//------------------------------// // The Real Phoenix // Story: The White Phoenix // by Quick Fix //------------------------------// "...Please don't do anything like that again. Ever." Rarity commented flatly. "No promises, getting to make the snippy comment was kinda fun." Sweetie Belle replied as made her way down the stairs, zipping her coat up enough to cover her jaw. Rarity sighed to herself and did the same before following her down. The stairway seemed to go into total darkness since there were no lights set up in there and the two sisters constantly needed to watch their step. Partway down they heard somepony coming up the stairs and pressed against the right wall, hoping they were inconspicuous enough in the dark. Thankfully the stallion passing them, since his size was pretty much the only thing they could make out from the silhouette, didn't pay them any attention either. With that done they kept moving, Sweetie walking into the wall briefly as the stairway levelled out and turned a corner. Beyond that there was a definite light that marked an exit and sounds of life were audible at the far end. Quite a lot of them too, judging by how quickly the sound was building up. "Fascinating," Rarity murmured. "If I had to guess, this tunnel follows the streets above." "And to be set up this well for so long, it must be as old as Manehatten itself." Sweetie said with amazement, the comment met by silence as Rarity ran a few numbers through her head. "I think it's been here for a bit less than twenty six hundred years, darling." She finally replied, glancing aside as her sister looked away a little and buried her face further into her coat, suddenly intrigued by the now visible hardwood that made up the tunnel walls. "Oh, yeah..." Sweetie's voice was muffled slightly now but she held her head in place as they exited the tunnel and stopped at the sight before them. The low meet was nothing like they had expected. While neither of them had seen anything like it before, Rarity could vaguely imagine this was what those 'conventions' that Rainbow Dash had been to when she was younger had been like. The area was approximately ninety feet wide, two hundred and fifty feet long and thirty feet high. All the walls were set in concrete with small holes cut near the ceiling every dozen feet for what was presumably ventilation purposes. The roof was reinforced by a dozen steel girders evenly spread around the area and fitted with large firefly lamps to provide some light, though most of it came from lamps at ground level. Spread across the ground area were dozens of tables, stalls and various other means of selling wares that seemingly hundreds of ponies were examining, purchasing or selling. Every single pony present seemed to have taken measures to keep their identities hidden from anypony looking at them but beyond that, the general atmosphere almost felt more suited to a late-night community centre meeting than a black market. "Well, at least we don't stand out." Sweetie Belle remarked, her eyes following a pony who seemed to be wearing a full hazmat suit to keep themselves covered. "I don't like this," Rarity whispered as she took it all in. "I have no idea who any of these ponies are but every single one makes me think they'd turn on us for the most insignificant reason." "Well we're not here to cause trouble, so we don't have any reason to give them at all," Sweetie said reassuringly, adjusting her glasses. "We just look like we're browsing, buy something if we need to, and see if we can find anything out here." Rarity nodded, took a breath and set off into the low meet, her sister right beside her. Considering how many ponies there were down here, it was fairly easy to lose themselves in the crowd. For many of the ponies present, their coat colour was the only thing they could make out as they trotted past the various displays. The items on sale were the main reminder that this place was dangerous in reality, as practically nothing they could see could have been acquired legally. At one point the two of them passed a stall selling emergency services outfits. While neither of them wanted to imagine what most ponies here might use them for, the fact they were there only backed up the idea that the White Phoenix had been through here. After several minutes of wandering they came to a booth that had a variety of medical supplies laid out for sale. The pony on the other side was a mare of indeterminate race, thanks to the mix of a dark brown cloak, black balaclava and snow goggles that only left their shamrock green muzzle exposed. Sweetie took several seconds to study the various bottles and boxes on display before picking up a small bottle that the label said contained Condusin, a salve developed for horn injuries. Keeping the bottle in her hoof, since she felt using her