Rarity awoke for the second time that day with her head aching and her muscles still trembling from the sleep bomb. For the briefest moment she considered it preferable to the nightmares about her boutique, but then she remembered Indigo.
"Tinkerer!" She gasped, struggling to her hooves as fast as her still-recovering legs would allow.
Shaking her head to try and clear the drowsiness, she scanned the clearing outside Indigo's workshop. There was no sign of the tinkerer or the ponies who'd kidnapped her. She knew there would be hoofprints, broken branches and other signs indicating the direction the escaping criminals had taken, but she was struggling to spot them like the detectives in her stories.
After circling the clearing twice, Rarity groaned, turning toward the narrow trail leading back to town. Going for help would take time, letting the kidnappers get further away, but she was doing Indigo no good trotting in circles and failing to interpret broken twigs. With the sun hidden behind the jungle canopy, she wasn't even sure how long it'd been since the attack.
"I'm certain there was a Sheriff's office in town," Rarity said to herself, galloping back along the trail, "I do hope they're better than Ponyville's Sheriff."
Charging into town, barely avoiding the tourists and locals filling the main streets, Rarity raced toward the harbour where she recalled seeing a sign for law enforcement.
Rook crouched down near the cell door, her gaze focused on the lock while her ears twitched, keeping track of the Sheriff in the next room.
The locking mechanism was a mixture of mechanical parts and magic, which was unsurprising with a unicorn in charge of local law enforcement.
Rook considered herself a professional thief and she could manipulate the tumbles even from the wrong side without lock-picks. But getting the lock to recognise a magical signature would be tricky. The door was tied to an enchanted key and while she could try to override the spell, she couldn't do it with the blocker fastened to her horn.
Shaking her head, she stepped back from the door and regarded the rest of the cell. The old bars were the weakest point in the room. A determined earth pony could probably break them with enough effort, but not without drawing the Sheriff's attention. And Rook didn't have an earth pony's strength.
"Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way," Rook frowned, straightening her cloak.
Rook was focusing on the lock again when the door to the Sheriff’s office burst open and Rarity raced inside. Hooves thundered across the main room before skidding to a halt at the desk.
“You have to help me!” Rarity gasped, her unusual accent drawing Rook's attention almost as much as her bombastic entrance, “There's been a kidnapping!”
“A kidnapping?” the Sheriff frowned, opening one of the desk draws and pulling out a notepad before looking up at Rarity again, "Please describe what happened and try to remain calm."
"I am calm! This is me calm!" Rarity snapped, her previously perfectly styled mane becoming more frazzled. “Two ponies grabbed her, a stallion and a mare. Both earth ponies. They took her from the workshop. I tried to stop them,” Rarity explained, hanging her head in shame, “But they escaped after hitting me with some sort of sleep bomb.”
“Sleep bomb?” The Sheriff raised an eyebrow as he took notes.
“That's what they called it,” Rarity nodded. "And whatever it was, it knocked me out cold.”
“Alright,” The silver-maned Sheriff said, adding the extra detail to his report. “When did this happen and who was taken?”
“Some time this afternoon. I don't know when exactly. But it can't have been too long ago,” Rarity explained, “And they took Indigo Ferrus. I'm certain of that!”
“Indigo?” The Sheriff frowned, "the tinkerer?"
"Yes!" Rarity nodded, "They grabbed her from the workshop and disappeared into the jungle."
“Oh,” the Sheriff nodded in realisation, “just the tinkerer. Well, technically she lives outside of town so there’s nothing I can do to help.”
“But you’re a Sheriff, a stallion of the law,” Rarity frowned in confusion, "And a mare has been kidnapped!"
The Sheriff shook his head and Rarity’s attention was drawn to a noise from the next room. Looking over to the open doorway, she watched a unicorn trot into view in the corner of a holding cell. From behind the bars, the dark coated mare glared at the back of the Sheriff's head.
There was something odd about the prisoner and Rarity felt it had something to do with the cape she wore. It was made of no material she recognised. The cloth moved like silk, but appeared as thick as angora. But the designer had other things to worry about, so she filed that little mystery away at the back of her mind.
