//------------------------------// // Endless Resentment // Story: Another Member of the Band // by Magic Step //------------------------------// “We are achieving maximum sprinklage!” Chica exploded into a leap, clanging against some pots and pans. Adorabelle dumped more sprinkles on top of the pink-frosted confections. “OMP, these are going to be soooo tasty!” She picked up a cupcake in her telekinetic grip. “Wait, wait,” Bonnie said. “Can we sing the song first?” “Song?” Adorabelle asked. Chica nodded, her broken beak flapping as she did. “It’s kind of your birthday, I mean, it’s your first day here, right?” “Aw, well…” Chica pulled a microphone from behind her back, probably from the same place where she got the cupcake. Which apparently was nowhere. “Get your hooves up! Party’s starting out right now! Everypony everypony get down!” Bonnie was dancing, probably. At the moment he was doing something weird where he was pointing his finger at random places, but it almost looked like dancing. “Time to make a wish, better make it right now! It’s been so long, but today is your birthday party!” Chica swayed to the music. Adorabelle knew this song, naturally, so she joined in on the chorus. “Make a wish! It’s your birthday!” Chica and Bonnie froze. They remained completely motionless and silent, their eyes boring into her. It was like they’d just been turned to stone, but unlike stone, Adorabelle knew they had the potential for sudden movements at any time. And that was what was unnerving. “U-um…” Adorabelle squeaked. Chica launched herself at Adorabelle, causing the unicorn to tip her chair backwards to escape, but Chica landed on top of her, her toothy beak less than an inch from Adorabelle’s face, her heavy body pressing down, the pointy joints in her knees digging into Adorabelle’s ribs. “You sing!?” Adorabelle couldn’t speak. Out came a wail. “No, you were singing, I heard it, I heard it!” Chica pressed her hands to the sides of Adorabelle’s mask; thankfully the mask was sturdy enough that Adorabelle didn’t feel it. “You can sing in our band!” “What band?” Adorabelle cried, panicked. Then the words registered with her. “Wait, like, you’re not mad at me?” A high-pitched giggle emanated from Chica, who only visually indicated she was laughing by using her hand to hide her gaping beak. “No, silly! Why would we be mad at that?” “Y-you jumped at me, like, super fast and it was scary. I thought you were attacking me…” “Oh, we don’t attack,” Chica said. “Foxy,” Bonnie muttered. “What?” Adorabelle turned toward Bonnie. Chica coughed raspily. “I-I mean, we really don’t attack, really; we may pick ponies up when they do stuff that’s against the rules but that’s not really an attack.” “I attacked…” Bonnie whispered. “That was picking him up. By the leg. Not your fault for squeezing too hard.” “Um… like… can you get off me?” Adorabelle asked Chica. “You kind of hurt…” Chica squawked and fell off to the side. “Oh no! I hurt you? I didn’t mean to!” “It’s okay, really, just don’t climb on top of me again please.” Adorabelle rolled over and stood up. Then her head jerked in shock. “OMP, what time is it?” The two animatronies shrugged. “Aw, I’m gonna be, like, super late and dad will be worried…”Adorabelle started packing the cupcakes in a pizza box. “How many can I have? Can I have four?” “You can have all of them!” Chica said. “But where are you going?” “Home for the night. Oh, but, like, I promise I’ll come back again!” Adorabelle scooped the box into her telekinetic grip and started for the kitchen door. “We hope so,” Bonnie said. “We’re best friends, right?” Adorabelle turned back and smiled. “Yeah… friends. I like that.” Chica rattled like she was about to explode and then sprang up into the air. “Yay! Friends are the best!” Adorabelle giggled. “Sooo… like, I think I can tell my way out from here, but…” “Oh, if you get lost, you can always ask the parrots!” Bonnie clumped over to the kitchen door an pushed it open. He pointed to a small alcove in the wall holding a silvery parrot. Adorabelle gasped and scurried over to it. On closer inspection, she could make out every fiber in its beautifully crafted metal feathers. It’s beak was made of a light blue metal, and its eyes were made from emeralds. “It’s soooo adorable!” she