magic might be a giveaway, she looked it over before glancing up at the selling pony. Not that they'd know due to her sunglasses, nor would she know if they were even looking properly at her in return. "Everything has it's labelled contents inside. The Condusin's forty bits." The seller stated in a strong Baltimare accent, possibly the Pren district. "Hmm...You never know..." Sweetie said to herself, the muffle provided by her coat covering her muzzle keeping her voice from being too obvious. She fished the necessary coins out from a pocket and handed them over. "Thanks. Nice to see somepony interested when I'm out of my usual gear." Seller, as Sweetie had already silently nicknamed her, commented. Though nopony could see it, Rarity raised a slight eyebrow at that. "And what would that normally be?" "Canisters of natural gas. It's easy to extract from the southern swamps and a has lot more uses than most ponies realise. I've already got a regular buyer too, cleared out the last two dozen I had and I'm stuck in Manehatten for a few days before I can get more, hence what I've got here tonight." "You're awfully open about all this." Rarity commented. Seller looked over at her before grinning slightly. "You must be new here," She remarked, as though Rarity had simply compared the weather to elsewhere in the world. "There's nothing to hide about what we do. Anypony who goes forward to the cops is basically admitting their own guilt in being here so, we don't know who anypony is but it's all open otherwise." "So you don't have any problem talking about your buyer?" Sweetie asked in a slightly hushed tone, resting a hoof on the edge of the booth. "It...Sounds like somepony we've needed to talk to for some time." Rarity clarified. "Not sure how much I can tell you," Seller said simply, still sounding oddly relaxed. "Wasn't much to look at after all, being covered up. Just some very light coat visible. I mean, borderline beige. Kinda ironic that I kept remembering that bland colour." "So, you've seen them for a while?" "Well yeah. I mean I'm not at every meet, but I've seen that pony there enough times over the last few months. Especially when they started buying off me and we got talking. Had a weird voice too, sounded like a mare but just so...Dull. It was like trying to have a stimulating conversation with a changeling. I didn't question the bits she had though." "They wouldn't happen to mention any indication of where they were getting the bits to afford all this, did they?" Sweetie asked, knowing she was grasping at straws but figuring it couldn't hurt to try. "That was something else weird," Seller replied after a moment's thought, tapping her chin with a hoof. "Most ponies here operate on the basis that the other pony doesn't care what they say beyond the price. She just kept talking while she was loading up, all about how she kept slipping funds from her workplace and horded it at home before buying." Rarity and Sweetie looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. With all they knew beforehand, this was merely the final confirmation that the bit thief and the White Phoenix were one and the same. It did explain why Rarity had struggled so much to find any kind of bank trail for where the bits had gone though. After all, there was no trail in the first place, simply the Phoenix lifting bits straight from the till at Manehatten Carousel. In the same vein though, that effectively narrowed down the suspect list to more of a shortlist. They just needed a little more to confirm it. "I see. Sounds like our pony but, if there's anything more you remember...?" Rarity said, her ever familiar charm present even through her somewhat disguised voice. "Hmmm...Well there was that one time she was rushing, even with that same dull voice..." Seller thought for a minute, her expression unreadable. "I noticed a mane clip sticking out from under the hat she had. Just a little red, pink and purple flower but I asked if it had a price, just figured it'd be something easy to hawk on the streets. She looked straight at me with a stare that I could feel more than I could see and said 'There's nothing that would match its worth.' with more emotion than I'd ever heard from her, before carrying on as if nothing had happened." "That's..." Sweetie started before stopping as she looked at her sister. She could see Rarity's expression from this angle and she was clearly doing her best to keep from looking completely gobsmacked. "That's exactly what we needed to know. Thank you very, very much!" Rarity said simply as she practically started pushing Sweetie Belle away from the stall and back toward the exit. "No problem, hopefully I'll see you again." Seller said with only the slightest hint of confusion, waving them off. As soon as they were some distance away, Rarity let her go and