“I notice you stopped being interested the moment you realised the kidnapped filly is the town eccentric,” Rook called from her cell.
The Sheriff didn't bother looking back, he just sighed dismissively.
“I’m here to look after this town. Not the folk outside of it. That’s what the Rangers and Royal Guard are for,” the Sheriff replied with a calm shrug.
“We're a long way from Canterlot," Rarity almost growled the words, "Can't you help? It's the right thing to do. The noble thing to do."
"The right thing for me to do is make sure this town is safe," The Sheriff shook his head, "If I left to deal with every crime that takes place outside of town then I'd be leaving Green Lake vulnerable."
"Fine," Rarity hissed, "where can I find the local Rangers?"
“The biggest town in the region is four days trot away. They've got a Ranger station,” The Sheriff glanced down at his desk and shuffled through some loose papers until he found a map and a timetable, “Or you could take the next train and you’ll be there by tomorrow evening. No guarantee there'll be a Ranger at the station though. They're spread pretty thin in these parts.”
“Days? I can’t wait days!” Rarity groaned, her blue eyes studying the Sheriff as she debated applying some pony charm. But a stallion so heartless that he’d let somepony get kidnapped by ruffians was unlikely to be sweet talked into caring. "Can't you at least do something to help? Anything?”
“Sorry, I've got a job to do. But if you really want to help the missing tinkerer, then your best bet is to try and round up a posse,” The Sheriff shrugged again, “Maybe some of the locals will help find her.”
A posse? That wasn't a bad suggestion. Back in Ponyville, Rarity would've gone straight for Applejack and the others for help before even considering the town Sheriff. Hopefully Green Lake had a group of similarly helpful ponies.
“I doubt it,” Rook called from the other room. “From what I've seen, if they aren't a local or a paying tourist, then this town doesn't care.”
“Check the tavern down the street, or the market square,” The Sheriff ignored Rook again as he gestured vaguely toward the harbour and then back the opposite direction.
“I’ll try there, then,” Rarity nodded before heading toward the exit, "Maybe somepony in this town will be at least vaguely useful!"
The slamming door was louder than expected, the designer somehow managed to make the entire building shake as part of her dramatic exit.
“Odd filly,” the Sheriff said, crumpling up his half-started report and tossing it in the trash.
"Odd?" Rook called from the cell in the back room, "She's worried about a kidnapped pony! That's not odd!"
"I don't think the tinkerer is even a pony," the Sheriff shrugged, "She could be anything under those wrappings."
"That's irrelevant," Rook answered, her volume raising as she rattled the bars, "By Equestrian law, any self-aware creature is entitled to the same rights and protection as a pony."
"Don't be stupid, thief," The Sheriff snorted, "Who would make a law like that?"
"The Princess did, centuries ago," Rook rolled her eyes, "It doesn't matter if this missing Indigo is a pony, a zebra or an admittedly strangely proportioned dragon, she deserves protection."
"Do you do anything but lie and cheat?" the Sheriff asked, getting up from his desk to activate the gramophone again.
"I could quote the relevant sections of Equestrian law!" Rook called, but the Sheriff didn't answer.
With a frustrated grunt, Rook paced around the cell, her lips moving silently as her cloak swished back and forth more aggressively than would be expected from momentum alone. After six circuits of the small room, she stopped and shook her head.
“I don’t have a choice. I need to make a dramatic exit of my own,” she whispered to herself before shouting to the stallion in the next room, “You’re a terrible Sheriff! You've got one innocent mare locked up and you're happy to leave another mare in the hooves of kidnappers!”
“We both know you’re not innocent. And I take my responsibility to protect this town seriously. I'm not running off on some wild goose chase just because a tourist thinks that the tinkerer has gone missing.”
"Really? You couldn't have spared a few minutes to help organise a posse? Or do you think coordinating a rescue effort from your office would've put the town in danger?" Rook snapped.
"Enough!" The Sheriff barked, trotting into the back room to glare at Rook through the bars. “If you keep complaining like this then I’ll tell the Magistrate that you’ve been uncooperative. And you can look forward to whatever sentence you receive being doubled.”