squeaked. As soon as she spoke, the bird’s eyes glowed, and it jerked upright and twitched from side to side. It lifted its wings slightly and turned its head towards her, opening and closing its blue beak. “*squawk* It’s sooo adorable! Can I buy twenty, mommy? *squawk*” Adorabelle pulled back in surprise. The voice sounded just like Chica’s. “Wh-what did it say?” The parrot jerked its head again. “*squawk* What did it say? *squawk* What do you mean what did it say? It’s a homicidal robot! Who cares what it said? *squawk*” The voice had changed again. The question at the start had been in the voice the parrot had used when Adorabelle had met it earlier in the evening, before getting knocked out, but the rest of the speech had been in a deeper, more hollow voice. Adorabelle turned to Bonnie, who was hanging his head. Suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder, and she screamed. “It’s just me,” Chica said. She steered Adorabelle a few feet away. “Why did that thing mention homicidal robots?” Adorabelle whimpered. “It… it didn’t…” “That was a very mean pony who said that,” Chica said. “There was… an accident, and that very mean pony thought it had been done on purpose.” “What kind of accident?” Adorabelle asked. “It’s just… it’s called the Bite Incident. B-but daddy said it was all okay, and we’re punishing Foxy for it, so don’t worry about it.” “Ohhh.” Adorabelle’s eyes widened. “Is that why Pirate Cove is off limits?” “We don’t want to talk about it,” Chica said. Her black-rimmed eyes looked earnest. “But… but why is the parrot repeating it if you don’t like it?” Adorabelle asked. Chica spun Adorabelle around so she was facing Bonnie again. “Tell her, Bonnie boy!” “Oh, these parrots are the most amazing thing ever,” Bonnie gushed, petting the parrot and nearly knocking it off its perch in the attempt. “One of the employees built them; they can repeat everything you say and they never forget anything! And you can even make them recite one of the Freddy Fazbear crew’s stage shows, word for word. Just say the line of the show where you want the play to start from, and they’ll be off!” “Why was Chica’s voice on it? And who’s the, uh, hello guy?” “Because the parrot can only remember a few different voices, so it’ll just play it back in whatever Fazbear crew member has the voice closest to yours.” Bonnie paused. “What hello guy?” “The, uh, guy who, like, gives the directions? Is that Freddy?” Bonnie's ears stood up straight. “Oh ho, no. Freddy’s got a super deep voice. Nah, that was Record Scratch; he built the parrots, so he put his own voice in them.” “Can I play with them?” Adorabelle stepped closer. Bonnie and Chica stepped back. “Sure,’ said Chica. “We’d better clean up the kitchen for tomorrow.” “Don’t hesitate to ask us if you need help!” Bonnie waved. Adorabelle turned back to the parrot. “You’re so beautiful.” “You’re so beautiful,” the parrot chanted back in Chica’s voice. Adorabelle giggled. “Why thank you.” “Why thank you.” “Stop repeating whatever I say.” “Stop repeating whatever I say.” “Seriously, stop that; it’s creepy,” Adorabelle giggled. The parrot’s eyes gleamed, and it started jerking again. When it spoke, it was in yet another voice Adorabelle didn’t recognize, higher pitched than the other boys voices but still masculine. “*squawk* Seriously, stop that; it’s creepy… Go entertain some kids or something… I can’t work with you staring at me like that… Steel Flight! They’re doing it again!” Adorabelle gasped. She knew that name, she was sure of it. But where… Wait, was it the soldier Doctor Whooves had helped out of Tartarus? No… that was Iron Flight. But maybe he was a relative of- Oh, ohhhhh, now she remembered. Now she had a lead and she could follow it, just like her mom! This glee she felt from this revelation lasted until she got halfway home from the restaurant. It was then she remembered that somehow, caught up in the excitement of befriending robot animals, she’d completely forgotten to ask about the Missing Children Incident. That dampened her spirits for about five minutes, and then she realized that just gave her an excuse to go back tomorrow. Then she skipped the rest of the way home. *** “This. Is. A happy little ditty,” Adorabelle sang to herself as she dressed