

After Rockwell was done making his ‘serious faces,’ the group turned silent once more. A moment passed without the group making any sound, save for the crackling fire and the occasional howling of wind. Probably to entertain himself, Rockwell pulled out his glasses and wore them as he continued to stare into the fire. The camera focused its shot on the agent’s glasses, thoroughly recording reflection of the dancing fire on lenses’ dark surfaces. 

Octavia was about to toss another branch into the fire when Rockwell suddenly stood up. He placed his glasses back to his jacket while looking at the forest’s entrance. 

“Alright.” Rockwell said as he looked back to the group. “I’ve waited long enough, I’m going in.”

“Wait, what about the directions?” Octavia reminded the agent.

“They’ll come eventually. Right now we’ll just have to depend on my memory. I think I still remember most of the way to the site.”

“You think?” 

“You can depend on this guy right here.” Rockwell said as he tapped his right temple with a hoof. “Added with a little bit of instinct in the mix, this thing saved me once when I got stranded on an island. Well, there also happened to be a merchant’s supply stash lying around the beach but that doesn’t count.”

“But what did you even do to end up in an island in the first place anyway?”

“Funny story.” Rockwell turned around to face Octavia. He walked backwards to match her pace despite not seeing where he’s headed. “So here I was reasoning with this eldritch abomi-”

The group suddenly stopped moving when they heard a growling sound nearby. Rockwell turned around again to see the source of the noise. Just a couple steps from where they were appeared a large shadowy figure walking in all fours. With every step the creature took, the sound of the growling became louder as well. 

As it got closer to Rockwell, the figure left the refuge of the forest’s shadows and headed into an open space where Luna’s moon can illuminate it properly. It revealed to be a timber wolf. And its hungry eyes were dead set on the group. 

“You know what?” Rockwell said, his voice still calm. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”

“Yes, you should.” Octavia replied, her voice now trembling with fear. “I also think that we should start running now.”

“Yeah. Lets.” And with that Octavia ran as fast as she could. Although the camera stayed behind Rockwell who picked a rock from the ground and forcefully threw it at the timber wolf’s limb. The rock precisely landed at the wolf’s joint, forcing the creature to kneel down all of a sudden. Seeing that as a signal to flee, Rockwell ran off as well with the camera mare not far behind him.

It didn’t take long for Rockwell to catch up with Octavia. The musician was already panting heavily even though her running hasn’t even reached the minute mark. The agent on the other hand, despite having his legs looking like a blur due to how fast he’s moving, looked like he was just taking a casual afternoon stroll. 

“Let’s all go back to the campfire.” Rockwell said calmly to the group. He sounded like he’s not even running at high speed right now. “We haven’t doused that yet, have we?”

“Apologies!” Octavia exclaimed. “That one was on me!”

“No, no, no. You’re fine. This is exactly how I wanted this to go down.”

All three ponies backtracked hard to where they came. And it only took them a couple of moments to reach the forest’s entrance. The same can be said with the timber wolf chasing them, which was aggressively grunting and panting while hunting them down the entire time.

“Miss melody, grab me a stick.” Rockwell said as they stepped hoof outside the forest. The campfire was still there burning softly and fortunately didn’t spread to engulf the nearby plants in an accidental fire.

“What?!” Octavia cried back in panicked confusion.

“A stick.” Rockwell said as he ceased his running, and turned to face the charging timber wolf. “A burning one, from the campfire.”

“Ohh!” Octavia cried again once the realization struck her. “On it!” She rushed straight to the campfire. But the camera stayed behind and focused its shot on Rockwell instead.

As the camera centered its shot on the agent, he stood on his hind legs and attempted to move his now free forelegs in a position where it would supposedly catch the fast moving wolf. As the beast leapt up to attack Rockwell, with its claws unsheathed to tear the agent into shreds, Rockwell quickly moved himself towards the wolf’s head, away from its sharp claws.

Rockwell now has the timber wolf’s head in the grasps of his hooves. With a tight hold around the neck, he turned the beast temporarily immobile, save for a few futile attempts at clawing at him.

But the timber wolf was having none of it. Like Rockwell, it too stood on its hind legs. Due to its strength and body size, lifting Rockwell up above seemed like an easy task for the wolf. It then attempted to strongly jerk its head backwards in hopes to get the agent to let go his grip on its neck. 

But Rockwell already knew what’s going to happen once the beast made that move on him. So what he did next was that he went with the flow of the wolf’s jerking motion to carry him smoothly towards its back, making him mount it as a result. Once he got on the wolf’s backside he hugged its neck tightly to avoid being tossed by the now frantically hopping timber wolf. 

While he dearly held on for his dear life, Rockwell also managed to pluck out some pieces of wood from the wolf’s nape, making a small hole as he continued doing so. 

“How’s that fire stick coming along!?” Rockwell called to Octavia. His voice was now fluctuating in tone due to being rodeod hard by the wolf.

“Give me a moment!” Octavia screamed off camera. “Most of the firewood has burned to the point of it being hard to hold onto so I’m burning a new one!”

Rockwell turned to look at the camera specifically. Despite being tossed hard like a salad, his expression still remained calm and collected. “Yeah I don’t think I can hold this much longer.”

The wolf now realizing that its continued hopping to keep the agent off its back was too a futile attempt, finally ceased its moving. A sigh of relief can be heard from Rockwell once it did. But this brief moment of reprieve was swiftly switched back into a heart pumping moment when the wolf decided to lie down on the ground, and then roll over. If it cannot get the agent off of it, then it might just as well crush the agent with its weight. That’s what the wolf probably thought when proceeding to do such action.

But before he could get squashed by the giant pile of sticks in canine form, Rockwell decided to let go of the timber wolf and stepped back away from it as far as possible. 

Once the agent got off its back, the timber wolf quickly got up and opted for another swift charge at the agent, not giving him the chance to stand on his hind legs this time. Rockwell, who was just seconds away from becoming a lace of flesh and blood, decided to throw his jacket at the wolf’s eye blinding it for a short amount of time so he can get away from it. 

Annoyed by the black veil covering its vision, the wolf violently tore Rockwell’s jacket into shreds. All the items that he kept in there have been tossed around in all directions.  

“Aww.” Rockwell said as he looked at what remained of his jacket. “I just got that fixed.”

The wolf charged at Rockwell once again, still the taking the opportunity of him not standing on his hind legs. 

“Agent Rockwell! Catch!” Octavia’s voice can be heard off camera again. 

Rockwell looked at the direction of where her voice came from, along with it was a long branch that was burning halfway through its body and was flying towards him. He caught the burning branch just in time before the wolf could get to him. In one swift motion, Rockwell shoved the burning end of the branch straight to the timber wolf’s right eye.

The wolf howled in excruciating pain. It immediately recoiled away from the agent. But Rockwell gave it no mercy and dashed towards the hurting beast and stabbed the burning branch into its other eye. Before the timber wolf could go into a frenzied state due to the pain it was experiencing, Rockwell hurried climbed on it and mounted it again. 

Once he was properly seated on the wolf’s backside, Rockwell dipped the branch into the hole he made on the wolf’s nape a moment ago. He then blew on it gently until a raging fire burst forth inside the beast’s body. He then jumped down from the squirming timber wolf, leaving the burning branch still lodged inside its body. 

The camera centered the shot on the suffering creature as it writhed, clawed, flailed, and howled in pain from being burned inside out. It took a couple of seconds before the timber wolf’s actions slowed down. And once it did, it let out a weak whimper, its last breath before accepting its fate as an eventual pile of cinder.

All the ponies who witnessed the wolf’s death stood silent as they watch the last of its embers die out. The camera panned towards Octavia, whose eyes were as wide as saucers. It switched to the agent who was standing perfectly still. His eyes still focused on the now ashen timber wolf. 

“Third fight...this day.” He said as he lied down to the ground, and gave out a long groan once his back touched the dirt.

The camera switched back to recording Octavia again, who was now trying to look for the items that Rockwell’s jacket dropped after it was torn apart by the wolf. It didn’t take her long to find Rockwell’s stuff: his glasses, his glasses, his vanisher ward, his dragonflare, his lighter, his pen and folder, and some blank scrolls. One item in particular caught Octavia’s attention. 

It was the agent’s wallet. It was spread open when it dropped to the ground. And when Octavia picked it up, its contents was revealed to her. There were two things that stood out in the agent’s wallet, and those were his BoS badge and a picture of a mare that looked resembled Octavia. The only thing different from them was that the mare in the picture had Rockwell’s colors: a black mane and a tan coat. While Octavia’s eyes still lingered on the picture, the camera mare can’t help but pan the shot from Octavia to the picture as if comparing them. 

A bolt of green fire suddenly found its way to the flare gun, startling the two mares. The camera mare jumped out in surprise while Octavia was now juggling the agent’s items on her hooves. 

“I take it the directions are here?” Rockwell said as he got up snappily from the ground. He dusted off his white shirt before trotting towards Octavia. “Ah, my effects! Thank you for picking them up. My jacket may be gone forever, but at least they’re still intact.”

As Rockwell got closer, he noticed that Octavia was holding his now open wallet. Whatever dumb smile he may be wearing before has now faded down to an awkward blank face. The camera slowly zoomed in on both their faces, capturing all the tension that might have built up from this rather awkward situation. 

The two ponies didn’t say anything to each other. They just looked at them like they have caught themselves trying to put their hooves into the same cookie jar. 

“Ca-Can I uh, ahem.” Rockwell started, trying to break the silence between them. “Can I have them back now? Please?” He flashed Octavia a very plastic smile.

“Oh!” Octavia said as she shook herself back to reality. “Sorry, you caught me in a daze. Here you go.” She then hoofed all Rockwell’s items back to him. Once he got all his effects back, Rockwell wasted no time in shoving the wallet into his back pocket as if it was the most secret place in Equis. Once he placed all of his items in their respective pockets, Rockwell turned around and started walking back to the forest. 

“Now that we have the directions, I think we should start moving now.” He declared, attempting to change the topic.

“Well yes, yes of course!” Octavia said as she tailed the agent. “To the landing site, I believe.”

Rockwell scratched his head before responding. “Uh, yeah.”

The group now proceeded to head back into the Everfree forest. Their trot was slow and casual, as if nothing dangerous has ever happened to them a couple minutes ago. 

“Um, Agent Rockwell?” Octavia asked. She looked back at the camera with a dumb smile on her face. 

“Oh Celestia.” Rockwell mumbled. “What now?”

“If you don’t mind me asking, who was that mare in your wallet?”

The agent gave out a long sigh before answering.

“That’s a secret.”
> Chapter Seven: A Stone's Throw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“If I may put it bluntly Agent Rockwell,” Octavia said as the group continued their trotting in the middle of Everfree Forest. “What you did with that Ancient was rather...imbecilic.”

“I know right?” Rockwell agreed. “And all I got as punishment was to be stranded on an island for the rest of my life.”

“So pray tell, how did you get yourself out of there?”

“Oh nothing special really.” Rockwell shrugged. “With the use of my mane as rope and with the help of my bony shelled reptilian friends, I managed to rein myself away from the now rum-less island and back to civilization.”

Octavia looked a little bit confused with Rockwell’s answer, like a filly trying to solve a math problem in her mind. “Bony shelled repti-you mean turtles? Turtles, you used to turtles escape the island?”

“Something like that.” Rockwell replied while looking at the ground they were standing on. It appeared to be a withered flower field. 

“Surely you jest.” Octavia said, sounding unconvinced.

“No I’m not.”

“There’s no way you could have gotten away from that island with that method.” Octavia argued, “And I am quite sure you are once again hiding the real ending in that gripping tale of yours. Because there is no way that could have ended in a bizarre convenience.”

Rockwell was about to reply but Octavia shut him up quickly. “And no, I don’t want to hear another ‘that’s a secret’ from you today.”

“Okay, then.” Rockwell gave her a smile. “You want to know the truth?” The mare nodded fiercely, eager to hear his answer.

“I’m afraid that’s classified information.” He said before he started laughing. Octavia made her frustrated groan known to Rockwell by expressing it loudly. 

They continued making their own personal noises until it was abruptly halted when the sound of probably a hundred wings flapping together took them by surprise. 

Everypony in the group was silent as they sound went on. They stood still, heads raised up as they tried to see the bats responsible for making such noise. The camera panned on the direction they were looking. Unfortunately, the bats flying over them flew above the canopy of the forest, thus making them impossible to see from the onlookers below. 

“That’s a lot of bats.” Rockwell commented as they started moving again.

“Well it is night time after all.” Octavia replied. 

“Let’s not get close to them after they had dinner.” Rockwell said as he worriedly looked at the direction where the sound was heading. “I don’t want guano raining down on me. My shirt’s white enough as it is.”

“You mean breakfast.” Octavia corrected.

“You guys eat guano for breakfast?” Rockwell said as he smiled at Octavia.

“What!?” Octavia’s tone sounded like she was accused of a crime she didn’t commit. “No! What I mean is-”

“Yeah yeah, I know.” Rockwell chuckled. “I’m just messing with you.”

Octavia could only shake her head in response to the agent’s incessant quipping.

Rockwell suddenly stopped from his trotting. The group followed shortly, wondering what’s keeping him from moving. He looked at the vast patch of empty space in front of them for a moment before looking back at Octavia and the camera mare. 

“We’re here.” He announced.

Octavia walked towards Rockwell and stopped when she was standing beside him. She too, looked at the empty space for a brief moment before talking to the agent. 

“Well ‘here’ looks really empty, Agent Rockwell.” Her voice sounded too cheeky even for her.

“Empty?” Rockwell looked at Octavia with a face that strongly says ‘you don’t say?’ “It’s probably the invisibility field.” 

“Invisibility field?” Octavia was now visibly confused.

Rockwell pulled out his dragonflare and quickly fired it upwards. The stream of fire coming from the flare gun flew straight above the empty space. And instead of flying continuously up the air like it was supposed to, the stream went through into an invisible wall like a drop of water in a small pond. Its entrance created a small rippling effect. But like the stream, it also disappeared a few seconds later. 

Octavia rubbed her eyes in a cartoonish way. She looked at the agent for an explanation on what just happened but he just stood there silently, probably letting the things to explain it themselves for a change. When she looked back, the now visible invisible field lowered itself. The field looked a like a half dome that was cut in half as it opened. Its ‘sliced’ parts slid downwards in a sideways manner. 

As the field lowered halfway done, it revealed a towering structure that was chrome-like in color. Its design looked nothing alike from Equestria’s contemporary architecture. Its conical shape along with the shiny exterior made it look futuristic to say the least. 

As the invisibility field finally lowered itself to the ground, Octavia can’t help but notice two things. The first one was the wide field of Poison Joke flowers surrounding the tower, acting like a moat of some sort. The second one was the two timber wolves growling angrily at the group. The camera could tell that she was more worried about the latter. 

“Um, Agent Rockwell?” Octavia called out to the agent beside her. The wolves were now scratching their paws on the ground, gearing for an attack.

And not a second later the beasts charged at them.

“Rockwell!?” Octavia once more called out the agent’s name but now with the volume raised. Despite her cry the agent just stood still as the two beasts rushed towards them. The musician was now shrieking her heart out while holding Rockwell’s right foreleg tightly to her chest.

As the wolves’ claws were just inches away from ripping the two ponies to shreds, a sharp whistling sound can be heard coming from the tower, this made the timber wolves stop what they were currently doing and calmly walked back to their posts like nothing happened. 

Again, Octavia looked confused as the situation unfolded before them. Her eyes were wandering in all directions while her chest was rising up and down fast. If it weren’t for the chirping sounds of the bugs scurrying in the grass, the camera could probably record the sound of her rapidly beating heart. The agent on the other hoof, still remained stoic as always. He gently gestured for the mare to let go of his foreleg and proceeded to take a step forward. 

“Nice try guys!” Rockwell declared in the most sarcastic tone possible. “I almost pissed my pants.”

“What?” Octavia said as she attempted to get rid of a humiliated blush quickly by rubbing her cheeks. “What in Celestia’s name just happened here?” She whispered under her breath.

A loud whirring sound came from the tower. Octavia turned her head to the direction where the sound was coming from. The tower’s door appeared to be a long metallic plank as it partially detached itself from the main body, lowering itself slowly to the ground. Due to its long length it also acted as a drawbridge to help ponies cross the thick moat of Poison Jokes.

Two silhouetted figures can be seen standing at the tower’s doorstep. The light inside the tower shone a bright white shine. The two silhouettes looked like they were standing on a giant letter ‘I.’ Once the door has finally hit the ground and now deemed safe for anypony to cross, the two figures proceeded to move forward, revealing them to be BoS agents, apparently. The one on the left was a pegasus with spiky red mane. And on the right was a unicorn with a well combed cyan mane.

“If it isn’t Rocket and Foxtrot!” Rockwell greeted the two agents. “Now I know why I was craving for spring rolls earlier!”

Rocket flew towards Rockwell and greeted him by bumping his hoof. “Good to see you too, Rockwell.” He gave Rockwell a sly smile. “We got you good, huh?”

Rockwell only laughed in response. “Try harder next time.” He looked at the sleek looking unicorn and bumped hooves with him as well. “Foxtrot, good to see you. So how’s that SaD reassignment coming along?”

“Still marked as indefinite, unfortunately.” Foxtrot replied in a stoic tone, even much more stoic than the ones Rockwell occasionally does.  

“That’s sad.” Rockwell said playfully. 

“Don’t push it.”

“It’s cold outside. Please, get in.” Rocket said to the group as he hovered back inside the tower. 

The group followed the pegasus inside the building. As they entered, they were welcomed with the room’s bright white light. The camera looked around the room as if to examine it like a foreign environment. It’s like a sanitized combination of a waiting room and a living room. There’s nothing inside it except an average sized door that would lead to the tower’s other rooms and a small coffee table at the center and four couches all neatly placed around the table, making a symmetrical corner-less square. 

Rockwell sat comfortably on one of the room’s couches. He groaned in satisfaction as he stretched his legs all over the long furniture, making it entirely his own. Octavia gave Rockwell a silent glare, as if to scold him with her eyes for imposing on their hosts. 

“Why don’t you take a seat as well, Miss Melody?” Rocket said as he stopped hovering and landed behind her. “Make yourself at home.”

Octavia’s eyes went wide upon hearing her name. “How did you know my name?”

Rocket gave Octavia the same smile Rockwell always gives her when she asked him a question that she regretfully knows the answer to. 

“That’s a secret.”

Rocket looked back at the now relaxed Rockwell. “So what are you guys having? Coffee?” He turned to look at the creeped out Octavia. “Or tea?”

“None for us, thank you.” Rockwell politely declined as he got up and decided to sit properly instead. “We’re leaving shortly anyway. So, about that access to the landing site.”

“Oh right.” Rocket recalled. “The message.” He gave a nod to Foxtrot who understood the gesture and trotted towards the door, leaving Rocket and the group. 

“Sorry it took us a while to reply to you.” Rocket said as he looked at Rockwell. “Things have gotten really busy at Everfree lately and it’s taken quite a toll on us. We were taking a short nap when we received your message.”

“That explains the long delay.” Rockwell said. “So what is it about you guys and Everfree getting busy? That usually doesn’t happen here.”

“No it’s not.” Foxtrot said as he got out of the door now holding a red key card in his magical grasp. With his magic, he hoofed the key card to Rockwell who in turn nodded silently in thanks. “These issues came up a couple months ago and they’re getting worse as each day passes.”

Foxtrot gave let out a sigh before continuing. “The hydra’s gotten real testy lately. It’s going berserk every time we got close to it, and no matter what we do the wild Poison Jokes growing in the forest still keeps on wilting... ”

“We passed by a dead flower field earlier.” Rockwell said. “Are those the Poison Jokes you were talking about?”

“One among several, yes.”

“And there’s also the strange case of timber wolves running around on their own in the forest.” Rocket added. “It’s like they suddenly agreed that they won’t be travelling in packs anymore.”

Rockwell gave Octavia a knowing look. “So that explains the lone timber wolf we saw earlier.”

“Wait,” Rocket joined in, his voice surprised. “You’ve actually seen one? What happened to it? Ever since they scattered it’s really hard to spot one nowadays, especially if you’re looking for them from the skies.”

Octavia cringed upon hearing Rocket’s words, given the fact that she knew what actually happened to the wolf. She looked at Rockwell curiously to see what kind of reply he was going to give. 

“I see.” Rockwell said. His voice hid any hints of emotion well. “I scared it off. It was approaching us at our campfire and I chased it away with a burning branch.”

Octavia gave Rockwell a strange look, as if she can’t believe that he just lied to his fellow agents. She then looked at the camera; the same strange look still remained on her face. 

Rocket let out a contemplative hum. He was now hovering back in the air, with a foreleg caressing his chin. “Weird. These days, those wolves would just straight up attack anypony they see violently, without remorse.”

“Really?” Rockwell said in faux disbelief. He pointed both forelegs at himself and slid them down as if he was presenting himself like a product. “Attack? Us?”

All three agents laughed in unison from Rockwell’s statement. Octavia can only roll her eyes at the size of the giant circlejerk she was currently witnessing. 

“Which reminds me.” Rockwell said as he realized something when he started touching his bare white shirt. “Do you guys have a spare jacket that I could borrow? I lost mine in a fight today.” He looked back at Octavia with his knowing again. 

Foxtrot ceased his laughing and began to scan at Rockwell’s clothing, particularly his tattered pants. “Long day, huh?” He said as he looked back to Rockwell’s face. “You can have one of mine. I think we have the same size.” He trotted away from the group and headed to the door to the other rooms once more.

“Thanks.” Rockwell replied. “I owe you one.” He turned to look at Rocket again. “So when did these things start happening again? Specifically, I mean.”

“About two and a half months ago.” Rocket replied. “And the weird part about this is that they all happened at once.”

“That really is weird.” Rockwell agreed. “Did you tell the Bureau about it?”

“That’s the first thing we did of course. But considering how ginormous our requests are, you know,” Rocket said as he twirled his hooves casually. “With the canisters of nitrous oxide, some seed boxes, and additional assistance from some bureau approved wrangling services, it’s going to take a while for them to fully process everything. And since we’re amongst the bottom part of the priority list, it’s just going to take a bit longer.”

“That’s the bureau for you.” Rockwell said as he blinked while raising both brows.

Rocket gently landed himself on an empty couch. He gave a sigh when his flank fully hit the cushion. “It’s not called a bureau if it moves fast.”

“If it does, it’s called blur-reau.” Rockwell said in mechanical fashion, as if he had already rehearsed the line.

Both agents chuckled softly at their exchange. Foxtrot can now be heard trotting back to the group. The camera panned over to him. He was carrying a black jacket attached to a coat hanger with his magic. He slowly levitated the clothing towards Rockwell. 

“I took the extra effort of ironing it for you.” Foxtrot said as his magic faded when the jacket landed on Rockwell’s hooves. “I apologize for the mothball smell.”

“No worries.” Rockwell replied as he put it on. “Ooh, still warm.” He remarked while touching his shoulders with both his forelegs. He let out a sigh of comfort before looking back to the agents. “So how many ships are currently docked in the landing site?”

“Just one. It’s the Sapiens, I believe.” Foxtrot answered. 

“Sapiens, huh.” Rockwell hummed in contemplation.

“Sapiens?” Octavia whispered to Rockwell.

“Yep. Sapiens, short for Homo Sapiens.” Rockwell answered her question with a smile. “We sometimes call them “Homos” just to get a rise out of them. They seem to really hate that nickname.”

“What do they look like?” Octavia asked again, with her voice raised a bit this time. 

“Nothing special really.” Rockwell shrugged. “They look like a mutated offspring of a minotaur and a monkey.”

Octavia looked down to the floor to probably imagine what the aliens looked like. Her forehead wrinkled in doing so. 

Rockwell got up from his seat. “Well, I believe we already have everything we needed here. Rocket, Fox,” he nodded to them while calling their names. “Thanks for the key card and jacket. We’ll be taking our leave now. Here’s to hoping the bureau responds to your requests soon. Have a good night.”

“You too.” The tower agents said unison. 

As the group walked outside the tower, Octavia can’t help but get scared by the timber wolf sentries following their every move, and growling angrily in each step they take. Probably for safety, she stayed close to Rockwell as they moved outside the invisibility field, which was now closing itself up. Octavia looked from behind her. The futuristic looking tower surrounded by a lush field of Poison Jokes and angry timber wolves was no longer there. A vast empty space replaced it now. 

As she turned around to follow the agent, another loud sound of probably a hundred wings flapping together took them by surprise, again. Rockwell was so startled that he suddenly hopped back from where he was standing while holding his chest tight like he’s about to have a heart attack.

“Sweet Celestia, it’s those darned bats again!” Rockwell rattled out. “Must they really be that loud? It’s starting to annoy me.”

