It has been weeks since Sweet Apple Acres had suffered the incident with the thief, and there have been an increasing number of such incidents since. Of course, the news of it spread like wildfire across the town of Ponyville. Many ponies were shocked and scared at the fact that somepony out there was not only stealing some of Ponyville's precious resources, but was also willing to harm a little filly to do it. The result was that the majority of ponies living in fear as to what else they might do to them. Even the Mayor of Ponyville recognized the potential threat this person may be considering its attempt against the town.
Therefore, Mayor Mare decided to do something about it. After addressing a speech regarding the criminal's threats and actions, she requested the assistance of any ponies who would be willing to do their part in helping the authorities to find this criminal. Surprisingly, many of them did, including six ponies in particular, the Mane 6.
Siting at her desk, within a large chamber littered with shelves upon shelves worth of books, was the latest pony to be crowned Princess, specifically the Princess of Friendship. Twilight Sparkle was tasked to lead the Ponyville Watch in their investigation of the recent crimes against the town. For a while, the Watch has had several leads to the identity of the criminal but they've ended being dead ends, likely made by the fugitive him or herself to throw them off. Despite the frustration, they have discovered some strange things at the crime scenes they examined, rounded footprints and structural damage beyond a pony's reach being the most common.
These could simply be dismissed as the work of a Pegasus, if it weren't for the eyewitness descriptions. Admittedly, they are not always the most reliable accounts but the circumstances forces them to take any source of information into consideration. The eyewitness accounts were certainly odd to say the least. The details varied, but they all described a large creature standing on two legs with long arms and a slender, yet muscular build. It's also described as having little hair, although its body was mostly covered in padded armor.
That is why Twilight Sparkle had resorted to her castle library. She had yet to properly identify the creature described in the eyewitness reports and the vague details were not helping. There had already been numerous known species that resemble the descriptions, but there was no conclusive evidence that would lead to a positive identification of the guilty party.
And the worst part, the mystery might remain in its elusive state for as long as the reports continue to lack specific details. The culprit could remain unknown by name and species. He or she just might get away with their crimes.
This infuriated Twilight the most. She would never let these fugitives go unpunished!
As she slammed her face onto her desk, she failed to hear the doors being opened by a small purple reptile with green spikes running from his head down to his tail. Though he may not look like one, he is actually a baby dragon. As he entered the library, he carried so many scrolls in his arms that he could barely hold on to them and probably dropped one or two of them on his way. He will worry about later, though, because this is far more important.
"Twilight!" the baby dragon shouted. "You've gotta see this! It's about the-"
"Spike, don't!" Twilight barked. "Can't you see working on a very important case regarding the safety of Ponyville!"
Spike winced at her sudden outburst. "But Twilight, I just want to tell you that I found something in the eyewitness accounts."
Twilight sighed with a hoof on her face, "I'm not interested in those accounts anymore, Spike. They've provided no specific details about the assailants they claim to have seen. Not to mention, we've lost a rather large amount of tools and food all over town for the past month! Ponies are getting paranoid; I'm even hearing rumors about vigilantes running around and assaulting other creatures, accusing them of these crimes!"
"Y-Yeah, but what I'm getting at is-"
"I have been entrusted, by royal decree, to give a concise analysis of the crime scenes, examine the evidence with the help of the Royal Guard, and then capture who or what could've done all of this so we can bring him to justice! The problem is, I DON'T KNOW WHO OR WHAT DID ALL OF THIS! The descriptions are vague as hell, the culprit leaves no trace of him ever being there, and the conditions of the crime scenes don't suggest a specific M.O. apart from him only operating at night! Even the police couldn't get a clear look at him! He just... He just..."
Twilight started breathing heavily as her eyes were watering up. Shortly after, Twilight laid her head back onto her desk, quietly sobbing.
"I'm... I'm sorry." She sniffled "I just can't believe he managed get away from us for this long. How does he do it!"
She sniffled again and wiped the tears from her eyes. With a brief clearing of her throat, she faced Spike with a sad smile.
"Anyway, you said you found something in the accounts?"
Spike's eyes widen when he suddenly remembered why he came here.