“No, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen,” Rook smiled from the other side of the cell door, “First, I’m going to escape. Then I’ll knock you unconscious. And finally I’m going to help rescue the kidnapped mare that you can’t be bothered to deal with!”
“Seriously?” the Sheriff laughed, “How are you going to escape, thief? Slither through the bars? Teleport with no magic?”
The Sheriff smirked at Rook's silent frown before turning to head back into the main office.
“Yeah, I thought so," he snorted.
The moment his back was turned, Rook twisted and the edge of her cape rushed forward, the strange material slithering between the bars before wrapping around the Sheriff's throat. Yanking back, the material stiffened like tensed muscles as she pulled her captor off his hooves, sending him tumbling into the bars.
He tried to escape, hooves struggling to pull the material away as his magical field reached for Rook. But her cloak constricted further, knocking off his hat as it tightened around his horn and forelegs.
"You really are a terrible Sheriff," Rook sighed as the cloak forced the stallion to turn until he was facing her, "You should sleep now."
“What… are you?" the Sheriff gasped, unable to move as he felt something pull at the well of energy inside his body.
Rook opened her mouth and a pale glow formed across her lips, growing stronger as the Sheriff weakened. His own light faded before he dropped unconscious. Wincing, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she licked her magic-coated lips.
When the Sheriff finally went limp, Rook relaxed and the cloak released its victim.
"That is surprisingly painful while wearing a blocker," she informed the Sheriff who whimpered in his sleep. Groaning, Rook leaned against the bars as she wiped her eyes and caught her breath, "Luckily horns aren't the only source of magic."
Rook leaned closer to the bars and the end of her cape unravelled from the Sheriff before twisting into a pointed tendril. The fabric tentacle trembled before it's movements became smooth and it slithered inside the unconscious stallion's waistcoat. Rook's eyes narrowed as the cloak searched from pocket to pocket before finally hooking a set of keys.
"Bingo!" She grinned, using her cape to unlock the cell door and remove the blocker fastened around her horn.
As her twisted cloak unravelled from the tendril and flattened to become a regular cape again, Rook's green magic dragged the Sheriff away from the door before opening it.
"Freedom!" She declared, stepping out of the cell with her cloak swishing around her, “And I’m taking your hat!” she added, grabbing the Sheriff’s fallen hat with her magic and putting it on her head.
With the Stetson in place, Rook dragged the Sheriff into the empty cell and locked it behind him before seeking the evidence locker in the other room.
The office was small and it didn’t take long to locate the secured metal box inside a locked storage area. The Sheriff’s stolen keys unlocked both and Rook lifted out her confiscated climbing boots and collection of purses and jewellery.
“There’s less bits here than I remember,” she frowned, returning every item to the pockets inside her cloak, “Why am I not surprised that the Sheriff is skimming from evidence.”
Rook glanced toward the back room, debating setting up some karmic justice for the corrupt lawpony. But she shook her head and turned to the exit. There were more important problems to deal with.
“Sleep tight, Sheriff,” Rook called, strutting out of the building, “I’ll be back for you later.”
“I need your help!” Rarity called, standing on a soapbox in the centre of the market square.
Half the ponies in the bustling market turned toward the designer. The rest continued what they were doing while lowering their heads and avoiding eye contact.
"One of your own has been kidnapped!" Rarity declared, projecting her voice across the entire square, "The Sheriff refuses to help her, so I need you to join me in a rescue party!"
Ponies gasped in shock.
"Who's been taken?" A voice called above the general murmur of concern.
"Indigo Ferrus, the tinkerer!" Rarity watched as the ponies who'd been gathering around her suddenly dispersed, their heads dropping as they looked away. "She's been kidnapped! How can you be so heartless?"
"She chose to live outside the town," one pony answered from the crowd of averted gazes.
"She knew the risks of living in the jungle."
"I'm not putting my life in danger just because she chose to be reckless."
The crowd had scattered, creating an open space around Rarity that nopony stepped hoof in. Everypony focussed on packing away their stalls or doing some last-minute shopping. And many were leaving early as the once bustling market was suddenly a lot sparser.
