There was a knock on Pale’s door.
She’d been studying the button that Nan had given her; the one belonging to her father. If it held any answers, they remained elusive. She wasn’t even sure what the questions were. The button still felt to her like a lonely puzzle piece, as if it were a clue to something bigger. What, she couldn’t imagine.
Pale put the button away and went to answer the door. Shard was there. “Piper wanted to talk to you. He’s got a very particular target in mind.”
Shard delivering the message was a little strange. Pale would have expected Piper himself. She went with Shard and they met up with Piper in the front room. He was in the middle of reviewing some documents.
As Pale came over, he held up a picture of a lanky, bespectacled unicorn stallion. “This is Helix Histone. He’s a scientist who lives in Manehattan. Being that he’s quite the mild-mannered soul, it was easy to suspect him of being infected when his behavior changed. However, he rarely goes out in public so it was difficult to tie him to any bloom. I think that his still relatively calm demeanor and scientist attention could make him a good candidate for interrogation so we can determine how twitchers are becoming infected without blooms.”
“I tried to get close to him in a professional capacity,” said Shard, “at a conference last week. He isn’t much for socializing, even in his field of study. I had a look through his things while he was out. He’s going speed dating soon.”
Pale looked between Shard and Piper. They looked right back at her.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s into stallions-” Shard began amusedly, but already Pale was appealing to Piper.
“This can’t work, it just-” Pale shook her head. “I don’t know anything about dating!”
“Neither does he,” Shard pointed out. “It’s probably only the Blight that got Helix to take the risk to join a speed date. He’s awkward and a huge coward, not to mention a nerd.”
“Just focus on the mission,” said Piper, his voice trying for reassuring. “At the least, Helix is an unlikely attack risk. I’m sure you can handle it.”
Under normal circumstances, Piper’s authority was all any member of the guild needed to act; and usually all they would get. Pale, though, needed more reassurance. She went and knocked on Coin’s door.
“It’s open.”
Pale walked in. Coin looked up from the book she was reading. Despite sitting on her bed, the sheets were unwrinkled, a medium blue that helped liven up the place. Her possessions around the room were neat and tidy, as Pale would expect of Coin. A small chalkboard stood at the end of the room, covered in symbols Pale couldn’t decipher.
“I’m supposed to go on a date,” Pale blurted out, not even bothering with a hello. “It’s a good way to get close to a twitcher.”
Coin blinked at her, her mouth slightly ajar in surprise. She put the book down. “Wow. I...take it this wasn’t your idea.”
“You know me,” muttered Pale, sitting down beside Coin at her invitation. “What am I supposed to do on a date?”
“You’ve never-” Coin shook her head. “Well, I didn’t expect you to be a romanticist, Pale, but I’m sure you know the theory about how ponies hook up. Be interested, be interesting, laugh once in a while. Don’t take it overboard and be a clown, though. He might be afraid of those.”
“Ponies are afraid of clowns?” Pale asked, eliciting another bemused reaction from Coin.
“Well, some are. I guess you wouldn’t know; you grew up underground.” Coin shook her head and changed the subject. “So what’s the purpose of this date? I don’t really know what your objective is.”
“I think I just want to find him and talk. Shard and Piper seem to think he might be the key to finding bloomless twitchers. Of course, I’d kill him after that.”
“Some date,” Coin quipped. “Well, that’s easier than trying to teach you how to be a pickup artist.” She folded her forelegs. “Not that I’m great with colts myself.”
“You still have more experience than me,” said Pale. “Anything is more than zero.”
“You’re not a zero to me,” said Coin.
“I’ll have to remember that one. Thanks.” Pale got up, grimacing at the task that lay ahead.
Coin started to say something, but paused and then said, “Good luck.”
The restaurant in Manehattan had been cleared for the event. A bright sign on the front door read Welcome speed daters! With more than a little foreboding, Pale pushed the door open and went inside.
