“...rodents.” The agent said as everypony had their stares focused at the fallen thestral.
Rockwell looked at Octavia with grin. “I was aiming for a small bracelet at the corner but what I got was the pearl necklace placed at the center.” He chuckled softly before continuing. “Maybe I should start hitting the casinos sometime. I think my luck is starting to change.”
“We should help her.” Octavia said as they slowly approached the unconscious mare. “I think she’s hurt.”
“Well duh.” Rockwell replied while following her. “With a blow like that, her horn would’ve popped right off if she’s a unicorn. What’s a thestral doing in Everfree this late at night anyway? Seems suspicious if you ask me.”
As the camera got close to the mare, the camera focused on its unmoving figure. The thestral has a furry grey coat and a green mane that seemed to glow under the light of Luna’s moon. Her eyelids shook open, showing a pair of radiant golden eyes. She seemed scared when Octavia lowered herself to her level.
“We’re really, really sorry about this.” Octavia said to the mare. She looked and sounded like a mother who was apologizing in behalf of her troublesome child. “It’s just that the agent he-”
The thestral mare quickly got up from the ground and leapt herself from the air. She zoomed through the forest’s canopy, leaving several falling leaves and twigs in her wake.
“Wait!” Octavia called out to the mare. “Where are you going!?”
“Yeah, she’s definitely suspicious.” Rockwell grinned at Octavia. “Let’s go after her.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Nopony flies away like that without hiding something. For all we know, she could be the key to all of this.” Rockwell looked at the camera and gestured for her to follow him. “Come on.” The two proceeded to spread their legs and started running.
“Haven’t we done enough running in one night?” Octavia whined before following the others.
Despite the thestral looking like a dot from afar, the group still chased her. Not only was her now small size made her difficult to spot, it’s also the fact that the forest’s lush shade of leaves helped obscure her fleeing form from Rockwell’s group.
“She’s really hard to follow will all these trees in the way.” Rockwell finally remarked. “Slippery mare.”
“Agent Rockwell!” Octavia called out, urging the camera to pan the shot to look at her direction. Several feet before them was a roaming timber wolf who just noticed that their group was running towards it. The wolf directed its body at the group, now growling angrily.
Rockwell, who just saw the imminent threat before slowed down his running. “Uh oh. We’re not carrying any fire right now. So hard turn, hard turn, hard turn.” His voice sounded calm and panicky at the same time.
Both mares followed Rockwell’s order and immediately did a sharp turn on the opposite direction to get away from the timber wolf. They’re now locked in a chase for the second time tonight.
Octavia tried her best to match Rockwell’s speed, giving it her all to get close to him. “You were talking about your luck changing earlier, Agent Rockwell?” She said between breaths now that they were both running side by side.
Rockwell snorted at Octavia’s line. “You got me good there, Melody. Nice one. Okay, so here’s the plan.”
Despite her pants, the camera can still hear the relieved sigh that Octavia was giving. “Thank Celestia you already have a plan! For a moment, I thought we’d be spending our last moments here in Everf-”
“So here’s my theory.” Rockwell cut her off. “I believe that animals with sharp noses can smell their kin on other ponies or animals and also how their encounter with them went. So if I let it sniff me, it might realize that I’ve killed one of theirs and might fear me and flee.”
“That idea Agent Rockwell,” Octavia drew a gasp of air before continuing. “Has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard today! And I’ve already heard a lot of ridiculous things coming from you in the past hour alone!”
“Well I’m always open to fresh ideas besides the classic running for dear life.”
“I’m panicking!” Octavia doubled the volume of her voice. “I can’t think clearly right now!”
“So that makes my idea the winner by default.” Rockwell slowed down. “Now stand back cause poppa’s bout to try this baby out.” He finally stopped his running and turned around the chasing beast.
“Wording, Agent Rockwell!” Octavia cried in disgust. “Choose your wording properly next time!”
