Redheart was actually looking forward to the next time she saw Caricature, which surprised her. While she didn’t like him, there was a lot she wanted to ask.
Her chance came about a week after finding the pony named Glass with a hole in him. One week of silence from the mysterious Caricature was surprisingly relaxing. Redheart decided that she didn’t even miss the money.
Her period of rest was shattered one afternoon upon finding the stallion in her apartment again. Redheart was glad that it was only him, not somepony who would try to hurt her, but realized how ill-prepared she was had it been an actual attack. Her first impulse had not been to grab for a weapon, or even to flee. She had slowly been building such instincts, especially after the guitar garrote incident, but this was a wakeup call.
Being careful and always watchful helped. Still, between government intelligence agents, random musical assassins, and the mystifying Dominator, Redheart was pretty low on the food chain. If somepony got it in their head to take her out, there might be nothing she could do about it.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” asked Redheart, eyeing her visitor.
“I want to talk to you about your next assignment,” he said.
She replied, “I want to talk to you about my previous assignments. I think it’s a little confusing why you have me inspect bodies like that. If somepony has a giant hole cut out of their torso like the center of a donut, it’s pretty obvious that they’re dead and don’t need confirmation.”
“I’m paying you to do it,” said Caricature. “Why are you complaining?”
“I want answers.” Redheart’s eyes narrowed. “What am I doing? Who are all these dead ponies? Is my job just cleaning up after Dominator?”
Caricature didn’t even blink. “You don’t need to know.”
“Then I quit.”
This time she got a reaction. The stallion rolled his eyes. “You already know too much. What makes you think we’ll let you?”
“Is that a threat?” she demanded.
“Yes.”
“What would you do to me?” asked Redheart. “I’m a law abiding citizen. I pay taxes.”
“You’ve also visited the scenes of two murders, nearly been murdered yourself, and didn’t report any of it to the police.” Caricature shrugged. “If that doesn’t stick, we’ll just plant some evidence on you.”
The mare’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t do that.”
“And who’s going to stop me?”
Redheart fumbled for a moment. “I don’t believe you. Nopony can just override the Princesses’ laws.”
“Nopony except them.” Caricature’s tone was neutral, but Redheart thought she might have detected a hint of haughty pride in his voice. Did he work directly for the Princesses? Surely the two sisters were not so cruel as to let him do this?
Caricature put a piece of paper and a key down on the kitchen table. “Get this done.”
He walked out without checking to see if Redheart would comply. The fact that he didn’t need to said something about his attitude, but more about his control over her. Had she really gotten so tangled in this that it was impossible to get out?
Reluctantly, Redheart read the note. The address and key matched an apartment in Canterlot. Curiously, it had an exact time listed, two in the afternoon. The date was the next day, when Redheart wouldn’t be at the hospital.
She sighed. I think I’ll go to bed early.
+
Redheart spent the next morning browsing the library for books of needlepoint patterns. She’d decided to go with something decorative for Tenderheart’s birthday.
Twilight Sparkle, the librarian, smiled as Redheart brought a book to the front of the library to check it out. “I didn’t expect to see you here so early in the day.”
“It’s my day off,” Redheart explained.
“Oh, do you have anything planned?” Twilight made a note for her records and pushed the book across the desk.
“I was going to go to Canterlot later.”
“What a coincidence, so was I.” Twilight nodded. “I can give you a ride. My new propulsion spell has made hot air balloon travel very reliable. It’s also cheaper than taking the train.”
Redheart had no reason to say no. The two of them departed for Canterlot later. The nurse had never ridden in a balloon before, but found the trip to be gentle and scenic. Twilight had planned conservatively, and they arrived with plenty of time to spare. The two of them parted ways after landing. Redheart thanked Twilight and told her that she would take the train back.
It was about half an hour before the two o’clock appointment. Redheart spent several minutes finding the apartment building. She didn’t know if being a little early would make a difference.
On the eighth floor, Redheart checked to make sure she was alone and slipped the key into the lock on the door. She entered the apartment, bracing herself. What kind of mutilation would this body have suffered?
To her great surprise, she found a living stallion hurriedly packing his things in the bedroom. Unsure how he would react, she carefully placed a hoof on the scalpel in her pocket and cleared her throat.
The pony jumped, flaring his wings defensively. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. The stallion quietly asked, “Dominator?”
Redheart let out a breath. “No, not me. Did you get a warning?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I did. So…you aren’t here to kill me?”
“No, I’m not. What is Dominator? Why are you so scared?”
Stepping forward, he asked, “Just who are you? What are you doing here?”
He hadn’t answered her question, so Redheart ignored his. “Tell me about Dominator!”
The pegasus tried to grab her. Deciding on a less lethal option, Redheart smacked him in the face with a hoof and bolted for the door. To her relief, he didn’t pursue her into the hallway.
Calming down, Redheart descended back to the ground floor. The clock over the door read three minutes before two o’clock. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. This would certainly make for an interesting report to Caricature.
There was the sound of breaking glass and the pony she’d met upstairs thudded to the sidewalk. The violence of the impact probably meant that he’d fallen all the way from the eighth floor. Redheart stared in horror, tempered slightly by curiosity. Wait, how does a pegasus fall…?
A moment later, his wings landed on the sidewalk. Redheart stepped closer. They’d been forcefully ripped from his body. Even without the massive blood loss that would have caused, the pony was already dead. It didn’t take a nurse to see that. Redheart looked skyward at the broken window. If she’d been up there for a minute longer…
Ponies were beginning to gather around. Blood was spreading across the pavement, and Redheart took a step back, fading into the crowd. She turned for the train station.
A shoulder bumped her. Redheart glanced to the side, surprised once again by a sudden appearance from Caricature.
“Come on,” he said. “I’m going to a meeting, and after that we need to have a talk.”
She nodded silently and followed him towards a hotel. Caricature seemed to know where he was going. When he found the right room, he set his ever-present messenger bag down and knocked on the door.
A mare answered. Her unpleasant expression overshadowed her bright golden coat, although it was hard to tell who her irritation was directed at. Caricature said to her, “This is who I was telling you about.”
The mare stared contemplatively at Redheart for several seconds before turning back to Caricature. “Come in.”
The two of them entered the room and closed the door. Redheart shifted her hooves a little and looked around at the empty hallway. Her eye fell on the bag Caricature had left. She paused for just a moment before opening it.
Conveniently, the folder marked Dominator was on top. Redheart opened it without a second thought. She gasped and began flipping through the pages inside. They were all blank.
There was a sudden spark of magic and the file snapped closed, simultaneously giving Redheart a shock. She stumbled back in surprise.
And then the door opened.