“You know...” Rockwell said as he gently rubbed his nose. “That thing you did, that was uncalled for.” He made small sniffing sounds with each of his nostrils, as if to check if he could still smell with them.
Vinyl grinned. “Feels good though.”
“Uhuh,” Rockwell tossed the bottle back to Vinyl. “Another one of those and I’ll mark it up as an assault of a BoS agent. Yeesh.” He rubbed his nose again. “Right in the band-aid.”
“You call getting tossed by a bottle of sunblock an assault?”
“Correction.” Rockwell replied as he trotted into the forest’s entrance. “It’s not sunblock, it’s a blunt object.”
“Don’t go in there!” Vinyl cried. “You’ll burn!”
“Thanks for the warning.” Rockwell calmly said as he looked around. “But for some strange reason, I can’t seem to catch on fire.” He pulled out his pen and a piece of paper while looking around. “These are strange times indeed.”
“What are you doing?” Vinyl said while watching Rockwell scribble something on the paper.
“Sending a message. I need answers, fast.” Once he’s done writing on the paper, he rolled it up and pulled out his flare gun. He loaded the scroll into the device and fired it upwards. A large stream of fire swiftly flew away from the gun and into the deeper parts of the forest.
“So that was the thing that caused the large explosion of green fire last night, huh.” Vinyl said as she stared at the now gone stream of flames.
Rockwell kept the gun back in his jacket pocket, as well as his pen. “That’s a secret.”
“Yeah whatever. So what’s next?”
“Stay here for a moment while I follow Blurry inside.” Rockwell said as he gestured for Vinyl to be still. He began trotting towards the inside of the forest when a silhouetted blur quickly flew above them. The dark figure left a trail of falling leaves in its wake. All the ponies on the ground followed its quick movement as it exited Everfree.
“Nevermind.” Rockwell said as he exited Everfree as well. “There she goes, flying back to the Outskirts. Very interesting.” He gestured for the group to follow him. “Come on, let’s tail her.”
Vinyl let out a groan before complying. “I can’t believe we came all this way for nothing.”
“Not nothing.” Rockwell replied. “Those purple burns of yours would beg to differ. I’m pretty sure it’s a major clue. Although I don’t know which puzzle this piece will fit into, yet.”
“Just tell me where we’re going next.” Vinyl sounded annoyed. “And it better have lots of shade!”
“We’re going to that one thestral house.” Rockwell said as he and the group headed back into town. “Knowing thestrals, they probably have their shades in spades.”
Vinyl groaned even more. “I can’t stand rhymes this early in the morning.”
“Knowing that then I’d like to add one more.”
“Just shut up already.”
The group’s walk back to the Outskirts was a peaceful one. It was too peaceful that Rockwell insisted Vinyl to ask him anything, just like what Octavia was doing when she’s still with them. Unfortunately for Rockwell, Vinyl wasn’t the talking type. Not now, at least. It could be the fact that sun became hotter as the day progressed or she was still grumpy that the agent dragged her away from her well deserved sleep. Either way, it made the vampire mare more irritable than usual. Their interaction during their trot towards the thestral house could be summarized with Rockwell having Vinyl to ask him questions and then Vinyl would respond by threatening him to throw her bottle of sunscreen at his nose again.
“So this is the house I’m talking about.” Rockwell said to Vinyl as he pointed a hoof to the house they spied on earlier.
The group were now standing behind a bush. It’s where Rockwell and the camera mare hid earlier. They were now laying low unlike before, probably to better conceal themselves from the more wary residents of the house. They were huddled together like a hoofball team seconds before a match. From afar, they probably look like a gang of bystanders engaging in some kind of illegal activity.
“Cool.” Vinyl replied, her tone sarcastic. “Now what?”
As the camera focused on Rockwell’s face, Vinyl’s features were clearly reflected on the agent’s dark glasses. “We’ll raid it.”
“What.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun.” Rockwell broke into a grin. “It’s like setting up a surprise party. And we’re serving them knuckle sandwiches.”
“Knuckle sandwiches?”