Rockwell stood on his hind legs and placed his forelegs in a position where they’re supposed to catch the charging wolf, just like before. “Hey you!” He called out. The wolf which was probably confused at what the agent was doing ceased its running. “Smell what I did to one of yours!” Rockwell cried proudly.
“Did it work?” Octavia said while staying a couple of distances from the agent.
“You know,” Rockwell chuckled. “Now that we’ve stopped running and I’m finally allowed to think about this theory of mine...it wouldn’t have worked anyway even if it’s true. Because you see, I forgot that I changed jackets at the tower earlier. And this one just reeked of mothballs.”
“So in that case,” Octavia replied, hoof on face. “Should we start running again?”
“Hang on.” Rockwell dug through his new jacket’s pockets. “I have one more trick up my sleeves.”
“You know Agent Rockwell,” Octavia said. Her voice sounded frustrated. “If ridiculous ideas were a resource, the Saddle Arabians would have built a mine on your head already.”
Rockwell could only laugh at the polite insult she just hurled at him. “Why did it take you this long to lighten up?” He pulled out his vanisher ward and fiddled with its settings. A long, rising beep came out from the metallic device. He also pulled out his pair of glasses and put them on. “I’m not really allowed by the Bureau to do this but lives are in danger here particularly mine, so I think this is considered as an exception.”
Rockwell looked at both mares with a serious face. “Turn around, both of you. And cover your eyes.” Octavia and the camera mare complied, which led the shot centering away from the meat of the action. The camera saw nothing but bushes and trees but it could still hear the timber wolf’s angry growl and see the imminent flash of Rockwell’s ward. All was silent after.
“Okay, you can turn around now.” Rockwell announced. The camera panned its shot to the agent who was keeping his ward and glasses back in his jacket and to the timber wolf which just stood there in front of them with a blank expression.
Rockwell slowly trotted towards Octavia and narrowed her eyes on her face. This caused the mare’s features to redden a bit. “Do you still remember me?”
Octavia’s blush was replaced with an annoyed glare that’s shot directly at Rockwell’s face.
“Good.” Rockwell said, taking Octavia’s reaction as a yes.
Octavia looked at the wolf and probably wondered why it’s no longer attacking them. She looked back at Rockwell. “Is that the vanisher ward’s effect currently working on the timber wolf?”
“Yep.” Rockwell replied. “I erased twenty years worth of memories from that beast. It’s nothing but a hollow trunk now. And Foxtrot is so gonna kill me when he sees this so it’d be best for me if we kept this secret.” He gestured for the group to start moving.
“What’s going to happen to it?” Octavia asked while looking back on the still motionless animal.
“Oh, I dunno.” Rockwell said with an uncaring tone. “Act like a giant toddler maybe then die like a lost baby a few days later?”
“That’s terrible!”
“Or you know,” Rockwell scratched the back of his head like he’s quickly thinking of a new answer. “We could go down the optimist’s route and have it found by other wolves and maybe they’ll nurse it back to maturity?”
“That’s a dangerous weapon you’re wielding, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said her tone slightly somber.
“Tool.” Rockwell corrected. “The vanisher ward is a tool. I have yet to fully weaponize this thing. Probably someday, but not right now.” He suddenly turned around to face the camera, face all perked up. “Oh hey, exit’s that way.” He said as he pointed a hoof from his side. The group then proceeded to move to the direction where Rockwell was pointing.
“Shame we lost the mare though.”
“Shame indeed.”
Rockwell and company were now standing at the doorstep of the structure formerly known as the abandoned manor. The camera focused its shot on the agent loudly knocking on its tall doors.
“Yo Cirrus!” Rockwell called out, continuing his knocking. “You guys are still awake right!?”
The ghosts (un)living in the mansion didn’t respond to the agents call. But they opened the doors really slowly instead. The pair of tall, well carved, well varnished mahoganies moved so slowly that they started making creaking sounds that would make anypony’s fur stand. Octavia was evident of that.