“I don’t think they can help it themselves, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said in defense for the bats. “They’re just the way they are.”

“And I am the way I am as well.” Rockwell shot back, attempting to restore his cool. “So the next time those things flap their wings way too close to me, I will also can’t help but do something about it.”

Octavia gently shook her head. “If you say so.”

“Remember when I said that nothing’s changed here in Everfree?” Rockwell said as turned to look at Octavia. 

“Ah yes, I believe you did.”

Rockwell donned a sour look on his face. “I take it back.”

The group started moving once again. For a brief moment, all the camera could hear was the sound of stepping hooves and crushed dry leaves as the ponies walked over them. 

“For a second there,” Octavia giggled shyly before continuing. “I really thought that was the landing site. But it was still very impressive if I do say so myself.”

“That was just the tower. The landing site’s just a stone’s throw from there.”

Octavia tilted her head slightly. “But why are the structures built separately and at a distance from each other?”

“Just think of the tower as a light house of some sort for the ships flying here.” Rockwell explained. “And you do notice that a lot of lighthouses are built a couple distances away from the port, right?”

“I guess so.” Octavia replied, her tone uncertain. 

“Yeah that’s the best explanation I can give you about that.” Rockwell snickered at his own answer. 

“Oh.” Octavia’s ears perked up. “And what of the agents at the tower talking about Everfree’s anomalies like they’re the ones controlling them?”

“Managing, actually.” Rockwell corrected her. “All the weird stuff happening in Everfree is under bureau management. We’re not doing this to harm ponies, mind you. All of it is done for the sake of keeping them from finding out about BoS property in the forest.” 

“Very resourceful of you.” Octavia said, not hiding the sarcasm in her voice. 

“It’s a necessity, believe me. Everfree would be thrice as dangerous if it wasn’t for the bureau constantly monitoring it.”

“Thrice?”

Rockwell shot her a grin. “You heard right.”

As the agent ceased his trotting, Octavia and the camera followed. The camera panned its shot away from the ponies and towards their surroundings. They were now standing in another vast patch of empty space. If the camera would do a side by side comparison of this and the space before, it may lead to one concluding that they look eerily identical. The only difference this space has over the other was that it’s much wider in size. 

Rockwell turned around to look at both mares before announcing. “And here we are.”

“I’m assuming this vast patch of nothingness is under the veil of an invisibility field again?” Octavia said.

“You betcha.” Rockwell as he scanned the nearby area for something. He trotted towards a tree not far from them and banged a hoof against its trunk. Octavia’s ears perked up when the tree made a hollow clanking sound as Rockwell continued hitting it. Satisfied that this was what he’s looking for, Rockwell searched the fake tree’s fake trunk for something once more. It only took a moment to find it when Rockwell opened a small door from the tree’s seemingly real body. It revealed to be a small compartment that contained a control panel. And beside it was a slider for inserting cards into.

Rockwell pulled out the key card Foxtrot gave him and slid it down the compartment. Octavia and the camera mare thought that the thing must be busted when it did nothing. But Rockwell directed their eyes back to the empty space only to see another reality bending sight. Unlike the tower’s invisibility field which lowered itself fully when it wanted to reveal what it’s hiding inside, this one only lowered a large door like shape downwards to reveal what’s inside of it. 

It appeared to be a large concrete wall that towered over them, not letting outsiders have a glimpse inside its perimeters. Located at the middle was a mechanical gate that would supposedly slide up or down when activated. And beside it was a lever attached to the wall and was accompanied by a red glowing bulb above it. The bulb glowed green once part of the invisibility field fully lowered itself for ponies to pass. 

Rockwell approached the lever and pulled it down. It brought the mechanical gate to life and started making whirring sounds. The gate was raised upwards, slowly revealing its interior. Octavia can’t help but take a small peak of what’s inside. 

“Funny.” She said, sounding unimpressed. “This is not what I’ve imagined at all.”

Rockwell raised a brow. “Meaning?”

“I was expecting a burning wreckage, and with the spaceship’s body half-buried under the ground.”

“Only drunk drivers do that.” Rockwell said, which earned him another confused look from the mare. “Seriously, don’t let them give you the impression that they represent the entire E.T. demographic.”

Once the gate finally reached full stop, Rockwell deemed it okay to enter and headed straight right in. The camera followed, until it realized that Octavia wasn’t going with them. It panned to the mare as she looked hesitant upon entering the place. But nevertheless, she went in anyway. Once everypony was inside, Rockwell approached another lever that was located inside the site. He pulled the lever upwards, causing the gate and the field in front of it to slowly close. He let out an annoyed muttering once the sound of flapping bat wings can be heard outside the site.

As with the other spots they’ve explored, the camera took no time roaming its shot around the place. 

Unlike the outer wall which was made of concrete, the site’s interior was entirely covered with the same chrome-like material that they saw with the Everfree Tower. Its metallic floors shone beautifully under the light of Luna’s moon. It may not be as clear as a mirror, but the floor did show a reflection of the group. Their features can’t be properly seen due to the blurriness of it though. 

It appeared that they were surrounded by ten giant, flat rectangles, probably the pad in where the ships would land themselves on. They were placed in parallel with each other, having five pads on each side. And every one of them had a futuristic looking lamp post that would provide light to the temporary settlers at night. 

Nine of those lampposts were off, save for one on the far left corner of the landing site. There stood a lamppost giving a clear white light on a strange looking object below it. Rockwell casually trotted towards the lone ship.

“I was really hoping there’d be more aliens and agents trotting around here.” Octavia commented as she looked around the place. 

“The Everfree is for ‘repeat customers’ only. If you want to see what the real deal actually looks like, you should go visit the Manehatten Branch.”

Octavia stopped looking around and stared at the agent with a look of disbelief. “Really? Is a place like that accessible for public viewing?”

“Oh yes.” Rockwell made his sarcasm apparent. “Because that’s what secret underground shadow organizations usually do.”

Octavia only gave an annoyed huff in reply.

The camera centered its shot on the spaceship as the group approached it. The thing actually looked a lot bigger once they got close. The metal it was made out of looked sophisticated. It’s not as shiny as the one the Everfree tower and landing site uses but its appearance of looking sleek and durable made it a good fit for its space faring use. 

The ship is divided into three layers. The top part was not covered with metal but instead was topped with a large glass bubble; it was of reflective variety that it was impossible to see what’s inside it. The middle part was the biggest out of the three, and it was painted white and took the shape of an open umbrella, two objects located at its side that seemed to look like vents were constantly shooting white smoke that disappeared quickly. The bottom part was covered in grey paint and looked just like the middle but with smaller size and lesser edges. Four landing gears were protruding out of its corners, making it look like an idle beast. 

A lowered ramp can be seen at its middle; at the end of it was a closed hatch that leads to the inside of the ship. Following the animal analogy, the ramp could easily be identified as the beast’s peni-

“What are you doing!?” Octavia whispered loudly when Rockwell began walking up the ramp and into the closed hatch. 

Rockwell looked at Octavia as if what he was doing was nothing wrong. “Knocking on their door?” He replied matter-of-factly.

“What!?” Octavia raised her voice, sounding alarmed. “Don’t do that! It could be covered with a flesh eating bacteria of some sort!”

Rockwell could only smile at the mare’s naiveté when it came to things like this. “Reading a lot of pulp magazines are we, Miss Melody?” He raised a hoof to tap on the hatch. “I assure you, nothing bad’s going to happe-” He suddenly screamed in seemingly genuine agonizing pain as his hoof touched the hatch’s surface. He gripped the seemingly infected hoof with a free one and rolled down the ramp, screaming as he did so. The camera perfectly followed Rockwell’s descent from the ship’s hatch down to the site’s reflective floor.

Octavia has been shrieking throughout the entire time this happened. She warily approached the now writhing agent and was about to pick him up but decided against it as she probably doesn’t want to get what he’s having. This left her to only do one thing, to look at him in panic. 

Rockwell let out a seemingly pained cry. “It...burns!” 

Octavia turned to look at the camera mare, she now looked pale as a ghost. “Water!” She screamed while gripping the camera with both hooves. “We need water immediately!”

“I don’t think water can wash down flesh eating microbes, Miss Melody.” Rockwell calmly said as he got up from his seemingly real writhing fit. 

All of Octavia’s panicking went down a notch or two. She looked back at the agent who was apparently fine. “Wait, you’re not hurt?”

Rockwell only gave her a small smile in response. 

“Is this another one of your stupid jokes again!?” Octavia literally growled.

“Got ya.” Rockwell said as he pulled out a cigarette stick from his pocket.

“Oh you...” Octavia charged at the agent and repeatedly jabbed his shoulder with her fury filled hooves. Rockwell laughed wholeheartedly as he took every punch the furious mare threw at him, while lighting his cigarette stick as well. 

“We’re...now...standing...” Octavia grunted angrily as she continued her onslaught on the agent. “In...front...of extraterrestrials...beings from another planet...and still you’re not taking this seriously!?” Rockwell continued his hearty laugh but now with blue smoke coming out from his mouth.

They all snapped back to normalcy when the ship’s hatch made a loud clicking sound. It let out an equally loud hiss not a second after. The hatch door opened inwards, all eyes were now laid at the ramp, with silence the only music playing.

A leg that appeared to be wrapped in a metal looking fabric carefully lowered itself on the metal platform, the rest of its body followed after. The camera panned its shot to Octavia whose mouth was now gaping wide and then back to the mysterious creature. Its full body was now centered to the screen.

The figure stood on only two legs. And it looked like it was wearing a suit, and it appeared rather bulky. The head was covered in a glass globe similar to the ones aliens use in science fiction. Its surface was reflective, just like their ship uses. And at its chest strapped a small mechanical box filled with different glowing lights and buttons. It was carrying another box behind it, but larger. It was also covered in the same fabric the suit has. As it walked down the ramp, one might observe that its movements were pretty slow. It could be due to its bulky suit or it could be from the weight it’s carrying, nopony actually knows until somepony would be brave enough to ask.

As the creature approached the group, they could hear it breathing heavily. Octavia slowly backed away, her body poised in a position that could immediately flee once things go south. Rockwell on the other hoof, just stood there and still smoked his cigarette. As the creature’s body got really close to the camera, its shot focused on a small tag neatly stitched on its left chest with the words: CPT. SAMSON.

Rockwell blew another stream of smoke from his mouth. “Homos.” He said in a greeting manner. 

The creature probably named Captain Samson let out a heavy sigh before replying. “For the last time, Agent Rockwell.” Its words sounded like it’s coming from a radio with its grainy tone. But despite that, one could easily identify that the voice sounded masculine. “It’s just human!” It sounded really irate. Rockwell looked at the camera and gave a small grin as if to confirm what he said earlier was true. 

“And what’s up with all the commotion!” The human continued. “It’s the middle of the night and we’re sleeping here!”

“Sorry about that.” Rockwell said as he threw his cigarette stick to the ground, crushing its soft glowing ember with a hoof. “My colleague and I were just enjoying the pleasures of a good practical joke.”

Octavia, whose fear has slowly dissipated once the alien started speaking shot Rockwell with an angry glare.

“And speaking of practical jokes, there’s something important I’d like to discuss with you guys.” Rockwell looked briefly at the opened hatch behind Samson before continuing. “May we come in?”

“Uh, sure.” The human replied. “Just let me wake the others up first.” He began his slow march back to the ship’s hatch.

Rockwell watched the human climb up to the inside of the ship. He then turned to look at Octavia and the camera mare with a serious look. “Don’t touch anything.”

“Can’t I stay here and wait for you when you’re done?” Octavia said, a bit of fear coming to back to her voice. 

“Come on.” Rockwell insisted. “They don’t bite anyway.”

“That is not the point!” Octavia responded sharply. 

Octavia (although hesitantly) followed Rockwell as they climbed up to the inside of the ship. Considering that the ramp is a bit narrow, they trotted upwards in a single file with the camera at the tail following them. 

As the ponies poked their heads on the ship’s interior, they were greeted with a softly lit room that was filled to the brim with large screens, dozens of glowing buttons, and other advanced gizmos that their pony minds couldn’t comprehend. Three seats can be spotted in the room. One is located at the center, probably for the captain and two seats were placed at side for the crew members. When all of them got out of the hatch and into the room, the captain was already standing there waiting for them along with the rest of his crew. 

The other two members were also wearing the same suit as the captain. It would be really hard to tell them apart from each other if it wasn’t for the tags attached on their suits. The one on the captain’s left side has its tag saying: LT. ONG while the one on the right has its tag with the words: ENS. STARR. 

The human captain went to his seat and pressed a button on its armrest. Three seats suddenly materialized behind Rockwell’s group, startling Octavia and the camera mare. 

The captain gestured towards the seats. “Please, have a seat.” The three ponies complied. “So what do you want to discuss with us, Agent Rockwell?”

“Hang on, hang on,” Rockwell said as he raised a hoof in an attempt to put Samson’s question on hold. “So you guys are also wearing your environmental suits inside now, huh?” His voice made him sound like he’s slightly offended. 

“Everfree’s become uninhabitable for humans lately.” The captain said flatly.

“Yo, what’s up with the camera?” The human named Starr suddenly asked. His voice shared the radio-like grainy quality as the captain’s. 

“Don’t mind my crew. They’re here for documentation, we’re going digital now.” Rockwell answered quickly. He turned his attention back to the captain, narrowing his eyes in the process. “What do you mean Everfree’s becoming un-livable for you guys?” 

“Our scanners posted readings about the forest’s ‘magical presence’ being in a state of disarray.” The human named Ong answered Rockwell’s question.  “And prolonged exposure to this sudden surge of concentrated magic may prove to be detrimental to our health.”

“Think of it like this.” The captain added. “It’s like radiation but with two hundred percent more magic.”

Rockwell scratched his chin with a hoof. “When did this happen?”

“We don’t really know. It’s been like this since we landed. And that was two months ago.”

“Have you tried reporting this to the tower agents?”

“Of course we did. But they said they said they had their ‘hooves’ full at the moment.”

Rockwell let out a long hum before replying. “Well, try again and say that your problem and theirs might be connected in some way, I’m sure of it. Wait, didn’t you guys land here two months ago? Why didn’t you leave after realizing that the forest doubled its hostility factor against you?” 

“It’s not the fact that we didn’t but more like we couldn’t.” Ong replied. “Look, our shuttle’s engine’s been fried for a while so we’re stranded here momentarily.”

“So what’s the problem?” Rockwell turned his head at the other human. “Did your quantum carburettor blow up a fuse or something?”

“Very funny.” The captain replied. Despite being featureless, his voice expressed his annoyance on Rockwell’s quipping. “Here, let me show you.” He pressed another button on his seat’s armrest. A vacant wall at the left side of the captain carved a rectangular outline on itself. The cut shape quickly slid down to the ship’s floor, creating a path to another room. All three humans walked towards the newly formed entrance. Rockwell and company followed after.

The group now found themselves in a small, darkly lit room. The only thing that gave the small space light was a small glowing blue orb that was covered in various wires, tubes, and other contraptions. The humans surrounded the orb while fiddling with its mechanisms. 

“See this stuff right here?” The captain pointed at a gooey white substance that was lathered all over the ship’s engine. “This thing’s been keeping us grounded for months now.”

“At first I thought it was just a byproduct of the sudden magical surge.” Ong said. “But the scanners stated otherwise. Despite our limited information regarding the properties of magic, I can safely say that the slimy substance sabotaging our engine appears to be ethereal in nature.”

“It looks like Equestrian spirit jizz to me.” The human named Starr added.

Rockwell touched the slimy liquid with his bare hoof, causing everyone even the humans to cringe audibly. He brought the liquid closer to his face, inspecting it thoroughly. “You’re right on the ethereal part.” He said while flicking the liquid off his hoof. He wiped the rest with a black handkerchief of which he pulled from his back pocket.

“This is ectoplasm.” Rockwell said as he looked at the human named Ong. “And a real potent one at that.”

“That’s impossible.” Ong argued. “Even for such a whimsical world like yours, there’s no way that you can extract a material like that without the assistance of a...spiritual medium.”

“Spiritual medium.” Rockwell pondered for a moment. “You mean like ghosts?”

“(Beep!)” The human known as Starr cursed in surprise. “You mean to tell us ghosts have kept on blowing their load inside us every night? No way man.” He shook his head slowly as he walked aimlessly within close proximity to his crew. “No way.”

Rockwell turned to look at the captain, as if he wanted something clarified for him. “Every night?”

“Yes.” The captain confirmed. “That’s why we didn’t bother sending spare parts down from orbit. The slime just mucks up the engine every night anyway.”

“From orbit?” Octavia whispered to Rockwell. He ignored her question.

“Hang on, hang on.” Rockwell raised a hoof again. “If you guys are down here grounded, then who’s the one responsible for dropping cows at the abandoned mansion near the outskirts?”

“Dropping cows!?” The captain exclaimed. “What are we?” He looked at his crew then looked back at the agent. “Aliens from science fiction or something? Of course not! That act would violate E.P.I.C’s Section B of the Legal Alien Short-Term Settlement Regulations!”

Rockwell made a soft whistling sound with his mouth, probably impressed that the alien captain remembers the rules. 

“Also,” Ong said. “That would be a very stupid way of getting blacklisted from this planet. And besides, there’s no way we’d be wasting our energy cores in using our tractor beams like that. We’re just here to conduct regular probing sessions with Miss Heartstrings and to Miss Heartstrings only.”

The two aliens muttered in agreement with what Ong said. 

“Is he talking about Lyra?” Octavia whispered again.

“I’ll explain later.” Rockwell whispered back. He turned to the aliens again. “So you guys are not responsible for any of the bovine droppings in the outskirts, not at all?”

All three aliens shook their heads in unison. 

Rockwell clicked his tongue and bit on the inside of his cheek. “Guess I’ll have another talk with ghosts back at the mansion, then.”

The aliens turned looked at each other. Even though their reflective glasses concealed any hint of facial expression, their body movements clearly stated that they were indeed surprised at what Rockwell just said. 

“So ghosts actually exist here in Equestria?” The captain asked.

“And you can talk to them?” The human named Starr joined in. “Holy (beep).”

A flat yes was Rockwell’s answer to both their questions. “And they said that you guys were the ones responsible for ruining their home by dropping a couple of cows on it.”

“Where do they get the balls to say that after wrecking up my shuttle non-stop!?” The captain exploded in a flamboyant urban accent all of a sudden. It sounded similar to the ones city ponies use in Manehatten. “You tell them.” He pointed a digit threateningly at Rockwell. “That if they choose to continue (beeping) up our engine with their magic ghost stuff, I will personally send them straight to hell.”

“Personally send them straight to hell.” Rockwell replied, mimicking what the alien captain said as if to engrave the words in his memory. “Okay, got it. Thank you for having us, gentle...uh, men. I’ll put the info you provided me to good use, and hopefully resolve this issue in no time.” 

Rockwell trotted out of the engine and back to the hatch. Octavia and the camera quickly followed. The seats that were summoned to them now shrunk back to the floor. The hatch made a clicking sound accompanied with a loud hiss as it opened when the captain pressed another button from his seat. 

Once Rockwell set hoof on the ramp, he stopped to look at the aliens one last time before leaving. “Have a good night now. But seriously report your magical presence issue again to the tower agents. There’s a great chance that those problems of yours and theirs are connected. And once again, good night.” And with that, the group finally exited the ship.

“So we’re going back to the mansion?” Octavia asked. The group were now at the site’s entrance and Rockwell just closed gate and the field with his key card. 

“Yes.” Rockwell yawned. 

“So who do you think did it?”

A frown formed on Rockwell’s face before replying to the mare’s question. “I’m sorry but I’m not really used to using my brain for critical thinking this late at night.”

“At least humor me with this.” Octavia said. They were back in the forest now, slowly trotting under the moonlit night. “What were those aliens doing with Lyra? I heard they mentioned probing her.”

“’Probing,’ Rockwell began. “Is just a slang term for interview that’s used by aliens nowadays. Abducting or dissecting the locals especially by otherworldly means is strongly prohibited here in Equis. But talking with them is not. Because you know, friendship is magic and is universal and all that jazz.” He said the last line in the most feminine tone he could muster. “Or so Celestia and the Elements would say. But talking with the locals is not the hard part, making them approach you and convince them that you mean no harm is. But fortunately for the Sapiens, your friend Miss Heartstrings here is very fond of them.”

Rockwell shrugged before continuing. “It’s probably the hands that drew her to them, I dunno. But what I can confirm is that they’re always having regular chats with each other, maybe talking about their world and ours.”

Octavia gave out a hum that sounded somewhere in the middle between satisfied and dissatisfied. “That was anti-climactic.” Her reply made the agent raise a brow. “No, I don’t mean it like that. Of course I was relieved that Lyra is actually safe with the aliens, but like before, I was just expecting for more out of this world brutality, unspeakable horrors that only the cruelty of space is capable of doing.”

“Whoa, girl.” Rockwell playfully backed away from Octavia. “I didn’t know you were that metal.”

Octavia was about to retort when another loud sound of probably a hundred wings flapping together took them by surprise for the third time tonight. 

The camera quickly panned towards Rockwell’s direction. He wasn’t startled by the noise this time. But his face darkened a little bit. 

Rockwell gave out a long sigh. “Alright, I’ve had enough of this.” He looked down to the ground and picked an adequately sized rock. 

“What are you doing?” Octavia asked. 

The agent didn’t bother answering her question and instead threw the rock at the direction of the loud noise with all his might. “Fore!” He called to the leather winged animals as the rock flew swiftly upwards, punching a small hole through the canopy of the forest. 

Some alarmed screeching sounds came from the bats as the rock propelled itself into the sky. Rockwell smiled darkly upon hearing the sound of the distressed animals. 

“That’ll surely break that swarm off.” Rockwell said as he started moving again. “Boy are they loud!” He ceased his moving again when he heard the sound of twigs and branches breaking from above. 

He looked at the camera with a proud face. “Looks like I’ve got one.” He looked back up the sky again. “Serves you right you loud flapping, leather skinned...”

A thestral hit the ground with a loud thud. It laid there unconscious with a giant bump on its forehead. 

“...rodents.”
> Chapter Eight: Where Sleeping Ponies Lie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“...rodents.” The agent said as everypony had their stares focused at the fallen thestral. 

Rockwell looked at Octavia with grin. “I was aiming for a small bracelet at the corner but what I got was the pearl necklace placed at the center.” He chuckled softly before continuing. “Maybe I should start hitting the casinos sometime. I think my luck is starting to change.”

“We should help her.” Octavia said as they slowly approached the unconscious mare. “I think she’s hurt.”

“Well duh.” Rockwell replied while following her. “With a blow like that, her horn would’ve popped right off if she’s a unicorn. What’s a thestral doing in Everfree this late at night anyway? Seems suspicious if you ask me.”

As the camera got close to the mare, the camera focused on its unmoving figure. The thestral has a furry grey coat and a green mane that seemed to glow under the light of Luna’s moon. Her eyelids shook open, showing a pair of radiant golden eyes. She seemed scared when Octavia lowered herself to her level. 

“We’re really, really sorry about this.” Octavia said to the mare. She looked and sounded like a mother who was apologizing in behalf of her troublesome child. “It’s just that the agent he-”

The thestral mare quickly got up from the ground and leapt herself from the air. She zoomed through the forest’s canopy, leaving several falling leaves and twigs in her wake. 

“Wait!” Octavia called out to the mare. “Where are you going!?”

“Yeah, she’s definitely suspicious.” Rockwell grinned at Octavia. “Let’s go after her.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nopony flies away like that without hiding something. For all we know, she could be the key to all of this.” Rockwell looked at the camera and gestured for her to follow him. “Come on.” The two proceeded to spread their legs and started running. 

“Haven’t we done enough running in one night?” Octavia whined before following the others.

Despite the thestral looking like a dot from afar, the group still chased her. Not only was her now small size made her difficult to spot, it’s also the fact that the forest’s lush shade of leaves helped obscure her fleeing form from Rockwell’s group. 

“She’s really hard to follow will all these trees in the way.” Rockwell finally remarked. “Slippery mare.”

“Agent Rockwell!” Octavia called out, urging the camera to pan the shot to look at her direction. Several feet before them was a roaming timber wolf who just noticed that their group was running towards it. The wolf directed its body at the group, now growling angrily. 

Rockwell, who just saw the imminent threat before slowed down his running. “Uh oh. We’re not carrying any fire right now. So hard turn, hard turn, hard turn.” His voice sounded calm and panicky at the same time. 

Both mares followed Rockwell’s order and immediately did a sharp turn on the opposite direction to get away from the timber wolf. They’re now locked in a chase for the second time tonight. 