She wore a toned-down version of her dress from the Grand Galloping Gala. A little dressed up for a Saddle Arabian, but not as gaudy as a Gala outfit. The veil was still in place, however.
Pale could feel eyes on her the moment she walked in. If they could only see what was under her clothes. As it was, she appeared merely tall and mysterious. A couple stallions seemed to jockey in position, as if that would give them an advantage in a speed date.
The organizer was a round mare who seemed a little too cheerful. Maybe she had gotten especially lucky from a speed date and become an acolyte. “Okay everypony, take a nametag. You can pick sexual preference. You’ll have five minutes at each table and then I’ll ring a bell. Waiters will be around with drinks. There’s just one big rule: no Alicorn Amulets!”
There were chuckles around the room. Apparently, Manehattan newspapers had taken some liberties with the story of what had recently happened in Ponyville.
“Okay, places, everypony!” The crowd around her dispersed to find tables.
Pale found herself sitting across from a stallion who had a soul patch. She wanted to give herself some time to observe the situation before engaging Helix. He was even taller and bonier than he looked in the picture, and twice as awkward.
“Hi, I’m Golden Age,” her tablemate said. “And you are?”
“Shamal.” Pale indicated her nametag. Surreptitiously, she watched and listened to Helix, who appeared to be stuttering his way through a conversation nearby.
“You seem foreign. Where are you from?” Golden Age asked.
“Saddle Arabia.” Pale tried to use the proper accent.
“What do you do for a living?”
What did she do for a living? Pale replied, “I travel.”
“That’s nice,” the stallion replied, seeming earnest. “What do you like to do for fun?”
Pale shook her head. Why did she feel like she was on the defensive? “No, what do you do for a living?”
“I, uh, sell literature.”
Pale stared at him.
“You know, like books with words. Sometimes pictures. Sometimes comics. I sell a lot of comics.”
The waiter came by and Pale ordered water. It was also just about that time that the bell rang, and she couldn’t be more thankful.
She got up and swapped tables with everypony else. The next stallion presented to her seemed content to talk about himself. Pale didn’t say a word, but that was fine with her. She waited out the time, and when the bell rang again she sat down in front of Helix.
He seemed interested, but bashful. Even with her veil, he had trouble meeting her eyes, but clearly wanted to. As tall as he was, he seemed to tuck his chin even more, probably as a habit of avoiding the gazes of shorter ponies. It worked especially well on Pale, who was nearly as tall as him.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m Shamal.”
“I’m Helix Histone.” His voice was quiet and hard to hear over the other conversations around the room.
“I like to travel,” said Pale. Her feigned accent gave her time to think while speaking, though she hoped her halting sentences merely sounded as if she were unfamiliar with the language. “Do you travel a lot?”
“I haven’t been out of Manehattan in months,” Helix said.
“Oh? Is your work too important to leave?” As an afterthought, Pale leaned forward in an attempt to indicate interest and curiosity.
“I do independent testing for a pharmaceutical company,” he said, tapping the tips of his hooves together.
“Interesting.”
Pale looked at him. He didn’t continue. After a moment of strenuous silence, she prompted, “Does that require you to visit a lot of places in the city?”
“No. I stay at home.”
“Surely you must go out sometimes? Please, tell me. I want to see the city while I am here. Where was the last place you went?”
Helix stammered. “Uh, I went to the market last week. I go every week. It’s not really that interesting.”
“Which market? Perhaps I will stop by.”
Helix looked bewildered. Pale wasn’t sure if it was because she was still on this line of questioning, or if he wasn’t used to so much attention. “It’s on the corner of Twelfth and Bronco Boulevard.”
“Where else have you gone, in, say perhaps the last month?”
Helix started to reply, but the sound of breaking glass suddenly cut off all conversation. Pale instinctively jerked her head in the direction of the sound.
A mare had apparently elbowed her beverage off the table. No threat. A waiter quickly swooped in to clean up.
Pale started to turn back, but paused. There was something about the pony who had lost her glass, but she wasn’t sure what.