As the group went inside the living room, the entire place was lit up again just like before. And two consecutive popping sounds can be heard above them. The camera lifted its shot upwards to the direction of the sound, revealing the two ghosts they met earlier, Cirrus and Violet.
“Ah, Agent Rockwell! Welcome back.” Cirrus greeted them with a smile. “How did the trip to Everfree go?”
“Back-to-back action non-stop to say the least.” Rockwell casually replied as he leapt into the couch and made himself comfortable there. “Ponies should write a book about my adventures, or something.”
A look of confusion formed on Cirrus’ face. He turned to look at Octavia, probably to ask her to enlighten him of the events that happened during their short walk into that mystical forest. And judging from the look on Octavia’s face, one could say she was happy to oblige.
“We faced two timber wolves tonight.” She explained. “But the agent dealt with them with lethal efficiency. Both fights were over in a moment” She looked quite proud when she said that, like a mother talking about her child’s feats.
Cirrus made an ‘oh’ face before returning to look at the now comfy agent. “So, did you guys catch the aliens responsible for damaging our roof?”
“Well C,” Rockwell said when Violet hovered above him and wrapped his body with a warm blanket. She then hoofed him a cup of warm cocoa. She did the same to the others, but urging them to get themselves comfy on the couch first before they were provided with the warm comforts of the blanket and cocoa.
“We did catch the aliens but I don’t think they’re the ones who’re wrecking your home.” He ended his reply with a long sip from the cup of cocoa. He smacked his lips in satisfaction afterwards and gave Violet a nod of approval. The ghost mare humbly smiled in response.
“What do you mean?” Cirrus said as he hovered in front of Rockwell and ‘sat’ on the floor while his spectral hooves rested on the coffee table. “Of course it’d be the aliens. Who else could it be?”
“You’re right.” Rockwell confirmed, taking short sips from his cup. “Dropping cows is an activity exclusive only to the E.Ts. Unfortunately, ‘Bovine Bombing’ is not a thing usually done by the aliens staying at the site right now.”
Cirrus’ brows furrowed. “They don’t drop cows for fun? What kind of aliens are they?”
“You ever heard of the Sapiens, C?” Rockwell asked. The ghost pone shook his head in reply. “They’re a magic-less but technologically advanced alien species that are diplomatic and are sticklers with rules.”
Rockwell raised his cup towards Violet who was now ‘sitting’ next to Cirrus and raised his cup as a gesture for seconds. The mare nodded silently and his cocoa mug was full again. He took another long sip before continuing.
“You see C, cow dropping especially if done by aliens is very illegal here in Equis. And the punishment for breaking Equis’ rules is a swift ‘permaban,’ which means that your kind will no longer be allowed to visit our planet ever again. And that would be really bad for the Sapiens because all they want to do here is to study pony culture and maybe learn a thing or two about magic. Also, their ship can’t fly right now because it’s always swimming in ectoplasm.”
“Ectoplasm?” Cirrus asked.
“Yep.” Rockwell took another quick sip. “And they think it’s yours that did it.”
“What?” Cirrus sounded appalled. “There’s no way our ectoplasms, even if we did want to break their ship, could get that far! We can’t even get out of the manor even if we wanted to.”
“Can’t get out of the manor?” Octavia stopped her slow casual sips of the cocoa. “What do you mean by that?”
Rockwell leaned close beside her, his mug an inch away from his snout. “Once a ghost haunts a place, they will be forever bound to it and can’t leave unless somepony would intervene and solve their unfinished businesses for them and sends them straight to the afterlife.”
“Exactly!” Cirrus said while waving both hooves at Rockwell.
Rockwell sipped his mug while looking at Cirrus. “But I’m still not convinced, C.” He placed the cup on the table and sat properly on the couch. “If you don’t mind, can you guys show me a sample of your ectoplasms?”