Octavia tried her best to match Rockwell’s speed, giving it her all to get close to him. “You were talking about your luck changing earlier, Agent Rockwell?” She said between breaths now that they were both running side by side. 

Rockwell snorted at Octavia’s line. “You got me good there, Melody. Nice one. Okay, so here’s the plan.”

Despite her pants, the camera can still hear the relieved sigh that Octavia was giving. “Thank Celestia you already have a plan! For a moment, I thought we’d be spending our last moments here in Everf-”

“So here’s my theory.” Rockwell cut her off. “I believe that animals with sharp noses can smell their kin on other ponies or animals and also how their encounter with them went. So if I let it sniff me, it might realize that I’ve killed one of theirs and might fear me and flee.”

“That idea Agent Rockwell,” Octavia drew a gasp of air before continuing. “Has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard today! And I’ve already heard a lot of ridiculous things coming from you in the past hour alone!”

“Well I’m always open to fresh ideas besides the classic running for dear life.”

“I’m panicking!” Octavia doubled the volume of her voice. “I can’t think clearly right now!”

“So that makes my idea the winner by default.” Rockwell slowed down. “Now stand back cause poppa’s bout to try this baby out.” He finally stopped his running and turned around the chasing beast. 

“Wording, Agent Rockwell!” Octavia cried in disgust. “Choose your wording properly next time!”

Rockwell stood on his hind legs and placed his forelegs in a position where they’re supposed to catch the charging wolf, just like before. “Hey you!” He called out. The wolf which was probably confused at what the agent was doing ceased its running. “Smell what I did to one of yours!” Rockwell cried proudly. 

“Did it work?” Octavia said while staying a couple of distances from the agent. 

“You know,” Rockwell chuckled. “Now that we’ve stopped running and I’m finally allowed to think about this theory of mine...it wouldn’t have worked anyway even if it’s true. Because you see, I forgot that I changed jackets at the tower earlier. And this one just reeked of mothballs.”

“So in that case,” Octavia replied, hoof on face. “Should we start running again?”

“Hang on.” Rockwell dug through his new jacket’s pockets. “I have one more trick up my sleeves.”

“You know Agent Rockwell,” Octavia said. Her voice sounded frustrated. “If ridiculous ideas were a resource, the Saddle Arabians would have built a mine on your head already.”

Rockwell could only laugh at the polite insult she just hurled at him. “Why did it take you this long to lighten up?” He pulled out his vanisher ward and fiddled with its settings. A long, rising beep came out from the metallic device. He also pulled out his pair of glasses and put them on. “I’m not really allowed by the Bureau to do this but lives are in danger here particularly mine, so I think this is considered as an exception.”

Rockwell looked at both mares with a serious face. “Turn around, both of you. And cover your eyes.” Octavia and the camera mare complied, which led the shot centering away from the meat of the action. The camera saw nothing but bushes and trees but it could still hear the timber wolf’s angry growl and see the imminent flash of Rockwell’s ward. All was silent after.

“Okay, you can turn around now.” Rockwell announced. The camera panned its shot to the agent who was keeping his ward and glasses back in his jacket and to the timber wolf which just stood there in front of them with a blank expression.

Rockwell slowly trotted towards Octavia and narrowed her eyes on her face. This caused the mare’s features to redden a bit. “Do you still remember me?”

Octavia’s blush was replaced with an annoyed glare that’s shot directly at Rockwell’s face.

“Good.” Rockwell said, taking Octavia’s reaction as a yes.

Octavia looked at the wolf and probably wondered why it’s no longer attacking them. She looked back at Rockwell. “Is that the vanisher ward’s effect currently working on the timber wolf?”

“Yep.” Rockwell replied. “I erased twenty years worth of memories from that beast. It’s nothing but a hollow trunk now. And Foxtrot is so gonna kill me when he sees this so it’d be best for me if we kept this secret.” He gestured for the group to start moving.

“What’s going to happen to it?” Octavia asked while looking back on the still motionless animal. 

“Oh, I dunno.” Rockwell said with an uncaring tone. “Act like a giant toddler maybe then die like a lost baby a few days later?”

“That’s terrible!”

“Or you know,” Rockwell scratched the back of his head like he’s quickly thinking of a new answer. “We could go down the optimist’s route and have it found by other wolves and maybe they’ll nurse it back to maturity?”

“That’s a dangerous weapon you’re wielding, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said her tone slightly somber.

“Tool.” Rockwell corrected. “The vanisher ward is a tool. I have yet to fully weaponize this thing. Probably someday, but not right now.” He suddenly turned around to face the camera, face all perked up. “Oh hey, exit’s that way.” He said as he pointed a hoof from his side. The group then proceeded to move to the direction where Rockwell was pointing. 

“Shame we lost the mare though.” 

“Shame indeed.”

Rockwell and company were now standing at the doorstep of the structure formerly known as the abandoned manor. The camera focused its shot on the agent loudly knocking on its tall doors.

“Yo Cirrus!” Rockwell called out, continuing his knocking. “You guys are still awake right!?”

The ghosts (un)living in the mansion didn’t respond to the agents call. But they opened the doors really slowly instead. The pair of tall, well carved, well varnished mahoganies moved so slowly that they started making creaking sounds that would make anypony’s fur stand. Octavia was evident of that. 

As the group went inside the living room, the entire place was lit up again just like before. And two consecutive popping sounds can be heard above them. The camera lifted its shot upwards to the direction of the sound, revealing the two ghosts they met earlier, Cirrus and Violet. 

“Ah, Agent Rockwell! Welcome back.” Cirrus greeted them with a smile. “How did the trip to Everfree go?”

“Back-to-back action non-stop to say the least.” Rockwell casually replied as he leapt into the couch and made himself comfortable there. “Ponies should write a book about my adventures, or something.”

A look of confusion formed on Cirrus’ face. He turned to look at Octavia, probably to ask her to enlighten him of the events that happened during their short walk into that mystical forest. And judging from the look on Octavia’s face, one could say she was happy to oblige. 

“We faced two timber wolves tonight.” She explained. “But the agent dealt with them with lethal efficiency. Both fights were over in a moment” She looked quite proud when she said that, like a mother talking about her child’s feats. 

Cirrus made an ‘oh’ face before returning to look at the now comfy agent. “So, did you guys catch the aliens responsible for damaging our roof?”

“Well C,” Rockwell said when Violet hovered above him and wrapped his body with a warm blanket. She then hoofed him a cup of warm cocoa. She did the same to the others, but urging them to get themselves comfy on the couch first before they were provided with the warm comforts of the blanket and cocoa. 

“We did catch the aliens but I don’t think they’re the ones who’re wrecking your home.” He ended his reply with a long sip from the cup of cocoa. He smacked his lips in satisfaction afterwards and gave Violet a nod of approval. The ghost mare humbly smiled in response. 

“What do you mean?” Cirrus said as he hovered in front of Rockwell and ‘sat’ on the floor while his spectral hooves rested on the coffee table. “Of course it’d be the aliens. Who else could it be?”

“You’re right.” Rockwell confirmed, taking short sips from his cup. “Dropping cows is an activity exclusive only to the E.Ts. Unfortunately, ‘Bovine Bombing’ is not a thing usually done by the aliens staying at the site right now.”

Cirrus’ brows furrowed. “They don’t drop cows for fun? What kind of aliens are they?”

“You ever heard of the Sapiens, C?” Rockwell asked. The ghost pone shook his head in reply. “They’re a magic-less but technologically advanced alien species that are diplomatic and are sticklers with rules.” 

Rockwell raised his cup towards Violet who was now ‘sitting’ next to Cirrus and raised his cup as a gesture for seconds. The mare nodded silently and his cocoa mug was full again. He took another long sip before continuing. 

“You see C, cow dropping especially if done by aliens is very illegal here in Equis. And the punishment for breaking Equis’ rules is a swift ‘permaban,’ which means that your kind will no longer be allowed to visit our planet ever again. And that would be really bad for the Sapiens because all they want to do here is to study pony culture and maybe learn a thing or two about magic. Also, their ship can’t fly right now because it’s always swimming in ectoplasm.”

“Ectoplasm?” Cirrus asked.

“Yep.” Rockwell took another quick sip. “And they think it’s yours that did it.”

“What?” Cirrus sounded appalled. “There’s no way our ectoplasms, even if we did want to break their ship, could get that far! We can’t even get out of the manor even if we wanted to.”

“Can’t get out of the manor?” Octavia stopped her slow casual sips of the cocoa. “What do you mean by that?”

Rockwell leaned close beside her, his mug an inch away from his snout. “Once a ghost haunts a place, they will be forever bound to it and can’t leave unless somepony would intervene and solve their unfinished businesses for them and sends them straight to the afterlife.”

“Exactly!” Cirrus said while waving both hooves at Rockwell.

Rockwell sipped his mug while looking at Cirrus. “But I’m still not convinced, C.” He placed the cup on the table and sat properly on the couch. “If you don’t mind, can you guys show me a sample of your ectoplasms?”

“If this will prove our innocence,” Cirrus sighed. “Then we will.” He looked at the ghost mare beside him. “Violet?” She gave him a silent nod and lifted herself upwards. Cirrus followed after. As both ghost ponies were now floating up above the air, they placed their forelegs on the spot just inches above the pelvis and slightly lower the belly button. White bubbly liquid gushed out from where their hooves were touching. But it faded quickly before it could reach the floor, although clouds of white hissing smoke can be seen at the end of these ghastly cascades.

Rockwell got up from the comfort of the couch (but kept the blanket on) and trotted towards the spectral waterfall. He placed a hoof on the white liquid and inspected its texture by gently waving his hoof left and right.

Octavia ceased her sipping from the cup of cocoa as a grimace formed on her face when she continued to watch this bizarre sight in front of her. “Something’s wrong with this picture,” She said as her forehead wrinkled. “I just can’t pinpoint what it is.”

Rockwell pulled his hoof away from the stream of ghost cream. He brought it closer to his face, only to see the liquid that soaked the fur of his foreleg has faded away. He let out a contemplative hum. 

“Your ectoplasms are not that potent, just as I thought. In fact, they fizzle out quickly like champagne bubbles. The ones in the ship are thick like jam, so potent. I guess you guys are clear.” He declared. 

The bubbly fluids stopped flowing after Rockwell’s announcement. Both ghosts let out a sigh of relief. 

“If those weren’t ours,” Cirrus said, gliding back down to the coffee table, so was Violet. “Where did those ectoplasms come from?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering for a while now.” Rockwell said as he grabbed his mug and went back to the couch, making himself comfy again. Violet pointed a hoof at the group’s cups, they started steaming again. There were marshmallows now too. Rockwell raised his cup and smiled to her as a way of thanks. He then looked back at Cirrus. “Considering that both sides are supposedly innocent...quick question, do you hate the aliens? Yes or no?”

“Well.” Cirrus pondered at the question first before answering, a transparent hoof scratching rubbing his chin. It was Violet’s. “Since they started destroying our place of residence, I feel like I was supposed to?”

“Feel like I was supposed to...” The camera mare caught Octavia silently mimicking Cirrus’ response. She was looking at her cup deep in thought as she did so. 

“But now when I realize that they’re not the ones doing it, I don’t think I should.” Cirrus continued. “Heck, I don’t even know what they look like. And I only knew they exist when the cow dropping incidents began.”

Rockwell let out another hum. “That kinda sounded like what they said, especially the last part. They only knew of your existence once I’ve told them about you.”

Cirrus raised a brow.”That’s weird.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all night.” Rockwell agreed.

“I think,” Octavia joined in, raising her head from the cup. “There’s a third party involved here.”

“Third party you say?” Rockwell sounded genuinely intrigued. “Do go on.”

“I mean,” Octavia continued. “It’s pretty obvious that somepony is pitting these two sides against each other. If you look at the facts laid on the table, I think it’s safe that there’s no way that these two sides who clearly doesn’t know of either one’s existence would just suddenly fight each other out of spite.”

She plucked a still solid piece of marshmallow from her cup before continuing. “I also noticed that these actions are not harmful to the sides being targeted, but rather to cause outrage instead. And once this third party has incited that reaction, they will then put the blame on the other side and vice versa. And then these two angry factions will face each other off in a violent skirmish of some sort. But that’s not important right now. What’s important here is that the third party is setting up these aggressions and they’re just letting the targeted sides finish it for themselves, thus removing themselves away from the calculations and render themselves supposedly innocent.”

“But who would go that far to do something like that?” Rockwell asked. “I don’t think most ponies even know that ghosts and aliens actually exist, let alone hate both of them with a passion.”

“But that’s the most crucial part in solving this mystery, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said as she unceremoniously spat the toy pipe that was unknowingly placed on her mouth. “Since the criteria in finding our perpetrator is very specific, it will be easy to hunt them down. We don’t even have to scour crowds just to look for them. All we have to do is to look up anypony who has a troubled history with the citizens of the night in the records here in Ponyville and we’ll confront them.”

“That’s a top notch proposal there, Melody.” Rockwell said. “Dang, you just made my job easier. I may have to go home earlier than expected. And cheers to that.” He gently bumped Octavia’s cup with his, making a clinking sound.

“Uh, Agent Rockwell?” Cirrus called, suddenly acting strange.

“Yes, Cirrus.” Rockwelled replied, taking another sip from his cup. “What is it?”

“I don’t know if this is bad news or not,” Cirrus said while worriedly looking up. “But somepony is on the roof. She’s probably eavesdropping on us.”

Rockwell sprang into action. He carefully placed his mug on the coffee table and looked around the ceiling. “Clearly that’s bad news, C. Tell me which part of the roof she’s on.” He whispered the last line to the ghost. Cirrus, without saying anything, pointed a pale hoof towards the dining room’s direction, exactly where the giant hole was. 

Rockwell took a peek at the dining room and realized that Cirrus was right. There was a head poking through the dining room’s ceiling hole. It appeared to belong to the fallen thestral from before. She now had a band-aid covering the bruise on her forehead. 

“It’s the mare from earlier!” Rockwell got really giddy. “She’s back!”

Once the mare heard Rockwell’s excited cries, she pulled her head out of the damaged ceiling and bolted out of the building. Rockwell was now running towards the manor’s exit.

“You know her?” Cirrus asked.

“Long story.” Rockwell said while putting his glasses on all of a sudden. “I’m not letting her go this time.”

Everypony followed Rockwell outside the manor only to find out that mare has managed to fly a good amount of distance away from them. 

“She flew away again.” Octavia said, sounding slightly disappointed.

“No she’s not.” Rockwell said as he pulled out his vanisher ward again. “Get back inside.” He ordered them while fiddling with its settings. And using all his strength, he hurled the metallic device towards the fleeing mare. It was hurled so fast that it flew past the panicking thestral, who was already flying at high speeds. And then it flashed. The thestral suddenly stopped flapping her wings and dropped hard on the grass. Rockwell then rushed to where the mare has landed.

The camera mare didn’t follow Rockwell as he zoomed towards the twice fallen mare. It just stayed on the doorstep like it was stuck in the same way as the ghosts. A part of the blanket that can be seen at the corner of the screen might be the reason why. The agent was back as fast as he left. The unconscious thestral was now hanging on his back like some sort of saddle. 

Once Rockwell got to the doorstep, Cirrus approached him. “Is that the pegasu-oh wait, it’s a bat pony.”

Rockwell slid the thestral roughly down the floor. Despite the harsh treatment, the mare still remained knocked out for good. 

“Cirrus, Violet.” Rockwell called. “Tie this mare into a chair, Make sure to tie both her forelegs, both her hind legs, and both her wings with three separate ropes. Winged ponies are tricky. You have to make sure that their head is the only thing that’s moving when tied to guarantee that they’re properly bound. Once you’re done, can you guys watch over her for the rest of the night?  I’m going to interrogate her tomorrow.”

Both ponies obeyed and started generating ropes out of thin air.

Octavia trotted towards the unconscious mare and poked a hoof on her cheeks. She’s still knocked out. The camera could hear soft snoring sounds coming from her. “Tomorrow?” Octavia asked. “Why not now? I still think we have time to question he-”

Octavia heard a thud behind her. She turned around and saw that the agent has collapsed to the ground and started snoring. The day must have finally caught up with him. Octavia looked at him for a brief moment while donning a smile before she carried him back to the couch and covered him with a blanket. She then removed his glasses and placed them on the coffee table, right next to his unfinished cup of cocoa. 

“If you don’t mind,” Octavia said while looking at the camera mare. “I will be heading back home to check on Vinyl. And get some shut eye myself.” She gave a sleepy smile before continuing. “I promise to return early tomorrow. Oh and if you want, I’ll be bringing breakfast as well. Sounds good? Alright then, see you tomorrow.” And with that she trotted out the door and closed it. The camera’s screen turned black afterwards.
> Chapter Nine: When Fast Breaks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The camera mare rushed herself down the stairs towards the manor’s main doors. Somepony has been knocking on it for a while now. It’s probably Octavia. A pink hoof pulled open the doors’ right half, revealing the musician herself. 

Octavia looked refreshed. Her mane and coat were brushed properly. And she’s now sporting a pink bowtie that clung to a neat white collar. She was carrying a large picnic basket, probably the breakfast she promised to bring last night.

“Good morning!” She greeted the mare while showing her the basket. “I brought breakfast. Is the agent already up?”

“Uh, yeah.” The camera mare said softly.

“So where is he?”

“He’s upstairs, preparing to...torture the thestral?”

“He’s what!?” Octavia said as she broke into a run with breakfast in tow. The camera mare followed Octavia as she ran upstairs. But when they reached the hallway upstairs she looked back to the camera mare as if to ask her which room Rockwell was in. The camera focused the shot on the middle room and that’s where she bucked her hind leg into. As it turned out, the door was not exactly locked. 

They were presented with the image of an occupied Rockwell that looked like he just woke up. His mane was unkempt. He’s not wearing his jacket and his shirt’s been modified for extreme comfort, the buttons near the chest were undone, his tie was loose, and his sleeves were rolled up the elbows. Despite his messy look, he had a new band-aid attached on his snout. He looked like a member from a one-hit rock band or an overgrown student from an all boys academy. But nevertheless, his look yielded a brief smile of amusement from Octavia. But it faded away once she remembered the reason why she rushed here in the first place. 

The camera focused its shot on the thestral next to him. She was sitting on a stool with three separate ropes tying her wings, forelegs, and hind legs, just like Rockwell instructed earlier. Her face a bore a hard look similar to the one the royal guards use, but her gentle features contradict with the face she was currently making. 

“Agent Rockwell!” Octavia angrily called. “What are you doing to the mare!?”

Rockwell stopped fiddling with whatever it is he’s fiddling. It appeared to be the phonograph from the living room. “And good morning to you too.” He said groggily, a definite sign that he just recently woke up.

“I thought you’re only going to interrogate her?” Octavia asked. She sounded really concerned for the mare.

“I did.” Rockwell rubbed the back of his head. “But she’s a tough a nut to crack so I’m just going to soften her up for a bit.” She looked down at the bound mare. The mare glared back, doubling her hard look. She’s pouting now. And her tiny fangs were now protruding from her upper lip.

Rockwell looked at the camera with a faux serious face. “Behind that squishy face lays a vault made of iron, very hard to breach.” The camera focused its shot on the thestral again. When she realized that she’s on camera she puffed her face up to appear more intimidating. It resulted doing the opposite.

Rockwell’s early morning quipping did not work on Octavia. She still remained upset. “Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe she’s inno-”

But before she could continue, Rockwell shushed her up with a hoof and then rested said hoof on her withers. He slowly guided her out the room and into the hallway. The camera followed them from behind.

“Let’s talk outside shall we?” Rockwell whispered to the now wary Octavia. Rockwell let his hoof go from Octavia’s withers once they’ve reached the hallway. He took a glance at the bound mare inside the room before looking back to her. “Are you thinking that this mare’s innocent because she’s not answering my questions?” He said in a low voice, probably to not let the thestral hear what they’re saying.

“Not thinking, I’m definitely sure she is!” Octavia retorted in hushed fury.

“Oh really? Here, let me show you something.” Rockwell marched back into the room while gesturing to Octavia to look what he’s going to do next. The bound mare whose features softened once they’ve left the room hardened again as he got in. Using the fact that she’s sitting and he’s standing, Rockwell made himself look intimidating to the mare by towering himself over her.

“I’m going to ask you again.” Rockwell said in a different voice. It sounded cold and menacing, way different than the laid back one he’s always using. It even creeped Octavia out upon hearing it. “Who are you?” He left a brief moment of silence for the mare to answer. She did not. “Why are you spying on us?” There’s another brief moment of silence, but still no answer. “Who do you work for?” 

Knowing that the mare won’t answer anyway, Rockwell exited the room again. He looked back at Octavia who was still creeped out from his ‘interrogation voice.’ “Did you see that?” He said in his normal tone while pointing back at the thestral.

“I see nothing but more proof of the mare’s innocence.” Octavia said flatly.

“Didn’t you notice anything strange in our interaction?” He said, now whispering again.

Octavia raised a brow. “Strange? What do you mean?”

“On normal circumstances,” Rockwell began. “When innocents get questioned, the first thing that will fly out of their mouths is that they would say that they are innocent and has nothing to do with the situation they are currently in. And they will constantly repeat that like it’s a mantra for the scared until they’re let go or got rid of. But this girl, acts nothing like a normal scared pony would do under such conditions. But instead she acts like a captured soldier who’s willing to take her secrets to the grave.”

Rockwell gave a small smile before continuing. “Now I don’t know what kind of cult of or organization made her act like this but it’s both endearing and hilarious at the same time.” He took another glance at the mare before looking back at Octavia. “Look at that. She’s so adorable, steadfast loyalty and all. I tried squeezing her fluffy cheeks but her teeth are very bitey.”

Octavia donned a pondering look before replying to Rockwell. “Well, maybe your claim does hold a bit of water in it but it’s still not grounds for torturing her!”

“Oh believe me it is.” Rockwell replied in an overly casual manner. “It’s just that the Bureau has a lot of ways in a making the mutest of ponies speak and you can freely pick from their plethora of selections, both painless and excruciating. And since physically hurting the locals is a violation of code number nine in the public conduct section of the BoS operations rulebook, we’ll just have to choose from the former half of the selection.”

“Former half?” Octavia raised a brow. “You mean painless tortures? I don’t even think such things exist.”

“You’d be surprised.” Rockwell said as he went in to the room again. He made himself intimidating to the mare once more by towering over her. He gave a small cough before speaking, as if to adjust his vocal chords or something. 

“This will be the last time I’m asking you this.” Rockwell said to the mare, now switching to his interrogation voice. “Who are you and who do you work for?” The mare replied with a violent hiss while attempting to struggle herself free. Rockwell pointed a hoof at the mare while looking at Octavia as if he’s presenting this as proof to reinforce his claim earlier. He lowered his hoof and looked back at the mare. “You’re not going to talk? Then so be it.” He trotted towards the phonograph, which was located at the drawer on the right side of the queen sized bed. “We’ll see about that an hour from now.” He pushed the needle on the record and it started playing. 

“The Chronicles of Agent Rouser.” The record played. “Conqueror of A Thousand Nether Regions. Narrated by Agent Haven Burrow. Book Six: Thestrals.”

As the record continued playing, Rockwell trotted briskly out of the room. Once he’s out, he quickly slammed the door shut. The sound coming from the room could not be heard anymore. Once he realized that, Rockwell gave a sigh of relief. 

“Agent Rockwell, is that a recording of a book you’re playing?” Octavia asked. There’s a hint of interest in her voice.

“No, it’s the torture.”

“What.”

“I see you’ve brought breakfast.” Rockwell said, attempting to change the topic while pointing a hoof at the mare’s basket. 

“Yes.” Octavia answered. Her eyes narrowed while doing so. “Yes I did.”

“Let me help you set it up in the dining room.”

The group was now sitting at the table in the manor’s dining room. Octavia’s basket was now emptied off of its contents. A dozen slices of still warm toast were placed on a long rectangular plate. Two sticks of butter were on a small saucer next to it. A thermos flask containing coffee was standing beside the plate of toast and was surrounded by three empty cups. Six pieces of freshly baked muffins were huddled together in a plate. And a couple of fresh, red apples were placed in a glass bowl. Several packets of cream and sugar were hastily piled near the thermos. 

Each pony was provided with a plate and some matching utensils. Octavia poured herself a cup of coffee while Rockwell was busily writing on a piece of scroll. The sounds of flowing liquid and scratching of quill on paper were the only things the camera could hear. 

“So how do you like your coffee, Agent Rockwell?” Octavia asked once she’s done stirring hers.

“Lotsa cream, lotsa sugar.” Rockwell replied while still scribbling on the piece of paper. 