"Oh, right-right-right." the young dragon stammered. "Well, I've been looking through some crime reports outside of Ponyville, like you said, and I found some hidden evidence scrolls these really weird names for the suspect ID and Species Description reports."
Twilight's ears perked up. She looked on with wide eyes as her hooves were placed flat on her desk. "Go on." she said.
"I did some checking and, as crazy as it sounds, it looks like the guy we're after isn't alone on this. In fact, some of the scrolls say there might some unknown species working as a large organization, systematically attacking other towns all over Equestria; and the weirdest thing about them is they've been kept under 'Low-end Felonies' and stuff like that."
Twilight listened intently, shocked at the apparent power these people have. How could they reach so far yet go unnoticed?
"Do you have proof of this?" Twilight asked.
"It's all right here." Spike replied, handing her a scroll tied in red ribbon.
Twilight grasped the scroll with her magic and levitated it closer to her. She stared at it for a moments before looking back at her young dragon assistant to ask, "Have you told anypony else about this?"
"Nope." replied Spike. "I wanted to come straight to you."
"Excellent! I'm glad you did. Right now, we'll need to track down every instance of these discrepancies in the criminal records. We'll need verification and documented evidence if this were to be approached with a full scale investigation."
Twilight placed all the books on her desk back to their respective places with her magic and placed the scroll into her saddlebag.
"Now let's go. The Royal Court will want to see this."
"Yes, sir! I mean ma'am!" Spike saluted as he and the Princess left the library together.
Somewhere in the forest of the equine town, the camp was finally set up, the others are in position, now they just need to say the word. But, they can only say it when they have their trust; the Equines.
For now, though, they need to figure out how to introduce themselves. Maybe, they can appear to be lost and ask for sanctuary. The Equines seem to be the welcoming type, so that could work. In truth, they didn't have to do much from that point on, only having to appear harmless.
The Captain laid on the ground as he contemplated the mission. Soon, he and his kind would make a new change in history. He wondered how, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to get away from that damn jungle and live in a decent house, not that run down shack he once hid in. A sudden disturbance in the vegetation caught his attention. In the brush, the First Lieutenant revealed himself and made his way to the Captain.
He said, "Captain Kin, sir."
"What is it, Lieutenant?" He angrily whispered.
"We might have a problem, sir. The Equines... They starting to act weary, even talking about vigilantes and search parties. Should we give the order now, sir, while they're still unprotected?"
"No." Captain Kin answered, "They on the alert. The plan will only work when we have them in a false sense of security." He smiled an eerie grin, "Besides, the boss figured this might happen."
The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow, "W-What do you mean, sir?"
"The Commander suspected rebels in our ranks. He hoped he would get rid of them during the Selection, but it seems like some them survived and are trying to disperse us. This can only happen when the Equines and the other creatures are being made aware of us in an aggressive manner, unlike as planned. Which means that they're trying to blow our cover."
Captain Kin crossed his arms behind his head and chuckled cruelly, "If only they knew who they were dealing with. Let those creatures find all the loose ends. We'll tie them up later. Right now, we need to work on our introduction. Be ready for practice in half an hour. You're dismissed."
The Lieutenant straightened his face and posture, "Yes, sir!"
He walked past the Captain and made his way to the rest of the camp. He saw many of his fellow people there, only to feel increasingly more alienated. The others all had weapons in hand as they sparred with each other. Some of them had bruised all over them, others had blood on their hands, but they all had a dark look in their eyes; the look of a killer. He didn't want to know what they would to the Equines.
Finally, he found his tent and entered to find his tent mate waiting for him inside, sitting on a dirty mattress. She kept a concerned look on her face as the Lieutenant joined her. As they were sitting, they reached behind their heads and unhooked a mechanism that held their helmets together, allowing them to remove their helmets. Upon removal, the Lieutenant's light brown hair fell onto his temples as did his tent mate's golden blonde hair, only hers cascaded all around just below her chin while she was shaking off her face.
The lieutenant started, "He's starting to wise up, Sarah. We need to get Kin to engage early so we can get to him alone."
"I know, I know, Jason" Sarah responded, "but how do we know if he'll even stick to the plan?"