“If this will prove our innocence,” Cirrus sighed. “Then we will.” He looked at the ghost mare beside him. “Violet?” She gave him a silent nod and lifted herself upwards. Cirrus followed after. As both ghost ponies were now floating up above the air, they placed their forelegs on the spot just inches above the pelvis and slightly lower the belly button. White bubbly liquid gushed out from where their hooves were touching. But it faded quickly before it could reach the floor, although clouds of white hissing smoke can be seen at the end of these ghastly cascades.
Rockwell got up from the comfort of the couch (but kept the blanket on) and trotted towards the spectral waterfall. He placed a hoof on the white liquid and inspected its texture by gently waving his hoof left and right.
Octavia ceased her sipping from the cup of cocoa as a grimace formed on her face when she continued to watch this bizarre sight in front of her. “Something’s wrong with this picture,” She said as her forehead wrinkled. “I just can’t pinpoint what it is.”
Rockwell pulled his hoof away from the stream of ghost cream. He brought it closer to his face, only to see the liquid that soaked the fur of his foreleg has faded away. He let out a contemplative hum.
“Your ectoplasms are not that potent, just as I thought. In fact, they fizzle out quickly like champagne bubbles. The ones in the ship are thick like jam, so potent. I guess you guys are clear.” He declared.
The bubbly fluids stopped flowing after Rockwell’s announcement. Both ghosts let out a sigh of relief.
“If those weren’t ours,” Cirrus said, gliding back down to the coffee table, so was Violet. “Where did those ectoplasms come from?”
“That’s what I’ve been wondering for a while now.” Rockwell said as he grabbed his mug and went back to the couch, making himself comfy again. Violet pointed a hoof at the group’s cups, they started steaming again. There were marshmallows now too. Rockwell raised his cup and smiled to her as a way of thanks. He then looked back at Cirrus. “Considering that both sides are supposedly innocent...quick question, do you hate the aliens? Yes or no?”
“Well.” Cirrus pondered at the question first before answering, a transparent hoof scratching rubbing his chin. It was Violet’s. “Since they started destroying our place of residence, I feel like I was supposed to?”
“Feel like I was supposed to...” The camera mare caught Octavia silently mimicking Cirrus’ response. She was looking at her cup deep in thought as she did so.
“But now when I realize that they’re not the ones doing it, I don’t think I should.” Cirrus continued. “Heck, I don’t even know what they look like. And I only knew they exist when the cow dropping incidents began.”
Rockwell let out another hum. “That kinda sounded like what they said, especially the last part. They only knew of your existence once I’ve told them about you.”
Cirrus raised a brow.”That’s weird.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all night.” Rockwell agreed.
“I think,” Octavia joined in, raising her head from the cup. “There’s a third party involved here.”
“Third party you say?” Rockwell sounded genuinely intrigued. “Do go on.”
“I mean,” Octavia continued. “It’s pretty obvious that somepony is pitting these two sides against each other. If you look at the facts laid on the table, I think it’s safe that there’s no way that these two sides who clearly doesn’t know of either one’s existence would just suddenly fight each other out of spite.”
She plucked a still solid piece of marshmallow from her cup before continuing. “I also noticed that these actions are not harmful to the sides being targeted, but rather to cause outrage instead. And once this third party has incited that reaction, they will then put the blame on the other side and vice versa. And then these two angry factions will face each other off in a violent skirmish of some sort. But that’s not important right now. What’s important here is that the third party is setting up these aggressions and they’re just letting the targeted sides finish it for themselves, thus removing themselves away from the calculations and render themselves supposedly innocent.”
“But who would go that far to do something like that?” Rockwell asked. “I don’t think most ponies even know that ghosts and aliens actually exist, let alone hate both of them with a passion.”
“But that’s the most crucial part in solving this mystery, Agent Rockwell.” Octavia said as she unceremoniously spat the toy pipe that was unknowingly placed on her mouth. “Since the criteria in finding our perpetrator is very specific, it will be easy to hunt them down. We don’t even have to scour crowds just to look for them. All we have to do is to look up anypony who has a troubled history with the citizens of the night in the records here in Ponyville and we’ll confront them.”