Octavia complied, grabbing an empty cup and poured it with the dark brew. She then picked three packets each of cream and sugar. With her teeth, she ripped the corner of the packets and poured all of their contents on Rockwell’s cup. She stirred the liquid thoroughly with a teaspoon and hoofed it to the agent. Rockwell received while mouthing ‘thanks’ to her and took a small sip from the hot beverage. He then raised his mug to her as a gesture that he liked it, similar to the one he did with Violet and her cocoa. He took another sip and placed it on the table to continue writing. 

“Which reminds me,” Octavia said, which opted for the agent to raise his head from the piece of parchment. “Where are Cirrus and Violet?” 

“Ghosts disappear during the day.” Rockwell answered matter-of-factly.

“I see.” Octavia said, now buttering her toast. She took a bite from it before continuing. A small crunching sound can be heard. “So um, what do you think is happening to the thestral right now?”

Rockwell took another sip from his coffee. “Trust me, you don’t want to hear the stuff while having breakfast, it’d just make you throw it all up afterwards. So let’s change the topic. Let’s talk about your marefriend and her cabal for a change.”

“She is not my marefriend!” Octavia quickly shot back.

“A friend who’s a mare, but a whatever.” Rockwell grabbed himself a muffin and placed it on his plate. He tore a chunk out of it and tossed it in his mouth. He took a sip from his cup after. “So you checked on them, huh? Tell me what happened to them after we left for the manor.”

“Oh yes.” Octavia took another bite from her toast. She wiped the crumbs off her lips with a white hankie. “They went on their separate ways after the brief skirmish was over, but not poor Cliff Hanger, unfortunately. Vinyl had him meet up with her at our house where he was given a stern talking to. She relayed a message to me from him saying that he apologizes for accidentally hitting me with his sword, as he was really aiming for that ‘no good stupid policy blurting prick in a suit.’ His words not mine Agent Rockwell, although saying those lines at your face does bring me slight joy.” She took a sip from her cup afterwards. 

Rockwell stopped himself from scribbling. “Okay. Now I’m offended.”

“Really?” Octavia tilted her head. “Now?”

“Well yeah.” Rockwell replied with a shrug. “You can call me whatever you want, just don’t talk  (beep) about our policies. Those things are our babies.”

“I’m adding that one to my list of ridiculous Bureau of Secrecies facts list.” Octavia said as she drank her cup empty in one go. 

Rockwell chuckled at her answer. “So that Cliff guy must really hate me now, huh?”

“Hate is a pretty light way to put it, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said as she refilled her cup. She refilled Rockwell’s as well. “Vinyl said that Cliff made it his life’s mission to best you in combat.”

“That’s pretty bad indeed.” Rockwell said as he softly blew on his cup before taking a sip. “I really don’t know what to do.” The sarcasm in his voice was weak but it was still there. “So what other things are there?”

“They’re planning to hit the werewolves again. The date’s not yet set but Vinyl said it’s happening soon.”

“Not when I’m around they’re not.” Rockwell said as he started writing again.

“That’s what I said.” Octavia held her cup with both hooves. “And then Vinyl retorted that there’s a possibility that they will only do the deed once you leave town.”

Rockwell sighed as he stopped writing again. He leaned to the back of his chair. “Guess I’ll have to resolve this real quick.” He took one more sip from his cup. “Did you tell her about the potential third party being behind all of this? I thought about their feud earlier and I think that they are being pitted against each other as well.”

“Yes, I did tell all about it to her, and in great detail if I do say so myself.” Octavia stared at her reflection in her cup as she continued. “But you know Vinyl and how stubborn she can be. She remained unconvinced despite having the facts laid down before her.” 

Octavia looked back at the agent who was now scribbling again. But once he felt that he was being stared at, he immediately raised his head and looked at Octavia again. “And I also have this hunch that even if we found out who the saboteurs are, Vinyl would still hit the werewolves and then deal with them after.”

Rockwell raised a brow while drinking his coffee. “That’s a very pessimistic thought coming from you.”

“I can’t help it.” Octavia shrugged. “It’s just the way Vinyl rolls, I guess.”

“How about this.” Rockwell set his cup down. “To put your bad thoughts at ease, how about we search all over town today for any evidences that the perps may have left or hidden? It’s good exercise too, considering that you’re always out of breath every time we started running.”

“No I do not!” Octavia cried defensively. “Although I do love to join you in your search but I’m going to our rehearsals later so I’m afraid I’ll have to take a pass. Sorry.”

Rockwell waved a dismissive hoof. “Don’t be sorry, you brought us breakfast! We should be the ones saying sorry here since we barely touched it.” He looked at the camera mare while gesturing to the food laid on the table. “Come get your hooves full with the food here. Miss Melody’s been slaving herself off making these and we’re treating it like table ornament.” The camera mare instantly complied and filled her plate with muffins and apples. 

“So what are you writing in that scroll anyway?” Octavia said, pointing Rockwell’s paper with her cup. 

“I’m ordering the tower agents to send a message to the aliens that the outskirts ghosts did not sabotage their ship. But somepony did and we’re still finding out who they are.”

Octavia giggled. “You know, when you say it like that it sounded like somepony wrote it after snuffing out a generous helping of doob.”

Rockwell smiled back. “If you think that’s trippy, then you should read my reports. What’s written inside looks like it’s taken straight out of a six year old’s attempt at writing novels.”

Octavia gave out a hearty laugh at Rockwell’s quip. The agent just continued to smile at her, but it hinted some feeling of longing in it. He then rolled up the scroll and loaded it in his flare gun. Once the gun was loaded, he kept it in his jacket and went for the toast. He also reached for the butter knife and slathered the piece of bread with the soft, creamy spread.

Octavia was about to take another sip from her cup when a thought struck her. “Wait, why do you have to search all over town when you already have a potential lead in your grasp?”

Rockwell gestured to wait as he downed his coffee. “That’s why I’m waiting for her to speak first before I start searching. To narrow things down, you know? And even if she resists, which is impossible because of the method I chose by the way, there’s still a great chance that her allies will come get her. Which means that they’ll reveal themselves to me or at least give a lead on who they actually are.” He leaned in to Octavia and made an exaggerated whispering pose. “I don’t know about you but I had a feeling that it’s going to be a group of thestrals.”

“Very funny Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said, rolling her eyes as she got up. “I’m going to check on the mare before I leave.”

“I’m going with you.” Rockwell also got up but not before grabbing an apple from the bowl. “Just a little heads up though.” He said while polishing the fruit on his sleeve. “Before you open the door to the room, cover your ears and nose first.” 

Rockwell’s last words made Octavia look back at him with obvious confusion. She shook the thought off and proceeded to head upstairs. Rockwell idly followed her as he bit on his apple, although he opened a window and fired his flare gun first. The camera silently tailed both ponies but took a glance at her unfinished plate before continuing to tail them. As the group reached the manor’s second floor, Rockwell gestured to Octavia again to cover her ears and nose before entering. Octavia still doesn’t understand what he meant and opened the door. 

The group was welcomed with the thestral mare writhing and struggling with her bindings. Frustrated moans and groans were all the sounds coming from her. She looked like a mess, with her dishevelled mane and coat that was damp from her sweating. The surface of the seat she was sitting was soaking wet, like she peed on it. Some of the clear liquid was dripping to the floor. 

The phonograph beside her was still playing. “Rouser’s hips moved in a blur. His thrusts were unrelenting; it sent every fiber of her being in pure bliss...”

Octavia slammed the door to the room, silencing all the noises inside. Her face glowed red like coal, eyes remained staring at the doorknob, lingering to the piece of metal latched to the door, as if she was attempting to replace her recent memory with nothing but the innocent images of the brass knob. 

“It smells in there.” She murmured. Her eyes were still on the doorknob, she’s gripping it tightly now. 

“I know. That’s what I told you to cover yo-”

“YOU’RE TORTURING THE MARE BY HAVING HER LISTEN TO EROTICA!!?” Octavia exploded on the agent. Her head looked like a giant piece of ember from her blushing.

“Yep.” Rockwell said flatly.

“That doesn’t make sense!”

“Let me explain.” He took another bite of the fruit. Octavia’s face looked redder than the apple’s. “I did promise to do so earlier.” His words sounded mumbled due to him talking while his mouth was full. “What you saw in that room right now is a form of torture called the ‘Rouser’s Method.’ So basically, what we do here is to read the subject a book from the ‘Chronicles of Agent Rouser: Conqueror of-‘”

“-A Thousand Nether Regions.” Octavia said rapidly. “Yes, I know. I had the misfortune of hearing it earlier. But please get to the point. Tell me how an erotic work of fiction which was supposed to provide pleasure is used to torment ponies!?”

“It’s the bindings.” Rockwell took another bite. “It keeps them from getting themselves off. And once they’ve reached the point where they can’t take it anymore, they will now willingly trade any secret information they’re hiding in exchange for their release.” He took another bite again. “They usually crack in the third phase. Our thestral just entered phase two.”

The disgust on Octavia’s face was apparent. “That’s a very underhoofed tactic, Agent Rockwell.”

“Eh.” Rockwell shrugged. “It’s harmless so I’m not really worried.”

Octavia looked back at the door again. “I’m going to set her free.”

“No you’re not.”

“But she’s suffering.”

“No she’s not.”

“You’re being rather cruel.”

“No I’m not. Listen,” Rockwell said with a concerned tone. “We’re this close to getting some answers that could save your friend’s life and several others and you’re just going to let it all go?”

“There are other ways.” Octavia replied, although her face looked conflicted. 

Rockwell bit on his apple. “But not as amusing as this one.”

“We’re in the middle of something important and you’re being childish still!?”

“To be honest,” Rockwell shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly call it torture. It’s more like a glorified edgi-”

Everypony ceased what they’re doing when somepony suddenly knocked on the manor’s door. The group’s attentions were directed downstairs, where the knocking sounds were coming from. Both Octavia and camera then focused their shots on Rockwell. But the agent was still occupied with his apple. He gestured for them to wait as he gulped down the chunk of fruit he’s chewing.

“Darn it, they’re here.” He said flatly as he tossed the apple away and entered the room. 

“Who’s they?” Octavia asked. All the anger in her voice was replaced with confusion. 

“The ponies she’s with.” Replied Rockwell as he turned the record player off. He quickly untied the panting mare and ran back to Octavia and the camera. He closed the door again. “They chose the non-violent way.” He said to them. “So they might disguise themselves as friends or family to retrieve her. And they will then use the same excuse every time that the mare we caught got way too adventurous or curious for her own...”

A loud screeching sound coming from the room cut Rockwell off.

“...good.”

The agent proceeded to open the room’s door once more and was presented with the sight of a thestral lying on the floor with a hoof on her mons pubis and a satisfied look on her face. Both her eyes were rolled up and her tongue was lolling out. A hind leg also appeared to be slightly twitching. He carried the limp mare on his back and trotted out the hallway and into the stairs. 

“Now let’s go down and meet our suspects.” Rockwell said as he passed the two mares. Octavia didn’t even reply, she just stood there with a look that’s like a distorted mix of amusement and disgust. It took them a brief moment to react but they eventually followed the agent to the living room.

As they stood the before the door that was currently knocked upon, Rockwell passed the now passed out mare to Octavia who appeared to be not too enthusiastic with the circumstance she was given. And her face looked like it’s about to cry when it appeared that something soaked her flanks. Rockwell also gestured for the camera mare to hide in the window next to the door. With that done, he opened the doors’ right half.

“Mayor Inkwell, what a surprise.” Rockwell said with his signature sarcastic tone. 

The camera mare attempted to sneak in a shot through the window’s corner. Rockwell was standing in front of the mayor and the thestral that gave them the keys to the manor.

Rockwell looked to the mare beside the mayor. She had a short silver mane and a coat of purple. A teal scarf adorned her neck. And her yellow eyes seemed to be permanently locked in a grit. “And Blurry right?” The mare gave a silent nod.

“Good morning, Agent Rockwell.”Greeted the mayor. “So how was your stay at the manor?”

“It’s a pleasant experience overall.” Rockwell said while stretching a foreleg. The bones were no longer cracking. “Although it does get spooky at times, but it’s probably just the wind amirite?” The mayor’s eye twitched as she heard his reply. “One weird thing happened last night, though. A thestral suddenly crashed herself into the manor! She remained unconscious since last night. I wanted to ask who she was or where she lives so we can take her home but she’s conked out so, yeah.”

“Oh that’s our dear Grey Star!” The mayor perked up. “She lives with her mother, Blurry in the Outskirts. We were told that this was the last place she was seen. We do apologize for the trouble she caused you. She can be quite...adventurous sometimes. But now we’ve come here to take her off your hooves. Once again, we’re terribly sorry for the all the trouble she caused.”

Rockwell gave a dismissive wave. “Nah, don’t worry about it.” A jet of green flame flew into his jacket out of a sudden. The mayor and the thestral leapt back in surprise, but Rockwell just remained in his place like nothing surprising just happened. He then pulled out his flare gun and took out the scroll inside, skimming over it. 

“Was that dragon fire just now?” Blurry said. 

For some odd reason, Blurry speaking was the thing that startled Rockwell. “That’s a secret.” He turned to look at the mayor who was still shocked after seeing a stream of fire get inside his body and he didn’t even react about it. “Grey’s currently in the couch, sleeping. Let me go get her for you.” He closed the living room door and jogged towards the couch and back. He had Octavia pass the mare she’s carrying onto his back. He opened the door again.

“Here she is.” He said as he transferred the sleeping mare to Blurry’s back. “Still sound asleep.”

“What’s that smell?” Blurry said as she started the sniffing the air within Grey Star’s vicinity.

“It’s cider, I think. She was probably drinking when she came here last night.” Rockwell’s reply earned a suspicious glare from the thestral.

“Now that we’ve gotten what we came here for, I think it’s time for us to leave.” Mayor Inkwell boldly stated. “And I’m really sorry for disturbing you this early in the morning.”

“No worries. Have a good one as well.” He gave a half wave as both ponies trotted away from the manor. He then closed the door and peered at the window. 

“I can’t believe it.” Octavia said as she approached the agent. “Mayor Inkwell is the one who’s behind all of this?”

“I know right?” Rockwell replied sarcastically. He turned to look at the camera. “Who knew it would be her?”

“I-I don’t understand.” Octavia placed a hoof on her head. “What does she have against us?”

“Guess we’ll just have to find out ourselves. Wanna come with us and stalk her?”

“I can’t.”

“Oh right, day job."
> Chapter Ten: You're Next
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rockwell was standing outside the manor. Behind him laid a vast patch of lush green grass that covered the hill. The sky this morning was almost clear, with a few clouds slowly hovering above. The scenery was a polar opposite of what the camera recorded last night, much more scenic rather than horrific.

“See?” The agent said as he looked at the mare behind the camera with appreciation. “The hat and glasses go really well with the camera. You look like a tourist now.”

“What about you?” The camera mare asked. “Where’s your hat and glasses?”

Rockwell put his glasses on, probably to protect his eyes from the brightness of the morning sun. “You’ll be the tourist and I’ll be your tour guide, Mr. Hot Spot of the East Equestria Touring Company.”

“You don’t look like a Mr. Hot Spot. And tour guides don’t wear black suits.”

“We’re a fancy touring service.” He started walking and gestured the mare to follow her. “Our disguise is complete, let’s get a move on.”

The camera followed the agent as he trotted down the bottom of the hill and into the town of Ponyville. There were a few ponies already roaming around the town. Some of them can be seen browsing at the products of the stalls in the marketplace. Strangely, none of them found the agent in black peculiar, as no eye was ever laid on him. It’s like his invisible. 

Once they reached the town square, Rockwell headed straight into a small but quaint cafe. He trotted towards the tables that the shop set up outside. Each table has four wooden chairs surrounding it. And the middle of the table had an umbrella filled with vibrant colors. Rockwell took the table at the farthest end of the left side, just under the shade of a great oak tree. And not a moment later a waitress approached them and gave both of them a menu.

Rockwell gestured for the camera to pan itself sideways. It quickly complied, turning itself on the side. The shot was now focused on the view of the town hall. In front of it appeared to be two figures having a chat. The camera zoomed in on the two figures. They were revealed to be Mayor Inkwell and Blurry. And the passed out Grey Star was still resting on Blurry’s back. 

Rockwell looked back at the camera mare. “And you said the trail would’ve gone cold when we tried following them twenty minutes later.” A smug grin formed on his face. “Now who’s the right pony here? Pay up.” He held a hoof in front of the camera. A single bit landed on his hoof, making a small ringing sound when it was tossed. “Oh yeah, come to daddy.” Rockwell kept the hoof in his pant pocket. “It may not replace the sum I lost last night, but a win’s a win.”

Both ponies had their attentions focused back on the mayor and the thestral near the town hall. “I wonder what they’re talking about.” Rockwell said.

“Probably something important.”

“Maybe.” Rockwell replied. “But not too important that it’s worth talking about it in broad daylight. And watching thestrals during the day seemed weird to me. It’s like looking at Celestia abstaining from cake. It just doesn’t feel right looking at it.”

“It could be the bat wings.”

“Maybe. But dragons have similar looking wings and they don’t look off walking in the day.”

“Those are not bat wings.”

“But they are leathery.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“I know.” Rockwell leaned on the back of the chair. “Consequences of making small talk.” He looked back to the mares at the town hall. The camera followed. Both mares were still talking. “To think that nopony has ever wondered why there’s a passed out pony on Blurry’s back. Eh, they might take a while discussing whatever it is they’re discussing there.” He looked on his menu. “Anyway, wanna call the waitress and give her our orders?” 

An image of a menu was raised from the bottom of the camera. It almost took half of the screen. It has wide a selection, ranging from different kinds of brews and a large of assortment of pastries that would go along with them. 

“So uh, what are you getting?”

“How about a cupcake?” A squeaky sounding voice suddenly came out of nowhere. “Sugarcube corner is giving free samples!”

The camera mare gave a surprised gasp.

“Oh Celestia.” Rockwell said tiredly while slamming a hoof to his face. 

The owner of the voice earlier finally revealed herself to the camera. It was Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. She was happily bouncing around the defeated looking agent. On her back was a tray filled with cupcakes of varying colors and design. None of them seemed to fall as she continued bouncing around the troubled Rockwell. 

“It’s me silly! Pinkie!” Pinkie said, now bouncing in place. She had an excessively eager look on her face as she stared at the agent. “Have you forgotten about me now, Rocky? Because I didn’t! Are you on another mission right now? Are you keeping dragons away from Ponyville again? Came to check up on us if another parasprite infestation appeared? I see you’ve brought a new friend! You’re staying at the manor in the Outskirts right? Want me to throw a Pinkie Party for her lat-”

Rockwell managed to get a hoof on Pinkie’s bouncing withers and gently pinched it. The chatty pink mare suddenly fainted, smacking her face on the table and collapsing straight to the ground. For some strange reason, the tray didn’t tumble but was instead neatly placed beside her. And the cupcakes were unharmed as well. 

He slowly got up from his seat and carried the now sleeping Pinkie up. He had her sit on his chair and then placed the tray filled with cupcakes on the table. He pulled out his vanisher ward and stretched her eyelids open. He gave each eye three flashes, making a total of nine.  He then placed his menu on her face to make her look like she’s taking a nap...early in the morning.

“Everytime.” Rockwell said before giving a drawn out sigh. 

“Did she just call you ‘Rocky?’”

Rockwell pointed a hoof at the town hall. “The mares are splitting up.” He said, ignoring the camera mare’s question. The camera panned its shot back to the town hall. Both Mayor Inkwell and Blurry did go on their separate ways. The former trotted inside the town hall while the latter, with a bit of difficulty, still managed to fly away with the passed out Grey Star in tow.

The camera tailed Rockwell as he followed the slow flying Blurry. The mare led the agent back to the Outskirts. She landed to a two story house. Rockwell and the camera mare stood a couple of feet away from them, just hiding behind a bush near the wall of another house. Four thestrals came out of the house when Blurry stood on the doorstep, two pairs of stallions and mares. Blurry passed Grey Star to one of the thestral stallions. She had a brief chat with them and flew away.

“So she’s heading to Everfree, huh?” Rockwell said, still eyeing the flying Blurry, who flew much faster without the thestral cargo burdening her. “Weird.” Rockwell looked at the camera with a smile. “I’ve been saying that word all night long. I can’t believe I’m saying it all day too.” 

He and the camera focused their attentions back at the house. One of the thestral mares appeared to notice Rockwell spying on them. She notified the others and they slowly trotted towards the agent’s direction. 

Rockwell looked back at the camera mare and lowered his glasses. “I believe that’s our cue to leave.” He began to slowly but casually trot away, so did the camera mare. 

As Rockwell and the camera continued to roam the empty streets of the Outskirts, the camera panned its shot behind them. From afar, there appeared to be three thestrals on their tail. Their movements were brisk and had their wings opened. The thestrals ceased their running and were now hovering on the air. The camera turned back on the unsuspecting Rockwell, who was still trotting casually like a tourist.

“They fly now.” The camera mare said.

Rockwell turned his head around slightly, looking at their pursuers. “They fly now?”

“They fly now.”

“Yikes.” Rockwell said flatly. He and the camera mare suddenly ran. The camera didn’t even bother turning around again. It just ran fast as it could. The view on the screen was pretty shaky when it did. They took a hard right at a crossing. “In this case, we’re much better off hiding than running. Let’s find a house, any house as long as it’s unoccupied.”

“How about that one?” A pink hoof appeared in front of the camera, pointing at the backside of a familiar looking house. 

“Looks familiar.” Rockwell said. “I like it.”

He and the camera rushed towards the house’s backdoor. He gripped the doorknob and started twisting it. It’s locked.

“Can you lock pick it?” The camera mare asked. 

“No,” Rockwell replied. “But I can use my vanisher ward to erase the lock’s memory of its security pattern, opening it as a result.”

“Really?”

“I was being sarcastic. What kind of world do you think we live in? Science and circuits land? I am an earth pony though.” Rockwell backed away from the door. He turned his body and pulled his hind legs back in the manner of a recoiled spring. He thrust his hind legs on the door, bucking it open. 

He looked to the camera and waved a hoof to the inside of the house like it’s his. “Come on, let me show you inside.”

The camera followed Rockwell as he hurriedly went inside the house. They appeared to be in a kitchen. He closed the backdoor and peered through one of the windows, using its thick curtains to conceal himself from any possible onlooker outside. The camera did as well, minus the curtain thing.

And not a moment as they started looking at the window, their pursuers arrived. They were still hovering from the ground, carefully looking at each of the houses they pass by. Rockwell immediately crawled away from the window once a thestral mare was looking at their direction. 

He gave the camera another smile. “Pretty close call, don’t you think?” He said softly. He slowly got up and trotted around the kitchen. “Let’s go by the other windows to observe them further, preferably upstairs. Although I don’t know if this house even had a second floo-”

A white blur suddenly tackled Rockwell. He went down the floor for the second time. Purple petals suddenly exploded from the area where Rockwell and this mysterious pony were struggling. They twisted and turned on the floor, sometimes hitting their backs and heads on the oven or drawers. Their struggling forms looked reminiscent of that one Mistmanean symbol, the yin and yang. Once the ‘fight’ was over, Rockwell prevailed. He mounted the back of his now prone opponent, raising the pony’s head slightly upwards using his vanisher ward that was held horizontally on the pony’s neck. Although this victory seemed moot when he found out who he was fighting.

“What in Tartarus!” Rockwell cried in genuine surprise. “You’re Vinyl Scratch!” He immediately let the mare go.

Vinyl coughed a few times while holding her neck before replying. “Yeah no (Beep), (Beep) hole! What are you schmucks doing in my house!? I thought you guys were werewolves!”

“That explains the wolfsbane.” Rockwell said as he looked on the floor, where several purple petals were scattered around. “You know, if you would’ve used rose petals I might have gotten easier on you.”

“Haha.” Vinyl said sarcastically as she adjusted her glasses. “You broke my sword last night you (Beep)! That’s why I was forced to only use (Beeping) wolfsbane now!”

“You did have it repaired right?” Rockwell replied, getting up.

“Of course I did!” Vinyl retorted, her anger never faltering. “I’m not an idiot! I’m gonna have it back in three days!”

“Ah.” Even with his glasses on, Rockwell looked like his mind just connected two things together. “So you’re going to attack the wolves in three days time.”

“How did y-” Vinyl cut herself off. She looked like somepony caught her with her hoof on the cookie jar. “What made you say that?”

Rockwell flashed her a condescending smile. “So you’re not an idiot, huh?”

“(Beep) you, agent Rockwell. (Beep). You.”

“And good morning to you too.” Rockwell looked around the room as if he was searching for something. “Anyway, where do you keep your garlic?”