herself for school. “I. Know. The music isn’t pretty. I. Know. The words are not so witty. Anyone can sing this song!” She felt colorful today, so she slipped on a light silk shirt with pink and yellow flowers and wove matching ribbons into her tail. Now for one extra-special touch. She opened her jewelry box and pulled out a case with two round lenses decorated like a color wheel. She’d found these in her favorite boutique, and the employee had shown her how to put them on. Opening her eyes wide, she levitated them into the air and poked them in, flinching a bit. After she realized it didn’t hurt, she took a good look at the mirror. Instead of blue, her irises were now striped every color of the rainbow; it looked magical, and Adorabelle smiled to herself. Maybe the ponies at school would notice her enough to talk to her now… “Adorabelle?” her dad called. “Can we… walk together? Perfect Karma wanted to talk to me.” Adorabelle scampered down the stairs to find her dad waiting, holding two blueberry bagels in his telekinetic grip. He gave a little start when he saw her. “A-Adorabelle, you… say something…” He looked terribly pale. “What?” Adorabelle said. “Why so scared?” Sterling Scales took a deep breath. “Your… your eyes…” “Oh, like, those are just contacts,” Adorabelle said. “I explained this to you back when I wore the green ones…” Her dad came closer and put his hoof behind her head, scrutinizing her. “…For my peace of mind, please take them off.” Adorabelle sighed and telekinetically pulled them out. “See? Blue.” She put them back on. “I wish you wouldn’t wear those…” He extended one of the bagels to Adorabelle, who took it in her mouth and munched it. “These disturbing fashion trends… if they truly understood…” With a mouthful of bagel, Adorabelle mumbled, “You’re wearing the grey suit today, which is, like, perfect for you, but where are the cuff links I bought for you? They totally make the outfit-” “-too tight around my ankles,” Sterling Scales finished. “I’m saving them for a more special occasion; I promise I’ll wear them, Beauty…” The two ponies stepped outside and crossed the short distance to the Perfect family home. The castle-like manor sparkled in the early morning sun. “Did Perfect Karma say what he wanted?” Adorabelle asked before stuffing her cheeks with more bagel. “I… imagine it has something to do with the prosecution of Terry,” Sterling Silver said, shrugging his shoulders and taking the door knocker. “The trial will be soon…” Adorabelle tapped her dad’s shoulder. “Don’t, like, let him say anything mean to you, okay? And tell Iron Hoof if he does?” Sterling Silver dropped the knocker limply, which rattled against the heavy oak door. “I… I won’t let anything affect my judgment, whatever Perfect Karma says. Don’t worry.” The door swung open, and the light blue stallion fixed his one eye on Sterling Silver. “Ah, good. Now while your daughter plays manservant and helps my ward…” He turned his attention to Adorabelle, and his eye widened and his face grew pale. “What-” Adorabelle started, but that was as far as she got before the door slammed in her face. She blinked for a few seconds. Then she heard a clang, and the high-pitched whine she’d heard far too many times in Doctor Whooves’ lab, the sound of a crystal being overloaded with magic to the point of explosion. Adorabelle looked up; one of the towers of the Perfect manor had a slot in it, from which pointed a cannon barrel, glowing with green energy. She screamed and jumped back; a blast of green light landed right where she’d been standing, blinding her. “They’re just contacts!” her dad wailed. “It’s not him! Please don’t-” His pleas were cut off with a cry of pain. Adorabelle stumbled blindly to one side, but a concussive blast knocked her back; she landed painfully on the pavement, her vision restoring just enough to see her dad also lying nearby, his body crackling with green energy. “Take them off,” her dad pleaded. “Take them off, take them off…” Adorabelle telekinetically ripped the lenses out and tossed them forward. “Stop shooting us!” The same click that began the attack came again; through her blotchy vision, Adorabelle saw the cannon barrel telescope back into the slot. The door slammed open, and Perfect Karma stomped out. He