“Hand gang slang, never mind that. Alright, here’s the plan. You and I will head into the building and buck the door open. Once we’re in, I’ll daze them up using my ward. You should look away from me during that by the way. And once they’re stunned, you and I will subdue them. Interrogation comes right after. Now, I counted five thestrals in there earlier and if Blurry would be in there, they’d total up to six. But with your vampiric abilities and my skills, I believe we ca-”
“Now hold on a minute there.” Vinyl interrupted. “We can’t just barge ourselves into somepony’s home like that! What if we’re wrong?”
“This is the same house where Blurry dropped the spy off,” Rockwell flatly replied. “And its residents were the ones chasing us earlier which led me to accidentally stumble upon your house. I think our Mr. Wrong here has now boarded a train to Rightsville.”
“But still.” Vinyl said, a bit hesitant.
“If we interrogate them, we’d finally know the truth behind the vandalization of your house.”
Vinyl raised her head up and gave a long sigh. “Fine. I’m in. But I’m still sure the wolves did it.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rockwell said while waving his hoof dismissively. “Hold on to it while you still can.” He approached the door, the two mares followed. He looked at Vinyl and gestured her to follow what he’s doing. “Get ready to buck the door.” They positioned themselves in front of the entrance, legs at the ready.
“And push.” The two ponies kicked the door with full force. The thin slab of lumber had no chance against their joint strength, slamming itself open with lock permanently broken. The now open door revealed five idle ponies: three mares (one of them was Grey Star) sitting on the couch and two stallions standing in front of a workbench looking at some strange crystal device.
“What the (Beep)!” Cried one of the stallions.
Vinyl didn’t let another word come out of them and instantly charged through. Rockwell on the other hoof, wasn’t as eager as his companion. He looked at the camera first as a smile formed on his face. “Just stay outside, it’s safer.” He said to the camera mare as he slowly closed the door back.
The only thing the camera can see now was the image of the closed door, although sounds can still be heard inside it. “One, two, three, four, five.” The sound of Rockwell’s voice said. “Hey you, where’s Blurry?” “Get the agent!” said a stallion’s voice inside the house. A sudden flash of white highlighted the door’s borders. It probably came from Rockwell’s vanisher ward. “Scratch, now’s your cue.” Rockwell’s voice calmly ordered. A few slamming sounds and body thuds could be heard right after. There were also sounds of struggling coming out the door, and few sounds of furniture breaking and bones cracking. And then there was a brief silence.
“You guys got any rope?” Rockwell’s voice said. Suddenly, a mare screamed in pain. It was then followed by bumping and smacking sounds. “Scratch, go find me one. A long one.” Another cracking of bones followed. “Hurry up, there’s only so much bone I can crack on these guys.” Another batch of smacking and thudding came afterwards. “And that’s for touching my band-aid.” Rockwell’s voice was starting to sound annoyed. “Hey you. Grey Star right? Put the chair down, girl. This isn’t pro wrestling, put the chair dow-” Another furniture was broken behind doors. “Thank Celestia you thestrals are light, otherwise I won’t be able to use you guys as meat shields. Grey Star, honey. Put the table down or I’ll make a pony pretzel out of your friend here. Yeah, no, scratch that. Wanna see it? I always start with the hind legs.” Another cracking of bones can be heard. And it was followed by a mare’s scream of agonizing pain. “No!” Came another feminine voice, it was probably Grey Star’s. “And I believe the foreleg goes in here...” Another cracking of bones came, and once more the screaming followed. “Okay I give up!” Grey Star’s voice cried. “Good, now drop the table and come over here.”
“I found some rope!” Vinyl’s voice said. “If it’s not enough, I also brought some duct tape.”
“What in Tartarus?” Rockwell’s voice replied. “No. You do not use duct tape to bind ponies. It’ll ruin the fur. Just tie them up with the rope. Yes, yes, right there. We’re short on rope so just focus on the forelegs and their barrels. Good job, Scratchy! Good girl.”
“Don’t call me that.” Vinyl hissed.
A soft pitter-patter of hooves can be heard approaching the door. The door to the house opened slightly. Rockwell’s head popped out of it. “We just finished tidying up. Why don’t you come inside?”