“The (Beep) are you rattling on now?”

“Well,” Rockwell replied, still looking. “Since I’m already in somepony’s house, I might as well have some. Or a clove at least, you know, just in case.”

“Hey! Look at who you’re talking to right now.” Rockwell stopped his snooping and looked at Vinyl. She bored her fangs at him when he did, pointed a hoof at herself too. “Do I look like I own a garlic friendly household here?”

Rockwell shrugged. “I dunno.” He walked towards the kitchen’s pantry that was filled to the brim with spices, sides, and snacks. “Your marefriend might’ve kept some.”

“Marefriend?” Vinyl said, anger fading from her voice. “You mean Octy? You think so?”

“Sure, why not?” Rockwell’s response had the vampire mare turn scarlet. “She’s a fancy mare. She likes pasta, right?” Vinyl nodded, although a bit blankly. She’s still probably occupied of the prospect of a relationship with her fellow musician. 

Rockwell started digging in into the pantry’s contents. “And considering she’s the only one who cooks here, I’m guessing she might have...” He pulled out a couple bulbs of garlic that were placed in a vacuum sealed bag. “...kept some.” He showed the bag to Vinyl, who was instantly snapped out from her trance. “See?”

“So that’s why I can’t smell it when I’m in the kitchen.” Vinyl gave an appreciative hum.

“Very considerate.” Rockwell said as he opened the pouch and pulled a single bulb and kept it in his jacket. He then looked at the camera before saying. “She’s a keeper.”

He put the pouch back in the pantry and turned to look at Vinyl. “Also. Since I’m in this household now, let’s play diplomacy. I want you,” He pointed a hoof at Vinyl. “And your group to make peace with the werewolves.”

“What!?” Vinyl snarled. “Are you crazy!? There’s no way we’re doing that! They started it! And if there’s anypony who ought to do some apologizing here it’s them! Make them apologize to us then we’ll talk!”

“Well,” Rockwell scratched his nose, carefully avoiding the spot where his band-aid was placed. “What if they’re not the ones doing it? What if there’s a third party involved here that’s pitting both sides to fight each other?”

“Again with the third party (Beep)! If you have no hard proof to show for it, I’m out. Or better, get outta my house!”

“I have a lead.” Rockwell said matter-of-factly. “It’s in Everfree. If we go there now, we still might make it.”

Vinyl growled in frustration, pulling her hair for added effect. “Are you being serious right now!? It’s the (Beeping) day you (Beep)! I’ll burn to a crisp if I step out now! Look, just tell me where it is and maybe I’ll check it at six. Now go! Shoo! I still have some sleeping to do.” 

She was about to trot back to her room when Rockwell stopped her by placing a hoof on her shoulder. “If we don’t go now, we might lose the lead.”

“Why the (Beep) are you dragging me there for!” Vinyl shot back while swatting Rockwell’s hoof off her. “Go there yourself you lazy piece of (Beep)!”

“It’s just not fun going in there by my lonesome.” Rockwell said casually. “I need a companion, somepony I can talk to while travelling there. Your marefriend did a good job being one. I reckon you will be too.”

“No can do Doctor Whooves. I’d rather stay here with my pillow than be with you! I have a busy night tonight, get outta my house now!”

“If you come with me now, I could bump your inspection score up ten points.”

Vinyl’s ears perked up. “Really? You can do that?”

“Yep.” Rockwell said as he pulled out a cigarette stick and bit on it. “As quick as snapping a sword in half.”

Vinyl only replied with a scowl. 

Rockwell chuckled softly at Viny’s reaction. “Now go get your daytime kit.” He said as he slightly opened one of the kitchen’s windows.

The group was now outside, slowly trotting towards Ponyville’s exit. As usual, most ponies were oblivious to the agent’s presence. They just kept passing by him like he’s nothing but a breeze of air. This scenario got even weirder with Vinyl accompanying them. The mare has now donned her daytime kit, which consisted of a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. Vinyl also applied a single coat of sunscreen on the most exposable parts of her body. Rockwell suggested that she should add more coats on it but she insisted that one was just fine. As they continued their walking, Vinyl’s hooves were now starting to slightly smoke.

“And now I’m starting to smoke!” Vinyl angrily pointed out to the agent. “I told you going out was a bad idea!”

“That’s because you didn’t follow what I said.” Rockwell said calmly, probably not to draw the public’s attention to him. “I told you to lather it till no strand of hair stands out. But look at what you did. It’s still as spiky as your mane.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just glad I brought this with me.” Rockwell said as he pulled out Vinyl’s bottle of sunscreen from his jacket pocket. He then tossed the bottle to Vinyl. “There, now triple coat those smoking hooves of yours.”

Vinyl looked at the bottle she’s holding briefly and glared back at Rockwell. “I can’t believe it. You stole my sunblock!”

“No.” Rockwell replied, his tone stoic. “What I did was I assumed for the worst and brought this thing with me in case it happens. And as a matter of fact, it did. So please...triple coat those hooves, not double.”

“Shut up!” Vinyl said as she opened the bottle and started putting the protective cream on herself. “I’m getting to it!”

“Yeah, nice and thick.” Rockwell said as he pretended to help her put on the sunscreen. He switched his voice to sound like an authority figure mocking his subordinates. So basically, he’s using his normal voice. “Add a little more there. You missed a spot.”

“I said shut it!”

“Alright!” Rockwell exclaimed once Vinyl was done with the second coat. “Two down, one to go.”

“You know,” Vinyl said threateningly. “You are this close from getting jabbed right in the face.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rockwell waved a hoof dismissively. “Cover your hooves with three coats of sunscreen first so they’ll hit harder.”

Vinyl was practically growling at this point. She was breathing heavily that steam was coming out of her snout. It’s either she’s really mad or she haven’t put proper coating on her face. She did control her angry breathing a moment later, taking a couple deep breaths as if to calm herself down.

“So...” She continued her rhythmic breathing, which was doing wonders to her temper. “What kind of stuff are we looking for in the forest?”

“Finally, somepony to exposit to.” Rockwell said as they passed by a small cottage. “Does the name Blurry ring any bells to you?”

“Kinda.” Vinyl said, raising her head like she’s remembering something. The rays of the sun forced her to look down again. “Isn’t she like the mayor’s assistant or something?”

“Something like that. We suspect the mayor and her are behind all of this.”

“What?” Vinyl’s ears perked up under the hoodie. “That’s a pretty big claim you’re making there. You better have some solid proof to back that up.”

“I know.” Rockwell replied in a courteous tone with undertones of ‘duh’ behind it. “That’s why we’re here in Everfree, to find one.”

“Where’d you get the idea that it was them?”

“They sent somepony to spy on us.” Rockwell grinned a little. “But the mayor retrieved the spy before I could wring some info out of her.”

“Why didn’t you just you know, insist to keep her with you?”

“No, no. That’d be counterproductive.” Rockwell said as he shook his head. “I gave her up so as to not arouse suspicion that I’m onto them, although that encounter earlier did raise a few unwanted flags unfortunately.” He shrugged before continuing. “But what’s done is done.”

“So what’s your plan then?”

“Nothing complex, really.” Rockwell casually replied. “Find out what they’re plotting and stop it from happening. That’s the entirety of it.”

“Oh. Good thing I asked” Even with her glasses on, it’s still pretty clear that Vinyl rolled her eyes at Rockwell’s words. “I never would have figured it out myself.”

“It would’ve gotten much simpler if you just complied to my requests. Okay, we’re here.”

“What’d you just say?”

Rockwell gave Vinyl a flat stare. “I said we’re here.” He pointed at the forest in front of him. It still looked mysterious and dangerous in the day as it was at night. “Everfree, again, oh look. There’s the campfire we built last night. I say we should light it up...just in case.”

“Do you always babble to yourself like that?”

“It’s called babbling?” Rockwell said to the camera, pointing at himself.

“Whatever. I’m going in.” Vinyl trotted briskly into the woods. Rockwell and crew immediately followed. 

But Vinyl suddenly halted when one of her forelegs started sizzling. The smoke coming out from it was faster than the ones she experienced earlier. She quickly pulled her hoof away from whatever it was that was burning her. She cried in pain as she did so. She rolled to the ground when she began to lift her injured foreleg, still grunting in pain. 

“My hoof! It burns!” She cried, still in pain. 

Rockwell quickly approached the mare. He dragged her hurting form away from the forest. “What happened?” 

“I don’t know!” Vinyl cried out. “But when I walked into the woods I just started burning up!”

“Let me look at your hoof.” Rockwell gently brought Vinyl’s hurt foreleg towards himself. The camera followed where he was looking. The burns on her hoof looked different than usual. The burns appeared to look purple. And instead of covering the hoof they looked like a series of laces that were tied around the appendage. Fortunately for Vinyl, her fast vampiric regeneration was now starting to take effect. Slowly, the purple lace-like burn marks faded away.

Rockwell looked above him to see if there were any sun rays that have penetrated the canopy that might have hurt Vinyl. So far he could see none. There were nothing but the thick shades that that the forest provided. He let Vinyl’s hoof go. The burn marks were almost gone now. 

Rockwell got up from the ground. “This is weird.” He said to himself. “Too weird...I may have to contact the tower agents again about this.”

“The what?” Vinyl asked, feeling alright now.

“Put on a fourth coat and try getting in to the forest again.”

Rockwell was hit with a bottle of sunscreen in the nose, right where the band-aid was placed.
> Chapter Eleven: I Know What You Did
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You know...” Rockwell said as he gently rubbed his nose. “That thing you did, that was uncalled for.” He made small sniffing sounds with each of his nostrils, as if to check if he could still smell with them. 

Vinyl grinned. “Feels good though.”

“Uhuh,” Rockwell tossed the bottle back to Vinyl. “Another one of those and I’ll mark it up as an assault of a BoS agent. Yeesh.” He rubbed his nose again. “Right in the band-aid.”

“You call getting tossed by a bottle of sunblock an assault?”

“Correction.” Rockwell replied as he trotted into the forest’s entrance. “It’s not sunblock, it’s a blunt object.”

“Don’t go in there!” Vinyl cried. “You’ll burn!”

“Thanks for the warning.” Rockwell calmly said as he looked around. “But for some strange reason, I can’t seem to catch on fire.” He pulled out his pen and a piece of paper while looking around. “These are strange times indeed.”

“What are you doing?” Vinyl said while watching Rockwell scribble something on the paper. 

“Sending a message. I need answers, fast.” Once he’s done writing on the paper, he rolled it up and pulled out his flare gun. He loaded the scroll into the device and fired it upwards. A large stream of fire swiftly flew away from the gun and into the deeper parts of the forest. 

“So that was the thing that caused the large explosion of green fire last night, huh.” Vinyl said as she stared at the now gone stream of flames. 

Rockwell kept the gun back in his jacket pocket, as well as his pen. “That’s a secret.”

“Yeah whatever. So what’s next?”

“Stay here for a moment while I follow Blurry inside.” Rockwell said as he gestured for Vinyl to be still. He began trotting towards the inside of the forest when a silhouetted blur quickly flew above them. The dark figure left a trail of falling leaves in its wake. All the ponies on the ground followed its quick movement as it exited Everfree. 

“Nevermind.” Rockwell said as he exited Everfree as well. “There she goes, flying back to the Outskirts. Very interesting.” He gestured for the group to follow him. “Come on, let’s tail her.”

Vinyl let out a groan before complying. “I can’t believe we came all this way for nothing.”

“Not nothing.” Rockwell replied. “Those purple burns of yours would beg to differ. I’m pretty sure it’s a major clue. Although I don’t know which puzzle this piece will fit into, yet.”

“Just tell me where we’re going next.” Vinyl sounded annoyed. “And it better have lots of shade!”

“We’re going to that one thestral house.” Rockwell said as he and the group headed back into town. “Knowing thestrals, they probably have their shades in spades.”

Vinyl groaned even more. “I can’t stand rhymes this early in the morning.”

“Knowing that then I’d like to add one more.”

“Just shut up already.”

The group’s walk back to the Outskirts was a peaceful one. It was too peaceful that Rockwell insisted Vinyl to ask him anything, just like what Octavia was doing when she’s still with them. Unfortunately for Rockwell, Vinyl wasn’t the talking type. Not now, at least. It could be the fact that sun became hotter as the day progressed or she was still grumpy that the agent dragged her away from her well deserved sleep. Either way, it made the vampire mare more irritable than usual. Their interaction during their trot towards the thestral house could be summarized with Rockwell having Vinyl to ask him questions and then Vinyl would respond by threatening him to throw her bottle of sunscreen at his nose again. 

“So this is the house I’m talking about.” Rockwell said to Vinyl as he pointed a hoof to the house they spied on earlier. 

The group were now standing behind a bush. It’s where Rockwell and the camera mare hid earlier. They were now laying low unlike before, probably to better conceal themselves from the more wary residents of the house. They were huddled together like a hoofball team seconds before a match. From afar, they probably look like a gang of bystanders engaging in some kind of illegal activity. 

“Cool.” Vinyl replied, her tone sarcastic. “Now what?”

As the camera focused on Rockwell’s face, Vinyl’s features were clearly reflected on the agent’s dark glasses. “We’ll raid it.”

“What.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Rockwell broke into a grin. “It’s like setting up a surprise party. And we’re serving them knuckle sandwiches.”

“Knuckle sandwiches?”

“Hand gang slang, never mind that. Alright, here’s the plan. You and I will head into the building and buck the door open. Once we’re in, I’ll daze them up using my ward. You should look away from me during that by the way. And once they’re stunned, you and I will subdue them. Interrogation comes right after. Now, I counted five thestrals in there earlier and if Blurry would be in there, they’d total up to six. But with your vampiric abilities and my skills, I believe we ca-”

“Now hold on a minute there.” Vinyl interrupted. “We can’t just barge ourselves into somepony’s home like that! What if we’re wrong?”

“This is the same house where Blurry dropped the spy off,” Rockwell flatly replied. “And its residents were the ones chasing us earlier which led me to accidentally stumble upon your house. I think our Mr. Wrong here has now boarded a train to Rightsville.”

“But still.” Vinyl said, a bit hesitant.

“If we interrogate them, we’d finally know the truth behind the vandalization of your house.”

Vinyl raised her head up and gave a long sigh. “Fine. I’m in. But I’m still sure the wolves did it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rockwell said while waving his hoof dismissively. “Hold on to it while you still can.” He approached the door, the two mares followed. He looked at Vinyl and gestured her to follow what he’s doing. “Get ready to buck the door.” They positioned themselves in front of the entrance, legs at the ready.

“And push.” The two ponies kicked the door with full force. The thin slab of lumber had no chance against their joint strength, slamming itself open with lock permanently broken. The now open door revealed five idle ponies: three mares (one of them was Grey Star) sitting on the couch and two stallions standing in front of a workbench looking at some strange crystal device.

“What the (Beep)!” Cried one of the stallions. 

Vinyl didn’t let another word come out of them and instantly charged through. Rockwell on the other hoof, wasn’t as eager as his companion. He looked at the camera first as a smile formed on his face. “Just stay outside, it’s safer.” He said to the camera mare as he slowly closed the door back. 

The only thing the camera can see now was the image of the closed door, although sounds can still be heard inside it. “One, two, three, four, five.” The sound of Rockwell’s voice said. “Hey you, where’s Blurry?” “Get the agent!” said a stallion’s voice inside the house. A sudden flash of white highlighted the door’s borders. It probably came from Rockwell’s vanisher ward. “Scratch, now’s your cue.” Rockwell’s voice calmly ordered. A few slamming sounds and body thuds could be heard right after. There were also sounds of struggling coming out the door, and few sounds of furniture breaking and bones cracking. And then there was a brief silence. 

“You guys got any rope?” Rockwell’s voice said. Suddenly, a mare screamed in pain. It was then followed by bumping and smacking sounds. “Scratch, go find me one. A long one.” Another cracking of bones followed. “Hurry up, there’s only so much bone I can crack on these guys.” Another batch of smacking and thudding came afterwards. “And that’s for touching my band-aid.” Rockwell’s voice was starting to sound annoyed. “Hey you. Grey Star right? Put the chair down, girl. This isn’t pro wrestling, put the chair dow-” Another furniture was broken behind doors. “Thank Celestia you thestrals are light, otherwise I won’t be able to use you guys as meat shields. Grey Star, honey. Put the table down or I’ll make a pony pretzel out of your friend here. Yeah, no, scratch that. Wanna see it? I always start with the hind legs.” Another cracking of bones can be heard. And it was followed by a mare’s scream of agonizing pain. “No!” Came another feminine voice, it was probably Grey Star’s. “And I believe the foreleg goes in here...” Another cracking of bones came, and once more the screaming followed. “Okay I give up!” Grey Star’s voice cried. “Good, now drop the table and come over here.”

“I found some rope!” Vinyl’s voice said. “If it’s not enough, I also brought some duct tape.”

“What in Tartarus?” Rockwell’s voice replied. “No. You do not use duct tape to bind ponies. It’ll ruin the fur. Just tie them up with the rope. Yes, yes, right there. We’re short on rope so just focus on the forelegs and their barrels. Good job, Scratchy! Good girl.”

“Don’t call me that.” Vinyl hissed. 

A soft pitter-patter of hooves can be heard approaching the door. The door to the house opened slightly. Rockwell’s head popped out of it. “We just finished tidying up. Why don’t you come inside?”

The camera complied and went in. Rockwell fully opened the door as the camera mare went inside. The screen was presented with quite the view. The living room was in a state of disarray. All the furniture were broken, bits and pieces of wood, plastic, and metal were scattered on the floor. The couch has foams and springs coming out of it. The curtains were ripped to shreds. Surprisingly, the windows were just fine. And also the workbench, it looked like nopony has ever touched it during the violent encounter. 

The camera focused on Rockwell and Vinyl, who were standing over the bound thestrals. Vinyl’s sweats had some fabric torn off of it, but none were deep enough to show her fur which could potentially expose herself to the sun. Rockwell on the other hoof, has his jacket torn in all directions again. It looked like the same jacket he wore when he entered Ponyville last night, after fighting the minotaurs. 

But the thestrals had it so much worse. As the camera panned down on them, it can see that most of them had bruises all over their bodies. Some had limp limbs. And almost all of them had black eyes to boot. The camera focused its shot to a thestral stallion, who sported a pair of black eyes. He looked like he’s a having a spa day. But his eyes were wearing prunes instead of cucumbers. 

“As you can see.” Rockwell said to the camera. “The subjects are now bound and ready. Although due to resources being limited, we can only partially bind them. So I’d be wary a bit if I were you. We rejected the use of duct tape to provide additional binding because I don’t want to inflict any serious damage to our subjects.” He giggled nervously as he stared at the mare he almost made a pretzel out of. “So anyway, why don’t we start our interrogation?”

“Interrogation?” Grey Star said, as if she was remembering something. “Are you going to torture me again?” There was fear in her voice, but also hints of anticipation mixed in.

“Uh-oh.” Rockwell said with a playful tone. “Somepony developed a taste. No, not that. We’re desperate for answers right now so we’re doing the ‘real’ BoS way this time. It may be drab and boring, but it’s kinda efficient.”

“You won’t get a word out of us!” The stallion devoid of black eyes cried. There was genuine determination in his voice. 

Rockwell grinned at the camera. “That’s what they always say.” He pulled out his ward and adjusted his glasses. He looked at the group and gestured for them to look away. The camera suddenly focused its shot on the workbench, where a device that looked like it’s a vase that was made out of purple crystal shards was standing. There’s a metal rod in the middle and at its tip was a small refined looking orb with a darker purple color aaand there was a sudden flash of white. The camera looked back at the thestrals. They all looked dazed and confused now.

“Wait.” Rockwell leaned in close to the stallion. “Aren’t you the guy that owed me money last night?”

“What?”

“You know what?” Rockwell leaned back and pointed the ward at the stallion again. “Never mind.” He flashed the guy again. Acting on reflex, the camera turned away again and back to the agent once the flash was over.

“Please...” Rockwell said, as if he had a conversation that was interrupted by something. “Continue.”

“About what?” The stallion with the okay eyes asked innocently.

“About the plan in having the vampires and werewolves to fight each other.”

“What’s there to tell?” The stallion shrugged. “The plan’s plain and simple, have both sides fight each other by using the tools they gave us.”

“Tools?” Rockwell said, curious. “Who gives the tools?”

“Mayor Inkwell.” The stallion answered matter-of-factly.

Rockwell looked at Vinyl, his smug grin put all her doubts and suspicions at ease. He then looked back at the stallion. “Where do the tools come from?”

“I don’t know. They don’t really tell us everything. They just give us the tools and we do what we’re asked to do.”

“How loyal of you.” Rockwell said dryly.

“Of course.” The stallion shrugged. “It’s what we do. Wait, I’m not supposed to tell you that.”

Rockwell flashed him again. “Please...continue.”

“About what?” The stallion asked innocently, again.

Rockwell pointed a hoof at the device on the workbench. All eyes followed. “About that modern art looking contraption right there. I thought it’s an art piece at first. But next to it is a schematic on how to make it so...yeah. What’s it for? It looks important, and expensive.”

The camera focused back on the stallion. “I don’t know. It’s supposed to be a bomb of some sort. Blurry is the only one who tinkers with it. That’s all we know about it.”

Rockwell looked at the other thestrals while lowering his glasses. “Does this guy speak on your behalf?” The other thestrals replied with nods and mutters of agreement. “Oh well, continue.”

“I’m afraid that’s it.” The stallion replied. His tone slightly apologetic, like he’s disappointed that that’s all the info he could give the agent. “They don’t really tell us everything, except what we need to know. And then we just do what we do.”

“How loyal of you.” Rockwell said dryly.

“Of course.” The stallion shrugged. “It’s what we do. Wait, I’m not supposed to tell you tha-hey I feel like I’ve done this before. It feels so familia-”

Rockwell flashed him again. For the umpteenth time, all the thestrals look dazed and confused. They just stared at the agent blankly as he kept his ward back to his jacket. He still left the glasses on though. 

“You ponies are practicing escape magic and are on the verge of perfecting your technique?” Rockwell said with a bit of uncertainty, even he doesn’t feel convinced of the new memory he’d like to give to the thestrals. All thestrals just stared at him blankly in reply.

“So what are you looking at me for?” Rockwell said while gesturing for them to proceed. “Wriggle on.”

Stupidly enough, the thestrals obeyed. Within their bindings, they look like newly hatched maggots wriggling their way on the surface of a rotting fruit. As they continued what they’re doing, Rockwell snatched up some things from around the house. 

“I’ll just take this.” Rockwell said as he grabbed the crystal bomb. “And this.” The schematic was next. “And also this.” The bottle labelled ‘Sedative: Bovine’ was last. 

“Let’s go.” He said to the group as he exited the building first.

As they got out of the house, both Rockwell and Vinyl engaged in their own personal activities for a moment. Rockwell rolled down the schematic and kept it within his jacket pocket. He did the same with the bottle of cow sedative. And after that, he tried to straighten his jacket by brushing his hoof on it as an attempt to tidy it up. Eventually, he realized it was futile and stopped. 

The camera centered its shot to Vinyl who stood close next to the house to shield herself from the sun. She took her hoodie off and raised it to the sun’s direction to check for any noticeable holes. Her face had a relieved look when she realized that there was none. She put on another coat of sunblock on her upper body before putting the hoodie on again. 

“I believe an apology is in order.” Rockwell said as Vinyl approached him. 

Vinyl lowered her glasses, revealing a pair of narrowed eyes.. “What do you mean apology?”

“Now that we have a clear view on who the real perps are, I suggest that you and your group to arrange a meeting with the werewolves tonight and apologize to them.”

“No way dude.” Vinyl raised her glasses back. “The way I see it, the thestrals hit the wolves first. And when they thought that we did it, they hit us after.”

“That’s not what happened at all. As a matter of fact, it happened the other way around.” Rockwell snorted before continuing. “Because what werewolf in their right mind would leave things like paw shaped marks on the roof? That’s a very stupid thing to do. And basing on that fact alone had me thinking that it’s all the thestrals’ doing. They confirmed it earlier. They must have tools that could create those kinds of shapes to mislead their targets. And I know those tools can be found here, I just don’t know where, specifically speaking.”

“But not in that house.” Vinyl replied. “I already checked all of it when I was looking for rope.”

Rockwell pointed a hoof to the house. “Why don’t we ask them again? They might not know where they got the tools, but I’m sure they know where they were hiding them.” He rushed back to the door and opened it. The camera focused the shot on the inside. The thestrals were now gone, all that’s left was the rope that bound them lying on the floor.

Rockwell let out a hum. “They’re gone.”

“Hey Rockwell.” Vinyl called. The shot was now centered on her. She was looking at the sky, particularly at the five small figures that were flying away from them. “Aren’t those your perps?” Her tone was of cheerful mockery.