pounced on top of the contact lenses and ground them to powder. “No!” Adorabelle screamed. “Those were so cute-” Perfect Karma yanked Adorabelle into the air, holding her throat in his telekinesis. “This. Was. Not. Cute!” “Set her down,” her dad begged. “I’m sorry, it was my fault, I should have know you… should have seen… she was…” “And why?” Perfect Karma thrust Adorabelle away so hard that she staggered. Perfect Karma’s one blue eye fixed onto Sterling Scales, and his voice got quieter. “Why would you know?” Sterling Scales studied the street pavement. “It… it wasn’t really a secret. Just… not information ponies… really want to know…” “What are you talking about?” Adorabelle snapped. “Why do rainbows make you go nuts?” “Shut that annoying filly up,” Perfect Karma said, “and then join me in my study!” He slammed the heavy door open, strode through, and slammed it shut again. Adorabelle stared at the colorful dust that used to be her contact lenses, then at the slightly dented sidewalk with light green steam still floating up off of it. She turned to her dad. “You… are you okay?” “I’m… I’m fine…” He rubbed his forehead and eyes and winced. “Just a headache… kind of an eye ache actually… and it stung, but not anymore… I think… it might later… I don’t know…” Adorabelle nuzzled him on the cheek. “Thanks… thanks so much.” She brightened. “Hey, dad, can we use this to prove Perfect Karma is evil? Can we press charges?” Sterling Scales snapped his hoof off his eyes, revealing a puzzled look. “We… I mean, we could, but I think that would be in bad taste.” He looked up at the tower where the cannon had come from. “I mean… he might be able to claim self-defense. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same, I mean, if for some reason I bought a cannon in the first place, maybe. That is… we were all scared of him…” “Scared of who?” Adorabelle asked. Sterling’s eyes widened, then he shook his head. “I’ll… tell you when you’re older.” “I’m, like, almost an adult; how much older do I need to be?” The door creaked open, and Violet Edge poked his head out, his brilliant eyes wide. “I thought I heard… I did! That was a cannon! What the hay happened?” Adorabelle scampered up to him. “Y’know, the norm; your guardian’s psychotic and all that.” “But he fired a cannon!? In broad daylight!? What will he tell the neighbors?” “They ARE the neighbors, nitwit!” Perfect Karma shouted from somewhere inside. Meanwhile, Adorabelle had noticed what Violet Edge was wearing, and anything she’d been about to say flew out of her head. “I thought I, like, told you twenty times a day for a straight week, no pants! Especially not pants that don’t match your suit jacket!” Violet Edge visibly cringed. “There’s… a debate tournament with students from Baltimare…” “And if they give you any grief about your blank flank, the lawyer club will swoop in on them and give them a hard time because they love you.” Adorabelle gently pushed Violet Edge back inside. “I’m not kidding about the swooping part either; Steel Quill will, like, sic hawks on them and stuff.” “Ohhhhh Celestia I hope not,” Violet Edge said. “…I can walk up a set of stairs without you pushing me, you know.” Adorabelle slowed down and let Violet Edge go up ahead of her. When they reached Violet Edge’s room, Adorabelle saw a fluffy piece of white fabric crumpled on the bedspread. “Hey, like, what’s that?” She levitated it into the air. “A… cravat? Real silk? I, like, don’t remember buying this…” “I… g-got it when I went to buy the pants,” Violet Edge said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t remember until I got home what you told me about white and grey…” Adorabelle blinked dramatically at Violet Edge. “You… bought a piece of clothing?” “Don’t act so shocked! You didn’t literally buy all my clothes for me!” “Um, like, yes I did.” “Wh-what about my dad’s jacket? Or that frilly thing…” “Okay, like, yeah, I didn’t buy those, but neither did you. And you, like, totally outgrew everything Perfect Karma bought you, except that dumb tie I had to return…” “I-I…” “While you, like, come up with your rebuttal, I wanna see how it looks.” Adorabelle deftly whipped the ends of the cravat around Violet Edge’s neck, tying it snug but not too tight. Then she tweaked the three