The sound of galloping hooves echoed through the streets.
"Get back here."
The officer charged through the streets after the suspect. The criminal had gone too far this time.
It had started as it always had, a shoplifting in a district where almost all the citizens were unicorns, only this time, Falling Star was there to see it. He immediately gave chase, but the criminal, a regular suspect who they could never apprehend, pulled something unexpected.
As he passed a building that was under renovation, he set part of the wooden scaffolding on fire, causing it to collapse in Falling Star's path.
That by itself wasn't what had angered him.
What had angered him was that a red unicorn mare with a cartload of fabric had been pinned under the wreckage.
He pulled away the material as quickly as he could, not bothering with trying to use telekinesis for it. He had ripped almost all the boards off the pile with his bare hooves by the time reinforcements got there. He and the reinforcements pulled her out as quickly as they could, but it was too late to save Miss Shirt.
"Forensics are on the way. We'll control the crowds here; the rest of you go catch that guy."
Thus, Falling Star ran through the streets after the career criminal. Thankfully, he had a couple pegasus officers on the way from a nearby district to aid in the pursuit.
Slowly, he gained on the criminal, his gallop holding as steady as his breathing.
When he had first joined the academy, the other unicorn recruits had teased him about his magic. Sure, it was weaker than that of the others, but the teasing ended after the first few physical tests. He had out-lifted, out-pulled, and outrun all of them.
Now, he was putting that last one to the test. It made him wish his father was still on the force, that stallion had twice his endurance, but a leg injury had forced him into early retirement. Nonetheless, so long as he kept gaining on the criminal at this pace, he'd catch him before he got too winded.
The criminal looked back, then darted into a restaurant. There was a series of loud screams, and suddenly, the restaurant was on fire.
Falling Star stopped in shock as the criminal ran back out, then lit up his horn and fired a bolt of magic high into the sky. The bolt flew upwards for hundreds of feet, leaving a trail pointing straight back to him, then exploded in a vibrant orange visible across the entire city and most of the surrounding area.
Pegasus first responders who saw the bolt immediately began pushing clouds in that direction. The orange flare told them that whoever had launched it was witnessing a fire that needed to be extinguished immediately. They made it to the building just as the tail of the flare was fading away and immediately began dumping as much rain as they could onto the building. Meanwhile, the other officers made sure the building was evacuated.
As soon as the fire was under control, he made his way to the nearest pegasus law officer he could find.
"It's arson sir." The pegasus looked at him as he continued. "Earth pony. Red coat, tan mane with a matching tufted tail. Wanted suspect for at least 60 counts of shoplifting, 40 counts arson, and 1 count negligent homicide, along with destruction of private and public property. He was creating a diversion to prevent further pursuit."
The other officer nodded, then called some of the officers from his district over.
When he had finished relaying the information, several of the the officers took off to the air.
Falling Star watched them leave, then resumed the chase himself.
This wasn't over yet.