It was then that the bell rang again. Pale’s time with Helix was up.
She got up. There was no way to continue talking to Helix without attracting attention. If there was even any reason, if he had any other information of value.
Pale turned for the door. It suddenly hit her where she’d seen the mare who’d broken her glass. It was the same pony who’d sat down beside her at the juice bar in Las Pegasus. Her brown mane had curly ringlets, and her cutie mark was a cinnamon stick. She was an earth pony who had the look of somepony transplanted from somewhere smaller than Manehattan. Her attitude seemed to indicate she’d learned to live in the city, however.
Pale kept walking for the door, not letting the recognition register on an emotional level as she sped through the process of risk assessment. Seeing the mare again was not an impossible coincidence. Las Pegasus was a vacation destination that drew ponies from everywhere. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that Pale would encounter the same Manehattanite twice in two different places.
But what were the chances of that happening?
Standing outside the restaurant, Pale made some quick decisions. Even if the unknown mare had spotted Pale in Las Pegasus, she wouldn’t recognize Pale’s current disguise.
Pale frowned. Though she might anticipate somepony of Pale’s build wearing a veil.
But who could the mare be? Part of the unknown group spreading the Blight? If she was in the same room as Helix, was she watching him to see who came to kill him? What would she do if she discovered Pale? Did she have help?
There wasn’t a lot of information to go on. At this point, Pale decided that her best bet would be to break contact with the unknown mare and attempt to reconnect with Helix to get more information from him.
She didn’t know where he lived, not exactly, but his description of the market was likely near his residence. Pale did not head in that direction at first; taking a long loop around several city blocks to ensure she was not being followed.
Helix’s neighbourhood was only a few minutes’ walk from the restaurant. Satisfied that she had made good time, Pale took a brief survey of the area and then set up post where she best guessed Helix would show up.
She had a few minutes to think while she waited. It helped Pale to consider her options, and more importantly, her potential stalker, the mare with the cinnamon mark. She sighed lightly as she stood, leaning against the wall of an apartment building. Why did it seem as if every new task she undertook was only more complicated than the last?
Piper had never been one to tell her how to do her job, but with as many new challenges that had begun to appear, he hadn’t even been able to even tell her what needed doing. Initiative was something Pale was going to have to learn on her own one way or another.
There was no time to ask for advice. It fell to her to decide what to do about the mare. Could she be working with Gilderoy? Some other group? Why?
The questions went to the back of her mind as she saw Helix appear at the end of the block. Pale backed into the shadows, her attention turning to Helix’s backtrail. If she could draw his attention and get him out of sight quickly enough, she could get him alone out from under the unknown mare’s oversight.
“Hello Helix!” she called as he passed. He drew up short in surprise. Pale waved a hoof, gesturing him closer.
“I went looking for the market you mentioned, but it was closed,” she said. She took a few steps back from the street. Helix followed her.
“Is this your neighborhood?” she asked.
“Yes,” Helix replied.
Pale kept backing up, leading him away from where the unknown mare would presumably following him. Pale’s mind raced, trying to figure out her next step. Helix’s place might be secure, but the stalker would undoubtedly know where it was.
They would have to keep moving, then. Pale said, “Please walk with me. Could you show me around?”
“Uh, I was going to-”
She couldn’t let him go this time. “I think I may have become lost. Please help me.”
Pale had succeeded in drawing him almost a block off his intended course, and the further they went the more likely they would leave the stalker behind.
“Where are you trying to go?” Helix asked. He was clearly uncomfortable, but he was apparently buying Pale’s act.
“I was going to catch the river taxi,” Pale said. “Is that nearby?”
It was several blocks in the same direction they were already headed. Helix said, “Just up ahead.”
“Thank you.”
“Uh, you’re welcome.” Helix replied, a nervous smile flashing over his features. He looked as if he didn’t get the chance to say it very often.
Pale looked back over her shoulder. She wasn’t confident that they had given any pursuit the slip. A small café was still open and she pointed it out. “Would you like something? My treat.”