“Well, well, what do you know.” Rockwell said as his eyes were locked on the escaping thestrals. “Magic really is real.”

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Sorry.” Rockwell chuckled. “Got caught up in the moment. So there goes our lead, I guess. Ah, no matter. Leads are like appetites. If you lose one, another will present itself eventually.”

“Let me guess, the bureau taught you that?”

“Of course. With the right amount of bits, you can easily swim through their four month education course on motivational speaking. And speaking of bits, that guy we interrogated owed me a lot. Let me see if he still has my bits in there.” Rockwell trotted towards the house and began exploring it. It wasn’t long when he got out with a small pouch in his hoof. “Hah! He must have left it in a hurry. Let’s all go back to the coffee shop. I’m buying.”

“Is the bureau really offering motivational speaking courses?” Vinyl asked, stopping Rockwell in his tracks.

“I’m just kidding.” Rockwell smiled. “I needed a segue.”

The trip to the café was a short one. At Rockwell’s insistence and Vinyl’s condition, the group took the table located at the farthest end of the left side and just under the shade of a great oak tree. It was the same spot as last time. The waitress approached the group and asked for their orders. Rockwell ordered for all of them. For himself, he asked for a native with lots of cream and lots of sugar. And for Vinyl, he ordered an iced coffee that’s worth five bits of which she was hesitant to accept but caved in eventually. And lastly for the camera mare, was a cup of espresso. The service in this quaint café must’ve been great since all their orders arrived at the same time after a mere moment of ordering them. 

The group were sitting at their table silently. Rockwell took casual sips from his cup while a pink hoof at the side of the screen was holding a cup espresso. Vinyl just looked at her iced coffee; the tall glass the beverage was contained in was now beginning to moisten. 

“Drink your coffee.” Rockwell insisted Vinyl. “It’s good.”

“I told you already,” Vinyl replied as she continued to stare at her ice cold beverage. “I can’t drink coffee.”

“Of course you do.” Rockwell made his tone more insistent. “You’re like one of those ghoul things. You can’t stomach normal food but coffee’s just okay.”

“That’s not what I mean. I’m going back to sleep after this.”

“It’s decaf.” Rockwell answered flatly.

Vinyl leaned back and crossed her hooves. “Oh it’s decaf now, huh? Why didn’t I hear that when your ordered?”

“Just drink the iced coffee.” Rockwell said, shaking his head at the mare’s stubbornness.

Vinyl gave an annoyed sigh. “Fine.” With her hooves, she brought the iced coffee close to her mouth. She bit on the thin, black straw and took a small sip. Her ears suddenly perked under her hood. She took another sip again, but this time longer. She took another long one before setting it down to their table. 

“Dude,” She said as she looked at Rockwell. “That’s some pretty (Beeping) good coffee!”

“Told ya.” Rockwell said after taking a sip from his own cup. 

“I don’t know if it was worth five bits but it was pretty (Beeping) good!”

Rockwell replied by taking another sip from his coffee. The camera can spot that he’s hiding a smug grin behind his cup he’s holding. 

Vinyl held her iced coffee again to take another sip. When she set the glass down, its contents were almost gone. “So what are we doing here anyway? I don’t think we just came here for the coffee.”

“We’re not.” Rockwell said before taking another sip. He was staring at the town hall as he did so. “We’re here to formulate a plan.”

“Plan? For what?”

Rockwell set his cup down. “We’re raiding the town hall for additional evidence.”

“Raiding the town hall!?” Vinyl exclaimed in hushed whispers. “Are you crazy? We’ll get arrested for that!”

“I know.” Rockwell replied calmly. “That’s why careful planning is in order.”

Vinyl leaned back on her chair and placed both her forelegs on her face. “Dear Celestia, how did we come to this?”

Once more, Rockwell took a sip from his cup. “Well, you wanted more proof. This is a way to get more.”

“But we can’t just go and attack the mayor!” Vinyl shot back as she leaned close to the agent. “It’s illegal, very illegal!”

“In my eyes, she’s a mare covered in loads of dirt. And I’m here to scrub some out.”

The vampire mare could barely contain her panicking, much to Rockwell’s amusement. She kept on saying ‘No’ several times. And that made Rockwell wear a smile on his face as he continued to drink his hot beverage, although that smile quickly faded when a squeaky sounding voice began saying ‘No’ several times as well. The camera panned to the source of the second voice. It was revealed to be Pinkie Pie, again. 

“I like saying ‘No’ too!” Pinkie said to the camera. She then switched her attention to the agent. “Hey Rocky!”

Rockwell spat his drink upon hearing the nickname Pinkie made for him. He was then reduced to a brief coughing fit. It took a moment before he could speak again. “The thing...it’s back... ” But when he did it came out as weak mumblings. “What do you want!?”

“You won’t find anything in the town hall, silly!” Pinkie said, now hopping.

“Oh yeah?” Rockwell said as he pulled out another cigarette stick and bit on it. “And why is that?”

“Because that would be the first place anypony would search if they’re suspicious of the mayor, Rocky!” Pinkie began. “If I were you, I’d check out the mayor’s personal warehouse down in the Outskirts! It’s really for her personal use but she insists on telling that it’s for everypony! She keeps a lot of stuff in there, some of them are quite sketchy! I’m really positively pretty surely sure that you’re going to find what you’re looking for in there! The warehouse usually has two thestrals guarding it at night and one guarding it at day to make it not so suspicious to the average pony passing by! Scroll down to skip Pinkie talk. Hey, providing information is fun! I should be your informant, Rocky! You and I can meet in a quiet alley somewhere around town and I’ll pretend to shine your shoes but actually I was giving you the most recent word from the streets! And then you’ll give me a bit for my job. But what you’re actually paying for is the information I’m giving! And then you get off without me polishing your other shoe and then another customer walks in and pays me a bit to tell him the meaning of li-”

Rockwell pinched Pinkie’s withers once more. The happy hopping mare instantly collapsed to the ground. He carried her up and placed her on his seat and then covered her face with the menu, again. But not without flashing her eyes a couple times first with his ward. 

“If what this thing was saying is true,” Rockwell looked back to the group. “Then we may not have to lay siege in the town hall after all.”

Vinyl gave a sigh of relief at Rockwell’s words.

As the group stood up from their seats, Rockwell left a couple bits on the table and a few more for tips. They then went on their way. The camera focused its shot on Vinyl, who was forming a face that looked like a mix of surprise and mirth. 

“I can’t believe it.” Vinyl said to the agent as she got closer to him. “Pinkie Pie knows you. An Element of Harmony knows you!”

“Let’s change the topic.” Rockwell replied with his signature stoic look.

“Not so secret are you now huh, agent?” A large smile was carved on Vinyl’s face. 

“Let’s just get to the warehouse.” Rockwell said, remembering to light his cigarette.

The group trotted back to the Outskirts once again. Their steps were a bit faster this time, probably due to the buzz of caffeine their drinks gave them. They went to the east side of the Outskirts, which was opposite to where the manor was located. The camera could see the warehouse that Pinkie was talking about. It was just behind two houses. And a single thestral was standing in front of it.

“Looks like the thing was right.” Rockwell puffed a smoke up the air. “There is only one thestral guarding it during the day.”

“Why do you keep calling Pinkie the thing?” Vinyl asked.

“That’s a secret. Anyway, would you like to do the honors?”

“What, knocking down the guy?” Vinyl looked at the thestral stallion guarding the warehouse. He was of average build, nothing impressive to take notes of. “Sure. It’ll be over in a sec.”

“I’ll go find some rope.”

With that said, the two immediately split up. Vinyl shifted into a white blur and charged the guarding thestral. The stallion was totally unaware of what’s happening to him. There was a speeding white figure that leapt over him and instantly slammed his body into the ground with a devastating roundhouse kick. The pavement cracked into web-like crevices as the guard hit the ground. Rockwell opened the warehouse’s door from the inside, carrying rope. He easily tied up the knocked out thestral and dragged his limp body back into the building. The camera mare followed the two into the warehouse after.

As the camera got a shot of the building’s interior, it was welcomed with dozens of crates that were stacked so high that they almost reached the ceiling. The camera then panned on Rockwell and Vinyl who were also looking at the towers of crates inside. 

“Now what?” Vinyl asked the agent. “There are like hundreds of crates in here and it’d take hours to check all of them.” She rubbed her eyes weakly before continuing. “I miss sleeping already.”

Rockwell’s ears slightly perked up. “Maybe not all of them. Sniff up the air, I think we may have something here.”

“The air reeks of garlic a little. So what? It could be just BO for all we know.” Vinyl attempted to cover her nose with the sleeve of her hoodie to protect her from the scent.

“Follow the smell, Scratchy.” Rockwell ordered playfully. 

“I told you not to call me that!” Vinyl cried. “No way I’m following your orders now.”

“But would you do it for a scoo-you know what?” Rockwell’s voice became serious. “Screw it. Just follow the scent, please.”

Vinyl sighed again. “Fine.” With her vampiric strength she leapt over the crates with ease and continued to hop over them quickly. “Keep up old guy!” She yelled at Rockwell once she’s almost out of sight from them.

“Just call me when you get there!” The old guy Rockwell shouted back. As he began to roam around the warehouse, he can’t help but look around the crates again. It’s probably because these things take up a large part of the building’s interior. “Celestia, this place is maze-like.”

Rockwell and the camera took a couple minutes to get where Vinyl was. Both of them kept stumbling on the crates when they climbed over them. The reason being was that the camera mare was burdened with the recording device attached to her body and it was hanging on the front of her neck. While Rockwell was just ol-not cut out for climbing steep surfaces such as stacked up crates. 

“So what do we got here?” Rockwell said as he climbed down a bunch of crates that formed a downward slope. He wiped his forehead gently with a hoof, as if to show that climbing up and down those crates was not that hard for him. But the fact that he was breathing heavily and did a poor job of concealing it was a more apparent evidence of his actual performance. 

The camera followed Rockwell as he slowly approached Vinyl. The mare was standing in front of a crate that had one of its sides violently opened. Vinyl must have ripped it off while Rockwell and crew were still trying to get to where she was. Rockwell looked at where she was looking, the camera did as well. The crate seemed to contain several sacks that were filled with cloves of garlic. The others contained packs of dried wolfsbane petals. But there’s one object in the crate that drew everypony’s attention. It was located at the innermost part of the crate. The thing was painted pink and green, and it appeared to look like a jackhammer. But instead of having a sharp metal rod at its end, it seemed to have a metallic paw-shaped stamp. Rockwell got close to the object, probably to inspect it further.

“I’m sorry.” Rockwell snorted, trying to control his laughter. “I knew that we’re going to find something of significance here, I just didn’t expect that it would actually be that. I mean, what do you even call that?”

“The label says that it’s called Pawlverizer.”

“Oh Celestia.” Rockwell was now sweating and shaking, he’s now on the brink of laughing. “Looking at that thing just breaks your morale, don’t you think? Seriously, take a good look at it. That thing kills hubris of all sizes in a second. Breathe if you agree.”

“I guess.” Vinyl answered weakly.

Rockwell poked the Pawlverizer with his hoof. It made a small clinking sound. “Darn thing looks like a toy.” He then looked back at Vinyl. “Moving on, I believe an apology is in order.”

“Seven thirty tonight, in front of the Carousel Boutique. Tell the wolves to be there.” Vinyl firmly said as she quickly snatched the tool and walked away.

“Where are you going?” Rockwell said just as a stream of green fire suddenly flew into his jacket.

“Back to sleep.” Vinyl answered, never bothering to look back.

“Okay then. But don’t lose the toy though. You lose it and your inspection score drops fifty points.”

This actually made Vinyl to turn around. “Oh come on!” She held the tool up. “Can’t I just break this?”

“For a thirty-five point deduction, you can.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll keep it safe! (Beep).” Vinyl turned around again and swiftly left, turning herself into a blur.

“Guess that’s it for our temporary partnership.” Rockwell remarked as he looked at the camera mare. “She’s okay, but Melody’s better. She fights good though, really good.”

“What about the message?” The camera mare said. 

“Message? Oh right, dragon fire hit me.” Rockwell pulled out his flare gun and unloaded the scroll inside it. He opened the scroll and read it silently. Once he’s done, he looked back at the camera. “Oh boy, I think we’re needed in Everfree again. Rocket’s been talking about some minotaur stuff here that I can’t understand.”

“Everfree. Got it.”

“Say,” Rockwell said, looking at the packs of dried wolfsbane petals. “Do you think wolfsbane affects timber wolves?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s get a pack. You know, just in case.
> Chapter Twelve: Basin Hounds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what do we got?” Rockwell said as he approached the two agents. He was covered in all manners of twigs and leaves. There’s also the occasional wolfsbane petal sticking at certain parts of his jacket. He continued to brush the stuff off his clothes as he trotted towards the other two. 

Rocket and Foxtrot just stared at their fellow agent, probably pondering about what had happened to him. Both of them were wearing their standard issue glasses, partially concealing their confused reactions. Rocket was the first to respond to Rockwell, hovering towards him while inspecting his clothing, or what remained of it. 

“What happened to you?” Rocket asked as he hovered around Rockwell. 

“Is that the jacket I gave you last night?” Foxtrot added, now trotting close to the worn down agent as well. 

“I added some personal touches. You like it?” Rockwell said. 

“You’re buying me a new one.”

“You saw a timber wolf, didn’t you?” Rocket glided to the ground and lowered his glasses, revealing a pair of narrowed eyes. 

“I passed by one. It seemed friendly enough.” Rockwell replied, seemingly unfazed by his colleagues scrutinizing him.

“You didn’t fight it, did you?” Rocket said, there’s a hint of worry in his voice.

“Why would you even ask that? I’m a peaceful guy.”

Foxtrot inched himself closer to Rockwell. The glasses concealed where his eyes were looking. But they seemed to scan every nook and cranny of his body, probably to assess what happened to him earlier. Once he’s done with his observations, his horn glowed and snatched something from Rockwell’s jacket with his magic. The camera focused the shot on what it was. It was a single wolfsbane petal, now floating in the air and covered with a sparkling grey aura.

“Wolfsbane petal.” Foxtrot showed the tiny piece to Rocket. “Rockwell killed it.”

Rocket looked back at Rockwell, now donning a small frown. “Dammit Rockwell, I told you not to do that. We’ve talked about this already.” Despite his reprimanding words, Rocket’s voice was gentle, firm but gentle. 

“Look.” Rockwell raised both his hooves. “In my defense, I didn’t know wolfsbane would blow timber wolves up. I should know this. Well, I know it now. But before that I didn’t and I should have. I just thought it would repel them. That was supposed to be my intention, to repel them.”

“But then things blew out of proportion.” Foxtrot smirked.

“Guess you could say that.”

“We’ll need to discuss this over paperwork later.” Rocket said as he faced away from Rockwell. “But right now, let’s focus on these things first.” He pointed at the three towering objects before them. The camera quickly panned to where Rocket was pointing.

Standing a couple of yards away from the agents stood three giant logs of wood. Each log was adorned with giant carved horns that were securely tied on their ends. Below the horns were two large spears lodged at the side of the logs. The spears’ tips were tied with large pieces of rock that were neatly cut into the shape of a makeshift blade. And tied beneath those rocks were banners of purple shade with incomprehensible writings on it. 

The camera observed that the three towers looked identical except for one thing, the gemstones that were placed on their uppermost parts. The gemstones took the shape of an orb and were sitting on metallic staffs that were kept in place by the same rope that held the horns together. The tower on the left side had donned a red colored orb and was emitting tiny bits of magic that quickly faded into the air. The tower in the middle had a green one that appeared to draw in a green aura into its gemstone. The third one on the right was colored violet and rapidly gave off waves of violet magic that faded just as quickly. 

“Yeah I’ve been meaning to ask about those.” Rockwell stated as he continued to stare at the three towers. “What are those things anyway? They look like one of those totem pole things that the minotaurs bui-Oh. So that’s what you’re talking about in the letter.”

“It’s inspired by minotaur culture, that I can say.” Foxtrot said. “But I’m fairly sure that a pony built this. As far as I know, I don’t see any minotaurs running around in Everfree, let alone Ponyville.”

“Look at those gems above them.” Rockwell pointed a hoof at one of the orbs. “Could those be responsible for the strong concentration of magic in the forest? They look like they’re doing something with it to say the least.”

“Oh right, Rockwell.” Rocket faced him again. “When you said that the magic burned your vampire friend’s hoof in the letter, that’s what the humans also experienced before they started wearing the suits twenty-four seven.”

“Magic that affects humans and vampires, huh?” Rockwell hummed in contemplation. “What do you think is the connection here? I don’t want to be the detective in this group. I want to hear your thoughts about this.”

“That one does need a bit of pondering to answer.” Foxtrot replied. “I’m sure it’ll come to us eventually. But as for now, we need to find a way on how to get rid of these...things.”

Rockwell continued to look at the towers with amusement. “The boys at M.A.D would have a field day when they see these.” 

“Mad?” Rocket looked at Foxtrot, as if he’s seeking for an answer.

“Magical Artifacts Division. We used to call them M.A.D scientists, remember?” 

“Oh right.” Rocket smiled as he gently hit his head. “How could I forget? Maybe my extended stay here in Everfree made me forget some things at HQ. Or maybe the magic’s gotten to me and it’s been messing with my memories!” He said the last part jokingly.

“Which brings me to another question.” Rockwell said, not wasting an opportunity for a segue. “Did the magic affect you in any way at all?”

Rocket and Foxtrot paused to think at Rockwell’s question, they then looked at themselves. Both their heads faced Rockwell in unison, their shoulders shrugged in sync as well.

“No, not really.”

“My horn usually had this tingling sensation when strong magic is nearby. But this one is an odd case. I can’t sense any of it at all.”

“And so am I.” Rockwell added. “Trotting here just feels the same as trotting through town. So I guess we can scratch the E.U.P off the list. The humans and Vampires? Still on top. Well, as long as no vampire wanders into the forest and if the humans would just keep on wearing that suit of theirs there’s really no harm being done here.”

“Rockwell, Rockwell...” Rocket placed a foreleg around Rockwell’s neck. “We’re not in the Bureau right now. We can be as efficient as we want here.”

Rocket’s words made Rockwell chuckle a little. “So what are you guys proposing we do? Axing it? Uprooting it? Burning it? I have a lighter.”

“It’s too dangerous to go head on without knowing what it is we’re dealing with here.” Foxtrot warned. He turned to look at Rocket. “I think we should consult her.”

Rocket immediately released his grip on Rockwell. He looked away from the group and started looking around the forest. The camera spied a small blush growing on his face. “Yeah. Let’s.” He began trotting into the deeper parts of the forest, the others followed.

“Her?” Rockwell looked at Foxtrot as they walked. This time he’s the one asking for an answer.

“Zecora.” Foxtrot replied plainly. “She’s the local shaman. She must know something about these. I suggest we ask her for some advice on how to get rid of those things.”

“Shaman huh?” There was amusement in Rockwell’s voice. “What class?”

“Class Three.”

Rockwell blew an impressed whistling tune. “Neat. I can’t wait to meet this mare...or griffon. She is a griffon right? You know, judging from her name?”

“It’s zebra actually.” Rocket corrected him.

Rockwell let out another hum. “A class three shaman from a far away land that’s residing in Everfree. Now that’s a gal right there.”

“Getting a bit too enthusiastic, are we?” Rocket grinned at Rockwell.

“It’s rare to see a mare of that calibre these days. I’m just curious. What, is she your marefriend or something?”

Rocket didn’t answer Rockwell’s question. But it did earn a snort from Foxtrot.

Rockwell’s ears perked up. “Really? Neat. Got one on my first try. Boy, I should start hitting the casinos sometime! Sorry about that though, didn’t mean to intrude in one of yours.”

“She’s not my marefriend.” Rocket answered flatly.

“But you do hold an interest on her.”

“For years.” Foxtrot added.

Rocket sighed at his colleagues’ teasing. “Let’s change the topic.”

Rockwell looked at Foxtrot as he slowly shook his head. “Typical BoS agent. They never learn, do they? So how far is her place again?”

“Not that far.” Foxtrot answered. “Just a stone’s throw from here.”

“I don’t know. You throw stones really far. It could be a mile for all we know.”

“Just a quarter mile and no more.”

“Quoth the raven.”

“Very funny.”

“Speaking of ravens.” Rockwell suddenly said. His face had a look like he just remembered something. “The mayor is behind all of this.”

Rocket looked at Rockwell with a frown. “Inkwell? Why?”

“For reasons not yet answered. Although we’d get em’ once I confront her later. Right now, let’s just dismantle her plans piece by piece.”

“Yeah.” Rocket softly said. “Let’s.”

“From what I can recall, that mare avoids anything requiring real effort ever since she took the position of town mayor.” Foxtrot remarked.

“She probably had her henchmare do this for her.” Rockwell shrugged. “You guys must know the mare, goes by the name of Blurry.”

“The assistant?” Rocket asked.

“And apparently, also the muscle.” Rockwell added. He grabbed the bomb that was resting on his back. “Whoa, it got heavy.” He muttered as he showed the crystalline explosive to the agents. “She made this contraption.”

Foxtrot trotted closer to the bomb. “What’s that?” He said as he eyed the bomb curiously.

“It’s supposed to be a bomb of some sort. Blurry made this.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rocket looked at Rockwell, seemingly unconvinced. “Looks like modern art to me.”

“Trust me, it’s a bomb.” Rockwell kept the device back. “I got it from the henchmare’s henchmares. They said so themselves. I don’t know how it works though.”

“Well bombs usually go...boom.” Rocket smirked.

“I know that much. But before that, I don’t know where the detonator is.”

“We can inspect it once we’re inside her house. We’re here.” Foxtrot said as he pointed a hoof in front of him.

The camera panned on where foxtrot was pointing. A couple feet before them stood a tree house that glowed faintly in the middle of the forest. The tree house bore some similarities akin to that of Princess Twilights’ tree house library, albeit more tribal looking. The tree’s trunk was adorned with well carved colourful traditional masks that resembled the head of an unknown quadruped. And there were different colored bottles filled with Celestia knows what that were hanging on its branches. It was a peculiar sight, but it unsurprisingly fit in with the mystical forest’s surroundings.

“Good to know it’s Nightmare Night all year round here.” Rockwell said, subtly commenting about the house’s apparent spooky exterior.

“The same can be said about the entirety of Everfree.” Rocket said as he swiftly flew towards the tree house’s door. Once he landed at the entrance, he gave the door a knock. “Are you there, Z? It’s me Rocket.”

Rockwell and Foxtrot followed the pegasus as he continued to knock on Zecora’s door. Despite Rocket’s constant knocking, no answer came from the inside. But that didn’t stop him from continuing to rap his hoof at the wood’s surface.

“Z?” Rocket called again. “It’s Rocket. We have something important to discuss with you!” Again, there was no answer. “Strange.” He said as he looked back at his fellow agents. “She’s usually home at this time of day.”

Rockwell donned a sly smile. “Keeping track of her personal schedule, huh? That’s creepy.”

“I’m being serious, something’s not quite right here.”

“Then what do you propose we do?”

“Get inside her house without her permission.” Foxtrot said, joining in.

“Of course it is.” Rockwell said, maintaining his smile. “Not a good time to show your true colors though.”

“Can you please stop ganging up on me for a moment?” Rocket gave the two an unimpressed look. “Zecora could be in danger.”

“Yeah. And I’m staring at Mr. Danger right now.” Rockwell replied, doubling down.

Rocket just ignored Rockwell’s quip and looked back at the door. “I’m opening the door.”

“Oh you’d want that, don’t you? You dirty little thing you...”

Rocket only responded with a long frustrated sigh. He picked something up from his jacket with a hoof. The camera zoomed in on what it was. It appeared to be two small, slender pieces of metal with their tips bent into the shape of a hook. Rocket’s wings held the metal rods from his hoof and held them tightly. His wings then inserted the pieces into the door’s keyhole. The wings moved the rods delicately inside the hole until they made a clicking a sound. Taking it as a signal, Rocket twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

Rocket spent no time getting in, quickly pocketing his lock-picking tools. “Come on, let’s check for anything out of the ordina-Zecora!”

The two agents rushed into the house. The camera mare went into a sprint as well. The screen suddenly became shaky for a brief moment. But when it stabilized, it was presented with a cluttered up room. The interior shared the same design aesthetic as the outside but its colored masks and bottles were strewn everywhere. Books were lying around, a large pot was knocked down on the floor, and beside it was a struggling zebra mare that had her hooves and mouth tied up.