The camera complied and went in. Rockwell fully opened the door as the camera mare went inside. The screen was presented with quite the view. The living room was in a state of disarray. All the furniture were broken, bits and pieces of wood, plastic, and metal were scattered on the floor. The couch has foams and springs coming out of it. The curtains were ripped to shreds. Surprisingly, the windows were just fine. And also the workbench, it looked like nopony has ever touched it during the violent encounter.
The camera focused on Rockwell and Vinyl, who were standing over the bound thestrals. Vinyl’s sweats had some fabric torn off of it, but none were deep enough to show her fur which could potentially expose herself to the sun. Rockwell on the other hoof, has his jacket torn in all directions again. It looked like the same jacket he wore when he entered Ponyville last night, after fighting the minotaurs.
But the thestrals had it so much worse. As the camera panned down on them, it can see that most of them had bruises all over their bodies. Some had limp limbs. And almost all of them had black eyes to boot. The camera focused its shot to a thestral stallion, who sported a pair of black eyes. He looked like he’s a having a spa day. But his eyes were wearing prunes instead of cucumbers.
“As you can see.” Rockwell said to the camera. “The subjects are now bound and ready. Although due to resources being limited, we can only partially bind them. So I’d be wary a bit if I were you. We rejected the use of duct tape to provide additional binding because I don’t want to inflict any serious damage to our subjects.” He giggled nervously as he stared at the mare he almost made a pretzel out of. “So anyway, why don’t we start our interrogation?”
“Interrogation?” Grey Star said, as if she was remembering something. “Are you going to torture me again?” There was fear in her voice, but also hints of anticipation mixed in.
“Uh-oh.” Rockwell said with a playful tone. “Somepony developed a taste. No, not that. We’re desperate for answers right now so we’re doing the ‘real’ BoS way this time. It may be drab and boring, but it’s kinda efficient.”
“You won’t get a word out of us!” The stallion devoid of black eyes cried. There was genuine determination in his voice.
Rockwell grinned at the camera. “That’s what they always say.” He pulled out his ward and adjusted his glasses. He looked at the group and gestured for them to look away. The camera suddenly focused its shot on the workbench, where a device that looked like it’s a vase that was made out of purple crystal shards was standing. There’s a metal rod in the middle and at its tip was a small refined looking orb with a darker purple color aaand there was a sudden flash of white. The camera looked back at the thestrals. They all looked dazed and confused now.
“Wait.” Rockwell leaned in close to the stallion. “Aren’t you the guy that owed me money last night?”
“What?”
“You know what?” Rockwell leaned back and pointed the ward at the stallion again. “Never mind.” He flashed the guy again. Acting on reflex, the camera turned away again and back to the agent once the flash was over.
“Please...” Rockwell said, as if he had a conversation that was interrupted by something. “Continue.”
“About what?” The stallion with the okay eyes asked innocently.
“About the plan in having the vampires and werewolves to fight each other.”
“What’s there to tell?” The stallion shrugged. “The plan’s plain and simple, have both sides fight each other by using the tools they gave us.”
“Tools?” Rockwell said, curious. “Who gives the tools?”
“Mayor Inkwell.” The stallion answered matter-of-factly.
Rockwell looked at Vinyl, his smug grin put all her doubts and suspicions at ease. He then looked back at the stallion. “Where do the tools come from?”
“I don’t know. They don’t really tell us everything. They just give us the tools and we do what we’re asked to do.”
“How loyal of you.” Rockwell said dryly.
“Of course.” The stallion shrugged. “It’s what we do. Wait, I’m not supposed to tell you that.”
Rockwell flashed him again. “Please...continue.”
“About what?” The stallion asked innocently, again.
Rockwell pointed a hoof at the device on the workbench. All eyes followed. “About that modern art looking contraption right there. I thought it’s an art piece at first. But next to it is a schematic on how to make it so...yeah. What’s it for? It looks important, and expensive.”
The camera focused back on the stallion. “I don’t know. It’s supposed to be a bomb of some sort. Blurry is the only one who tinkers with it. That’s all we know about it.”
