Quick took a deep breath and looked around the crowded plaza once more, small pangs of paranoia returning to him. He looked back at Flash and produced a small, dusty and torn up diary from his own bag. It was obviously much older than Flash had imagined and far more worn, but it was definitely Quick's fabled book of secrets.
“Flash, the whole reason I started this line of work was because of this journal. The unnamed pony who wrote this book was certainly off his rocker, but so far it has yet to lead me astray. You of all people know I take this book more seriously than anything else, so when I run out of ideas for good stories I randomly pick a page and go where it takes me.”
Flash stopped to think for a second, contemplating that his entire career could be resting on that very book.
“What did the book tell you about Applejack? I doubt she was even a filly when it was written.”
“Flash, this book predates Applejack by decades, there are entries in here that are older than Ponyville itself.”
“So how could she possibly be related to this book?”
“One entry in particular caught my eye. The writer makes reference to a gang of highway robbers who would attack traveling merchants and leave them with nothing more than a single apple to survive on, often out in the middle of nowhere, with not a town for miles around. When the gang was finally brought to justice and thrown in prison, the leader of the gang swore his boss would break him out, claiming he was involved with an 'Applecore Syndicate'. Now at the time, no one had even heard of the group, but as time went by, the Syndicate dissolved into urban legend and was never truly uncovered. Everypony assumed it was an idle threat, when the author took it into his own hooves to investigate, the entire gang, holed up in prison, was missing. No guards remembered them and there was no record of their escape or release. It was if they had simply vanished.”
“I still don't see how this involves Applejack, she's supposed to be the most honest pony- ever!”
“Which makes it all the more suspicious. If a secret is worth keeping, it will never be obvious, which is why I'd never take up a silly quest like looking up dirt on Rainbow Dash. The skeletons in her closet are so obvious that they can't possibly be interesting enough to report on; the end result is 'oh, wow, no surprise there' or 'definitely saw that coming', but what I have here is evidence that the Apple family is linked to one of Equestria's oldest criminal organizations!”
The last phrase was little more than a hoarse whisper, but even that sudden outburst reminded Quick he was still in public.
“How long has that waiter been watching us? Do you think it's still safe to discuss this here?”
“Quick, if this is as old as you say it is, I doubt it is nearly as dangerous. Why would they attract attention to themselves now? Taking out a pair of noponies would only make them more likely to get caught.”
“That's what scares me, Flash. The Applecore Syndicate is so secretive that it is almost unknown to the general public. Ponies don't even know it exists. Anyone who has ever crossed or tried to uncover the gang has disappeared or left financially ruined.”
Flash was genuinely intrigued at the thought of a real mystery
“So where do we start?” Flash asked with masked interest.
“Sweet Apple Acres, of course, where else?” Quick responed, matter-of-factly.
“We can't just barge onto their farm with cameras and accuse them of being embroiled in a criminal syndicate!”
“Well-”
A short, stifled grunt brought their attention to the waiter, who had returned with their meals. To Flash, the waiter wore an expression of mild annoyance, but to Quick, whose paranoia had taken root again it was an evil look, one which warned of a desperate plot on their lives. The two sat in silence eying their meals until the waiter turned and left for other customers.
“Flash, think about it; if Applejack or even the Apple family has been involved in criminal activity, we don't know how deep this goes. Why even now they might be out to stop us, poisoning our food, hiding in dark alleyways just waiting for us to slip up. Even these sandwiches could be a devious plan to end our quest.”
“Quick, we haven't even so much as started this 'quest' of yours, let alone gotten so deeply involved that we're being marked for elimination.”
Flash stared at his sandwich again, his uncertainty taking over. What if Quick was right? He didn't know what he was getting into, and he certainly didn't want to find out sooner than necessary.
“I don't think I'm hungry anymore, Quick. Let's just wrap these to go, pay, and get out of here.” He responded, trying to hide a small hint of fear in his voice.
“You never can be too careful, Flash. Let's go while we still can.”
Quick scooped up the sandwiches in a blur of magic and slid them into his pack, looking once again over his shoulder at the crowd behind him. The waiter, those two mares snacking in the corner, why even the birds in the trees could be watching him at this very moment. To him, this conspiracy didn't simply go deep, it enveloped all of his surroundings, consuming everything around and turning it against him. Flash suddenly stopped and brought a small object from the ground up to eye level.
“Would you look at this, Quick, you'd think in a town this peaceful, there'd be less of a litter problem.”
“What do you have there, Flash? What is that?”
“It's an apple core, fresh by the looks of it. Somepony must have just dropped it. Still has one seed stuck in it too.”
“Ugh, just the thought of apples is making me sick, Flash. Just put it in the trash where it belongs and let's get going.”