layers of ruffled white fabric, making sure they were all even, and stepped back to see the full effect. Slowly, her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she inhaled. Violet Edge quickly stammered out, “I can take it back if you don’t—” “SQUEEEEEEEE!” Adorabelle shrieked. The windows rattled, and cries of pain came from the two stallion downstairs and Perfect Aim upstairs. Violet Edge winced and flattened his ears to his head. “Th-that really hurt! Don’t scream like that!” Adorabelle started nuzzling Violet Edge behind the ears, making him grumble in protest. “That cravat is so totally adorable I cannot contain myself! It’s the only accessory that can make you even more perfect than you already are!” Violet Edge was quiet. Then he muttered, “Stop, just stop…” “Violet Edge!” Perfect Karma called from downstairs. “C-coming!” Violet Edge shook himself and wove away from Adorabelle’s grip, then slipped out the door. Adorabelle started to follow him, then froze. She’d nearly forgotten something. She turned and opened Violet Edge’s top desk drawer and pulled out a framed picture. The shot was over ten years old, so the colors were a little neon. Also the shot was tilted. There were three ponies sitting around a picnic table. The first was Violet Eyes, who had the same coat, mane, and eye color as his son. He wore his dark grey man long and in a ponytail that trailed over the sleeve of the less-tattered reddish-purple jacket he wore. He was resting his cheek on his forehoof and smiling, leaning over in a way that made his cutie mark clearly visible: a single violet standing tall against a red rising sun. The second pony was the reason Adorabelle had decided she needed to look at the picture. A blue-gray pegasus stallion was hovering over the picnic table, his wings too blurry to see. His electric blue mane was a tousled fright that made Adorabelle want to reach into the picture with a hairbrush, and his tail looked singed. His cutie mark was hidden by his wings and his eyes were closed, and he looked like he was laughing. But Violet Edge had mentioned his name once or twice; after all, Steel Flight had been his dad’s best friend. The last pony in the picture, naturally, was Violet Edge, still a skinny little colt. He had on a dark grayish purple sweater and an adorable red bow tie, and he was the only one looking at the camera. The most jolting thing of all, though, was the expression on his face. He was smiling. Not a half-smile, not a smug smile, not a sad smile. An honest-to-goodness glad-to-see-you kind of smile. Adorabelle wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him smile like that outside of photos. Looking at him made her feel sad, so she looked at the pegasus instead. Steel Flight… that was the name the parrot had mentioned. She didn’t know much about him and had no idea why he’d have been at that restaurant; from the stories she’d heard, she’d thought his talent was being a lie detector, but the voice coming from the bird had made it sound like he needed to… stop someone from doing something creepy? But there was no better way to learn about things than to ask, so she tucked the picture into her glittery pink saddlebag. Then she headed downstairs to find Violet Edge. *** Adorabelle stumbled out of the revolving door. “No, come on, just a few more rounds!” Doctor Whooves said. “Too dizzyyyyyyy…” Adorabelle whined, collapsing against the table of gadgets. A metal dish tumbled off the table and clattered to the floor. Romana gasped. “Be more careful!” “Look at all this lovely, lovely data,” Doctor Whooves cooed, petting the machine next to the revolving door. It was busy spitting out reams of paper with zigzags on it. “And we didn’t even have to leave my office! This is certainly promising.” “Please tell me we don’t have to do this again,” Adorabelle said from the floor. “We’ll probably be doing this for a month or so,” Romana said. Adorabelle wailed. “Oh, please don’t cry,” Doctor Whooves said, kneeling beside her and petting her mane. “If it helps, you can go slower next time… or maybe we can switch directions every once in a while…” “Or, like, I can just start thinking it’s locked all the time and then it won’t move…” “I wish you wouldn’t.” Doctor Whooves stood back up. “Want to