//------------------------------// // C5 The Rubber Ball // Story: Welcome to the Bureau // by daOtterGuy //------------------------------// CANTERLOT GAZETTE ONLINE ANOTHER YOUNG CASUALTY LOST TO TRANSPORT TRUCK FATALITY Another young child has tragically died after running in front of a transport truck driving along a road adjacent to Canterlot Park This marks the fifth time within the last two weeks that a child has been fatally struck by a transport truck near Canterlot Park. Witnesses state that the children had run headlong into the street chasing after a toy that had caught their interest and been run over shortly thereafter.  Parents of the local neighbourhood are livid at the lack of action from the City Council to address this issue. The City Council will be meeting this Friday to discuss measures to mitigate these tragedies before they become worse. More information on Page 3.   Sunset frowned at the article displayed on her phone. She had noticed that the news on this side of the mirror tended to skew towards a more pessimistic outlook on life by reporting on mostly negative events unlike the more chipper Equestria, but even this was beyond morbid.  However, from the perspective of a Bureau member, it was suspicious.  “So, with all of that done, I believe we should be ready for our presentation next week,” Rarity said as she dropped into the seat across from Sunset.  “Yeah, I can’t see us getting anything less than an A,” Sunset replied while tucking her phone into her jacket pocket, “Should we spend time practicing?” “Well, of course, Darling,” Rarity tossed her hair back with a flick of her hand, “Even a natural-born presenter such as myself would have trouble if I didn’t have the key points memorized for the actual event.” “Good to hear that the natural-born presenter isn’t above practicing,” Sunset chuckled before adopting a more serious expression, “Hey, Rarity. What can you tell me about Canterlot Park?” “Lovely playground about five blocks past Sugarcube Corner,” Rarity said, “It’s also a death trap.” “Because of the recent incidents?” “Yes, but it’s always been like that. Recent events have only made it more apparent,” Rarity leaned her head back with a hand held palm up against her forehead, “Why, I won’t even allow my dearest younger sister Sweetie Belle anywhere near there. At least not until the city takes the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of those visiting the park.”  “Any idea why the park is such a-” Sunset searched for an appropriate word, “‘high impact’ zone?” Rarity gave her an unimpressed look, “That was a rather tasteless remark, Sunset.” Sunset grimaced, “Yes, I know, but believe me when I say that it was the least offensive option my mind came up with.” “Well, I suppose you didn’t really mean it in a disrespectful way,” Rarity looked pensive as she mulled over Sunset’s question, “I’m not sure, to be honest. I don’t know anyone personally that has had the misfortune of knowing one of the victims and the rash of incidents has only started up recently, so I don’t believe it’s one of the long-standing issues.” Sunset sighed, “I suppose it would be asking too much to just expect an easy answer.” “Answers? Darling, are you considering finding the cause of the incidents on your own?” Rarity frowned disapprovingly, “I don’t think that’s something you should be pursuing.” “Don’t worry, Rarity. I’ll be careful,” Sunset thought back to the headline of the article, “I can’t not do anything if there’s a chance for more casualties.” Rarity was unconvinced, “Well, alright, Sunset. Just please be careful,” She flashed a radiant smile “Now, class will be over soon. Shall we start by going over who shall present what?” “Of course,” Sunset smirked, “So, do you want me to do the introduction or shall the natural born presenter start us off?” “Oh, Darling,” Rarity fluttered her long eyelashes, “You know I always love a dramatic entrance.” “You think the recent accidents could be the cause of an Altered Item?” Flash asked.  Sunset and Flash were on their way to Canterlot Park. She had grabbed him immediately after school on her way out and they were now only two blocks away from the park. Sunset had been keeping a watchful eye out for both of them as they walked to their destination while Flash read the article Sunset had been reading earlier on his phone. “Yes, I do,” Sunset replied, “Frequent unexplainable and seemingly random fatalities seem to be a good indicator of an Altered Item’s presence,” Sunset thought about the number of deaths that had occurred, ”At a minimum, I want to know if there’s a root cause, so I can see if something can be done to deal with it in the short term.” Flash nodded in understanding as he tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket, “We should start by the road mentioned in the continuation of the article. That seems to be where all the incidents have occurred. Pit Stop to the Cabin to grab Suppressors?” “Not yet,” Sunset said, “We should confirm the presence of the Altered Item first, gather what information we can, then formulate a plan to contain it. If we have the Suppressors on us, we’re more likely to just rush in without thinking.” “Sounds good,” Flash replied, “We’re here.” Sunset stopped to take a lay of the land. It was a picturesque spot with an expanse of green surrounded on all sides by road. A worn-down cobblestone fence lined the border between sidewalk and green. Tall oak trees, meandering dirt paths, wooden benches, and colourful playground equipment were placed in abundance across the whole of the park. People of all ages wandered aimlessly enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon. The image was somewhat tainted by the lines of yellow caution tape covering the west end of the park.  “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that’s where all the deaths have been occurring,” Sunset announced, “Let’s head over and see what we can find.”  Both walked over to the area and stopped just short of where the ground was covered in toys, flowers, and pictures of the presumably deceased children. Sunset scanned over the display and fought to keep her emotions in check. She turned away and looked out over the crowds of people and noticed several children amongst them.  She found herself in some amount of disbelief that any parent would knowingly bring their children to this park with the recent incidents. However, she also knew that if there were no children around, there was a chance that the Altered Item wouldn’t appear. She wasn’t fond of that line of thought no matter the logic behind it. Without turning away from the memorial Flash asked, “How are we going to find the Item?” “I don’t know. There’s no obvious way to know if an item is Altered and I don’t recall anything from the Cabin’s database that would match something like this. I figured we would simply camp out here, keep a watchful eye, and hope to catch the Item in the act.” “Alright, sounds like our best bet then,” Flash leaned back away from Sunset to look past her, “There’s a bench over there we could use.” Sunset looked in the same direction as Flash and saw the bench he had mentioned. It was in the most optimal location for being able to observe the entirety of the park and look for signs of the potential Altered Item.  They both walked to the bench and plopped down side by side. “So, I guess we just stare at children and wait for one to move towards the road or have the police called on us for acting creepy?” Sunset glared at Flash who just grinned in reply, “Yes, it’s our best option until we can confirm the situation.” Flash nodded and began to observe the people wandering around the park. Sunset soon joined him and focused on a particular gathering of children playing in a jungle gym. After several minutes of quiet vigil, Flash asked, “Could you not just read everyone’s mind?” Sunset continued her observation as she replied, “What do you mean?” “Well, the Chalkboard lets you read people’s thoughts, right?” Sunset nodded before Flash continued, “If a kid was going to run into the street they would have to think about going into the street first, yeah?” “Assuming the Altered Item doesn’t do something weird that we wouldn’t know about, that logic checks out.” Flash grinned, “So, then all we or I guess you, need to do is read the minds of any kid that comes this way.” “Yes, I could do that,” Sunset agreed.  Flash grinned, “Awesome, this will be easy peasy then.” A moment of silence fell between them. Flash grin faltered, “So, uh, why aren’t you doing the whole mind-reading thing then or are you already using it? I don’t really know what to expect.” “I’ve never used it.” “Really?” Flash said incredulously. “Really.” Flash scrunched up his face, “Why?” Sunset leaned back on the bench frowning over her own reasoning. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to use the power. It was that there were several factors that made the ability rather annoying to use and somewhat conflicting.  The ability itself didn’t really have a filter. It read everyone’s mind all at the same time, and, multiplying that by how many thoughts even one person had within a short time span, it would be overwhelming. Even for her. The limited amount that she was able to cut it down still made it a pain to sort through. There were privacy concerns. She didn’t care if she peeked at the thoughts of random strangers, morals were never her strong suit, but she didn’t want to invade Flash, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie’s thoughts. The prior two being because she did find herself valuing their trust, though she would never admit it, and the latter for her own sanity.  This was all information she had gleaned from the Cabin and, at the time, she figured as long as she practiced and avoided being near the aforementioned people it would be fine. She had then tried reading the mind of a clerk in a mostly empty corner store. A low-risk testing ground for an ability Sunset was sure she would be using frequently.  Once had been more than enough. “It’s complicated, but I don’t want to use it unless it’s important, which I suppose it would be now.” “Yeah, stopping a child murder is probably a good reason,” Flash noted.  “Murder?” Sunset questioned, “How- Oh, wait. Altered Items are sentient. By definition, this would constitute as murder if an Altered Item is the cause.” “Yeah,” Flash looked away and crossed his arms, “You know, if you’re uncomfortable using the Chalkboard, we can just keep trying with the people watching. We still don't even know an Item is involved.” Sunset released a weary sigh, “The concern is appreciated Flash, but realistically you’re right. Using the Chalkboard would make this ‘easy peasy’.” “Okay, just let me know if I can help make things easier,” Flash said, “It’s what I’m here for.” Sunset smiled at the gesture then leaned back with a deep breath and her head facing the sky. She focused with her mind and grasped at the connection she had with the Chalkboard. The feeling was akin to wielding her magic back when she was a unicorn. Probably contributed to the ease in which she took to wielding her Object of Power.  