"He dedicated his whole life to it. What else is he if not dedicated?"
Jason hung his head and breathed an exasperated sigh, "You know, he's changed. Ever since that man took him in, Kin... just changed. I don't even recognize him anymore. "
"Me neither," Sarah added, "but we can't give up on him. I don't care we do here anymore"
She lowered her head onto her knees as she hugged her legs, "I just want him back."
Sarah felt a hand on her head and she looked up to see Jason with a comforting smile. He said, "So do I. Whatever it takes, we'll get him back."
The nature of this situation has become critical. The perpetrator has gotten away for too long and she wanted it to stop now! The guards discovered the rumors of vigilantism to be true, as an Earth pony was captured accusing a Griffon of these crimes. Fortunately, he had already been detained and arrested for his offense. Still, it would be a matter time before others do the same so long as the criminal was at large.
That makes Twilight Sparkle's visit to her throne room all the more pleasant. Princess Celestia, the supreme leader of Equestria and Goddess of the Sun, has trusted Twilight in this matter and she knew she would find something that would help. Sure enough, she did.
"Princess Celestia," said Twilight, "I have reason to believe that we have found possible suspects for the investigation."
Princess Celestia sighed in relief, "Oh, Twilight. That is so good to hear. Maybe now, we can finally make progress. What did you find?"
Twilight opened the flap on her saddle bag with her magic, and revealed the same scroll from Spike. She levitated the rolled up parchment to the Celestia, where the ruling princess held it with her own magic in a shift from a violet colored to a gold colored aura emanating from her horn. The princess rolled open the scroll to see her report on her new findings. She scans the information written on the parchment until she suddenly stopped.
She stood frozen in place. She didn't seem to be alive until she started breathing heavily. It wasn't until Twilight saw her shaking chest that she believed that there was something wrong. The Princess of the sun was even starting to sweat and her coat was turning a paler white than it usually is.
She spoke up in concern, "Uh, Princess Celestia?"
Said Princess gasped lightly in surprise and broke out of her trance. She shook her head to clear her vision and saw Twilight looking before her with a concerned expression. She forced a convincing smile and said, "Oh, don't worry about me, Twilight. I was just surprised by the description of the perpetrator, including the name here."
She returned her attention to the scroll, focusing intently on a single writing. "Jay-son Mora-les," she read with a raised eyebrow, "Interesting name, to say the least."
The Princess rolled the parchment back and returned it to Twilight.
"Finally, now that we know of the suspect's name and his description, we only have to find him. Have you discovered where he can be located?"
Twilight responded, "Nothing for sure. Although everypony say that he heads into the Everfree Forest and disappears. He could be living somewhere in there."
"Bery well, then." The Princess of the Sun said with a proud smile. "I will send out a search party to locate, and hopefully, capture the perpetrator. Now, gather your friends and the Elements of Harmony. We may not know what he might be capable of if his very name is strange to me."
Of course, Princess Celestia." Twilight quickly turned and trotted out of Celestia's throne room and allowed the golden doors to close on their own. Meanwhile, Celestia remained on her throne now contemplating over the suspect in question. She reviewed everything she had learned in her head, now with a clear and calm mindset. She couldn't let herself be seen in a panic like that again, not in front of her former student or any of her subjects. She had to stand tall and stay stro for them.
The description seemed simple enough, a two legged creature standing around a surprising six feet tall with a patch of fur on top of its head and having long arms. Her eyes narrowed as her mind then stopped at the name and whispered, "Jason Morales" in a clear and confident pace. She would go on to say the name a second time before focusing on the first part of it.
"Jason. Jason. Jason. Huh. It has been a while."
Celestia let out a tired sigh before she stood up from her throne and walked towards one of the many stained glass windows that decorated the vast walls of this royal chamber, each one representing a significant moment in Equestria's recent history. For a moment, she only stared at the out world beyond the glass before she finally spoke ina shaky voice.
"So, even after all this time, after everything that has happened, you somehow survived. Then, please, please, end this peacefully. For both our sakes."
Celes closed her watery eyes as she sat down on the floor, struggling to calm herself down before she could even think about organizing her search party.