feed the spider mice? Will that make up for it?” Adorabelle thrust herself up onto her hooves. “Ooh, would I!” Doctor Whooves held out a jar of tiny protein pellets. Adorabelle levitated it over to the tank of eight-legged mice and shook a handful into the dish. Two mice abandoned their webs and scurried over, their long white legs in incredible synchronization, and nibbled the brown pellets with tiny teeth. Adorabelle squealed with joy. “I want some of these at home!” “Maybe when we have time to try and breed nonpoisonous varieties,” Doctor Whooves said. A copper box fastened to the wall dinged. Romana trotted over and opened it, pulling out a letter. “Oh, look, the Rainbow Factory got back to you.” “Did they say yes!?” Doctor Whooves bounded over like a colt on Christmas. Romana slid the letter out and looked it over. “No, no, and no.” Doctor Whooves curled his lips into a pout. “What’s that about?” Adorabelle turned away from the mice. Doctor Whooves sighed. “I was hoping they’d loan me some rainbows for an experiment. They’re remarkable absorbers of chaos magic, you know. But Starburst is very picky about only letting Rainbow Factory scientists do anything involving rainbows…” “Also they have none to spare,” Romana said, folding the letter back into the envelope. “They’re critical to maintaining the balance of magic in our world, after all. And Starburst is obsessed with only making the exact amount necessary, no more, no less. I think he’s a little OCD.” “Meanie,” Adorabelle said. She cocked her head; the super important question she’d had this morning had literally only come back into her memory this moment. She needed to learn to use a notebook. “Oh, hey, I don’t suppose you’d know what makes a pony’s eyes rainbow?” Doctor Whooves shrugged. “Contacts? Though I don’t know where you could buy such a thing…” “I do. I, like, had a super cute pair but Perfect Karma smashed them because they scared him for some dumb reason.” Doctor Whooves frowned. “I don’t know why he would…” His eyes widened. “Oh, what if he… Could it truly be…?” “Ooooh, what is it? Tell me!” Adorabelle hopped up and down. “It’s… not really a story for young girls,” Doctor Whooves said. “Adorabelle reads murder files for fun; she can handle creepy stories,” Romana said. “Yes I can; please tell me!” Adorabelle turned puppy eyes onto Doctor Whooves. Doctor Whooves melted. “Not the puppy eyes, please… I’ll talk…” “Yay!” Adorabelle settled onto one of the stools. “There’s a… I guess you could say a rumor about a pony with rainbow eyes. You know how eyes are the windows to the soul?” Adorabelle nods. “That’s, like, why they turn red or, like, dragon-like when there’s demons in your soul?” “Exactly. Well, what do you think would happen if we could… extract the soul of a pony from their body and put it inside the body of another pony?” Adorabelle cocked her head. “Um… like, the eye color would change?” “Exactly,” Doctor Whooves said again. “Ooh, ooh, so the rainbow eyed pony was, like, an amalgamation of lots and lots of ponies?” Adorabelle beamed. “Er… not exactly,” Doctor Whooves said. “Well, I suppose, in a way. You see, the thing about pony souls is, they don’t actually come all in one piece. Um, that is, they can break apart… and the fragments don’t do quite the same thing as the whole. You can actually extract small pieces and just leave the pony you took them from… incomplete. Like they-” “The Grim Reaper!” Adorabelle squeaked excitedly. “Um…” Doctor Whooves’ expression went blank. “He was, like, a dark mage from, like, fifty or more years ago, and he had a cutie mark in soul-stealing spells and he was, like, obsessed with collecting them, but all his victims were affected differently. Some were, like, comatose, others were cold and gloomy, and others were total jerks. And that’s, like, why they had so much trouble catching him, because his trail was so confusing and stuff. I have a history book that’s all about him; it’s soooooo cool!” Doctor Whooves blinked. “A-ah yes, him. Yes, yes, you’re right; taking small pieces of souls from ponies can have wildly different results like that. But the important part is, our magic comes from our souls, both our power and our talent, and by surgically removing relevant pieces of souls and grafting them