Rarity felt her heart racing and anger burning through her body. Somepony was in danger and the entire town was ignoring it. How was that even possible! Her right foreleg tensed and she had to force herself to remain calm and not break the jaw of whichever stallion had called Indigo reckless.
"Seriously?" Rarity snapped, glaring at the ponies around her, "Is no pony in this town willing to step up?"
“I’ll help!” Rook called, running in from a side street and skidding to a halt on the empty cobblestones.
Frowning, Rarity looked down at the violet-coated mare she'd seen locked up in the Sheriff’s office.
“Not to sound ungrateful, but weren't you in jail?” Rarity tilted her head to the side as the other mare straightened her hat. “Doesn't that make you an escaped criminal!”
“I’m no criminal, I’m the deputy,” Rook grinned, pointing to the badge on her stolen hat. “I was just… testing the jail cell. For security. Perfectly normal deputy duty. And now I’m here to help rescue your friend!”
Rarity hesitated. On the one hoof, the violet unicorn wearing the dark cloak didn't look or act like any law enforcement pony she'd ever met. And the hat she wore appeared to be the exact same hat that the Sheriff had been wearing. But on the other hoof, Rarity needed the help and this was literally the only pony in town who was willing to offer.
"Well, thank you,” The designer said, trying to force her frown to relax as she offered her hoof, "I'm Rarity."
“Name’s Rook,” the cloaked unicorn replied, shaking the offered hoof, “Deputy Rook.”
“Charmed,” Rarity nodded before glancing up the hill, toward the hotel. “Should we try to form a bigger posse? I've had no luck at the tavern or market, but there's still the spa resort.”
“That would be a waste of time,” Rook sighed before glaring at the ponies around them who continued to avoid eye contact, “The locals won’t lift a finger to help somepony they consider an outsider. And I highly doubt you'll have more luck persuading some tourists to take time from their vacation to join the hunt.”
Rarity's jaw clenched and she wanted to protest, but recent experience made it difficult to disagree with the deputy's opinion.
"I am disappointed in the lack of 'strong community values' that the brochure spoke of," she sighed.
"It's amazing how quickly community values evaporate when the pony in trouble is a little different from everypony else," Rook explained as Rarity stepped down from her soap box. "The quicker we start looking for your missing friend, the quicker we find her. You told the Sheriff that they took the tinkerer from her workshop?”
“That's right,” Rarity nodded, leading the way back toward Indigo’s home while turning her nose up at every pony they passed on the way out of town, “But I have no idea where they went after that. I did try looking for signs, but I'm afraid that I'm no tracker.”
“Luckily for you, I'm an expert at hunting ponies down. It's practically part of my cutie mark," Rook said, trotting alongside the designer, “And you said there were two kidnappers?”
“Yes, a blue stallion and a yellow mare. Both earth ponies,” Rarity replied as they passed the empty train platform and turned to follow the narrow trail into the jungle, “but they were smart enough to not use their names.”
“Common coat colours, so that doesn't narrow things down much,” Rook said as she reviewed all the gangs and bandits she knew of in the region. “Any other distinguishing features?”
“They were both powerfully built. More like soldiers than farmers,” Rarity bit her lower lip as she tried to remember. “Brown, patchwork saddlebags with dark stains that may have been dried blood. And they wore scratched and dented armour around their forehooves.”
“Sounds more and more like bandits,” Rook sighed, "The kind of ponies who live out in the wilderness, praying on trade caravans."
"I should've known,” Rarity muttered, "I should've done something."
"You're not law enforcement," Rook observed, "There's only so much that one... artist?"
"Fashion designer."
"There's only so much that one fashion designer could do," Rook gave Rarity a smile, but the designer wasn't making eye contact.
"There's still only two of us," Rarity said, keeping her head lowered and her eyes on the narrow trail. "And I'm assuming there will be more bandits at their camp?"
“Yeah. I've never heard of just two bandits working alone in a region this remote," Rook nodded.
“Maybe we should've tried harder to get reinforcements,” Rarity sighed, entering the clearing and spotting Indigo's empty shack ahead of them.