She continued to focus on her connection until, finally, she felt herself become enveloped by the Chalkboard’s presence.  Immediately, she saw the blues of the sky become more vibrant and the edges of the clouds become sharper. She felt her sense of smell assaulted by the convergence of the various flowers in bloom around the park and could swear that she tasted the air. It was a mild vanilla flavour. “Is it working?” Flash asked. Sunset took a deep calming breath to brace herself and reverted to her original sitting position to look at him. It was a lot. His thoughts were bouncing between concern over her, how he can be of more use for the mission, and thoughts on what the effect of the Altered Item might be. They flooded her mind with echos of fractured sentences told to her in Flash’s voice.  His thoughts were also mixed with the reason why Sunset hated using the Chalkboard’s power. His emotions.  None of the documentation in the Cabin noted that the Chalkboard not only read thoughts but the emotions associated with them. All of Flash’s thoughts were tinged with shades of anxiety, happiness, and an overbearing need to be useful.  He was a mess. It was unbearable. It told her too much about him. Reading someone’s thoughts was one thing, knowing how they felt at any given time was an invasion of privacy even Sunset wasn’t comfortable with.  Sunset winced as she became accustomed to Flash’s stream of thought. After some time sorting through the onslaught of thoughts reverberating in her mind, she managed to focus on limiting how much she heard from Flash’s head until she only heard a few snippets from his surface-level thoughts. “Yes, it’s working,” Sunset noticed his thoughts become tainted with worry, “And before you ask, I’m fine. I just needed time to adjust.” “Okay, that’s good,” Sunset felt the worry drain from his mental voice, “So, now- Woah.” “What?” “Your eyes,” Flash had a curious look to him, “they're tinted with a whole bunch of colours now.”  Sunset was surprised. Nothing in the Cabin had mentioned that there was a physical change on using the Chalkboard. That could have gone poorly if she was trying to hide that she was using her Object of Power.  She definitely needed to update those files when she returned to the Cabin.  “That’s good to know. I’ll have to keep that in mind if I use this power again,” Sunset said, “For now, let’s get back to keeping a lookout.” Flash nodded and resumed his observations. Sunset turned her attention to the other park goers and winced. Though she had significantly reduced the volume of incoming information, it was still a lot to process in her head all at once.  It didn’t help that she had no idea what she was really looking for. Was it an illusion? A compulsion? Some physical entity that pushed the kid into the road? Teleported? Or potentially the worst option: senseless tragedy.  At this point, she only had hope that she would recognize the effect of the potential mystery Item when she saw it. She scanned along the different people in the park with a focus on the younger crowd. Some thoughts about plans for after the park. A couple thinking about each other. Another person was thinking about what to make for dinner that night. None of this seemed strange or out of place to Sunset.  “Hey, Sunset,” Flash said, “Check the little girl with blonde pigtails by the monkey bars.” Sunset zeroed in on the child Flash had pointed out. She was looking toward the western roadside past the yellow tape. ‘Oh! What a pretty ball!’ Sunset heard in her mind.  She looked in the direction of where the girl was looking and could see a red rubber ball roughly the size of her own head sitting stationary in the middle of the road. That was when Sunset heard the transport truck rounding the corner on the other end of the street. The girl took off toward the ball.   Sunset leaped off the bench and shot forward in a dead sprint to intercept. She vaguely heard Flash call out to her in alarm.  She ran, pumping her arms forward in an attempt to increase momentum and avert the inevitable ending she could see as the girl barrelled towards the street oblivious to the transport racing down the street.   She heard a woman screaming in the background. The girl hit the road and stopped short of the rubber ball. She bent down to pick it up as the transport truck blared its horn.  Sunset leaped towards the girl with her arms outstretched as she stepped onto the curb. The girl had since stood back up and was staring at the truck with wide eyes frozen in fear.  Sunset grabbed the girl in her arms as she sailed through the air and dove forward rolling across the rough asphalt, over the street curb, and landing roughly in the centre of the sidewalk.  She heard the screech of brakes from the transport truck and the squeal of tires signifying its stop.  Sunset attempted to move and hissed in pain as she felt her aching joints complain over their recent trauma. The impact had not been soft by any stretch. Thankfully, she avoided worse injuries due to her long sleeve jacket and jeans.  The only time she was thankful to be wearing leather.  