Rockwell looked at the other thestrals while lowering his glasses. “Does this guy speak on your behalf?” The other thestrals replied with nods and mutters of agreement. “Oh well, continue.”
“I’m afraid that’s it.” The stallion replied. His tone slightly apologetic, like he’s disappointed that that’s all the info he could give the agent. “They don’t really tell us everything, except what we need to know. And then we just do what we do.”
“How loyal of you.” Rockwell said dryly.
“Of course.” The stallion shrugged. “It’s what we do. Wait, I’m not supposed to tell you tha-hey I feel like I’ve done this before. It feels so familia-”
Rockwell flashed him again. For the umpteenth time, all the thestrals look dazed and confused. They just stared at the agent blankly as he kept his ward back to his jacket. He still left the glasses on though.
“You ponies are practicing escape magic and are on the verge of perfecting your technique?” Rockwell said with a bit of uncertainty, even he doesn’t feel convinced of the new memory he’d like to give to the thestrals. All thestrals just stared at him blankly in reply.
“So what are you looking at me for?” Rockwell said while gesturing for them to proceed. “Wriggle on.”
Stupidly enough, the thestrals obeyed. Within their bindings, they look like newly hatched maggots wriggling their way on the surface of a rotting fruit. As they continued what they’re doing, Rockwell snatched up some things from around the house.
“I’ll just take this.” Rockwell said as he grabbed the crystal bomb. “And this.” The schematic was next. “And also this.” The bottle labelled ‘Sedative: Bovine’ was last.
“Let’s go.” He said to the group as he exited the building first.
As they got out of the house, both Rockwell and Vinyl engaged in their own personal activities for a moment. Rockwell rolled down the schematic and kept it within his jacket pocket. He did the same with the bottle of cow sedative. And after that, he tried to straighten his jacket by brushing his hoof on it as an attempt to tidy it up. Eventually, he realized it was futile and stopped.
The camera centered its shot to Vinyl who stood close next to the house to shield herself from the sun. She took her hoodie off and raised it to the sun’s direction to check for any noticeable holes. Her face had a relieved look when she realized that there was none. She put on another coat of sunblock on her upper body before putting the hoodie on again.
“I believe an apology is in order.” Rockwell said as Vinyl approached him.
Vinyl lowered her glasses, revealing a pair of narrowed eyes.. “What do you mean apology?”
“Now that we have a clear view on who the real perps are, I suggest that you and your group to arrange a meeting with the werewolves tonight and apologize to them.”
“No way dude.” Vinyl raised her glasses back. “The way I see it, the thestrals hit the wolves first. And when they thought that we did it, they hit us after.”
“That’s not what happened at all. As a matter of fact, it happened the other way around.” Rockwell snorted before continuing. “Because what werewolf in their right mind would leave things like paw shaped marks on the roof? That’s a very stupid thing to do. And basing on that fact alone had me thinking that it’s all the thestrals’ doing. They confirmed it earlier. They must have tools that could create those kinds of shapes to mislead their targets. And I know those tools can be found here, I just don’t know where, specifically speaking.”
“But not in that house.” Vinyl replied. “I already checked all of it when I was looking for rope.”
Rockwell pointed a hoof to the house. “Why don’t we ask them again? They might not know where they got the tools, but I’m sure they know where they were hiding them.” He rushed back to the door and opened it. The camera focused the shot on the inside. The thestrals were now gone, all that’s left was the rope that bound them lying on the floor.
Rockwell let out a hum. “They’re gone.”
“Hey Rockwell.” Vinyl called. The shot was now centered on her. She was looking at the sky, particularly at the five small figures that were flying away from them. “Aren’t those your perps?” Her tone was of cheerful mockery.
“Well, well, what do you know.” Rockwell said as his eyes were locked on the escaping thestrals. “Magic really is real.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Sorry.” Rockwell chuckled. “Got caught up in the moment. So there goes our lead, I guess. Ah, no matter. Leads are like appetites. If you lose one, another will present itself eventually.”
“Let me guess, the bureau taught you that?”
