//------------------------------// // MLAABQ Gaiden: She Came In From Another Direction // Story: Short Flights And Failed Takeoffs // by Snakeskin Ducttape //------------------------------// After the very sudden shift in governance after King Sombra's departure, and the shock of all the ponies defecting with him, Keen Seeker's job had become a very difficult one. After all, how is one supposed to stop organised crime and syndicates when half of your colleagues just ups and leaves? Not just half of colleagues, but a large chunk of the entire bureaucracy needed to keep law enforcement running. Luckily, the Changeling rangers, sneaky but ever stalwart, were ready to step in and bolster the numbers of the overtaxed agents of the law. Keen Seeker stood at the Seaddle sky harbor in the night, talking with guards and dock workers who'd rather just go home for the day, scribbling notes on his pad that he knew would be useful. "I didn't seen nothin'," the mare shrugged. "Lot'sa ship today, like any other day." Keen Seeker let out a sigh, adjusted his hat, and raised his collar to shield himself from the wind. "Nothing? How did the crew look? Can you at least remember that? Filthy bandanas? Gold teeth? Parrots? A peg leg? Anything?" The mare slowly shook her head. Keen Seeker looked at the guardspony next to her, trying to communicate with his demeanor that the question was aimed at him as well, but he only had eyes for something in the distance. He didn't want to drop his demeanor, but curiosity won out, and he looked towards where the guard was looking, just as the latter's eyes widened. "What?" he asked, before he widened his stance to run over and either assist or protect ponies. From what, however, he wasn't entirely sure. A dinghy came flying in towards the mole. Not so fast that you'd think the pilot was trying to destroy it, but they were certainly being reckless with their craft. "Hey-oop!" came a voice from the boat, just as the dinghy crashed into the stone structure, and Keen Seeker didn't exactly understand what he saw at first. It was a hat-clad unicorn filly, with a grown, tall, pretty pegasus mare over her back, hopping out from the boat and onto the mole, before calmly starting to walk towards Keen Seeker and his interviewees on the way to the city proper, holding the mare's hooves and wings off the ground with her magic. "'Sup?" she asked the confused trio, making them recoil slightly at the sight of her milky white eye. The filly pointed behind her, towards a star that seemed strangely bright considering its closeness to the horizon. "There was an accident over there. This ship crashed into a cliff wall. Everyone's okay though, they got into their life boats and sailed away, but I'm sure they'd be super grateful if guards, and plenty of them, could collect them. Big crew, and I'm sure they're cold and hungry by now. Bring hoofcuffs too, they might be distraught and need restraints." "Uhm..." was all that the guard could say. "Well, nice talking to you," The filly said, and started walking away. "Wait!" Keen Seeker said, when he finally noticed a crucial detail with the filly. "That hat! That's the hat of Captain Cutlass Tricorn!" The filly looked up at her hat, specifically towards the charred and missing edge, before shrugging. "That makes no sense. A tricorn hat needs three corners," she said, happily, before turning away and talking to herself to herself. "Now to find an inn perhaps? ♫My Bonnie lies over the ocean, drei ecken hat mein hut... ♪" Keen Seeker and the guard looked at each other, then back and forth between the filly and the distant star. After a few seconds, they rushed the other way, towards the sky guard’s headquarters.