Sunset uncoiled her arms from around the little girl who Sunset noticed was crying.  “Oh my goodness, Lace!” Sunset rolled over to her other side to see a woman in her early thirties running towards them presumably calling out the girl’s name.  Sunset heard rather than saw the young girl, Lace, leap back to her feet and race over to her mother who quickly embraced her. The woman lifted her up into her arms and held her close against her chest with Lace’s head on her shoulder.  “Thank you so much,” The woman said to Sunset.  Sunset, still recovering from almost getting hit by a truck, gave a wave in acknowledgment. The woman went back to the park admonishing the girl for running off.  With the situation resolved, Sunset brought herself up into a sitting position despite the protests from her sore limbs.  “Sunset, are you okay?” Flash said as he came up beside her.  “Bruised,” Sunset hissed as she tried to move her arm, “In some amount of pain, but I can confirm that the cause of these incidents is an Altered Item.” “It is?” Flash asked in surprise, “Where is it?” Sunset pivoted her head to look at Flash in surprise before scanning her surroundings. The Rubber Ball was nowhere to be found. That stupid Item had run away.   Sunset cursed, “Not here, but we’re coming back tomorrow.” “Uh, Sunset, that was a pretty nasty tumble, I’m not sure-” Flash protested. He flinched when Sunset turned her fiery gaze at him, “We are catching that damn ball and then I’m locking it in a containment cell,” Sunset turned her glare to the road, “Stupid ball.” Flash was hesitant before starting, “So, about not rushing into dangerous-” “Not the time Flash,” Sunset hissed. Flash wisely said nothing else. True to her word, Sunset and a reluctant Flash returned the next day with Sunset fuming all the way. Sunset took up position on the bench from before to keep watch for another runaway kid with a Suppressor primed and ready in her jacket pocket. Flash was standing at attention near where Sunset had landed the previous day with a second Suppressor ready.   Sunset didn’t need to be able to read minds to tell that Flash was anxious as he hopped from foot to foot on the other side of the street and darted his head this way and that. She turned away from him and scanned the crowd of kids running about the park sorting through the thoughts that pelted her brain. ‘Oh, sweet! A ball!’ Sunset whipped her head toward the source of the thought and found a young boy with buzz-cut black hair staring out towards the road. She signaled to Flash trusting him to follow her instructions and started running towards the kid to intercept him before he hit the street. On queue, the kid began running to the street and Sunset heard the telltale rumble of a transport truck turning the corner. Sparing a glance, she saw the Rubber Ball sitting in the same spot it was in yesterday.  Sunset pushed through the aching complaints of her body and managed to catch up with the kid just before he ran into the road.  She followed through with her momentum by grabbing the child in the crux of her left arm and continued running past bending over once to let the kid grab the ball and to follow up by stabbing it with her Suppressor using her free right hand. She made it to the other side with no problems and watched as the transport continued barreling down the street with the driver giving her the middle finger.  Jerk. “We got it,” Sunset heard on her right. She turned to see Flash standing next to her with a second suppressor jabbed into the surface of the Rubber Ball. It was, if only briefly, contained. “Again, Again!” The boy in her arms cheered. Sunset rolled her eyes as Flash chuckled. Sunset and Flash stood before the newly constructed containment cell for the Altered Item designated as the ‘Rubber Ball’. Bland, but descriptive.  The cell was custom made to resemble a park playground complete with a swing set, slide, and mini jungle gym on a floor of grass with sky-painted walls. The Ball itself sat in the centre of the room doing nothing. It was, in Sunset’s opinion, rather morbid. Flash crossed his arms over his chest as he observed the Item, “So, what did the effect end up being?” “The Cabin’s files, after the Ball had been captured,” A fact that bothered Sunset as she didn’t understand why she hadn’t had those files previously, “stated that it was ‘Compulsion’. Specifically of the ‘must grab’ kind. Not even specific, the effect works on anyone regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity.” Flash nodded his head, seeming to be contemplating something, “So, why did it lure children into oncoming traffic?” “My best guess is because it wanted to.” “It wanted to,” Flash repeated back dully.  “Yep,” Sunset replied. Flash nodded his head again, seeming to have come to some form of an answer to his earlier thoughts, “So, from what I understand, this Altered Item’s effect is a powerful compulsion and being a colossal dick?” Sunset thought over Flash’s statement. “Yes, that appears to be the case.” Flash nodded once more before quietly observing the Rubber Ball alongside her. As they watched, the Altered Item rolled in a strange pattern on the ground before stopping back in its original position. They couldn’t be entirely sure, but Flash and Sunset thought it had drawn out the rough equivalent of a middle finger. “Yeah, fuck this Item,” Flash finally said, “Let’s just leave it here forever.” “Agreed,” Sunset replied.