Rocket’s hooves moved like a blur when he untied the zebra mare. Once the bindings were removed from her mouth Zecora took a deep breath. “Thank you for saving me Agent Rocket. If it weren’t for you, death I would have surely met!”

“Who did this to you?” Rocket said as he brushed some clutter off her bamboo divan and made her sit there.

Zecora made herself comfortable on the divan. She stretched her legs to their maximum extent. She gave a satisfied sigh when her legs made a cracking sound. She looked like she was bound by those ropes for a long time, for which she could probably be. “It’s a thestral that calls herself Blurry. I believe she’s with the mayor, of which she is a lackey.”

Rockwell leaned in close to Foxtrot before saying something. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” He said in a low whispery voice, but not low enough that the camera couldn’t overhear. “But did she just rhyme four times?”

“That’s her schtick.” Foxtrot whispered back. “She speaks in rhymes.”

“She speaks in rhymes?”

“Yeah.”

“What a turn off.” He made this one softer so as to not let the person they’re talking about hear it.

“Why did she tie you up here?” Rocket asked when Zecora finally settled herself on the seat.

“The mare needed access to some magic books of mine. So she tied me up when I stated my decline. I tried to resist her but it was futile. I couldn’t keep up with her in a fight, she was just too versatile.”

“I believe we should keep our chat here short.” Rockwell whispered again. “I fear she’ll run out of rhymes.”

Foxtrot only responded with a grin as he slowly shook his head.

“Why does she want your books?” Rocket asked again.

Zecora looked at the messy room before replying. “The mare has concocted a terrible plan. And it’s to eradicate all four groups in the evilest way she can!”

“Who are these four groups?”

“The aliens, ghosts, werewolves, and vampires, Agent Rocket. If she isn’t stopped, it’s doom they would’ve met!”

“It’s official. She has run out of rhymes.” Rockwell jokingly concluded, softly still.

“Funny as it is, it’s still pretty serious.” Foxtrot replied, just as softly.

“I know. One can only rhyme so far and not squeeze your brain dry.”

“I meant the eradication of the four groups.”

“Oh that.” Rockwell smiled shyly, hoof scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, yeah, that is pretty serious. And here we are thinking that only humans and vampires are affected.”

“See?” Even with the glasses on, it’s clear that Foxtrot gave Rockwell a look that screamed ‘I told you so.’ “Mystery solved.”

“How is she going to wipe out all four Z?” Rocket asked again.

Zecora pondered for a moment before answering. “Judging from the books that are missing, I think I can narrow it down to something that involves magic gathering and corrupting.”

“There’s a place not far from here that stands three giant totem poles. All three had gems on them that seem to mess with the forest’s magic.”

“And what color are these if I may ask? I don’t know if you know, but each gem color has a designated magical task.”

“I think it’s red, green, and violet, right guys?” Rocket looked back at the two agents for confirmation. Rockwell and Foxtrot simply nodded in response.

Upon realizing that there were more ponies inside her home, Zecora quickly got up from her seat and turned her attention to them. “Forgive me for not noticing you, agents. It appears that being bound for a long time made me forget about my hospitality. As we continue our discussion, would like me to serve you tea?”

“No thanks. We’re leaving shortly anyway.” Rockwell said, earning a disappointed look from the pegasus.

Rocket looked back at Zecora. “So what do those colors mean, Z?”

“Enhancing, harvesting, and manipulating respectively.” Zecora began. “She’s making malleable magic and she’s making it quickly. This magic can be adjusted to only eliminate a specific type of creature. And those specific types are the four groups I’m sure. In getting the magic, those were just the means. And I must admit that those orders weren’t short. But in utilizing the magic she needs a separate device, like a bomb of some sort.”

“Some sort of bomb you say?” Rockwell said as he got close. He showed the zebra mare the crystalline device, quickly pulling it from his back. “Do you mean something like this? Blurry made this. So this must be it.” 

Zecora inspected the strange looking explosive. She had her hoof gently prodding the device, like she’s trying to sense what’s inside it. “These crystals charge themselves when the malleable magic is nearby.” She looked at Rockwell with a look of warning. “If this is set off, any selected target within a hundred yard radius will certainly die.”

“Hundred yard radius.” Rockwell repeated what Zecora said, probably to keep the number up in his mind. “You said this thing self-charges, is this why it got heavier when I entered Everfree?”

Zecora slightly nodded in response. 

Rockwell let out a small chuckle. “Whaddya know? I just armed this bad boy.”

“You better be careful with that.” Foxtrot warned.

“Relax.” Rockwell placed the device on his back again. “I don’t even know where the detonator is.” 

It’s probably the gradually increasing weight that caused this, but the crystal bomb just slid itself off of Rockwell’s back. He tried to catch it and so did the others but it happened very quickly. The device hit the floor with the orb touching the surface first. A clicking sound can be heard as the rod in which the orb was resting on pushed itself back into its crystalline body. 

A purple light filled the entire screen, followed by a loud exploding sound.
> Chapter Thirteen: Equestrian Ninja Warrior
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is everyone alright? Z! Are you hurt?” Rocket said amidst everypony’s coughing fits. The camera looked around the room. From the looks of it the explosion from the bomb did nothing at all. The room was fine. And all the ponies inside were unharmed.

“I am alright.” Zecora replied. “Although I believe that the explosion for us was nothing but a flash of light.”

“Zecora’s right.” Foxtrot added. “Why are you guys coughing though?”

“We just do.” Rockwell answered, hoof on mouth. “It’s required after every explosion.”

The camera panned back to a now seething Rocket. “What in tartarus, Rockwell!? That thing could’ve killed all of us!”

“Yeah I know, I know.” Rockwell gave a dismissive wave. “My bad. But look at the bright side, we now know where the detonator is.”

“I just don’t feel that risking our lives just to find a small button is a good tradeoff.”

“We didn’t risk it though.” Rockwell shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll be more careful next time.”

“No, no, no, there’s no next time for you.” Rocket quickly replied. “I’ll be in charge of that device from now on.”

“Really? Because I just got used to carrying it. It’ll feel weird if I let it go now.”

Rocket reached a hoof to Rockwell. “Hoof it over, Rockwell.”

“Eh.” Rockwell made his eye rolling apparent before hoofing the device to Rocket. “I’m one item lighter.” He then turned his head to the shaman. “So Zecora, is there any way we can tweak this bomb to target those totems outside?”

“What I can recall from the book is not reassuring. Because when those targets are set, their effects are lasting.”

“So using them as demo charges is not an option, huh?” Rockwell pondered for a bit before continuing. “Oh well. I’m pretty sure you’ll figure something out.”

Foxtrot’s ears perked up at Rockwell’s words. “Wait, you’re not helping us take those things down?

Rockwell gave him a frown and a shake of the head. “I was going to until I realized how powerful that thing is. I have to get back in town and see if they made more of those. In addition, I’ll also apprehend the mayor personally. Because what she’s doing here is straight up terrorism.”

“Arresting the mayor?” Rocket raised a brow. “That’ll be a hard thing to do. You’ll need one of those if you want things to go down smoothly.”

“I already filed the forms for it before I left HQ. All I need to do now is to send a request for it later.” The camera followed Rockwell as he trotted towards the door. “I’m leaving now. Enjoy the bomb.”

“Good luck with the arrest.” Foxtrot said.

“Yeah, go get ‘em tiger.” Rocket added.

“But before I leave...” Rockwell said, ceasing his trot. He quickly spun around and dove for the crystal bomb, pressing its detonator. All that the camera can see is a bright purple light that was then followed by a loud explosion. 

“Dammit Rockwell!” Rocket cried out.

“A device that creates strong, harmless explosions? If we could patent this stuff it would surely put the Mistmanean fireworks industry out of business!”

---

Green fire roared out from the barrel of Rockwell’s flare gun. It zoomed upwards into the sky until it can’t longer be seen. “And...sent.” Rockwell said as he tucked the flare gun back to his jacket pocket. 

They were now trotting casually in the middle of town square. There were more ponies now than there were before. Which was natural considering that it’s now afternoon and the weather was sunny but still remained cool, an ideal time for an afternoon stroll. And due to how many ponies there were in town square right now, Rockwell completely blended in. The locals didn’t even bat an eye to the camera’s direction. Maybe Rockwell’s tourist disguise did work after all. 

“Now we wait.” Rockwell looked at the camera mare. “How about we go back to the coffee shop again? My purse is still jingling, I could buy you another cup of espresso.”

“Espresso sounds nice.”

The camera tailed the agent as he continued his casual trot towards the quaint café. But he immediately halted himself when he saw one of the patrons sitting in one of the café’s outdoor tables. The camera focused its shot on where Rockwell was staring. It appeared to be Octavia and she was sitting alone in her table while furrowing her brows on the sheet music she’s reading.

Rockwell looked back to the camera. “That face looks familiar. Let’s surprise her.” And with that he sneakily approached the musician. The camera followed Rockwell’s muted movements, keen on not ruining the agent’s intentions. Due to how focused Octavia was on her reading, she didn’t notice Rockwell slip into one of the chairs of her table. The camera mare followed what Rockwell did and seated herself as well. And still, Octavia was none the wiser. 

“If it isn’t Mrs. Scratch.” Rockwell said, causing Octavia to jump out of her seat in surprise. The camera captured every single second of it in HD perfection.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Octavia cried, giving Rockwell a light slap. “And don’t call me that in public, you’re giving ponies wrong ideas!”

“...lotsa cream, lotsa sugar.” Rockwell said to the waitress standing beside him. “And espresso for the lady.” Once the waitress has finished jotting down the orders, she left their table with a smile. Rockwell then turned to look at the Octavia. “You were saying?”

“Never mind.” Octavia said as she leaned back to her chair.

“Taking a break from the fiddle fiddling, I see.” Rockwell said, leaning back as well.

“It’s not that,” Octavia replied. “We just dismissed earlier than usual. So how did your day go? More interesting than mine, I presume.”

“Nah, not really. It’s just standard BoS business. We raided a house earlier, did it with Miss Scratch. And confiscated all the evidence of the frame up inside. The same thing happened to the mayor’s warehouse. We raided it and confiscated some of the evidence there as well. Now the vampire-werewolf situation will be resolved in...” Rockwell did some counting in his head before continuing. “Around five hours. Vinyl and her cabal will issue an official apology to the wolves at seven.”

“Scratch.” Octavia had a look of apparent disbelief in her face. “As in Vinyl Scratch.”

“Uhuh. Great mare, good little fighter.”

Octavia’s look hasn’t faltered still. “How in the world did you manage to persuade Vinyl to do all that? Especially during daylight? She’s usually the grumpiest pony around this time of day.”

“I have my moments.” Rockwell shrugged. “She really cares about her inspection scores, does she?”

“I guess so?” Octavia said as she took a sip from her cup.

“We parted ways after that. Then I went to Everfree again and discovered that the town mayor is up to some terrorist-ic activities that would lead to the eradication of four of Ponyville’s local groups. And that’s why I’m back in town again, to wait for the right moment to apprehend the mayor.”

Octavia almost spat her drink when she heard the last line. Her face had turned to a rather comical look with her eyes wide open in surprise and her cheeks bulging from the drink she’s trying not to eject orally. Rockwell had an amused look on his face upon witnessing the mare’s panicked reaction.

It took a while for Octavia to gulp down her drink and it also took a while for her to take a grasp on the current situation. “I’m sorry.” Her voice was cracking, as if it’s trying its best to contain whatever fear that’s planning to come out of it. “You’re going to what the mayor?”

“I’m going to apprehend the mayor.” Rockwell answered in his signature laid back tone. “Actually, the more accurate term would be to abduct or capture her. I just like ‘apprehend’ better because it sugarcoats the much harsher fate they’ll be in once the bureau gets them.”

“Harsher fate?” Octavia put down her cup. “Isn’t this just a regular arrest? Terrorist or not she still falls under the category of criminal, right? And aren’t all criminals have the privilege to all the good and the bad that the legal system will provide for them? Right?”

“That’s what would happen if the bureau follows the rules. Fortunately for us, we don’t.” 

Before Rockwell could continue, the waitress has arrived with their orders. She placed the steaming cup of native in front of Rockwell in which he gave her a smile and a nod. The waitress then proceeded to set down the cup of espresso just below the camera’s view. And with a smile, the waitress left them again. 

“You see,” Rockwell said, blowing on his drink before taking a sip from it. “The bureau tends to bypass every legal jargon the government has set when it comes to dealing with troublemakers both big and small. If they want you gone they’ll have you gone. And there’s really no getting out once the bureau sinks its teeth in you. And it’s not like anypony can reprimand us for doing this kind of things anyway. We’re doing all of this in secret after all so there’s no way that an eye would just suddenly bat out here in our general direction.”

As Octavia listened to the agent’s rant the camera spotted that her both her hooves were gripping tightly around her cup. “That’s rather cold, Agent Rockwell.” Judging from the sound of her voice, one can tell that her mood had definitely soured.

“All in a day’s work, Miss Melody.” Rockwell took another sip from his cup.

“So what fate awaits the mayor then?”

“I’m afraid that’s a secret.”

“Of course it is.” Octavia took a sip from hers as well.

“Let me tell you what’s not though. I have been waiting for something that will help me in apprehending the mayor.”

“Oh yes. I was wondering what you’re going to do about that. Because there is no way that you can uproot an authority figure from their posts that easily.”

“Got you curious, huh?” A grin appeared on Rockwell’s face.

Octavia shyly stared at the contents of her cup. “As heartless as this may sound, but you’ve made me really curious of what you are going to do in this scenario. Oh Celestia,” She placed a foreleg on her blushing cheeks. “Don’t I sound awful? I am indulging myself with the suffering of others. Is this schadenfreude? I think it is.”

“Relax. Nopony will think it’s bad if nopony knows about it. It’ll be our little secret.” Rockwell held his cup in front of her. 

Octavia giggled at the agent’s gesture. “Oh what am I doing?” She brought her cup over to Rockwell’s and clinked it. “This is so naughty! So what is this something you speak of?”

“Let’s wait a little longer.” Rockwell leaned back to his seat again. “It would be best to show than tell.”

“Oh. Alright then.” Octavia complied.

“So uh, how’s the rehearsal?” 

Octavia gave a long exhausted sigh. “To be honest with you, I feel like the-”

A green flame suddenly surged between the two ponies, quickly flying inside Rockwell’s jacket. “Here it is.” He took his dragon flare out and pried open the contents. It appeared to be a small golden card with intricate decorations that adorned both sides. It has writings on it that were too small for the camera to make out.

“This is the item that will make the apprehension smoother.” Rockwell showed the card to Octavia.

“It’s a...” Octavia inspected the tiny object closely, probably reading what’s written on it as well. “Business card?”

“To the eyes of a plebeian it does look like one.” Rockwell said as he leaned back, taking the card with him. His words earned an eye roll from the mare. “But to any official’s eyes, it’s like the gates of tartarus has personally come for them.”

“So what is that thing and why does it elicit such a reaction from Equestria’s government officials?”

“This little thing right here,” Rockwell gave the card a gentle shake. “Dear Miss Melody, is what you call an Equestrian High Sanction Pass. Oops, I forgot the ‘Type 42.’ It’s a type 42. It gives the user total control to every royal guard in any selected area within Equestrian soil. And by total control, I mean total control of the minds and bodies of every royal guard present. It makes resisting officials yield faster since the ones who were supposed to protect them were now the ones against them. I like to think of it as a power play of some sort, break their spirits quicker. And since we’re in a business where discreetness is of utmost importance, it’s really necessary to make such things quick. Although the sanction only works on guards that are on duty at that time, those that have removed their armor and their form changing spell will not get affected by it.”

“That’s terrible!” Octavia protested. “Why create such thing that harbours tremendous power over this nation’s citizens?”

A smirk formed on Rockwell’s face. “I know right? It may not be happening right now, but these things are so gonna bite our butts one day. But don’t you worry about its accessibility. I had to fill out three separate forms just to get permission to send a request if I needed it. My request will then be reviewed to see if it’s really worth sending one or not. I was only filling out those forms in case the situation arises that I would need it. I didn’t actually expect that I would use it. But that’s just in my department. These things are not given away like pamphlets though. There’s a policy that states that only a hundred of these must exist at a time.” 

He leaned in close to Octavia. “Here, let me give you a fun fact: these things magically dissolve once used. And only then will the forgers be allowed to make another one to replenish the numbers back to its standard limit. And only select organizations are issued with these passes. The bureau has five of these currently in their possession. Since you know, we make more ponies disappear compared to the other orgs. Although covering up the disappearances is the real challenge here. But that’s another set of problems to deal with and I’d hate to elaborate on it right now.”

Rockwell finished his explanation with a long sip of his cooling beverage. 

“You’re not a very benign group of ponies, are you?” Octavia said flatly.

“We’re also not malignant if that’s what you’re thinking. We’re just grey, like really, really grey.”

“So you’re grey as well.”

“I’m going to be honest with you here.” Rockwell let out a faux sigh. I may wear black all the time but deep down, I’m actually grey.

Octavia gave out a snort and shook her head. “Are you really enjoying this?”

“I’m rather fond of double meanings.” Rockwell downed all the contents of his cup. He set it down the table, paid for everypony and got up from his seat. “Okay. Let’s make some ponies disappear.” He said it while looking at the camera. He turned back to look at Octavia. “You should come with us, it’ll be fun.”

She looked back at Rockwell with disdain carved on her face. “How can you be so enthusiastic in doing such terrible task?”

“Some experiences get even better when you share it with others.”

“Then why do I feel worse?” Octavia said as she slowly got up from her seat.

“Guilt is a natural reaction when doing this kind of thing. It usually fades around the fifth time, I think.” The camera followed Rockwell and Octavia as they slowly trotted towards the town hall.

“So what happens to the position of mayor once Miss Inkwell disappears?” Octavia made her voice low so that none of the passing ponies could hear what they’re talking about. 

“It’s either the town elects a new mayor or the bureau will have to select a new one for them.”

The camera panned its shot back on Octavia. She looked unconvinced at Rockwell’s answer. “You do know that both of these resolutions will get ponies to start asking questions, right?”

“Oh yes, definitely.” Rockwell agreed with her statement by nodding in quick successions. “Ponyville will feel weird for a couple of days due to this occurrence but they’ll forget about it eventually. The public’s collective memory can be rather short as they tend to move on to other fresher things.”

“You speak as if you were above the common populace.”

“The system.”

Octavia tilted her head, confused. “Beg your pardon?”

“Afternoon gents!” The camera focused on who Rockwell was talking to. It appeared to be the two royal guards assigned to guard the entrance of town hall. “I’m agent Rockwell of the Bureau of Secrecies and I seek your assistance in apprehending a criminal that’s currently residing inside the town hall.”

The guards gave each other confused glances. “A criminal? In town hall?” The one on the right said. “But that’s impossible.” The one on the left added.

Rockwell pulled out the sanction from his jacket pocket and stuck it in the guard’s chest plate. The card clung to the armor like glue and melted itself into the metal. The guards’ armors emitted a golden hue just as the pass faded away. As the camera centered its shot on the guards, it noticed that their eyes glowed as well. It shared the same color as the glow on their armor. Their golden, glowing eyes were locked firmly on where the agent was standing.

“I, Sergeant Steadfast,” The guard on the right announced. “Along with all the other royal guards stationed in Ponyville are at your service, sir!” Both guards gave Rockwell a snappy salute.

“The criminal is identified as one Miss Raven Inkwell.” Rockwell began. “The details regarding the crimes she committed are currently under classified information. As of right now this matter should be regarded as the highest priority and should be dealt with in great haste and urgency. I want you to bring Miss Inkwell to me so that I can take her in for questioning. And once you’ve accomplished your task, I want you to gather your whole unit back here to get administered for an eye exam. Is that clear?”

“Sir yes sir!”

“Dismissed.”

As the royal guards briskly marched into the building, Octavia gave Rockwell a confused look. “An eye exam?”

“Vanisher ward slang. It convinces ponies to come with us so that we can flash them.”

“That’s...really weird.”

“If it works, it works.” As Rockwell answered, commotion could be heard inside the town hall. There were inaudible screams coming from inside. The breaking sound of furniture can also be heard within the premises. The camera focused its shot back on Rockwell and Octavia. The former has a grin plastered on his face while the latter had her face cringing from the entire ruckus that the agent has indirectly caused.

“Check that out,” Rockwell pointed a hoof towards the building. “It’s really awesome, what you’re hearing right now is one of those things where people are suddenly and forcibly taken by government ponies, never to be seen again.”

Octavia shot Rockwell another look of disdain. “And that’s supposed to be ‘awesome?’”

Rockwell looked at the mare with both brows up. “I thought you said you loved those kinds of things?”

“I remember expressing a slight interest in what you’re doing, Agent Rockwell. But I don’t remember telling you that I love it.”

“Oh right. Sorry, wrong pony.” Rockwell snickered, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as well. 

The camera panned its shot to Octavia who has her eyes narrowed down on the agent. But she was abruptly interrupted when a thestral was thrown outside the town hall all of a sudden. 

“Whoa!” Rockwell screamed in delight as he looked at the mare rolling violently on the ground. “She had her henchmares helping her now. This is starting to get interesting!”

Their attentions were directed back to the building when a loud sound of shattering glass came from the hall’s west side. The camera spied a white blur tumble out the first floor window and rolled itself into the ground. It was Mayor Inkwell. She quickly got herself up and dashed towards the town’s Outskirts.

“She’s getting away!” Octavia cried out. 

“The wonders of adrenaline,” Rockwell said dreamily. “Stuff’s give earth ponies wings. Shall we?” Rockwell looked at Octavia while gesturing a hoof to the direction where the mayor has fled. Octavia gave a determined nod and burst into a sprint. The agent on the other hoof, just trotted like the way he used to, in a casual manner. When Octavia realized that’s she’s the only one running at high speeds, she immediately stopped. She then looked back at the group with a mixed look of confusion and annoyance. 

“Why the casual trot!?” She called out. “I thought you’re not supposed to let her get away!?”

“I’m giving her a head start.” Rockwell said matter-of-factly.

“Giving her a head sta-” Octavia dragged a hoof across her face in downwards motion. “I don’t think you should have given her anything at all, Agent Rockwell! I don’t even think that we should have given her the chance to have us chase her!” Her voice sounded really frustrated.

Rockwell shot his flare gun again. A roaring green flame launched itself out from the barrel and quickly disappeared into the blue sky. “No, no, chases like this are necessary in this kind of situation.” Rockwell’s reply just made the mare more confused and frustrated than ever. “Because you see, the carriage that will take her to the bureau usually arrives in about twenty minutes or so. And I needed something to do to pass the time before then.” Octavia hit her face with a hoof, creating a loud smacking sound.

As the group continued to trot casually into the Outskirts, a thestral landed in front of them by surprise, stopping them from their tracks. The camera centered the shot on the newly arrived thestral. It was Blurry. And her eyes were staring coldly at the agent.

“I’m giving you a warning, agent.” Blurry said, her voice menacing. “Do not arrest the mayor. Doing so will only make things worse for you. This warning will only be given once. Because the next time we meet, I’ll have your face kissing the grou-”

“Guards she’s with the mayor.” Rockwell flatly ordered the guards who were about to go to the Outskirts to pursue Inkwell. “Get her.” They immediately changed course and went in for the thestral mare. Blurry left as soon as the pegasi guards were on her tail. Their pursuit continued in the air, but the other guards still followed them despite being on hoof.

“And to the Outskirts we go!” Rockwell turned his casual trot into a jog. The others followed.

As the group entered the Outskirts area of town the camera zoomed in on one Raven Inkwell that’s running for dear life. The camera followed her every hasty movement until she was faced with her first obstacle, a metal fence. 

Without hesitation, the mayor climbed up the fence with ease and hopped over the sharp ends and landed safely on the other side to continue her escape. “Wow, she can do parkour! Who knew?” The camera was still keen on following the mayor so only Rockwell’s voice could be heard.

The group also arrived at the fence in which the mayor has successfully overcome with ease. Octavia attempted to climb it, but paled in comparison to what the mayor did and slid slowly downwards on the metal she was holding on to. Rockwell on the other hoof, opened a gate that was unnoticed before.

“What other things can she do?” He said as they passed through the gate. 

The camera could see Raven from afar again. She was unknowingly running to a part of the Outskirts where the houses were grouped so close together that they were basically cramped. Upon realizing that this neighbourhood provided no escapable alley for her to go in to, she decided to go inside a house instead and just use the door on the other side to pass through. Well, that’s probably what she was thinking when she tried opening the doorknobs of each house she passed. Unfortunately, none of them were open as most houses in the Outskirts were locked during the day due to most of its citizens being nocturnal. But what the mayor did was that she found a house that had its window opened on the second floor. Using tiny protrusions that only she can see on the house’s wall, she quickly scaled the building and dove straight into the window.