to his own, Torture Chamber could give himself all kinds of fantastic powers-” “Torture Chamber!?” Adorabelle leaned closer, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Who is that!?” Doctor Whooves groaned and put one hoof to his forehead. “Ah… Another long story, I’m afraid. Back when the Blessing was still controlling most of Canterlot, but was underground and pretending it wasn’t in order to escape Celestia’s notice, Torture Chamber was… a pony rumored to work for them. And they rumored the Blessing would send ponies who defied the natural order of unicorn supremacy to Torture Chamber, and he’d use them in his experiments. He was supposedly more monster than pony.” He gestured over his shoulder at where the giant aquarium used to be. “Cephalopony was one of his experiments. He apparently wanted to transform ponies into animals without using magic… I mean, with using magic, but without using a transformation spell. Such a thing is, as you’re well aware, much harder to reverse.” “Wait… where’s Torture Chamber now?” Adorabelle asked. “I haven’t seen anything about him in the papers, or the court records, or anywhere.” Doctor Whooves winced visibly. “Actually, no one knows. Around the time the Blessing’s headquarters were raided, we found his lab, but the experiments there were… in a bad condition, unfed and untreated. Those who could talk said he’d stepped out and hadn’t come back. None of the captured Blessing members knew where either… and I don’t think they were hiding anything. Even the Blessing was afraid of him.” He shrugged. “Rumor is he had a lab in the Everfree Forest, but naturally nopony is eager to go looking for him there, especially since no one knows where it is. And for all we know it’s in a pocket dimension or something; the Blessing had access to extremely sophisticated technology, and because nopony wanted to be the one to tell Torture Chamber ‘No,’ he borrowed their toys liberally.” Adorabelle got quiet. “Oh… that’s why Perfect Karma tried to shoot me with lasers.” “He what?” Romana had been cleaning up, but this proclamation apparently caught her attention more than the spiel about evil ponies. “Perfect Karma was, like, in the Blessing, right?” Adorabelle asked. “Um, well, obviously, nothing’s been proven or he wouldn’t be where he is now,” Doctor Whooves said. “The Perfect family was well-connected with them, but I believe he claimed he just attended meetings because relatives would be suspicious if he didn’t, and didn’t participate in any of their criminal activities.” “Still might have warned us about what they were planning,” Romana grumbled. “He said they didn’t trust him with much information, and passed a polygraph,” Doctor Whooves said. “Those things are lame,” Adorabelle said. “They, like, stopped accepting them in court and stuff.” “Yes, but at the time of the investigation, everypony thought they were the bees knees because we didn’t fully understand how the polygraph spells worked, and because Perfect Karma is seen as a hero of justice, nopony feels a need to question him about it a second time,” Doctor Whooves said. “And even if they found out he was in the Blessing now, the public would probably think everything he’s done since then has made him worthy of forgiveness,” Romana said. “I hope he doesn’t get in trouble over the cannon; if you know why it’s not that unnatural of a response…” Adorabelle bit her lip sulkily, but before she could say anything, the door cracked open. “Hey, Doc,” said a white pegasus in the gold uniform of the Royal Guard. “Safeguard wanted me to bring an amulet to you. He says you need to run some tests.” “I have a science club meeting in an hour…” Romana said. “You can go home; I don’t mind,” Doctor Whooves said, smiling at her. He turned to the guard. “And I’m glad he trusts you more now, Iron Flight.” Adorabelle wondered how Doctor Whooves could recognize the orange pegasus when he was in his guard uniform and looked white. Iron Flight rolled his eyes. “Tartarus he does. If he asks, I wasn’t here, okay? I need to head back…” “Oh, but you must come for tea and catch up!” Doctor Whooves said. “Can’t. I’m heading out on a secret training mission later today.” Iron Flight pulled a package and an envelope from his saddlebag and handed them to