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// Chapter 3: Out of the Shadows 
// Story: Looking For Trouble 
// by CoffeeMinion 
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Back out in the street, I felt a powerful urge to skip town right then and there. Miss Berry wasn’t exactly shy about her hints that there was more to find, but the way she looked and talked had put some fear in me that it’d be trouble. I suppose I might’ve ducked out if my payment wasn’t contingent on doing a proper job of looking. I’m sure you understand; a man’s gotta eat, especially one my size.

Well now, that’s about the time I spotted Miss Ditzy again, walking between what was left of some brick buildings down the next street over. Only this time she was just carrying one real little kid. And I knew—I just knew from looking at the way she held the little one, that it had to be her daughter. I mean, they had about the same hair color, and eye color, and a pretty similar bone structure, even if the daughter’s skin was a little more purple. And they both had that same warm smile that lit up their whole face.

Then they passed behind a rusted-out shed and I lost ‘em.

I chased around the corner and ended up following ‘em from a distance as they made their way through the swirling, smoky, loud and bustling tents on your market street. She and her daughter were doing their shopping for dinner by the looks of it, picking vegetables and meats and even a lil’ cheese into a couple sacks they’d brought with ‘em. And I’ll say this for Canterlot, y’all got a big variety of hawkers down your main drag, with some fancy fruits and such that I can’t remember seeing since… before.

And don’t get me wrong, I know the way that makes me sound, skulking around and following a nice woman like her from a distance. But try to understand that as a sheriff's deputy I gotta follow the hunches what come to me. And even if I didn’t find her pretty, the fact was that I’d just got into town and already had someone telling me not to follow her. If that ain’t some kinda lead, I don’t know what is.

The sun was getting low and the shadows had come thick before they finished shopping and headed down a side street. The crowd was thinner there, and I worried it’d be obvious that I was following ‘em. So I moved from building to building, keeping out of sight as best I could, and somehow managed not to trip over my own two feet in the process. I spotted a pretty intact two-story brick house farther down the way, and near as I could guess, that seemed like where they were heading for.

Of course my luck wouldn’t hold forever, though. At one point I ducked into a particularly dark alley, and judging by the lil’ hairs that stood up on the back of my neck, I had a sense that I wasn’t alone.

“Who’s there?” I called.

I spotted movement at the back of the alley. It was powerful dark back there, though, so I didn’t expect a woman to call back to me: “I don’t give out many warnings, stranger, so you listen close: leave Ditzy Doo and Berry alone. Consider leaving town too, if you know what’s good for you.”

Now no one ever accused me of knowing that, so I called back: “With all due respect, ma’am, I reckon I’ll be keeping to my business, and I’ll ask you keep to yours. Unless o’course you know something about a man named Blueblood who might’ve come down from the Empire a bit ago…”

She tensed. It was subtle, but I could see her stance shift forward. “I gave you your warning,” she said. “Those two have been through enough. We all have.”

I squinted, but I couldn’t make out many details. “Fair enough,” I said; “Miss Berry told me about the same. But I ain’t here to make trouble, I just wanna find my man. If you can help me, great; if not, I’m liable to be on my way soon as I finish looking.”

The woman shook her head, then said: “Don’t give anyone a reason to get rid of you sooner.” Then she turned away, stepped back into the shadows, and I lost her.

“Well that wasn’t the least bit suspicious,” I said to myself. And really, it was at that point that I decided I had to talk to Miss Ditzy again, if only to see why Miss Berry and the woman in the shadows didn’t want me to. Didn’t know if it had anything to do with Blueblood; just seemed worthwhile since I got that much resistance.

I snuck off and camped out in a different alley until nightfall, then snuck back toward the house I thought Miss Ditzy had been heading for. At that point the whole house was dark except for a lone candle in the upstairs window.

I shoulda thought of something smarter than trying to bounce a stone off that window to get her attention, because… well, given my luck, what I did was put that stone through the window. The sounds of shattering glass got half the dogs in that part of town to start barking. Then she slid the window up and stood gazing out with a pinched look on her face.

I figured I was done for, so I cleared my throat and stepped out into view. “I’m right sorry ‘bout the window, ma’am,” I said. “I got more’n enough bits on me to make that right for you.”

She squinted hard and leaned out further, then gave me a little smile as her eyes pointed somewhere in my direction. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “Mister…?”

“Clyde,” I said, and my heart started pounding again. “Troubleshoes Clyde.” I’ll confess I gave an extra flourish with my hat, too.

Her smile didn’t change much, but her shoulders relaxed. “Well, what can I do for you tonight, Troubleshoes Clyde?”

I glanced around me, feeling a crawling itch down my spine from blowing my cover like I had. Heck, for all I knew, that woman from the shadows was still watching. So I looked up at Miss Ditzy Doo and said, “Truth be told, ma’am, if it ain’t too forward, would you mind if we discussed it away from prying eyes?”

“Sure!” she said, a good bit more brightly than I’d expected. And I mean, nothing against her judgment, but I’d never really figured that a pretty woman like her would give me the time o’day, much less letting me—a total stranger—into her house. I guess maybe in some ways I’d wanted to ask her just so she could shoot me down. Y’know, so I could be sure my luck was going back to normal.

Some luck, though, ending up the way it’s done…