The place looked different with nopony inside.
“We don’t need to fight the bandits, Rarity,” Rook shrugged, “We just need to find where they took your friend and sneak her out without being seen. This is a rescue mission, not a raid. It’ll be easy.”
“That doesn’t sound easy,” Rarity frowned as she paused, staring at the scuff marks in the dirt where the fight had taken place. If she could call it a fight when she’d only thrown a single hoof before being knocked out. “We still don’t know where they took her. And I’m not exactly a mistress of stealth. I'm more about drawing attention than avoiding it."
“Maybe, but I am incredibly stealthy,” Rook nodded, bending to examine a hoof-print, “trust me. I can sneak anything out of anywhere."
"What a useful skill for a deputy," Rarity observed as they moved past the scene of the fight and approached the tinkerer's workshop. "Even if we can rescue Indigo, doesn't that mean her kidnappers will escape justice?"
"We can pass their descriptions and the location of their camp to the local Rangers and let them deal with it. If we have to choose between trying to capture a large group of bandits by ourselves or rescuing a kidnapped pony, I'm going to prioritise the rescue."
"I appreciate your point," Rarity nodded, approaching the door to the shack and wrinkling her nose at the remaining scent of smoke bombs in the air, "But I don't like it."
"Feel free to take them all out yourself when we get there," Rook shrugged, stepping inside and examining the workshop, "Until then, help me search this place."
"What are we looking for?" Rarity asked, stepping into the open room and looking around at the various tools and workbenches with nopony to use them.
"I couldn't see anything useful outside," Rook explained, heading to the back of the workshop, “And I don't have much experience reading the jungle floor. I'm not a local, if my accent didn't give it away. But if we can find any clues in here, that would be great."
"Clues?"
"A piece of torn parchment with the address of the bandit camp? That would be useful," Rook grinned and Rarity didn't, “Alternatively, I should be able to track the tinkerer using a personal possession, something she had a lot of contact with."
"A possession? You have the bloodhound mark?" Rarity asked, realising for the first time that she'd never seen Rook's cutie mark as it was hidden by her cloak.
Not that she'd ever seen a bloodhound mark in real life, but they were a regular element of detective fiction.
"Not quite, but similar enough," The deputy shrugged, “It is very useful for tracking missing ponies, among other things."
Rarity wondered if the ability was anything like her own spell for finding gems. Divining magic.
"I've got fragments of smoke bomb over here," Rarity said, looking up from the shards on the ground, "No obvious signs as to where it came from, I'm afraid. This looks like common clay and metal to me."
"More hoof-prints back here," Rook called, "any sign of a personal item I can use to track with?"
"One moment, darling," Rarity replied, exploring the workshop.
"Darling?"
"A figure of speech, I assure you," Rarity explained as she found the bundle of blankets that Indigo apparently used as a bed. "What are you looking for? Does it work by scent or personal attachment?"
"Personal attachment," Rook confirmed, "If she loved an item then I can use it to track her."
"Then I think I have what you need," Rarity nodded, her gaze briefly lingering on the pocket watch left on the workbench before focusing on the hoof-made tools surrounding it. Searching through the items, she found the one that had seen the most use and had the most repairs. "This... I'm guessing it's a multi-tool? It looks like it was important to Indigo."
"Let me see," Rook trotted over to Rarity. Without explanation, she lowered her head to lick the metal tool, "Yes, that will be perfect. Let's go!"
"Did you just..." Rarity shivered in disgust.
"That's how the magic works," Rook shrugged, trotting outside and pointing into the jungle, "She's in that direction."
Rarity swallowed hard before following the deputy into the undergrowth. She knew that you didn't question cutie mark magic... no matter how strange it seemed.
The designer was soon distracted by the thick plant life surrounding them and the muddy ground under hoof. It was impossible to see far through the mess of leaves and after a short trot into the jungle she doubted she could even find her way back to Indigo's shack.
"You're sure you know where you're going?" Rarity asked, trying to ignore the soft ground.
"Trust me," Rook replied, "my sense of direction is perfect. We'll find your missing friend and be home safe in no time."