“Of course. With the right amount of bits, you can easily swim through their four month education course on motivational speaking. And speaking of bits, that guy we interrogated owed me a lot. Let me see if he still has my bits in there.” Rockwell trotted towards the house and began exploring it. It wasn’t long when he got out with a small pouch in his hoof. “Hah! He must have left it in a hurry. Let’s all go back to the coffee shop. I’m buying.”
“Is the bureau really offering motivational speaking courses?” Vinyl asked, stopping Rockwell in his tracks.
“I’m just kidding.” Rockwell smiled. “I needed a segue.”
The trip to the café was a short one. At Rockwell’s insistence and Vinyl’s condition, the group took the table located at the farthest end of the left side and just under the shade of a great oak tree. It was the same spot as last time. The waitress approached the group and asked for their orders. Rockwell ordered for all of them. For himself, he asked for a native with lots of cream and lots of sugar. And for Vinyl, he ordered an iced coffee that’s worth five bits of which she was hesitant to accept but caved in eventually. And lastly for the camera mare, was a cup of espresso. The service in this quaint café must’ve been great since all their orders arrived at the same time after a mere moment of ordering them.
The group were sitting at their table silently. Rockwell took casual sips from his cup while a pink hoof at the side of the screen was holding a cup espresso. Vinyl just looked at her iced coffee; the tall glass the beverage was contained in was now beginning to moisten.
“Drink your coffee.” Rockwell insisted Vinyl. “It’s good.”
“I told you already,” Vinyl replied as she continued to stare at her ice cold beverage. “I can’t drink coffee.”
“Of course you do.” Rockwell made his tone more insistent. “You’re like one of those ghoul things. You can’t stomach normal food but coffee’s just okay.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m going back to sleep after this.”
“It’s decaf.” Rockwell answered flatly.
Vinyl leaned back and crossed her hooves. “Oh it’s decaf now, huh? Why didn’t I hear that when your ordered?”
“Just drink the iced coffee.” Rockwell said, shaking his head at the mare’s stubbornness.
Vinyl gave an annoyed sigh. “Fine.” With her hooves, she brought the iced coffee close to her mouth. She bit on the thin, black straw and took a small sip. Her ears suddenly perked under her hood. She took another sip again, but this time longer. She took another long one before setting it down to their table.
“Dude,” She said as she looked at Rockwell. “That’s some pretty (Beeping) good coffee!”
“Told ya.” Rockwell said after taking a sip from his own cup.
“I don’t know if it was worth five bits but it was pretty (Beeping) good!”
Rockwell replied by taking another sip from his coffee. The camera can spot that he’s hiding a smug grin behind his cup he’s holding.
Vinyl held her iced coffee again to take another sip. When she set the glass down, its contents were almost gone. “So what are we doing here anyway? I don’t think we just came here for the coffee.”
“We’re not.” Rockwell said before taking another sip. He was staring at the town hall as he did so. “We’re here to formulate a plan.”
“Plan? For what?”
Rockwell set his cup down. “We’re raiding the town hall for additional evidence.”
“Raiding the town hall!?” Vinyl exclaimed in hushed whispers. “Are you crazy? We’ll get arrested for that!”
“I know.” Rockwell replied calmly. “That’s why careful planning is in order.”
Vinyl leaned back on her chair and placed both her forelegs on her face. “Dear Celestia, how did we come to this?”
Once more, Rockwell took a sip from his cup. “Well, you wanted more proof. This is a way to get more.”
“But we can’t just go and attack the mayor!” Vinyl shot back as she leaned close to the agent. “It’s illegal, very illegal!”
“In my eyes, she’s a mare covered in loads of dirt. And I’m here to scrub some out.”
The vampire mare could barely contain her panicking, much to Rockwell’s amusement. She kept on saying ‘No’ several times. And that made Rockwell wear a smile on his face as he continued to drink his hot beverage, although that smile quickly faded when a squeaky sounding voice began saying ‘No’ several times as well. The camera panned to the source of the second voice. It was revealed to be Pinkie Pie, again.
“I like saying ‘No’ too!” Pinkie said to the camera. She then switched her attention to the agent. “Hey Rocky!”