simply motioned back toward the way they had come in, leading at a brisk walk. Sweetie took a moment to check she still had the bottle in her pocket before following. Everypony around still paid them no mind and they were able to make their way to the staircase and through the dark path back into the hotel without any complications. Once they reached the storage room, Rarity led the way back to the lobby, figuring that it wouldn't be a good idea to be caught in a staff only area. By the time they reached the lobby without being spotted she was starting to look agitated as she undid her coat and took a breath. Sweetie did the same, removing her sunglasses and pocketing them quickly. "What's wrong, sis?" Sweetie asked uncertainly. "It's all clear to me now..." Rarity removed her glasses with her magic and looked her sister dead in the eye. "I know who the White Phoenix is." "I, have my suspicions too...I just...I don't want to believe it." Sweetie folded her ears back in worry as she lifted her hat up in her magic, giving a small sigh as her mane fell into place again. "I don't like it either, but everything we've learned is irrefutable," Rarity lowered her voice as she did the same with her own mane. "The Phoenix only works at night to either buy supplies or make her arson attacks, funding everything through bits all but certainly taken from Manehatten Carousel. And from everything we've seen and heard, most likely an earth pony." "And...We only know one earth pony who could get to the finances of the boutique that regularly...And has been suffering from fatigue for months...And wears a flower mane clip like that seller described...All for long enough to match the time of every attack...It has to be..." Sweetie squeezed her eyes shut and looked down, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence. As hard as it was for her too, Rarity nodded. "Yes...Coco Pommel." The silence hung between them for several of the longest seconds of their lives. The idea, no, the fact that their friend; sweet, mild mannered, innocent little Coco was actually one of the most notorious serial criminals in living memory was very tough to take in. The fact that she seemed willing to seriously hurt ponies in the process was even worse. Rarity only needed those seconds before she was able to compose herself again, fully aware of what needed to be done. Sweetie was still looking straight down, the small whimpers coming from her making it clear she was taking it a lot worse. The younger mare was a pony who deeply valued her friends and this must have felt like the worst betrayal she could have possibly been hit by. "Darling..." Rarity said softly, gently placing a hoof on Sweetie's shoulder and holding still as she got a distressed muzzle in her own shoulder. She simply held her little sister, stroking her mane reassuringly. She felt just as bad on the inside but there would be time to vent later. "I know, I know it's hard. But we have to see this through to the end. A lot of ponies are counting on us keeping going, now more than ever." "I know..." Sweetie finally replied, pulling herself back and steeling herself, supressing the worst of her emotion for now. "We have to stop her." "Yes, we do. Now it's going to take a little while but if we can inform the police and reach Coco's apartment quickly, we can do what we need to." Rarity stepped back slightly and moved toward the hotel exit, sounding more confident than before at having a plan to work with. "She's not there," Sweetie said quickly as she followed Rarity, legs shaking slightly, a small sign she was still struggling. "She said she had plans this evening. By now, she's probably at the waterfront near Celestial Bridge. Something about a fireworks show." "Fireworks..." Rarity mused as they stepped back onto the streets before stopping in place. "Vexation said that the Phoenix had dozens of those gas valves, and the seller back there said she'd bought so many canisters. If she has dozens of those makeshift bombs..." "Oh sweet Celestia," Sweetie looked down before shaking herself out of the oncoming stupor. "The north district MPD station isn't far from here. You raise the alarm there, I'm going to go get Babs. Meet at the bridge and see what we can do." She didn't even wait for a reply before taking off at a run. It wasn't too far to the Harmony's Rest apartments and she knew that Babs Seed had had the day off. If nothing else, she wanted another of her friends by her side for this. Rarity took a few moments to process her words before turning and setting off at a similar pace. She could see the sense in that call, the station was closer for her and they'd need all the resources they get their hooves on. As they disappeared round opposing street corners, their thoughts were the same. 'This is it...Please let us make it in time.'