“That’s a top notch proposal there, Melody.” Rockwell said. “Dang, you just made my job easier. I may have to go home earlier than expected. And cheers to that.” He gently bumped Octavia’s cup with his, making a clinking sound.
“Uh, Agent Rockwell?” Cirrus called, suddenly acting strange.
“Yes, Cirrus.” Rockwelled replied, taking another sip from his cup. “What is it?”
“I don’t know if this is bad news or not,” Cirrus said while worriedly looking up. “But somepony is on the roof. She’s probably eavesdropping on us.”
Rockwell sprang into action. He carefully placed his mug on the coffee table and looked around the ceiling. “Clearly that’s bad news, C. Tell me which part of the roof she’s on.” He whispered the last line to the ghost. Cirrus, without saying anything, pointed a pale hoof towards the dining room’s direction, exactly where the giant hole was.
Rockwell took a peek at the dining room and realized that Cirrus was right. There was a head poking through the dining room’s ceiling hole. It appeared to belong to the fallen thestral from before. She now had a band-aid covering the bruise on her forehead.
“It’s the mare from earlier!” Rockwell got really giddy. “She’s back!”
Once the mare heard Rockwell’s excited cries, she pulled her head out of the damaged ceiling and bolted out of the building. Rockwell was now running towards the manor’s exit.
“You know her?” Cirrus asked.
“Long story.” Rockwell said while putting his glasses on all of a sudden. “I’m not letting her go this time.”
Everypony followed Rockwell outside the manor only to find out that mare has managed to fly a good amount of distance away from them.
“She flew away again.” Octavia said, sounding slightly disappointed.
“No she’s not.” Rockwell said as he pulled out his vanisher ward again. “Get back inside.” He ordered them while fiddling with its settings. And using all his strength, he hurled the metallic device towards the fleeing mare. It was hurled so fast that it flew past the panicking thestral, who was already flying at high speeds. And then it flashed. The thestral suddenly stopped flapping her wings and dropped hard on the grass. Rockwell then rushed to where the mare has landed.
The camera mare didn’t follow Rockwell as he zoomed towards the twice fallen mare. It just stayed on the doorstep like it was stuck in the same way as the ghosts. A part of the blanket that can be seen at the corner of the screen might be the reason why. The agent was back as fast as he left. The unconscious thestral was now hanging on his back like some sort of saddle.
Once Rockwell got to the doorstep, Cirrus approached him. “Is that the pegasu-oh wait, it’s a bat pony.”
Rockwell slid the thestral roughly down the floor. Despite the harsh treatment, the mare still remained knocked out for good.
“Cirrus, Violet.” Rockwell called. “Tie this mare into a chair, Make sure to tie both her forelegs, both her hind legs, and both her wings with three separate ropes. Winged ponies are tricky. You have to make sure that their head is the only thing that’s moving when tied to guarantee that they’re properly bound. Once you’re done, can you guys watch over her for the rest of the night? I’m going to interrogate her tomorrow.”
Both ponies obeyed and started generating ropes out of thin air.
Octavia trotted towards the unconscious mare and poked a hoof on her cheeks. She’s still knocked out. The camera could hear soft snoring sounds coming from her. “Tomorrow?” Octavia asked. “Why not now? I still think we have time to question he-”
Octavia heard a thud behind her. She turned around and saw that the agent has collapsed to the ground and started snoring. The day must have finally caught up with him. Octavia looked at him for a brief moment while donning a smile before she carried him back to the couch and covered him with a blanket. She then removed his glasses and placed them on the coffee table, right next to his unfinished cup of cocoa.
“If you don’t mind,” Octavia said while looking at the camera mare. “I will be heading back home to check on Vinyl. And get some shut eye myself.” She gave a sleepy smile before continuing. “I promise to return early tomorrow. Oh and if you want, I’ll be bringing breakfast as well. Sounds good? Alright then, see you tomorrow.” And with that she trotted out the door and closed it. The camera’s screen turned black afterwards.