She didn’t give him the choice, opening the door. Helix looked uncomfortable again, which was quickly becoming his default expression, but followed her in.
There was an inviting glass cooler right in front of the door with gelato on display. As was probably intended, it caught Helix’s eye.
“Would you like some?” Pale asked.
“Uh, er, one scoop of vanilla,” he said to the pony behind the counter.
“The same,” said Pale.
Pale had already scanned the dining area from outside and picked a table out of view from the window. The two of them sat down with their treats.
“Have you been here before?” she asked in attempt to mine though his travel history again.
“No. I knew about it, but I’ve never been inside.” Helix appeared to find his snack especially interesting.
“I think our conversation was cut off earlier,” she said. “You were telling me about places you visited.”
“I don’t really get out much.”
“No, please. Tell me about your days. I am interested in how you live.”
It sounded ridiculous, even to Pale. However he felt about it, Helix was too awkward to point that out. He stammered, “Er, well, I stay in my apartment. I go to the market once a week. A few days ago I went to a conference for work. This date is the first time I’ve been out doing anything else in a while.”
“Are we on a date?”
Helix went brick red. “I, uh, I meant-”
“It’s okay,” said Pale quickly. “I didn’t mean that. It’s just nice to talk sometimes.”
Helix calmed down and swallowed. “Yeah.”
They both ate in silence for a few seconds. Pale had decided Helix probably didn’t know anything more of value. Her next lead would have to be the mysterious mare.
“Can...can I tell you something?” Helix asked.
“Anything.” Pale wondered what it could be.
“This is probably the strangest night I can ever remember having.”
His standards must be abysmally low, Pale thought. But if everything Helix had told her about his life was true, then yes, they probably were.
“Is that a bad thing?” she asked.
Helix considered it. “No. I know I need to be more social. I just...it doesn’t come easily. I’m always shut away from everypony else.”
“I know the feeling.”
“You?” he asked. “I thought you went everywhere.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t feel alone.”
“Surely you must have somepony.”
Pale considered it. The guild was...well, somepony. “I suppose I do,” she conceded. “But I still find myself wanting more. I don’t want to be-”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to listen.”
“You listened to me.”
Because she was trying to get information out of him. And in a short time, she would have to kill him.
Pale bowed her head. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
The café pony came to take away their things and leave the bill. Pale pulled it over. It hadn’t been totaled.
Helix noticed how long she stared at it. “Um, I can pay, if-”
“No, I’ve got it.”
He leaned forward to look at the bill. “Eight and a half bits.”
“Thank you,” said Pale. “I...don’t have a lot of formal schooling.”
“We all have things we’re good at. I guess.”
The two of them got up. Pale made sure to check outside before opening the door. They continued walking towards the river. The bridge was just ahead.
“I want to thank you,” said Helix. “I meant it when I said this was the best night I’ve ever had.”
Pale stopped and turned. They were in the middle of the bridge. She didn’t see anypony around. “I thought you said it was the strangest.”
He laughed, the first time he had done so, and looked away over the canal below. “Can’t it be both?”
It could. Pale agreed with him on the strange, but she was thinking of something else besides best.
“I want to thank you, too,” she said. She took a step forward put her forelegs around his neck before he could back away.
She could feel his surprise and nervousness, but he set it aside and returned the hug. Pale took a breath, stretching out the silence between them as long as she could.
The moment ended with a sharp crack, when Pale broke his neck as quickly and cleanly as she could manage. In the next movement, she heaved him over the edge of the bridge. A few seconds later, he landed with another crack on the stone bridge footing just above the water.
Pale turned and walked off the bridge. She looked up at the night sky, the illuminated buildings looming over her.
The night had at least left her with more clues than she had before. Pale was already putting together what she knew about the mysterious mare, what Helix had told her, and other pieces of information gleaned from years of chasing the Blight.
Pale had already decided she wasn’t going to leave Manehattan until she found the mare.