They continued deeper into the jungle and Rarity found herself trudging through dense undergrowth. She would've described herself as trotting purposefully, with her head held high, her expression resolute and her mane immaculate. But in reality, she trudged. It was difficult not to trudge when surrounded by heat, dirt and the oppressive vegetation that seemed to close in on them from all directions.
Rook led the way, apparently unaffected by the heat as her dark cloak remained floating lightly around her with no sign of the sweat that soaked through Rarity's fur.
“So,” Rook said, glancing back at the designer, “Why are you doing this, Rarity?”
“Doing what?” Rarity frowned in confusion.
“Helping this tinkerer,” Rook clarified, looking ahead again as she pushed through the undergrowth, “You told the Sheriff that you’d only just met this filly. Why risk your neck tracking down bandits?”
Rarity fell silent and after a moment she realised her mouth was open with no words coming out. Frowning, she closed her jaw and tried to think.
She wasn't sure where to begin. It was like being asked why she had four legs. There had to be an answer, but it wasn't something she'd ever thought about.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she answered hesitantly, feeling as if it was a trick question she didn’t fully understand.
“Most ponies wouldn’t see it that way,” Rook said, “Not for a stranger. It's not how ponies work.”
"That's not..." Rarity's voice trailed off as she thought back. "In my hometown..."
Ponyville was full of ponies who'd risk their lives for others. Well...when it came to physical danger there were only a few of ponies who always took the lead and Rarity was proud to be among them. But, now that she thought about it, that wasn't how the majority of ponies behaved. Most of ponyville was happy to stay back and let bigger threats be dealt with by somepony else.
"It's part of my nature," Rarity finally spoke again, her accent breaking a little, “I've always gotten involved and stepped up in times of trouble. I don't really think about it. If there's a threat, I just act."
"You're a strange one, Rarity," Rook replied with a soft chuckle.
“Well... I've always prided myself on standing out from the crowd," Rarity said with the daintiest of indignant huffs. "So, how about you, Miss Rook, how did you end up as a particularly proactive Deputy?"
"Oh, I guess I just fell into this roll," Rook shrugged, pushing aside a cluster of leaves to find a small clearing ahead, "And I know what it's like to be the weird one in town that everyone, the one else would ignore if they were in danger."
"Everyone?"
"Wait, I see something!" Rook barked, holding up a hoof for silence as she trotted cautiously into the clearing. “Well, that’s not good,”
“What is it?” Rarity asked, following the deputy's gaze and frowning at the thick indentations in the ground, "Oh dear... they had an air-balloon."
"A small airship, I think," Rook replied, tracing the outline where the craft had landed, "It looks like they loaded your friend onboard and took off. The good news is that I can still track them. The bad news is they’re now much further ahead of us than we thought.”
“How far could they have gone?“ Rarity snapped anxiously. In the back of her mind she'd been hoping to catch up with the kidnappers before they reached their camp and the reinforcements it contained. "Should we try and get the Rangers involved?"
"An airship this size, piloted by earth ponies?" Rook frowned, looking up at the sky, "The range would be limited. The equivalent of around a day on hoof before needing to recharge their engine.”
"So, the camp is likely closer than the nearest Rangers" Rarity groaned, "Unless they have extra fuel supplies out there, in which case they could be on the other side of Equestria in no time."
"And we have a bigger problem."
"A bigger problem than a kidnapped mare in the clutches of bandits for who knows how long?” Rarity rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," Rook whispered, nodding toward the jungle.
Rarity turned to see three shapes slithering out of the shadows. They were twice the size of a pony and appeared to be a cross between a snake and a leech. Large, circular mouthes with razor sharp teeth snapped together as the eyeless, scaled creatures growled in a deep rumble that Rarity felt through her hooves.
“That is indeed a big problem,” Rarity said, backing away from the creatures and taking a deep breath, “But we can take them together, we just need to-”
Turning to Rook, she found the other mare had vanished. The clearing beside her was empty, with no sign of the violet-coloured deputy.
“Oh dear….” She groaned as the monsters circled around her.