Doctor Whooves. Doctor Whooves took the package in his hooves and the envelope in his mouth, then awkwardly hopped backwards like a bunny until he crashed into the table and dropped both items. “Ah, uh, that wasn’t one of my better ideas,” he said while Romana laughed. “I need to go pack,” Iron Flight said. “When do you think you’ll be done? I can ask another private to pick it up then…” “No, I’ll be happy to deliver it myself; Safeguard would probably prefer it be done in pony anyway. Good luck on your training mission!” Iron Flight nodded and slipped out. “Hey, wait!” Adorabelle scampered after him, telekinetically scooping up her saddlebags as she left. She stopped just long enough to call over her shoulder, “Thanks for everything Doctor Whooves; see you tomorrow!” Then she dashed to catch up with Iron Flight. “Don’t ask him to describe Tartarus again!” Doctor Whooves shouted after her. Adorabelle caught up to Iron Flight in a now deserted school hallway. “Iron Flight! Iron Flight! Iron Flight!” she screamed repeatedly. “What the hay do you want?” Iron Flight whirled around and glared. Adorabelle skidded to a halt. “Hey, like, I know this is a long shot, and Flight is such a common surname and stuff but metals aren’t normal for pegasi and I’m following any lead I get for the Missing Children’s Incident, I mean, like, not very fast because I messed up last night but-” “Be brief or go away,” Iron Flight said. Adorabelle frowned, then pulled Violet Edge’s picture out of her saddlebags. She pointed to the pegasus in the middle. “This is Steel Flight. He was a friend of my friend’s dad and I wanted to know what he has to do with-” Iron Flight somehow managed to look even angrier. “Do not show that stallion to me. I never want to see his ugly mug again.” Adorabelle stepped back. “Oh, like you do know him.” “He’s my father and a louse,” Iron Flight said. “And that other stupid earth pony is an even bigger louse.” “Hey!” Adorabelle glared at him. “That’s my best friend’s dad and they loved each other very much-” “Oh, how cute. Too bad he was a loser.” “I thought they were, like, best friends and solved cases together and stuff.” “Aha hah, oh Tartarus yes my dad solved cases for Violet Eyes. That limp-wristed defense attorney would keep going on and on and on about how he wouldn’t succeed without Steel Flight. And yet, for some reason, Violet Eyes thought he could keep all the money he earned from his clients, even though Celestia knows we needed it. Worse, Violet Eyes knew we needed it. Selfish, greedy, loser.” Adorabelle was on the verge of tears. “But, like, it’s not like Steel Flight didn’t have a job…” “And every cent from it went through our selfish evil mother. She was so selfish and evil, Steel Flight actually wanted to divorce her. Can you believe it? And so he went to his very best lawyer friend for a professional opinion, and do you know what that lily-livered filly said?” Iron Flight adopted a falsetto and started wringing his hooves. “‘Um, uh, um, uh, there’s no way a stallion can divorce a mare, it’s just not done, um, uh, and you’ll lose and I don’t get paid if you lose.’” Iron Flight glared down at Adorabelle. “And so what do you think my dad did next?” Adorabelle just shook her head. “It’s not like that…” “Ran away. Up and ran away, leaving four kids who needed him to the whims of the mom he knew was selfish and evil.” Iron Flight was shaking. “And that, little girl, is all anypony needs to know about him.” He turned to leave. “But… like… how do you know he ran away?” Adorabelle asked. Iron Flight growled and turned around. “Look, he had the night shift at that dumb pizza place he worked at, but his boss said he never showed up and he’d never missed a work shift before. We never saw hide or hair of him after that. It is not. Rocket. Science!” He slapped the picture out of the air, and it smashed on the ground. Adorabelle screamed and dove to pick up the pieces. The frame was ruined, but the picture inside was, thankfully, safe. She glared up at Iron Flight. “How could you!? This isn’t mine! It’s my friend’s!” “Then don’t take stuff that belongs to other ponies,” Iron Flight hissed. Tears appeared in Adorabelle’s eyes and she turned to run away, holding the pieces of the frame in her telekinetic grip.