Rockwell spat his drink upon hearing the nickname Pinkie made for him. He was then reduced to a brief coughing fit. It took a moment before he could speak again. “The thing...it’s back... ” But when he did it came out as weak mumblings. “What do you want!?”
“You won’t find anything in the town hall, silly!” Pinkie said, now hopping.
“Oh yeah?” Rockwell said as he pulled out another cigarette stick and bit on it. “And why is that?”
“Because that would be the first place anypony would search if they’re suspicious of the mayor, Rocky!” Pinkie began. “If I were you, I’d check out the mayor’s personal warehouse down in the Outskirts! It’s really for her personal use but she insists on telling that it’s for everypony! She keeps a lot of stuff in there, some of them are quite sketchy! I’m really positively pretty surely sure that you’re going to find what you’re looking for in there! The warehouse usually has two thestrals guarding it at night and one guarding it at day to make it not so suspicious to the average pony passing by! Scroll down to skip Pinkie talk. Hey, providing information is fun! I should be your informant, Rocky! You and I can meet in a quiet alley somewhere around town and I’ll pretend to shine your shoes but actually I was giving you the most recent word from the streets! And then you’ll give me a bit for my job. But what you’re actually paying for is the information I’m giving! And then you get off without me polishing your other shoe and then another customer walks in and pays me a bit to tell him the meaning of li-”
Rockwell pinched Pinkie’s withers once more. The happy hopping mare instantly collapsed to the ground. He carried her up and placed her on his seat and then covered her face with the menu, again. But not without flashing her eyes a couple times first with his ward.
“If what this thing was saying is true,” Rockwell looked back to the group. “Then we may not have to lay siege in the town hall after all.”
Vinyl gave a sigh of relief at Rockwell’s words.
As the group stood up from their seats, Rockwell left a couple bits on the table and a few more for tips. They then went on their way. The camera focused its shot on Vinyl, who was forming a face that looked like a mix of surprise and mirth.
“I can’t believe it.” Vinyl said to the agent as she got closer to him. “Pinkie Pie knows you. An Element of Harmony knows you!”
“Let’s change the topic.” Rockwell replied with his signature stoic look.
“Not so secret are you now huh, agent?” A large smile was carved on Vinyl’s face.
“Let’s just get to the warehouse.” Rockwell said, remembering to light his cigarette.
The group trotted back to the Outskirts once again. Their steps were a bit faster this time, probably due to the buzz of caffeine their drinks gave them. They went to the east side of the Outskirts, which was opposite to where the manor was located. The camera could see the warehouse that Pinkie was talking about. It was just behind two houses. And a single thestral was standing in front of it.
“Looks like the thing was right.” Rockwell puffed a smoke up the air. “There is only one thestral guarding it during the day.”
“Why do you keep calling Pinkie the thing?” Vinyl asked.
“That’s a secret. Anyway, would you like to do the honors?”
“What, knocking down the guy?” Vinyl looked at the thestral stallion guarding the warehouse. He was of average build, nothing impressive to take notes of. “Sure. It’ll be over in a sec.”
“I’ll go find some rope.”
With that said, the two immediately split up. Vinyl shifted into a white blur and charged the guarding thestral. The stallion was totally unaware of what’s happening to him. There was a speeding white figure that leapt over him and instantly slammed his body into the ground with a devastating roundhouse kick. The pavement cracked into web-like crevices as the guard hit the ground. Rockwell opened the warehouse’s door from the inside, carrying rope. He easily tied up the knocked out thestral and dragged his limp body back into the building. The camera mare followed the two into the warehouse after.
As the camera got a shot of the building’s interior, it was welcomed with dozens of crates that were stacked so high that they almost reached the ceiling. The camera then panned on Rockwell and Vinyl who were also looking at the towers of crates inside.
“Now what?” Vinyl asked the agent. “There are like hundreds of crates in here and it’d take hours to check all of them.” She rubbed her eyes weakly before continuing. “I miss sleeping already.”
Rockwell’s ears slightly perked up. “Maybe not all of them. Sniff up the air, I think we may have something here.”
“The air reeks of garlic a little. So what? It could be just BO for all we know.” Vinyl attempted to cover her nose with the sleeve of her hoodie to protect her from the scent.