“Look at those climbing skills!” Rockwell exclaimed. “What did she eat to do such feat? Meat?” The door of the house that Inkwell climbed on suddenly opened itself, revealing a thestral who was probably awoken by the disturbances caused by the mayor’s knob fiddling and breaking in.

“Coming through! Urgent guard business!” Rockwell said as he casually led the group into the house and out its other door. 

As the group exited the house the camera spent no time in centering its shot on the fleeing Inkwell again who was now jumping from one roof to another. Some of her leaps landed her safely to the next roof, while others had her hanging on the edge before climbing back up. 

“Look at her! It’s like we’re behind the scenes of somepony shooting a picture.” The camera switched back to Rockwell, where he and the group were trotting slowly down the street, matching the mayor’s pace. 

Octavia gave the agent a flat look. “She’s not getting away, is she?”

Rockwell scoffed at her words. “What do you mean? She’s moving so fast that we can barely keep up!”

The camera panned back to Inkwell, who was now matted with sweat and was panting heavily. It then moved back to Rockwell, whose face looked fresh compared to the fleeing mare.

Upon reaching the final house and also the Outskirt’s end, Mayor Inkwell leapt from the house’s roof and into the branches of an oak tree where she climbed herself down as quickly as her body could deem possible. Finally touching the ground, she immediately went into a full sprint into a downward slope in which she stood on her hind legs as she slid down the hillside. 

“Wow!” Rockwell cried out in amusement again. They were now trotting on a staircase that was beside the slope while looking at the mayor as she unknowingly turned her escape into some sort of extreme sport. “You gotta admit, that one looked really cool.” He said to Octavia.

“Indeed.” Octavia replied while looking at the staircase they were standing on. “Impractical as well.”

“Don’t blame her.” Rockwell said as he continued moving down. “Your vision narrows when you’re experiencing an adrenaline rush.”

As the mayor reached the bottom of the slope, she continued her sprint towards the lake and dove headfirst into the water. The camera was back at recording the mayor again. And despite the distance between it and the mayor’s, one can tell that her strokes were darn near perfect. But the admiring bit was interrupted when a sound of splashing water can be heard off camera. The camera mare panned the shot on where it came from. And it appeared that Rockwell and Octavia just went on a row boat that was just lying around a small pier all along. The camera followed suit. Once Octavia and the camera mare sat comfortably on the small boat, Rockwell began rowing. The camera zoomed in its shot to the mayor once more.

“Look at those strokes.” Rockwell said as he gradually closed the distance between them and the mayor. “Is she a former athlete or something?”

It was no surprise that Inkwell was the first one to reach the other side of the lake. And despite having just swam half a quarter mile she still has enough strength left to go into another sprint up the hill where a thestral just landed, probably to carry her someplace safe and away from the agent. As she reached the top of the hill the thestral immediately carried her with his hooves and took off into the air. 

They didn’t go far when a short metal rod was flung into their direction. The piece of metal was moving too fast that it flew past the fleeing group. And then it flashed. The thestral carrying Inkwell suddenly stopped flapping his wings and dropped hard on the ground. The camera panned back to the agent, who was not attempting to hide his smug smile. 

“I can’t believe you were just toying with them.” 

“And I can’t believe that only took thirteen minutes.”
> Chapter Fourteen: Bangdemonium
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The camera mare entered the carriage. The moderately sized vehicle usually has its roof retracted on normal circumstances but considering that a process of interrogation was going on, Rockwell had it out for privacy reasons. The camera panned its shot on the carriage’s interior. The windows on both sides were closed with curtains further concealing the view from the outside. Rockwell was sitting beside the camera mare and was looking firmly at Mayor Inkwell who was sitting on the seat adjacent to him and was sandwiched between two royal guards whose side gazes were fixed on her. The glow on their golden armor were the only source of light inside. 

“So in summary,” Rockwell said, eyes still fixed on Inkwell’s. “The reason why you wanted to wipe out the four groups is because you think that managing them as mayor is way too hard of a job for you? And the reason why Blurry and the thestrals are in on this scheme of yours is because they want the outskirts to be only theirs? A place where she and her kin can call their own?”

“It sounds much grander when Blurry says it.” Mayor Inkwell replied.

“Nevertheless, it’s still quite stupid. Especially in your case, treating Ponyville’s mayoral as some sort of pre-retirement vacation career?” Rockwell scrunched his muzzle. “Really? Look, I know that your previous job of being Celestia’s assistant is a very taxing one, considering the fact that you’re assisting the mare responsible for running this entire nation, but choosing to become Ponyville’s mayor? That’s a really bad career switch. You do know this town faces trouble on a weekly basis, right?”

Both royal guards nodded silently.

“This town attracts problems like magnet is to metal. I’m pretty sure some kind of anomalous phenomenon is responsible for it but that’s a tale for another time. I mean,” Rockwell scratched his chin before continuing. “You could’ve chosen other places instead of this. Baltimare’s a nice place. Have you seen Baltimare? You definitely should have chosen Baltimare.”

“What’s done is done, Agent Rockwell.” Mayor Inkwell said glumly. “You’re better off sending me away now.”

“For the sake of exposition, I can’t let you go just yet.” Rockwell quickly replied. “And what’s up with this girl’s plan? Killing off entire races just so her kind could be the dominant ones in that particular area? Bit too much, don’t you think?”

“Blurry has a way with words when it comes to persuading others. But now, when you say it like that...”

“It kinda comes off as needlessly stupid?” Rockwell finished her sentence.

Mayor Inkwell could only nod shyly. Her glasses drooped down her snout as she did.

“Well that’s how they always operate.” Rockwell leaned on the back of his seat while crossing his forelegs. “Even if they have nothing, they still have their charms. And those things alone are guaranteed to earn you a following that would blindly follow even the most heinous of commands. But still, genocide? Can’t they just move into someplace devoid of competition instead of usurping an already occupied one? There’s a lot places in Equestria that are thestral friendly. I heard Hollow Shades is one of those places, I dunno. I might have to request HQ to have somepony survey that area in the future.”

“Like I said before Agent Rockwell,” Inkwell replied, head looking down. “What’s done is done. You may catch me, but never Blurry. You will never catch Blurry.”

Rockwell raised a brow at Inkwell’s statement. “If a mayor like you speaks so highly of her, then she really must be great, huh?”

Mayor Inkwell suddenly raised her head and matched Rockwell’s firm stare. “She’s a much bigger threat than me.”

“Considering you’re now captured, she is by default.”

“Do not underestimate her, Agent.” Inkwell said, the tone of her voice sounding bolder than before. “She’s the one who orchestrated all of this. I only provided her with the means to do it.”

“Oh good.” Rockwell gave a rather obvious eye roll. “Stupid funds stupid. Thanks for the free info though.” He stood up from his seat and headed for the door, the camera followed. “And don’t forget your seatbelts, the ride will start any moment now.”

“That information was not for free, Agent Rockwell.” Mayor Inkwell said as Rockwell opened the carriage door. “I am just telling you of the inevitable that is yet to come.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rockwell waved her statement off as he exited the vehicle. “Give me more of that cheese and I’ll have enough to make me a sandwich.”

As the camera properly got out of the carriage, the vehicle immediately moved forward and raised itself into the air. The camera panned its shot back to Rockwell who was now standing in front of Octavia, to whom the agent has given permission to eavesdrop the entire interrogation process. 

“Was that actually true?” Octavia asked the agent. “The inevitability of their plans?”

“I love a good a challenge, so they better.” Rockwell quipped.

“I have to give the mayor credit on this one.” Octavia said as she hoofed the phonograph that she confiscated earlier back to Rockwell. “Despite whatever terrible fate awaits her, she still maintained her courage and composure till the end.”

“Eh.” Rockwell shrugged. “It’s called last-minute smugness. It’s meant to spit your enemies for the last time. She wouldn’t have donned that look if we had just played this on her.” He gave the phonograph he was holding a slight shake.

“Alright. First of all, Agent Rockwell...” Octavia began. “That is very disgusting! That method’s exploitative and brings out the vulnerability of its victims.”

“That’s kinda the point.”

“Although it amuses me greatly that you succumbed to my demands and surrendered the device to me rather easily. That’s very uncharacteristic of you actually.”

“What, so you were saying that we should we go to the werewolves’ houses now?”

Octavia’s ears perked up. “Beg your pardon?”

“Okay then. To the werewolves it is!” Rockwell said as he trotted to the direction of the Outskirts. But he immediately stopped like he just remembered something. 

“Oops.” Rockwell said as he brought his vanisher ward out. “Gotta flash the guards first.”

The afternoon sky has already turned into soft pinkish hue when Rockwell’s group arrived at the werewolf part of the Outskirts. As they approached the house of the wolves’ leader Luminous, the camera observed that this usually sleepy part of town was now slowly waking up. There were now thestrals trotting in the streets while some can be seen busying themselves inside their homes. And adding the fact that the leaves of the Elm trees were falling everywhere really makes one wonder if they’re still in Ponyville. 

Upon reaching the doorstep, Rockwell gave the door a gentle knock. It didn’t take long for somepony inside to respond. A green mare with red mane opened the door. Her mane was unkempt and her body was slightly shivering. The cup filled with coffee in her hoof was probably the reason for her jittery appearance.

“Mrs. Mondegreen?” Rockwell asked.

“That’s me.” The mare replied.

Rockwell showed Mondegreen his I.D before replying. “Good evening, ma’am. I’m Agent Rockwell from the Bureau of Secrecies and I’m here regarding the vampire-werewolf hostilities in the area. Is your husband home? I would like to have a word with him.”

“Oh. He’s at work right now. But he’ll be home shortly.”

“Really?” Rockwell raised a brow. “He still went to work after all that.” He made a flailing gesture with his hooves near his face as if to symbolize the beating that Luminous got from the previous night. 

“Despite his looks, m husband is quite durable.” Mondegreen said, a hint of pride in her voice. “It’ll take more than a few scratches from the vampires to keep him down. Why don’t you come in? I’ll have some coffee ready for you while we wait.”

“No thanks. We’re leaving shortly anyway. But please tell your husband to gather all the werewolves in front of the Carousel Boutique at seven-thirty tonight. Miss Scratch and her cabal will meet them there to peacefully end the hostilities once and for all.”

Mondegreen’s eyes narrowed at Rockwell’s request. “This is not a trap, right?”

“Dear Celestia, I hope not!” There’s worry in Rockwell’s voice. Be it genuine or faux, nopony could really tell. “Because if it is, then one ivory furred pony will surely have her body inside out and dried under the hot sun tomorrow.”

“Agent Rockwell!” Octavia scolded him and his not so vague threat.

Rockwell turned to look at Octavia while scratching the back of his head. “What? What’d I just say?”

On top of a house near Carousel Boutique, 7:30 pm

The camera panned on the edge of the house’s roof, where Rockwell was helping Octavia climb up the rooftop of the house. 

“Why do I have to be up here as well?” Octavia protested. “I should’ve been down there with Vinyl and her cabal.”

After Octavia got up on the roof, Rockwell moved on to find himself a clear view on the boutique. The camera followed the agent. Its shot focused on where he was looking. Standing in front of the Element of Generosity’s clothing shop was a couple of ponies amounting up to the dozens. There’s no doubt that these were Vinyl and Luminous’ groups. Distinguishing the members of each group was quite easy. The ones wearing glasses or any snazzy outfit belonged to the vampires while the ones who had bushier fur or whose mannerisms slightly resemble that of a dog’s certainly belonged to the wolves. 

“Trust me,” Rockwell said to Octavia as she stood beside him. “You don’t want to be down there with them right now. The vampires are a proud race. I’m pretty sure that they don’t want anypony to see them in this state right now, let alone the ones close to them. And besides, the view’s much better from here.”

“At the expense of good audio that is.”

“Ssh, I’m listening.”

Octavia replied with an eye roll.

The crowd below the group was getting quite lively. Everypony was chatting with everypony. Although the camera can’t make out what they’re saying due to how far it was from them. The camera centered its shot on Vinyl and Luminous, who were now approaching each other. The two conversed for a while, although it was Vinyl who did most of the talking. Once they’re done with their brief chat, they gave themselves a hoof bump and a small shake. 

The two leaders also gestured for their members to do the same. They had everypony form two lanes, one for the vampires and one for the werewolves. These lanes of ponies would then approach each other and do what their leaders did, which was to give the pony in front of them a hoof bump and small shake right after. The vampires marched forward and engaged the hoof bumping. They then expressed some apologetic words at the werewolf they were making peace with, of which the recipients accepted wholly. 

Once everypony has made peace with each other, they broke off their lanes and went on in their separate ways. One could tell that the mood has improved a bit. 

“It took a while, but at least this part’s finally done.” Rockwell said while stretching a foreleg, it made some cracking sounds the longer he did it. “Now all that’s left is Blurry and her bombs.”

“What about the other thestrals?” Octavia asked Rockwell. “Shouldn’t you round them up along with their leader as well?”

“Nah, it won’t be necessary.” Rockwell said, still stretching. “What Blurry has going on in there runs like a cult of personality of some sort. All you have to do is to take out the root and the entire plant withers up and dies.”

“We are not a cult!” The loud voice from behind them made Octavia jump up in surprise. The camera turned around to see who it was, the others did as well. 

It was the mayor’s assistant, Blurry. She looked just as stoic as before. But her yellow eyes were filled with fury. They were not directed to the camera or Octavia. They mostly focused on the sole stallion that ruined pretty much everything she has planned, Agent Rockwell.

“Great, you’re here.” Rockwell said casually to Blurry. He had a hoof cupping all the pockets in his suit, as if looking for something. “Makes my job easier then.”

“We are a mighty race.” Blurry took a step forward as if to emphasize her words. “A mighty race with a noble cause!”

The camera panned back to Rockwell, who was still preoccupied with searching every nook and cranny of his pockets. He kept on cupping his pants and jacket until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, grabbed a stick and bit on it. It was only then that he eventually gave the thestral mare a piece of his attention. 

“You call genocide a noble cause?” Rockwell said. He was cupping his pockets again, probably looking for his lighter.

“We were just trying to find a place we can call our own. And if it’s at the cost of a few lives then so be it.” Blurry’s tone was deathly serious, although her face did show signs of irritation upon noticing the agent’s lack of interest in what she’s saying. 

“You could find other places, you know.” Rockwell said, finding his lighter finally.

Blurry took another step. “You have ruined my plans, plans that have taken ages to complete! And you have taken them down within a single day!”

“Oh you flatter me.” Rockwell was now attempting to light his cigarette. The camera could see Blurry’s left eye twitching slightly from what the agent said. 

Blurry took several steps closer to Rockwell. “The carefully planned feuds, the painstakingly built magic totems, my base of operations, and my sole benefactor...I will make you pay for all of this.”

As Blurry approached the agent, Rockwell suddenly tossed her a bit which hit her forehead and landed on her snout. This stopped her from closing the distance between them.

“There’s the payment.” Rockwell said, still focused on lighting his cigarette stick. “Now, the carriage that will take you to the bureau takes about twenty minutes to get here. So how about we go grab some coffee first while we wai-”

Blurry threw the bit back into Rockwell’s face, this time much stronger. The bit flew straight into his mouth which split his cigarette stick in half and also his upper lip. Rockwell took a step a back in pain and surprise. A foreleg was touching his lip, caressing the freshly opened wound. 

“You will pay in kind, Agent Rockwell. You will pay in kind.” Blurry was holding a strange device on her hoof. The camera zoomed in on it to examine it further. It was made of the same crystal like the bombs they found on Blurry’s hideout. It also has the same orb that the device was attached with, only smaller. Blurry looked down on the orb and pressed it. She then looked back at Rockwell, now smiling.

All of a sudden, certain parts in the outskirts shone a bright purple light. The same light could also be seen in where Everfree was supposed to be. The purple light looked the same as the one in Zecora’s house, when Rockwell accidentally detonated the crystalline bomb. And just like the one in Zecora’s these series of lights were silent and faded just as fast. 

“What the!?” Rockwell cried out once he realized what those lights were. “Did you just-”

“I detonated all of them, Agent Rockwell.” Blurry finished it for him. “That’s what happens when you ignore my warnings.”

Rockwell didn’t bother giving the mare a reply. He just spat out his cigarette stick while dragging a hoof down his face in frustration. He gave a small barely audible groan afterwards.

And then he suddenly charged at Blurry. 

The camera took a short a moment to process what just happened. Rockwell was now moving fast. But apparently, Blurry was faster. She easily blocked Rockwell’s blow which was coming from his right foreleg, like she had anticipated it. Rockwell pulled his right and instantly switched with his left. Blurry blocked that as well. Rockwell hopped away to prepare himself for another charge and dashed back with just much speed as before.

The two immediately traded blows with one another once Rockwell met Blurry face-to-face. But from the looks of it, it appeared that only Rockwell was on the offensive. Blurry on the other hoof, was just blocking his attacks like they were nothing. But Rockwell’s blows did slowly push Blurry towards the edge of the roof. This was probably Rockwell’s plan. If he can’t beat her with his hooves alone, then he might at least recruit gravity’s help.

It was only then when Blurry was on the verge of falling did she dish out her first blow on the agent. It was a direct hit on Rockwell’s left cheek. Blurry’s sudden attack stunned Rockwell, which allowed him to be tackled by her and sent his body down the roof’s surface. 

Blurry kept the struggling Rockwell on a tight hold. Despite his attempts of setting himself free, it was all futile.  And when he attempted to raise his head even for just an inch, Blurry would drag his head up by holding his mane and shove it down the roof again, smacking his head hard on the roof’s hard clay tiles.

“I did say earlier that I’ll have your face kissing the ground.” Blurry said to the downed Rockwell, her voice oozed with sadistic pleasure. When Rockwell tried struggling again, she once more dragged his head upwards and smacked it down the roof. Blood could be seen splattering on the now fractured clay tiles. 

“But wait,” Blurry playfully said. “This is not the ground!” With that said she carried the gradually weakened Rockwell using the back of his neck like a kitten and soared into the air. Once she reached an adequate height above the ground she dropped Rockwell like a piece of trash. 

“This is!” Blurry called to Rockwell as he swiftly fell. His body gave a loud thud as it forcefully hit the dirt. 

“Agent Rockwell!” The camera panned to the now panicking Octavia as she hurriedly made her way down the house. The camera however, decided to stay on the roof, still keen on recording whatever it is that will happen next.

Despite suffering from a rather high drop just now, Rockwell managed to bring himself up, although barely. He slowly pushed himself up. His body was shivering, quite possibly from the sheer pain he was experiencing. The camera panned back to Blurry who was still hovering midair. From the looks of it, she doesn’t look quite impressed at what the agent was doing. As the agent was still struggling to get up, she zoomed in towards his direction and tackled him once again. 

Blurry’s actions took Rockwell by surprise. It sent him rolling on the ground, a cloud of dust surrounding appeared in its wake. Once Rockwell was on the ground again, Blurry landed herself on Rockwell’s chest in an attempt to immobilize him. It was quite effective. Rockwell now had a hard time moving anything below his torso; he could only depend on his forelegs from the Blurry’s onslaught.

And what an onslaught it was. Blurry gave no quarter when she assaulted Rockwell. Before the agent could cross his hooves to protect himself, Blurry was already drilling through his chest. Each swift blow that landed on Rockwell made him cough up blood violently or made his hooves flail in an erratic manner. Blurry’s attacks were so relentless that the camera mare has thought that the agent’s ribs were turned to powder by now. 

“Please stop!” The camera centered its shot to the source of the voice. It was Octavia and she finally made her way down the house. “You’re killing him!”

The camera switched back to Blurry, who appeared to have taken notice of Octavia’s pleas for mercy. She gave the mare a menacing grin and continued back on beating up Rockwell. But this time, she’s now focusing on his head. Her blows were just as powerful as before. It’s like this mare has bottomless stamina to spare. Now that Blurry was focusing on his head, Rockwell now has the opportunity to use his forelegs to defend himself.

But that proved to be futile either as Blurry’s attacks tend to go through whatever sliver of defense he managed to muster. Every time the mare’s hooves landed on Rockwell’s face it sent the ground rippling. Small shockwaves of dust could be seen appearing around Rockwell’s head, like earthen halos. It’s a miracle how this guy still managed to stay awake during this ordeal.

“Octy?” Vinyl’s voice could be heard not far from where the fight was happening. The camera focused its shot on the vampire mare. She was with Luminous and a few of her vampire companions. “Octy is that you? And is that-”

“Vinyl!” Octavia cried in panic, interrupting the mare. “Help the agent! Please!”

Blurry ceased her pummelling on Rockwell and decided to take a look at the new arrivals. Her eyes went wide upon realizing who it was. “You!?” She said aloud. “This is impossible. How did you survive the explosion?”

“Explosion?” Vinyl lowered her glasses, revealing a pair of red eyes that were narrowed on the thestral. “Is that what those glowing things near our houses are!?” She turned her head to Luminous. “Yo! This mare just blew our houses up!”

Luminous’ face was instantly filled with fear and confusion. “What?”

The camera panned back to Blurry. Probably fearing that she’ll get outmatched and outnumbered, she has now risen herself from the ground, leaving the motionless Rockwell bleed helplessly on the dirt. “I’ll get you next time.” She looked at the wolves and vampires with intensity. “And consider this a warning in case any of you wants to go after me.” She pointed a hoof at the agent that she had just given a brutal beating to. 

Once she issued her warning to everypony in sight Blurry then spread her wings and took off to the skies. But as she flew herself up she noticed the camera taking footage of her. She zoomed in on the mare holding the camera and gave her a swift kick with her hindleg. The camera’s view went violently spinning after the contact. A mare’s shriek could be heard in the background as the shot spun itself down the ground. Fortunately, an incomprehensible grey blur swooped in to the camera’s rescue and had its view stabilized as it landed on the ground.

“Good job Dusty!” Luminous called out. The camera mare centered the shot to the one who saved her, it appreared to be Dusty, Luminous’ daughter. The mare’s werewolf form slowly faded away as she approached her father, who petted her mane generously.

“Rockwell!” Octavia cried again, urging the camera to focus back on the downed agent.

The camera got a closer shot to Rockwell’s bloodied form. The agent’s suit was tattered all over. And his shirt that has been white this afternoon was now turned scarlet from all the blood that escaped his body. On his chest area there appeared to be small protrusions, like tiny wooden splinters that may have been part of something whole before Blurry pulverized the Tartarus out of it. 

Octavia opened Rockwell’s jacket, revealing the broken dragonflare and shattered glasses. She picked those things up and tossed them at the side. She also picked up the splinters that were lodged on the agent’s chest. 

“Should we take him to a hospital?” Luminous suggested.

“N-no time for that.” Rockwell said, attempting to get up. But he immediately went into a bloody coughing fit and was forced by Octavia to lie down again.

“Don’t push yourself.” Octavia said, she made the worry in her voice apparent.

“You two, group leaders.” Rockwell looked at Vinyl and Luminous. “I want you to gather all the members back here as soon as possible so that I can prepare to evacuate you guys into Everfree. Ponyville’s no longer a safe place for you if that maniac’s still out there. Your groups will be moved into...” He stopped briefly as he went into another coughing fit. “The Everfree tower where my fellow BoS agents will protect you until that (Beeping) mare is apprehended.”

Vinyl and Luminous was about to say something when Rockwell shakily raised a hoof to silence them.

“And please,” He continued. “I don’t want any resistance on this one. I can’t afford to lose any more of you now.”

Vinyl gave Rockwell a silent nod of agreement before walking away with her companions. Cliff Hanger, who just witnessed Rockwell’s fatal beating, took one last look at the battered agent. And as he turned away, a small mischievous smirk could be seen forming on his lips.

“I-I’’ll go check on my wife first and then I’ll gather them back here again.” Luminous said as he briskly trotted towards the Outskirts.

“Right, mom!” His children exclaimed before hurrying themselves up to follow him.

Rockwell gave both groups a small bloody smile as they trotted away from him.

“We should really take you to a hospital.” Octavia said, still picking the splinters in his chest.

“You know,” Rockwell said, shakily placing another cigarette stick in his mouth. Due to how weak his body has become, he had hard time doing a mundane thing such as this. At least Octavia was considerate enough to help him do it, of which he gave her a gratifying nod. “Just by killing the ghosts and aliens, that mare may have just brought Equis unfathomable horrors from the sci-fi and fantasy side.”

Octavia had to actually stop what she was doing upon hearing Rockwell’s words. “Really?”

“If not handled correctly, the extraterrestrials and the ethereals could wage war upon us. But that’s not the worst case scenario though.”

“How could there be anything worse than two powerful factions waging war on Equestrian soil?”

“The paperwork that comes with it.”