“Follow the smell, Scratchy.” Rockwell ordered playfully.
“I told you not to call me that!” Vinyl cried. “No way I’m following your orders now.”
“But would you do it for a scoo-you know what?” Rockwell’s voice became serious. “Screw it. Just follow the scent, please.”
Vinyl sighed again. “Fine.” With her vampiric strength she leapt over the crates with ease and continued to hop over them quickly. “Keep up old guy!” She yelled at Rockwell once she’s almost out of sight from them.
“Just call me when you get there!” The old guy Rockwell shouted back. As he began to roam around the warehouse, he can’t help but look around the crates again. It’s probably because these things take up a large part of the building’s interior. “Celestia, this place is maze-like.”
Rockwell and the camera took a couple minutes to get where Vinyl was. Both of them kept stumbling on the crates when they climbed over them. The reason being was that the camera mare was burdened with the recording device attached to her body and it was hanging on the front of her neck. While Rockwell was just ol-not cut out for climbing steep surfaces such as stacked up crates.
“So what do we got here?” Rockwell said as he climbed down a bunch of crates that formed a downward slope. He wiped his forehead gently with a hoof, as if to show that climbing up and down those crates was not that hard for him. But the fact that he was breathing heavily and did a poor job of concealing it was a more apparent evidence of his actual performance.
The camera followed Rockwell as he slowly approached Vinyl. The mare was standing in front of a crate that had one of its sides violently opened. Vinyl must have ripped it off while Rockwell and crew were still trying to get to where she was. Rockwell looked at where she was looking, the camera did as well. The crate seemed to contain several sacks that were filled with cloves of garlic. The others contained packs of dried wolfsbane petals. But there’s one object in the crate that drew everypony’s attention. It was located at the innermost part of the crate. The thing was painted pink and green, and it appeared to look like a jackhammer. But instead of having a sharp metal rod at its end, it seemed to have a metallic paw-shaped stamp. Rockwell got close to the object, probably to inspect it further.
“I’m sorry.” Rockwell snorted, trying to control his laughter. “I knew that we’re going to find something of significance here, I just didn’t expect that it would actually be that. I mean, what do you even call that?”
“The label says that it’s called Pawlverizer.”
“Oh Celestia.” Rockwell was now sweating and shaking, he’s now on the brink of laughing. “Looking at that thing just breaks your morale, don’t you think? Seriously, take a good look at it. That thing kills hubris of all sizes in a second. Breathe if you agree.”
“I guess.” Vinyl answered weakly.
Rockwell poked the Pawlverizer with his hoof. It made a small clinking sound. “Darn thing looks like a toy.” He then looked back at Vinyl. “Moving on, I believe an apology is in order.”
“Seven thirty tonight, in front of the Carousel Boutique. Tell the wolves to be there.” Vinyl firmly said as she quickly snatched the tool and walked away.
“Where are you going?” Rockwell said just as a stream of green fire suddenly flew into his jacket.
“Back to sleep.” Vinyl answered, never bothering to look back.
“Okay then. But don’t lose the toy though. You lose it and your inspection score drops fifty points.”
This actually made Vinyl to turn around. “Oh come on!” She held the tool up. “Can’t I just break this?”
“For a thirty-five point deduction, you can.”
“Okay, okay! I’ll keep it safe! (Beep).” Vinyl turned around again and swiftly left, turning herself into a blur.
“Guess that’s it for our temporary partnership.” Rockwell remarked as he looked at the camera mare. “She’s okay, but Melody’s better. She fights good though, really good.”
“What about the message?” The camera mare said.
“Message? Oh right, dragon fire hit me.” Rockwell pulled out his flare gun and unloaded the scroll inside it. He opened the scroll and read it silently. Once he’s done, he looked back at the camera. “Oh boy, I think we’re needed in Everfree again. Rocket’s been talking about some minotaur stuff here that I can’t understand.”
“Everfree. Got it.”
“Say,” Rockwell said, looking at the packs of dried wolfsbane petals. “Do you think wolfsbane affects timber wolves?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s get a pack. You know, just in case.